Buy Me a CoffeeRandom Adventure Generator
| Theme | 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. | |
| Goal | Escape |
| Early in the adventure, the heroes are captured. The remainder of the adventure consists of them learning enough so that they can escape. They have to get to know their fellow prisoners, learn the prison's routine, inventory their possessions, acquire other possessions they need, plan an escape, and execute it. | |
| 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 | Accumulation of Elements |
| 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. | |
| Climax | 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. | |
| 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 | Shacktown of the Oppressed |
| Part of the action centers around the tenements or shacks of the worst part of town; perhaps an allied NPC lives here or the characters are fugitives hiding out in the nasty part of town. | |
| Specific Setting II | 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. | |
| Master Villain | 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. | |
| Minor Villain I | 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. | |
| Minor Villain II | Inquisitor |
| This villain is the one who interrogates the heroes and NPCs captured by the villains. He accompanies the other Minor Villain out into the field and works on anyone captured; he enjoys inflicting pain and suffering. | |
| Ally/Neutral | Tragic Fellow Hero |
| The heroes are in the company of some hero well-known to them; he may have been a companion or ally, or they may just know him by reputation. He is a tragic figure; he may have lost his family to the master villain, or lost his properties and titles, or be afflicted with a curse he cannot be rid of, or be committed to a quest he knows will take his life. He's dour, and gloomy, prophesying doom and having no fun at all. | |
| Monster Encounter | Nocturnal Predator |
| This is a classic monster encounter; the arrival of a hungry carnivore in the middle of the night. Usually, this attack happens to heroes camping between villages or out in the deep wilderness; a wild animal, attracted by food odors (from the heroes' campfire or from the heroes themselves) sneaks in for a bite. | |
| Character Encounter | Inquisitive Official |
| Some local authority has noticed the characters' presence and it makes her curious. She snoops around asking questions all the time. She may be a city guardsman or special agent of the ruler, but (functionally) she's a police lieutenant, asking the rong questions at the wrong time; the heroes have to work around her, sneaking where normally they'd be able to work in the open. | |
| Deathtrap | Demolition Zone |
| In this classic deathtrap, the heroes are placed (usually bound and weaponless) in some building or area just as it's due to be destroyed. | |
| Chase | Special Terrain |
| You can make any chase more memorable by having it take place in a setting to which it is utterly unsuited. For 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. | |
| Omen/Prophesy | Hero Fulfills Prophecy |
| 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 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 Lawbreaking |
| For some reason, at one point in the story, the heroes cannot allow themselves to break the law -- even when it would help them greatly to do so. For instance, the heroes may be asking for the help of a king whose word is law and whose power is immense. When they arrive for their audience, an emissary of the Master Villain is making a similar plea for help. If the heroes attack and kill that emissary, they will lose any chance at the king's help -- in fact, he may order their execution. | |
| Moral Quandry | Honor Quandry |
| You want to use this on the character with the most strongly developed sense of personal honor -- 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. | |
| Red Herring | Lying Rumor |
| 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. | |
| Cruel Trick | NPC Turns Traitor |
| He may alert the 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. |
Based upon tables from the Dungeon Master's Design Kit by TSR, Inc.