Raccoons rescued from vending machine

Summary

June 15, 2009: Two baby raccoons were saved from a life of sweet, sweet Pepsi this week, as the Skunk Whisperer came to their aid.

Source

Bibliography

1. KTLA June 16, 2009 article

Game and Story Use

• Character concepts don't need to be ordinary things, and the Skunk Whisperer is a great example. Note that his self-proclaimed title didn't restrain him from saving raccoons in this instance (as opposed to skunks), just as a character shouldn't be restricted to exactly what their "title" would suggest.
• Where's the mother living? Is there a snack machine around the corner, or a hot-dog stand? Will she come looking for her young ones? This can be especially appropriate to animals in a fantasy world that appear cute and harmless when young, but grow large/dangerous when older or when their young are threatened.
• In a setting with small but dangerous critters, it might not just be raccoons who could get stuck in vending machines. Raccoons are little more than a nuisance - but other critters might not be.
  • This becomes especially inconvenient if there is something in the vending machine that the PCs really need. Particularly important in a post-apocalyptic campaign.
  • Or perhaps a critter might not just be stuck in a vending machine, but nest there.
  • Perhaps some disgusting creature with a life-cycle dangerous to humans (think of the xenomorphs of the Alien franchise, or the voodoo wasps) secretly lays its eggs into the food of a vending machine - and the PCs must track down the origin of the infestation.
  • In a silly campaign, the company owning the vending machine might fine the PCs for any damage done to the machine - so the PCs must deal with the problem without doing gross damage to it.