Let's Create a One-Shot Horror Adventure

[Sandain]

How about the PC's work for the Catholic church and are based in the Vatican city. Thier jobs are occult investigators and they have to hide any occult activity from the mundane humans of the world. They will be removed from the plight of the general person and may think of them as a flock or as cattle.

The big twist can be that the Pope is actually a Zombie! if you have seen recent interviews you will see what I mean.

The head Bishops may be involved in a big Cthuluesque conspiracy and send the PC's out on missions to bring back sacred relics that the Bishops can 'dispose of'

The vatican city would be agreat locations, since you can say whatever you want since its so secretive. There are ancient crypts, gargoyles, amazing wealth, and even stormtroopers! (seriously, the Pope has his own guard of elite troops who wear all white combat gear)

You could have encounters with the blind cleaning woman, creepy cats following them, paintings that animate, shadows, and chase scenes over the rooftops of buildings and such

Here is a good info site and another with a map almost desinged for Role Playing!

http://geography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108136.html

http://www.pellegrinocattolico.com/ctv/city_map.htm

 

[Wraith Form]

Nazi's and Zombies sounds interesting though, but maybe a rogue Soviet or Cuban Communist scientist from Cuba would be a better bet considering the Southern U.S.'s proximity to Cuba. A little less far fetched LOL . That's a thought maybe run a bit with a rogue scientist hiding out cranking zombies out covertly. I'll have to think on that one.

Having spent some time in the suburbs of Miami (the non-glamorous parts!) I'd say the proximity to Cuban drug smugglers is a strong and useful plot hook.

A bit cliche, but you could have Cuban drug farms that are infected with....Something Else. Maybe one of the drug lords has just discovered a book that describes how to call a servitor of Shub-Niggurath (who is typically associated with a twisted form of fertility). The __(insert drug of choice here)__ is infected and infused with Shub's vile essence. These plants grow with hideous speed, and are abnormally resistant to damage (as compared to normal flora), thus the drug lord is able to harvest significantly more from a single crop, making him even more rich & powerful....in fact, the crop may threaten to overgrow and start to creep into other areas....

...And when the drugs are brought onto US soil, sold, and ingested by Tyrone Biggums (a/k/a Dave Chappelle), it turns him into a zombie. ("Cocaine is a wonderful drug...now I'm going to eat your head.") And it does the same to virtually every other junkie in Miami. Presto, you have zombies....lots of zombies. These crack-zombies don't know why they have the urge to perform vile human sacrifices to a goat-headed fertility goddess, but...people start to go missing... Hell, you might even bring Crockett & Tubbs into the mix! Queue up the cheesy '80's Miami Vice theme music!

Naturally, the "mule" that smuggles the drugs into the US will have to be discovered, and (since he's used the Shub-drug, is now infected & mutating) somehow stopped. Hence, a blazing chase scene/gunfight into the Everglades trying to interrogate Mr. Mule. His run from your PCs ends with the increasingly-monsterous mule transforming before them into a vile inhuman critter that just barely can be stopped with bullets.... (do you smell a cliffhanger between sessions here?)

Next game, your Scooby Gang will need to travel across the not-so-blue waters to Cuba, to root out the evil drug lord..... (watch Scarface a few times to get the feel for this). Whadda ya think? Got some creative juices flowing?

 

[johndaw16]

Wow, Sandain and Wraith those are two really good ideas. Definately have almost too many ideas running around in my head. The Vatican city is great setting, all the architecture and atmosphere would make a heck of a session. As a matter of fact consider it taken but not for this horror game, I'm going to definately use it in my Renaissance D20 game.

WF the drug lord wasn't something that'd I'd even thought of, thanks for giving me that idea. Zombie gangsters and junkies always fun. I don't think I'll use it though its real similar to a recent series of games I'd done with my regular D20 Modern gaming group. It involved zombie homeless guys, zombie gangsters, a goat headed demon, and some real vile sacrifices. I don't want to remind them of that too much, it'd probably seem like a rerun.

So here's what I think I'm going to run with and try and develop. The players will all be at a beachhouse, on an old upscale resort-like island thats fallen a bit into decay and isolation. It'll be a small coastal island, with a narrow channel seperating it from the shore. The shore will be a mixture of coastal woodlands and swamps. The island will have an old town on it a beach community of sorts, probably in S. W. Lousiana or in the far W. portion of Fl. or maybe on the edge of the Everglades. I'll have to look at a map and see what looks best. For some local character there will be a spooky plantation house on the shore that overlooks the island. And definately a voodoo woman living near the island, maybe in a nearby bayou.

So thats the location, an old beach house, the old decaying isolated town, and the nearby woods and swamps. Now all I need to do is hammer out a plot of sorts. I'm thinking a Something has taken control of the remmenants of the plantation family. And has been twisting them into zombie like servants, forcing incest to create more of them. The remaining towns people that live on the actual island will be mostly in some way controlled or at least influence by the creature. For a bit of a twist the crazy old voodoo lady will be the only one free of the creature and she'll actually be trying to get rid of it in some way.

That's as far as I can go for now. More ideas will be coming though I'm sure. For now though I'd really appreciate any random information on a good creature I should have controlling everything. And good ideas for encounters would be useful too. And a reason for why the creature is there too, I haven't figured that out. And of course any other ideas you guys care to throw at me are good too. As always thanks. Later.

John

 

[Wraith Form]

That's cool---the core of the idea I presented was lifted from a Call of Cthulhu book called Delta Green: Countdown, so if/when you get the $$ and can find it in your bookstores, I highly recommend it. Again, it's by Pagan Publishing, one of my all-time favorite CoC publishers. (You don't need the "prequel" book, Delta Green, but it'd be helpful.)

If anything else springs to mind, I'll post it.....as far as reasons for occult and/or Mythos activity in an area, there's always the old standbys of 1) a falling "meteor" that is actually a Mythos creature, 2) power-hungry, foolish humans that find old books & summon Mythos creatures (that eventually mind-control the weak human), 3) the 'Salem's Lot/Innsmouth effect: in the Olden Days, someone brought the worship of Mythos beasts to the town church & converted everyone, now the town is filled with cultists & half-human/half-Other Thing monstrosities.