Some important discoveries this session. The Rainbow Connection finally discover the lair of the Jale Slavers. They had first learned of it after rescuing some slaves in the wilderness. They would begin to plot its downfall starting now.
They meet my Carcosa take on Trap-Jaw. I had written up a Carcosa style He-Man encounters, though I didn’t end up using too many in my game: 16 Encounters on Carcosa & [16 More Encounters on Carcosa][h2]. Master’s of the Universe was meant to be core to the whole game, and I tried to inject littles bits and pieces of that world when I could. I wrote these encounters after reading Richard’s [How Brightly Coloured Should Carcosa Be][color]. This post about Carcosa and Masters of the Universe was one of the biggest inspirations for my game. It’s what got me thinking about Carcosa in a completely different way.
They also discovered that the Castle of Decline was empty. The Bone Men from that town had said they would join them in Invak many sessions ago, but never made it. The party would learn what happened to them for a few more sessions. (Half travelled south to Snake-Men ruins, others were captured by Slavers on route to Invak.)
Finally the players find the Orange Citadel’s former “God”, the Frog Spawn Llothali. They killed the creature so hard I would end up having lots of discussions with them about whether the laser guns in the game were too over powered. Probably, but we never ended up changing any of the rules.
Quiet in Invak, the party head south towards Jahar to inquire about raptor trainers and their staff.
On the way they encounter 11 Blue Men, one shouting about wanting their metal.
They chase them off once they produce their armaments.
In Jahar they learn their staff has the power to summon the evil old one Molkrom: the sage doesn’t know how exactly, but thinks vile sorcerers may.
Merchants are readying themselves for a trip South to Cron.
Head back to Invak to go after some slavers!
No one will join them! Or will they?
The Lawgiver of Winds joins the party after a rousing speech about slavery.
Encounter a group of 12 slavers on the road while looking for the Slaver encampment!
A battle breaks out, of course. The Slavers are aware of the Rainbow Connection and aren’t fans.
Midway through the fight an old crone shows up, ready for battle! It’s Chris P.
This battle is bloodier than most: almost no misses till the every end!
A jerk ass slaver wounds Renoir, and makes his escape with 3 of his friends.
Capture 7 slaver heads and the vaporized remains of another
They find the slaver encampment. As they were told, it is a base built into a hillside. Slaves are chained up outside, and raptor mounted guards are outside.
The party decides now isn’t the time to attack.
They make their way over to the castle of decline, stopping along the way at the former Orange Men citadel.
Continuing to the Castle of Decline, they come to learn it has been abandoned. They aren’t sure where the Bone Men may have went, as Invak seems like the obvious choice.
Meet 4 Red Men on the road back to the Former Orange Men citadel, who they escort with them.
Head back to Invak without incident
Oh, the party also killed the Llothali without breaking a sweat. What?
The players had their home base in Invak, and had a strong relationship with the merchant town to the south, Jahar. At this point in the campaign they wanted to try and unify the region around the common aim of dealing with the slavers. There was a lot of travel between the two towns session, as they tried to negotiate an agreement. This was the session the Space Alien Strike Force finally made an appearance. They had been hinted at over the previous session, and were an entry on my random encounter table for some time. They were looking for whomever desecrated their tomb and stole the armour of their hero. Bad luck for the players: Gus’s character was wondering around in that armour. Had been since they found it. Hilarity ensues.
The players also reconnected with the women who escorted them to Invak at the start of the campaign, Queen of Autumn. Another random encounter roll? I don’t remember anymore.
The party heads South from Invak towards Jahar to learn more about the Staff of Avion and try and set up an alliance.
The Speaker of all Graces seems disinterested in this idea, but doesn’t say no outright.
Along the way they stumble upon the the Space Alien Strike Force: they are caught in a moment of rest.
Gus hides behind a rock because he is wearing the amour they are looking for.
The aliens have him sighted, so he ends up using his Solid Snake skills to sneak away. Meanwhile the rest of his team are friendly, and show the aliens they don’t have the armour. (And in fact saved their friends.)
When they investigate where Gus was, they see no one was there.
The party continues South, while Normangina takes a wide route to avoid the Aliens.
Along the way she stumbles upon a dead body off in the distance, which she decides to avoid as well.
Travelling further still she see a large Insectoid Spawn.
She manages to distract it with her smell squid, and sprints further away.
Finally she makes it back to the party.
They travel back to the dead body, to see if it has any loot.
They quickly learn there are several dead bodies, arranged in a circle head to toe with their arms reaching out to the centre. (So it looks like a spoke of a wheel.)
They take one of the bodies, a Red Man.
Evan’s character is loitering near by, he joins the group—strange. No one mentions it.
In Jahar the party run errands.
They convince the guard guild to recharge their weapons.
Gus’ Bazooka and Evan’s teleportation Ray are fully charged.
Drink with guards ends with crazy mayhem. The guards are even more friendly with the party now.
Chris P’ character steals small change from all the revellers, earning 60 GP
The next day the guards get the party an audience with their leader.
“The One” gives the players a letter saying he will support a military alliance with Invak
the party travels North, actively searching for trouble, but end up finding the Blue Menhirs
They arrive in Invak and give the Speaker of All Graces the letter of support.
Travel East looking for Slavers.
Find Queen of Autumn and the group that had went searching for her led by The Illustrious Prince of the Bone
They had actually just rescued her from a Spawn, which they fled.
The party is looking for trouble, however, so they head back in search of the Spawn they were fighting
Kill that thing so hard. I need laser proof spawn.
Other notes:
Gus puts out a bounty for raptors! And Eric will match that! And a hiring bounty as well!
Eric looking for binoculars, Geiger counter, which will be set aside in Jahar if the merchants find one.
Staff of Avion is left with the Sage. Owed 200GP if he learns anything about it.
Treasure:
1000 GP in Spawn Bounty (200 GP for them, 800 GP split between the party) so that’s 133 XP each
Comments:
Ramanan S (2015-10-13 04:49): The Queen of Autumn tells viewers to admit their mistakes rather than lying to cover them up.
Wait, you guys didn’t learn that lesson.
Gus L (2015-10-13 04:51): Maybe - more lies and a few dead bodies will bury a mistake pretty deep?
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]
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.
This session the players explored the rest of the Space Alien outpost. When the returned I had re-stocked the space differently, because it had been captured. The rooms that they had not explored previously were sealed, so that area was unchanged.
This session feels like some stereotype of an OSR game. The party wakes up all the Space Aliens that manned the outpost, who were in cryropods. Nick decided the best course of action was to knock one out while he was still disoriented, and run away with him. Maybe they were unsure what the deal would be with these particular aliens, and wanted to chat with one of them alone? This Space Alien ended up living in Invak, convinced he had been saved by the party and that all his friends were dead.
The rest of the session is typical Carcosa hijinks. They stumble up on the Frog-God Llothali that they had let loose in the wilderness when they freed the Orange Man citadel.
Spotty attendance after the last game because I moved the session a week, and didn’t create a new event. Once again, my biggest advice for running a long running campaign is playing on a consistent schedule. People will often say this game or that game have the mechanics required for long term play. Fuck that, the only mechanics you need are a calendar and actually showing up.
The party begins in the newly liberated space alien outpost. Before it becomes truly abandoned, they decide to investigate the remainder of the complex.
They recruit a couple Bone Men to act as henchmen, who are a bit wary of exploring this portion of the complex.
Prying open the locked door that leads north from the basement stairs, they find a small corridor, with 3 more doors.
To the East is a room full of pods.
Examining the pods they realize they each house an alien in some sort of stasis.
Renoir attempts to shatter the glass door on top of a pod. His sledgehammer bounces right off.
The party leaves the room, heading to the West most room. Inside they find a room full of strange plant life.
The floors are littered with some dead plants and fruit, but not enough considering no one has been in here for years.
While picking fruit the party sees that various autonomous robotic arms, etc, look to be taking care of the plants.
The party moves to the centre room, the last remaining unexplored room.
There is a large cylinder in the centre of the room that extends down into the ground. It pulses with red light. It’s cordoned off by a circular railing. The room is full of computers, and everything looks to be in working order.
Orange Julia pushes a big red button!
Slowly the pulsing of the cylinder comes to a halt. The lights in the complex turn off, and the sound of doors opening can be heard throughout the complex.
In the dark, the PCs here another sound, the sound of the pods full of aliens opening.
The party waits a beat to see what happens. They hear the sound of an alien retching.
Realizing the aliens might be disoriented from being in stasis for so long, Renoir decides to cold-cock one and kidnap him.
Alien on his shoulder, the party book it out of the complex. Everyone else is milling around outside, confused by the loss of power.
Seeing the party running away, they join in.
Once a reasonable distance away, the two groups of captives head off: the Orange Men to their town to the East, Joi; the Brown Men to the merchant town Jahar.
About half way to Invak the party spot what looks to be a giant frog off in the distance. That’s strange. Could it be the Frog-God Llothali, worshipped by those crazy Orange Men to the North. Yes, it probably is. How many giant-ass toads could there be?
The party decide to take a longer detour to reach Invak.
On the way they startle a group of 4 slavers.
Bargo charges in and completely brains one.
The rest flee post-haste.
The party gives chase, but without more range weapons pursuit seems fruitless. (I should look up the LotFP chase rules, they might have been a better option for that part of the game.)
The party regroup and head to Invak, where they are greeted as heroes.
The Swift and Silent Beginning thanks the players for ridding the world of more cultists, and for helping fight the slavers. (You have more renown in the town.)
Upon learning there is a space alien that was “rescued” from the complex, he asks that the creature be brought to him to be freed.
The party wake up the alien, who has a surprisingly positive disposition.
He is confused about where he is, what the date is, and what has transpired since his last week long shift at the space alien outpost.
The party informs him that they saved him, that the rest of his comrades presumably died years ago.
He decides to stay in Invak for now.
The new bone men also start to settle in to their new home.
The party travels South to Jahar.
Orange Julia’s pack lizard is worn down from all the travel and dies in Jahar. (The merchants will buy his body to be turned into rations for 50GP—I forgot to mention in the session!)
The party sell their weird alien fruit and call it a day.
The Bone Man sorcerer, The Dominant Reflection (AC 16, MV 90’, HD 4, Chaotic) has taken over the abandoned Space Alien outpost, along with a sizeable group of Bone Men cultists. They worship the long dead Snake Men.
I had been teasing Bone Men cultists operating between the party’s home town of Invak, and the merchant town to the South, Jahar, for a few sessions. The Space Alien outpost was between the two towns, and was also home to secret village of Bone Men. It was time to finally scope out what was going on!
I had fun seeing this long running thread from [the start of the game][s1] finally lead somewhere. As I have mentioned earlier, the Bone Man the party freed from a cell in the very first session was actually a dirt bag sorcerer, the Dominant Reflection, imprisoned by the rest of Bone Men that lived in the outpost. While the players were wandering Carcosa, he was gathering up a crew of cultists, who then took over the outpost, making it their base of operation.
The players some how managed to steam roll their way through the outpost, building up a posse as they freed captives. The session concluded with them saving the town. One of the more He-Man sessions in the game. In the commotion the Dominant Reflection escaped! There is chatter in the comments about what happened off camera, whether it was cheesy or not to let the character escape. I thought not, and the players agreed.
The players convince the town’s leader to come back with them to Invak in the post game discussion. We would sometimes play out things like that in post game chat between sessions.
This would end up being the midpoint of the campaign, though I didn’t know it at the time. Kind of fitting we looped back to where we started.
The party travels from Jahar North towards the “abandoned” space alien outpost.
They see that it is guarded by two Bone Men, so they venture in via the radioactive wastes.
The large centre room is filled with 9 bone men, reviewing maps and papers on large tables. The characters surprise the group, and kill a few before they can even retaliate. A few manage to flee to the basement.
A long drawn out fight takes place on the main floor. Bone Men from various rooms join in. The party also encounter Bone Men from the original tribe that were living here, who join them in trying to shake off these cultists.
The characters make their way to the basement, making quick work of two guards below.
Moving forward they make their way to where they believe they will find the leader of the cult.
More cultists are killed, and tribesman recruited, as the party marches forward.
In the middle of the battle, the The Dominant Reflection looks to have made a break for it, his “throne room” sits empty.
The party continue to travel around the basement in search of the sorcerer, but only encounter other former members of the Bone Men tribe, whom they free.
By the time the party makes it back up to the top floor, and out the front door, the sorcerer looks to have fled.
The party rest in the Space Alien Outpost, where they are heralded as heroes.
Notes:
The Queen of Autumn was not amongst any of the people killed or freed. The leader of the Bone Men believes she escaped when the Sorcerer originally returned with his band of cultists to take over the ‘town’.
The leader of the town, the Prince of Bone, gives your characters a 500 GP blood red ruby from the vault you passed when you first entered the basement.
The Prince of Bone reveals that while they have no power over the Spherical Hunter Killer robot, they quickly learned that it can not “see” Bone Men. It completely ignores them. They also confirm your suspicion that it only hunts at night. They leave it alone.
The Prince of Bone reveals that the sorcerer was previously imprisoned by the Bone Men here, because he was crazy-ass-crazy. They don’t know how he escaped, though they think it probably happened around the time Gus and Eric were previously here. He doesn’t put two and two together, because he’s so happy to be free. (You will recall you freed a naked Bone Man from a cell and fed him, before letting him run off into the wastes.)
As before, the Prince of Bone asks that you not reveal to anyone the location of the town.
Treasure:
The heads of 23 bone men cultists, whose bounty will be collected in Invak. (100GP per cultist killed or 2300 GP once you return to Invak)
500 GP gem
173 GP in random coinage from the 23 dead cultists.
One laser gun (Brendan’s character has it)
Comments:
Brendan S (2015-07-21 04:28): For my records: Laser gun has 9 charges.
Ramanan S (2015-07-21 04:28): The leader had several rounds on you guys and ran around and back up the stairs. I don’t think you guys would have been able to catch him and his (now small) crew. How would you have handled pursuit like that? (He was the other 6 I rolled for initiative when you guys were fighting in the basement hall way.)
Ramanan S (2015-07-21 04:30): You guys also managed to kill most of the bone men, which seems crazy. Whenever I read these old TSR modules with giant mobs of monsters I’m always at a loss for how it won’t just turn into a shit show.
Eric Boyd (2015-07-21 04:32): Yeah, that’s tracking, not a chase per se, and you’ve let the party get away in craters and badlands enough times that I’d call this a fair call. We should’ve sent some of the freed captives back around to keep watch…
Ramanan S (2015-07-21 04:47): On the one hand it seems lame to save my NPC, but on the other it seemed dumb to have him just wait for you guys when it was probably clear the tide was turning.
Gus L (2015-07-21 06:05): I’d say this leader needs a talking to. The city to the South of some non-bone men know where his people are, the sorcerer who kicked his ass last time knows where his people are. The slavers will undoubtedly soon know where they are.
We won’t come back and save him next time he gets taken over by a sorcerer - we’ll just bring the town guards and Invakians to kill everyone. Everyone. They won’t be a nuisance to trade anymore. The major power in the area - the one we nominally work for/with is boneman - he needs to bring his people into Invak, and set up a life there - they should be welcoming. We can help arrange that. If not, since he was a dude in a cell recently Normagina will encourage the other survivors to come with us to to Invak and let the crazy leader and the crazy sorcerer fight it out before we come back and murder the winners/survivors with Invak’s militia in a few months.
This should not really be a choice for them, small communities get slaughtered, mutated or taken over by nuts. They are not even a small community now - time to join up with someone bigger.
Also mumble mumble something about strategic hamlets.
Ramanan S (2015-08-07 04:57): Alright!
You can convince this fellow that staying here is a dumb idea. The group is still very suspicious of outsiders, but since you have shown up and saved them from cult-stupidness they are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.
The leader and 5 of his followers are going to search for “The Queen of Autumn”, the women who escorted Gus L and Eric Boyd back to Invak during that first session. Everyone else will come with you. (I’ll look up numbers.)
Also I realise I made a mistake with the people you were freeing from the cells. Not everyone is a Bone Man. Some people are captives from the region. They will also come back with you to Invak. I need to double check my notes for where people are from.
This dungeon is basically cleared except for the central locked section in the basement. (The doors to the North when you go down the stairs.) The bone men have also not entered the area, lacking the appropriate pass key. They assume it’s where the power comes from. There is a strange symbol that they say means power embossed on the door.
I should give you guys XP for messing up the cultist faction as well.
Eric Boyd (2015-08-07 04:59): Do any of our assorted key cards open the basement?
Ramanan S (2015-08-07 05:16): Sadly no. It’s the same sort of metal sliding door you see throughout, just locked. You can try and bust it open if you are so inclined. The Bone Men are superstitious about it, but won’t interfere if you want to mess with it.
This is the first session Chris P joined the fight. There were two Chris’s on G+ that were consummate players. Like Eric, they were almost always down to play whenever you would post a game. Players like that make running a poorly organized campaign work.
When I would share invites on G+ for the Masters of Carcosa sessions I would include rumours and news the players had learned. There was also a post on my G+ community for the game where I would keep all the loose threads up to date. For this session the players knew the following:
Trade between Invak and Jahar presumably remains on hiatus for now while Jahar’s merchants waits for this cult to move on or be replaced.
The merchants will travel East to the Citadel of Brown Men known as Lessel.
Deep One sightings at the Lake to the South.
During the session they would learn more about the deep ones, who apparently had emerald belts. (The deep ones in this game were effectively Mer-Man from Masters of the Universe.) This was the rumour the players decided to follow, resulting in a very straight forward session compared to some of the others: kill some cultists, free some captives, find some treasure.
The party finally learned some more rituals, not that it really mattered. The rituals didn’t really match the vibe of the game, even though Chris’s character was a real dirt bag sorcerer. He was constantly trying to learn and find more, and I basically didn’t really want them in my game so was kind of a real dick when it came to having them show up in play. For the most part playing a Sorcerer was just the hard-mode version of playing a Fighter. The classes were the same, but Sorcerers had harder XP requirements.
The next session the players will return to the “abandoned” Space Alien outpost that kicked off the campaign. It’s kind of neat that it happened to happen at what would be the midpoint of the campaign.
The party decides to remain in and around Glom for the time being.
The city is clearly built within snake men ruins, but no one in town seems to know or care—or at least won’t talk to the party about it.
Rumours of emerald wearing deep ones send the party south to the lake.
There they see a group of cultists camped near the statue and pillars visible last session.
They approach closer and start examining the pillars: rituals!
Then they get shot at.
A fight!
The obvious cultists put up a mediocre fight, missing like the cast of G.I. Joe.
The party are victorious after a protracted fight. Captives are freed. New rituals learned. Success!
Treasure:
500 GP
5 Gems: 2700 GP
6 wax figurines of deep ones
4 Naginatas (6 grabbed by captives)
Rituals:
Summon Amphibious Ones - This eleven-hour ritual can be completed only on a fog-shrouded night. The Sorcerer must obtain the root of potency found only in ruined apothecaries of the Snake-Men. The sacrifice is a virgin White girl. As her life leaves her body, 10–100 of the Amphibious Ones will coalesce out of the mists.
The Blasphemous Sacrifice (to Bind Amphibious Ones) - This ritual cannot be performed on its own, but only as an adjunct to the SUMMON THE AMPHIBIOUS ONES ritual. It adds an hour to the time required to complete the ritual (thus twelve hours total). The sacrifice is further subjected to an hour of unspeakable tortures before being slain. At the end of the rituals, the Sorcerer will have complete control over the horde of Amphibious Ones for 24 hours.
The Call of Cthulhu (to Summon Cthulhu) - This 24 hour ritual must be cast while waist deep in the polluted waters of Carcosa. Once the ritual chanting and genuflection begins, the sorcerer must drown a Purple Men at the end of each hour of the ritual. All the victims must be a willing sacrifices to the Great Old One Cthulhu. When the life leaves the last of the Purple Men, Cthulhu will rise up from the waters.
I remember this session really well, because it was another weird one. Only Dion and Willie could make it, and they didn’t want to do anything risky. The players travelled with the merchants on their trip South, stopping in the village of Glom. There they met affable Carcosans and got totally wasted. The description for the settlement in the hex is as follows: Village of 310 Ulfire Men ruled by “the Unapproachable
Radiance,” a neutral 6th-level Sorcerer. A lot of the Carcosa book is villages like this. That somehow transformed into what is described in the recap below. I am quite certain that going into this session I thought the players would return to the cavern they had been exploring, and so when they didn’t I had to spin something out from my most meagre of notes. Besides the description in the Carcosa book, the only thing I knew about this town was its name, which I had given it when drawing the initial region map for the campaign. In my notes I had something about Mer-Man cultists worshiping Cthulhu by the lake. I’m pretty sure I came up with the idea of evil Cthulhu lake water as a type of booze, and then just extrapolated everything else from that. Sometimes that’s what you gotta do.
This is the first session Eric missed! There was a mixup because I kept on rescheduling. This is why you need to be consistent when you’re running games!
The party begins the session in Jahar, where they returned with the body of a dead amoured space alien and a Bone Man cultist who attacked them on the road. They learned of the base the cultists presumably operate out of.
Since there were only two players today the group decided to avoid the cultists enclave and head South with the traders.
The party ended up in the city of Glom, the trip South was uneventful.
The merchants stay in a quiet Inn, with no name but a strange ancient symbols etched on its door. Sorcerers will recognize this as the snake man word for Torture Gallery.
The party wanders around town, which seems to be a surprisingly easy going place.
They come upon a louder and more boisterous tavern.
The bar servers two drinks, “lake water”, and a purple lotus concoction.
Asha-Rea samples the lotus drink, Grenn the lake water.
Each gets plastered in their own way.
They wake up the next day back in the original inn. (TODO: make a carousing table!)
The next day they explore the town.
“the Joy-Giver of All the Living” sells tonics and potions made out of the lake water. They buy a “healing potion”
“the Inestimable Fullness” is a tailor that is built like the Kingpin. They buy fancy hats from him, and Asha-Rea buys a set of clothes. They will be ready in a week.
The party decides to trek to the near by lake to collect water for sale to the Alchemist.
This occurs without incident, but the lake gives them a thoroughly creepy vibe. There are rumours it is full of Deep Ones.
They see a monument of statues in the distance, surrounded by pillars. They don’t investigate!
They return to town with two barrels of the bizarre lake water, which they sell for 50GP a pop.
The players had found a Space Alien compass in an earlier session and decided to see where it would lead them. I had decided it would lead them towards the tomb of a dead Space Alien hero. A nearby hex was described in the book like so:
In a pure white chamber is the perfectly preserved
corpse of a Space Alien wearing a suit of reflective armor
that protects against the following types of weapons:
microwave, yellow laser, dysprosium, polonium, nickel,
neptunium, cesium, strontium, radon, aluminum, boron,
mercury, thulium, protactinium, niobium, and helium.
8 Space Aliens (AC 12, MV 120’, HD 3), part of an elite combat squad, pursue a group of Carcosan who have defiled one of their tombs through the badlands. They are armed with laser rifles.
They were first mentioned in the session 7 recap, and I likely added them as an entry on the encounter table for the region shortly after. The players would meet them a few sessions later. As I mentioned earlier, I would sometimes use the recaps as a way to share rumours, and also share news about the off camera world with the players. In the session 8 recap I shared that the Bone Men cultists were taking people back to an Abandoned Space Alien Outpost. The players would eventually return there, but I don’t think it was because of the mention in that recap. This is probably too subtle a way to share what’s going on, but it was a fun all the same.
I also used the other entry from Hex 1113 this session, having the mutant T-Rex show up.
There are no settlements in this hex because of the mutant tyrannosaurus (AC 15, MV 150 , HD 15, Neutral, 30 aura of radioactivity, bulging eyes, transparent skin) that slays anything in its vicinity.
The entries in Carcosa are quite terse, but sometimes that’s all you need for something to be memorable. I got quite used to spinning out whole sessions from a few sentences, both in my own notes and from the book.
The party begins the session in Invak, having returned their from Jahar. They decide to follow the strange alien compass to wherever it may lead.
They venture South towards Jahar, but about 4 hours out of town they stumble upon 6 White Men, presumably slaves, dying in the desert.
The party splits up, with one group heading back to Invak to secure a rescue party.
On the way back the encounter a Spawn, a Blue quadruped with a smooth hide, 4 eyes, and a beaked mouth. They give it a wide berth, and it leaves them alone.
They rescue the White Men without incident, who are now recuperating in Invak
The party heads South again, travelling towards Jahar.
They make it to the town without incident and spend the night.
The next day they head East towards the site the compass is pointing towards.
They discover a small white structure.
Examining it, they discover it looks to like a tomb for a dead Space Alien.
The party takes the alien and his armour.
As it is quite late they camp out in the wastes!
At night a group of bone men wander by, but do not see the party.
They party surprises the group.
The bone man snuff out their torches, and a melee breaks out in the dark.
It is violent, and the bone men are put down. One bone man is captured.
The party returns to Jahar, but as they are about to leave a radioactive t-rex shows up!
It is distracted by the pile of carrion and lets the party move away.
Back at Jahar the party hand over the captured bone man to the merchant caravan guards.
Treasure:
Space Alien Armour - full body and reflective
3 laser guns (from cultists)
Well preserved dead Space Alien
50’ of Rope x 4
10’ of rusted iron chain, with manacles (no key)
One small pouch of Green Lotus Powder
Ceramic short swords, perhaps space alien in origin x 8
6 torches
I was still apparently not confident the game was actually fun, 9 sessions in. Reading these recaps now it’s funny how unsure I was about this game.
Eric Boyd (2015-05-06 01:13): Side note: my character is named Orange Julia.
Ramanan S (2015-05-06 03:45): I added items of note from the dead cultists. They were wearing leather like armour, but that would be ruined from the fight. Green Lotus Powder: A victim of the green lotus powder falls into an unconscious trance for 9-12 hours, then awakens in a state of extreme weakness and sickness. He can do little other than speak sparingly, recline, and eat and drink. The green lotus sickness does not directly cause death, but the body becomes very thin and the mind prone to despair. Eventual suicide is common among victims of the green lotus.
Eric Boyd (2015-05-06 06:24): Is the green lotus powder something we can throw in someone’s face, or is it an ingested poison?
Ramanan S (2015-05-06 09:43): I pictured it like a throw in your face sort of thing, like you make a small cloud. Ingesting works too and is probably a more reliable vector for administrating it.
Chris G (2015-05-06 16:44): I freakin’ love these recaps. One of these Mondays I’ll get off work early enough to join.
Ramanan S (2015-05-06 23:48): The actual sessions are probably less exciting. Hah.
Chris G (2015-05-07 20:46): That sales pitch needs some work …
Ramanan S (2015-05-07 22:03): Once I figure out how to be a good DM i’ll get on that next. Ha!
Eric Boyd (2015-05-07 23:17): Hey, enough with the self-deprecation and imposter syndrome! If you didn’t know what you were doing, we wouldn’t show up.
Ramanan S (2015-05-08 04:09): Fair enough. I think my main problem is everyone I play D&D with also happens to be an amazing DM. Ha! I think I can do a better job if I was like 20% more organized. One day.
… the leader of Invak would pay for the heads of Jale Slavers, and so the game because all about hunting the slavers and chopping of their heads. Blood Meridian, but in Carcosa. (Except the party would actually kill slavers, not any old person.)
Wait, I lied. This session the party does end up killing people and taking them back to Invak to collect their reward. Bad PR for OSR players everywhere.
Were these Bone Men slavers? No, I’m pretty sure they were cultists working for The Dominant Reflection. If you have been following along, in the very first session the players freed a Bone Man they found imprisoned in the Abandoned Space Alien Outpost. He disappeared into the wilderness, but that wasn’t the end of his story. At this point the players had not encountered him or his followers again, but that was soon to change.
The party also some how manage to turn the death of two hirelings they recruited in town into some positive PR, paying for their funerals. Jahar initially had a negative disposition to outsiders, but the group would slowly change that over the course of the campaign.
The main goal for the session was to pilfer Alien technology from the campsite of the lost Space Aliens they had rescued recently. This resulted—once again—in a battle with insane Mi-Go. How many times would I have the players fight Mi-Go? Several: I always listen to the results of the dice!
The party finally visits the merchant town to the South, Brown Man village of Jahar. These merchants were the ones who escorted the players up to Invak in the first session, when the party encountered them on the road. Because the party had gained some notoriety in the region they were able to wander and meet with the people of the town. I’m quite certain I ran this sort of things using reaction rolls. I tracked the groups renown, which I would sometimes use to modify results up or down, but not in a way that I was particularly consistent about.
You can see that once again I was laying it out pretty thick when it came to reasons to explore the Putrescent Pits of the Ameboid Gods. Don’t worry, the players wouldn’t take the bait.
The party travels south from Invak to Jahar.
The trip is uneventful. They travel through the night to make it to the town in one day. They camp outside of town, but encounter nothing.
Unlike Invak, Jahar is particularly xenophobic.
One of the guards is aware of the Rainbow Connection, and lets the players into the town.
Most of the people manufacturing goods in the town, along with the guards, have a fairly negative reaction to the party.
The merchants in town have a more positive disposition.
The party meets the person who runs the “resale items” shop, along with his children. They pick up some random knick knacks.
They meet the sage that lives in town.
For 10 GP he tells them two locations that he thinks feeds the water in the Castle of Decline, which could be the source of the human waste and guts that are poisoning the water
For free he lets the party know their map of the Putrescent Pits of the Ameboid God is probably junk. The story goes that a cult worshiped the god, that lived in an impossibly deep pit to the North. They would feed the beast all the gold and jewels they could find. Another cult came and fought the god and its cultists, culminating in sealing the god underground by building the mountain range on top of it. He lets the party know that mountain ranges form over millions of years, and this story is probably nonsense.
The party learn about a citadel to the North East, hidden out of sight. Some merchants saw it a few days back, but avoided the site. The sage will pay 10GP for information confirming its existence.
The party ventures off in search of the site, which they find without any complications.
It appears to be sealed from the inside. The party doesn’t want to make a noise by breaking down the front door, or a trapdoor in the roof.
A cavern near the Castle is also found, and explored.
The party encounters a group of 6 Mi-Go’s. They kill one and then flee. The Mi-Go’s make a half-hearted pursuit.
The party returns to Jahar, where they let the sage know of their findings.
Treasure:
10 GP paid by the Sage.
Notes:
Provide clue about next complication.
Being worried about the game being boring was a common theme it seems. Once again some planning for the next session takes place in the comments, and I share a little bit more about what the group has learned about the world. Cole suggested I write a follow up review of Carcosa, having run the game for a few months now. That review ended up focusing a lot on how I prepared to start the game, but didn’t talk much about actually run the game.
Ramanan S (2015-03-10 17:13): Sorry for the quieter game. I owe you guys a clue for a haven complication. I’ll also update the campaign map with trade routes from Jahar.
Richard Hawkins (2015-03-10 17:21): Sorry that I missed out on this one, I will look forward to eating brains soon!
Beloch Shrike (2015-03-10 18:38): Nothing to apologize for. I got to kill a Mi-Go. Lets do more of that. =D
edchuk sockmonkey (2015-03-10 20:23): Richard Hawkins Lightly sauté them with garlic and a little lemon. Delicious!
Richard Hawkins (2015-03-10 22:45): Yes… yummy!
Richard Hawkins (2015-03-10 22:45): Beloch Shrike a CoC MI-GO! … Yikes
Ramanan S (2015-03-14 03:41): The merchants reveal the location of towns along their trade routes. To the south they visit: Glom (Ulfire Men village), Lesel (Brown Men Citadel), Brackdor (Bone Man Village), and Cron (Ulfire Man Village). They abandoned routes to the East decades ago because of the Slavers. They stopped trading to the West some time ago, though people can’t give you a straight answer as to why. What do people want to do?
Beloch Shrike (2015-03-21 16:57): I wouldn’t mind returning to those caverns and exploring further.
Eric Boyd (2015-03-21 20:03): Are there trade caravans headed anywhere interesting that need guards?
Dion Williams (2015-03-21 21:34): Either of the option mentioned work for me.
Ramanan S (2015-03-21 22:33): Eric Boyd traders will leave from Jahar heading South to the town of Cron soon. The route they take is as follows: 1 week in Glom, 1 week in Brackdor, 1 week in Cron, 1 week in Brackdor & Glom, 1 week back in Jahar. (i.e. That’s where they’ll be for the next 5 sessions.) If you wait a session another group will leave for Lesel: 1 week in Glom, 1 week in Lesel, 1 week back in Jahar. I’ll figure out how to update the map or something.
cole long (2015-03-21 22:47): Ramanan S you should do a post (or have you done one already?), having DMed several sessions, about what you find Carcosa brings to the table and what you’ve done to make it “yours?”
cole long (2015-03-21 22:50): i feel like it is one of the rorschach-blottiest settings
Ramanan S (2015-03-21 22:51): cole long Good idea. I’ve certainly had to do a bunch of flesh things out.
Ramanan S (2015-03-22 01:06): From the old thread, of note: The merchants reveal the location of towns along their trade routes. To the south they visit: Glom (Ulfire Men village), Lesel (Brown Men Citadel), Brackdor (Bone Man Village), and Cron (Ulfire Man Village). They abandoned routes to the East decades ago because of the Slavers. They stopped trading to the West some time ago, though people can’t give you a straight answer as to why.
Ramanan S (2015-03-22 01:10): Also: the merchants won’t pay you to be guards, they have their own guards, and they don’t think your acting troupe is menacing enough. They are fine with you tagging along on any trip, however.
Ramanan S (2015-03-22 17:52): Event is up. Can do upkeep and haven stuff there.
Ramanan S (2015-03-28 05:54): cole long http://save.vs.totalpartykill.ca/review/carcosa-review-reprise/
Ramanan S (2015-03-29 22:37): http://save.vs.totalpartykill.ca/masters-of-carcosa/session-6/
Chris G (2015-03-30 03:02): This is my favorite kind of writeup. I wish I’d thought of it back when I was doing Redbox Vancouver.
Ramanan S (2015-03-30 03:07): I did the first one as a play report for a Carcosa session Brendan ran. Certainly one of my better ideas as gaming stuff goes. http://save.vs.totalpartykill.ca/play-report/rescue-chauncy/
The session began with exploration and learning more about the world. This was the first time the party got lost in the wilderness, an important part of the game. My travel rules worked. The party found more caves to explore in the future, and learned of a second citadel that purportedly held a tomb of vile sorceress magic—the best kind. The party would refuse to seek it out for the remainder of the game, of course. The later half of the session was spent getting high with some stoner Carcosans. Dion joined the game this session, and was a fixture in the campaign for a long time to come, playing Ulfire Sorcerer Asha-Rea. His character used the distraction of everyone getting high off their ass to steal some Jale Lotuses to sell later. A quiet session, but they can’t all be loud.
The party is in Invak, returning after vanquishing the cultists to the North.
They elect to escort two of the bone from the the Citadel of Decline back home.
Get lost on the way there, ending up South of Invak.
Encounter Jale Slavers on the road. 17 in total and they look like bad asses.
The party books it, escaping into the wilderness. They are forced to abandon a pack animal to do so.
They spend the night in the wilderness and then head back to Invak.
Once more, the party heads North West towards the citadel.
The trip is uneventful, but on the way there hey find two caves to explore later.
The citadel is as it was before. Lots of sad sack bone men and women.
The party hears a rumour of a citadel to the south the bone men avoided when they stumbled upon this castle many years ago. This other citadel was also abandoned, but covered in sigils and markings that left everyone feeling disturbed. The scouting party who ventured within claimed to see a book of foul sorcery that so terrified them they turned and ran he moment they set their eyes upon it.
The party rests the night and heads towards Invak, stopping at cavern on the way.
It’s home to stoner brown men, who snort Jale lotus and receive visions.
The characters decide to get high with the Brown Men.
Orange Julia learns of a Sunken Temple filled with Amphibious Ones held in Stasis.
Renoir learns of a Forlorn Citadel.
Usha Ray sneaks some Jake Lotus while everyone is busy getting high.
The party returns to Invak.
The apothecary examines water from the Citadel of a Decline, and informs the party that the water is full of human filth and dead humans. He suggests they don’t drink it.
The party had been told rumours that there were healers to the south that could heal Gus’s character of his terrible mutations. (You may recall that was his first character’s fate in our first session of the game.) The party ignored those rumours last session, but decided to pursue them this time. Bryan’s character came out of my random generator with a tattooed map on his skin: a map to the mega-dungeon I had imagined I would run, whose name appears in Hex 1109 of Carcosa: On the northern slopes of the mounds are the yawning pits that lead down to the infamous and deadly Putrescent Pits of the Amoeboid Gods.
I would occasionally seed more rumours in the alternate future restocking tables I would create after each session, as part of my recaps. For example, in the recap for this session I wanted to let the players know that another group as aware of the Putrescent Pits of the Amoeboid Gods and would explore it even if they did not:
A caravan makes its way North. The men and women ride lumbering lizards and have several days worth of supplies. They have a map leading to the Putrescent Pits of the Amoeboid Gods.
When I would post the invites to the games on Google+ I would try and include these open threads and rumours so the players had some rough ideas for things they could do. There was no overarching “plot” for the campaign, I was curious where the players would take play. It turned out, not to the Putrescent Pits of the Amoeboid Gods, so I’m glad I only ever drafted the first level.
This session the party learned a little more about the Jale Slavers, stumbling upon some escaped slaves. I created specific encounter tables for the rough regions I had imagined the hexes could be grouped into. Because this area was home to the Jale Slavers, there were entries tied to them. The first session the players had rolled to encounter some slavers after after they had sold off their slaves. This session the rolled and encountered some escaped slaves. They wouldn’t find the slaver’s base till the tail end of the campaign.
The men on standing upon the giant plinths come from the Carcosa book. A couple sentences describe the scene, which I extrapolated from. I love the short pithy hex descriptions of Carcosa. From these men Gus learned his character could be cured by heading far to the North. I had imagined this might lead the characters out of this region, but Gus didn’t even like the character they were trying to cure, so that thread was left alone.
The party discovered The Castle of Decline, home to a group of sad-sack Bone Men. One of the first groups outside of Invak the party would end up befriending. If I recall correctly, they eventually convince the Bone Men to abandon their home and join them in Invak. (Easy enough, since their home sucked.)
The session ended with the briefest exploration of the Putrescent Pits of the Amoeboid Gods. They might have explored a handful of rooms before us having to end the session. They would never return!
The party ventures south west in search of healers for Mr. Smyth
Just before dusk they encounter some escaped slaves, orange men who have fled the slaver city.
They reveal the slaves that aren’t taken to be sold are poorly chained up outside the citadel, beaten and kept in a weakened state, and guarded by men and women who ride dinosaurs.
No one else in town is escaped from the Jale Men’s citadel, so this is a pretty remarkable situation
The party sends them on their way with food and continues south west.
They see a tall pillar reaching out toward the sky. As they get closer they can see a smaller 40’ pillar of smooth poured stone next to the matching larger one. On top of this pillar is a Jale man. The party speaks with him briefly, and he sends them East where a White Man is supposed to be.
Continuing they encounter a Black Man who they speak to briefly. They learn a little bit about his life via Brendan’s character’s ESP.
They ignore all other pillars till the teach the White man. The party pretends Mr. Smyth is a mute, for the fear his mind will be controlled by the mystic.
The mystic can’t cure Mr Smyth’s mutation, but can offer up prophetic visions via dreams.
The party sleeps for the night, and Mr Smyth learns of a dungeon to the North where his cure might be found. He sees the entrance to a dungeon, choked with dead bodies, beyond which lies a Serpent Man.
Fuck travelling to the North for a character Gus doesn’t even like. The party heads back to Invak, and plans to head North to the Putrescent Pits of the Amoeboid Gods.
Along the way they avoid a group of White Men marching away to the East, along a river to the North.
The party heads West and finds a strange citadel full of Bone Men.
The Bone Men seem to be having a shitty time: some of them have recently died due to some issue with their water supply, others from a strange cyborg to the West, and some from capture by the slavers.
The party heads to the Putrescent Pits of the Amoeboid Gods, but only explores it briefly.
They fight a Spawn of Shub-Niggurath and call it a day.
Tressure:
Spawn Guts (to be claimed for reward in Invak)
Monsters Killed:
- Spawn of Shub-Niggurath
At the time I thought the session might have been boring, but reading the recap and thinking back on everything the players managed to do, I have no idea why I thought that was the case. There is some more logistics around who will run something next. I realize now it was Bryan and I trading turns running because Brendan and Nick wanted a break. (Brendan was running his dungeon & rule set The Final Castle, which remains unpublished to this day!) Chris was a new player, who would join our games for a little while, on and off.
Ramanan S (2014-12-24 - 02:09): Sorry if that session turned out boring. My plan is to get organized over the break. I realize now that my biggest road block to being a successful DM is not a lack of rules mastery, but being really boring and/or bad at describing things. I’m having fun anyway. Hah! Brendan S You can run all my Monday games till you are busy again. So the next one (29th) is yours. (Maybe that’ll be the only one you have a chance to run again?)
Eric Boyd (2014-12-24 02:10): My character is Orange Julia — she hails from Fuudkaht.
Gus L (2014-12-24 2:12): Nah it was a great session, the stylites seemed mildly terrifying.
Ramanan S (2014-12-24 02:15): I learned a new word. They are medium tough, but there are 5 of you …. I realize that all these “tough” solo monsters are actually rarely a serious threat due overwhelming numbers on the players side. I don’t think any of the spawn for example have given you much trouble except for that plant one the sorcerer released last session.
Bryan Mullins (2014-12-24 02:42): I feel like 5 to 7 first level characters can do a lot vs pretty nasty monsters. If you account for some attrition… Also. I’m enjoying the game because the feel is that we’re all finding out what’s happening as a group. That’s a feature, not a bug … at least for me.
Brendan S (2014-12-25 22:03): For the 29th, if people are interested I would be down with running The Final Castle rules. Magic would be W&W. Probably some other dungeon though, because The Final Castle main dungeon needs more work.
Chris G (2014-12-31 05:44): When is the next session? I love the hex-key-as-session reports.
Ramanan S (2014-12-31 12:47): Thanks. This coming Monday is Brian’s game, probably. I’ll be the Monday after that. Unless Brendan is running something again. He may be less busy at the start of the term.
Ramanan S (2015-01-03 05:38): Brendan S do you want to run something again on the 12th?
Brendan S (2015-01-03 06:21): The 12th I actually have some other commitments. I might still be able to play, but it is uncertain, so I shouldn’t run that day.
When I was running my Carcosa campaign, I would post session recaps on my blog in the form of hex descriptions written as if they came straight from the book. Each session had additional descriptions for each hex the characters explored, and I also included a random ‘restocking’ table. Three of the entries in the table would present alternative endings to the session the players just played, with the forth being the true ending. This was all very cute, but I also kept traditional notes of what happened so myself and the players could refer back to them later. These were posted to G+, where you can still read them today.
Oh wait.
I’ve been meaning to repost these session reports for a while. Nick downloaded my Carcosa community before G+ imploded, and the export has been sitting on my computer for ages as XML & JSON I never had the time to turn into Markdown. But now computers can do a so-so job programming for you, so I have text that’s pretty close to cleaned up Markdown. I’ll take it.
This is the first session of my Carcosa crossed with He-Man campaign. I ran it for a little over a year, playing every other week, give or take. The rules were OD&D, and we all were figuring out how to run a hex crawl as we went. It was a lot of fun. Perhaps the most fun I’ve had running a game?
This was my first time DM’ing since I was a teenager. I was certainly nervous. Brendan took a break from running Pahvelorn, and I took over the spot every other week. (I think Nick might have been running the other week.) Pahvelorn was certainly a hard act to follow. Brendan’s megadungeon campaign was incredible, and really inspired how I ran this campaign.
Carcosa is a hex crawl, and my expectation was players would wander the wilderness session to session. This happened for the most part, but party didn’t stray too far from their home base. The party were called the Rainbow Connection, a travelling acting troupe. (This was rolled up using my crowdsourced “why are we together” table.) During the first session the players explored a dungeon I created, an abandoned space alien outpost. They released one of the main antagonists of the game, a Bone-Man sorcerer. He would get more and more powerful while they were distracted by the faction they would come to hate the most, the dirtbag Jale Slavers.
The Rainbow Connection, a travelling acting troupe, were attacked and captured by a strange spherical robot while travelling through the wastes of Carcosa. They awake outside an alien outpost surrounded by bodies in various states of decay and mutation. Behind them lays a mysterious alien outpost, in front of them more nondescript wastes.
They feel woozy and lethargic. Searching the area they find random knickknacks, but also quickly realize everyone now dead is horribly mutated in some way.
Lacking proper supplies for an aimless overland trip they venture into the outpost.
Opening some large garage doors the party comes face to face with their captor. The robot rests in what looks like a bay of some sort, ignoring them. They back away and leave the robot alone. The second door into the base takes them into a small room.
The base is quiet, and seemingly empty.
There is still something powering it: the hallways are lit, and random computer screens flash strange inscrutable messages.
Venturing further into the base the party finds a large open work area that looks to be unused.
The party quietly explore. A room that looks to be another entry way to the complex contains nice warm furs for everyone to wear, but is otherwise bare.
The next door the group opens reveals a room full of rock specimens: some look to be quiet valuable. They are all stored behind glass, that feels a bit warm to the touch. The greedy Mr. Smith opens up the glass to get a closer look, and suffers a terrible mutation for his trouble: he now stinks thanks to some newly grown boils on his body.
The next room the party discovers is filled with crates, but also a strange Spawn—a blue hexapod with a gaping circular maw. They make quick work of it, and end up with a Bazooka of some sorts for their efforts.
The party avoided one Jale Slime and killed another with fire.
The party released a seemingly mad Bone Man into the wild. He was apparently imprisoned by the other Bone Men, though the party does not know why. He looked to have been left to die: he smelled terrible and was starving when discovered.
The Green Man Greenox was killed trying to grab a weapon from the weapons cache. The room filled with poison gas. Mr. Smith quick closed the door to the room, so the rest of the party was safe.
The alarm that was triggered startled the Bone Men that lived in the basement of this outpost.
the Illustrious Prince of the Bone is the leader of the Bone Men, who decided to spare the party if they put on a show.
The party promised to never reveal the location of the outpost, or ever return.
the Queen of Autumn leads the party from the outpost towards Invak.
a merchant caravan takes party the rest of the way, grudgingly. The party gives them a wide berth, and follows at a distance.
They arrive in the town on Invak late at night.
Treasure:
6 large furs: they are very warm (you can sell each for 15 GP to the traders currently in town).
Bazooka: you don’t know how many charges it has, or what it does, but its clear it still works.
You should do a post … having DMed several sessions, about what you find Carcosa brings to the table and what you’ve done to make it “yours?” — Cole Long
I write reviews for gaming books I never actually use to game, which feels kind of dumb but what can you do? Now with Carcosa I can actually comment on the book with insight from using it to run a D&D campaign.
I’ve ran 7 games of Original D&D game set in Carcosa. The original idea for the game was to mix in elements from Masters of the Universe into the Carcosa settings, but that hasn’t quite happened just yet. I’m really not familiar with most of the literary references that inspired Carcosa, which makes running the game “interesting”.
I wanted my campaign to start in a Lawful settlement. I had catalogued all the settlements in the game as a byproduct of working on my Random Carcosa web application. The highest level Lawful leader in Carcosa is 11th level and can be found in Hex 1011, along with a crazy robot.
Village of 270 Bone Men ruled by “the Swift and Silent Beginning,” a lawful 11th-level Fighter.
The unwary may fall prey to a deranged, spherical robot (AC 18, MV 180′, hp 25) with treads and retractable appendages, nets, self-repair, infrared, and long-distance vision. It will seek to abduct stragglers and take them to a small, hidden outpost to be shackled in close proximity to radioactive waste. Each hour spent thus requires a successful saving throw to avoid mutation.
I printed out some hex graph paper and drew the region around this hex, marking down the settlements and their allegiances to the battle between Law and Chaos. The official Carcosa map in the book is missing this information, which would have made it about a million times handier. Zak Smith drew in his Carcosa book, but I just can’t bring myself to do that.
There are slavers nearby in Hex [REDACTED] terrorizing the region, and so I made them the main threat in the game. I decided the town of Invak would offer refuge to former slaves. This would explain why a party of PCs would likely include people from the various races of Carcosa. Chaotic villages close to the slavers were likely to supporters, as were Neutral villages nearby. Villages closer to Invak would be against slaving. Invak would be a bastion of egalitarian and progressive thought, in another wise terrible world. The town to the South of Invak became a trading hub, liking Invak with a few other towns near by. In this way I fleshed out the relationships between the various villages in the area.
I answered Jeff Rient’s 20 Quick Questions about your Campaign, which helped me think more about what my game would be like. From an older blog post about Carcosa I knew “the Icon of Judgment” was the strongest sorcerer in the world. I made some rough notes about what his deal might be, but thus far it hasn’t really come up in play: mostly because I haven’t brought him up at all. The castle of Chaotic Orange Men North of Invak became a crazy cult running bizarre gladiatorial games.
I drew a map of the hidden outpost. It seemed like a good dungeon to begin the game with. Players would start shackled in the radioactive wastes. I introduced a small group of Bone Men, who were hiding out inside this outpost. They had imprisoned one of their members for [REDACTED]. The robot would only be ‘active’ at night, and would only travel through the wilderness, so the players wouldn’t have to worry about it unless they specifically tried to instigate a fight with it. There were also lasers, spawn, and other things that felt like Carcosa.
This was enough to start playing. I ran a session with Gus and Eric, two of the regular players from my Monday night D&D group, and things continued from there. I am constantly underprepared for each session we play, but things usually work out—for the most part.
Eero Tuovinen has done an amazing job with the layout of Carcosa. Carcosa is a well laid out book that works well at the table. I flip through it often looking up monsters, hex descriptions, and the like. Most everything is easy to find, and more importantly easy to read. McKinney has a very terse and direct way of writing that I like. He manages to be evocative without wasting too many words—usually.
In terms of helping you build a campaign, Carcosa brings barely any information to the table. The book succeeds in selling the idea of Carcosa, without really telling you that much about it. Are all the races identical besides their colour? Do they all share the exact same culture? Are their multiple languages in the world? What are the towns and villages like? What do people eat? What’s a GP in Carcosa? There are so many questions about the world that are unanswered. Explicit relationships between hexes are few and far between. This encourages the sort of brainstorming I did to get things going, but is also one of the big criticisms of the book: it all feels so random. I would have loved for some discussion from McKinney on how he explicitly organized and ran his game.
The big win for Carcosa is that I never feel like i’m doing it wrong. I never have to look something up so-and-so important NPC, or double check the date such-and-such event took place. Carcosa is a loose framework for building your own Carcosa. I’m not sure I have done that great a job of build my own Carcosa, but i’m hoping that I am not too far off.
Potions and poultices prepared by an experienced hand can temper the addictive and dangerous properties of the desert lotus, producing powerful restoratives. There is always a risk associated with the lotus, but they are perhaps greatly outweighed by the rewards.
d20
Item
Description
Cost
1
Green Lotus Poultice
Restores a dCarcosa of hit points to a wounded character. Takes 1 turn to apply.
1d6 x 50GP
2
Green Lotus Potion
Ingesting this potion will restore 2dCarcosa hit points.
1d6 x 100 GP
3
Black Lotus Poison
A slower acting variant of the deadly Black Lotus Powder. Those ingesting this poison will die in dCarcosa days if they fail their Save vs. Poison at -6.
1d4 x 1000 GP
4
Jale Lotus Potion
This mind expanding potion grants the character d6 psionic wild talents. Each can be used once, over the course of the day, while the drug slowly works its way through the characters system.
2d6 x 200 GP
5
White Lotus Potion
Cures those afflicted by the effects of White Lotus Powder
1d10 x 100 GP
6
Blue Lotus Potion
Ingesting this potion fills a person with a deep sense of calmness. Characters are immune to all fear effects. This potion is a favourite of Sorcerers who wish to commune with terrifying Old Ones.
1d4 x 100 GP
7
Blue Lotus Poultice
Applying this poultice takes one turn, after which a characters skin will feel completely numb. Characters are immune to damage from extreme cold, heat, and acid. This effect lasts 9-12 hours.
1d10 x 100 GP
8
Yellow Lotus Powder
The powder distilled from the beautiful Yellow Desert Lotus produces the most horrific waking dreams when inhaled. Characters must make a Save vs. Poison or go completely mad, physically paralyzed, their mind trapped in a terrible nightmare.
1d10 x 100 GP
9
Yellow Lotus Poison
This poison is a powerful paralytic, usually applied to the tips of arrows and blades. Characters must make a Save vs. Poison or be unable to move for 1d6 turns.
1d10 x 100 GP
10
Bone Lotus Poultice
Applying this poultice takes one turn, and renders the character skin and organs translucent like those of a Bone Man. This effect lasts 9-12 hours.
1d6 x 50 GP
11
Bone Lotus Potion
Drinking this translucent potion will render the imbiber gaseous, allowing them to pass through anything that isn’t air-tight, and making them impervious to most attacks.
1d10 x 100 GP
12
Purple Lotus Powder
When mixed with other slow burning herbs and smoked this powder acts as a depressant, relaxing the mind and making its user completely open to suggestion for 1-4 hours.
1d6 x 50 GP
13
Orange Lotus Potion
Produced using the sweet nectar found within the buds of the Orange Desert Lotus, this potion grants super-human strength to those who drink it. Characters do an additional dice of damage when attacking with melee weapons. This effect lasts dCarcosa turns.
2d4 x 100 GP
14
Ulfire Lotus Poultice
Applying this poultice takes one turn, and leaves the characters skin feeling dry and rough. Characters gain an addition +2 to their AC and to their saving throws where applicable. This effect lasts 9-12 hours.
2d6 x 100 GP
15
Ulfire Lotus Potion
This potion is a powerful anti-poison, nullifying the effects of any lotus based poison or powder.
1d6 x 100 GP
16
Brown Lotus Poison
Typically applied to the tips of arrows, this poison instantly kills those who fail their Save vs. Poison.
1d4 x 500 GP
17
Dolm Lotus Potion
The character feels a quickening of their body and mind as this potion takes effect. Characters double their movement rate, and start combat at the top of the initiative order. This effect lasts 1d6 rounds.
1d4 x 500 GP
18
Dolm Lotus Powder
When smoked as a powder this lotus produces an unnatural lethargy (and euphoria) in its user. Characters regain dCarcosa hit points, but are unable to do anything besides lay around for 1d6 turns.
1d4 x 50 GP
19
Red Lotus Poultice
The restorative power of the rare Red Desert Lotus is without equal. Rubbing this poultice over a dead character’s body will restore them to life, assuming they fail a Save vs. Poison.
2d6 x 1000 GP
20
Red Lotus Potion
This potion fills the drinker with supernatural vigour that lasts 9-12 hours. If killed while under the effects of the drug the character will instantly return to life with dCarcosa hit points, as their body absorbs all the red lotus in its system. (This effect can only occur once.)
2d6 x 1000 GP
Each usage of a potion or poultice produced by a desert lotus apothecary has a 1 in 20 chance of producing a great feeling of a addiction in the user. All powders have a 1 in 6 chances of being addictive. Players who are currently addicted to what they have just ingested must take another dose (which grants additional positive effect) or be at a -1 on all rolls for the session. Using a desert lotus product more than once a session increases the chance of addiction by 1, 2, 4, 8, etc.
Apothecaries that work with the desert lotus will generally have a random selection for sale week to week, prices varying based on the availability of flowers.
The default setting for Carcosa is full of xenophobia. I wanted a list of reasons why a group of adventures of various races might be adventuring together. I started writing one, but got stuck fairly quickly. So, I asked my friends to help out. The good entries below were all written by people other than myself. They call that Gygaxian Democracy.
Why are we together?
Awoken from a lotus induced stupor you have fled from a sorcerer. I’m sure they want you back.
Escaped from Slavers! One day you will have your revenge on those bastards—unless they get you first.
Members of a traveling troupe of actors. You know one play, which you tweak based on your audience to play up on the local prejudices.
Members of a janissary regiment, put together by long gone—perhaps?—Alien overlords.
After years of wandering with your herd the symbiotic fronds were yanked out from the backs of your heads. Who knows how many years you lived as root heads.
Returned to Carcosa after being experimented on by the Space Aliens. Hopefully they don’t come looking for you again.
Cultists! (Must share a common alignment.)
Foundlings raised by Lawful spawn hunting illuminati.
The wrong coloured children of an otherwise homogenous village. Did they treat you well?
Refugees who have fled a natural disaster. Famine? War? God damn Aliens with laser guns?
Kidnapped orphans raised deep in the desert by a mad, but kindly, old couple.
Psychically summoned to a crashed space ship. You have no memory of the recent few months.
Members of a diseased community of outcasts. Everyone shares a common (mostly harmless) mutation.
Emerged from a sorcerer’s birthing vats deep within an abandoned complex. (Thousands of other pods full of replacement PCs available as well.)
Once from a religious community, where all members wore body obscuring clothes and lived as equals without colour based caste. After the sorcerer’s troops/raiders/slavers/shaggoths came that dream, and the obscuring robes and windings, have been cast aside.
A bad medicine show went through some villages a while back selling poisonous mutation causing ‘snake squeezings’. The adventurers are relatives of the slain, banded together to hunt down huckster and deliver ‘justice’.
All that remains of the local criminal underworld, driven out by an unspeakably violent new boss or spawn inquisitors.
Each character bears the same tattoo, which causes horror amongst village elders Carcosa wide. (The characters have no memory of when or how tattoo appeared.)
The former retainers of a group of strangely coloured people who spoke a weird language and claimed to be from another world called Dirt (or Earth or something like that). The original adventurers are all dead, but retainers continue to adventure together. Some continue to search for a portal to this world of Dirt, because there are no shoggoths there.
You each have vague memories of a past life as a White Man sorcerer, until you performed some ritual that split you into different facets of your core personality.
In the game I am running now, the players rolled a 3 when starting the campaign. So, they are all members of the acting troupe The Rainbow Connection. Their back story has been far more fun than I had thought it would be.
Thanks to Stuart P, Brendan S, Evan W, Gus L, and David R and everyone else for their ideas and suggestions.
I have been using ascending AC for my OD&D Carcosa game. 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; plate armour and a shield confers an AC of 17. It’s a much simpler system for adjudicating combat in my opinion. People know if they have hit or not without having to look at a table, and the arithmetic is all quite straight forward.
What follows are the tables from the first OD&D book MEN & MAGIC redone so they work with ascending AC. (I am certain I am not the first person to do this, but there wasn’t an obvious hit when I looked on Google.)
The attack bonus progression for the Fighters is:
Level
Attack Bonus
1–3
+0
4–6
+2
7–9
+5
10–12
+7
13–15
+9
16+
+12
For Clerics:
Level
Attack Bonus
1–4
+0
5–8
+2
9–12
+5
13–16
+7
17+
+9
And for Magic-Users:
Level
Attack Bonus
1–5
+0
6–10
+2
11–15
+5
16+
+7
Monsters use the following table.
HD
Attack Bonus
up to 1
+0
up to 2
+1
up to 3
+2
up to 4
+4
up to 6
+5
up to 8
+6
up to 10
+8
11+
+10
The tables are simple enough to make. In a descending AC system a first level characters needs to roll a 10 to hit AC 9 (an unarmoured person), which we determine by looking at the attack table in MEN & MAGIC. To hit that same character who has an ascending AC of 10 by rolling a 10 (or more) implies a 1st level character has no attack bonus. A 4th level fighter only needs an 8 to hit that same character, so their attack bonus is +2.
Sorcerer’s in Carcosa are creepy and despicable, and the magic of the setting is totally horrific. I had originally assumed no one would want to play a sorcerer in the game I was running because they are quite villainous. Since everyone is using my random character generator to make characters there is a 20% chance of anyone playing ending up with a sorcerer. There are currently two in my game.
It only took two sessions before one of my players turned to cannibalism. The goal was to learn some sorcerous rituals, and eating the brain of your rival sorcerer seemed like as good a way as any.
Running Carcosa has been fun and lighthearted thus far—seriously.
Eating Sorcerer Brains
Sorcerers may attempt to learn new sorcerous knowledge by devouring the brains of other sorcerers. This isn’t an ideal way to learn ritual magic, but sorcerers are often quite secretive about their sorcery, and reticent when it comes to sharing what they have learned.
The player should roll under their constitution score. Success indicates they have learned some new ritual(s). The number you succeed by indicates how many rituals the player learns, which are selected randomly from those the dead sorcerer knew. Those who fail this check should roll on the I shouldn’t have ate that brain … table. Brains need to be harvested and eaten as quickly after the death of the sorcerer as possible: impose a penalty of 1 to the roll for each minute that passes after the death of the sorcerer.
Players who are not playing sorcerers, but decide to eat a sorcerer’s brain, should just go ahead and roll on the I shouldn’t have ate that brain … table.
I Shouldn’t have Ate that Brain
d8
Effect
1
Maybe you ate it wrong? No ill effects, but you have learned nothing.
2
Your stomach feels terrible. Moments later you are on your knees retching. The character is completely incapacitated for one turn, and making a fair amount of noise.
3
That’s just not sitting right: you dry heave for one round and feel woozy for the rest of the day. The character is at -1 to all attack rolls and dexterity checks.
4
The brain acts as a mild hallucinogen. The character is has a 1d6 penalty to all Wisdom and Intelligence checks for the rest of the day.
5
The rituals trapped within the sorcerer’s brain are too much for your body to bare: you collapse on the ground as your body spasms. The character takes a dCarcosa of damage.
6
You hear voices in your head? Or maybe your stomach. The sorcerer’s personality has survived within the ritual magic burned deep within his brain. The characters decision making is impaired while his mind fights to push out the invading id: the DM may request the character re-roll any die rolls (when doing so will be most annoying) if the player fails a Save vs. Magic. This effect lasts for the remainder of the session.
At the start of 2014 I decided I would finally run a game of D&D, rather than always being a player. It was a sort of gaming New Years resolution. If you read this blog you can probably guess what I wanted to run: a game set in the doomed world of Carcosa! I started writing up rough notes for where the campaign would begin, and fleshed out a small region within the larger world map for players to explore. I then sat on those notes for 8-9 months.
Deciding what to run and how to run it wasn’t that difficult. My main stumbling point was getting over myself and actually running a game. I hadn’t DM’d anything in probably 20 years, if not longer. It seems weird to feel apprehensive about an activity little children do without much fuss. I’d talk about running a game, eventually, and leave it at that. Until yesterday.
Being on the other side of the DM screen was a strange experience. I didn’t find it as stressful as I had thought it would be. Because everyone I normally game with was busy it was just me and two players, Eric and Gus, but that was probably for the best. I found the logistics of managing players was probably easier. I decided to run an OD&D, a system so poorly fleshed out you don’t really have to worry about playing the game wrong. The nice thing about our group is that we all have a rough sense of how to play an OD&D game, and make the same sorts of assumptions when playing. The adventure we were playing was one I made myself. That familiarity with the material probably helped the game run smoothly.
I think the session went well enough, but I have been trying to reflect on what I need to do better. I want to run a Carcosa game with a healthy dose of He-Man, but this first session lacked anything that would suggest a Masters of the Universe vibe. I don’t think I did that great a job highlighting what makes the world weird. The dungeon I had made was supposed to seem mostly empty, with the big reveal being, “oh shit it’s actually full of Bone Men!” I think the actual result of the session lacked that critical, “oh shit.” From the game side of things, I need to firm up when I roll for random encounters. I was too inconsistent here, sometimes letting the players search without consequence or travel through larger chunks of the dungeon unmolested.
All in all it was a lot of fun. In hindsight there was really no way it wouldn’t have been. I think the people you play with really make or break this stuff.
There isn’t much proper religion to speak of in the world of Carcosa. Some people worship the Old Ones and their spawn, others ancient technology. No one is worshiping otherworldly benevolent beings. There are certainly no centralized religious organizations.
Where can we go to buy standard equipment?
Characters begin in the town of Invak. One can find most standard equipment for sale in the town in a large shop run by “the Infinite Keeper”. The Brown Men village of Jahar to the South may have other items that are trickier to track down. Trade caravans run between the two towns.
Where can we go to get plate mail custom fitted for this monster I just befriended?
You are unlikely to find anyone in the region who knows how to produce plate mail, let alone the metal you would need to produce it. “The Ocean of Humility” in Invak may be able to fashion something out of leather. Most people have little idea how to fashion useful armour that fits people, let alone monsters.
Who is the mightiest wizard in the land?
The most evil of all the Purple Men, “the Icon of Judgment,” is known throughout the land for his mastery of sorcery. He rules a small village protected by advanced weaponry and battle armoured soldiers. The Old Ones yield to his will.
Who is the greatest warrior in the land?
You know of no greater soldier than “the Swift and Silent Beginning,” the leader of the Bone Men village Invak.
Who is the richest person in the land?
“The Icon of Judgment” is said to possess vast amounts of wealth.
Where can we go to get some magical healing?
Nowhere. Sorcery is only used for evil and wickedness.
Where can we go to get cures for the following conditions: poison, disease, curse, level drain, lycanthropy, polymorph, alignment change, death, undeath?
The desert lotuses can heal the sick and dying. Of course, they can also kill you.
Is there a magic guild my MU belongs to or that I can join in order to get more spells?
There are no traditional magic-users, and sorcerers are definitely not forming guilds: they are two busy harvesting each other for fuel for their spells.
Where can I find an alchemist, sage or other expert NPC?
“The Falling Flower” is a Desert Lotus Apothcary who lives in the village of Invak. He operates a small stall in the ex-slaves quarter of the town. He may be addicted to the lotuses he sells.
The nearest sage you know of is “He of the Air,” who lives in Jahar.
Where can I hire mercenaries?
The town of Invak maintains an informal standing milita. Most of the men and women in the town have served. For a little money it won’t be hard to find people willing to have an adventure.
Is there any place on the map where swords are illegal, magic is outlawed or any other notable hassles from Johnny Law?
Most people consider magic wicked. You are best to hide any sorcerous tendencies you may have. On the other hand, no villagers are likely to complain about a person carrying a weapon: it’s rough out there.
Which way to the nearest tavern?
This Way to Death in Invak serves fermented drinks and is the place to go for all sorts of shadiness.
What monsters are terrorizing the countryside sufficiently that if I kill them I will become famous?
A large spherical hunter-killer robot stalks the wastes around Invak at night. No one knows who created it or for what purpose, but it has been stealing away men and women for as long as anyone can remember. Few have encountered the machine and lived to share their tales.
“The Swift and Silent Beginning” will pay for proof of any killed slaver or spawn.
Are there any wars brewing I could go fight?
Occasionally a town and its leader may get bold and try to expand their reach or power: this rarely ends well for anyone involved. There are currently no large scale wars of note.
How about gladiatorial arenas complete with hard-won glory and fabulous cash prizes?
A castle of Orange Men to the North run a gladiatorial arena of sorts: there are no prizes and the winners of the games are fed to the Spawn of Shub-Niggurath the Orange Men worship as a god.
Are there any secret societies with sinister agendas I could join and/or fight?
Maybe, but they are secret.
What is there to eat around here?
In Invak people subsist off the meats and eggs of the various lizards that make their home in the wastes, along with mushrooms and all sorts of strange roots. There is nothing good to eat anywhere.
Any legendary lost treasures I could be looking for?
The Elder Signs, rune inscribed stones that keep the Old Ones at bay, would probably be quite handy.
Where is the nearest dragon or other monster with Type H treasure?
Few creatures are interested hoarding treasure on Carcosa besides the various races of Men. Of course, it’s not clear what anyone actually does with their piles of gold and jewels: Carcosa is a crap hole world with nothing good to buy.
I wrote this up some time ago for a Carcosa campaign I may never run. Brendan of Necropraxis suggested answering these questions as a way to help new players quickly get a sense of what’s up with your particular game of D&D. I haven’t ran a game since I was a little kid, but if I did it’d probably look like the sort of games I’ve been playing since I got back into old-school D&D.
Ability scores generation method?
3d6 in order, just like God intended.
How are death and dying handled?
If your hit points drop below or are equal to zero make a Save vs. Death Ray and Poison: success indicates your character is merely unconscious, completely incapacitated until they can get a full week of rest; failure indicates your character is oh-so dead. If you roll a natural 20 on your saving throw roll, your character not only survives, but is invigorated by his near death. In this case your character re-rolls their HP for the session.1
What about raising the dead?
The ancient snake-men may have had a ritual for raising the dead, though it is currently lost to the ages. Perhaps intrepid adventurers may uncover such a spell, though I am sure the costs to cast it would make death look like the better choice.
How are replacement PCs handled?
Roll up a new character and we will jam them into the game somehow. It’s handy to have henchmen for such a situation.
Initiative: individual, group, or something else?
Individual: roll a d6, high roll goes first, your dexterity score is used to break ties.
Are there critical hits and fumbles? How do they work?
Yes: a 1 is always a miss, a 20 is always a hit and you deal the maximum damage for the attack.
Do I get any benefits for wearing a helmet?
Of course: helmets shall be splintered! 10% of hits that would damage a character will be to a character’s head. If the character is wearing a well made helmet it will shatter protecting them from the blow.
Can I hurt my friends if I fire into melee or do something similarly silly?
Yes, targets would be chosen at random when firing into the fray.
Will we need to run from some encounters, or will we be able to kill everything?
You will probably want to avoid some fights.
Level-draining monsters: yes or no?
Hells no: they are the worst.
Are there going to be cases where a failed save results in PC death?
Yes, but hopefully that won’t feel stupid. What’s the point of a Save vs. Death Ray if you don’t have death rays in your game?
How strictly are encumbrance & resources tracked?
Strictly! Bust out that spreadsheet, asshole.
What’s required when my PC gains a level? Training? Can it happen in the middle of an adventure, or do I have to wait for down time?
Leveling happens during down time. There is no need for special training.
What do I get experience for?
Finding treasure, killing monsters and terrible people, freeing slaves, stopping sorcerers, exploring the wilderness and anything else I can think of.
How are traps located? Description, dice rolling, or some combination?
Description, mostly.
Are retainers encouraged and how does morale work?
Yes, the more the merrier. Morale is handled using the obscure rules hidden within OD&D. When a morale check is required roll a 2d6, adjusted by a retainers loyalty, the higher the roll the better.
How do I identify magic items?
Characters may encounter ancient magical snake-men artifacts, or the great technologies of the Primordial Ones or the Great Race. Chances are nobody in Carcosa will know what’s up.
Can I buy magic items? Oh, come on: how about just potions?
Sorry, no.
Can I create magic items? When and how?
It is possible, through some long lost terrible sorcerous ritual that’s probably not worth the trouble when you can just go hunting for laser guns.
