Plot hooks suggestions?

[sirgarberto]

Hey there,
I recently graduated, and so I finally find myself with enough time to playtest a game we started with a friend years ago. The game provides scenarios while background stuff develops, but I currently don't have any idea what story the campaign should have aside from that. Could you assist me? Of course, since usually no story survives contact with the PCs, all I'm asking is suggestions for plot hooks.

The bare-bones version of the first scenario of the game is basically this:
Starts in a world like real life, monsters start appearing for no apparent reason, people who kill them gain powers in a MMORPG-like fashion, complete with visual indicators for fellow people with powers.
It is unknown at the moment if the monsters are sentient and/or acting by their own free will, so while self-defense is acceptable, taking monsters' lives is illegal, and being seen using magic or any kind of superpower is grounds for arrest.
Naturally, a cop with powers could tell when someone else has them... but he'd have to find additional evidence for it, if he wants to avoid admitting having powers himself. There are probably some who legitimately killed monsters in the line of duty, but making that public would just invite trouble... they usually just look the other way or look for signs of magic.
I should also mention that in addition to the monsters, there are also medieval-style weapons falling out of the sky; the monsters have an enormous resistance to any weapon but these. This is all happening in a place where it's pretty hard to get a permit to carry a gun, so it would be illegal for most of the players.

I hope any of you can help me.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Take a read of a Clive Barker's Imagica- at least a plot summary- and go from there. Instead of the reunification of reality, the goal becomes an issue of stopping those in higher planes' using ours as their own version of a FRPG/Sims/ant farm.

Side plot: someone may reason- rightly or wrongly- if this is really happening, then there may be something to the legends of the ancient world, so they may take up an SS-style hunt around the world for genuine artifacts of power: Excalibur, the Spear of Longinus, the Arc of the Covenant.

 

[Herobizkit]

I, for one, want to play this game.

And as plot hooks, think on a personal level.

* Neighbor Fred drove a Dire Rat out of his garbage and now he can't seem to lose his aggro. Dire Rats follow him everywhere - the supermarket, his office/garage, out to his parent's place...
* The local "junior drug procurement officer" got really high on 'shrooms one night, found "magic sneakers" and jumped on what he thought was a Goomba. Turns out it was a Myconid that he stomped to death as it was tunneling out from under the yard. Now the 'shrooms are trying to do HIM.
* The fat kid who never got attention in class is suddenly everyone's best friend and he's turned the school into his own personal fortress. The grown-ups want to go home. (see/read Lord of the Flies)
* A pair of FBI agents is researching the growing infestation of 'alien' creatures and strange artifacts in order to catalog them. Anything the get their hands on becomes unobtainable by the PC's. (see X-Files, Warehouse 13)
* Local bum/town drunk has found and is now using Town Portal to perform break-ins.
* a gang of LARPers now have to deal with REAL Goblins and Trolls. Too bad no one can cast Fire.
* A group of private school jocks has taken to using Summoning pets to gamble on "dog-fights". (Pokemon gone bad)

Finding maces and wands and blowing up monsters is one thing, but how these events AFFECT people is the key to modern-setting storytelling.

 

[GMMichael]

Your characters are middle-school gamers, and while playing WoW, one of them turns into an Orc.

 

[sirgarberto]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Take a read of a Clive Barker's Imagica- at least a plot summary- and go from there. Instead of the reunification of reality, the goal becomes an issue of stopping those in higher planes' using ours as their own version of a FRPG/Sims/ant farm.

There is, actually, a grand plot behind the game. But for a while (the first three scenarios) the game centers on the appearance of what is later known as "The Game", and how it affects the world. There will be time to fight back against if from scenario 4 onwards.

Side plot: someone may reason- rightly or wrongly- if this is really happening, then there may be something to the legends of the ancient world, so they may take up an SS-style hunt around the world for genuine artifacts of power: Excalibur, the Spear of Longinus, the Arc of the Covenant.

This is a good idea. I'm not entirely sure how it will affect the PCs, at least in the beginning, but it's a nice thing to keep in the background to give things more flavor.

I, for one, want to play this game.

I'm planning to post the material over here once it's stable. It may be a while, though.

And as plot hooks, think on a personal level.

* Neighbor Fred drove a Dire Rat out of his garbage and now he can't seem to lose his aggro. Dire Rats follow him everywhere - the supermarket, his office/garage, out to his parent's place...
* The local "junior drug procurement officer" got really high on 'shrooms one night, found "magic sneakers" and jumped on what he thought was a Goomba. Turns out it was a Myconid that he stomped to death as it was tunneling out from under the yard. Now the 'shrooms are trying to do HIM.
* The fat kid who never got attention in class is suddenly everyone's best friend and he's turned the school into his own personal fortress. The grown-ups want to go home. (see/read Lord of the Flies)
* A pair of FBI agents is researching the growing infestation of 'alien' creatures and strange artifacts in order to catalog them. Anything the get their hands on becomes unobtainable by the PC's. (see X-Files, Warehouse 13)
* Local bum/town drunk has found and is now using Town Portal to perform break-ins.
* a gang of LARPers now have to deal with REAL Goblins and Trolls. Too bad no one can cast Fire.
* A group of private school jocks has taken to using Summoning pets to gamble on "dog-fights". (Pokemon gone bad)

Finding maces and wands and blowing up monsters is one thing, but how these events AFFECT people is the key to modern-setting storytelling.

These are all great ideas. Many don't conform to what I had about how monsters worked, but I might as well adapt. After all, I haven't even started playtesting it yet, and this makes for better stories. Some of these I'll have to adapt since the first scenario is necessarily low level, since this is all just starting.

Your characters are middle-school gamers, and while playing WoW, one of them turns into an Orc.

This is a good idea, but it wouldn't really work on the setting. For one thing, you can't really gain any new powers unless you just leveled up, and you can't level up unless you just killed a monster. Besides, this stuff is all just beginning, so it would be pretty low magic for now... so the powers wouldn't be quite as powerful yet as to turn someone into a full orc. I might fuse this with Herobizkit's idea about the LARP gang, though.

 

[Herobizkit]

Are you basing any of this on the Level Up tv series on Cartoon Network?

 

[Mark CMG]

This might help -

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/plots.htm

 

[sirgarberto]

Are you basing any of this on the Level Up tv series on Cartoon Network?

Not at all. As I said, this game has been in limbo for years; windows says the 1st scenario file was last updated on 03/28/2009, and I honestly don't remember when did we start. I should check to make sure the plot doesn't intersect with mine - I never heard of it before, but my players might have.

This might help -

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/plots.htm

Awesome! It's a long list though, so I'll check it in detail later.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Are you basing any of this on the Level Up tv series on Cartoon Network?

I was thinking of suggesting that show, but couldn't remember its title.

 

[Herobizkit]

I was thinking of suggesting that show, but couldn't remember its title.

The only reason I remembered it is because I have a crush on Aimee Carerro. *tee hee hee*