Some Notes on Setting

Last night the baby slept quite well; we did get woken, but it didn't seem long enough for my brain to start to process something. It was carrying around half an idea from yesterday about luxuries in the Oort Cloud (what would be really valuable, or what would people treat as really valuable) but it is still only a half-formed thought.

And everything that is coming together related to that idea just reminds of things that Patrick has already said before about moving valuables in the Veins of the Earth.

So instead of writing about that, I thought I would share some of the thoughts and ideas about the more general space that the campaign I'm looking to run will sit in.

It started with the idea of running Dogs in the Vineyard in Space and then as I thought about it more I realised that the kernel of that was that I wanted to run something with humans - not aliens, although they might be in the background somehow - and I wanted to run something that was a harder science-fiction than other things I had seen or heard of. Not grim, but just with some thought about how and why things might work.

Then I got Machinations of the Space Princess, which right on the back cover says that it isn't any of that "hard sci-fi mularkey". That said, reading through I could see that for the most part it had a good OSR feel to it (as much as I can tell something is OSRish) - which at the very least means that it would be familiar and not require too much in the way of explanation to get people playing it (Dogs is great, but it takes some getting used to).

So, having read Machinations I started to think about what a campaign in the Oort Cloud would need. It would need places to go and people to see; it would need some general background hooks for why humans would be there. It would need some means of travel, and to be realistic would need an eye on just how fast people would get around. I thought about the species traits that the book uses for chargen and NPC gen (which then made me realise that I would need some tables for quick NPC gen perhaps!) and I realised that many of these traits would still work as human adaptations or traits - humans either having their natural talents or genetic enhancements.

But I wanted to remove the Psion and psi powers, and also the cybernetics - these didn't feel like a good fit. At the same time, the ships and the way they are handled felt like it needed tweaking (hence my noodling with "popomatic" ships in previous posts). Removing and tweaking these parts meant that the setting started to focus, but it also removed some of the moving parts - if I didn't have to think about these things then I was free to start thinking about the other aspects of the setting and the game.

(Aside: a recent thought has had me think that ships might have just seven stats/attributes, to mirror the seven stats of PCs. Just a thought, not fully thought through)

If I am going to play this Oort Cloud hard sci-fi hack of Machinations with people though, I'm going to have to do some more writing. The book is pretty well written I would say, but it gives people a lot of options: a base weapon doing x damage costs 5gp, but then multiply by this or that for these options like such and such... Which is nice in a sci-fantasy setting, and maybe something that you would really go town with, but in a hard sci-fi setting it feels like too much. I think what customisation options are presented need to be done cleanly, almost as tick-boxes? I was also thinking of creating character sheets that show off the skills-lists (which are extensive actually), rather than have little boxes for people to write in. That way they can see what they can do at a glance.

Anyway! This has been helpful to me to get some ideas out of my head - and to realise connections I didn't know where there previously. I hope at least it has been interesting to you the reader - and if you are interested in playing (maybe that's playtesting?) this in August or early September then drop me a line!

Somewhere South: Wetham Days

GMing felt great last night - it had been far too long between games nights. Will have to think about that in the next few months, as there are still times when I'm going to be away. But anyway! On to the AP. I did a oneshot for Patrick a while back that started off in Tales of the Scarecrow and ended up in the city of Wetham. Last night continued the adventure...

Monster: The P'Lacki

A monstrous purple and black demon squid that crawls on land. It comes from somewhere beyond, and cannot be reasoned with in any way, although it has at least average human intelligence.

The P'Lacki wants to challenge the strong, and will instinctively move to attack an opponent with high STR. It has a body three metres long and over two metres high, but seems much bigger as it drags itself along on a combination of fleshy rear paddles and two sets of tree-trunk thick tentacles. Despite its massive form it can move quickly.

The P'Lacki's body is a purple and black segmented armour that conceals vital and sensory organs. It generally does not reveal its terrible demonic maw, which is a weak spot. A dozen rune-shaped eyes ring the 472 teeth at the heart of the fleshy death-hole.

Some say the P'Lacki is a unique creature in the world. Some say it seeks death on this plane to return to the demon realms. All who survive and have run away agree that it is a deeply unsettling creature.

The P'Lacki
AC: Platemail; 9HD, 50HP
Attacks: The P'Lacki has up to four attacks depending on how many are in melee with it. Most attacks will be simple tentacle swipes (+2 to hit, 1+d6 damage, 30% chance to knock down on unsuccessful save versus paralysis). Whoever in the group has the highest STR (currently) will be targeted for a different kind of attack. A thin needle will skewer out from a fore-tentacle and attempt to stab this person in the arm for d2 attacks. Attacks are at +1 to hit and do 1+d3 damage. The victim loses 1 STR point immediately and must make a save versus magical effect to avoid losing one more. On a critical fail the victim loses a third STR point and d2 CON points. Every STR/CON point the P'Lacki takes instantly gives it another hit die - and corresponding hit points - but confers no other attack bonuses.

If a victim is killed or reduced to 2 hit points or less, the P'Lacki will attempt to eat them. The bulb like body will split open in a stream of purple slime revealing the eyes and teeth. If the creature does this it will make one attack at +4 to bite. If successful it will attempt to swallow the victim (takes one round). In either of these (potential) rounds, any successful attacks that are specified against the mouth/eye areas will deal triple damage. Despite having concealed eyes, the P'Lacki suffers no sensory penalties and can see in perfect/magical darkness.

Any STR or CON points lost in combat to the P'Lacki will take d3 weeks per point to recover. The total number of weeks is halved if the P'Lacki is killed, and halved if the person rests - no active adventuring.

Somewhere North: Pugs

Pugs are curious things. They are like twisted up halflings, typically short but with proportional limbs. Their faces are difficult to read, as they seem to be permanently screwed-up into disgusted expressions. A pug has floppy dog/rabbit ears jutting out from the sides of its head. Pugs wear furs and skins to keep warm and are moderately intelligent. They construct wooden buildings and are great, natural carpenters.

However they much prefer to take what they can find.

Pugs will settle in any building that they can find to ward against the cold. Out of the mountains and in the south they roam around in small bands and try to stay hidden, sneaking into villages and taking animals – even small children – for food. These small groups are outliers. Further north they teem through the mountains, whole warbands serving under Pug Warlords. Their spiritual leaders sacrifice the impure and the un-pug to draw life and power for greater and more terrible actions. It is rumoured that some of them worship Drazils and Greater Drazils, and make offerings to bring the Final Winter.

Pugs hate halflings and Dwarves. They have never been as far north as the halfling valleys (no-one has, the way is hidden) but they have taken control of some Dwarven buildings and former outposts. It is rumoured that they have found their way in to the Kingdom, but who can say for sure? It is so long since anyone has been to the Kingdom...

They are fearful of the Bridge, and will only cross it under duress or threat from a Warlord.

Around 10% of Pugs can understand human speech.

Pug
2/3HD. No armour or leather armour. Will be armed with one of the following: short sword, sling, dagger, club.

Pug Cleric
2/3HD. Leather armour and wielding a carved staff. The staff is a little awkward and big for combat (-1 to hit). A typical cleric will have two 1st level spells.

Pug Warlord
4/5HD. Warlords and their sons are big for Pugs, and can be anything up to four-and-a-half feet in height. They wear inherited chainmail and will usually wield two-handed axes or clubs to show their troops that they are tough. They are often pissed off about something.

Encounters with Pugs
When encountering Pugs in the wild, roll d6:

1-2: Small group.
There are 2d4 pugs, a third of them have 3HD. There will be no particular leader, whichever one has the most hit points will be deemed most fit to lead. Barring strange circumstances they'll have 2d20 silver between them.

3-4. Medium group.
There are 6+3d6 pugs, a third have 3HD. One person in the group will be a cleric. 50% of the time there will be a particularly big pug with 4HD, however it will be wearing leather armour and won't be the son of a warlord. A medium group will have 20+d100 silver.

5. Large group.
20+3d10 pugs in the group. A quarter of them have 3HD, including two clerics. The leader of the group will be a warlord's son, 4HD, wearing chainmail and desperate to prove himself. About a quarter in total will be willing to ride shaggy pigs in to battle, trying to sling enemies. In their booty they will be carrying 4d100 silver and 2d6 gold.

6. Warband.
Potentially, a force to be reckoned with. 50+d100 pugs, a quarter with 3HD. There will be a cleric for every twenty pugs (rounded down). The materials and possessions of the band will be carried on carts/sleds pulled by shaggy pigs. Pugs will ride pigs into a fight. The Pug Warlord in charge will have 5HD and will have two sons with him who have 4HD. A pug warband take their spoils with them in chests: 600+2d100 silver and 3d20 gold.

(Pugs have been met several times in my Somewhere North campaign)

Making Things Up

Just bringing together some thoughts on where the setting for Somewhere North is coming from...

It all started with wanting to run something using Lamentations of the Flame Princess. And since it was nearly Christmas, I offered to do a one-shot. I made up an "evil Santa's house" and saw what happened when noisms and Patrick went there. After that they seemed to be enjoying things, so we kept playing. A campaign was born.