Fucking with the "kill the rats" trope

>>54401849
1. The rats are way stronger than the PCs expect, and they are not let in on this detail.
2. There are so many rats. Tens of thousands of rats. Potentially infinite rats from the elemental plane of rats. They must enter the Rodent Gateway and stop the Rat God-Emperor within.
3. There are no rats.
4. The rats are ghosts.
5. "Rat" was figurative speech to refer to unsavory individuals who hang out down there. They really don't need killing, just some talking-to about life decisions.
6. The rats have an entire civilization down there, and are clearly sapient.

>>54401978
2,4,and 6 are hilarious to me
i would definitely use these concepts

>>54401849
The Rats offer to pay the Adventurers to get rid of the innkeeper

>>54401978
>5. "Rat" was figurative speech to refer to unsavory individuals who hang out down there. They really don't need killing, just some talking-to about life decisions.

Expeditions: Vikings uses this variant.
A merchant wants you to clear the rats out of a home he purchased, turns out to be a gang of homeless orphan children/young teens.

Killing them in a fight (and making sure none escape) is the most straightforward way to resolve the situation.

>>54401849
>>54401978
Related to 1 & 6, there's always Cranium Rats
if you're doing D&D

>>54401849
Maybe the Inn keeper was a alchemist and when they fight the rats they accidentally drop a potion that turn them small, now they need to fight giant rats!

You can take a sheet out of Oblivion: the problem is that the rats are getting killed, and the players have to save the rats.

>>54402028
In the Bards Tale the rat turns out to be a giant fire breathing rat

And the innkeeper still doesn't fuck you

>>54401849
The rats are actually skaven.

The rats have found the inn-keeper old gear and have formed a human-size giant rats megazord using his armor and weapons.

>>54401849
The rats hire the player to kill the filthy innkeeper and his spawn.

>>54401849
The "rats" are actually ratfolk competitors running a nearby inn and you have to put them out of business.

>>54402071
In fact she tells you off for killing their main attraction.

>>54402080
>>54402082
Combine these and turn it into " Skaven-Skaven Gurren Lagann"

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>>54401849
The 'Rats' are a physical manifestation of a long forgotten plague God or Demon and are just the first wave of assault on this particular town/village/whatever.

>>54402147
Even funnier if they are still weak, but believing they are going to invade the entire plan via the village. Like, "this town of giants certainly is the capital of the human plan. Our forces outnumber them a hundred to one, we can conquer this new world !)

>>54401995
Lovecraft does 3 and 4

>>54401999
Trips check!
Also, this is actually a good idea.

>>54401849
The rats are way too kawaii

>>54401849
The rats in question are the scouts of a secret underground rat society.
Basically the whole thing leads into rat intrigue when it turns out the rats in the basement were nobly sacrificing themselves on a false flag mission while a group of other rats slipped a visiting duke a charm potion.

I was actually planning on using the rat infested tavern cellar. On entering the rats stop squatting in the corner playing dice and draw their weapons... not too over the top, just spicing it up a little.

>>54401849
The rats relate to the BBEG in some way.

The rats explode when killed

>>54401849
The rats are sapient and have created their own mini-tribal village with a small temple to their rat god.

Killing them all summons the rat god which is a CR 2 creature with some cleric spells.

>>54401849
The rats are a were-creature. Infecting those who they bite to be Wererats.

>>54401849
Put a dragon's skeleton in the inn with the rats clustered around it and gnawing the corpse.

>>54401978
>>54401995
Clearly someone left the Rat Faucet on.

The rats are Ratfolk renting out the Inn basement. He wants them cleared out because he's been approached by a third party with a lucrative deal that requires the space occupied by the Ratfolk, but he can't kick them out because they are up to date with their rent and the terms of their lease are ironclad.

>>54403995
>The rats are sapient and have created their own mini-tribal village

And they have their own inn that has fleas in it and they need you to shrink down, and kill the fleas.

The rats are actually made of sugar-coated magic marshmallow. They cannot be destroyed by any means other than digestion.

>>54404235
>Reasons to never leave your plumbing job to wizards

>>54404090
Shit that's an awesome idea

>>54401999

>Rats were a small band of sapient rat-folk that settled down and built the inn with their own little grabby hands
>Made a decent living off travelers because of their servile nature and cooking skills, but the locals never trusted them
>Badass retired imperial soldier took the inn essentially by force while the townsfolk looked the other way
>Rats retreated into living-tunnels beneath the inn, where they have set up a trap-filled death-warren.

>>54402052
>Suddenly you hear a voice in your mind, tiny and squeaky, and yet as if a large chorus spoke all at once:
>"Adventurers! I want you to kill ten innkeepers!"

>>54401849
The innkeeper is a bunch of rats in a trench coat pretending to be an innkeeper.

>>54402071
She'll give you a roll in the sheets, but you have to be snarky, not nice. She likes bad boys.

She'll also give you a bad case of trow shingles, iirc. I think they make a cream for that.

https://youtu.be/I6ptZIg7yc4

The inn was built upon an ancient, sunken tower. The rats are all the way at the bottom. The rest of the tower is brimming with much more powerful monsters and dangerous traps.

The regular RPG large rats are being led by a band of ratfolk who live under the city in a cave network. The ratfolk are using the regular rats to steal food and supplies.

>>54401849
The rats hire the party to wipe out the innkeeper.

The bartender accidentally broke his valve connected to the municipal rat supply pipeline open, and it's up to the party to find a replacement valve before the bar's rat bill runs up too high.

>The Innkeeper asks the party take to care of the pests in the basement.
>Party enters basement only to find a smaller tavern here, populated by cats.
>Cat Innkeeper asks the party to take care of the pests in the basement.
>Party enters basement only to find a smaller tavern here, populated by bats.
>Bat Innkeeper asks the party to take care of the pests in the basement.
>Party enters basement only to find a smaller tavern here, populated by rats.
>Rat Innkeeper asks the party to take care of the pests in the basement.
>Party enters basement only to find a smaller tavern here, populated by gnats.
>Gnat innkeeper screams in terror as party destroys his business and livelihood.

>party gets cursed and changed into rats while in the tavern's basement
>innkeeper sends adventurers to go kill them

There is an underground society of intelligent rats.

Rat innkeeper asks you to clear the human infestation on the floor above.

>>54401849

The rats have regenerative powers akin to Wolverine but are sterile

The rats have all ingested Enlarge Person potions constantly making them Large

The rats are cursed and whoever kills a rat gets turned into a rat; the cellar door opens as you hear the next batch of adventurers boasting about how they'll easily kill a few rats

The rats scurry away through a hole in the wall that leads to an underground ruins

The rats scurry onto a teleportation circle and players accidentally activate it

>>54404235
Where's a Seal Clubber when you need one?

>>54402698
Also, the rats are your cousins, if I recall.

One of the rats is an exiled and transmogrified prince

The innkeeper asks the party to kill the rats. Unbeknownst to the party, the rats were a dimplomatic party sent by the rat folk kingdom. When they return they find the real innkeeper dead in the backroom, and determine the person they spoke to, to be an impostor.

Tensions start to rise as the kingdoms prepare for the 2nd Great Human-Ratfolk War. Seen as terrorists by both sides, the party must stop the war before it leads to bloodshed, discover who is behind this evil conspiracy and their motivations.

>>54401849
Ours involved fighting a Large rat, when they implied it was just a few lesser rats. There was also a hole in the wall, leading to old city sewers, which had swarms of normal rats and a few of the Large ones. After navigating the sewers, we ended up facing off against a crazed magic user determined to have the rats rise up against the surface worlders, and who had a magic staff that was enlarging the rats.
We promptly beat him senseless and then proceeded to repeat that over and over (we were lowish-level M&M characters playing at being adventurers, to include an amnesiac megalomaniacal angel wielding a gun with magic ammo that included resurrection bullets) until stockholme syndrome kicked in. We closed up the hole between the sewer and the inn, collected a keg of booze from the innkeeper and went on our way. Later call backs included saving the rats from roaches mutated by stray toxic spell residue, and saving some zombies discreetly being used for manual from destruction and letting them work with the rats to start building proper catacombs beneath the city.

>>54405481
>>54405994
>innkeeper gets cursed rats into basement
>some adventurers asked to clear basement
>become rats
>innkeeper takes all the valuable adventurer money, armor, magical items, possessions because rats can't do anything about that if they tried
>rumors spread about hyperintelligent rats in the innkeeper's basement and that nobody who's gone to clear the rats has ever returned
>this rumor is absolutely irresistible to adventurers
It's the perfect crime. Endless stream of money and magical artifacts, and all witnesses either end up dead or a rat.

>>54401849
I had an idea that the person paying you to kill the rats is actually a mage who transformed some people who slighted them one time into rodents. you could have them lie and say they're the last member of a family that all tragically and suddenly died, then tearily beg them to go down into the basement and stop those awful little squeaking fiends from getting into their families tombs.
The rats, meanwhile, are still perfectly of human intelligence an do everything they can to try and alert you to whats actually happening as you try to kill them.

>>54401849

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>>54401849
Read this for ideas for ratty hijinks.
Hell, you have no excuse for not reading Lieber int the first place, he's one of the Godfathers of Dungeons and Dragons.

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>>54401849

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>>54408030

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>>54408074

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>>54408094

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>>54408122

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>>54408151

>>54402096
The rats are ratfolk from an underground network of tunnels and dungeons that runs beneath the whole area. They're running an inn for this monsters' underworld, in the basement of the surface inn.

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>>54408255

They are hired to deal with an infestation of "rodents of unusual size". When they show up loaded out to do battle with big rat monsters, thet are instead faced with endless teeming carpets of rats about the size of a roach attacking in swarms.

>>54401849
The classic example from Oblivion is that they send you on a "rat quest" and you get to the basement only to discover you actually have to protect pet rats from other creatures.

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>>54401849

>>54401849

They get down stairs and each step they take they find everything around them gets bigger. Eventually, they end up so small that a rat is about the size of a wolf or a tiger to them.

>>54401849
The rats are actually a semi-intelligent species working tirelessly to dig up and destroy an ancient god beneath the surface, due to something of their lore foretelling the end of days. Maybe it's something like a rapidly spreading plant/tendril thing that corrupts everything it touches, but for some reason the rats are immune.

The rats in the basement of the inn aren't very experienced, and are trying to just dig supply lines. However, they can't communicate with humans, so the innkeep mistakenly thinks they are pests.

Your players kill said rats, disrupting the plan to stop the end of the world. Of course, they don't know this until mid-way through the campaign, as they kill more rats on their travels and enable the blight to spread more and more..

When they finally try to face the "big bad" the rats, and maybe a few other races who saw the good the rats were doing, refuse to help. The players now have to play a hellish campaign, fighting against the god/blight spreading more rapidly and also trying to right their wrongs of murdering hundreds of rats along the way in order to gain their alliance.

>>54401849
The rats are furries who wear the skins of dead giant rats and host massive orgies in the basement of the inn. The innkeep is the host of the furpiles, and tries to convince the players to join them in their debauchery.

The poison that he told the players to get to "kill the rats" was actually an extremely powerful aphrodisiac that acts against the players, forcing them to partake in the events.

>>54412147
To add to this, should the players take and complete this quest, they get a "fursuit" armor that is unsellable and constantly must remain in their inventory. Gives +2 to strength and constitution, -5 to charisma.

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>>54412147
>>54412572
>ten easy ways to provoke your players to physical violence and murder

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>>54412147
>>54412572

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>>54401849
But anon why would you want your players to kill rats

Rats a cute. Rats a best pet

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The rats are actually good guys/most vital protagonists.

>>54404338
The fleas also have their own village and inn, and need you to clear water bears from the cellar

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The rats have an ability called "Call for Help". Roll a dice. On an odd number, 1d4-1 rats show up. Once 8 rats are present, they combine at the tail and become a Rat King which is basically a boss monster.

OP here, these are all amazing ideas. Thanks!

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-One of the rats is a chronic masturbator and won't stop fappin' in the booze. Find the bastard and publicly shame him.
-The rats are currently engaged in a major drama, in that Deskweeka claims that Marcheesall is the father of her next litter. The rat mayor needs the PCs to help reliably prove the case one way or the other.
-You have to "kill" the rats in the ULTIMATE FRIENDS' RAT FRIENDLY RAP BATTLE OF FRIENDSHIP. Freestyle only, water drums only, final destination.
-One of the rats was murdered and the rats need the PCs to help find the culprit.
-Two words: rat jocks.
-The world's fattest sorceress has a rat family living in her navel. They stopped paying rent and she needs help evicting them.
-Rats run the tavern now and they need the PCs to find and kill the ghoul that was once the innkeeper.

>>54401849
Change the innkeeper from an imperial soldier to an imperial mage.
In order to not disturb the customers he transforms the party into prime grade-a rat hunters, aka housecats, for the duration of the task.

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The rats are a group of singers and actors who are behind on rent for the basement studio.

>>54401978
TURN OFF THE RAT FAUCET

>>54414232
The water bears have their own village and inn, and need you to clear the paramecium from the cellar.

>>54415596
The paramecium have their own village and inn, and need you to clear out the virus from the cell.

>>54415687
The viruses have their own village and inn, and they need you to clear out the virions from the capsid.

The rat-folk tavernowner wants you to clear the basement of monkeys.

>>54401849

The rats are actually a sort of spirit guide for the players, and the process of "killing" the rats is structured in such a way as to bring out and deal with their emotions.

>innkeeper wants you to deal with the rat problem in the basement
>you go into the cellar, along one wall are some shabby looking straw beds
>in the corner, a few rat-folk are shooting craps and trade copper coins between each other as they win and lose
>when you get their attention, the largest (barely) rat-man turns around, wearing a tattered leather jacket and sporting a stylish pompadour instead of a tuft of matted fur like the others
>if the players mention the barkeep, the rats tell the players that the innkeeper owes them from losing a game of poker
>the innkeeper was deep in the hole, and put down the deed to the tavern as a bet before losing again
>the innkeeper hires the players the morning after this happens to cover up his loss and to steal back the deed

He's actually a local crime lord. By rats, he means snitches he has tied up down there.

The rats are incredibly cute.
They groom each other, go for naps next to each other, offer the party food before eating themselves and generally be stupidly sweet.

The rats are actually all F.E.A.R. Rattatas.

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The rat a cute!

The black plague and their carrier will infest a large town that the player happen to stay at.

>>54401849
the rats aren't hard to kill, but they're all chock full o plague. The real enemy is a giant disgusting amoeba loitering around the sewer depths aggregating all the human sick from above into one awful writhing death puddle. They've been hired, not to deal with a vermin issue, but to clean out the sewers.

>>54401849
The rats all have the half-dragon template. Throw all the breath weapons around.

>>54420170
Rats with 5d8 Cold Breath?

>man sold his soul to a demon to get rid of his rat problem
>the demon is having trouble getting rid of the rats
>he is VERY embarassed

>>54401978
>The rats have an entire civilization down there, and are clearly sapient.
Our DM did this.

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>>54401978
>3. There are no rats.
This one is horror isn't

>>54401849
The party descends into the cellar and finds the expected rats. The rats are docile and retreat into a hole in the wall until several larger rats come out and face down the party. They hear the door to the inn opening above, a brief lull in the sounds of merriment, and the innkeeper's distant voice saying 'hello' just like he said to them. Maybe ask for perception rolls, get them thinking this is still a bit distant, and don't tell them if nobody rolls well - give it a low dc though, either way it builds some tension.

At this point, begin combat. After the first few actors go, after the dice start falling, tell the players they hear the innkeep shout, "What the...?!" or something similar. After all actors have gone in the first round, tell them they hear the sounds of combat.

If one of them goes to exit at this point, they open the hatch to catch the body of the innkeeper as he's knocked out by a humanoid figure that wears dusty, black robes, a concealing mask, and the skull of a cow. It carries a club made out of some large animal's femur (also a cow.) Similar figures dispatch the other inhabitants of the inn, one of which makes a lucky break straight into the entering form of a massive, horned humanoid - whatever the weather was outside before, the sky is now blocked by blowing dust that seems to pool about the yikaria's feet.

If the party wants to attack the cultists in the inn, let them. The cultist to have dispatched the innkeeper does not immediately attack, but rather makes a point of trying to take the innkeeper's body from whichever PC caught it first. If they withhold the body, the cultists attack.

>>54421817
(con't)
The party can be fighting the rats this whole time. Feel free to roll flee for the rats as they die/get hurt. They probably won't pursue the PCs.

The yikaria upstairs looks at the still-conscious inngo'er now still with fear. It raises a hand over her (let's say the waitress who smiled at the party when they walked in) and says "Air." It looks at several of the waiting cultists and says, "Earth," including the one with the innkeeper. Several people end up left on the floor as the yikaria makes way for its followers to pass onto the road with the new slaves.

If the PCs have not acted, at this point it raises its hands in a grand gesture, its followers start to routinely torch the place, and Deliverer Hal'ak says, "Fire." If the pcs did not investigate the commotion above and combat has gone on a while, this is the point when smoke starts sinking through the cracks in the door.

Will the party pursue the Cult of the Forgotten God? Will they escape sacrifice in the Manner Elemental? Will they brave the spears and arrows of the ratfolk waiting in the tunnels below? Find out next time on...
(Your campaign name here)

>>54401849
The "rats" are actually a tribe of wererats who live in the sewers which connect to the cellar, and the soldier regularly sends them food in the form of dumb adventurers.

The rats are cursed/blessed with cartoon powers.
Good luck with that one.

>>54421826
(doublecont)
Don't stop them fighting Deliverer Hal'ak or trying to escape through the inn. The cultists will try to stop the party if they withheld the body or attacked Hal'ak. If they attack Hal'ak, he's a level 5 warlock and the fire spells come out. If the party relinquished the body and did not attack, they might find it strange that neither the cultists nor Hal'ak try to stop them.

He lets them escape onto the streets and see that he's done similar to a number of buildings around them. He goes on to do more, ignoring the party as if they were just a meaningless coincidence. The cultists form a small army that swarms over the area, all wearing skulls, all masked, but of many different shapes and sizes. Some carry staves, some torch buildings with what the wizard of the party might recognize as a Burning Hands spell. Some get maimed or even killed by resisting guards and townsfolk as they continue to pile up bodies in the backs of wagons, themselves drawn by slaves. The injured and dying are then thrown into the burning buildings when the resistance is overwhelmed. All of this in a dust storm seemingly out of nowhere that you tell the party blinds their eyes and bites at their skin.

And if they choose to keep looking, eventually the dust clears and the caravan moves on. The party can walk away from it all if they choose to. If they fought with the cult, they might be choosing to abandon some of their fallen friends now taken as slaves as well. They can go on to the next city up the road, or pick over the ruins for a few days. The ratfolk eventually emerge with the same idea.

The rats are a troupe of actors and are midway through a heartmoving rendition of Hamlet when the party enters the basement. No one can understand a word since it's all still in squeaking, but they are still moved to tears.

The Innkeeper wants you to help them as they go on tour. They can only fit so much audience into the basement, the rats need a team to advertise in non-squeaking and in the outside world they are vulnerable without protection. Protect the travelling shakespherian rats as they find their true calling. You'll be paid a portion of the income.