Author: shortymonster

This comes after playing the Fallout games quite a lot. I know I was a few years late to the party, but they really do offer a lot in terms of inspiration.

It has been decades since the Event. Most of humanity was destroyed, and the culture it spawned went with it. Those few who survived took a large backwards leap and resorted to other means of survival, moving away from cities and urban areas to try and start a new life in the blighted countryside. Those that stayed in the cities had their own reasons.

What remained of the buildings offered protection from the elements, and promised hidden caches of food and other things needed to survive. Gangs of heavies moved into claim these territories, and extort protection from those too weal to fight back. They became lawless places, but still attracted people looking to find a solution to the world’s problems, or enough tinned goods to see themselves through another winter. Continue reading “Pilfer this Post-Apocalyptic plot seed. The Tower”

Welcome back everyone! Something a bit sci-fi for you all this week, but based on my own interests, I can easily see how this one could easily be used as inspiration for a deep future Lovecraftian game too. Whatever you choose to use it for, I hope you enjoy it.

The crew were all in Deep Sleep. It was the only way that any kind of space travel was going to happen. Faster than light was still the stuff of science fiction, even after so many other ideas and concepts first touted in the pages of trashy fiction have long become a reality. Deep Sleep for instance wasn’t what most people would think. It wasn’t some elongated form of hibernation, with fully functional humans coming out at the end without suffering any of the crippling muscle atrophy that would actually occur. 

In a way it’s about immortality. If the cost wasn’t so prohibitive, the private sector would be offering it to anyone who wanted it by now, but it takes the kind of budget that can launch objects out of out solar system to be able to cover the costs. Everything about you is taken from you, and when they say everything, they mean it. Not just memories, but aspirations and emotions. What they want is for the whole of you to wake up on the other end. Vat growing the bodies was actually the easier part of the whole thing, and without that technology the human race may have starved a long time ago. So, you get yourself downloaded into server farms the size of an SUV, and along with the equipment you’re going to need, you get shot into space. 

Luckily, the space between stars is pretty damned cold, so keeping the machines running wasn’t going to be a problem. And then, when the ship’s sensors picked up an object big enough, it adjusted the thrusters and set about waking everyone up. There would be no point keeping the vat grown bodies around until needed; there was no way to know how long that would take. So they were created, with life but no control, and that’s when you come into it. That personality that’s just been sitting around in shut-down mode for who knew how long, gets a jolt and is sent to a nice warm brain, wrapped in a shiny new body. And as the eyes get used to what they’re seeing, it’s time to start working.

The players will be part of a crew of deep space explorers. One of hundreds of vessels flung out of the solar system looking for  new planetary body that the human race could call home. It will quickly become obvious though, that the object in space that the ship’s sensors has started to track is not orbiting any star. It is in fact, just as alone as the ship. The ship’s Captain however, will want to investigate. Having come out of Deep Sleep, there really is little else to do. The process of putting everyone back under will take months, and during that time, they can maneuver the ship to orbit the strange object and get as much as information as the long range sensors will allow.

The object is large enough to have a gravity slightly stronger than Earth, no more than an extra 5% though. It has a molten core and a carbon structure. As the weeks pass by, it becomes increasingly obvious that there exists within the object a honeycomb like structure, that may not be natural. This gets everyone very excited, and the Captain quickly decides to hold off on putting everyone back under until the object is fully investigated. This means landing teams, made up of a variety of personnel. The barges are readied, and the players form up into one of two teams to take the first steps onto the object.

Begin with standard space exploring fare, the landing can be as troublesome as you require, but the fun starts when the players get beneath the surface. Unnatural formations quickly become evident and markings on the walls that could only be made by sentient beings. The further down they go, the more obvious it becomes that none of the things they’re seeing were made by nature. Doors that look as if they could once have been sealed to maintain an atmosphere within are soon spotted, and sensor readings show an increase in temperature the further the party move away from the surface. Unsurprisingly, the Captain is thrilled by this, and begins proceedings to land the ship on the surface to carry out a full investigation. As it moves in orbit to find a suitable landing spot for such a large craft, it moves into an area of radio silence, as the first door is found that remains sealed…

Future plot ideas

1. It turns out, there’s no one there. Not too exciting I know, but gives the players a chance to play at world builders if that’s what they want to do, and gives the GM some great opportunities to mess with them in unusual ways.
2. The sentient life that inhabited this rock has long since perished, and in the millennia since, the cattle they fed upon has evolved into a neanderthal state, primitively worshiping the remains of the old civilisation as if they were Gods.
3. Go full horror, and have the creatures that remain engage in planetary wide hunt of the human encroachment.
4. The rock is a weapon, and was aimed at a distant planet many years ago, and evacuated when its course was locked on.

This works in any reasonably contemporary setting that includes elements of Lovecraftian horror. It will not be dealing with the larger themes of an uncaring universe and massive elder gods who could snuff out the stars on a whim, instead it touches more on the more personal horror of the unknown and explainable. And monsters.

The artificial lake was created decades ago, and a small town sat in the valley it would fill. All the residents were moved on, some more willingly than others, but when the dam was fully constructed, Cratendune there were rumours that not everyone got out. No bloated corpses were seen rising to the surface though, so the owners of the dam patted themselves on the back and forgot about the tiny little town.

Costs were cut in the construction of the Dam though, and before long it started to show. Repairs were carried out where able, until it became clear that plastering over the cracks wasn’t going to be enough; it had to come down. Those suits who had been so happy with the project had long since retired to a nice sunny country and other suits were given the PR job of handling such a disaster. They had no idea just how bad it was going to be. With the dam gone the way of so  many other badly thought out projects, the remains of Cratendune were once again shown the cold light of day. 

But they weren’t as ruined as anybody would have expected. Early investigations revealed some unusual things, such as signs of domesticity far more recent than they had any right to be. The a survey team went missing, and you were called in to take a look…

As should be clear from that little intro, it should be expected that the Characters are a group of investigators that have worked together at some point in the past, but GMs should feel free to modify as needed to fit their player characters.

Research before heading to the scene of the unusual occurrence reveals more than a few old folk stories about the people who lived in Cratendune. They settled in the valley to be away from other towns and settlements, and had little to do with outsiders, apart from essential trading. The land was poor and the livestock a weak and poor example of cattle. They traded instead with rare metals and ores, and many people thought to find the source of such riches for themselves. None returned…

Recent events will be less well documented, as Rodriguez Meganetics – the company behind the failed Dam – have an army of PR experts and tamed journalists in their pockets, and know who within the police force to pay off to keep such things hidden from the public. What is discerned though is that the buildings revealed by the retreating waters show little in the way of damage that would be brought about by being submerged for decades under water. Inside the houses, it just got stranger, with beds made and food stored as if the residents had just gone out for the day.

Upon arrival, the scene is cordoned off with police tape, with at least half a dozen uniformed officers and a couple of men in suits talking with the Local interest is minimal, and the police will inform the investigators that they are under strict instructions to keep the press away. If pressed, a knowing glance towards a be-suited individual lets everyone know who’s pulling the strings in that regard.

Everything else will be desperately quiet, with not even the sound of wild life as the investigators enter the town. The ground is still muddy from the recently evacuated lake, and the buildings will have a shiny look to them, caused by various algae and other growths. Populate the town with a main street and stores, and a couple of dozen houses, throw in a church and a town hall for good measure too, and let the players wander around. take the time to describe the strange fungal growths upon the buildings, and if investigated closely, these reveal that they have been harvested. As expected, the houses show signs of recent habitation, but nothing living expect the strange otherworldly mushrooms. If anyone thinks to ask, they won’t even see any other aquatic life, or what is left of it, littering the ground.

When they get to the church though, things get a little strange. All pretense of any Christian faith has been removed, and sigils of unknown origin adorn all the walls. Enough to make even an experienced investigator uneasy.

Behind the altar, a stair way is found leading down…

The story.

The Townsfolk of Cratendune started as miners after they discovered a very rich vein of minerals, and dug further down, uncovering a lost tomb. The writings left behind had a strange effect on them, and they felt compelled to go even further beneath the surface, uncovering treasure and arcane lore as they went, opening up tombs and and temples to an unknown, but powerful being. When word reached them that the valley was to be flooded, they sought aid from this thing, and were granted the ability to survive the coming waters – or at least, the more pious were. They survived for decades beneath the murky water, harvesting strange fungus to survive, and digging deeper below, opening up air-tight catacombs where they could once again breath.

It is in these final chambers that they worked to bring their Savior once more to their own world, to allow it to breathe again of the waters of this world, and feast on the flesh of the unbelievers. They are still humanoid, but with a look a look that might be described as Innsmouth-y. Spending decades living beneath the water has also left them almost unable to commune in anything close to a human tongue.

Welcome back to another plot seed for you to steal and use as you see fit. This one is very much a modern horror game seed, and is directly inspired by one very surreal New Years morning I spent with a small handful of very close friends. This may have even happened to you at some point, so I trust you’ll have no problem putting your own spin on it. Ideally, this will be a short game, as zombie plots tend not to last too long, but use your best judgement.

It was new year’s eve, and as the party wound on past midnight, the crowd started to shrink. It was good though, you were at a friend’s huge place on the outskirts of town. It had over a dozen bedrooms, and most people were already making use of them. The rest of you decided that you wanted to watch the sunrise, so drinks in hand and years of friendship based anecdotes easily recollected, you decided to stick it out. As the grey light of pre-dawn started to filter through the curtains, you swung them open and watched the rolling fog come over the surrounding hills. It was deathly silent out there, with not a single living thing moving. You all had some fun scarring each other with the idea that you might be the only people left alive, and a fair few of you drunk at that. Then you heard an unpleasant noise behind you, as the sun rose over the horizon, and your day got a damned sight worse.

Because zombie apocalypses have to start somewhere, so why not when everyone is in a great mood, a little bit the worse for wear as a result of drinking and a lack of sleep? The fact that the players will be have been awake all night should give you an idea about where this one is going though. Anyone asleep at a certain point in time, will be changed.

As with all of the best zombie stories, there is simply no need for an explanation as to why this has occurred, but feel free to add you own if you do think it is required. There is even the freedom to play around with the type of zombie you’d prefer. If you want something that is less of a challenge, the slower-moving traditional type will serve you well, but the speedy remake zombies will take the game quickly into very dangerous territory.

To begin with, there’s the noise they’ve just heard. One of the party guests did not close their bedroom door fully when they retired, and as such, had no problem in freeing themselves from their room, honing in on the friendly banter coming from down the stairs. This zombie will need to be either dealt with, or escaped from. A fight at this point should not be life threatening – let that come later – and if the players are resourceful enough, then taking it down without too much fuss should not present too much of a problem. When you are describing the room they are in, make note of the large size, floor to ceiling windows, and lack of other exits.

Leave almost everything else up to the players. If they think the best weapon they could find would be a fire poker, then let rip and add one to the set dressing. A lot of free form or short games can be run like this as it requires less planning on the part of the GM. If it makes sense, and gives the players a touch of control of their environment, then be generous with what is left laying around after a party.

If they choose not to escape, and manage to destroy the walking dead, then they have the rest of the house to explore. Each of the bedrooms – apart from one – will have its door closed, and the sounds of movement can clearly be heard coming from within. These undead can be dealt with easily enough one at a time, but not all the rooms were single occupancy…

The rest of the house will yield up – in terms of useful equipment – no more than would be expected in any standard house.  It is large though, so expect there to be plenty of whatever there is. Tinned food and bottled water shouldn’t be a problem, but weapons will be slightly harder to get hold of. Heavy metal hand tools such as a hatchet or wrecking bar should be moderately easy to come across, but not really anything bigger, and even then, just one of each.

Expect the players to be tech savvy and try to contact their friends with cell phones and the like, and even try to turn on the TV for news. For now most things will be working fine, with emergency broadcasts on all channels. Exactly the kind of thing you’d expect to happen. Their friends will be unavailable though, including family. Emergency numbers will be busy with the high volume of calls going in to a small group of workers who got the night shift.

It is a fact that the only people who stayed up all night drinking (or people on the night shift) will remain uninfected. This group includes some emergency service personnel, along with party people and those cursed to work in fast food eateries at all hours. Hardly a force to save the world. Exploring outside of the house will reveal much of the same as within. At the moment, most walking corpses are individuals, but as time progresses, they will start to swarm. Hunting by sound, they will flock to each others moans.

Is there a cure for this plague? Who knows. Most zombie stories don’t end well.

Possible future plot threads:

• The players get rounded up by an interim government and kept in a ‘clean’ camp’ with their sole purpose being to breed a new humanity.
• Pick your favourite zombie movie, and just have fun.
• It was all a shared delusion of the group, brought upon by drinking some tainted gin…

Welcome back, and today my plot seed takes place in a world of masked adventurers and super heroes.

A three ringed circus in the heart of the Metropolis! All manner of excitement and escapades to be had, and a thrilling show guaranteed for everyone in the audience!  Come one, come all, Ladies and Gentlemen, children of all ages, take a seat but be prepared to occupy only the edge of it! 

With a crowd such as this on the closing night, there were so many opportunities for villainy. The crowd was heaving with heroes and villains alike, all currently unmasked. Waiting to see if just one night of spectacle could pass in the City without the threat of costumed criminals taking advantage. 

Of course, there really is no chance at all of tonight going off without a hitch, and after an hour of bright lights, clowns, high wire feats and derring-do, the spot lights focus in on the Ring Leader as he walks towards the centre of the floor. With a whip in one hand, but both arms raised, silence falls around him. He strides to the centre and bows, turning 90 degrees and bowing to each of the four corners of the tent, his face hard without a smile. As he stands straight for the final time, all eyes on him, with a raised eyebrow he says one word – “Boo” – and the lights flare up and then vanish, leaving everything in darkness. For several seconds the audience sit in silence, wondering what will come next, but then screams start to rip the air, and a panic fills the crowd.

At this point the heroes in the crowd should be given the chance to act, to move and try and figure out what’s going on. Due to the pitch darkness and general panic, they should feel safe slipping into costume. If they have the ability to see in the near pitch darkness, they will see circus folk moving amongst the crowd, wearing night vision headsets and taking what they can from the confused and panicked audience. At this point a large scale fight could easily erupt, and although the heroes will be outnumbered, the circus folk are far from trained combatants. What skills they do have though are in misdirection and acrobatics, so don’t make things too easy for the good guys.

The spot lights can easily be found and turned back on without too much trouble, but the circus folk have taken that into account. As the tent begins to once more fill with light, the trapeze artists and tight rope walkers start raining grenades into the crowd. Their intention is not to kill however, just to sow panic and discord, dropping flash bang grenades, along with flares and smoke bombs, all designed to make life hard for any attempt at curtailing the mayhem. If the heroes are at this point wearing gaudy costumes of their own, there’s no saying that members of the audience won’t assume that they’re part of the chicanery. This could end up hindering them even more, unless they choose to apply a touch more brute force in the name of the greater good…

The performers will try and leave quickly in the panic, taking what loot they’ve managed to snatch and ditching their costumes to fit into the crowd. If they are knocked unconscious they will remain that way until taken into custody. If the heroes attempt to restrain them however, they will all have a base one in three chance to escape any bindings or handcuffs. This base chance can be modified based upon the level of technology used or the inventiveness of the heroes in how firmly they restrain the villains. If they see a Clown they’ve already cuffed to a support pole running for the exit, they may start ensuring the bindings are a lot more secure.

When the lights are turned back on, the Ring Leader will have vanished. If any attempt is made to find him, he is nowhere to be seen in the main tent, and any move to leave is checked by burly security guards. This should at most be a delaying tactic depending on how long the fight has continued. These will be the first people the heroes encounter who have anything like combat training, but compared to masked adventurers, only their numbers should make this anything like a challenge.

When the heroes escape, either by fighting past guards or calming everything down in the tent, the search can continue proper for the Ring Leader. The tracks of a large wheeled vehicle will be found leading into the city and should the heroes follow, they will eventually be able to catch up with him. The vehicle will be large and reinforced, but still able to move at speed as the Ring leader races through the city hoping his distraction will keep everyone occupied as he readies himself and his gang to commit the real crime.

The chase should give ample opportunity for heroics, with vehicular mayhem always on the cards. How the characters attempt to stop the Behemoth will often depend on power level and if they think of themselves as “anti-heroes”. The crime that the Ring leader was on his way to commit, I’ll leave to the GM…

Potential future plot threads:

• The Ring Leader was out to steal something vastly more powerful than he knows how to control, and releases it onto the streets.
• All of this was simply a distraction from a distraction, and the Mayor’s family have been kidnapped after the heroes leave the Big Top.
• The Ring Leader was nothing but bait, and when he arrives at his final ‘Crime scene’ the true big bad puts in an appearance.

As with all of these plot seeds, this has been designed to be system and setting neutral, and anything that occurs within is subject to GM whim. Please feel free to change and adapt this seed to fit with your campaign needs.

Hello and welcome to this, the first in a new series of gaming articles in which I, the Shortymonster give you the basics of an adventure to either kick start a plot or slot into a pre-existing campaign. All entries will be strictly system neutral, but will have a recommended genre at the top. Other than that, everything you need will be laid out in broad strokes, allowing for a large degree of freedom on the part of the GM with regards to how they integrate the seed into their own plot. This first time out, I’ll be giving you a little bit of low fantasy. It would also more likely suit a low level party at the beginnings of their adventuring career, but as with so many things, I leave the details to you…

Starting out.

The war was a long way off, and for two years now the village had heard nothing of its ongoing conflict. All that remained of its population were the old and infirm, and those too young to get called up last time the enlisters visited. Toiling in the fields is no way for the young and carefree to live, and as the young become teenagers they talk in the Flammenden Esel of the lives they could be living. 

Two days before harvest a group of men entered the village, at their head a man in military uniform, the rest being troopers, all well healed and nearing the end of their campaigning years.

We start in a morning when the players are working in the fields, All should be of a young age and probably freshly created at the most basic level. As they watch, the half dozen soldiers stride into the village square and start vigourously ringing the bell put there to give warnings of bandits or foul weather. As the villagers get closer the larger and better equipped soldier begins to speak.

Good people of …hell’s bells, where are we… this fine village! The time has come once more for you to take pride in your station as a free village of the realm, and offer up your brave fighting men and women to aid in the continuing civil war. With that said, I want anyone of fighting age front and centre within the hour, and there’ll be a bloody hell to pay if I don’t get at least a half dozen fresh soldiers join my brothers in arms!

The speaker is Sergeant Grethod of the imperial light infantry, and like his escort, looks like his finest days are behind him. His armour is in good repair though, and the hand and a half sword at his belt has a well worn grip from years of service. He and his men are not to be trifled with, and the elders of the village will push anyone of fighting age into the square and hold them there until the allotted time if the players show even a hint of cowardice. They will have rusty swords pushed into their grips, half broken shields strapped over their shoulders, and if they’re lucky, maybe even a scrap of armour.

Over two hours later, Grethod walks out of the tavern with a tankard still in hand, slightly merry and in fine spirits. He walks the line of new recruits taking in the shoddy equipment, and demands that one of his underlings breaks out a large bundle of leather wrapped in steel which contains half a dozen swords of various patterns. Handing them to the player characters he does his best to butter them up, telling them of the riches they will gain by fighting for the Emperor and destroying his enemies, and what a fine body of soldiery they are. Old and twinkly he may appear, but impress on the young characters how genuine he seems in singing their praises.

Before sending them off however, he has news to pass on to another recruiting party working its way down the next valley. He would love to take the message himself, but he and his men are subject to a higher calling. He presents the tallest of the player characters – or which ever random criteria you decide upon – with a wax sealed scroll and the instructions to put it into the hands of no one but Sergeant Manthus who should be no more than a day’s march away over the ridge and down into the next valley. Grethod and his men then retire to the Esel for the rest of the day, giving the players plenty of time for their goodbyes and to grab some food and drink for the next couple of days.

Of course, the scene they find in the bottom of the next valley is not what they expect, with the neighboring village in question deserted but for the carrion birds feeding on what few corpses litter the square. Obvious boot prints came into town from one direction and left another, but mixed among them are bipedal prints a little different from human…

Possible future encounters:

• Manthus and his men, dead on the road with their armour stripped and credentials taken, with the tracks of a slaver’s wagon joining those of the boot prints outside of the village.
• A pack of Kobolds (or other creatures) who have ransacked the village and dragged prisoners back their warren for some other purpose.
• A turncoat Manthus who has been sowing discord against the Emperor and killing such settlements who threaten to rally against him.

Any of these should be fairly simple for low level characters to plan an attack against and come out victorious, if a little bloodied.

Presented below is the intro that the GM may present to the players for this adventure,  Reclamation. It is designed to set the stage by informing the players of the basics of the adventure, and what kind of thing they should expect. Of course, they may get more than they bargained for, but that’s the risk you take in a horror-based role playing game. It also goes through a little setting information for the London that the game will be starting in, and some basic ideas for characters and motivations for their joining in the adventure – without leading them too far down any particular path. It should also leave plenty of room to play other characters if they so desire. This is my first swing at writing an adventure that someone other than myself could run, so I’m really interested in any feedback, but try to keep it constructive for the sake of my fragile ego!

“In a matter of weeks all of London was talking about the job. Reclamation was usually a government operation, and a dangerous one at that. Entire regiments of Deathwatch troops marching beyond the walls of London, through the vastness of the wastes to take back towns and cities that could again be inhabited by the citizens of the United Kingdom, the loyal subjects of the Crown. For a private individual to do so was most unusual, especially using the method he employed to find his brave souls.

All over the city the posters started to appear. They offered great reward for those that would survive the near suicidal venture to a small mining community in the north of England. The brave men and women would have to survive several days of overland travel where no one had stepped in years, and where none of England’s great steam behemoths of the rails would ever go. Once there, they would have an abandoned mine to clear of its malevolent presence, a country manor surrounded by a horde of the still moving dead, and inside it, their biggest challenge. A powerful spirit that has held the mansion in a state of terror and peril for longer than almost anyone could remember.

Well-dressed dandies and bored aristocrats discuss joining in the venture, to fight the creeping ennui that threatens to drive them to debauchery, or simply to escape public scrutiny caused by the acts committed after they passed that point, some time ago. Drunken bets are waged about who will apply and who will survive, some are bullied into staking their honour on joining in by those of a higher social standing, but who will actually see it through, though?

Tradesmen of the middle classes – doctors and mediums, clergy and parapsychologists – think about the huge advancement they would gain in society, not to mention the money they would earn if they succeeded in the job given them by a such a noble patron. They consider closing their doors for as long as it would take to complete the contract, and those lucky enough to have found someone to share their life with think about what they would leave behind if they were to fall in the wastes.

In the lowliest of pubs, where chemically manufactured gin is all that keeps madness and murder at bay, the scum of London pass around torn down bill posts, talking about what they’d do with the money; dragging themselves from the rookeries of London or just blowing it in a week of debauchery. The ex-soldiers who are down on their luck, the criminals who need to get out of the city and the Undertakers who make their living hand to mouth hunting down the abominations of the city and dream of a payday like the one promised to them by this job; they all promise themselves to stay sober long enough to turn up to the application meeting in a week’s time.

And one week later, you find yourself in a room of like-minded souls, all hoping to be picked for something that could very well mean your demise…”