Exploring the Wilderlands - REG and the Orcs of the Ocher Spear

 

    One of the topics I have repeatedly posted on over the last dozen years are random encounters.  Generating them, running them, frequency, I've covered all of those.  One thing I don't think I've posted on is REG, my home rule Random Encounter Generator (not exactly a creative name, I know).  I developed REG a LONG time ago, so long ago that I need to retype it as all I have is the PDF copy, the original Word file was done several laptops ago.  I may not have recycled it yet, but not sure I want to try to boot an old Windows laptop up for one file.  Besides it needs some updates as I have evolved my approach for random encounters.

I wrote up the result of a Random Encounter from REG a couple of posts ago

"No, no, it's true the Ocher Spear threw what the orcs call a bridge across the Murmuring Stream, just up from where it flows into the Mageven. It cuts a full day off the ride to the Old South Road. But it will cost you a fair amount. Two gold crowns a leg, man and beast is what I heard. O'course the bridge is too rickety for a cart or wagon so I haven't used it me self." the driver passed the rumor on to them.

What's not obvious is what the random encounter actually is:  it's the information about a toll bridge.

    When I sat down and thought about random Encounters, I realized that while based on the tables in the old DMG and the incentives of gathering XP - most random encounters are run as straight combat encounters.  I've done it as a DM and been bored by it as a player.  So I gave some consideration to what the characters and players could gain by random encounters.  Combat and XP certainly stay in there, but encounters can also be designed to funnel information to the characters and to increase the players' immersion in the world.

My first breakdown is by type of Encounter

Challenge - both the classic monster encounters from the DMG and also mechanical challenges like dealing with toll bridges, flooded fords, rocks in rivers etc while the party travels.

    Information - information is simply any knowledge of possible use to the characters.  Whether about a Challenge, the current Adventure or a hook for another adventure.  The key is that the characters now have a data point for the players to consider and take action on or not as they see fit.  This also adds to player immersion as they're not rolling dice, they are considering course of action.

    Recurring NPCs - whether a Sponsor, like a Noble needing a team of deniable agents to advance her goals, a regular Informant (like Huggy Bear in Starsky and Hutch - for those of you old enough to know) or a pesky rival party trying to horn in on your loot.  The purpose is to introduce these NPCs organically into the campaign and see where the players go.  Again, dealing repeatedly with the same NPCs adds to immersion as the world stabilizes for the players.

    I have a fourth category - Gonzo in the original REG, where the party would meet a challenge from one of the other RPGs in my library.  However, I've shifted to a kitchen sink approach to generating random monsters and this is why I need to re-write REG.

    To get back to the toll bridge, I rolled Information about a Challenge.  The Challenge turned out to be a

Road Hazard (Toll Bridge) and the information was available verbally from an NPC, rather than the party discovering physical evidence.  Once I knew that it was a matter of figuring out where the bridge was and who was collecting the tolls.

    The map does not show a road from Zothay up to the Old South Road (dashed red line).  I've placed all the nobles in my Feudal Wilderlands, and I know there isn't a castle in that area.  That left looking at the monsters in the random encounters in the area and picking one.  Orcs seemed like a good choice, but since these were local characters and NPCs, I needed a name for the tribe.  Up in the Dearthwood there are the Orcs of the Purple Claw.  And of course, Saruman had the Orcs of the White Hand.  So naming them [color] [item] seemed like a good pattern.   I've always been intrigued by Ocher as a color, ever since I first played the board game 'Civilization' and encountered it as an early trade good.  Anyway, it refers to pigments from ferrous compounds, ranging from yellow to dark red. 

    Orcs of the Ocher Spear - a tribe ranging the Arthiop Mud Flats and northern reaches of the Fogbound Forest.  They use the Arthiop Hickory (carya arthiopis) to fashion spear shafts, new ones issued to young warriors are light yellow.  The shafts darken as the wood ages, and dark spears are a sign of rank and a reason to challenge a rival.  It is rumored that the High Chieftain's spear shaft is very ancient and a dark brown like dried blood. 

    The road from Zothay to Bellystone Ford is a long one and skirts the headwaters of the Murmuring Stream, as the lower reaches have wide soft banks at the confluence of the Mageven.  

    Now my world has a few more details.