Ke$ha and Jackie Chan Seek the Holy Grail! A pnp campaign

[dragoneyeIIVX]

Yo peeps. It's been a while, so there's a good chance none of you know me, but I always used to come here for creative shenanigans for my pnp campaigns. That time has come again. I need the creative roleplay juggernaut that is the Arelith community.

Ke$ha and Jackie Chan Seek the Holy Grail!

A three person Pathfinder campaign that we drunkenly brewed up last night that I'll be DMing for two friends. One has always wanted to play a super hot sorcerer, the other has always wanted to play a monk Jackie Chan style. We butchered the concepts of these people and boiled them down to their tropes, and this is what happened.

The characters:
Ke$ha, a Star Soul Sorcerer who loves illusions, evocations, and Glitter(dust). Raised by an extremely reserved cult/commune/organization that shunned all things fun (no dancing!), she was eventually cast out for being a wild child and wholly unmanageable. Now she seeks adventure - in the best way a valley girl could, anyway.

Jackie Chan, a monk down on their luck and outside of their monastic community, searches for enlightenment - a pilgrimage. Strong, fast, and cunning... but lacking in the wisdom department, he doesn't really "get it" - that whole spiritual wholeness thing - even if the technical proficiency is there to kick some Snuggybear and take some names. Think Korra Season 1.

Ke$ha finds Jackie Chan in a bar, scrapping together a meal from nothing; "Oh my god. That is like. So inspiring. Are you, like, one of those spiritual guru's who, like knows things?" Jackie Chan, not quite as in tune with the concept of Wholeness of Being as a proper monk should be, sees the potential opportunity. And, as they say, The Con is On. "Why yes. I am. I could teach you."

Thus, Ke$ha has a spiritual guide, and Jackie Chan has a pupil-also-coinpurse. And they seek the Holy Grail of Enlightenment for all the wrong reasons.

---
So we've got the foreward ALL set, I just need to figure out some situations and quests. Quests, adventuring, mishap, mayhem! I figure the campaign will be a fool's comedy in style, with a backdrop of fantasy and lots of booze. But I'm having a hard time with the inspiration end on quests.

[Anime Sword Fighter]

Have you ever watched the Jackie Chan cartoon? It's on Netflix I think.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Chan_Adventures

One of your bosses can be a bald man who runs a logging company who always yells "Timber!" at the wrong time named Pitbull who wants to have a dam break to flood a village so he can clear the area for logging.

[dragoneyeIIVX]

Dear god, that's perfect source material! I was thinking Shanghai Knights for inspiration also.

[The GrumpyCat]

For some reason the way this is framed, narritivly, makes me think of Journey to the West - which is an ancient chineese folk tale I think.
At any rate - I don't know if you meant this as a joke, or you've already put it in your campeign, but I actually love the idea of the Holy Grail of Englightenment. The idea that it's a cup you drink from, in which you gain enlightenment.
I think a good 'theme' for the over all campeign is the monks trying to set these two, or put these two, on the path of 'Englightenment' though a quest to find said grail. The old clieche/trope being that it is the journey that brings enlightenment, not the goal
So perhaps the various tihngs they have to do/find/encounter to get the mcGuffin could be things that are 'meant' to teach then 'enlightenment'. Though whether or not they succeed is another matter. The joke of the campeign is that, though this 'quest' and 'trails' are meant to teach them enlightenment - it really, really doesn't.

[dragoneyeIIVX]

DMGC, I love that idea - it's vaguely what I had in mind, but the way you put it makes it all a little more cohesive. Any ideas on kinds of things that would entail though? I can't for the life of me think of what some "Metaphorical McGuffins" might be.

You know that "Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue" phrase for weddings? If I had a similarly nebulous quote or concept for the "path" to enlightenment, I think I'd be in business.

[The GrumpyCat]

How about something like:

Grand Master Chow-Kun worries for his apprentice and tells him that he has much to learn for enlightnement. If he wishes to continue his training, to become the Greatest Grand Master he must first find and retrieve the Broom of Humility! This broom is at a hidden temple, at the top of Mount Tzou, and guarded by ten dragons! Only the mighties heroes may attain it!
He gives a map to Jackie Chan and Jacke brings ValleyGirl along because... I dunno. Thing.

The first part o fthe journey is to choose between two passes. One is very long, one is very short. The idea the Grand Master thinks is 'Ha! This way he will learn that to be patient and slow is better than impatient and fast!' Because the long one is very safe, the short one very dangerous (or some such)
Ideally there should be built in some for the players to mess this moral up. Or just allow them to use their wicked imaginations. (E.g. the short pass is in a low gorge and there is a hydra in it, the upper pass goes above it but winds around longer. The plyers can cheat by going a bit along the 'long' pass, dropping rocks onto the dragons head, killing it, then going back down and taking the short cut)
Really you don't need to build these in neccesrly - I'm sure players can come up with random ways to mess up any 'moral' tale! XD

Anyway - each little 'trail' perhaps is a morality play. Which the pc's can either follow, or else ignore. For example - the value of patience. The value of self reflection. Not hoarding wordly goods. Being tolerant. All that jazz. Which all hopefly leads up in finding the Broom of Humility! (which is, in fact, a normal broom that the Grand Master just uses to teach pupils the value of the journey not the destination... ect.)

An alternative idea - if you want somethint more comidic and one shot based - or just want to stretch this out bit, is instead of one Holy Item you could make it several, each more ridiculous than the last.
'The Broom of Hulility!'
'The Mop of Enlightenment!'
'But Bucket of Self Reflection!'
'The Dirty Hand Towl of Purity!'
'The dish cloth of... wisdom!'

And so on.

[dragoneyeIIVX]

I'm definitely thinking of the "Comedy One-Shots" - and I love that idea. Maybe the monk has a map of various items of importance, taken from/given by her master.

"The Holy Chalice of Enlightenment" - A cup that spontaneously casts the Light spell on itself.
"The Tome of Infinite Wisdom" - An empty book.
"Rag of Purity" - cleans, never gets dirty
"Helmet of Self Reflection" (love this) - no eye holes

etc (would love ideas)

Someone also suggested I go do the Avatar: The Last Air "Guru" episode where Aang has to open his Chakras.

[Mithreas]

I'd be tempted to play to the trope idea even further, by having the characters actually play through various recogniseable movie scenes. It adds a whole new mini game "which movie are we in now" and seems to fit the spirit of what you're after. Many of the ideas above are already in this theme, of course!

[dragoneyeIIVX]

OH YES. Oh man, Hero Points for appropriately timed movie quotes? I'm so down. I need to brush up on my action-adventure type movies. Oh shucks.

I just went through the Avatar Chakra Thing -
- Earth: Deals with Survival, blocked by fear
- Water: Deals with Pleasure, blocked by guilt
- Fire: Deals with Willpower, blocked by shame
- Wind: Deals with Love, blocked by grief
- Sound: Deals with Truth, blocked by lies (lol the monk...)
- Light: Deals with Insight, blocked by illusion
- Thought: Deals with Energy, blocked by earthly things

[Tathkar Eisgrim]

Give your Jackie Chan monk the ability to rewind time (Prince of Persia style) and reattempt his stunts / special moves based on how outrageous the stunt is.

Edit: Actually, give the Sorceress the ability to rewind time and save him to try again...

[CragOneEye]

Yes I do remember you Rizzen and I think some of us oldies do too.

[Jagel]

And Kat, and Dante and ... so on!

[RockandRollOutlaw]

The greatest Jackie Chan film of all time: Fantasy Mission Force

Pretty sure you can watch it for free on youtube. Abraham Lincoln, Haunted Houses, Demolition Derby, Nazis, Amazons, Morningstars, Rocket Launchers. It has everything you could possibly want.