Need some inspiration

[NerdHut]

I'm DMing a 3.5 campaign, and I've frankly got a bit of writer's block. I only plan out big-picture events far ahead of time, so each week I spend time figuring out the exact encounters my players will face. But this week I'm having some trouble coming up with things.

This is a homebrew world, so I have a bit of free rein on what exactly exists in the world. The party started a journey on the western coast of a country and ventured south and east, through a mountain range and are now on the eastern coast. Through my own error, I got the party to this town before I intended them to. Before the next planned part of story kicks in, I need them to be a few levels higher. So for now, it's world building and character development.

The town is smallish (~8,000 people) and situated on the coast. There are no other large human settlements nearby. However, there are some Dwarf cities to the mountains that are a few days south. The party is of Good-leaning alignment, and ranges Chaotic to Lawful.

The Party is made up of an Anthropomorphic Wolf Rogue, Goliath Tank-Build, Halfling Sorcerer, Anthropomorphic Toad Witch (Homebrewed, think divine sorcerer), and a Human Ranger (Wild-shaping variant)

I don't necessarily need entire detailed quests, but any suggestions for encounters would be much appreciated.

[Yahzi]

Without knowing your player's history, we can't offer you anything more than random ideas. Which you can get just by rolling on the Random Encounter chart. Adventures should build on their past.

That said, here's my random quest system.

Each mission requires an Agent (someone who wants it done), an Object (the item to be destroyed, delivered, retrieved, or found), a Location (where the mission is to take place), and a Fate (what happens if the mission fails), as in:

An Agent wants you to Mission an Object in/to/from Location, otherwise Fate will strike.

Agent
Commoner Poor peasants or rich merchants)
Noble Nobles or noble guilds
Government The local ruler

Mission
Destroy Destroy an object. Drive off attacking monsters, assassinate an enemy leader, or destroy an evil artifact. If the object to be destroyed is information, then this is an attempt to foil a plot, either by exposing a secret or keeping one.
Deliver Take an object to a location, either through dangerous territory or against the will of some hostile party. Alternatively, fetch an object and bring it home.
Discover Find an object, including information such as the fact that a baron is secretly a drunkard or the location of a tomb. This may become a Destroy or Deliver quest once the object is found.

Object
Monster A monstrous creature, possibly in disguise, or horde of monsters
Person An heir, bride, criminal, witness, skilled professional, etc.
Item A magic item, rare ingredient, valuable treasure, or information

Location
Close In the same nation or city
Near A neighboring nation or just outside the borders
Far The deep wilderness, another continent, or another plane

Fate
Disaster Famine, plague, business failure, or broken treaties
Doom War between nations, guilds, races, religions, or families
Death An individual, group, or city

Example
The DM rolls these attributes: Agent = Nobles, Object = Item, Fate = Disaster. This leads to three levels of quests, based on the mission.
Deliver: A Merchant House asks you to escort their caravan of rare spices; failure means they will lose their monopoly on the spice market.
Discover: Find out who is leaking the caravan departure dates to their competition.
Destroy: Sink the rival’s merchant ship so that they fail to meet the market deadline.

Persons
D10
1 Parent
2 Heir
3 Suitor
4 Servant
5 Spy
6 Witness
7 Expert
8 Criminal
9 Debtor
10 Companion

Items
D6
1 Any magic item/artifact
2 Ingredient (typically drawn from a rare monster)
3 Treasure (artwork, trade goods, or piles of gold and gems)
4 Information (names, histories, intentions, techniques, passwords)
5 Location (dungeons, headquarters, a pass through the mountains)
6 Agreement (treaties, deals, marriages)

[NerdHut]

Without knowing your player's history, we can't offer you anything more than random ideas. Which you can get just by rolling on the Random Encounter chart. Adventures should build on their past.

It's not super important yet. They're in a new town, on the far side of the country from where they have even a small reputation. I'm trying to get them established in the new place. For what it's worth, though, I do plan to have them fight a necromancer in the cemetary, and then a rich man will be seeking some hired hands to fetch him some Owlbear Eggs (I think they'd actually be live-birth, personally, but this character wouldn't necessarily know that) for his menagerie of creatures. Knowing my players, that could end up with raiding a nest, or with a bunch of freed animals. We'll see.

Anything that could follow that up would be great. I might be inclined to send them south to the Dwarves, but I'm not sure what kind of hook might bring them there.

[Gildedragon]

What is the intended quest? use new smaller quests to foreshadow the bigger quest. If there's anyone they're supposed to trust: introduce them now with lower stakes.

[karinrin55]

You said they were in a coast city, have them take a ship to a nearby island to defeat a tribe of aquatic Yun-Ti than is disturbing the harbor and the ships in the marina.

Maybe throw in an appropriate magic item that is important to the rest of the campaign.

If not, send them to retrieve an artifact for the mayor/ruler of the town from the dwarven cities in the mountains throwing random encounters at them while on their way.

Maybe have some people steal their identities and commit a few crimes, then have them prove their innocence by finding and bringing the real criminals to justice. New comers are always scapegoats.

And you can always run a little dungeon crawl in the grave yard just outside the town.
People complaining of weird noises from there, the party arrives to see a necromancer bringing the bodies of the dead to live. Have them chase him down a secret passage in one of the graves and find him in a maze of corridors which are filled with various undead.

Hope this helped :smallbiggrin:

[NerdHut]

If not, send them to retrieve an artifact for the mayor/ruler of the town from the dwarven cities in the mountains throwing random encounters at them while on their way.


Somehow my brain turned this into Arena battles in the Dwarven capital. I could get a few encounters in without too much hassle. And from there, the dwarves could throw a quest or two their way. It may not be exactly what you said, but thanks for the springboard!

[karinrin55]

Glad I could help out, I wish you the best of luck :smallredface: