| 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 | Retrieve Item |
| This goal is like the Rescue, except the victim is an inanimate
object. This item may be an artifact, a paper containing evidence
against a character or patron, an antidote needed to save another
NPC or palyer character, or just some item of sentimental value
-- an item which one NPC hires the characters to steal from
another NPC. |
| 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 | 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 | Bloody Battle |
| This is the best Climax for an adventure involving the clash of
mighty armies -- or for any adventure where, toward the end, the
Master Villain and a large body of minions confront the heroes
and their own troops. This finale is characterized by a monstrous
clash between the two forces, with the heroes chewing through the
enemy ranks to get at the Master Villain and his elite guards.
It's strenuous, exciting, and classically simple. |
| 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 | 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. |
| 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 | Avenger |
| This character is much like the Master Villain of the same name,
but he's not in charge of all this villainy, and he's definitely
an enemy of one of the player-characters. You'll have to decide
who he is and why he hates one of the heroes; he could be
anything from a recurring villain to someone who simply lost a
fight to the hero once. |
| Minor Villain II | Avenger |
| This character is much like the Master Villain of the same name,
but he's not in charge of all this villainy, and he's definitely
an enemy of one of the player-characters. You'll have to decide
who he is and why he hates one of the heroes; he could be
anything from a recurring villain to someone who simply lost a
fight to the hero once. |
| Ally/Neutral | Childhood Friend with a Dark Secret |
| One of the heroes is accompanied by one of his childhood
friends... but said friend now has a Dark Secret. He does strange
and mysterious things (sneaks off to send messages, or behaves
strangely around certain NPCs, or is scared to death of certain
harmless animals or situations) and will not explain why to his
PC friend until late in the story. |
| 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 | Belligerent Soldier |
| The billigerent one has just had his ears pinned back by his
commanding officer and is anxious to take it out on some hapless
civilian. If this is a city gate, he claims that the hero's
papers are wrong or that he recognizes the hero from descriptions
of a wanted criminal; if this is the streets, he insults the
hero's lack of military bearing, pretty looks, clothes, smell,
companion, or whatever it takes to provoke a reaction. |
| Deathtrap | Pit and the Pendulum |
| Actually, we're applying this term to any of many time-delay
deathtraps. In this sort of trap, the villains capture the heroes
and place them in a trap which will soon kill them -- it operates
on a delay, often based on a timing device or a burning fuse. |
| 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 | Innocent Fulfills Prophecy |
| An innocent could fulfill a prophecy -- one which endangers
his/her life. This innocent might, for instance, be the one who
is supposed to slay the king, but is not a mighty adventurer able
to protect himself from the king; the heroes may find themselves
sheltering and helping this poor dupe. |
| Secret Weakness | Secret Embarrassment |
| Finally, the villain may have some aberration or secret shame
that will force him to flee when he is confronted 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. |
| 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 | 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 | 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 | Mission is a Ruse |
| In the course of their adventuring, the heroes discover they have
been tricked into performing a mission which helps the Master
Villain. |
Based upon tables from the
Dungeon Master's Design Kit by TSR, Inc.