| Theme | Revenge |
| In this adventure, some villain has so offended one or more of
the characters that he cannot be suffered to live.
(Alternatively, the injured party could hire the characters to
avenge his honor.) The villain must be found or otherwise gotten
at, setting up the final duel or showdown between villain and
characters. |
| Goal | Gain Power |
| The heroes are on this adventure to gain personal or political
power for themselves. They may be looking for an artifact or
weapon, or are performing a mission for someone who will reward
them with political power (a higher social rank or lands, for
instance). If the characters are doing someone else's bidding,
you might want to roll again on this section to see what goal the
patron will have assigned to the characters. |
| Story Hook | Legend and Rumor |
| In this classic story hook, the hero stumbles across some new or
long-forgotten knowledge that promises great treasure or gain. |
| Plot | Event |
| For this plot, choose some sort of event -- a tournament, a
holiday, a celebration called by the king, a masked ball, or
whatever -- and set the commencement of the Master Villain's plan
against that backdrop. |
| Climax | 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. |
| General Setting | 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. |
| Specific Setting I | Classic Dungeon |
| This would be the standard monster-filled labyrinth; perhaps it's
a nesting ground for the master villain's monster troops. |
| Specific Setting II | Catacombs |
| These can be catacombs beneath a living city or a ruined one;
they can be long-forgotten or still in use. |
| Master Villain | God of Chance |
| Here you have two options. This Master Villain could be a real
entity -- an actual god of mischief or silliness, who has
intruded in the heroes' lives to cause chaos and have fun.
Alternatively, this "villain" could actually be pure chance: The
heroes are having a series of unrelated, accidental encounters
which cause them fits. No real single villain is involved,
although initially it looks as though there is. |
| Minor Villain I | 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. |
| Minor Villain II | Lovable Rogue |
| 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. |
| Ally/Neutral | Hero Worshipper |
| Some youth -- an urchin, a brother or sister of one of the
heroes, or a child run away from home -- hooks up with the
heroes, following them wherever they go, being admiring, talking
to everyone (neutrals and villains included) about how wonderful
and powerful the heroes are. |
| Monster Encounter | Foreshadowing Monster |
| With this monster encounter, combat may not be necessary. This
monster encounter exists to alert the characters to the fact that
something unusual is going on, a foreshadowing of their upcoming
conflicts with the Master Villain. |
| Character Encounter | Old Friend at the Wrong Time |
| When the heroes are trying to sneak through a guardpost, citadel,
or city where they can't afford to be recognized, one of the
characters' old friends recognizes him and loudly renews their
acquaintance in full view of the guards looking for the
characters. This usually leads to an exciting chase as the heroes
must escape. |
| Deathtrap | Stampede |
| Should the heroes ever cross plains or prairies, their villainous
enemies may wish to stampede a herd of large animals at them.
Alternatively, beasts in the forest may be stampeded by fires set
by the villains; in 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. |
| Chase | Footrace |
| The chase involves the characters on foot, probably through such
terrain as city streets or the corridors 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. |
| Omen/Prophesy | Reincarnation |
| The hero, seeing the portrait of some long-dead nobleman, may be
surprised to see his own face staring back at him. All evidence
points to the fact that our hero is the reincarnation of this
person, and the Master Villain may desire to destroy any trace of
that nobleman's existence. Just as appropriately, this long-dead
nobleman may have died after making some important choice -- such
as choosing love over career or career over friends; and the
choice he faced is identical to the one the hero now faces. Will
our hero defy the prophecy and choose as he did in a previous
life, or will he choose the other option and see what happens? |
| Secret Weakness | Element |
| The Master Villain can be banished, dispelled, killed, or
otherwise defeated by some of element or item. The Master Villain
tries to get rid of all the examples of this element in his
vicinity; he doesn't let his minions carry it or bring it into
his presence. But he's not stupid; he doesn't announce to the
world what his weakness is. He tries to hide his concern within
another command. If he's allergic to red roses, for instance, he
orders all "things of beauty" destroyed within miles of his
abode. |
| Special Condition | No Hurting the Villain |
| For some reason, the heroes cannot afford to fight the villain
directly. For instance, what if a demon possesses the body of the
child of one of the characters, or a very important child spoken
of in prophecy, one without whom the world will perish? |
| Moral Quandry | Saving Quandry |
| Finally, another classic quandry puts the heroes in the position
of choosing between a grand opportunity to hurt the Master
Villain -- or saving the lives of a number of individuals. |
| Red Herring | Extraneous Details |
| When giving the heroes details on their enemy -- for instance,
details they are learning from 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. |
| Cruel Trick | 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 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 on tables from the
Dungeon Master's Design Kit by TSR, Inc.