Evil Christmas and Adventures within New York City

Last game the players ended up saving Christmas. The holiday is still a week away but it was our last game together so I made a holiday themed adventure on the epic side of things.

Santa was for some reason in the Appalachian mountains, corrupted by the Book of Terrible things (or the Naughty List as most might know it) which has been recording the sins of humanity for so long it seems to have gained sentience.

The players fought some giant toy tanks and life-sized tin soldiers with permanent stuck on smiles. They did pretty well, though known of them can pilot a tank for shit and this almost got them blown up several times.

Santa's elves were building these war machines because of all the evil corruption going and the players decided it might be a good idea to stop this. That, and they discovered that Santa planned on shifting the poles which would have nearly destroyed the magnetosphere, which would have been bad for pretty much the entire planet.

Other highlights of the adventure include the players narrowly escaping a weeping angel made of ice, befriending a top hat-wearing ice elemental named Frosty, and getting there names written in a book that messed them up pretty bad.

The final fight with Santa included mind control on both sides, homicidal knife-wielding elves, flying reindeer, and two characters nearly dieing. This battle was made even more complicated by the fact that the players were getting dose with magic that increased their powers. But also made their bodies pour out energy and their abilities go haywire. Think telekinetic storms, swarms of summoned spiders, and floods.

Most of the time the players looked like this. I've been watching a lot of Doctor Who recently.

They ended up surviving the process and freeing Santa from his possession. As a reward he offered to teleport them and the car they are so fond of to wherever they wanted to go. They recently found out about a shady business called the Nero Corporation in New York City so that's where they chose to go.

It was an incredible session. Several of the players told me how it was out best game yet and ended up being quite epic. We won't play again until after our winter break so that was basically a season finale for us.

And I could not have a better option for a season premier. Throughout this campaign I've had vague ideas about what can be found throughout this semi-magical Earth I've been building. I've tried to keep most of these ideas loose so I can easily respond to the players.

New York is a big place even without supernatural elements. It's safe to say a lot goes on there. You could spend an entire campaign in the city in a variety of genres. I'm not sure how long the players will want to stay in New York but getting into the Nero Corporation won't be easy so chances are they'll be spending at least a couple sessions there.

I'm trying not to let myself get overwhelmed with what all I could put together but there are a few things I want to focus on. I'll probably expand on these in a later post:

-An area of decadence: The upper crust of society hiding out in high-rise penthouse apartments. Making multi-million dollar business deals and spending the gains on often times corrupt hobbies. This could include personal armies of adventurers to gather artifacts for them, dealing with expensive, and often times enchanted, artwork, throwing elaborate parties, and secret murders or potential rivals.

-An area of delinquency: Like the show misfits minus the accents. Everything is punk rock, recreational drug use, one-night stands, and superpowers. Nearly everyone in this area has a criminal record of some kind though it's often. Everybody is scrounging around to make a decent living but a select few have a wish of theirs answered by a gaining a superpower one day. This of course creates quite a bit of chaos.

Not sure yet what all this is going to entail but I'll try and keep posting about it. Let me know what you think especially if you have any ideas of your own.

A Chart of Terrible Things

My players are about to go up against someone very much like Santa (the holidays are coming up) and his first mode of attack after they mess with his shit is trying to figure out their names.

Once he does that he can add them to The Naughty list. At least that's what he calls it, it's also a slightly telepathic book of really evil things and causes terrible things to happen to those who have their names written in it.

Before you say anything, this is totally like the Book of Vile Darkness and the Death Note from the show Death Note. I'm glad it is because those things are cool.

Here's what can happen to you if your name is written in the book. Feel free to use it as a random curse chart as well.


1- random possession turned to coal
2- shadows writhe around you and attack at ill-opportune moments
3- vomit up stomach contents and can't keep anything down very easily
4- confronted by your worst fear
5- a loved one turns on you
6- you feel constantly embarrassed and uncomfortable, this makes it hard to do most things especially talk to people
7- vital organ is separated from rest of body, still functions but is very vulnerable, must be carried and protected
8- greatest weakness is exaggerated
9- hears constant whispering, can't hear as well, will eventually go mad
10- all body hair turns to webs, at best this is highly itchy, they will bite if someone tries to remove them, if player has venom/poison so will the spiders
11- a terrible deed you once did is now done to you
12- you develop a craving for your own flesh
13- Terrible luck, critical failure three times as often
14- you sweat blood, also pours from eyes, ears, nose, and mouth
15- teeth grow extremely long and twist together, cannot talk or eat unless broken or fixed
16- become brittle like glass, when your struck you tend to crack or shatter
17- dead loved one rises as murderous intelligent zombie and will come after you (think blackest night) they'll likely rise where they were buried (though they may just appear near you) either way you'll feel the dread as they track you down
18- people around you are compelled to tell you terrible things and critique you
19- change genders (may not be so bad)
20- your own personal plague follows you around, this can be anything from locusts to a cloud of fire, it'll act fairly randomly but mostly in your disinterest

I'll leave it up to you on how player's can reverse these curses. For me it's going to be some heavy duty magic or ritual, or maybe just invisible ink over their names. The book's pages are normally indestructible so you can't just tear your name out.

There's also a Nice list and having your name in that can cancel out any effects of the Naughty list. Just having your name in that book gives you a random benefit that I may post later.
.

Mad Science and Animal Hybrids

In my last post I mentioned a mad scientist creating a bunch of chimera-monsters. This was actually a zookeeper from Tennessee who went a bit mad and decided it would be a good idea to kidnap people and animals and start splicing them together. 

Why? Because the voices told him to, but also to make the world a weirder place and resemble its more magical past.

The players investigating these disappearing humans and animals (they were way more worried about the animals) and eventually stumbled across a bunch of these crude hybrids. One was a man with gorilla arms and the other had the horns and lower body of a bull. The gorilla man had already died when they found him but the bull man (who they named 'Benny' since he had amnesia) was still alive but slowly succumbing to infection.

They gave Benny some quick medical care in their stolen ambulance from the first game and from there found the zookeeper's underground lab. This was filled with chimeras he had created, some feral and wild and some preserved in stasis. There was also a Frankenstein monster which almost ended them, but for the most part they fought through or stealthed past most of the monsters without too much trouble.

In the inner-sanctum of the lab, they found the zookeeper who  called himself "The Surgeon". He tried to blow them up with a hidden bomb. They survived, but this woke up a the stasis chimeras and gave him time to run even deeper into the lab. After fighting off more chimeras, one of which included a man with a shark's head for a torso (just go with it) they found the Surgeon's final experiment: a pod that rapidly advanced the hybridization process.

He emerged with this pod as a winged centaur with snakes for arms. This new form tended to roll pretty badly though and even with several chimera henchman the player's plans were far superior than him. Rachel's siren character tried to mind-control interrogate him which led to this and to them finding out he had actually cut up his own brain and mailed the pieces throughout the world as a way to live again. They also got his bank account number since he won't be needing all that mad-science money anyway.

And of course they blew up the rest of his lab, because it wouldn't be an adventure without it.

For the chimeras I used a pretty simple chart where you roll to determine what body part is being replaced with what type of animal. I assumed most of the chimeras would be animal-human hybrids, but if you wanted something randomly determined instead of human you could roll on the animal chart, then the body chart, then the animal chart again and get a whole new set of options.

As far as stats go I usually come up with that on the spot with whatever seems to work best for the animal part that is rolled such as cat-chimeras having high agility/dexterity and most everything else being average.

These charts use a d6 and a d10 which I usually rolled simultaneously to save time. There's probably some overlap with the options and some of the results are pretty weird and may take some quick thinking but it's much easier than thinking up 20 or so chimeras without a chart.

To be replaced

1- Arm (s)

2- Leg (s)

3- Head/face

4- below neck

5- skin/hide

6- both beings alive but fused together in some way

Animals

1- Human

2- Reptile (snake, lizard, turtle)

3- Primate (chimp, gorilla, spider monkey)

4- Feline (lion, tiger, house cat)

5- Farm animal (goat, horse, cow)

6- Cephalopod (octopus,squid, cuttlefish)

7- Aquarian (shark, fish)

8- Avian (eagle, raven, robin)

9- Canine (dog, wolf, coyote)

10- Rodent (mouse, rat, capybara)

The apocalypse is something you can fight (and it should be)

She was in space. The stars swirled around her in a galactic spiral, but they were funneling away. All away. There she saw a void in the universe, consuming the energy and life around it. She looked at the void and could feel its intelligence and its stare. It burned a place within her mind where her own insignificance merged with its contempt.  Her mind fell back to the earth, but she could still feel the thing in the darker parts of her thoughts. It was the end, the limit, a living apocalypse, and its hunger was coming...

This is sort of a novelized version of what happened to one of my players last game. She used her mind control powers to try and figure out where the villain was getting his orders and all of a sudden her mind was whisked away to a dark corner of space and within the gaze of Eschaton the Devourer, though she doesn't know that's who he is. As far as the player's are concerned she met some kind of Sauron-eye, black hole thing.

They're not that far off really. Eschaton is definitely a lot like those things and also like Azathoth from Lovecraftian works, Galactus from marvel, and Korrok from "John Dies at the End".

Basically I wanted something that could be "a living apocalypse" and one day had a stress induced dream very similar the narrative in italics. It's sort of like a giant space funnel with stars, nebulae, planets and whatever all draining out of the universe.

I wasn't going to introduce Eschaton that session and hadn't had a real plan for him. But the villain the players were fighting had a lab and a whole bunch of chimera monsters. He was a former zoo keeper so after the players defeated him they wanted to know where his funding came from to have this incredible mad science lab.

A reasonable question, but of course I hadn't prepared for this. I had already thought of this Eschaton thing so it worked out that even though he's a sentient void of all matter, he also controls some kind of wealth that is being deposited into this villains bank account. How this actually works the players aren't sure but it will probably be through a corporation Eschaton psychically controls.

Here's what's going with him: As sentient destruction, Eschaton's lifespan lasts eons. He feeds on massive quantities of energy and matter to survive and as long he feeds he can survive indefinitely. But there's only so much energy and mass left in the universe. He knows this and has calculated that he won't be able to survive for much longer (relative to him, this could be thousands of years).

So he psychically scoured the universe for an answer to his food shortage and found the Earth. Bathed in mystical energies and essentially serving as a crossroads for a multitude of other dimensions, the Earth is Eschaton's answer. By feeding on it, he can gain access to other universes and thus other food.

But the Earth is far away, really far away. So far, his destruction won't be able to reach it before he dies of starvation. Earth is fortunately filled with summoning rituals that can magically bring him closer. So that means he needs folks on the planet to complete these rituals. Using his god-like telepathy, he can communicate and even possess people on Earth. But due to the distance and arrangements of certain planetary bodies he can only do this on certain occasions. Think of this as light from the sun, sometimes the moon or the earth itself prevents the light from reaching you, telepathic energy can act like this when used on a cosmic scale.

Eschaton will possess and persuade key people on the Earth to help forward his arrival. The rituals they perform often attract a lot of attention and general make their surroundings more weird or magical such as cursing towns or releasing hell spawn.

He's already burned in one player's mind, but I think these rituals will likely attract the other player's attention. If they interfere then they will attract the Apocalypse's attention, and that's good because I think that can make for a good story. But we will have to wait and see.

Songs of the Old World

Long before man covered the world in steel and smog, magic was more powerful and accepted as a fact of life.

Magicians and magical creatures living in modern times have only limited access to the primordial energies that were once common and they have to struggle much more to master their abilities.

Those looking for a quicker route to power often seek out certain works of art created during the old days. These can be anything from paintings to songs. Once something with supernatural abilities gains exposure to these works they receive a rush of ancestral memories with new insight to their power.

Once such song was by Florence the Bard who is said to have thought with the Wisdom of Owls and sang with the Voice of Dragons.

The ultimate form of this sound is recorded on a piece of magically cut crystal. Listening to the vibrations from this crystal can have such an incredible effect that listeners can awaken whole new abilities. Some of these are ancient and long forgotten so the results can be unpredictable.

Mirrors of Moment

Many cultures have become fascinated with mirrors. Their surfaces are told to hold secrets and wonders by many. But few mirrors are as powerful as the ones of Moment.

These have been ritually prepared to capture the instances they reflect but for only a split second. Once they have done this, the mirror appears as a framed, but very realistic picture of whatever it has captured.

Those who know the proper words or gestures can release these images from the mirrors and cause those who have done so to briefly relive whatever event the mirror had been reflecting. Originally this was done to preserve things of historical significance such as a king's coronation, but some priests have fashioned these mirrors into weapons by capturing such things as a raging storm, rampaging animal, or even a vicious plague.

Weaponized mirrors will often work only once as it is far easier and cheaper to prepare them this way, but mirrors of history were often funded by rich proprietors and as such can replay their reflection nearly infinitely.

These historical moments are more than just illusions as well. As long as one relives the few minutes a mirror can hold, they can interact with it physical and any persons in the reflection will react to their presence. No objects can be taken from the reflection, but wounds can be dealt from it.

It's nearly 2 a.m. here and...

I'm bored, I feel like writing some campaign stuff before sleep, but I'm not sure of what. I think I'll just start listing some ideas I have for coming up adventures

• Extreme Demolition Derby- I'm thinking this will be in Texas, I'm not sure why it just seems like a good place. The players want weapon upgrades for their van and this seems like a good chance for them to earn them and test them out. The other competitors will have super-powered vehicles and bigger-than-life names.
• Blood bank is robbed- obviously by vampires but it won't be vampires. I'm thinking Blood Demon (I might write about him later) There will be a coven of vampires in the same town but they won't be involved in anyway. I hope they players feel tricked.
• Insane asylum- maybe abandoned, this is scary anyway. I'm not sure what will be here, but I like how dead island has guys in straight jackets that can level you. They don't have access to their arms but they just repeatedly headbutt you and tackle you to death.
• Something to do with diners- I don't know why, but diners seem awesome to me. Like pit stops in adventure, but they still seem like a place where adventure can happen. I should have a campaign that's starts at a diner. I once tried to start a campaign that revolved around one diner, it never took off. I obviously use them a lot here.
• I've been posting links a lot, is that annoying? Let me know, anyway...
• I've been thinking about villains. Overarching villains can be fun, but you have to be careful. I've tried to force long-lasting villains on players and they don't seem to take well. The best ones I've used seem to develop naturally, like a minor villain that disturbs the players just so and manages to get away, perhaps multiple times.
• There should be a group of politicians in D.C. who are all warlocks. Some dabble in dark magic and get possessed so now there are demons controlling Washington. Now this seems like a good place for a villain, perhaps I'll put the bait out there and see if my players bite.
• The voodoo priestess from the last game got away, along with her pet alligators. She totally freaked out the player's. They totally thought they killed her, but her whole origin is that she died and came back so it's not that much of a stretch to have her reappear. But to what end? revenge? maybe...
• So I guess there are two options for some bigger, boss villain types I'm so fond of. I don't have much of an overarching story for this modern America + the supernatural game I've started. Right now I'm more interested in player choice, which I guess is important but direction ain't bad either, still I don't want them to feel forced into something, hmm. Maybe I'll just hint at some stuff, whatever it may be, hell if I know for right now but If i figure it out I'll let you know.
• So far, I've been a big fan of the modern fantasy setting and making a game for it has been easier than any other game I've worked on. I have some ideas why, but maybe I'll write about it later.

Well that was a rant, and it feels good to put some of that stuff out there. If you have any thoughts/suggestions I'd love to hear them. Anyway, maybe it's time for bed.

Road Tripping Chart

Now that the players are going to be cruising around in the ambulance they got here and will be upgrading it with the stuff they have here, I decided to write a multidimensional chart on stuff that might happen as they travel from place investigating the supernatural. It's quite in interesting chart if I do say so, though it's mostly several charts combined. I'd love to hear your thoughts or possible additions.

How it works mostly is you first roll a d4, then depending on what you get there you roll a d20 on one of four other charts. The attack chart also includes a d6 roll if you want to add even more variety. If you know you want the players to run into an attack or a business of some sort you could also just skip the first step and just roll for the table you want.

But if your just want something straight random, I'd recommend rolling a d4, and a d20, and a d6 all at once so that no matter what you get you already have numbers generated to choose things. Might save a few seconds in the middle of a game.

Road Tripping chart

1- Players are attacked in some way

2- prominent business of some sort

3- event or activity of some kind catches players eye

4- natural event of some kind

Attacked on the Road

1- meth dealers, they are driving an RV, it's their lab on wheels

2- motorcycle gang, there are d6+3 members, they fight with chains, crowbars, guns, knuckle weapons, knives

3- cops, depending on the situation the players may be being pursued for an actual crime they committed, being falsely pursued, or the police are doing some sort of routine check

4- inter-dimensional marauders, they appear from a portal of some sort, most likely non-human fighter types, but a few have magical or super science abilities

5- land based animal instinct monster of some kind, should be region specific if possible, 80% it's some kind of cryptid, 20% it's a regular item of some sort

6- same as above but flying

7- still flying, but this is by someone with human intellect, 50% of the time they are flying by supernatural means, otherwise by plane, helicopter, etc.

8- same as 5, but it's a water like creature, if no water available then they are burrowing through the ground

9- same as 8, but this is of someone of human intelligence, 50% of the time they are doing this by supernatural means, otherwise by boat, or drill, etc.

10- rival adventurers with upgraded car of some sort

11- hunters, they are going after one or more of the players because they are a rare supernatural creature

12- Something from one of the player's pasts

13- something or someone that exploits a player weakness

14- something or someone that can easily be taken advantage of by a player

15- an investigator looking into something mysterious the player's have recently been involved in, they likely won't be immediately hostile, but more interested in asking questions

16- a single person or creature without a vehicle, but they wield enormous and obvious magical power

17- revenge! Someone or something wronged by the players

18- cultists, most likely with some kind of supernatural leader, but maybe it's just a charismatic human

19- Military, like cops, but tougher, with way better gear

20- roll twice, the two groups are working together

Enemy Tactics

1-stealthy, will try and ambush players

2- honorable, will challenge players for some reason

3- impulsive, attack head on

4- unaware, players can try and ambush or avoid

5-equal terms, both sides notice each other at same time

6- fearful, will avoid players

Prominent Business

1-Academic, a school or university, 50% percent chance they are looking into a cryptid or magical circumstance, otherwise something mundane but sciency

2- Diner, human owned and relatively normal, if they players stop to eat, something weird will happen outside (roll on the chart again)

3- Diner, normal on the surface, but the food is kind of weird, something kind of weird is going on behind the scenes, either non-human chefs or the diner is a front for illegal activities

4- Diner, this one is overtly weird with it all either being nonhuman or everyone talks backwards or something, roll on enemy tactics chart to see how they react to players

5- Magical-Curiosity Shoppe, they should have some kind of regional magic such as potions with local ingredients, wards of common magical hazards/beings, maybe something offensive as well

6- Clinic, cheap, they offer medical care, but their will be limits on what they can do, they will also be more likely okay with anything overtly magical since they're sort of desensitized

7- Clinic, expensive, they can do more medically, but they are more likely to freak out from cryptids or magical stuff

8- Mundane weapon shop, depending on the area they might focus more on firearms or melee, or maybe something more exotic

9- Fancy restaurant, human owned and normal, but plenty of rich folk with money, you probably can't get in without dressing up some

10- Fancy restaurant, owned by a supernatural, employs all supernaturals, and serves food for a variety of supernaturals, might still be regular people their, they might be oblivious

11- Theater, 50% it's for movies, either wise it's a live performance, currently being shown is something remarkably close to previous player exploits

12- some kind of area for back-alley, street fighting competitions

13- House of worship, the sign says it is for a major religion, but there is a 40% chance the player's see something ominous and off going on

14- House of worship, this is obviously for some kind of cult or weird-ish religion

15- Mechanic, cheap, but all they can really work on is regular car stuff

16- Mechanic, expensive, but they can work on weapons and other vehicular upgrades

17- Sewage plant, but something's going wrong because it's starting to flood the road and it stinks, if the players just drive by they have to make a handling check with some penalties for smell and flood

18- Zoo, mostly mundane, but there is advertising that they've captured some kind of mythical creature or urban myth, 20% chance this a fake claim, otherwise it's legitimate

19- General store, gas station, there is a 40% that if the player's stop here they will get attacked, roll on that chart too then

20- Library, it's mostly normal, but likely has information on something going on the player's are interested in

On the Road event or activity

1- cops trying to apprehend criminal of some sort, 40% the criminal is magical in nature

2- A street vendor is rapidly handing out some type of product to the locals, their selling like hotcakes, but the players see they do something weird and magical to the people who get them, this could be bad or good

3- There are several journalists in this area, tv and newspaper, who are covering something, 20% chance it's something mundane like a fair or something, otherwise it's something exciting, roll again if need be

4- street racers in fast and colorful cars, they'll likely challenge the players in their weirdo car

5- political rally of some sort, depending on the situation the politician could be preaching anti-supe sentiment, pro-supe, or something else entirely

6- tribal or shamanistic ritual, it's in the middle of the road, driving through is likely going to tick off the participants or do something worse

7- roll twice on the enemies chart, they are fighting each other and not paying much attention to players

8- obvious drug deal goes down in front of players

9- New business is opening (roll on that table) they are offering services/prices for free or reduced prices

10- The player's have wandered into an area of old time, as far as they can tell they are really in some past era, but after they leave things return to modern earth

11- The player's have wandered into an area infused by some other realm or dimension, once they leave things return to normal

12- the player's are in a small town, but they don't see anyone around

13- there's a wild and crazy party going on in the streets

14- construction, if the player's don't go through it they will have to reroute, if that's the case roll all over again for this stage of the journey

15- Robbery occurs in front of players, it can be a bank, a liquor store, a museum, or whatever

16- The player's hear about something incredibly valuable in the area, they know where it is, and what protection it may have, could be tempting

17- roll on the business table, the players see that business but it then explodes

18- the player's see someone in jeopardy like a family, a bus full of kids, a wealthy business man, etc. roll on either the natural event table or the attack table to see what the danger is

19- They players come across corpses of regular humans, they've died in some mysterious way, unknown sickness, obviously magical, or murder

20- The players come across corpses of something magical in nature, it could be a giant whale, a burning vampire, etc.

Natural Event

• most of the time, this chart will combine with others and just adds further dressing, it may or may not even come into play that much
• if something is rolled and not area appropriate, reroll, or it could just be weird, or magical, or whatever

1- clear and sunny

2- clear but night time, you can clearly see the moon and stars, darkness penalty

3- night time, but the moon is full or at least nearly so, it's less dark, this may have varying other effects

4- raining and overcast during the day

5- raining and nighttime

6- Foggy and humid, anything ground level takes penalties

7- oddly hot for wherever you are

8- oddly cold for where you are

9- fast gusts of wind, depending on the region this may build into a tornado

10- tornado

11- furious storm, wind, rain, lightning, the works

12- this areas on fire could be natural or not

13- earthquake, roll a d10 for richter rating

14- nighttime, there's a meteor shower, something lands nearby

15- snowing

16- hailing

17- blizzard, driving wind and snow, low visibility

18- firestorm, an inferno that feeds itself

19- Dust storm

20- Acid rain

Vehicle upgrades

So the V&V modern fantasy game I'm running is going to be taking a bit of a road trip. The players will be upgrading an ambulance they totally stole so that it can handle the likely upcoming road battles.

They've got a contact whose willing to do it for free, but they are only getting a set amount of points to spend and they will have to figure out what they consider to be important.

Ambulance

Vehicle:Van

Weight:6000 lbs 

Passengers: 1+7

Cargo Capacity: 2200 lbs 

Speed: . 90 in./turn

Hit Points: Disable: 30 Demolish: 120

-In addition to these stats there is also a siren as well as various medical supplies left over from when it was an actual emergency vehicle.

Medical supplies:

• 3 shots of epinephrine (1d10 + 5 temporary hit points)
• 5 shots of morphine (you can't go unconscious from damage but you don't get to know your hitpoints)
• Defibrillator with one charge (recharges every 8 hours, cannot be removed from ambulance, gives unconscious an automatically successful wake-up roll)
• 3 pints of blood (have to stay one ice, medic check to determine type)
• one stretcher

Upgrades

Starting points: 100 Current points:

*indicates upgrades that remove one passenger slot

• Nitrous (boosts speed to 150% for 1d4 turns, 5 points per charge)
• Paint job (make it look however you want, 2 points)
• Armor Plating (each upgrade gives a bonus 1 armor rating per point spent)
• Shocks (Reduces the handling penalty for jumps and bumps, 10 points)
• Engine quality (permanently increases speed by 20in./per turn per upgrade, 10 points per)
• All terrain tires (reduces handling penalties for off-road travel, also less chance of getting stuck, 10 points)
• Bullet proof windows (improves structural rating of windows, 20 points)
• Hydraulics (allows vehicle convert between a speed and turning mode, and an off-terrain mode, 20 points)
• Contained Bath (allows for full-submergence in water: 5 points, triple cost makes this a vitamin bath that speeds health recovery)*
• 1 Foot metal spike, choose location (does conceivable spike things: 1 point per spike, triple makes it retractable)
• Tech Support (20 points for portable computer and wifi)
• PA system (project any audio message from car, 5 points, for 10 points this can weaponized when combined with sonic abilities)
  
  
  I might add more later if I think of anything.

the Swamp Doctors

To me this sounds like a good band name, the Swamp Doctors, it's also a current group name my new players have adopted for themselves. I've just started a new campaign today with a group of almost all new players, and it's awesome.

This was one of the best games I've ran in a long time. It was fast-paced with plenty of dramatic successes and failures.

The new game is modern fantasy and were using the Villains and Vigilantes system with some modifications and house rules. Most of it is every day earth, but with an underlying tone of darkness and supernatural elements. I gave the players the option to choose some of their powers as well as roll some randomly. They either came as innate magical qualities, spells, or devices of some sort.

Here's what we ended up with:

-This is my girlfriend Rachel's first full campaign. She's playing as a siren with sonic powers and seduction-like mind control. She also has the skills of a master thief.

-Doug used to GM for his old group, he's possible more excited about this game then I am. He's playing as a well-groomed business executive who's both telekinetic and telepathic. He's also a burn victim and is terrified of fire. With heightened intelligence he gets just a shit-ton of skills to train in.

-My buddy Danny has been wanting to play for a while. As far as I can tell, He's some sort of Werespider with blade-like arachnid limbs that can erupt from his back. For his weakness he chose a fear of hospitals, doctors, and medicine in general due to the fact he was forced to have surgery that gave him magical eyes that induce fear and shoot lasers. He's also a detective.

-Danny's girlfriend Katie is also playing. She's essentially a mermaid without the tail with poisonous fish spines and the ability to breath underwater. She can't be separated from water for too long, however. Her other weakness is electricity and she's also trained in a lot of treasure hunting skills.

I tasked them with stopping a zombie apocalypse in the middle of the New Orleans French quarter. In V&V hand-to-hand attacks can be difficult without training so most of the zombies weren't a problem for the players.

They had to spend a lot of time figuring out how people were becoming infected. This lead them to a hospital where they decided things would be easier if they stole scrubs and pretended to by doctors to get a hold of an ambulance.

The player's finally tracked down a voodoo cult in the middle of the swamp who was responsible for spreading infection throughout the city. This is when things got tough for them. There were several cultists with swords as well as the brainwashed twin sister of the NPC who gave them the quest.

This cult was being led by a decrepit voodoo priestess being kept alive by fusing herself with the plants of the swamp. The priestess also had tow pet alligators defending her. One of them bit Katie and dragged her unconscious body underwater. Thankfully she can't drown and the water helped wake her up.

Somehow the player's managed to separate the grandmother from her roots and vines, killing her in the process as well as ending the infection and causing the structure they were in to collapse right after they escaped.

As reward I was going to give the players a vehicle of their choosing, but instead they chose to pimp out the ambulance they stole which is way cooler. They also deciding to leave the city of New Orleans for a while, and wait for the heat from the destruction they caused to die down.

I'm excited for the ensuing road trip game coming up. I think they will be going to the mountains or the coastline. Either way I have some planning to do.

Zombie Invasion Event Table

Hey, two posts in one day, I guess I'm just in that kind of mood. Anyway, here's some sweet stuff that might happen during a zombie apocalypse. Combine it with this Link to get just a ridiculous amount of options for a zombie game.

1- Mini horde d4+1 zombies

2- group of people getting attacked and surrounded

3- person watching loved one getting turned

4- random citizen is kicking ass (they've got a gun, throwing knives, chainsaw, bat, etc.)

5- a clearly bit person is asking for help

6- mini horde of d4+1 but some other creature is leading them (mage, vampire, scientist, etc.)

7- zombies surrounding vehicle or building with people

8- larger horde, they just keep coming, gotta run for it, or kill maybe like d20 + d10

9- person is asking for help (50% chance bitten but they're hiding it)

10- zombie ambush (they are stealthy, compete with character's perception)

11- zombies are trying to get past some natural barricade between you and them

12- regular people are looting this area (40% chance this attracts some zombies)

13- this areas pretty on fire (80% there's zombies here, either way there's some looting or an obstacle of some sort)

14- this areas flooded (80% zombies, still looting and obstacle)

15- several obstacle like features (dead weight cars, tables, chairs, rubble, broken electronics) 80% zombies

16- the zombies here are dogs, or maybe some other animal

17- these zombie employ unusually smart tactics

18- start fighting some zombies, then some you were sure were dead come back and attack

19- these zombies are all really hungry, weak but desperate

20- talking zombies, but doesn't talk to you, maybe about you though, or gibberish

Random Zombie Table

I'm starting a modern fantasy game tomorrow. The players are starting in New Orleans during a voodoo zombie invasion. Here's what I'm rolling on in case I need zombie with a little flair.

1-still has some semblance of humanity (they still look human, child with stuffed animal, etc.)

2- fast, aggressive zombie, charges and mauls

3- slow, stupid zombie

4- heavy charger zombie

5- zombie clumsily using a weapon

6- former wealthy person (more money, nice clothes, jewelry, etc.)

7-stealthy stalking zombie

8- pincushion (d4 weapons sticking out of them)

9- far gone zombie (rotting and gross, horror check)

10- obviously some former occupation (cop, UPS guy, chef, construction worker, etc.)

11- trap zombie (looks like corpse)

12- spitting/leaking (acid, blood, mucus)

13- getting pecked at by birds as it walks around

14- mutilated (roll d6: 1-missing arm, 2- crippled legs, 3- no lower body, 4- no jaw, 5- organs spilling out, 6-roll twice)

15- occupied (feeding, banging head against wall, etc.)

16- super fat zombie, vomits (attracts horde)

17- screamer

18- jockie zombie

19- smells like gas

20- further mutated (extra limbs, heart on face or other shuffled organs, plants growing out of body, etc.)

Saponmancy

Numerous magicians have learned to use their alchemical knowledge to create soap and bathwater in the same way one would brew a magic potion.

These "Saponmancers" will often combine a variety of salts, soaps, perfumes, and powders to create concoctions that can bestow many possible effects for those who bathe in them.

Saponmancy can be a very lucrative, and secret college of magic. Well trained practitioners will often start their own bathhouses or spas and keep their recipes well hidden, for fear of competitors. Admittance to these businesses is often very expensive, and as such are mostly used by the wealthy and noble class.

Very rarely, these spas will become a visiting place for creatures from higher planes looking for a place of magical rest, very similar to the bathhouse in Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away." These creatures could be anything from local spirits to angels or demons. Because even the Lord of the Nine Hells needs a break now and then.

Saponmancers are trained magic users and alchemists. As such, many are familiar with ways to use their powers in deadly ways. They are often skilled at creating explosives using the highly combustible fats and oils used in making soap, and many specialize in poisons that can affect entire water supplies and that are absorbed through the skin.

Some even delve into necromancy using grave wax, or the soap made from the fat of corpses for their bathes.

Gaining the effects of a Saponmancy bath usually takes at least 10 minutes of soaking as the ingredients used are diluted. The effects last 24 hours unless stated otherwise. Higher concentrations or certain catalysts allow the bather to absorb the effects more quickly and even instantaneously, but usually with harmful side effects.
 

Saponmancers use several specific ingredients for the water to achieve certain affects. Usually many other secret ingredients are required as well.

Here's some options for random Saponmancy baths or soaps

1- Blood Lily, gives the bather a d4 increase in Strength or a similar stat
2- Catnip, gives the bather a d4 increase in Dexterity or a similar stat
3- Ginkgo Biloba, gives the bather a d4 increase in Intelligence or a similar stat
4- Whitestripe Bamboo,  gives the bather a d4 increase in Constitution or a similar stat
5- Cherry Blossom Petals, gives the bather a d4 increase in Charisma or a similar stat
6- Vanda Orchid, gives the bather a d4 increase in Wisdom or a similar stat
7- Ginseng Root, gives the bather a faster reaction rate, any reflex save or something similar such as a roll to dodge will increase by d8.
8- Dong Quai, gives the bather an increased resistance to disease, any save against disease is at a plus d8, the bather can also save immediately on any disease they have already contracted. If this does not cure the disease it will not worsen for 24 hours.
9- Venus Fly Trap, the bather gains a "trap sense" within 15 feet of them. This is a general feeling of unease, but the player may not necessarily understand what the feeling is about. Rolls to find traps are at a plus 10.
10- Valerian Root, puts the bather in a deeply relaxed state but inattentive state, this acts as a sleep spell and lasts just as long. High concentrations last longer, even to the point of putting the bather in a coma.
11- Devil's Mint, puts the bather in a highly suggestive state, they will do what is commanded of them by anyone for the next hour. They get saves against anything they would not normally do. Skilled Saponmancers can even concoct a bath of Devil's Mint where the bather will only listen to them.
12- Crane Flower, gives the bather a general proficiency with "Eastern" weapons such as katanas, shurikens, nunchaku, bladed fans, sai, etc. If the bather already knows how to use these weapons they get a decent bonus.
13- Rue, the bather breaks out in painful blisters all over the exposed parts of the body, the bather loses roughly 10% of their health and can not gain it back until after 24 hours. This health cannot be recovered by any other way accept by Sopanmancy.
14- Aloe, the bather recovers all lost hitpoints
15- Sea Salt, the bather gains waterbreathing for d6 hours
16- Grave Wax from an individual, the bather gains memories as if they drank from a Goblet of Atli
17- Grave Wax from numerous individuals, if the bather is living this has no effect, if the bather is a corpse they rise as a zombie after an hour of total submergence.
18- White Lotus, the bather gains an aura of nobility for d4 hours, others will instantly recognize the bather as a member of some higher order or class depending on the local society, how they react is up to the individual
19- Grey Ooze Soap, the bather's flesh and bones melt away and they take on a semi-liquid state for d4-1 hours, while in this form they can not carry equipment and can generally only interact with the environment by making slam-like attacks. But, they can squeeze through the smallest cracks and take no penalty for doing so. When the user reforms they will be naked as they will have dropped all of their equipment.
20- Hydra Oil, the bather cannot be killed by decapitation for the next d4 hours. Instead when their head is cut off they will grow three new heads, these new heads will also be affected by the Hydra Oil bath. After the bath wears off, excess will shrivel away leaving the bather with a single head again.

Tell me what you think of this Campaign idea

Summer approaches, and while I'll be working (probably washing dishes so that's awesome) the lack of school means my friends and I should have a lot more free time and thus more time to game.

James is working on a post-apocalyptic psy-GURPS campaign that is partly based off of the webcomic Freakangels. It sounds really cool, I'm excited about it. And if you don't know what Freakangels is you need to.

There might be a few orgies.

I think some of my other friends are considering possible D&D campaigns, which is great. I of course have a lot of fun with that game. But I also have a current D&D campaign going, and while I love the world I've been building I can't help but think things would be better with a little more variety in our gaming selection.

So I'm looking at other options, but I don't want to half-ass this and I really want to get some feedback.

There's an idea I've had for a while for an urban fantasy setting. The time period is contemporary but the characters would be dealing with the supernatural. They players would be free to create wizards, sorcerers, or any other type of spellcaster but they could also be pretty much any supernatural race. It would be to their benefit to play something that can easily blend in with normal humans, but If they want to just be a winged serpent or some giant sentient beetle or something I'm cool with that.

Here's the twist, if you want to call it that, the campaign is going to be tied to a restaurant all of the pc's work at. So in addition to being a devilish fireslinger, they'd also be a part-time fry cook, or something like that. But they're far from the only restaurant in town and I'm thinking they might spend a lot of time dealing with their competition.



If they want to do this legitimately that's fine, they're are adventures for that. Questing for rare ingredients is a staple for any fantasy adventure. But I'm guessing things are going to get underhanded. Sabotage, kidnapping, curses, illusions, maybe even outright murder all seem like some excellent fun.

I'm sort of in love with this idea. Mixing the mundane with the fantastic is to me the heart of urban fantasy. These wizards, selkies, and demons are all trying to just earn a buck and live like the rest of us but they do so with magic, and that's fun.

I'm sure there's game systems out their that are built for this type of role playing and if you know of any of any feel free to let me know along with why you think it's good. But I'd prefer not having to buy or learn something new. So right now I'm looking at Villains and Vigilantes.

It's a superhero rpg and it has sort of vague, rather underdeveloped rules for spellcasting characters like Dr. Strange. But my group has used it for supernatural campaigns before and it works well. Mechanically there is no real difference between pyrokinesis as a super power or as magic so using the regular super powers would work fine for our purposes.

V&V offers some serious variety. Most of it is developed randomly, but from that entropy you can really develop any theme and it will work in game fairly well. Plus the benefit of playing with your friends is often trust. I trust my group enough to forget about acquiring their powers randomly. If they really want to play an ice mage I'm okay with just giving them ice powers instead of them having to roll for ice powers.

But if you think there's something that is going to work better, let me know. I'm open to trying something new.

Fire Safety and Random Tables

I used to spend a lot more time developing adventures, too much time even. Not only does a GM not need to have every detail meticulously planned out, but there adventure is usually better if they wing it at least a little.

But it takes time and experience to develop this skill and to become comfortable enough to try it.

I don't like just winging it though. I've ran complete improve games and sometimes they are pretty good, but they can also be a complete mess.

To help create a balance of structure and on-the-spot creativity I've been developing a lot of random tables.

I used to hate the idea of random tables, and I'm still hesitant to use other people's. I always thought it would be better just to always think of everything myself, but I would often have trouble figuring out where to put everything.

I know I would want a pit full of snakes and falling icicles but I wouldn't always know what hallway to put them in or what room they would fit in.

So now I let fate decide, I write up everything I want in a given situation and put it on a table I can easily roll on. Depending on what I'm doing I may have to roll everything before the actually game but sometimes I don't have to roll until actual play. I usually need to create a basic layout of what I'm doing as well.

This system may require some tweaking throughout and sometimes I'll forget randomness and still plan somethings, but that's usually when I'm sure I know what I want.

But this is dealing with entropy in a creative system so of course you're not getting an exact science.


In the next post I'll talk about how this system actually worked in-game.

Ancient Artifacts- The Goblet of Atli

My buddy James is really into Norse mythology. I'm more of a Greek man myself, but they are pretty awesome nonetheless.

He is taking a class on the subject so he's always reading a different myth. I usually hear about them in some way.

Here's one he told me the other day: There once was a king named Atli, or maybe Atil, but Atli sounds much better to me.

Atli was a greedy king and he often coveted the wealth of his wife's brothers. So Atli killed his brothers-in-law, claiming their wealth for his own.

When his wife learned of this she was furious. For revenge, she killed Atli's sons. She then tricked Atli into eating his son's roasted hearts and drinking from cups fashioned from their skulls.

While things don't end well for Atli. It's tough to debate the bad assness that is drinking from a skull. But who want's to drink from just any skull? Why not have your skull cup tailored specifically based off of the original owner.

A Goblet of Atli is no one single object, but a way to prepare a skull as a drinking container to gain certain magical benefits.

Anyone who drinks from a Goblet of Atli can learn one thing that was known by the skull's previous owner, but this can only be done once per day.

This preparation will be a spell or ritual. The level should be similar to the level of the deceased, the time required should take anywhere from 1-8 hours depending on how high the deceased's intelligence score is.

You can use the Goblet as a hint for players when they get a bit lost, or a quest hook to offer them new options.

I've also made a handy d20 chart for when player's drink from a Goblet of Atli but you have no idea what they should learn. This will also help from the Goblet just becoming an instant answers item.

1: Something everyone in your world already accepts as fact and would have a really hard time arguing otherwise, example: the sky is blue, grass is green or whatever. This could be anything the skull's old owner used to think of as an obvious fact, so it could be some delusion they suffer or some prejudice like the devil speaks through the chirping of birds or all elves are cheaters

2: The drinker learns of a belief or moral philosophy that the skull's owner believed in like lying is wrong or don't kill. Again, this isn't really that applicable to a game, but represents getting slightly deeper into the subject's psyche

3-7: Some random tidbit of information like the location of an object, the name of a pet or person, etc. This could be useful or not depending on the GM's mood.

8-12: Same as 3-7, but this is much more likely to be something the players could actually benefit from

13-17: General knowledge of some skill that the skull's owner was pretty good at, this could be anything from baking to spell casting. The drinker gets a plus 1d4 bonus to checks related to that skill for the next hour

18: A secret of some kind, something a person would almost never share otherwise.

19: The drinker is concentrated enough to pick from any of the lower options but most roll again to see if they can pick specifics. On a 13 or greater they can, otherwise the GM picks, so they could pick a skill roll a 16 and pick whatever they want, but if they roll a 9 you pick for them.

20: The drinker can seek out any type of information that the skull's owner knew of. This can be anything, if they pick something the skull does not know of they can pick again until they find something available.

Color Theory 101

I wonder how long I'll keep up this college theme before I get sick of it. You let me know if it starts to get old. Right now I kind of like it though.

So as part of my art minor I'm taking a design course. It can be a tough class, but covers some things that you artists might consider basic. Like the color wheel for instance.

For those of you who don't know. There are three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. These colors have compliments such as green, purple, and orange in that order. When a primary is mixed with it's compliment it tends to make a more neutral, usually brown like color.

In painting we mix pigments like this to try and get less intense colors and more earth like tones that you see more of in the natural world.

This, like many things, gave me an idea for a game mechanic. I used something similar for my SAGE entry with Zak S. here. You will probably have to scroll down pretty far to find it, but it is in orange and basically consists of a treasure chest you can only open by matching colors with their compliment.

A pretty simple mechanic, but simple isn't always bad. I think I could expand it to a whole dungeon though. There would colored barriers of light that you couldn't get through without first countering them with light that was their complimentary color. 

So, say there is a green barrier, you have to shine red light on it to get through. This does use the classic 'reflect light to solve puzzle' mechanic but also makes it a little more interesting.

The players may have to find a colored lens somewhere in the dungeon to get the light to the right hue or they may get creative and say run the light through a semi-transparent colored cloth or something (assuming they have one of course.)

You could even toss it into combat. Take a regular baddie, than spice him up with a hazardous aura of light or force field that once again can't be neutralized without using light of the complimentary color.

I'm probably going to take things a step further by shamelessly stealing a little something from DC comics.

Don't know what that is? Those are the rings of the seven main Lantern Corps. The center one being the most famous. They have one for the main colors of the rainbow - ROYGBIV or red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

What's more is that each color has an emotion tied to it. Red for rage, Orange for greed or avarice, Yellow for fear, Green for willpower, Blue for hope, Indigo for compassion, and Violet for love.

Using this idea, I can give my my rainbowy dungeon a new way to mess with the players, which is always good. Now, there are light based traps and weapons for the enemies.

Say your players really need that red lens to get through that green barrier. Well a wizard has that lens. And he knows how to use it to send the heroes into a blood boiling berserker rage. This rage may give them an attack bonus but I'm sure they aren't going to be thinking to clearly or making the best decisions.

Of course since my original plan only calls for six colors I'll probably cut out indigo. I wasn't sure how to convey compassion as a game mechanic anyway. 

Although what exactly am I going to do for hope or willpower? They seem mostly like ways to increase moral so I think that's what how the enemies will use them as well. Avarice should be interesting, I think it is going to force you to spend your action trying to steal from the nearest person, friend or foe. Love and fear already have pretty solid game mechanics so I'll just use those.

Now, what monster will actually be in this color coded place? I'm thinking those mirror people, Nerras. In 4.0 they basically look like humanoid prisms, which to me means they can bounce light off each other creating some interesting team tactics.

The only real danger with this dungeon is non-art players may have no chance at figuring out the gimmick. This can be fun, but in my experience, not knowing what is going on for an entire game can get frustrating. Even those relatively familiar with complimentary colors may take a while to figure things out, but there's nothing that says you can't drop them some sort of hint. Maybe a color wheel or something?

What I found most interesting about this exercise is how I was able to take an educational concept, something I learned in class, and turn it into a full game. This has possibilities certainly. I mean games have always been excellent educating tools along with stories. Dnd has both, I'm not saying you can learn quantum mechanics with this stuff or that anyone should take the time to figure out how to do that (but if you do let me know.)

But I know if I had kids, I would be seriously trying to find a way to implement some fantasy game time instead of their regular homework.

What you might call Freshman Orientation

Welcome everyone to the first post of RPG University!

This is something I've been meaning to get to for a while, but I'm afraid between my job and school I don't get a lot of free time anymore.

Sadly, this of course means I don't get to game nearly as often as I would like to. Not only because I am busy, but because my old gaming group from high school has split up since almost all of us live in new towns going to different universities of our own.

I started college a few months ago and I've tried to find a new group here, but for me it has always been more about who I am playing with rather than what I'm playing so no dice (hey, look at that pun). The groups I've found here just have not really been a good fit for me. When I'm more interested in doing homework than playing our fantasy game there has got to be a problem.

My old group does occasionally play over skype, but that's a whole issue by itself.

Anyway, a little bit about our group, since I know many of you might eventually ask, we mostly play 4.0 D&D but also play Villains and Vigilantes, Call of Cthulu, and GURPS. I know the 4.0 thing is sort of a 'problem' for many folks in the OSR but we are far from old school and for a lot of us that is where we got our start.

Despite it's apparent flaws, we still have a good time and get to enjoy our imaginary worlds and characters, and that's why we all do this thing right?

I think that's enough talking about me and my friends for now. If you don't mind I would like to get straight to some gaming content to discuss.