Scenario Ideas

[dwayanu]

I was feeling stale in early-level ("mega") dungeon design -- perhaps just too finnicky -- and decided to brainstorm some ideas for smaller scenarios scattered over the regional map. FWIW, here are some samples. Literary inspirations may be obvious!

WELL OF HEART'S DESIRE
A magical pool in the Fey Forest is said to grant wishes to those who drink of it. Pilgrims will pay handsomely for escort through the perils of the woods.

VILLAGE OF THE VANISHED
The people of a once-thriving village have suddenly disappeared. So do looters and troops who venture there. (A monstrous race carries them off through tunnels to a lair where the victims serve as slaves and sacrifices.)

TWISTED TOWER
A wizard raised this keep and laid traps within to guard a treasure. What has so far confounded adventurers is inability to find the entrance ...

ISLE OF COLOSSI
It took mighty craft to erect the sinister statues that give the isle its name, and legends tell of riches in the inland ruins. They also hint at a curse that keeps plunderers from returning.

DREAMING CITY
This fabled city is widely dismissed as a desert mirage or the ravings of men driven sun-mad. A few claim to know a way back, but dread to take it. To loot the place ought to be easy if indeed the decadent citizens spend most of their lives in drugged sleep. However, something nightmarish stalks those silent halls.

MOUNTAIN OF THE MOON
An expedition was sent to perform a ritual atop this forbidding peak, and apparently was lost along with items of special value to certain interested parties.

WAR OF THE RAT MEN
Anthropomorphic rats recruit human mercenaries to be shrunk and serve in their wondrous warrens.

BLACK HAND
Theft, kidnapping, blackmail and assassination are the stock in trade of this cabal. Who is the mastermind behind it, and where is its headquarters? (Perhaps combine this with the rat-men idea?)

GHASTLY REAVERS
Ghoulish sea-raiders terrorize the coast and shipping lanes. What are they, and from what harbor do they fare?

[grodog]

These sounds good dwayanu---very similiar to what I call Mythic Geography in my games: those strange, surreal, and magical locations that have evocative placenames and which are surrounded by mysteries....

[thorswulf]

Yeah, good stuff there Dwayanu! My favorite kind of thing like this was the articcles in Dragon on the lands and legends of Divine Right. Chock full of this kind of thing.

[thorswulf]

I just finished reading Dunsany's "The Castle Unvanquished Save for Sacnoth". It made me realize that perhaps one way tog et this feeling is simply to make maps with nifty names like like you listed. Dunsany relied heavily on the weight of words to draw in a reader, as did many others.