Sunday 29 August 2010

Cliche avoidance... or 4 ways I've put a party together through enforced captivity.

I know I've been guilty of using the "Bar Brawl" or the "Adventurer's Noticeboard" cliche's every once in a while but here are a few of the other ways I've brought a party of PCs together:

"It's a lovely summers day and the grass is even tastier than it was yesterday."

This was the opening line in a Justifiers RPG scenario where the PCs were all beta-humanoid sheep. They had been on a mission, to investigate the dissappearance of a fellow Justifier team, which had gone horribly wrong and they began the adventure in a pasture having been subjected to a neural wipe without any memory of themselves, their past or their species. Over a couple of sessions they gradually discovered their identities and skills as the neural wipe wore off.

"The guy in the unseasonal outfit seems to have wires running from his sleeve to something in his hand..."

In this Squadron UK scenario (see Project Daedalus postings) the PCs are the only survivors of a terrorist dirty bomb in Trafalgar Square.  The bomb awakens their latent superpowers (the genetic legacy of their grandparents) and during their recuperation in a secret government facility they get to know one another and explore their new found powers.

"You notice that the ship's motley crew are carrying short lengths of chain with manacles at each end.  Something tells you that you should start running..."

I started one of my The Lands of Dual fantasy campaigns by collecting together each of the players from their respective homelands with a slave pirate ship.  It's amazing how quickly a party bond with each other when they're chained together rowing for 18 hours a day!!

"You best be getting up to the Castle before the Siege starts..."

In this campaign opener the PCs were press ganged into becoming siege defenders by the Baron of a coastal town.  The PCs were unaware that the Baron was being controlled by the forces of darkness and that the King's forces, massing on the hills outside of town, were being led by a particularly devout Warrior Priest with strict instructions to erase the castle and it's inhabitants from history.

Thursday 26 August 2010

Papercraft: Adventurer's Cart

Something I've been meaning to put together for a while and with the help of Sketchup and the Unfold plugin (see my previous post for details) here it is...

The Adventurers Cart!!

Every party needs a cart to get from Town A to Village B and when you've slain the Dragon you need something to haul away it's horde.  For DM's sometimes it's just nice to make the PCs have a good old punch-up around a few wagons.


Build instructions:

Normal rules apply; cut along solid lines, score along dashed lines, put tab A into slot A etc. 
I used chopped down cocktail sticks to secure the optional roof.

Enjoy

Monday 23 August 2010

Iron Sky

After scanning the interweb for Nazi UFO pics I stumbled across some teaser posters for IRON SKY currently slated for a 2011 release.

The basic premise is that in 1945 the Nazis landed on the moon and set up a secret base where they have hiden out.  Cut to 2018 when the Nazi's try to invade Earth in their huge flying saucers and impose a Fourth Reich.  I hope the film turns out as good as some of these images:


More info on IMDB.  Oh those crazy Finns!!

Project Daedalus: Pt 4 - The return of "D Platoon"

Once the PCs have managed to locate the Nazi research facility they mount an infiltration attempt.  Inside they discover a large hanger equipped with two UFO's, an airstrip, factory complex, drawing office, barracks and a prison.  Inside the prison are the remaining members of "D Platoon".

The PCs must gather as much evidence of the Nazi UFO Research and return to their own time.  The question the PCs must answer is do they attempt to release their own grandparents from the clutches of the evil Nazis and in doing so change their own futures?...

Project Daedalus: Pt 3 - Behind Enemy Lines

Two days later the PC's are briefed about a new mission.  The body of the German has been examined and it is in fact that of David Williams (code name D4) of the original "D Platoon", disguised as an SS guard.  In his jacket pocket was a scrap of paper with a grid reference scrawled on it  which corresponds to a location in the Bavarian Mountains North of ingolstatt.  During 1944 this was a suspected Nazi research facility.

The Nazi UFO is also being examined, early indications suggest that it is equipped with a primitive antigravity engine which the scientists predict would have had a strange effect on space time.

The PCs embark on a short helicopter ride to a rusting metal structure in the sea off the coast of England.  Inside are obvious scenes of repair and a clean up operation cables are strewn everywhere and the atmosphere is charged with electricity.

For more info: check out Maunsell Army Sea Forts at www.ecastles.co.uk


The head scientist is a chap called professor Jennings he explains that this site is a relic from the British attempts to recreate the American Philadelphia Experiment, inadvertently greating some sort of temporal vortex.  The scientists are confident that they can send the PCs back to the right time but they are having difficult focusing the other end of the temporal vortex.

The entry point for the vortex is below the main gantry of the central tower the PCs dropping through into it.  They black-out as soon as  they jump into the vortex, when they come to they are falling through the roof of a barn into a haystack.

The barn is approximately 1 mile from the site of the Nazi research facility in the foothills of the Bavarian mountains.

Project Daedalus Part 4 - The return of D Platoon