Free tables Travel — encounters by terrain

Random Hills Encounters and Travel Events — d20 Tables

Free d20 tables for hills travel in 5e: twenty things to pass and twenty encounters, half of them not fights.

Most campaigns skip the hills with "three days later, you arrive", because making up three days of it on the spot is work. These two tables do that work: something to see every day, and something that occasionally finds the party.

Each day, roll d20 on the first column for something the party passes. Then roll a d20 encounter check: on a 17 or higher, something finds them, so roll d20 on the second column. Make it 19 or higher on a quiet, patrolled road and 15 or higher somewhere nobody sensible goes. That works out to 10%, 20% or 30% a day.

About half the encounters aren't fights. A broken bridge or a lost traveller changes a journey just as much as wolves do, and it doesn't cost a spell slot. The fights use SRD creatures only, with their counts and challenge ratings, so you can rate them before anyone rolls initiative.

For the weather, don't roll fresh each day: that gives blizzard, sunshine, blizzard. Start somewhere mild and move it at most one step a day (better, the same, or worse on a d6: 1–2, 3–4, 5–6). Four days then read as a journey rather than a slot machine.

The table

20 results. Roll d20.

d20	On the way	If something finds them
1	A hill fort, long abandoned, with one wall still standing.	An ogre sits in the middle of the path, eating a sheep. — 1 × Ogre (CR 2)
2	Sheep grazing with no shepherd in sight.	An orc war band is heading home from a raid, loaded with loot. — 1d4+2 × Orc (CR 1/2)
3	A barrow mound with its entrance freshly dug open.	Gnolls have been following the party's scent since yesterday. — 1d4+2 × Gnoll (CR 1/2)
4	A giant's footprint pressed into the turf, full of rainwater.	Goblins on wolfback sweep down from a ridge. — 1d4+1 × Goblin (CR 1/4); 1d4+1 × Wolf (CR 1/4)
5	A chalk figure cut into a hillside, whose meaning nobody remembers.	A hill giant is throwing boulders at the party, for sport. — 1 × Hill Giant (CR 5)
6	A lonely inn on the ridge, lit up, with no road leading to it.	Hippogriffs dive at the pack animals. — 1d2 × Hippogriff (CR 1)
7	Standing stones on a summit, lined up with the setting sun.	Worgs are hunting in the gullies, and they've found fresh scent. — 1d3+1 × Worg (CR 1/2)
8	A rockslide that has buried half the path.	A griffon mistakes the party's horses for dinner. — 1 × Griffon (CR 2)
9	A shepherd's hut stocked with food, and a note: "Take what you need."	Bandits lie in wait at the one pass through the hills. — 2d4 × Bandit (CR 1/8)
10	A lone hilltop tree bent almost flat by the wind.	Wild boars stampede through the camp at dawn. — 1d6+1 × Boar (CR 1/4)
11	An old battlefield: rusted blades and bones in the heather.	A shepherd has lost half his flock and will pay for help finding it.
12	A spring that runs warm even in winter.	A prospector offers a share of her claim if the party helps her dig.
13	A cairn that every traveller adds a stone to as they pass.	A barrow door stands open, and something inside is humming.
14	Eagles circling over one particular valley.	A storm catches the party in the open; the only shelter is a cave where a bear is asleep.
15	A dry-stone wall that runs for miles with no gate in it.	A beacon fire is lit on a hilltop, then another, then another, heading for the town.
16	A windmill turning with no wind.	Miners coming the other way warn that the old mine road has collapsed.
17	A boarded-up mine whose boards have been pried loose from inside.	A herd of wild ponies, one of them wearing a saddle.
18	A valley full of fog, with only church spires showing above it.	A hermit on a hilltop says he has been waiting for the party specifically.
19	A perfect circle of burned heather.	Travelling musicians offer a song for a meal.
20	A distant horn blowing three times, then silence.	A ruined watchtower holds fresh supplies, recently stored.

Questions

How often should I check for random encounters?

Once a day of travel is plenty for a montage. Checking every few hours is for when the journey IS the adventure, and it slows the table down fast.

Should every random encounter be a fight?

No. A road where everything is a fight teaches the players that travel is a tax. Half the results here are people, obstacles and discoveries for that reason.