This scenario from our Ghostbusters: The Home Office campaign was likely the third session I'd Gamemastered for the crew and I was eager to make up for its two predecessors. My prior attempts hadn't really landed as I'd hoped. Although they hadn't been terrible, neither were they all that great by any stretch of the imagination.
I felt I had something of a reputation to uphold as one of the most popular GMs in our high school and the only one in our four person Ghostbusters RPG group that hadn't yet had a real banger. I realized I was trying way to hard to make a humorous adventure and it simply wasn't working, so I put away the whoopie cushion and rubber chicken and went for a different approach.
The Case of The Tell Tale Tail
AKA: The Tailypo
Inspiration: Tailypo, a North American folktale/ghost story often told around campfires.
Gamemaster: Adam Dickstein
Synopsis: During a particularly bad winter, the Ghostbusters get a call regarding a number of mysterious disappearances in the Adirondack Mountains region of Northeastern New York. All the people who vanished did so while hunting. The Home Office fixed the Ecto-1 with snow tires and got themselves some cold weather gear and headed up-state.
After some investigation, as well as dealing with the quirky locals and difficult environment, the team discovered evidence of a strange creature in the mountains and wooded areas near the lower regions. Not only did they find tracks but it often left marks in the dirt or snow reminiscent of a 'swishing' tail (as well as other signs of its existence).
David Nelson (Dave's character) was a specialist in the field of cryptids and other corporal entities and believed the beast they were searching for to be some kind of chimeric large cat. The paws prints were that of a large bobcat but the tail swishes were very different, more like that of an Ox. With this mental model they spoke to local townsfolk who suggested the Adirondacks folklore critter known as 'Tailypo'.
As the legend goes, a hunter or other mountain traveler who was very hungry would have an unsuccessful search for food and then come across the odd creature. For one reason or another the beast's tail would get severed and the hunter would take the tail home, cook it, and consume it. The Tailypo would then track down and terrorize the offender, saying repeatedly in a creepy, Human voice, "Tailypo, tailypo, give me back my tailypo!" (or some variation).
This gave Ghostbuster Nelson an idea. Tracing back to the cabin abode of one of the missing hunters, he checked the stove and fireplace and sure enough found the remains of what could well be ox-tail soup.
Finally the Ghostbusters decided not to eat lunch or dinner and go out into the cold night hungry, hoping that state would lure the entity out. It worked and the team was able to dispatch the monster in a most unorthodox fashion (See below).
Highlights: In my version of the legend, if you steal the Tailypo's tail but don't eat it, it'll still track you down to get it back but might not harm you if you return the tail. If you don't or can't, it'll mess you up but good, then go searching for its tail. If you actually ate the tail, the Tailypo will definitely eat you to get it back. The tail always grows back/gets reattached once the Tailypo has found it (one way or the other).
At the end of our session the tail had been found by the team, dropped in the snow by some hikers who thought they'd survived an attack by a bobcat or some other animal. The group tossed it back and forth to each other to confuse and delay the Tailypo until David Nelson got it and the creature pounched on him. Dave had a flash of brilliance and shoved the beast's tail into its own mouth! After a bewildered beat of hesitation, the Tailypo ate itself trying to get the tail back, just as Dave surmised it would.
Notes: I think this was one of my best outings in the original campaign. Utilizing my love of this particular campfire story, my interest in animals and cryptids, and my first hand knowledge of winters in Upstate New York, I was able to formulate a scenario that was threatening, unsettling, yet ground in a sense of realism.
The guys were especially impressed by my use of the terrain, environment, and weather; such as how the low temperatures effected both the characters and their equipment. I was moved by how they took the situation seriously once they realized how dangerous the beastie was, though they still managed to inject comedy into it because of their PCs' personalities.
After failing to get the tone right with my previous goofy ghost antagonists, I really wanted to use a supernatural creature as opposed to a silly spectre. I think it worked quite well, though one of my lesser efforts remains particularly memorable to the group.
I'll save that tail...sorry, tale...for another time.
AD
Barking Alien
