Matthew Perkins
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Adventure Outline #004: Men of Cloth (MOC)
🕑 Added 2020-11-06 03:03:43 +0000 UTCHey everyone! I thought I'd have a crack at writing a little submission for the contest as an example. Later I'll do a livestream where I write whole 'nother idea, so you can see how I approach this stuff. This one is based off the dice prompt with the priest in robes.
If you need a refresher about the one-page adventure contest, check this out: https://www.patreon.com/posts/43324016
MOC: MEN OF CLOTH
THE PARTY
Players are all clerics and paladins. The mens' attire looks like Gregorian monks, the womens' attire look like Catholic nuns. They are agents of the Men of Cloth, a secret orginisation dedicated to hiding and policing demons and angels in disguise on the material plane. Their codenames are things like Brother K and Sister J.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Every player character is given a special tool from the MOC. This tool can be anything the player wants, performing any function, so long as it's interesting and helps characterise their MOC Agent. Examples: A blasting wand like The Cricket, a modify memory wand like a neuraliser.
GOAL
A creature named Mickey has gone AWOL, completely off grid. It's trying to make its way back to its home plane interrupting a holy rite at the temple in [session length] hours. Mickey has a history of being a danger to mortals, so it needs to be brought in. Mickey can be any kind of angel or demon you like — I would choose to make it a Drider.
OPENING CRAWL
The Chief Priest slams his holy symbol down on the desk.
"Gosh dang-it people! We can't afford this kind of scrutiny right now! The Holy Commissioner's up for reelection, and if he finds out about this, it'll be on my ass — MY ASS! — but I'll make sure it's on YOUR ASSES too. Everybody's asses!"
He's upset.
"I swear to Gosh, that liability Mickey... He's shaken his tracking enchantment and ditched his cover identity. We don't know where he's gone, or what his plans are, but we know he's a danger to civvies. And NOT just danger to their health — can you imagine if there was a wide-scale event cracked this hidden world open? We couldn't modify memories on such a large scale. It would break society. And it would be on OUR ASSES!"
NPCs
Mickey: A dangerous villain attempting to escape back to the Nine Hells.
The Chief Priest: A holy cop stereotype. Try a Brooklyn accent. I dare you.
The Holy Comisioner: A politician stereotype.
Informants: Angels and demons in disguise within civilian society. Players can shake them down for informaton.
Civilians: People unaware of angels and demons in their society — they must not learn the truth.
INFORMATION
Seed this information throughout the adventure.
- Mickey is alive and still in the city.
- Mickey had help to break his enchantment.
- Mickey would rather die than go back to his disguised life — and he'd rather kill.
- Mickey is planning on returning to the Nine Hells.
- Mickey is planning to crash a *very public* event at the temple during mass to achieve this goal.
THE FINAL SHOWDOWN
Mickey's goal is to get to the temple during a holy mass-style event and intercept the holy energy so he can be transported back to the Nine Hells — beyond the jurisdiction of the Men of Cloth. Depending on the players' plans, they will be attempting to stop Mickey from achieving this goal behind the scenes, or will trying to minimize peoples' exposure to the demonic truth. I'd expect this to be a combat encounter.
SOMETHING HAPPENS!
1. Mickey sends goons to attack the Chief Priest and release some demon allies for prison.
2. The person who helped Mickey break the enchantment comes up dead (killed by Mickey).
3. A civilian is making a ruckus about having seen Mickey's true form someplace.
4. [Ugh i actually can't think of something for this one. Any suggestions?]
5. Something changes about the event planned at the temple.
6. The Holy Commissioner hears about the situation and allocates extra resources to the party.
Comments
Ole Grummedal
This is actually brillant. So much urban fantasy action vibe - think Blight with a slightly older and mature agent Smith.
