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192 - As you pass through the market, perusing the wares you see a fortune teller doing tricks of dexterity with a harrow deck. He's been staring at you oddly and when you pass by his table, he shouts pointing at you with one finger, other hand slamming down onto the wood of the table.
"You!" he exclaims, "I must speak with you! Tis a matter of dire importance and you all play a part in upcoming events, in some way or another."
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193: You've been drawing maps in your sleep. When you show them to the healer at the church, he recognises the signiture as a paladin who went missing. "This is no malady. Being a medium is a gift. You must form a party of worthy adventurers, and go retrieve this item."
194. The kings heir has gone missing. The only clues is a trashed room and bloody footprints, and a frightened vizier. The king has tasked any adventurer who accept to locate his heir. If the adventurers can do so, they each receive treasure and gold (1/4 wealth by level amounts). Somehow the grand vizier knows more than he's letting on.
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195 - A very cranky, but very wealthy old man has come to you with a problem. He informs you that he was visited by the ghost of an old colleague last night, who had warned him that three spirits were going to visit him later on that night. Something about spirit of the past, present and future. Afraid for his own safety he ran out immediately and was pointed to you. He wants you to destroy these spirits as they will be interfering with business and also pose a potential threat to his safety.
Due to the old man's love of money, negotiations for a reward were slow and painful, but you finally got a suitable number for a reward. Now you wait, on this cold wintery night in the grouchy old man's dimly lit mansion, for the first ghost, the ghost of the past, so that you may destroy it.
195 - A very cranky, but very wealthy old man has come to you with a problem. He informs you that he was visited by the ghost of an old colleague last night, who had warned him that three spirits were going to visit him later on that night. Something about spirit of the past, present and future. Afraid for his own safety he ran out immediately and was pointed to you. He wants you to destroy these spirits as they will be interfering with business and also pose a potential threat to his safety.
Due to the old man's love of money, negotiations for a reward were slow and painful, but you finally got a suitable number for a reward. Now you wait, on this cold wintery night in the grouchy old man's dimly lit mansion, for the first ghost, the ghost of the past, so that you may destroy it.
Nice x-mas ones, Third mind. Nice.
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Nice x-mas ones, Third mind. Nice.195 - A very cranky, but very wealthy old man has come to you with a problem. He informs you that he was visited by the ghost of an old colleague last night, who had warned him that three spirits were going to visit him later on that night. Something about spirit of the past, present and future. Afraid for his own safety he ran out immediately and was pointed to you. He wants you to destroy these spirits as they will be interfering with business and also pose a potential threat to his safety.
Due to the old man's love of money, negotiations for a reward were slow and painful, but you finally got a suitable number for a reward. Now you wait, on this cold wintery night in the grouchy old man's dimly lit mansion, for the first ghost, the ghost of the past, so that you may destroy it.
What about a war between a pair of giants: one is a Frost Giant, the other a Fire Giant? Its another tale of misers...
An old man bearing an enormous magical hourglass enlists the PCs to help him find a baby; a very special, Happy baby who's been kidnapped by a great winged beast. In order to aid you on your quest you've been promised the aid of a fay-touched reindeer with a glowing nose...
Or a darkly different take on the Scrooge tale: a young boy on crutches approaches the party. "Please help me," he begs through parched lips. He is dressed in rags and hasn't long for this world. "it's my father if you please. That wicked old miser he works for, well, he won't ever show an ounce of kindness to my Da. I beg of you, take pity on us gentle adventurers; I want you to destroy Ebeneezer Scrooge!"
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196 - A local brew has just hit the local pub, called Jester's Hat Ale and it was delivered by a clever little girl named Harley; part of the marketing I guess. By the time you got there it was all gone but that turned out to be a good thing. A minute after you arrived, one of the patrons hit the floor, laughing. Then another...and another.
Worst part about it was they didn't stop, none of 'em. Their faces twisted all up and their eyes bulged. The lucky ones passed out from asphyxiation and died out cold or their hearts simply burst; a few poor buggers burst a vessel or two and bled out through the nose, eyes and ears.
Within seconds you're standing amid a bar full of corpses. Every last one is laying there, their jaws curled back in a hideous, distorted smile. "The Grins," you hear a gruff voice behind you whisper from the shadows, "that's what HE calls it. HE thinks HE's doing this town a service. I need your help getting rid of HIM and the Grins, once and for all."
197 - A church has recently received word that a local fighting tournament is being used as a front for some sort of illegal activity. They hire the PC's to enter the tournament and investigate from within. Clerics ostensibly heal the losers of each round so they don't die. However, it turns out that they are actually killing the weakened contestants and turning the corpses into undead minions.
The PC's thwart this operation, but discover that this is but one branch of a plan to raise an undead army to overthrow the city in an attempt to gain access to a powerful site of arcane energy that can be used for nefarious purposes.
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198 - PC's begin not knowing each other but physicaly close; in the same market square at dusk. Suddenly a monstrous figure roars out of a nearby alleyway; it's grotesque form mercifully hidden beneath a voluminous hooded cloak. It lumbers forth, tearing the leg off of an apple cart causing the rats behind it to swarm.
While the PCs deal with the swarm it takes a moment to swipe armloads of food, then it turns and bolts using the swarm as a distraction. Whether the PCs give chase then or use the trail of crumbs to follow it they might track it then; otherwise it attacks other places in town.
Eventually, when the PCs confront it, the pitiful thing sobs and begs for its life in a brutish but female voice. It goes on to promise them the gold it got for selling its beauty to the old woman in the market; the one with all the apples...
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These are some very cool ideas. If any 3PP are dipping into this thread, I would buy a pdf full of nothing but cool adventure hooks and campaign seeds. Maybe some of the posters on this thread should develop such a product :)
199 - The PC's are hired by a nation that is at war with a neighboring territory. The war has been going on for years/decades/centuries, and they are ready to put a stop to it. They task the heroes with infiltrating deep into the opposing nation to capture/assassinate the king/queen. However, it turns out the king/queen is but a child who is being manipulated by a council of nobles...
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Steal the kid, and start training them to be an adventurer. The Japanese movies had the kid declare a surrender.
200 - At a fancy party a delicacy is brought out - Fat Rat Limburger, some of the stinkiest cheese ever conceived. The stuff makes vomit palatable. Anyway, the PCs decide not to imbibe (or do; who cares).
A couple nights later the PCs encounter a hideously reeking monsterous humanoid on the streets. After taking him down they realize he's one of the party goers that ate the cheese.
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201 - 100 years ago some calamity happened causing the forest near town to grow supernaturally fast. At first people thought it was a boon...til the forest began swallowing up the fields.
Decades past and all manner of attempt was made to halt or slow the relentless wilds but nothing seemed to help. Finally the woods reached the edge of the city on the coast.
Many fled by ship while the Erastilin preached calm. They went into the wilds then to negotiated with the primal forces; none returned. Finally a crusade was launched and five years ago the Wilding ceased.
The PCs then are either survivors or adventurers drawn to the city in search of adventure. The first hook is that a portion of the city is still engulfed in the darkened wood. The megadungeon of the city then is the interconnected ruins interwoven in the canopy.
The city has made peace with some of the forest denizens but is still recovering from their proximity. Other, darker forces of the woods like goblins and harpies now prowl the city by night so curfews and such are a reality, not a suggestion. The Erastilin have communed with the wilds and urge strongly against outright deforestation. This will take some time to sort out, leaving the party as one of many groups throughout the city to exploit it while it lasts.
202 - The bells chime as people count down towards the new year. Right when the final chime strikes everything goes black and you wake up in the beds you woke up in earlier that day. After going around the Inn and town it seems no one remembers the black out happening. They also seem to think that it's the morning of the last day of the year.
One crazy man approaches you, "Today is not today, that was yesterday! That can only mean one thing... oh gods no!"
Before he can run off you grab him and interrogate, he finally gives a straight answer after a while. It seems the great groundhog lich, a groundhog that has been possessed by a very powerful lich has awoken for some reason. As long as he's alive, the day will continue to replay for eternity. While not so bad at first, you decide that the constant monotony will get old really quick.
The problem? You have to do all of your searching and exploration as soon as you can or awaken to the same day in the same Inn, thus bringing you back to square 1. Luckily, from what the old coot had said, the great groundhog lich is somewhere nearby... somewhere.
It's good that you a;;ow one shots that have a profound effect on the campaign.
203: Several towns have noticed people going missing along a certain road. One waystation has put up some potions of healing to anyone willing to find the dungeon and kill the monsters. There is a dungeon, but it's full of humans that have gone cannibal. There are mostly warriors, with maybe one or 2 adepts. There is a larder wit shelves full of jars of pickled body parts.
Based on an old horror story, which inspired the Torchwood episode.
It's good that you a;;ow one shots that have a profound effect on the campaign.
203: Several towns have noticed people going missing along a certain road. One waystation has put up some potions of healing to anyone willing to find the dungeon and kill the monsters. There is a dungeon, but it's full of humans that have gone cannibal. There are mostly warriors, with maybe one or 2 adepts. There is a larder wit shelves full of jars of pickled body parts.
Based on an old horror story, which inspired the Torchwood episode.
Donner, party of one; Donner, party of one?
6 are seated, only one leaves. :)
This is what happens when survivors don't get help afterwards.
204. (From the other thread) It somehow comes to light that the local lord, much beloved by the populace, is something of a fake- he is actually a member of the Dire Gambler's Club, and he only came into power through a favorable draw of from the Deck of Many Things. The Dire Gambler's Club is back in town, and the prosperous town is now greatly worried that the lord will once again draw from the deck. The PCs have been hired as added security for either the club or the town, charged with either forcing him to draw or not draw from the deck. Which party wishes for which outcome is up to the DM.
These are campaign "seeds" right? They'll grow into whole campaigns if watered w/imagination? Well then, let's try some vague, simple ones left open ended on purpose for the GM:
205. For no apparent reason the dire rats around the docks are becoming more agressive; one, witnesses say, can talk.
206. The PCs have noticed or heard of 3 separate incidents of animal cruelty - 2 dogs have had their throats slit and on the road into town a horse was butchered mercilously.
207. A few nights ago wierd lights were seen in the woods at the edge of town; since then every night between midnight and 2 some poor soul in town has been murdered grusomely.
208. While passing through the market PCs hear screams and a half-orc vendor is being arrested. He swears he's innocent but each one of the delicious meat pies he's sold into the crowd and are sitting on his cart are filled with some disgusting horror, like a finger, eyeball or tongue.
209. Locals claim a strange, gravely voice is coming from somewhere in the old well outside the village. Often the words, fairly unintelligible, are punctuated with croaking.
210. The PCs all awaken to a white, snow-filled morning; it's their world's equivalent of July.
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212. The king has finally expired, leaving his young adventurer son in charge. All knew of the heir apparent's sexuality, and few cared if the young adventurer prince dallied on with his fellow adventurer elven lover, so long as he returned safe. However, the new king has named his lover his Royal Consort, which has ruffled a few feathers around the court, but none so much as those of his considerably older wife, whom he married on his 13th nameday a decade ago. She is visibly great with child, and has declared this child the king's heir. Making things worse is that word of the Royal Consort's new position has reached the elven court, who are throwing their political weight behind this union, sending a delegation to offer their best wishes, lavish gifts... and an official proclamation that the elven lover had been granted a lordship in absentia *just* before he became Royal Consort, which calls for a new treaty that will change the relationship between the two lands almost certainly in elven favor. The PCs are aligned with one of these factions, and are charged with either avoiding a civil war one way or another.
213 - You and your allies wake, feeling like you're floating on air. After a quick look around, you notice that you are lying / standing upon a cloud.
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214. You've been punched in the face. Nothing else...just, "you've been punched in the face."
215 - You enter a large city and find it plagued by a large multitude of nefarious faeries playing terrible pranks on anyone and everyone. The leader of the city runs to you; a prank having been recently played upon him.
Wiping some sticky white goo off of his face he says, "Oh thank goodness. You all look like capable folk. Please, I ask of you an extreme favor. Not only have we been under the torment of these damned faeries for months on end, but people have gone missing and we occasionally hear muffled screams out in the faery forest nearby. Please help us!"
The man runs off, leaving you to figure out if it's the crazed faeries kidnapping the townsfolk or if it's something more sinister. If it is the faeries, then why are they doing it?
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216 - You've been charged with the task of taking over a mysterious black tower in the middle of a wintry no where. When you get close however, you begin to have a slight headache. Every step towards the tower increases the pain of the headache becoming nearly unbearable after some time.
When you get close enough, you notice that there is a lot of bodies, piled around the tower. Each of the bodies lie in an odd frozen state, hands clasped to the temples of their skulls. You also notice there is no entrance to the tower, at least that is easily noticeable.
217 - A merchant has asked you to guard his caravan through a yet unknown place. He tells you is that he'll pay you for your work generously and then proceeds to warn you not to look down when you reach the mists.
You reach the mists and you do as the man says after watching another mercenary look down and instantly vanish below the mists. You experience a lot of odd things; you hear the sound of waves, you see some fish jump just in front of your eyes, but how could that be?
The merchant speaks up after seeing the confused look of you and your allies, "I know what you're thinking and you're right. Right now, you're walking on water and we're basically strolling right above the dangers of the deep on foot. If you look down, you sink and will probably drown. Not to say things won't come for us regardless of course."
218 - After an entertaining evening at the local tavern you and your allies stroll out of the pub and see an unbelievably huge arm, holding an equally large club in its arm falling towards the southern half of the town (the side you're not in) and destroying it with a huge collision.
219 - A Bottled Efreeti (genie lamp) has been discovered in ancient ruins, now treasure hunters race to find this priceless artifact.
220 - You and your allies have been perusing the local market where you happen upon a carpet merchant. You walk around, inspecting what he has to offer in case you find that rug that would be perfect right in front of the fire place that has that ogre head hanging right above it.
Nearing the end of fruitless browsing you all are lifted up suddenly by a large flying carpet. Hanging on for dear life, the carpet speeds across the sky; to where or whom you have no clue, but you're going to find out soon.
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221 - You remember fighting a very powerful evil sorcerer but just as you were about to demolish him with your final attacks, he said some sort of magical words and everything went dark.
Cautiously, you light your surroundings and see what appears to be the inside of some creature. On what you can only guess is the stomach of the monster, lies in front of you a note reading:
"HA HA HA! You all suck hairy ostrich eggs. I am the best sorcerer in the history of ever. Good luck getting out of the belly of that whale losers. - Sorky the Humble Sorcerer
222 - While walking the streets you pass by a young disturbing looking child. He sneezes upon you and his eyes glow when this happens. In that instant you and your companions watch on as this child grows to titanic proportions. In horror you look around and with the sighting of a horse sized wasp flying just over your heads, you realize that you have all shrunk. As the child walks away, you find yourself in a gigantic bind.
223 - A screw up wizard on a very different, very odd plane (Chaos, Water, Whatever you want) has summoned you.... by mistake. After admitting that it was his bad, he then strikes a deal that if you help him with his dangerous quest, he'll send you back to your home plane.
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224. You and your adventurer companions have been hired to kidnap the princess bride of Florin by her soon to be husband in order to start a war with Gilda. But no one said anything about the Man in Black who is now mysteriously on your tail.
@224: did you mean Gilder, the sworn enemy of Florin? I think I have some fabric around here I ripped with their symbol on it...
anyway -
225: The PCs begin in a town or city big enough to have multiple factions, one of which is a group of noble savage grippli living in the nearby forested moors and bogs.
An agent of the local adventurer's guild, the Lantern Watch, has been murdered and rumors abound that the grippli are behind the plot. There is one member of the tribe that is still fiercly loyal to the town, but he's been out of touch in the bogs for weeks. The guild wants you to reach him with a message, in the hopes that you might help him uncover the conspiracy.
226) A prosperous town has a guild for adventurers, it is a place that many of the more famous heroes of the world started- but lately very few of the adventurers that join the guild seem to come to a good end. You are contacted by an interested 3rd party that hides in shadows and disguises their voice, they think the guild has been corrupted from within and that a generation of heros are in peril, will you join the ranks and investigate?
227) The same dream keeps haunting you: you stand at the persipice above a teeming with monsterous humanoids. The weight of a sword is in your hand as an angel appears and you stab that angel and... You wake up. You know that this event happens in 2 years but WHY? Are you a villian in just your own dreams or is something else at play.
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228 - Walking through the doorway of your hut, you are immediately transported to a foreign world / plane. Around you are various races and genders from your world. Across the way in front of you are creatures from other planes that you've only heard of in fairy tales and ghost stories.
A large red orb hovering high above the center of what looks to be an alien colosseum; the red orb starts to blink slowly with each blink a horn of some kind sounds off until the red light turns green. A loud, deep voice says something in an odd language and then echoes into common stating, "Fight and survive, or die!".
With that gravity forgets you and your surroundings change to forest that looks like it belongs in an M.C. Escher drawing. The group from the other side pauses a bit confused, but one of the more aggressive ones screams a battle cry and starts pouncing from upside down tree to upside down tree, apparently attempting to kill you. Can you survive? Can you trust anyone? Can you find your way home?
229 - After being captured by a war lord who wears a pointy looking metal helmut, he tosses you into a pit, the bottom lined with green slime of some sort, and proceeds to slam a barred lid shut and walk away. Upon contact with the slime, you painfully transform into humanoid turtles, shells and all. A creature creeps out of the shadows, walking towards you. Once it enters the light, you see it is a humanoid rat, clothed in rags and somehow a bit old looking.
"My children, I have devised a plan to escape the evil war lord." the rat man whispers leaning heavily onto his wooden staff, "I shall train you in the martial arts and we will escape, so that we may prepare to come back and overthrow the evil that is the war lord."
230 - You're tired, so tired, but instead of any iota of rest all you've been given in life is pain, exhaustion and servitude. If it weren't for these damned magic collars around your neck you would overthrow the ones who declared themselves masters over you and your people.
231 - Dear friends of yours have been poisoned and have less than a week to live. The only alchemist brilliant enough to concoct a remedy has crossed the line of sanity and is apparently living inside an enchanted dragon's stomach. The dragon sleeps, but which circumstances it is to wake is unknown. Either way, you need to pay a visit to a crazy old alchemist in the lower intestines of a living dragon.
232 - Monsters, the kin of those you've slain in past battle have captured you and now hold you on trial. The judge of your trial, a fairly powerful lich declares you guilty but says, "I am anything if not generous. You must fight each and every creature here in a series of battles. If you survive, which you won't, you will be free. Good luck."
dot
233 - An army of giants have made their way down to earth to have a talk with the small ones; it seems they've finally made a decision. They demand Jack the Giant Killer to be relinquished unto them so that they may give him his punishment as they see fit.
The only problem is, time passes differently in the skies where the giants live. Jack the Giant Killer has been dead for more than 2 decades. Hearing this, the giants go to plan B. They demand the descendants of Jack the Giant Killer. You are the descendants of Jack the Giant Killer (if they are odd races, just say Jack got around), so what do you do?
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234. The village has long been aided by the fey. The folk here didn't ask for the help and are always gracious for it, humbly thanking the wee folk with sweets left by a stump or a cask of brandy in the attic. But recently a young girl, just a child, was killed by a jagged slash to the neck.
So brutal and heinous was the crime that the village folk were horrified. For the first time in a decade the villagers tried to ask the First Worlders for their help. Only one of the mortal denizens of the settlement remains to speak of all of this.
As he speaks his hands tremble. The village is now accursed; all who once dwealt there have been transformed into straw. An entire village of scarecrows. The only reason he survived is because he spent the night in the hills but he could see weird lights over the whole settlement and he cowered and wept to hear the screams below.
When he passed through the village the next morning he found all the scarecrows propped on sticks. Each has a face; a cruel, leering face drawn on but the features vaguely resemble the villagers. He made the mistake of plucking some straw from one, in morbid curiosity, and blood flowed from the "wound". They are still ALIVE in there, but bound in this spell, or curse or whatever.
This man, Baden, begs you to help him make up for his cowardice and shame. Save the people of his village and find the creatures responsible both for the curse and the death of the little girl.
233 - An army of giants have made their way down to earth to have a talk with the small ones; it seems they've finally made a decision. They demand Jack the Giant Killer to be relinquished unto them so that they may give him his punishment as they see fit.
The only problem is, time passes differently in the skies where the giants live. Jack the Giant Killer has been dead for more than 2 decades. Hearing this, the giants go to plan B. They demand the descendants of Jack the Giant Killer. You are the descendants of Jack the Giant Killer (if they are odd races, just say Jack got around), so what do you do?
Go find the vampire unicorn that was slain by a cloud giant alchemist for his original horn. Then we'll talk revenge!
235 - Fainting goats are the major resource of your entire civilization and just like that, they vanished over night. The nation have shot arrows into a field filled with everyone's names written on pieces of paper and stuck to the ground.
As it happens, you and some others are now responsible for finding said fainting goats and bring as many as inhumanly possible back with you before civilization crashes. Good luck.
236 - A god of mischief has decided to have a little fun and take the form of a child on earth. He says if you follow his rules and play his games, he'll leave and possibly even grant you and your friends a boon of some sort.
Using the form of a young boy as inspiration, he decides to use children's games but with twists to have his fun. (I.E. Don't step on the rocks it's lava, step on a crack break a mother's back, etc..) Well, have fun.
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237 - You're staying in a well known metropolis and you hear blood curdling screams erupt throughout the city. Arbitrarily picking the home of a wealthy nobleman, you kick down the front door unceremoniously to see an interesting sight.
A pair of well crafted and intricately engraved rapiers are floating along, taking swipes at what was once their owner. After demolishing the swords, you run out of the door and see that the epidemic has spilt into the city streets. People everywhere throughout the city are being attacked by weapons they had owned, a few even lay dead from the vicious attacks.
You take it upon yourself to figure out what's going on before the entire city is murdered with it's own weapons and of course, before your weapons turn on you.
[Note / Side Idea: Items could also be intelligent for fun, or are being controlled by a powerful and sentient weapon or group of weapons if you so decide. Also, townspeople could turn on you if your weapons aren't animating on their own for some odd reason.]
238-A group of three NPC's seek out the heroes and tell them their story. They were thrown into a furnace by a king for treasonous offences. In their torment, they called out for divine aid (a la Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), but none was received. Eventually they asked anyone or anything to help them and a contract demon appeared with his master and they agreed to save the merchants and grant them 3 wishes each in exchange for signing their souls over to the devils. They agreed, and now they want the PC's help in tracking down their contracts and destroying them so as to release their souls from bondage. They offer the services of their wish spells in the PC's mission.
241) for some unknown reason, the gods start answering prayers. Everyone's. Literally.
241) for some unknown reason, the gods start answering prayers. Everyone's. Literally.
"Make the pain go away!" and it does, traveling from person to person in as straight a line as possible.
Hail Eris!
241) for some unknown reason, the gods start answering prayers. Everyone's. Literally."Make the pain go away!" and it does, traveling from person to person in as straight a line as possible.
Hail Eris!
Now THAT would be a cool healing power. You cast a spell and all HP damage leaves your body; it travels, through an affected area, inflicting 1 hp at a time on all possible recipients. Ex: you're suffering 12 HP. You cast this spell in the midst of a fight involving 3 other party members and 3 baddies; each of them immediately suffers 2 pts of damage. No save/SR.