Weekly Adventure #3

Sorry I’m late this time, problems with my ISP prevented me from posting yesterday, which resulted in an inspiration.   I suggest you use this as a subplot, something small perhaps for a neglected character, be cruel with it but not too mean. 

Alexander’s Bell

Case: One of the characters stops being able to send any form of communication.  E-mail always bounces, even with correct address, post get lost, phone calls always cut out, even messages sent by magic means will mess up.  Keep in mind this has nothing to do with messages received.  The character still receives e-mails ect… and the phone calls won’t cut out until the character is trying to say something.

Footwork: The character has been cursed.  The curse itself is over 200 years old and the character has just been fortunate enough to inherit it from a relative he/she didn’t know they had.  They can find this out a number of ways.  The important thing is getting them to start researching their family.  Somewhere around the American Revolution an ancestor merchant turned privateer murdered a wizard (Alexander) who had surrendered himself.  This wizard was in the process of a delivering an item to his family in the new world.  Unable to take another route the wizard was forced to use the mundane transportation of the time.  So now the characters have a full blown historic investigation to undertake to try to right the wrong.  On the plus side, the curse will only last 7 generations so it’s about half over.  Unfortunately, that will do little to comfort the character.  There is a solution the curse may be removed if the item is found and given to the rightful owner.

Close:  The item itself is a silver bell, it’s an enchanted item that would have allowed the family of the unfortunate wizard to ring him if he were ever needed.  In addition to this whenever the bell is ringing a shield surrounds the ringer similar to Harry’s bracelet.  Finding the bell will prove to be it’s own adventure, you could have it in the possession of a museum, the character’s family (in an attic somewhere), or if you’re particularly evil at the bottom of the ocean or in the possession of a rival.  And then there is the problem of tracking down the heir.

Weekly Adventure #2

I’m going to go ahead and continue in this thread and delude myself into thinking that everyone is just too awestruck by my genius to respond to my first   So here we go with #2.  So in the spirit delusion and cliche I present…

Cult Classic

Case: There is rumor of cult forming around a man who can work miracles.  He’s rumored to have mended fatal wounds and cured various afflictions.  And yet his existence has done well to keep free from the news media.  The characters are compelled to investigate for one reason or another. (Most characters should want to investigate but if the rumor isn’t enough, you could have a few homeless people in the area the cult is rumored to be in vanish, have a character’s sibling, friend, lover, ect… run off to join the cult.  If you’re running an Alpha style game, simply make sure that the cult is on the chosen turf of the characters.)   

Footwork: Doing a bit of research the characters will discover that quite often those who join the cult leave town shortly after.  Interviewing members will actually yield some results.  It seems that their leader is able to perform miracles and is training them all for the ‘ascension’ or opportunity everyone has to achieve god-hood.  Every member of the cult will talk about being in the best shape of their life as a result of the exercises they perform and most of them speak with true confidence.   The characters will also be freely admitted to meet with the cult leader who is completely clean and free of supernatural anything.  If the characters look into the membership itself most are war veterans, ex-cons, and entire gangs have been absorbed into the cult) the closer they get to the cult the more dangerous things become and several attempts are made on the lives of the characters.

Close: The Cult Leader really does believe he’s performing miracles, he’s just a straight  mortal.  The truth behind the cult is a bit darker; it’s a recruitment and training station for the red court.  They pick the most healthy (and aggressive) members of the cult and change them using them as shock troops.  The recipients of the miracles are always newly turned vampires who are able to alter their mask appropriately.  The true one in charge is part of the inner circle of the leadership but appears to be a minor player.

Hm, this one came out a bit long a bit disjointed and was almost scrapped before it made it here.  But overall I think it could lead to a fun session and is still quite fluid as far as slipping it into a game.  For example say you’re running a Fellowship game, you could have the characters start with the knowledge that there was a recruitment facuility of some time in the city and have them have to hunt for it for a while…then same thing happens.  It will require some cleaning up though but the point of this is seeds of adventures not actual adventures.

I lack the gramatical smarts to be a proper writer, and I always felt I was more of a reader but I do plan and plot a lot of games.  One of the books I’ve found to be most helpful is Techniques of The Selling writer. 

You can find it here http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&isbn=0806111917&itm=1

My English professor recommended it back when I was under the impression that I might want to actually let other people read my writing.  I decided against the whole sharing my writing thing but it did improve my ability to write games.

Weekly Adventure #1

Hiyas, I decided to go ahead and post an adventure idea.  I’m putting these into a format familiar to those who have delt with the L5R system, that is, Challenge, Focus, Strike… setup, climax, consequence/resolution.  I don’t have anything particularly appropriate or witty so any suggestions for labels a bit more thematic are welcomed (for now I go with Case, Footwork, Close.)

I’d like to thank Scott Stockton for inspiring me to do this.

As this is my first real post I decided to establish something that can get a group started, I hope you all find this versatile enough to use however you like, as an adventure, side distraction, or to launch a campaign.   Let me know what you think.  Feel free to add your own adventure ideas in this format.  That way all of us GMs will be ready when we finally get our hands on the game

Ghost Hoax
Ghosts are a good lead in to an adventure, as most people are fairly accepting of them, the curious and they’re expected.  Fairies trick their prey into accepting gifts so they can declare trade and extract what they want.

Case: A local historical site rumored to be haunted begins gains a lot of publicity.  The paranormal occurrences increase and one news crew manages to get some footage of furniture flying around.  The characters get involved; perhaps they’re ghost hunting enthusiasts, with the local news, apprentices charged to investigate as a learning experience, fake psychics, or something totally different.

Footwork: The characters investigation of the history of the site reveals that a young child died there a few hundred years ago.  The death was tragic, feel free to make up the details yourself so you can make the actual haunting more authentic.   Assuming the characters follow typical ghost hunting practices they’re able to make contact with a ghost through EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) the voice unusually clear.  Make some equip malfunction happen while recording and put static in the recording. (Neat Prop Idea: Have the players prepare their questions, then go into another room and record it.  Even if you do it live don’t interact directly with the players in real time have them ask all their questions first.) The voice answers questions but never directly, and offers to tell the party where the family treasure is.

Close: The whole thing is a setup by a fairy of great power, one of the Sidhe in order to trick one of the characters into getting indebted.  There are a number of motives for this and who are we to try to figure out the way a fairies’ mind works.  The result of these could easily be a curse of some kind the fairy levels on the character as payment. 

Edited: I figured since no one as commenting in these threads that I'ld put all of them into one thread so I changed the title.