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Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



I'm guessing that both the "lying" and "not lying" results for Mironim-Mer with successful Psychology rolls are correct, somehow.

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PurpleXVI
Oct 30, 2011

Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!

Down With People posted:

The Being of Ib who was stuck outside the dreamer's compartment says that they didn't see anybody enter or leave aside from the dreamer.

I like you imagine that there's ALWAYS one stuck there. Even if the players get one down, the Sarnathians jam another one up there within moments. The Being doesn't really beg or ask for help, just sits there, "'sup," then goes back to dozing, unless helped down. And there's always one stuck to the ceiling ready to make helpful comments or observations when the players are around.

The Beings are honestly adorable despite being described as hideous and misshapen.

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
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2014-2018

As I understand it, their physical description is basically 'they're frog people, except really gross.'

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.

PurpleXVI posted:

I like you imagine that there's ALWAYS one stuck there. Even if the players get one down, the Sarnathians jam another one up there within moments. The Being doesn't really beg or ask for help, just sits there, "'sup," then goes back to dozing, unless helped down. And there's always one stuck to the ceiling ready to make helpful comments or observations when the players are around.

The Beings are honestly adorable despite being described as hideous and misshapen.

The book actually says that as soon as the dreamers find Blackjack, another Being gets stuck to their door after getting shouldered by a passing Sarnathian.



Here's the illustration from S. Petersen's Field Guide to Creatures of the Dreamlands. Kinda cute! Just don't like, get too close to it

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

So yeah, frog person meets racist caricature, that fits for what Lovecraft thinks is terrifying and disgusting.

Vox Valentine
May 31, 2013

Solving all of life's problems through enhanced casting of Occam's Razor. Reward yourself with an imaginary chalice.

I'm just gonna guess the Sarnathians did it because gently caress elves. Also I'm mildly glad that there's now an actual murder on the Orient Express happening even if it's still happening in the Dreamlands.

Also yay more WotW, liked how the first part played out.

Tibalt
May 14, 2017

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee

I blame the creepy vampire who has been following the players around, disguised or possessing Mirom-mer

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

LongDarkNight posted:

INTRODUCTION
This book is where we start getting to the red meat, entering territory not usually encountered in a standard campaign. Far to the west of where we left off is the city of Farholde an often forgotten part of the kingdom that borders on a horrible secret. In the great forest to the south The Horn of Abaddon lies waiting, once the home of a daemonic cult. The PCs will take control there and make it a dungeon to call their own, for 7 months they will need to defend this dungeon from monsters, natural disasters and invading murderhobos to complete a ritual most profane. This book contains numerous encounters including 7 bands of adventurers intent on defeating the PCs or just looting their dungeon, the author offers some advice.


A bit passive-aggressive*, including the other comments that now is the chance for the GM to take revenge on the players for all the times they wrecked up his carefully designed dungeons in previous campaigns.

To be fair, I could see this being good fun for the players as well if they're in on the joke.

I love the premise in any event.

Bieeanshee
Aug 21, 2000

Not keen on keening.


Grimey Drawer

Tibalt posted:

I blame the creepy vampire who has been following the players around, disguised or possessing Mirom-mer

I want to say something like this.

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.


THE DREAMLANDS EXPRESS – PART 6

Big Reveal

Did you say Mironim-mer? Good job! As a Sarrubian, Mironim-mer actually looks nothing like a human and the glowy-eyed twink he's normally dressed up as is his dream artefact. His true form is decidedly more deadly and lets him scuttle around the outside of the carriages.

I should also issue a correction here: the blood-stained cutlass is actually found in Mac's compartment. The blood is Mironim's; he smeared it on the cutlass and stashed it there to distract the dreamers.

Then, if the dreamers leave Mironim-mer alone after speaking to him, he goes to make his second attack – a Listen roll detects the sound of claws scrabbling outside the carriage. After that there's piercing shrieks coming from Bruja's compartment. The door is locked and will require either Henri's keys or the dreamers breaking it down in some way. When they do get in, Bruja is under attack by some kind of spindly alien crustacean with glowing red eyes – 1/1D4 SAN. It's trying to wrest the heart-shaped valise from Bruja's hands.

The dreamers can intervene however they want to, either fighting or trying to grab the valise themselves. If they get the valise, the monster goes for them, likely leading to a frantic chase through the train. Otherwise, it steals the valise and wrenches it open to reveal – nothing. It's completely empty. The red glow leaves its eyes and from there it tries to escape. Dreamers will have to hold it off for 1D6 rounds until Henri can get to them, but the thing isn't trying to kill anyone and just wants to get away. When Henri gets here, tentacles shoot out of the walls and restrain everyone. Of course, if Henri is already with them this is the first thing he does.

Even if she was hurt in the attack, Madame Bruja cackles madly. 'He'll never find it!' she yells. 'Never!'

Henri's first instinct is to throw the monster off the train and it'll take a Persuade roll to get him to hold back. The monster will nod vigorously if accused of Blackjack's murder but also waggles its jaw tendrils beseechingly – Psychology indicates it's struggling to speak, but something is holding it back. Henri will agree to keeping the monster in the Padded Compartment for later questioning, and at some point if they haven't cracked onto it yet they'll realise that Mironim-mer is missing. He'll be back in human form next time they see him.

Parlour Scene

If they don't make other arrangements, Henri gathers the passengers in the Banquet Hall for the dreamers to announce their deductions. If they accuse Mironim-mer, he quietly surrenders. He confesses to killing Blackjack; he had assumed his true form when the kitten came into his compartment, which is when he killed him and hid the body. However, he struggles when he tries to explain his motive. He gets as far as, 'I was mesmerised...Her Enemy…' before he collapses, writhing in agony. When he has recovered, he can silently indicate Bruja as 'Her'.

After that, Henri asks what the dreamers want to do with him. He won't contemplate anything barbaric like handing over to the cats to be ripped apart so really the options are to have him tried in Ulthar or to bring him before King Kuranes. Either way, he'll be spending the rest of his time aboard the Express restrained in the Padded Compartment.

Dreamers gain 1D6 SAN for correctly deducing the murderer, or 1D4 if they don't figure it out until the second attack.

The Lovers' Heart

Madame Bruja's story can be found in a crumbling gothic tome in the Waking World. Either the investigators go looking for it specifically or they stumble upon it when they fail a Library Use roll. Despite being a folk tale, no-one along the SOE route has heard of it due to its Spanish origins.

quote:

A grisly little myth told in the town is that of the Sorcerer and the Crone. The Sorcerer married late and foolishly. As a reward for his folly he one day surprised his young wife with her lover. Enraged he summoned the dark powers, and tore the unhappy pair to pieces. He ripped the hearts from their bodies and burned them to ash, vowing they would have no rest even in death. Their broken bodies were tossed to the dogs.

He reckoned without the dead girl’s mother, a crone of horrid malevolence, who prayed daily before the church for vengeance. Her cries were heard, although it is doubtful if the answer to her prayer was truly Divine. It is whispered the church was built on an older and grimmer foundation raised by the ancient Romans in worship of their pagan gods. One day she stood before the church holding aloft a glowing ruby the size of a clenched fist, and of peculiar shape, as if it were fashioned of two lovers’ hearts entwined.

The Sorcerer, seeing this stone, was consumed with desire for it. He ordered his men to seize it but the Crone hid it in her breast. He had her searched, but the stone was gone and even under torture she would not reveal its hiding place. She was condemned for witchcraft and burned in the square before the church. As she was engulfed in flames the Sorcerer yet demanded the stone from her. Consumed by fire, she at last unlocked her lips. “Hate is stronger than love,” she screeched. “And death is stronger than life. Only in your dreams will you find it,” she taunted the Sorcerer. With that she died.

The Sorcerer went mad with lust for that lost stone. In his last days, raving, he locked himself in his tower. Believing he had found the answer to her taunt he burned himself alive in his own crypt.

Some say the pair know no rest, but are seen even now on dark nights, chasing each other amid the storm clouds. The Crone yet holds her glowing prize aloft and shrieks with delight at the Sorcerer’s vain pursuit. “Hate is stronger than love,” she cries. “And death is stronger than life!” Surely no merciful Providence would allow such horrors to exist.

If confronted, Bruja freely admits that she is the Crone that the story refers to. She has been pursued in the Dreamlands ever since, and several times now the Sorcerer has come close to seizing the Lovers' Heart. Bruja is totally consumed by hate and now plans to throw the stone into the Gulf so she can defeat the Sorcerer forever. If the dreamers don't know that the valise is empty, Bruja will say she keeps the stone in there. Otherwise, she simply won't tell them it's true hiding place: inside her chest, replacing her heart.

Mironim-mer has been hypnotised by the Sorcerer, who now knows where he is at all times and can take control of his body. He tries to fight the Sorcerer's will, but doing this always makes him revert to his true form. If the dreamers totally fail to apprehend him, he'll tear Bruja to shreds in search of the Heart and hand it to the Sorcerer as soon as the train pulls up in Thalarion. The Sorcerer blasts Mironim-mer with has magic and leaves him behind to escape with the stone. The pieces of Bruja's undead body continue to wriggle and writhe (SAN 0/1D4) and must be either removed from the train or locked in the Padded Compartment for the rest of the journey. The investigators lose 1D4 SAN for failing to stop the second murder.

The book suggests this as a good stopping point for the second night on the Dreamlands Express. We'll swing back later for the third (and final!) part of the scenario.

Next time: the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie!

Zereth
Jul 9, 2003



Ah-hah, I was right, he both did and did not do it.

Ghost Leviathan
Mar 2, 2017

Exploration is ill-advised.

Hostile V posted:

I could spend all afternoon putting it together but I'm 100% sure you could do the stage adaptation of The Producers note by note but replacing Springtime For Hitler with The King In Yellow down to Bialystock and Bloom hiring an incredibly incompetent cast and society loving their adaptation as a strangely endearing farce. Just replace Franz Liebkind with Francois Beaulieu, the mad cultist who vehemently denies he has ever been a cultist nor any blood ties to the royalty of Carcossa, he was just visiting for school and education.

It would be fitting that given every attempted performance of a play fails catastrophically, you eventually end up with producers deliberately staging it in the hopes it will fail and accidentally succeed.

This sounds like the most 2017 apocalypse.

LongDarkNight
Oct 25, 2010

It's like watching the collapse of Western civilization in fast forward.
Oven Wrangler

Cythereal posted:

To be fair, I could see this being good fun for the players as well if they're in on the joke.

I love the premise in any event.

Yeah, this is my favorite book of the AP.

Dallbun
Apr 21, 2010
The animating force of a golem is an elemental spirit summoned from

The Deck of Encounters Set One Part 64: The Deck of Dragons, Golems, and Giveaways

364: End of the World

Takes place at the far edge of a savannah, where a huge cliff descends more than 2000 feet into thick clouds. There’s nothing on the other side as far as the PCs can see. It seems like the end of the world. Nice imagery!

Then two small shapes start flying up toward the PCs, drawing closer and closer. It’s a mated pair of young adult red dragons, hunting for food. They’ll try to snatch PCs and take their bodies down below to their cave just above the cloud cover. You might be able to negotiate for them to bring a PC back if you trade them cattle, but they might not stick to the deal.

What the… what do the dragons have to do with the set-up? It’s like two separate encounters here, where the first one is inspiring fantasy scenery, and the second half is the boringest dragons ever. Pass.


365: Body-Snatching

There’s been a rash of grave robberies stealing bodies, and the townsfolk offer the PCs 1000 gp (“all the gold they can muster”) to resolve it. “Tracks and carelessly dropped body parts lead from the graveyard to the home of a wealthy, local eccentric.”

Uh. Did this village… really need to liquidate all their assets to hire 10th+ level adventurers to resolve this? I think this is more of a “four local teens and their dog” level situation.

Anyway, the eccentric “is resistant to questioning and will refuse to let his house be searched.” Charm person. Okay, let’s pretend we aren’t playing a game where first level characters get access to a mind-control spell. If you break in at night, you’ll find a journal in his study talking about finding scrolls that will help with an “unnamed experiment,” and a secret stairway down to the lab. Body parts are down there, and scrolls “imbued with the power to create a flesh golem.” If the PCs wait a couple nights, the flesh golem will be finished and able to defend the eccentric.

Wow, there were really no twists there at all, were there? That was 100% straightforward. I’m bored to tears just from reading that. Pass.


366: Cold Revenge

The PCs are in an inn in the middle of the night and hear splintering wood from below, then crashing footsteps on the stairs. A clay golem comes down the hall and busts into their room, if they’re still there.

The clay golem was loaned by a rabbi priest to a wine merchant, who claimed he needed an escort for shipping supplies of some sort. It was dispatched to kill “the descendants of [the wine merchant’s] ancestor’s nemesis,” but got lost and couldn’t find the right house. It blundered through the streets for hours before arbitrarily deciding on this inn to attack.

“Slaying the golem and confronting the merchant makes him confess and earns a 2,000 gp reward from the priest, in addition to any raise dead spells that may have been required during the encounter.”

It bothers me that there’s a fancy backstory that essentially amounts to “it was a totally random attack that had nothing to do with the PCs, where they are, or what they’re doing, lol.” The card doesn’t even list any clues leading from point A (golem) back to where it came from, though they’re pretty easy to add: The golem has the sigil of a certain god on its forehead, and they can go investigate at the appropriate temple. Still, the night-time thumping imagery is appealing. Keep, but the clay golem doesn’t bust into the PCs’ room, it randomly tries to murder whoever’s in the next room over. That’ll throw the players for a loop when they’re standing by their door with spells and weapons at the ready.


367: The Sentinel
An encounter in the lower depths of a dungeon. Half of the card is pointless wizard backstory that’s never going to come up, but let me lay out the relevant parts for you:

There’s a hallway. On one side is a large iron statue. On the wall behind it is a little graffiti. It reads OTTFFSS NT, with a space between the second S and the N. (Have you solved the puzzle yet?) If anybody says the word “eight,” the statue (which was actually a golem! :O) steps aside and reveals a small room with 10,000 GP WORTH OF GEMS AND A STAFF OF THE MAGI. And also the card says they get 15,000 experience points for solving the encounter!

So actually there was no danger at all (although the card inexplicably provides the stats for the iron golem). There was just a staff of the magi. If you let the PCs notice the graffiti, they WILL solve the puzzle and get the loot. If you don’t let the PCs notice the graffiti (because you had them make 2E equivalents of perception checks and they failed, or you’re punishing them for not declaring that they’re searching every square inch of wall) then you may as well not have drawn the encounter card, because the only gameplay here is “solve easy puzzle, get loot.”

Pass.

Dallbun fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Dec 22, 2017

Bee Bonk
Feb 19, 2011

Dallbun posted:

366: Cold Revenge

I like the spin of the golem attacking the hapless tenant of the next room over, but you don't even have to make it be "the wrong room." It might be interesting if the golem is just being too dilligent with too vague of instructions, and is just systematically wiping out this old enemy's distant, distant relations. It could make for an interesting quest to find and keep these random people alive, especially if someone affiliated or related to a PC is a second cousin twice removed of the target, and thus Marked For Death.

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

Especially if the golem will calmly explain this, if asked. (I forget if golems can talk. I am assuming they can because otherwise how is it doing the genealogical research?)

Freaking Crumbum
Apr 17, 2003

Too fuck to drunk


Bee Bonk posted:

I like the spin of the golem attacking the hapless tenant of the next room over, but you don't even have to make it be "the wrong room." It might be interesting if the golem is just being too dilligent with too vague of instructions, and is just systematically wiping out this old enemy's distant, distant relations. It could make for an interesting quest to find and keep these random people alive, especially if someone affiliated or related to a PC is a second cousin twice removed of the target, and thus Marked For Death.

you've just described the plot of Fantasy Terminator

Dallbun
Apr 21, 2010

Bee Bonk posted:

I like the spin of the golem attacking the hapless tenant of the next room over, but you don't even have to make it be "the wrong room." It might be interesting if the golem is just being too dilligent with too vague of instructions, and is just systematically wiping out this old enemy's distant, distant relations. It could make for an interesting quest to find and keep these random people alive, especially if someone affiliated or related to a PC is a second cousin twice removed of the target, and thus Marked For Death.

Great idea, though it would work better it wasn't, as written, a high-level AD&D encounter. (Don't want it to be too easy to just beat up the golem.) Maybe in an E6 3rd Edition game, or a Ravenloft setting, or just at a lower-level.

megane
Jun 20, 2008



What a bizarre choice to have this interesting setup and then just go "...but instead it just attacks somebody at random, lol." It's a golem! Golems are tailor-made for "servant takes instructions too literally" plots. How about: the wine-merchant gives it this order, but it turns out that he himself is unknowingly a descendant of the ancient rival. Guess a Hatfield and a McCoy managed to patch things up for a while at some point. So now he has his own golem constantly trying to kill him, but he doesn't want to explain what's going on or ask for help because it implicates him in attempted murder. If the PCs read his mind or whatever they'll learn that he's pissed at the priest for giving him a defective golem, since he legitimately doesn't know why it's after him.

megane fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Dec 22, 2017

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Warhammer Fantasy: Paths of the Damned Part 1: Ashes of Middenheim

Our intrepid heroes have finally arrived in Middenheim after going through the dogshit starting adventure from the back of the main book, which you can find in the original review towards the end. After meeting in a coaching inn near Untergard, the company has formed a freebooter band, originally funded by Liniel the elf selling her fancy jewelry to help herself and others fill in any gear they lacked. She's convinced the other 4 that they'll make a good mercenary company, Otto is definitely into defending the Empire, Katiya wants to get famous, Fearghus needs experience, and Pierre wants to make sure the others don't just smash and grab any tombs they encounter in their adventures. They had a very boring trip through the Drakwald escorting refugees who never got attacked, then they stopped a crazy old witch from murdering an unrelated rear end in a top hat on the principle of 'She's using a demon for it, this is almost certainly a bad idea'.

Along the way, the only important part of the starter adventure from the main book was the local priest falling in a pit trap and then handing the PCs an artifact of Sigmar, an ancient icon drawn by dwarven artists. Pierre, being the local expert, insists that the party must follow through with the Father's last wishes and bring it to the temple in Middenheim for preservation. Fearghus, being a dwarf, notes the craftmanship on the gold frame for the icon and concurs. The others assume the Temple will probably pay them for it and that it'd be less trouble to just return it. The party on board with the first plot hook, we begin the actual adventure proper.

The adventure starts off with the players coming to meet Father Morten at the Collegium Theologica, an expert on old iconography and a respected church scholar. He's amazed by the piece and instantly promises any PC party a 25 gold crown apiece reward; enough for a starter party to fill in any missing light armor, pick up other gear they might need, and stay in the city/feed themselves for weeks. 25 crowns is a lot of money unless you're buying really high ticket items like upgraded armor, and it's a great way to ensure the players will be immediately friendly to the good Father. The cheerful, knowledgeable priest also gives each PC a silver hammer pendent, worth an additional 5 GC, with the understanding they're likely to sell them for money but his insistence that that's fine; the find is truly incredible and he wants to reward the PCs for bringing it to him.

Fearghus decides to keep the little pendent to maybe work on as a talisman in the future, since it's good quality silverwork and he needs good jewelry to make Talismanic Runes later on. Pierre chats with Morten and talks shop for awhile while the others make small talk and plans for their reward. Everyone eventually leaves on good terms, glad to have a start to their business in the city. While they're drinking and having dinner that evening, the party is then approached by a small unit of Watchmen, who ask them if they can spare some time to report to the local Watch Captain, Ulrich Schutzmann, about what they encountered on the way to Middenheim; he needs all the information he can get about the roads. The book notes the Watchmen are polite and it's clear the PCs are in no danger or trouble.

The party not being dicks, they go along in hopes of making some good contacts. Liniel, being politically savvy, notes that the Watch Commander is currently in charge of the security and legal matters for the entire city; he might be a great employer and a chance to take his measure is good for a young mercenary company. Schutzmann is a stern, reasonable man as described in the book, and players are going to have plenty of dealings with him. He spends an hour or so getting a thorough scouting report out of the PCs and then thanks them for their time. Liniel likely mentions the company name and offers their services for the future, should he have manpower problems, backed by Katiya. As they're in the middle of this, a clerk barges in to inform the Captain; there's been a murder at the Collegium! Someone broke in and killed an expert on iconography, some Father Morten, and the PCs were the last people seen with him when he was last seen alive. Schutzmann asks them to answer a few questions, but as the book notes, he has no reason to suspect the PCs; he's thinking of them as a possible source of clues, since they wouldn't have walked right into Watch HQ to answer friendly questions if they had just committed a high profile murder.

The book suggests a Gossip or Charm test, which someone in the party could certainly make, to prove they're not suspicious. At the same time, it suggests going on as if nothing happened (They get imprisoned for a couple hours before questioning by a Verenan cleric proves them innocent) if they don't, so...why bother rolling? We're going to see a lot of this in this adventure. The adventure has some bits of good design, but one of its persistent problems is a lot of 'Roll X at -10 to continue plot' rolling, as they couldn't really figure out ways to do fail forward stuff in this adventure without making rolls irrelevant. Regardless, the party has two good social characters, and Katiya gets a 16 on her Charm test. She tells the Watch Captain she recognizes him from when she was helping to defend the walls during the Siege, he recognizes her, and she vouches for the party's good character and lack of involvement. After that formality is out of the way, Schutzmann brings up Liniel's offer of help; he's short-handed, they seem capable, and he's willing to deputize them to investigate the death. The party is happy to take on the case, Pierre to avenge the murder of a fellow scholar of antiquity, the rest because it looks like honest work and a good way to make headway on getting settled in the city.

At the crime scene, we get a lot of skill rolls. A lot. Morten was killed in his room at the college, and inspection of the body reveals a small dart lodged in his neck as his only injury. Being the most dexterous, Liniel tries to pull the dart out without damaging it, which the game says is an Agi+10 roll. Continuing the party's hot streak on my die roller, she gets a 04 and pulls it out without smearing the residual poison off or disturbing the scene. No-one in the party has Prepare Poison or Academic Knowledge (Magic), so they can't possibly identify the poison themselves (Very, very few classes have Prepare Poison and the Magic test is at -20) but they can take it to someone who can; they're in the middle of the city's main gathering of scholars. Pierre has to burn a Fortune point to do it, but he manages to make a Search test to find an odd, triangular mark scratched into the windowsill. No-one has Follow Trail, but if I was DMing, I'd let Outdoor Survival give them a shot at a penalty, so Katiya tries to follow the killer's trail from the window. She, too, has to burn a Fortune point to do it, but manages the Int-10 test with an 18 (needed 20) on her second try, following odd, rodent-like paws into the muddy cobblestones. Fearghus is a dwarf, so he has much more chance of being familiar with RAT PEOPLE; He declares this is bloody thaggoraki (dorf for Skaven, meaning backstabber) or his cousin's a halfling. The entire party gamely fails the Per-10 test to figure out how to read Morten's last words from impressions on blank paper below it, but it isn't a very important check.

Taking the dart to get it IDed, they find the Watch already has other samples of this same poison, used in 3 other seemingly unrelated and unsolved murders. Note that this happens regardless of what other clues you find, and is the only clue actually needed to continue on. You don't even need to make the Agi test, just bring the dart back. Dick move, game; I just wrote an entire paragraph and the PCs expended multiple rerolls making sure they got as much as they could in the last scene (before they all failed to spot the last words). The last words would've just been a little handout about how the frame is surprisingly easily removed, but the age and brush technique makes him suspect the icon may be old enough to have been drawn from life. With this murder now linked to three others, the PCs are off to investigate the other three murders and try to put together why Skaven might be doing this, and how many Skaven they might be dealing with. Otto is loath to believe rat beastmen would ever be that subtle or stealthy, but he'll go along with the others while the dwarf and elf stare at him a bit for not believing Rat People are real.

Next Time: Three Murders And A Sewer Level, Plus Ninja

Robindaybird
Aug 21, 2007

Neat. Sweet. Petite.

megane posted:

What a bizarre choice to have this interesting setup and then just go "...but instead it just attacks somebody at random, lol." It's a golem! Golems are tailor-made for "servant takes instructions too literally" plots. How about : the wine-merchant gives it this order, but it turns out that he himself is unknowingly a descendant of the ancient rival. Guess a Hatfield and a McCoy managed to patch things up for a while at some point. So now he has his own golem constantly trying to kill him, but he doesn't want to explain what's going on or ask for help because it implicates him in attempted murder. If the PCs read his mind or whatever they'll learn that he's pissed at the priest for giving him a defective golem, since he legitimately doesn't know why it's after him.

And it'd give the PCs some idea of what the hell is going on, and really family ties are super complicated.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Warhammer Fantasy: Paths of the Damned Part 1: Ashes of Middenheim

Variable Tedium Sewer Levels

Note that after showing the evidence to Schutzman, the party continues their search in the morning. This means their Fortune points regenerate. You're clearly meant to use your rerolls liberally and often, as well as the extra actions or extra defenses they give you in combat, because they make a big edge for PCs at every stage in a campaign and they regenerate per game-day rather than per-session. Don't be shy about using Fortune and if your players are, remind them that it's a renewable resource!

I'll also note here that the 'canon' party from the back of the book is a Kislevite vagabond, an Imperial militiaman, a Dwarf shieldbreaker (THRUNBOR GRIMGNSON! I love Thrunbor's name), and an apprentice Grey Wizard. The various mission headers all feature art of the 'canon' party, except for some reason they always leave Joclyn the wizard out and only have the men. I don't know why this happens, but it's weird enough that I felt I should point it out.

The other murdered men were a watchman who was found dead outside the College, a dwarf guarding the city's sewer maps, and an unknown man who may've just been an adventurer. Searches of the Father's home show that the Icon was stolen; players will be able to tell the Watch that it was extremely valuable even if they don't make the Per test to puzzle out Morton's supposition that it might be an actual portrait of Sigmar. The party decides to investigate the dead, hoping to find out more about what the ratmen are trying to do and why they'd want to murder a church scholar to steal religious art. There's an Easy (+10) Search test at the site of the Watchman's death that lets Pierre confirm something with a 38; the man's normal route would've taken him near the killer's ingress to Morton's room. The watchman was likely killed to get him out of the assassin's way, so that no-one would patrol that area in the future since the watch is short-handed. The dwarfs are willing to admit to a fellow dwarf (especially a Runesmith, even an apprentice) that a map of the city's sewers was stolen at the same time as the doorman was murdered, confirming their enemy probably knows the sewers well. Fearghus is able to warn the party not to interrupt any funeral rites by asking to see the dead dwarf (non-dorfs get an Int+20 test to figure this out if they're about to anger the city's dwarfs).

The third dead man was unidentified, and following up on his burial leads the players to an odd situation. The local priests of Morr were going to take the man to a pyre and a nameless burial like so many of the other dead when a chap in full plate and his two buddies showed up to pay for a full Sigmarite funeral and a headstone with a symbol of a comet, a sword, a hammer, and the letters OF. They also identified the man as Gerhard Kroen, an associate, but would explain nothing else but that the deceased had been a devout Sigmarite like them. PCs are allowed a check they're not supposed to succeed here, at Int-30, meaning even very intelligent characters have a tiny chance of making it, to ID the symbol. Knowing Players, our intrepid group will each toss one Fortune at the roll if they fail, except they don't need to as Liniel of all people succeeds it at a 03. "Oh. This is the Ordo Fidelus. The dead man is a Witch Hunter, and not a normal, fully licensed one at that." The book describes the Ordo Fidelus as a group that doesn't receive official support the way the Order of the Silver Hammer does, and describes them as, I quote, 'A barely restrained order of zealots and sadists'. Charming. Considering how negative the initial description is, and that the players may well meet Kroen's associates later, you'd think it would make some accommodation for the fact that players who hit this extremely hard test aren't going to be too trusting towards a bunch of sadistic lunatics. It does not.

Investigating the scene of Kroen's death, the party is treated to a Perception test (which Fearghus makes immediately) to find the old, dried blood trail that suggests he wounded his attacker. He was killed in a back alley in the Old Quarter, and after finding the blood, they must make a Follow Trail test (Note that Follow Trail is an advanced skill. You cannot attempt it if you don't have the skill) at +20 to get anywhere. There is no provision for the party *not* having this skill, and no alternate way given to find where the attacker went. Also note: No-one in the canon pre-made party has this skill. This seems like an oversight, Ashes of Middenheim! Using the same method as before, Katiya uses Outdoor Survival but at a 10% penalty. She then fails the roll, and then fails the Fortune reroll, and...there's no other options given for tracking the killer. I guess she just rolls until she succeeds, making the roll pointless. This is what I mean by 'roll to continue plot' checks, and they're a blight on this whole adventure. Naturally, the ratman came from the sewers. The party realizes they have to go down after them to keep tracking the killer.

The sewers have a bunch of optional encounters as you track, and also an annoying 'Anyone who isn't a dorf or skaven suffers -10 (-20 if they're 'over 6 feet tall') to all combat rolls down here'. This sucks! You've got players who will already be averaging like 30-35% to-hit this early and you want to give them a -10, and their enemies no equivalent penalty? There's also a hefty penalty to Int based checks down here unless you make a hard Toughness test to resist the smell, with an exemption for any PC who used to be a Rat Catcher (rivers of poo poo are normal for them). Players can, depending on how annoying the DM wants to make this place, run into random battles with Ghouls, Skaven, Mutants, Beastmen, or Skaven Giant Rats before they find their way through, with no real treasure or reward for fighting. Fighting at this stage in the game is really dangerous, since everyone has fairly threadbare armor and gear and the party only has one genuinely dedicated fighter (though Fearghus, Liniel, and Katiya are pretty good for rookies). For purposes of the game, we'll say each character who didn't have a ranged weapon used their 25 GC from Morten to buy a crossbow; crossbows are really good for non-combat-oriented characters. Katiya also spent her 25 on a nice suit of full leather armor. And we'll say they run into one group of Clanrats in the darkness. The encounter says 'one rat per PC'. I won't give the blow-by-blow, but I will list how badly wounded the PCs are at the end of this fight and who killed what.

Katiya and Pierre bring down a single Clanrat with ranged fire after they spot them in the darkness and the party opens up with a volley.
Clanrats attack, hit Otto, miss others, Otto's armor deflects the blow.
Fearghus, knowing the ways of Ratfight and not burdened by the stupid penalties, gets the campaign's first Fury and crushes a rat's chest in. Others miss due to sewer penalties.
Katiya takes a serious hit despite spending Fortune to try to stop it with her shield, suffering 6 Wounds.
Otto kills a rat with two solid hits in one turn. Party now Outnumbers the rats. This makes up for the Sewer penalty, and they kill another between the other four characters.
'The Skaven Will Try To Flee If The Fight Goes Against Them'. Remaining rat squeaks wildly, tries to run, dies to AoOs.

So there, a fight that went quite well for the party still knocked almost half the HP off one of them. And they got lucky. No-one in the party knows Heal, so there's no healing Katiya until they get back to the surface and can find help.

Now imagine I'd thrown Ghouls at them. Ghouls have 2 attacks each and poisoned claws, AND cause Fear (must make a WP test, one try a round, before being able to attack back). Or that they had to fight more than this one encounter. You can get hurt really bad really fast in early campaign combat. These kinds of fights need ways for the players to avoid them; pointless random combat should be a consequence of a failed roll or something, not something left up to 'Oh, have as many encounters as you feel like them having'. Oh, also, you have to make another Follow Trail test to actually track the skaven down here. That Advanced Skill the party isn't guaranteed to have. We'll just assume Katiya manages to find the trail, and the party reloads and backtracks from the patrol they killed.

Down in the tunnels, they find a single clanrat standing guard in a tunnel of worked stone that branches off from the sewers. Katiya and Pierre are both good at stealth, and so try to sneak up on the dumb rat sentry. The rat and Pierre have an amusingly long game of both of them failing their contested roll before Pierre finally beats it on the first check where either of them roll a success, after 6 attempts (Things get awkward with the low skills of early characters and enemies having contested rolls). Katiya makes it her first try, and the rat fails with a 50. Both surprise the rat and attack, trying to kill it before it raises the alarm. Katiya hits, Pierre fails due to Sewer Penalty, Fortunes, and narrowly hits due to Surprise. They kill the rat silently with a sword to the belly and a pick to the face. The party will now be able to surprise the upcoming fight. If the party doesn't have stealth specialists and loses Init, the rat calls for help, and 2 rats a round arrive to back him up until 6 rats have arrived in total (counting the sentry). The game does this often, where mook enemies fill in X number per round so the players initially outnumber them, giving the players an edge and avoiding overwhelming them while still tossing a lot of mooks out there. I like this idea.

Anyway, the heroes surprise the rats in the larger common area, giving them a free round in combat and +20% WS and BS against the enemy during that round. Combat will be as before, with 5 Clanrats, except the actual miniboss (the Eshin Gutter Runner who killed Morten) will show up from the shadows after two turns. He's a tough customer, but definitely beatable if the players have the normal rats under control. He'll also show up after all the other Clanrats fill in if the players mess up stealth-killing the sentry.

The heroes mostly screw up their surprise round, except Liniel and Pierre, who get a bowshot and a crossbow shot into the enemy, respectively, before the melee characters attack. Pierre gets his third kill-steal.
Rats rally, then roll terribly on initiative and end up after the party. Pierre and Liniel spend Fortune to have time to swap weapons and charge in. Fittingly for fighting a rat, Otto kills one in one round by hitting him on two rolls of 13. Horned Rat says get hosed, ratman. Others don't accomplish anything in round 2. Remaining rats can't hit the PCs.
Round 3 sees SNIKKIT BLACKBLADE, Experienced Ninja arrive. Unfortunately for Snikkit, Liniel's Excellent Eyesight manages to beat his Concealment+20 and he's spotted right away. She shouts something about 'ninja!' which the others don't understand, but which prevents him surprising them. He still goes before them and still opens up with throwing stars, because that's what the book says he'll do. Note that he has poison, but no Prepare Poison skill, so his weapons aren't poisoned due to writing oversight. He still hits Liniel with 2 stars for 4 Wounds and 7 Wounds, rolling a 7 and a 10 on damage, and taking her immediately to 0 HP! She's in serious danger.
The party rallies hard, Liniel getting her first kill of the campaign as she and Katiya team up to bring down another Clanrat. Otto gets another two hits, aided now by the Outnumber penalty, the rat he's fighting fails to block, and while he fails to confirm his Fury, he still guts it single-handed. Fearghus hits due to not having to deal with sewer bullshit. Pierre gets a 01 and delivers another pick to the face. All the Clanrats are down!
There is no provision for Snikkit to run, so he flings another two stars at the party. He hits Liniel again, inflicting a +2 Critical on her body! She's lucky it's a Body hit; the result she got would've crippled a limb long-term, but as it is, she's knocked back, stunned for 10 Rounds. Katiya takes a throwing star for 5 Wounds, almost putting her down, too. This rat is dynamite; they should have known better than to reduce a fight to a lone ninja.
Then the entire still-up party Charges and outnumbers him 3 to 1. All four get hits. He Dodges Fearghus, but takes 5 Wounds from Katiya, 5 from Pierre, and a whopping 9 from Otto. This reduces him to Crit +5. Crit+6, since Otto Strikes to Injure. Otto smashes the rat's face in with a brilliant mordhau from his pommel and the thing falls to the ground, bleeding out and dying.

Did I mention combat is really dangerous early on? Snikkit is very nasty for a first tier party, having a high to-hit (54 WS, 50 BS, 2 Attacks), good Strength and Toughness (41 of each), high Agi (54), and 14 Wounds. He's only got light armor, but he's also got a 54% chance to Dodge and if he has time to draw his swords, a 54% Parry as well. Imagine if he'd managed to surprise them, which he had a good chance of doing with his 74% Concealment. Now, normally, I probably wouldn't have him focus fire like he did, and he got absurdly lucky with damage (Throwing Stars are Damage SB-3, he was only doing d10+1 damage, he just got great damage rolls) but the party is pretty beat up after slaying the rats. After making sure Liniel is okay and helping her to her feet, they search around to see if they can find the Icon and/or treasure. They avoid the scummy piles of refuge the Skaven left, which would give a Toughness test or get a serious week-long disease in return for like 3 coins, and instead find Snikkit's nest. While searching for it, Pierre's Tomb Robber instincts let him find and disarm a crossbow trap, giving the crossbow to Katiya to replace her sling. Inside the nest, they find the frame of the icon, but no icon itself. Curious! They also find an odd Crimson Skull logo drawn in human blood next to a bunch of Skaven clan symbols; maybe sealing some kind of pact?

Returning to the surface, they tell the Watch they got the rats, all of them, and thus get the optional 10 GC per character reward. Bringing the frame to the Temple of Sigmar also gets them a listed reward of a full heal, including magical healing if anyone is seriously hurt, free of charge! They really needed that, and the book passes out free heals from priests as rewards for plenty of the missions. This is good, as it prevents them needing to spend days finding a doctor and healing up. The party is left a little richer, a little better equipped, but with no answer as to where the icon went and why the drat ratmen wanted it in the first place. They might have given it to human allies or something. There's obviously still work for the heroes to do here! They also get their first set of EXP and advances. 100 for playing the session, 60 for finding clues and killing the rats as suggested by the book. They put the 60 away for now and get to buffing themselves up, more experienced.

Which is why the next mission is a semi-red-herring thrown out by the eventual main villain in hopes of killing them off. On the plus side, it includes an actual, no-poo poo tomb with traps and stuff for Pierre. He'll be so happy.

Also, what should The Party name their company?

E: Also, I just noticed that if you skip the intro adventure, characters are supposed to start with 200 EXP from it, not 100, so everyone should've been a little better for this fight. Everyone's been updated; a surprising amount of the party has a 4 Strength Bonus now, and Fearghus may only have 1 attack, but the dude has a 53% WS and 40 Str already. The dwarf might be mostly a craftsman, but the guy's quite the fighter. Overall, while the party got hosed up, the fight is a pretty good example of how 'dramatic' or necessary combats tend to go early on in a campaign. A serious foe surrounded by a couple mooks and a few ways for the party to get an edge and make it more manageable. Overall, the fight with Snikkit is pretty reasonable and a good way to make an early party feel competent if they've got at least a couple competent fighters.

My personal group was able to handle that sequence fine with two apprentice wizards, a Thug elf, and their own Runesmith, for instance, despite having 1 fewer character. It's not a badly balanced first boss at all.

Next Time: The Indomitable Father Odo and the Dick Klaus Liebnitz.

Night10194 fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Dec 22, 2017

Vox Valentine
May 31, 2013

Solving all of life's problems through enhanced casting of Occam's Razor. Reward yourself with an imaginary chalice.

Yeesh, rough start but everyone is still alive at least.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Hostile V posted:

Yeesh, rough start but everyone is still alive at least.

Well, everyone also has multiple extra lives. What it illustrates is why the whole "Throw in as many encounters as you want, some of them potentially with Really Dangerous Enemies" is such a bad bit of book design. This book isn't outright bad; the adventures and campaign are okay, and they try new stuff with each book, but there's a lot of rough edges that I wouldn't put into an adventure I was designing for my group, and a lot of stuff I smoothed over when I ran it for my party.

The way my personal group took out the rat sentry involved their elf missing a shot at it and their dwarf nonchalantly hucking a brick through its skull with a Fury, then calmly noting he'd settled some ancient grudge about losing a shooting contest hundreds of years back.

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.

Night10194 posted:

Also, what should The Party name their company?

Brute Squad.

The Party Party.

Asses of Middenheim.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Also, I will note: Unlike Abandon All Hope, I don't have to skip the fights in this. The required battles that the party is outmatched in are few and far between and most of the combat is actually fairly well balanced if it's planned out. It's mostly when they throw in random extra reinforcements that stuff gets wonky.

Mostly.

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.


DEATH (AND LOVE) IN A GONDOLA – PART 1

Our heroes head east to the city of canals, and there its past glory, present decay, and eternal romance affects everyone, even Fenalik.

That's Amore!

There's a lot going on in this scenario and to its credit it does a good job of keeping everything straight for the keeper. The main plot thread involves the search for the next Simulacrum piece, in this case the Left Leg. It's been incorporated into the clockwork automata of a fancy clocktower. While that's happening, there's the Love sub-plot, in which investigators help a pair of star-crossed lovers escape the Fascists. While that's happening, Fenalik's cold undead heart is stirred with nostalgic memories of Venice and he can't help but relive his time there – his malignant presence corrupts the city and makes life harder for the investigators. The Love sub-plot can easily be excised if you don't think your players will be interested, but if they're of a romantic bent you should definitely keep it in.

The events of the campaign run on a tight schedule and happen over a course of about five days with new development in the plot threads each day. I'll present the events according to the schedule suggested by the book.



Arrival

The trip from Milan to Venice is blessedly short. On board, the investigators see a young woman in black and wearing a veil, weeping openly. Her only company is a middle-aged maid by the name of Bice. If they can offer some comfort to the poor woman, she'll introduce herself (in excellent English, should the investigators not speak Italian) as Maria Stagliani, a Venetian native who was holidaying in Milan. Sadly, her holiday has been cut short by the tragic death of her father, an academic who caught pneumonia after falling into the canals.

When they arrive at the station, Stagliani's two suitors are waiting for her. The first is Alberto Rossini, a Fascist bureaucrat accompanied by a troop of Blackshirts. He's quick to accost Stagliani, and the investigators will hear him offering stiff condolences before trying to usher the reluctant woman into a waiting government car. Investigators may notice her other suitor, a handsome young man named Georgio Gasparetti, angrily striding towards them. Stagliani sees him and begs him not to get involved, but Gasparetti is clearly too hot-headed to realise that picking a fight with a whole pack of fascists might be a bad idea. At this point, Stagliani begs for help from the investigators.

The intrusion of these rich tourists diffuses the situation. Gasparetti slips away, while Rossini blusters and demands the investigators' names and papers. If the investigators take no other action, Stagliani gets in the car with Rossini – fortunately, it's a short ride to her home and Rossini has no ill intentions towards her at this point. If the investigators offer to escort her, she introduces them to Rossini as family friends (an obvious lie). Either way, she makes sure to find out where they're staying or recommend a hotel for them if they haven't decided.

If they agree to escort her, she explains her trials and tribulations. She absolutely loves Gasparetti and despises Rossini, who as well as being a Fascist is fat, forty and plagued with bad breath. She's weeping again by the time she reaches her door.



Left to right: Rossini, Stagliani, Gasparetti.

The Suitors

Georgio Gasparetti is an idealistic young Communist who was too young to fight in the Great War – wars are devices of the bourgeoisie to expand their fortunes, but he is saddened he missed a chance to prove his bravery. He's passionate, but naive and bad at picking his battles, as the encounter in the train station proved. He loves Stagliani but as a man of low birth, her father didn't approve of their marriage and now he'll never get a chance to change his mind. He believes that the Blackshirts are to blame for his death.

Alberto Rossini is absolutely to blame for Papa Stagliani's death. The old man didn't approve of Rossini either, so he sent the Blackshirts to rough him up. He feels no remorse for causing the death, but his macho code prevents him from making a move on Stagliani until her father's been laid to rest. His Blackshirts are omnipresent in Venice, always seen lounging in large groups or menacingly following the investigators in pairs. The first time the investigators need to contact the government for anything, it's probably Rossini they have to deal with. Rossini is also, haha, an occultist. He has initiation in some kind of fashy secret society and he uses this to intimidate his subordinates, but the investigators doubtlessly have stronger magic chutzpah than he does.

Next time: the investigators rob a cathedral!

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

I can't imagine the gaming group that isn't down to punch out a couple blackshirts and help defend young love in Venice.

It seems like a nice break from tentacle times.

Kavak
Aug 23, 2009


This is the most Italian sidequest possible.

Feinne
Oct 9, 2007

When you fall, get right back up again.
Dark Matter: Xenoforms




We’re Going Back In Time in Extratemporals:

I don’t know why these specific ancient creatures have their own section but whatever, this is all extinct creatures.

Neanderthal:



Neanderthals, of course, are a now-extinct branch of human evolution. They’re a bit more robust than a normal human and have some odd bone structure compared to modern humans. They live in small family groups hunting and gathering in the few areas that humanity hasn’t managed to cause their extinction in by encroachment. They have avoided detection by correctly fearing modern humanity’s attention and by apparently practicing ritual cannibalism that results in their dead not remaining out in the open or even buried for potential discovery. Gross.

They’re pretty much humans but a bit stronger and tougher on average, with the tradeoff of being less intelligent (at least by our standards). For their part they think of us as kinda stupid and weak but also potentially with magic (as they don’t understand things like guns). Their language is pretty simple but in principle they could certainly learn modern language.

I was going to talk about the adventure hook but honestly as I think about it more it’s gross and rapey as hell so gently caress the person who came up with it. Go look up a pdf of the book if you want to know what bullshit passed for an adventure using an ancient human.

Verdict: You could probably find a good way to use them but I fear end of the day it’ll always be creepy poo poo where a lady is carrying a caveman’s rape-baby so maybe let’s just forget this one existed.

Pterosaur:



Pterosaurs are flying reptiles that were contemporaries of but distinct from dinosaurs. The pterosaur in consideration here is about five feet tall, so pretty large overall. They’re of course rare, but their range is actually pretty wide which I’m assuming is why they weren’t part of any section.

Pterosaurs are super fragile and not really anything to speak of in a fight, which is why they tend to avoid anything resembling such. They eat fish and rodents mostly, and anything the size of a human is well out of what they’d consider eating. When pressed they’re able to rake with their talons but even that isn’t terribly dangerous to anything except a small animal or child.

The adventure hook has a small child carried off by a “giant bat” in front of her parents. They are being charged with murder, while they are offering a two million dollar reward for proof of their story. This is pretty much reason enough for the heroes to get involved and they quickly begin to find a local history of pterosaur sightings and a plausible location nearby where they could be living. The adventure then allows for the very real possibility that the parents really did murder their daughter and are just taking advantage of a local legend, and that the pterosaurs may or may not exist in either case. I like this one a lot better than the last one, needless to say.

Verdict: Pretty good since it’s something cool that isn’t really a combat threat.

Sauropod:



Sauropods are large herbivorous dinosaurs. They’re a reasonably common cryptozoological holdover in rumor, showing up in places like Africa and South America. This sauropod is moderately sized, about 35 feet long and 9-10 tons. Kinori consider them almost to be holy creatures, and use them as heavy combat troops when they can get them.

You probably do not want to make one of these angry, by the by. It’s incredibly resilient and will trample you into the dirt long before you have killed it. It’s also able to engage foes from all sides with its tail.

The adventure hook has the PCs infiltrating a mission to capture a sauropod in Cameroon. A wealthy industrialist is after one, and indeed they manage to track it down after searching some areas well-known for sightings. It turns out the patron of the expedition is actually a Freemason who wants to sell its eggs to the kinori, and what the PCs try to do about this whole situation is up to them.

Verdict: A classic, a fan of this one.

Next Time: Aliens, finally.

wiegieman
Apr 22, 2010

Royalty is a continuous cutting motion


As far as having a magical duel for love with an Italian facist and his cronies goes, doesn't COC have pretty good rough consequences for players using magic?

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Night10194 posted:

I can't imagine the gaming group that isn't down to punch out a couple blackshirts and help defend young love in Venice.

It seems like a nice break from tentacle times.

The group of players I mainly game with, the love subplot would be derailed by Stagliani turning out to be a closeted gay woman and falling for one of the female PCs. :v:



I could see this being really funny if somehow you run this with players who are at most dimly aware of skaven in the setting and then all of a sudden ninja.

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.

wiegieman posted:

As far as having a magical duel for love with an Italian facist and his cronies goes, doesn't COC have pretty good rough consequences for players using magic?

Yeah, but Rossini doesn't actually have any magic. There's a world of difference between being an occultist and being someone who actually knows about the Mythos. Rossini has Cthulhu Mythos 0% and knows nothing, whereas the investigators are toting around actual magical artefacts. It's not even a contest.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Down With People posted:

Yeah, but Rossini doesn't actually have any magic. There's a world of difference between being an occultist and being someone who actually knows about the Mythos. Rossini has Cthulhu Mythos 0% and knows nothing, whereas the investigators are toting around actual magical artefacts. It's not even a contest.

At the same time he possesses a terrifying power against Investigators who aren't built on pulp rules: Order In Men With Clubs Or Guns, I imagine.

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.
As an aside I also think it's weird that I've seen other reviewers claim that the romance subplot is a pointless distraction that players won't be interested in because my group (and by the sounds of it many others) would be on this poo poo. The bigger problem would be convincing them to not try and solve it by blowing Rossini's fascist brains out.

Falconier111
Jul 18, 2012

S T A R M E T A L C A S T E
Whoops! I missed a whole page last chapter. Good luck it didn’t contain anything important!

GURPS Zombieland, USA

PART 4 – ENTERING TOWN


Let’s start the adventure! One of the PCs receives a letter from Mayor Dent of Black Lake asking for assistance (without naming what for) and offering them a check for 500 bucks if they show up. If they choose to accept, regardless of which setting you are using, the trip is pleasant and uneventful. If they don’t, the book advises you to consult a sidebar titled “Bending the PCs to Your Will”. Despite the name, it suggests relatively gentle methods like adding various hooks or, at worst, subjecting the PCs to minor engine trouble that directs them towards the town instead of punishing players for misbehaving, but never getting your players on board with the scenario before hand in any way. Eh. In Autoduel , things are mostly the same with one addition:


:allears:

Once they arrive, after getting grilled and warned by the deputy on-duty, the PCs can enter the town and wander around greeting whatever NPCs the GM desires; they all extend a warm welcome while directing them to the town hall. After dealing with his secretary (who tries to chat them up for information out of pure nosy curiosity and will burst into tears if the PCs are big enough dicks) Fuzzy Dent himself welcomes them into his office.

After passing a bickering Muldoon and Bassett on their way into the office, Dent tells the PCs he never sent a message or check and has no idea who they are. He’s genuinely confused – even extra-normal powers confirm this – but if they think to have them check his ledgers it looks like he actually did send them something. In the meantime he invites the party to stay at his motel. Did I mention he owns the only motel in town as well as the general store? Nope! Conflicts of interest! On the way he introduces them to yet more townsfolk including Deputy Pasha Lee.

Something else I missed! Pasha Lee is the adventure’s designated love interest. An Asian (again the book uses “Oriental”) woman with the Appearance (Beautiful) advantage, she’s almost sickeningly clearly designed to attract a PC’s romantic attention, from the love of animals to the mechanically-represented friendliness to the GM advice (mostly the circumstances in which she’ll fall in love with a PC). The only thing saving her from being completely awful is a love of sport shooting and the bonkers weapons skills to back it up, but still :sigh:

Anyway. Once they reach the motel, Dent invites them to make themselves at home and departs. The book again emphasizes that the townsfolk are both friendly and a little suspicious of strangers. The first signs of trouble emerge here: any attempts to contact the outside world run into technical difficulties that the operator (it was a different time) promises to fix. The motel has two other groups staying. The first is a bunch of fishermen complaining how they can’t fish in Black Lake because a storm drowned three locals in the lake (who? Good question!) And they value sport fishing over their lives. The next morning they leave to go hang out in another adventure. Obvious info dump! The other group is actually plot relevant. Led by a new hotshot reporter named Marjorie Goldblum, they were sent here by a media company called DocuLife and they are here to film a documentary about small-town American life; the crew consists of Marjorie, her sound editor Tony Brummet, cameraman Cliff Sanger, and precocious daughter Julie. They filmed the funeral of the three locals, all sons of the baker Homencik; they can also describe the mine situation to the PCs. That night PCs with danger sense-type abilities see a black van they haven’t seen before go down the road outside their windows.


Wait, four?

Plot time! The next morning, the three brothers’ graves are empty! The sheriff, Mayor, and documentary crew are on the scene. Blah blah dug up from the inside blah blah blah footprints from shoeless feet blah blah no signs of tools blah blah the grave keeper says he heard banging and horrible moans last night blah you get the idea, they’re probably zombies. If you suggest that to anyone they horselaugh you, as they should, but instead of coming up with a legitimate suspect Muldoon just goes and arrests Vic the Knife because she doesn’t like his face (he’s innocent (if still a dick); if the PCs can prove that, she’ll grudgingly let him go, and if they do it in a way that (somehow) impresses her she’ll respect them and help them out in the future).

Whatever happens at the graveyard, the police eventually haul the PCs through a crowd of enraged townsfolk to read them a statement about the incident, I guess, when suddenly! One of the deputies bursts in with news that there’s trouble at ol’ Captain Fred’s farm! The police rollout tailed by the documentary crew, Sydney Johnson (looking for a scoop), and probably the PCs.

Next time: human flesh tastes like chicken

PurpleXVI
Oct 30, 2011

Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!

Down With People posted:

While that's happening, Fenalik's cold undead heart is stirred with nostalgic memories of Venice and he can't help but relive his time there – his malignant presence corrupts the city and makes life harder for the investigators.

I'm imagining a Disney musical number where Fenalik swings off lamp posts and rides gondolas while singing, but everything he comes near either breaks, bursts into fire or wilts, or straight-up dies. Yet he either doesn't notice or doesn't care.

Down With People
Oct 31, 2012

The child delights in violence.

Falconier111 posted:

Next time: human flesh tastes like chicken

Finally a game that's ready to tell it like it is. :yum:

Cassa
Jan 29, 2009

Down With People posted:

As an aside I also think it's weird that I've seen other reviewers claim that the romance subplot is a pointless distraction that players won't be interested in because my group (and by the sounds of it many others) would be on this poo poo. The bigger problem would be convincing them to not try and solve it by blowing Rossini's fascist brains out.

Or drive a truck through Mussolini's HQ

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Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Well, Fascist Dictators are more vulnerable to bullets than most mass-murdering horrors in a CoC campaign...

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