Concept Pitch: The DCC/MCC Holiday Advent(ure) Calendar?

You ever have an idea for a project that just tickles the back of your brain for days and weeks and months and years upon end? This is that project for me.

For several years, I've thought about producing an RPG Holiday Advent(ure) Calendar. (See what I did there?) This would be a collection of 25 one-page adventures that would be released one each day from Dec. 1 through 25, much like an advent calendar. Each day of the holiday season - YAY - new adventure! And on the last day, all 25 would be bundled up into one compilation and made available to everyone. I always though this would be a neat little holiday "gift" that would be fun to produce and to have.

So why haven't I jumped on the horse and started this project? Several reasons:

1. I usually remember it around mid-November, when it's faaaar too late to try to get something like this written and in hands by Dec. 1.

2. I produced a similar project titled One Year in The Savage AfterWorld, which is a collection of 52 micro-adventures for Mutant Future and, honestly, it'd be tough from me to crank out 25 brand-new concepts that don't repeat a few within that tome.

3. Writing 25 one-pagers for one system would be overkill, because what if someone doesn't play that specific RPG? Or worse, what if I tried to write 25 one-pagers for 25 different systems? Then I'd have at least one of interest for everyone, but 24 other adventures they could care less about.

However, with the DCC/MCC system, there's enough similarity - yet variety - to make this work. There could be one-page encounters for DCC; some for MCC; some for the Shudder Mountains; some for Dark Frontiers; and Lahnkmar and Empire of the East and Dying Earth and Purple Planet and Umerica and I'm missing a TON of other settings. And all of these are compatible with each other, as mixing and matching is what it's all about.

I haven't decided yet whether this is the year or not, but what would be easiest for me would be to put out the clarion call for folks who wanted to contribute. I envision "drop-in" single encounters rather than multiple room dungeon crawls. (For what I envision, check out any of my Dangerous Encounter posts here at TSAW.) I hope that this post will both prompt me to put pen to paper and get started and/or that others who are interested in contributing might toss their hat into the ring.

Gameable Concept: "The Underwar"

Hi gang! Miss me?

Yesterday, I came up with an interesting gameable “concept,” but nothing really applicable for any games I’m currently running or anything I’m planning on writing up in the future. So I’ll toss this out there for anyone who may want it for their own use: “The Underwar”

The ground shudders and shakes, as if a moderate earthquake were striking the area. Far-away muffled screams and shouts can be occasionally heard on the winds, but no one reacts. The people who live here go about their business, as if these sounds and tremors were commonplace. In this land, the military has a very strong presence: recruitment takes place on every corner, factories on the edge of town produce massive amounts of weapons and armament, and most individuals are wearing uniforms and other regalia marking them as soldiers. Occasionally, a massive battalion of heavily-armed troops will march out of town to much fanfare, walking off into the distance. But there is no heavy combat in the area or, in fact, anywhere in the lands. The skies are clear and all seems quiet, although there are those occasional earth-shaking tremors and faint shrieks of rage…

If asked, any one of the townspersons confirms that they are indeed at war “with Those Below.” For years, the lands have been under attack by underground dwellers. Monsters? Humanoids? Invaders from Below? None of the civilians are certain. Those Below never come to the surface, preferring instead to attack from underneath – digging and burrowing causing the buildings (and people) aboveground to fall into the cavernous depths below. The only way to stop them was to take the battle to them.

About 3 miles away, there is monstrous cave opening nearly 1 mile wide that leads into the cave complex deep within the earth. Just within the cavern, the military has set up a massive command center complete with barracks, armory, hospital, etc. From this staging area, they defend the opening keeping Those Below from ever encroaching the surface. Also from here, they enter the tunnels and caverns, fighting Those Below in their own domain. The cave network varies from narrow nooks and crannies barely wide enough for one unarmed person, to cave rooms big enough for an entire kingdom to fit within. Full skirmishes and battles have taken place in these thunderous halls, with massive explosions and the sounds of battle echoing throughout the cave chambers, being heard and felt aboveground.

The kingdom is fully engulfed in a war no one ever sees.