Masters of Carcosa - Session 14

As you’ll see in the comments, I had been reading Blood Meridian, and the book and its mood started seeping into the game. I wrote about this a few years ago: A Carcosan Western. The game was meant to be light-hearted Masters of the Universe themed game, and while there was a fair bit of that, the game was probably more cowboys than He-Man. (That said, the Staff of Avion the players find this session is from Masters of the Universe.) The players were wandering the wastelands, having shootouts with bandits.

The dead man they find on the road was meant to be a clue something was amiss at the castle, but maybe not enough of a clue. The Snake Men ruins were another important site in the game the players would ignore. Kheret ils Nu’s Reliquary, which I wrote for the Trophy Gold megadungeon, borrows ideas from this campaign and these ruins my players never explored. The Snake Men would end up freed by the Dominant Reflection. They would restart their war with the Old Ones, so nominally aligned with the players, except to the Snake Men the players were just reagents for spells.

My rules for getting lost seemed to only come up when the party would leave their home base. They were constantly getting lost right next to their home. A little silly, but I kept with it because I thought it was funny.

[You can contrast the recap that follows with my Carcosa-style hex descriptions.][s14]

Players:

• Beloch Shrike: Renoir, Red Man Fighter
• Eric Boyd: Orange Julia, Orange Women Fighter
• Gus: Normangina, Yellow Women Fighter

News and Rumours:

• Trade has resumed between Jahar and Invak. The merchants are happy to hear you dealt with the cultists.
• The Illustrious Prince of the Bone, former head of the Bone Man village in the outpost, has not been heard from since heading South in search of The Queen of Autumn.
• Traders speak of wild aggressive Migo wandering in packs to the South, harassing their caravans.
• The Black Man rescued from the Cultists is planning on leaving for the Castle he is from to the West. (And wouldn’t mind company for the trip.)
• No word from the Citadel of Decline to the West in weeks.
• Aggressive group of Space Aliens continue to stop and search travellers to the South.
• Plus all the open threads from the open thread thread.

Recap:

• The party rests in Invak, having emptied out the (no longer abandoned) space alien outpost.
• Black Man “the Speaker of Benedictions” needs help getting home.
• Was hunting when captured by slavers.
• The party agrees to take him back to his home, being promised a modest reward for their efforts (and good karma, of course)
• On the way West they get a little bit lost—par for the course when leaving Invak, apparently.
• They wait till the evening to re-orient themselves using the stars.
• While searching for a place to camp, they find some ruins of the ancient Snake-Men. The place fills them with foreboding. The leave it alone.
• In the morning they head Northward. On the way they encounter a long line of Giant ants heading South West.
• They leave the ants alone and continue North.
• Further along they find a dead body, a Black Man whose head has been blown clear off (from laser a gun), gear scattered everywhere.
• They continue to approach the castle.
• The “the Speaker of Benedictions” goes ahead to get the gates opened.
• He is promptly shot at by two men on the parapets of the Castle.
• Attempts at parlay are for naught, so the Bazooka comes out.
• The doors to the castle are blown open.
• 4 riders on velociraptors ride out, two armed with pistols, two with clubs.
• Are long fight breaks out, but eventually the party succeed in driving away the remaining Purple Men who had taken over the castle. (6 flee into the wilderness)
• The party capture two of the raptors during the fight and by searching the wilderness for one that ran away.
• The party create a pyre and burn the dead Black Men that litter the castle.
• They, along with the “the Speaker of Benedictions”, take all the valuables and head back to Invak.

Treasure:

• 8 Laser Pistols (but “the Speaker of Benedictions” claims two as side arms)
• 9000 GP = 2250 GP each (since “the Speaker of Benedictions” claims a share of the gold)
• “Staff of Avion”
• Two raptors (4HD, AC 12, MV 160’), Feathered Orange hide. Immune to poison.

Comments:

• Ramanan S (2015-09-15 04:31): Feel like I remember more when I force myself to write them down right away. I should sleep for real now, though.
• Chris G (2015-09-15 05:33): Dang! I would have shat a brick when dudes on velociraptors came out of the gate.
• Dion Williams (2015-09-15 07:30): Sounds like a great session. Wish I could be making these.
• Ramanan S (2015-09-15 12:24): Me too. One day Dion!
• Ramanan S (2015-09-15 13:33): This session feels heavily informed by my reading cowboy books right now. (Though now when I look back at all the seasons they start to feel like Westerns.) You guys have good success killing over confident cultists and bandits.
• Chris G (2015-09-18 05:25): I remember you mentioning Blood Meridian. What other cowboy books are you reading? I’m on a major Western kick right now.
• Ramanan S (2015-09-18 11:22): Chris Geisel I said books I really meant that one, which should count for several. Hah.
• Chris G (2015-09-18 23:26): lol, too true. I got excited for a cowboy book recommendation.
• Ramanan S (2015-09-19 12:25): Gus can recommend several! There were some Elroy books he had mentioned a little while ago I have been meaning to check out. If you haven’t seen Unforgiven you should go do that now, though. There is a Japanese remake with Ken Wanatabe which is also cool.

• Gus L (2015-09-19 16:26): Chris Geisel The cowboy books I’d recommend are actually very limited:

  Pete Dexter’s “Deadwood” (1986) is just a great book. It’s the inspiration for the series of the same name, but very different.

  Cormac McCarthy “Blood Meridian” is amazing - is it a Western?  Mostly. In form certainly, but it’s very surreal at times, and very strange.

  As to Elroy, that’s more historically researched hard-boiled pulp detective stuff.  The darkest there is.  Very good - especially the LA ones about greed corruption and lurid crime. Elmore Leonard wrote a mess of Westerns and I know I’ve read a couple, but they’re pretty standard fare, well written and amusing though in his jaunty style.

• Ramanan S (2015-09-19 17:08): I’d actually say Blood Meridan is a post-apocalypse novel. I’m sure someone has written an essay about that.
• Chris G (2015-09-20 03:03): Gus L I’ve read Blood Meridian. I’ll check out Deadwood, thanks. There’s a collection of Elroy’s Western stories at a local book store here, do you think it’s worth checking out.
• Gus L (2015-09-20 03:17): Chris Geisel I haven’t read a lot of his Westerns, I like the guy’s writing and he’s pretty much at the core of that genre.
• Ramanan S (2015-10-07 12:32): I  think i’m going to start using my alternate time line re-stocking tables as a way to do rumours going forward. Sort of like meta-rumours, I guess.
• Eric Boyd (2015-10-12 03:25): Gus L Beloch Shrike How are we splitting up the haul, here? Two people get velociraptors and a low-charge pistol each, someone else gets the Staff of Avion and four laser pistols? Orange Julia would prefer a dinosaur if we go with that split.
• Gus L (2015-10-12 16:00): Well I figure dinos would be based on the mechanics. Normigina has Animal Handling 3 - what’s needed to ride the raptor?
• Ramanan S (2015-10-12 19:39): The raptors you have are domesticated enough you can hop on them and ride around. None of you would likely have practice riding them around for a fight, though. Maybe Normangina would be a bit better here? So you would need to practice that. They will likely run away if left unattended. They need to eat 3x the rations you guys do, but will happily eat the lizard meat available in Invak. Gus can try and train them to get used to your troupe so they know to stick around. Or to try and fight on command. Etc. Would probably take more time than a week?
• Ramanan S (2015-10-12 19:41): The Staff of Avion is 6’ long and inscribed with runes, clearly of snake men origin to any sorcerers in the group.