[Grim Tales] Help me write an adventure

[Wulf Ratbane]

How about a new version of The Thing (John Carpenter not Benjamin J. Grimm)? Toss in some X-Files-ian 'worms from beneath the ice' or even remnants of Nazi experimentation involving the occult (aliens?) in an Anarctic outpost.

This has possibilities-- especially if one of the players is The Thing-- but you don't tell any of them, so they ALL think and act like they are "innocent."

You'd have to change up the details so the "puzzle" isn't as easy to solve as it was in the movie (the blood test).

Not exactly an LXG kind of game, though.

But this is the kind of path that makes for the best ideas, in my opinion. Thinking of interesting movie or story plots, or interesting myths.

You could also take interesting (and especially unexplained) real-world events and try to wrap something around them.

The Bermuda Triangle, the Philadelphia Experiment, The Loch Ness Monster, the Yeti/Bigfoot, etc.

 

[Munin]

Thanks everyone for the ideas so far!

This has possibilities-- especially if one of the players is The Thing-- but you don't tell any of them, so they ALL think and act like they are "innocent."

Agreed.

Perhaps sample 'Thing' material has already been captured and taken to a less isolated area..say somewhere in eastern Europe. Maybe some mad scientist type is experimenting with different genetic strings taken from the creature to create a perfect weapon.

If we follow our basic components:
a) Research
b) a Chase
c) a Battle with the Henchman
d) Regroup
e) showdown with the True Villain

A remote Artic station is an excellent place for the research phase of the adventure. It's creepy, cold, and eerily quite.
Clues found at the scene would point the party back to a densely populated area. The knowledge of how quickly our Thing could spread in an urban environment should be more than enough to make our players shudder.
It's easy to envision a chase scene in the bitter cold of the Artic, or a battle with henchmen en route to the final local.
Now the showdown with the true villain would be tricky to pull off, especially if The Thing is one of the players!

The only catch is I don't want it to morph into a horror game. It's a good idea, though.

 

[Macbeth]

How bout a mad mage summoning technology from the future... set it in Victorian Pulp (LXG) and have the bad guy summoning something from years in the future that he beleives will make him invincible...

and it turns out to be an APPLE IIe or a TRS-80... (laugh moment)

which doesn't stop the bad guy from animating it into some suitably tough/horrific techno-beast (oh moment)

Just working on sleep deprivation here, chip in something better tomorrow

 

[Nuclear Platypus]

This has possibilities-- especially if one of the players is The Thing-- but you don't tell any of them, so they ALL think and act like they are "innocent."

You'd have to change up the details so the "puzzle" isn't as easy to solve as it was in the movie (the blood test).

Not exactly an LXG kind of game, though.

But this is the kind of path that makes for the best ideas, in my opinion. Thinking of interesting movie or story plots, or interesting myths.

You could also take interesting (and especially unexplained) real-world events and try to wrap something around them.

The Bermuda Triangle, the Philadelphia Experiment, The Loch Ness Monster, the Yeti/Bigfoot, etc.

How about using Tunguska? It was the result of an experimental weapon, device or whatever McGuffin you want. When both sides find out, its a race to capture it and if need be, destroy it.

Jack the Ripper / cattle mutilations. Perhaps the murderer is actually 'serial' clones (like Paranoia), each clone has the memories of those before it. There's also the C.H.U.D. / Morlocks route where an underground race preys upon humanity but might see it all as a game, especially after the PCs get involved (think Hannibal vs Clarice). As for why the murders happen, its partly to get trophies but mainly harvesting parts to become stronger.

The Fountain of Youth has been found in the Amazon (or Africa) so now its a race between good and evil. Headhunters / cannibals, dinos that time forgot, lost civilizations, etc.

The Bad Guys (tm) find Dr. Frankenstein's notes (or even his creation) and proceed to create a true 'master race' or at least gain a race of super soldiers. Think Doomsday from Superman.

Along the lines of the previous idea, at least one of the Martian canisters from the original invasion has been found and the superior technology will be looted for the war effort.

 

[Munin]

How bout a mad mage summoning technology from the future... set it in Victorian Pulp (LXG) and have the bad guy summoning something from years in the future that he beleives will make him invincible...

and it turns out to be an APPLE IIe or a TRS-80... (laugh moment)

which doesn't stop the bad guy from animating it into some suitably tough/horrific techno-beast (oh moment)

or...

Scientists at the top of their respective fields have been disappearing around the Old World. The LXG investigate only to discover that the brains of the poor geniuses have all been removed and connected to a TRS-80. For what purpose? Global domination of course.

 

[Munin]

How about using Tunguska? It was the result of an experimental weapon, device or whatever McGuffin you want. When both sides find out, its a race to capture it and if need be, destroy it.

I'm glad you mentioned that. I've always been fascinated with the Tunguska Event. For those of you not familiar with it, you can find more info on it here.

You could start with an investigation of the area and then lead out from there.

Or...

Along the lines of the previous idea, at least one of the Martian canisters from the original invasion has been found and the superior technology will be looted for the war effort.

The Tunguska Event could have been caused by alien technology, something suitably unstable and dangerous...antimatter would do nicely. There are two canisters, one was accidentally detonated in the Tunguska region; the other is headed for London.

 

[ragboy]

<insert character name>'s Gold

This movie always struck me as a great adventure that can be ported to any time period or any part of the globe, though it still works well in the American Southwest up to the modern day:

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
McKenna's Gold


There are a few plot twists, but for the most part the story is predictable. Mackenna (Gregory Peck) has memorized a map, now destroyed, which will lead to a canyon of gold. The gold belongs to the Apaches, and it has been decreed by the Apache Gods that the gold remain untouched.

But now the young Apache warriors want the gold to support them in their fight against the white men. The Mexican bandit Colorado (Omar Sharif) wants the gold so he can emigrate to Paris and become a gentleman. Sharif captures Peck and forces him to lead them to the gold.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Each character has some different reason for wanting to find the hidden gold, which could be anything from a cache of diamonds, to the original Mona Lisa, to the best brownie recipe. The important thing is that this lust for the treasure is all that drew them together.

One character has the map memorized (the map is destroyed)
One character has forced previous character to lead him/her to the treasure.
One character is in love with one or both or has her/his own reasons for coming along.


The Apaches (any local power, really) are both protagonist and antagonist. One of the characters could be one of the locals.

The antagonists are legion:

-the climate/geography
-the 'locals' at least partially
-What guards the treasure...
-the treasure itself.
-Some other group of allied, once allied, or completely unrelated (this is good place for a recurring enemy if you have one, or want to introduce one...ala Belloq in the Indy movies)

Blended with some other ideas here, this could be a solid core plot.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I'm glad you mentioned that. I've always been fascinated with the Tunguska Event. For those of you not familiar with it, you can find more info on it here.

Very cool.

This is the kind of thing I really like to work from.

I just read Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space a couple of nights ago.

Which actually has a nice tie-in with Griffin-- invisible hero, invisible antagonists...

Don't write off "Horror" too quickly, Munin. There's a lot to be said for Lovecraftian weirdness/spookiness.

 

[Yuan-Ti]

I really like The Thing idea. Some problems (not insurmountable) which I see with it are mentioned below. Here's what I see as an approach.

A remote Artic station is an excellent place for the research phase of the adventure. It's creepy, cold, and eerily quite.
Clues found at the scene would point the party back to a densely populated area. The knowledge of how quickly our Thing could spread in an urban environment should be more than enough to make our players shudder.
It's easy to envision a chase scene in the bitter cold of the Artic, or a battle with henchmen en route to the final local.
Now the showdown with the true villain would be tricky to pull off, especially if The Thing is one of the players!

Okay, so we have a basic outline. Research occurs at arctic station (Ice Station Zebra?). Why are the PCs there? Maybe they are sent to find out why the station is no longer communicating. Maybe they work there. To borrow from the movie -- PCs are American (or whatever) base members and are asked by the Norwegian government to travel to nearby Norwegian station to find out why comms are out. Find mayhem, maybe even a couple of survivors who act crazy (shooting at the players and yelling in Norwegian). Research ensues. Getting computers up and running, cracking codes. Going through paperwork. "Anyone read Norwegian?" Good search results turn up blurry photographs hinting at dark discoveries. Keep players on their toes with discoveries that could both be clues or misleading (why did one of the dead Norwegians have a swastika tatoo? why does one of them have books on lost Nazi submarines? why was one of them reading the baghavad gita in the original sanskrit? why does one of them have a note in his journal, dated 2 days prior: "The American knows something.")

How do you keep the tension, however, of wondering if any of them are infected? I suggest handing out a slip of paper to each early on -- for each of them it says: "Nothing of interest." Once they discover more about what is going on (virus, aliens, whatever), hand out another piece of paper to each which says: "You are not infected." or "You are a normal human being." or maybe more mysterious: "You are who you think you are."

But here is a larger problem. Unlike in the movies, once a group of players figures out what is going on, the PCs will stick together. How can one of them sabotage the radio, commit murder, eat the sled dogs, etc. if they are sticking together and if they themselves do not even know that they are the Thing? Here's a problem. I think the obvious solution would be to give the PCs form the beginning different agendas and let them know players will receive points and be ranked for achieving certain goals during the session, with a "winner" announced at the end. Maybe hand these out at the beginning somewhat randomly.

- Your PC has a disease he has been hiding (something contagious and with a stigma, let them know keeping the disease hidden is a primary goal for the session) and this would be revealed by a blood test. (Not good science, I know, but stay with me...)
- Your PC is a government agent. You have been sent to the arctic station to investigate UFO sightings and must immediately report back upon discovering information while keeping your identity a secret.
- Your PC has reason to believe a Nazi submarine full of gold arrived at a secreat arctic base in March 1945 and is on the trail to finding it. Your PC has no intention of sharing the gold with anyone else. Worse, the PCs quarters at the base contains barely hidden documents on very similar to those discovered in the quarters of one of the Norwegians. Other PCs will suspect something if yours are discovered...
- Your PC cares only for his own survival. Escaping with his life is his primary goal and once dangers appear, he should make every effort to escape, leaving the others to their dooms.
- and so on, as necessary

This kind of thing requires a lot of handing notes back and forth, though and may be too time consuming for a single 4 hours session.

Thinking out loud here.

 

[Munin]

McKenna's Gold

This is a great framework for a story, but I don't see how I could do it justice in a four hour one-shot. I'm going to run my regular group through this LXG adventure as well as during the con (why not get maximum return on your investment, right?), so I might develop it into a multi-session adventure for them.

Don't write off "Horror" too quickly, Munin. There's a lot to be said for Lovecraftian weirdness/spookiness.

True, true. I just don't want it to turn into a CoC esque game. Kinda like the feel of Hellboy, there are things that go bump in the night, and the LXG are the ones who bump back!

I suggest handing out a slip of paper to each early on -- for each of them it says: "Nothing of interest." Once they discover more about what is going on (virus, aliens, whatever), hand out another piece of paper to each which says: "You are not infected." or "You are a normal human being." or maybe more mysterious: "You are who you think you are."

I really like this idea. I need a way to create some tension in a very short time. This seems like an excellent way to do it.


I think we need to settle on a time period. We're getting suggestions that are all over the place time wise, so I think it would be helpful to narrow it down a bit. Wulf, suggestions?