RPGaDay: Trap

With hindsight, it may have been a mistake to attempt RPGaDay in a month where I also had a three day convention to participate in.  Anyway, trap.

The obvious thing is to talk about traps in D&D like games but since a) I rarely run that kind of game and b) rarely use traps when I do, let's go for a different kind of trap.  The musical kind.

Rihanna ventured into the trap genre with the controversial Bitch Better Have My Money, accompanied by this bloody violence and nudity filled video.  Music videos are getting increasingly sophisticated, often being short films in their own right.  This video, seven minutes long, starring Mads Mikkelson, and with its own IMDB page, is a fine example.  Movies and TV shows often inspire RPGs, so why not music videos?  Trap in particular, with its overall dark tone, feels like a good fit for horror.

The game system that springs to mind for this video is Kult.  The story is a revenge fantasy.  Rihanna has been cheated by her accountant, and reponds by kidnapping and tormenting his wife, before returning to his home to murder him and get what she's owed.  The influence of Yesod, archon of the principle of avarice, is easy to see here in the actions of the accountant.  Not just cheating Rihanna, but every aspect of  his life is an act of worship to Yesod.  But his actions are having an influence on Rihanna as well, driving her towards Inferno.  Powerlessness and rage have left her susceptible to the will of Samael, death angel of the principle of vengeance.  Ultimately his influence has guided her to carry out the events of the video.

So with the higher powers defined, at least one threat immediately appears.  The accountant's house, site of the murder, now lingering on the borders of Inferno.  A strong draw for a PC party made up of people who met on a true crime forum.  Their actions could free the place from Samael's influence (albeit at the risk of placing it into the hands of Yesod) or drag both it and themselves into Inferno for good.

Music videos aren't something I initially thought of as RPG inspiration, but I've got a pretty good basis for a scenario there, and one I'll probably expand on further.  If trap isn't your thing, there's a whole world of music out there.