D&D General Examples of "Core" D&D Adventure Themes?

[Retreater]

So I have a few newish players who came in with Curse of Strahd and now Rime of the Frostmaiden. With a couple of our regular players out last session, they wanted me to run a one-shot for the ones who were able to make it. I decided to do a very lightly planned 2-hour adventure that could work well for two players.

We did the classic prison break, where they had to sneak out of their cells, overpower the guard (and locking him in their manacles), recover their equipment, etc.

It was energetic, fresh, and a lot of fun - despite it being something of a traditional adventure - so much that those of us who have been GMing for a while might consider it overdone.

Are there any other classic adventure templates that I might've forgotten over the years that would be fun for new players? (Haunted house might be an example, but they've done that in Curse of Strahd.)

 

[GuyBoy]

In no particular order:
Rescue a person from captors. This can be cliched in several ways but is still a useful classic template. A variant is that the person has disappeared, with detective work needed to find the culprits.

Something best left forgotten has been disturbed by accident or deliberately awoken. The local village is under threat.

Recover the item. Bit of a yawn here for me, but it meets your criterion.

Escort a group through a perilous area

Just a few suggestions to help. You could also take the pie from the orc!

 

[Odysseus]

solve murder, heist, seven samurai,lift a curse or find a missing person.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Reverse dungeon: PCs are monsters defending a dungeon from a party of adventurers.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Reverse dungeon: PCs are monsters defending a dungeon from a party of adventurers.

Pretty much seven samurai

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Are there any other classic adventure templates that I might've forgotten over the years that would be fun for new players?

1. Someone has something you want. Kill them and take it.

2. Someone has something you want. Take it .... WITHOUT killing them.

3. Someone wants something. They pay you to get it.

4. Someone wants something. You get it, and the someone decides to take it from you instead of paying you.

5. Someone wants something. They pay you to get it, and you realize that you better not give it to them.

 

[jayoungr]

The Mount Doom variant: Destroy a dangerously powerful object.

 

[prabe]

4. Someone wants something. You get it, and the someone decides to take it from you instead of paying you.

5. Someone wants something. They pay you to get it, and you realize that you better not give it to them.

These seem to lean into the trope of "you were hired by an evil person, who will (or might) betray you." Which is definitely a theme/trope, plausibly aside from what you've been hired to do.

 

[R_J_K75]

Clean out old abandoned keep thats the base of monsters who are attacking travelers, clear it out and keep the Keep.

 

[CleverNickName]

You find a map!

• It shows the location of a lost treasure, go dig it up!
• It shows the location of a lost city, go explore it!
• It shows the last known location of a hated foe, go arrest him!
• It shows the location of a forgotten tomb, go loot it!
• It shows the location of an uncharted island, go chart it!
• It shows the location of (Noun), go (Verb) it!