116 Random Modern Encounters so far.

1. A street preacher loudly making a public sermon on a soapbox. He is a man of the local religion's cloth and
will not stop preaching for anything less than the drastic.

2. Two people are fighting on a train or subway platform. If left alone, one of them may be knocked onto the
tracks during the scuffle and possibly killed.

3. A woman carrying a stack of books trips in front of the PC/PCs and falls over, scattering her books
everywhere.

4. A bomb goes off in a nearby cafe and completely destroys the interior and front of the place, causing a panic
among the people on the street and police to come. (Think the intro to Broken Sword. Just like that.)

5. A watermelon falls onto the street, splattering everywhere. It was thrown out of a third story window by a
drunk teenager.

6. A pair of fast-talking men run a game of three-card monty. Ironically, the game is somewhat straight, while
their third associate circulates through the crowd, picking the pockets of those who stay to watch.

7. A man holding a sign saying "free hugs".

8. A juggler performing on the street.

9. A few hundred paper bills of varying value are fluttering down from the sky (maybe dropped from an
airplane), onto a crowd of people snatching them up

10. A somewhat lanky kid takes a tumble from his skateboard in front of some oncoming traffic

11. A learner driver accidentally jumps the curb

12. A police officer oblivious to his/her surroundings indulging in a Meat Pie/Hot Dog/Burger/Insert local faire
here

13. A half-dozen rowdy drunken sports fans, fresh to celebrate their team's win.

14. Someone handing out flyers for a band.

15. A bunch of cosplayers wandering around looking for a waffle-house. One of them is nursing a black eye.

16. A group of cyclists, probably the participants of a race, block the street for a few minutes.

17. A loud break-up taking place, as an angry woman in her apartment shouts at her ex on the sidewalk, while
throwing the man's possessions out the window, several stories to the ground.

18. A college student approaches the PCs. "Where are all the people?" He probably wants to know where the
popular hang-outs are.

19. A man walks by with a snake around his shoulders.

20. A group of punk teens have the youngest girl in the group on a leash. The police are arguing with them,
suspicious that they're trying to peddle her ass.

21. A drunk pees just inside an alley.

22. A drunken couple get it on against the wall behind a dumpster.

23. A man and a woman, dressed to impress, pass by. You hear the woman saying "I'm sorry your wife left you
for your stepfather..."

24. A man at a cafe sitting with a small paper coffee cup on his head.

25. Traffic backed up three blocks because two cops are parked next to each other with their flashing lights on,
just casually talking, and every passing car slows down to see what's going on.

26. Passing Hare Krishna’s offer flowers and say "Gouranga. Be Happy"

27. Illegal minicab driver offers a discount fare.

28. Four suspicious men walk past discussing a bank robbery (actually role-players)

29. Tour group passes by(preferably a school band group).

30. A young couple ask one of the PCs to take their photo by a landmark.

31. An elderly couple walk pass. One is complaining at length about service in a shop. The other caught the eye
of a sympathetic player, rolls their eyes and smiles good-naturedly.

32. Two small children run pass wearing home-made superhero masks/capes

33. A flustered woman drops her shopping.

34. Two foreign gentleman speaking a language not known to the players try to get directions to the station

35. A small child asks a player if that is a real gun/sword/etc they have hidden on them

36. A chugger (charity mugger) approaches with a clipboard and asks if the party can spare a few moments and a
small monthly contribution to ease the plight of 
a) the homeless b) persons suffering from cancer c) abused children d) the environment 

37. A political candidate and entourage sweep through the street shaking hands and asking who you're going to
vote for. 

38. An old homeless person of indeterminate sex passes by pushing a shopping trolley filled with random
rubbish. They mutter something about "Millennium hand and shrimp..."

39. A model spotter for one of the big agencies stops the best looking PC in the group and asks if they ever
considered modeling. They want to take a Polaroid and phone number.

40. A group of 4 urban youths stride towards the PCs they look like they have no intention of stepping aside or
even making gaps for the PCs to pass through.

41. An "indie" looking 20 something hands out a flyer for an "underground" party to every PC in the group
except the one with the best combat stats.

42. An articulated lorry (a vehicle not designed for the narrow city streets) slowly makes a wide turn around a
very sharp corner. When most of the way around the driver realizes he has squeezed his truck the wrong way in
to a one way street. With his truck blocking the entire junction and busy city traffic blocked in all around him
this is going to take a while to sort out. Motorists are not pleased and not shy about letting him know.

43. You attention is drawn when you hear the sound of a large vehicle accelerating hard. A BMW SUV breaks
out of traffic and accelerates towards oncoming traffic only to screech to a stop diagonally in front of another
car. The driver jumps out and begins screaming at the driver of the car he has just cut off.
44. A clearly lost man trying to hold a very large map out in front of him asks for your help. He doesn't speak the
local language at all but repeats the name of the place he is looking for over and over while gesturing at the map.
For bonus weirdness the place he is looking for is a bit peculiar ("flesh house", "gate place", "human living
location").

45. A group of Nordic Walkers, heard from blocks away cause of their sticks, walks past the PCs, loudly
chatting, watched by every other person on the street...

46. A 6'7" woman dressed in nothing more than a silver bikini, a fur jacket & her purse struts fearlessly down the
street not far from a famous club after midnight. (she was very friendly)

47. A gaggle of trannies huddling close together like penguins in the cold weather, running to get to someplace
warm.

48. While walking past a Catholic School in midwinter, a snowball hits a PC in back. An elderly nun ambles
about nonchalantly.

49a. In a run down part of town, the characters notice that there's a couple of blocks where various gang colors
are conspicuous by their absence, and people move about with a lot less of the usual wariness.

49b. An island of stability in a poor part of town...there aren't drug deals going on in plain sight, and people walk
alone without fear...even single women. 

49c. (If the PC's are connected with the gang culture, or simply investigate, they'll find out that the boxers and
mixed martial artists (and the coach, who is ex special forces) of Kelly's Boxing Club have never caused any
trouble...but when anyone has started it, they have finished it. And the gang members have pulled back a block
around the place...after one gang member attempted to mug a student close by, her yell brought about 25 martial
artists, boxers, wrestlers, and mixed martial artist competitors running.)

50. Twenty burly rugby players (one in a wedding dress), run past bellowing drinking songs

51. Twenty giggly women wearing pink cowboy hats accost the players. A woman wearing a sash that says
"Pauline's hen night" tries to persuade a male character to donate his underwear to her scavenger hunt list.

52. Brief moment of quiet as traffic stops/clears and all conversations pause at the same time

53. As the players walk by and alleyway any player looking down will see what appears to be a cow wandering
about.

54. The PCs spot several goths wearing leather trench coats and fairly obvious katanas and .50 desert eagles.
Anyone who makes a decent spot check will realize the weaponry is not real. Its the local Vampire LARP group
out on a "full costume" social.

55. Some street theater performers put on a performance. They encourage the audience to participate in their
interactive play (look up Augusto Boal for ideas).

56. A foreign dignitary is escorted to some meeting by a high - speed police escort.

57. Mimes have infested the street and try to climb invisible ropes in front of a clearly unamused audience.

58. A group of students does an embarrassing local dance as part of a scavenger hunt (I was actually part of that
crowd).

59. A unit of recruits/police academy cadets on their daily run (actually encountered in Prague).

60. A streaker.
61. World Jump Day: At a certain time, 200 people suddenly stop and start jumping up and down.

62. A nice pair of teenagers who cheerfully slip into the conversation with the PCs. They are very polite, and the
first thing they say is 'Sorry to butt in...'

63. Flashmob....Roll 1d6 1-2 Dance to their iPods 3-4 Have a massive pillow fight 5 Get naked and steak about
the place 6 Start handing out $1 bills to random strangers

64. An elementary school kid, pushing a bike with two flat tires. He has a gash on his forehead which is still
bleeding. His pants, as well as one of the two straps on his backpack are torn and dirty.

65. A trio of nuns playing jump-rope. 

66. A young man playing a guitar, with the case open on the ground before him. He has a sign that says
COLLECTING DONATIONS FOR THE OPTIMUS PRIME ELECTION CAMPAIGN. He can play any song
you care to name

67. A man in an expensive business suit and leather briefcase walking down the street, chomping on a
completely raw piece of steak.

68. A homeless man standing on the corner with his pants around his ankles, holding his dick, and looking
forlorn, like he really needs to pee but somehow forgot how to.

69. Some hustler follows you down the block, offering to sell you weed. Failing that he will begin to name every
other kind of drug possible, hoping to make a sale. He says it all very fast and very quietly, so the whole thing
sounds like of like, "Smokesmokeweedweedacidecstasyspeedcokecrackjunk?" 

70. A guy breaking into a car with a coat hanger. The car's alarms are blaring and people are just walking by,
ignoring the whole thing, and definitely not calling the cops.

71. Three guys jump another guy walking out of a club, drag him down the street and start viciously kicking the
shit out of him with no apparent provocation.

72. A van and a car stop at a red light. When the light turns green, the van doesn't start to move immediately, and
the car behind starts to honk. Still the van doesn't move. The car's driver jumps out, holding a tire iron, and starts
to walk towards the van, screaming obscenities. The van's doors open and four much larger men pile out,
screaming back. The car's driver jumps back into his vehicle and locks the door. The four men from the van keep
screaming and aim a few heavy kicks at the car's panels before climbing back into the van and driving away.

73. A pedestrian and a bicycle messenger in an argument

74. A policeman having a double-parked car towed, while pedestrians watch approvingly

75. A cab backs up two blocks because he missed the fare's destination

76. A group of people matching the description of the players (NOT the PCs, but the real people playing them)
walks past, chatting amongst themselves. If the PCs kill one or all of them for whatever reason, looting their
corpses will provide the PCs with nothing but the character sheets for each PC that each one of them plays.

77. Homeless man on the subway strung out on drugs yelling how he is going to rape and murder each women
on the train. He goes into graphic detail describing these acts. If you confront him he will just curse you out. If
you fight him he will feebly defend himself, all the while yelling how he will kill and dismember you. He will
then bolt for the exit when the train stops. No matter what happens, all the other passengers will ignore what
goes on.

78. Elderly woman standing on a crowded bus carrying heavy bags. No one offers her a seat. If you offer her
your seat she will look at you in terror and shout, "Get away from me! GET AWAY FROM ME!!"

79. Crazy woman on the train arguing with herself or imaginary voices. If she sees you looking at her she will
yell, "Whaddya think ya are? Some gawddam [insert ethnic slur here that doesn't match the PC's race]?"

80. Woman or man approaches you at a train or bus station with a long complicated story of how he/she was
pick pocketed and now has to borrow money to buy a ticket home in another city where his/her young children
are waiting. If you suggest contacting the police they will spin an excuse and get evasive.

81. A group of people dressed and walking like Zombies able about, moaning and occasionally gnawing at
passerby’s heads. “Braaaiiinnnnsss.”

82. A particularly loud and irate protest group outside the place they are protesting (abortion clinic, courthouse,
city hall, corporate HQ, etc.). Things are starting to get damned ugly, but there's no violence... yet

83. Photo or film shooting

84. The same, but the model(s) is/are naked. Most people pretend not to notice

85. A film crew shooting a movie. May/maynot be looking for extras (the PC’s)

86. A fortune teller down an alleyway calls out to one of the PCs by name (a/the female one, if possible) and
beckons him/her to come over and get his/her fortune read.

87. A pack of somewhat domestic dogs running as their ancestors did. A few moments before, you might of seen
the massive cat they are chasing. 

88. A piece of glass falls out from a tall building. It shatters on the street and there are many people nursing
cuts. 

89. Two cars in a fender bender. They are actually off to the side of the road with the police being quite civilized
to each other.

90. A "teacher" with about 12 young children following behind her like duckling. Each one is hanging on to the
rope with handles that the teacher has with her.

91. A bunch of people wearing cowboy hats and pieces of western apparel walking down the street laughing and
having a good time. Some might be drinking, even this early in the morning.

92. A pankour(street acrobatics) pack come tumbling out of an alley. They bounce off a couple of things heading
across the street. 

93. Several kids jumping into large snow drifts from a second story window.

94. A residential street is blocked off by yellow tape and barriers. They are setting up for a block party. Some of
the kids are starting early. 

95. A bunch of people in office casual wear, using lots of electronics while walking (blackberries, laptops, gps,
and cells), are heading down the street. Each seems to be wearing some kind of badge from a convention. 

96. A girl in Fantasy Elven Dress, a guy in some kind of world war II uniform, a refuge from the 50s with leather
jacket, and a normal kid in a baseball cap, seem to be moving along carefully but with a purpose.

97. Two glowing red eyes stare out from a very dark alley. You can hear something that might be a growl in
there. If you flash a light or investigate... nothing is there.

98. A police tactical team is pouring out of their vans. A few other officers seem to be getting out barriers and
things from their car. 

99. Two kids playing wireless videogames are staring at each other from across the street. 

100. A beautiful girl, dressed to the nines, talking on her cell phone.

101. A Phone Company Truck is blocking off traffic and setting up to go down a manhole cover.

102. A hot dog vending car rolls by. The proprietor is singing (quite well) as he strolls by.

103. A bunch of guys are carrying thing into and out of a good sized truck into a building.

104. A bunch of people dressed up in the local team's colors are walking together.... and down the street are
people wearing the "oppositions" colors. 

105. Firemen wrapping up hoses and gear. The building behind them has water sliding down its front steps in a
slow dribble.

106. A mail man is facing down a dog. He has a mace can.

107. An artist is hawking painting from has parked van.

108. A TV crew is setting up a "live on the street shot".

109. A pack of guys in suits, pour out of a bar. 

110. A homeless guy with a cardboard sign is standing in the intersection. 

111. A man with camera seems to be intently focused on something down the street. 

112. Steaming coming up from the manhole covers on the street.

113. A woman in her early thirties staggers out of a building, bloody and wounded. The proper diagnosis of her
wounds is that of a frenzied knife stabbings.

114. When the PC's are in a hurry, the crossing gates ahead begin to drop, and there's the deep whistle of the
oncoming train. Alternatively, there is already a train in the crossing, and there's no alternative to stopping.

115. A couple of SCA dudes in armor, wailing on each other

116. A drag queen with HUGE hair passing out flyers for a LGBT club

117. lots and lots of sirens approach from one end of the street. Cars pull up to the side or
mount the pavement as the convoy of armoured police vans and unmarked cars tears
down the wrong side of road. just as they disappear round the corner a lone patrol car
peels out of the traffic and heads in the opposite direction.

118. Bump into prostitute and pimp in an area where you wouldn't imagine a prostitute
and pimp should be; the pimp is also dressed in really stereotypical '70's style and they're
both pretty old.

119. An extremely old lady grasps your elbow and asks you to walk her across the street.
She walks VERY slowly and it'll take you at least a couple of minutes to walk her across
(the light will change, obviously).

120. Obviously homeless woman suddenly drops trou a couple of yards from you and
urinates against the side of a building before pulling her pants back up and acting as if
nothing has happened.

121. There's a long, white limousine parked by the curb; as you walk by, you notice a
small camera crew filming what's going on inside; it's pretty obvious they're filming a
porno.

122. A slightly overweight guy in his '30's or early 40's bumps into someone and
suddenly explodes in righteous anger, accusing the bumper of disrespecting him and
then finishing off by declaring that he's from Brooklyn and the other guy is DEAD if he
ever shows his face in Brooklyn.

123. A guy pulls up in his car up to a bus-stop where there are a lot of young women
waiting and yells "Hey, girls!", masturbates briefly in front of them, and then makes good
his escape.

124. Some guy is on the side-walk selling stuff, i.e. bootleg CD's, African beads, etc. While
he waits for customers, he stands off to one side in a HORSE STANCE to show everyone
that he knows Kung-Fu is shouldn't be messed with.

125. A group of drunken teen-agers (probably below the legal limit) approach...a girl in
the group suddenly gets really close and really touchy to one of the PC's while her
friends just sort of snicker and laugh, depending on the how obviously the PC shows
his/her discomfort. It's obvious she's really drunk or baked or both.

126. Some dude dressed all in black (with the obligatory black beret) is carrying a walking
stick that you know is actually a katana because you saw the damn thing in the Asian
World of Martial Arts. This guy is walking around openly with a frickin' Samurai sword!!!!

127. A big dude looks at the PC, asks him if he belongs to a certain ethnicity and then
narrows his eyes, nods and says, "I thought so."

128. A bunch of drunk frat guys harrass a young cop; the young cop suddenly flies off the
handle (he's obviously new to the job and has had a bad day) and grabs one of the frat
boys and jacks him against the wall. Suddenly, everything turns really quiet.

129. Two young girls walk up to you and say "$200?". They aren't prostitutes; they just
think YOU'RE looking for one. They laugh and go on their way.

130. You see a guy in a purple suit carrying a pistol in one hand and a fistful of cash in
the other go loping out of a MacDonald's on the corner. The suit is really purple the gun
barely registers.

#131 After a night out with the "guys" the PC's notice a car following them slowly. If they
stop and wait in the shadows for a while the driver turns down a side street and speeds
away.

#132 Sitting at their local coffee shop at 9am the PC's find a team of US Marshals( or
agents of the government of whatever country your PC's are in) dropping by for a cup
after a long morning of arresting fugitives.

133. On the left side of the gas station clerk's building: two cops checking out some BMW,
clearly searching for drugs of some kind.

- about forty feet away -

On the right side of the gas station clerk's building: a really really obvious drug deal. The
next step up would be a sign that said "Buy your drugs HERE."

134 Plainclothes cops (I hope!) arrest a struggling teenager. No-one reacts.

135 Two incredibly drunk middle aged men beat each other bloody. Just, really slowly.
136 A crazy homeless guy rocks out to his iPod.
137 Noisy revival meeting. Pa-raise-uh Jeeee-sus.
138 Bored looking Buddhist monks wait for a bus.
139 Gorgeous girl with chunder fugly, obnoxious boyfriend. You collide with a lamppost.
140Tranny combining cleavage top and 5 o'clock shadow. The horror. Lamppost.
141 A gaggle of stinky crust-punx have pulled up deck chairs across the road from a
major gig, cheerfully swilling back discount cider to the second hand tunes.
142 Scruffy, teenage mallrats practice pro-wrestling moves on each other.
143 Done up Goths listen in rapt horror to an old man's war stories.
144 Someone pukes their ring out to the cheers and whoops of their comrades.

145 The PCs pass a man holding a sign reading "Familly Kidnapped by Ninjas. Please
help!" Depending on what the PCs have seen in the past, they might just be inclined to.

146-While the PC are standing somewhere public, a rich looking woman deep in
conversation with her friend, pushes a handful of coins into the scruffiest PC's hand, and
remarks "He'll probably spend it on drugs but we have to do our bit"

147-Two women are standing with a film crew. One of the women asks the PCs if they
would estimate the other's age.

148- Bride or groom comes running out of a building and asks the PCs if they will be
witnesses.
149 A man walks down the street, muttering to himself about being in a foreign land. If
the PCs keep listening, he wants a photo opportunity and a shot at redemption. Attempts
at conversation cause him to try to hire the toughest-looking PC as a bodyguard.

149 A street concert can be heard from several blocks away. A successful roll reveals that
it's one of the PCs' favorite bands. They haven't advertised because they're the back-up
for the most awful local band the PCs have met, who had to back out at the last minute.

149 A nearby manhole cover briefly lifts a few inches, then settles back down again.
Observant PCs will notice that there was a guy underneath it

150- A pair of drunken fellows with a guitar attempt to engage you in conversation, offer
you beer, wonder if you'd like to hear a song or two, trail off, have a grand old time, ask if
there's a good place to perform nearby, and do it all in a broad Dublin accent. At the end
of the conversation they say 'goodbye' and they don't have a trace of an accent.

151- Car stops, dazed-looking fellow leans out the window and asks if you know
anywhere he could 'score'.

152- A man gives you a pamphlet explaining how the Koran anticipated modern scientific
discoveries.

153- A group of pirates walks past. One block later, a large number of vampires are
gathered around a pub, and a suspicious number of well-dressed gentlemen in similar
hats are seen nearby.

154- A ten-year-old girl plays the violin, and rather well.

155- You walk into a shop and the theft alarm goes off.

156 A gaggle of schoolgirls is staring at the players, particularly if it's just a solitary male
PC. Their intentions are unclear. If eye contact is broken then re-established, they are still
using their vacant but penetrating stare.
157 A junkie very much invades the player's space to ask for spare change.
158 A giant of a man is attempting to squeeze and rend and crush a smaller woman
while she yells for help. Appeals to the crowd to rush the bastard are ignored
159 A man with a slight but obvious neurological impairment is at a party. Wise PC's see
that he's nervous as he is standing at the entrance glaring suspiciously. If approached he
circles to the left quite fluidly and shakes hands at arm's length, still clearly trying to
make sense of the players* Conversation is very guarded and he tends to speak on very
lofty subjects, his mood changing. If offered a drink he relaxes markedly. If hugged
suddenly he stumbles backward, before reaching up and seizing the arms of the huggee.
Once he is convinced there is no threat he becomes more relaxed, but if hugged
amorously by a woman he responds with a slight pat on the head or shoulder and a brief
grin rather than escalating.
160 The same man is seen in the company of another very similar man. The other man is
speaking Spanish at every opportunity only to be told to shut up by the man seen
previously.* 
161 A group of Tibetan sangha wander up the red light district, happily oblivious to its
purpose and blessing people at every opportunity.
162 A man rushes a smaller PC yelling threats and abuse, pummelling them and ripping
at their clothes
163 Across the myriad babble of the CBD crowd a PC hears their name called only to
ignore it as their imagination before a friendly familiar person pops up.

164 Two overall clad workmen are carrying sheets of glass from oneside of the road to
the other where there's a skip. The panes of glass have large black Xs across them in
tape. There's no obvious construction going on within a block of this 

165 Two other overall clad men are placing crates full of melons, chickens and straw from
out of a warehouse into an alley. Apart from a van full of crates the men brought with
them the warehouse contains white goods.