CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing (He/They)
To all of you DMs out there:
What was the best plot hook that you have ever used in an adventure? Was it something that caught your eye on the bookshelf at the local hobby store, or was it something that struck you in the middle of the night in a burst of creative genius? Tell us about it! Post it up here for everyone to enjoy (and use).
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This one is my favorite. I ran this adventure over Thanksgiving last year, for some friends who were coming into town for the holiday. Its a lot of fun...feel free to swipe it for your own table.
[SBLOCK=Palace of the Pink Dragon]The Setup: Lord Buckley and Lady Beatrice Fimble were quite wealthy, almost too wealthy to be the humble farmers they claimed to be. They lived in a large stone cottage on the outskirts of Ashton, surrounded by their apple groves and lambs that they sold in town. Outwardly, they appeared to be nothing but humble apple farmers.
However, looks are deceiving. This unassuming couple were neither innocent nor humble; they operated an undercover brothel out of their house for many years called the Palace of the Pink Dragon, catering to the kinky and unwholesome desires of Ashton’s upper crust. They built an elaborate maze beneath their house where all manners of kinks, fetishes, and fantasies could be played out, and where the high-paying customers could come and go discretely.
Business was good for Buckley and Beatrice, until they took in a young runaway names Ansala. This innocent-looking half-elf claimed that her father had attacked her and she had run away from home. All too eager to have such an exotic commodity to add to their harem, the Fimbles took her in and gave her a home. Once she had healed up, she was forced into the sex trade and sold repeatedly to various men, especially those with a fetish for elves.
Unfortunately, and unbeknown to even herself, young Ansala was a werewolf, having been inflicted with the magical illness by her father. One month after her arrival, Ansala succumbed to her affliction. With her body ravaged by lycanthropy and her mind warped by her abuses, she gave herself over to these new bestial urges, and poured out her full wrath upon all of her masters, johns, and sisters who had enslaved her. She slew her captors and the slave masters who ran the brothel, leaving their tattered and half-eaten bodies in the apple orchard for passers-by to discover.
After the bloody attack on the Fimble Farm, the house soon developed a reputation for being haunted by the angry spirits of the dead. Since Buckley and Beatrice were childless, the unclaimed estate was placed on the market, but the bad reputation and gruesome story kept the house from selling for more than two years.
While most of the prostitutes, masters, and johns were slain in the attack, many survived only to become werewolves themselves. These werewolves, along with young Ansala herself, live quiet lives in Ashton...but secretly steal away to the abandoned Fimble Farm during the full moon for a “girls’ night out.” There, they terrorize the local countryside, killing livestock and the occasional passer-by, rutting and eating their fill of flesh before returning back to their quiet city lives.
The hook: One of the players (have fun, pick one or ask for a volunteer) has grown weary of the adventuring life and all of its dangerous trappings. After a near-death experience at the hands of a vampire, and having secured ample amounts of treasure for a comfortable retirement from its crypt, this PC has purchased a house out in the country, and intends to settle down with his new bride. Although the character is quite wealthy as far as the public is concerned, he has invested the majority of his gold in this small apple farm in the hopes of living a quiet life.
The real estate agent failed to mention that the former landowners were brutally murdered in a highly-publicized, as-yet unsolved murder, and that the mangled bodies of all of the hired hands were discovered hanging from the trees of the apple orchard next to the barn. The real estate agent had no way of knowing that the Fimble house is a former house of ill repute, with a kinky, werewolf-infested dungeon in its basement.
Now, the character is in quite a pickle. The contract he signed is binding, and he cannot back out lest he lose the small fortune he paid. His spouse-to-be will be arriving at the end of the month, bringing her dowry and her conservative in-laws (a wealthy and powerful merchant family with strong ties to the Church of St. Cuthbert) along with her. Worst of all, neither his betrothed nor her family is aware of his adventuring lifestyle: they all believe he is a successful businessman who got rich in the wool trade.
Now, he has exactly two weeks to clean up the farm and turn it into a beautiful and romantic love nest...or else he will lose not only his investment, but also the love of his life and his own good reputation.[/SBLOCK]
What was the best plot hook that you have ever used in an adventure? Was it something that caught your eye on the bookshelf at the local hobby store, or was it something that struck you in the middle of the night in a burst of creative genius? Tell us about it! Post it up here for everyone to enjoy (and use).
-----
This one is my favorite. I ran this adventure over Thanksgiving last year, for some friends who were coming into town for the holiday. Its a lot of fun...feel free to swipe it for your own table.
[SBLOCK=Palace of the Pink Dragon]The Setup: Lord Buckley and Lady Beatrice Fimble were quite wealthy, almost too wealthy to be the humble farmers they claimed to be. They lived in a large stone cottage on the outskirts of Ashton, surrounded by their apple groves and lambs that they sold in town. Outwardly, they appeared to be nothing but humble apple farmers.
However, looks are deceiving. This unassuming couple were neither innocent nor humble; they operated an undercover brothel out of their house for many years called the Palace of the Pink Dragon, catering to the kinky and unwholesome desires of Ashton’s upper crust. They built an elaborate maze beneath their house where all manners of kinks, fetishes, and fantasies could be played out, and where the high-paying customers could come and go discretely.
Business was good for Buckley and Beatrice, until they took in a young runaway names Ansala. This innocent-looking half-elf claimed that her father had attacked her and she had run away from home. All too eager to have such an exotic commodity to add to their harem, the Fimbles took her in and gave her a home. Once she had healed up, she was forced into the sex trade and sold repeatedly to various men, especially those with a fetish for elves.
Unfortunately, and unbeknown to even herself, young Ansala was a werewolf, having been inflicted with the magical illness by her father. One month after her arrival, Ansala succumbed to her affliction. With her body ravaged by lycanthropy and her mind warped by her abuses, she gave herself over to these new bestial urges, and poured out her full wrath upon all of her masters, johns, and sisters who had enslaved her. She slew her captors and the slave masters who ran the brothel, leaving their tattered and half-eaten bodies in the apple orchard for passers-by to discover.
After the bloody attack on the Fimble Farm, the house soon developed a reputation for being haunted by the angry spirits of the dead. Since Buckley and Beatrice were childless, the unclaimed estate was placed on the market, but the bad reputation and gruesome story kept the house from selling for more than two years.
While most of the prostitutes, masters, and johns were slain in the attack, many survived only to become werewolves themselves. These werewolves, along with young Ansala herself, live quiet lives in Ashton...but secretly steal away to the abandoned Fimble Farm during the full moon for a “girls’ night out.” There, they terrorize the local countryside, killing livestock and the occasional passer-by, rutting and eating their fill of flesh before returning back to their quiet city lives.
The hook: One of the players (have fun, pick one or ask for a volunteer) has grown weary of the adventuring life and all of its dangerous trappings. After a near-death experience at the hands of a vampire, and having secured ample amounts of treasure for a comfortable retirement from its crypt, this PC has purchased a house out in the country, and intends to settle down with his new bride. Although the character is quite wealthy as far as the public is concerned, he has invested the majority of his gold in this small apple farm in the hopes of living a quiet life.
The real estate agent failed to mention that the former landowners were brutally murdered in a highly-publicized, as-yet unsolved murder, and that the mangled bodies of all of the hired hands were discovered hanging from the trees of the apple orchard next to the barn. The real estate agent had no way of knowing that the Fimble house is a former house of ill repute, with a kinky, werewolf-infested dungeon in its basement.
Now, the character is in quite a pickle. The contract he signed is binding, and he cannot back out lest he lose the small fortune he paid. His spouse-to-be will be arriving at the end of the month, bringing her dowry and her conservative in-laws (a wealthy and powerful merchant family with strong ties to the Church of St. Cuthbert) along with her. Worst of all, neither his betrothed nor her family is aware of his adventuring lifestyle: they all believe he is a successful businessman who got rich in the wool trade.
Now, he has exactly two weeks to clean up the farm and turn it into a beautiful and romantic love nest...or else he will lose not only his investment, but also the love of his life and his own good reputation.[/SBLOCK]
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