Monday Mashup #17: Psycho

The Monday Mashup returns with Hitchcock’s Psycho. This is another one that almost has to be a one-shot, unless you wanted to make Norman Bates an ongoing master villain — which is an interesting idea, now that I think about it. But I’m going to be thinking one-shot. There’s an insane villain, obsessed by someone who doesn’t exist anymore, and there’s a lonely location.

Now, do you cast the PCs as Marion Crane and helpless prey, or do you cast ‘em as the post-death investigators? I’m inclined to think the latter, although that turns it into a police procedural… which is in and of itself interesting.

My approach follows.

It’s D20 Star Wars, set post-Rebellion. The PCs get character sheets; they’re fairly low level Republic ops heading to a distant planet for a recon mission. They wind up stopping at a convenient star station on the way — but it’s deserted. And about half an hour in, the malevolent remnant Force-positive Empire Admiral kills them all.

The PCs get the second set of character sheets. They’re local police, and they have to figure out what happened and who did it. The tension is ramped up because they know full well what happened, and how dangerous the Admiral is. I’m seeing a cat and mouse game through deserted space station corridors…