Non-combat, non-trap, non-magic encounters.

[alsih2o]

Please tell us all about the locales and encounters in your world that don't involve combat, magic or traps.

The mushroom farmers of Burabank who just needed someone strong enough to lift that rock or the ferryman who couldn't figure out the double-cross-hitch-hank knot until your PC with Use Rope showed him.

The greased pole contest with the gnomes of Glenwhistle Creek or the untrainable donkey of Corrithia.

Anybody have any of these to share.

 

[Warehouse23]

I've always thought that the "Traveller" encounter from Fallout 2 worked pretty well in a D&D world.

"You approach a lone traveller on an abandoned and derilect stretch of road flanked by thick forests."

PCs: Who are you?
Traveller: I'm a traveller.
PCs: Where are you going?
Traveller: No where in particular.
PCs: What do you do?
Traveller: I travel mostly.
PCs: Where to?
Traveller: Place to place.

The traveller is one of the wandering souls of the game setting. He's just a man or woman who wanders about. Not a bard, not a thief, not a threat. Just a traveller. He can probably give the PCs directions as to how to get just about anywhere, provided the PCs don't attack him first because he seems evasive. It's not that he doesn't want to answer the PCs questions, it that, in truth, he has very few answers to give.

 

[Tinner]

We've had a few ...
Drinking and Gambling with the local dwarves.
Designing a keep with the stonemasons guild.
Haggling over the sale of some camels with a merchant who had never seen such bizarre beasts.
Hiring local thugs to Gather Information about our enemies.
Training Animals for local residents.
Being questioned by the City Watch about our role in certain events.
There're usually a few encounters like this in every game session. I don't even really think of them as encounters usually. They're just normal roleplaying and "color".

 

[Graybeard]

I once had my PCs assist in the rescue of some children trapped in a cave in. It was funa nd different for the PCs. Thye kept expecting some monster on the other side and were relieved that there wasn't.

Graybeard

 

[Evilhalfling]

My faviorate ?
Hot Springs
a local resort town close to and evil city, a place for relaxation and luxery in a fantasy world. The staff were undercaste halflings, and trinkets such as perfumed soaps, barbers and attendents were all avalible. The party druid knew of an abandonded bathhouse an he went there while the rest of the party enjoyed the pampering. He died shortly afterward and the party would always go to the abandonded pools and share a drink in memory of him.

It was a throw away town on their way to somewhere else, with a fun name. The players spent 30-45 min hanging out while making up details.

 

[RFisher]

When I'm DM, I suppose the stereotypical encounter of this type would be the PCs & some NPCs debating an issue before the ranking aristocrat. I sometimes call it non-violent combat.

 

[iwatt]

The Barbarian Olympics

A series of contest through a 5 day feast celebrated evry 4 years. Events included:

- Tug of war
- The Great Hunt
- Archery Contest
- The Race

Other encounters:

- Meet the sage
- Drinking Contests
- Piano Performance to gain entry to a jazz club.
- Track the target to his apartment.
- ....

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

- Piano Performance to gain entry to a jazz club.

Where did the piano come from, if they weren't already in the club?

I run a lot of espionage scenarios, where combat, if it occurs, means the PCs have already failed. Recently had a great two-man (well, one-man, one-goblin) infiltration scenario. The pair ended up killing one guard, but without being seen by any living soul. Even that was only because a rival (NPC) spy caused a commotion - they almost made it without rolling to hit once, although there were plenty of hide, climb, move silently and listen checks.

Also, diplomacy - bandying thinly veiled barbs with dignitaries and whatnot.

 

[Crothian]

I always like the Bard who has tracked down the party to sing their praises. or the kid following them to be like them.

 

[Henry]

In my former Forgotten Realms game, I had several encounters that were not so much encounters, as "set-pieces", to remind the players every other session or so that life was going on all around them. Examples include:

--the low-level PCs wandered on the scene as three epic-level adventurers were slaying a brown dragon of tremendous age and power. They found, about a half-mile off to the side, the Epic NPC's retainers, who were having ale and watching the combat. They joined them, chatting with the retainers, sharing their ale, and watching the combat unfold.

--The PCs, while wandering the wilderness, came across three ogres being chased by a Gnome druid and his retinue of animals, while he was shouting about "teaching them to invade his grove." They decided to watch the spectacle as the druid kept chasing them, down the road and out of sight.