Help me flesh out this plot fragment?

[Buttercup]

I got this idea, which seemed brilliant at the time, but now the well has run dry. Can any of you help me get from point A to point B? First, I should say that I'll be starting a new campaign (while still running my old one) in a few months. Half of the players are experienced, the other half have never gamed before.

So, I have this small map. It shows a section of coastline, the tail ends of two mountain ranges, and a lighthouse. Inland we have Ochimo Oasis, Alifia and Arkios, and another place called Ancient Tellus, which is on the shore of Lake Peletea. There is a river, unnamed as yet, and along part of it there are some gold dots, labeled Gold Worms. I have two skull & crossbones markers, labeled Danger!

Here's my idea. At the start of the campaign, I would give this map to one of the players, telling them that their father had died, and on his deathbed, he told them to pull up the floorboards to find their birthright. The "birthright" was this map and 50 gold coins. But there's a problem. None of the players have ever heard of any of these locations before. They know of no stretch of coastline with a lighthouse, and the other geographical features of the map are equally unknown.

Can any of you recommend any adventures I could throw their way to further this? I suppose I could have them travel to the big city, and have several mini-encounters along the way, but that seems so...ordinary. I want this to be something different.

 

[Hand of Evil]

First thing they should be is to ask family members about their father's past, who is his friends, what did he do and so on. From this they may get some additional information, say the name of a old friend, or a ship's log.

A point? Anything interesting about the gold coins? Could they be a clue too?

Next is information gathering, going to the city and checking maps, history, trade routes, talking with NPCs. What this may get you is the villian(s). Make it a secret cult, or just some other tresure hunters. Be mean and make it the 'black sheep' of the family, a long lost brother/sister, that no one talks about.

From the information they get it could lead them on an adventure (ruin run) to find more information or could send them to the light house.

 

[Chimera]

Time for "Treasure Island", or some variant.

A while after the father dies and word starts to get around about the map (let the players ask around a bit);

Junior is visited by "Uncle Bob", who he's never heard of. Uncle Bob tells them he's the mother's half-brother, and the father never liked him, so he stayed away until after he heard the unfortunate news. Now he's come to check on Junior and see if there's anything he can do.

Uncle Bob claims not to know a thing about the map, but is quick to volunteer his sword to help his nephew. Uncle Bob makes arrangements, comes up with cash when needed and generally acts as a guide and helper to the nephew to help him on his quest. Uncle Bob then leads junior to a small coastal city where he claims that a ship captain friend of his will help them with the map and possibly take them to wherever this place might be.

But once in the small fishing port, trouble begins. Thieves attempt to steal the map. (Really, roll up some theives, roll up an attempt or two, and if they make it, they make it, otherwise a possible encounter or two along the way). Do they get the map and the players have to get it back? Don't set that in stone, just roll the dice and see how it flows. No "I want it to be stolen, so it is.". Give your players the chance that it won't be.

Trouble piles on trouble in the small village, but the leads don't lead back to Uncle Bob, they lead to someone on the docks, or possibly Uncle Bob's friend, Captain Jack. The players can decide whether to trust Uncle Bob and set sail with Jack, or to seek other options, depending on how smart they are and how many of the clues they pay attention to.

At a minimum, they get some clue as to where this island is and that there are bad guys who are also interested in this map (and who will plague them every step along the way, ala "The Mummy" or "Indiana Jones"). They can always try the larger city next to find transport.

At worst, they sail with Captain Jack, which will lead them down the same path as in "Treasure Island".

 

[Old One]

Lots o' Cool Possibilities...

Buttercup -

There is a ton you could do with this:

(1) The father was once part of a band of pirates, privateers or smugglers. He turned his back on their ways and lived an honest life, but always kept the map to a treasure hoard. He was too ashamed of his past or too scared to seek out the treasure. Perhaps a name could be scrawled on the back of the map or in invisible writing. If the PCs delve into it further, they will come in contact with an old "buddy" of their father's.

From there, a couple of things could happen...(a) the old buddy could tell some other former crew members who kill the buddy and come after the PCs (b) the old buddy could want the map from himself and try to buy/bribe/steal it from the PCs (c) the old buddy could agree to show the PCs where the location is, but demands a full share of the treasure - planning to double cross them after they have done all the hard work.

(2) Ala Romancing the Stone, if the map is folded a certain way, it gives clues to the actual location of the treasure. This would work really well if you actually had a prop for the map that you had folded a bunch of different ways, so the PCs have to experiment to get the correct fold or series of folds for all of the clues.

(3) The map detects as faintly magical and requires seperate castings of See Invisible to read all the clues.

Regardless of how you set it up, I recommend throwing 2-3 other parties in the mix that are all after the "legendary" treasure on the map. They could be rivals of the PCs that get wind of the treasure map, an old lover of the father, old shipmates or even an evil aunt or uncle of the PC who inheirited the map...they all want the treasure for themselves.

It would be pretty cool to have several groups all racing to find the treasure, which is guarded by undead pirates or some other menace. Once they get there, put them in a situation where they have to join forces with their rivals or be wiped out!

~ Old One

 

[ThomasBJJ]

Ok, I didn't read anyone else's responses, so sorry if I repeat an idea.

Have some family members point out that the dead father used to travel with someone in town, maybe more than one guy in town, who are now respected city-folk. Dad had many adventures with his old buddies, but eventually had a serious falling out with them.

If the Pc's approach dad's buddy and show him the map, he knows nothing about it (but a real good sense motive check will prove otherwise). Soon thereafter, hired thugs start trying to get the map. Dad's buddy sent them. There must be something valuable for him to want it so bad. PC's may find out thru family or even associates of dad's buddy another former member of dad's old adventuring party live in another town. Pc's could go look him up, he could direct them to where they need to look to find the locations on the map. Maybe he knows whats there, maybe not. Mabe he only knows that dad and buddy ended a lifetime of friendship over that map, but he couldn't figure out what it was about, and they didn't want to tell. PC's can now go try to solve this mystery, all the while being shadowed and ambushed by buddy's men who are trying to recover the map, or at least follow them to the spot. my .02 cents

 

[ThomasBJJ]

Thought about this al little bit more. Father was an adventurer, but more an outlaw one. He and his party stole some big treasure, be it money, or a powerful magic item. Whatever it was or how they did it, it caused alot of bad things to happen, which Father became ashamed of. He stole the item/treasure and hid it from the rest of his group, for whatever reason. To avoid getting caught, to keep this dangerous magic item out of his evil group memebrs hands, etc. maybe he burried a letter/journal detailing what happened, his apology, and instructions how to set things right.

 

[Buttercup]

These are some good ideas here. I like the idea of the father being a reformed bad guy. And I like the idea of the PCs being chased by thugs. The group I'm building this adventure for will want an intellectual puzzle rather than heavy monster bashing, so I want to give it lots of twists & turns. In fact one of the future players remarked to me in conversation that it was cool when "the PCs don't know who to trust", so I hope to give him a heapin' helpin' of paranoia.

I thought that maybe the map might have something to do with a deposed ruling house instead of treasure. Or maybe there was a family curse involved somehow. Whaddya think?

edit: By the way, I just finished 'distressing' the map this morning. I singed the edges with a lighter. Almost burned on side of it away. It's wrinkled, smeared and burnt. All in all, a fun little prop.

 

[Nopau]

Twists and Turns

Hi Buttercup,

There is really alot you can do with this. I also like to have puzzles and things to make the players think. You just have to watch that it is not too complicated that they can't figure it out. Unfortunately this happens when the answer is simple to, just depends on your players. I usually through in unknown languages, or pieces of rubble or items that have to be identified somehow, by other races (dwarf, elf, and so on.) Or make a side adventure where they get the clue to do something to find out what it is. I once had an Ancient pillar with an inscription, and symbols, it basically told them how to and what to do to get the wanted item. I thought this up and made it very easy and descriptive, still it took several weeks for them to decipher. I ended up making a side adventure to give them the valued key codes they might need. Besides it is your story and you can make of it what you want.

Nopau

 

[DoctorB]

Another suggestion for a puzzle-type adventure:
Flow chart it out. Put each of the clues in a bubble and mark how the PC's can get from one to the next. Then try to make sure there is more than one way to get to the end. Nothing is more frustrating that when the players don't see the "obvious" (to you) way out. Also allow for paths to the end you have not forseen. Sometimes the players are cleverer than you are!
Good luck!

 

[shaigill]

a different approach

Hi,

You might give the characters two options:

1 - the regular one - find out about the origin of the map, blah blah blah...

2 - the magical one - complete a quest to find/make a mage craft/steal/collect the cash to buy a magical wand, quite like a teleport wand, except that it works on maps. You touch a map with the wand, and you are transported to the location you indicated. This allows the characters to get to the location depicted on the map without knowing where they are going (which adds to the mystery), and might create some interesting situations (like how to get back).

Tell my what you think,

Shai