Episode Twenty One – Mainstreaming Monsters

Educating Children and their Monsters together, in the hopes that it’ll socialise them.
How do you re-integrate supernatural prisoners with society, and what happens when things go wrong?
The social ramifications of schooling in a world where the D&D monsters have emerged.
Psychic Children, Regular Schools.
Tonight on “The Quest For The Next Big Horror Icon”, …
Refugee surface-dwellers try to make a new home in the Dungeons.

Cuttlefish

Mainstreaming

Monsters & Other Childish Things

Midsomer Murders
Alcatraz

Millennium’s End
Nemesis

Borstal

Teenagers From Outer Space RPG
School Daze
Fate Accelerated Edition

Warbot in Accounting

Review of “First Kisses from Beyond the Grave” by Nik Houser in “Zombies: The Recent Dead.”

Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner ~ Warren Zevon

Monsterhearts

The Tomorrow People
Sapphire & Steel
Grange Hill

Stars In Their Eyes

Vampire’s Kiss

Cabal ~ Clive Barker (book)
Nightbreed (movie)

Yamara

The Jank Cast

Reign
Dogs In The Vineyard
The Quiet Year and a review of The Quiet Year

Planescape

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About Testulon Jones

I'm The Administrator, (With My Pocket Calculator)

5 thoughts on “Episode Twenty One – Mainstreaming Monsters

  1. Hopeless says:

    And I was thinking there’s a peace treaty overseen by half breeds for the most part but both sides want to end the treaty and either drive the other out or subtly conquer the other’s reality.
    I picture the most effective deterrent is also figuratively the least diplomatic overseer imaginable but this is offset for him being the most prolific powered killer because he’s honourable, chivalrous and overprotective to those he considers under his protection including family which is why he’s divorced and his daughter is the only person whose ever decked him and lived…
    Sorry I keep picturing a game where comedy and horror are intermixed and literally anything can happen whether the Matrix or fending off an invasion from something similar to Darkseid and they’re not the worst threat!
    Keep imagining an opening scene where they’re just delaying an extra planar invasion of New Jersey so they can slam the planar door in the villains’ faces only for them to learn on the other side that humanity are about to detonate a nuke at their now sealed exit and they now have to find a way to save all of New Jersey only to be blamed if they survive…

    Can’t help imagining that humanity are far worse monsters than the monsters… maybe a bit of Whedon is needed?

    • Avatar photo Tonya says:

      …I think I’m understanding you.

      So we have a portal between a “monster” realm and modern, contemporary New Jersey that has been stable long enough for families to emigrate in either direction and interbreed with the local populace. Maybe some sort of mixed garrison (as in containing soldiers from both sides,) guarding the borders in both directions like the Berlin Wall?

      If the players are part of the garrison, then you could get a reasonably long term campaign out of either a) noticing the small effects of something nefarious attempting to cross in either direction or b) perfectly innocent citizens attempting to get back to their home reality. Or both. Lots of things to do there. Gradually you could build up to full scale riots or trying to foil terrorist attempts to destroy the garrison (which may or may not have roots in a Government Plot from one or both sides because war is lucrative.)

      The GMNPC you’ve suggested sounds like a great anchor point for a base commander, but he would eventually get in the way of play if you aren’t willing to either implicate him in something dirty or kill him off. (These would both be excellent plot fuel, naturally.)

  2. Hopeless says:

    If I tried running a game based on the Tomorrow People they start off with one special ability and not the full package ala the new series.
    I’d make it look like the Tomorrow People are the threat and then reveal why they’re a threat by showing humanity and extra terrestrials are responsible for why they’re behaving like they are I’m thinking a Xavier and Magneto outlook for the Tomorrow People groups except I’d have the Xavier killed by his half brother whose using Cerebro to hunt the Tomorrow People but has to use enslaved Tomorrow People to not only use Cerebero but also fight the alien menace but can’t do so avertly as that’s counter to his group’s human first outlook so its up to the heroes to defeat not only the alien invaders, the Tomorrow Terrorists but also the Human First foes of the eventual series…

    Hmm… kaiju and giant robots?

    • Avatar photo Tonya says:

      I like the idea of starting characters off with something a little bit special and letting them develop as they use their mojo in play. I had a GM once who would keep a tick chart of every spell or skill each player used and give them a boost in the ones they used most. It was a great way to encourage players of lower level characters to get in and do things that they might otherwise be scared to use in case of rolling a botch.

      Not sure about mixing the Tomorrow People and X-men *and* Aliens *and* Kaiju. The Tomorrow People seems to take place in a world where if you told a random person that someone had powers they’d just laugh at you, where as in the X-Men or Kaiju universes everyone knows weird stuff exists. I’m having a hard time getting the universes to fit together. I’m sure it could be done, just not by me.

  3. Hopeless says:

    The Godzilla movie wasn’t bad save for the ending, have that survive and the PCs are a group who run into other irradiated monsters ala Sci Fy’s monster movies except like Tremors they learn the Government or Corporations are the reason they’re coming out into the open to escape their persecutors…

    This leads to the PCs figuring out a way to befriend the monsters’ who aren’t interested in wiping out all humanity and like the Godzilla animated series they’re needed to counter the alien invaders who using the movie outcome cyber zombified the original Godzilla to fight Baby Zilla…

    And here I was remembering Monsters Vs Aliens but maybe they’re able to hide their alter ego’s so they can live semi-ordinary lives…

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