Friday Encounter: Don't Feed the Bears

Here's an encounter that ties into my previous points about how wilderness survival can make for interesting challenges in RPGs, making travel more realistic and engaging. It's best suited for a wilderness location, but could work on a road as well if the party makes camp there, or even in a dungeon with appropriate changes to the fauna in question.

After the PCs make camp and consume their rations, wild animals are attracted to their location. This might happen while they're asleep, in which case anyone on watch will be the first to deal with it, potentially alone - you are keeping track of who's on watch, right? Alternatively, it could happen while the PCs are eating, and now they have to deal with an incursion while they're trying to settle in, which could catch them unawares and underprepared. You can even use this encounter to punish a party that fails to follow proper precautions when setting up camp like keeping food uncovered and accessible. If you have something like this happen to your PCs, your players might see it as a wakeup call to pay closer attention to these matters going forward!

Exactly what shows up is up to you - or your random wildlife encounter tables. There are a number of compelling options here. The most obvious, of course, is bears, as anyone who's ever gone camping (or has read Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque) can tell you. They have several advantages - they're easily attracted to the scent of food, they're dangerous if provoked, and they can make for a tense encounter. This can be a combat encounter, but a more realistic scenario, where the bear doesn't attack on sight and the PCs have to remain still and avoid any sudden movements or loud noises so as not to provoke it, can be just as fun. In a fantasy or sci-fi setting, you even have the option to make it something worse than a bear.

However, it's also valuable to consider other ways curious beasts can impact the party. Even if small animals like rats or raccoons don't pose an obvious threat, they can still make noise (such as by rustling underbrush or dry leaves) that can alert more apparent dangers. If these creatures make off with the food, they could deplete the party's resources, something that could prove just as dangerous in the long run. They may even decide that it's worth following the party if they're a consistent food source, which could prolong the problem, and the PCs might not even know it at first until they notice food keeps going missing and it's suddenly harder to be stealthy. In a more fantastic setting, beings that can speak with animals, like elves or druids, might use these scavengers as a means to spy on the party and report on their doings. There's a lot of possibilities here, which goes to show you how the things they teach you about when going into the outdoors can be mined for exciting gameplay opportunities.