The sixth Encounter Box: 11 big maps for your journey

This is my sixth encounter box, which is all about making the journey of your campaign as exciting as possible. With their size, the differences in height and the possibilities of cover, the maps are designed to experience the most interesting fights on them.

In addition to the maps, I have a few encounter ideas for you below which go beyond the usual "X opponents appear and attack you". It is of course a bigger effort to prepare, but I believe that thanks to stories like this your world can come to life and the journey between the places can become a highlight of your game.

Credit for the used asset packs goes to Essendi, Synecdoche, Crosshead, Geordi, Krager, Cannyjacks, JChunick, and the Apprentice of Aule. (for the latter two i have acquired the commerciele license).

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Sizes:

1: River through the desert [30x50]

2: River through the forest [30x40]

3: A path up into the mountains [40x50]

4: Broken path in the forest [30x40]

5: Structures in the desert [30x50]

6: Path through the forest [30x40]

7: A dark pit in the wasteland [40x40]

8: Bridge crossing in the forest [30x50]

9: A narrow path over a deep mountain pass [25x60]

10: A natural pit in the forest [40x40]

11: A narrow canyon [30x40]

3 Encounter ideas:

(Summaries at the end of the post)

The Black Knight

The way over a bridge is blocked by a dark knight. There is no negotiation with him, only a fight on life-and-death will allow your heroes to cross the bridge!

If he takes major amounts of damage, then one of his arms will be severed. "Tis But A Scratch" and he'll keep fighting. Even after losing the second arm, he will continue to fight. “It's just a flesh wound!” And even the loss of a leg doesn't stop him. "I'm invincible!" He can still kick, speak, bite and bleed. Only after losing his last leg does he offer a generous settlement of the conflict. he would agree on a draw. (The simple departure of the players is of course not accepted either. "Running away, eh? You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you!")

You can end the encounter at this point. Or you can, if the players refuse to accept a draw, provide the Black Knight with powerful stats and let the fight continue, maybe he'll start to float and give out brutal headbuttons or his arms and legs will just grow back and he mutates. In any case, it will be a much harder fight and your players will regret not accepting the draw, because "Te Black Knight always triumhps!"

The cosplayer

Condition for the encounter: Your heroes should be relatively well known and have committed great and well-known heroic deeds.

Our famous heroes are on their way when they suddenly hear the noise of battle. In the distance they can see a cart from a family of traders being attacked by a large bunch of goblins with an ogre. But before they get to the action, another troop appears to attack the goblins. They are dressed like your heroes and call each other with the name of the hero they embody. They can hurt the goblins and show courage, but are obviously amateurs. If your heroes support them, the fight is over quickly. The pseudo heroes are incredibly excited to meet their role models. (There is a lot of space here for funny (mis)interpretations of appearance or behavior.)

They invite your players to their nearby camp to spend the evening there.

There is a lot of drinking, but in the night an attack by much more dangerous monsters than goblins follows. Your heroes should defend their fans and there could be dramatic deaths in which a hero dies dramatically in the arms of himself.

Alternatively, the cosplayers could be in their role in such a way that they would do anything to be their role models. And even when this involves robbing the stunned hero of their bodies in a dark ritual. Our character wake up the next morning in their fan's body and now they have to hunt and trick themselves to get their bodies back.

Friends of Bandits

Our heroes are being robbed again. Normal procedure. A few bandits jump out of the bushes, threaten with their weapons and demand the valuables of your heroes or their live. The procedure is clear and a few bandits are about to eat dirt. But before the situation escalates completely, your heroes realize that there is a friend of theirs among the stinking Bandits (a friendly NPC that they have met before and of whom they have fond memories).

He will try to prevent an escalation and begins to speak to the heroes and reports that his life has gone down the drain since their last meeting (Economic crisis, dragon attacks etc.). He shows that there was no longer any possibility for all the people here to do honest work and that they were faced with the choice of starving to death or becoming robbers. The story is understandable and it's hard to make them accountable for their situation in which they are now.

Suddenly the clatter of hooves can be heard and noble knights and soldiers appear who have the task of mercilessly wiping out the local bandits in order to restore law.

Will your heroes intervene and find a peaceful solution or will they get caught between the fronts?

Summary of the encounter:

The Black Knight

The black knight from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" takes on your hero and will never give up despite the loss of his limbs

The cosplayer

You meet people who wear costumes that make them look like your characters. They do small heroic deeds and after such a deed they invite their role models to celebrate.

Friends of Bandits

Bandits attack your heroes, but among them is a good friend who intervenes and explains why they were forced to become bandits. Law enforcement officers appear and strive to wipe out the brood of bandits.