jordangreywolf (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jordangreywolf) wrote2018-07-09 10:14 am
jordangreywolf) wrote2018-07-09 10:14 am
Entry tags:
Atomic 66 Cafe
Necronomicon
All right, so it's July. That means I really ought to be thinking seriously about what I'll be doing for Necronomicon 2018. Granted, I was concerned I might not even be around (in Florida) for Necronomicon this year, given the work situation, but so far I've heard no further noises about me having to move anywhere, and I was told to just go ahead and schedule my vacation time. So, maybe I'm going this year after all. (I guess I should go ahead and schedule the hotel and get my registration and all that, and plan my games, but I may hold off a little longer before I commit to running the games on the schedule -- just in case another shoe drops.)
My vague idea for this year was that I'd paint up an Ertl "Cow Town" set of buildings, finish up a few cowboy minis I have in various stages toward completion, and then run some superficially western-themed scenarios, recycling the same scenery rather than boxing up a whole mess of other stuff to drag along. I might have to put together some floor tiles for building interiors, but those can just be printed and pasted onto cardstock -- simple flat stuff, rather than big 3D Hirst Arts monstrosities doomed to suffer damage in transit.
1) Something using the Ft. Griffin supplement, so I can show my support for Dog House Rules. 2) Something Ghostbusters-themed, because Digital_Rampage has been pestering me about doing something with Savage Ghostbusters again. 3) Something Fallout-themed (Dry Gulch / Nuka World) because, hey, Fallout is cool, and it'd be funny to put a cowboy hat on a Protectron.
So what's the plot? No idea. It just hasn't come to me yet. I'll just have to cobble something together. I haven't even figured out whether the Ft. Griffin scenario is going to be a straight-up western, or whether I'm going for the supernatural twist.
Fearsome Critters
I've been revisiting the "Fearsome Critters" setting as well, doing some doodles for a short adventure that serves as a "prequel" of sorts to the Cake Walk adventure, in that it's set in the 1980s, and the protagonists are a bunch of kids, rather than Special Animal Control officers. Somehow I managed to get through my mental roadblock and did a few simple doodles of some critters for the adventure, and cobbled together some images of computer displays circa the 1980s as player handouts for part of the adventure. (It was kind of fun to play with some "old pixelated" typefaces and using some actual images of old screen displays as references to try to get a rough approximation of the look.)
Atomic 66 Cafe
My creative ideas keep on wandering back to that Fallout-themed campaign that isn't going to happen. I've been thinking of trying to scrape together some of my retro-futuristic post-apocalyptic scenario ideas I've run so far, or thought of running, and trying to write them up as "one-sheets" and "mini-modules," along with a few resources -- some setting rules, some "road war cards," custom character sheets, and so forth. The thing is, although it's all obviously inspired by Fallout, I've been thinking that instead of having my own "Savage Fallout" page, I'll call it something else.
So ... for now, it's the "Atomic 66 Cafe." I cobbled together a banner image from some photos I took while in Cuba, Missouri (Rte 66), and in Arizona (not actually on Route 66, but there were still some Route 66 memorabilia shops anyway). I transformed a "Kroger" sign into saying "ATOMIC" instead, worked in a highway shield sign (leaving out the "ROUTE" bar up top, since it's the "66" that's important here), and so forth. The sky image is from a shot I took out the office window, then applied some color effects to. I thought about adding a green lightning bolt in the background, but that might just be a little TOO cheesy. ;)
My thought is to brand it as a collection of setting rules for Savage Worlds for "retro-futuristic post-apocalyptic" settings. And, yeah, I'm inspired by Fallout, and I imagine the first thing one would use all this for is to run a Fallout-themed campaign, but I can also envision some of my floor tiles and setting rules being useful for a more conventional zombie-apocalypse road-trip campaign, for Deadlands Hell on Earth, and so forth. The "retro" elements can be forgiven for a modern post-apocalyptic Route 66 road trip. The "futuristic" and B-movie elements (such as the silly radiation rules) could just be stripped out ... but the radioactive ghouls, giant scorpions, etc., would actually fit just fine into the weird world of Deadlands.
But also, it's because by not making it officially Fallout, I feel a little more free to deviate from the "Fallout Bible" of established Fallout-universe canon. I think the setting could use some more cars, maybe some mutant horses (in Fallout, officially, there ARE NO HORSES, despite New Vegas prequel comic that depicts some ridden by NCR troopers). Actually, come to think of it, it could use some more mutants -- not just ghouls and so-called "super-mutants" (who were actually engineered that way, hence arguably NOT "mutants"). And I think the pre-war retro-future really should have had some flying cars, and talking dogs, even if they weren't particularly common by the time the bombs dropped. And we could have more brand names in the world than just "Nuka-Cola" and "Robco" and "Radiator King" and "Chryslus" & etc. It'd be fun to make up a few more retro-style logos.
Maybe I could even share some figure flats and papercraft models. It depends upon how much I can squeeze into the available file space.
Right now, though, it's nothing more than a banner image and some vague ideas. There isn't really much for show-'n'-tell yet.
I don't know what role the Atomic 66 Cafe itself is going to play in the setting. Right now, it's just an abstract idea. I just have this mental image of some roadside cafe, on an offramp next to some super-duper-highway OF THE FUTURE ... and there are a few "survivors" eking out a living in the surrounding area, with the help of a few rickety old robots, turning an old truck stop into a fortress of sorts (surrounded by old rigs and trailers that have been dragged into position to act as the core of a bunch of barricades), with a cafe that still serves caravans of travelers. (The "burgers" may well be made with giant mutant locust meat or some-such, however, rather than anything resembling actual beef. And no "I'll just have a glass of water, please." That stuff's precious.)
I could see the Cafe as a stand-in for the old adventure cliche of, "So, you're all in a tavern...." :)
no subject
no subject
no subject
Well, hmm. The Atomic 66 Cafe kind of seems like a good place to have a truck stop story-- maybe pitch it as 'day in the life of a post-apocalyptic watering hole' where the players are the staff and their responsibility is to keep the peace going. Maybe they're retired adventurers.
Set the mood by having a trade caravan arriving, things get busy, they're bustling around handling orders... then a mysterious black atomic-powered truck comes up and demands atomic fuel. It looks like it's in top condition, protected by new-looking Protectrons, like the 'modern days' never went away. The automated driver "politely" requests replacement fuel rods and a change of coolant.
It's up to the players-- do they work with some of the disreputable types to capture and break down the truck for parts, or do they assert the reputation of the cafe as a peaceful place and stop the bandits? Getting the fuel rods is going to be a bear since they're locked away and getting to them will require a hazmat suit to avoid taking too many rads, plus it will take several people to wrestle the coolant hose/flushing apparatus. But even if they side with the bandits, pretending to go along with the strange truck's needs might be a way to get it to lower its defenses.
To ramp things up, you could have more bandits arrive later, drawn by reports of a mysterious truck, led by the local overlord of the wastes. Maybe they belong to a different faction than the original bandits. They can help balance whatever combat happened, or add tension if there was an uneasy peace going on.
no subject
However, on occasion some old pre-war security system might be tripped while a scavenger tries to break into an old vault, and Heaven help the poor fool who hasn't the sense to clear out before something shows up in response to the alarm. Thanks to the start of martial law that was declared right when the bombs started dropping, and ages of accumulated logic errors, most of these law-bots, if called to a scene, aren't satisfied until they find SOMEONE who's guilty of SOMETHING, and whether it's murder or possession of contraband, jaywalking, or LOITERING, it's all a capital offense now. So ... yeah. We really don't want to get "the authorities" involved. ;)
no subject
Law-bots! I recall one in the Buck Godot comics.
no subject
Probably what I need to do is devote some time (I'd slate a vacation for it, if I could) and gather together some of my old notes and ideas and just write up some rough adventure blurbs and put them up there, with the realization that I may end up coming back to them and polishing them further. A few examples would probably be more helpful in illustrating where I'm trying to go with the idea.
no subject
The Necronomicon plans sound good so far. Yay minimizing luggage!
no subject