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So you had 5 friends stop by and say "DM for us!" and they brought cookies. Post your easy 1 page adventure. Dont worry about the details too much, just the plot and fun stuff.
The “Where the hells are we?”:
A newly established farming community a day and a half south of a mountain range. Most farms and central town are along a river that runs north to south. Town and outlying farms population is under 125.
Central town has:
Inn/tavern ran by a couple and a friend. (Describe the man and wife as you would describe your parents or some other couple your players don’t know, and the friend who helps describe as you would describe your 9th grade English teacher. This method often results in very memorable NPCs)
General Goods Store: Has the basics a farming community would need. A sword or 2, but mostly tools. (Describe the owner like you would describe that happy fat friend you had in college)
The “Oh Noes!”
A local boy, Pip Mc Pippins, age 14, goes missing. (Describe the family as a semi obscure TV family, the Keatons for instance, wherein the 14 year old would be Michel J Fox. Family Ties for those that didn’t get it.)
The clews:
Didn’t come home this evening, his horse did, with a claw mark on its hide. Pip wanders the outlying areas, one area in particular is a bamboo patch a couple hours walk north of town.
The Antagonist/s:
Lizard folk in the bamboo patches, CR to your party.
The Lizard folk use the terrain, shaman behind a 4 foot tall rock, others jump from concealment, one with a net and 2 with weapons. If they net a PC they will run off with the PC while the ones with weapons hinder the PCs while the other escapes with the captured victim.
In the area where the PCs are jumped, some of Pips personal effects can be found. Toys, food, whatnot.
The PCs eventually find “Base camp” The lizard folk are out and about hunting/gathering with a few holding down the fort. The PCs can fight their way in/out, bargain for Pips release, or stealth him out. Barganing may result in some sort of trade or co existance with the town, fighting will increase the violence, sneaking will probably confuse the lizard folk.
The lewts:
Whatever the lizard folk have and a reward from the town, a month free stay at the inn, and fame.
Moontouched -
The pcs enter a valley which is within the faerie lands...
the nights are very dark as the moon is missing.
- anyone communicating with plants or animals will find out the moon is in the east.
- rangers, druids and clerics will know that the moon is missing
three tribes in the area who know where the moon is but require a test of loyalty to show worthiness, such as retrieving some sacred herbs from a giant mushroom field (inhabited by carrion crawlers who giggle)
one tribe is trying to get the moon off the other tribes and will make deals but then flee with it if opportunity arise, suggest Wererats. They think you have to perform a blood sacrifice to the moon.
another tribe has the moon in their sacred tree (the moon is about 10ft diameter currently) and worship it, they will attack anyone who tries to take it, but are happy to deal with 'fellow worshippers', suggested owlbears. they think you have to worship the moon for it to float high enough.
the last tribe is purely out for fun, and will party, help, hinder and hunt anyone and everyone at random, for their minds are warped by the moons close presence. They will offer alcohol, force people to dance and play chasey (catch-up) in the dark. Suggest Dryads and Satyrs. they think there is not a problem and are happy to hate or love everyone.
- note none of these groups will kill pcs, just wound them and flee.
they can not escape unless the moon is returned to the sky
this can be done by
- spellcaster of 5+ level converting to moon worship
- three non lycanthropes accepting lycanthropy within 20ft of the moon
- alliance of the three tribes
The story of the PC who dies or almost dies on the crapper will be good for laughs for a long time... in and out of game.
My groups have never run anything like this, but the idea is exactly why we've joked for years in and out of game about otyughs being potty monsters. Anyone who takes too long in the bathroom is feared to have been taken. :)
Ahem...
Somehow, perhaps after completing some daring deed, the PCs end up hobknobing with a wealthy merchant/aristocrat/noble/whatever. They find out that his son is having troubles with his new wife. It takes some Charisma-based skill checks to find out more; but apparently she used to be head-over-heels for the son and now can't seem to stand him. Speaking with the son and or daughter allow the party a Sense Motive check to notice that the son knows something he doesn't want to tell; and the wife seems to have just capriciously stopped liking him for no discernable reason.
A high enough Diplomacy or Intimidat check on the son gets him to spill the beans, but might have ramifications with the big-wig father. A safer mode of investigation is to ask around amongst the servants, who eventually (after some skill checks and maybe some bribes) confess to having seen the prince come and go at strange hours of the night, always leaving before midnight and not return until after, for several nights. One of them may have even aided the son and be covering the story up. That servant may also have noticed the son returning with strange looking vials and bottles, ever since the night before his engagement was publicly announced.
If the party has someone with the Track feat, let them track the son's steps to the stables, and then find he mounted a horse and rode off. The hoof tracks lead into a nearby swamp/shore of a lake or other body of water. If the party lacks a tracker, some more skill checks will get a servant to reveal he saw the son heading in a direction, and the only thing he knows lying out there is the swamp/shore of a lake or other body of water.
There, the party searches and eventually finds a strange hovel, decorated with voodoo-ish fetishes and other such things. They discover some kind of hag (whatever works for their level, perhaps with class levels if they are particularly high level; though this shouldn't come to combat). The hag doesn't wish to fight with them, but rather asks why they've come. If the party refuses to tell her and she can't figure it out on her own, she'll try to make them leave, perhaps coming to combat if necessary (hence making sure she is CR appropriate). If they tell her they have come tracking the son, she smiles and lets on she knows something. However, the hag requires a gift of some sort first. The party might have to fight a monster and bring its hide, fight a rival hag or other nearby humanoid creature and bring its head; they may have to find a rare herb and bring to her, or go back to town and perform a stealth mission to steal a book or some other possession she wants (perhaps belonging to someone she doesn't like in town).
Once sated, the hag reveals she has been using her powers to create elixers of love and potions of other enchantments spells, which the son has been surreptitiously slipping to his bride. The wife comes from a wealthy and/or powerful family of her own, and an alliance by marriage is a huge benefit to the son. Of course, the daughter of that family, now his wife, wouldn't have anything to do with him if it wasn't for the elixers of love and potions. However, the son got cocky and offended the hag recently, and she refuses to give him any more of the magical concotions. The spells have worn off, and now the wife has gone back to her true self and can't stand her husband. What the PCs do with this information and how they ultimately conclude the adventure is up to them.
Don't worry. It's free.
I would also suggest checking out 5 Room Dungeons on RolePlayingTips.com. It is blocked here at work, otherwise I would provide a link.