Post/Author/DateTime	Post
AnonymousRobot 10-03-05, 11:04 PM	I think what everyone needs is adventure hooks that you can whip out of a hat. The standard goblin raiders type hooks get old after a while, so this is a thread where you put new hooks or different twists on old hooks that require little to no preperation to begin. After all, the party won't always take your hooks. Sometimes they just want to get drunk or play in the woods. Surprise them. 1) A weird fog has been rolling into town every few nights. People have been disappearing, and still others have begun acting strangely. (Mystery/stakeout/what have you involving vampire, spawn, dominated creatures)
Coren 10-03-05, 11:13 PM	2. A PC or NPC is walking in a forest and feels something break under his feet. When he wakes up he finds himself in previously unknow dungeon. 3. The PC's walk into town and everyone seems so exited for them to be there. They find out that a minotar (or orc) has been spoted outside of town. If they agree to kill it then the monster offers no resistance. Is this a polymorphed mage? an exile who longs for death? or a creature who took a vow of peace?
Slyde Shadowdart 10-04-05, 01:59 AM	4) A small town is renowned for leagues around for having one of the most extensive libraries in the lands. One night, the entire structure burns to the ground. Upon investigating, it is clear that the books were not in the library when it burned, and to top it off the head librarian is unaccounted for! 5) A strange, unnatural winter befalls a large portion of a desert metropolis. Not even the city's greatest spellcasters can determine the cause, and all efforts to rid the city of the rogue weather conditions have failed.
Word Salad 10-04-05, 02:25 AM	6. The river that is the source of much a large town's economic trade has suddenly and unexpectedly dried up. What little water DOES trickle through the empty streambed is brackish and nigh-undrinkable. The town is dying fast, and is practically throwing its resources at the PCs to get help. 7. Surprise one-way portal to Sigil. 8. People have discovered that a wish spoken aloud before the feet of a strange statue at high noon come true! People are flocking to the location, setting up transient cities there to change the things in their lives that need changing. But what the publicity doesn't say is that the wishes rarely come true as they're supposed to - and a terrible price is exacted for the granting. 9. A bounty has been taken out against a former ally of the PCs. The bounty is ridiculously high, and only redeemable upon return of the ally's head. 10. The ship the PCs are travelling on meets an unruly storm and is capsized. The PCs seem to be the sole survivors, washed up on a deserted island.
mrshupizdumaterinu 10-04-05, 03:29 AM	11. Someone started yet another lame 1001 thread and people are quite irritated and want to put an end to it.
Brashnir 10-04-05, 04:12 AM	12 - A Child walks up to the PCs and says to one of them, "Mister, why are you on fire?" The PC in question is not on fire, and when asked what he meant, the child picks up a leaf and touches it to the PC's armor, and the leaf immediately ignites.
VirgilCaine 10-04-05, 11:45 AM	13. Ghosts from the Underdark (mind flayers, umber hulks, drow, duergar, whatever) rise from the ground and wreak havoc! 14. A former adventurer's ghost approaches the PCs, looking to join their party.
Slyde Shadowdart 10-05-05, 02:05 AM	11. Someone started yet another lame 1001 thread and people are quite irritated and want to put an end to it. Nah, the adventure would be too short. A wizard with INT:18 would just pop up and declare that if someone didn't want to read a post, they didn't have to click it.
mrshupizdumaterinu 10-05-05, 02:56 AM	Nah, the adventure would be too short. A wizard with INT:18 would just pop up and declare that if someone didn't want to read a post, they didn't have to click it. Oh, sure, but that's a short-term solution. In order to fight the menace, PCs must go to the core of the problem. They must educate the ignorant and show how terribly stupid the society has become by making all those little 1001 threads in places where some could actually have some debates from which the younger and new members of society could actually learn something about the things the society does. Its a lifelong epic campagin.
ChimericalWolf 10-05-05, 03:01 AM	15. Winter comes early to the big campaign-centric city. Than it gets colder. Than we break records for how cold it is. Than it gets colder. People are dying just walking outside. All Divination to find the cause fails. Than all Divination in the city fails. Disturbing news comes. The local wizards organization head summoned some great frost elemental to try to figure out what's going on. As near as anyone can tell, it froze to death. 16. Livestock are being born with small razor-fanged maws instead of teeth. Some of them are benign, some murderous. 17. Another disturbing bit of news: The newborn child of the rulers of the land (where succession goes to the firstborn. Always) is born with little hoofie-kins, leathery wings, a tail, and a mean bite on it. Now imagine a campaign where all three of the above happen at once. I need to pick up Heros of Horror....
drake_vampiel_d 10-21-05, 03:17 PM	15. Winter comes early to the big campaign-centric city. Than it gets colder. Than we break records for how cold it is. Than it gets colder. People are dying just walking outside. All Divination to find the cause fails. Than all Divination in the city fails. Disturbing news comes. The local wizards organization head summoned some great frost elemental to try to figure out what's going on. As near as anyone can tell, it froze to death. 16. Livestock are being born with small razor-fanged maws instead of teeth. Some of them are benign, some murderous. 17. Another disturbing bit of news: The newborn child of the rulers of the land (where succession goes to the firstborn. Always) is born with little hoofie-kins, leathery wings, a tail, and a mean bite on it. Now imagine a campaign where all three of the above happen at once. I need to pick up Heros of Horror.... heros of horror sounds like a lot of fun 18. players enter a city and are arested for an attemted murder on the king (or mayor) of the area (it's really a shape shifter)
Evil DM Mk3 10-21-05, 03:26 PM	19. A theif attempts to pick a PCs pocket. 20. The party come across a citidel not listed on any map. As they aproach they realise the walls are BREATHING. 21. A woman in a town the PCs are in somway responcable for comes to them in a state of panic and asks to be cept safe. Soon after she is admited in there is a mob at the door. 22. A vigilanty has been fighting crime in a city, however the collateral damadge is causign majour problems and what is more, powerfull villans have moved to the area seemingly for no reason other that to fight him.
Violet Typhoon 10-21-05, 05:05 PM	23. A philandering male PC receives a letter stating that a past fling in another town is pregnant. The complicated thing is, she was actually a runaway princess, and according to royal law, the illegitimate father of the child (with his friends' help) must pass a series of challenges to determine the worthiness of the new heir. Failure means death for him and exile for the baby. 24. The PCs are caught doing something illegal, and are given a choice of prison time or helping at a far-off, exotic colony besieged by unknown monsters. 25. A student of a rival monk, fighter, or wizard school challenges an appropriately classed PC to prove his organization's superiority. 26. The PCs' stronghold is out of beer, and they must go to town and get some in the middle of the night (who knows what might happen?).
Thomar_of_Uointer 10-21-05, 08:44 PM	27) A party member is inflicted with a deadly magical disease that can only be removed by successfuly contracting lycanthropy (the diseases can't coexist, and lycanthropy usually wins out.)
WandererTheLost 11-02-05, 02:30 AM	28. Tension between two rival nations causes a ban on all travel. Weapons soon become illegal for people not in the military.
Gemmalah 11-02-05, 05:28 AM	I would just like to say that i argree with Slyde Shadowdart about if you don't want to read these threads don't click on them. Personally I find them a useful source of ideas for adventures and sometimes a real good giggle. Anyway 29. Someone has stolen all the towns beer. Find them. 30. The river has been flowing red and has become undrinkable... is it blood? or an eveil spell perhaps a dragon has been killed and its family are after revenge. 31. Someone runs over to the PCs brethlessly asks for help but before he can say any more he falls down dead with an arrow in the back.
WhiteRaven810 11-07-05, 09:49 PM	32. While at a tavern/wandering in a forest, you stumble across a Half-Orc who tells you the story of a famed warrior {insert overly heroic name here} who single-handedly slew a band of marauding skeleton pirates. In truth, the hero is a limp wristed pansy in 'daddy's armor'. The credit to his fame was actually from his Half-Orc servant, thought to be a blundering fool incapiable of thought beyond moderately simple processess. Shortly before returning to the city they, err, the Half-Orc saved, the hero stabbed his pack mule in the back and claimed the credit for himself. The Half-Orc telling you this then offers you a handsome bountry for elimnating the two remaining heir's of the "hero", both cowardly and weak astrocrats with little to no political power (think Black Adder seaon one if you've ever watched that Brittish classic). 33. While passing through some mountains, the party encounters a sentient being bored with life who simply wishes to die. He's simply done everything. Burn cities, saved towns, assassinated kings, bodyguarded nobelmen, slew dragons and raided dungeons. Should they fight and win, an extermly useful sword is the parties reward, but perhaps they can persuade him to linger to life just a little longer to help the party out. Any who have played Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind know the basis for my two plots. 34. The children of a slayed enemy have come back for revenge. They've been praticing with the sole purpose of destroying you for years now, they will be a tough fight. NOTE: The Dungeon Master should play the kids as counter parts to exploit the weakness/null the strength of his/her rollers.
9mm of Mercy 11-08-05, 12:26 AM	35. A famed Dwarven Brewmaster stayed up too late sampling his newest batch and drunkenly flailing about with magic. He fell into a vat while in the midst of a powerful spell. The resulting amalgamation of magic and beer has created a Beeramental that stalks the streets of the night trying to add any and all beers to its prodigious mass. 36. Recently, a tribe of goblins has begun using perfectly cut, precious gems as slingstones. In large numbers. The gold rush is on! 37. A mysterious red garbed man is seeing flying, on a sleigh with flying elk, from rooftop to rooftop stealing all the children's favourite toys. 38. The Tarrasque has been awakened. It possesses a high intelligence and has declared itself the Emperor of all lands. With sexy results!
Word Salad 11-08-05, 03:24 AM	39. A lone mind flayer stumbles, beat-up and bleeding, into the PCs' camp. It claims to be alone and uninterested in harming the PCs, but before it can be questioned or its story got out of it, it passes out in a pool of its own blood. If they check, the 'flayer will detect as Good, though even if it's healed it will be hours before it wakes up, and whatever hurt it that badly is still out there. 40. As night is falling, the PCs discover the ruined remains of an old castle. Little more than the foundation and a few walls remain standing, but it's an ideal campsite and has a roofed-over, comfortable-looking cellar, complete with a trapdoor. Going down, the PCs would find nothing out of the ordinary; it's dirty from long disuse, maybe with a few old wine-racks or beer barrels. Coming up, though, the PCs would emerge into the castle as it looked standing and inhabited - in the midst of a raucous, decadent and debauchery-filled party, on the night of a full moon. 41. As the party travels deeper into (insert area here), they get thirstier and thirstier. No water, either found or carried, seems to be able to quench their thirst; they feel sated for maybe two minutes after drinking, but soon after the terrible thirst builds again. The only thing that quenches is blood drunk fresh... and only for a little while, maybe half a day, and less and less the deeper they get. 42. In a massive, underground chamber, the party discovers a huge representation of the planet. Forty feet tall and suspended in midair, the globe is intricately detailed, down to the buildings in the cities. In fact, if the PCs look close, it's like things are moving down there, milling around on the giant false world... 43. The PCs encounter a group of travelling merchants who sell them a wide variety of surprisingly quality/powerful items for startlingly low prices. Two days later, they encounter the heavily armed and extremely angry group of adventurers who want their stuff back, want interest for their search and aggravation, and half-believe the PCs stole them and want them brought in to justice for good measure. 44. A well-known bard has heard the music of fairies and has been inspired to write a tremendously good, tremendously famous work of music. The fairies are suing for plagiarism.
Thanqol 11-08-05, 04:39 AM	45: A slug which constantly secrets a venom that deals massive intelligence damage to anyone who touches it has appeared in the Psion's backpack. No one notices. 46: A Pupeteer had replaced a PC at level one. No one knows the actual PC. 47: Killer bees.
VagueZ 11-08-05, 11:46 AM	48. The party finds a great wyrm red dragon. Whimpering in a corner. 49. The old wizard guild leader is retiring, and the guild is splitting into factions as they try to choose the new one. 50. The party is tasked with protecting a prince or other noble. The first night, they hear a horrid screeching from within this room--an erinyes and a succubus are fighting over him. 51. There's a new restaurant in town, and it seems no one can pass by it without suddenly being overcome with a compulsion to visit it. The propietor of the more established tavern is upset, and wants it investigated. 52. A grey render has 'adopted' a group of kobolds in the area, and has chosen the human village as a food source. 53. TWO grey renders are in the area... the other one has chosen a little boy in the village to guard. 54. One of the party members seems to be exhibiting some demonic tendencies during combat--perhaps he has a fiendish heritage? 55. A young cloistered cleric and her sorcerer bodyguard are being pursued by brigands, and need to hire someone to help them. The question is why the brigands are so ruthless in chasing them down...
lostone 11-08-05, 01:33 PM	49. The group is traveling past a new dwarven settlement that is developing a new mining city. They are accused of using magical trickery last night to turn all the Dwarven brew skunky, and the Dwarves will be unable to perform the Festival of Ale in the honor of <insert head dwarven deity of the world's name here>. It is a traditional festival that is supposed to bring good fortune to a new mine. There are some good eberron ideas on the eberron boards, I can post the link if people want.
9mm of Mercy 11-08-05, 04:59 PM	There are some good eberron ideas on the eberron boards, I can post the link if people want. Please do, I like this thread. Any other neat little ideas to kickstart a session or campaign would be much appreciated. 50. Massive, slick, space faring ships touch down on all countries of the world. Vaguely humanoid creatures in great full plate, unbreachable by any known means of attack, file out of the ships and begin attacking anything in sight with great beams of light and fire. 51. A gnome tinkerer of great brilliance has invented a device that creates an anti-magic field. The field grows exponentially every time it is turned on.
WhiteRaven810 11-08-05, 05:29 PM	51. Left on the side of a hill, the party finds a baby (of any race). The question is, why was s/he left? Is this baby weak and needs to be culled, or is s/he strong, too strong, for his/her parents to handle? 52. Some moderatly sized metropolis is having a rat problem, which surprisingly is not coming from the vast network of sewers underneth but from the highest tower of the local magistrate. The biggest oddity in the case is the rumor spread around the mill that the magistrate lives in fear of germs and a compulsive neat freak. (I partially owe credit for this to my rats. Kudos Jezebel. Kudos Fonzie). 53. Three word. Dopplegangers replacing politicians. Viva la revolution! 54. A disease, acurately labled ogreism is going around. Symptoms include becoming spiteful, rude, and gruff.
Zombie Carl 11-08-05, 05:40 PM	55. PC's are attacked by an enemy party, on the corpses they discover a note written in fine hand, with a red stain at the bottom to indicate a wax seal was used as an official stamp, but has either broken off or been removed. 56. PC's walk into a town they have never been in before to find a notice board with bounty's on their heads. For a lower amount than would be expected.
yellowdingo 11-09-05, 05:07 AM	57. The PC's wake on hard beds in a giant room one square mile in area. It is dark and as they look around them they see the shadowy room is filled with similar beds in columns and rows. The beds are occupied by the bodies of children and after a quick investigation they realize that they are also children. A voice booms out: "You are ill. Please remain where you are." They find themselves unable to sit up and some force is holding them down. They dose off again to wake up in the real world.
Gemmalah 11-09-05, 06:33 AM	51. Left on the side of a hill, the party finds a baby (of any race). The question is, why was s/he left? Is this baby weak and needs to be culled, or is s/he strong, too strong, for his/her parents to handle? . Woah I love this one... Full of mystery i've got load of ideas yay 58. the baby found on the hill is not a baby at all but a sourcer hit by a spell but cannot tell you so. Is he/she good or bad? Maybe they can find it wrapped in the adults cloak or such as a clue. 59. Sheep start walking round and round in circles. If caught they will struggle to join the herd. Its seems a little mundane investigate sheep but you never know what could be causing it. A bored magical entity or a confused one trying to find some friends. 60. As 59 but with other creatures or even with children who stop talking and start acting strangely. Maybe a powerful wizard can hold them to ransom or the ghost of an angry woman whos children where talken away.
Lillandra 11-09-05, 07:28 AM	61. There are 2 (or more) theives guilds in the city and the son of one guild leader is marrying the daughter of another; but the dowry is deemed an insult and problems ensue.
Word Salad 11-09-05, 07:53 AM	61. A high-ranking noblewoman is turning, ever-so-slowly, into a ghoul. She's in complete denial about it and has no idea why everyone's so up in arms about just a little rotting. 62. A dark-themed autumn festival, performed at night, where people dress up in costumes and both party and pass out candies, occurs while the players are in a major metropolis. They, being upstanding reputable adventurer types, are invited to several dress-up parties, costumes NOT optional. Halfway through the night, a grayish mist seeps through the city, and soon after people discover that they are becoming what they're dressed up as (pity the man dressed in the beer-bottle costume!) 63. A hidden semi-volcanic cavern has been discovered near a large town, complete with a fire weird residing in a large chamber inside. Lonely, the weird uses her powers of prescience to tell the future for whoever comes visit her. Two possible branches come from this: - When predicting the future of one of the characters, the weird undergoes a small seizure. When she recovers, she responds that she only saw one thing in the character's future: pain. - The weird has been driven slightly off by her years of absolute loneliness. She views the outside world as having abandonned her, alone and with the only option to re-absorb herself into the material of her home plane, and she wants to cause it great harm. She DOES see the future clearly, but she alters how she speaks it, using her powers of prescience to twist her fortunes and plot the greatest harm to the people who harmed her. 64. A wound one of your characters has aquired remains open despite all efforts, both natural and magical, to heal it. 65. A group of housecats, awakened by a well-meaning but slightly dim druid, are thrilled with their new intelligence and immediately set about enacting their grand plan to bring the entire world under feline domination. 66. An important piece of evidence in a high-profile murder/treason case has been accidentally dropped into a deep, marshy water reservoir. 67. A cleric of an absolutely evil deity sets herself up in town. She's not harming anyone, and is actually pretty open and social, but the god she serves is a horrible thing with a terrible dogma, and she is absolutely and sincerely devoted to her faith. However, due to her friendly nature and the fact that she often provides healing and other cleric services for free means her deity is receiving a LOT of converts - some of which follow her example, and some of which form an extremely destructive and violent cult which operates in secret in the city and are responsable for a number of increasingly vile murders. 68. The lake's waters have begun to glow with an eerie white radiance. The town situated by its banks relies on the lake for water, and after a month or two of drinking it, the town's population has begun to glow, too. 69. The old king/ruler dies, leaving a competent, if somewhat stiff 20-year-old daughter, and an extremely juvenile 8-year-old son behind. A tremendous arguement of succession results, as the law states that kingship is passed through the males, but a recent social movement empowering women to be equal with their male counterparts is raising a stir and delaying the crowning. 70. Half the people in a busy port town have the same dream one night - a dream of dark water, of inestimable gulfs of black sea and green, eerily-lit sea-floors crusted with gaping chasms and teeming, inhuman cities. The other half wake up to find that they can breathe water. these are fun!
lostone 11-09-05, 07:58 AM	Please do, I like this thread. Any other neat little ideas to kickstart a session or campaign would be much appreciated. Adventure Seeds for DMs (Eberron flavor) (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=275225)
lostone 11-29-05, 04:12 PM	:bump:
Gemmalah 11-30-05, 11:21 AM	62. Walk into town, after a few hours it dawns on the adventurers there are no children or even people under 30! 63. Draw a crude map (wet it with a teabag if you want for old yellowyness) give it to your players as part of storyline, in a chest or brought at a tavern. Make all writing on it illegable and the players could try to find out what its a map for and where? interesting. 64. Players go to a tavern, a shady person offers to sell something to them that is illigal in the town, if they buy it they could be arrested or they could find out where to get more. Heck they could become drug runners ect... 65. Dragon kidnaps a princess, makes her do housework, players get sent on a quest to find her. The twist in the tale is she doen't want to come home. Their new quest could be to rekidnap her or to convince her father not to become enraged and send an army when she doen't return. A great hook for them to go back to the father could be to get the princess to give players a letter to deliver. 66. Witches use the web so communicate (spiders webs in a spell) or some service useful to the general population. The witches demand a high price for its use each time. help a town or individual get out of money problems. Or even better kill the witch, but then be hunted by the rest. 67. Write out a clue to treasure or a map then rip it into many pieces. On your current adventure every now and again players find a piece of paper, they can assemble it by themselves. and follow map or clue if they wish. If they do not collect all the pieces it may end up quite amusung when they try to solve half a riddle.
coldreboot 11-30-05, 11:25 AM	68. The Adveturers stop off at a small town off the beaten track to rest. Something is strange though; The citizens seem unusually eager for the adventurers to stay, and keep mentioning the feast they are holding in their honour. Something else you can't quite put your finger on...wait! Why are there no children here? (EDIT: Sorry for the similairty with 62, I didn't see it!) 69. The Adventurers come across a strange looking hovel, with green smoke coming from a chimney, they then notice a makeshift 'ramp' with all manner of strange devices linked to it placed nearby. As they get closer there is a crackle of energy in the sky and with a flash a spherical metal object appears and crash lands right in front of them. A small hatch on the side pops up and a Gnome peaks out with a pair of flight goggles on..."What, ho chaps! Good of you to drop by...You've just witnessed my first Plane jump!"
coldreboot 12-01-05, 06:59 AM	:bump: Because I like this thread! :D
UndeadMouse 12-01-05, 09:46 AM	70: everyone in town has mysteriously lost thier pants 71: old men start falling from the sky 72: a mountain where a great wyrm dragon lives starts to shake violently (i actually once used this. it was a great red wyrm with really bad gas :P ) 73: a mighty barbarian king has lost his sword
Gemmalah 12-01-05, 09:49 AM	lots of people are bumping this thread... you guys got any ideas? no matter how lame that may be. I like lame ideas actually because it allows me to build more than detailed ones. I like the 68 spin on 62. its interesting, makes you wonder why the villagers want them to stay. i'm actually intreeged by this. 70. Crop circles? Hoaxes by bored farm hands or demons or just magial folks playing a prank. 71. Rust monsters have been found in large numbers, the price of weapons and armour skyrockets. 72. A stange cult has been found using many voodoo dolls. However none of the dolls are people... they are dragons who are now very angry. 73. A town announcement is interupted when a sniper takes out the mayor (who whoever is making the announcment.)
coldreboot 12-01-05, 10:00 AM	lots of people are bumping this thread... you guys got any ideas? no matter how lame that may be. I like lame ideas actually because it allows me to build more than detailed ones. I like the 68 spin on 62. its interesting, makes you wonder why the villagers want them to stay. i'm actually intreeged by this. In my head I was thinking the townfolk were going to eat the adventurers. Kind of a Cannibal Holocaust theme. :D OK a couple more... 74. A mad gnome wizard enlists the help of the adventurers after his experiments have gone wrong. While trying to create clones of himself to help with his work, they've all gone crazy and are running amok in his labratory. 75. The Adventurers happen upon a keep of a rich Lord who is baron of the surrounding villages and land. The only problem is, he's been turned into a kobold by an evil mage and if his rivals find out they will usurp his title. Can the adventurers help him find the mage along with the cure?
Gemmalah 12-01-05, 10:04 AM	WOW I've been quoted yay :dancin: sorry first time thats happened. 76. PCs accidentilly enter a training ground for knights of the land, it can be really hard, well above their CR because if they fail thay can get rescued by a training officer who realises their potentail and sends them on a quest that he doen't want to pay his soldiers for.
Auburn 12-04-05, 01:05 AM	77. Lying awake at night the party begins to notice something odd is odd about the sky, but they can't indentify what it is. After a week they realize that the moon (or moons) is getting closer.
Silais 12-04-05, 05:36 AM	78. Houses are exploading at random 79. Commoners are exploading at random. 80. It's rains elementaly cold water (1 point of damage per round exposed, thus to low to damage buildings) every 1d4+1 days. 81. Objects are spontainously animating at random. 82. A little girl in a black dress walks up to the adventurers and asks them to help her find her parents, she only speaks an exotic language (but one known to at least one PC), prefeably abysal or infernal. When asked where her home is she replies "in a hole in the ground." 83. The only know scroll of a dooms-day spell is stolen from the kings vault. Do I love 'the wizard did it' hooks or what? 1001 threads, may the never die!
TRCEttin 12-04-05, 05:55 AM	38. The Tarrasque has been awakened. It possesses a high intelligence and has declared itself the Emperor of all lands. With sexy results! ....With WHAT?