The next ABC cycle will soon commence (I am planning the official announcement to come out in a day or two). My plan is to provide a month or so to complete a playable "first draft" of a module which then will be submitted to the organizer (i.e. me). I will then sit on it for two weeks, during which time one can submit a more polished version to replace it, if desired. At the end of that period, the latest version I possess of the submitted modules will be released in a combined entry.
1st List ("technical") - note levels should be considered approximate (e.g., if one got "Level 10 PC", one could also make a module for Level 9 or 11, or a scaleable module for Lvls. 8-12, etc.):
Make a module for a...
1) Warrior PC (meaning primarily the classes with full BAB progression, fighters, barbarians, weapon masters, Dwarven Defenders, etc.).
2) Level 5 PC
3) Healer PC (primarily Cleric or Druid, but Bard or Paladin might work too)
4) Level 10 PC
5) Arcane Caster PC
6) Level 15 PC
7) Thief PC (one requiring stealth or other roguish skills, probably but not necessarily an actual rogue)
Level 20 PC
9) Druid or Ranger PC, or at least a wilderness themed adventure suitable for such classes
10) Level 25 PC
11) Shapechanger (probably a Shifter, but a caster with access to polymorph spells might work too)
12) Level 30 PC
13) Assassin (meaning a PC whose primary occupation is terminating high-value targets, not necessarily limited only to PCs who are Assassins in the sense of having taken levels in that class)
14) Level 35 PC
15) Bounty Hunter (I already did this, but I hardly exhausted the possibilities for this type of character)
16) Level 40 PC
17) PC who is a member of an order or organization with a distinctive code or ideology (I thought this up with monks or paladins in mind, but other class possibilities exist)
18) PC who is a wandering minstrel or some other kind of traveling performer (obviously suggested with bards in mind, but if you can make some other class work with the idea...)
...or make a module with
19) a Time Limit - must complete the adventure before time runs out.
20) a CCC Tie in - Pick one of the themes used for the monthly Custom Content Challenge, and make a module based on the same theme.
2nd List ("story"):
1) Weather or Not - Weather plays a pivotal role in the adventure
2) Disastrously Yours - Similar to the above, a disaster, natural or otherwise, plays a pivotal role in the adventure
3) A2B - A simple journey from point A to point B. What could go wrong? A lot, actually.
4) Trading Places - an adventure set in some alternate mirror universe, for example one where evil has triumphed and lives in the over-dark while the remnants of good huddle in the under-light.
5) Stop Frodo - Either the PC or an NPC has been charged with taking some artifact to the one place where it can be destroyed. Unfortuantely this quest was assigned by someone who was actually an agent of Evil, and this artifact is actually necessary to prevent said Evil from triumphing. The bearer of the artifact must somehow be stopped without being killed.
6) Meddling Kids - The PC comes across a town where all sorts of strange things are happening, and a group of teenagers and a talking dog are the only people with a clue as to the cause (more generally, a Scooby Doo inspired adventure, even if one that does not correspond to it that exactly).
7) Time Travel - Time travel is involved in the adventure in some way
Shakespearean - an adventure based on a Shakespeare play in some way
9) Inheritance - the PC has just inherited something that leads to adventure: could be an item, a tract of land, a title, a family curse, etc.
10) Save the Princess - A rescue mission. From Tristram to Dudley Doright, heroes for centuries have been tasked with getting the girl. (Note: it is permissible for the object of rescue to be someone other than a literal princess).
11) Storm the Castle - Some villain's citadel needs to be assaulted
12) Fairy Godmother - the PC is assigned a dangerous but heroic task by an NPC who also provides some magical aid in its accomplishment.
13) Escape - the PC finds himself held captive, and perhaps stripped of his gear, by hostile forces, and must somehow escape.
14) Everybody Out - everyone's minions/henchmen/whatever have gone on strike, and it is not clear why. The local adventurers' guild/thieves' guild/whatever is offering a reward to whoever can resolve the matter.
15) Amnesia - the PC begins the adventure not knowing who he is or how he ended up in the circumstances in which he finds himself. Naturally answers to these questions, and the question of how he came to forget them, must be found.
16) Siege - an adventure set in a city under siege (or maybe in the besieger's camp).
17) Mysterious Artifact - An artifact has been discovered, and its purpose or some secret concerning it must be sought out.
18) Double Agent - the PC is tasked with infiltrating some nefarious group so as to undermine it from within. This could, but need not, involve a Shifter who can assume the form of kobolds, drow, dragons, or other monsters.
19) The Great Voyage - the PC must undertake a long and arduous journey to some exotic destination, encountering adventures along the way. As an alternative to depicting the entire voyage in one shot, one might also plan a series of modules to be completed over multiple cycles, each involving a particular episode of travel.
20) Murder Mystery - a murder has been committed and the PC must figure out who is responsible. As an alternative, one could adapt the murder mystery format to deal with some other crime or mysterious occurrence.
Among other slight adjustments, I removed the "story" ideas used in the previous cycle ("Plague" and "Blast from the Past" - the latter should be reintroduced in future cycles but I would prefer not to use it twice in a row), and added a couple new ones derived from various suggestions. For this cycle I also removed the hak-limiting options from the first list (we have some new sponsors and I would prefer to encourage participants to make use of their content), though again they may be back in the future.
We will soon see what the dice choose for us.
