Ok, over in this thread I talked about the idea of starting characters without sheets and having their actions in the first adventure determine their stats. I mentioned it to my players and they seemed receptive, so I'm creating the first adventure for them.

The system to be used is Scion, but since the first adventure is systemless, that doesn't matter much. The setting is American Thriller mixed with American Gods. Overall the idea is:

• The PCs are descended from Gods
• they don't know it
• they were kidnapped by Braintec and their memories "scooped out"
  
• Braintec had plans to download new memories into the PCs' bodies so they could have loyal allies with the strengths of Scions
• The PCs escape

I'm dividing the escape into a few distinct scenes, and trying my best to sprinkle a good amount of choices amongst them. Also, I'm being very vague on the descriptions so their questions about the area can help to gauge. The problem comes in supplying choices for some skills, primarily Occult and Animal Ken (i.e. knowing about and handling Animals). The scenes are:

• The Cell
• The Building itself
• The area between it and town
• A club they'll either come out of the woods near, or have be the first civilization they encounter on the road

Any help would be appreciated. It's sounding like I may be running this on Friday (U.S.).

Perhaps have some sort of Ghost or Spirit in the woods, and gauge their occult by how they interact with it (Kill it! no occult, study it! 1-2 occult, something else! more occult). Same thing with Animals Ken...like maybe a lone wolf approaches the party (Kill It! No Animal Ken, Pet It! 1 animal Ken, help us kill the Ghost! 2-3 Animal Ken)

Would it be reasonable for the lab to have guard dogs? If so, that's another opportunity to use Animal Ken.

With Occult, I think you should pay attention to the PCs' speculations about their situation - perhaps give them a few opportunities to talk to each other about what's happened, like when they're hiking cross-country or when they're sipping drinks at the club: characters who tend to come up with byzantine and unusual ideas (especially - but not necessarily - supernatural theories) should get some Occult, since that's the sort of worldview they're buying into.

I've added the gaurd dogs. Two of them will slip their leashes and reach the PCs ahead of the gaurds, then drop into their "don't mess around, punk!" growling stance. They'll probably just be attacked barehanded or with a tree limb or something, but at least it's an opportunity.

I also added a library to one of the rooms in the basement where the PCs are being held. Most of it is scientific textx on memory, neurophysiology, and psychology. One shelf though will be handwritten notebooks and a few old books that focus on the occult. In one of the notebooks is a list of names. The list is composed of Loa and Demons with a known history of possession. The crossed off names are spirits who have not survived the modern world. The underlined name is Anansi, who the players will meet later. The amount of info they want to be able to pull from the notebooks will give them more occult.

There's also a chance to get some horses to ride, which will be cause for Larceny, Control (Horse), and Animal Ken.

I may add a pack of wild dogs. Wolves don't match the local terrain, but it's the same general idea. Maybe four large mutts come out of the trees or up the road at some point.

The ghost is too overtly supernatural for now. The players know it's Scion, so they know there's going to be supernatural stuff going on. But I want to keep it low key like in American Gods at first. As they grow in power and get hired by Mr. Wednesday (i.e. Odin) their exposure will grow quickly.

Thanks for the ideas folks! Keep 'em coming!

Quote from: James McMurrayI also added a library to one of the rooms in the basement where the PCs are being held. Most of it is scientific textx on memory, neurophysiology, and psychology. One shelf though will be handwritten notebooks and a few old books that focus on the occult. In one of the notebooks is a list of names. The list is composed of Loa and Demons with a known history of possession. The crossed off names are spirits who have not survived the modern world. The underlined name is Anansi, who the players will meet later. The amount of info they want to be able to pull from the notebooks will give them more occult.

My concern about this is that all the players will gravitate towards the occult shelf, because a) they know they're in a supernatural game, and old habits learned from CoC die hard and b) on an IC level it's really quite an unusual thing to have in what seems to be a medical lab, so they really would be justified in having their PCs take an interest in it.

Perhaps a more low-key approach may be useful? Maybe there's a room in the basement which is accommodation for a resident doctor, scientist or guard, and amongst his bedside reading - a mix of work-related books and notes and trashy genre fiction - is a book about voodoo or something (with the annotations you describe). It won't be immediately clear whether it's work-related reading or a total red herring that way.

It's common for people in cells to write on the walls, and on other surfaces-this can range from meaningless vulgar graffiti to say names, dates, or other notes. I have also seen pictures, poems and murals.

Common cell contents: a toilet, a sink, and a bed. Many cells include a foot locker and in minimum security cells a small wall mounted locker. These can be used to store food stuffs, hygiene items, and legal papers.

For the record I think Warthur has it right-you should have a red herring or two in there somewhere.

Just looking at the books won't trigger boosts to their Occult skill. It's when I hand them the list of names and ask them gradual questions about how much their character can understand from the list.



Here's what I've got as results for messing with the shelf:

Partially understanding the occult books gets them the list of names and +1 Occult. Recognizing the names tells them that some are demons and the entire Loa pantheon is also worth +1 Occult. Realizing the names are all tied to creatures that are capable of possessions lets them know that their captors are interested in possession as well as the other stuff in the library (like neurology), and gives them another +2 Occult.

So rather than "you find interesting books on the occult, do you care about them? Ok, +1 occult," it would start as "you find some books on the occult, do they make any sense to you? Ok, +1 occult and you realize the significance of a list of names (shows list). Do you recognize them?" etc.

Also, they'll know going into it that the answers to the questions will determine their skill levels. I expect at least one or two PCs to show interest in the books, but the rest won't want to play occultists and steer well clear.

Oops, that was meant as a direct reply to Warthur and cross-posted with Paul.

Paul, thanks for the cell descriptions. I hadn't thought about adding something to the walls. I've added a reminder to myself to ask them if there's anything scratched in above their beds, and if so, what it is.