Some info:
- setting: Whiteland, Indiana, more or less present day
- PCs: an arrogant bookworm girl (aged 16) that's afraid of sharp objects but is immune to occult, a rich basketball player (aged 18) that's afraid of water and always wears his lucky shirt and a teenage jazzman (aged 17) with a trumpet, and he's afraid of heights
- plot: there's someone strange calling on one of the PCs mobile
- goal: find the grave of a murder victim, a teenage girl from some years ago with a mobile phone
- mood: spooky, eerie
That looks like pretty much, but I'm still lacking important things, like how do I make players get interested in those phone calls, how do they find out who's calling and her grave whereabouts.
There's no fighting system whatsoever at this point.
I know some of you people are great storytellers, could you help me?
I would be also grateful for some details that might look obvious to you, about American high school and lifestyle (like what are jocks and fellows usually talking about or what might I find on a high school corridor).
With the cell phones, its easy, persistence. If they don't answer it, it keeps ringing...stops ringing...starts ringing again. If they throw it away or in the river, whatever, it has a wierd tendency to keep coming back into their backpack, pocket, bedside table, whatever. Don't let them ignore the phone. It keeps ringing until they do what it wants.
So, as I've been working, I've been thinking and I want to add a bit more.
Not only will their phones ring when creepy message wants to come through, it will always be the same ring, for all of them. No matter how many times they switch their phones to have another ring (Which works when others call them) the ring for the creepy calls is ALWAYS the same (make it some creepy song, like the funeral procession).
Now the fun part. Torture them for quite some time with this, do the phone call periodically for a little while until they all understand the game (ie the phone rings and you must answer it or it will keep ringing until you do so). As soon as they are trained to answer the phone every time (possibly screaming at the phone as they pick it up, always fun) have them be walking some random place (maybe a park, a backyard, something) and they hear 'the' phone ring. Of course they'll all pull out their phones and then they realize something terrible...its not any of their phones...its coming...from below them.
Here's where I get as creepy as I can, they now have one of two choices: a) one of them starts to dig, at which point they find, after a short bit of digging, a cell phone. When they reach for it, however, they realize its being held by a skeletal hand. There ya go, they've found the murder victim with the phone, buried in a shallow grave somewhere that the murderer thought no one would find her.
b) They decide they're in over their heads and call the cops instead. The cops come and find the body with the phone. The players get called back into the station to answer some questions. Of course there is the question of how they knew the body was there...but the more important question, why are all their names and numbers on this dead girl's cell phone?*dun dun dun* alright, so theres my two cents. Hope it helps.
How unnatural are we talking? Normal 'Scream' type bad guy that is actually a normal guy in a creepy costume or 'supernatural' that has lots of creepy unnatural things that go bump in the night?
With the cell phones, its easy, persistence. If they don't answer it, it keeps ringing...stops ringing...starts ringing again. If they throw it away or in the river, whatever, it has a wierd tendency to keep coming back into their backpack, pocket, bedside table, whatever. Don't let them ignore the phone. It keeps ringing until they do what it wants.
Maybe I should specify that it's the dead girl on the phone, so I assume she won't be very talkative. I really like the persistence idea. But what might it give to the players? Screams sound good. How can they find out who's calling, assuming cell phones show the number? Is there some kind of an accessible American cell phone numbers database?
When it comes to murderer, without a fighting system I'd prefer him out of scene, maybe even behind bars; this crime was committed several years ago after all. But if he's present, he works as long as he's scary. Characters do not have an HP score, but they have a Mental Stability one. When it runs out, they panic.
Maybe I should specify that it's the dead girl on the phone, so I assume she won't be very talkative. I really like the persistence idea. But what might it give to the players? Screams sound good. How can they find out who's calling, assuming cell phones show the number? Is there some kind of an accessible American cell phone numbers database?
When it comes to murderer, without a fighting system I'd prefer him out of scene, maybe even behind bars; this crime was committed several years ago after all. But if he's present, he works as long as he's scary. Characters do not have an HP score, but they have a Mental Stability one. When it runs out, they panic.
Alright, maybe with the phone calls when they answer all they get is static? I figure you'd get a lot of bad signal if you were under the ground. I still think you could work with the idea that they find the girl by a fluke accident. As I said, you could link the phones by having all the player's numbers and names on the dead girl's cell phone. After they find the cell phone, they can check the call registry and find out this phone has been calling all of them repeatedly at the same times they've been receiving calls from the creepy ring. Other than this, I'd say have them find the body by a freak accident...or maybe have one of them wake up, standing in the middle of a park late at night...their phone is in their hand and they are on the phone with the creepy caller. When they hang up, their phone starts dialing an odd number. No matter how many times they try to stop it it keeps dialing it. Suddenly, underneath them, they hear a ringing....
Hmmm, how about that?
Alright, maybe with the phone calls when they answer all they get is static? I figure you'd get a lot of bad signal if you were under the ground. I still think you could work with the idea that they find the girl by a fluke accident. As I said, you could link the phones by having all the player's numbers and names on the dead girl's cell phone. After they find the cell phone, they can check the call registry and find out this phone has been calling all of them repeatedly at the same times they've been receiving calls from the creepy ring. Other than this, I'd say have them find the body by a freak accident...or maybe have one of them wake up, standing in the middle of a park late at night...their phone is in their hand and they are on the phone with the creepy caller. When they hang up, their phone starts dialing an odd number. No matter how many times they try to stop it it keeps dialing it. Suddenly, underneath them, they hear a ringing....
Hmmm, how about that?
Very nice! I'd still like to let them do some investigation though, so they won't feel railroaded, but you've described an ideal finale!
So now I know how to make them be interested by the phone, but I'd like them to go to the burial place by themselves, not appear in there out of a sudden. So I need a link to the murder place, Scooby-Doo style.
Very nice! I'd still like to let them do some investigation though, so they won't feel railroaded, but you've described an ideal finale!
So now I know how to make them be interested by the phone, but I'd like them to go to the burial place by themselves, not appear in there out of a sudden. So I need a link to the murder place, Scooby-Doo style.
sounds excellent. I'm glad I could help!
I figure it might be some decent hour by now in the US.
What I need now is a link between the phone and the murder. I don't want the phone to tell players what to do, I'd like them to somehow go and investigate at some specific place or look for information about a phone number.
I need to ask this: is there a way in the US to find out about owner of a specific phone number other than calling it? I mean a mobile phone.
For somthing freaky, have them start seeing the dead girl all rotten every time they look in a mirror.
And give them a talking dog :D
Remember, theres caller i.d for when the creepy phone caller calls, or *69.
For somthing freaky, have them start seeing the dead girl all rotten every time they look in a mirror.
And give them a talking dog :D
I may be reading Wikipedia wrong, but does that *69 thing return the number? Cell phones do that as well, I'd like something that gives a name.
Mirror thing might be too blunt.
EDIT. Thank you people, the game has ended.
I made some things up on the spot and some of my problems were solver by a glimpse into the character sheets. The game itself was awfully dull I must say (I'm not too familiar with horror settings, especially in a non-fantasy world), but at least it highlighted some flaws in the system.
Well, now someone else takes my spot, so I can become a Rules Lawyer, as I was meant to be
(that's why I was chosen to GM in the first place by the way)