Need some advice from the Pros ;)

[lpilker]

Hi, I am new to the ARG community, and I am in the process of designing a VERY basic "local" ARG for my middle school students. This would consist of clues and a clue trail followed via communication with a Mr. Ryan, who is a museum curator. Some of the artifacts in his museum have recently gone missing and he needs our help to locate them and get to the bottom of what is going on. Also, he sends us a particularly unique artifact (a circular stone somewhat like a Mayan calendar stone) but the problem is he only has half of it. The students will follow clues which lead them through the history of ancient Mesoamerican Cultures, such as the Mayans, the Incas, and the Aztecs, and take them on a virtual tour of some of the major ruins and sites of interest troughout South and Latin America.

Sound like a good start? Again, this is very basic, and any web pages needed are going to be in my local web directory. I guess what I am looking for is any advice you can give me, or some ideas to help fill out my plot.

Thank you very much for any advice you can give.

[Nightmaretony]

That sounds like a fairly solid plot to work with, for middle school as a learning adventure.

Motivation I think would be a key facotr in the making of your characters. Why would they do this in your story, and what would be the result? It is one thing to have a cryptic puzzle trail, but you really want believable characters for your players to help or hinder during the game.

Art of the Heist, Legend of the sacred Urns, there are some other recovery of stolen items worth looking at.