Brendan would call this a method of play. The rules that follow are based heavily on his Hazard system, and add some structure to the loose rules presented in the OD&D booklets.
The Hazard die is a d6 that makes this all go.
Rest and Recuperation (Haven Turns)
The start of each session—or the time between sessions—will usually begin in a settlement. While in a settlement players may run through the following activities, in sequence.
Tabulate XP gained and level up if appropriate.
Pay any upkeep costs.
Re-roll HP—note this action can only be taken once per session.
Determine retainer loyalty.
Buy or sell items, repair damaged gear, or recruit hirelings.
Review rumours and news.
A haven turn is assumed to be one week of in game time, though this time may vary if a shorter or longer duration would make more sense.
Upkeep costs include paying for accommodations, food and pay owed to retainers and henchmen.
Wilderness Travel and Adventure
There are 4 wilderness actions: move, camp, hunt & forage for food, and explore. Characters may take two actions during the day, and one at night.
The DM’s map of Carcosa is divided up into 10 mile hexes. There are no short simple trips through the wilderness. The world of Carcosa lacks proper roads, with much of the planet a rocky badland. Moving allows players to travel from hex to the next. (Some hexes, like those covered in mountains or filled with swamps, may require characters use more than one move action to get through.)
Characters generally rest at night by Camping. Skipping a camp action puts the characters at a -2 for all rolls during the following day.
Hunting and Foraging for Food can be done to attempt to find food (rations) in the wild.
Exploring will reveal a random unknown location within the hex. The players may instead attempt to find a specific location they know is somewhere in the hex. If the location is well hidden, doing so requires the character with the highest wisdom score roll under their wisdom.
After each action roll the Hazard die and resolve any hazards:
Encounter
Encounter
Wilderness Travel Complication
Lost (ignore if camping)
If Lost the player characters end up in a random hex adjacent to where they started. If players are traveling to a location they are familiar with this roll might not make sense. In that case, roll a d6 again. If it comes up 4 again the party is indeed lost. They somehow messed up a simple trip.
Traveling at night is more dangerous: a roll of 5 on the hazard dice is also an encounter.
Each region will have its own encounter and wilderness complication tables.
At the start of each day roll for weather and the colour of the sky. For most of Carcosa we will use the following table:
2-12
Weather
2-3
Hot
4-6
Clear
6-7
Clearing
8-9
Overcast
10
Light Rain
11
Rain
12
Hard Rain
Some travel complications may also effect the weather.
Down in the Dungeon
Encounter
Dungeon Complication
Fatigue (unless the next turn is spent resting, everyone takes 1 damage)
Light source exhaustion (all light sources go out)
Misc player character resource expires (spell duration, etc)
Assume we are playing an Original D&D game with the following exceptions outlined below.
dCarcosa
Whenever you are asked to roll a dCarcosa roll all the dice: a d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 and d20! The d20 tells you which of the dice rolled should be read:
d20
Dice to Use
1-4
d4
5-8
d6
9-12
d8
13-16
d10
17-20
d12
You will use a dCarcosa to roll your hit dice and damage.
Hit Dice and Healing
In traditional OD&D a hit dice is a d6. In this game a hit dice is a dCarcosa.
HP is recovered as one of the steps during the “Haven Turn” (see below). There is no (natural) partial HP recovery during a session. (Your characters don’t feel rested if you haven’t rested.)
Attribute Scores
Roll 3d6 in order for your stats. They provide no bonuses for high scores, or detriments for low scores. They are sometimes used to determine the success of actions your character wishes to perform, and to give you a rough sense of what your character might be like.
Classes
Players can pick from the following classes: Fighter or Sorcerer as described in Carcosa.
Fighter
The most common adventurer is the fighter, skilled in the use of all armour and weaponry. They have a +1 bonus to their to-hit rolls at first level (as noted in their to-hit table below).
Sorcerer
The Sorcerer is similar to a fighter, but can also learn to cast the horrific sorcery of the ancient Snake-Men. A sorcerer can learn any number of rituals, and cast them as often as they like, though the costs to do so are quite high to say the least. Sorcerous rituals banish, conjure, invoke, bind, torment, or imprison entities such as the Old Ones and their spawn. All rituals (except for rituals of banishment) require human sacrifice, and all except banishing require long ceremonies (typically at least an hour) to perform along with much paraphernalia. (The model for a Lawful sorcerer would be one that only focuses on the rituals of banishment.)
All sorcerers can read the ancient language of the Snake-Men.
Characters can carry up to the greater of their strength score or ten number of items. An item is anything one could imagine taking up a non-trivial amount of space. So a ration would take up one item slot, another ration would take up another; armour is a slot; your weapons are each a slot; 100 GP in coins is a slot.
A character takes a -1 to all rolls for each extra item they carry over their allowed amount.
Combat
Ascending AC will be used for combat. Players roll a d20 to hit, add their attack bonus, and try and score higher than their opponent’s AC. An unarmoured combatant has an ascending AC of 10.
The attack bonus progression for Fighters is:
Level
Bonus
1-3
+1
4-6
+2
7-9
+5
10-13
+7
The attack bonus progression for Sorcerers is:
Level
Bonus
1-3
+0
4-6
+2
7-9
+5
10-13
+7
The attack progression for specialists and psionicsts is:
Instead of making opposed rolls during combat, players simply make a normal combat check. If they succeed they roll damage. An enemy can make an armour save to reduce the damage rolled by half. This is inline with what the online Mothership community is doing, and what Sean himself suggested.
Hazard Die
Gradient Descent suggests rolling for random encounters every 10 minutes of in game time, or once per human scale room, three times per industrial scale room. As written, there is a 1 in 10 chance for an encounter (rolling doubles on d100). So, relatively infrequently. In my first session there were no random encounters, for example.
An idea I stole from Brendan is to have the dead results on the encounter check also do something. (The infamous Hazard Die) This can add a bit more dynamism into what’s happening during a game. Since this is Mothership I’ll use a D10.
Encounter: roll on a random encounter table. Exhaustion: the characters are hungry or fatigued. They must rest and eat, or take a point of stress. Expiration: batteries die, oxygen runs dangerously low, etc. Environment: something about the players immediate surroundings change. Perhaps there are hints of a future encounter. Easement: a moment of calm, so the players may lose one stress.
I have liked having ‘quiet’ results, so “environment” is the most likely event. I’ll experiment with this over the coming sessions.
Karna, a young cleric of Ilum Zugot, joins the Order of Gavin in their return to the barrows. The party returns to the room the party almost died within, to loot the remaining furs and skulls. They then venture into the natural caves and begin exploring. They discover a second exit to the barrow, and another way down to the 3rd level. Traveling on they encounter a possibly undead noble. The party returns to Ilum Zugot with their loot.
Gains: +2103 GP, hot damn.
Spending: 1500 GP on spell research (Fear), and 10 GP training Shalya ratling, 5 GP upkeep, 1 GP pay for Shalya. (+3167 XP)
Failed Save vs. Magic for Magical Research.
Research result: “Your research in the Priest-King’s sutra library has revealed that to make more progress in your supplication, you must seek out the tomb of Nisket-Kah, an ancient warrior queen whose helm is said to be ornamented with writing that will unlock the power that you seek. Creatures of darkness were said to cower in awe of the power of light as manifested in her conquests. Your research has also uncovered a map leading to the north, on the edge of the great desert. Strangely, the map is inscribed with runes for ‘beacon’ in addition to ‘way-finding’.”
The party witnesses the execution of an evil sorcerer and his minions. They then head back to the lower barrows. Another delve filled with more violence than usual. The party stops the summoning of a demon, presumably, and returns to the town with much loot.
Gains: 1185 GP
Spending: 1500 GP on spell research (Fear), 5 GP upkeep, 1 GP pay for Shalya. (+3156 XP)
Failed Save vs. Magic for Magical Research, again.
Once more into the barrows, the party retraces their last steps through lower levels. Exploring the level below the ‘punishment room’, the party discovers a crypt full of bodies. There is a small alter dedicated to some snake god, where giant flies steal Beni’s hat and Darulin’s magic sword. After some misadventures everything is recovered, with extra loot to boot. While exploring natural caverns Shalya, Ratling Porter, is killed by a falling boulder. Tragedy.
Gains: 13,835 GP: holy shit.
Spending: 9145 GP on spell research (6000 GP Fear, 3145 GP on Commune with Dead), 5 GP upkeep, 1800 GP to train Ginny Bo (+21,010 XP)
The party takes a break from dungeoneering to clear a road! On the way they come across a group of giants attacking a farm house. There is some killing, but they manage to subdue the last of the giants Margosk. An agreement is made between the players and the giant. Each player carves a bell in their arm, to commemorate the occasion. After making sure the farmstead is safe and secure, the party continues their journey. Making camp in the ruins of a guard tower over looking a small river, the party encounters …
… bandits! They attack the party, but are quickly overwhelmed. (+900 XP for the fight.) They interrogate the group, and learn they serve a fellow that worships the evil purple worms of the under dark. The party makes captives of the lot of them. The next day they continue their trek towards Gosmermorul. The party arrives at the fantastic city at night. They party with their captives. The following day they meet up with the leader of the city, a teenager, and discuss their plans for building a road between Ilum Zugot and Gosmermorul. It is agreed that some sort of arrangement will be made, though specifics aren’t decided on. The following day the party ventures out to inspect a boat stuck in a tree, that one of their captives mentioned to them. As they make their way they, they discover the town leader–the Hegemon–has followed them! He is bored and wants to join the party.
Spells: Cure Light Wounds x 2; Bless, Hold Person; Continual Light; Sticks to Snakes.
The party investigates the boat in a tree. It’s 100’ feet, and probably just as high up. Beni climbs a rope to take a look, and is swarmed by 4 spiders. The party makes short work of them, thanks to some Sticks to Snakes. While deciding what to do next, and cautious investigation, a mother-fucking wyvern flies down and attacks. Luckily, the demon knife that the party has been hanging on to for weeks is put to good use, destroying the beast in one hit. The party climbs up to investigate the ship. Tarvice uses Speak with Animals to negotiate with the spiders, asking them to leave us alone. They had no love for the Wyvern living in their boat, so they oblige. Inside the boat is treasure and evil statues the clerics quickly destroy. Sadly, Darulin goes insane upon looking at their visage. The boat explored and a wyvern killed, the party heads back to town.
The next day the party decides to harass the cultists. The bandit they turned leads them to their hide out. After some ultraviolence the party heads back to town with a knocked out cultist, leaving behind dead cultists and bandits. They mark the bodies and trees with the symbol of the snake cult, to confuse these cultists.
A raid on the cultists goes awry, with the party ambushing a watch tower only to be ambushed themselves by returning bandits. Many magical weapons are used to aid in the destruction of evil cultists, and the party survives another day with only one casualty: a woodsmen was eaten by a giant worm. The party plans to attack the cultists compound itself. …
The party decides to take out the cultists, once and for all. After a short rest to catch their breath, the party storms the temple. Eriara summons a phantasmal force to scare the remaining cultists. Breaching their defenses Darulin uses the magical crossbow to destroy the last remaining guards in front of the cultist’s temple. The party then ventures up the step pyramid and into the temple via an alternate entrance. Much adventure is had within, including the capture of the presumed leader of the cult. …
The party enter a room where a worm like creature is being constructed. There is some ultraviolence. There are demons. It was emotional. Back in town, the party are accosted by people looking for Satyavati! They are from his home town, hoping to recruit the Order of Gavin to retrieve a magical item. The party aren’t too keen on helping the necromancer, just yet, so Beni just steals the map to the location. Sneaky.
There is much negotiation with the priest king, and construction of the road is arranged. The party heads South towards their former home town Zorfath. Along the way the party encounter some creepy flying demons. Once they arrive at Zorfath they learn the town has been taken over by the Griffon King and the Snake Cult. The party sells their Black Demon armor. Eriara learns she’s been charmed by a purple worm since destroying the ziggurat. She is now its willing familiar. Asking the sage for information about the Wyvern eggs and their other junk. The party ventures off to find mushrooms for the sage. In doing so they also find a dragon: which they kill!
Gains: +4238 GP
Spending: 250 GP on road project, 25 GP on Pack Ape, 10 GP on retainers.
The party discover a giant bonfire, some fire demons, that dragon they are trying to kill, and a wizard working on something nefarious. Ignoring the wizard for the time being, the party venture towards Ilum Zugot, only to encounter a pitched battle between its soldiers and a giant mob of bandits. The party makes quick work of the bandits, and captures their leader. Beni parleys with the man for some time, but Karna ultimately offers the man his freedom (rather than the traditional Ilum Zugot punishment of death) if he joins the Party of Gavin. He tells the party he is in the employ of the wizard they saw. The party returns to the where they saw the wizard and kills the shit out of everything.
Gains: +1720 GP
Spending: 9417 GP on spell research (9417 GP on Commune with Dead), +250 GP on road project, +10 GP on retainer. (+20049 XP)
The party parleys with the Dragon. They aren’t interested in controlling him and would have him go on his way, but he can’t allow Eriara to die lest he die as well, and is thus invested in her safety. He follows the party back to Ilum Zugot. After a long evening of spell research, Karna has a vivid dream that the demons are over-running the world, and is convinced that the party must intervene. He convinces the Priest King to change his position in regards to the demon invasion. The party then heads South to Zorfath. They talk to the Griffon King and their friendly Wizard friend, before venturing once more into Pahvelorn. The party doesn’t make it past the first room. First shadow creatures take a level from Karna, and then a group of soldiers of some sort attack the party. Ginny Bo and Fitzwalter are killed during the skrimish. The party flees to Zorfath.
Gains: +389
Spending: +10 GP on retainers**, +250 GP on road project, +5GP on upkeep.
The party passes a strange floating rock, in some weird anti-gravity field on their way to the location of the ancient weapon. Along the path there are numerous grave markers from a long since gone militant order. They come across a giant tree marked with runes warning to “let the sleeping ones remain sleeping”, a lean-to resting against it. Inside the party finds the pack of an adventurer, Audrey Belden, an adventurer from 50 years past. They confirm her name from a diary in the campsite. Continuing on to the site of the weapon, the party finds the body of who must be Audrey Belden outside the tower, frozen, missing her shoes. Entering the tower, the party does some exploration of its upper works. A book on the main floor contains a long list of names, the last of which is is Audrey Belden!
The party ventures back into the creepy tower dungeon. It continues to creep them the fuck out.
Pahvelorn Session #37:
The party venture off to Trolum. On the way they encounter a group of strange crab like monsters, which they attack and defeat. The party moves on to Trollum, where they finally speak with Necromancer King after first speaking with his aid. They learn they are in search of a flute, and that a cleric is needed to descend into the depths of the tower, which he calls the Tower of Queen Orcus. Returning to this evil tower, the party decides to investigate the whistling sound they heard. A shaft covered by a grate leads down some 50’. The party traverses down to find the source of the sound: a person playing a flute, chained in a small cell. Beni yanks on the chains holding the fellow, the flute falls from his mouth. And then it all turns to shit. Escaping back up the shaft, flute in hand, the party hear the groans of undeath all around them, as skeletal hands reach up through the graveyard they find themselves in.
Hexeth is slain. Karna’s loses his Demon Black Mace, which he loved. The party killed two wizards, so that’s good.
Gains: +2055 GP
Spending: +1000 GP on reviving Hexeth, and +4000 GP on training Hexeth in fighting, +4000 GP on spell research.
Pahvelorn Session #41:
The party meets a giant pig, Fustion. The party suspects it might be one of the bigs they left behind to feed the ants. He claims to be a god who rules over the ant.
Gains: +460 GP
Spending: +100 GP on crown for Fustion.
Pahvelorn Session #42
TODO
Gains: +2500 GP
Spending: 2500 GP researching commune with the dead. (+5250 XP)
Pahvelorn Session #43
Gains: +10000 GP from selling the platinum disk.
Spending: 938 GP on researching commune with the dead (+1876 XP), 4000 GP on training Hexeth (+4000 XP).
Pahvelorn Session #44
The mutations from our fight with Kalia have activated. Karna’s mutation is an exoskeleton made of bone, that covers his bone. The party travel up to the floating sky castle with Lortherian the Astromancer. They encounter another ship that has crashed into the castle. Near it they fight a giant plant that almost eats Ariara’s retainer “cool guy”. Moving on they venture into the castle, exploring its towers and courtyards. Finally they encounter the wizard Almetrabe. Karna sends him on a quest to harvest blue goop from a giant’s arm they encountered.
Gains: +2,977 GP from various loot.
Spending: TODO
Pahvelorn Session #45
The party are ambushed by bird men and wyvern on their way up to the floating castle. They appear to be led by a wizard and elemental. Torklan is struck dead by a death spell! Son of a bitch. I loved that guy. The wizard is apparently Ostherna the Dark, an evil necromancer.
Spending: 4000 GP raising Torklan back from the dead.
Pahvelorn Session #46
I missed this one.
Pahvelorn Session #46
The party takes the magical underground river that leads to the floating castle.
Horse Killing Sword (Zanbatto), -2 to hit, 2d6 + 2 damage, it’s a flat broad dope looking sword.
594 gp
Rune Magic
Level 1: Sleep, Range: 240’, Duration: 4-16 turns
This spell will put creatures to sleep for 4d4 turns. The caster can only affect creatures with 4 + 1 hit dice or less. Only 1 creature with 4 + 1 hit dice will be affected; otherwise, the spell affects 2-16 (2d8) hit dice of creatures. The undead cannot be put to sleep. When affecting a group of creatures of mixed levels (hit dice), lower level creatures will always be put to sleep before higher level ones. Any “pluses” are ignored (for example, 2 + 1 hit dice is treated as 2 hit dice). Creatures with less than 1 hit die are still considered as 1 hit die. Any sleeping creature may be awakened by force (such as a slap).
Notes
To start 3D6 not in order, 3D6 for 80gp.
Maria left The Dark Capital recently, for mysterious reasons all her own.
She spent all her gold on brand new plate mail and is in desperate need of adventure. It is all gilded and fancy, as is the style of the Dark Capital.
Session 1: The most prudent, peaceful, and pragmatic adventurers to ever grace Baroviania have let Cody loose on the world. (+100xp for write-up, +114xp for adventuring)
Maria is hanging out with Cody in the Jova City Tavern and has been given a small cut (+8gp) of his winnings.
Session 2: A band of battle and murder princesses, along with Maria, investigate who is harassing Puella Potions of Akenia. After harassing the maids of Raspberry Tea Cafe, who are clearly not the culprits, they move on to the Silver Blade Armaments, where Mariah buys a giant Horse Killing Sword. The fellow there is a fool so they move on to Mammy Gorbo’s Home Remedies. Clearly she is evil and a fight breaks out. Potions are split, a demon Meloch is summoned, and the shop starts running on chicken legs. Still, the party is successful and all is well.
Session 3: Maria is deposited by dungeon faeries somewhere in Akenia. They come upon a room with a giant worm. A fight ensues. Norb, a strange alien, is eaten. The parties attempts to get the monster to cough up their friend, but that ends up with a room full of stomach acid. Maria disintegrates.
It was unclear to Khaimpo the Wretched why his master wanted the Wrydstone, but it was not his place to question commands. He was joined by the survivors of a group of mercenaries. (If this lot survived, he couldn’t imagine how useless the rest of their former compatriots might be.) Volchyakrov’s Wolves, as the dregs had taken to calling themselves, advanced through the city in search of the treasure, alongside the revenants raised by Khaimpo. Lord Volchyakrov had spied some Wrydstone. Securing it would be no easy feat: they found themselves beset by a group of mercenaries from Middenheim.
Khaimpo and his group skulked along an alleyway towards a stone, watching as Middenheimers approached from the opposite direction. One of his Dire Rats raced ahead, securing the stone in one of their grubby mouths, only to lose it to the blade of a Halberdier. With that the groups were on top of each other, the fighting fierce. In the end this stone was lost to the Middenheimers, though Vrouwer Koning didn’t make things easy, laying a Halberdier low with a stiff blow from her staff.
The coward Peters Van der Peters surveyed the scene from a rooftop far from the action. He took potshots at mercenaries approaching a wyrdstone in a courtyard, for show more than anything else: he was a terrible shot. Lord Volchyakrov raced ahead, trailed by the recently dead of Mordheim. The two groups traded blows. He watched Volchyakrov fall. Was this to be his shortest mercenary stint yet? All the same, he remained unmotivated to move up and help his knew master. When Volchyakrov recovered, and laid the rival captain low, Van der Peters knew he had made the right call. His true job was to live another day, after all.
The Wolves retreated, a wyrdstone clutched in the hand of Lord Volchyakrov.
Lord Volchyakrov +3 XP, Khaimpo the Wretched +1 XP, Vrouwer Koning +2 XP, Humeurige Van Dame +1 XP, The Coward Peters Van der Peters +1 XP, Ghouls +1 XP.
Vrouwer Koning advances, learning a new skill [Mighty Blow]
My copy of the new Mothership boxed set arrived recently, and it got me excited about running another campaign. The boxed set comes with a new starter adventure, Another Bug Hunt, which I’m running for a few friends online. I wrote up some initial thoughts about Another Bug Hunt on my blog, and will likely use this play through to add some more.
Players
Arnold: Maxwell Constance, Scientist
Amanda: Hazel Grouse
Kyana: Jayden-113, Android
Ian: VERSE, Android
Contractors / NPCs
Private Adeline Odea
Private Jodi Rocker
Session 1 - May 9th, 2024
Players: Arnold, Amanda, Kyana, Ian
The players wake up from cryosleep orbiting Samsa VI. They meet the slimey company employee Maas, who informs them of their mission: Rendezvous with 2ndLt Kaplan, the marine commander of the colony, and assist them in repairing the situation; re-establish satellite communications and get the terraformer back online; if all else fails, evacuate Dr. Edem, the mission specialist, as well as the colony’s synthetic science officer, Hinton (or at least retrieve his logic core). Nothing else matters, least of all the lives of the rest of crew on planet.
The players take a drop ship down to the surface, surviving a turbulent ride down. [Fear Saves] There is an intense tropical storm raging on the groun. They make their way towards Greta Base, which looks to have lost power. Closer they see it is on some sort of minimal power. They circumnavigate the building, peering in through windows. They can see disarray in what looks to be the cafeteria. Back at the main entrance, Maxwell hacks the airlock door. The room is black, lit by their headlamps. Jayden-113 searches the lockers, her flash light revealing huge claw marks and gashes in a couple. [Fear Saves]
The group make their way into the cafeteria and explore. VERSE finds a headless corpse, its chest seemingly hollowed out. Another headless corpse is found by Jayden-113. The androids matter of factly relay this information to the humans, huddled at the periphery of the room.
They exit out of the North exist of the room, and then head West towards the Garage (they had spotted previously when exploring the exterior). Inside the garage they find an APC, and a marine sitting inside a big hole, digging. He is unresponsive. Hazel climbs down to give him a stimpack. She puts his arm gingerly on his shoulder … and a motherfucking alien pops out of his head! [Did I ask for fear saves: now would have been the time!] [Hazel makes a speed check to rush back up before the creature settles into his new surroundings and gobbles her up. The players win an opposed roll, and so act first. Jayden-113 notices the bandolier of frag grenades on now dead the marine. Maxwell unloads her SMG clip into the hole, hitting the frag grenades. Everyone is knocked down as the explode. The creature in the hole is torn to shreds.
Inside the APC is a marine clutching a frag grenade. He seems unfazed by the commotion outside. He rocks back and forth, talking about “the hive” to himself. The players usher him out of the car, down into the hole. He doesn’t seem to mind.
I assuemd the dropship would drop the players off, and then fuck off back into space. That's made more explicitly clear if you read the 4th scenario. The players will obviously want to get the hell out of there as soon as they see the carnage in the cafetria. In my game the players were given two Marine Grunts as contractors, and they weren't keen to leave without finding out what happened to the other soliders / people. Amanda pictures her character in debt, after wasting money in pilot school. Ha. The way the adventure is set up, the players don't actually have a way to call for an extraction without fixing the satelite radio.
I made Arnold give up his whole clip to blow up the frag grenades, because it wasn't an easy shot. But that was me retconning the action. I should have just let them have the win and played it differently in the future.
There aren't any random encounters in this adventure. Time is an important factor, though. Certain events take place after a certain number of hours. I need to think about how to track that neatly, and communicate it to the players. I suppose this is what people use clocks for in Blades. Though I guess I could use a more literal clock.
Session 2 - May 16th 2024
Players: Arnold, Amanda, Kyana
The players try and interview the mechanic Demar. They manage to get small tid bits of information from him, but for the most part he’s not that lucid. They learn there is a “Hive” past the terraforming station.
They explore the base, doing a quick circuit of the interior. They find dead bodies in the control room and pantry, but leave them alone for now.
They investigate the crew quarters more carefully. The words COMMS OFF are written on the doors to area, grafitti. In Lt Kaplan’s room they find a locator device that is tracking the android Hinton. In Dr. Edem’s room they find a birthday card to Olsen, that was unopened. It reads: Thanks for always listening. Hopefully, they’ll let me leave after this one. Weather charts in Edem’s room suggest a huge storm is coming.
Returning to the control room, they discover the body they found belongs to Lt. Kaplan. He has clearly killed himself and destoryed the computers before doing so.
In the medical room they find one of Dr. Edem’s workbooks. She comments on discovering the “krebslieder” or “crabsong,” a shrill shriek the “carcinids” use in order to replicate. She mentions Hinton made most of the discoveries related to these creatures, but suggests her know how is what connected all the pieces.
Maxwell and Jayden-113 work together to break into the locked medical room. [Hacking Check, failed!] THey get in, but it takes some time. The door chime lets them know they are in just as they hear a load boom: Demar’s frag grenade has gone off. [Fear saves]
They decide now is as good a time as any to search for the missing personal. They get into the APC and head off for Heron Terraforming Base.
The sesion felt smoother. I knew Demar would 'turn' in 3 hours, give or take, and it just so happened that roughly coincided with the hacking attempt. Still could do a better job tracking time.
Session 3 - May 30th 2024
Players: Arnold, Amanda, Kyana, Ian
The players make the trip through the jungle towards Heron Terraforming Station. Hazel thinks she sees the crab-creatures in jungle as they drive.
They get to a clearing that opens up to the Terraforming base, and a small group of creatures emerges from the jungle as they do. They slam on the gas, and are pursued. Before things get too dire, an ATV drives past them blasting Ride of the Valkyries. The sound is enough of a distraction for the creatures to pause and change pursuit. Both cars make it back to the Hangar.
Their saviour is Sgt Valdez. As she tries to explain what’s going on she is inturpted by Dr. Edam, the women they are here to rescue. Edam is in turn interrupted by HM3 Brookman, the medic. Everyone has their own demands of the party: ensure the reactor doesn’t shutdown, recover important research, restore communication and flee, respectively. The group decides to go with Valdez’s plan: stop imminent the automated shutdown of the reactor.
The group repels makes their way to the roof of the building so they can repel down the side of the reactor chimney. It’s terrifying descending into the darkness. [Fear Save.] On the way down they see what look to be caccoons stuck to the walls. The radiation levels are lethal, but their hazard suits keep them safe.
On the other side of an airlock door they find the remnants of the previous squad holed up onto of a gigantic turbine in the middle of a flooded room. The water levels lap up against the cat walk this door exits on to. LCpl Franco reveals It Was Hinton All Along. The water is infested with creatures. The reactor is going to shutdown, mother-fucking Hinton sabotaged everything. Hinton escaped though a weird gash in the wall, before the flooding got too intense.
The group manage to get the marines off the turbine, and back onto the reactor chimney floor.
I was surprised the players went with restore power over 'get the fuck off the planet. I've also been impressed with how much of what's happening the players manageed to intuit or guess. There was much disapointment when they discovered the reactor was already sabotaged.
Session 4 - June 6th 2024
Players: Arnold, Amanda, Kyana, Ian
The players make their way up the chimney stack, climbing back up on with the rope system. The power dies as they make it up to the midway hatch. They enter the spillway. They find PFC Glockner’s dead body. Franco grabs his rocket launcher. They move on, entering the stairwell and making the way up to the lab.
They are ambushed by a Carcanid, who drops down behind them from its perch on the roof of the stairs. It lunges at Valdez and kills her instantly. Nobitov throws a frag grenade at the creature as it eats Valdez’s body. He doesn’t look behind as he along with everyone else runs up the stair well.
They move through a hatchway and manage to baricade it with some machinary in the room. They search the space, finding a now dead control terminal and a vent. They exit into the hallway, and head towards the lab. They manage to pry open the door, relying on PFC Rocker’s muscles. The marines all need to help. They strip off the tops of their hazmat suits. The players notice Weaver is infected.
In the lab they find the missing Dr. Zeigler on the other side of a glass partition. He warns them to run away. They don’t listen. Moments later, his neck explodes as a crab jumps out!
Session 5 - June 13th 2024
Players: Arnold, Amanda, Ian
The group retreat from the lab, leaving the carc trapped stuck in the lab, trying to smash through the protective glass. They close the (broken) airlock doors behind them. They split up, with one group trying to cut a way into the cryovault, while the other tries to get their via vents. Via the vents they make it into the room, and find Dr. Edam’s research on a datakey. There are also signs one of the creatures in the large vials in this room escaped.
They climb up the elevator shaft, back to the hanger. There they are greeted by Dr. Edam, who informs them Brookman and his posse fled when the power went out. They decide its time to go as well. Everyone hops in the APC and books it to the tower. They end up playing chicken with a Carcanid. The APC manages to knock it out of the way, into the water. At the tower they break into the maintenance room, and power on the generator. They don’t see the missing ATVs or Brookman on their trip.
The bugs are approaching. They climb up the tower. On the roof they meet Underhill and his synthetic dog. He tells them to get out of here! He saw Brookman’s ATV get swatted into the water. He assumes everyone is dead.
Engineer Sobol stays on the roof to reset the relay. The rest of the crew climb down into the tower to fix the broadcast control panel. Within that room they find a horrid scene, a Carcanid splayed into the controls. The broadcast that’s been playing over all the communication channels is clearly coming from here. They kill the creature, and pull it from the controls. Dr. Edam calls in an evacuation.
The Carcanids seem more amblivilent to the group. They don’t engage with them as they return to the hanger. The storm feels like it’s hitting its zenith. They can’t land, they’ll need to do a hover evacuation. People are ferried up one at a time via a rope. They do 6 people before the storm is too strong: Hazel (and the dog), Maxwell, Jayden-113, Sgt Yang, Sobol and PFC Pedro make it to the ship. VERSE, Cpl Novikov, LCpl Franco, PFC Weaver, PFC Odea and PFC Rocker remain behind.
It takes several hours for the storm to break. In that time PFC Weaver has an episode that alarms VERSE. He leaves Franco with Weaver and drives off, returning later when the storm breaks. Everyone returns to the hangar, where the drop ship will now land.
A pretty dense session, one where we rushed a little at the end. Next session we can play out in a bit more detail what the crew might get up to on the ship while Verse is killing time on the planet, and also what they end up deciding to do with Weaver.
Session 6 - July 4th 2024
Players: Arnold, Amanda, Kyana, Ian
The party is split between the ship and the planet. The session begins with the party scanning themselves to see if there are any creatures burried within their body: they are safe!
On the planet, VERSE debates what to do about PFC Weaver, who is likely infected. Dr. Edam wants to bring him back to the ship, she is convinced she can save him. She also certainly wants a live specimen of the creature.
They make it back to the hanger. They decide to take Weaver and freeze him. They are picked up once the storm passes, but are pursued by another ship, which zooms right past them.
Back on the ship, Maas explodes as a crab bursts out of him. He had been listening to broadcasts from the planet the entire time the party had been here. There is a firefight in the habitat, with several of the marines up on the bridge. While the creature tears through the ship, the alien ship starts attacking: the ship takes a hit.
The drop ship manages to make it back. VERSE yells at Dr. Edam: “how do we kill these things!” “Acid!” They set up a trap. The crab terrorizing them ends up doused in acid and shot up with combined fire, but not before it gives off on last shriek: Jayden 113 feels something.
This was a fun session with a lot of back and forth. The modules ends strong with the a creature tearing through the ship while the aliens are attacking the ship itself. There are some open questions I’ll need to sort out if we pick up this campaign again: how do you cure the shriek?
3D6 in order, random equipment, random grimoires (Arcana Metaphysica and On Essence), random background (bankrupt), random retainer (servant).
Previously lived to the west in the village surrounding the stronghold of Trolmun, ruled by the great necromancer Efulziton the Unseen.
His attempts at magical research have left him completely bankrupt. He has lost his home and wealth. As such he has left his home town in search of adventure. His loyal servant Drona came with him, having nothing and no one to return to.
The forces of Efulziton are currently engaged in a war against some sort of demonic incursion from the west, another reason to leave.
He has joined up with the Order of Gavin, after hearing of their adventures.
The adventurers rescue bandits and villagers, before finally being given a chance to once again explore a mansion full of demons. The party now has a demon butler named Tangle.
100 GP spent on lavish living, 5GP for Drona, 50 GP on a centipede anti-toxin and 100 GP on a black widow. I’ll pay Drona 5 GP because he’s my loyal servant. 100 GP on a Read Magic scroll. (+373 XP)
In which the adventurers reach a détente with the Lizard Cultists, and then proceed to explore the crystal caverns underneath the mansion, earning much gold and glory.
100 GP spent on lavish living, 500 GP on building a second level to the Gavin House, that will take 7 weeks to complete, 5 GP to pay Drona. (+635 XP)
Zorfath is under attack! The party comes to the aid of the town and fights of advances of beast men. The party learns that the attack wasn’t random: the beast men have stolen the baby that the snake cultists have been worshiping as their chosen one! (Mental note: don’t ignore rumours.) The party ventures into Pahvelorn the next day, aided by two beast men: Larn and Brac. Using the Star Talisman they get past the lion trap that guards the entry way into the beast men’s lair–who had previously burnt to a cinder the valiant Lune–and proceed to kill beast men in an epic quest for the missing baby. Their search was fruitless… this time!
19 GP on a spear, leather armour, and a dagger for Drona.
The party continues their exploration of the–clearly abondoned–beast man stronghold, joined by Larn and Brac. They find no Lutratar, but they do find a fellow called Levis, a poor villager turned almost beast man. He aids the party in finding the new beast man stronghold. They venture within …
Things pick up where we last left off. The party discovers Lutratar and kills his ass. There is much looting and rejoicing.
+1926 GP, 80 SP
1000 GP spent on house next door, 1000 GP on renovations to house, 100 GP spent on lavish living, 10 GP spent on Drona’s upkeep, 80 for Drona’s equipment (+1564 XP, +703 XP for Drona)
The party explore a nearby barrowmound, ridding it of undead and not dying in the process. While fighting a mummy Satyavati earns himself a captivating scar (+1 CHA). We capture a ghost in a ghost gem.
+442 GP
10 GP spent on living, 5 GP on Drona, 500 GP on a ritual to talk to the ghost trapped in Tarvice’s ghost gem. (+541 XP)
The party frees the demon from the ghost gem. Beni meets up with the smuggler Lady Vasmyrena Steeltongue. On the trip back to Zorfath the party passes by a 100 person caravan of people dressed in the same armor as Tangle–they aren’t to be messed with. Back in Zorfath: a boy has been kidnapped! Probably by a Beastmen, or a beastly man. So it is off into Pahvelorn: the adventurers kill a shit ton of skeletons and meet Al Menevar, Lord of the Dead. His master was clearly killed by the party several weeks ago. Satyavati parlays with the necromancer: they agree that both parties will leave the other alone–for now.
0 GP, how embarassing.
10 GP spent on living, 5 GP for Drona, 5 GP danger pay for Drona (+20 XP)
The party ventures off to the glass forest of Pahvelorn. The investigate the statue of St. Azedemar, the disgraced cleric / wizard killer. They move on toward the Zigurats, and come across some 6-legged moles, who are being eaten by a werid fury centepede snake. A battle ensues, but the party of Gavin are victorious. Entering the Zigurat, a staircase leads down to a submerged chamber. The party manages to cross the first room they find, despite a giant ooze that makes their life difficult. The second room contains an altar, which the party decides to muck around with–twice: Satyvati didn’t survive the second time.
