"I know a guy with shovels for arms." note
This week we take on Raiders of the Lost Ark. Nazis can’t handle us.
Episodes 2-3 of Film Reroll. Based on the 1981 movie.
Having successfully recovered the golden idol from the lost Hovitos temple, Professor Henry "Indiana" Jones Jr. is called in by the American goverment to find the legendary Ark of the Covenant. The year is 1936, and René Belloq — Indiana's greatest rival — has allied himself with Nazi Germany in his own search for the lost treasure. Now Indiana, joined by his Egyptian contact Sallah and his estranged ex-lover Marion Ravenwood, has to stop the nazis from getting their hands on this historical artifact and its unimaginable power.
Starring Jon Miller as Indiana Jones, Jocelyn "Joz" Vammer as Marion Ravenwood, Kara Straitnote as Sallah, and Paulo Quiros as the Dungeon Master.
Followed by Labyrinth.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Badass: Indiana and Marion actually manage to avoid most of the setbacks they suffered in the movie, and accomplish everything they set out to do. Belloq never gets his hands on the Hovitos Idol, and is killed by our heroes halfway through the story. The Nazis never get a copy of the staff of Ra because Toht dies in his introductory scene. They never manage to capture Marion or Indy, and they never get their hands on the Ark either. In the end they are all killed when the Ark is opened by Marion, who doesn't realise how dangerous it is.
- Adaptation Expansion: The characters explore far more of the Well of Souls than they did in the movie.
- Adaptational Villainy: Everyone spends a couple minutes (while Marion is busy fighting off Toht and his goons) arguing with Jon about the possibility of Indy being racist.
- Adapted Out: Colonel Herman Dietrich is never seen or even mentioned, even after the other named villains bite the dust. This leaves the second half of the campaign without a main antagonist.
- Aerith and Bob: One of Sallah's diggers is named "Jeremy," which is not exactly a common name in Egypt.
- Ascended Extra:
- It doesn't actually happen, but the players do mention that if Indiana had died during the Action Prologue, his sidekick Satipo would have become the protagonist for the rest of the campaign.
- Downplayed with Sallah. He is present for a larger percentage of the story, but that's mostly because Indiana now gets his hands on the Ark without having to leave Egypt.
- Alternate History: The ending of the campaign where Cairo is destroyed creates an alternate timeline where World War II never happened. During their Wizard of Oz campaign they mention how they were sent a letter from a fan who expanded on the timeline.
- Apocalypse How: At the climax, Indy, Marion, Sallah, and the Ark are in the desert near the dig site with the Nazis closing in, and in desperation Marion opens the Ark. This results in the obliteration of the dig site and the airfield, and massive death and destruction in nearby Cairo. For a while, until they get to Alexandria and find it intact, the characters are afraid they may have wiped out everybody on the planet.
- Artistic License – History: When Indy calls Belloq out for joining the Nazis, he asks him if he remembers what they did to Paris. Belloq simply answers "That has not happened yet."
- Bittersweet Ending: Indiana finds the Ark and sends it back to his employers, and has mostly repaired his relationship with Marion, but Cairo has been completely destroyed and many of its inhabitants, including most of Sallah's family, have died, likely ruining Sallah and Indy's friendship forever. On the other hand, World War II apparently never happened in this timeline, so fewer people probably died in the long run.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: When asked if he knows any good diggers, Sallah claims to know a man with shovels for hands. It turns out that he's lying. He does know a few people who can help Indy with his excavation, but they are all regular folks.
- Consummate Liar: Sallah, though most of his lies are obviously not true and only told to get a laugh out of his friends. However, his talent for telling untruths becomes useful when he has to fool his way past authority figures and guards.
- Death by Adaptation:
- Major Toht is shot dead by Indy during the fight in Marion's bar.
- Belloq is tricked by Marion into drinking himself unconscious during his conversation with Indy in the bar in Cairo. Then they drag him out into the desert and leave him there to die.
- A majority of the population of Cairo, including most of Sallah's children, are killed when the Ark is opened.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Hans — the Nazi guard our heroes take hostage — suddenly dies in the Well of Souls by getting a rock dropped on his head after he accidentally triggers a trap.
- Dying Race: After surviving the destruction caused by the Ark, our heroes initially believe themselves to be the last people on Earth. Turns out that they are "only" the last people in the vicinity of Cairo.
- Entertainingly Wrong: According to the fanmail mentioned above, only some people thought that the destruction caused by the Ark was supernatural. Some thought an enemy superweapon was to blame, and others thought it was done by aliens.
- Everyone Has Standards: These versions of Indy and Marion may be somewhat racist, but they still feel uneasy about using the word "Digboy," as they feel it's too offensive.
- False Reassurance: At the very end of the campaign, Sallah begs the DM to tell him — in no uncertain terms — if his children survived the catastrophe. Paulo stays silent for a while, before saying that some of them made it.
- Good is Not Nice: After Belloq blacks out from the drinking game Marion forced him into, Indy actively contemplates slashing his throat. After everyone points out to Jon that Indy wouldn't go that far, he decides to just leave him in the middle of the desert. Tellingly, he never returns.
- Joke Character: Both Indy’s hat and the monkey are stated to be backup characters.
- Killer DM: Downplayed: It would eventually come to light years after the fact that Paulo was genuinely expecting Jon to somehow die during the opening scene of the movie, only to resign himself to actually continuing the campaign when Jon survived.
- Oh, Crap!: This is our heroes' reaction both in and out of character when they realise that all lights in Cairo have been turned off.
- Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending: Indy and Marion get a happy ending, but Sallah's home is destroyed, and most of his family killed, not to mention how terribly things turned out for most of the non-player characters.
- Original Character: Hans the Nazi soldier and Jeremy the "Digboy." Though the latter might count as an O.C. Stand-in, since he is one of the diggers who helped uncover the Ark chamber given a name and a bit of personality.
- Politically Correct History: Averted. The group points out that Belloq (and likely Indy) would probably be racist, given the setting.
- Rage Breaking Point: Belloq snaps and goes off on an angry rant because he's sick of Jon/Indy saying everything belongs in a museum.
- Running Gag: X character and the Raiders of the Lost Ark! (as the consequence if Indy gets killed and Jon has to take over another character)
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Parodied. After getting a really good "connections roll," Kara / Sallah claims to know the president of Egypt. This turns out to be a slight exaggeration of the truth.
- Secret Underground Passage: The chest in the Well of Souls opens up into one of these. It leads out into the desert.
- Shout-Out:
- To another franchise featuring Harrison Ford, (which was referenced the same way in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).
- Indy, Marion and Sallah keep score on how many Nazis they have killed each, just like Legolas and Gimli in The Lord of the Rings. After making the reference, the players realize that they have made an accidental Actor Allusion, since both Sallah and Gimli were played by John Rhys-Davies.
- When our heroes find the secret chamber full of snakes, Marion is asked if she speaks Parseltongue.
- Starter Villain: Toht is basically turned into one, since Indiana shoots him dead during their first meeting.
- Token White: Indiana and Marion are pretty much the only white people in Cairo who are not Nazi soldiers, making it rather hard for them to blend into the crowd.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: As in the real film, it's established that Indy and Marion were in a relationship which ended badly. By the end of the campaign, they have more or less reconciled, but it's not made clear if they get together again or not.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Jeremy just... runs away at one point, never to come back. Though wherever he went, he almost certainly died during the destruction of Cairo.
