Boxed Text for Quick Adventure Starts

Mark Chance

Boingy! Boingy!

• May 9, 2007

• #1

Sometimes it just takes too long to get to the crucial story hook. So, let's just sum up and jump right into the action. Exempli gratia:

"You're all sitting in the tavern, drinking ale suddenly delivered by the buxom wench. Suddenly, a man in fine clothing walks in. He explains he's a representative of the king, and that the Princess Briar Rose has been suddenly taken by ogres. He hires you to rescue her, suddenly paying half up front and half upon the princess's safe delivery. Suddenly, orcs in ninja outfits leap through the windows and attack! Roll initiative!"

Next?

 

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Pbartender

First Post

• May 9, 2007

• #2

"Weeks after you left port, it was the worst storm you'd ever seen. The sailing master quickly lost his way, but he and his crew fought tooth and nail to keep the ship afloat... Unfortunately, a devious reef was patiently laying an ambush for the poor boat. As the storm passes into a clear, bright morning, you find yourself washed up on the beach of a tropical island. Small bits of wreckage from the ship lie scattered about you. An immense wall of vine-covered cyclopean blocks of stone rises out of the sea and head inland to divide this peninsula from the rest of the island. From within the depths of the jungle you can faintly hear drums..."

How I once began X1 - Isle of Dread.

 

Mycanid

First Post

• May 9, 2007

• #3

You wake up in darkness. You have no clothes. You feel drugged. You are alone. What would you like to do?

 

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero

• May 9, 2007

• #4

You awake with the start, sure that something is wrong. A moment later, even in the dark of your cabin, you feel the ship suddenly pitch to the side and hear the sound of timbers cracking: You've run aground. As you stumble onto the deck, you see the last of the lifeboats, filled with crewmen, pull away from the boat, only to be attacked by strange fishmen leaping into the boats. Rain lashes your face as the ship begins to sink beneath the waves and fishmen begin to climb onto the deck with you.

 

Piratecat

Sesquipedalian

• May 9, 2007

• #5

"You're tumbling through the air, and you can see the ground spinning crazily underneath you. You've just come out of a plane, and you're currently in free fall.

You have no parachute."

That made for a fun Feng Shui start.

 

Kafkonia

First Post

• May 9, 2007

• #6

Code:

You are in a 10' by 10' room. Through the door comes an ape with a gun.

Initiatives, gentlemen.

 

Mycanid

First Post

• May 9, 2007

• #7

The fungus is unsure whether or not this thread was seriously asking for suggestions or whether it was all "tongue in cheek".

 

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero

• May 9, 2007

• #8

She turns to you and says "I'm pregnant."

Now, THAT's an adventure!

 

Mycanid

First Post

• May 9, 2007

• #9

Whizbang Dustyboots said:

She turns to you and says "I'm pregnant."

Now, THAT's an adventure!

Click to expand...

Especially depends on what the "she" is....

 

Mark Chance

Boingy! Boingy!

• May 9, 2007

• #10

Mycanid said:

The fungus is unsure whether or not this thread was seriously asking for suggestions or whether it was all "tongue in cheek".

Click to expand...

That's not a good adventure hook, but I do like the fungus angle. How about?:

The last thing you remember before waking up in the forest is being alarmed by a strange cloud of purplish smoke seeping into your room. Now you're naked, laying atop a flat, mossy rock. Your comrades are sprawled about the clearing in a similar state of undress. Out of the corner of your eye, you detect furtive movement just inside the woodline. You can't be certain, but that oversized toadstool may be stalking you.