Adventure hook?

[Davval]

So I am about to start a new campaign as a first time Dungeon Master. I have worked on the world and I have most of it ready, but I have no idea how to start the first session. I want it to start in a tavern during a drinking holiday where they get to introduce their characters (I have most of this worked out) but after that I get stuck. If it was during the morning it would have made it easier, but I dont want it to start in the morning, I want to start it during the evening. Since one of the PC is a bard I though he would start of the holiday with a preformance in a smaller inn. But after that I dont have any ideas on how to start the adventure without it being too cliché. Help is greatly appriciated!

EDIT: it seems i gave to little information. Here is a little about the adventure and The holiday.

The adventure takes place 5000 years after a world shattering disaster wich made the very high technological empires and continents crumble and sent large landmasses into the sky and enchanted the very dirt and soil making it float. The world has been rebuilt and many people now travel by airship. The world is filled with powerful artifacts and technology from the ancient world that people risk their lives to obtain.

This is basically it. But i have a plan that Will lead them to the Air and traveling. But i like my introduction part in the inn and using a town purely for one of its inns feels like a waste of a whole town. So what i am after is something that happens that they Will have to investigate while they are in town before they head out by ship.

The holiday is called rustic vintage and is a celebration of growth and fertility to Sildrin and to Wobbum , this festival centers around harvesting and pressing grapes for wine and a time when wine from years before in people’s cellars is drunk.

[poopyloop]

I think explaining more about the general plot itself would give others better ideas on how to help.
What if someone causes a disturbance during an outdoor part of the festival where a lot of people are distracted by the festivities?
I'm imagining a giant bonfire with a lot of drinking and dancing and celebrating going on around it

[Davval]

I think explaining more about the general plot itself would give others better ideas on how to help.

Sorry about that... Is what i added what you asked for? Otherwise explain more in detail what information you want and ill do my best to add it

[Armored Walrus]

Are you trying to run a sandbox world or is there a specific adventure you are trying to point them toward to begin with?

Edit: Also, why are you worried about being cliche? Have they all played in dozens of other TTRPG campaigns?

[Davval]

Are you trying to run a sandbox world or is there a specific adventure you are trying to point them toward to begin with?

I want to point them to a adventure further into the campaign but firstly I want them to grow as a group and become stronger. Starting a campaign with big important quests at lvl 1 feels wierd

[Unoriginal]

Well, difficult to give an adventure hook when we don't know what the adventure is.

What's the scenario? Or at least, the first part of it?

[DMThac0]

I'll have to echo Unoriginal here: There's not enough information to work with. As a result the "cliche" worry you have is almost a guarantee.

The spirits of growth and fertility are in unrest, they start to cause mischief in the town.
Brigands storm the town stealing the wines knowing they're worth value.
A monster of unknown origin storms the town in the night.
A farmer/soldier/patron stumbles in with dire news...

Too many things could happen, what are you looking to give your players? What type of game are you running (horror, fantasy, gritty, realistic)? What type of bad guy are you looking for (crook, murderer, abductions, mastermind)? We need more to work with if we'll be of any help.

[Davval]

Well, difficult to give an adventure hook when we don't know what the adventure is.

What's the scenario? Or at least, the first part of it?

The adventure takes place 5000 years after a world shattering disaster wich made the very high technological empires and continents crumble and sent large landmasses into the sky and enchanted the very dirt and soil making it float. The world has been rebuilt and many people now travel by airship. The world is filled with powerful artifacts and technology from the ancient world that people risk their lives to obtain.

This is basically it. But i have a plan that Will lead them to the Air and traveling. But i like my introduction part in the inn and using a town purely for one of its inns feels like a waste of a whole town. So what i am after is something they can do while their in that town before they head out by ship.

[Davval]

I'll have to echo Unoriginal here: There's not enough information to work with. As a result the "cliche" worry you have is almost a guarantee.

Sorry about that... Fixed it now

[Armored Walrus]

OK, read your edit. So you aren't asking for an adventure hook, you're asking for an adventure. Or at least for some encounters.

YOu want them to have things ot do in town before they head out by ship. Why will they be heading out by ship? Do they already have some goal they will need to leave town to pursue?

While in town - well, your imagination is the limit of what they can do while there. What's in a town? Will they need to shop for equipment before they go? Will they need money to pay for passage on the airship? Will they meet people at the festival that can hellp them get out of town?

[Unoriginal]

Could have a Fey spirit tied to the festivities show up and challenge the PCs to a team game

Like this guy:

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/witcher/images/c/ca/Arkadiusz-matyszewski-allgod-1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160306210256

But dressed like this guy:

http://wiseblooding.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/scrooge-ghost-leech-m.jpg

[poopyloop]

I'm liking the idea of the Dionysus-esque spirit showing up due to the festivities. Maybe he could cause a disturbance cuz he is so out of place, or be upset that he wasn't invited in the first place. Or not know his own strength and/or get too drunk and starts breaking things?
Maybe after things settle down, the party befriends the spirit who has tasks for them to complete like ridding a local forest of evil-doers?

[Unoriginal]

I'm liking the idea of the Dionysus-esque spirit showing up due to the festivities. Maybe he could cause a disturbance cuz he is so out of place, or be upset that he wasn't invited in the first place. Or not know his own strength and/or get too drunk and starts breaking things?

Was more thinking something light-hearted for the first adventure.



Maybe after things settle down, the party befriends the spirit who has tasks for them to complete like ridding a local forest of evil-doers?

Could be good.

[Magzimum]

City hall is built right next to the inn. While City hall itself is closed, there is a board on which people (local government, as well as private people) post requests for help, by nailing leaflets onto the board.

Help a local farmer get rid of some monster or pest that eats his chickens or destroys his crops.
Retrieve a stolen item. Most likely stolen by some outlaw clan in the mountains.
Etc.



Players get smashed in the pub. You can let them pay for their drinks. You can have a table for gambling (make sure its rigged, players lose their cash).
Ultimately, the players wake up with a huge hangover and with several such leaflets in their pockets. And they're now broke.

Btw, I applaud your idea to start the adventure in a pub. I believe every adventure should start in a pub. :)

[lxion]

Could have a Fey spirit tied to the festivities show up and challenge the PCs to a team game

Like this guy:

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/witcher/images/c/ca/Arkadiusz-matyszewski-allgod-1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160306210256

But dressed like this guy:

http://wiseblooding.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/scrooge-ghost-leech-m.jpg

Seems like a fun idea. You could make this a tradition. Every year this guy pops up and there are some competition games to prove who are the best (eg a sprinting, rock throwing, playing music, climbing a tree,...) and they could win a reward. You could make the party team up and it's like a teambuilding competition, where they all get to use their skills.

[lxion]

Like said before, you got have them get mugged so they have to get some things back (collecting money or finding the thieves). You can have them be accused of theft or rape, so they have to go around the city to get proof they didn't do it. You can have them piss off a guy, who happens to be a dragon and then transforms...

[BLC1975]

Like said before, you got have them get mugged so they have to get some things back (collecting money or finding the thieves). You can have them be accused of theft or rape, so they have to go around the city to get proof they didn't do it. You can have them piss off a guy, who happens to be a dragon and then transforms...

Rape? Right from the off...that's weird.

[Rolero]

I am dming a campaign with similar background and from what you have said, the following can help you a lot:

Fiery-Grog-Tavern (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/183857/Fiery-Grog-Tavern)

Madness-of-the-Rat-King (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/183874/Madness-of-the-Rat-King)

Both are related and are a great starting point. You get a tavern with npc that you can use to feed information and plot hooks, and can become a base of operations for the pc at earlier levels.

The Rat King is a module for starting characters and can work with your festival when experimental rats appear during the event, or maybe some folks comment they have seems weird giant rodents eat away the food suplies of their stands.

Expand plot ideas of the module (like the kidnap of the blacksmith son) by introducing more disappearances. Maybe one of the pc knows one of this missing persons and wants to investigate leading them to the adventure.

Another idea, the thieves guild wants to take advange of the festivities to score a big heist and the PCs witness this by chance. Now the authorities want their help, or perphaps the guild tries to buy their silence or even let them participate (the merchant could have several artifacts)

Finally, the old drunk with a treasure map is a classic. There is nothing more adventure like in D&D that to point the players to a hoard and introduce plot convenience findings along the way.

[lxion]

Rape? Right from the off...that's weird.

Yeah, assuming it's a big party in the city, there could be a girl that does something like that, to get some gold. Not saying they actually did it. Honestly, I don't know why that came up :smallsmile:.

[MrStabby]

Someone gets poisoned at the event. Find out who did it and why.

By giving the party cause to speak to a lot of NPCs and to understand the motives of different factions in your world (to understand motive) you can really flesh out your world and develop your player's understanding of it with this type of early quest. It should also be relatively easy to move from this into either an adventure path or to set the scene for something more sandboxy afterwards.

Natural next quest is to find the poisoner and bring them to justice.

[Mercurias]

I like the idea of them all getting blackout drunk and waking up in the temple of this fertility god, a la the Skyrim quest where you become drinking buddies with the Daedric lord of hard partying.

All of them end up drinking, blacking our, and waking up in the desecrated temple where you’d strewn about bottles and undergarments that don’t belong to yourselves. Over the course of the next few days, your party will have to fix their drunken mistakes, halt the Fertility God’s Curse, and figure out how they accidentally made friends with a crew of sky pirates who are expecting they bring them a treasure from the island worth either passage off the island or the party’s own airship.

Get creative. Have a farmer calling them out for having defiled his livestock and stolen his daughter. Have the party Wizard be party to a drunken engagement with a local lord who offers to reward you if you call it off publically. Have fun with it and give the players a chance to be goofy before the quest starts in earnest.