-------------------My players kindly keep out --------------------
Got an idea for a solo adventure in Glantri at the GSoM that needs fleshing out and I hope some of you may have some useful feedback.
Basically, the adventure is for the party mage, Ikaros, when he goes back to take the Test at the school. I have heard of a Hollywood movie called "The Ring", which is about this deadly videotape. When you watch it, the telephone rings and a week later, you're dead (as far as I have read, unfortunately I haven't seen the movie yet).
My idea is to take that basic plot and place it at the GSoM as an "urban legend". There is a book somewhere in the dusty libraries and if you find it and read it you're guaranteed to die mysteriously (and soon!)
Has anyone seen the movie? Would I be able to use more from the movie's plot in my adventure? I don't want to repeat the movie/book The Name of the Rose with Sean Conner (also about a forbidden book), meaning that the deadly book reveals something about the Brotherhood of Rad or the Seven Crafts - that is far too likely to just get poor Ikaros killed :D
I would rather have the book be a link to some old curse or cult linked to something outside the school - an old secret, someone who has a grudge against the school, a crime that was covered up and caused restless souls - something of that nature.
Any ideas will be very much appreciated!
:-) Jesper
Anyways, if you want it to be different from Name of the Rose (wonder if that is where the creators of Ringu got the idea), you could just make it so that it is the book that kills, not some logical explaination as in that novel. An intersting twist would be that the book opens a portal connected to the readers door. He hears a knock, and once he opens the door, he is sucked into a prison dimension with all sorts of nasties.
If Ikaros first hears about the legend and then discovers the book he thinks may be related to it, he will probably expect someone to attack and kill him. So he will probably read the book at a time where he is surrounded by his friends, the rest of the party. When he reads the book, they all hear the knock, but nothing else happens. Eventually they are going to want to open the door, which ofcourse, sucks them all into the prison dimension. That leads to a somewhat unusual dungeon crawl, but one that the PCs should be able to get out of eventually. Ofcourse, you should keep in mind that Ikaros should have read something interesting in the book, that will make the whole event worth it.
Now, who would have created such a book, and why? Perhaps it is indeed a test for one of the secret brotherhoods? The one who discovers the book, and makes it out of the prison will be deemed worthy of joining the brotherhood. Or perhaps it is some enemy of the school that wants to destroy those who most desperately seek knowledge?
Håvard
However, I don't think it could be used "as it is" in a fantasy campaign, mainly because it conveys its horror through its visual aspects. This movie focuses on Television, and from TV the curse can reach anyone. Out of metaphore, it is a movie on the nastier effects of TV as a media in modern society (you can read it like this, yes). The story is about a child (nowadays it seems horror stories are always about children if they want to be effective), a curse, mystery and madness. Simply put, it's difficult to create the same paranoic and frightening atmosphere in the Great School of Magic.
For this reason I would advise you to use instead Harry Potter as a good inspiration source for adventures (even dark and horror adventures) in the GSoM, because that's a treasure trove of ideas and scenarios for events that can happen in a school of magic. In particular books 2 and 3 are VERY good.
Going with your idea, you can certainly have a "cursed book" that's rumored to make all those who read it "disappear" (rather than die). Then have the best friend of the PC (or one of his closest acquaintances) get his hands on the book. Have the PC come to know of this by his own friend's words, and have the friend disappear the day after.
The tall tale will be whispered across the halls of the Great School of Magic, the Great Master will start an investigation ("as he did 10 years ago, when these vanishings happened again") and the PC will stumble upon the book ! He will learn that these vanishings have gone on ever since the creation of the GSoM and that one of the founders is responsible for them...
What is happening?
You decide, but likely one of the first teachers of the school crafted this book as his "hideout" and later got trapped into it when a demon possessed him. He needs the souls of those who read it to survive and once he'll get enough of them he'll be able to come out once again... ;)
This way you can have your own PC as Mr Potter and this weird mage as Voldemort... ;) :P
:-) Jesper