This blog was written a bit ahead of time as by the time you read this, I’ll be busy prepping for a big game night with friends I haven’t played with in a looooonnnggg time. I’ll try to get some pictures up. Anyway, this week’s inspiration blog is a 2 for 1. As a child of the 80s, I grew up with the Ghostbuster movies- too little to see the first one in the theater, but I definitely remember getting out to see the 2nd one. The Ghostbuster movies are on my definite must watch list for Halloween. I won’t pick a favorite, as that would be like picking between one’s children. Instead, let’s focus on how to bring the Ghostbusters into your Vathak campaign. In the original Ghostsbusters, we have the formation of the team and rise of spiritual activity attributed to the coming of Gozer. In the Vathak adventure, the players could suddenly find themselves in the middle of a small series of hauntings that pique their curiosity or they are hired by someone to investigate a series of strange happenings throughout the city. This is a great time to make use of the haunt rules in the “Pathfinder Game Mastery Guide.” Start with small haunts but as the PCs dig deeper and learn about the coming of the BBEG, they start encountering full torso vapor apparitions (i.e., some incorporeal undead- shadows, wraiths, specters, etc.). The Gozer cult can be associated with one of the Great Old Ones or a new Great Old One that has yet to awaken. When I ran a Ghostbuster type encounter years ago, I had Gozer as a sorcerer with the aberrant bloodline and guarded by two hounds of tindalos (Pathfinder Bestiary 2). You can use whatever you want for your BBEG but remember to ask your PCs, “Are you a God?” They should know that if someone asks them if they are a god, they say “yes!” Ghostbusters 2 sees the crew making a comeback when a river of evil slime and the arrival of an imprisoned ghost wizard threaten to destroy the city. Give your PCs the slightest bit of opportunity in the 1st adventure and they will no doubt gladly lay waste to half a city in an effort to “save the day” (read- commit murder and steal) allowing you to start the adventure with the PCs in a courtroom facing charges in regards to their wantonly destructive acts (remember- fireballs don’t kill; wizards with fireballs kill). A haunt suddenly appears, forcing the PCs into action. However you start the adventure, the PCs are once again investigating a series of haunts that leads them to spelunking the very haunted sewers below the city (and you need to include a WWWIIIINNNSSTTOOOONNN moment). There the PCs discover the evil slime and some other clues which lead them to a museum. This museum has a recent arrival- a painting of a vindari noble before they even arrived in Vathak. This noble exhibited all the cruelest, vilest aspects of the vindari race and also now just happens to be a ghost inhabiting the painting (though not fully awakened). As the spiritual activity in the city rises, the PCs will have to find a way to defeat the evil slime and stop by the ghostly noble from being reborn. And if your PCs attempt to use the evil slime to power some sort of vindari war machine, be sure to award them extra XP! The Ghostbusters movies make great adventures for Vathak, allowing you to play up the horror and Great Old One elements. Run the adventures as serious or light hearted as you want and hopefully your PCs will start getting into the roles of ghostbusters (and start zinging Ghostbuster references instead of the usual Monty Python/Princess Bride quotes). youtube/watch?v=vntAEVjPBzQ
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 18:22:17 +0000
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