Adventures Wanted 2

[ffutures]

How could I have forgotten this? The other game I'm planning to run this weekend is a Diana: Warrior Princess variant Elvis, the Legendary Tours. I have the same problem of needing up to six characters for the adventure.

I know that three of them will be Elvis, a bard searching for the lost magical Land of Grace, and his sidekicks Vlad Lennon and "Senator" Joe McCartney. I need three more, all of Guest Star status (e.g. moderately powerful).

The setting will probably be a mythologised America, so one possibility is riverboat gambler Wild Bill Gates, but I think something with more musical relevance would be better. For the convention game I might nick the idea of a druid variant of Buddy Holly from Pratchett, but that's not going to be something I can write up for publication.

So - any quick ideas on this? Need to get the characters written up and printed out today!

I'll post the list and stats of the Forgotten Futures characters later today - still writing them up.

Comments

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Howard Hughes? Jack Kerouac? The MC5? Lou Reed?

[timill]

The legendary trio of Richardson, Holly and Valens?

[timill]

Richardson, of course, carries a large club, so they're probably itinerant warriors or something...

[jonnynexus.livejournal.com]

It's not really musical, but how about...

...Clinton "The President" Eastwood, the legendary cigar-smoking, woman-shagging gun-slinger who as leader of the "Feds" defended America against the dark forces of Alan "Al" Qaeda before he was deposed and exiled by a conspiracy led by evil puritanical sun-worshiping clerics and their leader, known only as "Star".

[jonnynexus.livejournal.com]

A colleague of mine just pointed out that Elvis's managed was Colonel Tom Parker, and you might be able to make something out of that. (He suggested possibly fusing him with Parker from Thunderbirds, although I think that might be a bit of a stretch). :)

[original-aj.livejournal.com]

The Materiel Girl, seeking new idea to rip-off and repackage?

Bruce "Rumpled" Stiltskin, who can magically weave gold disk winning hits overnight?

Cher Nobyl, who has a mysterious secter which keeps her ever young?

I'll stop before the puns get any worse!

[blankbadge.livejournal.com]

Ulric Clapton - Norse warrior

Iron Duke Ellington

Calamity Jim Hendrix

[ci5rod.livejournal.com]

Van Halen the vampire hunter?

For some reason my brain is currently stuck on the idea of King Martin Luthor, but that doesn't really help you.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Actually the main Diana game already has King Martin Luthor as one of the rulers of parts of America, a theocracy of course; the other parts are a benign monarchy ruled by Emperor Norton and Uncle Sam's military dictatorship (he's obviously recruiting a huge army).

Thanks to everyone who's commenting, I'll hopefully announce the "team" tonight.

[jonnynexus.livejournal.com]

Okay, one more which is musical, albeit sick...

Whack O'Jacko, an evil child-stealing bogeyman, with a pied-piper style ability to entice children from their parents, combined with the power of shapeshifting: one day he might appear as a black man, the next he might appear as a white woman.

[jonnynexus.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think that would be better as "Whack O'Jack" (to rhyme with "crackerjack").

[jonnynexus.livejournal.com]

And of course, there would be his beguiling yet evil magical realm of Neverland.

Must stop, this is getting sick... :)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Sounds very suitable to be an NPC villain, but not a player character.

[jonnynexus.livejournal.com]

Yes, sorry, I meant him as a villain, but forgot to say.

(Got a bit too excited thinking up concepts and forgot about the original objective. I have to say that you've come up with a really fun setting: it really gets the creative juices flowing when you start thinking of how to warp and mix 19th and 20th century figures.)

[jonnynexus.livejournal.com]

Okay, a final version presented purely because I'm enjoying myself, and in the full knowledge that it has absolutely no relevance whatsoever to the original task that this thread posed.

=====================

Whack O'Jack

Whack O'Jack is a nightmare figure, a bogeyman who entices children with his beguiling singing, and steals them away to Neverland, his dark and disturbing mystical realm. It is even said that he once abducted all the children from the far-away town of Hamelin¹ when the inhabitants no longer wished to hear him sing.

Whack O'Jack has many guises, for not only is he a man of many costumes, he is also that most feared of things: a shapeshifter. On one day he might appear as an attractive young black man, a smiling minstrel, bringing happiness and cheer; on another he might take on the visage of a horribly ravaged and aged white woman, causing fear and loathing in all who see him.

¹Yes, I am aware that the Pied Piper legends date from the 13th century, but if we, now, can portray a 5th century King Arthur wearing armour from the 15th century, I can't see why the people of the 30th century couldn't get confused between events in the 20th and 13th centuries.

[cdybedahl.livejournal.com]

"Doc" and Billie Holliday, travelling healers who cure the ailing with the powers of sixshooters and blues.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I like!

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

You could just compress it to Doc Holliday, and smoosh Bille and Doc together, a la Louis Pasteur (who would also make a good character for this sort of thing).

[jonnynexus.livejournal.com]

I do like the idea of having both of them, but I suppose you could use the ambiguity of the name Billie (girls name if spelt that way, but usually thought of as a boys name) and have it as Billy "Doc" Holliday, a male jazz singer with healing powers.

[jonnynexus.livejournal.com]

Okay, slightly lame...

A pair of traveling minstrels called Aladdin Sane (long red hair, lightning bolt thing on face) and The Thin White Duke?

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

Possibly something with Stevie "Wonder" Jobs, an incredibly cool musician who plays only Arctic White instruments and who's threatening the dominance of the Big Record Labels?

As he's a long-time opponent of Wild Bill Gates, you have a tie-in...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I've now posted the stats for the adventurers as a separate post. All comments very gratefully received.