Campaign Idea: The Ghost of Carl Kolchak Help Wanted

[ragboy]

Thanks for all the help people. Good to hear that there's fans of the show here. It's been showing lately on Brilliant but Cancelled on TRIO and on the Scifi channel on daytime weekday TV.

You can get the two pilot movies right here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00026L7OU/qid=1094063407/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-9015660-4259257?v=glance&s=dvd

They just re-released them on DVD...

 

[Stormborn]

I think I would go with the Intern, but another option might be a spouse/significant other for the reporter or one ofthe others. A child, a la Jade in Jackie Chan Adventures, can work also and is a staple of a lot of old ensemble cast dramas and advenuters.

 

[Piratecat]

You may also have a smarmy producer. Remember Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray? It was the camera guy, the on-air reporter and the producer.

 

[ragboy]

Before Scully or Mulder did anything, Kolchak: The Night Stalker did everything.

Kolchak is an old TV show that would make a good D20 Modern campaign.

In it, the main character, Carl Kolchak was a reporter for the I.N.S.-Independent News Service, a minor newspaper chain that apparently had offices in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, and perhaps other locations.

Kolchak, a middleaged, connected reporter, confronted various classic and original supernatural threats--zombies (raised via Haitian voodoo), vampires, werewolves, as well as aliens, at least two ghosts, and the Missing Link.

Sounds great, right? Gives the PCs an excuse to be nosy, lets the GM use a mission-based adventure style. A good base for a Call of Cthulhu campaign or a D20 Modern campaign with tinges of the paranormal or horror aspects.

Problem is, I can't figure out how to fit four (or more) people into a single team. Reporter, okay, cameraman, okay. General consultant, okay.

What other function could someone serve on this type of investigative team? I'd like to be able to have four continous players, without one changing characters all the time.

A combat specialist or bodyguard isn't really appropriate, as they aren't directly in harms way...or aren't supposed to be. The cameraman can handle technical issues, the reporter makes a good faceman, the consultant can handle research and knowledge checks.

Help, please?

So, I bought the DVD I was touting and here are a few ideas, if you're looking for a 'team' of researchers, but want to stay true to the Kolchak mystique:

These could be spoilers for those interested in the movies, so I'll black them out...

Spoiler

• In the Night Stalker (pilot episode) - he had an guy inside the police force that helped him directly at the end. You could have that character enter the action earlier as the combat/protection guy.
• In the both Night Stalker and Strangler - The sexy 70's girlfriend could come along as a Charismatic/Dedicated hero with some streetsmarts and more than a little cleavage. This happened to a certain degree in the Strangler.
• In both the Stalker and the Strangler - His chief at the newspaper could be tapped as a player character, if it's done right. The chief ends up in Seattle in the Night Strangler and leaves with Kolchak after the events of that movie (the girlfriend leaves with him, too.)
• Other ideas I had...: Possibly a private investigator and/or government agent could be 'stalking' either Kolchak or the thing Kolchak is stalking and ends up joining the group out of necessity.
• The Night Strangler's antagonist gave me another idea...What if Kolchak stalked a monster/paranormal that was actually trying to help defeat some other monster in the city? Could give you an in if you wanted to introduce monstrous or paranormal player characters.
  
  

Overall, both movies were very 70's, but the great thing about them was, of course, Kolchak's character. In watching, I was wondering how he could be so darn charismatic with 'underlings' (he had a ton of contacts and hot 70's girlfriends in both movies) and so darn uncharismatic with anyone in power. Got me to thinking about some feats/traits that might fit the Charismatic Hero who resents authority (and subsequently can't work very effectively with them), but has a following with the layman/woman.

Anyway. Hope this helps.