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 | 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 | Dying Delivery |
| On some occassion when the hero is out wandering the streets or is otherwise all alone, a dying man bumbs into him, hands him something, says a few words, and dies. | |
| 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 | 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 | 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. | |
| 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 | Classic Dungeon |
| This would be the standard monster-filled labyrinth; perhaps it's a nesting ground for the master villain's monster troops. | |
| Master Villain | Advance Agent |
| This villain is the vanguard of some sort of invastion; often, he is trying to open up a portal to a dimension full of trapped demons and evil gods. | |
| Minor Villain I | 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. | |
| 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 | Merry Minstrel |
| This character follows the heroes in order that he might find inspiration for his song and storytelling. He can't be shut up; he sings all the day long and into the night, is a showoff before crowds, and is far too noisy for a party trying to remain unobserved. | |
| Monster Encounter | Ravager |
| This is another classic monster encounter; the monster which is bedeviling a community or local area and will continue to do so unless the heroes destroy or defeat it. Yes, this is similar to the Master Villain of the same name, but the Ravager usually has no master plan -- it just wants to kill, destroy, or eat. | |
| Character Encounter | New Enemy |
| In the course of his ordinary activies, one of the heroes can make a New Enemy. Hurrying along the street, he can bump into a disagreeable fighter for whom an apology isn't enough; in a tavern, he can make some innocuous remark that you deliberately have the irritable fellow misconstrue as an insult. The New Enemy will only exchange heated words with the hero at this point, but will appear again later in the adventure and will eventually have to fight the hero. | |
| Deathtrap | Tomb Deathtraps |
| Another classic type of trap is the sort of triggered trap left behind in abandoned tombs, ruins, and catacombs. Here, a hero who touches the wrong step, floor tile, wall brick, torch bracket, mounted gemstone, or other device will trigger some sort of ancient trap designed to kill tomb-robbers and intruders. | |
| Chase | Aerial |
| The heroes could be riding pegasi or friendly griffons or allied great eagles; the villains could be carried aloft by gargoyles or demons. The prospect of taking a mile-long fall if one's mount is hit is a very daunting and challenging one for the hero. | |
| Omen/Prophesy | Birthmark |
| One of the heroes has a birthmark that pertains to the adventure in some way. He may have a birthmark identical to some NPC -- for instance, some person endangered by the Master Villain. This mystery can give the hero his reason to become involved. Alternatively, his birthmark may mark him as a hero fulfilling some ancient prophecy. | |
| Secret Weakness | Holy Symbol |
| The villain may have the traditional weakness to a specific holy symbol -- but don't choose just an ordinary one. It 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.) | |
| Special Condition | Stolen Identities |
| This option requires that the Master Villain be of godlike power oor possess some sort of artifact. Once the Master Villain realizes that the heroes are on his tail, he uses his powers or artifact and steals the heroes' identities. One day they wake up -- and no one knows who they are. They retain their memories of themselves and each other, but no one else does. (The villain knows them, though.) | |
| 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 | Artifact that Doesn't Work |
| Often, epic quests against powerful Master Villains require that the heroes find some legendary artifact, the only object which can defeat the villain. If your heroes have had no trouble getting to the artifact -- they've effortlessly sliced through every obstacle you've put in their path and are confidently advancing on the resting place of the magical item -- you can have it not work. | |
| 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.