What have you stolen lately for your game?

[Kid Socrates]

I run a Final Fantasy game, so I steal in ridiculous quantities from the other games in the series. However, my most inspired (and painful) thievery comes from a number of places.

I'm horrible with names, so I've been pulling from one standard place for each group of names I need.

Every bounty hunter I've created is modeled after a professional wrestler, either in name only, or in mannerisms as well. To keep this from being Stone Cold Steve Accomplice, I try and stick with independant wrestlers as much as possible. One player catches the references, the others just think that these are cool NPCs. So far I've had one four-man group of bounty hunters called Generation Next (after the Ring of Honor foursome), and another group from the city of science, Ad Astra, calling themselves the Science City Saints (named for CM Punk, Colt Cabana, and Ace Steel). The Saints were probably my best of the group, as I named their weapons after their finishing moves. A chain with snakes' heads on the ends that bit at its target's wrists, binding them so they couldn't act (Anaconda Vice), a gun (Colt 45), and a crazed lunatic wielding spikes that reduced AC if they hit (Steel Spikes).

Every tonberry in the game is named after an NFL wide receiver. So far they've come across Hines, Plax, Twaan, Santana, Lavernues, Craphonso, and Sinorice.

Every SeeD agent in the game (other than the top agents) uses computer-generated names from the Madden NFL Football series, the best of which being Champ Justice. Others are Troy Madden, Brodie Madden, Greg Allemand, Antonio Blades, Tayshaun Nordenholt, Max Payne, and Casper Wooden.

I tend to steal a lot for the background.

 

[bigdamnnerd]

I'm currently running a future-noir game (using D6 Adventure) set in 2081, revolving around a ex-cop turned PI. I've been stealing liberally from the Rockford Files for the past few cases, and have also converted several hard-boiled novels for the game as well.

Both have worked out extremely well. My group tends to overthink things, so a 1 hour episode turns into 2 or 3 sessions.

I mostly ignore what Rockford did, and just steal the relationship map and events that have happened off screen. I make myself up a flowchart detailing how everyone is connected (who killed whom, who is going to doublecross whom, etc) and just go with however the PCs want to investigate, dropping clues and whatnot.

 

[Napftor]

you know whenever i see your user name i always think of Napster. i hope you appreciate that this thread title has given me more than a few laughs.

Oh diaglo, I just appreciate you visiting my thread.

 

[Orryn Emrys]

Actually, my primary campaign world, which I started designing back in '95, has a mythology involving a dark power that was sealed away at the moment of its creation along with all its most powerful servants, who have more recently managed to start escaping their imprisonment and wreaking havoc on the world. Very Robert Jordan. I even have a 'world of dreams' that figures into play a good deal, a setting that has undergone numerous geographical shifts over the past 3000 years, an 'old tongue' that infests the edges of today's common speech and naming conventions, an ancient system of 'vaults' that allow travel from to several similar structures in obscure locations that were once somehow very important, a cursed city with an evil mist-like creature, and an invading culture from across the sea that shares more than a couple of traits with the Seanchan.

I'm not necessarily really blatant about my plagiarism, which is fortunate since several of my players over the past few years have been Wheel of Time fans, but it's certainly there. I have also borrowed heavily from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, and the Symphony of Ages books by Elizabeth Hayden.

 

[Aeric]

In my last (Eberron) campaign, I ran an adventure based loosely on The Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. The PCs joined an expedition to the Frostfell in search of a famous lost ship, and along the way discovered what the ship was really looking for--an ancient civilization of advanced beings (aboleths) frozen under the ice.

 

[Aeric]

Oh, and I also turned the Mournland from that same setting into a kingdom of free-willed undead like the Forsaken from World of Warcraft.

 

[Remathilis]

A huge pirate ship that at first appearance is covered in barnacles and seaweed. A large dome sits atop the mast, a keel that appears to be a leering face, and its sails are a funny color and amost seem translucent.

However, the ship is no mere vessel. Its an abberation specifically crafted to be a scourge of the seas. THe dome reveals an eye that acts much like a beholder's (firing rays of fire, ice, and acid or a cone of antimagic). From the sides appear tentacles that can act like sweeps or crash against the ship's hull (or anyone in the water) the face is exactly that, devouring anything small enough to fall into the water, and the sails are really membranes of skin immune to most conventonal weapons.

The ship attacks vessels mostly to capture slaves to be used as workers and food for the crew of chokers, dolgrims, dolgaunts, and its mind-flayer captain.

(yeah, I loved the Pirates 2 movie...)

 

[Branding Opportunity]

For years now I've had this bizarre desire to create an entire d20 Modern adventure based solely on the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues." Don't ask me how I'd make it work.

Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he's got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It's somethin' you did
God knows when
But you're doin' it again
You better duck down the alley way
Lookin' for a new friend
The man in the coon-skin cap
In the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten ...

 

[Nyaricus]

For years now I've had this bizarre desire to create an entire d20 Modern adventure based solely on the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues." Don't ask me how I'd make it work.

that's pretty crazy stuff right there

Sounds cool though

cheers,
--N

 

[David Howery]

I haven't been in a group for years, but when I was an active DM, I stole ideas from everywhere I could. In my short Spelljammer campaign, I made up stats for both the Aliens and Predator critters (the players absolutely hated those facehugger things). I ran a Battlesystem scenario based on the famous battle at Rorke's Drift. I based scenarios on the creepy enclosed city and warring tribes in the Conan story Red Nails, sent the PCs to the dinosaur world of Harry Harrison's Eden trilogy, did a prehistoric adventure loosely based on "Fire and Ice", set up a weird frozen temple full of monsters in stasis (inspired by Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger), and ran several wild west style adventures based on old movies (gold camps, range wars, and 'Indians' who were actually savage orcs on boars). A couple of my 'steals' made it into print. I based one adventure on that man/elephant godlike being from the Conan story "Tower of the Elephant", combined with the old myth of the Elephants Graveyard. Another one was based on the title villains of "Tarzan and the Leopard Men"... both these jungle-based adventures made it into Dungeon...
Basically, I think every DM has to steal ideas from somewhere, even it its just a neat villain or setting... it's hard to be absolutely original on a weekly basis....