Adventure #73

Horror
Theme

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

Goal

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.
Mistaken Identity

Story Hook

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.)
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.

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 palace guard, sneaking in to
II
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.
Gibbering Madman
Ally/Neutral

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

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

Character
Encounter

Deathtrap

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

Chase

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 that our hero is the
Omen/Prophesy 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.)
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.
Honor Quandry

Moral 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. 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.