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Post by Null and Void on Dec 23, 2009 21:41:49 GMT
Many millennia before the episode The End of the World, the Forest of Cheem is still working on space travel and haven't left the planet Cheem yet. Their existance is peaceful, slow, and idyllic... until THEY came.
Their metal ships came burning down from the skies, scorching the land below them and burning and crushing Trees that had taken root and could not flee. From the cold bellies of these metal ships came relentless, destroying ... THINGS. Things that the organic Forest of Cheem could not comprehend because of their metal natures. These things seemed intelligent but would not communicate with the Forest, and the Forests pleas fell on deaf metal ears. The THINGS began to do the unthinkable... it began deforesting the planet... harvesting the Forest's very ancestors from their sacred Grove of the Ancients and turning them into lumber... lumber which was then used to build what looked suspiciously like a colony...
The THINGS are Mechanoids. Their automated ship detected a likely colony world in Cheem, and began its standard procedures to set up a base/city for the human colonists they were programmed to serve, little knowing or even comprehending that the humans would never come. The Colony explansion had collapsed centuries ago, leaving Mechanoid ships still enroute to set up colonies that would never be populated.
The Mechanoids are incapable of understanding that the plant life-forms on Cheem are sentient, rather than raw materials. The Forest of Cheem is still young, and has not yet had any experience with robots... or even spaceflight, although their legends tell of it. Neither side can comprehend the other, and Trees are dying... worse yet, if the Grove of Ancients is destroyed, centuries of irreplaceble wisdom and knowledge will be lost.
Players materialized in the midst of this carnage, and must help the Forest overcome the invading mechanoids before its too late.
Complications: Mechanoids will not obey anyone, even humans, without the proper control codes. They will not kill anyone appearing human, but they will imprison them (in the very niceset way) for 'safety'. The control codes are long lost.
Getting inside of one of the Mechanoid ships might prove useful (such as accessing the central computers' programming logs.) but not that easy to do with mechanoid guards and workrs blocking the entryways.
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Post by Curufea on Dec 23, 2009 22:35:13 GMT
Is this the Doctor Who equivalent of the recent Avatar movie?  |
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Post by Null and Void on Dec 23, 2009 22:39:30 GMT
Is this the Doctor Who equivalent of the recent Avatar movie? i've not seen Avatar, and I've successfully avoided hearing anything about it. |
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Post by JohnK on Dec 23, 2009 22:54:01 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, What a lovely, beautiful, and interesting concept for a scenario and...consider it STOLEN!! (I am forced to yield you another karma point, mate!) |
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Post by Null and Void on Dec 24, 2009 13:45:05 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, What a lovely, beautiful, and interesting concept for a scenario and...consider it STOLEN!! (I am forced to yield you another karma point, mate!) Thats what I put them here for. And if you think my Karma is bad check out Kaemeril's sometimes. |
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Post by kaemaril on Dec 24, 2009 14:14:21 GMT
And if you think my Karma is bad check out Kaemeril's sometimes. (Wakes up) Eh? Whazzat? Bad karma? No, that cannot be! I've been good, honest! Although for some reason somebody dinged me a couple of points earlier in the week ...  Hmm. That reminds me ... I'd better put up my Jeeves and Wooster stats tonight ;D Also, this is an awesome seed
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Post by JohnK on Dec 24, 2009 16:58:48 GMT
Hullo, Null and Void, Hullo, Null and Void, What a lovely, beautiful, and interesting concept for a scenario and...consider it STOLEN!! (I am forced to yield you another karma point, mate!) Thats what I put them here for. And if you think my Karma is bad check out Kaemeril's sometimes. Not bad karma, of course, but getting up there Karma-wise. And yes, I had noted Kaemaril's karma points too. You both have been pretty prolific. |
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Post by Null and Void on Dec 24, 2009 17:22:20 GMT
I meant bad as in good. Or something. Anyhow, my many posts are due to my enthusiasm for the game... something which I haven't had in this much abundance for a game in a long time. |
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sutekh
2nd Incarnation
Posts: 64
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Post by sutekh on Dec 31, 2009 7:42:09 GMT
What a wonderful scenario idea! Excellent stuff. It might be interesting to add a few complications to the basic concept. Here are a few very rough ideas off the top of my head: - There is a hot-headed young Cheem who feels that the elders are cowards for not initiating a direct frontal assault against the Mechanoid invaders. This individual has built up a following amongst the younger Cheem and are planning a daring but ill-considered raid against the Mechanoids. Naturally, this individual will accuse the PCs of being in league with the Mechanoids as soon as they arrive. This sub-plot is fairly clichéd, but appears numerous times in the classic series.
- The leader of the Cheem is an inexperienced young female whose position is threatened by the crisis. She faces prejudice and mistrust - and needs help building up the credibility needed to unite her people to effectively deal with Mechanoids. (Yep...this plot twist is lifted straight from a certain story set on Peladon ;D).
- What if the Mechanoids were sent by the Interplanetary Mining Corporation (IMC) - last seen in the Third Doctor story Colony in Space
[/i]? The recent discovery of rich Duralinium deposits on the Forest of Cheem's homeworld has led IMC's corrupt Board of Directors to risk everything on an illegal venture. What if the arrival of the Mechanoids on the planet is not an accident, but is part of a covert scheme to eliminate the Forest of Cheem so that the planet can be opened up for large-scale exploitation? [/li][li] IMC is aware that the Guild of Adjudicators will not allow mining operations on any planet that has a sentient native species and is trying to quietly eliminate the Forest of Cheem before too many questions are asked. The use of Mechanoids is to ensure that the scheme cannot be traced back to them if it doesn't work out. In addition to stopping the Mechanoids, the characters need to find evidence of a link between the Mechanoids the Guild of Adjudicators award the Forest of Cheem massive punitive damages against IMC - which is the beginning of the Forest of Cheem's financial empire mentioned in the episode The End of the World[/i].... [/li][li] What if there are a couple of sympathetic human characters in the adventure? Perhaps there are a couple of Xenologists on the planet who are studying the Forest of Cheem and are appalled by the arrival of an automated Mechanoid colonization fleet. These individuals will try and send a message to the Guild of Adjudicators asking for urgent assistance to deactivate the Mechanoids before they destroy the Forest of Cheem. Perhaps IMC agents learn of this message and decide to eliminate the scientists, making it look like the result of hostile action by the Forest of Cheem. [/li][li] In The End of the World[/i] it is hinted that the Cheem were descended from plants from the rainforests of Earth. In the book, Doctor Who: Monsters and Villains[/i] it is claimed that the Forest of Cheem were the products of genetic experimentation conducted in the Panjassic Asteroid Field by a group known as the Brothers of Hame. Perhaps this adventure should feature a revelation that the humans who built the Mechanoids are not alien invaders, but are closely related to the Forest of Cheem. If the Cheem have been cut off for a few centuries, it is possible that they have forgotten their own origins... [/li][/ul] |
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sutekh
2nd Incarnation
Posts: 64
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Post by sutekh on Dec 31, 2009 8:53:26 GMT
my many posts are due to my enthusiasm for the game... something which I haven't had in this much abundance for a game in a long time. Me too....I reckon that the game has so much potential! Lets hope that the folks at Cubicle 7 keep the license for a few years and produce some cool supplements to expand the original concept! |
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Post by Null and Void on Dec 31, 2009 14:49:23 GMT
What a wonderful scenario idea! Excellent stuff. Many good ideas clipped [/list][/quote] There are some good ideas here. One of the problems I've noticed with my GMing is that I have a hard time coming up with complications like these. I rather like the idea of someone deliberately redirecting the mechanoid ship there. Let me work on that idea a bit... |
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sutekh
2nd Incarnation
Posts: 64
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Post by sutekh on Jan 1, 2010 4:09:03 GMT
There are some good ideas here. One of the problems I've noticed with my GMing is that I have a hard time coming up with complications like these. Glad you like them! I suppose that whenever I read a scenario idea, my first thought is "how can I make this more like an episode of Doctor Who"? I try to think of plot elements from the TV series that I can modify to fit the scenario. There are certain archetypal plot elements that show up over and over again in the TV series and can be used in various ways to indicate to players that they are in the same universe as the Doctor... I rather like the idea of someone deliberately redirecting the mechanoid ship there. Let me work on that idea a bit... I'm growing increasingly fond of this idea too. The problem is that the mechanoids are memorable, but they aren't great conversationalists. I think that the adventure might benefit from having a human villain with whom the characters can interact. I thought of using IMC partly because that ties the adventure in with established Doctor Who lore, and partly because the meme of "evil corporation tries to exploit tribal culture" turns up again and again throughout the history of the TV show - especially during the Pertwee era. |
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Post by da professor on Feb 21, 2010 12:08:56 GMT
It's not unique to DW, but it's still a good complicating factor....especially if Evil Conglomerate Inc has a good PR arm and can label the PCs as a major public menace.
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