Quinns' Campaign Diaries, Vol 1 Pt 2
Added 2025-08-22 12:06:36 +0000 UTCComments
Couldn't be more late to the party but u wanted to jump in as well. This crowd always has the coolest ideas. For Jackie, what if you had an antagonist that was equally as clever like the night fox in oceans 12 and that person could also use flashbacks? I don't know if that would feel like you're cheating your players but could be a great challenge for Jackie. The soulless body coming after the husk is absolutely brilliant. Those are the types of ideas that got me into rpgs in general
Jacob LaBruzzo
2025-11-01 16:30:06 +0000 UTCI'm a fair bit late to the conversation, but I was reading through this while I absolutely should have been paying attention to a meeting at work and had a few ideas come to mind! Jackie's situation makes me immediately think of Johnny Silverhand from Cyberpunk 2077... at least to some degree. Could there be a situation where niche groups that listen to Jackie's band are influenced to start doing things and citing her band as their reason? Maybe their IDs are named after the members in the band, or some other homage to the lyrics. Something where the band, even if it isn't "huge", is influencing other people to act on the lyrics/message. Cassian could easily fit in this as well, with their tendrils being deep in the advocacy/activist circles. They could be going to a protest led by a group that is influenced by Jackie's band and the conversation leading up to it could perk up the ears of everyone in the party. Or maybe a sign/poster that Cassian brings back is a direct quote from one of the band's songs and Jackie picks up on it almost immediately?
David Stephanoff
2025-09-08 15:54:32 +0000 UTCYes! Gangs acting as concert security is so good. Jackie's actually already being tapped on the shoulder to spy on Stubbs and report back, as he's a new technology gone rogue, so we're thinking along exactly the same lines
Quinns Quest
2025-09-03 02:00:28 +0000 UTCWriting down "Cecilia experiences love at first sight" as a Devil's Bargain right now. There's actually a faction in Blades '68 which is a one-man operation, a legendary catburglar called Silk, and he could take an interest in stealing... Cecilia's heart.
Quinns Quest
2025-09-03 01:58:00 +0000 UTCRegarding Cecilia Buildings, a 60’s staple for me will always be Thomas Pynchon’s “The Crying of Lot 49”. In it, the protagonist is contacted one day out of the blue and informed that her wealthy ex-lover has passed away and she’s been named executer of his will. That, and the name of a law firm, is quite literally all the information she gets, and it leads her on a paranoid and confusing journey. I wonder if offering Cecilia an obligation/request from her past - specifically a sentimental one - might help diffuse her snark. It might also give you a chance to engage with her in flashbacks with emotional stakes. If you place her in a time in her life when she was still in the process of becoming herself, you could even make an easy devil’s bargain: she can just have this information/resource/benefit IF she’s willing to be vulnerable. I’m also curious, if duskvol is in the 60’s what would little glimpses of Cecilia’s past in the 50’s look like?
SpongeGunderson
2025-08-27 14:10:02 +0000 UTCAnd Stubbs is the easiest to me. Cos I love a good villain. Stubbs is everything that a person hated about themselves. He has been made entirely of someone else's regrets. I would imagine he is only has memories that are shameful or embarrassing, only capable of feeling the feelings nobody likes feeling. Your detective is exactly who will make Stubbs question whether you deserve to exist, if you can only ever be the 'worst' parts of a person
Jack Lightfoot
2025-08-25 02:37:08 +0000 UTCIn general, non interactive fiction, the key to any good character arc is putting success in the opposite place to where their strengths lie, and where that strengths might actually be a flaw. Scrooge's strength is economical, but to be the person he needs to be, that skill is a hindrance. Jackie's strength is her ability to hide herself, by that's maybe hurting her need to be recognised. She needs another hit because people are forgetting her like a one hit wonder, and she needs to risk being noticed. Cos she needs to be notice. Does Cassians strong ethics lead him to trust the wrong people? Does he need to do what's right, or does he just need to be right?
Jack Lightfoot
2025-08-25 02:29:48 +0000 UTCFor Cecilia: if the question of "can you succeed" not enough, you need a more complex question and more complex actions. Some one having success and carrying the band is bound to cause strain. What does a person who can always succeed do when there's nothing good that comes with that success? Do they turn to drugs, and push people even further away. Can they relinquish their ego enough to let someone else succeed? Put the thing they need or want most behind the most difficult challenge: lame, embarrassing, humble failure.
Jack Lightfoot
2025-08-25 02:20:55 +0000 UTCI took some time to brainstorm, I hope you can find something useful! The Inspector could be a high level agent in an organization trying to crack down on obscenity. This puts him in direct conflict with anything that can influence teens into government-unapproved lifestyles like sex, drugs, rock music, racing, certain clubs, and non-white communities. Like a character, this organization should definitely have a catchphrase like, "On orders from The Inspector" whenever the law tightens its grip. As The Inspector has no soul, maybe he's partial to hiring police that also have no soul which makes a sort of "clone army" of The Inspector, letting players know who he is without ever meeting him. Maybe you can't do a flashback to affect soulless people, they can't be bribed or convinced, they will never support the players they only support the government. Another way to make The Inspector hard to kill could be making him the only person with authority in the police that supports the immigrant community Cassian supports. Presumably being soulless should be tragic, they don't support any form of art as their entire life is grey, and they're estranged from the family they once had. How surreal would it be if The Inspector's ex, sibling, or parents tries to talk to Stubbs. It seems like Cassian's politics should be very against what happened to Stubbs so that would help balance out the political and non-political characters. Of course, framing Cassian's politics as a gateway into (and out of) the good graces of certain organizations would help. If the police/government is directly involved in the lives and missions of other characters that starts bringing politics to the forefront. There could also be several immigrant communities all being helped by the players but end up at odds with each other. Each of these communities could have different players and lifestyles they do support or disapprove of. Ultimately there should be scenes where players must choose which set of politics/contacts to back in their various endeavors, especially if Cassian's politics supports both groups. Also, if they're selling fake IDs, maybe they sell various exemptions like for the draft or musicians unions (USA & Britain had a one-in one-out policy). Maybe they can print records too. For Jackie, plenty of music artists have linked up with criminal organizations and gangs (like Hell's Angels) have acted as concert security. Musicians are fighting for venues (like Whiskey a Go Go), record deals, movie deals (like Ferry Cross the Mersey), TV time (like Top of the Pops), and radio (like the new FM and pirate radio stations). You could show other bands getting more airplay by linking up with a specific social scene or corporate interests. Jackie may feel like this is the best way to be successful. Also adding someone to the band who's from a non-white community can be a way of doing that and making for more press coverage (like the bands Santana or Sly and the Family Stone). Cecilia needs more going on to give them sub-objectives or alternative objectives to the rest of the party. It makes for more complex decisions and compromises for the puzzle-prone player. It can be tricky when their backstory is so light though. Jackie could be tapped by The Inspector to spy on a band scene, then bring Cecilia along to spy on a racing scene. If soulless can't be controlled by flashback then it could really stymie any efforts to double cross them. Another thing could be a personal nemesis who studies Cecilia and knows/anticipates all of her tricks. Anyone messing with her out-of-mission activities could be a fun subplot too. You could also give other players knowledge and history that Cecilia just wouldn't have.
Hello
2025-08-24 18:57:13 +0000 UTCWhat if Jackie's band got asked to play for a big music festival destined to rouse public opinion about something, Woodstock-style? That should spark some conversation between her and Cassian. You could make it so Jackie sees it more as a way to fame, and Cassian will of course try to persuade her that there's something more to it. The rest of the music band might use the upcoming event to prove to themselves that they're more than average, especially one of them who is addicted to drugs and is trying to get clean. His dealer would not be very pleased by that, especially since the musician owes him and his gang a lot of money (the gang might act during the festival to up the stakes). And guess who's on the gang's heels? Our friend the police inspector, completely insensitive to music 'cause he has no soul. By the way, making it so the player learn that the soul and its previous body still share a bond could solve the 'too-easy-to-kill' issue. If the body dies, the soul vanishes. If the soul's new container is destroyed, the old body dies... As for Cecilia, putting her into a trap situation where her only option is to lose someone or something dear to her might work. I've just read a book where a character deemed himself above his companions but just had one of his legs chopped off, which will surely change the way he consider others now that he depends on them.
Chips
2025-08-24 18:19:18 +0000 UTCA thought on Jackie. Perhaps another band member gets hooked on a new drug that's doing the rounds. Maybe the dealer recognises her when they deliver a consignment backstage or during a rehearsal. Possibly Jackie recognises them? An opportunity for blackmail, criminal rivalry or alliance? Or does she cares enough about the band member to do whatever it takes to get them clean?
Mike P
2025-08-24 16:43:39 +0000 UTCThe playlists are fantastic, audio is something I need to experiment more with in my games. Made my day to read where you've taken the Teddy Boy idea.
Mike P
2025-08-24 16:26:09 +0000 UTC
