The Game Master's Book of Random Encounters: 500+ customizable maps, tables and story hooks to create 5th edition adventures on demand (The Game Master Series)
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In a game packed with infinite possibilities, what are GMs to do when their players choose what they have not prepared? As every GM knows, no matter how many story hooks, maps or NPCs you painstakingly create during session prep, your best-laid plans are often foiled by your players' whims, extreme skill check successes (or critical fails) or their playful refusal to stay on task. The Game Master’s Book of Random Encounters provides an unbeatable solution. This massive tome is divided into location categories, each of which can stand alone as a small stop as part of a larger campaign. “Taverns, Inns, Shops & Guild Halls” section includes maps for 19 unique spaces, as well as multiple encounter tables designed to help GMs fill in the sights, sounds, smells and proprietors of a given location, allowing for each location in the book to be augmented and populated on the fly while still ensuring memorable moments for all players. Each map is presented at scale on grid, enabling GMs to determine exactly where all of the characters are in relation to one another and anyone (or anything) else in the space, critical information should any combat or other movement-based action occur. Perhaps more useful than its nearly 100 maps, the book's one-shot generator features all the story hooks necessary for GMs to use these maps as part of an interconnected and contained adventure. Featuring eight unique campaign drivers that lead players through several of the book's provided maps, the random tables associated with each stage in the adventure allow for nearly three million different outcomes. The book also includes a Random NPC Generator to help you create intriguing characters your players will love (or love to hate), as well as a Party Makeup Maker for establishing connections among your PCs so you can weave together a disparate group of adventurers with just a few dice rolls. Locations include taverns, temples, inns, animal/creature lairs, gatehouses, courts, ships, laboratories and more, with adventure hooks that run the gamut from frantic rooftop chases to deep cellar dungeon-crawls, with a total of 97 maps, more than 150 tables and millions of possible adventures. No matter where your players end up, they'll have someone or something to persuade or deceive, impress or destroy. Read more
Publisher : Media Lab Books
Publication date : September 15, 2020
Edition : Illustrated
Language : English
Print length : 256 pages
ISBN-10 : 1948174375
ISBN-13 : 74
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Reading age : 1 year and up
Dimensions : 8.8 x 0.8 x 11.15 inches
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Hardcover
I picked this up on a whim as it was on a sale price of under 17 bucks and looked interesting. The moment I opened the box I was immediately impressed with the quality of the book. The hardcover and binding is really nice, especially for a book in this price range. I'd say the initial quality of the book surpasses what you get in WotC offerings that cost much more. After sitting a couple of weeks I finally got a chance to start going through the contents. It has several one shot adventures that you could incorporate into you campaign with ease. What really caught my eye when I was looking at it on Amazon was the locations. Those did not disappoint as there are numerous locations, complete with maps and tables for random activities going on in the location. I thought that was pretty cool and will make the areas come to life. You get some good NPCs and magic items in the book as well but some of the magic items seem as if they could be a tad over powered. In the end this book is well worth the money if you want to add some flavor to your world. More thoughts below on why I like this and what 5E is lacking in my opinion but my main reasons for liking the book are already noted above. Like the title of the review says, this is what was lacking in 5e for me. I did most of my playing and DMing in the late 80's early 90's in high school. I ventured back briefly in the early 2000's with 3e coming out. What I recalled for source material of the 2e days was campaign boxed sets that gave you general locations and maps and ideas for your own story hooks. They usually had NPCs of note as well. It gave you the world and useful tools to help pre populate it. The campaign settings were augmented by monster compendiums and stand alone modules to augment the world and give the DM some premade adventures to work into their take on the campaign setting. A year or so ago my son expressed interest in role playing so I started picking up 5e books. I've been a little disappointed that most of it is books of ready made adventures that are linked together to form a very linear campaign. They are like campaigns in a box. I was expecting more of what there was in the 2e days with a lot more left up to the DM. The new stuff works and seems a great way to get new players and DMs into the game but seems to be mostly ready made. With the time constraints of a full time job, running an outside small business, and raising two teenagers this seems like it would be perfect but I have found what I really wanted was just some general world info that I could just customize with my own flair. You can still do this but it just seems a little harder. This particular book is more what I had in mind as an aid. After running some of the premade stuff I decided my next attempt will be a complete homebrewed world starting with the small town the party starts out in. I'll populate that town with a lot of the stuff in this book and some of my own as well.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2022 by Just Joe
Format: Hardcover
Every DM runs into the same problem; coming up with a new idea on short notice. It usually takes most of us with experience about an hour or more to write down a quick adventure scenario for even a simple gaming session. That’s why I LOVE this book. Everything I need to start a campaign or provide my players with a fun detour adventure is already in the book. Everything is written out with goals, details, maps, and even random tables for story twists and rewards. There’s ALL KINDS of really fun ideas for any group, any situation, and any character level. You really don’t have to “plan ahead” when your game changes or your players want to “try something different”. Just get this book and you’ll always be ready to play with great ideas. In fact, I’d go so far as to say this book can EASILY replace the Dungeon Master’s Guide for most DMs needing inspirations and ideas.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2026 by Shevaun
Format: Hardcover
I bought this as a first time DM to run a oneshot for a group of first time players. I ran the first oneshot so I read that and only skimmed through the rest of the book. As someone inexperienced with DMing, the book had all the information I needed to get set up for a short session. In the end, all we needed to start playing was this book, pregenerated character sheets, and a set of dice for each person. Our session ran for about 3.5 hours, but I was speeding through some parts because we were under a time constraint. A party that wanted to dedicate more time to that oneshot could easily spend 6 hours playing if they spent more time role playing. There was enough structure to the campaign that I could know where to guide the players, but it was still open enough to improvise and tailor the game to the players. I improvised the layout of and encounters in the sewers. It was great for first time players because first there was an encounter where they had to restrain an NPC, then I improvised an encounter with sewer rats, and then the boss fight at the end. The progression helped to teach the players how the mechanics worked At the end of the day, everyone had a great time :)
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Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2025 by Thomas
Format: Hardcover
Nervous about starting your campaign? Not sure how to describe that first tavern your party walks into? Maybe you don't quite know what a solid adventure should consist of? This book is for you! I have 5 books out of this series, and Random Encounters is the book I reference the most! Instant tavern ideas, hooks, npcs, even full on adventures this book has been great! I ran one of the 1 shot adventures for my low level party, it was easy to plug into my world, the players (3 of which are dnd veterans and I'm a newb dm) loved it, and there are so many ideas and tips to help a new dm get acclimated and build confidence crafting their own world and improvising when the party takes a sudden turn! The layouts are beautiful and well thought out. You get plenty of context while still remaining concise, the book is gorgeous, and the NPC generator and other tables have saved me so many times already being a new DM because I'm just not practiced enough to generate NPCs on the fly. Also with 8....EIGHT one shot adventures at varying levels, new DMs have plenty of content to carry them before they build the confidence to craft their own adventures. If you see this series and are wondering where to start I think Random Encounters is the 1st book to get. I have 5 books out of the series and I'd say: 1) Random Encounters 2) Non Player Characters 3) Villains, Minions, and their Tactics if you're getting started. Absolute 10 out of 10. This is my favorite book in the series and I plan on buying another copy that I haven't destroyed with notes and tabs just to look nice on my shelf and certainly this will be an auto-gift for aspiring DM friends in the future. And it's less than $20?! Are you kidding me?! Amazing.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2024 by D Stuart
Format: Hardcover
While the cover is a little misleading, it is a solid book with a few scenarios and adventuring set pieces. As noted in the headline, this is good if you are learning to DM and is really user-friendly. Beyond fresh GMs, even seasoned DMs would find useful content when one needs to throw something together quickly. It features 8 one-shot adventures, 70+ locations—from simple houses to highly memorable taverns—tunnel and rooftop travel/exploration, and sets of random tables at the back under five categories (NPCs, Taverns, Adventures, etc.). Each location has notes and hidden portions for added adventuring and exploration. The tunnel and rooftop maps are points were exits lead into other tunnel or rooftop maps. While there are states NPCs in the one-shots adventures, the random NPCs tables are generally rule agnostic—being more focused on character traits than crunch. As handy as the book is, one thing you'll not find is artwork (besides the cover. This is not too bad, as this is a DM aid and is focused on providing maps and not inspirational art; that is what rule and setting books are for. (There are some critics in the comments who denigrate the work over some content that is not politically correct to them, namely a random table of pronouns, and this a purely optional thing. Don't be dissuade by them as they are not talking in good faith. Simply put, they are malcontent snowflakes who get triggered over things that violated their particular gaming safespace.)
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Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2022 by Nancy Pea
Format: Hardcover
Just ran one of the adventures in this book as a post-New Year's two-shot and my players and I had a blast! Though there are a few minor typos (some page references within the text are a page or two off; some of the enemy names are not-quite the official ones, so if you look them up via digital search they won't come up—very small things!), the overall quality and content are great. There's a bit more effort required to run the encounters than your average adventure since they lean heavily on random tables (you can't just plow straight through, you have to take time to either roll on tables for enemy type/number, map, effects, etc.), this also makes them far more replayable since each go-around is slightly different. Overall a great purchase—though I do wish the magical items were in alphabetical order!
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Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2026 by A.
Format: Hardcover
I bought this thinking it would help me create combat encounters for DnD 5e, include monster stats and stuff, but that was my bad. I should’ve read the sample pages which clearly state what the book is for. It’s actually meant to help DMs by providing locations and non-combat encounters with NPCs, shops, towns, and potential traps. It does mention monsters that could be encountered and offers tips to balance the encounters (when combat is appropriate), but you’d need your DnD books for the stats for each suggested creature. I give it 5 stars anyway because it’s still immensely useful and very detailed, plus it includes some pretty cool adventures meant for beginner DMs/parties and seasoned players alike. It also includes a bunch of detailed information I’m sure any DM will find useful in a pinch or just to get the ball rolling when designing a campaign or even short adventures. Definitely recommend as it shortened my campaign prep time from a couple of hours down to just 1 1/2 for enough material for more or less two sessions. I’m looking to buy the rest of the books in this series if they’re as good as this one. Definitely worth a read and for less than $20 you really can’t go wrong.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2024 by Joe Gonzalez
Format: Hardcover
I kept looking for the upsetting "woke" material that other reviewers had cried and whined about. I was disappointed to find only a single section of the book that gave options to DMs if they have party members or characters who have specific pronouns, etc. It does take a special snowflake attitude to complain about a single option near the back of the book that might expand a DMs options. I suppose elves, dwarves, and magic are perfectly fine but saying 'they' is a bridge too far for some delicate minds. But onto the content! This book is dominated by several adventures that could be "one-shots" but would be better expanded into mini campaigns. There are NPC entries and encounter information blocks but you will still need your monster manual to get specific data as that information cannot be reprinted by 3rd parties. The adventures are well put together and can easily be shoehorned into existing campaigns but the naming conventions seem extremely random - I get the feeling that the author looked up "random name generator" and just copy/pasted the first entry that came up for their NPCs. Towards the back of the book are an amazing array of tables that you can use to randomize your events, characters, shops, etc. by rolling d100s or similar. I have already used as inspiration in our ongoing campaign. Overall for the price point, this is a fun addendum to any RPG library.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2022 by MW