[Scenario Seed] From the Headlines: The Missing in London
Aug 29, 2017 10:30:40 GMT
Marnal, misterharry, and 2 more like this
Post by Catsmate on Aug 29, 2017 10:30:40 GMT
Based on this piece in The Guardian. Missing in London: inside TfL's lost property office
A fascinating article, describing a little known part of London’s transport infrastructure that handles the nearly half-a-million things that are lost and found within the London public transport system each year.
Keys and wallets, umbrella and mobile phones, televisions and stuffed gorillas. And much more besides.
This struck me as a fascinating idea for a game. The office could be a background element when a PC or NPC has mislaid the MacGuffin of the week and the party must recover it in time to prevent the alien invasion/treat the sick child/dismiss the Elder God/convict the criminal/pay their rent et cetera.
While the public don’t normally get beyond the customer service desk above the three levels of storage space underneath Baker Street station maybe the players are in a hurry and need to infiltrate the storage levels and search for the item. They're all neatly sorted and categoried, but in a system that only the staff understand.
Then there’s the possibility for a weirder scenario. The Underground is a world of its own underneath London, complete with abandoned tunnels and stations and its own ecosystem. There have been plenty of tragedies down there too; from the men who died digging the tunnels to other disasters.
Maybe it doesn’t just link places in current-day London. There could be weak-spots in space-time through which objects and people may pass. And lose stuff that ends up in the LPO. Is that that a prop Cybertron zapper from Professor X or a Cyberweapon lost in ’86? Was that folder stuffed with papers covered in off squiggles lost by a student or a careless Laundry operative due for a chat with Angleton...
If it looks strange and doesn’t end up in a bin it’ll probably end up in the LPO. And maybe someone is aware of this, UNIT, Torchwood, the Secret Office...
Another idea is the disposal of item's that have been found; after three months they're legally the property of Transport for London and some are auctioned off or given to charities. Maybe one of the umbrellas found and handed out to the public on rainy days belonged to the Seventh Doctor. Or a lost pocket watch or 'prop' blaster is auctioned off to a collector who might mind themselves with more than they'd expected.
Of course TfL also includes the bus system, were those 'obviously fake' jewels someone bought for a few pounds actually the property of a Russian oligarch, stolen and abandoned by an aristocratic jewel thief, who now want them back. And do they have strange properties?
And the stuffed gorilla? It’s still there three years later and named Eddie. He’s the mascot of the LPO and has appeared in an advertising campaign for the Night Tube. But maybe he's just waiting...
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?
A fascinating article, describing a little known part of London’s transport infrastructure that handles the nearly half-a-million things that are lost and found within the London public transport system each year.
Keys and wallets, umbrella and mobile phones, televisions and stuffed gorillas. And much more besides.
This struck me as a fascinating idea for a game. The office could be a background element when a PC or NPC has mislaid the MacGuffin of the week and the party must recover it in time to prevent the alien invasion/treat the sick child/dismiss the Elder God/convict the criminal/pay their rent et cetera.
While the public don’t normally get beyond the customer service desk above the three levels of storage space underneath Baker Street station maybe the players are in a hurry and need to infiltrate the storage levels and search for the item. They're all neatly sorted and categoried, but in a system that only the staff understand.
Then there’s the possibility for a weirder scenario. The Underground is a world of its own underneath London, complete with abandoned tunnels and stations and its own ecosystem. There have been plenty of tragedies down there too; from the men who died digging the tunnels to other disasters.
- I've been meaning to turn my Underground notes into a proper seed for a while.
Maybe it doesn’t just link places in current-day London. There could be weak-spots in space-time through which objects and people may pass. And lose stuff that ends up in the LPO. Is that that a prop Cybertron zapper from Professor X or a Cyberweapon lost in ’86? Was that folder stuffed with papers covered in off squiggles lost by a student or a careless Laundry operative due for a chat with Angleton...
If it looks strange and doesn’t end up in a bin it’ll probably end up in the LPO. And maybe someone is aware of this, UNIT, Torchwood, the Secret Office...
- Plenty of stories, books and scenarios have used the idea of Ghost Trains operating in the Underground, or weakspots through which people could fall. The Cutting for Forgotten Futures, The Crimes of Thomas Brewster features a portal within the tube network, The Doom Train by Chaosium and of course C7's own Ghost Engines.
Another idea is the disposal of item's that have been found; after three months they're legally the property of Transport for London and some are auctioned off or given to charities. Maybe one of the umbrellas found and handed out to the public on rainy days belonged to the Seventh Doctor. Or a lost pocket watch or 'prop' blaster is auctioned off to a collector who might mind themselves with more than they'd expected.
Of course TfL also includes the bus system, were those 'obviously fake' jewels someone bought for a few pounds actually the property of a Russian oligarch, stolen and abandoned by an aristocratic jewel thief, who now want them back. And do they have strange properties?
And the stuffed gorilla? It’s still there three years later and named Eddie. He’s the mascot of the LPO and has appeared in an advertising campaign for the Night Tube. But maybe he's just waiting...
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?
