>First big storm of the season has started up
>NPC bursts into the local inn, announcing that giant rats have taken over his old cottage in the woods
>Handsome pay
>Players arrive and it's a small family of Ratfolk
>Father, mother, teen daughter, infant son
>They need shelter from the weather or will surely die
>>47788723
>We'll let you stay, but only if you let us make use of your daughter for one night.
>>47788818
Beat me to it.
>>47788818
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zujD2KQffRE
>>47788723
>Alderman Tom (Uncle) Remus and his watch captain Jacob Hare want you to investigate a series of vandalisms around town.
>the latest saw the statue at the centre of town, tarred.
>their only lead is a calling card with the silhouette of a fox, left at every crime scene.
Good / Neutral / Evil party?
>Good
Understand the Rat Folk's plight, but explain this does not justify the forcible eviction of its lawful owner. Parlay terms between the two parties, seeking the death (through action or inaction) of neither. Ask why the Ratfolk were on the move, far from home, with an infant son, in the middle of storm season. Potentially arrange for either safe passage to welcoming lands (if locals wouldn't be friendly) / basic lodgings and a start (if locals would) / a way for them to return home (if the plot's supposed to be pulling you towards their Homeland).
>Neutral
Law is on the NPC's side. They cannot stay / can only stay until the storm's died down enough to safely hit the road, but things needn't escalate to violence (unless they force your hand). Possibly list off alternatives, or - if you're a migratory party - offer them to let them join you until they find a place they can settle.
Alternatively, you have no interest in picking sides. NPC can find other patsies to resolve this issue, you & your group are out.
>Evil
The NPC is offering money to evict the Ratfolk. Very, very good money. If they cannot offer something immediately of equal-or-greater worth, materially or otherwise, they'll just have to suck up the same bad weather you did approaching the cabin. If not complete dicks / someone in the party has a soft spot for children, you / they might offer enough of a share of someone's pay that they probably won't die in this storm.
Alternatively, NPC is clearly up to something: That much pay to clear out an old cottage? Misleading information about its inhabitants? Something stinks, and that means bargaining chips. Depending on how evil the party is either leave the Ratfolk be, press them for money / wealth then leave them be, "generously" send them on their way with a "lighter load" in their travels, or just straight-up murder them before going back and blackmailing / exposing the NPC / other.
>>47788723
Why are the Ratfolk running? Monsters?Bandits? Persecution? If you can fix the problem that caused the family to run and tell them it's safe to go back, then you've got yourself a decent adventure and finished the quest.
>>47789779
>>47789345
They are fleeing because their farm was entirely consumed by a quote unquote "booze ooze", which also took the father's right leg and tail.
Twist: the party has to stay in the cabin with them for an uncertain amount of time because the storm has intensified greatly. Their daughter seems awfully protective of her family (see: stabby).
Reminds me of the time the DM recreated Hateful 8 with some animal folk in the picture.
>>47789932
>stabby, overprotective daughter (un)willing to do what it takes to keep her siblings safe
I've been where this is going.
>>47788723
>the baker's daughter has been kidnapped by a pseudodragon
>>47790163
Is she a pixie?
>>47790163
How do you get kidnapped by what amounts to a cat with wings?
>>47790271
>The baker's daughter is 4 months old
>>47790271
Pixie.
Or maybe halfling.
>>47788723
Enlist the rats to recover a lost treasure trove before other nefarious naredowels can do it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAXioRNYy4s
>>47788723
>party is employed as caravan guards
>find themselves in heavy fog
>wander into a cursed valley they can't get out of
>four villages with leaders who don't want to work together
>no money
>barely any resources
>villagers live in hollowed out rocks and farm one staple crop
>they're all ruled by a monastery full of evil monks
>they have to unite the villagers (or enough of the villagers) and defeat the monks
>when they defer to the village leaders, they just send them on errands that will accomplish nothing, spurring them into taking action on their own
It was also the best quest in the entire campaign, which is a bit of a bummer. The rest wasn't bad, but they enjoyed this one the most.
Pic related. The leader the ended up supporting.
>>47788723
For a more experienced quest, with a party that has a few more specialized tools and abilities available to them, you can have them pull a heist as a simple one-off.
Introduce a goal, usually something someone else wants and is willing to pay to steal it, or something the party is either looking for specifically, or could be tempted to steal. Aside from the obstacles the party might face, you can assuage any moral or ethical qualms about the theft by making the possessor you're stealing from an asshole himself, someone who's in a crime ring or stole it himself. Even an evil aligned character shouldn't have a problem stealing from other bad guys.
After that, introduce a number of obstacles that can be creatively thought around. Let the players take initiative on it, allowing them to prompt ways they might subvert security and get past these obstacles, and then reward them by letting them try it out. And above all else, try to give everyone a role, and give them enough time to plan and plot without pushing them, though make sure the picture they have in their heads makes sense, and throw in common sense if things get off the rails. Time should be a limiting factor, but only once the plan is in place.
The consequences of being caught can be much different from straight death. You have an opportunity to talk your way out of it, use yourself as a distraction for the rest of the not-yet-caught team, sell out your contractor, or try escape. The stakes on capture can be harsh, but there's a million ways to be mean before killing comes into the picture. You can even have the bad guy be amused, perhaps thankful the PCs have exposed weaknesses in his security, maybe he was in on it with the guy who commissioned the heist for a bet.
And, last of all, it can introduce new characters. A guard might be out for losing his job, the guy could be out for his stuff back and want revenge, or someone might want to hire the PCs for another job.
Bump
The town has an enchanted dogger who can sniff out the guilty and can speak. They use him to sniff out outsiders who may be less than favorable.
However, he realizes how much they rely on them, and threatens incoming adventurers that he'll say they're rapists or warlords if they don't give into his demands.
However, these demands are mundane and very, well, dog-like. Requests like "I want all the ham". He may speak the king's common, but he's only slightly smarter than the smartest of dogs, and this includes a low time-preference.
>>47795692
So the evil-detecting dog becomes an evil detecting-dog?
>>47795692
The first, literally the first thing that came to my mind after reading that was the dog asking for alone time with a female paladin. I think I need a vacation from this board.
>>47788723
>mfw my campaign revolves around the party taking a rundown piece of shit village and restoring it to glory, ala Darkest Dungeon style.
>mfw I legit consider stealing OPs idea for this quest.
>mfw I don't doubt for a second that my party will let the ratfolk family move in to their village.
>>47797425I almost wrote what is essentially that.It's okay. We both have the same problem.
>>47797425
It's the knot that ties us.
>>47797822
>>47797555
>>47797425
>>47798226
It's all pretty funny.
I'm not a regular on /tg/, but it seems like every thread has this underlying tension between degenerates and prudes, however small it is.
Most people on other boards would've just thought of that whole exchange as a joke.
>>47797425
>>47797555
>Party cleric worships canine-deity
>Sparks conversation with Perseus, the detecting-dog, before they're cleared to enter town
>She asks what it's like to be a dog or have the blessing of speech
>He just asks what it's like to be so pretty and talk so warm
>Indeed, no matter how many times she reminds him, he just sticks to calling her pretty lady
>She's flattered by this, and continues to chat it up with him occasionally
>The party's home-base is established in the cozy town
>They take jobs adventuring and invest their money back into the area
>Cleric spreads the good word, with mixed results
>But Perseus always listens
>He listens diligently, never flinching away when she speaks her sweet words
>The squirrels that once distracted him don't when she's there
>And how she looks into his eyes when she says how much her God loves him and how she finds him fascinating . . .
>You can normally tell they're acquainted by the sound of tail-thudding
>Every time the party comes back from a quest, he runs to them
>He runs to her
>He's most eager to tell her what happened while they were away
>Like how the butcher gave him some salami but he didn't eat any because he wanted to wait to share it with her
>And how he saw a pseudo dragon and chased it like a cat until it bit his nose and now all he can smell is fire smell
>And how he missed her, and that he didn't know if she'd ever come back or not
>And that he'd like her to read from her book and talk to him and tell him who the good boy was because he could never really seem to remember the answer
>When the town can afford better security, Perseus retires
>He spends all his time with her, or waiting for her to get back
>He'll howl in a ridiculous, yet flattering, attempt to woo her with song
>He'll ask her questions he already knows the answers to just to hear her talk
>He keeps her warm during the night, and guards her from all it's terrors
>He kisses her good morning, and he kisses her goodnight
>>47798915
>Party returns from a months-long campaign away
>A slow, uneasy tension builds the closer they get
>Perseus hasn't run out to greet them
>Eventually the cleric can't help herself, and frantically runs into town
>She asks where he is, starting to become blinded by tears
>Her breath becomes sporadic, her chest bumping like a dryer with a pair of sneakers in it
>Their favorite innkeeper comes out, explaining to them that there was an accident
>Some horses got loose and almost stampeded some children but Perseus moved them out in time
>He's breathing, but it doesn't look good.
>He keeps asking where the pretty lady is
>And there he was, he was hurt but he was still going.
>The most beautiful sound in the world to her . . . His voice
>She keeps saying how happy she is to see him
>And how sorry she was that she had been gone so long
>He asks her to read the book in her warm voice
>Trembling, she pulls it out, and reads his favorite story
>About how when the Earth split, and man and animal chose two sides, that dog chose the side man was on
>She starts crying uncontrollably, holding her face to his chest
>He tells her it's all okay>He tells her goodbye isn't forever.
>"I knew the perfect guy all along. I just never saw it."
>"And then... Before I knew..."
>"I lost a friend I'd only just found."
>"He'd have done anything for me, right?"
>"He was in my life for such a small time . . ."
>"But I was there for most of his."
>"And that's not something I'll forget in a hurry."
>>47798928
>>47798915
Damnit Anon, I don't need these feels at 1 AM in the frikkin' morning.
>>47798516
The thing is, that there are a whole fucking lot of people on this board who'd try and make it not a joke in games that they are playing with people, and those people have to deal with it.
>>47790422
In all my life
I never thought I'd see another jerma fan on 4chan
>>47799306
So you're essentially white knighting for hypothetical p&p groups on the basis that someone, somewhere might be affronted? I mean, even assuming that someone does do that, and you really don't fucking know if they will, then either the group will be equally degenerate and roll with it, or we'll get a few more stories for the That Guy threads. Why do you care?
Some people disappeared in recently doscovered ruins. There is a serial killer in the ruins, pretending to be horror-eldrich-unspeakable thing (dressing in tentacles, using illusions, Fear spells, stealth to set up impossible and creepy things to make the party afraid).
Bumping because I like these ideas.
>>47800372
Thank fuck this mindset has surfaced to counter the "let me get offended for you" crowd.
Cheerio, Sir.
>large party of newbies and one experienced player
>they all wanted to be soldiers so I set them up as regular infantry in a large army occupying a coastal desert city
>we love atmosphere and role playing so none of us mind sessions without combat or tension
>these niggas still wanted a hardcore game with death and injuries on poor rolls
>prince is in town, everyone knows he's got people trying to kill him
>they all know he likes a particular deep pool up in the rocky hills
>players decide to head there and chill andfuck
>they say this is the most comfortable campaign
>nod in agreement and make rolls under the table
>mfw one of them is yanked under the water and decapitated moments after their character comments on how quiet the pool is
>>47794213
I am EXTREMELY upset at the color of that comic character's nose! Whoever posted this image needs to leave 4chan immediately!
>>47806271
Well, that's one way to ruin the mood.
>>47806444
You too, huh?
bump
>>47798928
Should have prepared some cure wound spells
>>47806444
>tfw when you have IRL tumblr nose
When did this even become a thing? I've never met anyone else who has it but suddenly every fucking comic character's got it.
>>47794213
Why the fuck was this lady allowed to continue working in the mill when she had only 2 of her 4 appendages?
>>47813117
They're not going to fire an injured employee/newly single mother, looks too bad
>>47812459
>tumblr nose
I'm... pretty sure Penny Arcade did the whole red noses thing first, didn't they?
>>47813925
Gabe's art went full Tumblr a couple of years ago, well after Tumblr noses were widespread.
The players stumble upon a late-night Kobold mining operation.
If anybody in the party thinks to ask, the Kobolds apparently have a completely legal permit to be mining, signed by the local duke himself.
If nobody asks any questions, the Kobolds will defend their digsite.
boomp
>>47798928
>>47798915
Good feels, anon, but the glaring problem with the story is that she's a fucking cleric. If he was trampled by horses she can just heal up his wounds. He needs to be dying from something magic can't fix - old age or something. It's not even that implausible - a big dog that only lives for like 9 years, and he was probably the town detecting dog for a while before she showed up.
>>47817466
Or he succumbed before she returned.
>>47813925
>I'm... pretty sure Penny Arcade did the whole red noses thing first, didn't they?
Sure. Penny Arcade was producing cartoons in the 1950s, right?
>>47788723
We were paid to do a job, never default on a contract.
>remove them from the cottage non-lethally, take them to the town jail where they will have food and shelter for the night. Tell then to get their shit together.
>>47790422
>naredowels
Wait, hang on. Sorry, what?
Ne'er-do-wells.
They're ne'er-do-wells. Because they never do well.
Naredowel sounds like an ikea closet.
>>47819687
They are fleeing because their farm was entirely consumed by a quote unquote "booze ooze", which also took the father's right leg and tail.
Twist: the party has to stay in the cabin with them for an uncertain amount of time because the storm has intensified greatly. Their daughter seems awfully protective of her family (see: stabby).
>>47810893
Cure wounds pretty much negates any "grievously wounded's last words" scene. Either they're dead and you need to resurrect them, or they're not and you can heal them.
>>47819781
CON damage poison
>>47788723
Bump
>>47819720
Kek
I had an Idea for an introduction quest where in the party hunts down a thief that has been stealing.. uh well entire buildings and monuments sending it to a pocket dimension to sell it later.
>players having to pass as rich folk to sneak into the black market auction.
>chasing the thief into his pocket dimension filled with out of place buildings and monuments covered in moss.
>confronting the thief and somehow getting to return the stolen goods.
I dunno might be a bit confusing and too vague
>>47810423
Highly militarized cat folk storm the kingdom, though suffer in capability due to kawaii-desu?I'd run it.
