need an adventure... some help plz?

[sleeping fishy]

so i'm gonna try running a game for my friends (usually i just play) & i figured I coud get a premade adventure thatd be fun... but i played a couple and theyre almost all fighting, and one guy always plays bards plus another plays wizzies but takes enchantmet spells so he likes social stuff too. so basically could someone suggest a published adventure type thing that has more social stuff? oh and not many traps plz, no one ever wants to play a rouge in my group....

thx!

[Matthew]

Hmmn. Well, most D&D Adventures have a fair amount of combat. You could try Free Dungeons & Dragons Adventures (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20030530b), you might find something there. I think The Ettin's Riddle is a low combat Adventure.

[sleeping fishy]

thx for the link i'll check those out!
im fine with combat, id just like there to be some things happening where killing it isnt the answer... most of the ones ive been in u pretty much kille verything. maybe theres one set in a city or somethign?

[Matthew]

I think Manifesting A Tale is the closest you'll come to that in the linked selection, but I could be mistaken, as I haven't looked through them all.

[Ditto]

I like White Plume Mountain. It has a little bit of everything, and three branches which cater to slightly different play styles.

Lest Darkness Fall has a small dungeon as well as some roleplaying aspect to draw out the backstory.

[sleeping fishy]

ok so i read through the adventures... even turns out white plume mtn was online! i don't like the ettin one at all, its based on players figuring out that stupid riddle, totally hit or miss... the short Manifesting one is pretty good but seems to be 3rd ed psionics rules?? ill have to see if i can upgrade that one to the current version but w/o the psionic combat thing i dont know how well itll work... its short, too...

white plume mtn was kinda disappointing, its just a dungeon crawl... lots of traps, too, and weve got no rogue.

i guess ill have to come up w/ somethin myself, maybe a royal court type deal with the court bard as the bad guy, lol.

[Everyman]

Well, here's one my old favorites: Murder Mystery.

Set-up
Party enters their favorite tavern/inn after a long day of [insert adventuring activity here]. They chat with the owner, have a couple ales, and are generally trying to relax. However, after a couple hours, they hear a maid scream then run frantically down the stairs. In one room, there is a man who is dead (and has been dead for a while).

Room Notes
Standard room set-up (bed, dressers, table, etc)...nothing out of the ordinary.
All the windows and doors were locked (maid had to get a key)
The mudered man had requested the room and privacy (hence why he had time to rot...the inn was giving him his privacy)
Only one travelling bag seems to be ransacked, and its still full
Other than decay, the body looks completely fine (no wounds), though the face looks frightened

The Idea
This guy made the mistake of pissing off someone powerful by stealing something valuable. An assassin (or perhaps the owner himself) snuck in with a gaseous form spell (or dimension door) and killed the man with a phantasmal killer spell.

The Intrique
Now the party has to do research (or scrying) to discover who killed the man, why they'd want the man dead, and go after the murderer (assuming the law of the land would punish such an act...some countries or lands might appluade such action). You've got plenty of social stuff to work with and you can mix in some action as appropriate.

Does that work? (You can always edit this to better suit your party)

[sleeping fishy]

murder mystery huh? hmmm... they wouldnt go for just a simple setup like that (investigating murder is what cops are for, lol) but i think i can tie it into a plot... maybe a string of scary murders like that, some kind of cult whose MO is phant. killer... can use it against players w/o being too worried, too, since spell offers 2 saves (dont want to hit em with spells that might kill if they roll bad).

lots of social stuff fightin the cult, wizard will get to use detect thoughts and all that stuff, and big dramatic showdown with cult, plus the leader...


hmm. the players are lvl 10, i wonder what kind of cult leaders i should make to fight? i dont want to make just 1, when i play we always either lose real bad or wipe the guy out real fast when theres one. what kind of bad guys would work together well, you think? some kind of cleric obviously, maybe mystic theurge (he wont have to play through the low lvls, plus he can be bit higher level, so he wont suck, heehhe), w/ maybe some lower lvl rogues? scary cuz of sneak attack dmg, but not that likely to hit, more of a distraction... maybe some guys with 9 Swords book classes... evil crusaders could be fun...

[Rahdjan]

Now you're cooking with napalm.

[Everyman]

Heh...I apologize if my murder set-up is too simple for you. It's mainly a cut and paste translation from some other campaign book.:smallsmile:

However, it does seem like you've got a bit of a story. A series of murders that are driven by a cult sounds interesting, but you need answer an important question: Why? What do they gain from killing their targets with a Phant. Killer spell? Rather than cult, perhaps an assassins guild would be in order...

Whatever you decide, I'm glad I was at least able to inspire you. Have fun.:smallbiggrin: