Alternatives to the letter at the end of the adventure?

[diaglo]

the loot found in the lair of the BBEG is claimed by some merchants when they see the party spending it in town.

they ask the party to deliver it to where it should have gone before it was stolen by the BBEG they just defeated.

the new town has its own hooks and plots and BBEG.

 

[Lizard]

Gods, it's embarassing how often I've used that trope, now that you've pointed it out to me.

 

[Stoat]

Gods, it's embarassing how often I've used that trope, now that you've pointed it out to me.

It's an easy habit to fall into. You get to make a nice handout for the players to pass around and ogle. You get to characterize your villains through their word choice. You get to point the players toward another adventure. You get to drop clues, but since the players can't interrogate a letter, you have a lot of control over how much information they get.

In the adventure I'm working on now, I think I'm going to drop in a weird statue/idol to suggest another possible adventure to the players.