Adventure Ideas - Large or Small!

[Rich H]

I thought this may be worthy of a dedicated thread...

We get numerous discussions in various threads and people make valuable (albeit tangential) comments relating to their own campaigns, adventures, and character ideas in numerous places meaning that many of them are going to get lost in and amongst other discussions. In addition, I'm aware that many of us are more than a little 'time poor' due to personal responsibilities and commitments which means that we can't always come up with our own ideas or that we're simply too worn out at the end of the day to the point where our creative juices are all dried up. Also, guys like Stormcrow, have remarked that we all seem to run the same adventures and that PC motivations in certain adventures are somewhat 'lacking' or too similar.

Whether you agree or disagree with any of the above doesn't really matter for the purposes of this thread, what we need is some kind of single point repository to post all our adventure ideas. So things like (but not restricted to):

* Links to full blown adventures

* Summaries or brief outlines of adventure ideas

* Plot hooks for characters

* Foreshadowing suggestions so that future adventures don't seem 'forced'

* Character motivations for specific scenarios or just general ones

* Ideas for long term antagonists and allies

* Ideas for long term character goals

* Ideas for linking adventures

* ... etc

Feel free to repost such things here, that way they'll be easier to find in the future. I'm aware that it may get a little chaotic but at least it would all be in one thread that people could share and cull ideas from.

[Rich H]

Some ideas for character motivations and long term goals...

From the adventures I've GM'd:

1) To Journey's End and the Eagles' Eyrie - PCs were tasked with aiding Balin by their respective kings/leaders. Great honour, renown, and standing the reward for such; highly valuable for PCs - developing relationships with people in high office, standing and renown amongst their own folk and those of their allies, etc. Adventure link here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/795 ... 0Eyrie.pdf

2) Kinstrife & Dark Tidings - I introduced Oderic before he was slain, establishing a bond with the woodman PC, and he also journeyed (as representative of the Beornings) with the PCs in "To Journey's End...". So, when they discovered him slain their motivation was very personal - a friend and/or ally had been killed and they wanted to see those responsible brought to justice.

3) Don't Leave the Path - on the way back through Mirkwood (reversing the journey from west to east) I used elements from this adventure, introducing Baldor and Belgo. This was the most altruistic my players/characters have been. They saw father and son in trouble and immediately got involved, offering aid. I didn't have to do anything else, what with the PCs travelling in the same direction. Unfortunately, Belgo's father fell foul and lost his mind to the elf stream. The PCs, through Gilbrannon (the elf PC) convinced the elves to care for him and Brand (a man of Dale) adopted Belgo into his household. During the journey though he did bond with Thogrim (the dwarf PC). I can see Belgo becoming a future PC.

4) A Return to the Marsh Bell - in the first adventure the PCs passed this by, but now they have returned with a force of dwarves to explore and, hopefully, establish a waypoint; the first step to opening the old Men-i-Naugrim; and eventually Moria. Again, the rewards here are standing with their allies and leaders and actually affecting/changing the world around them in a positive way (assuming they succeed), in addition to establishing and carrying out long-term goals.

[Heilemann]

Thank you! That's exactly the idea I'd been toying with, only I never got as far as to actually organize it.

I want to start right into the Gibbet King campaign, but that seems to harsh, and I don't want to run a series of stand-alone adventures that sometimes seem to contradict each other. I think you ordering is pretty much what I'll go with actually.

[Otaku-sempai]

Suggestion for an Eriador adventure (this is an idea that I previous brougt up in another thread):

A Dwarf-scholar from the Blue Mountains claims to have pin-pointed the site of Mount Dolmed which has been lost since the sinking of Beleriand. He claims that the Dwarf-city of Nogrod lies beneath the Gulf of Lune, but he knows the approximate location of the ruins of Belegost and wants to mount an expedition to explore them. He hopes to recover the great pearl Nimphelos, given to the Dwarves of Belegost by Thingol Greycloak in partial payment for the delving of the underground halls of Menegroth.

An idea for Lake-town:

The adventurers uncover suspicious behavior from an Easterling trader. The merchant is an agent of Mordor whose goal is to corrupt Lake-town officials and scout out weaknesses in the town's defense for future exploitation. The party must gather evidence and present it to the new Master, who may want the trader arrested, but might instead have more subtle plans...

[Magus76]

Super great idea for a thread!

I'm LM:ing a campaign set in Strayhold/Brandaroth where the basic premise is a famous and sometimes dangerous bordertown located just a small distance to the southeast of Mirkwood. During the years three factions have ended up sharing the control of this tradingpost, keeping a very fragile peace.
They are northmen descending from the Gramuz, easterlings descending from the original Wainriders and a few strong and influential families with their roots in Gondor.
The conflicts are always on the brink of erruption and the Enemy uses it to stir the corruption in their hearts, giving life to old wars and predjudice.
Since Lake-Town started to live again after the fall of Smaug, trade further south breathed new life in Strayhold as well. But with this came greed and enmity, and the intrigues spawned from the shadows of the courts and councils started to draw blood in all the camps. Some in Strayhold are under the Enemy's sway and will kill to prepare the way for a darker age.

Thats just a narrow description to give some inspiration, but do with it what thou wilt

Strayhold is pretty close to the tower of the Sorceress of Mirkwood if you want to tie in some HotW info

It's also right on the border towards Talath Harroch which opens up to many adventures on this quite dangerous plain

We've had a great time so far!

/Magus76

[Magus76]

...Just to point out...I used the map from the original merp Strayhold module and then just took a new direction from that.
/Magus76

[Angelalex242]

Since nobody's mentioned him yet that I've read.

"The werewolf in Mirkwood is annoying. Kill him dead." Fluff it to taste, of course, but it's simple and to the point.

[Mordagnir]

I think the concept behind Those Who Tarry has extraordinary potential. Dreams are powerful in Tolkien's ME writings and The Red Book of Westmarch tells us that the dreams of Elves are special. You could potentially build an entire campaign around freeing one of the Eldar from some sort of affliction/curse that forces a fellowship to fight through the Elf's memories/dreams. This could also tie into late Third Age events and opportunities such as solving a mystery from an earlier age, tracking down a lost treasure from an earlier age, resolving a question of heritage, and so forth. There are so many episodes in The Silmarillion and The Unfinished Tales from which you could draw inspiration.

I think there's also a lot of potential for adventures in Dunland that could potentially pit the heroes against all manner of powers small and large. It is even quite conceivable that the heroes might find themselves compelled to protect a clan or settlement against the depredations of Rohirrim raiders which puts even more pressure on the heroes than normal to find solutions that protect everybody. In 2950, I'm guessing most of Dunland is neutral in terms of the conflict between Free Peoples and the Shadow but there are several groups keen to change that for good or ill.

We've discussed in the past the expansion of Dale eastward. There are many different ways you could incorporate this expansion into a campaign, either in pieces or as the whole campaign. I think it's optimistic to think that everyone is going to welcome a new lord (and new taxes), and, in fact, this is a minor theme in The Crossings of Celduin. You could run dozens of adventures in the region involving exploration, diplomacy, monster-hunting, bandit-hunting, and protection from marauding Easterlings. One idea I had for this area would be a hex crawl in which the fellowship had to explore the region, befriend locals, convince them that belonging to Dale was a good thing (often with a necessity to do tasks for them or settle disputes), and encounter various foes in the process. Later, the heroes might be ennobled and put in charge of the region's marches even as pressure increased from the East. We even have rules for holdings now to give the heroes more skin in the game!

[Mim]

Rich: This is a great idea for a thread, & I've always mined your posts for ideas - especially To Journey's End.

Mordagnir: All three of these are intriguing themes. In particular, the Elves & dreams fit Middle-earth to a tee.

Here's Gandalf speaking in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, The Quest of Erebor:

‘You may think that Rivendell was out of his reach, but I did not think so. The state of things in the North was very bad. The Kingdom under the Mountain and the strong Men of Dale were no more. To resist any force that Sauron might send to regain the northern passes in the mountains and the old lands of Angmar there were only the Dwarves of the Iron Hills, and behind them lay a desolation and a Dragon. The Dragon Sauron might use with terrible effect. Often I said to myself: “I must find some means of dealing with Smaug. But a direct stroke against Dol Guldur is needed still more. We must disturb Sauron’s plans. I must make the Council see that.”

So, what did Sauron do in Eriador (for example) during the time leading up to & including the War of the Ring?

1. Perhaps he dispatched one (or more servants), say, an evil sorcerer or the like, to surreptitiously explore the ruins of Carn Dûm, searching for corrupted secrets of the Witch-king.

2. Or, to regain control of the Orcs of Mount Gundabad & elsewhere. They may have developed some quasi-independence at times during the period from the War of the Dwarves & Orcs through the White Council's attack on Dol Guldur - I often envision Azog & Bolg that way. In addition, after Gandalf & a certain company of Dwarves (& one Hobbit!) slew the Great Goblin & escaped, an interregnum probably followed as the strongest or most cunning Orc clawed his way to the top of the pile. Perhaps Beorn or a suitable patron asks the heroes to keep open the High-pass or to explore the Orc lairs to discover what's about?

3. Another example is for Elrond to send out the player-heroes as some of the scouts that searched the north following the Nazgûl's attack, to ensure the (relatively) safe departure of the Fellowship of the Ring from Imladris. An extreme variant is to have them serve as a diversion for the Fellowship, though only the most powerful heroes need apply if it means having a Black Rider on their tails

These adventures can thus lead your heroes to either side of the Mountains, & may tie-in with Rivendell.

[Mim]

Here are a couple of other ideas:

1. Travelers disappear from time-to-time while passing along the Great East Road. As a result, the Councils of the Woodmen and/or the Wood-elves fear a return of the Shadow, and gather evidence and information to support their position: items like black-fetched arrows smeared and smudged with the Orcish fungus-like poison; stories like those told by Woodmen who claim to have ventured close to the forest’s edge in pursuit of an evil band, and then turned back after glimpsing dark, shadowy shapes in the underbrush. They offer a suitable reward (a cultural reward is obvious, but you can also have them offer another enticement appropriate to your game, such as training, healing, patronage, etc.) to your band of seemingly stalwart adventurers to investigate these disappearances.

The servants of the Enemy seize and corrupt a Wood-elf above-ground fortress, deep inside the Mountains of Mirkwood. It serves as a base from which these villains (perhaps led by a Black Númenórean or Variag of Khand sorcerer), and various evil creatures in their service, can raid travelers, funneling prisoners and possessions by caravans back to the Shadow’s lairs. Their outpost is a huge tree-a sycamore tree. They hollow out large sections of the inside of the trunk to form rooms and passages, but the tree is so massive that the cavities have not weakened it structurally. It's a relatively simple task to link them (or even replace them) with some of the foes revealed in the HotW.

2. ‘But Arvedui did not take his counsel. He thanked him, and at parting gave him his ring, saying: “This is a thing of worth beyond your reckoning. For its ancestry alone. It has no power, save the esteem in which those hold it who love my house. It will not help you, but if ever you are in need, my kin will ransom it with great store of all that you desire.”

The Dúnedain afterward ransomed the Ring of Barahir. A stranger arrives at Bree, Rivendell, Lake-town, or whichever sanctuary fits your chronicle, from the far North, an emissary from the Lossoth. Bivdu (Hunter) providentially finds the vale following a long and perilous journey of epic proportions, to claim the ancient wergild of his people. Bivdu bears an urgent missive, written on sealskin parchment and sealed with a large, ornate glob of red wax bearing the seal of Arvedui, which he gave to the Lossoth of old.

Grimnir the Helegrog (Ice Daemon) sends his servants, Orcs, Wargs, Snow-trolls, and other things of cold and night, to capture the Lossoth village of Frostmantle. The village, known of old to that people as Jielti (Blood)—allegedly for their former seal hunts—lies sheltered behind a wooded ridge from the piercing rays of the sun and during the long midnight of the northern winter. The servants of the Enemy take the place, and dispatch their captives a few at a time across the frigid wastes toward their hidden stronghold nigh Ax Glacier-which flows northward and westward from Gundabad or that area toward Forochel. Grimnir seeks some forgotten relic(s), perhaps the lost palantíri. Honor demands that the summons cannot be refused, and Elrond or your patron asks the heroes if they are willing to venture forth to solve the mystery.