To design a good RPG adventure often requires creative thinking. Thinking outside of the box and beyond what you would normally. This is one of the most exciting, entertaining, and rewarding parts of being a GM. If you pull it off correctly, the looks of awe on the players’ faces make this kind of thinking well worth it.
One way to start thinking outside of the box is to think of things on a massive or a micro scale. The impact of the party’s deeds must be considered over a vast area and network of kingdoms and connections. Small changes in groundwater disturbance could cause a massive, magical bacterial growth underground just because the players’ boots treaded through that water and now the whole ecology is contaminated.
When using micro inventions in your game, it’s well to remember that they’re so small they may not be easily spotted. The effects of viruses, bugs, and tiny magical fissures might not be apparent to the naked eye, or only apparent upon very close scrutiny. It’s a great idea to use these things to offer your players clues about things they would have otherwise missed such as: secret doors, hidden passageways, escapes out of death traps, and so forth. While the problem might be too small to spot, the effects might make themselves known on a grand scale. A virus causing insanity in dungeon-dwelling monsters could be easily evident, as would a load of micro-fissures in a huge castle which then collapses. Tiny scale opposition can also make a great foe for the PCs as they can’t readily combat whatever it is they’re up against. Tiny bugs can slip under armor and cause havoc in huge numbers. Viruses are tough to fight off without high health or magical aid. Microbes which destroy magic or turn iron to rust instantly can cause a load of havoc. Even armies of tin soldiers could be an interesting challenge.
When using massive inventions, there can also be hidden elements. Such events happen on such a massive scale that they may not be readily apparent on a local level. The players could start a bar fight and injure an important prince who then tells all the subjects of his kingdom of the injustice he’s received, and before long the rumors and rewards for apprehension have spread even to all corners of the players’ own kingdom because of the friendship between the two kings.
If the players happen to defeat a villain of some repute, tales of their deeds could spread like wildfire and be exaggerated to the point where they are expected to be far more powerful and awesome than they are. Every village may regard them now as famous heroes.
Stepping in a key magic pond in a forest could contaminate the whole forest and throw the entire ecosystem out of whack eventually destroying the entire elven kingdom unless something is done to correct the problem. Likewise, defeating a clan of tiresome orcs could allow other monsters to expand into their territory and become far more powerful than they otherwise would have been by capturing key magical replication stones the orcs were too stupid to make use of.
A powerful magical wand could alter the weather on a localized scale but severely mess up weather patterns farther afield and thus ruin many crops for a kingdom creating a massive problem.
Regardless of what kind of view you’re taking, the point is to consider things on scales you wouldn’t otherwise normally consider. This can also have the effect of making your players more cautious about their actions and future ramifications. Some considerations on the massive and micro scales are listed below.
Creatures: You could have a huge beast who’s insanely mad at the party and is too powerful to stop in combat. It turns out that he’s plagued by a load of small imps nesting in his fur and anyone who can get rid of them will be regarded kindly and, more importantly, peacefully.
The party could encounter a nest of fire ants and if any are killed, a huge fire ant shows up and informs them they’ve just ticked off the empire of giant fire ants. When traveling underground, the group runs into a huge wall of fungus which moves toward their torch. It may seem hostile, but it’s actually the only way to get rid of the fire-breathing dragon who will simply multiply the fungus until he’s forced to leave his caves forever.
There’s an orc with a tiny orc on his shoulder who has a tiny orc on ‘his’ shoulder, etc. They all argue with each other constantly but they’re almost unstoppable in battle because they all keep shouting ‘look out’ at each other and one of the tiny guys is a wizard.
Traps: Tiny bubbles in a water room trap could show the one way you could escape it.
In a flooded passage underground a shaft of light could show the only way out.
A fast growing moisture absorbing fungus could be used to make platforms over an otherwise impassable lake.
A dungeon could be filled with so many poisonous traps as to be almost unavoidable. A rare fungus when applied to the wounds will counter the poison, but it must be found by careful research in the library. Seeing which books have the dust disturbed could lead the party to find out where the other groups were looking before them.
A fungus in a dark room could be touched and instantly knock the character out. It makes a duplicate of him which leaves the other knocked out character and becomes the new PC. The new PC eventually finds his old self stuck underground and then must figure out which character he wants to play.
A magical potion contains a special form of magical particles which will eat all in their path and replicate until the world is destroyed. This potion must be found and destroyed.
A simple pit trap triggers a magical beacon which summons ten billion demons to the world for the time of ‘reckoning’.
Treasures: Some old copper coins could depict a long lost king. When further research is done, the party finds a map to his tomb which contains a lot more than copper coins (both good and bad).
Tiny etchings on the back of a magic weapon contain a secret language which may be activated to access a dimension to another realm currently fighting a life and death battle for the universe.
One of the players finds a nifty magical dagger called ‘killer and army breaker’. When thrown it returns to the owner and causes a clap of thunder as it destroys an enemy. However, 100 miles away the dagger also shouts out the name and appearance of its wielder and then trashes a huge army while insulting the army’s leader and bragging about where its owner is.
One of the players finds a ring of three wishes and each wish appears to work properly, but also shifts the entire planet out of sync with its timeline creating an alternate earth which is undesirable for some reason so the players must world hop back to their original world in which, of course, the rings wishes haven’t taken place yet.
One character could have a magical bag in which he keeps putting ground wheat. Also, it makes nickering noises and everyone constantly asks him what’s in his bag but he never tells anyone. It turns out the bag contains dozens of miniature horses who are undamaged by anything which happens to the bag but when ‘tossed out’ instantly reappear to full size.
Miscellaneous: The players are walking down an ordinary corridor with bugs on the floor. They probably step on a few. It turns out the whole corridor is set to change all of time with the squishing of the bugs in the far past. When the players return to above ground they find everything is different. The only way to set the timeline right, is to go back to the corridor and avoid squishing all the bugs. One year must pass before the corridor into the dungeon opens up again. This is one of the adventures where you can make a really easy dungeon so the players start to freak out about what’s wrong.
The players meet a sickly and thoroughly disgusting little orc. It turns out he’s the long lost heir of the orc kingdoms and prophecies were made about how he would lead his people into an era of peace. If they kill him, all the orcs are really ticked off at them. If they befriend him, they now have an ally with a powerful new kingdom of peaceful orcs. Having him ask them for 1 gp could also be funny, but that’s optional.
A beggar wants one gold coin to avert the apocalypse. If the party doesn’t give it to him, the apocalypse he was talking about starts to occur. He sighs and says ‘too late’ before disappearing. The mayor of the town the players start out in has close but secret connections with the king of the land. Depending on how they treat him and his village, when they finally meet the king he might secretly like or hate them.
A huge magical tree complains that it’s dying. It turns out a Halfling is nesting in its trunk and excavating a home for himself. The Halfling must be kicked out, but he keeps heading back ‘home’. For some reason, the tree can’t find this Halfling to take him out.
The three brawny heroes could be bragging in the bar about how awesome they are when the topic of micro comes up. Of course, all the nearby female patrons of the bar assume one of the guy’s is the one with the micro reference and start laughing at him Obviously, because the guy’s character is so strong and awesome this is bound to be seriously annoying.
A small creek runs through a valley, the next valley over there is a gorge and a den of thieves/dungeon of monsters. The players could build a dam, divert the stream, and then open the dam in the canyon to flood and wash out the entire valley. They could also find a dungeon going upwards in a mountain and plug all the air vents to smoke out or asphyxiate all the monsters below.
One character could get a secret mission to get into the princesses chambers, but to do so he has to drink a shrinking potion. Once in her room he has to avoid her huge feet stomping to the bathroom, her shrieking about mice and trying to throw ‘huge’ objects at him, and then must find a way to prove himself, get his kiss, and save the day. Conversely, a character or two could be walking through the hills when suddenly the path gets smaller and smaller. They see tiny people and carts going by. “Hey, look at the little midgets,” says one. The trees start to look like tiny bushes. They enter a land where they are huge and a little kid is having ‘fun’ smashing carts together and playing with the ‘little people’. They must now take on a babysitting mission of massive proportions.
To sum up, try to consider the ramifications of what the players are doing in the game. You can intentionally set up future ramifications or let them unfold during gameplay. Having far reaching effects of actions can be a very interesting element in a game if not taken too far. No one likes being hounded for their entire career because of one drunken remark at the start of the campaign. Encouraging the players to pay attention to small details can also reward players with attentive characters who aren’t so prone to smashing and mighty magic. Players who search for clues instead of instantly rolling search dice are often a good thing for a game. There are many ways to think outside of the box during adventure design, micro and massive elements are just a couple of them.
One way to start thinking outside of the box is to think of things on a massive or a micro scale. The impact of the party’s deeds must be considered over a vast area and network of kingdoms and connections. Small changes in groundwater disturbance could cause a massive, magical bacterial growth underground just because the players’ boots treaded through that water and now the whole ecology is contaminated.
When using micro inventions in your game, it’s well to remember that they’re so small they may not be easily spotted. The effects of viruses, bugs, and tiny magical fissures might not be apparent to the naked eye, or only apparent upon very close scrutiny. It’s a great idea to use these things to offer your players clues about things they would have otherwise missed such as: secret doors, hidden passageways, escapes out of death traps, and so forth. While the problem might be too small to spot, the effects might make themselves known on a grand scale. A virus causing insanity in dungeon-dwelling monsters could be easily evident, as would a load of micro-fissures in a huge castle which then collapses. Tiny scale opposition can also make a great foe for the PCs as they can’t readily combat whatever it is they’re up against. Tiny bugs can slip under armor and cause havoc in huge numbers. Viruses are tough to fight off without high health or magical aid. Microbes which destroy magic or turn iron to rust instantly can cause a load of havoc. Even armies of tin soldiers could be an interesting challenge.
When using massive inventions, there can also be hidden elements. Such events happen on such a massive scale that they may not be readily apparent on a local level. The players could start a bar fight and injure an important prince who then tells all the subjects of his kingdom of the injustice he’s received, and before long the rumors and rewards for apprehension have spread even to all corners of the players’ own kingdom because of the friendship between the two kings.
If the players happen to defeat a villain of some repute, tales of their deeds could spread like wildfire and be exaggerated to the point where they are expected to be far more powerful and awesome than they are. Every village may regard them now as famous heroes.
Stepping in a key magic pond in a forest could contaminate the whole forest and throw the entire ecosystem out of whack eventually destroying the entire elven kingdom unless something is done to correct the problem. Likewise, defeating a clan of tiresome orcs could allow other monsters to expand into their territory and become far more powerful than they otherwise would have been by capturing key magical replication stones the orcs were too stupid to make use of.
A powerful magical wand could alter the weather on a localized scale but severely mess up weather patterns farther afield and thus ruin many crops for a kingdom creating a massive problem.
Regardless of what kind of view you’re taking, the point is to consider things on scales you wouldn’t otherwise normally consider. This can also have the effect of making your players more cautious about their actions and future ramifications. Some considerations on the massive and micro scales are listed below.
Creatures: You could have a huge beast who’s insanely mad at the party and is too powerful to stop in combat. It turns out that he’s plagued by a load of small imps nesting in his fur and anyone who can get rid of them will be regarded kindly and, more importantly, peacefully.
The party could encounter a nest of fire ants and if any are killed, a huge fire ant shows up and informs them they’ve just ticked off the empire of giant fire ants. When traveling underground, the group runs into a huge wall of fungus which moves toward their torch. It may seem hostile, but it’s actually the only way to get rid of the fire-breathing dragon who will simply multiply the fungus until he’s forced to leave his caves forever.
There’s an orc with a tiny orc on his shoulder who has a tiny orc on ‘his’ shoulder, etc. They all argue with each other constantly but they’re almost unstoppable in battle because they all keep shouting ‘look out’ at each other and one of the tiny guys is a wizard.
Traps: Tiny bubbles in a water room trap could show the one way you could escape it.
In a flooded passage underground a shaft of light could show the only way out.
A fast growing moisture absorbing fungus could be used to make platforms over an otherwise impassable lake.
A dungeon could be filled with so many poisonous traps as to be almost unavoidable. A rare fungus when applied to the wounds will counter the poison, but it must be found by careful research in the library. Seeing which books have the dust disturbed could lead the party to find out where the other groups were looking before them.
A fungus in a dark room could be touched and instantly knock the character out. It makes a duplicate of him which leaves the other knocked out character and becomes the new PC. The new PC eventually finds his old self stuck underground and then must figure out which character he wants to play.
A magical potion contains a special form of magical particles which will eat all in their path and replicate until the world is destroyed. This potion must be found and destroyed.
A simple pit trap triggers a magical beacon which summons ten billion demons to the world for the time of ‘reckoning’.
Treasures: Some old copper coins could depict a long lost king. When further research is done, the party finds a map to his tomb which contains a lot more than copper coins (both good and bad).
Tiny etchings on the back of a magic weapon contain a secret language which may be activated to access a dimension to another realm currently fighting a life and death battle for the universe.
One of the players finds a nifty magical dagger called ‘killer and army breaker’. When thrown it returns to the owner and causes a clap of thunder as it destroys an enemy. However, 100 miles away the dagger also shouts out the name and appearance of its wielder and then trashes a huge army while insulting the army’s leader and bragging about where its owner is.
One of the players finds a ring of three wishes and each wish appears to work properly, but also shifts the entire planet out of sync with its timeline creating an alternate earth which is undesirable for some reason so the players must world hop back to their original world in which, of course, the rings wishes haven’t taken place yet.
One character could have a magical bag in which he keeps putting ground wheat. Also, it makes nickering noises and everyone constantly asks him what’s in his bag but he never tells anyone. It turns out the bag contains dozens of miniature horses who are undamaged by anything which happens to the bag but when ‘tossed out’ instantly reappear to full size.
Miscellaneous: The players are walking down an ordinary corridor with bugs on the floor. They probably step on a few. It turns out the whole corridor is set to change all of time with the squishing of the bugs in the far past. When the players return to above ground they find everything is different. The only way to set the timeline right, is to go back to the corridor and avoid squishing all the bugs. One year must pass before the corridor into the dungeon opens up again. This is one of the adventures where you can make a really easy dungeon so the players start to freak out about what’s wrong.
The players meet a sickly and thoroughly disgusting little orc. It turns out he’s the long lost heir of the orc kingdoms and prophecies were made about how he would lead his people into an era of peace. If they kill him, all the orcs are really ticked off at them. If they befriend him, they now have an ally with a powerful new kingdom of peaceful orcs. Having him ask them for 1 gp could also be funny, but that’s optional.
A beggar wants one gold coin to avert the apocalypse. If the party doesn’t give it to him, the apocalypse he was talking about starts to occur. He sighs and says ‘too late’ before disappearing. The mayor of the town the players start out in has close but secret connections with the king of the land. Depending on how they treat him and his village, when they finally meet the king he might secretly like or hate them.
A huge magical tree complains that it’s dying. It turns out a Halfling is nesting in its trunk and excavating a home for himself. The Halfling must be kicked out, but he keeps heading back ‘home’. For some reason, the tree can’t find this Halfling to take him out.
The three brawny heroes could be bragging in the bar about how awesome they are when the topic of micro comes up. Of course, all the nearby female patrons of the bar assume one of the guy’s is the one with the micro reference and start laughing at him Obviously, because the guy’s character is so strong and awesome this is bound to be seriously annoying.
A small creek runs through a valley, the next valley over there is a gorge and a den of thieves/dungeon of monsters. The players could build a dam, divert the stream, and then open the dam in the canyon to flood and wash out the entire valley. They could also find a dungeon going upwards in a mountain and plug all the air vents to smoke out or asphyxiate all the monsters below.
One character could get a secret mission to get into the princesses chambers, but to do so he has to drink a shrinking potion. Once in her room he has to avoid her huge feet stomping to the bathroom, her shrieking about mice and trying to throw ‘huge’ objects at him, and then must find a way to prove himself, get his kiss, and save the day. Conversely, a character or two could be walking through the hills when suddenly the path gets smaller and smaller. They see tiny people and carts going by. “Hey, look at the little midgets,” says one. The trees start to look like tiny bushes. They enter a land where they are huge and a little kid is having ‘fun’ smashing carts together and playing with the ‘little people’. They must now take on a babysitting mission of massive proportions.
To sum up, try to consider the ramifications of what the players are doing in the game. You can intentionally set up future ramifications or let them unfold during gameplay. Having far reaching effects of actions can be a very interesting element in a game if not taken too far. No one likes being hounded for their entire career because of one drunken remark at the start of the campaign. Encouraging the players to pay attention to small details can also reward players with attentive characters who aren’t so prone to smashing and mighty magic. Players who search for clues instead of instantly rolling search dice are often a good thing for a game. There are many ways to think outside of the box during adventure design, micro and massive elements are just a couple of them.
