Guiding the Dead

If your psychic characters are looking for a new tool to play around with I've come up with a little something they might enjoy.

It's fairly vague and not to heavy on crunch. What it can do exactly I'll leave up to you since I'm not sure what all would come up in your campaign and I'm sure you know better than I do.
 I tried to write it fairly system agnostic but there might be some villains and vigilantes specific terms in there since that's what I play.
Full disclosure, a lot of this is borrowed from the Farscape character Stark.

I've been watching the show a lot lately.

Psychopomp: The character has a natural connection to the dead and dying.


This ability can be used to see the souls of the recently deceased as well as spirits that roam the earth and refuse to leave.

Ghosts, ghouls and other haunts can hide themselves from the psychopomp but he can find them with a detect hidden check, an attack as mind control, or whatever search system you prefer.

Psychopomps are able to detect when a person is close to death and can guide a dying person to their afterlife if they are in close physical proximity.

This does not hasten the dying process but instead gives the individual spiritual peace and a death without pain. In return the Psychopomp receives a spiritual "echo" from the person. This echo is a limited copy of the person's essence and has their thoughts, memories, skills and emotions compounded. Psychopomp's can access these echoes for their own means. Not everything in the person's mind will be available however and generally the better a Psychopomp is at guiding the person to peace the more likely they will find what they want in the spiritual echo.

The full limits of a Psychopomp's abilities are unknown. They are often highly skilled at exorcising spirits still haunting the earth, dealing with all kinds of intangible enemies, and finding the shortcuts that connect between the realms of the living and the dead.

Due to their connection to death, Psychopomp's have been known to experience mental trauma when close to mass slaughter.

12 Spells of a Fiery nature

You know one day I'm going to get the hang of this whole blogging thing and I'm going to update way more frequently. Anyway today's post comes from the fact that my girlfriend's character has had a book of fire spells since like game one of the campaign. She found it and just assumed all it would be good for is making a few fireballs (this is what I was thinking as well) but Doug's character is deathly afraid of fire so she hasn't touched the thing. But she wants to and after sharing her concern with me I realized, "why should fire magic be all about the burning? It's a diverse element of life and purification and stuff"

So I made a couple of Fire School spells that I hope are a bit more unusual. Since I use the villains and vigilantes system, spells that do not take a superpower slot require some kind of component usually. I'm not really sure how system agnostic these things are but I hope you find something from them.

1- Flashbang- After reciting this spell, the caster must swallow a gold coin. For the next 1d4 hours they will be able to produce a bright flash and spark whenever they snap their fingers. This is with any snap of the fingers. (one full tern to cast, cost is 5 power to cast, 1 for each finger snap)

2- Purifying Flame- The caster must burn a freshly cut plant at least a year old while casting this spell. If done correctly this will produce a green fire that can be used to purify a living thing of poison. It can alleviate the symptoms of most diseases but likely isn't a permanent cure. (on full tern to cast, cost is 5 power to cast)

3- Bottled Fire- This requires a fireproof vessel of some kind. The caster channels any kind of flame into the vessel to be used later. Most fires preserved this way do not require fuel until released. (one full tern to cast, 1 power to cast)

4- Fire's Protection- A significant chunk of metal must be melted as part of casting this spell. The caster can place a fiery aura on one individual around them. This lasts 1d6 rounds or minutes (This essentially gives them Fire Power Defense and can burn those physically touching them, what qualifies as significant is up to the GM, minor action to cast, 2 power to cast)

5- Fiery Tongues- The caster bestows a language to someone around them for 1d6 hours. A blue flame will also manifest above their heads. How good this person is at this language will depend on some kind of roll by the caster. A significant amount of written text in the specified language must be burned as part of this spell. (What is considered significant is determined by the GM, minor action to cast, 1 power to cast)

6- Fire's Rage- The caster channels a burst of fiery energy. This must be directed at a foe and it must be someone the caster has some level of animosity towards (GM's discretion but in general someone trying to kill you will work regardless of the situation). The caster must give up their anger towards that person. The greater the negativity, the greater the attack (again kind of up to the GM but the player should be able to make some kind of case) The damage can range from regular fireball up to three or maybe four times normal. Also further fighting the foe will be more difficult in someway (to hit penalty?) because the caster's heart won't be in it (one action to cast, 5 power to cast).

7- Edible Fire- The caster must burn a pound of food while casting this spell. They will then be able to absorb heat and flame as sustenance for the next 1d4 rounds (maybe?) This gives them a significant defense against fiery attacks and they can convert it into power (5+ depending on the flame, minor to cast, no power to cast).

8- Extinguish Flame- The caster must produce some amount of water while casting this spell. The more water, the more effective. The can also use water vapor (if there is ample amounts) or their own bodily fluids though this will leave them dehydrated and weakened. (minor to cast, 5 power to cast).

9- Eyes of the Dragon- This allows the caster to see in the infrared spectrum for 5 minutes or at least an entire session of combat. They must first rub ashes in their eyes which leaves blind for at least a round before and after the caster has the Eyes. (minor to cast, 2 power to cast)

10- Gate of Fire- This opens a portal to the realm of fire. At the very least this will scorch the surrounding area without some kind of magical or mundane protection. Without knowledge gained before casting there is little chance the caster will know what is on the other side of the portal, what might come through, or what might get sucked in. (action and 10 power to cast).

11- Commune with Fiery Being- The caster is able to telepathically communicate with fire elementals in the surrounding area or even reach a specific one on the Plane of Fire. There are many kinds of fire elementals and who the caster is able to get a hold of will depend on their Lore. Through this spell they will be able to barter with a creature for services. Combined with Gate of Fire they will be able to summon a Fiery Being to them through the realm of fire. (minor and 5 power to cast).

12- Heatwave- This spell moves matter to the next most energetic stage (solid to liquid, liquid to gas, gas to plasma, etc.) It does this without true heat however so there is usually no rise in temperature. By using this spell the caster begins to recognize strange connections and transitions between things in the universe. They must make a will check of some sort or act crazy for like a turn (action to cast, 2 power to cast)

Season 2 and stuff I plan to do

So break is winding down and I'll be getting back to school soon. This means a lot of things but one of the things I'm looking forward to is picking up with the gaming group I've set up there.

We left off on a pretty epic, holiday-themed adventure. It kind of served as a season finale episode and I was pretty happy with it.

But now we're coming back so I thought I would list some things I want to introduce or move forward with. I find it nice to have some clear goals to keep campaign momentum going.

• Their Modern Fantasy adventure is heading to New York City, one of the most diverse cities in the world. I'd like the magic their to reflect that. There should be magic from all kinds of cultures.
• A few places in the city should reflect this magic taking hold. This can get weird, strange gravity, mutations, people talking backwards, whatever. Everything's strange but no one notices. It's a dark secret people sweep under the rug. Like stereotypical New Yorkers when most normal people see something strange they ignore it and keep on about their business.
• The player's are investigating a dark and mysterious business called the Nero Corporation. I should make ways for them to infiltrate the place. Something like a fancy party filled with intrigue, masks, and assassins.
• I kind of want the players to get betrayed, arrested, and taken down by someone with no visible powers but can exploit their weaknesses. Maybe all at once? hmm...
• There's a drug called Läesh they've run into before. It has varying effects, one of which is boosting the crap out of supernatural abilities at a cost. There should be something with this in the bad parts of New York, or the good parts.
• One of the players has a weeping angel trapped in his visual cortex so that's gotta change. Maybe he can make a deal with it?
• Another player has a burning hole of the apocalypse in her brain. This has to do with the Nero Corporation as well so that can probably come up then.
• Maybe something with New York's art scene?
• All the players just got new powers which they still need to pick.
• I might be getting a new player, she wants to be a belly-dancing Gypsy pirate which sounds like it could be the coolest thing ever.
• One of the players wants someone from her past to show up. She's an experienced treasure hunter and ship sinker (siren) so maybe something like from Indiana Jones where they are allies/rivals/enemies all simultaneously for the same artifact.
• One of the players has family in New York, they are not on good terms, something about stolen technology.
• I think some sort of fish king might show up demanding the fish-person in the party be his bride.
• The mad scientist should show up again.

Okay that is a lot. More than I expected I guess, I've got some planning to do. But I'd love to here your thoughts.

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.
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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.