Adventure #72

Horror
Theme

Goal

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.
Explore a New Area
The heroes are hired or convinced to enter an unmapped area and explore it. They may be making a map; they may be trying to find someone who
disappeared into this area in the past; they may be following legends that tell of treasure in the unexplored interior.

Story Hook

Mistaken Identity
The hero could be mistaken by one villain for another villain involved in the master plot. This has good comic potential if the hero and missing villain
are in fact so similar that no one can tell them apart. (This is even more fun if they turn out to be long-lost twins.)

Plot

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.

Climax

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.

Torturous Terrain
General Setting The adventure takes place in some sort of unsettled, uncivilized, dangerous terrain; in action stories, the desert and jungle work best; choose one of
those two or decide on a setting that is similarly dangerous and exotic.
Specific Setting I

Catacombs
These can be catacombs beneath a living city or a ruined one; they can be long-forgotten or still in use.

Palace of the King

Specific Setting The heroes could be here for many, many different reasons: Trying to get a favor from the ruler, part of some nobleman's retinue, members of the
II
palace guard, sneaking in to save the ruler from assassins, sneaking in to assassinate the ruler, thrown into the dungeon for crimes they did or didn't
commit, etc.
Conqueror
Master Villain 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.
Snivelling Vizier
Minor Villain I 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.
Avenger
Minor Villain II 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.
Ally/Neutral

Gibbering Madman
Some poor wretch blundered into part of the master villain's plan and saw too much. What he saw drove him crazy. He gibber and jabbers,
occassionally uttering clues about what he's seen, but just isn't coherent. He knows enough that the heroes will need to take him along to comment on
what they're encountering, though, so he can't just be met and forgotten.
King Beast

Monster
Encounter

Character
Encounter

Deathtrap

Chase

At some point in their adventure, the heroes run across a King Beast -- some enormous, intelligent monster (which speaks the Common tongue)
which is the leader of its species. Perhaps it needs help; if the heroes help it they'll earn themselves a favor which the King Beast will repay at some
later time in the adventure. Perhaps the heroes are in deadly danger and need help; the King Beast can be persuaded to help, but only in return for a
deed or favor in the future.
Belligerent Soldier
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.
Demolition Zone
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.
Special Terrain
You can make any chase more memorable by having it take place in a setting to which it is utterly unsuited. For 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.
Reincarnation

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
Omen/Prophesy 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?
Holy Symbol
Secret Weakness The villain may have the traditional weakness to a specific holy symbol -- but don't choose just an ordinary one. It may be a holly symbol no longer
used by the church, or may be some forgotten variation of the current symbol. (For instance, the cross may not work, but a variation -- such as the
Roman cross -- might; alternatively, it might have to be a holy symbol which has undergone some unfamiliar ritual.)
Special
Condition

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 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.
Honor Quandry
You want to use this on the character with the most strongly developed sense of personal honor -- someone who has lived all his life by a strict code.
Moral Quandry Toward the end of the adventure, this character realizes that the best way to defeat the Master Villain is a violation of that code. For instance, the
character might be a paladin, who discovers that the only possible way for the heroes to defeat the Master Villain is to sneak up on him and stab him
in the back.
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.
Villain Accompanies Party

Cruel Trick

In this distressing situation, the Master Villain, in disguise or his secret identity, accompanies the heroes for much of their quest. He gets to know
them, learns their strengths and weaknesses, learns their plans, and just as soon as it's most efficient for him, he thwarts their current plans and leaves.
Alternatively, the Master Villain might be with the heroes all along, up to the very end; the heroes know that one of their companions is the villain,
and the whole thrust of the story is finding out who he is. This is the whole purpose of most Mystery-type adventures.