Squire James
First Post
I've found that some of my best adventures come about from starting with a blatant cliche, then twist it in some fashion. It works even better if your players twist it again!
For instance, my "cliche" was an elven father wanting the PC's to babysit his son while he was off on a meeting with the mayor. My twist was that the child was actually more powerful magically than all the PC's put together, and the only reason he needed guarding was his extreme physical fraility (he had about 5 hp, and he had a disease similar to hemophilia where every wound he took acted like a 3.0e Wounding effect. After dealing with the mischief of the child, I intended to get to the "serious" part of the adventure... the 10 orcs the mayor sent to kill the kid.
At least that was the plan. What actually happened was as follows:
Only 2 people came to that game out of the 6 I expected. Hm... they'll need to be pretty solid level 1 guys to take on 10 orcs... I mentally reduced the number to 5.
They decided to play a thief and an illusionist. A First Edition AD&D thief and illusionist. If there were a party more unsuitable for fighting even 5 orcs, I couldn't think of one. They couldn't even heal the kid if they got hurt, until I finally convinced the illusionist to take Healing proficiency by telling him that NO party should be totally devoid of healing. Somebody play a cleric, or somebody take Healing proficiency.
They fell for the kid's mischief hook, line, and sinker. The various Moan and Groan cantrips actually convinced the characters there was some sort of horrible undead creature in the basement (even playing off my comment about wanting one of them to play a cleric).
When the 5 orcs arrived, the illusionist decided to cast his only spell that day to attempt a Phantasmal Force illusion of a dragon. I told him that he had never seen a dragon, but there was some chance he could dream up a convincingly scary image. We discussed what was fair, and decided it was probably up to pure luck, so he was to roll a d20. The better the roll, the better idea he had of what a dragon was supposed to look like.
He rolled a 1. The orcs fell down, laughing. The thief was actually calling on the elf's son to save them, and save them he did. Despite some uncertainty regarding who was babysitting who, the father returned and rewarded them.
Even though the adventure was over at this point, my players weren't satisfied. They had to know who sent the orcs, and they wanted to go kill him. We had plenty of time, so we played out the thief making contact with the local thieves' guild and spending about half their reward on information (I figured the guild had something to do with hiring the orcs, so they knew the mayor did it) and the other half on a single dose of paralytic poison. They also bought a light crossbow (which neither a thief nor illusionist could use), and I decided the thief could use it at the hefty non-proficiency penalty.
I had determined long ago that the mayor, the intended BBEG of a little 4-6 week campaign, was a 7th level fighter with weapon specialization. He would almost literally have to try hard NOT to kill both PC's in a single combat round. The mayor, suspecting something like would happen, let the PC's see him alone (figuring he could just come up with some fake excuse after killing them quietly). Winning intiative, the thief shoots a bolt with thier only dose of paralytic poison at the mayor.
A natural 20. Gee, the mayor only needs about a 6 to make the saving throw, make that a 4 because the guild sold them weak poison. The PC's were about to pay for their poor choices! Right.
A natural 1. Much coup-de-gracing ensues (they didn't call it that, but it worked the same). A pair of level 2 adventurers left the building and then the town, hunting for some wandering kobold or ferocious squirrel that would give them the 1 XP necessary for level 3.
While they thouroughly trashed my campaign, we all agreed it was the most fun we ever had in our lives!
For instance, my "cliche" was an elven father wanting the PC's to babysit his son while he was off on a meeting with the mayor. My twist was that the child was actually more powerful magically than all the PC's put together, and the only reason he needed guarding was his extreme physical fraility (he had about 5 hp, and he had a disease similar to hemophilia where every wound he took acted like a 3.0e Wounding effect. After dealing with the mischief of the child, I intended to get to the "serious" part of the adventure... the 10 orcs the mayor sent to kill the kid.
At least that was the plan. What actually happened was as follows:
Only 2 people came to that game out of the 6 I expected. Hm... they'll need to be pretty solid level 1 guys to take on 10 orcs... I mentally reduced the number to 5.
They decided to play a thief and an illusionist. A First Edition AD&D thief and illusionist. If there were a party more unsuitable for fighting even 5 orcs, I couldn't think of one. They couldn't even heal the kid if they got hurt, until I finally convinced the illusionist to take Healing proficiency by telling him that NO party should be totally devoid of healing. Somebody play a cleric, or somebody take Healing proficiency.
They fell for the kid's mischief hook, line, and sinker. The various Moan and Groan cantrips actually convinced the characters there was some sort of horrible undead creature in the basement (even playing off my comment about wanting one of them to play a cleric).
When the 5 orcs arrived, the illusionist decided to cast his only spell that day to attempt a Phantasmal Force illusion of a dragon. I told him that he had never seen a dragon, but there was some chance he could dream up a convincingly scary image. We discussed what was fair, and decided it was probably up to pure luck, so he was to roll a d20. The better the roll, the better idea he had of what a dragon was supposed to look like.
He rolled a 1. The orcs fell down, laughing. The thief was actually calling on the elf's son to save them, and save them he did. Despite some uncertainty regarding who was babysitting who, the father returned and rewarded them.
Even though the adventure was over at this point, my players weren't satisfied. They had to know who sent the orcs, and they wanted to go kill him. We had plenty of time, so we played out the thief making contact with the local thieves' guild and spending about half their reward on information (I figured the guild had something to do with hiring the orcs, so they knew the mayor did it) and the other half on a single dose of paralytic poison. They also bought a light crossbow (which neither a thief nor illusionist could use), and I decided the thief could use it at the hefty non-proficiency penalty.
I had determined long ago that the mayor, the intended BBEG of a little 4-6 week campaign, was a 7th level fighter with weapon specialization. He would almost literally have to try hard NOT to kill both PC's in a single combat round. The mayor, suspecting something like would happen, let the PC's see him alone (figuring he could just come up with some fake excuse after killing them quietly). Winning intiative, the thief shoots a bolt with thier only dose of paralytic poison at the mayor.
A natural 20. Gee, the mayor only needs about a 6 to make the saving throw, make that a 4 because the guild sold them weak poison. The PC's were about to pay for their poor choices! Right.
A natural 1. Much coup-de-gracing ensues (they didn't call it that, but it worked the same). A pair of level 2 adventurers left the building and then the town, hunting for some wandering kobold or ferocious squirrel that would give them the 1 XP necessary for level 3.
While they thouroughly trashed my campaign, we all agreed it was the most fun we ever had in our lives!
