Fresh Meat: NPCs for Death Is The New Pink

Based on the wonderful Meatbags of my friends' minds.

SCARY THE GAY
BAD 13, DSS 12, MOXY 15, HP 15, AP 1
DRIVEN TO CAUSE PSYCHIC MAYHEM ACROSS THE WASTELAND
The OG Psychic Punk. Armed with two pistols (2d6) and the ability to 'Splode people's brains (1d6 Moxy damage), Scary is the leader of a small time gang of ex-slaves that escaped the Pits of Scratchtown and braved the wasteland to forge their own lives. He also wields a force-field doodad that allows him to absorb two Attacks per 24hrs and his rainbow mohawk shimmers when he's in deep thought.

THREE-QUARTERS TUBTHUMPING
BAD 14, DSS 8, MOXY 6, HP 12, AP 1
DRIVEN TO FIND THE LATEST WASTELAND FASHIONS
A hulk of a man clad in a gaudy denim suit, TQT spends his time pining for the finest of post-apocalyptic wear. If he's going to die, he's going to die looking good. His weapons of choice are a Gold-Bit gilded butcher's knife (1d8 and worth a whole lot) and an old fashion looking musket (1d10). Animals are distracted by his shiny objects and do not attack him, in fact his underground wardrobe is protected by mutant rats mesmerized by the glamed up gear.

TONKA
BAD 16, DSS 12, MOXY 15, HP 14, AP 2
DRIVEN TO RIDE FREE ON THE FURY ROAD
A squared jawed road warrior clad in melted plastic toy truck parts and scavenged licensed plates. Tonka’s motorcycle is equally as goofy and is outfitted with a sidecar for holding one of his companions. In addition to his bike and tools to keep it functional, Tonka is equipped with a shotgun (1d8) and an oversized spanner (1d6) and may be willing to give stranded Meatbags a ride for a fee of cat jerky and Bits.

TIFF DICKFEST
BAD 12, DSS 8, MOXY 11, HP 8
DRIVEN TO PERFECT HER FLESH-HEALING NANITES
Looting a nanite lab was both reckless and lifesaving for this brash young scientist. The nanites Tiff “discovered” are capable of repairing flesh at an accelerated rate, healing 1d6 wounds from a Meatbag once per 24hrs. She’s a bit of an irritated junkie, however, and doesn’t fix people up for free. She is partial to anti-rads and the weird blue mold found in the sewers of Scratchtown. The bonesaw dangling from her hip is lovingly called Rosie and is coated with a debilitating poison. (1d6 damage, roll Luck and if it favors Tiff target takes 1d4 DSS damage per turn)

SEVENS
BAD 16, DSS 13, MOXY 9, HP 7
DRIVEN TO BLOW EVERYTHING UP
Strapped with the most amount of bombs you've ever seen, Sevens is a scrawny goggled freak missing both his eyebrows and several limbs. He's wanted for trying to blow up Scratchtown on several occasions, the most recent being during a city-wide ceasefire for the Mayor's wedding. On his belt are four frag grenades (1d12 each), two plasma grenades (1d8 each, melts people on a crit), and on his chest two moltovs (1d8).

BLACK THE SWAN
BAD 11, DSS 13, MOXY 13, HP 7, AP 3
DRIVEN TO RESURRECT THE CROW GODDESS
A wild looking androgynous Meatbag with a welding mask modified to look like a crow's face and feathers sticking out of the pads of their armor. They speak in omens about a dark goddess returning to rid of the carrion of this world. Wields a 10ft spiked pole with skewered dead crows (1d8) and understands technology better than anyone (Auto success repairing machines, robotics, etc) Only eats rotted/burnt meat.

D20 Pirate Treasures (Low Fantasy Magical/Cursed Items)

 Here are some random artifacts for your crew to find in chests on half-sunken islands guarded by skeletons or anted up at the Liar's Dice table by that shifty looking dude. Since my Revenge campaign is semi-historical and low fantasy, a lot of these objects are moreso based on sailor's myths, sea shanties, and the like.

1. Satchel of Winds: Simple burlap bag tied with a blue ribbon. Used once to move ship 3 hexes instantly.

2. Skeleton Key: Brass key with a menacing skull face. Can be used to pick one lock.

3. Floating stones: Set of four pedi sry looking stones in a black velvet bag. If placed on an object underwater will allow it to float to the surface.

4. Sextant of True-Seeing: Solid gold instrument with an intricate design of a fish tailed unicorn on the side of it with three rings upon its back to hold the eyepiece steady. Sees things how they really are. +1 to Seafaring through fog.

5. Ship in a bottle: Just add water.

6. Wondrous Ram: wooden ram figurine with the words "Truth" and "Lie" carved into each side of it. Telling only truths turns it into an ordinary ram that will follow basic commands. Telling only lies turns it into a sloop. If the PC starts telling the opposite it'll turn back into a figurine.

7. Wisp's Lantern: soft glowing blue light illuminating from an ornate looking lantern. Glows brighter when enemies are near. Throwing the lantern creates an explosion of blue fire, dealing 3d6 damage.

8. Portrait of Orlando: A beautiful painting of someone of the opposite sex. Looking closer the features kind of resemble the  PC. If they die, the  PC is revived wherever the painting is kept but as the opposite sex. The painting will no longer have anyone in it.

9. Ethereal Mug: A stone tankard inscribed with glowing runes. Drinking a liquid from this mug allows the PC to become completely immaterial and immune from harm. However, in this ghostly form they cannot attack or pick things up.

10. Atlantean Tunic: Ancient scalemail shirt (+1 or 2 AC) that grants the wearer the ability to turn into a mermaid for 1d6 hours. Same abilities/drawbacks as mermaid class.

11. Voodoo Clay: Easily moldable earth found in a cloth pouch. It can be formed into 1 human-shaped figure that acts as a voodoo doll towards it victim. Can do damage but never kill.

12. Devil’s Fiddle: Playing this mahogany instrument cuts everyone’s Sorrow in half (rounded down) and gives +1 morale for Day. Crew will lose next battle. The devil himself will also be hunting it down. 

13. Stone Parrot: Ancient Aztec tape recorder. Parrot effigy carved out of granite with a button on the chest. Once pressed can recall up to one minute of noise. Cannot fly. 

14. Gold Statue of Famine: Solid gold statue of Aztec goddess with ruby eyes. Can be sold at a port for Insta-level up. First day on ship spoils all Provisions. Second day Munitions are ruined. Third day Wood is too damp to make repairs. Invites all manner of creatures and enemy ships to current hex.

15. Spyglass of the Eagle: Can roll Wis to scout out nearest Hex to the bow of the ship, previewing what encounter lies there. 

16. Poisoner’s Cabinet: 1d8 vials of various poisons: Knockout powder, Spider venom, Widow’s Woe, Madcap mushrooms, Beserk balm, Fighters Respite along with 1 Antidote.

17. Mask of Perfect Masquerade: instant disguise as a person you know that lasts an hour. 

18. Everlonging Perfume: use to Charm one person. 

19. Ishmael’s Incense: burning this incense at night gives the Whaler insight into where a nearby Adult or Monstorous whale is located. They get a +2 on attack’s against this whale 

20. Blarney Tankard: Automatically win CHA checks but extremely drunk, failing all DEX checks. Make a CON check before engaging in anything too crazy, fail and be violently ill the rest of the night

BONUS: Brawler's Bear: tattoo enchantment. Once per island, PC can challenge stranger to an unarmed brawl. The loser is compelled to give the winner one of their powerful belongings (roll Treasures for NPC). At 5th level, the PC also gains +1 to unarmed fighting. At 7th level, the winner loses half their Madness rounded down, loser gains that much.

Dearest ████████,

January 17th, 1936

  Congratulations! You have been selected for induction to the Society of Historical Recovery. Your skills and abilities have long been observed and have been found fit for our organization. We would like to invite you to our opening ceremonies taking place in █████████████, where there will be refreshments and amenities available. 

  Unfortunately, the celebrations may be short. We have received word that the Japanese paramilitary group, ███████████████, has discovered the fabled █████████████ and is en route to Peking by way of rail through Manchuria. A plane will be at the ready to bring you and your colleagues to █████████ and using your aforementioned impressive skills and abilities will secure said artifact from the hands of evil.

  We thank you for your cooperation and immediate response to this letter.

Sincerely,

Z

Revenge: A Pirate RPG

The Golden Age of Piracy is one of my all time favorite historical eras. A couple of friends suggested I start running a pirate tabletop campaign for fun and my mind accidentally went haywire with ideas and this happened:

Hexmap of the Spanish Main. Islands are spaced further apart for more wild encounters.

 

In my game it is 1716, one year after the Wreck of the Spanish Treasure Fleet. Sailors from Cape Cod to London have heard of the tales of the immense amount of gold scattered on the sands of the Florida Keys, itching to be took. The bravest among them have abandoned being abused at sea by Spanish, French, or English captains for little to no pay in search of their own fortunes. More on this and how the supernatural effects this world a little later.

The character sheet

Like I said in a previous post, some of the mechanics are based on The Driftwood Verses, including Afflictions (like Sorrow and Doom) and Skills (like Seafaring and Reload). I took out the deathray style saves because I like using Abilities for that.

With Skills, I use Last Gasp's style of learning skills through usage, but only on the 2nd, 4th, and other even number levels they can roll to see if they gain another dot in that Skill. Players can also interact with NPCs that may know a thing or two about the Skill to gain tallies.

The ship sheet

Ships are almost characters themselves. There are three ship types: Sloop, Frigate, and Galleon, each with pros and cons in Cargo storage, Cannons firepower, and Speed. Combat works the same as Driftwood Verses with contesting Seafaring rolls to execute maneuvers. The Move maneuver uses Speed of the ship, which is based on Pirates of the Spanish Main's usage of measuring via Longways (L) or Shortways (S) of a playing card. I found this the easiest to translate since I use their minis for combat anyway.

Resources play a huge role in dictating what the players can/need to do. Using the Plunder System helps with randomizing loot for pillaged ships, but its always a risk because it may not carry what the players need. Each hex requires Provisions to travel to, Munitions to fight enemy ships or creatures, and Wood to recover from said battles. They can also find Treasures to trade in at outposts for gold/XP gain. This aspect of resource management really drives home that the PCs are scrappy survivalists and not just unstoppable forces at sea.

I will be posting some Session Notes from this in the near future as well as some tables I've made for pirate era Items, Wavecrawl Encounters, and Crew Morale. In the meantime if you are looking for similar inspiration checkout Zak's Wavecrawl post and Weird On the Waves which also have been a huge help. Cheers!

The Plunder System

After a ship is seized and raided, draw a hand of playing cards. Numbers are quantity of items found, the suit is the type. Usually, 1 "barrel" of plunder allows the crew to take the associated action. (ie 1 barrel of Gunpowder allows the ship to enter combat on that hex, 1 barrel of Provisions must be consumed each day for upkeep to the Crew Morale, etc)

♠ Spades are Gunpowder and Cannonballs (for combat)

♣ Clubs are Wood (for making ship repairs)

♥ Hearts are Food and Provisions (to improve or maintain crew Morale)

♦ Diamonds are Valuables (traded for gold)

Standard poker hands decipher what is earned. Always round down if the number is odd.

• High card gets the half of the number of provisions of the highest card.

• Two pair gets you half of the provisions of both cards in the pair.

• Three of a kind gets you half of the provisions of all three cards.

• Straight gets you half of the provisions of each card in the straight.

• Flush gets you half of the provisions of each card in the flush.

• Full House gets you half of the provisions of all of the cards.

• Four of a Kind gets gets you the provisions of all four cards.

• Straight Flush gets you the provisions of all the cards.

• Royal Flush gets you the provisions of all the cards plus a powerful and unique magic item.

Obviously its not a perfect system, but its a fun way to randomize the loot and give the feel of taking ships being a gamble as it was back in the day. I usually reskin what they get each time too, like barrels of rum for Provisions or tobacco for Valuables, giving infinite combinations of what they can find and loot.

Back From The Dead

Hello! I'll be returning from my long hiatus from blogging with a few posts to keep my thoughts in order with some games I'm running. It's been a few years (like 3...whoops!) so here's what I am running:

-Revenge: A Pirate RPG: A hack of D&D Frankenstein'd together with elements of other systems. There's a decent draw from the upcoming Driftwood Verses and Weird on the Waves but set in 1716, the Golden Age of Piracy. It is low magic, with Witches being extremely rare and shunned from society. Skeletons, Dire Whales, and other supernatural creatures can be found however. I run this one weekly to bi-weekly.

-Raiders! Thrilling Tales of Fortune and Glory: A very light Story Game-esque system based on Apocalypse World and The Stolen Century from TAZ. Set in the 1930s, players take rolls as artifact hunters seeking to protect the world from evil. Almost like League of Extraordinary Gentleman meets Indiana Jones. I run this monthly with a rotating group. Each adventure is a one-shot.

There you have it. I'll probably post a bunch this week from the two games to mind dump everything I have been working on.  Stay tuned!

Map Of The Ol West

The year is 1903. The American Southwest is in decline. Civil War, economic hardship, and the constant struggle for survival drives its people into lives of ruthless desperation.

This is the county of Blair, a place crawling with bandits, charlatans, and cow rustlers. All cowards looking to become kings. But there are places the rotten men haven't touched. Unexplored crevasses and barren lands seeping tales of an old world beyond this one. A world that promises deadly secrets and safeguards them well. Just a taste of those strange powers could mean the difference between life or death in these desert wastes.

Do you have the iron to seek them out?