Re: [HOE] Theme Park Ideas

[Jacob Myst <jacobmyst2001@yahoo.com>]

I have had this kind of idea on the back burner for
some time, glad to see I am not the only sick one out
there.  Here are some of the idea's I had to run my
party through.

1)  Make the people WANT to go.  Have scouts from the
carnival finding the biggest populations of people and
start to raise the fear level.  They could drop off a
load of prairie ticks in the area near by (just drop
them in a jar with either on a cotton ball).  Same
thing with "hum bugs".  Maybe they could infect the
local scarecrow to make him the animated real deal.  

Whatever it is make sure that what happens is not
overly fatal (one or two deaths are ok, but not
everyone).  The point is to make sure that "during
this troubled time" that they are offered a temporary
relief.  So who would turn down a fair that comes to
town and offers free admission to the first X number
of people.

You could hook party members in by maybe having them
run into the scouts first some place else and wonder
what the hell is going on.  My posse did so next to a
cornfield, when a man runs into them as he burst into
the road.  He had a metal grill covering his mouth and
dropped his satchel as he got up and took off in the
direction he was running.  Not knowing what was going
on the posse let him go... then realized that he was
running from a hoard of ticks.  

The scout had not known that someone else had worked
the area, the ticks in the jars he carried were not
all the way knocked out, or maybe they (the ticks)
were already there.  All the same he had a hoard after
Him (but not before the party looked in the bag to
find several empty jars, one bottle of caster oil,
some "seeds" of some kind, and one jar that was
promptly dropped after a failed guts check).  Let them
try to connect the dots when they get to a town
talking about the current rash of problems they have
been having.

2) Hall of Illusion.  A Mirror maze can be fun (and
very disorienting).  Many of the mirrors are two way,
that some of the workers hide behind and wait for lone
people to come through or someone to wander away from
the group.  They then move the mirrors so as to block
the way out and herd the victim where they want.  Some
mirrors could have steel backing so that people could
not smash there way out.  With all the sounds and
vapor machines running no one could hear someone
scream.  Its up to you what you want to have done in
the end and if the posse will find where this is going
on.  If you really want to be a bastard, they could be
turning people into clowns, or lobotomized circus
workers. 

One thing I also had in mine was certain mirror would
cast Corporeal Twist on people and turn them into
freaks if it could.  That was where some of the
sideshows came from.  They were people from other
towns that could no longer function in normal society.
 Everything from "Gator Boy" to the "man with no
bones"
Whatever it is, they are totally dependant on the
carnival now to survive, cannot fight back, and are
fully aware of who they are and what is going on (but
being powerless to do anything about it).

3) Rides.  All kinds of spinning rides that goes
through houses and covered areas.  One out of every 6
cars could be "Diverted" around a corner when they are
out of view.  You pick where you want them to end up. 
All the players know is that "Billy was on this ride
before them, and after them.  Where the hell did he
go?"  

In mine the F Wheel had a problem of people
disappearing off the top.  The folks running this had
trained a devil bat to "fetch" and were sitting about
a mile out.  Devil bat would fly off; pick up an
individual alone at the top and fly back with him. 
With all the lights, noise, and the tops of the cars
being covered, no one was able to see/hear anything.

4) Freak show has been covered it seems.  The fat lady
in my game was harrowed.  She ate herself to death and
was always eating a "big hunk of ham".  She had that
harrowed breathe attack at 5 so when she needed to she
burped out d20s of wind loss.  Had some ridicule to so
as to mock the party and lure them closer (she was a
size 10 in my game... think fat vampire from blade)

5) Food could be laced with a mild hallucinogen,
possibly addictive so people crave it more (cotton
candy spun with spook juice... hmmmm).

6) The big top.  If it is like a circus everyone who
has survived the evening thus far is herded into the
big top for the last show of the night.  Once they sit
down they are stuck.  The center ring is really a
summoning circle opening a link to the hunting
grounds.  Images of dead loved ones fly around the
room saying horrible things.  They accuse people of
the cause of there death, reveal naughty little
secrets of the town?s folk, and torment everyone.  By
the end of the night, everyone should have had a very
"harrowing" experience, followed by the MAIN EVENT.

This is a great part to really screw with the players.
 After all if enough people believe in something it
comes true right.  Maybe the scouts were telling
stories of an adversary of the party that they killed
off some time ago.  This could "bring them back" even
if they were brain panned.  This time they would be an
abomination.  

This was the most amusing part as my party dropped
their jaws seeing the preacher?s long dead brother
show up.  Seeing as how the preacher had to kill his
own brother because he had come back from the dead and
was killing people.  This really got to them.  Then
they started to see faces of other people they had
fought in the forming mist trying to take form.  I had
everyone fight someone from there past they thought
dead, but made it a little more personal this way.


7) Main event.  A greater manitue was summoned in the
center circle known as "Grendal" From Beowulf.  The
real one was killed all those years ago, but the
town?s people will not know about that.  All they know
is that some big nasty is from a book is now tromping
around eating people.  Following this, the ring master
orders to death of the town.  Everyone working for him
then go to town and to finish off survivors and to
"shop"

Honestly I do not see myself running this any time
soon but I would like some feedback.  If you use any
of this please let me know, I love to hear the stories
of people who run through my adventures/idea's.

BTW.  The idea about animal skeletons disconnecting
themselves to get out of there cages.  VERY COOL.  It
would be funny to watch a party find the remains in a
cage ("Poor kitty... they must have not been able to
feed him and just left him here"), only to have it
come to life and attack them. LOL


=====
Carl Smith
Karmatic Avenger, Bringer of Chaos, and all around nice guy

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