Story Hooks

Anyone care to share any of their story hook ideas?

A few that i've used in some of my sagas:

A plague strikes the locale. It is particularly virulent, on close examination of the bodies, it appears that they all carry a small brand. The learned scholars discover this mark to be the personal rune of an exiled mage/spooky ghost/bizarre faerie/Damhan-allaidh, and must find out whats going on.

One of the magi is approached by another young magi at tribunal and offered a part in a movement "to save the order". He is told right off the bat that this is an idea the quaesitors will frown upon, but that it is vital if the order is to continue.

A travelling magi is slain near the covenant grounds. Upon investigation it turns out he was carrying secrets for sale to another covenant. Magic has clearly been used in his murder. Who could be responsible, and why?

A battle over a particular area in the local faerie forest between the faeries of night and day has drawn the magi in. They are asked to fight for the good faeries and will be well rewarded, however, they must fight according to faeries rules, which are deeply bizarre and change every day that the battle continues.

The local monastery finds an ancient tomb while digged out a new cellar. The walls of the tomb are covered with stone slabs bearing ancient writings. The abbot sends for the local "Scholars" knowing that perhaps their brand of knowledge may help unravel the mystery.

Late at night, the magi are awoken by an exhausted messenger, the local duke demands their immediate presence, upon pain of death. Delay will not be tolerated. Upon arriving it turns out the dukes wife is giving birth and there have been complications. The magi quickly determine that without their help, both mother and child will die. Will they use the opportunity to exploit some gain from the duke?

One of my favourite stories that I ran was a murder mystery for the "lower" members of the covenant - companions and grogs.

This story works best in a city/town setting where politics can be played out between guilds, merchants or noble families. We ran it in Verona with the full complement of the criminal underclass, the noble families and divided loyalties.

One of the staff goes missing. He turns up dead two days later, fished out of the river. The search is on for who killed him and why? Why would three criminal brothers murder this young lad? Where is his father? What connects the murder to the apothecary, the two great houses of the city and a rising merchant? And what has this to do with one house losing its patriarch to sudden illness?

There you go, you can make your own story up now.

Why do the covenfolk seem to be forgetting their own names? Can the magi discover the root of the... oh, what's the word... before their..., ah, it'll come to me... runs out?

It is said that Ragnarok will be heralded by three winters... What do the magi make of the river, frozen solid in the heat of summer? What do the magi make of the autumn leaves that fall from the trees and turn to snow before they touch the ground? Still, those problems solved themselves... soon be winter.

An artist, tortured and despairing, turns to the covenant. What are the disturbing symbols he feels compelled to paint? And how come he sees creatures of darkness that magic cannot detect? And why is the abbot so keen for him to finish the fresco he started?

You should also checl some past posts, like this one:
https://forum.atlas-games.com/t/plotline-need-more-ideas-my-players-should-not-read-this/776/1

This may give you ideas :smiley:

If you're that stumped, you need some thought provoking material, not just simple spoonfed answers.

Here's some stuff- on the lower left of the main page (not margin) is a section titled "Good Starting Articles" - check them out (esp "Intro to Storybuilding", but also others. All good grist for the mill.)

skotos.net/articles/

Here are some others, with more direct suggestions for plotslines/etc:

complang.tuwien.ac.at/alex/H ... index.html

io.com/~sjohn/plots.htm