Game: Plot Seed From A Picture

[Pariah]

Here's a picture (borrowed from Cygnia via NGD):

 

 

The challenge: Describe a Champions adventure based on the picture. Be as succinct or as loquacious as you please. And maybe after five or six suggestions, we can post a new picture and do the same from there.

 

Go!

 

 

[Hermit]

AH, I was about to say I couldn't see it. But apparently that's because I was using fire fox.

[Lord Liaden]

To me, it looks like global warming has exposed a chamber long buried under the ice, releasing something dormant for eons. Fiction has already provided a long list of potential candidates: prehistoric animal (or human), stranded alien, lost pre-human city, beacon to advanced extraterrestrials, mutative virus. But with an apparent Blood Moon overheard, I'm inclined to go with something supernatural stirred by the influence of the Moon. Perhaps a creature out of myth was trapped there, like a Norse frost giant, or a malevolent Inuit spirit. It's also possible (in a super world) that what looks like an opening through the ice at the far end of this gap, could be a portal to another place and/or time activated by the Blood Moon, e.g. Jotunheim, or the Ninth Circle of Hell from Dante's Inferno, or the last Ice Age.

 

Whatever it was, the clues to dealing with it are probably also under the ice. But there might be other things left behind that will not welcome intruders.

[Ninja-Bear]

I’m going with our adventurers have found themselves on a foreign planet or moon perhaps? That looks like Mars to me for some reason.

[Lord Liaden]

There may be considerable sub-surface water as ice on Mars, so that's a possibility.

 

Now that I look more closely, the ice-covered objects around the bottom 180 degrees of that Moon look like right-angled or vertical structures of some kind. That would imply that the ice is covering some sort of artificial construct.

[Ninja-Bear]

11 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

There may be considerable sub-surface water as ice on Mars, so that's a possibility.

 

Now that I look more closely, the ice-covered objects around the bottom 180 degrees of that Moon look like right-angled or vertical structures of some kind. That would imply that the ice is covering some sort of artificial construct.

Could it be that the ice forms the structures? Or even though they look like ice perhaps they are crystalline in nature?

[Pariah]

Well, it looks like we lost the original image. Moving on....

 

[Lord Liaden]

If this was for fantasy, it would be easy -- Dark Lord's fortress.   That can still work for supers, of course.

 

This has a definite Lost World feel to it, like a valley hidden in the mountains. Harder for it to remain lost in the present day, though. Maybe it having recently been discovered is the point.

 

This valley and structure appeared on satellite imagery in a vast mountain range (Himalayas or Andes are the prime candidates in fiction), in a location where there was no sign of them a few months back. An archaeological expedition was sent into the valley, but disappeared. A military rescue team also vanished. Subsequently the site has started emitting unusual heat and/or magnetism. Respected superheroes are asked to investigate.

 

I'd go with the structure having been built as a temple, or prison, over an alien vessel. There may be human "caretakers" inhabiting the smaller buildings to the right of the frame. Reason for it being here, and attitude of any occupants, left to GM discretion.

 

 

[unclevlad]

I'm thinking even more remote...akin to the Marvel Blue Area of the Moon, but this happens to be a full, artificial satellite dome roughly 40-50 km in diameter.  Its location is co-orbital with Earth, but about 30 degrees behind it  That puts it approximately 30 million miles away;  combined with the highly absorptive, very low albedo outer surface, and its tiny size in solar system terms, visual detection is all but impossible.

 

However, detection by other means is merely wildly unlikely.  In this case, the Aricebo radio telescope happened to be looking in that area, when the satellite's defense screens flared to pulverize an incoming meteor.  This was confirmed by other systems, as this was about a month after one of Earth's more significant meteor shower periods...ergo, just in time for this satellite to be in position. 

 

Given the logistical issues, a group of heroes is called upon to make the contact, chosen for their level-headedness. 

 

(I'll let you get off the floor before continuing.)  

 

(Better now?  OK then.)

 

Inventor-types create a small ship fast enough to make the trip from Earth to the satellite in just a couple hours (a light-hour is about 670M miles, so if the trip takes 2 hours, that's 2% of C average velo).  As the ship approaches, a window opens, inviting the ship inside.  A clear, visual path leads them a couple miles into the interior, until they sight the structure and area of the image.

 

Upon alighting...the air composition is almost identical to Earth, but rather lower in CO2 and a bit higher in oxygen...they are greeted by those who claim to be the founders of Atlantis...a colony they ran on Earth for awhile, but abandoned.  They don't say why.  They claim to have only studied Earth...and, yes, well, borrowed seeds and animals, but that was all some time ago.  Why are they still here?  They claim because they're interested in monitoring Earth's supers;  such powers are rather uncommon.

 

But there's something a little off about the story.  The heroes want to explore a bit more in depth...there's certainly a LOT of terrain, and who knows what might be in other places.  Their hosts are...not averse to it;  they won't say no, but they're clearly not entirely thrilled with it.

[Lord Liaden]

I love the concept, and I love the story outline. It's classic sci-fi. I just don't feel like it fits with the style and implications of the image in question. Nothing about that says high-tech or alien, it's much more archaic terrestrial. I wanted those sci-fi elements in my own suggestion, since I went mystical for the previous image; but covered up by human constructs so they wouldn't be immediately apparent.

 

(BTW the Aricebo radio telescope facility suffered significant damage in 2020, and has been decommissioned.)

[Ninja-Bear]

It would surely work well in a Pulp game! Lost Aztec tribe!

[Sundog]

I also got a "lost world" vibe. But I was thinking more along the lines of modern exploration, like the current Tomb Raider games or National Treasure films. Hidden ancient items and "true history."

[Duke Bushido]

On 10/25/2022 at 3:05 PM, Hermit said:

AH, I was about to say I couldn't see it. But apparently that's because I was using fire fox.

 

 

I am definitely not using Firefox, and I cant see it either.

 

 

[Lord Liaden]

On 10/25/2022 at 3:05 PM, Hermit said:

AH, I was about to say I couldn't see it. But apparently that's because I was using fire fox.

 

3 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

 

I am definitely not using Firefox, and I cant see it either.

 

 

 

Right now, the server "can't be found" per the error message I got. When I first wrote my response to that image I could see it fine on my Firefox.

[steriaca]

It's The Hidden Valley of Upgawala. The people of the Hidden Valley are the Upgawala, intelligence cromagem people. They farm and herd. And if you bother there way of life, they'll swarm and use their incredible strength to repel the invaders. Note: they are intelligent, but only compared to classic cromagem people. 

 

Of course, places like this have dinosaurs and other primitive animals. 

[Lord Liaden]

I feel guilty about plugging my own work again, but since we're riffing on a lost valley for Champions play, I suppose I should refer to The Valley of Night.

[Duke Bushido]

6 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

I feel guilty about plugging my own work again, but since we're riffing on a lost valley for Champions play, I suppose I should refer to The Valley of Night.

 

 

You shouldn't feel guilty.  Since Pariah put up the image, I have been gnawing at my fingers to not say that myself.   

 

 

[DShomshak]

I'm inclined to go with the pseudo-archaic/Fantasy myself. Several ancient Earth cultures built stepped pyramids: The one in the image could be a Mesopotamian ziggurat, a Mesoamerican pyramid-temple, or a Buddhist stupa. (Only the stupa would have chambers cut in the sides; but the stairs look more Mesoamerican. The stupa for which I have plans has a more complicated shape than a simple square, and the stairs are on the inside.) Could be Atlantean/Muvian, as the prototype culture that gave rise to all those designs.

 

But for my Millennium Universe, it's one of the bases for one of Earth's most powerful villains, the chaos-goddess Tiamat. She's into stepped pyramids, per her Mesopotamian origin. (Or vice-versa.) With her magic, she can create a base anywhere she wants: The site could be any rugged mountain range on Earth, including the Trans-Antarctic Mountains (for a Savage Land vibe). Or since Marvel's Blue Area on the Moon was mentioned, she could build her base in a lunar range and have a Gate back to Earth.

 

Recruits to Tiamat's cult are brought to bases like this for advanced indoctrination. Those that are especially diligent and lucky to have the right qualities of soul are transformed into snake-dragons, lion-demons and other creatures of myth, the better to serve the Queen of Chaos. Only a very few possess the right qualities to be transformed into new Dragon Warriors, Tiamat's cadre of supervillain demigods.

 

Heroes who try to whittle down Tiamat's cult resources could find their way to this valley. They'll be in for quite a fight just from the cultists (some of them armed with magic weapons) and monsters. They'll have to act quickly, though, before someone sends an alarm message to Tiamat and the Queen of Chaos comes to join the battle.

 

Dean Shomshak

Dean Shomshak

[Pariah]

Okay, how aobut this?

 

[Hermit]

That's obviously the ideal set up for a place where you can, if you use the right words, get your supply of meta-pharms, superpower causing drugs. The question is, is it streetlevel stuff with all the ugly addictive side effects for a short term boost sold by shady under the counter types posing as simple purveyors of vapes and tobacco? or is there more to it? Maybe there's a mad scientist using this as a cover to experiment on the amazingly fluid human capacity for mutation causing true changes over time? FOR SCIENCE!

 

 

[steriaca]

The laundrymart has a secret basement for the laundry of super suits. While many superheroes and supervillains costumes are actually made of normal materials, some actually require special ways to clean them. The owners Wo and Jin Wong are actually experts in laundry science and are very discreet.

 

It should also be known that Wo and Jin are not aisan. Those are not there birth names. And they have connections which may be helpful for both sides.

[Sundog]

The laundromat conceals the entrance to the base of operations of the local Dark Champions style street hero. One of the washers in the back swings out with a hidden catch, leading to the basement. It can also be accessed through the sewers, and the laundromat serves as a source of additional cash for his war on crime.

The smokeshop, on the other hand, is both the lair and headquarters of one of the more mercenary local street villains.

In both cases they make full use of the fact that their businesses are open 24/7 and one bats an eye at strange people coming in or out. Neither knows of the others' presence.

[Pariah]

Next:

 

[L. Marcus]

The Mountains of Madness. 

[Lord Liaden]

The resting place of the body of the Norse mythic primordial giant Ymir.

 

Champions Universe for Fourth Edition has a really nice plot seed for that, including formidable system stats for Ymir. The premise is that he was felled by the gods and left comatose but not truly dead, and capable of being roused.. Since in legend the Giants were spawned spontaneously from Ymir's body, the ice in which he lies buried is surrounded by cysts, each of which contains a dormant new demigod waiting to be "born."