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 ]Å}]&*&$%% file corrupt
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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]

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.

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

-=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.

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.

Tremulous Antennae: Mementos of the Ancients-

LINK