The merchant himself is actually the head of something quite important (not sure what) and has a gnome illusionist accomplice.
One of the three paths I'm thinking they will take will be..
1. Taking the necklace back to the queen for a reward, where once they arrive, it will unleash a monster to attempt to kill the royalty as per the halfling merchant's plan.
2. Go after the halfling merchant, where the illusionist will probably hide their trail.
3. Check out the bandit camp which I hinted at during the previous encounter.
I'm still new to DMing and I'm wondering if there are any ideas/advice from other DMs. So far most of my encounters have been exciting, skeletal heroes coming alive and going out adventuring, magical powder that has a remote fuse which explodes the powder and whatnot.
It's not that I'm running out of ideas, I'm just wondering if there is anything I can do as a DM to make these encounters shine a little more. And thanks in advance.
The halfling merchant could be guildmaster of your local thieves guild. Or he could be member of a secret society that has plans to steal the crown on behalf of a exiled member of the royal family. Or maybe both
. If the halfling merchant is the guildmaster you could go with the guild as travelling gypsy types rather than settled in one town. This has the added bonus of explaining the illusionist as a performer in the gypsy troop's shows. And you could any number of weird NPCs in the gypsy band, from weird classes to weird races and even animals. The bandits might have a monster for a pet. If you have the bandits ambush the party try to think of a way of using the terrain to their advantage. Also try to think of a unique, tricky or hidden place the bandits might have their hideout. Remember to plant plot hooks for other adventures at the bandit hideout, hostages or treasure that points to a later adventure. If you really want to make the bandit encounter chaotic you might have the PCs show up at the same time as the local law-enforcement stages a raid on the place. Will the constable (or whomever) think the Pcs are part of the bandit gang?
In general encounters stress one or more of the following:
1. an exciting, possible dangerous location like a mountain pass during a snow storm.
2. an interesting meeting with an NPC like the King.
3. a combat encounter which the party might conquer by fighting, running or doing something else.
Hope that helps
STATS: AL: LG; AC10; MV 6; middle aged zero-level Halfling ; hp 2; THACO 20; #AT 1; D: nil (unarmed); S8, D10, C11, I19, W19, Ch 9; ML 17; no spells or Psionics.
BACKGROUND: Oz, as he is known to his few close acquaintances, lives by himself in a small burrow-cottage in a peaceful Halfling village near a mountain range. An only child who lived with his mother until she died recently, Ozwaldo is a bookish introvert who is polite but cool and reserved.
Other Halflings see him as a grumpy old cuss with mysterious ways. They know he collects books and maps. Writes lots of letters to foreign places, tends a small beautiful flower garden behind his home, and sometimes has odd beings drop by at night – “odd” in this case referring to humans, dwarves, elves and other non-Halflings. Oz is left much to himself, and he seems to prefer it that way.
What the other Halflings and the rest of the world fail to see is astounding. A brilliant thinker with a fiery curiosity and a tiger like tenacity, Ozwaldo has, over the course of many years, built up a library of information on his world. Early in his life, he listened to the reports of passing adventurers and deduced that hobgoblin activity in the local mountains was on the rise, with some kind of definite purpose behind it. Letters quietly written to various Sages, Wizards, and Lords in the vicinity won him a few allies who were willing to listen to his theories and explore the lairs of the hobgoblin forces. Ozwaldo’s beliefs were proven correct, but his involvement in sparking the numerous raids into the mountains by adventuring groups has never been revealed, largely at his own request (although arrogant fame seekers are happy to forget mention of his name in their public speeches).
Ozwaldo is motivated to ensure the safety of his people, but he has lately become concerned with the fate of all civilization on his world. In studying the reports and letters he has received from his friends afar, he has deduced that aid is sometimes being given to evil forces from a source not of his world. In fact he recently discovered references to spell-jamming magic, and he has realized that the local hobgoblins might very well be supported by space-going Orcs. He further (correctly) suspects that the space orcs are using his world as a spell-jamming base, and that if the local hobgoblins gain even one spell-jammer, they could cause enormous trouble.
Acting on his deductions, Ozwaldo has been subtly urging that more action be taken against the hobgoblins. His carefully worded letters to local political leaders make off handed references to rumours of monsters and treasures that he believes are in the mountains (if he feels simple greed will not do the trick). He is almost always rewarded with news later that heroic adventurers acting under the orders of Lord So-and-so have won a mighty victory against the hobgoblins of such-and-such a place. Desiring no reward of any kind from his deeds, Ozwaldo has continued to pass along information to those he believes will accomplish the higher purpose of saving his world from an invasion from space – which no one, not even most adventurers, would truly believe was happening.
Ozwaldo has only a small staff of helpers, and he works mostly through intermediaries. Several wizards, sages, and others who have benefited from his advice have become close friends of his, and they are becoming very concerned about this brilliant Halfling’s fate. They fear that one day someone with an evil streak will discover his secret, and that person will not be well disposed toward Ozwaldo at all. They have decided to protect their guiding ally by having their own spies monitor his village and the roads leading into it, watching for any threat. Ozwaldo has discovered this, of course, and though he considers it silly he tolerates it, as he knows the extra guards will also protect his fellow villagers.
AUTHOR: ROGER E. MOORE
The merchant himself is actually the head of something quite important (not sure what) and has a gnome illusionist accomplice.
One of the three paths I'm thinking they will take will be..
Definitely good to plan for these definite eventualities, and I agree that these are the most likely choices. I would also recommend that you prepare a few random related or unrelated encounters in advance on the off chance that they take a direction that you don't expect, or if they follow the story in an unexpected way which requires you to stall for planning time.
1. Taking the necklace back to the queen for a reward, where once they arrive, it will unleash a monster to attempt to kill the royalty as per the halfling merchant's plan.
Nice trap, there! You might also consider any ill intentions that the halfling or the group he represents may have against the PCs. If the Halfling and his Ilk don't have anything against the PCs yet, they're sure to have some pretty soon here
You should also consider how the party is to get out of apparently trying to assassinate the Queen and her Guard. They might try to run for it, which would make them enemies of the state and put in for some very interesting story options. Consider whether there are any obvious routes of escape they might take; it's more likely that they'll immediately point the finger at this Halfling. Do they know his name? While it looks really bad to just go with "Ummm, actually, we met this guy who is actually responsible. He's just not here, and you've never heard of him. Ahem.", you may want to have the Halfling's Identity of the motives of his group known to the Queen and her guard. This gives the party more info on who the halfling is and what he's after (Whether he wants power for himself, or is working for another usurper, or something more sinister.) The Queen might choose to enlist some Civilian aid in tracking down this organization.
2. Go after the halfling merchant, where the illusionist will probably hide their trail.
Figure that the Illusionist is probably high enough level that the party can't yet penetrate his illusions. (or don't have the resources with them at the moment) Even if the party can't find the Halfling and Gnome, you can use their tracks or anything else they may leave behind to hint at other subtle events. There may have been others with them, which means many and confused track which suddenly disappear, or the party may find some sort of insignia patch. If you go with the patch, you could have the patch seem to point to the group of bandits that the party has been tipped off to, but this patch might be from some other organisation. It might me a royal guard rank patch, of an individual who has gone missing. This could make or break party negotiations with the royal guard if this occurred before taking the necklace to the queen; the party would either seem to have been involved in a guard's disappearance, or have proof that they've tangled with those who were involved. It might be known for certain who was involved in the disappearance, so the party would already be innocent of that.
3. Check out the bandit camp which I hinted at during the previous encounter.
I love the Idea posted above of the party investigating the Bandit hideout at the same time as the local Guard conducts a sting operation. Also love the Gypsies Idea, and I think that you could combine them; the Bandits are rogues from a traveling Gypsy caravan, who may or may not be directly connected with this Halfling. Consider the positions of the Bandits, whomever they work out to be, from a stance of whether or not they are expecting trouble. This allows you to plan for the different contigencies whether the party tries to sneak in to investigate of kill them, of attempts an outright assault. The bandits may by too many or too strong to take in a straight up fight, and they may end up taking the Party prisoner or driving them off. If the Halfling just hired them because they were available, you may consider the possibility that these Bandits (Gypsies, whatever) are not actually affiliated with the Halfling. However, their movments and news of their future raids of habits could prove to be an interesting sideline for some time to come; especially if they remain uninterested and uninvolved with the Halfling until several levels later, when they actually DO get together against the common enemy of the PCs.
...I'm still new to DMing and I'm wondering if there are any ideas/advice from other DMs. So far most of my encounters have been exciting, skeletal heroes coming alive and going out adventuring, magical powder that has a remote fuse which explodes the powder and whatnot.
It's not that I'm running out of ideas, I'm just wondering if there is anything I can do as a DM to make these encounters shine a little more. And thanks in advance.
You may want to tie in these Dynamic and interesting elements of yours to other individuals working behind the scenes. Who or what is responsible for the rising of these skeletal heroes from the dead? Who originally created this magical explosive powder, and for what purposes? I don't know anything about these two elements from your casual mention of them, so I can't recommend much in the way of showing them off, but you might tie the origins of that explosive powder to the organization that the Halfling represents. Just a thought.
Hope this helps, and happy Gaming ;)
That has worked for me numerous times in aiding decision making.
This is a sense allows them to help determine what the encounters will be without them knowing that they are helping.
Also I sometimes ask OOC questions about what they would find interesting in encounters or similar questions. Then I would write down their responses so I use them some time in the future. But I do not tell them when they will be used and then when they least expect it, I use them as a surprise encounter.