8 Missions to Take Up for the Local Temple

-
Image result for church art
From time to time temples must take up special missions to maintain their place the spiritual benefactor to society. These are delegated among lower ranking clergy members according to importance and merit, and are often used to evaluate who to consider in future leadership roles of the order. The following--even some of the more difficult-sounding ones--can all be accomplished by clerics ranked Priest or lower and provide good challenge for AD&D clerics level 1-6.

  1. Alms for the poor; you are asked to give coins of copper to the needy. You are provided with a cloth pouch containing 60-80 copper pieces, instructed to give 2-5 coins each only to the truly needy, and warned of dangers (robbers in an urban setting, wild animals in a rural one). The missionary is not told that any coins kept, stolen, or given to someone not truly needy and grateful will vanish.
  2. Convert the unbeliever; you are asked to recruit a new worshiper to the church. There is no time limit, but the task must be completed prior to your advancement within its ranks. Over-achievement, however--in the form of adding several persons to the flock, recruiting one with the ability and interest to become a member of the ordained clergy, or a person of especial note or power--brings with it special recognition within the church.
  3. Confer salvation; you are asked to help a member of the flock in time of crisis. This will generally be a person consumed by a dilemma in which he or she sees no way out and/or may be questioning his or her faith as a consequence. The dilemma may be financial, emotional, or even possibly the result of bewitching. Unknown to the clergy, the individual may have been offered a dark power by an evil spirit or sorcerer to solve the problem..
  4. Relocate the relic; you are asked to deliver an important holy relic from a higher temple to a shrine in one of the outlying villages. You are warned that because of its importance, there may be a robbery attempt, so gather what trusted guards or even mercenaries you must to safeguard the relic. What the cleric isn’t told is that the relic is a fake, a decoy so the real relic can be delivered without risk.
  5. Desecrate the vulgar; you are asked to infiltrate the temple of an enemy deity or pantheon for the purpose of destroying an important relic housed there. You are instructed to plan carefully, for it will surely be guarded and warded.
  6. Smite the restless dead; you are asked to investigate the mysterious deaths of some farmers on the outskirts of town. Reports suggest some undead creature is behind them. You are warned it may be something as powerful as a vampire, so prepare accordingly.
  7. Banish the unquiet spirit; you are asked to investigate the mysterious death of a child in the church’s new orphanage. Reports suggest some dreadful spirit may be behind the death. You must determine whether or not these reports are true, find the real cause if false, learn what you can of the spirit if true, then either solve the mundane problem or else aid an exorcist (which will be made available) in evicting the spirit.
  8. Discover the wicked; you are asked to investigate reports of witchcraft ahead of the arrival of a church inquisitor. The local church is hoping to handle the matter themselves, either prove conclusively there is no witchcraft or to discover the witch or coven, so as to save the town from the inconveniences of a full inquisition.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The LEDGE Method: 5 Things to Consider When Designing Encounters

-
Image
Some gamers like to play and/or run RPGs with a real story bent. And some story buffs like to take a "fractal" approach to stories, where each scene in the telling of a story is a mini-story in itself. Me, personally, I prefer to never lose sight of that roleplaying games are games. But unlike some of the prevailing theories out there, I feel good game, good story, and logical coherency actually work best in tandem. And so I think even gamers who aren't necessarily trying to create a story in their games will find these ideas make encounters more interesting. First, I'll say I have actual reasons why I feel different styles actually work better together rather than separately. It's not just a warm and fuzzy sentiment for me. It's because when I get into some heavy duty thinkers, like famous psychoanalyst Carl Jung and legendary economist Ludwig von Mises. I couldn't help but notice that the anatomy of Jung's conception of a story correlates strongly to
Read more

12 Story Hooks at the Tavern

-
Image
It's been said "you meet at a tavern" is no way to kick off a story, campaign, or epic adventure. It's too over-done, too cliche. Nonetheless, left complete to their own devices, two out of three players will decide their character heads to the tavern. So unless you plan on leading your players by the nose through the adventure, it is prudent to be prepared to begin here: A female merchant is looking to hire armed couriers to make an important delivery. A female merchant is looking to hire armed escorts for a business meeting with some unsavory characters. The dark-cloaked man in the corner is about to propose a mission to the player characters when he suddenly dies mid-sentence. A suspicious man is seen darting out of the tavern immediately after. A serving wench tells the party of a cave a mere 2 hour ride from town where there are said to be jewels and riches. She is one of the bandit chief’s lovers and she is sending the party into an ambush to be
Read more

An Encounter with Goblins

-
Image
What follows is a case study. It began with a random encounter result of goblins. Then the LEDGE method (outlined  here ) was applied. It produced a module-worthy encounter. It was then run in actual play. This is a recap of that play identifying the critical parts of the encounter through the lens of the LEDGE method. Unbeknownst to the party, one of the NPCs they disclosed their quest to was secretly a spy. Because of this indiscretion, the enemies in the following encounter knew the PCs were coming and had set up an ambush. The party consists of: Kizya , Female Human Champion ( 7th level Fighter ) Zoltar , Male Human Magsman ( 8th level Thief ) Nadja , Female Human Magician ( 6th level Magic-User ) Jada , Female Half-Elf Prefect Thaumaturgist ( C5/MU5 ) Zogath , Male Half-Orc Curate Myrmidon ( C4/F6 ) Viktor , Male Human Myrmidon ( 6th level Fighter ) Nadja also made the mistake of drinking liquor at the tavern from the bartender’s personal stash and is suffering from such a
Read more