Extended Summer Edition
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I'm really stoked this month (and not just because its summer) because I get to present the launch of our 'Patron' Program. More about that below. This issue is a special extended edition and features a post-con diary-style exploration of Gencon by Dan Davenport - owner of the awesome RPG Net chat room - who attended the world's most famous con this year for the full four days with his wife Lisa. If you've ever launched an RPG you'll probably know Dan as he regularly offers his chat room for indy devs to promote their titles with Q&A sessions. He's one of the nicest guys in the hobby community, so I'm exceptionally proud to have him on the Folio team this month as a writer. Our cover showcase this issue is Zodiac Empires, a full blooded cross-genre epic realm which puts the power to effect change into the hands of the gamer. Kind of sandbox, but not as you know it, with scope to make a real difference to future incarnations of the setting. There's some noble intentions behind this Kickstarter, which I really love and I think you will too, so please check it out. The Patron program is something I'm really excited to introduce. My intention when I started Forever Folio was to highlight my own projects but also those of friends and devs I like. But once I started exploring the Kickstarter angle I realised there were tons of great teams just waiting to be funded. So Folio has evolved to become something of a showcase for those KSers that I think go the extra mile and deserve support, and not just those that I know personally. So far Folio has justified itself by driving new funders to great projects and I really want to keep doing that, but in order to do so Folio also has to start paying its way. The Patron program is a way you can help and I think it's also a pretty fun, fair and useful way for you guys to get your own products and ideas seen without blowing your budget or making subscription obligations. The May issue of Folio just topped 2000 downloads and each new issue generates more downloads and views of back-issues, so the program will generate traffic and exposure for you. Please join the program and give it a try, and if you don't please support Folio by visiting those who do! Have a fantastic August! - DS
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When we started Folio back in May 2015 our intention was to produce an outlet wherein we could promote our own titles and those of our friends in the gaming community. We started looking into the Kickstarter phenomenon and soon realised that there were a lot of great teams and great project proposals out there that could use publicity too and we recognized the fact that many developers don't initially have the budget to fund marketing, or the expansive social network to adequately promote and sell their ideas. So we started using Forever Folio to give some free publicity to these teams and were really encouraged by the results. We want to keep providing showcases for great projects and ideas but we also want to give other developers who don't use Kickstarter an opportunity to get some publicity for their work without wiping out their marketing budget. We know as well as any developer how hard it is to get your work seen and appreciated. The quality of a product is immaterial if nobody knows the product exists, the extent of your talent or what your product is all about. The Patron Program and Patron Page offers you a solution. Whatever you want it to be! You might want to use your Patron Page to display an awesome full page full colour ad promoting your product, your company, your talent or your website. You might want to provide us with a different ad for each issue, to keep things interesting. What readers really like and want, of course, is content, so instead you might create an article, a product review or a one page adventure! Some terms and condition limitations apply, but these are sensible (no porn, no profanity, etc) and really, the more unique and eye catching your page, the more likely readers will stop and take notice. Avoid the hard sell. Soft selling is fine, and expected really, but also you might consider unbiased articles or reviews or even product supplements like rule bolt-ons or one page adventures. Use your Patron Seat wisely and you can make a two issue article, or two issue adventure.
We want to keep things fair so that all Patrons benefit from the program equally, regardless of donation amounts (not to say higher donations won't unlock special priveleges, but they won't win you more publicity than other Patrons). Before each issue of Forever Folio is published the editor will roll 1d20 for each Patron in alphabetical order. Each Patron Page in the zine is numbered, and this corresponding number will determine where in the zine the Patron's content or ad appears. Simple as that. We'll roll for each issue, so there's two chances to get premium page space. Start by making a donation proposal, with a minimum proposal of $10 to patrons@foreverpeople.co.uk When you've agreed to terms & conditions and made your payment via Paypal you become the Patron of two issues of Forever Folio (so, minimum $5 donation per issue) and you win one of twenty Patron Seats. The Patron Seat awards you a Patron Page in the eZine for two issues released over two months. Patron Seats are awarded on a first come/first serve basis, so you should not delay in making your proposal. If all twenty seats are gone, the program will close and will only reopen when seats become available again.
Email patrons@foreverpeople.co.uk with your donation proposal, your name, your product, your company name where applicable and any other information you think we might want. We'll send you terms and then you can make your Paypal payment. After that, you just need to email us your Page content. We intend to offer a bunch of unlockable goodies, including custom Patron badges! Everyone starts at Steel, but you can level up every time you achieve 6 Prop points. Levels include: 3 Silver, Gold, Platinum and thereafter a choice from Cthonian, Steampunk, Archmage and Paladin.
KS Showcase: Brad Diamond and co. bring the ultimate sandbox concept to the tabletop with Zodiac Empires.
The Wyrd campaign continues with The Geotaneum Mold, a dungeon crawl beneath the city streets of Verdandi.
Dan Davenport of RPG Net chat tours the world's favourite hobby con. Read his four day diary of random encounters. No EVPreview this month as we only release one EVP Haunt over the summer holiday period. Instead, an irreverent oneshot comedy horror in which Britain's crack special forces face off against the viral hordes of Kingsbury Upon The Wold.
Chaosium's newest licensee, Stygian Fox, launch their latest Kickstarter, an anthology of dark scenarios for CoC 7e.
Forever Folio Issue 4, August 2015, Extended Summer Edition Š Forever People Digital Press, all rights reserved 2015 Graphic Design: David Sharrock Written and produced by: David Sharrock, Wyn F Dawkins and Dan Davenport Cover Design / Art: David Sharrock / Robert Ryminiecki Other Art: David Sharrock, Robert Ryminiecki, Tia Jasmin, John Poh, Dusan Kostic, A Dombrowski, Filter Forge, Shadow-Slade Photography: Brett Spangler, Thierry Ehrmann, J D Hancock, Alexey Vinokurov Thanks to: Brad Diamond, Joe Dever, D Jarrod Shaw, Dan Davenport and the British Ministry of Defence Flickr page! Drop by: www.foreverpeople.co.uk 4 Get in touch: foreverfolio@foreverpeople.co.uk
If you redistribute or share this electronic product please ensure you do so for non-profit purposes and that no part of this PDF is in any way altered from its original format and that all contents in their entirety are included.
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The world is in ruins after the Darkest War. Nations vie for power and evils lurk in the dark. Now more than ever, Vathis needs heroes . "We didn't win the darkest war. We survived : The ruins of the past rise up around us like monoliths to a golden age whose name escapes us. The otherworldly forces of the Shattered Hand tore through the strongest civilizations of our day like a farmer through fields of wheat. Cities which stood for centuries were undone in mere months. In the end, we cowered behind our parapets while the actions of a brave few finally dissolved their vicious cabal.
"The darkness has been dissipated, but a grey shroud still lingers : Our greatest threats are not found outside of our borders, but on our very streets as insidious shadows find their way into the hearts of men. The line between what is righteous and what is vile remains unclear. The rules of alignment hold no sway over the nature of men and beasts, it’s possible to find good and evil in all manner of creatures.
"The starcalled defy the shackles of fate, forging their own destiny : As the Zodiacs created the multiverse, they
wove the threads of fate which all living creatures must follow. The Starcalled ‟ humanoids who bear the marks reminiscent of constellations upon their skin ‟ are not subject to the constraints of destiny. These sigils, gifted by the Zodiacs themselves, grant their bearers the power to choose their own path and the possibility to alter the future Forever Folio August
of Vathis. As these Starcalled dynasties carved out their own piece of history, the ZodiacEmpires were born.
"An industrial revolution fueled by Eldria, tying the world together : A radiant blue light weaves its way through all
facets of life on Vathis, created by the world's magical crystal resource, Eldria. Eldricsteel frames have raised cities to heights unimaginable, while eldria fluid based ether drive systems grant us the ability to soar above the clouds. The crystals themselves birthed an entirely new race capable of exploring the world, and countless feral creatures capable of wild destruction. From lamps to airships, Eldria casts back the darkness and allows us to chart the unknown.
"Nations vie for superiority in the power vacuum left by the Darkest War : The most powerful nations sit back and
lick their wounds, searching for weakness in the hearts of their old enemies. The void of power will undoubtedly be filled over time by the dauntless nationalists who rise to seize the opportunity. Which sovereign nations will rise to become the world’s next leading powers? The airship of history sails slowly on. Take the wheel: As the captain of your own ship, you stand on the prow and watch the land beneath you stretch for miles. The realm may already be rich in detail, but you possess the ability to change the course of the world forevermore. Leave your mark on the pages of history like the great ones who came before you and drive this wounded land forward. Join a truly breathing, living world, and let us decide the 6 future of Vathis – together. 6
Zodiac Empires is an interactive fantasy setting
created with tabletop role-playing game systems such as Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons 5e in mind. The setting has been designed from the ground up over a 9 year period by tabletop veterans Brad Diamond, Frank Albanese, and Rachael Withrow. The realm of Vathis is a world in an age of early industrialization where the line between magic and technology is obscure, and oftentimes indistinguishable. Adventurers roam lands dotted with sprawling empires, devious hidden cults, and ruins shrouded in darkness, while revered heroes march headlong into battle and recently reawakened dragons take flight, transforming both land and sky into battlegrounds. Gritty realism, pulp action, noir intrigue and high fantasy come together to create a cross-genre experience with some genuinely unique aspects. I caught up with Brad Diamond to get the inside scoop on this ambitious Kickstarter project. [ You mentioned you designed ZE for Pathfinder and D&D 5e, will the setting include systemspecifics or is it only loosely designed for those systems? ] We initially designed it to work solely with D&D 3.5, which shows its age. However, we quickly realized that there’s absolutely no reason why we couldn’t expand its rules out to other systems. So essentially, very little of the setting itself references rules directly, and instead implies the effects and then details them later. [ So, I could maybe use the setting with a homebrew system pretty easily? ] Absolutely. We didn't intend on forcing anyone into any specific box, as it were. [ Looking at the artwork, there's a mixture I notice of pulpy modern style and high fantasy. Flying ships mixed with a kind of WWII minimalist propaganda appearance. Is the setting crossgenre? ] That's really a tough question. The setting was originally designed as a pure high fantasy setting. However, like most creative ideas, it evolved heavily over time. I wanted to touch on something that not many other settings do, the early industrial age. In turn, we didn’t want to lose the fantasy that we all love so much but I didn’t want to delve into steampunk. So we ended up with an amalgamation of high fantasy, grimdark reality, industrialization and nationalism that turned out working extremely well together. [ I think the mixture is what originally drew me to the idea. I personally love cross-genre, but it's especially refreshing to see a title that doesn't Forever Folio August
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make too big a deal of the cross-genre aspect. I guess that comes primarily from the way the product was evolved rather than designed... can you tell me a bit about how you hope to continue this 'evolution' style with the setting - the collaborative aspects you mentioned before. What's that about? ] Well, after running countless games for groups, including collaborative roleplaying in established universes, I found that one major aspect was lacking. Nobody cared, after the fact, about your group, your characters, and your story. It’s lost to the mists of time, remembered only by those involved. I honestly don’t believe that’s right. The world’s should revolve around those playing in them, and react accordingly. The players, the people who make this world what it is, should be at the forefront of design. They should see their actions make a difference. Our goal is to make that a reality. [ Kind of the ultimate sandbox ] Essentially, yes. Of course, there are some hurdles, but we've tried to account for everything that could happen. [ How will that work logistically in terms of published titles. Will there be future versions created based on the evolved stories made during games, or is the way the setting changes something each individual group needs to do? ] Essentially as a whole, there will be decision points, moments in the setting where the community as a whole will vote on the outcome of major events. Then of course, running campaigns (or those finished) can become part of the canon of the world as long as the community believes it’s good enough and fits to the setting. Once we have a world “moving forward” we plan to create “Realms” that are either static or dynamic. So if you don’t want to have your world evolve, you don’t have to. Some of the Realms, will be stuck at standard points in time. But for the most part, the major one will move forward as one unit. The information needed to account for leaps in time automatically given out to the groups who want to move forward. Eventually, once enough time has passed, the world will be reprinted at a further date, accounting for all of the actions of the previous groups.
[ So a wiki will be essential, along with a website and forum, presumably, where changes can be discussed? ] Indeed. [ So was how your
a bit more about the world as it currently is. What it like when you first started playing in Vathis and has it changed since as a result of the actions of own game group? ]
The Vathis as it stands today, is entirely different than when we started playing in it nine years ago. The world map has been entirely redrawn many times, destroyed nations have re-risen, major NPCs killed, or born. The leadership of one nation in the world, as well as the course of the Darkest War was changed as a result of one of our longest running campaigns. [ What sort of changes can gamers effect on a less powerful level? For example, could a group acquire a tavern and rename it themselves and have the new name included in the reworked setting, or are broader brushstrokes required? ] Quite literally, everything. If a group gets together one day and maps out a city that wasn’t done before and catches my eye, it can become part of the world. Everything from introducing new NPCs, locations, taverns, shops, churches, items of note, characters, organizations, airship styles, whatever they want can become part of the world. It’s actually significantly easier to add smaller changes to the world, than the large brushstroke ones, as there’s less causality to account for. [ I really love this concept the more you explain it. It's been done before, of course, but I think almost exclusively online with forum based game groups. I can't think of any examples where the setting is published and then gamers are invited to change it. What challenges do you foresee, or have already encountered, with the idea? You're in new territory I guess... ] Our largest challenge is probably going to be just getting it all organized. We’re building a web application to handle the tracking side of things (for groups who want to participate), it’s just a matter of getting the timeline matching up with how fast groups want to play to stay even with each other. 8
Forever Folio August
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The setting will consist of: 5 Unique Races, each with their own history, culture, and rules. 14 heavily detailed Nations, complete with history stretching back hundreds of years and relevant area information. A highly detailed political landscape (and all the blood that goes along with it) A pantheon of 17 deities, as well as 34 detailed vandiels. Eldria, the magical resource that fueled our industrial revolution, and all of its relevant technology. 10 Major Organizations, as well as 30+ minor ones.
The Zodiac Empires team (pictured below at Gencon 2015) have already created a considerable quantity of material for the setting, pre-Kickstarter (to quote Brad Diamond "Kickstarting the setting is merely the beginning"). Outside of the initial stretch goals of an expanded book, plus hardcover, they also have a super dungeon in the works, a long running interactive module for a main plot line, and two other books as stretch goals. The team are also working on a board game spanning the events of the Darkest War, as a sort of global domination type game and a graphical comic set in the world of Vathis - Starcalled: The Awakening. You can find the Kickstarter page here or by searching Zodiac Empires on www.kickstarter.com if you're reading this on a printed version of Forever Folio. You can also find a bunch more of the beautiful artwork accompanying the project, along with the comic and deeper information on the setting of Vathis and the general Zodiac Empires concept at www.zodiacempires.com
Rules for playing Starcalled, and all of the background that goes with it. „Rules for creating custom airships, as well as rules for inter-airship combat. Leyline Chronicles: A new web application for use with campaign tracking and making a GMs life significantly easier. This 300 page full color softcover book will contain the rules for both Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition in a way that is easy to read and quick to navigate.
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a serialised adventure campaign for the wyrd setting and elderune multi-dice roleplaying system AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION Four years ago I began writing Wyrd, starting with a mythology and following (with all due humility) in the footsteps of Tolkien by constructing a language from which the mythology would evolve. From language and mythology came the Wyrd setting, the world of Yarnia and the continents of Ereth, the wyrmen and their rich civilisations. The result was Chronicles of Yarnia 1 - The Age of Thaw and the The GM Background is priced at $1.98 in order to fund Elderune multi-dice roleplaying system. the continued release of Forever Folio and to One year after putting pen to paper on Wyrd , I also began dissuade casual acquisition of the file. Either use the working out the framework for a fully realised adventure link above or find a link to the sales page for this title campaign which I intended to publish as part of a on our website. gamesmaster's guide covering the setting. However, the title Visit www.foreverpeople.co.uk in question ( the Overmaster's Companion ) has since ballooned beyond my original plans and is unable to In order to run this campaign as a Wyrd game, sensibly support the campaign, which itself is sizeable and using the Elderune multi-dice system, the GM will also need the essential Wyrd corebooks including no longer fits as a mere addendum to another title. For a while I considered collecting The Unsung Weave into a separate title for sale in the usual outlets, but then decided instead to give those gamers who have gone out on a limb to give Wyrd a try the break I think they deserve and which I am only too happy to give them by offering the campaign here, in the free pages of Folio. Here it will be serialised over the coming issues into a complete and unabridged volume. Issue 4 sees the third of ten adventures designed specifically for your Wyrd game, but which, with a little adaptation, should be applicable to most fantasy settings and systems. Full background disclosure, for the benefit of the GM, can be acquired from the Forever People website as a short PDF. This full background is provided as a seperate file in order to ensure players don't discover any major spoilers by leafing through these freely available copies of Forever Folio. Forever Folio August
Verdandi
System & Setting, The Wyrd Pandemonium and the first of the Wyrd gazeteers: Chronicles of Yarnia 1 Ereth in the Age of Thaw now available for the first time as a bundle on Drive Thru RPG. The bundle includes the core books, the revised character sheets, all previous issues of Forever Folio and the GM disclosure for this campaign.
Set Up The player group are based in The Angle and have assembled in Verdandi , capital city of the Anglian counties, on the first day of Apryl at the start of Merrydew, a series of spring festivities celebrating the coming of summer. For suggestions on introducing the player group to Verdandi, see issue #1 of Forever Folio. 12 12
This scenario takes place in the city of Verdandi and follows naturally on from the Aura of Coriola (see FF 3). After visiting Tunturthis and the land of Listholm, the player group return by the Hyns Horn railway to the capital of the Angle and investigate strange goings on at the Quarry Master's Guildhouse. The Geotaneum Mold introduces players to a particularly nasty form of Fell and will require some investigation and deduction in order to locate and deal with the problem. CHRONOLOGY The order in which this scenario is played within the campaign is unimportant. The problems uncovered at the Geotaneum can either be considered an indicator of festering evil in Verdandi (if the players are still in the initial stages of the campaign), a symptom of *Wormwood's influence (if they are in the middle of the campaign) or a hangover from Wormwood (if they are in the latter stages). PLAYER INFORMATION
Geotaneum, but when player characters start making enquiries at the front door they will be shown into a guest lounge where they will be asked to wait for a member of the guild's administration to answer their questions. A prevailing sense of gloom fills the Geotaneum. The faces of those who work here are grim, the light of their eyes dim. Moreover there is an almost palpable sense that something terrible is about to happen at any moment. The group will be approached by Jonk Array, secretary for the guild. Jonk is youthful and ambitious but will seem nervous and, like everyone at the Geotaneum, disturbed and melancholy. He assumes the group are engineers and architects. If they correct him he will ask them who they are. Either way he will be happy for them to investigate the guild's problem. Jonk will explain the problem in brief:
A strange fungal growth has started appearing in most of the downstairs rooms of the building.
Walls and ceilings are cracking, stonework is crumbling. The floorboards are warping and doorways no longer open and close easily.
Engineers suspected subsidence and have shored up the foundations, but this has not rectified the problem.
Members are not attending the guild due to the smell of the algae and concerns over the safety of the building.
The guild is willing to pay a reward of 5000 Wealth to anyone who can pinpoint the cause of the problem so that the Geotaneum structure can be made sound again by builders and engineers. Payment of any reward will be withheld until all work is complete and shown to be permanent.
RUMOUR Something odd afflicts the Geotaneum known as the Quarry Master's Society. problem is vague, but rumours seem kind of fungal infestation in the building
of Gor, otherwise The nature of the to suggest some itself.
The player group will undoubtedly wish to visit the Geotaneum in order to learn more. Few outside the guild know of the problem, the exact nature of which is extremely vague. INTRODUCTION The player group attend the Geotaneum and make their enquiries as they see fit. Non-members are not allowed beyond the reception of the
Jonk will show the group around the member areas of the guild in order to point out the cracks and algae. 13
*Wormwood is a code used for the GM's convenience to prevent spoilers. See the GM Disclosure PDF for a translation.
The group will hear an ominous groaning and creaking as though the building is moving around them. Jonk will explain that all superficial repair attempts have failed. The cracks simply re-appear as soon as they are plastered over and the algae cannot be cleaned off. Jonk goes on to explain that the problem seems to stem from the cellar levels where the previous engineers pinpointed the largest cracks. In order to investigate, Jonk advises the player group should therefore start in the cellars. Jonk will explain the following regarding the cellars:
They are where the guild keeps its records, stores and member-only chambers, along with administration offices, except these are restricted to members since the structural problems began.
The cellars are older than the Geotaneum which was built on the ruins of a former structure, the cellars left as they were to form sub-levels of the new building. GM's BACKGROUND
The Geotaneum is a form of guild unique to Verdandi (also known as The Quarry Master’s Society), having no chapterhouses elsewhere in Ereth and no options for the public to join as low ranking members. The society was formed originally in the town of Trestun (now Trestun Mill) as an out of hours club for masons, miners, gem-smiths and tradesmen involved directly with the Gor Quarry (from where all the Gorzonite used in the construction of Verdandi originated). Most of these trades became redundant when the quarry lost the vast majority of its market nearly 1200 years ago, but the society remained strong and has since evolved to become something strangely removed from its original purpose. Today the Geotaneum serves as a general club for the wealthy and the politically ambitious and is effectively little more than a private meeting place for the rich and powerful elite of Verdandi. The Grand Duke is not a member and is known to dislike the Geotaneum intensely, but the guild has become too insidious within the general culture of the Angle for him to simply declare the Geotaneum outlawed. Many of the Duke's closest courtiers and advisors are members and many of the nobles belonging to other houses are known to be active within the society. Outlawing or attempting to disband the Geotaneum would make criminals of these individuals and the institutions and families they represent. The Geotaneum has repeatedly been found to be at the heart of numerous scandals and underhand plots to remove the Gwelenbryal family from Verdandi. In many ways the Geotaneum is a physical manifestation of corruption and indicative of the evil seeping slowly into all walks of Anglian life. Forever Folio August
Jonk Array knows only too well what the problem is, and the player group are not the first mercenaries to investigate. Three groups have already entered the cellar and found the broken wall (see below), but none have yet returned. The engineers refused to enter the hole in the wall, fearing what lay beyond. Between the engineers and members now locked out, rumour of the Geotaneum's predicament has spread far and wide. THE GEOTANEUM CELLARS The cellars belonged to the original structure which stood where the Geotaneum now stands. These cellars were extensive, but were bricked up and the area down-sized when the Geotaneum was constructed. Architects at the time deemed the bricked up chambers too unstable to be safe and marked them as being beyond repair. Records of the existence of these chambers have subsequently been absorbed by the labyrinthine administration system of the guild and all knowledge of them is now lost. When engineers were investigating the cellar they broke through into one of the chambers but were so disturbed by what they found that they dropped tools and fled. One by one these engineers have met with nasty accidents, victims of Wormwood. GRUB THE ORF Most of the true perils of the cellars are to be found in the southern chambers. Only one Fell will be found roaming all the different halls of the cellars, including those closest to the Geotaneum entrance (location 1). His name is Grub and he is an Orf of the Gunginken class who long ago stumbled quite by chance upon the connecting corridor between Gungingeth and these underground rooms. He subsequently located the narrow cave tunnels surrounding the entire sublevel and closed them off to prying eyes and to the more dangerous denizens of the cellars. He now uses these to move around. He is a benign character, but an incurable magpie who will steal and pick up any object that takes his fancy. Player characters who leave their gear lying around within sight of any of Grub's bolt-holes will likely lose said gear to the thieving Orf. The chances of Grub being spotted are slim. He is exceptionally wary and careful, silent as a mouse and terrified of revealing himself to the horrors of the cellar. The GM should make AA Sneak dice checks for Grub (opposing the highest AA Hear a Pin Drop value of players within range) only when Grub emerges boldly into rooms occupied by the player group. 14 14
The tunnels used by Grub are extremely narrow so only characters with a Size Bonus of 2 or less will be able to use them. Grub has set up various traps along the way with triggers only he knows about. None of the traps are deadly but merely designed to block off any pursuit. They drop stones and other obstacles across the path of anyone wriggling along the tunnel, forcing them to wriggle backwards and retrace their steps. OMINOUS SOUNDS As soon as they enter the cellars the group will notice a faroff thrumming sound, like the noise and vibration of heavy machinery, which is punctuated now and then by a sudden blaring sound akin to the deep, bassy sound of a horn, protracted and echoing through the underdark. Both noises are distant but will grow louder as the group move closer to room 30. PENALTIES Though they will not know why, all righteous and neutral ethos player characters will lose 1 Spirit point every in-game hour they remain within the Geotaneum or the cellars. Wicked ethos characters, by comparison, will gain 1 Spirit point for every in-game hour they remain. ss
KEY TO THE CELLARS
(1) Stairs leading down from the Geotaneum into the cellars. The cellars are gloomy, lit here and there by oil lamps. The ceilings are high and vaulted, criss-crossed with arching beams of ancient wood. Walls are made of red brick, well built, but crumbling in places and running with moisture. Everywhere the strange algae grows and a terrible stench permeates the air. (2) A small office used for administration purposes. Furnished with an old desk and cabinets. The cabinets contain records from Trestun Mill dating from the year 182AD. Most are stamped with the seal of Castle Darras. Some seem to chart the exploits of soldiers working in the mill who, at the time, were charged with fighting off bandits and making raiding sorties into Drood-Cynncarn. These records are signed by Kenwythi Gwelenbryal. All furniture in this office is decaying and covered in mold. Drawers are stiff or will stick as they open so that they cannot be closed again and paper records are smelly and damp, the ink blurred in many cases. (3) Statues stand in these wide alcoves, but the original features are worn away and in some cases limbs and heads have fallen off and lie as broken rubble on the floor. Veins of algae as thick as jungle creepers wind around the bodies of the statues. Close inspection will reveal the creepers emerge from floor, walls and ceiling and seem to pulse, as though some vital fluid were pumping through them. If cut they will bleed a vile green fluid which will harden even as it pours to become fresh tendrils of algae. Forever Folio August
In the deep shadow between the legs of a statue is a V shaped hole in the wall which is one of the boltholes used by Grub the Orf. Only a thorough search will reveal the hole which is concealed by shadow. (4) A large office with numerous desks, chairs, cupboards and cabinets. Drawers are locked, but if forced open will reveal various interesting records including guild member lists (a who is who of Verdandian high society, all titled lords, ladies, counts and dukes except for five names, notable because they are listed as names only: these are Mump Infargo, Alucard Ruth-Haven, Mordar Crome, Scelero Durma and Glander Fowl). Here also are details of the construction of the Geotaneum. If players make a successful passive AA Spot Secrets dice check they discover the Cellar Map handout found on page 33. A shadowy alcove in the south-east corner harbours a secret door made of boards and rotten planks. A rudimentary search will reveal this door which is easily opened on rusty hinges. In the east wall is another secret door hidden in a locked cabinet which has a false back. When the player group enter the room Grub the Orf will be hiding in the cabinet watching through the keyhole. If the group try to open the cabinet Grub will hurry through the false back and lock it with lugs on the inside, securing it in place. (5) A large but messy room filled with a musty smell and all manner of debris scattered across the flagstone floor. In one corner is a straw mattress and evidence that someone (or something) has been living here, including the remains of a log fire, a few scattered pieces of old parchment evidently used as kindling and a small pot filled with tobacco. Among the broken odds and ends (GM discretion as to the nature of these items, though they should be nothing of interest - bits of string, moldy food, broken ceramics etc) a search (AA Spot Secrets) will reveal a small pouch of ammo of the kind commonly used in Skytorian blunderbuss (20 shot, for use with Grub's Sidearm of the Gunslinger and Shabby Boomstick). A foul smelling stream of ooze flows from a small grille in the western wall then pours into a gutter which runs across the middle of the room. The gutter drains into a small arch furnished with iron bars in the northeast corner where floor meets wall. The bars of the grille can be removed but only characters with a Size Bonus of 1 or less will be able to squeeze through. A stone in the base of the drain needs to be removed in order to widen the hole, 15 15
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allowing a character of Size Bonus 2 or less to access the tunnel beyond. This stone can only be moved from inside the tunnel.
made of brittle chalk. Wainscoting around the edges of the walls is equally rotten and warped, the wood split and deformed.
If Grub is in the room (highly unlikely) the stone will already be moved out of the way and the drain already open.
(10) Alcove and plinth. On the western side of this hallway lined with pillars, where the wall curves out and into the room, is a small alcove at waist height. Standing on a plinth in this alcove is the bust of a wyrman. Beneath is a plaque, tarnished but readable, which labels the bust as that of 'Molnar Mueller 62AD - 125AD, Founder of Trestun'.
(6) Some kind of office. A desk stands in the middle of the room and is furnished with an open ledger showing times and dates along with signatures. Next to each listing is the title of a book or scroll which was borrowed from the library (location 7). Like the rest of the cellar, the room is in a state of decay, the floor covered in a squelching layer of brown fluid, tendrils of algae drooling from the ceiling. (7) Library. Rows of books and parchment scrolls are stored on shelves which rise to a height of 20 feet. Higher shelves are accessed by a ladder which can be moved around the room on a track. The ladder wood is rotten and will break if anyone tries to climb the rungs. All the most valuable books and parchments have either been relocated to save them from the creeping rot or taken by Grub the Orf and added to his collection of stolen goods. Those that remain are unreadable, their covers warped and split, spines falling apart and pages soggy with damp. Mold obscures the text and even titles will be incomprehensible. The scrolls left here have also turned green with algae. (8) Wine Cellar. Stone stairs lead down into a wine cellar whose floor is submerged in a one foot depth of stagnant green water. Bottle racks line three walls up to a height of 30ft. A ladder on wheels which runs on tracks is used to access the higher bottles. The best wine has been removed to a safer location. The remaining bottles are covered in grime and algae and the wine inside is sour.
(11) Alcoves and busts. More alcoves are found in the west wall and northeast corner of this hall. Busts reside in each of these, but the faces are worn away and the plaques describing each bust are too tarnished to read. If the northeast bust is moved it proves to be stuck to the plinth but can be rotated clockwise and is the catch that releases the secret door leading to Grub the Orf's hidden tunnels. The entire alcove subsequently opens into the hall, revealing a small ragged hole large enough for characters of Size Bonus 2 or less to squeeze through. (12) Alcove & bust. The bust here depicts the face of Kenwythi Gwelenbryal, but the features are distorted as though the marble has somehow melted. The plaque beneath the bust reads 'Kenwythi Gwelenbryal, first Grand Duke of Verdant yn Dandy'. A wide passage turns the eastern corner where a dead-end is furnished with two broken statues of the Elgan gods Manye and Neomatt. If Jonk Array is told about the statues, or the group
The stairs are covered in green slime and are dangerous. Anyone walking down them must make a passive AA Place in the Cosmos dice check. If they fail they lose their footing and fall, cracking their head and incurring 1d6 LifeForce damage. The ladder is rotten and anyone setting a foot on the lower rungs will find they sag then break under their weight. (9) Some kind of conference room. Once used, perhaps, for clandestine or high powered meetings between guild elders, the room is now derelict and in a poor state. The once lavish ceiling, ornamented with a chandelier and carved cornice and ceiling rose is sagging dangerously in the middle, the plaster flaking, huge cracks running around the edges. The walls are discoloured and the long conference table, once highly polished, has collapsed in the middle as though some immense weight was placed on its surface. If the table is touched it will crumble as though Forever Folio August
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demand to know why they are here he will plead ignorance and state he believes they are artefacts rescued from the building that once stood where the Geotaneum now stands. He is, of course, lying. The statues were placed here by high ranking members of the guild who are a part of Wormwood. Many of the guild's members who are devoted to Wormwood come here regularly to kneel before the two icons. Identifying the remains of the statues of Manye and Neomatt requires a successful passive AA General Knowledge dice check with Dd2 incurred. Whether the precise identity of the gods is determined or not, the player group should be in no doubt that the statues depict some kind of malevolent looking characters, one of which is a heavily armoured humanoid, his features hidden behind a great iron helm with tall crown-like points, the other a female humanoid with evil looking eyes and two long upward curving horns jutting from her forehead. (13) Broken wall. Here the brick wall has been smashed and broken to reveal a west-running passageway whose stonework is different to that of the chambers encountered in the northern section of the cellars. The walls are formed of large granite blocks and the ceilings are lower, flattened rather than arched and supported with stone columns marked with ancient runes. The door into the abandoned temple (location 15) is a huge metal door and is locked. Metal door: Object Strength: 750, Might 2 A passive AA Read/Write/Speak Language dice check is required to recognize that the runes are ancient. If Dd3 is voluntarily incurred on the dice check and the roll succeeds the runes are translated as follows:
Pilot, Deep Delve of Ar-Via-Aer-Lawn (Pilot Flyer of the Garden in the Air), these chambers of the divine Oak Lords of Yseldyr are sacred to the wyrcarn of the southern city and were made in the land by the river under the roots of Yrmynsyl where the shadow of Karrekith lies on the green canopy of the tree. Blessed are the halls wherein the foot-fall of Mot Elyeth and his kindred were oft heard and where his breath oft inhabited the air and where his eyes oft gazed into ways carved by the wyrcarn; his people. Be at peace all who enter the Deep Delve and know not war, nor fear, nor hate, for this is the temple of the Oak Lords of Womad and his kin. Forever Folio August
(14) Septic Chamber. Vile green and brown ooze, like mud but filled with septic globules of foul gristle and bubbling through with some kind of hissing, spitting vitality, seeps from the walls and spurts up from the ground. This is the source of the more liquid based stuff that flows through room 5. A grate in the east wall is locked off with bars, but through the bars the group may spy room 5 and might see Grub the Orf shuffling about. If a light shines through the grate Grub will disappear into one of his hidey-holes. (15) Abandoned Temple. Pews are arranged as in a church, with a central aisle. On the east side of this large vaulted chamber is a raised dais and on this what looks suspiciously like a stone altar covered in dry blood stains. The walls are supported by wooden beams carved to resemble gothic temple windows. The floor is covered with white ceramic tiles stained and tarnished. Everything is covered in the horrible creeping vine-like mold and white fungal spores drift in the air like motes of dust. Various items of debris are scattered about the floor or standing on stone plinths, including 1d6 heavy bronze goblets (1k,14+d6w each), 1d4 burlap bloodstained sacks (1k per 2, 6+d6w per 1k), 10 red coloured beeswax candles (1k altogether, 2+d4w altogether). Behind the altar is a place where something enormous once stood, a circular patch of the tiled floor clean and of a lighter colour than the rest of the room but cracked where the weight of whatever stood here caused the ceramic to break. A passive AA Spot Secrets dice check is required to notice the ceiling above the clean area of floor has, at some point, been removed then repaired badly. The otherwise skillful architecture of the rest of the vaulted roof is replaced here with planks of wood and metal reinforcing bars. The huge idol of Manye and Neomatt that once stood here and was once part of the Temple was removed through the ceiling on a hoisting winch. The hole was then hastily repaired. If the repairs can be reached and removed they will reveal a shaft that ascends to a large warehouse-type chamber at the back of the Geotaneum. Here the winch and chains are still present. Large doors at the rear of the chamber lead onto the road behind the Geotaneum. 16 Summoning Chamber. Stone pews stand around the edges of this room. On the floor in the middle of the room is a large red painted circle with a smaller circle inside. Runes are painted in the space between the two circles. A pentacle rune is drawn within the inner circle and in the centre of this rests a withered wooden branch. At the points of the pentacle stand 19 19
large sickly coloured candles whose tallow has melted then congealed into waxy rivers. Metal chains and mannacles hang from the east wall which is stained red with dry blood. The floor beneath these mannacles is also stained red and covered with a grim congealing mass of rotten carrion. The door in the south wall is made of metal bars, like the door to a prison cell. It is unlocked and open. A passive AA Orphic Knowledge dice check is required to identify the purpose of this room. This is a summoning chamber. The items on the floor are those required to cast the Anarchaic spell 'Awaken Dwellers of the Absence'. A wyrman victim would be shackled to the wall and sacrificed, his blood mixing with the wax tallow of the candles. 17 Prisoner Cell. A cell once used to house victims used in the summoning chamber (location 16). All doors leading to this room are metal, made of bars like those of a prison. All are unlocked. The floor is covered in rotten straw which is filthy with faeces and old bones. The bones are not wyrman but instead are from those scraps of sun meat the cultists would throw to their prisoners in order to keep them alive. A Hawnt , the Widdershin spirit of one of the cult's victims, lingers here. A sense of sadness and a feeling that something bad is about to happen permeates this cell. Hawnt are not deliberately wicked, but can induce fear and sorrow in the living by their mere presence. They are a forlorn creature, utterly lost and desperate to understand why they cannot recover from death, unable to move on because of some forgotten or suppressed trauma in life.
See also page 186 of the Wyrd Pandemonium for further information on Hawnts and other forms of Widdershin. (18) Empty Guard Room. Once used by cultists to house a guard or two to watch and look after prisoners in cell 17. The room is still furnished with a table and chairs but little else. A cupboard in one corner contains mannacles, a bamboo cane (used to whip prisoners) and a half-full Pouch of Simple Bacca (tobacco. Requires pipe, 15 smokes, Ee1 to AA Meditation and AA Courage dice checks while smoking, stored in baggage or belt pouch). The north door is a prison cell-type door made of metal bars. The door is unlocked. (19) Room of the Labilic. Behind an old dividing wall a family of Labilic are nesting, drawn into proximity of the old abandoned temple by the lingering air of chaos. If this chamber is not investigated the players should make a passive AA Hear a Pin Drop dice check. If any roll succeeds the successful character hears a strange sound like something rolling on the stone floor behind the sectional wall. Anyone peeking into this room will see lots of doughy balls of what looks like dry clay scattered about the floor. Some of these will move slightly, indicating something is amiss. If any of the balls are touched the whole will suddenly rush together to form six Labilic.
The Hawnt will only appear to certain people, or only sporadically. Anyone with a CC Fate & Fortune value of 12 will immediately and permanently see the Hawnt. Those with a Fate & Fortune value of 9 to 11 will only see the Hawnt sporadically, and those with a value less than 9 will see nothing but may still experience aspects of the Hawnt's presence - sudden drops in temperature, sounds of footsteps or whispered/muttering voices. Regardless of Fate & Fortune values, all who stand in the presence of a Hawnt, whether the ghost is visible or not, will feel a sense of dread and the desire to turn and run. The Hawnt appears as a solemn wyr-woman dressed in tattered rags. Her eyes are empty pits of black, but she will seem beautiful and frail. She will gradually approach anyone who can see her, but as she nears her mouth will stretch to unnatural width and blood will begin to stain her rags from chest to waist. If the group stand their ground she moves through them, filling them with the horror of one who knows they are about to be murdered (each character remaining in place loses 1d6 Spirit). If the group turn and flee the Hawnt will vanish, but will return repeatedly and unexpectedly for so long as they remain in the corridors and rooms surrounding the abandoned temple (location 15). 20 Forever Folio August
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The balls roll together, as if of their own volition, converging in six places, merging to make six growing mounds whose bulk rises upward in six conical shapes. Arms with dribbling fingers extend from these shapes - something like the melted tallow of a candle - and in the tapering apex of the cone small black eyes blink open.
impossible to kill any one creature unless its parts can somehow be trapped in one place.
The Labilic are a harmless form of Fell. They may be curious of the player group and might paw at the characters or their gear in an attempt to feel their shape, but they pose no threat.
In one corner is a bundle of rags which, if inspected, turns out to be the long dead body of a wyrman dressed in leather armour and wearing a backpack.
If attacked the Labilic will break apart into their component balls which will then roll away in all directions, making it LABILIC (Fell, Green Soul Stone). Size Bonus: 5 (reduce 1 point for every 10 Life-Force points lost in combat or as a result of attacks on the deconstructed creature). Art & Expertise: 2 Acrobatics [+1], Brawl [+1], Climb [+12], Combat Talent [+1], Dodge* [+8], Sneak [+12].
*Only when deconstructed. When compiled into a single entity Skill Dice do not apply. Force & Form: 10 (reduces by 2 for every 10 points of Life-Force lost) Sturdy on the Feet [+8] Mind & Memory: 3 Place in the Cosmos [+4] Sense & Sympathy: 5
(20) Ominous Empty Room. The pillars and walls of this room are scratched as if by the claws of some mighty horror. A horrible smell permeates and flies buzz in the air.
Spoils:
Cornovish Leathers (medium armour/ garment: b+1 [padded leather outfit with thin metal plates for additional armour. Fits character of Size Bonus 3 only] 24k/50+d4w)
Belt of the Wanderer (small belt: b+0 [simple leather belt with a brass buckle] 1k/d4w)
Black Gauntlets of the Raider (small gloves/garment:
b+0 [black leather fingerless gloves providing warmth and grip while leaving the digits free for dextrous work. Ee4 to AA Craft dice checks made in cold conditions] 2k/2+d4w pair)
Breeches
of the Wanderer (medium leggings/garment: b+0 [Simple cloth fabric leggings with button up waist and a certain bagginess around the loins. Typically worn under armour or robes] 4k/1+d4w) Cornovish Cape and Hood (medium cloak/garment: b+0 [A light fabric green or brown cloak with a deep hood. Ee4 to AA Opacity dice checks or Dd2 to AA Read Person/Sense Motive when hood is raised] 8k/2+d6w)
Snakeskin Ankle Boots of Cornovish Leather (medium
Hear a Pin Drop [+2], Kinship [+4], Spot Secrets [+1]
boots/garment: b+0 [waterproof ankle boots made from snakeskin] 13k/28+d20w)
Fate & Fortune: 1
Cornovish
Storm & Stamina: 2 MAGICK no Nudge Bank or Orphic Plasm STRENGTH Life-Force: 50; Max Psychic Wounds: NA; Max Severe Wounds: 2 (all Severe Wounds reduce LifeForce by 20 with no requirement to roll for wounds). COMBAT Skirmish Smarts: 5; Weapons: Flapping Hands of the Pacifist (natural fists, melee weapon (AA Brawl) b+0). No Combos. No armour and no gear. Forever Folio August
Broadblade Sheath * (medium sword scabbard/baggage: b+0 [suit any broad blade sword or broadsword, tolerance: 80] 12k/20+d6w) *The sheath is empty, the sword long removed.
Knapsack (large backpack/baggage: b+0 [waterproof backpack, tolerance: 220] 22k/12+d6w) Inside Knapsack:
Blankets of Warmth & Comfort (medium mundane item: b+0 [variety of coarse hair blankets] 40k/1+d4w);
Empty Bottle stoppered 1k/d4w);
for
(small mundane item: b+0 [Cork storing potions or other liquids]
Pouch of Storing (small pouch/baggage: b+0 [Empty leather pouch] 1k/1w per 5 pouches);
Refutionist Enchiridion (small book/mundane item: b+0 [Numinist guidebook of principles and tenets] 1k/4+d4w).
The Refutionist Enchiridion is a wyrlung religious text 21 21
described on page 32 of System & Setting. Anyone who closely inspects the text will notice some pictures and paragraphs are different compared with existing copies. Spotting this will require a sound knowledge of Numinism or another copy of the same book plus a passive AA Spot Secrets dice check incurring Dd2. New paragraphs and pictures are macabre in tone and gruesome in detail. They seem to uphold the twisted ideologies of the Cult of Flies rather than the philosophies of Numinism. The book is infested by a Dunethen Ghast which is hiding by disguising itself as printed text and woodcuts. The Ghast will remain hidden unless the group try to destroy the book, at which point it will be forced to manifest. The Ghast is a cohort of The Warp (code - see Unsung Weave GM's Disclosure), one of several Ghasts created when The Warp operating in Wormwood. See page 25 of The Wyrd Pandemonium for details of Dunethen's Ghast. This particular Ghast remains loyal to The Warp, despite being abandoned and forced to seek shelter in the dead adventurer's book. He will listen in on the player group and where necessary may try to return to The Warp to report on the group's meddling. This will only be relevant where the ghast observes the group becoming involved with Wormwood or The Warp. (21) Grand Hall. A large hallway whose high ceiling is supported by pillars. The remains of what must once have been a spectacular mozaic can still be seen on the ceiling, though the colours are faded and many of the tiles have fallen off and now litter the flagstone floor. On the western side of the room are three alcoves, one large flanked by two smaller spaces. Inside the large alcove is an altar. In the two smaller spaces are two statues of the righteous gods, one of Mot Elyeth, the other Merriday Elyeth. Mot holds the Crown of the Cynn in one hand and the Sceptre of Asnir in the other (both carved of stone and not the real artefacts). Merriday holds in one hand a tall staff, a pole about which two serpents are wrapped, their heads meeting at the uppermost point. Her other hand is open, palm upward, and in this is a small object. The small object is tarnished and covered in grey dust which will hide its true value from view. The group must specify they are examining the statue and those making the examination make a passive AA Spot Secrets dice check. If successful they notice the object is separate from the rest of Forever Folio August
the statue and too delicate to be made of stone. The object resembles a twisted ladder, two ribbons twined around one another, the two strands held apart by thin metal bars. The object is separate from the main statue and made of gold, though the gold is covered in grime and dust so that it may seem to be made of stone. The dirt is easily cleaned off to reveal the gold beneath.
Strand of Merriday (small artefact: b+0 [in the likeness of a twisted ladder, two outer strands entwined into the shape of an S, their component parts held apart by thin horizontal bars) 1k/100+d20w).
Players should not be given the object's true worth. Melted down or sold as mere gold the object will fetch 100+d20 Wealth. However, if the group approach a university or any of the righteous cults with the object it will fetch 1500 + 3d100 Wealth, being an object of historical value dating from the time of the Oak Lords and made by the original wyrmen of Carnuntun. (22) Room of Plinths. A curved bench stands against the west wall. Three alcoves are furnished with three plinths, all empty, though the top surface of each is marked with a clean patch, indicating something once stood on each but has since been removed. In every alcove is also the decaying corpse of a wyrman dressed in itinerant clothing, each slumped against a plinth. The mouths of the alcoves are locked off by three metal gates which seem to have no hinges and emerge from slots in the ceiling. If the entire player group enter this room, Grub the Orf 22 22
will suddenly appear in the doorway, brandishing his Boomstick which is loaded and ready to fire. He will order the group dump their backpacks, weapons and any rings or he can see them wearing and enter the alcoves. He will depress a block in the wall to his right and the gates will rise into the ceiling. Pressing the block again will cause them to fall, trapping the group. If the group are trapped by Grub, he will ransack their things and take what he fancies. He will favour anything shiny or precious, excluding raw Wealth which holds no interest for him. Equally he has no interest in weapons or baggage, though mundane items might appeal to him if they look interesting. He will take any firearms and ammo and any rings he ordered the group to remove. Alcove Gates: Object Strength 800, armour bonus 60, Might 3. The bodies of the itinerants have already been stripped of all value by Grub, though a search of the bodies will reveal an overall haul of 4d20+20 Wealth in the form of raw currency. Grub will escape via the hidden doorway in the southern passage. This is a simple door of hinged stone, hidden by the natural darkness and shadow of the wall. If the group see him use the door they can follow, but only characters of Size Bonus 2 or less will fit. Grub is an incurable thief, but not a murderer and has only pressed the trigger halfway. After fifteen in-game minutes the trigger will slide back out of the wall and the gates will rise again. Only if the trigger is pushed all the way in so that it locks into position with a click will the gates be permanently shut until the opening trigger, another stone on the other side of the room, is found and pressed. (23) Well. An empty well shaft in this chamber plunges 300ft before reaching water. A winch and cross-beam still extend above the well, but the bucket and rope are gone. The shaft should be considered too narrow for characters to fit down. (24) Pool. The lower quarter of this room is a few steps below that of the adjoining hall, the entire floor submerged in green-coloured water on top of which floats a surface of scum and algae. The bottom of the pool is covered in coins, but these will be hidden to anyone who doesn't delve in with their arm and feel around. In total there are 200+5d20 Wealth-worth of coins beneath the water. All of the coins are ancient, their value determined as historic rather than modern currency. (25) Barricade. Wooden planks have been nailed unceremoniously across the archway here, the position of the nails and the edges of the planks suggesting they were put here by someone in the western tunnel rather than someone in the eastern chamber. The wood is soft and rotten with mold and easily removed. The barricade was put here by the last mercenary group as they fled the southern chambers. They were trapped by one of their own kind who succumbed to the corrupting effects of the algae and their bodies can be found in room 22. (26) Chamber of Gungin. The wide eastern corridor extends for about twelve feet before reaching a much more natural Forever Folio August
form of tunnel which looks cylindrical, as though some enormous worm had tunnelled through the earth. This passage runs for four miles in a straight line before ending at a cave-mouth hidden under a low bluff on the edge of the Gungin Gap and within the city of Gungingeth (in the ward known as The Taint). See The Age of Thaw for details of this area. The cave mouth can be found in the uppermost left corner of the Gungingeth map. For many years the cave has been overlooked, found only by a handful of Fell who stumbled upon it quite by chance. Many of these creatures only explored a short distance of the umbilical tunnel between the two cities before turning back, but some continued on and reached the old walled in chambers of the Deep Delve. Anyone travelling eastward along the tunnel will notice the mold and rot found in the Deep Delve begins to drop away until the rock is completely normal. The thrumming sound and horn-like blaring will also diminish into the distance to the west. However, as the explorers approach Gungingeth they will become aware of a terrible odour, like rotting sewage, and the ambient sounds of the Fell hordes running rampant in the city above. (27) The Mender's Room. A wooden door opens into a large room furnished like a grisly operating theatre. Shelves are lined with jars stuffed with pickled organs and body parts, trays of vicious looking surgical instruments lie on tables and trolleys, gathering dust, while a central slab stands centre stage. On this is a disturbingly wyrman shaped mass hidden beneath a white blood-stained sheet. This was once home to a Mender (see page 66 of the Wyrd Pandemonium) who would ensnare new Fell as they came into the Deep Delve through the Chamber of Gungin (location 26). But the Mender's safety was threatened by the arrival of the Spleen (see below) so he has returned to Gungingeth, abandoning this room. Under the blanket is a life-size dummy made of stuffed fabric and covered in black ink lines and marks showing the position of various organs. Unsettling labels such as 'CaUseS PaRtiCulAr DisTreSs if yOu CuT heRe' and 'PeEL bAcK hEre to ReVeaL mUsclE wiTh miNimUm BLeediNg' can be clearly read, though the writing is childish and the spelling terrible. Spoils:
String of Many Uses (small ball of string, mundane item: b+0 [basic ball of jute string, 30ft length] 2k/2w)
Trapper’s
Cage of Bleating Prey (large cage, mundane item: b+0 [Large cage on wheels. Store any creature of Size Bonus 3 or less. Requires min min +2 Skill Dice in AA Endurance and +2 Skill Dice in AA 23 23
Might to pull cage when full, tolerance: 600] 28k/150+d10w)
Workman's Tool-roll of the Butcher (medium mundane item: b+0 [Roll of waterproof leather containing variety of sharp knives, a cleaver, tweezers and scissors] 18k/34+d6w)
Greased Leather Apron of the Workhorse (medium apron,
armour/garment: b+3 [Leather apron formed from oiled animal hide and used predominantly by smyths, masons and other craftsmen] 34k/74+d6w).
Lacerating Blade of the Cut-Throat (small folding blade, 1 handed weapon (AA Brawl) b+2 [Sharp blade folds into a small polished-wood handle furnished with a belt hook. Easily concealed] 1k/20+d6w)
Looking Glass Head-gear of the Tinkerer * (medium gizmo:
b+0 [Assembly is a brass mechanical contraption of cantilevered arms gripping a confusing array of lenses which, when combined in certain ways, allow the wearer to see into the distance (telescope) to see objects that are too small for the naked eye (microscope) or things that are sub/trans-dymensional and only usually visible to those sensitive to such things (electromagnetoscope/ EMF detector). Ee2 to any AA Craft or AA Engineer dice check made when worn on the head. Requires a minimum +2 Skill Dice in AA Learn and minimum CC Mind & Memory value of 9 to operate.] 4k/1700+d100w) *The Looking Glass was lost by the Mender and left behind when he left. It has fallen down behind a heavy trolley and requires a passive AA Spot Secrets dice check with Dd2 incurred to find. The dice check may only be made if the group are actively searching the room. (28) The Thrumming Grows Louder. As the group move through this part of the Deep Delve the thrumming sound which has accompanied them all the way through the cellars so far becomes suddenly louder. It seems apparent the noise is coming from somewhere directly ahead and to the west. (29) Chamber of the Venting Spleen. A young Spleen lurks in this room, wallowing in the shadowy recesses on the northern side. From The Wyrd Pandemonium:
The darkness takes on form and heaves itself upward, a contorted mass of flabby cysts and seething tentacles roughly the size of a wyrman. Blisters and tumerous blains peel open to reveal milky eyes. Rubbery lips draw back to liberate hideous mouths with tusk-like teeth and from the depths of uncountable throats comes an unearthly snarling. All characters present must make an opposed AA Courage dice check vs the Spleen's AA Physical Intimidation (9). Anyone failing the check turns tail and runs back toward location 25 where they will remain until they can make a successful passive AA Courage dice check. When this is achieved they can return to the fight without further rolls required.
SPLEEN (Fell, Green Soul Stone) Size Bonus: 3 Spirit: 1 Art & Expertise: 5 Acrobatics [+4], Brawl [+3], Climb [+12], Combat Talent [+3], Polearm [+3], Sneak [+8], Swim [+12] Force & Form: 6 Bludgeon [+3], Granite Skull [+3], Might [+3], Physical Intimidation [+3], Pitch [+3], Sturdy on the Feet [+3] Mind & Memory: 1 Sense & Sympathy: 2 Hear a Pin Drop [+6] Fate & Fortune: 1 Courage [+7] Storm & Stamina: 3 Skirmish Strength [+1] MAGICK No Nudge Bank or Orphic Plasm STRENGTH Life-Force: 30; Max Psychic Wounds: NA; Max Severe Wounds: 3 (all Severe Wounds reduce Life-Force by 10 points with no requirement to roll on Severe Wounds table). COMBAT Skirmish Smarts: 2; Weapons: Tentacles of the Larval Spleen (natural tentacles, melee weapon (AA Bludgeon or AA Polearm) b+d4 [Reach:3. Weapon bonus reflects number of landed blows from multiple tentacles]) &
Bite of the Larval Spleen (natural bite, melee
weapon (AA Brawl) b+3 [weapon bonus equal to Size Bonus, one use per skirmish round]) No armour or gear No Combos
24 Forever Folio August
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(30) Chamber of the Orrery. A huge mechanical Orrery occupies this large circular room. At the centre is an enormous polished bronze sphere marked with the rune of Hellior, indicating that this object represents the sun. Other spheres made of different materials revolve slowly around this central point, moving mechanically on long arms of brass, the spheres themselves turning as they orbit the sun. The spheres are runes for the (requires passive interpret correctly. sun to furthest)
marked by the following words AA Read/Write/Speak Language to Spheres listed in order from closest to
Yarnia (Oak) 50k/900w Lehem (Hollow Firesteel) 120k/8400w Kishar (Copper) 190k/1900w Anshar (Brass) 100k/1700w
Hellior (Sun) Mummu (The One Who Has Awoken)
Eawelt (Calcite Marble) 180k/2340w
Lahamu (The Six Headed Serpent)
Anu (Dolomite Marble) 180k/2340w
Yarnia (The Long Story Thus Spun)
Gaga (Iron) 85k/1020w
Lehem (Guardian of the Gate) Kishar (The Daughter of the Sun) Anshar (The Lord of the Ring) Eawelt (The World of Divine Water) Anu (Lord of the Spirit and the Daemon) Gaga (The Messenger of Worlds at War) The sphere marked Anshar is surrounded by rings of razor sharp metal. The room is filled with the throbbing sound of heavy machinery moving in the walls and beneath the floor, the engine driving the Onnery and keeping the worlds turning in their orbits. An etching upon the wall requires another Speak/Read/Write Language dice check and reads:
AA
'The Cityports of Hellior, stepping stones of the Agg, from where the Ferrystorm drew forth the Engel from beyond the clouds of Gaga and delivered them hence. Ever must the engine burn and the great stones turn or all shall end and the weave be unspun'. The 'planets' of the Orrery constitute a considerable sum of wealth in terms of base materials (if they can be recovered passive AA Engineer dice check and Workman's Tool-roll of the Tinkerer to remove). Weights and values are as follows: Hellior/Sun (Bronze) 250k/6250w Mummu (Brass) 40k/680w Lahamu (Hollow Ferror Steel) 40k/1000w
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The Orrery is protected, however, and if anyone tries to stop the machinery or remove any of the spheres a stone slab will fall across the entrance to the room, cutting off the exit back to location 28. The armature holding Anshar (The Lord of the Ring) will start to speed up, extending and retracting, rising and falling so that its course becomes unpredictable. Simultaneously the razor sharp surrounding ring will start to spin at high speed, emitting a noise like a buzz saw. The only route of escape will be the smaller archway in the north wall which connects with a passage curving around the outer wall of this chamber. Anyone who tries to dash for this archway must make both a successful passive AA Dodge dice check and a successful passive AA Acrobatics dice check to avoid the spinning sphere and its rotating blade. If either dice check fails the player must make a Spirit roll. If they succeed the Spirit roll they are nicked by the spinning blade for 2d20 Life-Force damage, but manage to duck through the arch. If they fail the Spirit roll the blade connects and causes serious damage. The player must subsequently make a Severe Wounds roll (consulting the Severe Wounds table for damage). It should be assumed that the character then ducks out of the room before being struck again. Anshar will continue to spin violently around the chamber for a further 6 hours before the mechanism powering the trap finally winds down and the Orrery returns to normal rotation. The coil responsible for the trap must be reset before it can trigger again, so once the trap has been sprung and wound down, the Orrery will thereafter be safe to tamper with. 25 25
(31) Chamber of the Marrowmen. The door to this room is locked, but the door itself is so decayed and corrupted by mold that the wood can be torn apart by hand. If the handle is turned it will simply pop out of the door, leaving a gaping hole. Inside the room are seven Bone Golems, hidden at first in the shadowy edges of the room, illuminated by light cast upon them, or visible as wraith-like forms to the eyes of wyrmen with no source of light. From The Wyrd Pandemonium:
There are seven, upright in form, with features deeply unpleasing to the eye and unnatural in aspect. Their blanched faces seem to suggest something humanoid but it's a poor interpretation. The eyes are black holes, the mouths unmoving slits. The heads are malformed and lumpy and seem solid as masks made of stone. But the creatures wear no mask. You can see through the sockets of the eyes into the hollow interior of the skull. The Marrowmen were conjured by a warlock of Gungingeth and put to work by one of the Shabble crime lords of that city. They were horribly mistreated and removed themselves from their master's presence, escaping into the cave leading to the Deep Delve. They entered this room, surprising Grub the Orf who fled, locking them in. They have been here ever since, aimless in the dark, lacking motivation even to break down the door. The Marrowmen will not fight back if attacked but can understand the spoken word (though they cannot respond vocally). They will obey commands given to them if the player group show them kindness. They are hopelessly inept fighters, but can be useful when performing menial tasks. Bone Golems are loathed in the civilizations of the wyrmen, often mistaken for Fell monsters and typically associated by those who recognize their true identity with the dark magicks of warlocks and dunwytches. Thus, if the player group take these Marrowmen under their wing they must be wary of presenting them in public. See page 137 of The Wyrd Pandemonium for more details. (32) Derelict Rooms. Empty chambers with cracked and broken flagstone floors. Here the rot, decay and creeping mold seems worse than anywhere else, long strips of fungal matter dangling from the ceilings and growing in conical humps from the floor. (33) Chamber of the Mold. In the heart of this room stands some kind of statue beneath a domed ceiling. The nature of the statue is hidden beneath the green and brown fungal mold that covers every surface. Tendrils and fungal creepers choke the statue from head to plinth, while long tentacles of oozing mold hang down from the underside of the dome.
When the mold is gone the statue is revealed to be of Zeuselra, an ancient king of the wyrmen who ruled long before the Winter of Discontent. A plaque on the plinth of the statue shows his name. (34) Hall of Mold. Here the flagstone floor disappears under the creeping tideline of a great heaped mound of mold. In order to continue into the large chamber beyond, the group will need to wade into the mold itself. The consistency is similar to moss but yields far more easily, each movement deeper into the mound causing the mold to burst, sending up a cloud of ash grey spores. As the group approach the large eastern chamber they will hear the resounding blare of the horn which has accompanied their journey throughout. This time it is more protracted and louder than ever, echoing in the darkness ahead. (35) Hall of the Widdershins. As the group enter this room they will feel a presence and will determine that they are not alone. Standing all around are Widdershin spirits, the energy of these spirits so strong with frustration that they will be visible to everyone all the time. The Widdershin are all Hawnts and were once wyrmen and wyr-women. Some are dressed as itinerants much like the player group themselves. Others wear overalls and carry tool-bags. They share the same grim expression and as the group enter the room, the Hawnts raise their arms as one and point toward location 36. (36) The Coffin Worm. Here, wrapped around the central pillar of this narrow chamber, is the cause of all the Geotaneum's strife. A Coffin Worm has established itself and is firmly ensconsed on the pillar. The horn-like sound is coming from this creature. The Coffin Worm is a hideous, grub like monstrosity that wraps its gruesome, bulging coils around the trunks of trees, pillars, poles and other vertical shafts then roots itself in position. From its chosen nesting point the Coffin Worm will clutch at those who wander too close, attempting to snatch them in order to hurt them, the victim's suffering an entertainment to the worm's dreadful mind. The worm may also consume the flesh of those it captures in order to replenish the acidic globules its body creates. It does not need to eat in order to survive, however, and like all Fell is immortal and able to live without sustenance. At its rearmost end the length of the Coffin Worm's repulsive bloated body splits, one tail furnished with a scorpion-hook (used for climbing and securing the worm in position rather than as a weapon), the other terminating in a gaping orifice. 26
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From the orifice the worm can fire small globular masses filled with an acidic material. Where these masses land they explode, the thin membrane containing the acid bursting, the acid itself showering anyone within range. The creature has the enviable ability to generate an enclosing bubble of orphic matter which creates an impervious wall through which nothing can penetrate and which is equivalent, in almost every respect, to the Craven spell, The Elgan Sigil, except that the worm casts no sigil and marks no runes. The edge of the area of effect (which is cylindrical) extends to the entrance to chamber 36 and prevents all ingress. The effect can be summoned and dismissed at will by the worm. Whatever the worm coils itself around becomes endemically corrupted by the creature's presence and this is why the lost chambers of Deep Delve, the cellars of the Geotaneum and the Geotaneum building itself have become so decayed and malformed. Pillars will turn algae green and shot through with ugly purple veins. Trees will lose their leaves and their branches will become as crooked fingers, bark blackened and infested with maggots. About the soil of a tree's roots or the base of a pillar a web of black tendrils, like some seeping mold, will expand outward, gradually creeping over the course of many years to bring other aspects of the local environment into the worm's sphere of influence. Everything the black mold touches will become rotten, festering and dark. A sinister atmosphere will prevail and an ever-present stench of death and decay will linger. Where the pillar supports a house, mansion or is part of the portico or supporting structure of a castle the rot will spread more quickly, sucking the spiritual essence from the building, leaving its interior chambers dark and gloomy, walls putrid with damp, windows cracked and smeared with a grime that regrows as soon as it is wiped clear. Ceilings will sag, rafters will warp and stonework will crumble. Anyone who ventures into the building will experience a cloying sense of despair that seems to fill the very atmosphere and a feeling as though the structure itself were sinister; watching and waiting like some lurking predator. This is the fate the Geotaneum has suffered. The worm established itself many decades ago and has been increasing its strangle-hold over the surrounding environment during that time. If left unchecked the worm will spread its corrupting mold beyond even the walls of the Geotaneum, claiming first the streets of Verdandi, then the surrounding buildings and eventually the city entire. Once established on its pillar the Worm embeds itself into the structure and is unable to return to the ground. It can fight using its long forelimbs, but these have a limited reach and may be easily evaded simply by standing out of range. The creature's main methods of combat will be defensive, firing acid spheres and using its ability to generate orphic force fields as a means to protect itself against attack. The Worm cannot instigate a grapple and must skirmish unless a grapple is instigated by its enemy.
COFFIN WORM (Fell, Red Soul Stone) Size Bonus: 14 Spirit: 1 Art & Expertise: 4 Brawl [+5], Climb [+12], Combat Talent [+3], Polearm [+3] Force & Form: 28 Bludgeon [+5], Physical Intimidation [+2], Pitch [+6] Mind & Memory: 7 Immune to Charm [+12], Orphic Knowledge [+5] Sense & Sympathy: 12 Hear a Pin Drop* [+12], Orphic Effect [+12], Spot Secrets* [+12] * These Active Abilities cover whatever monstrous
senses the creature uses to detect the presence of other living objects in his realm of influence . Fate & Fortune: 1 Orphic Talent [+10] Storm & Stamina: 7 Immunity to Poison [+12] MAGICK No Nudge Bank or Orphic Plasm STRENGTH Life-Force: 122; Max Psychic Wounds: NA; Max Severe Wounds: 4 (all Severe Wounds result in a loss of 20 Life-Force, no Wounds roll necessary) COMBAT Skirmish Smarts: the Coffin Worm always comes last in any skirmish round order Weapons: Clutching Claws of the Elevated Foe (natural claws, melee weapon (AA Brawl or AA Polearm) b+3 [Reach: 14 when AA Polearm used for combat dice check only] &
Exploding Globules of Acid Mass (natural ammo,
ranged weapon (AA Pitch) b+24 [Lob, unskilled range 20ft, Splash value of 8, acid causes burns damage which eats through armour. Where armour reduces or prevents damage to Life-Force the armour bonus of all combined items incurs 1d6 points reduction instead of the usual 1). No Armour or Gear No Combos 27
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Any death occurring for whatever reason and by whatever cause within the worm's sphere of influence will result in the creation of a Widdershin Spirit. The deceased cannot be resurrected and will linger until exorcised. This is the fate of the unhappy spirits of former mercenaries sent into the cellar to investigate the problem by Jonk Array and those hapless engineers who lost their lives when they uncovered the monster. The Worm is mute but understands the spoken word and possesses a semi-telekinetic ability to know what is happening within its sphere of influence. It has, therefore, been aware of the player group's presence since they entered the Geotaneum. If the forcefield is destroyed, the group will find themselves facing the full force of the worm's corrupt aura. Each player must make a Spirit roll and if they fail, the character loses all Spirit immediately. The GM should take any player whose character fails their roll out of earshot of players who succeeded theirs and inform them that they may continue roleplaying their own character, but as soon as the GM decides he may take over the character and use him as an enemy to attack the rest of the group. The GM can either use the character in this way or can use him in a more subtle manner to trick the rest of the group into harms way, or to trap them somehow. As soon as the GM seizes control, the player should make an opposed AA Resistance to Evil dice check verus the Worm's CC Sense & Sympathy. The player is allowed one roll every five real-life minutes of gameplay. Players should monitor this time and ensure the rolls are made. As soon as the player succeeds a roll he may recover control of his character. If the Worm is killed, the effect ends immediately and the player recovers full control of his character. The GM may use the character in any way he likes but cannot use the character to cast magick. If the worm is killed the mold and rot will begin to blacken, will become brittle and then will start to crumble, melting away even as the Coffin Worm melts into its constituent Soul Stone. When the process is complete all trace of the mold and rot will be gone, though all damage to surrounding stone and structure will remain until repaired. This time, however, repairs will be effective and permanent. (37) Throne Room. This chamber should be inaccessible unless the Coffin Worm is destroyed, the entrance clogged up with the largest tendrils and vines of mold, the entire room beyond choked to the rafters with algae and moss-like fungal growths. Once clear, the chamber is revealed to be a lavish throneroom. The following description should be read to players:
Against the far wall, before a curved wall ornamented with a mural depicting the stars and divine houses of the Agg stands a giant throne, five times the height of a man. The chair is made of white stone and etched with runes, Forever Folio August
the backrest carved with the sigil now commonly used as a mark of Anglian heraldry - the Wythian tree. The floor of the chamber is sculpted to resemble the continents of Ereth, as they must have appeared thousands of years ago. The lands are covered in trees and where you know there now stand mighty cities there is only wilderness. Three landmarks are prominent. The highest mountain of Niflhelm (Mt. Corona), Mount Ascona of Sanas Morcorm and the world tree, Yrmynsyl. This last rises as a golden pillar from the heart of the map to the domed ceiling above and marks the dead centre of the room. You are struck with a profound sense of transcendence as you gaze upon the scene. The Oak Lords of ancient history once stood here, you are in no doubt. You can almost feel their essence pulsing through the air and vibrating in your feet. Gods were here and though they are now gone from the world, their memory is alive in the architecture of this mighty throne room and the map sprawling at your feet. This was once a throne room to the gods, used perhaps by Mot Elyeth, or by another of the Oak Lords stationed in the Deep Delve. The history of the place is lost to the sands of time and even the Elvians, if summoned, will have little or no knowledge of its original purpose, though it is highly likely these chambers were once a part of Yseldyr, the subterranean mansion of Mot. Simply by standing in the presence of the throne all righteous characters in the group regain full Spirit and Life-Force is healed by an amount equal to all combined Cult Allegiance values (not to exceed maximum Life-Force and only those values based on righteous cults). Neutral characters standing before the throne gain 1d6 Spirit (not to exceed maximum Spirit) and +1 Skill Dice in AA Resistance to Evil (not to exceed +12). In addition their Psychic Wounds value is reset to zero and any abnormal behaviour they have developed as a result of Psychic Wounds is healed. Wicked characters are struck with a sense of horror and defeat. They sense the empty dark of the abyss and the endless suffering of eternal void and know that this is their fate if they fail to change the path they have chosen. They gain 1d4 Skill Dice in AA 28 28
Resistance to Evil but lose 1d4 Cult Allegiance. In addition, Spirit drops to 1. Wicked ethos characters may choose to switch their ethos to neutral and abandon their chosen creed. They will lose all special Active Abilities associated with that creed, including any rune-casting abilities. They are hereafter free to choose a new creed without penalty (apprentice periods still apply), and deemed in the meantime to be of the Exile creed. Characters who change ethos/creed from wicked to neutral or neutral to righteous before the sacred throne of the Deep Delve gain maximum Spirit, heal all Life-Force damage and lose all Severe Wounds and Psychic Wounds. They are absolved of all previous crimes and forgiven by the divine Oak Lords. However, in return for absolution, they are refused a second chance. They must join a righteous cult as soon as they leave the cellars of the Geotaneum and if at any point subsequently their Spirit or their Cult Allegiance drops to zero they will immediately perish, their body crumbling to dust, their soul banished to the Nether Dymension. Much is therefore expected of them if they are to prove themselves worthy of dwelling in Mot's presence within the Web of Wyrd. (37) Hidden Room. The door to this room will be buried under the mass of fungal matter until the Coffin Worm is killed. Only then will the doorway be revealed. It is, however, extremely well hidden in the shadow of a fold in the wall and can only be found if the player group actively make a search of the room after the Coffin Worm is dead. Ten Statues depicting the last ten gods of the Council of Twelve stand on either side of the room, facing inward, each twenty feet tall and majestic to behold. Seth Elgan (holding a carving of the legendary Bitterblade) and his consort, Tesheba Elyeth (holding what looks like a large sceptre which seems to come out of the floor) are seated at the end of the room on thrones similar to the one in location 37. Before them is a great plinth covered in nodules and protrusions along with a rectangular depression wherein a miniature map of Ereth has been carved - a duplicate of the larger carving in location 37. Next to the arm of each throne stands a huge dog with majestic features. The other ten gods are Mot Elyeth, Vanyir Num, Merriday Elyeth, Ninnil Elyeth, Jova Arani, Febb Elyeth, Yerah Eltari; and Annarr, Aura and Ostia Num. Each of the twelve statues stands or sits above a plinth adorned with a golden plaque. Each plaque is etched with ancient runes, requiring a passive AA Read/Speak/Write Language dice check to translate as follows
Seth Elgan for the first High King of the Cosmos, Numra, The Supremacy Beyond Reckoning. Tesheba Elyeth for the second High King of the Cosmos, Loricra, Lord of Matrimony and Union. Mot Elyeth for the third High King of the Cosmos, Teenra, Lord of the Square of the Winged Horse. Vanyir Num for the fourth High King of the Forever Folio August
Cosmos, Helmra, Lord of the House of Heaven. Merriday Elyeth for the fifth High King of the Cosmos, Nabucynn, Lord of the Sacred Mountain. Ninnil Elyeth for the sixth High King of the Cosmos, Syra, Lord of Promethea and the Burning Flame of Suns. Jova Arani for the seventh High King of the Cosmos, Novara, Lord of the Detonating Sun. Febb Elyeth for the eighth High King of the Cosmos, Galdro-Ra, Lord of Civilization and the Feast. Yerah Eltari for the ninth High King of the Cosmos, Cepra, Lord of the Endless Night and the Surfing Warp. Annarr Num for the tenth High King of the Cosmos, Tortra, Lord of Progression and Innovation. Aura Num for the eleventh High King of the Cosmos, Neomra, Lord of the Deep Earth. Ostia Num for the twelfth High King of the Cosmos, Endelmor, Lord of the Creatrix (Creatrix being an ambiguous word meaning all that is and has been made). At the feet of each god is a huge treasure chest of cast bronze, the lids of each chest is open. All are empty save for a few scattered trinkets (see spoils below). Once some kind of trove, this chamber is now almost entirely empty. Most of the fabulous treasures of the Deep Delve were stored in this room but have since been looted and taken away, either by the Fell or by previous explorers. Grub has never been here. Spoils: only the listed Wealth will be found in the chests. All other items are scattered about the room, hidden in nooks and crannies or in the gaps between flagstones, dropped there by previous looters. Finding these objects requires one passive AA Spot Secrets dice check for every ten in-game minutes of searching. For each successful instance of (1) rolled by any player character the GM should roll 1d12 and consult the Spoils table on page 31 for a find. For every ten in-game minutes the player group keep searching the player with the highest Spirit value must make a Spirit roll. As soon as someone fails their Spirit roll they accidentally step on a hidden catch. If another player fails their Spirit roll they step on a second catch which triggers an ancient trap. A 29 29
hideous grinding noise and the sound of turning machinery sounds, followed by a noise like something huge and metallic breaking somewhere behind the walls of the chamber. An ominous rumbling noise will fill the room and the ground, walls and ceiling will start to shake. See Aftermath below. The ring key to the tomb at location 38 is on the finger of the statue of Seth Elgan and if players state they are specifically searching this statue they will notice the ring without a dice check. If players search the empty chests they will recover 4d20 x 10 Wealth (distribute between all searchers or divide between ten chests) representing small coins and chits of precious metal previous looters left behind. (38) Tomb of Ostia. The door to this room is locked and requires the ring key worn by the statue of Seth Elgan to open. The door is a huge slab of immovable stone, while the keyhole is a cross-shaped slot that matches the protrusion on the ring. Door to the Tomb: Object Strength 1400, Might 3. The room beyond is silent and musty, the worked walls bare, the floor covered in rushes (dry reeds) that crumble to dust the instant someone steps on them. In the middle of the room is a massive sarcophagus upon the lid of which is a reclining sculpture of the Oak Lord Ostia Num. Within the sarcophagus lie the remains of Ostia himself. If the stone lid is somehow raised (the lid weighs in excess of 1000k and will require some effort to open, though it is not locked, the weight alone keeping it in place) there will be a brief glimpse of Ostia, a handsome humanoid of uncommon size, almost five times the height of a wyrman and powerfully built. His face resembles that of a wyrman, but has no gia. He has three eyes instead of two, with a pair in the usual position and an extra, spherical eye situated in the centre of the forehead. The eyes to either side of the face are almond shaped and large, the pupils black, the mouth is small and the chin pointed. The body is dressed in ceremonial armour, the hands crossed over the chest. Seconds after this momentary glimpse the air reaches Ostia's body and it calcifies, turning white. The body then starts to collapse inward on itself, crumbling to ash which covers the bed of the sarcophagus with a thick layer. Only the armour will remain.
Armour of Ostia (huge plate, armour/artefact: b+140 [fits
Institutes will likely try to knock down any given price out of habit, even if they know they're getting the artefact for a steal. If the price set is too high they will suggest a more sensible value themselves, beginning at around the 100,000 Wealth mark. Righteous characters who loot the tomb of Ostia should suffer Cult Allegiance points loss accordingly. Regardless of ethos, any wyrman who steals the armour from the tomb will lose 1d12 Spirit points (not to reduce Spirit below 1 point). AFTERMATH If the trap in room 37 is sprung the ancient mechanisms designed to put the trap into motion (a contraption designed to seal off parts of the Deep Delve to protect the treasure trove) will break. Their component parts are no longer lubricated and they collapse within their housings beyond the walls of the trove. The resulting collapse causes a cave-in which destabilizes the entire structure of the Deep Delve and causes everything to start rumbling and quaking. The player group now have a limited time to get to location 13 before the Deep Delve collapses in on itself. The GM should set a timer for thirty real-life minutes. The player group will have until this timer runs out to escape, though they should not be told how long they have. Any real-life interruptions (breaking to make coffee, answering the phone, etc) should require the GM to pause her timer until the game resumes. In-game discussions and activity (dice rolls, GM/player interaction, marking down notes on character sheets or elsewhere etc) should be considered part of the game and the timer should not be paused. When the Deep Delve collapses everything from location 19 to location 38 caves in. The streets of Verdandi above plunge some 20ft into the resulting void, some residential roads destroyed and 1d10 innocent bystanders killed. If the player group are still within any of the collapsing rooms they are killed instantly unless they can use magick to save themselves. Note that if the Orrery trap was sprung, the doorway out of the Orrery will still be blocked.
humanoid character with a Size Bonus of 19 - 21 and requires a minimum AA Might value of 18 to wear] 980k/135,000w) The armour is a specialist artefact when it comes to procuring a sale. If the player group decide to loot the tomb and take the armour then offer it to museums or universities they will need to approach these institutions with a proposed price. The value listed is the top price most institutes will be willing to pay but the GM should keep this value to herself and let the players suggest a value. Forever Folio August
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SPOILS TABLE d12
Spoil
k
w
Size
Type
+b
Details
1
Ring of Plasmic Warding / black iron ring etched with runes.
-
1800+4d20
S
ring
-
When worn on the finger, this ring prevents Craven or wicked rune-casters from stealing the wearer's Orphic Plasm. Effectively the ring binds the plasm so that only the wearer can use it.
2
Norn Dagger
4
640+3d20
M
dagger
3
An ancient dagger with a wavy blade made of black steel etched with the runic name of Ostia Num and the word 'Skuld'. The hilt and crossguard are inset with gemstones.
3
3d20+3d20 scattered Wealth
-
-
-
Wealth Points
-
In the form of ancient coins and gold, silver or copper chits and tokens.
4
Brass talisman (non-magickal)
1
14+d20
S
artefact
-
A circular talisman on a necklace depicting two swans with entwined necks. Non-magickal.
5
Old Tin Goblet
1
4+d6
S
artefact
-
Acid etched tin goblet covered with a picture showing the Wythywyr forest as a wrap-around panoramic. May fetch higher than usual price for its historic interest. If sold to a museum or university should fetch 10+d10 Wealth instead.
6
Torn Scrap of Leather
-
1
S
mundane
-
A torn piece of leather, probably ripped from the corner of a tunic or coat when a former looter was searching the room.
7
Aggry Beads.
12
1
S
mundane
-
Cheap and simple prayer beads made from worked wood and glass. Ee6 to AA Medidate dice checks.
8
Empty Flask
1
2
S
mundane
-
Animal hide flask with stopper for carrying water and other fluids.
9
Seal Ring of the Tomb
-
50+5d10
S
ring
-
A non-magickal bronze ring with a large flattened disc from which extends a solid bar ornamented with grooves and protrusions. The Seal Ring is a key and when inserted into the cross-shaped hole in the door to room 38 will unlock that door. It is found on the finger of the statue of Seth Elgan.
10
Ring of the Elegant Bezel
-
480+d20
S
ring
-
A swirling ring of gold whose tapering coil ends with the head of some fantastical looking monster. When worn it covers the whole lower finger. The wearer can use the ring's magick to seduce others and gains maximum Evident Ease on any opposed AA Allure dice check he makes versus a target's AA Immune to Charm.
11
Broken Pottery
1
2
S
mundane
-
A broken piece of clay pottery. Possibly from an ancient object of historical value, but there's no way to prove its origins. It is virtually worthless.
12
Archaic Parchment
-
?
S
artefact
-
A piece of parchment covered in strange symbols and glyphs. If taken to a university or museum it will identified as part of an ancient book and of significant historic value. The owner may then sell for 800+5d20w. If the parchment is not identified it will remain worthless.
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BACK IN THE GEOTANEUM Though Jonk Array always knew the player group would face a challenge, he denies all knowledge of any of the locations and sites found in the cellars. He will be true to his word, however, and will present the group with their reward just as soon as repairs have been made to the Geotaneum building. If the player group reveal the red Soul Stone of the Coffin Worm to Jonk he will demand they hand it over as property of the Geotaneum. The guild has considerable clout in local government and if the group refuse Jonk's demand they may face protracted legal action and maybe even prison if they take the stone for themselves. The same applies to any spoils the group reveal they have taken. Jonk may try to set a trap for them by asking them outright if they found any trinkets of interest in the cellars. Objects like the metallic spheres from the Orrery will be extremely difficult to conceal from view and Jonk will also claim these as property of the Geotaneum. Repairs to the Geotaneum will take 6d10 months, after which the group will be given their 5000 Wealth reward. It may be wise, in this instance, for the group to use zoomedout play to amuse themselves in Verdandi for the given period. Alternatively they may prefer to carry on following rumours, in which case the GM will need to monitor the passage of time in the usual way. NEXT ISSUE Wolves are rumoured to have become exceptionally bold in the south of the Angle, even venturing into the cities of Pelgallo and Carnuntun in search of prey. City masters seek mercenaries to cull the packs and make safe the land once more. A seemingly straight-forward mercenary job turns into a chase into the mines of the south and a fight for survival as the Unsung Weave continues with The Ulyan Wolves.
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34 Full core PDFs now available as a Bundle. Click here.
ROLLING INTO GENCON 2015 Dan Davenport, aka 'The Hardboiled GMshoe', is the owner of the RPG Net chatroom and the Hardboiled GMshoe's Office blogspot. Fresh from Gencon 2015 which he attended with his wife Lisa, Dan (and Lisa) share with us their random encounters in a diary style account of the experience from day one to four. Back to GenCon! I returned this year for the second time with my lovely wife, Lisa, and this year we both went for the first time with press badges. Accordingly, I'd like to include Lisa in my GenCon recap. Her comments will be in blue italics. (Clickable links are also included - ed)
Lisa: The first time I went I thought I would feel out of place. While I am a gamer, I am not a super-experienced gamer. Dan first initiated me into the experience by running Call of Cthulhu. I really like horror movies, so I really liked this game. I started playing off and on in other games he and his friend Robert ran. They both are very patient and made it pretty fun for me. I had tried earlier to play in a game that his other friends ran, and it was not such a pleasant experience. They pretty much ignored me and really made me think I did not belong in their hobby. Long story short, I went back and forth over whether I wanted to keep playing. As it turned out, last year went so well, I wanted to try again and see if I had improved as a gamer. PRE-CON Lisa and I got into town at 11:00 a.m. and went to Scotty's Brewhouse for lunch, then came back to the hotel and napped before going back to Scotty's for dinner. (We really like Scotty's.)
Lisa: There were already a lot of gamers there. I had to get my new Pathfinders shirt. I don't play the game but really like their goblins. There, I was pleased to be able to pull together a gathering that included Lee Garvin (Tales From The Floating Vagabond), Rusty Zimmerman (Shadowrun freelancer), Benjamin Rogers (Harsh Realities), Jeff Mechlinski (Age Past), and Andy Klosky (Cold Steel Wardens).
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Lee demoed his card game Badass Zombie Killers, which is, indeed, badass. Surprisingly, the game ends when the zombies actually show up. This game is all about preparing for the zombies by jury-rigging the most badass zombie-slaying weapon you can while sabotaging your fellow survivors' efforts. I, personally, managed to create My Mother's Pink Electric GasPowered Nail Gun-chucks before a rival player swiped it from me. (Which pissed me off, so I nuked it with an EMP.)
Lisa: It was pretty fun. Even though it was not the first day of the convention, we had already started gaming. A little later, Ken Vinson of Brass & Steel stopped by as well and invited Lisa and I to a steampunk LARP on Saturday. This pleased Lisa, a rabid steampunk fan, to no end. Lisa then went back to the hotel room. I stopped by the RPGnet gathering - where I saw my #rpgnet buddy MonkofLords - and then the IGDN gathering where I visited with Eloy Lasanta (Third Eye Games) and Ryan Schoon (Edara) and met Michelle Lyons-McFarland (Chill). Finally, I met the ODAM Publishing guys, Matthew Tarulli and John Borgese (along with their buddy Gil), for a drink at our hotel bar, where they presented me with a copy of Of Dreams and Magic, their extremely awesome RPG debuting this year. In it, otherwise normal modern-day humans learn to tap into the power of their dreams to see the magic in the waking world and gain superhuman abilities. This is a game in which a PC might well be someone who can perform Voodoo rituals, plug his brain into a computer, and turn into a superhero. Or an elven wizard. Or a starfighter pilot. You name it. 35 35
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/99984/One-Session-Dungeons-110-BUNDLE
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DAY 1 The day started brutally early to pick up our press badges. I'm not sure why GenCon couldn't start the distribution of press badges on Wednesday, unless perhaps it's the fact that they offer 100 Thursday early-access badges on a firstcome basis and feel that this wouldn't be fair to those arriving late on Wednesday. Regardless, I will say that the folks handled the distribution of press materials in a highly professional and friendly manner.
Lisa: It was not so bad when the line started going, and we met some other cool press guys. The pass allowed us to get into the exhibit hall an hour early, which was nice, because at 10 a.m., a tsunami of gamers came rushing through the door. After getting in early with the press crowd, we made a beeline for the Ulisses Spiele booth to snag one of those swanky new Torg: Eternity shirts! As a huge Torg fan, I would not be denied. As we had to wait a bit for someone to show up we chatted with the people at the neighboring booth, Black Book Editions, about the forthcoming English edition of their popular French scifi RPG Polaris, which deals with humanity retreating beneath the ocean waves to escape an ecological disaster and finding an unexpected destiny. If the game is half as good as the artwork makes it look, I'm all over this one. After nabbing a Torg shirt but finding the authors still absent from the booth, we were thrilled to meet gaming legends Greg Stafford (Glorantha) and Sandy Petersen (Call of Cthulhu). I'd very recently had Greg as a Q&A guest in my chatroom, so there wasn't much new ground to cover. It was just an honor to shake his hand. Sandy was a special treat for Lisa, as Call of Cthulhu was the first RPG she ever played. We were both eager to learn more about Forever Folio August
Cthulhu Wars, his new board game about the Lovecraftian apocalypse. I have to say, the figures look amazing in person. I was delighted to learn that Sandy only lives about 30 minutes away from us. Not long after, some more of the Torg crew showed up, including Ross Watson and Tim Brown, giving us a chance to learn a bit about the new version. I can't tell you how happy I was to learn of some of the changes. No longer will superhuman ability levels cost Possibilities. No longer will ninjas have glass jaws, dodging effortlessly until they're felled by a single punch. I can't wait. While we were chatting, Shane Hensley, lead designer of Torg: Eternity, author of the wildly popular Deadlands, and creator of the Savage Worlds system, arrived. This was yet another special treat for Lisa, a long time Deadlands fan. We also discussed doing a Q&A for Shane's forthcoming Conan: Rise of Monsters ("CROM", get it?) pre-painted miniatures game, which he's creating along with Eden Studios's George Vasilakos and others. Now, before the convention, Ken Spencer of Cubicle 7 had asked me to stop by their booth. If he wasn't there, 37 37
he said, I should tell someone there that I was "cleared for buckeyes". Turns out these are chocolate-covered peanut butter balls and are absolutely delicious. Many thanks, Ken! After making the rounds of the exhibit hall floor and meeting with many other game authors, we took a break and tried out the GenCon food trucks for the first time. That was the best damn Cuban sandwich I've ever had. That afternoon, Jason Vey ran a great session of his game Amazing Adventures, the 1930s pulp game utilizing the Castles & Crusades SIEGE Engine. Now, I have to confess to having been mildly skeptical about whether the system would be able to pull off two-fisted pulp action, but it did so admirably. We had a great time exploring a lost South American temple to a forgotten evil god.
Lisa: I was interested in it because it was an Indiana Jones kind of thing. My character was Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. I really liked playing this character. She had all kinds of spells and abilities to use. Overall this was a fun game. It went pretty fast, but Jason did a great job of getting game play for all the characters. I met Jason for dinner and drinks at a pleasant Irish pub while Lisa got ready for bed. It was a nice way to wrap up the first day. DAY 2 The day began with another trip to the exhibit hall. Lisa got her first exposure to miniatures gaming in the form of Hordes from Privateer Press. She impressed me with just how deeply she got into the game.
Lisa: It's a pretty cool game. I would consider buying it if Dan does not get lucky and get a review copy. I am hoping. Then Lisa finally got to meet an idol of hers, Don "Silent Jim" Early of the movie Demon Hunters: Dead Camper Lake. I'd met Don before, but he was absent from GenCon 2014. It was great to see him again. I was happy to hear from him that The Gamers movie series will continue. While we stopped by the Pulpasaurus booth to chat with George Vasilakos, also of Eden Studios, to talk some more about Conan: Rise of Monsters, I ran into Sean Patrick Fannon, who's working on the Savage Worlds edition of Forever Folio August
Rifts. I've always been somewhat curious about Rifts but have always been leery of the system. While Savage Worlds isn't my go-to system by any means, I might have to give this a try. While passing by the Cubicle 7 booth, it was our pleasure to meet the people behind the French company AKA games, who are preparing the English translations of First Contact, an alien invasion RPG using the D6 System, and Shayo, a post-apocalyptic game set in a neo-feudal Japan. Both look absolutely amazing. Keep an eye out for these two. Our Friday afternoon game was the steampunk fantasy game Edara, run by author Ryan Schoon. I wasn't too sure whether Lisa would take to this one, to be honest. As much as she loves steampunk, Edara doesn't take place in the usual Victorian England setting that appeals to her so strongly. Turns out, I needn't have worried. We both had a great time. Everything seemed to click. Ryan did a great job GMing, the setting was great fun, and the system, while seemingly pretty detailed, boiled down to a simple core mechanic that's very transparent to the player. Lisa really loved her character, too: a sneaky spell-slinging Gnome named Lucy who fought with a magic wand in each hand.
Lisa: Lucy was pretty tough and held up pretty well. In fact, all of our characters seemed highly effective. I really like this game, and Ryan did an awesome job of running it. I like that it's d12-based as well. After a trip to the food trucks to try out the official beer of the convention, Drink on and Prosper -- which was quite tasty, by the way -- it was off to Jeff Combos's 10th anniversary Hollow Earth Expedition game! Jeff managed to largely re-assemble the demo group (including yours truly) who demoed the game back in 2005, and he was kind enough to include Lisa as well.
Lisa: I was really excited about this one, since I knew how nice Jeff is and how much of an experienced game designer he is. I was truly thrilled to be a part of this group. Then Jeff dropped a bombshell on us: we were going to be the first players of Ubiquity (the Hollow Earth Expedition game mechanic) 2nd edition, which would be published38as 38
a generic system! I am very happy to report that he has addressed nearly all of my concerns about the first edition, and I strongly suspect that he's going to take care of the minor quibbles that remain. It runs like a dream and may well end up being my go-to system.
Lisa: Although the game uses an even/odd dice pool mechanic that can use any sort of dice, Jeff uses custom dice which can allow one die to stand in for multiple dice. Jeff gives you a target to beat, and you just add the dice up. I highly recommend this game for newcomers to the hobby who want to learn role-playing. For her part, Lisa did some of the best roleplaying I've ever seen her do as she played a snooty professor and dinosaur expert to my rough-and-tumble explorer.
Lisa: I figured I would try to do something totally unlike me. I liked the fact that everyone had a flaw, and if you played it up, you received Style Points in the form of poker chips. I
tried my best to earn as many as I could with my character's flaw of "condescending". While I'm obviously biased, I think she had one of the best lines of the night: Me: (while waving and yelling at a T-rex to distract it) "What's the best way to handle one of these things, Professor??" Lisa: "Not yelling at it like that!!"
Lisa: The setting is fun and also getting to act out your character is even more fun. Had a fantastic time playing this . We ran into Jeff Mechlinski on the way back to our room turns out he was in our hotel - and the two of us decided to get a late night bite to eat while Lisa got ready for bed. It's always fun talking game theory with Jeff. DAY 3 Lisa was a bit worn out on the morning of Day 3, so we regretfully canceled our morning Demonworld game. Instead, I hit the exhibit hall first thing to replenish my dice collection, having lost my dice bag the day prior - probably at the Edara game. We finally caught up with Nathaniel Dean of Reliquary Games Studio and his co-author Christopher Zeke Coughlin, allowing us to discuss their steampunk game, Clockwork: Dominion. It's an alt-historical Victorian setting with magic, a deistic cosmology with a crumbling reality, and, perhaps most interestingly, "steampunk" technology based upon real ahead-of-their-time Victorian-era inventions. We did manage to get to our afternoon game of The Singularity System, a sci-fi RPG run by author Devon Oratz with the help of the lovely and gracious Mikaela Barree. Sadly, while the setting was great military space opera and the system was rock-solid, a couple of whiny jerks made things 39
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much more difficult than they needed to be. Kudos to Devon for being a real trooper. DAY 4 Day 4 began with our game of the as-yet-unpublished Sixcess-based steampunk-in-space game Extraordinary Voyages. This was one of our favorite games at last year's GenCon, so we were very hopeful going in - even more so when we realized that the pregen characters were mostly the same ones from last year's game. Lisa and I snapped up our characters from last year: a kind of proper space-Victorian lady and a roguish spaceArab pirate.
Lisa: My character was Igrayne, an artist and playwright with detective skills and a parasol sword. Sadly, we were both a bit underwhelmed by the adventure, which consisted of an investigation that was completely pointless until we were abducted by the same force we were investigating and an escape that amounted to forcing a cell door open with brute strength. I don't hold this against the game itself, mind you, which I still consider to be a fascinating take on steampunk.
Lisa: I was really hyped but the game started off pretty badly. One lady showed up 30 minutes late, and her husband's roleplaying of a snooty upper class doctor PC seemed limited to demanding tea and someone to carry his bags. Other than that, he really didn't play that much. He told Dan to be quiet and let some other people participate, even though no one else wanted to make a move. It really put a damper on it for me. Also, the GM didn't even introduce our characters, so no one knew what skills the others had. The game just went pretty poorly. I would probably not play this game again unless I knew the GM.
afterglow of the con and can't wait to return next year!
Lisa: I had a great time this year, especially visiting all the game authors and seeing what was new coming out. I think we received more attention this year than last because of the press passes. There were all kinds of people wanting us to see how their games were played. What a fun-filled four days. So now I say goodbye to memories of GenCon 2015. Hope to see you next year! Dan Davenport is the owner of the RPG Net chatroom and keeps a regular and entertaining game blog called The Hardboiled GMshoe's Office, a place for game reviews, log archives for Q&As hosted in the chat room and general RPG thoughts.
The remainder of the day amounted to a last whirlwind tour of the exhibit hall floor. No big surprises, really - just lots of review copies and lots of fond goodbyes. We did get to visit with Joe Dever, creator of Lone Wolf gamebooks, and talk about the new Lone Wolf Adventure Game from Cubicle 7. For those not familiar with Lone Wolf, it's a fantasy setting with heroes who amount to Jedi rangers. I'm on board. We had our last meal in Indy at the Yard House at Lisa's suggestion, which turned out to be a real find. The beer selection was outstanding, and my burger and Lisa's pizza were delightful. This may be our new go-to restaurant for GenCon, and we were happy to learn that they have a location here in Dallas as well. The trip home was a bit rough. First, I didn't escape the "con crud" this year, and it was in full swing by the time we headed to the airport. Then we had an insanely long and slow line to check our luggage, and when we did get to the front of the line, my suitcase was too weighted down with review copies, forcing an emergency redistribution. The flight itself was fine, aside from agonizing ear pain as we landed, but baggage claim took at least 45 minutes due to a broken conveyor belt. But! It was all more than worth it. We're still basking in the Forever Folio August
Additional photography used under the Creative Commons license Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0, c/o Brett Spangler Brett's Images are free to re-use under the terms of this license but other images are the property of Dan Davenport.
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The Things We Leave Behind is an anthology of 5 modern day scenarios for the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game published by Chaosium Inc, edited by Jeff Moeller, and written by Brian M. Sammons, Scott Dorward, Simon Brake, and Jeff Moeller. Art by Davide Como and Stephanie McAlea. This is the first Kickstarter from Stygian Fox Publishing, Chaosium's newest licensee, but the team are no stranger to KS having been a part of many in the last few years for diverse companies including Golden Goblin Press, Miskatonic River Press and, of course, Chaosium itself. Taking its inspirational cues from Delta Green , Fargo , Blood Simple , and True Detective, the book takes a mature look at the horror of human nature and its ability to be just as disturbing as anything from the Mythos. The scenarios deal with unavoidable fates, dark secrets, and seriously bad choices made by the antagonists. As so often is the case, there are no winners when fate has trapped you in a dice game for doom or destiny. As such, some of the themes are quite mature and may be considered suitable for adult gamers only.
The funds for this Kickstarter will go towards commissioning more art from Davide Como, a fantastic Italian artist known for his dark contrast and lingering shadows. It will also help pay for a layout artist to portray the scenarios in their best (gibbous moon) light, and hiring writers of quality if the book is to expand.
THE TEAM Stygian Fox have put together an awesome collection of Cthonian favourites for this project: Jeffrey Moeller - writer on 'Mortal Coils', 'Tales of the Crescent City', and 'Ashes to Ashes'. Brian M. Sammons - writer on Terrors from Beyond, House of R'Lyeh, Atomic Age Cthulhu, and weird fiction line editor for Dark Regions Press. Scott Dorward - writer, World War Cthulhu line developer, and contributor to Nameless Horrors, The Final Revelation, and The Curse of Nineveh. Simon Brake - writer, King in Yellow servitor, contributor to upcoming horror anthologies, and Haiku wizard. 41
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Davide Como - Independent illustrator and master of dark shadows. Stephanie McAlea - cartographer on Horror on the Orient Express, 2300AD, Call of Cthulhu 7th edition, and Cthulhu by Gaslight.
THE SCENARIOS Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home by Jeff Moeller . The investigators search for an abducted child in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, where time becomes a serious concern. Forget Me Not by Brian M. Sammons . An accident in a TV truck in rural Michigan sees the investigators awake in a ditch with no recollection of how they got there. Roots by Simon Brake . Inquiries into a missing teen will teach the investigators that some mid-west communities prefer to be left alone. Hell in Texas by Scott Dorward . After a suicide at a church's east Texas Halloween haunted house, strange events threaten the lives and sanity of all those in the vicinity, including the investigators. The Night Season by Jeff Moeller shows that fandom in Anchorage, Alaska, can go too far when reality begins to shift. Stygian Fox assure us that all scenario locations can be relocated with minimal effort.
STRETCH GOALS 1st Stretch Goal - The Grand Plan - £5,000 (+£500): Extra PDF pages by Jeffrey Moeller detailing an overarching campaign idea to link the scenarios. Print customers will get these too in PDF form. 2nd Stretch Goal - Blasphemous Visions - £6,000 (+£1,500) Even more amazing art from Davide Como squeezed into the book! 3rd Stretch Goal - The Mark of Evil - £7,000 (+£2,500) A PDF portfolio of art, logos, and stationery for both some of the organizations described in the book, as well as a well-known adversary from days gone by (which figures into Stretch Goal #1 as well).
Visit the KS page, or search KS for The Things We Leave Behind...
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An irreverent miniatures roleplaying scenario written & designed by David Sharrock
HOW IT STARTS
THE PROCESS
Kingsbury on the Wold, a sleepy rural hamlet in the heart of middle-England and home to software magnates Wil and Matt Belham. Yes, THE Wil and Matt Belham, creators of Malverse, the universally renowned malware buster; Doctor Orson (the standard anti-virus software installed by default in every new version of Windmills OS) and the innovative minds behind the newly released EyePhone - contact lenses with one hundred times the power of Doodle Goggles and all the capabilities of the best smart phone (i.e. Applet Mack's 'Handy' or Japanese market leader Sham Hung's 'Andromeda').
When the shizzle hits the jizzle the army call one of two departments. The first is the SAS - Special Air Services - formed during World War II to strike the fear of Queen and Country into the Nazis. The SAS is now known worldwide as a unit for men who open beer bottles with their eyelids and crack walnuts with their testicles. They're scary and armed to the teeth. They can deal with almost any issue of national security.
Not a lot of people know that the Belham brothers live in Kingsbury on the Wold. Fewer people still know that their company (Usesoft) base their main laboratory and offices in the same place. You'd never know to look at the site from the outside. KotW has small, tumbledown cottages, a cramped church, a tiny local pub (The Lettuce Inn) and a scruffy looking village hall. Nothing to suggest the world's most powerful corporate giant uses the place as headquarters.
This was the last message to come out of Kingsbury on the Wold, a text sent to the company finance treasurer in London from an unknown employee somewhere at company HQ. Calls were made, but the lines were dead. Company execs paid a hasty visit to KotW but all contact with them was lost. The police were informed. The police investigated. The police retreated. The police contacted the army. The army contacted you. Forever Folio August
The second is the VSAS - the Very Secret Army Service formed during the 80s by Margaret Thatcher, a Prime Minister who opened gin bottles with her eyelids and cracked walnuts with other men's testicles. She liked the SAS but described them as 'a bit girly', forming the VSAS as a back up in case something really really bad ever threatened the United Kingdom, like Godzilla. The SAS have already been deployed to KotW, but contact with them has been lost, so a call finally goes out to you, the VSAS. The first call, in fact, since your team's inception back in 84! You're more than prepped, always on alert. You've trained for all eventualities. Apocalypse; mass riots, terrorist invasions, the French. And you're fast learners too. You stopped using your testicles to crack walnuts a long time ago. The smart soldier uses a nut cracker, or, failing that, someone else's head. You have guns. Lots of guns. You have knives, and grenades, and a few things considered illegal by international law. You gear up, jump in a standard issue khaki wagon driven by some chap from the regular infantry, and take a trip into the Cotswolds. Whatever this problem with Usesoft is, you'll fix it. You're ready for anything. But what you don't know is that you're not ready. Not for 45 Kingsbury on the Wold. Nobody is. 45
A SECTION ON RULES The flim has hit the flam. Your team are needed. Let's rack 'em up and knock 'em down. Huzzah!
It's a one shot roleplaying scenario. You'll need friends and someone to play gamesmaster. Don't worry, designated gamesmaster, the GM has fun in this game. It's not the out-and-out fight fest it sounds like. There is a story and players will need to put on their Sherlock Holmes heads if they want to get to the bottom of the mystery. And if they want to get out alive, they will need to get to the bottom of the mystery. If you're the GM, you need to print the graphical floorplans at the back of this issue of Forever Folio. Stick the six village sections together as shown, applying double sided tape to the edges marked 'double sided tape'. The building interiors should also be printed and cut out, but you don't need to stick them. The underground sections are printed sheet by sheet and need no cutting out or sticking. You'll lay these down one by one on top of the village map as the team explore them. Cut out the standies and assemble them too. Use the standies, plastic toy soldiers, pieces of fruit, whatever you like. Character Sheets can be found in the section called The Printed Bits. Print them, fold them, stick them. Each player gets one character and should choose the soldier they want by taking a look at the VSAS standies. At the start of the game character sheets are largely the same, except for the character name and Balls value (see below). Your soldiers are uber-badass, top of their game, second to none. When they shoot, they don't miss. When they fight, they win. They don't need combat stats. Nothing beats them. Nothing. Not even the Infected. Because Infected combat is brutal, thuggish and clumsy. They rely on grappling, persistance and strength in numbers. But more than anything else, they rely on horror. Horror is of the essence. If fear of the Infected gets to you and twists you up inside, you're done. When they get to you physically, you're more done. There is no 'damage' you're either toast or you're alive, and, speaking of toast, the Infected are about to spread your brains on theirs. Stats reflect horror, not skill. Soldiers in the VSAS don't have time to bleed. Flesh wounds are patched up and pain is disconnected. The thing is, Infected don't go in for flesh wounds, bruising or broken bones. They FEAST and they do so with feral abandon. The trick is to stay calm, or at least not to get overwhelmed. Forever Folio August
You select the most immediate threat, but self doubt tweaks your ear. Are you sure it's the most immediate threat? A split second hesitation and the snarl of the Infected bearing down on you from behind is the last thing you hear. Bad times. If there's one thing you know inside out, it's guns. Guns are just your own arms filled with bullets as far as you're concerned. But even the perfect marksman runs out of rounds mid-fight, or fails to reload, or forgets to flick off the safety. Yes, you have the right weapon to take out that Infected horror running hell for leather in your direction, but did you remember to lube up with gun oil? Reflexes suffer when the mind is dulled by the constant wearing grind of fear and confusion and clarity is numbed by panic overload. Your team are trained for this, but even the strongest fighter will succumb to the whetstone of unending terror. The value of Rs begins at 12, indicating complete combat readiness. You're sharper than Benedict Cumberbatch with a sharpie and a penknife, you're cooler than Coolio reclining in a cooler. Your gear's wired down and your mettle is up. You're ready to knock the enemy into the middle of next week where you'll hunt them down and turn them into bolognese. Nothing can faze you. When the game rules call for an Rs roll you grab d12 and roll that sucker, aiming to get a result lower than your Rs. Don't screw up! If you roll a value the same as, or bigger than your Rs, you fumble the safety, you forget to reload in time, you choose the wrong target, you're giving in to panic. The horror is overwhelming. Calm down! Every time you fail an Rs roll, you lose one point from Rs. See how this works? The more you succumb to panic, the worse you perform. But cheer up, every time you succeed an Rs roll and provided your Rs isn't already at the optimum value of 12, you gain one point in your Rs. Your confidence high fives itself. You regain your mojo. Yay! Cats are predators, calm and serene to behold but filled with a potentially vicious, spitting, hissing insanity of feline fury. Ask any mouse, he'll tell you. Pussy Factor represents your inner feline fire, your ability to switch on the blue flame of rage at a moments notice. As you lose Pussy Factor points, fear suppresses the inner beast. You go from lion to weasel and before your thoughts turn to splitting skulls they turn to running away really fast. Pussy Factor starts with a value of 24. Your inner cat is poised, eyes shining in the dark, piercing the night in readiness for signs of prey. At a moments notice you can spring to full readiness and tear limb from limb. 46 46
When the rules call for a Pussy roll grab 2d12 and roll baby roll. You're aiming to roll less than your Pussy Factor value and if you do so, good times. You unleash the beast and do your job. Your mother would be so proud if she could see your blood soaked self right now. Don't screw up! If you screw up and roll the same as or more than your Pussy Factor, you fail to plug-in to that inner volcano, the wild animal within. Instead you make contact with that pathetic nugget of self-preservation that huddles rocking and sobbing somewhere in the deepest recess of your soul. It looks like Yoda and sounds like Mickey Mouse. Bad times. Every time you fail a Pussy roll, you lose 1 point of Pussy Factor. The bad news is, you don't regain a point of Pussy Factor if you succeed a check. Here's the rub. Your Rs value can never exceed your Pussy Factor value. Example time: if your Rs has a value of 12 and as a result of constant screw ups your Pussy Factor drops to 11, you have to immediately reduce Rs to 11 too. What's more, you can no longer increase Rs above 11. Uh oh. Remember when Hudson lost it big time and Ripley had to yell at him "deal with your shit because we need you right now!" You remember that? Hudson pulled his shit together and you know why? Because deep down he was a team player, that's why. He transcended his selfish desire to wig out, locked and loaded and knuckled down to some serious soldiering. Like the well oiled team players in a ball game, your crack unit also have the ability to transcend their own individual pain in order to serve their brothers in arms. But more than this, how many balls can your man keep in the air at the same time before he drops them all? In short, how much stress and horror can you manage before the needs of the few, or the many, no longer outweigh the needs of the one and the need to turn tail and run screaming like a girl for the nearest exit.
with pulling yourself together. You're in some real pretty shit now. A world of pain and there's no clawing your way out. Once again, bad times. Every time you make a Balls roll, whether you fail or succeed, you lose one of your Balls (as in one point from your Balls value). You can't regain Balls. There's no comeback from behaving like a total tool in front of your comrades. Well, there is one, but you're not gonna like it. It's called 'pulling a Vasquez' and requires you flick the pin on a grenade, clutch that sucker in your sweaty fist and run like a madman into the open arms of the snarling horde. Kaboom! Splurge! - you're redeemed; your Balls value sky-rockets back to 12. Trouble is, the rest of you sky-rockets too and the only thing that subsequently survives to bask in the admiration of your comrades is red in colour and quivers. Speaking of things that are red in colour and quiver, there's a saying in England, reserved for those who stumble across twenty pound notes lying in the middle of the road, who attract women with extraordinary cleavages without even trying, who narrowly avoid being run over by a car whose driver subsequently turns out to be an extremely apologetic Emma Watson fresh from her breast enlargement op who subsequently offers to make up for her near fatal driving error with a dinner date. Not all uses of the saying apply to cleavage-related events, but many do. The term is Jammy. You sir, are Jammy for winning the lottery twice in a row. You sir, are Jammy for being born with exceptional genetics, thus allowing you to waste your life as a ridiculously highly paid swimwear model whilst I must toil thanklessly at my conveyor belt factory job. You
Balls encompasses all this as a numerical value. All characters begin with a Balls value of 12. They're fresh from training, the various lethal limbs of a single organic fighting machine. If one man throws a ball, another will know five seconds beforehand he was about to do so and will catch the ball without looking. There are no secrets or surprises. The team are as one. When the game rules call for a Balls roll, grab 1d12 and roll for your life, because most times your Balls will drag you back from the brink, back from that unhappy place where all failures go. Except failures in the real world don't get their faces eaten off by a hundred slavering Infected if they mess up. So don't mess up! You're aiming to roll less than your Balls value. If you roll the same or more than your Balls your inner demons win. To hell with the team. To hell 47
sir are an insufferable Jammy for repeatedly getting a raise and promotion while I languish in my basement cubicle. And so on and so forth.
out the gooey mush within. If you don't want them to do that, you'll need to fight. Luckily, fighting's what you do best and what you came here to do.
So, Jam represents your general relationship with Lady Luck. The size and quality of lady luck's cleavage is, in this instance, immaterial. What matters is whether she likes you or loathes you. For some reason, there's rarely an in-between.
Weapon types, fighting ability, the selection of suitable gun models, ammo and other nitty gritty considerations that come second nature to a crack special forces pro but will probably baffle the average twinkie feasting tabletop gamer are more or less sorted out by the character when the need arises. So that's nice.
Jam is the only value you need to roll up at character gen. Roll 1d6 and add 6 to the result. Jam is a fall-back stat which you'll use at the last, when all else fails. You can't screw up Jam. Jam screws you. When the game rules call for a Jam Roll, throw down 1d12, aiming for a result less than your Jam. If you succeed, happy days. The Infected stumbles on a lose stone and falls before he can grab you. The safety slips off on its own and you can fire after all. You didn't empty the clip, you just had the safety on. You feel the soft caress of Lady Luck's fingers on the back of your head. There there. Lady Luck will kiss it better (this time). If you roll the same as, or greater than, your Jam, Lady Luck does her trademark switcheroo and gives you the finger. The outcome of any given event remain entirely unaffected by fate and que sera sera. That's gotta hurt. Load points represent the amount of - or to use the military term, units of - ammunition you have available to lock, load and shoot. Actually Load is probably better described as being representative of firepower, since it can also be used to inform the number of grenades the player can hurl into enemy lines. If you shoot your entire Load, your Load can be replenished, but don't hold your breath. Use your Load wisely because you don't roll dice with Load, you spend it. And when you've spent your Load, you're out and you have pretty much nothing between you and the hungry Infected horde except your ability to run. Avoid spraying your Load arbitrarily into the faces of your enemy, shooting off large spurts in one go, or splurging your whole load prematurely so you have nothing left for later. OK, enough with the double entendres. Lesson: reserve your ammo because your ammo is your friend. Each character begins the game with a full Load of 100 points.
HOW WE FIGHT
Time to learn some rules. The village of Kingsbury on the Wold is filled with crazed infected zombie-like creatures, once human but now far from human. They want one thing, and that's brains. Or more precisely, the pituitary gland wherein the human soul resides, which just so happens to be within the vicinity of the brain. In order to reach this gland the infected wish to tear off your head and scoop Forever Folio August
As already mentioned, soldiers in VSAS units are too highly trained and too highly cool to miss their target or fail a kill shot just because you fumble the dice. They're not Imperial Storm Troopers, they're exceptionally well trained killers. So the actual combat part of the combat rules is largely assumed to just, well, happen. The player must, instead, choose a strategy, decide what actions to take, where to go, where to direct firepower and so on. Rolls reflect the soldier's ability to keep his cool, his clarity of thought and his courage. When Infected appear - and they will appear in large numbers - the characters will have two options. Run and barricade or Stand and fight. There's no shame in the tactical retreat. VSAS are the cream of their particular crop, their crop being the uppermost tier of the army's smartest and most proficient fighters, many levels above officer material. They have guns and muscle, but they also have brains and they know that last stands, while impressive and fun to read about in history books, are not tactically smart. Nobody ever used Custer as a shining example of military smarts. The guy had a cool moustache and knew how to kick arse, but ultimately he lacked the brains that give real professional soldiers that extra edge and as a result, a lot of people died. A lot. So may the first player who complains that running away and shoring up windows and doors is the cowards option receive a thorough frowning. Run away by all means. Shore up by all means. Just be sure you have a back way out, because eventually, and in almost every instance, the barricade will be broken down. More information about barricading can be found in the GM's Canteen section - stuff for the GM to read about and unecessary detail here. Fighting is fine so long as you have something to fight with. You don't want to get into hand to hand with an Infected if you can avoid doing so. They don't fight fair and the motivation is different. You want to bring them down, take them out of action, but you lack any compunction to eat them. They want to eat you. See the difference? The difference, in case it isn't entirely obvious, is largely a question of fighting off fists, feet and occassionally a 48
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When the Infected Attack (Player Characters) If an Infected enters a square directly adjacent to a player character (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) the character unsheaths a seriously big knife, or turns the butt of his machine gun on his assailant and brings him down. Hardcore! But close quarters combat with crazed Infected is unnerving as hell. The player must deduct 1 point from his Pussy Factor for every Infected he takes down (remembering that the Rs score cannot exceed Pussy Factor and must be reduced if the point loss from one affects the other). ď ś
Any one character can be surrounded by a maximum eight Infected at any given time, assuming there are eight free squares around him (Infected cannot enter squares occupied by a character or squares marked with a circle and cannot pass or fight through a wall. They can fight or pass through doors and windows that are not shored up, but only into adjacent squares).
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If the number of Infected surrounding a character exceeds his Pussy Factor score, the character is overwhelmed and killed, but not before he takes down a number of his attackers equal to his Pussy Factor. He immediately rises as an Infected himself and the GM moves him as though he were a standard Infected enemy. Squeezing Off Rounds
well placed head butt, compared with fighting off claws, teeth, the spray of infected blood and spittle, and insistent, merciless body slamming. The second tends always to win, particularly when the fighter using Queensbury rules finds himself overwhelmed by the pressing throng of a gang of Infected all trying to turn him into hors-d'oeuvres. So firearms are what's needed. Luckily you have these, and plenty of ammo (at least to begin with). So here's how you shoot. Combat Rounds (Original huh) Predictably, gun-based-combat works with combat rounds. Each round starts with the player to GM's left and then rolls around the table, ending with the player to GM's right. Everyone who can fight and who wants to fight should, therefore, get the chance to fight. The only rule is, you can't fight with guns if you've already shot your entire Load. Instead, go look for ammo! The GM Moves The Horde At the end of each combat round (after player to GM's right has had his or her go), the GM has a go. The GM moves all Infected present on the game map a maximum 2 squares in any direction per enemy, either vertically or horizontally but not diagonally (this pertains only to movement. Infected can still fight diagonally). See The GM's Canteen for more details on moving Infected, especially non-standard Infected.
Select your target or targets. You can select a number of targets the same as or fewer than your Rs value, but no more. Point your chosen targets out so the GM knows. Make an Rs roll. If you succeed, you fire and you hit. You only make one roll per attack, not per target. Deduct a number of points from Load equal to the number of targets you selected. Every shot is a head shot. Blammo/Splurge! Targets are killed without exception and removed from the map. Then let another player take a shot. Targets must be within 10 squares and there must be a clear line of sight. The GM will decide if there is a clear line of sight, not the player. Trees, walls, buildings and other characters will all get in the way but other Infected won't. Use common sense. What happens if you fail your Rs roll? Bad news for you. You lose one point of Rs to start with and you fail to take down 1d6 targets. The ones you fail are always the ones furthest away, selected in any order by the GM. If the d6 roll exceeds targets chosen, you fail all targets. You don't miss your shot, you simply act too slowly and fail to squeeze off as many rounds as you intended. Your clip runs dry maybe, or your weapon jams (not the good kind of jam this time). If your Pussy Factor is running low, it's likely you're suffering from an overload of terror. The horror is ruining your ability to perform as surely as it would if you were trying to have sex with Miley Cyrus / Kanye West*. *Gender/sexual orientation specific joke. Delete as applicable.
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Rolling Your Balls If things look grim and you know you're gonna die, tell the GM you want to roll your Balls. Go ahead. Tell him. Remember you're rolling 1d12, aiming to roll less than Balls. Roll the same, or greater than Balls and you have only one chance left (see Begging For a Jam Roll). If you succeed Balls, deduct one point from Balls. If you fail Balls, deduct one point from Balls. Honestly, everyone saw you wimp out and people have really long memories when it comes to stuff like that. If you succeed your Balls roll, you may increase either Rs or Pussy Factor by a number of points equal to the amount of Balls you have. You can spread your Balls between Rs and Pussy as you see fit but you cannot increase the value of your Rs above 12 and you cannot increase the value of your Pussy Factor above 24. The GM must decide how the successful Balls roll translates in game, not the player. There are just two rules: the result must be favourable and the player character cannot die in this combat round. Begging For a Jam Roll Screwed up your Rs? Dropped your Balls? Gonna die a hideous death imminently? Sucks to be you. Time to beg the GM for a Jam roll. Jam roll requests can be made any time, for any reason, but will probably prove most useful when you've just failed a do-or-die Balls roll. The GM is not obliged to give you a Jam roll and may choose not to do so if he thinks you don't deserve it. Maybe you ran like a lunatic into the midst of the infected and right now you think a Jam roll will get you out the other side. Nope. Maybe you're trying to use Lady Luck to find that thing you lost, or charm some hapless NPC into thinking you're the best thing since sliced muffin. Nope. Or maybe yes. It really depends on the GM and his mood. It possibly also depends on how much sucking up the players do to the GM during their game. How many cups of coffee they make him, how many friendly winks they send his way, how many sticky toffees they share with him and not the others. The GM may not request Jam rolls or suggest them. If the GM's girlfriend/boyfriend is playing, the GM should please try not to show bias. Firing Grenades Grenades are used to clear out a bunch of Infected in one fell swoop. As always, the character hits his target no problem. No Rs roll is required, but a character may only fire one grenade per combat round and may not move or shoot a weapon in the same round. Nor can he throw a grenade if an Infected occupies an adjacent square and can attack him from that square. The grenade must hit a target 5 squares away from the nearest player character and no more than 10 squares
away from the character firing the grenade. Line of sight does not apply. The player points to where he wants the grenade to land and the GM lays down the Grenade Splat (a graphical explosion found at the back of the zine with the rest of the game graphics). All Infected completely covered by the splat are destroyed. The splat does not need to be centred on the middle of a specific square. Grenades cost 25 Load points, however, so players should use them sparingly. Going Psycho Zombie Process is meant to be fun, but is also a team game and there's a story to be told. It may sound like a splatterfest, but it actually wants to be a bit more than that. No, really. It does. Well, anyway, there needs to be a few ground rules. So if players + imaginary guns + imaginary setting = arbitrary slaughter of anything that moves, the GM (and players) should note the following: If any player (with apparently good reason or not) kills a member of his own team, all team member Pussy Factor values drop to 12 and the killer's Pussy Factor drops to 2. Moreover, his Rs value is reduced by 1d12 and his Balls value is reduced to 1. Killing another player character should be considered an all-round dumb thing to do and the GM may now reserve the right to point blank refuse any Jam roll request the killer makes. If any player (with apparently good reason or not) kills a civilian NPC, all team member Pussy Factor drops to 12 and the killer's Pussy Factor drops to 6. Moreover, his Rs value is reduced by 1d6 and his Balls value is reduced by 1d12. Fighting Inside a Building or Underground The Infected gain an advantage when fighting inside as their mindless violence will not take into account the restrictive space and they will quickly pile in to overwhelm their prey. As soon as all empty squares in any given floor of a building are occupied by Infected, all characters present in that building lose 1 point from their Pussy Factor when any one Infected is killed.
THE GM'S CANTEEN This is where the GM can hang out and learn stuff. Players close your eyes. First a few more bits and bobs about rules, then the game proper. Doors and windows must be barricaded. Until players find something to barricade them with, they'll have to use themselves. One player character (or willing NPC) 50
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must be posted on the non-violent side of the door or window where it is assumed they cling desperately to the door handle while the Infected try to wrench it open or fight off the flailing claws of Infected trying to grasp through a smashed window. Barricading items are self explanatory. Floorboards, smashed up wooden things, interior doors and so on are all good. They won't stick without the magic of nails, so nails, hammers, or better yet a nailgun must all be found. The team came to fight, not to hide, so they didn't bring any of this stuff with them. The GM should award a barricade score to any door or window depending on how much barricading the player team do. Barricading takes time, as does exploration and searching for suitable stuff to use for barricading. No barricade leaps to its maximum level just because one clever player tore up a floorboard. Imagine the finished result in your head. How sturdy does it look? Is the wood rotten? What, in short, are the chances the rampaging and exceptionally maniac Infected will smash through? Give a barricade value between 1 (won't last five seconds) to as high as you think it necessary to go. As a rule of thumb, 20 is probably high enough (some good shoring, 10 out of 10, would shore again). Most barricades will eventually break, unless the players manage to source a bank vault door lying around the place. Don't forget to be nice and let them find at least one hammer. When the Infected Attack (Doors and Windows) When the number of Infected massing outside a door or window exceeds the door or window's Barricade value, they smash through. End of story, no exceptions. This begins with one Infected occupying a square adjacent to the door or window (presumably on the outside). Any Infected that then occupy a square adjacent to that square add their strength to the overall attack against the door/window. Any Infected that then occupy squares adjacent to those squares also add their strength and so on. A single character can hold off no more than 5 Infected, so as soon as 6 Infected combine their strength against the door or window defended by a character or NPC, they break through. The character defending the door/window is pushed back one square and all squares surrounding him are immediately populated by Infected who move from outside to inside. The same happens if a barricade is broken and a character occupies the space directly inside the door/window. Note 1: Infected can only attack downstairs windows and doors, unless there's a balcony connected by exterior stairs, as there is outside The Lettuce Inn. However, Infected who break into a building can climb stairs to attack interior doors. The same barricading rule should apply to these doors as to exterior doors. Note 2: Infected cannot climb ladders or ropes. Forever Folio August
Note 3: Infected won't look for another way in if they can't get through a door, but will instead try to stay as close to their prey as they can. In other words, if the player characters stay put, the horde will grow but will continue to attack the same door or window. If the characters start exploring the interior of a building, however, they risk drawing the Infected around like iron filings on a magnet and bringing them to a less well shored up door/window. What an Infected wants more than anything else in the whole wide world is brains. More specifically, they want the contents of the pituitary gland situated in the human skull and will go to any lengths to get it. If they believed in Santa and were placed upon his knee in a grotto filled with Christmas music and happy elves the one thing they'd ask for is a nice juicy pituitary gland. They'd get it too. And the result would be messy. The elves wouldn't be happy anymore. The pituitary, like most glands, gives off a powerful aroma which only the Infected can smell. Actually, aroma is an entirely misleading word here, as the energy waves expanding from the pituitary are more like electro-magnetic radiation and the Infected are somehow as expert at detecting this as dogs when it comes to locating butts to sniff. If the Infected wanted to sniff butts the player team would face an entirely different challenge. As it is, they don't. They want, very much, to feast on the pituitary gland and any associated flesh, which means tearing the container - aka human owner - to pieces to get at it. So when moving the Infected, the GM should always move them toward the nearest human brain. They don't want anything else and they won't be distracted. Pretty flowers don't interest them. They won't run screaming at their own reflection. They can't strategize or reason and they won't suddenly realize the futility of it all and sit down for a long hard think. Even fire doesn't faze them. The Infected are, to all intents and purposes, brain sourcing, gland feasting, killing machines hell bent on their task. They don't feel pity, or remorse, and they absolutely will not stop, ever, until the player characters are dead, or at least until the player characters have given up their tasty tasty glands. Begin the game by letting the players explore the village a bit. Don't be too quick to inundate them with enemies. The Infected have long since eaten the villagers and are out wandering in the woods looking further afield for their brain quota. They will soon home in on the new, powerful waves of pituitary goodness wafting through the trees, however, and will reconverge on the village. Every real life minute introduce 1d12 Infected to the squares bordering the edge of the game map. Don't be afraid to overwhelm the players. That's partly what the 51
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game is about. The irrepressible and constant influx of moaning, shambling Infected will lend a sense of urgency to the player game and keep things moving. The Infected move at a uniform 2 squares per combat round. If no combat is going on, assume this is 2 squares every 1 real life minute (more or less - not an exact science). Having a clock within view might help but isn't strictly necessary. Something weird is going down in Kingsbury on the Wold, weirder even than the wandering viral horde shuffling in from the woods. Every once in a while this wierdness will make its presence known in the form of an Uber Infected. Ubers are not human. God only knows what they were to begin with, if there ever was a to begin with , but what they are now is something too horrific to contemplate. No sane world of logic, reason, outspoken atheists and sensible dress codes should have to deal with this sort of thing. Unfortunately, sanity just pogo-sticked out the window, so deal with it the world must. The Uber are terrifying to behold and vary from merely disgusting to look at to awesome in power and violence. You'll find a bunch of them below, along with their 'special powers'. Use them sparingly. Don't overdo it as the players will be sure to meet more Ubers if they start exploring the village thoroughly and make the classic mistake of assuming all interior spaces are safe. They ain't. Hide Infected everywhere!
Because these rules are in simple read-and-play format, the GM will need to think on his or her feet when players do crazy things. Jumping from windows, clambering around on rooftops, climbing into trees these are the kinds of standard acrobatic adventures likely to occur.
factor is between 1 and 6. If the roll result is less than the Risk Factor no damage is incurred by the player character. If the result is the same as, or greater than the Risk Factor, damage is incurred in the form of weakened resolve and the player loses 1 point from his Pussy Factor. As already mentioned, the application of skills is a somewhat moot point, since each player character can be considered not only a jack of all trades, but a master of all trades too. Rolls are pointless, succeeding nineteen times out of twenty. Where the GM decides that courage, a steady hand, clarity of thought, focus and other mental faculties are crucial to the execution of a skill or action he should call for a Pussy Factor roll (2d12, aiming to roll less than). Note, that combat rolls are always made using Rs (1d12 aiming to roll less than) and rolls to recover from abject failure and probable impending death should always be Balls rolls (1d12, aiming to roll less than). Where a Pussy Factor roll fails, the character succumbs to the stress and the constant pressure of inescapable horror. His knowledge, expertise and ability are all there, but he's in a bad place and can't hold his tool steady or control his own body. Remember that any Pussy Factor roll will cost the player 1 point of Pussy Factor, whether the roll succeeds or fails, so you should only apply rolls where the pressure is truly intense (attempting to pick a lock on an exterior door while the horde are just a couple of squares away, for example, or trying to remember a crucial piece of information while fighting off a throng of Infected).
As fabulously talented soldiers, ability rolls would be wasted on the player characters. If they leap from a window, assume they land and roll with expert precision, suffering any cuts and breaks with the true grit of one whose training has taught him how to sever the connection between pain and brain. Not to say the damage won't cost the character, but the cost won't come in the form of Hit Points, or skill values. Instead, the cost is suffered in mental exhaustion and a slow, drip-feed relinquishing of courage to the invasive tendrils of horror. When a character performs some action which the GM thinks might result in damage, he should make a Risk Roll. The Risk Roll is made with 1d12, the GM applying in his head a value (a Risk Factor) indicating how likely or unlikely damage is, with 1 being very likely and 12 being extremely unlikely. As a general rule of thumb a roll should only be considered necessary if the Risk Forever Folio August
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THE SCENARIO GM: lay down the village, set up the character standies (or miniatures) at location 1, take a deep breath and read aloud the following:
Kingsbury on the Wold, a sleepy rural hamlet in the heart of middle-England and home to software magnates Wil and Matt Belham. Yes, THE Wil and Matt Belham, creators of some of the most innovative soft and hardware in the world. Few people know that the Belham brothers live in Kingsbury on the Wold. Fewer know still that their mega-corporation (Usesoft) base their main laboratory and offices in the same place. Kingsbury on the Wold is formed of small, tumbledown cottages, a cramped church, a tiny local pub (The Lettuce Inn) and a scruffy looking village hall. Nothing to suggest the world's most powerful software giant uses the place as headquarters. The last communication to come out of Kingsbury on the Wold was a text message sent to the company finance treasurer in London from an unknown employee somewhere at company HQ. The text simply read: "it's All Gone Tits Up".
They don't go down easy. Head shots do the job, but otherwise they just keep coming and don't seem to feel pain at all. Compared with the woods, Kingsbury looks alright really. The kind of place you might waste a sunny Sunday afternoon, strolling under the shade of the trees and admiring the quaintness of it all. There's no sign of life. No sign of the villagers, the police, the special ops who preceded your arrival. The place is derelict. The air is silent. No birds. No wind. Nothing. The only thing you notice is a slight buzzing in the air, like static electricity but somehow different. The following Infected can be introduced to the game map by the GM at any point, but it is advisable to introduce 1d12 standard Infected every real-life minute or so, or every combat round if rounds are underway. The GM should aim to distribute Infected on the south, west and northern side of the game map, but not the east. Any Infected introduced to the map must be positioned initially on any of the outer edge squares.
Calls were made, but the lines were dead. Company execs paid a hasty visit to Kingsbury but all contact was lost. The police were informed. The police investigated. The police contacted the army and the army called in the SAS, Special Air Services, British special ops of the highest order. Well. Nearly the highest order. When the SAS vanished into Kingsbury without trace, the army contacted the actual highest order. The VSAS. The Very Secret Army Service. You. You've trained for this moment for many long years, waiting in the wings for your chance to shine. You were commissioned in '84 by the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as a stand-by for some unknown atrocity. The apocalypse. An invasion by communist Russia. Aliens. Who knew. Nobody ever specified. Thatcher wanted a force not only to be reckoned with, but to be chained down and unleashed only as a very last resort. Until now, nobody knew what a last resort looked like. You stand at the entrance to Kingsbury on the Wold, loaded down with state of the art weaponry and body armour. Information is minimal. Your briefing was horribly insufficient. The SAS scouts outside the perimeter observed their comrades going in, but nobody came back out and all comms went dead. All you know is that the woods surrounding the village are filled with crazed maniacs who, experts seem to believe, are infected with some kind of viral disease. You've shot a few yourself.
Standard Infected Once human. Perhaps still human. Some look like they're dead. Others look fresh and vital but crazed. Whatever they are, the Infected are beyond redemption. They want one thing - the brains of the living, or more specifically, the pituitary gland wherein the soul resides. Because it seems that if the Infected lack one thing, it's soul man. Standard Infected shamble at a rate of 2 squares every combat round, or every minute or so of real-time. They head straight for the brains, which they can home in on with unnerving accuracy. Noise doesn't draw them. Smell doesn't draw them. Light seems to have no effect and they don't fear fire. What they respond to is brains and nothing else. One Load point will destroy one standard Infected. If a standard Infected is caught under a grenade splat, the explosion is deemed to have destroyed them completely. Blammo! Splurge! 53
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Grenade Splat, with the centre right over the Repulser's last position. Any player character caught in the explosion (i.e. covered by the splat) loses another 1 point of Pussy Factor. The Repulser seems more intelligent than standard Infected and will head toward the player characters but won't seem to be mindlessly drawn toward them. Instead it will try to position itself in order to best perform its unique mode of attack.
Mister Chuckles As if to confirm the absurdity of the horror descending on Kingsbury village, a hideous chuckling is heard coming from the depths of the woods. Something shambles out of the shadows, orange wig flecked with blood, gaping mouth ornamented with bright red lipstick, jaunty waistcoat hanging in tatters and big floppy shoes dragging on the ground. What is this thing? What does it want? And what's so funny anyway? Simply put, it's a twisted, brain-sprained nightmare, a thing from the deepest recesses of human fear manifest in brightly coloured clothing, crusty make-up and a squashy red nose. So basically just a clown. Chuckles is exactly the same as the other Infected, but more hideous to look at and more likely to trigger dormant childhood phobias. Repulser Larger than the other Infected and uglier by far (which is saying something) the Repulser sports the kind of face you'd normally expect to see on a Metallica album cover and a cranium that seems to be made of writhing blood-red maggots drenched in blood and then dipped in tomato ketchup for good measure. When the Repulser gets within 5 squares of any player character its huge distended head throbs like a beating heart and waves of disorienting energy pulses outward. Anyone caught within this 5 square radius loses 1d6 Pussy Factor. The rebounding waves are vampiric and steal courage itself from the soul of the target. Having served its nefarious purpose, the Repulser cackles nastily. Its head throbs faster and its boney jaw works up and down like a broken see-saw. Finally the creature explodes, showering the vicinity with blood, gore, bone and putrid foulness. The GM lays down the
The Repulser's vampiric pulse passes through walls, doors and expands in all directions, so will affect both upstairs and downstairs locations. The pulse does not, however, pass through the ground so will have no effect on characters who are underground if the Repulser is standing overhead. The Repulser moves at 2 squares per combat round, or every real life minute (roughly). In order to destroy the Repulser a character must expend 3 Load points instead of the usual 1. Load points must be inflicted in the same combat round, but may be inflicted by different characters. If players fail to inflict 3 Load points in one combat round the Repulser's wounds heal and it's strength is fully replenished. The Repulser will, under no circumstances, willingly enter a square adjacent to a player character or NPC and will not join in attacks on doors or windows. Frank Furter Largest of the Infected to be found wandering above ground, the floor shakes, as does his enormous, distended paunch, when Frank Furter lumbers into sight. Fat with the brains of his victims whose souls can 54
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be seen writhing in his stomach, human faces pressing against the flesh of his belly. Simply seeing Frank Furter requires all players to make a Pussy Factor roll (2d12 aiming to roll less than Pussy Factor). Anyone who fails loses 1 point of Pussy Factor. Anyone who succeeds loses no points. Frank Furter is a seemingly intelligent, demonic monstrosity. He gives off waves of soul energy which draws the other Infected to him and, though they recognise him as one of their own and won't attempt to attack him, they will flock to him as though he were a living human brain. He will then draw them toward the most likely spot where their combined mass can be put to good use, smashing in a door or attacking player characters and NPCs out in the open.
Carver Mupp Players who think themselves safe because they have cleverly squirrelled themselves away in an upstairs room will come to dread the sight of Carver Mupp as he gangles over the walls of the village and comes scuttling toward their hidey hole. With the body of something resembling a cross between a scorpion, a spider-gone-wrong and a stretchy man toy, Carver Mupp is fast and tall enough to reach upstairs windows and his arms are long enough to reach through those windows to attack anyone hiding inside. Carver moves at a rate of 5 squares per combat round, or every real-life minute (more or less). Like other Infected he is drawn to brains, but unlike other Infected he can target upstairs windows. When he makes this kind of attack he counts as 6 standard Infected, so unless the window is well shored up, he will have little difficulty smashing the glass and reaching inside. He can attack anyone within three squares of the window and he counts as 6 attacking standard Infected when he does. He can also attack characters and NPCs caught in the open and in this instance he also counts as 6 standard Infected. Players will need to expend 40 Load points to destroy Carver Mupp, so the GM should be wary of introducing him too often. All 40 points must be expended in the same combat round (though they may be expended by different players) otherwise Carver will heal before the next wave of attacks.
Frank Furter moves 3 squares per combat round, if combat rounds are underway, or approximately every real life minute of gameplay. He requires the expending of 15 Load points to take down, instead of the usual 1. All 15 points must be expended in the same combat round (though they may be expended by different players) otherwise Frank will heal before the next wave of attacks. If Frank enters a square adjacent to a player character his presence counts as 4 standard Infected instead of 1 and when he adds his strength to a mob attacking a door or window he similarly counts as 4 standard Infected. Frank is too large to enter through a window or door and will instead linger outside while the general horde rampage into the building. 55 Forever Folio August
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The following is a key to the above ground map for the village of Kingsbury on the Wold. The GM should note that player characters enter the village at location 1 and all Infected are position on available squares at the outermost edge of either the north, south or western side of the map, but not the eastern side which is inaccessible. Infected may enter this area from other parts of the map if the skirt around the wall surrounding the village, but the GM should not start them off there. Important Notes on the Force Field The GM should note that a strange energy forcefield is in effect upon the village and that this prevents all electronic equipment, including phones, computers, laptops, radios and so on from working. The field covers the village like an impenetrable, invisible cube and doubles as a one way barrier. Anyone may walk freely through the wall of the cube from the outside, but they cannot then walk back out and if they try they will smash up against some kind of invisible, unbreakable wall. Even the superior firepower carried into the village by the player team will not damage the field which must be switched off at the source. Only the Infected can come and go as they please through the force field. Players will most like discover this lack of electrical power as soon as one of their number has the idea to radio for backup or an air strike. Just as Important Notes on Gun-Crazed Players It's a terrible thing. You've played with... let's call him Mike... in that quiet little D&D campaign for many years now and he's always seemed like a cool guy. He came to your wedding. He likes your super narcissistic posts on Facebook. He wears humourous t-shirts. But now you've put heavy modern weaponry in his hands and something seems to snap inside. He gets that 'look' in his eyes. Other players start to feel nervous, though they're not sure why. The cat goes to hide under the couch. The lightbulb starts to flicker and Mike starts to come out with stuff like "you might want to stand back. This is gonna get messy." Before you know it, good old Mike is firing off grenades at the village steeple just because F&%k it. You discover, much to your horror, that Mike is the guy Heath Ledger was talking about when he told Batman that some people just want to see the world burn. Yeah, Mike wants to watch the world burn, and right now he wants to burn up your neat little game. Thought it would be fun to print a one-shot zombie thing off the internet did ya? Some beers. Some laughs. Yeah. Not on Mike's watch. Fear not. The buildings of Kingsbury on the Wold have been somehow and (conveniently) affected by the force
field. The stone walls and rooftops are impregnable to damage. They represent boundaries, and are therefore marked by the logic of the force field to be included within its range of effect. Doors and windows, on the other hand, are thresholds and portals. The force field ignores these, leaving them vulnerable (there are, of course, no doors or windows around the outside edge of the village boundary, and no, where the roads come in don't count as thresholds, the force field recognizes them instead as deux ex machina and stubbornly refuses to include them in the narrative. So there you have it. Grenades and bullets will bounce harmlessly off the village buildings and structures (including the monument which players are sure to start hurling grenades at once they realise it's the key to getting into Usesoft's headquarters). As for hurling grenades at NPCs or other player characters, I refer you to the section entitled Going Psycho on page 50, and strongly advise, as an afterthought, that you sit down and have a really long talk with Mike about his inner demons. 1 A Picturesque Village The player team arrive here. A low wall surrounds the village, too high for Infected to clamber over (except for Carver Mupp and Frank Furter). On either side of this open gateway are two sentry posts and the remains of a rising barrier painted with red and white stripes. The barrier has been smashed off and is not here. If the sentry posts are examined one houses a post box and the other is an actual sentry post with a small booth for a security guard. Inside is a list of names on a clip board marked with the Usesoft logo (a W above an M, for Wil and Matt Belham) and on the floor is a name tag marked 'Justin Security' and the name 'Rod Curtains' with a passport style photograph of a man in a security officer's hat. 2 The Lettuce Inn Ground Floor (Bar): the front door here is unlocked, the lock has been smashed and there are bloody handprints on the wood. The inn sign shows a lettuce sitting in a field. It hangs on one hinge and swings with an ominous creaking. Inside the bar is empty. There's a blood stain on the floor and a bloody handprint on the bar, but otherwise it's Mary Celeste all over again. Beer (now stale) stands 57
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half consumed and here and cigarette butts have burned down their entire length in ashtrays, leaving long cylinders of perfectly preserved ash. The window is barred with wood which has been nailed to the wooden frame. GM, award this window a Barricade value of 4 from the get go. The back door here has been chained shut with a hefty chain and padlock. A note is pinned to the door and reads " Hello there. Just popped out for some milk.
Please help yourself to beer but please, in the name of God, do not open this [illegible] door . Sorry." Shortly after entering the bar the group will hear scrabbling on the outside of the back door. 3 Infected are out there and are just starting to get wind of the human presence in the pub. Stairs lead up to the first floor. First Floor (Landing and Guest Room): A guest bedroom with stairs leading to an observation tower with views out over the village. All doors here are unlocked and windows are not barred. The door to the external balcony is vulnerable because of the exterior stairs leading to the road outside. The Infected can climb stairs and will do so if they sense humans on the first floor. Second Floor (Guest Room and Landlord's Rooms): the guest bedroom is to the west and contains a bed and empty wardrobe. The rooms to the east belong to the landlord and his wife (both absent). If the wardrobe is examined it contains clothes and a small notebook filled with mostly illegible scrawl. The following parts can just be made out:
"...Belhams can offer me whatever they like. My old dad gave me this pub and I won't... if they think they can intimidate me they've got another [illegible] thing coming. I know what they're up to. I watch them. They don't know. But I watch them all day. I've seen how they get in and out. I know they hide one of the talismans in the stone laptop. Had me puzzled... hundreds of them all day coming and going. I knew they had to be going somewhere. No way they'd all fit in that [illegible] manor house or [illegible] church. God, what a bunch of total [illegible] [illegible]s. I'm making notes. I'll soon have enough to go to the police with, then we'll see what those [illegible] [illegible]s think of me. Ha. I'll [illegible] them right up their [illegible] [illegibles] with an [illegible] [illegible] until their [illegible]s drop off..." A staircase leads up to an observation tower and a telescope which affords views of the village in all directions. 3 The Village Hall the door has been forced open and the lock broken. Inside the floor is littered with broken spurs of wood,
suggesting the door was barricaded then smashed in from the outside. On the floor inside the front door is a severed arm which looks like it's been torn off rather than cut off. A tattoo on the arm shows a sword surrounded by wings and the legend "Who Dares Wins". This is the official tattoo of a soldier in the SAS, which all members of the VSAS would know by sight. All players must make a Pussy Factor roll as the sight of the arm, especially knowing it belonged to a serviceman, will be quite a jolt. Anyone who fails the roll loses 1 point of Pussy Factor. Remember that Rs values cannot rise above Pussy Factor, so if the loss drops below Rs, Rs must also be reduced. The village hall has clearly been used by the SAS as a base of operations. Much of their gear still remains and if players sift through this stuff they'll find 200 Load points of firepower which they can share among themselves as they see fit. The players might also notice the collection of swords and axes, suggesting the soldiers stationed here became desperate for weaponry. On a mezzanine above the first floor is a desk and typewriter. A page in the typewriter has been typed out and reads:
"Stat report: we're farked. The farking zombies are outside but worse than that we've run out of tea Assuming the girl scounts from VSAS eventually drop by, here's a note for you. Save your firepower. There's more zombies than you can take hit with a shitty stick lurking in the woods. What we managed to find out so far: there's some kind of energy field preventing us from getting outside the village, and our electrical stuff doesn't work. I have no comms and I'm forced to use this farking type writer. We found a survivor - an employee for this Belham crew. Says they've been working on top secret stuff that went wrong. Fark knows where company HQ is for these jokers. I presume they're not working out of the local pub. Contactee tells us thousands of employees are infected and out in the woods, but there's other things too. Seems a bit strong if you ask me. Anyway, got to go as the farking zombies just bust down the door. Not sure why I'm still typing this to be honest. Bit of a waste of time. LieutenantColonel Brigham Payne, the Regiment." Upstairs, the first floor has been turned into a military billet for the SAS, with makeshift beds, sandbags and lockers filled with ammo (another 100 Load points). 4 Freida Livery's General Store An abandoned food store. Most of the food on display has gone rotten and stinks. Behind the counter, stairs lead up to the first floor. Actually, the food is fine. What really stinks is the Infected trapped in the storeroom in the tower adjacent to the shop. An air vent up on the wall between the 58
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store and the storeroom is where the stink emenates (if players care to seek it out). If the door to the storeroom is opened, this Infected will leap out and give such a fright to the person who opens the door that they (and any characters with them at the time) lose 1 point of Pussy Factor (remember that Rs cannot be higher than Pussy Factor, so Rs may also need to be reduced). The Infected is a very old man dressed in a grocery store clerk's outfit covered in blood. He is Handel Livery, the husband of Freida Livery, owner of the store. She shoved him in the storeroom after he got bit by one of the Infected to keep him from attacking her (she couldn't bring herself to stove his head in).
called the Negafield. The field is incredibly strong and some of the gadgets Usesoft have been coming up with are impressive, but something has obviously gone very wrong. The source of the Negafield, Frieda will explain, is somewhere in the company bunker, but the bunker is in lock down and though Frieda knows that the indented symbol on her shop floor has something to do with unlocking it, she doesn't know how. 5 Bob Upindoun's House The retirement cottage of Bob Upindoun, an old soak who came to Kingsbury on the Wold to die in peace.
At the back of the storeroom is a cupboard in which players will find a bunch of old World War II memorabilia which includes photos, tin hats, a picture of Hitler (signed To Andy Livery, from your old mate, Adolf - written in German, which all VSAS soldiers speak fluently of course) and a metal box containing an old Luger and 35 Load points of ammo. Whoever takes the Luger gets the points which cannot be shared out.
Bob didn't die in peace. He died kicking and screaming as a horde of viral Infected dragged him out of his cottage to tear him limb from limb in his garden.
The Symbol on the Floor: etched into a tile in the store is a W, or maybe an M. Either way, this indented symbol will accept either W/M talisman. The talisman will fit snuggly into the indent with a click and will lock in place. If the other W/M talisman is inserted in (or has already been inserted in) the identical indent in the basement of Kay Largo's House (location 6) the ground will start to shake as the mechanism operating the door into Usesoft Headquarters opens. The monument at location 8 will split apart to reveal a well and stairs going down into the earth. A grille above the stairs prevents Infected getting in and is hinged, so it can be opened and shut behind the player characters if they descend.
6
1st & 2nd Floors: living quarters for the Liveries. Frieda herself is cowering in the hay loft on the second floor where she's ensconsed herself. She's very frail and old and has been hiding here for a long time. Frieda is a useless fighter and moves really slowly (1 square for every 4 the Infected move). She does know a thing or two though and if interrogated will tell the players everything she knows. Usesoft headquarters are hidden in a bunker under the village. She never told anyone because Usesoft were blackmailing her about her husband Handel - a Nazi war criminal on the run since 1945 and hiding out in Kingsbury on the Wold. If she told anyone about Usesoft and what they were doing, they'd turn Handel in. Handel is currently being an Infected horror in the storeroom (see above). Usesoft have been working on a form of computer hardware that draws on an energy Frieda thinks is
This house is very small and smells of old man smell. This will prove a difficult place to defend as the interior is very cramped, however the front window is blocked by a tree trunk, so the only weak spots are the front door and back window. Kay Largo's House A small sign on the door reads Kay Largo's House. Welcome Guest of Usesoft. The door is open. Inside the group fill find a small and quaint cottage, sparsely furnished. On the floor next to a chair by the fireside is a corporate book which seems to describe Usesoft's business line in software and hardware. At the front of this book is the following piece of blatant exposition:
"Welcome Guest of Usesoft. Usesoft is unique in its exclusive use of an underground headquarters which you are now standing above, even as you read this! [exclamation mark]. Why do we base our operations underground? Not only do we use some of the most powerful servers in the world and require an absolutely sterile environment for these servers, the nature of the technology used requires protection from certain kinds of naturally occurring and common atomic particle bombardments. Only one form of stone blocks these particles. It is called Painite and until Usesoft discovered the vast reserves of this stone hidden under the bedrock of Kingsbury on the Wold there were only 18 known occurences of the stone on the entire planet [exclamation mark]. The Painite slab now forms the roof of Usesoft's headquarters and the floor you now stand upon. What's so amazing about Painite? Not only is it the world's rarest and most precious type of gemstone, and not only does it block those bombarding atomic particles we mentioned, but when it occurs in large quantities it is accompanied by a highly potent form of energy release known as Negamatter. Even our top 59
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brainiacs don't know exactly why this is, but we're working on it [exclamation mark]. In the meantime, we've managed to harness the power of Negamatter (we call it the Negafield) to produce some pretty astounding technological leaps. This, of course, is why you're here. Because while the real estate you currently occupy as our guest may seem small, it is in fact one of the most desirable locations on planet Earth, standing, as it does in the middle of our Painite slab. So we hope you enjoy Kay Largo with our compliments and we look forward to doing business with you [double exclamation mark]. The rest of the house is unimpressive, neatly made up but containing nothing of interest to the player team. However, the basement is a different matter... The Symbol on the Floor: etched into a tile in the stone floor of the basement is a W, or maybe an M. Either way, this indented symbol will accept either W/M talisman. The talisman will fit snuggly into the indent with a click and will lock in place. If the other W/M talisman is inserted in (or has already been inserted in) the identical indent in Frieda Livery's General Store (location 4) the ground will start to shake as the mechanism operating the door into Usesoft Headquarters opens. The monument at location 8 will split apart to reveal a well and stairs going down into the earth. A grille above the stairs prevents Infected getting in and is hinged, so it can be opened and shut behind the player characters if they descend. 7 Saint Santzinner's Church A creepy old church. The door is unlocked and leads into a small chamber. On the floor is a pool of blood alongside a lecturn furnished with an open bible which is turned to a page in Revelations, the following passage circled in red felt tip pen. "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you" The rest of the church is empty. On the top floor is a bell tower which affords a good view of the rest of the village and from where the characters can pick off Infected at their leisure. The steeple is too high even for Carver Mupp to reach. 8 The Monument Marked with the logo for Usesoft, the W stands for Wil Belham and the M stands for Matt Belham, the brother founders of the company. Etched into a tile in the stone floor of the basement at location 6 is a W, or maybe an M. An identical indent is etched into the floor of Frieda Livery's General Store (location 4). Somewhere in the village two talismans that match these indents can be found. If they are both
installed into the respective indents, they will click and lock in place. If both W/M talismans are inserted into both indents simultaneously the ground will start to shake as the mechanism operating the door into Usesoft Headquarters opens. The monument here will split apart to reveal a well and stairs going down into the earth. A grille above the stairs prevents Infected getting in and is hinged, so it can be opened and shut behind the player characters if they descend. Once open the doorway remains open until the talismans are removed. 9 Corza Mill A quaint working mill, owned by Betty Corza. Betty dropped out of her Art degree to train in the old fashioned methods of milling and then used her father's generous funds to buy an old run down mill on the north side of Kingsbury. Until she became the main course for a bunch of crazed infected, she was living the dream as an eco-efficient producer of soda bread and gluten-free dough. Betty's father also happens to sit on the board of governors for Usesoft, hence her eco-principles got a head start in the real estate stakes. The Wold, of which Kingsbury is deemed to be On, runs past the back of the mill and is funnelled into a culvert where an old water wheel turns. So this really is a working mill. Not that the player team will probably care. Betty Corza was a dab hand at making tasty sourdough but pretty useless when it came to collecting caches of bullets and grenades then leaving them conveniently lying around in her house. 10 Anegregious Manor (Pronounced An Egg Reej ee us Manor) this is the home of Wil Belham, one of the Belham brothers, a minor mansion by Kingsbury on the Wold standards since it measures more than three square feet in size. Matt Belham lives (or rather lived, since he now resides permanently in the stomach of a shambling Infected somewhere in the woods) in London and was in the habit of commuting, whereas his brother prefers the quiet rural life and hates driving. The north window of the ground floor overlooks the river and is too narrow and too difficult to reach for the Infected to attack. The west window is also too narrow. Both external doors are unlocked. Ground Floor Suicide Note: On the table in the study is what appears to be a suicide note. Exposition time:
"Goodbye cruel world. All I ever wanted was to make cool computer games with my bro. I still remember the 60
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fun we used to have coming up with awesome point and click horror games, Dracula's Fang Club, Zombie Chicks Dig Brains Not Brawn and Killer Clownz From Inner Space. Matt was always the engineer. I just wanted to tell a story. Things changed when Matt moved to London. Money became more important than having fun. That's when we invented the Neg Servers. Matt wanted more power and I wanted Matt to be happy. But we dabbled with things we should have left well alone. Now I'm living in a horror story. So, to whom it may concern, I've locked down company HQ and threw one of the key talismans into the old crypt where it can't fall into the wrong hands. As for me... I've already fallen into the wrong hands. There's only one solution left for me. Goodbye and God help us all - Wil B. " The laptop in this room, of course, doesn't work. The body of Wil Belham lies on his bed on the top floor of the manor. He's blown his own brains out, which is not pleasant to see. But on the plus side he used a pretty cool gun to do it, so players get 40 Load points. 11 The Wold The river the village of Kingsbury is deemed to be On. The river is deep and quite fast moving, so the Infected cannot move through it without losing their footing and getting swept away. Only Frank Furter or Carver Mupp can wade through successfully. At the western end of the river where it comes into the village stand two statues, one of Matt and the other of Wil Belham, founding brothers of Usesoft. Both are gazing regally into the west while holding laptops. On the chest of each statue is a screen with a hand symbol, presumably requiring a hand print to verify something or other. As the electronics are out, this security system doesn't work. On the screen of Wil B's laptop is one half of the Usesoft logo which is shaped like an M (or a W?). The logo half is made of metal and can be pulled out of the laptop screen. This is one of the M/W talismans which need to be inserted into the indents at location 4 and 6 respectively in order to open the door into the Usesoft Bunker (location 8). The laptop screen on the statue of Matt B is missing its talisman, though it has the same M or W shaped indent. Note: if players fail entirely to spot the talisman, the clouds suddenly part and a lance of almost divine sunlight shines down, illuminating the laptop screen and the talisman thereon. That oughta do it. 12 The Olden Crypt The entrance to the crypt is on the south side. The GM should ensure this part of the map is crawling with Infected as, for some reason, this area will draw them
like flies to cess pool. The Infected will only enter the crypt if player characters or NPCs do so. The entrance to the crypt leads directly to the stairs at location 1 in the Usesoft Dungeon. The A4 floorplan containing that location should be laid on top of this corner of the village map.
The chambers beneath Kingsbury serve as company HQ for Usesoft, the software giant owned by computer magnates Wil and Matt Belham. The entire complex except for the crypt at location 1 lies beneath a solid seam of Painite, an astonishingly rare and astonishingly beautiful gemstone which, to the player characters, will appear similar to jade, green in colour and dull, but glittering here and there were facets have been polished by natural forces. The Painite protects the Usesoft servers from harmful particle bombardments in the atmosphere of the Earth (or more precisely, from beyond the Earth) and simultaneously empowers a secondary type of stone which the Usesoft brothers have come to call Negamatter. Negamatter is a byproduct of the Painite, caused by a lack of the atomic particles Painite blocks. When both Painite and Negamatter are in close proximity they produce an extremely powerful energy matrix which Usesoft calls Negafield. The misuse of this field has caused the Infection, but the player group will need to explore the entire dungeon complex if they want to find out exactly why and how. 1 The Olden Crypt (Below Ground) Unless players have taken precautions to block the entrance to the crypt, Infected are likely to follow them down here. Moreover, Infected are also likely to be down here already, milling around in the neighbouring tomb where they were shut in by a member of the SAS when he stumbled upon the crypt. If the door to that room is opened the GM has two options. Either he can be nice and roll 1d6 for the number of Infected lurking behind, or he can be a total bastard and put an Infected standy on every available single square in the room (twenty five infected in all). The former will allow the group to explore the crypt. The latter is hilarious. Really it's up to the GM to decide. In the open stone sarcophagus in the neighbouring room is the one half of the Usesoft logo which is shaped like an M (or a W?). The logo half is made of metal and seems to have been carelessly dropped here. This is one of the M/W talismans which need to be inserted into the indents at location 4 and 6 61
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respectively in order to open the door into the Usesoft Bunker (location 8). The Pool: if anyone steps or jumps into the tiny pool of water in the northwest corner of the crypt they will find, first, that the water is very warm and second, that they plunge 20 feet down a well shaft. Thereafter they find themselves at the southern end of a horizontal tunnel which, itself, is submerged. There's no need to make a dice roll for holding breath. VSAS servicemen are capable of holding their breath for up to ten minutes at a time and, if they weren't so secret, would doubtless be in the Guiness Book of Records (on several pages). The tunnel opens into the bottom of the large pool in room 6. As soon as the character breaks the surface he'll break out in a sweat. Room 6 is incredibly warm. 2 Reception and Mainframe Servers
continues her warning. There's a lot of blood here and what, at first, looks like two bodies. One is a scientist in a lab coat, headless and missing one foot. The other is an SAS soldier in full combat gear. There's also a severed arm clutching an assault rifle which can be picked up for an extra 50 Load points. The SAS soldier is Lieutenant-Colonel Brigham Payne and he isn't dead. If the team check his vitals he will revive and grab the nearest character with a trembling hand. He'll be extremely grateful to see the characters " am I farkin' glad to see you fellas!". But he'll also be full of warnings. Here's some of the salient points Lieutenant-Colonel Brigham Payne will try to impart for the sake of exposition:
He's the sole survivor of his unit. He finally managed to find an employee of Usesoft hiding in the village and persuaded that employee (the headless corpse) to show him a way into the complex. He came via a secret door in Anegregious Manor.
It turns out Usesoft were working on an app designed to change the world, a piece of software that taps into their crazy power source and opens a portal in space and time. " Using the portal a fella
Some kind of reception area. A klaxon sounds repeatedly and a woman's voice, mechanical and obviously recorded, says
"Warning, the mainframe power hub has overloaded. All personnel must evacuate immediately." This message repeats over and over again. A glass bridge stretches out to the north over a strange pit whose walls seem almost organic in nature.
can teleport to any place he likes. Would have outmoded all forms of transport and made the Usesoft brothers very bloody rich if the farking idiots hadn't accidentally opened a portal to Hell during the beta test ."
The north and south walls of the pit house enormous fans and the player characters will be able to hear the hum of machinery. A sign on the north wall reads "Mainframe Servers." Electricity still doesn't work, despite there being some kind of mechanical or electronic device clearly operating down here. In the depths of the pit squirms something hideous with lots of revolting tentacles. Whatever it is it moves in a horrible slithering way but doesn't seem to be climbing up the pit.
The Infected are actually undead. There is no virus. Instead the walking dead are an apocalyptic sign right out of biblical revelations. Worse than that, a bunch of demons have slipped through the portal.
There's only one way to stop the whole thing. The VSAS team need to get to the mainframe power hub (location 5) and jump into the portal. The Negafield energy will automatically teleport them to the place where the main demon hangs out. If they kill the main demon - the Usesoft brainiac called it the Negademon), the portal will close, the Negamatter field will collapse, the Negamatter stone will shatter and end of days will be postponed.
If the VSAS team manage to kill the Negademon (which the Lieutenant-Colonel thinks is unlikely but worth a shot) they can escape the demon's lair using water. He's not sure what this means, but that's what the brainiac nerd told him before zombie demons chewed his farking head off.
If characters expend firepower on the thing in the pit, they're wasting their time. This is a lesser demon and absorbs all types of violent and negative energy. However, the demon is trapped in the bottom of the pit and cannot reach the player characters. They, of course, don't know this, but that's what makes stepping out onto the glass bridge all the more fun. 3 Employee Rec Room and Guest Reception A recreation room of some sort furnished with various items that employees of Usesoft can, presumably, use to amuse themselves. There's a jukebox, a pool table, a bar and even some food on a lazy susan (peanuts and other nibbles). A red light flashes continuously and the female voice
After imparting this information, Lieutenant-Colonel Brigham Payne perishes from his wounds. The players may fall to their knees, throw their arms in the air (and 63
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their heads back) and yell "nooooooo" at this point if they like. Or they can be much more British and just click their tongues and shake their heads. He carries firepower equal to 100 Load points, which players can take and share out between themselves as they see fit. 4 The Negafield Generator A pool of water in the south part of this chamber contains a horde of nasty demonic entities which will sense the player characters if they come within two squares of the water's edge. The entities will take a while to manifest from the water, which is actually an experimental form of liquid Negamatter, and will prove a nasty surprise bringing up the rear as the player group enter the northern half of this location. The demons have the same capabilities as standard Infected but require 3 Load points each to kill. The GM can throw as many of these demons at the player group as he likes, using them to keep things rolling forwards. The demons won't cross the pit bridge in location 5. In the northern part of this location is a square shaft filled with bizzare, otherworldly lights and vivid colours all swirling and shifting to create disorienting kaleidoscopic patterns. The effect is similar to staring at an M C Escher sketch for several hours, or listening to an M C Hammer album for a few minutes. Anyone who passes within one square of the shaft must make a Pussy Factor roll and loses 1 point of Pussy Factor if they fail. This roll is necessary only once, after which the character learns not to look down. The shaft is a Negafield Generator, though from a player perspective this is immaterial. The shaft cannot be destroyed or used and is simply part of the mind bogglingly complicated facility powering the force field and bringing the dead back to life. Should any player mistake the Negafield Generator for the portal and, acting on the advice of the deceased Lieutenant-Colonel Brigham Payne , throw caution to the wind and jump into the shaft, they will experience a sensation not entirely unlike swallowing a whale while simultaneously giving birth to a small planet. The end result will start with the beginnings of a scream and end with a sound like a balloon popping. Suffice to say the character will die an agonising death.
This location looks a lot more terrifying than it is. The electrical arcs crackling across the various transformers lining the green glowing path are not actually electrical arcs at all but a form of spirit energy. As the player characters pass through them the arcs will flare outward to create ghostly images and spectral shapes that moan and float away into the darkness. At the southern end of this location is a large sphere of a strange design, from which most of the lightshow seems to be emanating. Anyone who examines this sphere will start to realise that it isn't a sphere at all, but a kind of hole in space into which the green light is being sucked. And then they will realise that, no, actually, it is a sphere and the green light is glowing from its surface. The same optical brain twister will recur over and over again for so long as the character watches the object. This is the Mainframe Power Hub which draws power from the Negamatter chunk in location 6, draws the energy through a membrane dimension (which happens to be Hell) and then converts it into an extraordinarily potent form of energy similar to electromagnetic radiation, the same sort of stuff the human pituitary gland is filled with. All this is immaterial, perhaps, to the players. However, if the GM wishes to impart some of this unlikely science, the ghostly apparitions that burst into existence whenever one of the crackling arcs of Negafield energy are broken by the player characters might manifest more permanently and give a bit of exposition in a suitably ghoulish voice. For added effect, the ghostly apparition is the spirit of Matt Belham whose physical body has long since served as lunch for one of the Infected and a light snack for many others, and whose soul is now being tormented in Hell. Matt will be understandably keen to help the player group understand what's going on, because if the Negafield is switched off and the big enchilada demon in location 6 is destroyed, Matt and his brother Wil (also languishing in Hell) will be freed and will, presumably, head to 'the other place', though Matt is a self professed atheist so this eventuality would prove extremely awkward. Whether they are following the advice of the ghost of Hellbound Matt Belham or the beleagured SAS soldier Lieutenant-Colonel Brigham Payne, the player team need to head to the end of the green path and jump into the portal there. This will teleport them to room 6 where they can finally confront the Negademon.
5
6
Mainframe Power Hub
The Negamatter Stone & The Negademon
The demon entities from chamber 4 won't follow the group across the bridge here if they have come into play. Some kind of Negafield inverse energy field (or something) prevents them from doing so.
The only way to enter this room is either via the portal in location 5 of the dungeon, or from the pool in the northwest corner of the Olden Crypt. (Note that if the group enter from the pool and haven't explored 64
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locations 2 to 5 of the Usesoft facility, the Negademon will not yet manifest.) A large chunk of Negamatter stands on a plinth in the middle of the room, electrical sparks arcing off it and earthing (apparently) with a fiery pit in the northeastern corner. If anyone touches the stone: a failsafe protection system will trigger. The wooden hatch in the north of the room will pop open, revealing a channel through which the water coming out of the pool can run along. As the water cascades down into the lava it will burst upwards as a scalding plume of steam and will burn to death anyone in the room who doesn't get the hell out real fast. Jumping in the water will give the player character time to find the tunnel to room 1, but the water will soon become scalding hot, bubbling by the time the character jumps out. The shock and pain of the experience should cause a loss of 1d6 Pussy Factor points to all affected characters. If the team have already been to location 5 of the dungeon: a swirling form manifests from out of the fiery pit and takes shape. GM should place the Negademon standy on top of the pit. It can't move from this spot but it will be able to attack anyone in the room. The demon has a Power value, which is an arbitrary one-off stat for this situation only. The Power value begins at 6. The demon will fire huge gobs of foul smelling red ooze which will always hit the target. The blobs don't cause physical damage but instead weaken the target's courage and capacity to concentrate and think. The Negademon may make one shot per character in the room per combat round as soon as it appears, after which players can then expend their Load points as they see fit. The demon can make more shots if the players keep expending Load points, or trying to fight the monster with physical weapons. Each strike by the demon drains first 1 point from Jam (until all Jam is gone) then 1 point from Balls (until all Balls are gone) then 1 point from Pussy Factor (until Pussy Factor reaches 12). If Pussy Factor reaches 12 or is already at 12, each strike will start to drain Rs by 1 point. Every drained point is transferred to the demon's Power value. If a character's Rs is reduced to zero, the character dies, hurling himself into the demon's mass with a final scream of abandonment and vanishing in a puff of blue flame. As a result the demon's Power value increases by 4. Load points will not defeat the Negademon. The more firepower the group focus on the creature the stronger
it becomes, its disgusting body absorbing the rounds and explosions as though they were firing into marshmallow. After the group have spent their Load, or if they stop firing long enough to think, the GM should be a nice guy and explain:
You sense conventional weapons - even the awesome weapons you guys have - are useless against this horror from the pit. You can feel it invading your brain with horrible tentacles of invisible thought, prodding, poking and violating your soul. But as the monster starts to break through the membrane of your mind you are given a glimpse into its own brain. It can be destroyed, but you only using the power of thought and resolve. This truly is a demon from the fiery pits of Hell, a mere servant of an even more powerful dark master whose nature you don't even want to contemplate. Those whackos at Usesoft were somehow trying to harness the massive energy pulsing off this thing, flowing through the Negamatter Stone in the middle of the room and into the power stations on the other side of the eastern wall. You curse Wil and Matt Belham for their stupidity, even as you squeeze your eyes closed and prepare to fight the demon with the power of your mind. Each player makes one Rs roll when it is their turn in the combat round (1d12, aiming to roll less than). Any failure deducts 1 point from Rs. Any success deducts 1 point from the demon's Power value. When/if the demon's Power value is reduced to zero, the monstrosity flails in its fiery pit then sinks away, melting like tallow back to the unthinkable realm from whence it came. Read aloud this end-game blurb:
The Negamatter Stone cracks and shatters to dust. The fiery pit vanishes and all falls silent. The vile presence of the demon is gone and the room seems suddenly normal and mundane. A sudden crackling noise gives you such a fright you almost relieve yourself in your special issue VSAS reliefs, but you realise its just your radio coming back on. You can hear a babble of voices. Your C/Os demanding you respond. Its time to end this whole shebang and call in the mother of all airstrikes. You give the coordinates and request a few minutes to evac. Somehow you know the force field containing the village is now switched off. You're not sure how you know, but then you're not really sure of anything anymore. Usesoft nearly brought the world to the brink of armagedon with their lust for power and their desire to monopolize technological wizardy. They mixed science with religion and that's a really messed up thing to do. Later, you and your team are on a chopper heading 65
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home. The woods below are filled with roaming Infected of all shapes and sizes, but coming in from a distant perimeter, surrounding this horde from Hell, is the army. Mopping up duties. Two Typhoon fighter jets roar past and fire off their payload. Mushroom clouds of fiery death go up around Kingsbury, then the village itself is consumed in a final almighty fireball. You can relax, a job well done. Until the next time the VSAS get that call because the world is once more in need of... [dramatic pause]... the last resort.
THE PRINTED BITS The following pages are filled with colourful graphics which you can print out and assemble as per the instructions given below (which are a repeat of instructions given earlier, but the assumption is that you've forgotten those by now and because we're nice, here they are again). Note: the maps are not perfectly to scale for 1 inch miniature bases but are designed to fit the standies
supplied. There might also be a bit of edge loss on the 'double sided tape' margins and the outside edge margins depending on your printer. Usually there's an option to switch off 'print margins' and if you have this option you might want to use it. Otherwise, print your shiny art for optimum result, or alternatively head to www.foreverpeople.co.uk where you can order a Zazzle print on demand full size full on sexy poster version of the village and Usesoft facility graphics. These have a dollar cost, of course, but will save you a fortune in hassle, the currency of modern life. The Zazzle maps are also scaled bigger so you can use them with 1 inch miniatures if you like (ideal if you want to use the graphics for your own game). Stick the six village sections together as shown in Image 1 below (cardboard optional), applying double sided tape to the edges marked 'double sided tape'. The building interiors should also be printed and cut out, but you don't need to stick them. The underground sections are printed sheet by sheet and need no cutting out or sticking. You'll lay these down one by one on top of the village map as the team explore them. Cut out the standies and assemble them too. Bosh.
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The Lettuce Inn (Ground Floor - The Bar)
The Lettuce Inn (First Floor - Guest Room and Landings) 73
The Lettuce Inn (Second Floor, Guest Bedroom & Landlord's Room)
The Lettuce Inn (Landlord's Spy Tower) Bob Upindoun's House, Ground Floor
Key Largo's House (Basement) Bob Upindoun's House, First Floor
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Village Hall (Ground Floor)
Village Hall (First Floor) 75
The Storeroom
Frieda Livery's General Store (Shop)
The Hay Loft
Frieda Livery's Gen. Store (1st Floor)
St Santzinner's Church (Bell Tower)
Frieda Livery's General Store (Second Floor) 76
Key Largo's House (Ground Floor)
Key Largo's House (First Floor)
St. Santzinner's Church (First Floor)
St. Santzinner's Church (Ground Floor Chapel)
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Corza Mill (Ground Floor)
Corza Mill (First Floor)
Corza Mill (Basement)
Corza Mill (Loft Bedroom)
Heavy Machine Gun & Belt Rounds
(Left somewhere in the village by the SAS, when found awards finder 80 Load points)
Anegregious Manor (Ground Floor Hall and Study)
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Anegregious Manor (First Floor)
Anegregious Manor (Second Floor) 79
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Location 1 - Inside the Olden Crypt
Location 2 - Reception and Mainframe Servers
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Location 3 - Employee Rec Room and Guest Reception
Location 4 - The Negafield Generator
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Location 5 - Mainframe Power Hub
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Location 6 - The Negamatter Stone & The Negademon
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Infected Horde Standies Pack 1 - Empty lower flap folds under to strengthen base.
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Infected Horde Standies Pack 2 - Empty lower flap folds under to strengthen base.
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Demon Entities from the Usesoft Facility and Mister Chuckles the Demon Spawn
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VSAS Soldiers and various demonics
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The Usesoft Facility demons and Frank Furter the Demon Spawn
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Grenade Splat 92
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