Adventures in Collection
January 25th, 2011
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another exciting Grave Plots, where we bring you new plot hooks and adventure ideas each and every week, with the aim of improving your game by providing your own creativity with the fodder it so desperately craves. This week I would like to spend a little time talking about collecting things. Normally it is a good policy to avoid having adventures hinge on the collection of a series of objects or things, but there are those exceptional times when you will want to abandon this generally good policy in favor of an interesting story. When the moment is upon you I would like to be the first to encourage you to move forward, but only after giving your potential adventure a great deal of careful consideration. The following sample plots are designed to give you an idea of exactly what I’m talking about.
Something Fun
Perhaps the biggest problem with any adventure focusing on the collection of various things is that they feel tedious, and perhaps even a bit contrived. The best way to combat this is to make sure that whatever the objective is, it is something your players (and their characters) can really get behind collecting, so be sure to pick something either inherently fascinating to collect, or something they can really have a good time collecting. The following plot should give you an idea of what I’m going on about.
The Golem of Kantir
In this adventure, the PCs are contacted by a rather unusual employer who has attracted them to the metropolis of Kantir with a rather unusual request. Their employer is a sentient human-like clockwork construct by the name of Oscar, and his request is simply to find him new parts and then help him integrate them into himself, so that he might be better able to defend Kantir from evil. As the adventure progress the slightly comical Oscar provides the PCs with leads as to where to acquire new parts, often leading to daring theft, careful negotiation, or dangerous fights with various other creatures who are partially or wholly clockwork themselves. When the PCs return with some new gizmo, incredible in its own right (steam-powered grapple gun, clockwork horse legs, whirling gear-blades, and the like), they get to decide how to install the new parts on Oscar for improvements in his performance and perhaps even some rather entertaining changes in his demeanor. Whatever the specifics, PCs will find themselves enamored with their quest to collect items for upgrading the champion of Kantir, and will likely take a step back and smile when they get to see the fruits of their hard work pay off when Oscar is put to the test against a horde of invaders.
Many Different Answers
The other major problem with collection adventures is that have a bad tendency to make players feel like they’re being railroaded, something nobody really likes and most players downright hate. In order to avoid making players feel like they are collecting things simply because that’s what they HAVE TO DO, then I would suggest following the “many different answers” model. For these adventures, the PCs go about collecting things to solve some kind of problem that can only be solved by successfully collecting all the pieces. The difference between this model and the traditional “railroad” model is that there are numerous collections of different things that could lead to the solution, and the PCs get to pick which track they want to follow. The following plot should provide a good example.
A Cure
In this adventure, the PCs are searching for a cure to a disease typically beyond curing, perhaps lycanthropy. As PCs begin their research, a number of different avenues become available to pursue. As they begin collecting pieces of research, the PCs can begin to put together all the clues towards various ends and then, based on a combination of your preparation and their ingenuity, divine a satisfactory solution to the problem of finding a cure. As you can see, the actions of the PCs are largely self-determined and the degree of potential choices offered by your collection adventure is quite high.
Collecting Experiences
In my perhaps less-than-humble opinion, the best collection adventure is one in which the focus is not on the collection of material things or even specific pieces of information, but on the collection of experiences. While one could argue that all adventures are a collection of experiences, that’s not really what I’m talking about here. In order to make a proper collection of experiences, the experiences in question must be both clearly quantifiable and clearly related; the following plot should help explain exactly what I’m trying to get at.
Beast Hunt
In this plot the PCs have entered in a wager with one Emanuel Rex that they will be the first to successfully hunt all seven of the legendary elusive beasts and return alive with proof of their deeds, in the form of a pelt and tooth from each of these legendary beasts. Emanuel has given the PCs one year to complete this task, but the required travel time alone means that the PCs will have precious little time in each of the seven habitats to track, confront, and slay each of the creatures, and with 100,000 gold pieces at stake the PCs have little time to loose.
The seven legendary beasts, as laid out by Emanuel Rex in his world-renowned book, On the Art of the Hunt, are as follows. The first is a golden-shelled dragon turtle of Shellar Island. This mighty beast is uniquely distinguishable from all others of his kind by his golden shell and fearsome temper. The Golden Shell, as he is commonly referred to in the superstitions of Shellar Island, is believed impossible to hunt because of his tendency to capsize all the ships in his territory. The second is the Winged Snake of the Toh Lowlands. This unique and elusive couatl is said to live in the heart of the jungle in the Toh valley, and is believed to possess many ancient and magical secrets. The Winged Snake is believed impossible to hunt due to his magical ability to flee to other planes. The third creature is the Demon Horse of the great southern steppe. This truly fearsome creature, sometimes referred to as a cauchemar, is said to lead a horde of nightmares across the steppe every full moon. The Demon Horse is thought to be impossible to hunt because he appears only for a short time, and then amongst a horde of other demonic creatures. Fourth on the list is the Serpent of the Pale Sea. This sea serpent has plagued the Pale Sea for years, always striking without warning and then disappearing without a trace. It is because he is so elusive that the Serpent of the Pale Sea is considered to be impossible to hunt – in fact, in many areas he is considered to be nothing more than a myth. The fifth beast of legend is the Behemoth of Margeden. This beast, often referred to by locals as a froghemoth due to a slight resemblance to the harmless amphibian, has been a thorn in Margeden’s side for generations, and to this day they regularly send hunting parties out to kill the beast without success. Worse still, some stories suggest that more than one of these monsters might be lurking in the marsh outside of Margeden. The Behemoth of Margeden is thought to be impossible to hunt due to his exceptional vision, making him impossible to sneak up on. Fafnir is the sixth, named for a dragon-like creature mentioned in an obscure elven poem. The creature has been classified by Emanuel Rex as a crag linnorm, and this beast dwells atop a nameless glacier at the world’s peak. Emanuel had long heard tales of linnorm, but this is only one ever confirmed sighted. There is a map to the specific glacier in his book along with a notation stating that the creature is impossible to hunt due to its sheer power, to which no mortal force could compare. Finally, the last creature on the list is the legendary Phoenix of the Ysmir peninsula. The creature is well known as a sign of the coming of dramatic changes and is often cursed by the locals as a bringer of misfortune. The Phoenix is thought to be impossible to hunt because it cannot be truly killed.
As the PCs race from place to place, they will be able to enjoy all the great things about a difficult hunt, as well as being forced to come up with creative solutions for dealing with at least some of their prey. The PCs will be required to deal with the interesting challenge of collecting and transporting things as large as the hide of a sea serpent and as dangerous as a crag linnorm’s poisonous fang. Despite the collecting required by the wager, the adventure is clearly more about a collection of experiences.
Well, that’s it for this week’s Grave Plots. I hope to see you all next week for cleric week. Until next time, I would like to wish you all the best with your gaming endeavors.