Quake 1 RPG intro

You sit in the briefing room at the NORAD complex deep underneath Cheyenne Mountain. Around you are 30 or so members of the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines. Decorated veterans all, most with scars and all with a determined set to their faces. You were chosen for this mission because you are the best. But until now, you aren't even sure what the mission is.

A grizzled man bursts into the room, a burned down cigar clenched in his teeth. His hair is close-cropped and white, and his right eye is hidden underneath a massive burn scar. He stomps his way to the front of the room and eyes you all critically. With a grunt, he turns on a projector that displays a grotesque image of mutilated bodies and blood.

"1900 hours yesterday, violent attacks occurred in several cities across the world." The projector clicks to a macabre scene at a fast food restaurant, "Memphis," another image, this one of human bodies clogging a canal, "Amsterdam," The windows of an airplane terminal, splattered with blood and gore "Buenos Aires." Click. An intricate rune painted on a brick wall. "At each location, variations of this symbol are drawn in blood, and strange scorch marks are found on the ground nearby.

"The only surviving witnesses are locked away in nuthouses. They say the attackers arrived in a flash of light, that they had horns and claws and shot venomous thorns and bolts of lightning. It might seem like crap, but our top scientists have been working on the theory that these are invaders from another dimension." The grizzled man waves his arms in a placating gesture. "Now hold on - I know it sounds crazy. But they've worked out a way for us to fight back. I'll let the brains explain it."

A frail looking man with tufts of hair sticking out from behind his ears enters the room and stands in front of the projector. "Thank you, Sergeant. Now, I know alternate dimensions probably sounds crazy to the lot of you. But I tell you there is much merit to the idea. These very attacks seem to prove my theory! But, I get ahead of myself. You all know the difference between two and three dimensions, correct? If not, try covering one eye and looking around. It's hard to tell distance and placement, yes? This is because you're only seeing in two dimensions. To see a third, your eyes gather two different pictures and compare them in your brain. Now, it's been theorized that a fourth dimension, time, also exists. We cannot perceive time except in how we can see its effects. Now, imagine there are 5 or 6 dimensions. Imagine a thousand! What is in them? We have no way to perceive them, no way to interact with them. They could, in fact, house completely different life forms, completely alien to our sensibilities. I hypothesize that there could even be types of matter--"

"OK, Professor, get to the point." The grizzled sergeant grunts from the back of the room.

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry, Sergeant. The point is, that we have found a way to follow these strange beings back to their dimension. Using our own understanding of quantum physics combined with the arcane knowledge represented by these symbols, we've hacked together a device that can send over people and objects to the attackers' dimension. We're calling it a Slipgate."

The Sergeant pushes back from leaning against the wall, and heads back to the front of the room. "That's where our sorry asses come in. We jump in with guns blazing, kill every one of those fuckers, and blow their dimension to bits. Poindexter here's coming with us, to figure a way to send us back. But if you decide to go, know that it's probably a one-way ticket. There's things we can't even imagine out there, and I for one won't rest until they're all dead."

"Yes, well," interrupts the scientist, "We can't rule out an incredible but alien intelligence, perhaps unknowingly causing damage to our dimension. I hope we can try to ask questions first, and shoot second. But the probability of violent greetings are in indeed high, this is the very reason we've asked you all here.'

'You'll be loaded to the teeth, carrying as much ammo and supplies as you can. It seems the slipgate can't transfer anything big, so we don't get tanks or choppers. We'll sweep through the place, taking out as many of the fuckers we can, then Poindexter will set up a slipgate on the other side and we'll head back. You can make gear requests to the quartermaster, he's been ordered to give you whatever you want."

"And one last thing. We tested the damn gate, we sent watermelons and shit over, but we don't knwo what the trip will be like. Could be we all make it over dead, or frozen, or in little pieces. But those thigns made it over here, and we can't just sit around. Now who wants to kick some ass?"

I fail at Dread :)

So I ran my Halloween game at Mom's last night. I had 5 players - Tommy, Jessie, Mark, Amanda, and Cameron. I sprung the questionnaires on them right before the game, and that had some people flustered. But then we slowly got into the adventure. Some people had to go, but the almost everyone was pretty engrossed in the story until the very end. I say I fail at Dread not because I ran a bad game, but because I basically ran a sci-fi one-shot with jenga instead of dice :)

I was running "Beneath a Metal Sky," one of the examples from the back of the book. I was warned on RPG.net that this was the hardest of the scenarios, but I trudged ahead with it, spending the past few weeks going over the scant information published in the book and building on it in my head. One of the most useful building blocks I created was a deckplan of the ISS Auerbach. Because I had committed this to memory, I was able to visualize and explain where the locations were in relation to each other.

Another thing I worked hard at was picking the right music. I had originally wanted to use the Alien soundtrack, which was creepy enough, but it had ups and downs, crescendos that may be awkward if they played at a dull moment in the game. I decided to use the background music from Quake 1, written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. That worked beautifully. Creepy and droning, it was able to fade in the background and make everythign jsut a little more creepy.

Best moment of the game was when the characters found out what the creatures were. Mark's character, the Captain, took one down with a few excellently placed pistol shots. They examine it to find that it's merely a slightly-altered human with absolutely no skin. Exposed muscles are covered in dried blood. When the doctor starts to investigate, the corpse explodes into a swarm of tiny, four-legged beetles. Thankfully no one was hurt. (Drat!) The bugs had hollowed out the former crew member and were driving him around. Both Cameron and Mark said that this was legitimately creepy. Go Team Chris!

There were some other creepy parts towards the beginning, but the game turned into one big run & gun after the first creature fell. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Next Halloween, I'm planning to run something more game-y.

Guardian Spirit Short Story

The forest was screaming. Jarlek could hear it - he'd been able to hear the forest as a young boy, much younger than the others in his village. He heard the whispers through the tress, showing him paths to wonder, warning him against danger, and teaching him the ways of the ancients. The voice of the forest was always gentle, calm and peaceful. But now it was screaming.

Jarlek rushed from bough to bough, leaping like a frantic beast. He landed in a crouch on a tree branch, dark skinned hands and feet grasping the solid tree before propelling him forward to the next. Anything that could disturb the forest like this would be dangerous, but all Jarlek could think about was the cries of his beloved forest. He would find the source of the forest's pain. And whoever was doing this would pay.

The scream got louder and louder, and Jarlek strained against it to keep his grip on a branch. He failed, and dropped ten feet to the ground. As he sat up, the screaming stopped. He saw a strange figure in a white and gold robe turn from a great scale-bark tree to come towards him - the figure's finger was smoking, like a smoldering stick. Past the figure Jarlek could see strange symbols burned into the tree. As he watched they began healing, grey ash turning back to healthy bark. His eyes widened even more, and the figure stopped his advance to look back, and sighed.

"Now I shall have to start all over. But first, foolish primate, you will know the mark of Empire." As he said this, the figure lifted its hood to reveal a middle-aged man with expressionless eyes. Upon his forehead was a strange symbol, burned in place just as the marks in the tree. The smoldering blackness spread from the man's fingertip to the rest of his hand, and he stretched that gnarled, smoking claw toward Jarlek's face. A symbol similar to the one on the man's head glowed fiery red on the man's palm. Realization suddenly dawned on the youth, and he tried to scramble back on all fours. His limbs seemed to be frozen - he couldn't move, only stare at the dead-faced man with the burning hand..

Just then, Jarlek heard a voice to his left. "Move, boy! This man is nothing to you, a slave of someone far away. You are here, in the Ancient Forest! You have the power of your ancestors all around you. Move!" At this shout, Jarlek's head darted to the left, where stood one of the guardian spirits of the forest. A translucent figure, dressed in the leathers of a hunter in the forest. His wild white hair and beard framed his dark face like a lion's mane. Jarlek's mind drifted to the elder who taught the names and faces of the ancestral spirits. This was Korenak, a defender of the forest, he remembered. And then he recalled his predicament. The youth was up in a flash, running through the forest as fast as the spirits' guidance could take him.

Jarlek stopped a few minutes later to catch his breath. What had happened? Whoever that man was, he was hurting the forest. The forest was life for the Guardians, the tribes who lived here for centuries, and drew on the life within for their magic. This dead-faced figure had to be stopped. And though he may have some sort of magic of his own, he was no match for the might of the Ancient Forest embodied. Jarlek knew the rites to channel the power into himself, though he hadn't used them since his naming day ritual. He stood with his back against a great oak, breathing heavily and trying to recall the words to the ritual. Then Korenak appeared.

Jarlek dropped to his knees, hands over one another in front of him. "All honor to you, Great Ancestor!" the youth squeaked. This time, at least, he would observe traditions.

The spirit absently waved the greeting away. "Enough of that, boy," it said, looking back in the direction of the dead-faced man. "you've got heavier rocks to haul. You're from the, what, Raven's Feather tribe?" The spirit looked toward him, and Jarlek felt insignificant. This man had served the forest for centuries, protecting it in death as he had in life. He had a commanding presence even in death. As one of the Ancestor Spirits, he had incredible powers, and could grant them to living Guardians he deemed worthy of the honor. Many young warriors dreamed of becoming the Chosen of the Spirits, wielding the might of the Ancient Forest against outside forces. Maybe he appeared to Jarlek to-

"Don't even think about it," Korenak laughed, guessing easily the route the boy's thoughts had taken. "You're good, don't get me wrong. Eyes sharp enough to see me clearly and good ears to hear the forest's signal. But you've got years of training ahead of you before I just hand over any powers." The youth's cheeks turned red, bright against his dark skin. The spirit reached down to ruffle Jarlek's hair, though all he felt was a slight warm wind. "Don't worry, you've a part to play, boy. Your tribe, it's the Raven's Feathers, right?" the spirit asked again.

"Yes, Great Ancestor" Jarlek manage to meekly reply.

"Then run to them. Find an old man by the name of Tor Blacknail. Tell him the old fox sent you. Explain everything. the calls of the forest, the hooded man, everything. Lead him back to the screaming tree. And if you don't find that blank-faced man, dead on the ground, tell him I did all I could." Before the youth could even protest, the spirit of Korenak, ancient defender of the forest, had faded away. Jarlek hesitated for a moment more, then took off through the forest, climbing a tree and leaping from branch to branch back to his village.

As he leaped, the young guardian's mind raced. Tor Blacknail was an old shaman, estranged from the rest of the tribe and living on his own. Jarlek had seen his hut many times, and been warned away from visiting. Sometimes he and the other boys would throw a stone at it and run - The one who threw last was the bravest. Jarlek had been taught to stay away from the mad old shaman, but he'd been given a command by one of the great ancestor spirits! He knew there was no shirking this responsibility. Suddenly, the cries of the forest began again. He had to bring Tor Blacknail as fast as possible!

Galvix Shadowtail

Here's the first of a party of adventurers I created while hankering for a D&D game. Don't know if I'll ever play them, or if they'll show up in the game I'm going to run, I just felt like sharing.

Galvix Shadowtail
Tiefling Fighter

 Galvix was captured from a wandering band of Tieflings as a child. He was brought to Broodvale, a city known for slavery and illegal activity. The slavers learned early on that he was too rebellious to trust as a scribe like most Tiefling slaves, so they sold him into the arena.

Galvix took to the life as a gladiator quickly. He learned combat skills but also a flair for the dramatic and a feel for the desires of the crowd. Over the years, he began to enjoy his existence, and he slaughtered all of his opponents, until the last one.

He was scheduled to fight a woman, a blue-skinned Tiefling. She fought with quickness and grace, avoiding his attacks and striking before he could defend. Galvix eventually gained the upper hand, but neither would strike the killing blow. The arena masters were furious! Galvix was locked in the dungeons underneath the arena, and told that the woman had been sold away, somewhere he would never see her again.

For months Galvix raged away in his solitary cell, until what felt like an earthquake allowed him to break the lock on his cage. He returned to the surface to find that a dragon had attacked, setting buildings to topple and burn. He looted what weaponry and supplies he could find, and set out to find the woman who'd matched him in combat.

Attributes:
STR 18
CON 15
DEX 13
INT 10
WIS 10
CHA 10

on D&D

So a hundred encounters in old school hack seems a bit much. I got about 5 down on paper, uploaded 1 or 2. Maybe I'll upload the rest and put the monsters I created in the bestiary. But what I've found that I'm looking for is a return to the D&D world that I had so much fun and so much pain running. I'd like to recapture that feeling, and I think I've finally found the way.

Play D&D.

I quit because I was spending too much effort and putting too much of myself into preparing the game, only for sessions to feel flat and lieless. I blamed the mechanics, but for the first half of the campaign, where I stuck to the rules for the most part, we had fun. Things went downhill when I tried to halfass some mass combat rules for the invasion. How cool i could have made the invasion, with ballista bolts and cannonballs hurtling through the air, the PCs sent by Admiral Browncott on special operations to cut off or disable key points in the invasion force! But no, I split up the party and had them adjust to new rules and they were bad ones too. I don't think they game truly ever recovered.

But I've got off on a tangent. The point is, maybe I was doing it wrong. Maybe the encounter creation, and monsters, and all that stuff IS how you're supposed to play, and in my effort to force the game into my specific vision of good, I ruined how it worked and ended up creating too much work for myself fixing it. Maybe just running D&D as written can be fun, intriguing, full of action and suspense and interesting characters.

So now I'm challenging myself. Read the the DMs guide. Use monsters from the monster manual (but get the new ones with the updated stats.) Maybe buy an adventure, but make sure it's not too grindy. Run a game how it's supposed to be run.

Now that I think about it, most of my adjustments were to make the game less combat centric so that my players (Tommy, Jessie, Mark, Ariel, and Kendra) would have fun. They didn't seem too interested in combat, getting bored when fights dragged on too long and pissed when enemies dealt too much damage. (Who can forget the moment Kendra's character was knocked unconscious, only for me to realize that I was calculating damage wrong and her character was fine? I still can feel the pen hitting me in the forehead.) I can live with adjusting combat slightly, to include easier-to-hit foes that dealt more damage but died quicker. I might even break out the half HP for all monsters rule if we start going and it's bad. But I'd like to start again, and go by the book this time.

That'll require reading the book throroughly. But it'll also require player buy in. I'm not gonna run a tactical game where everyone's supposed to know their role in combat if all everyone wants to do is deal craptons of damage. Or maybe I should, and teach them the meaning of tactics.

But the tactics are only half the problem. My narration is missing details. I don't describe what's going on so much as summarize it. I feel self-conscious trying to describe a scene as if I can see it, hoping to build a similar image in the player's minds. But if I don't do that, everyone will have a different, vague image. The world won't seem real, and interactions will not be as meaningful. I have to learn to describe the situation, the people, the environment. I should start by giving everything a history and an appearance in my notes.

No. I've done that before, and it never comes out right. Maybe I should still have a history, but ask on RPG.net what they think.

Though part of my distrust of D&D 4e is from RPG.net. Maybe I should stay away from there. If I spent all the time I do reading about new techniques on writing adventure bits, I could have something very useful to running a game. The trick is to prepare more content, rather than build up the one path I've got in mind. This way, some get used and some doesn't, but I have lots of different things the players can do. I'll try creating an adventure this way, preparing lots of different kinds of encounters and characters.

After reading through the DM's guide.

2) Vampire on the run

After a full night of chasing Alexander Vendarak, a vampire with delusions of grandeur, through plowed fields and orchards, the PCs find a large farmhouse. It's the only shelter in sight, and the first light of dawn is already peeking over the horizon. Vendarak has certainly gone into hiding in the farmhouse, but he certainly also would leave some surprises for his pursuers.

As the PCs enter the house, they see Vendarak standing at the balcony, looking down at them. He snaps his fingers, and many farmers (minions and empowered thralls) scattered around attack the PCs. Vendarak climbs down the staircase during the fight, intent on entering the cellar.

If the PCs let him get into the cellar, he reveals his final bargaining chip - the farmer's daughter, charmed and holding a knife to her own heart.

Enemy Stats:

Human Farmer (charmed by vendarak)

Minion (1 HP)

Light weapons (kitchen knives, chair legs, etc) 2d10 drop lowest

No Armor (AC 8)

-1 Awareness, -1 Cunning, +2 Commitment

Powers

1AP: Awakening trick - charmed farmer pretends to awaken from his enslavement, giving all attack rolls against him -2 this round. Only works once, then mechanical benefit is lost. Put the AP in the bowl fight before you have the farmer turn back and attack >:)

Enthralled Worker

Guard (2HP)

Heavy Weapons (Splitting Mauls and Sledgehammers) 2 damage

Light Armor (AC 10)

+2 Brawn, +1 Commitment, -1 Charm

Powers

1AP: Bull Rush - On successful attack, pushes self and target into adjacent area in addition to damage

2AP: Fledgling Bite - On successful attack, deals only 1 damage but restores 1 HP to enthralled worker

Alexander Vendarak, Vampire Lord

Villain (5 HP)

Light Weapon (Blacksteel Longsword)

Heavy Armor (Blacksteel Breastplate) (AC 12)

+2 Cunning, +2 Charm, -1 Commitment

Powers

2AP: Binding Grasp - grab target in focus step, if still held at step 7, drain 2 HP

3AP: Mesmerize - if target stays in same arena and does not break eye contact, gain control of target during step 7. Break away roll Commitment vs vampire's Charm.

2AP: Sphere of Darkness - Vendarak wears a small ebony charm around his neck. If broken, it emits a 5' radius globe of darkness for 24 hours. The globe can be moved by picking up and moving the necklace's band. If sunlight is directed into the room, Vendarak will smash this globe, provided he realizes in time (his Awareness vs PC's Cunning)

1) Arachnid Ambush

The PCs have been traveling and decide to stop by the local watering hole. It's called "Glittering Prizes," and the faded sign above the door depicts a treasure chest overflowing with gold and gems, with a golden sword sticking out.

It's unnaturally quiet inside, the people sitting at the bar or around tables all seem to be playing at merriment. Cards are held at awkward angles, drinks raised but never emptied, and there are no heated arguments or brawls. Eyes seem to swivel to the PCs but then snap back before they can confirm.

One of the patrons stands up and walks to the PCs with an awkward gait. He demands a specific treasure they have recently acquired, one that he shouldn't know they have. If they refuse, All the bar patrons tear off their human costumes with a sickening rip, revealing jet black chitinous human-sized bodies with eight legs, and faces with eight glowing green eyes and vicious mandibles. They screech in unison and attack the (hopefully) startled characters.

(Adjust the number of spider people to the size and level of the group. I used just one against a first level group of 5 characters, and it got owned big time.)

Spider-People
5 HP, Reach Weapons (long, pointed legs), Light Armor+ (12 AC)
+2 Awareness, +1 Cunning
Abilities:
1AP:  Leap up to the Ceiling (open)
1AP: Drop down (move and attack in one round, on the attack step)
2AP: Web Spray: Immobilize all opponents in one arena, unless they make a Cunning save (difficulty 7)
2AP: Poisonous Bite: When making a successful attack, the spider person can pull the target in and bite with their poisonous fangs. The target will take an additional poison damage unless they make a Commitment save (Difficulty 7) at the end of the round.

One Hundred Encounters

So I tried GMing Old School Hack recently, and it kinda fell flat. The players created some really awesome characters, including a dwarf who wore armor made of the bones of her ancestors and a cleric named Red Warrior with armor made of a log. (he could pull himself inside and hide!)

But I was winging it, like I assumed was best for Old School Hack, and I came up with some uninspiring arenas and I think it hurt player creativity. How awesome can you be when a goblin and some gnolls ambush along a straight road? Walk up, hit stuff till it falls down.

Part of my problem is lack of experience with the system, but the other part is just that I couldn't come up with a lot of awesome ideas. I've never really though of encounters as grand, sweeping battles like you see in movies. I've always treated them like the orc in a room with a pie. Adding detail in the moment has always been one of my weak areas.

To that end, I've decided to start a project. I'm going to create one hundred encounters for Old School Hack, complete with monster stat blocks and notes for how they'll act. Each one will have multiple arenas of different types, connected together in interesting ways. I'll probably rely heavily on monster manuals and convert a lot of monsters in the process.

And if I can complete this project, I'll know I can overcome my Gamer ADD and stick with a game for more than like a week. Seriously, that's been an issue with me.