I posted this on Treasure Tables. I thought I would share it with Paizo.
I have a four year old daughter, so I watch a lot of Dora the Explorer. While watching one episode, I thought it might be a good source for inspiration. Dora is always on some kind of mission and the break down of ~3 challenges maps well to a gaming session.
I thought it might be best to start at the beginning, OCD completist that I am. I googled episode guides for Dora and found the first one.
Quote
“Dora reads Boots the story of ‘The Legend of the Big Red Chicken.’ Boots asks Dora to take him to see the chicken. They set off across the bridge, over the gate, and to the Big Red Hill, where they hope to find the Big Red Chicken. When they get to the hill, they soon discover that the Big Red Hill is, in fact, the Big Red Chicken!”
I broke this down further to Book -> Bridge -> Gate -> Big Red Hill. Somewhere I found the following useful creative technique. Of course, now, I can not remember where I found it. Anyway, the technique is to take one item and write down as many possibilities for that item as you can think of no matter how crazy they are. Do not stop when you hit one you like, keep going until you reach a certain amount. The technique suggested an arbitrary number. I just kept going until I could not think of anything new. Then you go back and pick your favorite.
For the book I came up with:
- The PCs must destroy it.
- The PCs must take it from point A to point B.
- The PCs must copy it.
- The PCs must learn something from it.
- The PCs get sucked into it.
- The PCs must finish it.
- The PCs must sell it.
I picked getting sucked into it because I thought that was the most interesting and bizarre.
I lumped the bridge and gate together because essentially what you did to one you could do to the other. I came up with the following possibilities:
- The PCs must cross it.
- The PCs must build it.
- The PCs must destroy it.
- The PCs must protect it.
- The PCs must move it.
I decided the PCs must build the bridge because this seemed the most original to me. I am still working out the why and how. For the gate, I decided the PCs must cross through it. Pretty dull, but I thought getting sucked into a book and building a bridge would make up for it. I am also still working on the why and how for the gate.
Finally, for the Big Red Hill I came up with the following list:
- It is actually a hill giant.
- It is actually a dragon – and to make this more interesting, in the language of the book dragon and chicken are the same, the difference is on the stress of the syllable. Therefore, the PCs think all along they are searching for a Big Red Chicken, when actually they are searching for a Big Red Dragon.
- It is actually an ancient battlefield – using the symbolism of red = blood
I decided to go with ancient battlefield because I like the symbolism. I also can use the unsettled spirits of the battlefield as motivation and/or the Who of the entire story.
Obviously, I am not completely finished but I thought someone else might find this technique useful for getting the creative juices flowing.
After posting this originally, I thought the spirits need the bridge to be built to cross back into the world of the living. Bridge symbolism is fun!
My goodness....
It's true there is inspiration everywhere and breaking down the plots of other material and rebuilding it as an RPG adventure is a valuable soursce for fresh adventure ideas.
I once did something similar to this but I chose to breakdown novels. I once used Tom Clancy's Patriot Games to break down into a Hunter: The Reckoning game once as a way to supplement their time in London and after. More recently I have found inspiration for Shadowrun and Werewolf: The Forsaken adventures in the pages of the Mack Bolan universe of novels. I have found this sort of approach can be used for anything however, as the above Dora the Explorer example proves. In looking at breaking down plots like this I have found that it works better if your source material is plot based instead of character based. Series material works best, television shows, pulp novels, etc.
This is a great post, thanks for the input.
Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Of course, Backpack is actually a bag of holding.....
And the recurring villain/nemesis, Swiper, aka "the Fox"?
Great post...I have 4-5 Dora DVDs. My kids love them. Sounds like a great way to hook 'em into a RPG: just follow the format.
Some of her quests are VERY adaptable to D&D/fantasy role-playing. (Freeing the prince. Search for the Lost City of Toys.)
Agreed. My daughter loves Princess Dora where Dora has to become a true princess to wake ‘sleeping Boots’. A witch, dragon, magical ring, cursed prince, magical music box, a giant and his puppy, weather altering, a king and queen and even a trip to the moon.
I couldn’t make this stuff up.
That's a good technique! Though just remember that too much Dora leads you to conclude that everyone must travel from lower left to upper right on the map. ;)
A couple years ago, I conceived an 'adult' version of Dora called Dora the Barbarian. For parents only of course. You have to kill things instead of overcoming the obstacle. Heh heh heh.
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We have 4 parents in our group, so you can imagine the hilarity whenever we find a map, or have to go into a bag of holding...
...well, I find it funny, anyway...
And doing the twist at the end of an adventure is good exercise after sitting at the table too long!
We found the lair of the Cagewrights today
(We did it, we did it, we did it, Hooray!)
Went down the tunnels and we blew them away!
(We did it, we did it, we did it, Hooray!)
We even found Terrem, and Zenith as well
(We did it, we did it, we did it, Hooray!)
But we couldn't save them, they'd been sucked off to Hell!
(We did it, we did it, we did it, Hooray!)
Episode Two
From Dora the Explorer: Lost and Found: One day while out exploring, Dora and Boots meet a Spanish speaking lost Baby Blue Bird. They head out in search of the Little Blue Tree where they think the lost Baby Blue Bird lives. The map tells them to go past the bananas, through the maze of cornfields, and over to the Little Blue Tree to take the bird home.
The PCs encounter a foreign dignitary who has become separated from his entourage. The dignitary, from the house of Bird Blue, must reach the sacred tree of Blue Forrest to meet with the arch-druid and prevent a war between the druids and the nation of Azul.
The Blue Forrest is protected by a tribe of crazy (some might say, bananas) wood elves. The sacred tree is at the center of a maze (feel free to insert a random monster as guardian of the maze).
Yo Gabba Gabba and Max and Ruby are pretty tough to translate I think. But the Backyardigans provides lots of awesome ideas. :) And Blues Clues would make for a great investigative game. (You're telling me that in order to find who the spy is we have to walk into the painting? Uh-uh, no way, man.) And Little Einsteins definitely has a quest format, too. So does My Friends Tigger and Pooh. Oh dear, this is getting out of hand...
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The 'evil genie grants you a wish that messes everything up and you have to fix it' storyline pretty much maps onto most Fairly Oddparents episodes. Replace Cosmo and Wanda with an Efreeti schemer who must grant a Wish to the mortal who frees him to be free to work his wicked ways (who has polymorphed himself to look like a sylvan sun-goddess), and you've got adventure whackiness ready to ensue.
How to convert Kim Possible? Hmm...
We have 4 parents in our group, so you can imagine the hilarity whenever we find a map, or have to go into a bag of holding...
...well, I find it funny, anyway...
And doing the twist at the end of an adventure is good exercise after sitting at the table too long!
We found the lair of the Cagewrights today
(We did it, we did it, we did it, Hooray!)
Went down the tunnels and we blew them away!
(We did it, we did it, we did it, Hooray!)We even found Terrem, and Zenith as well
(We did it, we did it, we did it, Hooray!)
But we couldn't save them, they'd been sucked off to Hell!
(We did it, we did it, we did it, Hooray!)
Great, now I can't get the song out of my head.
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Great, now I can't get the song out of my head.
I did it!
I wrote a song, just the other day!
(We did it, we did it, we did it, Hooray!)
Shadowcat heard it and it blew him away!
(We did it, we did it, we did it, Hooray!)
A song about a city, shackled in pain!
(We did it, we did it, we did it, Hooray!)
He loved it so much, he wants to hear it again!
(We did it, we did it, we did it, Hooray!)
LOL
Now if we can RPGize Yo Gabba Gabba...
Yo Gabba Gabba: Episode 1
In the series premiere episode, in "Mark's Magic Pictures" segment, Mark Mothersbaugh teaches us how to draw a potato bug and guest star Elijah Wood is featured in the "Dancey Dance" segment and shows us how to do a "puppet master" dance.One of the PCs come into possession of a Harrow Deck. Soon the party starts spotting individuals who resemble pictures on the cards. Then these individuals start attacking the party! To stop the attacks, the PCs must return the deck to its rightful owner. While attempting to locate the owner, the party encounters a giant potato bug summoned by the Wizard/Sorcerror/whatever card. The owner turns out to be a bard who can manipulate others through dance. I leave it up to you whether the bard is evil or not and whether he attempts to control the PCs.
Max and Ruby: Episode 1
Hide and Seek/Max's Breakfast/Louise's Secret
Hide and Seek. A game of hide and seek has Ruby continually looking for Max.
Max's Breakfast. A morning in the life of Max.
Louise's Secret. Ruby's attempts to take a phone call from her best friend, Louise, are interrupted by the constant clang of loud toys.
The PCs are entrusted by the local authority to protect his daughter, Maxine. Maxine continually tries to ditch her bodyguards for an illicit rendezvous with her lover whom her father knows nothing about. Sprinkle in some real threats to Maxine’s safety and some teenage angst.
For Max's Breakfast I would rip a page right out of Dumas’ book. During an epic siege, the PCs are challenged to eat their breakfast within fireball range of the castle wall. Two score archers, a couple wizards and maybe a squad of cavalry should prevent the PCs from dining in peace.
Allow me some artistic liberties with Louise's Secret. The PCs are tasked with delivering an important message (a secret, if you will) to another kingdom. Their journey is first impeded by foul weather; thunder, lightning and rain. They are then attacked by a mage who has mastered sound magic (no verbal components for you). Lastly, a large and noisy metal golem is sent to dispatch our heroes during their dispatch.
looks like we watch a lot of the same shows!
My five year old daughter sent me to my own room.
Her: “Put cartoons on.”
Me: “I don’t want to watch cartoons.”
Her: “Then go upstairs and watch t.v.”
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looks like we watch a lot of the same shows!My five year old daughter sent me to my own room.
Her: “Put cartoons on.”
Me: “I don’t want to watch cartoons.”
Her: “Then go upstairs and watch t.v.”
I've been sent to my room by my three year old. She also informed me that I am a battle droid, my wife is a stormtrooper, and she is Princess Leia. My other children are Luke, Mace Windu, a clone trooper and Ahsoka. I don't like my odds of living till Christmas. ;p
I don't like my odds of living till Christmas. ;p
Color me a fuzzball laughing it up.
o.O
SpongeBob wants to work at the local restaurant, "The Krusty Krab," and with a little help from Patrick, is on his way. But Mr. Krabs and Squidward don't want him there. They send him out to do a job of picking a special spatula. In the meantime, some anchovies are coming by, and are hungry. SpongeBob must feed them all to get the job and save Mr. Krabs and Squidward.
The PCs are tasked by the king to infiltrate the Thieve’s Guild in an attempt to ‘clean up’ the corruption in the capital. The leader of the Thieve’s Guild is one Crustaceas Krabb. His right-hand man is one Teuthida Octavius.
After some Gather Information and Streetwise rolls, the PCs are allowed to meet with Crustaceas and Teuthida. The leader agrees to allow them into the guild if they perform three ‘simple’ quests. Each quest seems impossible, however, some lucky coincidence drops the solution into the lap of the PCs (feel free to let the hand of a Luck God be felt).
In truth, Crustaceas is suspicious of the PCs and has no intentions of allowing them to just join the guild. However, when a guild war breaks out with the Assassin’s Guild, the PCs are afforded a real opportunity to win Mr. K over.
Blue Bull Shire
Dora the Explorer
Episode #103: Hic-Boom-Ohhh
Dora and Boots start hearing a strange sound coming from somewhere in the distance. They set out to find out what it is. They have to go across the Noisy River, through the Quiet Forest, and that's how they'll reach the Yellow Valley, from where the sound is coming. When they get there, they discover that the sound is Benny the Bull hiccupping.
Upon entering the Blue Bull Shire which is surrounded by the Quiet Forest, the PCs hear a strange hum that is audible from anywhere within the shire. At first it is just a curiosity. It soon becomes annoying. When the PCs arrive at the small village of Hiltop, they find the villagers in a foul mood. The incessant humming has the entire town on edge.
While the PCs take dinner at Ole Ben’s tavern and inn, Hiltop’s mayor asks them to find the source of the humming and stop it. The local elders of the village seem eager for assistance but are tight lipped. Through some investigation, the PCs uncover that the village recently sentenced a witch named River to death. She was accused of killing a couple of local children that had gone missing in the town. I leave it up to the GM to decide whether she is actually guilty or not. She is also referred to as the Yellow Witch and was known to throw odd parties which would go on into late in the night.
With River’s dying breath, she cursed Hiltop swearing it would never have a restful night’s sleep and would eventually turn against itself. The PCs must find a way to appease or defeat the ghost of the witch and find out what really happened to the missing children.
Lost City of Captain Swipe
Dora the Explorer
Episode #104: Beaches
Dora and Boots want to spend the day at the beach to cool off, but first they have to get there. They have to go through the sand dunes, then they have to go over the boardwalk, until they finally get to the beach. On the way to the beach, Swiper steals Boots' floatie and Dora must help him find it.
The PCs are aboard a ship on their way to a port city. The captain lands at an island to take on some supplies at which point the PCs and crew are attacked by Sand Elementals (half damage from piercing and slashing weapons, water negates, but then there is a 25% each strike that weapon gets stuck).
After dispatching the Sand Elementals, the PCs find a ramshackle city tucked away within the jungle of the island complete with wooden walkways. The city appears completely empty of inhabitants.
The city is empty because Captain Swipe and his band of pirates saw the ship approach the island, waited for most of the crew to disembark, climbed aboard, overpowered the few crew and are now sailing away with the ship.
Hilarious and Wrong - Conquista Dora!
My daughter has moved on to iCarly and Wizards of Waverly Place. I guess I need to update.
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The Legend of the Woolly Swamp would make a fun little Side-Trek.
Three haunted spirits, kept prisoner by a more powerful ghost, of the man they killed for his money, endangering local youth who sneak out to prove their bravery by spending the night 'when the moon is right' out near that old shack in the swamp, only to never return...
'Things that crawl, things that fly and things that creep around on the ground' make for some swamp related encounters that can plague the PCs on route, such as alligators, stirges and giant centipedes.
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Whoah; thread necromancy rules!
My daughter's moved on to Spongebob.
And Dora seems all grown up too...
My daughter's moved on to Spongebob.
Mr. Krabbs would make an excellent, if tight, patron. How better to keep Monty Haulism in check?
Wizards of Waverly Place (season 1)
Crazy 10-Minutes Sale
Alex wants to go to a Crazy 10-Minute Sale, an annual sale which lasts for ten minutes and every item is so cheap it’s almost free in order to get a jacket she wants at a very low sale price, but her dad will not let her because she has wizard class that day. However, after duplicating herself using the Edgebono Utoosis spell, she leaves her clone at wizard class. But the clone is apparently just a clone and will not talk except for barking like a dog. But her plans to find the jacket change when Harper informs her that her mom is at the sale with her. When Alex’s dad finds out she skipped class, he goes and gets her. While he is gone, Max gets a new wand and toys with the Alex clone. But whatever Max does to the clone using the E-Mimic feature on his wand, Alex does the same thing, exposing her clearly to her mom and dad.
Attack of the Clones
The first time a PC casts Mirror Image, one of the images turns out to be an actual duplicate of the caster from another dimension. The duplicate will assist the caster in a life or death situation, however, the duplicate resists being treated like a means to an end. After any immediate threat is defeated, the duplicate will demand equal standing within the party (including an equal share of any treasure). The duplicate will insist that it is the real one and that the PC should be called [name] #2.
The duplicate should be near identical to the PC except the duplicate should have an underlying mischievous nature getting the group into trouble until they can find a way to send it back to its own dimension.
Complication 1: The duplicate tries to scheme with other members of the party to have the original PC sent away.
Complication 2: The duplicate is a evil doppelganger that has been following the party.
I'm Not Paying You To Go Shopping
While on a mission, the PCs are approached by a salesman who just can not take no for an answer. The salesman attempts to identify an item that at least one PC would like to get their hands on. The salesman then tells the PCs he has the item back at his shop. As Admiral Ackbar says, "It's a trap!" I leave the trap up to the GM, but once the PCs escape, they accidentally bump into their patron who wants to know why they are not tending to the mission he gave them.
Complication 1: Not so much a complication as a fun twist, the salesman was the target of the PC's mission and they captured/killed him thereby completing their mission during their little sidetrek.
First Kiss
Justin is going out with a girl called Miranda, but he can’t seem to kiss her. He then goes to the cinema, where he tries to kiss her but messes it up. Alex rewinds time to give Justin 18 chances to get his one kiss with Miranda, which he messes up all the time, but gets caught by her dad who lets her do the spell for the eighteenth time. Meanwhile, Max creates a sandwich that is among the few being considered for the New York Mets official sandwich, but he can’t seem to remember the ingredients. However, Alex’s time manipulation also ends up ruining the chances of the sandwich, though the family’s anger is forgotten when they discover that Justin just had his first kiss. When it is discovered that Alex has not had her own first kiss, Justin teases her, but she gets back at him by kissing a random boy right in front of him the next day.
Only Love's True Kiss
The son of a local noble has been cursed. If he does not kiss a virgin (What?! It's always a virgin.) by his 18th birthday, he will die from a horrible wasting disease. The PCs are tasked with finding a suitable virgin. Inconveniently, there are none within the domain of the noble.
The PCs tromp around looking for a suitable virgin, dragging along Prince Clueless. Little do they know that they are being followed by the wizard who placed the curse on the young prince. Whenever the PCs find a lead, the wizards throws an obstacle in their way. You see, the wizard was suppose to marry the prince's mother and become the ruler of the land, but due to some misfortune, his plans fell through. And he can carry a grudge.
Can the PCs find a true virgin and convince her to kiss Prince Clueless before it's too late? Can they uncover the sinister wizard and stop him from interfering? Can the noble and wizard make amends?
Complication 1: The noble and wizard are brothers, so no killing the wizard for XP.
Complication 2: Prince Clueless is picky about his virgins. He only likes other boys.
Complication 3: The PCs find a perfect candidate only to discover that candidate is scheduled to be a sacrifice to a hungry dragon.
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Only Love's True Kiss
The son of a local noble has been cursed. If he does not kiss a virgin (What?! It's always a virgin.) by his 18th birthday, he will die from a horrible wasting disease. The PCs are tasked with finding a suitable virgin. Inconveniently, there are none within the domain of the noble.
I'm assuming restoration and regeneration aren't legal solutions, of course?
I'm assuming restoration and regeneration aren't legal solutions, of course?Only Love's True Kiss
The son of a local noble has been cursed. If he does not kiss a virgin (What?! It's always a virgin.) by his 18th birthday, he will die from a horrible wasting disease. The PCs are tasked with finding a suitable virgin. Inconveniently, there are none within the domain of the noble.
It's a state of mind...
It's a state of mind...I'm assuming restoration and regeneration aren't legal solutions, of course?Only Love's True Kiss
The son of a local noble has been cursed. If he does not kiss a virgin (What?! It's always a virgin.) by his 18th birthday, he will die from a horrible wasting disease. The PCs are tasked with finding a suitable virgin. Inconveniently, there are none within the domain of the noble.
Inflict amnesia, perhaps? :)