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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lore Raithbone" data-source="post: 4278571" data-attributes="member: 60920">Well, here is something you could try: run a 1st level murder mystery.  The players are the local town guards/hired to help the guards, and it will help you with NPC interaction while at the same time playing to your strength of being able to tell a good overall story.Here is the prep for it: make a flowchart.  Start with "scene of the crime" then figure out a few different 'paths' the players can go down.  Do they talk to the local criminal underworld?  Do they find a clue at the scene that points them somewhere else?  Do they talk to known acquaintances?Draw up a few personalities for each 'encounter' (and hell, use the skill challenge rules for some of the encounters, have a fight with thugs for the criminal underworld element, use those new 4e rules to your advantage) - and there you go.  Meaningful small interactions between the NPCs that leads to the big reveal at the end when they gather enough clues.Additionally, feel free to give the PCs the illusion of choice; sure, they can go to the local bar - the bartender tells them to follow "A cocky young thief back to his gang's hideout' just as said thief drunkenly swaggers out of his seat.  They can interview the shopkeeper across the street, who says "Oh, yeah, the victim's friends were always about the place, practically every day!" - pointing them towards talking to the acquaintances.  Additionally, all of the encounters will lead up to the final, dramatic scene at the end; the fight underground with the evil cultists responsible for the murder, with some of the very NPCs they spoke to earlier held hostage! Or whatever.  Make the NPCs interesting by 1) giving them names 2) giving them a mannerism (smokes, talks funny, absentminded, paranoid, etc).  Feel free to have some of the NPCs show up in the big scene at the end.  Reward player skills by setting up both normal fights and skill challenges.  Finally, no matter what 'route' the players take on your flowchart, it will all flow into the final encounter you design.</blockquote>

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