[Campaign/Scenario Seed] The Tour Guide.

[Catsmate]

“No my dear gentlesoph there are two distinct meaning to the word ‘Turkey’. One is a nation state on Earth and the other is a large, flightless avian, edible to Tellurians, traditionally roasted and consumed at the midwinter feast.

It would be most unwise to confuse them.”

Ah, tourists. One of the irritations of life. at least for those those of us living in places they congregate. Rambling around, headless of local etiquette, congregating in awkward places, asking stupid questions and generally getting in the way. Coming great distances to 'see the sights'.
Sometimes they might come from really far away.


Adam Tayler had always had a passion for history, though it'd not be enough to pay the bills, and eventually became a part-time tour guide in the city of Ansbert¹.
He guided groups around the city, regaling them with an unusually² accurate description of the city's history, spiced with anecodes and oddities. People from all over the planet Earth.
Then one day he encountered some really odd people, supposedly preparing for a forthcoming special tour group.
Fairly quickly he realised that their knowledge of Canada was bad, worse than his; and he'd never set foot in their supposed homeland...


Even since the loss of the Titanic during its visit to Earth there were further restrictions put in place on visitors to the planet; soon however those restrictions will be relaxed. So the TerraQuest corporation has ambitious plans. And now it has a human to help…




Campaign basis.
A sequel to Voyage of the Damned. with aliens on Earth. Just not to invade³.

The PCs are friends or acquaintances of Adam, perhaps university students doing a summer job. Or else staff hired by him to staff a small agency.
Probably slightly comedic in tone, though there's room for pathos, tragedy and drama.

Ideas.
Having to cope with aliens, unaccustomed to Earth culture. Medical, dietary, cultural gastronomic problems.

• "They consume animal flesh down there!!!"
  
• Finding lost or misplaced tourists.
  
  
• "They grow their you8ng inside them" <retch>
• Finding tourists who're planning criminal acts on Earth.
• "You mean you have to use your hands!?"
• Finding tourists who're engaging in criminal acts on Earth (from stealing salt to eating humans)
• Dealing with aliens legally resident on Earth.
  
• Dealing with government agencies such as UNIT.
• Time travellers
• Malfunctioning shimmers.
• Poorly programmed shimmers: "Woh, identical sexturplets". 
• Illnesses either of the aliens, or caused by them. Allergies to terrestrial tobacco smoke, cleaning products or the hydrogen cyanide needed by certain metabolisms.
• Wanting to ‘adopt a Terran pet’
• Wanting to ‘adopt a human’ 
• Losing a pet brought to Earth, legally or not.
• Questions over AI rights. 
• Alien technology lost or stolen on Earth.
• Aliens paying with extraterrestrial currency: "That's a ten Narg note!". Or "Is this enough?" Drops a hundred gramme gold block on the counter"
• ALiens wanting to participate in human sports and games.

Then there's the issue of "The Secret" wearing thin. Crowds panicking after seeing lizard creatures caused by a malfunctioning disguise⁴. Injuries leading to indigo blood spilt or incapacitated non-humans taken to hospital. Problems with human fanatics and conspiracy theorists like Clive.





Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?





1. Name courtesy of the City name generator
2. Most tour guides are really bad on actual history, as opposed to the superficial tourist-friendly bits.
3. Mostly.
4. Perfect for certain actual conspiracy nuts.

[grinch]

I definitely think this sort of idea would work as a comedic game. Although, as you said, there's plenty of room for pathos. I could imagine a game like this concluding with the PCs and Adam gathering in their local drinking establishment and musing philosophically over a pint. Or two. They might just be tour guides but they're now part of something much greater. I could also see such a group having to deal with rival tours such as the time-travelling Navarinos (A particularly busy savvy PC might see this as an opportunity to nick some tech and expand the business across history.) or being investigated by the Shadow Proclamation for possibly harbouring an alien fugitive in one of their groups.

"Honestly, we're just tour guides!"

[thereviewer]

Jan 28, 2020 12:22:16 GMT Catsmate said:

“No my dear gentlesoph there are two distinct meaning to the word ‘Turkey’. One is a nation state on Earth and the other is a large, flightless avian, edible to Tellurians, traditionally roasted and consumed at the midwinter feast.

It would be most unwise to confuse them.”

Ah, tourists. One of the irritations of life. at least for those those of us living in places they congregate. Rambling around, headless of local etiquette, congregating in awkward places, asking stupid questions and generally getting in the way. Coming great distances to 'see the sights'.
Sometimes they might come from really far away.


Adam Tayler had always had a passion for history, though it'd not be enough to pay the bills, and eventually became a part-time tour guide in the city of Ansbert¹.
He guided groups around the city, regaling them with an unusually² accurate description of the city's history, spiced with anecodes and oddities. People from all over the planet Earth.
Then one day he encountered some really odd people, supposedly preparing for a forthcoming special tour group.
Fairly quickly he realised that their knowledge of Canada was bad, worse than his; and he'd never set foot in their supposed homeland...


Even since the loss of the Titanic during its visit to Earth there were further restrictions put in place on visitors to the planet; soon however those restrictions will be relaxed. So the TerraQuest corporation has ambitious plans. And now it has a human to help…




Campaign basis.
A sequel to Voyage of the Damned. with aliens on Earth. Just not to invade³.

The PCs are friends or acquaintances of Adam, perhaps university students doing a summer job. Or else staff hired by him to staff a small agency.
Probably slightly comedic in tone, though there's room for pathos, tragedy and drama.

Ideas.
Having to cope with aliens, unaccustomed to Earth culture. Medical, dietary, cultural gastronomic problems.

• "They consume animal flesh down there!!!"
  
• Finding lost or misplaced tourists.
  
  
• "They grow their you8ng inside them" <retch>
• Finding tourists who're planning criminal acts on Earth.
• "You mean you have to use your hands!?"
• Finding tourists who're engaging in criminal acts on Earth (from stealing salt to eating humans)
• Dealing with aliens legally resident on Earth.
  
• Dealing with government agencies such as UNIT.
• Time travellers
• Malfunctioning shimmers.
• Poorly programmed shimmers: "Woh, identical sexturplets". 
• Illnesses either of the aliens, or caused by them. Allergies to terrestrial tobacco smoke, cleaning products or the hydrogen cyanide needed by certain metabolisms.
• Wanting to ‘adopt a Terran pet’
• Wanting to ‘adopt a human’ 
• Losing a pet brought to Earth, legally or not.
• Questions over AI rights. 
• Alien technology lost or stolen on Earth.
• Aliens paying with extraterrestrial currency: "That's a ten Narg note!". Or "Is this enough?" Drops a hundred gramme gold block on the counter"
• ALiens wanting to participate in human sports and games.

Then there's the issue of "The Secret" wearing thin. Crowds panicking after seeing lizard creatures caused by a malfunctioning disguise⁴. Injuries leading to indigo blood spilt or incapacitated non-humans taken to hospital. Problems with human fanatics and conspiracy theorists like Clive.





Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?





1. Name courtesy of the City name generator
2. Most tour guides are really bad on actual history, as opposed to the superficial tourist-friendly bits.
3. Mostly.
4. Perfect for certain actual conspiracy nuts.

I don't know why, but I could also actually see this as being like a reverse version of the movie Galaxy Quest. For those who missed out on this wonderful gem of a movie, it's basically 'What If the actors from Star Trek actually had to go into space for real' due to a group of aliens receiving the transmission of this old sci-fi show and mistaking it for historical documents, and going on to create the utopia and ships seen in the show. I could see an alternative for this adventure being that the alien tourists have been given the wrong information and are going around asking normal people for help.

Great idea you got, Catsmate ! If it's all right with you, I'd like to try and run this at some point in my sessions.

[Catsmate]

Jan 28, 2020 18:17:59 GMT grinch said:

I definitely think this sort of idea would work as a comedic game. Although, as you said, there's plenty of room for pathos. I could imagine a game like this concluding with the PCs and Adam gathering in their local drinking establishment and musing philosophically over a pint. Or two. They might just be tour guides but they're now part of something much greater. I could also see such a group having to deal with rival tours such as the time-travelling Navarinos (A particularly busy savvy PC might see this as an opportunity to nick some tech and expand the business across history.) or being investigated by the Shadow Proclamation for possibly harbouring an alien fugitive in one of their groups.

"Honestly, we're just tour guides!"

Oh yes, having to deal with a Judoon "investigation" of one of their clients perhaps? Complete with an "undercover" rhinoid cop accompanying the party...

[Catsmate]

Jan 28, 2020 19:43:04 GMT thereviewer said:

Jan 28, 2020 12:22:16 GMT Catsmate said:

Ah, tourists. One of the irritations of life. at least for those those of us living in places they congregate. Rambling around, headless of local etiquette, congregating in awkward places, asking stupid questions and generally getting in the way. Coming great distances to 'see the sights'.
Sometimes they might come from really far away.


Adam Tayler had always had a passion for history, though it'd not be enough to pay the bills, and eventually became a part-time tour guide in the city of Ansbert¹.
He guided groups around the city, regaling them with an unusually² accurate description of the city's history, spiced with anecodes and oddities. People from all over the planet Earth.
Then one day he encountered some really odd people, supposedly preparing for a forthcoming special tour group.
Fairly quickly he realised that their knowledge of Canada was bad, worse than his; and he'd never set foot in their supposed homeland...


Even since the loss of the Titanic during its visit to Earth there were further restrictions put in place on visitors to the planet; soon however those restrictions will be relaxed. So the TerraQuest corporation has ambitious plans. And now it has a human to help…




Campaign basis.
A sequel to Voyage of the Damned. with aliens on Earth. Just not to invade³.

The PCs are friends or acquaintances of Adam, perhaps university students doing a summer job. Or else staff hired by him to staff a small agency.
Probably slightly comedic in tone, though there's room for pathos, tragedy and drama.

Ideas.
Having to cope with aliens, unaccustomed to Earth culture. Medical, dietary, cultural gastronomic problems.

• "They consume animal flesh down there!!!"
  
• Finding lost or misplaced tourists.
  
  
• "They grow their you8ng inside them" <retch>
• Finding tourists who're planning criminal acts on Earth.
• "You mean you have to use your hands!?"
• Finding tourists who're engaging in criminal acts on Earth (from stealing salt to eating humans)
• Dealing with aliens legally resident on Earth.
  
• Dealing with government agencies such as UNIT.
• Time travellers
• Malfunctioning shimmers.
• Poorly programmed shimmers: "Woh, identical sexturplets". 
• Illnesses either of the aliens, or caused by them. Allergies to terrestrial tobacco smoke, cleaning products or the hydrogen cyanide needed by certain metabolisms.
• Wanting to ‘adopt a Terran pet’
• Wanting to ‘adopt a human’ 
• Losing a pet brought to Earth, legally or not.
• Questions over AI rights. 
• Alien technology lost or stolen on Earth.
• Aliens paying with extraterrestrial currency: "That's a ten Narg note!". Or "Is this enough?" Drops a hundred gramme gold block on the counter"
• ALiens wanting to participate in human sports and games.

Then there's the issue of "The Secret" wearing thin. Crowds panicking after seeing lizard creatures caused by a malfunctioning disguise⁴. Injuries leading to indigo blood spilt or incapacitated non-humans taken to hospital. Problems with human fanatics and conspiracy theorists like Clive.





Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?





1. Name courtesy of the City name generator
2. Most tour guides are really bad on actual history, as opposed to the superficial tourist-friendly bits.
3. Mostly.
4. Perfect for certain actual conspiracy nuts.

I don't know why, but I could also actually see this as being like a reverse version of the movie Galaxy Quest. For those who missed out on this wonderful gem of a movie, it's basically 'What If the actors from Star Trek actually had to go into space for real' due to a group of aliens receiving the transmission of this old sci-fi show and mistaking it for historical documents, and going on to create the utopia and ships seen in the show. I could see an alternative for this adventure being that the alien tourists have been given the wrong information and are going around asking normal people for help.

Great idea you got, Catsmate ! If it's all right with you, I'd like to try and run this at some point in my sessions.

Go ahead, I'm curious as to how it'd work. The Doctor How stories might be useful too.

[starkllr]

Fun idea!

Some additional complications for our intrepid Tour Guides:

An alien who got stranded on Earth trying to tag along on a tour in hopes of getting off Earth when the rest of the tourists go back to their home planet. Bonus points if the alien is a wanted fugitive who was exiled to Earth rather than simply stranded due to bad luck.

Undercover operatives from a rival tour company in the tour group. Maybe they're just conducting a bit of slightly underhanded market research, or maybe they're sabotaging the tour in order to shut down their competition (or maybe something far worse).

Undercover operatives from the Shadow Proclamation, or from the equivalent of an interstellar Consumer Protection Agency, working to ensure that the tour follows all applicable laws and regulations.

Mystery shoppers!

A certain renegade Time Lord and their companions showing up in a tour group.

[Catsmate]

Jan 29, 2020 17:58:30 GMT starkllr said:

Fun idea!

Some additional complications for our intrepid Tour Guides:

An alien who got stranded on Earth trying to tag along on a tour in hopes of getting off Earth when the rest of the tourists go back to their home planet. Bonus points if the alien is a wanted fugitive who was exiled to Earth rather than simply stranded due to bad luck.

Undercover operatives from a rival tour company in the tour group. Maybe they're just conducting a bit of slightly underhanded market research, or maybe they're sabotaging the tour in order to shut down their competition (or maybe something far worse).

Undercover operatives from the Shadow Proclamation, or from the equivalent of an interstellar Consumer Protection Agency, working to ensure that the tour follows all applicable laws and regulations.

Mystery shoppers!

A certain renegade Time Lord and their companions showing up in a tour group.

I like them!.

[grinch]

For some reason, I’m imagining a Stolen Earth crossover with the good people working at Coco’s Delivery Service...

[Catsmate]

Aug 30, 2021 18:29:32 GMT grinch said:

For some reason, I’m imagining a Stolen Earth crossover with the good people working at Coco’s Delivery Service...

I like that!
Yes, definite possibilities of a cross-over with Coco's. Maybe a package is intended for one of the tourists? 
Or they may need to arrange transport to orbit with Global Deliveries Incorporated ("Oh no, not you lot again"). Or deliver something to Jimmy (who hates time travel and gets a headache even thinking about a paradox).

[grinch]

Heh. I like the idea that the vast majority of the staff at Coco's have a rivalry with the people working at Global Deliveries Incorporated. Even if the respective owners get on fairly well with one another.

Having Jimmy pop up could be fun. Especially if he encounters the resident Time Sensitive working at Coco's. The latter of whom might offer him some headache tablets. "You too, eh?" or "You think you've got it bad? I'm juggling about sixteen temporal possibilities up here!" Gestures to head.