PDA

View Full Version : What are the coolest things you have seen a GM do?



pife
2014-05-14, 02:14 PM
Okay, here's what I'm looking for. I'm wanting to hear about some of the coolest things you have done as a GM, as far as making your tabletop RPG's immersive. Whether it was props, sound effects, a cool way to integrate technology, or anything that you have ever seen or thought of that made your players go "Dang. That was awesome".

I am trying to come up with some new ways to dazzle a jaded bunch of tabletop players (my RL group). They've been gaming for years. I'm the relative newcomer, only been playing with them for about a year, and they're awesome. But I have the opportunity to run a game for them for the first time in a few months, and I'm wanting to knock their socks off.

I have some wild ideas about interesting ways to engage the players, but I wanted to hear about things that you have seen or done. Sounds, smells (dangerous, lol), locations, surprises, props, effects, video, audio, activities, technology. I'm looking to leverage any/all of these things. I'm willing to spend money (within reason) to put this together.

To paraphrase quote 'Armageddon', "OK, any ideas, any programs, anything you sketched on a pizza box or a cocktail napkin," that's what I want.

A couple of examples, to show you what I'm looking for.. I'm considering getting a wireless projector for my laptop, and projecting pictures of NPC's onto the wall as they appear. I'm also wanting to discover a way to send pre-set text messages that will go to the cell phones of one or another player's RL cell phone mid-game with a message.

The game will be set in the modern era, and will be a take on a zombie-apocalypse, heavy on the horror and RP and character interaction, just to give you the foundation of the game.

Any thoughts? Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Magesmiley
2014-05-14, 02:29 PM
I've used multi-part real world objects as keys needed to access parts of dungeons several times. Very few things seem to get players' attention than when they search an area and get handed a physical object that is part of a bigger one, or which they've already found an item that fits with it.

Some of the 3D puzzles make really good ones - I've got a pyramid one that is made of 30+ pieces that I'm planning to use in an upcoming adventure. They'll probably find a few of the pieces, then discover the lock that the item is supposed to go into and have to hunt down the rest of the pieces.

Another one along this line that I've used is the old tangrams. They found these scattered around a dungeon and also silhouettes of various designs scattered around that locked off other parts of the dungeon. They had to find all of the pieces and then assemble them correctly at the various places to access new areas.

LibraryOgre
2014-05-14, 02:58 PM
One of my favorites was, when the party was being hunted by a sect of Malarite druids, any dickering among the party was met with me playing a horn wav on my laptop, and a random encounter. Sure, one wildcat isn't much of a fight for a party... but they wear on them quickly, and the horn call eventually got them to work together.

"You people will by God act like a team, or at least like people who know each other, or I'll incinerate the bunch of you here and now." -Monica Rambeau

Raine_Sage
2014-05-14, 11:01 PM
Once our GM had the party fall into a pit trap where we all landed in separate rooms, and were immediately faced with enemies in a 1 vs 1 setting except the Barbarian who got 2.

After the first round was over the DM had us all roll wisdom and one player broke through the illusion to see they'd been fighting their teammate the whole time. It was really well done, we never suspected that we'd been hitting each other. (

TheCountAlucard
2014-05-15, 05:24 PM
Be willing to improvise.

Wildly.

No joke, one of my friends was running a Star Wars Saga Edition game, and one of my favorite game sessions of all time involves my Crime Lord PC deciding to convince the party to ditch the plot for a day (supposedly his birthday) to go gamble on a dangerous swoop-bike race on his home planet.

The GM ran it so convincingly you'd think he'd planned for it. Laid out a hex-map, drew a race-track around it, set up odds for racers... that's when the PCs realized that among their number were some of the most talented pilots in the galaxy, and that the races were open-entry. And that they could bet on (or against) each other. :smallamused:

Cue half the party zooming through the canyons, redlining their swoop-bikes and beating the crap out of other racers (and sometimes each other), culminating in one of the players spending a Destiny Point to try and win on a race he'd bet on himself for, only for a pilot NPC to just barely beat him.

DigoDragon
2014-05-16, 08:17 AM
I once ran a fun pirate-themed treasure hunt. The idea was to collect pieces of a map that lead to the big treasure. The map was a collection of four transparency slides, each with only part of the full map drawn on. You overlapped the transparencies together to get the full map. It was a fun little gimmick for the players to use.

John Longarrow
2014-05-16, 09:52 AM
The living room (away from the normal gaming environment).

Each person MUST stay in character.

This is a simple "Getting to know each other" where each player has written out a description of their character and copies are handed to all the other players.

Worked out as a great "So your all in a tavern on a rainy night" beginning for a friend of mine's group.

For your zombie game that could be one of the protagonists living room just before the zombies attack.... :nale:

The Grue
2014-05-16, 05:49 PM
I played a Hustle-style Star Wars campaign once where the GM had an NPC con us.

It was brilliant. We thought we were running a con on the NPC. Never even occurred to us until it was too late that we were the marks.

If anyone's interested I can tell the story.

AttilaTheGeek
2014-05-16, 06:57 PM
I played a Hustle-style Star Wars campaign once where the GM had an NPC con us.

It was brilliant. We thought we were running a con on the NPC. Never even occurred to us until it was too late that we were the marks.

If anyone's interested I can tell the story.

Please do, that sounds really cool!

One of my cool stories was after a near-TPK. My character, the party's Wizard, was the only one with a positive hit point total. He ran (completely out of spell slots), carrying the rogue (the only one whose body hadn't been reanimated and used against us) to the nearest church. During the trip, the GM had a quick conversation out of the room with the fighter's player. My character kicks down the door and shouts "I need a healer!" The GM responds "The church was in the middle of mass when you burst in, but the choir goes completely silent and the rest of the church follows. After a stunned moment of silence, one parishioner stands up from a pew, runs down the aisle towards you, takes the rogue's hand, and says..." and the fighter's player says "Cure Serious Wounds!". I thought that was a particularly cool way to get the new party together.

LibraryOgre
2014-05-16, 07:04 PM
I played a Hustle-style Star Wars campaign once where the GM had an NPC con us.

It was brilliant. We thought we were running a con on the NPC. Never even occurred to us until it was too late that we were the marks.

If anyone's interested I can tell the story.

You can't open with that story and leave us hanging. ;-)

The Grue
2014-05-16, 09:15 PM
You can't open with that story and leave us hanging. ;-)

I suppose you're right; I just didn't want to take up page space unnecessarily. :smalltongue:

First, the cast of characters.

The Twi'lek Babe whose name for the life of me I cannot recall. Equal parts grifter and gunslinger, with some traditional thieving skills to round her out.
Ly'ar, our Bith roboticist, expert slicer and wheelman. Played the role of The Fixer.
Priscilla the Hutt, distant relative of our Hutt crimeboss/patron. Strongly identified as female, think Queen Jool (http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070821061325/starwars/images/9/99/QueenJool.jpg) but younger and more fabulous. Typically played The Roper. (Also, ostensibly, Jabba's favourite niece)
Miles, the only human PC. Played de facto leader of our troupe and the Inside Man. As Miles was my character, this story will be told primarily from his perspective. As is the nature of retelling stories from years past the specific contributions of the other party members have mostly escaped my memory, but rest assured that despite the slant of my recollection they contributed equally to the scheme.
The GM, who posts on this forum as GAThraawn - if you're reading, feel free to correct me on any details I've misremembered.

After winding down from our last job on Nar Shadda, the party is having drinks in one of those seedy cantinas that sprout in the Star Wars universe like weeds. Miles happens to hear a familiar voice in one corner, and gets up to take a look - lo and behold, it's an old friend of his from Couruscant(described by the GM as "played by Mark Sheppard (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0791968/)"). Sheppard and Miles used to run together back in the day, until Sheppard's inevitable betrayal left Miles holding the bag, with nothing to his name but a small potted cactus left behind like a calling card - remember this, it becomes important later. Miles gets a little closer and sees his old friend is on a comm call with someone. Careful not to be noticed, he eavesdrops and infers, from Sheppard's side of the conversation, that he's planning to meet someone at a bazaar nearby to accept delivery of something.

Miles hatches a plan for revenge. Sheppard screwed him all those years ago and he's not forgotten, so naturally he decides to hijack Sheppard's con. Returning to the group, he shares what he's learned and TTB offers to run interference on Sheppard so that he's unable to make the rendezvous.

Miles returns to the party's flat to change into some more respectable clothes, then hoofs it to the meeting place. There, a well-dressed man with a briefcase approaches him and comments that "You aren't John, where's John?" Miles, smoothly navigating the exchange despite lacking critical information, convinces him that John(presumably Sheppard's pseudonym) was detained, and sent him in his place to meet. The well-dressed man seems satisfied, and hands Miles the briefcase and instructs him to "go ahead and have a look."

Miles opens the briefcase. Inside is, if I recall, some kind of historical artifact. Miles infers from the well-dressed man's comments that he is expected to examine it to determine its authenticity, and he does a fine job of pretending to do so despite not knowing how. After Miles declares his satisfaction, the well-dressed man takes the briefcase back and assures Miles that "the others are just as genuine." Miles takes a leap of faith and assures the well-dressed man that "the buyer is still interested in his collection," but wonders if there's any further room for negotiation on the asking price. The well-dressed man insists that, as he's already explained, 200,000 credits is as low as he's prepared to go - mission accomplished. Miles pretends to be reluctant, but finally agrees and inquires where the hand-over should take place. The well-dressed man names a hotel and a room number, indicates what time the next day he's expected, and they part company.

At this point, our working theory is that Sheppard is running some kind of Find the Lady scam. We show up with the money, or at least what the mark thinks is the money, hand it over, take the goods, then something happens and we appear to lose the goods and he loses the money - in reality, we make off with the goods AND the money, with him none the wiser.

Meanwhile, TTB has successfully persuaded Sheppard not to make his rendezvous. After retiring to Sheppard's accommodations and, erm, keeping him occupied for a while, TTB places a couple of listening devices while he's not looking and bids him goodnight.

That evening, Sheppard calls his associates and asks how the meeting went - evidently it wasn't him that was supposed to meet the mark anyway. The other side of the call can't be heard on the bugs, but from Sheppard's reaction we infer that whoever it was supposed to meet the mark arrived, saw Miles talking to the mark, and aborted. Sheppard says something to the effect of "oh ****, I know that guy", then "I'll handle it, go ahead as planned."

We spend the night trying to anticipate how Sheppard is going to hijack our hijack of his con, can't decide on anything, decide to meet the mark as planned with a sum of money - not nearly 200,000 in hard currency but enough that we can fake it - but fully armed just in case things go south.

Arriving, the mark invites us into his spacious suite, and the four of us take a seat in the lounge. Out trots Sheppard and some of his goons, in binder cuffs and at gunpoint. The mark informs us that Sheppard has blown "our" scheme, he knows we're trying to play him, and he intends to turn us all in to the authorities. Sheppard, of course, protests, and implores us to reassure the mark that his fears are unjustified.

Nope.

Miles flies off the handle. He accuses Sheppard of betraying him, berates him for his gross incompetence, and remarks with satisfaction that he seems to have gotten what is coming to him - all of it, of course, completely false. Sheppard is speechless. The mark nods, his suspicions confirmed. In an unexpected display of sympathy, the mark makes us a surprisingly generous offer. Thinking that Sheppard has wronged both of us, he offers to let us go if we make it worth his while. He shows us a box full of sculptures that he's recently acquired at great expense, only to learn that they're worthless. He's out quite a bit of money, so in return for letting us go unmolested he implores us to help meet the difference - a mere 75,000 credits.

We huddle to discuss his offer, while his goons keep their guns trained on us. We've got about 75,000 credits on hand, luckily enough, and the common advice when someone points a gun and asks for your money is to give it to them. Miles puts forth the argument that he's quite content to pay 75,000 credits to ensure that Sheppard gets what's been owed to him all these years. The rest of the group agrees.

Payment changes hands, the mark counts it and seems satisfied, and the goons usher the group to the door while Sheppard spouts curses and vows his revenge.

Upon returning to their flat, the group find, resting on a table in the lounge, a small potted cactus. The GM didn't even say anything, just waited in silence for us to go from "why is there a cactus" to slowly dawning realization.

imaloony
2014-05-18, 11:23 PM
One really cool story telling trick our DM used. This is pretty standard as far as story-telling goes, but I haven't seen it used ever in a tabletop RPG, and he managed to pull it off so effortlessly that it caught us all by surprise and was a great way to end a session:

It was our first session of a Pathfinder campaign taking place in Eberron. We were all playing artifact hunters of sorts (I was a Paladin hunting down religious artifacts for churches/museums/study) and the campaign starts with all of us getting hooked to a particular expedition. We began in our city, eventually were pulled down south to where the expedition was heading off from, we began the expedition, got to know each other, and as were were settling in and getting comfortable, he said this to end the session:

"All of this flashes through your mind as you find yourself sprinting through the jungle three days later with a horde of goblins licking at your heels. As you enter the clearing where the caravan is supposed to be, you find not a single person around, and your wagons in ruins."

It was a really clever twist (Again, admittedly pretty common in story-telling but executed fantastically here) and it got us super hyped for the next session.

Kol Korran
2014-05-19, 12:12 AM
The things that impress me with DMs (Or that impressed my players when I DMed), rarely did with gimicks. They were cool, after a fashion, but a few of the more basic tools of the trade tended to impresss people more... when done correctly.

1) Wide set of choices to interact with: Just giving your players choices that MEAN something, or better yet a situation where you have no set choices, just the situation, and react to whatever scheme the party tries to pull. In one campaign the party found a map with certain locations of the antagonist group. And they could choose amongst them, follow a different lead, and different locations had different meanings, and changed the story.

In another they (like one of the poasters before me) had a treasure hunt on their hands, with a few clues, a few competing teams and more. And they just made a fun whole mess of all of it with ambushes, and more.

In a campaign I played we were investigating a mystery in a town, and had lots of clues, but no concrete and set one, and we tried to figure thigns out our way, and came up with some... unconventional methods and more. Made for a hell of an interesting play.]

This also goes for big major battles or tense situations. Battle where there are suddenly a few roughly equally important goals, often contradicting with each other, and the players resources spread out! Those were awesome! The best remembered battle in my group was in Eberron, with the party trying to defend the church of the silver flame after a sort of an apocalypse, with demon armies attackign in waves from all sides (including the air and underground). Made for a fantastic battle! (Lasted over two session... :smalltongue:)

2) being reliable and consistent: This either come from being quite well prepared (My go to) or being really good at improvisation (The other DM I play under). This point gives the world an extra feel of "realness" (forgot the word with versi... something). Weaving things together, having peopel remember past conversations or deeds, remembering some effect on and NPC, and so on go a LOOOOONG way towards building up a world in my game.

3) Adjusting the world to PCs actions: Just to do so in an interesting and compelling manner. I don't mean the entire campaign idea needs to be scrapped, but the PCs actions need to matter. Make big changes. In one campaign the PCs managed to kill the second to the BBEG quitte early in the campaign, and prevent him from getting some key feature the BBEG needed for their plan. This threw me off, but made me think and come to the best changes to the campaign (Including the battle over the church iof the silver flame above).

And some gimicks
1) Party wiki site: We keep short session logs, and all kind of other relevant info on a small wiki site we all can edit. A useful tool, and a nice one. Some players appreciate it more, some not so much.

2) Prepared transparent maps with lay overs: Many of the battles I envision are complex ones, and nothing kills a battle more than "And you know meet the horrible legion!" and then start drawing for 5 minutes the battle ground. Instead I prepare transparent maps which I put over a grid. Sure, they don't cover all instances, as players are wont to take you other places, but it can cover about 75%, that's good enough. It shortens battle preparations for about 20-30 seconds (with miniature placing). My players liked it a lot.

3) A good area/ world map: The other DM I play under has a talent for this, and draws great maps, either by hand or by computer. It REALLY adds to the game! :smallsmile:

4) Music: Good music can set the entire tone of a situation/ encounter/ place or battle. But it takes quite a while to choose one. Our party likes them a lot (when appropriate). Don't over do it though- some silence is fine as well.

Whacked off encounters/ mini games: The Mournland in Eberron is really good for this. From a circus organ seller that was willing to exchange the PCs organs for those of monsters, or locked in a "dungeon" (I use it very loosely), where the party had the chance to play different memories and people in other people's dreams in order to advance, or a mystery game of navigating an ever chnaging maze of tunnels. Some of these work better, some less, but on the whole the party likes a change from now and then.

ORione
2014-05-19, 01:16 AM
This point gives the world an extra feel of "realness" (forgot the word with versi... something).

Verisimilitude

supermonkeyjoe
2014-05-19, 10:25 AM
I always like it when a GM can pull off a cliché and make is seem fresh and interesting, I played in a Star wars game where it turned out the kindly old man benefactor was actually the Sith Lord all along! Despite being pretty much Palpatine/Sidious in the Old Republic it totally worked, didn't feel like a ripoff and was genuinely a surprise when it happened despite the fact we should have seen it coming a mile away.

Jay R
2014-05-19, 07:21 PM
One of the difficult tasks for a DM is to make critical hits, or critical fumbles, memorable. I don't know how cool you'll think it is, but the players loved it.

The game was Flashing Blades, a musketeer game. The rogue in the party had decided to learn the Etiquette skill, which takes three months. He'd spent two weeks on it. To make a successful role, you have to roll your Charm or less on a d20. And he a low Charm of 8.

The party went to a high-status hunting party, and at one point, the rogue decided that he was going to go talk to the duke's daughter, who is surrounded by noble suitors. They tried to tell him that he cannot go introduce himself to her; he needs a proper introduction. But he decided that since he was learning Etiquette, he could do it anyway.

So he barged through a collection of high-level nobles and introduced himself to her, and said, "I want to make an Etiquette roll to impress her."

So, he is attempting to use a cross-class skill he has not in fact learned, in competition with several masters of the skill, having already misbehaved, in a high-stress environment, and would have had to roll an 8 or less (if he had the skill at all).

He rolled a 20. Critical fumble.

I said, "You compliment her beauty, look soulfully into her eyes, take her hand gently, bend over it, raise it to your lips ... and f*rt."

Spacebatsy
2014-05-20, 01:49 AM
During one of my first GM sessions I stumbled over a great way of keeping rebellious players in check using nothing but sound effects :smallsmile:


It was a semi-horror setting traveling through a barren landscape where the group was being “watched” by eye-less crows, believed to be connected to a local demon/deity. I used a sound mixer for environmental noises and every now and then a caw from the crows.

The group made camp for the night and I was trying to build a certain atmosphere. However, one of the players, who played his very first character ever, decided to walk straight out into the night “to see what would happen”. Having the babysitter saying something along the lines of “you shouldn’t do that, people have disappeared in this place” did diddly squat. I did not want to obviously railroad him, but I didn’t want to bring out the monsters at this point or just have the ambience ruined either. So with a sense of dread: “you walk away from the firelight into the night”

To buy some time I put on a low crow-cawing, and instantly noticed the other players tensing. The player said “I keep walking” so I added a few more. And a few more. And louder and louder. And then I shut them all off. Every. Single. Player screamed for him to run, which he did, no longer being able to spot the fire and screaming for help.

He got back alright, only a few cuts and bruises, and this one incident set the ambience for the rest of the adventure in a way that I could never have planned for.


Since then the sound mixer has been my best friend :smallsmile:

I’ve even come to use it instead of hearing based spot checks. Just having a very low volume, turning it up if someone realizes it.

pife
2014-05-20, 07:50 AM
During one of my first GM sessions I stumbled over a great way of keeping rebellious players in check using nothing but sound effects :smallsmile:


It was a semi-horror setting traveling through a barren landscape where the group was being “watched” by eye-less crows, believed to be connected to a local demon/deity. I used a sound mixer for environmental noises and every now and then a caw from the crows.

The group made camp for the night and I was trying to build a certain atmosphere. However, one of the players, who played his very first character ever, decided to walk straight out into the night “to see what would happen”. Having the babysitter saying something along the lines of “you shouldn’t do that, people have disappeared in this place” did diddly squat. I did not want to obviously railroad him, but I didn’t want to bring out the monsters at this point or just have the ambience ruined either. So with a sense of dread: “you walk away from the firelight into the night”

To buy some time I put on a low crow-cawing, and instantly noticed the other players tensing. The player said “I keep walking” so I added a few more. And a few more. And louder and louder. And then I shut them all off. Every. Single. Player screamed for him to run, which he did, no longer being able to spot the fire and screaming for help.

He got back alright, only a few cuts and bruises, and this one incident set the ambience for the rest of the adventure in a way that I could never have planned for.


Since then the sound mixer has been my best friend :smallsmile:

I’ve even come to use it instead of hearing based spot checks. Just having a very low volume, turning it up if someone realizes it.

I like this idea a lot! Personally, I think sound is underutilized in games. Now, I'm not particularly technical, by nature, but, are these sound mixers fairly easy to use? Can you recommend the name of one?

MrUberGr
2014-05-20, 08:29 AM
We're currently in the third session of our campaign. I'm planning on doing some sort of a puzzle/key, as was stated above, that includes clues and various other stuff.

A very awesome way to turn a piece of paper in a ragged old parchment is the following:


Take a sheet of paper. I suggest A4 cut in half. Try to rip it on the edges a bit.
In a small pan, put about a cm of water, and 2-3 spoonfuls of instant coffee. (or do it in a mug and then pour it in).
Then dip the paper in the coffee and let it there for at least ten minutes. The outcome depends on the amount of coffe you've used and how much time you let it in the mixture.

Finally, take it out really carefully, put it on a flat surface (desk, kitchen counter etc), and remove the excess water with a paper towel. Let it dry.



According to your set you could burn it a bit on the sides, or burn a hole in the middle of it etc.
After step 4 you can roll it up around a broomstick or smth of that size. If you do that and let it dry, it will curl up on its own and could be something delivered by a bird.

http://i57.tinypic.com/2sba52u.jpg

Put some extra coffee on this one with a brush.
http://i60.tinypic.com/dnoq6b.jpg

Spacebatsy
2014-05-20, 08:31 AM
I like this idea a lot! Personally, I think sound is underutilized in games. Now, I'm not particularly technical, by nature, but, are these sound mixers fairly easy to use? Can you recommend the name of one?


I’m glad you asked :smallsmile:

I’ve been using this one for years, its free to use and very easy to learn:
http://www.stefanisberg.com/mutant/Mixer_eng.html
It’s created by a swedish guy, but he have english instructions and the sound mixer itself is in english

It's very easy to use (I'm adding a short description) I myself am terrible with any sort of technology, but I imagine it doesn't take more than 20 minutes to learn to use this program. What takes time is to track down more sound effects and music tracks, but you will get a long way with what's already included.

You get a lot of sound effects and music tracks from the start and if you want to add more you just drag and drop into the “Music” or “Sound” folders that comes with the download.

You can play six different sound effects at the time at different volume by clicking on one and then on the Empty below Channels
At the same time you can play a music track at any volume, either looping it automatically or jumping to the next track.

And the best part: you can make a setting of this and save it for a specific scene or area during play. I usually have around eight different settings for every adventure based on different places or encounters

(If you’re wondering about the title that comes with the mixer (and the background pictures) it’s created for a swedish postapocalypse RPG called Mutant: Heirs of Doom)

Wow I’m really advertising this, but it has really been my number one tool as a GM and I love for the creator to get some attention

Esprit15
2014-05-20, 11:32 AM
Not seen but in a previous campaign, by some means the players came across a spell that would summon a giant cat that would go on a random murder-spree. To do this, the GM would actually go get their cat and place it on the map. Anyone knocked over by the cat, friend or foe, was killed instantly, no saves.

At one point they used it against the BBEG, and the cat turned around and kicked over one of the player's miniatures while he was in the bathroom. They sent him a picture of the fallen character.

spineyrequiem
2014-05-20, 03:24 PM
I haven't got very much, my only thing is that when GMing Paranoia I try to have forms and pamphlets printed off in advance, ideally laced with as many jokes as possible, and make use of this (http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tts/tts_example.php) website for the voice of the Computer and any robots. Particularly fun is changing voices and doing a different personality for the Computer, as they try to remember whether the Irish girl is the one who responds to allegations of traitors in their sector by sending them extra weapons and equipment or the one who prefers to flood the entire sector with nerve gas while gibbering in terror.

And, of course, I try to do as many silly accents as possible.

Jay R
2014-05-21, 09:24 AM
A few years ago, I ran a Champions game, set in the Silver Age of comics. The campaign introduction had the following paragraphs:

Heroes might be believed to have powers that they don’t really have. There are rumors of a half-man, half-flying-predator creature seen flying around the streets of Gotham at night. Don’t assume that that means the creature can fly, or even that it really exists.

Rumors about heroes are extremely common. In fact, there’s a supermarket tabloid that specializes in them. “The Brave and the Bold” is a source for any rumor about any hero you could ever want to read about, from Forbush-Man to the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. They are responsible for the rumor that Captain America didn’t really die at the end of World War II. They are currently writing an “expose” about a putative hero team called Sugar and Spike, (who nobody else thinks exists), and are trying to convince everyone that these are merely new costumes and identities for the Golden-Age Fox and the Crow. Nobody takes them seriously, but everybody seems to know what they’re saying, and they outsell the National Enquirer by millions of issues each week.

Between games, I always gave them a few stories from The Brave and The Bold, both for color, and to introduce some plot.

An unknown clown was found beaten to death on the streets of Gotham city. There was no evidence linking the crime to anybody, and the only unusual aspects of the case are that the coroner was unable to take off his white clown makeup and green hair dye, and that his face was frozen in a hideous grin, like the victims in a couple of earlier crimes also in Gotham. The police suspect that his murderer must also be guilty of the other crimes, but no other clues are available. (Of course, Gotham is believed to be a corruption-riddled city worse than anything seen since Chicago in the 1930s, so who knows?)

Meteorologists are unable to explain certain weather conditions in Central City. Blasts of extreme cold, and mini-whirlwinds are being experienced.

There is also evidently a new costumed villain in New York City. The papers there are all talking about the illegal exploits of this “Spider-Man” character, but it’s not entirely clear what crimes he’s done.

A small town in upstate New York reports that a couple of local crimes have been solved by an “Ant-Man”. A couple of weird weather conditions have been seen in and around Central City (bizarre lightning strikes on a clear day, large amounts of ice in the streets, and whirlwinds that cannot be explained meteorologically).

A small pudgy man in a tuxedo was found cruelly murdered in Gotham City. The name on the handle of his umbrella identifies him as Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot.

People near an air force base in New Mexico claim to have seen a green monster occasionally. The base claims that these are hysterical reports, and says that no such monster could exist. But “The Brave and the Bold” tabloid seems to believe that a really strong hulking brute really exists.

A man wearing a weird suit with question marks all over it has been found with his head caved in at the scene of a Gotham city bank robbery. He has been identified as Edward Nigma, a puzzle editor on a local paper. Nothing in his background explains his presence at the crime scene or his death. He appears to have been beaten severely. “The Brave and the Bold” claims he has been leading a double life as the little-notice crime fighter “The Question”. (They’ve been running a series exploring the hidden identity of “The Question” for some time, illustrating him as a man with no face.)

In Star City, a modern Robin Hood has appeared, using green arrows with unusual gimmicks.

Each time, there was reference to a brutal murder, or to a half-man/ half -flying-predator vigilante, in Gotham. And there was often an unexplained phenomenon in Metropolis, Central City, Washington, or Coast City. It was primarily just to provide color, but I was also slowly giving them clues that the Crime Syndicate (evil versions of the Justice League) were a major villain group.

pife
2014-05-21, 10:24 AM
A few years ago, I ran a Champions game, set in the Silver Age of comics. The campaign introduction had the following paragraphs:

Heroes might be believed to have powers that they don’t really have. There are rumors of a half-man, half-flying-predator creature seen flying around the streets of Gotham at night. Don’t assume that that means the creature can fly, or even that it really exists.

Rumors about heroes are extremely common. In fact, there’s a supermarket tabloid that specializes in them. “The Brave and the Bold” is a source for any rumor about any hero you could ever want to read about, from Forbush-Man to the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. They are responsible for the rumor that Captain America didn’t really die at the end of World War II. They are currently writing an “expose” about a putative hero team called Sugar and Spike, (who nobody else thinks exists), and are trying to convince everyone that these are merely new costumes and identities for the Golden-Age Fox and the Crow. Nobody takes them seriously, but everybody seems to know what they’re saying, and they outsell the National Enquirer by millions of issues each week.

Between games, I always gave them a few stories from The Brave and The Bold, both for color, and to introduce some plot.

An unknown clown was found beaten to death on the streets of Gotham city. There was no evidence linking the crime to anybody, and the only unusual aspects of the case are that the coroner was unable to take off his white clown makeup and green hair dye, and that his face was frozen in a hideous grin, like the victims in a couple of earlier crimes also in Gotham. The police suspect that his murderer must also be guilty of the other crimes, but no other clues are available. (Of course, Gotham is believed to be a corruption-riddled city worse than anything seen since Chicago in the 1930s, so who knows?)

Meteorologists are unable to explain certain weather conditions in Central City. Blasts of extreme cold, and mini-whirlwinds are being experienced.

There is also evidently a new costumed villain in New York City. The papers there are all talking about the illegal exploits of this “Spider-Man” character, but it’s not entirely clear what crimes he’s done.

A small town in upstate New York reports that a couple of local crimes have been solved by an “Ant-Man”. A couple of weird weather conditions have been seen in and around Central City (bizarre lightning strikes on a clear day, large amounts of ice in the streets, and whirlwinds that cannot be explained meteorologically).

A small pudgy man in a tuxedo was found cruelly murdered in Gotham City. The name on the handle of his umbrella identifies him as Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot.

People near an air force base in New Mexico claim to have seen a green monster occasionally. The base claims that these are hysterical reports, and says that no such monster could exist. But “The Brave and the Bold” tabloid seems to believe that a really strong hulking brute really exists.

A man wearing a weird suit with question marks all over it has been found with his head caved in at the scene of a Gotham city bank robbery. He has been identified as Edward Nigma, a puzzle editor on a local paper. Nothing in his background explains his presence at the crime scene or his death. He appears to have been beaten severely. “The Brave and the Bold” claims he has been leading a double life as the little-notice crime fighter “The Question”. (They’ve been running a series exploring the hidden identity of “The Question” for some time, illustrating him as a man with no face.)

In Star City, a modern Robin Hood has appeared, using green arrows with unusual gimmicks.

Each time, there was reference to a brutal murder, or to a half-man/ half -flying-predator vigilante, in Gotham. And there was often an unexplained phenomenon in Metropolis, Central City, Washington, or Coast City. It was primarily just to provide color, but I was also slowly giving them clues that the Crime Syndicate (evil versions of the Justice League) were a major villain group.

A Harry Potter reference AND a Goonies reference? You, sir, are awesome!

Jay R
2014-05-21, 11:57 AM
A Harry Potter reference AND a Goonies reference? You, sir, are awesome!

Thanks, but your appreciation is slightly misplaced. Aside from the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, all references are from Silver Age comic books. I've never even seen Goonies.

pife
2014-05-23, 01:43 PM
Thanks, but your appreciation is slightly misplaced. Aside from the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, all references are from Silver Age comic books. I've never even seen Goonies.

Ahh, Chester Copperpot was a name from Goonies. I assumed that Chesterfield Cobblepot was a reference. My bad.

Mando Knight
2014-05-23, 02:59 PM
Ahh, Chester Copperpot was a name from Goonies. I assumed that Chesterfield Cobblepot was a reference. My bad.

Oswald Cobblepot is The Penguin.

pife
2014-05-23, 03:02 PM
Oswald Cobblepot is The Penguin.

Dang. I probably should have known that. I guess it's obvious that I never kept up with comics or superhero moves. I am ashamed.. :smallredface:

Thomar_of_Uointer
2014-05-24, 05:12 PM
One GM would let the players draw colored beads from a bag if they added a lore post related to our characters to the Obsidian Portal blog after each session. The most common beads were hero points (Pathfinder action points), but we could also draw minor magic items and bonus feats (player's choice of what the PC gets). The most interesting draw was "roll a d30 in place of one die roll", just because the GM wanted an excuse to use his big old d30.

Jay R
2014-05-25, 09:21 PM
Ahh, Chester Copperpot was a name from Goonies. I assumed that Chesterfield Cobblepot was a reference. My bad.

Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot is the complete name of the Penguin, first introduced in the comic strip, in a particularly silly series in which he enlists Batman's help to hide the truth from the maiden aunt who raised him. It was reprinted in a Batman annual in the 1960s, where I first saw it.

http://ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Batman-newspaper-strip-2-17-1946.jpg

Jallorn
2014-05-26, 07:43 PM
A few years ago, I ran a Champions game, set in the Silver Age of comics. The campaign introduction had the following paragraphs:

Heroes might be believed to have powers that they don’t really have. There are rumors of a half-man, half-flying-predator creature seen flying around the streets of Gotham at night. Don’t assume that that means the creature can fly, or even that it really exists.

Rumors about heroes are extremely common. In fact, there’s a supermarket tabloid that specializes in them. “The Brave and the Bold” is a source for any rumor about any hero you could ever want to read about, from Forbush-Man to the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. They are responsible for the rumor that Captain America didn’t really die at the end of World War II. They are currently writing an “expose” about a putative hero team called Sugar and Spike, (who nobody else thinks exists), and are trying to convince everyone that these are merely new costumes and identities for the Golden-Age Fox and the Crow. Nobody takes them seriously, but everybody seems to know what they’re saying, and they outsell the National Enquirer by millions of issues each week.

Between games, I always gave them a few stories from The Brave and The Bold, both for color, and to introduce some plot.

An unknown clown was found beaten to death on the streets of Gotham city. There was no evidence linking the crime to anybody, and the only unusual aspects of the case are that the coroner was unable to take off his white clown makeup and green hair dye, and that his face was frozen in a hideous grin, like the victims in a couple of earlier crimes also in Gotham. The police suspect that his murderer must also be guilty of the other crimes, but no other clues are available. (Of course, Gotham is believed to be a corruption-riddled city worse than anything seen since Chicago in the 1930s, so who knows?)

Meteorologists are unable to explain certain weather conditions in Central City. Blasts of extreme cold, and mini-whirlwinds are being experienced.

There is also evidently a new costumed villain in New York City. The papers there are all talking about the illegal exploits of this “Spider-Man” character, but it’s not entirely clear what crimes he’s done.

A small town in upstate New York reports that a couple of local crimes have been solved by an “Ant-Man”. A couple of weird weather conditions have been seen in and around Central City (bizarre lightning strikes on a clear day, large amounts of ice in the streets, and whirlwinds that cannot be explained meteorologically).

A small pudgy man in a tuxedo was found cruelly murdered in Gotham City. The name on the handle of his umbrella identifies him as Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot.

People near an air force base in New Mexico claim to have seen a green monster occasionally. The base claims that these are hysterical reports, and says that no such monster could exist. But “The Brave and the Bold” tabloid seems to believe that a really strong hulking brute really exists.

A man wearing a weird suit with question marks all over it has been found with his head caved in at the scene of a Gotham city bank robbery. He has been identified as Edward Nigma, a puzzle editor on a local paper. Nothing in his background explains his presence at the crime scene or his death. He appears to have been beaten severely. “The Brave and the Bold” claims he has been leading a double life as the little-notice crime fighter “The Question”. (They’ve been running a series exploring the hidden identity of “The Question” for some time, illustrating him as a man with no face.)

In Star City, a modern Robin Hood has appeared, using green arrows with unusual gimmicks.

Each time, there was reference to a brutal murder, or to a half-man/ half -flying-predator vigilante, in Gotham. And there was often an unexplained phenomenon in Metropolis, Central City, Washington, or Coast City. It was primarily just to provide color, but I was also slowly giving them clues that the Crime Syndicate (evil versions of the Justice League) were a major villain group.

What's with all the Batman murder-killing?

Also, I notice you combined Marvel and DC.

Arbane
2014-05-26, 08:19 PM
What's with all the Batman murder-killing?

At a guess, I'd say that Owlman (Batman's Evil Counterpart from the antimatter universe) was sick of all these costumed nutcases in HIS city.

Jay R
2014-05-26, 08:26 PM
What's with all the Batman murder-killing?

They were some of the clues to the fact that the most powerful villain group was the Crime Syndicate of America (evil versions of the JLA). In Gotham City, Owl-Man (the evil Batman) was methodically wiping out the competition.


Also, I notice you combined Marvel and DC.

In fact, I combined lots more than that. That world included Dr. Solar from Gold Key, Dynamo and Noman from Tower, the Blackhawks from Quality, Werewolf from Dell, the Incredibles from the movie, Tarzan, the Green Hornet, several television heroes, and even Captain Sprocket from Madhouse comics. The campaign introduction included the following:


The world has always had heroes. Gilgamesh, Achilles, Robin Hood, Scaramouche, Zorro, Phantom Eagle, Tomahawk, the Blackhawks, the Lone Ranger, the Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, Cheyenne Bodie and Kwai-Chang Caine are all historical figures, well-documented in any history book.
...
The super-powerful ones don’t exist (yet). You may assume the existence of any well-known Golden Age comic hero (except the ultra-powerful -- Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Captain Marvel, Spectre, etc.) if you have a specific need for him or her. (Your character was saved as a child by the Red Bee, which is why he wants to be a hero, for instance.)

[Note that the first five listed as not existing are the JSA-equivalents of the Crime Syndicate.]