Scavenger Hunt Help

[Gorbash Kazdar]

For the next adventure I'm running for my group I've decided to do a sort of scavenger hunt, and I need some help coming up with ideas for it.

The party is going to make their way to a major port city where, every few years, the nobles (and/or trade guilds and what not) sponsor adventuring teams to take part in a contest requiring them to collect certain items and perform unusual tasks. The group that completes all of the tasks first - or the most before time runs out, say 3-5 days - wins. There's prize money that goes to the victors, but the nobles do it primarily for prestige. The teams can fight with each other (a spell is used to make their weapons only deal non-lethal damage during the competition) as well. The party is going to be sponsored by the noble friend of an NPC they know, as a last minute arrangement - the noble's normal team was unavailable for a reason I have yet to decide.

Mostly what I need help with is tasks to complete and items to collect. The contest takes place in a fairly typical D&D port city, and the area around it. If possible, I'd like some of the tasks or items to identified by somewhat vague clues, so they could be solved in multiple ways. I'm hoping to have between 10 and 20, depending on how much time it would take to complete them.

Please give me any ideas you can!

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Make one of the items a powerful scroll, one that can take out another opposing team completely with one casting so the players have to decide whether or not to use it. Also, let them take stuff from the "bodies" of their enemies so they have a reason to chase down other teams.

[Fax Celestis]

Clue: "A small red fish can be found in the church's belfry."

There is no fish. It's a red herring!

[Duke of URL]

Whatever you do, make some of the harder items immune to scrying magic. That'll just make things too easy otherwise. Edit: That assumes that there are unique items, I suppose.

On the "fish" line, there could be a clue to find "a fish that is not a fish", which could be satisfied by producing anything with "fish" in its name, such as a silverfish or even a fishmonger/fishwife.

[Grug]

If you want a plot twist, have some unscrupulous person slip the players a fake list, causing them to break into private residences and steal valuables not part of the contest.

Items that could work:
Sand from the bottom of the marina.
A ship's flag
The signature of a local hero
A bone from a specially prepared coffin buried in the graveyard. (The hand of Wilness Goran. No one has heard the name before, but clever players will check the graveyard).
A bottle of alcohol.
A Daisy
A Live rat
A green key at the bottom of a well (the key to your success is in a thin and deep hole).
A bouquet of fruit.
A loaf of mint bread (still warm).
A bronze horsehoe (Something that hardens the sole).
A crab weighing more than 4 pounds.

[Duke of URL]

If you want a plot twist, have some unscrupulous person slip the players a fake list, causing them to break into private residences and steal valuables not part of the contest.

That would be hilarious. Add in items belonging to the town's government for extra-fun laughs as they get busted for trying to swipe the town scribe's official seal or something like that.

[Illiterate Scribe]

C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!

As others have alluded to, some objects that just cannot be got are usually a good idea to make the PCs minds work. I'd have some incidental benefit too, though, so it's not a total waste.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

That would be hilarious. Add in items belonging to the town's government for extra-fun laughs as they get busted for trying to swipe the town scribe's official seal or something like that.

It's an interesting idea, but I think I want to play it straight for now - this will be the first time the PCs are in this city and I'm hoping for it to become their base of operations, more or less, for the first part of the campaign arc.

[FlyMolo]

Oooh, fun. I might try this on my group later. Great idea, btw.

Ideas:
Something off of a roof or spire. Climb and jump checks galore.
I like sand from the bottom of the marina. I also like the 4-pound crab bit.
A stone lion.(There could be a famous pair of really heavy stone lions by the gates or somesuch, but they just have to find a stone lion, any size.)
Scales of a fish dead of drowning. (I like this clue, something to make the PCs think. Reward an imaginative solution. Like a fish what drowned in alcohol, or somesuch.)
The city's equivalent of license plates?


Edit@V: Why thank you. Kind of you to say so.

[CrowSpawn]

Wonderful idea, Gorbash. I wish I'd thought of it. I might just use that in the future.

As far as object-seeking goes, clues that allude to something obvious, but in fact are not, are always amusing, but too much of that can lead to frustrated or apathetic characters. Make some of the items easy to find, but perhaps a rival team shows up at the same time and tries to stop or slow your group down.

And as a complete aside:
FlyMolo, every time I see your signature I can't stop laughing.

[Grug]

That's a good idea, needing to find a small version of a city's monument.
A Wagon Wheel
A magical children's toy.
A bag of green marbles
Any part of a troll
Any part of a dragon.
A Golden tooth or Dentures
A bruise from a bird (Local tavern bully Johnny Parrot has a distinctive signet ring)
A painting of whales.
One half pound of poison ivy.
A story from a Bard.
A love potion (even if its a fake one from the gypsies outside the city).
A Blue flag at the end of a maze in the sewers. Then it must be made Brown
Scissors with a tree engraved on the handle
A mask that looks like one of the nobles.
A caterpillar, a cocoon, a butterfly, and a frog.

BTW I have no idea the usual weight for a crab. 4 pounds sounded about right. Are there rules out there for a dire crab?

[Darkantra]

How about for one of the capstones they have to somehow remove an Immovable Rod from a block of adamantium. Say, it was pushed into a hole just big enough to hold half of it, the inside of which was coated with sovereign glue, with the trigger depressed at the back of the hole.

Some other good scavenger hunt ideas...

- City Watch captain's helmet
- a housecat, which under no circumstances can be secured with magic, alchemy or violence.
- part of a gelatinous cube
- a painting drawn by a specific artist
- lettuce made of ice
- truly invisible ink
- a page from a specific wizard's spellbook
- a perfectly round egg
-

[adanedhel9]

A celestial charger, or some other monster on the summon monster IX or summon nature's ally IX. There's only one caster in town powerful enough to cast the spell, and he has limited slots that he could devote to the competition. Players would have to stay on his good side and possibly provide a little incentive to ensure that he's casting the spell for them.

If you weren't set on a "straight" running of this, I'd suggest introduce some sort of side plot, such as a thieves' guild using the hunt as a distraction. Or political emnity between two sponsors escalating into a battle between their respective teams - a battle which could threaten innocent lives.

[ShinyRocks]

This is a great idea.

I would personally put some kind of obligation - either a spell or just scrying or something - to stop them stealing items from other players. By all means fight other teams to incapacitate them but stealing in a scavenger hunt seems really cheap.

Top of my head:
- I carry water but am full of holes: (a sponge, not a rusty bucket)
- I sound like a bell and contain flesh and bone: (a ring)
- A lady's petticoat
- Horse feathers
- Tortoise teeth
- Mermaid's toenails

[Prometheus]

I would highly recommend assigning each item of point value, so that players are by no means required to collect them all, just enough, especially if you are going to listen to the majority of our suggestions.

Items:
-Each team is given a token, and one item is another team's token
-A brick from the bottom of a large decrepit tower
-A priest's blessing
-"Lightning in a bottle" (fireflies)
-"Three different types of cobbler" (if they bring three different flavors of cobbler its wrong, if they bring a dessert, a shoemaker, and a rejected fabric they are right)
-"The signature of the most evil person in the world" (the only one the judge will accept is that of his ex-wife (alternatively his mother-in-law)).
-"A live lie" (all you have to do is assert that you have this item.)
-The majority vote of the town council

[Megafly]

The PC's will need one local on their team. Any scavenger hunt requires a level of local knowledge that a group that just blew into town would never have.

Also, provide some clues with no specific answer in mind and let the creativity of the players provide the answer!

I have eyes but cannot see,
I have skin but cannot feel
I have tender flesh but no feeling
I began my life in the dirt and ended it in the palace
I am not a potato

[Sstoopidtallkid]

The PC's will need one local on their team. Any scavenger hunt requires a level of local knowledge that a group that just blew into town would never have.

Also, provide some clues with no specific answer in mind and let the creativity of the players provide the answer!

I have eyes but cannot see,
I have skin but cannot feel
I have tender flesh but no feeling
I began my life in the dirt and ended it in the palace
I am not a potato

You are a Liar. As well as a potato.

[Grey Watcher]

Hmmm... How about a high-level NPC protector of the city who carries some kind of token or object. A party that can get this token from this guy (by any means, combat, pickpocketing, some elaborate con) gets big bonus points, but, of course, the NPC in question is big, scary, and such.