Advice for a solo adventure?

[Galt_Devil]

Hey guys, I have a 3rd level combat oriented character (she may be switching from Ranger to Fighter or Paladin) in my campaign. She's focused on mounted combat, especially lance-wielding. She's a runaway from an arranged marriage, and her father is a landed noble. Think high-level knight. She's eventually going to take the Silver Heart (unicorn rider) prestige class.
Now, I'm gonna do a solo adventure for her, in one or two mid-length sessions (four hours or so apiece, probably.) But I want to avoid bringing her background up for a good while. Any advice on things I should use? She's currently in a major port city, although there are ruins within a week or two of travel, so a mini-dungeon dive is possible, as is dealing with pirates and the like. I'm just stumped on adventure material.

[Kelb_Panthera]

If wer're avoiding the background as a source of plot hooks then we'll need more info on the player's and the character's personalities and motivations.

A paladin is easy enough. Just put an evil in front of them to oppose or innocents in need to protect. Fighters and rangers have less universal motivations to roll with.

[Galt_Devil]

She's good aligned for certain, but we're not yet certain of which varieties, and her character isn't remarkably fleshed out, and that's part of the purpose of this side plot. We know she's good, we know she isn't particularly interested in the life of nobility.

[Know(Nothing)]

Push the Law/Duty aspect. Prepare a campaign where she must either abide her noble roots and traditions or defy them. She ran away from an arranged marriage, so my cursory guess would be that she's either neutral or neutral good.

Maybe corrupt shipping and dock-owning nobles set against smugglers and pirates? Neither of them are exactly her type of people, but maybe the pirates have a more Good-ish cause than the nobles, but the nobles and their minions have the law on their side. She would have to choose which side defines her more. Or neither. Or play both sides then turn them all in to a greater law. DnD is fun like that.

Maybe the smugglers and the nobles both become aware of a minor artifact in the nearby ruins that will be a boon to whatever sea-going vessel possesses it. The smugglers want it as leverage for better prices on their goods, and the nobles want it to make their in-house porters more adept, making the smugglers less useful to them. Two sides in a mad scramble for power and the PC caught in the middle? That's some intrigue right there.

I will say, though, that dungeons, ports, ships and cities are all about the least hospitable places for Mounted Combat, and she should focus on literally anything else if she's trying to be effective on her own.

[Kelb_Panthera]

She's good aligned for certain, but we're not yet certain of which varieties, and her character isn't remarkably fleshed out, and that's part of the purpose of this side plot. We know she's good, we know she isn't particularly interested in the life of nobility.

Then you'll want to scatter hooks for a variety of plots and see which one she bites in the first session. Then you can flesh that one out as you go. This is actually the method I use to generate most of my own campaigns. Click the link in my sig for more details.

[AMFV]

Then you'll want to scatter hooks for a variety of plots and see which one she bites in the first session. Then you can flesh that one out as you go. This is actually the method I use to generate most of my own campaigns. Click the link in my sig for more details.

This is probably the best method, I think, since it allows your player to choose the plot hook and basically you'll have the story she's most interested in, which is always a huge plus.

[hymer]

While I approve in principle of the Way of the Many Hooks, if she's anything like my players, she'll run with the first hook she notices, and if she finds others, she'll collect them and head back and deal with them methodically, one by one, unless somehow prevented.

[AMFV]

While I approve in principle of the Way of the Many Hooks, if she's anything like my players, she'll run with the first hook she notices, and if she finds others, she'll collect them and head back and deal with them methodically, one by one, unless somehow prevented.

That's generally my experience as well, however frequently people don't notice hooks even the ones you think will be obvious having extra hooks means that even if they miss one, they can grab onto a different one.