Post/Author/DateTime	Post
i_am_some_guy 07-10-07, 12:29 PM	I generally drive to and from work in silence and use the time to think and unwind, to “shut off” work by the time I get home. I ran my first “episodic” campaign a number of years ago here at work. Every Friday we took 2 hours and gamed. The campaign was based on the Mordheim game. Players had a camp outside of town and would make trips into the city looking for wyrdstone or other magic. They’d meet fantastic creatures, battle it out, and then leave the city. Folks could come and go into the group since the “camp” had a people always there (player doesn't show up his character stays in camp, etc.) One day I was daydreaming recalling when I was about 14 years old I made a game called “Ghostbusters” (yes, it was far before the 1984 movie came out). The concept then was high school kids exploring haunted houses and it was a modified AD&D game. I made classes like nerd, jock, etc. But, while driving that idea morphed into a redux, what about doing something similar in D20M. Make it episodic, kids, a small town, they start at L1 and then grow into their roles. The result was below League of Paranormal Investigators LOPI Concept: Episodic paranormal investigation by 15 year olds. Episodic means that the character have “lives” outside of the game investigation. They go to school, have homes, parents, etc. They just are a group of “geeks” that collected together to investigate some of the weird things that have been going on in their town. The game sessions involves the “exploration” – one investigation per session. In this way players can come and go into the “club” during each session without having any negative impact on the party or the group. If a player doesn’t show up he “just couldn’t go” (grounded, had to baby-sit, etc.). Players start as 15 year olds and are 20 point characters. Skills and feats should be something that high-school kids would know and approved by the GM. Location can be any town of decent size. The characters don’t drive so a town that’s fairly small for bicycles or busses would work. An interesting location would be this one (http://www.mapofspringfield.com/map/index.html) Episode 1 Skeletons in the Closet Back story Old Mister Barns was a recluse. Kids say he dug up the bodies from the cemetery behind him and ate them. It’s widely accepted by every kid that the house is haunted and none will even pass in front of it. Mister Barns died nearly 6 months ago. The house is supposed to be empty but some say that movement is still seen in the place at night and strange sounds are heard. Neighborhood animals have come up missing. The LOPI team has identified this as the first official place for investigation. The first encounters are with skeletal animals. They are 1hp creatures, only do 1hp of damage, easily killed. Once killed they collapse in heaps. They attack the characters while they’re still on the veranda. The 2nd group of encounters are with human skeletons interspersed on the 1st floor. A wolf skeleton is in the southern hallway on the 2nd floor. And zombie Barns is in the “Chamber” on the 2nd floor. Once the skeletons are killed after 5 rounds they re-animate. Killing zombie Barn is the only way to destroy the skeletons, at which point all of them (including zombie Barns) turns to dust. Human Skeleton Wolf Skeleton zombie barns Hit Dice: 1d12 (6 hp) 2d12 (13 hp) 2d12+3 (16 hp) Initiative: 5 7 –1 Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares) 50 ft. (10 squares) 30 ft. (6 squares; can’t run) Armor Class: 13 15 11 Attack: claw +1 melee(1d4+1) Bite +2 melee (1d6+1) Slam+2 melee (1d6+1) Full Attack: 2 claws +1 melee(1d4+1) Bite +2 melee (1d6+1) Slam+2 melee (1d6+1) Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. 5 ft./5 ft. 5 ft./5 ft Saves: Fort+0, Ref+1, Will+2 Fort+0, Ref+3, Will+3 Fort +0, Ref –1, Will +3 Feats: Improved Initiative Improved Initiative Toughness CR: 1/3 1 1/2 http://www.thevictorianhouse.com/ebooks/barber0104b.jpg http://www.thevictorianhouse.com/ebooks/barber0104c.gif http://www.thevictorianhouse.com/ebooks/barber0104d.jpg
DebiHuman 07-18-07, 01:25 AM	The premise of this reminds me very much of the old Chill games that I used to play. Having your intrepid investigators be part of an an "official" team is a lot of fun. It's also one easy way to introduce a lot of items without needing a lot of explanation. If you have ever watched Poltergeist: the Legacy (which is NOT the same as any of the Poltergeist movies) you'll know what I mean. In Chill, the organization is S.A.V.E. (Societas Argenti Viae Eternitata, or, The Eternal Society of the Silver Way) which is a secret society that is dedicated to protecting innocents from the creatures of the Unknown. In D&D, that would be mostly supernatural creatures (undead, lycanthropes, etc.). I think it works well for any setting, but is particulary good for a Modern one. There's no reason you couldn't reinterpret S.A.V.E. for a D&D game. One advantage we found by having such an organization (especially in a modern game) it that it made it a lot easier to give the PCs the firepower and other weapons without them having to get it for themselves. This way the DM can moniter how much stuff the characters have without overcompensating them financially. Poor PCs are far more interesting to play than rich ones. Also, sometimes these items have to be replaced (at cost as they are on loan) which can be part of the adventure. Debby