>From: "Roderick and Ellen Robertson" <rjremr_at_...>
>
>Oh, I had a list of stuff that I could reasonably expect to be in the truck
>(shovels & picks, copies of mining engineering magazines, ammunition for my
>rifle, etc); and the Gm was liable to put a penalty on the ability if the
>"whatever" was too far out. Also, he might suggest a lesser thing with
>similar effect - not a copy of the Life Magazine issue itself, but a book
>that mentioned the right subject, that kind of thing.
It occurs to me that I actually had a real-life ability like this at one point. My brother and I owned a 1980 Pinto back in high school. He and I both used to simply stash everything in the vehicle, and rarely took stuff out. Now, a Pinto isn't large, so you wouldn't think that it could carrry enough stuff to make an ability like this. But somehow the junk we kept in the car always turned out to be useful in a pinch.
As an example of how strange the contents could get, once I got in the car and noted that there were a pile of some dozens (my brother says it was precisely 84) lawn reflectors - those little reflectors on a stick that you see people put up in the suburbs to save their mailboxes from impact, or just so they can find their driveway. One that included a lump of cement in which it had been installed. Said reflectors he subsequently used in a prank to set up all on one person's front yard. He says that the effect when you came around the corner with your high beams on was spectacular.
I'd find stuff like this in the car regularly.
Anyhow, the best example of this junk being startlingly useful was one day when I ripped my pants while at a girlfriend's house. I was bummed because I was sure that I would have to go the long distance to my home to change - date over. But then I remembered that I had driven there in the Pinto. And, sure enough, on checking it out I discovered a pair of shorts in the back steat that were only a little too large.
To this day I have no idea where the shorts came from (not my brother's, he's smaller than me). This sort of resourcefullness of the contents of the Pinto became sorta spooky after it happened a number of times.
The car also had thsese other following abilities in addition to "Bizarre Resources in Back Seat":
- No Breaks - No Tire Tread - Should Explode When Impacted From Rear - But Doesn't Even When Hit By Semi - Bumper in Back Seat (no, not from the Semi collision, from a stationwagon)
- Uses More Oil Than Gas - Choking Fumes - Automatic Transmission Only Has Reverse and Third (likely caused by mybrother's predilection for neutral drops) - Makes Pretty Good "Eat Me" Cake Float for Homecoming Parade - Prank Magnet (like the time it had wet cat food and soiled baby diapers strewn across it's exterior)
To get slightly back on topic for the list, I think that rules like Rory's truck example work great, and that one should go lightly on the Improv Modifiers, unless the player is being silly with it. In which case automatic failure (like to find a whale in your truck) are more appropriate.
Mike
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