Friday, October 26, 2012

10 26 12: Dread Questionnaire #8

Another one for "Little Shop on Skid Row" 

Courier

How long have you been delivering messages downtown?






You don’t own a car, but what is you preferred method of transportation ?





What area of downtown do you always visit, due to no one else going there?





What items do you have that are perfect for your job?






What's the one thing you dislike about your job?






You took a nasty spill and your injury never fully healed. What happened?






When and what was the moment that you felt most alone?






Who is your favorite client?





You had the hots for a fellow courier. Who is he/she? Why haven't you seen him/her lately?






You've been diagnosed with a terminal illness. What is it? How long do you have to live?






Why do some people find you attractive, while others find you repugnant?





Who is most unhappy about your job?






What is your name?

10 26 12 Dread Questionnaire #7

another one for "Little Shop on Skid Row" and a real savvy person will recognize why this one is how it is.


Dentist

How long have you been a dentist?






How long have you been practicing without a license?






What perversion drives you?






You make significantly less money than other dentists because of your practice's location. How does that make you feel?






What terrible thing did you do when you were a child?






What's your secret fear?






Who come by the office and shakes you down for money?





Who do you know that's buried in that old cemetary? Why do you visit the grave every night?







Who supplies you "your fun stuff"?






You often hear that your look is “unsettling” as a dentist. Why is that?






What weird patient is stalking you?






What item do you always carry with you?






What's your name?

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

10 24 12 Dread Questionnaire #6

From Little Shop on Skid Row.

Homeless Person

How long have you been homeless and down on your luck?






What was your job before you ended up this way?






What items do you have on you, and which on is dearest to you?






People say that you're a bit demented. What's going on in that head of yours?






What do you do to keep your dementia in check?






You met a few other homeless who are contacts and they help you out. Who are they and what do they do for you?






You've resorted to stealing for survival. What did you steal and why?



What do you miss most about your old life?






How do you feel about being stuck in the gutter?






How well do you interact with others?





What is your one biggest regret about your life?






What family member has cut all contact with you? When was the last time you talked to them?






What's your name?

10 24 12 Dread Questionnaire #5

Another for "Little Shop on Skid Row"

Janitor

what were your aspirations before becoming a janitor?







Where do you work, and why are the hours unusually long?






Why did your spouse leave you?






What is the one quality or skill that you have learned from the custodial arts?






What did you see at your workplace that you've kept a secret for almost a year?






How did you get that bad burn?






You haven't talked to your parents since you moved to the city. How do you feel about them?



What three items do you carry on you at all times?







Your friend has been missing for a few weeks. Who was he/she and what did he/she do?







You have a past conviction. What did you do?







Who is one of your better acquaintances downtown? Why?







What place do your consider your sanctuary?






What is your name?

Saturday, October 20, 2012

10 20 12 Dread Questionnaire #4

From "Little Shop on Skid Row"

Sleazy entertainer

You consider yourself to be an entertainer. Why do you hate being called a stripper?





What other profession are you studying at school?





Why do you occasionally turn tricks?






What opportunity did you turn down that you regret?






What item do you absolutely need for your job?






What other person do you know that frequents the club?






How did you accumulate so much debt that the collectors are looking for you?






What distinct feature sets you apart from the other performers?






What was your childhood like?






Who do you have frequent nightmares?






What advice did your friend give you before her disappearance?





What skill did you have to learn for your job?





What's your name?

10 20 12 Dread Questionnaire #3

Another Dread Questionnaire from "Little Shop on Skid Row"

Street Vendor

How has the street vendor business been lately?






What is the consumable that you sell?





What illegal item do you keep in your cart?





Who is your favorite regular customer?






What do you pedal on the side?






What other job did you have before becoming a street vendor?






What nickname do your customers call you?






Who is it that's trying to muscle in on your business?






What other person are you trying to support with the money from this job?







What's the craziest thing you've ever seen?






What do you look like?






What other customer do you have that you haven't seen in a week?






What is your name?

10 20 12 Dread Questionnaire #2

This was a player questionnaire i made for my "Little Shop on Skid Row" scenario for Dread. There have been some minor changes to a few of the questions, but they are still valid.

Thug

When did you learn that you like to hurt people?






What is your secret addiction? Who is your supplier?






How did you get involved with the wrong people? Who are they?






What hobby do you have that might be embarrassing if others found out about it?






Who is the one family member you actually care about?





Who are your usual contacts?






What items do you need for your handiwork?




What have you learned as a skill doing what you do?






Police are looking for you for a serious crime. What did you do?






What's the description that police have of you, and why is it wrong?






What job did you have for a while before becoming a full time criminal?





What's your favorite hangout?






What's your name?

going forward, this will be the home for my "Qags in a Bag" write-ups. looking forward to posting more.

looks like things are back to normal now, if not a little out of sequence, but on to fresh content now!

QiaB Entry 3 Gencon 2012

Proof again that not only do I tread that line between genius and insanity, I pick up that line and skip rope with it.

Again, brackets “[ ]” denote pulls from the bag, while parenthesis “( )” denote my thought process and out of context comments to the players.

Brady and Kevin were the first to arrive at the table, pod-casters that were at the game last year and wonderful individuals that I invited back this year. We were able to talk for a while as more players made their way to the table. Apparently everyone was coming from the farthest side of the convention to get to my table. Needless to say, we didn't get started on time.

One thing that was nice was that everyone at the table had played Qags before except one person, but he caught on right away. After a 20 minute wait, we got started.

( I pulled a clump of papers out of my bag, something I rarely do. I even told the players that I was not happy with the clumping of the papers.)

the initial pulls (10)

man knows things he's not supposed to know
we are broken
people part company
axe-wielding maniacs
thirst for knowledge
represent the dead
big bad bertha takes on giant monster
epic
I question mother nature
cathedralpult found

the initial theme:

(at this point, I plant my face squarely in my palm. First off, this is the third time that [we are broken ] has been pulled from the bag. Initially, that's a trigger for some sort of genetic mismatch, i.e. broken ones from Dnd 2nd ed. Tying that idea in with [thirst for knowledge],[man knows things he's not supposed to know](which is a reference trigger for anything Lovecraft),[ I question mother nature] and [represent the dead], I've got a lot of pulls that kind of fit together in a large clump of WTF. )

(initially, my mind reached back to the concept of the broken ones, and I think of “the island of Dr Moreau” and I also remember the doctor from the HP Lovecraft story “Cool Air”. I reference the doctor in my Kindle and find the name of Dr Munoz. There's my main villain. My mind looks across the pulls again and sees the Big Bad Bertha and I Question Mother Nature pulls. This combination triggers a look back at 70's films like “I Spit on your grave” and it also pulls in a bit of the character “”Papa Ceasar” from the video game “House of the Dead: Overkill” which is supposed to be like a exploitation/Grindhouse film.)

So, with some reluctance, I tell my players that i'm going to put together some words that probably shouldn't go together in the first place.

Theme: Lovecraft Grindhouse.

Character' creation: I tell my players that i'm looking for characters from the 1970's that might be found in grindhouse films. Detectives, private eyes, scientists, intellectuals, etc. as they hash out their characters and talk amongst themselves about what they need, I try to piece together an initial bit of plot.

Here's what the players come up with

Dictionary Larry: a play on Encyclopedia Brown, a kid detective that solves crimes.
Silver Bullitt: an old stunt car driver and mechanic.
Eagle-Bro: a biker who think he's a shaman and might know magic
Johnny “Lightning” Barnes: actor/stuntman/kung fu badass/ movie star
Dr Bob: Former Radical Professor Hopper Type
Ted Zepplin: seedy nightclub owner
Spanky Diggs: PhD hippie psychic

after approval and general character intro, we got on with it.

The game:

the characters all work for a public company called The Syndicate, which does all sorts of stuff and hires people from all walks of life with different skill sets to do things. (OOOOOKKKAY!!!???) They are called into a meeting with Dr Barnes (no relation to Johnny) who looks like a grizzled Charlton Heston from True Lies. He gives the agents the task of finding Dr. Munoz (I state that there's a lot of doctors in this game apparently). Dr Munoz is the leader of the Zowlow Clan, which is a Haitian Voodoo/ Drug Running crime cartel thingie. Anyway, they are coming into the Miami airport to pick-up/drop off some drug called “grave dust” and that the agents must stop this transaction.

The group talks amongst themselves and formulates a plan to use johnny lightning’s personal plane (an eight prop doubled plane similar to Soul Plane with all the luxury accommodations) to trail the incoming Munoz plane, and then proceed to perform a car stunt with Silver Bullitt and drive her car into Munoz's plane. Ok, sounds like a plan to me.

So, as the group has a little bit of downtime, they party it up on the plane, when they all hear a loud bang and smell smoke. Apparently, there is another plane following them and shooting rockets at them while they themselves are following Munoz's plane. After losing a few engines, Johnny's personal pilot asks them what he should do? He tells the pilot to get as close as he can to Munoz's plane and has Bullitt get ready to drive. The group all packs into Spanky Diggs's bus, and the stunt driver shoots the vehicle out of her plane and into the other plane without a hitch. However, all planes collide and are heavily damaged. They fall from the sky and the group blacks out.

The group awakens, having manage to survive the crash with barely a scratch. They realize that they are no longer in Miami, but on a large jungle island with much dense vegetation. Their ride, the bus is completely trashed and unable to be repaired by the mechanic/stunt man. The hippie decides to climb a tree and finds that there is one lone beach directly to the east and a large mansion to the north of the island.

As they travel through the dense jungle with the hippie at the lead, they fail to notice (on several different occasions) that the jungle sounds are extremely different in this area. ( I was going to have them try to notice that there were sounds of some creature nearby that seemed to be some sort of growling form of communication, but the players failed the rolls every time.) As the group nearly reaches the mansion, the hippie sees a large shadowy creature trailing them on the left side of the jungle he gets a bit freaked, but he has Johnny Lightning come by and take care of the situation the best he can (which at times was great because the character was a big mean talker, but would often either make the matter worse, or react completely different to the way you'd expect him to.) The creature leaps out and gets the drop on poor Johnny Lightning, who is now screaming like a little girl. Both the hippie and the seedy nightclub owner try to help out and eventually get the creature subdued with a serious handful of downers.

Upon examination of the creature, they see that it is a composite animal, a hybrid of human and animal [we are broken] put together with some sort of operation. This discovery leads them to [question mother nature] but They shrug this off and move on, being more cautious as they finally get to the mansion. Spanky knocks on the door and is greeted by a curt and callous small german fellow. The crazy hippie manages to get into the mansion, talking his way in and admitting he has to use the bathroom. He gets in and the rest of the group follows in. the german heads upstairs and a loud conversation starts with what can be assumed to be the master of the house. After a few minutes, the german comes back to the room, and offers lemonade to the group. The german lets the group know that he is supposed to offer hospitality to the group, but that they must leave soon because they are very busy running the mansion.

As the hippie searches the house, he gets a look around and sees several other servants running around and each is more diminutive in stature than the last. Also, the hippie is more lucky than good (his gimmick) and finds a hidden passage. The hippie returns to the group, then leads them down into the passage where they find a huge rough laboratory, there are several animals in cages, and some are being occasionally shocked by electricity. Others are being force-fed chemicals and IV's of various meds. Johnny assures the group that this is all necessary for good makeup products (typical meathead machismo, and a great spot to drop it). Additionally they see a large bay door that has been torn and bent as is a large creature escaped. The group assumes that the creature was the one that they subdued in the jungle. Further research around the lab reveals a door that has been weakly padlocked. Strange sound emanate from the room beyond the door.

The kid detective decides to try and pick the lock. He gets a quirky success. He takes the lock off opens the door and stares directly into the yellow eyes of a panther that jumps out and takes him down. The action star tries to help out, but ends up getting scratched across the face for his efforts. The action star and hippie try to find a natural predator to the panther, perhaps a large lizard that’s poisonous enough to subdue the big kitty. As the two go off and start looking for a predator, the stunt woman whacks the panther over the head with her wrench and rolls ridiculously well. So the scene that unfolds goes like this:

“The Hippie and the Action Star are going through a montage with “Come on, get Happy” playing over the whole scene. They are going through several different doors in a hallway, and each time emerging from a different door. They have a few good laughs as they play hide and seek. Finally, they find the cage of a large lotus eating lizard of reasonable lethality. The duo smiles, slaps high fives, thumbs up, etc, then return to the panther, only to find the beast dead on the floor with a wrench sticking out of its skull an a self satisfied smirk on the face of the stunt driver mechanic. The soundtrack “Come on, get Happy is abruptly cut off with a loud scratch on the album.”

Eagle-Bro , the biker-turned magic man gets an idea, knowing that this panther larger than what it's supposed to be, and decided to imbue the dead panther with the metallic soul of his motorcycle that was destroyed in the plane crash (yes, it was on the plane. Go with it). So now, we have a large panther cycle for transport. I decided that this was an [epic] moment. Anyway, the group looks around and finds that this is the room where the hybrids are held and prepped for shipping. Apparently there is a company called Optimus that better then half of these hybrids are being shipped to their warehouse. It seems that whoever is doing these experiments is being paid quite well. At the back of this holding room there is a large cellar door with a rusty lock. Again, the kid detective picks the lock and heads down into a crypt where there are pieces of the dead everywhere. Some of the pieces are fresh, some are on the verge of rotting, but it becomes all too obvious that these are some parts that are being added to the animals to make the hybrids.

In the center of this crypt, there is a pedestal that has a large book upon it. It turns out to be a scientific journal/ledger/black book that has all sorts of bad bad stuff in it:
to paraphrase (and this is where I was able to really offload a ton of my initial pulls), the passages of the book had the following info.

Journal area: the writer says that he has [learned something that man was never meant to know] and that his [thirst for knowledge] has led him to new discoveries about life. He has [represented the dead] by giving dead tissue a second chance to live, and that the living that uses it has a chance to benefit from such a union. He also mentions that the shocking of animals and chemical induction can both augment the creatures on the molecular level, making them [overly energetic] and more aggressive/ docile (whatever the needs of the clients might be.)

Ledger area: the book holds information about this Optimus group. The writer refers to them as a [“people part” company] it seems that this company is bringing in the components to make these hybrids, and in return the hybrids are being brought to optimus to put them into slave labor, such as mines and dangerous work. There is also a bit of information that optimus wants to get into [deep space operations] which is something completely unheard of in the 1970's.

Upon further examination, the handwriting is clearly that od dr Munoz. The group hears footsteps coming down the stairs in the laboratory, so they take the book and hide as best they can. Dr, munoz emerges from the upper lab, looks around the crypt, then notices that the book is missing, he goes to leave, but the action star kicks some equipment onto the doctor, while another drugs the doc to subdue him.

The doc is interrogated some more, and tells them that he's a bad guy. The drugs (grave dust) is just his side business, but this is where the money really is. He's defiant even under sedation. He does tell the group that there is a group of [axe-wielding maniacs] on the east side of the island, and that is why there are so many hybrids in his possession. He also mentions that he has a boat standing by on the west side of the island, manned at all times by a servant named pedro.

The group thinks that the best plan of action is to get munoz off the island and back to the syndicate. They wish to avoid the axe maniacs at all costs. So they head out. Munoz gets more courses of drugs from those select few that took some drugs from the lab. (mostly the professor, the hippie, etc.) munoz realizes in a drugged stupor that the time warp can indeed be created again with just a jump to the left [rocky horror picture show](yes, that's an actual pull from the bag)

the group comes across a large bayou with a ramshackle shack. There's an old black woman sitting on the porch with a shotgun in her hands. She's rather mean spirited to the group as they approach, but the whole conversation gets cut off when a large bear-like creature breaks through the tree line. The woman, who is known only as big bad bertha, begins fighting the giant monster [big bad bertha takes on giant monster]. The action star gets in on the action, but again proves to be ineffective against the giant beast. Big bad bertha takes the monster down, looks at the action star and calls him a “sucka”. (the action star's dumb fact was that he was a sucka, just once. It was a sore point for him) anyway, the two get to fighting, and the action star takes the woman down. He is glorified and feels that he has reached the apex of his conditioning. I go along with this, and let him see if he can obtain this zen-like pinnacle of perfection. He makes the roll, I reach in the bag, and extract [lake wizard] on a piece of paper. The action star, now has lake wizard powers, and gains a [talisman] that grants him his powers.
The new lake wizard tries to use the bayou to make a wave to ride to the west side of the island. After several attempts, he gets a small wave that makes it a little faster for travel.

The group makes it to the dock with the boat. They find Pedro on the dock...and on the boat...and in the boathouse... there's blood everywhere. The group looks to the treeline as the mechanic tries to hot-wire the boat. As the boat roars to life, and everybody piles in, an axe comes flying out of the treeline and embeds itself into the hull of the ship. There are axe maniacs everywhere on both sides of the dock, and they are flinging their axes with some seriously crappy accuracy (stupid dice)

as they are traveling, the lake wizard is trying to navigate by locking his senses onto the nearest lake, which should take them back to Florida at least. During this time, the professor is “science-ing the panther” and mounting the shotgun from Big Bad Bertha into the mouth of the panther. Additionally, the several course meal of drugs is still being administered to Munoz, who is looking green and sickly. He's still slightly coherent, but pretty much is in a semi vegetative state.

The group gets back to Miami. They dock the boat, head to the Syndicate building, when all of the sudden the whole building collapses into a large [pit]. The group looks down into the pit to see a gibbering mass of tentacles, teeth and eyes rise up to greet them. The colossal beast emerges from the depths, looks squarely at the seedy nightclub owner and demands the book. (mainly, the creature picks out this player because he failed his nerve roll) the nightclub owner is grabbed by the large Cthulhu like creature, and is carried off into the city.

Diggs, our hippie drug user who communes with the spirits, has a fantastic idea. He attempts to switch spirits between the seedy nightclub owner and the lizard that they saved from the mansion. (yes, they still have the lizard, go with it). Diggs enters a trance like state, and manipulates the energies to make this happen, and surprisingly it works, so the nightclub owner is now a kung-fu fighting lizard.

Instead of giving chase to Cthulhu, the group peers down into the depths of the pit and see a distant fire burning on the bottom of this pit, and there is the sound of chanting wafting ever so faintly from the pit. Using both the motorcycle panther and a stunt car, the group gets to the bottom by death spiraling around the pit at top speeds to keep them stuck to the side of the crater. (genius!) they reach the bottom to find a makeshift alter, torched mounted on the wall, and there is a walkway leading into another room. The group goes through the passage to find themselves in a large circular room with metal catwalks on the walls and an empty floor with a large seam that run across the room from north to south. A very large window is up high on one of the cylindrical walls. The lizard decides to climb up the wall, and takes the professor along for a ride. The two scale the wall with reasonable difficulty, but make it up to the window to peer in. they see people in robes with hoods manning several different stations with technical readouts, keyboards, and monitors. There are also five men in orange jumpsuits with numbers on their chests chained together, and one of the robed figures hands each a different weapon (generally something that looks scary and does a lot of damage in the right hands. Machete, chainsaw,etc.) odd, right?

the large circular room gets bathed in red lights and sirens go off all around the group. The seam in the floor splits open [beneath their feet] and a large rocket rises into the room. The group realizes they're in a missile silo, and that they need to stop that thing from launching. It is about this time that the lizard and the professor bust into the room, and the professor uses a vial that he procured from Munoz's lab. The vial breaks open upon impact and there is a [gooey caramel nexus] that looks like the Mars company made a black hole weapon. It swirls around the room and takes the cultists and killers with it before it seals itself up again. (cool!)

meanwhile, Diggs decides to have a close look at the rocket, and climbs up into the cockpit area. There, he finds a file called “project alpha: aka [serial killers on the moon]. For what purpose this project was for is still unknown, but Diggs was sure that their math and theory was way off and that the project was doomed to fail. Moreover, Diggs shuts down the rocket.

Now the epic part:

there's still a cthulhu running around town, and that needs to be taken care of immediately. The team decides to create a fighting machine out of the motorcycle-panther. With many rolls and yum yums, the group disassembles the rocket, then builds it into the panther. The result is Giga-Panther

this robotic beast was described as such:

shotgun enabled roar
powered by lakes
the soul of a motorcycle
the heart of a panther
it has the gooey caramel nexus laser
it is kung-fu compatible

instantly, I think that the creature is missing something (having seen way too many monster movies) I look over my list of pulls and notice that i've forgotten something. I tell them that the cultists had found a special weapon from ages ago, and now the group had [found the cathedralpult]. Needless to say, we all decide to mount the weapon on the Giga-Panther

we break the workload down into several stations before the fight with Cthulhu

Johnny Lightning controls the power systems (lake wizard powers)
Eagle Bro and Spanky Diggs are using a spiritual guidance systems
Silver Bullitt is running the engineering
Dictionary Larry is looking through the book, trying to find any sort of ritual that could weaken or banish Cthulth
Dr Bob is running the science area
Ted Zepplin/ lizard is hooked into the kung fu interface and running weapon systems.

So the battle rages on for a while, then eventually the cathedralpult is fired. The damage roll is terrible, but it's enough to stun the creature. The Giga-Panther grabs cthulhu and throws him high in the air, then fires the gooey caramel nexus at cthulhu, who basically turns into a heath bar and is trapped and ported away to another dimension.

The game ends with the character's planning on rebuilding and running the new syndicate, they find that Munoz is dead due to extreme chlorophyl poisoning, and the group lets Giga-Panther free to defend the world, which walks away in the tide towards the setting sun, raising a steel paw to the sky and roaring loudly.


So I have to say this: the game was fun, though I really had to work just to get several pulls out of the way all at once. It was still random, but slightly more structured than most years. I really look forward to next year, and I hope to get to run this event real soon.

That's all for now

MK

QiaB entry 2 How its Made

from 2011

tomorrow, (i hope) i should have the write up for one of the best games that i have ever run in my signature convention game, Qags-in-a-bag.

and what, pray tell, is Qags-in-a-bag? allow me to explain... gear up kiddies, this is the long version of the origins of the fabled and mysterious bag.

let's travel back in time to late June 2006. exactly one week before Origins '06

Saturday evening, i'm in Point Place, at the annual Summerfest and Fireworks extravaganza. hanging out with family. for some strange reason, my father asks me if they are to expect anymore grandchildren. i reply, "No, it hasn't happened at this point. I'm pretty sure it's not going to happen."

Sunday, my wife informs me that she is pregnant with our second child. Karma's a bitch, right?

so, she tells me that i should go to the con and have a good time, and not really worry about the pregnancy situation. so i go. it is this weekend that i discover the Qags 2nd Edition rulebook, and it's also the first time i get into a qags event at a convention. i fell in love with the system and wanted to run something for my friends as soon as i could.

and i did, my group manages to do a game that we wanted to for a long time; a superhero game in which you pull your name from a hat and design your character around that name. it was mad fun.

so, after that, Qags became my default system for quick adventure. but i wanted a faster delivery system. from my previous experience, i know that gaming while having a child happens at a premium. i began to kick around an idea of creating a true random adventure generator, something that i could just pull out and in a matter of seconds i could get a game going. kinda like mad libs for RPGs.

so i looked at how i did the character creation for our superhero game. small pieces of paper. nothing special. i began to write other things down on the paper. game mechanics, places, persons, things, sayings, concepts, fully realized ideas, etc. after a while i had a bit of a pile of small papers. i began to throw it into a brown paper lunch bag to hold them all. i wrote "Qags Lunch" on the bag, just to make sure that it wouldn't get lost in the mix of other bags.

the bag slowly filled with ideas, but it was a long process, and after a while, i decided to try it out. i pulled out three or four pieces of paper at once, took a look at them, then began to put together some semblance of a theme. strangely, it worked. i pulled out three more, then made a second theme. i thought i was on to something.

so i tried it out on friends, and it seemed to work, though i really didn't have any specific rules for the game at this point, since i considered it free-form.

i debuted "Qags-in-a-bag" in 2008, since "Qags Lunch" didn't cover the concept very well, and "making $#!+ up off the top of my head" is a little lengthy. it's first public event was at BashCon in my home town. this was also the time that i inadvertently ran into two of the Hex Games staffers, those who write Qags and Qags related products.

so for 4 1/2 years now , i've been running this event, and i've still never had a duplicate game. fascinating.

I say that the "Qags-in-a-bag" game that i ran at Gencon this year was by far the best thing that i ever ran using this technique. again, i hope to have the full write up posted tomorrow.

Qags-in-a-bag: Invented By Necessity...Designed By Insanity...

MK

QiaB entry 1 Gencon 2011


the following is a transcript that i wrote out for my Gencon event. it's not 100% specific, but there is a lot to cover in a four hour game. this is real lengthy, so please bear with me, but it is about as fantastic as it gets. welcome to my mind.

Qags-in-a-Bag “QiB” Gencon 2011

the initial pulls: (6) these are shown to the players. Additional pulls during play are kept hidden until they are revealed.

odd angles and arrows/ surreal
gunned down
mutant league style
personal orbiting energy ball
PC changes Weakness
Doppler Effect

the initial setup (sci-fi mega-city cyberpunk judge dread)
location: New Detroit

the characters:
(each character is given an opening scene to introduce their character to the rest of the group.)

Elton Joel Tribute Man: his real name is lost because he has been an out of work impersonator of Elton John and Billy Joel. He is hired by his agent to be the entertainment for a High Society Event

Joe-Bob: a cyborg mall cop with built in GPS and Segway. He is hired to fill out the security detail for a high society event

Slick Shepard: Everyone's favorite arrogant TV show host. His main gig is a sports announcer on “MegaForceBall” a futuristic death sport. He is the main Interviewer of Big Bad Damocles; the sports largest star. Together they are supposed to attend the high society event.

Cranky old Man: an old man who lives above the venue where the high society is to be held. His joy in life is sitting outside on his balcony and telling the young to get off of his grass, even though he has no yard. His cane-jutsu is strong.

Super Jane Doe: a stunt woman who is clearly insane, thinks she is a superhero at times. She is hired to pull off a spectacular stunt at the Social Event.

Arthur (AKA Shithawk): master custodian at the venue of the social event. As he puts it, he doesn't give a shit unless its about shit.


The setup: note that [bracket entries] denote direct pulls from the bag and correlation to the overall plot:

Big Bad Damocles, famous MegaForceBall player, a [mutant league style] sport, has to go to a sports related high society event. He arrives with “Slick” in a limo. While entering, the entertainment and stunts go off without a hitch as the custodial and security details handle their jobs.
The old man above the venue decided to heckle Damocles, which throws him into a rage. Damocles begins to scale the side of the building and reaches the balcony of the old man.
As this is going on, a large semi barrels down the street, taking cars and vehicles out left and right, a shot rings out in the open air, and Damocles is [gunned down] and falls from the building and dies.
Local law enforcement descends on the scene and take the players into interrogations for statements. After several interesting statements, it is decided by the police that the players can clear their names by finding the real perps of the crime and bringing them to justice. The team returns to the scene of the crime and manage to find a clue of significant importance; a shard from the license plate of the semi.
The cyborg mall cop hacks into the mall database to see if he can get a match of the license plate. Amazingly, he does, and finds that the truck is owned by Michael Lablanc; heir to the Lablanc Shoes empire. He works at the mall, so it is justified that they would find the info there. They also find out that he likes to hang out at a local club called [the Doppler Effect].
The team goes to the Doppler Effect club, while several players schmooze with the ladies and alcohol is consumed, Shithawk goes to find the facilities. Shithawk happens to find Mr Lablanc in a stall performing some ritual with a [personal orbiting energy ball] and has manages to produce a swirling vortex just behind the toilet. One by one, everyone in the club is dragged into the vortex, though some are strong enough to resist the pull and walk into the vortex of their own free will.
The Players find themselves on a large square island, where all of the buildings and trees are bent at [odd angles and arrows/surreal]. The party continues on strong for a while, bu the players try to find a way around the island. Instead of finding a bus pass, they manage to find a sub pass. They go down into the subway, and find that there is literally small personal subs that can take you to anywhere on the island. During this time, the stunt woman superhero has failed to take a dose of her medication in a while. Though she fails her weakness roll, the weakness does not grip her, and she appears to be cured of her dependency here in this strange world. She is rewarded the option of [PC changes weakness], which she swaps out eagerly.
The sub ride goes uneventful, and drops off the players on the docks near the far end of the island. Again, the trees are bent inward towards the center of the island. The players move forward into the dense jungle, to find that they are attacked by [marionettes]. They are made to look like natives or some other tribal group. One is blown to bits by the mall cop with a built in rocket launcher, but then put together again by Elton Joel. He is dubbed “junkie” and after communication is established with the natives, the group is led to the camp of the marionette natives...

now comes one of the best highlights of the game. A player (out of character) throws out the comment that : “a native village like this might worship something strange, like an unexploded nuclear bomb. I smile at the player, then flip the [Doomsday Device] I pulled a few minutes before and exclaim “Oh My God! They have an unexploded nuclear bomb in the middle on their village!”

Back to the game: now that there is a bomb in the center of the village, all hell breaks loose. The old man beats on the bomb with his cane, while the stunt woman begins to crush the homes of the marionettes. During the time, the tribe shaman makes his way to the group, telling them to stop. He looks like he's very old and battle-worn, for he bears the [bite marks] of some animal on his wooden body. He manages to stop the attacks for now.
Meanwhile, Shithawk and Slick make their way back to the sub dock. It's about this time they realize that the reason the buildings and trees are bent is because the leakage of radiation from the bomb. As they frantically look for a way off the island they see several dots on the horizon flying towards them. As the dots get closer, they can tell that the dots are black ops helicopters. They hover over the island a heavily armed soldiers rappel down ropes. The soldiers perform as [strategic insertion] to recover the bomb and do so without incident. They leave as quickly as they arrived, and leave the players alone again with the marionettes.
One of the players notices that there is a [talisman] embedded in the ground where the bomb was resting. He hands it to the stunt woman/superhero, simply because it is in her same color scheme. Upon doing so, it actually gives her superpowers, and grants her [boots of immaculate speed]. She speeds around the poor village destroying more and more huts, fully convinced that they are evil. Several other attempts are made to stop her, but finally she is talked down and stops the attack. It is a little too late, however, as junkie is the last marionette to survive.
The players decide to leave, since there is nothing to do anymore at the island. They manage to pick up another sub and make their way to a second island, which seems to be a thriving old world town. There are all sorts of shops for food and goods.
Slick decided that his outfit isn’t working for this scene, so he plans on having a new suit made. He goes to find a unique bolt of cloth to make his suit stand apart from all the others. Something loud and gaudy, flashy but not overstated. He manages to get a truly unique patterned cloth that seems to shimmer and shift. Slick loves it, and pays top dollar for it. Then he finds a tailor to make the suit. Against all good taste, the tailor agrees to make the suit, but it will take a lot of money about an hour of time.
So, with time to kill, the players go to look for Lablanc, and manage to find the fiend incognito as a sombrero wearing old man. He is apprehended by the superhero and mall cop. He says he killed Damocles so that he could get his personal orbiting energy ball for a ritual to awaken the [crabmen]. It seems to be more of a lie than the truth, since they have seen no crabmen, so they take Lablanc into custody and lead him back into town, where a local [cooking contest] has broken out. Elton decides to try and win the contest by swiping key ingredients from other tables and making his own pie. Surprisingly, he wins, but just barely.
As the Players get close to the tailor's place, so that slick can pick up his new suit, Lablanc gets away, takes the newly made suit and puts it on. In doing so, the fabric grants [special effects/ SFX] and disappears in a flash of smoke.
Slick is seriously bummed at this point, but tries to get another suit made of the same fabric. The quality is not as high as the first suit, but it does work.
As the players look for clues, they see that a bit of fabric leads away from the scene and a single thread is leading them all over town. It is at this point that Shithawk finds his calling; the museum of fecal history, and the worlds largest collection of toilets anywhere in the universe. Shithawk achieves that perfect moment of balance and zen, and enters the last place that he will ever work. (in other words, the player had to leave, so this was the most opportune time to send Shithawk “down the toilet”)
the players bid a find farewell to Shithawk, and continue tracking down Lablanc via the thread. At this point, Slick is really angry because Lablanc is destroying the suit that Slick paid for with a gratuitous amount of money. Finally, they come across a large door with a sliding eye-port. It looks to be an old entrance to what might have been a speakeasy at one time or another. The large man behind the door lets the players in, though he has a ridiculously high voice for a man of his size. Slick tells the man to get a hold of “his people” because the goon might have a future in the Mega ForceBall universe.
The thread leads the players up a staircase and find themselves in an ornately decorated office building. The whole place is decked out in a feudal Japan theme, and there are two ornate doors in from of them. One is slightly ajar, so they venture forth into the inner office.
Lablanc stands there, a Katana slung over his shoulder. He smiles, then mockingly speaks to the players, and it occurs to the players that his speaking and his lips are completely out of sync, just like bad dubbing. As it turns out, Lablanc is the head of the Toho [Ninja Clan], and within seconds the room is filled with 40 ninjas, all with [great reflexes].
Slick tries to reason with Lablanc, telling him that he is outclassed, then tries to get the ninjas to turn on their master. Enrages, Lablanc throws a shuriken at Slick. Slick's player, spends tons of yum yums at this point to make the most spectacular catch by clenching the chinese star in his teeth, then pulls it out and flashes a glinting smile.
Instantly, the ninjas know who the true rules of the dreaded Toho Ninja Clan should be. They capture Lablanc and make Slick the new leader of the Toho. They award him a big gaudy medallion that show his new found status with uncharacteristically unnecessary bling.

The wrap up

With the baddie caught, they return to the main dock, then make Lablanc reverse the ritual that sent them here in the first place. In doing so, there is a large flash of light that blots out everything. Beyond that they see that a black door opens in the distance. The realize that they are dressed in normal everyday clothes, and all personal effects are gone.
They go through the black door to find that they are on a stage, in which there are pytotechnics flaming up, fake smoke generators, and curvy cuties showing them the correct way to go. There is a huge crowd cheering them, but then they find that Lablanc is standing on the other side of the stage, dressed like a gaudy gameshow host. He lets the players know that they have won fabulous prizes, though no one expected them to complete the tasks that they had been given. The players now realize that this has all been some sort of VR game show. Slick is disappointed to find out that his own personality had been overwritten by the game show Lablanc, because the ratings cant get enough of him.
As the players come to grasps with what just happened, Lablanc signs off saying the show's catch phrase:
“Remember, [Life's a game] on everybody's favorite game show, [99 ways to die!].

Obviously the end credits roll with the song of the same name by Megadeth. The feedback I received from this specific game session has been absolutely awesome. I thank all my players for making this one so memorable.

MK

10 20 12: Dread: Horror be Thy Name

As some of you may know, I'm a huge horror movie buff. this is not really by choice, but rather a product of my environment. My parents loved horror films like The Thing, Poltergeist, and Friday the 13th, and as such, i was often subject to these movies. after realizing that these movies were meant to be morality plays, and understanding that it was fun to be scared, i embraced the genre.

now, as such i have played a lot of horror RPGs, with each one having a certain feel and element that separated then from each other. well, now i have found the one system that is completely designed for horror, and i fear that i may never go back to another system for a horror game.

Its name is Dread, and it is pure horror joy...


i first heard about this game about three or four years ago, from a friend of a friend. this individual had told me about the core mechanics that made up the game; a simple questionnaire and a jenga tower.

wait...what?

in a nutshell, the game is played by first having a questionnaire unique to each player filled out, in doing so, they make a profile of a person with some history, fears, quirks and the like. the questionnaire is approximately 13 questions long, with the last question always being "what is your name?".  this collective of individuals are then put into the proverbial horror wringer to see who survives in the scenario the host has set up for the players. resolution of problems, fighting, feats of heroism,etc. are resolved by pulling bricks from the jenga tower following basic jenga rules. with some other quirks covered in the booklet, the main rule is this; if you make the tower fall when making the pulls, your character is out of the game (generally involving the death of the character is some horrific way)

 

that's it. no dice, no stats, no other hard rules. just you and a tower.

so how does this work for a horror game?

the answer is simple, Very VERY well.

there is something interesting about staring down that tower, knowing which each pull, someone is one step closer to dying in the game. i've only ever had one game that no one has died. i've had three games in which two or more individuals have met their demise. additionally when the tower is rebuilt, there has to be pulls for each player that has been removed from the game before the game restarts, so the tower is never whole again until the game is complete. multiple people can be taken out after a death if the tower falls again before the reset is complete.

in other words, mortality is high, and death is always a step away.


i have hosted this game several times, using some homespun scenarios that i came up with. the best part about this game is that since there are really no hard rules or stats, anything can be done and the host can really zero in on the story.

the worst part about this game is really building the questionnaires. if you are expecting 5 or 6 players and you have to make a questionnaire for each player consisting of 12 to 13 questions each, that's approximately 60 to 80 unique questions the host has to come up with. luckily there is some help with the booklet, which has several questions at the bottom of the pages, and there is also a pretty good bulletin board that has both fresh scenarios and questionnaires.

occasionally, i'm going to post some Dread related materials and content on this blog. i highly recommend this game. it lives up to its name.

MK

Friday, October 19, 2012

i've got a few posts that are working properly, plus i'm going to repost a few from my other blog that deserve a spot here. it'll be a few days before some new posts show up.

thanks

MK

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

10 12 12 The Worst Games of This Generation

There are some things that are completely unforgivable. for us gamers, it's terrible games. games that get under our skin and force us to bury the game in the darkest recesses of mind and pretend it never happened in the first place. these are the things that keep gamers up at night.

here's a few  that i've played during this console cycle.






1)Army of Two: The 40th Day--  after playing the first installment, i saw promise in a sequel and a possible franchise. When i heard that there was another Ao2 game on the way,  i was stoked, but i found it funny that i hadn't heard much about it.

there was reason for that.

the Faults: the game is very short, maybe about 8 levels, and you're pretty much fighting waves of some generic goon para-military outfit called "The 40th Day". the game tries to be edgy, starting the game trying to escape a building that's been shot with a missile (9-11 anyone?) and some other slightly more interesting areas of play. they tried to install a fate/karma/decision system where your decision affect gameplay and you see the outsome of all possible futures, which when playing pretty much tells you that you can't make a good decision if your life depends on it.

additionally, the franchise hits its low point when the main characters make reference to a time when they were drunk and they sneaked into a zoo to commit "an act of bestiality with an endangered species". any respect i had built for these protagonists is gone with that one joke.

the combat is mindless with no real upgrades to the system, multiplayer feels like a sad attempt at something that could've been good. making your own masks for the game was a neat idea, but requires too much effort on the computer and linking the game and the pc is a total waste of time.

i've heard there's another installment out soon, but i'm going to wait.


2) Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust-- i've never been a fan of the franchise, but after the unbridled success of the last installment i played (magna cum laude), i was hopeful. consider that crushed.

the faults: the whole premise is bad. you're a nephew of the great larry, and working at a movie studio. all jokes are dated and barely get a good laugh anymore. the voice actors are all top notch people you recognize from other things, but the script is just terrible.  tasks are nearly impossible because of the crappy camera angles and shoddy sloppy controls.

i stopped playing it, there will not be another time i'll play it...ever.

3)Duke Nukem Forever--  in the late 1990's Duke Nukem 3d took the spotlight from all FPSs at the time...for about 15 minutes. don't get me wrong, DN3D was awesome, and i still own the disks and the usermaps i made for the game.

Duke Nukem Forever is not the way i want to remember Duke. Duke deserves better.

The Faults: a 14 year design cycle doomed this game from the start. the game is horribly stuck in the late 1990s. bad jokes, juvenile humor, and content that appears more humorous than sexy. level design is too linear for this generation of consoles. also, duke nukem is supposed to be a walking arsenal, not limited to holding two weapons at any time. locations are ridiculous at best. it feels like your playing an old relic of a game rather than something new. And load times...geez... this game got so many harsh bad reviews that companies were threatening to withhold future games for review.

if this is duke's finale, then its a terrible way to remember this icon. if they make another game, god help us all... duke nukem Forever= DNF= definitely not fun

4) Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard-- if duke nukem forever was sad because it was a Duke nukem game, then matt hazard is sad because it's not. it's a first person shooter that makes fun of the whole genre, designed to parody. and it does a horrible  job at that too.

the faults:  terrible graphics for this generation. AI is dumb, running to spots before attacking. levels that have no feeling of life whatsoever. lame voice acting and repetition. terrible soundtrack. aggravation of feeling more like a puzzle game than a free roaming FPS. crappy controls

the only good things about this game is that the trophies/achievements are easy to get. pause the game, get a trophy. i knew what i was getting into when i got it from the bargain bin.

Other Games (Not Pictured, because i tossed them to the vultures.)

X-Blades--  i had to do a bit of research on this one, and it sounded ok, so i went to pick it up at the local "Stop of Games" (you know  the name. but i don't want to say it here) anyway, when i saw that they had one copy, and it was their release day for the game, that should've been a flag to walk away.

we have a generic anime girl with anime/tomb raider powers who is barely wearing clothes. ok. we have a really lame plotline to get us from point a to point b, check. we have overly animated powers that really dont do much, ok. and we have hack and slash...all hack and slash...

the control were soggy, the camera angles caused motion sickness when lock-on was active. the fights were lackluster. areas of play were badly designed and were made worse by the poor controls.

i sold this game back in the first week. i saw  it on g4 as one of the worst games of the year. there is another game out that is "based on the spirit of x-blades" called blades of destiny/or time/ or some other generic crap. don't buy it. forget it never existed.

LAIR-- a ps3 exclusive POS that demanded use of the sixaxis controls. if warhawk did it right. this one did it wrong. horrific controls really prevented me from liking this game. which is really sad, because the game was gorgeous in its graphics.

later they put out a patch for new control, but at that point it was too late for me, because the game was already long gone. sad really. thought fighting dragons while being a dragon rider would've been cooler than it was .

that's all folks. back to the goodness of gaming.

MK


10 16 12 Doom's Day

Generally, about this time of the year, the trend for video game companies is to release their big name games to ensure good 4th quarter sales. now this is also about the time that i have my"must buy's" come out.


now last year, i had to have three: Uncharted 3, Saints Row: The Third, and Batman Arkham City. now i did manage to purchase all three and really enjoyed them.

this year, even with such great games coming out, i really didn't feel a need to run out and buy anything for the first day. until now.



Today, i heard that Doom 3:BFG edition was to hits stores, and i squealed like a school girl when i heard about it. i rushed off today, snagged a copy at a great price, and shoved it into my PS3. i was instantly greeted with a "please select" screen of DOOM, DOOM II, or DOOM 3

SQUEE!!!!!

there was no other choice, DOOM! first level, on Ultra-violence, in all of it's old school pixelated glory!

so why am i so excited about this collection?

what? what kind of question is that? how can you ask that?

you have to understand, for every FPS that has come along, console or otherwise, they must pay tribute to DOOM. DOOM is the grand-daddy of them all. the Rose Bowl of FPSs. all the groundwork for the countless shooters out there was laid in 1993 with this release.

so the way i see it, if you were to put all the FPS games in a bar, it's going to go like this...

the bar is full and the air is heavy with gun barrel smoke. there are several hunched over figures at the bar trying to drown their sorrows about never hitting the big time. (Postal, Daikatana, Haze, Perfect Dark, Mag).

There's a few nearby telling stories about the good old days, and how they may or may not wish for another chance. (Resistance, Medal of Honor, Timesplitters, Killzone)

Then you have a loud bunch sitting at a large table, trying to outdo each other with the whole "anything you can do, i can do better" routine. (Call of Duty, Halo, Battlefield)

Duke Nukem is off in the corner with his own peeps. He's dealing with a lot these days (Duke Nukem Forever)

Somewhere, through the haze of smoke, there is a glow of light at a corner booth. an aged space marine with his helmet off is sitting with five women who are half his age. He smiles and says:

"I don't always go to Mars, but when i do, i'm knee deep in the dead."



That, my friends, is why Doom will always be the numero uno in my book. he may not have done everything, but he did just enough.

and, Doom is man enough to give a high five to his older brother, Wolfenstein 3D.

MK

Monday, October 15, 2012

10 15 12 A Simple Dread Questionnaire

This is one of the many questionnaires that i have had to make over the last year for one of the games that i needed to run. it's here just to put it down for prosperity, and for you to get an idea as to how some of the questionnaires are laid out. if you wish to use it for one of your own games, by all means, go ahead and use it.

One thing that is always important about filling out the questionnaires is the more information that you give, the better off the overall character will be. it is always assumed that the questions are followed up with an unwritten "why?" for more depth of answer.



Police Officer

How many years have you been on the force? Do you like what you do?





When was the last time you saw your wife? What happened to her?





What three (3) items do you find indispensable in your line of work?





What skill did you really need to work on when you became a cop? why do you still need to work on it?




What, or who, was the most influential reason for you to become a cop?




What happened that night when that gang came to your house?




What do you do off-duty that can get you fired as a police officer?




Why have you never been back to visit your parents?




What has been your greatest achievement as a police officer?




How do others treat you knowing that you are a cop?





How often do you drink during the week?





What street contact has helped you out with some good tips? What does the contact want it return?




what's your name?





From this questionnaire, a good host can draw out history of a character, how skilled they are (or are not) in a certain field, what they have on their person, close family and acquaintances, fears, vices, and the like. note that this questionnaire does not have anything about appearance, but the player can be free to add that is as they see fit. one of the nice things about this game is that the player can answer the questions any way that they see fit, so they can really get out some good information if they are savvy enough.


again, i highly recommend picking up this game, or at least playing it sometime. Halloween is getting closer, so perfect timing.

MK








Sunday, October 14, 2012

10 14 12 one hundred one adventure ideas

this  is something that i've been working on all week just to get it up here as a post. these are 101 different adventure hooks for any RPG that allows you to set up any location, time, and setting. some freedom and leeway is needed. i made the ideas and concepts here vague enough for the GM to build upon it.

I generally use Qags as my default system of choice, but just about any system can be used here.

some of these are ideas i threw out from my "Bag" (you'll come to know the bag if you don't already), some are things that i have run, some references from books, some references from pdfs available now online.

there are numerous ways to get results from this chart, 2d20s, percentile die, random number draw. however you want to do it is fine.
Characters (with a capital letter) refer to PCs, the rest you can figure out.

without further ado:
 
101 Random Adventure Hooks

1: The Characters are sent into space to work at a refinery on a trash landfill planet, which is soon attacked by a race of flying pig-like aliens.

2: The Characters are toys that are either broken or missing parts, and that which they need is being held for ransom by the new toy(s) in the room.

3: The Characters are in medieval times where magic is real and mythical creatures exist. The group has to stop a rampant problem with pod people who are killing and replacing the villagers.

4: The Characters are part of a gang war where every gang involved has a distinct and flamboyant theme. They are about ready to rumble when a new gang called “The Risen” arrives on the scene and attempts to bring about the end of the world. The hooded leader of The Risen sounds a lot like Bruce Campbell.

5: The Characters are a clan of ninjas who are being sent on a mission of certain death. There will be an enormous body count by the end of this adventure. Dead bodies everywhere.

6: The Characters are part of a special force of different military branches, the best of the best. They are trying to stop a mad scientist who has gained an item of power which grants him control of a giant monster.

7: The Characters go to a high school party in an abandoned insane asylum. The fun stops when they find that one of the party-goers has been eaten, and all the exits are locked.

8: The Characters are citizens of a sleepy suburban town that is slowly being overrun by a type of killer fungus that is both intelligent and mobile, and is turning the population into mushroom men. Tentacles are optional.

9: The Characters are High School Students, and the local outcast has found an old crown that grants him unimaginable powers. The outcast is systematically changing everything about reality, and has brought in undead as his personal muscle. Can the group stop him before all reality is broken?

10: The Characters wake up in a pit, with a severe case of amnesia. There are empty bottles of booze everywhere, and they hear chanting coming from somewhere nearby the chamber. Can the characters escape before they become a sacrifice to some unknown entity?

11: The Characters are on a slowly sinking cruise ship. The reasons are unknown as to why the ship is sinking. Additionally, there is something on board with them that is making escape significantly more difficult.

12: The Characters have all switched bodies with another member of their group. They need to find the cause to why this has happened.

13:There is a disgruntled troll running amok in the local quick stop corner market. Can the Characters stop the menace and still get some beer before closing time?

14: The lost notebook of da Vinci is found in a heap of old books in an old book store. It ends up in the possession of one of the Characters. Strange people are now staking the Characters. Can the group figure out why secrets of the notebook before the stalkers get too close?

15: The Characters are superheroes. When the main villain of their beloved city finally kicks the bucket, every two-bit villain now vies for his spot. Can the Characters survive the crime onslaught?

16: The Characters are looking for a bundle that an old hermit hid somewhere in an abandoned hospital. Rumor has is that the old man knew where a great treasure was hidden. The problem is that the ghost of the old man is very protective of his secret.

17: The Characters are crew member on the Doppler Effect, a space station on the far reaches of the galaxy. They are the first line of defense against an oncoming armada of alien ships.

18: The Characters are living in a small desert town in the middle of nowhere. The whole town ins being reunited by dead loved ones. Is this because of a scroll that one of the Characters found, or is this occurring because of a nearby nuclear facility going critical and spilling out noxious chemicals?

19: The Characters are outcasts in a nuclear wasteland. They are running low on provisions, and the only way they are going to get what they need is by doing some odd jobs for one of the big settlements' boss. They are sent to clear out a colony of mutants deep in the recesses of an old gorge.

20:The Characters are part of a long running Japanese cartoon show that children love all around the world. The show is edited badly, with constant redos, flubbed lines, and bad dubbing. Whether this show is reality or not is up for the characters to decide.

21:The Toxic Gerbil is attacking a nuclear power plant. It is up to our heroic Characters to try and stop the radioactive rodent before he takes out the entire city.

22: The Characters are spies, and they have uncovered a dastardly plot. A shadow company is selling “Beer of Brilliance” to the masses, but it is a poisonous liquid that has similar effects to brainwashing. Can our intrepid heroes save the day and our beer?

23: Settlers traveling out west for a better life encounter a dangerous evil presence. Luckily for the Settlers, the Characters are with them, and they are members of a secret monster hunting society. Can they overcome this unknown evil?

24: One of the Characters is left a family heirloom from a dying distant uncle. The heirloom comes with the warning that if it not returned to the Valley of the Ten Peaks, it will undo time and reality completely. To make matters worse, the group is tracked by a group of girls with guns. How will it end?

25: The Characters are in a submarine that is heavily damaged and heading towards a deep trench at the bottom of the ocean. To make matters worse, there are some undead creatures on board that have their scent.

26: The Characters exist in a world run by animals doing everyday tasks and jobs that humans would do.

27: Cantinas and Customs: The Characters are in the wild west, but instead of everyone riding horses everywhere, they are replaces by roadsters and muscle-cars . Make sure to make reference to models that are named after horses , i.e. Mustang, Charger, Colt, etc.

28: The Characters are inmates at an insane asylum, and they have the ability to jump into another world of their combined imagination. What that world is, and the part that they play in that world is up to them.

29: A former rockstar turned mad scientist has developed a Dubstep Bomb, a creation capable of disrupting temporal flow if detonated. The Characters are all powerful rockstars who are called in by the Gods of Rock to stop the evil rock genius.

30: Ancient Greece: the Characters are summoned to appease Zeus. Is Zeus in a jovial mood, or does he demand toil from the group?

31: The Characters come into possession of Alien Technology that will make them rich and famous if they figure out a way to make it benefit all of mankind. The problem is that everyone wants the technology, and the group is being hunted down from all angles.

32: The Characters are stuck deep in a jungle with rival tribes all around. There are wildfires raging around the perimeter of the jungle, making escape impossible. To make matters worse, one of the tribe tells the group that there is a war being raged between one tribe's Jungle God and the other Tribe's Lake Wizard.

33: A super villain gadget maker has made multiple clones of himself, each with at completely different power set than the original. Are our intrepid superhero Characters up to the task to take down this multiple menace?

34: An undisclosed plague has forced the quarantine of the city in which the Characters reside. The plague is caused by an alien syndrome of some sort. Its effect upon the general populous is up to you.

35: the Characters are trapped within the confines of a maximum security facility. There are numerous traps and pitfalls the characters need to overcome before confronting the person or persons that hold them in the place.

36: The Characters are involved in an alternate time-line of World War II where the enemy is using alien technology from its alien allies. Luckily, the group's side has some weaponry of their own that is almost ready for testing.

37: Ghost Towns and Gold Rush: Characters are part of the California Gold Rush, but there is something sinister in those nearby hills that wants their stake in the claim.

38: the Characters are employees at a burger joint when a higher power calls them into action to save existence as they know it. They will have to fight a great adversary on another plane, but the adversary also has its own set of defenders...doppelgangers of the group.

39: One of the American Artifacts has gone missing or has been stolen, and it is up to the Characters to try and find it. The Historical Preservation Society that the group works for has a few tricks up its sleeve and will allow the group to borrow a few items that will help in the retrieval of the item.

40: The Characters are nomadic warriors in a savage land where they come across a village that is facing an outside invader. The group feels compelled to help the villagers and stop the spread of evil.

41: The Characters are hired muscle by the king in the land, and has summoned the group for the sole purpose of collecting taxes. Those who fall under the king's rule are not happy about this and will resist.

42: The Characters are vice cops with fast cars, hot women, and smooth moves. The group has to solve a major crime before someone gets killed.

43: The Characters are all teens who have decided to spend a weekend at an abandoned farm house, complete with barn, forest and lake shore. They are completely isolated from the outside world, and someone, or something, is stalking them in the darkness.

44: The Characters are stranded on a deserted island from a shipwreck. There are strange occurrences on the island from time to time, and nothing is as it seems.

45: The Characters are fratboys looking for a party. Something completely unexpected happens. The group is the only one who can deal with this odd situation.

46: The Characters are a group of quirky teens who go around solving crimes in small towns. It all fun and games until their van breaks down in front of a large abandoned mansion. Something calls to them from within the depths of the house.

47: The Characters think that they have seen a cryptid somewhere in the city. They feel the need to track this creature and find out the truth behind the sighting.

48: The Characters are members of a deep space rescue team. They are sent out to a remote world where a distress beacon has been activated. The world is inhabited by animal hybrids.

49: A natural disaster has leveled the Characters' hometown and turned it into a wasteland. No one is coming to help them, and now its every man for themselves.

50: An alien invasion that seems more comical than scary befalls the Characters and their home world. There is some ridiculous way to stop the aliens, but can the group find it in time?

51: The Characters are archeologists who are working on a dig site deep within the amazon jungle. The local tribe warns them about a pig-faced demon who is rumored to walk between the worlds at the dig site. When one of the group's associates goes missing and the characters find half-chewed remains, tensions mount.

52: The Characters are assaulted by a colony of underground dwellers who have taken something/someone of value to he group deep into their lair.

53: Guns. Mutants. End of the world. Go.

54: The Characters are in Boston at just about the end of the 19th century (1890's) and it appears that someone is pretending to be The Ripper stateside. 

55: The characters are professional wrestlers and pro-wrestling is completely real. All gimmicks and angles are a daily part of their lives. Things are good until a rival federation invades their company and kidnaps the chairman's daughter, taking her into “Parts Unknown”

56: The Abyss opens, and Hell's fury is unleashed into the world. The Characters are summoned by The Vatican and have to take up arms against this diabolical evil. They are the chosen ones to fulfill the prophesy.

57: The Characters are sucked into an RPG and are forced to play themselves. Can they both defeat the game and find the way out?

58: The Characters are each a Video Game Icon and are called into service by a master computer to defeat a dreadful new boss.

59: The Characters are high powered swords for hire who get dragged into a war between two kingdoms. There is much slaying.

60: The worlds most beefy soldiers are sent behind enemy lines to stop an evil dictator's quest for world domination.

61: An ancient entity that is beyond the comprehension of man threatens to break into the Characters' world with the help of some cultists.

62: The Characters are Epic Level heroes of fantasy, and they are attempting to take down a roving band of air pirates who are attacking villages with their air ships and burning them to the ground.

63: The Characters are pirates being hunted by the Royal Navy, and the group is attempting to get their riches.

64: The Characters are monsters in the graveyard, getting ready for a party, but a roving mob of humans attempt to crash the party.

65: The characters are all monsters and in high school, but something is causing the students to turn into humans.

66: the Characters are stuck in a dream-like world, held there by a task that needs to be done before they can return to reality.

67: the Characters are adventurers deep in the jungle, looking for an ancient legend and following the clues of centuries past.

68: An ancient civilization is unearthed, and its inhabitants resume life as if nothing has stopped them for the last several hundred years. The new people face turmoil and bigotry at every turn. Somehow the characters are involved with this, either being part of this new civilization, or members of the current civilization.

69: the characters are astronauts and are sent to a planet to look for life and scout the terrain. They are not alone.

70: a mega-fortress flying in the sky is sending down it's homespun forces. Can the characters stand up and fight these things?

71: The Characters are in a magical world where ponies shoot lasers out of their eyes, and magic is all around.

72: A giant plant makes it home in the town in which the characters reside. It is carnivorous and begins to take people deep into its lair. It is highly intelligent and twice as cunning.

73: The Characters are paranormal investigators sent deep into the bayou to find a small town that been overrun by alligator men.

74: The Characters are heroes set in an 8-bit world.

75: The Characters are drivers who are competing in a transcontinental race. Sabotage and debauchery a plenty.

76: Each of the Characters are vying for the throne for a dying emperor in a pseudo-feudal Japan setting.

77: the Characters are monster hunters, and their small town is being attacked my monsters of all shapes and sizes.

78: The Characters are sent back into time to prevent a major catastrophe from occurring, before they themselves become part of the past.

79: The Characters are vacationing on a cruise ship, when it is attacked by Somali pirates.

80: the characters are a special ops squad sent into the deepest parts of Africa to take down an elusive Warlord. They may need to do some major dirty work to get the info that leads them to their target.

81: The Characters are members of a vampire society, and one of their members has died by questionable means. The group has to break into the morgue to get the body back before the truth about vampires is revealed.

82: The characters have to do battle with an evil carnival that has the town in its grasp.

83: The Characters are stuck in a factory with an evil Willy Wonka.

84: The Characters have to travel to the realm of the dead to bring back a loved one who has been taken before their time.

85: The characters are barbarians who have to restart their village and begin anew. They have to be cautious of other nomad clans who may attack at any time.

86: The Characters are aliens that participate in a bloodsport/ deathmatch that is the most popular show in all the universe.

87: The Characters are on a TV game show that allows them to act out their deepest and darkest desires. There are sinister repercussions if they lose.

88: The Characters are tracking down a dangerous serial killer as he travels through time.

89: The Characters are tracking some sort of vicious creature in the depths of the sewers.

90: The Characters stumble upon a mega-corporation's secret underground facility. They are captured by security, and now they are possible test subjects for a new experiment.

91: The International Lip-Synching Competition is cut short by a on-stage murder, and the Characters are called in to attempt to solve the murder.

92: Mimes vs Clowns. Things could get ugly.

93: The Characters have to get through a dark labyrinth to save their companion.

94: The Characters are on a reality TV show, and the next door group of crazies aren't too happy about it.

95: A tome that has ancient magic is hijacked and stolen from the back of a big rig in the desert.

96: The Characters are locked into a museum after hours. Crazy and often disturbing events occur.

97: An old man and eccentric toy maker has passed away, and in order to collect the inheritance he has left the group, the group has to spend the night at his old creepy mansion.

98: The lost treasure of the Incas hold unimaginable power, and dangerous relics from a world long gone.

99: The Characters fall into a deep pit, survive, and have to deal with dinosaurs.

100: The Characters are trapped in an old Victorian mansion, where every door leads to another plane or dimension.

101: if you've had to come this far for a story hook, then this is the last offering I have for you. The Characters are summoned by a deity after their deaths. They are given a second chance at life and resolution. They are told they have to find “the fabled tasty treats of the Ghouraan” which they will need to plane jump to several locations to get each ingredient and prepare the treats for themselves.

have fun

MK