Plot Tropes and Adventure Goals

[Zustiur]

I'm far from the best DM in the world, and one of my major flaws is the inability to think beyond a few familiar adventure plot tropes and goals. With that in mind; I come to you, ENWorld, for advice. What I want is an exhaustive list of adventure goals and/or plot tropes from which I can imagine new adventures without resorting to the same-old-same-old. I would also like to know of any interesting twists and combinations you can list for me.

Here are the goals I can think of:
Adventure Goals
Kill specific monster/group of monsters
Kill BBEG
Stop BBEG's plans, without necessarily killing him
Retrieve item(s)
Retrieve person(s)
Deliver item(s) within a time limit
Escort person(s) (without them getting killed)

I know there are more, but I cannot think of them

HELP!

 

[Quickleaf]

Have you seen Georges Polti's 36 dramatic plots? Here's a link to the list: http://www.changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/polti_situations/polti_situations.htm

 

[slobster]

Here's a couple more basic adventure set-ups.

* Convince someone or several someones to do something that they don't want to do, e.g. get the dwarf halls to join the war against the demons, or convince two feuding clans not to start a gang war

* Find out the truth about a historical figure, ancient legend, or modern mystery

* Whodunnit?

* Time travel shenanigans: get sent to the past, now you have to find a way to your own time while fixing something you've screwed up before it destroys history (Great Scott!)

* Your players know they are going to lose. The odds are undeniable, the enemy force uncountable. But they have a strong defensive position, and every moment they keep them at bay is a moment the rest of the world has to prepare for the invasion/evacuate the civilians.

And here's a couple twists.

* Do one of the other goals, but in such a way that someone else is blamed.

* Retrieve a person, but when you get there it turns out they wanted to be kidnapped.

* Kill a group of monsters, but it turns out that they are the last of their kind and no threat to anyone, but their pelts are valuable. Fulfilling the mission will lead to their extinction, but your client isn't interested in hearing your excuses.

* Retrieve an item, but once you hand it over it turns out that the item was keeping some great catastrophe at bay, and its new owners don't want to give it back. You now have to steal it from the people who hired you to get it in the first place, then return it to its rightful location.

* You go to kill the BBEG, but his life force is the only thing keeping an unthinkably powerful evil force locked away. Now you have to protect his life from other good heroes he has wronged (they think you've turned evil) while finding a way to seal the badness for good. And he's still an a$$hole.

* Investigate a murder . . . that the PCs committed. They have to build a rock-solid case against an innocent person while throwing suspicion off themselves.

* Escort a person. But you don't have to worry about keeping him alive; he's already dead. This trip is the symbolic journey of his spirit down the sacred river, but his enemies in life will stop at nothing to deny his soul its eternal rest.

Hopefully something there gets those creative juices flowing!

 

[Recidivism]

I'm far from the best DM in the world, and one of my major flaws is the inability to think beyond a few familiar adventure plot tropes and goals. With that in mind; I come to you, ENWorld, for advice. What I want is an exhaustive list of adventure goals and/or plot tropes from which I can imagine new adventures without resorting to the same-old-same-old. I would also like to know of any interesting twists and combinations you can list for me.

Here are the goals I can think of:
Adventure Goals
Kill specific monster/group of monsters
Kill BBEG
Stop BBEG's plans, without necessarily killing him
Retrieve item(s)
Retrieve person(s)
Deliver item(s) within a time limit
Escort person(s) (without them getting killed)

I know there are more, but I cannot think of them

HELP!

You seem to have covered the bases.

In my opinion, you're thinking about this the wrong way though. If you think about events in the way you've framed it above, nothing will ever seem very interesting (at least ... not to me). An adventure is essentially a short story. You need motivations and relationships and experiences for it to be unique.

Breaking down an adventure into "Do X" is like saying that travelling is all about (a) driving a car (b) sailing a boat or (c) flying a plane. It's absolutely true that you do those things when you travel, but if you're not actually experiencing the places you visit then you might be tricked into thinking that travelling one place is the same as another, that it's just a boring itemized task to pick off of a list.

 

[Mark CMG]

This will get you going -

The Big List of RPG Plots, by S. John Ross

 

[Zustiur]

You seem to have covered the bases.

In my opinion, you're thinking about this the wrong way though. If you think about events in the way you've framed it above, nothing will ever seem very interesting (at least ... not to me). An adventure is essentially a short story. You need motivations and relationships and experiences for it to be unique.

I was thinking in terms of adventure archetypes. I want to make sure I'm not missing out any archetypes in my games; and I'm pretty sure I am
While you're right that I'm talking in very high level terms, I'd love nothing more right now than a list of 1000 different adventure ideas at a low level frame of mind, so long as those 1000 cover all the possible high level categories in the process.

 

[Yora]

I've been giving it some thought early in the planning of a barbarian-themed campaign in which the PCs are warriors of a specific clan, fighting for the good of the clan and not personal fame and wealth. That requires different adventure themes than in most campaigns.

- Intruders are spotted in the area around the village, either unknown warriors or dangerous monsters. The PCs have to find and remove them.
- The food or water supply is threatened. The PCs have to leave the vilage to find the cause and return things to normal.
- A relic has been stolen or a shrine desecrated and the PCs have to return to relic or find some rare objects to restore the goodwill of the spirits that protect the village.
- Old ruins have been discovered and the PCs are send to investigate if there is any danger to their village and if there are any magical treasures that they can claim for the clan before someone else gets them.
- There is no contact to an allied clan. The PCs are send to investigate what happened.
- A refugee from an allied clan arrives in the village, asking the chief to help freeing his clan from slavery by raiders, break an evil sorcerers spell over their chief, or to remove an ursuper from power.
- People from the village have gone missing and the PCs have to find and return them.
- War breaks out between two alliances of clans both attempting to drive their enemies from the region or destroy them.
- Raiders attempt a couple of attacks against the PCs village or the village of an allied clan, while the PCs are staying for a visit. They have to hold out long enough for the raiders to give up and leave.
- A thief, murder, or heretic is on the run and the PCs have to hunt him down.
- The PCs stumble into the domain of a spirit in the spiritworld and have to find their way back out.