Chapter 4 List Discussion

MIB-Intro

The Book of Eibon is released from the archives of the KGB in Kiev.

Chris Nichols/MiB

> Maybe a side-trip to the Chernobyl wastes?
I was hoping to save the radiation haunted lands for the sequel to my Russkie adventure "Maskirovka" which takes place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. But if it's not gratuitously done (ie. Godzilla 1998) Chernobyl is a great location.

> For the Dreamlands segment, the Underworld is the obvious choice.
 I don't even own a copy of Dreamlands, and kind of want to explore regions and concepts in a more Sandmanesque/Neil Gaiman way. Only violent and nasty. Maybe showing how Nyarlathotep influences the Dreamlands and has gradually turned them into an engine of Mass Psychosis.

The Dreamlands is a lot less lethal, and so I want to play up how healing magic makes mutilation and death an everyday thing. Sort of a rip on Hack-n-Slash AD&D. This violence and violation extends into Sorcery as well with powerful dreamers carving up the Dreamlands into personal universes, greedily pulling apart the fabric of human wonder like so much metaphysical taffy.

The petty Gods of Earth would split up into chaos. Some would try to get their own slice of the Dreaming, others would try to stop the destruction of their realm, and others would become pawns of powerful Sorcerers and Dreamers. Many powerful magic artefacts would be critical to these various schemes. I'm ripping on Monty-Haul games with this theme.

Hypnos would be curiously absent lo these many strange aeons, and his oft prophesied return strikes fear into everyone. The major point here is that I want to update the Dreamlands for the Endtimes and destroy any aberrant good-vibes resonance giving hope to ignorant suckers that think humanity might not be doomed after all.

> Since we're dealing with the Book of Eibon, maybe something Tsathoggua
> related?
 Yeah, but what, other than a phallic black obelisk? I'm thinking Tsathoggua and Hypnos might work together to move the Dreamlands into an existence independent of humanity. The double summoning of Tsathoggua and Hypnos would be the climax of the Dreamlands sequence in Chapter FIVE. Or maybe Tsathoggua in Four, Mordiggian in Five and Hypnos in a future campaign. The Triple Threat: Tsathoggua, Mordiggian and Hypnos!


MiB/Chris Nichols


> I don't even own a copy of Dreamlands, and kind of want to explore
> regions and concepts in a more Sandmanesque/Neil Gaiman way. Only
> violent andnasty. Maybe showing how Nyarlathotep influences the
> Dreamlands and has gradually turned them into an engine of Mass
> Psychosis.
Oh, you wanted something original. I only mentioned the Underworld because that's your big ghoul basis in the Dreamlands. So instead of that, more Gaimanesque? Hmm... And Nyarlathotep has corrupted the appealing (buopoths and other cuteness, pleasant fantasy kingdoms) aspects of some of the Dreamlands into oppressive (fantasy kingdoms under Vlad Tepes, uncute monsters) elements. Nice.

> The Dreamlands is a lot less lethal, and so I want to play up how healing
> magic makes mutilation and death an everyday thing. Sort of a rip on
> Hack-n-Slash AD&D.

Nice... I'll look at Complete Dreamlands 4.0 later tonight and see if I can hammer together a list of suggested changes. So much for the Oneiros Option.

Random idea: Formless spawns hiding out in a Russian toxic-waste dump?

I'd opt for the T4, M5, Hlater path. The whole Hypnos/Dreamlands deal is big enough for its own campaign.


MiB Update


DREAMLANDS:

The chapter in Kiev involves a hunt for cult members, each of whom have some pages from the Book of Eibon. They escape into the Dreamlands. Unfortunately, they emerge in the city of Celephais which is under siege by a strange army led by a mysterious Red Knight.

The Red Knight and his army are empty suits of Iron Armor. Their battle-cries echo with hollow percussion. They hail from the newly risen Fortress of Iron. Unknown to all, they serve Eibon the Black.

King Kuranes wants to preserve the Dreamlands, Eibon wants it shattered. Thus armies march and Celephais burns.

The rise of Kuranes II and his Ghost Queen take place in the Lyons, France chapter. More on this later.

MORE DREAMLANDS:

Majestic-12 victims in Cryogenic Suspension for years. In the Dreamlands, they are known as the Inquisition of Sleep. What they want and who they really serve is unknown. (I haven't fleshed them out yet :)

Osman Zeki Yanasik

As my current campaign is about Karotechia acting in Russia, I think I can handle the Kiev session.

I've read about it in EH site. Is the dreamlands part a must ?

The Man in Black

Well, nothing in this world is a *must*. My ideas were to have the PC's chasing after the Book of Eibon in Kiev, fighting off the Russian Mob and the Karotechia. Meanwhile, horrible things happen to Celephais in the Dreamlands. The twist in the plot occurs when they try to uncover the waking identity of the Red Knight (who is laying siege to city after city in the Dreamlands) - and discover that it's that GRU-SD8 agent who is watching them. It gets even more weird when they find out that he's working for Eibon and is a powerful telepath originating from Soviet PSI experiments.

I just wanted a link to the Nightmare War campaign currently in the limbo of my head.

Other ideas:

GRU is unhappy with Delta Green for that Vienna affair (SUMMER BREEZE)

GRU is REALLY unhappy with DG about that Ghoul alliance thing.

Post your ideas to the list, and we'll try to combine them somehow, or something.