D&D General "Casanova" scenarios?

CapnZapp · Sep 10, 2019

Umbran said:
To manage something similar recently, I scratched the serial numbers off the Star Trek: The Next Generation, episode, (Season 2, Episode 4) "The Outrageous Okona". It worked like a charm, though admittedly, I had to make up the game stats all on my own, which isn't quite what you are looking for.

Game stats is easy.

At least compared to coming up with plots from outta nowhere.

I'm the kind of DM who's inspired by something tangible, something existing. Lots of people just want quick ideas (keywords really) - not me. The more detail the better to stoke my own imagination (and drive to actually run the scenario), even if I end up changing all the details in the end.

Mere "10 quick quest ideas" or "we end the campaign module with three adventure seeds" does nothing for me, I'm afraid... Fully realized adventures by committed writers is what I can work with!

CapnZapp · Sep 10, 2019

Paul Farquhar said:
I think finding a published adventure which is actually a character study is rather unlikely. It's very difficult to write this kind of stuff, much easier to improvise it at the table.

I don't think we understand each other if that's what your take away is.

I'm asking for scenarios, not character studies. I don't need ten-page mini novels on backstory. Just tell me what the rascal did, and why the player characters should care!

Umbran · Sep 10, 2019

CapnZapp said:
Mere "10 quick quest ideas" or "we end the campaign module with three adventure seeds" does nothing for me, I'm afraid... Fully realized adventures by committed writers is what I can work with!

I can work with adventure seeds, but I didn't have any that worked for my situation. So, I turned to fiction - definitely committed writers there! Star Trek in the above example, which seemed to fit what you were looking for - a Casanova brings attention from two warring houses, and the PCs are stuck in the middle trying ot make peace. More recently, I refitted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles for the same party.

In both cases, I had some anxiety that one of the PCs who had seen the piece would get it, and give them a fast track to the plot... in each case I made it so knowing the original plot would importantly miss the real problem in my scenario, but you could still jump through much of it knowing how the original ends up. But, in a group where everyone had seen the Trek episode, and two had read the Sherlock Holmes, nobody got that I was lifting entire plots whole cloth.

So - what movies, TV, or novels have the kind of scenario you want? Steal it!

Paul Farquhar · Sep 10, 2019

The structure of a classic published D&D adventure is location based. You go here, you encounter that, and so on.

If you published something that just had a plot and characters without maps and monsters you would be told to go away and write a book.

Which is what you need to do to run a scenario like this: lift the story form a book (or TV show). The fun comes when the party interact with your NPC scoundrel. The Star Trek example is a good one, because Star Fleet characters (the players) are so stiff and lawful. In my experience, D&D parties are more like a bunch of scoundrels themselves, so a Firefly example: Our Mrs Reynolds might be a better fit.