thereviewer
3rd Incarnation
Posts: 278
Favourite Doctors: Jodie Whittaker, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, David Tennant, Christopher Eccelston, John Hurt, Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Tom Baker, William Hartnell
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Post by thereviewer on Apr 26, 2017 20:33:26 GMT
So I've seen a lot of "TARDIS lands in the events of [Movie Title here]" or crossovers with other franchises that are all around the forums. Here are a couple of movies I've enjoyed, repurposed into Scenario Seeds which might make for some interesting adventures.
Face Swap (Based on Face/Off)-
Introduction: One of the PC's is asked for a secret mission by The Shadow Proclamation (if you want, you can repurpose the organization to be Torchwood, The Time Agency, etc.) There is a bomb set to go off at an important diplomatic reading and nobody on the gang who planted the bomb is willing to talk. The leader is in a comatose state, which has given the organization an idea. The organization notes how the character has similar characteristics to the criminal in a coma and convinces them to undergo a surgery which will allow them to swap faces with the criminal, go to jail, get the info they need, and get back. The PC and Criminal swap faces, but things go wrong when the criminal wakes up mid-mission and has the same process done to him before getting rid of any evidence that they had swapped places. Now the player is trapped in prison, and the criminal is wearing their face and stealing their lives. Can they get their lives (and face) back?
Things To Do: The PC who swapped faces has to break out of prison, find their friends, and convince them that they've swapped. Then there's the problem of actually getting their face back.
Antagonists: The Criminal who has stolen the PC's face and his loyal gang.
Action Scenes: Breaking out of jail, catching up with your fellow PC's.
Visuals: Think what Face/Off might've been like if it had been created by Russell T Davies for the Ninth/Tenth Doctor era rather than by John Woo for a big Hollywood Action Flick.
Problems: Breaking out of prison, finding a way to get back to your friends, defeating the criminal and his gang.
Things To Prepare For: Make the player who swaps feel very alienated, especially since they're wearing a different face. The criminal with their is not going to be an idiot and ask to repeatedly go to bank after bank or museum after museum. They want to take their lives and slowly-but-surely use every opportunity to make themselves better. Of course, once the PC breaks out, it suddenly becomes about tying up loose ends.
Continuing The Adventure: The PC's might have a lot to apologize for once they get their faces back. The criminal might've done a couple of things that some won't forget anytime soon.
Enforcement of the Cybermen (Based on Robocop)-
Introduction: The players arrive on a planet where they are shocked to see that the Cybermen have been assisting a privatized police-force, giving them Cybermen armor and weaponry but without the organ removal and brainwashing. Of course this is all a trap, but one individual seems somehow immune to the Cybermen's brainwashing. He also has evidence of the Cybermen's true intentions which can be used against them. Now the players must team-up with him and defeat the Cybermen before they can convert the entire planet.
Things To Do: Convince the people that the Cybermen are evil, help the lone man now stuck in this armor as he copes with the fact that he is now permanently grafted to this casing and will never have a normal life again.
Antagonists: The Cybermen
Action Scenes: Outrunning the Cybermen, assaulting somewhere where they can upload the data
Visuals: Exactly what Robocop was like at the time of its release; smart sci-fi with a slick of satire and mature themes. Add that in with your typical campaign style and you have yourselves Enforcement of the Cybermen.
Problems: While only one is unaffected by the Cyberman, there is still a plethora of other individuals who have been brought into the Cybermen collective. Also, while this lone survivor is unaffected, the trauma of realizing he will never be human again is making him consider drastic options.
Things To Prepare For: Much like if you plan to run one of the more emotional DW Episodes (I.E. Earthshock, The Angels Take Manhattan, etc.) or any game that deals with death, make sure you discuss this with your PC's as the lone Cyberman's thoughts of ending his own life should obviously be taken with the utmost seriousness.
Continuing The Adventure: While the PC's are successful in stopping the Cybermen takeover, what happens to the survivor who helped them? Do they deactivate him? Does he become a companion? How might a Liberated Cyberman fare when once again faced with another group of the mechanical monsters?
The Living Battle (Based on Knights of Bad***dom)-
Introduction: The players arrive on a planet that has a special planet-wide live-action-role-playing event once every year. The player characters soon discover amongst the cosplayers taking part in the celebration, the Carrionites are here as well! There's a copy of a book here (it could even be another version of The Necronomicon), which is another word-craft device that is primed to once again open the portal for the other Carrionites to come through and back into our reality.
Things To Do: Taking part in the planetary LARP Event, infiltrating the Carrionites to learn more about their plans, attempting to keep the word-craft out of the unknowing LARPers' hands, and if things come to a head they must use their own word-craft to reverse the portal and send the Carrionites home.
Antagonists: The Carrionites (possibly the LARPers, if the PC's become a nuisance in their game)
Action Scenes: Taking part in any LARP battle, outsmarting the Carrionites, and if the portal is opened using their own word-craft to save the day as the Carrionites begin to breach the portal.
Visuals: Imagine if your typical medieval LARP game was a major holiday celebrated across the word. Houses and buildings are decorated to look like castles. Adults serve as various roles from NPC's, to shopkeepers selling items, and more. One of the major influences for the Carrionites base (at least as I'd have it) is that their base of operations this time is an abandoned windmill in a graveyard directly influenced by Army of Darkness. The AOD Setting can even serve as the decorations for the worldwide LARP.
Problems: Convincing the people that the Carrionites are real witches and not just LARPers, getting the Word-Craft book as far away as possible.
Things To Prepare For: I'd recommend GM's watch Knights of Bad***dom in preparation for this so that they can see where my ideas stem from. It's a cheesy movie, but it does give you the feeling of a LARP event without poking fun at people for loving such a game. If anything, it encourages people to embrace it, and for others to try it if they haven't before.
Continuing The Adventure: The players learn that the event is sponsored by donations from a local Vampire-Based convention. The vampire co-player's in the pamphlets seem like they went through a lot of trouble to look the part. Or perhaps someone went through a lot of trouble to get them to look that way.
Replacements (Based off of The World's End)-
Introduction: The players investigate a local interplanetary pub crawl going from planet-to-planet, where people have been reported to have changed somewhere before the end of the crawl. They are actually being swapped out for duplicates that then invade their life, make them "better" so that their success learns to them having access to more information that can then be used as an invasion guide!
Things To Do: Investigate the crawl, learn of the body-snatchers, prevent anyone from going any further in the crawl, find the base of operations, save everybody who was swapped out, and ensure that this thing does not happen again.
Antagonists: This adventure can be outfitted with either your own aliens, or one of Doctor Who's noteworthy shape shifters. Maybe its the Sontarans using their clone batches again, The Nestene Consciousness plotting another invasion with more living plastic duplicates as scouts, or even another Zyggon Splinter Cell that decides that Earth is not their time so they'll invade another world instead (maybe even twelve planets at once).
Action Scenes: Fighting the duplicates, running from planet-to-planet as they gather clues.
Visuals: Each planet's pub should represent a different type of bar (Irish Pub, Sports Bar, Dance Club Bar, etc.) If you want to try and be like Edgar Wright, give your Pub's names that relate to a plot point that will happen later in the adventure.
Problems: When the PC's interfere too much, the duplicates will try to separate the group and replace one of the PC's with another duplicate. There's also the problem of making it to the end to discover what happened. Not to mention the regular drunks who might not like the players spoiling their crawl.
Things To Prepare For: This is a unique pub crawl in that it goes across different planets. You could always take the TARDIS (or your regular means of transportation) from planet-to-planet, or you could get creative and come up with new and exciting ways to get from one planet to the next. For example, in the recent 10th Doctor Novel 'In the Blood,' Donna opts for traveling to another country in two different ways; once by plane, and the other by train. We know that there's an Orient Express and Titanic in space, so it stands to reason (especially for a pub crawl,) that there are other means of getting from planet-to-planet.
Continuing The Adventure: The PC's free those being used for the duplicates, but having been used for such means might've altered their brains in some way. What are the strange voices they're now hearing in their head?
The Lawmen (Based off of Hot Fuzz)-
Introduction: The Players land on a planet which has a quaint village devoid of all crime. They soon discover an irregular accident rate and after witnessing a few accidents themselves (all of which are too accurate to become accidents) discover that the village Neighborhood Watch Alliance has been manipulating things from behind the scenes to make their village "the greatest in the universe." Now it falls on the players to get help (if they can convince the other populated areas of what's happening), or find a way to bring this twisted game to an end.
Things To Do: Investigate the village, learn about what the Neighborhood Watch Alliance is up to, find a way to take them down either in numbers (or on their own.)
Antagonists: The Neighborhood Watch Association
Action Scenes: Investigating the "accidents," chase scenes with the bad guys, a final showdown that pays homage to every action movie trope and cliché ever made.
Visuals: The village looks peaceful enough, but the NWA keep their secrets which might be more advanced than anyone realizes.
Problems: Convincing others to help take down the NWA, the fact that the NWA has access to technology which helps make them more powerful.
Things To Prepare For: Obviously, this is meant as a love-letter to the intelligent action films of yesterday and today. Before playing, here are two films I can recommend as influences to running or playing in this game (besides Hot Fuzz): Total Recall (1990) and Hardcore Henry. Both are disguised as straight-up action movies, but both have hidden meanings and use advance means of storytelling in order to disguise certain clues which hint at what the final resolution might be.
Continuing The Adventure: If you feel like it, you can run a campaign where the PC's try to help the rest of the world rebuild.
Worm Food (Based on Night of the Creeps)-
Introduction: The players land at a college campus on Earth (Circa 1980's,) when a worm-creature gets loose and starts infecting everyone on campus. Investigations reveal this to be the work of an old enemy, who is using the infected to further their own needs. The players must defend those not-yet-infected, and make sure no more of these worms are left alive.
Things To Do: Investigate the Campus, learn about the creatures, and gearing up to rid the campus of the creatures before they do more harm.
Antagonists: The Worm Creatures and their Mastermind. Much like The Replacements Scenario Seed, you can modify this so that the roles are filled either by an original or recurring foe from your past, or one of the old villains using this for their own ends. Maybe a Time Lord like the Master is using this to amass a new army. The Rani might also be behind the worms and is creating new test subjects to 'volunteer' for her. You might even feel like making the worms Cybermats and have the Cybermen infecting people with new Cybermites!
Action Scenes: Discovering the worms and avoid getting infected by them, having a final stand which unites the students against those infected.
Visuals: Your typical college campus with that typical 1980s flare. It's an earth-bound story where the aliens come to us.
Problems: Being so small, the worms have multiple ways of getting from place-to-place. It might also be impossible, but it never hurts to look for a cure before going straight to destroying the infected. Although it might take long and difficult unless your player knows biology, chemicals, and/or reverse-engineering.
Things To Prepare For: This goes back to the basic 'base under siege' story, but does it in the style of a B-Movie 80's film. Get ready for people talking in the language of that era, and therefore some might make dumb decisions in response to being told of the situation?
Continuing The Adventure: Those who survive are contacted one day to take part in a new experiment. A rich entrepreneur has heard of the events and wants to see what he can get from taking samples from the groups.
Let me know what you think and any ideas you have for repurposing various films into scenario seeds.
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Post by starkllr on Apr 28, 2017 13:58:06 GMT
Love these!
Here's one, and you don't actually need to change a thing (except for one tiny plot detail) from the movie:
Element Five (based, of course, on The Fifth Element)
A mysterious force of universal evil is headed towards Earth, and the PCs must find the five elements that can be combined to create the only defense against it, before it's too late.
Basically, take the movie as written, except that Bruce Willis' character takes his taxi in for maintenance as instructed at the beginning of the movie, instead of ignoring orders. So, when Leeloo the perfect genetically engineered being does a swan dive off the building to escape the scientists who recreated her, she falls right into the open doors of the PC's TARDIS rather than Bruce Willis' taxi. Hijinks ensue.
The evil force, Mr. Shadow, is never really properly described, but to fit the story into the Whoniverse, it could be an aspect of the Black Guardian, or one of the Gods of Ragnarok, or a cousin to the Beast from Impossible Planet/Satan Pit, or another of the long-forgotten dark forces from the pre-Gallifreyan era (like the Rachnoss and the Carrionites and the Great Vampires, etc), whatever best suits the campaign.
The other organizations in the movie easily fit into Who mythology:
Ian Holm's religious order could be an offshoot of Torchwood, if you like (or an ancestor of the Church of the Papal Mainframe).
Gary Oldman's Zorg works exactly as-is as a pretty typical Who staple - the corporate villain who's allied with an evil alien force that he doesn't understand and has badly underestimated.
The shape-changing Mangalore mercenaries could be kept as they are, or replaced with any villainous Who race the GM likes - there's no shortage of options.
And the helpful Mondoshowan aliens could be swapped out for the Judoon, with no real change to the story.
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thereviewer
3rd Incarnation
Posts: 278
Favourite Doctors: Jodie Whittaker, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, David Tennant, Christopher Eccelston, John Hurt, Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Tom Baker, William Hartnell
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Post by thereviewer on Apr 28, 2017 19:43:55 GMT
Love these! Here's one, and you don't actually need to change a thing (except for one tiny plot detail) from the movie: Element Five (based, of course, on The Fifth Element) A mysterious force of universal evil is headed towards Earth, and the PCs must find the five elements that can be combined to create the only defense against it, before it's too late. Basically, take the movie as written, except that Bruce Willis' character takes his taxi in for maintenance as instructed at the beginning of the movie, instead of ignoring orders. So, when Leeloo the perfect genetically engineered being does a swan dive off the building to escape the scientists who recreated her, she falls right into the open doors of the PC's TARDIS rather than Bruce Willis' taxi. Hijinks ensue. The evil force, Mr. Shadow, is never really properly described, but to fit the story into the Whoniverse, it could be an aspect of the Black Guardian, or one of the Gods of Ragnarok, or a cousin to the Beast from Impossible Planet/Satan Pit, or another of the long-forgotten dark forces from the pre-Gallifreyan era (like the Rachnoss and the Carrionites and the Great Vampires, etc), whatever best suits the campaign. The other organizations in the movie easily fit into Who mythology: Ian Holm's religious order could be an offshoot of Torchwood, if you like (or an ancestor of the Church of the Papal Mainframe). Gary Oldman's Zorg works exactly as-is as a pretty typical Who staple - the corporate villain who's allied with an evil alien force that he doesn't understand and has badly underestimated. The shape-changing Mangalore mercenaries could be kept as they are, or replaced with any villainous Who race the GM likes - there's no shortage of options. And the helpful Mondoshowan aliens could be swapped out for the Judoon, with no real change to the story. starkllr Great idea! I've never actually watched the Fifth Element though. I'll have to check it out when I can. Here's two more modified Movies as scenario seeds if you are anyone else wants to use them: Horror on the Holidays (Based on Krampus)- Introduction: The players go home for Christmas only to find some unwanted obnoxious relatives are visiting. Dinner does not go well even if the players have it in them to suck it up. The obnoxious relatives are so bad they can't even keep things calm around each other. Things come to a head when the youngest nephew's letter to Santa is read by his two rude older Tomboy sisters. He finally breaks down and declares that he hates everyone and most of all, he hates Christmas. This brings about the ancient evil known as Krampus. Or does it? It turns out 'Krampus' is actually a malfunctioning android meant to instill children with good behavior. Except it went schizophrenic (shades of The Face of Evil) and now punishes anyone who is naughty and everyone they hold dear. Armed with tech that can change the weather, create snow minions, and animate gingerbread men, amongst other things, can the PC's unite the family and survive the holidays (not to mention Krampus?) Things To Do: Dysfunction dinner with the family, base (or rather home) under siege, discover the truth about Krampus, find a way to bring the family together and defeat Krampus Antagonists: Krampus (The KR4MPU2-A-TRON Android Model 60). Krampus's minions. Krampus can animate snow to make minions (similar to the Great Intelligence), call upon his 'Elves' (the E1VE2 Androids which he reprogramed after he went mad,) and using similar tech to the Nestene, animate various cookies. The player might have to also deal with the dysfunctional and regular family if they've been away for too long (imagine if there was a Ninth Doctor and Rose story like this before Aliens of London/World War Three aired!) He can also animate simple toys and decorations making them much darker. Action Scenes: Fighting Krampus and his helpers, protecting the families, trying to get to safety in the middle of a blizzard. Visuals: 2015's Krampus obviously. Also since this is a Christmas film about dysfunctional families that must come together, I recommend viewing both Home Alone and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation for examples on how to play the dysfunctional family. Both are also quoted as being a direct influence on the making of Krampus. Another great example that fits well here for inspiration on how the toy's should be viewed like (if you don't want to adapt the ones seen in Krampus) is Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Imagine if all the presents Jack gave away had been designed by H.R. Geiger and Wes Craven instead of Halloween Town. Problems: The dysfunctional family has been estranged for a reason. The only acceptation here is that they turned up unannounced. You have your typical Gun-tooting right-wing drunken Dad who wants to see their son be a sports athlete, the wife who begins to regret her life's decisions, the two older tomboy sisters who feel like a disappointment being born boys, and the son who is not interested in sports, and only wants the holidays to be as they were meant to be celebrated; together and as a loving family. But even he can take so much before he breaks down. These will most likely not do well with your player's family regardless if the parents or legal guardians have been good or not. However, they are still only people and assuming they've never heard of the player's adventures, will still have doubts until Krampus really starts attacking. Which brings up to Krampus himself; as a malfunctioning android, Krampus can't decipher the difference between good and naughty, and thus decides to punish everyone and let God sort it out. He can't be reasoned or bargained with. Even if he's shown that he is not the legendary folk tale, it might even end up making him worse (although that might be played to your player's advantage if they're smart. Also, as Krampus controls weather patterns, the moment the nephew gives up on Christmas, Krampus will form a giant blizzard that keeps the family snowed in until he is distracted (at which point the Blizzard can disappate, but only as long as he's not focused.) Then there' the problem of stopping Krampus himself. No matter what, he will follow the players and family across time and space. Perhaps they can fool him into a black hole? Land in the middle of a big battle and once someone attacks him, he'll be forced to fight wave after wave of monsters until defeated? Things To Prepare For: Get ready for a bonkers Christmas Special that I think Stephen Moffat would drool over. I should mention that while Krampus was featured in DWM's comic strip (in a flashback featuring young Amy, Rory, and Mels which served as the final regular appearance of the Ponds in those comic strips,) this is obviously based around the more traditional-looking Krampus that became the basis for Michael Doughtery's 2015 film. Also, you might want to talk with the players about any possible deaths in this scenario. SPOILERS FOLLOW: In the movie, Grampus supposedly kills the family only for the son to wake up on Christmas Day and see his family celebrating together alive and well. He receives a gift which turns out to be a bell from Grampus which his Grandmother had received for summoning Grampus to take her parents away. Everyone seems to suddenly remember what happened, as the camera pulls out to reveal they are within a snow globe. There's two ways to look at this; the obvious is that they're shrunk inside there now forever Krampus's prisoner. However, my preference and the other theory is that Krampus simply uses the globe as a viewer of-sorts. They're alive, but he's made them remember the meaning of Christmas and wants to keep it that way. This is supported by the film's alternate ending which saw only the son remembering the events while everyone else doesn't. Another reason this might be the real ending is at the end of the Grampus prequel comic released by Legendry's Comic Imprint which featured different characters encountering Grampus as well before waking up alive and well with no snow globe mentioned and even crossing paths with each other after being 'killed.' Even if your characters don't make it out, you can have them wake up like this to be fair (and to make sure it's not TOO depressing.)
Continuing The Adventure: It turns out Krampus isn't the only malfunctioning Holliday Android. There's plenty of other holiday icons gone wrong out there as well. Players & GM's who love a good Halloween Story might want to run a scenario where the players visit a planet that celebrates Halloween across the entire world and is being plagued by an android in an orange onesie with a burlap sack mask and candy bag calling himself 'Sam.' SINdney Cindy (Based on Carrie)- Introduction: The players follow bizarre injuries and instances to a local school in the early 70's. They encounter a young girl named 'Cindy Casey' who is displaying bizarre psychic-like powers. This turns out to be derived from another powerful space gemstone that fell to Earth passing over the hospital where she was born and dosing her with some of its radiation. The Gemstone is not unlike the one that gave Grant his powers or even the Metebellis III Crystals. Unfortunately the stone also makes those it empowers darker and darker the more they exploit their abilities. Worse yet, because Cindy is bullied at school and her mother is overly religious, Cindy finds using her powers can help her show her superiority. The only way to get her to stop is to get someone to love her as a person and not because of her abilities. The dependence and relationship to another human being (rather than her powers) might do the trick which is good considering the annual school dance is coming up. But the bullies might not want Cindy to find happiness. Things To Do: Explore and infiltrate the school, get to know Cindy, speak with her mother to learn as much as they can, set her up with a date, defend her at the dance. Antagonists: Cindy (if the players make her mad). Her overbearing mother. The teachers (if they are not convinced that the players are who they say they are.) The bullies (they want to see Cindy miserable.) Action Scenes: Surviving Cindy's attacks, secretly dispatching of the bullies before they can ruin Cindy's night, keeping Cindy's mother calm while her daughter goes to the dance. Visuals: This is a straight-up homage to the classic Stephen King film. You can use elements from the 2013 version (which while I did feel was bad, it wasn't without some interesting concepts, just not taken full advantage of) but this is a story grounded in the seventies. Problems: Convincing Cindy to let the players help her, getting her to the right place at the right time, keeping her mother and bullies at bay, keeping up the act of filling out roles at the school (if the players wish to). Things To Prepare For: This is a straight-up Earthbound story. With the exception of the gemstone, there are no alien references here. This is a story set in the past which involves psychic powers as the only tie to any kind of sci-fi. It's also a story about the real monsters. Those who pick on others because of who they are. An issue I'm sure we all know and care about. If you haven't been bullied, you might know someone who has. The real monster isn't Cindy despite her giving in to darker tendencies the more she uses her powers; it's the people who try to control her life. Yet the problem is that they aren't Daleks, Cybermen, or any sort of alien. They're human beings being cruel to others. Make the players have to overcome them similar to tactics used in The Idiot's Lantern, or in The Zyggon Inversion. Here, words win wars. Continuing The Adventure: The gemstone landed in a little boy's backyard. He soon begins to see an 'imaginary friend' named Tony. Tony seems to know a lot about the future and starts influencing the boy. Could an alien of higher knowledge have slipped into the gem? How do they plan to use the boy to get what they want?
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Post by starkllr on Apr 28, 2017 21:10:35 GMT
Love these! Carrie is a great choice, and I like your approach to it.
In a similar vein, Firestarter would work well as a DW scenario:
A secretive government agency working with a visionary but evil scientist conducts experiments on unknowing college students to see if they can create psychic powers in humans. They drive a bunch of people crazy, cause the immediate death of some more, and produce low-level (and basically useless as weapons, which was the ultimate goal) abilities in two of the test subjects.
Who then fell in love and got married. And their child has demonstrated the potential for extraordinarily high-level powers that lend themselves readily to being weaponized. The government comes after the family; Mom is killed, while Dad escapes with the child, whose powers are growing exponentially as she ages (and is forced to use them to protect herself and Daddy). The pair is finally captured, brought to a secure facility for study, where the scientists do their utmost to force the little girl to use her powers to the fullest extent. This is a mistake, which most of the researchers pay for with their lives...
The story takes place in the late 1970's, but it doesn't really have to be tied to that era. Really, any time period after the 1940s could work (you'd be handwaving the science, but this IS Doctor Who we're talking about).
To make it fit into the Whoniverse, the secretive agency could be Torchwood (or as a more benign view, Torchwood - or UNIT - could be called in to hunt for the Firestarter and her father, or to clean up after the initial experiment).
The technology used in the experiment might be alien. The evil scientist could actually BE an alien (maybe a Slitheen, trying to create living Weapons of Mass Destruction; or the Rani, for any number of reasons). Or the scientist could be a plain old human and be using recovered alien nanotech or biotech.
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thereviewer
3rd Incarnation
Posts: 278
Favourite Doctors: Jodie Whittaker, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, David Tennant, Christopher Eccelston, John Hurt, Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Tom Baker, William Hartnell
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Post by thereviewer on Apr 29, 2017 20:23:23 GMT
Love these! Carrie is a great choice, and I like your approach to it. In a similar vein, Firestarter would work well as a DW scenario: A secretive government agency working with a visionary but evil scientist conducts experiments on unknowing college students to see if they can create psychic powers in humans. They drive a bunch of people crazy, cause the immediate death of some more, and produce low-level (and basically useless as weapons, which was the ultimate goal) abilities in two of the test subjects. Who then fell in love and got married. And their child has demonstrated the potential for extraordinarily high-level powers that lend themselves readily to being weaponized. The government comes after the family; Mom is killed, while Dad escapes with the child, whose powers are growing exponentially as she ages (and is forced to use them to protect herself and Daddy). The pair is finally captured, brought to a secure facility for study, where the scientists do their utmost to force the little girl to use her powers to the fullest extent. This is a mistake, which most of the researchers pay for with their lives... The story takes place in the late 1970's, but it doesn't really have to be tied to that era. Really, any time period after the 1940s could work (you'd be handwaving the science, but this IS Doctor Who we're talking about). To make it fit into the Whoniverse, the secretive agency could be Torchwood (or as a more benign view, Torchwood - or UNIT - could be called in to hunt for the Firestarter and her father, or to clean up after the initial experiment). The technology used in the experiment might be alien. The evil scientist could actually BE an alien (maybe a Slitheen, trying to create living Weapons of Mass Destruction; or the Rani, for any number of reasons). Or the scientist could be a plain old human and be using recovered alien nanotech or biotech. That is another great idea. Maybe I'll play this one as well. Again, never saw this film, but I have seen a number of Stephen King's adaptations. One of my favorites being his own made-for-TV-Movie take on The Shinning. I'm not saying I hate the Kubrick version, far from it. I like the slow-pace, the cinematography, and the quiet moments. The only real gripe I have with that film is the same problem King had upon its release; the casting of Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance. Remember; in the original novel Jack Torrance was a normal guy going insane over time. As Stephen King put it best "Jack Nicholson looked like he'd been insane for years before he even got to the Overlook Hotel." So I think in that regard, King's remake at least succeeds at telling the story he wanted to write correctly as we see more of Jack in a psychological battle between good and evil as opposed to Jack being insane and just letting it out without even bothering to question if what he's doing is wrong. But that's my opinion. I did talk with Nicola Bryant at ReGeneration Who 2 when I saw her there promoting a book she'd written and she agreed with me on this. As for more scenario seeds, here's a few ones you might like as well: The Greatest Sci-Fi Heroes (Based on The Last Action Hero)- Introduction: A rift from another world results in a young kid appearing alongside your characters. He says his name is Austin Madigan and that where he's from, the characters are all fictional. He shows them a toy Vortex Manipulator which turns out to be an actual one that the players learn was accidently left behind by a Time Agent and was never recovered. Unfortunately, one of the antagonists of the heroes has gotten the device and now finds themselves in Austin's universe. Now the villain is out to kill those who play the heroes in a roleplaying game and possibly those who make the show that inspired said game. Things To Do: Discovering this "Earth Prime," meeting the people who play them in a roleplaying game, getting into BBC Wales Antagonists: The Antagonist can be anyone you wish for whatever reason they have being here. The Cybermen once visited such a universe before (IDW's Grand Finale to their Doctor Who run The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who) maybe the one Cybermen who the Doctor sent home has given them the information on how to get here. On the opposite end, maybe one of the Daleks from the Battle of Canary Wharf managed to appear next to Austin after using an emergency temporal shift to escape. Whatever the case, this antagonist will want to exploit this universe for everything it has to offer. The protagonists might also have some trouble convincing the people of this Earth that they aren't insane as well. Action Scenes: Defeating the Antagonist in a world where they're not protected by "dice rolling" or "plot armor," breaking into BBC Wales, trying to defeat a foe without access to Torchwood, UNIT, or any other alien devices. Visuals: This a story set in our world. With the exception of what the antagonist might try to do, keep it as grounded as possible. I'd also recommend looking up photos of BBC Wales in Cardiff for visuals when exploring the studio. Problems: Convincing others they aren't insane and that a rogue alien has come to conquer their universe, the fact that the characters are not restricted by their players and GM means the stakes are raised even higher. Much more so if they succeed at destroying the show that inspired them. Things To Prepare For: This is the classic story of the broken barrier between fiction and reality. Besides Last Action Hero, I'd recommend checking out IDW's The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who One-Shot for information on how to play your game in the "real" world. Continuing The Adventure: How did the Time Agent's device get lost here? That makes for an interesting scenario seed on its own. And what happens now that the heroes have said vortex manipulator? Can he be trusted with it when it almost destroyed their world? The Lost Treasure (Based on The Goonies)- Introduction: The players land on a planet where they meet a couple who are worried sick about their two sons. Apparently they left to go and hang out with their friends, but it's already past Dinner Time and they're running late. Further investigations reveal that the kids have found a lost alien treasure and want to use it so that the brothers parents don't have to sell the house. To get to the treasure, they must first pass the tests the aliens left behind not to mention survive the thugs chasing them who are after the treasure for profit. Things To Do: Explore the underground network, solve the mysterious puzzles, bond with the kids as friends, discover the treasure and the ship that crashed with it, befriend the deformed and shunned (yet friendly to those who treat him well) member of the Luccindi Family, Johnny "Pride" Luccindi. Antagonists: The Luccindi Family: a family of space gangsters. Comprised of Joey (the youngest son), Roberto (the eldest son) and Francine (the Mother). While they are threatening and have dangerous weapons on them, they're not the best coordinated or brightest. They will try to use the heroes to solve the tests for them. Action Scenes: Jumping through hoops as you uncover the puzzles with devastating consequences, fighting the Luccindi's alongside "Pride," escaping with the treasure (if you are able to). Visuals: This is the chance to put "never say die" to the test. In addition to watching Goonies (if you haven't already), I'd recommend brushing up on old Indiana Jones stories as well as a bit of Sherlock Holmes, and top it off with the trials seen in The Pyramids of Mars for inspiration on how to make tests for the heroes to beat. Problems: Solving the tests while getting away from the Luccindi's. Getting out of the ship with enough money to help (getting in's one thing.) Things To Prepare For: This is pure 80's nostalgia at its finest. Kids are the heroes as much as your players are. Bad guys are incompetent, and someone who has a strange and different appearance turns out to be a great friend. This is the classic wish-fulfillment, so try to emphasize it on your players and let the other kids and "Pride" all have their own memorable moments. Continuing The Adventure: One of the kids mentions seeing a giant Octopus, but nothing appears to be there once the authorities check the cave out. Where might it have gotten to? Checking out Pride's backstory might not be a bad idea (you can even have Francine recognize the player despite them having never met her before. "You punks again?! I should've known. How's life been? I want to know how you've been able to live with yourselves before I kill ya!") The Building of Death (Based on Die Hard)- Introduction: The heroes are invited to a Christmas Party at an intergalactic business building. Unfortunately, that party is interrupted by a number of space thugs, and their leader...The Rani. The Rani claims that she's helping the space thugs on a suicide mission, but it's clear she wants something out of the building for her research. The players (who were not captured with the other guests when the thugs took over), must discover what it is and stop her from destroying the building. Things To Do: Survive the takeover, rally the people against the Rani, learn what it is she's after and if possible prevent her from leaving with it. Antagonists: The Rani (Kate O'Mara version), the Space Thugs (you can create each one's personality, but they've hired the Rani to help them kill everyone here. They have no interest in what the Rani's really after.) Action Scenes: Various fights with the thugs, using all means to prevent anyone from getting hurt, surviving the assault, getting rid of the explosives (or whatever you wish to use) that the Rani plans to kill everyone with. Visuals: Die Hard obviously. At it's core, this is a base under siege story ranked at 11 on a scale of 1-10. I recommend also using Dredd 2012 as an inspiration as its more-or-less the same kind of concept. Problems: Keeping the local authorities and other forces away so they don't get needlessly killed. The thugs will also begin to play dirtier and dirtier the longer the heroes go on and take each of them out. The safe which has the item the Rani's looking for is also deadlocked, not even the sonic screwdriver can get through it. Also, there's the major problem of saving everyone else and making sure that the Rani's devices don't go off. Things To Prepare For: I've written this not only as a tribute to Die Hard, but as a final story for Kate O'Mara's Rani. Like many, I was greatly sadden when I heard she passed. I thought she was an underrated villainess and that she could've had better stories that were sadly never told. I have listened to The Rani Elite, and while I enjoy Siobhan Redmond, I wished we could've at least gotten more of a regeneration scene. In the end, when the players realize what The Rani's after (you can choose what she wants for this), the thugs realize her second mission and in the ensuing chaos, The Rani gets gravely injured. Make sure to have the players notice her limping back into her TARDIS before leaving and then if you wish, have a regeneration scene in the end. This is also inspired by DWM's recently-concluded story "The Door to Hell" which features the Twelfth Doctor encountering Roger Delgado's Master and serves as a bridge in the gap between Frontier in Space and The Deadly Assassin, even showing the Delgado Master beginning to change into the "crispy Master" we later see in The Deadly Assassin. Continuing The Adventure: The players might want to get a safe place for the item that the Rani was after. Another way to continue the adventure is to have the players learn that the technology used to keep the item safe originally came from UNIT (specifically the Black Archives). Maybe you could run an adventure which reveals how the tech got adapted. As always, let me know what you think about these ideas! You're free to use them as well, and if you do let me know how they went!
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Post by starkllr on Apr 30, 2017 11:15:36 GMT
These are all great!
Another way to run The Lost Treasure would be as a convention game (or an introductory session for teenage players) where the players play the local kids as PCs, and the Doctor is an NPC.
For The Building of Death, one suggestion is that the thing the Rani is looking for in the building is actually her TARDIS (or a vital component needed to repair it). That guarantees she won't back off or give up regardless of what happens.
As a variation, the villain could be a human Rani who's in search of the fob watch (or whatever item) her Time Lord persona is stored in. She might not consciously know what she's looking for, and really believe she's only after the fortune locked away in the vault.
One of the hostages at the party should be someone important to the PCs. It could be a previous PC who's been retired, or a recurring NPC they've come to really like, or someone from the show.
For The Greatest Sci Fi heroes, I imagine the Land of Fiction (and the Master of the Land) could be another potential cause for the breach between universes. The Celestial Toymaker is another possibility here.
For a change of pace session, the GM could run the players regular characters as NPCs, and the players could play...well, themselves in the "prime" universe. Each player could stat him/herself up, or for extra fun, each player could stat up someone else in the group. Including the GM, of course (this would be a good opportunity if the regular GM wanted to take a break and let someone else run the game for a change)
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thereviewer
3rd Incarnation
Posts: 278
Favourite Doctors: Jodie Whittaker, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, David Tennant, Christopher Eccelston, John Hurt, Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Tom Baker, William Hartnell
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Post by thereviewer on Apr 30, 2017 18:10:20 GMT
These are all great! Another way to run The Lost Treasure would be as a convention game (or an introductory session for teenage players) where the players play the local kids as PCs, and the Doctor is an NPC. For The Building of Death, one suggestion is that the thing the Rani is looking for in the building is actually her TARDIS (or a vital component needed to repair it). That guarantees she won't back off or give up regardless of what happens. As a variation, the villain could be a human Rani who's in search of the fob watch (or whatever item) her Time Lord persona is stored in. She might not consciously know what she's looking for, and really believe she's only after the fortune locked away in the vault. One of the hostages at the party should be someone important to the PCs. It could be a previous PC who's been retired, or a recurring NPC they've come to really like, or someone from the show. For The Greatest Sci Fi heroes, I imagine the Land of Fiction (and the Master of the Land) could be another potential cause for the breach between universes. The Celestial Toymaker is another possibility here. For a change of pace session, the GM could run the players regular characters as NPCs, and the players could play...well, themselves in the "prime" universe. Each player could stat him/herself up, or for extra fun, each player could stat up someone else in the group. Including the GM, of course (this would be a good opportunity if the regular GM wanted to take a break and let someone else run the game for a change) Those are all great suggestions! If I ever go to ReGeneration Who again, I might just adapt your idea for The Lost Treasure story for a live introductory panel for Roleplaying and have The Doctor replaced with my Game's Time Lady, Kanya and her companion joining the kids. Also some great suggestions on how The Rani could be worked in. I'd prefer it though personally that she was looking for a component she needed. Just so that way it can still be the Kate O'Mara Rani we all remember. But the Chameleon Arc works fine too if you want to switch it up. I also think it would make sense that the PC's got an invite from an old friend or someone who'd be well known like in the original. Here's two more ideas from two more movies: Culling (Based on Cabin in the Woods)- Introduction: The PC's arrive on a forest-planet and find a cabin there. Going inside, they meet a bunch of college kids on an interplanetary vacation who invite the players to hang with them. Things get weird when they discover a creepy basement filled with all sorts of strange artifacts. Despite the player's instance to put everything away and not mess around, the preppy socially awkward girl reads from a book which apparently reanimates cannibal hillbilly corpses. Except the corpses are actually androids. Further investigation reveals that there's a whole prison of androids based on all sorts of horror villains. But there's one real monster buried deep bellow the planet and the player's discover might just doom the universe. Things To Do: Party with the college kids, discover the secret facility, learn more about the ancient deity. Antagonists: The Cannibal Hillbilly Corpse Androids, Various Horror Movie Villain Androids, "The Facility," and most importantly; the Deity. This should be the big bad to end all big bads. You can use The Beast, Sutekh, or create a new alien race based on any other high-powered godlike being. Action Scenes: Escaping and fighting off the Cannibal Hillbilly Corpse Androids, attempting to escape the planet (they have access to a transduction barrier), letting loose the creatures in the prison and letting them battle it out with everyone and everything, finding a way to take care of the Deity without there being any loose ends. Visuals: Prepare to let your Joss Whedon-isms shine through when running this game. You can have all sorts of creatures inside the prison. They can be from Doctor Who's rich history (be it TV, Comics, or even Audio Dramas), creatures you've created and have encountered before, new creatures, or even have representations of horror slashers both past and present. The Cabin should be foreboding and the facility underneath clean and pristine like it belongs within a Stanley Kubrick movie. Problems: In addition to the transduction barrier, there's also various outlets that the facility releases drugs into. These will dull your senses and make you slightly dumber, so be prepared to roll awareness and spend extra story points (unless your a Time Lord.) Also, as the PC's just showed up out of nowhere, the Facility will classify them as "dead meat" and want to take care of them as quick as possible so as to not interrupt the ritual. Then there's also the problem of stopping the entity. Things To Prepare For: This is essentially The Satan Pit/The Beast Below mixed with Joss Whedon's legendary wit and satire that shines through best in Cabin in the Woods. This is as he and Drew "I almost won an Oscar for The Martian" Goddard best described it; "a loving hate letter" to the slasher genre. This is a scenario to get really meta about slasher films (or just bad films in general), and give an explanation as to why they happen (beside the GM). The other important thing is what to do with the creature if it gets out? How might they stop it? Maybe they can trap it in a rift-loop within the void, trapping the Deity within for all eternity. Remember; despite the Facility killing people for years, they still did so in order to save everyone else. Most of the people who work here have families who probably hate them for being so secretive. They have kids who want their parents to watch them grow up. The main villain is really the creature that has forced them to do this for so long. Obviously, you must watch Cabin in the Woods and the different analysis's that people have made about the film to run this properly. Continuing The Adventure: With the deity defeated, the facility is exposed and put on trial. Unfortunately, some families of the victims want to see justice for those lost and plan an assassination that will kill millions unless the PC's can stop them. Island of the Monsters (Based on Kong: Skull Island)- Introduction: The players land on a planet covered in mostly clouds save for the center where a floating island landmass is. An expedition team has had their ship crashed by a giant monster. After investigating, they realize there is a civilization on the planet and a human who has lived among them for years. He explains the monster that brought down their ship is the god of these people and is the last of his kind. There are lots of other monsters and if everyone wants to get off alive, they need to work together. Things To Do: Explore the titular Island of the Monsters, help the expedition team catalogue everything they need to record, meet the natives, witness all the strange creatures of this world. Antagonists: One of the soldiers suffering from PTSD, who is now hell-bent on killing the monster that downed their ship. All the hostile giant monsters that roam this planet. Action Scenes: Surviving encounters with the creatures, getting off the planet, trying to stop the soldier from killing the last monster of its kind. Visuals: This is one that goes out to all fans of Kaiju or giant monsters in general. You can have them Kong-based, Godzilla-based, or go all-out and create your own. Make sure they are unique and look like what might happen if Doctor Who had the same budget for making giant monsters as Godzilla 2014 and Kong: Skull Island did. The natives can be a mixture of both the 2005 and 2017 Kong movies, or you can design them as you please. This is obviously a futuristic crash-land-and-get-off story similar to how Kong: Skull Island was. Be sure to treat the expedition team like the futuristic types of people we see on Doctor Who these days mixed with the team from Kong: Skull Island. Problems: Stopping the soldier from killing the Island's Protector, surviving being in the middle of titanic battles, getting everyone off the island and planet. Things To Prepare For: Obviously watch Kong: Skull Island to get the meat of how this adventure should be run. I'd also recommend watching Godzilla 2014 and any monster movies in general for inspiration of how to play. Make these creatures seem diverse and jaw-dropping just by the visuals alone. Then ramp it up with larger-than-life battles while those not-as-large try to save the creatures of this world. Continuing The Adventure: A wealthy game-hunter learns of the planet and goes to bag the last monster of its kind as a Tourist Attraction. It's up to the heroes to rescue the creature and bring it back before it can do serious damage off-world.
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thereviewer
3rd Incarnation
Posts: 278
Favourite Doctors: Jodie Whittaker, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, David Tennant, Christopher Eccelston, John Hurt, Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Tom Baker, William Hartnell
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Post by thereviewer on May 4, 2017 13:43:37 GMT
Got some more ideas for repurposed movie adventure seeds here. These ones are based on two horror films that, in my opinion, are criminally underrated. Plus one that I think is really bad, yet could have been fixed if the creators had put just a little bit of effort into the story.
The Ghost and The Dance (Based on Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II)-
Introduction: The players arrive at a local high school (circa 1980's), where the annual prom is about to take place. Unfortunately it appears that one girl named Joanne is claiming to have seen ghosts. Eventually, she is locked away inside a room, but emerges supposedly all better. The truth of the matter is that she has been taken over by a bein made of pure psychic energy that was once human (think The Great Intelligence mixed with Lady Cassandra O'Brien during the events of New Earth when she was able to body-jump.) The girl was once known as Jerri Schue, who attended the school 30 years ago. Jerri's father actually worked for Torchwood and was using the school as a base of operations. Unfortunately, during the high school prom of the 50's (when Jerri was crowned as Prom Queen), her immature boyfriend (who was quite drunk at the time of the prom) tried to hide a homemade stink bomb inside an alien device's generator. The whole thing went up in flames and shot up a column of fire from directly beneath Jerri. In the end, she was presumed to have died but in actuality, is now living as a being of pure psychic energy who has taken over Joanne's mind. The players must find a way to free Joanne from Jerri's control without actually killing either of them.
Things To Do:
Learn about the death of Jerri Schue, try to find a way to free Joanne, infiltrate prom night. If you want to play up the Torchwood angle, this would be a great opportunity to bring Captain Jack Harkness into the mix, having him show up to investigate. If you're feeling really bold, you can even have a Torchwood reunion by having the holy trinity of Torchwood (Jack, Gwen, and Ianto) show up to investigate the problem.
Antagonists:
Jerri
Action Scenes:
There aren't really a lot of action scenes for this story that I think can work in here. Though you can mold it to include more if you're willing. One idea is that if one of your characters has a psychic trait though, you can go into Joanne/Jerri's Mind in an attempt to bring Joanne back out. This results in a new location that I'll get to in a little bit.
Visuals:
Much like Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, this is a story that blends two different periods together; the 50's and the 80's. While it is set during the 80's (and thus characters and sets should look like they come from that era), once Jerri takes over, she begins to live life like it is still the 50's (I'll get into this more in the next part) by dressing in clothes from that period and using terms from that era when she speaks. If one of the player's has a psychic trait and decides to try and go into Joanne's mind, they'll end up in a bizarre hybrid world crossed between Joanne and Jerri.
Problems:
Although the main antagonist, and although she is killing those who failed to save her when she burned back in the 50's, Jerri's killings are actually unintentional. The process has left her kind of confused as to where she is and what exactly has happened. When she swapped places with Joanne, she wrote 'HELP' on the blackboard and made Joanne want to help her. Once that was done, she was able to posses her body, but in the process, lost part of her memory. She only knows that she hates those who failed to save her and still believes no time has passed. Once her boyfriend (now serving as the Principal), makes her realize that 30 Years have passed since she died, it becomes a battle for the mind as Joanne tries to fight back in order to reclaim her body. As I previously mentioned, should the players try to go inside Joanne's mind to help bring her to the forefront of her mental state, they'll find a strange hybrid world. It appears to be a dark decaying version of the High School from the 50's (think Silent Hill's Otherworld mixed with The Upside Down from Stranger Things,) mixed with fantasies that a young girl from the 80's would have (workout gyms, tropical beaches, etc.) The psyche of Joanne can't handle Jerri, and its tearing her mind apart. Finally, there's the little problem of trying to convince people that Joanne has a psychic being in her head.
Things To Prepare For:
To get a better idea of this adventure, I'd recommend watching Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II. I'd also recommend watching Stranger Things and looking to the original Silent Hill for inspiration on how to run the scenes inside Joanne's head once Jerri takes over.
Continuing The Adventure:
What other experiments was Jerri's Dad working on? This might be an opportune time for the players to do a crossover scenario with Torchwood where they investigate any remaining tech that Jerri's Dad might've been studying. If one of your players wants to leave, you could even have them exit to become head of their own Torchwood branch and have their first Campaign be about tracking down the remaining tech.
The Actor and the Alien (Based on the 1974 film Madhouse)-
Introduction: The players arrive at a British Film Studio in the 70's. They meet a famous British horror actor who is preparing for a new TV series based off of his most famous horror role; Death's Messenger. Unfortunately, there's a lot of controversy surrounding this new series as the actor had been accused of murdering his fiancé several years prior. Although he doesn't remember killing her, and some drunken kids even claim to have seen someone dressed as Death's Messenger sneaking out of the house that night. As production on the series begins, dead bodies start turning up with one thing linking them together; they all have in some way or another, been an annoyance or nuisance towards the actor either by intention or not. The studio informs him that should this keep up, he will be replaced by up-and-coming actor Rese Matth. The players soon learn that Matth is actually The Master (Delgado version) and that he has his own ideas for the series premiere.
Things To Do:
Meeting the famous horror actor, seeing the sets and inner-workings of the studio, discovering the Master and foiling his plot.
Antagonists:
The Master (Delgado version). He plans to take on the role and then subliminally brainwash people from the TV to do his bidding.
Action Scenes:
Outmaneuvering any traps The Master might have left, confronting the Master head-on.
Visuals:
This is a story grounded in the 70's, so make sure everything represents that era.
Problems:
The Master has quite a strong influence over some of the people at the studio. Even those who aren't under his control might have a hard time swallowing that an alien from another world wants to hijack their show. More importantly, the actor who played Death's Messenger might be doubting his own sanity as a result of all the deaths piling up.
Things To Prepare For:
I'd obviously recommend watching the 1974 film Madhouse for this one to get a better idea of how to run this campaign.
Continuing The Adventure:
It turns out that The Master didn't leave everything untouched. He implanted a device into one of the cameras. Eventually, the people who turn off their TV's find that a glowing white dot appears once it's turned off. The dot then falls out of the screen and becomes a human-sized thin cylinder composed of pure static electricity. What is the being, and can the players hope to avoid casualties on both sides?
Logical Lovers (Based on Prom Night III: The Last Kiss)-
Introduction: Tim Grey is an average-graded high school student who dreams of becoming a medical student. Unfortunately, Tim was born with ADHD, and that makes getting the grades he needs a challenge. Even having a caring girlfriend, Cynthia Monroe, Tim is worried that he will forever remain where he is. One night, he receives a Social Media Friend request from a girl named Celia Taylor. Answering it, he finds himself smarter and better than he was before. He's able to make the top of the honor's roll and play football better than anyone else on the team. Sadly, while he is smarter than he was previously, he becomes more emotionally distant from his friends, his family, and Cynthia. This is eventually revealed to be the work of The Great Intelligence. He's back again and looking for another body to inhabit, deciding to incite Tim with both love and knowledge, before springing a trap where he will send an attractive android to be the physical representation of "Celia" and eventually use her to swap places with Tim.
Things To Do:
Investigate the school, discover the Great Intelligence, try to break Tim of his dependence on "Celia."
Antagonists:
The Great Intelligence, "Celia," (possibly Tim if things get bad).
Action Scenes:
Trying to hold Tim back from giving himself over to "Celia" and in-turn, The Great Intelligence.
Visuals:
This is a story grounded in the modern-day much like The Bells of Saint John was.
Problems:
Tim is becoming more and more dependent on "Celia." She's giving him more and more reason to give himself over to her. Although he loves Cynthia and cares for his family and friends, she's giving him a way to overcome his ADHD in ways he never thought possible. Also, if The Great Intelligence is able to take over, then the players must find a way to reverse the process if possible.
Things To Prepare For:
Talk to the players to make sure they're all right with playing this story. ADHD is obviously a sensitive subject to some people, and it is important to make sure nobody will be offended during your game.
Continuing The Adventure:
With The Great Intelligence gone, everything should go back to normal, right? WRONG. It turns out Tim is seeing Celia in both daydreams and dreams in general. It turns out that Celia has somehow become a separate entity from the Great Intelligence and wants Tim for herself. Now the players must find a way to help Tim overcome a nonexistent woman who wants him by whatever means necessary.
Let me know what you think of these ideas!
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thereviewer
3rd Incarnation
Posts: 278
Favourite Doctors: Jodie Whittaker, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, David Tennant, Christopher Eccelston, John Hurt, Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Tom Baker, William Hartnell
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Post by thereviewer on Oct 27, 2018 18:50:33 GMT
So with October 31st right around the corner, I'd thought I'd share my idea for another scenario based on a movie. This time, it's a film that is either admired or hated by people depending on who you ask; Halloween III: The Season of the Witch. For those unfamiliar and uninitiated, Halloween III was meant to take the Halloween franchise in a new direction without Michael Myers. The idea would be each new entry would have a different location, set of characters, and plots with the binding theme being that it all tied in to the holiday of Halloween. Of course, it didn't go as planned and all that ended up happening was them bringing back Michael Myers before splitting the timeline into four separate versions (also, I have not yet seen Halloween 2018, so please no spoilers yet). Anyways, here's my idea for adapting Halloween III: The Season of the Witch into your DWAITAS Campaign:
The Masks we Wear (Based on Halloween III: The Season of the Witch)-
Introduction: Halloween is upon us again. It is the time when children and adults alike dress up in costumes and masks and have fun for one night. However, as the PC's arrive in a quaint part of Earth in the present-day for the season, they find some mysterious new masks being sold that are the hot new costume this year. Yet they seem no different from any dollar-store Jack-O-Lantern or Skellington Mask. The creator, Tater Hems, is heard on the radio calling to kids and adults alike to go out and buy these masks. Then mysterious murders start to happen where people who put the mask on are found dead with their skulls having been crushed while wearing the masks.
Things To Do:
Go around town, discover who is behind this, prevent a global genocide from taking place.
Antagonists:
The Autons who are molded into the masks to allow them to crush people upon a signal. There is also Tater Hems. He's a future time-traveler who's trying to destroy Halloween and prevent violence from taking place in the future. Basically, he's the equivalent of Richard Heffner the former head of the MPAA who made Wes Craven's movie career hell with cut demands under the assumption that horror films are to blame for bad influence on children (which is not entirely untrue, but as Wes Craven pointed out in his New Nightmare movie; society at large is often quick to point the finger at the quickest thing to blame for violence, instead of looking at all the factors that led to someone seeing such a movie as a whole. Again, it's not that the argument that horror has influences doesn't hold up, but more times than not it is the only source of blame for bad behavior rather than looking at other things that could influence someone to become violent.)
Action Scenes:
Trying to warn the world about the masks, fighting the Autons, defeating Tater Hems.
Visuals:
The Auton Masks are cheap masks that you'd usually be able to find at any convenient store in October. Nothing special or fancy. The Factory where they are being made is an 80's style industrial factory. Think the location of the penultimate battle in Robocop where Alex Murphy gets his revenge on those who killed him.
Problems:
How to convince people during the one time of the year which is known for scaring others to be all "it's just a prank, bro," also, Tater has come prepared. He's not going to let anyone stand in the way of his plans.
Things To Prepare For:
I'd recommend watching Halloween III: Season of the Witch if you haven't already. It's an underrated movie, and while I understand some of the criticisms lobbied against it, I feel it at least keeps the feeling of the season alive in there. A lot of the themes involve children, children's interests, corporations, paranoia, and mythology. If you can take those away from the movie and translate them into your adventure, you should be good to go!
Continuing The Adventure:
Maybe the PC's get word of other strange occurrences happening after saving the day; Gelth in New York, Slitheen Trick-Or-Treating, etc.
Let me know what you think!
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Post by starkllr on Nov 6, 2018 15:06:25 GMT
I love the take on Halloween III.
One note of warning - if you do watch the movie in preparation/inspiration for running this adventure, the Silver Shamrock song will lodge itself in your brain, and nothing short of a full lobotomy will remove it.
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thereviewer
3rd Incarnation
Posts: 278
Favourite Doctors: Jodie Whittaker, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, David Tennant, Christopher Eccelston, John Hurt, Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Tom Baker, William Hartnell
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Post by thereviewer on Nov 6, 2018 20:07:18 GMT
I love the take on Halloween III. One note of warning - if you do watch the movie in preparation/inspiration for running this adventure, the Silver Shamrock song will lodge itself in your brain, and nothing short of a full lobotomy will remove it. Well, either that or a straight-up MIB Neuralyzer will do the trick most likely. Otherwise, you'll end up like Youtuber FilmMasterAdam did at the beginning of his Halloween 4 Review. Go watch it to see what I mean.
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thereviewer
3rd Incarnation
Posts: 278
Favourite Doctors: Jodie Whittaker, Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi, David Tennant, Christopher Eccelston, John Hurt, Paul McGann, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Tom Baker, William Hartnell
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Post by thereviewer on Dec 12, 2018 3:58:45 GMT
In lieu of no Christmas Episode this year, here's another scenario based on one of the few other film I can call a great Christmas/Halloween film besides Krampus:
Trick-Or-Treat Yourself A Very Merry Christmas (Based on The Nightmare Before Christmas)-
Introduction: The PC's are back on Earth for Christmas. However, strange occurrences are happening. Reports of a living skellington dressed in a Santa Suit are in the area, and he's leaving some nasty Christmas "goodies." The PC's have to try and track him down, discover what he is, and figure out how to save Christmas.
Things To Do: Track down the mysterious Santa Imposter, learn his origins, find a way to bring order back to what has now become a very psychological damaging Christmas.
Antagonists: Killer Presents (Stat to your liking), The Skellington Santa (if the PC's can't reason with him), the local authorities (if the PC's get in their way of defending the Santa Imposter).
Action Scenes: Fighting back against Evil Toys, Presents, and other warped Holliday Items. Catching up with the surprisingly speedy skellington (GOD, I love alliterations). Staying one-step ahead of the law.
Visuals: I would recommend re-watching a lot of Tim Burton films (probably the best ones to prep would be Batman Returns, Edward Scissorhands, & [of course] The Nightmare Before Christmas) to get an idea of what the warped Holliday Items should be like.
Problems: It turns out the skellington was an eccentric scientist's creation; the ultimate Halloween decoration/butler. Unfortunately, the scientist has recently died before the skellington could be given more proper etiquette and social skills. Wanting to do more than be scary, the skellington discovered a book on Christmas and wants to spread Christmas joy to everyone. Unfortunately, because of its unprogrammed features, the Holliday items are actually warped and evil. Basically, the skellington is misunderstood, not realizing how his own creations are causing harm. It's not helped that a warrant has been put out to bring him or kill him.
Things To Prepare For: Not really much I can offer other than to remember that this isn't a simple "good vs evil story." It's a story about someone who wants to do good and doesn't realize that his flaws are hurting others.
Continuing The Adventure: In the aftermath of "saving Christmas," the PC's discover the professor made one last creation; a boy with scissors for hands who is now apparently missing.
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