Manuel of the Plains (2011)

From the cover page:

A submission for the rpggeek.com Holiday Adventure Contest 2011

This holiday adventure does not require any specific system. It is an adventure for one GM and one player – perhaps a holiday present to one’s spouse! I freely admit the title was originally a cursory misreading of an old TSR book, Manual of the Planes. However, it has nothing to do with that book.

In fact, this adventure is written with a certain well-known hero in mind. One whose adventures were first published in 1919 – hence in a work that is now public domain: The Curse of Capistrano. However, I am not allowed to use the hero’s name due to the insanely greed-ridden intellectual property laws of the USA: a parasitic corporation (which did not create the character nor his distinctive look) is willing to take people to court to prevent them from using his name and look without their permission. Don’t get me wrong: I own intellectual property myself and am all for legitimate, valid, justifiable, well-founded, sane readings of the law. However, the fact that I cannot specify the name of a character in this adventure, even though the author, Johnston McCulley, is long dead and the initial book itself is in the public domain, is obscene. But enough ranting in a Christmas adventure.

You will have no trouble recognizing the character I am here calling Manuel of the Plains. He lives in Los Angeles in 1820 and fights oppression, corrupt officials (and, if he had known of them, greedy IP laws), always favoring the poor and downtrodden. He dresses in black, wears a black mask, is a superb swordfighter, frequently carves his initial on his opponents and their official posters, and his nom de guerre is the Spanish word for “fox.” Yes, it’s Manuel of the Plains! You, of course, should substitute the real name every time you see “Manuel” in this adventure.

Received third place in the 2011 RPGG Holiday Adventure Contest: [Winners Announced!] Holiday Adventure Contest Voting and Discussion.