What have you stolen from and how?

[Charles Phipps]

Yes, the thread where we talk about how we've adapted stuff for our campaigns from other sources.

Currently, my players are (unwittingly) playing the Baldur's Gates series.

[Guy_Whozevl]

My players are playing in a campaign based on Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door. Minus the paper and badges and hammers and jumping and sidekicks. And witty one-liners.

[Anxe]

I've adapted so much stuff for my campaign. My most famous adaption was from Star Wars. Remember that scene where Luke goes into the cave and fights Darth Vader. After he cuts off Vader's head he sees that it was really his own head. I used that in my campaign. I stole some stuff from the Circle of Magic books too. Can't really remember anything else right now.

[Xefas]

I've stolen many MANY names for towns and cities from videogames that I knew my players hadn't played. I'm just really bad with names

My first campaign world's cities used up practically all of the city names from Everquest Online Adventures for PS2.

[F.L.]

"There is nothing new under the sun"
Ecclesiastes 1:9

At least 1200 BC.

I believe there's similar older written works in Heiroglyphics or Cuneiform, but I can't find the appropriate reference.

Me, I'm currently running something in the FR, so I'm not exactly using fresh material myself.

[Anxe]

Turn the names backwards, then they'll be less reckonizable.

[Chineselegolas]

Yes, the thread where we talk about how we've adapted stuff for our campaigns from other sources.

Currently, my players are (unwittingly) playing the Baldur's Gates series.

Don't forget to give them the pantaloons...

Not being a DM I haven't 'adapted' from other sources, but I do draw from books and games for character backstory, which the DM's sometimes work into world, thus me indirectly making the game an adaptation of another work when the plot centres around me.

[Crow T. Robot]

I out and out stole the "Iconograph" from Terry Pratchett. I even worked up a bit of a back story for the life of photographers in Eberron mostly based on Otto Chriek from "The Truth".

A couple of murders have been lifted from Law & Order.

Several Puzzels I stole from TV shows, which failed since one person in the groups saw them too.

There was the time that my fledgling supers game had a fight with some of the charaters from Venture brothers. I expanded on the idea from on episode where Kim and Triana I think were offered jobs as villians. So, I kept the personalities, and added powers. I over did it a bit with one of them and the party tank was nearly hammered through a wall.

[Xefas]

The Jugs of Water puzzle from Diehard 2.

"Before you is a 5 gallon jug, and a 3 gallon jug." says the wizard's illusion in a rather condescending voice. "You must set exactly 4 gallons of water on the pressure plate, or everyone in your party is going to learn the true meaning of '15d6 piercing damage'." The wizard's illusion turns a small illusory hourglass over. "You have 2 minutes, gentlemen".

*The DM clicks a stopwatch "You have 2 minutes, gentlemen"*

If noone in your group has seen Diehard 2, it's quite hilarious.

[ReproMan]

I out and out stole the "Iconograph" from Terry Pratchett. I even worked up a bit of a back story for the life of photographers in Eberron mostly based on Otto Chriek from "The Truth".

Oh, I have stolen so much from Discworld, I ought to be paying Pratchett royalties.

I've lifted a couple plot lines from various Akira Kurosawa movies as well for my campaigns. Need a fun adventure for a low-level party? How 'bout try transplanting the village from 'Seven Samurai' into a post-apocalyptic future and see where they run with it. The classics (Kurosawa, Shakespeare, Leone, Hitchcock, Pratchett, etc) have much source material ripe for lifting, and even people familiar with the originals will appreciate the adventures, sometimes even more than the neophytes.

[Icewalker]

The Jugs of Water puzzle from Diehard 2.

"Before you is a 5 gallon jug, and a 3 gallon jug." says the wizard's illusion in a rather condescending voice. "You must set exactly 4 gallons of water on the pressure plate, or everyone in your party is going to learn the true meaning of '15d6 piercing damage'." The wizard's illusion turns a small illusory hourglass over. "You have 2 minutes, gentlemen".

*The DM clicks a stopwatch "You have 2 minutes, gentlemen"*

If noone in your group has seen Diehard 2, it's quite hilarious.

Now I'm curious, seeing as (I think) that is impossible...how does he "correctly" do it?


I take a lot of ideas adapted from basic ideas out of songs. I got a whole adventure out of the "Beethoven's last night" album from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (awesome album, by the way)

Ideas for some classes from several songs, most of which I never actually got around to making.

Hell, I took names from Spanish. Two...kinda BBEGs I am going to have are gonna be Trueno and Relampago. Thunder and Lightning in Spanish.

[Xefas]

Now I'm curious, seeing as (I think) that is impossible...how does he "correctly" do it?

There are technically two ways.

From the Internet Movie Database

There are two solutions to the water jug riddle in the park, at the elephant fountain. To place exactly 4 gallons of water on the scales when you only have two jugs which hold 3 and 5 gallons respectively, you must do either of the following. 1. Fill the 5 gallon jug and decant the water into the 3 gallon jug. This leaves two gallons in the big jug. 2. Empty the 3 gallon jug and pour in the two gallons from the 5 gallon jug, leaving space for one gallon in the small jug. 3. Refill the 5 gallon jug and pour water from it into the 3 gallon jug until the small jug's full. 4. That leaves exactly four gallons in the big jug; put it on the scale and the bomb is disarmed. The second method is: 1. Fill the 3 gallon jug and pour the water into the 5 gallon jug. 2. Refill the 3 gallon jug, and pour into the 5 gallon jug until the big jug is full, leaving one gallon in the small jug. 3. Empty the big jug, and transfer the one gallon from the small jug to the big jug. 4. Refill the small jug and pour all three gallons into the 5 gallon jug, resulting in four gallons in the big jug. Place the big jug on the scale and the bomb is disarmed.

[triforcel]

The Jugs of Water puzzle from Diehard 2.

"Before you is a 5 gallon jug, and a 3 gallon jug." says the wizard's illusion in a rather condescending voice. "You must set exactly 4 gallons of water on the pressure plate, or everyone in your party is going to learn the true meaning of '15d6 piercing damage'." The wizard's illusion turns a small illusory hourglass over. "You have 2 minutes, gentlemen".

*The DM clicks a stopwatch "You have 2 minutes, gentlemen"*

If noone in your group has seen Diehard 2, it's quite hilarious.

Fill the 5 gallon jug and use it to fill the 3 gallon jug and then mark the water level at two gallons. Dump the three gallon jug and pour the two gallons into the 3 gallon jug and fill the 5 gallon jug to the two gallon mark and put both jugs on the pressure plate.

Or do it the easy way and cast create water at a low enough caster level that it creates exactly four gallons in the 5 gallon jug.

[Jack Mann]

Simple.

Fill the five gallon jug. Use this to fill the three gallon jug. You now have two gallons of water in the five gallon jug. Now, empty the three gallon jug and pour the remaining water in the five gallon jug into the three gallon jug. The three gallon jug has two gallons in it. Fill the five gallon jug. Use it to fill the three gallon jug. There is only room for one gallon of water in the three gallon jug. Five minus one is four gallons of water. Place that on the pressure plate.

EDIT: Double ninja'd! But I worked out my solution fair and square, and it doesn't require any materials not on hand.

[Cogwheel]

Getting away from the whole water jug thing...

I've stolen a bit from Pratchett. Or rather, I used Ankh-Morpork as a slight inspiration for one of the cities in my campaign setting, although there's very little to no resemblance now (well, except that the ruler slightly resembles Vetinari in the way he acts). I also made a character based on Reg Shoe.

Aside from that, although I'm by no means a fan of the gundam series, I'm considering making a campaign villain based on (or rather, somewhat inspired by) Rau Le Creuset. he makes for an interesting enough character to make me want to steal a few aspects, and besides, I don't know about the english version, but in the original Japanese version of the series, he has some really excellent quotes.

[kamikasei]

My campaign setting's cosmology steals shamelessly from the comics Sandman and, especially, Lucifer. I'm also very tempted to put in a "Batman". Literally.

"There is nothing new under the sun"
Ecclesiastes 1:9

At least 1200 BC.

I believe there's similar older written works in Heiroglyphics or Cuneiform, but I can't find the appropriate reference.

I forget the reference myself, but remember a quote that went something like:

"Now we see that the nations of man turn against one another, the land and the heavens are in upheaval, and children no longer obey their elders. Truly the end of the world must be near."

-on a cuneiform tablet that's one of the oldest surviving pieces of writing, ever.

[Nerd-o-rama]

"1001+ Things that the Worst Party in Eberron is no longer allowed to do." Repeatedly.

But seriously, I try to be fairly original in my plots. Characters, on the other hand, I steal wholesale from whatever comes to mind, which is why part of the cast of Final Fantasy VI had a cameo in my play-by-post game. I think that was before the Giant did it.

Although...I've been thinking about it...and I could basically run the entire plot of Martian Successor Nadesico with little modification in Eberron...

[Skjaldbakka]

Water Jug:

Or you could fill them both halfway, and then pour the 1.5 gallons in the 3 jug into the 2.5 gallons in the 5 jug. 1.5+2.5=4

[Jack Mann]

Water Jug:

Or you could fill them both halfway, and then pour the 1.5 gallons in the 3 jug into the 2.5 gallons in the 5 jug. 1.5+2.5=4

The problem is doing it exactly. That requires a degree of eyeballing. The shape of the jugs could make this very difficult.

[Nebo_]

I steal a lot from Pratchett, too. I also stole most of the enemies from Half-Life

[Argent]

My best theft so far was from the old Fred Saberhagen "Book of Swords" series. Quick summary: the gods created twelve magical swords, each one symbolizing one of the gods and their portfolio. Each had a unique name and set of powers (Woundhealer, Farslayer, Townsaver, et cetera). Wars are basically started to recover and control the swords. Good times. Since none of my players at the time had read any of these books, I lifted the idea, modified it slightly, and used it shamelessly.

[valadil]

I put a little too much emphasis on originality so I don't steal too much. But I also recognize that pretty much everything has been done in fantasy if you look hard enough, so I don't lose too much sleep over it. In general I end up putting my own twist on things so they end up not being recognizable anyway. It's more like I'll use a scene for motivation and only I ever end up knowing where it came from. Like, I'll pick a scene and then figure out how to seamlessly bring my PCs there rather than have a Braveheart based session. Or something.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly finds its way into many of my games. Most notably Tuco and Man w/ no name shooting out nooses, and the trio gunfight at the end.

One time I got involved in a DDO guild raid the night before game and didn't have time to plan the session. As a result the next days quest looked a lot like Vault of Night 5. No players figured it out though.

The gimp scene from Pulp Fiction made its way into the only game session I regret running. In my defense, it was the first game I ran and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I had a player who wanted to have an insane character. He wrote some of his own neuroses into the backstory. I figured an insane character shouldn't be able to distinguish what was in his head from reality so I added schizophrenia but didn't tell the player. The schizophrenia played a huge part in the game, but nobody figured out what was up until the very last session. Essentially the character had his own Tyler Durden-esque double life. This was very recognizably a Fight Club rip off, but it was impossibly well executed and happens to be my proudest moment in GMing. After the game we spent a couple hours going through each clue I dropped and what the players thought was going on. They all still talk about it 4 years later. Their friends who weren't even there still talk about it. It was that awesome.

[Istari]

The Jugs of Water puzzle from Diehard 2.

"Before you is a 5 gallon jug, and a 3 gallon jug." says the wizard's illusion in a rather condescending voice. "You must set exactly 4 gallons of water on the pressure plate, or everyone in your party is going to learn the true meaning of '15d6 piercing damage'." The wizard's illusion turns a small illusory hourglass over. "You have 2 minutes, gentlemen".

*The DM clicks a stopwatch "You have 2 minutes, gentlemen"*

If noone in your group has seen Diehard 2, it's quite hilarious.

There is a puzzle just like that in KOTOR but with pressure tanks, no time limit and you are trying to get something to explode

[Charles Phipps]

"1001+ Things that the Worst Party in Eberron is no longer allowed to do." Repeatedly.

*sniff* I feel like Kevin Bacon. I'm so happy.

Although...I've been thinking about it...and I could basically run the entire plot of Martian Successor Nadesico with little modification in Eberron...

That is an awesome plotline. I just wonder where you'd stick the Unknown Attackers using Constructs.

[DraPrime]

Currently I'm running a pbp campaign based on the computer game Gothic. Mainly because I've lately been to lazy to come up with a legit campaign. I hope my players don't read this.

[GimliFett]

I ran a Forgotten Realms campaign for three years based somewhat on the Mighty Max cartoon series. I made the Mighty One's cap into an intelligent circlet that manages portals (the various Open/Close/Block/etc Portal spells) and had a lot of angst towards dwarves (IMC, the Elven/Dwarven war was perpetrated by Duergar and Drow to thin the elven ranks for massive invasion from the Underdark. Unfortunately, while the Elves and Dwarves managed to screw each other up nicely, the Duergar and Drow just couldn't keep it together long enough to follow through).

I ran a Deadlands (Weird West and Hell on Earth) game that started off with an old B-movie called Gargoyles and slid into the Coldfire trilogy by CS Friedman. That was frickin' awesome, if I say so myself. Gerald Tarrant in the Weird West was a wealthy land owner who became a sorcerer looking into how to manipulate the manitous and the Reckoning's effects on the world. For Hell on Earth, Tarrant had become The Hunter, claiming a large section of the Pacific Northwest as his territory.

I'm sure there've been others, but those are the first two that come to mind. I'll post more as my brain dredges them up from the abyss.

[Tengu]

I steal like crazy, from various sources - mostly enemies. For example, my group had to fight thinly-veiled clones of Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke ones. Imps my PBP group fought here looked basically like anime and slightly less humanoid versions of Doom imps (the old sprite-based Doom, not the new one).

[Dark Knight Renee]

I steal from just about anything that catches my interest, and I am notorious for excessive stealing of characters directly and for using crossovers. Star Wars (I'll steal from SW into SW, which can get pretty silly), LotR, DOOM, an old game called Master of Orion, Lexx, Farscape, Stargate, Pirates of the Caribbean, Phantom of the Opera, and oodles of other stuff.

Basically, I steal lots. Also, I think I'll be stealing that Jug thing from diehard now

[AslanCross]

Although...I've been thinking about it...and I could basically run the entire plot of Martian Successor Nadesico with little modification in Eberron...

That would be so awesome. Flying ships, ancient mysterious ruins, and giant robots. What else are we missing?

[Deepblue706]

I once made an entire campaign based on the lyrics of this amazing song: http://youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA