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Archpaladin Zousha
2011-04-16, 11:16 AM
I was exploring the 1001 Bad Plot Hooks (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=191844) thread, and it got me to thinking something. We've got a lot of threads dedicated to weird plots generally for humorous purposes, but not a whole lot for serious ones. I figured that'd make an interesting project, and thus this thread was born!

The idea behind this thread is the plot hook that indicates something strange, weird or just plain wrong is going on. Something's amiss, and no one can explain it, calling upon intrepid player characters to investigate. It could be caused by a demonic invasion, the efforts of a mad wizard or god, or just some random person with an odd notion, but it definitely qualifies as unusual, and not in a good way.

1. Members of a particular race are being found in alleyways throughout the city, alive but missing something that defines them (Example: Elves being found with their ears cropped, or dwarves being found scalped.)

2. The PCs meet with one of their regular contacts, but he/she doesn't recognize them, acting as if this is the first time they've ever spoken.

3. People are starting to exhibit plague-like boils and other symptoms, but they don't feel sick, able to carry out their business and lives as normal, and they don't seem to be contagious, the infections happening seemingly at random.

Armoury99
2011-04-16, 02:20 PM
OK, here's a selection of my odder adventure starts from years gone by...

4. A known villain runs up to the PCs looking for help, claiming that he is the PCs and has been body-jacked by the real villain, who's right there! <*points at PC*>

5. PCs discover that they're trapped in a story someone else is telling...

6. The adventure is actually a dream being had by ONE of the PCs. Everyone else is a figment of their imagination.

7. PCs discover that they are actually a bunch of polymorphed monsters masquerading as heroes, and the originals are imprisoned by their masters. Unfortunately the Fake PCs have "gone native" due to the effects of prolongued polymorphing.

8. Rescue a Dragon in Distress from a Fiery Damsel.

sengmeng
2011-04-17, 04:02 PM
9. Local queen is looking for a consort... and decides that a gladiator tournament will determine the lucky man.

10. A city's weather turns permanently grey, no sunlight reaching it... enter the undead.

11. A silver dragon asks the party's strongest combatant to be his second at a duel with a green dragon.

some guy
2011-04-17, 05:33 PM
12. The local smithy marries a boar. At night the boar sits below the window of a PC and sings about strange forgotten places.

13. A toothless wizard wants you to slay the unfathomable beast of Klast and deliver it's teeth to him. But not before you washed his laundry.

14. When defending a caravan from goblins, some of the goblins, when slain, turn into sand.

15. It is said when you slay 23 ogres (no less, no more) on 17 tuesdays (no less, no more), you will be able to wield the Fabled Sword of List the Opposable, Father of a Thousand Worries. How to find the sword is whole different thing.

16. Since the fall of Fighter-King Canfold the Nearly-Starved the villagers of a local town will eat nothing except flies.

17. At the celebration of King Wansmaak the Many-Eyed's fifth marriage (all with the same woman), the king was given a painting of his beautiful daughter. Everyone agrees it's very realistic and lifelike. The problem is that the king doesn't have daughter; as a construct he cannot procreate.

Lemunde
2011-04-17, 07:45 PM
18. A strange substance is seeping into a city's sewer system causing strange mutations in creatures such as rats, alligators and turtles.

Re'ozul
2011-04-17, 07:56 PM
19. Some of the copper pieces all over the land appear to be dangerous to ones health. They crop up in small amounts here and there and cause people that have them on them to become sick and eventually die.

Lord Raziere
2011-04-17, 08:24 PM
20. A King hires you to defy a prophecy and prevent it from coming about.

21. A dragon asks for your help to slay a Princess with a rock stuck in a sword.

22. A Demon comes to the PCs and asks if they can teach him to be good a guy.

23. A gorgan with a blindfold around her eyes want you to go on a quest to make an item that will prevent her turning people to stone, so that she can find her true love.

24. you join an adventurers guild, do all the missions that the paranoid drow sorcerer who-hates-spiders guildmaster tells you to do.

25. a skeleton comes up to our heroes and asks them to find a way to kill him cause he wants to join his family in celestia, but because a necromancer raised him, he can't get himself to die for some reason. go into dungeons with this skeletal tagalong to find something in them to kill him!

Fiery Diamond
2011-04-17, 09:14 PM
OK, here's a selection of my odder adventure starts from years gone by...

4. A known villain runs up to the PCs looking for help, claiming that he is the PCs and has been body-jacked by the real villain, who's right there! <*points at PC*>

5. PCs discover that they're trapped in a story someone else is telling...

6. The adventure is actually a dream being had by ONE of the PCs. Everyone else is a figment of their imagination.

7. PCs discover that they are actually a bunch of polymorphed monsters masquerading as heroes, and the originals are imprisoned by their masters. Unfortunately the Fake PCs have "gone native" due to the effects of prolongued polymorphing.

8. Rescue a Dragon in Distress from a Fiery Damsel.

I wanna know what happened with #4 here. What happened with the villain and the PC?

rayne_dragon
2011-04-17, 09:43 PM
26. Every night the PCs have the same dream about a forlorn mountain and the mysterious/ominous ruins/temple/castle on top of it and the dreams increase in intensity until they visit it.

Hiro Protagonest
2011-04-18, 01:34 PM
11. A silver dragon asks the party's strongest combatant to be his second at a duel with a green dragon.


26. Every night the PCs have the same dream about a forlorn mountain and the mysterious/ominous ruins/temple/castle on top of it and the dreams increase in intensity until they visit it.

These aren't very strange, they are, however, awesome.

Archpaladin Zousha
2011-04-18, 07:36 PM
27. People in the city are somehow fattening up overnight, going to sleep perfectly normal and then waking up obese in the morning. The victims have no idea how it happened, due to being asleep at the time, and people who stayed up during the night to observe it say that nothing different occured. The victims just started expanding while they slept. It's getting worse, with more people falling victim to it each night. The PC's have been called in to investigate, but can they solve the mystery before the entire city's affected? And more importantly, how can they prevent it from affecting them?

28. All the members of a certain race have dissapeared from a local area (all the elves are gone, all the halflings are gone, all the humans are gone, etc.), apart from the PCs, who have just arrived there. The PCs are called upon by the remaining races there, who are surprised and frightened, to try and figure out what caused this vanishing.

29. All the local animals have gotten agitated about something. Smaller ones are simply becoming skittish or defensive around people, while larger ones outright attack. Initially the local druids are suspected, but it's soon revealed that the animals are just as hostile to them, and they are equally at a loss as to what's changed. The PC's must figure out the reason for the sudden change in animal behavior. How long can they last in a realm where Mother Nature has literally turned against them.

Lord Raziere
2011-04-18, 11:10 PM
30. You all meet up in a tavern, however as soon you get out, the ground starts shaking and suddenly the illusion goes away- you are not in a small town at all, you are in fact on a big futuristic ship that immediately rises into the air, the ship then travels into the future, dumps you there then goes back to your time again. Figure out how to get back to your time while trying to survive the future and figure out why that ship kidnapped you.

The Rose Dragon
2011-04-18, 11:43 PM
17. At the celebration of King Wansmaak the Many-Eyed's fifth marriage (all with the same woman), the king was given a painting of his beautiful daughter. Everyone agrees it's very realistic and lifelike. The problem is that the king doesn't have daughter; as a construct he cannot procreate.

You are scaring me.

Randel
2011-04-19, 12:17 AM
31. You are in a city under attack by an army of orcs when they finally break through the outer walls and overrun the area. Amidst the chaos you hear the gnomish owner of the local tavern yelling for people to come inside. You make it into the tavern packed with people when the orcish soldiers rush at the door and... are repelled by the wards protecting the tavern.

"Haha!" the gnomish bartender chuckles as he sees the furious soldiers banging on the invisible barrier protecting the building. "It'll be a long time before an unruly guest breaks into my establishment."

The little man scuttles to one end of the bar and opens a previously secret panel from which the frightened and startled inhabitants of the tavern can see a series of knobs and switches.

"Now then, I'll just flip this switch and take us to Stoneswood where you can all get off... then we'll come back and deal with these ruffians." he flips a switch and you can feel the tavern shake a little as it starts to rise into the air.

"We're... we're flying!?" A frightened woman says, looking out the window as the ground begins to move away... until the building stops with a shuddering halt.

The bartender stops mid laugh as he senses something wrong. "Um... just a second." he fiddles with the knobs and suddenly the whole tavern drops about three feet before stopping. "No no! The other one."

The tavern suddenly vanishes and the patrons are treated to the sight of themselves standing over sixty feet in the air above an orc infested city.

"Cr... uh... maybe..." the gnome flips the switch back and the tavern reappears around them all.

There is a deadly silence in the room as the gnome looks at the controls to his apparently flying tavern, looks back at his patrons and then discretely closes the secret panel to address the crowd.

"Um... don't worry folks. Just a little... magical... complication." he looks at the crowd. "Drinks are on the house!". You can hear the screams of humans and orcs alike on the city below before someone discretely closes the front door.


You and over a hundred people are stuck in a tavern hovering sixty feet above the surface of a city being overrun by orcs.

some guy
2011-04-19, 08:15 AM
You are scaring me.

Thanks, try this one:

32. The Puppetlord is pregnant. Can you stop him before his eyes hatch which will release his dark designs upon this world?

33. There is a dark hole in the ground. Not even darkvision can penetrate it. Any creature thrown in there comes out four days later when the moon is at its highest point. They come out better, but somehow obsessed with building something with objects they throw in the hole and retrieve four days later.

BraveSirKevin
2011-04-19, 01:53 PM
34. After a long quest to track down a high level villain, they finally corner him in his evil lair. He's dressed in a simple suit with a white coat and has a surprisingly friendly demeanour. He also refers to them by names that they don't recognise as their own and explains that they are patients at a mental institution. He draws their attention to their wooden weapons and plastic armor, and when the characters take a look, they do indeed find that it is true.

35. Many townspeople have gone missing, one of them being the mayor's beloved wife. While searching the nearby ruins they are attacked by a frightened but fierce group of goblins. All of the goblins seem to have a single pear in their pockets. Each of the pears is in surprisingly pristine condition, without a single bruise or blemish. If a pear is kept and not eaten, the characters may notice that it also never rots. If a pear is eaten, the character who ate it begins to look more and more goblin-like, and can't get rid of the pear that keeps appearing in his pocket.

akma
2011-04-19, 05:44 PM
36. An immortal plots to give every living creature immortality.
37. An acidic creature sends the party to get something for him that will enable him to touch things without destroying them.
38. Creatures reflection in mirrors start to look diffrent, possibly as horrific monsters, or maybe as creatures screaming for help.
39. A strange new mineral is discovered and an organization tries to hide that for some reason.
40. A strange mineral is discovered and strange creatures begin to be attracted to it.
41. Someone kidnapps a prince, and demands as ransom exotic items that are cheap and easy to get. It could be a way to switch the prince with a shapeshifter, or maybe the items hold more value then they sound.
42. Someone hires the PCs to walk in a certain road, just them, with no further instructions.
43. Criminals are caught. When they are asked why they committed the crimes, they say it was part of a deal for someone called the forgotton employer, and that`s all they remmember.

SuperFish
2011-04-19, 09:15 PM
Relevant.

Might need to save and zoom in to read.

WHOOPS THE PICTURE HAD SWEARS MY BAD

Randel
2011-04-19, 11:25 PM
44. Over the past 200 years there have been about two dozen mysterious unsolved cases where particularly famous, strong, or beautiful people have woken up one morning to find that one of their body parts had vanished in the night! Fifty years ago a famous actress found her left hand missing, forty years ago a military general lost a leg, thirty years ago mage lost both his eyes, twenty years ago a barbarian king was found curled up with his entire spine missing, and ten years ago a powerful sorceress awoke to see her right arm had completely disappeared. There was also a case twenty five years ago of a warlord dying in his sleep but it was only after he was mummified that they discovered his heart was missing.

In all these cases, the area around the missing body part had been completely healed over with skin and there were no signs of scars or pain from the removal (though the barbarian without a spine and the heartless warlord were in pretty bad shape). Nobody was ever able to find out what happened through investigation or magic.

The local king is holding a celebration for his eldest daughter reaching her eighteenth birthday and its been said that she has the most beautiful face in the land. The king wants to make sure that no ill befalls her.

Archpaladin Zousha
2011-04-23, 02:03 PM
45. You've gone on a hike and suddenly were clubbed and carried off by mysterious folk. When you came to, you found yourself wearing clothes that weren't your own, in a place you've never been with no clear way of getting home, and people you meet have been calling you by a name that isn't yours, claiming familiarity when there is none and recalling things you don't remember. Try to figure out just who you are and why you've been placed in this role.

jseah
2011-04-23, 06:40 PM
46. One day the party, a normal adventuring party, starts finding many strange personal objects in their inventories.
A holy symbol of a religion no one in the party holds, a picture of a young girl in a pose as if holding the hand of her lover... who isn't in the picture (there's just blank space), one more bedroll than number of party members, rations containing strangely spiced rice that no one likes.

Everything points to the party having had one additional person. Thing is, no one recalls that person, including NPCs, and nothing refers to that person directly. His supposed wife/lover isn't in a relationship (but has jewelry she obviously cannot afford).

Everywhere, all the records and things point to there being a missing person. Just that no one remembers him.

Don Blake
2011-04-23, 10:32 PM
47: It took a while for the local's to notice their reflections disappearing- most of them couldn't afford vanity- or mirrors. It took much less time to notice the reflections returning, or the fact that each reflection's eyes were now a piercing blue, regardless of what should have been reflected.

48: Xirrac, the Cannibal City, has devoured part of one of your home.

49: The Iron Hearts of the Thrice Dead Sorcerer have been stolen- and implanted in the chests of the PCs.

50: Doors are permanent. Walls, floors, and roofs all fade away or are knocked down, but even when the wood and glass or stone is gone, the fact of the door still remains. So what happens when these doors start to open?

51: Upon discovering that the mayor was an evil necromancer, the party killed her, burned her body and salted the ashes. So who is living in the mayor's house, carrying out her duties, and sleeping with her wife?

jseah
2011-04-23, 10:50 PM
51: Upon discovering that the mayor was an evil necromancer, the party killed her, burned her body and salted the ashes. So who is living in the mayor's house, carrying out her duties, and sleeping with her wife?
o.O
Took me two reads to get that but "her wife"?

XD Not that I'm against civil unions or anything... but it seems like a touchy subject to include in a game.

Don Blake
2011-04-23, 10:56 PM
o.O
Took me two reads to get that but "her wife"?

XD Not that I'm against civil unions or anything... but it seems like a touchy subject to include in a game.

Know your group, I guess. All the groups I've played with might get a laugh out of it, but they wouldn't take offense.

golentan
2011-04-24, 12:28 AM
o.O
Took me two reads to get that but "her wife"?

XD Not that I'm against civil unions or anything... but it seems like a touchy subject to include in a game.

I less than humbly disagree.

52. A local noble's cat is on the loose. The last three retrieval teams sent after it were hospitalized with a wide assortment of injuries.

53. The National Security Chief has hired the PCs to spy on him and report any suspicious activity to himself.

Don Blake
2011-04-24, 12:49 AM
54: You all received an invitation to a masquerade ball, but when you arrive find that not only are the host and his frantically dancing guests unmasked, but they have no faces.

Axinian
2011-04-24, 04:30 AM
55: Whenever the party sets out on an adventure, they suddenly wake up in the town they started, with everyone congratulating them on their success. However, whenever this happens, the townsfolk only seem to remember the most recent quest. The PCs have no recollection of these adventures.

some guy
2011-04-24, 05:46 AM
56. The son of Queen Zwelklit the Highly Benevolent is roaming through the country, looking for a suitable girl to be his bride. The party is informed by the Thing of the Forest that if the young prince finds true love, the country will suffer through decades of misery and horror.


54: You all received an invitation to a masquerade ball, but when you arrive find that not only are the host and his frantically dancing guests unmasked, but they have no faces.

Inspired by this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_in_Yellow#The_play_called_The_King_in_Yellow) ?

Archpaladin Zousha
2011-04-25, 12:41 AM
57. When the PCs stop in a small, out-of-the-way village for the night, they are surprised to find their homeland's king standing behind the bar. If questioned, he claims that he isn't the king, and even has the locals vouch for him. Later, when the PCs arrive in the capitol, they meet the king again, who denies meeting them in a village tavern. So is this man truly the king? Is he lying? Under an enchantment? Does he have a twin brother? Is a dopelganger at work?

58. The local princess recruits the PCs to travel to a distant land and persuade a powerful transmuter to visit her. Once he arrives, the princess reveals that she wishes him to transform her into a dragon.

Arrakiz
2011-04-25, 08:43 AM
59 The PCs are actually clones of themselves from 100 years ago and only a few important (for the plot) NPCs know that.
60 The PC's main ally is a dragon in disguise of a human- leading the heroes to acomplish specific goal for that NPC.
61 There is a time loop in motion (classic though pain in the ass) making PCs stumble upon clues as to what to do to complete whatever they are doing- created by themselves in the future. at one point roles will switch- and the PCs will have to lead themselves from the past to those same clues.
62 The PCs have nightmares of strange beasts killing them over and over again in their dreams. At one point in the plotline it is reavelled that the actuall PCs are those beasts and are trying to take controll over their own bodies.
63 All the NPCs will react fearfully to the PCs actions no matter what those will be (they can try to help someone but he will be to afraid to say enything and will always run away). It is then reaveled that "geass" or "curse" was cast on them making them scare people forever. They have to find a mage powerfull enaugh to lift the curse, but he must be undead since only those don't feel fear.
64 A strange man/women appears, kneels before one of the PCs with his/hers head bowed and tells some kind of oath in an obscure language no one knows. That person then joins the grup and follows it everywhere, nobody knows why, but problems just keep appearing neer that stranger and he/she just doesn't want to go away. Though it appears he/she perfectly understands common he/she refuses to use it.
65 The local lord is convinced that one of the PCs is his relative and will hold him/her captive if he/she will refuse to stay with him in his mansion. Note: not good solo. Best compared with means to make PCs really want to get away from that place. somthing of significant personal importance.

LaZodiac
2011-04-25, 08:57 AM
66 Aquamarines and Amethysts are able to be imbeded into creatures and imbued with Farm Realm magic, corrupting the creature they are embedded with, making horrific abominations. Oh, the world government happens to have aquamarine sigil stone rings, which slightly peirce their skin to remind them of the heavy burden they hold.

BladeofOblivion
2011-04-25, 04:27 PM
66 Aquamarines and Amethysts are able to be imbeded into creatures and imbued with Farm Realm magic, corrupting the creature they are embedded with, making horrific abominations. Oh, the world government happens to have aquamarine sigil stone rings, which slightly peirce their skin to remind them of the heavy burden they hold.

Some typos are bad. Some are just annoying. And then some typos change entire worlds. Whoever thought that the Lovecraftian Realm that even the demons fear would be cultivated for food? :smalltongue:

Archpaladin Zousha
2011-04-25, 09:01 PM
67. Lately, an unsettling change has come over the populace of a small town the PC's have visited before. Where once people were friendly and cheerful, all the PC's get this visit are sullen glares and harsh encouragements to get out of town and not come back. Some people even get so riled as to attack the PC's. As far as the PC's know, they've done nothing that could have upset these townsfolk so. What prompted this change in attitude?

68. The PC's are recruited by the viscount of a large city to investigate a cult that has been causing trouble in the poorer districts. Upon infiltrating the cult, expecting to find an idol to a demon or maybe an evil god, the PC's are shocked to find a statue of the mayor's own god, which has a legitimate temple in the town. Why does this group feel the need to meet in secret? What are they up to? Why does the mayor want them gone, when they pray to the same deity?

Hiro Protagonest
2011-04-25, 09:04 PM
[B]68. The PC's are recruited by the viscount of a large city to investigate a cult that has been causing trouble in the poorer districts. Upon infiltrating the cult, expecting to find an idol to a demon or maybe an evil god, the PC's are shocked to find a statue of the mayor's own god, which has a legitimate temple in the town. Why does this group feel the need to meet in secret? What are they up to? Why does the mayor want them gone, when they pray to the same deity?

Easy, the god has more then one type of follower. For example, it could be a TN or LN deity of royalty or status or something. Therefore, the god would support both noble sovereigns and hard tyrants.

Archpaladin Zousha
2011-04-25, 09:06 PM
Easy, the god has more then one type of follower. For example, it could be a TN or LN deity of royalty or status or something. Therefore, the god would support both noble sovereigns and hard tyrants.

Quiet! Let the players figure something like that out for themselves! :smalltongue:

some guy
2011-04-26, 07:15 AM
Some typos are bad. Some are just annoying. And then some typos change entire worlds. Whoever thought that the Lovecraftian Realm that even the demons fear would be cultivated for food? :smalltongue:

In Distant Farm Realm, The Black Goat with a Thousand Young milks you*.


*Or, if you want puns: "In Distant Farm Realm, The Black Goat with a Thousand Young milks ewe.

Garwain
2011-04-26, 07:59 AM
I'm using these atm:
69 - Tremor Herbs
Just outside Veilcrest, you can find the Tremor Woods. Giants roam these Woods and are thus rarely visited. Nonetheless, visiting the woods can be worthwhile as rare Tremor Herbs grow there. Collecting these Herbs can be profitable, and used as ritual components. The rising demand in Veilcrest has inspired many to travel and collect the herbs themselves. You might want to stop at the reagent store to find out the actual prize and demand.

70 - Fortifications
The city of Veilcrest has ordered for new fortifications to be build. You are sent to XXX to learn how these walls have managed to withstand all those attacks. And more importantly, how they managed to rebuild them so fast.

71 - The easy job
Your first assignment as adventurer resulted in an attacked caravan you barely escaped. Looking death in the eyes once is more than enough and you find an easy guard job at Veilcrest. Your first night watch is not as uneventfull as you would have preferred because you see black figures climbing over the walls.

72 - No gold anymore
Veilcrest is suffering from a lack of currency. Anyone with a filled purse can exit the city, but nobody enters the city with coins in their pockets. This drainage of currency has led to trading in goods, which nobody is familiar with and causes great distress amongst the population. You are offered 2goats and a riding horse if you can restore the currency balance.

jseah
2011-04-26, 12:42 PM
72 - No gold anymore
ooooo

That could be interesting. Making players deal with deflationary pressures!

Would take a very specific type of player to have a proper game though. At least if you studied a bit of economics and didn't want to just handwave the whole thing through.

Notreallyhere77
2011-04-26, 01:00 PM
53. The National Security Chief has hired the PCs to spy on him and report any suspicious activity to himself.

I am using this. Here's my idea so far:
The Chief, along with the rest of the police in the capitol city, is concerned about a certain vigilante that roams the streets at night, tearing the throats out of common criminals. The only description of the vigilante is his notable strength and feline features. But the Chief has noticed strange things about himself - wounds with no readily remembered cause, articles of clothing disappearing from his person while he sleeps, etc, and has correctly deduced that he is a weretiger. Is he the vigilante? He must find out, and, if he is doing these illegal deeds, he must be stopped. Of course, this case requires discretion. That's where the PCs come in...

Sound good?

73. The party cleric or other holy man is receiving divine visions each night in his sleep. But not only are the visions coming from a god he doesn't venerate, they are clearly intended for someone else! Has some cosmic phenomena interfered with the mental broadcast? Is the rightful recipient receiving the same visions, and the cleric receiving an echo?

Don Blake
2011-04-26, 03:04 PM
74: The party is hired to assassinate a wizard (or other appropriate class, see below). Upon investigating they find that, apart from the name, the wizard is almost exactly the same person as the party member. Physically identical, identical stats, extremely similar upbringing, lifestyle, and past up to this point. Even shares any distinctive scars or similar identifying features.

golentan
2011-04-26, 04:29 PM
I am using this. Here's my idea so far:
The Chief, along with the rest of the police in the capitol city, is concerned about a certain vigilante that roams the streets at night, tearing the throats out of common criminals. The only description of the vigilante is his notable strength and feline features. But the Chief has noticed strange things about himself - wounds with no readily remembered cause, articles of clothing disappearing from his person while he sleeps, etc, and has correctly deduced that he is a weretiger. Is he the vigilante? He must find out, and, if he is doing these illegal deeds, he must be stopped. Of course, this case requires discretion. That's where the PCs come in...

Sound good?

My version involved a doppelganger conspiracy, but yeah. Interestingly, it was the doppelganger who hired them to spy on the real guy.

75: Eating breakfast at the inn, some of the eggs start to hatch in the kitchen. The babies aren't chickens.

76: An agricultural world begins practically giving away their grain to any merchant who stops by. Soon after, riots break out across the subsector at beneficiary worlds.

Scarey Nerd
2011-04-28, 07:23 AM
77. Out of everyone in the material realm, an evil deity has decided that your party of adventurers that have only just met are condemned for the crime of being mortal. To escape, you must make your way through "The Realm", which is a twisted parody of Earth nursery rhymes and fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood the succubus, Snow White the Vampire, and the rest of the Brother Grimm crew. Oh, and one of the puzzles will be based off Digimon.

OK, that was more of a rant if anything. My real 77:

77. The city of Redthistle's treasury is being robbed nightly of an astounding amount of gold. This is because a magpie familiar of a sorcerer stumbled into the far realm, mutated, and is now plaguing the material realm by stealing shiny things.

Sebastrd
2011-04-28, 12:21 PM
a twisted parody of Earth nursery rhymes and fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood the succubus, Snow White the Vampire, and the rest of the Brother Grimm crew.

I know a DM that used this as the basis for a campaign once. However, Red Riding Hood was, appropriately, a werewolf.

Notreallyhere77
2011-04-28, 12:33 PM
78. All sounds in the town square are replaced with the sound of a gentle breeze and swishing stalks of grain. Also, in the middle of a wheatfield six miles south of the city gates, the sounds of the town square (the running fountain, the squeaking of wheelbarrows, the odd cough or attempted conversation, etc.) can be heard as clearly as though one was present. The effect spans a radius of 350 feet in both locations. A sound originating outside the radius cannot be heard inside the affected location, but can be heard outside of it on the other side.
Dogs and other creatures with sensitive hearing do not willingly enter the area. Those who can speak with animals report that the animals can hear strange whispers, undetectable to humans and most humanoids.

In addition to the obvious, distconcerting effects, the phenomenon has adversely affected trade, as the square contains most of the small businesses in town, and few people can stand to be in the area for more than five minutes before mounting feelings of paranoia force them to flee.

Can your PCs figure out what's going on? and how to reverse it, if possible?

Scarey Nerd
2011-04-28, 12:34 PM
@Notreallyhere77: That's a pretty awesome plot hook! It would creep my regular players out no end...

Otacon17
2011-04-28, 12:45 PM
None of these are particularly original, but I think they're creepy/strange nonetheless:

79. In a large city, people keep disappearing, only to show up again a week later. Some of them are found dead; others are missing body parts, but still alive; still others seem completely fine, except for a few new scars. The only thing the survivors have in common is that they can't remember anything from their abduction, but they are all haunted by strange nightmares.

80. Entire towns are being mutated as if exposed to the Far Realm: the inhabitants and nearby animals are transformed into hideous abominations, and strange, alien plants grow in the soil. No one knows why, but there is one thing that all these towns have in common: each one was recently visited by a mysterious acting troupe calling themselves "The Court of the Last King."

81. There's been a rash of child disappearances in several seaside towns. No one knows where the children could have gone, but all of their parents tell a similar story: their child had been very excited on the night they disappeared, asking if they could go see "the new play about pirates." Oddly, though, no adults remember there be any plays in town that night; in fact, there weren't even any acting troupes in town on the nights in question.

Hiro Protagonest
2011-04-28, 12:51 PM
82. All explorers who enter these mysterious ruins have disappeared, and no one knows where they went. When the PCs get past the dungeon's guardians, puzzles, and traps, they find a gigantic gem the size of a tower, with all the missing people sitting around it. If the PCs get within ten feet of the gem, or spend at least five minutes there, they get an overwhelming urge to touch it. When they do, they sleepwalk over to the explorers and sit down, ending up in a dream world where they all live in a little village surrounded on all sides by an unending forest.

Archpaladin Zousha
2011-05-01, 07:12 PM
83. The PC's find themselves being followed by a cat. The cat always seems to be close by when the party stops to rest, and watches them from a distance. When they attempt to approach it, it runs away and seems to disappear. No one else seems to notice the cat when the PCs point it out to them, claiming they're imagining things even while the creature is staring at them.

zorba1994
2011-05-01, 11:17 PM
84 Every week, people find that someone has been removing one or two units of money from their treasuries on one night. The amount depends on what type is most common in that person's treasury, be it gold, silver, copper, or platinum. Then, two days later, the money is put back, with exact interest for the two days that it has spent away. Someone must investigate this rampant case of involuntary expansionary monetary policy!

ILM
2011-05-02, 01:15 PM
12. The local smithy marries a boar. At night the boar sits below the window of a PC and sings about strange forgotten places.

13. A toothless wizard wants you to slay the unfathomable beast of Klast and deliver it's teeth to him. But not before you washed his laundry.

14. When defending a caravan from goblins, some of the goblins, when slain, turn into sand.

15. It is said when you slay 23 ogres (no less, no more) on 17 tuesdays (no less, no more), you will be able to wield the Fabled Sword of List the Opposable, Father of a Thousand Worries. How to find the sword is whole different thing.

16. Since the fall of Fighter-King Canfold the Nearly-Starved the villagers of a local town will eat nothing except flies.

17. At the celebration of King Wansmaak the Many-Eyed's fifth marriage (all with the same woman), the king was given a painting of his beautiful daughter. Everyone agrees it's very realistic and lifelike. The problem is that the king doesn't have daughter; as a construct he cannot procreate.
I don't know who you are, but I want to play in one of your campaigns and/or read your book.

Used this one in a campaign: 85: One day, the sun doesn't rise. Over time the world gets colder, crops start failing, creatures of the dark get increasingly daring. Followers of gods of the night, shadow or darkness are found brutally murdered.

86: There is a chest. In that chest is a box, and in that box is an egg. They say the inside of this egg is a color never seen before. A painter known for his strange pictures of impossible places wants you to find it for him.

From a thread somewhere around: 87: You get a glimpse of the future through some means or another. 8 days from now, it's all fire and destruction. Figure it out - fast.

88: All the birds are gone.

Fun with economics: 89: Someone's flooding parts of the country with gold. It's real. Inflation does its work, and while everything is in plentyful supply, a lot of people can't afford basic foodstuff anymore.

HalfDragonCube
2011-05-02, 01:33 PM
I don't know who you are, but I want to play in one of your campaigns and/or read your book.

Used this one in a campaign: 85: One day, the sun doesn't rise. Over time the world gets colder, crops start failing, creatures of the dark get increasingly daring. Followers of gods of the night, shadow or darkness are found brutally murdered.

86: There is a chest. In that chest is a box, and in that box is an egg. They say the inside of this egg is a color never seen before. A painter known for his strange pictures of impossible places wants you to find it for him.

From a thread somewhere around: 87: You get a glimpse of the future through some means or another. 8 days from now, it's all fire and destruction. Figure it out - fast.

88: All the birds are gone.

Fun with economics: 89: Someone's flooding parts of the country with gold. It's real. Inflation does its work, and while everything is in plentyful supply, a lot of people can't afford basic foodstuff anymore.

87 is from the 'Save Game' thread, which explained the trick in D&D 3.5 that allowed you to redo about 10 days if you didn't like how it went. The plot hook was that everybody died, so when they reset, the PCs had to figure out what caused the destruction of the world.

Edit: And preferably, stop it, though by the level which you can achieve the Save Game trick Plane Shift has been on your spell list for a while.

Notreallyhere77
2011-05-02, 01:36 PM
@Notreallyhere77: That's a pretty awesome plot hook! It would creep my regular players out no end...

Thanks! Here's another, less creepy hook.

90. On your way to [large city], you stop in an inn along the road. A strange man comes to your table and explains he is willing to pay generously (10-15% of the PCs' WBL) if you can transport a very small creature you've never heard of to [large city] and deliver it to a Mr. Hartman on Soup St. (substitute new names if need be for cultural differences). The caveat is that in order to survive the journey, the creature needs to be kept inside a living, healthy, humanoid host.The creature is about the size of a toad, looks like an anemone, and must be sewn into one of the PCs' torso/abdomen and surgically removed at its destination. Any injury to the host could damage or kill the creature, so it would be best to avoid violent confrontations.

Watch out for the wandering monsters on your way...

randomhero00
2011-05-02, 02:13 PM
A fisherman literally hooks one of your group members by the cheek. The hook is magical, and won't come out until the subject is dead (it continually goes deeper, until it goes by the throat and reaches the lungs). The fisherman plays the party and gives them some crazy quest to complete to get the hook out.

Talakeal
2011-05-02, 04:22 PM
A fisherman literally hooks one of your group members by the cheek. The hook is magical, and won't come out until the subject is dead (it continually goes deeper, until it goes by the throat and reaches the lungs). The fisherman plays the party and gives them some crazy quest to complete to get the hook out.

I think I've played that one...

randomhero00
2011-05-02, 06:31 PM
I think I've played that one...

heh I totally made that up on the spot!

some guy
2011-05-02, 07:26 PM
I don't know who you are, but I want to play in one of your campaigns and/or read your book.


Heh, thanks. Means a lot. And depending where you live and what languages you can read, both can be arranged (though I write short stories, no books yet).

Also, I wanted to say I enjoy the entirety of this thread.

Here are two one-shots I actually have run:

92. On their travels through the woods the PC's encounter an heartbroken wizard riding an huge beetle with a tent atop of it. He claims to be dumped by his beautiful mate. He asks the PC's to deliver an potion to this woman as she would not see him ever again. If pressed it will be clear the wizard doesn't actually know this woman very well (one night to be exact), still his love seems to be sincere. He claims this woman lives in a metal tree atop a small hill.
If the adventurers investigate it seems his love is an harpy living in a tree made of swords and axes. The wizard can be cured of his magical love by a Break enchantment spell or similar magic or by eating one the freshly laid harpy eggs. If the players can convince (or force) the harpy to drink the potion the harpy and the wizard will live happily ever after in a disturbing union.

93. After a band of heroes went to caverns full of goblins, the goblin raids stopped. The heroes, however have not returned to claim their rewards. As such behaviour is very unlikely of heroes, the players are sent to investigate.
Turns out the heroes were mostly successful in eradicating the goblins until the slaughter turned one of the goblins, a skilled painter gifted with a special case of Nystul's marvelous pigments, stark raving mad. The painter turned his unbelievable creations on the heroes, killing them and replacing his dead friends and family with painted ungoblins.
The surviving goblins have locked themselves up and when approached by players with calm intent will try to persuade them to end the false mockeries.

Ajadea
2011-05-02, 08:02 PM
Here's one I'm planning to use for an intro to stripped-down Synapse:

94: The PCs wake up in a room that at first glance lacks a door (the door is the floor), chained together in bodies that most certainly aren't theirs, with no memories of anything except of the most basic reasoning and actions (fire is hot, walking involves moving your feet), and a man without a face.

Belobog
2011-05-02, 08:09 PM
95. An old crone presents a mirror made of unmelting ice to an ancient duke on his death bed. When he sees himself in the mirror, he regains his youth, and becomes obsessed with finding a forgotten, eternal love.

96. A peaceful village is found in the midst of a forbidding forest, known for its vicious and unnatural inhabitants. No man or woman has died there since its establishment, but they wear gruesome scars and suffer diseases that do not improve. No children exist in the village, and the leader is a young priest who invites the party to stay, especially the women.

97. A famous scupltor falls into seclusive mania, locking himself inside his house for months on end. Clay, limestone, and gems are delivered to the house seemingly on his orders, but no one comes for them, and they vanish during the night. When he returns to the world, he brings with him a beautiful wife.

98. A cursed sword, famed for being the death of its wielder, is the family heirloom of a long line of heroes. Upon the current wielder's death, the sword is passed down to his young daughter, the last of the line.

sengmeng
2011-05-02, 11:19 PM
99: (I actually used this one)

The party meets a man who has a female pixie hovering around him. He introduces her as his wife. It turns out that each of them unknowingly put on one of a pair of magic rings (hers is around her waist) that two wizards used as wedding rings... enchanted to make sure that their love remained as steadfast as the day they wed. They know full well that their love is the result of magic, but they only care about finding a way to get their sizes matched up so they can... umm, you know.

McSmack
2011-05-02, 11:52 PM
100: The party awakens in prison, each with a unique and strange rune burned into their flesh. They are to be executed for the mass murder of dozens of civilians. None of them remember any thing except the smell of blood and fire.

101: the party exits from exploring a forgotten ruin only to find that they've aged 15 years and so has the rest of the world.

102: The world slowly begins to be bleached of color. Who is behind it?

103: The party appears fully geared in a forgotten ruin. They were heroes turned to stone by a medusa. How long have they been this way and how was the spell broken?

104: The 'final battle between good and evil' is over. Good lost. Now the PC's must try to survive as the evil hordes close in.

105: A mid-level party stumbles upon an ancient castle contained epic loot. In a chest is a small staff composed entirely of red gemstones. It radiates with unimaginable power. But the protective wards on the chest are broken, and now Asmodeus is coming for his Rod.

Ajadea
2011-05-02, 11:58 PM
106: People are disappearing, people with strong magical talent (*coughsorcerercough*). Meanwhile, there are creatures that look like a human with a squid for a head and a bad poison ivy rash running around. It is all caused by a sorceress who isn't a sorceress. She has stolen her powers from the blood of others.

Apparently it's a good one, as I have gotten the party to chase the psuedo-sorceress who the players think is described as this:


Someone who amplifies, trains, hones, and harnesses that power....well, it's a sight to behold, certainly. They also have a tendency to go insane (high levels of arcana seem to be bad for mortal minds).

Tvtyrant
2011-05-03, 01:40 AM
107: A local woman of tremendous renown for her beauty and kindness has disappeared on the eve of her wedding to Prince (whatever). The prince blaims the disappearance on a powerful Hag which lives in a relatively nearby swamp. This hag has taught itself Wizard spells (level = parties) and the swamp is too dangerous for a large group to enter. You are to slay the Hag and bring back its head. In a village bordering on the swamp you find the inhabitants happy, and further inquiry teaches the party that the hag fell in love with the prince and attempted to polymorph into a human permanently but the spell failed on their wedding night after they were married. In order to remarry the prince must rid himself of his bride... At any cost.

ajkkjjk52
2011-05-05, 01:01 AM
108: The party enters a cave, and, after winding their way through it, find themselves back at the beginning. The tunnel didn't loop around or fork at all, they literally arrive back at the same entrance they came in from, on the same path. If they just leave and return to the nearest village, everything seems the same except that no one remembers them. If they instead turn back and travel through the cave once more, on reaching the end/beginning/end/whatever they find a group of partially mummified corpses, appearing to be themselves, wearing exact replicas of their gear (though badly damaged with age). That's when the eerie sounds start coming from back in the cave.

109: Deep in a mine, the party meets a dwarf of dubious sanity, who claims to have been trapped for at least 3000 years (and has the historical knowledge and dialect to back up his claim) surviving by learning to eat stones. As they bring him back towards the Dwarven city above, though, the tunnel in front of them caves in. Taking an alternate route, another cave-in. Does something want this dwarf to stay below-ground, or is he himself causing the blockages?

Archpaladin Zousha
2011-05-07, 06:56 PM
110. The PCs have taken shelter in what appears to be the abandoned estate of a noble, just for the night. Everything seems perfectly normal, if a bit creepy, until the PCs fall asleep. Regardless of whether they sleep in shifts or all at once, once they've all rested, they notice that it seems like time hasn't passed the whole time they've slept. The sun should be rising now, but the moon hasn't shifted from its place in the sky. Then, when they try to leave, they find their exits barred. The rusty gate they used to enter is now locked and seemingly impervious to attempts to smash it. The gaps in the crumbled wall are now filled, and the tops of them full of harshly-piercing briars. What foul curse haunts this estate? How has it ensnared the PCs and why? And most importantly, how do they escape?

Zeful
2011-05-08, 06:35 PM
111: The PC's are ordinary adventurers with relatively normal lives. Until one day, the group barbarian finds an exceptionally powerful axe with his name on it, in celestial. Later the group discover that they used to be the gods of the setting, before they were defeated and cast down from the heavens.

Archpaladin Zousha
2011-05-11, 12:47 PM
112. A recent earthquake has unearthed a strange sight in a nearby mountain, holes perfectly shaped like humanoid bodies. Several locals have left for the site, only to never return. Others have said they hear the place "calling" to them, before they too leave to go there. When the PCs arrive on the scene to investigate this enigma, they find people doffing their clothes and entering the holes, and not appearing to come out. What is going on? Where do these holes lead, and more importantly, what's happening to the people who go inside? (Blatantly stolen from something I read)

Otacon17
2011-05-11, 10:58 PM
112. A recent earthquake has unearthed a strange sight in a nearby mountain, holes perfectly shaped like humanoid bodies. Several locals have left for the site, only to never return. Others have said they hear the place "calling" to them, before they too leave to go there. When the PCs arrive on the scene to investigate this enigma, they find people doffing their clothes and entering the holes, and not appearing to come out. What is going on? Where do these holes lead, and more importantly, what's happening to the people who go inside? (Blatantly stolen from something I read)

Heh, as long as we're on the topic of Junji Ito...

113. There's been a series of mysterious deaths in a small seaside village, all of which revolve around spirals. When the players enter town, there are a variety of strange things going on: people are turning into giant snails, the town is constantly wracked by tornadoes, and so forth. When the players try to leave, they find themselves unable to escape: no matter how far they travel in any direction, they keep finding themselves back in town. Can they break the mysterious curse over the town, or will they be trapped there forever?

Notreallyhere77
2011-05-16, 01:45 PM
114. The question on everyone's lips in the city: Where did all the rats go? Normally, such vermin are an issue, but now they're just... gone. First they disappeared from the docks, then the markets, and then the slums, and then all over the rest of the city. They've even left the sewers... or have they?

115. The Troll King's son seeks a bride, but his duties keep him from travelling extensively. He will pay well for the PCs to kidnap the prettiest troll women they can find and bring them to his castle. The Troll King thinks the Prince should follow tradition and go with friends to kidnap them himself, and offers the PCs the choice of taking over the princely duties. What is your choice?

116. The Gods have spoken. For the next three weeks, no divine casters may prepare spells, and no worshippers are to offer prayer in any form. Even clerics and druids who revere no particular entity are denied their spellcasting. Ur-priests don't seem to have any trouble, though. Are the gods trying to flush the Ur-priests out, or are they just in need of a vacation? Rumors are supporting both ideas, and many more.

117. The rats have been found. Gods help us all, the rats have been found. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_king_(folklore))

Archpaladin Zousha
2011-05-21, 09:40 PM
118. The PCs are called to investigate the disappearance of a local lower-class man by one of his relatives. Investigation reveals that when he was last seen he declared his intent to start squatting in an abandoned manor in the city. There was an infamously debauched countess who lived there several years ago, but she moved to the capitol, and the manor had sat empty for a long time. When the PCs visit, however, they see lights in the manor, and it appears to be clean and well-tended to, as if someone'd always been there. They're greeted by someone who appears to be the countess, who gives them a tour and some tea before sending them on their way. The man they've been looking for is nowhere to be found. A few days later however, the countess arrives in the city angry about hearing that someone is squatting in her property. She raps on the door with the PCs and is shocked to see a mirror image of her answer the door. It's now clear that something happened to the man inside the manor, transforming him into a duplicate of the countess. But how did it happen? Why? Can it be reversed? More disturbingly, the PCs begin exhibiting behaviors similar to members of the Countess' entourage, who've accompanied her to the city. Can they figure out what's going on before they too are transformed into replacements for the manor's old residents?

Acero
2011-05-22, 01:54 AM
119 After returning to the town from a quest, the town is deserted. Everything is in pristine condition, but there are hundreds of orange dots in across the town. Also, scavengers seemed to have been gathering around dots in the open, pecking them as if they were food. What happened to the people, and why are there dots?

lerg2
2011-05-22, 02:42 AM
120: Dinosaur cowboys are stealing sheep across the country, but instead of eating them, the dinosaurs are using the life force for an epic spell to summon.......what?

121: Darkest night, the only night in 1,000 years where nothing shines, no stars, moon or sun, is here. One of the party members is haunted by an old man with a staff that makes a TOCKing sound, then the person begins hearing the sound everywhere. He/she begins remembering bits of memories from the first Darkest night, they had an unfinished quest they died futhfilling, now they get a second chance.

Marillion
2011-05-22, 02:53 AM
112. A recent earthquake has unearthed a strange sight in a nearby mountain, holes perfectly shaped like humanoid bodies. Several locals have left for the site, only to never return. Others have said they hear the place "calling" to them, before they too leave to go there. When the PCs arrive on the scene to investigate this enigma, they find people doffing their clothes and entering the holes, and not appearing to come out. What is going on? Where do these holes lead, and more importantly, what's happening to the people who go inside? (Blatantly stolen from something I read)


http://unnecessaryg.com/hilariation/ddr-ddr.jpg

:smalltongue:

122: The PC's stop and rest for a night in an abandoned cabin in the woods. Though there are no windows, they notice portraits along the walls, which almost seem to watch them. Nothing happens, and everyone has a restful night.

In the morning, they awake to sunlight streaming through the windows.

drawingfreak
2011-05-22, 08:03 AM
123: The PCs are sent on a mission to stop an ancient, possibly undead, spellcaster from terrorizing a nearby village with his goblin minions. The PCs raid the villain's lair, an old watch tower, discovering that a small group of kobolds have beaten them to most of the fight. Toward the end of the multi-path dungeon, the paths all come together and the PCs run into what remains of the kobold squad. They propose a truce, only wanting a single item of their choosing from the old warlock's treasures. The remaining path forward is a straight hall, brightly lit and FILLED with traps. On the other side, they find the old spellcaster on his throne. He looks up at them and cries out..."I'm a chicken!" and proceeds to cluck like one.

TRUTH: The old man had accidentally trapped himself in his own dungeon behind all the traps. He had survived on nothing but the mushrooms indengenous to the dungeon for at least two decades. The goblins are merely sqatters in the seemingly abandoned watch tower. And, the kobolds want the only treasure in the room: a powerful orb the old man was trying to hatch as an egg on his throne.

This was meant to poke fun at the over complicated dungeons with seemingly only one way in or out with a living BBEG at the end. My PCs loved it.

Rising Phoenix
2011-05-22, 10:39 AM
124 Humanity bred, grew and industrialized the world to the point were the world's ecosystems collapsed. Uncounted things died and now the balance of life and death on the material plain is severely screwed: even though there's plenty of quintessence for new life to be born there's no suitable habitat for it to return to. Life still lingers, but it is getting worse and worse.
The surviving elves have begun restoring the plane to its former green self (the plane is pretty much a ruined sprawling metropolis) and have taken charge of human society which is still fairly numerous. They control the population as humanely as they can, but they are pragmatists, there simply aren't enough resources to go around. The population must be reduced for the benefit of all... of course the humans (and some elves) do not find this agreeable... Which brings us to:

124a) You are part of the human resistance and you receive a tip off that there's going to be a 'visit' (the elves visit and those they take are never seen again). What do you do?
125b) You are part of the elven patrol to visit the area. What do you do?
126c) You are a third party and get caught in the middle. What do you do?

Archpaladin Zousha
2011-05-25, 10:08 AM
128. People in the big city are starting to age backwards for no clear reason. Initially this was welcomed with some joy, until the newborn babies dissapeared from their cribs and somehow reappeared back inside their mothers' wombs. But even that was not the worst. Over the next few weeks, the reversed aging began to accellerate, the children in the wombs vanishing for good and the children returning to infancy. It's only getting faster now, and the people are gripped in panic and grief as their children literally become unborn, and soon the young mothers and fathers are now teenagers and soon to become unborn themselves. What will happen when the former elderly of the community, whose parents have been in the grave for decades, are the only ones left? How did this happen? Can the PCs stop it, and how? Can they bring back the ones who were unborn? Can they avoid aging backwards to the point where they are unborn as well?

129. Recently the people of a medium-sized rural community (a large town and its outlying farms) have reported an unnaturally large amount of flatulance amongst themselves, despite the fact that there have been no truly dangerous diseases in the town and no recent changes in the diets of the area's people. Normal remedies and changes in diet have done nothing to reduce the amount of gas being passed, and even magic seems to be unable to divine the cause or its cure. The PCs are called in to figure out just what is going on, and why the townsfolk seem to have lost all control over their own flatus.

130. As 129, but replace farting with screaming.

Notreallyhere77
2011-06-09, 07:47 PM
This thread needs more love, so I'm bumping it.

131. A strange red fungus has been found in the forest. The fungus grows like a mushroom, and tastes like a mushroom, but is shaped like a tiny bird. The fungus is spreading, but no origin is known. Worse, the fungus feeds off the native flora, killing it. The infestation is growing by a yard in radius every day, and the forest is suffering for it.
However, consuming the fungus is found to have amazing curative effects, healing wounds in half the time, and purging the body of disease. Afterwards, though, the user is easily tempted toward evil acts and has increased levels of anger and envy.
Where is the fungus coming from? How can we get rid of it? or is it worth the price for health?

Dark Kerman
2011-06-11, 10:36 AM
One I did when my PC's bought a cow was to find and hunt down two dark sun halflings that had carved it out and hid inside it. :smallbiggrin:

randomhero00
2011-06-11, 10:52 AM
Everyone awakes in a strange place on a slab of some kind of mysterious material that is incredibly dense and heavy. They have no idea how they got there. They need to find a way out. They remember their pasts, just not how they got there.

Eventually they realize they all died. There is something wrong with the afterlifes. They are/were in a kind of pocket purgatory. Some mysterious patron saved their souls for unknown (as yet) purposes. Once they make it back to the living world they have to fix the problem. Everything is unbalanced, so that when you die your corpse rises as a mindless undead and attacks anything, even other undead.

At first its just a bunch of lower level zombies shuffling around and the living fighting them. But as the campaign goes on, only the strongest undead survive and most of the living are permanently gone. Ressurection doesn't work normally. The players are the only ones who may do so. If they die they end up back on that slab (turns out they are each tied to there particular metal/rock.) And either the group must come and res them, or they go through a mini quest/ritual to get back to life.

DontEatRawHagis
2011-06-11, 01:57 PM
132. A new game has been appearing around the kingdom called "Basements and Geeks".

Lord_Gareth
2011-06-11, 02:13 PM
133. It started small, with folks seeming dazed, confused, distracted. Now the voices are everywhere, and the inhabitants of the kingdom are starting to go mad. The crown prince already hung himself to get away from them, and the PCs are hired by the king to put an end to this plague of whispers - but can they do it before they themselves go insane?

134. Local animals are beginning to shapeshift uncontrollably into humanoids, gaining sapience in bursts and spurts that flees and comes back seemingly at random. Hounded and confused, they beg the PCs to uncover the source of their affliction.

135. A plague has ravaged the kingdom, slaughtering thousands in the span of a mere fortnight. The PCs were part of the survivors helping to gather and burn the bodies when a pyre of corpses suddenly awakens in a flash of golden light. All around the kingdom the event repeats itself - every victim of the plague that still has a physical body is re-awakening, their forms altered into something with celestial beauty. What has caused this rebirth? And can it be trusted?

136. While traveling the planes, the PCs encounter a wounded goddess. She beckons them closer and begs them a single favor - kill her.

137. While traveling through a forest, the PCs encounter a strangely dressed elf, covered in dirt, soot, ash, and grime with a broad hat and a triple barelled shotgun. Assuming they don't immediately attack, the frightened elf asks where he is and - get this - what trees are, all while casually displaying technological wonders beyond anything the PCs have ever seen. Attempts to detect magic discover a permanent dimensional anchor effect trapping him on the PCs home plane; where did he come from, and what should be done with him?

Notreallyhere77
2011-06-11, 05:42 PM
[B]135. A plague has ravaged the kingdom, slaughtering thousands in the span of a mere fortnight. The PCs were part of the survivors helping to gather and burn the bodies when a pyre of corpses suddenly awakens in a flash of golden light. All around the kingdom the event repeats itself - every victim of the plague that still has a physical body is re-awakening, their forms altered into something with celestial beauty. What has caused this rebirth? And can it be trusted?

136. While traveling the planes, the PCs encounter a wounded goddess. She beckons them closer and begs them a single favor - kill her.



These are particularly good.

Trufflehound
2011-06-11, 06:29 PM
138. The party finds itself trapped on the Penrose stairs. The only window through which they could escape has an 80 foot drop into a self-replenishing waterfall.

Garwain
2011-06-14, 02:52 AM
139: The PCs are enjoying their breakfast at the inn (where else) when a shadow falls over the buidling and suddenly the roof is teared off by a giant construct. Before anyone can do something sensible, the giant construct smashes his club on half of the guests, killing them instantly. A wizard who is clearly in charge, levitates the bodies and the construct opens his chest to reveal a furnace. The bodies are thrown in, furnace closed and they both walk away, leaving the PCs and all others unharmed.

140: The PCs are camping in the woods, and have the impression that the trees are sneaking up on them. They start a fire for the night, which seems to provoke the trees as they are now closing in at a silent, steady pace. Are they in danger? Where does the menace comes from? And why did they spot only 1 bird in the whole area, one that is constantly looking at them?

141: PC + inn + stormy night = they wake up from a lightning bolt that strikes close by, or even at their building. If they get up from bed to look through the window, they can see that the whole area is scorched, with them untouched in the center. But not everything is dead. Charred pieces of flesh and timber start to move and groaning sounds emerge.

Rising Phoenix
2011-06-14, 09:27 AM
142) Everyone in the village has suddenly gone deaf in one ear... except a child who has lost sound in both and has grown two minor horns.

143) A prophet has appeared. He sees the future in his dreams... He has saved many for everything he dreams comes real... He has also dreamed of the PCs and his nightmares are becoming worse and worse... Do the PCs kill him potentially ending his existence or save him from the angry mobs trying to dispose of him?

Notreallyhere77
2011-06-14, 12:31 PM
140: The PCs are camping in the woods, and have the impression that the trees are sneaking up on them. They start a fire for the night, which seems to provoke the trees as they are now closing in at a silent, steady pace. Are they in danger? Where does the menace comes from? And why did they spot only 1 bird in the whole area, one that is constantly looking at them?


Genius Loci much?

I've got one that I'm leaving unnumbered, because even though it's creepy as what-have-you, it's not really much of a plot hook.
Warning! This creeped me out, and I'm the one who came up with it. If you still want to read, here it is.You're out on an adventure as usual, an elven holy warrior for a valorous god. You trade blows with yet another gnoll. Your trusty longsword digs into his flesh, but his mace connects squarely with your temple, and even with your helmet protecting you, there is a ringing as the ground rises to meet you. All is dark, and you wake up. Next to you are three derro, and, as you suddenly recall, you are derro as well. You try to get up, but you are still chained to the wall. Still? Why do you have the feeling you've been here before, or for a long time? Your companions, also chained, have something ropy and unnatural extending from the tops of their heads, extending into the other room, from which a tall figure now enters. It has tentacles where its nose and mouth should be. Go back to sleep says a voice in your mind that is not your own. The world fades to darkness, and you wake again to the sound of a human voice, finishing the words of a healing spell.
"Thank the gods you're alive! We almost lost you. How do you feel?"
You want to tell him what you saw, but all you can answer is "Fine." You are an elven paladin again. It was a bad dream, you tell yourself. Just forget. Just forget. Just forget.

Reibello
2011-06-14, 06:20 PM
87 is from the 'Save Game' thread, which explained the trick in D&D 3.5 that allowed you to redo about 10 days if you didn't like how it went. The plot hook was that everybody died, so when they reset, the PCs had to figure out what caused the destruction of the world.

Edit: And preferably, stop it, though by the level which you can achieve the Save Game trick Plane Shift has been on your spell list for a while.

I don't seem to be able to find this thread. Would you (or someone else) be able to elaborate on how exactly you can redo 10 days? Much thanks.

EDIT: I'll contribute to the cause

144 The PCs come upon a small fishing village in a bit of a tizzy. An infamous pirate ship just crashed ashore not more than 5 miles from here. They sent a couple villagers to investigate, but they haven't returned to town in [TIME PERIOD] (I'm using 2 days).

Amiel
2011-06-15, 01:46 AM
145 The Dismal Room There is a stain within a certain room within that decaying house upon the hill, that animals and even monsters dare not venture near. It appears seemingly as a blotch of paint; carelessly dabbed upon the hard wooden floors, themselves rotting with neglect and age.

No one lingers for long within that room; all who hastily withdraw speak of an oppressive presence, its malign glare settling upon one's soul and laying it bare like so much useless paper.

All who have been in the room dream of rotting teeth and putrid flesh replacing the moon; that drips and shudders onto the firmament. This persists for two weeks, after which their dreams return to normal.

146 Sanguineum, Ex Sanguinius The City does not shy away from violence. It permeates and underlies every action and reaction. From extortion and muggings to the cruelty and barbarity of the so-called Justice Courts, violence is as much the existential reality of the City as its soul.

It was unsurprising then, when the bodies started turning up. It was the children who discovered them, floating in sewers or washed up along the harbor, rotting and drowned in a vile stench. Bloated from prolonged immersion within the Salty Drink.

To a place as violent as the City, this was nothing if not unusual; murders happened every day and accidents were always poised for the unwary and superstitious alike.

What drew the eye to these unfortunates was not so much the manner of their deaths or condition of their bodies (their state of decay notwithstanding), it was the curious nature of the marks left upon their bruised throats. To all perception and knowledgeable eye, it was almost as if the noose of a rope was left permanently imprinted upon the skin, yet the positioning of the marks suggested the physical act of strangulation.

What then, what act, could leave such massive trauma upon the body?

As ever, darker legends prevail. It is rumored that such acts, such gross violations are the means to express the unsanctionable - exsanguination to feed a perverse desire for blood. Detractors have dismissed this claim of course, the act of strangulation is so far removed from the systematic act of exsanguination that any comparison is laughable if not asinine.

These ones present an altogether different take, that the act is the means to express penance. That the method is the means to expel sin from the body. That all targeted were at least criminals - oxygen thieves.

Perhaps there is an even more horrific explanation; that all the suggestions and conjectures so put forward are correct...to a point. In the lunatic ravings of asylum inmates and the irrevocably insane can be found a singular clarity that cuts through all deceptions.

These ones offer a single theory. The act is the means to draw blood, but it is not for the base purpose of expelling sin, it is the means to derive nourishment and the means to perpetuate hate. These ones suggest that all murdered were not criminals, but members of faith. That the killer in question harbors an irrational and psychotic need to murder, having been grievously wronged in the past. That all killed were clerics. The imprint of the noose to is both to signify the irony and ignominy of their deaths.

The darkest myths claim that was taken was not blood, but something all together more precious, the soul.

147 Jungle of Broken Dreams Legends are replete with stories of buried treasure, sunken loot, and lost cities filled to overflowing with precious gems and gold.

Across the ages, many have dared to brave treacherous terrain, depraved foes, and wild weather, to reach otherwise viciously inhospitable locales so that their legends may soar upon currents of reputation while turning a mean profit.

Their stories are littered with inglorious failures and untimely deaths; the strands of fate cluttered with spent twine. What then could be so enticing to send otherwise competent mortals to such ignominious fates? What could so change the nature of a man?

From antiquity, tales have whispered of a hidden island, a pristine eden upon which nature is sanctified and preserved. To reach it means braving the perilous Black Maelstrom, so named due to lashing winds and crashing waves so brutal that the very color of the seas turns back.

Within this seeming tranquility lies another secret, a lost city, a remnant of a lost civilisation, perhaps a precursor to the myriad mortal races. It is said within this city lies treasure that shines as if a miniature sun settled from the firmament upon the earth.

Rumors speak of its streets as a glowing stream, a literal river of gold; of buildings encased in solid platinum, its affectation accentuated with precious gems. That even one theft of the multitudinous wealth could set up an adventurer for life, to even the Great Beyond.

However, as always, there are darker myths. The city is always abandoned; a constant consistency that permeates all tellings. The reasons behind this are unknown; creating a darkened shadow where the illumination of knowledge dares not cast its light.

For these shadows conceal horrific truths. That on the night of a full moon, everything in the city is stained with the blood of a hundred thousand sacrifices. That everything within the city glares so intently, perhaps not so much due to the inherent iridescence of gold or platinum but to the blood that covers all things.

Adventurers 'ware when exploring this cursed city.

Lord_Gareth
2011-06-15, 02:01 AM
148. The PCs enter a thriving trading town where magical items of the minor, but incredibly useful variety (such as healing potions or wands of create food) seem to abound. Everyone is friendly and, despite not knowing or having heard of the party, they're offered a free room at the finest inn in the city - which, as it turns out, is owned and operated by the mayor, a red dragon of middling age that is young enough to be ambitious and old enough to be extremely dangerous. Their host seems hospitable and genteel, though, and isn't coming up as evil when subjected to spells - which it even suggests and consents to! What is going on?

Amiel
2011-06-15, 02:02 AM
149 Woeful Moon Each night for the past two weeks, the moon looks as if something has taken a bite out of it; each day, the total area consumed gets progressively bigger. To the point that the moon will be entirely devoured come the full month.

Animals are becoming increasingly agitated, attacking strangers, passerbys and any owners. Each night, the still silence is punctuated by a terrifying, piercing scream.

Blood begins to drip from trees and teeth flower in plants. Animals begin to ram themselves bodily against trees, causing their forms to explode.

Once the moon is entirely devoured, the cycle resets to the time before any of this happened; no one or thing has any memory of this event ever occurring.

Lord_Gareth
2011-06-15, 02:11 AM
150. A powerful wizard asks a member of the party (preferably a non-magical member) to be his second in a duel. When the time comes, the wizard doesn't show, and now the PC in question must engage in a riddle contest - with a sapient hamster. The stakes are death.

Zigg'rrauglurr
2011-06-16, 12:14 AM
59 The PCs are actually clones of themselves from 100 years ago and only a few important (for the plot) NPCs know that.
I actually DMed something like this. The setting specifies that:

They can build their character as normal, but background is already set.
The party has known each other from childhood.
They have only one blood relative; their parent, who is the same sex than the PC. As far as the PC know the other parent is dead, or missing. The exact story might be unknown, or the living parent has told them "everything"
If any one of them is non-human, then they are the only non-humans of that race in town. If two or more party members have the same race, then they and their parents are the only group of non-humans. If a non-human race is majority in the party, then races availability can be reversed, the only humans are the PCs and their parents.
Non-human characters have the same age that humans, however their physichal and psychological development is the same than the rest of the party, not the normal for the race.
All parents have class levels, closely related to their PC offpring; For example a Paladin PC has a cleric father and a Wizard PC a wizard mother.
They have never ventured beyond the close limits of town.
At the town center, or close from town, lies "The Ruins" a low level dungeon, that the party has partially explored, they noticed heavily warded sections within.
Within "The Ruins" a great evil has been trapped, but not defeated (the PCs don't know this)


Aa you might have guessed, the PCs are sort of "clones"/repeats of the original party, who have trained their offspring for a final battle. The party actions on their first adventure, accidentaly release the evil on the world.
Possible entrace to the blocked dungeon: The party wizard/cleric/whatever, discovers the ritual/scroll to enter the hidden part of the dungeon, this releases the evil.
Other Ideas: A couple of the PCs parents, become or are in love/ married, making the PCs... siblings, altough they will be genetically predisposed to physically like each other...
The whole plot works best if they don't realize they are clones, until the story is well underway...
On the original run, it was a powerful demilich, the original group almost defeated it being 2nd level, since the being was still on a slumbering state, no spells available, and the party prepared a good strategy, including some blessed gloves, and other ideas.

Hope someone likes this.

Almagesto
2011-06-16, 01:20 AM
17. At the celebration of King Wansmaak the Many-Eyed's fifth marriage (all with the same woman), the king was given a painting of his beautiful daughter. Everyone agrees it's very realistic and lifelike. The problem is that the king doesn't have daughter; as a construct he cannot procreate.

This is amazing ! I'm so using this as a hook in my next adventure.

Almagesto
2011-06-16, 03:59 AM
72 - No gold anymore
Veilcrest is suffering from a lack of currency. Anyone with a filled purse can exit the city, but nobody enters the city with coins in their pockets. This drainage of currency has led to trading in goods, which nobody is familiar with and causes great distress amongst the population. You are offered 2goats and a riding horse if you can restore the currency balance.


ooooo

That could be interesting. Making players deal with deflationary pressures!

Would take a very specific type of player to have a proper game though. At least if you studied a bit of economics and didn't want to just handwave the whole thing through.

I tried this before. It's very interesting trying to make some economic sense out of the mess that can comes with a metal-based system. Most players, however, preferred their PCs to be more role-playing oriented, rather than buffed up economists.

Amiel
2011-06-16, 04:36 AM
151 "Somewhere in West Philadelphia, you will find an old basketball court with a single ball lying in the middle. Pick it up and start shooting hoops. After a while, a small group of hooligans will approach you and challenge you to a fight, which you must accept.

After the fight, you must go home and relay the events to your mother. She will then inform you that you have an aunt and uncle living in one of the districts of Los Angeles, and out of fear, she will send you to live there for an indefinite period of time.

With your bags packed, go to the street corner, and whistle for a cab. The cab that will pull up will bear the word FRESH on the license plate, and upon closer inspection, novelty fuzzy dice will hang in the mirror. Although you will suddenly realize that cabs like these are extremely hard to find, do not bear any thought to it. At this point you MUST point out in front of the car and say 'Yo homes to Bel Air'. You will stop in front of a mansion, and it will be sometime between 7 and 8 o'clock, even though it will feel like you've been traveling mere seconds. Get your luggage out and say 'Yo homes, smell ya later!', but do NOT turn back to face the cabby. Walk up to the door, look over your shoulder once, and then knock on the door three times.

If you follow these instructions, your life will get flip-turned upside-down."

Notreallyhere77
2011-06-16, 03:57 PM
151 "Somewhere in West Philadelphia, you will find an old basketball court with a single ball lying in the middle. Pick it up and start shooting hoops. After a while, a small group of hooligans will approach you and challenge you to a fight, which you must accept.

After the fight, you must go home and relay the events to your mother. She will then inform you that you have an aunt and uncle living in one of the districts of Los Angeles, and out of fear, she will send you to live there for an indefinite period of time.

With your bags packed, go to the street corner, and whistle for a cab. The cab that will pull up will bear the word FRESH on the license plate, and upon closer inspection, novelty fuzzy dice will hang in the mirror. Although you will suddenly realize that cabs like these are extremely hard to find, do not bear any thought to it. At this point you MUST point out in front of the car and say 'Yo homes to Bel Air'. You will stop in front of a mansion, and it will be sometime between 7 and 8 o'clock, even though it will feel like you've been traveling mere seconds. Get your luggage out and say 'Yo homes, smell ya later!', but do NOT turn back to face the cabby. Walk up to the door, look over your shoulder once, and then knock on the door three times.

If you follow these instructions, your life will get flip-turned upside-down."

I think this post belongs in the silly plot hooks thread, not the strange/creepy plot hooks...

Almagesto
2011-06-18, 12:36 AM
152

The story opens in a gladiatorial ring. The PCs find themselves in the middle of a fierce battle between two parties [set to match starting Party Level]. In the aftermath of the battle only they remain standing. As the crowd cheers madly, the PCs' attention is drawn to a black figure presiding the games: one of the PCs [each PC sees a different one]. The evil PC goes thumbs-up [to keep historical accuracy] on them and a [insert favorite CR 20+ creature here] enters the arena. As the insanely powerful creature is about to finish them, the PCs wake up.

The problem is: they all have scars of the fight that only happened in their dreams, and they are NOT rested (i.e. spells are not refreshed and wounds were not healed). In order to heal the PCs must spend more time "living" in the dream realm by means of sleeping more, making nurture a problem in the waking world. Most importantly, the PCs only know each other through dreams and are miles away in the waking world.

The dreams go on - with scenarios of escalating difficulty each night until they find out how to exorcise the oneiromantic spirit that has possessed them or they die. It may be necessary for the PCs to invest a lot of time trying to find some method of sleeping more without dying - maybe a drug/poison combined with healing aids. Addiction to the aforementioned drug/poison in the waking world may be an interesting thing to roleplay [which may or may not affect the PCs personality in the dream realm].

Constrains:

8 hrs sleeping at night in the waking world = 1 hr in the dream realm
1 hr sleeping during the day in the waking = 1 hr in the dream realm
Sleeping during the day in the waking world transports the PCs to a random place in the dream realm [ideally in an encounter-free zone]. When night falls in the waking world, the PCs are instantly transported to the arena in the dream realm.
After the first night, the PCs instantly fall asleep for eight hours during the night - yes, even elves trance for eight hours [that's a clue that the reason behind the dreams is supernatural] - and they cannot be awaken by any means.
Travel and communication in the waking world should be either very difficult or impossible to maintain the sense of dread.


Note: Killing the CR 20+ should be out of the scope for this adventure/mini-campaign. Maybe it's just a nightmare summoned by the possessing spirit, maybe it's an omen, maybe the possessing spirit is not bad at all; it's merely using the PCs (characters of great power) as a means to contain the CR 20+ from materializing in the waking world. Anyhow, that should may be the start of a different (epic) adventure/campaign.

Alternative
As an alternative, the PCs could be 1st level commoners in the waking world. When entering the dream realm they are fully healed and spells are refreshed. That way, the extra time allotted for investigating in the dream realm can be less and they would need to allot less time for sleeping during the day. This would also solve many of the problems regarding the impossibility of travel and communication between the PCs in the waking world.

Hope you enjoy it ! :smallsmile:

Alexkubel
2013-10-19, 05:29 PM
83. The PC's find themselves being followed by a cat. The cat always seems to be close by when the party stops to rest, and watches them from a distance. When they attempt to approach it, it runs away and seems to disappear. No one else seems to notice the cat when the PCs point it out to them, claiming they're imagining things even while the creature is staring at them.

my players and my reaction KITTY! they wouldn't care.



Used this one in a campaign: 85: One day, the sun doesn't rise. Over time the world gets colder, crops start failing, creatures of the dark get increasingly daring. Followers of gods of the night, shadow or darkness are found brutally murdered.[UOTE]
NUCLEAR WINTER!

[QUOTE=randomhero00;10908254]A fisherman literally hooks one of your group members by the cheek. The hook is magical, and won't come out until the subject is dead (it continually goes deeper, until it goes by the throat and reaches the lungs). The fisherman plays the party and gives them some crazy quest to complete to get the hook out.

solution surgery.

anyway as an addition

[B]153.[B] your players are just settling down to start a new game... nice and ordinary.
when unexplainably they become powerful monsters. with the GM's voice guiding them from above, they have to get this solved, before they get killed because everything hates them.

Meryda Macbeth
2013-10-19, 08:58 PM
86. The heroes are suddenly turned into weasels.
87. The party's wizard is suddenly gone and the party of heroes must try to cope by having their bard learn illusion that look like spells.

Benthesquid
2013-10-19, 09:11 PM
156:(I think) The sleepy mountain hamlets of Nydania have long been plagued by vampirism, but recently there has been an unsettling new developments. Villagers who fall asleep in rooms safely barricaded with holy symbols and garlic awake to find themselves with puncture wounds in their necks. However, they are not drained of blood- in fact, they feel more healthy and robust then ever, although they develop short tempers and an odd compulsion to eat charcoal and ashes.

AngelSword
2013-10-20, 01:24 AM
157: While walking through a city, the party stumbles across a body. Its face is covered in elaborate blue kabuki makeup, seemingly applied after the person was killed.

nedz
2013-10-20, 09:07 AM
158: Whilst strolling through a playground you come across a Necromancer re-animating Plot Hook Threads from two and a half years ago.

Megasaber4000
2013-10-20, 01:16 PM
159.
while going to the largest city in the world the pcs figure out the city is alive and eating the souls of those who enter.

TuggyNE
2013-10-20, 05:13 PM
158: Whilst strolling through a playground you come across a Necromancer re-animating Plot Hook Threads from two and a half years ago.


159.
while going to the largest city in the world the pcs figure out the city is alive and eating the souls of those who enter.

Methinks someone did not get the joke. >_>

Alexkubel
2013-10-20, 06:19 PM
look at the date in the top left

160. suddenly everyone gains two spells, resurrect plot hoot thread and summon plot hook thread, they don't take up spell slots, but must be cast at the most inopportune times.

The Oni
2013-10-20, 06:43 PM
161. You are aliens, and the entire human planet is the phylactery for an intergalactic lich that is terrorizing YOUR planet. You're transported to the human world instead of the epic-level party that was supposed to go, but you're only 5th Level. Blow it up.

162. A paladin wishes upon a mighty artifact for world peace. All war ends, but the secondary effect of the artifact will destroy the planet in one year unless it is recovered. Then it splits into pieces and scatters itself throughout the universe. Using the combined knowledge of the world's once-hostile races, build the world's first Spelljammer, acquire the artifact, and save the planet.

nedz
2013-10-20, 07:14 PM
158: Whilst strolling through a playground you come across a Necromancer re-animating Plot Hook Threads from two and a half years ago.Methinks someone did not get the joke. >_>

There's two of them, I'm going to try it again.:smallbiggrin:

The Oni
2013-10-20, 07:23 PM
163. An epic-level Reincarnate spell is cast on the entire world. Anything that dies reincarnates with its own memories but its disposition is affected by its new form. Fix it before ogres and goblins who used to be dead humanoids overrun all humanoid cities.

The Dark Fiddler
2013-10-20, 10:32 PM
164. Whenever people use the pay phones in the city, they hear strange voices. Begging, pleading for something... but always too indistinct to make out the specifics. The city is getting rid of the pay phones as, with the popularity of cell phones, they're no longer practical. The voices are getting more and more hectic.

Onyxdeus
2013-10-21, 04:47 AM
165. In the Grim Darkness of the 43rd Millennium, the Unthinkable has occurred: Peace (mediated by the Tau, of course) has been declared throughout the Universe. The PCs are the proud Space Marines... with nothing to do. Do they join their former Battle Brothers in participating in their galactic football (American version or Soccer) league, get real jobs, or desperately (futilely) try to restore status quo.

A survival horror game for up to 6 Warhammer 40k players.

Segev
2013-10-21, 09:44 AM
165. In the Grim Darkness of the 43rd Millennium, the Unthinkable has occurred: Peace (mediated by the Tau, of course) has been declared throughout the Universe. The PCs are the proud Space Marines... with nothing to do. Do they join their former Battle Brothers in participating in their galactic football (American version or Soccer) league, get real jobs, or desperately (futilely) try to restore status quo.

A survival horror game for up to 6 Warhammer 40k players.

Since such a Change could only be perpetrated by the Changer of Ways, is this peace all it's cracked up to be?


166. In the first session of a new game wherein the players made their characters independently, they each went to bed last night under normal, uneventful circumstances. They woke up all together in the same room, with the door barricaded and a mix of their own and unfamiliar equipment at hand, with these strangers. As they explore the dungeon they're in, they find evidences that somebody has constructed an elaborate shared past for them, despite never having seen these people before.

167. (I've used this one.) The PCs come across a long-buried tomb that is nonetheless exquisitely preserved. Within lies a well-sealed sarcophogus depicting a man in full armor on the lid. All humans within this Tomb find that they can make Wishes at no cost.

168. An isolated frontier town had a rash of sudden marriages after a mad druid flooded the water supply with elixer of love. Unfortunately, the hard winter caused failed pregnancies to turn fatal. Those husbands who committed suicide over their wives' graves now have large flowers poking out of the snow that covers their mutual burial mound. The first to blossom opened yesterday to reveal an infant.

The Oni
2013-10-21, 10:45 AM
168 is mad creepy, yo.

169. Five chromatic dragons decide they want to play a Real-Time Strategy game but the pawns are real, isolated human towns. The dragons have teleported the towns to an area miles from civilization. Those who decide they don't want to be game pieces instead become snacks.