lessthanpleasedAll right, I know that no one posts here anymore, but, hopefully, some dedicated readers will reply to this.
I’m about to start a new UA campaign over the summer down here in Baton Rouge, LA, and I’m looking for ideas to help me out. The feel of the type of game I’m planning on running is Twin Peaks-ish, with the goal of scaring my players out of their minds.
Here are the X Factors: several of the PCs planning on playing are notorious D&D power-gamers, and I can’t tell them no. Here’s the solution that I’ve come up with: pre-made PCs. I am gonna come with as many crazy PCs as possible to preserve game-balance, etc. The players are all cool with the idea of getting handed a character sheet with a bare minimum of character bio, and like that they are expected to do the best.
So, I’m looking for as many kooky Street Level PC ideas as possible.
Secondly, I am planning on running as non-linear of a game as possible to attract as many non-traditional Role-Players as possible: including (gasp) women. So, what I am coming up with is a town that is not unlike Twin Peaks itself: everyone has a secret. Things there can be as surreal and odd as possible: I’m planning on weaving everything together into a cohesive whole. So, please go crazy with the “cannibalistic love pacts,” “alien abductions,” hauntings, etc. Nothing is too weird.
Also, any random ideas or thoughts would be appreciated: I’m a little out of practice with the GMing, and most of my friends that I brainstorm with in Baton Rouge plan on playing the campaign. So, go hog wild.
Thanks a lot in advance.
lessthanpleased=lessthanpleased
AegyptoA few ideas on characters (some of them come from my own games):
– A retired killer trained by the CIA who is obsessed with the “perfect shot”: The instant of where the universe fits into place as shooter, bullet and target become one. In game terms, this character may have a Soul skill like “Zen Gunman” allowing for some funky gun-fu effects.
– An anthropologist who pissed off some African sorcerer during a field trip, and woke up one morning with an elaborate tattoo on his back -staring too long at the intrincate, wicked patterns can cause headache. Since then, he’s been struck by all sorts of misfortunes. Surgery won’t erase the tattoo, by the way.
– A sci-fi writer who is being stalked by a group of weirdos – they claim that his writings contain hidden truths and messages from God. Alternatively, the PC may be one of the weirdos.
– A weirdo who believes that logos are mystical sigils and can affect anyone who comes into contact with them. He only wears plain unmarked clothes, never eats at McDonalds, and has meticulously scratched any logo or trademark from his few non-generic possesions.
– A transgendered character who skipped town after a misunderstanding involving five kilos of uncut cocaine, corrupt cops and a severed hand in a freezer. Always carries a .357 in the purse, just in case.
More later.
lessthanpleasedAwesome Ideas, I’m definitely going to use them. I especially love the gunman obsessed with the perfect shot.
Another idea that I’ve been thinking of for one of the PCs is a take on something a former GM and I threw around: we called it “That Bitch Stole My Heart.”
Basically, the PC was in a bar one night, and the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen went home with him and banged his brains out: best sex ever. He wakes up the next morning to find her gone, but seems to be okay. He notices that, when doing strenuous exercise, he seems to be much more resilient than ever: maybe getting laid had a positive effect on his will to “Feel the Burn,” maybe not.
Of course, he was in for a shock when he went to the doctor for his last checkup: the doctor couldn’t find a pulse. X-Rays, etc. reveal that he doesn’t have a heart: that bitch stole it. He’s perfectly fine, defies medical wisdom, and needs to find the bitch that stole his heart: it’s his, dammit, and he wants it back.
Of course, he’s not the only one looking for her.
And who knows what she’s using all of these hearts for…
Walter– A cocky martial arts champion who was paralyzed in a car accident. He now devotes himself more to the spiritual side of martial arts and has discovered a knack for something akin to astral projection.
– A child in a terrible home with abusive parents. Something in the closet whispers to the child at night, telling the child to do things; the child is too terrified of it to disobey. The monster, you see, wants out, and the child is its only way.
– An avatar of the two-faced man who is an FBI agent working undercover in the Mafia. The only problem is, these days, he’s having trouble remembering which he originally was: made man or government agent.
– A janitor at some sort of high tech facility who is mentally retarded. The lab boys asked him if he wanted to volunteer for an experiment, and he gladly did. He hasn’t gotten any smarter (no flowers for Algernon here), but ever since the experiment, electronic devices have acted very strangely whenever he’s around.
– A borderline crazy musician – the kindn who can play nearly any instrument known to man. You know the type. He’s been getting packages in the mail containing sheet music with instructions to play the music on piano and record it. The music is beautiful and disturbing, and hordes of cats gather outside his house when he plays it.
lessthanpleasedThese are out of this world, Walter.
I think the kid is brilliant, and I was looking for a way to include a kid or two in the PCs’ pool to choose from.
Quick question for those who have some ideas: The group I’m running is mostly male players, but I intend to have a lot of female characters to choose from. Is it worth the trouble to deal with a player who might cave in to stereotypes.
Sidenote: the last player to play a character of an opposite gender in a campaign was me, and the game was D&D. I never caved into the stereotypes and played her as a real person, so they know it can be done.
The question is, then, should I even give these power gamers the option? I want to, because I think they all have potential to be great UA players: otherwise I wouldn’t even play with them or invite them to game with me.
Any feedback would be appreciated, and please keep the PC ideas/storyline hooks coming.
lessthanpleased=lessthanpleased
Mr UnluckyOther ideas:
— A blind serial killer who tracks by “second sight”-type senses; he marks his prey with astral parasites and homes in on them. His methods are increasingly brutal and specific: he can smell fear at fifty paces.
— Local researcher breaks the barrier between the spirit world and the real world in a unique fashion: a pair of ghosts trapped in a sheet of crystalline glass, able to split the barrier for ten seconds an hour, twice a day.
— Carjacker is used as someone’s proxy. Said person is a Dipsomancer, who was supposed to be taken to the House of Renunciation. As a result, the carjacker is now robbing banks so he can buy cars, which he forces onto people at gunpoint.
— Computer guru and techno-geek finds a set of computer speakers which allows him to listen to someone’s thoughts, if he has their IP address and current email address. Downsides: first one he tuned into drove him insane; who knew the Freak had an email address, anyways?
— bag of dogs’ heads appears near the players home. Almost as disturbing as the man leading a brace (of 20) Border Collies, sans heads, directly towards them. The heads bark, but don’t make noise.
— Local mall shopper is now intangible and invisible, but in desperate need of insulin (he’s a diabetic). If the PCs can give it to him (somehow; that’s their problem) they’ll have a ghost-like friend for the next 3 days (until he’s run down by a passing trucker).
“No, really: an invisible man came out of nowhere, struck my car, then vanished.”
“Step out of the vehicle, sir. Been drinking tonight?”
Just some fuel for the fire….
lessthanpleasedGreat ideas!
These are the type of events and plot hooks that I can work into any session and any campaign. I’ve also been raiding the UA website’s rumours department for plot hooks as well.
The carjacker idea is… interesting. I need to think about is some more, though, because I know it has possibilities beyond what my initial thoughts were…
Keep the ideas coming: you guys are making my job as GM easier, and giving my ideas and plot hooks some diversity.
lessthanpleased=lessthanpleased
AlcarA few ideas from my UAC. Feel free to pillage 🙂
Aliens – Really. Real ones, abducting people. Except they seem to be grey because they’re made out of steel, or sometrhing like it, and seem like androids, but believe they are aliens, despite what anyone says, and have their own UFO and go around abducting people, trying to make more of them…..
All tattoos made at the local tattoo parlour leave their host and take on their own life (butterflies fly away etc.). Why? Who knows? (Best on a PC that has lots of them, for when they want to return. Kida sucks about that scorpion…)
As for weird PC ideas….
– A young woman who is terrified she is going insane because she keeps having dreams of killing people and waking up to read the paper and finding out they died… and they’re all people who slighted her when everyone said she was having an affair with a young boy who accused her of forcing sex on him, but was lying.
– The 1002 character of Finnegans Wake.
– A TV character brought to life.
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