Hey there.
I'm kind of brainstorming here about a column where I'd basically go through basic types of published adventures for medieval fantasy out there (D&D and otherwise), and how to adapt them to other environments.
So, could you help me come up with a list of the classic adventure concepts you've seen in published modules over the years?
Here are a few:
- Orcs/Goblins/Horde invades the Village
- Stop the bandits attacking travellers in the area
- Investigate disappearances in the Wilderness
What are the classics coming to your mind? Stuff that you've read over and over.
Tomb/Cairn/Crypt/Masoleum/etc. of the King/Necromancer/Emperor/Lich/etc.
Quote from: Benoist;411074- Orcs/Goblins/Horde invades the Village
- Stop the bandits attacking travellers in the area
- Investigate disappearances in the Wilderness
- Find someone who's missing.
- Rescue someone (possible follow-up to above).
- Retrieve someone against their will (arrest a fugitive, etc.).
- Find and retrieve item.
- Accomplish task (get out of location, find item or person, destroy item or person, take item or person to location etc.) within a time limit.
- Murder mystery (or other type of investigation where you must gather clues and draw conclusions from them).
Good example. Something wrong in the hills/cemetery/cairns up there, and you've got to find out where all the trouble comes from.
Quote from: Premier;411080- Find someone who's missing.
- Rescue someone (possible follow-up to above).
- Retrieve someone against their will (arrest a fugitive, etc.).
- Find and retrieve item.
- Accomplish task (get out of location, find item or person, destroy item or person, take item or person to location etc.) within a time limit.
- Murder mystery (or other type of investigation where you must gather clues and draw conclusions from them).
OK. I need examples a little more precise. Like the classic "stories", rather than just the hooks/styles of adventures.
Like
Keep on the Borderlands. The Keep you've got to defend and the area you explore around. That's a classic too that's been copied over and over. See what I mean?
One that I would like not to go through anymore : PCs discover the body of some important official who was murdered. Cue in city guards who think they caught the murderers red handed and want to haul PCs' asses in jail. PCs have to solve the mystery while being hunted down by authorities.
Excursions into wizards' towers is a time-worn classic. The characters are summoned to the tower to perform some service, they invade it to find out what's going on inside, or are imprisoned in it and must escape. Any number of stories and modules have featured this type of scenario, from the R.E. Howard Conan story "Tower of the Elephant" to The Broken Covenant of Calebais adventure for Ars Magica to the tale of Atlantes and Ruggiero.
Good stuff!
Quote from: Benoist;411081Good example. Something wrong in the hills/cemetery/cairns up there, and you've got to find out where all the trouble comes from.
WGH3-5, my bread and butter plot :)
Chase the MacGuffin.
Figure out who is the Doppelganger / Vampire / Changling / Illusionist and trap them with bate or go to their home and stop them before they kill again.
Wonder why exactly the same types of scenarios show up over and over again in many rpg games.
Seems to be similar to the sorts of scenarios which show up in movies and sometimes television shows, with slight variations according to time period and technology.
Oh no, the party was captured and they took your stuff! Do this other set of tropes, only harder because you have to go through half the adventure naked.
Quote from: ggroy;411104Wonder why exactly the same types of scenarios show up over and over again in many rpg games.
Seems to be similar to the sorts of scenarios which show up in movies and sometimes television shows, with slight variations according to time period and technology.
In the Feng Shui rule book, the author says something like, "We keep telling the same stories over and over not because we can't think of new ones, but because those are the best stories."
From the book "20 Master Plots (and How to Build Them)".
(It's a book on generic fiction writing).
1 - Quest
2 - Adventure
3 - Pursuit
4 - Rescue
5 - Escape
6 - Revenge
7 - The Riddle
8 - Rivalry
9 - Underdog
10 - Temptation
11 - Metamorphosis
12 - Transformation
13 - Maturation
14 - Love
15 - Forbidden Love
16 - Sacrifice
17 - Discovery
18 - Wretched Excess
19 + 20 - Ascension and Descension
Quote from: Cranewings;411106In the Feng Shui rule book, the author says something like, "We keep telling the same stories over and over not because we can't think of new ones, but because those are the best stories."
(Setting the notion of "story" aside ;) ) I completely agree: what "best" may mean (that could be "most significant", "most entertaining" or whatnot), the Classics come back in our games for a reason.
Quote from: ggroy;411119From the book "20 Master Plots (and How to Build Them)".
(It's a book on generic fiction writing).
Okay, but let's not be too generic here. "Explore the Tower of the Wizard" is a good example, as is "Defend the Village from the Orcs". "Search for McGuffin" isn't so good. I want more details than that. Less technical, more specific.
An old man with a treasure map walks into the tavern, looking for a band of dauntless adventures.
A big, scary monster (typically a dragon) is burning the crops, eating the livestock, demanding a tribute in gold (or virgins, or whatever) and/or generally making a nuisance of himself. A local noble or burgher hires the PCs to do some monster-slaying.
One or more PCs framed for a crime (usually theft or murder) they didn't commit, and now the PCs have to clear their name, catch the real wrongdoer and find out who's behind the conspiracy.
Just to poke fun...
We have this tremendously impressive castle filled with really wonderfully powerful knights, wizards and assassins should you get out of line. I myself am called the Fire King Dragon Slayer, because I wield the fire of the 100 dragons I've slain. But we really need you 1st level adventurers to go stop that orcish invasion, slay the evil wizard and save my kingdom because as you can see I'm just so gosh darn busy!
Mind you that's more a poke at video games but it holds true all the same...
Quote from: kryyst;411134Just to poke fun...
We have this tremendously impressive castle filled with really wonderfully powerful knights, wizards and assassins should you get out of line. I myself am called the Fire King Dragon Slayer, because I wield the fire of the 100 dragons I've slain. But we really need you 1st level adventurers to go stop that orcish invasion, slay the evil wizard and save my kingdom because as you can see I'm just so gosh darn busy!
Mind you that's more a poke at video games but it holds true all the same...
No, I've played that setting too many times. It is why I run such low level worlds. I always hated playing FR back in the day, knowing there are three arch mages living in town, though they won't help us even though there isn't anything else going on.
Quote from: The Butcher;411133An old man with a treasure map walks into the tavern, looking for a band of dauntless adventures.
A big, scary monster (typically a dragon) is burning the crops, eating the livestock, demanding a tribute in gold (or virgins, or whatever) and/or generally making a nuisance of himself. A local noble or burgher hires the PCs to do some monster-slaying.
One or more PCs framed for a crime (usually theft or murder) they didn't commit, and now the PCs have to clear their name, catch the real wrongdoer and find out who's behind the conspiracy.
Good stuff. :)