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 | Win War |
| In this adventure or set of adventures, the characters become part of an army -- a force assaulting another kingdom, perhaps, or an army defending one realm from another. | |
| 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 | A-B-C Quest |
| This is an epic sort of plot. In it, the heros are given (or undertake) a task to perform: The taking of a city, the rescue of an innocent, the destruction of a monster, the creation of a magical item, the defeat of a Master Villain, etc. But the path to victory is not a simple one. To get to their goal, Event A, they find that they must first accomplish some other task -- Event B. But when they undertake the task of accomplishing Event B, they find that they must first accomplish Event C. This goes on for several encounters, until the heroes accomplish all the obstacle events which prevent them from returning to Event A, their original goal. | |
| 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 | Cosmopolitan City |
| Most of the story takes place in a large, sophisticated city; center the villain's plot and activities around that city. This setting is best suited to adventures involving more people than monsters; most of your villains should be human or demi-human. | |
| Specific Setting I | Catacombs |
| These can be catacombs beneath a living city or a ruined one; they can be long-forgotten or still in use. | |
| 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 | 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 | 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 | Single-Minded Soldier |
| This most trustworthy of villain minions is the experienced, competent, persistent soldier -- a field-trained officer who serves the villain with military precision. He is usually encountered in the field as leader of the villain's field operations. He is not encountered directly until the middle of or the latter part of the adventure; until then, the heroes encounter only his subordinates. | |
| 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 | Beast Amok |
| Some time when the heroes are in a village or city, an animal, probably an otherwise tame or captured beast, is set loose by the villain's minions or driven mad by the Master Villain. The beast goes berserk in the crowds; if the heroes aren't inclined to capture or kill it, it goes after them. | |
| Character Encounter | Lying Accuser |
| A captured thief may accuse the character of putting him up to the theft; an abandoned mother may accuse the hero of fathering the child; a reputable witness (working for the Master Villain) may accuse the hero of a murder or robbery. The hero shouldn't know what he's accused of until he's hauled in by the authorities. | |
| Deathtrap | Mutually Assured Destruction |
| In this very nasty deathtrap, the heroes are bound up in such a manner that any one of them may get free of his bonds -- but when he does, all his friends perish. Obviously, the heroes' task is to find some way for everyone to get out alive. Perhaps an intricate series of cooperative rope-cutting will defuse the trap; perhaps a coordinated maneuver will get everyone free as the trap is being sprung. | |
| Chase | Endurance |
| The Endurance Chase is not some sort of climactic chase -- it's a rugged, tiring, persistent pursuit that tests the characters to their limits. In this chase, the heroes and villains are pursuing one another across a lot of territory and they're not catching up with one another very fast. This may be a horseback pursuit across a hundred miles of savannah, a camel chase across several days' worth of desert, or a chase across arctic tundra. | |
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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.