3X3 EYES HERO

ADVENTURE SEEDS

ADVENTURES IN THE ORIGINAL 3x3 Eyes SETTING

Low point-level adventures in the original 3x3 Eyes settings are best suited to human-only parties. They might or might not involve Wu and Sanjiyan NPCs directly... legends are sometimes allies as powerful as the creatures which inspired them, and the quest for knowledge may be far greater an adventure than meeting its source.

The PCs might be a team of scholars; Archeologists which found a new site filled with strange paintings and unintelligible Sanskrit script, or simple adventurers who stumbled upon a well-hidden path leading to an exciting place filled with incredible script in some ancient language they did not know and fearsome three-eyed statues resembling Hindu gods and goddesses. After their return home, they find themselves tossed into a bizarre adventure, with weird characters who follow them, their relatives becoming scared by strangers which seemed to always be there, just far enough to be unobtrusive and still escape when they or the police try to talk to one of them. Soon comes the day when one of them (or one of their relatives) disappears without trace, along with some of the treasures they had taken from the Sanjiyan shrine. The police have no clues to follow, and the players are alone in the quest for their missing friends. What they will meet in the end of their quest will change their lives forever....

Or perhaps they work for a company like Yougekisha, helping to feed the general public knowledge of Elvis's whereabouts or the newest UFO sightings, till the day they actually found something which was real, embarking onto a linked set of small self-contained stories, each time getting to know more about the truth behind all those legends, escaping real dangers and developing their abilities, abilities they would need for the day they would meet those responsible for that legends face-to-face for a cup of tea. All of this while working to increase their company's profits, and making a name for themselves among the occult communities. The careful GM might even design the stories so that they fit within the 3x3 Eyes manga storyline and fill the holes, such as what happened to the secondary characters of 3x3 Eyes left by Yakumo in Japan, or the 'friendly' monster of "Red Rain in Malaysia" (3x3 Eyes manga volumes 8 and 9). It might also be wise to remember that sometimes it is good for an intrepid investigator to find out that her suspicions about some rumor being false are true... and not all hoaxes need be of a magical nature.

Medium and high-level campaigns offer more possibilities for starting characters. With 150 to 200-base points it is easy to build demons and powerful human characters (including martial artists and very powerful mages), as well as regular Sanjiyan Unkara characters. Campaigns featuring such characters usually lead the players to a more active position in politics and internal disputes for power in whichever group they belong (Sanjiyan and Demons are especially prone to gruesome fights for power, even more so than humans). The party might find themselves accountable for important episodes, which would later shape the lives of an entire population, or the beliefs of even more people.

The PCs could be monks at a Tibetan monastery, who become embroiled in serious religious and supernatural conflicts with one of the northern Indian tribes, like the Hyouma (3x3 Eyes manga, volumes 7 and 8). Conflicts will force the PCs to act through political and diplomatic channels, as well as with direct action against a very powerful and capable foe, all the while keeping their religious integrity intact and a low profile. Depending on the time frame and political inclination, the players might have either the Indian or the Chinese government against them, as well as other Tibetan monks. The presence of the Sanjiyan Unkara should be felt only in the legends, and perhaps in the roots of the conflicts. One or two demons might take part in the conflicts as well, trying to keep a low profile while pulling the strings to achieve their own goals. This type of adventure is not suitable for all kinds of players and GMs, and there is actually no reason (unless you will be using Ninja Hero) why it could not be played with low point-level characters as well. Recommended party: four 150 to 200-point humans.

Or, if your players would prefer to have a more in-depth contact with the original 3x3 Eyes manga story line, they could work as pawns for Benares: A not too powerful, but clever, high level demon (or Kami) has found a way to awaken Kaiyanwang, but only to a semiconscious state. In this state, the demon figures, it can control the Demon-Eyes King and through him obtain status and power far outside its normal reach. The demon's attempts do not go unnoticed by Benares, Kaiyanwang's Wu, but he is too heavily engaged in his own conflicts to do anything about it immediately, so he has to act through a group of pawns --the PCs. The party should be somewhat experienced in dealing with demons and the occult, so that they know whom they are dealing with and have a slight idea on what kind of trouble they are getting into. This could be the offspring of an entire campaign incorporating many of the other story seeds-negotiations with demons, occultists, priests and beasts; searching for Keys and the Konron itself, spying on Benares, the troublesome demon and everyone else; finding eggs for Beast Magic, learning new spells from the few surviving and hard-to-deal-with arcane magicians-and the story can end with a bang at the Seima Stone, in the 3x3 Eyes Holy Land.

CROSSOVERS NOTES AND SEEDS

The Occult Cyberpunk genre

Your players just watched Silent Möbius: The Movie, and now want to hunt monsters with gravity collapse guns (aka black hole pistols) and soulswords instead of playing a standard 3x3 Eyes game? Or have they gotten so good and powerful that Matrix runs are neither exciting nor dangerous anymore, and they think they have seen it all? Maybe it is time to give them what they want: Trouble.

Combining an occult setting like 3x3 Eyes with a cyberpunk atmosphere is indeed possible and more than often lead to excellent results, as long as it is done carefully and your players are capable of grasping the concept of an occult cyberpunk adventure. There are a lot of strange things out there, more even so in a cyberpunk setting, and some of them might not like the path society has chosen to follow... or like it too much for our own good.

As society and science evolve, most of the older magic users would feel more and more threatened, while the new generations would try to move on and adapt to the new world around them. Technology related spells would be developed. The demons would make their way into the corporations, and more than one of the "big evil ones" might actually have high-level demons as their CEOs, with the blessing of the board (who would be better at keeping the profits high than a ruthless scheming demon?). The nets would not be a safe place either, magical beings with a knack for computers or Matrix running would be attracted by the new information frontier, and try their hand at ruling their own little piece of the world. But that is the way things have always been in 3x3 Eyes, and most people would not even notice anything wrong. The PCs will.

If the "occult infiltration" is known and feared by the government or big corporations, a dirty covert war for power would soon begin, eventually reaching the streets. Public law enforcement units against the "evil" might be created if low-level demons running amok become a common occurrence. But what would an elite anti-demon unit do if they were to discover that they are not actually fighting against the demons, but only acting as pawns and public disguise for the power games of the government and the corporations, which are now helplessly infected by demon presence? How would they react to the painfully earned knowledge that they should not be fighting every demon out there, but rather enter the power games themselves to guarantee that humanity is not on the losing end? What would happen to the life of an anti-demon commando who suddenly finds himself turned into an Wu, or discovers that the one person he holds most dear is actually one of them, perhaps even one half-awaken (and very important) Sanjiyan Unkara who was once a victim of Choang-Ling-Ling?

And what about the smaller flies? Netrunners that find out some demon plan by luck, and decide to try their hand at fooling demons for their own gain, or to protect themselves? Common people who find themselves to be magically active, and now have to face a reality no one have ever prepared them for? University students who stumble upon one of the few remaining Sanjiyan Unkara, and get dragged into the exciting life they always wanted, and now fear? Professional occultists, that now have the government, corporations or the demons controlling their lives against their will?

Your players thought the world was a cold and dark place, but even they could not imagine it was this bad a mess....

Fantasy

3x3 Eyes might also work well with some elements of high fantasy gaming (i.e.: elves, dwarfs, dragons, knights...) but this genre usually detracts too much from the occult overtones 3x3 Eyes was made for. Nevertheless, being very powerful mages, the Sanjiyan Unkara would be at home in a fantasy-style medieval world. Not much could stand against them or be a serious threat to a Sanjiyan city short of dragons, high-level demons and entire armies.

Magic is almost always the driving force of politics in a fantasy setting. Extremely organized mage guilds, or some few and very powerful arcane magicians, be they human or not. Somebody has to be in control, and might object to competition. "They" have worked hard, meddling in the affairs of the other "lesser" beings, shaping the world order into something of their liking. Then some party from the Holy Lands arrived, set up a Konron gate and began a process which would ultimately change the balance of power, or the world order itself. "They" would not tolerate such insolence. Very few things are worse than a war between high-level magicians, and now it is up to the PCs to avoid one. But the party cannot trust "them" completely, for even if the imminent war was brought to their attention by one of "them," it could be another subtle power game of "their" own design. Nor do they know if they can trust the newcomers, or why they came to this world. It is said that one should not meddle with the affairs of the wizards, but what is one to do if the survival of one's own land depends on avoiding a war between the most powerful creatures in the world, and newcomers who are believed to command powerful demons themselves?

Or, instead of including the Sanjiyan Unkara in a medieval fantasy setting, the PCs could be transported to the 3x3 Eyes holy lands. Gate spells are very tricky, some of them requiring an awesome amount of power to get done. Power, which could be better, used for other purposes, or so would some people think. A few of the PCs were employed by one of the most famous mages in the area as bodyguards for that reason, but they failed. Miserably. Instead of protecting the mage's item of power, they disturbed him while fighting, and the gate spell went wild. It missed its intended target, but accomplished its original purpose, in a way. The wild gate spell sent its unconscious master, the bodyguards and the other PCs who were too near the gate to escape to a strange land they would not recognize. They awoke in the heights of a desolated rocky mountain, with very few food and water on them. There was a huge fortress dominating the fertile plains below, with a three eyes mark in its bare brick walls and a busy crowd walking among what looked like peasant tents, near the fortress' gates. It seemed to be just the place to acquire some food and water, and perhaps discover the way back home....


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