Today's rough outline for 3 linked adventures. Folowing the nanowrimo method of just getting it out there on the page and looking back later.
3 adventures for Steampunk/1890-1910s SotC game
Adventure 1 - Into the aether
Electricity stars opening up a gateway to the dark
up to out heros to close it
it moves with/centered on something
mobile airodrome refining lightning into fuel for its new ?weapon?
main villain - looking to strike fear into the british empire? perhaps and enraged indian? or other colony dweller
really a puppet for the actual villain - Edison.
scene 1 - posh party where the zepplin makes it first appearance, shattering the night with high potency lightning
then disappears
scene 2 - research where the zepplin comes from gets them to a weird occult shop, social combat with proprietor over a tome about aether engineering
scene 3 - workshop of the aether engineer, fight with mooks who have come to kidnap/kill the crazy professor and remove his equipment
scene 4 - finding/boarding the zepplin
scene 5 - climactic battle, with clues that the zepplin launched from a base in ?Nepal? Everest
Adventure 2 - A cold wind blows
travel to the Nepal, fighting with the elements, evil possessed yeti, avalanches, ice
think south pole explorer jumbo sized, possibly an evil base under a protective dome
some feats of unheard of engineering.
villain here is some professor possessed by a dark spirit that has passed over
possbile cthulu-esque vibe
scene 1 - approaching the base by land, evil possessed yetis attack
scene 2 - possibly stranded on the mountian, fight with the elements, climbing/exploring
scene 3 - finding a temple complex built into the mountain, crazy cult of dark possessed mooks, fight
scene 4 - finding the main base, engineering of lightning derrigibles, think u-boat base inside a mountain
scene 5 - having the real villain appear but escape, zepplins launch on mission of world domination
Adventure 3 - Dark and light
Finding a way to shut down the portable gates on the derrigibles, possibly all linked to one central gate
either ending derrigible domination, or end of the world itself
scene 1 - lightning derrigible over london, infiltration/destruciton of the blimp but a key clue
scene 2 - approaching the main villain in a social setting (do the Mr. Bond thing) to get some vital info
Villians girl approaches for help, wants out (or does she)
scene 3 - chase/dogfight/capture after the party. Probably fight ?in mech suits? too much? this is stema punk after all?
scene 4 - Telsa with the key technobable, perhaps a social thing to extract the right info/ maybe he has his own derrigible with tremendous weapon capability
scene 5 - ship to ship battle, boarding, and final villain battle or defeat.
3 adventures for Steampunk/1890-1910s SotC game
Adventure 1 - Into the aether
Electricity stars opening up a gateway to the dark
up to out heros to close it
it moves with/centered on something
mobile airodrome refining lightning into fuel for its new ?weapon?
main villain - looking to strike fear into the british empire? perhaps and enraged indian? or other colony dweller
really a puppet for the actual villain - Edison.
scene 1 - posh party where the zepplin makes it first appearance, shattering the night with high potency lightning
then disappears
scene 2 - research where the zepplin comes from gets them to a weird occult shop, social combat with proprietor over a tome about aether engineering
scene 3 - workshop of the aether engineer, fight with mooks who have come to kidnap/kill the crazy professor and remove his equipment
scene 4 - finding/boarding the zepplin
scene 5 - climactic battle, with clues that the zepplin launched from a base in ?Nepal? Everest
Adventure 2 - A cold wind blows
travel to the Nepal, fighting with the elements, evil possessed yeti, avalanches, ice
think south pole explorer jumbo sized, possibly an evil base under a protective dome
some feats of unheard of engineering.
villain here is some professor possessed by a dark spirit that has passed over
possbile cthulu-esque vibe
scene 1 - approaching the base by land, evil possessed yetis attack
scene 2 - possibly stranded on the mountian, fight with the elements, climbing/exploring
scene 3 - finding a temple complex built into the mountain, crazy cult of dark possessed mooks, fight
scene 4 - finding the main base, engineering of lightning derrigibles, think u-boat base inside a mountain
scene 5 - having the real villain appear but escape, zepplins launch on mission of world domination
Adventure 3 - Dark and light
Finding a way to shut down the portable gates on the derrigibles, possibly all linked to one central gate
either ending derrigible domination, or end of the world itself
scene 1 - lightning derrigible over london, infiltration/destruciton of the blimp but a key clue
scene 2 - approaching the main villain in a social setting (do the Mr. Bond thing) to get some vital info
Villians girl approaches for help, wants out (or does she)
scene 3 - chase/dogfight/capture after the party. Probably fight ?in mech suits? too much? this is stema punk after all?
scene 4 - Telsa with the key technobable, perhaps a social thing to extract the right info/ maybe he has his own derrigible with tremendous weapon capability
scene 5 - ship to ship battle, boarding, and final villain battle or defeat.
I like the concept of an Indian nationalist, especially with the connection to the airship base in the mountains of Nepal.
ReplyDeleteWow, steam mechs & airship battles! Sorry, but right now I'm trying to figure out how we could actually run this using Burning Empires. I spent a good portion of the day with the text, etc.
I had originally envisioned the airships capturing lighting as a way to "jump" locations; they arrive in a lightning storm, attack, & then "jump" away. But what about directing supernatural forces in a destructive manner? Now I'm thinking of the climactic montage scene from the film Ghostbusters....
Two things: now I understand the airship actually creates lighting from the ship to use as a weapon or jump device; the other thing, our heroes could be quite powerful here. In fact, our heroes could mobilize to drive off the airship, although I'm thinking of a situation along the lines of the first raid in Hampton Roads by the Merrimac, drifting out with the tide.
ReplyDeleteBut, with the opening scene at the party, let's give the heroes an airship of their own. Why not? They don't have anything special, just a means of travel, etc. Maybe it features a gatling gun turret, at most, and one character has a rocket pack. Anyway, the lightning airship shows up, destroys a few venerable government buildings along the Thames, the heroes mobilize & annoy it a bit, and then it withdraws in a flash of lighting, practically disappearing.
Why are they at the party to begin with? Some kind of post-party after a grand award has been handed out, maybe let the players dictate this; maybe they've been the recipients, allowing them plenty of confidence & motivation to take to the sky at the first sign of trouble to show what they can do. Only this lighting airship is beyond what they've ever seen before. For one thing, this menacing airship is bigger than they realized, especially when they get up close, and the gondola is huge, and they notice no smokestacks bealching coal smoke. What they don't realize is a massive electricity generator is contained in the airship, powered by an internal combustion engine which is actually powered by a fire demon. Why not? All kinds of demons slip through those electricity gates, and these evil dudes think they've found a way to capture & harness the energy of these elemental demons.
Hey, here's an idea which might mix genres a bit too much, but what if this evil airship doesn't actually destroy anything, instead, it opens a gate which animates the dead in the city. Sure, London won't be overrun with zombies in a night, but enough dead folks rise from morgues & hospitals to create plenty of chaos. Because the heroes don't realize what has happened when they take to the air & try to drive off the evil airship. But next morning, after the party, they read about the mayhem in the morning, and there are all kinds of clues about the occult nature of the rising dead event.
ReplyDeleteFirst, once the zombies are put down no more are created--only zombies created by the evil airship are animated; anyone killed after the fact stay dead. Second, Anglican priests are reported successful in turning the undead, and people take refuge in churches, etc. Something along these lines leads our heroes to visit the occult shop.
Link between aether engineering & dead spirit energy....