Tommy's Take on Arthur Lives! 2nd Edition

I do like Greek Myth, and  I like Arthurian Myth just as well. So it makes sense to end the week reviewing Arthur Lives! 2nd Edition as it closes in on the halfway mark of its Kickstarter.

Tommy's Take on Olympus, Inc.

I was going to open with something witty...but I'm not very witty.



Today I'm reviewing Olympus, Inc. by Fabled Environments, powered by Savage Worlds!

Tommy's Take on Army of Darkness

So I recently started watching Ash vs Evil Dead thanks to Netflix DVD, and it took my mind back to another older RPG: Army of Darkness by Eden Studios, powered by the Cinematic Unisystem.

Hail to the King, baby.

Superhero Kickstarters to Check Out

Hey all, just checking in with a couple of Kickstarters to recommend for you...

SENTINELS OF THE MULTIVERSE: OBLIVAEON



Greater Than Games is doing one of the ballsiest things you can do...they are killing their cash cow while it's still HOT. They insist they always had a plan, and this is the grand finale of that plan: A final expansion in which the heroic characters of the Sentinels of the Multiverse will join forces with some of their fiercest foes to battle an epic Galactus/Darkseid/Thanos-like entity that wants to eradicate the multiverse.

I am a huge fan of Sentinels of the Multiverse. It is, simply put, the greatest card game I've ever played and I have logged hundreds of games and hundreds of hours. For those who are unfamiliar, you have a number of hero decks (generally 3-5), a villain deck (or a team, more on that later) and an environment deck. Then it's (generally) a slugfest until either the heroes fall or the villain does (some villains and environment decks introduce alternate win or lose conditions). The game has continued to grow, with multiple boxed expansions (gritty street-level, mystic and cosmic themed), new variants (two boxed sets introduced the concept of taking on teams of villains) and numerous single-deck expansion packs, as well as promo cards that provided variant heroes and villains to play with. The game is completely co-op, with the villain decks essentially being "automated". There's even an amazing video game version on Steam, Android and iOS devices.

Details about the gameplay in this expansion are still scarce, but it's known that multiple Environments will be used, as well as a Mission Deck. I freely admit, I have a ton of confidence in these guys to deliver, as I have yet to regret a purchase for this card game.

It is worth noting that the larger Sentinels line will still continue with their miniatures/skirmish game Sentinel Tactics (which I also enjoy, but rarely get to play) and the upcoming Sentinels of the Multiverse RPG (which I intend to get due to my love of the universe).

Heck, you can even get an ultimate collector's box in this Kickstarter that promises to hold every official card they have released (even sleeved!).

Highest recommendation for one of the greatest games I have ever played, from a company with an impeccable track record. I would  love to see that million dollar stretch goal shattered.

AGAINST THE AXIS - WORLD WAR II ERA PLAY IN STARK CITY

My friends over at Fainting Goat Games are hard at work on Against the Axis, an ICONS World War II book that is now also getting Savage Worlds and SUPERS! support. They have even joined forces with Heroic Publishing to tie in with several of their Golden Age style characters.

The ICONS manuscript is complete, and this is a full blown sourcebook that ties in with the Stark City setting released a few years ago, not simply an adventure (of which ICONS has seen several of).

Pinnacle's own Clint Black (who was the man behind one of my favorite campaigns of all time, Necessary Evil) is signed on to write a stretch goal book if it gets that far, but right now the campaign is struggling. Fainting Goat is a good company with great quality and reliability, and the ICONS manuscript is complete, so there is very low risk in backing this one, which still needs just under two grand to hit its funding goal in a week.

Tommy's Take on Wicked Lies & Alibis

First off, I have to say how pleased I am at the response to the giveaway and how pleased I am that one person has managed to deduce the clues I left in my post as to my favorite Great Detective. You still have time to win, so enter!

Now, let's take a closer look at Wicked Lies & Alibis, if you will.

Six Questions with Paul Mitchener

As you are hopefully aware, I am currently running a giveaway for two digital copies of The Age of Arthur. Remember, you still have a few days to enter!

I decided to shoot author Paul Mitchener a few questions and he decided to shoot me a few answers, and I decided to share them with you.

I hope you enjoy.

Tommy's Take on Age of Arthur

As you may or may not have heard, we are giving away the Age of Arthur here on the blog: Two PDF, so enter now! Today, however, we are going to take a look at just what the Age of Arthur IS, as I review it to take us into the weekend.

Age of Arthur Giveaway!

After the rousing success that was our AMP: Year One giveaway, I am extremely proud to announce that we are able to present to you ANOTHER giveaway!

Thanks to the generous donations of Wordplay Games, we have two electronic copies of their Powered by Fate RPG known as Age of Arthur to give away!

Entering is simple: Just send an email to tommybrownell(a)gmail(dot)com by 12:01 am, April 21st, with subject "Age of Arthur" giveaway, and you will be entered into a drawing to win this 288 page Fate powered take on the legend of King Arthur.

You literally have nothing to lose.

My review of the book will be posted Friday, and I have an interview with the author, Paul Mitchener, slate for Friday the 17th before announcing the winners on the 21st.

Good luck!

Tommy's Take on EPOCH: War Stories

Earlier this week, I tackled the Frontier of Fear scenario book for EPOCH...so today, let's take a look at War Stories, which aims to make war even more horrific.

Tommy's Take on Colonial Gothic 2nd Edition

So I'm a pretty big fan of Deadlands, which is a bit of a distant cousin to Colonial Gothic, seeing as they are both alternate history horror games. Plus, I'm a bit of a fan of early American history, so that helps, too.

Deadlands Reloaded Actual Play: Night Train

Previous Sessions:
Volume 1
Volume 2

Volume 3

So with new additions to our gaming group, Tommy and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to play Deadlands Reloaded, so I decided to run - for the first time - Night Train! We picked up after the events of Independence Day, with Tontchay on board a train back to Oklahoma, in hopes of finding someone in the Coyote Federation that could help him enter the Deadlands and find Marshal Kidd.

So last week I floated character concepts by the newbies and this week they came back with character ideas that make for an...interesting...party make-up: A Texas Ranger, and the grandson of William B. Travis, hunting for Jim Bowie's knife, for he is named James Bowie Travis. He's a Brawny Texan who believes that Texas borders extend to wherever he walks. His father was a worthless alcoholic, a trait that James picked up, and he's hoping to restore his family's good name. The other character is known only as Lana, and she's an operative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. She's a bastard (in the Deadlands sense, this means she can see the invisible) who has been handed down a sword said to belong to her MIA father, which she keeps as her prized possession. She also has a Big Mouth, making her a HORRIBLE spy. She had been tracking mysterious disappearances at rail stations, placing the three of them on the train together.

Travis noticed Tontchay was wearing a Marshal's tin star on his chest and began questioning it, not being used to see an Indian wearing a badge before. He asked where the owner of the badge was and Tontchay, quite paranoid due to previous experiences in a train, was looking for safe places to hole up, just in case. Once Tontchay was satisfied, he told the Ranger that the Marshal that owned the badge was a friend, and that he was in a place that white people called "Hell". Travis was confused and commented about the Marshal being dead, but Tontchay replied that the Marshal wasn't dead...just trapped in Hell. Lana overheard this with interest, but quickly got into a shouting match with Travis (who thought she was a traveling whore, which WAS actually her cover). The train came to a stop around twilight at a station known as Barlowe Station.

Lana and Tontchay decided to stretch their legs at this remote little station, and looking around inside the station house, they discovered that there were a set of glasses on the counter but no one around. Looking closer, Lana discovered that the ink was still fresh and the logs had been filled out as of the day before. As Tontchay and Lana explored the area, Travis got curious and started looking for himself, following Tontchay to the nearby shack, while Lana headed to the outhouse.

As Tontchay knocked on the door, he saw grooves on the door. Looking around, he discovered that the ground had been trampled, including a garden right under a side window, which was busted in...and there were bulletholes in the wall under the window. The Ranger gave him a boost into the window and followed, and the two lawmen found that the bedroom was a mess. They did find a puddle of blood and a pistol that had discharged four shots (they did the math and realized that a target was probably hit), and looked outside to find tracks leading to the outhouse...

Meanwhile, Lana was peering into the outhouse and discovering that the boards were loose and the outhouse smelled atrocious...and that was before she caught a whiff of a dead body. She quickly beat feet to the shack.

Lana told Travis and Tontchay what she found and they compared notes. As Tontchay and Travis examined the outhouse closer, deciding something most be UNDER the outhouse, they lit a match and threw it in, before striking another to try to get a better look, with no success. The three of them headed to a nearby barn, finding a spooked mare and some happy pigs, and came away with a pitchfork and some rope. They managed to poke around, finding a body under the outhouse, and got a slipknot around the corpse, hefting it out. The posse then dragged the body to a watertower where the Ranger washed it off, allowing Lana to examine it closer, finding rat-like bites on corpse. (Incidentally, Tontchay lost his lunch at the smell during this, gaining a point of Fatigue.)

Once the posse told the conductor what had happened, he suggested they head to the next town, known as Varney Flats. There was a debate about what to do with the body, with Travis saying he had done enough and Tontchay ultimately told the Conductor that it would be his decision, being "one of your folk". The Conductor said he would take the body to Varney Flats if Tontchay would help him wrap the body up. Tontchay agreed, but asked the Conductor to make sure the car was secured in such a way that nothing could get out. The Conductor thought he misheard and asked Tontchay if he meant "get in", and Tontchay shrugged and said "That too."

That night, Tontchay woke up to something banging on a train car and made his way down to it, realizing it was coming from the car with the corpse. The banging got louder and louder and Tontchay reluctantly opened his car and moved to the other...when Marshal Kidd, eyes blazing red and teeth glistening, ripped through the door and grabbed Tontchay! Tontchay sat up in a sweat...and heard something banging. He crept to the car...and realized that part of the awning over the train car had come loose and was flapping. Travis offered a smart aleck remark to the startled Indian.

The train rolled into Varney Flats early in the morning and everyone - okay, Lana and Tontchay - agreed to tell the town Marshal what had happened, and Travis reluctantly went along with it (preferring instead to head to the saloon). There they met a bookish Deputy named Nathan Parrish who told them that Marshal McBride was away from town. Then Parrish got a bright idea, seeing as how Travis was a Texas Ranger and Tontchay has a badge: He asked them to help him guard his prisoner, Abner Knapp, who McBride had captured...because he's afraid that Mayor Varney is going to lead a lynching in order to show Knapp's people - a camp of buffalo hunters - that they couldn't just run wild in Varney Flats. Parrish knew that McBride wanted Knapp to swing at the Judge's orders, not Varney's. He offered to deputize Lana and give the posse the $100 bounty on Knapp's head if they would agree, which they did. Abner launched in, taunting and tormenting the posse, to little effect.

The posse became concerned that the missing Marshal might have been their dead guy, so Parrish and Lana went to examine the body while Tontchay checked out Varney Flats and Travis hung out, keeping an eye on Abner.

Parrish quickly confirmed that the body was not Marshall McBride.

Tontchay found out that the general store was in the process of becoming a a gunstore thanks to most of the real money coming from the buffalo hunters.

Abner failed to convince Travis to let him go.

Tontchay, nervous about his dreams, got a room to get some sleep, while Lana took over babysitting Abner and Travis decided to get a few drinks at the saloon.

As Travis was taking in his drinks, the saloon began to fill up with townsfolk...including the town's mayor, Sam Varney. Varney was trying to rile up the crowd to hunt down Knapp, but Travis moved to talk him down. Tontchay came downstairs as Travis and Varney were having a stand off...so Tontchay, who has quelled a few crowds, decided to head off Varney's accusations that the Deputy and the Ranger had been bought and paid for by somebody, and tried to scare him into backing off. To his complete surprise, it failed. (Tontchay is Strong Willed and his a good Intimidation, but Varney outrolled him by five points and surprised Tontchay's player). This got pretty intense, with Varney painting the posse as outsiders placing the interests of a murderer over the interests of Varney Flats.

Varney offered to back off, buy the posse's rooms and their food and drink during their stay, sarcastically noting that the Indian that probably killed the man that originally owned that badge and the big mouthed Texas Ranger clearly know what's best for Varney Flats.

Of course, this set the posse on edge and while Tontchay was milling about, he saw an angry mob heading towards the Marshal's office. Tontchay warned the group and they tried to work out a plan, including holing up inside the office (with Knapp asking for a gun of his own, but he was denied). Parrish tried to confront the mob, but was too quiet to be heard over them, and Lana tried to talk some sense into them...but that didn't work, so Travis stepped out of the office to confront them. A stand-off was brewing and the tension was rising...so Travis shot the out of Varney's mouth, stunning everyone! (Using an Adventure Card, "Shaking in Thar Boots")! Tontchay once more unleashed his force of will, asking the townsfolk if they were going to let everyone be lynched without due process, and forcing the town to back down!

Lana decided to wait up with Abner and Parrish, while Travis headed to bed after the mob dispersed, and Tontchay decided to ride out to find McBride. A few hours later, a scream pierced the night, and after a moment, Tontchay realized it was actually a train whistle. He rode hard back to Varney Flats.

Parrish was the one that heard the train roll into town and he pulled Lana to the door just in time for the demonic train to come to a stop, the whistle to blow (waking Travis up in his bed) and the terror to wash over the town. The doors slide open and the crazed, animalistic nosferatu burst forth. Lana panicked and ran, but one of them ran her down, forcing her to draw her sword and fight...and a brutal swing took its head off! She looked around to see dozens of nosferatu flooding out of the train.

Travis was more rattled than he would admit, sitting in bed as a nosferatu clawed at his door, eventually busting in. Travis fought with the nosferatu on his bed, trying to get shots off at at and having his face clawed up by it. With his guns having no effect, as soon as he got free, Travis dove from the second story window and to the street below!

Lana saw nosferatu dragging townsfolk to the train, so she tried to intervene, only to be rushed by other vampires (though she did successfully take another couple down).

Travis opened fire on the nosferatu trying to drag people away, but didn't even slow them down. The sounds of people fighting back began to fill up the town, and the vampires piled onto the train, which fired up and began to roll away!

The townsfolk gathered 'round, with Parrish screaming that he nosferatu managed to get Abner Knapp out of his cage! He asked Travis and Lana if they would retrieve him...and Varney even offered a bounty on the heads of his missing townsfolk. Parrish brought up horses and said they could cut across the prairie in order to run the train down...and he hoped they were going with him.

As they chased the train from the rear and tried to pin it down, Tontchay raced it head on. He could see the ghost rock steam rising out of the engine and the demonic appearance of the train...so he tried to ride alongside and fired off a shot at the conductor, who was clearly among the undead! This attempt failed, so Tontchay rode close to jump aboard the train! Parrish, Lana and Travis closed in, as Tontchay stomped across the train and tried to shoot the conductor again! This time, he got its attention, and the conductor blew the whistle, causing nosferatu to climb up on the train! As Tontchay tried to make his stand against the rising tide of nosferatu, Lana jumped aboard the train!

One of the nosferatu tumbled to its doom, trying to get to Tontchay, and Lana helped get the attention of some of the others. Parrish and Travis managed to jump aboard as well, and the heroes got a break when the engine car snapped free (Lana's player played the Malfunction car), and the engine rolled screaming away. The cars came to a slow halt, but more and more nosferatu kept pouring out of the car, shrugging off the bullets, though a few more got cut down by Lana's sword. Parrish managed to obliterate the upper half of one's body with his shotgun, but nearly got his throat ripped out with another. Even more nosferatu poured out of the cabins while Travis finally figured out what he needed to do, blasting nosferatu in the hearts. When he realized the odds were overwhelming, he dove from the train, and Lana joined him...grabbing Parrish and jumping with him! Tontchay dove as well...as he fired into the store of ghost rock, igniting it and causing the train to explode!  Lana and Travis managed to scurry free, but Parrish was killed by the explosion, and Tontchay was hurled end over end, very nearly killed. (I gave him a chip for his effort, which he used to soak, only soaking a single wound, enough to only hit three wounds instead of pushing death.)

In the aftermath, Mayor Varney (who seemed genuinely shaken at the loss of his deputy and the townsfolk) thanked the posse for their efforts, and offered to allow them to remain in town for as long as they liked...which Tontchay desperately needed.

NOTES: Night Train really is a vicious bugger, and the posse does a great job of constantly getting separated. This party make-up could be a disaster, but the entire group is aware of the dynamic they have created and are playing up the "antagonistic team" feel...fighting before coming together in the end, that kind of thing, so I don't mind.

Adventure decks can make all the difference in the world, and I am probably a bit loose with the definitions of the cards...that said, I wasn't pulling any punches on the attacks. The main reason Travis held up as well as he did is because he's Brawny, while Lana is the melee monster on this squad. The new players enjoyed themselves, so I think we have more Deadlands this weekend, though I'm not planning on a canned adventure, if I can avoid it.

The Path of Kane - A Solomon Kane Actual Play Volume 3

Volume 1

Volume 2

Unfinished Business

The Winthorpe party set out for Conners’ home, hoping to raid his books and find out what he may know about the Gems of Power. As they approached Conners’ home, a sound from around back drew their attention. Checking out the grounds, they found a barn, from which a rough sound was emanating. Jonathan told Tenzan to be at the ready as he carefully approached the barn…

As he came closer to a knothole, the doors were busted open and a massive black stallion with glowing red eyes and barbed wire being used as bit and bridle emerged! The group was momentarily taken aback…then Roger drew his pistol and fired, dropping the horse dead!

Jonathan was taken by surprised at the single lethal shot! He ordered Tenzan and Roger to examine the barn closer, while he and his sister checked out the house.

Inside the home, the siblings rifled through some very expensive art pieces, but they were really interested in knowledge…which they found in the study. Jonathan found that Conners had been studying “The Castle of the Devil” in the Black Forest of Germany. Jonathan read with great interest about Baron Von Staler, his descent into madness and cruelty after hitting his head and losing his sight, locking the Baroness away, battling Solomon Kane and then regaining his sight, murdering the Baroness believing her to be an imposter! Conners has apparently come to believe that Von Staler’s bones are still in his castle, and has dispatched men to Germany to seek them out for some dark end!

Jonthan read on, discovering that Conners had been financing his studies through selling all kinds of dark items to dangerous and desperate people, and that he had actually created that horse in the barn, through some manner of demonic infusion!

Tenzan and Roger joined the twins in the house, and Jonathan asked what took so long, to which Roger replied by informing him that the horse kept trying to get back up!

Examining the house closely, they found a hidden room where Conners was performing dark studies, as well as parts and remains from human and animal victims he had been studying on!

The decision was made to make their way to London, gain passage to Germany and seek out the Castle of the Devil for themselves! To finance the trip, they rather looted Conners’ home, in hopes of unloading the items in London.

The Winthorpe party rode out across England in their cart, stopping at an inn a couple of days later. Through this all, Jonathan had been studying the book he found at Dr. Hapgood’s…and as he was settling in for the night, something clicked! Jonathan was momentarily overwhelmed…because he had discovered the secrets of raising the dead!

Shortly thereafter, a strange pot crashed through the window and began filling the room with smoke! Jonathan tried to keep his feet, but stumbled out of the room where he saw Tenzan and Christina under similar assault! Then darkness came…

Jonathan came to sometime later, being smacked repeatedly by his sister, who was trying to wake him up. She told him that Roger has missing, but she had found tracks leading away from the inn. The twins and Tenzan mounted up, and headed out to rescue Roger!

A short ride later, they saw Roger tied up in a clearing, surrounded by half a dozen men, and a figure on a black horse that appeared to be Conners! They rushed to save Roger, but the henchmen moved to intercept them! One struck Tenzan with a surprising blow, crumpling him to his knees! Christina charged Conners, but one of his men tried to block her.

The others surrounded Jonathan, who quickly cast spells to protect himself, and then to enhance his fighting skills. They paid off just in time, because he was surrounded by some vicious thugs!

Conners went at Christina as well, and she was battling viciously to fend off both men.

Jonathan bloodied his kodachi, as Christina brought down Conners and his henchmen, then rushed to save Jonathan.

In mid battle Jonathan was hit with a revelation: He knew a couple of these men from Wyndham Keep! This puzzled him, but he kept fighting and he and his sister held off the thugs!

Tenzan was wounded, but not killed, and was embarrassed to be taken in such a way. They freed Roger, and went to Conners…to discover it wasn’t Conners at all, but a frightened soldier named Terry Roth! Roth explained that he was only here because his daughter had been bitten by a wild dog, and a man offered to heal her: Life for a life! Roth would do anything to protect his own, even kill another, and that’s why he ambushed Roger! A slip of paper fell from his cloak and Jonathan read it: A note, addressed to Roger, from Conners! Citing certain beliefs that items on your person follow you into the afterlife, Conners left this so Roger would know who killed him, and that it was done because Rogers “chose the boy”. Conners then promised in his letter that he would come for “the boy” when it was least expected, and would take his life!

The Winthorpe party gathered Terry and Roger agreed to try to save his daughter. They went to Terry’s home, and after a long night of hard work, Roger managed to help her illness subside.

Soon back on the road, the Winthorpe party arrived in London early the next day, riding along the coast, when they caught wind of sailors hauling a body onto land and one yelling out “Again?! That’s the fifth one this week!”…

Notes: The encounter with the demon horse was supposed to be way more than a one shot finish. The horse was trying to escape and would inadvertently lead them back to Wyndham Keep, where Conners had escaped after getting into the heads of some of Lord Wyndham’s men and getting them to turn on Nicodemus.

Oops.

Jonathan’s player played the Enemy card in this session, and so I made sure to establish that Conners would be coming back, and back for blood, while also hinting again at the hidden past of Roger Therrien.

Next adventure is a Savage Tale from the book involving a giant rat…did I mention Jonathan is afraid of rats?

The Path of Kane - A Solomon Kane Actual Play Volume 2

Volume 1

A Tangled Web

After the dream-visit by N’Longa, the Winthorpe party decided to head to Northern England to rendezvous with a scholar friend of Roger’s named Conners. Hopefully, Conners could tell them of the Gems of Power, or at least the one in the Old World.

On the trail North, the Winthorpe party was taken aback to find people hanging from trees on the trail, animals having picked at them! Roger noted, after an examination, that they didn’t even appear to be criminals, but farmers and laborers.

As Tenzan immediately moved to cut them down, Jonathan was overtaken with a sense of nausea, and said he would “lead the horses away”. While removing himself from the scene, he spotted a side trail through the woods, where five men were stringing up another person!

Jonathan returned to his party and rounded them up to approach this other event. Jonathan got their attention, asking the men why they were stringing people up, to which they replied that the people of Wickhampton were guilty of desecrating the grave of The Lady Wyndham and were being strung up on orders from Lord Robert Wyndham! Jonathan demanded evidence of this foul play, to which the guards replied that Lord Wyndham and his adviser Nicodemus were certain the people of Wickhampton had jealously desecrated the body of Lady Wyndham in order to disrespect Lord Wyndham! Lady Wyndham had come from Wickhampton, and was buried – at Lord Wyndham’s dismay – in Wickhampton due to her final wishes.

This led to a fight, which ended badly for the guards. Three wound up dead, with one more hurt badly and the fifth lightly wounded. They interrogated the fifth, and wound up taking him and the other survivor in as indentured servants to Wickhampton as they took the prisoner and the guards back to Wickhampton, returning with carts to bring all the bodies down.

That night, they were filled with a new sense of urgency at hearing the tales of Wyndham’s brutality, hearing that the scholar Conners had been imprisoned by Wyndham’s men as well! Early the next day, granted a cart by the people of Wickhampton, the Winthorpe party headed to Wyndham Keep.

At Wyndham keep, they were greeted at the sight of Lord Wyndham himself on the wall, his adviser Nicodemus standing behind him. The keep appeared to be rather run down, and Lord Wyndham was rather obstinate as he argued with Jonathan Winthorpe over his treatment of the people of Wickhampton. Nicodemus advised Lord Wyndham that he sensed magick off of Jonathan Winthorpe, accusing him of being a Necromancer!

Jonathan argued at this and let slip that he had encountered the Lord’s men the day prior…to which Wyndham latched on, saying that the Winthorpe party would be required to replace the bodies they had cut down!

As battle commenced, Nicodemus transformed Christina Winthorpe’s rapier into a snake, one that bit her! She cried out and was forced to battle her own weapon with her dagger! Roger Therrien drew his wheel-lock pistol and blasted one of the guards off the wall! Tenzan moved to the drawbridge as Jonathan drew his sling and launched a rock at Nicodemus.

Jonathan kept slinging stones at Nicodemus, while Roger drew his rapier and joined Tenzan at the drawbridge to battle the approaching guards. Christina battled the snake viciously, finally killing it with her main-gauche and retrieving her weapon as it transformed back!

Lord Wyndham stalked down to the drawbridge, a mad rage on his face! Two of his guards opened fire on Roger, then moved to the tower for a better vantage point.

Wyndham’s madness was apparent when he attacked one of his own men, throwing him off the drawbridge and drowning him so he could attack Tenzan! Christina made her way across the bridge, aiding Tenzan while her brother slipped in the ranks, boosting the capabilities of Tenzan.

Nicodemus approaching Christina and frightened her back as he cast a spell on his knife and approached her…but he went into a complete panic as Tenzan hacked his Lord down!

Nicodemus, in a sad rage, confronted the assassins and asked them why they had come and what they wanted! Jonathan pressed further about the attacks on Wickhampton, but Nicodemus held firm, until Christina said that Wickhampton’s cemetery had been raided several times over the last six months!

Nicodemus was stunned by this…by the realization that his Lady’s grave may not have been particularly targeted…and that all this death and devastation may have been for the wrong reasons. He begged the Winthorpe party to find the fiends responsible and make them pay! He offered what he could of the Lord’s coffers, and even offered to release Conners to them for satisfaction!

The Winthorpe party headed back to Wickhampton to do what they could to resolve this horror.

Having dinner at the inn, they overhead the gravediggers talking about their evening duties and refusing to head back to the cemetery, deciding a Necromancer to be at fault for the grave robbings. Jonathan confronted them, and ultimately agreed to accompany them to the cemetery!

Heading to the cemetery, the party saw four men digging away, and the gravediggers ran off in fear! The party, not a single one skilled in Stealth, managed to sneak RIGHT up on the grave robbers!

Roger decided to try to cow them into submission, but as horrific a crime as graverobbing is, the grave robbers decided “fight” was the better choice.

They were dismantled in seconds.

Jonathan seemed pleased with the results, thinking it to be satisfactory.

Roger educated his young charge that grave robbers were interchangeable minions…symptoms, not the disease. Roger, shoving his finger into the wound of one of the surviving grave robbers, made him talk quickly and give up the name of Dr. John Hapgood.

Heading to the Inn, the party found out Hapgood is a pillar of the community and a wonderful guy whose wife was horribly killed in an accident a year back, crushed under a horse cart. Jonathan decided he should be confronted about these horrendous acts. The townsfolk tried to argue, but Roger and Tenzan ended that.

The party headed to Hapgood’s home on the Moors, and Jonathan picked the lock to get inside. Stepping inside, they were greeted by the insane sight of Dr. Hapgood, cackling gleefully about “saving” his wife and conquering death! Then the putrid arm of his wife snatched him back into a back room! A struggle ensued, and he went silent!

Jonathan pondered just burning the house down, when The Monster emerged! Tenzan was captivated by the horrific beauty of The Monster, and clearly thrown off as it approached. He did join Christina and Roger in battling it, while Jonathan moved about the rear, enhancing their fighting abilities, weapons and strength. The Monster flew into a rage and attacked everyone as they moved in, while shrugging off their strongest blows. A huge backhand from The Monster sent Roger spiraling to the ground, and this set Christina into a Righteous Fury!

Seeing the only thing she’s had resembling a parent in years crumple to the ground made her erupt in anger and she pounced on The Monster, driving her rapier through its skull! As The Monster fell, she stabbed it in the heart again and again until Tenzan roughly pulled her away…she didn’t stop trying to kill The Monster until she saw Roger standing before her, mostly intact…at which point she turned away so no one could see her cry.

Jonathan moved into that back room and found a book: “On the Subject of Life and How to Awaken it After Death”. Throughout the house he found notes and journals about the Hapgoods…how Martha had been crushed and how he kept her body preserved…how he failed to find help…until he bought that book from a scholar named Conners.

Returning to Wyndham Keep and providing evidence to Nicodemus about Hapgood’s responsibility for the grave robbings as well as Conners’ involvement, the party went to the dungeon to find out just what Conners meant by selling the book.

Conners tried to say the book was a fake, full of lies…but his old friend Roger saw through it. Roger told him he broke a sacred trust by putting something so dangerous into the hands of one so unstable, and Conners tried to say something about Rogers past, but was cut off. Roger finally turned his back on his old friend, telling Nicodemus to let him rot.

Nicodemus, for his part, offered the party 200 lbs (of which they only took 20) and his best wishes on their journey, planning to head to Wickhampton to try to mend the damage.

The people of Wickhampton, for their part, gave the Winthorpe party the carriage to use in their travels.

And Jonathan Winthorpe kept in his bag the devilish manual with the power to raise the dead…

Notes: This was a Savage tale called The Dark Side of Love with a large framing sequence added by me that expanded the depth of the tale by a few layers. I set up Wyndham and Nicodemus as an inversion of sorts to Theoden and Grima Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings…in this case the Lord was actually crazy while the adviser was just blindly loyal and trying to keep things together.

Plus, I added the layer of the lost friend that they were seeking being the one ultimately responsible for it all: The death of Dr. Hapgood, the villagers killed by Wyndham’s men and ultimately the death of Wyndham himself. A hint was dropped here as to the secret past of Roger Therrien, and there’s a good chance that Conners will return. Roger and Conners kinda remind me a bit of Rupert Giles and Ethan Rayne from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.

Once more, Christina gets the Righteous Rage in the Boss Fight…good timing. My friend Tommy is really liking playing Jonathan as a support guy while his extras (and Wild Card sister) do all the really heavy lifting. It was a good session, and adding the extra layers really took the adventure that extra step.

Tommy's Take on Shadownrun 5th Edition, Milecastle 42 and Djinn of the Deep

SHADOWRUN FIFTH EDITION

Fun fact: I actually have no experience with Shadowrun whatsoever. Yes, I know it’s pretty much a classic and one of the bigger fish in the gaming sea…and, yet, here we are. So when I got a chance to review the Fifth Edition of the game, I took it.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: First and foremost, this is the 5^th, and most recent, version of the game. The books clocks in at 489 pages, making for a hefty tome. The PDF is about $20, about a third of what the print version is going to retail for, it looks like. Shadowrun is a mix of fantasy and cyberpunk sci-fi elements, a lot of which have now been seen over the years. The system uses a d6 dice pool system, with 5s and 6s for successes and “Glitches” occurring when half or more of the dice rolled come up 1s. The world is ran largely by megacorporations, and people deal in both Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality while Magic is a fairly commonplace element.

WHAT WORKS: I like the fantastic elements like the elves and dwarves and orks and trolls, blending them with the modern world. The magic system has some very neat points to it, with my favorite part being the mentor spirits. The book is a gorgeous piece of work, with some impressive art. There is a “random run generator”, essentially a random adventure generator, which I always love. Character creation levels are provided, so you can start campaigns with street level newbies, capable warriors or power players.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: In-game fiction doesn’t do too much for me, anymore, and there seemed to be a lot of that here (maybe it was just my perceptions), especially for the price. I’m not a fan of the approach taken with the system…for the most part, I’ve moved towards “lighter” systems over the years, and a skill heavy system like this isn’t really in my wheelhouse (75+ skills is a bit much for me).

CONCLUSION: Shadowrun isn’t really for me. I’m not surprised, as cyberpunk isn’t a genre that really interests me, and when I do have a desire to scratch that itch, I have a perfectly good Savage Worlds alternative waiting for me (Interface Zero). The book never really “clicked” for me, making it difficult for me to engage with it, and I think that might be the “Dracula” effect: In short, all those trends that Shadowrun kinda helped set are a bit overdone now, and so it has a bit of a “been there, done that” feel to it. That said, if the system were more my speed, I really think I could get into the setting due to the “magic plus sci-fi” mish-mash. Not a bad product, just not my cup of tea, unfortunately.

MILECASTLE 42

Open-ended adventures are always a good thing, IMO. One of Silver Gryphon Games’ newest releases is just that, an alternate history sandbox adventure called Milecastle 42.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: This 27 page adventure costs $5 and is, in a nutshell, Romans versus Zombies. The PCs are stationed at a Milecastle, essentially a lighthouse which is part of a series of such houses 5 miles apart. The night before, Milecastle 42 signaled in desperation but now their light has gone out, so it’s up to the PCs to investigate. The PCs are given objectives and guidelines and then turned loose to investigate Milecastle 42 as they will. The outpost, of course, has been overran by zombies (this isn’t a complete surprise, as the Romans are living with the plague in this reality) and most of the zombies are capable of little more than pack mentality and animal cunning. That a more intelligent foe is directing them shouldn’t be a big surprise, but where the adventure really wins out is in the climax, which comes out of left field in an awesome way.

WHAT WORKS: The “Final Boss” is really kinda epic. The page numbering is all in roman numerals, which is a nice touch. I love a good, open sandbox adventure.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: All the characters are going to be a bit “samey” by the nature of the game, as PCs are built off of a template that is customized.

CONCLUSION: A fun one shot or convention game, Milecastle 42 also allows for a few options for continuing the game depending on the success or failure of the PCs. I’m not a big fan of what amounts to pregens, even though I understand why they’re there, but as I don’t run a lot of one shots or convention games, I’m not really the target audience. If you’re not tired of zombies yet, or if you want them in a different milieu, then Milecastle 42 is well worth picking up, especially for its “OH CRAP” moment at the end of the adventure.

DJINN OF THE DEEP

Another one shot/convention style adventure, this one casts the PCs in the role of pirates who learn that there’s always a bigger fish…

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: This nautical adventure weighs in at 22 pages and $5, and is also part of a bundle that includes deck plans for a freighter by Dramascape for only 99 cents more. Players are given a template to customize, as well as a primer on the rules of pirating. The adventure is pretty straight forward: The PCs get to raid a ship, get overtaken by a bigger ship (a shark-shaped submarine, in fact), and wind up bumping noses with the biggest fish in the sea. References to pulpy authors abound and genre fans will surely catch the nods. It is built as a suitable convention or one shot adventure, though tips are provided for expanding it beyond that point.

WHAT WORKS: The layout is gorgeous, and I think a lot of folks will appreciate the assumption that the PCs are actually playing pirates and not Disney Pirates. The crazier, pulpier elements are a nice touch without getting into full blown supernatural.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: Act Two essentially hinges on the PCs essentially becoming subservient to an adversary, which is hard to pull off without frustrating players. The editing on the version I received left a lot to be desired, but that may have been cleared up in the final retail release.

CONCLUSION: While I appreciate the pirates, the adventure just doesn’t click with me the way a lot of other Silver Gryphon stuff does. It’s not a bad product, and the bundle with the Dramascapes map is a great deal, and Djinn of the Deep may well hit that tonal middle ground between Pirates of the Spanish Main and 50 Fathoms. Recommended if you’re wanting pirate fun without the fantasy weirdness of 50 Fathoms.

Deadlands Reloaded: Independence Day Actual Play

Previous Sessions:
Volume 1
Volume 2

With two of the players from the previous sessions no longer with us, and years having passed since those games, Tommy (my sole player, as some of you know) and I decided we would take his character Tontchay solo.

Putting our heads together, we decided that the nightmares from the previous two sessions, combined with the lack of concrete evidence as to Marshal Kidd’s whereabouts led to Tontchay and Tinhorn breaking off for good, with Tinhorn ultimately deciding to head Back East.

(WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE INDEPENDENCE DAY DIME NOVEL – which IS 16 years old at this point – FOLLOW.)

Deadlands Reloaded: But For The Grace of God Actual Play Volume 2

Volume 1

Nightmares of Kidd 

Deadlands Reloaded: But For The Grace of God Actual Play Volume 1

Continuing the archiving of my old Savage Worlds stuff from the Pinnacle boards onto my blog. This is the first of two archived actual plays, the third will be our most recent one, from last night, when we ran through the "Independence Day" dime novel. These are presented precisely as I posted them on the Pinnacle message boards.

Tommy's Take on Storm Battalion

One of those “perks of the blog” kinda things: I sometimes get to see things before they are printed. Case in point: Storm Battalion by Brennan Bishop, powered by the Dynamic Gaming System made famous by Third Eye Games’ Apocalypse Prevention Inc., Wu Xing and Part-Time Gods.

The cover, sans trade dress.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: This game is currently on IndieGoGo, trying to muster up its production budget. Also, while I have no direct hand in the production of this RPG, the author and I have a mutual respect for one another, which has in turn led to an NPC in the book being named after me.

Storm Battalion is set in an alternate reality in which mysterious storms have broken out over Canada, diverting the development of the world’s events and continuing to keep the Americans locked in warfare with the British on the Canadian front, while the European Union is making encroachments due to the advancements of the British and the indigenous peoples of Canada are trying to push everyone out of the country that they feel is rightfully theirs. There’s also the freaky monsters that emerge from the storms and the bizarre temporal effects. Nikolas Tesla tried to harness the power of the storms, but was frustrated when his efforts were used to power military weapons, rather than providing peaceful developments.

The storms not only wreak havoc in their wake, but also warp and mutate the world around them, from people to animals to even plant life. The storms also have another horrifying effect: They raise the dead. Some folks come back as essentially mindless zombies, but others come back as The Risen – people with another chance at life, now imbued with superhuman abilities, and often drafted into military units.

It is worth noting that the game is HEAVILY focused on Canada (what with the author being Canadian and all), with extensive descriptions of the state of Canada provided, though the US, British and European militaries are also covered in the opening section of the book, as well as the Kegintagi, the indigenous peoples of Canada who are fighting for their own survival as well.

There is a section on the elements of warfare, like the abuses perpetrated on the civilian populations of battlefronts, as well as looting, resistance and so on. All valuable themes and elements that can be used, either as adventures in their own right, or complications to missions.

Additionally, there are more than four groups jockeying for control, like the 4^th Army (composed entirely of The Risen), Virtues Army (“peacemongers” who commit horrible atrocities while spreading their message) and the Blue 88s (a Jazz band who is secretly a spy ring).

Character creation, like other DGS-based games, is point-based, with players taking a pool of 70 points and creating from there. A few more choices remain before you actually spend points, like Passion (what you fight for, be it Revenge, Love, Code of Honor or what have you), Class (with choices like Medic, Infantry, Scientist and Sentient Teleautomaton, each of which provide their own bonuses, with Teleautomatons having their own Advantages and Disadvantages, too), and Country (with choices being Canadian, British, American, Kegintagi and European Union, each of which lets you purchase an aspect of character creation at half cost). Some of the more and less useful bonuses are balanced somewhat by having higher and lower morale scores accordingly (British have high Morale scores because they are fighting in fear of the Throne, not because they are necessarily braver).

Each character has six base stats (Power, Agility, Vigor, Intellect, Insight and Charm) which are used to derive stats further. Additionally, there are twenty non-combat skills and four combat skills to build your character from, and you select four of them to be directly affected by your Morale score.

If you are familiar with the other DGS games, you’ll notice that a lot of this sounds familiar (as it should). The Advantages and Disadvantages also have a lot of familiar entries, though Storm Battalion does add some nice new ones that fit the military setting, like Army Buddy (which gives you a bonus to skill checks as long as your buddy is in proximity…just hope they don’t die), Booming Voice (allowing you to be heard over firefights on the battlefield) and even Personal Airship, which is expensive but grants you just that: A personal airship, complete with a crew. Teleautomatons can also have advantages like bullet resistant armor, being Lifeless (which means they don’t scare easily or lose morale), or being able to electrocute their own body in order to zap enemies. Disadvantages include having loose screws (which makes firing weapons with recoil harder) and being squeaky (which kinda kills stealth for them).

Due to the Teslapunk nature of the game, the equipment chapter is cooler than usual, with stuff like boots that serve as conductors for anything you need powered to heated bedrolls…to much flashier stuff like earthquake generators, Clappers (electromagnetic gauntlets that allow wearers to climb metallic surfaces), Poppers (which are designed entirely to blow the batteries that other troops tend to wear), as well as a list of abandoned technology like Icarus Vests (essentially helicopter vests) and Stompers (30 foot tall robots that fell out of fashion due to being 30 feet tall).

The Risen have Kewl Powerz granted to them by the Storms known as Twists, and the Twists are generally ranked in three levels, from a basic Kewl Power to something terrifying. Take Bloat for instance. The basic function of the power allows you to twist and unlock your jaw to take a massive bite out of an opponent. At level 1, you can use this to heal. At Level 2, you can use this consumed matter to stretch your limbs. At level 3, you can actually regenerate lost limbs and organs, or even grow NEW ones (eyes in the back of your head, anyone?)!

Claws provides, well, claws…which can be used for melee attacks. At level 1, you can also use them to climb. At level 2, they can now shred armor, and at level 3, they emit a corrosive poison that makes them extra destructive!

There is an Unkillable Twist as well, which functions as it sounds! At Level 1, you can’t die inside a Storm. At Level 2, you cannot be killed period and at Level 3, not only are you unkillable, but you heal VERY quickly.

Two Twists also exist that allow you to influence how the Storms react, or even allow you to generate storms yourself! So, there are some nice, fun options for powers.

Morale is kind of a big thing in this game, as important to it as Yin and Yang are to Wu Xing. As Morale grows, you gain bonuses to skill rolls and at the highest levels, you can even boost the morale of others! At the lower levels you face penalties, and when your morale bottoms out, it can push your character into dark, suicidal places.

Special mention goes to the “object durability” listings, for folks hiding behind cover, which includes the durability rating of dead cows. Not sure how often that’s going to come up in play, or if it’s just the author’s twisted sense of humor, but its inclusion did make me chuckle.

Most of the rules stuff is going to be familiar to folks who play Wu Xing or API, but Storm Battalion does also include an extensive section on Storms and the effect they have on those within them, infecting them with Contamination (which is what Risen use to power their Twists). It’s not really a good idea for non-Risen to enter a storm at all, and it’s not really a good idea for ANYONE to enter a 3^rd level (Reckoning) or 4^th level (Maelstrom) storm.

The bestiary includes human opponents, provided as a base statline that is then modified by the human’s country (like Americans having more Health but basic equipment, and Canadians having a higher chance of being Risen).

Then we get into creepier options, like contaminated humans who are turned into things like Titans (giant powerhouses), Boogiemen (smaller, sneaky stalkers) and Bonesnappers (who hunt in packs and like to break the necks of their opponents). Contaminated animals include Grendels (mutated dogs), Gores (deer, moose or pretty much anything with antlers) and Threshers (mutated bears, as if regular bears weren’t scary enough).

Some introductory adventures are included, the first of which meant to be fairly loose, as it is not set in a specific geographic region, and it doesn’t assume the PCs to belong to a specific military faction, instead providing customization options depending on whether your players want to be Canadian, British, American, EU or Kegintagi. In a nutshell, a Lieutenant of the same army is reporting a growing number of his men going missing, and the PCs are sent to investigate. It’s a good starting point, as it features the horrific monsters in the setting, dealing directly with a Storm as well as running head to head with an enemy force.

The second adventure is more military and less weirdness, with the PCs having to infiltrate and stop an airship that is trying to absolutely demolish one of their bases. The two adventures provide a good cross section of the kinds of adventures Storm Battalion provides.

WHAT WORKS: The book feels complete while having room for expansion if the game proves to be a success. The equipment chapter is one of the funner equipment chapters I’ve read recently, and I really like the Twists. Like the previous games before it, Storm Battalion uses the solid base of the DGS, while making its own relevant tweaks to make the Teslapunk Military feel of the game come through.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: The Canadian-centric setting and viewpoint is jarring to me, because I’m a Typical American that sees things from this perspective first. I like point buy well enough, but I don’t like big point pools, and due to the half-costs of certain aspects this game has, it gets into spending half-points, which I really don’t care for.

CONCLUSION: A worthy addition to the DGS family, Storm Battalion is a gonzo mish-mash in a World That Never Was, with humans simultaneously dealing with the fallout of the Storms while trying to harness their powers, both in the form of new technology and in the Risen. Naming an NPC after me also helps. My gut says that the military aspect would play beautifully in Savage Worlds, but I’m not sure the work required to make the powers fit would be worth it.

If you grumble about American-centric games, or if you like non-standard military or alternate history games, or if you just dig games where you play zombie soldiers with kewl powerz who are waging war with rival nations and freaky storms that spit out stuff that would be at home in Stephen King’s The Mist, you might oughta check this out. I’m planning on putting my money where my mouth is, just debating between PDF, print and print + t-shirt (I just feel like it would be right at home with my API, Wu Xing and Part-Time Gods t-shirts).

Tommy's Take on Achtung! Cthulhu - Zero Point Pt. 2: Heroes of the Sea

Previously, I reviewed Three Kings, the first Achtung! Cthulhu adventure. Now, it is time to take a look at the second adventure (Heroes of the Sea), in the wake of the new Achtung! Cthulhu Kickstarter, which is hoping to turn Achtung! Cthulhu from a series of adventures into a full-fledged setting. As with the last review, this review focuses exclusively on the Savage Worlds version.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: While the Achtung! Cthulhu adventures are also available in Call of Cthulhu and PDQ, I’m way more familiar with (and interested in) Savage Worlds, and so I’m focusing on that. The PDF is 63 pages at $14.99, and is meant to be ran after Three Kings, though it can also be ran completely standalone. As with Three Kings, you will want a copy of the Savage Worlds rules and Realms of Cthulhu.

As always, I will try to run light on spoilers, but that does get difficult, so be aware.

After the events of Three Kings, an undercover agent has gone missing shortly after uncovering a secret German project. It is up to the PCs to move in and try to figure out what has happened. If you think this is a cut and dried investigation, however, you clearly are not paying attention.

So now it’s 1940, the Allies are retreating from the Germans so they aren’t driven into the sea, and the PCs are having to find a missing intelligence agent in the embattled Dunkirk region. The opening of the adventure is a chaotic affair filled with all kinds of random encounters, including an encounter chart with options like booby traps, troops on sinking ships, dive bombers, criminal activity and more.

There are five “episodes” to the adventure, but the adventure professes that the “how” and “when” of each encounter is up to the PCs. Realistically, I don’t see a TON of variance in how the first couple of chapters play out, but I could be wrong.

The PCs should find the agent pretty early, though she is quite incapacitated. There are a couple of handy crazed notes that can be passed out to the PCs that ominously warn of things to come.

From there it does get a bit free flowing. There is potential for the PCs to travel into another dimension, where they can force an early encounter with the villain of the adventure, as well as catch a sneak peek at what the Nazis are up to. The grand finale is an epic confrontation in a raging storm while Allied Forces are retreating to boats en masse, only to face the end result of the Nazi plan (and fans of the Mythos probably have some idea what is coming). There are three likely outcomes included, one of which is a colossal failure for the PCs, one of which is a straight up victory, and one of which is very, very poetic.

When the smoke clears, there’s enough questions about what the Nazis are into, leading to the formation of a new branch of British intelligence designed to deal with just these things.

Four pregenerated characters are included, though ranks/XP aren’t listed. The Rules appendix adds a new skill that everyone gets at d4 (Dreaming), as well as a number of new Powers, many of which are utilized by the villains. For instance, Mindblast forces the target to roll a Guts check against the spellcasting roll or take 2d6 Mental Anguish AND suffer temporary insanity. Finally, rules are provided for trying to slip through a full on firefight.

Other appendices include new monsters and relevant vehicle stats for the adventure.

Several printable handouts are included, which can be used to give the scenario that extra punch.

An ad for Zero Point: Code of Honour, set in Constantinople, drops hints at the future of the campaign, as well as an ad plugging Weird War II, which has material that could be useful in a campaign like this.

The adventure does include a pair of alternate openings to the adventure, one of which casts the group as academics (archaelogists) whose explorations lead to them stumbling across the Nazi plot, and a second (very interesting) one, which features the PCs as German agents at odds with the SS!

WHAT WORKS: The adventure really is very flexible after the opening chapter or two, something I always appreciate. The gradual reveal of the Lovecraftian elements in the campaign continues and it’s a good thing. The alternate openings are also nice, if you don’t want to go the British Intelligence route and/or you want to skip Three Kings. The production values generally look fantastic. Nice ending, setting up the next adventure.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: A lot of material is repeated in the book, especially the handouts, which are included at the relevant parts of the adventure as well as one of the appendices. Organization didn’t feel quite as tight in this book as it did in the last adventure, though I couldn’t tell for sure if that was layout or writing.

CONCLUSION: Another very good entry in the Zero Point series, continuing the theme of Nazi occultism in World War II/Mythos influence while still feeling very different from the previous adventure. I also deeply appreciate that while the author has things that they assume will happen, notes are provided to help the GM along if the PCs go “off script” (like if they successfully take on the Big Bad of the adventure in Episode 3, or even if they completely skip Episode 3 altogether). Some organizational issues hamper the overall product, in my view, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons, with some nice new rules, cool powers and a fairly open adventure for your money.

The Path of Kane - A Solomon Kane Actual Play Volume 1

 In partial anticipation of resuming some of these games, and partially so that I can archive them on the blog "just in case", I'm gonna post some more of my Savage Worlds actual plays. Most of these are from circa 2009, but me and my one Solomon Kane player have talked about resuming it, and thanks to actually having these actual plays, we can pick up where we left off. Anyway, enjoy.

The Path of Kane

Set-up: So my friend Tommy wants to play Solomon Kane, and has bugged me for a couple of weeks about making a character. I relent, and he starts making a rich, foul-tempered sorcerer named Jonathon Winthorpe. A whim strikes me, and I make his twin sister – Christina Winthorpe, and NPC Wild Card fencer, and their Extra allies: Roger Therrien, their butler and Tenzan, a samurai sworn to protect them. Each had encounter Solomon Kane in their past. When Jonathon was younger and on a daring adventure, he stumbled into a cave where he encountered a rat the size of a small cow! Solomon Kane saved him from that rat. Kane also rescued Christina after she was kidnapped by hooligans who wanted to ransom her back to her family. She watched Kane dismantle a dozen men, fighting with two blades at once, and was forever awed. Tenzan was pulled from certain fiery death by Kane, who walked fearlessly through a blaze to rescue the trapped warrior. Roger doesn’t like to speak of Solomon Kane and his connection, however.

The four have been sharing mysterious dreams, and have found themselves drawn to the small village of Torkertown…

[Note: Spoilers for the Path of Kane plot-point will certainly follow.]

Arriving in Torkertown late in the afternoon, the Winthorpe party passes a funeral as well as a grieving woman in black, whose belongings are being loaded onto a cart.

Passing the cemetery, they can’t help but notice that several of the graves are very fresh.

Coming to the local inn, The Lamb, the Winthorpe party heads inside, seeing the patrons all sullen and quiet. Jonathon scoffs and asks what the drab cloud over the town is, but his attitude rather puts off the innkeep. Christina has a little more luck, and they discover that local merchant John Prestwick passed on the other night…and he’s the fourth such to do so. All were found dead, pale as a sheet.

Jonathon’s curiosity is piqued, and he inquires about libraries or town records, and the innkeep directs him to the church, a Protestant church overseen by Rev. Jeffrey Timothy.

Jonathan sets out immediately, and meets with the Reverend…though that quickly goes nowhere as once more, Jonathan’s attitude sours things for him. Reverend Timothy instead directs him to Squire Hardwicke’s estate, and Jonathan actually runs into Hardwicke on the streets. Claiming to be writing a book, Jonathan tries to get Hardwicke to cooperate with his investigation, but Hardwicke refuses to work with a sensationalist.

Rebuffed at every turn, Jonathan returns to the inn and tells his much more personable sister to see what she can’t learn.

As Roger, Jonathon and Tenzan are sitting down for a meal, Christina returns with news from the Squire that Hardwicke ruled the deaths to be caused by alcohol. She can tell something else is up, but she can’t say what.

Roger politely rises and asks Jonathan to accompany him to the Squire’s home, where he forces his way inside when Hardwicke opens the door. Roger quickly Intimidates the missing information from Hardwicke: That all the bodies were covered with tiny puncture wounds. Hardwicke relents and allows Jonathon to search all the records he has on the town. Scanning the reports, records and details, Jonathon discovers all the deaths are linked by certain things: namely state of the bodies and that all were merchants, and he can’t help but notice that a Roger Ivens, another merchant, died a month earlier, falling to his death in his home. Hardwicke does mention that the lot of them were known to gather socially.

Leaving the Squire’s house, they see Christina and Tenzan exiting the church, and Christina tells her brother that the Reverend was going on about puncture wounds and drained blood…Jonathon says that Squire Hardwicke says much the same…and Christina says that the Reverend believes the town is under assault by a vampire! The Winthorpe party heads to the cemetery with Reverend Timothy to exhume the body of Roger Ivens! Jonathan is BESIDE himself when his sister and Tenzan begin doing the digging, and only gets worse when Roger joins in. He finally decides to be useful when they strike the coffin, and begins whittling a stake as Tenzan draws his katana.

Christina slowly pulls the coffin open…and Jonathon nearly loses it, while Roger stumbles away in horror: At the rotting corpse. Just to be safe, at Jonathon’s suggestion Christina stakes it and chops off its head anyway.

The four decide to pay a visit to the Widow Ivens, waking her in the middle of the night. They do find out from her that her husband was swindled by his friends and a fifth man, Alfred Dawlish! She vehemently denies playing a role in their deaths however, claiming only that she did visit each of the four merchants to plead for a loan and was rebuked. The Winthorpe party quickly moves to the Dawlish home, where they find the master of the house is actually expected to be returning tonight, by the cemetery road!

Hurrying to intercept him, they find a scream FROM the cemetery, where Dawlish has been cornered by a creeping red mist! Christina, Tenzan and Roger move in, drawing their weapons, but none can find purchase in the cloud! Jonathon spots a tendril snaking from Ivens’ grave to the cloud and begins casting a spell on his kodachi, attempting to enchant it, but failing.

The cloud creeps toward Dawlish, who is paralyzed with fear, but also begins to feed on Christina! She snaps out of the attack with a vengeance, and strikes the cloud, somehow harming it! Jonathon again attempts to enchant his blade, and again fails. As he finally casts the spell, the enraged Christina lashes into the middle of the cloud and somehow disperses it!

Dawlish thanks the Winthorpes repeatedly for saving his life, and Jonathan immediately takes that gratitude and turns it around on Dawlish (with a little backup from Roger) as they point out that ugly things can are spawned by greed, and those things don’t necessarily die.

Jonathon convinces Dawlish that until he makes retribution to the Widow Ivens that the red cloud could well return, and they wouldn’t be there to save him again! Dawlish tearfully agrees and says he will make it as right as he can this very evening!

That night, while sleeping, all four are visited in their sleep by N’Longa, who tells them that they have been touched by the Path of Kane, and now a beast, no The Beast is rising…The Beast has many names…Satan, Apep, The World Serpent, and he tells them to seek out six gems of power, scattered around the world…

Notes: My friend really wanted to play Solomon Kane, and I came up with the NPC ideas for his character, so we decided to play a game after finishing our Deadlands game earlier in the day. Since I had nothing else to go off of, I ran the first adventure in the Plot Point game and my friend loved it to death, so now I’ll PROBABLY be running THIS on and off as well.

In other games, he plays Socks (Necessary Evil), Tontchay (Deadlands: Crooked Branch) and Jubae (Deadlands: Shanghai West) so it is kinda cool seeing him play something I’ve never seen him do before: A Rich, Mean Sorcerer. The twin NPC and the Samurai are there to do the heavy lifting in combat, while Roger is an Intimidation monster and not much more.