[Scenario Seed] The Black Death
Apr 13, 2022 8:17:29 GMT
drinkplentyofmalk and soultaker666212 like this
Post by Catsmate on Apr 13, 2022 8:17:29 GMT
The Black Death.
That is the film set during plague, rather than the plague itself.
It's pretty terrible. Full of logical inconsistencies, basic errors of history1, poor acting, nonsensical plot et cetera2.
The plot, such as it is, is this: England is rife with plague, the dreaded Black Death but a village is mysteriously plague free. So a bishop sends a Hospitaller Knight (Ulric, curiously without surcoat) and a few soldiers to investigate the allegation that a necromancer is responsible.
They find the village, guided by the protagonist Osmund, and there the villagers are aware of their reason for arriving, the soldiers are drugged. Osmund find his lover dead, but then she’s revived. Meanwhile the soldiers are given the choice of renouncing their god or being killed messily. Almost everyone dies as the plague arrived with the soldiers.
In fact the village had been saved by it’s isolation.
The saving grace of the film is this line (regarding where the plague came from):
So let’s Who-ify the story.
1. Re-set it in the winter of 1350. People are cold, desperate, dying and hungry. Law and Order, such as it was, is breaking down4.
2. The PCs arrive. For some reason they don't then leave rapidly for warmer, safer and less infectious climes.
3. They proceed, naturally on foot, either with or following Ulric. There may be a visit to the monastery (I can see Doctor I browbeating the Abbot5), for information, shelter or mercury.
If they choose to follow Ulric, for curiousity or rescue purposes, they may acquire a monastic guide of their own. This has plenty of opportunities for him to come to believe the party to be some kind of sorcerers.
4. They arrive at the village. Now here the GM will need to have decided on what's going on:
5. The denouement. If you're keeping with the theme of the film there will be blood and death a plenty. Osmundand Langiva survive but pretty much everyone else will die, on-screen or off. Plague comes to the village, And Osmund is changed.
Comments? Suggestions?
1. One of the most annoying points to me, as it could have been fixed with a minute's basic research, was the setting on 1348 when the Black Death had only a limited spread in Britain. Late 1350 would have been far more logical. Not to mention match the weather better.
2. Not to forget the the lack of tonsure of the protagonist (England's oldest novice), the over-use of rats (and the wrong kind of rats), the plating to the stereotypes of the 'Middle Ages' with mud on everything. Or the costumes, armour, and swords.
Then there are the technical flaws; the over-use of night scenes, complete with dramatic flaming torches, the dodgy lighting, the awful set design and decoration for the monastery. Oh, and the trees.
3. And stuck in the mobile torture cage on the cart,
4. In all seriousness it's difficult to comprehend quite how disruptive the Black Death was. Image one in three people today simply setting sick and dying with no discernible cause or treatment, seemingly nothing able to stop the horror.
5. A terribly wasted David Warner.
That is the film set during plague, rather than the plague itself.
It's pretty terrible. Full of logical inconsistencies, basic errors of history1, poor acting, nonsensical plot et cetera2.
- And don’t get me started on the “plague doctor”. Wrong period (by 300 years), wrong design and really, really, unlikely in a monastery.
The plot, such as it is, is this: England is rife with plague, the dreaded Black Death but a village is mysteriously plague free. So a bishop sends a Hospitaller Knight (Ulric, curiously without surcoat) and a few soldiers to investigate the allegation that a necromancer is responsible.
They find the village, guided by the protagonist Osmund, and there the villagers are aware of their reason for arriving, the soldiers are drugged. Osmund find his lover dead, but then she’s revived. Meanwhile the soldiers are given the choice of renouncing their god or being killed messily. Almost everyone dies as the plague arrived with the soldiers.
In fact the village had been saved by it’s isolation.
The saving grace of the film is this line (regarding where the plague came from):
From France, where all foul thing emerge.
So let’s Who-ify the story.
1. Re-set it in the winter of 1350. People are cold, desperate, dying and hungry. Law and Order, such as it was, is breaking down4.
2. The PCs arrive. For some reason they don't then leave rapidly for warmer, safer and less infectious climes.
- Refer to the Big List reasons for the TARDIS party to stick around; maybe one of them is captured by the investigating party3, and they try to rescue him/her. Maybe they need mercury for the fluid links, a good reason to visit the monastery as it'd be their only like source. Maybe the TARDIS is captured
- With willing players, or a lot of Insatiable Curiousity, they might decide to investigate the 'necromancer' willingly. Or maybe they detect anachronistic emanations.
3. They proceed, naturally on foot, either with or following Ulric. There may be a visit to the monastery (I can see Doctor I browbeating the Abbot5), for information, shelter or mercury.
If they choose to follow Ulric, for curiousity or rescue purposes, they may acquire a monastic guide of their own. This has plenty of opportunities for him to come to believe the party to be some kind of sorcerers.
4. They arrive at the village. Now here the GM will need to have decided on what's going on:
- There might be a stranded alien or time traveller who's decided to help save the village from the pestilence, famine and chaos. Keeping it isolated, improving food production and medicine et cetera. OK they need to be stopped to preserve history but they're a good person at bottom. Of course Good Is Not Nice.
- Or the interloper could be purely selfish. Stranded perhaps, and using the isolated village as a hideout. Or harvesting the villagers, and any passers-by, as slaves (to unbury her time machine?), food (psychic or physical) or minions. There may be a background plot to use the chaos of the Black Death as part of a power-grab plot. Or they may simply want to depart the period. This is an excuse for 'resurrected' zombies to enter the game...
- Or Langiva may have had contact with time travellers and learned a few things. Hence the isolation to prevent infection, and a few bits of anachronistic knowledge. Like that extremely effective sedative drug. Maybe she has some psychic gifts and learns that the party are time travellers and wants something from them.
- Or Langiva might simply be an intelligent individual using the plague to improve her position.
5. The denouement. If you're keeping with the theme of the film there will be blood and death a plenty. Osmundand Langiva survive but pretty much everyone else will die, on-screen or off. Plague comes to the village, And Osmund is changed.
Comments? Suggestions?
1. One of the most annoying points to me, as it could have been fixed with a minute's basic research, was the setting on 1348 when the Black Death had only a limited spread in Britain. Late 1350 would have been far more logical. Not to mention match the weather better.
2. Not to forget the the lack of tonsure of the protagonist (England's oldest novice), the over-use of rats (and the wrong kind of rats), the plating to the stereotypes of the 'Middle Ages' with mud on everything. Or the costumes, armour, and swords.
Then there are the technical flaws; the over-use of night scenes, complete with dramatic flaming torches, the dodgy lighting, the awful set design and decoration for the monastery. Oh, and the trees.
3. And stuck in the mobile torture cage on the cart,
4. In all seriousness it's difficult to comprehend quite how disruptive the Black Death was. Image one in three people today simply setting sick and dying with no discernible cause or treatment, seemingly nothing able to stop the horror.
5. A terribly wasted David Warner.
