5 Second Hooks

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 6:03 pm

The Orc Pope has denied the Orc King permission to annul his marriage, so the Orc King has hired you to kill his wife.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 6:19 pm

A local kingpin promised you premium hooch if you tarred an uppity protection client of his and threw him in the nearby river. He has just paid you in liquor bottles full of weak tea.

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 6:34 pm

Someone posted a very stupid thread in IMHO.

Whatever · Post by **Whatever** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 6:35 pm

The Mad Wizard has just gone sane--or so he claims. He's hired you to petition the Queen to lift his banishment from the kingdom.

Grek · Post by **Grek** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 7:28 pm

Local fisherman fishes up baby Aboleth, hires you to return the child before Mommy comes looking for it.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 8:07 pm

Steve the Crap-Covered Innkeeper wakes you up late at night to ask you to dispose of some Raw Chaos he's found.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 8:16 pm

The King's penis has been stolen and you must retrieve it before an illegitimate heir is conceived.

CapnTthePirateG · Post by **CapnTthePirateG** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 8:31 pm

You must defeat the Dark Wizard in a rap battle before he brings 1000 years of darkness upon the land.

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 8:36 pm

Unscrupulous bankers signed thousands of peasants up for soul-secured subprime mortgages, and now the baatezu are here to collect.

Vebyast · Post by **Vebyast** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 8:44 pm

A wizard tells you that he suspects that the powerful enchanters' guild has been making crystal balls that spy in the wrong direction. Spread the word.

erik · Post by **erik** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 8:46 pm

Giant Crabs: Something is causing local creatures to grow to unnaturally large sizes near an abandoned tower on the coast.

Guyr Adamantine · Post by **Guyr Adamantine** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 9:25 pm

A Great Wyrm bullies a small town into giving it a weekly human sacrifice.

PLOT TWIST: It's an illusionist who enslaves them to do his cleaning. Wizard towers are risky, and they fall in the traps regularly.

silva · Post by **silva** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 9:49 pm

Kaelik wrote:Someone posted a very stupid thread in IMHO.

And youre hired to kill its uthor.

[Shadowrun, Gurps Cyberpunk, Transhuman Space, Freemarket, Eclipse Phase]

Thymos · Post by **Thymos** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 9:59 pm

erik wrote:Giant Crabs: Something is causing local creatures to grow to unnaturally large sizes near an abandoned tower on the coast.

Oh gods, the TPKs, the TPKs.

Guyr Adamantine · Post by **Guyr Adamantine** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 12:34 am

The Low King of the dwarves requires his luxurious beard trimmed. Steal the fabled Vorpal Razor from the duergar, before he drowns in his own hair.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 12:57 am

The dwarves record everything--it's law. Unfortunately, this includes all their secrets, such as war plans, mining sites and the security protocols for bypassing the walls of fire and adamant golem guardians which protect their most secret treasures.
A team of goblins with stolen adamantine picks hacked through a wall and stole these protocols. The dwarves have approached you to find these goblins, before the protocols are sold and the vaults emptied.

Optional Plot Twist-- One of the original investigating dwarves is using this even to cover a behaviour rewrite he did on the golems wherein the major creation effect they'd normally use to create temporary weapons is instead being used to amass precious materials in his own vault, blaming it on the goblin thieves.

erik · Post by **erik** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 1:39 am

Dinosaurs Ninjas Dinosaur ninjas attack!

This was going to be my first one, but it is more like a 1 second hook, or just an opener to a gaming session not necessarily demanding continuity. A hook with no reel I suppose. I'm a believer in opening a session with rolling initiative for combat.

Mistborn · Post by **Mistborn** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 1:51 am

The King has been kidnapped by wizards. Are you a bad enough adventurer to rescue the king?

Grek · Post by **Grek** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 2:03 am

The Giants have decided that their annual Boulder Toss game vs. the Red Rocs will be on a town near you. Yes, "on", not "in".

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 2:53 am

erik wrote:Dinosaurs Ninjas Dinosaur ninjas attack!

This was going to be my first one, but it is more like a 1 second hook, or just an opener to a gaming session not necessarily demanding continuity. A hook with no reel I suppose. I'm a believer in opening a session with rolling initiative for combat.

In the same spirit:

"You're all sitting around at an inn." Wait for any player to say something, cut him off immediately. "It's on fire. Roll for initiative."

shadzar · Post by **shadzar** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 6:11 am

Thymos wrote:
erik wrote:Giant Crabs: Something is causing local creatures to grow to unnaturally large sizes near an abandoned tower on the coast.
Oh gods, the TPKs, the TPKs.

oh god the STDS, the STDs....

Giant Crabs: Something is causing local creatures to grow to unnaturally large sizes near a popular brothel.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:19 am

shadzar wrote:
Thymos wrote:
erik wrote:Giant Crabs: Something is causing local creatures to grow to unnaturally large sizes near an abandoned tower on the coast.
Oh gods, the TPKs, the TPKs.
oh god the STDS, the STDs....

Giant Crabs: Something is causing local creatures to grow to unnaturally large sizes near a popular brothel.

Oh god, a shadzar post that gave me the reaction he intended...

A mad sorcerer has kidnapped all the chickens in the continent and packed them tightly into brewery casks. Investigate. Alternately, introduce a new crop animal to the continent to replace the lost birds.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 8:56 am

Princess is in another castle

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 9:18 am

That could actually be amazing if you set it up right. Have a royal family constantly under attack from enemies, both in the streets and in the royal court, and just, one day they can't find the princess. So they freak out, and get a message to the powerful PCs asking them to come help find the princess.

And at the end of it, the PCs find out that the princess was just at one of the family's other castles, and no one mentioned it to the king and queen.

And the PCs are forced to walk over to the king and tell him "Sir, your princess is in another castle."

I am all for making your players fell like just complete schmucks and making them reference pop culture.

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:11 pm

hyzmarca wrote:The King's penis has been stolen and you must retrieve it before an illegitimate heir is conceived.

I would totally play that adventure.