Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="FitzTheRuke" data-source="post: 8169626" data-attributes="member: 59816">Introduction:Though playable in any modern RPG, this adventure is for something quirky, action-oriented, and tongue-in-cheek, like Feng Shui.They story exists in a reality dialed up to eleven. It is set in Seattle in the waning weeks of the 20th century. There is a Starbucks on every corner and people are terrified of Y2K. They have no idea how good they have it.The game involves social interaction and street-level combat. PCs should be made with backgrounds and features that connect them to various NPCs and locations in the story and should be encouraged to be generally good people, if perhaps a tad morally gray, and they should reflect a stereotypical young adult from the late 90’s.NPCs and Locations:Jim Boldrey runs a grubby vinyl store in Seattle’s Pike Place market, next to the fish shop. He styles himself like an aging pirate and he has a macaw named Pete who’s been with him forty years. Pete roosts in the shop and bobs its head only to Rock’n Roll. A PC could work part-time at Jim’s Vinyl, and/or Jim could be their uncle.In his youth, Jim founded the Pike Place Parrots, a street gang, that was rough back in the day but has grown more community-minded over the years. Sure, they take part in less-than-legal activity and fancy themselves rogues, but they’re not bad sorts. Many of the PCs should be affiliated with this gang, or be friends with another PC who is.Seiko Murasaki is a widow who owns a struggling kawaii-themed karaoke bar. If Seiko and Jim ever meet, they bond over a love of obscure American musicians. One or more of the PCs should be into karaoke and be friendly with Seiko, related to her, or dating her son or daughter.Brock Brando is a small-time crime boss who owns nightclubs all over Seattle. Recently he opened a dance club right next door to Seiko’s karaoke bar. The DJ plays hardcore techno so loud that no one at the karaoke bar can hear themselves sing. PCs should be encouraged to hold a grudge against this dance club, due to loyalty to Seiko, or from another event, such as being kicked out by bouncers, sold bad party drugs there, or they have an ex who works there, etc.Agata Crowley is an aging hippie who practices witchcraft. She makes and sells potions and herbal remedies at her house in a run-down neighborhood. Her craft requires the use of a lot of unusual plants and animals, so she has a large backyard garden, a menagerie, and of course, a lot of cats. She’s a terrible insomniac and she sometimes over-imbibes on her own sleeping potions. A PC could be her assistant and/or her child.Agata, Jim, and Brock all ran together in their youth as members of the Parrots and they fell out over a love-triangle. This could be discovered by the PCs over the course of the adventure, and it should be possible for to find a way to reconcile one or more link between them (or cause more damage). A big reveal is that 25 years ago, Agata tricked Brock into drinking a reverse love potion to “get him off her back” when she wanted to date Jim. She was inexperienced with potions then, and it went too far. Things never worked out with Jim anyway and they are both over it, but she never got the chance to fix the mistake: Brock hates them both for preventable reasons.Professor Everett Black is a quirky chronal research scientist funded by Microsoft. He is trying to prevent Y2K through extremely unorthodox means – by stopping time! With only a few weeks to go, his experimental machine is ready to test. He likes to listen to LPs as he works, and he frequents Jim’s Vinyl. A PC could be his lab assistant. If confronted when it becomes clear that his machine is dangerous, he will insist that he can fix the problem by adjusting the “quantum detangler”. He has worked too hard to stop now. Who else will solve Y2K, if not him?If a PC works for him, or asks about it, Professor Black will explain that time exists as a box, stacked on top of larger boxes, that are in turn, stacked on larger ones, to infinity. Every moment is a new box, stacked on top of the others. His meaning is never entirely clear, but his results speak for themselves.Outline:Over the course of the adventure, the PCs will be asked to do tasks by the NPCs. These can be done in any order (or at the same time if, early in the game, there is not a cohesive party). The goal is to introduce the players to the NPCs, and the PCs to each other, as organically as possible. Interspersed with the more mundane missions handed out by the NPCs, there are random encounters with confused, time-displaced creatures.Example missions:Buy Vinyl – Jim asks the PCs to accompany him to a biker bar in Spokane where he expects to meet a dude that will sell him some rare 60’s vinyl. Unfortunately, Brock got wind of this transaction and knows a few bikers that owe him a favor. They try to chase off the seller, break the records, and rough-up Jim and the PCs. Jim will offer his prized leather Parrots jacket to a PC who impresses him here.Save Pete – As tensions escalate, Brock sends some mooks to trash Jim’s store. Brock has nothing against Pete, but one of his thugs gets it in his head to bird-nap the macaw by stuffing him in a sack. The PCs get there in time, but during the kerfuffle, if the PCs aren’t careful, Pete could be injured or killed. If they save Pete, Jim will give them cash from the till and the weekend off to a PC who works for him. If they fail to save Pete, Jim will close shop temporarily to mourn the loss.Smuggle Turtles – Agata has a shipment of rare albino turtles arriving by a ship from Argentina. They are stuck on the dock and would never make it through customs. She offers free remedies (healing potions) to PCs who will risk sneaking past dock security to get her turtles out of the back of an Argentinian shipping crate. When they have the turtles, the PCs must deliver them to Agata, who is asleep (she always is when the PCs arrive at her door). They may have to hammer on the door, or if a PC lives there, they have a key. Agata will make her “special tea” for each PC who helped. She will throw in a luck charm to a PC who volunteers to lower the turtles all the way down into a well in her back yard. She says that she keeps her turtles in the well so that they are safe from coyotes, eagles, and crows (who have ‘bad spirits’).Break the Speakers – On the night of the big karaoke contest, Seiko has had enough of the loud dance music. She hires, begs, or bribes the PCs to go into the dance club and trash its speakers. The PCs must get past two bouncers who style themselves after the characters from the 80’s video game “Double Dragon” (they use elbow attacks and kick you while you’re down) and a crazed DJ who can cause feedback in the speakers to do brain-rattling stunning attacks in a loud screech. Seiko will give the karaoke showdown’s coveted grand prize to a PC who championed her cause. (Judging has always been arbitrary, but the PC must enter the contest to win). The prize is a huge stuffed pink unicorn named Amiko-chan, from the popular anime of the same name. Squee!Facing Brock - Brock can be found at his office. After the Speaker incident, the PCs have earned his respect and they may get a chance to speak with him for the first time. Before that event, they will have to fight their way in. If the PCs are respectful and work to negotiate it, Brock will agree to a sit-down with any of the NPCs that he has been warring with.The Sit Down – If Brock and one or more of the NPCs agree to a sit-down, he invites the PCs to join them at a nice restaurant near the Space Needle. This is a chance for the PCs to broker peace – ranging from a temporary cease-fire to total reconciliation. If the PCs know about the reverse-love potion, (or if Agata is there), they can attempt to deliver the antidote (best slipped in a drink). Brock’s muscle is on the look-out for any suspicious activity and will respond aggressively. Consider interrupting this meeting before its conclusion with an encounter caused by the Professor’s Machine.The Professor’s Machine – While the PCs complete the more mundane tasks, whenever the action needs dialing up, Professor Black will happen, by coincidence, to turn on his machine. Time stops, but not all at once: There is at first a slowing down, experienced more fully by some than by others, then a pregnant moment, as if things should be happening but nothing is. Finally, things rush back to normal. In between, when everything is stopped, an infinity could have passed; who knows? During a time-stop, randomly select a PC to gain an extra turn. Most regular people will assume that they imagined the brief effect. Perhaps it was something that they had for lunch.Side Effects – Unfortunately, the machine is slowly breaking time and space. When the time delay ends (and the machine shuts itself off), a brief hole in the fabric of time appears nearby (in the greater Seattle area) and something appears from the past – or the future. Occasionally these should be non-threatening objects, like a gaslight appearing on a street-corner, but often they are dangerous creatures:Pteranodons – Three flying dinosaurs swoop down on the PCs, their opponents, or probably both - if this happens during a conflict. Or if the PCs need the motivation, they attack innocent bystanders.Mastodon – From out of nowhere a hairy elephant wanders onto the road, causing a traffic jam. Not only does this disrupt a trip that the PCs are taking by car, but any driver honks their horn at the creature, it charges, enraged.Cave-men – Prehistoric humans appear and freak out from all the lights and the noise. They will start bashing people with clubs, breaking cars, or stabbing people with spears.Christmas Robot – a twenty-foot robot marches down Union Street. It’s dressed as Santa Claus and most people think it’s great. However, it is in danger of tripping over a public bus full of people and must be led away, stopped, or knocked over.Cyborg Apes – You heard me. Armed with laser guns. Their motivations are unclear because they are from the far future and can’t speak any currently known language, though they are smart enough that they could. Luckily, they are a small force.Final Mission:When everything else is done, it should be clear by then that the Professor’s machine cannot safely exist. When the PCs go to confront him about it at his lab, he’s been captured by Nazis. That’s right, Nazis! They want to use the machine for the glory of the Third Reich and must (like all nazis) be defeated. When it’s over, Professor Black will finally agree to destroy his machine.In the end, the few final days of the 20th century will tick away. If peace has been brokered with Brock, he throws a big New Year’s party at one of his remaining clubs. Otherwise, characters party at Agata’s house, the karaoke club, or another appropriate place. They dance and party (while worrying about the looming danger of Y2K) until the ball drops… and nothing happens.Of course.“Happy New Year!”</blockquote>

Verification