It's been a while since Cooper and I played our Deadlands Reloaded bedtime story. We've been really busy though! Between the holidays, PAX Unplugged, a lot of work travel, a big Christmas Eve extravaganza with the family, and getting side tracked by Super Smash Bros Ultimate, we've been lax on our family gaming. Here's hoping to turning the corner in 2019! I think our excitement over the new Savage Worlds Adventure Editionwill definitely help. We are head-over-heels geeking out about the new game, as well as the new Savages we've found here in the Philly area who share our fervor for all things Savage Worlds. For those folks who wonder about how hard it is to convert existing, Savage Worlds Deluxe campaigns and settings to the new #SWADE rules, let me just say this: it's not. Seriously, just a few adjustments here and there, and we were off to the races. As I stated in a previous post, we're using Bennies instead of Fate Chips, mostly because I wanted to make the game more friendly for a younger player. I also ditched the Guts skill setting rule, and went just for straight Spirit rolls for Fear tests. After tweaking Cooper's character skills, we were good to go! Cooper and I wrangled my wife Jennifer into the game. She'd be playing Cooper's sidekick spellcaster, Mr. Zink. No luck this time in getting the other two kiddos to the table, but maybe in a future session. At some point I think we'll have a friend or two of Cooper's join in as well. So far it sounds like he's the only kid in his class that even knows about tabletop roleplaying games.
For our third session of this kiddo campaign, I thought we'd playtest some mapping rules that I'm working on for an upcoming Savage Worlds Adventurer's Guild adventure. Still no title, and barely any plot, but for this adventure to work I need tinker with the mapping mechanic. If successful, I'll be able to use the same system to add flavor to just about any ship map. So this week it was an old brig with Deadlands, and next weekend I'll be playtesting again with Space 1889.
Those of you who read our first post in this series may remember that the character of Sebastian Squelette started out as a Hero Forge creation. So cool to see this guy come to unlife! I promise to paint all these figures soon, but most of them are relatively new, and I just haven't had time.
Updated Characters
I should note that since the last session, I updated Cooper's character, Sebastian Squelette, for the new Savage Worlds Adventure Edition. I also built Sebastian's zombie-themed, equally harrowed sidekick, Mr. Zink (to be played by my wife Jennifer).
Edges: Veteran of the Weird West (Harrowed), Arcane Background (Magic), Power Points
Hindrances: Ugly (Major), Poverty, Loyal
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d4, Stealth d6, Fighting d6, Spellcasting d8, Research d8
Spells: Bolt, Burrow, Fear
1 Advance as of session 3, (Power Points)
Adventure Summary
Upon freeing Mr. Zink from Ringmaster Philippe in Dodge City, Sebastian headed southwest into New Mexico, on his way to his hometown of Tombstone. Along the way, Sebastian got word that the Dynamically Dashing Darren, the flashy masked occultist from Pittsburgh, had created an arcane research station on the San Juan River in New Mexico using the remains of an old Brig inexplicably hauled all the way from Lake Erie by dark magic. Figuring that cool magic equipment could be located on board DDD's boat, Sebastian chose to go for a secret raid.
The adventure started with both Sebastian and Mr. Zink on a nearby small island. After swimming to DDD's Brig turned Arcane Lab, the two climbed up onto one of the dinghies and made their way to the deck. A brief gust of wind almost knocked them both off the side of the ship, but Sebastian and Mr. Zink kept their balance. They found all of the doors to the lower deck closed, and decided to stealthily climb down one of the center stairwells.
When the two made their way down the port side staircase, they saw a big, metal suit of armor walk by, clutching an enormous crossbow in its hands. It must have heard one of the two outlaws (most likely Mr. Zink, who wasn't being very sneaky), and stopped to investigate. Sebastian decided to climb back up the stairwell, and back down the adjacent one that led to the starboard side of the boat. Again, they saw another armored suit, also pursuing the sounds of intruders. But this metal construct was quite clumsy, and it knocked over a lantern setting part of the ship on fire.
Mr. Zink decided it was time to thin out the armored figures. The Harrowed Huckster snuck around behind one of the metal suits and used a lingering lightning bolt to knock out the construct. [GM's Note: I really, REALLY like the new magic rules for #SWADE, especially Power Modifiers. When I explained to Jennifer that she could make her augment her lightning bolt so that it could keep causing damage, she quickly spent the extra Power Points. This new magic system is slick, and turns a player character's handful of spells into a plethora of arcane options!] As soon as Mr. Zink dispatched the armored figure, though, a sinister laugh came from behind. It was the Dynamically Dashing Darren!
DDD used his pummeling Havoc fists to occupy Mr. Zink, nearly striking the Harrowed several times. Seeing that his friend was in trouble, Sebastian charged over with his trusty shotgun and started blasting away. Despite DDD's exceptional dodging skills, he was no match for the super fast, skeletal outlaw! Sebastian and Darren traded blows while Mr. Zink burrowed into the ship and got the drop on the second suit of enchanted armor. Even after taking a direct hit from DDD's magic, Sebastian felled his foe. Mr. Zink was not far behind.
With combat over, the two outlaws worked to put out the flames. Sebastian raided a nearby storeroom, where he had to brave a small swarm of tiny evil monkeys guarding the barrels of water. Fortunately, Mr. Zink's Fear spell scared off the little demons. With the flames finally out, the outlaws grabbed some of the Dynamically Dashing Darren's magical creations and fled the damaged brig for shore.
Another night, another Savage Worlds: Deadlands Reloaded bedtime story with Cooper! Now I'm here, doing a brief recap while listening to my own personal Weird Western playlist on YouTube. I should note that last night's session included a miniature that Cooper painted himself: a Hero Quest skeleton. He wanted to use that figure for Sebastian, so until we get something from Hero Forge, that's gonna be Cooper's character. Come to think of it, my miniatures for this game are lacking in general. I'll share the scenes below, but I'm using mostly D&D miniatures. I need to fix this. I've got a handful of Deadlands minis, but nowhere near enough. Maybe in coming weeks this'll get righted. My post last night (covering the prior night's game and origin) discussed the origin of this new, bedtime story campaign. Since it was a lot, I thought I'd skip straight to the story.
Session 2 - Under the Big Top
Things looked worrisome for Sebastian Squelette. He allowed the creepy clowns to take his shotgun and whip and lead him to the circus, but once there, it seemed like they were going to be keeping him for a while.
Once backstage at the circus, Sebastian noticed that there were several cages. One housed a pair of wolves and a wolfman. Another kept a massive boar. A pair of huge frogs were penned up nearby. In the last cell on the far side of the area a sickly looking man had collapsed from exhaustion on the floor. It was Mr. Zink!
Sebastian allowed himself to be locked in the cage, and turned to thank his new jailers. Once they left he hatched a quick plan.
One of Sebastian's harrowed powers allowed him to turn into a ghost. As soon as the clowns had left the backstage area, the outlaw skeleton became incorporeal and drifted out to the main area beneath the big top. Across the chamber he saw that one of the clowns had a large key on his belt. Sebastian carefully snuck up on the clown and grabbed the key. This required him to become corporeal again, but before he could change back he was spotted.
Sebastian ran towards the backstage area while the clowns grabbed torches. The ringmaster Philippe sent his tiger after Sebastian as well. Knowing he'd need allies, Sebastian ran up to the wolfman and let him and his wolf allies free.
Here's where things got messy. The wolves attacked the tiger, and the wolfman attacked two of the clowns. The third clown charged Sebastian as the skeleton made his way to Mr. Zink's cage. But once Sebastian unlocked his zombie-friend's cell, Mr. Zink unleashed some wicked arcana on the pursuing clown. Turns out that Mr. Zink is a Huckster - a spellcaster that made deals with dark spirits in return for awesome energy. Mr. Zink's spell of choice, a lightning bolt, made short work of the clown.
Unfortunately for the party, the master of the ring was also the master of the dark arts. Philippe sent forth a pair of fiery blasts that nearly killed Sebastian and Mr. Zink in one hit! (GM's Note: Seriously, if Cooper hadn't nailed his soak roll at this point it would've been a short adventure. Technically I'd let him wake up in a grave with a splitting headache rather than kill off Sebastian. I don't think Cooper's quite ready to "play for keeps" again yet, no matter how much Dungeon Crawl Classics I've put the child through.)
Undeterred by the ringmaster, both Sebastian and Mr. Zink returned fire. Lightning and bullets peppered Philippe as he dropped to the ground. Then the two partners in crime unlocked all the cages, allowing the other critters to get free. The undead pair wasted no time hightailing out of the big top, dropping the last remaining clown so as to assist the wolfman. The wolfman introduced himself as Wolfman. Once outside, the trio headed back to the train station. Chances are they wouldn't want to stay in Dodge City for long.
To be continued...
Wrap Up
Okay, I'm having serious flashbacks to Numenera Disenchanted Tales with Carrie and Evie now. I remember our first game being a bit of a tough grind, just trying to keep the girls on target. But the second game was a lot smoother, and so on and so forth. Each game they got more and more excited by the story and by advancing their characters. I think we're going to have the same thing here with Cooper. I got home late from work tonight. Around 8:30pm. I figured Cooper would've dragged his feet on getting a shower, and we wouldn't have time. Nope! He was ready to go. So we had a great one hour session, did the good night hug, and he was off counting sheep. I have a business trip for the rest of this week and he was a little bummed that we couldn't continue night after night. There's always the weekend!
I've got a fever... and the only cure may be Deadlands.
Here's the issue. I've been geeking out somethin' fierce with the new Savage Worlds Adventure Edition Kickstarter going on right now. I spent the entire weekend flipping through some of my old Savage Worlds books, reminiscing on previous games and campaigns, and cooking up some thoughts for new sessions. But then I came across my Deadlands stuff, and my future goals all became a lot more immediate.
See, I can't ever seem to open a Deadlands book without doing a complete gaming U-turn, and taking the first locomotive back to the Weird West. One quick read of Bruce Campbell's forward in the the original Deadlands Weird West Player's Guide, and I'm in a full western tailspin. I'm back to reading The Sixth Gun, watching Westworld, and booting up Red Dead Redemption. But it's been years since I've had a long term Deadlands game cookin'. I had a couple Deadlands Classic campaigns back in the mid-2000's, and was a player in a long running Deadlands Hell on Earth campaign (RIP Joaquin Vega.) Other than that, all my Deadlands action has been one-shots, many with the Norwin Game Knights. Flipping through just one of those books reignites the urge.
I should note that it's really, REALLY hard not to come across a Deadlands book whenever digging through my pile of gaming materials.
What I really want to do with Deadlands Reloaded, and what I've always wanted, is to do a live, in-person campaign. Not a one-shot. Not a con game. Not an online campaign. Real people in a real room with real dice, real Fate Chips, and real playing cards. Playing once a week. Hell, maybe we could even get through one of the four incredible plot point campaigns I own.
Unfortunately, I don't live close to enough people whom I know who would be able to take part in a regular, weekly game. Even Jen and the girls have such busy schedules now that they just don't have as much time as they used to in order to game with their dad.
But what about Cooper?
Evie was Cooper's age when we first started Numenera: Disenchanted Tales back in early 2014. We've been talking about ways to help get Cooper away from his TV and his Nintendo Switch, without having to institute hard limits. Maybe a bedtime game, styled like what I had run previously for his sisters, would have similar beneficial effects.
This wouldn't even be Cooper's first rodeo. He's played his fair share of Savage Worlds over the years:
That said, its been a few years since Cooper's played any role-playing game. He's dedicated his time to electronic gaming, and does a fair bit of board gaming as well. But with his sister' graduating to the grown up table, I think Cooper's been feeling left behind. In addition to Savage Worlds being a game Cooper was somewhat familiar with, Deadlands Reloaded has a lot of features and themes that would excite my eight-year old son. So much of the Weird Western style, coupled with the "Fast, Furious, Fun" of Savage Worlds appeals to younger players. Back when we ran the Norwin Game Knights, it was never hard to pick up a whole table of young players willing to take to the dusty trails. Also, there are the Harrowed, and Cooper really has a thing for the undead. I think it started with Plants vs. Zombies and just progressed from there. Maybe if I let Cooper play a harrowed from the get go I'd be able to pique his interest right off the bat? So we planned a bedtime one shot for last night, with a subsequent session planned for tonight. If both go well, we'll set up regular games at home, perhaps with some guest stars from our friends and family. Sign up now!
Sebastian Squelette, the Stealthy Skull
Here's the character Cooper and I concocted for our story: The skeletal outlaw is a harrowed from Tombstone, who had big plans in the CSA a year ago. Sebastian took part in a massive heist to steal the tomb of George Washington. After dismantling the structure, Sebastian and his partner Mr. Zink attempted to make delivery to a gentleman named Billy Bob Jenkins in exchange for one million dollars. But it was a set up! Instead of becoming rich, Sebastian had to flee Virginia and the Texas Rangers. He made his way to Philadelphia. But Sebastian longs to go home. Recently Sebastian got a telegram from his good zombie friend (or "zombro") Mr. Zink. Mr. Zink had found his way to Dodge City, and wanted to link up with Sebastian so that they could travel back to Dodge City together.
Image from Hero Forge. If Cooper successfully completes 10 sessions, I promised him a custom Sebastian Squelette figure that I will paint for him.
Gear: Double Barreled Shotgun, Colt Navy Revolver, Whip
Game Modifications
I made just a couple of adjustments to our game to help Cooper re-learn the system, and not overly complicate our game.
Exchanged Fate Chips for the more Savage Worlds standard "Bennies." I figure we'll go back to Fate Chips later, once he mastered the process.
I gave Sebastian Hinderances that are more suited for the GM to track. Wanted, Phobia, and Enemy can all reside on my side of the screen, and don't necessitate too much active role-play, at least in the beginning.
For tracking ammo, I had Cooper break out six white Nerf bullets (pistol ammo), and two green Nerf bullets (shot gun ammo.) Heck, I think I may use this for my grown-up players at some point!
Session 1 - Clowning Around
It was early evening when Sebastian's train entered Dodge City. Once he got out of the car, he called out "Mr. Zink! Mr. Zink!"
Strangely enough, this method of investigation worked. A passerby, unfazed by Sebastian's skeletal visage, stated that he knew a Mr. Zink, and had seen him earlier having a drink over at the Alhambra Saloon.
Sebastian strolled into the Alhambra Saloon, sauntering up to the bar while a musician played a few pleasant tunes on a piano. The skeleton asked the bartender where he could find Mr. Zink. The bartender claimed that the zombie had left a few hours earlier with a traveling salesman. But something wasn't right. Sebastian sensed that the bartender was lying.
"Tell me the truth!" Sebastian shouted at the bartender.
The bartender cried out that Mr. Zink had been press-ganged by the circus on the north side of town. That was no good.
Sebastian walked out into the dark streets of Dodge City, headed north towards the circus. Soon a trio of clowns encircled the skeleton.
"Well, well, what have we here? Wanna join the circus, skeleton?" they asked. The clubs they were carrying seemed proof enough that they weren't actually asking.
"Okay," Sebastian responded. Outnumbered, he figured that he was headed to the circus anyway, so why not see where his path led. The clowns took his shotgun, but Sebastian was able to hide his Colt Navy Revolver in his pants.
Cooper wanted to help draw the map of the circus big top.
When Sebastian entered the big top, he gasped. There, in the middle of the giant circus tent, was the Ringmaster Philippe, guiding a tiger around in circles. Sebastian hated tigers! Sebastian choked back his fear, and continued with the clowns towards the backstage area.
To be continued...
Wrap Up
I gotta say, Cooper impressed me with one of his decisions. When the three clowns appeared, I figured that we were going into combat. I drew the map, placed the miniatures, and broke out the playing cards. But Cooper kept his finger off the trigger, and went along with the clowns. Pretty impressive! As we move along in the campaign, I'll continue to post updates. If you'd like to join us, please be on the lookout for our adventures. And again... if you'd like to join Sebastian Squelette and Mr. Zink on the dark trails of the Weird West, let us know. Maybe there's room in the posse for someone to ride shotgun.
I'm planning to run a playtest of +David Baity's Dark Trails, a Dungeon Crawl Classics spin on the Weird Western for my May contribution to the DCCRPG World Tour 2017. I had a chance to play Dark Trails at Gary Con, and it was a blast!
I purchased The Cackler, so that I can get a little Weird West comic action going.
For family movie night last night we watched that Harrison Ford classic: Cowboys & Aliens.
What started all my binging? I gotta blame the original: Deadlands!
I'm really excited to get my hands on the Deadlands 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition, that will hopefully be showing up in the near future, clad in a foreboding, black wooden whiskey box! A few weeks back I was going through some of my old, Deadlands books, while I was working on my DCC Shudder Mountain campaign. That planted a seed!
So for International Tabletop Day 2017 I wanted to pay some respects to the original trails o' terror, and run some Deadlands Reloadedfor the Norwin Game Knights.
I just needed to concoct a quest. I wanted to create a quick, two to three hour introductory adventure that let our group use the new Hero's o' Gloom pre-gen characters from Deadlands: Good Intentions. These characters are perfect for an adventure set in the City o' Gloom, Salt Lake City. But to commemorate the sixth anniversary of our family almost moving to Kansas, I was interested in basing the adventure in Dodge City.
I also wanted to feature a new threat to the Weird West: the Werebuffalo!
Now I could just go and write down what happened in the adventure, but for this blog post I'm going to post my adventure outline. What, you thought you were going to get a full adventure? Wrong blog!
Feel free to use it in your own game, or hack it up and make it more your own. The plot is campy and the NPC names are terrible, but maybe you can do something with...
We're Buff Here
Adventure Summary:
The PC's are customer relations personnel for the Smith & Robards mail order catalog out of the City o' Gloom. They've traveled by train all the way to Dodge City, to find out why their regular clients at "Gutter Camp" to the north have ceased to use their products. They only know two things at the start:
The buffalo hunters and tanners of Gutter Camp used to purchase a lot of specialty tonics and elixers that would help make the long, 16 hours easier.
When they arrive in Dodge City, they get a message back via a dead messenger that just says "we're buff here."
After some investigation the party finds out the following:
When the PC's get to Dodge City, break out a map (out of the Deadlands 20th Anniversary Edition) and let the players have fun in the city. Make this as much of a sandbox as possible. For our game, five of the seven players were brand new to Deadlands so I threw as many weird western cliches as possible at them. Wyatt Earp showed up for their guns, they found themselves in the Alhambra Saloon, etc...
Somehow, someway, get this information to the PC's:
Gutter Camp has been struggling to keep staff recently. Many of the hunters have been leaving, and the company hunt leader, Grant Granston, can't seem to keep people for longer than a few weeks.
Grant Granston was running low on cash, and while he needed to keep his staff hard at work, he may have made some dealings with a less-than-honest snake oil salesman named "Best Buy Bill."
Recently Grant sent a note back to Dodge City, saying "We're Buff Here." The messenger who was delivering the note died soon after, from a blunt impact to the head (a Werebuffalo headbutt).
Gutter Camp is located twenty miles north of Dodge City.
If the PC's want to do any more exploring in town, feel free to toss in some more encounters. For instance, in our game the PC's wanted to dig up the body of the dead messenger. So I let them! Ernesto the Steampunk PC used his massive metal arm to drag the coffin out of the ground, and the posse threw it on the back of their wagon and headed north. I placed a bill of sale for a product called "Big & Buff" in the pocket of the dead messenger.
What actually went down
Here are some of the details to the adventure backstory. It's up to the GM to divulge the info when it seems appropriate:
The buffalo hunters recently stopped buying their products from Smith & Robards, and instead started investing money in a local snake oil salesman named "Best Buy Bill." Best Buy Bill promised all kinds of tinctures and elixers, but at a much cheaper cost than Smith & Robards.
The one product being given to the buffalo hunters was something called "Big & Buff." On one hand, it makes folks super strong for a full day, without needing sleep. But Big & Buff had a nasty side effect: it turns folks into werebuffalo.
Best Buy Bill would shackle the sick hunters to his wagon before they turned, using silver tethers, and then once they transformed they could do nothing to escape.
Best Buy Bill is taking the werebuffalo, and selling them to a twisted Confederate army officer named "Colonel Krieg". The Colonel is trying to create a strike force of werebuffalo that he can use as muscle in raids in Kansas.
Best Buy Bill was successful in chaining up eight of the twelve turned werebuffalo.
Grant Granston never drank any of the Big & Buff, nor did his messenger. While all this buffalo turning, and escaping was going on, Grant gave his messenger a note, and sent him to Dodge City for help. It was supposed to read "were-buff here", but some dirt got on the message, and a spec made it look like the "were" was a "we're". Oh, and Grant forgot the hyphen.
Wait... are you telling me this is a weak plot? Just an excuse to do a play on the words "we're buff?" Well... you're right. Sorry. But this is the adventure you signed on to read.
The Camp
When the PC's arrive at the camp it is in deplorable condition.
There are four parts of the camp:
The tents
A stream that runs through the camp, where the buffalo hunters did most of their butchering near.
A wooden fence.
An area where horses were tied up.
Barely anything survived. Grant Granston is missing. Or he's not. Up to you, the GM. In my game, I left him out, and just assumed he was dead. But that's because my PC's spent a lot of time playing around with the messenger's corpse. In your game, maybe he's alive and can leave clues, or help with fighting Best Buy Bill.
The PC's can come across a surviving human undergoing a change into being a werebuffalo at night. He will lash out, while transforming, but shouldn't make it the whole way.
At some point the PC's will face four werebuffalo. I had them come out of the stream. To make it seem like they were more "were-like", I said that they were all wearing torn up clothing, like the Hulk.
Werebuffalo
You want stats for that werebuffalo? Well it should come as no surprise that I just did a quick reskin of the Werewolf found in the Savage Worlds Deluxe rulebook on page 142. Just increase their Vigor to a D12, and give them a Tough Hide that boosts their Toughness by 3. Ultimately, their Toughness will be an 11, which is pretty damn hard to beat, but hey... why not?
Also, werebuffalo just headbutt instead of bite. But it does the same damage as a werewolf bite.
Tracking Down Best Buy Bill
Best Buy Bill can easily be tracked down, as he left the camp not too long ago. If the PC's follow a trail to the east, they eventually find his mechanical horse driven cart.
Best Buy Bill isn't a threat at all. I used the "Scientist" archetype from the Savage Worlds Deluxe rulebook and pumped up his Toughness to a 7 to reflect a couple points of armor from his semi-mechanical body.
His wagon comes in three pieces:
A mechanical horse in the front. Functions just like a regular horse, but can never needs to rest or sleep. Runs on ghost rock.
A middle, "crew" section. Best Buy Bill has a pair of goons that have d6's in all their stats, and fire a pair of Lightning Blasters at the PC's if they get too close and mean harm. Each one functions as the "Bolt" power from the Savage Worlds Deluxe rulebook, and has 20 power points. The crew roll D8's to shoot the Lightning Blasters.
The rear section is a chain gang of the eight remaining Werebuffalo.
How this all shakes out is up to you. The werebuffalo know what they are and enraged. But they shouldn't need to be foes! If an especially charismatic PC (like Father Houston in our game) can persuade them to fight back, let them do so. Make it epic!
Ending the Adventure
This part is totally up to you. In our game, the PC's got one of the werebuffalo to fight on their side, and they freed it. Then they freed the rest of the werebuffalo and sent them back to Smith & Robards. They also killed Best Buy Bill. But again, make this adventure your own.
* * *
I wrote this adventure on the fly, and threw things together pretty quickly for International Tabletop Day. I knew that I'd have mostly new players for Deadlands Reloaded, so I wasn't that concerned about making things too challenging. But I'm half-tempted to go back and rework this into more of a functional "One-Sheet" style adventure. Perhaps I will.
In the meantime, if you have any suggestions, let me know!
To celebrate the Kickstarters for +Pinnacle Entertainment Group's 20th Anniversary Edition of Deadlands Classic and Deadlands Reloaded: Good Intentions, I wanted to throw together a bizarre, "Mad-Lib Inspired" adventure for some of my most awesomest players. Because I'm such an exhibitionist, I had to live stream the event for all to see... and experience! Since this was an Interactive Actual Play, we took recommendations from the audience, creating crazy twists and turns in the plot as we moved along. Before I get ahead of myself, here's the video of our game:
I should note that inspiration for this adventure came from a GoFundMe created a few weeks ago. My good friends Brenna and Ethan have had a rough turn of luck recently, but are getting married in just a few weeks. One of their family members created this GoFundMe page so that they could still have the wedding of their dreams. I know it can feel weird to give money to strangers, so as part of my contribution I announced that I would write a wedding-themed adventure and post it on my blog. So if you tossed a few bucks towards Brenna and Ethan's wedding, you got a full adventure out of the deal! Damned good deal!
The Adventure!
What I've posted here is the exact adventure that we ran last night in the video posted above. I've filled in the details, so that you can experience this adventure with your group at home, maybe even during the Deadlands Kickstarter drive! Professor Vandersmythe is based on the Doc Lightning pre-gen from Pinnacle Entertainment Group, and you'll see that both Shady Doug Liveaux and Father Sam are straight from that same crew. Gracie Law and Lo Pan are original characters, but maybe I'll post their stats in a future blog post... hint hint, +Darcy Ross and +Craig McCullough.
I should also note that I'm not done posting this adventure. In the days and weeks ahead you can look forward to the following "editions"...
Did I say "Mad Libs?" You can expect a version that will give you the opportunity to fill in your own crazy info for your games!
Deadlands Classic! Give me a few days to get myself reacquainted with the Deadlands Classic rules and I'll restat the baddies accordingly.
Cypher Edition! Are you a fan of the Weird West but you are one of my Cypher System readers? Make a Guts Check! Grab hold of some Deadlands books (... maybe through a certain Kickstarter...) and your Cypher System Rulebook and run Deadlands accordingly.
Black Powder, Black Magic! Maybe you are one of my Dungeon Crawl Classics readers who has the Black Powder, Black Magic Zines. I'll restat these monsters for DCCRPG, which should take all of 5 minutes!
Player Character Roles
(Determine randomly, 1DX based on number of PC’s. Yes, D5's exist.)
The One Gettin’ Married:Professor Vandersmythe,+Marc Plourde
The Best Man/Woman:Shady Doug Liveaux, +andrew lyon
Special Rule - Smitten: The player character who is getting married is absolutely head-over-heels infatuated with the Monadi husband/bride, and fully intends to go through with the ceremony. There is nothing supernatural about this love-connection, they just really seem to get along. To represent this in game, give this PC the Vow (Major) hindrance for this adventure. This is a temporary hindrance, and can only be removed should the PC be provided actual proof that their fiancee (and eventually spouse) is not what they say they are. For being a good sport, let this player take an additional Fate Chip during the adventure.
The Story So Far
(Read to players)
Your characters are experienced heroes, varmint slayers, abomination hunters, and well-known do-gooders in the Weird West. Your most recent exploits had you up in the town of Snakebite Junction working for Sheriff Bichon. Sheriff Bichon had a problem with a troupe of Intelligent Devil Bats masquerading as Clowns. Your posse cleared out these creatures easily. The terrible abominations had been keeping local Railroad Foremen’s as victims in a hidden basement, surrounded by vats full of sludge, beneath their Sweat Lodge lair. Unfortunately none of the victims survived. At the end of this exploit, however, one member of your team, Professor Vandersmythe, took a liking to a self-described Snakebite Junction local: Anna Kendrick.
The two met shortly after the battle with the Intelligent Devil Bats, while both just happened to be shopping at a local Dirty Dicks Guns & Ammo Store. This chance meeting soon became a more formal courtship. Anna Kendrick said that they worked as a Lawyer in Snakebite Junction, but was always dreaming of leaving for bigger and better things.
The two have been inseparable ever since, although Anna Kendrick came with a bit of baggage: the entire Kendrick family (about thirty in total)! They followed their kin and the rest of the posse to the next town, carting with them all their belongings and a wagon full of Whiskey, the Devil’s Water, barrels… the only source of the Kendrick family wealth.
After arriving in Dodge City the two decided to tie the knot. Professor Vandersmythe proposed by offering a very fine Golden Pocketwatch filled with Lead, as well as a giant box of Peyote Pops. Anna Kendrick loved candy. The two lovebirds have set a date (today), and have a romantic honeymoon planned in Old El Paso where they plan to spend a full week horse racin’ to the railroad crossin’. Gracie Law agreed to perform the ceremony, with Shady Doug Liveaux agreeing to stand next to Professor Vandersmythe so long as they get to dance with Anna Kendrick’s Kissing Cousin.
Lo Pan has spent several days putting the finishing touches on what will be a beautiful ceremony at the Post Office, and an exciting after-shindig to be held at the local Bath House.
For some reason, perhaps it’s because of their most recent game of Musical Chairs, Father Sam was not invited to the wedding.
The Real Deal
(For the Marshal)
Unfortunately for Professor Vandersmythe, Anna Kendrick has a deep and dark secret: they are actually a creature called a Monadi. Part of a collective of sentient unicellular creatures that once dwelled deep beneath the bowels of the Earth, the Monadi first came to the surface in the Maze during the Great Quake of ’68. The Intelligent Devil Bats had discovered the Monadi while traveling through California, and found them of great interest, especially in how they could don the flesh of other creatures, importing some of their memories in the process. The Monadi were captured and kept in great vats and transported all across the West. Many of the Monadi died during the trip, unable to consume the copious amounts of sugar necessary for their survival. It was a sad few years.
When the posse killed off the Intelligent Devil Bats, this freed the Monadi. The unicellular creatures knew enough from their dealings with their masters to make no attempt to let their true form be known to outsiders. Anna Kendrick is the leader of the Monadi, a truly ancient creature, and hijacked the body of a local twenty-two year old traveler eating a giant, obnoxious lollipop in Snakebite Junction named Sam. From Sam, Anna Kendrick learned a bit about the traveling posse of do-gooders in town. The Monadi leader targeted Professor Vandersmythe, distracting them (and in turn the rest of the posse) while they went around town taking on the bodies of about thirty more souls.
The Monadi were shrewd to only take on travelers and vagrants in Snakebite Junction, and knew they needed to move on to another town. Unfortunately about half of their number still remain in the vats (disguised as whiskey barrels) once kept by the master abominations. The Monadi plan to celebrate the nuptials of the two “love birds”, and during the shindig that follows, use the cover of cake and liquor to lure the guests and participants of the wedding back to the vats so that the rest of the unicellular creatures can find human hosts.
Adventure Outline
This adventure should play out as a nice, big wedding celebration, ending of course with the attempted murder of the PC’s and all of the wedding guests. Immediately after reading the The Story So Far take the adventure to the ceremony location and describe the scene. Given that this is going to be cooked up on the fly, try to focus on a similar looking area and map from a previous experience or game. Since this will be something “communal”, most likely the players will choose a church, saloon, restaurant, or perhaps even a barn. Try to describe this scene as best as possible, especially noting the following folks at the scene:
The PC’s: This is a great time to point out who is taking on what role for the adventure, especially the officiant. The PC getting married should be getting a little nervous.
The Fiancee: The Monadi husband or bride to-be is not in the building, and most likely would be very hard to find if anyone searches for them. Just before the ceremony they are assisting the rest of their family in preparing the barrels of other Monadi for taking over the PC’s and their guests.
The Guests: Whoever the PC’s invited to the wedding will be sitting around, just waiting patiently for the ceremony to begin. They may be pacing, perhaps they are drinking. Maybe they are just whining, depending on who was invited.
The Monadi Family: Some of the family members are helping the fiancee with the barrels, but a few others (at least six) are sitting in the communal building. All of the family members are waiting nervously. If approached or questioned, the family members won’t say much, except how excited they are for the wedding. If asked about their relation to the bride/groom, they will say that they are a “cousin.” As for names, all of their names begin with the letter “M”.
The adventure should play out in three sequences. First, start with Cake Nightmare, which highlights the very first “glitch” in the wedding, as the cake is missing. The next sequence, No Objections covers the wedding itself. Finally Shindig features the last encounter, with the PC’s discovering the terrible truth about the Monadi, hopefully before anyone dies. Somewhere in the middle, the GM is invited to run one or more of the optional encounters that will make the ceremony a bit more interesting.
Cake Nightmare
It’s just a few hours before the start of the wedding, and one of the fiancee’s family members (a Monadi in hiding) named “Maureen” comes into the place of the ceremony screaming.
Maureen claims that she was just at the site of the Shindig, and the wedding cake is missing!
Maureen will demand that the PC’s do something about this situation, and that without the cake the wedding will be a disaster.
In truth, the wedding cake was stolen by some of the husband/bride’s family members (Monadi) and will be used to force-feed the future hosts of the unicellular creatures.
Depending on the size of the town or city, feel free to make this encounter as difficult as you would like.
In a small town the baker (let’s call him Buddy) may be completely out of sugar. This could also be the doing of the Monadi. Buddy will claim that he tried to get sugar from the local general store, but the price tag was far too high (also do to the Monadi).
Set the general store price to be something exorbitant. $100 for a sack of sugar sounds fair. This should set the characters into a tizzy. Let them intimidate or persuade the general store shopkeeper (Expensive Daryl), but should they try anything too aggressive bring in the law.
In larger towns/cities, the lack of sugar will be less of an issue. The baker could still be out of sugar, and maybe the general stores are all closed. It’s a holiday. Totally up to you.
Once the baker has the sugar, they will promise the cake. Hopefully this is the only hiccup during the wedding.
No Objections
Time for the ceremony! At the Post Office!
Weapons and gear… seriously? Make sure everyone is very clear about what they have with them for this part of the adventure. They shouldn’t be armed, at least not with anything heavily. If one of the posse members has a gatling gun this is a problem.
Alright, alright... If a PC wants a bigger weapon make them spend a Fate Chip and they have to describe how it is being hidden. Long arms cost a red or blue Fate Chip.
If the PC’s have not said who they were bringing to the wedding as guests, now is the time to ask them. Try to get each player to bring two guests. Let them make up anyone they want. Mom, dad, maybe just a friend who is in town. Whatever. The important part is to have between 12-18 total guests attending the wedding besides the PC’s, and to have them on some kind of list. Maybe index cards. This could be important later.
If the PC getting married is the groom, have them waiting at the front of the ceremony, in front of the officiant. If the PC getting married is the bride, they will be obviously outside. Whatever the case, have the Wedding Planner describe the dress for everyone as the bride walks down the aisle.
Once everyone is good to go, have the officiant start the process:
Brief introduction
Objection!
An exchange of vows
Man and Wife
Sam? (Optional Encounter)
The fun isn’t over when the PC’s go outside. So there should be the whole scene with the bride and groom walking down the aisle, with the guests hitting them with rice outside the community building. Well, while this happens, someone start’s yelling “Sam!”
A man or woman (GM’s choice) calls out to the PC’s new husband or wife, insisting that their name is Sam. This is Pat, who was in love with Sam back in their home town, and has been tracking them down across the Weird West. Pat doesn’t know that “Sam” is dead, and there is only a Monadi inside the human skin.
Unlike the objector, Pat doesn’t want to back down. Pat is flanked by a trio of bounty hunters who helped them find “Sam”.
While this scene doesn’t have to end in violence, the Monadi family members keep out of the way, and everyone looks to the PC’s to find some way to deal with this. Keep in mind that the PC’s should NOT be armed, save for pocket pistols and or knives.
Bounty Hunters (3): Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d8, Skills: Fighting d8, Notice d8, Shooting d8, Tracking d8, Pace: 6, Parry: 6, Toughness: 6, Gear: Knife (Str +d4), Colt Peacemaker (2d6+1). Third hombre has a double barrel shotgun (1-3d6) in addition to the other gear. Each bounty hunter has 3d8x10 dollars.
Shindig
When the PC’s and the rest of the wedding party all arrive at the location of the reception let the wedding planner describe the scene. Specifically make them state the following:
The decorations
The spread
The drinks
If the Wedding Planner can’t rattle these off within a few moments, there’s a complication. Use this as an opportunity to have one of the guests go missing. Let one of the guests offer to help, but they never come back to the party.
The baker should show up with a cake, if that part of the adventure was resolved. Everyone claps. So sweet.
This is a great time to use the Strung Out Quartet optional encounter.
While most of the guests are just drinking, eating, and enjoying each other’s company, what’s going on behind the scenes is rather terrible. One by one, as the PC’s and their guest are drinking, the Monadi flesh-suit wearers are taking guests into a storm cellar or basement bellow the building, stuffing them full of cake, and then forcing them to swallow Monadi.
Every few minutes have one of the guests disappear, and then eventually the players will go hunting. It shouldn’t take them too long to figure this out. Of course, by this point, the husband/wife of the PC will be trying to distract them. Some options could be:
“Let’s dance!”
“We need to cut the cake sweetie!”
“How about we go outside for a quick kiss?”
After six guests disappear, some of the guests will begin to question the circumstances.
Once the PC’s find the basement, they have to get past a pair of Monadi family members, trying to repel the PC’s from the scene, but not too violently. Allow there to be some kind of window or rear entrance into the basement or cellar, so that the terror can be witnessed.
At this point, there should be around fifteen Monadi upstairs, and five downstairs at work with another ten out of the barrels, forcing themselves down the throats of poor guests. At least the transformation takes a few hours!
Frontal assaults will be devastating unless the PC’s get to their weapons. If this is the route the PC’s take, the PC’s new spouse will bring a few of their family members to assault the PC’s before this can go down.
The new spouse will try one time to persuade their love not to do anything rash, and may even give up the story so long as the family is allowed to leave.
At the end of the adventure, however this goes, the marrying PC will probably be a widow… or perhaps not. If the PC’s are persuaded to leave the family of Monadi alone, they eventually move on to another town to live out their lives. The Monadi are vicious, but not evil.
Strung Out Quartet (Optional Encounter)
There is supposed to be music at the shindig, but when they arrive they are far too drunk to play.
The new spouse demands their favorite song to be played: “My Wild Irish Rose.”
The PC’s need to find someone in town, quickly of course, to play for the family.
Gear: Knife (Str +d4), any other weapon they can get their hands on
Special Abilities:
Tap Out: A Monadi in human form can make a Spirit roll at a -2 difficulty to forcibly eject themselves from a human body about to die. They take on the unicellular form and are immediately Shaken.
Weakness (Cold): Cold-based attacks cause +4 damage against the Monadi.
Enter Orifice: On a successful Fighting roll Monadi can violently enter the nose or mouth of a living target. Once inside, the target takes 2d6 Acid damage each round. Armor has no effect. The target must make a Vigor roll at a -2 penalty to vomit/cough forth the Monadi.
Flesh Suit: Once a target “dies” from the Enter Orifice attack, and after 1d4 hours of rest, the Monadi can take control of the body for 1d4 years. This can only be done under two conditions. First, the target’s death must be caused by the Monadi’s acid damage. Second, the target must have a significant amount of sugar in their body. It is for this reason that Monadi tend to lurk around bakeries and wedding receptions.
Slow: Monadi roll only add a d4 when “running”.
Toughness: The thick cell membrane of the Monadi grants +2 Toughness.
Weakness (Cold): Cold-based attacks cause +4 damage against the Monadi.
Gear: Fist (Str), Knife (Str +d4), Chair leg (Str +d4), anything else that could be found at a wedding
Special Abilities:
Tap Out: A Monadi in human form can make a Spirit roll at a -2 difficulty to forcibly eject themselves from a human body about to die. They take on the unicellular form and are immediately Shaken.
Weakness (Cold): Cold-based attacks cause +4 damage against the Monadi.
