Using Watchmen as the basis for a campaign
“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”
“Who watches the Watchmen?”
A viable question, one that is the basis for the phenomenal graphic novel and film, “Watchmen,” about a group of masked crime fighters driven into hiding by the government, only to be hunted down and wiped out. But not if they have anything to say about it.
There’s going to be a lot of spoilers in this, so if you’re one of those unhappy few who haven’t seen the movie, or read the graphic novel, stop now.
And the faithful remain.
The story very heavily lends itself to a fantastic D&D campaign. Imagine, if you will, the players beginning as paragon tier heroes, who have been forcibly retired by a city (or nation) tired of these adventurers wandering around stirring up trouble with dragons and giants. They’ve all moved on to day jobs, with the exception of a few heroes who sneak out at night to haunt the dungeons and sewers of the city, protecting the city from monsters.
One of their own, an NPC they’ve established as another member of their old adventuring party, is killed. They begin to realize they are beginning to be plucked off one by one.
Only one hero, the group’s Warlord, has attained status in the city, owning up to his adventuring past, and becoming head of the merchant guild.
Soon, the heroes realize he is behind it all, and unleashes a devastating magical artifact on the city, destroying it utterly. The heroes tried to stop the warlord, but when they arrive at his chamber, he’s already set it off. The heroes are blamed, but the result is that the city and the neighboring town have given up war on one another in order to stop the heroes. Do the heroes clear their names and allow the cities to go back to war, or do they accept their fates and escape or blend back into the city life in order to keep the peace?
Now, it’s stretching the story a little, but I think it would work.
Now, what race and class would be each of the characters?
Rorschach: Drow Avenger
Night Owl: Human Fighter
Silk Spectre: Elf Rogue
Dr. Manhattan: Deva Wizard, sanctioned by the city to keep it safe.
Ozymandias: Half-Elf Warlord
The Comedian: Human Ranger
What do you all think? Could it be pulled off without necessarily making your players unaware they were in the world of Watchmen?
I doubt it, but all my gamers have read the books and seen the movie. Maybe with a younger group it would be easier.
b_s_lynn´s last [type] ..b-s-lynn- Now listening2 The Tome Show ep147 Dark Sun Review featuring @Squach Jeff Greiner- @DMSamuel & @matt-james-rpg http-thetomepodbeancom-
In theory it’s a great idea, but you’d have to work extra hard to conceal the source material because the chances are even if the whole group doesn’t catch on at least one person will and that runs the risk of derailing your carefully crafted story.
I guess the trick would be to somehow change some of the plot elements (ie. who the mastermind was and what he was doing) without changing the spirit of the piece.
acrobatic flea´s last [type] ..Book Of The Month- The Mark Of Nerath
My gaming friends would see it coming a mile away, which is too bad because I think you’re right, this would totally rule as a campaign. One way I could actually see it working is by making it a hard sci-fi game. If you placed it in a setting that felt like Asimov’s “Foundation” series and do a lot of work to remove the serial numbers, maybe they won’t see it coming.
Of course, there’s something to be said for player meta-knowledge. In some games the players are an integral part of the setting creation process and help establish who the big bads are and why they are. Maybe the players go into the game knowing who the movers and shakers are and what dirty secrets they’re hiding. I’d be stoked knowing I was going into a game where the plot was modeled after Watchmen so long as I knew that my decisions could honestly remove the plot of the game from being parallel to the plot of Watchmen. I would want character motivations and actions to dictate the game’s outcome.
Nick´s last [type] ..Andport- Savage Magic- Part II
@Lynn: You’re right, a group of newbies would be much better to run it for, since they’d be less likely to catch on.
@Flea: Changing a few key elements could actually really throw off the players, even if they caught on as to what you were doing. If suddenly, it turns out, Silk Spectre is the big bad, you’d keep them on their toes.
@Nick: I think player meta-knowledge can be a wonderful thing and be used for fantastic purposes, including helping aid the story along. Many times, my wife will be told a small key element to the upcoming game so she can suggest to the other players the next course of action.
“Many times, my wife will be told a small key element to the upcoming game so she can suggest to the other players the next course of action.”
Using a ringer??? That’s a wicked tool in your arsenal… especially when you ‘accidentally’ feed your wife a piece of false information!!!
acrobatic flea´s last [type] ..Book Of The Month- The Mark Of Nerath
Oh! That’s evil! And a fantastic idea. I think I’d be sleeping on the couch after that, though.
Maybe just the once then… swiftly followed by a nice, homecooked, candlelit meal the next day.
But you must let us know if you do try this…
acrobatic flea´s last [type] ..Book Of The Month- The Mark Of Nerath
Oh, I will.
I have a similar idea in the works: The Fantastic Four as an Eberron Party.
After the Last War, all military funding went into Xen’drik expeditions for weapons-grade artifacts. When Riaan Redeker was threatened to lose financing for his experimental planar-breach ship, he took his fiancee Soranda Thorn and her brother Jovi and launched prematurely despite pilot Brenn Kraal’s concerns about shielding.
You can guess what happens next. The final party makeup has Redeker as an artificer, Soranda a psion, Jovi a sorcerer and Brenn a warden.
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