Encounter suggestions

[tesral]

Originally suggested for a space opera game, with a few wording changes appropriate for any game.

Mistaken identity. "HEY JOE, you own me money!" Drunk pirate accosts a PC. He is wrong of course and will not listen to reason. His friends are not quite as drunk, and will listen to reason, but DP is not in a reasoning or reasonable mood.

"Do you want to buy a Death Stick?" Drug dealer pitches to the PCs. She might make a scene if the PCs do not buy. Fellow Drug dealers will back her claim of abuse.

"It's been sooo long!" Mistaken identity part two. Boozy/death sticked man/woman/it falls all over PC melodramas about old times and the (kinky) fun they had. (They [censored] their [censored] with a [censored] and then a [censored]!! even had their own chicken and rope!) Indication is round two would be fun. PC that follows through could end up with a nasty bug in the [censored].

Cute kid crying. Cute kid clings to a PC and wails. This could be a prelude to a side adventure (Where is my Mommy?) A pet acquisition (Mommy cannot be found) or eve a set up to get rolled.

"Why did you leave early?" Mistaken Identity Part 3. Friendly type sits down, buys drinks, recounts wonderful vice filled time with a PC. Kicker, the NPC is RIGHT! The PC has no memory of this person or time. Any of the above MI things can be used. Will only work if a PC has a vice that would render them in that condition.

Cop it the Cheeze! PC are incidentally involved in a raid. In a bar that is raided, or they are walking by when people come pouring out the back door. They see the cops getting ready to hit a place (They might know that an vital NPC is in the place).

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Successful crew is "having fun" Drinking and carousing in the street, random firing of blasters, etc.. Could get incidentally violent.

A ship a ship! Desperate cargo owner/passenger. Will give X ceds for a lift. Not worth the PCs time, or worse.

[Malruhn]

I have had silly little ideas like these blow up into entire campaign arcs and years-long gaming sessions.

I've used almost all of these in the past, but they are GREAT tools for everyone! Thanks!

[wizarddog]

Being bumped by an NPC who places a McGruffin into the players pocket.

Dying man races towards the PC's and gives them the McGruffin. (ala The man who knew too much).

Or my favorite: Angry mod turns around the corner. One shouts "There they Are!" and the rest charge.

[tesral]

Run, peasant mobs generally win.

[Malruhn]

And if they don't win today - they usually win in the end.

"Hey, aren't you the guy we were chasing last week? GET HIM, BOYS!!!"

[tesral]

I've had a few people stunned at how mobs of first level nobodies can take down a high level adventurer Mobs work by swarm rules. And the fuzzy-wuzzy rule. A sufficient number of fuzzy-wuzzies can stop anything. Human waves without sense will trample and destroy you high level party.

[Anaesthesia]

A couple of sessions ago I ran a micro adventure I found on rpgnow (called Distressed Damsel, I think), which the party is duped by a Mother and Son pair into a were-wolf trap (or in our case a Were-Leopard trap).

The party decided that since then they are not listening to any sob story by a Mother and killing any were-leopard or supposed were-leopard on sight (incidentally they killed a mundane one about 2 sessions ago based on assumptions).

[Malruhn]

Anaesthesia, now you need to have a REAL mother/son team tell them about a threat - and when the party tells them to bugger off, have the town crier yell out the news the following morning, "HEAR YE, HEAR YE!! LARGE GROUP OF PEOPLE INCONVENIENCED BECAUSE OF LACK OF ACTION! BODIES EVERYWHERE!! WHY WON'T SOMEONE HELP?!"

Then they won't know what to do... believe them or not believe them... (insert evil DM laugh here!)

[cplmac]

Anaesthesia, now you need to have a REAL mother/son team tell them about a threat - and when the party tells them to bugger off, have the town crier yell out the news the following morning, "HEAR YE, HEAR YE!! LARGE GROUP OF PEOPLE INCONVENIENCED BECAUSE OF LACK OF ACTION! BODIES EVERYWHERE!! WHY WON'T SOMEONE HELP?!"

Then they won't know what to do... believe them or not believe them... (insert evil DM laugh here!)

Hmm, might need to get out of town before the angry mob starts searching for the group that didn't help when asked.

[Malruhn]

And an adventure arc is born!!

[DMMike]

A player/character, walking through a market, feels a tug on his belt. He looks to notice that his coin purse has been joined by a larger purse, and the thief/benefactor is running away at high speed. Shortly thereafter, watchmen race in and apprehend the thief, who gives up without a fight. After all, he doesn't have any stolen goods on him.

Does the larger purse contain evidence, something expensive, or something worth keeping? Is the purse what's worth pursuing, or is it the thief himself?

[tesral]

Does the larger purse contain evidence, something expensive, or something worth keeping? Is the purse what's worth pursuing, or is it the thief himself?

That's twisted, it has plenty of possible branches, I like it.

Adding to the thread:

A town with two distinct populations. It could be divided by race, by ecnomic condition, by ethic background. However it has to be a working town in an area where these two divisions are normally wary to hostile to each other. Then a third party decides to mess things up.

In my case it was a town of Humans and Nezumi. There was a mild cultural distrust between the two. At time it had raged to total war. The current conditions were the best that could be had.

Wererats infested the town. They took efforts to divide the two races. They would appear as Humans and molest Nezumi, then appear as Nezumi and molest Humans. Theft and assault being the primary crimes.

The object was civil unrest, murder in the streets and a open invitation for them to pillage as they would.

Of course along come the PCs to mess it up.