ple
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Road
Trip
Sa
m
A Summer Adventure for
Monsters and Other Childish Things
ROAD TRIP is an adventure campaign for the roleplaying game Monsters and
Other Childish Things. Monsters and Other Childish Things is available in
hardback and in PDF from Arc Dream Publishing and in a pocket-size paperback
edition from Cubicle 7 Entertainment.
Learn more about Monsters and Other Childish Things and find
pregenerated characters, monsters and other downloads at our website:
www.arcdream.com/monsters
Road Trip was written by Ross Payton, © 2010. Illustrated by Rob Mansperger,
© 2010, with page design elements by Jessica Hopkins, © 2010. Edited by
Shane Ivey. Copy editing by James Knevitt. Page design by Jessica Hopkins. The
One Roll Engine is © Greg Stolze and is used by permission.
Special thanks to our playtesters: Jason Ariciu, Elliot Bicker, Aaron
Carsten, Tom Church, Alistair Dunbar and his players, Andrew Hill and his
players, Mike Kelley, Matt Leahy, Daniel McDowell, Truman Miller, Bryan Potter,
Marco Subias and his players, Bill Sundwall, Cody Walker, and Claire Ward.
Published by Arc Dream Publishing, 12215 Highway 11, Chelsea, AL 35043, USA
ISBN 978-0-9818826-9-7 • Arc Dream Publishing stock code ARC3004
7
1
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Chapter 1: Prologue to a Travelogue . . . . . 22
Getting Started: School’s Out! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Chapter 1: Prologue to a Travelogue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
The Red Terror. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Chapter 2: Pastoral Manor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Meet Jack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Chapter 3: Sunny Vale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Finding Basil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 4: Sucrose Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The Armitage Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 5: Are You There, Witch? It’s Me, a Monster. . . . 10
The Sumerian Exhibit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter 6: Where the Eternal Glades Are. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Dagon Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter 7: The Long Stairs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Option One: Basil is Already Banished . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Appendices: Roadside Encounters and Underworld
Option Two: Seeing Basil Banished. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
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Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The Curse of Banishment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The Ur-Monster’s Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Effects of the Curse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Game Master’s Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Running the Campaign Without the Curse of
Banishment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
m
How To Introduce The Ur-Monster's Story. . . . . . . . . . 13
ple
Tremors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Aftermath of the Curse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Player Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The First Postcard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Setting the Campaign In Different Eras (1950s,
Jack Blackguard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Sa
Cosmology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1960s, Etc.). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
The Connection Between Jack and The Traveler. . . . . . 28
End-of-Chapter Rewards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Basil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Delivering the Rewards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Dagon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
What Is A Road Trip?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
What Dagon Knows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Roadside Encounters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The Red Terror. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Underworld Tremors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Now What?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Unattached Monsters in Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Links Between the Chapters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Threats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Starting the Best Summer Vacation Ever. . . . . . . . . 31
Threat Dice Pools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Crossover Madness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Threat Actions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
What the Players Need to Start the Campaign . . . . . . . . . 33
Threat Qualities and Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Sample Campaign Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
‘Hurting’ a Threat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Let’s Hit The Road! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Homesickness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
]
Fighting Homesickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Lessons of the Road. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2
Richard the Mastiff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Chapter 2: Pastoral Manor. . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Diego the Ferret. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
The Story So Far . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Estrangement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
The War Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Catherine the Mare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
The Farmhands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Zach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
What The Traveler Wants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Brandon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
The Magic of Pastoral Manor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Getting to Pastoral Manor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
The Town of Dunham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
The Manor’s Reputation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
What’s Said About Pastoral Manor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Rumors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
The Police. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
At Pastoral Manor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
The Farmhouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
The Barn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
General Blackbriar’s Revolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Blackbriar the Rabbit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
The Thorns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
The Fangs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Nest Guards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Red Claws (Destroyed). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
The Committee of Armaments (Self-Exiled). . . . . . . . . . . . 56
How the War is Waged. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Ending the War. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Killing Blackbriar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
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Pastures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Jacob. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
The Garden. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
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The Gift Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Defeating Joseph. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
The Book of Black Magic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
The Branch of the Great Tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
The Hills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Uniting Blackbriar and Joseph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
The Creek. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
To Win Blackbriar’s Trust. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
The Great Tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
To Win Joseph’s Trust. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Crossing the Threshold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Reuniting the Two Friends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
The Tour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Big Finale: The Cult Attacks! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Investigating the Manor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Stygia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Talking to the Animals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
The Red Terror. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Exploring the Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
A Cultist Goon Squad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Sneaking Around. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
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The Forest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Let’s Smash Everything!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
The Truth Uncovered. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Chapter 3: Sunny Vale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Order of Battle: .
What the Traveler Wants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
The Army of the Manor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Sunny Vale, California. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Joseph Lawson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Back Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Joseph’s Familiar, Wormwood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Crossing the Threshold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Animal Stats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Finding the Rangers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
The Nobility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Cortez the Badger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Accidents, Weird Events and Disasters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Sebastian the Crow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Zoltron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
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3
Pandora’s Knick-Knacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Using the Crystal Ball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
The Secret Identities of the Rangers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Crystal Ball Profiling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Meeting the Rangers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Finding Zoltron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Tommy Two-Tones Storage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Cultist Goon Squad 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Cultist Goon Squad 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Something’s Amiss…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Interrogating Dagon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 4: Sucrose Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
The Brain Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Project Doppelganger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
How CoolRad Chooses His Targets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Sucrose Park Today. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
What the Traveler Wants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Resolving the Chapter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Welcome to Sucrose Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The Main Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The Abyss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The Underworld Prison. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Atomic Shockwave. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The Real Reunion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
The Gift Shop and Daily Parade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The Summoned Monsters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Chaperone Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
Learning the Secret of the Summoned Monsters. . . . . . . . 73
3D Battle Realm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
The Rangers’ Weapons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Ferris Wheel and Light Show. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Resolving Things In Sunny Vale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
file
Cool-Cade the Ultimate Arcade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Find the False Zoltron and Leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Get the Rangers to Fight Each Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
The Employee Section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Warehouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Cafeteria and Rec Rooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
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Make the Rangers Lay Down Their Weapons . . . . . . . . . . 75
Other Rides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
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Defeat the Rangers and Destroy Their Weapons. . . . . . . . 74
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Rescue the Real Zoltron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
CHARACTERS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Zoltron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Erebus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Dagon/The Fake Zoltron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
The Sentai Rangers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Amber the Gold Ranger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Jeremy the Green Ranger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Latika the Pink Ranger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Melvin the Blue Ranger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Roger the Red Ranger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Makeup and Costuming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Operations Center. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Corporate Offices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Animatronics Workshop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
The Secret Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
The Brain Trust Clean Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Brain Trust Lab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Throne Room. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Barracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
The Dark Corridors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Searching The Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Interviewing Employees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Getting CoolRad’s Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
The Kidnapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Distraction Team. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
]
4
Grabbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Kidnapped!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The Cliques. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The Secret of the Upgrade Movement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Cowboys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Golden Cap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Race Car Drivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
What Next?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Ninjas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96
Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Wizards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Which Witch? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Princesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
The Wicked Witch’s Castle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Ballerinas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
The Ghost of King Crow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Exploring the Secret Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Brewing the Witch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Talking to the Brain Trust. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
What’s In a Witch? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Escape!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Stories and Texts (core beliefs and ideology). . . . . . . 113
Deactivate the Security Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Music and Clothing (personality and appearance) . . . 114
Disable the Robots Ratchet and Higgins. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Food (preferences and habits). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Find a Way Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Weapons and Tools (preferences and habits). . . . . . . 114
Lockdown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Other Objects (superficial quirks and appearance). . . 114
Rebellion in Sucrose Park. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Emotionally Significant Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Rescuing the Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Mixing and Matching Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Destroy Project Doppelganger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Getting More Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Important Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Example Witches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
CoolRad, aka Coolrat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Steampunk Witch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
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Astronauts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Anime Witch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Robbie Drake, Psychic Boy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Tomboy Witch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
m
The Brain Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Sa
Robot Duplicates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Trial and Error. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
The Ferals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Once the Witch Has Been Resurrected. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Grab Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Introducing the New Witch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Distraction Team. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
The Debate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
The Scarecrow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Chapter 5: Are You There, Witch?
It’s Me, a Monster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
The Cowardly Lion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
What’s Going On. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Judging the Debate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
What the Traveler Wants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Resolving the Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Getting to the Emerald City: The Tornado. . . . . . . 105
Important Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
The Road of Yellow Brick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
The Duke and Dauphin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
The Upgrade Movement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
The Average Citizen of the Kingdom of Oz. . . . . . . . . . . 120
Welcome to the Emerald City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
The Wicked Witch of the West. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Guardian of the Gate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
The Rulers (Tin, Fur and Straw) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
The Winged Monkeys On Strike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Emperor Norton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Exploring the Emerald City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
The Cheshire Cat (The Expat). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
The Emerald Palace and the Rulers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
The Crocodile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Outsiders!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
The Tin Woodsman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
7
5
Chapter 6: Where the
Eternal Glades Are. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Special Guest Stars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Background. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
How Do I Include a Guest Star?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
What the Traveler Wants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Potential Additional Cult Forces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Finding the Eternal Glades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Potential Allies for the Player Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
The Everglades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Overview: Project Long Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Crossing the Threshold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Area 51 Right Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Welcome to the Eternal Glades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Crossing the Threshold. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
The Welcome Wagon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Getting Around Area 51. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Dealing With the Monsters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Area 51 Random Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
The Contest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Dr. Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Race Around the Glades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
The Ice Cave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Capture the Flag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Descending the Long Stairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Dodgeball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Old Blessed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Win or Lose. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Ground Floor of the Apocalypse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
What Now?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Drawing the Attention of the Cult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Talk the Monsters Into Going Back. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Learning About the Ritual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Fighting the Monsters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
The Three Talismans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
The Forbidden Tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Getting the Talismans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Dark Canyon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Resolving the Chapter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
ple
Important Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
The Final Confrontation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
file
Who Should I Use? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Whispers Appears. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Sa
m
Stopping the Ritual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Megafauna. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Brawl!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Monsters and Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Allies and Enemies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Minor Monsters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Option: The Ur-Monster Interferes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
The Head Monsters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Option: Dagon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Billy-Brash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Option: Bigger Bads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Sally-Slash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Roleplay! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Chris-Crash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Success Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Resolution and Aftermath. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Chapter 7: Project Long Stairs. . . . . . . . . 138
Important Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
The Postcards’ Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Dr. Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
What the Traveler Wants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Other Scientists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
The Cult’s Order of Battle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Cultist Goon Squad. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Core Cult Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
The Traveler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
The Traveler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Whispers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
]
6
Appendix A: Underworld Tremors . . . . . . 160
Appendix D: The Road-Kill Necromancer. . 177
In the Underworld. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Scene 1: Night of the Living Road Kill . . . . . . . . . . 177
Five Underworld Tremors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
The Attack!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
A Murder of Dead Crows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Appendix B: Roadside Encounters. . . . . . . 162
A Legion of Flat Cats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Mundane Encounters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Unholy Regeneration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Five Encounter Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Option: Using Bigger Bads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Roadside Oddities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Escape - Or Is It?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Five Encounter Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Threat: Escape Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Tourist Traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Threat: Zombie Siege . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Five Encounter Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Zombie Pool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Urban Legends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Scene 2: The Trap Is Sprung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Five Encounter Ideas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
The Dark Forest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
A Note on Adults in Roadside Encounters. . . . . . . . . . . . 165
What Happened To The Adults?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Mini-Adventures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Scene 3: The Moors of the Dreamlands. . . . . . . . . 181
The First Test: The Test of Mercy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
The Second Test: The Test of Cunning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
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Appendix C: Mr. Keen’s Muse . . . . . . . . . . 166
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Scene 1: The Art Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Enter New Idyll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
m
Something’s Not Right. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Scene 2: Mr. Keen Has a Posse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Sa
Scene 3: Free Margret!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
The Cabin of Mr. Keen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Inside the Cabin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Freeing Margret. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Angry Clown Threat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Scene 4: The Talented Mr. Keen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Rescue the People. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Banish the Colour Out of Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Stop Mr. Keen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Rewards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Important Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Rooster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Endless Stream of Clowns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Celebrities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Tiger Ridden by Waifish Children. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Mr. Keen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Margret, the Robo-Rainbow Unicorn Muse. . . . . . . . . . . 176
The Tragic Tale of the Hoag Family. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
The Third Test: The Test of Strength. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Hoag Family Stats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Scene 4: Abner’s House. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
One Roll Hijinks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
The One Roll Wacky Hijinks
Mystery-Solving Mini Game Tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
The Finale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Battle! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Make Abner Surrender. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Trap Abner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Important Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Abner Hoag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Frankenfish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Roadkill Horde. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
7
The Traveller’s Postcards. . . . . . . . . . . . Inserts
7
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Sa
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ple
Introduction
Road trips. The quintessential American family vacation. Pile in the car with
mom, dad and siblings, sing songs and play I Spy as you travel to some regional
wonder, the park (theme or national), the lake, the beach, or distant family
members. You might remember these as times of pure happiness, shining
jewels of bliss in the treasure trove of your childhood memories. Or you might
remember being bricked by luggage up, a backseat Amontillado, the doldrums
of the vast lengths of highway you crossed, the tedium of being dragged to
historical monuments that you couldn’t care less about and the irritation of your
parents who don’t appreciate your lack of enthusiasm or the endless war of
attrition between your siblings, trading each precious bit of patience and sanity
in exchange for as much frustration and hurt feelings you could inflict on them.
Is it coming back to you now? Sleeping with your face pressed against the car
window? The hours of silence after everyone’s run out of things to say? The
lightheaded feeling when you first get out of the car?
]
8
This campaign is an homage to this most venerated of familial traditions. Only
instead of trying to accurately simulate the road trip, the most existential of all
vacation types, this will have monsters. Giddy, sanity rending monsters, eager to
cut you open from your seatbelt strait jacket and free you for a slightly different
kind of road trip. A long twisting odyssey through the murky subconscious of
children’s entertainment, both old and new. Talking animals plotting rebellion
and mass executions in a quaint New England farm. A trip to the land of Oz
to find a new ruler to unite the kingdom. Deluded heroes in matching spandex
uniforms who fight villains conjured by their own dark emotions. A perfectly
plastic theme park that offers everything except escape. Sprits that lure children
to a parentless paradise where the dark beasts lurk and no one ever goes home.
So, get packed and get some sleep. We’re leaving at dawn.
Summary
Road Trip is an adventure campaign for Monsters and Other Childish
Things. You only need the main rule book to run this campaign. No other rules
are necessary, but the supplement Bigger Bads might be handy for the finale.
Chapter 1: Prologue
to a Travelogue
The prologue kicks everything off and provides lots of options and ideas for
running the campaign.
Chapter 2: Pastoral Manor
Location: New England.
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file
The perfect rural retreat, a happy farm and pastoral paradise. Thousands of
children used to visit the Manor, as it was considered the most perfect farm
the country, not to mention the beautiful forest adjacent to it. But beneath this
shining exterior lies a seething underworld of scheming and malevolent talking
animals. Every animal that lives more than a year on the farm’s land becomes
intelligent. Many of the animals want to revolt against the cruel Lord of the
Manor while others seek to oppress their fellows.
Sources:
Sa
m
Animal Farm, Charlotte’s Web, Babe, The Secret of NIMH
and Watership Down.
Chapter 3: Sunny Vale
Location:
California
This small suburban town is a magnet for the uncanny. UFOs sightings happen
daily and seldom does a month go by without a building collapsing. In truth, the
Sentai Rangers, overzealous teen warriors empowered by enslaved monsters,
unwittingly summon otherworldy creatures to fight on a regular basis. The
monsters of the PCs are drawn to Sunny Vale whenever they draw near
California. The Sentai Rangers must be stopped!
Sources: Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, Dragonball Z, Faust, Elric
of Melniboné.
Chapter 4: Sucrose Park
Location:
Las Vegas.
Designed as the ultimate daycare center, Sucrose Park looks after thousands
of kids while their parents gamble away their college tuitions in casinos. A
wonderland of rides, ball pits, arcades and costumed mascots await. Too bad
the owner never wants anyone to leave. Ever. All the neon lights and laser tag
arenas can’t hide the fact that Sucrose Park is a prison. It’s time to break out.
Sources: Saturday morning cartoons, theme parks, Misery.
7
9
Chapter 5: Are You There,
Witch? It’s Me, a Monster
Location:
Kansas.
Sources:
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file
A powerful tornado plucks the characters from the road but they find themselves
not in the Oz of yellow brick road and flying monkeys, but a bleak, rundown Oz
suffering from a split society and inept rulers, and activists who want to connect
to the real world and modernize. The characters need to find aruler who will
unite the kingdom and bring order to the land.
The Wizard of Oz, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
Sa
m
The Prince.
Chapter 6: Where the
Eternal Glades Are
Location:
Florida.
A tour of the Florida Everglades goes horribly awry when the party finds
themselves in the deepest wilderness, The Eternal Glades. A band of children and
their monsters have thrown off the shackles of civilization and live as savages in
a world of mystery and wonder. They’ve gone too wild, though, and their antics
are descending into barbarism. If the party can’t re-educate the wild kids, then
the Eternal Glades will claim the souls of the kids forever.
Sources:
Where the Wild Things Are, Lost, Lord of the Flies, Land of
the Lost.
Chapter 7: The Long Stairs
]
10
Location:
Area 51.
The final battle with the Ur-Monster takes place in the depths of Area 51, the
top secret US military base. For decades, the US has experimented with transdimensional exploration with a project known as ‘Long Stairs’. However, the
Ur-Monster is nearly awake and the entire base has been overrun by its minions.