RolePlay onLine RPoL Logo

, welcome to Community Chat

23:24, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Small adventure idea needed.

Posted by CrazyIvan777
CrazyIvan777
member, 254 posts
Wed 31 Oct 2018
at 19:30
  • msg #1

Small adventure idea needed

What it says on the tin, really...

Currently I'm in a situation in which my D&D party (5th ed, if it matters) had decided to go try to scope out an evoker-mage who had put out a bounty on the party's heads. Problem is, they were so ... not-stealthy and not-subtle about it, they ended up being invited onto the ship that the evoker lives on.

The reason for the bounty was that the evoker had her eyes on a specific magic item, and the PC's blundered into the temple it was kept in and took it, spoiling the evoker's plans to get it. Now, I figure, the evoker will say, "Well, I was going to take it off your dead bodies, and I didn't know where you were, so a bounty seemed appropriate. Give me the item and we'll call it even." - but you know adventurers. They're not going to give it over.

I'm sure the evoker would have some other 'job' for them that will even the score, or somesuch, but I'm drawing a blank. Just going back and liberating another item seems... A little too 'rote'. So what else can the evoker ask of them that's not just bog-standard monster hunt or dungeon crawl?

Some backstory / worldbuilding:

The entire campaign so far has been set in an enormous city that was built on the ruins of a an ancient city that burned down a long time ago. The ruins have all manner of weird stuff in it. The city itself sits in the middle of a huge blasted plain with an enormous lake aside it (allowing ship traffic to some degree, and shipping is needed as the city has very little in the line of natural resources)

The PC's have recently joined a group of mercs that do an unofficial city watch, and are gaining fame / infamy due to a noble wedding they attended in which the wedding was spoiled and the chapel was mostly destroyed. The party consists of a brother-sister halfling duo (a sorc and a wizard), a disgraced noble human swashbuckler, and a tiefling bard / warlock who works as a dominatrix.

The entire game is supposed to hinge around politics and intrigue, but I do like to throw straight-up combat in from time to time.

I am officially open to suggestions!
DaCuseFrog
member, 25 posts
SW Florida
Wed 31 Oct 2018
at 19:44
  • msg #2

Small adventure idea needed

They could be asked to convince a noble for a political favor on behalf of the evoker.
roguesigyn
member, 4 posts
Wed 31 Oct 2018
at 19:45
  • msg #3

Small adventure idea needed

Evoker sends them to steal/acquire some secret knowledge his rival knows/keeps in library, that he has no way to get by himself. Could require stealthing, sweet talking, organising distraction (maybe the rival would like to partake of the dominatrix services, if the characters listen for rumors about them).

Evoker has a crush for someone that he can't approach directly and has the group act as middle men for his attempts to pursue this person. It's a plot that's older than me, but can be fun.

Something like that?
facemaker329
member, 7054 posts
Gaming for over 30
years, and counting!
Wed 31 Oct 2018
at 19:55
  • msg #4

Small adventure idea needed

Rather than sending them after an item, the evoker could tell them he needs some specific creature captured and brought back alive...why isn't terribly important, but it could be anything from needing bits of it to use as spell components or the like--wanting them to be fresh, because they're more powerful that way--to just wanting it as a status symbol.  Then they have to find the thing, figure out how to capture it, subdue it, and keep it alive until they get it back to the evoker...that should add a few degrees of challenge to the whole thing.
Cygnia
member, 288 posts
Amoral Paladin
Wed 31 Oct 2018
at 20:29
  • msg #5

Small adventure idea needed

Evoker asks them to carry out a character assassination on a rival.  Not a literal assassination -- just one where they have to slander/libel/spread malicious gossip about/make them lose status and influence with the rightwrong people.

Oh yeah, and they have to make sure it sticks.
evileeyore
member, 134 posts
GURPS GM and Player
Wed 31 Oct 2018
at 21:27
  • msg #6

Re: Small adventure idea needed

CrazyIvan777:
"Well, I was going to take it off your dead bodies, and I didn't know where you were, so a bounty seemed appropriate. Give me the item and we'll call it even."

Why should the PCs care what the Evoker wants?  Is she powerful enough to threaten them?

If they're fine with fighting her, let them fight.
horus
member, 587 posts
Wayfarer of the
Western Wastes
Thu 1 Nov 2018
at 07:17
  • msg #7

Re: Small adventure idea needed

The suggestions so far seem to degenerate to:

Characters go and fetch something:  another artifact, a critter, knowledge, etc....
Characters start a rumor/create a smear campaign against a rival of the Evoker...
Characters wheedle a political figure to grant the Evoker a favor...

The characters could also perform some sort of geas or quest for the Evoker such that their compulsory services in performance thereof were considered payment enough for what they have.  This might have certain plot-level advantages, I don't know.

It may also be that the Evoker may want to have some fun with them, and decides to send them into a set-up, intending to then recover the artifact by prying it from their dead fingers.

Hope you find what you are looking for.
allworth
member, 45 posts
Thu 1 Nov 2018
at 13:10
  • msg #8

Re: Small adventure idea needed

horus:
The suggestions so far seem to degenerate to:

Characters go and fetch something:  another artifact, a critter, knowledge, etc....
Characters start a rumor/create a smear campaign against a rival of the Evoker...
Characters wheedle a political figure to grant the Evoker a favor...

The characters could also perform some sort of geas or quest for the Evoker such that their compulsory services in performance thereof were considered payment enough for what they have.  This might have certain plot-level advantages, I don't know.

It may also be that the Evoker may want to have some fun with them, and decides to send them into a set-up, intending to then recover the artifact by prying it from their dead fingers.

Hope you find what you are looking for.


I think that sums it up pretty well.
The only other thing I can think of depends on the Evoker and what kind of connections he has or how "evil" he his.
If the evoker leans pretty far to the "dark" side he could make deal with an other planar creature or something that lives in the depths of ancient ruins where he would send the party to the creature and it would go something like this - "Here are some play things all I ask is give me this when you are done with them."
engine
member, 672 posts
Thu 1 Nov 2018
at 17:26
  • msg #9

Re: Small adventure idea needed

CrazyIvan777:
So what else can the evoker ask of them that's not just bog-standard monster hunt or dungeon crawl?

As your players for their preferences and ideas. They might like a monster hunt or dungeon crawl; sometimes it can be a turn off when the DM tries too hard to avoid clichés. Do mention your own preferences to them (or remind them what the game was meant to be about) and then listen to and work with their ideas.
Sign In