[UA] Connected - Campaign Notes (longish)

[Gareth Hanrahan]

> CONNECTED.  It's the name of the campaign, after the Stereo MC's
> early-nineties hip-house classic.  In Kirkland, Wisconsin, everything's
> connected.  The town has more of its share of avatars, adepts, and other
> assorted occult freaks and geeks, and coincidence falls on your head like
a
> rain of live frogs.

Ok, it's probably just 'cos I spent half the night watching Buffy videos,
but Kirkland could have a big "welcome to the Hellmouth" sign on it. It's
all very reminiscent of Sunnydale. Then again, you're going for a lighter
feel, so you can probably handle the Buffy quotes that are sure to sneak in.
(And there's a rant for another day. Although at this point I'm spending
more time trying to kick the WWF quotes out of my poor L5R campaign).....

>The campaign is inspired by Jane Franklin and Scott
> Josephus, who have entertained me for years with their stories of
political
> activism and bizarre personal habits in sleepy college towns.
>
<snip>
> MAJOR THEMES.  Change and Choice: Is human nature immutable, or can it be
> altered?  Is humanity headed towards an ultimate destiny?  If so, is it
good
> or bad?  If it exists, can it be forced on a different path?  Which side
are
> you on?  Transcendence: When you have witnessed the evidence of things not
> seen and not easily explained, how can you turn your back on it?  (I'm an
> atheist, so this marks a SEVERE change in gaming ideology for me.) This
> campaign will be significantly less dark than campaigns I've run in the
> past: after nearly four-plus years of sporadic work on a Cthulhu campaign
> which is specifically designed to have an unhappy ending, and seven years
of
> threatening to run a Sabbat Gehenna campaign for V:TM, I'd like to try
> something with a lighter tone.  The horror aspect of the game is going to
be
> seriously downplayed when I do this.

<big snip>

> (smashes bottle of champagne against monitor) Okay, I officially declare
> this one Open to the Peanut Gallery.  Comments, anyone?

OK. You've got a host of little Occult groups and bits of wierdness, without
any central reason for them to be around. This is a good thing. Run with
your Connected theme. Let synchronicity run riot. Have *every* character
connected in some fashion. Let a PC find out that the Avatar of the Torturer
they tangled with last week is also his family dentist. If a PC is a
university student, their roommate is a member of one of the bands and a
golem is their landlord.

You then feed this into your Change vs Choice theme. Everything the
characters do seems preplanned and preordained. No matter how far they go,
they keep finding links back to Kirkland. A PC flies to Tonga, gets off the
plain, and the first person he meets is at a payphone ringing some
acquaintance of theirs back in Kirkland.

The reason for all this cosmic synchronicity is that Kirkland's some sort
of mystical nexus, and it's where Il Comte is gonna ascend. Hmm. I just
reread some stuff on Rennes Le Chateau. Have a look for a book called the
Holy Place, which claims to have found some bloody gigantic temple structure
in France (all six of these hills are exactly six miles apart, and these
four villages are at 90 degrees to the Median line of Atlantis). Create
something like that for Kirkland, let the players work out that this place
is Cosmically Significant.

The final act of the campaign could bring in any political/ethical themes
you've been messing with. Help or hinder the dozens of Godwalkers who stop
by. Ensure the next universe is a better one....

> -- DRL
Gar


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