Making the Band

Introduction

Making the Band is a Dreamwalker Diceless adventure designed for a team of three to six beginning characters. The Mana Talents add-on may be required for certain parts of this adventure and can be downloaded at www.pigames.net. Alternately, the director may choose to ignore any reference to mana talents contained within this text.

The Dreamer

Theodore McElroy, age 40
Sporting Goods Store Manager

Abilities
Fitness: +1, Awareness: +1, Creativity: +1, Reasoning: +1
Field of Expertise
Retail Sales
Skills
Athletics (proficient), Computers (novice), Instrument (novice), Leadership (novice), Performance (novice)
Luck: 2, Discipline: 1, Extra Experience: 2

Theodore (Ted) McElroy is the manager of a local sporting goods store. He lives in an apartment building with his wife, Doris and their two children.

Unbeknownst to his family, he has recently been suffering the effects of a mild mid life crisis. When he was younger, he wrote poetry, painted and played a little guitar. He dreamed of becoming an artist or a musician, but things never quite worked out the way Theodore intended. He hates his job, but is unable to quit because his family depends on his income.

Dreamworld Information

The Dreamworld
Type:		Surreal
Key Locations/Events:		Getting out of the cereal bowl, avoiding the roaches, the mug, practicing with the band, the cereal box, the concert, the blackout
Denouement:		Passive
Details:		To play the concert.
Unreal:		Inert

Taenia
Theme:		Gangsta Rap/Hip-hop
Number		Molt		Manifestation
24		Larva		Cornrows, gold teeth, dew rags, jumpsuits, beepers
3		Drone		Gangsta rappers
1		Queen		Gangsta rapper

Underworld
Setting		#Drones		Size of Mana Pocket
The sporting goods store		1		16 (a paperweight given to him by his daughter)
A hockey rink		3		25 (the puck)
Museum		1		24 (the Mona Lisa)

The Dreamworld

Ted’s Dreamworld is centered around his youthful ambition to do something creative with his life. In the dream, this manifests as making it in the music industry and becoming a rock star. The Dreamworld reflects his vision of how a starving musician lives right before he hits it big.

On this particular night, Ted has just watched the movie “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” with his own children. The movie was fresh on his mind when he went to sleep and the Dreamworld reflects some of this.

Game Information: The characters retain their own statistics during the course of the adventure. The statistics for oversized creatures have been adjusted with this in mind.

Entering the Dreamworld

Upon entering the Dreamworld, the characters discover they have been reduced in size to approximately one inch tall. They are dressed in fashionably torn blue jeans, spiked wristbands and Underwhelmed concert T-shirts (see Underwhelmed, below).

Strangely, they find themselves stranded inside a giant bowl, atop a mound of cornflakes and surrounded by a moat of milk. An enormous spoon leans against one side of the bowl, its scoop end disappearing into the milk. A box of cereal looms up over the rim of the bowl to the east. The top of a mug is seen to the west. There is no sign of the Dreamer, but the pull of his presence is felt outside the bowl, in the direction of the mug.

Give the players a few moments to take in their surroundings and adjust to the shock of their manifestation. The characters must exit the bowl of cereal before they can begin the search for the Dreamer.

There are several ways to escape the bowl. The handle of the spoon is the most obvious. The characters can tromp across the corn flake hills to reach it. Once there, a routine fitness-based athletics task is needed to walk up the handle to the edge of the bowl. From there, the characters can survey the table. It is the equivalent of a 20’ drop from the side of the bowl to the table below.


Creative use of alteration mana may also be used to escape the bowl, including but not limited to, Creating something like a jetpack or hot air balloon to lift them out, Reshaping the milk and corn flakes into something more navigable or dissolving one side of the bowl entirely.

The Table

The table is a small (but currently enormous), wooden, two-person breakfast table. It is dingy, chipped and scarred and stained with old foodstuffs. The impression of a grungy apartment flickers across a Barrier that surrounds the entire table.

A bowl of cereal rests in the center of the table on top of a dirty placemat. To the left of the bowl is a mug of coffee (see The Mug, below). To the right of the bowl is a box of corn flakes (see The Cereal Box, below). An ordinary appearing door is etched into the side of the mug and a set of doubles doors is cut into the side of the box.

Several pony-sized (in relation to the characters, at least) cockroaches scurry across the table, along the side of the mug and into and out of the top of the cereal box. One of these roaches is infested with a larva. In keeping with its manifestation (see, The Nest, below), the roach wears a red bandana wrapped around its head, its mandibles are made of gold and the word “Fresh” has been air brushed in graffiti across one of its wings.

Once the characters exit the bowl, or if they otherwise draw attention to themselves while on the table, they are attacked by three Unreal roaches. There is a chance one of the roaches is infested with a larva (director’s discretion).

Larval Roach
Abilities
Fitness: +2, Awareness: +1, Creativity: 0, Reasoning: 0
Skills
Brawling (novice), Athletics (novice), Survival (expert)
Gimmicks
Natural Weapons (bite, B1), Tolerance to Pain
Luck: 1, Discipline: 0, Extra Experience: 0

Three Unreal Roaches
Abilities
Fitness: +2, Awareness: +1, Creativity: 0, Reasoning: 0
Skills
Brawling (novice), Athletics (novice), Survival (expert)
Gimmicks
Natural Weapons (bite, B1), Tolerance to Pain
Luck: 1, Discipline: 0, Extra Experience: 0

The Mug (Mug Street garage)

The mug door is unlocked. Inside is a stereotypical car garage, littered with patched up musical equipment. A strong smell of marijuana permeates the room. The Dreamer and two band members are present, lounging on a beat up couch. They look upset.

The Dreamer

The Dreamer manifests here as Ted Hendrix, the lead singer for the imaginary garage band, Underwhelmed (see Underwhelmed, below).

The Denouement

The dream’s denouement is for the Dreamer and his band to headline tonight’s concert at C-Box Hall (see The Cereal Box, below).

Underwhelmed

Underwhelmed is a classic big-hair rock band molded from the 70’s and 80’s. The band is comprised of five musicians: Ted Osbourne (the Dreamer) as lead singer, Dylan Griff on lead guitar, Derry Lamar on drums, Ben Parson on bass guitar and Chad Tracks on keyboards

Trouble

The Dreamer welcomes the PCs into the band room and treats them as loyal fans if they are still wearing Underwhelmed shirts. He asks the PCs if they have seen the lead guitarist, Dylan Griff or the drummer, Derry Lamar.

He explains that the band was supposed to meet here at the Mug Street garage for one last practice, before going on to the concert. Ted, Ben and Chad arrived a short time ago (at the start of the dream) but Derry and Dylan are nowhere to be found.

Soon after a PC Joins with the Dreamer and the learns the dream’s denouement, Derry calls and states that he and Dylan are stuck in traffic and will miss the practice but promises to meet them at the concert tonight. Unknown to the Dreamer, Derry and Dylan were infested with Taeniid larvae and are hiding in the basement of C-Box Hall to await the end of the dream. Throughout the course of the dream, they plan to call Ted on his cell phone and have him postpone the concert until they arrive, thereby hindering the Dreamer from achieving his denouement while prolonging the length of the dream. Of course, when devising this plan they failed to account for the presence of the Dreamwalkers.

Practice

The Dreamer and the other band members present want to have one last practice before going live at the concert. The Dreamer asks the characters if any of them know how to play guitar and/or drums. If they do not, this might be a good time to use the Forte mana power to learn how.

PC band members must make ether a routine awareness-based performance task (for singing) or a routine awareness-based instrument task in order to have a good practice. A calamity results in automatic chance for Dreamer rebellion that the PCs must try to suppress.

Note: If the PC remains Joined with the Dreamer, he must rely on his own singing skills.

(Subdenouement: Having a good practice (everyone makes successful tasks).)

(Incidental Achievement: Practicing with the band, regardless of the outcome.)

(Incidental Achievement: A triumph on the awareness-based performance/instrument task (any character who scores one).)

The Drive

Once the band is finished practicing, a limousine driven by an Unreal chauffeur arrives at the mug and drives the band and the PCs to the Cereal Box, stopping only once to let a giant cockroach scurry across the car’s path. In typical dream fashion, neither the Dreamer nor any of the Unreal find this out of the ordinary.

The Cereal Box (C-Box Hall)

The entrance to the Cereal Box is a set of double doors. Before the band practices, these doors are locked and the concert hall is empty except for the Taeniid Nest (below). After practice, the doors are opened but guarded by Unreal bouncers and ticket takers. A red carpet has been roped off and a mob of reporters and excited fans sporting Underwhelmed paraphernalia have gathered outside the ropes. The giant roaches continue to scurry about the table but do not harm anyone in the vicinity of the cereal box.

The chauffeur parks at the edge of the carpet and the limo is immediately mobbed by screaming fans. The door opens and the band’s manager, Joe Torrey, ushers them out of the vehicle under the tight security. Joe is dressed in a New York Yankees baseball uniform. He is a dream manifestation of the manager of Theodore’s favorite baseball team, the Yankees.

Flash bulbs light up the entire table and the crowd goes wild as Underwhelmed walks down the red carpet and enters the Cereal Box. The characters glimpse several larvae mixed in among the Unreal, but these hastily retreat if confronted.

Inside the Cereal Box, C-Box Hall is a large, dimly lit, multilevel concert hall with hardwood floors, balconies and several bars and concession stands.

The band (along with any accompanying PCs) is immediately caught up in a confusing wave of producers, music executives, sound technicians and wardrobe designers and makeup personnel. They are brought directly backstage and allowed to tune their instruments. Joe Torrey explains that there is no opening band and Underwhelmed is scheduled to perform in less than thirty minutes. There is still no sign of band members Derry and Dylan.

The closer it gets to show time, the more agitated the Dreamer grows. Joe Torrey eventually resigns himself to the fact that Dylan and Derry are not coming and says they have to find substitute band members. If the characters do not volunteer, he finds replacements on his own and the characters are free to observe the concert from backstage.

(Incidental Achievement: Playing with the band.)


The Concert

The concert begins roughly thirty minutes after the Dreamer arrives at C-Box Hall. The band opens with their more popular numbers, then break into some new songs. The crowd goes crazy. PC band members must make a routine awareness-based performance or awareness-based instrument task, with results the same as at the practice, above.

Blackout

About halfway through the concert, the power goes out, casting the whole place into darkness. A few seconds later, the backup generator kicks in and red emergency lights produce just enough light to see by, but there is not enough electricity to power the instruments or special effects.

The crowd mills around in confusion and even the stagehands and technicians do not seem to know what to do. It should be obvious after a few minutes that the lights are not coming back on. If the PCs take no action, the crowd gets restless and starts to boo. The Joined character (if any) can feel the Dreamer threatening to rebel as his dream of becoming a rock star begins to dwindle.

Someone eventually suggests checking the fuse box downstairs, but any Unreal who go down to the basement do not return. If the PCs take no action, the Dreamer realizes the dream’s denouement cannot be achieved. He falls to his knees crying as the crowd boos him off stage. The Dreamworld ripples and changes. The Unreal disappear, most of the larvae melt away while two molt into natural form drones and immediately attack. The characters may either battle the drones and then hunt for the Nest, or exit the dream entirely.

The Fuse Box

The fuse box is located beneath the concert hall in what appears to be a replica of the dark and cluttered basement of the Dreamer’s childhood home. The fuse box is open and the main breaker has been turned off.

Three drones are hiding amongst the boxes and clutter and attack anyone entering the basement.

3 Gangsta Rapper Drones
Abilities
Fitness: +1, Awareness: +2, Creativity: 0, Reasoning: 0
Skills
Brawling (expert), Criminal (expert), Firearms (proficient), Performance (novice)
Gimmicks
Tolerance to Pain
Luck: 0, Discipline: 2, Extra Experience: 1
Possessions
9mm pistols, warm-up suits, gold jewelry


Achieving the Denouement

Once the power returns, Underwhelmed may finish the concert. The fans shout for an encore after the last song and end the night cheering in ecstasy. A wave of joy washes over the Dreamer and colorful mana radiates from him as he takes a final bow. Taeniid larvae wither and die from his success while any remaining drones make their way back to the Nest. The Dreamer and the Unreal become inert for the remainder of the dream as the Dreamer basks in the glory of being a rock star.

The characters are now free to search out the Taeniid Queen. They can feel an ominous pull from somewhere up above and can follow this feeling of dread up a staircase, right to the Nest.

The Nest

The Nest is located in a locked side room upstairs. A “Keep Out” sign is nailed to the door and the characters can feel a sense of dread emanating from within.

Inside, the room opens up into a large office. Posters of hip-hop and rap artists and gold and platinum rap records hang on the wall.

Ted subconsciously feels that the coming of hip-hop and rap brought about the decline of rock music and the Taenia in his dream manifest as stereotypical elements of gangsta rap. The Queen manifests as a gangsta rap-recording artist of the director’s choice. She takes up position behind a huge oak desk in the center of the room and opens fire on anyone who enters. She attacks non-Joined characters first, then the Dreamer.

Once the PCs have defeated the Queen, they may destroy her current crop of eggs which manifest as the platinum and gold records lining the walls.

Taeniid Queen (Gangsta Rapper)
Abilities
Fitness: +2, Awareness: +2, Creativity: +4, Reasoning: +3
Aspects
Mana Points (Open Aspect) 25
Field of Expertise
Music Industry
Skills
Firearms (proficient)
Gimmicks
Tolerance to Pain, Inexhaustible Energy
Mana Talents
Combat Focus
Luck: 4, Discipline: 4, Extra Experience: 5
Possessions
TEC-9 machine pistol, business suit, gold jewelry

The End