Dungeon Master's Guide
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:. C ONSIDER THE IDEAL CLIMAX<br />
-:-::e climactic ending of an adventure fulfills the promise<br />
:all that came before. Although the climax must hinge<br />
:;:: rhe successes and failures of the characters up to<br />
·.::a moment, the Adventure Climax table can provide<br />
~:: gges tions to help you shape the end of your adventure.<br />
DVENTURE CLIMAX<br />
dl2<br />
Climax<br />
The a"dventurers confront the main villain and a<br />
group of minions in a bloody battle to the finish.<br />
2 The adventurers chase the villain while dodging<br />
obstacles designed to thwart them, leading to a final<br />
confrontation in or outside the villain's refuge.<br />
3 The actions of the adventurers or the villain result<br />
in a cataclysmic event that the adventurers must<br />
4<br />
5<br />
6<br />
7<br />
8<br />
9<br />
10<br />
11<br />
12<br />
escape.<br />
The adventurers race to the site where the villain is<br />
bringing a master plan to its conclusion, arriving<br />
just as that plan is about to be completed.<br />
The villain and two or three lieutenants perform<br />
separate rites in a large room. The adventurers<br />
must disrupt all the rites at the same time.<br />
An ally betrays the adventurers as they're about to<br />
achieve their goal. (Use this climax carefully, and<br />
don't overuse it.)<br />
A portal opens to another plane of existence.<br />
Creatures on the other side spill out, forcing the<br />
adventurers to close the portal and deal with the<br />
villain at the same time.<br />
Traps, hazards, or animated objects turn against<br />
the adventurers while the main villain attacks.<br />
The dungeon begins to collapse while the<br />
adventurers face the main villain, who attempts to<br />
escape in the chaos.<br />
A threat more powerful than the adventurers<br />
appears, destroys the main villain, and then turns<br />
its attention on the characters.<br />
The adventurers must choose whether to pursue<br />
the fleeing main villain or save an N PC they care<br />
about or a group of innocents.<br />
The adventurers must discover the main villain's<br />
secret weakness before they can hope to defeat that<br />
villain .<br />
6. PLAN E NCOUNTER S<br />
.:..fter you've created the location and the overall story of<br />
the adventure, it's time to plan out the encounters that<br />
make up that adventure. In a location-based adventure,<br />
most encounters are keyed to specific locations on<br />
a map. For each room or wilderness area on the<br />
adventure map, your key describes what's in that area:<br />
its physical features, as well as any encounter that plays<br />
out there. The adventure key turns a simple sketch<br />
of numbered areas on graph paper into encounters<br />
designed to entertain and intrigue your players.<br />
See "Creating Encounters" later in this chapter for<br />
guidance on crafting individual encounters.<br />
EVENT-BASED ADVENTURES<br />
In an event-based adventure, the focus is on what the<br />
characters and villains do and what happens as a<br />
result. The question of where those things happen is of<br />
secondary importance.<br />
Building an event-based adventure is more work than<br />
building a location-based one, but the process can be<br />
simplified by following a number of straightforward<br />
steps. Several steps include tables from which you<br />
can choose adventure elements or roll randomly for<br />
inspiration. As with location-based adventures, you don't<br />
necessarily have to follow these steps in order.<br />
1. START WITH A VILLAIN<br />
Putting care into creating your villain will pay off later,<br />
since the villain plays such a pivotal role in advancing<br />
the story. Use the Adventure Villains table in the<br />
previous section to get started, and use the information<br />
in chapter 4 to help flesh out the villain.<br />
For example, your villain might be an undead creature<br />
seeking to avenge a past imprisonment or injury. An<br />
interesting aspect of an undead villain is that this past<br />
injury might have occurred centuries ago, inspiring<br />
revenge against the descendants of those that harmed<br />
it. Imagine a vampire imprisoned by the members of a<br />
religious order of knights, and who now seeks revenge<br />
against the current members of that order.<br />
2. DET E RMINE T HE VILLAIN'S ACTIONS<br />
Once you have a villain, it's time to determine what<br />
steps the villain takes to achieve its goals. Create a<br />
timeline showing what the villain does and when,<br />
assuming no interference from the adventurers.<br />
Building on the previous example, you might decide<br />
that your vampire villain murders several knights. By<br />
slipping past locked doors in gaseous form, the vampire<br />
is able to make the deaths appear natural at first, but<br />
it soon becomes clear that a depraved killer is behind<br />
the murders.<br />
If you need additional inspiration, consider a few<br />
different options for how the villain's actions unfold over<br />
the course of the adventure.<br />
EVENT-BASED VILLAIN ACTIONS<br />
d6 Type of Actions d6<br />
2<br />
3<br />
Big event<br />
Crime spree<br />
Growing<br />
corruption<br />
4<br />
5<br />
6<br />
Type of Actions<br />
One and done<br />
Serial crimes<br />
Step by step<br />
Big Event. The villain's plans come to fruition during<br />
a festival, an astrological event, a holy (or unholy) rite, a<br />
royal wedding, the birth of a child, or some similar fixed<br />
time. The villain's activities up to that point are geared<br />
toward preparation for this event.<br />
Crime Spree. The villain commits acts that become<br />
bolder and more heinous over time. A killer might start<br />
out by targeting the destitute in the city slums before<br />
moving up to a massacre in the marketplace, increasing<br />
the horror and the body count each time.<br />
CHAPTER 3 I CREATTNG ADVENTURES<br />
75