Adventure Hook 007 – Shaken, Not Stirred

At the twitter prodding of @illusivedreams (Thanks Dude! – credit where credit is due!) I have decided that Adventure Hook 007 should have a decidedly Bondish feel.

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ADVENTURE HOOK 007

Location:

Region of the continent where 5-7 towns are reachable within a day or two or each other.

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Situation:

The party’s main benefactor needs some reconnaissance performed on a well known organization that seems to be encroaching on the benefactor’s area of influence.

Problem:

1) No one knows who is bankrolling the organization.

2) The rival organization has been operating in secret for quite some time, but has just now done done enough to get the attention of the benefactor’s organization, so the only leads the party has are those of ‘small potatoes’ operatives.

3) The rival organization has several notables in their pockets, and the notables do NOT want it known that they have been paying the rival organization (because of known illegal activities in which the rivals are involved).  The support of these notables consists mostly of monetary ‘donations,’ making them very wealthy and relatively powerful.

4) Of course, alternatively, you can have the party actually being set up by the benefactor, who has been authorizing illegal activities himself, and he needs a group to take the fall.

5) You could also have the party find that the evidence all leads back to the benefactor – he’s being set-up!  Now the group not only has to gather evidence of illegal activity, they have to gather evidence of innocence.  Here you can blur the line and make them question the benefactor’s honesty themselves.

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Tasks:

The players need to

1) Figure out who are the main figures in the rival organization

2) Find out which prominent notables are involved and lean on them to gather information about the organization’s activities

3) Take out the main figures in the rival organization, thereby crippling their activities and restoring power to the benefactor and his operatives

4) Expose the rival organization as one of criminal intent, so as to make the public aware of their wrong-doing, thereby neutralizing their popularity (and power among the common folk)

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Things to explore:

1) This hook provides several great opportunities for a chase from town to town in the form of a large skill challenge.

2) The party may find that the rival organization is led by someone the benefactor trusts, and they will have to walk the fine line of withholding information even from the benefactor, at least until they gather enough evidence to prove the involvement of the trusted friend/operative.  This could cause the benefactor to lose trust in the party and have them tailed in an effort to see if they are double agents. This could lend to the chase scene by making it not just the players in pursuit, but also being pursued.

3) The party should be talking to lots of NPCs that are secretive informants and may or may not be telling the truth.  I envision lots of skill use in this adventure: insight, bluff, perception, stealth, diplomacy, intimidate, and streetwise.

4) There are lots of opportunities for the players to wine and dine their informants and network of people in the know.  This is ample opportunity for the fancy restaurant to serve the party a new concoction – the martini.

–Suggestions:

That’s the end of Adventure Hook 007! Thanks again to @illusivedreams (follow him on twitter, seriously).

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I hope you are enjoying this series – post a comment and let me know what you think of them!  Are they helpful?  Is there something you wish I would address?

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Until next time, I wish you good gaming!

~DM Samuel