The Boxes of Doom

"The Boxes of Doom" is a series of random tables intended to spark the imagination of GMs to create an adventure of mystery, magic, and horror. The GM should roll 1d6 against the tables below to generate key elements of an adventure, and then use their imaginations to flesh out the resulting storyline. The tables contain references to certain characters and concepts that have been featured in NUELOW Games products or on this blog, such as the Sorceress of Zoom, the Amazons, and the Witchkind.

The idea for this was suggested by a horror short film by Alex Magana, "Do Not Open", which you can watch here. I think you'll find it to be time very well-spent.

What RPG rules mentioned in the post are nominally d20 System, but the post is mostly rules-free and full of ideas.

THE SET-UP

People are vanishing all across the city, and the authorities are stumped. The only common denominator between the disappearances is that the vanished individuals shared certain superficial traits and that scraps of cardboard boxes were found where they were last seen. This is being written off as a coincidence by most in law enforcement, but conspiracy theorists and online armchair detectives are seizing on that.

The truth is that the cardboard scraps are indeed the clue--the boxes are means by which a sinister attacker is causing victims to disappear.

THE BOXES

These mysterious cardboard boxes are being left on doorsteps. If one of the boxes isn't opened within five minutes of its being found, the person who first discovered it or brought it into a home or office must roll a Will save (DC15) or feel a compulsion to open the box; anyone else who enters the room with the box must roll a Will save (DC12) or feel a similar compulsion. When the box is opened, everyone within the room (or 30 feet, if the box is still outside) are drawn into another existence. 

Can the victims be saved? Who is behind this evil scheme? Roll on the following tables to determine the details around which you can build an RPG adventure!

WHO IS BEING TARGETED? (Roll 1d6)

1. Young Women

2. Epidemiologists

3. Astrologers and Mystics

4. Politicians and Their Families

5. Journalists and Their Families

6. The Player Characters and Their Friends and Loved Ones

WHY ARE THEY BEING TARGETED? (Roll 1d6)

1. Revenge for past slights, real or imagined.

2. Their skills (or just their bodies) are demanded by the Sorceress of Zoom

3. Their bodies are needed to serve as vessels for demonic spirits.

4. They are prophesized to save the Enchanted Realm.

5. As #4, but only 1d6 of the victims are the actual prophesized ones. No one knows for sure. 

6. As #4, but they are prophesized to destroy the Enchanted Realm as servants of the Sorceress of Zoom.

WHERE ARE THE VICTIMS BEING TRANSPORTED TO? (Roll 1d6)

1. A barren hellscape where they die from exposure 1d2 days after they vanish.

2. Prison cells in the Flying City of Zoom.

3. Into cages in an abandoned factory.

4. Into cells in a dank torture dungeon.

5. Into a richly appointed series of chambers in a castle in the Enchanted Realm.

6. An extra-dimension city inhabited by the Witchkind and Amazons--and they are as surprised to see the victims as the victims are to be there.

WHO IS TARGETING THEM? (Roll 1d6)

1. A would-be lover of the Sorceress of Zoom who is trying to impress her.

2. Someone they wronged--or who believes they wronged him or her.

3. A cultist hoping to curry favor with the demonic entity he or she worships.

4. A delivery driver who is hoping to unlock secret demonic powers.

5. An extra-dimensional sexual pervert looking for new and unusual victims.

6. The Master of the Enchanted Realm.

WHAT POWERS THE MAGIC OF THE BOX? (Roll 1d6)

1. Secret enchantments known only to a reclusive demonlord.

2. The boxes include matter from a cursed tree. 13 of them exist.

3. Each box houses a demonic spirit that is released into the world when the victim is transported.

4. Tiny dimensional imps native to the City of Zoom that have been enslaved; they are released when the box is activated and the victims are teleported.

5. A spell that is cast on each box that the creator obtained either through theft or as a gift from the Sorceress of Zoom. Each time the creator enchants a box, he or she becomes closer to ending up wherre the victims are being transported to. The creator can use the spell a maximum of 2d6+6 times. He or she is not aware of this limit.

6. Innate magical abilities of the person creating the box, brought out by intense hatred toward the victims. Unknown to anyone but the Master of the Enchanted Realm, the creator of the boxes is part dragon.

HOW CAN THE VICTIMS BE SAVED? (Roll 1d6)

1. The Player Characters must be transported by the boxes. They will then have to free the victims and find their way to a gate back to their world (assuming the victims are even transported to another realm).

2. The Sorceress of Zoom knows how to recover the victims. She will do so, and restore them all to life and into the Player Characters' care, so long as they catch and deliver the creator of the boxes to her.

3. The Player Characters must journey to the Enchanted Realm and secure the help of its Sorcerer Supreme.

4. The Player Characters must find the creator of the boxes and force him or her to reverse the magic.

5. As #4, except the creator of the boxes doesn't know how to reverse the magic. The Player Characters must either reverse engineer the spells themselves, or seek the help of another expert in magic. Roll on WHO IS TARGETING THEM? to see who the characters need to seek out.

6. There is no way to save the victims; the Player Characters can only avenge them and prevent others from becoming victims.