101 short noir adventure ideas - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

101 short noir adventure ideas

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
doublereedkurt
Jul 16, 2008 19:16:11 Hello, I am running an Eberron campaign based in Sharn.

The PCs are all employees of "The Organization", a small group that does private detective work.

Each adventure is meant to be stand alone and completed in one session. (About 3 encounters). Each one is a job that the PCs are hired to do. Especially good if the have a noir feel. That means, no clear good guys or bad guys. I'd like to brainstorm to have many adventures in the pipeline.

For an example of what I mean feel-wise, here is a synopsis of the first adventure:

The first adventure had the PCs tracking down the vagrant brother of a woman who had married rich (and could thus afford to hire them). They discover his body almost immediately. But with no idea who did it they just start poking around the neighborhood trying to find out what happened.

Turns out he was the member of a small military unit. On the first day it saw battle, the unit broke and was routed. Casualties were very high, including the commanding officer who stood his ground and ordered the others to do the same. (About 2/3rds of the adventure involved getting this story out of veterans of the unit, who were very ashamed and reluctant to admit this.)

It was a revenge killing, by the 15 year old son of the commanding officer. The PCs ended up deciding to let the kid go and just tell the woman who hired them that her brother was killed in a fight.

So, please post your ideas here!
#2
soupforlunch
Jul 16, 2008 19:42:43 PC's are hired, by a wizard/scholar, to recover an artifact in the hands of a hard to locate fence. After they ask too many questions, the fence dispatches some thugs to deal with them. From there, the PC's either coerce the whereabouts or send a message back to the Fence to talk to him. After having to perform some task or another for the fence, they are told that the artifact is in the possession of a local thief. During this entire chain of events, they are repeatedly attacked by a strange group of priests and rogues. Once they find the actual artifact and the thief who originally stole it, they discover that the person who hired them also hired the thief to steal the item. But, the thief got greedy and refused, and have to take it by force. Follow this up with a large attack from the Cult of Vecna, whom the artifact actually belongs to, and who are now the eternal enemies of the players.

---

After doing something for an aristocrat, the PC's are invited to a ball hosted at said aristocrats residence. Of course, the night of the ball, shadowy assassins attack and murder several high profile guests. Then, the PC's are charged with aiding the attackers. Now, they have to investigate what actually happened while being hounded by the authorities. Oh, and have a corrupt city guard captain have "proof" that the PC's actually worship Zahir.
#3
doomsought
Jul 16, 2008 21:09:48 A pair of affluent Kobold jewelers come to the PCs because their son has been kidnapped. What they don't say is their son was born with wings and thus kidnapped by the Cult of the dragon Bellow. But the hook is a captain of the city guard is a member of the cult, and will discredit the kobolds before being discovered.
(the Kobolds show LG under magic and worship Bahamut)
(The cult may be matched to equivalent in your setting, if not playing ebberon)
#4
doublereedkurt
Jul 16, 2008 21:46:41 Thank you for the great adventure ideas :-)

Please keep them coming!
#5
fodigg
Jul 17, 2008 13:40:59 5. A gnome entrepreneur is trying to create a new business where one's "life" is "insured". Unfortunately, somebody has begun offing his clients and he's going out of business over the expensive payouts. He suspects foul play, but is unable to prove it. He hires the adventurers to see if any of his employees or surviving relatives of clients are exploiting the business for profit. If the adventurers discover a plot, they could either utilize it for profit, blackmail the profiteer, or bring him to justice.

Compare to noir film: Double Indemnity
#6
samusthebold
Jul 17, 2008 14:32:04 This one works well later on in the scheme of things, when the PCs have accustomed themselves to where they work and who their contacts are...

6. An underworld contact for the PCs has been hauled in to spend some quality time in the clink. The charge: Murder One. But he's just a small fish...who took the fall for a bigger fish. The PCs have the opportunity to rescue a contact (who will prove to be very loyal should they succeed!) and solve a murder. Plus any character who hates unjust authority ought to get a kick out of showing up the Watch.
#7
doomsought
Jul 17, 2008 16:17:53 The PCs are attacks by a strange creature, more attacks occur in the general area of a black market dealer that the characters are customers of. When the characters go to the dealer, he tells them that the creatures are living weapons and a few have escaped, If the PCs help him re-capture the creatures while keeping things quiet, he will give them special low prices, and one of the creatures.
#8
doublereedkurt
Jul 18, 2008 2:20:41
5. A gnome entrepreneur is trying to create a new business where one's "life" is "insured". Unfortunately, somebody has begun offing his clients and he's going out of business over the expensive payouts. He suspects foul play, but is unable to prove it.

I really like this one and will definitely use it :-)

The other adventure idea I have come up with is very Eberron specific.

The PCs are hired to track down the missing/run-away son of a very rich family. The circumstances are a bit unusual that the family waited 4 months before doing anything. Apparently, the didn't care and now all of a sudden they will spare no expense to find him.

The son has an aberrant dragonmark. A particularly nasty one that led to him killing a family pet in a hideous way when it first manifested. The family was rich and well connected enough to keep it under wraps, provided he lived as a shut in. He is extremely frustrated with this, and finally runs away.

The family is at first relieved. Pretty soon the son meets up with a secret group of aberrant dragonmarked individuals (I believe this group is detailed in "Sharn: City of Towers"). His new "friends" are very excited about the power of his dragonmark and soon manipulate / convince him to participate in some criminal enterprises. (The son swiped some money when he ran away which he has been living off of, has never worked a day in his life and is quite naive.)

The family is shocked to read in the newspaper about a robbery in which a man was killed in a peculiar way. The watch has no idea what could have killed him in such a manner. The family, however, knows exactly what happened.

So, they are desperate to get the son off of the streets quietly before he is caught.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 doublereedkurt Jul 16, 2008 19:16:11	Hello, I am running an Eberron campaign based in Sharn. The PCs are all employees of "The Organization", a small group that does private detective work. Each adventure is meant to be stand alone and completed in one session. (About 3 encounters). Each one is a job that the PCs are hired to do. Especially good if the have a noir feel. That means, no clear good guys or bad guys. I'd like to brainstorm to have many adventures in the pipeline. For an example of what I mean feel-wise, here is a synopsis of the first adventure: The first adventure had the PCs tracking down the vagrant brother of a woman who had married rich (and could thus afford to hire them). They discover his body almost immediately. But with no idea who did it they just start poking around the neighborhood trying to find out what happened. Turns out he was the member of a small military unit. On the first day it saw battle, the unit broke and was routed. Casualties were very high, including the commanding officer who stood his ground and ordered the others to do the same. (About 2/3rds of the adventure involved getting this story out of veterans of the unit, who were very ashamed and reluctant to admit this.) It was a revenge killing, by the 15 year old son of the commanding officer. The PCs ended up deciding to let the kid go and just tell the woman who hired them that her brother was killed in a fight. So, please post your ideas here!
#2 soupforlunch Jul 16, 2008 19:42:43	PC's are hired, by a wizard/scholar, to recover an artifact in the hands of a hard to locate fence. After they ask too many questions, the fence dispatches some thugs to deal with them. From there, the PC's either coerce the whereabouts or send a message back to the Fence to talk to him. After having to perform some task or another for the fence, they are told that the artifact is in the possession of a local thief. During this entire chain of events, they are repeatedly attacked by a strange group of priests and rogues. Once they find the actual artifact and the thief who originally stole it, they discover that the person who hired them also hired the thief to steal the item. But, the thief got greedy and refused, and have to take it by force. Follow this up with a large attack from the Cult of Vecna, whom the artifact actually belongs to, and who are now the eternal enemies of the players. --- After doing something for an aristocrat, the PC's are invited to a ball hosted at said aristocrats residence. Of course, the night of the ball, shadowy assassins attack and murder several high profile guests. Then, the PC's are charged with aiding the attackers. Now, they have to investigate what actually happened while being hounded by the authorities. Oh, and have a corrupt city guard captain have "proof" that the PC's actually worship Zahir.
#3 doomsought Jul 16, 2008 21:09:48	A pair of affluent Kobold jewelers come to the PCs because their son has been kidnapped. What they don't say is their son was born with wings and thus kidnapped by the Cult of the dragon Bellow. But the hook is a captain of the city guard is a member of the cult, and will discredit the kobolds before being discovered. (the Kobolds show LG under magic and worship Bahamut) (The cult may be matched to equivalent in your setting, if not playing ebberon)
#4 doublereedkurt Jul 16, 2008 21:46:41	Thank you for the great adventure ideas :-) Please keep them coming!
#5 fodigg Jul 17, 2008 13:40:59	5. A gnome entrepreneur is trying to create a new business where one's "life" is "insured". Unfortunately, somebody has begun offing his clients and he's going out of business over the expensive payouts. He suspects foul play, but is unable to prove it. He hires the adventurers to see if any of his employees or surviving relatives of clients are exploiting the business for profit. If the adventurers discover a plot, they could either utilize it for profit, blackmail the profiteer, or bring him to justice. Compare to noir film: Double Indemnity
#6 samusthebold Jul 17, 2008 14:32:04	This one works well later on in the scheme of things, when the PCs have accustomed themselves to where they work and who their contacts are... 6. An underworld contact for the PCs has been hauled in to spend some quality time in the clink. The charge: Murder One. But he's just a small fish...who took the fall for a bigger fish. The PCs have the opportunity to rescue a contact (who will prove to be very loyal should they succeed!) and solve a murder. Plus any character who hates unjust authority ought to get a kick out of showing up the Watch.
#7 doomsought Jul 17, 2008 16:17:53	The PCs are attacks by a strange creature, more attacks occur in the general area of a black market dealer that the characters are customers of. When the characters go to the dealer, he tells them that the creatures are living weapons and a few have escaped, If the PCs help him re-capture the creatures while keeping things quiet, he will give them special low prices, and one of the creatures.
#8 doublereedkurt Jul 18, 2008 2:20:41	5. A gnome entrepreneur is trying to create a new business where one's "life" is "insured". Unfortunately, somebody has begun offing his clients and he's going out of business over the expensive payouts. He suspects foul play, but is unable to prove it. I really like this one and will definitely use it :-) The other adventure idea I have come up with is very Eberron specific. The PCs are hired to track down the missing/run-away son of a very rich family. The circumstances are a bit unusual that the family waited 4 months before doing anything. Apparently, the didn't care and now all of a sudden they will spare no expense to find him. The son has an aberrant dragonmark. A particularly nasty one that led to him killing a family pet in a hideous way when it first manifested. The family was rich and well connected enough to keep it under wraps, provided he lived as a shut in. He is extremely frustrated with this, and finally runs away. The family is at first relieved. Pretty soon the son meets up with a secret group of aberrant dragonmarked individuals (I believe this group is detailed in "Sharn: City of Towers"). His new "friends" are very excited about the power of his dragonmark and soon manipulate / convince him to participate in some criminal enterprises. (The son swiped some money when he ran away which he has been living off of, has never worked a day in his life and is quite naive.) The family is shocked to read in the newspaper about a robbery in which a man was killed in a peculiar way. The watch has no idea what could have killed him in such a manner. The family, however, knows exactly what happened. So, they are desperate to get the son off of the streets quietly before he is caught.