Every scenario starts with an adventure hook, or a way to get the characters involved. A good adventure hook motivates the characters to action, not only because the suggested conflict has significance to them, but also because the story is interesting to the players. At its core, a hook is designed to get the PCs’ attention and appeal to one or more of their motivations. Once the hook is set, the characters become protagonists in your story.
Hook Format
Adventure hooks have a simple format, consisting of a statement of fact and a resulting consequence. Limit the hook to a single sentence, conspicuously devoid of detail, and typically structured like:
<Some fact exists>, and <something happens as a result>
The fact can be anything that affects or is of interest to the PCs. Consider the people, places, and things in the PCs’ corner of the campaign and decide what’s going on. Did someone do something to someone else? Did something happen to a particular person? Did something happen in a particular place? Did someone find something of interest?
From there, come up with possible consequences. If someone got hurt, did his friends seek revenge? If someone went missing, does anyone look for him? If someone found a rare object, cache of wealth, or enchanted weapon, what does he do with it and how do other people react? Note that multiple consequences can spring from the same fact. For example, maybe the local hunters report giant spiders in the nearby forest. As a result, the local lord might post a bounty on spiders, a local wizard might sponsor an expedition to bring one back alive, a farmer’s child could disappear, or a prominent merchant might pay for spider silk.
Hooks don’t need to be complex (or even remotely complete), but they do need to be compelling. The key is to tailor the consequence to the PCs so that getting involved in the story is worth more than ignoring it. It’s important that a hook speak to the PCs, or else they’ll never bite—the promise of wealth probably has little influence on a holy warrior, while meting out justice is unlikely to inspire a team of mercenaries. As a result, you’ll need different hooks—based on different campaign ideas—to keep each player interested. To ensure that your PCs take the hook, make sure the consequence appeals to their motivations (wealth, power, influence, revenge, justice, self-preservation, altruism, values, spirituality, et al.).
Don’t puzzle too hard making adventure hooks, and don’t worry about detail, logistics, or anything resembling a die roll or stat block. Simply look at the people, places, and things in your campaign and brainstorm the qualities about each that make them worth the PCs’ time to pursue. Successful hooks usually combine two or more people, places, or things—players like to make (and appreciate) connections within the setting, and the resulting cohesion to your campaign’s structure is usually far greater than the sum of its parts. After your campaign gets a few adventures under its belt, you’ll find that adventure hooks sprout up almost by themselves, as the PCs create, make, and lose opportunities by interacting with the setting.
Sample Hooks
In a previous post (Mid-Size Campaigns (Part 3)), I discussed a sample fantasy campaign area based on four ideas: furred snakes who live in the snow, a tribe of snow elves who hunt them, a nearby town of human loggers, and a zombie-smiting hammer lost by dwarves in ages past. I’ve created some hooks based on these ideas; for the sake of example, I’ve also spelled out the motivations each hook speaks to:
- Furred snake attacks are on the rise in logging camps, and the Timber Guild is hiring mercenaries for protection.
Appeals to the PCs’ sense of adventure and reward - Snow elf hunting parties come closer to town than before, and the town’s lord wants to know why.
Appeals to the PCs’ role as protectors (assuming they have an interest in keeping the locals safe) - Someone’s been digging up the local graveyard, and the town is panicked over rumours of the undead.
Appeals to the PCs’ role as protectors (as above) as well as their desire to solve a mystery - A party of dwarves shows up searching for the Zombie Hammer, and they seek the aid of adventurers.
Appeals to the PCs’ desire for wealth and power, and potential alliance with the dwarves - The king sends word that the last logging shipment was never received, and the Timber Guild launches an investigation.
Appeals to the PCs’ loyalty to the king - Snake fur pelts have become stylish, and the demand for them amongst the rich is rising.
Appeals to the PCs’ desire for wealth - The tattooed body of a stranger is discovered just outside the town’s walls, and the local lord wants to know who he is and how he died.
Appeals to the PCs’ role as protectors, and possible revenge (perhaps they were friends with the deceased) - Logging manifests written in the script of a rival foreign kingdom are found in the local tavern, and suspicions abound over who wrote them.
Appeals to the PCs’ loyalty to the king, desire to solve a mystery, and possible desire for reward
Final Words
Every adventure starts with a hook. Each hook is a simple construct, designed to motivate your PCs into action. Remember, a good campaign isn’t about constantly dazzling your players with plots worthy of Shakespeare. It’s about giving them an environment for their characters to grow–if they’re engaged, they’ll move in directions you never considered anyway. That said, keep your hooks simple: This lets your PCs can easily identify conflicts and set about producing resolution, and it lets you easily adapt hooks to suit your PCs’ dynamic roles in the campaign.
In our next Campaign Development post, we’ll take a few likely hooks (i.e., those your PCs will nibble on) and start fleshing them out into a full adventure, with background, NPCs, maps, and encounters.