Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

[MisterVimes]

Vimes: Hi guys... miss me.

Vimes' brain: Half these people don't know you.

Vimes: Then let the begging commence.

 

Well it's been a while and I made a foolish error. I went somewhere else for opinion... What I got was (a) Not what I wanted, ( Not what I asked for, © tangental conversations. So, I complained to Mrs. Vimes and she said: Shut your hole and grow up! and then she said Why don't you ask those nice people over at the hero boards?

 

Hey, when she's right, she's right.

 

So, forgive my rambling on this post as I am trying to work through my creative process

 

I am ending a nearly 2 year fantasy game in about 4-5 months and have approached my players with a new campaign I'm very interested in running.

 

The Campaign is, essentially, near-future urban horror-fantasy. My inspirations come from Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, Buffy, Angel, a very small dash of Charmed. I will admit to being influenced (more than a little bit) by Shadow Run and Dark Conspiracy.

 

There is an additional hook that is the lynchpin of the campaign. It is an event I plan to trigger at the end of the first quarter of the game (end of season one). This event is very big and will be a "Wow" moment for my players if I do it correctly. I hesitate to detail it here in case one of my players might be reading.

 

My campaign idea has been met with varying degrees of excitement, from overwhelming (my son) to guarded skepticism (my wife).

 

My wife has issues with Modern games as she likes her gaming to give her more leeway in 'killing the bad guys' and less moral questions.

 

My tent-peg player will play to my strengths and I will be relying heavily on him to help guide the group.

 

My newest player is very green but has all the enthusiasm to be a natural gamer.

 

If you've read this far, hopefully you've seen some of the creative process/challenges that we all face in designing a game.

 

Here's where you come in: I plan to do traditional story arcs of 3 chapters on the major story elements (those that further the bigger story and those that introduce us to the world around us) broken up by one-off adventures that may or may not tie into something bigger.

 

The Heroes are intended to be the light in dark places, true heroes in a world of poverty, corporate control of public services and corrupt governments. At the outset of the campaign I want top introduce the world showing the darkness to them without any overt fantasy elements. I also want to keep ultra-tech to a minimum early on. Essentially I want to gradually peel away the weirdness of this world as I approach my "End of Season One" reveal.

 

1) What I need/want/desire/hope-for is some short form plot ideas that would make good story-arcs or one-shots for this campaign.

 

Example: Seven Street Samurai - A small neighborhood that lies between corporate public safety agencies finds itself beset by street gangs. The neighborhood risks it all by hiring our heroes to make the gang leave them alone and to teach them to fight back.

 

2) Just some recommendations on what you would do with a campaign like this to ensure excitement, broad appeal and just a little terror.

 

Thanks for reading

[csyphrett]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

A returning villain might be of some use. After all there has to be someone that knows everything and can use it better than the players.

 

Maybe give him a lackey, that shows up when things are about to hit the fan.

 

There could also be a MIB agency in competetion with the players, like the Smoking Man in the X-Files.

CES

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

Hey, Vimes, welcome back! I've been wondering where you went to - glad you're all right.

 

Hmm... how about evil children?

 

Young children have been disappearing in the PCs neighborhood, and concerned parents ask them to investigate and try to find them. What the heroes discover is gangs of children, but not the kind you'd normally expect. These children have had all their conscience and compassion removed from them, and become total sociopaths; commiting vandalism, sabotage, murder in creative fashions, purely for kicks.

 

The PCs have to discover the source of the corruption of these youngsters, which may be an evil corporation kidnapping them for an experiment in behavior modification; or a supernatural agency that is stealing their "innocence." (The concept is actually lifted from Mr. Rapentap from the 4E Champs supplement, Normals Unbound.) Of course the heroes will find themselves opposed by swarms of homicidal children, which may make fighting back rather problematic.

[Lethosos]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

Been thinking about this for a bit... how about som eccentric philantrophist (with appropriately odd past, but further investigation is fruitless,) asks the group to retrieve a considerably priceless artifact that was shipped overseas but hasn't yet arrived to his home for safekeeping. Now toss in some cult-members who desire the artifact for some nebulous purpose, and you've got the hints of wierdness while making it seem like a mundane 'extradition' job.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

Some Campaign/Adventure Resources

 

Near Future

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future

 

Urban Fantasy

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_fantasy

http:// http://neverwhered6.tripod.com/

 

Horror Fantasy

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural_Horror_in_Literature

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_fiction

 

The Dresden Files Hero - Jim Butcher’s Dresden Chronicles

http:// http://www.naturaltwenty.com/dresdenfiles/

http:// http://www.dresdenfilesrpg.com/

 

Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Eden Studios Discussion Boards

http:// http://p205.ezboard.com/bedenstudiosdiscussionboards

http:// http://buffyd6.tripod.com/

http://surbrook.devermore.net/adaptionsmovie/moviechar.html#buffy

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer

 

Angel - Eden Studios Discussion Boards

http:// http://p205.ezboard.com/bedenstudiosdiscussionboards

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_%28TV_series%29

 

Charmed - Eden Studios Discussion Boards

http:// http://p205.ezboard.com/fedenstudiosdiscussionboardsfrm9.showMessage?topicID=103.topic

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charmed

 

Dark Conspiracy - (Surprisingly difficult to track down any good resources for it)

http:// http://www.42north.org/mjm/rpg/dc/

 

Shadowrun Hero -

http:// http://www.starherofandom.com/h_shadowrun/index.php

http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowrun

 

Wasteland Hero & Gamma World Hero

http:// http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Park/3440/rpgs.html

 

Cheers

 

QM

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

The Heroes are intended to be the light in dark places' date=' true heroes in a world of poverty, corporate control of public services and corrupt governments. At the outset of the campaign I want top introduce the world showing the darkness to them without any overt fantasy elements. I also want to keep ultra-tech to a minimum early on. Essentially I want to gradually peel away the weirdness of this world as I approach my "End of Season One" reveal. [/quote']

 

As much as I hate to admit it you could probably steal the Introduction to "Mage: The Ascension" from White Wolf Games. With a bare minimum of modification and tailored to your campaign's setting.

 

1) What I need/want/desire/hope-for is some short form plot ideas that would make good story-arcs or one-shots for this campaign.

 

I prefer to put the players chatacter's Meta Plots front stage. Once the characters are completed then the hard work is done. Check out the Resources. Also check out the TV Tomes Episode Lists and Guides for stealling Plots.

 

Example: Seven Street Samurai - A small neighbourhood that lies between corporate public safety agencies finds itself beset by street gangs. The neighbourhood risks it all by hiring our heroes to make the gang leave them alone and to teach them to fight back.

 

Wierd, that is exactly the Plot out GM used when he started the Shadowrun Camapaign. Hmmm... Talk about creative combats.

 

2) Just some recommendations on what you would do with a campaign like this to ensure excitement' date=' broad appeal and just a little terror. [/quote']

 

Unfortunately this isn't my bailwick, so I'll pass it onto a better member.

 

Cheers

 

QM

 

P.S.: Cue the music "Welcome Back Mister Vimes"

[MisterVimes]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

A returning villain might be of some use. After all there has to be someone that knows everything and can use it better than the players.

 

Maybe give him a lackey, that shows up when things are about to hit the fan.

 

There could also be a MIB agency in competetion with the players, like the Smoking Man in the X-Files.

CES

 

 

And of course cloning can make for an annoying returning villain.

[MisterVimes]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

Hey' date=' Vimes, welcome back! I've been wondering where you went to - glad you're all right. [/quote']

 

Good to be back and to see that some of the old timers are around.

 

Hmm... how about evil children?

 

That's a good one. My wife HATES evil children. *G*

[MisterVimes]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

Been thinking about this for a bit... how about som eccentric philantrophist (with appropriately odd past' date=' but further investigation is fruitless,) asks the group to retrieve a considerably priceless artifact that was shipped overseas but hasn't yet arrived to his home for safekeeping. Now toss in some cult-members who desire the artifact for some nebulous purpose, and you've got the hints of wierdness while making it seem like a mundane 'extradition' job.[/quote']

 

And can provide seeds for the future, good thinking.

[MisterVimes]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

Some Campaign/Adventure Resources

 

Cheers

 

QM

 

Wow... thanks

[Enforcer84]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

Perhaps a man with a cool widget persued by corporate creeps.

help the guy, he give you the widget and says "it's your problem now."

[MisterVimes]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

Perhaps a man with a cool widget persued by corporate creeps.

help the guy, he give you the widget and says "it's your problem now."

 

That fits my cruel sense of humor.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

That fits my cruel sense of humor.

Well, I remembered...

[MisterVimes]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

Well' date=' I remembered...[/quote']

That's what I missed... da love.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

I can actualy see you chomping on that cigar when I read your posts.

 

Jeeze Un- PC much

 

QM

[Cancer]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

If you really want to bring home a dark, corrupt world, have the PCs get befriended by a small group of NPC heroes who are comparable in origin/motives/etc. to the PCs. Maybe these NPCs save their butts once. (Heck, maybe one of them is a PC's parent, sibling, SO, or something.) Then let those friend NPCs step on some corporate toes, and then get framed for something nasty (and the PCs know beyond a doubt it was a frame), and then hunted down and wiped out by the corrupt governmental agencies in the pocket of the corps. And let Fox World News carry it live on TV, include infinite replays of a particularly nasty lethal head-shot of one of their pals (since that's what boosts the ratings most).

[MisterVimes]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

I can actualy see you chomping on that cigar when I read your posts.

 

Jeeze Un- PC much

 

QM

 

If I smoked in the house, I woulda been.

[MisterVimes]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

If you really want to bring home a dark' date=' corrupt world, have the PCs get befriended by a small group of NPC heroes who are comparable in origin/motives/etc. to the PCs. Maybe these NPCs save their butts once. (Heck, maybe one of them is a PC's parent, sibling, SO, or something.) Then let those friend NPCs step on some corporate toes, and then get framed for something nasty (and the PCs know beyond a doubt it was a frame), and then hunted down and wiped out by the corrupt governmental agencies in the pocket of the corps. And let Fox World News carry it live on TV, include infinite replays of a particularly nasty lethal head-shot of one of their pals (since that's what boosts the ratings most).[/quote']

 

 

Okay... that's sadistically brilliant.

I'm stealing it.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

And of course cloning can make for an annoying returning villain.

 

When I read your first post, my initial idea was along that line.

 

"Who the frack is this guy, and how does he keep coming back?" - PC's encounter, and are then repeatedly beset by "that bastard". Never speaks, just shows up and starts causing damage. Why is he after them? What does he want? How can he be here since we killed him last week? Always appears exactly the same, including gear. If he was wounded but not killed in a previous encounter, these wounds do not exist on the next encounter. Is he a legion of clones? Lots of people altered to look the same? Something supernatural?

[Mark Taylor]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

A friend or associate of one of the PCs, one they could never possibly believe capable of murder, turns up on their doorstep covered in blood and begging for help. He claims he blacked out, and woke up to find himself at the scene of a particularly brutal and sadistic murder, covered in the victim's blood. On further investigation it turns out there has been a series of these murders, all following the exact same pattern, but a different set of fingerprints / DNA appears at each crime scene. The cops (or whoever is the law in your setting) are treating it as the work of some kind of cult, whose members they reason are going out and committing the murders, perhaps as part of some sort of initiation ritual. But the PC is sure their friend was not involved in any such thing... so what awful truth really lurks behind these appalling crimes?

 

To complicate things and create a little more tension, perhaps one or more of the other PCs has some reason to be suspicious of the friend who's asking for help. I'm going to use this one in a campaign of my own some time, but I'll let you come up with your own answer to the mystery.

[zornwil]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

It does sound good! It sounds similar to the inspiration for my "Disavowed" game. Unfortunately I'm behind on the write-up for the 2nd session (it's a secondary game, we haven't had much of a chance to play), but anyway it's at http://www.realschluss.org/disavowed/ . I'll share the first plot I did, FWIW. Basically, the PCs had to go to Area 51, actually to a more secret part of it, to uncover what happened to "the Idea Man", an albino savant who sees intuitively through to other dimensions. He spouts out random ideas constantly, but it's worth observing because he's picking up the alternate histories and realities of parallel Earths. He's been kidnapped. The PCs have to rescue him. A chase to Roswell and on to Texas and finally New York City as they chase the high-level Mason who absconded with the Idea Man. They managed to rescue the Idea Man but the bad guy got away. It was an introductory event. Don't know that it helps, but maybe there's a seed in there.

 

Along with the Masons there will be aliens, strange cults, Jesus resurrectionists/clonists, and so on.

[MisterVimes]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

It does sound good! It sounds similar to the inspiration for my "Disavowed" game.

 

We're definately on the same page. Since I am 99% sure that players won't come here looking for the details, I'll flesh this thing out for everyone and get the expert input I had forgetten was here.

[MisterVimes]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

OK... this is what I have so far. After re-reading I find it's a bit too much.. It's TOO Dark Future. I am thinking about dialing it back a notch to the rise of the Megacorps and have bio and cyber tech be new and experiemntal. Then add an "Origins of WWII" element: RIse of National Socialism in the New African States (pulling themsleves out of world market debt in a 1930's Germany sort of way, with Brazil, Argentina and Mexico filling out the Axis). This time it's America that is arguing appeasement and the European Union rising from a depression.

 

The rise of the Megacorps and the pre-war feeling setting a dark backdrop for the discovery that Forces are moving in the world leading to Armageddon. The big reveal I promised at the end of season 1? Their benefactor is Merlin and my tent-peg player will draw Excalibur from the stone. Arthur has returned when the world needs him most.

 

At any rate, here is the peliminary write up that I want to tone down. Again, any recommendations/ideas/suggestions are encouraged.

 

THE ALBION FILES

A Player’s Guide to the

World of the Avalon Directives

 

If you are reading this document then you are in a very special fraternity. You received this email, or someone handed you a packet because you may have the answer. The biggest problem with people who have answers is that they often do not know the question. The question in this case is: How will we survive? My name is Mark Albion and I have spent my entire life asking that question, perhaps you can provide an answer. To find the answer we must understand the question, to understand the question it is best to understand how we got to where we are now, how the bright future became the dark present.

 

In the 1950’s, as the American economy grew from the struggles of the Second World War, the American corporate sector discovered something that the rest of the world already knew. The secret was that war was profitable. In the following decades the military sector grew in the free world and with it the science that was a large part of that development. Companies became corporations and corporations became Zaibatsus. "Zaibatsu" is Japanese for a family corporation held together by economic bonds. But zaibatsu came to mean much more. Zaibatsus became synonymous with multinational corporations loosely bonded together to serve their financial interests. Megacorps.

 

In the early part of the 21st century a number of factors contributed to the position we find ourselves in today. Rises in third-world terrorism lead to dramatic changes in laws protecting personal freedoms in the first-world. One of the most telling of these was the American Supreme Court determined that governmental agencies had the right to use the right eminent domain to seize private property for corporate development even if the concerned property was not blighted. In the end it was a license for the Megacorps to take it all, and they did.

 

Science in North America became a two edged sword. Personal technology and military advancements flourished while government strictures on gene-therapy and stem cell research caused medical research to grow in strange fields. Cuba, Sweden and South Africa backed by American pharmaceutical firms became the leaders in medi-tech.

 

In 2010 The G8 summit recommended economic concessions to corporations who were willing to aid in third-world debt relief. The corporate sector happily assumed large amounts of third-world debt in exchange for inexpensive work-forces in the impacted areas. Within two years North America and Europe suffered decreases in revenues due to the relocation of the megacorps and debilitating economic concessions created a global economic recession that lasted 4 years. In 2017 the megacorps bailed out the world monetary fund. By 2018, in attempt to increase revenues and decrease expenditures, the United States and the European Union privatized their national infrastructures and public services. Over the next five years South Africa, Israel, Japan, Brazil and China followed suit. By 2025, the megacorps were the law; by 2030 they became the government.

 

The American wars in the Middle East at the onset of the 21st century showed the world that smaller, more economical wars were a sure path to political power and global financial strength. These micro-wars were the proving grounds for cutting edge mil-tech. Within a decade, the megacorps determined not only the weapons, but the battlefields. With corporate backed warriors on both sides of a conflict, the military laboratories of the 2020’s were born in what became known as the corporate wars.

 

The megacorps have given us the future, a future where bio and cyber technologies have created a medical panacea… for those who can afford it. We have privately funded police forces that rival any military presence and create virtually crime free zones… in areas the megacorps view as worthwhile investments. A moon base, telecommunication satellites, sub-orbital travel and even cloning have become efficient and affordable… as it benefits those who sit in seats of power. The price for such advancements was cheap: security, freedom and dignity. How will we survive? Can you give me the answer?

 

 

Dr. Mark Albion

333 English Ave.

Denver Co. 80014-51525

USA.

malbion@denver.datahaven.net

01-567-363-7546

[Beetle]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

First off - welcome back!

 

Secondly - I really like your set up. I especially love the note about the supreme court and eminent domain. Heck, I wish I was playing in the campaign! There's just one little nitpick I have:

Cuba, Sweden and South Africa backed by American pharmaceutical firms became the leaders in medi-tech.

Cuba Sweden and South Africa as a trio? Anybody else feel like singing a chorus of One of These Things Is Not Like the Others? We'll be long past 2030 before Cuba is on the cutting edge of anything other than backwardness and poverty (unless there's been a massively radical change in the island and in your campaign.)

[MisterVimes]

Re: Campaign Idea - Suggestions Gratefully Welcome

 

First off - welcome back!

 

Secondly - I really like your set up. I especially love the note about the supreme court and eminent domain. Heck, I wish I was playing in the campaign! There's just one little nitpick I have:

 

Cuba Sweden and South Africa as a trio? Anybody else feel like singing a chorus of One of These Things Is Not Like the Others? We'll be long past 2030 before Cuba is on the cutting edge of anything other than backwardness and poverty (unless there's been a massively radical change in the island and in your campaign.)

 

Thanks, good to be back.

Actually, my decision to go with those three were based on the fact that right now those three nations are becoming very strong in the areas of medi-tech. South Africa in Psychiatry. Sweden in general overall rise in medical care. And Cuba is actually making a mark in the areas of emergency medical methodology.

 

*shrug* I heard it on NPR and decided to use it.