[UA] Connected - Campaign Notes (longish)

[Chad Underkoffler]

> From: "Daniel R. Lackey" <jmdreyfuss at earthlink.net>
> Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 06:06:28 -0500

[snip]

> 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.  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.

Some ideas:

Chad's Recommended Reading for Collegiate Weirdness:
* WHITE NOISE, Don DeLillo
* BEEN DOWN SO LONG IT LOOKS LIKE UP TO ME, Richard Farina
* GILES GOAT-BOY, John Barth
* THE FOOL ON THE HILL, Matt Ruff
(and maybe)
* MAGISTER LUDI, Hermann Hesse
* OVER THE EDGE [for the fraternities of D'Aubbaine (sp?)
University]

> DUKES.  Rybread Celsius is the town's prestigious pothead,
> and a very bizarre Avatar indeed: he's the True King of 
> Stoners.  He's universally hated by the local cops; the 
> town's Chief of Police, Arthur Sandifer, is also the local
> True King of Cops.  (An Avatar war is imminent.)  

TK of Stoners is cool, but maybe a different Avatar for the COp?
The Judge? The Hunter? The Pilgrim?

> THE METAPHYSICAL SOCIETY.  A social club operating out of St.
> Gregory's (a few townies belong to it, though).  Ostensibly
> the group exists to "explore metaphysical truths".  In 
> practice, however, it's mainly an excuse for disaffected Goths

> to sit around, smoke clove cigarettes, listen to Sisters
> of Mercy and bitch about how much Christianity sucks.  A few
> of them are on to something, however.  Their nominal leader, 
> Jeremy "Nine Inch" Sayles, is an adept of some sort -- 
> possibly a Dipsomancer, or maybe an Irascimancer of even an 
> old-school Thaumaturgist.  Sayles is the only geniune adept
> in the bunch, though, although several others can work quirky
> effects or use psychic abilities.

This group should be super small and ostracized by the other
campus Goths, IMO. And I'd make him a history major and
Cliomancer-- apprentice of the Clio you said is a prof. (Instant
additional GMC.)

> THE PROGRESSIVE COLLECTIVE.  A blanket organization
> coordinating the activities of several of St. Gregory's 
> left-wing political-action groups. Founded by sociology Prof. 
> Christopher Fabricant, the Collective has a secret agenda, 
> which is to attempt to ensure ascensions of positive
> archetypes by "improving" political awareness.  Many potent 
> Avatars are amongst the Collective's leadership.  Fabricant 
> himself is an Avatar, perhaps of the Demagogue or Rebel, or 
> maybe even the True King.

Nah, you don't want to overuse the TK. Hmmm, with a name like
Fabricant, why not make him a Mechanomancer? Better yet, make
him an Automata.

> THE CIRCLE.  Actually, the Circle is based out of Lake Geneva,
> but they send their agents wherever they feel Statosphere 
> upheaval is immenent: places such as Kirkland, perhaps.  Less 
> than two dozen nearly-immortal cabalists (constantly 
> reincarnating demons, kinda like the Grail Knights) oversee 
> an organization that is apparently charged with "protecting
> the integrity of the Invisible Clergy" by preventing anyone 
> from ascending as Karmic Reincarnation before le Comte does.  
> However, when you've been alive for at least two thousand 
> years you tend to forget things, and someone stole their
> records several centuries ago, so they're not really sure
> how anyone would ascend as Karmic Reincarnation before le 
> Comte.  So they just blunder around, send their agents to 
> places where the Invisible Clergy are exerting undue 
> influence, and hope for the best.  They believe that le Comte 
> founded their cabal and led it for a long time, but they've 
> been unable to locate him for the last century.  Oh, yeah,
> and they have a Major Ritual on their hands, which steals the 
> immortality from one of their immortal members.  The
> Major Ritual that actually grants the immortality, however,
> has been lost, surprise surprise surprise.

Cool. I'd make them even more confused-- a vertible band of
800-lbs myopic gorillas.

> MAK ATTAX.  Jane Lowdendowski ("Heaven17" on the mailing list)
> is a college student and freshly minted adept doing her job at

> the local mall.  She's an Amoromancer, which means she meets 
> all sorts of people when she goes charge-hunting.  She 
> discreetly keeps tabs on occult goings-on in the town
> and passes them along to Derek Jackson (who happens to be 
> acquainted with the Collective's leadership - his mentor, 
> Janet Kumyar, was an associate of Fabricant).  Jackson hasn't 
> ordered any overt activity to be taken yet.

I'd make her an Assistant manager of the mall restaurant, with a
rep for banging high school boys that work at other nearby
McD's, but never her own. (Could lead to a nifty adventure
involving ex-paramours and an current employee trying to get
transferred so she can do him...

Hope these help!



=====
Chad Underkoffler [chadu at yahoo.com]
http://www.geocities.com/chadu/index.html
"Hold your breath. Make a wish. Count to three."
  -- Willy Wonka

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