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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mesh Hong" data-source="post: 5319450" data-attributes="member: 73463">A lot of this will probably be obvious to anyone running a noir styled game but it might give you a few ideas or be useful to anyone who isn’t familiar with the broad brush genre. I take most of my inspiration for this sort of thing from my love of black and white films, anything with Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Edward G Robinson etc. Classically “Mr Big” is a well known figure, usually of a legitimate or mainly legitimate business. It is generally well known that “Mr Big” is the leader of a criminal organisation but he keeps his fingers clean so that no real or serious wrongdoing can be pinned on him. It is a case of everyone knows that Mr Big ordered his triggerman to whack that guy, but there isn’t any evidence to back that up. While many people in society or authority would like to see Mr Big get whats coming to him they are either too afraid or lack to authority themselves to take him down, bear in mind that he usually has people in authority on the payroll to smooth things over and stop the majority of investigations against him or his business affairs. When this isn’t enough Mr Big usually has a patsy lined up to take a fall, and isn’t beyond letting his own men take the fall to save himself. When these guys get out of jail he will usually take them back onto the payroll with a greater degree of responsibility as they have proven their loyalty. Mr Big usually has a nightclub, bar, or legitimate business office that he holds court in. This is commonly a nightclub in films as it allows for the greatest variety of scenes and allows for a small musical number to be thrown in to set the atmosphere or pad the running time a little. A nightclub is also great as it can have a good variety of sub locations; at the bar, seating/dining area (with private booths if necessary), dance floor, stage and dressing rooms, cloakroom, gambling rooms, back offices and main office. Of course there are also good secondary locations. Classically; warehouse, warehouse on the docks, the docks in general, a boat at the docks, a private residence, a suspects residence or place of work, a back alley, a long flight of steps leading down to the seafront etc. Also don’t forget that the hero’s (PCs) home or work location is also a great place for a scene where Mr Big sends his goons to intimidate the PCs to dissuade them from meddling. It all depends on the plot of the story, but realistically you don’t actually need any more than 3 fleshed out locations to make a rounded story. Whatever plot you settle on, and I realise that I haven’t even discussed plots, usually it is the hero (PCs) who provoke “Mr Big” into taking action himself. This is his fatal mistake as it either puts him in a position where the Hero (PCs) can kill him legitimately (self defence) or can link him directly to a criminal act and either have the police on hand to witness it and arrest him or take irrefutable evidence to the authorities for them to deal with. A likely way of forcing Mr Bigs hand is to deplete the number of goons and sidekicks he has, forcing him to sort it out himself. But there are subtler ways if you PCs or plots are that way inclined. Also remember that defeating Mr Big doesn’t always mean killing him or having him arrested. Sometimes Mr Big will have something you want, that could be markers from someone’s gambling debts, information he is using to blackmail someone, or in an extreme case kidnapped or indentured people. Of course in a fantasy setting this could be anything. Anyway I hope you find this interesting or it gives you a few ideas.</blockquote>

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