Buy Me a CoffeeRandom Adventure Generator
| Theme | Action/Adventure |
| This is the most common and straightforward sort of adventure there is. In the Action/Adventure scenario, you present your characters with a task and then confront them with obstacles to overcome in order to accomplish the task successfully. | |
| Goal | Clear Name |
| The name of one of the characters or an NPC has been sullied and the characters must clear it. The characters must find out a) why the name has been smeared, b) who is responsible, and c) why the responsible party is doing it; then they must find evidence to convince everyone they're telling the truth. | |
| Story Hook | 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. | |
| Plot | Geographic Progression |
| This is the simplest sort of adventure plot. The heroes have an area to investigate or travel through; they have encounters based on where they are. For instance, the traditional dungeon, where monsters are tied to specific rooms or areas. Or, if the heroes are travelling along a narrow valley or through an enchanted forest, they might suffer ambushes and other encounters fixed to various points along their travel plan. The plot, then, is getting to the villain by surviving the intervening obstacle encounters. | |
| Climax | 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 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. | |
| General Setting | Exotic Distant Land |
| The adventure will take the heroes to some fascinating and exotic distant country, where they'll have to cope with new customs, monsters unfamiliar to them, and very colorful NPC encounters; choose one of the more fascinating foreign lands from your campaign world. | |
| Specific Setting I | Temple/Church |
| This can be either the church of some lofty and good diety, or the dark and grisly temple of some horrid deity (doubtless filled with evil soldiers and monsters), or even the temple that the madman villain has dedicated to himself for when he becomes a god. | |
| Specific Setting II | 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. | |
| Master Villain | Sufferer |
| This Master Villain disguises himself as some other sort of villain. Long ago, he was given an ugly curse -- he longs for death but can never die unless slain by heroes unaware of his curse. (Naturally, the way the curse works, he has to defend himself when attacked by the heroes.) So this villain works hard to make sure the best heroes in the world have sufficient cause to want to come and kill him. He'll insult them, ruin them, kidnap or murder their loved ones, whatever it takes to bring them against him. Often, he can only die -- his curse can only be undone -- in one specific holy place, so he'll have to lure the heroes to that place to face him. If the heroes are doing research on the villain all this time, they may find out his secret, leading to a sad and painful end to the episode as the unkillable villain has to leave and find someone new to kill him. | |
| Minor Villain I | 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. | |
| Minor Villain II | 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. | |
| Ally/Neutral | Inquisitive Chronicler |
| This character is a historian who wishes to accompany the heroes to record their exploits. He constantly pries into the heroes' backgrounds, asking questions that are none of his business, as the adventure continues. | |
| Monster Encounter | King Beast |
| At some point in their adventure, the heroes run across a King Beast -- some enormous, intelligent monster (which speaks the Common tongue) which is the leader of its species. Perhaps it needs help; if the heroes help it they'll earn themselves a favor which the King Beast will repay at some later time in the adventure. Perhaps the heroes are in deadly danger and need help; the King Beast can be persuaded to help, but only in return for a deed or favor in the future. | |
| Character Encounter | Press Gang |
| In any port city, the heroes, in a tavern or hostel, may find themselves set upon by ruffians employed by the city; these ruffians use clubs and strike to subdue. If the heroes fight and beat the ruffians, they find themselves wanted by the law for assaulting officers of the peace. And if they fight and lose, they wake up to find themselves sailors, headed far away from their quest! Now they must decide whether they're going to jump ship, mutiny, or just settle down toa few years of seafaring life. | |
| Deathtrap | Avalanche |
| This is an outdoors trap. Some time when the heroes are in a narrow canyon or gorge, or are on a snow-covered mountain, their enemies can arrange to dump an avalanche upon them (rocks and boulders in the first instance, snow in the second). | |
| 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 | 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 | Love |
| The Master Villain possesses the "weakness" of genuine affection or love -- probably for some NPC, though it could be very intriguing if the object of his affections is a player-character. The heroes can then defeat the villain by holding his loved one hostage, or proving that his loved one will be seriously harmed, betrayed, or killed if the villain keeps up with his activity. | |
| Special Condition | No Weapons Allowed |
| At some point in the story, the heroes must surrender their weapons. Perhaps they're visiting some quarter of the city where weapons are not allowed; or a particularly peace-loving temple. In any case, once they're there, they are attacked by enemies belonging to the Master Villain. | |
| Moral Quandry | Respect Quandry |
| This is much like the Ally Quandry, only at a greater distance. The heroes have been utilizing the aid of two (or 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. | |
| 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 | Wanted by the Law |
| 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. |
Based upon tables from the Dungeon Master's Design Kit by TSR, Inc.