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Old 03-19-2016, 06:30 AM   #1
Rockwolf66
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Southern oregon
Default [Game] Island of the Lost

Hey All,

I have an idea for a game that I would like to try running.
The basic premise is that there is an Island that is the years most popular tourist destination. A tropical storm rolls in and a cruise ship uses the island for shelter. Once the storm passes it soon becomes Obvious that Dorthy has left Kansas far behind.

One of the first indications is a lack of communications with the outside world. The second is that there are new "animals" on the island. Third is that the Island was off the coast of Central America, now it's part of an Island chain.

The Island is no longer on it's Earth but in some other planet who knows where. At night the stars are all "Wrong" for anywhere near earth and there are two moons.

In addition to the Tourists and those making a living off of them there are several other factions on the Island.

The local "Coast Guard" base. While it was there to protect the tourists who knows how they will react to no longer having superiors.

A Volksstrum company made up of Mostly Hitler Youth. One Moment they were hoping that Soviet Rocket artillery didn't crush their bunker and the next they are on a tropical Island.

The Jungle tribe. I don't know what they are but they are using stone age tech.

The Coven, a group of spellcasters who have found their stronghold transported to a volcano in a strange land.

The Animals, It used to be that the largest animal native to the island were the Caiman, Now there are multiple large predators that want to find out if humans are good eating.

Would anyone like to help me flesh this out?
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Old 03-19-2016, 07:59 AM   #2
ericthered
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Default Re: [Game] Island of the Lost

Ok, questions for you:

Do the animals need to be real? are prehistoric animals game? what about the classics of fiction? what about totally alien creatures?

What time period do you want the coven to be from? Are they even from earth? What kind of magic do they use?

How big are each of the groups?

Does the jungle tribe do any hunting at all?

And finally, this one really matters:
What mechanism do you want for us to decide official answers? Do we provide a buffet of possibilities to you and then you answer them? Do we adopt the question/answer format of the thread whose tag you used in the title? Do we vote on them? Do we just keep throwing out possibilities without anything beyond the OP being fixed?
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Old 03-19-2016, 08:42 AM   #3
Sir Tifyable
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Sheffield, England
Default Re: [Game] Island of the Lost

One problem that you have to face is numbers... A Coast Guard station may have eight to twelve people; a Volksturm bunker maybe a dozen, a stone age village perhaps a hundred from babies up to the elders no longer fit for anything but watching the fire and babysitting - perhaps 20-30 hunters in all.

Against that, a modern oceangoing cruise ship doesn't have twenty or thirty people - there are dozens of crew and hundreds of passengers even on small ones. Once the ship's supplies have run out (duration of intended cruise +10%, perhaps?) where is the food for these hundreds of people coming from? Most of them, too, are likely to be retired couples no longer fit for hunting, digging the ground for crops (for which they don't have any seed anyway), etc.

Weapons to take on the megafauna? The Volksturm will have their guns, the Coast Guard will have anti-piracy weapons. Good luck trying to get those off them. The cruise ship won't have any apart from a few shotguns for skeet-shooting, and the officers will hang on to those to defend the ship, rather than hand them out to random groups of passengers. They might be persuaded to hand over the archery bows... The tribe may be willing to show PCs how to make flint spears if they can find a flint outcrop - of course the one they know about didn't come to this world with them.
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Old 03-19-2016, 09:12 AM   #4
Anaraxes
 
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Default Re: [Game] Island of the Lost

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Tifyable View Post
Most of them, too, are likely to be retired couples no longer fit for hunting
Depends on the cruise line. One reason the US has so many, despite mostly all being owned by Carnival, is so that they can market to different demographics. Some cater to younger and more active clients. (Notice the ads that have rock-climbing walls and those that don't.)

Quote:
digging the ground for crops (for which they don't have any seed anyway)
Passenger Andy Weir points out that there are plenty of potatoes in the galley :)

Quote:
The cruise ship won't have any apart from a few shotguns for skeet-shooting
Sometimes they do. Not many, of course, and limited ammunition. I wouldn't plan on going toe-to-toe even with the few Volksturm. Security might also have a couple of tasers, pepper spray, etc.
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Old 03-19-2016, 12:06 PM   #5
dcarson
 
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Default Re: [Game] Island of the Lost

Yeah, you don't want a big cruise ship that will overwhelm the rest in numbers. How about
Quote:
Star Clippers is tough to beat. The fleet's three vessels -- flagship 227-passenger Royal Clipper and 170-passenger twins Star Clipper and Star Flyer
That gives you sailing ships to use in later adventures. I'd go with one of the 170 passenger ones.
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Old 03-19-2016, 01:33 PM   #6
quarkstomper
 
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Default Re: [Game] Island of the Lost

I ran a campaign like this several years ago using the premise that the characters were all contestants in a SURVIVOR-like reality show who wind up in a different reality.

Naturally, I had the obligatory dinosaurs, (one of my players named the campaign "Craphole Dinosaur Island"), and the stone-age tribe of monkey people. I had a small enclave of scientists studying the island, who regarded the players as specimens to study and gave no help at all. A crashed Japanese pilot waiting for WWII to end, (for him it's only been five or ten years). A ruined city of an ancient race of Sleestak -- that is, of lizard men. A Spanish ship crewed by Conquistadors who have been tranmorgified into lizard men after messing around the lizard city. And a diary of a previous castaway, who after being rescued, founded the cookie company which is the main sponsor of the reality show.

Oh, and a stash of the sponsor's cookies. Do you dare eat one...?
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Old 03-20-2016, 04:19 AM   #7
Rockwolf66
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
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Default Re: [Game] Island of the Lost

Quote:
Do the animals need to be real? are prehistoric animals game? what about the classics of fiction? what about totally alien creatures?
No they do not but so far I am using at least some prehistoric animals. There are eventually going to be Alien Life Forms encountered.

Quote:
What time period do you want the coven to be from? Are they even from earth? What kind of magic do they use?
I'm not exactly sure what time period they are from but I'm thinking Medieval. Not they are not from Earth, I'm not sure what all they practice but there is a Zombie Master among them.

Quote:
How big are each of the groups?
The Tourists and Resort staff are the largest group and they are 4~5,000 people. I'm assuming that they are going to Quickly eat any terrestrial mega-fauna.

There are about 30 local Coasties, Three boats and a rescue Helecopter.

The Volksstrum are less than 200 and their mostly conscripted Hitler youth with about a Squad of Fallschirmjager and some Dund Deutscher Maidens as support.

The Jungle Tribe is about a Hundred people.

The Coven is about a Dozen mages and Who knows how many supporting creatures.

Quote:
Does the jungle tribe do any hunting at all?
They are Hunter Gatherers.

As far as the Tourists Outnumbering everyone else Yeah, I sort of Figured that but I'm also figuring that there are not many who are physically or mentally capable of going and adventuring to support everyone else.

There is enough Fresh water on the Island for everyone and there is Power to the Resort and the Local Coastguard.

I'm starting the Game out on the Island but there is the Ability to go far beyond the Island. While it was originally next to a continent it is not part of an Archipelago. Eventually I plan on if everything works out the Island becoming part of a group of Island colonies.

There will be Ships showing up latter. Right now I am starting Small.
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