Craziness in the real world - King Arthur the Vampire Slayer

[RangerWickett]

In my current modern game (link to the storyhour in my sig), one of the players is playing Scarpedin Jones, a knight of King Arthur's court displaced through time to arrive in the modern world. The player off-handedly remarked in game once that it had been a long time since the good old days when he and Arthur would go out hunting vampires.

He also wants a lightsaber.

I have now decided to work a new quest into the game, to recover Excalibur, a +1 brilliant energy undead-bane fey-bane ghost-touch holy longsword.

Do you have any examples of whacky reinterpretations of real world history or myths in your game?

Another quick example from my more traditional fantasy game involves the phoenix. Because phoenixes are reborn in fire, I had an ancient primordial elemental entity known as the Stormseeker Eagle be slain and nearly devoured by the equally primordial and powerful Flameset Dragon. Ultimately the eagle will be reborn when the last of its body is consumed in dragonfire.

I'm interested in twists on myths or characters we know of. Was Shakespeare a member of the Illuminati? Did Nazi vampires attempt to abduct King Arthur from the island of Avalon in 1942 with the aid of the Lance of Longinus on a submarine created by Captain Nemo? What kind of craziness can you come up with?

 

[Bryon_Soulweaver]

Hmmm, it could be laying inside a cave underwater, say a thousand feet or so, with merfolk guarding the holy weapon.

 

[STARP_JVP]

Did Nazi vampires attempt to abduct King Arthur from the island of Avalon in 1942 with the aid of the Lance of Longinus on a submarine created by Captain Nemo?

I want to play in that campaign.

 

[Rystil Arden]

I have a really weird and sweeping (and I think interesting) mythic reinterpretation in my post-Arthurian homebrew that encompasses multiple real-world pantheons. Unfortunately, I can't discuss it on these boards because several of the coolest twists involve real-world religions that have living adherents who might not like said twists, or even the fact that I categorise them as mythology...though theoretically, my mythic reinterpretation could be true...

Oh, and the Arthurian knight in d20 modern sounds like my idea for a d20 modern epilogue-adventure for my post-Arthurian game, where the new modern characters will uncover what happened to their old characters through archaeological sites and fight against a conspiracy to overthrow the world, if only because one of the NPCs is displaced from Arthurian times

 

[Runesong42]

I always go to the dark side of mythology when I think of stories to do.

What if King Arthur were still alive nowadays?

Perhaps the love for his kingdom and his numerous good deeds game him a divine rank, or perhaps made him undying?

Or...

What if Lancelot's "betrayal" caused the demise of the Knights of the Round Table, and it so embittered Arthur that he swore some sort of oath that no king other than he would truly rule the kingdom, and that he could not rest until the entire royal family line were destroyed?

That aside,
I always thought that Excalibur was the model that produced D&D's Holy Avenger, so why not give him one of those as a d20 Modern artifact? I also always thought that Excalibur was a bastard sword, but that's just me. If you don't want him to have a Holy Avenger, have it function as usual for non-paladins, but let the sword's potential be released if your hero possesses some sort of relic that Arthur once possessed... maybe his crown? *G*

 

[RangerWickett]

Hmm. Evil vampiric King Arthur, bent on destroying England out of jealousy? Interesting.

In this setting, the human world is called Terra, the magic world is called Gaia, and Japan is the most terrifying place on Gaia. After the two nuclear bombs were dropped, the immense amount of concentrated death caused the magical creatures of Gaia to go mad, and the entire island is a blighted mass of insanity bending to the whims of the rather unsettling popular culture of modern Japan.

One of the players, upon finding out about this, asked if Godzilla was real.

*evil grin*

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

One of the players, upon finding out about this, asked if Godzilla was real.

*evil grin*

Personally, I'd be more worried about the Overfiend and co.

 

[Garnfellow]

Are you familiar with the work of Ken Hite? If not, prepare to meet your new best friend. Check out his "Suppressed Transmission" collections from Steve Jackson games, which in turn are drawn from his Suppressed Transmission columns in Pyramid. Fricken brilliant stuff.

 

[Anti-Sean]

The player off-handedly remarked in game once that it had been a long time since the good old days when he and Arthur would go out hunting vampires.

This is sheer, inspired brilliance.

He also wants a lightsaber.

And this, quite simply, is sublime. I can't stop chuckling and grinning from ear to ear after reading this. I am in awe. This player of yours is my new hero!

 

[Particle_Man]

In my current modern game (link to the storyhour in my sig), one of the players is playing Scarpedin Jones, a knight of King Arthur's court displaced through time to arrive in the modern world. The player off-handedly remarked in game once that it had been a long time since the good old days when he and Arthur would go out hunting vampires.

He also wants a lightsaber.

Watch out for Darth Mordred.