X-Wing Flight Report 8 - Uncle Tommy's Revenge

The Empire Has a Dangerous New Weapon...

... and his name is Uncle Tommy!

On a recent trip to visit my parents, I brought along Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game!  My daughter Evie was itching to fly again, and we thought it would be fun to play with my brother Tom.  When we were younger, Tom and I used to play Crimson Skies together, another great tabletop miniatures game by FASA.  Crimson Skies came out in the late 1990's, back when I was in college, and I spent a lot of time collecting miniatures, painting them, and sending them off to be destroyed at the Penn State University HUB. 

I did a brief post about Crimson Skies a few months ago, in case you are interested.

Typically when I bring a new game to my parents house, and my brother and his family come to visit, I have the advantage.  I know the game, have probably played before, and Tom has to learn on the spot.  For X-Wing I gave tom a significant advantage...

... my star TIE Fighter Pilot Evie!

I would need a sidekick as well, especially since my two X-Wings couldn't take on five TIE's.  Carrie, my eldest kiddo, loves Han Solo, and demanded that we bring the Millennium Falcon along for the trip.

Game 12

A 100 point conflict with a time limit... pretty much when the younger kids started getting bored of watching TV the game would end. 

• Imperials (Evie & Uncle Tommy):  2 TIE Interceptors, 3 TIE Fighters
• TIE Interceptor 1:  Carnor Jax
• Upgrades:   Determination
• TIE Interceptor 2:  Tetran Cowall
• TIE Fighter 1:  Mauler Mithel
• Upgrades:  Push the Limit
• TIE Fighter 2:  Dark Curse
• TIE Fighter 3:  Obsidian Pilot
• Rebels (Carrie & Daddy):  YT-1300, 2 X-WIngs
• YT-1300:  Han Solo
• Upgrades:  Chewbacca
• X-Wing 1:  Biggs Darklighter
• Upgrades:  R5-D8
• X-Wing 2:  Rookie Pilot
• Upgrades:  R2 Astromech

For one of the first times we actually picked our ships based on what could be perceived as "tactics!"  Evie wanted a whole bunch of TIE Fighters, but insisted on taking her two of her brand new TIE Interceptors.  Since she wanted Mauler Mithel in the game, but wasn't playing him herself.  So she told her Uncle Tommy that hew would be playing as Mauler.  There was no argument.  On the Rebel side, Carrie's favorite ship is the Millennium Falcon, and she likes having a turret.  I figured that a pair of X-Wings, even if they were less skilled, could do a good job picking off the weaker TIE's in combat. 

Something we tried for this game was to make a list on paper of the turn order.  For this many ships we had on the table, it made the game move a lot faster! 

Goldendoodle or Sand Creature?

The Game

My dad took all of the "good" pictures for this update, but they aren't clearly based on turn-by-turn action.  So this summary will be brief, but should showcase how wonderfully detailed the Fantasy Flight figures look. 

The Rebel tactics were pretty simple: don't get overwhelmed.  I thought we would try to split the TIE's up.  If my X-Wings could focus on knocking out one or both of the TIE Interceptors, perhaps Carrie's Falcon could snipe the regular TIE's.

My dad had some cool pictures from under the table.  I was helping my brother with his movements, and learned very soon that the TIE's weren't splitting up... they were coming forward as a unit!

We still went with the plan.

TIE's!!!

On one side of the board, two TIE's and a TIE Interceptor knocked the pants off of Biggs.  Although he wasn't a goner... not yet at least... he had to disengaged and flee the dogfight. 

Carrie and I were trying to be secretive in our plans, and it actually worked!  We managed to take out one of Evie's TIE Interceptors.

With the game coming to a close (we were on a time limit) I told Evie and Tom that the only way they could get a victory was with a kill.  Well Evie, as always, delivered.

Initially everyone left the table thinking we had a... "tie" game.  But going by score, the Imperials took out more points worth of fighters (the X-Wing, Biggs, was worth more than the TIE-Interceptor).

Imperial victory again!

Rasterperch Keep - A Numenera/Ravenloft Adventure - Session 4

200th Blog Post!  Death Comes at Last!

Last night's session of Numenera was special for two reasons.  First, the corresponding blog-post (this thing you are reading now) would be my 200th Living 4 Crits entry!  

*Applause*

Since my 100th and 150th posts happened to fall on adventure summaries for The Strange, it's only fair that Numenera gets some attention.  

But the second, and perhaps more important reason that last night's game was so fantastic, comes at the expense of my poor friends and players Andy and Marc… since I killed off their characters in this final session of Rasterperch keep.  Rest in piece, Glyquorg and Ralyx.  You were taken from the weird Ninth World far, far too soon.  

I'm not going to apologize for the deaths of these characters, since you'll find out soon enough that it was another player who caused their deaths.  All I did was set up the scene, and make the threats very dangerous, and restrict the players on their rests, and refrain from giving out healing cyphers, and… well… 

… okay, maybe I did create a situation ripe for character death!  

But in an adventure designed to emulate the feel of that original Ravenloft module using the Cypher System, it would've been disingenuous of me not to inject some serious risk into the sessions.  By the time the players started last night's game they were already short on stat pools and recovery rolls, so any threat was significant… especially those causing 18 points of Intellect damage!  To make  matters worse, one of our players who had healing skills wasn't able to make it to the game.  

Following the adventure summary I will be including some of the details from the adventure, and for those of you reading up until this point I'll clue you all in on some of the spoilers!  

Characters

• Chase Rombek, a Mystical Nano who Sees Beyond, played by Frank
• Jak, a Mutant Glaive who Constantly Evolves, played by Craig
• Glyquorg, an Exiled Jack who Controls Animals, played by Andy
• Ralyx, a Mlox Jack who Throws with Deadly Accuracy, played by Marc
• Takkorek, a Craven Nano who Entertains, played by Jeremy
• Garren, a Varjellen Glaive who Studies Anatomy, played by Andreas

Non-Player Characters of Note

• Lady Von Zaro:  "Sister" to Raa-em

Summary

If you missed our last adventure, you can find the summary here.

Now that they were finally inside the keep, the exhausted party of numenera hunters gathered together to figure out their next course of action.  In the center of the room was a burned out mound, the remnants of what used to be a partially re-grown Raa-em.  Chase had noticed that there were wires and cords stretching through grout-lines of the synthi-stone, leading up to what appeared to be a wooden door.  Using a divination esotery, the mystical nano revealed a large, moss covered hall filled with great machinery on the other side of the portal.  The party quarreled briefly about who was going to enter the door first when Ralyx stepped forward and just moved the panels aside. 

He instantly regretted his decision!

A puff of brown filled the air, and immediately Ralyx stumbled back in a coughing fit.  The door wasn’t brown at all, but rather made of synth. The “wood” on the door was a caked brown mold that filled the air after it was touched.  Luckily for the Mlox Jack, he only caught a quick sniff before his gag reflex set in, perhaps saving his life. 

Once the door was open, the troupe peered into the chamber.   Since the Brilliance was still shining outside the windows of the first chamber, light poured into this new hall. On either side of the hall were great machines, fifteen foot cubes with lights and wires working all throughout.  But what got the party’s attention immediately was the moss.  

It was well known, especially to Chase Rombek, that Raa-em was a pile of psychic moss when he was first encountered.  Lady Von Zaro also referred to Raa-em as her “brother”. Perhaps this massive patch of moss, easily a hundred feet long by countless dozen feet wide, was in some way Lady Von Zaro?  How this moss was related to the inky black demoness outside the party did not know. 

Since flames worked so well on Raa-em, Chase decided to use his burning esotery on the green carpeting.  As soon as the flames touched the floor, a terrible feeling of terror and foreboding filled the air.  A psychic backlash of raw emotion pummeled the characters viciously.  Chase was able to resist the horrible waves, and for some reason Takkorek was not affected. 

But the rest of the party endured pure hell. 

Only a few moments passed for Chase and Takkorek.  But Jak, Glyquorg, and Ralyx experienced a full six months of fear and anguish, enduring six months psychically trapped in what felt like a real coffin.  When they finally came to, the three that were afflicted were terribly shaken, and appeared to be shadows of their former selves. 

For the next hour the team rested, and tried to agree on what to do next. 

Jak was the first to enter the great, moss covered hall.  As his feet touched the soft organic material, he suddenly grew fearful but regained his nerve.  Along with Glyquorg the two scouted out the chamber, and discovered thirty two of the cubes, all surrounded and covered in moss and vines.  There were also several exits leading out of the hall, including a great ascending staircase. 

Chase seemed interested in the mechanical cubes, and with the assistance of Ralyx set out to determine their purpose.  Using his scanning esotery, the Mystical Nano figured out that each small “light” was actually a dirt-covered view screen.  With his thumb, Chase cleaned off one of the screens.  The small view screen showed the first-person view of a townswoman doing laundry and engaging in a loving embrace with her paramour.  Takkorek soon joined Ralyx and Glyquorg.  Using his countermeasure esotery, the now Craven Nano disabled the part of the machine cube attached to the view screen of the woman.  At first the screen just went dark, and some green lights below faded out.  But on a similar screen on the opposite side of the cube, the trio noticed a woman lying on the ground.  This other screen was showing the "paramour's" point of view.

Each of these view screens was connected to the consciousness of someone in the town, and Takkorek’s countermeasure succeeded in deleting the unnamed woman from existence. Rather than feel sorry for his actions, Takkorek spent the next several minutes trying to find the screen associated with the bartender he had met earlier.  Once located, Takkorek used his countermeasure esotery to send the bartender off to oblivion. 

While all of this was going on, Glyquorg was examining the staircase. The steep wooden steps headed to the upper levels of the keep, and the Exiled Jack was very interested in exploring. But as soon as he stepped on the “wood” he realized a terrible mistake! Just like the door Ralyx had encountered, these steps were also synth, and the brown wood was “mold!” Catching a full blast of the spores, Glyquorg collapsed backwards in a choking fit.  By the time Ralyx reached his fellow jack, Glyquorg was on death’s door. 

It was becoming increasingly apparent that the party needed to find a way out of this nightmarish place soon, or they would surely perish.

Heading south the numenera hunters came to another doorway, but this portal was free of any mold.   Stepping through, Chase Rombek noticed several large view screens, and one seemed to be active. Upon further investigation and the use of a scan esotery the Mystical Nano discovered the screen to be a control panel connecting the cubes to a great power source located deep within the mesa.  Each of the thirty-two cubes was represented, and thirty one were receiving power.  It appeared that someone, or something, recently diverted power from one of the cubes to the pile of moss formerly known as Raa-em.

Putting two and two together, the team came up with the following hypothesis: 

Upon reaching this “world”, Lady Von Zaro discovered the cubes and realized they were connected to consciousnesses, each full of emotion. The residual emotions from each consciousness sustained Lady Von Zaro’s mossy form. If the party could disconnect the energy from the cubes, it could negatively affect Lady Von Zaro. 

Chase Rombek believed the plan was worth a shot. The nano shut down one of the connections, and immediately the party was awash in deadly emotional waves.  Although easier to resist than the blast that had come after the burning, the soul-crushing psychic energies caused the same effects to those afflicted.  But there was a noticeable effect on the moss, which receded from the disconnected cube and immediately withered and died.

Since everyone was still alive, Chase asked the party one more time if he should proceed with another cube.   Everyone nodded, and this time the Mystical Nano shut down two cubes.  Instantly Glyquorg and Ralyx dropped dead from the psychic wailing, their minds trapped in illusionary coffins for what felt like fifteen years before finally succumbing to death. 

At this point, Chase figured that he could successfully resist shutting down one cube at a time, and it was obvious that Takkorek was not affected.  Jak was the only member of the party truly at risk, and Chase was willing to take the chance with his Mutant Glaive’s life.

So Chase just started shutting them all down. 

Chase and Takkorek watched Jak, waiting for the mutant to fall over dead as each of the twenty-seven remaining cubes were deactivated… but in an amazing feat of mental fortitude the glaive survived! 

Once the last cube was cut-off from the power plant an alarm started to ring out in the chamber.  The remaining three numenera hunters followed the klaxons back to Raa-em’s shrine. On the way they passed piles of dead, gloopy moss.  Not only was Lady Von Zaro dead on the inside, there was an inky black mess splashed against the outside windows of the chamber.  Using Takkorek’s portal esotery, the party jaunted back to the upper level of the keep where they found a glowing white platform waiting. 

One by one the numenera hunters stepped on the platform, and each instantly teleported to the waters just outside of the Latos’ long-dead body.  Desperately Chase and Jack swam to the surface, while Takkorek portal’d back to the boat. 

Modorianna, the Muleni catamaran captain was quite surprised when the party showed up. While it had been hours since they left the boat, for the captain only a few minutes had passed. 

“Back already? What happened to Glyquorg, Ralyx, and Garren?” she asked.

Dead, dead, and… uh… hmm, the three survivors thought to themselves.  Whatever did happen to Garren?

Quotes

"I would be very angry at him for abandoning us, except I don't have that emotion anymore." - Frank's trying to role-play his recently emotionless character's personality

"If I second guessed every time Jim could ask a question, I'd never get anything done." - Marc's right.

"Do you guys want to camp here for an hour?  Do you think we can survive that?" - I was going to throw an encounter at the party while they slept.  Until Frank said this.

"You know what?  You can have one of my XP!" - Jeremy being gracious.

"No, not more wood!  Forget that!  It'll probably send me plummeting to my mold-filled doom!" - Marc wasn't about to try the stairs.

Rasterperch Keep - Behind the Screams

Since not all of the clues were revealed during the course of the game, I thought I'd let you all in on some of the backstory to the adventure.  

Rovi

The "land" inside the Latos' head was called "Rovi".  This domain was designed to be an afterlife for a group of people in a prior world called "The Rewarded".  The Rewarded could have their consciousnesses uploaded into Rovi, to be protected by its Latos guardian for all of eternity.  Unfortunately this Latos wasn't so eternal.  

Although bound by reality and the laws of science, Rovi operated with an appearance of mysticism.  Outsiders would be considered "demons" by Rovi's computers, and the Brilliance could take care of the demons by incinerating them.  Some entities, such as the Vista (a visitant species of psychic hive minded insects), found ways to get around the Brilliance.  When Lady Von Zaro, a sentient mossy creature discovered Rovi, she was able to infest the world's central processing controls.  She was also able to take on a form as a creature from the Rewarded's mythology while outside of the keep itself.. the form of an inky black demon that could actually exist in the Brilliance.  

Lady Von Zaro

To sustain herself, Lady Von Zaro could slowly consume the emotions of each consciousness from inside the keep.  In addition, any outsiders that discovered Rovi would be even tastier.  While the Rewardeds' consciousnesses could keep Lady Von Zaro alive, they left her incredibly hungry.  It was Lady Von Zaro's goal to call to her brother, Raa-em the telekinetic moss, and see if he could come and assist in controlling the Latos body itself from inside Rovi, perhaps making it functional.

Spoiler alert: the name of Lady Von Zaro and Raa-em's visitant species was… moss.  That's it… nothing really that special.  Sometimes I refer to them in my notes as psychic moss, or emotion leaching moss… 

The stats for Lady Von Zaro were pretty easy to come up with… I just stole most of them from The Strange Bestiary!  Essentially her inky spectral form was the same as a Level 10 Vampire Lord with the following modifications:

• Damage Inflicted:  10 Speed (armor applies) with a tendril strike.  Two attacks per round.
• Emotion Eating:  For each successful hit, roll 1d16 (yes, that's a d16… shout out to my Dungeon Crawl Classics friends!) and subtract one of the following:
1. Anger
2. Anxiety
3. Confidence
4. Courage
5. Curiosity
6. Desire
7. Fear
8. Guilt
9. Lust
10. Passion
11. Pride
12. Regret
13. Sadness
14. Shyness
15. Trust
16. Wonder

Fight a level 10 enemy is brutal, but that was the point.  As well as attacking the moss directly, I would've let the party upload weaknesses (such as silver or running water) if they could've hacked the proper terminals in the Keep.

Mossy Von Zaro

As a giant patch of moss, Lady Von Zaro was still deadly.  If endangered in any way, the moss itself gave off a burst of terror that overloaded the mind of the target.  

• Difficulty 10 Intellect Defense Roll
• Difficulty decreased by the number of emotions removed from the inky attack.  At three emotions removed this attack has no effect.  (That's why Takkorek wasn't affected)
• Damage:  18 Intellect
• Special:  Those afflicted experience a period of time, ranging from 1 month to 20 years, trapped underground in a coffin (or any other terrible, hell-like scenario).

Final Thoughts

This adventure had some other tidbits I was going to throw in:  

• More fortune telling from the La Dama and the Vista.
• Some Golthiar roaming the woods to the west.  Actually, if any characters died, my plan was to let them play a Golthiar (out of the Numenera Character Options book) as a replacement.
• A few more personalities the party could observe in town.

Final Ramblings

I'm not sure if my players enjoyed the torment I put them through for these last four sessions, but I had a blast putting them through their respective miseries.  I really enjoy using OD&D and AD&D 2nd Edition adventures in the Cypher System, and am very excited that the Cypher System Rulebook is coming out soon.  While its easy to toss a module into either Numenera or The Strange, and I've done so several times, I hope to spend some time with true Cypher-Fantasy soon!  

If you've done any conversion of old-school adventures into the Cypher System let me know!  I'd love to hear about your experiences!

X-Wing Flight Report 7 - Outriding for an Evie'ning

More TIE Goodness for Evie

We've filmed quite a few Living 4 Crits episodes recently celebrating the glory that is Star Wars.  The kids and I have also played several exciting sessions of Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game!  As soon as this game showed up in my house, we started talking about filming some of our games once we understood the rules well enough to not make complete fools of ourselves…

… I still don't think we're there yet… but we shot a video anyway!  

Although both of my daughters have enjoyed playing X-Wing with me, Evie has really taken a liking to the game, especially the stories that come out of the battles.  I'll be honest, when I purchased that giant box of starships, I figured I'd spend a lot of time playing as the Imperials.  I know that when I was younger I never would've selected play as a "bad guys."  Evie has no problem playing as the forces of darkness.  

In fact, I think she gets a kick out of it!  

Even though we decided to shoot the video, I still wanted to share our turn-by-turn summary of how the game played out.    

Game 11

A pair of advanced TIE craft face off with two freighters carrying rebel scum goods near Hoth.

• Imperials (Evie):  TIE Defender, TIE Interceptor 
• TIE Defender:  Rexler Brath
• TIE Interceptor:  Saber Squadron Pilot
• Upgrades:  Veteran Instincts
• TIE/A:  Darth Vader
• Rebels (Jim):  HWK-290, YT-2400
• HWK-290: Roark Garnet
• Upgrades:  Gunner, Ion Cannon Turret
• YT-2400:  Wild Space Fringer
• Upgrades:  Mercenary Copilot

Each side was just over 60 points, and on paper the match seemed even.  I figured that the TIE Defender would be an incredibly capable craft, but I was quite surprised at the stats on the TIE Interceptor… more than a match for an X-Wing!  As for the rebels, I recently watched a Y-Wing cripple a TIE Advanced using an Ion Cannon, and I thought I'd try the same strategy against the TIE Defender here.  With the added maneuverability and movement options, the YT-2400 seemed to have quite a few more flight options than the YT-1300.  

But in truth all of the ships we picked were based more on coolness than on potential use on the table.  Evie wanted some new TIE's and I've been playing Dark Forces and really wanted to fly in the Moldy Crow.  Perhaps not the best strategy when picking ships, but it works for us!  

Turns

I blame the camera for my crappy first turn!  While trying to film and take pictures and talk with Evie I didn't realize that the HWK-290 is a PIG when it comes to flight.  Even banking maneuvers can stress the craft!  

I really thought that my Rebel craft would fly past the TIE's, giving the YT-2400 a chance to pepper the Empire with a few blasts from its turrets.  Instead, Evie slammed on the breaks and moved gently towards the HWK-290… this did not go well for me!  In one round my lead ship was shot down.  

… and so began a long chase, while my YT-2400 flew around the map in circles trying to whittle down the Imperials, while the faster ships blasted my hull to pieces.  

There were a few turns when I was able to land some decent shots on the TIE Interceptor, from a distance.  My Mercenary Copilot made attacks at range 3 particularly nasty!

We had a turn where I actually DID outmaneuver Evie's Imperials… wow!

But eventually Evie did catch up… did you know that the TIE Defender can do a Speed 4 Koiogran turn?  That means a Speed 4 Immelmann!

First my shields got whittled away...

… and then some hull damage was inflicted… 

… and finally I was sent into the black alone, and without a ship.  Imperial victory!

Victorious E.V.I.E. 

After posting the video I received a few questions about why I keep losing in X-Wing.  Believe me, I'm not "throwing the game", but I'm certainly helping Evie develop her skills.  I gave Evie a few tips during the game, especially when it came to utilizing the strengths of each craft.  It's been great that she's taken to playing the TIE's, because she has a lot of options with regards to actions after movement.  But in truth, the ultimate tactics and strategies are Evie's!  

We've already discussed our next battle and we're thinking about flipping the situation… I would play a pair of A-Wings and she a single Lambda Shuttle.  We shall see how that turns out!

Savage Worlds - 50 Fathoms - Leaving Torath-ka

Hunting for Doubloons… or Donuts… Either, or… 

After an exciting kickoff for our family's Savage Worlds 50 Fathoms campaign we were trying to think up a way to make the next session equally special.  Since the game was going to be held around lunchtime, and my kids are Dunkin Donuts fanatics, we decided to incorporate some special snacks into our event.  So I gathered the children, and had them each put on something piratical. 

All three kiddos had pirate themed shirts, Evie had some pirate mouse-ears from Disney, and Cooper had his wooden "boarding axe" and a spyglass.  Since Carrie is eleven now, I didn't want to embarrass her too much just in case we ran into her friends.  I donned my favorite silk bandanna, a relic from back in 1994 when I played the Pirate King in our junior high production of The Pirates of Penzance! 

All four of us jumped in the family SUV, and I popped in the Walt Disney World Resort Soundtrack.  I skipped ahead to the Pirates of the Caribbean theme and started blasting the music with the windows down as we set out on route 30...

... it was time for some tasty treasure hunting!

When we walked into the Dunkin Donuts the cashier just smiled.

"Having fun today, are we?" she asked as the kid started shouting out their donut requests. 

Since we live in Pittsburgh, its entirely possible that she just figured we were crazy Pittsburgh Pirates fans.  I was waiting for one of the girls to explain that we were gearing up for a role-playing game at our house, but they were too interested in donuts.  We ate our donuts in the restaurant and got a couple of smiles.  Maybe next time we'll break out the dice and start playing right then and there!

The Brave Crew of the Titanic Nemo

• Captain Jacqueline Crane - Human Elementalist, played by Evie
• Skylar Shipshape - Masaquani Assassin, played by Carrie
• Dori - Doreen Hunter, played by Mommy
• Foxy - Clockwork* Pirate, played by Cooper
• *Built using the "Construct" race option

From Captain Crane's Log

• Session 1: Maiden Voyage, Part 1, Day 

Maiden Voyage, Part 2

Days 1-3

Rather than search the massive island of Torath-ka any further, Captain Jacqueline Crane decided to cast of and leave the Savage Land as soon as possible. The clockwork fox, Foxy, had just finished chopping down his fourth tree (to trade later) when the order was given. Quickly the tiny crew of the Titanic Nemo packed up their belongings and set sail under a billowing, serpent skin. 

As Captain Crane maneuvered her small ship through the dangerous reefs and shallows, she asked her crew for advice on where to go next. A wanted pirate in Kieran waters, the Captain preferred to stay away from that side of Caribdus. Skylar Shipshape had an itch to visit Brigandy Bay, and noted that the voyage should only take ten days or so. Dori agreed that Brigandy Bay was a worthwhile option, and Foxy didn’t much care.  

… and so the Titanic Nemo was bound for Brigandy Bay!

The small skiff had a single mast, and was not a choice vessel for long voyages. But still, with the frigate Rebecca destroyed, the Titanic Nemo was the only option remaining. At least the party’s captain was an accomplished Air Elementalist. With her “Zephyr” spell Captain Crane was able to provide additional winds to steadily move the ship through the waters. By the third day of the voyage, the Titanic Nemo was nearly halfway to Brigandy Bay!

Skylar Shipshape called for the vessel to stop on the afternoon of the third day, after sighting something strange a mile ahead. Using Dori’s spyglass, Skylar spotted the wreck of another craft. On top of a large floating pile of debris was a single Scurillian, a “crab-man”, desperately trying to huddle on top of some lashed wooden beams. Captain Crane was cautious, and didn’t want to risk the skiff on some kind of trap. Dori the Doreen Hunter volunteered to scout ahead and see if this Scurillian posed a threat, or if he was truly in danger.  

Aquatic in nature, Dori carefully slipped into the water, and with her blue-tinged skin, blended into the background. As well as being visually masked from predators, doreen skin gave off little “scent.” This worked in Dori’s favor as she approached the wreckage and saw three maneating, tiger sharks circling the poor Scurillian. With the rest of her crewmates a mile away, Dori crept beneath the lashed debris and started pulling it back to the Titanic Nemo. The sharks didn’t seem to notice, and the scurillian remained perplexed, but refused to stick his head into the waves and risk getting an eyestalk bitten.  

Once back at the wreck, the scurillian started to call out questions to Captain Crane and her crew, but was told to stay still. The captain noticed the sharks, and gave the orders to attack!  

Skylar Shipshape pulled her pistol and blasted one of the sleek fish into pieces. Captain Crane followed up with a bolt of wind, but instead of just hitting a shark, she also hit the debris knocking the scurillian into the water. Dori was no longer underwater, and instead swam back to the Titanic Nemo and was preparing to lob a tethered harpoon into the waves. With no one left to save the crab-man, Foxy the piratical clockwork fox dove into the water and grabbed the scurillian. Fending off one shark, the automaton made it back to the ship.

Rather than load her pistol, Skylar borrowed a knife from another crewmate and threw it at the head of a shark as it passed by. The agitated creature started to bolt away when it was concussed by another of Captain Crane’s bolts of air. The final shark tried to swim off as well, but a single thrown harpoon from Dori meant lunch for the crew.  

After the fight, the scurillian thanked the party and introduced himself. His name was “Tellaris”, and he had been a Super (similar to a quarter-master) onboard a merchant ship before it was beset upon by foul Ugak magicians who rode out from the shores of Torath-ka. Tellaris was an explorer and naturalist of Caribdus, and recently learned that the entire island world was still “sinking” as the water levels were getting higher and higher each year. The scurillian believed this to be the work of the Sea Hags, and suggested that the party could possibly help save the islands if they sought out Tressa the Red at a place called “The Teeth” on the southern side of Torath-ka.

Despite the party’s newfound fondness for the dainty Titanic Nemo, Captain Crane realized that she’d need more than a skiff to save the world. Perhaps fortunes would change in Brigandy Bay.  

Ship's Position: 3 days out, 245 miles from Brigandy Bay

#GetOutAndGame - Gloomy Tailgating for Dave Matthews Band

My wife and I are big Dave Matthews Band fans, and last night marked our fifth concert together at the First Niagara Pavilion (formerly the Post Gazette Pavilion, formerly Star Lake Amphitheater.)  Like many DMB fans, after arriving early we set up our chairs in front of the car, pulled out a few drinks, and relaxed in the amazing late-spring sun.  Since the price of beer at First Niagara Pavilion is now between $11 to $16 each, there was no rush to get through the main gate.

But we wanted this concert to be a little different.  To further celebrate the season of #GetOutAndGame, we brought along one of our favorite card games:  Gloom.

If you've never had the chance to try Gloom here is a brief rundown of the gameplay:

• Each player starts with a dark and dismal family of strange characters.  Think "The Adams Family" or "The Munsters."
• The goal of the game is to have each member of your family living a miserable life, as depressing as possible, and then die a sad death.
• Each turn a player can play two cards.  Most are modifier cards placed on a character that bestow either a positive or negative value on that family member.  When you play a card, you as the player must tell the story as to how it happens.  
• If a character has a negative value, an "untimely death" card can be played to "off" said character.  
• Once one player's entire family has been killed off, the negative points from all dead characters are counted, and the person with the most negative points wins. 

This is just a brief rundown, but if you'd like a more in-depth look, the game was featured on Tabletop.

Since the cards are clear, after a while the table looks like this.

Some of my role-playing fans may be crying "foul" right about now.  In the past, we've always played RPG's during our #GetOutAndGame events.  Well unfortunately this year it was just the two of us, but perhaps next year some more of you will tag along and we'll smuggle some dice and mini's onto the lawn.  It'll be a good time!  

But one of the things we love about Gloom is the storytelling aspect of the game.  Since every card requires the player to tell a tale, this card game feels very similar to role-playing games.  

For example:

One of my characters, Darius Dark, runs Dark's Den of Deformity, a demented and diabolical circus.  On my turn I decided to play the Chastised by the Church card, and placed this over Darius Dark.  

In a normal card game the card is played and that is that… but not in Gloom.  In Gloom I had to tell a story which went a little like this:

Darius Dark had been a very religious man, as is required by one running a circus.  The trapeze is pretty dangerous, as are all those wild animals, so its good to have a god on your side.  But one day Darius Dark had a revelation!  He was watching a TV show and saw Ricky Gervais talking about atheism.  Darius Dark was swayed by Ricky's points, and decided to go out and meet Mr. Gervais in person.  This wasn't hard because Ricky Gervais was a big fan of circuses and loves free tickets.  But during a backstage meet and greet, while Darius Dark and Ricky Gervais were chatting, the local bishop saw them both together.  The bishop became angry, and chastised Darius Dark for his new association.  

Isn't that more fun than just playing a card?  

During last night's game we had one of my wife's characters, a butler who was afraid of topiaries, choked on a bone, get buried alive, get dug up two months later only to cough up the bone and spit it into the mouth of a another character, causing them to choke on a bone.  

Good times!

We had a few onlookers during our long game of Gloom, and if we had more time I think we would've tried to pull someone else into the game.  But as we wrapped up our one and only game (it took over an hour!) we looked at the time…

… a concert was starting soon, and we wanted to get to our seats.

Rasterperch Keep - A Numenera/Ravenloft Adventure - Session 3

They're Not Dead… Yet!

I have to give my players some serious credit.  I really did throw the "kitchen sink" at the team during this session.  The two encounters they experienced were incredibly brutal, and every engagement with Lady Von Zaro, a 10th level creature, has the potential to cripple this adventuring party.  But I also happen to be playing with a team of seasoned, 4th and 5th tier characters, controlled by some quick-thinking players.  

Hat's off to you guys!  

To make matters worse, I've spent the last three sessions of Rasterperch Keep keeping a very close eye on everyone's stat pools and recovery rolls.  It's not that I distrust the players, but I just want to make sure everyone knows that each point of Might, Speed, and Intellect is very precious.  I also want to show how the opportunity for rest is severely limited, if not completely absent.  

Who wants to take a ten-hour recovery roll in a land where even the trees can kill you?

My inspiration for this comes straight from one of my players:  Frank.  Frank ran the D&D 3.5 Edition of Expedition to Castle Ravenloft for me and some friends back in 2009.  I remember playing a Human Wilder/Paladin, constantly having to watch my psionic power points because I knew I wasn't getting a "recharge" any time soon.  Frank ran Ravenloft as a desperate, fever-pitched struggle where the players characters had no opportunity to rest or regroup.  I wanted to do the same with Rasterperch Keep…

… I wanted my revenge on Frank.    

Characters

• Chase Rombek, a Mystical Nano who Sees Beyond, played by Frank
• Jak, a Mutant Glaive who Constantly Evolves, played by Craig
• Glyquorg, an Exiled Jack who Controls Animals, played by Andy
• Ralyx, a Mlox Jack who Throws with Deadly Accuracy, played by Marc
• Takkorek, a Slaker Nano who Entertains, played by Jeremy
• Garren, a Varjellen Glaive who Studies Anatomy, played by Andreas

Non-Player Characters of Note

• La Dama:  The hive-minded, antlike fortune teller of the Afterlife
• Lady Von Zaro:  "Sister" to Raa-em

Summary

If you missed our last adventure, you can find the summary here.

Enduring several hours trapped within the “head” of a long-dead Latos, infested by an amorphous, emotion-draining vampire, sure does take a toll on a party.  For Takkorek, Chase, Ralyx, Glyquorg, Jak, and Garren, this new and alien “world” was incredibly hostile.  Clearly this wasn’t a place that they could survive, not in the long term, and so the party would have to make every effort to escape.  Putting their heads together, the group took stock of what they knew about the “Afterlife", as the locals seemed to call it:

1. The entity known as Lady Von Zaro, “sister” to Raa-em, could drain emotions.
2. Lady Von Zaro preferred to attack party members when they were alone.
3. Lady Von Zaro only attacked when it was “daylight.”
4. The daylight was filled with a radiant energy – Brilliance – that caused the party members to catch fire, but had no effect on the other, seemingly human people that inhabited the village.  
5. Only the forests seemed to provide adequate cover from the Brilliance.
6. The Brilliance emanated from a glowing sphere, four-hundred feet above a large, castle-like structure resting on a high cliff, one-thousand feet above the village.  
7. The Brilliance could be activated by a “chant”, and Glyquorg happened to learn the chant while in the village.

Although there was some discussion about burning down or destroying the large temple in the village, so as to prevent the townsfolk from chanting, the party instead decided to investigate the massive cliff.  A thousand-foot tall, two hundred foot wide cliff was actually a mesa that served as a pedestal for a great, archaic castle.  From the treeline near the mesa, Ralyx’s keen third eye could make out several interesting structures.  There were several small ledges that could be used as resting places while traversing the steep cliff face.  Closer to summit, at the point where the mesa met the castle wall was a great balcony overlooking the Afterlife, and just below, built into the rock, was a smaller structure with blacked out windows.  Halfway up the mesa, a large, ten-foot wide metal object orbited the stone, trailing thousands of smaller metal chunks in a slowly spinning ring.  

Although the team of numenera hunters searched the base of the mesa for a hidden entrance, none were found.  Rather than find another entrance further up in the western hills, the party decided to scale the mesa.  But by this time Takkorek had disappeared again, along with his ability to create portals.  The Slacker Nano no longer trusted the party after losing his emotional ability to do so.  But Ralyx was able to engage a “far step” trick of the trade, allowing for near instantaneous teleporting of two-hundred foot distances.  Furthermore, Chase had the ability to hover.  Between the Jack and the Nano, they could bring the rest of the party up the mesa in groups of two… but this meant that someone would have to stay behind and wait.  

Before they could start climbing, the team needed to take a break for Garren.  Apparently the Varjellen was again “pregnant” with an egg in his chest cavity.  Using his surgical tools, Garren cut the egg from his chest and placed it on the ground.  Well Glyquorg wasn’t waiting around for another creature to cause the party grief. The Exiled Jack slammed the heel of his boot on the egg, forcing a small, pale creature to burst forth.  Claiming to be called “Pokmal”, the tiny entity begged for its life, but surrendered precious little information.  Since Pokmal hadn’t the time to hatch properly it died within minutes.  

Once Garren caught his breath after giving birth the team readied itself for a climb.  Ralyx far stepped while carrying Jak, and Chase hovered while carrying Glyquorg.  Garren would wait for the next ride before the party followed the same format.  Making their way to the first ledge was easy… but the second proved difficult.  While far stepping with Jak, Ralyx landed on the ledge nearest to the floating, orbiting piece of metal.  As soon as the Mlox Jack landed, the floating hulk blasted him with a barrage of laser beams.  Immediately the Brilliance reappeared and everyone started to smolder.  Chase grabbed Glyquorg and started hovering towards other two party members, but this left Garren behind…

… and the Varjellen Glaive was about to have an encounter with Lady Von Zaro!  

The inky black entity pushed two wispy tendrils into Garren’s flesh, sucking out a massive amount of life-force, along with several emotions.  Not wanting to completely kill her food source… at least not yet… Lady Von Zaro retreated back into the side of the mesa.  Garren took one look at his team fighting the orbiting metal heap, and just slouched against the wall to catch his breath.  He was sitting this fight out.  

Glyquorg quickly turned off the “lights” using the Chant of Brilliance, and then led an all-out missile assault on this construct, an ancient machine that was known as a Dedimaskis.  Chase was able to engage his “open” esotery to bring down the defenses of the Dedimaskis, which degraded its armor.  This created the perfect opportunity for the rest of the party to lob javelins and fire arrows at the automaton’s weak spots.  Once the Dedimaskis broke down, it collapsed on the nearby ledge in pieces… pieces that Chase knew could be converted into Cyphers!

Once rested and restocked, Chase used his remote viewing ability to check out the windowed structure and the balcony above.  Inside the window structure was a shrine, and at the center of this room was a mound of dirt.  But what truly caught Chase’s interest was the patch of moss growing on top of the mound.

It was Raa-em!  

Lady Von Zaro must have created this chamber as a tribute to her brother, but now that he had returned, she was letting him grow again.  Chase could not let this happen.  The party chose to make their way up to the balcony, but as soon as Chase hovered his last passenger, he floated back down and used an “incinerate” esotery to completely remove Raa-em from existence.  

“I finally got your mossy brother!” Chase roared, hoping Lady Von Zaro could hear.  

While the pile of moss burned in psychic agony, it’s “sister” appeared from inside of the castle!

Lady Von Zaro attacked in a fit of absolute rage, striking Jak and Ralyx with emotion-draining tendrils.  Given the strength and power of the entity, the party wouldn’t last long…

… and then Glyquorg had a moment of absolute genius!

The Exiled Jack began the Chant of Brilliance, and Lady Von Zaro disappeared!  Glyquorg guessed that when it was “light” outside, Lady Von Zaro was outside, and gambled that when it was “dark” outside she had to be inside the castle walls.  With this in mind, the party could have a rough control of where Lady Von Zaro would appear.  

Chase returned to the rest of the party, and Glyquorg repeated the chant so that the party could travel to the lower structure and the burning mound.  Unfortunately this allowed Lady Von Zaro to reappear back inside, and she lashed out at Chase and Jak as they broke through the windows.  But once inside, Glyquorg was able to sing the chant again.  Risking the wrath of the Brilliance over the Lady, the lights were left on and the entire party made their way into the lower structure.

Investigating the mound, Chase found that there were wires and tubes built into the dirt.  Lady Von Zaro may have been trying to restore her brother back to life, but she was also preparing to drain him of some kind of energy, and feed it into a device that had to be absolutely massive.  There was a door at one end of the temple… perhaps leading to just such a device.  

Quotes

"Andy?  Wasn't he in the port-o-potty next to the vampire?" - Andreas recalls the last session.

"I'm pretty sure that Jeremy's character would use wormholes wherever possible." - Andy trying to justify what Takkorek would do after his player (Jeremy) lost his internet connection.

"I don't know why we 'shouldn't' go up here." - Marc trying to convince the rest of the team of his plan.

"Can I take my recovery roll?  There's a reason you save them… for oh **** moments!" - Andreas was hoarding his pools … he's glad after meeting Lady Von Zaro

"So…uh…  are you guys ready to go into this balcony?" - Chase may not have been.

"I'm sure this is a 'shoot the globe moment'…" - Frank's "inside joke".  Long story.

"Impulse rules above all!" - And Andreas is ruled by impulse.

"Now if she attacks me and kills me while I'm down there, you're gonna fall like 1000' feet!" - Frank warning Craig mid-hover.