GRIMMEST IMPERIUM a quick hack test for WHITE STAR

Just a little something I whipped up to hack test the new OSR Sci Fi game 'White Star'. The game is based on the Swords and Wizardry Whitebox, itself derived from the original three little brown books that were the 1974 OD&D.

Now to start playing with it, a quick hack (honestly finding pictures took longer) of a popular setting featuring a dark future of humanity somewhere between 30k and 50k years from now.

CLASSES

EMPEROR’S GUARDSMEN / OTHER WARRIOR: 

Requirements:  None.

As Mercenary. 

These guys are plentiful and represent all types of warriors from the vastness of the Dark Fated Imperium, including outlaws, pirates, mercenaries, backwater armies, monastic warrior priests, private security or enforcers as well as from the ranks of the Emperor's Guard (the general imperial army).

Many many many soldiers and warriors of all kinds fill this class.  You might die a lot, but the low level adversaries will wither before you.  

WARRANTED WITCH: 

Requirements: Int 12, Wis 13

As Star Knight but no Star Swords, gain use medium armour instead.

Found at Dakka Dakka.  I believe this is someone's Rogue Trader character.  Always nervous about letting these ones roam the ship.

ROYAL SEER OR NAVIGATOR: 

Requirements  Int 14, Wis 13

Class as Alien Mystic.

A Royal Seer.  He usually stays on Board, except for the really important big-shot receptions.  

WAYFARER / UNDERSIDER: 

Requirements:  Thief - no requirements.

Class as Thief or Pilot

I think this dude would be totally cool with being a Space Pilot. Blaster pistol on the hip, hi tech studded vest for trouble.

CLERIC OF TERRA or LETTERED PRIVATEER: 

Requirements:  Both Cha and Wis are desirable, but as these positions are as much circumstance as merit, there are no statistic requirements.

As Aristocrat.  

Add 'all armour' and also ‘flamers’ OR poisons at the cost of paying xp as fighter, i.e. 2000 vice 1500.  

Note wearing fully enclosed armour will interfere with many of the Aristocrat's abilities.  Many of those with access to power armour choose to wear it with the helmet off.

Lettered Privateer, ex Fleet, mono sword, bionic hand.

Cleric of Terra (Junya Watanabe)

TECHNO CULTIST: 

 As Robot of all types. Combat restrictions are as for Aristocrats unless Combots.

VOID BORN: 

 As Pilot.

By Selworks.

OPTIONAL CLASS:  EMPEROR’S ELITE (Sounds like ‘Place Machines’)

Requirements 14 Str, 12 Dex, 14 Con, 12 Int 

• All weapons and armour, attack 1hd as Mercenary 'Combat Machine' ability.

• +1 str bonus (to the bonus, not the attribute)

• +1 all saves, advantage vs poison, disease death

• +1hp per level

• -1 damage reduction OR Regenerate 1hp per turn (10 minutes)

• Natural weapon 1d4+str

• Xp as ELF (is this enough?). The Emperor’s Elite only gain an xp bonus if Str, and Int are both 15 or more.

Note, these guys aren't usually just wandering around, and represent at least 100,000 to 'The Emperor' plus the power armour they are usually equipped with.

The Emperor's Elite represent the peak of bionic, genetic, and psychological conditioning, and are usually equipped with Rocket Guns and Emperor's Power Armour. Apparently this picture is Hulk's 'son'.  Yup.

DARK FUTURE GEAR:

Rocket Gun: Fires mini rocket propelled shaped charges. 2d6 (reroll 1s).Cost 15000. Some models have Burst Fire**.

Mindforce Sword. By expending a spell level, a Warranted Witch lucky enough to obtain one of these relics may increase damage by one dice per spell 'level' expended. Cost 50,000.

Emporer's Powered Armour, elites end specials only. 7 AC points, Damage reduction 1 (stacks), +1 str bonus (stacks), advantage on strength rolls and saves, invulnerable to airborne toxins, gasses etc. Cost 50,000

Volcano Gun, short range intense heat, ignores 4 point armour and 2 points damage reduction, 2d6 damage. Extremely Rare.

Plasma Gun, short range, ignores 2 points armour. All in beam with ac equal or worse than target hit are also hit. Very Rare

Energy Absorption Field: This device, often resembling ornate and heavy jewelry will absorb 2-40 points of damage each day. Extremely rare.

HOUSE RULE:  BURST FIRE

Usually Firearms and Rocket Guns. Burst fire laser weapons are rare. Burst fire uses 25% of a clip. Any damage left over after dropping a foe may be applied to a target adjacent to or behind the original target.

The Idea From Space (In Space): A quick why I am going to run this.

By Simon Carryer available from LoFTP.

Major Spoilers for players.

I saw this adventure is being promoted a little right now and as I intend to insert this into my current casual game as the next adventure in the Space Trash TM milieu SWN game, I am giving a brief synopsis of the adventure and why I am running it (why you should too).  What an interesting, fun and potentially party wiping little beauty this is.  

This adventure is a little different from most and could result in an adventuring party ceasing to be through enlistment with one of two dominant factions.  Although set in the LoTFP world there is no reason this cannot be easily reskinned, and for my purposes it is perhaps a large crater habitat on an enormous lost asteroid.

Shipwrecked, with almost no chance of rescue the ‘island’ is controlled by two factions.  One, an ancient local cult swollen to huge muscular proportions by debased rituals quickly recruits many of the lower deck npcs that were shipwrecked.

The adventure’s title refers to the other faction; a sophont information entity comprised within a large crystal pillar.  It will offer players admittance to the greater gestalt being that some other npcs, mostly passengers and command are part of. This will offer them access to a range of abilities to aid survival but will it come at too high a cost? An interesting list of npcs is provided for other members of the gestalt. 

A word of warning, parts of this are not for children (but it's from LoTFP so you knew that anyway).  Joining the muscle cult and engaging in their initiation rituals requires rolling d6 on a table.  If two PCs are involved and they both roll as they receive the muscle god’s vision it could result with them going go head to head in a variety very not safe for children acts an initiate must perform, with a ‘six’ resulting in ‘all of the above’.  Some groups will probably find this fun. 

Either way, both factions will make ongoing attempts to abduct or entice/recruit any PCs that are not aligned.

The rest of the booklet details the main locations of the island.  The writing is clear and unconfusing, though one criticism is that the maps could be a bit clearer.  Two large natural towers dominate the island and are joined high up by a precarious footbridge.  The towers are factionalised.  Large and really very large birds of prey (or appropriate analogue) also live here.

Reskinning this is easy if you want to use it as a sci fi location.  I am thinking a crater habitat, the atmosphere and jungle contained by the crater walls.  Midst the jungle, two ancient and enormous pyramids of advanced material dominate the landscape.  Pitted and worn from the decay of time, they are still capable of beauty in some light.  At one point mid way up they are joined by a gossamer footbridge. 

Simon Carryer uses an easy to follow style and has created a type of adventure different to most.  Yes, it probably could be approached as just kill all the (insert faction/s), but I can see a game where (some of the) players become part of the gestalt working.  I can see muscle cult initiation rituals shredding the party, but being a lot of fun for a more degenerate game.  

Either way, chances are in my game some PCs will get shredded by the cultists if not by the enormous Rocs and large Skuas (insert analogs here).  There may need to be a few non aligned npcs 'hiding out' around too, if only to provide a source of back up characters.  Will the PCs join a faction, succumb to one or the other or both, or will they be able to survive and perhaps even make it off the ‘island’?*

Lastly a parting thought regarding the cover which features large aggressive male muscle cultists advancing whilst dangling in the wind.  Some people might not like this very much.  One of my players saw this and said “We totally better be getting to play that!”.  Good I thought, he knows my tastes in adventures. "Of course we are" I said, "Oh yes indeed".

*Who are the mysterious locals?  Could it be a bunch of these guys... ugh, Sisters?

5e Orc and Goblin PCs verses the Ratmen. Why we don't split the party.

We're playing +Patrick Stuart 's Savages in an underdarksetting.  The adventure is the excellent 2014 One Page Dungeon 'The Long Fall' by +Matthew Adams . 

So when we left the PCs last time, they had received orders from local cunning-orc Crime Boss Gutrippa Jizza to find those responsible for banditry along Furry Fungus Way,  "Do em in, and bring back the Furry Fungus".  The PCs had tracked the bandits to a cavern near Snot Grotto and are about to enter a well they believe contains the lair of the ratmen.

Our antiheroes.

Krak Zappa:     Creepy Goblin Shaman,    Dungeon Background.  
Dream Killa:     Cunning Orc Fighter,         Dreams background. 
Shaggy Shiv:   Tricksy Goblin Thief.         Underdark background. A very hairy goblin.
John Smith:      Brutal Orc Hunter.             Man Society background

Shaggy Shiv.  A very hairy goblin.  Lvl 2 Thief with 20 freaken hit points!  My work. 
Could this be where Bugbears come from?

So they head down the well.  Shaggy Shiv in the lead.  As they brush the chain a bell can be heard below.  Arriving at a landing, Shaggy knocks on a door that soon opens revealing a robed ratman who says "Yessss?"

Shaggy:  "We're here to see the boss about the furry fungus."
Ratman Cultist:  Bossss in other roomss, comes in, waits here, I get bossss"

"Yesssss?   Ahhh, Bosssss in other roomss.  Comes in, waits here.  I get Bosssss....."
Image 'Skaven Warcry' by GuiltyOne on deviantart.

The ratman leaves through an exit on the opposite side of the room and Shaggy goes in, Krak Zappa the shaman enters behind him.  (Meanwhile back at the gaming table the dungeon master is grinning and rolling d6s as they enter. I am a firm believer that grinning at just the right time scares the shiz out of players and so exploit this to great effect.  They know that sometimes I am bluffing and that sometimes I am not.  I love watching them squirm, and that is d&d as good as it gets in my mind when that happens)

By the time the third character crosses the entrance the dungeon master has finally rolled a 1 or 2 on a d6, and a pit trap opens below Dream Killa revealing a chute.  In the first of two titular 'long falls' the party's big-hitter plummets into a chain net further down the well, directly above two other entrances, through one of which a great tangle of cobwebs can be seen (uh-oh indeed!).

Back in the entrance room, DK's fall is the ratmen's cue to begin dropping flasks of oil and flaming torches though the murder-holes in the ceiling of the reception area, right on top of Shaggy and Krak who are burnt by the flames.

At this point John Smith shows us that any orc that has lived with humans can never fully be trusted and beats a hasty retreat back up the chain.  I calculate that this will take three rounds to get to the top, fix the player with a withering stare*, and return to the others.

Dream Killa decides he's not swinging in the breeze, takes out his hand axe and starts chipping away at where the chain net attaches to the well wall above one of the doorways below.

Shaggy charges though the entrance into the next room.  Krak is not so quick and gets burnt again as more oil follows the previous.

Shaggy moves though the next chamber which contains fungus growths, up a ladder and engages the two ratmen above and dispatches them easily.  In an adjacent chamber Shaggy finds an animated cauldron, squatting over a fire and singing "nom nom nom, I like food, nom nom nom, get in my belly".

Below Dream Killa loosens enough of the chain fastenings and gets down to the landing with the cobwebs.  He goes in.  There are two ratmen with maces who throw stones.  After a brief fight they are defeated, but Deam Killa fails to spot another pit which they were trying to lure him over and takes more damage from spikes as he falls in.  He gets out  only to notice why there are so many webs, two person sized spiders coming down and biting him.  He is trussed up in a coccoon and left for later.

Krak Zappa decides he is going below to join up with Dream Killa.  When he gets down the well to the landing, he turns and sees another doorway on the opposite side of the well.  Standing there is a ratman with a funky necklace who hisses at him "Jump!" Krak Zappa, Goblin Shaman, fails his save verses magic and jumps off the ledge and into the well where he takes a lot of damage and begins making death saving throws.  In his hazy state he only just notices the small-car-sized spider with psychedelic eyes pick him up and carry him to it's lair for lunch.

So it's six rounds now and John Smith shows his face again, just in time to notice a returning hunting party of ten ratmen coming over he lip of the well above.  He and Shaggy Shiv end up at the bottom of the well looking for a way out, where one is found, a door in fact,but a door to who knows where?

Krak Zappa  RIP:  Creepy Goblin Shaman, Dungeon Background.  (Now eaten by psychedelic spider)
Dream Killa  RIP:  Cunning Orc Fighter, Dreams background. (Wrapped in spider silk for later and not rescued).

Shaggy Shiv:  Tricksy Goblin Thief.  Underdark background. A very hairy goblin.
John Smith:  Brutal Orc Hunter.  Man Society background.  Of dubious orchisness.



*I believe if John Smith hadn't run, then Dream Killa and Krak Zappa would likely still be with us.  As for the recipient of said withering stare, he's a mate so no harm was done.

Playing SAVAGES in the Underdark. Our first 5e.

We have been testing a bit of 5e using +Patrick Stuart 's Savages Rules, which I made up into little A5 booklets with pictures for the team and handed out.  They go really well with the neat A5 5e booklets that were on G+ a while ago but I forget who put them up.

What?  You mean we can play Orcs and Goblins?"
"Yep."
..."Awesome!"
Players are often easily pleased.

The setting was made up very quickly. We will play a city game based on relationships between NPCs/PCs and factions.  The PCs will have a home dungeon.  They will go on missions to suit the episodic nature of this 'filler' game.

To generate the NPCs and their relationships I am using +Jeff Russell 's Middenheim hack, the 'Vornheimed Middenheim'.  I am using Vornheim too.  I can't wait for the suckers to meet Eshrigel.

The location is a massive underdark city with a planescape feel.  Inhabitants are mostly Goblin, Orc, Drow and Human.  Slavery is fully part of life and your ability to stay 'free' is largely a matter of who your friends are, and your ability to enforce your freedom.  

Most of the surface world is contested by any one of a number of demon armies in service to several competing demon lords.  

Picture 1.  Demon Armies war for the surface.  Some are led by Demon Lords and Princes directly, others by powerful Warlocks who regardless of their race are widely reviled as traitors.

Many surface dwellers have headed below as refugees, many of whom have joined gangs or formed gangs of their own, or else become slaves.  On the surface, the fey Goblin Kingdom is largely untouched, and it is rumored the ranks at the Citadel of the Goblin King have recently been swelled with child-refugees.  

Player Characters:

Krak Zappa:  Creepy Goblin Shaman, Dungeon Background.  
Dream Killa:  Cunning Orc Fighter, Dreams background. 
Shaggy Shiv:  Tricksy Goblin Thief.  Underdark background.
John Smith:  Brutal Orc Hunter.  Man Society background.

Last session we generated the home dungeon using the dungeon poker rules Patrick gave us here.  More about the results of that another time maybe. Once the Dungeon was finished and before the DM could set them on a mission, the PCs set about murdering the dungeon boss. Then when NPCs arrived to give them the adventure theymurdered them too.  Then the DM said that's all folks.

Session Two:  The dead NPCs' boss and 'friends' arrive with an offer the PCs can't refuse.

So six orcs and two bugbears led by local crime boss cunning-orc Gutrippa Jizza turn up to set things right and make certain the PCs understand their place in the pecking order.  

Picture 2.  These guys turn up looking pissed.  Hmmm, six orcs and two bugbears verses the PCs - two orcs and two goblins.   Yeah, I'd listen to what they had to say too.

Realising that murdering and looting the messengers last session wasn't such a good idea now they all agree "We certainly do understand our place in the pecking order".  They are informed that in addition to the task which is still required of them, they now owe double, for murdering GJ's henchman. Gutripper informs them to satisfy the first favour they owe they must find out who or what has been intercepting the furry fungus shipments along Furry Fungus Way, do the culprits in, and return with the furry fungus.

Picture 3.  Gutrippa Jizza - Not a happy Gang-star.

The PCs head to Snot Grotto, a creepy goblin ghetto just off Furry Fungus Way where they are informed that a gang of rat men are operating out of an old well in an adjacent cavern.  Not being a threat to Snot Grotto the locals haven't seen any reason to do anything about it.

The PCs foolishly head straight down the well.  Okay that's actually a bit unfair mostly because they did do some investigation, they did look around a little, they discovered a chimney which comes out of the ground nearby and that muffled repetitive singing can be heard down the chimney ("nom nom nom, I like stew, nom nom nom, get in my belly").  John Smith found ratmen tracks leading to and from the well.  Then, assuming that today I am a much nicer DM than history would seem to attest, they head straight down the well.

Why do players behave like this? 

Next Post, the hijinx down the well and and one long scramble to not all totally die in The Log Fall, a very fun one page dungeon from Matthew Adams, found in the pay what you want 2014 One Page Dungeon Compendium available here.  Seriously players reading this, when in the heavily trapped lair of guerrilla tactic fighters don't split the party.     Just don't okay.  We'll see why next time.


I found the pictures here:
Picture 1:  charlottecarrendar.com-tag-darkness
Picture 2.  guardian.com.october.2013
Picture 3.  paperspencils.com2012-02-orc11

Building The Viper - Oberon Martell 5e Background

Oh yes, I am very smooth.

There was a discussion about how to build The Viper on G+ today with +Nathan Panke +Anthony Emmel +Erik Westmarch +Scott Corbeil and +Axel Castilla .  

I think in he Oberon Martell is a high level fighter,with a high dexterity and charisma, and a preference for finesse weapons.  In 5e advancement he would take dueling first,and two handed style next.  In my game he would be about six or seventh level,but that's lab lord with level ten as a cap.  I digress, here's my background.

PRINCE OF DORN BACKGROUND 

(Specifically Oberon Martell, The Viper).

Skills:  Poisoner's Kit. Riding.

Feature:  Treat a spear as a finesse weapon* when not wearing heavy armour**. by

treating it as finesse weapon you simulate his fighting style in the show without needing

any additional mechanics or benefit.

You are big and slow, I will kill you.

Personality:  Passionate. 

I am a Prince of Dorn after all 

Ideal:  To experience all of life's pleasures.  "Excess leads to the palace of wisdom"  

And he said "hey baby, take a walk on the wild side".

Bond:  To avenge his murdered relatives

Of course someone has to die my friend

Flaw:  Hubris (overconfident).  "Is that all you've got?" (or perhaps arrogance)

Hmmmm,heavy armour and a big STR and CON please.

*using the spear one-handed with duelling (3-8, i.e. d6+2) will do the same 

damage as two handed (3-8, i.e. d8 reroll 1s and 2s) so it won't break things here.

**Should this include medium too?

Wasteland Western Goth: Music for Warlocks to do Warlocky stuff.

Would you pay life's pleasure to see me?

Falling from ecstasy...    ...like changelings.

Does it hurt that I want you to remain?

...let it spill from my mouth, sweet nectar for a thousand young...

...we dream of a million elixirs...

...Ktulu calls.

Gorgonmilk has the best music in the OSR

Greg Gorgonmilk has the best music of any RPG blog I have found.  You should go over there and tell him.  It's mostly dark electronic and here's a taste:

Land of 1000 Towers session write ups (aka A.S.E. All Watched Over by Insane Machines in Space) will return soon.