[Scenario Seed] Repurposing Event Comic Plots

[thereviewer]

Well, since I'm heading off to Washington DC tomorrow for AwesomeCon to see David Tennant and Catherine Tate, plus the fact that one of my favorite online review shows recently wrapped up a month of reviews known as 'Event Comics Month,' I thought I'd share a few ideas for repurposing event comics into scenarios for your DWAITAS Games. Bellow are a couple of ideas from IDW and DCthat you can use for your games as possible 'Season Finale' Arcs, or just regular games in general along with a brief history describing each event for those unfamiliar:


Infestation


Backstory- Ah, Infestation. Even before the event, IDW had already a strong foothold on some of the greatest licensed properties (including Doctor Who at the time,) so it was only inevitable that they'd do a mega crossover. Except surprisingly, they deviated from the norm and made a very unique crossover that hadn't been done in a while. Essentially, in their original series CVO (Covert Vampire Operations,) and Zombies vs Robots, the CVO learns that the zombies from the titular ZvR have attacked a small New Mexico Base which houses a portal that can transport people to different dimensions. Adding to their problems is the fact that these zombies share a hive mind linked to a entity called 'The Undermind,' who grows more powerful depending on how deep an understanding of both magic and technology the newly-infected person has. As such, Vampire Operative Britt is infected becoming Undead². CVO manages to stop her, but not before she opens a portal sending both zombie infected Robots and Zombies (yes, they can even infect robots,) into the worlds of Star Trek, Ghostbusters, G.I. Joe, and Transformers. In each tie-in, Britt appears in each of these worlds to coordinate the undead, and try to get as much technology and magic from the various universes as she can to bring back and awaken the Undermind so that it may cross into our world.


Introduction: The players arrive on a resort planet for a vacation. Unfortunately, it seems that the staff and guests have been infected with some sort of virus that turns them into undead hoards. They must now find a way to cure the planet and defeating the one responsible.

Things To Do:
 Survive the zombie plague, save the people (if possible), rescue any survivors, defeat the one responsible.



Antagonists:
 Britt (see more info here as I'm not quite sure how to Stat her: ghostbusters.wikia.com/wiki/Britt ), Zombies (Stat as you wish)
 


Action Scenes:
 Evading the Zombies, fighting Britt (if you wish to), holding up somewhere safe.



Visuals:
 Basically, this is a mash-up of The Walking Dead and Doctor Who. Very creepy atmosphere on a holiday planet.



Problems:
 How do you cure an interdimensional zombie virus? What about Britt who is living Artilica (aka: magic fused with Technology)?



Things To Prepare For:

Get ready to put your survival skills to the test. This is a great simulator of what might happen if there really was a zombie outbreak with the exception of how the players get around


Continuing The Adventure:

Once Britt is defeated, what happens to those cured? Can they stay cured forever? The Star Trek Tie-In story ended with McCoy being able to make a cure that only ensured the virus would stay temporarily dormant and not fully eliminated while the subjects retained their zombie-like appearance. What happens to those whose bodies may never heal if that is the case?

Convergence




Backstory- DC's first attempt to resolve things left unanswered in the wake of the New 52. Basically, Brainiac manages to steal parts of other universes and brings them together to have them fight to the death.


Introduction: The heroes discover a strange distortion coming from a planet. Arriving there they find...themselves! Or rather, multiple different versions of themselves from various universes. It turns out that the mastermind (take your pick) has brought them together to determine which of these characters (or character if you want to regulate it to only multiple versions of one character), is truly the greatest in all the multiverse. Worse yet, the PC's transport has been stolen so they must now team-up with their various universe counterparts to escape.

Things To Do:  Encounter various alternate versions of as many PC's as you choose, see what happens when various versions are pitted against each other, discover the mastermind behind this event.




Antagonists:  Besides any of the near-infinite alternate takes on the characters that might have their own reasons to fight, the main villain who made this happen can be any of your choosing. Maybe its The Daleks or Cybermen, running a scenario in order to determine a strategy for beating their version of the heroes. Maybe it's The Rani making her own observations on the PC's alternate selves meeting. Or maybe it's The Master up to his old tricks again.
 



Action Scenes:  The battle of the multiverses' champions, breaking out of the arena, getting your method of transportation back.




Visuals:  Basically no idea is outlandish. Have fun with multiple different versions of your PC's.




Problems:  Convincing the alternate PC's to help, getting the PC's mode of transportation back, stopping the enemy, getting the alternate PC's back home.




Things To Prepare For:

Basically, get ready for an epic story featuring a multitude of alternative versions of your PC's.


Continuing The Adventure:

Can the alternate versions of the PC's you decide to use get home? A season about getting these different versions home might have some storytelling potential especially if you happen to have a TARDIS.


Blackest Night


Backstory- A story only recently discovered by myself thanks to both IDW/DC's Star Trek/Green Lantern The Spectrum War and its sequel Stranger Worlds, and the aforementioned web series that reviews comics. Basically, this was not only DC's major Green Lantern-based event of the 2000's, but it was also a popcorn-flick-styled event and a zombie story (of-sorts). Basically, anyone familiar with the Green Lanterns knows that there are not just the Green Lantern Corps. There's also the Yellow Sinestro Corps (representing Fear the opposite of the Green Lantern's Willpower,) Red Lanterns (representing Rage), Blue Lanterns (representing Hope), the Indigo Tribe (representing Compassion,) the Violet-colored Star Saphire Corps(representing Love,) and Orange (for Avarice usually containing one member Larfleeze, though he has had various alliances in the past from what I understand.) The point of this is that once it was revealed that these other Corps existed, it was revealed that there was a prophecy that the Black Lanterns, representing Death, would rise and spell the end of the universe. Once they did, they sent out Black Lantern rings which attached itself to people already dead. Once they did, the rings would control the wearer like a puppet, using their memories and experiences to create an emotional tether to others before ripping out their hearts and powering the Black Lantern Battery by 0.01% for each person killed. Once at full power, the battery summons the head of the Black Lantern Corps, Nekron AKA Death himself. Ne
kron plans to gain more power through adding more to his ranks which'll then allow him to summon a being known as 'The Entity' which is the embodiment of all life and if killed, will kill everything in the universe. Fortunately, Hal Jordan manages to get control and turns the formerly dead heroes into White Lanterns and in-turn, resurrect Nekron's servant, supervillain Black Hand, who was Nekron's tether to our reality. With Black Hand alive again, and thus no longer a suitable tether for Nekron, he essentially dies and a majority of former dead heroes are resurrected along with some deceased villains.

(NOTE: Because of the backstory to this game, I'm going to be taking some liberties here to explain the presence of the Green Lanterns in the Whoniverse. It's essentially now partly-inspired by the aforementioned Star Trek/Green Lantern Spectrum War crossover, but with a few changes here and there.)


Introduction: The players are on a deserted moon when a strange green light suddenly slams into the planet. They see a man wearing a Green tattered-Uniform with a lantern on there, going on about how 'He is coming,' before he passes out. The PC's suddenly realize he was cradling a being in his hands. A being that nobody recognizes and any attempts to find information result in nothing further learned. However, it is noted that the figure had a series of strange rings on them. After their research proves futile, the rings suddenly activate, attaching themselves to various characters to match the emotions that best define them (take your pick.) After the rings find their users, the man wakes up and introduces himself as Hal Jordan of the Green Lantern Corps. He's landed in this reality along with his friend Ganthet since a foe called Nekron is being resurrected and if not defeated, will ultimately spell doom for this world. Can the PC's and Hal prevent Nekron from killing all life in this universe? Plus, what about the other lantern-users and their respective mentors.




Things To Do:  
Learn more about the Lantern Corps, fight against the undead ranks of the Black Lantern Corps, literally face down death himself, see which characters get which rings.




Antagonists:  
Nekron, Nekron's tether (basically a great way to bring back any enemy that might've died in your story, or any enemy that died in the Whoniverse in general,) The Black Lantern Corps, Sinestro, Atrocitus, Larfleeze, plus whoever the Yellow, Red, and Orange Lanterns might fall into the hands of.
 



Action Scenes:  
Seeing characters use the Lantern Rings respectively, going up against Nekron and his forces, trying to unite the other Lantern Forces.




Visuals:  
This is very much a Superhero Zombie-like story. Like I mentioned, the main difference is that the undead bodies aren't wearing the rings, the rings are wearing the bodies and controlling them like a puppet. Other than that, this is one crossover for the ages.




Problems:  
Those who receive the Green, Blue, Indego, and Star Saphire rings might have a problem controlling the powers and using them wisely (since there aren't any power batteries as far as they know,) as much as the other wearers might have. Also, convincing so many people to join up might take time that the PC's don't have. Not to mention the whole undead hoard problem.




Things To Prepare For: Choosing which character gets what. Basically, see which characters have the strongest trait
s that best suit each lantern corps. If you have trouble decide which one should get which ring, you can look at this fan meme for inspiration: fav.me/d9xci8f




Continuing The Adventure: What happens after Nekron is defeated? Would there be any ramifications? How about getting the different Lantern Corps home? Will they all be willing to go back if possible? Plus, why was THIS universe chosen for everyone to transport to? Could there be some kind of hidden meaning such as one of the Lantern Corps Planets existing in the Whoniverse?

Please give your thoughts and comments! Thanks!

[Ordovician]

I like the idea of reworking Blackest Night to work in Doctor Who. I think it would be pretty easy to do - it should also be fairly easy to work the White and Black Guardians in there somehow. Maybe if you didn't want to use Nekron proper, you could replace him with either the Black Guardian or maybe even Sutekh or someone. There was also a sequel story, Brightest Day, that was more about the White Lanterns but I don't know that story real well.

I've tossed about ideas of adapting some of the Hellblazer storylines as adventures. One of the chief things I like about Doctor Who is how genreless it is - you can adapt storylines from almost any comic if you want, from horror to superhero to fantasy.

[thereviewer]

Hey, all! Just came up with another great idea and I don't know why I haven't thought of it before. While not being an Event Comic, this one is a classic one-shot story and inspired two adaptations of it that are the few good examples of Alan Moore stories adapted properly:

For the Time Lord/Time Lady who Had Everything (Based on the Superman Annual Story; For the Man Who Has Everything.)




Backstory- Alan Moore. Dave Gibbons. Need I say more? Aside from Watchmen, these two powerhouses demonstrated their ability to write for the Man of Steel in a truly wonderful short story that deals with themes of Sacrifice and Happiness. If you don't have a Time Lord/Lady in your group, you can rework it featuring one of your players. The following is a synopsis of how to play it with a Time Lord/Lady character in your group.




Introduction: The Time Lord/Lady invites their allies/companions for his/her birthday. After parking the TARDIS and awaiting their friend's arrival, they are jumped by something...and wake up to find themselves on Gallifrey. The Time Lords won the war without the final sanction, and the resident Time Lord/Lady has a wife/husband and a son & daughter. However, when the companions arrive at the TARDIS and open the doors, they find the Time Lord/Lady standing there with a weird bug creature on their chest.


Things To Do:

Time Lord/Lady PC gets to explore a world where Gallifrey won the Time War without Rassilon's final plan being ever put into motion. What's Gallifrey like? What are they like? Meanwhile, the companions have to figure out what's wrong with their friend






Antagonists:

It's the Trickster Brigade. They've got another creature similar to the Time Beetle except it works differently. Rather than creating a new reality, this creature creates an illusion of the victim's greatest fantasy that grows stronger over time and can only be defeated by the victim rejecting the fantasy. In addition to the Trickster Brigade Member, they also must deal with the creature if it latches on to any of them.






Action Scenes:

As the illusion starts to become clearer to the Time Lord/Lady, Gallifrey sinks back into the familiar anarchy from the Time War. Any damage that happens there happens in reality. Meanwhile, the companions have to stop the Trickster Brigade Member from hijacking the TARDIS. Also, the resident Time Lord/Time Lady might not be so happy when he/she is pulled from the fantasy and has everything taken away.



Visuals:

Basically think Gallifrey in a return-to-roots from the classic era. That utopia the Tenth Doctor spoke of in The Sound of Drums. The place where anything seemed possible...and then naturally start deconstructing that peaceful and happy world piece by piece. Otherwise it's a contained story within the TARDIS.



Problems:

How do you break the illusion from the inside? Perhaps the TARDIS has a few tools to enter the fantasy and convince the Time Lord/Time Lady that what they're seeing isn't real?






Things To Prepare For:



I highly recommend reading For the Man Who Has Everything before running this adventure. However, there was an episode of the animated series Justice League Unlimited that adapted the story using the same title which you could watch as well. Finally, for something more recent, CW (at the time when it was on CBS) Supergirl adapted the comic with Kara Zor-El being infected with the illusion rather than her cousin in a Season 1 Episode called For the Girl Who Has Everything which is another possible source of inspiration to run to get the oomph of emotions needed to play the game. Other than that, probably discuss with you Time Lord/Lady PC what their lives would be like if Gallifrey won the Time War without Universal Genocide and everything was perfect.




Continuing The Adventure:



After being freed from the bug, the resident Time Lord/Lady begins having nightmares with a darker version of themselves mocking them as they live out the fantasy world the bug created solving the problems they were unable to. It's the Dream Lord and he has his sights set on the resident Time Lord/Lady.

Feel free to let me know what you think of this idea!

[thereviewer]

Hey, everyone! Don't worry, I'm still around (obviously), it's just I've been taking time off to do some outdoor activities with my friends. Plus, I've been busy with personal matters that I'd rather not get into. But yeah, I have another repurposed event comic plot scenarios to share here:


World War [Alien Species Name Here] (Based on World War Hulk.)









Backstory- *Sigh* Oh, Marvel. How you continue to fail on so many levels to win me back by shooting yourself in the foot (or the knees since you destroyed your feet oh-so-long-ago). But up until 2013, Marvel was doing all right in my eyes until they tried forcing new characters at the expense of making the old ones look bad (i.e. killing Spider-Man, turning Captain America into a Nazi, killing Namor, taking Thor's power away, killing Hulk, making Ben Riley evil, etc.). While there are obviously problems with their older events, there are no doubt endless potential for repurpopsing old events and fixing many of the problems. World War Hulk is a good example. Unlike the "adaptation" (if of course by adaptation I mean tortured and then mutilated more than a Game of Thrones character), there is no "Hip" Korg or "Nerd" Miek. In it's place is the second of a two-part story. In the original and much better comic, a secret team of heroes called the Illuminati consisting of Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Mr. Fantastic, Black Bolt, Professor X, and Namor, had shot the Hulk into Space (to be fair, Namor voted against the idea and Professor X was missing at the time), as he was causing more destruction to the world and the government was looking into more extreme solutions. They tricked Banner into a space ship and lauched him into space where they hoped to send him to a peaceful planet where Banner and the Hulk would not be a threat while they tried to figure out a cure for the Hulk. Unfortunately, Hulk caused a malfunction in the ship sending him to Sakaar. There, Hulk was sold to a gladiatorial arena where he banded with other alien prisoners (including a much more noble and honorable Korg and a timid-yet-stronger-than-he-realized Miek) to form The Warbound. Together, they broke free from the arena, killed the king of the planet, and Hulk/Banner found love in the arms of an alien priestess who was to bear Hulk's first child. However, there was a warp core malfunction caused by loyalists of the previous king which killed millions of the planet's inhabitants. Including the Hulk's wife and supposedly his unborn child. Here, Hulk returns to Earth to extract his revenge on the ones responsible. And he'll smash anybody or anything that tries to get in his way.








Introduction: In a previous adventure, an alien adversary (preferably an alien from a race about honor or fighting. I'd recommend using either Sontarans, Ice Warriors, Silurians, or if you want to go old-school, you could use this to bring back the Draconians), have caused much more destruction on the Earth than ever before. Governments and the various peacekeeping organizations like UNIT and Torchwood (if they're still around, otherwise it can be what remains of Torchwood) are starting to get trigger-fingers, so the PC's trick the alien into being teleported away. Unfortunately, the alien lands on a world dedicated to war and after saving that planet, the means of transport causes a chain reaction which kills millions. Now the alien is back to pass judgement on Earth and deliver their sense of justice upon the PC's.




Things To Do:



Much like Remembrance of the Daleks, this is basically a Michael Bay-action-flick...but with actual plot, character development, understandable motivations, consequences (something the original WWH did not have, nor do I doubt the sequel coming out will either,) and philosophy that Bay is too lazy to put in any of his films. In this adventure, the heroes must ask themselves if they were right in sending this alien away through tricks and perhaps if the alien they disposed of is right in any way. All the while, they must find a way to stop this alien and his newfound army who are tearing Earth apart on their quest for justice. In addition, UNIT (whichever era you choose), Torchwood (if they're still around or what remnants remain), and the world governments are being attacked for pushing the matter forward. Finally, there's the new gladiatorial arena the banished alien is constructing out of any various world landmark of your choice. The end-goal is to have those responsible fight to the death after being beaten down viciously.



Antagonists:



As I mentioned, this is an adventure for asking whether or not the monster you previously faced is a villain...or ultimately a hero? You can choose the alien to be of a race from the list I previously mentioned to serve as the stand-in for the Hulk. Upon return, the alien is much stronger and has more advance tech, robot servants, and their own personal vanguard. Unless you don't feel like making up new characters, you can have other races stand-in for the Warbound. In addition to these threats, there's also the problem of the remaining governments trying to solve things their own way.



Action Scenes:



Evacuating civilians among the invasion, fighting in the arena the antagonist has built, any encounters with the banished alien and his personal guard. Trying to assist UNIT, Torchwood, and the world governments and prevent them from being taken.


Visuals:



Like I mentioned, this is a summer blockbuster destruction flick done right. If you haven't read the WWH Comic, you can see a review in Atop the Fourth Wall's World War Hulk review on YouTube. Additionally, there is a fanfic called Civil War Hulk which is an alternative take on the Hulk arriving before the end of Civil War rather than shortly afterwards. While there are obviously some major changes and things that don't line up with current continuity, it IS an AU story and was written shortly after WWH. You can find the story here: www.fanfiction.net/s/3818592/1/Civil-War-Hulk . Additionally, you can go YouTube search the Civil War Hulk Pinball which has a great visualization table that shows the entirety of the events. For the alien monsters/robot servants, you can use Guilimello del Toro, H.R. Gieger, and Ralph McQuarrie's original Star Wars concept art if you don't feel like using pre-made monsters for the machine army/alien monsters. 

Problems:




Obviously, the world governments, UNIT, and Torchwood might have their own doomsday scenarios planned for the alien's returned. These only serve to make the banished creature angrier. Once people the alien finds responsible are captured, they are hit with an obedience disk (or other mind-control device) and are now tasked with doing what they are told. They are then placed within the gladiatorial arena and forced to fight with other nightmarish monsters and ultimately themselves until they can find a way to free themselves from the control. However, at the heart of the problems is for the characters to face responsibility for their actions and discover who the real monsters are here.


Things To Prepare For:




I highly recommend reading World War Hulk and ignoring everything to do with Thor: Ragnarok which missed the point entirely of what made the original story so memorable. I'm sorry to keep harping on this, but that is actually the major problem I have with the company (among other things); Marvel has forgotten that stories need to have consequences for ALL characters. This is something that must also be addressed in your game. Your alien antagonist must be justified in some way or form. In a tie-in book to WWH, it was explained that the reason the heroes didn't just ask Bruce Banner if it'd be okay to shoot him into space while they worked on a cure was because they feared he'd say "no," and they wouldn't get a chance to trick him afterwards. I'd suggest having an adventure prior to this dealing with the PC's sending the alien to space with no other option. Think Warriors of the Deep where you're left feeling as though there should've been another way, but be forced to send the alien away until their return in this game. Additionally, have the alien call out PC's on past failures to really make them filled with guilt.




Continuing The Adventure:




After the destruction and chaos caused by this adventure, another alien ship lands and a hybrid alien emerges. He's the son of the alien the PC's banished...and he's looking for his Dad to murder him. Do the PC's help, try to stop him, or try to compromise?

I'll try to post more when I can.

[thereviewer]

Well, that was quick. Here's another new comic event repurposed! Although this one is kind of unique as it's technically not out yet as of the time of this posting. However, seeing as how there's over a million possibilities on how this can go down, and how most of these repurposed events are from the past already, I thought I'd offer my take on a scenario based on this (as of now) upcoming event that you can bet I'll be checking out!


Dearly Beloved (based on the upcoming Batman "BEST MAN" Arc)-


Backstory- Before his sad passing last year, Adam West was asked what he'd like to see in a Batman story these days. He replied saying he'd like to see a story where Bruce meets his Dad who tells him it's all right and that he can rest easy now. Well, nearly a year after in DC's Rebirth event leading into their impressive "DOOMSDAY CLOCK" Comic, Bruce did indeed meet an alternate version of his Dad from the aborted Flashpoint Timeline (a whole other story that I don't think we need to get into but if interested, there's plenty of YouTube videos chronicling the event), where his Dad asked him to find happiness and let Batman end. About a month or two later, Batman did the unthinkable...and asked Selina Kyle, a woman who has been on-and-off with him walking the fine line between hero and villain, a woman who was possibly Bruce's first love, to marry him. A month later, she said yes. Next month (June 2018), will see Bruce and Selina preparing to tie the knot in the "Best Man Arc" which will end in their marriage. But as things tend to go since every party needs a pooper, The Joker learns of the Wedding and plans to make things difficult for the couple. How exactly is unknown, but if the recent DC Nation #0 is any indication, it's going to be a crazy and mad wedding.




Introduction: Obviously a villain ruining a wedding is nothing new. But as far as I know, there's never been something of a story featuring a wedding getting crashed by a villain in a Doctor Who Story. It's come close, but the Doctor always finds a way of stopping things before they get out of hand. The only time it's ever happened is The Runaway Bride and even then, while it was still bad Lance died, he was still trying to sacrifice Donna and even didn't care that he broke her heart. Here, the PC's get an invitation from some old characters (take your pick from PC's to NPC's. You could even mix-match and have an NPC marrying a former PC). These characters are tying the knot and want your current PC's to attend the wedding. Unfortunately, as mentioned, things get complicated when the wedding is crashed by a former villain looking for revenge against the PC's (again, take your pick).


Things To Do:

Attend the wedding. Mix and mingle with guests. Reminisce on old times. Uncover the bad guy. Discover his/her ultimate plot to ruin the happy occasion. Foil said plan. Make it through the wedding reception. Most importantly; stay for the dancing!






Antagonists:

The antagonist can be chosen from either an original villain from your game's past, or one of the villains we've seen through the show's history looking to ruin things. They have to have a reason why they're here to ruin the wedding, though. Some examples are The Rani wants to kidnap the Bride because she has unusual particles in her system which she hopes to exploit. Maybe it can be Missy, trying another game of breaking people apart after The Doctor and Clara remained together following Death in Heaven and is trying to make herself feel good by playing "mis-match-maker" if you will. Whatever the choice, the villain must have a good reason for being there.






Action Scenes:

This ultimately comes down to the villain you choose to use. The villain ultimately has a way to ruin the wedding and the PC's must stop it before things get out of hand. Have action scenes that relate to the villains plot to spoil the wedding.






Visuals:

This again depends on who's getting married. If it's on Earth, it can be your standard Earth Wedding. However, if either the groom or the bride is an alien, have exotic alien variations on the typical wedding (alien flower pedals that glow with neon colors, blue punch-like drinks, etc.) By the end, if the heroes have prevented the foul-play at the wedding, make sure it's a very happy occasion and that the wedding ends on the highest happiest note ever.






Problems:

The problems again can be linked to who the villain and what their plans are. These are ultimately for the GM to decide. 






Things To Prepare For:



The Eleventh Doctor Sourcebook lists that "a golden wedding anniversary [has potential to become] the anchor point for a disrupted time stream." There are sadly fewer comic weddings these days in comics and those that are often become gimmicks. That's what makes the upcoming Bruce/Selina Wedding so special; these characters have had a long relationship for years and to see them get married feels like an accomplishment. This adventure's marriage should be something that's been built up to. Plan it ahead in advance and have various stories to bring the couple together. Once the wedding happens and the villain starts coming up with ways to ruin things, it gives the PC's incentive to stop them not only because it's right, but it's to save this special marriage. 




Continuing The Adventure:



After the wedding, the PC's are invited to the birth of the couple's first child. Much like the wedding, things don't go as planned. Madame Kovarian is back and has kidnapped the couple's child in an attempt to raise another killer to destroy The Doctor! The PC's must chase Kovarian and find a way to recover the child before Kovarian creates her new weapon to strike The Doctor down with. 

Let me know what you think!

[thereviewer]

Well, in honor of the recent Oscar win for best actor in Joker (well deserving of the win, and I am not bothered by Parasite getting Best Picture) I thought it's high-time to dust off this old post with an event inspired by DC's Dark Knights Metal Event seeing as how the promised sequel is fast-approaching!


The Dark Multiverse 








Backstory- I'll be completely honest. This was an event I did not read at the time, and now that I know the story, I desperately wish I had. Aside from missing out on the Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo run of the books (I'm more of a Superman fan personally), this event had more of a focus on other characters than I thought it could besides just having Batman being the center of attention despite this being his own event. The idea behind the event came from Scott Snyder and his son watching the TV Show Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey which was airing a special about Dark Matter. This inspired Scott with the idea of the DC Multiverse having an ocean of infinite possibilities and at the very bottom of the "ocean floor" were the darkest universes where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. From Batman merging with the Flash to save his Earth, to a Batman who merged with Doomsday's DNA to stop an out-of-control Superman only to become a monster himself, and of course a Batman infected by a dead Joker's chemicals to become The Batman who Laughs; a villain with all of Bruce Wayne & The Joker's genius, but none of Batman's morals. 




Introduction: The PC's find a number of strange artifacts that contain a strange metal. Inevitably, these metals are brought together which end up opening a portal to the Dark Omniverse; the rejected universes of the Omniverse where everything never has a happy ending. The PC's resident Time Lord/Time Agent/Team Leader is prophesized to bring about the destruction of all and now that they have opened the portal, all manners of hell are coming through into our universe and bringing with it are dark versions of the PC Character that is responsible for the apocalypse and is now missing.



Things To Do: Find a way to get into the Dark Omniverse, save the missing PC Character, try to prevent the destruction caused by the PC's alternate selves. 



Antagonists: The Dark Warriors; seven alternate versions of the resident Time Lord/Time Agent/Main Character who caused this mess. They are all from doomed realities with nothing left to loose and want this world above for themselves. You are free to either use the original outlines of the Dark Knights from DKM, or try to imagine the worst outcome of a previous or new unseen adventure changing your missing PC forever. What happens when the Sea Devils successfully conquer Earth and kill everyone your PC loved forcing them to alter their DNA and splice it with Sea Devil DNA to take the fight to them? Perhaps in another world, Davros successfully exterminated 75% of Humanity and when the PC killed him, they released a virus that made them more like Davros and the Daleks?

Then there's the mastermind behind this event responsible for bringing the Dark Warriors together. The Black Guardian. Yup. He's back to his old games with the White Guardian except this reality is merely the battleground. The real fight lies beyond your PC's universe and just so happens to be staged in your PC's world. Obviously the metals are going to play into how your PC's defeat the Black Guardian, but the question is how exactly?



Action Scenes: Fighting the Dark Warriors, staging a daring rescue into the Dark Omniverse to rescue the PC, figuring out how to use the Metals to your advantage and taking the fight to Davros himself.



Visuals: I'd recommend looking at Greg Capullo's artwork for Dark Knights Metal in the main story. However, you could also take inspiration from some of the Dark Knights that didn't appear in the main series due to being cut for time. For instance, some of the unseen Dark Knights such as a magic-wielding Batman, a Batman who was sent to Arkham after being accused of murdering his parents, and a Batman that had merged with Gotham itself. Another inspiration could be from last years Tales from the Dark Multiverse event which highlighted other characters in the Dark Multiverse besides Batman and how they could have been twisted by the Dark Multiverse. This includes a Lois Lane who became Eradicator, a half-white lantern/half-black lantern Sinsetro who did not give Hal Jordan the White Lantern Ring resulting in the Black Lanterns winning Darkest Night, a Terra who betrayed and killed Slade during the Judas Contract and was given the same serum that made Deathstroke, and my personal favorite; a version of Ted Kord who avoided being shot by Max Lord and ended up killing Max instead only to prevent Infinite Crisis entirely... at the cost of merging with Brother Eye and the Anti-Monitor Armor to rule his universe. Besides that, try to imagine what the missing PC would look like with various other resources at their disposal; Cyber-Upgrades, Advance Sontaran Armor, Scorchie transformation, whatever you choose for your Dark Warriors.



Problems: Getting into the Dark Omniverse is one thing, especially when you have seven evil versions of your PC running around causing mass destruction. It's another problem entirely to look through the Dark Omniverse to find your missing PC and rescue them. Also, there's that pesky problem of discovering how the Metals work and how to use them to stop the Black Guardian. At times like this, perhaps the best way to stop monsters is to use monsters from your own reality,



Things To Prepare For: This is probably best to begin when your resident Time Lord/Time Agent/Main Character with Space & Time Travel Access is leaving on a vacation. You could begin the session introducing the metals, end the first session with the chosen PC disappearing, and while that player is away, the Dark Warriors attack and it's up to the remaining PC's to try and stop them. Once your PC comes back, you can have them trapped in their own personal-made universe trying to escape from their own hell.




Continuing The Adventure: In the aftermath of this event, what other Dark Universes exist out there? Perhaps you could play a session revisiting a previous adventure and see just how wrong it could go in the Dark Omniverse.  

[grinch]

Definitely feel like the Collings Doctor from Full Fathom Five would belong to such a Dark Universe. For a Scorchie transformation, you could say that instead of Professor Baffle, one of the incarnations of the Doctor tried to save them by converting them into energy. Unfortunately, much like Baffle the Doctor made a mistake and left the Scorchies without forms. He too would eventually become a Scorchie and with his knowledge of time and space enabled them to burn planets across existence itself.

Just a suggestion. Not sure how you would do a Batman Who Laughs style character or any of the Dark Knights in the DW Universe. Only way I can really think of doing it is perhaps doing a combination of the Doctor and the Master. This new Time Lord would, in an almost fanatical desire to keep his companions safe, mould them into becoming weapons. Whether they liked it or not. Think an almost benevolent dictator in that regard.

[thereviewer]

Feb 24, 2020 20:59:53 GMT grinch said:

Definitely feel like the Collings Doctor from Full Fathom Five would belong to such a Dark Universe. For a Scorchie transformation, you could say that instead of Professor Baffle, one of the incarnations of the Doctor tried to save them by converting them into energy. Unfortunately, much like Baffle the Doctor made a mistake and left the Scorchies without forms. He too would eventually become a Scorchie and with his knowledge of time and space enabled them to burn planets across existence itself.

Just a suggestion. Not sure how you would do a Batman Who Laughs style character or any of the Dark Knights in the DW Universe. Only way I can really think of doing it is perhaps doing a combination of the Doctor and the Master. This new Time Lord would, in an almost fanatical desire to keep his companions safe, mould them into becoming weapons. Whether they liked it or not. Think an almost benevolent dictator in that regard.

Hey, grinch,

Thanks for the feedback. I actually nearly planned for my take on The Batman Who Laughs to be a version of The Doctor (or whatever PC with Time Travel you decide to use,) who had been forced to kill The Master who ended up falling for a final hypnotic spell of The Master giving them all the dark insane traits. Ultimately, my take has the chosen PC starting gagged before Davros who has systematically staged multiple Dalek attacks all at the same time destroying a good chunk of London and killing the character’s old friends. He then has his Daleks bring forth a child and their family proclaiming it is time for the universe to evolve into a new “genesis” and promptly has the family exterminated and the child injected with Dalek DNA to make them more Dalek. The Lord of The Daleks explains the parents were war vets and has a number of more war vet families brought to repeat over and over before the chosen characters’ eyes. The character breaks free and lashes out at Davros, unintentionally breaking his neck and releasing a strange gas. It is eventually revealed to be a new Dalek Nanocloud made with Davros’ Own DNA which eventually turns the character into a hybrid with Davros. It could even be the prophecized Hybrid from 12’s era.



There’s actually plenty of options for creating your own version of the Dark Knights. Like I said; these are characters that altered their core bodies for the “greater good” and ended up becoming monsters in the end. Anything you could come up with will do.

Thanks again for the advice and I PM’d you a question a few weeks ago if you could please reply to that at the first opportunity.

Thanks again!

[grinch]

I actually think compared to travelling in the regular Multiverse, it’s very easy to get trapped within the Dark Multiverse due to the inherent unstable nature of these alternate realities.

Not to mention, any Multiversal traveller has to be extra careful not to be attacked by an Alternate Universe characters who wish to escape their own dying reality.

However, if these worlds are born from the nightmares and fears of characters from the regular reality there’s nothing to suggest that all these characters would be inherently villainous in nature.