Buy Me a CoffeeRandom Adventure Generator
| Theme | Comedy |
| This adventure is fun for fun's sake. Its basic purpose is to provide humorous entertainment with a minimum of actual danger or tragedy. | |
| Goal | Thwart Monstrous Plan |
| This is a classic fantasy-adventure plot: The characters learn of some horrible plan made by a monstrous enemy, and must thwart it before the kingdom is lost or the world is destroyed. This is an epic goal, and usually requires that the characters go to all sorts of places, rounding up allies and artifacts, before being strong enough to face their enemy. | |
| Story Hook | Hero Offended |
| Someone greatly offends the hero, so much so that he'll pursue his offender right into the adventure. (Note that this usually means that the offender is a minion of the Master Villain. You'll have to decide whether the minion offended the hero precisely to bring him into the adventure or just as a side-effect of his ordinary villain activities.) | |
| 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 | 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 Sea |
| Most of the action occurs on the sea -- the heroes are shipborne for some reason, docking in lots of ports. Again, this is good for adventures where the heroes are investigating clues left all over the map, are part of some trading enterprise, or are being pursued by 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 | Mansion of a Lord |
| This can be the home of a villain -- the characters may have to break in and rescue someone or steal evidence, or break out if they've been captured -- or of a heroic ally, in which case it may be used as the headquarters for the heroes' plans and activities. | |
| Master Villain | Destroyer |
| This villain is like the Corruptor, except that he likes destroying instead of corrupting. He operates like the Conqueror, moving in his armies -- often nonhuman or monstrous armies -- and destroying everything in sight. Again, the Destroyer could easily be an evil god or demon, meaning the heroes wil have to find his weakness in order to thwart his current plan. | |
| Minor Villain I | Misguided Moralist |
| This fellow has been convinced that only by helping the villain achieve the Master Plan can he improve the world. He tends to be encountered all through the adventure's plot, usually escaping from the heroes and taunting them for their wrong thinking. Fortunately, he's no more effective as a villain than he is as a thinker. | |
| Minor Villain II | Corrupted Hero |
| This villain was once a hero, possibly one known to the players. He was seduced by the dark side of the dungeon master. Because of his own weakness, or of a curse, he has become a villain, a pawn of the Master Villain. | |
| Ally/Neutral | Hero Worshipper |
| Some youth -- an urchin, a brother or sister of one of the heroes, or a child run away from home -- hooks up with the heroes, following them wherever they go, being admiring, talking to everyone (neutrals and villains included) about how wonderful and powerful the heroes are. | |
| 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 | Old Friend at the Wrong Time |
| When the heroes are trying to sneak through a guardpost, citadel, or city where they can't afford to be recognized, one of the characters' old friends recognizes him and loudly renews their acquaintance in full view of the guards looking for the characters. This usually leads to an exciting chase as the heroes must escape. | |
| Deathtrap | Coliseum |
| If it's appropriate, you can have the heroes captured by the local authorities -- particularly when they're in an exotic land, lost world, or whatever -- and have them armed with gladiatorial gear and dropped into a coliseum for the entertainment of the locals. (Note that this works much better with fighting-type heroes than spellcasters.) | |
| 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 | Comet's Progress |
| Events during the adventure may be enlivened by a large and menacing comet which appears in the night sky for several days during the scenario; the locals take it for an omen of doom. The comet may be the result of magic being used by the Master Villain, or the comet's appearance can pertain to an old legend involving the Master Villain. | |
| 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 | Omnipresent Observer |
| If a wizard, demigod or god has forced the heroes to undertake this quest, he may be with them continually -- in spirit. He can't help them, but does magically watch everything they do. And when they do something he doesn't like, he tells them about it -- loudly and nastily. (This is distressing when they're trying to break into a fortress or sneak through enemy lines.) | |
| 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 | 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.