Adventure idea: The PC's are being hunted. Could use some ideas... - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Adventure idea: The PC's are being hunted. Could use some ideas...

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
elwyndas
Jan 14, 2011 21:35:14 I've been pregnant with this idea for a long time. It bothers me that the PC's are usually the proactive part in adventures, going from encounter to encounter, and the other side usually only reacts to their actions.

I want to start an adventure soon where a powerful villain is hunting the PC's in order to obtain an item they are carrying (I might modify that seed, but I have no better idea right now.)

In the DMG I've found no help.

The challenge I foresee is this: The PC's get attacked, win the encounter, then torture a survivor for information, which leads them on the trail of the villain, and thus turns the hunted into the hunter again, and the idea is dead as soon as it started.

Another possible challenge is when the PC's start feeling driven before NPC's actions and feel like having no control and choices. This can be countered by offering them choices between ways to evade the threat and possibly get back at the villain.

Does anybody have any plot and encounter ideas?
#2
yellowdingo
Jan 14, 2011 22:26:32 1. The Mark of the Mistwalker

They all carry something they cant see. Say they all had a dream where their feet were branded with a mark that keeps part of them in the Astral or Etheral plane. Maybe this allows them to percieve something that the BBEG doesnt want anyone to see in the real world.

2. Etheral Bounty hunters

Wraith or wight (or someother predator capable of hunting on the Etheral or astral plane) hunt them down there and attack the PCs on the Prime plane.

#3
crowscape
Jan 15, 2011 0:06:16 PCs and Villain both want object X, hidden in dungeon Y.

PCs get to dungeon Y first, followed closely by the villain and a very formidable group of henchmen that the PCs do not want to tangle with.

PCs must race through the dungeon, breaking up the enemy's forces, turning traps on their pursuers, and keeping one step ahead of the villain, who is trying to do the same thing.
#4
skiman84
Jan 16, 2011 14:52:47 Have you ever seen that Predators movie? Have each of the PC's hold a piece of a key to.....something. As the BBEG's minions pick off the PC's party, have the BBEG use the corpses or living members as bait for the other members to fall into deadly traps, thus reclaiming the pieces of the key.

Another idea is that there is a war going on, with the main force of the BBEG's country's army marching off to war, leaving the BBEG behind so he can take care of some "loose-ends," those loose ends being the PC's. Since the BBEG has a vastly superior force of troops at his disposal, the PC's must rely on guerilla tactics to take the BBEG down.
#5
formerlycurious
Jan 16, 2011 20:21:44 I did run a game a few years back where the PCs had killed a few members of an assassin's guild, and the rest of the campaign was a mix of them finding out what the assassins were doing while having to constantly react to the assassins coming after them.
#6
eelkat
Jan 18, 2011 10:05:25 I'm currently trying to design a similar campaign. I've got a player that want to be a Mind Flayer, but typically the PCs would kill a Mind Flayer on sight, seeing how it is a case of... "if we don't kill it, it's going to suck our brains out...quick kill it fast!"

So I had to come up with a reason WHY a Mind Flayer would join the group and become an adventurere AND why the PCs would accept him as part of their team in the first place.

Here's what I came up with:

Not all Mind Flayers are created equal. One young radical Mind Flayer has his own ideas about life, and he disagrees with the standard "everything is beneath us" attitude. He thinks other races might be worth accepting as equals and tells other Mind Flayers this. They retaliate violently and no he's on the run, with a pack of Illithid Bounty Hunters on his trail. They catch up with him, the same time he crosses paths with the PC Group.

The Group, don't know what's going on, but they do know they see a pack of Mind Flayers killing another Mind Flayer, which means their guard is down and it's an opportunity to get rid of several Mind Flayers at once. The attacking Mind Flayers escape, leaving the rebel behind. The Cleric, who believes their good in everything, while healing the teammates heals the injured Mind Flayer too.

The Mind Flayer now has "proof" that other races are worth thinking of as equal instead of food/slaves, and the Cleric convinces the rest of the team, to let the Mind Flayer tag along with them, seeing how he's cast out by his own kind.

This now brings us to the point of: we have a team with a Mind Flayer as a PC, AND now they find themselves on the run, because those other Mind Flayers are not going to give up. They may have run off for now, but they want this renegade heretic Mind Flayer dead and are going to keep coming back until they succeed.

The end result is, the team is now being hunted, because they are protecting a monster, that is a criminal to his own kind, because he's refusing to be like the rest of his kind. No idea how I'll actually run the campaign, but that's the "back story" that I'm going to use to get it started. So in my case it's not a treasure hunt theme, but rather a, "we are going to protect this guy because bad guys are out to get him and we protect the innocent regardless of race".

The encounters will probably include stuff like, the Mind Flayers sending minions out after them, them hiding in various places - swamps, castles, etc - and thus stumbling upon other non-hunter encounters along the way as well.

Not sure if any of that is helpful to you or not. Maybe it'll give you some ideas?

#7
Tiberien
Jan 19, 2011 12:31:59 One of the bad guys that the PCs killed has a rich or influential family member. (humanoid or intelligent monster, in my game atm it's a dragon) The family member (or close friend?) hires assassins to take out the party and posts a bounty on their head through a cutout/messenger so the party has to figure out who is after them, eventually find them and somehow deal with them.
#8
Enlightened1
Jan 20, 2011 0:39:33 Among the fallen in the first encounter is a secret document, heavily sealed; maybe even written with ink made from powdered jewels, so it's obviously important. It's unreadable - in a foreign/obscure language, magically protected, or an intricate code. It's obviously worth something...

...the dead NPC was a courier carrying this vital message when he and his escort decided to make a few extra GP taking out the PCs. Whoever wrote the message - and/or whoever the message is for - wants it very badly.
...the dead NPCs waylaid the courier shortly before being wiped out by the PCs. Adds a layer of difficulty in tracking (both for PCs and BBEG), and mistaken identity; the BBEG assumes the PCs were the ones who intercepted the document.
...it's almost an open secret; several factions know about it, and they all want it. None of them believe the PCs will sell it for any price, so they send thieves and thugs to take it from them, by force or stealth.
To really mess with things (like if they try to sell it or throw it away), the document has magically bonded to them (as part of the courier-magic ritual), so that it reappears among their kit overnight. If they sold it, whoever they sold it to is going to be a bit annoyed (especially if they got a hefty price for it, as might be expected for an enchanted item). And anone who stole it from them will be really ticked!

What the heck is it? Could be a deed to a castle, a divine revelation from one high priest to another, the explanation of a powerful ritual, membership list of the Apocalypse of the Month Club, whatever you want to drive your campaign. As the campaign progresses, you can drop hints about who and what is involved.
#9
calm
Jan 21, 2011 16:16:12 Make one or two of the PCs (if they are related) be the item, and that item is their blood/soul/spirit whathaveyou. Something their father/mother did set things in motion a while back, and this entity needs to collect their essence to complete a ritual to bring SOMETHING TERRIBLE into the world. But the bad guy is smart and sees the long game.

Initially, it sends some minions and lesser agents to gather the PCs, who have joined with a group of adventurers and fight off the ambush. None of the agents know who the bad guy; they were hired by some other agent. The PCs can follow the trail to the agent, but that just leads to another. And sometimes the agent is no longer there with no sign of it (the bad guy cleaning up the mess). So the trail goes cold. Every few levels though, the PCs get ambushed. Eventually, they find a powerful servant or clue who can lead to the bad guy. There's a confrontation where they learn the truth (perhaps even encountering the father/mother, or spirit of such), and a showdown. There's your heroic tier campaign. You can end there, or the bad guy has an escape plan and leaves for another plane. The PCs can pursue, looking for clues now they know who/what they're seeking. It's a cat and mouse game across a plane or planes, with the culmination at the end of paragon tier or beyond.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 elwyndas Jan 14, 2011 21:35:14	I've been pregnant with this idea for a long time. It bothers me that the PC's are usually the proactive part in adventures, going from encounter to encounter, and the other side usually only reacts to their actions. I want to start an adventure soon where a powerful villain is hunting the PC's in order to obtain an item they are carrying (I might modify that seed, but I have no better idea right now.) In the DMG I've found no help. The challenge I foresee is this: The PC's get attacked, win the encounter, then torture a survivor for information, which leads them on the trail of the villain, and thus turns the hunted into the hunter again, and the idea is dead as soon as it started. Another possible challenge is when the PC's start feeling driven before NPC's actions and feel like having no control and choices. This can be countered by offering them choices between ways to evade the threat and possibly get back at the villain. Does anybody have any plot and encounter ideas?
#2 yellowdingo Jan 14, 2011 22:26:32	1. The Mark of the Mistwalker They all carry something they cant see. Say they all had a dream where their feet were branded with a mark that keeps part of them in the Astral or Etheral plane. Maybe this allows them to percieve something that the BBEG doesnt want anyone to see in the real world. 2. Etheral Bounty hunters Wraith or wight (or someother predator capable of hunting on the Etheral or astral plane) hunt them down there and attack the PCs on the Prime plane.
#3 crowscape Jan 15, 2011 0:06:16	PCs and Villain both want object X, hidden in dungeon Y. PCs get to dungeon Y first, followed closely by the villain and a very formidable group of henchmen that the PCs do not want to tangle with. PCs must race through the dungeon, breaking up the enemy's forces, turning traps on their pursuers, and keeping one step ahead of the villain, who is trying to do the same thing.
#4 skiman84 Jan 16, 2011 14:52:47	Have you ever seen that Predators movie? Have each of the PC's hold a piece of a key to.....something. As the BBEG's minions pick off the PC's party, have the BBEG use the corpses or living members as bait for the other members to fall into deadly traps, thus reclaiming the pieces of the key. Another idea is that there is a war going on, with the main force of the BBEG's country's army marching off to war, leaving the BBEG behind so he can take care of some "loose-ends," those loose ends being the PC's. Since the BBEG has a vastly superior force of troops at his disposal, the PC's must rely on guerilla tactics to take the BBEG down.
#5 formerlycurious Jan 16, 2011 20:21:44	I did run a game a few years back where the PCs had killed a few members of an assassin's guild, and the rest of the campaign was a mix of them finding out what the assassins were doing while having to constantly react to the assassins coming after them.
#6 eelkat Jan 18, 2011 10:05:25	I'm currently trying to design a similar campaign. I've got a player that want to be a Mind Flayer, but typically the PCs would kill a Mind Flayer on sight, seeing how it is a case of... "if we don't kill it, it's going to suck our brains out...quick kill it fast!" So I had to come up with a reason WHY a Mind Flayer would join the group and become an adventurere AND why the PCs would accept him as part of their team in the first place. Here's what I came up with: Not all Mind Flayers are created equal. One young radical Mind Flayer has his own ideas about life, and he disagrees with the standard "everything is beneath us" attitude. He thinks other races might be worth accepting as equals and tells other Mind Flayers this. They retaliate violently and no he's on the run, with a pack of Illithid Bounty Hunters on his trail. They catch up with him, the same time he crosses paths with the PC Group. The Group, don't know what's going on, but they do know they see a pack of Mind Flayers killing another Mind Flayer, which means their guard is down and it's an opportunity to get rid of several Mind Flayers at once. The attacking Mind Flayers escape, leaving the rebel behind. The Cleric, who believes their good in everything, while healing the teammates heals the injured Mind Flayer too. The Mind Flayer now has "proof" that other races are worth thinking of as equal instead of food/slaves, and the Cleric convinces the rest of the team, to let the Mind Flayer tag along with them, seeing how he's cast out by his own kind. This now brings us to the point of: we have a team with a Mind Flayer as a PC, AND now they find themselves on the run, because those other Mind Flayers are not going to give up. They may have run off for now, but they want this renegade heretic Mind Flayer dead and are going to keep coming back until they succeed. The end result is, the team is now being hunted, because they are protecting a monster, that is a criminal to his own kind, because he's refusing to be like the rest of his kind. No idea how I'll actually run the campaign, but that's the "back story" that I'm going to use to get it started. So in my case it's not a treasure hunt theme, but rather a, "we are going to protect this guy because bad guys are out to get him and we protect the innocent regardless of race". The encounters will probably include stuff like, the Mind Flayers sending minions out after them, them hiding in various places - swamps, castles, etc - and thus stumbling upon other non-hunter encounters along the way as well. Not sure if any of that is helpful to you or not. Maybe it'll give you some ideas?
#7 Tiberien Jan 19, 2011 12:31:59	One of the bad guys that the PCs killed has a rich or influential family member. (humanoid or intelligent monster, in my game atm it's a dragon) The family member (or close friend?) hires assassins to take out the party and posts a bounty on their head through a cutout/messenger so the party has to figure out who is after them, eventually find them and somehow deal with them.
#8 Enlightened1 Jan 20, 2011 0:39:33	Among the fallen in the first encounter is a secret document, heavily sealed; maybe even written with ink made from powdered jewels, so it's obviously important. It's unreadable - in a foreign/obscure language, magically protected, or an intricate code. It's obviously worth something... ...the dead NPC was a courier carrying this vital message when he and his escort decided to make a few extra GP taking out the PCs. Whoever wrote the message - and/or whoever the message is for - wants it very badly. ...the dead NPCs waylaid the courier shortly before being wiped out by the PCs. Adds a layer of difficulty in tracking (both for PCs and BBEG), and mistaken identity; the BBEG assumes the PCs were the ones who intercepted the document. ...it's almost an open secret; several factions know about it, and they all want it. None of them believe the PCs will sell it for any price, so they send thieves and thugs to take it from them, by force or stealth. To really mess with things (like if they try to sell it or throw it away), the document has magically bonded to them (as part of the courier-magic ritual), so that it reappears among their kit overnight. If they sold it, whoever they sold it to is going to be a bit annoyed (especially if they got a hefty price for it, as might be expected for an enchanted item). And anone who stole it from them will be really ticked! What the heck is it? Could be a deed to a castle, a divine revelation from one high priest to another, the explanation of a powerful ritual, membership list of the Apocalypse of the Month Club, whatever you want to drive your campaign. As the campaign progresses, you can drop hints about who and what is involved.
#9 calm Jan 21, 2011 16:16:12	Make one or two of the PCs (if they are related) be the item, and that item is their blood/soul/spirit whathaveyou. Something their father/mother did set things in motion a while back, and this entity needs to collect their essence to complete a ritual to bring SOMETHING TERRIBLE into the world. But the bad guy is smart and sees the long game. Initially, it sends some minions and lesser agents to gather the PCs, who have joined with a group of adventurers and fight off the ambush. None of the agents know who the bad guy; they were hired by some other agent. The PCs can follow the trail to the agent, but that just leads to another. And sometimes the agent is no longer there with no sign of it (the bad guy cleaning up the mess). So the trail goes cold. Every few levels though, the PCs get ambushed. Eventually, they find a powerful servant or clue who can lead to the bad guy. There's a confrontation where they learn the truth (perhaps even encountering the father/mother, or spirit of such), and a showdown. There's your heroic tier campaign. You can end there, or the bad guy has an escape plan and leaves for another plane. The PCs can pursue, looking for clues now they know who/what they're seeking. It's a cat and mouse game across a plane or planes, with the culmination at the end of paragon tier or beyond.