Monday Mashup #2: Body Snatchers

Let’s take this meme out for another spin. Yep, it’s time for another Monday Mashup.

Ryan made a suggestion which I’m going to take up. He pointed out that a lot of respondants were interested in the idea but didn’t know enough about Greyhawk to take a stab at it. He suggested that I should pick a piece of modern media, and let people choose their own game for the purposes of adaptation. I think he’s right.

Thus, how to participate: pick a roleplaying world and talk about how you’d use the specified book/movie/TV show/whatever as an inspiration for a campaign or one-shot set in that world. You can post on your own blog or LiveJournal or in the comments here, as you see fit.

This week, your mashup subject is Invasion of the Body Snatchers. (The 1978 remake is also valid fodder.)

My contribution follows.

I dunno, I’m on a D&D kick this month. Instead of Greyhawk, though, I’ll go ahead and use Forgotten Realms, which I think is actually a better subject for what I have in mind.

So imagine a Forgotten Realms campaign that starts out absolutely normally. It’s high-magic, Elminster is wandering around, the gods are all over mortal affairs, and so forth. Dragons, magic items, you know the drill.

But — from time to time, people change subtly. The Heralds of Whatever are acting funny, like they’re not as dedicated as they once were. Rumors are Elminster is getting crabby. Suddenly, you go to Cormyr and people are watching their backs and acting all paranoid and refusing to talk to you, but nobody will explain why.

A race of astral parasites has been slowly and subtly taking over the denizens of the Realms. It’s a horrendously effective strategy, because a parasite-infested paladin doesn’t lose his alignment — he’s controlled by an outside influence, he’s not slipping. Regaining divine spells is a problem, though.

The theme is paranoia. The fun aspect is taking the warm fuzzy fantasy of the Realms and using it as a vehicle for horror. I think you could get some really effective horror from subverting the D&D fantasy norms. Imagine the noble cleric of Mystra casually attacking a party of good PCs, say.