🎲 Exploration Toolkit: 20 Travel Complications and Wonders

Behind the Die by Charlie Stayton

“The road itself is an adventure.”

Travel can be more than dice rolls and distance markers. Use this d20 table to spice up exploration across the Steppes, mountains, or wilds.

d20 Travel Complications & Wonders

1. A merchant caravan is moving suspiciously fast, avoiding contact.

2. Unseasonal snow covers the ground overnight.

3. A field of fireflies swirls in patterns that resemble constellations.

4. The party’s food stores spoil unexpectedly.

5. A solitary hermit demands the party answer three riddles before passing.

6. A broken wagon reveals a hidden cache of stolen goods.

7. Sacred stones hum and glow at night.

8. A violent dust storm forces the party to seek shelter.

9. Nomads approach, offering food — but asking for aid in return.

10. A flock of birds forms an arrow in the sky, pointing east.

11. Earth tremors rattle the land for several hours.

12. A traveling bard insists on joining the party.

13. The PCs stumble upon an abandoned campsite, still warm.

14. Celestial lights streak across the night sky.

15. A strange animal follows the party, keeping just out of reach.

16. Crumbling ruins emerge from the grasslands.

17. A traveling alchemist offers strange potions of exploration.

18. A hidden predator’s lair lies in the path — bones scattered around.

19. A lone child wanders the plains, claiming to be from “another time.”

20. The path leads to a mysterious well said to grant visions.

How to Use It

Roll as random flavor during journeys, or use as story seeds to lead into side quests and worldbuilding opportunities.