I’m gonna start a new campaign soon and, while I have the entire thing pretty mapped out, I still wanna add some randomness into the mix, but none of the tables seemed to quite fit the theme I’m going with so, feel free to give any ideas you have, all input is welcomed !

The setting is In the late 1800, London industrial revolution ( I’m thinking steampunk, cogwheels and flying zeppelins all around ), the goal is to take down a corrupt governor that uses magic items he found in an old temple to assert dominance, but that’s not relevant. They ( should in theory ) travel mostly by train or car, but since the continent is divided in two ( an industrialized part and a wild overgrown magic part ) they might also have to walk or explore so anything is possible.

One classic way is to introduce dinosaurs into the mix. They can attack cars, trains or airships equally well, there's a large variety and it gives that clash between modern tech and ancient beasts.

Otherwise you have the steam punk staple of robots of various kinds, your standard bandits and other aggressive humans, the insect races or giant worms that track by vibration. 

Artifact Auction

The party's path ends up going through what appears to be an auction of important objects -- objects that the players don't want to fall into the wrong hands. This might even include something that was stolen from the players earlier in the campaign. There's a twist: the Auction Master doesn't only accept gold. He also accepts trades of any kind of valuable property, be it valuable trinkets, land, powerful favors, etc. The players, should they choose to engage in this auction, must bid against one of the governor's agents for the important object(s). The agent is a iron consul who has 3d4 x 100 gp worth of stuff to bid for the objects. If the players try to steal the object(s), the agent notices and calls for backup (more iron consuls) and try to stop the players, kill them if necessary. If the players win the bidding war, great! The agent sulks, but stays at the auction to buy something else for the governor. If the agent succeeds, have the agent make off with the object(s), and have said object(s) reappear later in the game in the service of the governor or one of his minions.

Well, I like for my random encounters to have their own little story. They're not just there to grind down player resources, they're potential plot hooks for B-Plots or possibly even later adventures. What looming threat might be growing on the horizon, insignificant now, but soon to be a PC worthy challenge? Is there an uprising of warforged, and the players are caught in the middle of an angry mob? Are vine and needle blights from the overgrown portion of the continent attacking towns and cities along the border? Anything is possible if you think of a way to make it work.

Press gangs. Have one or a few of the characters be jumped by someone who tries to sell them into the navy.

Damn! That was well thought out and fits perfectly with the theme, thank you!

Maybe you could add *robotic dinosaurs*, I also love the theme you are going for. Or some Mondrons as basic enemies that the player can find often, and good luck with your campaign!

*create a new monster*

Thanks!

Those items, some kind of curse on the temple, or possibly others with an interest in them the governor was one step ahead of could all be setting something off in response to the items being removed and used. If there's a large enough river and nearby sea or ocean I'd be thinking fish people - remnants of Old Atlantis, that sort of thing - making small incursions. They'd want to remain inconspicuous early on, don't tip their hand until ready to make their move since open conflict might result in the items being spirited away or the temple getting destroyed or sealed off, but could get more desperate as time progresses and the items get used more - that would let you scale up the encounters as the party levels up.