Post by silverlion on Jan 5, 2007 17:17:29 GMT -5
I'm trying to write a little freebie adventure for H&S, but I'd like it hacked and mutilated and improved.
Anyone willing to help out?
ROUGH Draft:
Vroom, Vroom
A super-hero mini-adventure for the Hearts & Souls RPG System
Welcome dear readers to the first ever adventure for Hearts & Souls, despite best intentions it is not the solo “Lullaby for an Insomniac Part 2” instead this is an adventure for a reasonable number of non-cosmic heroes. If you are a player, with no intention to be the “ED.” or GM, Do not read this.
There are a number of elements which we will discuss in this adventure most notably you will find a few indicators to watch for most notably:
Railroad Tracks: Indication of a section where notable railroading is necessary for the adventure.
Enarger Image: Indication of a place where scaling notes occur.
Notepad: For notes for beginners.
!=the exclamation point after a single word (Ordinary, Exceptional, Spectacular) indicates the item, object or thing being described is of superhuman scale.
This adventure is intended for both experienced and beginning GM's, some notes, and aspects of play will be discussed for those who are beginners to Gming. For the rest of you humbly disregard obvious things you already know.
Notepad: When running this adventure for your players it is wise not to tell them its name create one suitable for the 'title' of your comic book suggestions: “Machines Amok”, “Wild Rides”, or “Big Boy's Toys”
Notepad: There is no “boxed text” for this adventure. When a scene is provided you should embellish extemporaneously and adapt the descriptions to the particular heroes involved. This adventure can be inserted into an ongoing campaign or be used to start one off. Each Scene can be run in different order, but you'll need to fill in the connections. I often would use secret id, or day to day normal life stuff to juxtapose against the super-heroic bits. You can as well just do a little “Later” or even “wavy scene transition lines with your hands to move to the next one, albeit I've found it more memorable to give them stuff to do between the super-heroics.
SCENE 1:
The Car Show
The 22nd Annual Automobile Arts Show is in full swing at the local exhibit hall. Numerous vehicles from lovingly restored vintage cars, hot new sport cars, pimped out autos, to showing off a few concept cars from the local manufacturer are all carefully displayed behind velvet ropes, or lifted on slowly revolving circular platforms. Virtually anything one can imagine can be displayed as long as it marginally fits the definition of “automobile.”
RR Tracks: Our first railroad note. It is best to get your player's at the car show before things happen, because it provides clues for resolving the mystery. This is of course a “mystery” adventure. Powers which might usurp that—precognition, telepathy, will need to be carefully watched, and limitations enforced.
The car show hosts some 1000 people, of varied cultures, ages, interests etc. From the little boy bouncing up and down in the driver's seat seat of a convertible happily pretending to drive while going Vroom! Vroom!, while his parents chatter with the car's owner to the hot young models languidly draping over the all too expensive sports car for its gas-guzzling engine, too the two bit hoods of a variety of backgrounds salivating at things from vintage, to pimped out ultra-super sounds rides.
Notepad: Here is where you fill in the descriptions, describe the sights and sounds, from cars makes and models and paint jobs, to descriptions of the people around. My suggestion is to pick three things, and tell three things about each one (at least) this provides a decent amount of visual detail.
The only notable necessity is of course the little boy in the car—he is for all intents and purposes our villain and MUST be included in one of the descriptions, albeit in the exact same manner as all the other details you fill in so as not to draw suspicion.
Suddenly, amidst the hustle and bustle the a car's engine roars to life, then another, and across the showroom floor, people suddenly break into a panic as the cars jump to life, without drivers and begin to chase them about the showroom floor attempting to run them down. The cars vary in terms of their active threat. For the most part disabling one requires removing their engines or otherwise totally demolishing them. Each car requires 2 points of stress be inflicted and triggered to disable, they are immune to mental effects (having only an 'animus', no mind behind it), however they can be effected by properly approached exorcism style powers, or even emotional effects (fear, calm, anger.)
Animated Automobiles:
Might Ordinary ! Brains:---
Deftness: Exceptional Prowess ---
Resilience: Spectacular Resolve: Exceptional
Powers: None unless one needs to scale them (see below). Automobiles move at Ordinary ! Superhuman Speeds, and can use that to strike at innocents or heroes. Heroes can seize control of their controls with appropriate capability checks (Deftness, Prowess) depending on the hows and why—but the vehicle will fight them. Some will blare steroes (Ordinary Sonic Attack), or try and strangle them with automatic seatbelts (Ordinary Attack). Forcing the vehicles controls contrasts the heroes skill to the vehicles Resolve.
Notepad: The boy, all of 4 years old has the power to activate/animate the cars and instill them with a sort of feral, predatory nature. The nature of his power is such that he doesn't consciously wield it (hence barring telepathy tracking the root cause), and while someone with precognition should get flashes, or visions of the cars and the people. One should make sure they are vague, unclear, and don't point to a specific cause. Other powers should be hampered similarly by unspecific or vague information gathering as well, detecting “powers” should be disallowed completely—or turn up a number of potential super-humans, perhaps even villains who were intent to steal the cars, thus distracting the heroes from the true source of the animation.
Enlarger: The scale of this adventure is aimed for classically single powered “team” heroes, they tend to have a singular focused ability or power, and thus need to team together with others to be most effective. One can scale this adventure by magnifying the effective number of cars, or by having the cars become more dangerous—they could morph and shift gaining “teeth” in place of grills, shooting beams from their headlights, or otherwise being warped to more monstrous means. However, the theme should fit the fact that the boy controls machines—and does not change the fundamental reality (this they won't turn into robots, even if they open alligator like maws where hoods once were.) Other scaling could be done by spreading the effect to the outdoor parking structures that dot the city up to a mile or so can significantly increase the challenge, but only cars (near relatives) should be effected. Scaling down you can have fewer cars animate, two, three tops and have the lower powered heroes have to team up to take them out.
Once the crowds have thinned and ambulances arrive to treat the injured, the CityNews 9 van will show up. The little boy and his parents will be included, the little boy will now be playing with a small model car, rolling it up and down his dad's arm, while the CityNews 9 reporter, Lydia Majal-Herrerra, interviews him. Lydia is a fierce go-getter and will push through crowds physically in order to get near enough to interview the heroes if they remain on the scene. Should they depart before she arrives she will be a bit unkind to them as well.
Notepad: Lydia believes in the power of the press, and will get upset if not given a chance to interview the heroes, but doesn't take it too personally. If given the chance one should have her address the heroes with some respect—her questions will be blunt however: “Do you think that one of your foes may be behind this?”, “You arrived on the scene rapidly, were you expecting trouble?”, “What do you think of the war in the Middle East?” inserting such questions that may enliven play, give the heroes something to consider should be done. If they do depart, her report (which will air and the heroes should be given a chance to see it) will have things like the following. “While heroes appeared on the scene, they did not remain behind to see to the victims of this automobile assault were treated.” or “Heroes reported on the scene fled without speaking to the press, treating the common laypersons's concerns with disdain” again I suggest doing things in threes—have her ask three questions of at least three heroes, or have her report three things that might get a bit under the heroes in question skin.
Scene 2:
A downtown construction site sits idly quiet one morning some time after the cars-show.
Just before eight a.m, and the morning construction begins the crane springs to life, then one by one the massive backhoe, the paving vehicle down the street. In short blocks of construction and maintance vehicles awaken to repeat a similar performance to the cars. Only their targets are not the people, but the buildings around them smashing.
Notepad: You may want to use a cutscene, similar too (use your own words this is an example only)
In the building to one side a young boy looks down at the massive crane, the silent back-hoe, and other massive construction vehicles. Badly wanting to play he turns and sits at his coloring book at “vroom vroom” he says to himself while coloring in a friendly smiling faced crane in a coloring book.” Do so before actually having the vehicles come to life. Some gamers don't care for cut-scene reveals, so you may not want to use such a scene, and let the players try and figure it out entirely themselves. The boy's powers remain identical to the first scene and as nearly untraceable.
The animated vehicles are tough and destructive.
Construction Vehicles
Might Exceptional ! Brains:---
Deftness: Ordinary Prowess ---
Resilience: Ordinary ! Resolve: Exceptional
Powers: The Crane has a big powerful winch and line that can be flung at great distance. Ordinary !o stretch. The backhoe can dig pits with Spectacular ability. The Steamroller can flatten things Ordinary! Ability. All construction vehicles are tougher than ordinary vehicles while slower, they can take 4 points of stress before an event can be triggered to destroy or eliminate their engines (and motive force). They however can only move at Exceptional Speed.
Utility Vehicles
Smaller than construction vehicles these things like road line painters, and street cleaners are still rather tough. They can all take 4 points of stress like construction vehicles, but possess the following capabilities.
Might Ordinary ! Brains:---
Deftness: Ordinary Prowess ---
Resilience: Ordinary ! Resolve: Exceptional
Powers: Varies depending on the vehicles you want to use. Painters can spray paint (acting as a slick if thick enough, or just to obscure things with Spectacular ability). Dump Trucks can drop gravel, dirt, or whatever materials they are carrying for a variety of effects (obstruction, slowing down, obscurement) this would be ranked based on the material but anywhere from Exceptional Human to Ordinary! Scale.
Since these things threaten buildings, cars, and other inanimate objects and humans are only potentially at risk incidentally it may be the heroes who need to spend time rescuing the bystanders, herding them to safe confines of building interiors, the subway etc.
RR Tracks: You may want to include the heroes families in the panic, their places of employment etc. In order to make it personal and get them more involved.
Enlarger: Scaling. You may want to scale things up or down here. Fewer machines in general. A single crane for heroes to try and wrestle with, or make it city, or even state wide for more powerful heroes.
Scene 3:
The Civil Air Patrol Acrobatic and Stunt Airshow.
RR Tracks: An adjacent to the city military airfield serves as the annual locations for the airshow, the field also houses nearby military planes (mostly for repairs). It would take a great deal of effort to convince the CAP and military base of the potential dangers. After all these are military craft, not civilians ones, and peoples access to them are limited.
During the airshow of course things will go wild, first a few outdated, stunt planes diving dangerously too low, barnstorming hangers—one will slam itself after doing a wild display of loop-de-loops slam itself into a cluster of grounded planes causing them to all explode in a massive fireball.
Once the heroes show up, however, the power will spread to armed military craft. Missiles and machine guns can make for a serious challenge.
The boy of course with dad is watching the show, from a set of stands along one of the landing strips. While there the boy is making vroom vroom noises while flying a tiny metal airplane around his dad's head. Most notably a clue should be given at this point by the ed. Have a plane rush towards them then suddenly veer, another one heading the same location also turns before getting to disturbing the dad and his son. The child's power is significant, and how the heroes handle it may be important to the ongoing campaign and tone of the game. He may be turned over to some form of school for mutants. He may be trained by the heroes as an ongoing process. A telepath or other mentalist could place blocks on his ability.
Anyone willing to help out?
ROUGH Draft:
Vroom, Vroom
A super-hero mini-adventure for the Hearts & Souls RPG System
Welcome dear readers to the first ever adventure for Hearts & Souls, despite best intentions it is not the solo “Lullaby for an Insomniac Part 2” instead this is an adventure for a reasonable number of non-cosmic heroes. If you are a player, with no intention to be the “ED.” or GM, Do not read this.
There are a number of elements which we will discuss in this adventure most notably you will find a few indicators to watch for most notably:
Railroad Tracks: Indication of a section where notable railroading is necessary for the adventure.
Enarger Image: Indication of a place where scaling notes occur.
Notepad: For notes for beginners.
!=the exclamation point after a single word (Ordinary, Exceptional, Spectacular) indicates the item, object or thing being described is of superhuman scale.
This adventure is intended for both experienced and beginning GM's, some notes, and aspects of play will be discussed for those who are beginners to Gming. For the rest of you humbly disregard obvious things you already know.
Notepad: When running this adventure for your players it is wise not to tell them its name create one suitable for the 'title' of your comic book suggestions: “Machines Amok”, “Wild Rides”, or “Big Boy's Toys”
Notepad: There is no “boxed text” for this adventure. When a scene is provided you should embellish extemporaneously and adapt the descriptions to the particular heroes involved. This adventure can be inserted into an ongoing campaign or be used to start one off. Each Scene can be run in different order, but you'll need to fill in the connections. I often would use secret id, or day to day normal life stuff to juxtapose against the super-heroic bits. You can as well just do a little “Later” or even “wavy scene transition lines with your hands to move to the next one, albeit I've found it more memorable to give them stuff to do between the super-heroics.
SCENE 1:
The Car Show
The 22nd Annual Automobile Arts Show is in full swing at the local exhibit hall. Numerous vehicles from lovingly restored vintage cars, hot new sport cars, pimped out autos, to showing off a few concept cars from the local manufacturer are all carefully displayed behind velvet ropes, or lifted on slowly revolving circular platforms. Virtually anything one can imagine can be displayed as long as it marginally fits the definition of “automobile.”
RR Tracks: Our first railroad note. It is best to get your player's at the car show before things happen, because it provides clues for resolving the mystery. This is of course a “mystery” adventure. Powers which might usurp that—precognition, telepathy, will need to be carefully watched, and limitations enforced.
The car show hosts some 1000 people, of varied cultures, ages, interests etc. From the little boy bouncing up and down in the driver's seat seat of a convertible happily pretending to drive while going Vroom! Vroom!, while his parents chatter with the car's owner to the hot young models languidly draping over the all too expensive sports car for its gas-guzzling engine, too the two bit hoods of a variety of backgrounds salivating at things from vintage, to pimped out ultra-super sounds rides.
Notepad: Here is where you fill in the descriptions, describe the sights and sounds, from cars makes and models and paint jobs, to descriptions of the people around. My suggestion is to pick three things, and tell three things about each one (at least) this provides a decent amount of visual detail.
The only notable necessity is of course the little boy in the car—he is for all intents and purposes our villain and MUST be included in one of the descriptions, albeit in the exact same manner as all the other details you fill in so as not to draw suspicion.
Suddenly, amidst the hustle and bustle the a car's engine roars to life, then another, and across the showroom floor, people suddenly break into a panic as the cars jump to life, without drivers and begin to chase them about the showroom floor attempting to run them down. The cars vary in terms of their active threat. For the most part disabling one requires removing their engines or otherwise totally demolishing them. Each car requires 2 points of stress be inflicted and triggered to disable, they are immune to mental effects (having only an 'animus', no mind behind it), however they can be effected by properly approached exorcism style powers, or even emotional effects (fear, calm, anger.)
Animated Automobiles:
Might Ordinary ! Brains:---
Deftness: Exceptional Prowess ---
Resilience: Spectacular Resolve: Exceptional
Powers: None unless one needs to scale them (see below). Automobiles move at Ordinary ! Superhuman Speeds, and can use that to strike at innocents or heroes. Heroes can seize control of their controls with appropriate capability checks (Deftness, Prowess) depending on the hows and why—but the vehicle will fight them. Some will blare steroes (Ordinary Sonic Attack), or try and strangle them with automatic seatbelts (Ordinary Attack). Forcing the vehicles controls contrasts the heroes skill to the vehicles Resolve.
Notepad: The boy, all of 4 years old has the power to activate/animate the cars and instill them with a sort of feral, predatory nature. The nature of his power is such that he doesn't consciously wield it (hence barring telepathy tracking the root cause), and while someone with precognition should get flashes, or visions of the cars and the people. One should make sure they are vague, unclear, and don't point to a specific cause. Other powers should be hampered similarly by unspecific or vague information gathering as well, detecting “powers” should be disallowed completely—or turn up a number of potential super-humans, perhaps even villains who were intent to steal the cars, thus distracting the heroes from the true source of the animation.
Enlarger: The scale of this adventure is aimed for classically single powered “team” heroes, they tend to have a singular focused ability or power, and thus need to team together with others to be most effective. One can scale this adventure by magnifying the effective number of cars, or by having the cars become more dangerous—they could morph and shift gaining “teeth” in place of grills, shooting beams from their headlights, or otherwise being warped to more monstrous means. However, the theme should fit the fact that the boy controls machines—and does not change the fundamental reality (this they won't turn into robots, even if they open alligator like maws where hoods once were.) Other scaling could be done by spreading the effect to the outdoor parking structures that dot the city up to a mile or so can significantly increase the challenge, but only cars (near relatives) should be effected. Scaling down you can have fewer cars animate, two, three tops and have the lower powered heroes have to team up to take them out.
Once the crowds have thinned and ambulances arrive to treat the injured, the CityNews 9 van will show up. The little boy and his parents will be included, the little boy will now be playing with a small model car, rolling it up and down his dad's arm, while the CityNews 9 reporter, Lydia Majal-Herrerra, interviews him. Lydia is a fierce go-getter and will push through crowds physically in order to get near enough to interview the heroes if they remain on the scene. Should they depart before she arrives she will be a bit unkind to them as well.
Notepad: Lydia believes in the power of the press, and will get upset if not given a chance to interview the heroes, but doesn't take it too personally. If given the chance one should have her address the heroes with some respect—her questions will be blunt however: “Do you think that one of your foes may be behind this?”, “You arrived on the scene rapidly, were you expecting trouble?”, “What do you think of the war in the Middle East?” inserting such questions that may enliven play, give the heroes something to consider should be done. If they do depart, her report (which will air and the heroes should be given a chance to see it) will have things like the following. “While heroes appeared on the scene, they did not remain behind to see to the victims of this automobile assault were treated.” or “Heroes reported on the scene fled without speaking to the press, treating the common laypersons's concerns with disdain” again I suggest doing things in threes—have her ask three questions of at least three heroes, or have her report three things that might get a bit under the heroes in question skin.
Scene 2:
A downtown construction site sits idly quiet one morning some time after the cars-show.
Just before eight a.m, and the morning construction begins the crane springs to life, then one by one the massive backhoe, the paving vehicle down the street. In short blocks of construction and maintance vehicles awaken to repeat a similar performance to the cars. Only their targets are not the people, but the buildings around them smashing.
Notepad: You may want to use a cutscene, similar too (use your own words this is an example only)
In the building to one side a young boy looks down at the massive crane, the silent back-hoe, and other massive construction vehicles. Badly wanting to play he turns and sits at his coloring book at “vroom vroom” he says to himself while coloring in a friendly smiling faced crane in a coloring book.” Do so before actually having the vehicles come to life. Some gamers don't care for cut-scene reveals, so you may not want to use such a scene, and let the players try and figure it out entirely themselves. The boy's powers remain identical to the first scene and as nearly untraceable.
The animated vehicles are tough and destructive.
Construction Vehicles
Might Exceptional ! Brains:---
Deftness: Ordinary Prowess ---
Resilience: Ordinary ! Resolve: Exceptional
Powers: The Crane has a big powerful winch and line that can be flung at great distance. Ordinary !o stretch. The backhoe can dig pits with Spectacular ability. The Steamroller can flatten things Ordinary! Ability. All construction vehicles are tougher than ordinary vehicles while slower, they can take 4 points of stress before an event can be triggered to destroy or eliminate their engines (and motive force). They however can only move at Exceptional Speed.
Utility Vehicles
Smaller than construction vehicles these things like road line painters, and street cleaners are still rather tough. They can all take 4 points of stress like construction vehicles, but possess the following capabilities.
Might Ordinary ! Brains:---
Deftness: Ordinary Prowess ---
Resilience: Ordinary ! Resolve: Exceptional
Powers: Varies depending on the vehicles you want to use. Painters can spray paint (acting as a slick if thick enough, or just to obscure things with Spectacular ability). Dump Trucks can drop gravel, dirt, or whatever materials they are carrying for a variety of effects (obstruction, slowing down, obscurement) this would be ranked based on the material but anywhere from Exceptional Human to Ordinary! Scale.
Since these things threaten buildings, cars, and other inanimate objects and humans are only potentially at risk incidentally it may be the heroes who need to spend time rescuing the bystanders, herding them to safe confines of building interiors, the subway etc.
RR Tracks: You may want to include the heroes families in the panic, their places of employment etc. In order to make it personal and get them more involved.
Enlarger: Scaling. You may want to scale things up or down here. Fewer machines in general. A single crane for heroes to try and wrestle with, or make it city, or even state wide for more powerful heroes.
Scene 3:
The Civil Air Patrol Acrobatic and Stunt Airshow.
RR Tracks: An adjacent to the city military airfield serves as the annual locations for the airshow, the field also houses nearby military planes (mostly for repairs). It would take a great deal of effort to convince the CAP and military base of the potential dangers. After all these are military craft, not civilians ones, and peoples access to them are limited.
During the airshow of course things will go wild, first a few outdated, stunt planes diving dangerously too low, barnstorming hangers—one will slam itself after doing a wild display of loop-de-loops slam itself into a cluster of grounded planes causing them to all explode in a massive fireball.
Once the heroes show up, however, the power will spread to armed military craft. Missiles and machine guns can make for a serious challenge.
The boy of course with dad is watching the show, from a set of stands along one of the landing strips. While there the boy is making vroom vroom noises while flying a tiny metal airplane around his dad's head. Most notably a clue should be given at this point by the ed. Have a plane rush towards them then suddenly veer, another one heading the same location also turns before getting to disturbing the dad and his son. The child's power is significant, and how the heroes handle it may be important to the ongoing campaign and tone of the game. He may be turned over to some form of school for mutants. He may be trained by the heroes as an ongoing process. A telepath or other mentalist could place blocks on his ability.