Adventure #163

Theme

Goal

Story Hook

Plot

Climax

General Setting

Specific Setting
I

Specific Setting
II

Master Villain

Minor Villain I

Minor Villain II

Ally/Neutral

Monster
Encounter

Character
Encounter

Horror
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.
Old Enemy
This is a straightforward story hook; the hero learns that his oldest enemy is back and is very active in the campaign,
up to something. The hero will naturally want to investigate and will walk right into the story.
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.
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
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.
Military Encampment
This is best used in an episode involving warfare; it could be the good-guy army's encampment, from which the
heroes launch their adventures, or the villains' encampment, in which case the heroes might have to sneak in on a
mission or escape from it if they're captured.
Demi-human Community
In wilderness areas, this will be a large community of demi-humans -- elves, dwarves, halflings, whatever -- or
intelligent nonhumans such as orcs. If your action is taking place in a city, this could be a hidden community (such
as a secret underground dwarf community) or a section of the city inhabited mostly by demi-humans.
Ravager
This Master Villain is like the Destroyer, except that he terrorizes a very limited area -- such as a village, island,
castle, or clan stronghold. (He may want to destroy the whole world but be trapped where he is; perhaps his efforts
to free himself constitute the adventure's plot.) He stays in his area and terrorizes whatever comes into it.
Avenger
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.
Avenger
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.
Childhood Friend with a Dark Secret
One of the heroes is accompanied by one of his childhood friends... but said friend now has a Dark Secret. He does
strange and mysterious things (sneaks off to send messages, or behaves strangely around certain NPCs, or is scared
to death of certain harmless animals or situations) and will not explain why to his PC friend until late in the story.
Ravager
This is another classic monster encounter; the monster which is bedeviling a community or local area and will
continue to do so unless the heroes destroy or defeat it. Yes, this is similar to the Master Villain of the same name,
but the Ravager usually has no master plan -- it just wants to kill, destroy, or eat.
Bureaucrat
Some time in their adventure, the heroes must deal with the local government and run into that most horrible of
nuisance monsters, the bureaucrat and his red-tape dispenser. The heroes don't have the right forms. When they have
the right forms, they forgot to fill them out in triplicate. And so on.

Pit and the Pendulum

Actually, we're applying this term to any of many time-delay deathtraps. In this sort of trap, the villains capture the
Deathtrap
heroes and place them in a trap which will soon kill them -- it operates on a delay, often based on a timing device or
a burning fuse.
Aerial
The heroes could be riding pegasi or friendly griffons or allied great eagles; the villains could be carried aloft by
Chase
gargoyles or demons. The prospect of taking a mile-long fall if one's mount is hit is a very daunting and challenging
one for the hero.
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.
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
Finally, the most obvious condition to place on an adventure is to give it a time limit. If the Master Villain is going
Special
to conclude his evil spell in only three days, and his citadel is three hard days' riding away, then the heroes are going
Condition
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.
Ally Quandry
You
set up the situation so that the heroes have a good chance at defeating the Master Villain if they get the aid of
Moral Quandry
two specific individuals, probably experts in fields relating to the villains' activities. But the two experts hate one
another and refuse to work together, even if it costs them their world.
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.