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Saturday, December 25, 2010

Havoc for the Holidays: Jeff Berry's New Year's Gaming Celebration-

Reprinted from Chirine's Workbench:

Milestones, of various sorts...

This is post 200, the little meter tells me, and I'm delighted to be able to post the schedule for this coming weekend's event:“Havoc for the Holidays!”

Game Event Schedule

Please note that all times are going to have to be flexible, due to possible changes in the weather. I have put things together to do the best I can to suit peoples’ travel plans, and we will be flexible.


Wednesday, December 29th, 2010:

10:45 am
First Wave of out-of-town guests arrives; day open for socializing and shopping as required or desired.


Thursday, December 30th, 2010:

TBA
Second Wave of out-of-town guests arrives; day open for socializing and shopping as required or desired.


Friday, December 31st, 2010:

Noon:
Game room open for guests and visitors

1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Possible RPG session to be announced if there is interest

4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Third Wave of out-of-town guests arrives

6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Open Buffet in the Lava Lounge

8:00 p.m. - Midnight
Tekumel Role-playing game session, Chirine to GM; characters
provided if players don’t already have one.

Midnight
Celebration of the New Year; RPG game session continues as long as players are conscious.

Saturday, Jan 1st, 2011:

8:00 a.m. -11:00 a.m.
Set game room with miniatures tables (Chirine); everybody else does breakfast.

11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m
First Sitting for Miniatures Games; two tables open for players
Game Room Table: “Saving Serqu’s Sisters”
Lava Lounge Table: “Where’d All Those Pe Choi Come From?”

3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Break for food! Hurrah!


4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m
Second Sitting for Miniatures games; two tables open, again.
Game Room Table: “Saving Serqu’s Sisters”
Lava Lounge Table: “Where’d All Those Pe Choi Come From?”

8:00 p.m. - onwards
Dinner; location to be determined, with socializing and sundry tomfoolery to follow in the Lava Lounge


Sunday, January 2nd, 2011:

Noon - 1:00 p.m
Tekumel Role-playing Game session; Chirine to GM, characters provided if you don’t have one.

5:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m.
Dinner break; location to be determined.


7:00 p.m. - onwards
RPG Event: our Special Guest, Timeshadows, has offered to run an adventure in her world; as Timeshadows is, in my humble opinion, this generation’s Prof. M. A. R. Barker, this will be a game session not to be missed!


Monday, January 3rd, 2011

TBA
First wave of Guest departures


Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

TBA
Second wave of Guest departures


Please feel free to contact me with any questions: chirine@aethervox.net

**********
I do want to say that I'm sorry to be getting this out to all of you so late; my only excuse for the tardiness is that we're still picking up the threads of our lives, and it's taken a lot longer then the Missus and I had expected. Starting off the new year with a house full of friends will really help us, though, and we'll looking forward to seeing you!

**********
If you're on a website or e-list that might be interested in this kind of event, please feel free to post all of this for the benefit of your friends. While we understand that it's late notice for people, we're planning on running more events like this and we'd appreciate your comments and input on how we do this kind of thing; it's our first time out, as it were, and any advice is always welcome!!!

**********
And all of us here at the Workbench, and in the Aethervoxes, would like to wish everyone a very happy holiday!!!

yours, Chirine and the Missus

Friday, December 24, 2010

Weekly Game, Pt. 20-

:: Longish, but fun ::

Having utilised the Void bubble to pierce the Aether-effect Force Fields protecting the System Ship Bay, Tyb had Ashta pass through as well. While in transit, she saw the suit of armour she had been wearing in alternate realities as Xholte, the Death Goddess, and touched it. When she appeared in the bay, she was wearing the armour (+3 Defence, 2d6 Armour || -3 AC bonus, -1d4 per Attack in AD&D terms). Tyb was surprised, having seen those alternate time streams, and noticed that she had been gone for slightly longer than normal. Tyb's Player made a comment about Ashta having received some Christmas goodness, and then decided to fiddle about in the Void bubble and grasped coniferous tree branches. At this point, the players began to smile and make their 'guesses' as to what was happening.
--Tyb passed back through the bubble, holding onto the branches as he went, and occasionally felt fur somehow intermingled with the pines. He emerged to a snowscape forest with sleigh tracks leading off in the distance to where a curious looking vehicle (minus the pulling animals) and a man wearing glossy red armour and shiny black leather boots stood ready to kick the sled.

Tyb then slid towards the shadows cast by the vehicle and man, and listened in as the fellow in the red armour was becoming increasingly flustered about his tight schedule. Other voices, over a comm unit, could be heard: I took the opportunity to include Cheech and Chong, Elf 232, and 'Rudy' as part of the sleigh-driver's network of very well informed and dimensionally-savvy remote crew.
--It seems a Void-effect passed through the sled and vaporised an entire circuit board. Imagine that.

The gang fixed it and as a test of the vehicle's repair, the fabricator produced gifts. Ahni (Tyb's eldest daughter) and the Dryvv battle maidens he carries in his shadow emerged, and Ahni was the first to open a present, while the man in the glossy red armour stood by. She opened it and was amazed at what lay within, but quickly grew half-sullen. It appears that her gift was something called, 'Good Intentions', which began to work a change in the otherwise ... salty nature of the Vae-girl. One of the Dryvv maidens opened hers and was confused by the three lumps of coal she received.
--Nick, the man in the armour, warned Tyb, Ashta, Ahni, and the maids that they were on the naughty list, and that the longer Ashta wore her new armour, the naughtier she got. Ahni seemed genuinely distraught about the change she was undergoing, and the coal girl seemed to treasure the gift although she, too, was a bit puzzled by it all.

With the sleigh repaired, the skids retracted and he admonished them again before tearing off into the sky and disappeared in a flash of glitter.

Presents were brought back through and we handed them out to the entire stable of PCs. Nyqolas' was a peppermint-flavoured mercury-looking potion that sped him up to the point that everyone else was frozen in time, and even the passing proto-stellar matter outside the ship was slowed a tad. He used the time dilation to go to the bug-hive and kill as many of them as he could reach in the very large cubic chamber filled with multi-tier jungle.

Osyl was gifted with Turkish Delight by a frosty looking woman who contacted Ahni as she was leaving the snowy forest scene (with lamp post and a pair of cloven hoof marks in the snow) ;D Lady Arctise was able to contact Osyl when she ate the sweets, and the Lady urged her to make certain to take the upcoming planetary-system detour.

The Khem PC's gift was a peculiar circular 'harmonica' that seemed to trigger genetic memories of a Human starship's destruction, and his ancestor's last-second travel to an inhabited world with that man's mate.

--After much bickering about their actual plan and how to carry it out, the System Ship was once again being explored -- this time by the Black Pearl's Void probe. An Aelbaan couple spotted the probe (which looks like a coal-black disc at any PoV), and these two activated the psychic alarm, and power on the main bridge (where everyone else was) began to shut down.

Delver began searching for a large enough interior space in the System Ship for him to pull the Black Pearl through the probe, because it seemed as though the Aelbaan were preparing to at least isolate it from the rest of the ship.
--The best calculations predict that there will be no planets in range for 3 months, ship-time.

HappyMerry folks. :D

Monday, December 20, 2010

ADnD-friendly Urutsk Holiday Offering: Ytidu -- The Mutated Pine Moose-

YTIDU (Mutated Pine Moose)-

Hit Dice: 5d8+35 (55)
Attacks: Antlers (1), Hoof (2), or Bite (1), or Kick (1)
Damage: 2d4+4BP, 1d6+3B, 1d4+3EP, 4d6+4B
Armour Class: 06
Special: Pine Resin Attack, Deafening Bellow
Move: 36”
Size: Large

Terrain: Cold to Temperate-Cool Wetlands
Frequency: Rare in Marsh and Riverine, Very Rare Elsewhere
#: 1d4 (3)
Lair: 01%
--Loot: Random

Intelligence: Sentient (06-09)
Alignment: CN (Unpredictable but Amiable)
Psionics: Yes
--Abilities/Modes: Any
Lvl/X.P. Value: 13 / 4,690

The origins of this creature are mysterious, and attributed by the Dokirin tribes-folk that know of the Ytidu to a series of ominous events. For many years it was thought to be a unique creature, but after decades of sightings, it has been determined that these mobile plants are capable of reproduction through normal plant means, but aided by the mobility and utility of limbs and antlers. In any situation where the Pine Moose is cornered or facing capture, it will first use its Deafening Bellow which affects all within a 20' Radius as a Curse (deafness) spell of Caster Level 9. If the offence persists, the Ytidu will spray its 45' long cone of Pine Resin which forces a Save v. Breath Weapon or suffer the effects of a modified Cloudkill spell (with deep and persisting unconsciousness instead of death) at a Caster Level of 9.
While the Ytidu is arguably less intelligent than the average Human, their curiosity, apparent fearlessness, and tenacity lend an air of regalness and nobility. Greedily hunted by merchants ready to ship their decorated carcasses south to Marnharnnan Vrun settlements, their numbers have thinned in the Inland Seas most populated areas. Conversely, along with the Bramble Hart, the Ytidu are revered and lovingly doted upon by many Western Isles Vrun and Yirinn, and the origins of the decoration of the creatures is derived from Yirinn/Wodic traditions long ago established in mainstream culture. The Pine Moose is treated to fertiliser-infused sweet drink, and the people surround it in dancing circles as songs are sung and festivities are had by all. Northern Druids, some Yirinn Bards, and many Rangers know of the secret for procuring sweet resin from the live Ytidu for the manufacture of a potent Imperial Stout drunk hot on cold nights, and known for its hallucinatory effects.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Weekly Game, Pt. 19-

Attempts to reach a System Ship within a launch bay proved difficult, not only due to the Seeder Ship's odd (re)arrangement of any given section of the ship (each internal section like a cargo container), gaps in the line, but also the fact that a mess of Aelbaan have taken that particular launch bay.
--Delver helped Tyb to cross through the Aether-based Force Field (using Black Pearl's Void-Effect stuff) and we held that portion there.

They also determined that the ship's trajectory was Coreward; had already travelled an enormous distance into the galaxy from the Rim; and the ship's fuel supply is condensed dreamstuff. As the Aelbaan are not a sleeping species, they also do not dream (without Tiape, the Dreaming Blend -- courtesy of Brian Penn), but instead abduct and raise dreaming species aboard their craft for the purpose of cultivating the dreamstuff.
--Kitsune entered the consensual reality of the Aelbaan Psychic Network, and found that it was piggybacking off of a much larger system network operated by an Aelbaan-like species, but much stouter and perhaps more removed from Human concerns. The individual encountered was, "watching for Dragons and Shorrannin Hive Ships.", and was too busy to really aid her except to warn Kitsune she was in danger.

Indeed, more 'bug' warriors appeared in an explosion of Smoke, accompanied by six 14Fight Die (14HD) beetles the size of small delivery trucks. Nyqolas entered into melee and was horribly abused, being literally squashed by the bug for oodles of damage. He had to rely upon aid from Prince Lucent to regain enough wherewithal to reach the gravitic field Darius was using to keep Qaya's corrosive Smoke-magick in place as an active deterrent.
--Once Delver's lighting arm device and Osyl's use of the subterranean repilmalian lightning crystal were brought to bear, the bugs started to die in satisfyingly explosive ways --save a warrior that managed to disappear elsewhere on the bridge levels.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Playtest Campaign + Mutants of Marnharnna Mashup (Pt. 18)-

The foretold Black Moon has risen, and it is the Pearl, changing from Aether-aligned to Void-aligned. The attempt to change it to anything but Void resulted in a Water-alignment, and Pearl was about to become Princess Wave's new toy, but it was reverted to Void and was piloted by Delver Denab (Ashta being unable to utilise its Void-tech).

[The Governors of Doran (Tyb and Ashta) have been ousted, and the Kherstic League has taken control of the island nation it purchased from the WICE only a year or two earlier.]

Aberrants, Dokirin warriors and shaman, and Humanoids, as well as the Blue Tree, were all pulled along into the Void, and Delver took the craft up to the Aelbaan starship in orbit in the High Aether. Being Aether-based tech, the Void craft was undetected by passive sensors, and allowed the Black Pearl and all of her occupants to become noncorporeal and slide through both Force Field and Hull. As undead, the crew and fighters acted to take control of the main bridge, and in three Turns (30 minutes) had secured that second-most important position on the ship. However, before the last Aelbaan collapsed from Vampiric fields, he was able to launch the craft on a predetermined emergency course.
--As soon as the more powerful Aether-effect drives initiated, the Black Pearl and her crew/etc. became corporeal and were taken along for the superluminal flight out of the Av system, and already unknown stars distant.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

The Machine Stops-

Found this over at Old School Heretic.

The Machine Stops
by E. M. Forester (1909)


Monday, December 13, 2010

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Latter Autumn Era: 2nd Tyhrean War, Lhoman Theatre-


A Steam-powered Vectored Thrust Observation and Scout Craft-
:: (c) 2010 Kyrinn S. Eis

Monday, December 6, 2010

Mutants of Marnharnna Pt. 17-

As I am busily writing and mapping for the Black Blade Publishing adventure I am co-writing with Rob Kuntz, I'll have to make this briefer than usual.

The Primary Characters are realising that their past has caught up with them in many ways: Lord Worm has challenged Tyb to a personal battle to restore his tarnished honour at Tyb's re-absconding his Vae daughters from the Black Citadel. Ashta's refusal to undergo full gene-thereapy to fully awaken her Aelbaan ancestry, as well as her continued operation of the Pearl (escape pod) has antagonised them further. Delver Denab, having managed to escape the miles-long Aelbaan ship in orbit (and in the high Aether) with a half-feral human raised on the ship, barely survived a drone fighter attack and landed on Baroness Averdyn's estate, whereupon the drone dis-integrated and tele-relocated the escape pod the two came down in.
--Meanwhile, travelling at Mach 2.75 across the Storm Ocean towards the Western Isles to fetch Delver, Ashta and Darius drew the concern of the WICE long-range defence network which fired upon them and alerted the Home-Isles of the rapidly encroaching threat. This resulted in Pearl shattering a Glass barrier erected as a safeguard, as well as the deployment of Jump Troopers throughout the metro Yovend area in an attempt to slow the attackers pending the 'heavy gear' being brought to bear.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Mutants of Marnharnna Pt. 16 ('Wait. Huh? What?')-

This session was pretty wild, and so I'll buck tradition and post a short recounting.

PCs stayed w. craft > repairs effected > left for Tshomdrys Island where they offloaded most of the rescued folk > onwards they travelled to Old Port where they picked up cargo and then proceeded towards the Smot Flood Plain > but met with difficulty as a mixed group of Aberrabts, Dokirin, and Humanoids were performing a powerful ritual, calling upon multiple Elemental Patrons.

Zalder flew off to retrieve a lifeboat, and was attacked by a giant watery hand in the form of a great Humanoid beast-paw. He contacted the Sisters who informed him that They were being courted by the others, and that he'd have to ante-up to get their assassistance. He returned to the craft and offered himself up as a vehicle for their power for a year and one day. He was possessed and flewoff, becoming an NPC until such time passes, and taking the air-sled with him. My g/f then set about making a Smoke Mage from the outskirts of Kelzsyn's Bluff as her new character. Giant sylphs, appearing as the Sisters, lifted the craft out of the frothing waters as Water Wolves manifested and attacked those aboard. The craft was lifted over the Plain, and deposited in the tidal lake immediately north of Kelzsyn's Bluff.

The cargo turned out to be a mono-tread swamp-vehicle powered by a Steam-tech engine, which the party droveto KB. The hour was late, and the guards greedy, but entry was gained nonetheless and Nyqolas went to work studding his double-dip Imperial Bloodline out to the local women quaking with wet-scripted biological imperitives (his 20+ Conviction didn't hurt, either). While that was going on, Osyl found herself arrested for her own good by a very understanding Sheriff and a Marnharnnan Defence Agency Marshal, but after her Knight's Move esacape, they were able to discern that she had an important reason for being in town, and aided her in seeing the old Primary and Secondary Characters of the Players: Tyb and Ashta, Darius and Mela Mela. Folks were happy to play their original PCs after about 4 months of real time.

The question is this: Will the Primary characters' time-travel be undone/redone/altered?

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Giving Thanks in the New World-

Whether one is of the opinion that the Pilgrims were the colonising White Oppressers or the transplanted Natives were the bloodthirsty savages, or both, I wish to extend my genuine Thanks-giving to the readership for subscribing to the blog, and monitoring the progress and progressive-revelation of Urutsk. Your continued interest is most appreciated, and I hope to repay that investment with a quality setting/system.

Wishing you and your loved ones well in this season,
-Kyrinn

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Mutants of Marnharnna: Pt. 15: Between a Lock and a Hard Place-



The long and short of the situation is that the military cargo of the schooner cannot be offloaded nor abandoned under any circumstances, and so the paddlewheeler captain begged the party to flee while the other craft did its best to hold off the catamarans while help was sought from Fort UuTudel. As the paddler (laden with passengers, but having thrown overboard two slot-machines) lingered, a flak shell was launched and detonated close enough to all but destroy its wheelhouse. Kitsune was able to effect enough repairs as to operate the craft, and away they went. Zalder delivered a few well-placed firebombs again, and rejoined the paddler.

Nyqolas discovered that he was not regaining Alertness DP, but the cause was not disclosed for some time. Osyl, recovering with the aid of healers sent by Lady Arctise, became conscious as what appeared to be a 'zombie leg' was sewn onto the stump of her right thigh, and all manner of bizarre things put inside (twigs, leaves, etc.), including what Osyl thought was the skeleton of a weasel-like creature. Upon full consciousness (around the time the flak struck the ship), she felt the weasel stirring inside the hollow-seeming limb, and at one point, the thing appeared to pop out and chitter at the woman. Shenanigans involving trying to raise one of the healers killed by shrapnel by sacrificing the eldest of the lizard-girls was foiled by Osyl with a Frost-substituted (Void)-blast that was very convincing. Nyqolas, using his Inspire suite of powers, was able to draw DP from those that responded to the ruckus and raise the recently expired healer. The attempt to sacrifice the girl was not prosecuted at the time, given the gravity of the larger situation, and folks went their separate ways. One of the healers was able to see a glass creature (like a stirge crossed with a su monster and a beaker and flask kit) crawling upon Nyqolas' body, apparently drinking from his Dynamic Pool and preventing him from recovering one mote of pwer.

As sunlight was fading, Kitsune spotted something on the eastern horizon, but it wasn't until the craft neared that it was determined to be at least 40 12-person canoes of Dokirin origin, seemingly awaiting a signal to row from the Eleven Sons area towards the fort which was clearly already under attack. With no real hope of staving off a concerted warband in the damaged craft, it was decided to circumvent them and press on toward the lock. Soon, the signal was given in the form of a star-shell sort of munition deliberately aimed low to kindle fires throughout the otherwise stalwart fort atop stout rocky hills.

Reaching Noud Lehd, the party witnessed a desperate skirmish battle fought between lock engineers and Dokirin war-scouts. A few DiVinci-esque battle devices helped turn the tide and the PCs' presence tipped the scales in favour of the Vrun forces. With the drydock available again, the paddler was brought in for repairs with the goal to reach the tidal lake by high tide still in the realm of the possible. Disembarking, the Party scouted the area ahead of the passengers, and was informed that a hidden entrance to a tunnel leading to UuTudel was to be found in the cluster of ruins at the far end of the dock.

I had used a combination of Heroscape tiles, foamcore terrain tiles and paper boulders made by my sweetie, felt pads from Michael's crafts store, and a piece of store-bought terrain for the ruin, and then covered the table in a sheet so as to minimise the Players' knowledge of the battle scene's layout. We fought the lopsided battle for roughly two hours of gameplay, with Zalder suffering a downing and unconsciousness at the hands of a third-wave Dokirin group. One of these had a softball-sized glassy sphere in his off-hand, and utilised it to illuminate the outer reaches of its radius effect, while the bearer was barely lit (the outermost region was brighter than the inner, ya'see?). Zalder had backshot that one and with the bearer's demise, the light slowly faded, but gave Nyqolas the opportunity to spot the downed Zalder (floating in the water atop the air-sled), whom he fetched and woke.

The last of the on-table opponents was defeated and the effort to begin looting the dead was initiated. Nyqolas picked up the sphere and failed a Control Critical Test (a Spells Save in D&D terms), coming under the gaze of what appeared to be a one-eyed Abbekqorru shaman/sorcerer who then forced a second Control CT, which Nyq was able to deny, but went unconscious in the exertion (burning 8DP to boost his chance to succeed by 1d6). The object was then pried from the now-useless-rendered Nyqolas by Kitsune, with a dagger and with some blood loss. As Nyq lay unconscious, the female sorceress informed him that her glass homunculus (on the Plane of Glass) was siphoning his vitality and reconstituting her body.

The decision to stay with the craft, or make the perilous trip through the tunnel to UuTudel, faces the Party upon commencement of this scenario next time.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Mutants of Marnharnna: Pt. 14: Swimming with the sharks-

The paddlewheeler pressed on and came upon an a schooner under attack by catamaran pirates: Two small craft (06 crew, each), and three large craft (11 crew, crew each). The small craft were harriers and used only small-arms fire to draw out their enemies so that the large craft could launch flak shells at the craft as anti-personnel weapons while the small craft sailed away (hopefully in time). The large craft each had an Aldis-lamp with which they could communicate with the tower that lay in the background, beyond yet another mangrove isle.

Shenanigans ensued, with the paddlewheeler gang hopping aboard the schooner, realising that it was listing and sinking, with several small medical emergencies from a prior flak-attack.

Zalder flew over to the big cats and firebombed a couple of them, scoring solid hits, and causing one flak cannon to burn through its decking, effectively anchoring that craft. The third of the big cats was using some sort of bubbler to agitate the water so as to allow the lumbering craft to more easily pivot as it sought to return to its nearby base. Zalder, Cloaked, absconded with the larger-than-a-manhole-cover-sized Air crystal that powered the bubbler, riding off on it like a bodyboard back to the ailing schooner.

A small catamaran was re-owned by Kitsune and Nyqolas (the High Imperial) and a few of the security personnel, and maritime fun was had by all, including shooting pirates pretending to be drowned. :D
--Zalder was busy helping effect repairs by forcing the water out of the ship, allowing the engineers to patch the keel gash.

Nyqolas was contacted by a projection of a rather fetching sorceress, and based upon that brief interaction, he was tele-relocated to her tower (the one nearby). Her overconfidence was her undoing, for although she reflected the Radiance Blood's Psychic Blindness upon Nyqolas, he snapped her neck and leapt overboard to 'land on her' when they hit the water some 30+' below. Here's where the sharks come in. This is where the body of the sorceress became chum. Nyqolas swam to a nearby quay and ran blindly into the swamp for cover, only to be retrieved by Zalder aboard the Air crystal sled.

Other craft were being launched from the pirate cove beyond the tower, and with repairs effected, the two craft frothed away with three new large catamarans in pursuit.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Generic Offering: Dice + Points Ability Score Generation

This is fairly generic and could be used with any six Ability Score, 3d6-based RPG:

Alternate Point-Buy Ability Score Method-

1). The player has 45 points to distribute amongst the six Abilities, with no less than 03 points placed into each, and no more than 11 points into any one Ability.

2). Roll 6d6. Each Ability Score can only receive one whole die, as rolled.

3). Choose the character's Elemental Blood and apply the listed modifiers.

4). Choose Ethnicity and write down listed special features (Vrun, for example, receive +03 to all Ability Scores), and determine the character's appearance based upon the guidelines described.

4 [the second]). Roll 5d6. Choose three (3) of the rolled 5d6 to be totalled and multiplied by the sum of the remaining 2d6 (6-216 with the average being 111). This is the character's Starting Funds in generic 'Count'. All starting gear, armour and arms must come from this total (or pooled with others in the party).

5). Name your character and then inform the Referee that you are ready.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Mutants of Marnharnna: Pt. 13 ('you took it too seriously...')-

Raylyss, potential Lizard King and Sire of a resurgent Reptilmalian Empire, after finding wonderful magic items, decided to once again torment a drinks girl on the paddlewheel craft, and was spotted by at least two of the crew, one of whom was able to hit Raylyss (with a poisoned blade). Raylyss dove overboard and resurfaced to the rear of the craft, whereupon I rolled to see if security were on the ball, and rolled my 2d12+1d4 for the nearest guard, and scored a double-12 (essentially a critical success) +2 on the d4. This beat Raylyss' (Cloak + Covert) roll, and he was caught by surprise. As in, no action, but I'll let you say something --surprise. Instead, the player indicated Raylyss was moving, and he was fired upon at Point-Blank Range with a pump-action slug-gun. The shot struck Raylyss' abdomen for 45 points, taking him to -20+ instantly. Raylyss' last words (previously spoken as he got away from the mob) were, 'You took it too seriously.'
--Raylyss saw his probability lines toward becoming the messianic sire collapse into silt, while the two spires of his 'children' achieving some lasting importance toward that (or his son achieving it in full with the aid of his sisters) increase. As he expired, Lord Worm, his Elemental Patron, reach out his hand and Raylyss accepted and found himself in the muddy grave of the Silt Court, filled with half-rotted zombies and writhing worm-monsters.
--- The group took his stuff and carted his body to their room, where the the eldest of the girls heard the bad news and sought revenge. She later informed the party that Raylyss' things were their inheritance, and she looked very serious about defending that claim.

The area the party was now travelling through is a series of mangrove stands and islets, cut with channels and coves (much like the area they had just departed), and the soundings were too shallow to proceed after dark, and they anchored as a storm rolled in. In the morning, Kitsune spotted the shredded sails of another craft draped across the mangrove canopy some ways off, and the ship frothed on through the shallows. This wrecked ship was apparently attacked in the early part of the storm by Humanoid sea-raiders (including serpent people), and their floating bodies clogged the way for ship. Gaff-hooking the corpses aboard for scientific study by the Sleeper Scientists resulted in the discovery of strange alchemical gear (explosive-filled distraction weapons like shuriken) and wrist dispensers of an alchemical fuze. Eventually the survivors of the shipwreck (astronomers, botanists, chemists, etc.) were glad to board the pleasure ship and immediately began to drink up and game.

It was upon this ship that the new character was unveiled. He is a heavy spacer-framed Imperial Manifestation with Radiant blood, and lots of it. He was shipwrecked after fleeing the Vrun Continent as a wanted criminal, accused of gross negligence resulting in the loss of 35 lives. He advances as an Aberrant, but is exceptionally robust in his capabilities, and should be a lot of fun in the game.

The next encounter was that of a large boat/small-ship-sized cephalomalian in his river-bisected lagoon, and the living, human contents of three or four lifeboats entwined in his primary tentacles. "Pay tribute or they die." His bellowing, bubbling voice erupted from the frothing water. Everyone was ready to attack it, but the captain, for the sake of those in the boats, capitulated, sending over (as the new character suggested) 300+ pounds of salt-water taffy (most of it conjured fabrications) to the Monstrous Being (along with champagne and other goods) on the backs of rays sent to receive the tribute.
--Devouring the rays and the tribute, the Being was well pleased and released the boats and the humans unharmed. It was later realised that ink from the creature seemed to act as the water-life control agent, as schools of different fish moved in stunning and colourful displays as the ship reversed engines and headed out for deeper waters in the bid to still make it the tidal lake by high tide, full moon in two days.

I believe that we held it there.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Sketch: The Lancer-



Digi-tablet handwriting

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

The Shapes of Things to Come: ADnD and UWoM -- Random Notes about the Process-

Random Notes about the Process-

* Like the assassin acting as a 'Thief of two Levels lower', the abbreviated notation of ('Ranger -03') allows for less repetition in the write-ups, but requires more book keeping on the Player's part. As the 1e AD&D classes are the yardstick by which the Referee measures a new PC or an NPC class for inclusion in their campaign, and it is for that reason that I have settled upon this option so far, but may yet decide to write them up as discrete Classes. Your suggestions would be welcome.

* Alternate avenues of advancement, such as opting-out of the 9th Circle Initiates waiting for an opportunity to battle their way into the named levels and hierarchy, and instead travelling into the deepest forests and glens in the hopes of attracting the appreciative eye of the eldest and most powerful of the fey, and leaving the Mundane Realm entirely.

* I am assuming that Unearthed Arcana will be available, but not making it necessary to utilise it in creating a character or what have you. Bullwhip wielders and Khopesh Swordsmen rejoice! ;D
This also means that the Hierophant of the Kabbalah (Sephirot) is doing all of that Elementalness, and thus, there is a good reason for continuing on as a Druid, rather than as something else...

* Classifying Troop-types by DAC (descending AC), with diesel-assisted mech-armour ringing in at AC0, Skirmish/Mounted at AC5, and a Common Human at AC10. This should make larger fights a smidge simpler, especially with a Quick-Kill system attached.

* Long Bows are assumed to do d8 damage unless the arrow indicates otherwise. Firearms, as demonstrated in my posts here, are not something one wants to receive fire from, but are scaled to the AD&D progressive HP model, rather than the Gamma World ('Con number of d6s') method. Explosives will often make a 3d6 Fireball look tame, but it truly is, in comparison. Poisons will be more effect-based rather than simply being Class and Damage affairs.

* Other stuff as it comes to me, such as re-purposing the Turn Undead table, and Spell Points as an optional alternate spell casting method for those willing to try non-Vancian means.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Mutants of Marnharnna: Pt. 12 ('If 8 Were 3')-

Osyl and Raylyss each received a summons by their Elemental Patron, to investigate the house along the shore by which the steam-paddle was passing. An infiltration of the ship by two never before seen Reptilmalians (and the genetic-memory of Osyl's Shuttlecraft Pilot ancestor being played over the Aetherphonic which sucked her into the past with such clarity that she briefly traded consciousness with him) convinced the group as a whole (after reptilmalian bull territorial behaviour was resolved) to explore the ruin haloed in a watery yellow light visible even in the morning sun.

Initial investigation showed a model home with nothing but advertising materials for a failed commercially-developed community. Out back was a shed and a sump. Raylyss, under cloak, popped the lock and the group (including a Cook, an Engineer, and a Security Officer from the ship) entered.

Raylyss skipped levels one and two and began exploring solo while the party was plodding along being careful (as they ought). Eventually Raylyss, after finding a nice new set of electronics of the Ancients, rejoined the group as they descended to level four of what they determined was a marine warfare research facility, and one that had housed an alien and engineered lifeform most similar to a squid or cuttlefish, suspended in vast tank that led to a ship launch channel and out to sea.

Along the way, a zombie or two were popped, and more evidence as to what had happened to the base personnel in light of the Shorrannin invasion/system-war recorded as happening in the year 1137 (campaign date is 691). An ancient terrarium, partially fed off of the sucided remains of an Ancient gardener, was also found, and the Survival Instructor-Caste Ship's Security officer was so moved by that that he and the cook took seed packets and fertiliser to continue the work on the surface.

Level five appeared to be suspended directly over the gargantuan tank, and it was learned that the creature had been aware of them the entire time and had also masked its mind signature, preventing Zalder from reading it on his Mind Field. Tentacles shot up out of the blind shark-filled waters, and grabbed at anyone they could. Level four, the same, and Osyl of Frost was ensnared, squeezing off the leg above the knee (more than half her DP total in one attack), but her wound frosted over, preventing her bleeding to death.

Hoisted out of harm's way, Osyl and the party pressed on, but counted the older cook and engineer as losses to the Monstrous Being, before hearing the lower levels pulled down into the tank. This included the terrarium, which angered the Survivalist immensely. The surface was reached, the party better off for loot, and finding that the ship's crew were about to give up on them, but helped them back on board as the thing roared and shook the foundations of the Aurora Bend facility.

Both Osyl and Raylyss learnt that their Patron had not contacted them, and that meant that the squid had mentally manipulated them successfully enough that they had never questioned the strange orders in the peculiar communication (which had included a complex illusion in Raylyss' case). Osyl swore an oath of vengeance against the thing for claiming her leg, while Raylyss was left to ponder the significance of his son being the possible Sire (rather than Raylyss) as had been suggested by three different reptilmalian groups.

Raylyss has now outed himself to the Security Officer, but his son and the younger girls have yet to make their début to the private-hire gambling ship.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

The Shapes of Things to Come: ADnD and UWoM Preview 0-

I've been looking at AD&D (1E MM, 1E PHB, 1E DMG, and 2E DMG) recently for my half of a collaboration with Rob Kuntz, and out of this cross-conversion work, I've begun to look at Urutskan Character Classes, AD&D-style.*
* = with a bit of my own style thrown in for good measure.

To wit: Marnharnnan Rangers: at the crossroads of the Druid-Ranger dichotomy, The Behekht NoShount are the 'select elite special forces, standing water infiltration long-striders.' They arose from the first Western Isles and Continental Vrun who arrived in their colonial arks and swept inward in wide ranks, shooting anything or anyone who did not abide their presence, or those beasts obviously malign and enemies of Humanity in their very nature.

Mechanically, they are meticulously assembled from kosher AD&D Character Classes, and come in above Druids / Rangers in the XP department, more than justifying the unique build's re-imagining of the class and its mission.
--In the process of writing this class, another was hatched in a Skype conversation with Rob, though I dare not reveal it save to tease you with its righteous coolness and historicity in canonical 'N' fiction.

So, the next time an Abbekqorru doesn't look like he wants to kill you right off, consider what secrets could be learnt by participating in one of their shamanic rituals.

For lo, Things stir in the depths of space...

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Mutants of Marnharnna Pt. 11-

With Raylyss and the Scaly Kids out in the mangrove Stinkwoods, frosty Osyl, the rather colourful Zalder, and the anime giantess, Kitsune (correcting the misspelling from last week, rendering her 'Wandering Hovering Spirit') went in search of a jewellery store to sell the loot they had taken from the 'Mall of the Ancients'.

Before getting there, an interaction with a 'friendly' fight prompted Zalder to blow his cover as a non-powered colourful freak, and caught a gent who had been knocked over a second-floor railing. The man was stupefied that this green-skinned, blue-haired, sugar-glider membraned person was holding him aloft, and asked to be gently put down. The assailant, his 'friend' made his way down the stair, to the consternation of the prostitutes they had been cavorting with in the room before the argument had erupted. Osyl, conjured a fabrication of 9 and change pounds of frigid water over the bruiser. The cold water worked in bringing the hulk back to his senses, and Osyl's attempts to sweet-talk him worked better than the player had planned, resulting in the big fella' suddenly being rather taken with her (to the further consternation of said working women). Zalder released his grip on the punchee and flew off as the Law made their way toward the group. A conversation between the deputies in the background suggested that they thought the rather WI Vrun-looking Kitsune and the somewhat Yirinn-looking Osyl didn't much look like cousins, but the WI nobles were prone to mate with whom they desired; and, was it really true that West Coast Vrun really practised bestiality? Kitsune managed to defuse the situation after being admonished not to associate with Muties, at least in town.

With Kitsune's week-long knowledge of Kryssaul City, they set out into the Good Part of town and to a heavily guarded two-floor Jewellery establishment. Ignoring a man who offered to look at their items before they stepped foot inside, the two went inside and marvelled at the collection of Auric Black Metal jewellery in a partitioned case occupied by an armed guard. The staff was knowledgeable enough to spot the quality and mark of the Ancient jewellery and then called the manager, who promptly invited the pair upstairs for a private meeting. The walk up the stairs revealed three full cold-cast plate-armoured over-under coilstock-armed guards on either side of the way, suggesting that such transactions were fairly secure. A brief event revealed a grizzled hunter in another section of the upstairs area, but he quickly disappeared from view. The business was prefaced by a friendly question session by the manager who asked as to the the provenance of the goods, how the girls came to possess it, and after their safety travelling alone on the wild ways with such a haul. Answers were provided in varying degrees of believability, and the sale of some rather remarkable pieces (including a circuitry embedded in a coin and a dagger of some sort of rainbowed-glass-like material), netting 10k count. A Letter of Recommendation and a private carriage ride to the White star Hotel marked the pair of 'cousins' as members of the Amlynn family (one of several known to have founded the ill-fated WICE fort later overrun by combined Aberrant, Dokirin, and Humanoid forces). The White Star Hotel executive suite (100 count per day, not including room service) proved much to the women's' enjoyment, affording Kitsune a relaxing hot bath, and Osyl time to 'chill-out'.

In the meantime, Zalder (having flown in over the mangrove canopy and spotted a pinnace) had been assisting Raylyss in wrangling his son (a rather cunning fisher) when he heard sounds echoing across the water, further out into a channel. Four folks in a dinghy rowed closer, and it was apparent that they were smugglers or pirate-types. Zalder, feeling michevious, experimented with the Water node, but was admonished by the Sisters and then drew upon an Air crystal to stealth up on them unawares. A failed death-stroke attack on an occupant while the three others were poking around for a submerged something alerted the others and the sloppy kill subjected him to wool-pistol fire and afforded the Durnsman (slave?) an escape from the other two. A further failed hatchet throw against the pistoleer and Zalder was hiding in the mangroves as the two survivors (a young woman/girl who was disguising that fact, and an older, relatively 'nice' guy) rowed back with their badly butchered comrade's corpse out to the ship.

The Durn watched as Zalder dredged up a pirate-chest-sized chest encrusted with muck and barnacles, and then floated it up using a large air bubble. The Durn warned him that the contents were holy, and would kill Zalder, and likely himself, if it were opened, but Zalder precoded to pick the lock. The Sisters, unable to speak with him, were clearly distraught for their proxy agent, and he relented, thinking that if they were powerless, it was likely a big deal.

Gadget-girl Kitsune sent a mechanical servant to deliver makeup, hair dye, and a robe to Zalder who then joined them in town at the gunsmiths, where the party purchased more revolvers, and Black Crown manufactured revolving carbines and ammunition, wiping out nearly 7k of their ten. The girls booked passage for the Riverland Peninsula, with special provisions made for a private trip, and entry to the big lake I cannot recall the name of at present, requiring the ship arrive there at high tide, on a full moon (up coming), so as to pass over the flooded shoal separating it from the bay. Full passage was paid and preparations to disembark that night were made.

Hotel antics. Science team brought up. Zalder returned at night with a carriage to fetch Raylyss and the kids, and to offer the Durn a ride, only to find a religious ceremony and a Durn congregation held in the mangroves. There were shadowy figures with luminous eyes and one held a knife to his throat until the okay was given. For his kindness, the priest gave Zalder a chunk of fragrant resinous wood. The return trip to the carriage showed that men were surrounding the vehicle, and a still-mounted rider oversaw the operation. Fighting ensued after Zalder head-shot the mounted feller and he went down hard. Cloaked, but against the night sky in moonlight allowed the shooters on the ground a better chance of striking, and a as if that weren't enough, a night-flying predator snatched him up in its talons before being struck in the fire, dropping him a full minute's swim back to shore. On route, Zalder was bitten by a fish, but it was dispatched in one blow.

We held it there.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Language Time: Yirinn Spiritual Writings (x of y parts)-

For those gamers who don't play Tekumel because they don't have a degree in Linguistics, Anthropology, or whatever else, you may want to skip the Language posts.

The Yirinn peoples are derived from the Yirinn Ak, the Sla Mu, and the Dokirin. Intermingled with these three distinct Ethnicities are the mysterious Khem, entirely unlike the others, being tall, lithe, fair, and capricious/lusty/hot-tempered. While the Khem have found their way into the three Tribes, they are more of a social symbiot, existing separately and keeping alive their own traditions and bloodlines.

The Sla Mu are largely made up of disfigured individuals suffering from endemic birth defects that most often manifest in locomotive disabilities. As a result, the culture has adapted to a sedentary lifestyle filled with artistic, musical, and scribal arts, including religious functions combining all three sub-divisions. They are the preservers of historical accounts and consultants of sage wisdom from before the War in the Heavens and the arrival of the Imperial Vrun.
--Sla Mu priests and priestesses have only euphemistic names for the Creator-Judge, not daring to limit Deity by ascribing only so many traits or natures to It/Him. In many ways the Sla Mu are the anchor to the distant past, when the Yirinn were the freest people upon the globe, and the horse features prominently in tales and iconography, although heroes and demigods are a close second, and receive solemn respect both as historical persons, as well as ideals to be emulated or avoided.

There is an unnamed work that compiles sage expressions, ecstatic utterances, and dream records. Of the many versions which exist in the One Hundred Twenty One Clans (not including the uncounted Dokirin divisions), there is a great degree of similarity (Synoptic).
--What follows is the initial foray into these writings:



Ullem Naharash Ji

My.body.my.spirit.journey.
Digging.Rows.of.Graves.
This.is.an.Efficacious.Saying.


Sulenehem De Ha M'aus

Subtle.matter.my.breath.the.spirit.within.me.working-wind.movement.
Breath.remains.
[and.so].I.abide.
The.Journey.interrupted:.the.husk.is.empty.


Kellos Utaar Di Ehm Iahos

Created.spirit.myself.flowing.subtly.
Above.the.ground.as.I.always.have.been:.emanations.
Commanded.
Purpose-built.to.journey.
My.primary.command:.work.the.subtle.flow.


Resheph Mar Kai Holus

Ranks.of.spirits.subtly.repairing.spiritual.interruptions.wrought.
Legions.of.the.journeyers.
Choirs.
Facilitating.the.flow.of.incarnation.



What conclusions the reader draws from these utterances are entirely their own, and I offer no explanation at present, save that it is an unfolding narrative.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Contemporary Weapons of the Colonial Age Pt. 01-

Copyright (c) 2009 Kyrinn S. Eis
Non-commercial use granted


Having neglected the gamer candy for a long while, I offer this series:

NOTES-

Ranges:

* MxE = Maximum Effective ~ The end of the ballistic arc, and one heck of a shot
* E = Effective Range ~ The theoretical limit
* ShE = Short Effective ~ The practical limit

Determine MxE and divide by Pi to reach E, then divide E by Pi to reach ShE, and so-on until the barrel is poking the target. This may yield results of feet or less in shorter MxE ranges.

Damage:
[Legacy] = D&D-scale HP damage; Metamorphosis Alpha, Original Gamma World, and MF should use standard listed damages

BEP = Blunt, Edged, and Piercing special effects


Galmaether Cylindrical Repeater (WICE Patent, various manufacturers)

Type: 10-round Revolver + Single-shot Feed
Size: Small, One-handed use; Two-handed re-load
Ammo.: Alchemical Cartridge
Max. RoF: 5 rounds discharged per 6 seconds
Ranges: MxE 500/E 159/ShE 50 Yards
Modifiers: varies from +01 to -02 based upon manufacture
Damage: 3d6x3BEP (31.5 DP) [3d6 Legacy] per round striking

:: Begin Datafile:

The Galmaether Cylindrical Repeater (GCR) was first patented in 685, in the Western Isles by Themeul Vedrys Marsden Galmaether, a lesser noble of the Byrtheq Families of that isle. Galmaether, largely dissatisfied with bolt-action or lever-actuating designs which forced him to manually load into the weapon (thus slowing his burgeoning 'trick-shooting' routine), envisaged a noble's weapon which would allow for both speedy delivery of a full compliment of ammunition, as well as single-round feed capability. After several false starts (and tens of Royals [thousands of gp] invested in the project), Themeul was greeted with success once he abandoned simple chemical propellants and dove headlong into the world of Alchemy.

Nearly a decade later, the first of the 'strikerless' firearm designs began to show promise. In these mechanisms, an Alchemical operation takes place, mixing raw Elemental Air with the mundane chemical in the shell, producing a strikerless and primerless combustion. Likewise, this made the shells inert in normal exposure to mundane atmosphere, and as an added advantage, allowed the cartridges to be fired in a non-oxy atmosphere or even a vacuum. Unlike most revolver designs, a rearward moving valve-pin re-cocked the Alchemical hammer, providing a semi-automatic firing sequence, rather than mechanically rotating the cylinder. Prior to his presumed death in an industrial accident in 689, Galmaether had established patents for various improvements and refinements in the GCR, and even one using a spring-tension magazine-feed version utilising triangular shells that fed into a fixed cylinder. However, the GCR is still a quick-change cylinder design, as are all knock-off makes of any reliable manufacture.

Once his design became known to the Black Crown, variants were produced in The Black Metal and this allowed for more powerful cartridges, as well as higher capacity cylinders (due to The Black Metal's uncompromising strength even in thinner chamber walls). Marnharnnan Vrun soon gained samples of these 'Western' models, and, although unable to duplicate the metallurgical advances, were able to patent and produce models with as many as twelve shots for their aeronaut, cavalry, and naval officers. The proliferation of Cylindrical Repeaters began to spread worldwide, as well as across weapon types to carbines and rifles, making ram-rod 'wool-rifles' antiquated by as early as the late 690's.

As the weapon type became more popular and ubiquitous, ammunition quantity and quality was never far behind the trend. By the mid 690's, any trading post on Marnharnna that carried firearms also carried standardised ammunition in various 'calibres', ranging from non-cylindrical derringer-type 'short-case' cartridges, to the Beast Hunting bores. Well into the Resth Clan Confederacy's (RCC) nascent national history, GCRs were issued to military personnel, political commissars, and Marnharnnan Defence Agency marshals. Gradually replaced by drum-magazine fully-automatic firearms by the middle of the First Tyrrhean War, GCRs passed down for generations were still the trusty companion of soldiers and adventurers until ]Ã…}]&*&$%% file corrupt
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Saturday, October 16, 2010

Mutants of Marnharnna Pt. 10-

Raylyss' player was out due to a cold.

Phlavius asked for and received Osyl's revolver and ammo. and then imbibed the shamanic potion, and was rendered a shadow. He saw a hatchet made of shadowstuff, and grabbed it, sneaking about attempting to surprise Qajwl.
--I described nightmarish shadow creatures as they stood in the near shallows of the Shadow plane, and the ebb and flow of the dimensional barrier looking like high-tide was rolling in.

Instead, one of the minions moved in his direction, and they entered melee. Phlavius landed the first blow, and would go on to win the fight. This allowed him to dip a round in Shadowblood. The minion's howling face was added to the totem pole, and looked near to the last one.
--Phlavius then fired at Qajwl, striking the Monster in the head, blowing out one of his eyes. Qajwl responded by striking Phlavius with a shadowbeam.

Having been instructed by P prior to the shadow-shift to dowse his shadowy form with conjured alcohol and ignite it, if P looked unwell, Zalder obliged his compatriot. This Fire brought P back from the brink, and he dumped all but a few DP into his second attack, which was enough to slay the Monstrous Being.
--Sadly, this also caused the pillar to explode, taking Phlavius to -09.

Phlavius had previously dedicated his entire DP to Prince Wick, escaping dissolution, and was welcomed into the illustrious court of Fire. The Elemental Lord, 'fire-sylphs', salamanders, etc., in attendance, all hailed their brother, and the scene closed for him.
--The player then set to work creating his next PC.

Not the sentimental types, the party simply retrieved the gear that re-entered the Mundane Realm, and moved on.

Osyl and Zalder, under Lady Arctise's urgings, flew up to the snowy and storm-wracked peak, seeing evidence that their Humanoid fellows had also suffered from the supernatural mega-storm O and P jad created. Cresting the peak, they observed a steady and ice-filled cyclone. Both heard a voice that sounded similar to their respective Lady/Ladies, but was different. They entered the cone, and found themselves in a bright blue sky without land, filled with cloud-sized iceterroids with significant enough gravity to exert a sense of direction upon their inner ears, as well as slowly pulling the two toward the nearest one.
--It was here that the two saw a wooden-framed ice-lodge occupied by Humanoids. These were met and they were shown hospitality (steak tartar in a bowl of ice, and a spoon of ice to eat it with). Osyl's frostblade pulled her towards a distant room. She asked after it and was informed that 'She' lived therein.

In a solid ice cube, a woman who looked like an amalgam of the Moonfaery Sisters, and Lady Arctise, sat knitting/crocheting a fine circular net of airy-frost. She explained that she was a higher order entity from whence the other Ladies were derived, and blessed O and Z. The net negates the weight of what is placed in it when fully cinched closed. Osyl's blade was further enhanced to a total of +2 to Strike/+2 to Damage. Zalder received a +01 to both his Psionic Index, and his Scope Ability Scores, and received a Rank in Communication (this would allow him to broadcast his speech, accompanying his Mind Field power). Osyl also received a few extra DP, and perhaps a Rank in Arcane. In return, The Cold Mother asked for something of Phlavius', and chose an awl of his as her trophy, telerelocating it via ice that ate away at the object, then reformed it within her cube, and stuck it like an icepick into her medium. The Cold Mother provided hints at the possible future involvement of the Aberrants in the main Tybalt & Ashta game, before waving them away.
--The two then received a further (and different) prognostication from a blind female Humanoid soothsayer regarding their possible nearer future. They were then sent away with the blessing of the Beast Father, 'Go with Garrakh.'

Returning to the Mundane and their compatriots, the group then took a fast forward trek, now accompanied by two Marnharnnan troopers, and one WICE officer spared sacrifice at Qajwl's hands, and the Sleepers.
--The mighty subterranean River Xom was their method of rapid transportation to the deep south, and we glossed over a 'Land of the Lost' adventure that would have been more important if Raylyss had been present.

The party emerged at the Xom's destination, in Valourbarrow territory, and outside of Kryssaul Province and City, where, lo and behold, the new PC was already enjoying the strange surroundings of the lawless delta.
--Kitsume (which I allowed as a name, but which translates roughly into 'Wandering Flying Spirit') is a 7'1" tall Negative Lightning blooded, Aberrant lass of 17 years with a nice suite of Powers, including Maze-minded, Precog, Technologian, and Quickness.

A cardsharp by the name of Justyn Qaes immediately took a shine to the towering woman and pestered her and the other PCs until we had to end the session at 10pm.


[The Cloudfrost bag was used by Raylyss to carry the unearthed stone calendar]

Monday, October 11, 2010

Mutants of Marnharnna Pts. 08/09-

Descent into the Ancient architecture's lower level turned out, in fact, to be the highest floor of a tower which had snapped off, and plunged top-first into the karst topography of the area, while the rest of the tower had its foundation buckle under liquefaction. This all suggested a seismic event in the dim past had been the culprit, but I'm not telling.

Opening the 'hatch to the roof', now in the floor of the lowest level, caused Raylyss and Osyl to be sucked down into the grotto beneath them.

While that was transpiring, NPC'd Zalder was teaching Syl (the eldest of the three girls) some basic swordplay toward making her more capable of helping in the defence of her younger siblings.

Also at the same time, Phlavius was battling a Half-Abbekqorru Bone Shaman, winning the melee against his foe, and ultimately discorporating his Shadowform, and collecting the thing's Shadow Bloodstone.

Raylyss found a device that Osyl was guided to by Lady Arctise, and he brought it up to a watery outcropping. Phlavius and Osyl then each began pumping in a steady supply of their respective Elemental Blood/DP. While that was occurring, Raylyss noticed a sound coming from the trunk containing the two large eggs. He witnessed the creature's attempts to break the now leathery shell, and decided to pump four DP into the chick.

I had four days transpire as he motionlessly crouched over the egg and aligned the 'chick' to himself. During this time, both Fire and Frost still heeded their Elemental Leader's and pumped in a total of 120 DP. This device was some sort of Elemental-tech Cooling/Heating engine, and their cyclical generation of hot and cold air created over this period, with them outside in the storm for the better part of those four days. When they had reached that point, they disengaged and the F6 tornado within the eye of the Cat 5 land-generated hurricane, sucked the engine up into storm and began moving away to the NW -- where both the Vrun army had marched, as well as the lay of Qajwl's (the Monstrous Being) lair.

The party had eaten and slept, and then they explored nearby ruins partly uncovered in the aftermath. A long, linear mall was explored and found to have been pretty well looted, but there were plenty of black-slime zombies (shamblers) and neo-zombies (runners) to deal with. To their initial surprise, robotic gunners were apparently charged with Anti-Z duty, entirely ignoring the PCs and the girls.
--A tall, slender, pale creature (Aelbaan) was chased out into the access corridor behind the shops and doubled-back on swift Phlavius before contacting his/her? people and beaming out of there before their eyes.

The PCs were eventually led to the Supervisors, Ancient Sleepers who were awakened in shifts, and had been operating in this fashion as a closed society, largely unaware of the outside world. These folk were surprisingly tolerant of the Aberrants, and a group of Bioscience personnel and three Athletics & Recreation Instructors or Survival Trainers joined the party in exploring the surface.

A find: Bent metal door impervious to virtually anything (many points of Void damage only caused monofractures at the molecular level). That night the entire group dreams of an Ancient or Imperial shuttle pilot's struggle to safely land the vehicle, and its subsequent crash.
--They agreed to investigate further and found it smashed like an accordion. Much Elemental shenanigans transpired in the destruction of one of the Water Nodes in the Grinder, causing a geyser that helped loosen the craft from its earthen casement. Nothing much useful was stripped, but a nice vane on an intake was very crudely fashioned into a buckler of sorts.

The group then was attacked by shadowy half-Abbekqorru and/or anthropomorphised Shadow Wolves. Osyl's revolver (3d6 x 3 damage) again proved itself deadly nearly each shot, especially on the happy head-shot. One creature was felled by her triple-strength Void Blast, and its discorporation was then seemingly caught in a micro-singularity, and quickly began to draw-in local particulate matter and grow into a dirty snowball spinning and hovering in the moist air.
--An explosion caught the gun-crew from the Sleeper Arcology and lightly damaged a PC or two. Making their way up the plateau, the party saw a fully Shadow-fied Qajwl killing Vrun troops. As each one died, a screaming face was added to a black, totemic pole erected in the centre of the ring.

We held it there.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Baroness Vanya Averdyn-

There was no Mutants of Marnharnna game this Friday, as two players were unavailable.

However, C., my girlfriend, and I played a bit both Friday and Saturday in her Baroness Averdyn solo-game.
--(The pace of the assembly, fitting the refinements in alongside complete revision, clarification, and organic development of the character's background, baseline attitudes, ambitions, etc. -- It is so conducive to a nice dynamic interplay between Top-down and Bottom-up building on a neighbourhood/borough-level.)

We've sorted out that she was not raised at the Park Estate in the centre of Old Yovend (not to be confused with the Yoven Garrison in OLD Yovend), rather, she was raised on the North Coast of Byrtheq. Her upbringing in her youth was pastoral in her wanderings, and the crash of the waves on the 'Bloody Coast' upon the sheer cliffs that overlooked the quarantined isles of the Savage Folk. They are forest dwellers who never succumbed to the Continental Empire, nor the soft words of their Isle brethren in joining them in the Bronze, and Vurenym-Alloy Ages.
--It was in this instalment that she learnt that her character, the Baroness Vanya Averdyn, is derived from this stock admixed with diluted Aelbaan blood.

Her time spent at the inherited Winter Home was yearly in her youth, and occasional when she moved to Yovend to attend Academy, where she studied the Essentials, and favoured Art Theory, and Art History. She had two friends, both male, throughout school. One, a Law Student from modest means, the other a minor noble from Lhoma. It is from her Lhoman friend that she mastered fencing methods unorthodox to the West, such as parrying and disarming with the held scabbard.
--At academy, and later throughout life, Vanya was challenged by 'The Duchess' (later reduced to the non-aristocratic honour of Baronetess [Btss.] after her husband, a Duke, was stripped of his Admiralty and executed as a traitor for conspiring with Humanoids) Byniir Aeryx, a (perhaps) full-Aelbaan woman at least 20 if not 50 years Vanya's senior, although she appear younger than the Baroness.

The gristly murder of a young woman upon the Estate was the first mystery, but in the course of play, others have surfaced at nearly every turn:

* The Estate was built as an internal and external façade which covers an ancient fort, possibly of Latter Qhattanian provenance, explaining the odd layout of the Estate and her childhood memories of secret hiding places she couldn't later find in the floorplans.

* Silt-aligned Humanoid creatures with a mane of writhing earthworms have been at run within the 'false walls' of the Estate for an unknown period of time. They are able to dissolve into Silt, and even this stuff then steams and sparks away into nothing.

* The current ground and street level of Yovend is at least 30' higher than the foundation of the fort, and the hills in the landscaping may all be barrow mounds (Isles of the Dead, when the floods came)

* What's more is that Vanya just discovered that at least one of the sites is Qobryn, and that a teleportation framework was in place throughout linked locations she has no geographic marker for, although she is aware of facing in different directions when she stepped into a new location's chamber. One was active, with cooking fires in a cave formation, another was a grotto with light shining up through crystal clear water, upon which a dinghy is moored, while the third location was a king's throne/burial room, but the skeletal figure is pierced by what appears his own broadsword.

* A malfunction in the T-Frame kept her pattern in the buffer for 10 months before reconstituting her. She found her way back to the chamber panelled in the Qobryn yellow-orange alloy they were/are renowned for, and accidentally activated some sort of energy column that burnt a hole through the ship timbers that had been used to seal up the site from whence she had disappeared after descending by line into the underground chamber.

* In the intervening ten months time, her rival, the 'Duchess' Aeryx had approached Vanya's lawyer friend about running the charity and sweets shoppes in the Baroness' absence. All of the money could be accounted for, and an increase in profit was seen for the four+ months the business had been back in operation.

* Wireless Telegraphony in the Estate has increased with Karl's (the ghillie) anxious search for sign or word of his Lady, and his having scoured his stable of Sig-friends from around the globe via telegraphonic rumour and library sites. More vacuum-tube aethertronic technology has been invested from the weathered man's income, and a harmonic attack by him seemed to 'muck-out' the Silt humanoids as their resonance frequencies became disrupted.

* The young lad (likely the son of the murdered woman) had been remanded into the State's custody, although as soon as Vanya heard this, she moved to foster him. Her lawyer friend found this an easy task to accomplish.

* Hints of conspiracy with the Constabulary now lead Vanya to a meeting with the Department Head of the Omniprecinctual Yovend Metropolitan Constabulary, who claims to have been good friends with her uncle (and fellow Astronomer's Lodge member).

...and other stuff. :D

Monday, September 20, 2010

-=Guild Houses of Blood (an old Tunnels and Trolls 5 URUTSK Resource)=-

This LINK is to an old T&T5 version of my 'Red Planet' in the Av star system in which Urutsk revolves.

Body Types, fewer Bloods, Natures, non-human Species and alternate Human populations of the sister-planet, more fiddly bits, customisation, classes. Spelling and name changes are prevalent.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Mutants of Marnharnna Pt. 07- (10th September)

In the confusion, the [two] surviving and still in the saddle cavalrymen fumbled about for a Round or Two before one raced off for reinforcements, sounding a bugle. The other sought to tend to the thrown riders, and was attacked by Phlavius' improvised grenade, but was not incapacitated.

General milling about and kibitzing by the PCs provided ample time for the cavalry -- er reinforcements to arrive. Prior by a few Rounds, Zalder of the Winds took skyward to spot encroaching trouble, and spotted it in the form of a heavy dragoon lancer (actually wielding a Bright Metal lance crackling with + Lightning) charging into the fray at great speed.

Fretting over the heavy calendar stones, Raylyss' reptilmalian friend sacrificed himself and his bonded pet so that Raylyss was able to become a quadruped and bear away the weighty stone artefact. The transformation was near instantaneous, and R found himself with 20 additional discretionary DP while in that form.
--The largely incapacitated Osyl was borne along as well. As they departed from the charging horsemen, a tornado formed too nearby and caused a great distraction as the lancer bore down upon the cart and hapless Snappy.

For while Osyl's bleeding form lay upon the gory rushes, she was contacted again by Lady Arctise, her Elemental Patron. In these remote experiences Osyl and the Lady were outside the Nahzar Et’an <‘The Blessed Chapel’> which houses the Yirinn mountain-top arcology of Iirkys Lemharn, the Empire's premier Locomotive Station. The Lady gave Osyl a tour of the poor destitute who huddle tucked into corners of the massive black structure in the hope of staving off hypothermia and frostbite.
--"Your life is mine now, to do with as I please. Is that understood, Osyl?" --"Yes my Lady."
---:: A tour brought forth the chill spirits of those who had perished under Arctise' tender care, who inhabited the station seeking some wan warmth and comfort in immaterial undeath. It was here that the Lady purchased Osyl's ticket on a Ghost Train that would one day bring her spirit to Arctise' frosty mountaintop lair. It was from these visions that Osyl awoke from near-death, colder than normal, but still with a languid and belaboured heartbeat.
----(the tornado was accidentally formed when Osyl used the Lady's power within her to rapidly cool the local air-mass in the hopes of staving off the lancer).

Phlavius attempted to start a grassfire with alcohol, but found that the wet grass (it had been raining) didn't take-to, well. A brief flare-up projected an image of the lascivious Pant the It, ruler of Steam, but the weather's fouling gave the Yellow Ghoul more to worry about, and he then Cloaked and raced off Westward (as did the Cloaked quadrupedal Raylyss).

Zalder then experienced the sound he had heard at the Grinder's unveiling: wings, too close, above and behind him, and when he looked, Zalder saw to his concern a much larger specimen of the reptilavian they had brought down for the feast. This led to cool aerobatic manoeuvring and the plucking of two plumes from the creature as it flew in and picked-up two horses and riders before losing one due to its squirming, and the great flyer's returning to the higher, colder altitudes. All of this as the tornado threw about debris, including the bulk of the cart to which Snappy had been yoked.

The group headed from the plain into a hollow where a nice pond/lake was bordered by scattered copse of trees. Zalder secured a riderless horse, and managed to drive it down the slope toward the water.
--As Raylyss entered the water, his new hindquarters sloughed-off and dissolved into Silt. He searched his mind and found that he was not entirely certain if he could activate the quadraform at will. The bonus DP was reduced to 10 points.
---Snappy arrived late but basically unharmed, trailing the cart's bench still hooked onto its train.

The Nomads appeared from the trees and returned the girls and the eggs in the sealed trunk, and then explained that they had already been killed by West to East expanding Vrun moving to meet-up with the Eastern forces.
--The party were admonished to care for all trees they would encounter, as the last echoes of the slain Nomads could possibly aid them if they did as was bid of them.

The group took shelter in the woods, only to find that they hid subducted or overgrown subterranean ruins (perhaps a sunken tower), which (in the morning) were initially explored (a Simplex Push-button lock sort of affair). Phlavius' and Raylyss' Players both departed and Osyl and Zalder's remained. A room was entered, but Osyl was unfortunate enough to fall into a watery pit occupied by a tentacled creature.
--Melee (and one triple-strength TK Blast by Osyl) ensued and the dumb beast simply could not fail its Resolve Test to withdraw or cease fighting in whatever capacity, so both Osyl (clenched in two tentacles), and Zalder (almost stripped of the Air-crystal) took a good beating, but emerged victorious.
---Parts of the creature were salvaged: six fleshy bulbs connected beneath the things cartilaginous brain case, which appear to be its Water nodes. Zalder plans to collect the Quaternary Elemental Nodes for a gadget of some sort.

We held it there.

At some point in the session, it was revealed that the Lancer was in possession of a powerful Lightning artefact and as long as she wielded it and aberrants or magickers would use the Elements, powerful side effects would occur.
--It was apparent that the woman who wielded it was an Anti-Shre crusader, making it increasingly likely that the PCs would hear from her again.

---

Baroness Averdyn's mini-adventure and planning sessions went well both last week and on Wednesday night.

Key Words: Confections shoppe, Wireless Telegraphony, Heavy Weapons Master.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Tremulous Antennae: Mementos of the Ancients-

LINK

A Letter from Ken St. Andre to Jim Shipman-

I am reposting the letter Ken sent me (and likely others).

James,

I received your package yesterday with some surprise. Received six copies of the revised Gristlegrim Dungeon. This dismays me, as I told you to quit publishing it back in January of this year when I broke with you. If this parcel was an attempt at a reconciliation between us, then I appreciate the effort you took, but I reject it. Our friendship and partnership is broken and done forever. I do not wish to collaborate on Gristlegrim or any other project with you. Not now! Not ever again! You had no right to add your material to my work. You have no right to continue publishing and selling it. Please stop!

James, you no longer have any right to publish or sell my works. We have no written contracts. We have no formal accounting of royalties. Your habit of sending money and or copies of the items is no longer good enough. Any informal agreements we may have made in 2009 and earlier are terminated on my side of the deal. I no longer wish to associate with you, either professionally or informally.

Find some other outlet for your creativity. Leave me, and leave Tunnels and Trolls, alone. I am rejecting any further association with you.


I hope this is clearly understood. Do not publish anything with my name on it as author. Do not presume to collaborate with me on my projects. Do not keep attempting to infiltrate trollhalla.com under false names--you are banned and unwelcome on that site. Do not attempt to rewrite the history of Tunnels and Trolls on Wikipedia or any other online sources. Do not send me money. Do not send me product. I do not want it from you. However, I am under no legal obligation to send back things that arrive unsolicited in the mail. I won't waste the money or the effort to send them back. I am not interested in theatrical gestures. I simply wish to terminate our association and to move on with other things in life.

I hereby reclaim my rights to anything I ever gave you to publish. In particular, I assert my right to the novel Griffin Feathers which consists entirely of my own work with some input in the short sections of the book from the members of Trollhalla.

I am forwarding the "royalties" that you sent me to Jeff Freels, the artist whose work you have re-used to illustrate this version of Gristlegrim. He deserves compensation for his work.


James, I am not angry at you, and I do not hate you. I simply will not associate with you ever again. For several years we were, I thought, very good friends. Outlaw Press did a lot for Tunnels and Trolls. You know why that time has ended. Let it go. Move on.

James, I will be publishing this letter in open forums on the internet, so that all the world can see how I feel, and how I react to what I can only believe are attempts to manipulate me and to gain control of Tunnels and Trolls. If you have no ulterior intentions, then forgive me for being suspicious, but I no longer feel that I can trust you.


James, you have your own unique style of creativity. Please go and do your own thing, and stop messing with me and with Tunnels and Trolls.



Sincerely,
Ken St. Andre

Sunday, September 5, 2010

The games these kids are playing these days...-

I'd love to talk about all the layers of Player interaction in my friend's Pathfinder game, but I'll confine this little 'get off my lawn' monologue to the slogging monotony of making a multiclassed character in the post 1e era.

I was faced with a slight re-build and one level increase for my LN Cleric of Heironeous, now that the Paizo Advanced Player's Guide trumped the Adamant Entertainment Tome of Secrets stuff. My eyes were practically bleeding by the time I had finished allocating my 17 Skill Points, and I still had PAGES of entries to complete: Special Abilities, Feats, Channelling, Spell DCs, ...
--For the love of Moshiach! When did this all go so horribly wrong? Is GURPS to blame? Starfleet Battles? Chivalry & Sorcery? !!!

There is entirely too much stuff to track; and 12 page character sheets?!
--I was exhausted before I even had my first scene in the game.

Where's my Geritol?
--I'm off to bed.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Mutants of Marnharnna Pt. 06 and a New Solo Game-

With the Stone Calendar in their possession, and Osyl and 'snappy' the cart-puller out of the homestead/camp, the group fell back to their rally point and then realised that they were being tracked by two scouts from the camp.

One of the items dumped onto Osyl's cart in compensation for the hootch she provided the men was a heavy grinder of some sort of metal. When Osyl cranked it to see if it worked, it seemed to her that she was being pulled forwards in time at a rate faster than the normal passage of the equivalent time. However, the other PCs each had a different experience: The sound of bombs falling/detonating (Raylyss); distorted Calliope music starting up (Phlavius); and the sound of wings far too close for comfort above and behind him (Zalder).
--And while 'debate' sprang up, there were a few humorous moments, and a lot of kvetching about how to properly ambush the scouts and whether or not to use the grinder, etc.

Fabricated woollen propellent was created by Phlavius, and he fashioned a half-dozen small grenades (more like sound makers with a short shrapnel radius) from food tins, and gave them to Zalder to use to lead the cavalry (looking for the scouts), which was successful -- to a point.
--The fight against the scouts consisted of Raylyss and Phlavius, both Cloaked, and resulted in the near instant death of one scout from an arrow shot from each of the PCs, the first shot striking the vitals, and the second shot splitting the first arrow. The surviving scout rolled under Osyl's cart, who then double-strength TK-Blasted him (shattering his primary forearm) and moved to attack him with her Vae short sword. Raylyss TK-Gripped him and dragged him out from under the cart, where Zalder landed and dealt with the scout.

Five of the cavalry swept in and one rider was thrown as Osyl dropped his horse with a revolver shot, missing a second one. The remaining three charged in and Osyl was shot in the head and was reduced to Dying, but that rider, too, was un-horsed, leaving only two.
--We moved to begin another Round, but two of the Players left at 8PM.

-----

Vanya Averdyn, Western Isles Vrun Baroness, began her adventuring career in my girlfriend's solo game.
--Vanya's decrepit estate is on a 0.56 sq. mile (358.4 acres) plot of wilderness in the heart of old Yovend, capital of the southern Island of Byrtheq. It had been three times the size in past generations, but the land had been sold off to fund the family's dual passions for travel, and their ancestral (Latter Qhattanian) holdings on the Isles. A slew of mysteries confronts the Baroness, far too many to meaningfully recount here.

I may update her adventures here, but I thought it deserved mention, as it is a very different sort of game than the others have been running in for roughly two years.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Old URUTSK Minis Combat Rules (Primitive to Modern)-

URUTSK COMBAT
EDIT: 1998/09/08
(c) 1998, 2010 Kyrinn S. Eis

* Scale: Open (1/2 of an Average Figure' Height = 01 Yard)
* Time: 01 Round = Approximately 06 Seconds

Range
Increment Penalty

Point-blank: 0
Short: 1
Medium: 2
Long: 3
Extreme: 4

Pass Ammo. check: '6', including appropriate Weapon Ability score.


RANGED COMBAT-

Roll 1d6, and add 'Ranged' score.
--Range and Cover Penalties are then applied.

* A Modified Result of '1' or less is a Clean Miss

* Results of '2-5' indicate a 'hit' has been scored, applying the same total as Hit Points to the previously nominated targets/figures.

* A Result of '6' or more allows the die to be re-rolled, adding the new result to the total. This grand total is then distributed among the nominated target(s).

Other factors discussed later modify the low and high end results.


Misses-
(Roll 1d6):

1). Forced Ammo Check
2-5). Normal Miss
6). Strike another figure within 01 Yard to either side of the original target, regardless of range (nearer or further).


Group Ranged Combat-

* Dice for all involved per side are rolled
* Apply Range and Cover penalties to each die
* 1's are not added, and each removes a single high(est) scoring roll (preventing additive re-rolls for that die removed)
* A result of 6 on any (remaining) die is then added with its re-roll. This is performed only once per die.

* Total the modified rolls
* This is distributed to the pre-nominated targets, with those without cover (even in further ranks/rows) receiving the brunt of damage first, then those in partial cover, and lastly to those in full cover.


Autofire / Volley Modifiers (Single)-

* Modified results of '1' are treated normally
* A '2' may also indicate a 'miss' if the weapon condition is poor or the item is damage, defective, etc.
* A result of 5+ is an additive re-roll
* Continue as normal


Autofire / Volley Modifiers (Group)-

* 1's (and 2's if the gear is damaged or poorly maintained) are not added, and instead each subtracts a single high(est) scoring roll (preventing Additive Re-Rolls)
* 5+ is an ARR
* Continue as normal


Burst-Effect Weapons-

* 1's act as normal
* 4's, 5's, and 6's are ARRs

* Figures without cover, within the range of the effect, are automatically subject to 12 Hit-points, before rolled points are distributed to those with cover.
* The area affected by the burst is often devastated and poses its own hinderances, namely fires and broken terrain.
* Structures in the area are treated as figures without cover, and sustain 12 hit-points. Although this is often not enough to destroy the structure outright, it is usually enough to deteriorate the integrity of the structure, and can cause dangerous conditions (collapses, etc.)
* Figures with cover provided by damaged structures may have survived the initial blast, but may still persh from their refuge's collapse. In these cases, 2d6 are rolled:

* If the results are doubles (5, 5, or 3, 3, for instance), they are treated as ARRs
* Any other results are simply added, and hit-points distributed among the figures in the structure. This damage represents injuries suffered from falling debris or other special effects from such an event.


MELEE (CLOSE) COMBAT-

* Roll 1d6 per unit (based on combat scale), and add the Close score
* Ties result in an ARR for both parties, with the figure wit the higher Close score breaking a further tie.

Parries & Ripostes-

A number of Hit-Points of damage a melee or unarmed fighter generates, up to its Close score, can be used to interfere with incoming enemy hit-points. If this amount is equal to the incoming hit-points, then the strike is negated. If the total is greater, and a '6' was rolled, the enemy is disarmed. Any remaining points may still be used to inflict injury as normal.

Breaking-off in Melee-

On occasions where a figure wants to disengage from its opponent, the opponent is entitled to an unopposed roll (adding its Close score) to determine the effect of its strike.

Mass Melee-

When more than one figure engages an enemy in Melee combat, follow standard One-on-one Melee Procedure, as expanded by the following rules:

* Parry and Riposte points may be spread among one-half as many opponents (round up)

* Command Checks must be made each Minute of such combat


COMMAND CHECKS-

* Figures must be within 10 Yards of a Command-capable figure when a Command Check is required, or the figures are Out of Command (OoC).
* Figures which are OoC will attempt to join other friendly units, even if they are also OoC, rather than remain isolated.
* Groups of OoC troops are under the Referee's control.
* Groups of troops with a Command-capable commander are Detachments, and act as sub-units with all the same properties as the main unit in regard to Command Checks.


Mass Melee Charges-

* Roll 1d6 for each side.
* If the Charging Attackers are at 21-40 Yards when the charge begins, 6's are ARRs for their side. If at 20 Yards (or less), 5's and 6's are ARRs.
* The Charged Party receives ARRs based on preparedness, and longer ranges. If the Charging Attackers are at Medium Range (for the weapons employed) then 6's are ARRs. Long and Extreme Range permit 5's and 4's, respectively. Readied weapons lower the ARR threshold by one, but never lower than '4'.
* Overwhelming numbers of Charging attackers (3:1 or greater) additionally force 2's to be discarded by the Other/Receiving Party. Autofire/Volley are conducted normally. Command Checks are necessary versus Disruption.
* The Grand Total for each party is applied to their opponents.
* If both parties Charge, treat each side as the Charging Party.
* Once the two forces engage, Standard Melee takes place.
* As with any instance of Mass Melee, Command Checks are required each Minute of Battle.


Disruption-
(Roll 1d6)

1). Staggered: Lose Next 02 Rounds
2-5). Stunned: Lose Next Round
6). Unaffected: May act as normal


HIT-POINTS-

Regardless of the source, any hit-points attached to a figure are compared to the figure's Fate score:

* If less than that score, the figure remains active, though at a Fate score reduced by the hit-points not negated by defences.
* If attached hit-points are equal to the figure's Fate, the figure is Injured.
* If the hit-points exceed the figure's Fate score, then the figure is Incapacitated.

Injuries-

* Injured figures may resume action on the second Round after suffering their Injury. the Fate score is reduced by 01. If faced with an enemy, the Injured figure may fight back, but 1's, 2's, and 3's are penalised as previously discussed.

Incapacitated-
(Roll 1d6):

1-2). Dead
3-5). Immobile: badly wounded and in serious pain. as a result, they are very likely to be noisy
6). Unconscious: 1d6 Minutes before regaining Consciousness, then treat as Injured

[END]