Adventure Hooks

[McKinley]

I was just flipping through The Gamemasters Screen reading some of the Adventure hooks and I thought about a thread containing some quick ideas for a game.

most of the published ones I find to be a little too juvenile for my liking. I'd like to see Darker, more "grown up" ideas.


please feel to post any ideas you have or have used in a game.

Cheers
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-The Wookie has no pants-

[Yak Face]

A somewhat darker concept I once used was to set the PC's against a group of rogue rebels, who were stooping to immoral methods in the course of fighting the Empire (narcotics trafficing, contract murder, etc). It was necessary for the PC's to fight and kill fellow rebels in the name of preserving the good name of the Alliance. The heroes had to consider the rationalizations of the renegades and decide whether they could go through with the purge.
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However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. -Sir Winston Churchill

[McKinley]

That sounds very interesting.

It's great for a GM to make the players have difficult dilemmas like that. Traditionally, there is a very distinct line between "good" and "bad" characters in Star Wars. A touch of grey now and then can really make an adventure more about character than action.
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-The Wookie has no pants-

[Yak Face]

I don't mean to dominate your post, but I do have one other thing that might fit the bill. I'm working out details at present on an adventure where the PCs will be rescuing a female prisoner from an Imperial convoy en route to a penal world. The dark part comes in a couple forms. First, the fate that awaits a human female on a planet mostly full of violent male criminals. Death would be the easy way out, and this will be made clear to the PCs. Second, they'll find that the prison ship is stacked with prisoners - litterally. They're preserved in the medical-grade equivalent of carbonite (no trouble that way). They'll have to dig through all manner of hard luck cases during the search for their prize. I imagine the statue-like faces of children crying out silently, looks of terror and despair frozen on the faces of people who are, in many cases, innocent of anything a reasonable sentient would call a crime. Can they save them all? Will they leave many/all to their fate?
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However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. -Sir Winston Churchill

[TrueGrit]

I don't see how the outcome of something like that could feel like anything EXCEPT failure. Besides taking the ship and freeing each person...

While I agree that as I get older I also find the need for more mature themes in RPGs, I don't think Star Wars really lends itself to those all that much. I get excited for and play Star Wars precisely because it tends to have much less of the gray area and is more "defined" in the roles of pro- and antagonists.

[McKinley]

with "grey" areas, The players can help develop their characters more, which i see as a good thing. This is after all Roleplaying.

I don't think every adventure should be deep and dark, but I think if the characters are well developed it can only enhance the game.

And Yak, thanks for the posts I'm liking your Ideas, feel free to post as many as you like.
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-The Wookie has no pants-

[TrueGrit]

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for character depth and exploring options/motives but I play certain games for certain "feels". I play Star Wars when I'm in the mood for a more black vs white theme. Just my $0.02

[Yak Face]

The point is well taken, for my part. Actually I do like black vs. white myself. It fits well with my world view. However, my group has been playing for quite a few years - sometimes a little pathos makes for nice seasoning in a campaign that is otherwise fairly triumphalist. Plus we need little reminders of why the Empire really is BAD, and that the Alliance, despite it's constant failure to reward heroes with suitable riches and honors, is the right side to fight for. Facing evil that is not readily undone helps to reinforce that difference for us, and restore a little urgency.
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However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. -Sir Winston Churchill

[Ning Leihrec]

That's a really cool idea Yak Face. I'll definitely be thinking on that one a while.

[Thx1138]

A while back I had come up with an idea to have my players role up new characters and play as Sector rangers, basically being Imperials with a set of morals. The plan was to have a sort of CSI adventure using a lot of skills that sort of seem to be shoved under the bus. I'm still working on the story itself but the concept is open for whoever wants it.

[garhkal]