Monday 23 February 2015

Oscar Game Night, Part II

Another alternative:

What would a session of your game centred around an awards ceremony or similar event be like?

This is easy enough if your PCs are entertainers or other public figures likely to given awards - the medals at the end of Star Wars provide one model of how to end a big adventure, one rarely played that straight since.

But what else?

“And the winner is... urk!”
Murder At The Awards
Perhaps an obvious suggestion, also available as a murder mystery party, but a big high society event would be the perfect setting for a murder mystery. Some similar crime, like the theft of the big award (or the main picture at an exhibition opening) could work too. In any case, there’s plenty of room for backbiting, gossip, shocking secret revelations, and possibly a killer disguised by Oscar-quality effects makeup!

“Me? Oh, uh, I’m here for... Adapted Screenplay...?”
Undercover On The Red Carpet
Even without a murder or some similar crime to focus attention, PCs from outside high society having to mingle with it can always find ways to get in trouble. Forced by circumstance, escorting a celeb, hunting a lead... spies have to do this a lot, and so do vampires... And of course, one of the PCs has to end up on stage (see below) at some point.

“Let’s go steal an awards ceremony.”
Leverage: The Statuette Job
In Leverage S1 the crew steal a movie to get an aspiring actress to wreck a fake adoption scam, and in S2 they use a fraudulent scoop to bring down a tabloid TV anchor and a borrowed fashion show to close a sweatshop. So let’s say the heroes of a heist game want to ruin a studio head who stole a script? Making up an awards ceremony of their own would be the easiest way, but why go easy? He’d love a shot at prestige - maybe an award that isn’t totally tied up, like Best Short Film, could be stolen... And Neil Patrick Harris would totally help.

“Just doing my job...”
The Heroes Get Awards
Public hero types like superheroes and world-saving fantasy adventurers might sometimes receive due recognition... and may be targeted by villains who want to literally rain on their parade. The players will certainly expect this. Maybe hit them with an awkward press conference instead!

“And the prize for Villain of the Year goes to...”
The Monster’s Choice Awards
The idea of a secret awards ceremony for supervillains or monsters would work for a suitably weird superhero or urban fantasy setting. It’s a slightly more insane spin on the classic villain auction setup, with a bunch of high-end bad guys in a single room all vying for the same thing, just a rather trivial prize. (Although it could be a world-threatening artefact or gadget...) It would fit the LA setting of Angel perfectly.

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