The Mystery of the Yodeling Machines
Plot
A secret inventor cobbles together malfunctioning robots out of mechanical junk. Each machine is repurposed from its original function (a coffee machine, a toaster), and seems oddly obsessed with yodeling tunes. Their mischief is mostly harmless, but the robots still cause havoc across the city while trying to express their artistic flair.
The story unfolds in River City, your kitties' hometown. With a handful of clues left behind and a few witnesses to question, the kitties will have to follow the leads and solve the mystery.
You can download this adventure in PDF format for free >> HERE <<
Enjoy! I wish you lots of fun around the table!
Making of
This adventure is a fan-made introductory scenario released under Open Licence. It has been designed to be the first episode in a series of adventures for two young players.
I'm the happy dad of two kids, 5 and 10 yo, who already played a few episodes in the series. The adventure can easily be adapted to a larger krew of kitties. There are several inflection points where the story can be extended, so you could easily branch out to some side quest.
If you try it out, I'd be very glad to hear about your experience, and what adaptations you've made for your krew.
My kitties for instance, decided to explore the underground sewer maze at some point, so we did a longer session that was not described here (classical! right?). They got some clues about possible dinosaur activity in an adjacent cave... teaser about another adventure.. maybe? A little too intimidated, they finally decided to go back to the main story plot and explore no further.
At the table, the story did not go as linear as it is related neither. I've provided several alternatives (some dead ends), often at the same time, and they chose how, and in which order, to explore these. Some parts included here are actually their own solutions. I tried to summarize them at best here, and I did not plan for them to happen initially. Also, remember the "three clues" technique is a powerful way to avoid your kitties get stuck for too long.
If you look at the images from the section introducing the heroes, I'm sure you will guess the powers my kids chose for their kitties. I've tried to make the adventure as agnostic as possible from any magical power, talent or flaw your krew may choose to play. Of course, in some cases, you'll still need to adapt a little so that it provides a bit of challenge. (What!? Kitties can fly? well.. OK)
Disclaimer
And about that, I have to mention that the PDF contains several AI-generated images (full credits at the end). They might exhibit a few funny glitches.. well. You do not have to use them to roll the story if you don't want to.
However, I've tried something new. I've slipped some details here and there inside the image, that could help your players move forward. At few occasions, instead of rolling the dice, I would rather tell the krew to look "carefully" inside the image for clues. And since I'm far from being a graphical artist, I think in other conditions, I wouldn't have been able pull this out all by myself. It's definitely not at par with the awesome art we get from Magical Kitties though.
It has been fun so far running these adventures. Thanks again to Atlas Games for letting us share these little stories in the open!