Father/Daughter Bestiary - Four Leaf Loather

A Monstrous New Year

Every year I've done some kind of special year end/year beginning blog post.  This year, to celebrate all of the delightful gaming that I've shared with my friends and family, I wanted to kick off a new project:  the Father/Daughter bestiary!  My eldest kiddo +Carina W. has been sharing her art on G+, and even has a few commissioned pieces under her belt or in the works.  What better way to merge her love of art and my love of tabletop role-playing than to come up with a joint project.

We actually made a game of the creation.  

I gave Carrie the idea for a new creature called a Four Leaf Loather.  Essentially, I wanted some kind of plant that grew out of the body of an especially unlucky soul in Dungeon Crawl Classics.  Each face needed to be somewhat different.  Carrie has been playing around with some "random" coloring, creating drawings with three different types of writing utensils chosen by someone else calling out numbers.  To change things up, we assigned three different dice to the writing utensils

• D8:  Micron Pens
• D10:  Metallic Markers 
• D24:  Brush Pens

For this exercise, each head of the Four Leaf Loather would be drawn with a different set of utensils, randomly determined.  That horrific monstrosity at the top of this page is the wickedly weird result!  

Although native to DCCRPG, they should work for just about any OSR game or D&D with a little tweaking.  

Here are the stats.  

Four Leaf Loather:  Init +4; Atk bites +3 melee (1d6); AC 12; HD 8d6; MV none, it's a plant... duh; Act 1d20 for 1 bite or 4d16 for 4 bites; SP random mouth affect (see below); SV Fort +5, Ref -2, Will +0; AL C.

Four Leaf Loathers are the result of four particularly unlucky souls falling victim to some calamity at the same time [when a player loses all four 0-level characters at once.]  If this event happens to occur outdoors, and if the right amount of blood is spilled on a patch of grass, there is a chance that some of the regular clovers on the ground will soak up all that unluckiness, and infest the corpses.  At some point 1d5 months after this event, a full-grown, 4 to 6 foot tall Four Leaf Loather takes form.

The Four Leaf Loather can attack in one of two ways.  They can bite adjacent creatures with all four mouths at once, or one of the heads can spew random liquid in a 30 foot long stream.  Anyone standing in the way must make a DC 15 Reflex save or suffer one of the following effects:

[Roll on a d4]

1. Acidic vomit:  3d6 damage.
2. Slippery saliva:  fall prone, requiring a DC 18 Agility check to get back up.
3. Revolting sludge:  lose one's cookies at the stench, becoming stunned for 1d3 rounds.  All onlookers must make a DC 12 Will save or suffer the same effect.  Just gross.  
4. Unlucky spittle:  lose 1d3 points of luck.

*     *     *

We hope that you've had a wonderful New Year and that you have lots of tabletop gaming scheduled in 2017.  Perhaps we'll see you at one of our tables!

Adventure Review - The Last Parsec: Pranac Pursuit

A Bit of Everything

 

The Last Parsec is not only on my short list of favorite Savage Worlds settings, but of all the settings I own.  As a proud Kickstarter backer of The Last Parsec I received a hefty bounty of rewards.  My shelves and hard drive are full of sourcebooks, adventures, pre-gens, figure flats, and deck plans, all just begging to be played.  As of this past week, after reading Scientorium, I've officially read through each and every TLP product. 

 

So... what's to love?  For me it's the openness and modularity that The Last Parsec provides.  Other campaign settings may offer more detailed backgrounds and complicated backstories.  Dip into familiar space opera games, such as those based on Star Wars, Firefly, or Star Trek, and game masters face seemingly insurmountable volumes of canon material.  While I sometimes enjoy dipping into these sources, I prefer settings that leave me room to play.  

 

This is exactly what The Last Parsec does so incredibly right.  Each of the three initial sourcebooks, Eris Beta V, Scientorium, and Leviathan, provide a single place of interest that can be plopped down in just about any ongoing Savage Worlds sci-fi campaign.  If you have all three, you get a bit of everything.  A star system, an ancient space station, a "dinosaur" planet. The Last Parsec: Core provides material and inspiration to aid GM's in building ongoing campaigns outside of the original settings sourcebooks, while leaving wide open spaces for their own original material. 

 

With all that said, Pranac Pursuit, a complete twenty-three page adventure by Sterling Hershey, just happens to encapsulate everything I adore about The Last Parsec in one single adventure.  It's a bit of everything, with plenty of room to insert your own plots, concepts, and complications. 

 

Last night I had the opportunity to play Pranac Pursuit with some of my friends.  Here are my thoughts...

 

Using the "Aces & Eights" deckplan from the Serenity RPG

Away Team

 

SPOILER WARNING!  If you have even an inkling that your GM is going to run this adventure for you, it's best that you don't read ahead. 

 

Adventure Overview

 

In Pranac Pursuit the player characters work for an interstellar exploratory organization known as JumpCorp.  After a fellow crew and their vessel (the Distant Light) go missing in the Pranac system, the PC's are sent on a search and rescue mission.   They discover the missing JumpCorp craft in an unstable orbit around the planet Pranac IV, suffering from a bizarre power-flux that threatened the life support of the craft.  This forced the crew to abandon ship and crash land on the planet.

 

The missing JumpCorp team are found to be assisting a primitive alien race with their own dilemma.  The native villagers, known as the "Jalur", practically worship a piece of alien technology (a probe), that had been damaged during a raid by a competing tribe.  But when the probe senses the technology of the approaching PC's, it takes off, dragging the missing crew into the sky and towards a nearby mother ship. 

 

The PC's may then explore the local region, discover other pieces of technology as clues, encounter other Jalur tribes, and find clues that will lead back to the alien mother ship.  Once found, the PC's must either disable or destroy the rogue AI keeping the missing JumpCorp team hostage. 

 

As a final added complication, once everyone is off Pranac IV and the missing crew is back on the Distant Light, the PC's must deal with the fact that the "power-flux" affecting the vessel is a sentient electrical organism that seeks freedom. 

 

Tone

 

For groups that may not typically play science fiction games, Pranac Pursuit allows a GM and their players to experience several common tropes all in one adventure.  A search and rescue mission requiring starship piloting and space walking.  First contact with a neutral yet primitive alien species.  Exploration of a strange new world.  Combating an advanced alien artificial intelligence.  Such a terrific variety of possible scenes. 

 

I should point out that Pranac Pursuit feels a lot like a good Star Trek episode.  The overall theme is one of exploration and discovery.  While there are opportunities for physical conflict, they are rare and often unnecessary.  Conceivably, the entire adventure can be completed without the PC's firing  even a single shot.  It's important to point this out, because this adventure may not be for everyone.  If your group of players prefer to shoot first and ask questions later, this may not be their kind of mission. 

 

That said, it wouldn't be hard to reconfigure the adventure for the latter kind of group.  Making the Jalur more militaristic and armed, or adding terrible natural defenses could completely change the tone for the "rescue".  Page 18 of the adventure offers Encounters in the Rulwan that take place while exploring the planet's surface.  Should your group lean towards fight over flight, refrain from choosing these at random.  Playing up the Molil raiders (rival Jalur) as villains could sate your friends' bloodlust.

 

Adventure Length

 

I tried running this adventure in a four hour period, that was somewhat crunched by everyone eating dinner for the first hour while picking characters from amongst The Last Parsec Archetypes pre-gens.  Until we experienced our TPK (total party kill... we'll get to that later), I was figuring that we'd have to skip the entire sequence where the PC's explore the region.  We would've jumped straight to the mother ship.  Pranac Pursuit allows for this kind of flexibility.

 

On the other hand, Pranac Pursuit could easily turn into a three or four session long mini-campaign, especially if the GM expounds on the exploration of the planet Pranac IV. Other probes could be tossed in, some potentially dangerous, as well as tribal politics could make for some interesting storytelling. 

 

Parting Thoughts

 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this adventure, and thinking about all the opportunities provided within.  In less than four hours we barely scratched the surface and the experience felt a bit rushed, albeit with an abrupt ending when the game went off the rails during the interaction at the Jalur village.  When I run this adventure again (which is inevitable, because it deserves a full play through) I'll be aiming for an eight hour window. Perhaps run the game over two or three sessions.

 

Now that I've covered how this all should've played out, let's chat about how it actually turned out at the table...

 

Poorly drawn GM diagrams

 

A Brief Recap

 

Our team of JumpCorp operatives consisted of the following:

 

• Farrah Shipkicker, the Human Teamleader, played by my wife Jen
• Jody Moonstar, the Serran Psychic, played by Frank
• Cubb, the Human Scout, played by Jeremy
• Chuklani-Gan, the Aurax Security Officer, played by Andy
• Earwin Wigg, the Deader Science Officer, played by Emily
• Kiff, the Kalian Pilot, played by Robert

 

For the first part of the adventure everything was going well.  The team found the Distant Light disabled, but managed to tow it into a higher orbit and learn about the whereabouts of the missing JumpCorp team.  They flew down to the surface of Pranac IV, did some investigation, and eventually discovered the Jalur village of Craa.

This is where things went terribly wrong.

 

When the alien probe took off, dragging one of the missing crewmembers (Janet) with it, Kiff borrowed Chuklani-Gan's gyro-jet rifle and took a shot.  Both of Robert's attack and damage rolls exploded, and there was no way that the probe was still flying.  So it crashed, killing Janet. 

 

The Jalur were pretty mad about this, as was Captain Wu, Janet's teammate.  The Jalur wanted their metal sage back, and the PC's decided to find another one.  Frank had to leave the game early, so he had his character Jody Moonstar stay behind as a hostage while the team went looking for another alien probe. 

 

Jeremy got the idea of using a portable 3D printer to create another version of the alien probe, but the team would have to get a closer look at the crash site for this to work.  When they arrived, they found Janet's body crushed. 

 

With Frank, the group's "voice of reason" gone, the entire party started shifting towards the bloodlust of our new player Robert.  A D&D player who loves barbarians, anti-bards (???) and chaotic evil paladins (is that possible nowadays), Robert may have been a bad example.  My wife Jen's character, Farrah, started taunting Captain Wu, making fun of the fact that his teammate was dead.  This may have been the red wine talking.

 

Eventually Captain Wu began to fear the PC's, so he ran back towards the village.  So the PC's chased him down and killed him.  Of course this all happened about five-hundred feet from the Jalur village, so they sent all of their warriors (about 100 or so, armed with lances and crossbows), into battle. 

 

I didn't even let the PC's make any rolls, as there was no chance they could survive.  I announced their deaths, and the failure of their JumpCorp mission.

 

Better luck next time? 

 

*     *     *

 

 

So... what went wrong?

 

It definitely wasn't the adventure.  Pranac Pursuit is superbly written, well plotted out, with plenty of room for GM's to add their own thoughts and ideas.  Going into the adventure, I let my players know that we were going to playing an adventure based on discovery and exploration, rather than killing and looting.  I made the assumption that everyone was on board with this plan.  Even when Robert announced that the only other RPG he had played was "D&D", I didn't take that as he wanted to play The Last Parsec like it was D&D. 

 

Oops.

 

The other aspect that set us off course was the time.  We had less than an hour left in our game when the team arrived in the village.  There was a lot of time spent dealing with the ships in space and at the crash site.  By trying to rush the game at the end the players stopped asking clarifying questions about what was happening in the game.  My fault.

 

But in the end, we all had a great time, and that's really all that matters.  So many memories from such a crazy evening... perhaps more than we would've had with a more successful mission.  



Jen's character complete with super high boots

 

Numenera - The Devil's Spine - Session 2

The Devil's Spine Campaign Log

Welcome to our group's campaign log for The Devil's Spine, a mega-adventure by +Monte Cook for the Numenera campaign setting.  

Originally this was going to be a pure and simple campaign log.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Just a record for me and my friends to keep track of what was going on in the game.  But I've decided that, as we progress through the adventure, I'd do some commentary and/or reviews on different parts of the adventure.  So... SPOILERS!

The Path to Devola

This week I thought I'd discuss The Path to Devola, a part of the adventure on pages 13 through 15.  After the PC's have their encounter with the Nagaina egg pit and the Lily, they have the opportunity to go off galavanting in the tunnels and caves beneath Uxphon.  Rather than map out all of these areas, Monte gives the GM a "Progress Chart" that features randomly generated aspects of these ancient pathways.  

To traverse the tunnels the GM rolls on d100 chart, with results listed from 01-151+.  Some of the results are more simple passages, Strange Features, Creatures, and other events.  Getting to Devola's lair requires the 151+, which could be impossible if not for the additional 10 points added for each hour of travel.  With an average roll between 40-60%, getting to the Matron Devola may mean 8-10 encounters.  

For GM's who like to improvise, this may be too many, especially if you are trying to get through this sequence in around an hour to ninety minutes.  My suggestion would be to add "20" points to each roll, and not 10.  This would bring the Matron around sooner.  Of course results may vary!

Our group rolled four total events: three Strange Features and one Collapse.  

The first Strange Feature was supposed to be glass with a flickering light.  I made this into a miniature star system that was situated between two enormous panes of quarter-inch thick glass.  Shattering the glass would destroy the star system, potentially destroying a marvelous civilization.  Idea stolen from Men in Black of course.  

The second Strange Feature was a working, but mysterious machine.  Summoning my inner Love and Sex in the Ninth World, I made this into an insect mating power generator.  The machine was filled with metallic flies that were in a constant state of arousal.  As they copulated, the heat of the metal created fire.  Thirty tiny gemstone oddities perpetuated the arousal and the copulation.  So when the PC's started removing the gemstones, they themselves felt... frisky.  Nothing that forced them to do anything (and I would certainly not suggest that for your table), but enough to give a clue as to what was happening in the engine.  At last I thought it would.  The PC's opened the door to the machine, and the flies started to swarm everyone carrying a gemstone oddity.  I treated each swarm as follows:

•  Level 3, 9 Health, but unaffected by weapons.
• On the first round the PC's swarmed by the metal flies need to make a Difficulty 4 Might Defense Roll or take 4 points of Might Damage.  On the second round the flies start to ignite as they engage in their "activities", and the damage the PC's take (still 4) is not blocked by armor.

The third Strange Feature was another functioning machine, so I made this into a pair of gears attacked to a large stone.  The PC's searched it for cyphers, and found a nice and healthy dollop of friction reducing gel.  It was just that kind of night.  

Eventually the night was getting late and I had to rush to the end of the spelunking, but I enjoyed the scenes created by the chart.  If you are not an improvisational GM I'd suggest rolling up ten of these events ahead of time, and maybe doing some planning.  When you tell a Numenera player that they've found something "weird" typically they are going to want to play with it.  So give them something to play with!

Characters

• Belmodan, a Resourceful Seeker who Wields a Whip, played by +andrew lyon 
• Keane, a Rebellious Glaive who Likes to Break Things, played by +Craig McCullough 
• Nero, a Mad Nano who Travels Through Time, played by +David Howard 
• PL4T0, an Artificially Intelligent Jack who Resides in Silicon, played by +Marc Plourde
• Ruun, an Exiled Glaive who Gazes into the Abyss, played by +William Keller 

Previously on The Devil's Spine

• Session 1:  Breaking and Entering

Session 2: Giving the Pinky

Day 1

The would-be burglars stood at the bottom of a purple-egg filled pit.  In front of them was a blue-goo covered talking statue, and above was a lady demanding that they stay put.  Three of the numenera hunters were now hosts to insectoid parasites on their backs.  Brief interaction with the statue (known as "The Lily") led to some knowledge about the eggs and the parasites:

• The Lily referred to the entire scene as just a sequence of "Life."
• The "Defenders" on the backs of the PC's would eventually turn them into guardians of the Life.
• The only one who may know a way to remove the Defenders would be the Matron, who lived deeper within the tunnels and passages below Uxphon.

Not wanting to wait around for the noble woman above, PL4T0 led the team into the tunnels on a journey beneath Uxphon.  Along the way they discovered a miniature star system imbedded between two panes of glass, and a steam engine filled (and powered) with copulating metallic flies, a set of ancient gears atop a long dead machine.  

When they reached a stone dog-dragon, covered in a similar goo to the Lily, the team asked it to show them the way to the Matron.  The dog-dragon became their guide.  

The Matron, named Devola, turned out to be a seventy foot long, wormlike, demi-godlike entity.  She explained that her kind was called the Nagaina, and that she was a scientist of sorts.  The team inquired about the removal of the "Defenders" from their backs, but Devola did not seem interested.  

[If I remember correctly, Andy's character stated that he wanted the Defender cut off because it didn't belong.  I had Devola ask Andy's character Belmodan if he had eaten breakfast in the morning.  Belmodan said that he had eggs.  So Devola asked if the eggs "belonged" in Belmodan's belly.  Devola just wanted to point out that the PC's were a part of another organism's life cycle.  I love role-playing Devola!]  

The party tried threatening Devola, but she quickly responded that she could crush them all very quickly if they tried anything silly.  

Eventually the characters asked if they could do anything in return for removing the Defenders.  So the Matron gave them a task.  If they could thwart the plans of the Insidious Choir, a collective viral intelligence located in the Black Riage, she would remove the Defenders.  Of course [since this is a 96 page adventure] the surgery would require two items that Devola did not have in her possession: the Impossible Blade and a substance known as Gharolan.  

Since they didn't have any choice, the characters agreed to Devola's mission, and were led to a path that would take them to the Catena: a long dormant, subterranean rail system.

Quotes

David - "I'm gonna give him the Ninth World version of 'the finger!'" 
Jim - [Raises pinky finger, shows it to the camera]
Andy - "That's canon now!" 

"Is that an oddity in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" - Craig referring to the arousal gems.

"There has to be some way to get these off.  I've met Monte." - Craig figured that the Nagaina spines weren't permanent, otherwise there wouldn't be the need for all that adventure.  

Goodbye Pop Pop

Harry J. Walls

October 26, 1932 - December 13, 2016

If I ever wanted to blame someone for all my geeky tendencies, I would probably need to start with my grandfather Harry.  We called him Pop Pop.  My very first memories of playing video games were by his side. 

I was just 4 or 5 years old at the time. Not 100% sure of when, but I know exactly where: Wildwood, New Jersey.  And we're not talking some vague memories, but rather something very specific.  Pop Pop would take me into one of the arcades on the boardwalk to play two games: Star Wars and Punch Out.  I can't remember which arcade exactly, but there was one of them where the two machines were right next to each other, just near the front. 

The Star Wars game was that old one where it was all vector graphics.  I'd hold the weird flight yoke and would shoot lasers at sparkling blaster bolts fired by the TIE Fighters.  I couldn't reach, so he'd have to pull up a step stool for me to stand on.  He'd just watch, quietly giving tips, until it was his turn to play. 

Then we'd move over to Punch Out.

Pop Pop was the Punch Out MASTER! If you remember that game, it was the original, where you played as a see-through, green guy. I loved watching him play, and I can't imagine how much money he'd sink in quarters into that game.  Pop Pop's arch nemesis in the game was Bald Bull.  I remember Bald Bull from Mike Tyson's Punchout on the NES, but there was a Bald Bull in the arcade version as well.  I can't remember how far Pop Pop got past Bald Bull, if at all, but he was quite the topic of conversation. 

Some time, probably the same summer, we were out in the ocean.  It was deep... well, deep for me... and I couldn't reach the bottom.  I also couldn't swim, but Pop Pop had me.  Well, the waves were hitting us pretty hard, and I remember one of them getting us, dunking my head under water.  I had some water up my nose, and I think I started to cry and that was when Pop Pop made the perfect video game reference.

"That was a 'Bald Bull' wave!" my grandfather laughed.   

That image in my mind, of my grandfather holding me safe while cracking a joke is pretty much exactly how he lived his entire life. A steadfast guardian and confidant with an incredibly sharp sense of humor that lasted to the very end. 

*     *     *

Here are a few of my other favorite stories about Pop Pop:

• When I was eleven or twelve my brother and I got permission from my grandfather to go down in the creek behind his house and go exploring. He would've never let us do this when he was awake, so we decided to ask him when he was half asleep and still in bed. He gave us a weak "uh huh" and we were off to play in the mud. He was not very happy when we returned. 

• I remember my grandfather giving me a lesson about "value" while at a Roy Rogers. After getting our burgers, he proceeded to make a salad at the Fixin's Bar. He told me this was a great deal. I think he even made dressing by mixing the mayo and ketchup. He ate this alongside his sandwich. I declined.

• Speaking of fast food, Pop Pop (and Mom Mom for that matter) also really enjoyed Wendy's Super Bar. It was always a huge treat to go out to Wendy's for a Friday night dinner if we were visiting. 

• My grandfather had this super heavy metal fan without a cover, that he'd leave running in his house. To this day, I don't know how one of us Walls kids didn't end up missing a hand.

• Back in the early '90's I kept doing the "You Lika Da Juice" sketch from Saturday Night Live in front of Pop Pop. In the sketch, the actors were in a greek gyro restaurant asking customers if they wanted more juice. I continuously asked him "You lika da juice, uh? Da juice is good, uh?" It may have been the only time I got under Pop Pop's skin, because he eventually told me that I had to stop. Pop Pop would then continue to ask ME "You lika da juice?" for the next 23 years. 

• Pop Pop used to drive around in an old microvan (Nissan?) with a back seat full of bricks and a baseball bat. The bricks were for keeping flower arrangements (my grandmother was a florist) upright. The bat was for... well... I don't know. I guess that was for those times when the shit was going to go down. 

• My grandfather liked watching a good fight. My dad would throw me and my brother in his old Toyota pickup to drive to Pop Pop's house to watch Ultimate Fighting Championship videos. This was way-back in the days where these were really "no holds barred". I remember Pop Pop just crying out "eww... eww!" as Joe Son (master of Josondo) got his nuts punched repeatedly by Keith Hackney in UFC 3. Good times.

*     *     *

To see the full obituary for my grandfather, you can follow this link

Numenera - The Devil's Spine - Session 1

The Devil's Spine Campaign Log

Welcome to our group's campaign log for The Devil's Spine, a mega-adventure by +Monte Cook for the Numenera campaign setting.  This is my second crack at this terrific module, my first taking place over two years ago, back when I first started GM'ing Numenera.  I've learned quite a bit since then, and have thoroughly enjoyed so many of the enigmatic and peculiar aspects that can only be found in the Ninth World.  But something about this adventure continued to call to me.  I really wanted to circle back and give it another go!

I'll be perfectly up front with you all: this is going to just be a simple campaign log.  Don't expect too much commentary at the beginning of each session report.  Initially I was just going to do one, massive log that I updated week after week, but I got a little nervous of deleting the entire thing by accident with continued editing of the same post.  I also don't want you to expect any high-quality writing here... this is pretty much just going to be an information dump session after session.  

If you have any questions or remarks about The Devil's Spine adventure, our campaign, or anything else Numenera related, please feel free to leave a comment below!

Characters

Okay, I said no commentary, but I need to add a little commentary when it comes to my players and the characters they created.  I absolutely adore each of these imaginative designs.  During last night's session we spent the first hour ironing out descriptions and backgrounds, and creating connections between each of the characters.  That way, when we started the actual adventure, there actually appeared to be real relationships between the five Numenera hunters.

So here's our crew:

Belmodan, a Resourceful Seeker who Wields a Whip, played by +andrew lyon 

• Description:  Short.  Wears an anachronistic hat and leather jacket.  Carries an energy whip.
• Background:  Discovered a synth time capsule, found a strange exotic laser disk of an explorer being chased by a gigantic boulder.  Decided to pattern his own appearance after this person.  Now he travels the land with his energy whip and the laser disk, in search of adventure.  
• Connection: Keane always seems to be getting in Belmodan's way, and is frequently struck by the Seeker's energy whip in combat.  

Keane, a Rebellious Glaive who Likes to Break Things, played by +Craig McCullough 

• Description:  A big, strong, well armored anarchist, who doesn't like the government.  
• Background:  Keane is a biomechanically modified warrior, created by the nobility of the Pytharon Empire for reasons unknown.
• Connection:  Keane promised PL4T0 to break the first thing that he is commanded to.  This opportunity hasn't quite presented itself yet.

Nero, a Mad Nano who Travels Through Time, played by +David Howard 

• Description:  A crazy, muttering man dressed in eclectic assorted fashion styles.  Many of his garments seem to be from impossible time periods.  Constantly plagued by deja vu. 
• Background:  A bearer of forbidden knowledge who does not remember his past per se.  Nero has multiple memories of his past, but with chunks of missing time.  Occasionally he blacks out only to not remember who he is.   Nero is convinced that time itself has rewritten him.  
• Connection:  Nero is a distant ancestor of Ruun.  Ruun anchors Nero to the present.  

PL4T0, an Artificially Intelligent Jack who Resides in Silicon, played by +Marc Plourde

• Description: A tiny, floating 5" dodecahedron wearing an aviator cap.
• Background:  A helper-bot-droid-thing created by a prior world's civilization.  One part extra hands, one part knowledge database.  PL4T0 has a multitude of skills programmed into its memory bank, but many are not accessible because it's been in a low power state for quite some time.  
• Connection:  PL4T0 picked up and activated by Nero after a long dormancy.  Nero did not realize that PL4T0 was a self aware entity at first, but is learning this over time. 

Ruun, an Exiled Glaive who Gazes into the Abyss, played by +William Keller 

• Description:  A 7' tall, lanky, late teen.  Very greasy and dirty, with a feral  appearance.  Covered in deformities.
• Background:  Ruun was a normal kid until around ten years old when he was abducted from his village.  Ruun does not know who or what abducted him, but occasionally has flashbacks to bright lights and experimentation.  Six weeks later he returned, but started to change physically.  Ruun grew abnormally fast, freaking out the rest of his village.  Eventually he was driven out of the village, and learned his fighting abilities on his own.  
• Connection: Keane and Belmodan know that it's beneficial for Ruun to occasionally eat a creature every few days.

Session 1 

Day 1

A reckless band of numenera hunters recently came to the city of Uxphon, just north of the Steadfast.  Two of the wanderers, Keane and Belmodan, had been friends and companions for the last five years, exploring all along the edge of the Steadfast and the Beyond.  Three months ago, during a jaunt into the Beyond, the two compatriots met Ruun, a young barbarian with a wild temper and feral appetite.  Not long after, a bizarre man named Nero approached the party, with a strange interest in Ruun.  The last member of the crew, PL4T0, was actually discovered by Nero during a numenera hunting excursion, with the nano believing the small hovering bot to be an artifact from the prior world.  

After a month of learning the in's and out's of Uxphon, Keane offered his team up to the local rebellion efforts.  Keane's contact with the rebellion was a man named Doomi Laast.  The rebels sought to overthrow the local oligarchy, and free the people of the Uxphon.  For their first mission, Keane's team was to ransack the home of Baron Tichronus, and keep any interesting pieces of numenera or information that could be useful to the rebellion.

The team broke into the home and started their search.  One of PL4T0's cyphers showed four occupants: one on the main floor, and three in an area below the estate.  Upon entering the home, Nero popped a reflex-improving cypher.  The chemical inadvertently gave Nero a vision of being in this place before, but in a prior world when it the Earth was part of the Grand Galactic Empire of [an unpronounceable guttural noise].  Nero made several loud comments, drawing the attention of Dorial, the house's butler.  Dorial wasn't ready for visitors, but before he could call the guard, the butler was cornered, threatened, and told to stay quiet and out of the way.  

The party then started searching the house.  Along the western side of the estate was a great, circular, two story library.  PL4T0's cypher showed that there were three human sized creatures below the library, so Belmodan and Nero began going through the books.  Eventually they found a set of buttons with weird symbols.  Collectively using their skills, abilities, and pieces numenera, the trio uncovered a secret chamber below their feet.  But when they triggered the right combination of buttons, the floor disappeared, and everyone tumbled down thirty feet.  Everyone but Ruun, who was busy in the kitchen eating pickles.

The secret chamber was full of purple eggs, with weird slithering creatures moving around the fallen adventurers' feet.  At the edge of the chamber, three naked humans with black spines huddled together.  PL4T0 went to investigate the humans, but the rest of his human companions soon learned that the weird slithering creatures were not so mundane.  The creatures crawled up their legs and took root in the numenera hunters' backs.  Belmodan and Keane removed their garments, revealing that they now had black spines of their own!  

The PL4T0 tried helping its companions remove the parasites, but when the bot attacked them, the naked humans rushed into combat.  A brutal combat ensued, with Belmodan ripping off several of the naked humans' legs with his energy whip.  Ruun eventually came to investigate what was going on, but was pushed into the hole by Dorial.  Ruun caught the ledge, lifted himself up, and then pushed Dorial down.  Then Ruun jumped down thirty feet onto Dorial's head, killing the butler.  

When the naked humans were killed, the party heard two things.  The first was a woman's voice above, in the estate foyer, calling for the Baron.  The second was the scratching of a stone woman's form, sliding out from a fleshy passage in the southern wall of the pit. 

Quotes

"I call reverse dibs." - Marc on getting murdered.  

"I was here before the hills were made!" - Nero started stating loudly upon entering the Tichronus Estate.

"I'm going to cup him in the face and say 'I'm going to kill you in a moment.'" - David (playing Nero) to Dorial.

"I'm just thinking Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark would've ended really early if there had been a laser whip." - Marc commenting on Andy's character Belmodan, and all of the leg-ripping-off action going on.

Fowl Deeds - A Gods of the Fall Thanksgaming Adventure

Thanksgaming is becoming a Walls family tradition in our house.  This tradition started two years ago, when I ran a turkey-themed game of The Strange for my family in Delaware.  The experience went so well that we went for repeat last year but with just the wife and kids.  Well now it's just expected that I am going to do a Thanksgiving themed game every year!  

If you're interested in those escapades, here are the links:

• 2014 - The Strange - All Gobbled Up
• 2015 - The Strange - Gobbler Road: Beyond Gravydome

This year, however, we're changing things up a bit.  

First, I decided to change out The Strange for +Bruce R Cordell's dark fantasy Cypher System setting: Gods of the Fall.  

Second, instead of giving you a big adventure recap, showcasing how much fun we had playing, I thought I'd just share the adventure with you, so that you can run it for your own gaming group!  We'll be running it for our family tonight, and I may even chat about the results later, but the main focus of this blog post is to give you something to try out.  

One more thing... the map.  A lot of the inspiration for this map came from The Fallen Keep, a terrific piece by +Miska Fredman.  If you'd like a high-res version of this map, with multiple variations, you can download it now over at DrivethruRPG.  Alternatively, you can be supercool like me and just become one of Miska's patrons over on his Patreon page.  That's how I roll, and I suggest you roll with me!

Now... on to the adventure... 

Fowl Deeds

Background

With the quality of an afterlife in question, many in the city of Cryserech cheat death by undergoing a process known as the Necromigration.  This process involves the participant paying a healthy sum, getting ritually murdered, and then returning to life as a Reanimated corpse.  

But what if there was another way to extend one's life?  

Vincenzo Vincenzi, a native Cryseran, developed an alternative that would allow the participants to continue living in a flesh and blood form, albeit with a few added feathers.  A bit of a mad scientist and expert alchemist, Vincenzo had worked on a way to transfer the consciousness of an individual from one body to another.  But with a lack of willing human participants, Vincenzo turned to the one creature that he knew he could count on.  Trained War Turkeys.  While serving in the Cryseran military, Vincenzo trained war turkeys for combat.  With their reinforced beaks, and stealthy manner, War Turkeys were silent killers while War Hounds just tended to do a lot of barking.  

Vincenzo's method was simple.  An alchemical formula was mixed and placed in a large jar. The patient looking to transfer their consciousness would have their brain liquified and then poured from the nose into the same jar.  The host's brain was then liquified and removed as well.  So long as Vincenzo performed the process within a few minutes, all he had to do was pour the patient's brains (mixed with the chemicals) into the host's nostril, and the organ would reform.  

Genius!  

Although the initial process was just supposed to be tested on turkeys, eventually it could be used from human to human.  Perhaps an old human could have their brain poured into the skull of a criminal or slave.  The opportunities were endless!  But Vincenzo needed a plan, and he had some War Turkeys.  So he had his assistant Daphne attempt the process on him, using one of his War Turkeys as the host.  But Daphne made a mistake!  She didn't fully liquify the brain of the War Turkey.  So when Vincenzo's brain porridge was poured into the skull of the host, it fused with some of the remaining Turkey brain bits.  

Vincenzo retained much of his own consciousness, but also many of the motives of a regular Trained War Turkey - destruction, gobbling, and a "turkey-kind first" attitude.  Vincenzo Vincenzi took on the moniker of the Foulest Fowl, and started up the Feathered Salvation, an organization that offered the citizens of Cryserech a true alternative to the Necromigration: the Fowl Soul Transplantation.  

Starting the Adventure

The player characters (PC's) have been approached by Ishver, the Necromigration Conductor of Cryserech.  Ishver has heard that a new and terrible alternative to the Necromigration has been researched by a mad alchemist who calls himself the Foulest Fowl.  The wicked scientist, and his Feathered Salvation, is attempting to lure Cryserans to the edge of the Dead Wood where they can attempt a process that will allow them to keep a flesh and blood form, and get a brand new body.  The Foulest Fowl even claims that his new process doesn't even require getting staked to a pole and left to die... it's supposed to be a lot less painful actually.

Ishver can't have that!  

The Necromigration Conductor needs the Foulest Fowl dealt with.  Although the PC's aren't required to kill the mad alchemist, they need to shut down his operation as soon as possible.  If successful, the PC's will be given a great boon of some kind.  Most likely a sack of stars and all the turkey they can eat  

Arriving at the Fallen Keep

When the PC's arrive at the edge of the Dead Wood, it does not take long to come across the Fallen Keep.  It is important to keep in mind the scene from the edge the forest.

• First it's quite dark.  This is the Nightlands, so there is no sun within view.  
• It's also stormy.  
• This could lead to a really nasty GM Intrusion opportunity, with one of the PC's getting struck by lightning.  Level 5 Might Defense roll or be reduced down the damage track one step for 10 minutes.  Wait, that's a pretty nasty GM Intrusion isn't it?  Tough... this is Thanksgiving... and that's how we roll!
• If the PC's search (difficulty 5) they will find large turkey tracks in the mud surrounding the broken walls of the keep.

Map courtesy of +Miska Fredman! Get yours here.

Entering the Keep

The outer wall of the Fallen Keep is broken in several places but fairly easy to navigate.  Entering through the obvious entrance seems to make sense, but there's a gobbling risk.  

• Going through the eastern entrance brings about the wrath of three Trained War Turkeys.  Each Trained War Turkey attacks from darkness, attempting to surprise the PC's (level 6 difficulty, given the darkness).  If they win, they get to attack first.  
• Climbing the broken walls is easier, with only a difficulty 2 to not trip and fall (3 points of Might damage).    

Upper Keep

The main portion of the keep is rather empty.  A single hallway circles the central chamber.  Of course, there is danger in this area as well.  

• If the PC's haven't encountered the 3 Trained War Turkeys in the outer area, they attack the PC's from behind when they enter this area.
• The northernmost chamber of this area is full of dead turkey carcasses.  These are the Trained War turkeys who have died in surgery.  There are six corpses in all, and if the PC's search them (Level 4 difficulty), they will find signs that some kind of procedure was done to them, as well as the nature.
• The central chamber leads to the roof of the keep.  There, the PC's will find cages full of carrier pigeons, and hundreds of parchment letters reading the following:  "Friends of Cryserech, know that there is an alternative to the foul Necromigration.  Join the Feathered Salvation, and transfer your soul to a living, breathing creature today!"  
• The eastern chamber has a stairwell that leads down into the Cellar Level 1.

Cellar Level 1

The chambers on this level were built by Vincenzo's now dead servants to serve as living quarters for those looking to take on their new form.  Now they reek of dead flesh, and are home to the Ghoubblers: the failed experiments of Vincenzo.  While his own experiment worked, he is no longer able to do the procedure properly.  

• Ghoulbbler attack!  In one of these rooms the party is attacked by a trio of Ghoulbblers.  These beasts fight to the death, and make a lot of noise doing so.  
• In the common room, the PC's will find the dead bodies of several older humans.  Most have been pecked terribly by Ghoulbblers.  All are wearing ceremonial turkey feathered robes.  
• The dungeon in this cellar houses three humans that tried to change their mind.  Dilbers, Mack, and Jalla.  The three humans are all in their mid to late sixties, and will claim that they feared becoming undead.  They also didn't want to become turkeys, and once they discovered the terrible procedure, they revolted.  Unfortunately they were all captured and placed in the dungeon.  
• Also in the dungeon is Daphne.  Daphne refuses to assist her former teacher Vincenzo in performing any more operations, but the Foulest Fowl cannot kill her, as she is the only person who was able to perform the procedure successfully.  Daphne wants her freedom, and claims that Vincenzo was once a good man until his mind got "gobbled."  

Cellar Level 2

The heart of the operation, here's where Vincenzo is attempting to change the world... one turkey at a time.   

• If the PC's search the cellar chambers without being careful to remain quiet, they should be under constant attack by Ghoubblers.  Throw two or three against them every so often.  
• The Nest is home to the remaining Trained War Turkeys.  There are five left alive, as well as a nest of smaller eggs.  On their home turf the Trained War Turkeys fight much more brutally, causing an additional 2 points of damage with their savage beaks.  
• GM Intrusion idea!  While fighting the Trained War Turkeys, the PC's fail to notice several chicks stalking them on the ceiling.  Several of the chicks descend on a PC and peck at their eyes.  They are blinded for the next round, and must make a Speed test (level 3) to pry them off after.  
• The PC's can search the Cesspool, full of Turkey poo, and uncover 1d3 random cyphers.  These are all eggs that have been warped by the alchemy.  
• Vincenzo is located in the Slaughter Chamber... er... I mean Surgery Room.  This is where he'll make the final stand, with at least one Ghoulbbler at his side.
• GM Intrusion Idea... GROUP INTRUSION!  If the PC's have freed Daphne, she will lead them through the secret door into the Slaughter Chamber.  Essentially she is delivering the PC's to their potential doom, and will try to assist her former master.  Treat Daphne as a Level 4 threat with 12 health.  Instead of attacking, she will work to increase the difficulty of all PC actions by 1 step during the battle until she is defeated.  
• If the PC's search, they can find a secret path outside of the Nest that leads to thousands upon thousands of turkey nests in a much greater chamber.  There is no way the PC's can deal with this threat now, especially as they start to hatch.  Probably best to get out now!

Conclusion

With Vincenzo defeated or captured, the PC's can return to Cryserech and speak with Ishver.  They will certainly get a reward, and if they speak of the greater threat, Ishver may give the PC's a small force of soldiers to defeat the threat.  This could lead to a second turkey-themed Gods of the Fall adventure... of your own design!

Fowl Bestiary

• Trained War Turkey - 3 (9):  Vincenzo only selected the finest war turkeys for his Fowl Soul Transplantation stock.  These Trained War Turkeys are used like attack dogs.
• Motive:  Protect the Fallen Keep.
• Environment:  Anywhere around the Fallen Keep, or in the occasional Cryserech military unit.
• Health:  9
• Damage Inflicted:  4
• Armor:  0
• Movement:  Short, can fly a short distance as well.
• Modifications:  Evade traps and Stealth as Level 5
• Combat:  The Trained War Turkey prefers to glide in for a stealthy attack and then flee.  
• Interaction:  Trained War Turkey's can't be reasoned with or bargained with.  They will find you.  They will kill you.
• Use:  Trained War Turkeys are a little known secret of Cryserech's military.  
• Loot:  None
• Ghoulbbler - 4 (12):  The failed husk of a botched Fowl Soul Transplantation.  
• Motive:  Death!
• Environment:  Anywhere around the Fallen Keep.  
• Health:  12
• Damage Inflicted:  5
• Armor:  1
• Movement:  Short, can also glide a short distance
• Modifications:  Stealth as Level 5.  Ghoulbbler's are creepy buggers!
• Combat:  Ghoulbbler's prefer to attack through stealth an assassination.  On the first round of combat, if the target is surprised or hasn't attacked yet, the Ghoulbbler's attack is at a difficulty of 6. 
• Interaction:  Ghoulbblers may be the broken experiments of Vincenzo, but they still serve their master.
• Use:  Even if the Fallen Keep is cleansed of evil, there still may be a few Ghoulbbler's running around the area. An infestation of Ghoulbblers in Cryserech could be a fun adventure too.
• Loot:  Every fourth Ghoulbbler may have a cypher in their tummy.  
• Vicenzo Vincenzi, the Foulest Fowl -  6 (18):  Ringleader of the Feathered Salvation.  
• Motive:  To find a way to mass-produce the process of Fowl Soul Transplantation as an alternative to the necromigration.
• Environment:  Anywhere in the Cryserech region of the Nightlands.
• Health:  25
• Damage Inflicted:  8, with steel reinforced beak
• Armor:  2, with armored feathers
• Movement:  Short, can also glide a short distance
• Modifications:  Speed Defense is reduced to Level 5, as Vincenzo is still getting used to his new form. 
• Combat:  Vincenzo can use an alchemical formulation every round, in addition to his fierce beak attack:
• Cranberry Concoction:  Sugary boost that increases Vincenzo's Speed Defense to Level 7 for one round.
• Gravy Boat:  Slathering pool of oily sauce that can be tossed at one target. Level 5 speed defense roll to dodge.  If struck, the target immediately drops to the ground, unable to stand for the round.  
• Mind Melting Yams:  Steaming hot yams are lobbed at the target.  Level 6 Intellect Defense or the target starts seeing images of themselves getting stuffed, basted, and cooked.  These mental images increase the difficulties of all the target's actions by 1 step for the next round.   
• Interaction:  Vincenzo would rather talk his way out of combat before having to resort to violence.  But he isn't afraid to toss some gravy!
• Use:  Vincenzo fits into this adventure, but he could be a recurring villain in an entire holiday themed adventure.  
• Loot:  1d3 Cyphers (alchemical formulations).  

*     *     *

I hope you enjoyed this third annual turkey-themed Cypher System escapade!  If you happen to run Fowl Deeds with your own group, please let me know how it goes.