Espionage

Theme Espionage adventures are active, grim scenarios involving spying and perhaps other cloak-and-dagger deeds
such as assassination or rescue.
Protect Endangered NPC(s)
One or more NPCs are in danger, and the characters must protect them. They might be doing this for a reward,
Goal or because one or more of the NPCs is a friend or relative of the character. You need to decide what the
characters are protecting the NPCs from. The NPC might be a wealthy or powerful person being sought by
assassins or kidnappers. The NPC might be a whole village of peasants who are being terrorized by a bandit
chieftan.
Hero Offended
Someone greatly offends the hero, so much so that he'll pursue his offender right into the adventure. (Note that
Story Hook this usually means that the offender is a minion of the Master Villain. You'll have to decide whether the minion
offended the hero precisely to bring him into the adventure or just as a side-effect of his ordinary villain
activities.)
Accumulation of Elements
Plot In this sort of plot, the heroes have to go from place to place -- perhaps covering very little area like a city,
perhaps roaming the known world -- and accumulate elements to be used against the Master Villain. These
elements may be clues, pieces of an artifact, evidence, or allies.
Chase to Ground
First, you have the Heroes Chasing the Villain. The villain, after a series of encounters with the heroes, is
running to safety, to some place where he can acquire more power, or to somehwere he can accomplish some
dread purpose such as assassination or mass murder. The heroes chase him, have to deal with the obstacles he
leaves behind, and finally catch up to him before or just as he reaches his goal. Here, we have the final duel
between the villains forces and the heroes. Second, you have the Villain Chasing the Heroes. Often, in a story
Climax like this, the heroes have found out how to defeat the villain -- such as getting to a particular temple and
conducting a particular ritual. The villain chases them all through their quest, catching up to them just as they're
commenciing their ritual; they must, with heroic effort, conclude the ritual while suffering his attacks. Third,
you have the Master Villain's Sudden Escape Attempt. This takes place in adventures where the Master Villain's
identity is unknown until the end. His identity is revealed and he makes a sudden bolt for freedom; the heroes
give chase. This usually results in a dangerous foot-chase through nasty terrain -- such as across rooftops,
through the dungeons, or across an active battlefield.
On the Road
General Setting 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.
Classic Dungeon
Specific Setting
I This would be the standard monster-filled labyrinth; perhaps it's a nesting ground for the master villain's monster
troops.
Madman's Fortress
Specific Setting
II 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.
Ravager
Master Villain 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.
Lovable Rogue
Minor Villain I This character is like the Master Villain of the same name, except that he has no minions of his own and serves
at someone else's bidding. However, he's very independent, not always working in his employer's best interests;
he often makes fun of the Master Villain's pretensions and may suffer that villain's retaliation because of it.
Single-Minded Soldier
This most trustworthy of villain minions is the experienced, competent, persistent soldier -- a field-trained
Minor Villain II 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.
Villain Ally
For some reason, the heroes find themselves in the company of a villain. Perhaps he's a minion of this
Ally/Neutral adventure's master villain; he may be guiding the heroes to wherever they must leave a ransom, or, if the master
villain is forcing the heroes to perform some mission, this villain ally is along to make sure they do it right.
Whatever the reason, he's competent, unpredictable, and out for himself.
Monster Terrain Monster
Encounter Don't forget the simple run-in with the animal belonging to the terrain where the heroes are: Every type of
wilderness has its predators and big, nasty herbivores.
Character Thief
Encounter At some point in their adventure, the heroes have a run-in with thieves.
Framed
Deathtrap One or more of the heroes is accused and convicted of a capital crime -- one for which the mandatory
punishment is death. The heroes must escape or die, and they're escaping from the well-built, well-protected
prison of the local authorities.
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.
Fortune Teller Predicts Doom
This is an ominous encounter: A fortune-teller predicts doom for one of the heroes, or for some community
Omen/Prophesy menaced by the Master Villain. Shortly after, some calamity should befall the hero: He can be attacked by an
assassin, be in a building when it is struck by fire or an earthquake, or suffer other danger. Investigation of the
events can then point the heroes toward the Master Villain as the event's instigator.
Secret Embarrassment
Finally, the villain may have some aberration or secret shame that will force him to flee when he is confronted
Secret Weakness 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
Special Finally, the most obvious condition to place on an adventure is to give it a time limit. If the Master Villain is
Condition 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.
Respect Quandry
This is much like the Ally Quandry, only at a greater distance. The heroes have been utilizing the aid of two (or
Moral Quandry more) powerful NPC allies. Now, in the course of the adventure, the heroes come across a task which can be
accomplished in one of two ways -- say, through military intervention or by esoteric magic. The problem is, the
NPC allies are arguing for different choices, and the one whom the heores choose against will no longer aid
them.
Loony who Has It Wrong
You can have the heroes "aided" by a so-called expert who is actually a lunatic who doesn't know anything
Red Herring about what he's talking about. Once he's led the heroes off to some remote part of the continent, his evasive
answers and bizarre behaviour will alert them that he really doesn't know anything about what he's pretended to
be an expert on.
Villain Accompanies Party
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
Cruel Trick 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.

Based upon tables from the Dungeon Master's Design Kit by TSR, Inc.