Big List of Adventure ideas.

[poosticks7]

Hi I made this list based on someone elses generic list awhile ago, but TORed it up

Thought I'd share, might help folk get their creative juices flowing.

1. Any Old Port in a Storm

The PCs are seeking shelter from the elements or some other threat (wargs, spiders, orc band etc) and come across a place to shelter (cavern, old ruins, abandoned settlement). They find they have stumbled across something dangerous, secret, or supernatural and must then deal with it in order to enjoy a little rest.

Twists & Themes:

The shelter is in fact the dwelling place of the initial threat (warg den, spider haunt, orc warren).
The place is a legitimate shelter of some kind, but the PCs are not welcome, and must win the trust of the occupants.

2. Better Late Than Never

Some bad guys (orcs, bandits, raiders etc) have arrived and done some bad guy things, (raping & pillaging, slave taking etc) whilst the PCs were away. The bad guys have made good their escape but the PCs have returned and must follow the bad guy’s trail (to avenge/rescue/recover someone or something). They must catch the bad guys before they make it back to their lair/home land/stronghold.

Twists & Themes:

The bad guys escaped by stealing a conveyance that the PCs know better than they do. (Horses, River boat, Ship).
The bad guys duck down a metaphorical (or literal) side-road, trying to hide or blend into an environment (perhaps one hostile to the PCs).
If the bad guys cross the adventure’s ‘finishing line’ there’s no way to pursue them beyond it (Impenetrable stronghold, dangerous environment etc).

3. Blackmail

Through trickery, deceit or from dig into a PC’s past, an antagonist (a rival, servant of the enemy, corrupt official) has something to hold over a PC’s head and make them jump. This could be any kind of threat from physical to social, but it depends on the villain having something – even if it’s information – that other’s don’t have. Now he is pulling the strings of the PC, telling them to do things they don’t want to do. The PCs must end the cycle of blackmail, depriving the villain of his edge, and keeping him temporarily satisfied whilst doing it.

Twists & Themes:

The adventure hook involves the PCs unwittingly helping the villain, which allows him to later gain leverage over them.
To succeed, the PCs must contact other folks that are being used.
The PCs aren’t the victims of the blackmail, rather it is someone they care about/are charged to protect etc.

4. Breaking and Entering

Mission objective: enter the dangerous place (dragon’s den, orc tunnels, bandit hideout) and retrieve the vital dingus (jewel, journal, heirloom etc) or valuable person (friend, noble, innocent etc). Overcome/Avoid the area’s defences to do so.

Twists & Themes:

The goal is not to extract a thing, but to destroy a thing or interfere with a process (destroy the cursed item, slay the evil warlord, stop the ritual, wreck the invasion plans etc).
The goal has moved.
The goal is information that must be recovered and told to the wise.
The job must be done without alerting anyone.
The PCs are not aware the place is dangerous.
The PCs must replace a thing with another thing.

5. Capture the Flag

The PCs must secure a military target for the good guys (retake a dwarf hold, secure an old watch out for the Mirkwood Elves, capture and fortify an old ruin). There are bad guys (Orcs, bandits, Easterlings etc) there that prefer that it not be secured.

Twists & Themes:

The PCs must assemble and/or train a force to do the job with them.
The PCs are working with flawed intelligence and the target zone isn’t as described.
The PCs must coordinate their own efforts with an ally group (possibly putting aside past rivalries to do so).

6. Clearing the Hex

There is a place (ruin, barrow, battlefield, spooky wood etc) where bad things live (wights, restless dead, wretched spirits, etc). The PCs must drive away the bad things to make the place safe.

Twists & Themes:

The bad things can’t be beaten with direct conflict. The PCs must learn more about them to solve the problem.
The bad things aren’t bad, just misunderstood.

7. Delver’s Delight

The PCs are treasure hunters, who have caught wind of a treasure laden ruin (old barrow, dwarf hold, ancient elven ruins etc) They go to explore it, and must deal with its supernatural denizens (wights, restless dead, marsh dwellers, ancient evil etc) to win the treasure and get out alive.

Twists & Themes:

The treasure itself is something dangerous (magic ring, cursed treasure, foul sorcery etc)
The treasure isn’t in a ruin, but in a wilderness (Forodwaith, Brown Lands, Gladden Fields etc) or even hidden somewhere ‘civilized’ (Dale, Erebor, Minas Tirith etc)

The treasure is someone else’s rightful property (an elf lord, a dwarven family etc).

8. Don’t Eat the Purple Ones!

The PCs are stranded in a strange place (deep underground, Withered Heath, Deserts of Harad etc), and must survive by finding food and shelter and then worry about getting out of the area.

Twists & Themes:

The PCs must survive only for a short period of time, until help arrives.
The PCs must work alongside a group of adversaries for mutual survival.

9. Elementary, My Dear Wolfgar

A crime or atrocity has been committed; the PCs must solve it. They must interview witnesses (and perhaps prevent them from being killed), gather clues (perhaps having to prevent them being stolen or ruined). They must then assemble proof to deliver to the authorities, or serve as agents of justice.

Twists & Themes:

The PCs are working to clear an innocent already accused of the crime (possibly themselves).
The PCs must work alongside a special investigator (Agent of the King, Captain of the Guard, Shirriff etc) or are otherwise saddled with an unwanted ally.
Midway through the adventure, the PCs are ‘taken off the case’ – their invitation/authority to pursue the matter is closed (often the result of political manoeuvring by an antagonist).


10. Escort Service

The PCs have a valuable object (kingly gift, precious scrolls, store of weapons, well trained animal etc) or person (envoy, exile, dignitary, loremaster etc), which needs to be taken to a safe place or to its rightful owner, etc. They must undertake a dangerous journey in which one or more factions (and chance or misfortune) try to deprive them of the thing/person in their care.

Twists & Themes

The thing or person is troublesome in some way and tries to escape or sidetrack the PCs.
The destination has been destroyed or compromised by the enemy, and the PCs must take their charge to another destination.
The person is someone attempting a political defection and has important information (A Dunlending, A Easterling, A Corsair etc).
The PCs must protect the target without the target knowing about it.

11. Good Housekeeping

The PCs are placed in charge of a large operation (A dwarven mine, an Esgaroth trading company, a collection of Barding settlers etc). And must, despite lack of experience in such things, make it work and thrive.

Twists & Themes:

The PCs are brought in because something big is about to happen, and the Old Guard wants a chance to escape.
The people under the PCs resent them, because their method of inheritance looks outwardly bad and everyone loved the old boss.

12. Help is on the Way

A person (or small group) is in a hazardous situation they can’t survive without rescue. The PCs are on the Job. In some scenarios, the hook is as simple as a distant yell for help.

Twists & Themes:

The victim(s) are a hostage, or under siege from enemy forces (Trolls, Orcs, Bandits etc), and the PCs must deal with the captors or break the siege.
There is a danger that any rescue attempts will strand the rescuers in the same pickle as those in need in rescue, compounding the problem.
Those in danger aren’t people but rather animals (Eagle, Horse, Hound etc).
The victim doesn’t realise that he needs rescuing; he thinks he’s doing something reasonable and/or safe.
The threat is environmental; natural disaster, plague outbreak etc.
Those in need of rescue can’t leave; something immobile and vital must be tended to or dealt with at the adventure location.
The PCs begin as part of the group that needs help and must escape and gather forces or resources to bring back and proceed as above.

13. Hidden Base

The PCs, while travelling or exploring, come across a hornet’s nest of bad guys (orcs, troll, ruffians etc), preparing for Big Badness (raiding, pillaging, parleying, etc). The PCs must either find some way to get word to the good guys, or sneak in and disable the place themselves, or a combination of the both.

Twists & Themes:

The PCs must figure out how to use local resources (landslide, flooding, cave in etc) in order to defeat the inhabitants.
There is more than one faction of bad guys; perhaps the PCs can turn them against each other through stealth and trickery.

14. How Much For Just the Dingus?

Within a defined area, something important and valuable exists (magic ring, lost heirloom, forgotten lore). The PCs (or their patrons) want it, but so do one or more other groups (servants of the Enemy, agents of Saruman, unfriendly neighbours etc). The ones that will get it will be the ones who can outthink and outrace the others, deal best with the natives (Lossoth, Avari Elves, Forgotten Dwarf Clan, Haradrim Tribesmen etc) of the area, and learn the most about their environment. Each competing group has its own agenda and resources.

Twists & Themes:

The natives require the competing factions to gather before them to state their cases.
The valuable thing was en route somewhere when its conveyance or courier was wrecked or vanished.

15. I Beg Your Pardon?

The PCs are minding their own business when they are attacked or threatened. They don’t know why. They must solve the mystery of their attacker’s motives, and in the meantime fend off more attacks. They must try to put two and two together to deal with the problem.

Twists & Themes:

The PCs are in possession of something that the mysterious attackers want – but they don’t necessarily realise it.
The attackers are out for revenge for a dead compatriot killed by the PCs in a previous adventure.
The attackers have mistaken the PCs for someone else.
The attackers are only a diversion to keep the PCs busy whilst a mysterious bad guy does something nefarious.

[poosticks7]

16. Long or Short Fork when Dining on Orc?

The PCs are a diplomatic vanguard, trying to open up (or shore up) either political or trade relations with an unfamiliar culture (isolated dwarven hold, Easterling clan, a Lossoth tribe etc). All they have to do is manage for a day or so among the strange customs without offending anyone.

Twist &Themes:

What information the PCs have about the culture is either incomplete or dangerously misleading.
The PCs were chosen by somebody who knew they weren’t prepared for it – an NPC trying to sabotage the diplomacy (pinning this villain might be necessary to avert disaster).

17. Look, Don’t Touch

The PCs are working surveillance – spying on a person, gathering information on a beast in the wild, scouting a group of unfamiliar neighbours or newcomers, probing deep behind enemy lines. Regardless of the scale or target, the primary conflict (at least at the start) is the rule that they are only to watch, listen and learn. They are not to make contact or let themselves be known.

Twists & Themes:

The target gets itself in trouble and the PCs must decide whether to break the no-contact rule in order to mount a rescue.
The target is being observed by another group that also wishes to remain unnoticed.

18. Manhunt

Someone is gone: they’ve run away, gotten lost, or simply haven’t been seen in a while. Somebody misses them or needs them returned. The PCs are called in to find them and bring them back.

Twist & Themes
The target has been kidnapped (possibly to specifically lure the PCs).
The target is dangerous and/or unhinged and has escaped from captivity.
The target is valuable and escaped from a place designed to keep him safe, cosy, and conveniently handy.
The target has a reason for leaving that the PCs will sympathise with (refusal to marry, seeks adventure, is mistreated etc).
The target has stumbled across another adventure (either as protagonist or victim), which the PCs must then undertake themselves.
The missing ‘person’ is in fact an entire group (an expedition, pilgrimage, scout force etc).
The target isn’t a runaway or missing/lost – they’re just someone that the PCs have been tasked to track down (possibly under false pretences).

19. Missing Memories

One or more of the PCs wakes up with no memory of the recent past, and now they find themselves in some kind of trouble they don’t understand. The PCs must find the reason for the memory lapse (drank from an enchanted stream, under the effects of subtle magic, drugged etc), and in the meantime deal with the predicament they have stumbled into.

Twists & Themes:

The forgetful PCs voluntarily suppressed or erased the memories, and they find themselves undoing their own work.

20. Most Peculiar, Momma

Something both bad and inexplicable is happening (growing racial tension in Esgaroth, It’s snowing in July in the Shire, A mysterious sickness, the pipe weed crop has failed, something is killing Beorn’s bees etc) and a lot of folk are very troubled by it. The PCs must track the phenomenon to its source, and stop it.

Twists & Themes:

The PCs are somehow unwittingly responsible for the whole thing (cursed treasure, a malicious spirit wants revenge, etc).
What seems to be a problem of one nature (magical, personal, natural, political etc) is actually a problem of an alternate one.

21. No One Has Soiled the Bridge

The PCs are assigned to guard a single vital spot (a mountain pass, bridge, ford, ravine, tunnel etc) from impeding or possible attack. They must plan their defensive strategy, set up watches, prepare traps, and so on. They must then deal with the enemy when it arrives.

Twists & Themes:

The intelligence the PCs were given turns out to be faulty, but acting on the new information could result in greater danger – but so could not acting on it, and the PCs must choose or create a compromise.

22. Not in Esgoroth any more!

The PCs are minding their own business and find themselves transported to a strange place (dragged into a nightmare, re-enacting a past event, entering the spirit world etc). They must figure out where they are, why they are there and how to escape.

Twists & Themes:

They were brought to the place specifically to help someone in trouble.
They were brought by accident, as a by-product of something strange and secret.
Some of the PCs enemies were transported along with them (or separately), and now they have a new battleground.

23. Ounces of Prevention

A villain or organisation (corrupt official, bandits, spy of the enemy, dubious merchant, dark cult etc) is getting ready to do something bad (murder, robbery, kidnapping, smuggling, dark ritual etc), and the PCs have received a tip-off of some sort. They must investigate to find out more about the caper, and then act to prevent it.

Twists & Themes:

The initial tip-off was a red hearing meant to distract the PCs from the actual caper.
There are two simultaneous Bad Things on the way, and no apparent way to stop both of them – how to choose?
The Bad Thing is only a small part of a much broader problem and the PCs are embroiled in the resulting escalation.
The Bad Thing is an act of revenge against an even worse thing (real or not).

24. Delved too Deep

Someone (it’s usually dwarves but it could be someone else maybe), has stumbled upon something which might be best described as an ‘older fouler thing than orcs’ and now the terrible ancient thing from the First Age is shaking things up locally (this should probably be somewhere out of the way – Harad, Forodwaith, Withered Heath, Oracani Mountains etc). Before the PCs can even think of confronting the bad thing, they must deal with the waves of trouble already released by it (bad dreams, madness, orcs or other bad things roused, locals cowered etc)

Twists & Themes:

The PCs can’t hope to defeat the terrible thing through force of arms, another solution must be found.
Only a certain dingus or rare esoteric bit of lore can defeat the creature, and no one is sure where it is or if it still exists.

25. Quest for the Sparkly Hoozits

Somebody needs a dingus (to fulfil a prophecy, heal the monarch, prevent a war, cure a disease, or what have you). The PCs must find the dingus – often an old dingus, a mysterious dingus and a powerful (in the right hands) dingus. The PCs must learn about it to track it down, and then deal with taking it from wherever it is.

Twists & Themes:

The dingus is incomplete when found (one of the most irritating and un-fun plot twists in the universe).
Someone or something (dwarves, dragons, orcs, unfriendly strangers of distant lands etc) already owns it (or recently stole it, sometimes with legitimate claim or cause).
The dingus is information or an idea, or a substance, not a specific dingus.
The PCs must use guile, stealth and ingenuity to claim the dingus from the group that possess it.
The PCs must use diplomacy and persuasion to claim the dingus from the group that possess it.

26. Recent Ruins

A town, keep, outpost, or other civilized construct is lying in ruins. Very recently, it was just dandy. The PCs must enter the ruins, explore them, and find out what happened.

Twists & Themes:

Whatever ruined the ruins (orcs, trolls, a dragon, Easterling raiders etc) is still a threat; the PCs must defeat or escape the baddies.
The inhabitants destroyed themselves somehow (a mysterious curse, a serious disagreement, unleashing something they shouldn’t have etc).

27. Running the Gauntlet

The PCs must travel through a hazardous area, and get through without being killed, robbed, humiliated, debased, diseased, or captured by whatever is there (Travelling through Mirkwood, a trip to Fangorn Forest, a sojourn deep under the Misty Mountains etc).

Twists & Themes:

The troubles they encounter are rarely personal in nature – the place itself is the ‘villain’ of the adventure.
The place isn’t dangerous at all, and the various ‘dangers’ are actually attempts to communicate with the PCs by some agent or other.

28. Safari

The PCs are on a hunting expedition, to capture or kill an elusive and prized creature (something similar to the Boar of Everholt, a Kine of Araw, a white crebain, a cave drake etc). They must deal with its environment, its own ability to evade them and possibly to fight them.

Twists & Themes:

The creature is all but immune to their weapons.
There are other people actively trying to protect the creature (elves, rangers, a cranky hermit type etc).
There are other people trying to capture or kill the creature.
The creature’s lair allows the PCs to stumble onto another adventure.

29. Score One for the Home Team

The PCs are participants in a race, contest, tournament, scavenger hunt or other voluntary bit of sport. They must win.

Twists & Themes:

The other contestants are less honest, and the PCs must overcome their attempts to win dishonestly.
The PCs are competing for a deeper purpose than victory, such as to keep another contestant safe, or spy on one, or just to get into the place where the event is going down.
The PCs don’t wish to win; they just need to prevent the villain from winning.
The event is a deliberate test of the PCs abilities (for entry into an organisation, to earn someone’s respect etc).
The event becomes more deadly than it’s supposed to.

30. Stalag 23
The PCs are imprisoned, and must engineer an escape, overcoming any guards, obstacles, and geographic isolation their prison imposes on them.

Twists & Themes:

Something has happened in the outside world and the prison security has fallen lax because of it.
Other prisoners decide to blow the whistle for spite or revenge.
The PCs are undercover to spy on a prisoner, but are then mistaken for real inmates and kept incarcerated.
The PCs must escape on a tight schedule to get to another adventure outside the walls.

31. Take us to Umbar and Don’t Slow Down

The PCs are on board a ship on their way to somewhere safe when it is highjacked. The PCs must take action to help the crew.

Twists & Themes:

The ‘highjackers’ are agents of the good guys (Gondor, Dorwinion etc) pulling a complicated caper, forcing the PCs to choose sides.
The hijackers don’t realise there is a secondary danger that must be dealt with, and any attempt to convince them is viewed as a trick.

32. Troublemakers

A bad guy (or group of them, or multiple parties) is kicking up a ruckus, upsetting the neighbours, poisoning the water supply, or otherwise causing trouble. The PCs have to go where the trouble is, locate the bad guys, and put a stop to them.

Twists & Themes:
The PCs are tasked with capturing the perpetrator(s); they must not come to harm.
The bad guys have prepared something dangerous and hidden as ‘insurance’ if they are captured.
The ‘bad guy’ is much more than he seems (a sorcerer, undead, a good guy gone mad etc).
The ‘bad guy’ is a respected public figure, superior, or someone else abusing their authority, and the PCs might meet hostility from normally helpful quarters that don’t accept that the bad guy is bad.
A balance of power perpetuates the trouble, and the PCs must choose sides to tip the balance and fix things (family feud, rival claimants, competing factions etc).
The ‘trouble’ is diplomatic or political, and the PCs must make peace, not war.

33. Uncharted Waters

The PCs are explorers and their goal is to enter an unknown territory and scope it out, (the coastal area beyond Umbar, the lands of the Far East, the Withered Heath, deep under the Grey Mountains, Angmar etc). Naturally, the job isn’t just going to be surveying and drawing sketches of local fauna; something is there, something fascinating or threatening (or both).

Twists & Themes:

Either the place itself is threatening (in which case the PCs must both play National Geographic and simultaneously try to escape with their skin and sanity) or the place itself is very valuable and wonderful, and something else there is keen on making sure the PCs don’t let anyone else know.
Perhaps the PCs ship is damaged or destroyed, or there is no clear way back home (a cave in, hostile forces etc) in which case this becomes – Don’t eat the Purple Ones.

34. We’re on the Outside Looking In

Any of the basic plots in this list can be reengineered with the PCs on the outside of it. Either the PCs are accompanying other characters in the midst of such a plot (often being called on to defend the plot from the outside, as it were), or they are minding their own business when the others involved in the plot show up, and must pick sides or simply resist. For instance, with Any Old Port in a Storm, the PCs could already be enjoying (or native to) the shelter when a strange group arrives. If the ‘PCs are unwelcome’ variant is employed, then perhaps the PCs will be the only voice of reason to still the racial prejudice, mistrust of strangers, or whatever else is the source of the conflict.

Twists & Themes:

The PCs find themselves on the receiving end of the adventure. Take any of the plots and reverse them, placing the PCs in the position where NPCs (often the Villain, fugitive etc) normally are.
Alternately, leave a classic plot intact but turn the twists upside down, making them twistier (or refreshingly un-twisty).

[Southron]

Here is the original list in case others wanted to follow poosticks7 lead and TOR it up.


http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/plots.htm

[poosticks7]

yeah thanks for posting that, I couldn't remember where I found it.

[Mim]

Thank you! You've done a brilliant job on this.

I tried to "ToR this up" a while back but frankly got burned-out & gave up , so this helps greatly.

[Rich H]

... Excellent effort here Poosticks7!

[poosticks7]

Probably could do some more to TOR it up, but that was as far as I got, thought I'd share.