Springfield Mall, 198X

In Springfield USA
sometime in the 1980’s
terror lurks in the mall…

Introduction 

Unknown to the shoppers at Springfield Mall, a reality-jumping alien ship has arrived, invisible and untouchable, in one of the closed stores. By day, everything appears normal. By night, strange beings prowl the dark shops stealing and causing mischief. But something far worse awaits the people of Springfield on Black Friday. Terror beyond imagining lurks within the ship, preparing a campaign of mind-bending domination. (more…)


Posted in 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Location, rules agnostic and tagged , by with no comments yet.

Gamma Complex

In a distant age, at the edge of the galaxy, on a planet named Voek ( UWP: D525A76-6), industrial facilities in the wasteland churn out power generators, spaceship parts, and other machinery for the Grand Imperial Duchy of Abiodun.

Overview – Gamma Complex* is a city-sized science-fiction role-playing setting where a monopolistic corporation, criminal syndicate, royal family, communist dictatorship, or other totalitarian group controls every aspect of life for the residents of the technocratic, massive, hyper-efficient habitable Complex.

The corridor walls of the huge indoor Complex are covered in official murals and motivational posters, and the gray plasticrete passages stretching throughout connect the pay-by-the-minute sleeping-tube warrens to the various work areas and corporate-run stores.

Outside the habitable complex, in the thin air, an immense Scrapyard sprawls for many kilometers. Beyond that, rocky badlands with sparse bits of alien scrub stretch out to the horizon in every direction.

Many workers are in debt to the corporation, and if unable to refinance or get loans, can not afford places to sleep, and eventually, due to their negative credit ratings are only allowed in the access corridors and outside where the atmosphere is thin and their only hope of clearing their debts is bringing in valuable materials from the Scrapyards.

Others, desperate, cunning, or otherwise, take advantage of the Ducal Corporation’s Crime Reporter’s Service, which offers large Gamma Credit (GC) bounties (usually between %5-%20 of the total fine) for any information leading to the fining of any who steal or otherwise violate corporate policy.

The local industry involves significant material recapturing programs, which on planet Voek are concentrated around Gamma Complex, an immense enclosed city-sized building towering over an endless scrapyard. The major industry at Gamma Complex is managing the waste materials from industry in a way that captures valuable materials and keeps costs down.

The whole planet is under the jurisdiction of the Duke of Abiodun. Those without noble titles or connections have little recourse to the law. Workers are classified by the Ducal Corporation into different groups based on their credit scores. The richest Contractors are the Purples, followed by the Greens, Blues, Yellows, Oranges, Browns, and finally, those with debt, the Reds. Workers are required to wear clothes of colors matching their Credit Band – usually some type of work jumpsuit.

Contractors – Most workers at Gamma Complex are “Contractors” or “Sophant Resources” who have made legally recognized arrangements (weather voluntarily, or under duress, or as a result of their parents’ debts) to sell their labor for a period of time. As part of their local job assignments, they are given a certain number of Gamma Credits (GC or GC’s) per local work rotation. Those workers who come from offworld are often delivered to Gamma Complex with significant debts already owed, such as for transport and feeding while being brought to Voek. Many have been sold off as “work-release-prisoners” or “undesirables” under system law from some world or another. Others were born here, inheritors of their parents’ debts. Everyone is required to wear color-coded clothes and mandatory position-tracking name-plates that all visually indicate their job duties, and therefore pay grade and relative status.

Contractor Grades are as follows, and represent cash or credit equal to:

PURPLE – 25 or more Megacredits
GREEN – at least 5 Megacredits
BLUE – at least 1 Megacredit
YELLOW – 500,000 – 100,000 credits
ORANGE – 100,000 – 10,000 credits
BROWN – 10,000 – 0 credits
RED – 0 or fewer credits

Law – Within Gamma Complex and in the Scrapyard the central authorities have total control and tracking of the Contractors’ movements. Contractors can use their nametag-badges to access their work areas and any recreational or sleeping areas that they can pay for. Those without Corporate authorization to be at Gamma Complex will be arrested, subdued if need be, imprisoned, fined, assessed for work skills, and then offered a Corporate Contract to refinance their fees and then pay off the debt over the course of many years. Depending on the contract, interest rates on loaned credits can be quite high, and Contractors often find themselves in debt from which they can never realistically escape.

Crime – All crimes are punished with monetary fines in the form of GCs. From indecency, public intoxication, and vagrancy, to theft, to assault, and other violent crimes, all result in lost Gamma Credits, or if destitute, with debt. Particularity heinous crimes are met with fines in the millions of credits. Those with sufficiently high debts (such as murderers) are concentrated in high-security areas from which they can only access the Junkyard (usually referred to as “The Kennels”). Anyone with a negative credit score (aka debt) is classified as a “Red”, and is required to wear a red jumpsuit to identify themselves. Wearing the wrong color clothing is punished by a heavy fine.

Contractors can also earn small GC rewards for reporting crimes that result in assignment of fees. Usually they earn %5-%20 of any fees levied, varying somewhat depending on the individual contracts and crimes. As a result, the Contractors of Gamma Complex are quick to report any theft, vagrancy, malingering, anti-company-plotting or other “morale code of conduct violations”** to the Corporate authorities. This of course results in false accusations for profit or out of spite, which if caught itself results in a major fine.

Economy – The Ducal Corporation that owns and operates Gamma Complex provides dispensaries where registered Contractors can spend GCs for food, clothing, and other necessities. Sleeping arrangements are paid for by the minute in a vast complex of Corporation owned and operated accommodations. Steep interest rates are charged for any debits workers incur. Debt refinance and consolidation are available, but only from the Corporation. Some seek loans from illegal underground criminal groups. Either way, debtors usually end up in worse debt.

The entire complex is overseen and run from a central command center, where cameras scan every corridor, tracking badges and color-coded clothes are required at all times, and any one without proper clothes, noble connections, or lots of GCs to spend is going to be reported to central security for intruder interrogation or, if resisting arrest, neutralization.

Due to the ever-lowering wages, and the ever-escalating food and sleep-minute charges, the only way to survive in Gamma Complex is to continuously out-compete all of the other workers. Those whos’ Ducal GC debits remain in the negative cannot buy accommodations must go out into the sprawling Scrapyard where all of the planet’s industrial waste is dumped. There, robots and workers dig out the most valuable bits and bring them back to exchange for GCs.

The Scrapyards – The Scrapyards stretch for miles in every direction around Gamma Complex, interrupted only by the spaceyard landing pads and the ribbon of raised plasticrete roadway, a ribbon of white soaring high above the Scrapyards on high arches, carrying roaring supersonic trains and whizzing cars over the horizon towards the planet’s main starport at Sigma Complex.

In the scrapyard huge machines slowly push around mountains of junk, which sky-screeching cargo shuttles and smelly, creaking dump trucks deposit in ever-growing piles. Mobile smelting bots pick bits of metal and drop them into their furnaces. The resulting ocean of trash constantly swells, heaves, and falls in super-slow motion waves as the machines and Contractors methodically sort through, and fight over the scrap.

Scrapyard Encounters

Characters who are not protected from hazardous materials or connected to the Corporation’s extensive and ever-changing material-cataloging database, and who travel in the Scrapyard risk the following encounters (roll 2d6 as often as appropriate, such as when entering a new area, or pausing and engaging in loud conversation):

2 – An Enormous Mutant beast lurking in the sludge attacks, or perhaps the PCs risk falling into a dangerous but hidden toxic sludge pit or similar hazard?

3 – A huge mobile refinery-robot-smelter threatens to scoop up and melt the PCs, or some other huge machinery like a crane, trash shuttle or dump truck is about to carelessly or maliciously drop a huge amount of trash on them and crush them…

4 – Radioligical or bioligical hazard that looks like good salvage – a warhead, data cache corrupted with a computer virus, special ammunition, etc.

5 – Attacked by a larger force of salvagers in red jumpsuits, who will take whatever they can.

6 – 8 Panopticon in the Junkyard
If spotted by a patrol in flying car, or a snoopy or Gamma-Credit-hungry shuttle, ship, worker, robot, or satellite, the PCs might be stopped and questioned by Corporate security. They will fly up in an Corporate Security vehicle and demand that the PCs present official Corporate ID or be immediately subdued and arrested. If arrested for unauthorized presence, non-Contractors will be fined a hefty fee, and then be offered a contract to work for the Ducal Corporation to pay off their fees. Those who sign are evaluated for fitness for work assignment, and then given work duties according to their abilities, with varying pay based on worker availability and seniority. Most unauthorized persons end up like the majority of residents at Gamma Complex: in an ever-deepening debt that can probably never be paid off. Those who refuse to sign up for a Contract will be assigned to the extremely onerous Default Contract and put to work in the Scrapyard.

9 – Scrap dealer or collection station – the PCs find a place where someone is buying scrap, whether for GCs, or barter, or whatever else, or perhaps an automated station or giant land crawler that is accepting choice scrap for secure transport back to the smelters and factories.

10 – Useful scrap of some type – Space-radio? Jet packs? Food? A friendly but damaged robot? Skeleton key for their space-handcuffs?

11 – Puppet Masters Ship – Standing among the heaps of junk and trash, an off-kilter beat-up 1950’s Earth-style refrigerator lies with it’s door-side tilted up at the sky like a swollen belly. Behind the door of the beat up refrigerator is a multi-dimensional-reality-jumping-ship operated by insectoid creatures known as Puppet Masters (see Class of 199x). They bring their ship here sometimes to collect materials and kidnap people to use as mind-controlled slaves. Entering requires significant work to bypass the super hi-tech / magically warded door, or the use of one of the mind-control collars that all of the Puppet Master slaves wear.

12 – Overlooked Salvage – for some reason this very valuable piece of salvage, be it a trophy, piece of technology, spaceship or vehicle of questionable quality, or a massive gemstone or idol) has been misplaced in the Scrapyard.

Outside of Gamma Complex
In the huge wasteland around Gamma Complex the people are mostly escapees from the Junkyard or the non-employees: a group of humanoids, mostly Voekian natives, who have adapted to the local toxic environment to various degrees. Some have advantageous mutations, but most just die, be it slowly or quickly.

Terrible creatures great and small, and wondrous ones as well, thinly pepper the harsh scrub of the highlands for many miles.

FIN

*with much love to Paranoia the RPG, and hilarious memories of nonsense in Alpha Complex, back in 1998x-199x!

** including belonging to or associating with any organized group, political party, fellowship, union, cult, or religion


Posted in Campaign Setting, Location, Lore / Worldbuilding, Region, rules agnostic, Science-Fiction, Traveller and tagged , , , by with no comments yet.

The Lair of the Wyrm

This fantasy role-playing game scenario is the lair of the Wyrm of Etiniga, the draconic creature from the adventure: The Suitor’s Challenge. I also used a shorter, modified version of this dungeon for the medieval age dungeon in season 2 of Class of 198x. This map could also serve as basically any dragonlike creature’s lair in your home game.

Creatures

As the person running the game, select a number and type of creatures for the below encounters according to what seems appropriate to the characters attempting to delve the dungeon. The scenario probably entails navigating three to five encounters, so a gamut of medium and hard encounters is probably appropriate, based on Player Character number and level (consult your Monster Manual and Dungeon Master’s Guide or equivalent books for more guidelines on this topic). My advice: make it hard, but not impossible. Don’t be afraid to throw in a couple of reinforcements (on either side) when appropriate, but overall try to present a difficult but achievable scenario.

Entrance

Situated in a large natural cavern hidden in the ravine past the hills north of Vistola, the lair of the cursed Wyrm of Etiniga’s maw stands open. A cavern in the side of a ravine, twenty feet wide and receding into the yawning darkness of a larger chamber ahead. Close examination of the gravely ground reveals clawed footprints of a variety of sizes, among dry old bloodstains.

The Lair of the Wyrm (5 foot squares)

Areas

1) Gruesome Display
A pile of broken animals, people, and weapons have been arranged into a sort of horrid meat-drying scaffolding in this chamber. The corpses are in varying stages of decay and bear jagged bite marks on whatever is left of them. Broad natural stone passages lead to the left and to the right.
Loud noises in this chamber will alert the kobolds and lizardfolk to the right in areas 3 and 4.

2) Chasm
This passage is bisected by a twenty foot deep crack in the stone, at the base of which a shallow underground stream flows. The walls bear black moss and faintly glowing white lichen.
Climbing up or down is a difficult task (DC 20) due to the moisture and the slick growths on the walls.

3) Lizardfolk
The warband of lizardfolk who have come to the caves to worship the Wyrm and raid the countryside live in this cavern, eating from the corpses in area 1 and otherwise being served by the kobolds. Among them is a war shaman who will aid them with magic against intruders. The lizardfolk warband spends its time eating, resting, and raiding the surrounding countryside, dragging back both shepard and sheep upon which to feast.
They will lead the attack against intruders, backed up by the kobolds and the shaman as their leader.

4) Kobolds
Numerous kobolds already lived in nearby caves when the Wyrm arrived, and have come here to join in the worship and feasting. They mainly live in this cavern, and perform most of their domestic tasks here from cooking over small firepits to coppersmithing spear heads and knives.
They will join the lizardfolk in defense of the caverns, taking advantage of the narrow passages that connect areas 4, 5 and 7 to flank and sneak up on intruders. Medium sized creatures must squeeze through the narrow passages at half speed, and are at disadvantage to attacking foes and defending themselves.

5) Idol
The kobolds and lizardfolk have built a shrine here to the Wyrm: a stone block with a silver-and-gold gilded idol of the serpentine Wyrm with eyes of garnet. Piled up at the base of the altar is the wealth of the tribe, including several boxes of sandalwood incense, one hundred gold coins, twice as many pieces of silver coin, and a pot of healing balm which will heal 2d4+3 hit points when applied to wounds.
The shaman will make their last stand here against intruders and will fight to the death to protect the shrine.
The idol itself is is worth 200 gold, but it is also warded with a curse, and the first non-lizardfolk to touch it will take 3d8 points of acid damage, unless they make a Constitution save for half damage.

6) Fungi and Slime
Putrid-smelling green slime drips from the ceiling of this shallow bowl of a cavern. Below, grayish gunk stirs slightly among shards of bone and dark smelly spoor.
Creatures entering the cavern will be dripped upon by the green slime on the ceiling, and attacked by the gray ooze on the ground. Unless they succeed on stealth checks, those who pass by this cavern are likely to be pursued by at least one gray ooze.
For lower level parties, consider using Blue Oozes instead of gray oozes.

7) Chasm
This large cavern is split by a 30 foot deep crack in the stone ground.
The chasm is difficult to climb up and down, but the Wyrm can arch across it without difficulty.
Loud noises in this cavern will attract the ire of the Wyrm.

8) Wyrm
The Wyrm of Etrigia lies here, a gleaming shiny black mass of coils and claws, making gruesome noises.
If using the True Love plot twist version of this adventure, medium difficulty (DC 15) Sense Motive skill checks will reveal the beast appears to be in pain, and is writhing and scratching at itself, biting its tail, all without piercing its scaly hide. With successful Perception checks, of if the princess has accompanied the party she will recognize the silver necklace around the serpentine creature’s neck as the one she gave to her true love. If she can kiss the willing beast, the curse will be broken and the Wyrm will revert to their former self.
Otherwise the Wyrm will attack, kill, and then eat any who intrude, or those making loud noises in the adjacent cavern (area 7, above).
The Wyrm‘s hide is invulnerable to non-magical slashing and piercing damage, and will make a grand prize for any who can collect it. If the Wyrm is slain its scales can be made into hide armor that grants the wearer resistance to slashing and piercing damage. This legendary magic item requires attunement.

 


Posted in 1st edition D&D, 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Adventure, Fantasy, rules agnostic by with no comments yet.

Mind Flayer Lair

I came up with this dungeon when my players wandered into hex C2-20 in the classic Dungeons & Dragons adventure Descent Into the Depths of the Earth, a great old adventure which encourages DMs to fill inthe blank encounter areas with dungeons of one’s own design.

One of the players was playing a Warlock with the Far Ones pact, and I wanted to introduce a re-occurring Mind Flayer antagonist who would be a contact for the Warlock for their pact. The result was a nasty little dungeon filled with traps and horrors. When the Mind Flayer within contacted the warlock telepathically to offer magical secrets the Player Characters followed them right in.

mind flayer lair

The evil architects of this stronghold forced their slaves to build it as a spiraling trap, with a raised, hidden central area from which they could use their psychic powers on hapless intruders. As their prey make their way through the outer areas, encountering the mind-controlled slaves who dwell there, the Mind Flayers will lurk, peering through hidden peep-holes to use mind blasts and charm powers on their victims. If discovered, the Mind Flayers will retreat up 20 foot vertical shafts to the central passages and behind further secret doors.


Posted in 1st edition D&D, 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Adventure, Fantasy, Location, Lore / Worldbuilding, rules agnostic, Trap and tagged by with no comments yet.

The Vampires of Grimsport

800th POST!

After 12 years and 799 articles detailing new magic items, monsters, spells, characters, encounters, locations, and adventures, Unicorn Rampant Publishing and Claw Claw Bite Magazine are thrilled to present you with this free adventure for Dungeons & Dragons or other fantasy role-playing games.

Thanks for coming with us on this amazing journey of the imagination, and look for this and so much more in the next issue of Claw Claw Bite!

Grimsport

In the land of Findor, where the Hadevar River meets the Soral Sea, the gray city of Grimsport broods. Dark stone buildings with slate roofs cluster around the main square, a short walk up the cobblestone road from the docks. There are found the homes of the ruling Captains’ families. Stone walls separate the inner city from the wooden homes of the tradespeople and serfs. Farms dot the banks of the river further inland.

It is from this city that the region gets it’s moniker “The Pirate Kingdoms.” Grimsport is the largest city in the region and the closest thing to a capital, and the primary source of the raiders that plague the Soral Sea. But in Findor no one rules an area larger than a stronghold or city, save the goblins of the northern wastes.

City of Grimsport

The Town of Grimsport

The boat-owning worthies who make their homes in the city center form the Captains’ Council, the closest thing to a government in this violent port town. They own most of the farmland and assign it to serfs. They serve as the bankers and trade in many goods. Some families have small fleets. Others have but one ship to their names.

The most important Capitans’ families are as follows:

  • VonWaldemar – The wealthiest and oldest of the families, with the largest home on the central square. Said to be the descendants of some of the first humans to come to this wild, cold land many generations ago. Old man VonWlademar hasn’t been seen in public in years, and people sometimes whisper about pale, ghostly figures peering out of the heavily curtained mansion windows at night.
  • Thyra Askrdottir – Daughter of Askr Vulfethson, Thyra’s exploits as captain of her father’s ship have earned her a reputation as a skilled and ruthless pirate.
  • Addis Rígson – Addis owns two ships, which are captained by his two eldest sons Victor and Ricus. His youngest son Sigurd wanders the land seeking his fortune and could be a NPC or hierling met here or elsewhere.
  • Soljev – Captain Soljev sails the Drunken Siren.
  • Ragnhild – Captain of the Kraken’s Maw and the Burning Spear.
  • Kromulf – The new captain of the Black Hydra, an infamous pirate ship that Kromulf wrested from its previous captain.
  • Gunnar Smithson – Owns a small fleet of fishing vessels, sailed by his extended family, and the ship Silver Wave.
  • Malte One-Hand – An old captain, now mostly retired due to his ship being in poor repair.
  • Gull Erland – His ship is in drydock for repairs which he cannot afford.
  • Eberhard the Bloody – Has one small ship and a reputation as a unpredictable and violent man.
  • Bjarke Littlebear – Sails a large fishing boat with his five sons.

Locations

  • The Wailing Wench – This rowdy tavern sits on the road between the main square and the docks, and is always full of sailors. Thieving, fighting, kidnapping and every other type of crime are regular occurrences here. A fenced pen and stables are attached to the back for travelers animals.
  • Church of the Sky Father and Sea Mother – attended by a priest and priestess, with smaller shrines to other local dieties such as Krom, etc.
  • Smithy – Worked by a smith and a team of apprentices and journeymen, with a good assortment of tools, weapons, and armor, used or ready-made.
  • Shipwright – Currently building a 20 foot wooden currach.
  • Tradespeople
  • Farms
  • Hanging Tree & Godswood
  • Ruined Watchtower – built long ago by the Captain’s council, no repairs have ever been made to the watchtower. Over the decades it has fallen into ruin, and the whole north wall of the two-story tower has collapsed. None know about the small cache of treasure buried there.

Adventures and Encounters in Grimsport

  • Thieves in the Swamps – A band of thieves operates out of the swamps to the west. They secretly use Malte One-Hand’s ship as storage for their stolen goods.
  • Pressed into Service – Press gangs round up drunks and force them to crew the captains’ ships. While the Player Characters are crewing the ship any sort of mishap or adventure could befall them. The ship could sink in bad weather, throwing the heroes upon some unknown shore. Perhaps they are forced to scout a fortress the Captain wishes to raid, or perhaps the PCs are forced to be the first wave of the attack. The Lilend at the Stormking Rocks might lure them to her isle and send them after the Rune of Life in the shadowlands at the edge of the Land of the Dead.
  • Pickpockets and Muggers – The rough rogues of Grimsport will take any opportunity to enrich themselves if they see people not paying attention to their purses, or who they think are weak enough to rob (preferably one character who they follow until they outnumber their victim).
  • Dueling in the Streets – Disputes in Grimsport are often settled personally, and duels are a common form of conflict resolution, weather to first blood or to the death. In such a place the Player Characters could easily become embroiled in a dangerous situation. Mistaken identity, false accusations, or just disrespecting someone or being in the wrong place at the wrong time could result in a duel.
  • Escaped Slaves – Some slaves captured in a raid have escaped and a reward is offered for their return.
  • Beggars – Old crippled fisherman and seamen beg for alms in the square and by the docks.
  • Grave Robbers – Graves dug on the hill behind the church are always found empty a week or so after burying. No one in town really seems to care, as this has been going on for as long as anyone can remember. Under cover of night, the ghouls who crew the VonWaldemar’s ships and attend them in their mansion are digging up the graves to feast upon the rotten bodies. Investigation after the next burial (a common occurrence) will lead the Player Characters to the basement door of the VonWaldemar mansion.
  • Land Dispute – One of the Captains wants some land currently owned by another Captain and the Player Characters are asked to undertake some skulduggery. Burn the crops, poison the well, kill the farmers, or whatever is needed to get the current tenants off and new tenants on.
  • Missing Servant Girls – Player characters who spend much time in town will hear that servant girls sometimes go missing. Investigation leads to the ghouls in the basement of the Von Waldemar mansion (see map).

VonWaldemar Mansion Areas

  • The stone exterior, high windows, and peaked slate roofs of this mansion site like a dark and gothic castle on the town square. A fence surrounds the front and sides of the windowless bottom floor, and a stair in the back leads down to the basement entrance. The front door will not be answered unless it is being battered down, and then by ghoul butlers and Matrok, an armored wight who will demand to know what business interrupts the VonWaldemar’s rest.
  • The ground floor has several mostly-empty halls, a decorative armory, and a small library of dusty common books. An undead shadow, the restless spirit of one of the long-dead Von Waldemars, haunts these halls and will warn Gunnar of any intruders.
  • The basements are overseen by a ghoul named Harod and a flesh golem doorman named Pip. Peasant servants prepare food while ghoul footmen serve the vampires upstairs. The locked vault contains a large amount of plateware, iron ingots, and other loot pillaged from around the Soral Sea, along with several chests of gold, silver and copper coins, and two empty caskets where the vampires will flee if defeated.
  • The sub-basement holds cells, a half-flooded chamber where corpses float in briny water, and their horrible feeding area. VonWaldemar, the vampire master of the house, is sometimes found here feeding with the ghouls among the cracked bones of countless people. A secret passage leads to a small, rough-hewn passage which leads to the town well, and is guarded by a gargoyle.
  • The VonWaldemar family quarters are upstairs, as are the quarters of their wight guards and ghoul servants. Gunnar VonWaldemar and his daughter Helde are centuries-old vampires, and the only remaining members of the family. They are attended by several ghoul servants. Their quarters contain much finery, and any victims that they are feeding from. The windows in the vampires’ quarters have the shutters nailed closed and reinforced so that no sunlight can enter. Gunnar is a 7th level wizard, and his chambers contain his spellbook, many magic scrolls, and correspondence with someone who signs with a unique snowflake-like rune (the evil lich White Eye), and who has asked Gunnar to use an enclosed scroll of glacial onslaught to draw the oncoming unnatural summer ice south, down the river. If necessary, the VonWaldemar vampires will become bats or rats and use the ratholes, which crisscross the entire mansion with a network of rat-tunnels, to escape.

VonWaldemar Mansion

VonWaldemar Mansion

VonWaldemar Mansion Sub-Basement

Background image by Nikolai Rerikh, Guests from Overseas, 1901, Tretyakov Gallery,  Moscow (public domain)


Posted in 1st edition D&D, 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Adventure, Fantasy, Location, rules agnostic and tagged by with no comments yet.

Class of 198X Characters

How you make characters for use in Class of 198X – The Adventure is going to depend on what RPG rules you’ll be using, and what type of characters the players will be making.

For modern characters, I recommend using the D20 Modern rules, available here: D20 Modern SRD Rules. The D20 Modern statistics here should work with the monsters from the 3.5 D&D SRD and Monster Manual.

Otherwise, use whatever character creations rules are indicated by the rules you’re using.

When I ran this adventure for the CowChop guys, I used the base classes from D20 Modern, and changed the skills to be 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons style. The main difference is that D20 uses skill points, and in 5th ed. a character is either proficient with a skill, or they’re not. Doing this let me use the rules and monsters from 5th ed. D&D, which I prefer to the 3rd edition.

Here are their character sheets at the end of the adventure, after they all leveled up to 2nd level.

 

 

 

 


Posted in 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Editorial, rules agnostic and tagged by with no comments yet.

Class of 198X

Class of 198X – The Adventure is now available at DriveThruRPG and RPGNow!

In a large shopping mall in the 1980s strange things are afoot. Under a veneer of everyday happy consumerism lurk sinister beings from another world, plotting evil deeds. First the mall will be plagued by a rash of mysterious thefts, followed by kidnappings, and culminating with a devastating fire. If the heroes fail to discover the evil behind these foul acts, they risk a horrible outbreak that threatens to enslave the entire world.

The Player Characters (PCs) could be teenagers, or they could be fantastic D&D characters transported to this modern setting. They could even be law enforcement agents, paranormal investigators, or science-fiction style space-time police.

Get it today at DriveThruRPG.com and RPGnow.com!


Posted in 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Adventure, rules agnostic and tagged by with no comments yet.

Lost Dwarven City of Dhald’holth

I created this dungeon to use in the caverns of the classic AD&D adventure Descent into the Depths of the Earth, so credit for the inspiration goes to E.G. Gygax.

My players had fallen into an underground river and been washed down to the Sunless Sea. From there they proceeded south to one of the undefined major encounter areas. There they found Dhald’holth, long lost to the dwarves who built it, and now occupied by dark elves, who use it as a fungus and lizard plantation worked by troglodyte slaves.

I expanded upon the area that I ad-libbed at that time to submit to the 2016 One Page Dungeon Contest.

Lost Dwarven City of Dhald'holth90dpi

 

large scale mapTrue grognards may be gratified knowing that I placed this lost city in the hex-grid spaces around P2-36 on the Large Scale Map on the inside cover of that adventure.

Licensed under the Creative Commons Share-Alike License.

Background image by JulomlOwn work, GFDL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9647226


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Planet Eden

Skein Reach subsector 4, parsec 0107 

Eponal Station, situated in orbit above the garden world “Eden” / Eponal 3 – UWP B3638DF-3

Size 4 (0.35 G)
Atmosphere 6 (standard)
Temperature 8 (temperate)
Hydrographics 3 (small seas and oceans)
Population 8 (223 million)
Government D (religious dictatorship led by the Hierophant of the Temple of Cyrix)
Law Level 15 (no weapons, no off-world data or press, no blasphemy, no TL3 or higher technology, and no psionics)

Just inside the border of The Confederation of Planets (CP) is the strict religious dictatorship known as “Eden” by the locals. Travellers who check their nav computers will see this populous garden world listed as Eponal 3. The notes indicate that it is a planet ruled by a strict religious dictatorship. Their leader is a priest known as The Hierophant of the Temple of Cyrix, who is replaced in a secret ceremony every seven years.

Factions The Trade Guild, an obscure charismatic oligarchy who operate the Temple’s cargo ferries.

The primary exports from this agricultural garden world are food and other organics. Interstellar trade is accomplished through Epona Station, with goods shuttled up and down between the orbital starport and the landing pads in the priest’s taboo “City of the Gods”.

As a CP border system, Epona boasts a sizable Confederation naval presence. Epona Station is supported by a network of defensive orbital stations, and is a busy resupply point for Confederation ships.

A red exclamation mark in the library system listing indicates that landing on planet is strictly forbidden by the Confederation of Planets, in accordance with the treaties between the locals and the Confederation. Trespassers will be met with deadly force. Those who dare to defy this warning will either be interdicted by police cruisers and meson fire support from the CP orbital defense stations, or face the wrath of the techno-priests and their stellar-era-tech arsenals on the surface of Eden. This world’s planetary defenses are believed to be substantial enough to repel a sizable invasion force.

Experienced salvage traders know that the CP-operated starport in orbit above Eden has a good market to purchase antique Kraken mechs in any state of repair with no questions asked.

Reports indicate that in addition to using the Krakens for planetary defense, the religious order that rules the planet uses their Kraken amphibious combat walkers to keep the population worshiping the “priest-kings.” If necessary they punish stubborn heretics by sending Krakens to visit “divine punishments” upon any of Eden’s low-tech agricultural communities that question the will of the high-tech “priest-kings”,  “angels”, and “gods” who rule the planet.


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Imperial Star Corvette Deckplan

In science-fiction gaming deck plans for spaceships and star-ports serve a purpose much like dungeons in fantasy gaming. They are both a bounded area where encounters can happen, and a fun visual artifact that stimulates the imagination. With either of these types of maps, gamers can more easily imagine a place and the action that might unfold there. And with deck plans if your characters can get their hands on of one of the ships in question they have the opportunity to go tour the galaxy in it.

Presented here are deck plans and area descriptions for the 500 ton Imperial Star Corvette we posted statistics for earlier.

AREAS

  1. bridge – Duty stations for the helm, sensors, communications, engineering, environmental controls, and a captain’s chair.
  2. engineering – This two-story section contains the power plant, maneuver drives, the jump drive, life support, duty stations for controls of all of the above, and a large lift that descends to the cargo hold. Multiple stairs and ladders allow movement between the decks. A cargo airlock opens to the aft from the bottom floor.
  3. main guns – The fixed particle beam occupies the top deck and the missile launcher the bottom deck of this two-story area, with duty stations for both weapons. A ladder allows passage between the decks.
  4. turrets – The lasers, sandcasters, and sand barrel storage fill the aft of the top floor of these areas. Fire control stations for the dorsal port and starboard turrets share this space on the top deck, while duty stations for the ventral port and starboard turrets are accessed by descending ladders to the lower-deck areas.
  5. fuel processing – The fuel scoop opens to space below this area, and raw hydrogen is refined by the machinery here and stored in the main tanks.
  6. missile storage – The ship’s compliment of 24 standard missiles and an auto-loader are here. A cargo door to the aft gives access to the cargo bay, and a standard door on starboard to the main gun’s lower deck.
  7. cargo bay – In addition to whatever cargo may be carried in the modest 27 tons of space available here, the ship’s 20 ton launch is stowed here, along with the eight emergency berths that serve as the ship’s brig (the Emperor’s justice is cold). A large cargo door and ramp opens towards the fore of the cargo bay for loading, unloading, and launching the ship’s raft. Cargo doors open to missile storage, fuel processing, and engineering. A cargo lift gives access to engineering’s top deck.
  8. escape pods – Accessible from engineering, the ship’s seven escape pods await occupants here, and in the case of use launch through the top of the ship behind the turrets.
  9. common areas – The mess for the crew, tables, chairs and a large holographic display occupy the port common area, while tables, couches, and small video screens make up the lounge on the starboard side.
  10. barracks – Accommodations for ten star marines in the form of individual bunks fill these two barracks.
  11. staterooms – Double-occupancy staterooms make up the quarters for the ship’s three shifts of gunners, engineers, and helms-beings, with two shifts hot-bunking in each bed. The captain enjoys one of the large staterooms near the bridge for their personal use, while the first and second mates share the other large stateroom across the hall from the captain. All staterooms have doors that open to the central hallway that connects the bridge to the main guns.

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