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General Category => RPGs => : clockworkjoe April 07, 2009, 07:57:31 PM

: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: clockworkjoe April 07, 2009, 07:57:31 PM
This is a forum game I just came up with: First, you post one scenario hook, a one sentence description of a possible scenario that incorporates the ladder from the previous post.  Then you post a scenario ladder, which extends to the next person's post. The ladder is a single element (theme, NPC, item, place) that can be described in one sentence.

So it goes

Poster 1: Hook one
Ladder one

Poster 2: Hook two (using ladder one)
Ladder two

Poster 3:
Hook three (using ladder two)
Ladder three

I will go first

Hook one: A mad sorcerer wrote all of his accumulated knowledge as arborglyphs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arborglyph), carved messages on every tree of a remote forest but hundreds of years later a great evil shall be summoned and can only be stopped by a ritual written on seven specific trees scattered far and wide through it.


Ladder one:
  Legacy systems archaeologist - WANTED: INDIVIDUALS FAMILIAR WITH 3270, VAX/VMS, COBOL, AS/400, AND OTHER LEGACY SYSTEMS NO ONE ELSE REMEMBERS.
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: JonHook April 07, 2009, 08:30:50 PM
I wanna play, but I don't get the game. Your hook and ladder seem completely disconnected... fantasy and modern.  ???
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: clockworkjoe April 07, 2009, 08:32:40 PM
The ladder is for the NEXT person to use.
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: Dawnsteel April 07, 2009, 08:42:54 PM
Hook two: A feral COBOL programmer, high on angel dust and absinthe, writes four hundred lines of code that, if compiled and run, will definitively disprove the existence of God.

Ladder two: Code Name: Archangel Uriel - a Vatican-developed EMP cannon, effective at 100 yards.
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: clockworkjoe April 07, 2009, 08:52:14 PM
Hook two: A feral COBOL programmer, high on angel dust and absinthe, writes four hundred lines of code that, if compiled and run, will definitively disprove the existence of God.

Ladder two: Code Name: Archangel Uriel - a Vatican-developed EMP cannon, effective at 100 yards.

For the hooks be sure to mention how the players fit into the scenario.

Hook three:
The Vatican deploys the Uriel EMP cannon along with a dozen priests and Swiss guard soliders after a meteor crashes in Siberia and the players are investigative reporters tasked with finding out why.

Ladder three:
A company releases the A-Pod, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jyBiECoS3Q) marketed as a child's toy.
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: Tadanori Oyama April 07, 2009, 08:56:46 PM
Hook Four: The Mi-Go's latest cult has taken a proactive approach to trimming the human population by destorying the youth; A-Pods arrange the deaths of their children while seemin innocent.

Ladder Four: A man shaped machine, forged of stone and wood, run by water.




((My other ideas, which I was out paced in posting. Curse anybody who types faster than me!!

Hook Two: A program, born of the Cold War and run on a system that may as well be comprised of runes and sanscript to normal programers, has taken control of modern computersystems. It is altering, destorying, and moving setions of information and data, seemingly without reason. Our heroes, aged programers and insighted youths, must gather both their own language understanding and that of forgotten lore to discover the purpose and function of this "elder code" and stop it before the dark ages return.

Hook Three: The players, AI run devices, must find a way to reach disable the cannon as well as it's mster plans before it can be mass produced and lead to ignorant humans destroying their kind.))
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: Dawnsteel April 07, 2009, 11:16:16 PM
Hook Five: "A group of shamans, working for Frobozz Electric, have a new invention.  It appears to be a water-driven wooden golem, possibly reinforced with stone.  It works tirelessly and only seems to need the output of a small stream to keep it running.  We need you to recover this device, if possible, or destroy it, if not."

Ladder Five: An aerial jungle survey in Borneo finds evidence of an ENORMOUS FUCKING SNAKE (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/4701906/Photograph-shows-giant-snake-lurking-in-Borneo-river.html).
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: dragonshaos April 07, 2009, 11:20:42 PM
Hook Six: An enormous snake has just been seen in Africa, and reports show that it has eaten an entire village alive!  We need you to go inside and help save any survivors, while keeping the snake alive for studies.

Ladder Six:  While eating ice cream, a man imagines what life would be like inside his own head.
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: clockworkjoe April 08, 2009, 12:40:03 AM
Hook Six: An enormous snake has just been seen in Africa, and reports show that it has eaten an entire village alive!  We need you to go inside and help save any survivors, while keeping the snake alive for studies.

Ladder Six:  While eating ice cream, a man imagines what life would be like inside his own head.

Hook seven: Unfortunately for the man eating ice cream, his mindscape awakens and begins to infect the outside world and soon the players find themselves in the man's twisted psyche, reliving his worst memories and fondest dreams.

Ladder seven: Photos of Lost Luggage.  (http://www.isthisyourluggage.com/Site/Luggage_home.html)
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: Tadanori Oyama April 08, 2009, 12:44:01 AM
Hook Eight: That's your bag. It has the evidence in it. And Boss Vianci knows what it looks like too...

Ladder Eight: The Japanese pop song/internet meme Caramelldansen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX6e7sO1ss0).
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: dragonshaos April 08, 2009, 01:03:39 AM
Hook Nine: After nearly being trampled to death at an anime expo when a group of girls began doing the 'Caramelldansen', your party notices that as the onlookers stare in awe and tap to the beat, their souls have began to drain from their bodies...

Ladder Nine:  A mop that can defy gravity.
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: Maze April 08, 2009, 01:07:28 AM
Hook Ten: You just received a invitation letter to wizard school and a package containing a mop which is labeled "your new transportation." Mhuahaha.

Ladder Ten: The invisible yet romantic city of Casanostra
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: JonHook April 08, 2009, 07:59:06 AM
Hook Ten: You just received a invitation letter to wizard school and a package containing a mop which is labeled "your new transportation." Mhuahaha.

Ladder Ten: The invisible yet romantic city of Casanostra

Hook Eleven: The players are survivors of Casanostra after it's destruction, accustomed to a life of luxury and comfort, they must now survive in a post-nuclear wasteland.

Ladder Eleven: A meteor storm of alien "seeds".
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: dragonshaos April 08, 2009, 12:09:44 PM
Hook Twelve:  As the Tyranid spore's rain down upon your sector, you realize that the Orks and Eldar were the least of your concerns

Ladder Twelve: Believing that your dreams alter reality and it's laws, you begin to experience nightmares...
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: Dawnsteel April 08, 2009, 12:17:49 PM
Hook Thirteen: AMERICAN MCGEE'S CANDYLAND:  Players, charged by the slightly insane King Kandy, are hot on the trail of the evil Lord Licorice, who has framed the lumberjack Mr. Mint for the axe-murder of Princess Frostine and Grandma Nutt.  Gloppy, of the Chocolate Swamp, may or may not aid the players in their quest.

Ladder Thirteen: A Rubik's Cube that, when you attempt to solve it, appears to contain seven different colors.
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: clockworkjoe April 08, 2009, 05:37:27 PM
Hook Thirteen: AMERICAN MCGEE'S CANDYLAND:  Players, charged by the slightly insane King Kandy, are hot on the trail of the evil Lord Licorice, who has framed the lumberjack Mr. Mint for the axe-murder of Princess Frostine and Grandma Nutt.  Gloppy, of the Chocolate Swamp, may or may not aid the players in their quest.

Ladder Thirteen: A Rubik's Cube that, when you attempt to solve it, appears to contain seven different colors.

Hook 14: The Cube mutates anyone who solves it, allowing them to see into the ultraviolet and infrared spectrums. The players must get the cube from a cult who is activately mutating as many people as possible to bring about a transcendent movement.

Ladder 14: BOOM. (http://slinka.livejournal.com/437213.html)
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: Dawnsteel April 08, 2009, 06:53:34 PM
Hook Fifteen: The Computer in Alpha Sector tasks the troubleshooters with retrieving ash samples (or possibly reconstructing the volcano).  They are each issued a sand pail and tiny plastic shovel.

Ladder Fifteen: A tractor monster. (http://www.97kyck.com/index/images/strange-russian-tractor.jpg)
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: Tadanori Oyama April 08, 2009, 07:11:06 PM
Ladder Sixteen:When Uni.Tech developed an organic metal, self repairing and long lasting, it seemed too good to be true. Tractors are eating the town. What now, farm kids?

Hook Sixteen: Forest dwelling owls attacking city birds in broad daylight.
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: wrotenbe April 08, 2009, 07:41:49 PM
Ladder Seventeen: Massive deforestation nearby has roused an ancient Amerindian Owl spirit to anger. It now sends its children into the cities of man, first the birds, then the children. The PCs, members of the city's Animal Control, have to stop the infestation..before THE owl appears.

Hook Seventeen: Him (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTdExWrnmHQ)
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: clockworkjoe April 09, 2009, 05:29:20 PM
Ladder Seventeen: Massive deforestation nearby has roused an ancient Amerindian Owl spirit to anger. It now sends its children into the cities of man, first the birds, then the children. The PCs, members of the city's Animal Control, have to stop the infestation..before THE owl appears.

Hook Seventeen: Him (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTdExWrnmHQ)

Hook 18: Bitch Killer is the rarest video nasty of all time and only one print of it exists. In Quintin Tarintino's private film vault. The players must steal the film while avoiding QT's movie themed traps and guardians.

Ladder 18: What's he building in there? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaLjwSpZ6Cs)
: Re: Scenario Hooks and Ladders
: Dawnsteel April 09, 2009, 06:29:17 PM
Hook Nineteen: This was a question on the lips of everyone in the neighborhood.  The NPC is rarely seen, but once contact has been established, he will leave parts request lists in the mailbox, under a rock on the porch, and so on.  The players can optionally aid the NPC with his creation, or they can side with the Neighborhood Watch committee (as we all learned from To Kill a Mockingbird, Different Neighbors Are Bad.), break in, and drag the weirdo and his inventions into the harsh light of day.

Ladder Nineteen: A hole in the water? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpIT0TW-uBQ)