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Adventure #201

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

Romance
This sort of adventure (rarely played, but worthwhile anyway) has as its central plot the romance between two
characters, usually a player-character and an NPC.
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.
Pressing Buttons
As a general story-hook approach, think about the player-character -- his personal goals and his personal dislikes. If
the hero is pursuing a specific goal, you have one of the minor villains, as a side-effect of the villain's master plan,
thwart the hero's latest step towards that goal. Alternatively, if there's something the hero truly hates to see, have it
happen -- and have the villains be responsible.
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.
Bloody Battle
This is the best Climax for an adventure involving the clash of mighty armies -- or for any adventure where, toward
the end, the Master Villain and a large body of minions confront the heroes and their own troops. This finale is
characterized by a monstrous clash between the two forces, with the heroes chewing through the enemy ranks to get
at the Master Villain and his elite guards. It's strenuous, exciting, and classically simple.
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.
Magical Lake
This is the acquatic equivalent of the Legendary Forest, here beautiful and glistening, there treacherous and
dangerous, filled with water-breathing magical folk.
Madman's Fortress
This is the citadel of a major enemy: Strong, unassailable, filled with soldiers and monsters, lined with secret
passages and deathtraps; not a wholesome place for adventurers to spend their time.
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.
Chief Assassin
The Chief Assassin is the favorite killer of the Master Villain. The Assassin works mostly in the field, first killing
witnesses who might prove harmful to his master, then zeroing in on the player-characters. He usually meets his end
before the adventure's climax, but he may taken one of the heroes down with him.
Moronic Muscleman
This fellow is a huge, powerful monster of a fighter. His job is to smash anything the villain tells him to smash. He
does that very well, but don't ask him to do any thinking; he has no time for such brainy stuff.
Government Observer
For some reason, the heroes' ruler wants one of his own people accompanying them. Whatever the reason, the
heroes are now stuck with a haughty, self-important royal observer, an expert in (probably) military tactics or
espionage. He continually offers unwanted advice and tends to get the heroes into trouble by pulling rank whenever
he's not satisfied.
Noble Beast
With this encounter, the heroes find that they have to capture -- but not injure -- some sort of powerful, noble beast
in order to accomplish their mission. For instance, to reach a mountain-top aerie, they must capture pegasi and ride
them up to their enemy.
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.
Rock and a Hard Place
This trap starts out as an Animal Pit, Pit and the Pendulum, or Tomb Deathtrap, but an obvious escape suggests
Deathtrap
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.
Special Terrain
You can make any chase more memorable by having it take place in a setting to which it is utterly unsuited. For
Chase
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.
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.
Holy Symbol
The villain may have the traditional weakness to a specific holy symbol -- but don't choose just an ordinary one. It
Secret Weakness 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
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.
Friend Quandry
Moral Quandry
At a critical point in the story, one of the campaign's NPCs makes an impossible demand of one of the heroes.
False Path to the Artifact
Once again, if the heroes have had too easy a time finding the artifact capable of destroying the villain, give them
Red Herring trouble this way: When they get to the place where the artifact is supposed to be contained, they find the coffer or
chamber or whatever empty, obviously looted by robbers, who have scrawled such remarks as "Kelrog was here!"
upon the walls.
Mission is a Ruse
Cruel Trick In the course of their adventuring, the heroes discover they have been tricked into performing a mission which helps
the Master Villain.

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