In this final adventure the PCs can explore the concept of celebration itself. Although this is designed to come at the end of a long, ongoing plot, this section can be run on its own. Most importantly the exact details should be tailored for the PCs and their past actions.
The characters awake in a large mansion, with little memory of how they got there. This can be a nice way to resolve a cliff hanger from a previous adventure. How did they escape? Not even the players know at this point.
The mansion is filled with important people from their past, from former companions to memorable NPCs. All of them say they received an invitation to a party being thrown in the PCs honour. No matter where or when they were they each found their way to the mansion.
This is designed so that you can use any characters that you haven’t yet used in this campaign. In this opening scene they can get reacquainted, finding out what has happened to them since they last saw them.
There are plenty of refreshments for all the party guests, banners and pleasing music. The atmosphere is extraordinarily pleasant, until someone tries to leave. They find that doors are locked and the windows, which show a country estate, are unbreakable. They are trapped.
Just as people are getting distressed Mr Host arrives. He appears as a human male, dressed in a velvet smoking jacket. He explains that he is aware of everything the PCs have done to save lives, planets and the entire universe and this is his way of thanking them.
If they bring up their imprisonment Mr Host says that he also knows how close they came to dying. He can’t bear to think that there won’t be further adventures for him to enjoy so he has placed the PCs and their friends in the mansion for safe keeping.
This Mr Host is just a holographic projection, so the PCs can’t attack him directly. You may also hint that this isn’t his true appearance, simply one that he thinks the assembled guests will be most comfortable with.
Trap doors open up, sending PCs and NPCs hurtling down chutes into a variety of rooms that appear to be television sets. Each set is either a stereotypical location (alien desert, corridor, control room, etc) or designed to look specifically like somewhere the PCs have been before. Similarly the grouping of PCs and NPCs could be random or designed to replicate a particular event.
Television cameras point at them and beyond that they can make out rows of seats for an audience, although the glare of the studio lights prevent them from seeing anyone. Mr Host’s voice explains that he can control these environments so they can perform new adventures for him for all eternity.
To add danger he’ll then introduced captured alien monsters for the characters to fight. Choose opponents that are most familiar to the PCs, ones that they have faced time and time again. Needless to say captured Daleks, Cybermen and Yeti aren’t exactly in a good mood.
In addition to monsters the characters could be placed in death traps, needing to be rescued. They might have to defuse bombs or make their way across electrified floors. If this is replicating something they’ve done before consider giving them a bonus to their roll, to illustrate their familiarity with the scenario.
Mr Host is oblivious to their danger. If the PCs protest he’ll explain that they’ve escaped unharmed before, he doesn’t see why they won’t again. If someone is injured he’ll be surprised but won’t do anything to stop what is happening.
Luckily for the PCs this is an artificial environment that they can use to their advantage. Each studio set is located next to the others, with a very thin barrier between them. If the PCs can trick the monsters into shooting or attacking the walls they’ll be knocked through. This can give characters an escape route and may lead to monsters fighting each other (something that Mr Host will enjoy).
They can also try to run off set, into the audience. The cameras can be used as weapons or shields. Although heavy they can be moved, allowing them to be rammed into monsters. Mr Host will protest, especially if they are destroyed.
In either case the PCs should make it backstage. Here they find props and memorabilia from their past adventures. This can give them access to useful tools and even their TARDIS. You might even wish to have items from their future adventures here.
In this backstage area the PCs could encounter advanced security systems, robots and other captured monsters. You may wish to base this area on the BBC television centre, built in a giant circle so if they keep running they’ll end up where they started. All the while Mr Host panics because he can no longer keep track of them and he bemoans the fact he is missing their exploits.
Eventually they should reach the control room and come face to face with the real Mr Host. Who he is will be up to you. He could be exactly what he appears, a human fan who some how came into possession of the technology required to gather everyone.
In truth he could be a very alien lifeform, using a human appearance so he can be more like his heroes. This would explain the technology that he used. You might wish him to be a member of a time active species that the PCs have encountered before.
Mr Host could be a Time Lord, especially if Gallifrey has now been restored. His actions could have been done with the blessing of the High Council, a way to keep the PCs from interfering with the rest of the universe.
He could be the Master, hoping to use the PCs ego against them. Jealous of the adoration they receive he decided to have that be the means of the death. He hoped they would die believing that they’d been killed by a fan.
Mr Host’s playful nature and lack of understanding of mortality could be an indication that he is an Eternal. This could tie into that species involvement in this campaign. In which case the PCs could convince him that he his actions were wrong.
In this final scene the PCs can either convince Mr Host to send everyone home, with the understanding that while it is fine to celebrate the past they must be allowed to seek their own future, or they can use force to take control of his system.
Mr Host could be imperilled by the monsters he has unleashed. Facing them himself he at last realises how deadly they are and that this isn’t a game. Whether the PCs save him or leave him to his fate depends on who he really was.
You may wish to hint at the future throughout this adventure. They could encounter people from forthcoming adventures, who hint at their history together. Even the scenarios they are placed in on the television sets could foreshadow future events.
Whenever the PCs are in trouble a mysterious figure could come to the rescue from behind the scenes. Gradually you can reveal that this is a future incarnation of a Time Lord PC, who was also brought to the celebration.
The point of this is to not only celebrate what has come before but what is still to come.
In the end everyone should be returned to their proper time and place, unless you wish for some of them to rejoin the PCs in their travels. As for the PCs, they are now free to go on to further adventures for us to thrill to.
Bigger On The Inside 