The adventure doesn’t stop when you stop to rest. It just isn’t as perilous. Some places are naturally odd, while others are nature spirit demesnes, fae territories, or magical nexus points where anything can happen.

Don’t roll for these at every camp, just when when you need to shake things up–as part of your usual encounter table or just on a 1 in 6, roll for the category and then the event.

Categories

1. Occurrences
2. Plants
3. Creatures
4. Discoveries
5. Weather
6. Roll twice more. Ignore another 6.

Occurrences

1. There is a faint cracking sound, then the splintering of wood, then a tree with a rotten base falls near the campsite.
2. A falling star falls nearby, a 10-foot ball of glowing stone (90k pounds) that buries itself in a muddy bog. It would take a big team of workers, but such a thing mounted on a tower would light up a whole town square like moonlight every night.
3. Largish stones firmly rooted in the ground–as if there for centuries–mysteriously rise out of the ground around you.
4. A gust of wind blows sparks around, and something accidentally catches fire that shouldn’t, such as a hero’s clothing.
5. People in a flying ship pass overhead not far away and throw garbage overboard.
6. Something spooks the horses, if there are any.
7. Wolves howl in the distance.
8. It turns out there is a colony of biting ants nearby, which makes this a bad campsite.
9. Way in the distance is a… (1d6: 1=dragon; 2=giant eagle; 3=griffon; 5=pegasus; 6=phoenix) in flight.
10. Water begins to rise from a nearby source, flooding the campsite–a regular, tho rare, occurrence.

Plants

The heroes may stumble upon unusual plants when gathering firewood, getting water from a stream, setting up a pavilion, or taking care of other business.

1. Nearly all the wood in the area is “waterwood”, which is very resistant to fire. Gathering firewood is almost impossible.
2. A small family of mandrakes, who have uprooted themselves and gone in search of better soil, stop and, in their comical and unintelligible voices, request to share the fire for a bit.
3. A small pool that is crystal clear is the home of a harmless “blue ooze” that feeds on algae, lichen, moss, and such. They have value, as one blue ooze can keep a large fountain, small pond, or medium reflecting pool clear and clean.
4. A hero notices a bush with a large flower that looks like the face of someone they know. This is a “flowering friend”, an animate blooming plant that produces flowers that resemble people known to (and favored by) the person who touches it. (The character brushed by it earlier.) The plant empathically requests the character fertilize it.
5. A hero finds a small, gnarled tree growing out of a crevice in a rock outcropping. This is a “hermit tree”, and if disturbed blossoms quite suddenly with enchanted flowers that, if eaten, provide a random insight–one effect per day per creature; once plucked, the blossoms last one day.
6. The heroes stumble upon a fairy ring of mushrooms (edible) and toadstools (toxic) around a tree. Eating a mushroom will give the eater a random vision–one effect per day per creature; once plucked, the blossoms last one day. However, plucking a toadstool destroys the ring, which protects the area from the evil that is in the tree….
7. The heroes find an elven orchard full of fruit and nut trees and berry bushes.
8. In the night, a great tree grows in the middle of the campsite, raising everything high into the air without waking anyone. If there is a guard all night, he or she must save vs magic or fall asleep. Each party member gains a random external effect.
9. One of the heroes stumbles across an uncommon or rare plant that is a primary ingredient in multiple potions.
10. A hero notices a clump of brush nearby, where a “servant fern” (an animate plant that tries to be helpful to animals) is petting a dozing… (1d4: 1=fox; 2=skunk; 3=badger; 4=weasel) and picking insects out of its fur.

Creatures

1. A log near the campsite suddenly stands and walks away, revealing itself to be a “log insect” (a gigantic stick insect).
2. A loud and ominous groaning growl, if pursued, turns out to be a harmless giant toad.
3. A line of treants can be seen making their way across the ridge of a hill.
4. A riderless horse in full saddle and bridle wanders into the campsite.
5. A solitary lantern–or is it a will-o-wisp?–can be seen in the darkness some distance away.
6. A sleeping character is headbutted by a “hob”, a species of rabbit with curved horns that engages in head-butting for dominance. They rarely bother such large creatures as humans but are quite cuddly if befriended.
7. The heroes are confronted by very small fairies who warn that they have entered the Kingdom of Neronn (“clearly marked” with tiny sigils at the base of trees) and must leave immediately. The entire kingdom is 40 yards in diameter. (The king and his court are in the background, pretending not to listen.) Any sage the heroes mention this to later will be very excited and insist on being shown exactly where this petty kingdom is.
8. Strange voices can be heard whispering, “Over here”, “Get them”, “Get out”, and “Bring me more”. These turn out to be 2d4 “whispering whonks”, harmless snails the size of an apple that call to one another in what sounds like humanoid voices and other sounds.
9. In the night, a gold “necklace snake” loops around a hero’s neck. It is harmless and decorative and stays in place by biting its own tail. Some people keep them as decorative pets. From time to time, it unhooks to hunt for insects to eat.
10. A cauldron of bats sweeps thru, snapping up bothersome flying insects, and then swirls off. If followed, they lead to a very interesting cave containing prehistoric art of humans with dragons and mammoths.

Discoveries

1. Near the campfire, a PC notices a glint: a silver arrowhead and small droplets. Having made camp at a well-used spot, it’s clear that someone melted some silver and cast arrowheads in a mold. To divide some loot? Or to fight certain creatures?
2. Fetching water from a small river nearby, a hero notices someone left a woven-basket fish trap on the shore.
3. Obscured by undergrowth, a hero finds an antique closed carriage, its wheels broken down. No telling what’s inside without opening the door.
4. Obscured by a tree branch is a wooden sign with a dire warning of… (1d6: 1=a troll; 2=an ogre; 3=orcs; 4=goblins; 5=bears; 6=fairies) in this area.
5. The heroes notice a little door at the base of a tree, the onetime home of fairy creature, now departed. Inside, it is bare except for a few pieces of furniture and scraps of parchment with strange writing.
6. The sound of farting draws the heroes to a rock formation that someone carved and decorated to look like a person bent over, with a hole in the rocks occasionally issuing a flatulent sound strategically positioned in the depiction. There is no smell.
7. A hero stumbles on a cache of elven jars sealed air-tight with wax, containing nuts and dried fruit hidden in the roots of an ancient weeping willow marked with an elven sign.
8. A very old monument memorializing a battle and barely readable now.
9. The heroes find a fresh, unmarked grave.
10. A hero fetching firewood finds the lonely hut of a… (1d4: 1=forest warden; 2=hermit; 3=shepherd; 4=witch), unoccupied and apparently abandoned.

Weather

1. A brief rain of fish and frogs.
2. A thunderstorm.
3. Steady rain.
4. A light shower.
5. Lightning strikes a tree nearby.
6. A heavy fog settles in.
7. Mist rises.
8. Occasional annoying gusts of wind.
9. The previous builds to a blustery wind.
10. The previous builds to a swirling gale.