WUXIA INSPIRATION: BLOOD-STAINED ENCOUNTERS PART ONE

This entry began as a book. I was originally going to release it sometime this year, but ultimately decided to do it as a blog entry. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is, there are only so many books we can put out in a year, and this would have been pushed further back than I wanted. The second is, I want to clean up our pipeline and focus on the few truly important books I am planning for Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate. 

These encounters are a bit like adventures. The way I like to manage encounters during play is to think of back-story and a situation on the spot based on what I rolled. Sometimes I also put together random tables with more fleshed out encounters before play. Many of these began as things I improvised and expanded upon. 

USING THE BLOOD-STAINED ROADS TABLE

Art by Jackie Musto

This table is for encounters when players are traveling on the road or in the wilderness. When an encounter is about to happen, consider rolling on this table instead if it feels appropriate and if you want to mix things up a bit. These are each a bit like a normal encounter but more elaborate and with an adventure hook embedded in them. Some are longer than others and some only become significant if the players make a particular choice. These can be used as blueprints for when you have to improvise an encounter. You should still allow the players to make an encounter roll. If they succeed, this simply means the events occur but the players are not surprised and can choose to navigate around them. If they succeed on their roll try to explain the situation to the party under the assumption that they have been traveling in a way that allows them to be aware of what is going on, without being seen themselves. 

Each entry links to another page on the blog with the adventure fully described. 

BLOODSTAINED ROADS TABLE
Roll 1d10                    ADVENTURE

1                                 King of the Kushen

2                                 Yang Tuo and the Emerald Turtle

3                                 She Lies in Stone

4                                 Exceptions to the Law

5                                 The Sworn Brother 

6                                 Head in a Box 

7                                 All the Fools Came to Fight  

8                                 The Path of Carnage 

9                                 The Burial 

10                               Blood-Stained Road