Story Table

Current list of Story hooks that are currently in the Story Table

* Litter of Puppies
* Litter of Kittens
* Baby in a Bassinet
* A necromancer is using magical means to stuff the ballot box in favor of a particular mayoral candidate in town. The PCs are asked to find the culprit behind the fraudulent votes.
* A small orphan girl is terrified and shares a wild story about another child at the orphanage who is biting everyone.
* A severed head rolls down the center street. Attached is a warning sign that reads, “Dis Town Belong Negan.”
* Farmers just outside of town are panicked because a coven of hags have been burying dead owlbears under piles of cow manure. But why?
* A child asks the PCs to help him find his pet dog.
* A bounty hunter tracks his target.
* Two guards hold a wanted poster. They carefully study the party as they pass by.
* A smiling merchant roasts rats, frogs, and squirrels on sticks. He offers a bite to the PCs.
* A chatty bard walks alongside the party. Time for an exposition dump!
* A group of kobolds found a home in the sewers beneath an alchemist’s shop. The chemicals have done strange things to them…
* An attractive maiden flirts with you. Her very large husband notices.
* A naked bard asks for directions to the nearest inn where he left his clothes and money.
* While haggling in the market the PCs notice people vanish for a few heartbeats then reappear. Nobody finds it strange.
* It is the Annual Wyvern Race. The PCs are recruited as substitute racers for a down-on-their luck faction after a mysterious “accident” disabled the previous team.
* An evil wizard is hanging from the gallows, the body still smoking.
* Three mischievous children work on tipping over an occupied outhouse.
* An overweight town guard, panting heavily, chases someone who nears the PCs.
* Something goes wrong during a magical performance by a gnome mage. A simple trick summons a beast from another dimension and it attacks the audience and PCs.
* A back alley hides a sinkhole that chutes the party on a slalom slide down into the old pirate’s cove hidden beneath the city.
* A shopping list for potions lies on the street.
* The local baron has enacted a toll bridge to enter town. Several peasants were unaware, and cannot afford the toll. They beg the PCs for change.
* The PCs are hired to transport live cargo to the house of a noblewoman. One gets fed after midnight.
* A PC gets a frantic message from a family member and there is a race around town to find them.
* There is a mysterious flicker, and one member of your party suddenly stops, paralyzed.
* An owlbear makes its nest in the horse stables. It’s only trying to protect its eggs.
* A fireball erupts from a home, blowing up a water barrel, generating a cloud of mist. It appears the PCs are in the middle of a domestic dispute between partners, one a wizard and one a sorcerer.
* Dozens of oozes are floating in the bay, blocking ship traffic. How did they get there?
* The PCs must babysit the teenage daughter of the mayor and she’s always looking for trouble.
* A set of shackles lies outside the city jail.
* The PCs go looking for a job, but a worn out shop owner presses the deed into their hand and says, “I’m over it. It’s yours!”
* Two gangs of goblins are seen marching towards the city from opposite directions, one wearing red sashes, the other blue.
* The local wizard tower is glowing orange.
* A powerful fighter hires the characters to lock him up for the night. He has contracted lycanthropy and is afraid he will do something he will regret. He is also afraid the pack that infected him might come to find him.
* A storyteller tells a random story about a creature from an exotic “Monster Guide Book.” The creature suddenly appears from around the corner!
* Upon returning to your room at the inn, you discover a body on the floor with a dagger just adjacent. You hear guards storming up the stairs.
* An enormous dragon lands in the street in front of the group. It asks for directions to a certain farmstead just outside of town. It gives the party a generous tip, then flies off saying he intends to raze it to the ground.
* As the party wanders, a surly fellow approaches: “We don’t like yer kind here!”
* A tavern owner captured a troll. Patrons are paying 5GP to ‘rastle it.
* A dozen townsfolk are running after a fleeing woman, attempting to stone her to death for being a prostitute.
* Two other adventuring groups are arguing just outside the tavern.
* You see a man-sized shadow just around the block waving its arms at you. “Over here, quickly, I’ve caught one!”
* A prominent businessman, well-known as honest and good-natured, disappears. The PCs stumble across his body, tattooed with symbols of an evil deity. Was he a cult’s victim or a member?
* The city’s renowned chocolateer has gone missing! The rewards for his safe return are substantial. If only there was a trail to follow…
* A plague of rats has befallen the best bakery in town. A fat and greedy wererat can’t resist nightly visits in rat form to gorge himself on the delicious treats.
* Gnomes are holding a sidewalk sale! They have any number of strange and fascinating contraptions.
* A little kid falls in front of a charging stagecoach.
* A cleric accuses the mayor of being a silver dragon.
* A rare cockatrice egg has gotten mixed into a market shipment and sold to an innkeeper. Anyone who eats it is liable to turn into stone! Trouble is, there are 13 taverns in the city and it is almost time for breakfast…
* An enemy named Bauer has placed magical bombs throughout the city. The PCs need to find them and eliminate them within 24 hours.
* Ladies clothing and under clothing are strewn just outside the doors of the PCs room at the inn. How did these get here?
* A young woman approaches the PCs, insisting one of the party is her husband who went missing two years ago. The other townsfolk agree, despite the PC not knowing her.
* Some hapless citizen is harassed by a ruffian named Biff. Will the characters step in to save him?
* The characters recognize the mayor’s son climbing out of a disreputable two-story building.
* Reports come in about a ghost haunting a dark alley in a city, and anyone investigating the ghost ends up dead. The story is an elaborate hoax created to keep people away while crooks are attempting to break into a vault of a nearby building.
* A famous adventurer was hurriedly approaching the PCs, yet he dropped dead mid-stride. Why was he coming toward you?
* A circus is set up just outside of town. A barker cajoles you to “come inside and see what wonders it holds.”
* A group of young, rude nobles are racing horses through the streets and nearly ride down the characters. How the party handles this situation will determine how well they are received by the various factions in that city.
* A PC sees a beautiful woman sunbathing on a nearby rooftop. He’s spotted and waved over.
* Rumor has it there is an underground fight club in the warehouse district. They’ve been tasked with finding it and shutting it down. But will they want to join instead?
* The tavern owner’s daughter is missing and he’s offered you all the whiskey you can drink if you can bring her home safely. Turns out, she’s the ringleader of a gang
* Townsfolk have been reporting sightings of strange creatures around town. But when questioned about it the next day, it’s like they didn’t see anything..
* It’s impossible to start a fire within the city walls. The most powerful mages, flame eidolons, and candlemakers have tried until they’re blue in the face; it just won’t catch. A clan of frost trolls has taken up residence nearby, but it can’t be THAT simple, can it?
* You arrive in town to find that hobgoblins have taken over. They’ve crudely replaced the mayor and subjugated the townspeople, but they also control the soldiers under threat of destroying families.
* A new healer has come to town, the most grievous wounds are healed good as new. Unfortunately, he’s a charlatan clouding the victims mind so they only think they’re back to full health. The wounds still exist and it’s only a matter of time until they flare up again…
* A young boy has gone missing from his home. Everyone assumes him dead, except his mother swears she can still hear him. Turns out, there’s a tunnel system under the city where a creature is holding him hostage.
* Once a year a colorfully clothed benefactor sneaks into town under cover of night and leaves trinkets for the children of the town. The town must provide an annual offering to keep the benefactor from collecting a decidedly darker form of payment.
* A traveling minstrel challenges the wisest looking member of the party to a storytelling contest.
* Midsummer’s Eve has arrived, and flowered crowns are all the rage. The Fae always come to help celebrate, but the celebration comes and goes without any sign of them. Three days later, a battered brownie covered in frost stumbles through the gates and mutters something about Eternal Winter before collapsing. Snow begins to fall.
* A legendary paladin renowned for victory in battle and training many acolytes has gone missing, seemingly having turned their back on the order. Can they be found again in a time of need?
* A great northern city is experiencing rising temperatures. Creatures outside of town are shedding every bit of their white fur due to the unprecedented temperatures, their pitch-black skin beneath becoming exposed, causing them to appear unnatural, as if they’re living shadows. Meanwhile, they grow lean and bony, ever more wraith-like. Now, the shadow creatures are moving toward town, setting their ebony gaze on the thing they blame for this calamity—us.
* A tavern patron tells the PCs to repent of their sins. He knows details.
* A man calling himself “The Shoveler” has moved into town, assuming the position of chief caretaker of the local cemetery. But judging by what he’s digging up, does he shovel too well?
* A local hero named Gjallerabru is famed for standing alone against an invading horde. But it appears that he somehow cheated death, because death’s emissary has come a lookin’.
* When a wagon carrying a gigantic cage rolls up into town, the people are struck with curiosity. But when the tarpaulin is removed, there is only a strikingly cute turtle. “Thing’s vicious. Don’t let those enticing eyes fool ya. And don’t look at it too long.”
* The candles in town WON’T GO OUT. Every bit of flame becomes perpetual and any fires need to be completely quenched or else they will reignite. This is leading to problems, not just for infrastructure, but for the Mage’s College, where experiments are more delicate.
* When the armor and weapons at the blacksmith’s forge suddenly become animated, the surrounding area evacuates. A particularly large suit of armor shouts, “I shall defend my birthplace!”
* When the armor and weapons at the blacksmith’s forge suddenly become animated, the surrounding area evacuates. A particularly large suit of armor shouts, “I shall defend my birthplace!”
* Shiny objects have been disappearing all over town. There seem to be an awful lot of crows hanging around lately, but it couldn’t possibly be them. Could it?
* When the three capstones begin to glow brightly, the Order of the Scarab becomes nervous. The stones haven’t lit up in centuries, and they had assumed the danger had passed…
* The town gallows hasn’t been used in decades, but one morning a swollen noose is found swinging from the beam. When the rope-maker is found to be missing, the plot only thickens…
* The group arrives late at night at a tiny village. They secure accommodation and food from the friendly locals and fall asleep. In the morning the village is empty and ruined, as if abandoned years ago.
* Under the bridge downtown, a body has been found. Exotic spices and peppers surround the crime scene.
* When a strange island floats into view, the town is torn about investigating it. The sailors are eager to explore the new land, but the shaman warns against rushing in too hastily.
* There’s a new face in town. Or at least…a new figure. You haven’t been able to see their face. In fact, nobody has. Their lavender cloak is pulled tight to conceal their features while they whisper, “The Firestorm is nigh.”
* A little girl is watching you from the alley. The next time you glance over, you see a wolf run away.
* The local innkeeper has baked the MOST DELICIOUS strawberry rhubarb pie. Nobody can stop eating once they start.
* A note slides under the door of your room. On it are the words, “Good luck tomorrow. You’re going to need it.”
* An ecstatic shop owner presses a cigar into your hands and proclaims, “It’s a girl!”
* A grave, black staircase stands before you, hewn from a single stone. The landing is open to the sky; it leads nowhere. As you approach, you begin to hear a low hum. Your skull shakes. The air tastes like iron—or did you bite your tongue?
* A crumbling pink tower of salt-stone rises from the sand. Every nine seconds, it briefly vanishes from existence before reappearing a moment later with a faint crackling sound. Through the tall, narrow slit of an entrance, you can make out stairs descending into the darkness.
* Through the trees, you glimpse a metallic dome, polished and shining in defiance of the rust and decay around it. The soil in a ten-meter ring around the base of the dome is barren, devoid of any plant life. There appears to be a seam in the shape of a doorway.
* Nestled along the cliff face are three towers. In their day, they would have been perfect triplets, straight and tall. Now, they lean against one another like dominoes, ever on the brink of collapse. A warm light flickers in the window of the eastern tower.
* The treads of an ancient war machine break the horizon—the cavalry of a forgotten army. The colossal construct must have broken down midway through fording an enormous trench. It is doubtless brimming with archaic munitions, and perhaps even weapons. The enormous loading bay lies open.
* The husk of a concrete structure from the Deep Past leans at a precarious angle in the mire. Its exposed rebar is draped in vines; its weathered face is wrapped in lichen. The dark portals of its windows gaze like doleful eyes. Hundreds of families used to live in these towers. Now, there is no one.
* A massive, stone-carved head rests in the undergrowth, fully ten meters high. The eyes are set deeply below its brow, and its alien visage is twisted into a sneer of contempt. The pupils appear to be hollow, and big enough to fit through. What might be hidden within if one were able to scale the stony face and climb into the head?
* At the lip of the caldera, you spy a ruby-red pyramid. Unexceptional. But as you skirt the volcano’s edge, the pyramid appears to rotate with you, only ever exposing one of its four faces, as if refusing to commit to a single spatial orientation.
* A rotting tree stump the size of a small manor rests before you. What bark remains on the ancient trunk is decorated with the carvings of the ancient tree-dwellers of the Age of Attendance—known collectors of divine mechanisms. There may still be a few relics stowed within.
* The bleached bones lie in eternal repose over the rolling dunes—a reminder of the desert’s pelagic past. The colossal skull sports clear signs of recent habitation: a fire pit, still piled with ash; a drying rack for the meat of desert reptiles; a crude watchtower from which to survey the endless sands.
* The wooden portions of the palace burned long ago; all that remains are the elaborate columns. The plaza of pillars stretches into the distance like a forest of uniform, evenly-spaced trees. It is difficult to see more than fifty meters ahead through the lattice of columns—one could easily get lost. This place is certainly home to both the treasures and follies of the palace dwellers.
* The cavern gradually transitions from glistening stone to gleaming steel, intricately machined with a precision that is no longer possible. Modules of inscrutable function protrude from the chrome walls. The components might be valuable, but this arcana has been desecrated by the water and mold of the cave. But perhaps, deeper inside…?
* His facility, now surrendered to nature and grown over with grass, was once the nursery of the living-metal soldiers that won the August War during the Age of Attendance. There are rumors of these ancient warriors still wandering in the forest, bereft of purpose, but no one believes them anymore.
* According to legend, the observatory was destroyed by an emissary of one of the Outsider Lords; it was considered heretical to seek to lay eyes on the home of the Gods. The entrance has sunken below the ground, but the fallen telescope might serve as a ramp to the upper levels. Mind the shattered lens.
* A grand dodecahedron rests in the silt of the riverbed. Each tremendous face is inscribed with a different character from an unfamiliar script. One of the faces near the water is missing, and a deep, rhythmic thumping, as of a heart, emanates from within.
* Amidst the mundane ice floes, a monumental glacier glides imperially through the frigid strait. It has clearly been carved into a palatial dwelling of some sort by human (or humanoid) hands, but it is now partially melted and apparently abandoned. Upon closer investigation, the ice is not the only thing glittering in this frozen ruin.
* It is difficult to believe that this goliath scrap heap once flew through the skies above the plain, but that is what the legends say. Until recently, the wreckage was garrisoned by an enclave of mutant engine priests, but they seem to have suddenly abandoned it.
* The wizards who live outside the keep say that this enormous rock is a piece of the moon, and that it is considerably larger on the inside than it appears to be. They also claim that the snaking corridors within are liable to shift and twist, causing one to lose the path. Curiously, they advise exploring it while inebriated—this mitigates the effect, they say, but they refuse to explain why.
* Before you looms the walking labyrinth, the greatest and strangest design of a bygone madman. It advanced against his enemies, who were forced to traverse the maze or be dragged beneath its treads when they stopped to rest. It now lies abandoned where it broke down. It is said to have swallowed a few notable warriors. Perhaps their corpses still bear the weapons and artifacts that gave them their power?
* The cosmic sword that cleft this giant wound into the earth is still here, jutting from the canyon as if reaching out to its absent master. There must have been a reason the Outsider smote this particular spot. As you gaze into the canyon, you begin to make out the shapes of ruins in the cliffs—perhaps an ancient stronghold of subterranean heretics?