EXAMPLE ONE: Villain: (59) Nazi
Fiendish Plot: (13, 18) Acquire Treasure
Location:(07) Far-off Jungle Act 1:
The Hook: (90) Up To Our Necks Supporting Characters: Three of them: (00,04,33) Talented Neat Servant, (42,38,03) Smart Helpful Entertainer, (23,92, 40) Small Evil Scientist, (62, 85,67) Dense Old Vehicle Operator.
Action Sequence (18,15,6,4) Fight, armed, Some particpants, Nightclub, Bystanders
Plot Twist: (7) New Location (given the nightclub fight, I decide to have the adventure start in the PC’s home city, and then shift to the previously-rolled jungle location here).
Act 2:
Action Sequence (15,13,1,11)Fight, armed, Some partipants, Nautical Setting, Props.
Plot Twist: (7) New Location (Euro- pean Country)
Act 3:
Action Sequence (19,20, 18,10) Fight, armed, Lots of particpants, Laboratory, Environment.
Plot Twist: (2) Betrayal! Act 4: Climax.
So, looking at the results at left, here’s what I come up with: The Nazi’s are looking for a legendary artifact. No, not the headpiece to the Staff of Ra. The Jewel of Zinj, which is said to be a phenominal source of power. However, it is said to be located in the temple at the center of the Lost City of Zinj. The PCs are at a nightclub, watching the beautiful singer, Elaine Nighten- gale, perform. Suddenly shots ring out as a group of Nazi secret agents attack, led by a hideous dwarf! The PCs fight them off, with the help of Carstairs, Elaine’s fastidi- ous ex-army servant, but not before they snatch a necklace from around Elaine’s neck! Elaine says that the necklace was a gift from her dead father, who was
an arche- ologist. The medallion was suppos- edly a map to the Lost City of Zinj!
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Elaine is able to recreate the map from memory, and the PCs (with Elaine and Carstairs in tow) head off to the jungle nation of Mubullah. In Mubullah, the PCs are taken upriver by a senile old river boat captain. Along the way, they come under attack by hostile natives, trying to prevent them from reach- ing Zinj. They finally reach the lost city, only to discover the jewel missing (I’ll probably throw another action sequence in here, too...lots of Indiana Jones-style traps and such). They find a dead Nazi (killed by the natives), who has a telegram on him, revealing that the dwarf is a scientist working for the Nazis, and will be experimenting on the jewel at his lab in Berlin!
The PCs then travel to the heart of the Third Reich, and assault the labo- ratory of Herr Doktor Liebenohne...a deformed dwarf spared by the Nazis purely because of his brilliance, which is as twisted as his body. The fight takes place in Liebenohne’s laboratory, filled with experimental weapons and other inventions. Sud- denly, just as things are reaching a climax, Carstairs betrays the PCs! He was a Nazi agent all along! Can the PC’s defeat Carstairs and Liebenohne, get the Jewel of Zinj, and get out of Berlin with Elaine before the Gestapo closes in? Gosh, I sure hope so....
EXAMPLE TWO: Villain: (30) Mad Scientist Fiendish Plot: (16, 50) Kill A City Location:(89) City: Skyscrapers Act 1:
The Hook: (44) Bizarre Occurrance Supporting Characters: Four of them:
(71, 56, 50) Impulsive, Hard-boiled Investigator; (32, 69, 41) Help- less, Young Scientist; (99. 43, 100) Talented, Feisty Kid and (05, 59, 90) Ugly, Distinctive Henchman. Action Sequence (20, 3 4, 2) Armed Fight, Few Participants, City Street, Bystanders.
Plot Twist: (12) Hidden Plot. The reroll results in (02, 15) Manipulate a Country.
Act 2:
Action Sequence (7, 5, 19, 6) Vehicle Chase, Few participants, Landmark setting, Enviromental complications.
Plot Twist: (7) New Location (In the Air)
Act 3:
Action Sequence (14, 16, 15, 9) Fight unarmed, Lots of participants, Headquarters setting, Enviromental complications.
Plot Twist: (1) Betrayal! Act 4: Climax.
Taking a look at the results of the rolls this time around, I develop the following ideas:
A Mad Scientist is using a disinte-
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grator ray to destroy buildings in the city. His goal , although apparently one of simple destruction, is instead to manipulate the US Government into giving a valuable contract for defense developments.
The story begins with the disappear- ance of an entire office building in the middle of the night. The PCs investigate, and during their inves- tigation, encounter Jenny Jenkins, a brassy reporter looking into the story. Together, the heroes and the reporter discover evidence that the building was vaporized, by some sort of disintegrator. During the investigation, a sniper starts shooting at the PCs (a hired thug employed by the villain to raise the stakes of the gambit)! The villains main hench- man, Albrecht (a giant of a man, like Lothar in The Rocketeer) will be seen, but escape.
The PCs and Jenny go to the uptown laboratory of a scientist -- the young and beautiful Raven Sinclair -- to get an expert opinion on the sort of weapon being used. They arrive in time to see Ms. Sinclair in the pres- ence of Albrecht! When the PCs are spotted, Albrecht will pick up Raven, throw her into a nearby horse-drawn carriage, and speed into the lanes of Central Park! The PCs give chase -- the only other carraige nearby is driven by Mickey, a feisty 12-year- old with the horsemanship skills of a jockey!. The chase is on, through the winding paths of Central Park, trying to avoid trees, bystanders, etc.
At the last moment, Albrecht grabs Raven, and leaps from his carriage onto a rope ladder which dangles from the open hatch of an airship, silently hovering over the park! The PCs will have to follow -- and, on board the zeppelin, they discover the true villain is, in fact, Raven Sin- clair herself! She used her inven- tion in an effort to influence the War Department to give her a contract to create inventions to defend against her own attack!
The PCs will have to fight their way off the airship -- being careful not to ignite the hydrogen with weapons fire -- and bring the beautiful but deadly Ms. Sinclair to justice!