Need some plot ideas for a campaign

[Fireleaper]

Hi everyone

I am currently running a mystically oriented game. I am having three problems with it at the moment.

1: I am starting to run out of plot ideas that I can toss off the top of my head.

2: I am having difficulty deciding on a major opponent for my group.

3: I am getting a bit disheartened in that I am not quite getting combats/encounters interesting enough.

I am mainly looking for some advice/plot idea's.

The original point level for the game was 350 points, but build the characters as if they were 250 point heroes. They have earned about 50XP at the moment

I am attaching a copy of the preamble for the game so people can look over it if they want to.

[Tom]

The three major 'opponent' options that spring to my mind sticking with CU source material are DEMON, The Crowns of Krim, and The Devils Advocates. The Shadow Queen could be all sorts of fun too, but I don't know that I'd try using her as the primary focus for the campaign.

My FtF game tends towards the mystical and the Hero Central game I used to run had a heavy mystic element, but I have to admit, I'm kinda in a bit of a slump right now so the best I can offer in terms of plot advice is some of the stuff I've used. What sort of stories were you wanting to run?

[The Rose]

I got a little inspriation for a mystic set of enemies from Disturbed's songs "Into the Fire" and "Indestructible."

Basic Idea:

There is an immortal currently in a struggle with others of his ilk. Likewise, there exist five powerful titles that are bestowed upon those of strong will and character. One particular immortal (the main PC enemy) has learned how to forge the magics needed to bestow the title of "the Indestructible" on someone. BUT, it requires someone of pure conviction and so he can't just bestow it upon himself or his other loyal followers. He decides to hunt down someone, and he finds Maj. Jason Devlen; and more importantly his daughter Devon. Devon is a rebellious teen who has been caught up in a serious drug problem after her mother's death. The Major comes home one day to find that his daughter has killed herself. In his grief he call out for help, and that is when "the Immortal" appears and makes his deal. "Give your soul to me, for all eternity. And I shall restore her from the fires." Jason, without any second thought or regret agrees to do what ever it takes to save his only child; his love. The Immortal now takes part of Jason's soul and bestows the title of "the Indestructible" upon him.

Jason now must serve and fight for the Immortal. The Immortal, however, knows that the PCs pose a threat to his plans of winning his war with the others. He sends the Indestructible one after them because of this. Jason, now incapable of being killed, must follow his master's orders and goes after the PCs. Maj Devlon is a master tactician and a highly trained weapons and unarmed combatant. Things that have only been further enhanced by the mantle he now adorns. When he first confronts the PCs, they find that they can not harm him to any significant degree and must flee.

Adventure stats from there. Do the PCs learn who "The Indestructible" one is? Can they convince him to turn on his master and even if he does, is the Immortal prepared for this? Can they figure out what the other four mantels are and use them? Do they team up with the other immortals that this one is in a contest with? What if they aren't any more savory than this one?

And season to taste.

La Rose.

[Wyrm Ouroboros]

Before you jump all over a) yourself or b) the list, stop and talk to your players. What kind of players do you have? Is combat after combat after combat all they want, or is there a major RP interest in there? What kind of RP -- mystery/detective work, love triangles, vengeance, etc. etc. etc.? What the players want, give them -- granted, on YOUR terms, but it's what they want, right? ;)

If they want lots of RP, give them the Mystic Mastermind -- some quite-powerful-on-his-own bad guy (or even just 'not-good-guy') who has certain goals and sends minions off to work on achieving small steps towards those goals, such small steps being things the PCs can quite enjoy stopping each in turn, even though MM seems to keep crawling closer and closer to whatever-it-is -- world domination, absolute mystic mastery, or just a really good cup of tea. Make sure MM plays it smart, has lots of lawyers in every country on-tap, and that his minions KNOW he's going to bail them out if they keep their mouths shut.

Or there might be a group, like this Council of Shadows, but while not in direct opposition, at least they might be at regular cross-purposes. (After all, why bother having access to arcane secrets of the universe if you have to live in a 10x12' hovel?) See, perhaps, the alternate ideas for the Zodiac -- a group with their own leaders, their own networks, spread out and working on ... whatever.

So: once you have an idea of what your players want, you can build a villain/group to oppose them, and from there craft encounters to further the story you have in mind and to give your players what they're looking for ...

[CoreBrute]

I have a plot I've been planning for a while now. Based on Harry Dresden novels, it sort of depends on what vampires are like in your campaign but can be adjusted easily enough.

The PC gets a call from his police contacts (or The council of shadows sends them) to investigate a very unusual murder. A high ranking film director named Ricky Cho has been murdered in his suite and has been murdered and bled out completely. There is no sign of the killer but they have a suspect, a female actress named Selina Cole who was having an affair with the director (whose married). She claims she was in the bathroom but heard a scream and came rushing out but stumbled with the lock before she could get out. When she did she found her lover dead. She is incredibly upset and unwilling to talk, but successful social skills or telepathy proves she is telling the truth. It also reveals the fact their was a video camera on the scene recording (i'm sure your players can think of reasons why two lovers wanted a video camera in their bedroom). If and when the PCs manage to coerce the police to let them see the tape they see the following image.

The camera shows the director in his underwear while talking dirty to the actress, who leaves to go to the bathroom to 'slip into something less comfortable'. The camera is turned to follow her to the bathroom, before the director faces it to himself saying he's going to enjoy watching this later. He then looks up and starts to scream while a pale white hand grabs his throat. the dropped camera doesen't show the murderer's face but it reveals an interesting fact. In the mirrored screen of the television you can see Ricky Cho getting his neck torn out and the blood falls to the floor. But what you can't see is the attacker's reflection.
The man is soon dropped and Selina Cole enters the room screaming. The camera stops recording at this point running out of film.

What could have killed the director? And why did a creature which had no reflection show up on film? And who could have had it out for the director?

If you like the mystery, PM me and I will submit you my solution. Otherwise I'm sure you can think of a way to use this. This applies to anyone who like the mystery.

[kahuna's bro]

I have a plot I've been planning for a while now. Based on Harry Dresden novels, it sort of depends on what vampires are like in your campaign but can be adjusted easily enough.

The PC gets a call from his police contacts (or The council of shadows sends them) to investigate a very unusual murder. A high ranking film director named Ricky Cho has been murdered in his suite and has been murdered and bled out completely. There is no sign of the killer but they have a suspect, a female actress named Selina Cole who was having an affair with the director (whose married). She claims she was in the bathroom but heard a scream and came rushing out but stumbled with the lock before she could get out. When she did she found her lover dead. She is incredibly upset and unwilling to talk, but successful social skills or telepathy proves she is telling the truth. It also reveals the fact their was a video camera on the scene recording (i'm sure your players can think of reasons why two lovers wanted a video camera in their bedroom). If and when the PCs manage to coerce the police to let them see the tape they see the following image.

The camera shows the director in his underwear while talking dirty to the actress, who leaves to go to the bathroom to 'slip into something less comfortable'. The camera is turned to follow her to the bathroom, before the director faces it to himself saying he's going to enjoy watching this later. He then looks up and starts to scream while a pale white hand grabs his throat. the dropped camera doesen't show the murderer's face but it reveals an interesting fact. In the mirrored screen of the television you can see Ricky Cho getting his neck torn out and the blood falls to the floor. But what you can't see is the attacker's reflection.
The man is soon dropped and Selina Cole enters the room screaming. The camera stops recording at this point running out of film.

What could have killed the director? And why did a creature which had no reflection show up on film? And who could have had it out for the director?

If you like the mystery, PM me and I will submit you my solution. Otherwise I'm sure you can think of a way to use this. This applies to anyone who like the mystery.

isn't this the plot of the dresden files the movie?

[Clonus]

The American government sets up a secret program to investigate the supernatural. This has two problems. The first is that the American agents going around and grabbing putatively supernaturally empowered people and things for scientific study is liable to create a backlash and poses a threat to the PCs. The second is that a religious secret society devoted to hunting and outright destroying the (unholy) supernatural has a spy in the program.

[Narratio]

I agree with Wyrm completely. What do the players need?

That said, a way to go is to retrofit an overall storyline into many of your players prior encounters. mainstream writers do this all the time. So your players Fought Mr.A when he was trying to steal XXX. He said he needed it for something but was that the real reason? And did anybody notice a silent watcher at the scene? No (well, no, because when that game was played you hadn't thought of it, but that's beside the point).

There's a news stand opposite the event where a guy selling papers sees what's happening. Is he just a guy selling papers? At the time of the game, yes. But with a refit, no. Throw a few wierd comments into everygame. Let your subconcious play around and I'll bet you can craft many such supposedly one shot games into part of a larger plot even if, at the time, they mean nothing to anybody, including yourself.

One of the best of these was an Avengers story, early 80's I think, where Hank Pym, back as Ant man, goes into the Vision to fix him. You get a one panel "Hey, wonder what that is?" and it's forgotten about for 20 years. A throw away plot hook left alone for 20 years... Cool. Try it, it may work for you.

[CoreBrute]

isn't this the plot of the dresden files the movie?
There's a Dresden Files movie!? Since when?

And the answer to the mystery isn't what you think it is.

[Lord Liaden]

The three major 'opponent' options that spring to my mind sticking with CU source material are DEMON, The Crowns of Krim, and The Devils Advocates. The Shadow Queen could be all sorts of fun too, but I don't know that I'd try using her as the primary focus for the campaign.

Fireleaper, do you have any interest in using CU material for your game? While all of the above are excellent for almost any scale of encounter, or short- or long-term opponents, the "mystic" part of the CU is one of its most developed elements, with a host of potential opponents: Takofanes, Black Paladin, Zorran the Artificer, the Circle of the Scarlet Moon, Tezcatlipoca, Skarn the Shaper, Bromion, Dr. Yin Wu, up to near-cosmic threats like the Dragon, the Kings of Edom, or Tyrannon the Conqueror. Each has his own style and flavor, and could present interesting and distinctive challenges to your players depending on what they and you want out of the game -- and I concur with Wyrm Ouroboros that establishing that is key. If you already have an idea of that, sharing it with us will help us tailor our advice to your needs. :)

In looking over your game preamble I was struck by this passage:
The Purpose of the council is thus:
• to protect the mundane from the supernatural
• to preserve the supernatural against ignorance
• to enforce the barrier between worlds
• to deny those who would rule all
• to bring light where there is none

Some of these principles suggest to me practical applications. For example, "to preserve the supernatural from ignorance." The PCs receive a request for aid from a group of nature spirits abiding in a heretofore pristine wilderness being threatened by modern development. Some valuable resource was recently discovered there, or perhaps the land is being clearcut for farming or housing. The heroes have to protect the spirits' homeland, or help them escape somewhere else, without revealing their existence to the outside world. Perhaps the guiding intelligence behind the developer is itself supernatural, using this as a pretext to enslave or destroy the spirits.

"To enforce the barrier between worlds." Dimensional rifts start opening all over the campaign's home area, disgorging heretofore unknown supernatural entities whose appearance causes chaos and destruction. The PCs have to try to block the rifts and contain the creatures who have already arrived. In questioning these beings the heroes learn they're not invaders, but refugees from a dimension in peril. Perhaps their home world is dying, or threatened by a terrible tyrant or conqueror. To stem the influx of refugees the heroes will have to solve the crisis in their home dimension

"To bring light where there is none." A community that was once a decent place to live and raise a family has in recent years rapidly gone downhill, becoming rife with crime, exploitation, suffering and despair. The PCs discover there's more than urban decay at work; the area is under some powerful malevolent curse, and the heroes must discover what and why it is in order to exorcise it. Perhaps some dark deed in the community's past has had horrible repercussions, in which case the heroes may find themselves opposed by the very people they're trying to help, who want to keep their past misdeed a secret.

[bigbywolfe]

Can you elaborate on this?
The original point level for the game was 350 points, but build the characters as if they were 250 point heroes. They have earned about 50XP at the moment I'm not sure I understand what you mean...

[Lord Liaden]

In response to your request for a major opponent for the group, I'm going to suggest an original villain and his organization which I created for a past campaign. This falls within your group's purposes "to protect the mundane from the supernatural," and "to deny those who would rule all," in what I think are fairly original ways. Suggested minions would allow you to tailor your PCs' opponent to their power level, as they work their way up to confronting the "Big Bad."


In Meso-America during the pre-Aztec era, a powerful vampire and sorceror masqueraded as Mictlantecuhtli, God of Death and the Underworld. This faux god attempted to create an empire worshipping him as its sole deity, but was overthrown by his own sorceror-priests and entombed in a step-pyramid lost in the jungle. In the late 20th Century he was discovered and accidentally revived by an archaeologist. Escaping into the strange modern world, Mictlantecuhtli concluded that organized crime was the quickest route to gain power. He created the identity of Miguel Mictlan and began to muscle his way into the Mexican drug trade.

By the time my PC heroes encountered him, Mictlan had largely taken control of the country's drug trafficking. He had a number of bought operatives highly placed in the Mexican government and business community. Mictlantecuhtli had also revived his old cult, and his followers included other vampires, spell-casting priests, and were-jaguars. Miguel Mictlan's drugs were tainted by Mictlantecuhtli's spells to bring visions of the "god" to its users, as a way to lure vulnerable people to his cult and keep them physically as well as emotionally hooked. By this means he had expanded his powerbase into the United States, which is what brought the PCs into conflict with him.

Mictlantecuhtli's ultimate plan was to gain enough of a following to overthrow the Mexican government, and then round up some of the country's teaming millions for a mighty blood sacrifice that would return the country to its pre-Columbian state, with himself as its god.

[kahuna's bro]

There's a Dresden Files movie!? Since when?

And the answer to the mystery isn't what you think it is.

it was a sci fi[syfy]channel tv movie used as a pilot for the tv series