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View Full Version : Stuff to steal. Or plot hooks in the making.



TheThan
2010-06-15, 02:20 PM
So I’m writing a D20 modern game based on the old computer game/tv game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. Unlike the games this one is more of a pulpy intrigue game. You know, the players use clues (purposefully left by Carmen) to hunt down the notorious criminal and capture her.

That’s all well and good, but I’ve hit a bit of a snag. I guess it’s some kind of writer’s block or general brain fart. I can’t seem to come up with any good items for Carmen to steal. So my question is can anyone come up with some cool items for Carmen and her team of professionals to highjack. I’m looking for valuable items: jewelry, gems, art objects, national treasures etc, not really the zany impossible stuff like the roof of the Sistine Chapel, or the statue of liberty. Just things you can seriously get away with stealing.

Lin Bayaseda
2010-06-15, 02:28 PM
Faberge Eggs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faberge_egg).

Beorn080
2010-06-15, 03:04 PM
Read up on various items Lupin the III stole. IIRC, he once robbed a massive amount of gold, then cast it into the chassis for a large van to get away.

Snake-Aes
2010-06-15, 03:08 PM
Atomic clocks!

Shademan
2010-06-15, 03:16 PM
the aliminuim pyramid atop the washington monument

Person_Man
2010-06-15, 03:17 PM
Plutonium. Supercomputer chips. Stealth Bomber. Large Hadron Collider.

gallagher
2010-06-15, 03:43 PM
the constitution of the USA, and lots of priceless art

or maybe instead of the character stealing things, you could have him be leaving small bombs in strategic locations, and the characters finding clues to where the character is going next, and one must find this "carmen sandiego" with the multi-bomb detonator just in time to stop him!

Mordar
2010-06-15, 03:49 PM
I guess it kind of depends on the motivation for the thefts...

High class burgler, mocking the wealthy elite? Cartier, Fabrege, Tiffany.

Competitive thief, mocking law enforcement/security? Low value items from high security areas like pens from the Ambassador's office, the Vice President's calendar, the Chair of the Joint Chiefs ashtray.

Historian, preserving truth from the ravages of time and muddy hands of children on field trips? Original documents from all manner of vaults, museums and such - Constitution, Articles of the Confederation, Magna Carta.

Just link up motivation and items and I think it will work nicely for you.

- Don

Another_Poet
2010-06-15, 03:55 PM
Sincce you said it is d20 I assume there is magic and if there is magic then those "zany" things like the Statue of Liberty suddenly become stealable.

The flag from the moon, Stalin's body, the Hollywood sign, the lens of the Hubble telescope...

Riffington
2010-06-15, 04:13 PM
Detectives.
She's not leaving clues because she's crazy, she's leaving clues to get the world's best detectives on her trail, so she knows who to recruit.

TheThan
2010-06-15, 04:22 PM
Carmen steals “impossible” stuff because it’s a challenge. To borrow a line from Wolverine, she’s the best there is at what she does, and she’s not afraid to prove it. She views her crime spree as a big game. The point of the game is to try to steal the impossible and see if anyone can foil her.

Leaving clues is simply part of the game. There is no magic in this setting; otherwise stealing things would become too easy, especially for someone as clever her. So I guess I need high profile items, things that if they go missing, people will notice.

edit

I'm looking to create capers, think Ocean's 11 or mission impossible, style heists. Part of the PCs's job is to deconstruct the crime and figure out the clues to her next crime.