Real World Adventure Hooks for D&D — Kingly Presence

Real world history and mythology intersect in Tintagel, a village in the United Kingdom. Sculptor Rubin Eynon’s Gallos overlooks the Atlantic Ocean on the cliffs of the village in Cornwall, England. The 8-foot-high bronze statue is inspired by the legend of King Arthur and also the rich Cornish history of the region. And to a fan of fantasy tabletop roleplaying games like fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons, it gets me thinking about adventure hooks.

Gallos statue of King Arthur by Rubin Eynon in Tintagel Cornwall.

D&D adventure hooks from real life

Something like the Gallos sculpture in Tintagel is exactly the kind of detail I enjoy placing in a D&D setting. We recently discussed the power of words in D&D and one thing that came up was how a Dungeon Master’s words impact player. So if you drop something like this bronze sculpture in the middle of nowhere, be prepared for when it draws interest.

A longtime underlying conceit about a fantasy game like D&D includes ages past. Adventurers explore ancient ruins and discover artifacts from prior civilizations. What could it mean to come across a statue like this? Does it mark the site of an ancient battle, the border of a kingdom or a dangerous area? Players and DMs can find fertile ground here for character and campaign development. It’s worth noting the direction the Tintagel sculpture faces. Does it have significance? Is it looking in a particular direction for a reason?

Characters with proficiency in History come to mind first. Also Battle Master fighters with the Student of War feature and other characters with tool proficiencies in cartographer’s tools or smith’s tools might have insight into this unusual landmark. Here’s an opportunity for these characters to use these skills in the exploration.

For a DM an encounter like this can of course be a great adventure hook. It’s worthwhile to keep in mind any adventure informed by this discovery doesn’t need to have immediate payoff either. Making a note of player and character interest, you can revisit the idea later and expand on it. One thing I love to do as a DM is present things like this without any plan and see how the characters react. Finding a bronze statue like the real world King Arthur sculpture is just the sort of thing I’d put on a random encounter table. The party is exploring the wilderness or heading towards a destination, a roll is made and the characters catch sight of statue. The great thing about real world adventure hooks like this is you’ve got the perfect reference to use for your description.

King Arthur at Tintagel

“The hardscrabble land stretches forward to a precipice overlooking the sea. The view is breathtaking, and near the sheer cliff edge you spot what looks like a humanoid figure standing resolute, holding a large sword resting point down on the ground. It figure’s body looks partially indistinct, like there are pieces of it missing. You can’t tell if it’s a trick of the light or something more strange. If the figure sees you, it doesn’t move or react in any way.”

This ought to intrigue the players, right? Scenarios like this have occupied players (including myself!) for quite some time and lead to all sorts of adventures. For a DM the possibilities are numerous. One of my favorites is using these situations to engage players and encourage them to employ their agency. If a character shows interest in the King Arthur-esque sculpture, I might ask the player what it represents.

My campaign setting is not built on exhaustive worldbuilding, so it’s a benefit to me to involve players in the creation process like this. Many times new landmarks become part of the campaign map based completely on player agency like this. This is especially effective with higher level characters, like a one shot game for example. The characters have spent time in the world even if the players have not, and people seem to really enjoy being given a chance to add to the history and lore.

Another possibility is linking our Tintagel statue analog to the party’s current objective. If they are searching for something, this could be a marker. It could denote the region around the party’s destination, or even the spot of an ancient ruin nearby. You might consider adding a little magic to the situation and embedding a message into the sculpture. If the adventurers can figure out how to activate it, they could receive helpful information, a boon or some sort or even the sword itself is granted to a worthy warrior.

By the same token as another possibility it can create a new adventure hook marking something completely outside the party goals. Now you’ve created a secondary plot, congratulations! If adventurers are under a time crunch, this gives them something to look into later. And if it proves this intriguing to them you’ve experienced one of the great joys of a DM — when the characters develop their own goals and motivations without you presenting an adventure hook at all.

D&D adventure hooks are everywhere we look. This one comes from a real world place that evokes ancient history and tradition. You could do a lot worse than drawing on the real world mythology surrounding King Arthur to inspire adventure. Tintagel Castle itself looks like an amazing location for an adventure, and maybe you wind up learning all about the legends and constructing your own dungeon. Kings, knights, wizards and magic swords from ancient days waiting to be discovered by the adventuring party, who develop these goals and motivations all on their own, sounds like a terrific situation for any DM to find themselves in. And to think, it all came about because they happened to see an bronze sculpture overlooking the sea.

How would you use the Gallos sculpture of King Arthur at Tintagel in your game? Have you ever visited the place in Cornwall? I’d love to see visit this place in person. When you incorporate your own experiences as a player or DM, like the feeling of being in a place along with all the sense information, it really helps paint the scene with the others gathered around the gaming table.