Last month (March) was the second anniversary of my game group, formerly known as the Old School Pastafari. We play on Tuesday nights and three of the original six members still gather with three new companions to roll funny dice or gather around a board game. We have played a number of different rpgs, most of them either old school or retro-clones; 1st Ed. AD&D, Labyrinth Lord, Encounter Critical, Mutant Future and we played d20 Spycraft for about a month.
With the ushering in and out of different players in the group we have developed a generation gap. It is funny how the younger players are the same age as my step-sons but I don't sense a generation gap around the game table. Well, on a personal note, I don't feel a generation gap with my step-sons either because they have been adults as long as I have known them. We now refer to our Tuesday night group, more or less officially, as the Adventure Capitalist.
This past fall I discovered that there was another rpg blogger in my own backyard of Knox County, Tn. I expediently attempted to contact this blogger when, through his blog, he expressed a desire for a group to run through his frpg setting. Around Halloween, he and his wife and another member of the OSP/A.C. and I met at a local game shop for a social ice breaker. This meeting lead to his becoming our DM, I believe, in November of last year and said DM/blogger is still lording over the territory of our game table.
His blog is still going strong too, much stronger than the ol' Polyester Dicebag. The blog is In Places Deep and I am the player of the recently deceased party magic-user Thign (we hardly knew ye.) My new M.U. will be known as Pilsen and will be my fourth character, all magic-users, in the Nightwick Abbey campaign. How's that for old school for ya, four characters in as many months into the game and I still haven't reached second level.
I'm enjoying playing in the Nightwick Abbey setting and maybe, if I intend to reach second level, I need to send my character running at the first sight of danger. That's most the news from the ol' Dicebag for today. I've been working on another adventure for Encounter Critical and intend to use the Adventure Capitalist as guinea pigs once it sufficiently reaches the play test stage. I'll probably be throwing some Swords & Sorcery bookish nonsense at you all next.
As we say in East Tennessee, "Have a good un."
--I see that Blogger indicates I posted this blog around 3:40 am. It's actually 7:40 am here in E.S.T.--
"Go back down, shioggua! Go back down. I am a warlock of the Secret Flame. My circle is the Ninth; my sphere the Shpere of Darkness; my god is Azzamungandyr the Lord of the Mysteries, You may not take the girl!" Lin Carter: Vault of Silence
Showing posts with label OSP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OSP. Show all posts
Friday, April 1, 2011
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
OSP play Encounter Critical
My game group, the Old School Pastafari, played Encounter Critical this past Tuesday. We played the adventure which I wrote for our local convention, Three Rivers Con. As has been mentioned in the Encounter Critical corners of the entrée-net, the adventure is titled The 36 Chambers of Darth Viraxis. Darth Viraxis is the token evil overlord of the EC setting, the world of Vanth. I intend to keep this adventure on ice as a backup plan for future gaming conventions. I imagine myself traveling the South East U.S. and running E.C. in various ‘burbs; Chattanooga and Birmingham are definite possibilities for this plan. I can, for the blog, reveal a few details of the adventure without revealing any of the main plot points.
The guys choose a variety of characters from my pregens and surprised me by staying in character more than usual. The characters where a dwarf warrior wearing a ten gallon hat and long red mustache and armed with twin Colt revolvers named O’ Cinnamonie Sham, an ammunition expert with superior driving skills and a nifty van named Mr. S.U.V. and a high school kid acting as a wizard named Napoleon Dynamite. Napoleon managed to make friends with the Tyrannosaurus Rex at the beginning of the adventure and the killer robot at the end using his Ensorcel and Monster/Machine Friend skills. I, acting as the J.M. (Journey Master,) forgot to attempt saving throws against these magical acts but the successful magic didn’t break the game. In fact, these two successful uses of magic by the pc kept the plot moving smoothly.
A majority of the plot of The 36 Chambers of D.V. involves problem solving and I occasionally had to prompt the players for solutions. As if often the norm in rpgs, the guys wanted to solve all of the problems or puzzles through violence. The solution to the puzzles was, at least one, simply solved by my reading the “flavor text” a second time. (No taunting occurred during the playing of this rpg adventure.) The players managed to escape the legendary chambers of Darth Viraxis in two hours.
My next rpg design projects will be:
1. The Epilogue for Raiders of the Mercenary Coast. I've already started typing this and it's very short. I will probably be two pages with one page dedicated for a list of the NPCs involved.
2. On simmer on burner number two we have another free adventure. I’ll be converting one of my few remaining old adventure designs for use with Labyrinth Lord.
3. Burner number three: Infinity and Beyond!
The guys choose a variety of characters from my pregens and surprised me by staying in character more than usual. The characters where a dwarf warrior wearing a ten gallon hat and long red mustache and armed with twin Colt revolvers named O’ Cinnamonie Sham, an ammunition expert with superior driving skills and a nifty van named Mr. S.U.V. and a high school kid acting as a wizard named Napoleon Dynamite. Napoleon managed to make friends with the Tyrannosaurus Rex at the beginning of the adventure and the killer robot at the end using his Ensorcel and Monster/Machine Friend skills. I, acting as the J.M. (Journey Master,) forgot to attempt saving throws against these magical acts but the successful magic didn’t break the game. In fact, these two successful uses of magic by the pc kept the plot moving smoothly.
A majority of the plot of The 36 Chambers of D.V. involves problem solving and I occasionally had to prompt the players for solutions. As if often the norm in rpgs, the guys wanted to solve all of the problems or puzzles through violence. The solution to the puzzles was, at least one, simply solved by my reading the “flavor text” a second time. (No taunting occurred during the playing of this rpg adventure.) The players managed to escape the legendary chambers of Darth Viraxis in two hours.
My next rpg design projects will be:
1. The Epilogue for Raiders of the Mercenary Coast. I've already started typing this and it's very short. I will probably be two pages with one page dedicated for a list of the NPCs involved.
2. On simmer on burner number two we have another free adventure. I’ll be converting one of my few remaining old adventure designs for use with Labyrinth Lord.
3. Burner number three: Infinity and Beyond!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
RPG Brain Storm Questionnaire
Last week I got an idea to give my game group some random questions to use in generating plots for rpgs. I’m not out or plot ideas but I thought the questionnaire would be fun and, perhaps, inject a bit of creative thinking into our group. This is certainly no insult to my group, they are all great fun and I’m often guilty of running out of creative ideas while we’re sitting at the gaming table. Here are the questions which I presented along with their responses and my comments about the responses.
1. What type of character have you always wanted to play but have never gotten the opportunity? (Any genre or setting is acceptable.)
Reverse Dungeon, a mob boss, a young Jedi or a paladin. A hybrid character of Conan, Han Solo, Boba Fett, Dracula and Elvis.
Comments: Yeah, my guys are a bunch of jokesters but these are some creative ideas.
2. What book and, or movie contains elements which you would like to use in an rpg?
Dune, the Mad Max series, Hellraiser, King Kong, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Robin Hood, Reservoir Dogs, Land of the Lost and Raiders of the Lost Ark
Comments: I haven’t seen three of these films but they all sound like good ideas.
3. What rock band and, or song would you like to see used within an rpg plot?
Michael Bolton; the whole collection (a joke)
Rush (Another joke, I think based on the recent film Fanboys.)
The Ramones (This is an idea I could work with.)
4. What historical event or period would you enjoy in an rpg?
Victorian, 1930s, Prohibition, South Central L. A. circa 1990, The future as envisioned by the past.
Comments: I like the 1990’s L.A. idea and “the future as envisioned by the past,” brings to mind the novels of A.E. Van Vogt, Doc Smith and Poul Anderson.
5. Insert any additional comments here:
I want to level like a Mofo and; Brought to you by Carl’s Jr.
Thanks to by pals in the OSP for answering my random nonsense with their own brand of nonsense. It’s entirely likely that this first questionnaire will lead to a second set of questions and I may get around to developing some of these ideas and suggestions in 2011.
1. What type of character have you always wanted to play but have never gotten the opportunity? (Any genre or setting is acceptable.)
Reverse Dungeon, a mob boss, a young Jedi or a paladin. A hybrid character of Conan, Han Solo, Boba Fett, Dracula and Elvis.
Comments: Yeah, my guys are a bunch of jokesters but these are some creative ideas.
2. What book and, or movie contains elements which you would like to use in an rpg?
Dune, the Mad Max series, Hellraiser, King Kong, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Robin Hood, Reservoir Dogs, Land of the Lost and Raiders of the Lost Ark
Comments: I haven’t seen three of these films but they all sound like good ideas.
3. What rock band and, or song would you like to see used within an rpg plot?
Michael Bolton; the whole collection (a joke)
Rush (Another joke, I think based on the recent film Fanboys.)
The Ramones (This is an idea I could work with.)
4. What historical event or period would you enjoy in an rpg?
Victorian, 1930s, Prohibition, South Central L. A. circa 1990, The future as envisioned by the past.
Comments: I like the 1990’s L.A. idea and “the future as envisioned by the past,” brings to mind the novels of A.E. Van Vogt, Doc Smith and Poul Anderson.
5. Insert any additional comments here:
I want to level like a Mofo and; Brought to you by Carl’s Jr.
Thanks to by pals in the OSP for answering my random nonsense with their own brand of nonsense. It’s entirely likely that this first questionnaire will lead to a second set of questions and I may get around to developing some of these ideas and suggestions in 2011.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The OSP still play AD&D and blog name change.
First, since I have a second blog now for social commentary, Fanatical Recycling Inc, (link to the right) I thought a more rpg related title was in order for this corner of the blog-o-sphere. No matter what we play, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, old school or new, we can all relate to the polyhedral dicebag.
My current game group, the Old School Pastafari, formed in March of 2009 and we still have a core of three of the original group members and we’re still playing AD&D 1st edition. Recently our party of six player characters hired twenty-two men at arms to invade a bandit camp. The bandits had attempted to rob the player characters in an earlier adventure and the party hoped to turn the tables on the bandits a second time. The party thief, Nigel, scouted the hills where the camp was located. He found a well kept farm and farm house at the foot of the hills. The farm appeared to be an odd form of watch tower guarding the bandit camp. That night Nigel counted twenty-five to thirty camp fires within the camp.
The party attempted to find employment guarding the merchant caravans on the route which the bandits were harassing but were informed that their group was too small, inexperienced and ill prepared. Plan B was instigated; follow the merchants and enter the woods along the trade route before the bandit ambush. This plan worked well and all twenty-eight members of the adventure party entered the woods and blended into the landscape before approaching close to the bandit camp.
With the body of the brigade concealed in the forest, Nigel drank a potion of invisibility and snuck into the camp to snoop around. He noted that there were simple timber fortifications used to guard the camp. He slipped past the fortifications and under the floorboards of the one cabin in the camp. All the bandits appeared to be in the camp, it must have been their day off from ambushing merchant caravans. Nigel didn’t hear any conversations containing information that would be useful to the party. He started a fire under the floorboards of the cabin and hid among the tents to watch the bucket brigade. The bandits quickly rescued some valuables from the cabin and began burying them. Nigel returned to the party with the knowledge of the location of the bandits’ treasure.
Nigel, still invisible, set fire to the barn on the farm to create a distraction. The bandits promptly streamed out of the camp to distinguish this fire and then began a search for the pesky arson. The player characters set their hirelings into an attack formation and charged the bandit camp. The hirelings formed three ranks, a first row of seven pike men, a second row of six crossbow men and six long bow archers as the rear guard.
This brigade approached a timber fortification and attacked from the range of the bowmen. The fortification was protected by five or six men which were quickly defeated. The brigade remained in formation and marched into the bandit camp and soon discovered a group of bandits gathered around the freshly buried treasure. The brigade again attacked this group from crossbow range. As this battle proceeded a second group of bandits joined the fight, thus attacking our heroes from two directions. The pickmen were instructed to turn at a right angle to protect the bowmen from this second attack. The bowmen finished off the treasure guards and all hands began to dig for treasure with and stick, spear or make-shift shovel available. (The plan at this point was; “Grab it and go.”)
The events of the evening concluded with the party/brigade safely escaping the bandits and finding they had enough loot to progress to the next experience level.
Next up for the blog, I share my Encounter Critical adventure design with the world.
My current game group, the Old School Pastafari, formed in March of 2009 and we still have a core of three of the original group members and we’re still playing AD&D 1st edition. Recently our party of six player characters hired twenty-two men at arms to invade a bandit camp. The bandits had attempted to rob the player characters in an earlier adventure and the party hoped to turn the tables on the bandits a second time. The party thief, Nigel, scouted the hills where the camp was located. He found a well kept farm and farm house at the foot of the hills. The farm appeared to be an odd form of watch tower guarding the bandit camp. That night Nigel counted twenty-five to thirty camp fires within the camp.
The party attempted to find employment guarding the merchant caravans on the route which the bandits were harassing but were informed that their group was too small, inexperienced and ill prepared. Plan B was instigated; follow the merchants and enter the woods along the trade route before the bandit ambush. This plan worked well and all twenty-eight members of the adventure party entered the woods and blended into the landscape before approaching close to the bandit camp.
With the body of the brigade concealed in the forest, Nigel drank a potion of invisibility and snuck into the camp to snoop around. He noted that there were simple timber fortifications used to guard the camp. He slipped past the fortifications and under the floorboards of the one cabin in the camp. All the bandits appeared to be in the camp, it must have been their day off from ambushing merchant caravans. Nigel didn’t hear any conversations containing information that would be useful to the party. He started a fire under the floorboards of the cabin and hid among the tents to watch the bucket brigade. The bandits quickly rescued some valuables from the cabin and began burying them. Nigel returned to the party with the knowledge of the location of the bandits’ treasure.
Nigel, still invisible, set fire to the barn on the farm to create a distraction. The bandits promptly streamed out of the camp to distinguish this fire and then began a search for the pesky arson. The player characters set their hirelings into an attack formation and charged the bandit camp. The hirelings formed three ranks, a first row of seven pike men, a second row of six crossbow men and six long bow archers as the rear guard.
This brigade approached a timber fortification and attacked from the range of the bowmen. The fortification was protected by five or six men which were quickly defeated. The brigade remained in formation and marched into the bandit camp and soon discovered a group of bandits gathered around the freshly buried treasure. The brigade again attacked this group from crossbow range. As this battle proceeded a second group of bandits joined the fight, thus attacking our heroes from two directions. The pickmen were instructed to turn at a right angle to protect the bowmen from this second attack. The bowmen finished off the treasure guards and all hands began to dig for treasure with and stick, spear or make-shift shovel available. (The plan at this point was; “Grab it and go.”)
The events of the evening concluded with the party/brigade safely escaping the bandits and finding they had enough loot to progress to the next experience level.
Next up for the blog, I share my Encounter Critical adventure design with the world.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Mutant Future session 3, part 2; 2009, 12.15.09
The adventurers relaxed and collected their thoughts after their defeat of the one-eyed giant with four arms. Bucky yelled down to the others, “Should I try to bring the raiser back up?” Everyone agreed that they should explore the pit since they had found no exits or additional rooms at their current level of this temple and ancient vehicle storage complex. Bucky pushed the lever forward again to activate the raiser in the pit and the mechanism groaned as gears pushed against the strain of the recent explosion of the magic item the adventures a had activated.
They saw that the raiser was covered with organic goo, the remains of the blasted one-eyed giant formerly with four arms. “Someone must travel down into the Pit of Mystery to seek a tunnel,” began Bro. Mathias. “You, Bro. Bacon Fat, travel down the lift and explore the mysterious pit.”
“How will you know what I’ve found Bro. Mathias,” asked Bacon Fat.
“We can yell,” Bro. Mathias explained as he pushed Bacon Fat toward the raiser. “Activate the raiser,” Mathias yelled up to Bucky.
Bacon Fat was lowered into the pit and after a few seconds he yelled, “I see another passage way.”
“Do you see the slot of sluts which might control this mighty raiser,” Bro. M yelled at Bacon Fat.
“Yes Brother,” Bacon Fat responded.
“Toss me the magic card of activation,” Bro. M instructed Bucky. “We will send Axel Grease and Brother Bottom down to Bro. Bacon. They will in turn raise and lower the raiser so the remaining three of us may join them.”
After moments of manipulating the lift all the members of the group met on a second, lower, level of the ancient vehicle storage facility and temple. They discovered many men working busily on this level. At least these creatures resembled men in appearance, movement and manor.
“Look at them,” squealed Bottom, “Their working!”
This lower level was as large as the level above. These humanoids were working all around the adventures. The workers were disassembling cages similar to the one that contained the monster on the lift.
“They’re taking apart the cages,” continued Bottom. “We must learn their motivation,” Bro. Mathias suggested and approached a group of the dedicated workers. “Hello brothers, what is the nature of your task?” The rather dumb looking human glanced at Bro. M but immediately returned to his work. Mathias followed the laborer, insistent on attracting the attention of the hardhead. Mathias danced in front of the worker attempting to distract him. “Excuse me brother,” Mathias panted while hopping from foot to foot. Again the worker avoided Mathias and continued working.
"Stop him,” said Hedgehog Jack. Mathias grabbed the worker and attempted to communicate with the man. The worker moved too quickly and avoided Mathias who lunged at the man and pushed him. Then Mathias pushed him to the floor. Mathias called, “Help me brothers,” and Axel Grease and Bacon Fat surrounded the worker too secure him. As the three men grappled with the laborer, Alex and Bacon held him by his arms and Mathias appeared to be ready to inflict bodily harm, he began to yell.
His call was a simple repeated, “Ahh, Ahh, Ahh,” and within the minute a group came rushing to his aid. Three humanoids carrying clubs rushed in to the area to aid the alarmed worker. These new guards ran straight to worker too engage Axel, Bacon and Mathias who released the worker too defend themselves. One of the guards paused a moment before entering the combat, he placed one had at the tip of his club and a spark ignited a flame on the end of his club.
Bucky, Hedgehog Jack and Bottom prepared their various means of defending their “brothers,” Axel, Bacon and Mathias. While the guards were busy with the melee Bottom turned and kicked the combatant with the club of flame. Bottoms kicked knocked the guard away from the combat and the club of flame fell from the guards grasp and Hedgehog Jack quickly retrieved the club. The other adventures had defeated a second guard and the third attempted to flee to safety, away from the seemingly combat savvy adventurers.
They saw that the raiser was covered with organic goo, the remains of the blasted one-eyed giant formerly with four arms. “Someone must travel down into the Pit of Mystery to seek a tunnel,” began Bro. Mathias. “You, Bro. Bacon Fat, travel down the lift and explore the mysterious pit.”
“How will you know what I’ve found Bro. Mathias,” asked Bacon Fat.
“We can yell,” Bro. Mathias explained as he pushed Bacon Fat toward the raiser. “Activate the raiser,” Mathias yelled up to Bucky.
Bacon Fat was lowered into the pit and after a few seconds he yelled, “I see another passage way.”
“Do you see the slot of sluts which might control this mighty raiser,” Bro. M yelled at Bacon Fat.
“Yes Brother,” Bacon Fat responded.
“Toss me the magic card of activation,” Bro. M instructed Bucky. “We will send Axel Grease and Brother Bottom down to Bro. Bacon. They will in turn raise and lower the raiser so the remaining three of us may join them.”
After moments of manipulating the lift all the members of the group met on a second, lower, level of the ancient vehicle storage facility and temple. They discovered many men working busily on this level. At least these creatures resembled men in appearance, movement and manor.
“Look at them,” squealed Bottom, “Their working!”
This lower level was as large as the level above. These humanoids were working all around the adventures. The workers were disassembling cages similar to the one that contained the monster on the lift.
“They’re taking apart the cages,” continued Bottom. “We must learn their motivation,” Bro. Mathias suggested and approached a group of the dedicated workers. “Hello brothers, what is the nature of your task?” The rather dumb looking human glanced at Bro. M but immediately returned to his work. Mathias followed the laborer, insistent on attracting the attention of the hardhead. Mathias danced in front of the worker attempting to distract him. “Excuse me brother,” Mathias panted while hopping from foot to foot. Again the worker avoided Mathias and continued working.
"Stop him,” said Hedgehog Jack. Mathias grabbed the worker and attempted to communicate with the man. The worker moved too quickly and avoided Mathias who lunged at the man and pushed him. Then Mathias pushed him to the floor. Mathias called, “Help me brothers,” and Axel Grease and Bacon Fat surrounded the worker too secure him. As the three men grappled with the laborer, Alex and Bacon held him by his arms and Mathias appeared to be ready to inflict bodily harm, he began to yell.
His call was a simple repeated, “Ahh, Ahh, Ahh,” and within the minute a group came rushing to his aid. Three humanoids carrying clubs rushed in to the area to aid the alarmed worker. These new guards ran straight to worker too engage Axel, Bacon and Mathias who released the worker too defend themselves. One of the guards paused a moment before entering the combat, he placed one had at the tip of his club and a spark ignited a flame on the end of his club.
Bucky, Hedgehog Jack and Bottom prepared their various means of defending their “brothers,” Axel, Bacon and Mathias. While the guards were busy with the melee Bottom turned and kicked the combatant with the club of flame. Bottoms kicked knocked the guard away from the combat and the club of flame fell from the guards grasp and Hedgehog Jack quickly retrieved the club. The other adventures had defeated a second guard and the third attempted to flee to safety, away from the seemingly combat savvy adventurers.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Mutant Future session 3, part 1; 12.15.09
Bucky McLeroy, the whitetail deer anamorph, ran the thin plastic card through the slot of sluts next to the giant gate. There was an immediate click and a hum as the gate began moving, opening into the vehicle storage room. Bucky and his companions, Hedgehog Jack and Brother Mathias, watched as the door magically opened into the room they are in. Their discovery of the ancient lock mechanism by the gate allowed their giant donkey friend, Bottom, to join them. Bottom had previously been stuck in the passage beyond this gate. He was too large for the smaller passages the other three adventures had used to get around the gate.
“Now that we’re all in here, what the heck is that,” Brother Mathias turned to face a large circular pit which dominated their end of the vehicle storage room. “I,” began Hedgehog Jack, but he was interrupted by Bottom. “Let’s see how deep it is,” without warning Bottom turned and kicked Candy Cane into the pit. Candy gave a brief grunt and scream, but she vanished into the depths of the pit in the blink of eight mutant eyes.
Hedgehog Jack cleared his throat, “I was try to tell you all, I threw a torch in there and couldn’t tell where it landed.” His companions, including Bottom, were all stunned by Bottom’s sudden and swift elimination of Candy Cane. “That’s a deep pit,” Bottom added in a stunned tone.
The circular pit was twenty feet across, Bucky pointed out, “There’s a ledge up on the wall around the pit. There’s also a ladder that leads up to the ledge. I’ll climb up and investigate it,” he volunteered. “You there,” Bro Mathias said, selecting one of his followers. “You, Bacon Fat, climb up to the ledge with Bucky while I remain here and perform the proper penance for our newly lost sister, Candy Cane.” Brother Mathias began to mumble is liturgical nonsense as Bucky and Bacon Fat mount the ladder to the ledge around the mysterious pit.
At the top of the ladder Bucky found that this ledge went halfway round the giant pit below. In the middle of the ledge they discovered a shrine of the ancients. “There is a shrine to Cau-tion and Poos,” Bucky announced to the companions gathered around the pit. The shrine contained many lines of messages in the ancient languages which Bucky investigated as best he was able. “There is a lever next to Poos’ name,” Bucky announced. “I’ll attempt to push the lever,” he added. Bucky attempted to move the lever only to discover that it was immobile. “The shrine also has the slot of sluts. It may respond to the Magic Card of Activation,” he suggested.
“Oh say can you see the sacred stash of tokens to Visa the spirit of finance…” Brother Mathias abruptly stopped his meditations. “Brother Axel Grease take this, the Magic Card of Activation, to our Brother Bucky,” he instructed while removing the card from his neck and handing it to Bro. Axel.
Bucky placed the Magic Card of Activation into the Slot of Sluts and slid it back out as they had recently learned to do. “Cau-ton has accepted the offering of the Card of Activation. I hear a humming within the shrine now,” he announced. “Try to move the lever now,” Brother Mathias shouted. Bucky pushed the lever forward activating some mechanism down inside the Pit of Mystery and the companions waited in stunned silence to discover the results of their latest action.
After what seemed like an eternity, but was only a minute or more, the companions could see that a section of the floor was rising out of the Pit of Mystery. As the floor came into view they could see a large cage and the shadow of something moving within the cage. “What by the Financial Fathers is that,” said Bottom. “It’s a cage on a raiser,” responded Bucky from his post on the ledge. “No, there’s somethin’ in the cage,” yelled Hedgehog Jack.
The “raiser” reached a few feet from the floor level just as Jack finished his comment. The shadow took one step and was out of the cage and into the artificial light of the vehicle storage room. The creature that stepped into the light appeared much like a giant man but a giant man with four arms. The companions where silent for a shocked moment which was long enough for them to realize that the giant four armed creature only had one eye.
The one eyed creature continued to move away from the cage and the companions quickly gathered their thoughts and their actions. Brother Mathias began shouting orders, “Bacon Fat and Axel Grease, you must descend form that ledge and join us in combat with this terror!” The creature moved aggressively toward Bottom who quickly moved to avoid him. Bottom spun around and kicked the creature back toward the cage. Bucky quickly fired an arrow from his long bow but failed to hit the creature.
Hedgehog Jack was still morning the loss of his very good friend, Candy Cane, and was too shocked to help combat the monster. Bacon Fat and Axel rushed into the fight and joined Bro. Mathias in casting sling stones at this horror from the Pit of Mystery. The one eyed creature from below rushed at Bottom again and grabbed the giant donkey with two of his four fists. Bottom was able to kick the creature back into the pit as Bro. Mathias yelled, “The magic items, don’t we have some magic items of destruction? Buck, you should pull the lever thus lowering this creature back into it’s very spawning pit.”
“Oh, yeah,” said Bucky. “Oh yeah, I have a magic item of destruction,” responded Bottom. “Let me find it.” While Bottom looked through his belongings for a magic device, Bucky released another arrow but failed to hit the, rather large, beast. Then Bucky pulled the lever and activated the raiser into downward motion. “I’ve found it, I’ve found it,” Bottom shouted. “Launcheth thou the Magic Device of Destruction in the direction of this pit beast,” Bro. Mathias instructed. Bottom managed to properly manipulate the Magic Device and throw it before the beast could climb out of the pit again.
The Magic Device released an explosion as it hit the raiser at the feet of the pit- spawn creature. The creature gave a yelling scream of pain and beat at the walls of the pit. The raiser continued to lower, “It appears the creature was only harmed by the device but was not slain,” Bro. Mathias announced. “I have a Magic Device of Destruction too,” Bucky volunteered as he tossed a second device into the pit. The resulting explosion released fire out of the top of the pit and produced a scream that could only signal the death of the pit-spawn creature.
--- We finished the Mutant Future adventure on Dec. 22 and we're back to playing first edition AD&D now.
“Now that we’re all in here, what the heck is that,” Brother Mathias turned to face a large circular pit which dominated their end of the vehicle storage room. “I,” began Hedgehog Jack, but he was interrupted by Bottom. “Let’s see how deep it is,” without warning Bottom turned and kicked Candy Cane into the pit. Candy gave a brief grunt and scream, but she vanished into the depths of the pit in the blink of eight mutant eyes.
Hedgehog Jack cleared his throat, “I was try to tell you all, I threw a torch in there and couldn’t tell where it landed.” His companions, including Bottom, were all stunned by Bottom’s sudden and swift elimination of Candy Cane. “That’s a deep pit,” Bottom added in a stunned tone.
The circular pit was twenty feet across, Bucky pointed out, “There’s a ledge up on the wall around the pit. There’s also a ladder that leads up to the ledge. I’ll climb up and investigate it,” he volunteered. “You there,” Bro Mathias said, selecting one of his followers. “You, Bacon Fat, climb up to the ledge with Bucky while I remain here and perform the proper penance for our newly lost sister, Candy Cane.” Brother Mathias began to mumble is liturgical nonsense as Bucky and Bacon Fat mount the ladder to the ledge around the mysterious pit.
At the top of the ladder Bucky found that this ledge went halfway round the giant pit below. In the middle of the ledge they discovered a shrine of the ancients. “There is a shrine to Cau-tion and Poos,” Bucky announced to the companions gathered around the pit. The shrine contained many lines of messages in the ancient languages which Bucky investigated as best he was able. “There is a lever next to Poos’ name,” Bucky announced. “I’ll attempt to push the lever,” he added. Bucky attempted to move the lever only to discover that it was immobile. “The shrine also has the slot of sluts. It may respond to the Magic Card of Activation,” he suggested.
“Oh say can you see the sacred stash of tokens to Visa the spirit of finance…” Brother Mathias abruptly stopped his meditations. “Brother Axel Grease take this, the Magic Card of Activation, to our Brother Bucky,” he instructed while removing the card from his neck and handing it to Bro. Axel.
Bucky placed the Magic Card of Activation into the Slot of Sluts and slid it back out as they had recently learned to do. “Cau-ton has accepted the offering of the Card of Activation. I hear a humming within the shrine now,” he announced. “Try to move the lever now,” Brother Mathias shouted. Bucky pushed the lever forward activating some mechanism down inside the Pit of Mystery and the companions waited in stunned silence to discover the results of their latest action.
After what seemed like an eternity, but was only a minute or more, the companions could see that a section of the floor was rising out of the Pit of Mystery. As the floor came into view they could see a large cage and the shadow of something moving within the cage. “What by the Financial Fathers is that,” said Bottom. “It’s a cage on a raiser,” responded Bucky from his post on the ledge. “No, there’s somethin’ in the cage,” yelled Hedgehog Jack.
The “raiser” reached a few feet from the floor level just as Jack finished his comment. The shadow took one step and was out of the cage and into the artificial light of the vehicle storage room. The creature that stepped into the light appeared much like a giant man but a giant man with four arms. The companions where silent for a shocked moment which was long enough for them to realize that the giant four armed creature only had one eye.
The one eyed creature continued to move away from the cage and the companions quickly gathered their thoughts and their actions. Brother Mathias began shouting orders, “Bacon Fat and Axel Grease, you must descend form that ledge and join us in combat with this terror!” The creature moved aggressively toward Bottom who quickly moved to avoid him. Bottom spun around and kicked the creature back toward the cage. Bucky quickly fired an arrow from his long bow but failed to hit the creature.
Hedgehog Jack was still morning the loss of his very good friend, Candy Cane, and was too shocked to help combat the monster. Bacon Fat and Axel rushed into the fight and joined Bro. Mathias in casting sling stones at this horror from the Pit of Mystery. The one eyed creature from below rushed at Bottom again and grabbed the giant donkey with two of his four fists. Bottom was able to kick the creature back into the pit as Bro. Mathias yelled, “The magic items, don’t we have some magic items of destruction? Buck, you should pull the lever thus lowering this creature back into it’s very spawning pit.”
“Oh, yeah,” said Bucky. “Oh yeah, I have a magic item of destruction,” responded Bottom. “Let me find it.” While Bottom looked through his belongings for a magic device, Bucky released another arrow but failed to hit the, rather large, beast. Then Bucky pulled the lever and activated the raiser into downward motion. “I’ve found it, I’ve found it,” Bottom shouted. “Launcheth thou the Magic Device of Destruction in the direction of this pit beast,” Bro. Mathias instructed. Bottom managed to properly manipulate the Magic Device and throw it before the beast could climb out of the pit again.
The Magic Device released an explosion as it hit the raiser at the feet of the pit- spawn creature. The creature gave a yelling scream of pain and beat at the walls of the pit. The raiser continued to lower, “It appears the creature was only harmed by the device but was not slain,” Bro. Mathias announced. “I have a Magic Device of Destruction too,” Bucky volunteered as he tossed a second device into the pit. The resulting explosion released fire out of the top of the pit and produced a scream that could only signal the death of the pit-spawn creature.
--- We finished the Mutant Future adventure on Dec. 22 and we're back to playing first edition AD&D now.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Mutant Future session two; Dec. 8, 2009
The game began with our return to the meat markets of Manny the meat man and his Siamese twin Meatman Manny. The PC formerly known as the PWM had adopted the name Hedgehog Jack. He remained ninety feet away from the butchers’ stalls and yelled comments as Brother Matthias negotiated with each of the butchers, Bottom, the giant donkey, hee-hawed in the background and Bucky McLeroy observed in silence. Manny the meat man offered us fifteen gold per set of spidergoat legs and Brother M haggled 100 gold for five sets of legs. Manny said he’d pay extra since we had filled his order for the spidergoat legs quickly.
Meatman Manny offered us twenty-five gold pieces for the man meat but, with Hedgehog Jack yelling in the background, Brother M managed to haggle seventy-five gold out of the Meatman. Somehow, during all the meat trading, one of the butchers was asked if they dealt in “man meat.” Our MM didn’t hesitate has he answered in character, “No, that’s a different guy, you haven’t met yet.”
Bucky, H. Jack and Bottom looked through their equipment and visited the market to acquire any items they’d need for the upcoming exploration of the cave-in at the junk pile. Brother M only had two priorities, to find himself a little heaven-on-earth and recruit some new followers for the Church of Holy Fawk. Thus, he went to the brothel tent without splitting the earnings from the meat market with the rest of the party. Hedgehog Jack became quite concerned when he discovered this development. He went straight to the brothel tent to have a conversation with their doorman.
Hedgehog Jack: My friend came here with a lot of money.
Doorman: Most of our clients do.
Hedgehog Jack: Well, some of that money’s my money so he better have that money when he leaves your establishment in the morning.
Doorman: That’s not likely to happen and is contrary to my job description.
Hedgehog Jack: -- threateningly— Well, Brother Matthias better have most his money in the morning or bad things will happen! – exit Hedgehog Jack—
In the morning, when exiting the brothel, Brother M made a save roll to see if he had avoided being ripped off during the night. He failed the roll and it was determined that he’d spent, or otherwise lost, seventy-five percent of our money. Upon learning this Hedgehog Jack went to the local lamp oil vendor and purchased a large barrel of oil. I guess it was actually a medium size barrel of oil as it weighed more than a gallon but less than five gallons. In my opinion, physics has no place in fantasy role playing so divisions of measurement are not important to the plot of the game.
As vendors where just setting up shop for the day, most the clients of the brothel were not out of bed yet, Hedgehog Jack went into the alley and applied the lamp oil to the exterior wall. Bucky had noticed that Hedgehog Jack was in an especially ill mood and had followed HJ, he hoped to talk HJ out of burning down the brothel. Brother M was sleeping off his night of excess and Bottom was getting his giant donkey beauty sleep. Bucky’s conversation with HJ consisted of little more than, “Burning down the brothel will not get our money back. In fact, it will just cause trouble.” Then Bucky went to hide between some tents and stalls across the street.
Some of the hedgehog’s spines tore holes in the tent and some occupants, Junkyard Dawgs, awoke to the smell of lamp oil and smoke. Three Dawgs attempted to save their precious brothel but HJ managed to set it on fire with a cigar he’d been conveniently smoking all morning. The Dawgs then fired some rounds at HJ and injured him. HJ grabbed the nearest Dawg to use him as a human shield while Bucky, still hiding across the street, was able to fire his longbow an hit one of the Dawgs. After his first succesful attack, Bucky attempted to summon some help by shouting, “Help, help, mutants are being oppressed!” HJ and Bucky appeared to be winning their struggle when a second group of Dawgs rushed into the fight.
At this point Hedgehog Jack made his escape by pulling his human shield through the fiery alley. HJ shoved the Dawg back into the alley and ran away through the busy morning market crowd thus making Bucky the center of attention for six angry Junkyard Dawgs. Bucky tried to use the “communicate first, get shot later” technique and yelled, “Get that Hedgehog! He set the brothel on fire!” He then fired an arrow at HJ who he could see through a gap between two tents. “Your deputized, let’s get ‘im,” sayed one of the Dawgs.
Hedgehog Jack escaped through the crowd and Bucky made a quick retirement from his duties as a deputy of the Junkyard Dawgs. They returned to their camp, which was in an unspecified location, and collected Brother M and Bottom, encouraging their fellow travelers tto leave Junkopolis with all expedience. The four adventures, and Brother M’s three or four followers, returned to the site of their former spidergoat hunt.
Inside the cave created by seismic landfill activity the party found a harder than normal floor with a yellow strip painted down the middle of the passage. They reached an inner wall of the cave which had an ancient message painted above the portal. The symbols read, “C.A.U.T.I.O.N.” The party decided this must say, “Cau-t-on,” and was probably the name of the God this temple was dedicated too.
They entered this portal to find a gate ahead of them and a passage leading to their right. The passage was too small for the giant donkey to enter so he remained behind at the gate. There was a series of chambers inside the small passage. In the first chamber there was a desk with ancient mimeographs and two mysterious boxes with glass sides which faced toward the desk chair. Brother M attempted to understand the function of these boxes and after a few brief examinations an image of Bottom appeared on the glass side of one of the boxes. Brother M was frightened by this development and encouraged Hedgehog Jack to smash this evil crystal ball-box. HJ smashed the crystal ball-box and they moved on to the next room which was across the hall.
This room contained some tables and chairs and, in the corner, there were two illuminated shrines to Cau-t-on. One shrine was illuminated with a stylized liquid container displayed on cubes of ice. The red and blue beverage container was emblazoned with the symbols R & C. Obviously indicating Erk, the liquid embodiment of Cau-t-on. The second shrine had a glass front which displayed shelves of offerings left to the ancient gods. These offerings where placed in the shrine through a black door at the bottom of the shrine which was labled, "P.U.S." Hedgehog Jack smashed these pagan shrines and the adventures discovered that some of the offerings at the shrines where still palatable. (The shrines were considered pagan because they were not for the Lwad of Holy Fawk, the Church of Chaos or the Cult of Tree Buggers.) The glass shrine contained a handful of delicious miniature yellow cake logs with creamy centers. The shrine to the liquid god had at least half a dozen containers inscribed to various liquid archetypes. The PCs saved these "drinks" for later consumption.
Another door led from this room, the offering chamber, to the storage room for the vehicle of Cau-t-on. This vehicle consisted of an ancient locomotive device and a wagon. The adventurers investigated the vehicle but they could not determine how it operated. The vehicle was parked a few yards from the gate that Bottom was behind. Bucky noticed a red light near this gate and suggested the light might be a trigger to operate the gate. Brother M still had the device which he used to operate the crystal ball-boxes and, Bucky was right, the gate operated by the same process. (Both the security monitors and the gate were activated by a cardkey.) The gate swung open and Bottom was able to join his comrades in the vehicle storage area and we concluded our adventure for the evening.
As the sidebar indicates; I’m now reading Alice in Wonderland. I had a spare hour before an appointment this past week and the public library is always a good place to spend a spare hour. Alice in Wonderland is the next book I need to read on the 501 Must Read Books list. I’ll get back to reading Fritz Leiber when I’ve returned Mr. Carrol/Dogson’s book to the KCPL.
Meatman Manny offered us twenty-five gold pieces for the man meat but, with Hedgehog Jack yelling in the background, Brother M managed to haggle seventy-five gold out of the Meatman. Somehow, during all the meat trading, one of the butchers was asked if they dealt in “man meat.” Our MM didn’t hesitate has he answered in character, “No, that’s a different guy, you haven’t met yet.”
Bucky, H. Jack and Bottom looked through their equipment and visited the market to acquire any items they’d need for the upcoming exploration of the cave-in at the junk pile. Brother M only had two priorities, to find himself a little heaven-on-earth and recruit some new followers for the Church of Holy Fawk. Thus, he went to the brothel tent without splitting the earnings from the meat market with the rest of the party. Hedgehog Jack became quite concerned when he discovered this development. He went straight to the brothel tent to have a conversation with their doorman.
Hedgehog Jack: My friend came here with a lot of money.
Doorman: Most of our clients do.
Hedgehog Jack: Well, some of that money’s my money so he better have that money when he leaves your establishment in the morning.
Doorman: That’s not likely to happen and is contrary to my job description.
Hedgehog Jack: -- threateningly— Well, Brother Matthias better have most his money in the morning or bad things will happen! – exit Hedgehog Jack—
In the morning, when exiting the brothel, Brother M made a save roll to see if he had avoided being ripped off during the night. He failed the roll and it was determined that he’d spent, or otherwise lost, seventy-five percent of our money. Upon learning this Hedgehog Jack went to the local lamp oil vendor and purchased a large barrel of oil. I guess it was actually a medium size barrel of oil as it weighed more than a gallon but less than five gallons. In my opinion, physics has no place in fantasy role playing so divisions of measurement are not important to the plot of the game.
As vendors where just setting up shop for the day, most the clients of the brothel were not out of bed yet, Hedgehog Jack went into the alley and applied the lamp oil to the exterior wall. Bucky had noticed that Hedgehog Jack was in an especially ill mood and had followed HJ, he hoped to talk HJ out of burning down the brothel. Brother M was sleeping off his night of excess and Bottom was getting his giant donkey beauty sleep. Bucky’s conversation with HJ consisted of little more than, “Burning down the brothel will not get our money back. In fact, it will just cause trouble.” Then Bucky went to hide between some tents and stalls across the street.
Some of the hedgehog’s spines tore holes in the tent and some occupants, Junkyard Dawgs, awoke to the smell of lamp oil and smoke. Three Dawgs attempted to save their precious brothel but HJ managed to set it on fire with a cigar he’d been conveniently smoking all morning. The Dawgs then fired some rounds at HJ and injured him. HJ grabbed the nearest Dawg to use him as a human shield while Bucky, still hiding across the street, was able to fire his longbow an hit one of the Dawgs. After his first succesful attack, Bucky attempted to summon some help by shouting, “Help, help, mutants are being oppressed!” HJ and Bucky appeared to be winning their struggle when a second group of Dawgs rushed into the fight.
At this point Hedgehog Jack made his escape by pulling his human shield through the fiery alley. HJ shoved the Dawg back into the alley and ran away through the busy morning market crowd thus making Bucky the center of attention for six angry Junkyard Dawgs. Bucky tried to use the “communicate first, get shot later” technique and yelled, “Get that Hedgehog! He set the brothel on fire!” He then fired an arrow at HJ who he could see through a gap between two tents. “Your deputized, let’s get ‘im,” sayed one of the Dawgs.
Hedgehog Jack escaped through the crowd and Bucky made a quick retirement from his duties as a deputy of the Junkyard Dawgs. They returned to their camp, which was in an unspecified location, and collected Brother M and Bottom, encouraging their fellow travelers tto leave Junkopolis with all expedience. The four adventures, and Brother M’s three or four followers, returned to the site of their former spidergoat hunt.
Inside the cave created by seismic landfill activity the party found a harder than normal floor with a yellow strip painted down the middle of the passage. They reached an inner wall of the cave which had an ancient message painted above the portal. The symbols read, “C.A.U.T.I.O.N.” The party decided this must say, “Cau-t-on,” and was probably the name of the God this temple was dedicated too.
They entered this portal to find a gate ahead of them and a passage leading to their right. The passage was too small for the giant donkey to enter so he remained behind at the gate. There was a series of chambers inside the small passage. In the first chamber there was a desk with ancient mimeographs and two mysterious boxes with glass sides which faced toward the desk chair. Brother M attempted to understand the function of these boxes and after a few brief examinations an image of Bottom appeared on the glass side of one of the boxes. Brother M was frightened by this development and encouraged Hedgehog Jack to smash this evil crystal ball-box. HJ smashed the crystal ball-box and they moved on to the next room which was across the hall.
This room contained some tables and chairs and, in the corner, there were two illuminated shrines to Cau-t-on. One shrine was illuminated with a stylized liquid container displayed on cubes of ice. The red and blue beverage container was emblazoned with the symbols R & C. Obviously indicating Erk, the liquid embodiment of Cau-t-on. The second shrine had a glass front which displayed shelves of offerings left to the ancient gods. These offerings where placed in the shrine through a black door at the bottom of the shrine which was labled, "P.U.S." Hedgehog Jack smashed these pagan shrines and the adventures discovered that some of the offerings at the shrines where still palatable. (The shrines were considered pagan because they were not for the Lwad of Holy Fawk, the Church of Chaos or the Cult of Tree Buggers.) The glass shrine contained a handful of delicious miniature yellow cake logs with creamy centers. The shrine to the liquid god had at least half a dozen containers inscribed to various liquid archetypes. The PCs saved these "drinks" for later consumption.
Another door led from this room, the offering chamber, to the storage room for the vehicle of Cau-t-on. This vehicle consisted of an ancient locomotive device and a wagon. The adventurers investigated the vehicle but they could not determine how it operated. The vehicle was parked a few yards from the gate that Bottom was behind. Bucky noticed a red light near this gate and suggested the light might be a trigger to operate the gate. Brother M still had the device which he used to operate the crystal ball-boxes and, Bucky was right, the gate operated by the same process. (Both the security monitors and the gate were activated by a cardkey.) The gate swung open and Bottom was able to join his comrades in the vehicle storage area and we concluded our adventure for the evening.
As the sidebar indicates; I’m now reading Alice in Wonderland. I had a spare hour before an appointment this past week and the public library is always a good place to spend a spare hour. Alice in Wonderland is the next book I need to read on the 501 Must Read Books list. I’ll get back to reading Fritz Leiber when I’ve returned Mr. Carrol/Dogson’s book to the KCPL.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
The OSP plays Mutant Future
Yes, my game group has a name. We call ourselves the Old School Pastafari. We adopted the term Pastafari because in the first adventure we played the cleric chose to be a Pastafarian, a follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Some may insist that the plural form of Pastafarian is “Pastafarians” but I like Pastafari, as in octopi and cacti. We’re the “old school” Pastafari because we are old, when this group started in March or April of this year, the average age of the group was forty. We’ve lost a few members and picked up a twenty-something so now I imagine the average of the group is 35. (Three of the five members are over forty.)
We’re between adventures in our usual 1st edition AD&D game and played a session of Mutant Future this past Tuesday night. I had intended to play an android but found some inspiration when driving home from my Thanksgiving trip. I saw a deer stand, or hunting stand, out in a field along side of I-65. I knew two of the guys were going to play animal mutants and thought I’d join the herd and play an anamorphic whitetail buck.
Our game meets at 7 p.m. on Tuesday evenings but I hadn’t made the character by game time. I got to the game early and began rolling dice. The Mutant Master had suggested we roll 18d6 and combine the results however we like. I found this was a very quick method of character creation. We planned to roll our mutations at the table, the other guys arrived soon and the fun ensued. The dice predicted that Buckie McLeroy would have two physical mutations and two mental mutations. I got two very useful but ultimately boring physical mutations; natural armor and thermal vision. My mental mutations were nearly as useless and boring; dual cerebellum defect and acute hyper healing. I’m sure all the mutations will come in handy at some point, except for the dual cerebellum defect, I’m certain it will prove to be a royal main in the buttocks.
Speaking of buttocks, did I mention that one of the other players is playing a mutated pack animal? He, Bottom by PC name, won the award for Character Most Likely to Break the Rule Book. I’ll describe our other mutant animals and get back to Bottom in a bit.
The third mutant animal is a wolf-man and he got some pretty good mutations. The first great mutation he rolled was the spiny growth which makes him a porcupine-wolf-man hybrid. Apparently the spiky spiny growths can be pulled out and used as a dagger too! The player of the porcupine-wolf-man rolled obesity as his second physical mutation and for a mental mutation he gets something called “negative empathy.” Now he’s an overweight porcupine wolf-man with a fifteen percent chance to piss-off everyone he meets.
The fourth player chose to play a pure strain human proselyte. This may sound like a rather worthless player character but with his charisma of 22 he was able to attract three npc followers who live to serve him. The followers proved to be very helpful in a fight against a hand full of spider goats. The guy playing this priest, we’ll call the player Nod to protect the innocent, did a great job staying in character all night. The main philosophy of his faith seemed to be, “Give me money and all is forgiven.”
As I’ve mentioned, the player with the mutant donkey was the winner of the Most Likely to Break the Game Award. He started with your basic mutant donkey, named Bottom of course, and rolled his way into a mutations chart jackpot. He got a duel cerebellum as a mental mutation and density alteration. I don’t recall the exact name of this mutation but it allows the player character the mental ability to reduce the density and, or size of other beings in the game. (This may include the reduction of any mater in the game but I don’t recall.) To top off his killer mutant pie, his physical mutation is gigantism. Who wouldn’t want to play a giant of any race? But the rules, as we interpreted them, indicate that a 3d6 roll determines the additional size of the giant, in feet. The player rolled a fourteen and now the party has a mutant donkey that’s roughly eighteen feet long!
This is the very reason that we rolled our mutations at the table. To Mr. Proctor and Denison and all involved in the creation of Mutant Future; this is fun, fun stuff!
Our adventure began on the road to Junkopolis, a settlement centered on and around an old trash pile. (A former junkyard or landfill.)The three mutants met the preacher, who I preceded to call Brother Pompous Ass all game, at a crossroad on the edge of the settlement. Brother P was just converting his three followers and the porcupine-wolf-man (PWM) became offended by, what he believed was, an anti-mutant attitude. Brother P assured us, “All are equal in the eyes of the Great Auditor.” The giant psi-donkey (GPD) also made a fuss with his many questions about Junkopolis and the many he-haws this involved. This mild argument attracted the attention of a vaguely uniformed group of gun totters. These gentlemen informed us that they were the Junkyard Dogs, the personal security force of the king of Junkopolis. Our MM never used this term, but knowing him, I get the impression that the king of J-opolis is known as the King of the Hill. These “dogs” just wanted us to stay out of trouble and understand that, “we have guns.” I later suggested that the GPD should have sat on the Junkyard Dogs but the MM said, “It was a whole troop.” Apparently a troop is too large for a GPD too squish?
Our group was also advised to seek Manny the Meat Man for employment. Following the directions to the meat man we encountered a group of anti-mutant thugs. Brother P had all three of his followers attack one of the thugs and the others were dispatched with ease. Once at the stall of Manny the Meat Man we noted that the bodies of these same thugs where being carried to the back of the meat stall. The PWM asked if Manny was a dealer of human meat and he replied, “No, no. If you’re interested in that sort of trade you need to see my brother, Meat man Manny.” It turned out that the two Mannys are Siamese twins who operate adjoining meat stalls with a curtain between the two brothers and stalls.
Our group reached a verbal agreement with Manny to supply him with fresh Spider Goat meat. We arranged to supply the Meat Man with “human flesh with no entanglements.” Buckie McLeroy asked, “Do spider goat legs taste like giant lobster,” and, “Does no entanglement mean that the humans are not trapped in any spider goat webbing?” We ended the game session by collecting our first haul of spider goat and witnessing a cave in of the junk pile which seemed to lead to some larger sub-terrain complex.
I have written this article quickly share the events of our Mutant Future game. I don’t believe I could successfully recreate the level of fun and humor we experienced during this game session. I even commented to Nod’s wife that, “Sally will never know that we all giggled like little girls.” Only to add, “She’d be glad to know we giggled like little girls.” I told Sally about this conversation and she replied, “Yes, I’m glad you all giggled like that.” (Now I have introduced the rpg blog world to my wife, Mrs. Consumer's Opinion, better known as Sally.)
In an unrelated note; I was cleaning my bookshelves and found my old copy of Tom Robbins' Another Roadside Attraction. I really love this book but have now chosen not to keep it in my collection. The book is in pretty poor shape and I wouldn't want to trade it with anyone so Another Roadside Attraction will be the first book I send out into the big bad world in Book Crossing style.
We’re between adventures in our usual 1st edition AD&D game and played a session of Mutant Future this past Tuesday night. I had intended to play an android but found some inspiration when driving home from my Thanksgiving trip. I saw a deer stand, or hunting stand, out in a field along side of I-65. I knew two of the guys were going to play animal mutants and thought I’d join the herd and play an anamorphic whitetail buck.
Our game meets at 7 p.m. on Tuesday evenings but I hadn’t made the character by game time. I got to the game early and began rolling dice. The Mutant Master had suggested we roll 18d6 and combine the results however we like. I found this was a very quick method of character creation. We planned to roll our mutations at the table, the other guys arrived soon and the fun ensued. The dice predicted that Buckie McLeroy would have two physical mutations and two mental mutations. I got two very useful but ultimately boring physical mutations; natural armor and thermal vision. My mental mutations were nearly as useless and boring; dual cerebellum defect and acute hyper healing. I’m sure all the mutations will come in handy at some point, except for the dual cerebellum defect, I’m certain it will prove to be a royal main in the buttocks.
Speaking of buttocks, did I mention that one of the other players is playing a mutated pack animal? He, Bottom by PC name, won the award for Character Most Likely to Break the Rule Book. I’ll describe our other mutant animals and get back to Bottom in a bit.
The third mutant animal is a wolf-man and he got some pretty good mutations. The first great mutation he rolled was the spiny growth which makes him a porcupine-wolf-man hybrid. Apparently the spiky spiny growths can be pulled out and used as a dagger too! The player of the porcupine-wolf-man rolled obesity as his second physical mutation and for a mental mutation he gets something called “negative empathy.” Now he’s an overweight porcupine wolf-man with a fifteen percent chance to piss-off everyone he meets.
The fourth player chose to play a pure strain human proselyte. This may sound like a rather worthless player character but with his charisma of 22 he was able to attract three npc followers who live to serve him. The followers proved to be very helpful in a fight against a hand full of spider goats. The guy playing this priest, we’ll call the player Nod to protect the innocent, did a great job staying in character all night. The main philosophy of his faith seemed to be, “Give me money and all is forgiven.”
As I’ve mentioned, the player with the mutant donkey was the winner of the Most Likely to Break the Game Award. He started with your basic mutant donkey, named Bottom of course, and rolled his way into a mutations chart jackpot. He got a duel cerebellum as a mental mutation and density alteration. I don’t recall the exact name of this mutation but it allows the player character the mental ability to reduce the density and, or size of other beings in the game. (This may include the reduction of any mater in the game but I don’t recall.) To top off his killer mutant pie, his physical mutation is gigantism. Who wouldn’t want to play a giant of any race? But the rules, as we interpreted them, indicate that a 3d6 roll determines the additional size of the giant, in feet. The player rolled a fourteen and now the party has a mutant donkey that’s roughly eighteen feet long!
This is the very reason that we rolled our mutations at the table. To Mr. Proctor and Denison and all involved in the creation of Mutant Future; this is fun, fun stuff!
Our adventure began on the road to Junkopolis, a settlement centered on and around an old trash pile. (A former junkyard or landfill.)The three mutants met the preacher, who I preceded to call Brother Pompous Ass all game, at a crossroad on the edge of the settlement. Brother P was just converting his three followers and the porcupine-wolf-man (PWM) became offended by, what he believed was, an anti-mutant attitude. Brother P assured us, “All are equal in the eyes of the Great Auditor.” The giant psi-donkey (GPD) also made a fuss with his many questions about Junkopolis and the many he-haws this involved. This mild argument attracted the attention of a vaguely uniformed group of gun totters. These gentlemen informed us that they were the Junkyard Dogs, the personal security force of the king of Junkopolis. Our MM never used this term, but knowing him, I get the impression that the king of J-opolis is known as the King of the Hill. These “dogs” just wanted us to stay out of trouble and understand that, “we have guns.” I later suggested that the GPD should have sat on the Junkyard Dogs but the MM said, “It was a whole troop.” Apparently a troop is too large for a GPD too squish?
Our group was also advised to seek Manny the Meat Man for employment. Following the directions to the meat man we encountered a group of anti-mutant thugs. Brother P had all three of his followers attack one of the thugs and the others were dispatched with ease. Once at the stall of Manny the Meat Man we noted that the bodies of these same thugs where being carried to the back of the meat stall. The PWM asked if Manny was a dealer of human meat and he replied, “No, no. If you’re interested in that sort of trade you need to see my brother, Meat man Manny.” It turned out that the two Mannys are Siamese twins who operate adjoining meat stalls with a curtain between the two brothers and stalls.
Our group reached a verbal agreement with Manny to supply him with fresh Spider Goat meat. We arranged to supply the Meat Man with “human flesh with no entanglements.” Buckie McLeroy asked, “Do spider goat legs taste like giant lobster,” and, “Does no entanglement mean that the humans are not trapped in any spider goat webbing?” We ended the game session by collecting our first haul of spider goat and witnessing a cave in of the junk pile which seemed to lead to some larger sub-terrain complex.
I have written this article quickly share the events of our Mutant Future game. I don’t believe I could successfully recreate the level of fun and humor we experienced during this game session. I even commented to Nod’s wife that, “Sally will never know that we all giggled like little girls.” Only to add, “She’d be glad to know we giggled like little girls.” I told Sally about this conversation and she replied, “Yes, I’m glad you all giggled like that.” (Now I have introduced the rpg blog world to my wife, Mrs. Consumer's Opinion, better known as Sally.)
In an unrelated note; I was cleaning my bookshelves and found my old copy of Tom Robbins' Another Roadside Attraction. I really love this book but have now chosen not to keep it in my collection. The book is in pretty poor shape and I wouldn't want to trade it with anyone so Another Roadside Attraction will be the first book I send out into the big bad world in Book Crossing style.
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