Re: [HOE] New adventure Idea

[Darrin Bright <darrin@neobright.net>]

Matt Noyes wrote:
> 
> Hey all I dunno if anyone has done anything like this before but I am
> working on an adventure taking place ina monastery that would be similiar to
> the plot of The Name of the Rose....I've gotten the antagonist figured out
> and the sean connery type character but I need some ideas on how to flesh it
> out....I dont think my posse will put 2 and 2 together...I mean some of the
> group is not that smart and will think of blaming everyone but the
> antagonist...btw I am not trying to give away the plot of the movie because
> it is a great movie and I think everyone should see it.  I am cross posting
> this to the HOE list too to see if anyone there has any ides

I'd probably recommend reading the book. It was written by Umberto
Eco... and then you might want to read _Foucoult's Pendulum_ for more
ideas.

And, since you want to do something monasterial in a post-apocalypse
setting, you'll probably want to go through _A Canticle For Leibowitz_.
Not only does it involve catholic monks trying to survive after a
nuclear holocaust, the Librarians in HOE are based on it. 

On second thought, read Canticle first. Not only is it almost source
material for HOE, it's a pretty damned good book. Then move on to
Umberto Eco.

Anyway, off the top of my head...

The monastery has probably become a repository for lost knowledge... and
in HOE especially, knowledge is just as important if not more so than
bullets or blast-juice. So the monastery and the books in its library
might be an extremely valuable prize that several groups are competing
against, and want it bad enough that they're willing to put it under
seige to get it. This could put several heavily armed groups fiercely
fighting around it, which the PCs would have to avoid on the way into
and out of the monastery. The Combine might be looking for military
designs, AI programs, or more accurate maps of the western US. The
Librarians are obviously going to be interested in *anything* written
down, but the monks might not be cooperative. Templars might be helping
the monks defend purely for spiritual reasons, or might have decided the
monks are "unworthy" to be holding on to certain powerful relics they'd
like to get ahold of. Green Doomsayers probably want to destroy it just
on principle (the monks are guarding books that are the complete
antithesis to their own beliefs). Or maybe the monastery has a complete
set of Sitgreave's notebooks and the Junkers want a copy. A large army
camped outside is also a good way to discourage the PCs from leaving the
monastery if they can't figure out what is going on.

If you want the monastery to be more reclusive, perhaps hidden or just
ignored by the major military groups, then the PCs don't need to worry
so much about getting in/out or taking sides. Some things they could do:

The monks want to send a representative to the Library in Sacramento to
deliver several important documents, and hire the PCs as escorts. Or
maybe the Librarians are trying to convince the monks to share their
knowledge but the monks don't think it will be put to good use, so the
Librarians ask the PCs to help with the negotiations.

The monks have discovered a bunker in some nearby ruins that may have
something important in it, but don't quite have the resources or resolve
to explore it themselves, so they hire the PCs to look into it.

The monks are trying to find out what happened to the Vatican, and send
the PCs to find out. (Quest of epic proportions, here... with large
ramifications if they succeed.)

Hmm, none of that really addresses the plot in The Name of the Rose,
though... and my memory of the movie is extremely foggy. Okay, you said
you were worried about the PCs not "catching on". So...

Put in William of Baskerville as the "detective". He can do the major
problem-solving himself and just remain a mysterious figure (possibly a
suspect) that gives up what he knows in the usual death-scene-eulogy. Or
he could enlist the PCs for help, seeing as how the other monks are
actively hostile towards him. Let the PCs watch him decipher a few
"minor" clues to show them how it's done, then when they catch on, kill
him off and use the death-scene-eulogy to point them towards the next
clue. Either way, he dies and the PCs step up to save the day.

Or paint him as the bad guy... the Abbot could hire the PCs to "expose
the infidel!" or make his life difficult. Once the PCs discover he's not
the bad guy they're looking for, the PCs suddenly find themselves at the
top of the "People That Ought To Be Killed" list because now they "know
too much".