Adoraith
Back in the oldie oldie days there was a nice little supplement called the Book of Lairs that provided simple adventure hooks for GMs. There were no maps and very few stats to speak of. Just launching points for adventure! That's the whole point of this thread! Give a one or two line adventure hook to inspire our fellow gamers! Here are a few of mine off the top of my head:
* A badly beaten rogue, fleeing from armed thugs, plants a map on one of the player characters.
* A powerful city lord is killed accidentally when a teamster loses control of his wagon. The lord is revealed to be a doppleganger.
* While traveling south, the adventurers come into a blighted, rain soaked land at the center of which lies a small village where a mother and child has disappeared each of the last 5 nights.
So what are your ideas?
"Adoraith":https://adoraith-echoes-of-epirus.obsidianportal.com/
Comments
- the last grand master of the Shastar Vidya martial art is traveling the world seeking students worthy to learn this deadly form of fighting ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15480741
- in an experimental facility, somewhere miles form anywhere 'it' has escaped from its holding lab; the scientist have 2 hours to destroy it before the nuclear fail safes sterilise the lab and the surrounding 3 miles of desert ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066769/ )
- Harry is not well at the office today... its not a great day to be trapped in the office with him; as he has locked all the doors, and seems to have a duffle bag full of small arms... (it would be bad taste to link to the dozens of news items that this could have come from Im sorry to say)
- you are playing football in the park when a sink hole opens up! it wouldnt be too bad, but there seems to be some sort of city down there!
Actually, I really don't EVER have problems finding hooks. I have so many unplayed adventures to hand.
However, in the spirit of this thread I will put forward a nice simple one that I found today from a free KOBOLD PRESS adventure:
Players take on the roles of “awakened ravens” who nest in a single great tree and who call themselves the GREAT UNKINDNESS. The eldest raven is beginning to sense that something is going wrong with the world, and the very future of the Great Unkindness is threatened. (Nevermore by Richard Pett c 2014 Open Design).
I like the premise and intend to run it for my two nephews soon.
twiggyleaf
CURRENT CAMPAIGN: "Mysteria":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/mysteria - set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: "Shimring":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/shimring
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member
I've heard some good things about D&DNext but it will take my whole group asking for it to get me to change. I love the PATHFINDER system and the way they keep on bringing out new stuff keeps it ALIVE! I have also now invested heavily in the MIDGARD books and PDFs for PATHFINDER and still have a lot of stuff still to play.
twigs
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member
New Hook:
* The anguished ghost of your brother appears to you unable to speak but beckoning for help. However, when you return home you find him alive and well.
"Adoraith":https://adoraith-echoes-of-epirus.obsidianportal.com/dashboard
twigs
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member
New Hook: (my koblds are highly mutable, especially in contact with high magic locations or creatures.
Kobolds claiming the territory that contains an ancient shrine to the four winds have recently started raiding the area, and taking on pig like characteristics and a penchant for fire.
(Spoiler) The shrine was actually the prison of a pig demon allied with Pazuzu, an enemy of the Four winds)
(Spoiler) Have the kobolds release a wild boar coated in grease and set on fire on a narrow trail leading to the shrine.
Unconquered Kingdoms, July 2016 CotM
* You are investigating the savage deaths of half a dozen residents of an urban sprawl when you discover the villain is a 9 year old orphaned girl who is unaware that she is afflicted with lycanthropy. The girl is kind but streetwise. However, each full moon or anytime she feels threatened the girl changes into a werewolf to feed.
Its kind of a greater good vs the girl's life test. My players couldn't bring themselves to kill her and are still trying to decide how to handle her.
"Adoraith":https://adoraith-echoes-of-epirus.obsidianportal.com/
The party are hired to transport a small-ish treasure chest from city A to City B in secret; and it feels slightly warm to the touch no matter what the weather.
inside the treasure chest is a large egg...
there are two things you should know about eggs, especially the very large kind:
1 - Their mothers tend get upset when they go missing
2 - sometimes they hatch!
You visit a haunted house (as in 'Halloween/theme park attraction) or a maze. When you come out again, there is one extra person with your party, behaving like he has always been part of the group. You totally know the guy. Yeah. You go way back. Except you don't and a tiny part of your brain is screaming at you that something is wrong.
Shadowrun: The Rat's Nest - COTM November 2014
it should be pointed out that this 'frequent visitor' has only been orbiting the earth this frequently scince the Feb' 1959, as it had changed course at this time (coincidentally timed with the death of Buddy Holly... ! )
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/78466000/jpg/_78466309_geezer.jpg
twigs
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member
here another...
25 years from now, The Indigo Children are all grown up, and now their plans are come to fruition and operation 'Inidigo Dawn' is about to start...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_children
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-29761017
* Along side the road lies the remains of a caravan. The broken carts and wagons are bleached of colour and empty. They lie empty, on their sides. There are no marks in the ground, nor moss growing on what should be rotting wood.
* The cavern mouth is a gaping maw with stone teeth and a rotting stench that billows out each night, and sucks in air hungrily each morn. The local villagers say the noises have become louder recently.
* Stars, twinkling merrily in the night sky start to fade. While it is still quite late and no new light source emerges, the stars go out one by one as you stand in the dying of the light.
* A train screams smack-dab through the centre of a small village. The chickens, however, don't seem to notice and the train phases through them.
* The dawn finally comes after a long cold and dark night filled with horrors. There's only one problem. The dawn is coming from the wrong direction.
Signs & Portends, Dwarves of Lost Koldukar, In a certain realm
I like the one where the dawn comes from the wrong direction! Simple......but pregnant with possibility!
twigs
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member
Carl
"Devils and Dilettantes":https://devils-and-dilettantes.obsidianportal.com/
They are among us!
XCom: Defiance - Campaign of the Month November 2016
Subsequent investigation reveals all of the bodies in this particular cemetery are missing (dun, dun, Daaaah!!!)
(tip - dont leap to a super-natural explanation on this one straight away, something as simple as a corrupt mortician boosting his income to supply 'research materials' is more than creepy enough!)
Figured I'd have some fun with the spam. :)
They are among us!
XCom: Defiance - Campaign of the Month November 2016
the party are under going a dream quest to determine which of them will be promoted (to whatever position of power seems best for your game)
however they have all forgotten its a dream quest, including what the objective of the quest is! (i.e. start it off as a normal session, and dont tell them they are dreaming)
TIP 1 - things should get (slowly) weirder and weirder until they figure out they are in a dream
Tip 2 - figure out a standard 'wake up' clause (death in the dream is usual)
Tip 3 - make sure they can figure out the quest in the dream somehow, or at least can complete it 'by accident'
twigs
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30512185
twigs
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member
* But it's not really a CAT burgler is it? Sure it goes after gems and gold and such, but it left a whole liter of milk untouched!
- CAT burgler Dave, not Kitten burgler!
* She heard a noise, a crack of thunder she swears, and there he was. She saw him stealing her jewlery. And then she swooned!
- Lucky for her that she wasn't on the stairs!
* Torn asunder it was! The paper cover for the window was just gone.
- And on such a rainy night!
Signs & Portends, Dwarves of Lost Koldukar, In a certain realm
is the internet becoming too dangerous to connect to?
Signs & Portends, Dwarves of Lost Koldukar, In a certain realm