MacGuffins are those items or bits of story that serve to trigger different parts of the plot into action. What would The Maltese Falcon be without that classic figurine of a black bird? Or Raiders of the Lost Ark be without the Ark of the Covenant? What would The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings be without the One Ring?
Though they’re used all the time in films, television, and books, we sometimes use them in our roleplaying game campaigns as well. This series of products aims to provide some ideas on how to randomly generate plot ideas based around simple objects so our players and PCs can sink their teeth into them.
The idea for Moebius MacGuffins: The Gift sprung from a topic explored in the RPG Blog Carnival hosted by the World Builder Blog in December 2015 (Homebrew Holiday Gifts) and rapidly took on a life of its own. This product collects the articles I wrote on the topic and expands on them, including ideas for:
- Potential Adventure Seeds (*NEW!*)
- Generating Simple Gift Ideas to Explore (came from 12 Random Gifts For Your PCs Out of the Blue)
- Sending “Special” Gifts from Enemies of the PCs (came from The Gift of Giving (Evil))
- and “What’s in the Box?” (came from a post of the same name, but the product includes a greatly expanded list of descriptors to explore)
You get a little of this, a little of that… and as with most Moebius Adventures products, the MacGuffins series will be system- and genre-neutral, offering ideas for multiple genres including fantasy, the Wild West, science fiction, and even modern worlds.
This is but the first product in this line. I have a few more in store, including:
- Treasure
- Blades
- Books
- and more!
If you take a look at the gift and have ideas you’d like me to explore, be sure to send them along – I’d love to hear them!
The Gift is available today at DriveThruRPG, RPGNow, and Selz – and will be available at Paizo and the Open Gaming Store (d20pfsrd) as soon as those links go live. It’s only $1. And I seriously want to hear what you have to say about it!
And the product is now available at The Open Gaming store (d20pfsrd) as well! Check it out here – http://shop.d20pfsrd.com/collections/moebius-adventures/products/moebius-macguffins-the-gift