Adventure Types

While every adventure you design should feel unique to your world and the unfolding story, most scenarios tend to fall into recognizable patterns or Adventure Types. These archetypes represent common premises, goals, and gameplay loops found in fantasy role-playing. Understanding these types isn’t about forcing your creativity into a box; rather, it’s about having a useful shorthand and a set of established tropes to draw inspiration from, combine, or subvert when crafting your Alacrity adventures.

Recognizing different adventure types helps you:

• Brainstorm Ideas: When looking for a new scenario, thinking in terms of archetypes (e.g., “Maybe a classic dungeon crawl next?”) can kickstart the creative process.
• Structure the Scenario: Certain types naturally lend themselves to specific adventure structures (as discussed in the previous section).
• Focus Preparation: Knowing you’re designing, for example, an investigation helps you prioritize developing clues, NPCs, and social challenges over detailing complex combat encounters (though some might still occur).
• Manage Player Expectations: Sometimes, signaling the type of adventure upfront (e.g., “You’ve been hired to explore the lost tomb,” clearly indicating a dungeon crawl) helps players prepare appropriately, both in terms of character skills and mindset.
• Ensure Variety: Consciously choosing different adventure types over the course of a campaign can keep gameplay fresh and prevent monotony.

This section explores several common adventure types, discusses their typical characteristics, highlights relevant Alacrity skills, and suggests suitable adventure structures. Remember that these are flexible categories, and the most memorable adventures often blend elements from multiple types.

Dungeon Crawl (Site Exploration)

The quintessential RPG adventure type. The core premise involves exploring a defined, often dangerous, self-contained location – typically ancient ruins, subterranean caverns, monster lairs, trapped tombs, abandoned castles, wizard towers, or even derelict spaceships in science-fantasy settings.

• Goal: Usually involves reaching a specific point within the location, defeating a primary inhabitant (the “boss monster”), recovering a particular treasure or artifact, finding crucial information hidden within, mapping the area, or simply clearing it of threats.
• Challenges: Emphasis on navigating complex layouts, overcoming environmental hazards (pits, collapses, flooded sections), avoiding or disabling traps (Thievery, Perception), solving environmental puzzles, battling resident monsters or guardians (Melee Combat, Archery, Magic), managing resources (light sources, rations, HP/SP/MP), and finding secret passages or hidden clues (Investigation, Perception).
• Relevant Skills: Perception (spotting traps, secret doors, ambushes), Investigation (understanding mechanisms, finding clues, deciphering inscriptions), Thievery (disabling traps, picking locks), Athletics (climbing, jumping, forcing doors), Acrobatics (navigating hazards, dodging traps), combat skills (Melee Combat, Archery, Unarmed Combat, Dodge), Magic (utility Effects like light, detection, or bypassing obstacles; combat Effects), potentially Lore (understanding history or symbols found within).
• Typical Structure: Primarily Site-Based. The location itself is the structure, and players navigate it non-linearly. May contain linear sequences within specific sections.
• Alacrity Focus: Leverages a wide range of skills. The GM uses detailed site maps, sets difficulties for environmental interaction (Athletics to climb a crumbling wall, Thievery vs. trap difficulty), and runs tactical combat encounters using cover and terrain features present on the map.

Wilderness Expedition

This adventure type focuses on journeys through untamed, often hazardous, natural environments. The challenge lies in the travel itself, navigating the terrain, surviving the elements, and dealing with the denizens of the wild.

• Goal: Often involves reaching a specific remote destination (a lost city, a mountain peak, a hidden oasis), charting an unknown territory, tracking a creature or person across vast distances, finding a rare natural resource, or simply surviving a perilous journey.
• Challenges: Emphasis on overcoming environmental obstacles (treacherous mountains, dense jungles, harsh deserts, stormy seas), navigating accurately (Navigation), surviving weather extremes (Body checks, Survival), finding food and water (Survival), avoiding or dealing with natural hazards (quicksand, avalanches, poisonous plants), encountering dangerous wildlife or monstrous beasts (Combat, Animal Handling), managing travel time and resources (rations, fatigue via Overland Travel rules), potentially interacting with isolated tribes or settlements.
• Relevant Skills: Survival (tracking, foraging, shelter, weather prediction), Navigation (finding the way, map reading), Athletics (climbing, swimming, forced marches), Perception/Vigilance (spotting hazards, tracks, ambushes), Animal Handling (dealing with mounts or wild beasts), Body checks (resisting fatigue/exposure), combat skills (for hostile encounters), potentially Herbalism or Medicine (treating exposure/injuries).
• Typical Structure: Often Goal-Oriented (Pointcrawl), where the journey involves moving between key landmarks or waypoints on a regional map. Can also be Event-Based if driven by time-sensitive natural phenomena (e.g., reaching a location before winter sets in, outrunning a migrating horde). May include Site-Based elements if the expedition involves exploring a specific ruin or natural complex found along the way.
• Alacrity Focus: Highlights skills often underutilized in urban or dungeon settings. The GM uses regional maps, applies Overland Travel rules for pace and fatigue, sets difficulties for Navigation and Survival based on terrain and weather, and designs encounters appropriate to the environment. Resource management becomes critical.

Investigation / Mystery

This type of adventure revolves around uncovering secrets, solving crimes, or piecing together fragmented information to understand a larger puzzle. The focus is on gathering clues and making deductions.

• Goal: Typically involves identifying a culprit (murderer, thief, spy), uncovering a conspiracy or hidden plot, finding the cause of a mysterious event (e.g., disappearances, strange magical effects), locating a missing person or object through clues, or deciphering a coded message or ancient riddle.
• Challenges: Emphasis on gathering information through various means: interviewing witnesses and suspects (Persuasion, Insight, Intimidation, Deception), searching locations for physical evidence (Investigation, Perception), researching historical records or obscure topics (Lore, Arcana), following trails (physical or metaphorical), analyzing clues and making logical deductions. May involve overcoming obstacles to access information (e.g., Thievery to bypass locks, Stealth to eavesdrop, social maneuvering to gain access to restricted areas). Combat might occur but is often secondary to the investigation itself (e.g., confronting a cornered suspect, dealing with guards).
• Relevant Skills: Investigation (analyzing scenes, finding clues, deduction), Perception (noticing details), Insight (reading NPCs, detecting lies), Persuasion (gaining cooperation, interviewing), Deception (bluffing, creating false leads), Intimidation (coercing information), Lore/Arcana/Divine Lore (providing context or understanding clues), Stealth (surveillance, eavesdropping), Thievery (accessing locked areas/containers).
• Typical Structure: Often Goal-Oriented (Pointcrawl / Story Web), where players follow leads connecting different NPCs, locations, and pieces of evidence (nodes). Can also be Branching Path if key decisions or discoveries lead down different investigative avenues. May incorporate Event-Based elements if there’s a deadline (e.g., finding the killer before they strike again).
• Alacrity Focus: Heavily utilizes social and knowledge skills. The GM needs to prepare key clues, relevant NPCs with information (and motivations for sharing or hiding it), and potential locations to search. The “Three Clue Rule” is vital here to ensure players can progress. Success often depends on clever skill use and piecing together information rather than direct confrontation.

Intrigue / Social Maneuvering

Similar to investigations but often focused more on navigating complex social or political landscapes, gaining influence, and achieving goals through manipulation, diplomacy, or navigating relationships rather than finding a single “truth.”

• Goal: Gaining political favor or status, securing an alliance, negotiating a treaty or trade deal, manipulating factions against each other, uncovering and exploiting scandals, winning a position of power, protecting one’s reputation, or orchestrating social events (like a wedding or coronation) successfully.
• Challenges: Emphasis on social interaction and understanding power dynamics. Requires navigating complex relationships between NPCs and factions, gathering sensitive information or gossip (Stealth, social skills), spreading rumors or propaganda (Deception, Performance), making persuasive arguments (Persuasion), reading intentions (Insight), using leverage or blackmail, attending social functions and adhering to etiquette (Performance, Lore (Nobility/Culture)), potentially dealing with spies, assassins, or rivals through indirect means. Direct combat might be rare but assassination or duels could occur.
• Relevant Skills: Social skills (Persuasion, Insight, Deception, Intimidation) are paramount. Lore (politics, heraldry, specific factions, culture) provides crucial context. Performance (oratory, etiquette, acting) is useful for making impressions or maintaining cover. Stealth and Sleight of Hand might be used for espionage or planting evidence. Command might be relevant if influencing groups.
• Typical Structure: Often Event-Based (revolving around specific social events like feasts, councils, trials) or Goal-Oriented (Pointcrawl) where players interact with key NPCs (nodes) to build influence or gather support. Can have Branching Paths based on social successes or failures. Sandbox elements work well if the intrigue unfolds within a specific city or court players can freely navigate.
• Alacrity Focus: Primarily tests social skills and knowledge. The GM needs well-developed NPCs with clear motivations, relationships, and secrets. Success depends on clever dialogue, understanding social dynamics, and strategic use of influence and information. Contested social skill rolls are common.

Defense / Siege

In this scenario, the player characters are tasked with protecting a specific location (a fort, village, temple, bridge) or group of people from an imminent or ongoing attack.

• Goal: Successfully repel the attackers, minimize casualties and damage, protect key assets or individuals within the location, hold out until reinforcements arrive, or break the siege.
• Challenges: Facing waves of attackers (Combat), potentially dealing with siege engines (Engineering to counter, or enduring their effects), reinforcing defenses (Crafting, Athletics), managing resources (ammunition, healing supplies, defender morale), coordinating defenders (Command), potentially dealing with infiltration or sabotage attempts by the enemy (Vigilance, Investigation), treating wounded (First Aid, Medicine), maintaining morale (Persuasion, Performance).
• Relevant Skills: Combat skills (Melee Combat, Archery, Dodge), Command (directing NPCs), Engineering (using/countering siege weapons, reinforcing structures), Athletics (moving under fire, barricading), Medicine/First Aid (treating casualties), Vigilance/Perception (spotting threats), potentially Intimidation or Persuasion (dealing with panicked civilians or wavering defenders).
• Typical Structure: Often Event-Based, structured around the phases of the attack or a timeline of enemy actions. Can also be Site-Based, focusing on the tactical defense of the specific location using its map features. May involve short Pointcrawl elements if defenders need to move between different threatened sections of the location.
• Alacrity Focus: Blends tactical combat with resource management and potentially leadership skills. The GM needs a clear map of the location being defended, stats for the attackers (potentially using simplified horde rules or focusing on key enemy leaders/units), and a plan for how the attack unfolds over time. Player actions in preparing defenses or leading NPCs can directly impact the difficulty of subsequent encounters.

Assault / Infiltration

The inverse of a defense scenario, here the players are the attackers, attempting to breach a fortified or secure location. This might involve a direct assault or a stealthy infiltration.

• Goal: Penetrate the location’s defenses, defeat or bypass guards, reach a specific objective inside (e.g., assassinate a leader, steal an object, rescue a prisoner, sabotage a mechanism), and potentially escape.
• Challenges: Overcoming physical defenses (walls, gates, traps – requiring Athletics, Thievery, Engineering, or Magic), dealing with guards and patrols (through Combat, Stealth, Deception, or Magic), navigating the potentially complex layout of the site, avoiding detection, potentially acquiring keys, passwords, or uniforms, dealing with alarms or reinforcements.
• Relevant Skills: Depends heavily on the approach:Assault: Combat skills, Athletics, Engineering (breaching defenses), Command (if leading allied troops).
  • Infiltration: Stealth, Thievery (locks, traps), Acrobatics (climbing, bypassing sensors), Deception (bluffing guards, disguises), Sleight of Hand (lifting keys), Perception/Investigation (spotting patrols, finding routes), Magic (invisibility, bypassing wards, charm).
• Typical Structure: Often Site-Based, focusing on the detailed layout of the target location. May have Branching Path elements representing different infiltration routes or methods of entry. A direct assault might follow a more Linear or Event-Based structure based on breaching phases.
• Alacrity Focus: Allows players to choose their approach based on their skills. The GM needs a detailed map of the target site, including defenses, guard placements and patrol routes, potential obstacles, and the location of the objective. Success often relies on careful planning and execution, leveraging the chosen approach (stealth vs. force).

Rescue / Recovery

A common adventure premise where the primary goal is to retrieve a specific person (rescue) or object (recovery) from a dangerous location or hostile captors.

• Goal: Locate the target (person or object), overcome the obstacles protecting them/it, and bring them/it back safely.
• Challenges: Often combines elements from other types. May involve Investigation to locate the target, Wilderness Expedition to reach a remote location, Infiltration or Assault to access the site where the target is held, Combat against guards or captors, Social Interaction to negotiate release or gather information, and potentially challenges related to safely extracting the target (e.g., escorting an injured NPC, transporting a fragile artifact).
• Relevant Skills: Highly variable depending on the specific scenario. Often requires a broad mix of combat, stealth, social, exploration, and investigation skills.
• Typical Structure: Frequently Goal-Oriented (Pointcrawl), involving steps like finding clues, locating the holding site, planning the retrieval, executing the plan, and escaping. May include significant Site-Based elements for the location where the target is held.
• Alacrity Focus: Tests the party’s versatility and ability to combine different skill sets to overcome a multi-stage problem.

Escort / Protection

The characters are hired or tasked with ensuring the safety of an NPC, group, or valuable item during transit through potentially dangerous territory.

• Goal: Deliver the “package” (person, object, caravan) safely to its destination, protecting it from threats along the way.
• Challenges: Combines elements of travel with potential combat and social interaction. Involves navigating the route (Navigation, Survival), anticipating and avoiding threats (Vigilance, Perception, Stealth), defending against ambushes or attacks (Combat), potentially dealing with the needs or demands of the person/group being escorted (Persuasion, Intimidation), managing resources for the journey.
• Relevant Skills: Combat skills, Vigilance/Perception (spotting threats), Navigation/Survival (managing the journey), Athletics (keeping pace, overcoming obstacles), social skills (managing the escortee or interacting with encountered groups), potentially First Aid/Medicine.
• Typical Structure: Often Linear or Goal-Oriented (Pointcrawl) along a defined route, punctuated by specific encounters or challenges tied to locations along the way. Can become Event-Based if external factors (like pursuing enemies or worsening weather) create time pressure.
• Alacrity Focus: Emphasizes awareness skills (Vigilance, Perception) and the ability to react to sudden threats during travel. Tests the party’s ability to protect something other than themselves.

Blending Adventure Types

As mentioned, these types are not mutually exclusive. The most engaging adventures often blend elements seamlessly:

• A Dungeon Crawl might begin with a Wilderness Expedition to find the entrance and involve an Investigation to understand the dungeon’s purpose or bypass a major puzzle.
• An Intrigue adventure might culminate in an Infiltration of a rival’s manor to find incriminating evidence, followed by a tense Escort mission to get the evidence to safety.
• A Rescue mission might require Investigating the captors’ location, Infiltrating their base, Combat to free the prisoner, and a dangerous Wilderness Expedition to escape pursuit.

Think of these types as building blocks. Identify the core goal and primary challenges of your scenario, then borrow elements from other types as needed to add variety, complexity, and depth.

Tailoring Types to Your Campaign

The types of adventures you feature should align with your campaign’s established Tone, Scope, and Themes.

• A High Fantasy campaign focused on Good vs. Evil might feature more Assaults on dark fortresses, Defenses of besieged cities, Rescues of important figures, and Recoveries of powerful artifacts.
• A Low Fantasy campaign focused on Political Intrigue might feature more Investigations, Social Maneuvering, and perhaps Infiltrations or targeted Eliminations.
• A Dark Fantasy campaign focused on Survival might emphasize Wilderness Expeditions through blighted lands, Defenses against monstrous incursions, and Investigations into sanity-threatening horrors.
• A Sandbox campaign might offer hooks leading to various types simultaneously – a dungeon nearby, a caravan needing guards, a mystery in town – allowing players to choose their preferred type of engagement.

Varying the adventure types keeps the campaign from feeling repetitive and allows different characters to take the spotlight based on their skills and interests.

Conclusion

Understanding common adventure types provides a valuable framework for Game Masters designing scenarios in Alacrity. These archetypes – Dungeon Crawl, Wilderness Expedition, Investigation, Intrigue, Defense, Assault, Rescue, Escort – offer proven structures and challenge combinations that resonate with players. By identifying the core type(s) that fit your immediate story goals, leveraging the associated skills and structures, and blending elements creatively, you can craft engaging and varied adventures. Use these types not as rigid constraints, but as flexible templates to inspire your own unique scenarios, ensuring each adventure contributes meaningfully to the unfolding narrative of your campaign world.

 

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File Created: 05/07/2025
Last Modified: 05/07/2025