A&A Playtest 2.1: In Search of the Golden Bones

Long ago lived a pirate who amassed a huge amount of gold booty; so much that anyone would turn mutinous for just a sliver of that treasure trove; old golden beard Fry did the only logical thing.  He had a bunch of rogue alchemists replace his entire bone structure with pure gold.  Well, at least he lived a long and fulfilling life up till that point.  That's what Action Hank told the party and that's what they set off to find.

Avatar's & Annihilation Playtest: Last time on Team Murder Hobo

 The Last Dozen or so Sessions Log

After discovering the location of the initial crash site, a comet landing 100 years ago the team headed back; sold all their fancy space junk for a tidy profit and were bankrolled by Lord Theodore Rodrick the Third.  Unfortunately, a friend of Youjiro the Silent learned the Murder Hobos was behind Yoh's death, and a firebombing commenced.  Witness pooled out of the woodwork burning the Murder Hobos and Rodrick had them spirited away, where they sought tutelage under some local folk heroes in the mega inn to the south.

There they contended with an invisible stalker murdering their mentors, a pack of vampires that came in and started dining on the common room.  The party followed the trail of local legend Frog God, found the innkeepers store room; a treasure trove from his adventuring days and set off with the new player Neres the Pirate.  Their destination: The Great Glacier, an icy anomaly in the middle of the tropics; if the notes are correct the first crash site is here.  The alien inhabiting Jingle's the Outlaw Dancer's head is dead set on discovering if the one who landed a hundred years ago is still alive.

The party made their way across the icy wastes encountering a white Rakshasa they traded stories with for ancient magic, an ice eidolon corrupted and undead that nearly killed Pemba the Talented Juggler with his Coldfire reaver and a Wooly Tyrannosaurus hunting down a dapper and opulent land walrus who they vowed to rob later.  Along the way they stopped at the sulfurous springs, picked up  new players: mini-Gojira, daughter of the rimescale dragon and Bronan the Brobarian and set off for the crystalline forest the original crash site.

Inside they dealt with crystal soldiers, bear riders, polar wurms and their volcanic cores, phantom wolves from the Wolf Kings pack, and Nodens the Elder god.  Nodens refused to let them down to the depths of the forest and rather than murder him in typical fashion they decided to curry his favor.  They were sent to hunt down Ithaqua and his Shantaks.

The GM forgot the level of the party and they laid waste to the poor, poor Shantaks as the reclaimed Coldfire Reaver left them as giant frozen blocks of ice, peppered with arrows.  Tiamult, Doc Brown impersonator and Ghost of the Frozen Flame used Clef's Proven Dreamwalker Dweomer to bring himself and Neres the water wizard into the dreamscape of Ithaqua.

There they witnessed the creation of the Glacier, the falling purple star and Ithaqua witnessing it all.  The perversion of the star warped Ithaqua, instead of a god he now feasted on his people and thus the curse of the Wendigo was born.  Neres and Tiamult used their iron wills and control over earth and water to contend with Ithaqua but he proved too powerful.  Neres went underwater and tunneled to the crash site to find the fallen star, inside he found a glowing tree.  Touching it his vision went white hot and he disappeared.

Ithaqua by Quest007

Tiamult played a game of cat and mouse with Ithaqua, using the last of his Intrepid to rip off Ithaquas arms and taken them as his own.  While his power grew, so did Ithaqua's control over him, until finally looking in the water's reflection he saw Ithaqua's visage and not his own. 

"Ithaqua you are no more!"

And neither was Tiamult.  The old man that traveled through time and dimensions was undone, his existence wiped clean from history.  In the real world Ithaqua burned into a star, in it's place was a tiny crystal.  Fred the Warper of Madness who acquired a Shantak mount touched it with the Coldfire Reaver which was transformed into Shatterstar.  The crystal transformed into a glowing tree and from that emerged Neres glowing gold, thoughtless he was merely the corporeal form of the alien that fell a 100 years ago.  The alien inside Jingle informed them they must reunite the echo with the original.  Off the party goes to complete their mission.

Final Session report up next.

Avatar's & Annihilation Playtest: The Gears are in Motion. (Team Good Samaritans)

Conclusion of tonight's game
Kara the Jade Revenant fused with the "Beast" an embodiment of chaos as a promise of power.
Marshall Orvar was mangled by the now berserk Kara.
Shepherd Ashaw tried to separate the two using Stormbringer
The sudden crack of wind severed the arms of both Kara and Orvar
Kara fused with Orvar's arm and the return of humanity also returned her sanity.
Kara applied her old stony arm to Orvar who is now being slowly eaten alive by alien crystal.
The party is now traveling to the center of the world to kill Lavos.

Dungeon World Initial Impressions

The cast of characters:

Laneth, Elf Hobo Ranger.  Spent a century or so afflicted by a hereditary curse, now temporarily held at bay by dark sorcery, specifically an amulet. Currently afflicted with the curse of weresharkdom.  Jawesome.
Horribly in debt: because of their hobo ways.
Bonds: Sven is an ally of nature, I must protect him.

Brinn, Halfling Thief Magnet.  Epitome of debauchery, kleptomania and larceny.
Horribly in debt to Jabba the Hutt
Bonds: Currently running a con with Morgan.

Sven Svenson, Northerner Fighterman covered in animal furs of everything he has hunted so far.    Former farmer searching for his brother who left before him.
Horribly in debt because of farm backtaxes.
Bonds: To make Morgan, hard like me.


Morgan, Elf Wizard.  Haunted child with an overall general confusion, kidnapped by a hermit wizard after taking 1st place at a village Math Fair.  (Courtesy of the Dungeon Dozen)  Seeks to be a normal member of society.
Horribly in debt to that damn hermit.
Bonds: Laneth is wrong, I must teach her the true way of the world.

I really enjoyed how short and to the point character creation was.  It was smooth to the point and really tied the team together.  Also, another great use for +Jason Sholtis most excellent Dungeon Dozen copy. 

A&A Playtest Comet Dungeon 1.1 Initial Descent

Both groups, despite locating and scouting multiple entrances formed by the remaining fragments of the comet (spikes) that struck eventually ended up going through the front.  Since both teams hit a lot of the same content and made a lot of similar choices I'll be talking room layout and the highlights of each team.

Dungeon Entrance

Is blocked by a fallen log, further down the path is a way to drop down where the Comet Spike punctured

Murder Hobos

Fred the Smith easily chucks the fallen tree out of the way
Group moves forward towards the Comet Spike
A few painful randomly determined traps later they reach the Spike

Avatar's & Annihilation Playtest: The Forest of Plenty 1.1

To get to the Comet Site the party must traverse the Forest of Plenty.

Nicknamed on account of the bountiful wild game, brightly plumed birds, rare mushrooms and truffles.

The truffles of course attracted POrks (Pig Orks) which the local farmers are happy to be rid of.

Should be a cake walk.

S. Wift's boss, Reginald MacReynard gives him another special delivery.  A few gallons of honey directly to the UpBears known to wander those woods.

Tells him to sign up with one of the new explorer's guilds and watch out for the four existing leaders.

Conveniently the The OtherWorldly (TOW) Company ordered takeout prior to leaving at dawn.  

Stanley joins their group.  

The party sets off, close on the heels of Youjiro the Silent and Loose Legs ConBa and well ahead of Archibald the Luxurious and Anaheim the Industrious.

Time to get the old random tables ready.

Avatars & Annihilation Playtest: Forest of Plenty Adventure Setup

For me, one of the biggest attractions to the OSR was the wealth and reliance of random tables.  In my mind, part of the fun in running a game is figuring out how the absurd things you roll up fit into the adventure thus far.  As I eagerly await my hardcover of the Dungeon Dozen's release I constructed a few quick and dirty tables of my own as the party goes on their wayward expedition Chasing the Comet.

Between writing this draft this morning and publishing this joyfully arrived

Now for the meat of things.  Wilderness Encounters in Abjool's Forest, nicknamed the Forest of Plenty by the locals. The forest was full of wild game, brightly plumed birds, rare mushrooms and truffles. The truffles however, have caused a few bands of POrks (slang for pig orcs) to move in and some local farmers would be more than happy if they got rid of them.

POrks

While journeying through the presumably cakewalk forest each day the GM rolls two six sided dice and chooses one to determine results.  The party has seven days worth of supplies.  Each day the party stays in the forest add +1 to the roll, if they receive assistance from the SnobGoblins add another +1 and if any of the StarTouched (Probably Insane) party members ascend on high and glimpse the Stars (and the residual comet tail) add another +1.  The adventure hits the next focal point whenever any die reaches a 9+.

Avatars & Annihilation Playtest: Chasing the Comet Introduction

Cancun, August 13, 2010

Sunday was the first exceptionally large (7 of 9 players showed) playtest.  As you can imagine we had a blast.  As you can imagine, herding seven cats left me particularly drained.  Teaching a new system and being a rulebook, monster manual, arbiter and referee certainly compounded that.  At the end of the day I've decided to split the party into groups with two distinct playstyles: Murder Hobos and Good Samaritans.  They will operate in the same world but with diverging timelines after encountering Eien, the great grey cat unstuck from time.

Temple of Elemental Evil: Recap 2.5 TPK Vengeance

Brace yourself this will be the longest recap yet for quite an exciting session.  The PC's tested their luck one time too many and death was in hot pursuit.

Large Fire Elemental by Julie Guthrie

We resumed our elemental gallivanting with all players in tow.  We picked up after the eerie green wind ghost was put to rest but before the player's could catch their breath another green glow lit the room. Fortunately this time it was their longtime companion Drake Phoenixbreath back from the dead.  His flames had become corrupted through his cycling demise at the hands of his former partner Nigel in the Fire Temples Alter.  His self-sacrifice on the Salamander altar pushed him over the edge and now his phoenix flames burned an eerie green (the player opted for a Low Essence of Hi/Lo fame which alters his personal element and Origin of Fire.).  Reunited once more the players decided what to do, princess Tilahi after hearing of her beloved Prince last seen on level 3 of this elemental hell-hole was dedicated to pressing onward rather than escaping.  With poem in hand the players thought it best they start rounding up elemental gems (in the original module the gems are all stored in nodes but throughout this campaign they have already been reclaimed or found).  They headed towards the fire temple who they knew were in possession of the fire gem and as an added bonus Nigel would be there and in possession of the Water gem which he had used to devastating effect on the party earlier.  In addition, Romaag High Priest of the Earth Temple sent them on a mission to kill two high ranking fire cultists who were stealing his followers; after he found out about the Salamander incident he instructed them to kill the High Priest of Fire Alvarnon as well.

Temple of Elemental Evil Campaign Recap 2.4

Snake sightings in every session so far.  Time to pretend these random encounters was foreshadowing all along

One of my players was running a 5k to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, and had I not been injured at the time so would I.  Fortunately, that player's character was still a pile of ash so we were able to continue the adventure with no hand-waving required.  We picked back up in the water temple passageway, the players had just achieved 5th level and were deciding what to do.  They were sent to take care of two junior fire temple priests but the way back was filled with vengeful Salamanders that neither of them wished to tussle with. 

Returning to the Temple of Elemental Evil (Campaign Recap # 2.3)

My final player made an appearance for the first time this session so we opened with his introductory scene.  Betrayed again by his one time friend Nigel, he was drowned and knocked unconscious and brought to the temple along with Bronan the Barbarian.  There they parted ways with Bronan moving to the Earth Temple and Drake moving to the Fire temple (this was based on their favored element chosen at character creation).

Drake awoke in a large entirely brass ornate goblet, big enough to fill a giant's thirst.  The chalice rested on a jet black alter in a well lit room, with saucers brimming with fire lining a red carpet walkway.  In between each pillar and flaming saucer were red robed and hooded fire cultists, their heads bowed in a slow rhythmic chant.  On either side of him were two fire archons, spirits of pure flame clad in black iron segmented armor wielding claymores poised to strike the poor sod stuck in the chalice.  Of course in front of him was none other than Nigel with a smug smile, hand crossbows at his belt as well as Drakes Whip and holding two staves.  One tipped with a blue gem that he had used previously to drown the two players, the other was the wind staff that Drake had found in his intro vignette and used to great effect on skeletons and gnolls alike throughout his career.

Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil Session Recap #2.2

Art by pungang of Deviantart

The other part of the session dealt with the continuing misadventures of Bronan the Barbarian and his crew of 'sidekicks'.  While Maxmilian was busy with the lethal tea drinking samurai Bronan and company were busy being sapped over the head repeatedly.  When the surly Dwarf refused to yield his head was encased in a bubble of water while a well dressed man with a spider silk vest and slicked back hair leveled a staff tipped with a blue gem at him and admonished his henchman in the worst British accent you can think of.

Bronan awoke beneath a rock cairn pulsating with the slow rhythmic chanting of the earth cultists surrounding him.  His joints stiffened and his skin turned rock solid and grey, eventually he passed through the stone and emerged through the other side looking not unlike a statue.  He confronted the high priest Romaag who explained that Bronan was the first successful experiment creating a durable stone soldier.  All the others, he motioned to the statues surrounding the altar, were failures.  He promised Bronan power, riches and leadership if he joined the cause and sent him on a mission to find a giant snake (twist on the conventional quest he gives) and to prove the strength of his sorceries by showing Bronan just how resilient he now was.  Thus began the wanderings of Bronan.

Returning to the Temple of Elemental Evil (Session Recap #2.1)

The first session after a long hiatus was an overwhelming success.  All in all it was good to be back in the saddle again; getting a chance to test out the numerous concepts and system changes I've made since we last played a year ago.  Character (re)creation was estimated to take 10 minutes for the group but instead approached 25 minutes.  The most time was spent selecting optional stats (as to be expected) but a surprising amount was invested in choosing a profession, a fairly minor choice that determines what you are capable of depending on your background.  Skills without a cumbersome skill system if you will.  Two portions of character creation were omitted, they would easily take the most time to decide so I planned on introducing them later.  Better to get a stable test bed on the foundations before adding in additional variables.  Other than that the system was swift and simple, players acclimated to it quickly and it still had enough nuances to keep things interesting rather than overly-simplistic.  I mentioned to them at the end that in the spirit of hard core OD&D we would be eschewing class features.  If you want to be a spy then lie, cheat deceive, subvert, conceal and double cross, your barbarian should be brash, insulting, table flipping mug spilling, machismo roughneck with a penchant for blood boiling rages.  Pull that off and you'll see something resembling class features.

20 Quick Questions

Courtesy of Brendan, courtesy of Jeff Rients (ah the infamous citation within a citation) here are my 20 answers to questions that may come up when running a game.

1. Ability scores generation method?
1. All stats start at 6.  The group collectively rolls 6d6 and assigns the dice any way they please (no stat above 18 of course.)  It's a compromise between die rolls and point buy equality, although it has resulted in a few players that chase 18s.
2. How are death and dying handled?
1.  You are dying if your HP reaches 0 or below.  Roll 3d6 (I use 3d6 D&D), if your 6's outnumber your 1's you stabilize.  If your 1's outnumber your 6's you die.  If you roll three of a kind you get back on your feet with a second wind.  If none of the above happens repeat the process next turn until it does. 
3. What about raising the dead?
1. A non-religious PC tried to use a raise dead scroll from a religion he blasphemed, he was killed in the process.  The other surviving PC had an on the spot conversion to the peace loving goddess (he is a repentant berserker) and luckily (as a result of a dice roll) resurrected them both.
2. The second time they did not go to the church they had blasphemed in to request raise dead and instead opted for a reincarnation from the Druid of the old faith.
4. How are replacement PCs handled?
1. Hasn't come up yet but Hommlet is full of people passing through.
5. Initiative: individual, group, or something else?
1. System of my own devising.
6. Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work?
1. Yes, on a critical hit you deal 1d6 damage to Wounds.  I should mention that I also use Wounds.  Fumbles are decided on the spot based on the situation, no table I'm afraid.
7. Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?
1. You may participate in the Naked Warrior Challenge.
8. Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?
1. If you are not proficient with the ranged weapon you are using or if you critically miss.
9. Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything?
1. I've been running the temple of elemental evil as close to the book as I can.  My PC's are fairly resilient so they generally figure out if they can handle a combat or not within the first few rounds.  But yes, there was a near TPK last session.
10. Level-draining monsters: yes or no?
1. They haven't come up yet but it is a possibility.  I use linear XP growth so they may simply sap experience (memories) rather than levels (for the weaker ones at least.)
11. Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?
1. Yes, and it has already happened.  I tend to stick to the rule of three where someone needs to fail 3 progressively harder saves to die.  The idea is that poison takes its time to work through your system and petrification starts from your feet and works its way up.
12. How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?
1. Well, my PC's are currently naked on account of a recent event involving a burning building.  They had been traveling light previously.  I do require the archer to keep track of their arrows.
13. What's required when my PC gains a level? Training? Do I get new spells automatically? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time?
1. Depends on your definition of an adventure.  A level up does not require training but it does require a respite.  Most of the time I've given it to them when they are safely in town, but I have given one while they were holed up in a safe room in a dungeon before.
14. What do I get experience for?
1. Plenty of things.  Combat (defeating or overcoming does not necessitate killing), Treasure, Exploration, Being Clever, Being Funny, Building character traits and playing to them.
15. How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?
1. Either.  I let them know if they specifically examine a certain area of the room or piece of the object they can immediately find what they are looking for.  If however, they are feeling lazy or not in the mood for pixel hunting they can always rely on dice.
16. Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?
1. I let them know they can hire retainers, that the benefits of a high charisma include more minions and that you can sacrifice a red shirt.  I've had no takers thus far.  
17. How do I identify magic items?
1. The town blacksmith is well versed in history and may know the origin of a particular magic weapon.  Otherwise test it out and find out for yourself.
18. Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?
1. Salves, poultices and ointments can be purchased commercially (expedited healing but not immediate).  The druid can make potions for you if you bring him the right materials, he might even show you how.  The town blacksmith will buy magic items off you.  If not he will offer to seal them for you free of charge.  (Most intelligent items have an evil streak)
19. Can I create magic items? When and how?
1. A priestly character can bless items and impart some holiness into items.  Someone with an enchanter styled class kit would be able to enchant weapons temporarily, and permanently as they increased in level.
20. What about splitting the party?
1. I'll allow it but I don't encourage it.  I've drilled it into them that old school means +1/+4 lethality vs stupidity.  I should note that their opening vignettes were solo affairs and they learned first hand their own limitations and mortality.

SWSE Kotor Session Summary #1

The introductory session ended with the Transporter, his ship and passengers ionized and and sinking below the surface of manaan following the escape pod our Dark Jedi friend barely escaped to after losing a battle with an unnamed Sith wearing red robes on his ship full of force 'zombies.'  Our Selkath Hero rounded up survivors and staged a rescue operation on the sinking ship such that it didn't impact the underwater laboratory.  They finished the session defending the researchers and other members of the order gathering supplies and research equipment from the rapidly flooding lab from a pack of enraged firaxan sharks.

Here's where they started:

"As the members of your order and the lab scientists hurry to get the research data, equipment and kolto reserves to the ship you are alerted by one of your underlings that Shasa is not with you. She was last seen swimming toward an underwater geyser calling out that she had seen the Progenitor. You grew up with Shasa, together you two were swayed by the Sith and captured until you were eventually freed by the one who you would eventually find out was Revan. Shasa, the strongest in the force of the Selkath, decided to mirror some of the Jedi teachings but adapted them culturally in order to protect Manaan's sovereign neutrality. Being force sensitive yourself you were the first member and her second and command. You are recalling this because you are faced with a difficult decision. The air lock was not intended to be used underwater and ferrying people and supplies on and off is starting to take it's toll, cracks are beginning to form and it won't be long before the entire hull of the ship becomes critical. That's not even counting the amount of water the ship took on when primary systems were knocked off line from the ion cannon. Will you abandon your friend or will you chase after her and the shadow of the progenitor."

The Selkath went off to find Shasa while the Dark Jedi accompanied feeling something tugging him at the force.  Our Zabrak pilot remained behind to keep the ship ready to go should a hull breach occur.  The Selkath found Shasa trying desperately to keep rubble from crushing the Progenitor (a massive firaxan shark who makes it's abode at the highest concentration of Kolto in the Hrakert rift) who in turn was shielding it's eggs below from the impending debris.  This led to unique situation because our Selkath hero wanted desperately to help but did not possess Move Object or suitable telekinetic power while our Khil Dark Jedi did.  Rather than help out the Dark Jedi bee-lined straight for the mysterious alien doorway at the sea floor.  Inside he discovered the a piece of the Star Map, a postcognition of both times Revan walked here and found some left over lightsaber parts, presumably ones Revan no longer needed.  Rather than cut and run the Dark Jedi did eventually come to the aid of Shasa and with an astounding roll saved both the Progenitor and it's eggs.  The underwater door was however covered in rubble.

Meanwhile, our Zabrak hero manages to get the engines started just in time as a giant underwater bottom feeder planned on making him his next meal.  With some daring piloting he lured the fish close before maxing out the afterburners frying it out and eventually ramming the creature putting, neutralizing it as a threat.  As the PC's were collected they prepared to leave.  They reached the surface and did not detect the StarForge Capitol ship in orbit.  They searched the wreckage of Ahto City for survivors which the order led down to the underwater colonies while the Zabrak found a crippled astromech droid that he failed to repair (Mechanics checks all have stupidly high DCs)  Shasa asked of our Selkath Force Adept to take revenge for the destruction of Manaan.

As the PC's departed they had a moment to reflect on Manaan, once the jewel of the Galaxy.  It was considered untouchable by both sides in the Jedi Civil War as anyone who would attack Manaan would in turn eliminate the flow of medical supplies to both sides of the conflict.  It would seem that this mysterious enemy is far less pragmatic and far more nihilistic.  They had to cut the melancholy short as the Sith Ship was hiding behind a nearby moon and they quickly jumped to hyperspace carrying the last major of shipment of kolto in the galaxy.

Star Wars Saga Edition Kotor Creation

After an explosive failure of a Shadowrun game (no seriously one bad roll and a PC exploded against a poorly equipped biker gang following the absolute humiliation of being pulverized and robbed by the same gang in a published introductory adventure) we decided to run a different game.  A few games were proposed with Legend of the 5 Rings and Star Wars being the top contenders.  Choosing to have something a little more familiar to lick their wounds with the players chose Star Wars.  The Saga edition is one of my absolute favorite rule sets, it combines the Keep It Sweet and Simple design approach with an incredibly flexible character and multiclass system.  Well as flexible as d20 will ever be without throwing the baby out with the bathwater for point buy silliness.

I'm currently playing through Kotor II with the restored content modification and really enjoying the depth of story Obsidian (formerly Black Isle) created.  I liked it so much that I decided to take a few cues from it.  Here's the primer I had for character creation:

This is StarWars, you are an important person or someone with a great destiny.  You do not play second fiddle to some named character nor do you preoccupy yourself with the banal life of a nerf herder.  Your character will either have taken part in some great act in history, such as the strike team that took down Darth Revan, a general or legend of the Mandalorian wars, an assasination of a major political player, etc. etc.  Otherwise you will have some great destiny ahead of you, such as restoring balance to the force, reinvigorating the republic (or perhaps Sith empire), or the restoration of a world destroyed in the many wars this galaxy has recently had to face.

That being said it's assumed that you are all good to some degree, you may have had a nasty past in either of the wars but at the moment you are repentant or at the very least stuck at a crossroads in your moral outlook.  If you are dead set on playing a Sith that is fine and you could easily start out as a Revanist Dark Jedi.  However, there will be no baby eating or outright socio/psychopathy from the get go, if you do your character instantly becomes a villain and you can roll up another one.  If you want to be a Sith your going to have to work for it, your going to have to fall and it's going to have to have meaning.

Each character starts with a trait relevant to their backstory.  A scoundrel may have a danger sense while a veteran would have increased starting hit points.  A demolitions expert can stop her allies from setting off mines and a grey jedi can use limited dark side powers without accruing mass amounts of dark side points.
Additionally depending on the first talent tree you select you will be receiving a bonus feat or ability.

After character creation we ended up with

A Khill Dark Jedi - Former apprentice of Revan and Malek who fought in the Mandalorian Wars.  After the end of the Jedi Civil War he returned to Korriban with many of his comrades.  After the predictable infighting a trio of Sith Lords emerged however, none of them espoused the same principles nor commanded the loyalty that Revan once had.  He and a few others planned a mutiny but when the vocal dissidents starting mysteriously disappearing he and the remaining Revanists took the remaining Capital ship and fled.  The story picks up with him sensing a void in the force as the rest of his crew is annihilated and transformed into force 'zombies' by a certain masked Sith Lord.

A Selkath Noble (Force Sensitive) - Creator of the Order of Shasa he is the Selkath most gifted in the force.  He spends his time in the underwater research lab searching for any more signs of the Progenitor that Revan supposedly encountered on his trip to Manaan.  When the story starts he rescues the downed sinking space craft and escape pod as the Manaan capital is orbitally bombarded, destroying a portion of the underwater lab and cutting off escape.

A Zabrak Pilot - A veteran of the Mandalorian wars he has had his share of war and took to hiding during the Jedi Civil War to avoid another enlistment.  That didn't stop him from taking part in it, rather than fighting he would transport civilians out of combat zones and bring medical supplies to the needy.  The story begins with him exiting hyperspace at Manaan to pick up a Kolto shipment only fight a Sith Capital ship opening fire and downing his spacecraft.

MSHRPG Collective World Building

After wrapping up the introductory adventure I was left with a bit of a problem.  See the campaign I was outlining and the style of adventures I was thinking of were for heroes with a certain level power.  I was thinking of having gangs and spontaneous mutant growth drugs take a center display for the campaign focus with a bit of organized crime as well.  These types of adventures are suitable for both the virtual capability and theme-wise of characters like Spiderman, Daredevil, Powerman & Luke Cage, Batman, Static Shock.  Unfortunately due to quite a few freak rolls my players had rolled up characters on par with the Fantastic Four or the Avengers, and petty criminals should be below their radar (and rightly so!).  I suppose the problem was the premise of the campaign expected heroes but what I got were superheroes.

Rather than knee-jerk nerf them to oblivion I brought up the problem with the players in the next session.  Sure while there were a few hiccups and even there superpowered characters were on the ropes a few times, I did not think that would be indicative of the rest of the game.  Instead those minor quibble were the players still getting the hang of their characters (and the new system).  So since I was a little stumped on how to adapt what I was thinking of to match their superpowered abilities I had them try out collective world building for the first time.  For those unfamiliar this is where the campaign setting is decided by consensus rather than whatever the Judge/DM/Storyteller can hastily throw together on the spot.

Rather than start off with choice of setting we worked on a few other issues until we could all agree on a common ground.  First up was the issue of how the game would progress, the players unanimously agreed that they would like to start off small and work their ways up to fame and glory.  Next up we talked about what kind of enemies and villains they'd like to square off against since I felt gangsters weren't up to par.  We went through a few ideas, starting with villain teams ala legion of doom or brotherhood of evil mutants, steampunk nazi zombies (Sucker Punch is a favorite in our group), and mutant hunters.  Surprisingly they also related that they really wanted to have gangsters as a main antagonist as they really liked the mutant drug plot point.  So from there we had to decide how we wanted these gangsters to be a culpable threat.  To do that we had to talk about setting and we all agreed that a fair bit of sci-fi and cyberpunk would up the ante and make dangerous foes for their superpowered shenanigans.

While we were brainstorming I had taken down a lot of notes on what they wanted such as dystopian futuristic cities but also apocalyptic wastelands (and of course zombies) then jotted down a few ideas on how to link it there and retain the few plot points we already had.  Here are my notes verbatim:

Campaign Settings
The zombie apocalypse was averted by nuking most of the living world.  The fallout left behind an irradiated waste and a staggering amount of mutations.  The wasteland is still incredibly radioactive but it a minor issue for those already transformed (all mutants have a slight degree of rad resistance).  Though the cleansing fire reached many corners of the world there are still a few pockets of zombie and ghouls roaming the wastes so many people rarely leave shelter.

This is contrasted with city-state metropolises, bubble cities.  The cities are largely unscathed due to their protective domes and remain high tech wonders.  Technology has advanced far enough to allow for cybernetics, robotics and genetic manipulation to come about.  Although due to fuel constraints, aerial travel between bubble cities is all but non-existent. 

The mass genetic mutations has resulted in two classes of citizens.  Those that are normal or the pure and those that are abnormals, mutants.  The normals control the city and the science and sequester the mutants to barely sheltered slums.  Mutant fights were a popular sport for a time but were outlawed after enough mutants gained enough money and fame to move out of their social stratum.  They have since been replaced with robot fights.  Mutants are not normally allowed to walk the high cities streets after daylight which has created a shadow running life for many a mutant.  The perils of night include anti-mutant watches, robotic sentinels, and of course well equipped law enforcement that are allowed to shoot on sight.  It is a harsh life but it is still better than living in the wasteland. 

 

Since the cities are very low on space the population density is very high.  No longer are there individual apartments and houses.  Instead people live in communal floors with few walls in large many storied buildings with rooftop hydroponic agriculture. 

Mutants in the wasteland are legends and have not been confirmed yet.  Morlocks live in the sewers under the highcity scavenging the few valuable commodities and resources that are not recycled.  Resistance groups exist since mutants have the ability and power to fight back against the technologically superior forces.

The bubble cities are technocracies where the scientifically inclined dictate living conditions both the banal and the eye opening, something akin to Logan's Run.  Even though this scientific mecca sounds somewhat nice on paper they are still as fallible as your regular congresscritter and organized crime has it's hands in many a cookie jar.  Though horrifically illegal and counter to societal views these mobsters have been experimenting with genetic manipulation to create a drug which will temporarily give the user superpowers but without the nastier side effects. 

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The players really enjoyed the idea of mutant apartheid but wondered why mutants were so disliked and furthermore why they didn't outnumber and overwhelm the regular folk.  Here is my hastily thought explanation to keep this ramshackle setting of glue and popsickle sticks held together.

"Why are mutants so disliked?

In general abnormals are about 95% likely to be infertile thus rendering them useless for the rebuilding of the human races.  Also, their wide variety of uncontrollable powers automatically makes them more than eligible for causing political unrest undermining the order that will supposedly pull these bubble societies up by their bootstraps and back into a golden era."

 Overall it was a pretty good attempt trying to tie all the ideas and themes together into one coherent setting.   Of course players being players, two sessions later they left the infinitely intriguing bubble cities (their most requested feature) to wander the wastes and never turned back.  C'est la vie.

MSHRPG Session # 1.5

As it had gotten into the wee hours of the morning I thought it best to split the introductory session in two.  Where we last left off Dolphin Ladd found himself waist deep in a fishy conspiracy while Rocco the Rockem Sockem robot found himself battling a juggernaut of twice his weight class.  Now we continue with Chameleoraptor.

Nightfalls and the morlocks emerge from a nearby manhole and track Eelman under cover of night to a large warehouse connected to a nightclub.  Wasting no time Chameleoraptor let loose a wash of acid on the bay doors eating through the steel alloy in mere moments.  The morlocks rush in to a completely flabbergasted room of henchman loading aquatic tanks onto large freighter trucks.  Not worried about impending karma loss the Morlocks immediately set into a melee and the thugs are soon reduced to melted puddles.

Meanwhile, Dolphin Ladd takes the unconscious fishy men and looks for an escape route.  Heading towards the back he hears gun fire and the screams of many below so he quickly heads back to the front where he came in.  Before heading out he has the brilliant idea to use his water manipulation to send water hurtling out of the sprinkler system.  Much to his dismay, the club owner had fake ones installed.  After all, who would want water raining down onto their electrified fighting ring.  Speaking of fighting rings..

Rocco was on the receiving end of three tons of hydraulic force battering him into the corner.  Fortunately his electricial absorption provided him a brief respite rather than shocking him into submission as his foe wanted.  Spring back into action he used his lighter frame and remarkable agility to leap onto the Crushinators shoulders, toppling him and proceeding to wail into him but due to the thick armor his blows had little effect.  The crushinator took the opportunity to throw Rocco into the spiked ceiling above but after botching the roll sending Rocco only most of the way up, Rocco decided to increase his density and crush the crushinator underfoot.  The crowd is stunned and he and his owner are compensated heavily.  Hoping to use this as the perfect time to burst the pipes Dolphin is dismayed to notice the pipes being hollow.  Before heading back in the secret laboratory to regroup and re-plan he sees a pair of thugs with Dragon Tatoos from earlier follow Rocco and his trainer out.

Dismayed Dolphin Ladd heads back to see if the fighting quieted down but doesn't hear the henchman behind him until just as their stun batons turn on.  He wakes up strapped down to an operating table with the Club Boss hovering over him tapping his diamond crusted cane onto the floor.  Looking around he sees the dissected results of failed experiments and hears the plan of the Club Boss to create a temporary superpower drug.  Before revealing who his benefactor is the door gets kicked in and the lights go out.  The vengeful morlocks storm in and wreak havoc in the place.  They grab the their fishy friends strapped to the table and that strange guy in tights too.  They quickly escape into the sewers.

Meanwhile, Rocco and his trainer Stewart on their way home talking about the fight and how Rocco had to activate his density manipulation so early in his career.  Stewart is disappointed he's having this much trouble already before they're interrupted by the Dragon tattooed thugs.  Stewart tells him to split up and run and meet back at the rendezvous point, a train station.  Hours later as dawn broke, Rocco quietly left the train station knowing that a robot cannot be unaccompanied in daylight.  He returns to the scene of the crime to see a charred corpse.  Taking the body of his presumed trainer he drops into the nearest sewer vent only to fall into the middle of a morlock raiding party.  After some tense moments they agree to discuss the particulars in the safety of their watery abode.

MSRPG Session Summary #1

Now that I've reached the tail end of my internship I've found some time to catch-up and work through my ever increasing backlog of session summaries.  I've resolved to try and put up a new post every day (M-F) to try and get back into the swing of things.  That being said the posts will hopefully be shorter and less verbose.  That's a good thing right!

Let's get started.

I did a quick intro adventure directly after character creation since everyone was itching to play.  The adventure was meant to be setting neutral and broad enough to lure everyones diverse character concepts into one story path.  Here is what I went with.

Dolphin Ladd is looking to make a quick buck to fund a new save the estuaries fund.  He decides to compete in the Superhero brawl with his newfound powers.  Alas, when he goes to the ring/club he finds out from the owner that Superhero brawl has been deemed illegal, now the new rage is robot fights which sadly he isn’t qualified for.  He spots a surprisingly small robot training with a human amidst the sea of over-sized crushinator 9000’s bots.  The owner of this seedy bar/fighting club lets him know that he is on the lookout for some ‘exotic’ aquatic species and will pay handsomely for it.  Sensing some fishy business Dolphin Ladd dons his tights and waits for nightfall for some super-sleuthing. 

Chameloraptor is exploring the remote areas of the sewers with a fellow morlock.  He comes to an abandoned station with the power mysteriously restored.  He comes to a locked utility closet and hears a pair of men arguing over a bad deal inside.  Using his innate blending ability and corrosive spit he makes it past the locked door and begins eavesdropping.  Unfortunately he botches his agility check and everyone inside is alerted to his presence.  A pair of dragon tattooed thugs emerge with flame guns and chase him out.  Choosing flight over fight Chameloraptor ran down the nearest side tunnel and loses his pursuers although slightly singed as a result.  Back at the rendevouz point he is saddened to learn that his fellow morlock Eelman has gone missing.  Following the trail he finds that Eelman has been taken to the surface and to a nearby warehouse.  Bringing the news back to the morlock colony their warmongering leader demands a night raid to spill the brazen surface dwellers blood.

Night falls and fight night begins.  Stuart offers some last minute advice to Rocco about his opponent's top heaviness.  Rocco the Robot steps into the electrified ring to face his his opponent Iron Kong fully twice his size.  The owner pulls a cord and spikes descend from the ceiling merely 10 ft from the ring.  With the odds stacked against him this was going to be an interesting fight.  The initial blows are traded and Rocco feels he may have bitten off more than he could chew.

With the patrons engrossed in the fight, Dolphin Ladd slips in unnoticed through a ceiling light onto the catwalk below where the owner's office is located.  Spotting a number of armed thugs out front he decides to take the subtler approach and makes his way towards the end of the catwalk where he sees a door labeled "Authorized personnel only".  Using his superb reasoning he quickly bypasses the electronic lock and makes his way inside.  Startled he is surprised to see numerous fish tanks holding incredibly rare aquatic life, many on the endangered species list.  Even more startling are the two humanoid fish like creatures in the last two tanks.  One a slug like man moving in a circuit from the floor to the wall to the ceiling and then back to the floor, apparently oblivious to the outside world.  The other resembles a bipedal eel that is bizarrely being electrified by his own body in the pool of water he was placed in.

Wasting no time Dolphin Ladd uses his mastery of water to remove the water from the tank at sufficient electrified risk to himself.  The eel man is free but unconscious from the ordeal.  Dolphin Ladd uses the respite to hack into the computer system and see what kind of bizarre experiments were done here.  It seems that the owner here is taking extracts from exotic aquatic specimens and more recently mutants in an attempt to create a drug granting temporary superpowers.  No stranger to this game of fishy fusion Dolphin Ladd resolves to put an end to this! 

Marvel Super Heroes RPG

While I had wanted to write up a few more posts on my Labyrinth Lord game and potentially a session summary or two I haven't had the time and in the meantime my players and I have switched gears to another game.  After watching X-men First Class and (surprisingly) enjoying it, I felt some inspiration to run a super powered game.  TSR's Marvel Super Heroes RPG had always been a favorite of mine, I recall seeing it on my father's bookshelf for the first time while I was still a wee lad and wondering what that tiny box contained.  Of course my father strictly followed the ages 10 and up (or was it 12?) warning and I wasn't able to look at it until I was older.  When I was finally able to I was charmed by the simplicity of the system.  Abilities that were numerical but most importantly were on a power scale.  Random generation of your number and sort of powers.  I had a heck of a time rolling percentiles all day to see what kind of weird creatures the dice gods would bestow upon me.

My players found the system interesting and were even good sports about random generation.  One wanted to do entirely random and the rest decided "Hey, why not?".  All attributes, powers and talents were determined randomly.  I gave them one free reroll if they got something that they seriously disliked or didn't fit with what they had rolled so far, and each of them got to pick their origin.  With some interesting rolls and some player ingenuity here's what they came up with.

Dolphin Lad
Altered Human
Fighting: Incredible
Agility: Incredible
Strength: Excellent
Endurance: Incredible
Reason: Amazing
Intuition: Excellent
Psyche: Typical

Popularity: Good
Resources: Poor

Powers
Water Manipulation:  Amazing (Limitation: Close proximity (Touch))
Sound Generation: Amazing
Swimming
Resistance: Cold

Talents
Biology (Marine)
Genetics
Martial Arts D

Contacts
None =(

Weakness: Fire

Dolphin Lad is a graduate student who was studying the effects of radioactive contamination on marine fish life.  His professor became obsessed with rapid mutations after reading the papers of renowned geneticists.  His obsession led him down dark roads as Dolphin Lad would soon discover.  Students in the research program began 'dropping out' suddenly and rapidly.  His suspicions were put to the test when his college sweetheart 'dropped out' without a word.  He confronted his professor only to find her in an experiment involving splicing the DNA of a dolphin with a human.  He leapt in the way of the beam knocking her out of the way and having his body spliced with that of a dolphin.

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I'm not too big on Mutant's getting an extra power since when I think Mutants I think of anything relating to the X-men which typically means a single super powerful superpower.  i.e. Optic Blasts, Telepathy, Weather Control, Titanium/Osmiun skin, Teleportation.  While many mutants do have a few auxiliery 'powers' such as prehensile tails, they typically have one power that trumps all others.  To that end I swapped out the +1 power with +1 CS of any power, and it gains free experience each issue.

(I should note that the next two characters rolled absurdly well, consistently)

Chameleoraptor
Mutant (Morlock)
Fighting: Incredible
Agility: Amazing
Strength: Excellent
Endurance: Incredible
Reason: Poor
Intuition: Incredible
Psyche: Poor

Resources: Poor
Popularity: Zero

Powers
Animal Transformation Others (With a bite he turns others into jurassic creatures)
Corrosive Spit: Monstrous
Blending: Amazing
Body Alteration: Prehensile Tail

Talents:
Urban Survival
Contacts:
Other Morlocks

Chamelon was abandoned as a child when it's scales and reptilian tail and eyes first appeared.  Chamelon was rescued by the morlocks and lived in the sewers ever since, embracing a peaceful existance and making do with what was available.  This wouldn't last forever as Chameleon would be pulled to the surface when it's friends started mysteriously disappearing near the abandoned subway station.

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Rocco the Rockem Sockem Robot
Robot
Fighting: Amazing
Agility: Remarkable
Strength: Remarkable
Endurance: Monstrous
Reason: Good
Intuition: Excellent
Psyche: Typical

Resources: Poor
Popularity: Zero

Powers
Extra Arms (And Attacks)
Absorption (Electricity) Excellent
Light Manipulation: Remarkable, (Laser Blast - Remarkable, inorganic only)
Density Manipulation: Incredible

Weakness: Water

Talents:
Martial Arts B (Boxing)
Wrestling

Contacts:
Sparky the Mechanic
Stuart Radcliffe - Scientist/Trainer/Creator

(The player greatly dislikes the upcoming Real Steel movie so we jokingly came up with a backstory that mirrors it as closely as possible)
Rocco was rescued from the garbage pile by Stuart and his son Jack.  Together, they started training for the Robot fighting league.  A popular sport after the super hero arena was shutdown.