Sunday 31 December 2017

Godfall - an adventure idea


It's unknown as to why Celanor, the god of clouds, fell from the sky and landed in a field north of Grimstone Farm. It's also unknown why the chap is dead all of a sudden.

Most people in a 150 mile vicinity felt the earth shake when the giant bearded deity crash landed onto mortal soil. After all, the corpse is over 50ft off the ground (lying down, as bodies often do) and 1600ft in length.

Naturally the explorers from the academic institutions were the first to rush over, followed swiftly by the Children of the Cloud. The first fights occured between the clerics and the academics. While the explorers wanted to delve inside the god and see what's what, the religious forbid it, labelling it sacred ground. They even posted several armoured clerics who came to be known as Guardians of the Heavenly Jaw by the mouth to ward off unwanted visitors.

Vistra Pux, halfling mayor of Grimstone, wants to take advantage of the fallen god. Her village is doing poorly since the etheran oil wells dried up a year ago. She sent a contingent of warriors to clear out the clerics - which began the Battle of the Left Shoulder. Pux allowed the academics inside on the proviso that they first report to her.

Only one of the six academics emerged. The others had died within. She told Pux that there were God Pearls within, worth millions on the market. Grimstone would thrive again.

Factions that may hire/hinder the PCs

- The academy needs escorts for future explorers to be venture in
- Adventurers have caught wind of the event and are beginning to arrive to seek their riches
- the Children of the Cloud want the god protected and cleansed of interference
- the city of Valator wishes to lay claim to the God Pearls over Grimstone
- where there is treasure, there are monsters

The God Dungeon

- After death, much of the god solidifies, so inside is almost like stone for the most part, but with ventricles and tubes and stomach acid
- Creatures have spawned within each organ. They are the Bovor, body dwellers. HD 4, AC 3, MV Normal, Dam tentacles 1d6.
- God Pearls appear within organs. The most are found in the brain (pearls of wisdom).
- God Pearls attract monsters
-  Magically rewiring the brain will allow someone to 'pilot' the god

Continuing the story 

There can be a lot of moving parts in this adventure so it's easy to continue throughout a campaign. The underlying mystery to be explored is why Celanor is dead. He's likely been murdered, but by whom and why? Have cults spring up around certain organs and charlatans flogging fake pearls (that actually drain their owner of intelligence).

What happens when another god falls? On the border of a kingdom? All out Godwar!







Thursday 28 December 2017

Some new cyberpunk weapons


All of these weapons were originally designed mechanically for my minimalist game Wired Neon Cities, but all are easily converted to you or favourite ruleset.

Lineage fucker (Katana) - this is a 10-folded blade imbued with a viral code. After the victim is slain with the Katana, the virus rapidly infects its still-living Glow module, accessing 'next of kin's files used by employers and emergency services, to then infect a son or daughter (or both). Once infected, they suffer an information overload in the form of over a billion porn pop ups until they fall into a coma. Hard TestMind to overcome this.

Samurai Blaster - it's a gun that fires Katanas.

Smilegun - a small sidearm (comes in many florescent colours). Virtual bullets pierce the mind and bring the victim to a state of uncontrollable ecstasy. They cannot attack in this state until they successfully TestMind. Does no physical damage.

Phase Rifle - a large sniper rifle. The scope sees perfectly through up to 100 ft of material. The bullet will shoot through up to 150ft of concrete.

Dumbgun - blows your metaphorical brains out. If a dumbgun bullet hits, TestMind. If the test fails, the victim increases their Mind die by a step. If this goes beyond 6+ they become brain dead.

Like minimalist games? Love cyberpunk? Pay what you want for Wired Neon Cities



Wednesday 20 December 2017

The Zanbor Manuscript


Never has a book so vexed the kingdom's scholars as this one. Cloistered away in her squat offices surrounded by stacks of tomes Adnid Treefellow moves her glass of magnification over its yellowed pages, occasionally muttering to herself in her native elven tongue. Adnid is one of four academics in the Golden Pheasant University to dedicate her studies to the Zanbor Manuscript. The book is entirely written in a coded language, unknown to anyone but the author (being the current prevailing theory). The test is as mysterious as the imagery that surrounds it - delicate art showing strange shaped figures, unknown plants, beasts that don't exist, and even several maps that do not conform to the formal structure of a map.

The manuscript was unearthed from an ancient tomb by freelance adventurers. The tomb belonged to Zanbor Toop, a man that history does not remember. They sold the book to an antiques dealer where it remained for more than 200 years before it was found and bought by a university scholar.


It is thought that there must be a sister text somewhere with a cypher, or at least a hidden spell to crack the code (no magic has worked up to this point - there seems to be a dampener woven onto the pages). What's more is it appears that being with the book for too long starts to lead to hallucinations - specters floating in the corner of the eye, voices when one is alone. One of the scholars is specifically studying this phenomenon.

Using the manuscript in your adventure

Adnid is at her wit's end and believes that continuing to study the book could drive the scholars into a spiral of madness. She will put together an expeditionary group including one scholar (likely herself) and a team of adventurers friendly to the university.

They are to return to the original home of the manuscript - Zanbor's tomb, in search of a cypher.

Ensure the manuscript itself is a barrier for the players. Just being near it can trigger hallucinations, so mess with their heads. They start hearing and seeing things that aren't there, getting them into further trouble (was that a cry for help coming from that dark cave?).

The manuscript is precious, so cannot be harmed, however it must be taken as Adnid believes there are clues in it to the location of the cypher. Plus, like the One Ring, she's become obsessed with it. Oh, and the other scholars are really not happy about her taking it. They may just have to hunt her down.

You can swing the adventure your own way, but I like the thought of it leading to a lost underground city full of plants, beasts and people lost in time. Zanbor's ghost may even be somewhat of a god there.