ODD Sci-Fi #2: A Quick Meet-and-Greet Job (Part 2)

ODD Sci-Fi played 15 Jun 2020 (online session)

Second session of an on-going campaign.  Jason (Pvt Hudson) couldn’t attend.  RFED and Barney joined: character creation happened (which takes about two minutes in this lovely, simple system).

Dave	Game Master
Spencer	Scamp Padmore	Captain of the Bastion.
Aengel	Chauncey de Vere	Swindled tycoon/ former politician/con-woman.
Seph	Crimson Stain	Reformed assassin.
Edwin	Hockjoint	Mutant muscle.
RFED	Captain ‘Patch’	Disgraced starship captain.
Barney	La Toya	The escaped convict formerly known as ‘Wacko’.
	Chuck Jerrit	Miner with a friendly face and prosthetic limb.

The Crew of the Freighter Bastion

Clockwise from top left: Scamp, Hudson, Chauncey
La Toya, Patch, Crimson and Hock

• Scamp Padmore – A former test-pilot. Genetically and mechanically engineered from animal stock (mostly mouse in Scamp’s case) and treated as expendable. He is captain and owner (having stolen it) of the Bastion.
• Chauncey de Vere – Con-woman and the crew’s ‘Face’. Her greatest con was to be elected President of a remote colony - which made her immensely rich until she had to leave in a hurry.
• Crimson Stain – Reformed assassin. His last, uncompleted job was to kill Chauncey: he often expresses regret for not carrying it out.
• Hockjoint – Mutant muscle. Many Mutes can pass for Norms: Hock can’t. A standard mook from the knees up, he can’t do anything to hide his massive chicken feet. Partly to draw attention from this (and partly because he likes the heft when he grips it) he carries an unfeasibly large weapon.
• Captain ‘Patch’ – disgraced starship captain. He is haunted by the fact that his ship, its crew and his eye were all destroyed by a large space-dwelling xenomorph due to his negligence. No-one knows his real name.
• La Toya – a former monkey-smuggler who escaped from a desolate prison colony using a stolen body. Only has a passing acquaintance with reality. 

The crew has a debt of 10,000 credits to Jacob’s Ladder, a Mercenary/Security Group.

Previously...

The account of the last session can be read here.

The crew has accepted a contract from a collector of alien artefacts.  He is willing to pay 2,000 credits if they bring him a linga – a two-foot high crystal carved with alien glyphs – recently discovered on the mining colony of Morbus Fracastorii.  Their contact is Chuck Jerrit a miner and small-time smuggler.

On arrival, the crew find that Chuck is missing: it turns out he’s been arrested.  While trying to track him down they encounter their great rival, Barnett Kale, who has the jump on them and seems to be in cahoots with the Sheriff’s office.  After evading the deputies and battling local wildlife, they discover that the best chance of completing their job is to find Chuck’s partners, who they track to Elliott’s Cantina.  As Chauncey makes contact and deputies move in to intercept her, Hock started a brawl as a distraction.

At Elliott’s Cantina

Having finished battening down the ship [which prevented them from attending the last session – obviously], Patch and La Toya arrived at Elliott’s Cantina just as a large man was thrown through the plate windows and the brawl spilled out onto the street. 

Patch and La Toya quickly took in the situation.  Hock’s diversion seemed to have worked: Chauncey (still wearing Scamp in his fur stole disguise) was able to leave with the smuggler Tommy Booth.  Crimson was busy polishing off as many neglected drinks as he could and keeping above the affray, but Hock was in the midst of it.  La Toya joined Chauncey and Scamp, and Patch went to Hock’s aid, drawing his ceremonial officer’s sword to ensure that this remained a mêlée and not a fire-fight.  Nevertheless, Hock was knocked out cold as an assailant smashed a bottle over his head.  With the undercover deputies now flashing their badges and guns, the brawl dissolved as quickly as it began.  Hock was dragged over to one side and handcuffed.  Patch stayed at the bar to see what he could do to help.

Crimson joined the others at the monorail station, where more members of the Wendigo Security Division were arriving.  La Toya attempted to delay the departure of the train, first by telling the driver that there were creatures on the line and that she – as an animal ambassador – had to protect them.  When neither this nor her attempt at seduction were successful, the driver raised the alarm and summoned the deputies.  Ironically, by being taken into custody La Toya achieved the necessary delay.  Tommy now urged Chauncey, Scamp and Crimson to join him in a dash down the monorail tube before the next train and they succeeded in reaching Shaft 1, the next stop.

In Custody

"No man left behind.
Not again!"

Hock had now been brought onto the train, where he was put in a carriage with La Toya (by now also ‘cuffed).  Patch followed and protested their innocence as innocent victims.  The deputies seemed to know better than that, and questioned them about their connections with Chuck Jerrit, Tommy Booth and Cornelius Heal.  Despite their denials, they were told they were being taken down the line to the Sheriff’s Office.  As Patch again protested, two deputies moved in on him.

Meanwhile, it was becoming clear that Booth thought that the crew were on Morbus Fracastorii as part of a Luciferium smuggling ring.  He insisted that the best course of action was to go through the mineshafts and over the surface to Morbustown, where they would be able to go to Jerrit’s apartment and retrieve the goods.  He was unaware that we had already lifted them when searching the apartment.  Crimson insisted that they needed to deal with Jerrit.  Booth couldn’t understand why (because of the on-going ‘arrangement’ they had with the Sheriff Dalton) but Jerrit has been arrested and taken in for questioning.  He was adamant that everything would be sorted out soon and return to normal; however, he flatly refused to go anywhere other than the safety of Morbustown.  Crimson, Chauncey and Scamp determined that the best thing was to somehow get inside the Sheriff’s Office.

As this discussion was happening, events on the train were about to get hairy.  Seeing that Patch was about to be arrested, Hock decided to make his move and attempted to deploy a frag grenade.  Hampered by his handcuffs, he fumbled this and only managed to blow a hole in the floor of the carriage.  In the ensuing fracas Patch was able to barge one of the deputies out of the hole to his death, and knock another out.  But both Hock and La Toya were also knocked out of action.  As the train pulled into the Sherriff’s Office station, Patch jumped down and tried to hide under it, but unsuccessfully.  Although now armed, he was completely outnumbered, and raised his hands in surrender.

Smug bastard

To make matters worse, just as Patch was being subdued and the wounded La Toya and Hock dragged onto the platform, their rival Barnet Kale stepped out of the Sheriff’s Office with two of his crew.  From the very large package he was carrying and his smug expression as he got on the train, it was clear that he had achieved his goal and obtained the alien artefact.  The sneer was only wiped off his face as he realised that the departing train was for Morbustown and that he’d have to get the return service to reach Gallicus Spaceport.

"I'm the law around these parts!"

The prisoners were then treated to some rough justice and a monologue from Sheriff Dalton.  After a token beating, Dalton told them that he was in a very good mood, having just completed a profitable deal (his four deputies smirked at each other).  He wasn’t going to kill them on the spot: instead he was going to ship them off-world to so they could be tried for smuggling and the murder of a deputy.  Going by-the-book for once would gain him some kudos at Wendigo Corp HQ.  Throughout this encounter, Dalton periodically licked a liverish-looking piece of meat which seemed to have some narcotic effect on him.  The three were then taken to join Chuck Jerrit in the lock-up.

Showdown at the Sheriff’s Station

The world is not yet
ready...

Scamp, Chauncey and Crimson had now arrived at the Sheriff’s Station.  Crimson used the last of the pilfered Luciferium to fashion an explosive device, rigged to go off when the next train from Mobustown arrived.  Chauncey (with Scamp’s able assistance) now proceeded to perform a remarkably exotic dance.  When she had finished she had three credits in the hat at her feet and everyone in the Sheriff’s Office (apart from the Sheriff himself and the two guards downstairs in the lock-up) had retired to their bunks.

Mad as a box of frogs, right
 to the end

They then made a frontal assault on the Office.  Hearing this, La Toya, Patch and Hock made their move.  La Toya distracted and knocked out one of the two guards, but was killed in the attempt.  Patch grabbed his dropped key-card and Hock his shotgun.  Between them they overpowered the other guard and freed themselves and Chuck Jerrit.  [At this point Chuck was promoted from NPC and Barney began to play him.]  Upstairs, Crimson had killed the Sheriff and the crew had defeated Wendigo Security’s planetary operation.

Looting the Office turned up 1,200 credits (obviously what Kale had paid for the artefact) and a box of fine cigars.  In addition, Chuck was able to identify Dalton’s narcotic meat as a valuable Terranomorph gland and the crew recognised his Star Badge as alien tech.

At that moment Crimson’s booby-trap went off, disabling the monorail system.  Chauncey took an emergency vehicle and headed to the spaceport to retrieve the Bastion. The others went out for a face-off with Kale.  Given that the crew had had the pick of the Sheriff’s Office armoury, the ensuing gunfight was short and brutal.  With moments, Kale and his lackeys were lying dead in the dust, his dude duds soaked in blood.  Scamp retrieved the alien artefact and Hock took Kale’s pair of pearl-handled pistols as trophies.  Within minutes Chauncey arrived in the Bastion, crashing through the dome to land in the town square. 

Aftermath

The crew were split as to how long to stay on Morbus Fracastorii.  With local security neutralised it was possible to strip the warehouses of everything of value; but this was bound to incur the lasting enmity of the Wendigo Corp and a high bounty on their heads.  In the end Scamp cast the deciding vote, and we left with the considerable rewards already gained.

The new recruit

Chuck was recruited as a replacement for La Toya:  as we raised ship he asked “What about my wife and child?”

Loot and Debt

• 2,000 credits for the completed contract
• 1,200 credits from the Sheriff’s Office 
• The Terranomorph gland – a Xenomorphic Oddity (Effect: when licked gives +8 to strength, but -3 to DEX and CHA.  One lick remaining). 
• The Star Badge – an Alien Tech Oddity (Effect: unknown) 
• Pair of Pearl-Handled Pistols – a Warped Item Oddity (Effect: when used normally deals d6 damage, but when the wielder sings a song singling out a particular target it deals d10 damage against that target for the rest of the session)

The crew had a starting debt of 10,000 credits to Jacob’s Ladder; the death of La Toya raised that to 11,000 credits.  From their rewards, they paid off 1,100 credits, leaving an outstanding debt of 9,900 credits.

800th Post: Posts Don't Mean Prizes!

For some reason a post I made almost five years ago called 200th Post: Posts Mean Prizes is consistently among the most viewed each week.  Now, why do you think that would be?

Perhaps because of the cool meme.

It's interesting to me to note when that post was made the blog was less than a year old - 200 posts in 11 months!  Those were different days, in which I had a tight publishing routine that I'd set myself.

Well, it now just under eight years old and this is the 800th post.

ODD Sci-Fi #1: A Quick Meet-and-Greet Job (Part 1)

ODD Sci-Fi played 31 May 2020 (online session)

The Game Pitch

• The core worlds are owned by the corporations. 

• The savage frontier is inhospitable. Adapting to life on the fringe means becoming something not quite human. You have to go into deep space to get anywhere. Some parts are better travelled than others, but all the same deep space warps people in terrifying ways. 

• There was an ancient race of alien precursors. Their technology was far superior to ours, but that did not stop them from being utterly destroyed. 

• You are damaged goods. 

• You have incurred a colossal debt and have a share in a spacecraft. 

• Now get trucking.

First session of an on-going campaign.  Character creation happened.

Dave	Game Master
Edwin	Hockjoint	Mutant muscle.
Spencer	Scamp Padmore	Captain of the Bastion.
Jason	Pvt Hudson	Bugged-Out Marine.
Aengel	Chauncey de Vere	Swindled tycoon/ former politician/con-woman.
Seph	Crimson  Staine	Reformed assassin.

The Crew of the Freighter Bastion

Clockwise from Top Left: Scamp, Hudson, Chauncey,
Crimson and Hock

• Scamp Padmore – A former test-pilot.  Genetically and mechanically engineered from animal stock (mostly mouse in Scamp’s case) and treated as expendable by his creators.  He is captain and owner (having stolen it) of the Bastion.
• Pvt Hudson – Bugged-out out marine.  He’s seen things...
• Chauncey de Vere – Con-woman and the crew’s ‘Face’.  Her greatest con was to be elected President of a remote colony - which made her immensely rich until she had to leave in a hurry.
• Crimson Staine – Reformed assassin.  His last, uncompleted job was to kill Chauncey: he often expresses regret for not carrying it out.
• Hockjoint – Mutant muscle.  Many Mutes can pass for Norms: Hock can’t.  A standard mook from the knees up, he can't do anything to hide his massive chicken feet.  Partly to draw attention from this (and partly because he likes the heft when he grips it) he carries an unfeasibly large weapon.

The crew has a debt of 10,000 credits to Jacob’s Ladder, a Mercenary/Security Group.

The Job

Our employer

We were contacted by Elias Cordell, an antiquarian and Spiritualist, well-known as a collector of alien artefacts.  He had become aware of the discovery of one of these artefacts – a linga, a two-foot high crystal carved with alien glyphs – on the mining colony of Morbus Fracastorii.  If we could extract this item he would pay us 2,000 credits.  Cordell gave us the name of our contact – Chuck Jerrit – who would meet us at the Gallicus Spaceport on Morbus Fracastorri.

  

Morbus Fracastorri is owned and operated by Wendigo Corp, who mine and refine the highly volatile mineral Luciferium for fuel.  The atmosphere on the planet is ‘technically breathable’, but the surface is sparse and desolate.  Settlements are domed and linked by a monorail system.  There is one known major indigenous lifeform: Terranomorphs – immense, winged creatures with four legs and three eyes: one in particular (nicknamed ‘Mother’ by the colonists) is renowned for its ferocity.

At Gallicus International Spaceport

On the way down to the spaceport we discussed cover stories.  We decided that we could either be a) potential investors (relying on Chauncey’s skills), b) health inspectors or, c) pest controllers – depending on whether our priorities were access or keeping a low profile.  As the official vetting on arrival consisted of an indifferent “business or pleasure?” no story was required, and we held them in reserve until we found out more from Chuck.

But there was no sign of anyone fitting our contact’s description (a one-legged miner with a friendly face) among the scruffy hangers-on in the rather run-down arrivals ‘lounge’.  Our group split up in their attempts to find him, each following their own methods.  Crimson Stain checked the restrooms, examining each stall and unscrewing the covers of air vents: Hock went to the nearest bar, sat down and ordered a bottle and a glass. 

All the pre-planned cover stories dissolved as Hock chatted with Belle the proprietor, and explained that he was looking for work and that his cousin had suggested that the mining colony was a good place to find it.  Belle agreed that there was always work for those willing to stomach it.  When Hock mentioned his cousin’s friend Chuck, Belle's face lit-up: everyone knows Chuck she said, though it was odd that he’d not been around lately.  He lived in Company accommodation at Morbustown, so he might be there, or he might have been on a bender at Elliott’s Cantina (“Now that’s a rough dive”).

In the meantime, Chauncey, Scamp and Hudson had settled in at one of the tables, and were considering the rest of the clientele.  Conscious of the fact that neither she nor Scamp were armed, Chauncey decided to try her luck in picking the pocket of one of the more drunken sots.  She was successful in relieving him of his rather antique pistol but was noticed by the drinkers on adjacent tables, and was soon looking down the barrels of four guns.  Shots were fired (the drunks all missed, only wounding one of their own) and the bar exploded into a brawl.

Chauncey successfully escaped through the nearest exist while Scamp used his small stature to devastating effect and Hudson took on a miner armed with a broken bottle.  Hock remained at the bar, sharing a drink with Belle.  She seemed supremely unconcerned, and started laying out glasses.  Right enough, as soon as Wendigo Security arrived, the first thing the four goons did was to knock back shots.  They then kicked some of the prone customers and lined up the rest along the wall for questioning.  Hock and Hudson repeated the story about looking for work, and were given directions to the Company Office and told to move on. 

Meanwhile Scamp, Chauncey and Crimson had found that in order to get on the monorail system one either had to buy a ticket or have a Company pass.  The crew re-assembled (Chauncey was particularlly disgusted that no-one had used the cover of the brawl to steal anything else useful), decided to make their way to Morbustown, and went to the Company Office to enquire about registering for work. They found that this would mean entering into a six-month contract, default on which would incur a large debt to Wendigo Corp. No-one was willing to risk this.

Again, each of the crew decided to tackle the monorail problem in their own ways: Crimson went to the gents again and mugged a miner, stealing his ident card; Hock vaulted the barriers and hid in the baggage compartment; Scamp jumped on Chauncey's shoulders and imitated the action of a fur stole (this disguised suited them both so well, that they kept it up long after it ceased to be necessary), while she shrugged and bought a ticket.

Morbustown: Enter a Rival

Our dastardly rival

Other than a ticket inspection, the trip to Morbustown was uneventful.  However, on arrival the crew were surprised to run into their greatest rival – Barnett Kale – and his lackeys.  Kale was something of a Dude - a former child actor turned bounty hunter.  A tense stand-off followed, during which it became clear that Kale was also in search of the alien artefact and knew of Chuck Jerrit’s involvement with it.  After some posturing and mutual sneering, the two crews went on their ways.  Kale boarded the monorail heading to Elliott’s Cantina, while the Bastion crew decided to check Jerrit’s apartment it despite Kale having said that it was empty.  As Kale’s train pulled out of the station, pointing us out to Wendigo Security officers. 

Jerrit’s rooms in the Company block had been ransacked – Kale had obviously done a good job on it.  Crimson Staine found and took two boxes of Luciferium ore, partly because they were valuable in themselves, but also because he always has an eye out for anything that might be turned into an improvised explosive device.  Other than that, we found nothing useful.  Questioning Jerrit’s neighbours, we discovered that he had last been seen being taken off for questioning by Company Security; but we also got the names of two of his fellow dodgy-dealers – Tommy Booth and Cornelius Heal.  They were most likely to be found in Elliott’s Cantina. 

Cursing the lead that Kale had on us, we headed back to the monorail station.  However it was crawling with Wendigo Security!  Through some quick-footedness we managed to evade them and get on a train just as it was leaving.  Unfortunately it wasn’t heading to Elloit’s Cantina, but we worked out that if we got off at the next station we would be able to cut through the mine to eventually get there.

Underground, Overground

On descending down to the workings, we adopted over cover as pest controllers.  Chauncey questioned some workers who told us that there was an opening to the surface nearby which lead to where Chuck and Tommy Booth had made an ‘odd discovery’.  We reconnoitred the shaft and found that it led to the surface.  Some ancient standing stones could be seen in the distance.   However, there were four Terranomorphs circling in the sky above.  We returned to the workers, explained that we were there to clear the Terranomorph infestation and needed their help.  They were persuaded to do so with the promise of trophies and bragging rights if we managed to killed the legendary ‘Mother’.

We constructed a plan whereby we stuffed a set of workman’s overalls with an explosive device fashioned by Crimson from the Luciferium.  This would be tied to a rope, be thrown out on the surface and jiggled about.  When the Terranomorphs took the bait, we would set off the device.  We’d then saunter across to the ruins, pick up the artefact and be home for tea.

This plan worked to an extent.  One of the Terrenomorphs was killed in the explosion, and two of the others frightened away.  The fourth turned its attention to us.  A battle ensued, with it stabbing its head into the mouth of the shaft.  It was eventually killed, but not before seriously injuring Chauncey.  We examined the ruins and found evidence that they had been explored, and that something had been removed.  We still had to make contact with the miners.

Elliott’s Cantina

We therefore resumed our trek to Elliott’s Cantina with the hope of meeting Chuck’s friends.  Again, some evasion was needed to avoid the attention of the guards who were closely monitoring the monorail station.  The cantina itself was much larger, busier and noisier than Belle’s Place at the spaceport.  With the ease of well-practiced routine, the crew took up positions: Hudson and Chauncey (still wearing Scamp) took a table; Crimson found high ground with a good view; and Hock took up position at the bar with a glass and a bottle.  In chatting to the bar staff, Hock was able to indentify Tommy Booth and Cornelius Heal playing cards, which he communicated to Chauncey; but both he and Crimson were able to see that there were two or three groups of men keeping close watch on the pair.

Chauncey asked Tommy to dance and he naturally abandoned his cards.  Covered by the noise of the raucous music, Chauncey explained that we were Chuck’s off-world contacts and were here to retrieve the artefact.  Tommy immediately suggested they step outside to do business.  As they headed to the door, the watching agents stood up from their tables: a distraction was needed...

Hock finished his drink, turned to his neighbour at the bar and head-butted him.  When he threw the unconscious patron onto the nearest table, the cantina erupted into a general brawl.

Kickstarter Watch - Beowulf: Age of Heroes

Sadly, I'm not in a position to back Kickstarters at the moment.  If I was, one that I would be particlarly tempted would be Beowulf: Age of Heroes an RPG from Handiwork Games.  It runs until 30 Jun 2020.

• An interesting period/theme
• Dual-play (ie, one GM, one player) system
• A proven team behind it
• Nice production values
• Free full-length, indroductory adventure so you can see before you buy
• An interesting a statement about re-claiming 'Anglo-Saxon' from racists

Gaming in May 2020

WARGAMING

Blood, Bilge and Iron Balls

17 May - Battle of San Domingo, written up here.
27 May - Single ship action, written up here.

It's been an age since I've done any wargaming, so I was pleased when I finally got my act in order to do some solo naval wargaming (a very long-term aim!).

As I've been reading about the C17th and C18th navy recently, I pulled out Blood, Bilge and Iron Balls, which is an age of sail (well, Napoleonic) set of rules.  It's a nice, simple set of rules, without the complexity which is the bane of naval wargaming.  Way back in 2014 I took part in a play-by-post game, which I enjoyed (there's some eye-candy in the blog archives if you want to look at it - Clint, the host had some rather nice models he set up for us).

Wanting to do a fleet action, but wanting to keep it manageble, I played using the order of battle for the Battle of San Domingo.  It was a learning experience, but BBIB plays well.  I'd like to master this before I try any of the more complex rulesets.  I'm going to have to do a bit of work making my own aide-memoire before I play again.

Sir Henry Fearless
 in command

On 27 May I cleared the decks (well, the kitchen table) for a quick ship-on-ship action, with two 38-gun frigates meeting.  It was a bit of an eye-opener, showing how the draw determining the turn action can seriously affect the outcome.  The British figate was completely out-classed.  She had lost two masts and three-quarters of her effective crew, with damaged steerage and four fires.  Her captain had no choice to strick her colours at the end of the six turn - without having fired a shot!  

A demonstration of superior French seamanship and gunnery.


ROLE-PLAYING GAMES

• 3 May - Call of Cthuhlu
• 8 May - Dark Sun
• 17 May - Melcher's Vale
• 22 May - Dark Sun
• 30 May - Gordon's Alive!
• 31 May - ODD Sci-Fi

Call of Cthulhu: Forget-Me-Not

3 May

RIP Charlie

Well our Call of Cthulhu game came to an end.  And it was suitable climatic.  Our party of investigators from the tv programme 'The Supernatural Files' finally got to the bottom of what had happened in the Cooper House and met the Big Bad.

It didn't end well for the party or for the world as a whole (upon which we unleashed a great evil).  My character Charlie was likened to the cook from The Shining: he spent four weeks trying to get back into the action only to meet a particularly interesting death (but not before killing a cop and developing a new form of madness).

This was my first taste of Call of Cthulhu, which I'd been wanting to play for some time.  I enjoyed it a great deal, helped of course by being among a fine group of players and having Andy Goodman (a master of the art) as a Keeper.  I certainly would like to play again.  I know the contemporary setting isn't typical of CoC, and might want to try something a little more jazz-age and pulpy next time.  That might yet happen.

Episode 4: Lung-Flesh and Toad Gods which we played on 27 Mar is now on-line.

Dark Sun/Dying Star

8 May.  Written-up here.
22 May.  Written-up here.

Met a beastie...

This fun campaign continues.  We completed our first job, but have been comissioned to do a follow-up that involves high matters of state...

The Black Hack2/Melcher's Vale

17 May

This was our last venture into Melcher's Vale for a while.  Having run an average of two sessions a week for the last six months, Dave wants to rest and rethink.  He promises to take us back once the creative juices have refreshed.

Lady Elvira

This session focused on one of the patrons we have been dealing with - Lady Evira Bund.  Two of us - my character Bolton and a fighter called Bodar - had fallen under her shadow.  We'd been feeling rather drained of late, developed an aversion to sunlight and an appitite for spiders.  Perhaps to boost our spirits, Lady Elvira had annonced a masked ball at which we would be welcomed fully into the Bund clan and 'the most ancient form of nobility in Shroudwick'.

Well, we were shocked (shocked!) to discover that the Bunds were really vampires.  Bolton and Bodar received Lady Elvira's 'kiss' and were turned.  We were then invited to drain the blood of a victim to complete our initiation.  As these victims were our companions, much to-do followed.

In the end the Lady was killed, leading to the destruction of her followers (Bolton and Bodar escaped this fate as they hadn't completed the ritual).  Having been Turned, Bodar fled the mansion, and drained the lifeblood of the first passerby he met (fun was had with random NPC generation).  He has completed the transformation and is now completely a vampire (though without a without a sire - does that make him a Ronin?).

Bolton, who had been caught in a web, didn't complete the transformation.  Unfortunately, during a skirmish with the Bund retainers he was staked and turned into a pile of ash (a one-in-six chance once he was reduced to 0 HP).  However, one of our party has a pot which will re-incarnate the soul of a cremated being...

Dave has indicated that if the resurection pot is used, Bolton's soul might end up transmuted into Stuart the Monkey Porter.

Gordon's Alive!  (ICRPG)

30 May

I played Ditmo, robotman

Another one of Pete the Dragon's one-shots using the very playable Index Card RPG system and using a nifty virtual table top (I thought the images Pete selected were particularly good).

In this one Andy, Spencer and I were prisoners of Ming the Merciless on our way to a life of servitude in the Radium Mines. During our inevitable escape, the rocket-ship we were in crashed into one of the swamps of Arboria.  What will our heroes do next...

Cracking fun!


ODD Sci-Fi

31 May - Written-up here.

And on the last day of the month we started a new game, the first episode in a new campaign.  This was a sci-fi adaptation of the Electronic Bastionland ruleset.

Dave's pitch is

• The core worlds are owned by the corporations.
• The savage frontier is inhospitable. Adapting to life on the fringe means becoming something not quite human. You have to go into deep space to get anywhere. Some parts are better travelled than others, but all the same deep space warps people in terrifying ways.
• There was an ancient race of alien precursors. Their technology was far superior to ours, but that did not stop them from being utterly destroyed.
• You are damaged goods.
• You have incurred a colossal debt and have a share in a spacecraft.
• Now get trucking

The rag-bag crew of the Bastion took up a contract from a collector to extract an alien artifact from under the noses of one of the mining corporations.  There was a distinct frontier feel to the game, this session being book-ended by bar fights.

My character was a mutant with an uncommonly fierce firearm.  I picture him as Jayne Cobb with chicken feet.