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Somebody needs either a new set of gloves or Johnny Cockrin.

You have money, but it's hot. Passage is relitivly easy, but your are wanted. Your allies have abandined you, and now all your enemies get a cash bonus for offing you, instead of a hanging. And there's a rock in your shoe.

Think your day was bad already? Read the fine print. Thought that reward was a bit high for burglary? Maybe that's because you have some extras added on. More things missing, someone kidnapped/killed, a woman blaming her indescretions on you "forcing" herself on you (a convienient way to cover an unexpected pregnancy), something more than you did may have been pinned on you. How are you gonna clear your name when you are part guilty? Go to Comment

Years after this, once Tommy had exacted his revenge on the guildmates who betrayed him to the authorities, he started his own gang of thieves. Contrary to the guild structure that fostered strangers to work together, and sometimes against each other, his gang was family. The Thumbcutters became rather infamous in Farrow and in the surrounding lands. They were indeed thieves of the first rate, but rather than coercion, running rackets and the like, the Thumbcutters were highwaymen and house breakers. They took from the wealthy, from guildsmen and merchants, and their favorite marks, traveling thieves.

The Thumbcutters, however, are still very much part of the community. They give alms at the church, and make an effort at running a front business to look legitimate. They can recognized by their left hands missing the thumb.

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I like this plot. Good for a game with PCs.

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It's a cool start, but I myself would like some follow-through, or some explanations about the guild itself. I'll hold off on a vote if you want to add on... Go to Comment

Definitely the start of something, more towards a short story though.

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A midlevel heist and mystery, good for a nice change of pace from the usual dungeon crawl

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This is quite the cute short story, and it has something usable hiddien in it somewhere. The problem is I am not sure where. PCs don't typically have msising thumbs even if they are a guild member and the real interest comes from the perspective of being Tommy Thumb. I suppose he could be a 'friend' of sorts in need of help but that could easily devolve into an irksome quest or one the PCs would not take up at all.

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Everyone I've ever played with would just sell the necklace in the next town, so some poor store clerk's going to be plagued by demons. And it'd be awful hard to remember which gold coins were cursed. I'd have to adapt it to something they're more likely to hold on to. Something magic maybe. Go to Comment

More to just add something to the game then a plot in itself. The annoyance of the insects at night not giving them a full nights rest could affect their fighting and such. Would have to figure it out eventually just to get some peace. Go to Comment

What is wrong with the clerk being plagued by demons? Be creative and use that to your advantage. The clerk could blame the original death on the characters and blame his own misfortune on them. With barely any prompting you have the Salem Witch Trials vs. the players and let them try and figure it out. Go to Comment

Maybe there is an open tomb out somewhere, with riches to be taken... and to be cursed. The characters are cursed too, just throwing away the necklace or gold may be not enough. Someone else may get the same curse, so it is necessary to return all items to break the curse. Sealing the tomb may be a good idea. They may be later haunted by a ghost, its rest once again disturbed. Characters recognized as worthy, they are asked for help. Once they AGAIN seal the tomb with the riches, they may be given interesting info of the ancient-kind. Now it is a plot. Go to Comment

Even though I agree with Strolen, that the idea is something I would use as an annoyance rather than a plot itself, it's still a pretty good idea.

You have some seemingly innocuous incident of finding some insect riddled corpse in the den of some man eating monster or something(take your pick of man eating monsters), so that the necklace doesn't appear to be the cause of the insect horde. The sort of thing that would appear to be a random encounter, only not really random. After defeating the random encounter, they search the body, oh my, what's this, a fancy necklace, thank you very much mr dead body!

Then you continue them down the path of an adventure. At some point in the adventure, typically a fairly critical but non-mortal point, a spell fails because the wizard couldn't concentrate enough to learn his spell correctly. Then it happens again, after another night, soon, he's not able to learn spells at all, because of all the bugs waking him up over and over again in the night. Same thing could happen for a priest learning spells. Maybe the warriors get tired from lack of sleep and can't hit effectively.

MAYBE they get so tired that paranoia steps in. Everyone is out to get you, even your own comrades. Well, maybe, but I find plots like that tend to be annoying for the players in a cooperative group. Just a thought, I suppose.

Of course, you need to have it happen that the necklace is not suspected for a while to get much play out of it. Go to Comment

A bit of foreshadowing is always a good thing. To start with, the necklace may already be gone when the PC's arrive on the scene. It may pass through a couple of owners before the PCs' get a hold of it. 

 

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Only voted Go to Comment

Loose ends may not hurt anything. I suppose not everything needs an explanation. This little bit of confusion in the PCs life my just lead to any amount of guesses and wondering what it is all about. This confusion may be used by the GM to brainstorm on. Many times players will come up with better ideas then the GM already had and he can change the game to match what the players are guessing about. Go to Comment

I have to say, this is a great idea! Go to Comment

Even if you don't know what to do with it, the players are always a great place for inspiration. Listen to what they think it is and if there is something good, use it. If not, then the encounter can dissappear as a simple oddity. Go to Comment

Ok, this is just a bit weird. It's a huge tangle of loose ends walking around and pouncing on PC's. There are too many questions to ask.

This might be an interesting way introduce the party to the person they are going to be lead around by the nose by. Go to Comment