The Big List of RPG Plots

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W hat follows is a scrap of trivia . . . my collection of RPG plots, in abstract form. I built this by exam- ining the premises of hun- dreds of published adventures for all systems (including those systems dear and departed from print), trying to boil them down to common denominators. The results are pre- sented here: arbitrary, and sometimes redundant. Nevertheless, I turn to this list when I’m stuck for a fresh premise for next week’s session of my campaign, whatever that campaign might happen to be about at the time. It helps me keep from falling into thematic ruts (my least favorite kind). With any luck, it might serve a similar function for you. Note: The “plots” are arranged in alphabetical order by title. Since the titles are arbitrary, this serves no useful function at all. And if you want shakespearean five-act hoozits, plot trees, Man Versus Himself and other Serious Literary Bunkum, try Writer’s Digest. This ain’t Oxford, baby. Any Old Port in a Storm The PCs are seeking shelter from the elements or some other threat, and come across a place to hole up. They find that they have stumbled across something dangerous, secret, or supernatural, and must then deal with it in order to enjoy a little rest. Common Twists & Themes: The shelter contains the cause of the threat the PCs were trying to avoid. The shelter houses a Hidden Base (q.v.). The PCs must not only strug- gle for shelter, they must struggle to survive. The place is a legitimate shelter of some kind, but the PCs are not welcome, and must win hearts or minds to earn their bed for the night. Better Late Than Never Some bad guys have arrived and done some bad guy things. The PCs were none the wiser. The bad guys have now made good their escape, and the PCs have caught wind of it in time to chase them down before they make it back to their lair, their home nation, behind enemy lines, etc. Common Twists & Themes: The bad guys escaped by stealing a con- veyance that the PCs know better than they do. The bad guys duck down a metaphorical (or literal) side- road, trying to hide or blend into an environment (often one hostile to the PCs). If the bad guys cross the adventure’s “finish line” (cross the county line, make the warp jump, etc.) there’s no way to pursue them beyond it. Blackmail Usually through trickery (but some- times by digging into the PCs’ past), an antagonist has something to hold over the heads of the PCs and make them jump. This could be any kind of threat from physical to social, but it depends on the villain having some- thing - even if it’s information - that others don’t have. Now, he is pulling the strings of the PCs, telling them to do things they don’t want to. The PCs must end the cycle of blackmail, deprive the villain of his edge, and keep him temporarily satisfied while doing it. Common Twists & Themes: The adventure hook involves the PCs doing the villain a good turn, which allows him to take advantage of them (very cynical!). To succeed, the PCs must contact other folks that are also being used. The PCs aren’t the vic- tims at all, but somebody they care about/are charged to protect, is. Breaking and Entering Mission objective: enter the danger- ous place, and retrieve the vital din- gus or valuable person. Overcome the area’s defenses to do so. Common Twists & Themes: The goal is not to extract a thing, but to destroy a thing or interfere with a process (kill the force-screen genera- tor, assassinate the evil king, stop the spell from being cast, wreck the 1 BIG LIST of RPG Plots BIG LIST The A GMs Aid by S. John Ross Version two Don’t Panic. A lot of GMs come to the Big List only once they’ve begun to panic. Don’t crucify yourself just yet! In particular, don’t fuss too much over plot, as many GMs do. All of the plots here can provide a tried-and-true, simple structure, and structure is all you need a plot for in a role- playing game. Remember to play to the strengths of the medium most all of which are about char- acter, not plot. Only in an RPG can you experience a fictional charac- ter on a personal, first-hand level. Outline your adventures to make the most of that. Any plot that contains more than a basic struc- ture is more likely to pull attention away from character, and that’s burning the bridge for firewood. All you need to do is be ready to roll with the curves and have fun hamming it up. Relax. Game. Handy Tip! Copyright '1999, 2002 by S. John Ross. The Handy Tip stopped already, and youve strayed into the Boring Legalese Zone! Aieee!

Transcript of The Big List of RPG Plots

Page 1: The Big List of RPG Plots

What follows is a scrap oftrivia . . . my collection ofRPG plots, in abstractform. I built this by exam-ining the premises of hun-

dreds of published adventures for allsystems (including those systemsdear and departed from print), tryingto boil them down to commondenominators. The results are pre-sented here: arbitrary, and sometimesredundant. Nevertheless, I turn tothis list when I’m stuck for a freshpremise for next week’s session of mycampaign, whatever that campaignmight happen to be about at thetime. It helps me keep from fallinginto thematic ruts (my least favoritekind). With any luck, it might servea similar function for you.

Note: The “plots” are arranged inalphabetical order by title. Sincethe titles are arbitrary, this servesno useful function at all. And ifyou want shakespearean five-acthoozits, plot trees, Man VersusHimself and other Serious LiteraryBunkum, try Writer’s Digest. Thisain’t Oxford, baby.

Any Old Port

in a Storm

The PCs are seeking shelter from theelements or some other threat, andcome across a place to hole up. Theyfind that they have stumbled acrosssomething dangerous, secret, orsupernatural, and must then dealwith it in order to enjoy a little rest.

Common Twists & Themes: Theshelter contains the cause of thethreat the PCs were trying to avoid.The shelter houses a Hidden Base(q.v.). The PCs must not only strug-gle for shelter, they must struggle tosurvive. The place is a legitimateshelter of some kind, but the PCsare not welcome, and must winhearts or minds to earn their bed forthe night.

Better Late

Than Never

Some bad guys have arrived and donesome bad guy things. The PCs werenone the wiser. The bad guys havenow made good their escape, and thePCs have caught wind of it in time tochase them down before they make itback to their lair, their home nation,behind enemy lines, etc.

Common Twists & Themes: The badguys escaped by stealing a con-veyance that the PCs know betterthan they do. The bad guys duckdown a metaphorical (or literal) side-road, trying to hide or blend into anenvironment (often one hostile to

the PCs). If the bad guys cross theadventure’s “finish line” (cross thecounty line, make the warp jump,etc.) there’s no way to pursue thembeyond it.

Blackmail

Usually through trickery (but some-times by digging into the PCs’ past),an antagonist has something to holdover the heads of the PCs and makethem jump. This could be any kind ofthreat from physical to social, but itdepends on the villain having some-thing - even if it’s information - thatothers don’t have. Now, he is pullingthe strings of the PCs, telling themto do things they don’t want to. ThePCs must end the cycle of blackmail,deprive the villain of his edge, andkeep him temporarily satisfied whiledoing it.

Common Twists & Themes: Theadventure hook involves the PCsdoing the villain a good turn, whichallows him to take advantage of them(very cynical!). To succeed, the PCsmust contact other folks that are alsobeing used. The PCs aren’t the vic-tims at all, but somebody they careabout/are charged to protect, is.

Breaking and

Entering

Mission objective: enter the danger-ous place, and retrieve the vital din-gus or valuable person. Overcome thearea’s defenses to do so.

Common Twists & Themes: The goalis not to extract a thing, but todestroy a thing or interfere with aprocess (kill the force-screen genera-tor, assassinate the evil king, stopthe spell from being cast, wreck the

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BIG LISTof RPG Plots

BIG LISTThe

A GM�s Aid by S. John RossVersion two

Don’t Panic. A lot of GMs come tothe Big List only once they’vebegun to panic. Don’t crucifyyourself just yet! In particular,

don’t fuss too much over plot, asmany GMs do. All of the plots

here can provide a tried-and-true,simple structure, and structure isall you need a plot for in a role-

playing game. Remember to playto the strengths of the medium –most all of which are about char-acter, not plot. Only in an RPG canyou experience a fictional charac-ter on a personal, first-hand level.Outline your adventures to make

the most of that. Any plot thatcontains more than a basic struc-ture is more likely to pull attentionaway from character, and that’sburning the bridge for firewood.All you need to do is be ready toroll with the curves and have fun

hamming it up. Relax. Game.

Handy Tip!❉ ❉

Copyright ©1999, 2002 by S. John Ross. TheHandy Tip stopped already, and you�ve

strayed into the Boring Legalese Zone! Aieee!

Page 2: The Big List of RPG Plots

invasion plans, close the portal). Thegoal has moved. The goal is informa-tion, which must be broadcast orotherwise released from the area assoon as it is found. The job must bedone without alerting anyone. ThePCs don’t know the place is danger-ous. The PCs must replace the thingwith another thing.

Capture the Flag

The PCs must secure a military targetfor the good guys. There are bad guysthere that prefer not to be secured.The fundamental tactical scenario.

Common Twists & Themes: The PCsmust assemble and/or train a force todo the job with them. The PCs areworking with flawed intelligence andthe target zone isn’t as described.The PCs must coordinate their ownefforts with an ally group (possiblyputting aside rivalries to do so). Thetarget zone includes a population ofinnocent people, fragile goods, orsome other precious thing that must-n’t be harmed in the crossfire.

Clearing The Hex

There is a place where bad thingslive. The PCs must make it safe fornice people, systematically clearing itof danger.

Common Twists & Themes: The badthings can’t be beaten with directconflict. The PCs must learn moreabout them to solve the problem. TheHaunted House. The AlienInfestation. The Wild Forest.

Delver�s Delight

The PCs are treasure-hunters, whohave caught wind of a treasure-ladenruin. They go to explore it, and mustdeal with its supernatural denizensto win the treasure and get out alive.

Common Twists & Themes: Thetreasure itself is something danger-ous. The treasure isn’t in a ruin, butin a wilderness or even hidden some-where “civilized.” The treasure issomeone else’s rightful property. Thetreasure turns out to have a will ofits own.

Don�t Eat The

Purple Ones

The PCs are stranded in a strangeplace, and must survive by findingfood and shelter, and then worryabout getting back home.

Common Twists & Themes: The PCsmust survive only for a short periodof time, until help arrives, the shipand/or radio is repaired, or somesuch thing (in “repair” scenarios,sometimes the PCs must discoversome fact about the local environ-ment that will make such repairspossible).

Elementary, My

Dear Watson

A crime or atrocity has been commit-ted; the PCs must solve it. They mustinterview witnesses (and preventthem from being killed), gather clues(and prevent them from being stolenor ruined). They must then assembleproof to deliver to the authorities, orserve as personal ministers of justice.

Common Twists & Themes: The PCsare working to clear an innocentalready accused (possibly them-selves). The PCs must work alongsidea special investigator or are other-wise saddled with an unwanted ally.Midway through the adventure, thePCs are “taken off the case” – theirinvitation/authority to pursue thematter is closed (often the result ofpolitical maneuvering by an antago-nist). The climax is a courtroomscene or other arena of judgment.The scale is highly variable for thistype of adventure, from a small-town murder to a planetwide pollu-tion scandal.

Escort Service

The PCs have a valuable object orperson, which needs to be taken to asafe place or to its rightful owner,etc. They must undertake a danger-ous journey in which one or more

factions (and chance and misfortune)try to deprive them of the thing intheir care.

Common Twists & Themes: Thething or person is troublesome, andtries to escape or sidetrack the PCs.The destination has been destroyedor suborned by the enemy, and thePCs must take upon themselves thejob that either the destination ortheir charge was meant to do when itgot there. The person is a personattempting a political defection. Safearrival at the destination doesn’t endthe story; the PCs must then bargainwith their charge as their token(exchanging money for a hostage, forinstance). The PCs must protect thetarget without the target knowingabout it.

Good Housekeeping

The PCs are placed in charge of alarge operation (a trading company, afeudal barony, the CIA) and must,despite lack of experience in suchthings, make it work and thrive.

Common Twists & Themes: The PCsare brought in because something bigis about to happen, and the OldGuard wants a chance to escape. Thepeasants, neighbors, employees,

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Double up. A nice basic methodis the chameleon game, wherean adventure presents itself asone type of story in the “hook

layer” but reveals itself as some-thing else. Sometimes, the switch

is innocent and natural – Don’tEat the Purple Ones, for example,makes a good hook for Runningthe Gauntlet, and Most Peculiar,

Momma is a logical lead forPandora’s Box. Sometimes, the

switch is something more sinisteror deliberate, with NPCs selling

the adventure as one thing whenit’s really another. This can still beinnocent, in its way, if the NPCs

have been duped themselves, orif they’re just desperate for helpand worried that nobody will beeager to tackle the real problem.

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etcetera resent the PCs, becausetheir method of inheritance looksoutwardly bad and everybody lovedthe old boss.

Help is on the Way

A person (church group, nation,galaxy) is in a hazardous situationthey can’t survive without rescue.The PCs are on the job. In some sce-narios, the hook is as simple as a dis-tant yell or crackly distress signal.

Common Twists & Themes: The vic-tim(s) is (are) a hostage, or undersiege from enemy forces, and the PCsmust deal with the captors or breakthe siege. There is a danger that anyrescue attempts will strand the res-cuers in the same soup as the res-cuees, compounding the problem.The rescuees aren’t people, but ani-mals, robots, or something else. The“victim” doesn’t realize that he needsrescuing; he thinks he’s doing some-thing reasonable and/or safe. Thethreat isn’t villain-oriented at all; it’sa natural disaster, nuclear meltdown,or disease outbreak. The rescueescan’t leave; something immobile andvital must be tended to or dealt withat the adventure location. The PCsbegin as part of the rescuees, andmust escape and gather forces orresources to bring back and proceedas above.

Hidden Base

The PCs, while traveling or exploring,come across a hornet’s nest of badguys, preparing for Big Badness. Theymust either find some way to getword to the good guys, or sneak inand disable the place themselves, ora combination of both.

Common Twists & Themes: The PCsmust figure out how to use localresources in order to defend them-selves or have a chance against the inhabitants.

How Much For

Just The Dingus?

Within a defined area, somethingimportant and valuable exists. ThePCs (or their employers) want it, butso do one or more other groups. The

ones that get it will be the ones thatcan outthink and outrace the others,deal best with the natives of thearea, and learn the most about theirtarget. Each competing group has itsown agenda and resources.

Common Twists & Themes: Thenatives require the competing fac-tions to gather before them as palsto state their cases. The valuablething was en route somewherewhen its conveyance or courierwrecked or vanished.

I Beg Your

Pardon?

The PCs are minding their own busi-ness when they are attacked orthreatened. They don’t know why.They must solve the mystery of theirattacker’s motives, and in the mean-time fend off more attacks. Theymust put two and two together todeal with the problem.

Common Twists & Themes: The PCshave something that the bad guyswant - but they don’t necessarilyrealize it. The bad guys are out forrevenge for a dead compatriot froma previous adventure. The bad guyshave mistaken the PCs for some-body else.

Long Or Short

Fork When Dining

On Elf?

The PCs are a diplomatic vanguard,trying to open up (or shore up)either political or trade relations witha strange culture. All they have to dois manage for a day or so among thestrange customs without offendinganybody . . . and what informationthey have is both incomplete anddangerously misleading.

Common Twists & Themes: The PCswere chosen by somebody who knewthey weren’t prepared for it - an NPCtrying to sabotage the works (pin-ning this villain might be necessaryto avert disaster).

Look, Don�t Touch

The PCs are working surveillance –spying on a person, gathering infor-mation on a beast in the wild, scout-ing a new sector. Regardless of thescale, the primary conflict (at leastat the start) is the rule that they areonly to watch, listen and learn. Theyare not to make contact or let them-selves be known.

Common Twists & Themes: The tar-get gets itself in trouble and thePCs must decide whether to breakthe no-contact rule in order tomount a rescue.

Manhunt

Someone is gone: they’ve run away,gotten lost, or simply haven’t calledhome in a while. Somebody missesthem or needs them returned. ThePCs are called in to find them andbring them back.

Common Twists & Themes: The tar-get has been kidnapped (possibly tospecifically lure the PCs). The targetis dangerous and escaped from afacility designed to protect the pub-lic. The target is valuable andescaped from a place designed tokeep him safe, cozy, and convenient-ly handy. The target has a reason forleaving that the PCs will sympathizewith. The target has stumbled across3

Surrender yourself to metaphor.I’ve written the plots in the lan-

guage of (typically very physical)action-adventure genres,

because that’s the basic form ofroleplaying adventure – but ifyou’re playing on more levels

than that, the list can still punchits weight. Just remember thatevery thing, place, and foe canreally be a piece of information,person, and unhealthy attitude,as surely as a space station can

be a dungeon and a magicalresidue can be a fingerprint.

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another adventure (either as protago-nist or victim), which the PCs mustthen undertake themselves. The miss-ing “person” is an entire expeditionor pilgrimage of some kind. The tar-get isn’t a runaway or missing/lost –they’re just someone that the PCshave been hired to track down (pos-sibly under false pretenses).

Missing Memories

One or more of the PCs wakes upwith no memory of the recent past,and now they find themselves insome kind of trouble they don’tunderstand. The PCs must find thereason for the memory lapse, andsolve any problems they uncover inthe meantime.

Common Twists & Themes: The for-getful PCs voluntarily suppressed orerased the memories, and they findthemselves undoing their own work.

Most Peculiar,

Momma

Something both bad and inexplicableis happening (racial tension is beingfired up in town, all the power isout, the beer supply is drained, it’ssnowing in July, Voyager still hasfans, hordes of aliens are eating allthe cheese), and a lot of people arevery troubled by it. The PCs musttrack the phenomenon to its source,and stop it.

Common Twists & Themes: The PCsare somehow unwittingly responsiblefor the whole thing. What seems tobe a problem of one nature (techno-logical, personal, biological, chemi-cal, magical, political, etc) is actuallya problem of an alternate one.

No One Has Soiled

The Bridge

The PCs are assigned to guard a sin-gle vital spot (anything from amountain pass to a solar system)from impending or possible attack.They must plan their defensive strat-egy, set up watches, set traps, and soon, and then deal with the enemywhen it arrives.

Common Twists & Themes: Theintelligence the PCs was given turnsout to be faulty, but acting on thenew information could result ingreater danger - but so could not act-ing on it, and the PCs must choose orcreate a compromise. The PCs learnthat the enemy has good and sympa-thetic reason for wanting to destroythe protected spot.

Not In Kansas

The PCs are minding their own busi-ness and find themselves transportedto a strange place. They must figureout where they are, why they arethere and how to escape.

Common Twists & Themes: Theywere brought there specifically to

help someone in trouble. They werebrought there by accident, as a by-product of something strange andsecret. Some of the PCs’ enemies weretransported along with them (or sep-arately), and now they have a newbattleground, and innocents to con-vince which guys are the good guys.

Ounces of

Prevention

A villain or organization is gettingready to do something bad, and thePCs have received a tip-off of somesort. They must investigate to findout more about the caper, and thenact to prevent it.

Common Twists & Themes: The ini-tial tip-off was a red herring meantto distract the PCs from the actualcaper. There are two simultaneousBad Things on the way, and noapparent way to both of them – howto choose?

Pandora�s Box

Somebody has tinkered with ThingsMan Ought Not, or opened a portal tothe Mean People Dimension, crackeda wall at the state prison, or sum-moned an ancient Babylonian godinto a penthouse. Before the PCs caneven think of confronting the sourceof the trouble, they must deal withthe waves of trouble already releasedby it: monsters, old foes out forvengeance, curious aliens who thinkcars/citizens/McDonald’s hamburgersresemble food, and so forth.

Common Twists & Themes: The PCscan’t simply take the released bad-ness to the mat; they have to collectit and shove it back into the sourcebefore it the adventure can reallyend. The PCs are drawn in to thesource and must solve problems onthe other side before returning tothis one. A secret book, code, orother rare element is necessary toplug the breach (maybe just the fel-low who opened it). A close cousin tothis plot is the basic “somebody hastraveled into the past and messedwith our reality” story.

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Double up, part two: Some verysatisfying adventures weave twoseparate (or thematically-relat-ed) plots together. An easy way

to make this work is to makeone plot physical and the otherplot personal. That way just oneof the plots puts demand on the

PCs’ location, while the otherone can tag along anywhere.

For example: the PCs are hiredto escort a prince to a summit sohe can appear before the mass-

es and end a war (a physicaland simple example of EscortService), but on the way, they

realize that the poor guy is suici-dal because state obligationshave ruined his love life, and

must prevent his self-destructionby either fixing the problem orconvincing him to shoulder the

burden (a personal andmetaphorical example of

Ounces of Prevention).

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Quest For the

Sparkly Hoozits

Somebody needs a dingus (to fulfill aprophecy, heal the monarch, preventa war, cure a disease, or what haveyou). The PCs must find a dingus.Often an old dingus, a mysteriousdingus, and a powerful dingus. ThePCs must learn more about it to trackit down, and then deal with taking itfrom wherever it is.

Common Twists & Themes: The din-gus is incomplete when found (one ofthe most irritating and un-fun plottwists in the universe). Somebodyalready owns it (or recently stole it,sometimes with legitimate claim orcause). The dingus is information, oran idea, or a substance, not a specificdingus. The PCs must “go undercover”or otherwise infiltrate a group orsociety, gaining the dingus by guileor stealth.

Recent Ruins

A town, castle, starship, outpost, orother civilized construct is lying inruins. Very recently, it was justdandy. The PCs must enter theruins, explore them, and find outwhat happened.

Common Twists & Themes: Whateverruined the ruins (including meanpeople, weird radiation, monsters, anew race, ghosts) is still a threat; thePCs must save the day. The inhabi-tants destroyed themselves. The“ruins” are a derelict ship or space-ship, recently discovered. The “ruin”is a ghost town, stumbled across asthe PCs travel - but the map says thetown is alive and well.

Running the

Gauntlet

The PCs must travel through a haz-ardous area, and get through withoutbeing killed, robbed, humiliated,debased, diseased, or educated bywhatever is there. The troubles theyencounter are rarely personal innature - the place itself is the “vil-lain” of the adventure.

Common Twists & Themes: The placeisn’t dangerous at all, and the vari-ous “dangers” are actually attemptsto communicate with the party bysome agent or another.

Safari

The PCs are on a hunting expedition, tocapture or kill and elusive and prizedcreature. They must deal with its envi-ronment, its own ability to evade them,and possibly its ability to fight them.

Common Twists & Themes: The crea-ture is immune to their devices andweapons. There are other people active-ly protecting the creature. The crea-ture’s lair allows the PCs to stumbleonto another adventure.

Score One for the

Home Team

The PCs are participants in a race,contest, tournament, scavenger huntor other voluntary bit of sport. Theymust win.

Common Twists & Themes: Theother contestants are less honest,and the PCs must overcome theirattempts to win dishonestly. The PCsare competing for a deeper purposethan victory, such as to keep anothercontestant safe, or spy on one, orjust to get into the place where theevent goes down. The PCs don’t wish

to win; they just wish to prevent thevillain from winning. The event is adeliberate test of the PCs abilities(for entry into an organization, forexample). The event becomes moredeadly than it’s supposed to.

Stalag 23

The PCs are imprisoned, and mustengineer an escape, overcoming anyguards, automatic measures, and geo-graphic isolation their prison imposeson them.

Common Twists & Themes:Something has happened in the out-side world and the prison securityhas fallen lax because of it. The PCshave been hired to “test” the prison- they aren’t normal inmates. Otherprisoners decide to blow the whistlefor spite or revenge. The PCs areundercover to spy on a prisoner, butare then mistaken for real inmatesand kept incarcerated. The PCs mustescape on a tight schedule to get toanother adventure outside the walls.

Take Us To

Memphis And Don�t

Slow Down

The PCs are on board a populatedconveyance (East Indiaman, CruiseShip, Ferry, Sleeper Starship), when itis hijacked. The PCs must take actionwhile the normals sit and twiddle.

Common Twists & Themes: The“hijackers” are government agentspulling a complicated caper, forcingthe PCs to choose sides. The hijackersdon’t realize there is a secondarydanger that must be dealt with, andany attempt to convince them isviewed as a trick. The normals areunhelpful or even hostile to the PCsbecause they think the PCs are justmaking matters worse.

Troublemakers

A bad guy (or a group of them, ormultiple parties) is kicking up aruckus, upsetting the neighbors, poi-soning the reservoirs, or otherwisecausing trouble. The PCs have to gowhere the trouble is, locate the badguys, and stop the party.

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Throw yourself a curve. Your play-ers will, anyway, so practice early.Pick two random entries from theBig List and make your adventureon those, no matter what comes

up – the first one is the hooklayer; the second is the meat ofthe adventure. If the same entrycomes up both times, go with it!

Two layers can have a similarstructure but very different roots

or details.

Handy Tip!❉❉

Page 6: The Big List of RPG Plots

Common Twists & Themes: The PCsmust not harm the perpetrator(s);they must be bagged alive and well.The bad guys have prepared some-thing dangerous and hidden as“insurance” if they are captured. The“bad guy” is a monster or dangerousanimal (or an intelligent creaturethat everybody thinks is a monsteror animal). The “bad guy” is arespected public figure, superior offi-cer, or someone else abusing theirauthority, and the PCs might meethostility from normally-helpful quar-ters who don’t accept that the badguy is bad. A balance of power per-petuates the trouble, and the PCsmust choose sides to tip the balanceand fix things. The “trouble” is diplo-matic or political, and the PCs mustmake peace, not war.

Uncharted Waters

The PCs are explorers, and their goalis to enter an unknown territory andscope it out. Naturally, the job isn’tjust going to be surveying and draw-ing sketches of local fauna; some-thing is there, something fascinatingand threatening.

Common Twists & Themes: Eitherthe place itself is threatening (in

which case the PCs must both playNational Geographic and simultane-ously try to escape with their skin,sanity, and credit rating) or the placeitself is very valuable and wonderful,and something else there is keen onmaking sure the PCs don’t let anyoneelse know. Other potential conflictsinvolve damage to the PCs’ con-veyance or communication equip-ment, in which case this becomesDon’t Eat the Purple Ones.

We�re On The

Outside Looking In

Any of the basic plots in this list canbe reengineered with the PCs on theoutside of it. Either the PCs areaccompanying other characters in themidst of such a plot (often beingcalled on to defend the plot from theoutside, as it were), or they areminding their own business when theothers involved in the plot show up,and must pick sides or simply resist.For instance, with Any Old Port InThe Storm, the PCs could already beenjoying (or native to) the shelterwhen a strange group arrives. If the“the PCs are unwelcome” variant isemployed, then perhaps the PCs will

be the only voice of reason to stillthe religious fervor, racial prejudice,anti-monster sentiment, or whateverelse is the source of conflict.

Common Twists & Themes: The PCsfind themselves on the receiving endof the adventure. Take any of theplots here and reverse them, placingthe PCs in the position where NPCs(often the villain, fugitive, etcetera)normally are. Instead of hunting,they must be hunted. Instead of fix-ing, they must avoid getting “fixed”themselves (ow). Alternately, leave aclassic plot intact but turn the twistsupside down, making them twistier(or refreshingly untwisty).

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Handy Tip!❉❉

And finally, here’s The Little List ofNearly-Universal Plot Twists ThatWork With Almost Any Plot Ever: ThePCs must work alongside an NPC ororganization they’d rather not palaround with (those who are normallyrivals or villains, or just a snootyexpert sent along to “help” them, etc).The victims are really villains and thevillains are really victims. The PCsmeet others who can help them, butwon’t unless the PCs agree to helpthem with their own causes. The vil-lain is somebody the PCs know per-sonally, even respect or love (orsomeone they fall for, mid-story). ThePCs must succeed without violence, orwith special discretion. The PCs must

succeed without access to powers,equipment, or other resources they’reused to having. The villain is a recur-ring foil. Another group comparableto the PCs has already failed to suc-ceed, and their bodies/equipment/etcprovide clues to help the PCs do bet-ter. There are innocents nearby thatthe PCs must keep safe while dealingwith the adventure. The adventurebegins suddenly and without warningor buildup; the PCs are tossed into thefire of action in scene one. The PCsmust pretend to be someone else, orpretend to be themselves but withvery different allegiances, values ortastes. The PCs can’t do everythingand must choose: which evil to

thwart? Which innocents to rescue?Which value or ideal to uphold? ThePCs must make a personal sacrificeor others will suffer. The PCs aren’tasked to solve the problem, just torender aid against a backdrop oflarger trouble: get in a shipment ofsupplies, sneak out a patient thatneeds medical help, or so on. One ofthe PCs is (or is presumed to be) a lostheir, fulfillment of a prophecy, a vol-cano god, or some other saviorand/or patsy, which is why the PCsmust do whatever the adventure isabout. There is another group of PC-like characters “competing” on thesame adventure, possibly with verydifferent goals for the outcome.

❉ ❉ ❉❉

The Big List of RPG Plots is dedi-cated to the many, many fans

who’ve let me know how helpfulit’s been, and especially to those

who’ve helped make it better:Peter Barnard, Glen Barnett, ColinClark, David Lott, Jason Puckett,Marc Rees, Carrie Schutrick, andJeff Yaus, plus a few mysteriousheroes who never let me knowtheir true identities. This is for allthe GMs out there logging thehours to give their players an

enjoyable game.

Dedicated!❉❉

a

Creativity. Unbound.

TM