The Horror
With the exception of Christmas, Thanksgiving is the holiday most people – even murder hobos – return home to see their family. It's a simple matter of a villain to track a hero back to his home and then attack when he's most vulnerable. Alternately, masterminds may set their sights higher and attack during a Thanksgiving parade. Parades combine several elements that make them interesting settings for conflict.
There's lots of drunk people milling about in the street. Be it as hostages or bystanders, parades rivet attention for a short period of time in a confined space. This also changes the traffic pattern, making driving impossible. If the heroes are going to pursue the villain, it will have to be on foot.
As Tim Burton's Batman movie demonstrated, the balloons themselves can be used as weapons. Those massive balloons might be filled with something other than helium. In a Call of Cthulhu scenario, one float was actually a disguised hunting horror!
Like Halloween and Fourth of July, there's a lot of noise and movement during a parade. Fisticuffs atop a float might easily be confused as part of the show. Gunfire can be concealed by the band playing every few minutes. And for a change of scenery, heroes might need to jump from float to float to disable a series of bombs.
Fortunately, parades have a time limit. They end, which means the heroes have a small window of opportunity to stop the villain's plans.
Parades are just part of the Thanksgiving equation of course. There's another tradition filled with screaming, violence and greedy grabs for loot: Black Friday. In my campaign, the agents had to ferret out a rare video game console amidst a screaming mass of holiday shoppers hungry for bargains. They barely made it out alive.
Your Turn: What aspect of your game are you most thankful for?
Looking for more gaming inspiration? Buy Mike's book about The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games, read his fantasy novel inspired by his role-playing campaign, or follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
