Play games. Tell stories. Have fun.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Even More Adventure Sites

I am still enjoying creating adventure sites, small areas ripe for conflict and containing something of value to the PCs. These are generally pretty straightforward locations where the PCs can storm in, kill some obvious bad guys, and make off with the treasure.

If your players are going off the beaten path, shunning your intricately prepared situations and dynamic NPCs in favor of action and black-and-white morality, these adventure sites are for you.

Tombs and Crypts

Hall of the Deepfather (high fantasy)

Location: An old stone pillar indicates the entrance is 2 miles west of the old dwarf road
Areas: The entrance, the hall of tales, the entombment
NPCs: Glower (stone guardian)
Obstacles: Glower lets no one pass the entrance without a tributary poem to the Deepfather, the hall of tales is filled with enchanted tapestries that draw onlookers into a series of dangerous magical reenactments of the Deepfather's dangerous adventures (each with its own obstacles)
Rewards: The Deepfather's Wisdom (an enchanted hammer) lies atop his stone form in the entombment, behind the tale-telling tapestries in the hall of tales are small caches of gems and coins
Hook: A pair travelers standing in the middle of the road are discussing whether or not they have time to visit the Hall of the Deepfather and try to claim its glorious treasure.

The Vault (science fiction)

Location: Orbiting a small, unobtrusive moon in an uninhabited system
Areas: The cryostasis prison chamber, the cryogenerator, the internal monitor station
NPCs: Alteph (ancient guard), Alkrek (ancient criminal)
Obstacles: The Vault's external airlock has complex security (though it is very, very old), the cryogenerator room is venting energy and is deadly cold, Alkrek is an ingenious trickster and a murderer who has escaped his stasis pod since the cryogenerator started malfunctioning
Rewards: Only Alkrek knows where his ancient stash of loot is, the portable power core in the cryogenerator room is intact and valuable
Hook: The Vault has a begun venting energy, giving it a very visible signature on any ship's nav system.

The McIntosh Mausoleum (urban fantasy)

Location: In the new part of the city's largest cemetery
Areas: The outer mausoleum, the burial chamber, the cave
NPCs: The Shadow (magical deal-maker)
Obstacles: Ghouls (the corpses of deceased McIntosh clan members) lurk in the outer mausoleum, a ward against iron and steel separates the outer mausoleum from the burial chamber, the Ravenous One dwells in the dark of the cave (accessed through the burial chamber)
Rewards: The Shadow can basically grant any wish (for a sinister price), the McIntosh ghouls are adorned with jewelry
Hook: A message appears from the Shadow claiming he can solve all of the PCs' woes.

The Sunken Barrow (low fantasy)

Location: In the center of the Willow Marshes
Areas: The stairs, the flooded corridor, the king's tomb, the treasure room
NPCs: Maladwin of Hillhold (wealthy merchant)
Obstacles: The stone stairs are crumbling and may collapse beneath the weight of explorers, the flooded corridor slowly descends into water and is slick, the king's tomb is home to a school of large carnivorous fish
Rewards: The treasure room holds a rotted wooden chest of silver pieces, an unrusted (and still sharp) steel sword is buried with the king himself
Hook: Maladwin of Hillhold is scouring the nearby settlements looking for someone to enter the barrow and recover the treasure she believes it holds, for a cut.

DynaCorp Subbasement* (post-apocalypse)

Location: The ruins of the DynaCorp building are visible for miles.
Areas: The access shaft, the cubefarm, the break room
NPCs: Sze Xian (trapped scavenger)
Obstacles: The access shaft is dangerously prone to collapse, the cubefarm is home to dozens of irradiated zombies
Rewards: Sze Xian (unarmed) is holed up in the break room along with a valuable data disk, several of the zombies carry valuables, a rifle and ammunition lying at the top of the access shaft
Hook: There were reports of screaming from the DynaCorp ruins last night.

*This one is kind of a cheat, but I figured with so many dead ex-DynaCorp employees, it might as well be a tomb in its own right.

No comments:

Post a Comment