Some Good News

I thought my computer's power pack had bit the dust yesterday.  The truth is, it needed to cool down for a while.  Also, I had a major life change last tuesday which allows me to throw myself into adapting Edgar Rice Burroughs' At the Earth's Core into a feature film screenplay.  Although being out of school is tough, I need a vacation to complete this screenplay and to have it marketed and made into a good film of old fashioned adventure.  So it's a blessing in disguise.

You really can't go wrong with Edgar Rice Burroughs for Adventure fiction.  A lot of his books have been adapted to feature films, and in some cases, readapted.  Tarzan of the Apes has been adapted over a bizillion times.  Tarzan is probably the 4th most filmed character, after Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, and the Frankenstein Monster.

It's an exciting time to write! :)

Scripps and Atlantis

I'll be writing my first screenplay, Echos of Atlantis using Scripped.  But first things first, storycrafting.  It's important to get the messy details down.  I'm going for a Character Story on this one, instead of a Milieu story.  This is because the Fantasy starts right away instead of when the character gets to Atlantis.

Basic Tagline: Echos of Atlantis is about a young man who carries the blood of Atlantean Royalty.  He finds out about his heritage and must rally the Atlanteans to break the power of the Sahuagin that threaten Atlantis' existence.

The story takes place in a Fantasy America.  Where there are Wizards, Tinkers, Psions, Warriors, Thieves, and evil kings.  The Evil King Agrippa holds sway over the Kingdom of York, which includes the States of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.  Opposing Evil King Agrippa is the Puritan Socialists of Massachusetts and the Southern Crown Colonies.  What the three little petty nations don't know is that there is a movement led by a small circle of Radicals that want to get rid of their socialists, evil kings, and crown colonies once and for all and to unify the lands into a new Republic.

The Atlanteans are the survivors of an ancient deluge and occupy the cities of Cleitos, Tritonis, and Atlantis.  Atlantis is off the coast of Bermuda.  Tritonis is off the coast of Manhattan, and Cleitos is off the coast of North Carolina.  However, the Atlanteans are in disarray as their Autocrat Atalescas was slain by the Sahuagin King of Xyluff in the last campaign.

Faced with defeat, one of the Atlanteans go to Heartford to find the last known heir to the throne of Atlantis.  The one foretold that will unify the three cities of Atlantis and defeat the evil sahuagin of Xyluff once and for all.

Now doesn't that sound cool?  I think so. :)

Elementalism in Pathfinder Design Philosophy

fire elementalist by ~maddama on deviantART

(note, picture is posted for non-comercial purposes and is drawn by the artist known on Deviant Art as Maddama.)
One of the more interesting things I've done to Elementalism is create a class that doesn't work.  Is a little too much of a channel for the PC to go down a certain path.  This goes against the design philosophy of 3rd Edition at the time.  One guy complained it should have been a prestige class.

However, there was no way to change it.  However, change is slow.  But thanks to Pathfinder, we can rest assured that change is coming that will recreate the class that will fit more in closely with the design philosophies of 3rd edition.  The idea is to facilitate creativity and design while in play, not to strictly have them go down the path.   So, the update will go away from that and follow the trends set forth in Pathfinder so that a PC will have more fun playing an Elementalist.

Fleshing out a Scenario, pt 3

At last, we can put an outline together on our scenario. Outlines are pretty important, since they give you a basic idea of how an adventure is put together. We are going to use a Step Outline for our adventure: it's a good way of outlining our adventure using the Premise, Twist, Climax formula for our adventure (all adventures have four acts, by the way).

Adventurers of Atlantis

Premise: There has been a rash of kidnappings of young women of late. Something the PCs scoff of until one of their girlfriends disappear.

Scene 1: the PCs have been hanging out at their apartment (or University Student Common building, if you are in the U.S.) and learn that there are a rash of kidnappings of young women (18-24 years of age) in their city.

Scene 2: Girlfriend shows up and tells a wierd story of how she went to a strange man's apartment and exposed herself and served him.

Scene 3: Girlfriend disappears. Investigating shows that a weird little man has been hanging around campus (or near the places of disappearance).

The Twist: A strange old man is found by the PCs, who is actually an Atlantean Theorist. The PCs chase the wierd little man, only to enter a dimensional rift through space time and end up in the city of Atlantis.

Scene 4: the PCs find the weird little man and they chase him until he reaches a bridge and he seemingly jumps off. If the PCs jump after him, they fall through a hole in Space/Time, landing in the City of Atlantis.

Scene 5: Exploring Atlantis, they find a society that is highly advanced with many pyramids around. However, they are dressed strangely, and they've been attracting a lot of attention lately.

Scene 6: One of the PCs find their girlfriend on a slave auction block, stripped nude and exposed to a lot of people. If the PCs do anything to try and save their friend, they are taken into custody for disturbing the peace.

The Climax: The PCs are told that a group of Lemurians are attacking Atlantean interests in Magan (modern day Kenya). The PCs battle it out with the Lemurians in Maganese lands.

Scene 7: For all their strangeness, the PCs are eventually released from Custody and will have all charges dropped against them if they will do something for Atlantis. Basically, stop the Lemurians from harming Atlantean interests in Magan (modern day Kenya).

Scene 8: The PCs are sent in an Atlantean jet aircraft (if the GM wants to be more fantastic, he can change it to a flying chariot or something like that). They then are teleported to the Magan coast where they meet the Lemurians.

Scene 9: the first meeting with the Lemurians did not go well, and it results in a fight. The Lemurians either slip away or defeat the PCs (and lets them live) while they continue their objective, the Maganese Uranium Depot.

Scene 10: the PCs meet the Lemurians at the Uranium Depot and they battle it out royally.

The Closing: The PCs return home, and one of the PCs is given the feeling that the Atlanteans might call upon them again.

Scene 11: After defeating the Lemurians, and gaining an enemy, the PCs return to Atlantis silently hailed as heroes. They proved themselves to the Atlantean government and are allowed to go home. Any PC who wishes to purchase their lost girl friend may do so to save her from a life of slavery.

Scene 12: After going through a hole in Space/Time again back to the modern day, the PCs return to their modern lives. Although, give the wisest a chance to sense that the Atlanteans are not through with them.


There you go, a step outline for our adventure. The adventure is completely outlined, so you can run it. Remember, not every adventure will go as planned. The first rule of playing a Roleplaying Game if you are the DM running an outlined adventure is to expect the unexpected (players do strange things like mess everything up in a planned adventure).

Fleshing out a Scenario, pt 2

Now we have everything externally, now we have to provide what is going on in the fight scenes. A fight scene should be dramatic and fun. So we need to make sure we prop the two scenes with fun and profit.

The first fight scene introduces the Lemurians, which are a competitor nation against Atlantis (sort of like USA vs. Russia during the Cold War). The scene also reveals the Lemurians' motive for being in Magan (ancient Kenya), an Uranium depot built by the Magans. So lets list what is what in our first fight scene.

- Rumble in the African Coastal village -

Lemurian inorganics: 2 per player character level (AI controlled mecha, 4 hit points; they blow up easily)
Indumat (named Lemurian leader)
Gandira (Lemurian Sorcerer)

Set Pieces
These are the fun stuff that the enemy and the heroes interact with.

The coastal village with the fight scene takes place in a fisherman's market.

Fisherman's Stall

• There is a lot of fish. Not much work against inorganic robots, but a mullet is better than nothing. Some of them are even still alive!
• There are knives for cleaning and gutting fish
• Fishing poles
• A fisherman's net can be used on Lemurian inorganics.

Fruit Cart

• Bananas are everywhere, so are a lot of exotic African fruits.
• Fruits can be tipped over, causing everything to be slimy and slippery.
• Horned melons can be used to bash people.
• Durian fruit is imported from Khmer lands (modern day Cambodia), and is a disgustingly stinky fruit. The enemy could rub it into the PCs' faces.
• There are ropes, knives, and machetes that can be used as found weapons.

Chicken Stall

• Chickens must get loose!
• The cages can be used to bash inorganics and heroes alike.
  

- Uranium Depot -

The Uranium Depot has refined Uranium-235 bars. The Uranium was refined by the Maganese government for use in a Nuclear Power facility. The bars are highly radioactive and are kept in lead-lined containers. The Uranium is very heavy to lift due to its density (92 protons and 92 electrons, along with a mess of neutrons -- not to mention the alpha and beta particles -- and gamma rays -- it outputs).

Unnamed inorganics
Indumat
Gandira

This is the big fight scene. The inorganics are being used to handle the Uranium as the Lemurians are preparing to ship it away. If, during the fight, one of the containers is open, radiation spills into the area. Radiation kills PCs quickly, so every round take the PCs take a hit to hit points, strength, and constitution. Radiation sickness is -3 Con intially, plus -3 Con secondary damage.

A psychokinetic, particle, or magic force field can contain the Radiation.

Next: tying it all together.

Fleshing out a Scenario

in part 2 of our series on fleshing out scenarios, we will deal with the Atlantis Scenario: Adventurers of Atlantis.

Adventurers of Atlantis

Premise: There has been a rash of kidnappings of young women of late. Something the PCs scoff of until one of their girlfriends disappear.
The Twist: A strange old man is found by the PCs, who is actually an Atlantean Theorist. The PCs chase the wierd little man, only to enter a dimensional rift through space time and end up in the city of Atlantis.
The Climax: The PCs are told that a group of Lemurians are attacking Atlantean interests in Magan (modern day Kenya). The PCs battle it out with the Lemurians in Maganese lands.
The Closing: The PCs return home, and one of the PCs is given the feeling that the Atlanteans might call upon them again.

With these barebones, you have everything you need to make an interesting scenario. Now lets fill in the missing holes. There are a couple of sets:

1. The PC's Apartment
2. An alleyway
3. The City of Atlantis itself.
4. The African Coast.
5. The Kenyan countryside (where our battle takes place).

There are a couple of named NPCs.
1. Agathon (Atlantean Physics Theorist -- can also be a sorcerer)
2. Praxiteles (Atlantean governor who asks the PCs to counter the Lemurians)
3. Indumat (Lemurian commander)
4. Gandira (Lemurian sorcerer -- may be a reoccuring vile villain)

And there are mooks:
Lemurian mooks (which can be anything from Lemurian troops to inorganic machines).

Since this begins all the action, a romantic foil (a femme fatale or something else that foils the PCs) is intentionally left out. This adventure is meant to introduce the PCs to the world of Atlantis. So, we have our beginning and our end.

There are two fight scenes: the scenes introduce the Lemurians and help move the action. We need to establish why the Lemurians are attacking Atlantean interests in Mythical Kenya. Perhaps there is a gene laboratory in ancient Kenya that the Lemurians need something from.
Perhaps there is a store of Uranium that the Lemurians need for power generation.

Let us use the second, there is a store of Uranium in ancient Kenya that they need.

The first fight happens in Ophir where the PCs find out that the Lemurians are looking for an Uranium Depot, and the second fight happens around the Uranium depot itself. You just need some set pieces. Which I will reveal next time.