Somewhat akin to the missing forest from Darlene's gorgeous maps of The Flanaess, the Glassography from the 1983 World of Greyhawk boxed set doesn't include an encounter table for Hardby. Unlike the forgotten Folio Forest, however, Hardby is only mentioned in passing in the original Folio and Boxed Set editions for the setting, so it's not terribly surprising that Hardby doesn't merit its own Encounter Table.
Still, my current campaigns have been set in and around the City of Greyhawk, and while the previous group from our Wichita Greyhawk Campaign (RIP due to COVID) did visit the city of Hardby for training and some resupplies during their explorations of the DMG Monastery dungeon, the current Castle-Greyhawk-based crew has not trod its hallowest streets quite yet. But they are planning a trip to Hardby in the near-future, to be followed by a trip to Dyvers (perhaps directly from Hardby, perhaps via Greyhawk City---we'll see!).
| World of Greyhawk campaign prep - a DM's fun is never done! |
Since the PCs are still relatively lower-level, and the path between the two settlements is along well-trod roads, the journey from Greyhawk City to Hardby will likely be conducted by the PCs afoot, unless they decide to hire a local ship or a Rhenne barge to speed their trip.
In any event, travel afoot, mounted, or via riverine transport will require several days, which will entail some random encounters. One of the aspects about the design and detailing of Greyhawk that I love is its use of setting-specific regional encounter charts, which include local patrols details too. However, Hardby lacks an existing table for such roaming monsters....
That didn't stop me from creating a table, of course, but I did check and recheck to make sure I hadn't missed its entry, sure that it should be there (it wasn't). I built the list of possible encounters using a mixture drawn from other nearby encounter tables' entries, including the Abbor-Alz, Cairn Hills, the City of Greyhawk, and the Wild Coast.
Here's the final result:
Hardby Wilderness Encounters Table
d100 Roll Hardby Encounter 01-04 Demi-Humans 05-06 Dwarves (1d6: 1-4 hill, 5-6 mountain) 07 Elves, Sylvan 08 Gnomes 09-10 Halflings (1d6: 1-4 Hairfeet, 5-6 Stout) 11 Hill Giants (raiding) 12-15 Humanoids (raiding) 16-18 Men, Amazon Patrol - Light 19-20 Men, Amazon Patrol - Medium 21 Men, Amazon Patrol - Heavy 22-25 Men, Bandits 26-27 Men, Brigands 28-29 Men, Buccaneers (on or near water) 30-32 Men, Characters 33-45 Men, Merchants 46-47 Men, Pilgrims 48-52 Men, Pirates (on or near water) 53 Men, Raiders (slavers or otherwise) 54-59 Men, Rhenne (on or near water, or Attloi inland) 60-62 Men, Tribesmen (hill- or marshmen + 20-80) 63-64 Ogres (Merrows if on or near water) 65-66 Trolls (Scrags if on or near water) 67-100 Use Standard Encounter Tables
20% of riverine encounters will be with Rhenne, with the remaining 80% using the standard tables.
I still need to detail Hardby's Amazon Patrols (and the Amazon Marines that ward the Selintan River and Wooly Bay coastal waters), but that'll come together quickly I'm sure.
Allan.