Kharille wrote:
Thinking about the encounter tables in the original book 1, maybe some more common generic encounters with travelling merchants, peddlars, gypsies, beggars might be in order?
I couldn't agree more. As much as I agree with random encounter tables at all, of course, but monstrous and violent encounters should be the exception rather than the rule and the encounter tables in book 1 seem to have been very much influenced by the kind of hack'n'slash role-playing that defined the hobby's infancy. I'd much rather see random encounters with normal people going about their normal business. Travellers would have been few, so their reasons for being on the road could be interesting. The bulk would be villagers, farmers, pilgrims, roadwardens, etc., but if the characters are lucky, they may pass a gypsy caravan with its brightly cloaked wagons spilling strange scents into the air, or a travelling troupe of minstrels sharing bawdy limericks with each other.
I was also disappointed that the encounter tables from book 1, when ported into the revised edition, did not include the (rarer) creatures from book 4. Without the context that the little paperbacks provided, it just seemed 'odd' in a single consolidated tome, but opening that can of worms could spawn another thread altogether...!