Help me flesh this out, An astral realm? Bizzaro world? Options

[Angelone]

The basic premise of this adventure is that the runners are hired by a down on it's luck old money family. The family is selling old pieces or art and other historic artifacts.

Recently, a member of the family disappeared in an attic that hadn't been opened for some time, it was locked up. Dust covers everything in the attic, except for a full sized, ornate and obviously old mirror.

The missing person is of course in the mirror which is actually a gateway to ____. In this place are monsters from fairy tales, mythic heroes, and of course bizzaro versions of the characters. These other versions should be basically polar opposites of the characters. If a character is a hothead, the opposite should be even-tempered, urbane, and a cold, passionless killer. The "clones" could also take a characters bad habits and flaws and magnify them. The target also has a clone.

[Jame J]

One Word.

EARTH.



DAAAAWWWWWWWWWN!!!

:wobble: :spin: :D

Yes, one word. Split up into two separate ones.

[Wounded Ronin]

[hyzmarca]

OKay, the mirror is obviously a gateway to a metaplane that allows one to transport there physically instead of just astrally. This is rather unusual but it was possible in Earthdawn and Harlequin's Back includes some physical beings that had been transported whole to the metaplanes.

However, this is going to be magic on such a scale that donating the mirror to a "Responsible Agency" is going to be a must. I'd recommend Draco since Atlentean is in Alachia's pocket and I wouldn't trust any government or mega as far as I can throw them.

A metaplane can be anything, that's what's so good about them. They can be based on any idea.


Let us, for the sake of expedience, call this Metaplane "Labyrinth."

Now, to make this investigation easier I'm going to suggest you forgo the mysterious disappearance (They should be hiring professional detectives for that, not criminal mercenaries.) and suggest that someone see the whole thing go down. And while your at it, make it two people, a young boy and his teenage sister. David Bowie stepped out of the mirror and grabbed the boy, the sister ran after them before anyone could stop her.

And the Johnson must explicitly state that it is David Bowie by name.

[Kagetenshi]

The Draco Foundation? You seem to have forgotten one of the prime rules of shadowrunning!

No, what needs to happen is that there needs to be a scene full of sexual tension between your characters and Jareth. Afterwards, they should destroy the mirror, restoring the young man's sight and hearing.

~J, who really should stop posting before fully waking up

[Lindt]

K, I leave for a month and I come back to hear...see, you bad mouthing The Who. :P
Need to hit you with a Magic Bus I think...

Thats the nice thing about the astral planes, its pretty much an anything goes area. Weird shit galore.

This post has been edited by Lindt: Nov 15 2006, 07:45 PM

[Kagetenshi]

Badmouthing?

~J

[Backgammon]

[Kagetenshi]

They're definitely in a very similar style, but Jim Henson is not Neil Gaiman or David McKean.

~J

[Backgammon]

I think the Henson Company has something to do with that movie.

[Kagetenshi]

Yes, the Jim Henson Company was responsible for its creation, but I at least don't read "the makers" as applying to the company.

~J

[Rajaat99]

Back on topic.
I think it sounds like a good idea, I love the Metaplanes.
I've even run a Labyrinth Metaplane before. :D My players loved it. It was way more deadly than the movie though.
I'd personally have them jump from one strange world to another. They could interact with the "evil" clones on a mirrored plane, then jump somewhere else, where the clones follow.
I'm a huge Earthdawn fan, so I'd have to throw in some of that too.

[Snow_Fox]

I think this idea is so freaking brilliant! Just the idea of the old money family having such an item hidden in the attic that someone stumbles over. I love it.

As for the astral plane, it can be all of the above. it can be everything from a mirror of our world to a freak show that would make Michael Jackson blush.

[hyzmarca]

[mfb]

for a more horror-oriented twist, you could have them go through the mirror... and end up right back in the attic. attempts to go 'back' through the mirror result in, at most, a broken mirror. the run appears to be over.

from there, you've got a few options. you could go with many things being subtlely opposite their 'normal' selves--trusted friends turn out to be secretly plotting against you, faithful SOs are cheating on you, your longtime street doc is a Tamanous agent, etcetera. and everywhere, there seems to be something evil lurking. i'd go all Lovecraftian with it, but that's just me.

alternately, you could get even more hinky--make the PCs' selves, in this mirror world, be opposite their normal selves. you're secretly plotting against your longtime friends, you're cheating on your SO, you're funding your cyberware upgrades by selling bodies to Tamanous. if the PCs don't adhere to their mirror roles, they fail their metaplanar quest.

or you could do both!

[hyzmarca]

Don't forget the goatees!


Your agonizer, please.

[nezumi]

Of course, you know that once they go through the mirror all the players will be thinking 'oh, we're in a metaplane'. So feel free to put them anywhere BUT a metaplane. For instance, the mirror creates a shared hallucination among the team. It's all drug induced (or magic induced or mirror induced or whatever) and you can go all crazy shaman on them. Or the mirror is really just a mirror in some old person's closet, but someone has secretly set up this whole thing to make the group THINK they're in a metaplane so he can manipulate them to do something in the real world they wouldn't normally due (such as cheat on their SOs, plot against their friends, conspire with the enemy and grow goatees).

I kind of like that last idea because then they really will be confused. I can imagine the party debating whether they're under a spell, in a metaplane, in a UV system, etc. Regardless, you'd have to be *VERY* tricky with it.

The question is really where you want to go. Horror? Mysticism? Political intrigue? Laughs at the PCs expense?