Adventurers Guild Quest board.

[OzDragon]

I just started a new campaign and my players are tired of the save the world game. So they have joined an adventuring guild.

With in the guild is a tiered quest board for members of varying skill levels.

I'm looking for ideas to fill up said quest board. Levels range from 1-5, 5-10, and 10-15 I do not expect this to last much past 10 personally but who knows.

Thinking about putting a ranking system in as well as part of the rewards for recognition.

Any ideas would help and no idea is too big or too small! I have some ideas already but will not post them so creativity can be maximized.

Thanks

[mephnick]

The quest will pretty much write themselves as you brainstorm throughout the day, just stick with the basics and twist them as necessary:

- Hunt a specific monster
- Cull a group of bothersome monsters
- Find a missing person
- Retrieve a macguffin
- Investigate a mysterious phenomena

and then play them straight or twist them into more complex quests or give the characters the ability to influence an ongoing state of the world:

-The missing person doesn't want to be found. Why?
-The macguffin is something no one should have. Where did it come from? Why does the client want it?
-The monsters moved in from another territory because of a more threatening force. What could that possibly be?
-A city-state (your client) wants to wipe out an entire clan of Stone Giants, but they seem relatively peaceful. What's the real motive?

The quests are easy. The hard part of the Adventurer's Guild type of campaign is maintaining momentum and player interest. As you've touched on, ranking system and reward is mandatory, but it has to be progressive reward, not just treasure. Things like:

-Opening up new areas
-Creating a custom stronghold
-Gathering followers
-Maintaining relationships with factions
-Political power (use influence to lead your guild, or find and distribute quests for lower ranking members of the guild)

Use the quests as hooks and let your players follow them as far or as little as they please.

[Maelynn]

I'm doing the very same thing for my first DM group as well. The party operates from a very large port city (city-state), where there's an agency that brings questgivers and adventurers together. It was originally set up by the temple of Pelor; these priests wanted to help people out, but lacked the means and competence to do so themselves. So they hired adventurers to do the job and offered a small reward if the people in need couldn't afford it. This eventually grew out to be a full agency where not just the needy/poor ask for help, but people from all walks of life. Quests can vary from helping a farmer fend off wolves attacking the livestock, to protecting a merchant's caravan travelling to the neighbouring town, to locating a den of cult worshippers somewhere in the slums. I even have a nobleman who has had a precious heirloom stolen by one of his servants.

The reason I'm doing this is mostly for me to be able to test the waters, see what works for me as a newbie DM and what my party enjoys. The area I designed means I can switch between urban, forest, sea, and plains easily. I can sample a lot of different styles of questing. And I can keep the quests small enough to last only one session, or expand on them to make it last two - that makes for a nice change of pace.

[mgshamster]

- Real Estate Agent looking for someone to clear out house(s) full of [monsters, squaters, etc]
- Local apothecary needs someone to gather ingredient in dangerous area, will pay with potions
- Same apothecary also needs test subjects for potion R&D - random effects may apply
- Family needs their summer cottage cleared of ghost/poltergeist (with twist that the family is the one who caused it to be there)
- King wants a red dragon "removed" from a local forest as it's eating his tax payers, but a local druid interfers because, "It's a living creature just following its own nature, and you have no right to interfere" (think animal rights activist)
- River Sprite has local pool polluted and wants you to stop the source of pollution (a group of modrons popped in from the out planes; they're leaking oil upstream as they cross. It'll be days before they're done crossing, but the Sprite has less than that before the pollution kills them).
- A giant bee took off with a Halfling woman's husband, and she is desperate to get him back. Following the path, you discover that the giant bees are actually being kept by a pair of Stone Giants. They have kept the halfling as their "child" (they're delusional and believe it's a gift from the gods). PCs have to reacue the halfling without the Giants discovering them, because the stone giants will kill them outrght.
- A Noble hires the PCs to appear as guests to a party where one of the guests is an assassin (problem: every attendant is disguised with magic as part of the theme of the party)
- something is killing all the crew at a local mine, and they need someone to investigate and eliminate it.
- A mysterious employer wants you to stop an important Noble's teenage son from going on a hunt. The employer is actually an intelligent animal, and it's part of the pack that's being hunted. (There is a group of intelligent deer in the forest, and the Noble house likes to hunt them because it's an extra challenge, but if the nobles find out it was you, you'll earn an enemy in the city where you get all your jobs)
- A priest hires you to clear out some undead skeletons and zombies on an estate that's a weeks travel out of town, but it turns out that all these undead are actually the members of the family who've died, and the entire family believes its their duty to become undead after life to continue serving the family. They work as house keepers, gardeners, etc. Killing that skeleton over there means you're slaughtering Great Grandma, and the family will have nothing to do with this.
- Members of two rival churches keep putting up jobs to steal a relic from each other (it's all done inconspicuously), and since it's secret, neither of them know that it's you that keeps going back and forth to steal the object. But don't ever get caught or you'll be disliked by all the members of the church!
-An old abandoned [location] has been overrun by [groups of monsters], and [this group] wants the property back. This one can be done over and over with different monsters.

[OzDragon]

Thank you to those of you who answered!

[EdenIndustries]

While I don't have any ideas for you at the moment, I really like this style of campaign. I'd love to hear how things go and what kinds of quests you end up running and what worked well for you, etc! So best of luck to you!

[ImproperJustice]

If you have a little disposable income, I would highly recommend checking out some of the works by Kevin Crawford (Stars Without Number, Other Dust, Scarlet Heroes). He is a huge proponent of OSR games and sandbox play and his materials usually have enormous charts and tables for quick rolling adventures.

Just as an example, he has a “”What’s that riot about?” Table. Or “What is that abandoned structure?”.

His Stars Without Number book is free and has a random adventure generator with over 100 entries.
It’s sci-fi, but with some creativity you can adapt them to fantasy adventures.

[Lunali]

Don't forget everyone's favorite quest: Escort
Caravan guards
Escorting a researcher to and from ruins
Bodyguards for noble's son that wants to be an adventurer
Training novice adventurers
Acting as an examiner for guild rank tests

[thoroughlyS]

I make frequent use of donjon, with its various random generators. The Random Generator (under Fantasy) has settings for random locations, encounters, and plot hooks. It also includes settings for NPCs, and dungeons.

[Naanomi]

Having 2-3 things that look unrelated but actually tie into a bigger adventure path is fun... think Quest for Glory; Capture the Brigand Lord, Rescue the Baronette, Kill the Hag... but what if the Brigand Lord *is* the Baronette, mind-controlled by the Hag?

[mephnick]

If you have a little disposable income, I would highly recommend checking out some of the works by Kevin Crawford (Stars Without Number, Other Dust, Scarlet Heroes). He is a huge proponent of OSR games and sandbox play and his materials usually have enormous charts and tables for quick rolling adventures.

Just as an example, he has a “”What’s that riot about?” Table. Or “What is that abandoned structure?”.

His Stars Without Number book is free and has a random adventure generator with over 100 entries.
It’s sci-fi, but with some creativity you can adapt them to fantasy adventures.

Kevin Crawford is my man. Made a whole setting just using his Red Tide book a while ago

[Temperjoke]

You know, the board idea is a good way to introduce the players to the bigger world too, for when they're ready for a longer plot quest.

Some board quest ideas:

1. Missing pets. The board has notices for different pets that are missing, but no one has taken the jobs because it's low pay or seemingly beneath them. Of course, if some adventurers had investigated, they might have found out that something more dangerous had moved into the neighborhood, which the town mayor would be very grateful for the elimination of.

2. Temporary Guards. The town will be having an important shipment coming through for the kingdom, and the mayor wants to hire skilled combatants to provide extra security. Of course, something could go missing, with the temps being a likely subject.

[OzDragon]

While I don't have any ideas for you at the moment, I really like this style of campaign. I'd love to hear how things go and what kinds of quests you end up running and what worked well for you, etc! So best of luck to you!

Will do and thanks!

[OzDragon]

Thank you all for the suggestions much appreciated!

[PhoenixPhyre]

One idea I've used is for the introductory quests to have hints about greater threats (plural). This provides an organic way of giving the players options as to which of several adventure seeds to pursue. If they all point to one Grand Conspiracy, that gets obviously contrived. But if the "rescue the pets" quest points to a set of strange disappearances and the "escort the nobles" quest points to a revolutionary group, etc, you give choice within the framework of the game and let them pick and choose which thread to follow.

[ZorroGames]

This thread was awesome, 🤯 stuff! 😎 😁

Like I need more temptation to start my own non-AL but “AL Like/Lite” world? 🙄🧐🤨🤔

🤠

[mgshamster]

1: Degoblin a cave. Twist: Goblins are all actually children in masks playing pranks. All traps are just annoyances and comedy, nothing deadly. (Optional: real goblins, but must capture, not kill, and other gonlins keep releasing the ones you already captured).

2: Farmer Keith lost his pride Hog. Was it the Ogre in the hills everyone thinks he made up or his rival across the road?

3: Regional Bard Patrice Benilute is coming to town and wants a bitchin venue to play her new single "Heartcrusher" but the best bluff around town is overrun by Kobolds. Twist: Her drummer is also a kobold, and will refuse to play when he learns that local kobolds were slain for their venue location. PCs must go make amends.

4: A Local Constable had his badge stolen by a group of street orphans. He posts under another name to save face and asks the adventures to keep secret. The orphans are actually a group of Goblins who infiltrated the town under a mysterious leader. (Leader could be a political rival who wants to make the current constable look racist against goblins?)

5: Simple delivery. Twist. The deliverers are being framed and will be chased through the town by dirty guards who will use distractions and make it look like the deliverers harmed the guard. And actual guards mixed just trying to do justice. (Possible addition: distraction is because the corrupt guards are stealing from a local Noble, and they plan on pinning the crime on the PCs, even if it doesn't make sense because they were being pursued by the guards when the crime happened. Their own Alibi is almost an admission of guilt for the first crime they're being framed for).

6: Local mad scientist alchemist has created a bunch of weird mutagens. He's looking for applicants to sign a waiver and participate in legal arena matches with odd new temporary abilities. (no twist just fun random to ease the mood).

7: A job asking for local strong arms leads to a prestigious Madame looking for discreet help from a group of repeat customers. Unfortunately one of those unruly customers has a lot of influence and can not be openly confronted without putting the workers in danger.

8: The local owner of a stable is blind. He recently purchased some horses from the next town over and they are willing to meet halfway for delivery. He hired you to go meet up since he cannot navigate. When you get there you find the horses are actually donkeys and you need to decide what to do. Pay the man and bring the donkeys trying to explain it or try to right the wrong. (Could go sideways with them getting blamed for hiding the horses he bought and trying to pass the donkeys off as legit to make a profit).

9: Local apothecary needs help gathering ingredients. Successful craft alchemy can discern ingredients are either for a potion or a poison. Meanwhile there's another not suspecting a man is being targeted by an Assassin. Players can decide whether they're related or not..

10: Local Minstrel "Will buy gold objects for real currency!"
Actually local fence and, if given the correct phrase, will provide one entrance into thieves guild. [Secret Phrase] Minstrel must be greeted as an old friend. And asked if, it were not too much trouble, they dine with him and his lovely wife that night.

11: A retired drunk wishes someone to investigate the cruel murder of his dog. The constable was "too busy for such nonsense" the townspeople barely believe his ramblings. But the drunk used to be an adventurer. And he and one of his companions were the only two to survive a confrontation with an evil witch. Who turned his friend into a dog and cursed the "drunk" with Feeble Mind.

He will mumble "The greatest tragedy is a great mind lost of its direction" at people. But it's because it's the last thing the witch said to him before she cursed him. If cured he is a powerful wizard and now an ally of the PCs.

12: Local wizard wishes to test his defenses and offers a prize to anyone who reaches the top of his tower. (It is legit or a trap?)

13: The fantasy equivalent of an Escape Room:

Local Madman, philanthroper, Wizard, and inventor has created an ingenious new product for the quick witted and strong of heart.

Behold!

Escapeth Thine Chambers!

Enter into the chamber and solve an elaborate group of puzzles, riddles, and more! But fail to complete all of the puzzles in an hour and be trapped. FOREVER. Challenge if you dare!

[ciarannihill]

I personally love using these as a way of inspiring character friction within the party.

Works best if you have a Cleric or Paladin, but can work with any character that adheres to a strict code of some kind and if you have someone with a very mercenary attitude.

Just put up a request with a high amount of reward (from a prominent noble or wealthy merchant) that requires subverting, or perhaps directly breaking the code of the first party member. The second will have to humor the quest for the sake of the reward, maybe everyone else will, but the Cleric/Paladin might have moral objections.

It can work as a plot hook for the quest giver, too. Perhaps they choose to investigate why the quest giver has this request as a way to alleviate the concerns of the Paladin/Cleric and stumble upon something more sinister, either from the quest giver or that he's trying to prevent.


Good drama is always good.

[mgshamster]

13: The fantasy equivalent of an Escape Room:

Local Madman, philanthroper, Wizard, and inventor has created an ingenious new product for the quick witted and strong of heart.

Behold!

Escapeth Thine Chambers!

Enter into the chamber and solve an elaborate group of puzzles, riddles, and more! But fail to complete all of the puzzles in an hour and be trapped. FOREVER. Challenge if you dare!

This one can be repeated over and over. The first time, it's a pretty crappy dungeon, but each repeated use it gets harder and harder as the wizard learns.

[PhoenixPhyre]

I personally love using these as a way of inspiring character friction within the party.

Works best if you have a Cleric or Paladin, but can work with any character that adheres to a strict code of some kind and if you have someone with a very mercenary attitude.

Just put up a request with a high amount of reward (from a prominent noble or wealthy merchant) that requires subverting, or perhaps directly breaking the code of the first party member. The second will have to humor the quest for the sake of the reward, maybe everyone else will, but the Cleric/Paladin might have moral objections.

It can work as a plot hook for the quest giver, too. Perhaps they choose to investigate why the quest giver has this request as a way to alleviate the concerns of the Paladin/Cleric and stumble upon something more sinister, either from the quest giver or that he's trying to prevent.


Good drama is always good.

Note: This is very group dependent. Most groups I've been in where there's be in-fighting have fallen apart quite rapidly (or the campaigns have). Many people play D&D cooperatively (where the party is expected to work together), so this comes across as mean-spirited, the DM equivalent of PvP.

[mgshamster]

Note: This is very group dependent. Most groups I've been in where there's be in-fighting have fallen apart quite rapidly (or the campaigns have). Many people play D&D cooperatively (where the party is expected to work together), so this comes across as mean-spirited, the DM equivalent of PvP.

I've been able to do it with online games (text based, usually PBP) when the other person and I discuss the entire set up, how we want it to proceed, and how we want it to conclude.

Basically, we decide we want our PCs to fight (either argument or physical altercation) and we decide who is going to win before the fight even starts. We also discussed how it will proceed throughout the argument, sometimes even changing it during the argument.

For example, I was once playing a PC who was a street urchin thief who hated authority, and he was adventuring with a PC who was a LN/G city guard and knight. Our PCs were practically polar opposites. During game, we got in a ton of arguments, but as players we discussed it before hand and worked with each other to decide how the arguments would unfold, often with me giving advice for his arguments and he giving advice for my arguments. And each time we knew who would win the argument before it even started.

It creates great drama *for the story* without creating drama for the real life players playing the game.

[PhoenixPhyre]

I've been able to do it with online games (text based, usually PBP) when the other person and I discuss the entire set up, how we want it to proceed, and how we want it to conclude.

Basically, we decide we want our PCs to fight (either argument or physical altercation) and we decide who is going to win before the fight even starts. We also discussed how it will proceed throughout the argument, sometimes even changing it during the argument.

For example, I was once playing a PC who was a street urchin thief who hated authority, and he was adventuring with a PC who was a LN/G city guard and knight. Our PCs were practically polar opposites. During game, we got in a ton of arguments, but as players we discussed it before hand and worked with each other to decide how the arguments would unfold, often with me giving advice for his arguments and he giving advice for my arguments. And each time we knew who would win the argument before it even started.

It creates great drama *for the story* without creating drama for the real life players playing the game.

That works because the players set it up in advance with full knowledge and cooperation. A DM deciding to throw that at the players, especially with the intent to cause drama is unlikely to go so well. It's exactly like PvP--if both players are expecting it and have fully agreed to it (especially as to the scope and outcomes), it's fine. A DM setting up PvP (especially when it's aimed at one player's character in particular, like the proposal) is decidedly not ok with a lot of people, myself included.

[mgshamster]

That works because the players set it up in advance with full knowledge and cooperation. A DM deciding to throw that at the players, especially with the intent to cause drama is unlikely to go so well. It's exactly like PvP--if both players are expecting it and have fully agreed to it (especially as to the scope and outcomes), it's fine. A DM setting up PvP (especially when it's aimed at one player's character in particular, like the proposal) is decidedly not ok with a lot of people, myself included.

Oh, yeah, totally. Sorry, I didn't mean to try and discount what you were saying. I was more trying to add on to it that it can work with player input that happens outside the game.

Live drama with no prep or player input usually goes beyond the PCs and directly to the Players getting angry and frustrated.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Oh, yeah, totally. Sorry, I didn't mean to try and discount what you were saying. I was more trying to add on to it that it can work with player input that happens outside the game.

Live drama with no prep or player input usually goes beyond the PCs and directly to the Players getting angry and frustrated.

Good to know we're on the same page on this one. It's a pet peeves, DMs setting people on a collision course without their buy in. It sets up a "do I maintain the peace or maintain my character" dilemma in a way that's rarely productive.

[ciarannihill]

Good to know we're on the same page on this one. It's a pet peeves, DMs setting people on a collision course without their buy in. It sets up a "do I maintain the peace or maintain my character" dilemma in a way that's rarely productive.

I didn't mean to imply you do this cold, this is obviously something you do with a group that's comfortable with having characters who aren't always on the same page and can separate the relationships that the characters have from any real world relationship.
This is the kind of thing I'd bring up in a session 0 to gauge the comfort level of having players with conflicting ideals or goals, if players aren't comfortable I wouldn't do it -- or if they say they are, but it doesn't go well when attempted I'd pull the plug there and leave it at that.

I think you can do it more off the cuff than planning out the entire argument, frankly, but there does need to be a degree of comfort with leaving characters as characters and not letting friction between them (which can often lead to growth in both characters if handled well) spill out into the players' realities.