Gaming group stuck in rut...

[Nightfall]

You can't handle the truth! Like what Henry REALLY does with all those locked thread! Or what PC doesn't tell people happen in story hour!

But yeah there are a nice number of sources outside the whole "We bash stuff". I like mine for instance.

 

[Henry]

How could you apply the cliche reversal to the Rod of Seven Parts/Assemble the McGuffin scenario? Some random ideas:
* Instead of retrieving the parts, the intact mcguffin needs to be busted apart and it's pieces hidden by the PCs to stop Bad Stuff happening. There are opposing forces trying to put it together, and the PCs may have to hunt them down and hide a few bits again, and do it better this time.

Now THAT's a great one. I can see my PC's gathering together, trying to brainstorm, saying, "OK, now how do we hide these things so that not even WE could find them?"

Snipped!

 

[Nightfall]

I prefer to just bust them up. So I suggest taking to a Slayer concert or maybe something like that.

 

[Wicht]

I often find that when I am stuck for an idea, the easiest way to both buy time and still game is to choose a single monster(or group of monsters) that can really challenge the PCs and set up a classic monster-hunt/PC hunt, similar to such classic movies as Alien, Lake Placid, Night of the Living, Dead, etc. The idea being that the PCs should be fairly isolated somehow, relying on only their abilities for survival, unclear of when or how the monster will attack and looking for a way to kill the monster.

 

[mythusmage]

Do a travelogue. Seriously. Get out to the country and go for walks. Learn the locale. When you feel you can bring it to life for the players in your group, do so.

"The shadows march down the valley as you follow the trail. Horses' hoofs muffled in the spreading gloom. An early cricket scratches a tentative tune, while a weary sparrow twitters at some half seen dream. The creak of saddle leather is louder now, here in the silence between nighttime and day. A horse splutters with fatigue and a stray breeze from the high peaks drifts past you as a dragon wheels high in the evening air."

Do stuff like that, do it well, and your players won't even notice there's really nothing going on.

 

[Nightfall]

Yeah! I mean you and your group could be like the croc hunter of your world! Course you don't worry about crocs as much as drunk bugbears.

 

[CCamfield]

I just posted about this in the gambling thread, but I suspect you could make a (possibly funny) adventure out of the Dutch tulip craze in the 17th century.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dotcon/historical/bubbles.html

People in the capital city are obsessed with, of all things, buying new flower bulbs. Prices are reaching huge levels and a wise man (perhaps someone who approaches the PCs) might see that some people are going to end up very poor when reality sets in again. Why is this happening? Is it entirely natural, or is some subtle magic at work? Is someone trying to get rich quickly? Ruin business rivals? Or perhaps they want to bankrupt as many people as possible, and buy up their lands on the cheap after the bubble bursts? (If so, is there something special about their lands? Perhaps a vast treasure is buried somewhere in the city, and the land grab would allow the villain to narrow down his search) Is the culprit the merchant who first started selling the bulbs, or is someone taking advantage of the situation? Is it possible for the PCs to halt the craze in its tracks before even more people are hurt?

 

[Altalazar]

Have the players make their own motivation - like for me, I like building nations - so talk to them out of game and see if any or all of them are interested in that sort of thing, for instance.

If even just one of them is, he can be the prime motivator - finding an area of wilderness to clear, founding a city, building a castle, dealing with all of the problems that come up when doing so. It isn't about saving the world but instead is about carving out a place for your characters IN that world. Those not as interested in their own nation or stronghold come along and help. Everyone ends up with a homebase out of it, and the story possibilities of having your OWN city and stronghold are plentiful - and can be quite a different flavor and change of pace from those plots involving working for someone else.