Wings Over the Pyre

Beating the Air Until It Screams

Recent Entries

23rd-Aug-2008 04:45 pm - [3:16] Mission #4: Planet Michelangelo

Tags:3:16, gaming, rpgs
Mood:accomplished

Mission #4 (Planet Michelangelo)

Planet Name: Planet Michelangelo

Alien Ability: Highest NFA

Basic Planet Description: Forested

Basic Creature Form: Humanoids

Alien Special Ability: Rapid Movement

Encounter #1

The squads are assembled inside a rather large, squarish building. Architecturally, it resembles some old Terran military facilities during the period contra-gravity materials were still scarce. Not to put it too mildly, it's an ugly piece of crap. Compared to this place, the Violence Unto Others looks like a luxury liner, and that's when you take the food they serve into account. There's just barely enough room to have the squads from your ship and two others receive simultaneous briefings, and even then ...

Well, less than ideal.

As usual, Captain Vayfield sets the tone.

Cpt Vayfield:

Alright, ladies. You've been on this fuckin' hell-hole a good ten hours now so you know what kind of place it is! Outside these walls is a seething forest full of creepy-crawlies and God knows what else! Well, since I'm God for you poor bastards, I'll tell you what else is out there! There've been four recon units sent into this goddamn shit-kicking moon and only one significant radio broadcast came back, and that one was a garbled piece of crap. Orbital scans say there's somebody down here on the surface but they can't pick up jack through the canopy. So, instead of sending another bunch of lame-ass pansy rangers down, they decided to send some men with balls! And that's us, you fuckers!

We're going out there to find our men and bring them home, or what's left of them. Then we're going to kill every last bastard who's responsible for their deaths. Every. Last. Fucking. One.

Lieutenants! You have your assignments!

Lieutenant Braugh looks more disgruntled than usual. It occurs to you that this is probably because you're on the surface of a planet and he is on the surface of a planet. At the same time. Or at all.

Lt Braugh:

This place is filthy. I do not understand how anyone could possibly choose to exist on such a disgusting level of survival. Absolutely unacceptable.

Sergeant Green, you will be given Area Zed. Be certain that you search it thoroughly and stay in constant contact with the headquarters here. I will be returning to the ship to ... oversee matters of a pressing nature. Green, you absolutely must be certain to contact the base at your scheduled time. No excuses!

Sergeant Barker, you will be searching Yellow Area. Your orders are exactly the same as Green's. Contact the headquarters on a regular schedule and find any evidence that our recon elements may have left. This job is imperative!

Sergeant Hix. Oh, Sergeant Hix. What, oh what can we do with you? I suppose the only choice is to have your squad manage communications here at the base. After all, someone has to do it and there really is no one left, yes? Collect reports from Green and Barker and be sure they're prepared for my study.

That will be all.

That's right, the Lunar Marauders are stuck doing secretarial work for the LT.

That never lasts long, really, does it? I mean, you didn't think this was going to be that easy, did you?

Everyone makes NFAs. This is just taking notes on the reports, making sure they're correct, and so on. Each group-turn represents a three hour slice of time. Nothing happens until there's been 5 successful NFA's in total. Unsuccessful NFAs represent paperwork that's not right, t's not crossed, i's not dotted, and which will come back to haunt the squad later. Maybe.

When the 5th successful NFA hits, have them make another NFA test. Successful ones note that they're not getting any reports from Green on schedule.

Not surprisingly, they get drafted to go out to Zed and look for Green. If, for whatever reason, they don't go (ie, cover up the lack of reports, for example), the 7th successful NFA turns up Barker's not reporting in, either.

The forest is thick. I mean, ugly thick. So thick it's obvious which way the other squads went into the brush to search, a lot of the way. A successful NFA suggests that the path is too clear, like it's a trap.

Time to snap shut the teeth.

Run this first bit as a series of Encounters, with one or two Threat in each one. After the first Threat goes visible, they'll know they're up against Ewoks. After the first AA check, they'll know it's scary Ewoks. The little fuzzy fuckers are luring the squad deeper into their territory with each attack. Let the squad do a standard heal of a box between each little trap, because it's not that big a deal. Besides, you'll be tossing Tokens in to keep the lot of the squad in Close whenever possible or Far if you want to have them trigger a trap then run away after a successful hit.

The traps are typical Ewok shit. Jagged bamboo pit traps. Swinging trees. Falling rocks. A few snap-thrown rocks from behind.

Once you've burned Tokens about equal to the number of PCs overall, have the squad find the rest of Green's.

Encounter #2

All but three of Green's men are dead. The remaining living ones aren't in great shape, either, since they've been basically staked out in the middle of a forest clearing, armour stripped off and crucified by hanging upside down through sticks pushed through their Achilles tendons and those of the wrists. It looks excruciating and the muffled screaming suggests it probably is.

Of course it's a fucking trap. Duh.

The Ewoks come out of the woods like a good team of guerillas should. Pop out 3 Threat and be willing to use a couple more to keep dragging the squad into Close. It's all about swarm lo-tech against the murderous might of the Terrain Empire. The fuzzies'll lose, of course, but that's OK.

The smart move would be to put a bullet in the head of any of Green's squad still alive. If the PCs feel heroic, they may want to cut the poor bastards down and drag 'em back to base. Keeping them alive on the run back essentially means that they'll need an NFA every 2 rounds to keep them living. Alternately, the Sergeant could call for an E-Vac, which would come and haul out the wounded but would be the one time he could call it on Michelangelo.

Searching the area with a NFA will turn up the rotting corpses of the previous recon teams rotting in a shallow grave near the perimeter. You know, in case people remember their orders. They never do.

Encounter #3

This can go a number of ways:

If the squad decides to kill Green's men
They find a relatively well-concealed trail that the Ewoks have been using and probably never expected anyone to bother looking for since they would be dead long before that happens. The trail leads to a series of Ewok hunting / patrol parties and, eventually, the Ewok village.

If the squad decides to carry Green's men to base
They're harried by Ewok hunting/patrol parties through well-prepared and trapped terrain. Remember, they need NFA's every couple of rounds to keep Green's men alive! Once the Threat's gone, the squad reaches the HQ. Braugh sneers at their weakness and casually mentions that he's been tracking the IR signatures of the Ewoks through their Mandelbrites and has triangulated the location of their source, the Ewok village.

If the squad E-Vacs
They're pussies. But see above for what Braugh does and how they get pointed to the village.

Run this like the first Encounter, a series of short, low-Threat encounters but only a few Threat worth. Save some goodies for the last Encounter.

Encounter #4

This is it, the final show-down between the Ewoks and some pissed-off motherfuckers who make Stormtroopers look like pikers. It's time to blow some shit up. A pity no one in my group took a flamethrower, though. A huge pity.

Yeah, the rest of the Threat goes into it here. Go big or go home.

The squad can get some bonii here by using NFA rolls to use clever tactics, covered approaches, set some traps of their own and so on. Let them set up for the assault if they want, but push them up into the trees and across rope bridges, chasing screaming, terrified Ewoks and their children and laughing insanely as they destroy as many as they can.

Somewhere about mid-way through the canopy shakes, starts burning, and then gets blown to pieces as Dropships blast their way in and more troopers rapel down and start burning, killing, and cackling. It's a scene of absolute Hell. Death is everywhere. When the last Threat gets burned, two of the massive trees that support the main part of the village start to collapse and only NFAs or flashbacks will keep the squad from taking a Kill when it collapses underneath them. Unless someone sits astride a dead Ewok and whoops as they ride it down to the ground, because that's fucking metal.

Go crazy.

In the aftermath, Braugh gives them a tongue-lashing about their seeming shitty inability to do simple paperwork, while they're covered in the blood and soot of dying Ewoks, and screams echo in the background.

23rd-Aug-2008 01:36 pm - [3:16] Mission #3: Planet Titian

Tags:3:16, gaming, rpg

Mission #3 (Planet Titian)

Planet Name: Planet Titian

Alien Ability: 5

Basic Planet Description: Rain World

Basic Creature Form: Plants

Alien Special Ability: Ignore Wounds

Pre-Game

Mission #3

Captain Vayfield

Alright ladies, settle down. You've been hard on the front lines for a couple of missions, and now it's time you learned what down-time in the army is really like! Underneath us is a beautiful, tender Paradise World that the 3:16 cleaned up a few weeks ago. The company's earned some R&R, and you're gonna get it! Once you're on-planet, you'll be reinforcing the forward operating base for resupply and support of the outward line. This ain't a complete vacation, kids, so don't get too comfortable! You're gonna work your asses off for the corps!

Lieutenants, give your crews their assignment! I can't wait to taste those marguiritas!

Lieutenant Braugh

The usual, blah blah blah, as everyone else gets the cherry assigmments.

Lunar Marauders. As much as this assignment pains me, you've been placed with Green's Vengers at Site 54. You will notice that before the cleansing this was a ... resort spot. The original inhabitants of this planet were roughly human-sized upright mammals with similar sensory apparatus to ours, so you should find this task congenial to your tastes in surroundings. What we want you to do is help finish the destruction of the site, prepare it for resurfacing and provide permiter security to the engineers who'll be deploying the landed resupply hardware.

Since the planet should be empty, not even you could fuck this up. I'll be in my bunk.

Encounter 1: Site 54

Contrary to all popular belief, the 3rd Army is not, in fact, run by a horde of screaming incompetents. In fact, they tend to be driven, dedicated men and women who want nothing more than to protect Terra. However, if this is their idea of a Pleasure Planet, they're sick, sick, sick fucks.

First thing you notice as you come through the cloud layer is that it's a very thick cloud layer. Incredibly thick. "How do they get this much cloud cover and see the sun?" kind of thick. Then once you get through it, you start wondering "Is this an ocean-planet?" And the answer is no. It's just raining. Rainingrainingraining. Still raining. It's raining some more. Some folks say "it can't rain all the time." They're wrong.

Once the DS sets down, the back hatch opens and the squads inside disembark, you realize you're outside a huge concrete and rusty iron building of somewhat elaborate design that's obviously taken some hits in the recent past. The whole west wing is collapsed and rubbled, and the rest ain't looking much better. It doesn't look much like a resort to you, either, but aliens have a weird aesthetic sense, sometimes. There's definitely a nearby pond that drains -- somewhere -- since it's raining and it doesn't seem to be letting up.

Braugh's holo puts the Marauders on labour-duty, picking through the stuff in the building looking for anything that looks important, valuable, or interesting. Rumour around the fleet is he's been known to acquire a few things here and there for his "private collection," so ... you know. You're out on the rim. In the rain. Just another glorious day in the corps!

Get the PCs out there and going through the facility. Pull a few NFA rolls and turn up some odd stuff here and there for successes. Nothing too odd, just knick-nacks. Emphasize how the rain just doesn't quit coming down, it's near-dark all the time and just generally nasty. Mud everywhere, run-off, gross. On an NFA roll that comes up 10, the soldier's stuck in the mud or in some rubble and needs some help to get out.

At some point, call them off the search and put them on the perimeter. With dark falling. In the rain. In the mud. On an alien planet where nothing looks quite right.

You get where this is going, right?

Pop a couple of Threat out on the map and smile enigmatically. Call for FA rolls to see if anyone sees some plants moving around enough to take a shot at. Everyone's at Near on the perimeter, so no Domination needed. Someone'll make it. Burn a Threat to kick Ignore Wounds and cackle, leaving the Threat already committed on the table. That rustling stops ... but it starts up somewhere else. Rinse and repeat until they've gotten good and spooked. If the AA does damage, the soldier's taken a hit of some kind of plant-acid projectile. When they deplete the local Threat, it's dead quiet. Searching won't turn up anything, even crushed or tangled brush.

The rest of the night is uneventful.

Encounter 2: Sweep the Area

Hopefully, someone was smart enough to call in the disturbance on the perimeter last night. If not, they picked it up from the Mandelbrite logs.

Lieutenant Braugh (by holo, of course)

Braugh's holo projection is somewhat taller than he stands, at 8ft tall, and somewhat slimmed down to appear of almost human proportions. There's being vain and then there's being venal ...

I am given to understand that there was some expenditure of ammo last night? You ... troopers ... do know that each round of ammo you expend was hand-crafted for the war effort by little old ladies in dark, cold factories on Terra, just so you can be out here, goofing off and shooting into the bushes? Who do you think you are?

Whatever. Vayfield has ordered the area swept again for any signs of residual saponts. That duty's going to you and Sergeant Green out there. Split your forces and sweep the area around the site and if -- by some strange twist of your overactive imaginations -- you actually discover something, eliminate it. And bring back its head. If it has a head.

Lieutenant out.

It's a sweep op. Let them get out in the mud and the rain and the ick. It's a heavily overcast day so pull up some lights on the Mandelbrite armour if they want for the "flashlight through fog and rain" effect. Think about the slog through the jungle in Predator, except it's a forest made of weeping willow trees, muck, undergrowth, and rain.

Tension. Rachet up the tension, calling for NFA rolls with successes giving rustling off to the sides and successes dropping tantelizing bits like bushes that seem to pull back as they get near or vines lopping toward them out of the corner of their eyes.

Then, of course, it's go time.

Pop a goodly chunk of Threat onto the board, somewhat less than half of the remaining, and go Dominance. The PC's will probably win it handily. If they ambush, then the plants weren't fully pulled together and they get free fire. Whoo!

The locals are, in fact, human-shaped piles of walking, mostly sapient plant matter. Site 54's not a resort, never was; it was an alien research lab looking for ways to enhance predator-resistance of crops. Of course there was a horrible accident, stuff got loose, and now flora in the local area can pull itself into roughly human forms that look like the Man-Thing but can throw gobs of sticky, plant-based digestive juices. And they can break up into their original plant material and reform after many attacks.

The Plants are trying to take out the troopers, of course. They're woefully overmatched. The troopers should be trying to put this mess down and toward the end, get a holo from Braugh and Vayfield.

V: Troopers, sitrep!

B: Further intelligence provided to us from records gathered at the facility suggest that it -- ah -- was not a resort, as originally believed, but a biological research facility. The actual methodology of this site is unknown, but we do know they were engineering predator-resistant crops. It is possible that the enemy you are currently engaged with are accidental products of that research. Fall back to the site and hold it as long as possible until reinforcements arrive.

Since things are almost done here anyway, you know the drill. Don't bother burning Threat more than once here to Ignore Wounds. Save it ...

Encounter 3: Defend the Lab!

The squad actually makes it back to the site before all Hell breaks loose. Given them a round or two to get set up for a defense or check the field manual, or have a snack. Whatever.

Then it's Domination time!

Throw the book at 'em, Danno. The surrounding terrain seems to pretty much knit itself together into a whole bunch of targets. Green's squad appears to have been destroyed almost to a man, a couple stragglers coming screaming out of the brush. The mud's terrible, and the pooling bits of plant-acid aren't much worse. Feel free to burn Tokens to Ignore Wounds at this point and describe it appropriately with great, glutinous horror.

Last Token down, the DS's make a strafing run and drop some kind of chemical defoliant. The plant life for about a mile in any direction turns into a pile of sticky brown goo. You, of course, get covered by the stuff.

Debrief

3rd-Aug-2008 11:22 pm - [Gaming] The Hellworld Chronicles. Mission #2

Tags:3:16, games, hellworld chronicles, rpgs, three-sixteenm

Mission #2 (Planet Whistler)

( Planet Whistler )

27th-Jul-2008 12:55 am - [Gaming] Notes for The Hellworld Chronicles

Tags:3:16, games, hellworld chronicles, rpgs, three-sixteen
Mood:jubilant

Game was awesome and you can hear the results, recorded live, over on TalkShoe as The Hellworld Chronicles. Quite possibly the best game I’ve run in years, and that includes the Bliss Stage game that involved the giant Space Vagina underneath Stone Mountain.

No, you probably don’t want to ask too much about that.

I did promise to post the notes for the mission in the aftermath. This is that aftermath!

( Planet Caravaggio )

Aftermath

I think Corporal Andreeva is planning to murder Trooper Koch, but that’s the Sergeant’s problem not mine. Mine’s aliens, planets, and the Lunar Marauders’ superiors feeling vaguely miffed that they’re still alive.

This page was loaded Jul 10th 2009, 6:57 pm GMT.