PDA

View Full Version : Fantasy Campus Police



kieza
2012-06-15, 01:58 AM
I've just finished running a short adventure that culminated with the PCs in a major university town (as in, the university takes up more than half the space in the town). They're looking for some downtime, and I figure I might run a short "breather" episode--some roleplaying, maybe one encounter. My idea for this mini-adventure is to have the party, while wandering the campus, buying cut-price magic items from student artificers, wind up in the middle of a "situation" caused by somebody's experiment gone wrong. They then team up with a group of people who deal with this on a regular basis, the university's jaded, overworked, underpaid, twitchy, paranoid, and above all competent campus police force.

The thing is, I'm having a hard time coming up with an experiment-gone-wrong which is suitably weird, threatening, and subtly funny at the same time. Any ideas?

I'm also taking suggestions for members of the force--the only one I've decided on so far is a former student who was hired the same day that he was expelled for defusing another "situation" by blowing up a classroom building.

NikitaDarkstar
2012-06-15, 02:19 AM
The necromancy faculty had a teacher come screaming out in horror after a class. No one is quite sure what went wrong, but if the necromancers are mentally scarred it's a safe bet it's not good. (A Summon undead spell gone wrong? A reanimate gone horribly right? The illusionists playing horribly mean pranks on them, again?!)

A student managed to master the Fireball spell before learning how to get any range on it. Happens at least once a semester, now please help with putting out the fire.

Imps summoned in the library. Not really a major issue (everything is warded to hell and back) but it's going to get annoying if it spills out into the labs, Banish wands will be provided.

Something is slithering in the Conjuration and Transmutation faculty. It's probably the not-so-mentally-stable alienist professor's fault too. No we're not going to look into it further, we just had lunch, you go. Hopefully it's not a tentacle slime monster like last year.

The Abjuration students and the Illusionist students have been playing pranks on the Evocation students again. It's not really a huge problem, but it'd be very nice if you could dispel the things they put up. You'll get a map over that wing so you don't get fooled by any spells. And also, do watch out, some of those spells can be a bit.... painful to walk into.

Sampi
2012-06-15, 04:16 AM
Someone failed a Transmutation experiment badly, in the menagerie. All the beasts are now partly ethereal and can walk through walls. Somebody needs to get all those valuable animals back, but the problem is no cage will hold an animal that can just walk through it. To make matters worse, some of the animals are large, predatory and hungry.

Craft (Cheese)
2012-06-15, 05:14 AM
The thing is, I'm having a hard time coming up with an experiment-gone-wrong which is suitably weird, threatening, and subtly funny at the same time. Any ideas?

Somehow, Irresistible Dance was cast on an entire wing. Persisted.

The construction of an experimental Cake Golem has gone horribly right. "I'll be fine!" they said. "What harm can a cake golem possibly do?"

Flumphs. That is all.


I'm also taking suggestions for members of the force--the only one I've decided on so far is a former student who was hired the same day that he was expelled for defusing another "situation" by blowing up a classroom building.

That depends on if you're still going for comedy with these. If so, a Flumph?

A Succubus Paladin? Complete with constant attempts to smite herself.

Studoku
2012-06-15, 07:57 AM
At the end, it all turns out that the entire crisis was a LARP event.

Driderman
2012-06-15, 08:15 AM
How about "inept horny university students with magical abilities summon a succubus/lust fiend of some kind who then takes over an entire dorm with its powers of charm and manipulation"?
Amidst the chaos of kegparties and general college debauchery, the PCs have to figure out which students are under the influence of the succubus and which students are just your average campus residents.

Craft (Cheese)
2012-06-15, 08:27 AM
At the end, it all turns out that the entire crisis was a LARP event.

Alright, thread's over everyone. Stu42 won.


How about "inept horny university students with magical abilities summon a succubus/lust fiend of some kind who then takes over an entire dorm with its powers of charm and manipulation"?
Amidst the chaos of kegparties and general college debauchery, the PCs have to figure out which students are under the influence of the succubus and which students are just your average campus residents.

Easy: The mind-controlled ones are the ones that are engaging in horrifically self-destructive behavior to prove their adulthood to both themselves and the opposite sex.

...Wait, this is gonna be harder than I thought.

THEChanger
2012-06-17, 09:29 PM
Well...I don't have any idea for your situation. But I do have one for one of the police.

Picture, if you will, Robert One-Hand. So called because his right hand is missing, burned off at the wrist by a stray fireball. Since his childhood, Robert has learned the best ways to deal with arcanists. He's studied their tactics, knows their spells better than they do, and knows their weaknesses. Now, old, retired from military service, he needs a way to keep earning his keep, and not get bored. So he babysits these young reality-warpers, hating the knowledge that one day, these brats that he protects will end up like the man who burnt his hand off.
And most of the campus thinks him harmless. Just an old, crazy man, living in the past. And for the most part, Robert One-Hand is.
But he learned how to use his Wild Empathy on Magical Beasts and Oozes. And he has two very special pets.
One is a Living Anti-Magic Fog(Living Spell template applied to an Anti-magic Field and a Solid Fog).
The other is a Spellgaunt(MM2).
So, when things get really rough, the Dean calls Robert. And Robert gets his pets. And for the rest of that year, no one plays pranks on Robert One-Hand.

GnomeGninjas
2012-06-17, 09:33 PM
Make some ridiculously templated monstrousities roaming about.

newBlazingAngel
2012-06-17, 09:55 PM
"inept horny university students with magical abilities summon a succubus/lust fiend of some kind who then takes over an entire dorm with its powers of charm and manipulation"?

You understand this almost too well. Plans for future wizard powers hmmm? :smallwink:

Seriously though, this is brilliantly realistic.

As for a character, I suggest a rip off of Rocky Balboa AKA the security thug

Driderman
2012-06-18, 06:33 AM
You understand this almost too well. Plans for future wizard powers hmmm? :smallwink:

Seriously though, this is brilliantly realistic.

As for a character, I suggest a rip off of Rocky Balboa AKA the security thug

I'll attribute it to my welldeveloped sense of human nature. Everyone's a perv if they can think they can get away with it :smallbiggrin:

newBlazingAngel
2012-06-18, 11:05 AM
*Slow clap* Ladies and gentleman, presenting the next Buddha!

kieza
2012-06-18, 11:23 AM
How about "inept horny university students with magical abilities summon a succubus/lust fiend of some kind who then takes over an entire dorm with its powers of charm and manipulation"?
Amidst the chaos of kegparties and general college debauchery, the PCs have to figure out which students are under the influence of the succubus and which students are just your average campus residents.


Easy: The mind-controlled ones are the ones that are engaging in horrifically self-destructive behavior to prove their adulthood to both themselves and the opposite sex.

...Wait, this is gonna be harder than I thought.

As a recent college graduate, I'm totally loving this. Thread won.

SuperPanda
2012-06-18, 01:38 PM
I love the inept horny student thing... though I'd make the "mistake" a bit more out of left field.

Summoning a lust demon is a bit too serious for a silly breather episode... taking a page from Eureka and just imagining Doug Fargo (the wizard) here's how I'd alter that:


Lust demons, while tempting, are too prone to going wrong. Love potions though should be child's play. Still, you don't want to make the potion too weak and only wind up being that friend she really likes but isn't in to right? So best make it stronger. Alot stronger...

The hapless wizards accidentally made a sentient ooze out of a love potion. Now you have an intelligent gelatinous monster on the loose whose attacks force a fortitude save or you fall hopelessly in love (and lust) with the first person of the opposite sex you see.

What is the ooze's motivation you ask? It is lonely and just wants someone to love it.

If you want a added level of menace have it grow larger as it "feeds" off acts of love it brought about. For a comedy toned menace: it is going to match up the whole world looking for a mate, not caring who winds up with who. For a dark comedy: it feeds on unrequited love and purposefully makes love triangles whenever it can. If using the latter form, the student responsible needs to be named William + (tremble-axe, wobble-sword, twirl-staff, shiver-bow, shake-spear).

The party is under the assumption its a lust demon... because who is going to see a Cupid Ooze coming.

Slipperychicken
2012-06-18, 03:26 PM
The hapless wizards accidentally made a sentient ooze out of a love potion. Now you have an intelligent gelatinous monster on the loose whose attacks force a fortitude Will save or you fall hopelessly in love (and lust) with the first person of the opposite sex creature you see.


Fixed that for ya. How in the nine hells is a love potion Fortitude? I mean, roofies (Drow Knockout Poison) are totally Fort, but that's about it. Besides, it gets a lot more fun when people start craving each other's teachers, roommates, familiars, random animals, or even the Love-Ooze itself!



Some prankster slipped love potion into the water supply! The whole school has gone crazy with love, and it's up to you to find the culprit.. or just join in the fun. The perpetrator can be found in the third floor of the girls' dorm, surrounded by student-mages of both sexes, all fighting for the object of their magically-induced affection. You must somehow incapacitate these amateur magicians without killing them, but beware their low-level spells!

newBlazingAngel
2012-06-18, 03:29 PM
It depends on entirely how this ooze affects you. If it directly alters the mind, yes it's will. If It swallows the person until they've accidentally eaten a part of it and spits the person back out, fortitude all the way.

The Grue
2012-06-18, 03:35 PM
A Succubus Paladin? Complete with constant attempts to smite herself.

That sounds like an innuendo.

newBlazingAngel
2012-06-18, 03:52 PM
Now I can't unsee it...

Mewtarthio
2012-06-19, 02:26 PM
I love the inept horny student thing... though I'd make the "mistake" a bit more out of left field.

Summoning a lust demon is a bit too serious for a silly breather episode...

Due to an unfortunate spelling error, the student mixed up parts of the spell with a spell for summoning a locust demon. Now there's a shapeshifting, emotion-controlling demon on the loose, binding students' hearts to its will and forcing co-eds to devour crops for miles around! You must put a stop to this quickly, so the student body can get back into shape in time for Spring Break!

newBlazingAngel
2012-06-19, 02:40 PM
Oh college.

Illieas
2012-06-19, 04:39 PM
THe people in the transmutation lab have over step their bounds of their fields. They have combined two apex predators into one super predator. One the hunter of the forest the other of the sky. Yes they have created the Dreaded OWLBEAR! it will be a Hootenanny of CARNAGE!

or

THe people in the transmutation lab have over step their bounds. They have made the Duckbunny! Sure it is cute but they breed like rabbits and are amphibious. they are eating up the store of vegetables. save the town from the obscenely cute menance.

Popertop
2012-06-19, 07:26 PM
Well...I don't have any idea for your situation. But I do have one for one of the police.

Picture, if you will, Robert One-Hand. So called because his right hand is missing, burned off at the wrist by a stray fireball. Since his childhood, Robert has learned the best ways to deal with arcanists. He's studied their tactics, knows their spells better than they do, and knows their weaknesses. Now, old, retired from military service, he needs a way to keep earning his keep, and not get bored. So he babysits these young reality-warpers, hating the knowledge that one day, these brats that he protects will end up like the man who burnt his hand off.
And most of the campus thinks him harmless. Just an old, crazy man, living in the past. And for the most part, Robert One-Hand is.
But he learned how to use his Wild Empathy on Magical Beasts and Oozes. And he has two very special pets.
One is a Living Anti-Magic Fog(Living Spell template applied to an Anti-magic Field and a Solid Fog).
The other is a Spellgaunt(MM2).
So, when things get really rough, the Dean calls Robert. And Robert gets his pets. And for the rest of that year, no one plays pranks on Robert One-Hand.

THIS.
Like, wow, how did you even come up with that?
Totally working a Living Anti-Magic Fog into one of my games