Ideas for an Adventure

[sirteabag]

So I was working with an idea and wanted to bounce a few of them off some current players (which I imagine a bunch of you are) and see how you would react.

I generally run an open ended campaign and have quite a few threads the PC's can follow but I separate these into segments of encounters that I can leave as unrelated events or tie them in somehow.

Anywhoo here goes...

Picture you and your group, lets say 3-5 adventurers were on a dark densely vegetated forest trail and moving to another city (maybe a lengthy trip) and you noticed you were almost eerily alone on the path. You hear birds and other creatures in the dark woods acting as normal. Then you notice a black horse in the distance running along side you, no matter. It just keeps your pace (if you have horses or not) and follows at a distance.

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Now later lets say as your traveling, those animals you've been hearing earlier quiet down to the point of being non-existent. maybe after a nights rest or after a break you notice this same horse on a cliff overlooking you. Just blankly watching and staring not menacingly but its there. If you noticeably look towards it or make an action against it, it leaves.

Any thoughts?

 

[Dice4Hire]

I would skewer my DM and roast him over an open pit for having an encounter that could not be simply solved by the combat portion of my sheet.


But more seriously, I would assume it were a skill challenge and go for History, Religion, or Streetwise to attempt to get info. If that did not work (no info) I would assume it were a hint to a later plot point and not worry overly much about it.

I would not need to know everything right then, though I would like it explained at some point.

 

[Camelot]

I would assume it were a plot point of some kind. I would use my skills to try and see if I know anything about it, ask around when I got to a town, etc. Whatever my character would do to learn more. If it was a dead end, I'd tell the DM that it was a poor decision to put into great detail a random occurance that didn't lead anywhere.

 

[sirteabag]

Awesome! The reason I ask is the horse is actually a mount for an assassin wearing a cloaking ring or using an invisibility spell of some manner. If you (whom I imagine from your tone) have played a bit more than the average cat and would solve the issue like that then my assassin has a good advantage and won't be called out immediately.

I figure a few paralyzing arrows and some rain cover could make for a fun cat and mouse scenario.

Thanks again sir.

 

[moxcamel]

Sounds like a fantastic hook. These kinds of hooks are my favorite, and I've even done such things without having the slightest idea why I was doing them at first, and then as the campaign progressed I was able to come back to that event and make it seem as if I'd planned the whole thing that way all along.

The best stories begin with such oddities. They add intrigue, and keep the players interested. I could see something like this being stretched out for many adventures. Maybe the PCs follow the horse, lose the trail but find a town in need of adventurers, clear out an evil temple or two, and just when they've either forgotten about the strange horse or maybe thought you'd forgotten about him, there he is again, watching the party bed down out in the wilderness again.

Best of luck with this, sounds great!

 

[SparqMan]

What's the explanation for animal sounds drifting away? That seems like something you may only want to point out based on passive Nature or Perception. If you just said "you notice that..." I would immediately think the horse means more than just a horse.

What happens if the players get so curious that they give chase?

Also, shouldn't this be in the Fan Creations sub-forum?

 

[Daern]

"Oh no! It's the Deathdealer!"

 

[sirteabag]

@moxcamel; I agree I find a simple random encounter can be tied to any number of events or persons without much difficulty. And if these things go off without a hook then you can even incorporate that one encounter as the catalyst for one of your major quests.

And I hope it develops as such, my party is mostly new positively aligned characters and over confident as well. They will most likely think the horse a silly omen or a random event.

All in all I plan to have four different horses (four horses of Apocalypse-ish) with different riders of all different abilities. This all begins after they removed an evil magical orb from a machine and I informed them they felt a little bit emptier. These assassins will be their "shadows", copies of their character sheets at the time beefed up a bit and created by the magic in the orb. Think the Dark Link from Ocarina of Time but now looking to kill them and take back the body they claim right too

[MENTION=77624]SparqMan[/MENTION]; They are not directly connected, I planned to add them just to give the adventurers a heads-up. Though maybe your correct, I think I should leave the surrounding woods as and forgo the descriptor. And if they do they do. As one of the assassins I would dismount if they approached and see how they react with my horse.

As for where it is, honestly I didn't see that forum. My bad. I just figured this is general D&D, why not.

 

[moxcamel]

As for where it is, honestly I didn't see that forum. My bad. I just figured this is general D&D, why not.

I think it's fine where it is, don't sweat it.

 

[erleni]

Knowing my players (I'm a DM mainly) I would say that they would most likely investigate the issue by following the horse when they see it for the second time.