CourtFool Posted October 1, 2004 Report Share Posted October 1, 2004 Despite the fact that a certain nameless, so-called role playing game should have died a quick and humiliating death as soon as James Bond hit the field, it does occasionally inspire. This nameless game has a website and on the website they have a feature called “Steal this Hookâ€. In that same vein I would like to start this thread for Plot Hooks. Here is a hook that was inspired by the “Found in an Old Book†article. As the PCs arrange themselves in the tavern they notice a leather binder filled with loose leaf paper. The papers appear to be a rather chaotic journal inscribed by a diviner. Each sheet is filled with scribbles, sketches and surreal prose which seem to foretell certain events. The GM should insert several random predictions that the PCs have no way of proving or disproving as well as several that the PCs know to have come to be. At least one should even mention the PCs themselves. The last two pages tell of the apocalyptic coming of a great necromantic magic rising in the North which will crush the rest of the known world. This particular passage works best in a Turakian setting, but could really work in any Fantasy campaign. The PCs should be curious who’s journal this is and if the future predictions are true. They should be especially drawn in since they are mentioned specifically. Maybe even that their deaths are foretold in the last two pages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paigeoliver Posted October 1, 2004 Report Share Posted October 1, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? Its ALWAYS in a tavern, isn't it? Somehow I am actually 3 games into my current fantasy campaign and no one has set foot inside a bar yet. I wonder how long I can keep that up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CourtFool Posted October 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? Its ALWAYS in a tavern, isn't it? Look here, missy! O.k. O.k. Let them find the book in the middle of the road on in a backpack the theif pilfers or just outside the stable. Why do you always have to rain on my parade? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest joen00b Posted October 1, 2004 Report Share Posted October 1, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? All taverns should be blown up!! Seriously, where did this cliche start at? At what point in our adolescence did we realize that a house of alcohol would be the nexus for all adventures? Wouldn't that mean every inn you walk into you'd only find armored, armed coolections of folks sticking to 'their own kind' and all eyeing the one shady guy in the corner suspiciously? Everytime said shady guy reaches for his cup of tea (I've not heard of a shady guy ever drinking enything other than wine or tea, why is that?) the entire room would go quiet, everyone glued to his next move, not even breathing... As soon as he made eye contact with one of the multitude of adventurers, you'd hear the other moan and groan and pack up to move on to the next tavern as the group that got 'picked' gets the adventure. I don't know about you, but Taverns and Inns are the LAST place I'd want to be. They say an armed society is a polite society, but I've seen too many brawls break out in my day in these so called 'taverns' (they should be called arena and have bleachers because fights ALWAYS break out in them). And when I retired, I'd open up a flower shop. Not ONCE has any gaming session I've EVER been in ahd a fight break out in a flower shop, it just doesn't happen! I'd be surprised if these mead swilling thugs knew where it was located (please don't tell them). And forget the open market, every kid in there is a thief! And they always know where your most powerful, pilferable item is located, and the little fookers are octopi when it comes to robbing you too! I just won't go to market, period, I'll send a group of adventurers in there and while all the thieves are lifting everything not wizard locked down on that party, my personalbutler would be buying the supplies we need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevenall Posted October 1, 2004 Report Share Posted October 1, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? Not to derail this thread but that is exactly what I plan to do. Please Insert Tounge In Cheek. What's wrong with taverns? Adventures have to start somewhere. The GM has to get all these characters together some how. Dispite their best efforts to play lone wolfs. A tavern is a handy conceit for doing so. They have genre sources too. There's the Prancing Pony, perhaps the most famous of fantasy taverns. There are the Golden Lampry and the Silver Eel in the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser books. Lots of adventures start in those taverns. There is that dive Conan is in when he hears about the Elephant Tower. Another tavern another famous adventure. Heck, some of my own real life adventures have started in bars. The is truth in wine and adventure in taverns. Start your own adventure where ever you want. I'll be at the tavern. You may remove your tounge now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paigeoliver Posted October 1, 2004 Report Share Posted October 1, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? I never understood how the classic D&D child thieves ever managed to pickpocket anything, I mean a 1st level thief had only a 20 percent chance of successfully pickpocketing a normal, with a 60 percent chance of failing and being detected. Yet these kid thieves could run off with anything and only failed if it was a plot device for them to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevenall Posted October 1, 2004 Report Share Posted October 1, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? Here is a plot hook for you The PCs stop at an unfamiliar country inn. They sit for a bit and then begin to notice that lots of people, locals and sick or aged travellers, order just water. Which costs as much as beer. What's going on, does the water have healing properties or is it just a hoax? If the story gets out what kinds of forces might come out of the wood work looking to exploit this water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CourtFool Posted October 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? I think it became cliche because someone realized it was a simple way to get such disparate people together. The whole D&D party thing never did sit well with me. People of such widely opposed 'alignments' simply would not work together for long. Next campaign...the PCs all wake up in jail with amnesia. Let them figure out how they got there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted October 1, 2004 Report Share Posted October 1, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? Next campaign...the PCs all wake up in jail with amnesia. Let them figure out how they got there. Usually when you wake up in jail with no memory of the night before, it's because you were in a tavern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcady Posted October 2, 2004 Report Share Posted October 2, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? All taverns should be blown up!! Seriously, where did this cliche start at? The first Thieve's World novel starts a few things there, but it came out in the late 70's (my copy even has Starbuck's hairstyles on the cover art, and I'm not talking about coffee) after DnD had been around for a while. Just to bust open the box on this one, is the nameless game DnD? Or are we talking about Runequest or Traveler here? My favorite idea for a beginning is to start right in the middle of an action scene, then play it out in time in both directions - description for the flashbacks to fill it in, and game play moving forward. Consider starting the campaign right after an area spell effect in the middle of a pitched battle robs the PCs of their short term memories and kills all allies fighting with them... They have to figure out the events of the last month, and how they got in the middle of a battle field. To make it worse, make the enemy someone who normally would be an ally under the presumptions of their mundane life - such as they're in a pitched battle fighting the church's knights, along side a pack of dead necromancers and heretics... The real way to do this one... don't have an answer, let game play find it. A lot of movies start in the middle of the action... and the idea of starting in a sudden flash where you don't know who you are, or at least why you are there is an old movie cliche. I think it's best when you're only missing part of your memory - enough to lack an answer for your current actions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoresLost Posted October 2, 2004 Report Share Posted October 2, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? Here lies the Site That Shall Not Be Named For Nameing it shall bring it forth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitz Posted October 2, 2004 Report Share Posted October 2, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? One of the best D&D campaigns I ever ran began with everyone playing siblings, leaving the run-down worn out farm on which they'd grown up. Their father had just died after years of trying to scratch a bare living out of the soil, leaving nothing but what they could find around the farm, and few of his meagre belongings from his glory days when he was a rip-roarin' hellraiser.... one of which was a map. Probably a treasure map. Cor! What made the game so great was that nobody had any skills worth mentioning (they all started as Zero-level characters), equipment was minimal (just Dad's old chain shirt and battered old sword, plus a bunch of farm equipment), and the whole party was tied by blood which meant that even if they didn't get along with each other, they always banded together against any external threat. Once the characters started amassing xp and getting levels and what-not it started to turn into a pretty normal D&D wilderness campaign, but those early sessions were magic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paigeoliver Posted October 2, 2004 Report Share Posted October 2, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? One of the best D&D campaigns I ever ran began with everyone playing siblings' date=' leaving the run-down worn out farm on which they'd grown up. Their father had just died after years of trying to scratch a bare living out of the soil, leaving nothing but what they could find around the farm, and few of his meagre belongings from his glory days when he was a rip-roarin' hellraiser.... one of which was a map. Probably a [i']treasure[/i] map. Cor! What made the game so great was that nobody had any skills worth mentioning (they all started as Zero-level characters), equipment was minimal (just Dad's old chain shirt and battered old sword, plus a bunch of farm equipment), and the whole party was tied by blood which meant that even if they didn't get along with each other, they always banded together against any external threat. Once the characters started amassing xp and getting levels and what-not it started to turn into a pretty normal D&D wilderness campaign, but those early sessions were magic. Were you using those crazy zero level character rules that they stuck in one of the first edition hardbacks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mangahunterd Posted October 2, 2004 Report Share Posted October 2, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? You could make them all be part of a military force that gets seperated or are the only survivors of a nasty fight. For a campaign that I have been planning all the characters are travellers aboard a ship for some reason or another. I let the PC's determine why they were there which can help build background story as well. As for what happens to the ship.. well let's just see what the Sea Hag has to say about that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CourtFool Posted October 2, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2004 You said it! Oh! I just said it! I said it again! Here lies the Site That Shall Not Be Named For Nameing it shall bring it forth. Damn you! The last face to face campain I ran (very short lived I might add) I asked all of the players to make young begining adventurers that were from the same small village. Only one of the characters was really a begining adventurer and several of the characters were not really from the same village. In fairness to my players I was not strict enough in my guidelines and allowed too many starting points for 'begining' adventures. This makes me think I should start a thread detailing my failings as a Game Master. Not as a pity party, but a purging. "Stay on target." "I can't shake him!" "Stay on target" "He's right on top of me." Thanks for the ideas guys. There is always good stuff to be had from this bunch. I have wanted to try opening each session with an action scene but I have yet to implement this idea. I need to wrap up end sessions better. I always leave too many things hanging to just suddenly jump into something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Goodwin Posted October 2, 2004 Report Share Posted October 2, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? I don't know about you, but Taverns and Inns are the LAST place I'd want to be. They say an armed society is a polite society, but I've seen too many brawls break out in my day in these so called 'taverns' (they should be called arena and have bleachers because fights ALWAYS break out in them). And when I retired, I'd open up a flower shop. Not ONCE has any gaming session I've EVER been in ahd a fight break out in a flower shop, it just doesn't happen! I'd be surprised if these mead swilling thugs knew where it was located (please don't tell them). Think about it. You have usually guys, usually fairly young (late teens to early 20's), in great shape, whose profession is violence. Mix in alcohol. What could possibly go wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted October 2, 2004 Report Share Posted October 2, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? One player had his character flip off a stranger simply to start a barroom brawl. Nobody else complained; we figured we could get experience points. As for child thieves, they're annoying, but not as annoying as the ones who throw garbage or manure at you. For some reason, they always threw it at my character, even though I hadn't done anything to them. And if you so much as scolded them, the DM had the town constable standing just around the corner, ready to haul your sorry ass to prison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiralman Posted October 2, 2004 Report Share Posted October 2, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? a) I am on the side of never using the tavern scenario right off the bat... it's an insult in the face of those players who spent some time coming up with a good background. I spring off their ideas as much as I can. I find random roll or generator tables the best for plot hook generation. I'm currrently in favor of rolling on a random FH Skill list table. Try to come up with a scenario where say (roll) Seduction will be at the fore or (roll) Literacy is at the fore or (roll) Professional Skill might be at the fore... or a scenario where the players have intercepted a missive that tells of (literacy) a scribe who is jailed and forced into labor by a powerful egotistic mad-woman of a witch who has to be 'convinced' (seduction) to let him go. She's got a large working staff and so one of the characters has to gain employment (PS skill) to her keep in order to infiltrate and allow the other characters in... huff huff. Or something like that. I don't think that I would use that particular example since it took me exactly two minutes think of it and to write it out. Anyway, I like to use the Skill List to get the creativity flowing for plot ideas PLUS it justifies the need for every skill, not just the skills the players have. Plus there's a good chance that some obscure skills will become very important. Finally it may give a fresh outlook to non-combat skills if that is necessary in your game. Hope this helps. Try it, you might like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CourtFool Posted October 2, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2004 Em-PHA-sis on Skills Me likey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitz Posted October 2, 2004 Report Share Posted October 2, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? Were you using those crazy zero level character rules that they stuck in one of the first edition hardbacks? Er.... maybe? Hell, I don't recall, it was quite a few years ago. The characters' characteristics were rolled up randomly, and it was pretty obvious what class they would choose once they got some xp, but nobody had any actual class skills that I can recall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevenall Posted October 3, 2004 Report Share Posted October 3, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? My favorite D&D campaign started out 0 level. But it got all crazy weird after a while. Even a butcher knife was a scarry weapon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? Add "me too". One of the most fun series of games I ran was "the brothers Snøttgøbblerson" in which 3 of the 4 players started as brothers. Like Fitz's game that was also very low powered - one chain mail shirt and one sword between the three brothers (there were lots of arguments over who got to have them) and most of the initial fights were simply fisticuffs. Of course such things never last - two of the brothers Snøttgøbblerson went to the great warm pastures in the sky. But that led to a bonus - the last and oldest brother swore a blood-oath to avenge them, which led to a nice revenge scenario as he hunted down the guy he blamed for their deaths. It ended in a sleigh chase by night through a snowstorm and a final killing on the ice of a frozen river (can't really call it a duel since one party was blubbing and begging for his life...) That worked so well, that now I always lay out groundrules to the players beffore they start making characters, so that they start with a reason to work together. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan59 Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? I am actually running an Eberron campaign right now, and its scary how bad the pre-written scenario openings are. I am currently just about to start running Whispers of the Vampires Blade and the opening is as follows: The local equivalent of James Bond has just been turned into a vampire. He had raided Q's labs and made off with a scarily powerful magical sword. What does the local equivalent of M do? He pulls a bunch of PCs off the street and tests them by making them fight a giant ape in his garden. If they pass he dispatches them to hunt down the rogue agent. Actually he does it if they fail the test too. By doing this he is effectively giving a bunch of complete strangers with no reason to be loyal access to all manner of state secrets and a government expense account. Why would anybody do this? John le Carre it is not. I am rewriting the opening because the rest of the adventure is pretty good. One of the best things about Hero is that you usually have more than enough hooks lieing around in the characters background and disadvantages to justify your scenarios. I really need to convince my players to make the switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest joen00b Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? In all fairness, I usually fall on the 'ex-merc troop' or military background for why the group is together. War tends to make the bonds between soldiers rather tight, so if a war is done, or a Merc Company breaks up, generally groups of individuals travel together to their parts of the lands. I give a slight background of the War, why it happened, who won, etc, and allow the players to fill in all the background they want in regards to that. It let's them play themselves off as heroes or cowards or whatever it is they wish. I gave up on the Tavern scenario long ago, and now do the Military background thing. What McGuffins do ya'll use to get groups together? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoorWandering 1 Posted October 4, 2004 Report Share Posted October 4, 2004 Re: What Da Hook Gonna Be? The 'you each have received a mysterious letter...' start can work well if you do it right. Starts I've used/played in: Players are all attached to the same NPC's retinue. : ...survivors of the same shipwreck : ...guests at the same monetary : ... students under the same swords master : .... Working the same cattle drive (deadlands) : ... Members of a travelling carnival : ... fleeing the same flood : ... Shanghaied onto the same ship : ... Witnesses to the same crime : ... part owners in a land based transport and trading company founded by one of the Pc's Things I'd like to see/use: Players have all been swindled by the same man and are all implicated in the crime. :.... guests at the same wedding/christening :...Exiled to the same underground culture. See the Exile / Avernum series by Spiderweb games. : ... suitors for the same beloved, Arabian nights style. : ... robbing the same target Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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