Odds and Ends (Part 3)

I thought I would share a couple of ideas that I have been bouncing around for awhile. I don't think there is enough "meat" on any of these to justify an entire post so just sort of tossing them together to get them off my chest. All three of these fit best in a more modern setting or adventure. 

Vampire Sleeping Bag

• has pouches of grave dirt sewn into the lining for sleeping "on native soil" during the day

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Vespa 150 TAP

The so-called "Bazooka Scooter" was a French light mobile artillery platform designed to be parachuted behind enemy lines. It would then be used to seek out and destroy tanks. The M20 Recoilless Rifle it was armed with was meant to be deployed on a World War I-era tripod although it could, theoretically at least, be used while mounted in its carry position on the scooter. It would be deployed in pairs and saw service in Algeria and Indochina (i.e., Korea and Vietnam).

Crew: 1      Passengers: 1     Cargo: 325 pounds

Initiative: -2     Maneuver: +3     Top Speed: 22 (2) - approximately 37 mph

Defense: 10     Hardness: 5     Hp: 10 

Recoilless Rifle (Exotic Ranged Weapon)

Dmg: 3d6 in , Range Increment: 100', 

Typical Loadout: M20 Recoilless Rifle (w/ 3 rounds, additional rounds carried by second scooter), 2-5 gallon cans of fuel, Soldier's Personal Kit (MAS 36 CR39 Rifle w/ 3 spare magazines and Spike Bayonet), 3-OF37 Hand Grenades, Gas Mask, Driving Goggles, Helmet, Ballistic Sextant and Viewfinder, Excavating Shovel, Signal Lamp, 2 Canteens, Field Rations)

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Not so very long ago, I learned that the Clue boardgame fired Mrs. White and replaced her Dr. Orchid...in 2013. (More specifically, I knew Dr. Orchid had been added but Mrs. White's firing was news to me).

I have spent entirely too much of the intervening time trying to decide how I could incorporate this information into an adventure for my campaign. This is my "second attempt" to use Clue as the basis of an adventure. The first time was with the first version of D&D Clue where the players must discover which party member has been replaced by a doppleganger who then killed the archmage. I had originally intended to use the board as the map and everything - but got distracted and ended up moving on before I actually finished anything substantial.

This time, I am am thinking that the game characters will simply be NPCs with backstories taken from the source material (although each character has several versions, each updated or changed based on year of release). The party takes rooms at Boddy Manor, an old mansion that has been converted into a bed and breakfast. There is an inscription above the door that reads "Omnes qui ingrediuntur aequales sunt" (All who enter are equal). 

At dinner, first-name-only introductions are made by the host Dr. Reginald Boddy. There is Algeron (Col. Mustard), a stout older gentleman with white hair and a handlebar mustache dressed in the manner of a big-game hunter. Edgar (Prof. Plum), a young, bookish man with glasses is a paleontologist recently returned from a dig in Morocco. Eleanor (Mrs. Peacock) is an attractive older woman who has recently been widowed (for the fourth time). John (Reverend Green) claims to be a spiritualist and offers to perform a seance after dinner. Then, there is Charlotte (Miss Scarlett), a beautiful young woman with flowing blond hair. Madame Rose, Boddy's secretary flits in and out of the room, getting his signature in various documents as the evening progresses. Georgia (Miss Peach), a blond Southern Belle, and Earl (Sgt. Gray), a retired Policeman with thick glasses and a cane join the party late. Finally, a woman of East Asian descent with shoulder-length black hair named Susan (Dr. Orchid) rounds out the guests. 

On the night of their arrival, there is a scream and, after investigating, they discover Charlotte standing over a body at the bottom of the basement stairs.

Let the game begin... 

As the party attempts to deduce the identity of Boddy's killer, they have to adhere to the rules of the original game with the following changes. First, they are added to the list of available suspects and their primary weapon is added to the potential murder weapons. Second, every round, one of the other guests will turn up dead. There is a 1 in 6 chance, that will discover a clue at the sight of each new body that will hint at the presence of an unknown suspect. White, an older woman, who was once both maid and cook for Mr. Boddy was fired from her position some time ago and has taken it badly. She uses her intimate knowledge of the mansion, including its secret passages to great effect, moving about undetected while killing Boddy's guests as her revenge.