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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ydars" data-source="post: 4327566" data-attributes="member: 62992">Here are a few microstories I have used. Most should last less than 1 session and could also be partially recurrent or resolved through several sessions as little filler bits. I also try and design them to avoid simple combat;1)  a forest clearing surrounded by a pallisade serves as a campsite for travellers in the middle of a scrubby forest of low trees. A set of con men frequent the area and try to induce people into games of chance or to pickpocket people and then flee. The area has a "country fair" feel despite the brooding malice of the forest. You can run archery competitions, drinking competitions etc etc. Or a monster could emerge from the forest and demand tribute to allow the people inside to leave without attack; a drunken Ogre who just wants some grog?2) While crossing a frozen river, the Pcs find a body frozen under the ice from last year. Digging it out reveals a key, some small treasure but no other sign of who he was. The next village the Pcs come to, they see exactly the same man alive! I leave the rest to you.3) A bridge is washed out and the PCs have to travel up river to cross at a ford near an isolated village. Once there, they discover that the village is plagued by strange occurances. It turns out that the village is built upon the remains of an old burial ground and the restless dead are just asking to be left alone. Removal of the bones of the dead to fresh earth solves the problem.4) Bad weather drives the PCs to seek shelter. They see a light off the track and head towards it. The cold is so bitter they almost die. An old man greets them wordlessly and invites them to his fire. As soon as they accept and eat his food, they fall into a deep sleep. The next morning, they find no ashes and only the bones of an old man at the back of the cave. Enquiries reveal that the old man was a hermit of "insert deity" that died 10 years ago. If the PCs fail to make an offering at the next shrine to said god, they are beset by bad luck for the next few weeks. Or you can give them a minor item that should be returned to the church.5) The PCs are asked to deliver a message to someone in a small village. They search for the village, but no-one has ever heard of it. Then, late at night, they encounter the village right beside the road. They are invited to stay but then taken prisoner; this is a village of the dead, and the note is their only way out. They must bargain with the dead to win back the note and their freedom. Once they win free, there is the loose end of who exactly sent them to this village......6) Pcs are asked to escort a young lady alone a route they are travelling anyway. During the travel, it becomes apparent that the girl is to be married to a brute. The girl begs to be allowed to escape but her maidservant is a hawkish women and will report this to the girl's husband-to-be who is powerful. The PCs must fake the girl's death or deliver her to her husband, or any other ruse they can think up to resolve this challenge.7) The PCs pack mule is stolen one night while travelling. The thieves use poison and escape as quickly as possible. A few weeks later, the PCs find the animal in a nearby village/town/Inn. What is going on?</blockquote>

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