The third studio album from the Danish rock band New Politics, Vikings was released in 2015. Lately all four of their albums have been invading my playlists. While most folks I know are more aware of A Bad Girl in Harlem, I personally think Vikings is a stronger release. Powerful hooks, very sing-along-able… and it’s rife with subtle lyrical ideas for tabletop RPG adventures.
Everywhere I Go (Kings and Queens)
Genres/Games: Cyberpunk, Shadowrun
Downtown hopping fences
I smashed a window on a Lexus
Now 5-0’s on my tail, but they movin’ like a snail
A new gang calling themselves the “Kings and Queens” (sometimes shortened to K.Q.’s) has begun to make themselves known in the city. Unlike most gangs, they don’t seem to have a direct territory, making them a disruptive force for both law enforcement and other small-time criminal organizations. The members run drugs, tag and graffiti, and break property. They’re also all teens and pre-teens, children of rich corporate executives and mob bosses alike. Their presence needs to be cleaned up, the gang squashed, but injuring or jailing a member could bring down the wrath of their parent.
West End Kids
Genres/Games: Urban Horror/Fantasy, Vampire
Oh, we are the kids that you never loved
We are the ones that will never grow up
Child vampires are rare. Their existence is a danger to the Masquerade and few are tolerated. And yet, someone seems to be turning the homeless children of the city into vampires. The children and pre-teens are uncontrollable, feeding and killing with no regard to their victims. The Prince demands the children be stopped (killed or caged) and their sire be found and brought to him.
Initially, the PCs may believe the perpetrator is a Malkavian. The homeless, bearded, and threadbare vampire goes by the name of Two-Tone, and does appear to be caring for some of the vampire children. But he is simply keeping their urges at bay and trying to teach them of the Masquerade.
The source of the vampire children is a powerful Tremere named Easton MacFinn. His goal is to create a new ritual that absorbs the blood of all the children, once they are powerful enough, to double his own abilities. For that, the children need to feed and develop for a year. The PCs must not only determine what to do with the children, but also subdue a powerful thaumaturge.
Girl Crush
Genres/Games: Cyberpunk, Sci-Fi
They’re all in love with her
She’s so, so bad it hurts
Wealthy socialite Mara Riggs has a unique bioware augmentation. She can release a pheromone that entices others. At a party or club, Mara can use her pheromones to attract others, becoming the center of attention and comfort. In close quarters and used regularly, or concentrated from her sweat near the augmentation (embedded in her mammary chain), a suitor could become brainwashed and purse into committing the worst crimes in the name of love. The pheromones affect male and female alike, though those most affected are predisposed to being attracted to women.
No one knows who designed the bioware but it’s direct interface with an existing gland shows the work of a master. Jordan Ivanik, a higher up in a crime syndicate, wants this augment or the name of its creator and surgeon. Ms. Ivanik feels Mara’s use of her extraordinary enhancement is a waste and the ability to manipulate others would be better suited for someone who could profit on a large scale.
The PCs may have been hired to either capture Mara or to foil Ms. Ivanik’s plan and protect the socialite. Either way, they’ll need to keep Mara alive and resist her charms and scent.
Lovers In A Song
Genres/Games: Urban Horror/Fantasy
Morning comes
The sun is yours but I’ll be gone
Antonio Medina was a ladies’ man. Tall, dark, handsome, and suave, he always knew a way to a woman’s… bedroom. Antonio was killed at the age of 27, with his paramour at the time, by the woman’s husband. This was fifty years ago.
Lately, women have been wooed by a swarthy, Spanish gentleman. He shows up at dance clubs and bars, enticing the women to their bedrooms. These encounters might simply be seen as a one-night stand, with the man leaving as the women sleep. That is, if the victims hadn’t aged 10 years overnight.
The investigators/ghost-hunters will need to deduce the ghost’s patterns to know in what social environment he might next appear. They’ll also need to I. D. Antonio in order to find his grave. His bones will need to be salted and burned to stop his nightly escapades. Even after being vanquished, the women previously seduced by the ghost will never regain their lost vitality.
15 Dreams
Genres/Games: Cyberpunk, Modern, Superhero, Urban Horror/Fantasy
Sorry, the pilot’s lost his mind
Never getting home tonight
While awaiting a return flight home from a mission/adventure, all the vents at an airport start emitting a faint red mist. Anyone who inhales the mist becomes a little angrier. Those already angry or frustrated become violent. The longer the contact with the mist the more violent the people get. To make matters worse, the tainted air also seeps into the airplanes whose doors were open at the gate. Angry pilots are acting like angry drivers, causing chaos on the runway. This mist may also affect the PCs. Not only must they battle their tempers and try to protect the citizens, they must stop source of the mist.
Depending on the type of game, the mist could be a spectral emanation, a terrorist plot, or a science experiment accidentally broken by baggage handlers.
50 Feet Tall
Genres/Games: Superhero
You seek, destroy
She’s 50 feet tall
Surrender to the room, is from the other side of town
Dr. Alison Dodgson was a botanist focusing on genetic modification for higher yeilds and larger products. She did not expect her experiments to become a danger to the city or herself. All the doctor’s tests on a tomato seemed perfect. Her tomato stalk prototype produced a 20 pound yield, more than doubling an average stalk’s supply. The tomatoes were greater in number and size, and tests confirmed they were healthy and safe to eat. At least, all the tests they knew of in the lab. For Alison, the only question remaining was taste.
The tomato tasted fine, perhaps a little blander than an average tomato, but a loss of flavor was typical when engineering for mass supply. What the scientist did not expect was to grow to a story and a half in height, or in close quarters. Her lab was destroyed and even escaping the building caused significant damage.
Dr. Dodgson does not mean to hurt anyone or anything, but her size and density make that difficult. Her voice no longer sounds human and people nearby only hear loud and deep booms coming from her mouth. Dr. Alison Dodgson is a monster of her own making and it’s up to the heroes to stop her and, if they can, reverse her growth.
Pretend We’re In A Movie
Genres/Games: Post-Apocalypse
My nuclear world
Full of cars and girls
Crashing out on a wave
I’m waving goodbye to the Kerosene skies
The adventurers hear rumors of a old refinery that has remained u- plundered. This is due to the dangerous nature of the area. The air in the refinery is not only toxic, but combustible. It would take very little for the entire facility to become a fireball. That its survived this long is practically a miracle. But, if the PCs can manage it, there’s a wealth of old-world goods ready for the taking.
Loyalties Among Thieves
Genres/Games: NPC Character Concept, any genre
And there’s no loyalties among thieves
Expect for you and me
Nick “Salamander” Vinter is a greasy as they come. Slicked back hair, a fashion sense that evokes the sleazy sex-appeal of a bygone age (in modern times, Nick would wear a leisure suit unbuttoned to the navel). Nick makes offensive jokes and salacious remarks to any attractive members of the group. Everything Nick does seems untrustworthy. It doesn’t help that he’s a fence for stolen goods. The PCs should expect Nick to offer them less for goods than another fence might, rat them out to rivals or the police, or generally be unscrupulous. But, despite the salamander’s mannerisms and dress, he’s actually more fair than any other fence or information broker around town. And he’ll take special care to look out for anyone who he can call a friend.
Stardust
Genres/Games: Superhero
I’ll be your after glow, your sweetness and your light
I’ll be the chemical that helps you sleep at night
Neil Sands and his girlfriend, Star Palmer, thought they were at lookout point and not a test ground for nuclear warfare. A late night experiment merged them into a single, radioactive entity, a self-propelling light blue cloud with rudimentary thought. It gravitates towards lovers and while it intends no harm the damage it causes to the couples (or groups) it surrounds is immediate and irreparable. The Bureau of Paranormal Defense has labeled this semi-sentient cloud as “Stardust” and has requested the heroes to capture it. It’s too powerful to be directed by fans or sucked into a vacuum but perhaps they can direct it through the power of love?
Aristocrat
Genres/Games: Cyberpunk, Sci-Fi
Cause you’re a rich bitch and you’re super bad
With your black lips and your taxi cabs
I’m a quick fix for the shit you lack
Dirty porcelain, sick aristocrat
Dame Godiva Maonaigh is old money. Her wealth that predates the rise of the current corporate oligarchy. She, herself, remembers life before cyber- and bio- enhancements, but one would never know to look at her. Lady Maonaigh is 103 years old in the body of a 30 year old, all thanks to the wonders of modern science and some unscrupulous methods. But thirty is “too old” for this centegenerian. She desires a new body and is willing to pay handsomely for it.
The PCs have been hired to rescue Pauline Locksworth from a slave-trading gang. Their employer is an unknown benefactor who wishes to remain nameless. The squad is, of course, free to rescue anyone else from the gang, but it’s important that Pauline is returned to the “Mr. Johnson” unblemished. Doing any research on Pauline will reveal very little. She’s not tied to money or corporations, she’s just an average student who fell in with the wrong crowd after leaving her small-town home for the big city. It would take a bit more digging on both the gang and the Johnson to discover that the two parties are in league and both work for Dame Godiva Maonaigh. If they do their research will they still be as willing to “rescue” Pauline or face the wrath of a powerful and rich aristocrat?
Strings Attached
Genres/Games: Urban Horror/Fantasy, In Nomine
Heaven’s just a mile away
Now cut the wire!
You’re a puppet!
Lilim are a paradox. They are symbols of independence, but are chained to all the beings to whom they owe favors. They are crafted like this, owing Lilith for their very life and traded to other Princes, in service to others from birth by the Princess of Freedom.
Morrigan was one of Lilith’s first creations and the Lilim has played the game for centuries, working under other Princes and even with Lucifer himself. Finally, she is free of all her Geases and others owe her. She’s also become very powerful. She even has a Word. Morrigan is the Demon of Individualism. The Temptress spreads the belief that everyone has the right to be themselves, no matter who they hurt. Since the 1800’s she has grown in ability and just needs a push to become a Princess. Morrigan wants to be the first of Lilith’s children to rival her mother and all she needs to do is call in a few favors.
The PCs have been tapped by their superiors to steal an ancient artifact, a marionette from the Ice Age on display in the British Museum. This is not just a heist adventure, though. Unbeknownst to everyone, any celestials that come into contact with the marionette must make a Will roll every Check Digit hours or become puppets of the doll. The doll wants nothing more than to put on a show. But a high-stakes heist is the last place for a dance number.
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