1d100 Reasons the Party's Delayed

1 Wagon axle broke

2 Horse broke a leg
3 Ambushed
4 Kidnapped
5 Held for ransom
6 Bandits stole your horses
7 Bandits stole your loot and supplies
8 Bandits kidnapped the person you were escorting
9 You got lost
10 The map you were following is wrong
11 You took a "shortcut"
12 Road's washed out
13 Bridge is out
14 Roadblock
15 Roadblock with officers checking papers
16 Got arrested (mistaken identity)
17 Got arrested (completely unsurprising)
18 Taken into protective custody
19 Warned not to leave town by the authorities
20 Held awaiting trial
21 Got conscripted
22 Got caught up in court politics
23 Got challenged to a duel
24 Got involved in the town's problems
25 Looped into pulling a job for the local mob boss
26 An old friend called in a favor
27 Rival asked for a favor
28 Old faction called in a debt
29 Old enemy called in a debt
30 Had to flee from creditors
31 Had to attend an unexpected funeral
32 Got ridiculously drunk
33 Accidentally took vows to a forgotten god
34 Had to lay low
35 Joined the circus
36 Ran out of gas (gauge's broken)
37 Missed the train
38 Train derailed
39 Had to find someone to resurrect half the party
40 Petrified, survivors and hirelings seeking cure
41 Transformed into frogs
42 Trapped in magical sleep
43 Geased
44 Added to a dragon's hoard
45 Sucked out of space and time through a tear in reality
46 Shifted into another dimension
47 Stuck in the non-euclidean halls of a haunted house
48 Trapped on the other side of the mirror
49 Wandering the labyrinth
50 Frozen beneath the ice
51 Flung far into the future
52 Thrown back into the past
53 Led astray by will-o-wisps
54 Wandered into a fairy circle
55 Taken to an audience with the king of the cats
56 Looking for a suitable offering
57 Dragged to hell
58 Hot spring episode
59 Beach episode
60 Missed the tide
61 Your ship sunk
62 Trapped in the doldrums
63 Washed overboard
64 Set upon by pirates
65 Entered a fishing tournament
66 Entered a tournament, prize is a mid-sized county
67 Had to detour out of the path of a marching army
68 Caught between two armies
69 Couldn't get outside the city walls before the siege fell
70 Quarantined
71 Sick, had to rest and recuperate
72 Forced to shelter until the drake migration ends
73 Waiting out the storm, been raining all week with no sign of letting up
74 Snowed in
75 Forced to travel under the mountains by unseasonal blizzards
76 Fell through a sinkhole into a cave system
77 The dungeon entrance you used before is collapsed
78 Being tracked, had to throw pursuers off the trail
79 Being tracked by magical means, have to lift the enchantment
80 Had to go far afield to find new hirelings
81 Detoured to go visit parents
82 Detoured to go visit grandparents
83 Stopped to pay respects to Baba Yaga
84 Got turned around in the black forest
85 Got turned around in the fog
86 Found a kid wandering alone
87 Helping find a kid's missing cat
88 Helping find a missing kid
89 Fighting a wildfire
90 Helping build and reinforce levees
91 Helping dig out a collapsed mine
92 Searching for survivors
93 Evacuating survivors
94 Escorting refugees
95 Hunting the thing that killed the horses
96 Helping hunt whatever's been mutilating cattle
97 Abducted by aliens
98 Wizard training
99 Destabilizing governments
100 Wouldn't cross the picket line

Everyday Obstacles

The things that hold you up on an adventure aren't always the standard adventuring fare like monsters, traps, and harsh conditions. Sometimes it's mundane, patience-grinding little things that can still cause snags.

No matter how powerful and renowned the party is, have them:

- Wait in line
- Deal with red tape and petty bureaucrats
- Run into rude people
- End up in a place where no one's heard of them

Any scenario where the normal methods of sword, sneaking, and social cachet are less effective than usual.

1d30 Reasons you shouldn't enter the city

1 Outstanding warrants

2 There's a bounty on you
3 There's a ridiculously gigantic bounty on you
4 You were exiled on pain of death
5 You faked your death
6 You pissed off the mob
7 You pissed off the guilds
8 You pissed off the city guard
9 You pissed off the church
10 6, 7, 8, and 9 all at once, outstanding
11 The longstanding grudge between your family and the ruling House
12 The Mayor hasn't forgotten you destroyed their statue and still thinks you instigated the riots
13 An old personal enemy holds considerable power there
14 Your ex still lives there
15 You broke your betrothal and there's a shotgun wedding waiting
16 Your parents live there and you're not ready for that right now
17 Your mentor lives there and you're not ready to face them yet
18 Your family is there, don't want to make them a target
19 Your dog is there, don't want to come back just to leave them again
20 Your fan club's HQ is there and it's incredibly uncomfortable
21 Don't want to get conscripted
22 You're banned for life after the last time
23 You definitely can't afford the bribes
24 You'll be expected to attend Society functions and make endless formal visits so as to not give Offense
25 The Steward will insist you take up your duties of state
26 You'll spark another succession war
27 You'd make a valuable hostage
28 Extra-planar travel makes you nauseous
29 It's not safe to be that close to your phylactery
30 The wards would incinerate you

What is Common?

The usual explanations I see for what Common is and why there's this one language that everyone seems to share are:

• It's a standardized trade tongue.
• It's the official language of whatever empire/nation/state/culture you're in.
• It's what humans speak, and they get everywhere so everyone else learns it in order to tell them to leave.

I don't particularly like any of those. They don't appeal to me, so here's my explanation: Common is the language of adventurers.

It's a professional language full of specialized jargon oriented around travel, exploration, delving, fighting, supplies, logistics, and contract law. You know it because you're an adventurer. Your colleagues know it because they're adventurers. The people you talk to (innkeepers, merchants, guides, nobles, etc.) know it because they regularly work with adventurers and need to communicate specifics while doing business.

When you're not talking about the job, you don't speak Common. It might have words for whatever the topic of conversation is, but that's for work. You have to maintain your professional boundaries. The random people you encounter during the day don't speak Common to each other or when they go home, they only speak it to you during the course of business. It only seems like everyone speaks Common regularly because your character is an adventurer and has an adventurer's view of the world.

It makes sense because adventuring is an exceptionally hazardous profession. You need fast, clear communication in the life or death situations you run into. There's no room for misunderstandings or hesitation. 

You need to be absolutely clear about contracts and exactly what you're being hired to do. (Nobles appreciate it because they don't want the party of people who can probably destabilize their realm to feel cheated, come back, and overthrow them.)

You need to be specific about the gear you purchase to make sure it'll be adequate for your nonstandard  needs. (Merchants appreciate it because adventurers are good repeat customers and they really don't want a party of vengeful survivors coming back because their gear failed them in the field.)

So you all speak the Common adventuring language to hash out details and make sure you're all on the same page.