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View Full Version : Adapting "The Thing" as an RPG adventure



Yora
2014-01-21, 05:33 PM
Not as a direct adaptation of the movie, because players would all know what's going on.
But this movie is one of my favorites of all time with one of the greatest monsters ever. The problem is, that a great deal of the monsters effectiveness comes from its ability to mimic the people of the group. Which doesn't really work in a pen and paper game as you can't kill off PCs off screen and replace them.

But is that idea still salvagable?

In the movie, it's only the Thing and the Humans as the only living creatures around, because of being set in the Antarctic. But if you would put it into a more moderate climate, there could still be all kinds of animals and other creatures it could mimic. Like an elk or a boar. And possibly even one of the PCs horses. I guess after the first time a horse splits apart into a bunch of teeth and tentacles, nobody will be too keen about riding for the time being. :smallbiggrin:

DarkKensai
2014-01-21, 05:37 PM
Something that might work once...
get one of your players on board with the idea. Arrange to have his character killed "offscreen" then let him play the monster for a little while, until the time is right...

inexorabletruth
2014-01-21, 08:03 PM
It's salvageable, but the Thing's MO would have to change some. Instead of secret off-screen killings of the PCs, it would have to be doing secret off-screen killings of NPCs, since PCs always seem to travel together unless you actually want them to.

You can try this:
After each ambush, make it scurry away and do a hide check, then a disguise check. I did this with a bonedrinker in a cave once… scared the giblets and gravy out of my players.

They couldn't see the monster on the map, because I'd take the token off the board until they successfully found the bonedrinker. If they didn't find it by the time the bonedrinker got another attack, it would appear somewhere within it's movement range, popping out of a fissure in the cave, and attack a poor unsuspecting PC.

They survived, but not without several sweat-soaked minutes of "Ohgodohgodohgod WHERE IS IT?!" and "Screw this, I'm going nova, everyone out of the chamber!"

BeerMug Paladin
2014-01-21, 08:31 PM
Part of what made the Thing work as a story was that it didn't have an option to simply run away and start copying/eating life elsewhere. So, as a strategy, it needed to disguise itself among people who were still 'people' so it would be able to hitch a ride back to civilization, and a more hospitable environment. If it ran off in the arctic, it would probably freeze, have its identity discovered and be destroyed.

In any other setting besides the arctic, it could do exactly that, and would have little incentive to stick around the player party. Just come back later when it was massively spread out to eat them later. The Thing done elsewhere is called invasion of the body-snatchers, or pod-people. So if you want to have a similar thing going on in a game, I'd suggest basing it closer on those things.

Granted, it's not quite the same level of 'oh crap' either, but part of the Thing was also the utter isolation and threat of the environment, as well. Outside wasn't really much safer than inside (if at all).

Anxe
2014-01-21, 09:15 PM
Something that might work once...
get one of your players on board with the idea. Arrange to have his character killed "offscreen" then let him play the monster for a little while, until the time is right...

Do this for all your players and stress that they need to keep it secret from the rest of the group. You can set up some sort of secret signal for each of them to tell them they've been taken over.

I'm assuming your thinking about this for a one-off session, right? You could consider designing your own board game or card game around the idea instead. That might work better.

TheCountAlucard
2014-01-21, 11:28 PM
I'd suggest PMing Holden Shearer about it. He obsesses over that movie. :smalltongue:

hamlet
2014-01-22, 09:23 AM
Go look up an AD&D2e monster called the "doppleganger plant." It'll make you happy. Ways of replacing PC's with duplicates without neccessarily killing them, as long as their comrades are quick in figuring out what's going on. It's not quite the same as The Thing, but it gets pretty close. It's more of a pod people kind of thing.

And, seriously, don't be shy about telling a PC what's happened as long as you think they can handle it. If not, have them removed off screen then hand them an NPC or something to play in the meantime. If their actual character needs to show up briefly, you play him while they continue with the NPC for a while while muttering "it's just for a moment, don't worry, I got it."

Also also, be sure to read the original novella called "Who Goes There." It's got some interesting stuff in it.

Rhynn
2014-01-22, 09:35 AM
In any horror game, it's essential to make passing notes standard GM-player communication; I do it with anything and everything that I can (things only a single player observes, etc.). This way, when you inevitably need to have a PC replaced with a doppelganger of some sort, no one will know that's what you're passing notes for.

Also, you know, the notes will still create suspense and make players nervous, which is good.

I think it'd be perfectly doable, basically.

Starting with NPCs getting replaced is a good idea, but the PCs certainly don't need to be safe.

The Glyphstone
2014-01-22, 09:36 AM
Oh, and read 'The Things' by Peter Watts as well. Basing the story off that version of the Thing could make it easier:

It can subdivide, so multiple people in the base are Things, and can copy their victims so effectively they still think they are the original for a time.

GungHo
2014-01-22, 09:52 AM
In any horror game, it's essential to make passing notes standard GM-player communication; I do it with anything and everything that I can (things only a single player observes, etc.). This way, when you inevitably need to have a PC replaced with a doppelganger of some sort, no one will know that's what you're passing notes for.
Agreed. Everyone gets a note. Everyone keeps a pokerface when reading that note. Even if the notes are blank.

Other methods include running it like a game of Mafia/Werewolf (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(party_game)).

Some variations when you bring it to the tabletop allow the dopplegangers to have slight "tells", but the player needs to offer the tell. You can't just say "something is weird about player X", because then they'll just kill him.

Rhynn
2014-01-22, 10:21 AM
Oh, and read 'The Things' by Peter Watts as well. Basing the story off that version of the Thing could make it easier:

It can subdivide, so multiple people in the base are Things, and can copy their victims so effectively they still think they are the original for a time.

That's awesome. The player can keep playing until suddenly the GM takes over to have them kill someone else...

Kaveman26
2014-01-22, 10:25 AM
This could work on a vessel stranded at sea, or maybe even a dungeon. The reason the thing and alien worked as films was that they solved the haunted house problem. Ghosts messing up your house? Walk out the door. Slasher killer in your mansion? Walk out the door. Werewolf stalking the ski resort? Drive away.

The thing created an isolation you couldn't run from. So did alien. You need to replicate that element of the premise.

Player involvement would also be crucial.

Jacob.Tyr
2014-01-22, 11:11 AM
I've been thinking about doing something like this for a bit of time, so I'll let you know what I've come up with.

Characters are stuck in a cave-in in a mine. 3x5 cards will be used to represent items as well as events that occur for just individual players. There will also be a handful of NPCs trapped as well.

When a player encounters an item that other characters probably haven't noticed, pass them a 3x5 card. Items allow you a chance to fight off attacks and change how events play out. Characters can keep them hidden in their hand if they want, or carry them openly. Events occurring for everyone will be placed in the middle of the table, so everyone has a chance to interact with them, but if only one player is impacted they are passed just as an item would be.

The idea is for the passing of cards to be rather common, and I figure most players will keep their cards in their hand just out of habit. So if a character comes into contact with an "attack" that they don't have a way to fend off, they just slip it into their hand to acknowledge they've been taken over. To everyone else it looks just like if the player found a wrench or something and stuck it in their pocket.

Diskhotep
2014-01-22, 06:54 PM
If you really want to emulate the story, do a one-off in a system where you would be comfortable killing off pc's. For this setting, I highly recommend the Dread RPG (uses a Jenga tower for skill resolution, knocking the tower over means the PC is slated to die in an appropriately cinematic fashion).

The Fiasco main book has a play set called "Ice" which takes place in an Antarctic research station. It definitely uses " The Thing" as a source of inspiration (though the last two times I played it involved a drug and artifact smuggling ring and a misanthropic biologist breeding an army of giant mutant penguins).

Vknight
2014-01-23, 10:09 AM
A thing that can't copy life the can survive in salt water and set it on a ship that is stuck at sea?
Isolated
Lots of room
Reason too not leave? Tried 1 of the two life boats and it broke apart, so the monster does not want too go in it. The players are in shallow enough water they are anchored and awaiting rescue, and so no group will leave but no group wants too stay either

Racket up the tension with the Thin attacking crew members in secret in places with low power in the darkness. Describe either a humanoid or nearly humanoid shape.

Have the thing take control of only a limb and get that person too attack an NPC who then goes too the others for help. Hand the attacker a note card saying you are missing X limb. The Thing wants off it can be practical and only do a partial infection