Need Help with My Campaign

[Gazirra]

Alright... I've reached a bit of an impasse in my game... I can't think of an overall quest or story or even what to do with the adventure for this week's session!

The campaign is a Rifts game with the players playing as themselves. One got a full bionic conversion, one became a Psi-Tech, one has random superpowers (CEF: Earth, Speed Tasking, and one other Minor power), and one wishes to become a Mega-Juicer.

Three of the four players have previous Rifts experience (the Psi-Tech is new to the whole setting). The players, as "themselves," have knowledge of the setting in-game. Thing is, the players don't have as much knowledge or access to books as I do, so I have quite an edge on them.

The player have so far killed a small goblin mercenary team, made it to Lazlo, sold the items they had for room, board, and weapons, got jobs (the Borg joined the Lazlo militia, and the superpowered one is a merc), and they were sent on a mission to explore the Field Museum in Chicago to see if there was anything salvageable there.

On the way to Chicago, they are taking the Great Lakes, and they ran into a Coalition Naval patrol fighting off some Nuhr Dwarf pirates. They captured the Coalition ship and killed the dwarves.

Thing is, I have no idea on what to do with the Museum at all! One of my players wants a sword from Rifts Japan that has a resting place in Chicago (the one that goes through MDC armor and damages the squishie inside). I don't want to give him the sword at all, at least not without a good fight.

There are a couple more considerations, too. The Borg has a connection with an outfit called Prometheus Cybernetics (an affiliate of Titan Robotics) There was a player playing an Earth Warlock (we had some difficulties and he quit, but he's back on the waiting list).

I have absolutely no idea on what to do. I'd like to make the museum trip memorable and quite fun, and I have a tendency to cancel games when I get writer's block, which I DON'T want to do at all!

[demos606]

Not giving him the sword is as simple as it not being there when the players show up. How long's it been since there was accurate information about what's in the museum again? As for making it memorable, you've got a whole ton of known baddies just a stones throw from Chicago to batter the party with. For all the players know, Chicago is now a Xit hive and the surrounding area is trying to contain/destroy it before it overwhelms them.

[Gazirra]

Xiticik (sp?), eh?
I LIKE it!

[Spinachcat]

The sword should be part of a great quest and certainly once word gets out about it, there will others who will want it too.

Also, they just made two big enemies - neither the Coalition or the pirates are going to be thrilled with them. Should be interesting when the next coalition ship tries to signal them...

Personally, I would also have the sword moved...maybe just for the Apocalypse it was shipped to NYC for a big New Year's exhibition that never happened. And of course, a couple hundred years in ghost haunted Madhaven may have altered ("possessed") the sword itself.

Remember that Chicago is huge....and a mess. They won't just be popping over to the Museum.

Sam Raimi, the director of Evil Dead and Spiderman and soon WarCraft, had great advice about story drama. Sam says to slam the main characters as hard as possible and repeatedly through the story, but make victory realistic for them. So when in doubt, throw a wrench into the PC's plans!

[KillWatch]

1) Museums are filled with artifacts that are not on display.
-Ancient artifiacts of power woken by the rifts and waiting
-Mummies slumbering
-Mummies that aren't mummies but Vampires

2) The sword could be in the possession of a demon who wants to toy with a human, grant them power in trade for simple tasks, which will be dtermined later. Of course it will be everything the character hates and despises, slowly building to a climax of dispicable and disgusting acts of violation and mental black outs

3) The sub basement of the museum could be FILLEd with tectonic entitiies being made out of the hundreds of thousands of bone fragments, not to mention labrynthine

4) On the way there, coalition and pirate problems obviously. Weather. Thieves. Random Monsters. Sea Monsters. A lone surviving coalition naval officer with a sniper rifle who hits and runs. (or a brother/sister/child/wife/parent of said seaman)

[Specter]

Tons of things you can do with a museum... however it's likely to have been picked over by the many scavengers that have come before. So, the good stuff might be hard to come by. But, there might be knowledge to be gained more powerful than any supersuit. The true beginnings of the coalition/federation of magic... ect.. a story hook of some kind among the remains. Probably should run into scavangers if they are scavenging.

If he wants that sword... I say give it to him. Right through his chest! Just because he finds it doesn't mean that someone else doesn't have their hands on it. Someone who knows how to use it very well and has backup.

[KillWatch]

of course it should be life threatening
On the other hand why should it end just becauseit is in someone's possession.
Rumors spread and those without enough sense to avoid the wielder will quickly die.
Then you have those who are powerful enough to actually think they can take it and maybe they can. The point is is that they can never really relax. The probelm with power is that it always attracts those ambitious enough to take it

[Gazirra]

Well, now they're in Chaos Earth via a rift at the museum, so ARCHIE-3 will likely speak with his "younger" self.

The robot/cyborg character is going to have a "dream" in which he's sitting in a dark room of indeterminable size, with three stools, one of which he will be on. The borg will see a figure he identifies as a father figure, and one who looks like a younger version. The borg will hear a sound like an old dial-up modem starting up, and then the two "father" guys will have a little chat

[KillWatch]

why the borg? he's inferior. Unless the vision is coming from somewhere/one else.

[Noon]

I'd like to make the museum trip memorable and quite fun,

You can just decide something will be memorable and fun?

I though you just work the skills you have and see what you make and see how that pans out?

Have you done anything else in the campaign by deciding it would be memorable and fun (and then it indeed was)?

[Noon]

I'd like to make the museum trip memorable and quite fun,

You can just decide something will be memorable and fun?

I though you just work the skills you have and see what you make and see how that pans out?

Have you done anything else in the campaign by deciding it would be memorable and fun (and then it indeed was)?

Gazirra did not say "I've decided to make this game memorable and fun." He said "I'd like to make the museum trip memorable and quite fun".... a reasonable sentiment for any GM and written just right. An understandable sentiment to write when soliciting other peoples ideas for a game session.

A person could spend a lot of time trolling boards posting digs on people who made statements they thought were apparent or obvious facts.

I actually kind of find you troll like. You've just tried to bend my post into some negative context - it doesn't look like you've tried to see any benefit to it.

As Einstien said, trying to solve problems with the same thinking that made the problem is insanity.

So I'm prompting different thinking - and then your not trying to see any possitive in that.

Gazirra did not say "I've decided to make this game memorable and fun." He said "I'd like to make the museum trip memorable and quite fun"

Your just saying the same thing twice - "I'd like a beer" and "I've decided to get a beer" are saying the same thing to me.

In the twenty years I've watched roleplay culture, GM's taking extreme responsiblity for the sessions fun is something that comes up fairly often.

[Khanibal]

Yes, put the party through the meat grinder to get the sword, make them earn 4 or 5 levels. When the player finally does get the sword, he'll appreciate it more. Then, next game session let them run into a PW based merchant selling phase swords at a discount. Always good for a laugh.