Help me design a one-shot adventure

[d12]

I'm writing a one shot adventure for 5-8 8th level characters. They are only allowed to use core rules and items when creating their PCs. Here's my request:

Give me an idea for a one-shot adventure. We should have about 8 hours of game-time to play with. I'd like the adventure to have a good mix of PC/NPC interaction, puzzle or mystery solving and combat. Any plot suggestions? I don't mind really fleshing things out myself, I just need a skeleton of an idea to get started with.

 

[Asmor]

I'm writing a one shot adventure for 5-8 8th level characters. They are only allowed to use core rules and items when creating their PCs. Here's my request:

Give me an idea for a one-shot adventure. We should have about 8 hours of game-time to play with. I'd like the adventure to have a good mix of PC/NPC interaction, puzzle or mystery solving and combat. Any plot suggestions? I don't mind really fleshing things out myself, I just need a skeleton of an idea to get started with.

Hmm... Lizard men riding dragon turtles sell their services as mercenaries.

Sorry, just always found that idea particularly amusing. ^_^

 

[EricNoah]

I ran one where the PCs were orcs. One PC was the younger "runt" brother of an orc who was being groomed as the next chieftain. This PC and his orc (and half-ogre) friends learned that the chieftain-in-waiting was to be sent on a quest and so they beat him to the punch. Their job was to track down a band of extremely tough goblins and find the secret to their toughness. It turned out that a lot of them had the half-troll template, which they gained through a strange alchemical mixture whipped up by a goblin sorcerer/druid. The "lead" PC found this brew, risked using it (there was a chance of horrible mutilation instead of gaining power), and challenged the chieftain-in-waiting to one-on-one combat. The guys thought it was a fun change of pace. The half-troll goblins were fun critters to use, and they also had a bunch of alchemical goodies they lobbed at the PCs from time to time.

 

[Darklone]

8 level 8 characters? Wahey...

Some secret organisations or powergroups "organise" a war between two kingdoms. Armies are marching and the PCs should stop the bloodshed.

 

[JesterPoet]

An aboleth has taken up residence in an old abandoned mage tower outside of a town. It is connected to a series of underground rivers, which is how he got in and how he could get out. Maybe he even has a few sorcerer levels or whatnot... depends on how hard-core you want him to be.

He's collecting children from the local town and sacrificing/whatevering them. He doesn't collect them himself, but sends skum minions to get them. The skum minions not only take the children but set up the kidnappings (which are executed via sewer grates in the city that connect to the underground river system and massive lake) to look like they were committed by the lizardmen who live in a nearby swamp. The lizardmen aren't doing any of it, and while they aren't friendly, they also aren't trying to cause any problems... they just want to be left alone. Local townspeople certainly could already think the lizardmen are responsible, or they could have found no evidence at all, and the PCs can make the lizardman determination.

Anyway, the scenario worked well. A good combination of combat and parley, and an interesting story that keeps the characters involved. The only problem I had was I didn't realize how difficult skum would be underwater (which is how the players got into the wizard tower). But it still made for a lot of fun.

Plus, you get to use an Aboleth! Sure, a mind-flayer would work too, but that's the EASY answer.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Your doing a one shot and letting the players make the characters?
In the games I run for cons, the best part is the pregenerated PCs
each should have a reason to be on the quest, and existing relationships with the others. I usually try for 1/3 of the quest to be intrigue or infighting in the party, 1/3 puzzels & RP and 1/3 combat.

The last one shot I ran was a quest for the empresses' headdress. It needed to be back in time for the wedding of the Pasha. One pc was the bride-to-be in disguise, and the only PC who actually wanted the headdress returned was the vizer. (the only evil character) retrieveing the headdress wasn't evil, it was just a way to increase his standing with the Pasha. The bride-to-be ran off with the barbarian hero who had been blackmailed into the quest...

Who cares if the party dissolves, if they have lots of internal conflict that makes the mission harder, its only one night. You can't do a regular campaign where the characters are rivals, it would fall apart to easily. I also go for clandestine or courtly love affairs, long lost realtives, monsters pertending to be people ... Each charater should start off with secrets and make the finding out of each others motivations play a large role in the game.

[end rant]

(with a nod to WS)
Players ship is destroyed in a storm and they are washed up on a deserted coast (not actually an island)* Thier ship was wrecked by a mad wizard/ or psion, and his demonic henchman. One of the players is his former apperentice, another's lost sister was raised by the wizard and the sister falls maddly in love with him. A third player is a magically created being(elan) that was created by the mad wizard. Another was a master thief who was just pretending to be a sailor. With enough players use two ships that were destroyed fighting each other and the surrviors have to help each other - but how much? is betrayal inevitable? Make the wizards insanity reasonable, like paranoia, not just random cackling. He will have numerous guards and traps, all with solutions that the lost sister can use. Remeber that magic traps only cost 50gpxcaster levelxspell level and require craft wonderous item feat. (for 1 shot traps)

* or set it on the ninja pirate island of dinotopia *

 

[Wycen]

Something falls out of the sky, within sight of the party. It crashes to earth but remains mostly intact. Turns out it was a Floating Tower, but the magic failed and it came tumbling down. Maybe it landed in a swampy area and that cushioned its fall. It fell because a group of adventurers cast dispel magic or erected an Anit-magic field around the engine and they all died on impact.

 

[Rel]

I did a one-shot a while back that was based on the 1E module A4 - In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords. I wrote a brief story hour about it here:

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29529

Lots of fun having the party start with no equipment and having to improvise.

 

[d12]

hmmm...I might use Evilhalfling's idea of having the PCs have different agendas on the adventure. I can do this even though I am not creating the PCs. I could just put the PCs in a city ruled by a syndicate of the heads of the most powerful organizations in town (Temple of Pelor, Wizard's Guild, Thieves Guild, etc....). There is some threat to the town (missing children? tower fallen out of the sky? succession crisis in the Orc clan in the hills?) and the PCs are sent as representatives of thier respective organization to solve the problem. There will be a stated purpose for all of the characters (like - "Find the missing children!") but also a "secret" purpose for each character (like - "If you happen to see the fabled Tome of Xalander in the Wizard's tower, bring it back to me" or "If you happen to see the fabled tome of Xalander in the Wizard's tower, destroy it!")

 

[d12]

Stealing some ideas from several posters to this thread:

An Avolakia (or two) have joined forces with an evil Phasm Rogue to infiltrate the city.

The phasm went in first by assuming the form of a wizard's walking stick for several weeks and learning about all of his mannerisms. The phasm then killed the wizard and took over his home (a tower in the center of town), moving his Avolakia allies in as well. The wizard was a bit of a recluse and so the phasm only has to appear in public as him from time to time. The phasm and the Avolakia are using their various shape-changing abilities to advance some sort of nefarious master plan.

Meanwhile, bodies have been disappearing from the cemetary and beggars have been kidnapped off the street to meet the Avolakia's appetite for zombie-flesh. More people have noticed the missing bodies than the missing beggars.

So, what is the master plan of a bunch of evil shape-changers (some of whom eat zombies)? Does the adventure involve a dungeon crawl through the wizard's tower? How do the PC's get involved?