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 MainDisasterEspionageExplorationMysteryRescue/RecoveryRevenge |
The search for lost cities and fabulous treasure could be the focus of an entire sub-campaign -- hey, it works for that other RPG, right? Perhaps the characters' skills and abilities make them good recruits for a traveling treasure hunter or thrill-seeker, or perhaps the characters love the thrill of exploration themselves. Maybe circumstances, like a plane crash or other marooning, leave the characters little choice but to search for escape -- anywhere they can find it.
Just big guns and little, little shorts.
An exploration story gives the GM a chance to create fabulous locations -- haunted ruins, a rich shipwreck, a mystic mountain retreat, a lost civilization in the Amazon rain forest. There are many uncharted areas of the word, and plenty of chances to discover (duhn-duhn-DUHNN!!) That Which Is Not Yet Known. Odd treasures, deadly traps, exotic locales and lost tribes or hidden cults tempt the intrepid superhero to explore the outer reaches of the world -- and maybe beyond.
Lara Croft -- adventurer, explorer, archaeologist, and fabulous British babe who doesn't even try to build a career on her nonexistent musical talents. She deals mostly with traps, pits, hazards, obstacles, and a few animals. Sometimes, it doesn't even take a supervillain to make an adventure entertaining.
Exploration need not be intentional. Stranding the players on a desert island or in a hidden valley is a good place to start. But your players may quickly acquire a taste for going where no superhero has gone before. Let them. Exploration stories combine well with disasters, rescues/recoveries, revenge and romance. Any genre can be made more interesting with an exotic setting and an air of timeless mystery.
One team sponsor (this is best for "corporate" teams -- those sponsored by a corporation, government, or other wealthy patron) is a long-time treasure hunter who now wants the characters to join a dangerous Caribbean expedition in search of a huge pirate treasure. The only complication is a deadly rival, who wants the treasure for herself and will do anything -- anything -- to get it. Who will find the treasure first? Who will get to keep it?
A new hero appears on the scene. She's strange and exotic -- no one knows quite what to make of her -- and her powers and equipment are pretty unique. A lot of people would do anything to find out where she came from... and the characters happen to be around when someone tries to find out the hard way. When the kidnapping attempt fails, the new hero makes a run for it. Perhaps she hires the characters to help get home safely; maybe they just follow out of curiosity, honor, or even attraction.
The new hero's home (the journey there may be an adventure in itself, depending where/what you decide it is) is a bizarre, unknown land. Maybe it's another planet (Seeron?). Maybe it's another dimension (the Palladium World?). Maybe it's another time (Rifts Earth?). Maybe it's something that's been around for a long time, that nobody ever noticed/discovered, like a hidden undersea civilization, Shangri-La, or even the Nightlands. How do the characters enter the hero's home? Once there, how do they leave? More to the point, will they be allowed to? Perhaps the would-be kidnappers have followed the characters; What might happen when the two groups meet again? This kind of story goes well with rescue and romance tales; It's also a perfect adventure for fans of Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard, or other "lost world" pulp writers.
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