Plots and things you wanted to steal but didn't/couldn't

[Baj]

(Sorry for semi-stealing your thread title Jeff the Green)

Have you ever seen something in a book/movie/TV show/other media that you thought would be really cool to use in an RPG, but you were worried someone would recognize it from the original source? Just to be clear, I don't mean worried because you "stole" something, but worried about ruining the immersion.

I'm really talking about plots/settings/weapons/vehicles/items here. I think we all have known (or been) someone who wanted to play as Supercool McHero™ and I'm more curious about things other then PC's people have wanted to try.

I'll go first. Also could we maybe "spoiler" the original source of each idea separately? I figure that way it doesn't seem like we're trying to take credit for other people's ideas, but it also allows us to see exactly how well known your source is.

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Thousands of years ago, a city arose in the desert that was built based on musical tones and harmonics. Notes and chords were used to activate gates, doors, and other parts of the city and remarkable bells and chimes were built for this purpose. Eventually, the city learned to weaponize this power in the form of an bell with extraordinary power. None could stand against the might of this bell and the city quickly subjugated it's neighbors. The city prospered until one dark day, the desert arose and swallowed the city whole, leaving nothing but sand. However, legend tells of three mystical chimes that survived the destruction of the city. It is said that if found, these chimes have the power to uncover the ancient city and it's powerful weapon.

And the original source:

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The TV show "TailSpin."

[KillianHawkeye]

I never worry about this because I always use TV shows and movies only for inspiration, and I tend to combine multiple ideas together so it's not such a simple rip off for my players to figure out.

If you believe the idea that there's nothing new under the sun, then the key to originality stops being what your idea IS and becomes HOW you use it.

[Angel Bob]

I just watched the Fourth Doctor serial Pyramids of Mars, and now I really want to run an adventure where an evil cleric of the Chained God Tharizdun is on a mission to free his deity... but the party leader in the group I DM for is a huge fan of the Fourth Doctor and would instantly recognize the setup.

[Baj]

I never worry about this because I always use TV shows and movies only for inspiration, and I tend to combine multiple ideas together so it's not such a simple rip off for my players to figure out.

To be honest, this is how I usually work. I don't think I've ever just lifted something straight from a source and dropped it in a RPG. I think the problem (for me, anyway) is when your boil down the concept to its absolute most basic form that you can without losing the essence you want, and you're still worried that it's identifiable.

Using my example above:

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I can pretty much break this down to:

-ancient city based on musical tones
-city builds musical superweapon
-city mysteriously lost/destroyed
-surviving musical artifact can uncover city.

Now, I would also argue that keeping the bells as the objects of power here are also instrumental in keeping the "flavor" I want for the city, but I guess you could make it a different musical device.

So I guess that's the real dilemma I was thinking of. I'm worried that no matter how I dress up "ancient city, based on tones, with superweapon bell" that it is still going to be ID'd pretty easily.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

It isn't the reason that I haven't run this, but...

The Idea

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There are tens of thousands, millions even, of Material planes,floating in the astral sea, overlapping in places, with just as many inner and outer planes woven between them. Thousands of years ago, a great empire arose and united all of the planes, but it has slowly fallen to internal forces, and local rulers wrested power from the central empire over the course of centuries; now, arcane knowledge is all but lost from most of the cosmos, trillions have died to war and starvation, and men exist who believed that the empire itself was never more than a myth.

The players themselves hail from a small and distant plane, founded by Seers who forsaw the fall of the Empire in the first centuries of its slow collapse, and worked to establish a future for mankind; they established a lone colony on a backwater plane at the very edge of existence, positioned in such a way that it could someday rise to become the seat of a new galactic empire. The PCs hail from this poor but auspicious plane, and slowly expand their reach and power through every means from religion to economics to war...

Meanwhile, from the shadows, the descendants of the original seers wait, plotting and planning to assume control of this new Empire as soon as it has been established...

The Source

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Foundation Trilogy.

[Lord Torath]

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Thousands of years ago, a city arose in the desert that was built based on musical tones and harmonics. Notes and chords were used to activate gates, doors, and other parts of the city and remarkable bells and chimes were built for this purpose. Eventually, the city learned to weaponize this power in the form of an bell with extraordinary power. None could stand against the might of this bell and the city quickly subjugated it's neighbors. The city prospered until one dark day, the desert arose and swallowed the city whole, leaving nothing but sand. However, legend tells of three mystical chimes that survived the destruction of the city. It is said that if found, these chimes have the power to uncover the ancient city and it's powerful weapon.

And the original source:

Spoiler

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The TV show "TailSpin."

This also sounds a lot like Soul of the Fire by Terry Goodkind. Except for the Conquer their Neighbors bit. They just built a nearly unbeatable defense.
(But I guess he could have gotten it from Tailspin too. You mean the Disney Cartoon with Kit Cloudkicker and all the characters from Junglebook in new roles, right?)

[Baj]

This also sounds a lot like Soul of the Fire by Terry Goodkind. Except for the Conquer their Neighbors bit. They just built a nearly unbeatable defense.
(But I guess he could have gotten it from Tailspin too. You mean the Disney Cartoon with Kit Cloudkicker and all the characters from Junglebook in new roles, right?)

Yep! That's the one!

Funnily enough, I don't know what made me remember this idea. I hadn't seen the show in at least ten years, and when I did remember it for some reason I first thought it was from a different Disney Cartoon, DuckTales. A sudden epiphany set me straight.

[KillianHawkeye]

Well, Duck Tales had some pretty good stories featuring ancient lost civilizations, too.

[J-H]

Thousands of years ago, a city arose in the desert that was built based on musical tones and harmonics. Notes and chords were used to activate gates, doors, and other parts of the city and remarkable bells and chimes were built for this purpose. Eventually, the city learned to weaponize this power in the form of an bell with extraordinary power. None could stand against the might of this bell and the city quickly subjugated it's neighbors. The city prospered until one dark day, the desert arose and swallowed the city whole, leaving nothing but sand. However, legend tells of three mystical chimes that survived the destruction of the city. It is said that if found, these chimes have the power to uncover the ancient city and it's powerful weapon.

Initially, I thought that this was an adapted version of Stargate Atlantis, complete with 3 empty ZPM slots.

[Man on Fire]

I wanted to steal character of the Undertaker, together with hsi entrance music, to use as messanger of Death, but my friend convinced me he will be cliched as hell and I went with something more out of place - affable, but yet bizarre creature.

I wanted to steal a bunch of WWF/WWE wrestlers as opponents for Unarmed trike Barbarian, but his player had to drop from my game.

[Yora]

I always have "System Shock 2 on a 22nd century submarine" in store for the time I'd ever need a sci-fi mini campaign.

The "Illithid Black Mesa" is another one of my favorites. The illithids screwed up with a portal device and the PCs explore the devastated complex dealing with both illithids and invading demons from the far realm.