The Five Sentence Side Trek...

[Flynn]

Good Morning, All:

I don't know about you guys, but I like to collect short adventure ideas. I may not always use them as presented, but I do enjoy collecting the better ones, just in case. For example, sometimes when your game has reached the end of an adventure, and you need a little action over the course of moving from one major adventure plot to the next, you need a little side trek adventure. That's what this thread is about: capturing some ideas for side trek adventures from the more creative types on this forum.

The Rules

Here are the basic rules, if you're interested in showing off your skills:

1. Each "side trek" should only consist of four or five scenes that are closely related and are played out in rough succession.
2. Each scene should be described concisely in only one sentence, with a reasonable effort to use proper punctuation and the like. (i.e. Avoid run-on sentences.)
3. Each "Five Sentence Side Trek" should be a self-contained adventure that doesn't impact the rest of the campaign, so that they can be dropped in to any campaign with minimal fuss.

And for an example, here's the first "Five Sentence Side Trek":

When Harpies Attack

1. During a night camping out in the wilderness, a band of harpies attacks the party and flies off with a comrade/ally (NPC, preferably) during the fight.
2. Through observation, investigation or sheer luck, the party locates the nearby hill/mountain where the harpies live.
3. Climbing the hill/mountain, the party encounters one or more mountain-dwelling creatures, such as bears, snakes, griffins or giant rams.
4. When the party reaches the nest, there's a huge fight with the harpies to save their comrade/ally.
5. As the fight with the harpies dies down, a giant roc (the adopted mother of the harpies) returns from her hunt and attacks those who are killing her "babies".

Do you need another example? Okay, here's the typical starting adventure for a fantasy campaign, but it makes for a good side trek as well:

Raiders Attack The Caravan

1. During the night, humanoid raiders (kobolds, orcs or goblins) attack the caravan that the party is travelling with.
2. The caravan master hires the party to track down the raiders, because they stole something or someone of importance to him.
3. Following the raiders, the party encounter an outlying patrol and deal with them.
4. After sneaking up on the raider's camp and formulating a plan, the party engages the raiders protecting the asset that they are seeking to recover.
5. The leader of the raiders (typically an ogre, human, or hobgoblin) catches the party in the act of retrieving the asset, and engages in a final climactic battle for possession.

One more? Try this one:

Undead At The Old Monastery

1. While travelling through or stopping in a small village after dark, the party must deal with a mob of zombies.
2. Through observation, investigation or sheer luck, the party locates the old abandoned monastery where the zombies came from.
3. The party must fight through a small variety of undead (or just more zombies), before they witness a necromancer performing a ritual before a portal or glowing fountain of some sort.
4. The party then attacks the necromancer and his undead defenders, trying to stop the ritual.
5. Just as the portal closes or the fountain stops glowing, some powerful undead remnant (such as a ghost, demon or undead spellcaster) of the Dark Forces on the other side of the portal slips through, to wreak some final havoc on the party.

Now that I've given you three side treks for your own use, I'd love to see some of your creative efforts.

Looking Forward To It,
Flynn

 

[Lord Zardoz]

And now for something completely different

1) The players rescue a child who rewards them with a doll that appears to be worth a great deal of money.

2) The player that claims the doll becomes a target for bird droppings, false accusations, hair loss, incontinence, disease, and an inability to fall asleep.

3) Attempts to discard the doll have the doll reappear in the owners backpack, and an attempt to destroy it results in the doll animating and fleeing.

4) While chasing the doll through some sewers, the players discover a bunch of insane cultists about to perform a human sacrifice to unleash a pestilence demon on the city.

5) Defeating the cultists makes the players heroes, at which point the doll disappears until the DM wants to torment the player again.

Intent: A random event that causes the players some measure of inconvenience that leads to a one off plot hook, allowing the players to thwart a dire threat they would have otherwise never discovered.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Ydars]

Dreams of Ruin. (idea stolen from Forbidden Planet).

1. PCs are going home penniless after an adventure, but are still some way away. They find a dying man and he bites a PC. The PCs loot the old man, and find some coins.

2. All the PCs have strange dreams; of being an animal or monster and of strange ruins. The next morning, a monster is found to have been roaming the countryside, slaying. It seems to attack people the PCs know or have had dealings with.

3. All attempts to heal the bitten PC fail; the PCs get in trouble because of the attacks but always have an alibi.

4. The dreams continue until one of the PCs spends the cursed coin (determined randomly). Then the new owner unconciously commands the monster when asleep to do what his animal side desires.

5. The PCs solve the mystery based on the pattern of attacks and that fact that they themselves are eventually targetted. They return the coin to the ruins they saw in their dreams.

 

[Flynn]

Great ideas, guys! Please, keep 'em coming!

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[Ydars]

1) PCs are lost in the wilderness and see a light ahead; it is a strange village. The villagers greet the PCs and feed them. The PCs stay because of bad weather.

2) The villagers ask the PCs to take a letter for them to the next town; it is just along the road and so costs them nothing. If they try to read it, it appears to be written in a strange language.

3) The message is for a young girl, and as soon as she reads it she becomes terribly afraid and looks at the PCs as if they are monsters. Later, the PCs learn that a witch-hunter or cleric is asking questions about them.

4) As they try and leave the town, (or if they stay) they are confronted by a pitchfork wielding mob who think they are angels of death, lead by the witch-finder.

5) The PCs learn that the girl has gone to the village of the dead. If she crosses the boundary, she will die. The PCs race back and stop the girl but the dead villagers shed their illusions and attack. The PCs fight to the death and are killed, and then wake up surrounded by bones in the ruined village. The girl is safe with them.

 

[hong]

1. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.
2. Her 5-year mission.
3. To explore strange new worlds.
4. To seek out new life and new civilisations.
5. To boldly go where no man has gone before.



Oh, you said the five sentence SIDE trek.

My bad.

 

[Zerakon]

1) The players rescue a child who rewards them with a doll that appears to be worth a great deal of money.

2) The player that claims the doll becomes a target for bird droppings, false accusations, hair loss, incontinence, disease, and an inability to fall asleep.

3) Attempts to discard the doll have the doll reappear in the owners backpack, and an attempt to destroy it results in the doll animating and fleeing.

4) While chasing the doll through some sewers, the players discover a bunch of insane cultists about to perform a human sacrifice to unleash a pestilence demon on the city.

5) Defeating the cultists makes the players heroes, at which point the doll disappears until the DM wants to torment the player again.

Intent: A random event that causes the players some measure of inconvenience that leads to a one off plot hook, allowing the players to thwart a dire threat they would have otherwise never discovered.

END COMMUNICATION

As a player, after #3 happened I'd never do #4. Screw the doll.

 

[Ydars]

Hong; now I know how you manage to have so many posts !

 

[Ydars]

Staying on topic................................

Hunting party.

1) PCs are camping after an adventure, find an apple tree in the middle of the forest and take an apple.

2) The elven "Huntmaster" arrives that night, with his fellhounds and declares that the PCs lives are forfeit because of the apple they stole.

3) PCs must race through the forest, using all their skills to evade pursuit by the hounds and reach a ruined tower upon a hill, several miles away.

4) On the way, they encounter bogs, a giant spider colony, glowing lights and finally a knight with a stag's head helm disputing the only crossing across a gorge.

5) At the ruin, the elves give the PCs a horn. If they blow on the horn, the elven hunt will answer the call just once.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

As a player, after #3 happened I'd never do #4. Screw the doll.

The series of events that inspired this worked out fine. When I ran it, the player finally managed to rid himself of the thing. The thing to remember is that the object does have HP, and it is not an unkillable object. When players get the idea that they can kill something, they tend to be fairly motivated to do so in most cases.

It might not work on you, but that does not mean it would never work.

END COMMUNICATION