Step 2: Click on the "Random Article" option.
Step 3: Read the article, or give it a decent skimming.
Step 4: If the article is a dud, go back to Step 2.
Step 5: If the article inspires you sufficiently, post a Hook, Line, and Sinker inspired by the article.
Reminder:
Rifts Adventure Book, p. 38
What Is A Hook, Line & Sinker?
Hook, Line & Sinkers is the popular Game Master's tool created by Jolly Blackburn. The idea behind it is simple- give the GM just enough information to spark his own creative energies and steep out of the way. They come in handy when the GM has nothing else prepared, or finds the party has outpaced him and the prepared adventure suddenly ends.
The Explanation:
Hook: The current situation or location of the adventuring party.
Line: An opportunity for adventure that presents itself to the party. A line is normally presented as a short paragraph. Think of the line as the "bait" to lure the party into the adventure.
Sinker: The clincher to the line. The sinker presents the GM with a dilemma that makes the situation a true adventure for his players.
Example:
Wikipedia Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_House
Hook: The party is traveling through the wilderness, and encounters a small town.
Line: At the edge of this town is a large, 13 story building, possibly an abandoned mansion, apartment building, or hotel. The architecture does not match the rest of the buildings in town, which are 2-3 stories at most.
Inquiring with the locals will reveal that the building is called "The Chimera House," and that it is reputed to be haunted and/or cursed. The building has been effectively sealed, but if the party is wiling to pay a small per-person fee, the town sheriff will open the doors and allow them inside.
Each floor of the building supposedly houses a number of horrors, but also holds a variety of treasures. For each floor of the building that the party makes it through, they will receive 1/13th of their entry fee. If they make it through the building entirely, they will have their entire fee refunded, as well as 50% of the total fees that have been collected by the town throughout the town's history. This comes out to a very appealing sum.
Of course, nobody has ever made it that far before. Anybody who has tried, has never been seen again.
Sinker: The building is indeed both cursed and haunted. Moreover, it is a pre-Rifts structure that became indestructible when the Rifts came, similar to the Gateway Arch. Also like the Arch, this building serves as an interdimensional gateway of sorts, restocking itself automatically by sucking various beings from other dimensions at random. The locals have surrounded the building with a large Circle of Protection (Superior), and all of the building's doors and windows (except for the front door) are unopenable by any known means.
The building provides no threat to the townspeople, and even serves as a source of occasional income from adventurers seeking treasure there.
Each floor contains increasingly dangerous threats, and increasingly rewarding treasures (some getting sucked into the building through mini-Rifts inside, some simply leftover from previous adventurers). The first floor is relatively simple stuff. Nobody has ever come back from the 10th floor or higher.
Most of the mini-rifts that appear are one-way, bringing things into the Chimera House, but some that appear may work the other way, sending things to other dimensions.
Depending on the interests of the GM, this could be a one-shot adventure, or an entire campaign, with each floor designed to level the party up an entire level.
