I stole my encounter from a Stargate episode and my players liked it

[pogre]

I have found opera libretti to be a great source of ideas - and not just Wagner

 

[Impeesa]

Congrats, reveal. You've discovered the real trick to being a good DM: rip off good ideas wherever you find them.

The best is when you can mangle something the players know so they don't recognize it until the end (or at all). I once ran a two-session horror-themed Spycraft game based on the original Diablo, and starting soon I may be running a D&D game based on Robotech/Macross.

--Impeesa--

 

[S'mon]

I used the STTNG ep "Yesterday's Enterprise" as inspiration for a deity-level time travel scenario plot, "Yesterday's Thrin", which involved Thrin travelling into the past to prevent the bad guys changing the future. It worked pretty well.

I use relatively few plots directly, but lots of NPCs are inspired by genre sources - eg an urban scenario with characters inspired by the original Batman movie, with a Jack Nicholoson/The Joker character, a Jack Palance/Carl Grissom character, etc.

 

[tarchon]

I have found opera libretti to be a great source of ideas - and not just Wagner

Actually, I believe this plot first appeared in Puccini's "Il Giorno Senza Coda," which was inspired by a particularly complex score in which the composer neglected to include a coda for the repeats.

 

[robberbaron]

I am SO going to steal your steal.

And yay for Amanda Tapping ofer Andi McDowell in any light.

 

[S'mon]

I'll add another vote for Amanda BTW.

 

[monboesen]

For some obscure reason Groundhog day ís one of my favorite movies. Just makes me feel good every time. Can't really point out why.

 

[dravot]

X-Files also had a similar storyline, with Mulder waking up every morning and trying to prevent a bank robbery.

 

[Seeten]

X-Files Episode was classic. Haven't seen that Stargate ep, but love the series, and Andie McDowell is dog-ugly. Amanda Tapping is much hotter.

 

[Gnome]

That's really cool. I just saw that episode on DVD and loved it, btw. What's great about stealing that idea is the fact that it would work even if the players recognise where you stole it from.

Slightly offtopic, but did anyone who saw that episode catch why it was only Jack and Teal'c that remember the previous loops? I was wondering if I missed it or if that was a glaring plot hole in an otherwise great episode.