Skip to content
Logo - white - black 2pt border

Ideas, tools, and generators to help and inspire for your games and story-telling

Primary Menu
  • Home
  • Generators
  • PDFs
  • Tools
  • Links
  • Youtube
  • Sitemap
  • Contact
  • Privacy Statement
  • Patreon Content
  • Products (WIP)
  • Home
  • Uncategorized
  • 10 RPG based plots
  • Uncategorized

10 RPG based plots

Mobius 31st August 2012 4 minutes read

Oversee
The PCs are placed in charge of a large operation (a trading company, a feudal barony, the CIA) and must, despite lack of experience in such things, make it work and thrive.
Twist: The PCs must succeed without violence, or with special discretion.

Deadline
Somebody has tinkered with Things Man Ought Not, or opened a portal to the Mean People Dimension, cracked a wall at the state prison, or summoned an ancient Babylonian god into a penthouse. Before the PCs can even think of confronting the source of the trouble, they must deal with the waves of trouble already released by it: monsters, old foes out for vengeance, curious aliens who think cars/citizens/McDonald’s hamburgers resemble food, and so forth.A close cousin to this plot is the basic “somebody has traveled into the past and messed with our reality” story.
Twist: The PCs can’t simply take the released badness to the mat; they have to collect it and shove it back into the source before the adventure can really end.

Ruination
A town, castle, starship, outpost, or other civilized construct is lying in ruins. Very recently, it was just dandy. The PCs must enter the ruins, explore them, and find out what happened.
Twist: There is another group of PC-like characters “competing” on the same adventure, possibly with very different goals for the outcome.

Rescue
A person (church group, nation, galaxy) is in a hazardous situation they can’t survive without rescue. The PCs are on the job. In some scenarios, the hook is as simple as a distant yell or crackly distress signal.
Twist: The threat isn’t villain-oriented at all; it’s a natural disaster, nuclear meltdown, or disease outbreak.

Rescue
A person (church group, nation, galaxy) is in a hazardous situation they can’t survive without rescue. The PCs are on the job. In some scenarios, the hook is as simple as a distant yell or crackly distress signal.
Twist: The “victim” doesn’t realize that he needs rescuing; he thinks he’s doing something reasonable and/or safe.

Foxhunt
The PCs are on a hunting expedition, to capture or kill and elusive and prized creature. They must deal with its environment, its own ability to evade them, and possibly its ability to fight them.
Twist: The victims are really villains and the villains are really victims.

Mercenary
The PCs are treasure-hunters, who have caught wind of a treasure-laden ruin. They go to explore it, and must deal with its supernatural denizens to win the treasure and get out alive.
Twist: The treasure isn’t in a ruin, but in a wilderness or even hidden somewhere “civilized.”

Escort
The PCs have a valuable object or person, which needs to be taken to a safe place or to its rightful owner, etc. They must undertake a dangerous journey in which one or more factions (and chance and misfortune) try to deprive them of the thing in their care.
Twist: The PCs must protect the target without the target knowing about it.

Hazard
The PCs must travel through a hazardous area, and get through without being killed, robbed, humiliated, debased, diseased, or educated by whatever is there. The troubles they encounter are rarely personal in nature – the place itself is the “villain” of the adventure.
Twist: The PCs aren’t asked to solve the problem, just to render aid against a backdrop of larger trouble: get in a shipment of supplies, sneak out a patient that needs medical help, or so on.

Discovery
The PCs, while traveling or exploring, come across a hornet’s nest of bad guys, preparing for Big Badness. They must either find some way to get word to the good guys, or sneak in and disable the place themselves, or a combination of both.
Twist: The PCs must figure out how to use local resources in order to defend themselves or have a chance against the inhabitants.

Created by using : Tablesmith

Related articles
  • Planning the Start of a New Campaign – My Process from RPG MUSINGS (rpgmusings.com)
  • Three of a Kind: Sidekick NPCs (gnomestew.com)
  • The Butler Did It: Mystery Plotlines in RPGs (campaignmastery.com)
Enhanced by Zemanta

About the Author

Mobius

Administrator

Visit Website View All Posts

Post navigation

Previous: 10 Demonic and Use-names
Next: Character/NPC background suitable for a gnome

Related Stories

QG Artefact Names Cover thumb
  • Uncategorized

[Hilight] Quick Generator – Artefact Name

Mobius 10th June 2024
Typewriter with the word "news" on some paper
  • Uncategorized

[News] Another new thing or two? HTML Gens and Combos

Mobius 7th June 2024
Plane Maker Cover
  • Uncategorized

[PDF Hilight] Plane Maker

Mobius 25th March 2024

Catagories

  • PDFs1
    • 10 Ready to use…1
  • Testing1

You may have missed

Typewriter with the word "news" on some paper
  • News

Import Site Info/redesign news!

Mobius 29th October 2026
circle rings checklist with circles on the right foir checking off
  • List

Random List – 20 concepts for a space going vehicle

Mobius 29th October 2026 0
shopping list style style chckelist on a clipboard
  • List

Random List – 20 Space Vehicle types

Mobius 28th October 2026
clipboard and pen showing a checkilist with checked boxes and lines
  • List

Random List – 20 Treefolk Names

Mobius 27th October 2026
Copyright © Ennead Games | MoreNews by AF themes.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT