Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Numenera - The Devil's Spine - Session 9


Once Upon a Time in the Ninth World


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

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


Characters


  • Belmodan, a Resourceful Seeker who Wields a Whip, played by +andrew lyon 
    • New Focus: Collects Bounties
  • Keane, a Rebellious Glaive who Likes to Break Things, played by +Craig McCullough 
    • New Focus:  Needs No Weapon
  • Nero, a Mad Nano who Travels Through Time, played by +David Howard 
    • New Focus: Would Rather Be Reading
  • PL4T0, an Artificially Intelligent Jack who Resides in Silicon, played by +Marc Plourde
    • New Focus: No Change
  • Ruun, an Exiled Glaive who Gazes into the Abyss, played by +William Keller 
    • New Focus:  Wears Spurs

Previously on The Devil's Spine


Session 9:  Attack of the Cypherids


So after all that work detailing a Weird Western mini-setting to throw smack dab into the middle of The Devil's Spine my players decide to skip all of the potentially fun 19th century/9th World crossover stuff and stick to the script.  Sure, when they were in the middle of Uxphon, a city that's only briefly described in both the Numenera corebook and The Devil's Spine, they spend tons of time chatting it up with NPC's that I have to flesh out on the fly.  That's why I did all that homework over the last week-and-a-half, creating a rich and vibrant Colorado town to explore while the players continue their quest for the Impossible Blade.

 Nope.  Not interested.  

 Here's how it played out last night...

 The five heroes from the far, far future of the Ninth World needed to get their bearings.  Through the wondrous weird science of Dr. Kell's Kairological Tether Translator, each member of the party had a new focus, along with some corresponding surface thoughts and memories about their new place in history: 1879 C.E.  But there was still a lot of the weird of the Ninth World that lingered.  For instance, each member of the team had their original gear with them, along with their cyphers, oddities, and artifacts.  But it didn't take long to realize that some of these devices were not as unknown to the distant past as they would have expected.

 As the party searched the belongings of the prospectors just recently scared off by Ruun, they found a few cyphers that had been panned out of the nearby stream.  Somehow these futuristic items had become as common as gold nuggets in this world.  

 While searching through their gear, Nero noticed something unsettling: the Kairological Tether Translator was missing!  So the Mad Nano went back into the fast moving stream to search for the device.

 It was right about this time that I decided to throw not one, nor two, nor three, but four GM Intrusions at the party:
  1. When Nero went in the water to search for the Kairological Tether Translator, the current knocked him over and dragged him towards the water fall.
  2. Then Belmodan tried to use his energy whip to lasso Nero, but since he lost his focus and whipmaster-like ability, the Seeker got dragged into the water as well.
  3. Nero was dangling over the falls, and Belmodan was barely holding onto him, clinging to a nearby rock, when Ruun tried to help.  But the glaive, bolstered by a lot more oxygen in this time period, overshot his run and accidentally did a swan dive off of the cliff, splashing into the water below.
  4. A friggin' grizzly bear appeared and attacked Keane.

Four GM Intrusions in under five minutes.  Boo yah!

The Friggin' Grizzly encounter was a fun tussle.  Want a friggin' grizzly in your game?  

Level 6 creature, 40 health, 10 damage claw attacks.  That'll get yer pals goin'.  

Our party fought the beast off for several rounds before Marc had the bright idea to use PL4T0's Hedge Magic ability to distract the animal.  PL4T0 created a smell of honey nearby, and the bear followed it into the woods.  Bear encounter averted!  Oh, and when Ruun emerged from the water he was carrying the Kairological Tether Translator.

It was about that time that I gave the party the view of a town at the base of the foothills.  It was a cozy little town, with a few dusty roads and a comfy saloon.  What a great place to explore!  I mean, how much fun would be for your typical Numenera group to come across a Wild West town while carrying oddities and cyphers while wearing weird futuristic garb?  I was really relishing this roleplaying experience!  

But as I mentioned before, my players looked upstream, figured that the cyphers were coming from further in the mountains, and decided that they didn't need any clues, or hints, or NPC interaction before continuing on the main quest.  The heck with side-quests, right?  Well I wasn't expecting this.  I figured that we'd get to the town, and they'd spend the rest of our session (about 90 minutes at this point) interacting with townsfolk.  So I had to briefly stop the game to read on a bit and prep the next scene, something I was planning for next week.

It was an awkward pause. 

Anyway, as I was saying the party headed up into the mountains along the path that followed the stream.  About two or three miles up the trail they encountered a bizarre old man fishing.  The guy said his name was Gus, and he was really interested in the party's floating Parisian clock (PL4T0).  The man was a well-to-do native of the nearby town of Derry's Ford, and he talked a bit about the community.  He even mentioned that they had an uplifting establishment called Nero's Saloon that the party should visit ...

... wouldn't that have been fun?

Gus kept mentioning how he'd love to create something as marvelous as the party's hovering jack PL4T0.  

"I'm gonna build something just like you one day."  

While interacting with Gus, PL4T0 decided to be mean and tell the man that he was going to die in one-hundred and forty-seven days.  Marc thought that playing the twisted, prophetic clock would be fun.  But when PL4T0 locked eyes with Gus, the bot had a crazy flashback.  He remembered a voice during his creation, a voice and accent just like Gus'.  

"Look!  I've gone and built somethin' just like that thing I saw all those years ago!"  

The weirdness factor on this interaction caused PL4T0 to reboot.  

Of course, this was all a GM Intrusion, and I don't know how it'll play into the rest of the story (if at all), but hey, it was weird.  What made it funny was that Gus asked to examine PL4T0, and Belmodan happily handed over his party's jack, in exchange for a very special artifact the fisherman kept nearby.  While Gus examined all of PL4T0's inner workings, the rest of the team got a look at Suzanne.

Suzanne was a gleaming, numenera-infused lever-action rifle.  The barrel was made of glassteel, and the stock from synth.  This beast was a level 6 artifact, that functioned as a heavy weapon, did 6 damaged at long range with an additional 2 fire damage.  Since it used ammo, it's depletion was a 1d6, however there was something special about this numenera-rifle.  If the weapon ran out of ammo, the user just needed to bury it in some soil for 1d6 hours.  While buried, the weapon could draw nutrients and minerals from the surrounding material and reload itself.  Neato!

Gus also gave the party a small notebook with a bunch of weird writing inside including a string of letters written in The Truth:  ABACBBAABDCDE.  Gus didn't know what this meant and couldn't read The Truth, nor any of the other words in the book.  

Eventually Gus handed PL4T0 back to the party, and told them to be careful as they traveled towards the massive Pit that awaited them deep in the mountains at the end of the trail.  Gus said that the Pit was dangerous, surrounded by dead bodies, and most likely the source of all the weird items in the nearby streams.  

So the party bid Gus adieu and continued to head up the path, now intent on visiting this place called the Pit.  When they finally reached the bizarre scene, they came upon a discovery that they'd sooner expect in the Ninth World.  A vast, two-hundred and fifty foot wide circular pit at the center of a seemingly ancient structure.  The ledge of the pit was tapered, so Belmodan moved forward for a closer look...

... only to get attacked by eight Cypherids!  

Oh Cypherids, how I love you so much already.  Cypherids are straight out of the brand new Ninth World Bestiary 2 by +Bruce R Cordell of +Monte Cook Games.  But even though these little buggers finally have stats, they are based on a game-concept that I've been enamored with since the dawn of the Numenera campaign setting.  Back when I first read through that original corebook in 2013, I discovered that one of the drawbacks to carrying too many cyphers at once was how they could bond together and form some kind of dangerous entity.  

Like a Cypherid.  

+Marc Plourde compared Cypherids to the tiny robots in the classic movie Batteries Not Included.  Especially when they started to procreate during the battle.  As the party fought the eight Cypherids, I used the following strategy for these little beasties.  Each round, the Cypherids would get to use a random cypher against the party, and then they'd all attack. On two of the rounds I targeted a PC and had their own cyphers bond together as a new Cypherid via GM Intrusion.  

The party managed to kill off seven of the Cypherids:  five of the originals and both new "Cypherid babies" created from the numenera of PL4T0 and Keane.  Another Cypherid came under the control of PL4T0 mid-battle.  Finally, a pair of Cypherids used a mount-summoning cypher to ride off into the sunset.  The party never caught up to those metallic, futuristic, automaton cowpokes...

... they just kept ridin' and ridin' until they reached Carson City and settled down to raise a family.  



Quotes


"You're no more than an artifact or discover, Marc.  You're swag.  You're floating swag." - Jim to Marc, commenting on PL4T0's reality.

 "I'd just like to point out that the way you described the Ninth World reminds me of a landfill in New Jersey." - Marc commenting on Jim's description of Numenera.

 "It's from Paris." - Nero discussing PL4T0 with Gus.

 "You were turned off.  We let him touch you for it." - Nero to PL4T0, after he was examined in exchange for Suzanne.

 "Well, I'm not 'Crazy Ruun' anymore... I'm 'Cowboy Ruun.'" - Will discusses his change in focus.

 "When Cyphers go bad!" - Marc after the Cypherids showed up.

 "So the Cypherids ride off into the sunset?" - David was right.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Sunday, May 7, 2017

When the Light Goes Out - Lawful Good Gaming



Exploring Darkness for the Greater Good


Politics alert!  Yes, this post is going to touch on some political subjects, so if that kind of stuff turns you off, perhaps its best to skip this entry.  But if the concept sounds even mildly intriguing (and you can put up with a bit of my liberal leanings), I invite you, dear reader, to take a journey with me....  

Several months ago, just after the implementation of that first immigration ban, I found myself in a seemingly endless loop, reading aggravating news story after news story.  I was frustrated with the direction our country seemed to be taking, and felt powerless to do anything.  Along with quite a few of my friends, I made a donation to the ACLU, which made me feel a little better, but I wanted to do more.  

But what could I offer?  

I'm not a politician, or an attorney, or a doctor, or any other profession that could help the current situation directly.  My skills lie in telling stories, taking friends and family on adventures in their minds, and coming up with crazy, gonzo game rules for others to share.  Definitely not directly applicable...

... but indirectly possible?

So I put out a call on Facebook, and through some friends (especially the wonderful +Rich Howard) was able to gather a small army of around likeminded individuals, hellbent on creating an organization that would coordinate, game master, and play in role-playing game events with the goal of raising money to help support progressive organizations.  

We call ourselves Lawful Good Gaming.

This was back in February, and we've already broken several milestones!  


We've even been featured on Gnome Stew in a fantastic article by +Darcy Ross!  


Our model is fairly simple: game masters set up events targeting one of our selected non-profit organizations, with the price of admission being a proof of donation to one of the groups.  To be clear, Lawful Good Gaming doesn't take in any money itself... we just run the games for those willing to give to some fantastic causes.  

When the Light Goes Out

A 3rd Level Adventure for Lamentations of the Flame Princess

For my event last night, I decided to run Lamentations of the Flame Princess.  I discussed this OSR system a few weeks back, but up to this point had never played the game.  Fortunately, most of my players were new to the system as well, although my early trepidation was unnecessary.  Lamentations of the Flame Princess turned out to be a delightfully easy game to run, allowing me to focus on descriptions, character interactions, and story.  

For the adventure, I wanted to explore the universe of one of my favorite new computer roleplaying games: Darkest Dungeon.  I set the adventure up in the Hamlet of the Ancestor's Estate, with the intent of exploring a previously unknown section of the property: The Orchard.  This new, macabre region of the Darkest Dungeon universe is my own design, although it's a pity that I don't have any graphics design or other computer skills.  I'd love to create my own fan-mod to add this into the actual game!  

That said, when it comes to "mods", I used a few to tweak this LotFP/Darkest Dungeon crossover:

  • For character classes and starting equipment I used the archetypes featured in this unofficial PDF that +Ray Slakinski found on Reddit.  
  • I was very careful about tracking lighting, although this didn't seem to be much of an issue, as everyone made sure to purchase lanterns and torches before setting out on the adventure.
  • For Stress, and the application of Afflictions and Virtues (both detailed in the aforementioned unofficial PDF), I came up with the Stress Save.  This saving throw, based on each character's Paralyze save, is adjusted by Wisdom.  During the course of an adventure, whenever something particularly disturbing occurs, each character witnessing the event must make a Stress Save.  The referee keeps track of the failed saving throws, and after failing the third test, they are on the verge of gaining either the Affliction or Virtue.  On their next save, if they fail they gain an Affliction that lasts through the remainder of the adventure.  If they pass they gain a Virtue.  

Adventure Outline


I thought about just doing a play report for this post, but since we had such a good time last night, I thought I'd go out of my way to actually share the adventure notes I used to run the adventure.  That way, players from last night can perpetuate the madness and run this game with their own groups, or if you at home want to join along, you can do so.  Please note, that as with all my adventure outlines I keep things fairly light and loose, with lots of room for GM improvisation.  

I should also note that this adventure should convert easily to just about any other OSR game, whether it be OD&D, Basic Fantasy RPG, Dungeon Crawl Classics, or whatever.  A few tweaks and you're home... at the Estate and the Darkest Dungeon.


Overview:

  • This adventure starts off in the Hamlet of the Ancestor's Estate in the Darkest Dungeon universe.  For those uninitiated with the setting, this Darkest Dungeon Wiki should give you a great feel of the art style, mood, and tone of the setting.
  • GM's should describe the scene, the weather, the atmosphere of the Hamlet.  It's important to note the following:
    • Dismal weather.  There's been a light rain for past several months. 
    • The sky is always dark and cloudy, even at noon.  
    • The roads are sticky with mud and filth, a substance that sticks to everything.  
  • The PC's have been called to meet with Mother Superior Evangeline at the Sanitarium.  
    • Just entering the Sanitarium requires a Stress Save.  It's damned maddening in there!
    • Mother Superior Evangeline, who oversees the Sanitarium, laments over the loss of the last several expeditions into the Darkest Dungeons beneath the estate.  
    • Mother Superior notes that during a recent expedition to a part of the Estate long thought abandoned due to plague, a pair of hunters found a child.  
    • Mother Superior Evangeline introduces the party to Godrick (she doesn't know his name), a young boy of 13 who suffers from both affliction of body and mind. He has radiant red hair, and deep freckles. 
    • His wounds seemed like he had been impaled by sharp objects. One of the Hamlet's hunters, gathering game, found him at the edge of the long forgotten Orchard.
    • Godrick is barely coherent, but cries out for his parents repeatedly. 
  • During this encounter, the Caretaker will appear. 
    • The old man looks at Godrick, and will note that he appears much like a much younger child that he once knew, but he could not remember his name. 
    • Only that his parents, Elzbeth and Johann, watched over the Ancestor's Orchard but had been considered long dead, becoming ill with the last Plague.
    • Because of the risk of plague, the Orchard was barred from exploration.
  • The Caretaker tasks the party with investigating the Orchard, to confirm the death of Elzbeth and Johann, and the condition of that long forgotten part of the Estate. If any ancestral relics survived the fire, they needed to be recovered. 
  • At this point it could be revealed that other excursions, forgotten now, had been sent to the Orchard, but never with any fruit... or survivors. The area was thought to be infected, but how did Godrick survive?
  • If the PC's try to interview or interrogate the child, he will become violent unless calmed in some manner.  
    • Treat Godrick's stats as follows:  HD 1, HP 3, AC 12, Bite 1d3 damage.
    • Godrick's only belongings is a crumpled up bonnet once worn by his mother.

Secret Knowledge:
  • It was seven years ago that the Orchard bore it's last fruit. This part of the Estate was perhaps the "least cursed" of the entire land, but still barely provided any goods to the Hamlet itself. Still, Johann and his loving wife Elzbeth managed the property, cared for the trees, and lived a simple life with their six year old son Godrick.
  • But as the curse of the Estate spread throughout the local area, including the Orchard, this taint affected the plant life of the Orchard... specifically the apples and trees themselves. 
  • Several of the trees, gained consciousness... a dark gift of the malevolent forces at play... and were promised great rewards by these forces of evil and despair. These new tree-folk, the Malus, started to bear poisoned, sickly fruit that created the last plague.  Of course, everyone blamed rats... not apple trees.  Who would blame an apple tree for disease?  
  • The effects of this recent plague were terrible.  Those afflicted would start off with something resembling a cold, but in three days time their blood would thicken up, and turn to a syrupy mixture.  Upon death, the veins and arteries of the afflicted would never decompose or deteriorate.  Instead they remained nearly calcified, and as hard as wire.  
  • Elzbeth and Johann both came to be infected by the plague but not Godrick. Godrick had been allergic to apples, so after his first time eating them as an infant, and a brief brush with death, he was never fed them again.  
  • The boy became feral, living around the Orchard cabin area. He was smart and even though the Malus poisoned or murdered others, he was smart enough to avoid the slower moving tree people... even their undead, root-zombies.  Or so he thought...
  • The Malus had no interest in Godrick.  Just as he was allergic to the apples, the Malus were allergic to him.  The one attempt for the Malus to devour and infect Godrick, left one of the tree creatures slain.  Godrick still bears the scars from that incident.  

The Orchard
  • Entering the Orchard
    • No matter what time the party enters the Orchard, it is dark.  If it's not the weather, it's the canopy of the trees.  
    • The trees themselves are definitely dead, and lack all fruit.  The leaves of the trees are brittle like ancient paper, and come apart into ash in characters' hands.  
    • Very few animals are left... hardly any at all except for insects.  Characters with Bushcraft easily figure this out, and will probably find it disturbing.
  • Starving Wolf Encounter:  While exploring the edge of the Orchard, the party may encounter a small pack of starving wolves.  These emaciated beasts are vicious and without fear.  
    • HD 2, AC 12, Bite 1d6 damage.
  • The Dead End
    • The path to the old cabin in the Orchard will come to a dead end, with a bramble wall blocking the trail.  Strung up throughout the brambles are sticks with old corpses tied to them like scarecrows.  These were created by Godrick to keep anyone from coming closer to his family home.  
    • The bodies are tied to the sticks and brambles by cord made of victim veins.
    • The bodies are those who worked the Orchard and died of the plague.
    • Just seeing this sight will require a Stress Save.
    • The GM is encouraged to have some animals, Root Zombie cats or badgers or rats, hiding in the brambles.  Whether they attack or not (maybe they just appear and then flee) is up to the GM.
  • The Graves
    • If the characters decide to circumnavigate the blocked path, they will eventually come to an old grave site.
    • Here they can find some graves of the family, including one for Elzbeth (dug up), none for Godrick, and none for Johann. Johann dug the grave for his wife and then died. Godrick dug her up several years later to keep her for himself. 
    • Here's another place that can have a Root Zombie attack, and an associated Stress Save. 
    • From the Grave, it's easy to see the Cabin in the distance.
  • "Ant Holes"
    • As the party starts to investigate the area near the cabin, should they search the ground they may notice several holes in the ground.
    • These "Ant Holes" are large, big enough for someone's finger.  
    • Upon closer inspection, the the party may listen and hear movement from within these holes.
    • The Malus use these holes to manipulate Root Zombies, and also to attack with an Impale.  
    • At some point the PC's (if they search hard enough) will discover that they are surrounded by these Ant Holes.  It's up to the GM to decide whether or not to attack the PC's directly, or just leave it as an option for later in the adventure.
    • One potentially creepy scene could be the sight of an animal (dead or Root Zombie) being dragged back towards one of the holes.  Maybe the Malus is done with it, or perhaps it has other plans for that tentacle-like root.  Either way, this should require a Stress Save.
The Cabin Interior
  • When the party approach the cabin they will note that it is a simple structure, with four walls, a door on the southern end, and two windows on the east, west, and northern faces.
  • The cabin appears to have been abandoned for quite some time, at least at distance.  If the party approaches and searches they will notice that there are signs of refuse and debris from someone living here (Godrick.)
    • Searching the eastern wall on the exterior the party will find some common farming implements.
    • Axes, picks, shovels, none of which are in decent condition, but could serve some uses if the party is feeling innovative in dealing with threats.  
  • The house is also surrounded by the Ant Holes.  Dozens of them.  
    • If the party hasn't found any of these yet, they will obviously notice them here.  
    • The party may try to use some kind of item to plug these holes or make it difficult for anything to attack from inside the holes.  Should they do this, they will notice that something clearly attempts to move beneath the ground.  
  • There are two Malus near the house.  Should the party start to interact with the home in any way, they will attack through the Ant Holes.  See the Bestiary for their stats and abilities.
The Cabin Exterior
  • There are three rooms on the inside of the cabin.  
  • Eastern Room
    • Takes up most of half of the house, and is a common room and kitchen.  
    • Four windows are located in this room, two on the northern wall and two on the eastern wall.  There is a fireplace to the southeast and a door leading outside to the south.  
    • A passage to the west leads to a hallway and entrances to a bedroom and a second living area.  
    • The furniture in this room consists of a large table with six wooden chairs.
    • All throughout the Eastern Room are great relics from the Ancestor's family.  At least six wood carvings of busts and game animals, each worth 250 silver pieces.  
    • Hidden in a small corner of this room is a rug that hides a tight, spiral staircase to the basement area.
  • The Northwestern Room
    • This bed chamber has a large straw mattress, and three chests full of clothing, blankets, and other common materials.
    • No one has been sleeping in this room.  Godrick left it pretty much as it was.
    • There is a window to the west in this room.
    • One of the chests has some farming records, descriptions of what had been planted, and the names of all workers in the fields.  Hidden in these records is a note from a doctor, informing Elzbeth and Johann that their son's allergy to the family crop (apples) is most likely incurable.  
  • The Southwestern Room
    • This was a secondary living space, with a fireplace along the northern wall.
    • There is a window to the west in this room.
    • This room is in terrible condition, and it is clear that someone, perhaps a child (Godrick) was sleeping here on a rolled out mat on the floor.  
    • Refuse is everywhere, as well as the bones of animals and shells of insects.
    • Along the southern wall are two propped up, ancient, decaying bodies.  They have been dead for some time, each showing signs of the Plague, with their flesh falling away from their bones, but their veins calcified and protruding.  This is all that remains of Elzbeth and Johann.
    • Godrick had been keeping his parents bodies here to keep him company.  His father was easy to find, but he had to dig up his mother, and clean her up a bit.
    • The sight of these bodies should spark a Stress Save.
    • Except for being creepy, there is no risk of these bodies threatening the party.
    • An especially evil GM could have one of the bodies attached to a Malus however... that would make for a fun "jump scare!"
The Weird of the Cabin
  • While the party is investigating the cabin, several weird things will start to occur.
  • First, the house will be surrounded.
    • Once the party enters the home completely, several Malus move towards the house.  
    • These entities move rather slowly, and will not move when they are within view of any PC's.  But as soon as the party looks outside after searching the area, they will see that four trees are now much closer to the home.
    • If the party leaves someone outside, they will be attacked relentlessly by Root Zombies.  Send two human zombies for every PC on the outside of the building.  
  • Second, the party will start hearing a low thumping sound.
    • It's coming from beneath the floorboards, and is an obvious "heartlike" sound.
    • If the PC's pry up any of the floorboards, or if they find the spiral staircase in the Eastern Room, they will see that the basement is a rather large cavern, almost if it had been excavated.  
    • The drop is a good thirty feet to the bottom (it was originally twelve), and is full of roots, large living veins, and at the center is a massive, eight foot in diameter Heart of the Malus.
    • Obviously this sight should trigger a Stress Save.
  • Basement Wonders
    • If the party tries to travel down into the bowels of the cabin, and the area surrounding the heart, they will find several dozen corpses that had been dragged here by roots over the years.
    • Going through the corpse remains, the party can find all kinds of wondrous gear and equipment.  Perhaps a few arcane potions, magic trinkets, etc.  The GM should feel free to put whatever items they want in this area.  
  • Attacking the Heart of the Malus
    • If the party attacks the Heart, the Malus outside immediately begin to attack.
    • A Malus can attack through each window, so that means 4-6 attacks per round from the outside.
    • The Malus cannot use their blinding attack against party members on the inside.
    • Melee attacks against the heart are treacherous (see below) but so is the climb down.
    • Once the Heart is defeated, the trees die.  This is one great network, with the single infernal heart pumping the sappy lifeblood throughout.  
Returning Home

The Caretaker will consider this excursion successful should the party return with information regarding Elzbeth and Johann, and perhaps any backstory regarding Godrick and how he survived for so long on his own.  The Caretaker will be exceptionally pleased should the party bring back any relics from the home, or if they successfully slay the Heart of the Malus.

As any PC who attacks the Heart is at risk of Plague, this may start a whole new chapter at the Estate.  


Bestiary:


Malus:  These tree-folk are carnivorous Apple Trees, and have exterminated the local population. The Malus can create Darkest Apples, control Root Zombies, and move very slowly. They can also expel a pollen that can blind and hinder their foes. 
  • HD 4-6, HP 20 - 30, AC 15
  • Atk Impale, 1d8 damage
  • Special Atk, Blinding Pollen, Save vs. Breath Weapon or Blind for 1d6 turns
  • Weakness: Fire.  If set aflame it burns for an additional round.  
  • Darkest Apples:  The Apples of the Malus are deep red and can cause the Plague of the Malus.  Those who consume the Darkest Apple must make a Poison Save.  Those who fail the save start to fall ill in 2d6 hours.  At this time they lose 1d6 points of Constitution, and lose another 1d6 points every 24 hours after while their veins harden and calcify.  This process is incredibly painful.
Root Zombie:  Sometimes human, sometimes wolf or bobcat, these are fast moving but tethered to the roots of the Malus. Every Malus has at least one Root Zombie, and several have more.  Those that see a Root Zombie should note that they do not walk or move their arms on their own, rather they are controlled like puppets.  
  • HD 1-3, HP 4 - 12, AC 8
  • Atk Claw or Bite 1d6 damage
  • Special: Undead.  Root zombies can be turned like regular undead, but cannot flee beyond the range of the Malus' roots.  
  • Special: Can only operate within 100 feet of a Malus
Heart of the Malus:  The terrible core of the Malus network at the orchard of Elzbeth and Johann.  This sentient mass of human-like flesh pumps the poison, infected blood to all the Malus in the area through subterranean roots.  
  • HD 8, HP 50, AC 10
  • Atk: None
  • Special: Those who strike the Heart of the Malus with a melee weapon are sprayed with sap and must make a Poison Save.  Should they fail, they are infected with the Plague of Malus, as if they consumed one of the Darkest Apples.  

*     *     *

Our Session


You've read the details on running When the Light Goes Out at your table, but here's some of the details of how it played out for us last night.

Dramatis Personae

  • Delpha the Plague Doctor (Cleric), played by Geoff 
  • Gilfred the Houndmaster (Specialist), played by Juan
  • Jonah the Crusader (Fighter), played by Ray
  • Lincoln the Grave Robber (Specialist), played by Shannon
  • Tenac the Abomination (Fighter), played by Trevor

Action Report

In our play session, the PC's spent a lot of time at the Sanitarium questioning Godrick, and investigating any clues that they could find.  Jonah became overzealous a few times, first ordering his parents (the orderlies Karl and Jan) to restrain the child for examination.  The boy bit Jonah, so the Crusader almost took his hand off in both retribution and to take the bonnet that he was carrying away.  The rest of the party had to calm Jonah down... such an animal!

Anyway, the party followed the clues to the Orchard, fought with some starving wolves, cut their way through the brambles blocking the trail, and encountered the cabin.  Before entering the cabin, the party poured some oil down one of the "Ant Holes" in the ground, and set it aflame.  I ruled that this fire spread all the way to a nearby Malus, and this created the first encounter with one of the tree-demons.  The Malus sent three Root Zombies after the party.  Between Delpha's bottles of flaming oil, Jonah's blade, Tenac's claws, Lincoln's Pick, and Gilfred's crossbow, the battle with the zombies didn't last long.

When Tenac and Jonah attacked the tree itself, however, they were both quickly blinded by pollen.  Eventually the Malus fell to the party's might.  I should note that neither in this combat, nor future combats did Gilfred send his cute hound Panda (short for Pandemonium) into combat.  I think he was afraid the pup would get killed.

It should be noted, that by this point just about everything scared Jonah in some way.  The PC kept failing all of his Stress Saves, so he was starting to get a little mad in the head.  He'd eventually go completely masochistic, and cut himself real bad.  

The party entered the home, and started exploring room by room.  When they found the dead parents of Godrick, they started to put the pieces together on what had happened to the boy.  Then they heard the "wump, wump" of the Heart of the Malus.  After tearing up the floorboards, the party concocted a very intricate plan to destroy the heart:

Drop a ton of crap through a hole in the floor on top of the heart.

Tables, chairs, furniture, buckets, anything that wasn't nailed down got dropped on the heart, thirty feet below.  At this point the Malus that surrounded the house started attacking viciously, so Delpha upped the ante by setting the heart and all that kindling on fire.  Not long after, Jonah jumped down (on top of the straw mattress that had been tossed onto the flames) to go into melee combat, but at this point the heart was destroyed.  

Unfortunately, Jonah couldn't climb back up, and Delpha, Gilfred, and Tenac all succumbed to smoke inhalation.  Choking on the smoke of the flames, but bolstered by the elimination of the Heart and the threat of the Malus, Lincoln dragged his three associates (as well as Panda) outside and into safety.

Sadly, Jonah burned to death.  


The Graveyard

  • Theo, Delpha's Laborer who was impaled by a Malus root
  • Jonah, the Crusader, who jumped on top of the burning Heart of the Malus, and got cooked.
*     *     *

Parting Shots


Just a few final notes, if you managed to read this far.  

First, if you enjoyed this adventure, and happen to play it with your own group, please let me know how it goes!  I'd especially love to read another play report from someone willing to give it a go.

Second, I need to point out that this event helped to raise $115 for the Government Accountability Project!  If this kind of "gamer-activism" sounds like a good idea, please check out Lawful Good Gaming, join our movement, and help us spread the word, coordinate games, and raise funds for some terrific organizations.  

I hope to see you there!

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Family Game Knights - Doom of the Savage Kings, Part 1


Exploring the Chained Coffin


Welcome to Family Game Knights, our regular tour through of the Shudder Mountains and  The Chained Coffin box set.  

For those uninitiated with the Chained Coffin, creative lead +Michael Curtis and the rest of the Goodman Games crew have created a wonderful and vibrant fantasy campaign setting based on Appalachian myth and legend.  As someone who spent nearly every summer vacationing at Hungry Mother State Park in western Virginia as a kid, with many day trips to the Great Smokey Mountains, coal mine tours, and outdoor theater at the Cherokee Reservation, the Shudder Mountains feel right at home.  

It's my intention on running pretty much all of these Family Game Knights sessions in the Shudder Mountains as a campaign.  

Here are our previously spun yarns:

  1. Session 1 - Sour Spring Hollow (from The Chained Coffin)
  2. Session 2 - Moonricket Bridge (from Tales of the Shudder Mountains)

For this play session, I'm adapting Doom of the Savage Kings by +Harley Stroh for the Shudder Mountains.  

 Also to note:  I'm working on a Shudder Mountain soundtrack through a YouTube playlist.  Any suggestions?  Here's where I'm at. 




The Adventuring Party


  • Jen
    • Wize Wizard McBride - Cleric
  • Evie
    • Jefff - Warrior (she plans to add another "f" after each gained level)
  • Carrie
    • P. Specs - Thief
  • Andy
    • Waldon - Thief
  • Jeremy
    • Sir Huey, Keeper of the Sacred Door - Warrior
  • Melinda
    • Kadabra - Wizard (name generated randomly with the DCC Rulebook)
  • Frank
    • Raylene - Elven Scavenger
    • Damien - Elven Brewer
    • Zzizzle Fenderbender - Dwarf Miner



Doom of the Savage Kings


After leaving the Moonricket Bridge, the adventuring party of Shudfolk make their way west, hopefully towards some kind of civilization.  Along the way they discover an interesting trio: the dwarf Zzizzle Fenderbender, and a pair of elven lovers named Damian and Raylene.  The three natives of a place called The World of Tomorrow, flew to the Shudder Mountains via a gliding contraption, and were on a quest to meet an ancient witch named Ymae, and give her an enchanted Dutch Oven.  

 [Judge's Note: Frank's 0-level characters were generated with the Crawling Under a Broken Moon 0-level occupation list. Hmm... what lurks in the World of Tomorrow, I wonder?  The Dutch Oven was one of the randomly generated items for starting CUaBM characters, nothing more.  I let Frank come up with the idea that they were delivering it somewhere in the Shudder Mountains, and I just filled in some details.]

 After a few more hours of travel, the wanders come across a live, human sacrifice.  Forty Vinlander villagers gathered near a standing stone alter, intent on sacrificing a young woman to a creature known as the Hound of Hirot.  The Vinlanders, who the Shudfolk considered "outsiders" in their native land, claimed that the Hound had been terrorizing their village, and the only way to keep the supernatural creature at bay was to randomly select a sacrifice every three days.  The adventurers offer to take the woman (named Morgan) to the alter and perform the sacrifice.  The villagers take the party up on the offer and go home.  

 [Judge's Note: I didn't feel like reskinning all of the names in Doom of the Savage Kings into more American Folklore sounding names, so I just kept the names and titles from the original adventure.  I made the "Vinlanders" a group of viking-like raiders who came to the Shudder Mountains just a few decades earlier and then decided to stay.  I placed Hirot just north-west of the Sour Spring Hollow.]

 Morgan claimed that the Hound was afraid of lambs blood, so P. Specs and Waldon set out to slaughter a lamb and collect it's blood.  They infiltrated Hirot, distracted the children watching the town animals by throwing a live chicken in the opposite direction, and killed the lamb before anyone could catch on.

 [Judge's Note:  Frank had asked what a Pocket Fisherman was earlier in the game.  Apparently this item was listed on Zzizzle's character sheet.  I asked him what he wanted it to be, and he brought up the idea of it being a miniature human fisherman.  This worked out so well in our Numenera campaign, so I went with the idea.  Well at this point in the adventure, there had been much discussion about the Pocket Fisherman (named Alejandro) getting mounted on an arrow and shot into town with some matches to burn down houses as a distraction, just in case the party wanted to flee the area with Morgan safely in tow.  Fortunately this plan did not go down.]

 Once the thieves were back with the blood, there was a lot of infighting with regards to what the team would do next.  During this bickering, the Hound of Hirot appeared!  The fight was fairly quick, with Sir Huey fending the beast off with his Sacred Door.  The Hound couldn't land a blow, but neither could and of the warriors or thieves.  But Kadabra's spellcasting seemed more than a match for the infernal monstrosity.  The wizard unleashed a flurry of murderous birds on the Hound, causing it to explode in a puff of swamp gas.  

 But was it defeated?  The party did not know, so they accompanied Morgan to Hirot. 

 Upon entering the village, Morgan proclaimed the party heroes, especially Kadabra the Wizard.  Morgan's father, the owner of the Sign of the Wolf-Spear (the local inn), offered the party free food, wine, ale, and housing in return for his daughter's safety.  He had been heartbroken when she was selected for the sacrifice earlier in the day.  Now he had hope.  The party was told that Ymae, the village witch, may have more information about the Hound of Hirot.  Since they were already delivering a Dutch Oven, the party headed towards the witch's hovel.  

 The ancient woman Ymae was very pleased to receive the Dutch Oven.  She had long awaited this enchanted artifact from beyond the World of Tomorrow, and couldn't wait to put it to use.  While the witch prepared a ritual, the Wize Wizard McBride kept asking of Ymae was a god.  The former cleric really wanted some powers back, and just needed to figure out who to worship.  Ymae completed the ritual by having Raylene open the Dutch Oven.  A portal was created within the oven, sucking Raylene into the container.  Screaming, Damien opened the lid, and he too was sucked in.  Then Ymae opened the Dutch Oven, and made some alphabet stew.

 When the Wize Wizard McBride asked about a deity again, Ymae showed him the letters in the stew:  Cthulhu.

 Ymae claimed that the item was the legendary Dutch Oven of the Elder Gods.  But she was just going to use it to make some stew.  But if the Wize Wizard wanted some power back, he could eat some stew, and then start worshipping Cthulhu.  The Wize Wizard McBride took Ymae up on this offer.  

 Ymae then told the party that the Hound of Hirot was not dead, and would need to be bound first before being slain by a powerful, enchanted weapon.  To capture the Hound, she offered strands of hair from her hut to be fashioned into powerful shackles... in exchange for Sir Huey's hand in marriage.  After thinking long and hard, Sir Huey agreed.  

 ... to be continued... 

(GM's Note:  If I left out any great stories, I invite my players to let me know and I'll include them in the recap.)

A Fine Selection of Quotes from the Table



"It's like Pandora's Box." - Frank describes the Dutch Oven that Raylene carried.  

 "I volunteer as tribute!" - The Wize Wizard McBride offers to take Morgan's place as a sacrifice.

 "Is the Hound a god?" - The Wize Wizard McBride really needed a new god.

 "I get myself a girlfriend and a god on the same day!" - The Wize Wizard McBride has high hopes for Morgan and the Hound of Hirot.

 "Wouldn't it be good to make her drink the booze first?" - Melinda's plan to force Morgan to drink two gallons of Thunderbird before the Hound of Hirot eats her, so that the beast gets drunk.

 "She wants your brave Huey-babies." - Jen knows why Ymae wants to marry Huey.

 "I can be your best man!" - Waldon offers to accompany Sir Huey to the alter.  

Jen explaining what a Dutch Oven is

Campaign Crematorium


  • Raylene - Consumed by the Dutch Oven of the Elder Gods
  • Damien - Consumed by the Dutch Oven of the Elder Gods
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Sunday, April 30, 2017

We're Buff Here - Deadlands on Tabletop Day



In a Weird Mood


I'm neck deep in a Weird West mood right now.  Want proof?

  • My wife and I spent the last two weeks watching Westworld on HBO.
  • During that same time I've pumped about 20-30 hours into Red Dead Redemption on my XBOX 360. 
  • I sent my Numenera campaign back to 1879 last week.  
  • 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 Reloaded for 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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!  

Happy gaming!




Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)