Action on Adventure

Summary:

A collection of stabs at answering the questions of what the characters will [have to be able to] actually do on adventures.

Action on Adventure

Agemegos 15 Apr 2012 23:41

Frank wrote:

It might be useful if Brett outlines the sorts of adventures he has in mind and the sorts of things we might be doing.

I had in mind adventures ranging from your typical Call of Cthulhu investigation through Raiders of the Lost Ark to travels in time like Back to the Future and Fifties' sci-fi such as giant ants, landings by hostile aliens, etc.

I expect characters to:

1. flee villains when they have the McGuffin;
2. chase villains who have the McGuffin;
3. use force, fraud, and stealth to seize the McGuffin;
4. fight when they are attacked;
5. research, research, research;
6. work out capabilities and dangers of the McGuffin that NPCs are unaware of;
7. commit impressive acts of engineering using only commonplace supplies and readily-available resources;
8. work out the uses of, and use, mystical rituals, mad-science apparatuses, and the tools and weapons of alien invaders, time travellers from the future, etc.;
9. alert officials to opportunities or warn them of danger;
10. take decisive, sometimes violent, action on their own initiative, to head off a serious danger or obviate the need for violence;
11. venture into dangerous places to recover artifacts, documents, relics, etc.;
12. venture into very dangerous places to rescue friends and lost innocents;
13. venture into extremely dangerous places to deploy mystical or scifi-tech remedies to serious dangers.

The list is not exhaustive, and the order is arbitrary. It is numbered only for ease in reference.

Last edited on 15 Apr 2012 23:51 by Agemegos Show more

Re: Action on Adventure

Agemegos 19 Apr 2012 09:54

Note well #5 to #8. The reason that the PCs get to be the heroes rather than that role falling to lantern-jawed nungahs from the Marine Corps and the Coast Guard is that the PCs know about this stuff.

Also, using rolls against knowledge skills to Declare Aspects on monsters and phenomena is going to be a major part of the way that you other players get to take a hand in making up the story. Within the FATE context the ability of character-players to share in what is usually the GM's authority is formalised, and Perception skills, Knwoledge Skills, and appropriate Aspects are the way it is done.

Example adventure

Agemegos 16 Apr 2012 00:38

Okay then. Suppose that on bright sunny afternoon in spring, with the air full of the scent of flowers, Dr. Honeycutt from Entomology breezes into the Faculty Club orders champagne for eveyone, and announces with some grandeur that his work is a complete success, that he has succeeded in breeding a honeybee the size of a sheep.

One PC poo-poohs this announcement, pointing out that in '51 the late Dr. Emmett bred a colony of soldier ants the size of draft horses, and nearly depopulated New England. Another suggests that poor old Evans' paper wasps were only about the size of a mastiff, but that they could fly. "Parasitoid, too." chimes in a third PC. "Used to sting things into a sort of coma, and take 'em back to their nests as food for larvae." Player of original PC likes this suggestion "Ah yes! Poor old Evans is still in a coma, isn't he?" Sensing agreement, the GM: "First thing you noticed was that undergraduates started to go missing."

We flash back to some time in the Fifties. PCs notice that some of their best students are not turning up to class. They investigate: call at dorms etc. Students were last seen going off to make-out spot. Investigate. Attacked by a giant wasp. Fight it off, maybe an NPC is stung to death or carried off. Inform authorities. Groundskeepers discover a nest of hundreds of social wasps, mobbed, overwhelmed, killed. President sends for State Troopers, who get National Guard. Plan formed to use gas shells filled with DDT, machine guns, and flamethrowers to destroy the nest. PCs object that kidnapped undergrads are still alive. President doubts, sends for Dr. Evans from Entomology. Evans is not to be found, neither is his grad student. National Guardsmen in cordon stung to death. National Guard commander will not take chances, orders artillery, filling of gas shells with DDT, evacuations. PCs have window to rescue students before shelling starts. The arm themselves, seize insecticides, maybe a chemical that makes them invisible to the sense of smell of wasps. Sneak into the wasp's nest, rescue undergrads, fight wasps. Find that Evans is there too. Escape with comatose people, take them to medical school for removal of implanted wasp eggs. Most regain consciousness when dosed with anti-histamine. Evan's grad student is not among the rescued. Body not found after National Guard storm wasp nest. Frantic search for second nest. Nothing. Someone packs up poor Evan's lab, student's dorm room. Signs that student packed up and fled in a hurry. Records show eggs missing from the lab! Search dorm room: signs of spying for the Russians! <insert cliffhanger here: next session, maybe chase Russian spy with wasp eggs>

Last edited on 16 Apr 2012 00:41 by Agemegos Show more

I'm quiet, but here. :)

paully 16 Apr 2012 11:55

Hey all,

I've been a bit quiet on the codgers front, but still keen. Just a bit preoccupied with parenting and domestic duties. More to come when things quiet down a bit.

Cheers,
Paul.