Special Encounters

In previous posts I listed random encounters for different environments. Most of these had a Special Encounters category so I thought I'd go into more detail here about what that means.

1. Special Encounters are primarily used as a placeholder for the GM to add adventure specific encounters to the tables. Roll a Special Encounter and that means you roll on the Random Encounters table created for that adventure.
2. In addition to that Special Encounters can be used to add specific NPC to the tables. If the characters spend a lot of time in one ward of a city they might come across some of the same people. Special Encounters allows this to happen without takin away from the odds of rolling the other encounters.

Reason 1 doesn't really require much explanation so I'll talk briefly about 2. Number 2 is designed to make the world a bit more realistic, by providing reoccurring NPC, ones the character may not even know. It's also one of the few places I believe an aspiring writer can do some work.

By that I mean each NPC added to the Special Encounters list should be given their own subtable of what they are doing when the encounter occurred but unlike the other subtables this one can simply be done off in order rather than rolled. The GM is encouraged to create mini-character arcs out of these results. This is similar to what an author does in a book with giving minor characters there own little background stories except in this case the story doesn't have to be completed and it certainly doesn't have to fit the main story thematically or in any way.