Something Wicked This Way Comes- interest check

[Verasaille]

Hello all! I love this time of year with all the fun costumes and parties. I wanted to see if I can get a group together to explore a Circus idea.

It's called the Shadow Circus, and is inspired by this music. Check the lyrics and see what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsRh83BXvOE

As GM, I am open to playing this as a sandbox freeform. That is I will set up the basic beginning and you will supply the characters in a fun filled interaction. There will be a plot and a big boss to overcome, and also many smaller puzzles and mini bosses.

What I want to know is what kind of things interest you in a plot and setting? I plan on having this traveling circus that comes to a smaller town. It arrives in several old trucks. The crew is very quiet and reserved, they don't talk much. They set up a huge tent and several smaller tents with everything from fortune tellers to shooting galleries and games of chance.

All of it is owned by a mysterious older woman who calls herself Madame Abettinia. She is tall and imposing, dressed in a black and red gown of ancient style.



More details once I get some interest. Give me your feedback!

[wigglebiscuit]

Can I play a freakishly strong girl with a heart of gold? She can bend quarters, tear phone books in half, and beat any man arm wrestling, but is such a tender heart teasing makes her break down?

[Verasaille]

That is a marvelous character concept!

I am thinking we can do this as a side show thing, where we each have a character as part of the show, and also characters from the town who go to the show.

What do you like to see in a plot?

[Angie]

I know you have your own musical inspiration, but I can't help but hear Nightwish's Imagenarium soundtrack playing in my head...

So will we be members of the strange shadow circus, townsfolk, a mix, what?

[Verasaille]

Hi Angie. This is still up in the air. I am looking for people who want to do this as a fun Halloween caper. As I already said, we can do both, circus people and townspeople. Or either if you only want one character.

[Angie]

Wonderful! I am slightly curious to know just how spooky we're allowed to be, but that'll likely be answered as we get more details.

[Verasaille]

It's for Halloween, so I guess it depends on who signs up. I would like to get a good mix of people before I start setting it up.
 
What kinds of things do you like to see in spooky? Myself I love mystery and suspense, spooky like wandering through a dungeon, not knowing what you will find and being scared to open the door, because there are awful sounds coming from the other side! 

Imagine walking through a realistic haunted house. You hear sounds, moans and groans and chains rattling. Growls of th ekind that make your hair stand on end. I would like to use a lot of video and music to add to the ambiance. Feel free to link some you like!

[Sally Aces]

Love the song and the concept of this game.

I immediately thought of a Lion Tamer and found this...



Perhaps she makes clockwork animals for her menagerie and monsters for the maze/dungeon.

In the same vein, there's this... maybe I can find someone to play the lion man.

[wigglebiscuit]

What do you like to see in a plot?

I suppose that depends on which direction the weirdness is coming from. Does it originate with the circus or with the town?

I think it would be an interesting twist for the circus freaks to be the 'normal' ones and the townsfolk to be the crazies, but that's just a thought.

As for my character, I think I'm going to base her off of

Joan Rhodes

with the stage name Vulcana. Her stage performances include asking men to bend iron bars, and when they cannot, bending those same bars with her hands, knees, and mouth. She can 'quarter' a phone book, or rip two apart at once, beating two men from the audience at once at arm wrestling (both of whom are allowed to use both hands), and so on.

She finishes her performances by lifting four volunteers from the audience at once.

What do you think?

[RedEve]

I'm thinking of a female sharpshooter.





Like Peggy Cummins' character in "Gun Crazy".

[Verasaille]

All marvelous ideas!! Now all we need is a few guys to come and oogle the gals!

[Hob]

All marvelous ideas!! Now all we need is a few guys to come and oogle the gals!

Someone call?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO9yn30c1r4

[Hob]

I think it would be an interesting twist for the circus freaks to be the 'normal' ones and the townsfolk to be the crazies, but that's just a thought.

Hmmm....

Only slightly off topic: Once did a World of Darkness tabletop game where the players' monster hunters had to investigate a series of strange events and murders, the only link between them being a traveling carnival. As it turned out (and the players, making assumptions) didn't realize until it was far, far too late that the carnival was the front for another group of monster hunters. It was amusing watching their faces when the ax-wielding clown was the one who saved them from a werewolf ambush.

Personally, I love the idea of carnival women seducing one of my characters. They need souls, but who gets to claim his?

But I can also see the mayor of a rather isolated town in New England being quite thrilled to have visitors. Imagine the circus performers as they go about their show with all of the energy they can muster... and the townfolks just sit quietly in the stands, staring at them intently...

[Verasaille]

Squeals with delight!! Justric!! Oh yes please! We need some circus help here. I had in mind each person does two characters. The only caveat is they cannot help each other in any kind of combat scene. That is so we get people interacting with each other instead of between two characters. Does that make sense?

So you each create a townsperson, and a circus performer. This circus is not an ordinary one. I like the characters presented so far!! I also love the idea of the circus performers, although unique and having some marvelous qualities, will be far more ordinary than the monsters in this little New England town.  By day they look like ordinary people. As the sun sets, they start turning into something else!

[Captain Whitebread]

Could I interest you in a fire spinner/juggler (Booooooring) who has a huge crush on one of the ladies featured in a far more spectacular act? He's beneath her notice but he'd do anything for her, including take the blame for murder....

[Captain Whitebread]

I'm guess that this isn't going off for Hallowe'en....

[Verasaille]

Sorry this did not go anywhere. I was hoping to do something for Halloween. I guess everyone is too busy.

I might work on more of a plot. Just the Shadow Circus with its performers, as they go traveling across the land. Maybe I will put it in a fantasy setting and let people create really odd characters. Monsters who work for the circus? Still looking for more interest and some ideas on what to do with the plot.