Currently, my homebrew/players have reached that moment when they receive the crucial questlines that will give them help in fighting the overall storyline main bad guy. Looking to get some ideas on pieces of the questlines. I do not want the standard, "Go here and collect this piece. Then go here and collect the 2nd piece, etc" I want to have 5 separate "goals" as that is part of my overall arc, just want to spice it up a bit and give my players something different than the gathering quests.
The "Against the Cult of the Reptile God" is a good (though old) adventure that might have what you're looking for. In a nutshell, there's a monster that has begun to brainwash people in the village and it's up to players to search for clues, figure out whats going on and finally confront the monster in its lair outside the town. The adventure has maps and is pretty detailed about the villagers, villains and the town. In addition, it's a bit more open-ended and is quite easy to update to a 5th edition. I'm currently running it as a first adventure I've ever run and I changed a lot of details (the main villain, its lackeys and the surrounding terrain).
Maybe the monster in this case is a pawn of your BBEG or part of an organization working for the BBEG, and brainwashing the village is an experiment for a bigger plan the BBEG has in mind. Once PCs vanquish the monster responsible, they might find clues to connect the monster and its plan to the BBEG. They might find information on the BBEG's abilities and thus can think countermeasures against them, or they might find powerful allies that once were under the monsters control. Now that they are free, they pledge to help the heroes. Or powerful magic items, that always helps.
Don't give your players a solution, give them a problem.
The most common approach I see is: "BBEG is trying to usurp the throne, the party needs to find the long lost heir and persuade them to claim their rightful position". This is giving the players a solution, they don't have to do any thinking, planning, research, interaction with the world, they just have to do X to accomplish Y.
Whereas if you present: "There is growing discontent in the city as the royal family seems to be dying from an unexplained sickness". Now the players will need a kick in the pants to get involved with the hook, and this is where you give them clues that it's something bigger. A riot breaks out between supporters and dissenters of the throne. A strange man is seen gathering mushrooms and herbs from a known cursed location. Criers are looking for people who can find a cure for the sickness, offering a reward. Rumors in taverns, back alleys, and other locations, where the party can hear more about the problems in the royal court. A dark rumor creeps about that maybe the lost child of the Queen is not dead. There's a lot of information that can be given to the players as they interact with the world.
This approach presents a problem. The rest of that information simply gives them many different paths they can take to solve the problem. Your job after that is to keep the timeline moving, the players can fail, and adjust what's going on with that plot according to the players' choices.
Good day fellow DM's,
Currently, my homebrew/players have reached that moment when they receive the crucial questlines that will give them help in fighting the overall storyline main bad guy. Looking to get some ideas on pieces of the questlines. I do not want the standard, "Go here and collect this piece. Then go here and collect the 2nd piece, etc" I want to have 5 separate "goals" as that is part of my overall arc, just want to spice it up a bit and give my players something different than the gathering quests.
Any thoughts/ideas/opinions?
The "Against the Cult of the Reptile God" is a good (though old) adventure that might have what you're looking for. In a nutshell, there's a monster that has begun to brainwash people in the village and it's up to players to search for clues, figure out whats going on and finally confront the monster in its lair outside the town. The adventure has maps and is pretty detailed about the villagers, villains and the town. In addition, it's a bit more open-ended and is quite easy to update to a 5th edition. I'm currently running it as a first adventure I've ever run and I changed a lot of details (the main villain, its lackeys and the surrounding terrain).
Maybe the monster in this case is a pawn of your BBEG or part of an organization working for the BBEG, and brainwashing the village is an experiment for a bigger plan the BBEG has in mind. Once PCs vanquish the monster responsible, they might find clues to connect the monster and its plan to the BBEG. They might find information on the BBEG's abilities and thus can think countermeasures against them, or they might find powerful allies that once were under the monsters control. Now that they are free, they pledge to help the heroes. Or powerful magic items, that always helps.
Don't give your players a solution, give them a problem.
The most common approach I see is: "BBEG is trying to usurp the throne, the party needs to find the long lost heir and persuade them to claim their rightful position". This is giving the players a solution, they don't have to do any thinking, planning, research, interaction with the world, they just have to do X to accomplish Y.
Whereas if you present: "There is growing discontent in the city as the royal family seems to be dying from an unexplained sickness". Now the players will need a kick in the pants to get involved with the hook, and this is where you give them clues that it's something bigger. A riot breaks out between supporters and dissenters of the throne. A strange man is seen gathering mushrooms and herbs from a known cursed location. Criers are looking for people who can find a cure for the sickness, offering a reward. Rumors in taverns, back alleys, and other locations, where the party can hear more about the problems in the royal court. A dark rumor creeps about that maybe the lost child of the Queen is not dead. There's a lot of information that can be given to the players as they interact with the world.
This approach presents a problem. The rest of that information simply gives them many different paths they can take to solve the problem. Your job after that is to keep the timeline moving, the players can fail, and adjust what's going on with that plot according to the players' choices.