I’ve done it again and fallen behind on my Adventure Hooky Goodness Personal Challenge. Often it’s not that I haven’t written the hook, it’s more-so my inability to get time to format and upload it. I think what I will do to make it easier on myself is to post hooks twice a week. So twice a week you will get a triple (or quadruple) threat of Adventure Hook Goodness – hopefully that will appease the inner demons that caused me to make this challenge to myself, and also I hope it will provide some good entertainment for all of you who so kindly read my mad scribblings!
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ADVENTURE HOOK 015
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Location:
A mid-sized town located in the valley between a mountain range and a hill-scape that melts into its adjacent swampy terrain
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Situation:
A lightening storm grips the valley, lasting two full days. On the third day, an old, dirty, emaciated man comes into town and stands in the market square yelling about the eyes of ______ [insert God of choice here, probably something storm or weather related].
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Problem:
The man seems disheveled and not really sane, but he spouts off facts about a secret laboratory in the hills. The man comes to the market square every day to speak prophecies to the people. The prophecies include more lightening storms and the destruction of the town. Two days later, another lightening storm occurs. This becomes a cycle and the people start to worry about their destruction, especially because the man no longer comes to the center of town (he stopped after the second storm). A local historian, interests piqued, asks the party for help (or offers to pay them).
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Tasks:
The players need to
1) Find and talk to the old man and find out all they can
2) Find the laboratory in the hills
3) Go to the laboratory and investigate the cause of the storms
4) Make sure the town is not destroyed
5) Retrieve all historical documents from the laboratory
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Things to explore:
1) What is the laboratory doing in the hills? No one mentioned it before, is it old or new, abandoned or inhabited?
2) Is the old man crazy, or has he mastered some spell that allows him to summon lightening? Or both? Or is he really insane and there is someone else that is causing the storms?
3) Perhaps the man was experimented on and the electricity in the lightening treatments made him go insane? Or perhaps a Jekyl and Hyde type interaction?
4) Maybe the storms are a fluke and entirely unrelated to the laboratory or the historical documents – maybe the crazy man is a red herring and the party will find more dire things happening in the laboratory than they ever would have guessed? Is there something bad coming out of the swamp?
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Suggestions:
This hook has a definite theme. try to capitalize on the Lightening aspects of the adventure and make it fun. You could incorporate some nice terrain effects into the battles during this hook. Also, finding the old man could be a skill challenge, or finding a particular book that the historian wants could be a skill challenge, especially if there are others looking for the same item.
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That’s the end of Adventure Hook 015!
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I hope you are enjoying this series – post a comment and let me know what you think of them! Are they helpful? Is there something you wish I would address?
By the way, my blog will be moving web-hosting services in the next week or two (or three – I want to get it right!). I will retain the wordpress shell, so not much will change about the blog portion, but the bookmark you use may need to be updated. I’ll keep you posted!
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Until next time, I wish you good gaming!
~DM Samuel
Great stuff !!
More urban ideas though..