Miss Adventurer Pageant

[Folie]

I’ve fallen in love with my idea for a one-shot: a Charlie’s Angels-esque team of female investigators (I plan to call them “Arlie’s Celestials”) are hired to go undercover at a beauty pageant to find out who’s killing off the front-runners for the crown. The mastermind of the plot, of course, will be a succubus disguised as a really cheerful, sweet human contestant—let’s call her Miss Congeniality, or Miss Connie for short. Miss Connie will plant a bunch of red herrings for the party that point to a snotty elven contestant, whom we’ll call Miss Vain.
The plan is to make sure Miss Vain will win the pageant, while Miss Connie will win the runner-up prize. At the crowning ceremony, when Miss Vain turns to “hug the loser” as mandated by pageant etiquette, Miss Connie will stab Miss Vain in the back, reveal her true form, snatch the crown away from the shocked pageant host, and send out her squad of dretches to wreak havoc in the room where the ceremony’s taking place so that she can escape. (At least, that’s how she sees this plan going.)

I have these images in my head, of course, but the exact logistics of the plan escape me. During the competition, I need to give Miss Connie opportunities to commit her crimes while making a clean getaway, and I need to give the Celestials a chance to discover enough information to feel like they’re making progress (the chance for them to solve the mystery before the climactic crowning scene should definitely exist, but it should either take some really lucky rolls or some really smart players to accomplish that).
At the ceremony, Miss Connie needs some plausible way to get her dretch squad into the room undetected—at a pageant celebrating physical beauty, twisted and infernal creatures tend to stand out from the crowd—and there need to be enough physical obstructions in the ceremony room to keep her from getting away before the Celestials can stop her.

Some details about the PCs and the pageant that I’ve worked out already:

• There will definitely be four PC Celestials: A Fighter, a Rogue, a Sorcerer, and a Cleric. Each of the Celestials will be an attractive female representative of her race; because Beauty will be handled by a separate statistic, a high Charisma won’t be mandatory for any of them, but it would definitely come in handy if they want to make it to the finals.
• The pageant itself will take place on an island sacred to the goddess of beauty, as part of an annual celebration. As sacred tradition dictates, no one is allowed to set foot on the island once the pageant starts, and no one on the island is allowed to leave until the pageant is over. The first victim was murdered a week before the pageant started, which is why the Celestials were able to get on the island. (This rule eliminates an important potential plothole. This way, if one of the Celestials acts too rashly and gets caught with innocent blood on her hands, she’ll still be able to be there for the crowning ceremony—she’ll just have to figure out how to get rid of her chains during the big fight.)
• The pageant will consist of 4 separate competitions, spoilered below.

Spoiler

Show

1) The Swimsuit Competition: The contestants model their chainmail bikinis and try to look pretty. (Contestants add their Beauty stat to their scores. Anyone with at least 5 ranks in Perform gets a +2 synergy bonus.)
2) The Personality Competition: The contestants are interviewed by the judges on their interests, their views on current events, etc. (Contestants make Diplomacy checks and add their results to their scores.)
3) The Talent Competition: The contestants demonstrate some kind of special or unique talent for the judges. (Contestants make Perform checks and add their results to their scores. Instead of making a Perform check, a contestant may make a check for another skill that covers her talent—Handle Animal, Tumble, etc.)
4) The Combat Competition: The ten contestants with the highest scores so far advance to the finals, and are divided into two teams of five. The two teams must fight each other in the temple’s ceremonial arena until five of the combatants are KO’ed. During the combat, the combatants must wear the same bikinis they wore for the swimsuit competition. (Under the rules I’m using, the only mechanical difference between bikini armor and regular armor is that the former is cheaper and weighs less than the latter.) Combatants may also bring other pieces of combat equipment with them, but are only allowed a maximum of 3 magic items. The arena is placed under a spell that makes it so that all the damage dealt is non-lethal and death effects don’t work, so there’s no worries about accidentally killing someone. When the combat is over, the members of the winning team (i.e. the one with the most members still standing) add 20 points to their scores, while the five who were not KO’ed add 10 points.
5) If one of you guys has a good idea for the final competition, please share it. Otherwise, I think the pageant will end with the combat.

Thoughts? Comments? Let's hear them!

[Bears With Lasers]

...I just want to say that this sounds absolutely brilliant and I would play it in a heartbeat.

[Nowhere Girl]

Thoughts? Comments? Let's hear them!

I have one:

Why a fighter?

Seriously, why? If I'm creating a team of investigators, I would take anything -- anything -- over a fighter. I'd rather have two rogues than infinite fighters. Investigation doesn't call for anyone to whack things mindlessly with swords; it calls for ... well, it calls for all of the skills that fighters don't have. Or the divination magic that fighters also don't have.

Not only would it be silly from an RP perspective for a fighter to be part of an investigation-focused team, but it would also not be very fun for the player of said character because, let's be honest: she'd feel (and be) completely useless. The rogue (if she's well-designed) can do a ton. The sorcerer and the cleric both have divination spells they can bring to the table.

The fighter is just going to sit there with her +1 sword of pointlessness and her total lack of non-fighting utility doing nothing while the rest of the party works on the mystery.

A paladin would be very useful to a team of investigators, as paladins have access to Sense Motive and Diplomacy, as well as Detect Evil at will. A bard could also be a wonderful investigator, and a druid could actually add animals (rats if nothing else, maybe?) to the list of interviewees. Even a monk or a ranger would be ... sort of useful.

But definitely not a fighter.

Edit: Other than that, it's a cute idea! I'm just saying I pity anyone who plays a fighter in an investigation team. Sorry if I came off as harsh.

[Jasdoif]

Suggestion.

Half-succubus nymph. That's a total +16 Cha with totally average scores, which boosts AC and saves. And Disguise.

Now, throw in a level or two of rogue and put a bunch of points in Disguise, and she can effortlessly disguise herself as an elf. There's "Miss Vain" for ya. The red herrings will be especially effective if their target actually is hiding something, even if it's not what the PCs are looking for.

[Quietus]

So you think she should be.... both Miss Connie and Miss Vain? In one?

[Jasdoif]

So you think she should be.... both Miss Connie and Miss Vain? In one?

No, Connie would still a (full) succubus as originally laid out.

[Wehrkind]

This does sound really fun. (I would totally watch it on Tv too; not enough competition reality shows have blood sport as the last event.)

Good red herrings are often cultural differences. Have one contestant list "makes a lovely blood pudding" on her list of talents, or her favorite food. Wierd enough to make paranoid players think.
Also, be certain to describe in exacting detail everyone who isn't important. If you have like 20 contestants that shouldn't be too hard (just lift descriptions of real world celebs from their stalker/fan sites.)


And you have to have a fighter. Every crime fighting team has some bruiser whose main trick is breaking things. Give her some heavy gold jewelry and a mohawk. Please.

Edit: For maximum 70's and 80's cheese, make one of your recurring villainesses be a contender in the pageant. The players will imediately suspect her, eating up the most tenuous clues linking her to the problem. Then, when they think they are going to burst in and catch her red handed, they find her perfectly innocent. They are embarassed, and find out later that she competes every year and it an ardent supporter of the ceremony. They then team up with her to solve the mystery, knowing that as soon as they step off the island, all bets are off. Will she betray them in the end? Tune in next week!

[Lord Iames Osari]

Hmmm. Why does this sound so familiar?

[Quietus]

No, Connie would still a (full) succubus as originally laid out.

Ahhh.... wonder if they'd be working together, then? Or have some extra rivalry going on?

CATFIGHT!!

[PnP Fan]

Follie,
You are a genius. That's all.

[storybookknight]

Miss Vain could also be an Erinyes, inadvertently getting the PCs embroiled in the Blood War.

For the fifth competition, you could have a Prisoner's Dilemma situation - the PC's workingtogetherness would see them through!

[Folie]

Ahhh.... wonder if they'd be working together, then? Or have some extra rivalry going on?

CATFIGHT!!

My idea was that Miss Vain had done something to piss off Miss Connie a long time ago, and now Miss Connie wants to get revenge by making everything Miss Vain cares about come crashing down around her, right at the moment of her triumph. (Now that I think of it, I think that Miss Connie will probably splash acid in Miss Vain's face instead of just stabbing her. This would of course be special abyssal acid that causes hideous scarring: the kind of scarring that can can only be healed through the direct intervention of the beauty goddess. And since She hates inner ugliness worst of all, Miss Vain is going to have to atone big time for her arrogance if she doesn't want to spend the rest of her life as a "freak.")

EDIT: I'm not going to establish the exact reason why Miss Connie is so pissed off at Miss Vain, not even for myself - it's not at all important to the plot, and I could never come up with a reason that could top the players' imaginations.

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

The whole vendetta angle lends support to the Erinyes idea.

Also, genius.

Also, for the Dretches; perhaps Miss Connie has access to resources beyond her normal means (rich family, maybe) and thus can afford, say, hats of disguise for her minions? An imperfect means, but if they're posing as ushers or guards.

For the physical obstructions, maybe the goddess of beauty is worshiped near a river or spring of some kind- whose water is periodically blessed by her priestesses. Holy water streams are definitely going to slow down a Succubus.

[The_Werebear]

I would have the judges be Ex-Competitors of enough strength to be physical hazards to the succubus. Also, to prevent her from simply teleporting out, have the competition be held in a dimensionally locked area, no porting in or out. Why? In the past, someone summoned a Balor for their talent, which caused some problems when it declined to leave.

One thing you may want to consider: How are illusion scans here? I can see someone cheating by using illusions to make flaws disapear/make boobs bigger. The thing is, Connie will be using illusions to disguise herself, no? Not to mention the whole "wings, horns, and tail" thing

[Woot Spitum]

Final Competition? The obstacle course of doom! It's not a campy contest if it doesn't have an obstacle course.

[Folie]

I'm really liking these ideas - Let's hear more! Come on, don't be shy.

[Jasdoif]

Umm...for optimum control over the area, use a demiplane. Say, the island is the main feature of a small demiplane taking up a spot in the Material Plane, with invisible borders. Then you can easily explain things like why the succubus can't simply teleport away (the demiplane doesn't touch the astral plane), gives you the freedom to effect spells as you see fit with impeded/limited magic traits, and so on. The effects of the minor positive dominant trait could also be quite fitting thematically, more intense colors/sensations would serve to boost the effect of a beauty pageant, and at the same time reduce the risks of any combat competitions.


If this island is sacred to an actual goddess, she would almost definitely have a few of her clerics or other divinely gifted followers on hand for an event like this. Perhaps they're among the competitors, perhaps they're the judges, perhaps they're the officiators...or maybe they can represent any of those parts. Heck, perhaps the PC Cleric could serve her. If you haven't already, work up a holy symbol, alignment and domains.


Why do you need a squad of dretchs, in particular? You could have some creatures that would have an easier time fitting in...perhaps some mephits.

[Inyssius Tor]

You need some way to keep Connie out of the way for a few rounds while the Celestials kill all the dretches, right? Perhaps she's trying to teleport away; it's not impossible, it just takes a full minute to cast while on the island?

[Vik]

Very nice idea, but I see some holes :

1. First of them, as a high cleric of the beauty godess, I would certainly cast some True Seeing spells to be sure there's no cheating - and it's only a level 5 spell. So the succubus should better stay in the shadow, and taking some NPC's (*) appearance when useful - but not during a competition.
(*) or even PC, which could lead to hints or suspicion among PCs !

2. The revenge needs to be motivated. The easiest way would be that the succubus is jealous of what the mortal accomplished (she gained the love of a human that the succubus was trying to seduce) or - even better - is actually : a half-sister. It makes miss Vain a half-fiend (which would explain her extreme beauty), and the succubus wants her ruined because she knows that her mother, a succubus leader, may want to use her child if she is the Beauty Queen.
That may introduce some plot with the Succubus mother.

3. Not a problem, but I'd plan on one day per competition, so that they have time to discuss with each NPC, and the succubus has time to kill enough contestant.

4. The melee thing is kinda strange. I certainly see why it'd be appreciated by the players, but for a beauty contest ... At least, makes it without any weapon / armor / spell, and in mud or other stuff like that. The winner is the last woman standing. If you want a true fight, have some fight with demons helping the succubus during one night.

Then after all the competitions, the succubus takes the place of the runner-up, *provided it's not one of the PC*. But if they managed to have one them being the runner-up, they deserve the fact that the succubus will have to manage a more difficult starting position for the last scene.

Edit : about the Fighter. Better take a Monk, Paladin or melee-Ranger.

[Dark]

For the melee thing, since you're already going with chainmail bikinis... I seriously suggest adapting the catfight rules from the D20 Modern version of Macho Women With Guns.

Highlights:

• bare-handed (in some cases bare-clawed)
• all damage is Charisma damage instead of hit points.
• make-up and items of clothing give Charisma bonuses to combatants.
• losing all Charisma means you're too bedraggled and humiliated to continue the fight.

Since you have a Beauty stat, you could go with that instead of Charisma.

[Matthew]

This kind of reminds me of an episode of Xena or Hercules, which isn't to say I don't like it!

I want to know what role the Priesthood play in this competition. Are they allowed to compete? How many are there? Is there a temple nearby? How is security at the contest? Seems to me that this competition might be a mighty tempting target for some Piratical Slavers. Failing that, the competitors no doubt have their share of fans who might try to intrude. Actually, you could have a subplot involving a unrequited lover.

Good stuff, anyway.

[thehothead]

Congratulations Folie. You are one of 5 people who have managed to make want to simultaneously set them on fire and worship them.

[Yvian]

Ok, I am a bit confused, but then again this idea is at a pretty early stage.

Why are the beauty contest being knocked out early?

Is Miss Vain only the 4th or 5th prettiest girl so the other have to be knocked out of the way?

Does Connie have a way to manipulate hear true form so she is not discovered? Having to do a ritual which one of the contestants stumbled upon?

Perhaps she is just evil [duh]. You could have some of the talent compaction go wrong.

[Amphimir Míriel]

First of all, let me tell you: your idea is made of pure solid gold...

My only complaint? the Chainmail bikinis... I can understand mud wrestling, or even almost-naked dual knife fights á la The Mummy Returns... But chainmail bikinis that somehow grant the same AC as regular armor is just stretching it.

For more on Fantasy Women garb read the following two strips:

http://www.commissionedcomic.com/index.php?strip=206
http://www.commissionedcomic.com/index.php?strip=207

[Icewalker]

Hehehe, very nice. I dunno about your competition scoring, seems a bit simple. I'd make em roleplay it, at least a bit. And they have to be undercover so nobody knows that it's them, so they have to make up fake identities. Then they stutter and Ms. Connie gets suspicious...

Definitely an excellent plan. The whole other people seeing through her illusions thing could be a bit of a problem however.

[Ikkitosen]

Why the bigDretch-based reveal? Shouldn't Connie come second, then at the final ceremony have the Celestials call Vain as a murderer and have her disqualified and have them GIVE THE CROWN TO THE SUCCUBUS.

Only if/when she is busted should she release the Dretch demons and try to escape. And by escape I mean drain all of the life from Vain and THEN escape

[Bagera]

Rather than have a fighter as one of the celestials you might like a monk. They have the skills to investigate and can pack a punch too.

[Runolfr]

EDIT: I'm not going to establish the exact reason why Miss Connie is so pissed off at Miss Vain, not even for myself - it's not at all important to the plot, and I could never come up with a reason that could top the players' imaginations.

Oh, please. This is a Succubus... her motivation is built-in. She wants to cause Miss Vain as much sufferring as possible. It would be entirely feasible for Miss Vain to have made some sort of infernal deal with Miss Connie in which Miss Connie guarantees that Miss Vain will win the Miss Adventurer competition. Miss Connie is just fulfilling the letter of the bargain, then pulling Miss Vain's rug out from under her. It's a classic demonic bait-and-switch.

[Runolfr]

Holy water streams are definitely going to slow down a Succubus.

Uhm... Succubi fly, dude. She'll go right over the stream.

[Runolfr]

I would have the judges be Ex-Competitors of enough strength to be physical hazards to the succubus. Also, to prevent her from simply teleporting out, have the competition be held in a dimensionally locked area, no porting in or out. Why? In the past, someone summoned a Balor for their talent, which caused some problems when it declined to leave.

There's no need for such cooked-up excuses.

Contestants have already been murdered, remember? The local authorities have tightened security around the pageant to keep a murderer from being able to get at them. That means arcane locks on the doors and windows, anti-teleportation spells, etc. to prevent unauthorized coming and going.