Adventure #29

Action/Adventure
Theme
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.
Settle a Debt
Goal
A player character may find himself in the position of needing to settle a debt. He could gamble away all his
money and need to raise some more to repay the gambling house before its enforcers come for him. On a more
personal level, the character may need to settle a debt of either money or honor that he owes to an NPC.
Pressing Buttons
Story Hook
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.
Geographic Progression
Plot
This is the simplest sort of adventure plot. The heroes have an area to investigate or travel through; they have
encounters based on where they are. For instance, the traditional dungeon, where monsters are tied to specific
rooms or areas. Or, if the heroes are travelling along a narrow valley or through an enchanted forest, they might
suffer ambushes and other encounters fixed to various points along their travel plan. The plot, then, is getting to the
villain by surviving the intervening obstacle encounters.
Bloody Battle
Climax
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.
Cosmopolitan City
General Setting
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.
Shacktown of the Oppressed
Specific Setting I
Part of the action centers around the tenements or shacks of the worst part of town; perhaps an allied NPC lives
here or the characters are fugitives hiding out in the nasty part of town.
Legendary Forest
Specific Setting
II
This classic adventure site is the sometimes dark and fearsom, sometimes light and cheerful, always magical and
incomprehensible forest inhabited by the oldest elven trives and most terrifying monsters.
Ravager
Master Villain
This Master Villain is like the Destroyer, except that he terrorizes a very limited area -- such as a village, island,
castle, or clan stronghold. (He may want to destroy the whole world but be trapped where he is; perhaps his efforts
to free himself constitute the adventure's plot.) He stays in his area and terrorizes whatever comes into it.
Moronic Muscleman
Minor Villain I
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.
Avenger
Minor Villain II
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.
Talkative Barkeep
Ally/Neutral
This classic encounter is the garrulous innkeeper who has information the characters want; trouble is, they'll have
to bribe him to get it, or agree to stay at his inn, or buy a lavish meal, or listen to his incessant stories about his
career in the army, or whatever.
Assassin Monster
Monster
Encounter
This mosnter, at some time in the adventure, is sent by the Master Villain to attack one or more heroes when
they're at their most vulnerable -- asleep, enjoying themselves, etc. Usually, the Assassin Monster attacks, but the
hero, though injured, is able to hold it off long enough for his friends to respond to his shouts. The Assassin
Monster is usually killed by his friends, who can then speculate on who sent it and why.
Inquisitive Official
Character
Encounter
Some local authority has noticed the characters' presence and it makes her curious. She snoops around asking
questions all the time. She may be a city guardsman or special agent of the ruler, but (functionally) she's a police
lieutenant, asking the rong questions at the wrong time; the heroes have to work around her, sneaking where
normally they'd be able to work in the open.
Pit and the Pendulum
Deathtrap
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.
Special Terrain
Chase
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.
Fortune Teller Predicts Doom
Omen/Prophesy
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 Embarrassment
Secret Weakness
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.
Omnipresent Observer
Special
Condition
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.)
Saving Quandry
Moral 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.
Lying Rumor
Red Herring
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.
Mission is a Ruse
Cruel Trick
In the course of their adventuring, the heroes discover they have been tricked into performing a mission which
helps the Master Villain.
Based on tables from the Dungeon Master's Design Kit by TSR, Inc.