BITN - 101 Scary Stories
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As many of you know, @tragedyjones is starting up a new a MU, called Bump In The Night. TJ has also announced that we will be opening on March 1. So far, we've had a lot of good suggestions and positive feedback, and I want to keep on doing what's worked, and reach out to you all for some ideas.
The premise behind Bump In The Night is mortal (or mostly mortal) people confronting and fighting the World of Darkness. Monsters lurk in the shadows, predators lurk dark alleys, and the things that simply cannot be keep jumping out and going "boo". We are looking to gather up seed ideas for short stories, plots, interesting NPCs, species of monsters, etc, that we can use to feed this game. We will not rely on a large meta plot to keep the game moving (though there surely will be some long-running elements), but instead short stories, of the "tell in the dark" variety.
So, MuSoapBox, we all would love if you can contribute! Please give me stories! I'm looking for small pitches (5 to 20 words or so) for stories that you would like to see happening in game. Think of it as something like "a pitch for a Goosebumps book" (except, ya know, we don't have to be PG rated). If you got something you think is good but don't want it going public, go ahead and message me!
Example:
Abandoned amusement park haunted by ghosts.
Mutant bed bugs/lice outbreak.(Note: BITN is using the CofD book exclusively, both for rules and to define our world. Our monsters will be drawn from lore, legend, and popular fiction. Vampire are not those things described in V:tR, but instead those things that lurk in the dark and drink blood. Let your creativity run amok!)
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A hospital that's home to various monsters, perhaps all of the same family.
The ER that has a higher rate of fatalities that can be explained by statistics because one such monster is feeding off the life force of those who are grievously hurt enough that their death is assumed to be from what happened to them.
The coma ward where every patient is low on blood except no one checks for that on someone in a coma. There's enough patients the monster can feed off their blood indefinitely.
The psych ward which has a lower rate of violent incidents because another monster is feeding off their psychic energy, placating the insane and keeping them partially sedated. The staff just count their blessings.
The morgue where nothing appears out of the ordinary at all. Except that corpses get sewn up after autopsies without some of their organs. The coroner has an appetite that can't be satisfied by Red Robin.
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People start being found dead in their rooms. The only common element is they were playing online video games when they died (all of them are using the same local ISP - a coincidence obviously).
Then turn the plot into The Last Starfighter using whatever game-inside-the-game you want and PCs stuck in its universe playing it for keeps until they win.
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Oneriophages eating people's hopes and dreams, piece by piece.
Supernatural parasites that feed off of rage. They lay eggs in someone, and then the larvae hatch, crawl their way under the skin to the base of the victim's brain, and start stimulating his or her angers. Once sated with rage, they burst out of the body in a swarm, scatter, and infest new hosts.
An unearthed book that contains traces of a language no one's ever seen before. A living language, that worms its way into the reader's mind, creating obsession and madness as it tries to reclaim its previous vocabulary and infect others.
Munchhausen's by Proxy by means of psychokinesis. (I actually have a whole plot worked up for this one that I've never gotten to run.)
The Midnight Song. Heard by some people at midnight on a station that's normally dead air. The listener commits suicide or homicide soon after, but doesn't understand why, only that they must.
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Probably the best thing anyone has ever sent me for RP...
http://files.meetup.com/1458847/1372-roadside-encounters.pdf
So... I have nothing really specific in mind, but always found that helpful, if anyone's ever stuck on what to do, even for just quick normal scenes. Figured this was as good a place as any to share
It's not always completely relevant, but some good ideas/starting points. -
- A state hospital with mental patients sees an upsurge in violent activity, and most patients have different stories of something strange bothering them at night.
- "He took her home from the bar and was found dead the next day."
- The haunted stories of the forest from the summer camp seemed fun...until we found Mary Barton's cabin.
- Something whispers to me through the drain in the shower.
- People begin receiving links to YouTube videos of people watching them sleep, filmed inside of the room.
- A local internet blogger's feed shows his descent into madness and suicide, but when you click frame-by-frame...something shows up in the room.
- A popular paranormal TV show hires local experts to be their guides for an overnight in a violently haunted place.
- Bodies have been found in an apartment complex. Their bodies were found half-fused into the wall, with no visible breaks. We thought it was just one apartment building...but it's happening next door.
- "Confess your sins". Someone, something, is coming for sinners, and bodies are being found with communion wafers in their mouths.
- Mortals recreating the events of movies like: The Purge, The Crow, You're Next, or The Strangers.
- A man walked into the diner tonight saying that he has something to show us. No matter how hard we try...we cannot find a way out of the diner.
- " Thousands of snakes surround the cabin, as far as the eye can see. We can hear them. We're running out of food. Jake thinks we should make a run for it..."
- "Something is chasing her. If we can keep her alive until dawn...the curse ends."
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Anything to do with invisible children that have that terrifying giggle. Toystores, daycares, playgrounds, that sort of thing.
Every time a PC enters a room with a television or radio, it goes to snow. If they concentrate really hard, the PC and only the PC and hear a distorted voice in the interference.
The PC's bellybutton is now a portal to another dimension. A dimension of lint and insects.
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@Pyrephox said:
(I actually have a whole plot worked up for this one that I've never gotten to run.)
We are going to make a big effort to enable non-staff story tellers. That's one of the reasons why we're gathering this list, so we have ideas we can have people pull from and run. I've found there's a fair number of people willing to run things, just not having an idea ready when they're inspired.
@tragedyjones is also working on a storyteller role, which will give some of the meager "tools" we have available to those that are interested in storytelling regularly (but are not staffers). I won't say more on it, cause I don't know any more!
And for everyone else, thank you! This is great stuff, keep it coming.
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@skew said:
@Pyrephox said:
(I actually have a whole plot worked up for this one that I've never gotten to run.)
We are going to make a big effort to enable non-staff story tellers. That's one of the reasons why we're gathering this list, so we have ideas we can have people pull from and run. I've found there's a fair number of people willing to run things, just not having an idea ready when they're inspired.
@tragedyjones is also working on a storyteller role, which will give some of the meager "tools" we have available to those that are interested in storytelling regularly (but are not staffers). I won't say more on it, cause I don't know any more!
And for everyone else, thank you! This is great stuff, keep it coming.
Yaaaaaaay! I love storytelling, when I'm in the mood for it.
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- Rats invading houses/apartments, they live in the walls, the scratching is the only warning before they start coming for pets, children, sickly and infirm.
- What is in the taco meat? It's the best damned taco cart in the city, nobody knows the formula or even where they buy the ingredients...
- A lawyer who can get anyone out of jail with insanity defense, but they are always assigned to the same psych ward and never get better...
- C.H.U.D.'s. (Cuz it haz to happen)
- Excavating a foundation for a building finds ancient artifacts, and releases things better left forgotten...
- Lunatic Fringe. A rash of wild dog attacks have been making people go crazy on the full moon like temporary rabies madness.
- Pet's coming back to life after being buried down in the local park, someone eventually tries it with a person...
- A local church has an actual exorcist... and eventually he succumbs and starts performing unecessary exorcisms that /implant/ seeds of demons.
Hello! Long time listener, first time caller...
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@Lithium Oh God yes, CHUD babies. It's impossible for people to not have an opinion on CHUDs
Delete the Hog Pit. It'll be fun.
I really don't understand He-Man -
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
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@Arkandel Oh, God, I'm sorry.
DO NOT GOOGLE CHUD FROM WORK
The least gruesome way to explain CHUD is this: You've all heard horror stories about a baby alligator flushed down a toilet, and then in the sewers it becomes an horrific monster that kills people? Well...CHUD is the same story, just replace alligator with human
Delete the Hog Pit. It'll be fun.
I really don't understand He-Man -
@Ghost Or... "C.H.U.D. is an acronym for "Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller"."
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@skew The Hills Have Eyes...in the sewers.
Delete the Hog Pit. It'll be fun.
I really don't understand He-Man -
@Ghost Yeah someone else can run that one. I have my limits. >.<
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Just an update I don't think we will have a special Storyteller slot anymore, at least not initially.
I'm a rodeo clown.
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Man... I would love to run into some CHUD types sometimes... and now I need to rewatch CHUD again...
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@tragedyjones said:
Just an update I don't think we will have a special Storyteller slot anymore, at least not initially.
What's a Storyteller slot?
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
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@Arkandel said:
@tragedyjones said:
Just an update I don't think we will have a special Storyteller slot anymore, at least not initially.
What's a Storyteller slot?
He's referring to what I mentioned above, in response to Pyrephox. It's an idea we'd kicked around, but we're not going to be using (at least, not initially).
