Ravenous Role Playing

I watched Zombieland on Monday night, and it really inspired me to run a game in that setting. I know that many people would see the iconic pose captures as a graphic novel snippet, but when I saw the various encounters the characters went through, I found them to be more role playing related than graphic novel related. The four main characters were definitely a role playing group drawn together by common goals, and they were so distinct and different that I could see individual influences on their creation, just like PCs in a typical role playing game.

There were a plethora of skills and backgrounds used in the movie. Most of the skill checks seemed to be combat related, which fit wonderfully with a role playing session. While we all enjoy making a group, interacting with NPCs (go Bill Murray!) and having those simple conversations while on long trips, most role playing sessions seem to revolve around the next fight. In the movie’s case, the fights were wonderfully done, and I wonder if there’s going to be a sequel to the movie. It was just done so perfectly that I could see a second one coming about in the near future.

Now, the quandary I have is this one: What system to use? I really don’t like d20. I never have. Not enough skills to pick from. D&D 4e is obviously out without massive modifications and at that point, you may as well make your own system. This leaves some modern and/or generic systems to use. I could see Top Secret S/I as a possible game system. GURPS and Hero are in the mix as well. I could even see MechWarrior being used, but retrofitted to make it work in a modern world. Twilight 2000 anyone? That would most certainly fit, I think.

What about the folks out there? Gaming system recommendations for Zombieland?

PS: I know this isn’t a true adventure hook, but I was so, well, hooked by the movie that it seemed to fit for a post along these lines. If you’re curious about the plot, scenes and world of the movie, I highly recommend going to see it. Just keep the children away from it. It’s way to gory, gritty, realistic and adult for the wee ones.

The circus has come to town along with all of its animals, clowns, jugglers, acrobats and other performers. Unfortunately for the town several of the more dangerous animals have escaped from captivity and are now roaming the town. The ringmaster of the circus hires the PCs to gather the animals and return them to their cages. Of course, the circus wants them back alive. Meanwhile, the town has put a bounty out on the animals that are wreaking havoc in the town and wants them dead. The PCs are in a race against others to capture the critters before they are slain.

Many thanks to Terry Brooks for inspiring today’s adventure hook… and apologies to him if he’s upset that I’ve blatantly stolen from one of his fine novels and adopted the idea for my use.

One of the PCs enters a contest to win a “Magic Kingdom” and has won the grand prize! The entrant decided there was no way to win an actual kingdom of magic, and just wrote it off as an advertising gimmick until a representative of the prize staff arrived with keys to the castle, a deed to the lands and directions on how to get there. The PC then calls up his favorite friends (presumably the other PCs in the game) and takes them on a grand adventure from the mundane world to a world filled with faeries, unicorns, magicians and more!

How will the modern-day men and women of the world handle being exposed to the magical creations of this other land? Do they have magical abilities of their own that are dormant in the mundane world? How will the people of the magical kingdom accept their new king and ruler?

What game system would work best for this hook? GURPS/Hero are the obvious answers. Any others? I may actually take this hook and develop a campaign based on it, but I don’t know if I could talk my players in playing themselves.

This is a purely science fiction adventure hook. As a matter of fact, it almost solidly lands in the space opera genre.

An unmanned cargo ship from the asteroid belt arrives at Earth’s moon to be offloaded for processing. However, it arrives completely empty. The ship’s logs show that it left with a full load of iron ore and no one docked with the ship between its departure and arrival. Any calls made to the mining operations will result in little information beyond the bewilderment of the shipping company’s employees. The PCs are hired to investigate the mysterious disappearance of millions of dollars of iron ore.

What happened to the cargo? Are the ship’s logs accurate? How did the cargo magically disappear? What will the PCs find in the shipping lanes between the moon and the asteroid belt? If the PCs make it all the way to the belt, what will they find there?

This is a great hook for a modern setting where magic is possible, but rare. I can see this mainly being used with GURPS and/or Hero system.

A new neighbor has moved in next door to the PCs (or one of the PCs if they live separately) and he’s a strange old man. He seems harmless, but strange noises and lights emanate from his house at all hours of the day and night. The sounds are not loud enough, nor are the lights bright enough to interrupt sleep, but they are still strange. A week or two after he moves in, the PCs encounter another neighbor who claims that the old man is Merlin from the Arthurian legends and has setup shop in this quiet area. The neighbor wants the man out of the area before knights questing for the Holy Grail, round tables or damsels in distress begin marauding through the streets. The friendly neighbor implores the PCs to do something about Merlin before bad things start to happen.

What really is going on in the old man’s house? Is he really Merlin? Is he casting magic, or just practicing his pyrotechnics and light shows? What will the PCs do about the goings-on in the house?

I’m thinking of a far future setting for this one, but the hook could probably be adapted for modern or, with some effort, a past/fantasy setting.

Electricity has gone out for the past week in the area the PCs live in. All of their portable devices (cell phones, PDAs, laptops, computers, etc.) are running low on battery juice, and their fully electrical cars are out of charge. Chaos is rapidly descending on the area as everyone else is in the same predicament. The PCs are hired by the local officials to investigate the cause of the blackout and to bring it to an end. They have to do so without much of their technology in hand, or they have to scrounge up enough battery power to keep their devices running. If their cybernetic implants run off of batteries that recharge from the local power grid, they’re also in for a world of hurt as their implants begin to fail.

This is a bit of a rip-off from… well… many different sources. It’s not an original idea, but it works well for the start of an adventure and/or campaign. I’ve done this to myself as a player a couple of times, and it was always fun to do.

The PCs (or maybe just one or two of them) wake up in the morning with no idea of who they are or where they came from. All of their skills and abilities are intact, except for those relying on memories or knowledge.

Who did this to them? Was it intentional or accidental? What triggered the amnesia? How are they going to regain their former memories… if at all?

This could apply to pretty much any genre or time period out there. It’s not horribly original, but I think it’s a topic that’s left overlooked: putting the PCs on the defensive.

A new group has recently arrived in town and seems to have all of the officials in their back pockets. The problem is they are extorting all of the local businesses (which includes friends of the PCs) for “protection money.” What are the PCs going to do about it without getting on the wrong side of the law?

The PCs awake to find themselves trapped in a bottle. It’s not very apparent to them right away what is going on (this is a great chance for a GM to describe the setting and allow the players to muddle it out.)

Once the PCs figure out their circumstances and fail to gain egress from the bottle a few times, the bottle rattles, shakes and then they suddenly find themselves in a well-appointed room laid out in a Middle Eastern style. A large blue genie stands over them and orders them to do his bidding. The genie is quiet amused by the turn of events and seems to relish in making the PCs dance and do his tasks.

How will the PCs get out of their predicament? What will the genie have them do? How many tasks must they perform before the genie, if ever, lets them out of the bottle for good?

Many thanks to Brad for this great idea. I complained that I was having a dry moment and just could not think of a hook. He came up with this one, and I loved it. Here it is.

An old wizard with too many years behind him has fallen into the grips of dementia. He comes screaming into the local tavern claiming robbery. All of his spell components are missing! Nothing of great value, such as his magical items, gold hoard, or priceless works of art, have been taken. Only his spell components are missing. Many people dismiss his ravings as those of a forgetful old man. Many of the locals claim this is not the first time he’s used up all of his spell components while experimenting with new spells, and ignore him. He storms up to the PCs table and offers to make them all a unique magic item if they find the thieves and return his collection of strange and rare spell components.

Do the PCs ignore the man? Do they take advantage of his dementia, agree to the job and find some lackeys to claim to be the robbers? Do they frame someone and buy the man new components? Perhaps the robbery is real and the PCs are on the trail of someone trying to destroy all local magicians’ abilities to cast most spells?