Ideas for an adventure

[theskyfullofdust]

I'm preparing an adventure for my players, but my mind seems to have dried up all its creative juices and I'm stuck.

After the last adventure the PCs are being pursued by people who wish them harm, and I'm going to start the adventure at the end of a long chase that's left them fatigued, out of most spells; they are caught and have to fight. In the midst the fight, a bulette burrows up and attacks everyone, wanting to eat.

This causes the ground to collapse, as below them is an entrance into a dungeon. Most of the pursuers die, and the PCs have to kill off the rest, as well as the bulette.

I want to take them into an interesting dungeon, that'll open up in the Feywild and introduce formorians or something like that.

But now I'm stuck. I don't want a standard dungeon-crawl, but a mix of role-play, combat, mystery maybe; but I can't come up with anything that works.

I need help, fellow rpgers.

The party consists of just three characters, all 5th level: a cleric, a barbarian, a warlock/favoured soul, evil-aligned and working for Iuz as sort of an acquisition team that seeks out and 'recovers' powerful magic.

So, anyone got any good ideas that I can use?

Thanks in advance

 

[Wik]

Well, forcing them into that situation as a starting point seems sort of lame. It could really fall apart before you even begin.

Why not put a magic mirror in the "dungeon" the PCs fall into, that leads to the feywild? And, as they explore the place, they find ruins hauntingly similar to those of their home land, covered in moss and ivy?

Setting things up so that night and day have conflicting powerful effects could be fun, too. Night might have a lot of dangerous creatures roaming around, and it may impose vision penalties on PCs... but maybe evil-aligned magic is enhanced? Or something to that effect.

As a fun trick that I do when I'm stuck... open up a random splatbook, and find a monster that you'd never think of using, and try to build an adventure up from there. I once made a fun encounter using spark lashers (from the minis handbook) doing just that... and the rest of the adventure grew from there. Equicephs from the same book spawned a slavers-style adventure that was a barrel of monkeys.

 

[Dioltach]

Here's a few brainstorming thoughts:

Give the dungeon multiple levels. As everyone falls into the hole in the ground, have some fall to different levels (but almost immediately above and below one another). This could give you an interesting fight.

Do you know the Conan story "Red Nails"? Conan finds himself in a city with two warring factions that are slowly killing each other off. Have something like that in your dungeon. Next, factor in the possibility of some of the party's original enemies escaping and causing even more intrigue.

Hope this helps.

 

[roguerouge]

My recommendation for when your creative juices are running dry is to buy a module and give yourself some time to recharge.

 

[LostSoul]

Maybe try something like a relationship map.

Come up with a few interesting NPCs who have conflicting goals (which also conflict with the PC's goal, of course). Give them resources to draw upon - a tribe of goblin warriors led by a hobgoblin shaman, a necromancer with his shambling army of undead, and a few embattled dwarves in their stronghold. They all want the mystery MacGuffin - an artifact, a person, an idea - and it's also something the PCs want.

Then start playing the NPCs and see what happens.

 

[Dlsharrock]

A method I use sometimes when my creative juices run dry is to put on a CD and listen to music, then extrapolate an adventure from the lyrics. It sounds goofy but it works quite well and leads to some very unorthodox games. It's not an original idea, I forget where I got it from. Probably a forum somewhere.

 

[cr0m]

Question about your starting point: are the players scared to fight the guys pursuing them?

If they know they're overmatched and are fleeing, have the bullette attack be why the scary bad guys stop following them.

"They're dead. No way anyone could survive that collapse."

But they do survive the collapse, because they fall down into the tunnels and are protected from the worst pieces of debris. Naturally the bullette keeps coming after them, but once they deal with it, they're stuck below ground and need to find a way out.

Bonus points if the bad guys were racing them to a dungeon and the tunnels are a short cut. And if the dungeon has a way to deal with the bad guys.

All this is moot if they're not afraid of the bad guys.

 

[theskyfullofdust]

Question about your starting point: are the players scared to fight the guys pursuing them?

If they know they're overmatched and are fleeing, have the bullette attack be why the scary bad guys stop following them.

"They're dead. No way anyone could survive that collapse."

But they do survive the collapse, because they fall down into the tunnels and are protected from the worst pieces of debris. Naturally the bullette keeps coming after them, but once they deal with it, they're stuck below ground and need to find a way out.

Bonus points if the bad guys were racing them to a dungeon and the tunnels are a short cut. And if the dungeon has a way to deal with the bad guys.

All this is moot if they're not afraid of the bad guys.

Now that works perfectly. Thanks.