80s Cartoon Inspirations: Hi-Jackers, Slavers and Gladiators

This is a straight forward Space Ghost episode where the kids get themselves captured by alien Lizard people. These Lizard people raid and hijack passenger ships to enslave the occupants for their own purposes. There is another episode that is similar called Hi-jackers where raiders lead by a helmeted bad guy Tansut on a flying chariot hijack ships for their cargo. Pirates and Slaves are always a good bad guy. The Herculoids had an episode called Pirates where pirates trespassed onto Amzot. Additionally, there was an episode of Herculoids called the Gladiators of Kyanite, and Space Ghost had The Web both of which involved gladiatorial combat between captured/enslaved characters in an arena.

All of this could be merged into a great story of slavers and gladiatorial games. Lizard men or similar enemies can be used the central bad guy and they could be lead by some evil sorcerer or sorceress. Tansut or the Sorceress from The Web could be a good basis.

But what else can be added to this to really spice it up? I think I have an idea.

With some many thing dropping in on the Herculoids, I am going to use that general premise as the basis of my adventure. I will focus on a more fantasy or science fantasy type adventure because I think this really fits that genre. Anything from a custom D&D setting to Flash Gordon can work for this adventure.

BASICS

The local leader/king/noble has been alerted that raids and kidnappings have increased along his and his neighbors shipping lanes. A council has been called among all the neighboring sovereigns to discuss what to do. A party of mercenaries (the players) is assembled, each with a loyalty to one of the sovereigns.

PULL

The party is supplied with whatever they need to investigate. They are tasked to come up with a plan to find out who is making these raids and stop them.

An individual motivation can be a character knows someone that has been taken by these raiders.

PUSH

The players must come up with a plan to find the raiders. Do they pose as a new shipment or caravan to be raided? Do they hide aboard a ship or transport that could be potentially raided? In some way or another, they have to find the raiders and confront them to gain information on their whereabouts.

Dead Body: In their investigations, they may find out that one of the missing has been found – dead, and it looks like the person fell from a great height.

GIMMICK

Flying Arena – This could be a sci-fi or a magical vessel, but an alien/foreign/otherworldly giant floating city with a huge arena in the middle, populated by a otherworldly race of people – Pterosaurs – that see anyone under them as groundlings and unworthy of their respect. They enslave the groundlings for their labor to build more of their city (dangerous conditions slave are prone to falling – see Dead Body).

The Arena is the largest section of the floating city and it is where the Pterosaurs pit their best slaves against creatures and other slaves in gladiatorial games – very much like the Roman arenas. There are pretors that own teams of gladiators and ranks within their teams. There are different games throughout ending in the primus. The Pterosaurs have hired lizard men to perform the raids on the surface. They use a teleporter/gate to transport their cargo to the city.

Other Nobles: Among the nobles watching the games are surface dwelling nobles the Pterosaurs have made allegiances with. These can include enemies of the sovereigns they players represent.

What can the players do?: If they characters are captured, they will have to escape and start a rebellion with the gladiator full on Spartacus style. If not that, they can find a way to infiltrate the city through the gate. It’s pretty wide open.