STORYGAME - Grand Adventures I & II

Grand Adventures are optional frameworks the GM may use to build STORYGAME campaigns with a cohesive and genre-specific central tension. Each is inspired by a popular piece of classic fantasy and is intended to span the many, many sessions of an entire campaign, loosely following a structure based on the Campbellian monomyth (aka the "hero's journey").

Each Grand Adventure consists of:

• Common elements, shared between the potential variations of the Grand Adventure.
• Variable elements, each with 1d3 interchangeable - and trope-filled - options. 

Grand Adventure I - The Never-Ending Doom

Refugees from across the Known Lands pour into the cities, displaced from their homes by a mysterious and malevolent Doom slowly devouring the world.

Common Elements:

• Wizened mages atop a Great Tower send the party on a long and dangerous journey to an Oracle.
• Traversing the Doom is impossible without aid of a strange and friendly Beast.
• Two Guardians block the path to the Oracle, each a deadly test of character.
• The Oracle provides a solution, though whether it will come to pass is up to the party.

Before the first session:

The Doom

1. Parts of the world are literally falling away, dropping into a mysterious space-like void. Within the stars stands a pearlescent tower where the Godempress sleeps.
2. A swirling shadow slowly constricts the world in persistent darkness and death. Within the darkness lies a warren, a den of aggression, dirt, and decay where the Doomwolf waits.
3. Deepwinter comes! An inhospitable ice age slowly spreads from the north, freezing all in its path. Within the cold lies a fortress of frost and steel where the Winterking reigns.

Friendly Beast

1. A long, snake-like dragon with brilliant golden scales and the ability to talk and fly.
2. A giant, lazy bat that can't talk, but can lift 3-5 people and works for fruit.
3. A giant, flying ox-bear with a saddle that can understand humans but cant talk.

Oracle's Solution

1. A great Artifact must be used to wish the Doom away, at the cost of the wishmaker's memories. 
2. The Doom itself must be traversed and a great being within must be conquered.
3. A sleeping Godempress must be given a new name, specifically by a child born in a world outside of the players' own. 

Act I - The Players

1. News of the Doom has spread far and wide. Settlements across the Known Lands volunteer to send their best and brightest to the Great Tower in search of a solution.
2. A tight-lipped mage and their protector arrive at the players' village with orders to accompany the party to the Great Tower - they have been summoned by a foretelling.
3. The Doom destroys the players’ village, turning them and their neighbors into refugees. While searching for a new home, they are asked by an elder to seek aid from the Great Tower.

When the party leaves the Great Tower in search of the Oracle:

Act II - Into the Unknown

1. Those exposed to the Doom are cursed with paranoia, anger, and aggression. The curse spreads through shared negative thoughts and fear, and eventually erupts in violence and murder.
2. A mysterious and powerful avatar of the Doom begins hunting down those who seek to stop it.
3. Armies of the undead begin emerging from the Doom to attack settlements along its borders, dragging back captives to grow its ranks.

Just before accomplishing the solution:

Act III - All Is Lost

1. The Doom has spread throughout all of the Known Lands except for the region the party currently occupies. Failure at this stage means the Doom overtakes all.
2. One of the party's companions is secretly a servant of the Doom, only exposing themselves after successfully thwarting the party's attempt at the solution.
3. The solution learned previously was incorrect and fails bafflingly. Roll for a different solution.

Grand Adventure II - One Artifact to Rule Them All

An all-powerful Dark Lord has returned, upending the land in search of a particular artifact needed to enact their evil plan. Only the destruction of said artifact has any chance of stopping them.

Common Elements:

• The party is sent on a long journey to find those who know how to destroy the artifact.
• The party is sent on a long journey to the place where the artifact must be destroyed.
• Using the artifact is equally as helpful as it is hindering - and addictive.
• A weak and desperate past owner of the artifact obsesses over it while trying to get it back.

Before the first session:

The Dark Lord

1. An ancient Elfking of Chaos, long dead, now conjures armies of beastmen from earth and bone. He yearns to completely destroy free will, and subjugate all the lands to his whims. Destroying the artifact destroys the beastmen, reducing them once again to mud. 
2. A magician-turned-lich, resurrected by aristocratic members of a dark, cult-like secret society. He yearns to feed on all life. Destroying the artifact makes the lich mortal and able to be harmed.
3. A long-banished sorceress, now commanding obsessive scholars-turned-servants from a prison realm of pain located just beyond the walls of her own tower. She yearns to escape, feeding on fresh sacrifices to restore her power. Destroying the artifact cuts her off from the material plane.

The Artifact

1. A platinum band that phases the wearer into shadow when worn. The wearer becomes invisible to living targets, but nearby agents of the Dark Lord are able to sense its use.
2. A priceless, legendary weapon able to pass through armor like a ghost, and renders body parts useless with even the lightest of scratches. Extremely recognizable and coveted.
3. A jeweled puzzle box that grants one who is able to open it safe passage to and through the realm of chaos. Their companions are not similarly protected.

Required Destruction

1. The artifact must be smelted in a great furnace within the Dark Lord’s own blasted realm.
2. The artifact is tied to an ancient and un-killable being who must be found and, somehow, slain.
3. The artifact must be destroyed by an another artifact, which may no longer exist.

Act I - The Players

1. A mentor, an old hermit and hedge wizard, arrives during holiday festival to speak with the village elders. After, they task the party with carrying the artifact while accompanying the old hermit to a faraway city, so they may find someone who knows how to destroy it.
2. The Dark Lord's forces raid the village during holiday festival, and the party discovers the artifact in the chaos. After, they are told to keep it hidden and find a wizard to bring it to.
3. One of the party member's family keeps the artifact, proudly displaying and boasting of it during holiday festival. A band of thieves posing as peddlers attempts to steal it for the Dark Lord.

Halfway through the first journey:

Act II - Into the Unknown

1. Ghastly revenants are unleashed to hunt down and steal the artifact from the party. They ride unliving skeletal steeds which never tire, but cannot cross rivers or streams.
2. Those who bear the artifact, even just for a moment, are tempted to use it. Upon first touching it, a Resist save is required to stay the urge.
3. People are falling into an unshakeable, unspeaking trance seemingly at random. They don robes and migrate in hooded herds towards a single faraway location, unable to react to dangers.

Halfway through the second journey:

Act III - All is Lost

1. Human factions vie for the artifact, rivaling the Dark Lord in the ferocity of their search. The party and those that help them are hunted, and all but the best of companions can't be trusted.
2. The party also learns they have attempted this many times, in previous lives. Their current lives are proof they’ve never prevailed, and their deaths - and impending betrayals - may be inevitable.
3. The artifact inexplicably goes missing, as if it just disappeared. The party must somehow track down its new bearer and recover it - before it can be delivered to the Dark Lord.