Yora
2012-02-06, 05:26 PM
"Stolen" is such an ugly word, but I think the one that gets the idea transported the best.
Since every tale worth telling has already been told, pretty much everything we hear and see is more a new version of a classic story than something completely new and unique. "Bad writers borrow, good writers steal." And I think this goes for RPG campaigns just as much as much as for any other works of fiction.
I was just thinking how a science fiction story I like would also make a really cool plot for a fantasy RPG, and I thinking starting a thread about it might end up with quite fascinating ideas that would make for great campaigns in the future.
For added fun, let's first present the idea we have for an adaptation and then put the source material in a spoiler block at the end. When people don't immediately get it after you described the background and starting setup, there's a good chance player's won't notice it either. (Especially when you don't tell them that the idea is copied from somewhere else.)
So let me do the start:
Mid Level, 2-3 players, dungeons, planar
The PCs start as apprentices and guards in the service of a wizard guild, who owns a huge castle high up in the mountains or deep in the dessert, far from any other settlements. The campaign start with any apprentices PCs being ordered to one of the wizards labs, which is in a remote wing of the fortress, to help him with an experiment. One of the masters has found a strange artifact in the form of a large gem, that has resisted any attempts to identify its purpose or how it is activated, and has come to the diviners, who is the PCs master. When diviner orders the apprentices to use wands of dispel magic on it to lower its wards, so he can use his divinations on it, but the wands cause the gem to explode into glaring light and a horde of small demons arrives in the chamber killing many of the apprentices before the guards are summoned, who are also killed in large numbers before the remaining demons flee through corridors and air shafts. It also seems like the artifact cast a powerful dispel effect on the entire wing of the castle, destroying all the continual flames, dimensional locks, teleportation circles, and other permanent spells. The PCs are the only survivors in the enchanting chamber and need to make their way back out of the severly damaged wing. As they slowly make their way outside, fighting off escaped magical creatures and wandering demons, they realize that a large part of the fortress has been badly damaged as well and demons have killed most wizards and guards.
When they finally make it out of the destroyed wing, they encounter an army of unknown soldiers who kill both the remaining demons and wizards as well, and plunder all the labs and studies of magic items, and burn everything they leave behind. So the PCs have to make their way to the other side of the massive fortress where they hope the grand masters are still alive and defending themselves against the demons and warriors. It also turns out that demons continue to appear all throughout the fortress and escape magical creatures and berserk golems attack anything they see. They slowly make their way to the other side of the fortress, resting in empty rooms and salvaging food and potions where they can find them. On their way, they have to find solution to get around collapsed corridors or lowered portculises without being caught by soldiers or eaten by demons. At their destination they manage to barely save the remaining wizards from being overrun by the unknown soldiers, but they tell the PCs that they are all trapped and it seems that something prevents all teleportation spells from transportiny anyone outside.
In the third part, the PCs have to descend into the huge dungeons and caves underneath the fortress, where they are searching for the archmage, who is a very powerful conjurer and was working on a gate that can connect to other planes. Eventually they make it to the gate, where they only find the archmages apprentices. After the problems began, the archmage stepped through the gate to put an end to constant stream of demons that appear in the fortress, but has not yet returned and apparently had not been successful. Other older wizards have tried to go after him, but they also did not return. The apprentices don't dare to step through the gate, but urge the PCs to give it a try as they have successfully faught demons before. If whatever sends the demons is stopped, it could also remove the barrier that prevents teleportation, allowing the remaining wizards to escape from the approaching soldiers. The gem that started the catstrophe was brought back from the other side by the archwizard and was presumedly some kind of trap.
In the fourth part, the PCs arrive in the Abyss, Limbo, or some other plane of madness and insanity. They need to find the demon who created the gem and slay him, so he can no longer hold up the barrier. In the other dimension, they also find corpses with the armor of the unknown soldiers, who apparently have been fighting the demon before and probably assumed the archmage to be one of its allies, when its demons pretty much took over the fortress. The PCs confront and slay the demon, or not, and the adventure ends with the barrier destroyed and the surviving mages escaping.
Come on, there have to be some men with a 30ish age around here who know this one. :smallbiggrin:
It's Half-Life, of course.
Since every tale worth telling has already been told, pretty much everything we hear and see is more a new version of a classic story than something completely new and unique. "Bad writers borrow, good writers steal." And I think this goes for RPG campaigns just as much as much as for any other works of fiction.
I was just thinking how a science fiction story I like would also make a really cool plot for a fantasy RPG, and I thinking starting a thread about it might end up with quite fascinating ideas that would make for great campaigns in the future.
For added fun, let's first present the idea we have for an adaptation and then put the source material in a spoiler block at the end. When people don't immediately get it after you described the background and starting setup, there's a good chance player's won't notice it either. (Especially when you don't tell them that the idea is copied from somewhere else.)
So let me do the start:
Mid Level, 2-3 players, dungeons, planar
The PCs start as apprentices and guards in the service of a wizard guild, who owns a huge castle high up in the mountains or deep in the dessert, far from any other settlements. The campaign start with any apprentices PCs being ordered to one of the wizards labs, which is in a remote wing of the fortress, to help him with an experiment. One of the masters has found a strange artifact in the form of a large gem, that has resisted any attempts to identify its purpose or how it is activated, and has come to the diviners, who is the PCs master. When diviner orders the apprentices to use wands of dispel magic on it to lower its wards, so he can use his divinations on it, but the wands cause the gem to explode into glaring light and a horde of small demons arrives in the chamber killing many of the apprentices before the guards are summoned, who are also killed in large numbers before the remaining demons flee through corridors and air shafts. It also seems like the artifact cast a powerful dispel effect on the entire wing of the castle, destroying all the continual flames, dimensional locks, teleportation circles, and other permanent spells. The PCs are the only survivors in the enchanting chamber and need to make their way back out of the severly damaged wing. As they slowly make their way outside, fighting off escaped magical creatures and wandering demons, they realize that a large part of the fortress has been badly damaged as well and demons have killed most wizards and guards.
When they finally make it out of the destroyed wing, they encounter an army of unknown soldiers who kill both the remaining demons and wizards as well, and plunder all the labs and studies of magic items, and burn everything they leave behind. So the PCs have to make their way to the other side of the massive fortress where they hope the grand masters are still alive and defending themselves against the demons and warriors. It also turns out that demons continue to appear all throughout the fortress and escape magical creatures and berserk golems attack anything they see. They slowly make their way to the other side of the fortress, resting in empty rooms and salvaging food and potions where they can find them. On their way, they have to find solution to get around collapsed corridors or lowered portculises without being caught by soldiers or eaten by demons. At their destination they manage to barely save the remaining wizards from being overrun by the unknown soldiers, but they tell the PCs that they are all trapped and it seems that something prevents all teleportation spells from transportiny anyone outside.
In the third part, the PCs have to descend into the huge dungeons and caves underneath the fortress, where they are searching for the archmage, who is a very powerful conjurer and was working on a gate that can connect to other planes. Eventually they make it to the gate, where they only find the archmages apprentices. After the problems began, the archmage stepped through the gate to put an end to constant stream of demons that appear in the fortress, but has not yet returned and apparently had not been successful. Other older wizards have tried to go after him, but they also did not return. The apprentices don't dare to step through the gate, but urge the PCs to give it a try as they have successfully faught demons before. If whatever sends the demons is stopped, it could also remove the barrier that prevents teleportation, allowing the remaining wizards to escape from the approaching soldiers. The gem that started the catstrophe was brought back from the other side by the archwizard and was presumedly some kind of trap.
In the fourth part, the PCs arrive in the Abyss, Limbo, or some other plane of madness and insanity. They need to find the demon who created the gem and slay him, so he can no longer hold up the barrier. In the other dimension, they also find corpses with the armor of the unknown soldiers, who apparently have been fighting the demon before and probably assumed the archmage to be one of its allies, when its demons pretty much took over the fortress. The PCs confront and slay the demon, or not, and the adventure ends with the barrier destroyed and the surviving mages escaping.
Come on, there have to be some men with a 30ish age around here who know this one. :smallbiggrin:
It's Half-Life, of course.