Adventure #180

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

Action/Adventure
This is the most common and straightforward sort of adventure there is. In the Action/Adventure scenario, you
present your characters with a task and then confront them with obstacles to overcome in order to accomplish the
task successfully.
Escape
Early in the adventure, the heroes are captured. The remainder of the adventure consists of them learning enough so
that they can escape. They have to get to know their fellow prisoners, learn the prison's routine, inventory their
possessions, acquire other possessions they need, plan an escape, and execute it.
Grim Necessity
If the hero doesn't involve himself with this adventure, he's going to find himself suffering or dead -- period. That's
the hook to bring him into the adventure... but you have to determine why he'll suffer or die if he doesn't become
involved.
Geographic Progression
This is the simplest sort of adventure plot. The heroes have an area to investigate or travel through; they have
encounters based on where they are. For instance, the traditional dungeon, where monsters are tied to specific rooms
or areas. Or, if the heroes are travelling along a narrow valley or through an enchanted forest, they might suffer
ambushes and other encounters fixed to various points along their travel plan. The plot, then, is getting to the villain
by surviving the intervening obstacle encounters.
Bloody Battle
This is the best Climax for an adventure involving the clash of mighty armies -- or for any adventure where, toward
the end, the Master Villain and a large body of minions confront the heroes and their own troops. This finale is
characterized by a monstrous clash between the two forces, with the heroes chewing through the enemy ranks to get
at the Master Villain and his elite guards. It's strenuous, exciting, and classically simple.
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.
Caves of Magical Folk
These can be either beautiful, glittering homes of gorgeous magical peoples, or the dank and terrifying lairs of
horrible monsters.
Mansion of a Lord
This can be the home of a villain -- the characters may have to break in and rescue someone or steal evidence, or
break out if they've been captured -- or of a heroic ally, in which case it may be used as the headquarters for the
heroes' plans and activities.
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.
Avenger
This character is much like the Master Villain of the same name, but he's not in charge of all this villainy, and he's
definitely an enemy of one of the player-characters. You'll have to decide who he is and why he hates one of the
heroes; he could be anything from a recurring villain to someone who simply lost a fight to the hero once.
Moronic Muscleman
This fellow is a huge, powerful monster of a fighter. His job is to smash anything the villain tells him to smash. He
does that very well, but don't ask him to do any thinking; he has no time for such brainy stuff.
Obsequious Merchant
This fellow is the owner of the caravan the heroes are protecting, or the merchant the heroes encounter when they
desperately need to buy something. He is oily, ever-flattering, overly agreeable, and is a sharp bargainer; the heroes
will not find him willing to give them a sale price.
Stampede
Should the heroes ever cross plains or prairies, their villainous enemies may wish to stampede a herd of large
animals at them. Alternatively, beasts in the forest may be stampeded by fires set by the villains; in this case, it will
not be one sort of animal charging through, but a mixture of terrified forest animals, from the smallest fox-cub to the
largest bear.
Belligerent Soldier

Encounter

The billigerent one has just had his ears pinned back by his commanding officer and is anxious to take it out on
some hapless civilian. If this is a city gate, he claims that the hero's papers are wrong or that he recognizes the hero
from descriptions of a wanted criminal; if this is the streets, he insults the hero's lack of military bearing, pretty
looks, clothes, smell, companion, or whatever it takes to provoke a reaction.
Stampede
Should the heroes ever cross plains or prairies, their villainous enemies may wish to stampede a herd of large
Deathtrap
animals at them. Alternatively, beasts in the forest may be stampeded by fires set by the villains; in this case, it will
not be one sort of animal charging through, but a mixture of terrified forest animals, from the smallest fox-cub to the
largest bear.
Horseback
Chase
This is a relatively short chase -- it only needs to go on for a mile or so before even the best horses are winded. If it
goes on longer than that, the horses may collapse and perhaps die.
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.
Secret Embarrassment
Finally, the villain may have some aberration or secret shame that will force him to flee when he is confronted with
Secret Weakness it. It could be something as simple as the fact that his nose is too big, or that he is a small and nebbishly wizard
pretending to be some vast, powerful demonic power. When his shame is revealed, he is too humiliated to continue;
this is a good option for comedy adventures.
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.
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.
Heroes Must Work with Villain
If they have to work for the villain, it's due to some hold he has over them -- probably, he's kidnapped one of their
Cruel Trick NPCs and will kill this person if his demands aren't met. Put the heroes through the encounter where they have to do
something they are loathe to do, such as sack and pillage a temple, before they have the opportunity to retrieve their
friend.