Random hooks thread

[Zettaijin]

The Strange Case of Dr.Herman

Jekyll and Hyde game for the NES?

Bingo!

I considered talking about bird poop and opera singers along with mad bombers, but ya know...

[Dark Angel]

I know I cannot claim the nonexistent prize, I have the Angry Video Game Nerd to thank!

[Zettaijin]

Playing it as a kid was a scary experience.

No one trying to claim a no prize for the first posting? Is everyone here too young to remember?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

No one trying to claim a no prize for the first posting? Is everyone here too young to remember?

Or perhaps too old to remember.... it's tickling a memory at the back of my head, but I can't place it.

[Dark Angel]

Playing it as a kid was a scary experience.

No one trying to claim a no prize for the first posting? Is everyone here too young to remember?

First instincts were Castlevania II (collecting body parts of Dracula is WAY different than noble men grave robbing), Fallout 2 (grave robbing was fun there), or Operation (not a video game), but as you can tell the mental progression/tangents are way off now. Assuming this is an older horror game, I am just not putting the pieces together. I am going to be pretty ticked if I actually played what ever this game is too.

[Zettaijin]

Castlevania II is the correct answer.

Simon set out to collect Dracula's heart, nail, rib, ring and eye in order to break his curse.

[Dark Angel]

Castlevania II is the correct answer.

Simon set out to collect Dracula's heart, nail, rib, ring and eye in order to break his curse.

I second guess myself waaaay too much.

[Zettaijin]

Yet another video game will become inspiration for this thread...

The Mask of the Baleful Guard

Somewhere between the borders of Nova Vaasa and Hazlan stands a house where one hapless soul is condemned to an eternity of fighting against forces from beyond the mortal realm.

Be it with his fists, a stick, or even a blunderbuss, the man tirelessly fights a seemingly never ending horde of Hellish creatures and gruesome beasts. Sometimes, the house itself attacks him, its chairs and cutlery flying out in every direction to strike him down.

The blood on his face has long since dried, and mixed with dirt and flesh it has become a fearsome mask which also houses his soul.

Eventually, his body falls in battle as the hordes prove too much for him. However, each subsequent incarnation is stronger and wiser than the last but each requires a host body to put on the mask and carry out its duty.

Somewhere within the house is a doorway into the malevolent forces' dread home and that is where the cursed soul will find its chance for eternal rest.

[Dark Angel]

I feel bad as I am guessing all of these correctly (this is assuming I am correct about this one) and not giving others chances. But this one may be harder as the game had limited availability because the platform was less known back in the day, but just got new life breathed into it with the new game. I will let someone else take a stab at it first. Great use of the game, Zettaijin!

[Zettaijin]

Oh video games, how you inspire me... Well, this is a movie that was turned into a game, but anyhow...

-----
Of men who chase ghosts

A group of scientists from Lamordia, frustrated with the lack of imagination of their peers, transfered their operation to more welcoming arms of Borca.

Their research dealt with ghosts, restless souls who roam the land as the incorporeal undead, and methods by which they could dispel the spirits using more rational means than the usual fare of obscure quests and puzzle solving.

They feel the incorporeal undead are not as immaterial as one might believe and could, through proper means, be captured or otherwise disposed of with no harm to any mortal.

So far, they have found a way to trap the ghosts in odd bottles tempered with various chemicals so as to produce a certain vibration which seems to match some fundamental property of the ghost's physical composition in essence imprisoning it within if forced inside.

To do so, they use a variety of lashes treated with a variety of compounds that react with the ethereal form to give it more substance and even somehow shrink it.

Their method is costly and difficult, and they are still seen as charlatans by many of the more superstitious folks. A few among the rich nobility have had to avail themselves of their services to be rid of pesky nightly visitors and their reputation is slowly growing.

However, a fiend was awoken after centuries of slumber and said creature has taken on the body of a local young woman and threatens the land with mayhem.

Among its chief act is the creation of a gigantic golem made of white clay who slowly lumbers toward the city.

Will the men who chase ghosts be able to defeat the fiend and its creation?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Who you gonna call?

[Dark Angel]

So the prior one was Splatterhouse, yeah? I have been trying to figure it into one of my games, but I know my group won't put on a mysterious mask that has no presence in the DMG or other common source material.

[Zettaijin]

I think it was pretty obvious that it was Splatterhouse. I mean, the gun, stick (2X4), and fists kind of gave it away.

[HuManBing]

A Falkovnian leader is systematically infiltrating and dismantling Darkonian Kargat cells in neighboring domains. He has even inserted an operative in Darkon itself, feeding information back into Falkovnia. These operations have resulted in the capture or deaths of hundreds of Kargat supporting personnel, and the weakening of Gondegal's rebel movement, as well as Darkonian internal cohesion.

The spymaster is vulnerable - he has a family member outside of Falkovnian jurisdiction, interned at a sanitarium in a neutral country. To prevail over him, the PCs will have to match his ruthless techniques of exerting pressure and coercion, and exploit his sole humane dimension to bring him out into the open.

[HuManBing]

Disoriented newcomers along the Darkonian borders commonly fall victim to unscrupulous employers, who take advantage of their memory loss and confusion to use them as cheap labor or worse. The Darkonian leadership is supremely unconcerned with the wellbeing of huddled masses of ignorant foreigners. It falls to local communities, churches, guilds, and law enforcement to determine the fates of these hapless newcomers.