Need help forming a scenario idea

[Richard Logue]

Creative minds assemble! I have a solo game that I am forming an adventure for and I would like some input on the ideas and some approaches to the story I have in mind.

 

First, a little about the solo character. Geist is a mentalist type character with the standard suite of powers (Ego Blast, TK, TP, Mind Link, etc.). He is not a physical fighter in the least. He is also permanently invisible and inaudible. He is a former police detective and, as a hero, is using his detective skills to fight crime. Think of him as sort of a psionic (instead of gadgets) Batman.

 

The story plot is fairly simple. The primary villains, a team, has aquired information concerning several major heroes. This information covers things like weaknesses and power levels and such. Its definately things that can be used to put heroes out of commission. The bad guys, calling these tidbits the Achilles Files, have announced in the supervillain underworld that they will be up for auction. The story goal is for Geist to discover and stop the sale of the Files or perhaps even sabotage or steal the Files.

 

My original idea is for the auction to take place in a super-secret summit somewhere in New York City (Geist's town). In this scenario, 60+ metacriminals will be in attendance at one location. This may or may not be a good idea. It may sound excessive, but it prevents our solo hero from trying to call in reinforcements. Obviously, Geist can't simply call in the police or other superheroes without causing a bloodbath. And even if Geist could assemble 60+ superheroes to fight the villains, it would not be a good idea because of the massive amounts of collateral damage that would take place. So having so many bad guys in one place forces him to act on his own.

 

An alternate idea would be to have the auction take place on the Internet or maybe through proxies of some sort.

 

Personally, I think having three score and more supervillains in one place would be more impressive and will require more ingenuity on my player's part.

 

In either case, I need help putting together the story plot points and the clues Geist will need to defeat the villains.

 

I've already initiated the story, but we haven't played it out much because I've been stuck on plot points and clues. Geist's former partner on the force contacted him and asked if he could look into something he heard on the street about somehting named Achilles being for sale. The red herring is that Achilles might be some kind of hot, new designer drug. Geist has been checking into that angle but not having any luck (obviously).

 

One of the clues I was thinking of is to have an "out of town" villain get caught by one of the local hero groups. If the bad guy is caught while trying to remain incognito and not committing a crime, it would make Geist wonder what he's doing in town. For this one I was thinking of using Red Death, a "Soviet" tough guy.

 

Something I picture in my mind is Geist attending the auction. So I want to work the storyline so that he will be there.

 

Thanks for all your suggestions and ideas!

 

Richard

[CraterMaker]

Re: Need help forming a scenario idea

 

Hi.. That's an interesting storyline, I like it.

 

I'll mull it around and see if I can come up with anything for you, but I did have an immediate notion on a hook to get Geist into the adventure.

 

Now, at the auction for the Achilles Files, there's obviously got to be some sort of "peace bond" to prevent any outright hostilities between competing Badguys. It's pretty easy to enforce it, too, since every person there will have a stake in the proceedings to unfold smoothly and without "Official" interference.

 

AtomSmasher and MainBrain have been rival Villains for a long time.. Ever since MainBrain doublecrossed Atomsmasher, as a matter of fact. The two have been ambushing each other and foiling each others plots for nearly 5 years now. Atomsmasher is pretty sure MainBrain has the financial resources to outbid him, and that drives him crazy for two reasons : One, that MainBrain would be able to once again take something away from A.S., and two, if MainBrain got the Achilles Files MainBrain would be one of the most effective Villains in the world (which, rightfully, AtomSmasher should be!)

 

So AtomSmasher comes into town with some of his henchemen (The Radiationeers) with a mission: Scour the Underworld to find MainBrain, so that AtomSmasher can ambush him before he can arrive at the Auction.

 

One of the Radiationeers, asking pointed questions to various gangmembers and minor Villains, makes a mistake and talks to an undercover operative, who informs our Hero's police contact -- "Dude, AtomSmasher is in town, and so is MainBrain ... Apparantly AtomSmasher is going to settle the score, and you remember what happened last time they scrapped.. "

 

So our hero has his mandate: Find AtomSmasher, or MainBrain, and keep the city safe. As our hero is searching, MainBrain get's a little too cute for his own good by having his NeoNaughts (henchmen) drop clues to AtomSmashers location to Geist. MainBrain is thinking that he'll remove one more competitor from the bidders, but his huge mistake is that AtomSmasher will squeal on the whole deal just to keep the Achilles Files out of MainBrains hands!

 

But first, Geist must find and defeat AtomSmasher.. And once he does, MainBrain will realise the mistake he made, and try and "fix" it by taking out the hero before the auction starts.. After all, one of the mandates of the invitation was to keep a low profile, and if the other villians found out that MainBrain led Geist to them they'd rip out his medulla oblongota and make him eat it...

 

=CraterMaker

[KA.]

Re: Need help forming a scenario idea

 

A bit more background would really help.

Is Geist a known Superhero?

I mean does anyone other than his former partner even know he exists?

By the way, sounds a bit more like The Spectre than Batman, just not quite so cosmic in power level.

 

Plot bits:

For a character like Geist, it would be extremely easy to just happen across the needed information. I usually don't like plots that require figuring out too many clues, especially in solo scenarios. There is only one player, no one to bounce ideas off of, and no one else to come up with the answer. I think it just leads to frustration for GM and Player alike. I would not spill the beans immediately, or anything. I would just have Geist do his normal patrolling/looking for clues, and give him a chance to overhear a villain talking about the "Achilles meeting" or something like that.

Now to keep things from getting too easy, he could overhear where, in general, the meeting is to take place (like "Warehouse District") and around what time. He may plan to follow the person he got the info from.

You could have the person with the info be wearing some sort of amulet, or have the invitation in the form of a scroll, whatever. When the time comes for the meeting, Geist will likely figure on following them right into the meeting while invisible.

Until, right before meeting time, the villain activates the Scroll, Amulet, etc. and is instantly teleported away! Now Geist will have to race across the city, trying to get to the meeting before it is over!

Along the way, he could run into two lesser villains, engaged in a fight over who should have been the one to attend the big meeting.

Geist can either stop to fight, hoping to gain an amulet for a faster trip, or keep going. The kicker is, neither of these losers actually has an amulet, they are just griping.

He could also pick up some information by listening to them argue.

But he better not take too long.

 

When he gets to the auction site, things won't be that easy. With all those villains involved, some of them are bound to have Invisibilty, Teleportation, Desolid, etc. And villains being what they are, the owners of the list have wisely decided to keep it in a vault that is very well guarded and has all the latest security equiptment, including stuff to handle invisible snoopers.

As a matter of fact the exterior of the warehouse is similarly equipped.

 

And if he is detected, a melee will break out and he had better be darned careful. Even if they can't see him, a missed shot could kill him.

 

So, I would make this more about sneaking and getting around security than figuring out complex clues. He won't really know what he is dealing with until the auction opens.

 

Once it does, and the vault is opened, he could try to create a brawl by using a little TK to pick some pockets, and deposit the money on other villains.

 

Those are just some ideas, I will try to come up with more.

 

KA.

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Need help forming a scenario idea

 

Hmmm... Geist could pull something similar to what Batman did in that

one episode of Batman: The Animated Series (the one with Hugo Strange,

in which Strange had discovered Batman's secret ID and was going to auction

it off to the highest bidder out of Bat's Rogues Gallery, but was foiled when

Batman managed to substitute the real info with fake info which made it look

as though Strange was trying to pull a fast one on them). With 60 or more

supervillains thinking that your would-be entrepreneurs were trying to con

them, it'd be a race to see who managed to give them a free lesson in Klingon

Bungee-jumping from the nearest and highest bridge.

 

Oh, yeah, about Klingon Bungee-jumping: it's just like regular Bungee-jumping,

except for the fact that its performers don't use Bungee cords when

they do it.

 

Major Tom

[Guest rbezold]

Re: Need help forming a scenario idea

 

Some thoughts...

 

1. Geist has to realize what's at stake before he can effectively do anything. The red herring needs to lead him to the truth of what the auction is about. this can be accomplished either by him pulling a 'Green Hornet' and pretend to be a bad guy long enough to get an auction brochure OR just listen in to the right conversation that explains whats at stake.

 

2. Geist's logical choice at this point would be to attempt to get to the files before (or during) the auction. I wouldn't make this very hard; you _want_ him to get to those files. He is likely to read the files. He'll have to, or he won't know he has the right files. Now the interesting plot twist at this point would be to have the information be so personal and so detailed that it could only come from someone the heroes trust. So destroying the files doesn't destroy the problem, it just buys time.

 

3. Now comes the tough part for Geist. WHO is responsible for this? And how thorougly is he willing to probe into the private lives of heroes to find out? You could stretch this out as a sub-plot for as long as you want.

[Trebuchet]

Re: Need help forming a scenario idea

 

And of course, what is Geist going to do when he discovers one of those files is about him, especially since he thought he was virtually unknown, and accurately describes his greatest weakness?

[Richard Logue]

Re: Need help forming a scenario idea

 

These are all good so far! I'm making a list and seeing where a lot of these items could fit into the story.

 

One of the Files including info about Geist is a definate thought. I'm working on that angle but it might not fit considering the original source of the Files.

 

I like the rival villains tearing it up some before the auction. And I have the perfect ones in mind for this.

 

To answer KA... Geist is a relative newcomer. He's only been in one storyline before this, and his "origin" happened just prior to that. His former partner knows everything because he was the only one Geist felt he could trust when he first came into power, as it were. One other person has some knowledge of Geist's existence, but no knowledge of who he is/was or what his powers are.

 

Looking to read more ideas! Keep 'em coming. Game night is Thursday.

 

RIchard

[CraterMaker]

Re: Need help forming a scenario idea

 

Have you thought of what sort of conflict you want Geist to go through at the Auction? I mean, 60 villians.. obviously has to be a non-combat conflict, 'cause the destruction could possibly reach for miles outside of the meeting.

 

So he probably will have to steal it, or destroy it, while minimizing the chance of a brawl breaking out... Maby only the minor villains will show up in person, whilst the major villians are there via 2-way plasma screens. What will the villians do when the files are gone? If Geist is going to be a major player, letting him have an opportunity to let the bad guys know there is a new player in town would be cool, and might be startling enough to send everybody packing for their lairs to mull over this new information.

 

I'd definatiely script out some sort of dialogue for the major baddies so Geist is introduced to his future opposition.. sort of like:

 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming.. As you can see, we have some prestigious businessmen attending our event. (pointing to the left viewscreen) Mr. Twister, as New York Cities number one most wanted for your diabolical schemes involving mutated animal-men, allow me to personally welcome you to this event. And I see that we have been priviledged to see the physical form of the Dark Lord, Sep-Hoggorai. Welcome, sir or madam.."

 

Maby after introductions and a brief bidding war, one of the Big Bads asks for an intermission to recheck his finances.. say 15 minutes or so, which could be the opportunity Geist is looking for to take care of those files. If he grabs it and runs, having the villians (all however many are in attendance) chase after him could be a good scene. Only a few would have the ability to actually track where he has gone, and if they are staggered out they wouldn't overwhelm Geist..

 

Maby a tracker (like a werecreature) a psychic, and a luck guy.. so geist runs, stops to get his breath, fights the were, runs again, psychic finds and fights him, etc.. The rest of the villians would just be scenery to heighten the tension for Geist, letting him know he's got EVERYBODY's attention *grin*

 

Good luck, hope that helps..

 

-CraterMaker

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Need help forming a scenario idea

 

It occurs to me that, once the bidding is over and there's one winner, there's no reason for the villains to play nice any more. I'd imagine old vendettas would kick into gear the instant both parties realized they hadn't won. I'd also imagine some villains would go after the winner, to take the information by force.

 

I'd also imagine the person organizing this would realize this would happen. Perhaps it's what he planned all along. Let his rivals take each other out, leaving the field clear for him. Perhaps the Achilles information is completely bogus, just a prop to get the villains together and primed to fight. Of course, that would hurt the bad guy's rep. Now if a hero "found out" about the auction and changed / stole the file, the big baddie could hardly be blamed...

 

But then, I'm an evil GM.

 

Alternately, the info's legit and the big baddie could plan on selling it to *everybody* and just using the pretense of an "auction" to run the price up. Bidding is private -- each participant is given a wireless PDA to see the current bid and place his/her own bids. This PDA is also used to tell each participant, "Congratulations! You won! To minimize the chance of you getting attacked by jealous rivals, however, we suggest you act as if you lost. Transfer complete; Achilles files downloaded to this PDA. Have a nice day!"

 

On a side note, a goodly number of bad guys will try and steal the info beforehand. (They *are* villains, after all.) So Geist will have competition if he tries to steal the file(s).

[RPJesus]

Re: Need help forming a scenario idea

 

Okay.......I have a couple questions. What are the exact origins of Geists power if this is the first game you definetly want to shade it with tinklings of the future like a nemesis that he will not meet until two or three episodes later. Since he got loose Psychic abilities let's say it is a power derrived from some tupe of accident...... I don't know, he suffered a back from the grave experience and is now blessed with second sight or he was on vacation in New Orleans and his car hit an old woman she was psychic and dying and the power and a piece of her spirit transfered over to him while she died in his arms....WHATEVER! The guy needs true background, roleplay it or storytell it, set the mood with music, lighting and description(write it out if you have to). Now everybody has awesome ideas but I don't believe the auction is enough of an obstacle. The hero leads a life give him complications.....headaches or flashbacks maybe the old womans thoughts and memories blending with his own....sleep walking or if you went the old cajun witch route her psychic son searching minds all over the city looking for him. Give the guy a nice hook and it gold like......a whistle the touch of his mind causes mild psychic damage due to the harsh whistling in the targets mind call him whistler(these are just ramblings) if you wanted he could feel whistlers presence growing ever closer and speak with the old woman or a choir of creep children standing in a swamp chanting answer back at him about Mother Hicks the Witch that lives on the top of Knob Hill...or during a chorus he is confronted by the distant shadow of WHISTLER a large and mysterious man with a share croppers hat overalls and a penchant for laying low in shadows.......now about the auction it would be silly to sneak in on 60+ foes it would be better to go disguised as an invited guest and bid on it in front of the gathering of baddies. He locates the person he takes places with, brushes up on their mannerisms and then passes himself off in front of his "Coworkers" The good thing about this is the hero walks in and out but, who says he's going to make it out of the parking lot before Shamrock has his way with Geist or before he's exposed as a fake. This does of course offer up complications like how does he find the villain to subplant and who would put up the money to buy the info. That's up to you after all you would know how you've set up your world better than I do. It's all about focus, think about real life: Mission directive 1 secure entry into auction Mission directive 2 secure harmful documents Mission directive 3 Tracking devices on all the baddies so he can round them up at a later date(he could either attach bugs to everyone there or put tracers in something that every gets). I imagine supervillain auctions are much like celebrity events and they probably get a little something just for showing up. Lastly, PCs do like to be challenged and once they get used to it they do like having to think. The best campaigns don't have the baddest villains or treasure. They're the ones where people use that ability to think outside the box and can play Sherlock to your Moriarty and it tends to build a level of respect for the truly clever villain. If you're interested in different challenges for PCs drop me a line.

RPJesus