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View Full Version : DM Help I'd like some help with my storyline.



Arcane_Snowman
2016-12-27, 07:52 AM
So, I'm going to be running a campaign for a couple of my friends using a small system that I stumbled across called Pandemonio (sorta like Supernatural and the Ash Versus the Evil Dead put in a blender with a pinch of Warhammer 40k for good measure). Now I'm very much used to running sandbox games with a vague overarching storyline (and rarely with an end in sight or mind), but this time around I very much intend for the game to be a much more focused experience. I've got the beginning and the end in mind but the middle bits are still a bit nebulous and so I turn to you for some inspiration. Here's the basic run down:

The game takes place in a facsimile of our real world where the Supernatural to some degree exists.

The whole thing begins with the characters dying and seeing an eldritch horror which is parasitically clinging to the world, devouring the souls of the dead, all the while it's grotesque offal drips back onto the Earth. They are pulled back into the world of the living by a mysterious benefactor who calls himself the Vicar and they are thereafter drafted into this secret war.

The end goal is for them to square off against the avatar(s) of this monstrosity and hopefully prevail.

So far the idea is to throw a lot of biblical iconography and apocrypha into the mix (the basic system assumes that angels and demons are running around murdering people and it's your job to stop them), it'll in part help to give some recognizable, albeit distorted, milestone that they can latch onto, whilst feeding into the whole paranoia/conspiracy theory vibe that I want to aim for where everyone who is not on your side is potentially an enemy.

Any ideas?

Kafana
2016-12-27, 08:28 AM
Is there a sect that wants the eldritch horror to succeed (and aims to stop the players)?

Does the sect influence the local government?

Is there an ancient artifact (or set of artifacts that form one big artifact) which can be used to defeat the ancient evil? Getting each part can be an entirely different experience, while having a recognizable milestone. Maybe one is located in the long forgotten underground city that is now infested by random aberrations, while one might be in the possession of the sect, and a third one is in the crown of the ruling emperor.

Perhaps not all of the parts need to retrieved for them to be able to defeat the demon, but 3/5 might be enough, while every additional one will make the final standoff easier.

Arcane_Snowman
2016-12-27, 08:44 AM
Is there a sect that wants the eldritch horror to succeed (and aims to stop the players)?

Does the sect influence the local government? I've been pretty vague, because to my understanding discussing real world religion in any greater detail is a no-no. But suffice it to say that the players are fighting an uphill battle against a humanity which knows no better, where every person not on their side can turn into their enemy (by virtue of being possessed by the spawn of the eldritch abomination). Very much like the Matrix and it's agents.


Is there an ancient artifact (or set of artifacts that form one big artifact) which can be used to defeat the ancient evil? Getting each part can be an entirely different experience, while having a recognizable milestone. Maybe one is located in the long forgotten underground city that is now infested by random aberrations, while one might be in the possession of the sect, and a third one is in the crown of the ruling emperor.

Perhaps not all of the parts need to retrieved for them to be able to defeat the demon, but 3/5 might be enough, while every additional one will make the final standoff easier. The system already has some mcguffins like that, which I'm very much intending to include.

Freed
2016-12-27, 01:27 PM
At one point, someone should offer them 6 silver pieces and a position of honor to betray this vicar, (In order for them to accept, make it so they need silver for a ritual or something. Judas. )
There should be a dragon completely made of fire (I don't remember what they're called.) who speaks all languages and wild shifts into a dove.

Herobizkit
2016-12-28, 04:58 AM
Both "Angels" and "Devils" have a hierarchy.

Plot out how that hierarchy works.

Have you ever seen/played the XBOX Game "Mercenaries"? It has the perfect formula for setting up a criminal organization (or, you know, Angels/Devils). If not, come up with some factions and decide what their main goals will be, then set up important figures in each. The players should be allowed to insinuate themselves into any faction on any level (if you're doing a sandbox-style game) and encouraged to dismantle the ranks by learning the location/identities of the faction leaders.

Some factions may help against the others, while some factions may actively work against PC's.

Vitruviansquid
2016-12-28, 05:55 AM
You need ideas of what to put in the middle of your storyline?

1. Use a small mystery to slingshot players into the greater mystery.

This is a great way to present a difficult, complex mystery, for which your players do not have the pieces to grapple with in the beginning, and logically lead them to gather the information necessary to start taking initiative to solve the mystery. You start the players with a small mystery that gives them purpose, and drives forward the momentum of the game, but as they are trying to solve the small mystery, clues for the greater mystery comes up. An example: You might somehow give your PCs responsibility to solve a string of serial murders. As they investigate the killings, the PCs are confronted by thugs in multiple instances, while realizing that the murdered people have all attended the same meeting at some point in time. Snooping into the next instance of the meeting gets your players the information to move onto solving the mystery behind the cult, which presumably affects the cosmic fate of the world.

2. Map out the discoveries you want your players to make by session.

You never want to stall the mystery in an investigative game. If you're not running a sandbox game this time around, plan a rough idea of how you drip feed your players. You don't want to drop too many pieces of important information on the players at once, or they do not feel clever for finding it, nor do you want to deny them too much information for too long. Depending on how often you end up playing, you should plan around revealing one piece of major information either every session, or every other session.

Luz
2016-12-28, 06:11 AM
Add a Plot twist in the end... Make the eldritch creature benevolent, only collecting so for a wonderfull afterlife.

It punish wicked souls, reward noble souls and recruit able souls as einherjar to figth another worse eldrich abomination.

Now thanks to the Vicar(Who can be evil or just misinformed) This other worse creature is free to end the universe.

DoomHat
2016-12-28, 06:17 AM
I think it would be thematically appropriate to make the real biggest threat to the players be Doubt. Throughout the game you should drop big hints that the Vicar might be lying to them.

Was the vision of that giant space demon all an induced hallucination? If real, is it devouring the souls, or collecting/protecting them from some greater harm before taking them to heaven when all has come to pass?

Have the party run afoul of "anti-parties". Teams of seemingly unpossessed mortals like them with countering objectives. Have them constantly demanding to know just what the hell the PCs think they're doing. According to them, the PCs are taking actions that will lead to the triumph of ultimate evil.

The big twist being that the Vicar IS the good guy after all, and if the party faulters in their faith (and it will have to be faith, all the evidence should be stacked against the truth) the world and all the souls of humankind will be damned forever.

Stealth Marmot
2016-12-28, 08:03 AM
Sorry, I somehow am getting Evangelion flashbacks even though I haven't even watched the series.

So, you have a sort of GvsE mixed with Call of Cthulu then?

Fair enough, if I were you I would look through holy symbology and find ones that come from a multitude of cultures, and print them out so that players have a good visual of the symbols they are seeing.