Welcome one and all, to the comfy corner of Uncle Peter! Gamers of all styles, settings and systems find something on Gamers Web to satisfy those cravings for scenarios, reviews and such like. Here in the corner however we’re going to concentrate on mainly fantasy RPG’s. None of that angst ridden, cyberpunky "deep" nonsense here. Just plenty of good old Dungeon crawling and Monster bashing, treasure hunting fun. Most of you can probably tell just from the above that Uncle Peter’s game of choice is ..... AD&D! So, without further ado, onto the good stuff.

Ask any long time Gamesmaster what the secret to running a successful campaign is, and they’ll probably all give you the same answer- inspiration. After a while dungeon bashing and Orc killing can get a little repetitive (or so I am told). So if your campaign is getting a tad dull, or you just cant seem to get anything off the ground, steal an idea! Most films and TV programmes have at least one good idea worth "borrowing". After all, if they didn't then we wouldn’t be watching them, would we? The main points to bear in mind when using an idea from a film or programme are:

Once you’ve got these two points in mind, you can turn to the business of looting the cast store of Moviedom for ideas, but if you’re an AD&D DM wanting to use a Star Trek episode, or a Shadowrun ref whose choice of movie is, say, Legend? Don't worry about it. Most ideas are fairly generic anyway, and the ones that aren’t can be tweaked to fit your system of choice. To refer back to the above example of Predator, the only thing fixing the movie to the modern day is the presence of the mercs guns. It could easily be any future group, ranging from a Federation away team, to a group of Mutant Chronicles Freelancers in the Venusian jungles. Remove the weaponry, and you could have any group of fantasy characters, hunted by anything from an invisible demon to a crafty mage. And since the whole idea is just a rehash of the movie "The Hounds of Zaroff" anyway, the story can be placed anywhere you fancy.

The majority of film plots share this basic nature, and can be altered to fit your setting with a little effort and common sense. It really does help to have a firm grasp of the plot of the source material though, so try to watch it at least two or three times before adapting it. This will allow you to prepare the background properly, and also cement over any of the plot holes common in the average Hollywood production. In some cases a GM is fortunate enough to come across a movie perfectly suited for adaptation to a gaming session, such films as The Warriors, The Terminator, Aliens and Dusk ‘til Dawn. These films in particular are suited to gaming plots, with PCs being hunted down by powerful enemies for something they haven’t done yet, or something they have seen. Most RPGs could see the party sent to investigate a missing colony and then trapped there, whether by shipwreck on an island, or on an isolated planet. The plot of monsters running a bar is another of those timeless ideas. Almost ever setting has bars of some description and Vampires can of course fit into many different systems very easily, but if you find that they don't work, then change them for something else capable of transforming its victims.

There are even a few games out there that are ideal for entire campaigns based on movies. Feng Shui, one of my favourite games is one such system, based on Hong Kong action movies, with a setting that includes everything from futuristic Cyborgs, and crazed scientists to Demons and swordsmen from the past, along with modern day gangsters and superpowered martial artists. Another favourite is the excellent Deadlands, a horror-western, with an endless, and obvious source of inspiration. With several other RPGs available that are directly based on movies such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Aliens and even Dracula, movie loving GM’s should be able to bring the pizzazz back into even the most jaded of campaigns. And, who knows, once your players realise just how much fun it can be to run into the monsters and villains of TV and film they may never go back to a normal campaign again.

Scenario Suggestions:

The following ideas have been written for fantasy games, mainly AD&D, but can be adapted to other settings fairly easily.

Get the players to generate humanoid characters, (Orcs and Goblins would work best). A powerful leader has gathered the Orcish tribes together, proclaiming them as the strongest of the races, they outnumber their enemies, they are mighty, united they can prevail. Then a traitor strikes, a band of adventurers disgused as Orcs strike down the leader, then blame the pcs! Now they must get back to their own territory, all the while pursued by the other tribes, all hungry for blood! The scenario would work best over a few game sessions, set in a mountain range or other difficult and isolated terrain.

A small colony of explorers was sent to a far away island to mine for rare minerals and prepare the island (by magic) for more colonists. Recently the messages from the island (by magic) stopped coming, and the Pcs are sent off by ship to investigate. Upon arrival they are shipwrecked, then find a colony of Thri-Krenn (or other insectiod race), that has taken the colonists to feed upon.

The Pcs find themselves hunted by a powerful, and unstoppable enemy (a golem or powerful Undead) for seemingly no reason. If they can defeat it, another more powerful comes after them. If the pcs try they can track the creature back to a powerful mage, with no reason to want them dead. If they confront him, he confesses that he divined that they would kill him sometime in the future. Knowing role-players, they probably will. If not they end up in a time loop, as they create a paradox, and have to hunt down and kill the mage after all.

I know that these aren’t entirely faithful adaptations (especially the Terminator), but the scenario has to have some twists, or your players will figure it out too soon. With these ideas and a few trips to the local video store, or cinema you too can be a truly plagiaristic GM. After a few scenarios based on movies, you’ll be brimming with your own ideas again.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you in the comfy corner again soon.

Uncle Peter.