Adventure #111

Theme

Goal

Story Hook

Plot

Climax

General Setting

Specific Setting
I

Specific Setting
II

Master Villain

Minor Villain I

Minor Villain II

Espionage
Espionage adventures are active, grim scenarios involving spying and perhaps other cloak-and-dagger
deeds such as assassination or rescue.
Survive Environment
The characters could end up in a hostile environment which they must cross -- a desert, a jungle, or
other hostile setting. In the course of the adventure they'll need to find food and water, resist the
elements, and perhaps fight off attacks of the natives.
Grim Necessity
If the hero doesn't involve himself with this adventure, he's going to find himself suffering or dead -period. That's the hook to bring him into the adventure... but you have to determine why he'll suffer or
die if he doesn't become involved.
Series of Villains
This is a very dramatic plot, and very well-suited to oriental campaigns. In it, the heroes have
undertaken a quest, usually the finding and defeat of the Master Villain. They may have to travel to his
citadel, or head off in another direction to find some artifact capable of defeating him, or run away from
pursuing villains until they can figure out what's going on. All along their route, they are set upon by
villains -- each villain has a name and distinct personality, and each encounter is life-or-death for the
heroes and villains; the villain never escapes to safety if the tide turns against him, he fights unto death.
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.
On the Road
Most of the adventure takes place on the road, as the heroes are travelling from place to place. This is
especially good for adventures where heroes are investigating a wide-ranging mystery, are part of a
caravan, or are being pursued by loathesome villains.
Craftsman's Quarter
This can occur in either the shop of the master craftsman of a palace or manor, or the guild-area of a
city.
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.
Corruptor
The Corruptor is the villain who wants to make something nasty out of something that is currently nice.
He may be working on a small scale -- i.e., wish to corrupt one character or a few characters,
particularly PCs and their favorite NPCs. Alternatively, he may be a big-scale villain trying to change an
entire city or nation into a jaded, debased pit of sin, hatred and death.
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.
Single-Minded Soldier
This most trustworthy of villain minions is the experienced, competent, persistent soldier -- a fieldtrained officer who serves the villain with military precision. He is usually encountered in the field as
leader of the villain's field operations. He is not encountered directly until the middle of or the latter part
of the adventure; until then, the heroes encounter only his subordinates.

Government Observer
For some reason, the heroes' ruler wants one of his own people accompanying them. Whatever the
Ally/Neutral 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.
Terrain Monster
Monster
Don't forget the simple run-in with the animal belonging to the terrain where the heroes are: Every type
Encounter
of wilderness has its predators and big, nasty herbivores.
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
Character
recognized,
one of the characters' old friends recognizes him and loudly renews their acquaintance in
Encounter
full view of the guards looking for the characters. This usually leads to an exciting chase as the heroes
must escape.
Framed
One or more of the heroes is accused and convicted of a capital crime -- one for which the mandatory
Deathtrap
punishment is death. The heroes must escape or die, and they're escaping from the well-built, wellprotected prison of the local authorities.
Special Terrain
You can make any chase more memorable by having it take place in a setting to which it is utterly
Chase
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.
Innocent Fulfills Prophecy
Omen/Prophesy An innocent could fulfill a prophecy -- one which endangers his/her life. This innocent might, for
instance, be the one who is supposed to slay the king, but is not a mighty adventurer able to protect
himself from the king; the heroes may find themselves sheltering and helping this poor dupe.
Holy Symbol
The villain may have the traditional weakness to a specific holy symbol -- but don't choose just an
Secret Weakness ordinary one. It may be a holly symbol no longer used by the church, or may be some forgotten
variation of the current symbol. (For instance, the cross may not work, but a variation -- such as the
Roman cross -- might; alternatively, it might have to be a holy symbol which has undergone some
unfamiliar ritual.)
Time Limit
Finally, the most obvious condition to place on an adventure is to give it a time limit. If the Master
Special
Villain is going to conclude his evil spell in only three days, and his citadel is three hard days' riding
Condition
away, then the heroes are going to be on the go all throughout the adventure -- with little time to rest,
plan, gather allies, or anything except get to where they're going.
Friend Quandry
Moral Quandry At a critical point in the story, one of the campaign's NPCs makes an impossible demand of one of the
heroes.
Loony who Has It Wrong
You can have the heroes "aided" by a so-called expert who is actually a lunatic who doesn't know
Red Herring anything about what he's talking about. Once he's led the heroes off to some remote part of the
continent, his evasive answers and bizarre behaviour will alert them that he really doesn't know anything
about what he's pretended to be an expert on.
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
Cruel Trick 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.