Play by Post: Alien Lost Souls Part 3 - Shadows and Rocks

When we last left off, Manni was set out to help Tammy, the pilot of the Glorious.

---Manni

"I'm telling you Captain, she's not here!" Manni continues to search around the aft thrusters feeling nervous as the shadows of the asteroids keep moving around the ship. "What do you want me to do?"

---MUTHUR

Hold, on.. Peter says... let me have a look!

After what seems like forever, but really only 2 or 3 minutes, Peter comes back on the radio. Her beacon is saying she is about 50m from the ship? he says with a perplexed tone.

Go, see what she doing! Frack sake's! What the hell does she think she is doing.. he mumbles before his mic switches off.

You look at the dark asteroid terrain ahead of you.. and a shiver runs up your spine.

---Manni
"Alright Captain, I'll go see what she's doing and bring her back!" Manni isn't happy about walking out there especially with the way the asteroids keep impacting the surface.

---MUTHUR
It doesnt take long for you to loose sight of the ship as you round a huge boulder, there are many chasms, craters, large rocky protrusions

You still see no sign of Tammy, but about another 50 meters away, you see what looks like to be some large surface pipes (Coming from the direction of where the station is located). These pipes are about 6 feet in diameter, and are covered in some form of grating, one of these gratings is damaged and bent outwards away from the entrance.

---Manni

Manni doesn't like being out of view of the ship but if it was him out here he would want them to be looking for him. Manni moves over towards the pipes and wonders why the grating is pushed outwards. What could have caused it?

---MUTHUR
As you get a little closer, you can see that some of the grating looks like it was melted or dissolved.

Near the damaged crating, appear to be scuff marks and prints on the ground leading up to the entrance. Just inside of the grating, you can see a pair of legs, feet towards you, laying prone on the surface.

---Manni
Manni sees what looks like Tammy's leg in the tunnel trying to figure out what she's doing especially being out here without letting anyone know. "Tammy, what the hell are you doing in there? Quit messing around we need to fix the ship!" Manni has a strange feeling he's not alone out here and keeps looking around his eyes darting back and forth between Tammy's legs and the shadows.

---MUTHUR
Motion catches your attention inside the pipe, first it was a dark shadow moving. Then over top of the body that is in the pipe emerges a living horror, as if pulled from your nightmares of your deepest fears.

A dark slender body with a large smooth head, with a long whipping tail, thin arms ending with long point razor sharp talons. For a second, the teeth glint, like steel blades.

It lounges towards you, bursting through the already damaged grating..

---Manni
"Oh my God, Oh my God" Manni sees the dark shadow as it climbs over the body. Not having any kind of weapon Manni attempts to get out of the creatures sight and run back to the ship.

---MUTHUR

This demon, with its tale whipping and lashing, lunges against the grating, You turn to run. You slip on the ground and you stumble over your feet falling forward. Although you can not see it, you know that what ever is emerging from that culvert is now moving swiftly towards you! If you can just make it back to the ship!

---Manni
Manni starts to panic as he sees the creature coming out of the grating. He opens his com to the rest of the group. "Everyone, you have to watch out! There's some kind of creature out here that got Tammy and he's coming after me!"

---MUTHUR
In a flash, the slender terror is upon you. When you turn to face it, you are just mere inches away from its elongated eyeless head. It pauses, almost as if it is judging you, sensing if you are worthy to kill, to grab or to let live..

---Manni
Manni looks around for anything he can use for a weapon!

---MUTHUR
You rummage quickly through the bag and its spilled contents, looking frantically for anything that can be used as a weapon or a device to defend yourself, but in your haste you can only find a short screw driver, and a roll of duct tape. Nothing considered sturdy..

Although you feel like you are about to soil yourself, you manage to keep your wits.. You keep a close eye on the creature which is staring at you.. waiting, watching preparing to pounce.

You hear over the radio; Bjorn responding to your call for help... .
"What do you mean some kind of creature Manni????".

You then hear Matt over the radio.
A creature!? Manni, where are you?

All that is heard in return is the frantic breathing of Manni over the radio

Stay Tuned for Part 4, Play By Post Alien: Lost Souls

Play by Post: Alien Lost Souls Part 2

------- Matt

 Matt is thinking about how friggin' awesome the future at this company just became, if he is able to bring this back to the corporate board. He gets lost in a forward flash of his new found life, the prosperity, power, and influence and all the amenities the come with it. He would have to admit that this kind of thing gets the blood pumping to the ol' extremities and unfortunately it gets the oxygen pumping as well.

-------- Bjorn

Bjorn steps out into the darkness, opening a general comm channel to the group, "Alright, let's make some money." As he makes his way towards the station entrance with Tim, he notices that his air supply drop a little quicker than he would expect. "It must be all the excitement", he thinks to himself.

---------- MU-TH-UR

The bulky suits slow your progress as you walk inside the main station hanger. On the deck in front of you, you can see the tracks of the two roughnecks in the frozen condensate. It seems like power to the station has been turned off for awhile. You both notice several other passage ways lead from the Hanger to various parts of the station, they are all opened. In front of you, is a small ATV like vehicle, with various doodads and gizmos attached. This ATV is parked near another door, which seems large enough for it to drive through. Above the door is a sign stating that all people entering the laboratory workspace must where full protective equipment.

 The large hanger door has section of reinforced safety glass (The type with the wire mesh) You can see a cracks in some of the pane, near the edge of the window frame. And one large star shaped crack in the middle of one of the panes. Beyond and through the glass, is eerie blackness.

------ Jack, the Roughneck enters the scene. Coming from the station control.

Before we get too busy, I want to talk about the shares situation? I mean I'm not getting much on this job as it is, and if we find something valuable we can salvage in this place, I want assurance me and Deborah will get full shares?

I'm going to go find engineering and see if I can get the power back on. We'll get a lot more answers with lights and access to the mainframe.

--------- Matt Leshainko

 "Let's take a look at this hanger and determine if there is any useful equipment at hand." Matt says in a routine manner. After taking a careful stock of any protective equipment or casualty safety gear at hand, I want to shine a light through that glass door and see what's inside and if there is any indications of the origin of that star shaped crack. I take a beat to listen and see if there are any sounds that can be identified or seem abnormal.

 ------ MU-TH-UR

 The noise of crunching footprints can be heard as Jack walks from station control into the hanger. After searching through the dark hangar, Jack finds a doorway, with the sign next to it that reads. Engineering Control Sub Level 1 This sliding door is almost completely shut, except for a small gap of maybe an inch. They are powered doors, but they do not activate when getting close, and the door control panel seems to be powered off.

The radio chirps in..

The voice of Debrah is heard by everyone.I hope you do not treat the laddies in your life like this, and just leave them to pay the bill!

 The radio cuts in again, this time, its Peter. Well, I am not sure what happen on our approach to the station, but it wasnt a rock that struck the ship.. thats for bloody sure! I will be submitting a claim to you, Matt. This is over and beyond our contract expectations! The light beam from Matt's suit shines onto the Lab Access door. The shinny frozen water droplets sparkle. Looking at the glass, Matt can see that a larger crack is on the opposite side. It looks like something struck it.

 Beyond the crack, the light does not seem to penetrate very deeply into the access way, it all appears dark. But you can just barely make out a shape of something on the floor roughly 20 feet down the hallway.. but your light is not strong enough to really see what it is.

------ Matt

 Matt eyes the unidentified mass on the floor, notes the ice and surmises this is an environment to clear later. He surmises that room is in vacuum and if the hanger gets equalized, that's going to out a lot of stress on that crack in the window. Sterile, cool, electronic light from his helmet's interior highlights the furrow in his brow as he replies to Peter. "Peter, let me ask you a question: When our corporation decided to sign your contract, do you think the major deciding factor was your cost or your particular brand of work ethic?" I'll carefully head towards Jack's direction and enter the next area, keeping my sense alert for anything unusual -- other than a large, long abandoned derelict that no one has any knowledge of.

 ------ Jack

Jack squints through the dark crack in the door. He reaches out and tests the doors by pushing them a touch. Not enough to open them, but to see if the lack of power has left the hydraulics off. Once that is settled, Jack takes a step back to inspect the ground. He drops to a crouch, grimacing at the angry groan of his bad knee. He scans the ground looking for the source and nature of the crunch he heard walking through the hangar.

----- Bjorn

Bjorn surveys the room watching Jack head off to get try and get power back on. He moves up beside Matt as he investigates the crack in the glass. I say to Matt, "I don't know Matt, people don't just abandon stations for no reason. Something bad happened here. I don't like it." Not liking the situation I check my pistol and make sure it is ready before following Matt into the next area to find Jack.

 As he speaks, everyone feels a slight tremor rumble through the station.

 ----- Jack

 "Bjorn brings up a good point. What if someone went nuts and spaced everyone here? What if that psycho is still here?"

 ------

Meanwhile back on the Glorious,  Manni, has been assigned to stay behind and help Susan setup her portable lab equipment and assist her in what ever she needs. The hanger, if you want to call it that, is more of a medium sized room with a few cargo crates for supplies, large enough to hold two large cars side my side if this was a garage back home.

 Over the radio comms, you can here the conversations and comments from Debrah to Jack over the radio. Manni is moving a few crates to make space for some crazy gizmo for Susan when the outer airlock hisses open.

Looking up through the port hole, you can see Peter coming inside. The airlock does its normal equalization process and allows Peter to remove his helmet of his compression suit before opening. He can be heard complaining about some damage sustained as they were landing.. Peters face is a little pale, and he looks to be slightly confused.

 Manni, he barks.. Get your suit on, and get out there and help Tammy with what ever she needs.

The doctor here, nodding to Susan, will have to wait if she wants her toys set up.

The sound of the airlock disengaging, and the air getting sucked out of the room causes that sensation of being kicked in the stomach, but with out the pain. Manni steps outside onto the large barren surface of this asteroid, looking above you you can see other asteroids floating in the darkness of space. Its almost kind of disorienting but its an amazing sight to behold. Manni walks aft, to where the he was told to go.

The first thing Manni notices on the haul, is not damage from an impact of a rock, but rather weird splotchy patterns in the haul. In the gaps below you can see the exposed electronics, that are very apparently damaged. Seeing an open toolbox on the ground, placed near where the largest hole in the haul is found. Which is roughly the size of a football. But there are several of them, peppered along the length of the after section of the haul. But Tammy is no where to be seen.. 

---- Manni

Manni is awed by the site of the asteroids floating around. He can't believe the wonders he's seen since shipping out with the crew. So much better than being dirtside. He looks around the ship trying to see if he can see Tammy but when he can't he opens his comm,

"Tammy this is Manni, I'm out here on the hull and spotted your toolbox. Where are you at?"

 ----- Only the quiet hissing of static can be heard in reply. There is no response from Tammy Suddenly, a crack or fissure opens up underneath your feet, and a small burst of pressurized gas blows up from underneath your feet, nothing serious, just enough to give you a good start and to send the toolbag into the air about 10 feet. Tools going every where!

 ----- Manni Manni squeals as the pressurized gas blows up at him causing him to loose his balance. He's grateful that his fellow roughnecks aren't around to see hear his reaction. Manni then works his way over to the tool kit to try to collect as many of the tools as he can. "Tammy, where the hell are you?" He then changes his channel to talk to his captain. "Captain, I can't find Tammy out here! Can you pick her up on the sensors?"

 ------ MU-TH-UR

 Peter responds: What do you mean she is not there? She was standing right next to the aft thruster. He pauses for a second as he adjust his radio. Tammy, stop messing around! I want to get this fixed ASAP and you can sight see later.

Tammy, come in, over. There is no response from Tammy.

While standing near the aft thruster, Manni feels a sense of dread creep over you. And you begin to notice shadows flick and move around you. Although these shadows are being caused by hundreds of nearby floating asteroids, drifting through the belt. You keep getting the sensation that you are not alone out here.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of Alien: Lost Souls.

Play by Post: Alien: Lost Souls Part 1

Background: Alien Lost Souls

The FreeSpace Corporation is a small minor affiliated partner of Seegson. Seegson a major global corporation and an active competitor to Wheyland.

FreeSpace is contracted on occasion by Seegson, to perform sometimes less then above board operations that need a somewhat of a discreet touch in the corporate battleground. But in many of these cases, the contracted firms are not aware of the larger picture and in their minds, a job is a job.

This is just the case in this adventure.

FreeSpace Corp have hired the Small Tug vessel "The Glorious" to perform a survey mission in a small asteroid field just outside WY sphere of influence past the out rim worlds.

The crew of the Glorious consist of.
Peter (Officer)
Tammy (Pilot)
Jack (Roughneck)
Debrah (Roughneck)
Manni (Roughneck)


All three roughnecks are recently hired on to the crew, at typical bargain day rates. This lowest price as possible is typical for Peter and his most precious "Bottom line" This is the first trip for the roughnecks joining Peter and Tammy.

The Glorious is accompanied by 3 FreeSpace Corp Representatives.

Matt (Co Man)
Susan (Scientist)
Bjorn (Marshall)

The story will start in the later stages of the mission which so far as proved to be pointless and a huge waste of money for FreeSpace. It is only now, that the crew has discovered a weak signal coming from the backside of one of the asteroids in the field and are headed to investigate.

Tabletop Simulator: Conan 2D20 Character Sheets!

Ok,

So I have finally got around to completing my Conan 2D20 Character sheets for my steam workshop.

So now.. you can use a fully editable character sheet when you play!

You can check it out here!

And if you actually want to play Conan on Tabletop Simulator. Try out the my Conan Table, found here. (Old character sheets are in this one) There are no Conan board tiles in this mod, what you are seeing is for my own personal use. (Sorry)

Get it here!

Play By Poll: Page 4. The Ruins of Re' Shar

Hi all!

Ok then, you asked for it.. lets make it happen!

Play By Poll: Page 3 - The Ruins of Re' Shar

Hey all,

It was either cross the ford or take the path. They were the options presented and it was a tie. So I had to head to the comments on the blog and sure enough, there was one more vote to take the path behind the water falls.

So here we go.

2D20 Conan Home Brew Creature Feature: The Supplicant of Ne' Rogh

Its been awhile since I updated any of my creatures. I stopped just after I heard about the demise of Google + . But, I am back again with another creature of horror spawned from the depths of inspired sword and sorcery readings.

I present to you: The Supplicant of Ne' Rogh

This unholy terror summoned from the very bowels of hell is a horrific encounter to deal with. Usually entering from the shadows, it appears to be a person with its head lowered and crawling on its hands and knees, keeping its true identity hidden until the last moment,  rears up like a cobra and strikes with its hidden tentacles, arms and rows upon rows of tiny needle sharp teeth. It will try to surround its victim in a cloak like embrace to be devoured slowly over time.

Few have ever escaped its embrace. 

Art by: bogdanrezunenko

Horror: D3 to Summon
Nemesis

ATTRIBUTES
Awareness   Intelligence   Personality   Willpower

8                 10                  8                   8

Agility       Brawn Coordination

10(2)         8(2)      8

FIELDS OF EXPERTISE

Combat (2) Movement (2)

Fortitude (1) Senses (3)

Knowledge — Social —

Stress and Soak

Stress: Vigor 11 Resolve 9

Soak:  Unnatural Skin 2 Morale: Hell Spawned 2 

ATTACKS

Inhuman clicking: The many clicking teeth of this horror from hell is enough to stun anyone, and once heard is known to drive the few who survive insane.

5CD, Range Close, Area Piercing, Persistent 2, Stun, Fearsome 2 and Intense 

Flailing Arms and Tentacles:

5CD Reach 3: Grapple, knockdown, Fearsome 2, 

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Fear 2

Feed upon Fear

Inured to fear

Inured to Pain

Dread Creature 4

Inhuman Brawn 2

Inhuman Agility 2 

Keen Senses (Hearing, Touch)

Night Vision

DOOM SPENDS AND SPECIAL ABILITIES

Envelopment -2 Doom: If the supplicant either knocks down or grapples a target, it may spend 2 doom to envelope the target and do the listed damage below. (Much like how a person would wear a cloak) As a free action sink its spiny teeth into the poor soul and slowly devour him. When ever the Supplicant activates, it may use this doom spend to roll its damage on a target who is already enveloped as a minor action.

5CD, Piercing 4, Persistent  2, Unforgiving. 

A target is considered grappled at this point and must have a contest of skills to escape its grip. Supplicants Athletics vs Targets Athletics or Acrobatics to escape it grip

Immobile: Once a target is enveloped, the supplicant may no longer take a move action of any type until the target is no longer enveloped. 

Stealthy: It my add 2 momentum to any successful stealth check or ambush/surprise attempts. 

Hidden in plain Sight: This creature appears as a naked person crawling on its hands and knees with its head lowered until it strikes. It will require a D3 Insight roll to see what true horror this is. If you pass, the target will can take a fear check 1 when it is revealed.

Demon Spawn: This creature is immune to pain and fear. And can track its targets with an uncanny ability in all at all levels of lighting.

Do not get to close - 4 Doom: On a successful parry, it may spend 4 doom to immediate enveloped its attacker.

Play by Poll RPG: The Ruins of Re' Shar Page 2

Page 2 of the Ruins of Re' Shar

You duck back into the treeline to observe the figure standing by the waters edge. You notice that the figure is dressed in a long hooded cloak and has been standing motionless for sometime, if it was not for the breeze created by the water falls causing the robs to stir, you would almost think that the figure is a statue standing with it's arms crossed.

But after sometime, the figure suddenly turns and starts to walk towards the water falls, you catch a slight glimpse of its dark face, but you are unable to tell if it was male or female or even human! But it quickly disappears behind the cascading flow.

It is while you were watching the figure that you notice that in the ford, a motion underneath the waves, as if something is swimming just under the surface. The wake appears to move against the current and back towards the waterfalls. And while watching this unnatural wake move, you also realize that several of the boulders that are in the water are also remnants of old statues or carvings.

You are now left with the decision. Do you take the path which leads behind the waterfalls or do you cross the ford?

Do you:

A) Cross the ford?
B) Take the path?

Skill 10
Stamina: 18
Luck: 9
Provision: 2
Leather Armor.
Long Sword.

Play by Poll RPG: The Ruins of Re' Shar

The cool mist from the falling water has soaked you to your skin. But you find it refreshing after a week long journey it took for you to get to the valley where fabled ruins of Re' Shar rest.

The rumor has it that these ruins contained unimaginable wealth for those who are willing to dive deep into its depths. You, a young adventurer, unafraid of what fate may have in store has decided to accept this great quest and explore darkest secrets of this subterranean complex.

As you descend into the lush valley, you can see the great water falls from the distance. This landmark indicates that the entrance to the ruins of Re' Shar is nearby. You walk for another several minutes and as you round the bend in the path, the forest clears enough to see the great carvings of the Great Horned Death Beetle on the escarpment wall. You have indeed found the location of the entrance to Re' Shar.

You are still some distance away from the entrance, but you can see that there is a lone solitary figure standing near the waters edge, this cloaked figure seems to be standing and watching the pool of water before its feet.

The path diverges nearby, with one path leading the large waterfalls. The other, leads down to the river ford, which will take towards the cloaked figure and the entrance.

Do you:
A: Cross the ford and head towards the figure and the entrance?
B: Stay back off the path, and observe the area?
C: Duck out of sight, and head down the path to the waterfalls?

Skill: 10
Stamina: 18
Luck: 9
Provisions: 2
Leather Armor
Long Sword

Leave your comments or questions below.

If I was to play 2D20 Conan: Calacorm

Hi all,

Growing up, I am sure all of us "Gamers" had a character that they always played, a character that they always envisioned as they wanted to be like in real life.

I was no different. In fact, I am sure, like many others. That I was not the only who would write up full stories and backgrounds about this one particular hero. No matter what game they played, as long as the setting matched the background of that character, they made the character based on that vision.

In fact, even today I find myself tempted to create that character in the various rules and settings that are more then abundant today then it was back when I was a teen.

So I decided to sit down and make the hero that I created way back in the 80s, and pop him into Modiphius's 2D20 Conan ruleset. Given that the Conan character creation mechanic places a large focus on story telling, I was able to use this system to get what I think is an accurate creation of how Calacorm would play out as in this world.

The concept of Calacorm was that he was never a "super" hero type or someone who would be able to handle everything that was thrown at him. But more of a character who would persevere through hardships, someone who was flawed and failed things on the first try. But would succeed at things in the long run, by being smart, disciplined, a healthy dose of daring and being a team player. The last thing I wanted was to have a character who could always succeed at anything he did.

More resolute then strong.

Hence where the idea of Calacorm was born. So with out further adue, I would like to introduce to you. Calacorm Udrathed.

As an added touch of nostalgia, I searched for the Ken Kelly image that I used on my cover, when I wrote my first story about him and submitted it in my school's short story competition.

HOMELAND	Nemedia
ATTRIBUTE ASPECTS	Dexterous & Strong and Resolute
CASTE	Born Soldier
ARCHETYPE	Veteran
NATURE	Professional
EDUCATION	Educated on the Battlefield
STORY	The Promotion of the Fool
TRAIT	Realist
WAR STORY	Stranded in the Wastelands
SOCIAL STANDING	1
GOLD	9
FORTUNE POINTS	3
VIGOR	10
RESOLVE	13

AGILITY	10
ACROBATICS	1	1
MELEE	3	3
STEALTH	1	1

AWARENESS	8
INSIGHT	1	1
OBSERVATION	2	2
SURVIVAL	1	1
THIEVERY	1	1

BRAWN	8
ATHLETICS	1	1
RESISTANCE	2	2

COORDINATION	10
PARRY	1	1
RANGED WEAPONS	1	1
SAILING	0	0

INTELLIGENCE	8
ALCHEMY	0	0
CRAFT	0	0
HEALING	1	1
LINGUISTICS	1	1
LORE	0	0
WARFARE	1	1

PERSONALITY	7
ANIMAL HANDLING	0	0
COMMAND	1	1
COUNSEL	0	0
PERSUADE	1	1
SOCIETY	2	2

WILLPOWER	11
DISCIPLINE	2	2
SORCERY	0	0

TALENTS

Cosmopolitan Sentry Vagabond Veteran No Mercy Bind Wounds Sixth Sense

EQUIPMENT

Brigandine jacket (Armor 2: Torso/Arms) Cheap riding horse Cheap clothes with military insigna of dubious origin Mace Broadsword Battlefield Honor Shortsword A magnificent drinking horn with metal cup A brilliant scarlet cloak, made in the dreaming west Large Shield , a gift from a fallen dog-brother.

LANGUAGES

Nemedian Ophirean Aquilonian

Crown of Flames, A Conan 2D20 Adventure. Scene 2 - Escaping over the Tundra

Scene 2 (A) Escaping over the Tundra

Granite Lake is a town located in the northern portion of the Border Kingdoms, known as the Great Salt Marsh, which is a large foul smelling, fly infested, stagnate water filled bog hole. And Granite Lake sits just north of this bog of eternal stench. (Anyone able to guess that reference? 😉)

In the high summer months, the water levels are much lower, the flies are maggoty! And the temperatures are fairly high. In the fall and spring, these temperatures are much more comfortable, but drop off steeply in the evenings, and the flies are not so bad. Problem is, with the Fall rains and the spring melt, travelling over this marsh is full of bog holes and leg breakers. In the winter time, this area is cold, windy and unforgiving. Travelling in this area at this time of year can be one of two things. Really good.. or one hellish slog! But the frozen flat ground offers great access to just about anywhere in the area, but the open flat ground grounds provides little shelter from the harsh cold winds!

In this scenario, I planned it for a early spring. There is still some snow, although a little wet, lots of fresh bogs and muck. But its easy enough to change it to suit what ever time of year you want it to be.

Assuming that the players escaped with Attalus in the group. They are now fleeing from the battle at Granite Lake.

Read this to your Players

The smoke from the burning town behind you can be seen rising over the horizon, the sounds and screams of the dying village can barely be heard now, except if the wind blows the sound in the right direction. But it appears you have managed to avoid any barbarian patrols so far. But the going is tough as almost every 5 steps you are up to your knees in muck. 

GM TIP
To set the mood of tramping over this desolate land, have each player make a D2 Resistance check. Failure will result in 4 fatigue damage (no soak). If you succeed, any momentum used will reduce the fatigue by 1 point for every 2 momentum.

It is after this that the GM can assume they have been moving away from the town for some time. The players may decide to post a watchman, or keep an eye out to see if anyone is following them. The group can nominate a player to make an D2 Observation roll, with people assisting as they see fit. A success will cause the players to spot, what looks like to be a barbarian patrol in the far distance.

The GM can inform the players that they have roughly a 5 hour lead over the patrol if they choose to keep moving.

The party is going to be doggedly followed and tracked.

NPC's
Barbarian Hunters - Use Conan the Barbarian

This scene assumes that the group has just escaped out of the town and are now on the run.
The story has the group being captured after several days, but they can be captured much sooner if they get silly. Ultimately the group can be tracked down and caught by the hoard. Have the players select the lead character (high survival is best) , and ask him to make a D4 Survival Roll, anyone else can assist with their own survival skill. If a person passes this roll, they will managed to get a 6 Day lead on the horde. They can spend momentum on the roll, for 1 momentum = 1 extra day lead. If they fail the roll, they will be caught in 6 days, and for each dice that shows as a failure, subtract 1 day from that total of 6. This will be their head start that they have.

GM TIP:
A dash of railroading: To make this scenario work, the party will be captured. Which seems kinda unfair. I try very hard to allow the players to do as they want in my games, but as a GM to tell a story that is both fun for Player and GM there needs to be a small trip down the railway. To make it fair, although they can not stop being captured per say, they can effect when they are captured and what they do till then. But here is the kicker, during the roleplaying sessions at the camp and interacting with Attalus, they may decide to turn back towards the horde. Bypassing the plot point of being chased all together!

Now that the total number of days have been determined. Its time for the trek. Have a the leader of the group from above, make a D4 Survival Roll, others can help as usual. If they fail the roll, they loose a day's lead and if it reaches 0 they are captured. Also if failed, all players take 2 Fatigue. For every two momentum, you may lower the result on the below table by 1, for each dice that shows as a failure, increase it by 1. A complication, increase it by 2

Regardless if they pass or fail the roll, have them roll 1D20 and have them refer to the chart below (adding any of the modifiers).  This chart will be the progress of the current day, and any encounters they may have during it. Each day will technically be a new scene, so the group may recover from stress as per normal each night, unless otherwise noted.

Any fatigue not caused by sickness can be recovered, Difficulty equal to the number of days they are currently on. (Up to a Max of 5) by use of a survival role.

1. You manage to find a easy path to follow, gain 1 fortune point  (up to your max allowed) and are immune to any roll for fatigue in the next phase only.
2. You find a good place to camp, and may ignore 2CD worth of fatigue effects rolled on the next roll.  
3. You find an abandoned cabin, with meager supplies left as a cache. Find 1+1CD worth of Rations  
4.  You come across a survivor of the horde attack. A successful consul skill (D1) will reveal the horde searching for a stolen relic from a holy site.
5.  You discover a body of a fallen survivor, you find 1 provision, and 2 reloads of arrows and 1 short bow.
6.  You find a ruin of some sort. (Roll an the encounter table)
7.  You spy 2 Barbarian Hunters (Toughened) in the distance, have they seen you? Group Struggle!
8.  You start to feel ill, Each player may make a D2 Resistance roll, Failure is 1CD Fatigue
9.  (SICKNESS) You are both sick, tired and cold from the harsh country, each player takes 2 Fatigue
10.  You come across a old weather worn statue. One it are strange markings. You have seen markings like this before. On the relic
11.  You have an encounter in a large open field. (Roll on the encounter Table
12.  It seems like sickness is spreading in the group. All take 2CD worth of Fatigue
13.  (SICKNESS) Strange boils and welts appear on a PC. Randomly determine who is effected. That person receives 2 Fatigue from sickness 
14.  A sudden and unexpected snow shower strikes the group. All Physical related rolls are raised +1D roll an encounter, 
15. You encounter a group of 5 Hunters, they have ambushed you. They are considered to have completed an exploit action on the group.
16.  (SICKNESS). 3CD per player. You each suffer that much fatigue.
17.  You have an encounter near a rocky outcropping. (Roll an encounter)
18.  While in camp in the middle of the night, long tentacles reach out from the murky bog waters. 
19.  The going is tough and slow, Make a group survival roll at D3. Failure results in 2 Fatigue
20. (SICKNESS) You get totally bogged down in the muck and lose time! Loose a 1 day lead, gain 2 Fatigue, lose 1 fortune and suffer 4 points of Despair. Roll an encounter!

Encouter Table (1D6)

1 - 2 Large Toughened Bears
2 - You stumble across a old battle scene. 2 Mobs of Minion Skeletal warriors, and 2 Toughend rise up from the broken ground
3 - Slavers taking advantage of the displaced refuges from the horde attacks. 2 Slavers and a 4 Mobs of Minion Savages, They see you
4 - You hear the sound of Wolves. You encounter a pack of 3 Minion Wolf Mobs of 5 lead by 1 Alpha Wolf
5 - You are attacked by a Forest Devil.
6 - A broken stone circle sits on a crest of a hill and makes a great camp for you to rest inside. But living in this once holy place, a Malign Plant sits and waits!

When the days finally reach zero, this will result in the party ultimately being captured by the hoard. Which will be covered in our next segment.

Life, and a little bit of perspective.

Hey everyone,

Its been a while since I really posted any real new content on my blog, other then updates to my 2D20 Conan extension. And I wanted to keep this site active, as it seems in the last several months my viewership has increased, both on Twitch and on Twitter. With those numbers going up steadily, I want to make sure there is something here of note for my readers to follow.

The other thing, is dealing with the shutdown of the Google Plus pages. I have been struggling with the loss of G+, as I thought it fit my style of social media perfectly.  I recently moved my social media needs to MeWe, which is an OK site, but it doesn't quiet feel right, not yet anyways. I have been so busy with life in the last 6 months, to fully explore MeWe has been something I have not really had the chance to do. So I plan on getting back on track with that.

Life Status.

The end of 2018, ended on a real sad note for me in my personal life. Since my accident in 2016, I have been dealing with my recuperation of a totally shattered ankle, one large metal plate and a dozen or more surgical screws. Which effectively put my main hobby of Hiking/Climbing in a semi permanent state of hold. When one door closes, other doors open, so I spent a lot of my time focusing on my other Hobby, running RPGs.

2017 and 2018 saw a steady growth in my gaming. Starting with trimming the fat down in my online associations. When I had this done, I started to slowly build up a network of people who had actual similar interests in gaming, and gaming alone. Along the way I developed a really good friendship, with a person who I could count on for real solid advice, support and someone, who more importantly I could trust. Thanks @ionfarmer! I mean it! You are a real talent in the RPG world, and having you as a friend has been awesome!

Then in 2018 my gaming ramped up in a way I never could have thought was possible. Being a person, who can only game every 3 weeks due to my work, I was flooded with games in my time off. With 2 or 3 games every weekend, and asked to host other games through out the week. It was total madness and I loved it. I reveled in it! I put every ounce of my creative processes into it and I was telling more stories then I ever thought possible.

Overtime, and with some investments into online streaming, software, and other hardware in late 2018 I was about to really make a move into a whole other realm of  gaming. I was in my prime when it came to roleplaying. Everything had lined up perfectly.

And then disaster struck.

Late November, my wife's health which has been marginal since 2007 after a very serious car accident, took a turn for the worse. In mid - late December my best friend of 16 years, Jack, collapsed suddenly and passed away in my arms when he was brought low by a degenerative heart condition. For those who do not know, Jack was not a person, he was much more. He was my Dog. Jack was my outdoor companion, he hiked with me, he hunted with me, he went with me on rock climbing trips. Jack and I were inseparable. Jack was by my side, for more then 3 months as I recovered from my fall. Having him suddenly ripped away from my life, and the impact that had on myself and my already ailing wife was more then anyone of us have ever dealt with before.

So I shut down. Emergency re-set required. Cancelled all my remaining games for my time off, put away all my books, stopped writing. Just one total full stop!

When I got back from from work Mid January I decided it was time for my wife and I to take a short break away from it all. To get away from the pain and memories of the last several years. We decided to go on a trip.. in total, 13 days! Seeing I am only ever home for 21 days, this was a large chunk of my time. It was great. Warm waters, hot sands, and bright sun! It gave me a chance just to re adjust to the way things were going to be going forward. It allowed me to put things into perspective.

I got home from the trip with just 3 days to spare before having to head back to work for another 3 weeks, I am totally exhausted. By the time I do actually get a chance to run a game again it will be roughly 10 weeks since I last played anything. But I am excited about it.

I may have lost some momentum with a campaign I was running that was just short of a year in length when December struck. But that is OK, I am sure I will slowly build it up again.

Two systems this year I am really hyped with. 2D20 Conan and Coriolis. Man, I love those settings and I love those systems.

This year, I am going to be focusing on Coriolis a little bit more. And maybe run a campaign game for it. As the mechanics of the system is super slick, fast and very fun. Furious even! (A little dig towards you Savage's out there)

I am going to keep running the 2D20 Conan. But I am going to run it more on a game by game basis, which will allow me to run more Conan One Shot games and let me be more flexible in allowing players to jump in and out of the game.

My twitch channel is slowly getting more exposure too. Even with this recent setback of missing several weeks of gaming momentum. I am confident I will be able to get that back on track.  Having managed to receive some tips and advice from a real life audio studio recording professional, I am eager to put my new found skills to use and produce for everyone some super gaming content over the next year.

So stay tune, subscribe and buckle up for some great fun, original content and raucous behavior.

Best regards.

Jolly!