[Scenario Seed]The Siege of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre

[Catsmate]

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The Siege of Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre

So, I was re-watching an episode of The Brittas Empire (S04E01, Not A Good Day)¹) where the leisure centre comes under siege from a group of Roman troops² (mainly the Tenth Legion³ and a force of Parthian mercenaries⁴).

• There was also an (off screen) elephant.
  

The episode also featured a couple of sub-plots, with a minor celebrity (the athlete and then Member of Parliament Sebastian Coe) locked in a basement after being mistakenly accused of theft, and a small child crawling in the ducting.

• However there was no explosion and fire in this episode. Though these could easily be added; a box of fireworks and a leaking oil tank featured in a prior episode...

And it struck me, wouldn’t this make a wonderful scenario idea?

Veteran running star Sebastian Coe, MP, is in the leisure center for a grand opening, but not only finds it's just a toilet they name after him, everybody keeps running off, chasing an 8-year old boy for not paying a 20 cent ticket; Coe even gets caught with his foot in a dead man's bicycle lock while he must urgently get to parliament. Meanwhile Carol's toddler son Ben has escaped by sawing his way out of the cupboard she keeps him in while trying desperately to apply Mr. Brittas' countless tariff rules, so she and Helen bait a trap cage for him. The arrested kid's father mobilizes his friends in an Ancient Warfare Society where he is centurion to literally lay siege on the center, and the police refuses to turn up again for at least a week. As Gordon refuses to surrender the boy, the Ancient troops take and damage the center by force.

The 'Romans' could be modern-day people, reenactors, who were posessed by something or otherwise under a malign mental influence (something like The Malus that featured in The Awakening). Or they could be actual Romans (the Carthaganians seem an unlikely mix) transported through time (accidentally or deliberately; the latter happened of course several times in The Time Monster).

Or the leisure centre could be transported in time, perhaps to Roman Britain, and space (anywhere) and come under siege by a Roman force.

• A fairly common trope, of the Island in the Sea of Time type.
  

Now, this being the 'modern day' (more-or-less) UK there won't be any firearms lying around (though Linda was pretty handy with her compound bow), so it's probably better if the Romans are mostly an 'off-stage' threat for most of the scenario, to avoid the inevitable slaughter/capture of everyone by the armed and battle-hardened Legionnaires. Also the force should be kept to a century or two.

• Maybe those fireworks are available? After all the idea worked in The Time Warrior.
  

Thsi strikes me as a sceanrio eminently suited to the Misfit Mob. Mysterious occurrances in a suburban leisure centre are not a high priority, so IT7TI is assigned the job and have to leave the safe confines of the office to investigate. Of course if they don't know about the peculiarities of the centre, and Gordon Brittas's special regime, they'll have experience some problems early in the investigation.

But what has happened? Is the leisure centre built on a temporal fault line? Has someone been meddling with things people shouldn't meddle with? Is Colin building a Barrlyght Oscillator in the boiler room to save on heating costs? Is Julie actually a shape-shifted alien⁵?

• There's a guide to the characters of the series here.
• Given that an xmas special featured the future selves of the characters the GM has the option to have them appear also, dragged back by the temporal flux.
  

Other episodes can be mined for additional material; for example if more firepower is needed then the drug dealers are having an exchange on site that goes wrong and there are a few handguns (and possibly more) around.

Campaign.

Then again, perhaps the hapless staff of the leisure centre are the protagonists of the game (either as a one-off or as a campaign), dealing with the weirdities of the leisure centre. Are the authorities aware of the site? Is that why they keep paying for it's expensive rebuilding, despite the awful reviews and terrible attendence figures?


Comments? Ideas? Suggestions?

1. Available on YouTube here.

2. Led by "the centurion of the tenth legion, fourth cohort, sixth maniple" which is a little inaccurate for the period....

3. Legio X was one of the two legions which Caesar took to Britain during his first invasion.

4. Though there was also a Carthaganian force with a battering ram....

5. She does remind me a bit of Ms. Quill.

[grinch]

I honestly never thought I'd see an adventure seed based on the Brittas Empire. But what can I say? It works!

I do like the idea of Whitbury Leisure Centre being at the centre of some great temporal fault line. Perhaps repeated exposure to the fault line is the reason behind some of strange activities in the Leisure Centre and the equally eccentric behaviour of the staff?

In any case, I find the image of some of the Misfit Mob attempting to interrogate Gordon Brittas and then being left simply baffled him rather amusing.

[soultaker666212]

Sept 21, 2022 13:22:13 GMT grinch said:

I honestly never thought I'd see an adventure seed based on the Brittas Empire. But what can I say? It works!

I do like the idea of Whitbury Leisure Centre being at the centre of some great temporal fault line. Perhaps repeated exposure to the fault line is the reason behind some of strange activities in the Leisure Centre and the equally eccentric behaviour of the staff?

In any case, I find the image of some of the Misfit Mob attempting to interrogate Gordon Brittas and then being left simply baffled him rather amusing.

I like the idea of a location being on some form of line, tie it into Ley Lines perhaps and say Whitbury Leisure Centre lies upon one of these Ley Lines and well causes the strange effects around them, hell some of the patrons of the Leisure Centre may not even be from this planet at all.  

[Catsmate]

Sept 21, 2022 13:22:13 GMT grinch said:

I honestly never thought I'd see an adventure seed based on the Brittas Empire. But what can I say? It works!

I do like the idea of Whitbury Leisure Centre being at the centre of some great temporal fault line. Perhaps repeated exposure to the fault line is the reason behind some of strange activities in the Leisure Centre and the equally eccentric behaviour of the staff?

In any case, I find the image of some of the Misfit Mob attempting to interrogate Gordon Brittas and then being left simply baffled him rather amusing.

Thanks! It was a bit of a weird one for me too. And ideal for the Misfit Mob I think.

I like your idea regarding 'overspill' from the rift/line/whatever effecting the staff. Perhaps some of them arrived from a different universe entirely.

[grinch]

Sept 21, 2022 13:49:58 GMT Catsmate said:

Sept 21, 2022 13:22:13 GMT grinch said:

I honestly never thought I'd see an adventure seed based on the Brittas Empire. But what can I say? It works!

I do like the idea of Whitbury Leisure Centre being at the centre of some great temporal fault line. Perhaps repeated exposure to the fault line is the reason behind some of strange activities in the Leisure Centre and the equally eccentric behaviour of the staff?

In any case, I find the image of some of the Misfit Mob attempting to interrogate Gordon Brittas and then being left simply baffled him rather amusing.

Thanks! It was a bit of a weird one for me too. And ideal for the Misfit Mob I think.

I like your idea regarding 'overspill' from the rift/line/whatever effecting the staff. Perhaps some of them arrived from a different universe entirely.

When it comes to Brittas, I could see someone believing due to his strange behaviour that he is some alien badly posing as a human. Only to be completely flabbergasted when it turns out he is completely and utterly human! (Must admit, the thought of Brittas being the spokesperson for humanity against some alien visitors is a funny one...)

And when it comes to members of the staff, I could see the Misfit Mob approaching Laura considering she seems the most normal and stable of the staff.

Although, if they do end up coming to the conclusion that some temporal fault line is responsible for the bizarre activities at the Leisure Centre, I could see the Misfit Mob beating a hasty retreat before it starts to have an effect on them!

[Catsmate]

Sept 21, 2022 19:18:40 GMT grinch said:

Sept 21, 2022 13:49:58 GMT Catsmate said:

Thanks! It was a bit of a weird one for me too. And ideal for the Misfit Mob I think.

I like your idea regarding 'overspill' from the rift/line/whatever effecting the staff. Perhaps some of them arrived from a different universe entirely.

When it comes to Brittas, I could see someone believing due to his strange behaviour that he is some alien badly posing as a human. Only to be completely flabbergasted when it turns out he is completely and utterly human! (Must admit, the thought of Brittas being the spokesperson for humanity against some alien visitors is a funny one...)

And when it comes to members of the staff, I could see the Misfit Mob approaching Laura considering she seems the most normal and stable of the staff.

Although, if they do end up coming to the conclusion that some temporal fault line is responsible for the bizarre activities at the Leisure Centre, I could see the Misfit Mob beating a hasty retreat before it starts to have an effect on them!

Indeed, having Brittas as an alien seems a bit of a cop-out to me. He's gloriously human....

[grinch]

Sept 21, 2022 21:13:30 GMT Catsmate said:

Sept 21, 2022 19:18:40 GMT grinch said:

When it comes to Brittas, I could see someone believing due to his strange behaviour that he is some alien badly posing as a human. Only to be completely flabbergasted when it turns out he is completely and utterly human! (Must admit, the thought of Brittas being the spokesperson for humanity against some alien visitors is a funny one...)

And when it comes to members of the staff, I could see the Misfit Mob approaching Laura considering she seems the most normal and stable of the staff.

Although, if they do end up coming to the conclusion that some temporal fault line is responsible for the bizarre activities at the Leisure Centre, I could see the Misfit Mob beating a hasty retreat before it starts to have an effect on them!

Indeed, having Brittas as an alien seems a bit of a cop-out to me. He's gloriously human....

Just wait until he inevitably encounters the likes of Doctor Meyer or Mentoz! I think that would lead to a few interesting conversations at least with the latter. 

[Catsmate]

Sept 22, 2022 10:14:30 GMT grinch said:

Sept 21, 2022 21:13:30 GMT Catsmate said:

Indeed, having Brittas as an alien seems a bit of a cop-out to me. He's gloriously human....

Just wait until he inevitably encounters the likes of Doctor Meyer or Mentoz! I think that would lead to a few interesting conversations at least with the latter. 

Oh yes, that's an excellent idea for an Xmas Special, a crossover adventure with The Brittas Empire, Meyer and associates, and the Misfit Mob. I must comb out a few more ideas from the series.

[Catsmate]

A bit of research suggests several other elements that could be mixed in to a BE scenario:

• 'Action Girl' Linda has police riot gear and a pump-shotgun squirrelled away. Plus a compound bow...
  
• Thirty bags of chlorate based weedkiller and a lot of sugar, in case a bomb is neeeded.

• Colin's 'little room' in the sub-basement has potential as a centre of Mad Science.
• Carole's son Ben can do the 'Pied Pier' for rats
• Helen tends to have violent psychotic episodes
  
• The aforementioned drug dealers should appear
• An souped-up mobility scooter shoudl appear, possibly as some form of cavalry
• Plenty of pool cleaning chemicals around: chlorine
• Someone is stalking Brittas, unrelated to the other matters
• Colin is late for something
  

Hmmm....

[grinch]

Personally, I’m now just wondering whether the cybernetics that were used to reconstruct Brittas after he was crushed by a water cooler were of the Cybermen kind.

Mind you, if he were to interface with the Cyber Planner that would be one means of bringing down a Cybermen invasion.

[Catsmate]

Sept 22, 2022 16:42:09 GMT grinch said:

Personally, I’m now just wondering whether the cybernetics that were used to reconstruct Brittas after he was crushed by a water cooler were of the Cybermen kind.

Mind you, if he were to interface with the Cyber Planner that would be one means of bringing down a Cybermen invasion.

That's a fascinating possibility, a bit like Inspector Gadget perhaps?

[grinch]

Sept 22, 2022 17:31:38 GMT Catsmate said:

Sept 22, 2022 16:42:09 GMT grinch said:

Personally, I’m now just wondering whether the cybernetics that were used to reconstruct Brittas after he was crushed by a water cooler were of the Cybermen kind.

Mind you, if he were to interface with the Cyber Planner that would be one means of bringing down a Cybermen invasion.

That's a fascinating possibility, a bit like Inspector Gadget perhaps?

Hah, that’s a fun idea. 

Would explain how indestructible Brittas seems to be.