Plot Posting Game

[C_Zeree]

From the man who’s posted with the men that brought you the Character Posting Game and From little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!, comes the Plot Posting Game!

Now I will admit I am shamelessly "borrowing" the idea from The Plot / Adventure Idea Game [for Gms] thread from Green Ronin’s M&M boards. Buuuuut… as cool and as inventive as I know people are on this board, I thought we could have some fun with it too.

But in case you don’t want to do all that clicking, here’s the idea:

You post a short adventure idea, a paragraph or more.
Give each idea a short description, a hook, and one twist or red herring.

If you envisions particular cool scene, throw it in. They need not happen.

Finish with the challenge: to make it a little easier than the CP game, provide a title for two to three other ideas, or put down something you’d like to see in an adventure.

Those that follow on can choose to pick from any of the titles/ideas that have come before, or just post their own original. With the numerous options, hopefully the Plot game can roll along.

I humbly offer this up as an example:

Hive Mind

Insert your favored mad scientist, or scientifically gifted & insect themed villain. They believe the whole city would be improved if everyone thought and acted like an insect as part of a colony; with differing castes, and the villain as the “queen.” He has been experimenting with pheromone conditioning on humans, and is having some very positive results. He sends a handful of advanced test subject warriors to rob a bank, enter the heroes. The villain doesn’t want the money. He just wants to test his hold on the subjects. The warriors act as if they are mind controlled, leading heroes on possible wild goose chases to other “mental” villains, but it is really the pheromone conditioning.

The test, even if the warriors are captured, is considered a success. He wishes to move forward with the next step in his plan: introducing his pheromone creation into the air circulation system of a skyscraper. However, for this he needs chemicals in bulk, and is not willing to pay, enter heroes again. They should be able to track the burglaries back to the villain.

Scenes Possibilities:
One: Warriors evacuating bank with money just as heroes arrive, firefight ensues. (Ohhh, how I love Heat).
Two: The complete empty stare of the warriors when questioned by police/heroes.

Challenge:
Where Are We Again?
A Game of Snake and Mouse
Plot involving a meteorite, or other space object, that hit earth
Heir of the Wolf
Plot involving the sea

Hopefully this is a cool enough idea to keep going. Everyone could use spare plot ideas for a slow game day.

[MisterD]

Have all the heroes at one location in Secret ID.
Have a crime take place. (Convienience store, Super market)
Watch the heroes run around like chikens with their heads cut off bumping into eachother trying to find a place to switch into HERO ID.

"Oh Sorry. I did'nt know this phone booth was being used."

"Madam. I know a robbery is exciting but please keep yyour dress on." (Woman with spandex costume under her sundress.)

[MarkusDark]

Our little evil GM has just come up with something rather interesting. He mentioned that it would be a good idea if a PC had political contacts. Without consulting each other, me and one other player came up with two rather well placed people in the government - one is the right hand man of the Mayor and I am the head of the Emergency Service Units for the same city. Our group is forming the very first official Super Hero group (supers have been a bit of a 'myth' so there have been no official word about them as of yet). And guess who are the two people who were put in charge of the project?

So now we have to do this dance number. During tryouts, each one of us had to come up with excuses and so on not to be around. I can't wait until citations are handed out...

[BoloOfEarth]

Where Are We Again?

Start with the standard scientist/supervillain creating a device to transport his goons / teammates to and from crime scenes. (It helps if that supervillain already has teleportation.) The heroes trace energy transmissions or tag along to find their way to the base.

During the battle royale at the base, stray shots hit the teleport device, damaging and activating it. Everybody and everything in the room is transported elsewhere. Exactly where is up to the GM, though samples are: dimension where the heroes are villains, world where the Nazis or Communists took over, or (the one I ran) an alternate dimension where pro-mutants created a virus to kill non-mutants.

This works best if the heroes have to work with the villain to repair the device and return home. If going with the virus, having one of the bad guy's goons contract the virus adds some fun quandries, too.

Scene Possibility:
The heroes leave the building after the teleport accident and find one of themselves, either as a villain, a Nazi agent, or a body in the street.

Challenges:
Ready For Prime Time
Tag!
Log Off

[McCoy]

Log Off

A single PC in civies is waiting on line in a bank. Four to six civilians come in, pull guns, and pull the world's most inept bank robbery. They will seem to be somewhat glassy eyed, and may repeat a catchphrase from a video game. If there is no resistance they will take the money, leave as a group, and be captured by the police within three blocks. If the PC announces themselves, they will open fire. They will have total disreguard for their own safety, be at 0 DCV, using brace and set, and making no attempt to use cover.

Either way, when apprehended, they will truthfuly deny any memory of the robbery. A character with mental awareness may detect some residual mind control.

Over the next few days there will be more robberies, banks, electronics stores, computer retailers, hardware stores. All perps will act like characters in video games, have total disreguard for their own safety, and have no memory of what they have done. Getaways will improve, but from each robbery at least half of what was taken will be recovered.

The PC's will find a pattern to the robberies (all taking place within a three mile radius, or some such) and backtrack to a young mutant clairvoyant. He can see distant events, but only real time, and only while using a computer monitor as a focus. He thinks the robberies he's seen are video games.

But his powers do not include mind control.

He's a cyberpath, and has unwittingly mind likned with a sentient computer virus in his desktop. The virus is the one with the mind control, the one that has been conducting the robberies, and the one who built the battle-bots currently coming in the door.

Challenge:
A plot involving a former Pro athlete, the First Lady (present or former), or a hot air baloon.

[OddHat]

Originally posted by McCoy
[
Challenge:
A plot involving a former Pro athlete, the First Lady (present or former), or a hot air baloon.

Hmm...

Martina Kounikovina was the world's leading women's Tennis player, and made a small fortune as a model. Now, age has slowed her reflexes, and time has stolen the shine off of her looks. Meanwhile, super bimbos are running around in spandex costumes at 80 looking as good as they did when they fought the Nazi's in '42. Well Martina has had enough of that! She's contacted Demon, and through Demon contacted an extra-dimensional being that calls himself A.M. Belial. Gathering together a cadre of aging actresses and female celebs (including the failed gubernatorial candidate ex-wife of an American president), AMB's Angels are kidnapping America's super-women and robbing them of their youth and powers, growing more powerful with every victory! Can they be stopped!!!

Scene One: American Dream-Girl, WWII heroine (or substitute your own), shows up at the heroes HQ / in the office of an appropriate hero, without her powers, and looking every day of her 80 years. She asks for help, and gives some info about her capture. Unfortunately she can only remember being asked to visit a charity function, tasting something odd in her drink, and passing out in the limo.

Scene Two:
The limo driver remembers being told to drop ADG off at a downtown hotel. He was surprised when she passed out, but she was picked up at the door by a pair of women who looked vaguely familiar, almost like the actresses Susan Sorandom and Glinda Far, but older. The hotel room (track down through super scent, computer scans, bribes, whatever) where ADG was taken is now vacant. It had been rented in the name of AMB Enterprises.

Scene Two A: Entertainment Every night does a TV interview with Adomina, aging pop star. Adomina looks 20 years old again and reveals that she has become a Super / Meta / Nova! Her powers do not match those lost by ADG, but do match those of the 1960s heroine Sunshine Water (a roll vs. KS: Superhumans or Superhuman World will reveal this). SW was active in California until last month, when she disappeared.

Scene Three:
Any investigation of AMB Enterprises causes an attack of demon goons upon our heroes. Demon is involved! The demon goons have as back-up a female brick with powers exactly like those of a famous heroine of the 70s, now missing (Sister Power). The brick looks just like former TV star Chesty Snow (from the TV series Three's a Crowd)! If captured, she will let out some of the plot, and then disappear (teleported away). If she escapes, she will flee to the warehouse. Either way...

Scene Four:
In a large warehouse, a group of Demon Agents performs a ritual, lead by a female morbane. The heroes (possibly chasing Chesty Snow) interrupt. While the heroes are occupied the morbane calls for help, and the heroes are attacked by a woman with all the powers of ADG! That woman looks exactly like ex-TV star Laura Cartier! If defeated, the removal of LC's magic belt, tiara and slave bracelets will cause her to lose her stolen powers and return those powers to ADG. ADG will youthen again in a few minutes, while LC will age. But how deep does this plot go?

Meanwhile, in her dirigible headquarters high above the city, the power mad Martina and the possibly madder first lady plot their next move...

Note: Any PC heroine with LS: Immune to Aging will be a target.

Next Challenge:

Something with severed heads, an ancient curse, or talking animals.

[MoonHunter]

The local museum has been advertising heavilly their latest coup, a major travelling exhibit of Early Egyptian artifacts, including the mummy of Pharoh Taken-Ra. The local museum has an extensive collection of pre-dynastic and early dynastic Egyptian artifacts, so the show plays to its strengths. It should be a show stopper, brining in crowds.

The local museum has a terrible track record for security and safety (as all those museum heists the heroes foil or recover). They boast about improved security. If you actually read about it, it is security on a budget. The security will
formitable for normal criminals, but will only slow down a super villian.

The Heroes will either decide to watch the exhibit themselves, or were asked by local officials to do so. Word on the Super Hero grapevine is that there is nothing powerfully mystic or dangerous in this exhibit, now that The Black Pharoh has been captured (as he attempted to rob the exhibit the first day it was open). A local mystic type might be tapped to check it all out ahead of time. He should concur with the general opinion that this is all fairly harmless.

Have a day or so go by with it being a boring stake out. It will appear to be a total bust.

GM: Note- at the end of this day, the proctors will shift the exhibit around a little, changing the order to accomidate the increased viewer traffic.

That night, under the new moon, several minor mystic artifacts will influence each other, manifesting the Egyptian Gods as 350-450 points villians. If the PCs are not inside or have given up, they can catch this on video. They will appear in the exhibit, apparently confused, grab a few things of personal interest and disperse into the city... probably through a hole in the wall.

Most of the Manifestions of the Gods will be pretty simple and easy to find. Most have animal heads. They are not obviously hiding themselves and they have Godly needs for worship, goods, or to fight each other. (These are not THE GODs.. they are just avatars, minor manifestations of their powers.)

Consulting any mystic will generate a "Do'h" head slap. When they find out the Amulet of Horan-Ra was near the Receptical of the Gods, and exposed to the light of a new moon (via skylight), of course these immitation Gods would be released. Nobody thought they would do that, so of course the mystic would not have mentioned it earlier.

The solution is simple. Catch them all, bring them to the Receptical of the Gods, expose them all to moon light, and they all go away. It must be done in under 30 days, or the Gods will truly manifest upon the world once again.

So these God avatars will disperse and conflict. You will have RA fight it out with Anubis. Isis will take over the local university, looking for knowledge and a new priesthood. Insert any Egpytion spirit you want and make them cause some mischeif. This scenario can last as long as you want.

They should be easy to catch and keep. They are not expecting being as powerful as they are to be in the world. The local meta-holding facility should be brimming with these people.

Everyone is easy to catch, except one BAST. The Goddess of Cats is spending half her time as a beautiful black cat and the rest mystically transforms into an exotic beauty. She is working at the animal shelter protecting her charges or at a vetinary office. She is also taking in the night life, both human and feline. She is not trying to make the world over in her image. Of all of them, she realizes this is not their time and she is going to make the best of it.

Time will start running out as the museum exhbit will move on, or the manifestations are about to be sent off the StrongHold or some other locaiton.

Finding her will take great luck or great skill (both things a super group has in ample supplies). Once found, she will of course bolt, leading the heroes on a great chase. She can teleport to any place a cat can see, and can see through the eyes of every cat (watching where the heroes are).

She will then lead them on a chase, that should include being dogpiled (catpiled?) by every stray in the city, animating the large lion statues infront of the library, a trip to the zoo and the big cat cages, and at the end of a cliff or high place, a plaintive plea for the heroes to leave her alone and let her live. She does not want to be a spirit anymore.

What to do, what to do?

Challange: A series of sports related crimes are committed.

[C_Zeree]

Good stuff everyone.

Originally posted by BoloOfEarth

Challenges:
Ready For Prime Time
Tag!
Log Off

Tag!

Prereqs: Characters with the ability to go into space, or a connection to space and the upper atmosphere.

Caethvians (kayth-ve-ans): Think Sears Tower sized, roughly dolphin shaped, semi-diaphanous, part energy part matter entities. A caethvians body flows and ripples like a sheet caught in a breeze. They are predominantly a pastel violet-grey, the tips of their fins vary in other pastel colors, and their emotions send currents of other colors over their bodies. They appear to have eight eyes, four to a side, in a row where their head should be. Their eyes flicker like the rainbow, never holding a constant color.

Caethvians are void dwellers that live within star systems, feeding on the electromagnetic radiation put out by the various heavenly bodies. Most prefer to stay close to stars, or around large gas giants, but some, particularly the young, will become intrigued by smaller inhabited worlds for the broad spectrum they can put out.

The void dwellers are extremely intelligent, and communicate via electromagnetic radiation (visible light just being part of their means of communication). They will never be openly hostile, preferring to use their tremendous speed to escape. The only exception to this is when their young are threatened, the parents steadfastly protect them, releasing waves and pulses of high energy electromagnetic radiation.

The scenario:
The radiation coming from the Earth caught the attention of three young caethvians as their pod was heading for Jupiter. They are cavorting, playing a great game of tag in the ionosphere, riding the energy as a dolphin would play in the ocean current and waves.

Most radiation sensors on earth started screaming alerts as soon as the three entered the ionosphere. Scientists don’t know what to make of it. However, there is another problem: as the caethvians dance and dart around in space they are letting out “shouts” of joy. These shouts are pulses of high energy e-mag radiation that is disrupting communication throughout the world. The caethvians are not meaning to be hostile; they are just enjoying themselves, and “talking” back to the radiation.

The heroes must find a way to help handle the situation. Various factions have various opinions on what to do. Cooler minds summoned the heroes to investigate exactly what is happening up there. Can the heroes find some way to communicate with the young caethvians? Will they convince them, its okay to “play” up there, but they have to keep it down, because they are causing a lot of problems below? Will the caethvians even understand the concept?

Scenes:

1. Initial contact with the caethvians: surprise/happiness and first response fries the communication gear and even toasts the hero a little because of the intensity.

2. Less cordial nation/interest group tries to assault the caethvians. The three will unleash a cry of pain/alarm damaging a lot of equipment, before they flee for Jupiter, never to return.

3. Someone launches an attempt to capture one of the three. The heroes need to stop the attempt and calm the parents, who show up in short order, to protect their young.

Challenges:
More with energy beings
It Sounded Like a Good Idea
Cheshire’s (Or you preferred TP’s) Gambit

[Patriot]

newsflash
Scientist in The Antartic report stumbling across a damaged robot, they beleive to be one of Dr. Destroyers. One of the scientist stated it was found half submerged is snow, missing a limb, and very "disoriented " .
Tests are being done to determine the exact makeup of the robot.

[McCoy]

Originally posted by C_Zeree
Challenges:
More with energy beings

Sometimes you just need an excuse for an extended fight.

A mutant, telepath/telekinetic with side effect (think Marvel's Chamber) seeks out the PC's. Has a precognative vision of being kidnapped and forced to use his/her power until he/she was killed by self inflicted side effects. Before plan can be formulated, Telepath/Telekinetic/Pyrokenetic character with firebird motiff breaches HQ security, grabs NPC, and teleports away, saying he/she has to collect others.

PC's computers or contacts yield a list of NPC's that fit profile. PC's will be able to contact all of them, reach them before firebird does. Firebird will show up with kidnapped NPC's, now apparently mind controled, enraged, and attacking the PC's. NPC's will attack until they are one good push away from a fatal side effect, and will take defensive actions after that. (Not really enraged.) Firebird will try to con-stun anyone who can follow a teleporter, grab next NPC players are protecting, teleport away with all kidnapped NPC.

After all NPC's have been collected, firebird taunts that they will await PC's at their HQ. Back at HQ, battle royal, all NPC's attack, pushing powers and side effects. Anyone with mental awareness will realize that the NPC's are oing neg BODY, but, strangely, not dying.

When last NPC has gone neg BODY, firebird will stop, appologize to PC's and explain that the NPC's were new, transhuman life forms. Like a butterfly from a coocoon, or a Phoenix reborn, their physical bodies had to be burned away by their own powers to release the Pure Energy Beings wihin. The PC's have assisted in the metamorphasis of a new life form.

Challenge:
Gary Seven, Roberta Lincoln, and Isis, or
He's a suicidal soccer-playing inventor with a secret, or
She's a ditzy gypsy widow who don't take no sh*t from nobody.

[Quasar]

We did what?

While returning from battle on another planet, the Millenium Force with their alien techno-mage allies fly through a time-space distortion. The overconfident techno-mages tell our heroes that everything is fine and they continue on to earth where the heroes are deposited with no mishap.

After a good night's sleep in their Millenium City headquarters, the team begins to go about their normal routines. At first, only subtle things seem wrong. Once soft lines in the building design seem sharp and harsh. The demeanor of the team’s government liaison Ms. Pink is rougher and she's developed a slightly cruel edge to her humor.

While watching a news report one of the team members is stunned to hear "Gyro" Jim Dugan describing a scene where the super-hero Mechanon defeated yet another mechanical menace to Millennium City! What?!?

The heroes go out into the city to find out what is going on, but before they know it they are attacked by their old enemies R.I.O.T. who inexplicably vow to bring the Millennium Force to justice so "the good and decent folk of Millennium City can rest easy at night."

Barely defeating their old arch-rivals the Millennium Force retreat to their base to assess the situation. There they are approached by a mystic known as Dr. Phantasm. Phantasm tells them, after a brief mystic/psychic examination, that they are in an alternate reality from what they know. Here Millennium Force is a super-villain team guilty of almost every crime imaginable, as are the Champions (of Evil). Mechanon is a hero as is Dr. D. "Dr. Destroyer, a hero?!? No, not Dr. Destroyer...Dr. Destiny perhaps the greatest force of good the world has ever known!"

Phantasm goes on to tell the team that he might possibly be able to return them to their own reality/dimension (and in the process get back the Millennium Force of this reality) with the right tools. However, they will need to obtain them for him.

The real fun comes in when the team must do things that will look to the heroes of this dimension very much like thievery, and murder to obtain the items needed.

Quasar
Leader of Millennium Force

[Keneton]

Quasar!

You are giving away the good stuff! LOL!

[AnotherSkip]

Challange: A series of sports related crimes are committed.


Hmm..... how about a series of attacks on prominent politcal people during Professional sport events. The First family gets attacked while attending a foot ball, base ball, or Basket ball game.
each time the family is protected by Hero's who "just happen to be in the area"

Shortly after figuring this out The Players in their secret id's all recieve tickets to a sold out local game.

the plot?

most of the people at the game look kind of similar to the PC's in their secret ID.

Someone has done an awful lot of research to find out as closely as possible what the heroes look like in their secret id and then bought out the game and discretely sent tickets to each of the Heroes by subtle means as well as hundreds of others also likely to be suspected Heroes. And of course the only people really standing out in the crowd is the First family, protected by bunches of security (who also pretty much stand out) at which point halfway through the game the Mercenary villains attack.

the heroes win the day, but who staged not only this one but a massive series of other ones all appraently targeting the First family but likely inviting Heroes to foil their plans?

Aliens using some subtle technology have decided that arena sports are too boring instead they prefer to play a combination of "Where is Waldo" plus Arena Combat.

the bait is the Governments contacts with the aliens, the President is a tad more unscupulous than he is given credit for and is trying to gain some much needed space technology in order to advance the space race and prevent more "Challenger" incidents. Though the aliens have agreed to stop, and stop the situation, if the situation endangers the Presidents Family.

Costumed Switcheroo
New and Improved
Zoot Suit
Base Case

[MoonHunter]

He's a suicidal soccer-playing inventor with a secret. He is a Charles Komwart, PHD. Introduce him many scenarios earlier when the character needs help with some wierd biology/ psycho chemical/ mind control technology. He is the local expert in these things. When in his lab, the players will notice the utter clutter and soccer posters, pictures, a screensaver, and an autographed Pele Ball. He will be a bit strange, but what do you expect about a specialist in wierd science of the mind.

That should be months ago, when this scenario starts.

In the intervening time, the Good Doctor will develop a brain tumor, related to all the psychowave energy these mind control and brain amplificiation devices give off. The tumor is only partially operatable and the prognosis from the chemo is not good. The pressure in his brain is providing him delusions and periodic psychic powers.

(Mental illusion and some kind of looker-esk stun blast, initially. Mind control abilities later.

He wants to be a member of the local professional soccer team. So he kidnaps the star and goes into the game in in his jersey. When he is not the soccer superstar, he begins to use his powers on the players and the crowd, creating a riot.

The local soccer star is hospitalized for a coma.

He will then start stealing money, so he can buy the team. A bank, a hot dog cart, a few muggings in the street, the diamond exchange, the chancellor of the local university's house.

He will attack the owner and buy the team under the force of his mental powers.

He will take the team hostage and say that the heroes will have to play him and the team or he will kill them all. What do the heroes do? If they just try to take him out, he will have them all kill themselves. So they are forced to play by the rules (modified for Dr. Komwart's powers). They can't hurt the players they are innocent and any attack requires them to take a red card. They have to win or out trick the mad doctor.

The De Ex Machina is the Good Dr dying of his tumor at an opportune time.

Challange: An aquatic scenario that does not have to do with Atlantis, water breathers, or mutated fish. It can not be on a ship either.

[AnotherSkip]

Before I reply to the challenge would rescuing the Cast and Crew of Survivors IV count as a good or evil act?