The Game Master’s Book of Wilderness Encounters: 600+ Random Encounters, Conflicts and Hazards for Your Outdoor Adventures, Plus 10 New Monsters for 5

The 5th Edition core rules of D&D offer a solid discussion of the how’s and why’s of random encounters, but the subject still deserves more - much more. It’s for that reason The Game Master’s Book of Wilderness Encounters exists. This extraordinary book expands on the subject of random encounters and gives GMs a more thorough idea of what might happen when a party bumps into...let’s say...a group of orcs as they plunge into the forest.

In The Game Master’s Book of Wilderness Encounters, readers will find 10 core chapters, each devoted to a particular type of wilderness terrain: Caverns, Desert, Forest, Grasslands, Hills, Littoral, Mountains, Ocean, Tundra and Wetlands. After a brief discussion of the terrain type, each chapter launches into a series of tables and sub-tables outlining possible plausible encounters. They cover most of the creatures included in 5th Edition core rulebooks, from familiar wild animals to exotic monsters like kraken and purple worms, plus humanoids, various vocations/professions, and physical hazards that GMs can use for petty harassment (just to remind their players that adventuring isn’t all fun and glory). In turn, each table entry discusses how that creature reacts -- topics range from how to acquire a pet rat to what that ancient red dragon is thinking as it looks down at the party -- how many of them are present (scaled to the party’s average level), and what treasure might be gained from defeating it.

In addition to the more than 600 random table entries, readers will find 10 new monsters - one for each environmental zone - plus three one-shot adventures that put the tables into play. The Game Master’s Book of Wilderness Encounters offers GMs a deep dive into an under-explored aspect of RPGs. Even experienced GMs will find food for thought and fresh ideas about how to make a party food for monsters.

Douglas Sun is a writer and game designer, working primarily in tabletop roleplaying games. He has developed and/or authored over 30 tabletop roleplaying game products, including books for Decipher’s Star Trek and The Lord of the Rings roleplaying games and AEG’s d20 mega-setting book, The World’s Largest City. He was line developer of The Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game, editing and co-writing all but one of the Third Edition supplements. One of the books that he developed, The Emerald Empire, was nominated for an Origins Award and remains one of the best-selling books in the game’s long and prolific history. He is currently writing adventure/location modules compatible and roleplaying game rules supplements compatible with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition and Pathfinder. In his oh-so-copious free time, he blogs about games and other forms of geekery at ＂I Think We’ve Been Playing It Wrong.＂