Nareau
Explorer
Thanks to Piratecat's brilliant game at GenCon last year, I've been inspired to run a Spycraft campaign. I've figured out the general structure, but I want to get some feedback. Here's the synopsis:
Ramut Kotan was perhaps the most brilliant person to have ever lived. He was a mathematician, engineer, architect, sorcerer, surgeon, scientist, and priest to more than one ancient Egyptian pharoah. Unfortunately, he was also very evil. He prolonged his own life for decades (and possibly centuries). He made many discoveries regarding the nature of life, death, and the universe before being killed by a slave uprising.
Kotan had developed a system to create primitive cybernetic zombies. From his Throne, Kotan could telepathically control hundreds of cyber-zombies at a time. He used these zombies as workers and soldiers. Any time a slave would die, he would be reanimated as a zombie.
After thousands of slaves had died in the creation of The Lost Pyramid, a powerful slave-shaman managed to learn the secrets of the zombies' control. By leading the still-living in a massive prayer, he was able to coordinate the brain-waves of the living enough to wrest control of the zombies from Kotan. On one fateful day, he lead his singing, chanting, and lurching army of living and undead followers to overthrow Kotan and his Pharoah.
Kotan was killed, and his body was sealed and buried in a secret tomb by the same zombies he had created. However, the shaman knew that Kotan was very powerful. A dozen of the bravest warriors in the revolt agreed to become zombies themselves, and were imprinted with the permanent instructions: Kill all intruders. They too were sealed inside the tomb.
Further, a society of mystic warriors called the "Droba Milos" was founded. They were charged with keeping the location of Kotan's Tomb a secret, and maintaining a watchful eye over it, should he be discovered or return from the dead.
Kotan's Throne and laboratory were destroyed. However, there were a few slaves who had been promised great power by Kotan. They believed that he would return some day, and bring with him the keys to immortality and great power. While they couldn't prevent the revolt, they were able to convince the shaman that Kotan's crimes warranted special treatment by the Gods. These treacherous slaves persuaded the shaman to seal evidence of Kotan's evils in the tomb with him. Among this evidence were 7 artifacts...
The Artifacts of Ramut Kotan
The Anubis Staff - A rod of radioactive metal is encased by several layers of copper, gold, and iron. When the radiation is combined with a particular regimen of drugs, it creates a kind of "controlled cancer." Cells reproduce rapidly, granting the wielder several powers: Regeneration, Extended lifespan, and Increased Strength and Toughness.
The Osiris Plan - This is the system of cyber-zombie creation and control. It consists of three parts: The Osiris Formula, The Osiris Masks, and The Osiris Throne (though the Throne is now destroyed).
-The Formula consists of complex sugars and electrolytes, and provides chemical energy to stimulate the muscles.
-The Masks functions like an antenna that plugs into the brain of a corpse and receives remote signals from amplified human brain-waves.
-The Throne was a complex "control center" that included a brain-wave-amplifying helmet (like Professor X's).
The Tears of Isis - A chemical and electrical process that can ressurect a dead person. There is only enough to ressurect 3 people.
The Crown of Ra - EM Force-field armor. The Crown is made from a room-temperature-superconductive, highly-magnetic material. It contantly generates an EM field that creates a charge in nearby metallic objects. If the object moves towards the wearer, it produces its own magnetic field, and is repulsed.
The Lost Tombs - Maps and schematics to hundreds of hidden tombs with billions of dollars worth of forgotten treasures; written in Kotan's own secret code
Quantum Theory - Kotan discovered Quantum Theory!
Large Prime-Factor Theory - Like the guy in Sneakers, Kotan had developed an alternate number-theory that allows for fast factoring of huge numbers. In the wrong hands, it could bypass most encryption schemes.
The campaign will center around these artifacts and the villains who love them. The first adventure will see the PC's recovering the Artifacts from Professor Ashe, the archeologist who discovered the hidden tomb. The Artifacts' powers will be largely unknown at this point, but will be revealed as various Bad Guys get them and abuse their powers. Ultimately, Professor Ashe will ressurect Kotan, and the PC's will come face-to-face with an evil super-mastermind from ancient Egypt.
I've written more notes, but I don't want to bore you all. The campaign doesn't start for a month or so, and it should last for roughly 24-36 sessions. For right now, I'd just like to hear some feedback on the ideas. Specifically:
Are there other similar artifacts that might be cool to include?
Are there any artifacts in the list (besides the last two...I know they're pretty weak) that you think should be changed or removed?
Do you think running a campaign based on the retrieval of ancient pseudo-magic items would get too redundant or tedious?
Do you have recommendations on historical accounts of ancient Egyptian science, mysticism, slavery, or politics? I would like to borrow some names/dates/events from history.
Can you think of a more convincing/plausible reason for the shaman to seal these powerful artifacts in with Kotan?
I'll post some of my sub-plot, bad guy, fight/chase scene, and first adventure notes later.
Thanks,
Spider
Ramut Kotan was perhaps the most brilliant person to have ever lived. He was a mathematician, engineer, architect, sorcerer, surgeon, scientist, and priest to more than one ancient Egyptian pharoah. Unfortunately, he was also very evil. He prolonged his own life for decades (and possibly centuries). He made many discoveries regarding the nature of life, death, and the universe before being killed by a slave uprising.
Kotan had developed a system to create primitive cybernetic zombies. From his Throne, Kotan could telepathically control hundreds of cyber-zombies at a time. He used these zombies as workers and soldiers. Any time a slave would die, he would be reanimated as a zombie.
After thousands of slaves had died in the creation of The Lost Pyramid, a powerful slave-shaman managed to learn the secrets of the zombies' control. By leading the still-living in a massive prayer, he was able to coordinate the brain-waves of the living enough to wrest control of the zombies from Kotan. On one fateful day, he lead his singing, chanting, and lurching army of living and undead followers to overthrow Kotan and his Pharoah.
Kotan was killed, and his body was sealed and buried in a secret tomb by the same zombies he had created. However, the shaman knew that Kotan was very powerful. A dozen of the bravest warriors in the revolt agreed to become zombies themselves, and were imprinted with the permanent instructions: Kill all intruders. They too were sealed inside the tomb.
Further, a society of mystic warriors called the "Droba Milos" was founded. They were charged with keeping the location of Kotan's Tomb a secret, and maintaining a watchful eye over it, should he be discovered or return from the dead.
Kotan's Throne and laboratory were destroyed. However, there were a few slaves who had been promised great power by Kotan. They believed that he would return some day, and bring with him the keys to immortality and great power. While they couldn't prevent the revolt, they were able to convince the shaman that Kotan's crimes warranted special treatment by the Gods. These treacherous slaves persuaded the shaman to seal evidence of Kotan's evils in the tomb with him. Among this evidence were 7 artifacts...
The Artifacts of Ramut Kotan
The Anubis Staff - A rod of radioactive metal is encased by several layers of copper, gold, and iron. When the radiation is combined with a particular regimen of drugs, it creates a kind of "controlled cancer." Cells reproduce rapidly, granting the wielder several powers: Regeneration, Extended lifespan, and Increased Strength and Toughness.
The Osiris Plan - This is the system of cyber-zombie creation and control. It consists of three parts: The Osiris Formula, The Osiris Masks, and The Osiris Throne (though the Throne is now destroyed).
-The Formula consists of complex sugars and electrolytes, and provides chemical energy to stimulate the muscles.
-The Masks functions like an antenna that plugs into the brain of a corpse and receives remote signals from amplified human brain-waves.
-The Throne was a complex "control center" that included a brain-wave-amplifying helmet (like Professor X's).
The Tears of Isis - A chemical and electrical process that can ressurect a dead person. There is only enough to ressurect 3 people.
The Crown of Ra - EM Force-field armor. The Crown is made from a room-temperature-superconductive, highly-magnetic material. It contantly generates an EM field that creates a charge in nearby metallic objects. If the object moves towards the wearer, it produces its own magnetic field, and is repulsed.
The Lost Tombs - Maps and schematics to hundreds of hidden tombs with billions of dollars worth of forgotten treasures; written in Kotan's own secret code
Quantum Theory - Kotan discovered Quantum Theory!
Large Prime-Factor Theory - Like the guy in Sneakers, Kotan had developed an alternate number-theory that allows for fast factoring of huge numbers. In the wrong hands, it could bypass most encryption schemes.
The campaign will center around these artifacts and the villains who love them. The first adventure will see the PC's recovering the Artifacts from Professor Ashe, the archeologist who discovered the hidden tomb. The Artifacts' powers will be largely unknown at this point, but will be revealed as various Bad Guys get them and abuse their powers. Ultimately, Professor Ashe will ressurect Kotan, and the PC's will come face-to-face with an evil super-mastermind from ancient Egypt.
I've written more notes, but I don't want to bore you all. The campaign doesn't start for a month or so, and it should last for roughly 24-36 sessions. For right now, I'd just like to hear some feedback on the ideas. Specifically:
Are there other similar artifacts that might be cool to include?
Are there any artifacts in the list (besides the last two...I know they're pretty weak) that you think should be changed or removed?
Do you think running a campaign based on the retrieval of ancient pseudo-magic items would get too redundant or tedious?
Do you have recommendations on historical accounts of ancient Egyptian science, mysticism, slavery, or politics? I would like to borrow some names/dates/events from history.
Can you think of a more convincing/plausible reason for the shaman to seal these powerful artifacts in with Kotan?
I'll post some of my sub-plot, bad guy, fight/chase scene, and first adventure notes later.
Thanks,
Spider
All you really need to know to go is that your villain can come back from the (apparently) dead.
