13/10/23, 02:37 donjon; Random Adventure Generator

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Random Adventure Generator

Espionage
Theme
Espionage adventures are active, grim scenarios involving spying and perhaps other cloak-and-dagger deeds such as assassination or rescue.

Retrieve Item
Goal
This goal is like the Rescue, except the victim is an inanimate object. This item may be an artifact, a paper containing evidence against a character or patron, an antidote needed to save
another NPC or palyer character, or just some item of sentimental value -- an item which one NPC hires the characters to steal from another NPC.

Mystery Woman
Story Hook
Create an NPC "mystery woman" sure to be fascinating to your hero and have her keep appearing inexplicably in his life. As he becomes interested and investigates her, he keeps stumbling
across the villain's plans and becomes inextricably mired in the plot. (For female player-characters, the Mystery Man is just as useful.)

A-B-C Quest
Plot
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

Climax
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.

Under the Sea

General Setting
This sort of high-fantasy adventure takes place in and under (not on top of) the sea. The heroes require access to some sort of magic item or spell that allows them to breathe water for long
stretches, and might adventure in the uncharted depths or perhaps in a community of sea-breathers.

Mansion of a Lord
Specific Setting I
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.

Legendary Forest
Specific Setting II
This classic adventure site is the sometimes dark and fearsom, sometimes light and cheerful, always magical and incomprehensible forest inhabited by the oldest elven trives and most
terrifying monsters.

Destroyer
Master Villain
This villain is like the Corruptor, except that he likes destroying instead of corrupting. He operates like the Conqueror, moving in his armies -- often nonhuman or monstrous armies -- and
destroying everything in sight. Again, the Destroyer could easily be an evil god or demon, meaning the heroes wil have to find his weakness in order to thwart his current plan.

Single-Minded Soldier
Minor Villain I
This most trustworthy of villain minions is the experienced, competent, persistent soldier -- a field-trained officer who serves the villain with military precision. He is usually encountered in
the field as leader of the villain's field operations. He is not encountered directly until the middle of or the latter part of the adventure; until then, the heroes encounter only his
subordinates.

Hard-Eyed Advisor
Minor Villain II
This is the sort of villain whom the heroes see in the Master Villain's throne room. He's hard-eyed and scary; life means nothing to him and he enjoys killing. He's also a good advisor to his
master.
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Obsequious Merchant
Ally/Neutral
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.

Loving Deceiver
Monster Encounter
One of the player-characters, specifically one of the better-looking ones, attracts the attentions of a very attractive local of the opposite sex. This local person, encountered in unthreatening
surroundings, invites the hero off to a liason away from his friends and other people. Of course, this person is a human-appearing monster of some sort; once alone with the character,
he/she will attack the character with monstrous intent.

Thief
Character Encounter
At some point in their adventure, the heroes have a run-in with thieves.

Mutually Assured Destruction

Deathtrap
In this very nasty deathtrap, the heroes are bound up in such a manner that any one of them may get free of his bonds -- but when he does, all his friends perish. Obviously, the heroes' task
is to find some way for everyone to get out alive. Perhaps an intricate series of cooperative rope-cutting will defuse the trap; perhaps a coordinated maneuver will get everyone free as the
trap is being sprung.

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.

Reincarnation
Omen/Prophesy
The hero, seeing the portrait of some long-dead nobleman, may be surprised to see his own face staring back at him. All evidence points to the fact that our hero is the reincarnation of this
person, and the Master Villain may desire to destroy any trace of that nobleman's existence. Just as appropriately, this long-dead nobleman may have died after making some important
choice -- such as choosing love over career or career over friends; and the choice he faced is identical to the one the hero now faces. Will our hero defy the prophecy and choose as he did in a
previous life, or will he choose the other option and see what happens?

Lack of Familiarity
Secret Weakness
The Master Villain, if he comes from the past or another dimension, or belongs to an alien race, might be sufficiently unfamiliar with this world that he essentially defeats himself. How? By
making incorrect guesses about human behaviour. One classic error involves underestimating the human capacity for self-sacrifice.

Time Limit
Special Condition
Finally, the most obvious condition to place on an adventure is to give it a time limit. If the Master Villain is going to conclude his evil spell in only three days, and his citadel is three hard
days' riding away, then the heroes are going 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.

Respect Quandry
Moral Quandry
This is much like the Ally Quandry, only at a greater distance. The heroes have been utilizing the aid of two (or more) powerful NPC allies. Now, in the course of the adventure, the heroes
come across a task which can be accomplished in one of two ways -- say, through military intervention or by esoteric magic. The problem is, the NPC allies are arguing for different choices,
and the one whom the heores choose against will no longer aid them.

Lying Rumor
Red Herring
This is the worst and most useful type of red herring -- the interesting rumor which just happens to be false. In adventures of this sort, the best Lying Rumor concerns the Master Villain; it
gives the heroes some "important" information about him which later turns out to be useless.

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.

Based upon tables from the Dungeon Master's Design Kit by TSR, Inc.

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