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Japanese Ghost Story plot ideas...

Started by Gamer Printshop, July 16, 2009, 01:38:01 PM

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Gamer Printshop

I plan to post several Kaidan storyline ideas - I know this is more plot development more than world building, but perhaps you can offer critigues and comments to help me develop them.

GP
Michael Tumey
RPG Map printing for Game Masters
World's first RPG Map POD shop
 http://www.gamer-printshop.com

Gamer Printshop

Accusations and Actuation...

The PCs arrive into a peasant village, but finds everyone slaughtered by some unknown band of ronin, bandits or monsters. Wounds depict sword cuts rather than claw and bite, however. Over fifty people have been killed and some buildings put to the torch. As the party just leaves the village, a lone boy is crying while standing in a rice paddy. It will be difficult to reach the boy to rescue him. Just then a band of peasant vigilantes reach the boy from the other side. The boy is crying and telling his sad story, then points in the direction of the passing PCs. The vigilante band looks at up at the PCs and cry out "Murderers!". Though the party wants to profess their innocence, the vigilantes are convinced the they are the culprits and mean to hang them all. So the PCs run.

Though they escape, each night after a day's travel, each experience the attack on the village from the point of view of the attackers, and slowly the story of the assault becomes revealed. Sometimes they see the crying boy enter the chamber or campsite they are currently sleeping at point at the PCs and say "There they are!" Which causes everyone to wake up in a cold sweat, but no boy, no vigilantes, all is normal and quiet.

The nightmares continue and get worse showing one of the party members caught and hung. Before the original village's story is fully revealed, the party arrives at another village of the mysteriously slaughtered. They see a party of samurai, and the SAME BOY crying and pointing to the PC party. "Demons!" cry the samurai and give chase.

Finally while sleeping in some cow barn off the main road, trying to avoid public contact, they wake seeing a small child entering enter into the darkness. Should any of the PCs react violently, it turns out to be a young local girl coming to the barn to find her lost puppy - but she is accidently killed by the PCs. Now they have blood on their hands - and are now guilty of the crime.

Of course the little girl will become an Onryo vengeance ghost and will join the Demon-boy in pointing out the murderous band of PCs...

... haven't figured out how this story ends, but it has ghostly possibilities!

GP
Michael Tumey
RPG Map printing for Game Masters
World's first RPG Map POD shop
 http://www.gamer-printshop.com

Gamer Printshop

The Kabuki Invoker:

The Kabuki Invoker: later in the PCs careers, when they've gotten some exploits under their belts, they venture into a city on some noble or samurai lord's errand. While staying there a famous Kabuki actor known to write original material in addition to renowned performances of legend and history, begins to write and perform paradies of local figures, corrupt or greedy lords and temple masters, district guild chiefs, police commanders often in scathing ways yet never directly names them. Sometimes he cast's local rulers as fishmongers or some other social disguise that at the same time depicts his failures in synonymous ways. Every once in a while the performance depicts the death of that individual in gruesome ways. Then within a day or so that paradied person is found dead in a similar manner as the performance.

Having been suspected he is placed under guard following a death performance, and is found to be secure within the entire time, yet the paradied person is still killed.

While this should be mysterious and thought provoking, when the PCs witness a performance that seems to be parodying the PC adventure party's exploits the real horror should begin...

GP
Michael Tumey
RPG Map printing for Game Masters
World's first RPG Map POD shop
 http://www.gamer-printshop.com

Gamer Printshop

The Spirit Shoji - a rural mountain depicts a beautiful woman crossing a wilderness bridge towards the misty mountains beyond painted on a 4 panel shoji. The woman is a ghost spirit who resides in the Shogi screen. Anyone who views the screen for a long period or on more than one occasion notices movements of birds from one place on the screen to another, the trees have been blown differently than before. If the woman disappears from the screen she has attached herself to that viewer. She appears in nightmares, she appears in the faces of various women, but when looked at again they are someone else. Finally she shows herself as a beautiful maiden seeking to lead the viewer "into the Shoji screen" and join her in her eternal painted mountain valley.

GP
Michael Tumey
RPG Map printing for Game Masters
World's first RPG Map POD shop
 http://www.gamer-printshop.com

Gamer Printshop

Well it seems I guess I don't need any help developing these adventure seed ghost story ideas. I posted the above three and one more at the Publisher's website forum and within hours of posting them, I find out they are being included right away into the two writers work I have for the project. So I don't have to develop them, they are doing it for me.

It seems as soon as I come up with interesting ideas they get incorporated immediately - bizzare!

Also regarding how good and prolific these writers are - I find it a struggle to come up with 500 words a day in trying to write a story/adventure, whereas these writers put out 2000 words a day. Which means that in five to ten days an adventure is complete - I just have to keep up with the maps and ideas! :)

GP
Michael Tumey
RPG Map printing for Game Masters
World's first RPG Map POD shop
 http://www.gamer-printshop.com