[HoE] Re: My campaign ...

[Gwydion758@aol.com]

scott_henry@hotmail.com wrote

<< Well my idea was in the end of the campaign for the heros to go back in 
time, not the begining. Hell that wont happen for ages! Do any of you really 
think a begining party should be sent back in time? I sure dont. In any case 
the campaign starts in Junkyard cause I figured its a good place to start. 
Big city with places PC's can actually buy things. I only have 3 characters 
created out of 7 players. (Most want to wait to make sure I actually run.) 
I've divided it up into chapters so far Im still working on chapter one. Its 
called Another Man's Junkyard...(is another mans treaure if you dont get it) 
Anyway someone is trying to take over Junkyard. Except its not exactly 
obvious as to who. There is a moron preacher by the name of Samuel Young 
(relation to Brigham Young) Samuel doesnt like all the roadwarrior gangs in 
junkyard and wants to get rid of them. But all he would do is preach and get 
folks worked up with no real results. He DID get security beefed up but 
thats about it. Recently however he has started to become more active... Mr 
Young now is "running" against Ike in a attempt to replace him as mayor of 
Junyard. What people dont know is  that he is being influenced by a skyer 
roadwarrior gang member. (She wears a wig so NO the bald head giveaway 
doesnt work, I thought of that already.) Anyway she is the girlfriend of one 
of the local road gangs, the Khans.(Which I took from Fallout). The Khans 
will try and get him elected and then take over Junkyard. BUT there is also 
a Black Hat operative/spy who is in the vicinity of Junkyard who is 
supplying the Khans with weapons. The Khan leader isnt bright enough to 
really question where the guy gets the weapons. The Black Hat intends to 
cause a cival war in Junkyard and then have the Combine come storming in. 
This wont happen for a while though. Im trying to figure out other things to 
keep the pcs busy for a while. I was wondering if anybody had any 
suggestions or comments? Thats what I joined this mailing list for, ideas 
and help with my campaign. >>

Dumping a group of starting characters thru time, or any other difficult 
scenario, is a nasty, vicious thing to do that would be fine if you are 
trying to set that sort of tone for your campaign.  If not, don't do it.  QED

Starting in Junkyard would seem to be a little too soft on the players for 
me.  Of course, you could keep them poor with outrageous prices and give them 
the choice between doing pit fights to pay their debts or poking their noses 
into whatever is "out there".  I'd also think some of your characters 
wouldn't be too welcome there if they had any obvious mutation but you could 
make that work for you as well.  And are they "citizens" or do they have to 
live in the shanty town outside the walls?

Instead of "Another Man's Junkyard..." call it "One Man's Junkyard...".  The 
reference works better that way.

I assume when you wrote "moron preacher" you meant "Mormon preacher" (or 
maybe not).  Assuming the former, you would want to consider why he is still 
in Junkyard after all the Mormon's left for greener pastures in the Canadian 
northwest (IIRC mentioned in Wasted West book).  Did he have a falling out 
with the rest of the saints, does he have some personal attachment to what's 
left of the place, or is there some darker purpose behind his presence? 

On the Khans and the psyker, do they just want to have some influence or are 
they planning on taking over after Sammy-boy gets elected?  Are they trying 
to intimidate people into voting for Sam, or otherwise throwing their weight 
around?  What exactly are they planning on doing with those weapons they are 
getting?

Starting a civil war in that place should be easy.  The hard part will be 
explaining why it doesn't flare up right away.

Don't let the players get the idea that every bald head they run into is a 
psyker.  If lice are common shaving your head is one way of dealing with the 
problem.  Some people would shave just to look mean, while a few might do it 
to fool others into thinking they might acctually *be* a psyker when they 
aren't.

As far as adventure ideas, a lot of the threads from the City O' Gloom boxed 
set from Deadlands would work here.  There are salt rattlers out there -- are 
they still being hunted?  Are wormlings behind the rash of disappearences in 
the neighborhood know as "rat city"?  Are there still Whatleys running the 
Overlook Hotel?  Is there still something lurking down in the "Mouth of Hell" 
mine?  Was that a walking dead I saw you out with last night?

If you like political intrigue (beyond what you've already outlined), how 
about letting the whole doomsayer schizm lap over into Junkyard.  Maybe some 
purple robed yahoo is holed up in town, and the green robes want him.  
(Visions of an ultralight flying over the city with a smoke generator 
spelling out "Surrender Dorothy").  Or there's the Templars and the 
Anti-Templars banging heads.  Or mutants vs. mutant haters.  What side do the 
players come down on, and do they do it as a group or argue amongst 
themselves?

Maybe that "extra security" that Sammy-boy got added is run by someone who 
wants to set himself up as "King" of Junkyard.   Maybe Sammy isn't as much 
under the psyker's control as they think he is.

If one or more of your characters are good brawlers, maybe they'll be 
"recruited" by a sports promoter to appear in a pit fight, swing match, or a 
game of skullchucker.

You could have any number of abominations crawling thru the alleys, but the 
best enemies are the ones the posse thinks are friends.  Perhaps a patron who 
sponsers their efforts to fight evil is only clearing the field for his own 
cult.

Or send your posse out to get some parts.  "That water purification plant is 
on it's last legs and we just can't seem to fix it for long.  There was a 
factory just outside of Denver that made parts for these things -- maybe..."

Is there is something going on in the ruins of the Tabernacle?  What are 
those strange lights over there at night?

It's a dangerous world everywhere, brainer...

Jeff