I am writing my first ever homebrew campaign and am in desperate need of ideas. The story begins with the party members discovering that someone dear to each of them has been kidnapped during the night. I would prefer that there be little to no sign of struggle, just for added mystery. For additional background, they were kidnapped by a sort of private police force or guard.
If you were in this sort of position, what clues would you leave your players?
You've left yourself without much option if there is no sign of a struggle. Maybe there is a calling card or a witness to some strangeness that happens in the night. It might be easier if there were signs of a struggle and small bits of evidence could be found at the scene. Broach shaped like a cult symbol or a swatch of a particular tartan cloth. Smell of a spell component lingering in the air. Something to say what may have happened and how it were carried out. Open windows and empty rooms don't provide a string to pull.
Also, how does the tale resolve? Does BBEG have a signature anything? Why did they kidnap specifically the PCs family? What does BBEG want from the PCs for the life of the family members, or is it pure sadistic nature that drives them? BBEG motivation can lend itself to what or how clues are generated so your PCs can meet your BBEG.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Hello!
I am writing my first ever homebrew campaign and am in desperate need of ideas. The story begins with the party members discovering that someone dear to each of them has been kidnapped during the night. I would prefer that there be little to no sign of struggle, just for added mystery. For additional background, they were kidnapped by a sort of private police force or guard.
If you were in this sort of position, what clues would you leave your players?
Thank you!
You've left yourself without much option if there is no sign of a struggle. Maybe there is a calling card or a witness to some strangeness that happens in the night. It might be easier if there were signs of a struggle and small bits of evidence could be found at the scene. Broach shaped like a cult symbol or a swatch of a particular tartan cloth. Smell of a spell component lingering in the air. Something to say what may have happened and how it were carried out. Open windows and empty rooms don't provide a string to pull.
Also, how does the tale resolve? Does BBEG have a signature anything? Why did they kidnap specifically the PCs family? What does BBEG want from the PCs for the life of the family members, or is it pure sadistic nature that drives them? BBEG motivation can lend itself to what or how clues are generated so your PCs can meet your BBEG.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
a badge, maybe a little scuffed and dull but if they bring it to an expert they can find out the people or organisation who kidnapped them