Making a Witcher-esque One Shot Adventure

[Ninjadeadbeard]

So one of my players is a huge Witcher fan, and since we're the only people in the group who'll be in town this weekend, I thought I'd treat him to a Witcher-esque solo/DM-and-one-game. I've already figured on the character-build with him, using a particular Redditor's Witcher found here, so that's not an issue. My problem is that I'm not a huge Witcher fan like my friend.

In short, I need an idea for an adventure. One that feels like a Witcher plot, but without being one exactly since he'd be familiar enough with the material to figure out what's going on too early. I've heard hard-boiled detective plots are similar, but I don't know those very well either. System is DnD5E, around 12th level, but I'm not looking for mechanical help.

[Raimun]

Usually, adventures in Witcher are kind of a mix between a fairy tale quest and hardboiled detective case.

Typically, someone hires Geralt (the witcher) to slay somekind of a monster. At some point the reader might notice similarities with a familiar fairy tale. Then, the hardboiled elements seep in. The monster might not be all that bad and the person who hired him might have ulterior motives for the vanquish of the monster. And while the monster is definitely not "Always Evil", it, or the story behind it, is quite a bit darker than its fairy tale equivalent.

It's quite possible Geralt might choose to let the monster go and instead slay the shady character who hired him. Or he might try to return the monster to its original form with magical or ritualistic means.

Or the monster really is a destructive beast but the person who hired Geralt still has ulterior motives.