The fourteenth Monday Mashup revolves around the Boston Red Sox. (Yeah, you can take a week off if you’re staring at your screen in horror.) They’re generally a talented team of players but are always struck down before they reach the peak of their profession by a dire curse — which always leaves them strong enough to come back and make another try next year. In my book, professional sports is a popular form of entertainment, so let’s mash those Dirt Dogs up.
I’m going to use Fulminata, here, and I’m going to go for the easy cognate and make the PCs gladiators. As such, they’re risking their lives for the audience — so a curse is a little more serious than it is for my beloved sports team. And yet a curse exists. It doesn’t get anyone killed, but whenever one of them (or the team) is about to win, something happens. A lion gets loose, or the Emperor gets gastric distress, or something.
The overarching campaign arc is discovering who’s behind the curse and why. There’s some secret in the backgrounds of the gladiators which links them together, unbeknownst to the PCs and to their players. Whatever it is, it must be kept secret at all costs — so someone’s trying to make sure they never get too famous or gain their freedom.
12 Comments
Unknown Armies/CoC/Kult/GURPS Creepy
There is Something Old in Back Bay.
The local Massachuset Indians knew not to linger in those bogs over long. Something down there would steal a little bit of your soul, slowly, if you tarried. A sure sign that the beast had its hooks in you was that your feet would turn the color of blood.
The Beast of the Bogs hungers, but not for flesh. It feeds on anguish. And most delicious to it is the anguish caused by the betrayal of something beloved. Usually, it begins to hunger in mid-August but every few years it knows if it can delay its feast a little longer the meal will be all the more exquisite!
Sooner or later the beast will feed. It is only a matter of when.
Maybe next year…
In Nomine. Sisyphus. Sarte. Hell is another season. The Word-bound demons of the Red Sox and the Cubs compete to inflict the most suffering on their respective fans. No plot here, really, just a background element.
Bryant’s unusual mashup this week involves the Boston Red Sox……
This week, Bryant offers us the Boston Red Sox, an accursed team if ever there was one, as his half…
Hey, if this is fourteen, why does it say thirteen in the text? I fixed it on my blog when I cught the error.
This week, Bryant offers us the Boston Red Sox, an accursed team if ever there was one, as his half…
Enh, probably just cause I can’t count. 🙂 Thanks — fixed.
Having read Poul Anderson and/or Gordon Dickson
In response to the most recent edition of the Monday Mashup, a new curse for use in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG The Bosox Curse aka The Fenway Curse, aka the Wrigley Curse Power Level: 4 Quick Cast: No….
Mine’s up and can be found here
What if one of the umpires is an alien who thinks baseball violates his religion? Or the ghost of Babe Ruth appears? …. How will Major League Baseball rule on use of alien knowledge or technology?
I tried Simpletracks but it did not seem to work, so here’s the link: Red Sox meet Teenagers From Outer Space