New Campaign: Scooby Doo and the Color From Out of Space!

[Judge_Worm]

I'm looking for ideas for a new short campaign I'll be running. Our current DM just had a kid and will be out for a while.

Anywho, the campaign idea is this:
Scooby and the gang uncover some sort of eldritch abomination. The players will be playing Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy, I'll be DMPCing Scooby. All are level 3 experts (except Scooby who will advance by hd), with standard array. I'll be using a sanity score.

That's about all I have, any ideas?

Old Man Jenkins eats 1d4 meddling kids per round.

[Telonius]

Make sure "Fred" is aware of the Combat Trapsmith class.

So, are you going for, "how to stat Scooby," or "how to make an awakened Great Dane as powerful as possible?"

... and, will mention of Scrappy result in a Sanity check?

The new "Mystery Incorporated" cartoon should give you a few ideas. Complete with Miskatonic University shout-out.

[weckar]

... and, will mention of Scrappy result in a Sanity check?
Not as much as mentioning the live action movies will.

It'd be cool to involve some of the classic Scooby monsters though.

[Venger]

what sort of help are you looking for?

a module to pull from? advice on fluff? tips on how to do horror? I'd recommend checking out elder evils for the first one and heroes of horror for the second and third.

[Judge_Worm]

I was going for a cthulhu mythos feel. Have things get steadily more and more "off." As for the feel I usually follow H.P.'s standard, don't describe what it is, describe what it isn't.

[Judge_Worm]

what sort of help are you looking for?

a module to pull from? advice on fluff? tips on how to do horror? I'd recommend checking out elder evils for the first one and heroes of horror for the second and third.

Help with plot actually. I don't like doing modules, but don't mind stealing pieces wholesale.

[Extra Anchovies]

Help with plot actually. I don't like doing modules, but don't mind stealing pieces wholesale.

How familiar is your party with the various notable Scooby-Doo stories? One of the ones where the monsters are real (e.g. the real zombies one or the real aliens one) could be fun, since they would be expecting it to just be Old Man Jenkins.

[malonkey1]

To be honest, running this in Call of Cthulhu (there is a d20 version) might be better than D&D. Possibly World of Darkness.

[sakuuya]

The new "Mystery Incorporated" cartoon should give you a few ideas. Complete with Miskatonic University shout-out.

This is exactly what you want, OP. The whole series is available on Netflix (and can probably be bought pretty inexpensively if you don't do Netflix). Also, it's just really, really good. Not even "good for Scooby-Doo." Good-good.

I would recommend not using the Sanity mechanic at first: Start out with a bunch of dude-in-a-mask style classic Scooby-Doo adventures, and gradually reveal the underlying supernatural elements.

One of the first "big" things the gang uncovers in SDMI is that there was a previous mystery-solving gang in town, who all mysteriously vanished ~20 years before the series. Then, they discover that there were a whole string of similar groups dating back to before America was colonized. The reason for this is, yes, an eldritch abomination, who has been twisting reality around their town so that people comit weird mask crimes and talking animals inevitably turn evil.

[Venger]

This is exactly what you want, OP. The whole series is available on Netflix (and can probably be bought pretty inexpensively if you don't do Netflix). Also, it's just really, really good. Not even "good for Scooby-Doo." Good-good.

I would recommend not using the Sanity mechanic at first: Start out with a bunch of dude-in-a-mask style classic Scooby-Doo adventures, and gradually reveal the underlying supernatural elements.

One of the first "big" things the gang uncovers in SDMI is that there was a previous mystery-solving gang in town, who all mysteriously vanished ~20 years before the series. Then, they discover that there were a whole string of similar groups dating back to before America was colonized. The reason for this is, yes, an eldritch abomination, who has been twisting reality around their town so that people comitt weird mask crimes and talking animals inevitably turn evil.


wasn't that the plot of "halloween 3: season of the witch?"

[sakuuya]

wasn't that the plot of "halloween 3: season of the witch?"

I thought that turned out to be all robots?

[Venger]

I thought that turned out to be all robots?

No, that was "Halloween Takes New York"

[sakuuya]

No, that was "Halloween Takes New York"

Oh, right, the one on the cruise ship! What the heck was I thinking? :smallwink:

[Blackhawk748]

Sadly i dont have a lot of help to provide other than saying, Good Job! This is gonna be fun and hilarious.

I once did a Scooby Doo style side quest, the party was trying to catch a few ghosts (which turned out to be Kobold children UMDing a Flight wand and covering themselves in a minor image for the "ghost" sheet and using chains of terror, a custom item i made that forces a Will save or be Frightened) The party thought it was hilarious and we had a great time.

As for plot, just steal a Lovecraft story wholesale, unless someone from you group reads HP (and sometimes even then) they shouldnt recognize it as long as you change enough names. Hell i ran that same party through Shadow Over Innsmouth and they didnt even realize it until an army of Kuo Toa rose out of the lake.


wasn't that the plot of "halloween 3 Scooby Doo: season of the witch?"

Fixed that for you :smallwink:

[Venger]

Sadly i dont have a lot of help to provide other than saying, Good Job! This is gonna be fun and hilarious.

I once did a Scooby Doo style side quest, the party was trying to catch a few ghosts (which turned out to be Kobold children UMDing a Flight wand and covering themselves in a minor image for the "ghost" sheet and using chains of terror, a custom item i made that forces a Will save or be Frightened) The party thought it was hilarious and we had a great time.

As for plot, just steal a Lovecraft story wholesale, unless someone from you group reads HP (and sometimes even then) they shouldnt recognize it as long as you change enough names. Hell i ran that same party through Shadow Over Innsmouth and they didnt even realize it until an army of Kuo Toa rose out of the lake.

Fixed that for you :smallwink:

It's definitely gonna be hilarious. please comment here and tell us how it goes, we're all curious.

NB: almost no one on the internet who talks about cthulu actually reads lovecraft. this is a pretty good idea.

hm. you know now that you mention it, dan o'herlihy does look like his face could be a cheap rubber mask

[Blackhawk748]

It's definitely gonna be hilarious. please comment here and tell us how it goes, we're all curious.

Seconding this, we must hear the insanity

[Venger]

Seconding this, we must hear the insanity

DM: The crypt awaits before, a large stone slab of a door taunting you with its immobility.
Velma: Darn! How're we gonna get through this door, gang? The mayor's counting on us to find an antidote to that bad fish sandwich he had.
Shaggy: Like, don't blame me, guys, Scoob said it'd only been in my pocket a couple of days.
Daphne: Not this again. The dog can't talk. And if you think he's talking to you, don't listen to him.
Fred: Don't encourage him, Daph. Don't you guys remember what that skeleton said? He said something about the water moving when the stone strikes it.
Velma: Good thinking. Shaggy, gimme the canteen.
Shaggy: I don't have it
Scooby: (burps) (realizes others are looking at him) (hides the empty canteen behind his back) Rut ro.
Fred: I'm going back to the well. You guys try not to break anything.

[Marlowe]

I remember having a really silly conversation about how to build a 3.5-style scoobie gang a while ago. Sadly the conclusions were a little dull.

Shaggy :(incompetent) Ranger or Druid with Scooby as the animal companion. DM exploits his ability to control Scoob and essentially run him as a DMPC shamefully and hilariously.
Velma : Something Int-based obviously. Factotum?
Daphne : Shows erratic signs of competence in the later installments and is apparently a journo. Not-very-optimised Bard? With Knack rather than Knowledge? Has ranks in Perform(look pretty?).
Fred : No interesting features AT ALL. In fact, he used to be the tvtropes.org trope namer for "least interesting cast member". Maybe Fighter?

[Venger]

I remember having a really silly conversation about how to build a 3.5-style scoobie gang a while ago. Sadly the conclusions were a little dull.

Shaggy :(incompetent) Ranger or Druid with Scooby as the animal companion. DM exploits his ability to control Scoob and essentially run him as a DMPC shamefully and hilariously.
Velma : Something Int-based obviously. Factotum?
Daphne : Shows erratic signs of competence in the later installments and is apparently a journo. Not-very-optimised Bard? With Knack rather than Knowledge? Has ranks in Perform(look pretty?).
Fred : No interesting features AT ALL. In fact, he used to be the tvtropes.org trope namer for "least interesting cast member". Maybe Fighter?

if you play a druid's AC by the book, they're actually not perfectly obedient, like a wizard's familiar, so you can totally do that

I'd go with archivist for velma for its "dark knowledge" ability. she could read exposition from her prayerbook and such. plus it fits perfectly into a horror game.

bard sounds about right for daphne.

least interesting class? well you said fighter already, so I'm stuck saying monk, but you're obviously right.

[Blackhawk748]

least interesting class? well you said fighter already, so I'm stuck saying monk, but you're obviously right.

Well he can be REALLY boring until he goes into Trapsmith/Combat Trapsmith. I mean that man is a Trap Master.

[Marlowe]

Archivist Velma. Duh Me. That's much better.

Looking further into this vital issue, I find that apparently, Fred is a good driver. I suppose that translates to lots and lots of ranks in Ride. Fighter still works.

I notice that I find Daphne rather more interesting and Velma rather less than I did when I was eight. I can't imagine what's changed about me.

[Venger]

Archivist Velma. Duh Me. That's much better.

Looking further into this vital issue, I find that apparently, Fred is a good driver. I suppose that translates to lots and lots of ranks in Ride. Fighter still works.

I notice that I find Daphne rather more interesting and Velma rather less than I did when I was eight. I can't imagine what's changed about me.

Thanks.

I'd be a "good driver" too if I only had to navigate my van through the same 3 frames over and over again.

maybe Daphne's interest in stereotypically "feminine" things seems less alien as an adult than as a child so she's easier to sympathize with, as is her reluctance at going deeper into all the strange things the gang tends to do. or maybe Velma's "I told you so" Lisa Simpson-like attitude is more annoying as an adult when you realize the narrative contorts itself so she's almost always right vs. when as a child all you noticed was "Velma's usually right, they should listen to her more often."

[Marlowe]

Glad I'm not the first one to mention the Lisa Simpson thing with Velma. It's fish in a barrel.

Daphne is an attractive redhead with good dress sense. This never hurts. She's also the character that is presented with the least consistency and who has altered the most over time. Which can translate into complexity of character when looked at in a certain way.