libranchylde
So, it looks like I may get a chance to start playing again sometime soon. I just need to start writing the adventure that I will be setting my brother-in-law through. The only problem that I am having is trying to come up with the hook. I am trying to avoid the old "You are in a tavern, what do you do?"
So, I have a question for you guys: What hooks have you used successfully in the past? What hooks were flops?
Comments
One I had that I thought was going to be great but flopped horribly for a single PC was an idea I got listening to the song Sad But True by Metallica. The idea was that a Wizard was controlling the PC and could see everything he did and could dictate his actions....the Player hated it...
dlaporte
Recently I started each of my players in different locations in a town and let them explore the town a little bit (just after character creation, no real plan to do an adventure that night). They all almost immediately decided to go to the tavern of their own free will...
In my current campaign the main PC starts out in a peaceful valley that is invaded by an army of dragonborn...The adventure begins with her flight from the initial attack and her ensuing efforts to create a rebellion.
So many good mysteries and adventures start with a body.
A group of travellers (including the PCs) cresting a mountain pass find the body of a middle aged man, crushed and mutilated, in the ditch. He is dressed in the garbs of a Pelorian priest beneath a stained travellers cloak. Closer inspection reveals his face to be frozen in a look of horror and his eyes are missing, leaving behind two red sockets filled with flies. All of his worldly possessions are in tact. Most of the travellers recoil in revulsion, making a sign against evil before continuing down the heavily rutted road that descends past a stone cairn a few hundred feet away that marks the boundaries to the barony of...
killervp
"A God...Rebuilt":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/a-god-rebuilt
"Duskreign's First Ever COTM":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/wyrmshadow/wiki_pages/112011
"OP's COTM April 2012":http://blog.obsidianportal.com/a-god-rebuilt-aprils-cotm/
Just trying to help out.
Obviously this isn't going to work for every kind of story, but it's a good general strategy.