One Fell Swoop

Elbuagnin - Idea Man

I found this bit of inspiration over at Curse of the GM.
He thought of it first --->

Thanks dude!



The basic idea is to set up an adventure where the PCs stumble upon events that are turns of phrase acted out literally.  The first would just seem strange, but the mystery builds as more and more are encountered.  Are the town's people cursed?  Is it magic?

This seems like a perfect fit for my Dreaming Gods campaign.  I don't want the Dreaming Gods to be defined only by their portals to other realms, or some random wild magic zones.  I want them to influence the world only very rarely, and in strange unexpected ways.  This set up is perfect for one such instance.  It's an effect that's obviously set into motion by some kind of intellect, but the reasoning behind it seems to make no logical sense.  More on that later.


Adventure Notes
I'd start with the PCs traveling along a road leading to the town.  Just before they get into town they see a fork in the road, literally.  A big metal fork, like a carving fork sticking into the road.

A little further along the PCs see some of the events described in the post I linked above, a mother throwing out her baby with the bathwater, a performer gets his leg broken, ect.

The people might seem surprised by their actions afterward, but they aren't in a daze or stupor at the time.  It is more like temporary insanity than any sort of charm spell.  They may not remember their strange actions at all.

A man buys a pig in a poke (sack), but discovers that he has been swindled when he lets the cat out of the bag.

The blacksmith grumbles and berates his apprentice while grinding an axe, eventually yelling loudly at the young man for his laziness, grappling with him, and trying to force his nose into the grindstone.   Once the PCs intervene (I hope), the blacksmith will snap out of it and be full of remorse and guilt.

A dishonest merchant cooks the books, but he gets burned and is caught red handed.

A magistrate of the local lord is trying to help stop these odd events as best he can.  He keeps saying "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help" but invariably causes even more problems, because he is compelled to do things "by the book".  He is constantly flipping through his book of laws and trying to punish every minor crime he sees.  No one can seem to stop him though, because his pen in mightier than the sword.

By this time I imagine that the PCs will be trying to get to the bottom of all the craziness.  I'm not sure how they would start to investigate, but I'll see what they come up with, it could be useful.  The PCs won't have to spend much time investigating, because a little bird will fly up and tell them what's causing all the trouble.

All the troubles stem from a man named Swoop.   Swoop is the local animal trainer, but unbeknownst to the townspeople he's also a grim killer who takes delight bashing people with a hammer while making awful, awful jokes about "hitting the nail on the head".  His last victim cursed him with her dying breath.  Though the Dreaming Gods aren't conscious per se, even They sometimes take notice of extreme emotions... especially when mixed with blood.  They're moved by the dying woman's basic desire to punish Swoop, but Their reaction is unfocused and dreamlike, causing turns of phrase to be acted out in literal ways in a wide area around the killer.

Swoop can no longer sleep at all because there is "no rest for the wicked" so he is now "barking mad".  If confronted he will "cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war".  Obviously the dogs he trained are this man's best friends.

The solution to this town's problem is a "no-brainer", the killer just needs to be decapitated.  Then all of these troubles can be wrapped up neatly with "one felled Swoop".



Some other things that may be worth including:

A nest of vipers
Bats in a belfry
A skeleton in the closet
Frog in the throat
A fish out of water
I heard it through the grapevine
Go out on a limb
Paint the town red
A wolf in sheep's clothing
Beating around the bush
Raining cats and dogs
Apple of my eye
A pot calling the kettle black
Pulling the wool over your eyes
Spill the beans
A sight for sore eyes
Bury the hatchet
A sick puppy
Saved by the bell
Dead Ringer (but not the real McCoy)
Music's charms sooth the savage beast
Fruit of your loins (yeah... maybe not this one)

Gaming with Music, on Ezzin

I'm writing this in response to a question I saw over at Jeff's Gameblog.

My Dreaming Gods campaign is still in the brainstorming stage.  I'm planning to experiment with a lot things in the land of Ezzin, but making more use of music is one that I am particularly excited about.  You see, I want music to influence magic in strange ways, but I'm still tinkering with the magic system too.  Maybe groups of singing monsters can produce magical effects?  I also want to tie music to the alignment system and the various beliefs about Dreaming Gods themselves, like this...

Law - Sing soothing music and lullabies to the Dreaming Gods, because life is easier when They slumber peacefully. These people believe that their world will cease to exist if the Dreaming Gods wake up.

Neutral - Some might make music to mimic the sounds of nature.  Others might be attempting to raise the awareness of the Dreaming Gods so that They become lucid dreamers.  Some zealots might even demand silence at all times, perhaps even attacking anyone who speaks above a whisper.  Still others might not care one way or another, or refuse to believe in the Dreaming Gods at all.

Chaos - Sing loud, and/or badly.  Metal music goes here, as do most of the Dwarves of Ezzin.  These people attempt to awaken the Dreaming Gods with high volume, a lot of percussion, disjointed rhythms, dissonant chords, and the sounds of war.  They believe that Ezzin will become a paradise once the Dreaming Gods wake up.

Along this train of thought, some of the "magical artifacts" brought from the dreamlands will be things like boomboxes and ipods, which some people will interpret as having religious significance.  So, you might have a cult dedicated to Dio the Metal Lord or some such.

I was also thinking of having a troupe of NPC Dwarven bards called "Zed Leppzin".  They have learned songs from one of these artifacts, and play them on magically enhanced instruments/tools of destruction.  Their renown is legendary.  They are on a neverending tour of the lands, leaving a string of shattered and liquor-less Dwarven cities in their wake.  I giggle uncontrollably at the thought of the party of PC's defending a city full of drunken, partying Dwarves besieged by an army of orcs while the notes of the Immigrant Song ring throughout the city.

However, I still have concerns about music lyrics being too distracting during games. So I am considering equating racial languages to real-world languages...

Common = English
Elvish = Portuguese
Dwarvish = German
maybe,

Then I could use music sung in those languages to represent folk music of different races.  This might work if everyone at the table is a dummy like me who only knows how to speak English.  Then I could get away with having an elvish singer named Seu Jorge join the party, just so that I have an excuse to play some David Bowie songs sung in Portuguese (this one too).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not entirely convinced that using so much music at the gaming table is wise.  However, I feel that the potential for awesome is too great to ignore.  I'll be posting on this topic again, once I have something substantial nailed down.

What do you think?

Ezzin in a nutshell

The surface world in my Dreaming Gods campaign will be known as Ezzin.  The planet is very Earth-like with many races, cultures, and religions.  It will be rather similar to a lot of fantasy settings, but I'll list a few of it's more unique quirks.

Because of the "portals" any character or creature might suddenly find themselves in a strange new land, but thankfully it is rare on the surface.  They return with strange tales, and sometimes strange items.  Some of these items have been given special religious meaning. Imagine a priest interpreting an Ipod with earbuds as a magical communication device full of "teachings" from Dio, the Lord of Metal.

The Dreaming Gods.  Almost every religion on Ezzin incorporates the idea of dreaming gods in some form.  This is used to explain the portals and reality shifts, they are the dreams of gods, or perhaps Ezzin is the dream.  The details will be wildly different, but the basic concept will likely be present.  It might be a single dreaming god, or many.  There might also be a single, or pantheon of other (normal) deities.  These deities might interact with the dreaming gods and mortals, or not.  The important thing for me to keep in mind while DMing is that these deities will never physically appear, or provide more than circumstantial proof of their existence.  The Azhuloughmahni (or whatever the locals call them) provide more tangible evidence for their existence, but they are also impossible to pin down physically.  There are also whispered rumors of strange creatures or people appearing, birthed not of egg or mother but from the mind of the dreamers into the very air.

The creation story.  Delve far enough back into any culture, and you'll find their story of how the world came to be.  On Ezzin, these stories are all strikingly similar.  Before time (500-2000years ago), Ezzin was ruled by beings (demons/angels/alien creatures) who call themselves the Azhuloughmahni.  God(s) arrive and cause an event (the mutant apocalypse) that reshapes all the lands and creatures.  The Azhuloughmahni were pulled from their bodies and forced to live as shadows within the bowels of the underworld.  Most deep caves, and underground dungeons are thought to be the ruined cites and domains of the Azhuloughmahni.  Some people are brave or desperate enough to seek the coins and treasures of this ruined civilization.  The surface world was reshaped by "the Breath of God" or "The Waters of Change", and no trace of the Azhuloughmahni remains unless it is dug up or brought to the surface.

The Dreaming Gods

I've been searching for a long while for a particular game.  You know, that perfect game that hits all the buttons and has something for everyone.  Alas, no one game is perfect for everyone, and convincing a group of players to try a new game system is not as easy as it sounds.  Leaving old characters to wither, learning a new game system, and difficulties in reaching a consensus about the setting are all reasons to stay within the old familiar game system, campaign, and characters.

It occurred to me recently, can I design a campaign storyline that can incorporate multiple game systems?

The Dreaming Gods will be my first attempt. The basic idea here is to use Labyrinth Lord when the characters are on the surface world, then certain places/events will be portals to other gamesystems.

Some "portals" will always cause the same results.  Anytime the PC's steal a spaceship or get kidnapped by aliens I'll probably use traveler without even trying to convert the characters...  because the thought of a wizard, a thief, and a fighter all trying to pilot a spacecraft amuses me.  Some dungeons will just be borrowed from other d20 systems and attached to the surface world.  Some will be a magical wardrobe that acts as an entrance to another world.  Despite these changes in setting the characters (and character sheets) will remain the same, and on the fly the players and I will have to agree upon the likelyhood of  their characters to accomplish a given task.

Other portals will change the characters and setting.  For example, I think that certain songs or magical effects will transport the characters into a new world.  I will randomly hand out some premade character sheets, and we'll suddenly be playing Shadow Run, or Mutant Future, Monopoly, or whatever until they figure out a way to get back home.  Very likely I will have each of them roll to see if their new character remembers that they used to be a wizard, remembers the background of their new character only, remembers both lives (and makes a sanity check?), or remembers neither but has the abilities of the new character (Jason Bourne style).

Once they return to the surface world their Labyrinth Lord characters will be able to remember what happened while they were in the other world, but it will seem hazy and dreamlike.   Instead of XP I might award +% to some skill that they used in the other game system (like computer hacking, telekinesis, or driving) so that their LL character can now use it a little.  I might also have some "artifact" return with them, some tangible proof that they were really there.  Perhaps a laser pistol, diamond ring, Klingon to English dictionary, or a bag of chips.