Buy Me a CoffeeRandom Adventure Generator
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | Divine Retribution |
| Here, the heroes' goal has been to alert the gods that the Master Villain threatens them or their plans; in the last scenes of the adventure, as our heroes face an overwhelming enemy force, the gods bring down their divine retribution on the villain, causing a massive earthquake, tidal wave, lightning storm, or flood of monsters. This is all well and good, but the heroes are too close and must escape the fringe effects of this awesome disaster. A variant on this is the Natural Disaster. No gods are actually involved, but the Master Villain has been tampering with the delicate forces of nature. He may, for instance, have been powering his master spell with the energies of a volcano. When the heroes attack the scene of his spellcasting, the spell goes out of control and so does the volcano. The villain is consumed in the eruption and the heroes must escape or be consumed themselves. | |
| General Setting | Hero's Home Town |
| The action takes the heroes back to the home territory of one of them. Note that this usually means that this hero's family or old friends are deeply involved in the adventure. | |
| 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 | Tavern/Inn |
| This is a classic fantasy setting, the residence of travelling heroes and the home of the tavern brawl. | |
| Master Villain | Conqueror |
| This character is moving his army in to take over; that's what he lives for. He's been the enemy of your characters' nation's ruler, and has launched a full-scale invasion of your characters' favorite nation. The heroes have to beat their way through or elude his hordes of soldiers in order to get at him; better yet, they might lead their own nation's troops against his and outthink him in military fashion. | |
| Minor Villain I | Moronic Muscleman |
| This fellow is a huge, powerful monster of a fighter. His job is to smash anything the villain tells him to smash. He does that very well, but don't ask him to do any thinking; he has no time for such brainy stuff. | |
| Minor Villain II | Moronic Muscleman |
| This fellow is a huge, powerful monster of a fighter. His job is to smash anything the villain tells him to smash. He does that very well, but don't ask him to do any thinking; he has no time for such brainy stuff. | |
| Ally/Neutral | Government Observer |
| For some reason, the heroes' ruler wants one of his own people accompanying them. Whatever the reason, the heroes are now stuck with a haughty, self-important royal observer, an expert in (probably) military tactics or espionage. He continually offers unwanted advice and tends to get the heroes into trouble by pulling rank whenever he's not satisfied. | |
| 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 | 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 | 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 | Special Terrain |
| You can make any chase more memorable by having it take place in a setting to which it is utterly unsuited. For instance, horse chases are fine and dramatic when they take place through the forest, out in the open plains, or along a road -- but they become diabolical when they take place inside the Royal Palace or in dangerous, labrynthine, treacherous catacombs. | |
| Omen/Prophesy | Fortune Teller Predicts Doom |
| This is an ominous encounter: A fortune-teller predicts doom for one of the heroes, or for some community menaced by the Master Villain. Shortly after, some calamity should befall the hero: He can be attacked by an assassin, be in a building when it is struck by fire or an earthquake, or suffer other danger. Investigation of the events can then point the heroes toward the Master Villain as the event's instigator. | |
| Secret Weakness | Lack of Familiarity |
| The Master Villain, if he comes from the past or another dimension, or belongs to an alien race, might be sufficiently unfamiliar with this world that he essentially defeats himself. How? By making incorrect guesses about human behaviour. One classic error involves underestimating the human capacity for self-sacrifice. | |
| 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 | False Path to the Artifact |
| Once again, if the heroes have had too easy a time finding the artifact capable of destroying the villain, give them trouble this way: When they get to the place where the artifact is supposed to be contained, they find the coffer or chamber or whatever empty, obviously looted by robbers, who have scrawled such remarks as "Kelrog was here!" upon the walls. | |
| Cruel Trick | Heroes Must Work with Villain |
| If they have to work for the villain, it's due to some hold he has over them -- probably, he's kidnapped one of their NPCs and will kill this person if his demands aren't met. Put the heroes through the encounter where they have to do something they are loathe to do, such as sack and pillage a temple, before they have the opportunity to retrieve their friend. |
Based upon tables from the Dungeon Master's Design Kit by TSR, Inc.