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View Full Version : Players as Mad Scientists for a Better Tomorrow



Leliel
2008-01-23, 10:05 PM
My perennially suggested idea, and a favorite "maverick" idea of mine, is one where the PCs take the role of a group of non-evil mad scientists. Now over the months, I have come up with a more concrete version of it:

If anyone has read Lovecraft's work The Shadow out of Time, they will have familiarized themselves with that 4th-dimensionally mobile race of eldritch crackpots, the Yith. Now, the campagin takes place in a world that the Yith have become interested in, and as such, have done more than a few mind-switches. However, when a Yith re-switches a person's mind back into their normal body, they also gain some of the Great Race's wisdom, experience, and knowledge. However, since they also gain some of the Yith's uh, "eccentricity", and now most people already think they're insane due to the Yith's hijinks while in their body, most of these people become mad scientists. The PCs are, of course, some of those post-mind-switched people, and now they have to deal with ahem, DARK FORCES FROM BEYOND REALITY who are not nearly as nice as the Yith, while doing normal mad scientist things. Now...

How would you, the posters, set about a campagin like this? What about other, not-non-evil aligned mad scientists? What elements of the Cthulhu Mythos should I incorporate (other than the Yith)? Should I put in a mind-switched sidekick to the party, just for the hilarity of a bunch of "alien fish out of water" moments?

Of course, this will be a somwhat comedic campagin, with serious undertones (I likey the sympathetic villains).

Ha ha, they said it couldn't work, but it did! I have created a forum topic!

Though that brings into question the intelligence of "they"...

Charles Phipps
2008-01-23, 11:17 PM
In our Mutants and Masterminds, game, I played the unknowing illegitimate son of Lex Luthor. The character was ridiculously intelligent and I had fun with the fact that the guy transformed his warehouse into a place of absolutely bizarre machinery and would causally go off to do insane experiments inbetween adventures.

The best advice I can give is this...

* Describe the Lab in Vivid Detail.

* Insert insane stuff. (There's our World's Smallest Dyson Sphere and the Bottle City of Toronto...)

* Robot Assistants.

* Force players frequently to reign in their madness.

* Read Girl Genius.

* Remember, Death is something that most should only consider an inconvenience.

* Watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BnOUOkcr9c

* Watch Ghostbusters for inspiration.

* The Mythos is COOL....except for the evil parts.

* FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH SOUNDS NIFTY! GRAB SOME!

* Ghouls are people too.

* Nyarlathotep isn't a bad guy, per say....he built a mad electrical device! ONE OF US!

* The prospect of becoming a fish man shouldn't terrify you. Only annoy you because it's much harder to get the net in R'lyeh.

* Watch "She blinded me with science" music video.

* Listen to "Weird Science" and humm it all the time.

* Telsa Coils, my friend. Telsa Coils.

* Clearly, you will ascend to become like the Old Ones. It's the rest of pitiful humanity you have to worry about.

Iku Rex
2008-01-23, 11:50 PM
* Read Girl Genius.
Seconed.

Adventure, Romance, Mad Science!
(http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021104)

Nerd-o-rama
2008-01-24, 12:04 AM
Also has a good example of someone who is an Evil Overlord for Peace!

Xuincherguixe
2008-01-24, 01:06 AM
Perhaps one of the characters could unknowingly be of Deep One Heritage. With psychic powers.

I would say that maybe something is sending the character false visions, perhaps a cult that wants to interfere with the group of mad scientists.


Normally in the mythos, life is supposed to be cheap. But it's reasonable that characters like these would be able to hold power over life and death.

I don't know how magic works in the Mythos. But I don't think magic and science are incompatible. It's conceivable one of the players could cast spells.


They should be able to handle the horrors of reality better than the average unprepared investigator, but part of them is still human. They should still be able to snap. Over the course of the game, they might become less and less human, and are able to handle more and more. Perhaps the game ends when they no longer are human. Victoriously triumph over their own humanity.

It's kind of like winning and losing at the same time. Seems to fit perfectly into the Mythos.

edit: Sorry. I missed the part that it's supposed to be comedic. Most of what I wrote could only really work in a really dark comedy.

Leliel
2008-01-24, 02:36 PM
Perhaps one of the characters could unknowingly be of Deep One Heritage. With psychic powers.

Sounds good.

I would say that maybe something is sending the character false visions, perhaps a cult that wants to interfere with the group of mad scientists.

Better.

Normally in the mythos, life is supposed to be cheap. But it's reasonable that characters like these would be able to hold power over life and death.

Best.

I don't know how magic works in the Mythos. But I don't think magic and science are incompatible. It's conceivable one of the players could cast spells.

Its arguable in the Mythos, that science is magic. I'll allow it.

They should be able to handle the horrors of reality better than the average unprepared investigator, but part of them is still human. They should still be able to snap. Over the course of the game, they might become less and less human, and are able to handle more and more. Perhaps the game ends when they no longer are human. Victoriously triumph over their own humanity.

The've already snapped. That's why they're mad scientists. Otherwise, nice.

It's kind of like winning and losing at the same time. Seems to fit perfectly into the Mythos.

Good idea for a campagin ender. I'll make it seem more "platable" though

edit: Sorry. I missed the part that it's supposed to be comedic. Most of what I wrote could only really work in a really dark comedy.

It could still work in a somwhat lighthearted one. This does have "serious undertones" after all.



Overall, good.

Leliel
2008-01-24, 05:44 PM
In our Mutants and Masterminds, game, I played the unknowing illegitimate son of Lex Luthor. The character was ridiculously intelligent and I had fun with the fact that the guy transformed his warehouse into a place of absolutely bizarre machinery and would causally go off to do insane experiments inbetween adventures.

The best advice I can give is this...

* Describe the Lab in Vivid Detail.

* Insert insane stuff. (There's our World's Smallest Dyson Sphere and the Bottle City of Toronto...)

* Robot Assistants.

* Force players frequently to reign in their madness.

* Read Girl Genius.

* Remember, Death is something that most should only consider an inconvenience.

* Watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BnOUOkcr9c

* Watch Ghostbusters for inspiration.

* The Mythos is COOL....except for the evil parts.

* FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH SOUNDS NIFTY! GRAB SOME!

* Ghouls are people too.

* Nyarlathotep isn't a bad guy, per say....he built a mad electrical device! ONE OF US!

* The prospect of becoming a fish man shouldn't terrify you. Only annoy you because it's much harder to get the net in R'lyeh.

* Watch "She blinded me with science" music video.

* Listen to "Weird Science" and humm it all the time.

* Telsa Coils, my friend. Telsa Coils.

* Clearly, you will ascend to become like the Old Ones. It's the rest of pitiful humanity you have to worry about.

LOVIN' IT!

Xuincherguixe
2008-01-24, 11:02 PM
See, I generally wouldn't say that a mad scientist is someone who's snapped. It seems more like a case of that the characters bended, but didn't break. They can construct useful devices, so they can still interact with the world.