TEXT: Ellipses RPG
  Session Starters
  Xalavier Nelson Jr. | @WritNelson
  
  What is Session Starters?
  Ellipses RPG was designed to work in any setting or context 
  imaginable. The Log system and Focus skill were my ways of 
  building as much adaptability into the Ellipses ruleset as 
  possible. No matter how easy, challenging, or strange a 
  campaign you wanted to run, I wanted you to be able to use 
  Ellipses for your role-playing needs.
  Unfortunately, I had a problem no amount of game mechanic 
  tweaking could fix. Creating an intriguing scenario for a role-
  playing campaign off the top of your head is...Difficult. And 
  without a scenario, players could again decide not to bother role-
  playing due to the hassle of making a new, interesting world from 
  scratch.
  Enter Session Starters.
  To thank you for your kind support of this system (I'm assuming 
  you got this guide legitimately—you didn't pirate this tiny thing, 
  did you?), this manual provides over 20 unique, unusual settings 
  for your collaborative stories, a few of which have been created 
  by some of the best writers in gaming. Session Starters will not 
  give you complete, pre-built worlds to explore. Instead, with 
  some evocative text and suggestions, I'm hoping it will provide 
  the spark you need to get an incredible adventure started as 
  quickly as possible.
  Feel free to email me at writnelson [AT] gmail [DOT] com with 
  questions, feedback, and tales of your adventures using Ellipses 
  RPG!
  --Xalavier
  All rights reserved. Permission is granted to photocopy this document for personal use. Scenarios are to be used 
  solely for personal, non-commercial operation of role-play campaigns and sessions.
  
  DJ PL3ZENTREEZ:
  Dark Lord of the Night
  In a world where music is the only thing that matters, a small 
  number of strange, creative people are the most powerful 
  individuals on the planet. DJs control vast sectors of Earth. One of 
  the more pleasant musical monarchs, DJ PL3ZENTREEZ, is 
  playing a set in a monolithic nightclub close by.
  Will you and your friends convince him to play a song of your 
  choice, or die trying?
  Questions to Ask:
  - How does the state of the world affect the people within it?
  - What is DJ PL3ZENTREEZ like? Is he as chill as he seems, or 
  does he have something to hide?
  - What are the goals of your Players? Are they simply trying to get 
  their song played? Dethrone him? Usurp him? How do you 
  change the session so they can achieve their goals?
  Potential Characters:
  - Suspicious Self-Proclaimed Bodyguard
  - DJ PL3ZENTREEZ's Manager, Second-in-Command
  - Overworked Bartender/s
  - Distracted Sound Technician
  Potential Locations:
  - Dance Floor
  - Swanky Backstage Apartment
  - Dirty Bathroom
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Numerous locked doors.
  - A bouncer who decides you are not cool enough to get in.
  
  Aye Aye Interstellar Galley!
  Two thousand years from now, the Gwandentius, a starship of 
  unparalleled luxury, is launching from Earth on a tour of the Milky 
  Way Galaxy. It has 7 decks, spans over 2,000 feet, and yet only 
  holds 100 people who will be pampered beyond belief. The ship is 
  rumored to be indestructible. Of all the incredible facts about the 
  Gwandentius, there's only one unanswered question:
  ...Who's going to make the food?
  (The answer is Y'all, by the way.)
  Questions to Ask:
  - What would gourmet food be like in the future? How would it be 
  prepared? What tools would you use? Are robots involved?
  - Are Players simply serving the ship? What specific roles would 
  they fill? Do they have another, covert purpose as well?
  - Will a catastrophic event occur? If so, what kind? What sort of 
  enemies would the Gwandentius' privileged passengers inspire?
  Potential Characters:
  - Sarcastic Cyborg Waiter
  - Disgruntled, Displaced Original Captain (now a Passenger)
  - Advanced AI Controlling Most of The Ship
  Potential Locations:
  - Engine Room
  - Ship-spanning Air Vents
  - Giant Pool/Summer Simulation
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Defective machines and dull cutlery.
  - A malfunction forcing you to serve passengers individually.
  - Space Pests.
  
   Assumed Responsibility
  In a dirty, fog-shrouded town, a group of expert private 
  investigators confront the otherworldly, eldritch threats that might 
  otherwise swallow it whole.
  You and your friends are not these investigators.
  However, that doesn't stop you from assuming their identities (and 
  their business) after the group's mysterious disappearance...
  Questions to Ask:
  - Did the Player characters grow up in/near this town? How does 
  it affect them? Does it affect how people react to them?
  - Do Players have ties to the strange events happening in town? 
  How will this reveal itself through the course of the story?
  - What are Players fighting, if anything? How do Players confront 
  an evil beyond their comprehension?
  - Can some of the dark events investigated actually be attributed 
  to natural causes?
  Potential Characters:
  - Off-Duty Commercial Fisherman (won't stop talking about the 
  sea in poetic terms)
  - Local Pastor/Priest/Religious Authority
  - Odd, Wealthy Family With Deep Roots in the Community
  Potential Locations:
  - Creepy Mansion
  - Strange Library with Shifting, Looping Hallways
  - A Greasy Diner (that serves delicious coffee)
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Harnessing magic/the supernatural harms the user.
  - Unreliable weapons, sources of information.
  - E V I L  F O R C E S  N O T  O F  T H I S  W O R L D.
  
  “WHY ARE WE STILL IN 
  THIS ****ING HOUSE?!?!”
  You've seen the story a thousand times before. A bunch of people 
  go into an abandoned house, see some stuff that scares the 
  bejeezus out of 'em, and are never heard from again. You used to 
  laugh at those people—before today.
  Now, you and your friends are in an abandoned home, and try as 
  you might, you can't get out...Not until you get what you came for.
  Questions to Ask:
  - What are the Players trying to obtain, that may allow them to 
  escape the House? Does this McGuffin have special properties?
  - How do you put your Players in frightening situations, while 
  preserving their ability to make meaningful decisions?
  - Will Players have to sacrifice limbs, objects, relationships, etc. to 
  survive? If so, how do you facilitate these decisions while still 
  allowing Players to feel safe/empowered?
  Potential Characters:
  - Sentient Doll (may or may not be evil)
  - Disembodied Voice
  - Trapped Realtor
  Potential Locations:
  - Twisted Kitchen
  - Living Room Filled with Dust, Hunting Trophies
  - Rotting Basement
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Endless hallway/maze.
  - Encroaching threat/time limit (full moon, flooding basement...).
  - Threatening household objects.
  
  High Noon in Uncanny Valley
  A messenger dispatched to a successful mining camp on the 
  frontier of the Wild West finds the area deserted, but completely 
  intact. As the only U.S. Marshals in the area, you and your friends 
  are sent to find out what happened, and why. 
  Your search for answers leads you in a single direction—the 
  nearby, booming shanty town that sprung up in the camp's wake.
  Questions to Ask:
  - What resource was the camp producing, or had the potential to 
  produce? Would anyone (or anything) want to take it?
  - How did this event occur? Who profits from it? Are the causes 
  supernatural? Natural? Unresolved?
  - How will Players find answers? Are there (ideally) multiple ways 
  to discover the same information if things get chaotic?
  Potential Characters:
  - Corrupt Sheriff
  - Mysterious Hermit
  - Highwaymen Leader
  - Greedy, Two-Faced General Store Owner
  Potential Locations:
  - Saloon
  - Frontier Doctor's Office
  - Treacherous Canyon
  - Mysterious Frontier Circus
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Uncooperative witnesses.
  - Bandits.
  - Bureaucracy.
  
  Crimson Shirts, Clear Hearts
  The year is 24XX. As humanity spread into the stars, corporations 
  found reusable clone bodies to be cheap tools for dangerous 
  missions and exploration. When a hazardous task needs to be 
  completed, these genetically-engineered tools are sent into the 
  fray, and revived in an identical, red-suited body after death. 
  However, you and your friends are defective, and can not only 
  remember dying, but dislike the experience.
  When an organic, shifting metal planetoid is discovered deep 
  within humanity's borders, the ship you are held upon is the first 
  sent to investigate. Will you change the course of humanity, or die 
  in horrible, unnecessary ways while the crew drinks tea in safety?
  Questions to Ask:
  - Do Players have a goal they can actually accomplish, or will 
  they simply die in horrifying ways trying? Decide upon the 
  approach of the session with your Players before starting.
  - What is the planetoid like? Does it contain life? If so, is the life 
  sentient? Hostile? What are their traits? Can you make peaceful 
  contact?
  Potential Characters:
  - Useless Science Officer
  - Corporation Representative
  - Sympathetic, Human Commanding Officer About To Retire
  Potential Locations:
  - Alien Hive/Nest
  - Metallic Forest and Ecosystem
  - Trophy Room with Artifacts of Earth's Past (Dinosaurs)
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Malfunctioning equipment.
  - Hazardous environment/ecosystem.
  
  Vic and Drac Make a Monster
  Deep in the heart of Transylvania, prominent scientist Victor 
  Frankenstein and the malevolent force known as Dracula have 
  joined forces to create the perfect Monster.
  As villagers in a nearby town, you and your friends do not approve 
  of this plan.
  Pick up your pitchforks, storm Dracula's castle, and topple their 
  dark schemes before your dear city is reduced to ashes! 
  Questions to Ask:
  - Do other villagers join your quest? If so, what are they like? Do 
  they serve a purpose? Are they just cannon fodder?
  - What kind of relationship do Victor Frankenstein and Dracula 
  have? Can they be turned against each other?
  - Are Victor and Dracula's intentions truly evil? Does it matter?
  Potential Characters:
  - Talking Suit of Armor
  - Dracula's Ex-Wife
  - Two-Headed Dog (name it something adorable, I beg you)
  Potential Locations:
  - Dungeon
  - Giant Dining Room
  - Torture Chamber
  - Laboratory
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Hidden traps.
  - Secret rooms.
  - Vampire traitors within your midst.
  - Impossible architecture (endless staircase, revolving room, etc.)
  
  Castle Brüntfier Rides Again
  In a faraway, magical land, the Mad King Brükenheld has decided 
  he needs a home unique enough to suit his name. The home in 
  question is Castle Brüntfier—a grand stone fortress with a mind, 
  will, and voice of its own. As impossible as it seems to convince a 
  living castle to let common humans stomp around in it, what King 
  Brükenheld wants, he gets.
  You and your friends are the sole agents capable of fulfilling this 
  mission. Namely, you're the only agents currently in his court.
  Go forth! For Brükenheld! For glory! For frankly laughable pay! 
  Questions to Ask:
  - Where do you start the story? In the King's throne room? Mid-
  journey to the Castle's last known location? Somewhere else?
  - What is Castle Brüntfier's personality? Its motivations? Can it be 
  convinced? Could it dethrone the King?
  - If the Castle has a moat, is it technically filled with castle urine? 
  Potential Characters:
  - Rival, Would-Be Courtiers 
  - Dubious Tour Guides
  - A Friendly Elf
  Potential Locations:
  - The Castle Mouth
  - The Castle Stomach
  - A Nearby, Enchanted Forest
  Potential Obstacles:
  - A stubborn Castle.
  - Scared, panicking, rioting villagers.
  - The whims of your Mad King.
  
  You're (Not) Very Welcome
  Times are hard in Mcgrufinn, and as townsfolk tighten their purse 
  strings, it's becoming increasingly difficult for freelance heroes to 
  find stable work.
  You and your companions are temporarily living with the parents 
  of a childhood friend (and fellow adventurer) until you can get 
  back on your feet. Try not to stretch your welcome with them (or 
  the town at large) as you complete simple chores with the 
  ludicrous abilities, items, and garb of a career adventurer.
  Questions to Ask:
  - Who is the childhood friend Players will stay with? How are they 
  like (or unlike) their parents? How does their familial relationship 
  affect the Players?
  - What kind of chores would need to be completed in a medieval 
  fantasy world? How might adventurers find these tasks difficult?
  - How do you challenge Players and provide interesting decisions 
  in this mundane environment?
  - How will Players eventually find the work they need to leave?
  Potential Characters:
  - Postman/Messenger
  - Suspicious Neighbor
  - Vicious Neighborhood Pet
  Potential Locations:
  - General Market
  - River (for washing clothes, etc.)
  - Town Well
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Your bulging muscles/habit of flinging fireballs or stealing stuff.
  - Arguments over cleanliness/division of duties.
  
  Hostile TakeAuver
  As mad scientists in a medieval village, you and your friends were 
  doing pret-ty well. Your science passed as magic, it helped people 
  from time to time, and no one dared cross you in fears of incurring 
  a powerful curse (diarrhea). Yes, life was good—until rival 
  'Alchemists' set up shop right across from you, claiming to know 
  how to turn anything into gold. From all evidence, their formula 
  works, and as their business rolls in, your store is falling apart.
  Disprove their claims, steal their formula, wreck their livelihood, or 
  all of the above.
  This is war.
  Questions to Ask:
  - What steps would Players take to gain access to the Alchemists' 
  secrets, plan a heist, execute the plan, and get away it? Is there 
  another way to deal with these rivals? 
  - Can you use your prior influence in the community to assist in 
  your mission—is that something you even want to do? 
  - Can you compete with the Alchemists on another level?
  Potential Characters:
  - Celebrity Bard/Spokesman
  - Thankful Widower
  - Cocky Business Rival
  Potential Locations:
  - Planning Room
  - Mayor's Office
  - Laboratory
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Government intervention/protection of the shop.
  - Unfaithful allies.
  
  Sunny, Sandy Oaks
  When the world ended, few thought to stay behind and protect 
  those who might have needed it most—the elderly. However, in a 
  small retirement home in the middle of the desert, you and your 
  fellow residents have managed to continue life where others saw 
  none left.
  Now, you've discovered a group of raiders are coming to take 
  everything you've painstakingly built away from you.
  You won't let that happen.
  Questions to Ask:
  - What was life like in Sandy Oaks, before and after the 
  apocalypse? 
  - What tools would the residents of Sandy Oaks have used to 
  defend themselves up until now? What skills could they call upon 
  for an edge in combat or survival?
  - Who are the raiders? What do they look like? What are their 
  beliefs, customs, and power structures? Do they have families? 
  Can you end this conflict peacefully, before it's even begun? 
  Potential Characters:
  - Bandit Leader
  - Bandit Defector
  - Surly Ex-Landscaper
  Potential Locations:
  - Communal Garden
  - Tool Shed
  - TV Room
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Destruction of food sources/supplies.
  - Dwindling numbers.
  
  2 Jacked 2 Hack
  In the far-flung future of 2018, computer customization is illegal. 
  People of Earth choose one of a few brands of computing device, 
  and are locked into using said ecosystem exactly as prescribed 
  for the rest of their natural lives. However, for those with the will, 
  and the discipline, there is another option. Some, including you 
  and your friends, have taken advantage of the rise of the Micro 
  Gym (and rampant genetic modification) to become buff engines 
  of technological destruction. A select, freakishly muscled elite, 
  with the ability to hack something simply by punching it. 
  You are...
  2 Jacked 2 Hack.
  Storm the gleaming high-rise of the morally-dubious industrialist 
  who made the world this way.
  Questions to Ask:
  - What can Players hack? What unexpected-yet-logical reactions 
  can you provide for their decisions—especially the 'silly' ones?
  - What security measures would a high-rise have in a genetically-
  modified, dystopian future? How can Players circumvent them? 
  - Who is the industrialist? What are their motivations?
  Potential Characters:
  - The All-Powerful Receptionist
  - Totally Jacked Head of Security
  Potential Locations:
  - Parking Garage
  - Server Room
  - Waiting Room/Lobby
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Unhackable stuff (that may later be able to be surmounted).
  
  Ptero-A-Go-Go
  It is the time of dinosaurs—and the secret, greatest age disco has 
  ever known. Enormous beasts with white, polyester suits and 
  equally massive appetites indulge in every sin they can conceive, 
  while strange electronic music pulses through the prehistoric 
  dancers of neon-smothered nightclubs.
  As undercover officers of TOPMEN (Triassic and Omni-Periodic 
  Monsters Eliminating Narcotics), you and your friends are sent to 
  infiltrate the most notorious of these nightclubs: Ptero-A-Go-Go. 
  Will you find and stop the source of the crime drowning your 
  community, or succumb to the vices you're attempting to fight?
  Questions to Ask:
  - What dinosaurs can Players choose to become? How will this 
  choice affect how they interact with the world? 
  - What are the lines of conduct for Players as undercover agents? 
  How can crossing these lines affect the course of their story?
  - What are the underlying causes of vice in this world? Why would 
  Players—or so-called 'enemies'—come to fall in the first place?
  Potential Characters:
  - Raptor Drug Dealer
  - T-Rex Disco Lord
  - Brontosaurus Bouncer
  Potential Locations:
  - VIP Room
  - Quite Large Limousine
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Police or government corruption and manipulation.
  - Tense game of dinosaur poker.
  - Dance-off.
  
  Campfires and Stardust
  You will tell your Players that they are going to a forest by a 
  peaceful lake for an evening of roasting marshmallows, 
  stargazing, and scary stories.
  What you will not tell your Players, is that they will be forced to 
  confront the same horrors they so gleefully describe if they wish to 
  survive the night.
  Instruct your Players to describe the kinds of scary stories they 
  would tell around a campfire, give them a period of calm role-
  playing, and when they least expect it, use elements of their 
  stories against them as you reveal the true goal of the session:
  Survive to see the dawn.
  Questions to Ask:
  - How do you integrate elements of Player stories into their living 
  nightmare, while retaining or subverting the intent of the original 
  tale?
  - Why are your Players' stories coming to life? Can they defeat 
  the threat, or simply survive it?
  - Is the horror of the session going to be psychologically oriented, 
  or gory/slashy/stabby? Decide upon the approach of the session 
  with your Players before starting—without revealing the twist!
  Potential Characters:
  - Park Ranger
  - Exposition Hermit
  - Vacationing Family in a Trailer
  Potential Locations:
  - Cabin
  - Rickety Treehouse/Watchtower
  - Abandoned Picnic Area
  
  Tell Virgo I Sent You
  (based on upcoming novella Tell Virgo)
  In the near-future, Earth has been consumed by sand, and 
  mankind's finest cities lie in ruins. Those who don't care to carve 
  the local bandit leader's brand into their flesh and roam the 
  wasteland in search of prey survive however they can. You and 
  your friends live somewhere in the middle of this balance as 
  unscrupulous tour guides—con men—leading gullible scavengers 
  on nonsensical tours of “historic treasures” to pay off your debt to 
  the eccentric bandit leader Virgo.
  The deadline for your rather large loan has almost arrived, and 
  the Virgo Boys are getting impatient. Your last chance of survival 
  is a group of exceptionally wealthy, dangerous clients.
  Time to give the best, whirlwind, hoax-filled tour of your lives.
  Questions to Ask:
  - What would the world look like sixty years from now, in a sand-
  filled apocalypse? What would survive? What would change? 
  - How will Players present trivial artifacts to make them appear 
  more impressive than they are? Will the Clients believe their 
  explanations? Can Players force them to pay anyway? How?
  - Who are the Clients? How do they react to Player decisions? 
  Why are they taking this tour? Do they have other motives?
  Potential Locations:
  - Ornate Columns Half-Buried in Sand
  - Ruined Mall
  - Sand-Filled Office Building
  Potential Obstacles:
  - A surprise appearance by a rival group of bandits/tour guides.
  - Skeptical guests.
  - Post-apocalyptic consumer watchdog groups.
  
  SkeleCaddies
  The son of notorious monarch Boneton McSquish, Dark Baron of 
  the volcanic Underworld, is coming of age. Unfortunately, Prince 
  Boneton McSquish II is a foppish nerd. As his most trusted 
  servants, the Baron tasks you and your friends with helping the 
  timid heir complete a match of the only sport guaranteed to make 
  men of boys, by any means necessary—golf.
  The course is a death trap, and if the Prince is harmed, what 
  remains of your undead lives will be made very unpleasant.
  You are skeletons. You are caddies.
  You are SkeleCaddies.
  Questions to Ask:
  - What are the arbitrary rules of a golf course in the Underworld?
  - What would an evil golf course in the Underworld look like? 
  What hazards will the Prince face—and Players protect him from?
  - The Prince is bad at golf. How can you help him circumvent 
  obstacles? How will you bend the rules to further your goals?
  Potential Characters:
  - (Potentially Chatty) Cerberus
  - Uptight Goblin Groundskeeper
  - The Prince's Macho Rival in the Nobility
  Potential Locations:
  - Posh, Overpriced Dining Area
  - Observation Station/Security Hut
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Mythical Underworld creatures (dragons, zombies, etc.).
  - Moving holes.
  - Lava river/lake.
  
  All Hail The Spider Prophets
  (based on the world of All Hail The Spider God)
  Zimforth—The Spider God, killer of gods, capricious lord of 
  manipulation and despair—is dead. It's corpse spilled out of the 
  sky in a web-slathered blaze, slamming into the ground with the 
  simple, iron sword of a mortal buried in its head.
  As the only surviving prisoners practitioners of the miserable cult, 
  you and your friends are left alone in a world that has continued 
  for decades without you. Do you try to make a life in this new 
  world? Become the new Spider Prophets, spreading the word of 
  Zimforth in an attempt to bring it back? 
  Or begin the long journey of belief and deception that might turn 
  you into gods yourselves?
  Questions to Ask:
  - The Player Characters have been in a cult for a significant 
  period of time. How has this weird, quasi-medieval fantasy world 
  moved on since? What difficulties does this introduce for Players?
  - What are the goals of your Players? What steps are needed to 
  achieve them? Can these goals and steps shift as Players 
  discover themselves further?
  Potential Characters:
  - Sympathetic Followers of a Previous Cult
  - Eric — Lost (Heretic) Prophet of Zimforth
  Potential Locations:
  - Abandoned Temple
  - The Site of Zimforth's Fall/Corpse
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Evangelists of a new, rival religion.
  - Former (rightfully disgruntled) parishioners. 
  - Existential doubt and dread.
  
  The Gods Are Coming
  Strange, supernatural forces are leaking into the reality of 
  Victorian London. A small segment of the city is...changing, its 
  people twisting to match the increasingly distorted landscape. 
  As members of an undercover police force, you and your friends 
  must investigate the source of Evil, acquire the equipment 
  necessary to defy it, and purge the legion from our world.
  The gods are coming—and you have no idea why. 
  Questions to Ask:
  - What is the nature of the threat? Lovecraftian horror? Demonic 
  forces? Can Players defy the Evil by means other than combat?
  - What is the corrupted section of London like? Is the area 
  prosperous? Poverty-stricken? How are its inhabitants reacting to 
  the growing danger, and your presence?
  - How do Player professions and personalities affect their journey 
  through this Victorian world?
  Potential Characters:
  - Hooded Informant
  - Nervous Innkeeper
  - Market Stall Salesperson
  Potential Locations:
  - Occult Society and/or Bookstore
  - Oppressed Orphanage
  - Medium's Parlour
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Fear—seen in the bureaucracy, citizenry, etc.
  - Possessed townsfolk/potential traitors.
  - Your police force doesn't actually exist.
  
  Keep The Doctor Away
  An average party, in a normal location, is shattered by the sudden 
  knowledge that no one in the room has eaten an apple in the past 
  day. Breath hisses through gnashed teeth as black lightning 
  cracks the sky, revealing foul shadows approaching your location.
  The Doctors have arrived.
  You and your friends must defend yourselves, or suffer the due 
  judgment for your sins.
  Questions to Ask:
  - Where is this party/gathering/small collection of people located? 
  What improvised defenses does this place allow you to create?
  - What is the nature of the Doctors? Are they shapeshifting 
  monsters? Scuttling parasites? More human than beast? Can you 
  bargain with these creatures?
  - If eating an apple prevents the Doctors from hunting you, will 
  finding an apple cause unrest among the group? Violence? What 
  kept you all from eating an apple for so long? Eat a damn apple.
  Potential Characters:
  - Over-Enthusiastic Doomsday Prepper
  - Cynical Party-Goer Who Inevitably Dies First
  Potential Locations:
  - Ballroom
  - High School
  - Regular Home
  - Warehouse Rave
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Difficult to fortify locations.
  - Human weakness.
  
  Jimmy, Stop Eating Mr. Carlson!
  The year is 1950...something. The United States of America is 
  basking in a post-war environment of economic prosperity, 
  communist fear, rock and roll, and of course, institutional racism. 
  As the spearhead of an alien invasion force, you and your friends 
  will wear the skins of an average suburban family, and attempt to 
  blend in at a neighborhood barbecue for a single day.
  Will you use your findings to find a new life among the humans, 
  tell your commanders of humanity's weaknesses, or obliterate the 
  scourge of mankind from the planet entirely?
  Questions to Ask:
  - What types of aliens are your Players? What abilities and 
  weaknesses does their origin grant them?
  - What dangers will the Players encounter at the barbecue due to 
  their extraterrestrial background?
  - Will you customize the session further, transporting Players to 
  another place in history with its own cultural tensions, references, 
  debates, and prejudices?
  Potential Characters:
  - Local Priest
  - Prejudiced Neighbor
  - Pretentious Rock-Obsessed Teens
  Potential Locations:
  - Backyard of Salty Death
  - Swanky Gazebo
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Cultural misunderstandings.
  - Suspicious neighborhood conspiracy-theorist.
  - Burnt food.
  
  Tasting Amy
  As eternally youthful vampires, there's really no better way to 
  harvest your daily supply of blood cells than gathering a bunch of 
  horny teenagers to a house party. After all, people go missing 
  every day, and who could keep track of each of their friends when 
  the night gets particularly wild...
  You and your friends' duties as hosts of a wild party are three-fold:
  Get five fresh victims in the basement, let no one discover your 
  true nature (or the carnage in the basement for that matter), and 
  make sure the teenage vampire hunters crashing the party die 
  before dawn.
  Questions to Ask:
  - How will Players manage their duties as hosts, alongside the 
  more pertinent questions of who they'll consume and how?
  - Are the teenage vampire hunters legitimate threats? Will Players 
  have ways to deal with them that don't include violence?
  - As creatures of the night, do you have supernatural assistance?
  Potential Characters:
  - Jock Who Can't Handle His Alcohol
  - Goth Stereotype With A Heart Of Gold
  - Drug Dealer Who Thinks He's Being Discreet (But Totally Isn't)
  Potential Locations:
  - Recreational Room/Arcade
  - Trap Door-Equipped Bathroom
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Drunk, rowdy teens.
  - Police intervention.
  - Your own hesitance to slaughter humans in their youth.
  
  Necrodadicon
  Just because you're Eldritch abominations doesn't mean that you 
  don't want what's best for your kids. As dedicated parents, you 
  and your friends will shepherd your otherworldly spawn through 
  their first day of school, using every cursed ability at your disposal 
  to ensure the occasion is as positive as possible.
  Making dad jokes is mandatory.
  Questions to Ask:
  - What form do your Players and their in-game children take? 
  What abilities does this bestow? How can these powers backfire? 
  - What challenges will your Eldritch spawn face on their first day 
  at school? Bullying? Inaccurate dietary considerations? How will 
  you confront these wrongs as parents who can bend flesh and 
  reality to your wills?
  - How will Players interact with other parents accompanying their 
  own children? Will these parents prove to be obstacles? Allies? A 
  bit of both?
  Potential Characters:
  - All-Powerful PTA Secret Society
  - Inept Principal
  - Free-Spirited Math Teacher Who Served You In The Past
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Embarrassing classroom incidents.
  - Ability use having unintended side-effects.
  - Bullies.
  - Terrible food.
  - Bureaucracy.
  - The inexplicable presence of a holy order dedicated to your 
  destruction.
  
  Red Adolescence
  You and your friends are teenagers scraping out a meager life in 
  the post apocalypse. Radiation burns cover your bodies. If you 
  hadn't smashed your mirrors long ago, you'd weep at the patchy 
  hair on your scalps and the teeth hanging in your gums by a 
  thread. On the edge of your latest personal disaster, you've 
  somehow heard of a Haven to the East. A place where people like 
  you can live and die in peace...A chance to escape.
  Let's be honest.
  It wasn't like you had anything else to do this weekend anyway.
  Questions to Ask:
  - Five years following a modern nuclear war, what would the world 
  look like? What would our Players still miss from the time before?
  - What was the personal disaster that spurred our protagonists to 
  leave their homes? What consequences will follow them?
  - How did Players find out about the Haven? Can they trust the 
  source? What will they find when they reach their destination?
  Potential Characters:
  - Untrustworthy Guide
  - Younger Sibling/s
  - Mad Salesman
  Potential Locations:
  - Wasteland Bazaar
  - Mysterious Bunker
  - Blown-Out Canyon Society 
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Heat/dehydration.
  - Raiding parties.
  - Irradiated river.
  
  Bacon and Dregs (of Society)
  (created by Laura Michet of Where The Water Tastes Like Wine)
  Every small town around here has a Benny's—a cheap restaurant 
  chain that serves breakfast food all night. At Benny's, the syrup 
  tastes like chemicals, but you can get cheap pancakes at three in 
  the morning. Which is great, since none of you have a job.
  What you do have are festering, loser-class high-school grudges
  —against one another, and against the interloper who just parked 
  outside, walked in, pulled a gun, and demanded the cash in the 
  register. Uh…what are you going to do about that?
  Questions to Ask:
  - What grudge do each of the Players have against the robber? 
  The person with the gun has changed a lot since high school…
  what's changed?
  - Everyone in this friend group group has A Problem with 
  someone else in the group…some unsolved quarrel dating back 
  to high school. Let the Players decide what they are.
  - Who else is here? Where are they sitting? Are they part of the 
  holdup? Or allies?
  - Everyone has somewhere they have to be in the morning. 
  What's waiting for your Players on the other side of the night? 
  How could this burglary screw that up?
  Potential Characters:
  - Your High-School History Teacher, Recently Divorced, Crying 
  Into Her Milkshake
  - Long-Distance Trucker With A Dangerous Look In His Eyes
  - The Robber's Getaway Driver
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Uh…the gun! (Is it loaded? Is it real???)
  - The bear eating hash browns out of the dumpster out back.
  
  Vacation in Peace
  (created by Hannah Powell-Smith of Get Seen Tonight)
  It's hard enough to wrangle a road trip without your ancestor's 
  ghost haunting your car! This troublemaking ghost has never seen 
  the world beyond your small town, and they have agreed to leave 
  this mortal plane—on the condition that you take them on a 
  vacation first. On your trip, you and your friends or family must 
  deal with dangerous supernatural phenomena while making sure 
  to cut loose and have fun along the way.
  Just make sure everybody comes back.
  Questions to Ask:
  - Who is the ghost, and how does it behave? Will they be an ally 
  or an enemy on the road ahead?
  - How will the Players’ proximity with a ghost affect them, and 
  what otherworldly powers will they manifest as a result?
  - When the time comes, will everyone really want the ghost gone?
  Potential Characters:
  - Mysterious Hitch-Hiker
  - Inept Amateur Occultist
  Potential Locations:
  - Unsettlingly Perfect Village/Small Town
  - Almost Empty Cornfield
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Bad motel food.
  - Car problems.
  - Storms, locusts, tornadoes, or other environmental problems—
  ordinary or supernatural.
  - The ghost misunderstanding, or ignoring, the concepts of 
  privacy and personal space.
  
  Leaving Lex-Vegas
  (created by Tea-Powered Games of Dialogue: A Writer's Story)
  Professor Lex Munro, resident Mad Scientist at S. Teemed 
  University, has got it all: Public fame, academic repute, and 
  constant funding. As the brightest minds of academia, you are 
  Lex’s assistants in a prestigious lab working on exciting projects.
  There’s one tiny problem: the Professor’s work is a buzz-word-
  filled sham…a sham you need to accommodate in order to keep 
  your jobs while working on your academic masterpiece in secret. 
  Finish your masterpiece, publish it, present it, and seize your big 
  break, all while keeping up with Lex’s outlandish demands and 
  making sure they don’t swoop in and take the credit.
  Questions to Ask:
  - What is your lab’s specialty? Biology? Music?
  - What is the nature of your masterpiece, and what has each 
  person contributed to it?
  - What is Lex like in private, and what makes you different? Can 
  you maintain that difference in your own rise to the top?
  Potential Characters:
  - Ridiculously Competent Administrative Staff
  - Smug Tenured Professor
  - Cheerful Funding Judge
  Potential Locations:
  - The Lab
  - The Office (where you sleep)
  - Foreign Conference Hotel
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Experiments gone wrong.
  - Peer Review.
  
  A Magical Getaway
  (created by Cash DeCuir of Over the Alps and Fallen London)
  Do you remember when they aired those TV specials about the 
  planetary alignment, all those years ago? It was back then—that 
  night at the slumber party. At the stroke of midnight, all of you 
  woke up. More specifically, your secret powers woke up, turning 
  you all into Magical Scouts. Yes, just like that, you and your 
  friends became grade-school protectors of the innocent! You 
  saved the day, grew older, saved the day again, and graduated 
  into the real world only to save the day again. And again...and 
  again.
  It’s tiring work—but soon, for the first time, you’re all going on 
  vacation! At least, so you hope. Your vacation requires some last-
  minute preparations. Some of life’s obligations require fulfilling, 
  and you need to ensure the city will be safe without you for the 
  week.
  Questions to Ask:
  - What kind of secret powers do you have?
  - Are you sure there’s nothing you’re forgetting before you go on 
  vacation? Nothing at all?
  - Why do the Dark Forces want to spoil your vacation?
  Potential Characters:
  - Co-Workers
  - Deceitful Travel Agents
  - Fanatical Supporters
  Potential Locations:
  - Your Separate Offices (with Varying Work Cultures)
  - The Airport
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Adult Life.
  
  Witchy-Watchy
  (created by Cat Manning of What Isn't Saved (will be lost))
  Birds plummeting from the sky. Smoke rising from the river—not 
  to mention that eerie glow at night. Electronic billboards flashing 
  oblique prophecies of doom rather than smiling models. Even 
  non-magically inclined residents have started noticing these 
  strange phenomena plaguing their city. However, you’re attuned 
  to this sort of thing, and can’t help but notice that these 
  occurrences are clustered around the best magic shop in the city. 
  Did a summoning spell backfire? Will the river ever stop flickering 
  green? You’ve got to investigate the source of these 
  manifestations and find a way to resolve them before you and 
  your beloved magical refuge end up in real trouble.
  Questions to Ask:
  - Why is each character invested in this shop, as opposed to 
  practicing on their own? What are their guiding principles?
  - What is actually causing the phenomena? Is the source 
  magical? Natural?
  - What is the state of magic in the city? Are there other covens or 
  practitioners? How much do non-practitioners know about magic?
  - How do your characters practice magic? Spells and chanting? 
  Burning candles? Drawing sigils?
  Potential Characters:
  - The Overworked Apothecary
  Potential Locations:
  - The Magic Shop’s Secret Garden
  Potential Obstacles:
  - A summoned demon with their own agenda.
  - A rival coven leader who’s using the unrest to consolidate her 
  own power.
  
  Cryptid Keepers
  (created by Kevin Snow of the upcoming Southern Monsters)
  In the woods, swamps, and sewers of a rural town, monsters are 
  afoot! Blurry photos adorn the pages of the local newspaper. 
  Folks clock out from their factory jobs and discuss rumors at the 
  one bar on Main Street. Your neighbors like to keep their head 
  down and go about their day-to-day life, so it’s up to someone to 
  investigate. Why not you?
  The more you find, the more your neighbors mock and distrust 
  you, and some cryptids have dark histories that long-time 
  residents want to keep secret...
  Questions to Ask:
  - Why does each Player seek cryptids? Did a chance encounter 
  leave them desperate to uncover the truth? Perhaps they host a 
  local public access television show?
  - What cryptids are in this town? Aliens? Sasquatches? Axe-
  wielding goatmen? Think about stories you’ve heard in your own 
  neck of the woods!
  - When and where is your story set?
  - How do your characters hunt cryptids? Elaborate machines? 
  Phone cameras and determination? Actual weapons?
  Potential Characters:
  - The Mayor Sweating Their Upcoming Re-Election
  - The Sheriff Who Doesn’t Cotton To All This Trespassing
  Potential Locations:
  - The Campsite In The Woods
  - Happy Hour At The Local Bar
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Rival cryptid hunters armed with expensive gear and bad 
  attitudes.
  
  Corporeal Synergies
  (created by Heather Robertson of Extreme Meatpunks Forever)
  You are a group of parasites slowly devouring a businessman’s 
  brain and controlling his limbs. You’d usually take some time off 
  for something like this, but it’s a really important day in the office, 
  and the quarterly review is coming up, so you’re just going to have 
  to suck it up and go to work anyways. In this scenario, each 
  Player's statistics modify the relative skill of the body part they're  
  currently controlling.
  Your goal: to make it through the day without attracting suspicion 
  from your coworkers, and nail that business presentation!
  Questions to Ask:
  - What do the parasites look like? How do they operate?
  - What is the parasite's secret weakness?
  - What body parts can the parasites control? Ideally, there should 
  be more controllable body parts than Players.
  - What does each Player's parasite want that the others don’t?
  Potential Characters:
  - The Office Prankster
  - The Boss Who Has It Out For You
  - The Cute Guy in Sales
  Potential Locations:
  - CEO's Office
  - Accounting Department
  - Inadequate Staff Kitchen
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Janet using the conference room even though you already 
  booked it months ago.
  - Body parts you’re not currently controlling signaling for help.
  
  The Firey Frontier
  (created by Katherine Morayati of Take and Human Errors)
  Space: the final place where an enterprising music festival 
  organizer can bring an unparalleled, immersive music, art, culture, 
  dining, and extraterrestrial week to the universe! On a luxurious 
  private site, far removed from the stresses of Earth, visited by the 
  hottest and most adventurous celebrities, this festival is an 
  otherworldly experience unlike any of its kind.
  ...So the marketing pitch went. Right now, you’re looking at a 
  bunch of space junk, a couple freeze-dried pizzas, a bit of stray 
  wreckage, and some rundown ships to transport it all. It’s your job 
  to fix it all up before the guests arrive in two weeks. The obvious 
  thing to do would be to call the whole thing off. But no. Let’s just 
  do it and be space legends, man.
  Questions to Ask:
  - What roles do Players play in organizing the festival? 
  Performers? Marketing? Engineers? How’d they get the job?
  - What’s the setting for the festival? A space station, a planet, the 
  very void of space? How do people get there? Are locals happy 
  about your plans?
  - What will it take to pull off the festival? Is the goal to be a huge 
  success, or just that everyone gets back to Earth alive?
  Potential Characters:
  - The Malfunctioning AI/Social Media Personality
  Potential Locations:
  - The Hunk of Junk You’re Meant to Call a Space Station
  - Luxury Satellite Yacht (models optional)
  - The Barely-Terraformed Moon Stage
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Making it all look great in the ads down on Earth.
  
  Succu-Tying the Knot
  (created by Kristin Ruff-Frederickson, Narrative Designer)
  This morning, your family of lust demons in the Second Circle of 
  Hell received a wedding invitation from Damien, your first cousin 
  once removed. He’s embarking on a new stage of life, and you’re 
  all so happy for him! There’s just one little problem—he and his 
  betrothed are mortal.
  You want to attend both the ceremony and wedding reception for 
  your beloved cousin’s sake, but the natural magic exuded from 
  your incubus/succubus forms make it difficult to avoid enthralling 
  mortal guests, and accidentally sucking out their souls. Don your 
  best formalwear and travel to the earthly plane to fulfill your 
  familial duties—just make sure not to accidentally seduce the 
  betrothed or their family, or you’ll ruin the wedding!
  Questions to Ask:
  - How do Players plan to balance the natural charm of their 
  incubus/succubus forms? Self-induced garlic breath? Recounting 
  embarrassing personal stories in minute detail? Plain ol’ magic 
  talismans?
  - What sort of gift are you going to bring the groom? Remember—
  you’re from Hell and you probably didn’t get to see the registry?
  Potential Characters:
  - Wine Aunt and Dad Joke Uncle
  - Wary Priest
  - Newly Divorced Sibling Looking To Get “Back In The Game”
  Potential Locations:
  - Dance Floor and Karaoke Stage (newlyweds get first dance!)
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Polite small talk with relatives.
  - Your irresistible moves on the dance floor.
  
  Flesh Mask-uerade
  Thieves and scoundrels have found their trade substantially 
  improved after the madwoman Gertrude Lemmox invented the 
  Portable Temperature Reduction Device (PTRD). The criminally-
  inclined cut off their own faces, replacing them as needed with 
  useful alternatives chilled at the moment of harvest by a PTRD. 
  You and your friends are a group of such figures, which is 
  fortunate. This very night, you're going to infiltrate the mansion of 
  the Madwoman herself as she celebrates her 57th birthday with a 
  party that will be...unforgettable.
  Create a series of eccentric aristocrats (more than the number of 
  people playing) who would be at Lemmox's party, and overlay the 
  Ellipses skills, 'Description', and character portrait portions of their 
  Ellipses character sheets on top of your own to 'switch' faces 
  throughout the night and unravel the Madwoman's secret!
  Questions to Ask:
  - Why is your group pursuing the madwoman Lemmox? Are you 
  after her wealth? Her technology? Her research notes? Her head?
  - Why has Lemmox invited so many people to her home? What is 
  she hiding? Are her intentions sinister—or pitiable?
  - How will your group impersonate the aristocrats whose faces 
  they've stolen? Can they slip into new disguises if discovered?
  Potential Locations:
  - Disgustingly Opulent Bathrooms
  - Electricity-Lit Grand Dining Hall
  - Sealed Panic Room/Research Center
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Traps scattered throughout Gertrude's mansion.
  - Secretive mansion staff with hidden motives and naked blades.
  - An anxious, suspicious Baron (you're wearing his wife's face).
  
  Space Popsody
  The future is incredible. Earth is a smoking husk of ash and 
  screams—but we've got spaceships now! Tearing across the 
  stars, we hunt each other for pleasure and profit, fighting for the 
  fuel and GrowVat supplies you need to survive in the colorful void. 
  One thing no one lacks is music. All of it, stored on compact units 
  in your ship holds.
  Music fuels your victories, accompanies your tragedies, and 
  grants the crews of the lonely lifeboats drifting through space 
  abilities beyond belief. Boot up your playlists—it's time to soar.
  Questions to Ask:
  - What music does your crew of Players listen to? 70s pop? 
  Techno? Grunge? Does each Player have a chosen genre or 
  theme song? How does music mold your identities, and that of 
  other people in the world?
  - Everyone is going to die. There are no outposts. No way of 
  replenishing the finite supplies humanity carried with them when 
  they took to the stars. How does your crew live with this ever-
  present knowledge? Do you kill to survive, or care while you can?
  - How will your group use music to affect the session? Will you 
  deploy songs selectively to communicate character? Turn a 
  shuffled soundtrack on and let the current song modify the tone of 
  the session and events occurring? A bit of both?
  Potential Characters:
  - Impossibly Stylish Goth Captain
  - Friendly Merchant Woman Playing Sexy R&B Slow Jams
  Potential Locations:
  - A Song-Filled Valhalla For Dead Musical Warriors
  Potential Obstacles:
  - Living a carefree existence in the face of irresistible death.
  
  Chicago Mobster Moms
  Chicago. The 1920s. Booze still flows at the height of prohibition 
  thanks to illegal speakeasies, and you—the heads of the mafia 
  families that make the underground decadence of the period 
  possible. When you aren't whacking the competition or managing 
  your various front-companies and criminal operations, you fill 
  strong maternal roles in your community. In fact, most of your time 
  is spent taking care of the people 'polite society' forgets or rejects 
  outright. When the day's work is done and the kids (if a character 
  has them) are put to bed, you roam the streets, righting wrongs 
  and kicking ass.
  You're the Mobster Moms of Chicago—and don't you let anyone 
  fuhgeddaboudit.
  Questions to Ask:
  - What problems will the mobster moms solve in the campaign? 
  Delivering food to a hungry family? Shooting up a drug lab dealing 
  to kids in the community? Finding a lost dog's owner?
  - Do issues in the community have a common root—say, a 
  negligent landlord, or corrupt congressman?
  - What kind of people are in each Player's gang? Friends? 
  Convicts? Maybe even family members?
  - How will Players express care, both to each other, and for the 
  people they encounter?
  Potential Characters:
  - Overenthusiasticly Murder-y Mob Lieutenant
  - Chill, Bought-Off Police Officer
  Potential Locations:
  - Chicago. It's a Big Place.
  Potential Obstacles:
  - The Law suddenly growing a backbone.
  
       Paying Your Student Loans
     This scenario is a fantasy.
  
    Personal Notes
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Ellipses RPG/Ellipses RPG Session Starters 1.1.pdf