[UA] Request from a new guy

[John C]

><< Now, down to business... The PCs in my game are on their way to the
>Bazaar of the Bizarre, an idea I basically ripped off a UA website I
>found not too long ago. (My apologies to the original author if he takes
>offense.) Basically, all the occult folks in the area (around Chicago)
>meet on some neutral ground and trade all sorts of stuff. I need a wide
>variety of ideas for stuff the PCs might encounter. Not fully fleshed
>out stuff, just seeds. Or bait, depending on how you look at it... If
>they bite, I'll work out the rest later. >>

An artifact that I came up with a while back was a plexiglass tube, sealed 
at both ends, with the interior so scratched and abraided that it was 
difficult to make out the contents.  A close look would reveal a battered 
old Barbie doll, with symbols of some sort burned into its "skin" and both 
arms snapped off short.  One of the arms now ended in a pen-knife, the other 
in the blade of an icepick.

The doll is in constant motion, scratching and chipping away at the interior 
of the tube.  If the tube is picked up and examined closely, the doll's 
activity beceomes even more frantic....

I'm also reminded of a "Museum of Curiousities", or something like that, 
from Morrison's "Doom Patrol" run.  "The bullets that killed Kennedy and 
Lennon, which induce apocolyptic visions when placed under the tongue", and 
"the infamous Dresden Madonna, which bleeds sour milk every 28 days" are the 
artifacts that I can clearly remember.  I'd have to dig out the issue to 
come up with anything more.

Neal Gaiman is fond of the Goblin Market, which is the same kind of thing.  
_Stardust_, _Neverwhere_, and _The Books Of Magic_ all have variations upon 
this theme that could be mined for ideas.

John Crimmins                     john1x at hotmail.com
     http://www.voicenet.com/~johncrim/index.html
   "Yes, I am acquainted with Mr. DePalma," Dr. Hsu said.  "He was
my pupil years ago.  A young man not without talent, but slapdash,
and huckle-muckle in his worksmanship."
   "What did you say?" the mayor asked.
   "He's a jerk," Dr. Hsu Ting Feng said.
           -- Daniel Pinkwater, _The Hoboken Chicken Emergency_

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