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DigoDragon
2012-02-16, 11:12 AM
In my current campaign, the players have found my world's version of the "Underdark" and are currently exploring the eastern areas. What they haven't realized yet is that this area is a buried section of what was once downtown Washington DC, circa 2500 years ago.

Little has been left, but for "Rule of Cool", some of the DC Metro tunnels have survived the last apocalypse (occured around the year 2080 AD our time). The Drow don't use the tunnels because they are rumored to be "cursed with the undead", but what it is are surviving hologram projectors for various commercials of the past.
Remember the random commericals that played on Earth in the Pixar movie "Wall-E"? I'm recreating a similar feel for the tunnels.

So I'm trying to come up with some ideas for commercials of the year 2080 that my D&D players will find. One idea I have so far is a Virgin Galactic advertisement for a new route to the vacation resort "Paradisio". The imagry will look strangely like the Outlands with Sigil floating off in the distant mountains (It's actually a rotating space station, but the context wouldn't be known). :smalltongue:

So if you have ideas, i'd love to hear them.

LibraryOgre
2012-02-16, 12:21 PM
The first question, I suppose, is what is your future like? What's the world like in 2080? Fallout's retrofuturism? Shadowrunnish cyberpunk? Now, but a little bit shinier?

QuidEst
2012-02-16, 04:35 PM
Ooh, have a horror movie ad! Just make something really creepy up. That'd be a great reason for them to stay away.

Have an advertisement for a historical exhibit on the 1980s (just like we always have /something/ going on about the same decade in the previous century).

Holographic videogame demo? You can step in and play a "level", although I'm sure by then the level distinction will have been dropped altogether.

There's always a hot woman selling something completely unrelated.

Maybe there was a public works move, putting up virtuoso performances to make it nicer for people going through. (The Drow would probably think this is some sort of siren-like trap.)

To add a bit of confirmation to their fears, one of the projections (the "sex sells" ad or the music) should be near something deadly (leaking nuclear power cell, exposed wires in water from a functional nuclear power cell, etc.). That way, when they get too close they die or slowly sicken and die from radiation poisoning if they go too often. (The latter would be great with a "sex sells" ad where the woman hints that she could be real for you or something stupid like that. You know a marketing department would pull that if the holographic ads were still in the novel gimmick stage.)

TheEmerged
2012-02-16, 06:52 PM
Pick a movie series that adds numbers. Assume a sequel every 3-5 years on average, and start extrapolating. Or, a movie series based on places, with ever-more obscure locations. Friday the 13th, XV! Nantucket Vacation!

"Remake" an existing movie, and imply it's already been remade several times since. "The Ten Commandments, for the Tenth Time!" "Ben Hurried!" "Solar System of the Apes!"

Make a current movie as a musical. The more wildly inappropriate it would be as a musical and the better you are at hamming it up, the better. Try to imagine a scene from "Ides of March" done to "It's a Hard Knocks Life!" from Annie to get you in the right frame of reference.

Make a drama about a current event, with wildly incorrect history. Think "BraveHeart" level inaccuracy about a current event.

Civil War Man
2012-02-16, 06:58 PM
Have some of the crazier Old Spice commercials. An immersive 3D hologram would be good at making some of them utterly horrifying.

NikitaDarkstar
2012-02-16, 10:26 PM
A microsoft (windows) or apple (i-anything) add. Fifa/NHL/NBA/Flightsimulator 2080/81 adds. Car adds (The new Toyota Prius with improved hover controls and less than 1% emissions!).

Classical music concerts with music by the Rolling Stones, AC/DC and other classical groups!

TheThan
2012-02-16, 10:52 PM
The old spice guy commercials
The most interesting man in the world (Dos Equis beer)
Jaws 19, in 3D (see if anyone gets the reference) hint: back to the future part II
You need some sort of virtual reality advertisement. Like a beach resort vacation, or a new MMO video game.
Totally do DND 25th edition. DnD 2080 or somesuch.

OracleofWuffing
2012-02-16, 11:08 PM
Get connected! For free! At edu-ca-tion con-nec-tion!

Here they come! Clickety-clack down the tracks! It's lots and lots of trains!

30 minute derailment on an exercise/dietary pill.

Obligatory "Make yourself larger!" commercial, too.

Soylent Dave
2012-02-17, 02:03 AM
As well as commercials you can have news - depending on the nature of your apocalypse there could be propaganda (posters, videos, political broadcasts, directions to fallout shelters) visible, or headlines foreshadowing the events that ended the world.

Are you going to worry about whether language has changed in the intervening millennia? In reality it would be vastly different - which requires any meaning in your advertisements etc. to be pictorial (backed up by 'ancient hieroglyphs' - you can have fun making innocuous signage and adverts seem really sinister this way)

On the the other hand it's sometimes easier to just go 'nah, English basically survived the end of the world *handwave*' - it frees you up to introduce things that the characters understand, as well as being modern-world (ish) references for the players.

(oh and definitely an advert for a fizzy drink and some sort of fast food; both sectors spend a huge amount of money on advertising so if anything would survive Armageddon, it'd be a Coke advert...)


Jaws 19, in 3D (see if anyone gets the reference)

Only if there's a hoverboard advert as well...

GungHo
2012-02-17, 12:09 PM
Tangental:

Have them confuse the movies Red Dawn, Inglorious Basterds, Armageddon, and/or Planet of the Apes as documentaries.

Also:
http://www.dur.ac.uk/4schools/History/Images/anachronismww2.jpg

Telonius
2012-02-17, 12:45 PM
In several of the stations, make sure to describe the escalators in a state of utter disrepair. Have one "perfectly preserved" metro station - with the escalators in a similar state to the others they've already seen.

What you'll see on the current-day DC metro: lots of ads for military equipment. Political issue advertisements. Some for cultural events at the Smithsonian. That probably won't change anytime between now and 2080.

There's a great one that shows a rat (public service ad to remind people not to eat on the Metro). You could have some fun with the players wondering whether or not it's a Dire Rat warning sign.

EDIT: Ah, here's an image of the ad.
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/02/25/nyregion/25rats.cityroom.190.jpg

I'd suggest having some of the left portion of the text torn off. They'd read something like ...
...(which will remain
... rats the size of house cats
... Because we're
... drinking in the
... keep the critters away
(last portion illegible)

QuidEst
2012-02-17, 02:56 PM
I'd suggest having some of the left portion of the text torn off. They'd read something like ...
...(which will remain
... rats the size of house cats
... Because we're
... drinking in the
... keep the critters away
(last portion illegible)

Love it- one small edit. Make sure "cats" is faded, stained, torn, or otherwise illegible. :smallamused:

Inglenook
2012-02-17, 04:03 PM
Some sort of holographic version of the "HeadOn" commercial seems like it would be a fun one. Especially if the audio has been corrupted by time to make the voice-over sound terrifying.

"HeadOn: Apply directly to the forehead! HeAdON: APPlY dIRectly to THE foREHEAD! HEADON: APPLY DIRECT—*static*"

JohnnyCancer
2012-02-18, 05:03 PM
A hologram advert that was altered by hacktivists moments before the end of the world, presenting a rambling manifesto.

Re'ozul
2012-02-18, 08:27 PM
This one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdh4TqWFfX4) jumped instantly into my mind. Just cut the last bit.

DigoDragon
2012-02-20, 09:59 AM
The first question, I suppose, is what is your future like? What's the world like in 2080? Fallout's retrofuturism? Shadowrunnish cyberpunk? Now, but a little bit shinier?

My 2080 is Shadowrunnish Cyberpunk. Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, etc did exist then and the world was very much commercialized.

Trying to come up with context that the characters would understand is a good bit of work, but quite fun when it works. such as the party believing there used to be a dwarf/elf hybrid baker named Keebler.



I'd suggest having some of the left portion of the text torn off. They'd read something like ...
...(which will remain
... rats the size of house cats
... Because we're
... drinking in the
... keep the critters away
(last portion illegible)

Beautiful. :smallbiggrin:



Are you going to worry about whether language has changed in the intervening millennia?

I haven't worried too much about it. Most of the found material is in English and I've taken the D&D "Common" language to be its decendant. I've added some made up slang (borrowing from games like Shadowrun too) to make the language sound a bit odd, but comprehensible if you concentrate on it.
A couple of times the players had a "Read/Comprehend" languages spell available and i let them use that to make easy sense of the words.

Context on the other hand... :smallwink:

The party has no idea what an "Ashpod" is, they only know that its a small handheld device that shoots orange and blue lights.


Great ideas from others as well. :D You all are brilliant.

LibraryOgre
2012-02-20, 01:53 PM
My 2080 is Shadowrunnish Cyberpunk. Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, etc did exist then and the world was very much commercialized.

Trying to come up with context that the characters would understand is a good bit of work, but quite fun when it works. such as the party believing there used to be a dwarf/elf hybrid baker named Keebler.


In that case, take a look at some of the old Shadowrun material. The 1st and 2nd edition stuff (especially the "gear catalogs" like Shadowtech) tended to have full-color plates of advertisements.

Have them try to understand an ad for cybernetic hair. ;-)