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Originally Posted by bert
I got it the other day and just finished reading it. Love it!
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Thank you!
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Originally Posted by bert
I see adventure everywhere when I read it.
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I must confess that this item is four pages longer than its first draft because I added 3,000+ words of adventure ideas that occurred to me later . . . Not the big, obvious adventure seeds on p. 12 and pp. 33-35, but the little hints shoehorned in all over the place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bert
The thing with tourists joining experienced and battle-scarred delvers and ending up in trouble deep in the dungeon, full of Elder Things and goo... made me all giggly.
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"Escorting the silly tourists" is the one I'd most like to play, were somebody running a game with me as a player rather than GM. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by bert
A nice twist would be that later it turns out that one of the tourists is a royal family member, spelling big trouble for the delvers if everyone does not returns well and alive.
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Keeping the tourists alive is the beating heart of such an adventure (or side-quest, if the adventure has other, more-serious objectives) . . . and the GM needs
some way to make that important. Making a tourist a royal is one. Other options include having a tourist be an influential Hospitality Guild member preparing a travel guide for other insane tourists, a fantastically wealthy person who will pay outrageously if they survive (if they don't survive, the family may bribe the officials to treat it as murder, take the money and run, or hire assassins), or a
formerly competent but now nearly invalid ex-delver who wants one last look at "the life" (and who promises a map to some serious treasure upon returning afterward).
For fun plot twists, make one of the tourists (not necessarily the
same one, if there are several) a monster in disguise who wants to be escorted back home – or even an avatar of a
god testing the heroes' resolve to protect the weak!
It could be interesting to have one tourist per delver, each with a twist:
- The knight's charge is most straightforward: a member of the King's family who wants to play hero. This fop loves to give orders and brandish a sword he can't use properly. He's also a menace with a crossbow – a menace to the PCs, that is. Keep him alive and you get rich, and maybe even earn a Reputation; lose him and you lose your head.
- The cleric's responsibility is a devout but otherwise ordinary person who has decided to face hardship as penance for their sins. They're really an avatar of the priest's god, testing the cleric's (and perhaps the whole group's) devotion to protecting the weak. This tourist can't actually die, but if a mortal in their place would have perished, there may be consequences – at least for the cleric. Doing well might earn a blessing.
- The thief's albatross is a Hospitality Guild official preparing a travel guide. Specifically, it's Mala Badapple, who runs the Adventurers' Guild's official tavern. She's the sister of Scrump, master of the Adventurers' Guild. Scrump takes family seriously, and will put a hit out on the party if they lose his sister. But doing well means free lodgings for life in Caverntown, and maybe even the favor of Scrump.
- The wizard is stuck with a sage who paid the Wizards' Guild handsomely for an armed escort while they work on an illustrated guide to monsters. This person is actually a shapeshifted monster seeking safe passage home. The Guild is ostensibly interested in the research . . . but given they're powerful wizards, it's a safe bet they know the truth. If the heroes discover it, the Guild might make them an offer they can't refuse, because if they say "no," the Guild will let Cavertown's officials learn the delvers escorted a monster spy.
- The barbarian has to protect a wizened tribe member. In their day, 100 years ago, they were among the greatest of warriors; now they can barely walk. This elder simply wants to live the delving life one last time, and claims to know the secret of a great treasure. The trick is keeping them alive to talk about it . . . especially as they aren't right in the head, and tend to think they're 18 again.