Adventure Building

[Jaxilon]

Or the PC's could be required to swipe something that was stolen and hidden amount the valuables of the Caravan. The reason it needs to be stolen back is because it would cause panic or an uprising if it were lost. Say the scepter belonging to the King and whoever has it can lead the people or something. Thus, they would be hired and would have to somehow sneak into the most guarded areas of the Caravan in order to get it. Then, perhaps that is when the ambush occurs forcing the PC's to decide if they will help the guards or not. In the end, have the item carried off by the raiders and taken into a large underground location where the raiders live. If they were orcs or something that might be a city of sorts. At any rate, the pc's would then have to make their way into the city and get the scepter back...maybe by then the King of the Orcs would be using the scepter himself and bending the clans to his will. Huh, maybe the Scepter adds a big Charisma bonus or something.

Anyway, you can keep adding on to this if we want to.

[industrygothica]

The scenarios have been truncated a bit, but I think they are still true to the concept. Any more?

• Option 1: PCs are escorting the caravan, guarding cargo and/or passengers, and are caught in an ambush.
• Option 2: PCs receive word that the caravan never made its destination and are hired to investigate.
• Option 3: Reports say that an important item was stolen from the caravan during an ambush in which someone known by one or more of the PCs was killed. A false report may be a cover-up in an attempt to steal the item.
• Option 4: An important (magic) item was stolen and stashed among the goods in the caravan. The PCs are hired to intercept the caravan and discreetly get it back before it falls into the wrong hands.

[JoeyD473]

I can write, help with plot and plot hooks. I can also help with the designing

As for ideas to add to the plot list, how about:
Option 5: Caravan made it to its destination, but when they got there the cargo was gone and the caravan crew had no ideas of what happened to it, like they blacked out (memory wipe, Doppelgangers (not necessarily meaning the actual creatures) etc. etc.) and the party has to find out what happened

[rdanhenry]

The caravan is carrying a coded message of great importance. This is hidden in several maps that are part of a cartographical shipment. PCs can be agents sent to steal the maps (or at least get hold of them long enough to uncover the message), or trying to get them back for the government they're intended for after the caravan is waylaid (the bandits probably have no idea of the significance of the maps), or a third party drawn by the cover story used by the government agents that they're off to recover a magic item (which may or may not exist) carried in the caravan.

[RecklessEnthusiasm]

I love the idea of the PCs getting caught up in something much bigger that was going on under their noses. Anyone played Fallout: New Vegas recently? I found the 'you were a patsy fall guy' plot to be very motivating.

[Gidde]

Love Fallout in all its incarnations And I agree. I love intrigue, it gives a nice refreshing bit of realism to a game that can easily devolve into "I rolled a 19." "Hit. Roll damage."

[RecklessEnthusiasm]

This is hidden in several maps that are part of a cartographical shipment. PCs can be agents sent to steal the maps (or at least get hold of them long enough to uncover the message), or trying to get them back for the government they're intended for after the caravan is waylaid.

I also like the idea of maps being a important theme: seems they should be if "presented by the Cartographer's Guild." Heck, that could be the name of the secret society.

... several maps printed on thin paper that, when physically overlaid (aligning the mysterious 'Cartographer's Guild' symbol) with light behind them form a message, or a 'true' map to the goal....? That would we a cool thing to physically figure out and do as a player... then again, I love player handouts and manipulatable objects in my RPGing.

They could have to uncover clues to who has gotten a hold of each--collecting each being the step-by-step sub-quests and skill encounters.

I'd love to write and meet a character known as 'The Mad Cartographer."

[Jaxilon]

Hmm, seems I was reading some story not too long ago about a couple adventurers who were tracking down some maps made by a famous Cartographer. The items they encountered were things like a potion that put a map in their mind and they had to remember it or draw it themselves in order to find the next clue. They had to burn an etched stick that made no sense for the map to display in the smoke. There was a bunch of stuff like that. I can't recall what website I read it on now but maybe it was something on the Kobold site or one of those.

At any rate, it might be cool to do a map in segments that would really need to be overlaid in order to get a useful item.

Item 4 could be bogus in that it wasn't stolen but the person who wants the PC's to "get it back for them". Knows how to use it to gain a bunch of power. In that case, the PC's would then be sort of obligated to deal with this Nemesis that used them. Unfortunately, he'll be really powerful now and very hard for them to deal with. Thus, comes an archenemy for future adventures. The best part is the PC's could have gained that power themselves if they had only done something silly like cracked the orb open or put on the razor wire G-string. <-- LOL, no idea where that came from but I'm cracking up about it and thinking about putting it into my own campaign now. I got some macho guys in my group that would pitch a fit about that.

[tilt]

Jax - I believe that scenario was on Kobold ... and yes, very cool (mind) maps in that

and just to second you all, I love the idea of the caravan cause it gives you the opportunity to put a lot of different peopel with different agendas together in a relatively small space. And there is always the option of people showing up dead every other morning when the caravan is getting ready to move on. *evil grin*

There should definitly be one major plot and then a bunch of small and medium subplots, some tying in to the major plot.

[Jaxilon]

It also allows a pretty much unlimited side adventures as every group in the Caravan can have their own story. The project could go on and on and on if we keep adding more wagons to the train. It also allows anyone who has an idea that isn't exactly what everyone else wants to do to create it. In the end, the person running the game can decide if that set of wagons are in the caravan or not.