Saturday, March 19, 2011

Roleplaying About Anything

One of the great things about roleplaying games is that just about anything can be used as inspiration for a campaign, setting or encounter. Homebrew Dungeons and Dragons campaigns truly are "Products of Your Imagination(TM)."

For me, music is a powerful source of gaming inspiration. Some two decades ago, I used "King Of Pain," by The Police, as the basis for an encounter. The setting: five seated statues, not specifically identified, but representing the Gods of War, Pain, Plenty, Peace, and Death.

Behind the statues, were various paintings; clues to the encounter, and all images from the Police song. Moving the Statue of the God of Pain would unlock a secret door: moving any of the other statues would jam the secret door mechanism.

Obviously, this tested player skill, not character skill. But I had two huge Police fans at the table, so the test was entirely fair.

4 comments:

The Happy Whisk said...

Hey Paladin: Just popped in to say Happy Spring Weekend. Not sure if you still have snow. The last of ours melted yesterday and we're not sure if we'll get more.

Hope you and your family are having an excellent weekend.

Happy Equinox.

Aaron E. Steele said...

:)

Still got snow here, but it should be melted by the end of the month, at least here's hoping!

The Happy Whisk said...

That's the rumor.

Have you any flowers popping up yet? None in our yard but someone at work told me theirs have started to grow.

Aaron E. Steele said...

Most of us in Calgary wait until mid-May before planting anything.