D&D 5E HELP! deciding between stories

[tr1ger]

A friend and I are writing a short adventure for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth edition. We have brainstormed a few ideas and have selected five we both like. The goal is to write an interesting and well illustrated adventure that is short enough to play in one night. We are both experienced dungeon masters, one of us is a published writer, the other a professional illustrator.

Can you tell us which of these sound most interesting to you?

1. The heroes must stop a mad pyromancer before she drowns small town in lava. Pyat Pyree, an ambitious pyromancer is performing experiments on an inactive volcano above Port Town. Her goal is to open a city-sized portal to the Plane of Fire. Will the adventurers connect the dots between a stolen Artifact of Fire and Pyrees' plans?
2. An archfey got decieved and is stuck on the material plane. His mere presence is rapidly driving citizens of Lucky Port to insanity. Will the adventurers be able to help the traped archfey, or will his powers consume the town?
3. A dying black dragon Orihmetes had his adopted daughter stolen. Will the adventurers return the girl to the dragons’ lair, or will they grant her wish to be free? Meanwhile her thief has plans of his own.
4. After the coronation the new King's castle has been overrun by the undead from the crypts below. When the heroes try to save the young king they discover that he killed his brother to gain the throne, and the spirits of his ancestors want to avenge his murder. Will the heroes help the murderous noble or will they avenge his brother?
5. The heroes are investigating the disappearance of a friend, who vanished in a remote mountain village. When they arrive they discover the village is secretly run by cultists who want them gone. After fighting their way into the cultist's lair they discover that their friend is the leader. Will they spare his life or will they punish him for his crimes?

 

[EdL]

I like #2, the Archfey story, best. Good for most levels, as there should be less fighting and more thinking involved.

 

[tr1ger]

EdL, thank you for the input!

 

[Chaosmancer]

I think I agree that the Archfey story is probably the most interesting out of the gate.

#3 with the girl and the dragon could also be really interesting, but assuming a single night means only a 5-6 hour session I don't think you'd have the greatest chance to explore some of the more interesting avenues.

I think it is also important to know your players for adventures like this (unless you're asking advice for something that will be a published adventure) because looking at #4 and #5 my first thoughts are "once discovered kill the king/ex-friend (unless it is not an evil cult or the brother was an obvious tyrant)" because in a single one-shot you are less likely to develop connections to these NPC's and a lot of players will miss the moral question that seems to be key to those plots (at least the players I'm used to dealing with)

 

[Satyrn]

3 and 4 grab me as most fun. They're the ones that seem like they give the players the choice to pick their side once the problem is figured out. That would give me somewhere to go in future as a DM.

 

[tr1ger]

The choice there to create consequences. For me, that's the best kind of immersion.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I really like 3, but it's maybe a little too on-the-nose a twist on the old 'save the princess from the dragon' trope. 1, aside from my pyromancer-doesn't-mean-that pet peeve, is unremarkable. 3 & 4, OTOH, hit you over the head with the contrived dilemma - and players rarely seem shocked when an NPC turns out to be rotten.

So I'd go with 2.

 

[SunGold]

It's a toss-up between 2 and 5 for me. 2 sounds like a delightful mess; 5 is like a fun fantasy take on a hillbilly horror movie. Remote village, disappearances, town's in on the conspiracy, etc.

 

[lall]

__3

 

[Eltab]

I like #3 the best, followed by #5.
#4 sounds like a 'Gotcha' waiting to happen.
If the goal of #2 is to send the lost Archfey home, I can get into that.
#1 may not be good for low-level parties - you will have to be able to stand being around lava if you are going to be able to DO anything.