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Pre-made plotlines for new GMs

vechmaster Jun '18
The aim of this forum is to be a compilation of basic plotlines in a similar style to D&D pre-made adventures. In order to act as inspiration for new GMs on the site.

These quests are supposed to be a framework for new GMs to build upon. Contributors should keep this in mind.

At the top of your post, please remember to list the difficulty/level of the quest (beginner, medium and advanced). With beginner quests also having an opportunity to gather the new party together at the start. Furthermore, list the genre of the quest.

Finally, effort should be put into contributions. Meme posts, troll posts or anything low effort are not wanted and won't be accepted.

I hope contributors find this fun, and new GMs find this useful ^_^
seanisaswom Jun '18  /  edited Jun '18
Yep, this would help other players alot!
vechmaster Jun '18
===The Vampire of Crowtail Moor===

[Beginner], [Medieval Fantasy]

Background: The village of Crowtail borders a great moor. This tiny settlement is often overlooked by travellers, however the villagers don't complain; they seem to be wary of outsiders. However, word has been sent out that people have been vanishing from the village at night; and the Village Head is looking for someone to investigate. For a sum of gold, of course.

-----

The Beginning:

- The party arrives at the village gates (The gate-wood or gate-stone mat can be used here) as a wagon drops them off. The party should have some time to get to know each other, it should be established that they are all there for the same reason, and the know that.

- A guard at the gates calls to the party, asking them to state their intent. If they say that they are there for the quest, the guard should direct them to the village head.

- (the village mat can be used here. place markers to denote relevant buildings, such as tavern or blacksmith) The village head meets the party in the village itself (for flavour, a marker denoting an abandoned building can be placed). They explain the situation to the party, about how people have been vanishing at night.

- The party can now discuss amongst themselves and the Village Head how they want to investigate. For new GMs, it is important to let the players make their own decision, but don't be afraid to have the Village Head make suggestions.

- The party can now go ahead with their plan. if they decide to question people in town:

>- The Tavern is run by the owners wife, she mentions that he was taken a few days ago. The GM can decide how he was taken, but snatched out of their bedroom window, or vanished while on a nighttime stroll might be good options.

>- The Blacksmiths daughter has been taken last night. He is distraught, and refuses to work until she is found. As the GM, you can decide between having the daughter actually kidnapped, or presenting the party with a series of clues to investigate, leading them to find the daughter in the basement of an abandoned house; having fallen in the previous afternoon.

>- As the GM you can improvise and make up other stories and clues for the party to learn from other miscellaneous townsfolk

-----

The Middle:

- After the party is finished investigating, nightfall comes. The Village Head advises the party to stay inside, at the local tavern.

- Have the party make a senses check (vision specifically). If there is a hard success from a party member, mention that they catch glimpses of some lights far out in the moor. But it is hard to tell what they are, and they vanish quickly.

- As the GM, you can let the party decide what they want to do. Head to the tavern? Stay out in the village for a patrol? If they elect to go out onto the moor, have multiple villagers warn them of the danger of the moor at night. If they still want to head out into the moor, do a mystery dice roll of three dice as they leave:

>- 0 stars: the party is ambushed by a pack of goblins on the moors. After the encounter, mention that it maybe wise to return to the village.

>- 1 star: have the party perform a dexterity check. any who fail end up stuck in a bog that they need to get out of before they sink.

>- 2 stars: the party comes across the fresh corpse of a wolf, it seems to have been killed by something big. The party would hear a noise, and the GM should mention that it would be best for them to return to the village (If they do not, the party has an encounter with a low-level troll and two or three goblins)

>- 3 stars: the party has an encounter against a low-level troll and two or three goblins. Afterwards, mention that it would be safer for them to return to the village

>- Skull: have the party perform a dexterity check, any who fail are stuck in a bog and the party is also attacked by three goblins. One additional goblin is added per star rolled

>- Moon: the party wanders the bog for a while, finding nothing important. They do stumble upon a skeleton and each party member gets 1 gold each, with an additional 1 gold per star rolled.

(back to the main quest)

- If the party elects to stay outside, or go into the tavern, as the GM give them time to roleplay with each other. Let them chat and get to know each other. At some point, however, have the party perform a senses roll. Any success means that they hear a scream and know where it comes from. If they all fail the check, have them hear the scream but not know where it came from.

- As the party goes to investigate, if they succeeded the check they find a man and a woman cornered by three Ghoul-Thralls! These ghouls should be fairly low level, an average encounter for the party. If they failed the check, have the man and woman say that they were attacked be something, and point out a direction; the party follows it and that is where the encounter happens.

- After the encounter the party would see another ghoul running across the rooftops, carrying something: A baby! If the party chases, have them perform endurance or speed checks to keep up. if they fail, they will have to track the ghouls footprints across the Moor (The dice roll mentioned previously would be relevant here). If they succeed, they keep the ghoul in their sights as it runs across the moor to an old castle.

- let the party decide what they want to do: go to the castle now, to return to the village to prepare. If they go to the castle now everything is as normal. If they return to the village to prepare, when they go back to the castle every encounter has one extra ghoul. However, the party is accompanied by a low level townsperson who assists them in battle (however, be sure to mention that this NPC can be slain in battle, and tell the party how much HP they have).

-----

The End:

- The party approaches the castle. (the Stone-entrance mat can be used here. however, modify it for night). have two ghouls stand outside on patrol. The party is, by default, undetected. Let the party decide how they want to handle the ghouls. However, if they fight them or a stealth attack fails to kills both, have one try and run away to alert the others. If this ghoul succeeds, add one additional ghoul to all encounters within the castle.

- Once the party is inside the castle, its layout and length is up to your discretion as the GM. By default, it is recommended that there are at least two basic encounters with ghoul-thralls (don't forget the modifiers from preparation and detection)

>- As the GM, you can describe the inside of the castle however you want. However, a good example would be to explain that it is an old structure, crumbling in places. Some parts overgrown with plants.

>- In one corridor have a section of wall be overgrown with plants. If anyone investigates it, have them perform a senses check. If it fails, say that there is nothing of interest. If there is a hard success, mention that they can feel a draft. If they cut through the plants, reveal a secret room with several skeletons within it; among the skeletons there is a total of ten gold pieces that the party can distribute however they want.

- The party should finally reach a large chamber (the throne or courtyard mats can be used for this). Inside is the vampire himself (details about this boss will be below) and one ghoul-thrall (and any added due to modifiers, however remove any if the party is unequipped to deal with them). Use the gazebo mini as a cage, mention that the missing townsfolk are in there.

- The fight with the vampire is a tough encounter. The party does have the option to open dialogue with him first, however they can fight right away.

- If the party wins the fight and the vampire is slain, have them find a mysterious ring on his corpse.

>- If a party member puts it on, they become cursed and cannot remove the ring. Furthermore sunlight harms them when not wearing a hood or using other forms of protection. However they get the benefit of +1 to senses (specifically smell). This curse can be used as a jumping off point for a new quest about removing the curse from the item. The Village Head mentioning a place where they might be able to find a wizard to remove the curse.

>- If nobody puts on the ring, when the party returns to the village, have the village head mention that it seems cursed, and they point the party to a place where they might be able to find a wizard to remove the curse; this can be used as the jumping off point for a new quest about removing the curse.

- The party returns to the village with the people they rescued, after talking with the Village Head each party member receives 10 gold pieces and the quest ends.

>- A quest like this should give the party around 4xp each

=====

The vampire:

The vampire himself is a tough boss for low level characters. He has a terrifying presence being tall, thin and pale. Furthermore, he possesses no shadow.

If the party opens dialogue with him, much of what he says can be improvised by you, the GM. However a few potential points he can make:

>- He has been slumbering for a century and has recently woken up

>- The ghoul-thralls are from the last time he awoke to feed

>- a few other adventurers had come to try and slay him

The vampires stats can be changed somewhat to make the fight more suitable for the party. However, these are the recommended base stats:

HP: 9 (add or remove additional HP if you think the fight is too easy/tough)

Standard attack: The vampire can attack the party with claws or a sword with 5 dice

Defence: The vampire, by nature, is very agile. He has 4 dice to be rolled in order to evade attacks.

Special Moves:

>- Bite: The vampire can roll 4 dice to bite a party member (or assisting NPC) and drink their blood. This can be blocked/dodged. However, any damage this attack does restores the vampires HP by the amount of HP the target loses. The vampire should only attempt this once or twice during the fight

>- Summon Thrall: The vampire can roll 3 dice to summon a thrall to aid him in battle. 3 stars adds another ghoul to the fight. 2 stars adds a vicious large bat to the fight . 1 star adds two swarms of bloodsucking insects to the fight. Zero stars adds a swarm of bloodsucking insects to the fight. A skull summons nothing, and a moon brings in two ghouls and one swarm of insects per extra star. The vampire can use this as many times as he likes in the fight, however potentially no more than five times, and be sure to keep things fair for the party.

>- Become Shade: a powerful spell the vampire can use only once in the battle. They roll 5 dice to plunge the room into darkness. The party should roll for senses, any who fail the check take one or two damage, depending on what is fair. The dice rolled by the vampire denotes how many turns this is repeated for. However, this can be cancelled early if a player rolls a moon for a senses check, or if it is unfair on the party.

=====

This was a pre-made quest for new GMs. I hope it is useful for anyone who wants to get into Gming and I wish you good luck and much fun in the games you run! ^_^
antiman Jun '18  /  edited Jun '18
In a similar vein to despising Tavern intros, I offer my own.

--Fantasy: High - Low--

Smoke, blood, steel. The normal earthen scents of the land are muted beneath the cacophony of battle, the squish and slosh of war. A minor skirmish in a greater civil war, but one that would render the party completely out of their element. Why're they here? That's for them to decide, but it doesn't matter now; their bodies thrown amidst the veritable mosh of combatants, both loyalist and separatist, until they're shoved together, each back to back with the other. Their weapons are drawn as they face the maelstrom with whatever semblance of resolve they can muster. Heroes? Not yet. Just survivors.

After they've had to kill both loyalist and separatist, the party can decide to go to a tavern in the nearby city; not a grandiose city, but one with walls, and safety was a feeling they needed right now. Prompt a discussion about allies, and have both sides have sympathizers within the establishment. Try to make the sides have sympathetic motives; nothing ruins the illusion of choice more than side of strict 'good' and 'evil' for no reason.

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