SPOILER WARNING: **My Players Keep Out**
To that end, I'm going to turn to you, my loyal readers, for help in making this episode special. The episode is called "Working Stiffs" and I'm considering having a camera crew follow around the members of Slayer Club. My goal is to focus on the banality of monster hunting and I am looking for a combination of comedic situations and dramatic complications.
So, any ideas? I'll be sure to mention which ones I use after I run the game.
10 comments:
The biggest banal piece of any monster hunting game is of course the hours and hours of research that happen off camera.
So scenes of cast members falling asleep while reading, reading the wrong books, reading a book but not figuring out till later it was a book of fiction ie "Xander: It says here that vampires sparkle in sunlight! We could use this!. Tara: Ah, Xander, you are reading 'Twilight'."
One thing that happened sometimes in my own Willow & Tara focused games was one occult text would reference another which in turn referenced back to the original text. So Book A says "See Book B" and Book B says "for more information see Book A".
Books that have mixed-up translations that become funny, but only to the character that took 6 levels of Language and can speak ancient Etruscan. "It says 'vona-sum' and not 'vona-som' (tears from laughing and gets blank stares...)"
Figuring out how to get the supplies is also ripe. How does one buy a crossbow when they are only 15? Or even drive to the store to get it.
Don't forget the crack-pots too. There are rival monster hunters out there, they are just clueless and get in the way more often than not.
Any scene where you have your characters dig through the sewers for hours on a rainy day to find nothing is also fun.
I think the worst thing for me was the mess. Monsters are messy fellas and when you kill something that has not seen a bath in not years, not decades, but generations...well, it can be really gross.
All I got at the moment man, sorry.
Monster scat? I mean, some of them gotta have biologic processes.
Forgive me lack of Buffy familiarity, but one would think there could concievably gore and bodies to dispose of. What about something like taking care of the "tainted car" in Pulp Fiction? Is there a Wolf to come to hunters' rescue? Sympathetic places for carcasss disposal?
You might try this new webcomic for some ideas...
http://www.paranormalmysterysquad.com/
I sorta like PETM as a foil...
Who/what are their main opponents?
For a dramatic comlication, how about one of the camera crew be an monster of some sort who tries to steer the PC's toward getting rid of a rival while keeping his monstrous secret?
Many episodes had Buffy patrolling at some point. Naturally (because it would be boring otherwise), something would happen. I would think, even in Sunnydale, that an interesting event on a patrol was the exception, not the rule. I can imagine the gang getting to a cemetery just after sunset and sitting there, struggling to stay awake, until sunrise with not a darn thing happening.
Also, I can see leads that go nowhere, informants that care more about getting away from the Slayer than giving anything close to accurate information, and references to books that either the group doesn’t have or doesn’t think should exist (the Necronimicon, Part LXVII?).
I’m a fan of Slaying Solomon, and I’ve been looking at the site for a while. I’m looking forward to seeing more game logs and quotes.
Hmm. With the suggestions people have made about researching, especially Rodney's remark about "...books that either the group doesn’t have or doesn’t think should exist (the Necronimicon, Part LXVII?).", I can see them having to hunt down the right book, or worse, having to track down the real database (At least one of the episodes in Angel had a well developed site where you could search for demons by appearance and characteristics).
Awesome ideas guys! If I wasn't currently swamped here at work at start my episode prep document. As it is, it will have to wait until this evening.
Love the research ideas. That's an avenue I hadn't considered. Yeah, messes were the first thing I thought of.
Monster poop and stinky ectoplasm and other foul-smelling fluids. Tends to make one unpopular at the frat parties...
And disposing of bodies is cool. Unlike vampires, demons don't disintegrate into a convenient pile of ash.
(I'm also totally stoked that one my players is bringing his wife along for the game... she hasn't joined us since she had kids over twelve years ago)
@Rodney: "I’m looking forward to seeing more game logs and quotes." More write-ups are coming. The chronicler of our episodes (and our Slayer) has a relatively new real-life baby to contend with. :)
@Anonymous: great link, thanks!
@C'Nor: Fishing for opponents. The ideas I had are largely situational at this point. I've got some seasonal big bads that I'll tie in, but no episode baddie yet. That's what I'll be deciding tonight.
@Professor: Oh, that's good!
@Rodney: That's why our Slayer patrols with her boyfriend (now husband). We make out in more cemeteries before 8 am than most people make out in all day...
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