Werewolves in Russia

Apologies if this whole thing has been covered in Rage Across Russia...

Thinking about Chernobyl has made me conclude that this has a fair amount of story potential for a roleplaying game. In this case I think a Werewolf game would be oddly most suited for this. Either old or new would work but as I am somewhat more familiar with old let me lay out why it would be a good idea.

As an ecological disaster Chernobyl had a huge effect on the environment and as such werewolves who are defenders of Gaia would have a huge investment in making sure such a disaster would not occur. A pack becomes aware that something (Black Spiral Dancers, a Mage, random banes, pick your poison) is going to cause the Chernobyl reactor to go critical and thus the pack must attempt to infiltrate the facility and try to stop the disaster from occurring.

Is it possible for them to succeed? You could play it either way but even if they fail the pack still has a lot of story options. Going into the Umbra to try to repair or lessen the breach is certainly an option. They might even be able to enlist local Weaver spirits to aid them. Probably more playable as a one shot or a short campaign then a long term one but might be an interesting backstory.

Exalted Campaign Ideas Redux

It's been awhile since I've posted. And longer since I put in Exalted campaign ideas although they still bounce around in my head. I've been plugging away at Exalted 2nd Edition books recently (just finished reading Yu-Shan and now working through the Blessed Isle) and I thought that while I was reading it I should blog about interesting campaign ideas I had. If all else fails it'll be a nice reference point for me someday.

Anyhow to kick this off I'm pulling from Compass of Celestials Directions 1: The Blessed Isle p. 112 describing wonders of Juche Prefecture. Therein is described the manse The Foremost Vault of the Imperial Treasurey which happens to be the clearing house for nearly all of the Jade that the Scarlet Empire mines and mints. It's also where they store it until minted or otherwise shipped. As such this quite possibly the largest concentration of jade in all of Creation that's not in its natural (eg unmined) state. So here's my thought. A Circle of Solars are out in the Threshold doing their thing. Then suddenly they need a lot of jade. Pick your reason why, I prefer some crazy N/A artifact but anything can really work here. Now the Solars could go about mining it but they need a lot and it's debatable they can find or buy that much in the Threshold at least without drawing a lot of attention and setting themselves up for a huge risk. But with a Lore or Occult check someone points out that the Realm does have this much thus: bank heist!

If was a Solar in this I'd probably go the entirely underground route. It might be the most feasible. Plus you can pick up some Mountain Folk assistance (I'd have to double check Scroll of Fallen Races but I think the Solars get first dibs on the whole Geas thing so they could trump the current Dragon Blood one especially if they took the time to help out the Mountain Folk). In addition there are a contingent of Mountain Folk helping to guard the jade so if they can be turned then you have people on the inside as well as an unexpected entry/escape point. Bonus points go to the fact that Mountain Folk territory extends nominally everywhere in Creation. It might take some effort traveling to and fro but that can't be beyond Solar capabilities.

The basic concept seems small but the scope is gigantic (especially using the Mountain Folk angle which is by no means the only or best idea I'm sure). Cross-Exalt adventures probably benefit too since jade is valuable for artifacts and monetary value everywhere. Alchemicals for one would find this of much interest, possibly more then Solars as the resource shortages in Autochthonia might be of greatly alleviated in one fell swoop plus the incidental of making contact with the Mountain Folk.

That's all for now.