Mutant Future - Session 2 - "Did you say cats or caps?

"Did you say cats or caps? because I don't want to be paid in cats!  This is how pretty much every single negotiation went last night.  2 of the characters are deaf.  At some point I think I will pay them in cats, just for the sake of a laugh.

The characters started off in the small village of IMLI.  The players decided that they would make the delivery to the Whiz.  They did not however know exactly where the Whiz's place was located.  After a brief discussion with Newman (the pawn shop owner) they headed to the local watering hole for a much needed drink.

As it was still a bit early and they are to meet newman later into the evening.  At the tavern they met a nice fellow with rather large toes (just two of them), he told them that he was a furrier and that he would be reasonable money for furs.  Specifically Raboxxen fur!  He then went on to explain exactly what a raboxxen was (to the horror of the players!).  They players had murdered a few giant ferrets and decided to sell them off to the furrier.  Except one, which the android cut the head off and put on his head as a hat.  (I think he's chaotic, if he isn't he know is).

The bartender Bob (a mutated brown bear) was asked about the surrounding area, specifically the lake.  He told them that he doesn't oft go to the lake, but he knows there's ruins along the west side.  The entire lake is frozen.

At which point one of the players gave him the "International symbol for peace", and replied with "Peace be with you". (I'm guessing this is going to be the "safe travels" in the game.)  Below is the international symbol.

Prior to leaving the bar the players noticed one of the MPs having a drink and then leaving before them.  It was about the time to leave and find newman, so the players wandered outside of the gate.  I had originally intended to have the MPs shake them down about where they were going, and then I thought about NPC knowledge vs gamesmaster knowledge.  The PCs started out towards the edges of the forest, where they were supposed to meet Newman late at night.  As they were walking they here a "HEY!" in the distance behind them.  It's one of the MPs and rides up to them to ask them what they are doing (and not in a shakedown kind of way).  The PCs tell him that they are on a hunting trip, however one of the PCs slips up and says "we are going to meet the whiz", which is what I was kind of hoping for.

I decided to have the player roll me a charisma check, on a fail the MP would have overheard the part about whiz.

*note the MPs are tech whores, and the Whiz is a tech hoarder.

The conversation goes along, and the mp wants to go hunting with the PCs, of course this won't work as they are not going hunting.  The MP challenged the PCs to a contest to see who could out hunt who.  3 days time they are supposed to meet in IMLI with their kills (Raboxxen).  They split up and the PCs make their way to the edge of the forest.  They meet Newman, and he gives them the tech.  It's a large duffel bag made of metal, with a keycode on it.  The PCs will be unable to get into it.

Newman tells them the general whereabouts of the Whiz's location, and then buggers off back to town under cover of night fall.

The PCs decide to travel thru the night as well.  They hear screams off in the distance, and investigate.  They find 2 children tied to a tree, surrounding the tree are Chicken Wolves (who look very hungry).  The PCs fight off most of the chicken wolves (they failed a morale check and left for easier prey).  The children are cut down, and the players here there story.

They come from a village not far away, they were to be sacrificed to the Light God.  They were found to be non-radiated and not welcomed among their people.

The player's decide to help them, or at the very least keep them.  The players are aware of the Pure Alliance and think they can get a tidy payoff by selling the children, bunch of evil bastards.

Its at this point the players have to roll for rad poisoning, as they have unknowingly been in the middle of a radiation zone.

The next day they stumble onto a small town, with a post office and a mine and not a helluva lot else.  The players go to check out the door to the post office, and joke around (out of character) about Mimics.  I tell them the door is locked, and they ask the door specifically if its a mimic.  I decide you know what? fuck it, its a mimic!  Battle ensues!

When the mimic is killed, its banished back to a fantasy world with a pair of old work boots that were sitting out front of the post office.  (Reminder to add this to a fantasy campaign at some point!).

There's not a helluva a lot in the post office, but the players find a map to a few points of interest including a rangers station, and RCMP station and a Spa called "Lakewood Spa & Country Club".

They decide to sleep thru the night at the post office, and get going around mid day.

The next morning they decide to make their way towards the Spa.  Eventually they find it, although its a very weird situation.  Everyone is asked to save vs radiation (save vs spell?).  Some of the players can see a nice lake, greenery, a little river trickling in the distances.  The players who were successful noticed a weird flickering in the image.  A player who failed his save moves forward and bangs his head right into the steel wall.   At this point a disembodied voice says "thank you for your patience, the Whiz is out at this time, please leave a message at the beep!".

From behind some old trees steps a robot named Nucleus, who proceeds to pay the players for bringing the tech.  As well he tells them of a lab near the "giant crater" and an old military base that might be worth checking out.

And so ends session 2.  We covered a LOT of ground.

Delve into the "Pyramid Of The Lost King"

I'm ecstatic that this has been released to the public at large!  Somehow I managed to wing myself into adding a table to this project and getting my name in the credits (this seems to be a Modus Operandi of mine).  When I first found G+ and the OSR community, one of the first people I talked with was +Johua De Santo and +Frank Turfler (super nice dudes! super supportive!).  We have this interesting friendship that has swirled around helping each other, discussing RPGs, our current products.  It's really nice to have people to bounce ideas off of.

I totally understand the process of creating something as expansive as POTLK, I've tried personally, and I've failed miserably.  It's not easy.  Taking a nugget of an idea and bringing it to fruition is one of the most difficult things to do.  The longer it takes, the more the end of the road seems so far off.  As a "writer" (I honestly shouldn't claim to be) I get it, you are always thinking about it, in some cases maybe you are loosing sleep over it.  Finally when its done and you birth this thing and give it out to the public and go "here! enjoy!" there is a sense of wonderment, amazement, nervousness and anxiety because you have no idea how its going to come across.  While we may not put these things out for our own vanity, it plays a bit of a role.  If someone tears you new one because you had a typo, or a inappropriate HD count for a monster you feel terrible.

I honestly can't wait to run this adventure.  I've read it, re-read it, saw it from its initial stages to re-writes, to final completion.  I've got excited over art, tables, reading it I've got ideas floating around in my head on what I want to do with it.

Whenever it's my turn to DM for our 5e group, I think this will be the module to run!  First because I really want to, second because I can mold it to the way i want to run it, and third because I know that the players won't grab a copy and spoil it for themselves (they are big fans of wotc and collect everything, despite my insistence that the DIY OSR scene is fantastic!).

So without further ado, here's the brief write up on the adventure.  The PDF is currently $10. Softcover $15.

You can grab the adventure here.

Millions of year ago the lands of Usarm were devastated by a great Cataclysm in the final days of the war between the Gods of Usa’arm and the demonish threat of the N’zi. In the wake of a final assault by the Usa’arm the very fabric of reality was torn asunder flooding the world with arcane energies and rips that sundered other worlds and realities … and in the process sank Usarm into the dark depths of ruin.

Now, Usarm is home to races and monsters dragged through those rips; refugees who now call a world ravaged by magic home. Wars between some races is common, and a dark threat rises in the North and another in the far south. A south that until now was left unexplored by the peoples of Usarm.

Intrigued by the prospect of riches the Merchants Guilds of Newrk stretch their arms and money into the great southern desert of the Saragubi hoping to find new peoples and new cultures to trade with and to grow more wealthy by.

Pyramid of the Lost King is designed for play with Frog God Games Swords & Wizardry and can be enjoyed by characters of the first to five level and is as much a campaign as it is an adventure. Within this book lay the trade city of Basq, the Rift Bridge, the Saragubi Desert, and hours of adventure for all who are foolhardy enough to venture into the Desert.

d20 post-apocalyptic side quests

1.  Local furrier needs raboxxen fur for clothing.
2.  Travelling book salesman wants to complete his set of encyclopedias.
3.  Solar panels are needed for water treatment plant.
4.  Gang of motorcycle bandits has taken over community gas station and claimed it as their own.
5.  Sinkhole opened up outside of village, revealed a series of complex hallways underground.
6.  The annual mushroom growing contest is happening! and you have been selected as a judge!
7.  The population of a small town has been entirely replaced by clones, the originals are nowhere to be found.
8.  Local cartographer needs an escort, will pay well.  (Cartographer has anterior motives)
9.  Small clinic has been burned to the ground.  Investigate.
10.  River dam was destroyed flooding a nearby village.  Find culprit and repair dam.
11.  Rumours that an ancient flying machine was located in the forest.
12.  New religious cult has appeared and become quite popular, find out why.
13.  Locals have started glowing in the dark recently.
14.  Corpses of villagers have been found early in the morning, with their throats ripped out by teeth.
15.  Five black helicopters flew over the local village, they went in a westerly direction and were slowly descending.
16.  A good source of water is needed for crops.
17.  A strange monument is being built outside of town, no one knows anything about it.
18.  An expedition has been planned to locate other towns to trade with.
19.  A courier is needed to sign a peace treaty with another local community.
20.  Strange lights appear in the sky every Wednesday.

Image courtesy of Old Book Illustrations. 

Toonie Tuesday!

Hey everybody!  I've been awfully quiet, on the blog and social media.  It's not you, it's me.  For some very odd reason, the act of "thinking about RPGs" has just been turned off latetly.  (must read more books!).  I am going to guess that it is because of the following:

1.  Summer is around the corner, and while I'd love to be rolling dice, I also want to sit in a lawn chair and enjoy the sunshine for the week of summer we get.

2.  I've been playing in a band, which is taking up a lot of creative brain power.

3.  I've been putting myself under the gun to create things for my mutant future campaign, which has been leaving me frazzled.  (speaking of I gotta draw a few maps before thursday).

Looks like we will be playing session 2 of our mutant future campaign this week.  I have a pile of locations ready to go! And it seems more keeps flowing every night (I work really well under the gun!).

I noticed in my facebook memories that yesterday last year was session 1 of our curse of strahd session!  Which is kinda neat.  Somehow our players are still alive????  Which I find odd.

(as ususal my posts are a bit A.D.D.)

Anyways, I'm being creative, just not being socially creative and sharing things.  For the most part because whenever this campaign is over I'm going to put it out (And it seems my focus is always on it).  It's going really well.  I find there is a lack of Mutant Future products out there, adventures and settings.  This is going to be a little bit of both.

Thus far its obviously a home campaign, but should be relatively easy to tweak and "re write" for mass consumption.  I've been smart about taking my hand written notes and transferring them to a google doc right away.

Last night I finished up a short little dungeon filled with Morlocks.  They are in a desolate cave.  (I will post more about it later, as some of my players are readers).   After reading the brief description on the Morlocks I noticed they have a "Technological affinity", which gives them bonuses on tech weapons because they spend the time to figure that out.  I instantly thought, "They are tweakers!".  Well they are technically intelligent, albino, cannibal tweakers.  

1d6 Morlock Tweaker Lair Oddities. 
1.  Large 15 foot metallic head made from rusted found metal.
2.  Converted solar powered school bus completed with laser cannons.
3.  Server farm built from old computers, filled with ebooks from a library
4.  A home theatre built from found theatre screens & equipment. Cartoons are on continually.
5.  Portable home made radiation scanner created from found tech including a geiger-counter & drone.
6.  Small airplane in a state of disrepair, engine parts and pieces all over the floor.  Large book sitting on wing "Air mechanics for dummies".

Anyways, that's what is up with me! (It's toonie tuesday at KFC tonight.  WOOO!)

Picture courtesy of https://www.oldbookillustrations.com/illustrations/lame-monster/ 

If you haven't heard I released a pile of maps for FREE! You can check em out here: 
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/211644/Wards-Warrens?src=newest

FREE Maps Download - Ward's Warrens - Volume 1

A Collection Of 13 hand drawn map. These maps by Shane Ward (3 Toadstools Publishing) are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License. Inquiries about permissions beyond the scope of this license should be made by contacting Shane Ward. Here is the download

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-hlnlR7qn5XSjl1ZU9LSFcxTzA

Please feel free to use these maps in your adventures, blog posts, zines or really any interesting media.

The Horrifying International Table Top Day

This past Saturday was "International Table Top Day", which I'm not entirely sure if it entails D&D or not? Whatever the case we were invited out to play some 5e at a friends place.  This was our first time playing with them and their group.  The plan was to have people show up most of the day and whenever someone was tired or wanted to go home that person would either die, or trade their character, or just float away ahhaa.  From having a few conversations with the DM in the past, I knew that he had his own home brewed world that he had been running and playing in for years (dating back to 1e I believe, some iterations of 2, 3 and now 5, possibly pathfinder as well).  I had figured that we would probably not being playing in that game, and probably a module of some sort.  Just because the logistics of explaining to new players all about your world would have taken an extraordinary amount of time for a one off.  The other reason i figured it was a module, and a   particularly deadly module was the following post in the facebook group:

Please bring 2 or 3 - 10th level pre generated characters with you. 

And I guessed right! Enter TOMB OF HORRORS (for fifth edition from Tales From The Yawning Portal).

I used this generator: http://www.orcpub.com/
and created a sorceror (which I've never played before) and a typical cleric which I almost always play.  Note: don't use a generator for a class you've never played before.  It is much smarter to read the book and create it.

I created a meat shield elven fighter for my wife.

When we got there we were waiting for one more player to show up, and then create his character, so our start time got pushed an hour and a bit.  In that time I created a wizard, which I'm hoping to play that class again at some point as I enjoyed it.  This particular wizard was the first to bite the dust.  Falling 100 feet.  After the wizard kicked it I created a basic meatshield fighter as we already had a cleric in the group.  His name was "Peon".   He also almost died a few times, and had we not called the game when we did he surely would have met an epic ending. 

I've come to the conclusion that while all the character class options are nifty, and all the extra races are nifty, I really like the basic rules, the basic classes and the basic races.  As well how the basic rules do character creation.  While I get that some people like a pile of options during creation I'm not one of those people. 

It is interesting playing with different groups, everyone has their own style of gaming.  A bit of reflection both our regular groups we play in like to role play a lot, whereas this group likes combat which is cool.  Of course we didn't have a lot of opportunity to roleplay as we were basically in the dungeon the whole time.  It was quite a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to playing with them again.