Adventure #153

Theme

Goal

Story Hook

Plot

Climax

General Setting

Specific Setting
I

Specific Setting
II

Master Villain

Minor Villain I

Minor Villain II

Ally/Neutral

Monster
Encounter

Horror
This type of adventure is designed to scare both the characters and the players. Just having a monster attack is not
enough for a horror theme; the monster must first frighten the characters.
Protect Endangered NPC(s)
One or more NPCs are in danger, and the characters must protect them. They might be doing this for a reward, or
because one or more of the NPCs is a friend or relative of the character. You need to decide what the characters are
protecting the NPCs from. The NPC might be a wealthy or powerful person being sought by assassins or kidnappers.
The NPC might be a whole village of peasants who are being terrorized by a bandit chieftan.
Dying Delivery
On some occassion when the hero is out wandering the streets or is otherwise all alone, a dying man bumbs into
him, hands him something, says a few words, and dies.
Event
For this plot, choose some sort of event -- a tournament, a holiday, a celebration called by the king, a masked ball, or
whatever -- and set the commencement of the Master Villain's plan against that backdrop.
Scattered Duels
In this climax, the heroes have gotten to the end of their quest -- they may have broken into, sneaked into, or
escaped from imprisonment within the villain's citadel, or have marched into the little town where the villain is
holed up -- and they become separated. You can separate them by having traps and tricks break the party apart, by
having them see two or three things they must resolve (such as danger to innocents or the appearance of minion
villains) pop up simultaneously; they'll have to run in all directions at the same time or suffer failure. Once the party
is broken down into bite-sized chunks, you confront each individual or small group with the enemy or enemies he
most deserves to face -- his personal enemy, the monster which defeated him before, etc. -- for a grand series of
climactic duels.
Exotic Distant Land
The adventure will take the heroes to some fascinating and exotic distant country, where they'll have to cope with
new customs, monsters unfamiliar to them, and very colorful NPC encounters; choose one of the more fascinating
foreign lands from your campaign world.
Lost City
This is the remnant of some lost civilization or expedition, still thriving in some forgotten corner of the world.
Remnants of lost civilizations can even inhabit cavern systems beneath campaign cities, preying on the aboveworlders for their goods, slaves, and sacrifices.
Lost City
This is the remnant of some lost civilization or expedition, still thriving in some forgotten corner of the world.
Remnants of lost civilizations can even inhabit cavern systems beneath campaign cities, preying on the aboveworlders for their goods, slaves, and sacrifices.
Conqueror
This character is moving his army in to take over; that's what he lives for. He's been the enemy of your characters'
nation's ruler, and has launched a full-scale invasion of your characters' favorite nation. The heroes have to beat their
way through or elude his hordes of soldiers in order to get at him; better yet, they might lead their own nation's
troops against his and outthink him in military fashion.
Lovable Rogue
This character is like the Master Villain of the same name, except that he has no minions of his own and serves at
someone else's bidding. However, he's very independent, not always working in his employer's best interests; he
often makes fun of the Master Villain's pretensions and may suffer that villain's retaliation because of it.
Childhood Friend with a Dark Secret
This Minor Villain is like the character of the same name from the Allies and Neutrals section. However, the heroes
find out early on that he's really working for the Master Villain. He may not wish to be helping the villains; his
family may be held hostage, or he may just be too frightened of the villain or otherwise weak-willed to refuse.
Alternatively, he could actually be evil now.
Ingenue in Distress
The heroes must protect some defenseless young innocent who is in danger from the villains. This person, perhaps
the sheltered son or daughter of a nobleman or merchant, has no abilities at all but is sweet, charming, and in great
need of help.
Nocturnal Predator
This is a classic monster encounter; the arrival of a hungry carnivore in the middle of the night. Usually, this attack
happens to heroes camping between villages or out in the deep wilderness; a wild animal, attracted by food odors
(from the heroes' campfire or from the heroes themselves) sneaks in for a bite.

Bandit Gang
When the heroes are en route from one place to another, have them run across one of the local bandit gangs. The
Character
bandits are faster and far more numerous than the heroes. But the bandits stay back. Basically, they're bandits who
Encounter
admire courage and prowess, and the bandit leader will challenge one or all of the heroes to a test of bravery or
ability -- such as a horserace, a duel, a wrestling match, a joust, an arm-wrestling match where scorpions sting the
loser, etc.
Demolition Zone
Deathtrap
In this classic deathtrap, the heroes are placed (usually bound and weaponless) in some building or area just as it's
due to be destroyed.
Water
Don't
forget the water chase: Whether it's a battle of seamanship between naval vessels, a chase of rafts toward the
Chase
inevitable waterfall ahead, a contest of canoeing ability, or a chase between the villain and his giant shark vs. the
heroes and their dolphin friends, the water chase can be a distinctive and dramatic one.
Fortune Teller Predicts Doom
This is an ominous encounter: A fortune-teller predicts doom for one of the heroes, or for some community menaced
Omen/Prophesy by the Master Villain. Shortly after, some calamity should befall the hero: He can be attacked by an assassin, be in a
building when it is struck by fire or an earthquake, or suffer other danger. Investigation of the events can then point
the heroes toward the Master Villain as the event's instigator.
Love
The Master Villain possesses the "weakness" of genuine affection or love -- probably for some NPC, though it could
Secret Weakness be very intriguing if the object of his affections is a player-character. The heroes can then defeat the villain by
holding his loved one hostage, or proving that his loved one will be seriously harmed, betrayed, or killed if the
villain keeps up with his activity.
Time Limit
Finally,
the most obvious condition to place on an adventure is to give it a time limit. If the Master Villain is going
Special
to
conclude
his evil spell in only three days, and his citadel is three hard days' riding away, then the heroes are going
Condition
to be on the go all throughout the adventure -- with little time to rest, plan, gather allies, or anything except get to
where they're going.
Friend Quandry
Moral Quandry
At a critical point in the story, one of the campaign's NPCs makes an impossible demand of one of the heroes.
Loony who Has It Wrong
Red Herring You can have the heroes "aided" by a so-called expert who is actually a lunatic who doesn't know anything about
what he's talking about. Once he's led the heroes off to some remote part of the continent, his evasive answers and
bizarre behaviour will alert them that he really doesn't know anything about what he's pretended to be an expert on.
Wanted by the Law
Cruel Trick One final complication, one which occurs pretty frequently, is when the heroes are wanted by the law. When they're
wanted by the law, they have to travel in secret and very limited in the resources they can acquire.