seneschal Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 (edited) Two of my favorite animated movies are The Secret of NIHM (book Mrs. Frisbee and the Rats of NIHM) and The Great Mouse Detective (book Basil of Baker Street). Both films end happily for our animal protagonists, but upon second thought I'm not sure they ended so happily for the humans nominally in the background. If you change the stories' point of view, the results become rather scary. After all, Willard (book The Ratman Diaries) had a similar premise. In all three cases, you've got rodents of human or in some cases (Nicodemas, Basil, Ratigan) superhuman intelligence running loose and building their own society right under our noses. They're capable of using and adapting our technology and of inventing their own. They have their own agendas, and in some cases (Jenner, Sullivan, Ratigan, Ben) their interests are hostile to ours. They are much longer lived than ordinary rodents but presumably reproduce faster than men (although gestation and child-rearing times would be much longer than for non-sentient rats and mice). They are capable of interbreeding with normal rodents, giving them the potential to "uplift" the species as a whole. Victorian society (Cthulhu by Gaslight) was wholly unaware of them. Modern society (Delta Green/The Laundry) couldn't contain them in high-security laboratories. They can slip through locked doors and windows, air shafts and water pipes, infiltrate our homes, businesses, seats of government, industrial complexes, data fortresses. They can speak and read human languages just fine, although we may be unable to comprehend theirs. And they have a growing, urgent need for energy, food supplies, and other materials to sustain and build their hidden but expanding communities. So, the investigators are dealing with a series of burglaries, thefts of inventions, blackmail threats, etc., apparently the work of a criminal mastermind. Except the mind isn't human ... Edited November 6, 2012 by seneschal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erasmus1966 Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 Oooh creepy... Brown Jenkin strikes again! (yes, I know he was a familiar ) Quote No power in the 'Verse can stop me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadmaster Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 (edited) You left one out Edited November 12, 2012 by Toadmaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seneschal Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Pinky?" "Sure, Brain. But how are we going to get the zebras into tutus?" "Pinky, I think I'm going to have to hurt you!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seneschal Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 Here it is, a prefab adventure ready for your hapless PCs to unravel: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erasmus1966 Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 If I had any PCs right now, I'd let them unravel it, but sadly I don't... but when I do I'll ensure they are hapless Quote No power in the 'Verse can stop me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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