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Doomboy911
2012-09-13, 11:31 PM
So as a dm I wanted to see if my adventure hook is too easy to guess.
I'm going to head off to bed but try to guess I'll tell you if any of you are right.

*There has been a magical plague recently those who have survived suffered only minor changes such as hair changing color or ears growing a bit bigger than usual.
*A noblewoman who had been living in the area has disappeared shortly after the plague has passed.
* She was heading through the mountains to a mage's college in a greater city on the other side of the mountains but hasn't shown up yet and many are growing concerned.
*Monsters that usually don't work together have been and they're attacking the noblewoman's home stealing her things while leaving other homes alone despite better riches and have been avoiding combat with townsfolks during said raids.

So tell me if it sounds too obvious or if you know what happened.

Murg
2012-09-14, 12:37 AM
I'm guessing the noblewoman is actually a baddie, and she's pulling the old switcheroo by putting her evil minions into the bodies of townsfolk, while the townsfolk get stuck in monster bodies.

That would explain the "plague", and why it ended when the noblewoman left.

Now the monster/villagers are ransacking her house to look for a cure or out of revenge, while avoiding combat with their fellow villagers, who may or may not be "cursed" as they are. That would also explain why the monsters are working together and why they're singling out the noblewoman's house.

Sounds kinda similar to the plot of the Ravenloft adventure "The House on Gryphon Hill."

Doomboy911
2012-09-14, 08:43 AM
Sorry champ you're wrong. Any more guesses?

Silma
2012-09-14, 10:47 AM
First of all, just the fact that you have to ask if your hook is too obvious, means that it's really not that obvious, so you don't have to worry about that. :smallbiggrin:

Now lemme guess...

The noblewoman wanted to stop the plague hence the journey to the mages' college. But the monsters (who have been united under whoever's behind the plague) caught her, maybe even killed her, and are now searching her home to find some info on how she would attempt to stop the plague. Maybe the noblewoman possessed a trinket or something and they're looking for it.

Doomboy911
2012-09-14, 05:42 PM
Interesting and sound advice but incorrect. Feel free to guess again.

Water_Bear
2012-09-14, 05:59 PM
Well my guess is that it's a species swapping plague, probably using the table from the Reincarnation spell. So far most everyone has been lucky, going from one humanoid species to the other or staying the same species, but the noblewoman and several others have turned into Monstrous Humanoids or worse. They are trying to survive by "stealing" their own stuff while avoiding the townsfolk who would kill them for being Orcs or Bugbears or whatever.

Not obvious even if I'm right, but somewhat rude if I am. Tricking PCs into killing innocent creatures, like having Albino Silver Dragons running around, is something that ought to be used only to encourage reckless parties to exercise more judgement or to further a personal story arc.

Doomboy911
2012-09-14, 06:08 PM
Interesting again but remember they've only been attacking the noblewoman's house so it's wrong.

(Although I do have a scenario in some game way off in the future where all the townsfolk have been swapped with monsters. So as the players approach town they'll find a group of bugbears crying while grooming themselves and will run off when they players show themselves while in town they'll find some girls assaulting an animal.)

Tarsten Corvus
2012-09-14, 10:11 PM
ok im going to give this a shot.

1 she left shortly after the plague ended not before. so from that i can assume she either found out who and or what caused it or was doing a personal experiment of some sort for her or a BBEG.

2 her house has clues as to what she has been doing (either Sherlock Holmes or again experiments.) and someone else wants to know through which ever method is easiest A.K.A taking/killing and getting info however long it takes. it would also explain why they only target her house.

3 it really kinda depends on as to what kind of character she is.

thats all i can do on it.

Doomboy911
2012-09-14, 11:45 PM
Good points made my fear comes from this small detail of the noblewoman.
She is a lady of grace, beauty and intelligence. She has left for a mage's college on the other side of the mountain searching for a cure.
(for those who guessed and feel I cheated them I apologize and welcome more guesses)

Jack of Spades
2012-09-15, 06:39 AM
This may be a bit close to what others have said, buut...

Some powerful being in the mountains sent the plague out to the countryside either as a threat (if it's evil) or as a strange courtship ritual (if it's a trickster). Its aim was either tribute (evil) or, as I said, courtship (trickster). Either the folk of the county sent the woman, she was asked for specifically, or she went out of her own accord. The monsters are the newly recruited minions of the being, and are simply attempting (in their way) to get her personal effects. Until then, she's possibly being held pseudo-prisoner until she acquiesces to the being's wishes of permanently being his "guest." Interpret those quotation marks in whatever way makes sense.

This guess brought to you by the mistresses in the video game Overlord (specifically Rose).

Doomboy911
2012-09-17, 08:22 PM
Sorry but you are incorrect. I only played a little of the second overlord game until my computer refused to register baby seals.
Feel free to guess again.

Dr.Epic
2012-09-17, 08:23 PM
Sorry champ you're wrong. Any more guesses?

A wizard did it!

:smallwink:
:smalltongue:

Doomboy911
2012-09-17, 08:49 PM
Oooh sorry that is incorrect.

SgtCarnage92
2012-09-17, 09:05 PM
The magical plague somehow affected her more severely than everyone else, and it transformed her into something monstrous. The reason the monsters are only attacking her house is that those are items she feels that she needs in some way (ie. to work out a cure for the disease). The monsters who are attacking are others who were more affected by the plague and formed some sort of commune (maybe it was a neighboring town that was more greatly affected somehow) and she managed to ally herself with them. She's one of the monsters that's "attacking" her home.

Edit: Clarity

Rallicus
2012-09-17, 09:07 PM
She's actually a sentient gorilla wizard 20 who has cast a mass illusion spell to create her own little utopia. Unfortunately her arch nemesis King Kong has cast a mass curse upon her illusion, which led the noblewoman gorilla out of the illusion and into the real world. However, this poses the question, and the hook for the adventure: if no one is around to see an illusion, does it still exist?

Doomboy911
2012-09-17, 09:22 PM
The magical plague somehow affected her more severely than everyone else, and it transformed her into something monstrous. The reason the monsters are only attacking her house is that those are items she feels that she needs in some way (ie. to work out a cure for the disease). The monsters who are attacking are others who were more affected by the plague and formed some sort of commune (maybe it was a neighboring town that was more greatly affected somehow) and she managed to ally herself with them. She's one of the monsters that's "attacking" her home.

Edit: Clarity

Yeah pretty much it (sort of everyone keeps guessing that end part) she has been changed to something monstrous and she feels she can't fit in with humans anymore so she's joined up with the monsters leading them to higher heights. Every time someone gets it I feel it's obvious.

SgtCarnage92
2012-09-17, 09:28 PM
Yeah pretty much it (sort of everyone keeps guessing that end part) she has been changed to something monstrous and she feels she can't fit in with humans anymore so she's joined up with the monsters leading them to higher heights. Every time someone gets it I feel it's obvious.

Well, what do you think you could do to make it less-so? I didn't think it was obvious. I guess I got lucky. :smallredface:

Doomboy911
2012-09-22, 07:39 PM
You know I'm not done with this thread I think I'll use it for another adventure hook.

A rather corpulent man has come in complaining of a knife wound on the cheek. He also says that he is missing the gold that he was carrying. He says that he had planned on going out to fish in a river nearby but he can't remember coming or going from it or the fishing trip itself. This isn't the first time he's gone on this trip but it is the first time he's come back with a cut.

Any ideas?

Riverdance
2012-09-22, 08:46 PM
I'm confused. Is he sure he went on the trip or was he just planning to? Also, just for further information, is the knife wound a stab, or a slash? If you're willing to give any more information I'd also like to know what the surrounding area is like, particularly the river, what the gentleman does, and how much gold/what else went missing? Don't answer those if you want us to guess with just the information you've provided so far.

Doomboy911
2012-09-22, 09:02 PM
It's a small slash across his cheek. The river runs along the outside of the town about a quarter of a mile out. He recalls saying that he was heading out and he remembers seeing his home as he was walking back from the trip but nothing in between.

Anxe
2012-09-22, 09:34 PM
He needs to lay off the sauce when he goes fishing.

Kornaki
2012-09-22, 11:41 PM
I think the first hook is a bit too obvious, and someone in the party is going to realize what's going on right away

Change


*Monsters that usually don't work together have been and they're attacking the noblewoman's home stealing her things while leaving other homes alone despite better riches and have been avoiding combat with townsfolks during said raids.

to

*Monsters that usually don't work together have been raiding the town around the noblewoman's home since she left, but thankfully there have been no casualties yet

This disguises what's happening and is more likely true to the information the villagers would have to give to the adventurers. If a kobold and a dire wolf were walking down the road from her house the villagers wouldn't think "oh they're not attacking anyone", they would just attack the monsters and think they chased them off.


The second one is mysterious to me, because I can't even figure out what there is to figure out. He was robbed, or got drunk maybe? Since there's a big secret that's supposedly hidden my first guess is he's actually a fish that got caught and polymorphed (hence the cut on his cheek where he was hooked), but the only reason I came up with that idea is because I'm looking for a surprise twist and assuming it's deducible entirely from the blurb you posted

SgtCarnage92
2012-09-23, 11:35 AM
Someone who wanted to take his stuff gave him a magical compulsion of some kind to go out "fishing" when in fact he was heading toward a place where he was to be ambushed. Those who were ambushing him held a knife to his cheek just in case (hence the small cut) they robbed him and sent him back home. Being under a compulsion he doesn't remember what happened.

Incom
2012-09-23, 11:49 AM
The second one is mysterious to me, because I can't even figure out what there is to figure out. He was robbed, or got drunk maybe? Since there's a big secret that's supposedly hidden my first guess is he's actually a fish that got caught and polymorphed (hence the cut on his cheek where he was hooked), but the only reason I came up with that idea is because I'm looking for a surprise twist and assuming it's deducible entirely from the blurb you posted

So a literal adventure hook?

:smallbiggrin:

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Doomboy911
2012-09-23, 12:22 PM
Once again sergeant guesses correctly. Dang.

SgtCarnage92
2012-09-23, 09:10 PM
Once again sergeant guesses correctly. Dang.

I'm going with the simplest solutions. Think of the most outrageous reason for the plot hook to still work (without getting too over the top ridiculous). So you present your players with something obvious, and then you twist it beyond their expectations that way everything isn't what it seems. I kind of liked the literal "adventure hook" idea for this one even if it is a bit silly.

Maybe the fisherman the players meet is an impersonator of some kind (or even just a mundane con man) and the cut on his cheek is a self-inflicted detail to make it LOOK like he was attacked. His "amnesia" is because he wants the players to go to the obvious conclusion for some reason. Maybe the PCs are the actual target of the attack and he used the fisherman as a detail because they would be so "gung-ho" to save a man in need.

Doomboy911
2012-09-23, 10:07 PM
Yeah the way I had it some nymphs were erasing his memory and compelling him to come back to the fishing spot every few weeks so they could take what he had.

SgtCarnage92
2012-09-23, 10:34 PM
Yeah the way I had it some nymphs were erasing his memory and compelling him to come back to the fishing spot every few weeks so they could take what he had.

See, i anticipated bandits with a mage or some such. Just the fact that you have nymphs doing it makes it a little more interesting. Another option is what ELSE does he do when he's on a compulsion? They may take his stuff, but what else can they make him do in the meantime? This could be an entry into something MUCH larger if you want it to be.

rockdeworld
2012-09-27, 08:30 PM
Doesn't sound obvious, sounds confusing. How many times can a person's home get raided before their stuff is all gone? Did the noblewoman go up the mountain or did she just disappear? By "passed" do you mean she disappeared after the plague hit everyone in the area, or just that she disappeared after it started hitting people?

My guess: the noblewoman is a Night Hag, who is spreading demon fever among the townspeople. She disappeared while heading to a mage's college to slay everyone there, but changed shape so as not to be recognized. The monsters are working together to steal from her in revenge for haunting their dreams while spreading fever among the townsfolk.

Edit: Well, I guess I was wrong. Btw, to make a plot less obvious, you could make it a realistic situation (those are almost never used anymore). To make it harder for your players to guess, describe it only in terms of people's reactions to it. Most townspeople are probably more likely to say "all kinds of monsters have been entering the village at night, we dare not go outside" rather than "monsters are working together that don't normally do that."

Slipperychicken
2012-09-27, 09:50 PM
Doesn't sound obvious, sounds confusing. How many times can a person's home get raided before their stuff is all gone?

If the PCs are doing the raiding? Exactly once. Everything. Even the door hinges, the locks, the christmas trees, and the last can of Who Hash. If they're really creative/destructive, the house itself, too.

Riverdance
2012-09-28, 11:39 AM
Once again sergeant guesses correctly. Dang.

If it makes you feel better I wouldn't have guessed that. I tend to guess much more complex things like, "he's had amnesia cast on him after being compelled to help a nefarious organization for which he will eventually take the fall" or "He's actually a lycanthrope and doesn't remember transforming" or "he's being possessed by some other entity and used for its purposes." Somehow I always imagine it more complicated than it is. This is why I'm better at coming up with plots than playing through them.

SgtCarnage92
2012-09-28, 04:56 PM
If it makes you feel better I wouldn't have guessed that. I tend to guess much more complex things like, "he's had amnesia cast on him after being compelled to help a nefarious organization for which he will eventually take the fall" or "He's actually a lycanthrope and doesn't remember transforming" or "he's being possessed by some other entity and used for its purposes." Somehow I always imagine it more complicated than it is. This is why I'm better at coming up with plots than playing through them.

The lycanthrope idea came to mind, but the more I thought about it the less it seemed to fit. That and a lycan more likely to wake up without clothing next to a deer corpse then wandering home with a small cut on his forehead. :smallbiggrin: