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Thursday, October 29, 2009

[Playtest Campaign] Last Friday (23rd)-

While maintaining some modicum of tact, I shall not dwell on my calendar age, but will say that yesterday I had one of the less interesting birthdays.
--Good food, a friend slogging with me through long minis combat playtest for another friend's soon to be released system, and my mom making sure to make it feel like a birthday.
---Still feel like the wind has been knocked out of my sails, since Pop's death. Whew.

I know most folks don't like long game reports, so here's last session's overview:

* Mela Mela's tinkering with the two-headed dog saliva's property to regenerate the dogs' wounds, and the properties of Tybalt's pod-faery-daughters'-pods leads to a breakthrough of 'universal' regeneration, which she is developing into an unguent.
--This then leads to an expedition to the island from whence the pods were harvested, except that the island is renowned for phasing in and out of the Mundane Realm, and no one knows exactly where it is, only that it is between four other islands, each rather distant from each other, and in an even shallower region of the Middle Sea (also known as the Storm Plain). This trek requires yet another shallower-draught ship, and takes a few weeks and about 10k count invested in its success.

* The nearest of the islands in the triangulating quad is inhabited by a neolithic people whose creation myth is one of emerging from the ground about two thousand years ago (early in the Mad Spring, after the Black Winter, or The Scourging, etc.), and speak of monsters from the night sky who descended and wrought terror and hardship upon them for centuries. At that, Ashta, the descendant of the Superstructure Technician, sees that the flat smear of an island is dotted with remnants of some metalloid material, now long corroded and turned to a sort of granular foam -- implements and a mental reconstruction of the airstrip is verified by Tybalt (Engineering descendant) and Delver (the increasingly more-Aelbaan WI Vrun).

* Ahni, a polished-obsidian shadow-faery (about 8" tall at the time), steals Delver's distilled liquid 'mummy-spice' (the remains of his more-Aelbaan Qhattanian ancestors), and Jaunted away with it down to the floor of the crevasse. When next she was spotted, 'fully grown' to adult human height, she Jaunted away with Mela and brought her to a wall in the cavern where a very regular sound and the sensation of a draught could be felt. The other party members meet up with them and then puzzle-through the alien tech-interface.

* A liche contacted Delver through the interface, and they ran afoul of each others arrogance, and a new enemy was made.

* The wall proved to be a door, and provided entrance to a vast subterranean city --the 'computer' interface still active. It is puzzled together that the site represents a non-contiguous starship whose parts were phased into any open space that could house the individual spaces of the ship. This means that the very large craft (smaller than the Warden, for instance, but not by much), is scattered 'intact' in chunks, throughout about a one-thousand XsM radius, in a sort of elongated spade pattern, due to the steep angle and speed of the intentional dispersion -- a function of the vessel's Shadowdrive.
--Megadungeon enough for y'all?

* A female alchemist of a slate-grey skinned species, the Dryvv Aelbaan, helped the PCs for the usual payment in literal blood. The encounter also cemented the PCs in this game to events 'next door' in my old Pathfinder Beta game, which flipped my SO's lid for a bit. :)

* A battle with the undead minions of the liche was interesting, but went primarily in the PCs' favour, especially with the undead constabulary of the 'city' operating in the protection of Delver, the 'Diplomat' as the Interface refers to him.

* A submarine vehicle is the prize, but the party falls back to the entrance with plans to bring the island under their control through Delver's shipping company.

6 comments:

  1. "It is puzzled together that the site represents a non-contiguous starship whose parts were phased into any open space that could house the individual spaces of the ship. This means that the very large craft (smaller than the Warden, for instance, but not by much), is scattered 'intact' in chunks, throughout about a one-thousand XsM radius, in a sort of elongated spade pattern, due to the steep angle and speed of the intentional dispersion -- a function of the vessel's Shadowdrive.
    --Megadungeon enough for y'all?"


    What an awesome concept! Are the different sections of the ship physically linked at all - did it materialize in a cave system? Cool idea, can't wait to hear how the exploration goes.

    BTW, is this a playtest campaign for your Urutsk system? I just downloaded that and started reading it, haven't gotten far but I like what I have seen so far. I will send you a review when I finish it.

    Good work!

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  2. Hi, Carl,

    Wherever there was enough space for a section (whole or in part) to fit in karsts, caves, caverns, lava tubes, etc., that's where that portion was crammed.
    --The Shadow-based transport methods still function to and from man of these sections, while others are somehow blocked, and are thus geographically isolated and require tunnelling to re-join.
    ---Without giving too much away, those spaces where the parts of the ship are scattered, were mined-out a long time ago, when the peculiar deposits were found. :)

    Yes, this is the same setting as those of the rules.
    --Thank you for downloading them. Please make sure to grab the character sheet (mentioned in the previous post).

    The rules are changing a bit, but all for streamlining and better integration with the setting.
    --Looking forward to your feedback/review.
    ---Please check out the previous reviews == All on links to the right.

    Best,

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  3. I like seeing public explorations of beta rule sets.

    Wish you luck with this.

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  4. Lovely adventure, from the sound of it!

    [Happy Birthday, by the way!]

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Stephen: Thank you. As the L-rd wills.

    @Jeff: Thanks, on both counts. :D

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  6. Happy Birthday from another October birth person! Hope to see you at the game over the Thanksgiving weekend!

    ReplyDelete