[D&D 3.5] Adventure Hooks???

[Murkus]

Yes, yes, I know there's one hundred in the DM's manual. However, I was looking for quick adventure hook suggestions from the mouths of my fellow Playgrounders. What's some of the best/most classic/most fun/most interesting adventure hooks you've seen/made up/played off of.

I don't care if they're dark, serious, frightening, nonsensical, or really anything else. They just have to be able to fit or adapt to generic D&D settings. I'd also appreciate a bit more detail about the hook than, say, one sentence. Thanks!

[Starscream]

My favorite is to start the characters in a jail cell. This gives them some time to talk, and meet if their characters don't have a common background. In general they were falsely accused, although having one of them actually belong there is a nice way to incorporate the whole token evil party member thing, if necessary.

After they've had some time to talk and introduce themselves they hear two thuds from outside the cell, and a click. When they open the door they find that the guards are unconscious, the key is in the lock, and there is a note requesting their presence at a certain location.

Even if they don't follow the note, it's a good way to have them meet and work together; after all they are on the run from the law. If they do follow the note, then I typically have them meet someone who promises to clear their name if they perform some task. They were chosen because as escaped prisoners, no one will suspect who they are working for, and their employer has complete deniability. Think DC's Suicide Squad.

Who sent the note can vary depending on what sort of quest I want to send them on. Maybe it's an emissary of the king who wants their help against some covert evil group. Maybe it's some sinister noble who set them up to begin with to get some leverage on them. Maybe it's a rebel group who broke them out in the hopes that they would help them against the tyranical rulers. Etc.

[Drakevarg]

I've always loved the "everyone you've ever known and loved has been brutally murdered by the Big Bad" trope.

[Murkus]

I too enjoy an adventure/campaign starting with the PCs in a jail cell, for any number of reasons. I may just go for that. Though I'm not sure on the 'who wants them out' part.

I might go for your idea, Psycho, but do the way my players are I'll probably end up with an entire party of Sasuke Uchihas. Not that it can't be used well, just might not be for me.

[Emmerask]

The local lord of course wants them out to do some really dangerous stuff he dont want to lose his own people in

[Murkus]

That would fit nicely, I think. It would work even better because they're starting at level 1: nobody will remember a few aspiring adventurers that never had any recognition if they happen to, ah, die.

[Stone Heart]

"Ok, you guys are in a town and your party paladin just got stabbed in the shoulder"

That was one of my favorites, since its just so surprising.

Another favorite of my group is the "You are lost in the forest, when you hear rustling off in the bushes and hasty whispers"

Of course that one got derailed the first time we played DnD. I had chosen to play as a minotaur so it went more like

GM: So you are lost in the forest-

Me: No I'm not.

GM:...What?

Me: Minotaurs can't get lost, its a racial thing.

GM:Fine, Stone knows exactly where you're going, everyone else is lost!

[Drakevarg]

"Ok, you guys are in a town and your party paladin just got stabbed in the shoulder"

That was one of my favorites, since its just so surprising.

Another favorite of my group is the "You are lost in the forest, when you hear rustling off in the bushes and hasty whispers"

Of course that one got derailed the first time we played DnD. I had chosen to play as a minotaur so it went more like

GM: So you are lost in the forest-

Me: No I'm not.

GM:...What?

Me: Minotaurs can't get lost, its a racial thing.

GM:Fine, Stone knows exactly where you're going, everyone else is lost!

Heh. I almost played a Minotaur in the survival campaign I'm in, but decided to switch to a refluffed lupine Gnoll because it was a low-level campaign and I wanted class levels sometime this year.

[Murkus]

"Your paladin rips the dagger out of his shoulder, grunting, before returning the favor of stabbing. Except in the face."

Minotaurs can't get lost? I... did not know that. Hmf. And if you're lost in the forest... THEN WHO WAS WHISPERS?

I dunno, I bet you could go lotsa fun places with that hook.

[Reynard]

"Ok, you guys are in a town and your party paladin just got stabbed in the shoulder"

That was one of my favorites, since its just so surprising.

Another favorite of my group is the "You are lost in the forest, when you hear rustling off in the bushes and hasty whispers"

Of course that one got derailed the first time we played DnD. I had chosen to play as a minotaur so it went more like

GM: So you are lost in the forest-

Me: No I'm not.

GM:...What?

Me: Minotaurs can't get lost, its a racial thing.

GM:Fine, Stone knows exactly where you're going, everyone else is lost!

Hilariously, I think that only applies in mazes. So, unless the trees were pretty dense, you'd be as lost as the rest of them

[Drakevarg]

Hilariously, I think that only applies in mazes. So, unless the trees were pretty dense, you'd be as lost as the rest of them

Nope. Minotaurs are incapable of getting lost, PLUS are immune to maze SPELLS.

[Ellye]

War is always an interesting and underused adventure hook. You can have all the PCs meet before the action, by being all in the same squadron.
Or, more interestingly, you can have some of them only meet in the battlefield: as enemies. Of course, something then happens and oblitarates the entire warzone, leaving very few survivors, needing to cooperate to survive. Maybe they uncover some dark truth that is pulling the strings behind the war, playing nations as if they were paws.

[PersonMan]

One that I have yet to use is that the PCs simply...wake up. They're in extravagant quarters in a huge floating fortress. They have no memories since they left on their first adventure, but it all seems familiar to them.

It turns out that after a few adventures they turned to the side of the Big Bad for some unknown reason, and he has conquered over half the world. They can decide to either finish the job or to rally the remainder of the free world against him, fighting people who recall working under or with them.

[PId6]

Or, more interestingly, you can have some of them only meet in the battlefield: as enemies. Of course, something then happens and oblitarates the entire warzone, leaving very few survivors, needing to cooperate to survive. Maybe they uncover some dark truth that is pulling the strings behind the war, playing nations as if they were paws.

I have a feeling if I started my PCs like this, they'd just ignore the catastrophe and continue PvPing each other.

[PersonMan]

playing nations as if they were paws.

So they used them to swat at things and to store claws?

[Safety Sword]

Me: So you're all sitting in a tavern...

Players: *groan*

Me: When it blows up.

Players: What?! The tavern blew up?

Me: That's what I said. Hey, look, falling ceiling. Start rolling. Literally.

Turns out that BBEG Wasn't after the PCs at all. But they did go digging

[Starscream]

Me: So you're all sitting in a tavern...

Players: *groan*

Me: When it blows up.

Players: What?! The tavern blew up?

Me: That's what I said. Hey, look, falling ceiling. Start rolling. Literally.

I like this one.

[Dark Herald]

I once started with all four PC's getting thrown out of a tavern by the bouncer, who then said "don't come back."

Or I started all the PCs watching another party come back from the dungeon with lots of loot. They got together fast.

[Lord Vukodlak]

A few children from Mother Maggie's orphanage have gone missing.

A villager approaches each of them and asks or their help fending of a group of bandits that were plaguing his village.

[Set]

"Hi, yes, we're with the thieve's guild, and we're the ones that framed you for that theft and got you thrown in this lovely dungeon. Our bad. Let's move on to what you can do for us to get out of this predicament, shall we?"

"See, we had an agreement with Duke Whatshisface to never steal from his manor, and, it's sort of a protection agreement."

"But his wife's favorite necklace has gone missing. She's on vacation, doing a tour of orphanages and distributing food to the poor or some such rubbish, so she doesn't know yet, but the Duke is furious, because he paid us good money so that nothing happened to his pretty stuff..."

"So, we'll get you out of here, and the stuff you supposedly stole will be miraculously found in the attic of the owner, who will shame-facedly admit that he'd forgotten it was up there, and oh-so-terribly-sorry, if only you help us find this missing necklace and get it back before the Duchess returns from being all pure and popular and stuff. We'd do it ourselves, but there's the awkward possibility that it was one of our boys, and it would be better if the necklace thief were to resist arrest and not survive the scuffle, ifyouknowwhatImean."

"Of course, if you just run after we let you out of here, not only will you be thieves, but also jail-breakers, and you'll end up getting blamed for murdering these two jailers that will be found with their throats slit if you rabbit on us..."

"Do we have a deal? Or do you get your hands chopped off for thievery?"

[Drakevarg]

"Hi, yes, we're with the thieve's guild, and we're the ones that framed you for that theft and got you thrown in this lovely dungeon. Our bad. Let's move on to what you can do for us to get out of this predicament, shall we?"

"See, we had an agreement with Duke Whatshisface to never steal from his manor, and, it's sort of a protection agreement."

"But his wife's favorite necklace has gone missing. She's on vacation, doing a tour of orphanages and distributing food to the poor or some such rubbish, so she doesn't know yet, but the Duke is furious, because he paid us good money so that nothing happened to his pretty stuff..."

"So, we'll get you out of here, and the stuff you supposedly stole will be miraculously found in the attic of the owner, who will shame-facedly admit that he'd forgotten it was up there, and oh-so-terribly-sorry, if only you help us find this missing necklace and get it back before the Duchess returns from being all pure and popular and stuff. We'd do it ourselves, but there's the awkward possibility that it was one of our boys, and it would be better if the necklace thief were to resist arrest and not survive the scuffle, ifyouknowwhatImean."

"Of course, if you just run after we let you out of here, not only will you be thieves, but also jail-breakers, and you'll end up getting blamed for murdering these two jailers that will be found with their throats slit if you rabbit on us..."

"Do we have a deal? Or do you get your hands chopped off for thievery?"

Congratulations, you win one Internets.