The Easter Eggs

[Jack7]

I was kinda shocked, and very pleased, that so many people are already using Easter Eggs of some kind. That's 13 for use of some kind to 4 against. So far. (I also think that as Weem said some might not use them just because they never have before, or have never been introduced to the idea.)

A friend uses "geek points" in his campaigns... He'll make a mildly obscure pop culture reference, e.g. name a magic sword after one in an anime, and if someone recognizes the reference they blurt it out and get a geek point.

Geek points can be used for various benefits.

The more I think about this idea the better I like it. I've never used pop culture references, but that could be a lot of fun. I also like the idea of Geek Points. I may adapt that concept in some way to my own games. Have some XP. (Edit: sorry Asmor, turns out I can't give ya any right now. I would if I could though.)

I've got a few that I use almost as running gags... They are odd little items that refer to classic D&D figures and locations, and they almost always show up somewhere in my campaigns.

Your example was a good one of what I call an "ongoing Easter Egg." Unfortunately I can't give ya XP for it.

How are you defining easter eggs?

Here is my working definition for an Easter Egg. I use the same basic concept for all Easter Egg types (video games, alternative reality games, RPGs, scripts, etc). I'd also be interested in hearing your definition(s) for what constitutes an Easter Egg.


Definition of the Easter Egg: Any feature of a game, adventure, campaign, mission, or scenario, which, if discovered and recognized, will yield a definite advantage (and/or a possible detriment) to the discoverer and possessor or user of that feature (the Easter Egg). The feature is unnecessary to the game itself, not being vital to other aspects of the game (plot, story, objects, characters, etc.), however it can still increase the value of the game by adding unexpected or unpredictable benefits if discovered and properly exploited. Most Easter Eggs are cleverly hidden and not immediately obvious, but are abnormal enough in nature or appearance to be discernable to the trained eye, or the careful observer.

If an Easter Egg is never discovered or used then the lack of discovery or use will in no way harm or detract from the nature of the game, campaign, milieu, adventure, mission, or scenario. However if an Easter Egg is discovered and used then it will add some type of unexpected or unanticipated value to the game itself.

There are two stages to the use of any Easter Egg. First, it must be noticed or discovered. Secondly, it must be explored and employed to be of value.


I just got in, and so I'll discuss this subject more later. I'll also take up some examples of Easter Eggs from my own game. I'm kinda tired right now. Good responses so far.

 

[Paul_Klein]

I believe your definition of 'easter egg' is not the standard accepted definition. Easter eggs do not normally give or hold any value, good or bad. If one is discovered, hey, great reference GM! But that's it.

I'm not saying you giving them benefits or drawbacks is a bad idea, but that is not how easter eggs are normally used, in any medium. Easter eggs in a game should never "go bad." It's a sly reference to something (usually pop culture), nothing more.

Edit: So as to not sound so snarky, I think it's totally cool how you do it

 

[Lord Xtheth]

in every scenario, campaign, adventure, whatever I run, theres always this dingy bar ran by this loud, obnoxious dwarf that serves the drink to end all drinks. My players all love that bar.

Every now and again I allow my PCs to find a 4-leaf clover. This does have a 1 time free (true) resurection though so I'm not sure if it counts.

I have a re-occuring refference to the great undead overlord Lord Xtheth, but my players have begun to expect that from me... especially since it's been my name for 10 years.

Stuff thats happened in previous adventures show up as landmarks or other such "I was here" markers.

Every time I want to add emphasis to how creepy a room is, I have a small, stuffed bear sitting in the corner of the room. (I've taught my players to dread the teddybear)

I'm sure there have been more, but I can't remember them all

 

[Jack7]

Every now and again I allow my PCs to find a 4-leaf clover.

That's a good one that I should have thought of. It's going in my basket. Thanks.

I believe your definition of 'easter egg' is not the standard accepted definition. Easter eggs do not normally give or hold any value, good or bad. If one is discovered, hey, great reference GM! But that's it.

I concur PK. In designing games and other things it occurred to me that Easter Eggs should "add value" in a way far more substantial than merely giving the internal pleasure of having "noted them." Though I didn't want to give them so much value that they would change the nature of a game, or add the same degree of value (using the RPG as a reference point in this case) as say a magical item, spell, skill, power, attribute, etc. (Although my Easter Eggs can modify all of these things and more, at times, and depending upon the situation and the particular Easter Egg that is involved.)

To that end I set out to make Easter Eggs both a recognizable reference or addition to the background or other aspects of the game, a sort of limited or mini-cheat (using video games as a reference point), and a few other things that can be "unlocked" in the RPG, Alternative Reality Game, Parallel Reality Game, Virtual Reality Game, or Video Game.

(By a few other things I mean things similar to when you play to the end of a Video Game and it "unlocks" a new weapon, or gives you new gear, or changes you camo pattern, or whatnot. That's hard to do in an RPG because few people want to "replay" the same adventure just to gain certain limited advantages the next go-round. Plus few people in an RPG can take advantage of "cheats" - though I'm not big on big cheats or permanent cheats in an RPG cause that changes the nature of the game as well - but limited cheats seemed to me a good "survival or benefit advantage" for the players. Especially in tough or lethal milieus as I tend to run. So I integrated those "unlocking ideas" all into the Easter Egg so that the players could take immediate and in-situ advantage of whatever it is that the EE provided. You don't have to wait to get to the end of the game, or unlock specific codes - the EE is the built-in code, to gain Easter Egg advantages.)

The "unlocking" in an RPG and other types of games comes not only from the discovery and noticing (hey, I got that reference!), but by the use or by the figuring out of how to use the EE (some EEs may have more than one use). This is the way that the EE "adds value" to the game without changing the nature of the game (the game could easily exist unmolested and successful without any EEs), but still yields advantages.

So yes, I specifically set out to change the standard "use" or model of the Easter Egg, so that "golden treasure lay within." Then again I didn't want it to contain the kind of treasure that wholly reshapes the characters or the world, or that it ended up being just a "mechanical or technical treasure." Instead EE's give a sort of unanticipated and beneficial luster, shine, or gilding to whatever the EE refers or does.

Well, I gotta eat and get ready for church. So I'll return to this later.
I've enjoyed the replies and observations.

 

[Grymar]

Yes, but they are not references to anything but the campaign world and there is no tangible benefit.

First of all, it may be helpful to understand now that I'm on my 4th campaign in Eberron and each has started at the same date. The players know that the events that happened in previous campaigns all are happening "right now" in the current game. This will sometimes allow me to make cross references.

Such as when the party met a paladin in the third campaign who as tracking a devil. The devil had been summoned by a mage but the protective circle wasn't strong enough and it had gotten free. The paladin had been tracking this devil for a few years at this point. Well one player freaked out...in the previous campaign his mage was an apprentice to this wizard and he had been horribly scarred by the escaping devil. That was the player's backstory.

So yes, I do easter eggs, but they are all internal reference points.

 

[Shoe]

my easter eggs tend to show up in the form of recurring characters. there is a Dwarf rogue named Quartz that was an NPC from the first D&D game I was ever a player in that we caught.....how do i say this in a somewhat appropreate manner...."Spying on a female PC and pleasuring himself"
He makes a cameo in every game I run and has become a running gag...I plan on turining him into a vampire and using him as A BBEG coming up.

 

[Barastrondo]

I'm more in line with the Wikipedia definition of Easter egg, and consider hidden power-ups to be a different beast. But I guess I use Easter eggs, though I don't spend a lot of time thinking about them. Some of them are kind of inevitable — the result of pure continuity. If a player character is researching how to kill trolls, and another character in a different campaign wrote a manual on the subject, I might as well use that manual instead of coming up with a new volume, or include it in a list of titles. A lot of the Easter eggs I place are really aimed at my wife, rather than the whole group; a side effect of her being the only person I know who's been in every ongoing game I've run for the last, what, 14 years?

I'm not real fond of using pop culture references that the players are meant to catch on to in D&D; there are enough breaks to out-of-character discussion that I don't really need to add more temptation. (They're also the sort of gag that ages poorly.) I do, however, sometimes draw on pop culture references when I'm stuck for an idea and need something quick — then disguise it as best I can so that it doesn't remind the players of what I'm looting. I'm not proud of the fact that I threw a group up against a kusarigama-wielding assassin and his compatriot, a monk that channeled elemental power to add freezing damage to his strikes. But I am proud that in-character, they made sense for the setting and didn't distract, thanks to the disguise. Even though I tried to disguise it, if a player had actually called me on using Scorpion and Sub-Zero as inspiration, I'd have admitted it out of fairness. And if they catch on that I'm using a blend of Shakespearean names and famous playwrights to name the denizens of a bizarre theater, awesome; if they just take names like "Goelock" and "Molstaff" as generic-quirky-fantasy fare, suits me fine.

 

[Pbartender]

Your example was a good one of what I call an "ongoing Easter Egg."

Thanks. I have a tendency to keep re-introducing them until someone takes the time to notice and find out what they mean. The look on the faces of the players when they finally realize what the Easter Egg is is priceless.

Another ongoing Easter Egg I've used in half a dozen campaigns so far...

Sooner or later, when the PCs find a large treasure horde: "There is a large iron bound chest. The majority of the coins are kept inside it. The lid of the chest has a coat of arms of inlaid iron. The crest displays a spread raven, clutching a sword in its talons and with a coronet above its head. When you remove the coins from the chest to count them, small scraps of black dirt can be found in the corners of the chest."

Researching the crest reveals it to be the coat of arms of the von Zarovich family... But as with the hieroglyphics on the glowing scarab, none of my players have yet been curious enough about the crest or what scraps of dirt at the bottom of a treasure chest to investigate the clues.

If a player character is researching how to kill trolls, and another character in a different campaign wrote a manual on the subject, I might as well use that manual instead of coming up with a new volume, or include it in a list of titles.

I do this a lot as well...

As we are playing through the Scale of War adventure path, my players ran across a Monastery of Moradin. In the courtyard are scores of statues of legendary dwarf heroes. The newest statue depicted a proud dwarf shield maiden ready to strike with a heavy axe, the plaque names her as Ilsa Strongarm. Ilsa was a PC from a campaign that we played nearly seven years ago... At the climax of that campaign, she sacrificed herself to shove a powerful demon into a portal and banish it to the Far Realms.

A lot of the Easter eggs I place are really aimed at my wife, rather than the whole group; a side effect of her being the only person I know who's been in every ongoing game I've run for the last, what, 14 years?

The funny thing is, the same thing inadvertently happens at our gaming table... My wife has been the one constant player in my games for the last 12 years. While I don't purposefully tailor the references to her, very often, she'll be the first or only one to catch them, and she'll then have to explain it to the others.

 

[Jack7]

Sooner or later, when the PCs find a large treasure horde: "There is a large iron bound chest. The majority of the coins are kept inside it. The lid of the chest has a coat of arms of inlaid iron. The crest displays a spread raven, clutching a sword in its talons and with a coronet above its head. When you remove the coins from the chest to count them, small scraps of black dirt can be found in the corners of the chest."

Researching the crest reveals it to be the coat of arms of the von Zarovich family... But as with the hieroglyphics on the glowing scarab, none of my players have yet been curious enough about the crest or what scraps of dirt at the bottom of a treasure chest to investigate the clues.

I've done similar things with coins and I think that we're thinking in parallel ways with this example.

If a player character is researching how to kill trolls, and another character in a different campaign wrote a manual on the subject, I might as well use that manual instead of coming up with a new volume, or include it in a list of titles.

In my world certain Easter Eggs of the more permanent variety can be transfered from one user to another and have different effects upon each user. And sometimes one user can make easy use of one, and another user may be unable to use it at all.

and consider hidden power-ups to be a different beast.

That's something I hadn't really thought of in relation to an RPG as I mean the use of Easter Eggs. And I adopted the term, but not necessarily the standard definition, as I already explained, because I like the term and I think of an Easter Egg as not just a pretty-pretty or a decoration, but that it also has other potential values. (Food-value, for instance - I am speaking metaphorically again, but it's true, if it's a real and not an artificial Easter Egg then you can eat it, and even artificial ones often contain some treat. Easter Eggs, if you think about what they really are, are more than just a decoration.)

To me power ups in an RPG are more like finding a magical weapon or device in a treasure hoard, gaining a new spell, gaining a better power, etc. To me that translates more or less directly from Power-Ups in a video game to power-ups (as opposed to leveling up) in an RPG.

But your idea is an interesting one and I wonder how it may be adapted to my idea of an Easter Egg. In my games Easter Eggs have benefits but do not necessarily add-power or capability (though some can). Many though can have survival benefits if found and properly exploited. Also most Easter Eggs in my games have references tied to them whereas most game power ups are not usually tied to anything else other than the effect of the power up.

Anyways, I found the implications of your idea interesting.
Maybe in certain cases an Easter Egg in an RPG could serve as some type of limited or tightly focused power-up.

 

[Jack7]

You mind sharing some specific examples?

Here ya go Weem. Sorry it took so long, but I had to get some other things done first.


Here is the basic Classification System I use regarding Easter Eggs in my game. The same basic classification system, with some modifications, could be used for other game features or devices, but this one is adapted specifically for how I develop and use Easter Eggs. This scheme is not exhaustive, nor does it include everything I use. But it gives an idea of how they can be constructed, and how used.


CONDITION:
TIMED OR TEMPORARY
PERMANENT (EXTREMELY RARE)
ONGOING UNTIL EXHAUSTED OR NEUTRALIZED


CHARACTER:
EASY TO FIND (EXTREMELY RARE)
WELL CONCEALED
DISGUISED
PART OF ANOTHER STRUCTURE
GIVEN AS A GIFT


ATTACHMENTS:
LOCALE FIXED
PERSONALITY FIXED
CREATURE FIXED
OBJECT FIXED
FLOATING


TEMPERAMENT:
SERIOUS
JOKING
MIXED


NATURE:
UNIQUE OR ONE OF A KIND
MULTIPLE COMPONENTS
STILL BEING GENERATED OR CREATED (IN PROCESS)
SECONDARY EFFECTS
MULTIPLE EFFECTS ON SAME USER
DIFFERENT EFFECTS ON DIFFERENT USERS
SELF-CREATED (PLAYER HELPS CREATE THROUGH OWN ACTIONS)
ONGOING
AFFECTS ONLY A SINGLE USER (NORMAL)
AFFECTS AN ENTIRE GROUP (EXTREMELY RARE)


EFFECTS (ON USER):
PHYSICAL
MENTAL
PSYCHOLOGICAL
SKILL BASED
ATTRIBUTE BASED
EFFECTING PERSONAL POSSESSION
OBJECT BASED
POWER BASED
PSYCHIC – DREAMS, VISIONS, TRANCES, PROPHECY, PSYCHAEC
POWERS
MAGICAL
SUPERNATURAL
ENVIRONMENTAL


TYPE:
PHYSICAL
MENTAL
BEHAVIORAL
PSYCHOLOGICAL
SPIRITUAL
ENVIRONMENTAL


REFERENCES:
LITERARY
POETIC
CULTURAL
HISTORICAL
RELIGIOUS
MYTHOLOGICAL
LINGUISTIC
MILIEU OR IN-GAME
CODED
MATHEMATICAL
SCIENTIFIC
ARTISTIC
PERSONAL
HUMOROUS
POP CULTURAL (ABOUT TO ADD TO REFERENCES)


SPECIFIC EASTER EGGS:
UNUSUAL COIN
MAP
DEVICE
CONSTELLATION
UNUSUAL PATTERN
BOOK
SCROLL
ICON
IMAGE
BODY PART OR TISSUE FROM A CREATURE
INSECT
ANIMAL
FOUR LEAF CLOVER
EGG
CODE
POEM
SONG
TAPESTRY
DOOR TO NOWHERE
DOOR TO ELSEWHERE
DREAM
VISION
MIRROR (LOOKING GLASS)
GEMSTONE
JEWELRY
FIGURINE
INK
HEIRLOOM


SPECIFIC EFFECTS OF EASTER EGGS:
GIVE A CLUE OR HELPFUL HINT TO SOMETHING ELSE
INCREASE THE VALUE OF ONE’S CLOTHES
CHANGE ONE’S WARDROBE
INCREASE THE VALUE OF ONE’S COINAGE OR MONEY
PEOPLE FREELY GIVE YOU THINGS OF VALUE
RESISTANCE ENHANCED
MORE CHARISMATIC THAN NORMAL
AUGMENTS A PERSONAL POSSESSION
AUGMENTS MAGIC
USEFUL DREAM OR VISION
RELAX TIME PRESSURES OR DEADLINES
CAMEO APPEARANCE OF FAMOUS INDIVIDUAL WHO ASSISTS USER
INCREASED ENDURANCE
APPETITE SUPPRESSED
NEEDS LESS WATER
FIND SECRET STASH OF AMMUNITION OR SUPPLIES
DECIPHER OR DECODE
MEMORY IMPROVED OR BECOMES PHOTOGRAPHIC
INNATE NIGHTVISION
SCARE AWAY DANGEROUS ADVERSARY
AMPLIFY SOUND
AVOID APPREHENSION – AVOID AND ESCAPE
KNOW THE ACCURACY OF A THING
SURVEIL WITHOUT BEING SPOTTED
ANTICIPATE DANGER
RECEIVE ANONYMOUS LETTER EXPLAINING SOMETHING IMPORTANT
IMPROVE SKILL
GAIN NEW CAPABILITY OR POWER
“UNLOCK USEFUL ITEMS OR IDEAS”
REVERSE OUTCOME
ACCESS ANOTHER’S MEMORIES
UNDERSTAND CLUE
INVENT NEEDED ITEM FROM SCRATCH
BETTER MEDIC OR DOCTOR
HEAL AT IMPROVED RATE
GREAT ARTISTIC SKILL
UNDERSTAND THINGS
JUMP AND CLIMB LIKE A MONKEY
STRONG AS A GORILLA
OUTRUN A HORSE
SWIM LIKE A FISH
SING LIKE A BARD
SNEAKIER THAN A THIEF
TOUGHER THAN A BARBARIAN
SMARTER THAN A WIZARD
WISER THAN A SAINT
ALTER APPEARANCE
GOOD LIE OR COVER STORY
LAND GRANT
FIX WHAT IS BROKEN
RECOGNIZE OR KNOW ANYONE
WELL FAVORED
PEACE
UNDERSTAND ANOTHER
WATCHFULNESS
IMPROVED OBSERVATION
“LUCKY CHARM” – one of the few permanent Easter Eggs



Here are some examples of how I use Easter Eggs in my game.

1. The Team once found a cache of coins. All of the coins were Byzantine, and gold, except one that appeared Viking in design and stamp, which contained an inscription in an unknown language, a picture of what seemed to be a Viking devouring a live boar, and which was apparently made of some type of translucent, blue metal. The coin was the Easter Egg.
2. The Team kept noticing a particular Constellation and celestial pattern associated with a specific locale. The Constellation was the Easter Egg.
3. The Team discovered a “secret door” while making a search of a room. The difference was only two of the team members could see the door, no-one else could see it, even after it was discovered. The door was a “Door to Nowhere.” The door was the Easter Egg (or part of it) and had to be combined with other things to trigger the effect.
4. The Team was once exploring in an abandoned sewer beneath a small town. They found a huge mass of worms and maggots. All of the worms and maggots were either gray or white or black except one. It was decorated with an incredibly complex pattern of various colors and designs. Plus the belly of the worm contained an inscription in Greek. That worm was the Easter Egg.
5. While Vadding in a man’s warehouse during an espionage mission the player found several large crates of contraband. Inside one crate was an ancient copy of a book (intact) of which all copies were thought lost. Opening the book and realizing what it was the player was ecstatic. However the book itself was not the Easter Egg, though it was extremely valuable. The book was illuminated. While examining the illumination pattern the player found the Easter Egg.
6. The Team killed a Chimera in combat. They cut the body up to transport it so as to give proof that they had slain it, and to check the corpse for valuable tissues and materials. When they found the heart it was actually composed of small and separate chambers of decorated crystalline type structures, each of which contained a separate, brightly colored Easter Egg.
7. The Team discovered a Latin phrase that had been transliterated into Farsi. When the players finally translated the phrase back into the original Latin, and understood what it meant, it released the Easter Egg.
8. The Team discovered a Glyph. Unable to read the Glyph they took it to a Sage who asked them if he did translate it for them would they allow him to keep the Glyph itself. They agreed and he kept the glyph but as a reward he gave them a beat up old goblet and told them never to drink from it unless they could fill it with water from an underground lake. They found such a lake and remembered the goblet. Drinking from the goblet released the Easter egg and the Easter Egg led them to a treasure hoard.
9. The Team once encountered a Dwarf who had a strange and intricate tattoo on his neck and shoulder. When questioned about it the dwarf claimed to have no knowledge of how he got it. When his shirt was taken off and the tattoo examined in detail it “peeled away” from his skin and the dwarf slowly vanished leaving behind the tattoo. The Tattoo was the Easter egg.
10. A butterfly kept circling above the heads of the Team, but out of reach. Finally the team made a net on the end of a pole and captured the butterfly. When the butterfly was captured it turned into a beautiful porcelain carving of a woodpecker. When the woodpecker was tapped against a tree it released an Easter Egg.