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Adventure Seed: Curses!

The other day, I got an idea for an adventure and started writing down the basic plotline. My question to y’all is, does this sound like something you’d be willing to play? Would it need to be more fleshed out, which I’m going to do anyway, or does the “generic-ness” of it as-is work for you?

The PCs “accidentally” stumble into the territory of a group of elves who dwell underground. One of the elf mages summoned creatures who attack the PCs and lure them onto their land. There are no visible boundaries, so the PCs will have no idea they’ve moved into someone’s land. Once they leave and continue on their journey, the PCs will notice that things are happening to them. Little things keep going wrong; a latch on a backpack breaks, causing its contents to spill out, the handle on a mug of ale being enjoyed at a local tavern breaks, causing the ale to pour onto a nearby patron; lots of good role-playing opportunities can be had. Note: Depending on your setting, you can make some secret Will saves to see which PCs are cursed and which are not.

Eventually, the PCs receive a note calling them back to the location of the fight in the woods. It turns out, if violence occurs within the elves territory, the creatures involved will be cursed. The elves have lived with this for years and assumed the PCs would not be affected. The elves wanted to see what would happen so they let them go, spying on them the whole time. Since they saw what was happening, the elves contacted them to come back. Note: Of course, you can have the PCs notice they’re being spied upon. It’s really up to the GM.

The curse was placed on the elves centuries ago by an old hag who lives behind a waterfall. The elves tried to drive her out but she cursed them in order to keep them from becoming violent towards her. Every time they try, the curse intensifies and they cannot get to her. The elves hope that the PCs, since the curse just affected them, won’t have their actions as harmed by the curse as the elves do. Note: It’s up to the GM whether the hag brought the wrath of the elves upon herself through her own actions or if the elves were the ones who started it all when the hag really just wanted to be left alone.

The PCs, hopefully, will go towards the waterfall and find that she lives behind it. They will take the tunnel, battling adversity along the way, and eventually find that the hag died long ago but her curse has been kept active by a goblin lackey who is keeping her dying wish alive. It is up to the PCs to convince him to stop it. Will the PCs kill him or will they talk with him? If they simply kill him, will that remove the curse or make it worse? Note: Whatever is still powering the curse after all these years is something the GM will need to make up.

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Posted in: Adventures, Other Systems, RPG

6 Responses to “Adventure Seed: Curses!”

Psynister January 26th, 2009 at 10:23 AM

I would certainly give it a try. I think it needs to be a bit more fleshed out, but it’s a good start.

One twist that came to mind while I was reading it would be to have the players find the old hag and see that she’s just an old woman that wants to be left alone. If they want the curse removed, all they have to do is get the leader of the elves to come and apologize to her.

Have the elf refuse to do any such thing, and then let the players figure out how in the world they are going to convince him.

Since the thought just came to me, it’s obviously not overly developed. But, I think it could be another interesting twist on the end there.

Psynister´s last blog post..Psynister Stretches His Limbs

AnalogKid January 26th, 2009 at 10:46 AM

I’d play it, though being given a note to go back is kinda railroady. Another alternative to the “ending” is that the hag is now a ghost who needs redeemed in some way. The cause of this could also be a trigger which causes the curse to worse, this the characters feel more compelled to return with haste.

reveal January 26th, 2009 at 10:59 AM

@Psynister – I thought about having the “hag” just be a plain old human but then I thought that if she’s just a plain old woman, why would the elves bother tricking the PCs?

@AnalogKid – Yeah, it kind of railroady. That’s why the GM could have the PCs notice someone following them after all the bad stuff starts happening to them. Or perhaps the PCs could put two and two together and realize all of this started after the encounter in the woods.

Thanks for the ideas y’all!

Psynister January 26th, 2009 at 1:01 PM

I wasn’t suggesting you make her a human, I’m talking more in terms of not having her be hostile towards the PC’s. I’m thinking stubborn old woman that’s only mad at the elves for (insert reason) and the only reason the curse isn’t lifted is because she was insulted by the elf leader.

The elves wouldn’t be tricking the PC’s, they don’t know the full truth of the situation, or perhaps whatever the elf leader did to offend her is something that only he knows about, and he’s the real villain of the scene. He wants her dead for whatever reason, so he hires the PC’s to go after her for the curse that she put on all of his people because of something that he did.

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oldNewTimer January 27th, 2009 at 5:02 PM

That sounds like a fun session… I love bringing cursed items into a game, but hadn’t really thought about cursing the players themselves.

binaryturing February 1st, 2009 at 1:39 PM

My party would be not appreciate being messed with by the elves. And they would look for ways to revenge themselves upon the elves – especially if they sensed they were on railroad tracks to ‘do the right thing’
My suggestion is to open up the storyline to unpredictable endings – like the elves are jerks who got what they deserve. The well-deserved death of the elves then breaks the curse, and makes everyone chuckle.

Or the slaughter of the elves annoys whatever power was enjoying the suffering of the elves, and that power begins to really pour it on to the party

Anyway, I think your idea is great – because it has engaged me and made me think.

Thanks!