KINGDOM: SUPERTRAIN (a Kingdom Story Seed)

A nuclear-powered luxury supertrain hurtles between LA and NY, filled with glamorous stars and gripping human drama!

Kingdom Story Seed

It’s 1978. The supertrain Kolossus runs at more than 200mph, is powered by an active atomic pile and ranks of steam turbines, and makes a run between LA is NY in 36 hours, filled with glamorous stars, everyday joes who’ve saved their whole lives for this vacation, and a crew of misfits and weirdos who’re just doing their best to keep things on track!

But with a job this big, that’s quite the handful! Whether it be the attempted political assassination due to mistaken identity, the cops hunting for mob big-wigs, representatives of the Kolossus holding company with a stake in having the train never stop, or just the mess on the lit disco floor, something is always going down.

The Kingdom is the train and everyone on board, passengers (generally stars from the 70’s; feel free to just refer to them by their name and not their character’s name, we all do) and crew. Every session is generally expected to be a 30 minute episode, so keep the action snappy.

Think The Love Boat meets The Big Bus. Possibly including The Poseidon Adventure.







Customize

  • The company that runs the Kolossus is named [ Kolossus Holdings | Twertlinger Interstate Commerce, Ltd. | Transcore | Union Pacific ]

  • The Kolossus has been run this route [ twice a week for a hundred years | once a month for a decade | continuously for the last couple years | never, it’s the first time! ]

  • Tonally, this episode is [ dry satire | wacky comedy | perfectly straight-faced 70’s disaster porn ]

    • Threats

  • There’s a bomb in a suitcase under one of the seats in the 500 person passenger car!

  • People have begun passing out after the last dinner seating. Is it disease? Poison? Something else?

  • The crew is desperately understaffed and each wearing several hats until the next stop in LA. Literally, several hats.

  • Sabotage!

  • The nubile starlet and the crusty beat reporter have started an affair and it’d do no one any good if it became truly public — especially the reporter’s wife, who’s come on the train secretly!

  • Word’s come down that the train will be decommissioned on arrival!

    • Locations


  • The Cattle Car. Massive 500 person seating car, like several 747s all in one container. Needless to say, not first class. Triple-decker, one of four typically in the train.

  • Biblio-Discotechque. Enormous under-lit dance floor and bar where the party never stops. Library theme for the studious.
    • Whoot

  • The Glass Menagerie. One of the top-floors of a cattle car has been glassed over and all around to provide a great viewing experience as the Kolossus whips through the landscape. Drinks are served at both sunset and sunrise.

  • The Grotto. One long car filled with water; a massive swimming pool. Hose-connectors cris-cross the floor, allowing people to swim for prolonged periods without ever leaving. An air-lock is at either end.

  • Command One. The bridge — at the front of the train. It’s flashy and glossy, and almost no real work happens here. Looks good for the VIPs, though.

  • Command Two. The real bridge, located nearly all the way at the rear of the train. Dirty, lived-in, and absolutely the power hub of the whole beast.

  • Crew Lounge. More a cafeteria, really. There are enough crew that there’s always a meal shift going on in here.

  • VIP Sleepers. This is where the big-wigs sleep, in private small rooms off a single shag-floored hallway. Anyone might meet anyone here!

  • Gymnos. Possibly the biggest athletics facility anyone has ever seen, even non-moving. Perpetually sporting at least one group of women with leg-warmers.

    • Character Seeds


  • Crusty married reporter with an overactive libido and a hunger for the scoop.

  • Young ingenue looking to get press coverage, no matter what kind.

  • Mob trigger-man on the run, looking to get out of the business.

  • Kolossus company founder who demands the train never stop, no matter what.

  • Captain. Experienced, nerves and sinews of pure steel, drunk as the proverbial skunk.

  • Bartender with a heart-of-gold, ready with a drink and an absorbent shoulder.

  • Exercise instructor, of the ridiculously young and perky sort.

  • Recent divorcee, looking for love in all the wrong places.

  • Young groom, on his way to his wedding.

    • Crossroads


  • Do we stop the train before reaching New York?

  • Pursue a massive search to find the killer?

  • Lock down all communications coming to or from the train, going radio-silent, to contain the story?

  • Throw the suspected rival saboteur out of the train at speed and claim it was a terrible accident?

  • Evacuate the train wholly?

    • Names

    Female: Alice, Coco, Wendy, Mandy, Hilda, Gladys, Jenni, Holly

    Male: Antonio, Mike, Johnny, Henry, William, Chuck, Lars

    Surnames: Tingle, Eigenstein, Cooper, Wallace, Stevens, Smalls, Hitler (unfortunate), Crosby, Danno

    References and Notes



    Possibly the best logo design ever.







    • Plots are ludicrous, but not always funny.

    • Melodrama is the order of the day.

    • Scientific rigor has been seen at a distance. Once.
      • Location: Lawrenceville, GA 30046, USA

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