Mastering the Game: Metaplots

 Hello and welcome back to Mastering The Game, where I prattle on about how to run RPGs and the like.

Today, I’d like to take a minute to talk about metaplots and how to include them in your games. If you’re not familiar, a “meta plot” is an overarching plot in a game or setting. If you’ve played any sort of video game, you’ve experienced a metaplot. Hell, even watching a movie, reading a book, or what have you, is just watching a plot play out. As you might imagine, a lot of people starting out running a game is probably going to try to include one and it usually goes bad those first few times. When people talk about “railroading” this is something they’re talking about, because the plot wasn’t done right. So, let’s talk about how to do it right.

City of the Spider Queen is a great example of an epic adventure

When thinking about a metaplot in your setting (be it one that you’ve created or a setting you’re running your game in), I want you to understand that your adventures are going to have rails in them. However, unlike a railroad, where you’re passively watching things roll by, you should think of it as a roller coaster. Sure, they both have rails in them, but one is an experience. One that people will seek out. I have good experiences with metaplots in games I enjoy. In fact, the three games/settings I have enjoyed the most in my time with RPGs have had metaplots and each one of them has handled it differently. My first love in RPGs, Deadlands, has a massive metaplot that spans three different games and two different planets. Recently, I’ve been getting into the Wasted West and the Way Out West (you’ll be seeing a review of that last one soon, if not already) and that means studying the metaplot the creators mapped out from the start. Not to get into too much detail, this plot is entirely unstoppable. You can’t stop it from happening, but no matter what game you play in the setting, your characters will be involved and WILL make a difference in what happens. Sure, sometimes they can’t stop what’s happening, but they are there and they are involved in the events. The prime example is the second part of the Devil’s Tower Trilogy, the Bloody Sunday event. Before this part of the adventure, the posse has been involved in a tense rescue of someone and then arrive too late to stop demons from invading the cathedral in the center of Lost Angels. And while they don’t get to stop the Big Bad Demon, they can fight the smaller ones and help save people as they flee. They feel like their actions have an effect on the world, even if it’s mostly a small one in the grand scheme of things. In the case of Hunter: The Reckoning, there’s a whole lot going on that the players and their characters have no idea about. However, Hunter isn’t about the metplot, it’s about small, Pyrrhic victories on the street level. And while they’re not going to stop things on the large scale, that isn’t what the game is about. And it isn’t how you should run the game. The characters aren’t Buffy the Vampire Slayer (although it does make for a good analogy) nor are they the Winchester brothers. The problem with something like Supernatural is that as the show went on, they had to fight larger and larger threats. While Buffy did the same, they were still in Sunnyvale and that makes a world of difference. The final metaplot I liked was in the original or older versions of the Forgotten Realms. While the modern incarnation of FR seems to have gone way off the original rails that were there, the old ones were great because you didn’t need to be port of the solutions to the problems. That’s what the novels were for. If you wanted to be a part of the Time of Troubles, there were official adventures for that. If you didn’t, you just let it play out in the background. The players could have epic adventures without causing massive, continent wide changes in the setting. And with all of that out of the way, let’s talk about the two best ways I’ve found with including a metaplot in games:

Number One: The players and characters are directly involved

For this one, I strongly suggest you have a session zero and you be up front about the metaplot and how they’re going to be involved. Let them know, in general terms, what kind of campaign you want to run and what sort of things the characters are going to be involved in. If you’re running a published metaplot, let the players know that yes, there will be rails in this game, but remind them that they’re in for a roller coaster and not a railroad. If the adventure needs a certain type of class or character, be up front that this is required and someone needs to play it. You have to have a player play this character, because otherwise, you’re going to end up just having conversations with yourself and the players WILL be on a railroad. Instead, make sure that this is a player’s role and that they’re comfortable with it. And make sure that everyone else gets a moment to shine, too. If you’re coming up with everything on your own, make sure that each player’s character has a place in the plot, either from the character they are playing or by the type of character they’re playing. Some plot points shouldn’t be tied to the priest in particular, but a priest in general, and then will grow in importance as the campaign continues. That way you can be okay if someone drops out or switches characters. You always have to prepare for that. In my opinion, this is the best way to run a metaplot. Everyone should be aware of what is going on and can work together to make it happen. The best metaplots can also be developed cooperatively, so don’t feel like you need to have it all mapped out. Maybe you’re thinking that the good king is under threat from his evil uncle and you want the evil uncle to win. You explain this to your players and one them really wants to be a spy for the evil uncle or has an idea about how to prevent this from happening, because they really don’t want the evil uncle to take over. So, you talk with everyone about it. Maybe you agree that the evil uncle won’t win in the end, or that you’re willing to leave it open ended, but now the uncle has a backup plan of causing a rebellion against the king instead and he’s at the head of it. Don’t feel like you have to give everything away but be open to change based on what the players want. If they don’t want the political intrigue, then focus more on the action on the plot. If they want the political intrigue and you don’t, there’s got to be a way to meet in the middle. Remember, roller coaster, not railroad!

 Number Two: The players aren’t involved in the plot at all

Maybe you’ve got a group of players that will make Sherman Bowties (they’re a real thing from Sherman’s March to the Sea, look them up) out of any attempt by a GM to have a set idea for an adventure. While I personally feel like these are idiots and assholes, I suppose there’s different strokes for different folks. Of course, it could also be that you started with a solid crew of six players and characters that were all set for the campaign, and then players have dropped out, new ones have joined, and there’s been so many character deaths or changes that there’s no one left who’s invested in the plot. In that case, it’s okay. You know why? Because now they’re not going to be there to stop the demon lord from opening the portal to the underworld, they’re just going to have to live with the consequences of that happening. Now that they have to fight for their lives everyday, you can circle around to making an effort to close the portal or just have a campaign about the dying light of humanity and freedom. In less extreme examples, the good king is replaced by his evil uncle and now the party has to deal with living under his thumb. They can become freedom fighters, or smugglers, or just leave for another kingdom and let things get worse there. In that last situation, you can have a lot of fun creating and expanding an evil empire in the background that will slowly take over the world. The players should be heroes, to some degree and in most games, so just keep letting things get worse and worse until they have no choice but to tackle the problem. The players and characters have agency, just like we do in the real world. We all have the ability to vote, but if you don’t (or you did and the other person lost) and someone terrible gets in office, now you can take other actions to stop the spread of evil. It’s up to you to figure out what that is… 

 Now, with all of that said, I want you to remember that every published adventure has a metaplot or narrative in them. From the lowest of killing rats in the basement to the epic heights of killing gods, every adventure you run or make up has a plot to it. There’s no such thing as an RPG without a plot. You can’t just make everything up on the spot (unless you’re really good or you’re just one of those people), so you need something to hold everything together. Don’t be afraid of making your roller coaster.

Blast From The Past: Deadlands - Lost Colony

 

If you haven't noticed, each one of these logos is slightly different

The West has been Weird, then Wasted, and now it's time to go to the Way Out West!

Before I get into the meat of this review, I do want to talk about something: this is NOT a stand alone game. It requires that you have the HOE rule book, be it the original Deadlands system or the d20 version. Because everything had a d20 port. Which was the style at the time.

As such, this is really more of a supplement than a stand alone game.

 Deadlands: Lost Colony is the final part of the original Deadlands trilogy and was mentioned in the Hell On Earth books. It takes place on Banshee, earth's first colony on another world, where Ghost Rock eventually was discovered. And history repeats itself...

You see, when humans arrived on Banshee, they found a primitive species there. If you've played the Weird West, or know something about history, you know what happened next. The advanced humans ended up wanting to move into the areas that the aliens, the Anuoks, were living in. After some conflicts, there was a treaty made between the humans and the Anouks. And then the humans broke the treaty, were made to move back into the treaty area, and then moved back. When there were more conflicts, they tried to make another treaty and then another treaty, but the miners and homesteaders kept breaking it. So, the Anouks do as colonized people do and started fighting. Lots of humans and aliens died in the ensuing conflict. Some of this backstory is explored in the Wasted West books, mostly the Syker book, as they were part of the main force that broke the Anouks resistance, before the Last War heated up and then Judgment Day came.

Anyway. This book is about the people who are now stranded on Banshee and the Anouks who were there first. Unlike the Wasted West, the people in the Faraway system (where Banshee is located) aren’t living in the ruins of civilization, but they are recovering from a cataclysm. You see, about a year after all contact with Earth was lost, Banshee suffered from the World Storm. Seeing as Banshee is named after the winds that whip around, this was a really, really bad storm and some of the settlements and cities were destroyed and a lot of people died. But the society is still functional. They might be stranded and dealing with living on a hostile world, there’s still hope here.

Beyond Banshee, there’s stations in orbit and in the asteroid belt nearby. There’s miners in the belt, pulling out Ghost Rock from the rocks, which means there’s also pirates. Around the brown dwarf planet/star, there’s a few stations and colonies there as well. The power groups in orbit are Hellstromme Industries, run by Vanessa Hellstromme, and the Untied Nations EXFOR, commanded by Confederate General “Overkill” Warfield. HI is the economic powerhouse of the Banshee system, with their high technology and private military forces. While they’re not in total control of everything, it’s not for a lack of trying. They’re also on the cutting edge of technology, with the invention of nano-technology, which allows people to “transmute” things. On the other hand, the UN is in nominal control of the Banshee system, but not really. When the Tunnel failed and there was no communication from Earth, General Warfield recalled his forces to the flagship in orbit and has been waiting up there ever since.

Meanwhile, back on Banshee, there’s only one real authority, the Colonial Rangers. Modeled after the Texas Rangers, they’re very thin on the ground but very effective at one they do. They try to maintain law and order, as well as the treaty, but they can only do so much. Mostly because of a lack of numbers and equipment. On the flip side, you have a group called the Reapers, who follow a madman Communist/Socialist named Nikolai. They want to unite the humans and Anouks in some socialist uptopia. By force if necessary. 

I could almost see people thinking this is what the game is

But let’s talk about the Anouks. They’re seven feet tall, purple, and look like reptiles but they’re actually warm blooded. The men type are usually warriors and the female types are the shamans. The culture is presented through a human lens and resembles a simplified version of a Native American monoculture. However, I will give them some credit here, as we find out in the Marshal’s Handbook that their culture was conquered some time again and these are the decedents of the liberators, so that would cause their culture to be simplified to some degree, and they didn’t really have enough room to give us much more. But it kind of sucks to have two tribes, one good, one bad, and mention of some other groups. The interesting thing about the Anouk is that they are all psychic to a degree and have a special connection to a type of rock on the planet. While the inclusion of the Anouk is neat, I do think that it’s a missed opportunity.

Moving on, let’s talk a bit more about Banshee herself. The planet has two continents, called One and Two. One is where most of the humans are and where the focus is. Two is left more mysterious, which I’m sure was going to be expanded on later, but that never really happened. Oh, and if you noticed, I gave the planet a gender, because it is alive. No joke. And that’s also why the majority of shamans are women. Anyway, much like other core books for Deadlands games, there’s only the basics covered so you can get started, with the details usually filled in later. But later never really happened with this one before Pinnacle fell on hard times and eventually everything was rebooted under the various versions of the Savage World systems.

So, at the end of the day, there’s a fair amount of problems with this book. One of my first problems with it is that it feels very much like a large source book for Hell On Earth, rather than a full fledged stand-alone game. In part, that’s because it’s a soft cover book, rather than a hardback, which is what they usually did with the core books of their games, but this was in the process changing when this one came out. The other part is that you have to have the HOE core book, or the D20 HOE book, which makes it feel a little tacked on. And the other problem is that inclusion of the D20 conversion rules. As I mentioned, this was the style at the time for games. I could go on about this, and I think I have a few times before, so I’m not going to on about it. Except for one point: The inclusion of the D20 rules reduced the amount of room the book had for other information. You might not think it’s that much, but don’t forget that not only did they have to add the classes, but also the various DC over TN stuff, reprint the spells in D20, stats for equipment, and so on. All of that adds up. My unscientific estimation is that the book loses about 25% of its space to the D20 conversions throughout the book. And that took a lot away from what it SHOULD have included. And that’s the thing that probably did the most damage to it. And, in my opinion, it feels a little rushed and incomplete compared to everything else. Maybe that’s because they had to have it ready when The Unity adventure dropped. Which also felt kind of the same.

Anyway. All of that said, I like this setting. I kind of liked it when it first came out, as there was all of this classic sci-fi stuff in there, aliens, spaceships, weird science, and so on, but with that unique Deadlands flavor. Unfortunately, that unique flavor isn’t enough to make it something that will make people seek it out. The Wasted West was a post-apocalyptic game for Deadlands fan. The Way Out West is science fiction is for Deadlands fans. But the Weird West is a wild west game and not everyone drawn to that is going to be drawn to the rest of it. Like the friends I used to game with, back in the day. Because they didn’t like the Wasted West and Way Out West (and never really got into the Weird West beyond Doomtown), I think it’s why I never gave this Deadlands setting a chance. And it’s a shame. There’s some good stuff in here. A colony cut off from Earth, with this weird mix of magic and technology, and surrounded by an alien race that is varying degrees of hostile could be a really good time. And since everything isn’t filled it, you could fill it in yourself. There’s some good bones here, even if you ignore the metaplot and the fact that The Reckoners have been dropped on the planet by Dr. Darius Hellstromme and they might be weak enough to be killed. Oh, did I forget to mention that until now? Funny that…

And a final note: I do have a few books for Deadlands Noir but I’m not sure yet if I’m going to review it. If you want it, let me know.

Sources Say: The Deck of Many Things

 

Name: The Deck Of many Things

Produced By: Wizards of the Coast

System: D&D 5e

Genre(s): Fantasy

Ah, the Deck of Many Things, the destroyer of campaigns. I’ve had one encounter with the Deck as a player and once used it as a DM, back in 3^rd edition. I think many players have at least one story of the Deck appearing in their games, usually leaving death and discord in its wake. So, it seems that Wizards has seen fit to explore the Deck, its origin, and expanded it to fill many more roles in your games. The box comes with The Book Of Many Things, a reference book for the cards, and a set 66 very well made cards of the Deck of Many Things.

To start, let’s discuss the Deck. They’re Tarot sized (so about double the size of regular playing cards) with this gold leaf looking stuff on the edges. These cards look great, the art, and everything. They’re very well done. You get the original 22 Deck cards, two of which have been renamed, and then two more sets of another 22 cards. These can be used for the “expanded” uses for this deck, as I discuss below.

Which brings me to the next part of the box, the reference book. This book is kept with the Deck, which is nice, as it should prevent some damage to the cards if something happens. The book includes how to use the deck as an in-game Tarot type divination tool, letting the players or the DM do some fortune telling for the game. They can also be used to design an adventure or a dungeon, using the cards as an inspirational tool for games. I actually kind of like this idea, as it can help a DM come up with something on the fly or when they’re stumped on where to go next with the campaign. The last part of the book is the definitions the cards have as divination tools, how they can represent people, places, and locations, beyond their general meaning, as well as what they mean when reversed. If you’re familiar with Tarot, you’re going to know how that all works already. Honestly, I could totally see using these cards at a LARP or a party or a con and having a bit of fun with them.

The final part of the set is The Book of Many Things. This book is one that you may or may not find useful. It contains a history of the Deck (both in universe and production history), how to use the Deck in your games, and how to set up your Deck by selecting different cards. It then goes on to have a chapter based around the OG 22 (the original 22 Deck of Many Things cards from the various DMGs over the years). Puzzles, trap, adventures and side-tracks, as well as groups of importance that have risen up around the Deck over the centuries, each of these are given a chapter. As you might remember (or just look up), the Throne card gives the player ownership of a Keep, right? Well, if you don’t want to come up with one on the fly, they have one you can use, based on an old adventure published in Dungeon magazine. There’s also the Donjon and Void cards, which have very negative effects on the characters, and there’s a chapter for each of these effects. What I really love about this book (so far, still working my way through it) is giving you a lot of uses for the Deck itself. You can let players hang on to them after they draw them, using them as magic items on their own. They give you advice on how to use the cards to make and solve riddles, which is something I really struggle with.

I do hope that they’re going to sell these cards separately, maybe in a “core deck” that has the OG 22 cards, and then an “expanded deck” with the total 66 cards and maybe the reference book. Or just sell the cards and reference book as the boxed set they already kind of are. As for the Book, it’s one of those “nice to have but I probably wouldn’t buy it” for a lot of people. I’d be willing to bet that we’re going to see this set broken up into two different products down the road: The Deck of Many Things (with the reference book) and The Book of Many Things. It would make more sense to me for them to break it up into making people spend more on things as time goes on, especially since most people probably just want the Deck more than anything else.

Mastering the Game: The Right Tool For the Right Job

 

The imagination makes it worse...

Welcome back to Mastering The Game, where I ramble about how to run RPGs and hopefully you get something useful out of it.

Today, I want to talk about something that’s come up in some conversations recently, both online and in meat space, talking about how every system isn’t the best for every game. What do I mean? Well, one example that someone gave was people trying to use D&D 5e for science fiction or some kind of space epic. The point isn’t that D&D can’t do it, it’s that it doesn’t do it as well as something that’s designed from the ground up to handle space stuff. Related to this topic was a discussion of how old games (think 70s and 80s) didn’t have everything mapped out in the rules, so people could come up with stuff to fill in the blanks, that it was expected that Game Masters and their groups would come up with the rules they needed to play the game. Now, while I disagree that game designers intentionally left things out, as I believe that most of those old games weren’t as well play tested or developed as modern games (which doesn’t mean that they should be compared on a one to one basis, modern game design has tons of tools they didn’t have back in the day), there is a point that players and GMs will try to do something with the system that the designers didn’t even think of.

So, let’s use the example that came up in another conversation with a friend. She likes horror movies and was looking for a system that would help her create the look and feel of a horror movie, having found a game on Kickstarter. I let her know that there was already a game with a similar name and premise, and we found that it was super cheap on DriveThruRPG, plus I had played it once before. While we were discussing horror gaming, I brought up some of the classics, like Call of Cthulhu, White Wolf games, AFMBE, Deadlands, and some others. I also mentioned that there are some universal systems that do have horror mechanics (GURPS and Savage Worlds are the ones I had the most experience with), they aren’t designed to be horror games. Just because a game has the mechanics for something doesn’t necessarily mean that those mechanics are the best for that thing. Another part of this discussion was that the simpler the mechanics, the worse they’re going to be to handle the thing you want. Now, I will admit that my statement there is a very general one and there are exceptions to it, however, we must also admit that it’s probably more right than it is wrong.

Perhaps horror isn’t the best genre to cover with a rules discussion, as the real thing that determines the effectiveness of horror is the atmosphere created by the GM and maintained by the players, but there’s enough there for it to run with. But let’s take a closer look at horror and the various things it includes, mechanically speaking. Horror, at its core, is about fear and dread. Now, there’s a lot to unpack there, and I’m sure some might disagree, but we really can’t argue that it is the intent of horror to invoke dread and/or fear. 

Yeah. Nope.

 Of the two, dread is something that needs to be cultivated by the GM, by using all the tricks in your book. Randomly rolling dice and making nonsense notes, asking “are you sure you want to do that?” or by asking a player where their character is looking during a quiet period are all simple things that you can do to make the players uncomfortable. Keeping them on edge is the goal of it. Keeping their characters low on health and ammo is another thing that will make them stressed. Another thing is to play creepy or unsettling music, or maybe watching a scary movie together in the same genre while making characters. You want to be subtle over overt when making players, and their characters, feel dread. However, it’s not something that can be easily done with rules mechanics or dice rolls. Dread is something ethereal and fleeting. It can’t be done well with something written in a book. And it can be easily ruined with one well timed joke. Not that you shouldn’t let the tension break now and again but it the class clown is acting up, it’s going to spoil the mood. One of the best things I’ve found to keep players on their toes is to keep them guessing as to what they’re up against. A lack of detail in description can go a long way to making them afraid and tense. Fleeting glances, things in the shadows, unusual sounds, and being unable to get a good look at what’s there are great ways to do this. Because their imagination will always make it more frightening than the words you can say, as they will bring their own fears, insecurities, and emotional baggage to the fore when they have to picture it in their heads.

Fear, on the other hand, can be handled (to a degree) with mechanics and rules. For the characters, that is. When someone is afraid, they’re usually not as sharp as they are when they’re calm. So, most horror games, or games that can handle horror, will have some kind of effects for characters when they’re afraid. Of course, making the players afraid will also make the characters afraid, but you can’t always count on that happening. Fear mechanics are really what is going to make or break a horror game system. They need to translate the human Fight/Flight/Freeze mindset that appears when something jumps out at you in the night. And this is where you can see how well the game will work for what you want to do. A flat penalty to rolls is one of the weaker things. To use an example, the classic Deadlands system has a very detailed fear table, based on how badly the character failed the roll, plus how scary the thing is in the first place. And while it does repeat a lot of things, mostly just by adding things to the results, it also gives some varied reactions. You can soil yourself, run away in a panic, or even have a heart attack and die, assuming the thing is scary enough. It doesn’t have to be totally realistic, especially if you’re dealing with the supernatural, but it does have to feel reasonable. Fear is something we all feel, to some degree or another, through out our lives and our reactions to it changes over time, with our experiences. That means that your fear mechanics should take this into account. That doesn’t just mean that you have a system that varies by age, but that the system should have ways for characters to react differently to fear. To go back to our example of Deadlands, there’s Edge you can take which says that you don’t run away if you get that results. You suffer every other effect, but you stand your ground. Which is the Fight part of the list above. And the system you use needs to have those variations inside it, if you want it to do a good job.

Fear is relative

 Now, let’s jump back to some examples of popular games. While I’m not very experienced with D&D 5e, I do know that the system is very simple and streamlined, meaning that fear effects are probably going to be something like giving a character Disadvantage when they’re afraid or something similar. I’m sure I’m wrong, and I bet that D&D expands the mechanics when fear is much more important (like in Ravenloft) or when they want to introduce a bunch or optional rules. And to draw back to a point I touched on earlier: you could come up with some house rules of your own, if you feel like it. As a brief aside, I find that having rules in the books to be better than stuff people come up with on their own, as it leads to less arguments and has a better chance of being balanced. For the other popular game I mentioned, Call of Cthulhu, that game is based around Things Man Was Not Meant To Know, which always includes some kind of insanity or madness. But not every horrible thing is going to make you crazy and it’s not going to be some random insanity rolled from a table. For example, in a D&D 3.5 game, the DM got a hold of the CoC 3.5 port and used it for some stuff. When my cleric ran up against some terrible thing, do you know what insanity he got? He was unable to see the color yellow. It made it into a joke. The fact that RPGs don’t have the best history with handling mental health issues is a big one that I might have to tackle another time. Moving on, the problem with CoC isn’t just that it skews towards insanity, but that it has a more modern, real world premise. CoC is set either in the modern day or last century, and requires a book (if there are any for the current edition) to be taken into space, as an example.

So, what do we do if we want something that can make the exact game we want? Well, there’s always options and you can always modify stuff. Let’s say we want to run a horror game, but in space or on a moon colony. There’s a few options. The easiest one is to pick a universal system that handles horror and just plug the books in and play it. You could use GURPS or Hero System, both of which have rules for fear and science fiction stuff, and go from there. Of course, you could also try to find a game that’s based around a science fiction horror franchise, like the Alien RPG and run it as is, or slightly modify it to match the game you want (just re-skin the Xenomorphs into some other monster and run with it). Or, you can take a system that does the horror well, and find or make up stuff for the science fiction part. A prime example for me would be AFMBE, which does have a science fiction source book. It might not be exactly what I want, but there’s enough there to get it off the ground. If you have some genre that you really like, slasher films as mentioned earlier, there’s going to be a game out there for you. At least one that I know of. If it doesn’t work for you, that’s a problem.

The path of most resistance is going to be taking a system you like, the one that has the basic rules that you know really well, and forcing it into something it’s not designed to do. You can look around and see if someone else has already done it, as we live in an age where you can find that information online without too much of a hassle, which I bet someone already has. Once you find that information, make sure it works for you. If it doesn’t, drop it or work on it so it does match what you’re looking for. I find it a hell of a lot easier to modify something than just pull a whole thing out of my ass. (You know what I mean.) The thing is that it’s way easier to add in rules for radiation and surviving in the vacuum of space to a game then it is to come up with a system that reflects real horror and the tropes of horror movies in a game. Let someone else do the hard work for you, rather than doing the hard work yourself.

The real point of the matter is that you need to find the system that works the best for the core of the game. That’s the most important part of the game, which is why I’m saying this again. If the system can’t do what you want it to do, try something else. Find a set of quick play rules, you’re usually free or very affordable, and see if you can find something that works for you. Don’t try to make something do something it wasn’t designed to do. If you can’t find something that does everything exactly as you want it to, then try working on changing something into what you need it to be. But, just remember, it’s easier to fudge the small stuff, not the big stuff. What you need is the system that matches more with what you want than what you don’t want. If you want to do a thrilling space epic, it’ll be easier for you to find something that was designed to do that, rather than forcing D&D to try to handle something it wasn’t designed to do. 

Also, kids are goddamn creepy...

 I understand that people get afraid of trying new things or learning new rules. I know that you want to stick with what you know. However, the problem with something like D&D is that the simplicity that made it easier for you to learn in the first place will hold you back when you want to do something that has the complexity of what you want to do now. Most people start with D&D for a reason but you don’t have to stay there. Especially these days. There’s so many different games out there, some that you might like even more than D&D, so you need to spread those wings. You can’t be afraid of a harder system. The thing is that, as you play the game more, the easier it becomes to play. You’ll get the rules more as time goes on.

Okay, almost started a tangent there. Ahem. My point is that you need to find the game you want to play, not make what you’re currently playing into what you want to play. I hope that makes sense. And I hope you got something out of this ramble.

Sources Say: SpellJammer, 5th edition

 

Name: SpellJamer

Produced By: Wizards of the Coast

System: Dungeons and Dragons, 5^th edition

Genre(s): Fantasy, Age of Sail, Space fantasy

Yeah, we’re doing this… Before we dig in, I haven’t played any editions of D&D since 3.5. As you know, in the last few years, D&D has really taken off. And, every once in a while, I get asked by a friend “Do you want to learn how to play D&D again? This new edition is really good.” I got tired of saying that I really wasn’t interested, or I’d think about it, and get excited, but then get weird because of the bullshit I dealt with the last few times I played. When a friend of mine said that they might be doing a new version of SpellJammer, I said “Okay, you know what? If they actually make it, I’ll start playing D&D again.”

So. Here we are. Having core books cost $50 is a real dick move, Wizards. I hope you choke on my money.

The new edition of SpellJammer is here and I pre-ordered it as soon as I could. I literally didn’t even have any of the books for 5^th edition, and I still ordered it. That’s how much I’ve been looking forward to this. And how is it?

It’s… Passable. But let me explain.

 The new SpellJammer is a boxed set with three books, which has a double sided poster sized map, and a DM’s screen. The three books are an outline of the setting, a monster manual book, and a big adventure. It’s about $70 but it’s worth it. I do hope that the setting book becomes a single item in the future, to bring people in, but I doubt we’re going to get anything for this. I have a feeling this a one-and-done, make the fans happy thing. Okay, okay, let’s talk about the changes to the setting.

The first thing is that the whole idea of crystal spheres and the Phlogiston is gone. Completely gone. Instead, the whole thing about SpellJammer is that it takes place in the Astral Sea, which is part of the Astral Plane. Or is the Astral Plane? I’m not exactly sure. Even after picking up the core books for 5e, I’m still a little lost on how things work in this edition. Another thing is that the Elven Navy is completely gone. And the Unhuman War never happened, so none of that fun. This version of the setting is much more relaxed and more about exploring than war and conflict. However, they did keep the Mercane (originally the Arcane) in the setting. They were introduecd in the original boxed set as traders and merchants that plied the Phlogiston, and they re-introduced in 3.5 as traders and merchants that dealt with buying and selling things across the Planes. I also think that they changed from Arcane to Mercane because the latter is able to be trademarked. As much as they dropped the older, more wargame-y stuff, they did retain some fun and spirit of adventure. Okay, now we talk about the boxed set.

Book one, the Astral Adventurer’s Guide gives us a brief history of the setting, how things work, and the new races we can play, like the Giff, Astral Elves, Hadozees, and Plasmoids. After this, it goes on to explain how gravity planes and air pockets work, but with far less rules and detail than in the original edition. They also talk about Helms. Unlike the original version, which had both Major and Minor helms that would effect how fast the ship could move, we just get the one. Also, they’ve gotten rid of the various other Helms, like Life Jammers, and so on. We also get a very short section on how space combat works, but they really just wanted players to be involved in boarding actions, and not using the two types of weapons they give us (Ballistas and Mangonels). I have to say, these rules are bad. Really bad. There’s nothing really there. While you could use the rules from the original version (it’s on DriveThru RPG for $10), there’s too much of a difference between the two, as one is super simple and the other is overly complex, to really just switch it out. Once this section is down, there’s a bunch of ships, most of which were in the original boxed set, now just updated. Honestly, I really wish they had just updated to old ship sheets and had them in the box rather than the DM screen. The last part of this book is an updated version of the Rock of Bral, which is neat to have around, because they give you a map.

Book two is Boo’s Astral Menagerie, which re-introduces some classic monsters, like the Neogi and Kindori, as well as introduces some new ones like Space Clowns. The book has a good mix of the old classics and new creatures that reflect the setting. It’s nice to see this, and redeems some of the flaws we get in the first book. I do wish there was some more stuff in here, but what we got is fun and makes it clear what kind of game this can be. There’s some very horrible monsters born from Elder God nightmares, which means that you can very easily turn this into horror game. Or, what I’m probably going to do, is make it kind of Mythos Horror Comedy…

The third and final book is The Light of Xaryxis, a great epic adventure. Of all the books in the set, this the best one. It’s a true epic, with the life of a whole planet on the line, and the future of an empire on the line. I don’t want to give any details about the adventures, but I do want to say how much I appreciate the adventure taking into account that the players might fail to win a conflict and how to handle the adventure even after that. The adventure has a really good cast of fun and interesting characters, some of which are begging to be brought back if you continue your voyages in the Astral Sea. If you did pick up the boxed set, I strongly suggest giving the adventure a try. It’s a real “amazing voyage.”

There’s also a DM screen, which is neat but the encounter tables aren’t going to useful if you use it too much. It does have some pretty art on it.

In the end, this boxed set is a mixed bag. There’s so much here, but at the same time, there isn’t. Since I’m familiar with the original setting, I was filling in the gaps as I was reading, but you wouldn’t be able to do that if you hadn’t. And these gaps make no real sense. Why force your players into doing boarding actions when people might not want to be space pirates? The only mention of space pirates is the Githyanki, which tracks with the Astral setting, but we could have so much more. For some, the gaps will make this a product they won’t spend money on. For others, the chance to fix the problems with energize them. Personally, I’ve been wanting to play SpellJammer for 20 years, so I’m going to give it a chance. However, I’m also ready to do a lot of work to get a working system for space combat and the like.

In the end, if you are going to pick this up, go and get the PDFs of the original setting. You’re going to need them to fill any gaps in the system and the setting, as well as giving you a few more ships you can use. But that’s another $10 on top of $70 for the boxed set.

In the end, I have to say that this boxed set was a bitter disappointment for me, but it isn’t complete trash. But I can’t really recommend it to people as it is. Which sucks.

Let's Talk: About My Relationship With Dungeons and Dragons

So… It’s been a wild year for D&D, hasn’t it? I’m sure that if you’re reading this, you’ve heard about the Wizards of the Coast Open Game License stuff that’s gone down over the last week or so. It’s been wild to read. Honestly, I didn’t know that the OGL 1.0a was still being used for much beyond Pathfinder. However, I shouldn’t be surprised that it was used for the 5e stuff.

Anyway, let’s move on to the topic at hand, my relationship with D&D or really how long I’ve been playing it and not playing it and what I’m doing now. Let’s go.

I first started playing D&D in middle school with the one friend I really had back in 1996 or so. Back in these days, it was AD&D 2^nd edition. The old black books, if you’re familiar. I continued to play into high school and then beyond high school, still using AD&D. I had a DM who had developed at really in depth setting over the years he had been playing and had made home rules and such over the years. This isn’t exactly unheard of in the D&D community from the very start. Soon after the introduction of the original D&D game, it seems like people started changing the rules to make sense for what they wanted to. And they also began to develop their own settings, usually based on their own adventures and ideas. And there’s not much a company can do about this. They sell you rules and you can do whatever you want with them. I’m pretty sure that the video game modding community shares something in common with the mindset of those who created their own D&D settings. I’d like to point out that a guy named Ed Greenwood started making a setting that would later be known as Forgotten Realms, which was later acquired by TSR, the company that originally produced D&D.

It’s fair to say that playing that old edition of D&D captivated me and awaken my imagination, as well as the possibility of telling my own stories. However, AD&D 2^nd edition was not easy for me to understand the rules. My brain and math do not get along and THAC0 is the bane of my existence. There’s going to be two reactions to that acronym; either you’re going to have flashbacks or look at me with a dumb look on your face. If you didn’t have flashbacks, count your lucky stars. While I wasn’t great at understanding the rules, I did fully embrace playing pretend.

And then WotC bought TSR and we got D&D 3^rd edition. And it was good. It was a system I could really wrap my head around and gave me the tools to start running my own games. During this period, I was playing in two different games, one in AD&D rules and another in 3^rd edition. It was a good time for my gaming life. I also began to discover other games. Things like Cyberpunk 2020, Rifts, Deadlands, Vampire, Hunter, the Star Wars D6 edition, and GURPS, although I only really played GURPS here and there before 3^rd edition came out and maybe twice afterwards.

With the release of 3^rd edition, we got the original OGL, and it caused a revolution in the gaming industry. As you saw, I listed a bunch of different games, each with different systems. Aside from a few of them (looking at you, Palladium), the companies quickly picked up the OGL and used it to convert their settings and systems to the D20 system, as 3^rd edition became known. Soon after, or around the same time, smaller companies started to release books with unique and interesting content that could be included in your D&D games, or taking your D&D games into wildly different campaign settings. Not just the official ones that were being either slowly updated to the system, but ones that were totally original. There were books that gave you new gear, new monsters, new character classes, new foes, new rules, and the like. These would vary between smaller soft bound books that had a few dozen pages to hard bound books with several hundred pages.

There were also fans making RPGs of some of their favorite media into D20 system games, because the rules were easy and readily available. For me, it was a great time, as I could pull things from a bunch of different books to make my own settings and throw players for a loop.

This was also the era where I played the most D&D in my life. At one point, I was in two weekly games; one in AD&D 2^nd edition and another in 3^rd (later converted to 3.5) and I had a lot of fun. It was really the Good Old Days for my gaming life. I also tried to run some games here and there, but I did have a lot to learn.

Another thing that came from the D20 system was D20 Modern, which I’ve discussed elsewhere, but I always liked the idea of it more than actually playing it. It just never worked out, really. Which is a shame in my opinion.

Now, we need to move on to the end of this era for not only D&D but my time with it. You see, Wizards was acquired by Hasbro and when things like this happen, there’s always changes. Now, this is just my opinion, but I think that the corporate masters at Hasbro saw all the money D&D was giving away with the OGL and wanted to bring it back to their coffers. And thus D&D 4^th edition was born. And no one I played with at the time was really excited or wanted it. Sure, 3.5 had several problems, but we’d already invested a lot of money into the system, not to mention time and effort. A lot of people who played or ran the games had worked out what books to allow, what sort of worlds they wanted to be in, and had bought several Wizard’s products, as well as third party ones. And now we had to give it all up for a new edition? No thanks.

In hindsight, I find it interesting how we had done with this edition that our 2^nd edition AD&D DM had done when 3^rd had come out. As I mentioned, I was in those two games with two different editions. Well, there were two reasons why we stayed with the old system. The first was that we were in the middle of a major campaign that had been going on for years at that point, using a setting the DM had worked on for decades, with a ton of homebrewed rules, classes, and races. Converting that to 3^rd would take a lot of time. There was also the issue of the DM not really wanting to learn a new system, even if it was easier. People are creatures of habit and a fair amount of us hate change to varying degrees. We don’t want to update what we’re familiar with just because it’s popular. However, a fair amount of the group I was in were getting familiar with the newer edition and helped the old DM update his stuff. Shortly after 3.5 was dropped, that campaign switched over to 3.5.

 When it comes to 4^th edition, my friends went through the same thing. They had resisted playing 4^th for several years, having some major issues with the mechanics. But then someone bought the core books and then they wanted to try it and one thing led to another and they were soon playing 4^th regularly. Meanwhile, my life had changed and I no longer had time to play D&D or really hang out with them, so I never got into it. What little I did know about 4^th edition, I really didn’t like. I feel like as Wizards attempted to streamline and condense the rules, classes, abilities, and tried to incorporate the accessibility of things like how they were done in MMORPGs, they lost the uniqueness of the classes and the game itself. I’m no longer angry or bitter about what happened but I do just feel… Sad about the whole thing. D&D was an important part of my life and then it faded away.

However, out of that, I began to explore more and more different and unique games, as did some of my friends. While most of them continued to play D&D, we would try other things besides GURPS here and there. I was able to run some Deadlands, a very brief game of Hunter, I played BESM with some other friends, and played a variety of systems with super heroes. While I didn’t jump on the Pathfinder train like a lot of people did, I respect it. I’ve only briefly played it, many years after playing D&D, but I liked how familiar it felt without the baggage. It was a good time.

Before moving on to 5^th edition, by the time it had come out, I was done with D&D. I think I’ve commented a few times how much I dislike the fantasy genre these days. You have to remember that when I was playing in two different D&D games, this was also the same time that the LotR movies came out, which caused a massive explosion of fantasy books and other D&D settings. It was peak market saturation. Those same friends also played Diablo and World of Warcraft, while I didn’t. A lot of the books I read at the time were fantasy, but all of them. The genre was hard to avoid but it was also starting to become more bland and boring. I felt like there wasn’t really anything interesting going on with it for me. I did develop a few campaign settings in my spare time for D&D during this period, when I wasn’t playing or running anything, but they were all unique or tried to be in places that my group and I hadn’t really played in before. While we were on a sailing ship for part of a campaign, it was mostly to get us from point A to point B, without much of a chance to explore how that would go. So, one of my game ideas was for a fantasy version of Pirates of the Caribbean, but more about pirate nations and politics. Another one featured an Elven kingdom that had been slowly fallen from power, due to the expansion of humans and Dwarves, before being pushed to the brink of destruction by a long war against orc hordes. This kingdom, with a new, very evil prince that ascended to the throne, would lead his people into a fantasy version of Facism and a war of reclaiming his peoples’ land. Another idea I had was for a world with several racially divided kingdoms having just ended a massive war having to deal with a bright and strong orc mercenary returning to the scattered orc hordes and start making them into a proper kingdom from what he learned while fighting in the war. Think of something like an Oricsh Genghis Khan. And those were the kinds of ideas I had. Spinning ideas out of things I’d like to see, subverting the expectations of the players, as they wouldn’t expect most of this stuff.

 But now, let’s finally get around to 5^th edition D&D. I heard about it, saw it on the shelves, but pretty much ignored it until last year. I briefly played a game online with it before that but it just didn’t engage me. It wasn’t until SpellJammer was announced that I even really looked at it. In fact, I flat out told a friend of mine that I wouldn’t pick it up until SpellJammer was in my hands. While SpellJammer is disappointing (yes, there is a review I’ve been meaning to write for a while), I did buy the PHB. And I can understand why it became popular. It was easily accessible without being bland. From a purely mechanically view, it’s a solid game. But I still don’t like it or love it. At this point, I’ve bought the core books and the SpellJammer boxed set. Beyond that, I have a few other books I need/want to buy so I can include the stuff in my SpellJammer game, but that’s it. 4^th edition did a lot of damage to my favorite setting, Forgotten Realms, and the world I see in 5^th edition doesn’t make me happy. It feels far more generic and watered down to the complex and interesting world I once knew. And it pains me to look at it. Things that were great are either gone or less important. I know that a lot of people didn’t like FR because it felt “generic” in older editions, or that it was copying LotR, but I read a good number of books and I felt like the world of Toril was a living, breathing thing. Now, it feels no different than Greyhawk, which was the default setting for 3^rd and 3.5. These changes have kept me away from 5^th and make it that much harder to get into it. I will say that there are some wonderful things to see in the 5^th edition Monster Manual, and that the classes included in the PHB are nice, even the way they handle races and the variants of them are good. However, this isn’t my D&D. That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be yours and if you enjoy playing it, more power to you. I asked around my new friends that have played D&D in the past and a fair amount of them started with 2^nd edition AD&D but really got into it when 4^th edition came out. For them, that’s their D&D and they have embraced 5^th with open arms. And I have no problem with it. I can’t drag on them for enjoying something that isn’t something I like. You’ll always remember what got you into the hobby with rose tinted glasses, and there’s nothing wrong with that. And it’s really about what you enjoy.

 When I started working on this little (massive) essay, the D&D community was roiling with the leak of the OGL 1.1 and the obvious corporate greed on display there. By the time I’ve gotten around to finishing this, a lot of that has changed. Hasbro and Wizards has got through ignoring the problem, putting their foot in their mouths, and now, finally listening to what the community has to say. However, I think the damage is done. Wizards has lost a lot of money, but they’ve also lost the respect of the community. They’ve done a lot of make D&D more inclusive and less problematic, which I fully support. I know that they’re probably doing this to expand the market share of their products, but even being driven by greed, it’s good to see. D&D means different things to different people and that’s great. For me, D&D is something I can look at fondly, but it’s no longer a part of my life, nor is it something I want to engage with. I will be playing it, but I’m not looking to get back into it fully. That time has past.

If you’re on the fence about what to do now, as I feel that many people are now wondering if they can trust Wizards from this point forward (I don’t think you can but that’s my opinion), they’ve been hearing a lot about a bunch of different games and systems. I think a lot of people are having the exact same moment I did when 4^th edition was released. You can try to hold on to what you have and ignore D&D One, or you can look into those other systems and games. I think we’re going to see something wonderful happen in the gaming community, where those who have heard about things like GURPS, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, and everything else will now be giving them a try. I say, go for it. Losing D&D as my main game made me really embrace what I really wanted to play and I was able to push forward with that. I hope you can, too. And give those greedy jerks in Hasbro and Wizards corporate (the ones that said that D&D was “undermonitized”) the middle finger on the way out.

What you need is a game that you enjoy, which doesn’t have to be D&D. Good luck.

Blast From The Past: Weird War II (original d20)

Wait… You guys are Nazis!

There was an interesting period in gaming that I’ve mentioned a few times, after D&D 3^rd edition dropped and everyone got into the d20 system. One of those who did was Pinnacle, who made d20 books for their various Deadlands settings. However, one of the first non-Deadlands games they made was the Weird Wars setting(s), but instead of using their unique and interesting system, they selected the d20 system. I’m going to come back to this whole thing but I wanted to address it now, as the later incarnations (and expansions) were done in the Savage Worlds, and this isn’t that.

To kick things off, the game gives us a few new classes to replace the ones from the PHB, as magic isn’t very common in the modern world. While this is a bit of alternative history, it’s not that drastically different. Anyway, we get the Grunt class, which is really just the Fighter from D&D, and is designed for Enlisted and NCOs. There is an Officer class, but they don’t really have anything going for them besides Rank. They don’t even have Leadership or something. Then, we have the Medic/Nurse class, which can heal. That’s all. However, as this is a d20 game without a lot of healing magic, this class is important. The next military class is the Scout, which I’m sure you guessed is based on the Ranger but has some Rogue class features. Speaking of Rogues, the only non-military class is the Resistance Fighter (or, as we should call them, the Anti-Fascists), and is more in line with a traditional Rogue.

Now, the core book is called Blood On The Rhine and is focused exclusively on the European area of conflict, in the late war, around 1944-1945 or so. It has stats and information for the various weapons, tanks, and other equipment for the Allied and Axis powers. And I rather like this, as you could use this to include tanks and machineguns in a D&D game. I did that once, it was a good time.

 But, what about magic? Well, it is there but uses Runes instead of normal D&D type spell casting. In order to cast a spell, you have to use Runes that your character has learned and has carved themselves, and make a roll. Side note, the Runes are the Germanic Runes that you’ve probably seen a round. The reason why they’re Germanic is because you’re fighting Nazis. Not playing them, fighting them. Just to be clear. Rune Magic can only be used by OSI Adepts, which is a prestige class. What’s the OSI? Well, aside from the Venture Brothers (which is why I put the quote at the top), they’re the magical super secret group in the US/UK that works with (or is part of the) OSS, which was a real thing. The Office of Strategic Services was a Commando thing, doing super secret things during the war and was eventually rolled into the CIA after the end of the war. The history and missions of the group are really very interesting and I suggest reading up on them if you’re interested. Anyway, the OSI in this setting is the Office of Supernatural Investigations and is run by US General George Marshall, who is a real guy. The OSI recruits members of the military who have run across the supernatural and various Nazi occult experiments. They also try to find Chaplins, who are the other magic users in the setting, the ones who call down the Divine whoop ass for the Lord. If you’ve played Deadlands, you’re already seeing parallels between the settings and mechanics and it doesn’t surprise me much.

As the Pinnacle boys like their horror, and mythology, there’s some other goodies in the core book. Yes, there’s Nazi Wehrwolves, and they are scary. But there’s also Fext, which are effectively invulnerable, and the classic Nazi zombie. There’s also kinda-sorta Nazi Orcs and some other things but not a whole lot. While there’s not a lot of monsters included in the core book, there’s enough to add some flavor to the game and get you started.

 So, with all that out of the way, let’s talk about what this game does. It’s walking a line between historical war action and dark horror. You play a bunch of regular Joes, trying to survive the war, and will end up facing horrors beyond your darkest fears. If you’re lucky, you’ll get some magical back-up as time goes on, but maybe not. You might not get someone who can cast spells but you could get a haunted tank (yeah, there’s rules for that). When this game came out, there were only a few supernatural horror movies set in the WW2. There’s a few more now, which vary in quality, but this genre is kind of dead now. That means that finding inspiration to draw from might not be easy. Of course, you can just watch Band Of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan and just add in some horror elements.

Before I go further, there’s a few things I need to talk about. First off all, the Holocaust happened and it was tragic and we should make sure that it does not happen. The industrial scale of murder of people is one of the worst things we’ve ever seen on the planet. And the Nazis are bad guys and shouldn’t be viewed as heroes or something to aspire to in any way, shape, or form. Killing Nazis is an American tradition. Not joining them. So, there’s going to be a delicate balance you’ll want to do if you run this game, making sure that you’re respectful to the millions of people who were murdered and making sure that the Nazis are bad guys. One of the reasons why I want to run or play this game is because I want to kill Nazis in a safe and healthy way.

 Ahem. Anyway. I mentioned that there’s some expansions and I’m going to take a minute to discuss two of them. The first one is Hell In the Hedgerows, which is a campaign you can run, and even includes pre-made characters. Set in the direct aftermath of D-Day in France, the characters will start in a small French village but will quickly be set against a supernatural threat that feeds on blood. After that, there’s a fight over a Golem. No, not the ones from D&D but the ones from Jewish tradition. So, that’s fun. I’ll keep mum on the last two adventures but it does build to some great scares and heights. I wanted to talk about this one, as if you are interested in picking up the game, this is something you’ll want. Or maybe you can steal the ideas for a game of your own.

The second source book I want to talk about is Dead From Above, which adds in rules for airplanes and air combat. And it can give you haunted aircraft. I mention this one as some people might like the idea of dropping bombs or having a crashed air crew having to escape from enemy lines. It also gets referenced in the other books from time to time.

What at are the other books? There’s a campaign books for North Africa and the Mediterranean, the Russian front and rules for making Russian soldiers, and about the war in the Pacific against the Japanese. The last book is a collection of monsters and spooks you can unleash upon a group. Since there’s a lot of stuff in each one of these, I’ll probably tackle them one at a time in Sources Say.

 I really liked the idea of this game but I feel like the system was a poor choice. The d20 system isn’t conductive to a feeling of suspense or horror in the mechanics. The other thing is that when you make major changes to the system that doesn’t include AC and healing, the game gets much more deadly. Now, I think it’s been updated to the Savage Worlds system but I also feel like that isn’t quite the right fit, either. That’s due to the simplistic elements in that system when it comes to wounds and the like.

I would love to take the time to break the system apart and rebuilt it, as the game is very much what I like to call Blue Collar Horror. Much like Hunter, the focus is on regular people in extraordinary circumstances, and it isn’t the world your trying to save, but yourself and your friends. And that’s where this game can be very, very good. Sure, you want to beat the Nazis but you also want to make sure that your buddies make it home. And that can lead to some really good gaming experiences.

Deadlands: The Ferner Five: The Fortress O' Fear

Dare you enter the Fortress O' Fear? Well, the Ferner Five sure dared!

Welcome back to the (mis)adventures and (mis)deeds of the Ferner Five, the best posse to travel the trails of the Weird West! Alright, they might not be that good, but they sure did have a hell of a good time.

Before we go any further, I have to give you another huge spoiler warning. Not only are we going to talk about the adventure itself, but also some big things that are going on in the Deadlands setting. If you're familiar with the settings (note the plural there), this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to you. The rest of you enter at your own risk, you were warned...

Also, this is going to be one of the longest stories I've ever posted, so I apologize in advance for making this one entry. If you need to, wait until you've got the time to really sit down and read it, I promise it'll be worth it. And, yes, a lot of this is already covered in The Tale of Phil Calhoon. So sue me.

Chapter One: The Plot Thickens

Once again, we're going to start with a bit of a recap but, there's going to be some new stuff at the end of this section, so don't skip it! I know it's a long one but it's worth it.

Our story began on a train from Denver to the City O' Gloom, better known as Salt Lake City. Our posse didn't know each other but had all received a letter to come to SLC. On the way, some robbers blew up the bridge and the posse had to fight them off. Then the real trouble started. They got shanghaied into helping a member of the Pinkertons into tracking down a creature known as the Husker. It got away, making her less than pleased.

Next, the posse had a little adventure involving a small town, a celebration and feats of skill, and a lot of booze. And whores. Enough said on that one I think.

When they finally arrived, they got offered a job with Dr. Hellstrom to track down a huge black diamond called the Heart O' Darkness. After some investigation, and some fighting and shooting, they tracked down the thieves, the Marshal Rex Gang, and managed to capture them. Of course, they were too late and they got an offer to continue tracking down the Heart to Lost Angels.

When they gone to LA, they found that their lead, a man named Stone, had been captured by Reverend Grimme (the man who runs the town in all but name) and sent to Rock Island Prison. A man named Old Pete offered to help get them to the island After some sneaking and some bashing of heads, they freed Stone, and then fought some demons in the Church of Lost Angels. Once that was done, they discovered that Stone and Old Pete were one and the same! And they got away with the Heart O' Darkness.

Whew. That was some ride, wasn't it? Well, you best hold on to your hats because we're about to start dealing with time travel, who the Reckoners are, and the fate of all humankind. Why did it have to be up to these men of questionable morals...?

Okay, it wasn't just these men. First off, one of our “guest stars,” Josephine turned up for most of this adventure. So, if you've forgotten who she is, wander on back to the cast of characters part of this series. I'll wait.

I've also been forgetting about Dieter's damn hellbeast. By that, I mean the meanest dog you will ever have the misfortune to meet. It's large, it's intimidating, and it just doesn't like people. Except Dieter. At one point, I mentioned that the that the dog had wandered away and when it came back, Dieter's player said it had a severed hand in its mouth. We didn't ask where it came from and that dog enjoyed the new chew toy. When Penwood tried to get a closer look at the hand, he almost lost his.

Now, there's also a very important woman you're all about to meet. Say hello to Jackie Wells. A woman from 2094 that's come back in time to save the world. Yes, you read those numbers right. Jackie's from the Wasted West (which I wrote a review about, if you're interested). What's she doing here? Well, let's get started.

Jackie tracked down the posse the morning after their “heroic deeds” on what's now known as Bloody Sunday. She explains who she is, where she's from, and that she's after the Heart, too.

You see, what Stone is going to do is take the Heart to the Devil's Tower in Dakota Territory and create a Deadland. A chunk of the Hunting Grounds where Manitous (read: demons) hold sway but, here, on earth. It won't be completely in the Hunting Grounds, but it will mess things up for miles and miles. And that'll cause the Sioux a whole bunch of trouble. Bad for them, but good for the Reckoners. While I was having this conversation with the players, I handed them Jackie's journal to look at. It's written from her perspective and explains the basics of the Deadlands: Hell On Earth setting. The basics are that in the late 2080s, war breaks out between the USA and CSA, as well as all over the world. In addition to regular nukes, they throw around irradiated Ghost Rock bombs. These not only create your normal issues with radiation but they also create Deadlands where they land. This is the apocalypse. It's the end times. And the Reckoners appear on earth. Their names? War, Death, Famine, and Plague. That's right, the Reckoners are the Four Horsemen. How's that for a bad trip?

But, it gets worse. How can it get worse? Jackie fills them in that in the original timeline (gotta love time travel), the Reckoners lost. The war never happened. Fear, the thing that the Reckoners feed on, dropped and people lived happily ever after. Except for one man. Former man, I guess. Stone. One of the first Harrowed and willing servant of the Reckoners. Using the last of their mojo, they sent him back in time. Not only to steal the Heart and mess up the Sioux but, to be their enforcer. Imagine, one of the meanest, toughest, and most powerful servants of evil in the known world, but now there's two of him. One with the knowledge of possible future events. And heroes. So, that's how they won. They plugged everyone who would be a threat to them and made sure mankind invented those Ghost Rock bombs. And the posse just helped them do it.

To kick them while they were down, I mentioned if they remembered the letters they received all those weeks ago. I asked them who they thought sent them? That's right, Old Pete. Or Old Stone, as “Peter” also means “Rock.” He remembered that they had freed him the first time around and got them together to help him. Yeah, I'm a big son of a bitch. But, it worked. It got them riled up, so they were ready to take down Stone and save the world. All over again...

Chapter Two: On The Road Again

We return to our story already in progress. Jackie points out that Stone, which one doesn’t really matter, is going to take the Heart to the Devil’s Tower and preform the ritual to make it the center of a Deadland. With this knowledge, they get the Murder Bus (the laser armed steam wagon) up and running and start chasing down Stone. Oh, and Phil and Dieter were riding Velocipedes, too.

With the murder wagon and other rides, the posse was able to catch up the train that Stone had left town on. Yeah, if you’re familiar with the setting, you might see the hand waving going on, as there’s no rail lines to LA (yet) but they were itching to get started, so we just went with it. And before you ask “Which Stone?” it’s the one with the Heart. The other one doesn’t really matter in this adventure, so when I refer to Stone, it’s the one that left LA with the Heart. Got it? Good.

When the posse rolls up on the train, which is barreling down the tracks, Stone knows that they’re after him, so he tells some of the other folks on the train that the Posse is a bunch of bandits, and everyone starts putting lead in their direction. Penwood and Heinrich starting shooting back, those mad doctors, while Dieter and Phil got as close as they could. Using an ax, Phil was able to make a foothold, so he could climb off his Velocipede and get on board the train, with Dieter not far behind. Using some rope and dumb luck, the rest of the Posse was able to hook onto the train (I honestly don’t remember how we did this) and also got on board. There was tense moment when Stone grabbed a woman and put a gun to her head. Somebody hit him and he let her go but then goes all ghosty on them but Jackie is ready for this. She puts a round through his shoulder and he falls through the train car floor! With Stone now miles behind them, it isn’t hard to find the Heart in his saddle bags and throw some money at people to be able to stay on the train. How’s that for some action.

The Posse stays on the train, and well ahead of Stone, all the way to the City O’ Gloom. Now, they have a bit of a choice: They can turn the Heart in for the reward from Hellstromme or they can help Jackie get the Heart to the Devil’s Tower, through the portal into the Hunting Grounds, and back to the future, where it might do some good. The Posse, bless them, didn’t even blink an eye and said they’d help Jackie get the Heart to the Devil’s Tower, without even asking for bit of money. I have to say, I was proud of them, looking to actually do some good. While the Posse had a certain amount of “moral flexibility” they did the right thing here without even thinking about it. And this was also where I introduced Nona “Cookie” Calhoon, Phil’s “big” sister. I had her walk up behind him and put her LeMat in his back. They’re a weird family. Now, I had a few reasons for this: First, I wanted to expand a bit on Phil, as they had started to like him. Second, I had come up with the idea for Cookie and she was going to fill the gaps the Posse actually had, a lack of investigation and magical whammy, so I thought it might be good to have her in my “back pocket” so to speak. Third, I had spoken with one of the other players and we had agreed that he was going to take over the game when this adventure finished and, as much I liked being Phil, I was kind of bored with him, as well as having the Posse relying on him a bit too much. I did talk some more about this in his Tale, you really should read it when you’re done with this one.

Now, there’s one matter of importance that faced the Posse, how the hell were they going to get to the Devil’s Tower? There was talk of trying to drive the Murder Bus through the Sioux Nations but that was rejected after the cost was figured out. Too rich even for these rich bastards. There was also some talk about doing to Deadwood and going from there but that also didn’t look like a good option. Thankfully, the folks over at Pinnacle included a nice option: A massive Autogyro. Now, they complained about the cost of this (seriously guys?) the adventure got underway. They had to pay extra to make it to make it all the way to the Tower, as the owner didn’t want to cause a problem with the Sioux as he wants to open a line to Deadwood. The pilot, the daredevil he is, is willing to take them all the way. This was the only the beginning of their troubles. Little did they know what would be waiting for them when they got there…

You see, there were a few things they could have run across, but since they came by air, there was only one: Devil Bats. In the book, they say there’s four of them up there but I only unleashed two. And they almost got Ming. The dice were not on the side of the Posse that session, which was rare. Plus, all the modifiers for shooting in what amounts to a helicopter made out of balsa wood and bailing wire. Thankfully, Carter McCormick (the pilot) was as good as he charged and was able to keep them in the air. However, if it wasn’t for Phil’s foresight (and one last lucky roll), Ming was caught before he could become a pancake on the ground below.

After a successful, and mercifully peaceful, landing, the Posse spread out, trying to find a way in. After some searching, they found what is, in simple terms, a flashlight. It’s a rubberized half globe that makes light when you squeeze it. And fucking Penwood and Heinrich were OBSESSED with this damn thing. I think they spent almost half an hour, real time, letting the characters fiddle with it. I had to just say “It’s a fucking flashlight, move on!” It was really slowing us down. Finally, they found a tunnel into the tower. Of course, there were some little beasties in there and they had to fight them as they climbed down the ropes to enter the tower proper...

Chapter Three: A History Forgotten

In the original adventure, this chapter fills in the Marshal on the history of the inhabitants of the Tower, called Crossbreeds. However, since the whole history of them is complicated and our “heroes” didn’t really get into it. Plus, it’s actually a really cool history and I would encourage you to read it for yourself, if you’re a Marshal. Instead, I’ll give you what you need to know so you can understand just how stupid the Posse was…

So, the first thing we need to discuss is who the Crossbreeds are. They’re human/alien crossbreeds that had super advanced technology but have been trapped in the Tower for a very, very long time. They’re also a dying race. And they’ve lost a lot of technology but have enough around to be extremely dangerous. As such, this isn’t an easy adventure as it’s pretty much a dungeon crawl, using a system that doesn’t give you a lot of healing and, because of the location, you can’t really easily introduce new characters. I warned the Posse about that before we started the next part of the adventure, and given how well they’d done in The Rock, I thought they’d be able to handle it. Boy, was I wrong.

Chapter Four: The Fortress

We resumed our tale already in progress. The Posse entered a massive garden, full of plants. Of course, they had announced their arrival by dropping a massive metal grate on the stone ground. This tipped off the Crossbreeds that someone was there and I gave the Posse some time to explore and think things through. It didn’t help. As they explored, they ran across a Crossbreed child, and started calling the Crossbreeds “Goblins,” so I’ll be calling them that from this point on. Josephine, the character who was just tossed into the group at this point, cast a Hex to detect magical energy and found a HUGE source of it below them. Now, they should have known that this was the portal to the Hunting Grounds that Jackie had told them about but I guess they weren’t paying attention to it and it seemed to distract the Posse. And then they made the worst possible choice…

So, they had this Goblin child and they heard the sounds of boots coming up the stairs from below. In their infinite wisdom, the Posse decided to go into the one room, a storage room, and pretend like it was the Alamo. This hurt me. I was trying to give them enough time to figure out a way to hold off the Goblins or maybe ambush them as they arrived but, nope, they were committed to hiding. I just couldn’t believe this. I mean, yeah, I kind of get where they’re coming from, hiding might work but I had tried to explain that they would have to be smarter than the average bears. And hiding was, in my opinion, about the worst thing they could have done. The only good thing was that they didn’t hurt the Goblin child. That did help them in the next part.

Having been caught, Penwood tried to negotiate their way out. Which, given how they were invading this place, was another terrible idea. I just couldn’t deal with it. I wanted to scream at the whole group for trying this course of action. They were outnumbered about 10 to 1 and thought that they could bluff their way out. I had to just break character and flat out tell them that if they continued down the route they were on, they were going to all be killed. I could have easily done it, with the resources at my disposal, but I didn’t want to. I know that some of you might be saying things like “well, it’s their fault” or something along those lines but I would like point out that, until this point, they had be competent and played their characters really well. I didn’t want to do a Total Posse Kill just because of one series of bad choices. So, I had to break it down for them. If they surrendered, I would get them out of the situation, but if they wanted to fight, they had almost no chance to survive. Thankfully, they came to their senses and lay down their weapons.

After they surrendered, they were taken to some cells and were set up to be more experiments. If we had had more time, I would have done a lot of things with them. Maybe I would have had Ming and Dieter be sent down to the train area, to be hunted by the warriors of the Goblins, while Heinrich and Penwood tried to figure out a way to escape or negotiate. But, we didn’t have time. And I was a little thrown off by what had happened. Instead, after a few hours, they were approached by one of the Goblins, who had an offer for them. If they would wreck one of the labs, which happened to be where all of their stuff was, he would free them. They agreed. After a few more hours, the door was unlocked and the guards were gone. They lived up to their end of the bargain, trashing the lab after getting their stuff. Heinrich did some poking around and found a Raygun that was in pieces. I did this for a few reason, those being his high roll and the fact that he was working on lasers. Plus, think of it as blessing from the Reckoners. Or should it be a curse? Oh, and did I mention that Phil rigged the place to blow? Because he totally did.

The Posse then began making their way to the Portal. They did okay with the stealth part, I think they actually learned their lesson from earlier. And I might have suggested that the gloves were off from this point on. They’d used up their one and only Get Out Of Jail Free card (literally) and there would be no more. Carefully, they made their way to the Portal, and saw the guards in place near it. They discussed what to do and came up with an idea of a plan. Phil tossed out one of his “party favors” I mean bundles of dynamite into the center of the room and made things blow up really good. This didn’t kill the guards but it made for a lot of chaos. Dieter and Heinrich were doing a good job of killing, while Penwood and Ming held off the guards that were starting to show up. Just as Jackie was charging up to the Portal, that was when I let the other shoe drop. Or should I say Stone? That’s right, that ornery bastard was back and he had a whole skeleton to pick with the Posse. Things weren’t looking good but everyone was doing their best. And that’s when the miracle happened. Phil Ex Machina.

I’ve already told this story once, so I won’t get into the details, but Phil could have, SHOULD have, killed one of the Big Bads of the setting, a direct servant of the Reckoners. With a lucky roll for Phil, and a very poor one for Stone, he managed to land a stick of dynamite right in the bastard’s mouth! Now, because I had plans for Stone, I let him survive. How? Well, there’s a Harrowed power called Ghost, which Stone can pretty much use for as long as he likes. So, what happened was that when Stone knew he wasn’t going to survive the explosion, he went all Ghost as the blastwave hit him. The force of it carried him through the rock of the Tower and he ended up landing somewhere outside. They would get him out of the fight but still leave him around for some shenanigans later on.

With the way to the Portal now clear, I took a moment to ask the Posse if they wanted to join Jackie in the future. Everyone said no, they were enjoying the game as it was. I have to admit, I was kind of disappointed, because I liked the idea of Penwood and Heinrich learning to handle how much they wouldn’t know about stuff in the future. Plus, there’s another adventure that connects the Wasted West to the Way Out West and I would have loved to have these jerks go from the Weird, to the Wasted, and then all the way out to the Way Out West. Perhaps another Posse will do it…

Anyway. I had something else to do. As you might have noticed, the Posse was getting to count of Phil too much. I knew it was time for him to go. So, with a final salute to his friends, Phil jumped into the Portal right behind Jackie, leaving the Posse to their own devices.

Ming’s player was devastated. Phil had just saved his character’s life and he just… Was stunned. I honestly think that he was mad at me. But, I also wanted to play Cookie, so I thought it best to get rid of Phil. At least for a while. The rest of the Posse was also a bit sad. Phil had a good run. But, his story isn’t over quite yet…

And that was where things ended. It was getting late and it was time to wrap things up. Honestly, I didn’t want to deal with the escape part of the adventure, so we just skipped it. Hand waving for the sake of saving time is how we roll in these parts.

That said, there’s one more adventure with these jerks. Stick around to read it. Oh, and it’s when I got to play the game as Cookie.

Oh, and Happy Halloween!