I’m listening to “Carrie” by the band Europe right now, and it reminded me of Stephen King’s book by the same title. That’s today’s inspiration (the book, not the song) for the adventure hook.

This hook can be applied to pretty much any genre. Each genre will have its own approach to solving the riddle. A dystopic cyberpunk game might lead to Blipverts (my homage to Max Headroom). A fantasy game with high magic might lead to an evil evoker. A pulp horror game might lead to the discovery of a new Elder One. The possibilities are almost endless.

People around town are starting to spontaneously combust. After the third victim, the authorities begin a serious investigation and find that none of the three people are related in any possible way. The scorched bodies begin to pile up in the morgue and no one can seem to figure out exactly what is going on. The player characters are brought into the situation after the seventh combustion victim in six days dies. They are urged to take over and lead the investigation into what is going on. While they are told that no resources will be spared to help them, the total opposite is true. The authorities are trying to distance themselves from what they see as a road to failure in the investigation and will use the PCs as scape goats when they fail… if they fail. It’s up the PCs to keep their name in the clear while they try to find out what is going on with these grisly deaths.