Consequences
Consider the consequences that can arise from your low-level adventures.
Remember that adventurers don’t live in a vacuum, and your world is a bigger place
than the small area the PCs happen to be in at any given time. When the PCs
finish an adventure, you still have work to do.
Start by thinking about what could happen when the PCs leave the adventure
site. Ask yourself who’s still hanging around to pick up any goodies the PCs might
have left behind. More than one villain got his start by collecting the
remnants of his slain master’s treasure hoard. Consider what that survivor might do.
Does he flee or retreat and fortify? Would he seek protection from a more
powerful creature?
Now think about how much time might pass before creatures that were not
directly involved in the adventure discover what the PCs did. If the heroes are given
to boasting about their accomplishments, it won’t take long for word to
spread. If witnesses escape, or the adventure site receives regular visitors, word of
the deed spreads quickly. It might be a very long time before anyone notes the
disappearance of a small, independent band of goblins, but a royal messenger’s
demise is going to be noticed very quickly.
Consider who might care about what the PCs did. Is anyone helped? If so, how
can they take advantage of the opportunity? Is anyone hurt? If so, how can they
minimize or repair the damage? Take the preceding example of the slain red
dragon. Perhaps the dragon has a charmed servant lurking in a village nearby. The
servant is responsible for informing the dragon how much wealth the villagers
have hidden and keeping track of the village’s maidens and would-be dragon
slayers. As one of the dragon’s confidants, the servant is hated and feared, but the
charm keeps the servant from thinking too hard about how unpopular he has
become. When the dragon no longer visits the village to collect its annual toll of
maidens, the servant is forced to flee.
The servant might make his way to the dragon’s abandoned lair. If he is the
first to reach the lair, he might collect a few left over coins and an overlooked
magical item or two and go off to start an adventuring career. If something
else got to the lair first, the servant might be captured by the lair’s new
resident. The servant could be killed, which ends the story line, or he might betray
the village in an attempt to reestablish himself as someone to be feared. You
don’t have to have all of this in place before the adventure starts, just be
prepared to use every adventure as a springboard for new ideas.
Not all consequences have to be bad. For example, the PCs might acquire a
follower or henchman when a freed prisoner decides to follow them home. Nor do all
consequences have to fall directly onto the PCs. For example, if the party
infiltrates a building by using stone shape spells to force an entry, many stone
buildings in the area might hastily be reinforced with metal bars, and the PCs
might not be affected until they, too, wish to build something.
In many cases, however, simple adventures might have multiple layers that the
PCs peel away one-by-one. In the classic adventure Against the Giants, the
party begins by dealing with a single group of marauding hill giants but discovers
clues that lead to a conspiracy that ultimately was hatched deep in the bowels
of the earth. Ultimately, a resolute party follows the trail into the Abyss
itself.
Simple, seemingly harmless incidents that the PCs dismiss with a laugh might
have far-reaching implications. Bosamp, the villain in the TSR® novel Captains Outrageous, began as a fairly harmless young wizard who suffered from an unfortunate
love affair and ultimately threatened to destroy the world.
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