Looking for Plot Point Suggestions - Procedurally Generated Adventrues


Homebrew and House Rules


I'm not entirely sure on a good subfora for this, and it's not Pathfinder, but the parallels are close enough that I figured I'd ask folks (generic fantasy, adventure design, etc). Particularly folks that like to write and GM their own adventures.

I'm working on a project where I've got very rudimentary adventures that get created and embarked upon by NPCs, used to flesh out a world-setting around what the player themselves will be doing. Mechanics are very simple, as it's an abstract system designed to be more interesting to look at than a random number. Sorta like Dwarf Fortress' history-gen, although that gets into inter-kingdom strife with rational behind it and I don't want to get into that sort of detail.

What I'm looking for is a list of "stuff" that happens on these little adventures. Setbacks, unexpected twists, travel tales. The sort of thing that'd show up in a random encounters table, although not monster based (monsters are certainly welcome, but I've got a balanced array (one of each damage type) already) as they just represent generic stand-ins, the highlights, the story the hero tells after he returns: "So there I was, slogging through the swamp when I ran across the ruins of some long forgotten temple..."

Should be singular events, although strings of related ones can be constructed (i.e. being attacked by pirates only happens while on a boat: Sailing -> Attacked by Pirates -> Sailing with Pirates -> Buried Treasure) and fairly skeletal, these things are pretty much just a couple of ability checks aided by gear/enchantments.

As an example of what I'm looking for:

Quote:
"Hero gets ambushed by attackers"

Then I can flesh that out:

Quote:

Ambush (aid(s): Danger Sense, Weapon, Armor)

Check: Strength
Fail: Hero takes damage
Success: Hero finds some treasure

I've got a fair few so far, but still only about 6 or 7 per broad category (Starting, Travel, Generic, Unexpected, Traps, Monsters; plus Goals of which I have 30+). Given that each adventure is made up of 1 starting, 1 goal, and about a dozen chosen from the other categories, that makes repeats quite frequent.

I've got another dozen or so I've jotted down the skeleton of, but haven't fleshed out yet, but I could really use a whole lot more, particularly events that could lead in multiple directions depending on the result (I can do up to 5, from critical failure to critical success; I used to build out a city: the "city" encounter just picks a result at random and that leads to a district, then to an actual encounter: a bar fight, a relaxing walk through the gardens, a visit to the local temple, etc).

I've looked at lists of "adventure hooks" but a lot of those end up being very off-the-wall and I'm looking for more cookie-cutter stuff, things that'll slot into any adventure at any point.


Just rattling off the top of my head:

"The party finds an ancient device that unexpectedly activates due to their actions"

"The party travels to an island to find the remains of a lost ship"

"The party tracks down a farmer's missing cows"

Stuff along these lines?


Hmm.

"Tracks down a farmer's missing cows" is the closest to what I'm looking for. At least on the "Goal" category. I do want more of these, definitely, but not my focus at the moment. :)

"Find an ancient device" would be more like the singular event encounter. The "unexpectedly activates due to actions" would be reading too much into it. That'd be more like one possible result of the encounter (crit-fail on an intelligence roll?) where "suddenly, magic artifact" would be another (crit-success).

"Travels to an island to find the remains of a lost ship" is more multi-part ("Travel to an island" -> "Find lost wreck")

So...yes. At first I was thinking they were too specific, but upon breaking them down they're actually all reasonable suggestions.

(Now...how do I flesh the cows one out, hmm...)


Whoops, I misread. Keep these. Writing.

Possible Goals:
A knight suffers from a terrible curse and beseeches the party to lift it from him.

Sea raiders have begun landing on the shores and must be repelled.

An invisible thief has stolen a great some of gold from the local bank and it must be recovered.

A bandit king holds the daughter of local nobility ransom.

An orcish warrior with a mystical weapon has challenged heroes of the land to beat him in a duel, and all who have challenged him have thus far been slain.

A dying knight asks for someone to finish his quest: returning the stolen, sacred bones of a long dead saint to the temple they belong to.

A huge, monstrous boar is rampaging through the countryside. It's time for a grand hunt!

Kobolds have stolen all the beer from the local tavern. They must be punished! (Bring back the booze, please.)

A powerful fey lord claims he has been wronged by the actions of the city, and he will bring doom upon it if he cannot be persuaded otherwise.

A spy is said to be in the city.

A plague has swept through the countryside.

Expecting battle with his neighbors, a local lord is looking for a clever engineer to help him bolster his fortifications.

The town guard has a lot of sloppy new recruits! They need help training them as soon as possible.

Zounds of rabbits have infested the local cabbage fields and someone needs to find a way to get rid of them.


Oh, I misread. You want the SIDE events.

I'll write some up in a moment.


Possible Twists:

A cutpurse tries to rob the hero as they travel through a city.

The hero meets another adventurer who suggests a friendly duel with each of them betting a magical item.

As the hero stops to rest at an inn, the bartender asks for help with some rats in the cellar...

The hero finds a corpse just off the road, still laden with valuables. Unfortunately for the hero, the corpse is diseased.

The hero finds an aggressive pair of ghouls while traveling!

The hero is forced to cross a scorching desert.

The hero has to traverse a sweltering hot jungle on the way to their destination.

While traveling by sea, the hero's boat is struck by lightning and they must find a way to get to shore!

While traveling by sea, the vessel the hero is sailing on is attacked by a sea monster!

While ferrying across a river, the hero is assailed by lizard people!

The hero comes face to face with a cockatrice.

An assassin with a blowgun and poison darts assails the hero from the shadows.

A beggar asks the hero for help.

A beggar asks the hero for help, but is really a genie that will reward the hero if he does so.

A beggar asks the hero for help, but is really a cutpurse.

The hero fights off some weak demons and rescues a woman from their clutches. Unbeknownst to the hero, this woman is a succubus.

As the hero rests at a wayside inn, ghostly sounds from upstairs awaken them.

An old couple is having a rather loud argument and beseeches the hero to settle the discussion for them.

While traveling, the hero meets someone charming and they become infatuated with one another. Unfortunately, that someone is working for the hero's enemies!

A priest is inspired by the hero's cause and offers blessings.

A youth is so impressed with the hero that they wish to join them on their quest! Unfortunately, they're a bit young for that...

Another adventurer wishes to join the hero on their quest.

While passing through a village, the hero hears that a festival is happening the next day. This may be a great time to relax...

The hero begins to feel ill.

The hero has to cross a chasm to reach their destination.

The hero is attacked by harpies!

Someone has framed the hero: the local duke has issued orders to arrest them for murder!

A tourney is happening in the town the hero is passing through. They are invited to take part in the joust, and they could even win a fair sum of gold should they perform well...

The cave the hero chose to sleep in turns out to be a troll's home!

The hero finds and catches a rare and expensive bird. But there's two more in the bush!

The hero finds a fairy captured by goblins!

The hero finds a wounded unicorn.

The hero stumbles into a battle between two armies!

A dwarven smith of great renown offers to create a peerless weapon for the hero if they will rescue his daughter from the giant that captured her.

The hero wakes up after a particularly rowdy party to learn they are married to a (randomly choose one of the following: gnome, halfling, human, elf, dwarf, half-orc, goblin, hobgoblin, orc, vampire, fairy, horse).

The hero runs out of rations.

The hero is attacked by a wererat!

The hero encounters a wizard who is in a very bad mood...

The hero finds a magical belt. It turns out to be a Girdle of Opposite Gender...


Hoo boy, that is a huge list! I'll have to dig through it later, should give me lots of things I can add. Thanks!


Murder mystery: find out about murdered person's background, discover motive, search for murder weapon, reason out opportunity, stealth into private rooms, persuade authorities, orate solution in front of audiences of authorities and suspects.

Chase! Obstacles to avoid and power through, distractions, false trails, set up obstacles to slow down other party, goal.


roguerouge wrote:
Murder mystery: find out about murdered person's background, discover motive, search for murder weapon, reason out opportunity, stealth into private rooms, persuade authorities, orate solution in front of audiences of authorities and suspects.

This inspired me to let quests spawn new quests, bypassing some other logic, other than that I'm not sure I can utilize it.

Quote:
Chase! Obstacles to avoid and power through, distractions, false trails, set up obstacles to slow down other party, goal.

I'll have to puzzle out how to handle a chase event, but it should work within my framework.

Thanks!

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