Tuesday, July 6, 2021

The Terror of the Killdozer!

Here's a series of tables that you can use to randomly generate ideas for an adventure inspired by artwork from the great Gil Kane for a rejected cover for a comic book adaptation of the 1941 short story "Killdozer" by Theodore Sturgeon.

Roll a six-sided die and record the result to make your basic outline. If results seem incompatible, you can re-roll, or you can use them as a mysterious element in your story and/or an avenue to come up with a truly outlandish and unique backstory for the rampage of the Killdozer!


NIGHT OF THE KILLDOZER
A Randomly Generated Roleplaying Game Adventure Outline

A series of mishaps and accidents at a worksite culminate with a bulldozer rampaging through the area, crushing everything and everyone in its path. Will the player characters put an end to the nightmare, or will it put an end to them?

WHEN DOES THE STORY TAKE PLACE [optional]
1. In the early 1930s.
2. In the mid-1940s.
3. In the late 1950s.
4. In mid-1970s.
5. In the early 1990s.
6. In the late 2020s.

REGION WHERE DOES THE STORY TAKE PLACE [optional]?
1. In Main, in the north-eastern United States.
2. Near Hadrian's Wall in northern England
3. Near Four Corners in the American Southwest.
4. In southern Afghanistan.
5. In the Amazonian Jungle.
6. In Egypt, not far from Cairo.

WHERE DOES THE STORY TAKE PLACE (SPECIFICALLY)?
1. At a newly opening mine.
2. At a mine that is reopening.
3. At a construction site.
4. At an archeological site.
5. At a lumber camp near a river or lake
6. At a decommissioned military facility

"Killdozer" by Gil Kane

HOW DO THE HEROES BECOME INVOLVED?
1-2. They are hired to provide security.
3-5. They are part of the project from the beginning.
6. They uncover rumors of strange events that have happened at 
     the site through the centuries, and they come to investigate.

WHAT IS THE WORK TAKING PLACE?
1. Mining
2. Logging
3. Road Construction
4. Demolition of an Abandoned Mental Hospital/Secret 
    Government Research Facility
5. Archeological Excavation of an Area Once Home to a 
    Mysterious and Long-Lost Civilization
6. Construction of a Housing Development

WHAT GIVES LIFE TO THE KILLDOZER?
1. Spells protecting a buried Atlantean artifact that have been 
    activated because the vault housing it has been partially 
    unearthed and damaged.
2. Angry spirits (3d6, maximum of 13) of those interred at an 
    ancient burial ground on the site.
3. Demons (3d6, maximum of 13) who were trapped in buried 
    containers but were released when they were damaged.
4. Nature spirits (1d3+1) summoned by militant environmentalist 
    mystics who want to avenge the damage the project is doing 
    to the Earth.
5. An alien device has projected its awareness into the Killdozer.
6. Highly advanced circuitry and an IA, created and installed 
    by a mad scientist.

The Killdozer attacks!


WHO GAVE LIFE TO THE KILLDOZER AND WHY?
1-3. The "who" and "why" are the same as the "what"; the very 
     activity on the site animated the Killdozer.
4. A crazed mystic seeking revenge against the funders or leaders 
    of the project.
5-6. A mysterious cabal that wants to keep things buried on the site 
     exactly where they are.

WHAT DOES THE KILLDOZER WANT?
1-2. To destroy everyone and everything in its path, for the sake 
    of destruction.
3. To avenge the damage to nature that has been caused by the work 
     at the site.
4. To have proper respect shown to the location and the supernatural 
     beings who dwell there via the performance of ancient, now very 
     obscure, rituals.
5-6. To be transported to another world/dimension.

HOW CAN THE KILLDOZER BE STOPPED?
1-2. Explosives. Lots of explosives.
3. Ramming it with other heavy machinery until it's destroyed.
4. Finding a way to communicate with the spirits/demons animating 
    it and putting them to rest.
5. Letting it run out of gas.
6. Uncovering an ancient artifact hidden at the site (or nearby) and 
    turning it on the Killdozer.

IS IT TRULY OVER?
1. Yes. The Killdozer is destroyed and work can continue safely.
2. More or less. The root cause of what animated the Killdozer may 
     cause more mayhem unless additional action is taken.
3. No. Once the Killdozer is stopped, the force animating it seizes 
    control of another vehicle on the site. (Treat as #2 if the solution
    is to put angry spirits/demons to rest.)
4. No. Once the Killdozer is stopped the force animating it possesses 
    workers and the site, turning them into homicidal puppets. 
    (Treat as #2 if the solution is to put angry spirits/demons to rest.)
5. No. Once the kill Killdozer is stopped, the force animating it turns 
    ALL vehicles at the construction site in murderous engines 
    of destruction.
6. No. Once the Killdozer is stopped, a mystical burst of 
    energy transports everyone at the site to the distant past (1-2); 
    an alien planet (3-4); a nightmarish other-dimensional hellscape 
    (4-6).