Blue Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Hi gang, As we have become embroiled in another non-hero campaign run by another player, I must look to the future. Once upon a time we used to run a halloween game. With that in mind, I'm thinking a Dark Champions level Monster Squad game might be interesting for a 1 or 2-shot session between games around All-Hallow's Eve. In order to keep it from becoming a typical zomibe and vampire bash, does anyone have fitting suggestions for DC level monster foes? Who know, it may degenerate into a simple monster bash, but it depends on what foes I can come up with. For a setting, I'm thinking either an abandoned Asylum, Prison, or maybe even a school (so I can throw in some spooky children). The players will likely be a SWAT-style group with limited paranormal technology (but a lot of guns) who don't really know what they're getting themselves into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Play the monsters. Anyone ever see the Saturday morning adventure show, the Monster Squad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted August 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas If they weren't normally playing vampires and werewolves and just now going back to the campaign where we're D&D monster types (Kobolds, Minotaurs, etc) then I might consider it. But for a true Halloween mood (and a break of type) I'd rather they be human in a more-or-less real world while dealing with the unknown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proditor Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Hurm...my idea was the same as Enforcer's...I ran a one night Halloween "Weird Wars" special where the players were The Creature Commandos from DC Comics and got to fight Nazis as archetype monsters... But since that would be redundant based on your ongoing games, how about cribbing some ideas from film and fiction? For setting, it's nigh impossible to beat the sanitarium in "Session 9". Actually, I've been pondering whether or not that is a viable idea for a one-off special for a bit now. Make the PC's REALLY normal (in this case, an asbestos cleaning crew) and then start the weirdness. For the creepy kid aspect, "Resident Evil" has that outright evil little girl (The AI). Whatever the faults or merits of the flick, she was rock solid and spooky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proditor Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Here we go, the arguable star of Session 9, the Danvers State Hospital. http://www.noblenet.org/danvers/pildsh.html I once got an asylum kick and found literally hundreds of pages of pictures online that could be of great use in an abandoned asylum game. Some photgraphers go from closed asylum to closed asylum just taking pictures of all of them. The pics are cool/creepy/disheartening/affirming all at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted August 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas They've had two traditions over the years. One was Call of Cthulhu. But I felt that was a little too close to the game our GM just stopped running (that was actually based on WoD mechanics). The other was they ran, every year (before I started) a game ripped from an issue of Dragon Magazine that involved being themselves or a boyscout troup, or some such, and they'd go into a haunted house and every year they'd all die, but they had fun. But they haven't done anything in a couple of years so I'm trying to come up with something that will be compelling enough to draw them in, and yet not like the stuff we've been playing recently. But there's an idea I haven't had time to flesh out recently. I'd picked up the D20 book for Dan Brereton's "Noctournals". I had been considering running a simultaneous campaign with my existing one and calling it "Nightshift". You'd be playing in the same city and never even run into the heroes, but you'd be creatures of the night, with more-or-less good intent. I think it's still viable, but since I'm not sure I can get the whole thing together, I'm so far taking the easy way out and hoping for a good one-off of some kind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mangahunterd Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Do a "Night of the living dead" type games where the heros are normal everyday people that were thrust in to a situation where the dead have risen and they have to band together to figure out how to stop them. One of our GM's put together a quick game just for this weekend that was based on this scenario. You could prolong it of course like the movie "28 Days Later". For a one shot do a re-hash of Evil Dead or Evil Dead 2... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted August 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas My concern is that a zombie-hunt would be too 1-dimensional. I should mention that a typical gaming session lasts about 8 hours (Primarily because we only game once every 2 weeks and because one guy drives 100 miles and another guy 40 miles to get there). Killed one, ya killed 'em all. Anyone got an idea for a good, creepy foe for a monster hunt, if not several? I'm looking at lists of old horror movies and so far the more fun candidates are... --Pod People. It is after all kind a creepy to kill yourself. --The Blob. [bill cospby voice]Who wants some jello black pudding?[/bill cosby voice] --Post apocalyptic people. Think of "Omega Man" ("I Am Legend"). Not sure what the foe would be, but not vampires. Somethin' else. --Ghosts are hard to do and keep original. I do have an idea though based on a short story from one of those Alfred Hitchcock books I read when I was in 2nd grade, but I fear that the others will figure it out too quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trencher Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas If not zombies then ghoul's, make your own version maybe like the zombies in the remake of dawn of the dead but smarter... They could like talk and stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoorWandering 1 Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Idea 1. I ran a one shot horror fantasy where the players were isolated in a small village terrorized by a supernatural wolf. Think Hound of the Baskervilles and you won't be far off. One recommendation. Beware giving the pc explosives, they will be tempted to simply destroy the structure as a solution. idea 2. Grues from infocom. Seriously, make them very araid of the dark. The team arrives at sunset called in to respond to a school shooting by say local police/fbi/what have you. The team walks in the door at exactly sunset. The local contact is missing and there are a number of civilians/students/whatever. A quick search finds the half eaten body of the contact in the photography dark room. Creepy stuff like the fact 8 rounds were fired by the contacts gun and there are only 4 bullet marks on the wall and nobody heard the shots. I recommend having the word "dark" written by the contact in his own blood as a hint. From this point on anyone alone in the dark Dies messily, use the staff/kids as replacement characters as needed. Once they figure out that something in the dark can kill them remind them that it is a moonless cloudy night and there is at least 100 yards of darkness between the door and the nearest streetlight. One of the nice things about this idea is that in the beginning the phones still work. They can call for help but that help has to cross the same 100 yards coming in. With any luck they will call for help and then get to watch that help get eaten. For a prop i recommend a large ticking clock and playing the 6-8 hrs of darkness in realtime. Remember to trash the fuse box once they turn on all the lights, the light in the basement where the box is auto shuts off to conserve power. Just a few random ideas Note the planecrash-strangely abandoned town-giant ants plot is always good for a dust off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Hiemforth Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas How about a kind of "Things aren't what we thought they were" game? The PCs are SWAT-types going to a conference/retreat center in a nearby state, where they'll be getting and giving training to folks from similar teams from around the region. Bad weather (or some similar deus ex machina reason) causes them to arrive late. When they get there, they immediately find the campus under siege by Shambling Undead -- male and female undead, young and old undead... they come in all shapes and sizes. The other highly trained and heavily armed folks within are holding them off. Characters must find out where these monsters came from while simultaneously helping the other special ops people fight them off. One way or another, the trail of "What's Really Going On Here" leads to a small town nearby. It's deserted. Some clue (which could be found at the retreat center or in the town, doesn't really matter) makes the PCs start to suspect that the attackers aren't really undead. Around the same time, one or more of the PCs see some of their fellow (non-PC) special ops people at the center doing Something Really Evil . Turns out the attacking "monsters" aren't monsters at all! They're the townsfolk and the real conference-goers, transformed somehow into hideous undead-looking forms. The key to saving them is being hidden by the real bad guys (some kind of demonic dopplegangers, who the PCs initially thought were their fellow conference attendees, and who retain the skills of the people they mimic) somewhere within the conference center, and the "monsters" have been trying to get to it. Now the PCs must fight off evil shapeshifters as well-armed and well-trained as they are, figure out what they're after, and find the key to restoring the victims. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Kung Fu Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas My concern is that a zombie-hunt would be too 1-dimensional. I should mention that a typical gaming session lasts about 8 hours (Primarily because we only game once every 2 weeks and because one guy drives 100 miles and another guy 40 miles to get there). Killed one, ya killed 'em all. I have been thinking about doing just that...and came up with Resident Evil HERO....SWAT type characters with loads of ammo...most of my players have played Resident Evil...or saw the movie they made. Arent they making a sequel or something? Anyway....it was easy to do...just went thru the Bestiary for baddies, seeing how none of my cheapskate players want to buy the Bestiary, I am safe from them peeking at the "Big Book of Baddies"....but am gonna segway the game into a "Stalking the Night Fantastic HERO" type of game...I mean what else is a bunch of PC's gonna do after fighting the supernatural....of course, Get an oppurtunity to join an elite fighting force to stop the evil in the world from running ruffshod...as it were.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchpad Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Take a look at some Asian Horror movies for some different, creepy takes on ghosts ... as for critter varients of zombies I have only one word: Licker. Coolest creature from the Resident Evil franchise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Perhaps too late to suggest this, but how about possessed toys? I've found that the juxtaposition of silly and cute with sinister and deadly can be very effective. The new haunted-house interactive game created by an eccentric recluse is actually a spirit-summoning ritual, and during a demo at a local toystore the ghosts and ghoulies flood in and take over the toys. PCs have to deal with action figures with working weapons, stuffed teddy bears with real fangs, and cleaver-wielding dollies that sweetly ask, "Would you like to play with me?" as they eviscerate you. Most of these toys would be small, hard to hit and hard to spot until they're on you. That could make for good suspense and surprise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted August 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas There are a few things in the basic outline I have so far that strike me as a little flat. And I do like the idea of evil toys. Perhpas if I have time today... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trencher Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Hey! where did the adobe document go? I had not time to read it before now, and now it's gone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoorWandering 1 Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Did blue post the outline? Rats i missed it. Maybe Blue pulled it because some of the players may curise the boards? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted August 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas I'm noted for a couple of things: 1. I'll rewrite something 1 billion times if I don't like it, and sometimes the final copy will have NO resemblance to the original. 2. I've been known to rip up, burn, or just delete drawings of mine that I didn't like. It's a constant struggle not to go insane by working myself up over things that don't meet my own standards. Having said that, I'll make typo corrections, then I'm going to start in on a completely different outline and see which I like better. (I'm just glad that I don't find typos in e-mail and webposts to be worth editing or I'd NEVER get anything done.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoorWandering 1 Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Kudos for high standards! But then again posting works in progress may help find a few of the curve balls the players will come up with. You never know, we're not 10,000 monkeys but we might just get lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted August 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Okay, so I didn't so much fix grammar or typos. All I did was go back and add little bits about the creatures encountered and what they'll be like. Correct spelling is overrated anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted August 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Kudos for high standards! But then again posting works in progress may help find a few of the curve balls the players will come up with. You never know, we're not 10,000 monkeys but we might just get lucky. I don't know if it's high standards so much as posting something really sloppy then regretting it. Trust me, it will happen again, because this version is just as sloppy. But i've got real work to do right now. And I have no doubt there are holes. The big one being characters who decide they don't want to join the cause! But my players will know up front that if their characters aren't about pursuing the unkown when it finally creeps up on them and makes itself known then they'll have a boring time watching the game froom the sidelines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Okay, how about this. The PCs are a SWAT team being transported to a distant land to help train a new team for that land's police force. They are, for some reason on a big transport plane (I'm thinking a hercules), being hauled along with several other crates. One crate gets broken open and releases fiendish gremlins. As they hunt the gremlins, they find the 'limited paranormal equipment' you spoke of. It would make for an exciting combat environment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trencher Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas the outline you posted looks good. Just make sure that the swamplings are looks scary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Gargoyles/other animated thingies? PC's go into old gothic building to deal with the threat within...only to realize that the threat is the building itself. Their spectral sensors don't help; they show the supernatural everywhere. After they get attacked by the first gargoyle, they remember the large sculpture garden out back, including a few large, icky-looking modern-art metal sculptures... "I think we're going to need a bigger boat" - community terrorized by shark attacks turns out to have an underwater Deep One/Shark Man colony out in the bay - PC's have to enter their element, get through the Deep One guards and their shark minions to destroy the cave complex at the bottom... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoorWandering 1 Posted August 24, 2004 Report Share Posted August 24, 2004 Re: Monster Squad Ideas Questions that might derail the PCs 1.What is causing the insanity at the asylum? 2.Why isn't the water ghost haunting the elder heir? 3.How do the players uncover the drowned slave story? Possable answers 1. "Mr. White" The PCs will find fettishes for all patients/staff members including Mr. White. The fetishes were intended to keep the water ghost from harming him or the others. The insanity is a side effect caused by his paranoia bleeding into his magic. This option prevents the insanity transformation from effecting any of the pc's unlegg he can swipe a personal object/hair etc. 2.Kept away by the fetishes. Maybe there is a record of an attack on the aslyum before the fetishes were compleated and the insanity took hold. Maybe even a transcript of Mr Whites intake interview/case notes where he details how he hopes to send the ghost after the dead relatives. 3. Mr. White could tell them. The intake/early records of the asylum or staff may have this info. A Newspaper/historical society local to where the drowning took place might have some info that would lead to the maritime insurance company which would lead to the ownership of the "cargo" and possably the name of the "guide" Anywhay these are the spots where i would get confused. I hope it's usefull to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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