This is part of a series of RPG characters, creatures, items, adventure ideas, and locations inspired by random entries from Wikipedia. The material I create may grow distant from its roots.

Today we have Skotisma Zazavavy eto Madagasikara, the national Girl Scout federation of Madagascar. It has 25,000 members. That’s about all the information to be gleaned from the page, which doesn’t give us much to go on, but the idea of a large organization of young girls learning survival skills on a small island captures the imagination in itself, doesn’t it?

Luigi Castellani’s “Weapon Training” (CC-BY-3.0)

Dagaxa is one of the largest islands in the world, strategically placed as a vital trading hub. Ships from all over the world stop here. Unfortunately, this influx of shipping has not been kind to the natives, particularly the women.

About 30 years ago, a middle-aged woman named Zaza became well-known for taking in disadvantaged girls, from orphans to escaped kidnap victims. For a few years, she operated a small orphanage and school in the coastal city of Narivo.

Nobody knows what caused it. But one day, a call went out to all the sisters and cousins and friends connected to Zaza’s girls. Dozens came to the orphanage. Then they were all gone.

Some concerned relatives investigated. The group had been sighted heading into the dense jungle surrounding Narivo. A few half-hearted searches found nothing. For the next few decades, adventurous souls would whisper in a tavern about knowing a friend of a friend who sent supplies to Zaza’s Girls, as they were inevitably called, who now lived on their own deep in the jungles of Dagaxa.

Then, about five years ago, the underground rumor mill swirled with reports of “crazy women assassins.” They would swoop upon thieves’ jungle hideouts and brigands’ caches, destroying them and taking the spoils.

Then came the story of a gang member who limped into Narivo one hot day. His gang was threatening a small farmer in the jungle for protection money. The last member of the gang had just tied up the farmer’s youngest daughter when women flew into the hut from every side, slicing with long blades while screaming battle cries. The gang didn’t stand a chance.

The gang member was badly hurt but not killed, and feigned death. He heard the farmer ask the warriors, “Who are you?” One replied simply, “Zaza’s Girls.”

In the ensuing years, Zaza’s Girls have intervened in dozens of raids, hostages situations, and kidnappings. They have even tracked down those who escaped the law, and punished them severely. They are vigilante justice at its most skilled and direct.

Always prepared for combat and always armed, Zaza’s Girls are renowned for their muscled physiques, nearly psychic coordination in combat, and taciturn demeanors. They appear from the jungle and disappear back into it at will, untraceably so far.

Because of their focus on the scum of society, law enforcement (weak at the best of times in Dagaxa) has made only token efforts to track them down. The criminal underworld is more determined, but their efforts so far have met with swift failure, in the form of heads separated from their bodies.

And even while commoners on the street marvel at the Girls’ exploits, they wonder: how can a vigilante group like this stay so well-trained and well-armed?

This is part of a series of RPG characters, creatures, items, adventure ideas, and locations inspired by random entries from Wikipedia. The material I create may grow distant from its roots.

Today we have Sharad Malhotra, a minor Indian TV actor.

This is a great example of a Wikipedia entry that requires digging. Deep in the first paragraph of his biography, we read, “He did a lot of ads prominent among them being ads for P.C.Chandra [Jewelers] ([he] was the first male model to have done a jewellery campaign).” Interesting. A small-time TV actor who models jewelry.

Luigi Castellani’s Seated Noble (cropped)

Amar is a local celebrity in this large market town. He belongs to a small troupe of actors who put on farces and puppet shows during market days. Everyone’s seen Amar.

But lately, Amar’s been acting strangely. While he’s always dressed with a flamboyant air–despite his troupe’s meager earnings–a few months ago he began wearing a huge emerald on a gold necklace. (Since Amar maintains a public lifestyle, nobody’s had the chance to steal it yet.) Ever since, he’s been selling smaller versions of his necklace to young men and women. He claims he has a deal with a foreign merchant named Chandra, who recognized Amar’s fame as an opportunity to recruit a celebrity as a salesman.

But his clients always end up coming back within Amar’s orbit, hanging around wherever he happens to be and laughing at all his jokes. Some have seen Amar and his “followers” all enter a house for some kind of meeting.

In reality, Amar has come under the spell of the mysterious merchant Chandra. Chandra leads a new cult, the Followers of the Unseen Eye. The cult’s symbol is the emerald, etched or drawn on all their papers and artifacts. Chandra wears an even larger emerald than Amar. Each necklace is a magical artifact that gives the wearer a moderate psychic hold over anyone who wears a smaller version.

This would only be a mild curiosity, except that an informant has told the town’s militia that the Followers of the Unseen Eye worship demons, and Chandra plans to kidnap several locals for a human sacrifice. Indeed, perhaps Amar’s followers are meant for the knife….

I kid about Fort Chaffee, but then I stumble upon this actual photo of it from Wikimedia Commons…

This is part of a series of RPG characters, creatures, items, adventure ideas, and locations inspired by random entries from Wikipedia. The material I create may grow distant from its roots.

Today we have Fort Chaffee Maneuver Training Center, a National Guard installation. First built as a U.S. Army facility in World War II, it was later a refugee camp and eventually turned back over to the state. Most of its land has been redeveloped or returned to nature.

What do we do with this? It’s a quiet, out of the way place. A perfect place to store things Man Was Not Meant To Know!

Fort Chaffee has been referenced in several paranormal reports and declassified Freedom of Information Act government papers. This “quiet” base in Arkansas is purportedly used to train the National Guard. Do NOT let this fool you!

Originally built by the Army as a tank training camp, its artillery was suddenly MOVED in 1959 to Oklahoma. Why? It can only be that it needed to serve ANOTHER PURPOSE.

The truth lies here: Fort Chaffee was used as a refugee camp SEVERAL TIMES in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Why would the Army send thousands–often tens of thousands–of refugees to the middle of the country for “processing”? Simple: many of them were unwitting subjects of secret government medical experimentation. Yes, they were given “medical screenings.” Those screenings included injections that were carefully TRACKED by the government over the years and decades that followed.

It is my firm belief that Fort Chaffee was a PRIMARY center of experimentation for medical technology recovered from the alien crashes at Roswell and other sites. How many Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Cuban refugees DIED after their “processing” at Fort Chaffee? How many of them may have reported strange effects? None can say.

Now for the real kicker: In 1997, the fort was “turned over” to the state as a National Guard post, its garrison “decommissioned,” and much of its land “rezoned and redeveloped.” 700 buildings: demolished! Now, have you EVER heard of the Army letting go of a base? Much less demolishing its buildings? SOMETHING HAPPENED. Something that had to be DESTROYED.

Now, the land has been replanted and forests grow where secrets were once born and bred in laboratories. What still lurks in the hills of Fort Chaffee? Perhaps YOU will find out!

‘Rock Formation NW of Jubilee Point’ by avlxyz on Flickr

This is part of a series of RPG characters, creatures, items, adventure ideas, and locations inspired by random entries from Wikipedia. The material I create may grow distant from its roots.

Today we have John Carver, one of the men who organized the Mayflower voyage to America. He harbored a separatist who was critical of the church, and with the heat rising from King James I’s soldiers, he negotiated with the Virginia Company on a voyage to America. He was governor of the Mayflower, probably wrote the Mayflower Contract, steadied the impetuous military hand of Myles Standish, planned much of Plymouth colony, and died of exhaustion working alongside the other Pilgrims just after their disastrous first winter, without ever seeing the colony find its feet.

Wow.

This struggling outpost of Seamouth needs your help.

Thanks to wildly over-optimistic reports of fertile land and ancient riches laying in nearby ruins, Jon the Carver volunteered to organize a settlement on this spit of land. When they arrived, the settlers discovered a wild, dangerous forest on one side and a rocky coast on the other, separated by a narrow strip of fertile soil.

In their first year, a disastrous winter combined with a plague to wipe out most of Seamouth’s inhabitants. The few settlers who managed to penetrate the forest found plenty of old ruins…and savage natives who attack any who come near. And now these savages have started to harass Seamouth itself.

The colony’s cutthroat military commander, Miles, campaigns to strike deep into the forest’s interior and destroy the savages who lurk therein. John the Carver has been holding him back, fearing reprisals if the attack is unsuccessful.

John needs a good fighting group to subdue the savages such that they won’t fight back.

(The players could handle the savages by forging diplomatic ties, or by creating a showy effect that scares them, rather than killing every last one of them.)

Arabian Nights by josiahmackenzie on Flickr

This is part of a series of RPG characters, creatures, items, adventure ideas, and locations inspired by random entries from Wikipedia. The material I create may grow distant from its roots.

Today we have Tempus Clausum, an ancient Roman Catholic law that forbids celebrations during certain solemn periods of the year (such as Lent and Advent). English equivalents include the delicious terms “closed time” and “forbidden time.”

You have come to Clausum, the holy city, during Closed Time. The faithful must rest from their labors during this week.

Unfortunately, a foul murder has been committed. Sorana, a young priestess of Shelomith the All-Seeing, was found dead in her chambers. Her purple-tinged hands and bulging eyes speak to the use of alatil poison, an expensive powder that kills within seconds.

The priests cannot investigate this murder during Closed Time, but will pay you handsomely to do so. Lukas, the chief priest of the Temple of Shelomith, will tell you all he knows of Sorana’s habits. She was a simple, devout young woman who left the temple more often than most on solitary errands.

You have an ally in the tenets of Closed Time: no-one may leave the city until Closed Time ends two days from now. The perpetrator still lies somewhere among the many temples and spires of Clausum. Is it another priest or priestess of Shelomith, jealous of Sorana’s rapid rise in the priesthood? Is it a member of the cult of Lael the One-Eyed, ancient enemy of Shelomith? Was Sorana as virtuous as she appeared, or did she have more earthly dealings that made her enemies? Or did she learn more than she should of the strange, ancient secrets of Shelomith? Those who report a murder are usually involved….

‘An Old Book’ by Daehyun Park on Flickr

This is part of a series of RPG characters, creatures, items, and locations inspired by random entries from Wikipedia. The material I create may grow distant from its roots.

Today we have Beautify Agony, a reference to a video website wherein users post videos of themselves achieving orgasm (just their faces).

This is a tough one, so let’s dig deeply into every paragraph. Ah! “Most contributions include a separate short film called a “confession” of the individual discussing their views on sexuality and sharing descriptions of their sexual experiences.”

They say, as Pope Liberius lay dying, his confessor committed a grave sin: he wrote down the confession. This document, the Liberian Confession, is said to contain secrets that would rock the Christian world to its core. Some believe that it even reveals details of a secret Catholic breeding program, carefully arranging marriages to breed the Antichrist and thus more quickly usher in the End Times.

Now, eccentric robotics billionaire John Talon has learned of the secret location of the Liberian Confession, and he’s sending you to get it. It was under transport to a remote Catholic storage bunker deep in South America when its plane crashed deep in Peru. It is guarded by members of OSMTH, a modern incarnation of the Knights Templar who serve the Church as paramilitary guards and guns-for-hire.

Good luck!

‘Rillan’ by Peter Seckler, CC-BY-3.0

This is part of a series of RPG characters, creatures, and locations inspired by random entries from Wikipedia. The material I create may grow distant from its roots.

Today we have Count Sámuel Teleki, a jovial Transylvanian aristocrat who explored deep into Africa in search of “a sea that lay beyond the desert, surrounded by tribes of giants and islands inhabited by monsters and ghosts.” What more could we ask for?

Samuel von Telek is a wealthy Translyvanian aristocrat. Always upbeat and easy to befriend, he enjoys the favor his people thanks to his largesse and his shrewd management of provincial resources. He has made his province quite wealthy.

His other passion is hunting small and large game. And now, after spending 40 years traipsing alone through the mountainous forests of his home, he has decided to journey to Africa. He regales anyone who’ll listen about a fabled inner sea filled with monsters, its shores populated by tribes of giants.

Von Telek is lying, though it’s for a good cause. Because Von Telek is a vampire hunter. Those hunting trips into the forests of Transylvania were spent hunting blood suckers, not quail.

But hunting has been scarce lately, and the members of Von Telek’s vampire hunting lodge, the Falcon’s Eye, think they’ve found out why. There are legends of a vampiric homeland or fortress deep in the jungles of Africa. Vampires from all across Europe have been abandoning their normal feeding grounds and boarding ships to Africa. The Falcon’s Eye chose von Telek to investigate this rumor, so he’s pulling together the best group of adventurers and explorers he can. The cover story should attract only those who, if and when they do find a vampiric enclave, will at least be able to deal with it.

He just hopes and prays that this vampire stronghold isn’t too large. If they capture him, death is the best outcome he and his companions could hope for.