Thursday 2nd, June NTRPG Con Scenario-

While I am waiting for the photos C. took at the table (and any that surface from the Players, etc.), I'll post the expanded description of the scenario. There is a TL;DR at the end of the post.

--As regards the 'blurb' scenario:

A Continental Vrun fort set up on the Riverland Peninsula of Marnharnna, Dawnmist, has, increasingly, been subject to skirmishes with indigenous persons, after an Aberrant or Dokirin (no one is certain which) witch doctor/holy man attempted to speak to the fort's commander, Major Lanvyk. For his efforts, one of the green troopers beaned the man in the head with a bottle, which seemed only to degrade the situation. From that time forth, roughly five weeks (one and one-half months), greater and greater numbers of natives have attempted to gain entry and have assailed the fort's personnel when shots presented themselves.

The reports of ghostly activities, too, seem to be increasing apace with the native hostilities, and a few minor personnel have met with untimely accidents, some rather bizarre (one was found dead near a well, the other victim is alive, but has lost her vision in one eye -- the eye now milky white).

The 'secret weapon' is a Hierophantic Church relic sent to the site after the palisades were erected but before the interior structures were completed. The priest in charge of the relic is an unyielding perfectionist with no sympathy for the difficulties of the workers or guards, and is increasingly more belligerent with fort personnel, especially Major Lanvyk. Rumours circulating in the fort are that the relic is responsible for the unexplained events, or at least of precipitating them. Only a few troopers are Hierophantic devotees, but this cadre now seem to answer to Divine Shulsyss. The relic is small enough to be carried by one man, but it has been kept out of view, and if Shulsyss' men know what it is, they haven't shared it with anyone else.

The PCs are 'fresh off the ship', having come over from Vrun to the Sunken Continent of Marnharnna for their own reasons [...]

The Fort (Kruinak Rallsahm/'Fort for Staging Exploration') is situated on the rocky shore of an isthmus between North Bay and Lake Suhorm ('Isthmus Road'), and serves as the nexus for exploration south, deeper into the Riverland Peninsula, or north, into the clay mountains of the mainland.

Kruinak Rallsahm consists of three three storey structures composed of two layers of timbers filled in with tamped earth and local stone, the still grassy common, and specialist workshops which abut the palisade (as per structures). The main gate is higher than the secondary gate, and opens to a plateau of limestone and bauxite gravel just below the summit of the hill atop which the fort is situated. This area is the main loading/unloading point for the wagons and carts, and is planned to operate as a trading post in the foreseeable future. The secondary gate opens below ground, and exists through a worked natural cleft in the rock some 14.5 Msnk/65' below the hill's summit and concealed by a thick patch of stinging nettles. It is here that one finds a shallow although broad pool which is spring fed, potable although the mineral water contributes a strange soapy flavour to the local brews and is unpalatable to all save the parched throated labourers working atop a higher peak some 40.25 Msnk/50 yd. distant. These men toil through hard rock to fashion a rook from which lookouts would espy the surroundings while enjoying greater security due to the material's strength and the sheer sides of the pinnacle. An adjoining tunnel is rumoured to be the next major work project.

Major Lanvyk is perfunctorily friendly towards the newcomers, knowing that the tight confines will quickly cause friction and the more so if the raids do not abate soon. He is an architect by trade (Superstructure Technician Secondary Caste) and is usually present in the common overseeing the placement of shacks and stores of provisions, or atop his tower communicating messages via Aldus-lamp to the rook's construction. If approached, Lanvyk is brief, but polite in his communication; clearly more of a thinker saddled with the responsibility of military duty than a hard-head. His broadsword is plain, and his carbine slung barrel down and out of the way -- it is plainly obvious that both are necessities of his station of which he'd rather be free. Brown hair, brown-hazel eyes, pink-tan 'northern' skin tone. 1.5 Msnk Height/6'8.5", 256 Nux/225# Weight, draughtsman's shoulders, brisk gait. Perhaps as old as his mid 20's. Only his age reassures the more experienced soldiers, but he is well liked if only in comparison to the resident Divine.

Shulsyss is rarely seen outside his tower, but when he does appear in the common, it is to demand an object or whatnot from one of the workshops. He never compensates them, nor thanks them, instead castigating them for personal flaws. Shulsyss is in peak physical condition for his 19 years, and is always seen in his reinforced leather armoured suit of red and black, trimmed in gold and embossed with Hierophantic Church motifs. He carries a long dagger. Some men report having seen Shulsyss lift a fellow a few Snk off the ground, from across the common. Most fear his authority and personal power.

Weather this summer's end has been mild and pleasant, with few showers after noon-watch, but the scouts warn of the possibility of food scarcity as the season turns colder. From the fort, the surrounding area is dominated by the large brackish lake (Suhorm), and North Bay, but on the marshlands surrounding the outcropping of rock, are mist shrouded emerald and teal forests and jungles. To the south the dense vegetation gives way after roughly one hundred XsM to the seemingly endless Riverglades of grasses, reeds, sedges, scrub, wooded low hills, and mid-chest deep water slowly trickling through to the Gulf and Storm Ocean. Port Straethys is a small, but burgeoning riverine port city further south, all but unreachable without a ship. To the east is a locale known only as Port, which is located just south of the Terhyk Shallows necessary to navigate to reach North Bay. The Shallows prevent deep-draught vessels from sailing into the Bay, and at Port, cargo and persons disembark for shallow-draught ships to complete the voyage. Kruinak Rallsahm would be the staging point for a port on North Bay near the Smiou Flood Plain of the isthmus.

:: TL;DR: (Fort + Internal Conflict + Weird Happenings + PCs to fix it)

Texas Bound-

For those of you attending the 3rd Annual NTRPGCon, I hope to see you there.

The rest of you lot, have a good time, too.

VANGUARD Warfare on Urutsk-

8.5" x 5.5" Saddle Stitched

Crunch all you want, we'll make more-

O-Level 'Old School' PC Death Table-
:: Roll each time a 0-level is struck in combat:

6 - Although already dead, the PC is able to last to the end of next Round, and can attack normally
5 - The PC can toss an item to a comrade before dying on the spot
4 - The PC's death complicates the enemy's movement for one Round
3 - The PC's death complicates the Party's movement for one Round
2 - The PC's death results in all carried gear and loot to shower about his body
1 - The PC explodes in a number of buckets of blood and gore equal to his HP

With a L[ot] of Help From My Friends-

Chirine baKal / Jeff Berry has recruited two Tekumel regulars to help him paint minis for me at the NTRPGCon (June 2nd-5th).

Does Your Setting Operate Without the PCs?

Regardless of Railroading or Sandboxing, do you run your games so that things NPCs are doing happen in the background, independently of PC action or non-action?

Major NPC Activity-

12 - Events Greatly Favour NPC (New ally proves most helpful, etc.)
11-09 - Events Somewhat Favour NPC (NPC receives aid/funding, etc.)
08-06 - Events Favour No One
05-03 - Events Somewhat Disfavour NPC (Rival (re-)enters the scene, etc.)
02 - Events Greatly Disfavour NPC (Rival gains the upper hand, etc.)

Weather Events-

12 - Extremely Favourable Weather Conditions (prevailing winds, bumper crop, etc.)
11-09 - Slight Edge Provided (weather worsens after the NPC's forces pass through, etc.)
08-06 - Events Favour No One
05-03 - Weather Somewhat Disfavours NPC (weather worsens as the NPC's forces enter region, etc.)
02 - Extremely Unfavourable Weather Conditions (Avalanche, Blizzard, Drought, Forest Fire, etc.)

Support-
12 - Groundswell support for NPC's platform premise
11-09 - Increasing support for NPC's basic premise
08-06 - Much discussion, consideration, counter-proposals, etc.
05-03 - Increasing opposition to NPC's basic premise
02 - Massive backlash against NPC's platform premise

Acts of G-d-
12 - Forces opposed to the NPC meet with disaster
11 - New route or mode of travel emerges
10 - Opposition leadership is fragmented
09 - New commodity enters marketplace
08 - Opposition faces in-fighting
07 - A period of peace prevails
06 - Opposition unites to oppose NPC faction/ideology
05 - Market scarcity for important commodity
04 - Opposition gain powerful leadership
03 - Trade route or relations collapse
02 - Forces opposed to the NPC met with great boon

je ne sais quoi-
12 - Fashion changes required to maintain/gain social position
11 - Cultural transformation due to technological innovation
10 - Famine-stricken area receives relief
09 - Previously disfavoured idea/ideal gains popularity
08 - Extant illness fades
07 - Romanticism flourishes
06 - Extant illness spreads
05 - Extant food/spice becomes all the rage
04 - Blight/Rust spreads throughout region
03 - Rare flower gains enormous social significance/symbolism (red poppies on lapel, etc.)
02 - Game-animal disease begins to cross borders

Let's try this again, shall we?-