All right! We have our six pregens for the Monstrous Mishaps quickstart. Time to see what we can put together from them. Monstrous Mishaps is a game where most things are on a very personal level, so the Stories you set up have to come from the PCs to a considerable extent. That’s a good idea in most games, to be honest, but it’s absolutely crucial here.
So, we have:
- Klaus Kleinmann, the Creep
- Winnie Wurmstein, the Hoarder
- Joachim Yapper, the Jerkass
- Zelda Zoom, the Kluts
- Bradley Bulle, the Loudmouth
- Marrisa Measley, the Moocher
For a start, let’s see if we can’t tie our Monsters together a bit more, making it clearer that they exist in the same world above and beyond being roommates. Like…
- Klaus (and by extension also his Friend Shirley Shine) works as a secretary for the law firm of DeSieve, Connive, Bamm-Boozle & Harris, where Joachim’s Rival Bonefatius is also a partner. Joachim’s Friend Herb Bitterman also sounds like the sort of shifty individual who might embark on half-baked get-rich-quick schemes with Marissa.
- Speaking of Marissa, she is is a frequent consultant for Winnie’s business, Awesome Artifacts & Righteous Relics, and they share a number of clients like Joe Gribbels and Therese Teller. That means Marissa also has a lot to do with Lisa Ludluck, who co-owns the sore.
- I’m a little less clear on Zelda the maniacal speed demon and Bradley the grumpy nurse, but I guess at least Bradley will see a lot of Zelda when she comes in to be patched up after her latest crash…
Now, then, let’s consider what sort of Story our protagonists might get into. I plumb my inner archive of silly Donald Duck plots and come up with the idea of the town having an annual raft race down the river. Contestants make their own rafts and get graded on aesthetic appeal, time of finish, what percentage of the raft is still sticking together at the end, and (just for some additional silliness) how many rubber duckies they’ve managed to capture of the ones set loose in the stream at the same time the rafts launch. The winner gets eternal glory, or at least bragging rights for a few weeks.
The Slew of PCs have been fortunate enough to get hold of a used raft through Winnie’s business – sure, there was something about everyone who used it previously having horribly drowned, but that’s no reason to pass up on a bargain! Now they need to patch it up and add their own flair to it and then win the race.
So let’s involve some of our NPCs, preferably one from the supporting cast of each PC. DeSieve, Connive, Bamm-Boozle & Harris are also fielding a raft, and will try to rope Klaus into helping them instead of his Slewmates. That gives us Joachim’s Rival Bonfetatius and Klaus’ Friend Shirley, who he’ll have to tread carefully around – we won’t make it quite so unreasonable as her objecting to him racing against her team, but she’ll be easily offended if she thinks that Klaus or his teammates are being “unsportsmanlike.” Add to that Zelda’s Friend Olive insisting on being on the team and cheating outrageously, and we get some interesting tension there. We can add Winnie’s Friend Lisa in the same way – she’ll take on some kind of vital responsibilities in regards to the raft-repair and then forget all about them.
I’ll cheat a little and also play in Joachim’s Enemy Siegward, just because he fits into the scenario – he’s got the money to fund a raft team of his own, as well as having a Lout’s inherent skill in piloting. He can have recruited Klaus’ Enemy Barry Hussel, and together they can be trying to pull every dirty trick in the book. We can have Marissa’s Enemy Abigail van Heckning running around trying to catch the Slew cheating (while ignoring Team Siegward’s abuses, of course – it’s not a proper sitcom unless you, personally, can’t get away with nuthin’ while everyone else do whatever they please!), and Brad’s Rival Nutty Elmir taunting the Slew from the sidelines every time something goes wrong (and possibly trying to work up some sort of “divine miracle” to humiliate Brad and thus demonstrate who’s the town’s real prophet of the Latter-Day Church of the Holy Hollering).
All right, that gives us a rough premise and gives every possible PC some personal stakes in it. Next time, we’ll get into some particulars.