Need a Fantasy One Shot

[Tywyll]

Any good sources for a fairly generic, one shot fantasy adventure? Preferably the kind of thong travelling characters might get involves with on their way somewhere?

[muminalver]

Easiest to get the resources are the caravan for mythras

http://thedesignmechanism.com/downloads.php

Or check out the quieckstart senarios for Runequest 7 ei Runequest glorantha i belive one of the scenarios are about traveling..

Little moore job removing Gloranthan references though..

 

 

[Atgxtg]

Do you need full fledged adventures with stats, fleshed out ideas without stats, or just story hooks? THere are a lot of genric ideas and non-BRP adventueres out there that could be adapted but less BRP specific stuff.

[seneschal]

www.darkcitygames.com

Free scenarios to download.  There are also some free ones at www.flyingbuffalo.com written for Tunnels and Trolls. Don’t forget all the freebies and pay what you wants at Drive Thru RPG and RPG Now.  Also, the discussion boards at www.goblinoidgames.com are loaded with page after page of excellent maps to fire your imagination.

Edited April 24, 2019 by seneschal

[rsanford]

In Search of the Troll Slayer is really good. You can find it at https://www.chaosium.com/in-search-of-the-trollslayer/

[g33k]

There's also the half-dozen adventures in the BRP Quickstart.  Any that /aren't/ fantasy could easily be re-skinned to be...

[seneschal]

https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Dark_Fantasy_Singles

 

Don’t neglect old-time radio shows. Always packed with excellent NPCs, monsters and set pieces.

[Atgxtg]

1 hour ago, seneschal said:

https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Dark_Fantasy_Singles

 

Don’t neglect old-time radio shows. Always packed with excellent NPCs, monsters and set pieces.

Amen. One of the best sources for ideas and adventures suitable for a RPG. Unlike virtually every other form on entertainment, OTR shows had to be written at prepared at a rate similar to that of a gaming group, namely once a week (sometimes more!).

[seneschal]

Only their “gaming sessions” were often only 15 minutes long.  Want to discover whether Superman survives being locked in a trunk with Kryptonite or whether the vampire high priest gets the drop on Jack, Doc and Reggie?  Tune in tomorrow at this same time and station!

Unfortunately for our discussion, radio didn’t have fantasy in the Tolkien/D&D sense.  But there are tons of horror, mystery and adventure shows that played out like a role-playing campaign.  Recommended series:  Suspense, scariest tales on radio hands down; I Love A Mystery, a rowdy trio of sometime detectives travel the globe to battle the bizarre and help the defenseless (player-characters before the concept existed); Chandu the Magician, modern day mage fights a shadowy global conspiracy while trying to protect his family; The Shadow, amateur detective with secret identity encounters anything from mundane crime to madmen or monsters.

[Atgxtg]

8 hours ago, seneschal said:

Only their “gaming sessions” were often only 15 minutes long.  Want to discover whether Superman survives being locked in a trunk with Kryptonite or whether the vampire high priest gets the drop on Jack, Doc and Reggie?  Tune in tomorrow at this same time and station!

Yeah, but a typical hour long adventure for a radio or television show can easily fill up an entire game session or even two. So the 15 minute episode might be a short 1 hour adventure. I still don't know why Supermans' friends don't drown.

8 hours ago, seneschal said:

Unfortunately for our discussion, radio didn’t have fantasy in the Tolkien/D&D sense.  But there are tons of horror, mystery and adventure shows that played out like a role-playing campaign.

No it didn't, but there were a lot of PUlp style adventures that could be adapted, as could many of the science fiction stories of the time, as they tended to be more fantasy than science fiction. Horr and mystery stories also port over well. Of course if someone is running a more modern or futurstic setting then they have more options. Somneone running a campaign set in the 1920-1950s era has it made.  

8 hours ago, seneschal said:

 Recommended series:  Suspense, scariest tales on radio hands down; I Love A Mystery, a rowdy trio of sometime detectives travel the globe to battle the bizarre and help the defenseless (player-characters before the concept existed); Chandu the Magician, modern day mage fights a shadowy global conspiracy while trying to protect his family; The Shadow, amateur detective with secret identity encounters anything from mundane crime to madmen or monsters.

Supense is very good. Chandu is good, but 15 minutes with two commercial breaks bookended with other commercials kills the pacing. I vague recall one episode where he was going somewhere and by the time he got to his cloak (commercial), hat  (commercial)and cane (commercial), he barely made it out the front door before the end credits.  I find the Shadow a mixed bag, especially compared to the pulp version.Some of my favorites are Inner Sanctum, CBS Radio Mystery Theatre (it's from the 70s but was made by Hiram Brown, and showcased a lot of OTR actors), X-Minus One, the Green Hornet, and the Saint.

More than one rushed RPG session had me adapting a favorite 60 year old radio program that I knew by heart on the fly. OTR shows are great that way because you get a nice adventure framework that your players won't be familiar with.

 

There were a lot of stinkers, even with the good series, and the face pace, need to come up with scripts fast, and the reworking of older scrips led to a lot of stories being reused over and over and over (never trust any of Lamont Cranstons old friends, and in Detroit the corrupt politician is behind it), but that's forgivable when you realize that these writers had to write multiple episodes each week, and usually for several shows at the same time. 

 

[seneschal]

Green Hornet, The Saint and Boston Blackie are all good inspirations for an urban fantasy campaign since their protagonists deal with powerful gangsters, corrupt politicians and clever fraudsters as well as garden variety murderers.  And all of them tend to have complicated relationships with the authorities.  Boston Blackie solves crimes so the cops won’t arrest him for them!  Even if you’re not running a campaign, listen to Vincent Price as Simon Templar, “The Robin Hood of Modern Crime.”  He’d rather rest on his ill-gotten gains, enjoying fine dinners and nubile blondes, but he can’t resist getting involved in other people’s problems.

Another good one is The Ghost Corps, about private troubleshooters handling situations the government dare not touch in the colonial Mid-East.  You’ve got to stop a war, a horde of angry subjects wants your blood, and you can’t ask the army or the city guard for help  because the political situation is too touchy.

[Atgxtg]

1 hour ago, seneschal said:

Green Hornet, The Saint and Boston Blackie are all good inspirations for an urban fantasy campaign since their protagonists deal with powerful gangsters, corrupt politicians and clever fraudsters as well as garden variety murderers.

Yes, it's amazing how well Fran Striker was at recreating the Lone Ranger for the modern day. Sometimes the villains are somewhat predicable, but that was probably more to the need to get so many stories out each week. 

1 hour ago, seneschal said:

 listen to Vincent Price as Simon Templar, “The Robin Hood of Modern Crime.”  He’d rather rest on his ill-gotten gains, enjoying fine dinners and nubile blondes, but he can’t resist getting involved in other people’s problems.

Yes, while like most actors in the role, Price is miscast, and radio Templar is more of a typival radio mystery good guy than the Saint, but Prince is still very entertaining in the part. 

1 hour ago, seneschal said:

Another good one is The Ghost Corps, about private troubleshooters handling situations the government dare not touch in the colonial Mid-East.  You’ve got to stop a war, a horde of angry subjects wants your blood, and you can’t ask the army or the city guard for help  because the political situation is too touchy.

I'm not familar with thart one. I'll have to dig up an episode or two.

[seneschal]

So, has the OP settled on an idea for the adventure yet?  😊

[Bill the barbarian]

On 4/24/2019 at 11:02 PM, seneschal said:

Don’t neglect old-time radio shows. Always packed with excellent NPCs, monsters and set pieces.

dialogue, personality, accents, atmosphere, the incredible theatre of the mind that it seems only voices can truly evoke, decades of great material, and so so much more!

My fave is the Shadow.

[rsanford]

16 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

My fave is the Shadow.

Mine too!

[Tywyll]

On 4/24/2019 at 10:43 PM, g33k said:

There's also the half-dozen adventures in the BRP Quickstart.  Any that /aren't/ fantasy could easily be re-skinned to be...

BRP quickstart? 

[Tywyll]

On 4/25/2019 at 11:36 PM, seneschal said:

So, has the OP settled on an idea for the adventure yet?  😊

I ended up just doing a variation on the Apple Lane adventure from the Gm screen, only I had them come across a wagon that had been attacked and follow tracks back to the camp of the orcs....er tuskers. Something quick to get them into the system.

[seneschal]

Good improvisation, keeping it simple.  Their initial foray can lead them into more complicated adventures.

[g33k]

5 hours ago, Tywyll said:

BRP quickstart? 

https://www.chaosium.com/basic-roleplaying/

1st item is the "BGB" main rulebook an image of the main rulebook, with some promo text & links to other BRP games.

2nd item is the quickstart... free PDF there, or follow the link to buy it in hardcopy.

Edited May 1, 2019 by g33k
was mistaken. WTF, Chaosium? Link your product there!

[Tywyll]

11 hours ago, seneschal said:

Good improvisation, keeping it simple.  Their initial foray can lead them into more complicated adventures.

Thanks!

They are on their way to Griffin Island, so plenty to do once there. I just needed some quick 'rabbit hunting' on the way!