Adventure #105

Theme

Goal

Story Hook

Plot

Climax

General Setting

Specific Setting
I
Specific Setting
II

Master Villain

Minor Villain I

Minor Villain II

Ally/Neutral

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.
Survive Environment
The characters could end up in a hostile environment which they must cross -- a desert, a jungle, or
other hostile setting. In the course of the adventure they'll need to find food and water, resist the
elements, and perhaps fight off attacks of the natives.
Legend and Rumor
In this classic story hook, the hero stumbles across some new or long-forgotten knowledge that promises
great treasure or gain.
Series of Villains
This is a very dramatic plot, and very well-suited to oriental campaigns. In it, the heroes have
undertaken a quest, usually the finding and defeat of the Master Villain. They may have to travel to his
citadel, or head off in another direction to find some artifact capable of defeating him, or run away from
pursuing villains until they can figure out what's going on. All along their route, they are set upon by
villains -- each villain has a name and distinct personality, and each encounter is life-or-death for the
heroes and villains; the villain never escapes to safety if the tide turns against him, he fights unto death.
Scattered Duels
In this climax, the heroes have gotten to the end of their quest -- they may have broken into, sneaked
into, or escaped from imprisonment within the villain's citadel, or have marched into the little town
where the villain is holed up -- and they become separated. You can separate them by having traps and
tricks break the party apart, by having them see two or three things they must resolve (such as danger to
innocents or the appearance of minion villains) pop up simultaneously; they'll have to run in all
directions at the same time or suffer failure. Once the party is broken down into bite-sized chunks, you
confront each individual or small group with the enemy or enemies he most deserves to face -- his
personal enemy, the monster which defeated him before, etc. -- for a grand series of climactic duels.
On the Road
Most of the adventure takes place on the road, as the heroes are travelling from place to place. This is
especially good for adventures where heroes are investigating a wide-ranging mystery, are part of a
caravan, or are being pursued by loathesome villains.
Legendary Forest
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.
Caves of Magical Folk
These can be either beautiful, glittering homes of gorgeous magical peoples, or the dank and terrifying
lairs of horrible monsters.
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.
Inquisitor
This villain is the one who interrogates the heroes and NPCs captured by the villains. He accompanies
the other Minor Villain out into the field and works on anyone captured; he enjoys inflicting pain and
suffering.
Single-Minded Soldier
This most trustworthy of villain minions is the experienced, competent, persistent soldier -- a fieldtrained 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.
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.
Nocturnal Predator
Monster
This is a classic monster encounter; the arrival of a hungry carnivore in the middle of the night. Usually,
Encounter
this attack happens to heroes camping between villages or out in the deep wilderness; a wild animal,
attracted by food odors (from the heroes' campfire or from the heroes themselves) sneaks in for a bite.
New Enemy
In the course of his ordinary activies, one of the heroes can make a New Enemy. Hurrying along the
Character
street, he can bump into a disagreeable fighter for whom an apology isn't enough; in a tavern, he can
Encounter
make some innocuous remark that you deliberately have the irritable fellow misconstrue as an insult.
The New Enemy will only exchange heated words with the hero at this point, but will appear again later
in the adventure and will eventually have to fight the hero.
Rock and a Hard Place
This trap starts out as an Animal Pit, Pit and the Pendulum, or Tomb Deathtrap, but an obvious escape
Deathtrap
suggests itself very early on. Trouble is, it leads into even worse danger. The hole out of the animal pit
may lead to the lair of an even worse animal; it may lead through a succession of dangers (collapsing
old catacombs, into an underground river, into a den of zombies) before the heroes reach the light.
Water
Don't forget the water chase: Whether it's a battle of seamanship between naval vessels, a chase of rafts
Chase
toward the inevitable waterfall ahead, a contest of canoeing ability, or a chase between the villain and
his giant shark vs. the heroes and their dolphin friends, the water chase can be a distinctive and dramatic
one.
Innocent Fulfills Prophecy
An
innocent could fulfill a prophecy -- one which endangers his/her life. This innocent might, for
Omen/Prophesy
instance, be the one who is supposed to slay the king, but is not a mighty adventurer able to protect
himself from the king; the heroes may find themselves sheltering and helping this poor dupe.
Lack of Familiarity
The Master Villain, if he comes from the past or another dimension, or belongs to an alien race, might
Secret Weakness 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 selfsacrifice.
Coping with a Curse
The curse might be making the hero progressively uglier, might be draining out his life-force (he's
Special
losing experience which will be retruned if he succeeds), or might be making him progressively insane.
Condition
Each day, as he sees his reflection in a mirror or pond or fountain, he'll know himself to be less than he
used to be.
Honor Quandry
You want to use this on the character with the most strongly developed sense of personal honor -Moral Quandry 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.
Extraneous Details
When giving the heroes details on their enemy -- for instance, details they are learning from
Red Herring investigations and readings -- you can give them just a few details too many. This may prompt the
heroes to investigate the "extra" (i.e., irrelevant) details in addition to the relevant onces, thus losing
them valuable time.
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
Cruel Trick one of their 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.