Museum
Basic Information
A museum is a locale where a variety of historic artifacts are on display for viewing by the general public.
Noteworthy Museums
- Bergen Museum
- Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
- House on the Rock
- Icelandic Phallological Museum
- Opus 40
Sources
Bibliography
Game and Story Use
- In far too many horror stories, museums house Artifacts of Doom (TM) which are either stolen by Bad Guys or else have a baleful influence over the surrounding area.
- Alternatively, they might house benign artifacts which are needed to defeat some sort of demonic entity from the dawn of time. The heroes only need to figure out how to convince the staff so that they can "borrow" it. Or they could try to steal it outright…
- Traditionally, all museums have extensive "black" collections with very limited access where they store items of occult significance or which refer to secret and/or unacceptable historical facts. Properly accredited characters - who may or may not be the good guys - should be able to get access to these collections1. This is best limited to large, old museums in a sensible campaign. In a silly one, even the Cotswold Bicycle Museum may have occult relics.
- Museums can also serve as a vital source of information about ancient, long-lost civilizations, especially those whose influence still lingers today.
- A big museum with money to spare might hire a group of adventurers to travel across the world looking for whatever artifacts the museum can find some leads on. Having an actual archaeologist involved helps, but since these artifacts are priceless the museum may find the risk of working with some unusual and not-very-experienced people worth it, especially if they'll accept low wages and the cheapest forms of travel and accommodations available.
page revision: 10, last edited: 10 May 2011 08:44