CONVENTION ADVENTURE NEEDED for HP Lovecraft’s Birthday Party 2005 Convention

[TheQuestionMan]

HP Lovecraft’s Birthday Party 2005 Convention

 

Event Name: Champions of Vancouver: Episode I -

 

Details: Day ? Block ? - ___, September, 03 - 05/2005 – 00:00am to 00:00pm

 

Host: TheQuestionMan

 

Number of Blocks: 1 possibly 2

 

Game System: Hero System 5th Edition Revised (aka Champions)

 

Type of Game: Role Playing Game

 

Description: (Blurb) A short adventure introducing Gamers to Hero System.

 

Min People: 2

 

Max People: 6

 

Sign Up:

 

 

 

I am having difficulty with the Theme. I have never liked the common theme in Lovecraft's fiction is the impotence and irrelevence of humanity in the universe. I can work with another common theme is the search for knowledge ending in disaster.

 

Hmmm... Need a McGuffin and a Plot.

 

Antagonist - DEMON

 

Location - British Columbia, Canada (an old abandoned mine? Squamish?)

 

McGuffin - an ancient Artifact, Tome, & or a doorway.

 

Hook - How to get the Heroes involved? (established Superhero Team? Independant Heroes?, Call by Police, Mentor, Media, or Patron)

 

Hmmm... Need to FLESH out the story more.

 

Cheers

 

QM

[Lord Liaden]

Re: CONVENTION ADVENTURE NEEDED for HP Lovecraft’s Birthday Party 2005 Convention

 

Hmm... an assault on a museum is always a good intro for this sort of adventure. IIRC UBC has a museum of anthropology that would be a terrific site for supers action, especially the huge hall displaying totem polls and other West Coast Indian artifacts. The occasion can be the opening of a new exhibit of rare artifacts. The PCs could be invited guests, faculty or student researchers, or local mystics drawn to the occult disturbance in the area. A large crowd of rich socialites can make a great diversion to cover the real robbery, not to mention lots of potential hostages.

 

If you have access to Conquerors, Killers And Crooks you might consider substituting the Slug for DEMON as the principle antagonist - he looks and feels more Lovecraftian. You might bolster him with some of the other monstrous villains in CKC, such as Leech, Morningstar or (if the PCs are especially tough) the Monster. (Actually there was an adventure in an old issue of Adventurers Club, "Terror in the Treasures," with pretty much the same kind of setting and plot featuring Slug.) You might even have both DEMON and the Slug going after the McGuffin at the same time, with the PCs and bystanders caught in the middle.

 

Speaking of McGuffins, there are several possibilities, depending on what you want to do in the scenario. Books are classics for Lovecraft, especially if you want an attempted summoning to go awry and bring in something uncontrolled. DEMON would of course love to get their hands on the Basilisk Orb again. Other missing items of occult significance include the Janus Key (from Champions Universe) with potentially great power, and the Serpent Lantern (from VIPER) as the key to immortality.If you use the Slug, you might consider using the Bracer of the Elders from Galactic Champions. If Slug gets his hands on that the heroes may suddenly be faced with a supercharged Slug!

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: CONVENTION ADVENTURE NEEDED for HP Lovecraft’s Birthday Party 2005 Convention

 

Hmm... an assault on a museum is always a good intro for this sort of adventure. IIRC UBC has a museum of anthropology that would be a terrific site for supers action, especially the huge hall displaying totem polls and other West Coast Indian artifacts. The occasion can be the opening of a new exhibit of rare artifacts. The PCs could be invited guests, faculty or student researchers, or local mystics drawn to the occult disturbance in the area. A large crowd of rich socialites can make a great diversion to cover the real robbery, not to mention lots of potential hostages.

 

If you use the Slug, you might consider using the Bracer of the Elders from Galactic Champions. If Slug gets his hands on that the heroes may suddenly be faced with a supercharged Slug!

 

 

Thank you, I still have some work to do, but I could run wuth that. Hmmm... Hordes of Eldar Worms and their puppet minions. The Slug is manipulating DEMON not the other way around. Hmmm...

 

Thanks

 

QM

[Lord Liaden]

Re: CONVENTION ADVENTURE NEEDED for HP Lovecraft’s Birthday Party 2005 Convention

 

Ah, the enemy of my enemy manipulates my enemy. My evil GM's heart loves that kind of subterfuge. It might have been the Slug who leaked the location of the McGuffin to DEMON, figuring that their attempt to acquire it would divert attention from his own move. The prize that DEMON is after might actually be a decoy, sending them in the wrong direction; but it's the PCs who stumble across the real villains.

 

If Slug does receive a power boost courtesy of the Bracer, the PCs and DEMON might be faced with the unpalatable need to join forces against him. DEMON will of course be looking for the right moment to backstab the heroes and make off with the prize.

 

For a real dose of horror - and to make the players think twice about who they're fighting - you could let the Slug use his Talisman to transform an innocent bystander into an Elder Worm right in front of them. The heroes may hesitate to cut loose on Slug's minions if they realize that these are just innocent humans used by the Slug.

[Highwayman]

Re: CONVENTION ADVENTURE NEEDED for HP Lovecraft’s Birthday Party 2005 Convention

 

One of the members of DEMON's inner circle is a scientist who's tapped into mankind's ancestral memories of slavery to the Elder Worm. If he ever came into contact with the Slug, he'd be easy to manipulate.

 

Of course, him coming under the Slug's control would be a disaster for DEMON's long-term plans, but that wouldn't matter in a one-shot.