[Grim Tales] Help me write an adventure

[Wulf Ratbane]

Another thought: wooly mammoths are occasionally found in Siberia, well-preserved because they are so deeply frozen. Perhaps something alien and/or ancient (cue to Lovecraftian horrors here) was also discovered?

Oh man! Now THAT is a scene: When Smilodons Attack!

I mean, if there's wooly mammoth there, there's bound to be the cats too, right?

That would make for a great quick, early combat scene to get the players' pulse pumping. I can already see Quatermain and Hyde struggling with a sabertooth!

As for the larger plot, perhaps whatever crashed in Tunguska was on its way to rescue someone or something from the area-- following a beacon frozen in the ice.


Wulf

 

[Munin]

Murray: "Pay attention, Allan! You see those two hieroglyphs? They're clearly not Egyptian. And that appears to be Orion's Belt."
Quatermain: "Shssh! What's that rumbling sound?"

...

Charging Mastadons of Death!!!

 

[Yuan-Ti]

You guys inspired me to pick up the LXG graphic novels. They look cool!

 

[Munin]

Man oh man, I just finished Volume II. Wow.

Wulf, the prologue of Vol II...did that help inspire Slavelords?

Anyways,
Vol II complicates our 1908 Tunguska date a bit. Maybe we should use Yuan-Ti's time traveller idea?

As for the larger plot, perhaps whatever crashed in Tunguska was on its way to rescue someone or something from the area-- following a beacon frozen in the ice.

Maybe, during the 1898 invasion, a pod went off-course and crash landed in Siberia. The martians sent a space craft to recover the technology before it fell into the wrong hands (read: ours). Since the crash, Rasputin and his Ochrana goons have gotten in on the chase, as well as British military intelligence.

So we'd have Rasputin, the Ochrana, Martians, sabertooths, and the LXG all in the same locality (Tunguska). Sound like a recipe for disaster?

 

[nakia]

Why not have the "chase" element being the PC's fleeing from the Tunguska blast?

I have this image of my head of the LXG coming upon something Dark and Secret, then Quartermain turning to Mina and saying "We've got to leave. . . now." The building starts to falll down around them as they dodge the falling debris. They race outside to Nemo's (skyship, rocket-sled, dog team) and start to flee. While fleeing, they either have to 1. install/repair some element of the vehicle to make sure they go fast enough to escape or 2. Fight off (mooks, sabre tooth cats) who are also fleeing. They dive into a shallow crevase just as the sky behind them turns bright white and a giant BOOM echoes across the land.

After the dust has settled, they poke their heads out, only to see miles and miles of flattened and smoldering trees. Griffin is covered in dust, mostly visible. Someone says "Let's get started. It's a long walk to Minsk."

My .02.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Man oh man, I just finished Volume II. Wow.

Wulf, the prologue of Vol II...did that help inspire Slavelords?

It would be more fair to say that the same things that inspired LXG2 inspired Slavelords.

Anyways, Vol II complicates our 1908 Tunguska date a bit. Maybe we should use Yuan-Ti's time traveller idea?

Why would it complicate anything? You don't have to be faithful to any kind of "canon."

Why not have the "chase" element being the PC's fleeing from the Tunguska blast?

I tend to agree with you-- at least that the blast needs to happen when the PCs are on screen, not as something that happens either before or after or peripheral to their involvement.

But Munin seems to have a vision, so I'm letting him run where he seems to want to go. I can't exactly suggest that Munin let go of the reins on the brainstorm if I'm not willing to let go of the reins on Munin.


Wulf

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

So we'd have Rasputin, the Ochrana, Martians, sabertooths, and the LXG all in the same locality (Tunguska). Sound like a recipe for disaster?

I'm with you except for the Martians-- but I freely admit that's because I've already done my turn with the LXG vs. Martians bit. There's no prejudice there beyond that.

Well... Not entirely true. I have a nagging doubt that you've got too many villains. The Martians end up being a very obvious villain; I am not sure you're going to get much "pop" or "wow" out of them here. I sort of feel like, Tunguska already has UFO lore attached to it, you might get a little more pop out of it if the cause of that disaster was something else.

Or at least flip it around, play to the obvious assumption-- make the PCs think they are investigating a very straight up alien invasion kind of thing, but it turns out to be a failed summoning attempt instead. The trees are flattened for miles around because a huge (alien) lifeform slithered and wallowed across the trees.

 

[Munin]

I must apologize for letting this little project slip through the cracks over the last week or so. Real life is trying to kill me!
But, I've gotten things back on track and have time to pursue this with a renewed sense of vigor.

But Munin seems to have a vision

Actually, I'm ashamed to say I don't. I'm just taking these disparate ideas and trying to run with them. The only thing I'm absolutely set on is Tunguska. Well, that and sabertooths, that is just a fantastic idea.

You're right about the aliens, though. They'd expect it. I thought about using it as a red herring, but you just don't have that much time at a Con.

I like the idea of the huge summoning gone astray, but I'm not sure where I'd go with that. Nikola Tesla is another good one. Popular conspiracy theory suggests that the Event is a Tesla experiment gone wrong (or maybe, right), with the technology then being seized by the U.S. government or some other authority. The hunt for the 'super-weapon' adventure may be a little cliché, but it is tried and true.

Of course, we would need an especially shocking twist to put on it.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Actually, I'm ashamed to say I don't. I'm just taking these disparate ideas and trying to run with them. The only thing I'm absolutely set on is Tunguska.

Personally, I am more comfortable with something that is closer to Lovecraft than HG Wells.

But that's just me. I understand that you don't like the Lovecraftian bit.

I think Tesla is a shot right down the middle-- part science, part creepy. But I think you're still left without a really good "bad guy" with a lot of cinematic pop, what I keep calling the "A ha!" moment, and you have called the "shocking twist."

Who else can you pull from the time period that makes sense from a pseudo-science point of view? We've seen Rasputin but he doesn't really "fit" unless you rip off Hellboy. (Not that there's anything necessarily wrong with that.)

What about Dr. Frankenstein-- or Frankenstein's monster? Certainly he could find a use for a bazillion volts of energy. What if he's trying to simultaneously revivify every single critter trapped in the ice?

 

[ragboy]

The hunt for the 'super-weapon' adventure may be a little cliché, but it is tried and true.

I wouldn't worry about the cliche part, unless you're running with industry veterans. It's been my experience that most people that play at cons either don't even notice the cliched plot if its dressed up nicely or they take it as pastiche and have a great time. The cliche kind of lends itself to the boundries of their roleplaying. As long as the boundries are big enough for the 4-5 hour con experience, I wouldn't worry about it. For instance, I've run Exit 23 variants (Dark*Matter adventure) in several different settings/circumstances at cons and it's always well received, even by those that recognized the blatant rip off.