Black Sword Hack: Session II - Slayers of The Blood God

We had our second session of Black Sword Hack and I ran the adventure "Slayers of the Blood God." You can read about our first session here. 

Joining Ellis of Ro and Bh'osh was Thragg, a savage barbarian from the Pict Territories.

Thragg  

Notable Stats: 

14 Str, 12 Con

Origin: 

Born on a night my clan burned the capital

Backgrounds: 

Berserker, Vicious, Pit Fighter

Languages: 

Thyrenian, Pictish

Equipment: 

Chakram, Warhammer

Further development of Bh'osh's background: Even though Bh'osh was rolled randomly, he has an uncanny similarity to the Serpent People in the bestiary, so we decided to have them connected - Bh'osh has amnesia but has moments where his past comes back to him. So far, he thinks the Serpent People and his "father," altered him genetically in some way. 

Updated Map

********** Spoiler Alert **********

"Slayers of the Blood God" is a great little adventure - much blood was shed. 

The players are in Cronopolis, the capital of Zondaro, an empire that favours chaos. One thousand years ago, Zondaro was once the leading power but has been in decline for centuries. The bohemian lifestyle of the society is preoccupied with heavy drug use and carnal pursuits. The military is still one of the most powerful in the land but corruption dominates and is a cancer that is destroying this once powerful empire. Cronopolis is built upon other ancient cities and only the foolhardy dare venture below.

Around 500 years ago a great wall was built that divided the northern and souther half of the Zondarian Empire. The south is now called Zaria, whose government is a theocracy, fanatically enforcing law. The two are always in conflict and on the brink of war.

The adventure starts as a prologue with our group meeting Countess Sasa from the Karst Brom Society. A group of vampire scholars (law). 

The mission: Captain Rackmoor Melioc has somehow acquired pages from a book the Society is interested in. The players are to bring the pages to her or destroy them.

Before leaving to find Rackmoor, our group is eating at a tavern when Serpent Men enter and demand Bh'osh leave with them. Bh'osh is shackled but Thragg decides to go berserk and soon the Serpent Men are defeated. Signet rings are found on the Serpent Men's fingers. The players consult a sage who tells them the rings were distributed to these Guardians at a secret location that harbours a mysterious object. 

Serpent Men Guardian

The players set out and as they travel to Rackmoor's stronghold they pass by a small village that has a faint greenish glow. This world is plagued by asteroid strikes that cause horrible mutations in people and animals, and this town recently suffered a strike. The townsfolk, who are hideously mutated, are crawling and begging the players for help. Some of them are eating each other and others who try to escape have limbs that collapse or fall off.

The players then arrive at the town of Rust, located near the stronghold. Gaining some information, they successfully infiltrate Rachmoor's stronghold. Stealthing their way in, they eventually confront Rachmoor as he's performing The Blood God's sacrifice. 

Rackmoor Melioc and his dog, Devourer 

Being a natural diplomat and bullshitter, Ellis tries to begin a parley with Rackmoor but he's negotiation-blocked by Bh'osh who goes all "Leeroy Jenkins," and immediately starts launching arrows.

Rackmoor reacts and beheads Johnny, his sacrificial victim, and his blood pumps into a dark red, undulating pool. I then roll a d6 and a six comes up 6 meaning the First Legion of the Blood God is now complete. More bad news for this poor, doomed world. 

The players attack and Ellis crits with a grenade, Thragg goes berserk on Rackmoor's head with his warhammer then Bh'osh splits Rackmoor in half with his Inquisitor's sword. It's a swift but brutal death for the Blood God's Captain.

The players defeat the remaining Blood Warriors in the room but more will be arriving soon.

The "pages" they came looking for are tattooed on Rackmoor's skin, so his body is burned which breaks the Blood God's spell, accomplishing the players mission. But since the First Legion is already complete, the Blood Warriors have new orders and march out of the stronghold into the night to continue the Blood God's work, to turn the world into a sea of blood. 

In Rackmoor's study they find his journal which describes how a captured sorcerer tattooed the ritual onto Rackmoor's skin as a bargain to be released. Who is this sorcerer and where is the blasphemous book of The Blood God now? They also found a skull with engravings on it that need to be deciphered.

****************************

There are already a huge number of plots and subplots developing and it's only our second game. New adventures can largely be derived from these seeds, if desired. All this helps to create a game identity different from other fantasy RPGs. 

This is Black Sword Hack.

Happy halloween!

 

Black Sword Hack : Session I - Dark Seeds

 

Black Sword Hack is an awesome game.

The rules are simple but have depth and the setting is a lot of fun to dive into. The game encourages you not to use an established setting, like the Young Kingdoms, which can influence notions and direct outcomes but instead, create a world uniquely your own. A world where your player's characters will be the first to explore its strange and dangerous lands. The world creation process happens as you play and expands as necessary, encouraging unexpected campaign plots to develop. Everyone keeps track of past games, events and NPCs as players' actions and repercussions help drive future stories.

Law, Chaos and Balance - the players choose where they stand in this doomed sword and sorcery world of demons, weird science and monsters. Power-hungry aristocracy, twisted cults and beings that want to bring about the end of time threaten our anti-heroes at every turn, whose fate, may in fact be the world's destruction.

BSH has regional adventure seeds (Forbidden City, Golden Archipelago, Iron Horde, etc)  that find homes on your world map. They are very creative and extremely evocative. I'm also going to mine TSR's Divine Right as needed for ideas and topography.

I'm already thinking of future games for my players and will treat them as episodic. The goal is to finish an adventure in one or two sessions. Yes, BSH moves quickly. The GM doesn't do a lot of rolling but many decisions are left in the GM's hands-of-doom to determine rulings.

You go big or go home in BSH. Where the players tread, entire cities may sink into the earth, kings may be devoured by demons, the moon may crash into the earth! That is Black Sword Hack. 

There were two players for our first session. Here are our antiheroes:

Ellis of Ro
 

Notable Stats: 

12 Int, 14 Cha

Origin: 

Born in a dilapidated manor of a ruined family. 

Backgrounds: 

Diplomat, Inventor, Storyteller

Languages: 

Thyrenian, Naruan, Duhuang, Chalidim

Equipment: 

Pilgrims staff, Rapier, Light Armour

Twisted Science Marvels:
Firelance, Targeting monocle

Ellis of Ro
Art by Chris

********************************************

Bh'osh

Notable Stats: 

12 Int, 13 Con

Origin: 

Born in the laboratory of the alchemist he called "father."

Backgrounds: 

Demon Pact, Bookworm, Snake Blood

Languages: 

Thyrenian, Alashan

Equipment: 

Inquisitor's Longsword (2-h), Iwisfi

Demon Pacts: 

Fear (Ulshedra)

Nightmare (Samnu)

Bh'osh
Art by Chris

I took the player's through "Dark Seeds," the adventure in the rule book and everyone had a great time.

Spoiler Alert

A few notable events from the game:

Narvas is an evil sorcerer who is somehow responsible for our anti-heroes being sentenced to the Redemption Spire. How long were they in there? Where is Narvas now and why did he do this?

Bh'osh summoned Samnu, the nightmare demon, to awaken both Lazalla and Garam from their lotus slumbers (thus ending their demonic dream manifestations). Both Lazalla and Garam, learning that they were responsible for slaughtering the entire town, went insane with guilt. The players took the Lotus bags and left.

Tharkus

Players learned that Tharkus's crashed, airborne ship is powered by a demon engine and can possibly travel in space. 

Ellis did some fast talking, distracting Tharkus and her men, which allowed Bh'osh to speak with the flesh/ steel android creation who told them of Narvas. They left the crashed ship and Tharkus, who was pissed at them because the players used the demon of fear, Ulshedra, on her and also cut down one of her men. Ellis gave some demon dream lotus as a parting gift to Tharkus. We'll see what future is born from that cold-blooded act!

Being an inventor, Ellis is looking for an orichalcum gyroscope to get the ship flying again and claim it as his own.

The Pit Fiend

                    

In the rock furnace

For past transgressions

Relentless torment 

Denizens

Whispering

Tearing

Cutting

No rest nor hope

Of salvation

Then 

At each day's end 

The Fiend rises

From the Pit

And bashes our heads in

Palladium Fantasy RPG

I recently added some new Palladium Fantasy books to my collection.

Eventually, I'd like to have all the setting books. I play 1e, but even the 2e material is applicable and provides great information on the Palladium Fantasy world.

The setting is pretty much what draws me to PF. Even though there are a number of non-human races as options to play, I still get a Conan-esk feel from it. D&D is full of monster adversaries. But PF is more geared toward fighting other humans and humanoids. Arena fights are common throughout the world, often pitting species against species. There are monsters, but not on the same scale as D&D. The setting has a high-magic feel to it, with a strong emphasis on gods, religions, cults, demons and devils and the Old Ones, generally, represent the Cthulhu Mythos, which I like. 

In our campaign, the players are evil and are all humanoid. It's a unique gaming experience for me, and I'm going to try to steer my players back in the direction of Palladium Fantasy after we're done playing Alien RPG.

The standout of the books I bought is the 1st Edition Palladium Fantasy RPG Foil Hardback. Palladium softcovers take a beating, especially the rule books. I own an original 1e rule book and the cover is gone. I think the limited edition foil hardback is a great buy. It looks awesome, it's well made, and as a bonus, it includes the adventure The Arms of Nargash-Tor.

Interior of the Palladium Fantasy Limited Edition Foil Hardback

Book II: The Old Ones and Book III: Adventures on the High Seas are great setting books with a ton of information, premade adventures and towns for players to explore. I've heard good things about Bill Coffin as an author, so I look forward to digging into his contributions in the other books.

I'm using Book IV: Adventures in the Norther Wilderness and Book V: "Further" Adventures in the Northern Wilderness for our campaign. 

If you're unaware of Palladium Fantasy 1e, it's reminiscent of Basic D&D or AD&D but with some interesting changes. However, it does seem necessary to house-rule. You could say every game gets house-ruled a bit; however, in the case of PF, it's more of a certainty and in some cases, extensively.

When thinking about creating my own games or modifying pre-written adventures for PF, I like to take inspiration and story ideas from Conan. 

The Cardinal of the Church of Light in Credia (Timiro Kingdom) has hired our players for a secret mission: They are to set sail and navigate through the pirated South Sea waters, then dropped off the shore of a savage jungle island, rife with sea serpents in the Floenry chain. If they survive, they are to make their way through the islands fetid swamps, facing poisonous reptiles and ferocious Grimbors, until, they reach their final destination: the ancient Temple of Yin-Sloth the Terrible! There they must stealth their way in and assassinate the cult's cannibalistic leader, whose psionic powers are renowned, and bring back the priceless Dragon's Heart Stone!

PSA: Play Call of Cthulhu

 

5E Dungeons and Dragons: Cult of the Silver Star

Kaalut Kuzulhu is a Lev 4, chaotic evil variant human. He's a Fathomless Warlock, whose patron is Cthulhu.        

Kaalut Kuzulhu

He’s starting a cult in Neverwinter. 

Kaalut is the cults enigmatic leader, but to help achieve its goals, he'll assume other perona using the Mask of Many Faces invocation and Disguise Kits. One such alias is the mysterious Lord Orlok; a rather strange looking man who wears black robes, is bald and has large, pointed ears. Orlok is Magus of the Void level grade and deals with most of the new applicants. 

Lord Orlok

                                                

Another guise used, when intimidation is needed, is that of Vu’oog Dragell, Magus of the Black Moon, who is more than capable of motivating the members. During special ceremonies, Vu'oog opens gateways to alien realms, calling forth the harrowing Star Spawns, who whisper unfathomable cosmic secrets to stupefied congregants.

Vu'oog Dragell

To root out spies and learn the cultists' intents and weaknesses, Kaalut will often disguise himself as a new member and make liberal use of the Detect Thoughts spell cast through the Telepathic feat. 

When higher level, Kaalut will specialize in the use of the spells Dream and Dream Sending of Cthulhu, which are essential for conveying revelations to Silver Star members as well as deterring its detractors. 

The cult does not openly promote evil per say, but it does celebrate chaos and individual freedoms. Randomness of actions is interpreted as ultimate truths. Anything that stands in the way of individual freedom is considered an untruth including those set by law, order and social norms. Each individual is capable of achieving self-realization through their own personal choices. 

Cthulhu is not mentioned specifically to the members, at first. Until cultists have advanced to higher grades, Cthulhu is referred to as He Who Sleeps, He Who Whispers in Dreams, The Great Dreamer or the One Who Calls. 

Meditation, the deep speech language, astrology, and the Mythos of the Cosmos are taught to beginners. Some nights are devoted to social interactions, as revelry in personal freedoms is paramount to enlightenment.

The cult also spreads the good word of enlightenment around Neverwinter through the many altruistic activities they are involved with. 

Initially, the cult could run as a spy network or be used for some added finances. The long term goal is to have the most devout members move to a secluded island community, where they are transformed or give birth to Deep Ones or hybrids, destined for R'lyeh. Outsiders are warned from visiting the island, as the inhabitants have a reputation for being xenophobic. The community, however, is renowned for its fishery and weekly hauls are brought to Neverwinter by mysterious individuals, whose faces are always scarfed, but are said to have large eyes that never blink and have fingers that are webbed...

These are the flyers that are posted throughout Neverwinter inviting all to join the cult. The key word is transformation. All are welcome to join..including you!

Real testimonials:

"Joining the Silver Star has been a transformative experience!"

Fergus Littleman
Citizen of Neverwinter

It's a good day for Cthulhu

 

Alien RPG: Chariot of the Gods Part II & III

Issue # 2 of Chariot of the Gods
Art by Chris

Issue # 3 of Chariot of the Gods
Art by Chris

Overall, we had a lot of fun playing Chariot of the Gods (the first session was covered here). There was only one player death, which was surprising, but mostly due to unlucky dice roles on my part - the neomorph hisses at you...

I rolled randomly to see who changed into abominations, so in Act II many N.P.C.'s were mutated. 

One player was using Captain Miller, whose motive was money; another was Cham, which everyone knew was really Lucas the Android from Act I, but its agenda was still secret - stop all xenomorph information from getting into Weylan-Yutani's hands; the player using Wilson was trying to make a deal with Clayton, but Clayton ended up getting eviscerated by the neomorph; lastly, someone played the pilot, Davis, who was trying to calm her nerves with drugs.

In Act III, the players were low on weapons so they set the USCSS Cronus to self-destruct to avoid a fight with the neomorph that was still running around killing everyone. As the players were trying to escape, the neomorph emerged and attacked them but they managed to kill it, luckily. Too late to reverse the self-destruct, the players, along with the N.P.C. Dr. Flynn (who was near mental collapse from panic), gathered in Clayton's corporate suite. There they discovered the EEV (Emergency Escape Vehicle) but quickly realized it only takes three. Lots of arguments followed; mostly from fear and paranoia about which players were secretly out to kill the rest.

They finally came to a decision about who to leave behind and pushed the N.P.C. Dr. Flynn out of the EEV and locked the door, leaving him stranded on the Cronus with a one minute count down before it went KA-BOOM!  Pretty cold move by the players, but space is very cold.

I made one last random roll to see which of the survivors was going to transform into an abomination, as they had all been infected by the motes. Cham, who was the android Lucas, was not subject to the infection so it was a D4 roll between Miller, Wilson, Davis and Dr. Flynn.

The roulette wheel spun and Dr. Flynn's number came up. 

As Flynn was pounding on the EEV door, begging for the players not to leave him to his death, his head started to pulsate, his skin began to boil and his eyes went black as starless space. His pleas of desperation changed to those of a crazed mad man, then he repeatedly smashed his fists, head and body against the EEV door.

Art by Chris

The players quickly undocked from the Cronus and sped away with only seconds to spare before it exploded, rocking the EEV and all those within from its destruction.

Cham was swiftly shut down (so as not to kill the other players in hypersleep) then they all went night-night, bringing back with them all the information Weylan-Yutani could have hope for regarding motes, xenomorphs and the 26 Draconis Strain.

                                                              Next issue:

                     Destroyer of Worlds

R.I.P. David Soul

For children who were afraid of Barlow and vampires that scratched on windows at night, asking to be let in, Davis Soul was our hero.

R.I.P. David Soul. You will be missed.

Icons: Issue #8 - The Midnight Men... Sign of the Zodiac!

 

The Midnight Men battle the Plagues and the diabolical Dr. Zodiac

 in issue #8 of the Midnight Men. 

Pencils by Chris.