Ravenous Role Playing

This is a bit of a rip-off from… well… many different sources. It’s not an original idea, but it works well for the start of an adventure and/or campaign. I’ve done this to myself as a player a couple of times, and it was always fun to do.

The PCs (or maybe just one or two of them) wake up in the morning with no idea of who they are or where they came from. All of their skills and abilities are intact, except for those relying on memories or knowledge.

Who did this to them? Was it intentional or accidental? What triggered the amnesia? How are they going to regain their former memories… if at all?

This could apply to pretty much any genre or time period out there. It’s not horribly original, but I think it’s a topic that’s left overlooked: putting the PCs on the defensive.

A new group has recently arrived in town and seems to have all of the officials in their back pockets. The problem is they are extorting all of the local businesses (which includes friends of the PCs) for “protection money.” What are the PCs going to do about it without getting on the wrong side of the law?

The PCs awake to find themselves trapped in a bottle. It’s not very apparent to them right away what is going on (this is a great chance for a GM to describe the setting and allow the players to muddle it out.)

Once the PCs figure out their circumstances and fail to gain egress from the bottle a few times, the bottle rattles, shakes and then they suddenly find themselves in a well-appointed room laid out in a Middle Eastern style. A large blue genie stands over them and orders them to do his bidding. The genie is quiet amused by the turn of events and seems to relish in making the PCs dance and do his tasks.

How will the PCs get out of their predicament? What will the genie have them do? How many tasks must they perform before the genie, if ever, lets them out of the bottle for good?

Many thanks to Brad for this great idea. I complained that I was having a dry moment and just could not think of a hook. He came up with this one, and I loved it. Here it is.

An old wizard with too many years behind him has fallen into the grips of dementia. He comes screaming into the local tavern claiming robbery. All of his spell components are missing! Nothing of great value, such as his magical items, gold hoard, or priceless works of art, have been taken. Only his spell components are missing. Many people dismiss his ravings as those of a forgetful old man. Many of the locals claim this is not the first time he’s used up all of his spell components while experimenting with new spells, and ignore him. He storms up to the PCs table and offers to make them all a unique magic item if they find the thieves and return his collection of strange and rare spell components.

Do the PCs ignore the man? Do they take advantage of his dementia, agree to the job and find some lackeys to claim to be the robbers? Do they frame someone and buy the man new components? Perhaps the robbery is real and the PCs are on the trail of someone trying to destroy all local magicians’ abilities to cast most spells?

Today’s adventure is inspired by a fellow writer of mine. I’m blatantly stealing an idea from one of his short stories. He’ll probably never see this since he doesn’t role play, but thanks to Hank anyways.

This can apply to pretty much any setting, so I really like it. It has a fantastical element to it, so a world with some kind of magic would be preferable. However, there may be some perfectly reasonable scientific explanations for the unfolding events.

There is a wooded area in the middle of town and it suddenly explodes into exponential growth. It starts by consuming nearby buildings and blocks. As it grows, it throws forth spores and pollen in massive amounts. When the blasts hit vegetation, those plants begin to grow at a maddening pace. The entire town is being consumed. Any structures that are made of wood start to sprout new growth from the old, dead wood.

What are the PCs going to do about it? Do they need to venture to the center of the woods to find the source, or is the source external to the woods? Is this even something that can be stopped, or do they just need to wait it out and rescue any innocents caught in the path of the growing woods?

It’s a long-standing holiday tradition in my family to watch both of the Thanksgivings games. The second game is currently paused on the DVR to give me time to write this adventure hook.

Four factions have invaded the PCs town. Packers from the northeast have shown up and are attempting to pack up and move everyone to a different location. Meanwhile, Raiders from the land to the west have arrived and are attempting to steal everything in sight. While all this is going on, Lions from the north are attempting to devour everyone in sight (but not doing a very good job of it). There is some good news. The local Cowboys guild have banded together with the PCs to put a stop to all of this mayhem.

Who brought these four strange factions into town at the same time. Is it some strange plot of the sorcerer, Goodell, who lives in the frozen wastes of the Northern Frozen Lands (NFL for you slow people) or is some other strange plot afoot?

One or more of the PCs wake up in jail with no recollection of the preceding night. Before they can demand a lawyer, to be released or talk to a judge, an officer of the jail announces that it was all one big mistake and releases the PCs from jail without answering any of their questions. As they walk around town after their release, parents pull their children closer and they hear whispers of, “It’s them.” and “I can’t believe they were released from jail”.

What did the PCs do? Why were they released from jail so quickly? Are they exonerated? Was it a mistake? Will they be arrested again and hounded by the authorities?

Sorry for missing this yesterday. Life caught up with me, and I didn’t get a chance to post like I wanted to… Without further delay, the hook for this week!

This hook works for all genres, except maybe prehistorical settings, since home brewing of beer, wine and mead has been around for thousands of years. I expect home brewing to be around for a few more thousand as well, but maybe in a different form in the far future.

A local home brewer has created a concoction to allow people to sleep deeply and dream. While they dream their dreams come true. The horrific dreams slay people. The beautiful dreams heal people. The strange, yet mundane dreams, also come true in a twisted fashion. How is this happening? The brewer claims to be doing nothing differently from his normal brews. Investigations of his equipment, ingredients and processes yield nothing strange. There must be an outside source influencing his brews. The brewer claims he is doing nothing wrong and refuses to stop creating and sharing his creations. The PCs are hired to investigate the strange occurrences.

An old friend of the PCs (or maybe just one of the PCs) drags into their favorite watering hole and collapses at their feet. The friend then relates a tale of barely surviving a duel between two wizards in which one of them lost his life. The wizard’s death curse was deflected at the last moment by the winner of the duel, and struck the friend full in the chest. Now he is enfeebled, unhealthy, starving and thirst all the time and can barely keep up the will to live. The death curse will last until the dead wizard (the loser) is raised from the dead, or until the living wizard (the winner) is put to his final resting place.

Which route will the PCs go?

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.