ETU & WW2 - A Hot, Savage Mess

A Mash-Up Too Far

How far is "too far?"  

Last night, I may have hit that boundary, and maybe even broken through to the other side of ridiculous.  I warned of "jumping the shark" on Twitter just a few hours before the game, and while I made the post in jest, it was fairly accurate.  Granted, I've been able to throw some crazy mash ups together quite effectively.  To date, blending Dark Sun with Star Wars in The Strange remains my best concoction.  But last night I learned a valuable lesson:

Good mash ups require planning and concentration.  Lacking either can lead to a hot mess.  Albeit, a very fun hot mess.  Add alcohol, and the fun hot mess becomes a crazy haze of laughter, dice rolling, and very inappropriate jokes.

In our last session of East Texas University, three college freshman accidentally drove a Best Buy truck full of XBOX's through a Nazi time portal.  Lacking any good ideas for a follow up adventure, I decided to leave our fate to chance.  So I broke out the Doctor Who Rory's Story Cubes and got the following result:

From this I derived the following plot:

At a secret Nazi base hidden within the frozen north of Norway, Doctor Josef Heiter Sr. works at a lab on something called "Operation Grey Hawk."  This operation involves the restoration of a crashed alien vessel (Fraal), and the dissection of the remaining grey aliens.  Dr. Heiter is furious that his program is not working, and has been relying on what he can glean from "Hector" the last living alien, but the alien is resisting all interrogation. 

The secret base also houses the Nazi time travel and rocket pack programs.  With the time travel portal destroyed, the PC's would need to find a way to either restore the portal or escape the base using another means of transportation. 

Our music for the evening

  

Cast of Characters

• Abigail (Emily), a nasally voiced Geek studying Psychology
• Chaz Lannigan (Andy), the socially awkward Computer Science Major who loves to game
• Cordeleone (Jeremy), an "easy" going member of the French Resistance and "Face" for the OSI
• Ezra (Ethan), majoring in Cultural Studies this Activist was ready to fight the establishment
• Big Franc (Jen), a French Resistance fighter and OSI operative

 

Really Loose Session Synopsis

With any hot mess, this one was a bit complicated.  What I can remember is this...

The college students crash the Best Buy truck into the secret Nazi base, destroying the time portal.  Also in the room are a pair of OSI operatives, hidden in an air shaft in the ceiling: Cordeleone and Big Franc.  The college students, aided by the OSI operatives, eliminate the Nazi soldiers in the chamber.  Cordeleone takes a beaker of alcohol, lights it on fire, and instantly immolates a pair of soldiers.  Ezra and Big Franc both play sniper in the scene while Chaz laments at lacking combat skills.

Once defeated, the team investigates a nearby hanger holding a flying saucer marked with  swastikas.  The hanger is full of 21st century technology stolen from Best Buy.  Refrigerators, TV's, crates full of Meg Ryan movies... everything the Third Reich needs to conquer the world.  If only they could get the flying saucer to work.  Big Franc grabs a grenade, tossing it at the Meg Ryan videos, causing a distraction that allows Cordeleone to get close to Dr. Heiter and the saucer.  Then she runs back with the rest of the team.

That's where things get dicey.  The party finds some Nazi uniforms and they all put them on.  Then they split up.  Chaz and Ezra go and free "Hector" the alien creature who originally piloted the flying saucer, or as he called it the "Beep Beep."  Big Franc then goes and cuts off the hands of the four dead soldiers, and throws them back in the hanger, getting the attention of everyone. 

[I do not know why this happened, but in some alternate universe someone was really enjoying their Red's Apple Ale.]

A firefight ensues between Big Franc and the soldiers.  Remarkably he is only shot about six times, and Ezra is able to assist in holding off the attackers.  The rest of the team sneak Hector to the flying saucer, just as Cordeleone cracks the code on the side of the vessel, gaining access.  The alien grabs the controls, and exterminates the rest of the guards in the room. 

The college students and OSI operatives then grab the wounded Big Franc, and leave the base in the flying saucer.

Quotes

"For some reason I've been thinking a lot about the Dirty Sandy Duncan." - Jen's always thinking about that DSD.

"Big Franc needs a big cigar." - I don't remember who said this, but it was fitting.

"Auf wiedersehen Felicia!" - Felicia's battle cry.

"If I drop kick the grenade, will it blow up?" - Apparently Jen has never seen a war movie.

"Meg Ryan was their Aryan ideal." - Jeremy was quite perceptive.

"Cuff me now, bitches!" - Big Franc's battle cry.

"Herr Doctor, would you like a Sandy Duncan?" - Cordeleone can be very enticing. 

An XBOX for the Führer - An East Texas University Adventure

It's Been a While

I can't believe it's been nearly a year since our last game of Savage Worlds East Texas University!  Back when everyone in the team lived in Pennsylvania, it was so easy for us to connect once a month... but then Emily had to go and move to Ohio, just so that she could leave all of us great gamers behind.  

Dammit Emily!

With all the planning this week for Friday's Deadlands Reloaded Actual Play, I knew that I would be strapped for East Texas University adventure prep time.  We don't meet often enough to justify dipping into the Degrees of Horror plot-point campaign, and while I considered running a one-sheet, I fell into old habits and just broke out the ETU Adventure Generator.  

Here are the cards' results:

• Who?  King of Diamonds - Supernatural Creature
• Creature Table - Ten of Clubs  - Anomaly 
• What?  Nine of Diamonds - Accident
• Victim Table - Jack of Spades - Corporation
• Why?  Four of Clubs - Secret
• Where?  Jack of Clubs - Pinebox Environs
• Pinebox Environs Table - Ten of Spades - Wilson Quarry 
• Complication?  Joker - All Hell Breaks Loose

Adventure Setup

Nazi scientists, using a temporal rift generator [All Hell Breaks Loose], travel to the future in search of advanced technological marvels to help the Third Reich [Secrets].  Unfortunately for the Nazis, their rift opens up in the middle-of-nowhere Texas [Pinebox Environs - Wilson Quarry].  Hoping to still gain some insight, they learn about a store called Best Buy, and hatch a plan to hijack delivery trucks and then offload the products through the temporal rift [Corporation].    The Nazis are using genetically enhanced Brutes as muscle and guards for this project [Supernatural Creature - Anomaly].  Best Buy has offered a $2,000 gift card to anyone with information that can help apprehend the culprits of the thefts.  The biggest clue to what was going on was an accident scene along the main road that ran north from Pinebox to the Best Buy [Accident].

Class of 2019

• Elle Woods (Jen), the party's "Legally Blonde" Pre-Law student
• Bruiser, Elle's chihuahua*
• Abigail (Emily), a nasally voiced Geek studying Psychology
• Chaz Lannigan (Andy), the socially awkward Computer Science Major who loves to game
• Cordelia (Jeremy), an "easy" going Cheerleader and all around team player whose parents think she's at ETU to study Meteorology
• Ezra (Ethan), majoring in Cultural Studies this Activist was ready to fight the establishment

*Andy noted that according to the East Texas University Player's Guide the Edges "Beast Bond" and "Beast Master" were not allowed.  Good thing for Jen that the GM is her husband.  

Session Synopsis

As with all of our games, last night went completely off the rails quickly.  

We opened up the session with the PC's sitting around in Cordelia's dorm room (Whitehall Co-Ed Dorm), watching a Firefly marathon.  Cordelia still had a crush on Chaz, and was trying to learn more about the geeky arts.  There was a brief discussion about trying to solve the case of the missing Best Buy delivery trucks, as everyone could use gift cards.  Chaz was pretty pissed that his pre-ordered new XBOX One never arrived, furthering his interest.

The study group decided that they needed weed.

So we role-played the team digging through Cordelia's roomate's stuff only to find a business card for "Mr. Nice Guy."  The herb was ordered, and delivered thirty minutes later, and since the delivery driver was kind of cute, Cordelia moved in for a make-out session in the back seat of a smokey old Lincoln Town Car.  

While the PC's were getting high in the dorm room, about halfway through the Firefly marathon, they glanced outside and saw a large, hulking figure by the creek.  Of course, this required an investigation, so everyone grabbed their iPhones and went towards the water.  Unable to make out the figure, Cordelia moved closer and extended a "hello".  The humanoid, a Nazi Brute who was searching the area, opened fire!  

The fight with the Brute was a bit of a mess.  Elle sent her Chihuahua Bruiser into the fray, nearly taking out the creature in a single hit!  Cordelia and Abigail started wrestling with the Brute, attempting to take its gun.  Ezra pelted the monster with rocks.  Chaz took off his shoes, tied the laces together, and fashioned a Converse-Nunchuck with his MacGyver ability.  Cordelia eventually called the police on her iPhone, and the Brute knew it was a goner after Abigail succeeded in the disarm.  It pulled out its grenade and set it off, killing itself and injuring Abigail, Elle, and Chaz.  

That's when the cops showed up, arriving just as Ezra finished hiding the Kar 98 in the trunk of his car.  You never know when college students will need some high-powered, WW2 weaponry!  

To role-play the police questioning scene, since it each witness would be separated from the group, I asked each player to write out their statement.  This was when things got good... for the GM!

Abigail:  We were attacked by this giant zombie humanoid.  It shot Cordelia and came after the rest of us.  Eventually it blew itself up.  Several of us sustained injuries in the explosion.

Ezra:  We were watching Firefly in Cord's room.  Bruiser, Elle's dog, needed to "go", so we took him out.  This thing in the H20 shot at us then blew itself to hell and hurt my friends.

Elle:  Some kid was dressed like a solider for Halloween and said he wanted to show us this cool fake grenade he got at the surplus store and when he reached into his pocket it blew up.  Guess it was the real deal, yo!  Boom, mic drop!

Cordelia:  Big guy with bad skin condition shot me and blew himself when my friends heroically confronted him.  I bet you know what being heroic is like.  You're all strong and muscular.  Your girlfriend must be constantly smiling.  Do you have a girlfriend?

Chaz:  Would you believe me if I told you that we got attacked by an undead Nazi with a rifle and grenade?  No?  Look, we got real high.  I'm not sure what happened, but I do know something blew up in the river.  So don't you people have bigger things to worry about right now?  

Chaz's statement got the entire study group a ride to the police station and a two day stay in jail waiting to meet with the judge on Monday morning.  At least Elle's pre-law skills got the party "mostly" out of trouble.  After a very compelling argument, Elle convinced the judge to let everyone go with nothing more than a fine.  $1,000 per student would be tough to overcome, but it was a small price to pay.  Cordelia got her dad to pay, but it cost her her car.  

Now the study group really needed some money, so they got back to the Best Buy investigation.  Sort of.  Chaz called the local Best Buy and started asking all kinds of weird questions about delivery dates of the next shipment.  This, of course, brought the law back to ETU, as a detective showed up at Chaz' dorm room looking for information about the thefts.  Chaz knew his goose could've been cooked, as he was also trying to hack the Best Buy system on his laptop.  Fortunately, the computer science major was able to pass off his roommates computer as his own, and talked his way past the investigator.  

The study group met up later that afternoon and decided to take a drive up to the Best Buy.  On the way, they noticed signs of a large vehicle crash along the side of the road.  Getting out of the car to investigate, the vehicle had to have been a tractor trailer, and it could be tracked into the woods.  Also, there were spent shell casings nearby matching the rifle in Ezra's trunk.  The study group headed into the woods, following the trail left by the truck.

They followed the trail all the way to Wilson Quarry, discovering a terribly bizarre scene down by the water.  Three Best Buy trucks were parked adjacent to a glowing, swirling, red portal.  Six Nazi scientists stood nearby, examining the Best Buy wares, while eight Nazi Brutes guarded the scene.  The study group believed that they could destroy the portal by running it over with one of the trucks.  

Chaz and Ezra followed Abigail (one of the only characters trained in Fighting) as she charged the nearby Nazi Brute with a bayonet-toting Kar-98 in hand.  With one strike, the geek gutted the beast in a stealth take down.  Ezra and Chaz climbed into the cab of the truck and started it up.  While this was happening, Elle took one of the Brute's hand grenades and directed Bruiser to go and drop it off in front of the Nazi scientists.  Bruiser wasn't very stealthy, however, and the scientists noticed a small, bedazzled chihuahua running up to them holding a stick grenade in its mouth.  

The Nazi scientists pulled their pistols and shot Bruiser to tiny chihuahua bits!

While Cordelia tried to console a screaming Elle, Chaz tried taking out one of the Brutes with the truck but missed.  He then targeted the temporal rift, hitting the gas but losing control of the wheel.  Both Ezra and Abigail struggled to keep the truck on target, and the entire tractor trailer nailed the gate...

... transporting the entire truck, and its three ETU college student passengers, into a Nazi lab in the 1940's!  The whole reason that the trucks hadn't been transported was that they were too large for the temporal rift to accommodate.  So when they came out the other side, they destroyed the gate device, locking themselves in the past.

Obligatory Weird War II mash-up for the next session!

Quotes

"I saved a spot for you on the bed." - The creepy comments from Jeremy's character (Cordelia) to Andy's character (Chaz) were non-stop.

"Look for a card that says 'Mr. Nice Guy.'" - Jen knows exactly how to find weed in Pinebox, Texas.

"Guys, Big Foot shot me!" - Cordelia was quite surprised when the hulking thing by the creek opened fire.  

"Did you tell them about your shoe nunchucks?" - Ethan to Andy, asking about his character's interrogation with the police.  

"We could Ewok it!" - Chaz believed that the study group can dispatch the eight Nazi Brutes using rocks, sticks, and crude traps.  

Savage Worlds - Adventures in Babysitting: ETU Style

Adventures in Babysitting - East Texas University Style

It's after ten o'clock on a Monday night in the lobby of the Marriott Springhill Suites in Erie, and our family is knee-deep in a tabletop roleplaying game.  Ever excited to take part in a little #GetOutAndGame action, we brought along our books, dice, character sheets, deck of cards, and poker chips so that we could play Savage Worlds: East Texas University while on our family vacation.  As soon as we arrived at the hotel on Sunday, we scouted the lobby for the perfect table.  It wasn't hard to find.  A soft bench at the back of the lobby/breakfast dining area was perfect for our needs!

We had the lobby all to ourselves!

Ever since we ran East Texas University during our trip to Michigan in February, my eldest daughter Carrie has been dying to get back to Pinebox.  A few days before our Erie vacation, the two of us thought up the idea of running an Accursed-style, monster family themed adventure based in the East Texas University campaign setting.  My wife Jen already had an ETU character from our last campaign, and my three kids would each play a different member of a monster-family that had just moved to Pinebox with their parents.

With a college student and three monster-kids, we had to explore an ETU-themed, Adventures in Babysitting session!

Like father like daughter.  Evie loves Hellboy!

The Characters

Jen's character, Elle Woods (converted from the movie "Legally Blonde"), would be the party "babysitter".  Having already dealt with supernatural occurrences in Pinebox, Elle would have no problems dealing with whatever trouble my trio of terror's characters would find.

As for my kids' little monsters, I built each using the Young hindrance which means only 3 points to raise attributes and 10 for skills (balanced with an additional benny.)  To make them "monsters", I used a combination of Accursed and the Science Fiction Companion.  Carrie wanted to play a "patchwork kid" and Cooper a "werepuppy."  Accursed's Golem and Vargr worked well to fit these concepts.

Carrie's picture of "Mon".

• Monica "Mon" Raskin - Patchwork Kid - Played by Carrie
• Attributes:  Agility d4, Smarts d8, Spirit d4, Strength d4, Vigor d8
• Edges:  Disembodiment 
• Hindrances:  Young, Jumpy, Quirk (plays with threads)
• Skills:  Fighting d4, Investigation d8, Knowledge Computers d6, Notice d8, Swimming d4

• Hot Dog - Werepuppy (Dachshund) - Played by Cooper
• Attributes:  Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
• Edges:  None
• Hindrances:  Young, Mean, Loyal
• Skills:  Fighting d6, Notice d6, Swimming d4, Tracking d6, Survival d6, Stealth d4

Evie wasn't satisfied with the "Hammer Horror" style monsters provided in Accursed, and instead wanted to play a young Hellboy (she calls him "Beep Boy", so that she won't curse.)  I think she was inspired by the opening scene from Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.  So I came up with a "Demon" by using the alien species rules form the Science Fiction Companion:

Demon:  Vigor starts at a d6, Natural Weapon d6 damage, Hindrance (Racial Enemy, Holy Folk).

• Beep Boy - Demon - Played by Evie
• Attributes:  Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
• Edges:  None
• Hindrances:  Young, Screamer, Phobia (Clowns
• Skills:  Fighting d8, Notice d4, Taunt d4, Intimidation d6, Stealth d6, Climbing d6, Knowledge Occult d4

As a little backstory, all three monsterlings are the adopted children of Tina and Jerry Raskin, professors who have taught all over the United States.  Recently, the Raskins moved to Pinebox, Texas after accepting faculty positions at East Texas University.  Even though their three kids are monsters, the Raskins want to give their three children the same experiences as any other children.  Even if they are a Patchwork Kid, a Demon, and a Werepuppy.  

After arriving in Pinebox, Tina and Jerry started looking for an appropriate babysitter capable of watching over the three troublemakers.  Given her positive attitude, and past experience dealing with the supernatural, Elle Woods wowed the Raskins, and got the job!

Generating the Adventure

As I've mentioned in previous posts, one of my favorite things in the East Texas University setting book is the random adventure generator.  All you need is a deck of playing cards and a little imagination and you're ready to go.  Here's how our cards landed:

• Who:  8 of Spades, Scientist
• What:  King of Hearts, Theft
• Victim:  9 of Spades, Animal
• Why:  Ace of Spades, Accident
• Where:  6 of Hearts, Pinebox (red card meaning that the location had to be open)
• Complication:  Off the Grid

I asked Carrie and Evie to come up with a first and last name to round out the "villain", while asking the whole group to contribute with dog breeds.  This is what we came up with:

Dr. Jeffie Marquez, former member of the ETU faculty who was discharged for his outlandish research on bringing animals back from the dead, is at it again.  He's gone around town stealing dogs, and is rushing to his hidden cabin in the woods to complete an experiment.  Dr. Jeffie's goal: create the ultimate undead war dog to sell to the highest bidder!  So far Dr. Jeffie has collected a Dachshund, a Husky, a Schnauzer, a Shi-tzu, a Yorkshire Terrier, and a Goldendoodle.  While speeding to the cabin, Dr. Jeffie has a car accident in front of the Pizza Barn.  The dogs' cages break open, and several escape. 

The Game Itself

Our story began at the Pizza Barn.  The Raskin kids were having dinner with their babysitter, and they witnessed the accident.  Elle recognized Dr. Jeffie for being a foul brute, as his picture was plastered all over the campus newspaper recently.  The monsterlings sprang into action to help save the dogs, luring several away before the twisted mad scientist escaped with the rest.  Mon clung to the back of the vehicle for a full block, overhearing some of the doctor's sick plans before losing her grip.

The Raskin kids and their babysitter found Dr. Jeffie's cabin in the woods, but were immediately beset upon by undead war "cats."  

(Undead War Cat: Same as "Cat" from the Savage Worlds Deluxe Explorer's Edition, but "Undead", and with a d6 Fighting, 5 Parry, and d6 Strength.)

After the cat battle, Mon, Hot Dog, and Beep Boy approached the cabin.  Beep Boy tried being stealthy, but was noticed and then invited in by the doctor.  The demon child distracted the ex-professor with some sleight of hand magic tricks while her siblings picked the lock on the back of the building and let the remaining dogs loose.  Dr. Jeffie noticed the heist after it was over, and started to threaten Beep Boy.

So Beep Boy knocked the doctor out cold with a single punch from his stony fist.  

Using his puppy kinship, Hot Dog rounded up the dogs and brought them back to Elle's SUV while Elle called the police.    

Quotes

Cooper: "I'll drive."

Jen: "You're not driving my car!"

"Do these cats hate people saying that they are cute?" - Cooper figured that good cats would like praise, so bad cats would prefer mean comments. 

"Do you want to see a magic trick?" - Beep Boy to Dr. Jeffie. 

Jim: "Are you going to stand there and duke it out?" 

Evie: "No, I'm going to punch him!"

A Gaming Vacation to Michigan

Enjoying some Biggby Coffee in Grand Rapids!

Once upon a time I wrote a post about gaming vacations: visiting new and exciting places with friends and family, breaking out the dice, and playing some awesome games.  Sure, Gen Con fits the mold, but I wasn't referring to trips to conventions.  In the age of social media, when many of us RPG'ers play with gamers from around the world, often we never get the opportunity to meet up in person as much as we would like.  

Thankfully, this past weekend I remedied that situation with a trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan!

This kind of journey was EXACTLY what I was looking for when I first thought up the idea about a great gaming vacation.  I threw my eldest daughter Carrie in the new'ish Civic (so shiny, so chrome!), and we set out on a 450 mile journey across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and  Michigan (adding Indiana on the return trip) for twenty-four hours of gaming awesomeness. 

I can't take credit for cooking up this quest to Grand Rapids.  Several months ago my friend (wife of my friend and Tuesday night Cypher System player Jeremy) invited a whole bunch of gamers to Grand Rapids to celebrate Jeremy's birthday.  It was a surprise party, so we had to keep it under wraps for quite some time.  All that adventure planning over the last few weeks?  That was for this event, and I didn't even get to use everything!

Inside "Out of the Box Games"

Although we squeezed in a little gaming during our first night of the trip, it was fairly late.  We played a few rounds of Aquarius, before heading back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.  But that next morning we were ready to roll!  Carrie and I arrived at Out of the Box Games, just south of Grand Rapids, with dice and books stashed in my "Han Shot First" bag.  

Out of the Box Games is such a fantastic game store!  There's a great selection of board games in the front of the establishment, and a fairly large open gaming room in the back that takes up over half of the building.  Snacks and drinks are available, for a reasonable price, but gamers are invited to bring their own food as well.  

Biggby has some great cups

During our trip, our little "Team Pittsburgh" also discovered the taste-sensation that is Biggby Coffee.  Although I'm a Starbucks addict, I could see myself becoming a full convert given the tastiness of Biggby's hazelnut blend.

What a wicked grin

Carrie and I came prepared to run several role-playing games on Saturday, from Numenera to Savage Worlds.  But we wanted to start with something light and fluffy... like Dungeon Crawl Classics!  Grimtooth's Museum of Death may be my new favorite DCC adventure, and Saturday marked my third time running the vicious and deadly adventure.  After selecting some players, and handing out 0-level characters for a brutal funnel, we were ready to go.  

Carrie's ready to unleash 1000gp of potatoes on the party (true story)

Rather than face off with her Judge-father, Carrie opted to spend the game on the other side of the screen as a "co-judge".  I took care of running most of the actual game mechanics, but Carrie added significant flavor to the session.  She helped generate some random items and monsters (specifically a cat-sized dragon) during the quest, and generously added a few splashes of peril for the player characters.  

Bring out yer dead!

During this game I figured out a terrific way of dealing with two player characters with the same exact name.  When two players made up a "Bob" character, I opened the adventure with a pretty bluebird arriving on the scene with a letter marked to "Bob."  After fighting over who would get the letter, one "Bob" opened the envelope, allowing a holographic David Bowie to appear from beyond the grave.  Holo-Bowie instructed Bob to accompany him to the other side, causing both to disintegrate.

Needless to say, when a sixth player arrived and announced that his real, actual name was "Bob," there was a little nervous laughter around the table!

The perfect Savage Worlds table

After our DCCRPG experience, I immediately prepared for another adventure, but this time with Savage Worlds: East Texas University.  Carie had been asking to play this game for several months, ever since the books arrived over the summer.  While there are many one-sheets available for ETU, one of my favorite ways to experience the college-themed setting is with the random adventure generator in the back of the main book.  

I challenged myself to come up with the adventure in the short amount of time just before the session was to take place.  While the players selected their pre-gen characters, I randomly generated a strange selection of plot hooks, including a ritual, a mass event on campus, a weather event, and aliens.  

I could definitely wing that kind of adventure!

Carrie prefers her own character portrait

One by one I went around the table asking players to contribute pieces of their own character backgrounds.  When one of the players announced that their character had a pair of strange Aunt Jeans, and another was an archaeology student interested in weird burial mounds, I realized that I had my story:

An alien spacecraft, crewed by Aunt Jean aliens (Auntjeanians), created a snowstorm above a campus building, with "snow" that would eventually turn into a dirty burial mound.  

Initially I didn't have an ending worked out to the adventure, but the party of college students eventually ended up on an alien spacecraft, where the Auntjeanians were trying to get everyone drink water that would turn them into Aunt Jean.  Only two characters survived!

GM Greg teaching Tau

After a quick dinner, everyone was back at the table and Greg was teaching us how to play Tau, a card-based role-playing game where everyone dies...

... sort of reminded me of Dungeon Crawl Classics, in that regard!  

We all took on personas of cruise passengers trying to survive a terrible day on the high seas.  My passenger turned into a shield-wielding dolphin and lived to fight another day... woot!

Carries four 0-level characters

Our final game of the night brought Carrie and I back to DCCRPG.  I'd been wanting to run something out of the Peril on the Purple Planet Boxed Set ever since picking it up at Gen Con 2015.  Saturday was my chance!  While the core adventure is designed for higher level play, the box came with a 0-level funnel titled "Escape from the Purple Planet."  So Carrie, Allison, Tamara, and I sat down for a tale of planetary fantasy under a wierdling sun!

When all your dice work against you

Unfortunately for poor Carrie, her dice rolling was going down hill as the night progressed.  By 10:30pm we were wrapping up our adventure, and Carrie's last remaining characters had burned most of their Luck.  At least one, her French Immigrant Alyda Amadour Alouette, survived a return trip to Earth!

*     *     *

By the end of the evening we were both exhausted.  After running three RPG's, spending much of the time standing, I was ready for bed... although not ready to get back in the car and drive seven hours the next morning.  But despite the long drive, the gas fill-ups (thankfully cheap), the snack food, and the tolls, this was such a memorable trip that Carrie and I will remember for a long time.

I wonder where we'll journey next?

Ready for some birthday cake!

East Mark of the Vampire - An East Texas University Adventure

Its all in the Cards

Admittedly our last East Texas University session was a bit of a hot mess.  I believe I used the phrase "Wet Hot American Sweat Lodge" to describe the adventure, given some of my players' reaction to a campy college horror setting.  In hindsight, I think the "camp" factor comes more from my players than the original setting design.  Perhaps it didn't help that I described the campaign to my players as "True Blood meets Community."

Oh well, if you'd like to read our first adventure play report, here's the link!  I can promise that this session wasn't much better!

For our second adventure I had originally planned to run the second adventure out of the Degrees of Horror Plot Point Campaign.  Unfortunately the busyness of our Disney vacation (and all the game prep for the trip) took my attention away from ETU-reading.  The next thing I realized, it was Saturday morning, nine hours to game time, and I still didn't have an adventure prepped.

That's where the ETU Adventure Generator comes in!  

What an amazing Adventure Generator!

This wouldn't be my first time with the East Texas University Adventure Generator.  Back in August I ran a one-shot that I titled "Someone Banish Grandma", thrown together with less than twenty minutes of prep time.  But with the fun randomness of the generator, and the craziness of my home group, I had to be ready for anything.  

With my new Disney Haunted Mansion, glow-in-the-dark deck of playing cards in hand, I drew the following scenario:

• Who?  Ace of Diamonds - Supernatural
• Creature Table - Seven of Diamonds - Vampire
• What?  Two of Diamonds - Missing Person
• Victim Table - Two of Spades - Fellow ETU Student
• Why?  King of Clubs - Ritual
• Where?  Two of Clubs - Campus
• Complication?  Seven of Hearts - Heartbreak Hotel

My new cards

Overview 

From this collection of cards drawn I know that a fellow ETU student has gone missing and a vampire is involved.  The reason for the missing student is some kind of ritual linked to the vampire.  The adventure takes place on campus, and one of the player characters' significant others is involved… and that significant other is cheating… sort of...

Setup

Kara Tate is a thirty-year old goth townie well known for taking an interest in local ETU students.  An avid tabletop RPG gamer, Kara also runs vampire-themed LARPs (live-action role playing) during the fall.  In the early days of the semester, Kara runs "one-shot" adventures to figure out who would make for a good LARP'er… and who would make for a delicious treat.  

You see, Kara is a vampire!

Ezra's new girlfriend, Holly Dennison, is a fellow freshman, and a member of "Ravens for Bernie," the ETU student organization that rallies for democratic nominee Bernie Sanders.  Ezra, a political activist, enjoys spending time with Holly, but knows that she needs her own space.  Recently Ezra learned that Holly was spending a lot of time with Ms. Tate.  What he didn't know, was that she was learning to play a dark and gritty fantasy role-playing game… "Adventures in the East Mark"… as an initiation into the LARP'ing fold.  

After learning that two of Kara's players in a summer engagement end up missing (Laurie Squib and Dave Todd,) the expectation is that Ezra will try to crash one of Kara and Holly's meetings.  

For this adventure, I set the entire scenario in Lester Hughes Dormitory, an older dorm on the southern end of campus.  For the purpose of this adventure, each of the two floors has a small community room with a pair of washers and dryers and a couple small tables.  Although ETU is a non-smoking campus, years ago these were rooms were used as smoking lounges.  Ahh… Penn State Sproul Hall memories!  To add a bit of musical "tone" to the game, I thought I'd play some old, mid-2000's emo during this scene… perhaps some Coheed and Cambria!

Coheed 4 life!

When the players discover the Adventures in the East Mark game, they will learn that both Kara and Holly were expecting the player characters, and that there are East Mark characters ready for "the game".  

There is a weird look in both Holly and Kara's eyes.  

The Ritual

Holly is certainly "cheating" on Ezra, but not in a romantic way.  She has learned of Kara's power as a vampire, and is willingly going along with a ritual that will help turn her into the undead.  In exchange for the lives and blood of her fellow students, Holly can join Kara's LARP and also become a vampire.

It's a win-win.  

During the course of the Adventures in the East Mark adventure (The Mines in the Moorland,) a player character's player character will most likely "die."  When this happens, Kara will try to escort the player out of the room.  She will attempt to take them to a nearby dorm room, where she will try to kill them and feed.  This scene should be… interesting.  The players will most likely not be armed, and therefore will have to use their wits, and skills, to either flee the scene or thwart the vampire.  

A giant box of OSR goodness

A Game Within a Game

Adventures in the East Mark is a very real role-playing game, originally titled "Aventuras en la Marca del Este," and brought to the English-speaking world by Extra Dimensional Publishing.  Everyone at our gaming table, with the exception of my wife Jennifer, has played this terrific OD&D retro-clone, which is good since we'll be switching between two RPG systems…

… that's right… I'm going to run an RPG within an RPG…

OBLIGATORY INCEPTION "BWAHH!"  

No disintegrations!

Class of 2019

• Elle Woods (Jen), the party's "Legally Blonde" Pre-Law student
• Bruiser, Elle's chihuahua*
• Abigail (Emily), a nasally voiced Geek studying Psychology
• Chaz (Andy), the socially awkward Computer Science Major who loves to game
• Cordelia (Jeremy), an "easy" going Cheerleader and all around team player whose parents think she's at ETU to study Meteorology
• Ezra (Ethan), majoring in Cultural Studies this Activist was ready to fight the establishment

*Andy noted that according to the East Texas University Player's Guide the Edges "Beast Bond" and "Beast Master" were not allowed.  Good thing for Jen that the GM is her husband.  

Jen and Emily

Session Synopsis

I've already detailed out the basic plot of this adventure, so I'll spare you from a second play-by-play and instead give you a breakdown of how the players tackled the scenario.  Ezra was certainly concerned for his new girlfriend's wellbeing, and he led his study group over to Lester Hughes Dorm.  I asked Ezra's player, Ethan, to describe his new girlfriend and he gave me this:

• Medium length brown hair.
• Fairly modest.
• John Fetterman supporter.

Yeah, I was hoping for more too.

What were the players "studying" on a Saturday night?  I actually queried the table for a possible class that everyone would enjoy and the response was Intro to Anarchy.  How and why this course would be taught at East Texas University, I found it very amusing that the player characters would be so fervent in their study habits for a course rooted in chaos!  

Once at Lester Hughes Dorm, the ETU study group did a quick examination of the cars parked nearby.  It was late, around 9pm when we started, and I didn't want to have this part take too long, so I made Kara Tate's car be a hearse covered in Twilight bumper stickers.  By this point in the game the Hot Topic references were flowing quite freely.

I know, this was terribly cliche, and I apologize.  It certainly grabbed the player's attention, and they were able to examine the vehicle, discovering a list of names that included everyone in the group as well as "Kara" and "Holly."  There was also some dispute over "Team Jacob" or "Team Edward" between the players.

Chaz led the team into the dorm, and eventually they all found themselves on the second floor in front of Kara and Holly.  Kara invited everyone to sit down for a "tabletop role-playing game experience," and one by one the group agreed.  Elle demanded that her dog Bruiser be given a PC, and Kara was happy to oblige.  

Since Adventures in the East Mark comes with a set of pre-generated characters, I was ready to go with this part.  I even emailed Emily her own sheet prior to the game!

• Elle would play Greybold Grimbeard the Dwarf
• Bruiser would play Marvesh No Luck the Thief
• Abigail would play Maya the Warrior
• Cordelia would play Cordelia the Elf (she didn't like the pre-gen name)
• Ezra would play Jaem the Explorer
• Chaz would play Wein Everlast the Halfling

The table got loud when I threw the big, red, Adventures in the East Mark box on the table.  There was a lot of eye rolling, and a lot of laughter especially when the players realized that I was literally going to run an old-school RPG "inside" of a Savage Worlds game.  The only addition to the Adventures in the East Mark rules were that I allowed the players to use their bennies to reroll in both "systems."  

For about fifteen to twenty minutes the group's Savage Worlds characters played Adventures in the East Mark, all while in character.  Everything was moving along very well until Jen's character's character (Greybold Grimbeard) died from a wolf's bite.  Kara insisted that Elle leave the table, and she tried to take her into another room while Holly continued as the group's GM.  Here's where the game returned to Savage Worlds.

Kara tried to charm Elle at first and then overpower her, forcing her into a room that stank of old blood and gore.  Elle resisted and whistled for Bruiser who tried coming to the rescue.  When the rest of the study group realized that Elle could be in trouble, they all left the table and went looking for the group's blonde-pre-law major.  When they found Elle, she was on her knees, staring at a pool of her own vomit.  Kara was gone, having leapt through the window, but before she left, she whispered in Elle's ear.

"I'll finish you all before you leave this dorm."  

Abigail admitted that she felt a spirit "flee" through her just a moment earlier.  Knowing that there were other students in the dorm, Ezra quickly opened another door and found a dead student, her throat ripped out.  The party lost track of Holly during this scene.  She was there in the room with the players briefly, scolding them for leaving the table, but she'd eventually trip and break one of the nearby outlets, shutting off all of the power to the building.

This wasn't really the GM forcing the scene, rather I was reacting to Jeremy rolling a "1" on both his skill die and wild die.

Obviously the study group was short on weapons, although Chaz was serious about using the wrench from his toolkit to do some damage.  They used their smart phones to call campus security, who arrived and secured the building.  Strangely, the dead girl in the dorm disappeared, and the cops were not too concerned.  Perhaps this was the work of Holly!

For a few minutes the party used social media to banter back and forth with Kara, tossing threats, and nasty comments.  By this point in the evening, everyone was getting a little punchy, myself included.  For two hours there was quite a bit of off-topic, yet college-related game chat, and I realized we weren't going to get to a full conclusion.  So I decided that Kara Tate would make for an interesting recurring villain, and I moved the players along to their exams.  

Jeremy helps Evie with a little pre-game math

Quotes

(GM's Note:  If you happen to be one of the five players at this table you may notice that several very funny… yet completely inappropriate for most readers… quotes have been left out from this list.  Sorry.  There is certainly something about playing a game as college students that gives this group a case of the potty mouth.)  

"We need an oscillating laptop stand."  - Jen wishing that poor Emily was able to see the entire table and not just the GM.  Unfortunately Emily has to play via Skype.

"I heard she supports John Fetterman too… what a babe!" - Ethan got pretty excited about Holly being a Democrat.

Ethan - "Is it Kara with a 'c' or a 'k'?"
Jim - "K."
Ethan - "Good."

"Live civil war reenactments?" - Elle doesn't quite understand LARP'ing.

"Intro to Your Mom!" - Emily's suggestion for the class the party is taking.

"I'm Team Jacob!" - Cordelia exclaimed after seeing Ms. Tate's "Team Edward" bumper sticker.

"I feel like we need a 'bwaah!'" - Jen, after learning about the Adventures in the East Mark twist.

"Can I use a chemistry set to tell if this is human blood?" - Andy must have grown up with some incredible chemistry sets.

"Geez Holly, you're the worst!" - Elle must have spent time at Greendale Community College.

I let Evie set up her Barbie Savage Worlds game next to our table