Stuck on What to do in Adventure Design. Little help?

[Herosmith14]

So, I have a group of friends that I DM for. We don't get to meet that often, but things seem to be becoming more or less regular. They started the campaign new to DnD, so I ran them on LMoP. Since we started, most of them have been able to experience other campaigns and come to the weekly shared campaign we have locally.

Last week, we finished up Lost Mines, and we had been planning on having a setting shift to Tal'Dorei after that, with all but the party rogue shifting characters. As such, using story hooks and fluff from the campaign guide, and my own story crafting, I'm writing up an adventure for them to do next time we meet, which will be rather soon. I've got most of the introductory stuff written up, but I've hit a wall.

The basic set up is I'm using the Deceiver's Legacy hook from the campaign guide. I'm having so that the indebted Tal'Dorei government has secretly hired a bunch of mercs (including the non-rogue party members) to go hunt down the hoard of a dead green dragon down in the Rifenmist (essentially this world's Chult). The adventure is to, well, find the hoard and they get a portion of it. This is where my problem comes in.

The mercs have been searching for two months, with nothing. I'm wanting to leave the adventure fairly unrailroady in the players options for searching. The problem is, I'm not sure how to do that efficiently. One way I've thought of is to have the government managers have set up a large search grid of the area, with various sectors. There could be a couple sectors that haven't been completely searched or have been reported to be "strange" in comparison to the composition of others. I could place the hoard in one of those sectors and hints or whatnot in others, but I'm not really sure about that and don't know where I could find mapping tools suitable for that kind of thing.

I'd appreciate any feedback I can get. Most of my experience has been prefab adventures (which I'm growing less fond of) and short, railroad modules for when I occasionally have to fill in at the before mentioned shared campaign, so this is rather unfamiliar territory for me. Again, thank you for any suggestions.

 

[Satyrn]

I'd make the info available in town through various methods. They might be able to bribe an official to learn about four likely locations (specific places, not a sector)

They can go to the tavern to ply mercs with booze until they open up about what they know. A merc can tell the players where they've been and where they're headed next to explore. Where they've been can be crossed off the players list of likely locations, and where they're going gets added to tbe list. If there's more than 1 squad of mercs, the players might get multiple sets of such info.

Merchants where the mercs stock up can be another source, if the players can get them to open up about what they've heard. They can also provide some more subtle hints. "That squad of mercs is getting real antsy waiting for the climbing gear that's coming in on the next ship" can point strongly to a spot up a mountain.

Eventually, the players whittle their list of likely spots down to 1. But there can also be ways to skip that whole process, too:

Rumours of a disbanded Cult of the Green Worm could cause the players to seek out a former cult member to learn what he knows (and the cult worked out of the dragon's lair).

And then nobles. Nobles trade in knowledge. One might know exactly where the spot is, but they don't tell the players right away; it'll take more than bribery or a sweet word. Or, another noble will tell the players, but doesn't realize he knows the spot until the players mention a certain key fact; on the players mentioning the cult the noble says "Oh right, those cultists were headquartered in the Northwest corner of the swamp."

 

[Eltab]

If you are going to "search the jungles", look at the first half of Tomb of Annihilation, should you need places to check out.

 

[Schmoe]

Approach this phase of the adventure as an investigation. How do you expect the players to find the ruins? As you mention, just having them stumble on it randomly is a recipe for a lot of frustration. So what you need are multiple "leads" that can all get them on the right track. Don't worry about whether or not this is a "railroad", as that word has a lot of baggage and is generally unhelpful. If you are reasonably assured that the players will want to find the ruins, then all you need to worry about is how they can find them, without worrying about whether you're leading them by the hand too much.

As with any investigation, the best approach is to have multiple clues that can lead them to the solution (in this case the location of the ruins). Assume the players will do everything in their power to miss, ignore, and avoid any clues you've placed, so it's also a good idea to have a "failsafe" that can get them on track. A couple ideas:

• The party comes across the remains of a mercenary scouting expedition. The expedition had discovered something about the location of the ruins (cryptic landmark clues, or a map, or a piece of a map, or the name of a tribe that were rumored to revere the dragon), and the party can find this information in a journal.
  
  
• The party encounters an aggressive, xenophobic native tribe. The tribe has captured an explorer who knows the location of the ruins, but they plan to cook the explorer for a feast in 2 day's time. If the party can rescue the explorer (through diplomacy, stealth, strength, or some other means) she'll lead them to the ruins. Of course, she fails to mention the deadly tribe of headhunters that protects the ruins, hoping to betray the party to the headhunters when the time is right.
  
  
• A trapper is selling some strange artifacts that he found while trapping. If asked, he reveals he found them washed up along the banks of a river after a recent flood. The artifacts most likely came from the dragon's hoard. By following the river upstream the party can find the dragon's lair. Of course, the trapper may tell several groups about the artifacts, and the party may not be the only ones in a race to find the hoard.

 

[Imaculata]

Schmoe just gave a lot of great ideas on how to direct the players towards the intended goal. You could take it one step further, and wrap each clue into a mini quest of its own. An investigation into the location of the ruins, could lead the players to an ancient subterranean library underneath a local cathedral, that has been long abandoned ever since a curse fell upon it. In other words: A simple dungeon crawl with the reveal of the temple's location as the ultimate prize. You can then write some rumors regarding the cathedral that are spread among various npc's, to lead them to the dungeon, and give them clues regarding the threats that await them there. This is a simple way to expand what would otherwise be a relatively simple quest, into a small campaign.