Summary

• Break up your D&D campaign with fun side quests to lighten the mood and give your players a break from the main storyline.
• Side quests can provide extra time for you to work on your main campaign's next steps while still engaging your players.
• From laboratory lockdowns to romantic dates, these unique side quests offer a variety of challenges and experiences for your party.

When running a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons campaign, you always need lots of adventures for your p💜arty to enjoy. Side quests are a great way to break up the action of the main storyline. If the main campaign is getting a little intense, having a few🌱 side quests available will allow your players to take a break from the norm and have some fun without as much at stake.

Side quests are also helpful when you need some extra time to work on the next big step of your overall n🍸arrative. Here are several fun side quest ideas that will work great as a fun distraction for your party.

Updated January 19, 2025, by Zackary Wiggs: With the new 2024 edition of Dungeons & Dragons, all new content and rules have come to game stores (both digital and physical) near you. Sure, there are new ways to run the game and new items to throw your players' way, but you still need adventures for them to go on. Not every quest has to be a main plot point. Here are some new ideas for some of the most classic side quests for your next adventuring group.

25 🍌 Take On A Cult

The Party Must Take On A Classic Group Of Fanatics

Your players hear꧙ rumors of a cult preparing for some dark ritual in some far-off dungeon, for the sake of the world itself they must intervene. Traveling to the dungeon can be an adventure in and of itself, with plenty of odd occurrences and cultish thralls trying to stop them along the way.

Whatever dark god they revere means their ritual can't be anything good. Your players must race against the clock to defeat the cultists' magic before the world becomes ꦅa far worse place. Throw in some eldritch or monstrous creatures for good measure.

This can even be the s🔯tart to a repeating side quest, dependent on the length of your adventure.

24 🍌 🌱 Catch The Thief

Something Is Stolen, The Chase Is On

While exploring a new city, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a roguish type bumps into one of the players. Before they have a chanওce to apologize, the person takes off. After a relatively easy perception check, the player realizes that something of value has been stolen from them.

The chase is on. The players must work together to capture the thief, who is surprisingly agile, learning the scenery of the city as they go. Onಌce caught, the thief is likely to give up the item without a tussle, but now the party is in the center of a city theyꦺ have no idea how to get around in, perhaps getting into even more trouble as they find their way.

This is a great way to introduce a🅠 Thieves' Guild.

23 ও ꦜ Laboratory On Lockdown

Trapped With Escaped Experiments, The Party Must Lift The Lockdown Soon

In this D&D side quest idea, your players visit a fascinating laboratory full of inventions that blur the line between magic and science. Their tour guide, an enthusiastic scientist, is showing them around when suddenly alarms begin to ring. All the doors and windows are magically sealed,ꦜ and the faint sound of growls and screams can be heard from afar. The lights all go out, and their tour guide makes a mad dash for the safe room.

All the laboratory experiments have made a break for it and are now stalking the corridors of this sprawling facility. The security system will not stop until the threats have gone away. The party must either trap the experiments back in their chambers or assist them in their great escape (as long as they don’t get too close). Alternatively, the party may track down the security system and just le🍸ave the laboratory in chaos. No matter their decision, the laboratory is full of surprises throughout each room, from puzzles to aut🍌omated security.

22 💃 How Do We Land This Thing?

Just One Animal Handling Check Isn't Going To Cut It

For a fast-paced and potentially abrupt small side quest, have the players encounter an incredibly large, ferocious beast just about to take off. Per♏haps the creature was half buried in the ground, slumbering, and the party’s footsteps on top of it awakened it for the firs꧒t time in a while. Regardless of the circumstances, the party must hold on tight as the winged beast sets off into the sky.

Getting higher and higher, it becomes clear that even feather fall won’t last long enough for the drop below. The party must figure out another way to get their feet on the ground. Perhaps they can communicate with the creature or tame it? Maybe they can influence its direction towards some tall mountains or a floating city. They might opt to wait it out and see how long they can hold on before the monster lands. A quest idea like this will lead to some fun solutions from your players and will be one mode of transportღ they will not forget anytime soo🧸n.

21 Rise To Th♌e Throne 🔴

Influencing The Future King Or Queen Of The Kingdom

The players meet a nervous young traveler who seems out of place despite their best efforts to blend in. Should they attempt to befriend the stranger, they soon discover that they are a royal noble who has fled their kingdom to avoid their duty as heir. This side quest is a more social encounter, as your players advise what the flustered noble꧃ should do.

This will not be the end of the quest, though. Every so often, have your players re-encounter the heir. They🦂 are still traveling the realm, trying to find themselves and their purpose. From helping them out of trouble to learning about their stint as a bard, the party should hopefully become quite attached to the ruler-to-be. They may also encounter others linked to the noble, such as a guard sent out to find them or an assassin seeking to strike.

This long, slow-burn quest 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:will fit nicely in a longer campaign♏, as it may lead to the heir finally taking their rightful place as king or queen of their kingdom. How the party treats and influences them with each encounter will determine what kind of ruler they will 🦄become.

20 I Object!

Taking The Law Into Their Own Hands

While resting in a local tavern, the lo🎃cal guards surround the party. One of them has been accused of a terrible crime, is carted away to jail, and is now awaiting trial. They might have been framed for the crime or did indeed commit the act. Regardless, their fate is now up to the rest of the players to help them.

The party will be taking on the role of lawyers, attempting to convince a jury of local townsfolk that their friend is innocent. How will they go about this? Try to track down the real culprit? Find or falsify evidence of the suspect’s innocence? Infiltrate the jury? The player on trial will also have their part to play, trying to come across as sympathetic enough to sway the jury’s votes. To mess with the group, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:you could end the session right before the verdict is announced. Maybe the party will win the trial, or perhaps the next side quest will be🐽 a classic prison break!

19 Capturing A 𒁃Monster

A Hunt Where The Role Of Predator And Prey Can Switch In An Instant

More often than not, D&D side quests involve killing a monster or two along the journey, which can eventually become quite an easy feat for your mighty heroes. But what if they had to keep the monster alive and transport it somewhere? That's not quite as easy. To set what level of challenge you want your players to have, you'll need to de♌cide what type of monster they'll be tasked🤪 with tracking down.

A wizard or researcher is keen to learn more about this particular creature and has offered to pay the par𓆉ty a hefty sum of gold to get the beast to their laboratory in one piece. How will the party go a🦩bout restraining such a deadly creature? Will their spells last long enough for the journey? Will the monster break free near a town?

First, the party will need to plan the initial ambush and then ꦡhow to transport the monster safely. This task involves a lot ꦜof risk, but your party will likely figure out a creative way to keep things under control... hopefully.

18 ♛ Reꦬverse Genie

It's The Party's Turn To Grant Three Wishes

The party stumbles upon a magic lamp and is confident they are about to get themselves a chance to finally use the powerful Wish spell they've heard so much about. Unfortunately, when they awaken the being inside the lamp, it is a dishonest trickster, fairy, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:or perhaps a terrifying demon. The party has awoken a reverse genie that s𝔉wiftly curses them to grant its own three wishes instead. The devil will continue tormenting the party until they grant all three obscure desires.

Since the party doesn’t have reality-bending magic themselves, they'll have to get creative with their wish-granting abilities. For example, the fake genie might demanꦍd an entire fleet of pirate ships, so the party gets a toy maker to craft a fleet of toy pirate ships instead. You'll have fun coming up with the wishes they need to grant, and your players will have fun coming up with their own twists on how each wish can be interpreted. It's a chance for them to be the tricksters this time.

17 🧸 Night At A Hau꧙nted House

Will They Survive What Goes Bump In The Night?

On their long journey to a far-off land, the party is🌃 caught in a horrific storm. They need to find shelter fast and just so happen to be near a large, seemingly abandoned manor. They'l𓆉l only need to stay here for the night, but all is not as it seems in this spooky abode. This quest idea can work as a fun filler session to delay reaching the next significant location in the main campaign, as the group has no choice but to wait out the night in this creepy location.

A quest like this 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:lets you have fun setting the scene and crafti🔯ng a tense, unsettling atmosphere. Will the players wait near the entrance or dare venture further into the haunted house to uncover its mysteries? Perhaps a curse needs lifting or a monster is lurking in the walls. Your players must avoid splitting the party if they want to survive the night in t🉐his haunted manor.

16 Finding Evidence Of A Secret Society 🎃

Breadcrumb Clues Can Be Discovered Wherever The Party Goes

This is a long-running side quest idea you must hint towards over time. Throughout the adventure, your players will begin to notice the same symbol hidden in subtle locations. They'll hear rumors that this symbol is linked to a secret society pulling the strings in various places across the realm. It will intrigue 𒉰the players, and they'll be keen to discover where this secret society is hidden.

You can add small quests occasionally throughout the campaign, where the players find another clue about the secret society. Perhaps they find puzzle rooms dotted around a city or hidden chests full of encrypted documents. The party must do wh🌟atever they can to gain information about the secret society whenever possible.

These little quests will give the party more information about the society and its motives before they eventually track down their headquarters. Perhaps the organization is impressed by their ability to decipher their clues and offer them one piece of advice or information that will help them with the main que🌠st as a reward for tracking them down.