Well I'm starting up an adventure for myself and somefriends sooner or later and I'm trying to get things started. One of my goals is to allow the players to decide on some of their own detours. In between missions of course. So an exmple The groupes Arbitator wants drag the Guarfsman along for a lil' case of arrest the law breaker while the assassin and the scum get some hiveganger justice. Than they all get back together for a mission of course they can do side quests together also. But what I'm realy trying to ask is 1: are side quests reasonable to add like a bounty every once in awhile? 2: is there a stable method for random encounters?

1: are side quests reasonable to add like a bounty every once in awhile? 2: is there a stable method for random encounters?

1: Absolutely! I think that short 'between missions' escapades help even out the pacing of a long campaign, breaking up the repetition of one long mission after another, and it gives players more of a sense of 'ownership' of their characters if they are allowed to persue their own goals (which may not exactly conform to the goals of their patron).

2: I've occasionally employed 'random encounters' as a way of invoking the setting (like a chance to encounter a ganger ambush or mutant beastie in an Underhive setting, or run-ins with the local fauna in a wilderness setting). I typically go with a 10% chance per half-hour (campaign time) of a random encounter, jumping to 20% every 15 minutes if the party draws a lot of attention to themselves (by making noise and whatnot). You can't rely on random encounters to provide important story elements- the dice will almost certainly sabotage you if you rely on them to move the story forward- but as far as providing a sense of place, they can be useful.

That exactly what i wanted to hea...uhm...read. thank you. As for random encounters, I mostly wanted something to fill in the narative so it doesn't feel like fast travel every direction. Thanks again.

Hell yes, I have a PC who wants to Becoming a Member of the Blood Guild of Malfi. We are planning on playing out his hunt for the Grey Warrant. With a few of his teammates helping out.

That sounds like alot of fun! I just finished the first mission for my players to run threw, how they come together, laid some plot line starters as gossip that they can over hear bring to their Inquisitors attention. Anougher one is optional if they talk it over instead of guns blazing they actualy get a hive ganger as a contact for their boss. When they finish their retrival mission they are set free to their down time and rumor hunting...or just to get drunk at the bar...So far i have a noble born with alot of enemies and sense that PC is the hair to a planet Ruler...he has a lot of enemies...hopefully his unremarkable thing keeps him out of trouble...unless if he makes trouble.

First and foremost: splitting up the party is a bad thing . Not only are 1 or 2 players off on their own more vulnerable if things go south (as every horror movie clearly shows), the other players are sitting around bored out of their minds.

There's nothing wrong with side trek adventures as a change of pace and to flesh out a character's background & interests but get the entire player group involved.

Secondly, random encounters don't work. At least, not if you are working with a fixed list of random encounters because you somehow always end up with anomalies like sharks in the desert or factory workers in a war zone.

The old D&D rule was IIRC 1d12 per day with a 1 meaning an encounter. This would increase depending on the locale with swamps having an encounter roll each hour. You could easily create something like this for DH. But the list of encounters should be tailor-made to the adventure, setting/locale and ideally the group.

The problem is how your players will react. Will they be bored by these meaningless encounters? Will it slow down the game without adding enjoyment? Will they read too much in a random encounter and attach a plot value to it which is simply not there? Will they see red herrings everywhere?

Personally, I prefer logic and consequences. For example, your group has to visit a shady bar to get info from a snitch. The bar is located in a rough part so it stands to reason it will be on a gang's turf. Que an encounter with gangers. The response of the group determines if it is a quick cash transaction (pay the toll or else....) or if it gets violent. Then in the bar, they need to get to the snitch without upsetting the locals and triggering a bar fight.

Not random encounters perse but logical events which fit the locale.

I'm doing a bit of both, but when the party will be traveling from place to place i want something that would not feal like fast traveling. Iwould use it only at traveling sequences. If i rolled an encounter i would most likely roll anougher percentile for how difficult goid or bad for the party. And then find a good thing to fit in(desert wild life or use cultists as crazed borderlandish psychos. maybe a caravan for the desert world). Thank you for the glitchy bits warning. I'm going to start finding ways to counter act those issues.

When my party travels, I usually add some WH40k wonkiness to it with some challenges for them to solve.

For example, the players had to travel from planet A to void station B.

Aboard the void ship they prepare for translation as the ship's crew starts singing hymns. At T-5 minutes, the youngest crew member is thrown out of a lock "to satisfy the spirits of the warp" whilst begging for his life. Each player then has to do a WP+20 test as the ship translates into the warp. Those who failed have weird dreams during the trip and one player awakens covered in blood with a dead crew member in his cabin. They then have to get rid of the body before he is missed (if he is ever missed) which might require a few skill tests.

Nothing too fanciful but it certainly beats "you travel 3 weeks by void ship before arriving at the void station".

If they are walking on a jungle planet, you could pose a number of challenges for them to overcome. Examples:

Your supply of water has run out, what do you do? The players will have to suggest finding water and roll a few skill tests with their total MoS determining how well they did.

You encounter signs of a predator, what do you do? Again, the players will have to describe passing the territory of the predator without being seen with their total MoS determining if they encounter the predator or not.

The good thing about these challenges is that they need not take too much time, every player has to test a skill and adds the result to the total MoS to determine the result, and it often forces players to use more skills and/or invest in a wider array of skills. Not every problem can be solved with a bolt gun or the intimidate skill....

And an encounter is not down to a single encounter roll but the result of the skills and imagination of the players.

...one player awakens covered in blood with a dead crew member in his cabin. They then have to get rid of the body...

Noice.

Those are good ideas I'll probably start writing in events like that. Give them a reason to invest in some other skills thanks for the tip.

Myself I'm not to eager on totally random encounters. Encounters to give weight to mood, theme and feelings of a place is all good but just throwing up some enemies for the PCs to wack is a big NO in my book.

I left most of the story/mood plot battles with scripted enemies, if my players make fools of themselves. than the relevant npc will enteract with them. Random encounters were mostly to break the boredom of you travel there and your completely free from harm that i haven't put there. who knows what sort of scum or mutated critter lurks in the wastes. Or i may just have an angry determined ganger follow them deaper or out into the sands?

Myself I'm not to eager on totally random encounters. Encounters to give weight to mood, theme and feelings of a place is all good but just throwing up some enemies for the PCs to wack is a big NO in my book.

I agree; encounters should be tailored to the environment/situation. I always hated the old AD&D Random Encounter Tables, where you were equally likely to run into a Dinosaur as a Dog...

Here's an example of a Random Encounter Table tailored to a specific location- in this case Port Suffering, capitol of the planet Iocanthos. I originally created this table to help 'flesh out' a lay-over in this location between missions:

01) ARBITE (1) An Adeptus lawman currently persuing an investigation; 30% chance undercover.

02-05) ASHLEEN WARRIORS (1d10; 20% chance mounted on dustdogs) Native tribesman; 75% chance they are in town to trade for supplies; otherwise, they are here to drink and fight.

06-07) BAWD (1) A pimp enticing potential customers to sample the local hedonistic pleasures; 10% chance working with Muggers, luring prey in exchange for a cut of the take.

08-09) BEASTS (2d10) Domesticated animals- either mounts, draft creatures or livestock; 15% chance they have gotten out of control on the city streets.

10-24) BEGGAR (1 or 30% chance of 1d5; 30% chance of being of Ashleen decent; 20% chance young urchins) People begging for coins- they may offer information in exchange (25% chance information is true).

25) BOUNTY HUNTER (1) 50% chance he’s currently tracking a target; otherwise likely to be looking for trouble.

26-28) CITY MILITIA (2 or 30% chance of 1d5+2) Armed soldiers; 50% chance of being off duty, in which case there is a 30% chance they are drunk.

29-31) CREWMEN (1d5+1 or 20% chance 2d10) Voidship ratings, in town on leave and looking to get drunk.

32-35) DRUNKS (1d5) A group of revelers; 30% chance they are Ashleen, 15% chance of off-worlders. 10% chance they are armed.

36-37) DUST STORM (*) The wind whips up the pervasive dust, reducing visibility to 3d10 meters for 1d10 minutes. Anyone without some form of filter mask must make an Easy (+20) Toughness test or gain 1 level of Fatigue.

38-40) ENFORCER PATROL (2) Lawmen ‘keeping the peace’; 10% they are corrupt and looking to solicit a bribe.

41) FORTUNE TELLER (1) A crazy hag offering to ‘see the future’ for a Throne (10% chance of having actual precognitive powers).

42) FREAK WEATHER (*) The weather briefly takes a surprising turn, typically a thunderstorm or torrential downpour.

43-45) GRIFTER (1) A fast-talking con man looking to hustle some rubes out of their hard-earned Thrones. Decieve Skill of 50%.

46-48) GAMBLER (1) A card-sharp looking for a game; 75% chance he is an off-worlder. Gamble Skill of 45%.

49-50) KILLER (1) A ‘bad man with a gun’, either ‘laying low’ after trouble (50%) or looking for a chance to enhance his reputation. 20% chance there is a 1d5x100 Throne reward for his capture.

51-59) LABOURERS (1d10) Local prols hard at work (60%) or hard at play (40%; in which case there is a 75% chance they are drunk).

60-61) MERCENARIES (1d5+1) Well-armed and armoured soldiers for hire; 60% chance they are currently unemployed.

62-66) MERCHANT (1; 75% chance of having 1d5 bodyguards) A trader hawking wares; 5% chance he deals in illegal goods. Evaluate Skill of 60%

67-70) MUGGERS (1d5) Criminal thugs looking for potential victims.

71) OFFICIAL (1-2; 50% chance of d5 bodyguards) A member of the community’s small Adeptus presence; there is an equal chance of his being engaged in business or pleasure.

72-74) PICK-POCKET (1) A sneaky criminal looking to boost an item (Sleight of Hand skill: 40%).

75) PILGRIMS (2d10) A group of religious fanatics retracing the steps of a saint (1% chance they are actually members of the Red Redemption).

76-77) PRESS GANG (1d10+2) Burly offworld toughs with shock mauls looking to forcibly ‘recruit’ crewmen into service on board a voidship.

78) PROPHET (1) A holy man who claims to have divine visions- or he may just be insane…

79-82) PROSTITUTE (1 or 50% chance 1d5) A ‘joygirl’ soliciting ‘customers’; 10% chance she is working with muggers.

83) RIOT (*) Civil unrest erupts into violence in the streets, as a crowd of 2d100 people go on a rampage. It takes the local Enforcers 1d5 hours to break up the disturbance.

84) ROBBERY (*) A group of 1d5+2 criminals are in the process of robbing a local business (01-30), financial institution (31-60), or Ghostfire Pollen warehouse (61-00).

85-89) ROWDIES (2d5) Local ne’er-do-wells looking for a fight.

90-93) SCAVENGER (1 or 30% chance 1d5) Either in town with goods to sell (70% chance), or equipping for another expedition into the wastes (30%).

94) SORORITAS (2) A pair of Sisters from the Abbey of the Dawn, in town on a specific mission; they are well-armed and usually (75%) semi-disguised under heavy robes.

95) TRAFFIC ACCIDENT (*) 1d2+1 ground vehicles have collided, blocking off a main road for 3d10 minutes.

96-99) VERMIN Either a swarm of Miniscule creatures or a pack of 2d5 Puny beasts, all ravenously hungry and looking for easy pickings.

00) WYRD (1) An unsanctioned psyker living in the shadows (10% chance off-worlder, 40% chance Ashleen).

20% chance of an encounter; check every half-hour.

Very nice work Adeptus-B. I think I'll use a table like this in my next session

I think Dark Reign used to have encounter charts too, yep

1 for ships

http://www.darkreign.org/node/1044

1 for Hive

http://www.darkreign.org/node/86

that table is great thanks for the input i'll just alter it bit by bit for different scenarios. Thanks