PRESENTS
99 EVENTS & SETUPS
BORA MITRIČEVIĆ
PRESENTS
99 EVENTS & SETUPS WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BY BORA MITRIČEVIĆ
INTRODUCTION: Welcome to 99 Events & Setups This book contains 99 random incidents, scenarios or situations that could lead to great role play moments, quest introductions, story elements, skill challenges or combat encounters. All of the events have been tried and tested. Most of the setups also have an example of how I’ve ran them in my game and how my players played them out. On the important note (crucial actually) all of the events and setups have a backstory, potential outcome or an interesting NPC tied to it, which makes them easy to use and to apply in your own game. In the end, this book is meant to help, inspire and greatly spice up your game. DISCLAIMER: This book features scenes of tragedy, gore, occult and of sexual nature, and as such is meant for mature audience. You know your players the best and you should always take in an account their personality, feelings and how they like their role play games, before you introduce a certain setup or event. This book is purely fictional, and it’s not meant to insult anyone.
99 Events & Setups, Copyright 2016, Adventurer’s Inn, Author: Bora Mitričević
CONTENT: ON THE ROAD
IN THE INN
IN A VILLAGE, TOWN OR CITY
No reward high enough The blood thief Of a bear and a maiden Impaled A feral Child Three times the charm A hunter A message, a warning, a plea The war memorial Funky business A burial Hard labor Something escaped Dangerous mutts A tragedy You are either with us or against us Witch’s escort A babe and a nymph A ritual Something alien A caged man in the snow A good catch Looters Forest fire Wake up Sir Dustin A falling... Alpha male Of the maiden fair What’s in the bag? A goblin slave Underestimated
The Red Fox A babe and a rogue Sticks and stones That’s just mean A night at the inn Where there is no love Wrong room Young adventurers Night of no rest A blade for the cause Toothache Time for a feast Peeping hole That’s just wrong One tough meal The arm wrestler Burn them! They’ve been like that for a while Consequences Mystery meat Did you hear about...?
Unexpected arrival A letter from Vladimir The Harvest Queen Watch out! Magic mushrooms Eye for an eye Xenophobia Superstition or? I pick you Good boy Are you a healer? Innocence lost Shame, Shame! Death of a hero Experiment gone wrong Wicked fair A secret song Wolf pups A swarm An echo from the past Oldest trick in the book A call for help It is darkest before the dawn Shadowing At the cemetery Position of power Cruelty Cinnamon rolls Experiment gone wrong II Watch out II Anger leads to hate Rumors and gossips It is a dirty job Temptation Street fighters Mirror, mirror Animal Instinct Prison escape The enlightened A lost pet No easy remedy The new thing on the streets Heroes Hanging of a sorcerer Scared and alone Split possession Watch out III
NO REWARD HIGH ENOUGH On the road players encounter a sellsword (Walter Rock) guiding a group of men and women. Everyone from the group, apart the mercenary, is dressed in heavy gray robes, from head to toe. They are lepers, and players could notice this with a successful perception or medicine check. If players investigate further and talk to Walter, they find out that he has been charged with escorting the people and killing them. But, after spending few days with them, he simply doesn’t have it in him to go through with it. The story is that the diseased people were looked after by a priest (Father Duran) in a remote village. Sadly, the old cleric passed away and the villagers decided to send the diseased folk away and end them. The villagers gathered a substantial award and hired Walter for the job. Rock thought he could do it, easy money, but had a change of heart. The diseased people think they are being taken to a new monastery. Walter tried to find them a place, but no other village or town would take them in. He would gladly surrender the people and the gold to the players. THE BLOOD THIEF While resting on the road, have the players notice a man in the bushes. Maybe his shoes are sticking out, or maybe you can stage it as the man is spying or hiding from them. Once the man is discovered, the players quickly realize that the man is dead and drained of blood. His throat is slit, and there is even a piece of the rope from which the man hanged upside down,
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on the nearby tree. This setup may be odd, and you can take it too various ends. In my game, the man killed was a criminal, various prison tattoos on his body pointed to this conclusion. He was killed by a father who’s daughter became a vampire. The father keeps her locked up in the cellar and feeds her blood, once every few weeks. His targets are usually criminals and old people. OF A BEAR AND A MAIDEN On the road near a farm or a small village the players witness a fight between a dog and a bear, and the dog is losing. A frightened shepherd (Ben Torn) is nearby, he is crying and yelling for help. If the dog dies the shepherd is extremely distressed. A moment latter the dog becomes a young woman, a shapeshifter, and she is the shepherd’s daughter. If the players step in, the girl just might survive and Ben is then eternally grateful. IMPALED I used this small event in a horror campaign. The purpose behind it was just to set the tone and foreshadow the plot. One bleak morning the players see a carcass of a large dire bat impaled on a windmill. Some people have already gathered around it and are trying to figure out how to bring it down without damaging the windmill further. You can insert a skill challenge here. I did it too but only to bring out the gory details and one important piece of information. The dire bat was in-
jured before the impalement. There are bite and claw marks on its back from a much larger creature. A FERAL CHILD Players see a young boy or a girl chased out of the woods by a group of hunters. The child is feral, running on all fours, obviously living in the woods. It’s strong and dirty, its hair is long and it is dressed in hides. It speaks no language at all. You can make the hunters as evil as you want. They could chase the child for sport or maybe it did them wrong in some way. Perhaps it bit one of them, or stole from one of them. Or maybe the hunters are good and they want to help the child but it’s too afraid and always runs away from them. A BURIAL There is a funeral by the road. The man (Peter Torrens) being buried didn’t follow any of the gods, so the village priest has forbidden his burial at the village cemetery. Those gathered could be sad, angry or players could pick up on some foul play, a sense of mystery and secrecy. In my game the people who were burying the man, were all of his relatives. His son (John), bother (Dustin) and uncle (Fred) were present, and they were plotting retaliation against the village cleric. Fortunately for the superstitious priest the players managed to notice this, and it led to interesting one on one role play, between the PC and John, the dead man’s son. DANGEROUS MUTTS While on the road (near a forest or a grove) players see a woman or a man in torn clothes, covered in blood, running for their life from wild dogs. If the players step in and get a chance to inspect the dogs, they see lots of old fighting scars, mostly inflicted by other dogs. The dangerous mutts are runaways from dog fights, that take place not too far away. The mutts have been traveling and hunting in a pack for couple of days, but a skilled tracker could find where they originate from. A CAGED MAN IN THE SNOW By the road, players find a man locked in a cage. It’s winter season and he is poorly dressed. Again you have various possibilities. The caged
man could be betrayed by his former company, he could be a criminal or a noble who’s people turned on him. When I ran it in my game, the man was a monk. He was practicing his body to endure cold, and a small monastery of his order wasn’t too far away. A MESSAGE, A WARNING, A PLEA This setup is a memorable stepping stone towards a new plot, NPCs or events. The players find a man tied to a tree or saltire cross. The man is naked and flayed, barely alive. He can deliver a message to the players, a warning of what is to come, or a plea for help. He could announce an upcoming war between two neighboring lords, with him caught in the crossfire. Or maybe the flayed man has done a crime or he could be stigmatized for some reason. He could also describe the people who did this to him and beg for revenge or just for assistance and some healing. SOMETHING ALIEN Players come to find a small caravan wreckage at the side of a road. The driver and his company have been killed. The wounds are violent and ghastly, probably done by a very hungry and ferocious animal. However, once the PCs find one of the caravan horses, the true horror kicks in. The horse is also dead but it’s only wound is at the stomach, and it looks like something burst out of it. When I used this setup in my game, the creature inside a horse was planted by a mage as a part of the experiment. It was a new type of monster. The party managed to track the thing to a small farm house. Blood was all over the place and everyone was killed except one person. The players did not know that the survivor became a new host for the creature. THE WAR MEMORIAL Mothers, wives and children offering various tribute at the war memorial. The memorial is located at the field of battle where thousands of soldiers perished. Sorcerers could see ghostly reenactments at night. Warrior characters could catch a name on the memorial of their father or grandfather, rogues might be tempted to steal trinkets and offerings. An old man (Ogden Park) could be present, one of the few survivors, and he could spin a story for the players. This setup can introduce history and flavor to your campaign.
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THREE TIME’S THE CHARM During a rainy night, while the players are camping and on the road, a lightning strikes the same place three times. The players should notice this easily and the point of impact shouldn’t be far away. The location can be an altar, a magic item that draws the lightning in, or an ongoing druidic ritual. In my game, I went with a helmet made out of some special metal that was on a bottom of a small lake. It was funny later on since the player never wore it while it rained. A HUNTER A man on a horse passes the party. His name is Kazimir. He is dressed in a dark brown leather armor. He is cloaked with black furs, leathers and wool. There is a head of a monster freshly killed hooked to a side of his horse. It still drips blood. He tells the players of a nest of ankhegs (you can use whatever type of monstrous creature you want) not far away and if they help him, he would share the prize money. This setup introduces a witcher like NPC and you could also use it to introduce a new monster or a nice way to spice up those random encounters. FUNKY BUSINESS Somewhere in the countryside that is filled with hills and groves, players notice an oddly colored smoke rising from the ground. This shouldn’t be easily noticed, only if players move away from the road or explore the region for some reason. The smoke comes from an underground laboratory, a gnomish underground drug laboratory. The fumes act as a hallucinogens. Without proper protection players could get influenced by the drugs and strike at each other or someone else, because of the wild hallucinations. My players, after they managed to overcome the influence, found a secret entrance to the lab, made friends with the gnomes, and even struck a drug deal. HARD LABOR Three guards are overseeing the work of ten prisoners, as they are repairing an old road. The prisoners are all chained to each other and their tools are very crude, so they couldn’t be easily used as weapons. This makes the prisoners’ work especially hard. The guards are on horses, well armored and armed.
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They all have crossbows, longswords and shields at all times. They could easily overpower the prisoners if the need arises. As players pass the group of prisoners, the men in chains plead and beg them to either remove their chains or maybe even distract or maim the guards for them. One of the prisoners even offers to tell them of the treasure he buried if the PCs comply. SOMETHING ESCAPED Down the road players see a wrecked car. The horse is injured and nearby. It seems frightened. The driver unfortunately didn’t survive the accident, breaking his neck in the fall. There is nothing around that would lead to a cause of the accident, not until players find a broken medium sized cage that fell off the cart. Whatever was inside, it left unusual claw marks and it managed to break out of the cage. It is most likely very strong. It didn’t hurt the driver nor the horse, but it did run away to the forest. Now that the players know how it’s tracks look like, they can try to find it. This leads them to a unusual, never before encountered creature, and just a babe at that. The creature is only few months old, scared but very powerful. This setup is for introducing new monsters and creatures, but also brings up a moral question and important decisions. What to do with this new, potential monster? A TRAGEDY On the road the players see smoke rising from a small farm. There they find a burnt down house and a small child struggling to dig a hole. His sister, brother, mother and father are dead and are lying covered in blankets and sheets next to him. The child wants them buried where the rest of the family is buried, at the back of the farm. A mercenary company killed the child’s whole family and burned down the house while the kid hid. He explains that all of them wore steel pins of eagle claws somewhere on their clothing or as pendants. Through tears the child vows revenge. YOU ARE EITHER WITH US OR AGAINST US While camping the players are surrounded by six armed knights. They are soldiers in the service of the local lord, proudly displaying their colors. They are on a mission, but just hours ago they found out they are outnumbered and they must not fail in their task.
The knight’s leader (Andrew Dane) boldly conscribes the PCs to help them chase down a mercenary company. Should the players say no, the knights seize them and bring them along anyway, so they could not alarm the mercenaries in some way. You could tie this setup with the previous event “A tragedy” and almost have a complete game session on your hands. A BABE AND A NYMPH While deep in the forest, the players hear a baby’s cry. The crying leads them to a beautiful clearing near a small pond. There they see lots of animals being gathered. If they come closer to inspect the scene they see a crying baby lying between a dead nymph and a dead man. The Nymph was killed by her human lover when he found out about the baby. The Nymph requested his complete devotion now that they have a child together. But killing the Nymph filled the man with immediate and great regret. Not a moment passed when he turned his blade against himself and stabbed himself into the stomach. A RITUAL Out on a field a shaman is performing a ritual. He is slaying an animal and repeating a chant. It almost sounds like a song. The shaman should be cool and interesting, perhaps one of the wild races, and the animal should be something large but docile, almost willing to dying. You can use the shaman’s ritual too announce new ill events or a whole campaign. On the other hand, you could make it personal, and tell the players a possible future concerning their characters. Further more, the player’s involvement could even affect the ritual the shaman did not expect. You can also tie this setup to the “Superstition or...?” event.
A GOOD CATCH This is a shake down setup. Down the road is a small bridge over a stream that cuts the road. There are three young boys fishing at the stream, and a group of guards at the other side of the bridge. The boys check out the people approaching, and if they are worth robbing they signal the guards on the other side with a steel mirror. The players could notice this or they could be the next targets. LOOTERS After some big battle, corpse looters scavenge the field. They could find (steal) unique weapons, secrets or proclamations carried by royal messengers, or even weapons and armors belonging to various nobles and lords. Players could witness this or are maybe charged with finding them or specific items. FOREST FIRE Lots of opportunities in this setup. Rescuing people, animals and other woodland beings, or chasing after the one who started the fire. This is an opportunity for various skill challenges, and any danger that doesn’t derive directly from combat is usually refreshing and exciting to the players. Here is what happened in my game. Raiders set the forest near a town on fire. This drew out the guards and the militia. Raiders then went in and easily took over. Players were also fighting the fire while all this happened. Then after the fire was tamed, the players and the townsfolk had to take their homes back as well. WAKE UP SIR DUSTIN A tragic one. On the road or at the edge of a village, a young squire is trying to revive an old hedge knight (a knight out of service, or a lordless knight). The man passed away from an old injury that finally made him pay the ultimate toll. He is lying in dirt, still in his full plate and the square is trying to raise him to the sitting position. The kid knows how to ride and even swing a sword but can not see past his or her master’s death.
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A FALLING... PC’s see something falling from the sky. It could be a star, bringing down a new material. A plane traveler with a unique ability or of a new race. In my game it was a deity’s avatar cast down from it’s realm. The person only remembered it’s past life before he became an avatar. Players helped the person find his family (the descendants) and then he realized he was gone for over a century. WITCH’S ESCORT On the road the players run into a group of knights trying to get a prison carriage out of the mud. Inside the carriage is a young woman, she is beaten and gagged. The knights claim that she is a witch but to the players she just looks like an innocent child. The truth is that the girl is a witch, but she will do everything she can to invoke doubt and sympathy with the PCs. While PCs aren’t paying much attention she will provoke the guards to strike at her but as soon as players take notice, she will look as innocent and hurt as possible. By using body language (constantly crossing her legs, avoiding touch, crying in her sleep and generally looking scared) she’ll try to look like a victim of sexual abuse. Her ultimate goal is that the players turn on the guards and eventually free her. ALPHA MALE A pack of wild animals led by a superior animal encounters the party. Perhaps a dire wolf is leading a pack of wolves and terrorizing the country side. If you wish to make it a bit more unique you can substitute the wolves with jackals or hyenas. As a backstory I created a druid who wild-shaped too often. After some time he just remained an animal, leading a pack. They attack humans and their settlements because of druid’s weird sense of hatred towards his former self. OF THE MAIDEN FAIR A song echoes throughout the woods. Should the players follow it, they find an old hag in a small hut but with a voice of an angel. The story is that every night the beautiful maiden (Elisa Lake) turns into a small old hag. Because of this, the maiden’s life was just short of a tragedy. Elisa’s family lost their farm since she could not marry and very soon they were too poor to survive. Elisa works in the morning, sells her pastries during lunch and afternoon, and at night
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she retreats to the woods. She was cursed by accident. When she was a little girl she witnessed a duel between two mages. The careless use of magic affected her in a most terrible way. Finding a cure could be a new quest for the party. WHAT’S IN THE BAG? A peasant is carrying a bag made from cheap leather. There is light that barely escapes from it. People notice it but don’t want to get involved out of fear. You can have anything inside the bag. A magical item, a small fey or perhaps a light elemental. In my game it was a head of a hero. The hero sacrificed himself for the people he tried to defend and was beheaded. Oddly, his head started to glow which frightened his murderers who then left the remaining people in peace. One of the peasants bagged the shiny head and went on a pilgrimage to take it to church. The head doesn’t rot. This setup is inspired from a legend from my country. A GOBLIN SLAVE In the city or on the road the players intercept a lord with an escort. The lord is beating a female goblin who is wearing a collar and a leash. A setup for role play and moral questions. You can make the owner of the slave as evil as you want. In my game he didn’t see what he was doing as anything wrong. And him being a lord, he wasn’t too interested in PCs lectures either. As for the female goblin, she is broken and has accepted her fate, although with proper encouragement and opportunity she would kill her master. UNDERESTIMATED While camping the players hear sounds of battle. Should they investigate, they find a child or a young girl surrounded with corpses. The dead men were all soldiers or bandits. In my game a young girl was followed by a very powerful and very protective spirit. However, the girl can be unaware of her own power and potential. Another alternative is to have a very powerful spell caster who went under a rejuvenation ritual and ended up a young child.
THE RED FOX
A BABE AND A ROGUE
At the tavern a handsome bard starts singing about his last night’s adventure. Verses of his song “The Red Fox” anger one of the gentlemen present, since it describes his wife. You should give the players the chance to notice this. After the final verse, the whole tavern is amused and laughing but the man rushes the bard across the table, cursing and swearing.
A pregnant girl (Lara Rivers) shows up claming that the player’s character is the father. This setup works best if the PC you pick actually has the tendencies to seduce and sleep with women. Then the player will be genuinely intrigued by the girl and the whole affair. The truth is that Lara is just a distraction while the player’s character is robed of his most valuable possessions. In my game, the pregnant girl actually invited the player to meet her parents over diner, and so naturally the player left his weapons and armor behind. The girl’s partner, Jack, stole all that he could from the PC and hid the loot away until the whole affair settled and players left the town.
THE RED FOX She was wild and red like fire but acted all sly and shy in the end, in the end the fox was all mine She let me in her marital bed I didn’t even had to try Her husband was snoozing down the stairs The red fox was all mine He was exhausted form the hunt and still came back empty handed I’ve wrestled the fox all night long and she did everything I commanded! Should you boys desire this fox just look at her with a bit of care Her hair you only think you know but the truth is... Between the legs she is the color of what I wear. (and the bard tugs at his hay colored shirt)
STICKS AND STONES This one is to get on players’ nerves. It works best if players are at their local town and are somewhat known. Take all the quests they did so far and find where they did something wrong, or made a mistake. Perhaps there are some embarrassing moments or something that they are ashamed of. You need at least five of these events to make it work, but more the merrier. Idea is to have local drunkards throw everything in PCs faces, and tell it to other inn patrons too. This would cause the whole inn to laugh at them. Also, don’t throw everything at once, start with the least embarrassing event and a few giggles. But then end it with a loud laughter and finger pointing. If you so wish it, maybe the drunkards got all of
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their information from the rival adventuring party or a minor noble who hates the players’ party. THAT’S JUST MEAN In a tavern, a group of mercenaries (perhaps even those featured in “A tragedy”, or in “ You are either with us or against us” entries) are creating a ruckus. More specifically, they are targeting the minstrel, throwing small darts at him. The rest of the people in the tavern are being too scared of the sellswords and are just nervously laughing at the minstrel. You could escalate this scenario even further, where the mercs either continue to abuse the minstrel or start teasing and grabbing the girls and women. In my game, all of this happened in a small town and the mercs even outnumbered the local militia. But the warrior in the player’s group challenged the leader of the sellswords on a duel. The player lost, but the leader was respectful and the company left the village. A NIGHT AT THE INN A man stumbles into an inn and dies. This is could be a great opener for quests but it can be used just as a event as well. What’s important here and will push the story and the interest forward is how the man died, who was he, and what killed him. It could lead to a mystery, new creatures, new weapons, new spells, new villains etc. In my game the man killed was a local blacksmith and inventor, Dennel Hill. He was working on a new type of a weapon. The man funding the research and the construction of the weapon killed him once the blacksmith completed his work. This also explains the unusual wounds Dennel suffered. This was just one of several events I used to introduce the gun into my game. But you can introduce anything through this setup. WHEN THERE IS NO LOVE At the tavern, a young and beautiful noble girl flirts with men. She eventually approaches one of the PCs and shamelessly makes sexual innuendos. If the player’s character manages to get more information out of the girl or people who know her, they learn that she is trapped in an arranged marriage. Her last attempt to escape her fate is to make herself unwanted by her future husband, by creating embarrassing rumors and even losing her virginity with a stranger.
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WRONG ROOM Someone bursts in armed and angry! However, the intruder quickly realizes they have the wrong room, apologizes and leaves. It’s a simple setup, but it is a easy way to introduce characters. Just by adding something interesting to the character’s description, like an unusual weapon, a trinket or an amulet, the intruder becomes interesting. The person who barges into the PC’s room could also be a woman or of some rare race. Maybe they could ask the PC to assist them to find whoever they are looking for. Or maybe someone who is against the PCs deliberately directed the intruder to their room. YOUNG ADVENTURERS This one works when the PCs are of higher level. At the inn they meet a group of young adventurers in scrappy armors, carrying used weapons. The youngsters’ agenda is what makes it interesting. You can role play them as true beginners and in desperate need of assistance, or not so naive, and they actually want to coax gold from the players. NIGHT OF NO REST Once a year a room in a popular inn, allows no rest for the person sleeping there. Their sleep is haunted with a repeating nightmare, where a woman is stabbed to death by a man with emerald green eyes. I used this setup to introduce a new plot. Like in a “An echo from the past” setup this room had something terrible happen in it. On the anniversary of that event, whoever is sleeping there, dreams it. In the morning the player questioned the bartender, who denied even a though of a murder. The player was clever enough to visit the cemetery and check the tombstone dates. There she found a grave to Katherine Han, dating exactly six years ago. And with that the player was determined to find the man with emerald green eyes. A BLADE FOR THE CAUSE In an inn at sunset, the bartender closes the doors, locks up and says “Thank you all for coming and offering your blade”. This should happen in a new inn, or at the place the players haven’t visited for some time. The inn is a meeting point for a small uprising, a revenge against local thief ’s guild, or a band of thugs. The locals have been wronged by their lord, the
thieves or these ruffians and they decided to take the matter in their own hands. Those who waited till night fall at the inn are those who are willing to participate in the attack. If players object, the locals will feel a need to persuade them, one way or another, since their uprising is now or never. TOOTHACHE A dwarf is in a terrible pain and needs a tooth pulled. It’s a challenge for strong PCs. Pulling a dwarves rotten tooth out is no easy task. Critical failures could result in chipping the tooth and making it even harder to take out afterwards. Have fun with it, make it hysterical and the players will love it. TIME FOR A FEAST This setup is straight “From Dusk Till Dawn” and is meant to lead into a combat encounter. The regular occupants at the inn are all some type of a monster that can easily pose as human. At the full moon or once a ten-day, they close the inn down while it’s still full, turn into their true form and massacre the occupants to feast on them. But now the players are involved and if they can’t best the monsters, only the dawn can save them. PEEPING HOLE This is flavor, NPC introduction setup. This should occur at the inn where players usually stay or have been staying there for past two or three weeks. One day player’s character notices a small hole in the wall that is separating the two rooms. On the other side could be anyone. A man paid to stalk the PC. An assassin, a fan? In my game, on the other side was an artist, a painter. I wanted a completely androgynous NPC and their name was N. They found the PC a very interesting subject for drawing and painting. The artist spent a
lot of time doing this and their room was filled with sketches and unfinished portraits. The player was creeped out but flattered too. THAT’S JUST WRONG Much like “That’s just mean” setup, this is also about a mercenary company doing whatever they like. While the other setup was just awkward, this one should be dark and frightening, probably leading to a combat encounter. Loud laughter comes from an inn. Outside in the stables are two dozen horses. The stable boy is frightened, maybe even crying. Inside, around 20 armed men are drinking and having fun. They are playing a knife throwing game. Their target, an apple on a head of a young girl, or if you really want to push it, a naked woman. It’s all up to the players where this scenario goes next. In my game, the player challenged the leader
in the same game. If the player wins, the company packs up and goes away. Luckily the player won. Still, it was the most nervous d20 roll they had in a while. ONE TOUGH MEAL A frightened cook calls one of the PCs in the kitchen. Next to a huge empty cauldron is a large and angry boar. Its legs are tied but it’s wounded and hostile. A hunter that delivered it thought he killed it, but the beast just woke up. The boar is mad and the cook needs help slaying it. THE ARM WRESTLER This is a fun one. Similar like “Toothache” this is a strength challenge setup. A half-orc or a dwarf have their arm dislocated. They are in agony and the challenge is to hold them in place while the
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bonesetter works on their arm. You could also include an interesting or funny backstory to how of all this happened. In my game there was a new arm wrestler in town. He is a gnomish alchemist and the one who manages to beat him will get a dozen of his strong arm potions. So far, no one succeeded. BURN THEM! This setup leads to a combat encounter so use it wisely. It is late at night and everyone is asleep. Suddenly the smoke wakes the players up, the inn is burning. Attackers have locked the windows and the doors at the ground floor. Whoever jumps out of the inn is attacked with crossbows and then rushed with melee weapons. Your target can be the players themselves, but I found out that it is better for a target to be an NPC. That way the players are in the same danger, but there is also a moral dilemma of simply surrendering the target to the attackers. THEY’VE BEEN LIKE THAT FOR A WHILE I’ve used this short scenario in an old horror campaign. You should present it at a slow pace, and be descriptive. The players were passing through a remote village and spending a night at the inn. They were also following a necromancer but it’s enough just to have someone powerful pass through the village weeks before, for this scenario to work. The village never had a church or a proper funeral, so when the necromancer passed through, it woke up the dead. The locals didn’t know what to do with them, they could not kill them. They managed to noose them by the necks and drag them to the biggest cellar, the one bellow the inn. They hanged the undead there until they manage to collect enough coin to hire a powerful cleric, to put the undead back to rest. The undead are docile during the day, almost like they are sleeping. But at night they moan, growl and whine trying to get free. Weird and pathetic wails woke one of the players up. The sound was faint but definitely coming from underneath the inn. The player sneaked down and entered the cellar. It was dark and once they lit up a candle they saw three dozen undead beings hanging from the cellar beams. They all turned their heads towards the player. At the same time, the
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bartender tapped the player’s shoulder and said: “They’ve been like that for a while.” They player was scared and it was awesome. CONSEQUENCES After players kill a smaller group of people or a party of brigands they encounter an old man. They could meet this man in an inn but also on the road, at the city square, or before the town gate. The man stops them and tells them of the people they killed. In my game this man (Richard Nye) had a gift of foresight and was clairvoyant. Nye was a follower of a benevolent god and a pacifist. He hopes his words will sway the adventures from killing in the future. The three of the brigands were indeed bad people but then Richard told them of Alex North, the forth man the players killed. Alex was 29. He never knew his mother and his father was a drunk and a gambler. When Alex was five years old he started working to pay off his father’s depts. And that was most of his life for next 24 years until his father passed away. The guild that still owned his father’s dept came to Alex and forced him to join them as a road bandit for next three jobs. After that, the dept would be cleared. Unfortunately Alex didn’t survive that long. Be careful how you use this scenario. You don’t want to attack the players for having fun. Nye should be there to inspire caution and better role play in your game. MYSTERY MEAT In this setup PCs enter a new village, however in my game everything happened in the inn. The village should be far away from any towns and cities. The village is without animals, children and old people. It’s mostly men and it’s a village of cannibals. At the inn, there is only bad spirits and meat on the menu. The meat is of suspicious origin. The tone should be quiet and grim. Everyone in the village and especially at the inn, are measuring the PCs up. At one point the villagers should be at a larger number, with small weapons hidden. And then they attack. I have to say that my players loved this one. They failed a quest and on their return home they passed through this village. They quickly realized
what is happening and that they were next on the menu. It was pure joy for them to kill these men. If you want to spice things up, after the players finish with dispensing their own brand of justice, they could find a cellar with all the children, alive and well. They were kept away while the men kill. The villagers actually wanted to save them from any horrific scenery. The children are hungry and now even orphans. DID YOU HEAR ABOUT...? Most common things in a inn are the rumors and the gossip. Keep in mind who delivers the rumor to the players. If the PCs are familiar with the NPC they are more likely to listen and actually believe in a rumor. And that’s another thing, usually at least half of the rumors or gossips are lies, made up by jealous or envious people. Either way, here are several interesting rumors to whisper to your players. 1. The whole Thatcher family (they have four children) went to lord Ashbury to dinner. But only Mr. and Mrs. Thatcher came back. 2. Nathaniel Akers lost his job and he is now working as a leech collector for a local alchemist. 3. Annabel heard from Misty that Derek wants to become an adventurer because he found a magical weapon. 4. John says that the only reason why Sandra wasn’t arrested along with the rest of her family after the robbery, is because she is sleeping with captain Donnel. 5. Something happened to young Marcus Boyle. He came back from an adventure a week ago and now his own mother is afraid of him.
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UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL Players pass a house in the slums district. They hear moans, weeping and painful screams. Inside is a prostitute, a lady of the night if you will. Her name is Ada and she is giving birth. This could be it, a setup for a medicine or a threat injury type of a challenge. However, when I ran it in my game, Ada was pregnant with a yuan-ti pureblood (humanoid serpentine race) and only an hour after a child was born, the father, Shanex, came back like a hunter, looking for his child. A LETTER FROM VLADIMIR A group of rogues stabbed a guard in a small alley. Players find him clutching a letter, as he repeats “yellow house, Lord Doston’s walkway” and bleeds out. His name was Vladimir, a simple corrupt guard with a big dept. The dept got him killed, but he wrote a goodbye letter to his wife Sarah. Obviously he wanted it delivered. Should the players read the letter, they also find coordinates to a nice sum of bribe money he hid away from the rogues. THE HARVEST QUEEN On the last day of the harvest, members of a small farming community also elect a harvest queen. The honored lass (Marry Elizabeth) rides with the last batch of the harvest during the sunset, as the rest of the community follows behind. Being a harvest queen is a symbol of beauty and fertility but more
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importantly hope. Hope that the next year’s harvest will be even better. A harvest queen is treated like royalty in a belief that this will inspire the gods to send more rain, sun and protect the farms. But, at the night of the celebration, a cultist kidnaps the girl and plans to sacrifice her to appease their dark deity. This setup is a nice way to enrich you setting and have a almost whole day planed out if players are stuck in a village, recovering from wounds or are just enjoying some downtime. WATCH OUT! A great commotion comes for the city’s portcullis! Chains that hold the heavy iron gate started snapping (foul play?). The players can rush and save the people that are just passing, hold the gate or even try strength checks to raise it if it fell on someone. You can make it as drastic as you want. This event works on low and high levels, an opportunity to turn the players into heroes without them drawing swords. And it could lead to a new plot should you wish it. Just add a small trace of acid on the chains that held the gate and the players will be interested. MAGIC MUSHROOMS Players enter a seemingly deserted village. In truth, all of the people are sleeping, with the elderly passed away, but stronger folk and children still clinging to life. Everyone is covered in yellow fungus, growing on top of their skin.
This horrible event was put in motion by a vengeful druid, because the people kept expanding their village and destroying the forest. Disturbing the people and fungus causes for the spores to be released in a fog of yellow dust. It is up to the players to help the people if they can, but it should be obvious that they could end up like the rest of the folk in the village. Dreaming weird and pleasant dreams, with the fungus slowly sucking their nutrients away. EYE FOR AN EYE Coming to a new village the players first encounter a huge oak tree with people being tied to it. Most of them are alive but seem delirious. All of the people tied to the tree have a part of their body missing. Someone is missing their fingers, whole hands, someone is missing their tongue, while one man has a bloodied groin. As players pass, a group of villagers are bringing yet another man, he has been whipped and is currently unconscious. The story is that the village fell out of favor with the local lord and is now considered lawless. Since then, the villagers have taken the law in their own hands. Thieves get their fingers or hands cut off, and you can imagine what happens to liars and rapists. A few of the villagers are taking advantage of this new situation. They are targeting travelers, accuse them of some harsh crime, maim them under guise of justice and rob them. XENOPHOBIA A foreigner is attacked and chased out of the village by local peasants. He should be obviously set apart by appearance, clothing, items, language and customs. You can make it a racial, religious, a class or a national issue. Also you can make the foreigner guilty of some small infraction (public display of faith, or insults due to language barrier) and make the tension more palpable and harder to deal with. SUPERSTITION OR? In a new village that the players visit, at dusk, everyone places a dead animal hanging above their doors. In most cases the fresh blood drips all over the door and the porch. This setup can go in various directions. Here is how I used it. It was dusk and the bartender came out from the
back room carrying three live rabbits. He gave one to Peter and offered the second to Joseph (both village locals) who said that his wife already acquired the animal, but was grateful none the less. Then the bartender killed the rabbit, drained it of blood and went outside and hanged it above the door, all while smiling politely at the players. I pulled this scenario out of the blue, and the players were genuinely disturbed, half expecting the same to happen to them. They spent the night awake, wondering what will happen. After midnight a orcish shaman came and collected all the animals. Then he went to the fields were the villagers plant their crops. He placed the animals on the ground and in a large circle. After that, he conducted a ritual, guaranteeing the people a successful harvest. However, you could have the evil spirits conjuring and killing anyone who didn’t place the animal on their doors. Or have a werewolf creep in and feast on the animals. Maybe someone forgot to place an animal and now you could stage a werewolf fight. Take the scenario where ever it would benefit your game the most. I PICK YOU During a quest, while the players are staying in a town or a city, have something stolen from the player’s room. It should be something very dear to the player, a favorite weapon, an amulet or a trinket. In place of the item leave a calling card and short instructions. The calling card can be anything, a raven feather, a piece of silver or an actual card. These rogues have a very unusually but interesting way of operating. They steal a prized possession from a person and then force them to do something in order to have their possession returned. The thieves are good at what they do, leaving no trails to be followed. Everything is in the instruction letter. In my game the player’s personalized sword was stolen. The thieves wanted him to beat up a minor noble to the edge of death. At first the player tried to find the thieves but after he failed, he did go and beat up the noble. The following night the player received instructions on where he can find his sword. GOOD BOY A dog is desperately trying to dig under a tree. Here’s a list of what the dog could find: 1. Spare clothes (perhaps a prison is near and the
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clothes are for a runaway) 2. Stashed weapons (to be used in the future?) 3. A part of a corpse (somebody getting rid of the body?) 4. A tunnel (perhaps it is big enough for one of the small sized races?) 5. A bundle of valuable trinkets (a heist gone wrong?) You can use it multiple times and it’s always best if there is a backstory tied to it. Here is how I used No2. So the dog finds stashed weapons bound in thick leather. The weapons are crude, mostly knifes, hammers and other tools. The stashed weapons were to be used by assassins disguised as servants at noble’s manor. Players who noticed this and took the weapons from the stash actually prevented the assassination that night and started a new plot. ARE YOU A HEALER? This setup was created for the healers in the party. The cleric lacked spotlight so I created this just for them. A man seeks out the party, either in the inn or at their usual place for downtime. The man is looking for a healer, the local priest is either away or not skilled enough to help and assistance is needed. The player is brought to a man who is terribly ill. You can introduce just a disease, a start of a plague, or an unusual wound. In my game, no healing spells worked on the diseased man because he wasn’t really sick. He was attacked by an insect that laid tiny eggs in the man’s skin, which manifested in inflamed boils. The cleric noticed this and then was able to heal the man, slowly removing the eggs through a series of appropriate skill checks. INNOCENCE LOST A bloodied boy or a girl, around 13 years old, walks down the street or enters the inn. They do not speak but still hold a knife covered in blood. The backstory is that the kid’s father abused it’s mother. This time things went too far and the kid grabbed the knife and defended his or her mom, and ended up killing the father. If this one sounds too grim for your game, you could
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play off on demonic or magical influence, either in the father or the child. This could remove a level of tension and seriousness for some players and makes the whole story easier to digest. SHAME, SHAME! Out on the street players see a naked man or a woman walking and being followed by a large group of people. The story here is that a man or a woman was caught in infidelity. The local law allows the husband or the wife to shame their spouse by making them walk thought the town naked, all while publicly declaring their infidelity and upcoming divorce. I introduced this when the players visited a new country. One of the players was so appalled by the practice, that he decided to step in and cloth the naked woman that was being shamed. This naturally got the players and the woman kicked out of the town. DEATH OF A HERO Throughout the town mourning bells can be heard. All folk stop with whatever they were doing and remove their hats, hoods or helmets. At the inn, the bartender pours everyone a drink. Some people on the street even start crying. Obviously, everyone knows who has passed away. And the stories about them are told deep into the night. I used this event to introduce a
bit of history and lore into my game. A person who passes away should be someone who made a great sacrifice for the city. An old hero, a great mage or a priest, or even a poet everyone respected. The following day was the funeral, which even the king attended.
the people that the resistance will strike soon and from where.
EXPERIMENT GONE WRONG
Soon we’ll stand proud and tall drawing hope from where the hope was lost
This setup should start with a young mage buying spell components in a shop. His name is Artemis Moore. He is in desperate need to prove his magical abilities, and gain some respect among other mages. Later that day, the lad’s lack of proficiency with magic leads to a disaster. You can scale the disaster as you see fit. It could be an explosion or a rapid spread of fire, leading to a rescue scenario. An opened portal or even a weird rift where buildings disappear or new ones appear, all leading to exploration or combat scenarios. WICKED FAIR This setup works best in a bigger city. The followers of a notorious or even evil deity have been allowed to hold their yearly festival in the open and publicly for the first time. Parts of their celebration will include chants, choirs, public prayers and an animal sacrifice. Since a good majority of the people do not approve of this, the city will provide protection for the duration of the festivity. You can take this setup to various ends. Perhaps the players will join the festivity or they’ll defend it. Anger of the common folk could lead to riots and even prosecution of the nobles and city’s authority for allowing the dark festival. Or maybe, since the followers of this evil faith have exposed themselves, now become targets and are harassed in the future. A SECRET SONG From time to time players hear a song being sang by specific individuals. This setup can be done in various ways and it always depends on the song’s meaning. Is it a song of resistance, a song of truth about the tyrannical figure in the city, or a song about some forgotten historical event. Perhaps it’s a way of communication between rogues, cultists or other secret organizations. Here is the way I used it, and few verses too! It was a song of the resistance, with a new verse added every week, cryptically announcing and telling
Hey there, lost souls and beggars know that you are not the only one There is one who is to blame dressed in gold and white
and that day is now... WOLF PUPS I like this setup and I have used it numerous times, since it requires only a slight adjustment to be repeated. A local hunter or a ranger is on the market, or in front of the city gates selling wolf pups, a bear cub or a fox pup. They are only few weeks old and he is selling them real cheap. The story behind it is that the ranger found a mother of the baby animal dead, and it’s cubs whelping nearby. He took them to the city and is now trying to find suitable owners for them. My players like this setup too since it’s a good way to introduce a future beast or animal companion, as well as a hunter, ranger or druid type NPC. A SWARM During one ordinary day rats, pigeons or flies start creating havoc in the city. Players could be attacked or just see commoners attacked. The interest of the event is where the swarm comes from. I used it like this. Two months ago the city had a fancy festival because nobles from the capital came visiting. The festivity almost emptied the city’s treasury. This led to neglect of various city infrastructure, sewers, trash, cleanliness, etc. You should see the players’ faces when the terror that brought the rat infestation was trash and cluttered sewers. Sometimes there is no monster at the end of the tunnel. Or maybe there is, and it’s the reason why the rats ran out of the sewers in the first place. AN ECHO FROM THE PAST A PC notices blood pouring out form a pillar, a door, a window or a mirror. This scenery can be explained in various ways. A ghostly presence, odd magical mishap, or a piece of history tied to the place. In my game I used a bleed-
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ing pillar at the courtyard of an old abandoned keep. The players were stationed there during winter. The story behind it was that many witches and sorcerers were executed by corrupt priests and lords, right against that pillar. This imagery forced the players to learn the history of the keep which led to a new plot in our game.
could be that the woman is actually a villain and man following her is trying to stop her in some of her misdeeds. In my game, the woman was a bait for a mysterious group who have been kidnapping young women over past two months, and the man following her was a senior guardsman disguised as a commoner.
OLDEST TRICK IN THE BOOK
AT THE CEMETERY
A girl (Molly Howe) in distress comes to PCs. She is clearly terrified. Molly says her mother is being harassed and that they are the first armed people she saw. She begs them for assistance. Molly leads them to her home, where is a group of brigands with weapons drawn waiting for them. It’s a trap. The fight should be a though one. As for Molly, you could use her as a sorcerer and a part of the brigand team, or just a lass that was forced into this affair.
At the cemetery a grave digger and his apprentice dug out 30 new grave holes, why? Another introductory setup. I used it for upcoming skirmish between two neighboring lords. The commoners all thought that their lord will lose the battle and therefore the prepared graves. Even the soldiers were depressed since no one had any faith in them. This gave the players’ party enough cause to joint the upcoming skirmish and tip the favor for the local lord.
A CALL FOR HELP
POSITION OF POWER
During the night while the PCs are sleeping, a distress or a scream wakes them up. From the window the players see someone running and another person giving chase. People involved could be anyone, a child running away from a drunken father, a girl from a ruffian, or a noble from a bandits, etc. A small setup to break a dull downtime.
On the lord’s, or if the players are of higher level and importance, king’s court, a servant boy or a girl is being sexually abused behind the closed doors. Their cries are silent but can still be heard. A man (or a woman) forcing himself on the servant should be someone of considerable power, making the players think twice whether to act or not. If you want to force the players’ hand however, then make the servant an NPC they already know.
IT IS DARKEST BEFORE THE DAWN
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CRUELTY
This is quite a major setup, the whole town or village wakes up as they are used to, but the sun doesn’t rise. This can create a series of minor events (bandit or creatures on a prowl, populace in panic, accusations thrown around at mages and churches), or it could be a hook for a quest or a campaign. You could connect this to event “Wicked Fair” and really create havoc in your town or city. With citizens demanding public executions or a change in the seat of power for allowing this to happen. It could easily escalate to a revolution. In my game, this happening was a bad omen and an introduction to the vampire campaign.
A row of two dozen elves, orcs or dwarves with their ears, tusks, or beards clipped, march through the city. The people gathered hurl various insults and curses. The atmosphere in the city is grim and somber. You can introduce various ideas behind this, maybe the marching prisoners are traitors, or surviving soldiers from a losing side. Perhaps there are new religious leaders who propagate racial purity or human supremacy. Whatever the case, this scenario makes a really powerful scenery and can set a tone for a session or even a whole campaign.
SHADOWING
CINNAMON ROLLS
Player’s character notices a man following a woman. Simple setup yet effective, especially with good aligned characters. But there should be a twist. One
Baker’s girl on the market is giving free samples. You can have an event where the new bakers in the town want to promote their goods or a new shop, and
are now eagerly waiting for the local lord to sample their bagels. Or it can be a way of communication for a secretive guild, with messages delivered in small pastries. Maybe, just maybe, a PC accidentally receives an incriminating message. EXPERIMENT GONE WRONG II Similar to the magic accident setup, this one is because of misuse of alchemy. A disaster, could lead to fires, explosions or poisonous gasses spreading through the city. In my game, it was poisonous fumes. Purple smoke started coming out of the alchemist’s workshop and it started poisoning the people close by. The PC in the party who had alchemy skill knew what was the problem and how to solve it, so the party staged a small rescue mission. It was a good way to spice up the downtime part of the game. WATCH OUT! II Frightened horses galloping down the street. One of the horses is bloodied or even burnt. This is a skill challenge setup. Animal handling, athletics and perception skills are all involved. Frightened horses could threaten various people at the same time, making the players prioritize their actions. They could trample children or run into a busy market creating lots of damage. Just like the first “Watch out!” event, this one too works on low and high levels. It’s an opportunity for players to be small town heroes. On another note, who spooked the horses? ANGER LEADS TO HATE A fight between two villagers starts. They are next door neighbors. It seems like an ordinary exchange of insults and fists at first, but things turn serious when one of them grabs a pitchfork and wants to impale his neighbor. In my game this event was organized by a mage who augmented the rage between the two people. The mage needed a diversion, while he went and stole something for his own purpose. And it worked. RUMORS AND GOSSIPS On court, players catch a gossip from the servants. Is it something dangerous? Embarrassing? Concerning them? Here are few examples since this one can be used often.
1. Mistress to a important lord said that he talks in his sleep, mostly about the death of his brother. 2. Handmaiden to lady Lucile says that every 29 days (complete moon cycle) a strange man visits her at night 3. Kitchen servants claim that lord Lyon’s meals have tripled in size. 4. Lord’s groom says that his master (at age of 34) has just started learning to read and write. 5. There is a talk that old lord Marlow is so sexually proficient that young, lesser nobles go to him to learn how to be good in bed. This makes them much more desirable for wealthier ladies. IT IS A DIRTY JOB The corpse pusher, an old man, tills over his cart by accident. People around him scream, scold him and leave in a hurry. He struggles to stack the bodies back on the cart. The players witness all of this and if they come to aid the old man you can introduce various things. Maybe there are some interesting wounds on the corpses. Maybe the grave digger is afflicted with an unusual disease. In my game, the players recognized one of the deceased. He accompanied them on some of their previous adventures. Their friend died from knife wounds on his back. This naturally led to a new plot. TEMPTATION After a PC commits an evil deed, he or she hears an unnerving melody leading them to the temple of an evil deity. In my game, good aligned half-orc fighter killed a man in self defense. But the man did try to surrender before the PC cut him down. I used this as an opportunity to mess with the player. He started hearing war drums and they became slightly louder as he went towards the altar of evil orcish deity. STREET FIGHTERS In some back alleys, the players see a group of kids fighting. This might seem inconsequential but it could get ugly if bricks and rocks are used as weapons. You can make some of the kids part of a gang or a guild. If players step in and stop the fight, this could mark them as opposition and an obstacle. This setup is a good way of introducing a much larger guild in baby steps. Starting from petty thefts, up to organized crime.
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MIRROR, MIRROR
THE ENLIGHTENED
This setup is targeted at one of the players. The PC starts seeing another face whenever he looks in the mirror. The new face could be someone the PC isn’t familiar with or could be a face of someone that the character killed. There could be various explanations for this. Plain madness or guilt, but in my game, a bard who was out for revenge started messing with the PC. By using simple spells and enchantments he made the PC think he was losing his mind. And the face he was seeing was a man a PC failed to save some months ago.
Something (we’ll get back to this) has give the undead consciousness and even a moral compass. Suddenly there are zombies, ghouls and mummies that can think, talk and decide on a level that is human. This event can be as small or as big as you want it, and in return it can start quests or whole campaigns. Maybe players will want to exterminate all of them or help them reach some safe haven. Perhaps they’ll want their next character as the undead. It can all start on a small cemetery of a village or on all graveyards in the whole country. I kept it small, maybe one day I’ll make a whole campaign about it. The reason? A priest of a good deity in a village was facing an attack of a large bandit group. They were close and there wasn’t enough time to call for aid. So the priest decided to raise the dead and have them fight on the behalf of the village. And so it was and the village was defended. However the priest was mortally wounded, and blame it on the gods or magic, but the undead in his service all received a piece of him which enlightened and awoke them.
ANIMAL INSTINCT In a crowded place, town square or a market, ranger’s pet goes berserk. And it should be a dangerous pet, a brown bear, or a dire wolf. The pet could also strike at someone important before the ranger regains control over it or before players step in. Now this important figure could be demanding the animal’s death unless players manage to strike some sort of a deal or persuade the lord or lady otherwise. A combat, role play or a skill challenge opportunity in this event. PRISON ESCAPE Players could witness it, hear about it or alarm bells could wake them in the middle of the night. I used this event to create tension in the town and introduce villainous NPCs since the players wanted to know who escaped. This led to lots of rumors and stories. You could create a small quest out of this event. PCs could help one of the escapees to clear their name since they were actually innocent. Or if players are of questionable morals, they could even help the criminals leave the city and maybe team up for some future misdeeds.
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A LOST PET A lost pet seeks out the party. You can introduce NPCs and quests this way. The pet, a small dog could have a nice collar that could lead the players to a new lord or a lady to meet. In my group the pooch was a young husky hound. It was lost and it also had a stain of blood on its fur which made the players rush towards the noble district. The blood was from a commoner wounded by a guard when he threw a rotten tomato at Lord Rightburn.
NO EASY REMEDY This setup is for small towns and villages where players will be staying for several days. People who have something in common (all are highborn, all are ginger, all are blue eyed, all are related etc.) are having episodes of insanity. The disorder could be blackouts, something similar to epilepsy, or angry outbursts due to insomnia, paranoia or hallucinations. The backstory is that one person (Cromer Whatford) suffering from this condition tried to have it removed by a witch doctor. In return Cromer was healed but his illness was spread among the rest of the people somehow related to him. THE NEW THING ON THE STREETS This setup introduces a new drug and you can take it to various ends. Perhaps the drug spreads very quickly amongst the slums by being cheap. Maybe it has dreadful side effects or a high death rate. A new drug can lead to new NPCs, quests and events. In my game the drug was called Psyche and it introduced a new gang who took over the streets from a previous criminal organization. The new drug played a great deal because those under the influence could be easily mind controlled by two psionics from the new gang. HEROES Local kids are playing by reenacting a famous battle where the PCs (or player’s pervious characters) were involved in. However, in the kids’ version the PCs loose and are killed. If players investigate this, one of the kids simply replies (in a somber voice if you want to have a laugh) that it’s not fun for heroes to always win. This was my way to foreshadow the most challenging battle yet. HANGING OF A SORCERER People are gathered on the main square. They are shouting “Hang the sorcerer! Kill the fiend!”. Soon after, the spell caster is brought before the crowd. He is beaten, blindfolded and gagged. If you want to make it more extreme, the sorcerer could have his or hers eyes removed and mouth sawn shut. The sorcerer is barely holding it together, but manages to send a mental message to one of the PCs. He or she claims that all of the gathered people are
going to die if they don’t stop the hanging. It’s a ruse of course, but the spell caster is desperate. It is interesting to see what the player will do, and the sorcerer could send various horrible imagery to the PC as people countdown to the hanging. SCARED AND ALONE During the night a player notices a young girl walking alone. She seems scared and cold. She explains that she always wanders the streets when her mother brings a man home. Tonight she dares not return, because of the man who was with her mother. If the player asks why, the girl says that the man has a symbol of a skull inside a purple sun tattooed on his back. She knows that is a symbol of an evil deity. You should of course insert a different symbol corresponding to an evil god in your campaign. SPLIT POSSESSION When players return from a quest, have one of their favorite NPCs act differently. This shouldn’t be too obvious or if you want it drastically different, then have it happen only once in a while. There are two ways to go about this. Either the NPC has developed a split personality, or he or she is being possessed. In my game I went with a second option. And for a while the evil spirit was very careful and avoided detection for weeks, until it finally killed a man out of revenge. WATCH OUT! III Another incident in the city! This time a part of an old church collapses during mass. This should happen when the players are attending the church as well. As with previous events of this type the players can rush to save the people from parts of a falling ceiling and columns. Maybe the floor of the church caves in, creating a different rescue scenario. One more interesting thing about this event is that it can also lead to a new plot. Maybe the collapse of a church during mass is an evil omen. Or maybe after a collapse or a cave in, old parts of the church are discovered. Parts that belong to a different faith or ancient history. In my game the church was built over a prison for demons so they could not return to their native plane of existence.
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PRESENTS
99 EVENTS & SETUPS WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BY BORA MITRIČEVIĆ
Thank you for purchasing 99 Events & Setups. I hope you have found the book useful. If you wish to leave me personal feedback, you can send me an email at
[email protected]
99 Events & Setups, Copyright 2016, Adventurer’s Inn, Author: Bora Mitričević
