Pulling a scenario together

[Jd Smith1]

I have got the material for a scenario I plan to run in an upcoming campaign, but I can't pull it together for the life of me.

The campaign is set in 1889, using Aces & Eights rules, very historical. The PCs are rail detectives for the Union Pacific. The UP is ramming the rails forward, using, as they historically did, Chinese labor in a near-slavery status, losing the traditional two lives per mile.

So, you have the rail workers, multiple tongs (organized criminal gangs) providing gambling, girls (human trafficking), and opium: the traditional triad of the railways of the time, keeping the workers sufficiently distracted.

Plus reformers raising Cain about opium and human trafficking.

And inevitably a few brave souls among the Chinese workers who are trying to get the labor organized for better conditions and wages.

You've got language, cultural, and social barriers.

The PCs must identify and crush any union-making, ensure that the gambling, girls, and opium doesn't get out of control, keep the Tongs from shedding too much blood or get too powerful/cocky, and ensure that the reformers don't get hurt and also do not mess up the crucial pressure release that is gambling, girls, and opium (which keep the work force semi-pacified).

It actually has the potential to encompass several sessions.

But I can't get it off the ground. The parts are all there, there is tremendous potential, and yet I cannot assemble these great parts into a viable scenario(s).

Anyone have a suggestion? Something to get me started? I've got two dozen scenarios already prepped, and I'm creatively fried.

 

[Tonguez]

A murder usually works

The body of a prominent labour leader has been found in a hotel room with a girl who doesnt speak english, she is being held by police awaiting an intepreter. The PCs (including the interpreter) are sent to investigate and must figure out if the killing was a lovers quarrel, a Tong hit or something else

• the girl is a victim of trafficking and points to the Tong
• the dead labour leader had links to the Reformers

=> hilarity ensues

 

[R_J_K75]

But I can't get it off the ground. The parts are all there, there is tremendous potential, and yet I cannot assemble these great parts into a viable scenario(s).

Anyone have a suggestion? Something to get me started? I've got two dozen scenarios already prepped, and I'm creatively fried.

Seems like maybe you're trying to present too much at once. Perhaps try breaking it up into smaller pieces. Say start with Chinese labor, their opium addiction and the people supplying it. After that's resolved move onto another scenario you have planned. I guess you can always foreshadow other things playing out in the background while the PCs are actively working to resolve one issue.

 

[Squared]

When I am struggling with a plot I use one of the below to help coalesce a story line. I will start with existing setting and characters and then add in one or more of the below and mix until done. The below examples are just ways to flesh out NPCs and motivations in an easy way to work with. I call it the shake and bake method.

1. Literary classics, Shakespeare is my favorite, hell I’m going to be using Romeo and Juliet tonight.

2. Film classics, I have probably cribbed from Kurosawa more than any other.

3. “A man walks in with a gun.” Classic writing advice that works for ROGs as well. Who is this guy, why is he here, what did he mean by whispering “rosebud” before he died?

Just remember that tropes are your friends. Tropes are a way of communicating your intentions to your players. A common saying in our group is, “of course we will accept the Count’s dinner invitation, he seems nice.”

^2

 

[MGibster]

Anyone have a suggestion? Something to get me started? I've got two dozen scenarios already prepped, and I'm creatively fried.

Here in Arkansas, they were building a railroad near El Dorado around the same time period, and there were complaints that work ground to a halt for a few days after each payday. It turns out that so many of their workers spent their pay on alcohol that a lot of them wouldn't stagger back to work until Tuesday or Wednesday, which slowed production to the point where they were going to miss their deadline to completed the rail line.

That's an angle you can use to bring the PCs in. So many workers, not just the Chinese ones, are missing the first few days of work following payday because they're going on benders. Do the PCs try to break the opium/booze supply? Do they try to reason with the tongs, "Hey, if these people can't work then UP is going to come down hard and you won't make money at all. Best for you to make sure these people can work come Monday after a payday." If you want to add some complications, maybe UP equipment is being stolen and sold so people can by more drugs/alcohol/women.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Here in Arkansas, they were building a railroad near El Dorado around the same time period, and there were complaints that work ground to a halt for a few days after each payday. It turns out that so many of their workers spent their pay on alcohol that a lot of them wouldn't stagger back to work until Tuesday or Wednesday, which slowed production to the point where they were going to miss their deadline to completed the rail line.

That's an angle you can use to bring the PCs in. So many workers, not just the Chinese ones, are missing the first few days of work following payday because they're going on benders. Do the PCs try to break the opium/booze supply? Do they try to reason with the tongs, "Hey, if these people can't work then UP is going to come down hard and you won't make money at all. Best for you to make sure these people can work come Monday after a payday." If you want to add some complications, maybe UP equipment is being stolen and sold so people can by more drugs/alcohol/women.

I like that.

Or perhaps the UP staggers shifts to accommodate this, which could provide some leeway for other aspects. Since the Chinese aren't Christians, the traditional Sunday off would not apply; by working double crews six days a week with offset days off and offset paydays, even after a payday spent gambling and chasing the dragon, one crew would be working.

Which would also allow for a scam of workers queuing up for pay for a shift they are not on.

And having the crews drawn from different provinces or ethnic groups could, as did happen, fan rivalries that lead to violence.

Interesting.

 

[Committed Hero]

Are the PCs already created? Do they have a reason to be strikebreakers?

 

[Jd Smith1]

Are the PCs already created? Do they have a reason to be strikebreakers?

Not completely, but yes. They will be rail detectives for the Union Pacific. This creates a wide variety of missions for them within the Old West genre.

And the last thing the UP wants is their work force getting organized. But it presents an interesting problem for the PCs: with substantial language and cultural barriers, how do they identify the ring leaders?

Once identified, how do they deal with them? Just shooting them (a historic option) creates problems with the work force. Bribing the individuals may or may not work. Farming out the problem to tong will create problems further down the line.

 

[Committed Hero]

Look for an inciting event that kicks off the moving parts in the setting. Maybe an election in a jurisdiction that the railroad is getting close to.

In cases where the party is employed, too, it can be difficult to drive the job's purpose as a character motivation. Especially when, in the idealized west, there are more interesting ways to make a living than breaking strikes (I hope you have a mature group, willing to tackle the racial and socioeconomic issues you've identified in search of a fun experience).

 

[aco175]

The TV show Hell on Wheel had many stories about building the Transcontinental RR. Most of it was from east to west, but the later seasons had some of what you want.