Ah, the Bermuda Triangle of space. This is the perfect place to have a side-adventure ghost story. Maybe something involving critters in the darkness after lights go out, picking up ghost transmissions (bonus points for ships lost long before to The Quiet, with appropriate authentication codes), or navigation going completely screwy ("What do you mean the stars don't match those on the chart? This is The Quiet, they specifically map the sky for this place!"). All sorts of fun can be had here. Go to Comment
I am new and don't know the difference between a stub and a sub. In game terms, I don't see why anyone would pass through this area. I mean certainly a gm could come up with a reason for it, but it seems to be written as if there is large base of knowledge on this region in the gaming world. Thus to take that narrative stance you would have to have reason that people pass through it. Secondly, I know you referencing Firefly but you could have just written "space cloud that messes with electrical systems sometime even human neurons" and the effect would have been the same. Like Scrasamax said, it is just another dead zone idea. I thought the Quiet was nice name though. Manfred has encouraged me to read all of Moonhunter's stuff to get the full picture of his talent. So I am working my through it.
That was my point. All you would need to write is "space cloud that messes with electrical systems sometime even human neurons" and you could think of all these reasons. But if he was going to write up something like this he could have given it more background, or flavor.
"- because they are in a hurry (want to get fast _to_ or _from_ something?)
- because they want to stay undetected
- because they are curious
- because of a malfunction they drifted into the area
- because they don't know any better (or someone 'updated' their database)"
Then in your post, you ask a rhetorical question "What'd be the fun in a game, if all journeys were constant and safe?" This had nothing to do with what I said, I was not knocking obstacles. I was just saying as a RPG supplement this was neither an original, well written or well developed idea. I think the reason you asked that is because when we encounter a stale representation of a trite convention such as this one all we can do is debate the trite convention itself.
Scene #120 is awesome, but many of these are just throwaway lines though not scenes. I agree with axlerowes, needs organization and honing to be utilized. (Generator sounds good) Go to Comment
113) Several men and women walk up and down an area with GPS devices, eyeing each other and bits of paper, looking for an important clue in the latest detective or find-the-treasure game.
114) A hopeful artist is making portraits of anyone willing to stand models, has several pieces laid out for demonstration. Works a little on the last one while waiting for a new customer.
115) This hardware store has several large plasma TVs on display and a crowd is staring on some very important event that is on.
116) A bunch of Greenpeace activists (or equivalent) is heading to the next demo. Now they just look weird with their masks, megaphones and folded signs. Have a flier anyway.
117) Loud rap music blares from a car placed where everyone can see it, some amateurs fail at looking cool.
118) That guy walks with a damn big white snake around his neck, did you see that?
119) The local weather anchor poses in front of the sea in appropriate garb, enthusiastically rattling off the weather forecast.
120) Girls from a catholic school cross in their uniforms, some shy, some not so shy. You feel younger.
121) A homeless person is selling the local charity newspaper, offers you one as well. If you've been around, you notice he is here every day.
122) Over, at a small playground you see a lonely fellow shooting balls into the basket. There are some more guys around, but no one seems willing to play with him.
123) In a crowded street, a beggar sits quietly with a sad dog on his side. No one seems to be intent on dropping a coin. Go to Comment
31) An explosion occurs in a nearby cafe and completely destroys the interior and front of the place, causing a panic among the people on the street. The police and fire departments deploy.
32) After a night out with the "guys" the PC's notice a car following them slowly. If they stop and wait in the shadows for a while the driver turns down a side street and speeds away.
33) A pair of fast-talking men run a game of three-card monty. Ironically, the game is somewhat straight, while their third associate circulates through the crowd, picking the pockets of those who stay to watch.
34) A watermelon falls onto the street, splattering everywhere. It was thrown out of a third story window by a drunk teenager.
35) A group of cyclists, probably the participants of a race, block the street for a few minutes.
36) A man holding a sign saying "free hugs".
40) A guy strolls along strumming a song.
41) A loud break-up taking place, as an angry woman in her apartment shouts at her ex on the sidewalk, while throwing the man's possessions out the window, several stories to the ground.
42) Plainclothes cops arrest a struggling teenager. No-one reacts.
43) Two incredibly drunk middle aged men beat each other bloody. Just, really slowly.
44) A crazy homeless guy rocks out to his iPod.
45) Gorgeous girl with an ugly, "what can she see in him", obnoxious boyfriend stroll by. You collide with a lamppost.
46) Tranny combining cleavage top and 5 o'clock shadow. The horror. Lamppost.
47) A pack of transvestites huddled together against the cold try to get to a diner after their club lets out.
48) A beautiful woman is buying something from a street vendor. When she speaks, you realize she is a man.
49) Scruffy, teenage mallrats practice pro-wrestling moves on each other.
50) Done up Goths listen in rapt horror to an old man's war stories at a bus stop.
51) A half-dozen rowdy drunken sports fans, fresh to celebrate their team's win.
52) An elementary school kid, pushing a bike with two flat tires. He has a gash on his forehead which is still bleeding. Go to Comment
53) A man walks by with a snake around his shoulders.
54) A model spotter for one of the big agencies stops the best looking (or interesting looking) characters in the group and asks if they ever considered modeling. They want to take a polaroid and phone number.
55) Photo or film shoot. A moderate area is cordoned off. There is something of a crowd around it.
56) A film shoot is breaking down. The number of beautiful women per square foot can take your breath away.
57) There is a famous Star and their much less famous girlfriend walking down the street in normal clothes. They are not attached to any media circus going on, they are simply getting a quick bite.
58) A Star, with full entourage including security guards, surrounded by paparazzi, is shifting between their limo and a restaurant/ club/ salon/ store/ hotel.
59) A News Crew for the local station is setting up for a shot. You see the talent getting ready to go on camera. There are tons of cables everywhere and a few stand up lights. The camera guy is trying to tape things down. Go to Comment
60) A police officer oblivious to his/her surroundings indulging in a Meat Pie/Hot Dog/Burger/Insert local fare here.
61) Sitting at their local coffee shop at 9am the PC's find a team of US Marshals( or agents of the government of whatever country your PC's are in) dropping by for a cup after a long morning of arresting fugitives.
62) A unit of recruits/police academy cadets on their daily run.
63) Lots and lots of sirens approach from one end of the street. Cars pull up to the side or mount the pavement as the convoy of armored police vans and unmarked cars tears down the wrong side of road. Just as they disappear round the corner, a lone patrol car peels out and heads in the opposite direction.
64) A policeman having a double-parked car towed, while pedestrians watch approvingly.
65) A bunch of drunk frat guys harass a young cop; the young cop suddenly flies off the handle (he's obviously new to the job and has had a bad day) and grabs one of the frat boys and jacks him against the wall. Suddenly, everything turns really quiet.
66) Traffic backed up three blocks because two cops are parked next to each other with their flashing lights on, just casually talking, and every passing car slows down to see what's going on. Go to Comment
67) A young couple ask one of the characters to take their photo by a landmark or just in front of something interesting.
68) A clearly lost man trying to hold a very large map out in front of him asks for your help. He doesn't speak the local language (or anything your speak) at all, but repeats the name of the place he is looking for over and over while gesturing at the map. For bonus weirdness the place he is looking for is a bit peculiar ("flesh house", "gate place", "human living location").
69) A walking tour goes by with the tour guide rattling off important facts about the area. The players pick up just the piece of information they need (or will need) about the area.
70) A pack of Japanese tourists are taking pictures of everything. The apparent leader seems to be leading them by some kind of GPS device.
It is a little out of sequence, but just came to me
71) A man and a woman, dressed to impress, pass by. You hear the woman saying "I'm sorry your wife left you for your stepfather..." Go to Comment
86) Passing Hare Krishnas offer flowers and say "Gouranga. Be Happy"
87) A chugger (charity mugger) approaches with a clipboard and asks if the party can spare a few moments and a small monthly contribution to ease the plight of
a) the homeless b) persons suffering from cancer c) abused children d) the environment etc etc
88) A political candidate and entourage sweep through the street shaking hands and asking who you're going to vote for.
89) An old homeless person of indeterminate sex passes by pushing a shopping cart filled with random rubbish. They mutter something about "Automobiles and shrimp..."
90) Some street theater performers put on a performance. They encourage the audience to participate in their interactive play.
91) An extremely old lady grasps your elbow and asks you to walk her across the street. She walks VERY slowly and it'll take you at least a couple of minutes to walk her across (the light will change, obviously).
92) There's a long, white limousine parked by the curb; as you walk by, you notice a small camera crew filming what's going on inside; it's pretty obvious they're filming a porno.
93) Some guy is on the side-walk selling stuff, i.e. bootleg CD's, African beads, etc. While he waits for customers, he stands off to one side in a HORSE STANCE to show everyone that he knows Kung-Fu is shouldn't be messed with.
94) Two young girls walk up to you and say "$200?". They aren't prostitutes; they just think YOU'RE looking for one. They laugh and go on their way.
95) You attention is drawn when you hear the sound of a large vehicle accelerating hard. A BMW SUV breaks out of traffic and accelerates towards oncoming traffic only to screech to a stop diagonally in front of another car. The driver jumps out and begins screaming at the driver of the car he has just cut off.
96) A trio of nuns playing jump-rope.
97) A young man playing a guitar, with the case open on the ground before him. He has a sign that says COLLECTING DONATIONS FOR THE OPTIMUS PRIME ELECTION CAMPAIGN. He can play any song you care to name.
98) While walking past a Catholic School in midwinter, a snowball hits a PC in back. An elderly nun ambles about nonchalantly.
99) A particularly loud and irate protest group outside the place they are protesting (abortion clinic, courthouse, city hall, corporate HQ, etc.). things are starting to get damned ugly, but there's no violence... yet
100) Two small children run pass wearing home-made superhero masks/capes
101) A small child asks a player if that is a real gun/sword/etc they have hidden on them Go to Comment
102) Brief moment of quiet as traffic stops/clears and all conversations pause at the same time. Crystal Moments like this are rare.
103) Eight giggly women wearing pink cowboy hats accost the players. A woman wearing a sash that says "Lanas hen night" tries to persuade a male character to donate his underwear to her scavenger hunt list.
104) A new driver, with shiny new learners permit, accidentally jumps the curb.
105) Bride or groom comes running out of a building and asks the PCs if they will be witnesses.
106) A guy breaking into a car with a coat hanger. The car's alarms are blaring and people are just walking by, ignoring the whole thing, and definitely not calling the cops.
107) Mimes have infested the street and try to climb invisible ropes in front of a clearly unappreciative audience.
108) Two overall clad workmen are carrying sheets of glass from oneside of the road to the other where there's a skip. The panes of glass have large black Xs across them in tape. There's no obvious construction going on within a block of this event.
109) A van and a car stop at a red light. When the light turns green, the van doesn't start to move immediately, and the car behind starts to honk. Still the van doesn't move. The car's driver jumps out, holding a tire iron, and starts to walk towards the van, screaming obscenities. The van's doors open and four much larger men pile out, screaming back. The car's driver jumps back into his vehicle and locks the door. The four men from the van keep screaming and aim a few heavy kicks at the car's panels before climbing back into the van and driving away.
110) A church is next to a medical center. The church has a banner outside reading "spiritual healing" and people handing out fliers. The medical center has a banner reading "actual medicine" and people handing out fliers.
111) Some hustler follows you down the block, offering to sell you weed. Failing that he will begin to name every other kind of drug possible, hoping to make a sale. He says it all very very fast and very very quietly, so the whole thing sounds like of like, "Smokesmokeweedweedacidecstasyspeedcokecrackjunk?"
112) Woman or man approaches you at a train or bus station with a long complicated story of how he/she was pickpocketed and now has to borrow money to buy a ticket home in another city where his/her young children are waiting. If you suggest contacting the police they will spin an excuse and get evasive. Go to Comment
125) A drunk couple get it on against the wall behind a dumpster.
126) In an alley, a homeless looks at you from the "comforts" of their cardboard home.
127) Car stops, dazed-looking fellow leans out the window and asks if you know anywhere he could 'score'.
128) A man gives you a pamphlet explaining how the Korans anticipated modern scientific discoveries.
129) A well dressed man, neatly groomed, wearing a tinfoil skull cap under his hat, walks by.
130) From an open window you can hear and then spy a ten-year-old girl playing the violin rather well.
131) On a corner one guy with a guitar, another playing an assortment of plastic buckets, and three others singing in harmony are making fairly good music for an impromptu band.
132) You walk into a shop and the theft alarm goes off.
133) When the PC's are in a hurry, the crossing gates ahead begin to drop, and there's the deep whistle of the oncoming train. Alternatively, there is already a train in the crossing, and there's no alternative to stopping.
134) A flustered woman drops her shopping.
135) A pedestrian and a bicycle messenger in an argument
137) A bike messenger speeding along, pops the curb and deftly weaves between people on the sidewalk.
138) A bike messenger impacts the side of a cab.
139) A pack of bike messengers descend on a fast food place.
140) Something growls at you from the gloom of an alley. It sounds like a big cat (lion, tiger, etc). If you actually investigate, there is nothing there and there are no traces of such a creatuer.
141) A freight elevator emerges from the sidewalk.
142) Left over holiday lights blink from a lightpole.
143) A church's bells sound the hour.
144) A pack of twentysomethings dressed for a formal events emerge from a building and head on down the street.
145) A man pushes two racks of dresses covered in clear plastic.
146) An exotically dressed woman pushes a smaller rack behind him. Three people with sketchpads, phones, and a number of boxes orbit around her.
147) A car backfires. A suprising number of people dive for the ground.
148) A series of loud banging noises come out of a nearby construction zone.
149) Two young lover run up to each other and being a serious display of public affection.
150) A man on a unicycle juggles three McD's bags as he weaves through the crowd.
151) A kid on a skateboard jacks a ride off the back of a truck.
152) In a store window, a living mannequin sneazes, swears, and gets back into character.
153) An older man on an bicycle, powered by an electric motor, wizzes by.
154), Someone unfurls what could be an 300 foot extension cord as they walk along. The cord trails back to a nearby storefront. Go to Comment
Locations (Area) (Space)