Adventure #109

Theme

Goal

Story Hook

Plot

Climax

General Setting

Specific Setting
I

Specific Setting
II

Master Villain

Minor Villain I

Minor Villain II

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.
Encounter Old Villain
If your campaign has a villain who shows up again and again to bedevil the heroes, then this is an
episode featuring that villain. You might wish to roll once again on this section to see what the villain's
goal is.
Better Late than Never
Some bad guys have arrived and done some bad guy things. The PCs were none the wiser. The bad guys
have now made good their escape, and the PCs have caught wind of it in time to chase them down
before they make it back to their lair, their home nation, behind enemy lines, etc.
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.
Torturous Terrain
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.
Ruins
These can be the ruins of some ancient civilization, an abandoned temple or castle, incomprehensible
blocks of stone arranged by ancient gods, etc. They can be magical or normal, inhabited by normal
animals or by monsters, centers of magic or just tumbled-down buildings.
Temple/Church
This can be either the church of some lofty and good diety, or the dark and grisly temple of some horrid
deity (doubtless filled with evil soldiers and monsters), or even the temple that the madman villain has
dedicated to himself for when he becomes a god.
Conqueror
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.
Mistress with a Heart of Gold
This character is much like the "Lover or Daughter of Villain" type of Mystery Woman from the Story
Hooks section. In this case, she usually accompanies the Master Villain, but sometimes goes on
missions of her own, where she runs into and develops affection for one of the player-characters.
Snivelling Vizier
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.

Congenial Madman
Ally/Neutral This fellow is a pleasant, happy lunatic whom the heroes encounter; after the initial encounter, he
follows them wherever they go, commenting on their plans, behaving strangely, getting underfoot, and - very occassionally -- proving to be a real help.
Stampede
Should the heroes ever cross plains or prairies, their villainous enemies may wish to stampede a herd of
Monster
large
animals at them. Alternatively, beasts in the forest may be stampeded by fires set by the villains; in
Encounter
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.
Thief
Character
Encounter
At some point in their adventure, the heroes have a run-in with thieves.
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.
Footrace
The chase involves the characters on foot, probably through such terrain as city streets or the corridors
Chase
of a palace. One hero may realize that the's being pursued by a party of enemies and choose to run for it;
the heroes may have caught up to the Master Villain, prompting him to run for his life.
Hero Fulfills Prophecy
Omen/Prophesy This is the most useful sort of prophecy. In the early part of the adventure, one of the heroes discovers
that he fulfills some ancient prophecy.
Secret Embarrassment
Finally, the villain may have some aberration or secret shame that will force him to flee when he is
Secret Weakness confronted with 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
Special
Villain is going to conclude his evil spell in only three days, and his citadel is three hard days' riding
Condition
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 -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.
NPC Turns Traitor
Cruel Trick He may alert he enemy when the heroes are planning a raid; he may steal the artifact and take it to the
villain; he may stab a hero or important NPC in the back (literally) before departing.