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Adventure #236

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

Character
Encounter

Espionage
Espionage adventures are active, grim scenarios involving spying and perhaps other cloak-and-dagger deeds such as
assassination or rescue.
Rescue NPC(s)
The characters must rescue one or more kidnapped NPCs, probably from the stronghold of the kidnapper.
Obviously, they must get to said stronghold, break in, rescue the kidnappee, break out, and escape back to safety;
this usually requires careful and clever planning and a large dose of luck.
Old Enemy
This is a straightforward story hook; the hero learns that his oldest enemy is back and is very active in the campaign,
up to something. The hero will naturally want to investigate and will walk right into the story.
A-B-C Quest
This is an epic sort of plot. In it, the heros are given (or undertake) a task to perform: The taking of a city, the rescue
of an innocent, the destruction of a monster, the creation of a magical item, the defeat of a Master Villain, etc. But
the path to victory is not a simple one. To get to their goal, Event A, they find that they must first accomplish some
other task -- Event B. But when they undertake the task of accomplishing Event B, they find that they must first
accomplish Event C. This goes on for several encounters, until the heroes accomplish all the obstacle events which
prevent them from returning to Event A, their original goal.
Throne Room Duel
This is set up much like the Scattered Duels, except that you don't separate the heroes. It's harder to control whom
fights who in this situation... but if it doesn't matter who has the final duel with the Master Villain, this is a classic
climax choice.
Cosmopolitan City
Most of the story takes place in a large, sophisticated city; center the villain's plot and activities around that city.
This setting is best suited to adventures involving more people than monsters; most of your villains should be human
or demi-human.
Craftsman's Quarter
This can occur in either the shop of the master craftsman of a palace or manor, or the guild-area of a city.
Ruins
These can be the ruins of some ancient civilization, an abandoned temple or castle, incomprehensible blocks of
stone arranged by ancient gods, etc. They can be magical or normal, inhabited by normal animals or by monsters,
centers of magic or just tumbled-down buildings.
Corruptor
The Corruptor is the villain who wants to make something nasty out of something that is currently nice. He may be
working on a small scale -- i.e., wish to corrupt one character or a few characters, particularly PCs and their favorite
NPCs. Alternatively, he may be a big-scale villain trying to change an entire city or nation into a jaded, debased pit
of sin, hatred and death.
Corrupted Hero
This villain was once a hero, possibly one known to the players. He was seduced by the dark side of the dungeon
master. Because of his own weakness, or of a curse, he has become a villain, a pawn of the Master Villain.
Snivelling Vizier
The Vizier is a throne-room villain. Functionally, he's rather like the Hard-Eyed Advisor, offering tactics and advice
to his master; but he's an ooily, sleazy, cowardly sycophant. He's usually brilliant in his field of advice but has no
combat abilities.
Childhood Friend with a Dark Secret
One of the heroes is accompanied by one of his childhood friends... but said friend now has a Dark Secret. He does
strange and mysterious things (sneaks off to send messages, or behaves strangely around certain NPCs, or is scared
to death of certain harmless animals or situations) and will not explain why to his PC friend until late in the story.
Noble Beast
With this encounter, the heroes find that they have to capture -- but not injure -- some sort of powerful, noble beast
in order to accomplish their mission. For instance, to reach a mountain-top aerie, they must capture pegasi and ride
them up to their enemy.
Bandit Gang
When the heroes are en route from one place to another, have them run across one of the local bandit gangs. The
bandits are faster and far more numerous than the heroes. But the bandits stay back. Basically, they're bandits who
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.
Pit and the Pendulum
Actually, we're applying this term to any of many time-delay deathtraps. In this sort of trap, the villains capture the
Deathtrap
heroes and place them in a trap which will soon kill them -- it operates on a delay, often based on a timing device or
a burning fuse.
Special Terrain
You can make any chase more memorable by having it take place in a setting to which it is utterly unsuited. For
Chase
instance, horse chases are fine and dramatic when they take place through the forest, out in the open plains, or along
a road -- but they become diabolical when they take place inside the Royal Palace or in dangerous, labrynthine,
treacherous catacombs.
Hero Fulfills Prophecy
Omen/Prophesy This is the most useful sort of prophecy. In the early part of the adventure, one of the heroes discovers that he fulfills
some ancient prophecy.
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.
No Lawbreaking
For some reason, at one point in the story, the heroes cannot allow themselves to break the law -- even when it
Special
would help them greatly to do so. For instance, the heroes may be asking for the help of a king whose word is law
Condition
and whose power is immense. When they arrive for their audience, an emissary of the Master Villain is making a
similar plea for help. If the heroes attack and kill that emissary, they will lose any chance at the king's help -- in fact,
he may order their execution.
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.
False Path to the Artifact
Once again, if the heroes have had too easy a time finding the artifact capable of destroying the villain, give them
Red Herring trouble this way: When they get to the place where the artifact is supposed to be contained, they find the coffer or
chamber or whatever empty, obviously looted by robbers, who have scrawled such remarks as "Kelrog was here!"
upon the walls.
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.

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