Uncharted/Tomb Raider/Atlantis

[stranger38]

Hello friends, here we are again! Today i want your advise not so much in mechanics, but in Pacing.

Here's the game: It's a mashup of Wraith the Oblivion and Atlantis The Lost Empire (No, not a crossover, no Milo, no Audrey, just the overall "find the lost civilization stuff)

First, my Wraith World is a dystopian place, TL5+3:
Materials: TL5
Weapons: 0-5 (firearms are mostly flintlock)
Eletronics: 8 (yep, you can surf the web!)

The basic plot is: Some npc finds out that Atlantis sank and is now in the deep umbra (the deepest part of the underworld).

The clues to find the place are in the Labyrinth (a huge Patchwork Bad Place in the underworld)... Alright... Now then?

How to move this foward?

[lvalero]

McGuffin is your friend.

Let them know that in Atlantis lies the Ancient Tome of McGuffin where leyend says (rightly or not) it is written the legendary spell to Summon Oblivion Forever.

However this relic should be in a sacred temple that only the Talisman of McGuffiness can open. This talisman is the museum of El Cairo but it has been robbed by some dark cult of Apocalypse. The head of this cult is a crazy mage (or a Malkavian if you wish).

This cult want to summon a portal to Atlantis but, in doing that, they would shatter the veil to the deep umbra. They also have (conveniently) a map of Atlantis!

[stranger38]

Ahhhhh so it's not wrong throwing more then one mcguffin on them? I thought it was lazy and boring.

[lugaid]

Putting on my pedantry hat, an object that does something is not a McGuffin. McGuffins are objects that the characters want for no plot reason other than they want it. The Maltese Falcon (probably the most famous McGuffin) doesn't open a door in a lost Templar stronghold, it is just a thing that the characters in that story want, and its existence shapes their actions as a result.

[Varyon]

Given the mention of Uncharted in the title, if you're going for that sort of plot, you need some explorer from a previous era (but possibly still around, given this has some tie-in with World of Darkness) who already did most of the groundwork in finding Atlantis - maybe even found it himself - and the players need to find (and/or steal from their current owners) the clues said explorer left behind, to retrace his footsteps. Encrypted maps, analyzable artifacts, journal entries, etc, can all serve to help the characters follow along, and give room for plenty of episodic adventures along the way.

[stranger38]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Given the mention of Uncharted in the title, if you're going for that sort of plot, you need some explorer from a previous era (but possibly still around, given this has some tie-in with World of Darkness) who already did most of the groundwork in finding Atlantis - maybe even found it himself - and the players need to find (and/or steal from their current owners) the clues said explorer left behind, to retrace his footsteps. Encrypted maps, analyzable artifacts, journal entries, etc, can all serve to help the characters follow along, and give room for plenty of episodic adventures along the way.

Yep
Here's the plot so far: an archeologist had an artifact from atlantis and was going to show it on tv.
But the truth can't be never known because... It' can't.
So, two mages sacrificed themselves to keep the secret. One used a spell to make everyone forget about the artifact and the other to hide the artifact.
The one that hid the artifact was sent straight to the Labyrinth as a Spectre (evil savage ghosts)
So the players muat venture there firts to find the former mage and the whatever artifact