assault Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 Inspired by Darren's Golden Age thread, I'm trying to sketch out a Golden Age scenario. Unfortunately, I can't quite get it to come together. What I know is: It's set in early 1942. The McGuffin was being evacuated to Australia from Batavia (Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies, when the plane it was on was shot down by the Japanese. An allied team is sent in to recover it. Hilarity ensues. Unfortunately, that's all I've got. Obviously the Japanese are after it too, but they probably aren't the Big Bads. It could be nearly anywhere in the East Indies (even Portuguese Timor), in northern Australia, or underwater. I'm not even sure what "it" is. I'm a little reluctant to make it a mystic artifact, since they tend to be overused. It could be a person, a gizmo, a bunch of documents... Nothing is really gelling for me. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario The macguffin landed on a secluded, unexplored island where Dinosaurs Still Reign! There's tons of fun in punching dinosaurs (or running from them, depending on how tough the heroes are)! And the possibility of a team-up with the untrustworthy Japanese to escape the island before the dinos eat everyone... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted March 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario I was kind of wanting to hold off on the dinos, but I might as well use them now rather than later. With a bit of fiddling I could use K'hull Island from Thrilling Places. It's off track, but not impossibly so. I was trying to minimise my use of published setting stuff, though. Still, the Japanese managed to attack Sri Lanka in 1942. It's not impossible for them to have reached K'hull Island. I'd have to lose the connection to the Dutch East Indies though, or separate the two scenarios entirely. Ah. Yes. The dinosaur scenario isn't the one I was looking for. It's another one altogether. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario Well, if you don't want Mystic Artifact, Go "Thing from the Future!" and play up the angle we used to see in such fun comics as Doctor Tomorrow, and or numerous other fantastic time travel chaos..... ~Rex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted March 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario That's not bad. I was considering the "lost city" option - sites like Borobudur were abandoned for centuries in the Real World. Combining such a site with a "Thing from the Future!" has definite potential. Or a "Thing from the Past!" of course - they don't have to be strictly mystical. Of course, a "Thing from the Future!" could also be a "Thing from the Past!", depending on exactly when it originally travelled back to. Maybe it wasn't the Japanese that caused the plane to crash... The original McGuffin doesn't have to be anything more "important" than a bunch of VIPs, including the inevitable DNPC(s). The plane was part of the evacuation from Batavia. Now, why was it the one that crashed? Sheer luck? Well, maybe, actually. This is a Golden Age scenario, after all! I'll get back to the actual site in a couple of hours, after I engage in a bit of tedious life/work/stuff. Any ideas are welcome, though! Rep for anything cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laundry Knight Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario If you are playing it for laughs and want use the Thing from the Future concept. What if the heroes land on the island and discover a "primitive" culture regularly using technology that is beyond the rest of the world's Maybe, they walk around with cellphones and watch TV all day. You could then turn it into a parody of modern life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheQuestionMan Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario The McGuffin could be; 1. A lost colony of the European exploration of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. 2. Chinese treasure fleets of the Ming Dynasty, and especially the fleet of treasure ships led by Zheng He. The lost ships, battered by storms, finally landed an the island. There they established a new colony. Their leader a memeber of the Ming Dynasty decided to create a new empire. Intermarriage with the natives who eventually adopted the foreigners culture and traditions. Five hundred years later a plane crashes on the island and the culture clash could be lethal. 3. The Devil's Sea (aka The Dragon's Triangle). Like the Burmuda Triangle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Sea 4. Tales of the Gold Monkey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_Gold_Monkey 5. Lost (TV series) Set in the Pulp Era http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_%28TV_series%29 6. Ring of Fire - The crash land on a Volcanic island. There they battle for survival again not just the elements, but the Japanese soldiers stationed there and the natives. All struggling to survive the coming erruption. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ring_of_Fire#Indonesia Cheers QM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balabanto Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario A statue of one of the PCs, magically sent back in time from a future adventure! The natives of the island worship him as a god, only when they discover he's only human, they try to sacrifice him to return him to the sky! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbywolfe Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario Brilliant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja-Bear Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario Surprised that Atlantis didn't make it yet! Or Lemura in this neck of the woods. Being Golden Age, perhaps what the macguffin is a super energy source or weapon. Or perhaps it is the key to find Atlantis. But instead of mystical, work up the super science angle of Atlantis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario One of the things I liked about Dr. Tomorrow (And this has happened in SF novels a couple of times as well), and a thing I have used in my own campaign, is the "Thing From The Future", was basically from WAY in the Future, sentient and genius in it's own right, and it picked Dr. Tomorrow as an Agent to use it's cache of various future era weaponry, gizmo's and what not to do it's "thing" that it needs to do. That gives you a lot of leeway and angles to play with..... ~Rex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt the Bruins Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario Maybe the McGuffin could be a cryptologist who's been working to crack some Japanese codes, and is thus extremely valuable to Allied intelligence efforts? Jakarta makes me think of a rescue mission in the Indonesian jungles where unfamiliarity could present all sorts of challenges to the PCs without needing to involve super powers at all (handy if the characters are low- or non-powered Mystery Men). For comedic effect, have them stumbling through the rain forest and gradually being overwhelmed by the reek of rotting flesh as flies buzz everywhere. Players might be expecting to find a battlefield or be hit by a zombie attack, and will be surprised to come across a bunch of trees with ripe durians instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted March 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario I've repped my little heart out on this thread. I'm really glad I asked. The amount of awesome is.... umm, you know, pretty good. Keep going, please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja-Bear Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario Actually for a martial arts type macguffin there was a Golden Age hero who discovered a secret yogi book where he developed the strenght of 100 elephants, super speed, and I think flight. imagine that book falling in the wrong hands! Now let me see if I can dig up a link. Here is the link http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Strongman_(Holyoke) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted March 17, 2012 Report Share Posted March 17, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario Maybe the McGuffin could be a cryptologist who's been working to crack some Japanese codes, and is thus extremely valuable to Allied intelligence efforts? ... The Japanese cryptologist who has gone so far into Allied codes that he's somehow come out the other side into a universe of pure numbers, where all that is and will or could be is manifest in his waking dreams? It's the Land of the Lost! Complete with a menace to humanity so obvious and pressing that Allies and Japanese have to combine to defeat it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balabanto Posted March 18, 2012 Report Share Posted March 18, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario Brilliant. The best part is an army of guys with spears chasing the PCs and shouting a horribly mispronounced version of his name in "Junglespeak." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassandra Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario Keep it simple. The MacGuffin is highly enriched natural uranium. There is a Nazi represensative with the Japanese, and he plans on stealing the uranium for himself. It's about 100 lbs worth, enough to make five devices that we would call "Dirty Bombs." According the "My Tank is Fight!" By Jay Parsons, the Nazi nuclear program potential bomb would have more a dirty bomb then an atomic bomb. The Japanese want the mineral as well because the Nazis want it. They did begin serious discussions later in the war, one of the most important was at 8am, August 6, 1945 at Hiroshima University. I imagine that some questioned the possibility of building an atomic bomb, but that belief would have lasted all of fifteen minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinecone Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario Well, if you don't want Mystic Artifact, Go "Thing from the Future!" and play up the angle we used to see in such fun comics as Doctor Tomorrow, and or numerous other fantastic time travel chaos..... ~Rex Sure a bit of Super-tech...clearly labled "Made in Japan"! They must have won the war!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbywolfe Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario Sure a bit of Super-tech...clearly labled "Made in Japan"! They must have won the war!!!That. Is. Awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted April 1, 2012 Report Share Posted April 1, 2012 Re: Help with Golden Age scenario That. Is. Awesome. Exactly. There is no going wrong with the Dr. Tomorrow/Supertech from the future angle for this sort of thing. It's worked exceptionally well for me many times. ~Rex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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