Looking for a low-level "PCs are hired by NPC" type adventures

[NewJeffCT]

As you know, there are many low level adventures/modules out there where the players are hired by an important, and seemingly good, NPC: wealthy merchant, local nobility, etc) to go on some sort of quest – rescue his kidnapped child, recover stolen goods, retrieve some mythical item, map a trail through the haunted forest, etc . I was looking for some of the better ones to get an idea to start a campaign. (And edition of D&D or Pathfinder is fine.)

Also, are there any with a twist – the players find out later on that the important NPC is really the Big Bad Evil Guy (or a main lieutenant of the BBEG), and whatever the players had been hired to do has greatly helped out said BBEG? I know the old adventure Apocalypse Stone has that twist in it, but that's more for high level PCs to end a campaign.

I was thinking of something along the lines of the players retrieving a lost item, only to find out it was a key to a powerful evil artifact. (The BBEG needed some good-aligned types to obtain the key, possibly due to the magical wards in place and/or maybe some prophecy?)

But, are there many published adventures that have this kind of betrayal from an NPC? If not, what are some good low level “NPC hires the PCs to find something” adventures?

Thanks

 

[Gilladian]

Hmmm... as part of the 'dungeon-a-day' site, there was an adventure called "Temple of the Black Goat". The whole adventure was a sort of bait-and-switch in which the PCs come to Cold Comfort Ford - a small, isolated village - where adventurers are being hired by a group of halfling archaeologists to dig out the ruins of an old temple. The twist is that the archaeologists are were-rats, who are on a quest for a specific item in the old Temple of Asmodeus. Most people have forgotten or no longer care who the temple was dedicated to, but there are some villagers who are still devoted to the gods of their grandparents, and there are some folk who think digging up the temple is a BAD THING. Of course, they're right...

The village is nicely written-up, and there's room to add a lot of your own material to stretch out what is otherwise a fairly straightforward dungeon crawl.

The only problem would be getting hold of the PDF because the subscription site is no longer active, as far as I know...

 

[TarionzCousin]

Also, are there any with a twist – the players find out later on that the important NPC is really the Big Bad Evil Guy (or a main lieutenant of the BBEG), and whatever the players had been hired to do has greatly helped out said BBEG?

Isn't this every adventure of this type--or, at least, every Shadowrun adventure of this type? (Of course, I can't think of any right now).

Honestly, in my experience, players are expecting whomever hires them to betray them. So I tend to make my NPC employers as sketchy and suspicious as possible--then not betray the PC's. But then again, I like surprises.

 

[NewJeffCT]

true, I understand that most players are suspicious of these things. However, I think I've built up enough credibility over the years with this group that they'd probably be surprised if the helpful NPC turned out to be the BBEG or the right hand of the BBEG. I mean, Darth Vader was a great villain and everybody knew he was the villain from the moment he appeared onscreen in A New Hope. No twists and turns with him until the end of Empire and then in Return of the Jedi.

 

[gamerprinter]

For Pathfinder and for 5th level (so it might not be low enough level for you), The Curse of the Golden Spear trilogy of modules as an introduction to the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG). A party "western" PCs are hired by a merchant to deliver a gift intended as a bribe to a local lord, with the first module called The Gift.

 

[NewJeffCT]

For Pathfinder and for 5th level (so it might not be low enough level for you), The Curse of the Golden Spear trilogy of modules as an introduction to the Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG). A party "western" PCs are hired by a merchant to deliver a gift intended as a bribe to a local lord, with the first module called The Gift.

Thanks - it's low enough that it might work. You can possibly intro the NPC earlier to build up some trust.

 

[gamerprinter]

Plot hooks are included for each PC, but the meeting with the lord (BBEG) is the start of the second module intended for 6th level Dim Spirit.

Also, the party will be staying at an inn, at the end of the first module, which is sort of hand-waved, however, I wrote a detailed encounter/mini-adventure called Haiku or Horror: Autumn Moon Bath House, which serves as an inn and fits well as a one-shot between the first and second modules. This site is heavily infuenced by The Grudge movie. I'm the primary author/designer for this one, though I created the outlines and development for The Gift and Dim Spirit.

If you decide to get the third module, Dark Path, for 7th level to end the short campaign (and then the party can go "home"), there's a one-shot module called Up from Darkness that works well as an opportunity the players get to play the 7th level NPCs bad guys that are hunting the main PC party in the third module, for an interesting twist. If you run it, do so between the second and third modules. Not to make you spend more money, but altogether the 3 modules and 2 one-shots make for an epic short AP.

 

[religon]

There are a pair of old D&D Basic modules that could be altered slightly and meet the parameters. B11 & B12... King's Festival and Queen's Harvest. Run B11 straight... rescue the cleric. Sort of routine dungeon crawl ends with clue of a rising evil Warrior-Queen. It also builds trust from the PC's in the module pair. For the second module, the PC's journey to find an elderly wizard who has recently died. They find his adopted son (4th-level Fighter). He asks for his newly acquired wizard's basement/laboratory be cleared of hazards that his adopted father placed there. The PC's accept and while clearing the dungeon they bump into enemy NPC's. In the module as written, the NPCs are evil and Lord Penhaligon is good. Flip it but don't let the PC's in. CLues from the dungeon demand the PC's journy to teh evil Keep to dungeon-bash the Warrior-Queen's evil humanoid forces.

The change: Rather than opposing the Warrior-Queen, the final Big Bad, Lord Penhaligon is her lover and the PC's are being setup to fail and clear the path for the pair to usurp the Queen's half-sister from her throne in the town of Penhaligon. By the end, the PC's gain evidence to stop both.

 

[NewJeffCT]

There are a pair of old D&D Basic modules that could be altered slightly and meet the parameters. B11 & B12... King's Festival and Queen's Harvest. Run B11 straight... rescue the cleric. Sort of routine dungeon crawl ends with clue of a rising evil Warrior-Queen. It also builds trust from the PC's in the module pair. For the second module, the PC's journey to find an elderly wizard who has recently died. They find his adopted son (4th-level Fighter). He asks for his newly acquired wizard's basement/laboratory be cleared of hazards that his adopted father placed there. The PC's accept and while clearing the dungeon they bump into enemy NPC's. In the module as written, the NPCs are evil and Lord Penhaligon is good. Flip it but don't let the PC's in. CLues from the dungeon demand the PC's journy to teh evil Keep to dungeon-bash the Warrior-Queen's evil humanoid forces.

The change: Rather than opposing the Warrior-Queen, the final Big Bad, Lord Penhaligon is her lover and the PC's are being setup to fail and clear the path for the pair to usurp the Queen's half-sister from her throne in the town of Penhaligon. By the end, the PC's gain evidence to stop both.

good ideas! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ravenheart87]

Probably a bit different from what you're looking for, but in Intrigue at the Court of Chaos low level characters are hired by the gods of Chaos to steal an artifact from the plane of Law. It's crazy.

 

[ksbsnowowl]

Nearly all the published Eberron adventures do this. A noble or the Kings guard contracts the player characters to go on a mission to hunt someone down or find an artifact.

However, they have the problem that most of them are specific to the steam punkish
environment of Eberron.

Expedition to the Demonweb Pits spoiler:
The entire plot of EttDwP is that the PC's are being played as patsies in a demon plot.
The plot hook leads them to a "helpful" NPC in Sigil, who uses the PC's.
EttDwP is for 9th - 12th level, though, so not really low level.

The RPGA Eberron adventure Desolate Endeavor also fills this concept. Spoiler:
The party's patron in the adventure is really a Rakshasa in disguise, who will betray them once they help get him to a magical location in a desolate area of Eberron.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Thanks. I have 0 Eberron product, so might have to look into this.

 

[diaglo]

Dungeon magazine from 1986- 2000ish was chockablock full of these type of side trek quests or similar.

at the end of 1edADnD and beginning 2edADnD had a few too. you can easily convert something like I14 into this type or the early Marco Volo adventures in Faerun

edit: maybe try Hordes of Dragonspear

 

[NewJeffCT]

Dungeon magazine from 1986- 2000ish was chockablock full of these type of side trek quests or similar.

at the end of 1edADnD and beginning 2edADnD had a few too. you can easily convert something like I14 into this type or the early Marco Volo adventures in Faerun

edit: maybe try Hordes of Dragonspear

Thanks - I used to have the CD of the first 150 or 250 Dragon magazines, but I've moved several times over the years, so I no longer know where it is.

 

[ksbsnowowl]

Thanks. I have 0 Eberron product, so might have to look into this.

To make your looking easier, the adventures start with the 1st-level starter adventure in the back of the Eberron Campaign Setting, titled "The Forgotten Forge."

From there the story arc continues in the 2nd level adventure "Shadows of the Last War," the 4th level adventure "Whispers of the Vampire's Blade," and the 6th level adventure "Grasp of the Emerald Claw."

All of those fit your "hiring patron" motif perfectly.

A word of advice on Shadows of the Last War: If you run it, add a scroll or two of Rope Trick to the bag of supplies the patron gives to the PC's; I also give them a bottle of Goodberry Wine (wine made from the core Goodberry spell, it has five doses in the bottle, and each dose heals 8 hit points (the daily maximum). Goodberry wine is found on page 82 of Five Nations, btw. The PC's are traveling to the Mournland as 2nd level characters, and NO conjuration (healing) spells or natural healing works in the Mournland.

 

[blitzpackage 15]

You could go old school with B2-Keep on the Borderlands and have a change in leadership either in the beginning or when the PCs head back to the keep to resupply.

 

[NewJeffCT]

To make your looking easier, the adventures start with the 1st-level starter adventure in the back of the Eberron Campaign Setting, titled "The Forgotten Forge."

From there the story arc continues in the 2nd level adventure "Shadows of the Last War," the 4th level adventure "Whispers of the Vampire's Blade," and the 6th level adventure "Grasp of the Emerald Claw."

All of those fit your "hiring patron" motif perfectly.

A word of advice on Shadows of the Last War: If you run it, add a scroll or two of Rope Trick to the bag of supplies the patron gives to the PC's; I also give them a bottle of Goodberry Wine (wine made from the core Goodberry spell, it has five doses in the bottle, and each dose heals 8 hit points (the daily maximum). Goodberry wine is found on page 82 of Five Nations, btw. The PC's are traveling to the Mournland as 2nd level characters, and NO conjuration (healing) spells or natural healing works in the Mournland.

Thanks - I'm intrigued by the first adventure (I have the original Eberron book), but need to do more research to see if the schema can be adapted to outside of Eberron, or else substitute something in for schema.

 

[NewJeffCT]

You could go old school with B2-Keep on the Borderlands and have a change in leadership either in the beginning or when the PCs head back to the keep to resupply.

good idea as well - or, I can even adapt the excellent Frandor's Keep as well (Hackmaster supplement set in Kalamar)

 

[ksbsnowowl]

Thanks - I'm intrigued by the first adventure (I have the original Eberron book), but need to do more research to see if the schema can be adapted to outside of Eberron, or else substitute something in for schema.

Schemas are just 'magical blueprints' that "aid in creating magic items" both common (to Eberron), like everbright lanterns, or unique and powerful. Magic of Eberron introduces Lesser Schemas, which are
basically once per day reusable scrolls on a metal tablet. Other than that, Schemas and creation
patterns are ill-defined DM plot devices.

Plot spoilers for the aforementioned adventures:

The schematic the PC's find in the 1st level adventure is a small part of a larger creation pattern.
The 2nd level adventure takes the PC's to a magical research facility there they can find another schema. Along the way, they learn that a terrorist organization also appears to be searching for the schema. The PC's find the 2nd schema, and unexpectedly find the creation pattern with it.
In the 6th level adventure, the terrorists steal the creation pattern and the two recovered schemas, and are off to find the last piece and put the whole thing together. No one is quite sure what kind of powerful weapon the completed pattern will be, but it is bad for everyone if these terrorists have it. So the PC's chase the terrorists to an ancient Giant temple (Indiana Jones style) and try to stop them from gaining the completed pattern... An appropriate climax ensues... And a new enemy is awakened...

So the schema part is just the McGuffin. It's a magic item that should be able to port over into any other setting without too much difficulty.

 

[Mark CMG]

As you know, there are many low level adventures/modules out there where the players are hired by an important, and seemingly good, NPC: wealthy merchant, local nobility, etc) to go on some sort of quest – rescue his kidnapped child, recover stolen goods, retrieve some mythical item, map a trail through the haunted forest, etc . I was looking for some of the better ones to get an idea to start a campaign. (And edition of D&D or Pathfinder is fine.)

The Whispering Woodwind

The lives of ordinary people seldom touch our own in significant ways until we choose to become involved. It seems that Contel, the Bard, has quit his day job, skipping out on a sizable debt. When an astute innkeeper of questionable practices enlists the help of heroes to cover his losses, it is only the beginning. The trail leads through a series of encounters; some germane, others less relevant but revealing. It is the sound of music that ultimately settles the score.

I ran this again last year for a new group to kick off a campaign and had the musical instrument actually be a cursed item that the group felt needed destroying. They passed it along to a higher level NPC of questionable morals and haven't realized what has become of that plan. The campaign is now higher level and it's about time they begin to hear rumors of what this NPC is doing with this item.

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/16596/Lowlevel-Adventure-The-Whispering-Woodwind?it=1