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jordangreywolfOkay, final warning: If you are a player in my "Not-Quite-Deadlands" campaign, then GIT. Off. Scram, varmint! Skedaddle! SHOO!
...
Now then, that out of the way, I've put together a document to send to potential players. I ran into NinjaTheWolf at the grocery store and he voiced interest, but would rather that I write up a character for him ... so I did, and sent it his way, with notes and details so he can more easily swap things to his liking. (I figure this could be useful as a starting point, but I'd actually rather that he make some changes to make it more "his.") Character concept: Connor McCain, AKA "The Widower" -- former rancher, who lost his wife and son to a tragic fire, possibly tied with a land dispute. He was falling-over drunk at the time and unable to do anything to save his family, so he's haunted by the shame, and now a drifter, moving from odd job to odd job, trying to keep a low profile, but somehow his past keeps catching up with him. Things are further complicated when he finds out, a bit late, just who his pa might have really been, after all....
Anyway, on to the plotting -- at least of how to START the adventure. I've got so far to go.
Here's my "overview" of the basic setup. A lot of this is a re-hash or re-statement of what I've already covered. (I'm writing this here largely as an exercise in trying to organize my thoughts by "thinking aloud," so to type.)
- Setting is in the Old West, in an unincorporated frontier town known as "The Flat," outside Fort Griffin, circa 1882. Historically, this is the period when "The Flat" died out, since Fort Griffin took down its flag for the last time in 1879, and the railroad finally reached nearby (and much larger) Albany, TX in 1882. Even the town newspaper, the "Fort Griffin Echo," relocated and became the "Albany Echo" around this time. The action takes place in a very fictionalized version of "The Flat," where its demise is considerably more sinister than how it played out in reality.
- Phineas T. Hoyle was a gambler, an "entrepreneur," a swindler, a womanizer, a thief, and an all-around no-good scoundrel. To my mind, he was as close to a "huckster" as I intend to get in this setting -- dabbling in the occult, doing deals with spirits, and cocky enough to think he could come out ahead. Well, he struck it rich by acquiring a cache of blood-cursed Aztec gold treasures, thinking himself wise enough in the ways of the occult to be able to exploit it without falling to the curse himself. He was sort of correct, but all it did was to convince Xolotl, Aztec spirit, that this shrewd manipulator might be a useful tool (rather than just killing him messily like all the others). Phineas is now bringing the PCs (and others) into this deadly "game" in order to save his own hide. The fact that he's offering up his own offspring (in addition to others) doesn't bother him terribly.
- Xolotl is, in essence, a fallen Aztec god -- a god of death, fire, lightning, sunset, twins, monsters, misfortune, sickness, and deformities, commonly portrayed as a monstrous dog in Aztec art. (I have some ideas on who/what he is, what motivates him, etc., but I'll cover that below/later.) Contrary to the usual "deal with the devil" model, he doesn't bargain in souls. The bottom line is that he has ISSUES, and he's a sadistic jerk who enjoys toying with mortals who stumble into his little twisted corner of the universe. He enjoys turning people against each other, particularly if they're outwardly friends, compatriots, and especially family members. His motivation is simply that of twisted entertainment.
- "The Flat" was already in decline when the curse fell upon what was left of the town. Xolotl's power initially was weak, just confined to speaking with and manipulating Phineas T. Hoyle, and (to varying degrees) anyone else who directly interacted with relics of the stolen Aztec treasures. As he manipulated Hoyle into manipulating others, he grew in "psychic power," and began to have more of an influence upon the immediate surroundings. Eventually, as he started twisting people's darker emotions and turning brother against brother (figuratively and literally), it got progressively worse, culminating in a gruesome bloodbath. He delights in playing the part of a spirit who can be "bargained with," as if he's beholden to certain arcane rules, but he has no honor to speak of, or obligation to fulfill any promises. (He only makes a pretense of doing so, in order to string along potential victims.) Also, he's cruel, but not particularly bright; he has no grand ultimate scheme: He is motivated too much by his baser instincts (such as they are), without much sense for the longer term. The trouble with killing off just about everybody in "The Flat," is that dead people no longer provide psychic energy. So, he's manipulating Phineas into bringing more people to continue the mayhem, under the promise that only that way will Phineas be allowed to leave with all his treasure and new-found power. In truth, Xolotl intends to kill off Phineas (or allow someone ELSE to kill him) as soon as his ability to amuse has exhausted itself -- or as soon as he feels that Phineas is in any way a threat to his "plans."
- Xolotl's powers are therefore pretty much "psychic" in nature. He can cloud perceptions, but in order for people to have a shared experience, he has to base illusions off of something. If he merely suggests, "A bandit is attacking you!" then it's quite possible that those persons present may interpret the bandit's location in several different places, or that the attack is happening in various different ways, and eventually people are likely to start cluing in that something is wrong here. Xolotl may be ancient and powerful, but he's too impatient and impulsive to exploit such power to its full potential; in other words, his illusions are flawed, and eventually they're going to unravel.
- Xolotl is NOT OMNISCIENT. He can discern the immediate surroundings of a relic to which he is anchored (an Aztec mask or idol, perhaps?). He can also perceive things through intermediaries with which he has a strong psychic connection. Right now, that would be limited to Phineas (though he doesn't directly control Phineas), and to various animals lurking about the ruins of the town. He can't hide entities that he's perceiving through. If he's spying on the PCs through a crow, then there might be distractions, but that crow is going to be visible. Also, if his bond is so strong, it's painful for him if his "puppet" is injured -- his control can be temporarily disrupted by, for instance, smacking that crow with a thrown pebble.
- Ghost Town. With the exception of Phineas and the occasional possessed animal, the town is bereft of any survivors. The "people" the PCs encounter there are either ghosts, or phantoms generated by Xolotl. The difference between the two is that "ghosts" are echoes of specific people, while the "phantoms" are parts of the elaborate illusion under Xolotl's control, but they exist as "psychic suggestions."
- Suggestions & Phantoms: In other words, imagine Xolotl is narrating to the PCs, "There's the normal hustle and bustle you would expect in the streets at this time of day -- a bunch of ordinary townsfolk living their ordinary, boring lives. They don't look the least bit interesting...." An "obnoxious" player who insists on walking right up to Random Townsperson X and trying to strike up a conversation with him without warning is bound to throw Xolotl off his game. He hates that. For most of the "important" roles that the PCs might be expected to interact with, Xolotl is content to let the ghosts fill in some of those gaps, but if he doesn't have direct control over them, so he really doesn't want such conversations to get too deep -- lest the PCs be tipped off that "something's not quite right" a little too early.
- Ghosts (as I intend to portray them) don't really have original thoughts; they're just echoes of the thoughts and emotions of living people, borne of horrific supernaturally-involved death. They don't exhibit "awareness" of their own death, because in life that wouldn't have been a train of thought they'd have gone through.
- Ghost Flaws: However, it's also possible for them to go "off-script," since a turn in the conversation could cause them to go down a different rack of reenactment of some different point in their lives. (One moment, a fellow is talking about his wife and kids, but you bring up something that was important to him as a young man, and suddenly he's "mentally" in a place where he hasn't yet met the love of his life.)
How things might unfold, at least insofar as getting the adventure STARTED:
PART 1: The Train Ride:
First, I put all the PCs on a train headed to Albany, TX. My objectives:
- Introduce the PCs. Give the PCs an opportunity to get acquainted with one another.
- Introduce acquaintance NPCs. I may have a few fellow-travelers heading to the will reading. At the very least, I want one or two.
- NPC 1: The Chatty Gossip: One character's purpose is to blather on with hints of just how Phineas T. Hoyle came upon his good fortunes. If no one is playing a journalist, perhaps this will be a journalist who's trying to get a story from the PCs, but his questions will hint at this sort of direction. He's also likely to be a "red-shirt" victim of ...
- NPC 2: The Outlaw Heir: Another character's purpose is to be an early adversary. This outlaw is so craven and greedy that he thinks a grand opportunity to increase his own wealth would be to bump off a competing heir on the way. He might bump off the journalist for being too nosy (perhaps recognizing his face from the wanted posters). He might seek an opportunity to isolate one of the PCs and make a move on him or her, in order to underscore that there are high stakes here. Or, maybe he tries a more sophisticated approach: Try to bribe/cajole a PC into taking some petty payment and leaving the train at the next stop ... but when that fails, resort to threats, and this could quickly escalate to a murder attempt. I'll try to give other PCs IC reasons to suspect the fellow and his intentions, so there might be a good reason for a PC to pop in at just the right moment to intervene, if the would-be victim isn't more dangerous than he appears. In any case, I don't expect the Outlaw Heir to stay in the story for very long.
- Creepy Omens & Visions: If anyone is "psychic" (Danger Sense, etc.) or has "Bad Dreams," then this could be the opportunity to have some "creepy foreshadowing" that might have some very, very vague clues (images that evoke the various aspects of Xolotl, for instance). Another possibility might be a cameo appearance by Huehuecoyotl at one of the train stops, though I don't really know what to do with it more than just having a PC noticing a coyote staring at him, before it dashes away. I'm thinking of having the coyote spirit "test" the PCs in some way, basically trying to figure out if he really likes any of them enough to try to intervene, or whether it's fine to just leave them to their fates, for Xolotl to toy with.
- Murder! (Or Attempt) I suppose the big concern is that if a murder takes place on a train, it would be quite the stretch to assume that (oh well!) nothing much can be done about it, so everyone should just keep right on going. What WOULD be the likely outcome? I mean, if someone obviously attempts murder and someone kills him in self-defense, maybe it would really be that they stop in the next town and the local sheriff questions everyone involved, decides it's a cut-and-dried case, and sends them along? If the murder is thwarted, then the would-be murderer should be the one who ends up in jail -- I have no idea how long, however, the "cycle of justice" would be expected to take, before they decide to just hang him. I suppose that's an area I need to do some reading up on, though I don't quite know how to go about it.
- OPTIONAL: Murder Mystery -- This could get a lot more interesting if I could take the opportunity to turn this into a murder mystery. However, there could be perils with taking that route. First off, anyone who's not much of a smarts-guy might feel alienated. Second, there's the high risk of someone under the name of "good role-playing" fixating on one of the fellow PCs as a suspect (when on the meta level we "know" they're innocent unless the GM has worked something out ahead of time secretly). Third, I've found that this isn't the best environment for PC discussion; on a chat channel, you can't SEE each other to know who's talking, who's about to talk, when it's a good time to interject, etc. Sure, we could TYPE in the chat window, but hardly anybody but me does that. Fourth ... it'd require a lot of planning, with no guarantee that I'll pull it off well. I'd like to take advantage of it, but frankly it'll depend upon inspiration suddenly smacking me upside the head so forcefully that I can't ignore it.
- Timing: A fifth complication in the matter of the journey is that of how long it is from station to station. I could, for instance, have the murder happen sometime during the last leg of the journey, from Cisco to Albany, but that's only 34 miles distance -- about an hour for a train in that day and age to travel. If I did the "the murder happened overnight" gambit, that would be hard to justify in Cisco without everyone getting stuck in *Cisco* rather than being on the train, because they'd have to change trains for the jog out to Albany (at that point in time, the rail line to Albany from Cisco was just a single branch off the main line, not a stop on a longer journey). Not that a murder absolutely positively has to happen ON A TRAIN, but it seems like *in theory* it would provide a nice little excuse to keep all the suspects stuck in one place for a finite period of time, and apply pressure for the would-be sleuths to solve it in that time.
PART 2: Leaving Civilization
At present, I intend the train ride to just be a single session, maybe two tops. If there's a murder mystery element, of course, that could spread it out a bit, to as many as three sessions, depending.
- Cisco, TX, is the last stop on the main line, where they'd have to switch trains. From there, they'd get on a smaller train operated by Houston & Texas Central Railroad going from Cisco to the brand-new terminus in Albany. Cisco would be the last place to make any big-town purchases.
- Albany at this point was still pretty small: it just got its first dedicated church building in 1882; although it was the county seat, the Shackelford County Courthouse wouldn't be built until 1883. Still, it really is the "last chance" spot (more so than the PCs should realize) to buy necessities.
- Rumors: At some point, it's likely to come up in conversation that the PCs (and a few surviving NPCs) are headed out to "The Flat" or to "Fort Griffin." At that point, some locals are likely to remark things along the lines of, "Fort Griffin? They lowered the flag three years ago! Does anyone still live out that way?" "Heh! That patch of dry earth is so rough, even the Army left!" Etc.
- The Stagecoach Driver: The driver(s) taking travelers out to the Flat are already paid by Phineas T. Hoyle. What exactly they know, I'm not sure at this point. Maybe they know something's off about anyone still living out at "The Flat," but they've been paid enough not to think too hard about it. Maybe they're "in" on the details to some degree -- hardened criminals who Hoyle has some leverage over, beyond just coin. (In any case, I doubt Xolotl plans on actually letting them leave "The Flat" alive. Xolotl's ability to possess/control animals is likely to play a part in some sort of "accident" with the horses on the way out, though the PCs don't need to know about that right away -- though perhaps discover the wrecked stage further along in the "game.")
- Stagecoach: As an aside, a typical stagecoach could seat 6 people in the back ... but this was done by them sitting with interlocking knees. Cozy, huh? With the PC group this size, and the possibility of some NPCs along, there will likely need to be a small "convoy" of 2 or 3 coaches.
PART 3: The Flat
Eventually, they get to town. Perhaps the weather should be awful, stormy, etc. At first, that might just seem thematic. The longer the PCs stay there, the more suspicious it's going to be if they don't see the sun -- ever. So, perhaps the span of their time within The Flat is expected to be fairly short ... or else the illusion of normalcy isn't likely to be maintained for too long.
- Fuzzy Friend: I'm thinking maybe someone in the group should have a chance to "befriend" a big black dog once in the town. (Aww, how cute! You've made a FRIEND!) Of course, this is just an excuse for Xolotl to have a pair of eyes around that won't be so conspicuous as crows peeking in the windows or whatnot. Maybe a coyote shows up at some point, and the dog "protectively" growls and warns it off.
- The Lawyer: I've a mind that perhaps the "lawyer" is in fact Phineas T. Hoyle under an assumed name. I suppose the key thing would be whether there's anyone in the group who would have any hope of recognizing him. (Perhaps it's not too much to ask of Xolotl's illusions to boost his chances at a disguise, but his mannerisms might still seem awfully familiar to anyone who would have a personal connection to him.)
- The Townsfolk: I need to figure out some "rules" for how to handle "phantoms" vs. "ghosts" and all that. I will likely base important NPCs off of various characters fleshed out in the "Fort Griffin" supplement, to save myself from having to generate it all from scratch. Any who are purely "phantoms" should just stay in the background as much as possible. I don't want to lay on any "foreshadowing" too thickly at this stage.
- The Curse: I figure there needs to be something that has to happen for the PCs to be "caught" in the curse ... but unfairly, they won't find out about this until it's too late. (I mean, it could be an interesting plot point if one of the PCs somehow managed to avoid being stuck, and therefore could be theoretically free to leave -- but it's a PC who's conscientious enough that he won't bolt off and abandon these folks?)
- Stay Overnight: A simple possibility would just be that they're in trouble if they stay overnight. The stagecoach drivers, for instance, might turn around and leave immediately, even though the weather is terrible, rather than sheltering for the night.
- Sign a Contract: Another would be that they have to sign some sort of document/waiver, etc., as a "formality" of sitting in on the will reading, and it's a far more sinister document than it appears in the illusory form. However, I think of that angle as being something more of a red herring -- i.e., that Xolotl might let them THINK that it's the signing of some document that's trapped them here, so they THINK Xolotl is the sort who has to follow all sorts of "rules" and "procedures" in order to have power over them.
- Cursed Gold: Or, the PCs are each given a "gift" from the Aztec stash. Maybe they're even gift-wrapped, and it won't be until later that they get to see that they're strange Aztec artifacts. And due to the weird "rules" of the curse, once the item is in their possession, they're stuck. (And of course, simply tossing the item doesn't break the curse. But then I need to figure out what DOES.)
Xolotl
So, who is Xolotl?
I think I'm going to go with the idea that Xolotl is one of several gifted individuals who lived millenia ago, back at the dawn of the Mayan culture. The Mayan civilization rose around 2800 BC (at least according to Google), and the Aztec civilization didn't come onto the scene until the 1400s. The concept of Xolotl apparently dates back to the Mayans, but was a lot more benevolent (a dog bringing fire to mankind) -- whereas the Aztec version (which is informing my darker take) is much more concerned with mutilation and murder.
Perhaps Xolotl was one of a number of gifted individuals who were essentially sorcerers, and at one point he was a pretty nice guy -- best friends with Huehuecoyotl, and twin brother to Quetzalcoatl. As part of whatever power he and the other "gods" held, he attained some sort of immortality -- or at least agelessness -- but he could still be killed.
At some point (let's say during the period of the Aztecs?), these demi-gods were involved in the creation of some sort of magical marvel referred to as the "Fifth Sun" -- a magical "engine" of unknown purpose. At this point, most of the gods chose to end their immortal existence by sacrificing themselves to release energies to power this engine, but when it was his turn, Xolotl refused and fled. He was chased down by his own twin brother, Quetzalcoatl-Ehecatl, who slew him, in order to release his power.
Part of the magical fallout of this event was that an unusually powerful and sophisticated ghost was born of Xolotl -- an undead entity driven by the vengeful, bloodthirsty, resentful emotions of his last moments as a living being -- and his impulse to think that if only enough regular mortals were to die in his place, under the right conditions, surely that would generate enough psychic energy to do the job rather than requiring his own "immortal" life be sacrificed.
Once his ghost started manifesting itself, he did indeed test this theory by compelling former worshipers to start slaughtering each other in a massive blood-fest. The remaining sorcerers of the Aztecs created a great binding wheel inlaid with elements of gold to bind Xolotl's vengeful spirit, and for a time they contained him ... until the Conquistadors came along and brought an end to the Aztec Empire, and pried out all the golden parts of the binding wheel as mere treasure to loot -- even melting down many of the pieces into coins.
Unlike most ghosts, he is capable of a certain degree of calculation and scheming, but he has no grand long-term objective. He is bound to the relics, and has some influence over anyone who comes into possession of them, but the power of such influence is weakened over distance removed from the key relics he's most strongly associated with.
Simply "destroying" the relics isn't likely to do much. The relics have been melted down into coins, and yet they still hold the curse. (Maybe in a couple of centuries, it'll be possible to shoot them into space, but Xolotl could really wreak havoc with the weather when it comes time to launch....)
So what IS the solution? I need to work on that part. On the simplest level, it could be just a matter of NOT playing Xolotl's game, but I feel like there has to be a little more to it than that. Having a big-boss battle fight with a manifestation of Xolotl doesn't sound quite right: Maybe Xolotl could indeed imbue some poor dog or mortal with his power to make for an opponent for the PCs to deal with (or just attack with swarms of murderous animals), but it shouldn't be that you can "kill" Xolotl with a gun -- rather, this would be just a last-ditch effort to stop the PCs from performing whatever ritual they're trying to complete.
Also, if there's a solution (and Huehuecoyotl might even hint of it), it needs to be something that the Aztecs couldn't -- or wouldn't -- do in order to get rid of Xolotl. (Maybe they saw Xolotl's ghost as useful and built the Wheel of Containment to harness him rather than destroy him? So, it was a matter of greed -- and perhaps Xolotl in some way managed to lead the Conquistadors to the Aztecs in a bit of revenge?)
... I've got a lot more to jot down regarding the body of the adventure itself, but that'll be for next time, I guess.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-26 07:11 pm (UTC)Part 2 - this is where I'd put the ominous foreshadowing. At the point they're going from Albany to the stagecoach, that's a great place to put an old "psychic", a witch-like woman who suddenly grasps them by the hand and warns them not to go there, she foresees great danger. Of course your NPCs aren't going to listen to any such foolishness.
Part 3 - I think the 'signing of the contract' makes sense. It can be an agreement that they will abide by the terms of the will as read and if there are any concerns, negotiate through the lawyer rather than employing their own solicitors, etc. Completely normal and boring boilerplate. Except of course, with Phineas being the "lawyer"...
The cursed gold, hmm, I wonder if it makes sense to just have it on display in various places to give the PCs a chance to contemplate finding a way to take it and hide it. You'd need to hint that treasure might play into the 'victory conditions' of the game.
As for Xolotl himself, I'd say that you might need to have multiple ways to win. Maybe one of the PCs will turn out to be a distant descendant of his and they can turn it into a redemption arc. Or maybe Phineas will turn out to be the anchor holding Xolotl to this particular corner of the world, but it isn't as simple as killing him because he's discovered how to anchor his soul to something outside his body and thus he's effectively immortal, unless the players can find the soul-receptacle and destroy it.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-26 09:44 pm (UTC)My "failsafe" if they can't really solve it, I suppose, would be that the murderer attempts to strike again. (Why? How? Who? I need to work on that.) If the PCs can't resolve it via clues, then it'll resolve itself through combat, I guess. Not ideal, but it would give some closure.
2) Ominous Foreshadowing: Eh, I don't think I want to be quite so overt as someone saying, "DO NOT GO THERE." For one thing: 1) It might be too obvious a tip-off that there's something wrong about THE PLACE, and not just about the treasure or Dear Old Uncle Phineas, or some sort of monster. But, yeah, putting the warning in Albany is probably the best, most natural place, because Albany is the closest sample of "civilization" near the Flat, so if there's anyone living nearby who's NOT part of the curse, that's about as close as you're likely to get.
3) Defeating Xolotl: Ah, nice thought with the "focus" idea. Could be something like the idea of a lich's phylactery. I was thinking of having it be something where, oh, it looks like Phineas is the Big Bad, but once you've defeated him, the REAL Big Bad is Xolotl ... but I suppose it could be an interesting(?) twist if it's more like, oh, Phineas is a scoundrel, but it looks like he's second-fiddle to Xolotl ... but then it turns out that Uncle Phineas really is the Big Bad behind all this after all. Not a completely out-of-left-field revelation, of course, because Phineas isn't going to look too good at all in any of this, but at least a *little* bit of a token "twist."
no subject
Date: 2020-06-27 07:36 am (UTC)True enough re: the ominous foreshadowing. Maybe just a fortune teller shtick telling them there are great treasures awaiting them, but also great danger.
If Xolotl and Phineas are bound together, you're pretty much set either way: if they decide to beat up Phineas, Xolotl can step in and intervene and they think Xolotl's the real big bad, while Phineas pretends to be beaten and helpless, and if they go after Xolotl, well, he can let them beat up an avatar and then reveal that wasn't even his final form, etc. ... The usual villain giving away the game through gloating thing.