Linking Adventures (HLC)

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The best way to establish an epic flavor to your campaign is to create adventures that are related, one flowing from another.
Linked adventures give the impression of unseen forces at work at work in the campaign. They also give player characters chances to help determine their own fates as their accomplishments—or lack thereof—carry forward from one adventure to the next.
All that is required to link adventures together is an overall theme or extended plot that runs through all the adventures. A careful look at any set of adventures usually reveals several such themes or plots. Likewise, there are several different methods you can use to turn separate adventures into a series.
==Chained Adventures==
The easiest way to create a continuing series of adventures is to find ways to connect two or more of them. Chained adventures don't require continuing plots, just some kind of superficial relationship that can lead the player characters from one adventure to another. Usually, it is not important how or where the player characters enter the chain, as one adventure's outcome rarely impacts on another.
The links can be clues that point the group in the right direction, such as maps showing another adventure's location or statements from NPCs who have information to impart. A link between two adventures can be purely incidental. Perhaps the site of one adventure just happens to be close by or the group stumbles upon an adventure while traveling on another errand. Here's an example of how three otherwise unrelated adventures might be linked in a chain:
A fabled magical sword (perhaps a holy sword) lies in an extra-dimensional labyrinth filled with deadly traps, puzzles, and ever-vigilant guardians. The labyrinth can be entered only at certain times, and then only by heroes who know the secrets of the portal. If the PCs find their way in, they battle their way into the heart of the labyrinth using steel and reasoning to claim the sword.
The home of a semi-retired wizard has recently been burglarized. The thieves made a colossal mess, smashing and looting everything. Several valuable magical items have obviously been stolen, but the place is in such disarray that the wizard isn't exactly sure what has been taken and what is lost in the current mess. If the PCs investigate, they discover that a rival wizard employed a gang of dopplegangers to infiltrate the house and strip it. The rival took the magical items and the dopplegangers got the money and jewels.
Two noble families are conducting a feud in a remote mountain valley. Commoners who let themselves get involved often disappear, and even those who lie low often suffer due to the incessant raids the families conduct against each other. The situation flares into a full-scale war when the PCs arrive in the valley, as each family concludes that the party has arrived to help the other side.
Each adventure can be superficially linked to the other two as follows:
The entrance to the labyrinth is not far from the town where the burglary took place. If the player characters enter town, they hear plenty of rumors and speculation about the crime. Even if they don't enter the town, groups of would-be detectives harass the party because they are suspicious strangers.
The sword is an intelligent weapon and expresses a desire to slay an evil creature living nearby. The creature is a vampire masquerading as the head of one of the warring families.
One of the items stolen from the wizard's home is a map of the area surrounding the town; the thieves took it because it radiated magic. When examined with a true seeing spell, the location of the labyrinth's entrance is revealed along with clues to opening the portal.
Among the papers scattered around the wizard's library are two sets of letters, one from each of the warring families. Both groups wish to purchase the magical map.
Members of one of the warring families tell the PCs about a legendary magical weapon whose appearance in town is reputed to signal the downfall of the opposing family.
A search of either family's headquarters reveals several copies of letters drafted to the wizard. Both families also have received letters reporting the map's theft.
An adventure chain has the advantage of allowing players considerable freedom of action. They can ignore the hooks that link the adventures together or follow them up as suits their fancy. The freedom goes a long way toward making the players feel as though they are the masters of their characters' fates. Because the adventure's plots are not intertwined in any serious fashion, the DM need not take steps to force the group back into the story line.
==Ripples in a Pond==
Every adventure changes the world in some fashion, even if the only change is a temporary reduction in the orc population. Sometimes, however, even a simple adventure can have far-reaching effects. Chapter One explored this concept in some detail.
This method uses the consequences that arise logically from one adventure as a springboard for further adventures. Often, the linked adventures occur in a specified order, but it is possible to create a set of adventures that can be played in any order. The latter task can be difficult, and it usually requires the DM to make alterations in the plot to account for what the party already has accomplished. The three adventures from the previous example might be linked in the following ripple sequence:
The player characters discover a clue to the sword's whereabouts. With help from an NPC wizard, they enter the labyrinth and recover the sword.
As part of the price for his help, the PCs have agreed to allow the wizard a chance to examine the blade. On the way to his home, however, they are ambushed and nearly lose the weapon. When they arrive at the wizard's home, they discover it has been burglarized.
The burglars are a group of dopplegangers hired by the vampire whose downfall the sword's reappearance is supposed to herald. False clues implicate the family opposing the vampire, and the PCs must determine the truth before the villains can be defeated.
A more complex ripple sequence might begin with any of the three adventures. For example, if the PCs recover the sword first, they draw quite a bit of attention to themselves. The wizard approaches them and offers to pay handsomely for a chance to examine the weapon.
Meanwhile, the two families are anxious to get their hands on the sword. One family would like to buy it or to convince the PCs to attack their rival with it. The other family wants to make sure the blade is not used against them under any circumstances. They might try to buy it, steal it, or exile the PCs to a distant world or another plane.
The wizard is impatient to examine the sword, but he waits until the party is finished with their other business. Nevertheless, the vampire's family is anxious to learn all it can about the sword and helps arrange the burglary at the wizard's home. If the PCs visit the wizard first, both families harass the wizard and the PCs while they try to unravel the mystery of the burglary.
==Interlocking Adventures==
It is possible for one or more adventures to take place entirely within the context of another, larger adventure. It also is possible for a single adventure to leave enough loose ends laying around that one or more subsequent adventures are required before they are all tied up. The three adventures from the previous examples might be interlocked as follows:
The player characters become embroiled in the feud, perhaps as mediators. In the process of defending themselves, they discover the legend of the sword.
The party seeks out the wizard to get more information about the weapon. Before they can learn anything, however, they must solve the mystery of the burglary. The crime might be related to the overall plot, or it might be incidental.
The party ventures into the labyrinth to recover sword. If they are successful, they can return and settle the feud.
==Multi-layered Adventures==
In this type of series, the adventures are arranged like the layers of an onion. When the player characters complete one adventure, they peel back a layer and reveal another, deeper layer. The party gets closer and closer to resolving a final, ultimate conflict as they continue to peel away layers. Usually, the final conflict's true nature is not obvious at the beginning, and the player characters might stumble across several hints and clues before they realize where their adventures are leading. The three adventures from the previous examples could be arranged in layers as follows:
The player characters learn about a series of daring raids and burglaries in which the criminals wreak havoc. Perhaps a home of one of the heroes is raided.
A particularly methodical wizard who is a burglary victim notes that a set of maps and commentary about a legendary sword are among the items taken from his home. If the PCs follow up the lead, they discover that the gang of dopplegangers responsible for the crimes have been turning over information about the sword to their mysterious employer. The PCs also encounter an NPC who also is seeking the sword, but is not implicated in the burglaries.
With the NPC's help, the heroes locate the labyrinth where the sword is hidden. After enduring the puzzles and traps that guard the sword, and several hit-and-run raids by mysterious attackers, the PCs recover the blade. There are several attempts to steal the weapon, maybe even one from the PCs' erstwhile ally.
Information gathered from captured foes—and from the sword itself—indicates that an ancient vampire fears the sword, which has remained hidden for centuries. The PCs and the vampire become locked in a deadly struggle that continues until the party destroys the vampire or gives up the blade.
==Revisited Adventures==
Some adventure sites offer potential for continuing play even after the player characters have resolved the original conflict. Two or three adventures from the previous examples might offer sites that can be used over and over again. The city where the wizard lives and its criminal underworld—with its den of dopplegangers—could generate many other adventures, especially if a player character rogue decides to operate the local thieves' guild. Likewise, the valley—with its simmering feud—could spawn additional adventures as the feud flares up from time to time. Perhaps the defeated family's vampire leader has hidden a few servitor vampires in the opposing family.