The "Where You From?" Aspect And Weird Adventures

"Where you from?" People get asked that all the time in The City. After all, it's the Biggest City In the World, and At the Center of Everything.  Where else would you rather be, than in The City That Never Sleeps?

There are 5 Baronies and 42 neigborhoods in The City. Many Weird Adventures players will want their characters to be from the Ur-Manhattan of Empire Island itself (and who can blame them?). But some may want to be from one of the other Baronies, or even a place beyond the Baronies. Some players will want to leave it up to chance, so here's how to do that!

First, roll 4DF and consult the corresponding result below:

• -4: The Dustlands ("The Dust Bowl" states)
• -3: Freedonia ("Texas" and the Southwest)
• -2: The Steel League ("IL, OH, PN") or The Combine ("MN, WI")
• -1: Ealderde ("Europe"), or outside The Union
•  0: The Five Baronies
• +1: New Ludd ("New England")
• +2: The South
• +3: The West (the Mountain States)
• +4: Hesperia ("California")

If you roll the Five Baronies, pick one, or roll a d10, and consult the corresponding result below:

• 1-3: Empire Island ("Manhattan")
• 4-5: Rookend (Motherless "Brooklyn")
• 6-7: Marqessa ("Queens") 
• 8-9: Shanks ("Bronx")
• 10: Lichmond (New Jersey, at least that's what I think - could be wrong)*

Tomorrow we'll break down mechanics for generating your "Where You From?" neighborhood aspect if you live on Empire Island itself.

But for now, let's make a roll on the table and see what happens: We rolled 4DF on the first table, and got a -3. That means we're from Fredonia. So for our "Where You From?" aspect for this character, I am thinking they're not a lawman, but perhaps a roughneck oil rig worker who had a run-in with the Rangers and had to go North. For our "Where You From?" aspect, we could go with: A Roughneck Gone North.  Could be fun. I can see someone like this getting a job in the construction trades, or as a longshoreman, or maybe even with the mob. 

*Because no one wants to be from there. Or admit they were.

Space: 1889

A cover treatment for the Ubiquity Edition

This weekend, we read most of the the original Space: 1889 RPG, published by GDW in 1988. That was GM prep, because on Friday afternoon of this week, we are running two back-to-back Space: 1889 adventures at Con of the North. My original plan was to use Chronicle City's forthcoming Ubiquity-based Space: 1889 game, which is a translation from the German edition, but the release of the PDF has been delayed.

My Plan B for Friday is to use the Leagues of Adventure RPG (steampunk Victoriana powered by Ubiquity) as the game engine for the scenarios. The game's baseline assumptions (SF-based steampunk inspired by Wells and Verne) are close enough to Space: 1889's that this should be a pretty easy conversion. There are still four days before the game though, so if the new PDF arrives, we'll incorporate it!

One thing I will be carrying over from the German edition are the changes to France. About all I know is that in the German edition, France has a progressive republic based on a victorious Paris Commune. That's all I know, but that seems pretty cool. It has the potential to cut across the static Great Power rivalries in new and interesting ways. A French state with a relatively empowered working class could be out there making alliances with unions, and with anarchist federations and socialist parties in other states. That could really upset the apple cart a bit, in ways that the Russian Revolution did in our world a few decades later.

My impressions of the original Space: 1889 RPG are rather positive, after a careful reading. The system seems simple enough, at least for skills, and I'd imagine characters can be generated quite quickly. The combat system I'd have to really playtest a bit to have a strong opinion on; the way it handles a variable number of player actions per turn might bog things down, but maybe not. It certainly doesn't seem THAT top heavy for an 80s game system. I've heard people complain about the game system, but again it seems pretty straightforward to run. I don't see any reason why you couldn't run the setting with the original system out-of-the-box, and if I hadn't promised convention registrants that I'd be running Ubiquity, I probably would use the original system.

The content on the Victorian period is good, and accompanied by plenty of illustrations, particularly for period technology and weaponry. The descriptions of both Mars and Venus are interesting and look like places with plenty of room for adventure. I could have done without the references to "savages" and "savagery" in exposition when describing tribal peoples on Mars and Venus. If used at all, those terms would have been better placed using in-character or in-world quotes.

One surprise was the almost complete lack of any description of Martian religion, other than for a couple of Martian cults with anti-imperialist sentiments. I suppose that is reflective of the 80s, when there was little interest among SF gamers in the topic of religion/atheism, and when the domestic U.S. Right was itself busy courting religious fundamentalists at home and abroad, and playing a Great Game of its own in Afghanistan.

Deck Of Fridays 14: Just Plain Cursed

Welcome back to DECK OF FRIDAYS, our weekly feature here at FATE SF. We make a draw from the Deck of Fate, RPG Inspiration Cards, or another Aspect-generative randomizer. Then we do something interesting with it, using the Aspect as inspiration for a campaign or scenario seed, a situation, scene, location, NPC, thingie, etc.

This week's draw from the Deck of Fate is a card with the Aspect: Just Plain Cursed. So, another random draw from the deck with a pretty negative (-3) result!

***

Bottled trouble, so to speak. It's hiding right there in plain sight. The sign by the door says simply "Botanica." They say it used to be an apothecary's shop. But now it sells mundane magical supplies: herbs, folk medicines, candles, incense, holy cards, figurines of saints, a few self-help books on the power of prayer - and bottled waters.

There are several little displays of water-filled bottles around the store. The displays catch they eye; they're colorful. Each bottle has a label with the name of the natural source of water from which its contents were collected. Most of the labels are still legible, although several are quite old and rather indecipherable. Some are smeared, blurred. A few are written in a script that seems alive with quick motion, like a centipede's legs.

None of the bottles has a price tag. The owner says: "They're all special. Make me an offer."

Expect to haggle. It's a high stakes game.

Because these water bottles aren't the kind you drink.

Oh, no. You use this water to make a space sacred. Put a bottle in a window and let the sun will shine through the water. Sprinkle it on friends as a blessing.

The waters come from different sources. Local rivers, streams, ponds, lakes. Some come from farther afield: the Finger Lakes. The Amazon. The Nile. The Ganges. Lake Nyos. Places you've never heard of.

Most are completely innocuous. But mixed in with the safe ones are bottled waters that are just pain cursed.

Frackwater. Medusa's tears. Devil's bongwater. Snake well water. Roaches' spit. Ice water from cannibal glaciers. Plasma squeezed from pus-filled wounds. Water from a baptismal font where someone took a bloody leak. Farm creek runoff. One of the colored theosophical bottles of General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez.

You'll pay dearly for one of these bottles. Their owner went to a lot of effort to collect them. She promises they'll put a hurt on someone. You'll see.

OGL MECHANICS

Each water bottle is a one-use potion. The potion's target is affected by drinking some or all of the water in the bottle. Even a drop or two is sufficient to produce an effect. 

The potion causes a Moderate or Severe Consequence depending on the nature of the potion. Consequences may be either Physical or Mental, and can only be removed through magical healing. A Heal or Purify spell may remove any of these Consequences. 

(N.B., some of the lesser Healing spells (Cure Light Wounds, Cure Moderate Wounds, Cure Serious Wounds), only remove a Physical Consequence, or reduce its severity.)  

Ghost Wolves

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Bad_Wolf_meme

The first whispers about Ghost Wolves came from miners stationed on the Linebarger series planetoid Deep Gee (LB 1968117-G). The miners - indeed all the long-termers on that world - have adopted the practice of never being alone due to these creatures. Sleeping quarters, restroom stall accommodations, small vehicles: they are all designed so that people will double up.

Nexialists stationed on Deep Gee believe the Ghost Wolves exist. People who wander off alone in the planetoid's numerous subterranean vaults and tunnels often don't return. People who sleep alone are often found missing the next day. Disappearance takes the form of a species of dismemberment and spagettification by telekinesis, and has even been recorded by video. (And yes, being monitored by machines does not provide protection against Ghost Wolves.)

So what are the Ghost Wolves? The Nexialist Institute on LB 1968117-G has a couple of theories about them, including that they're:

• A form of Krellic exudate, perhaps connected to one the world's numerous subsurface Shrines
• An emergent property of the Autonomous Subsurface Collective deep under Deep Gee
• Another Panoptic or Gazebacker species, such as the Tindalosians
• Contact phenomena at the interfaces of a planar fracture below the planetoid's surface

The miners have a legend of their own. They say that the Ghost Wolves are a life form that emerged from one of the many ancient stasis boxes secreted in the world's subsurface vaults. In the depths of time, the ancient foreunner race that dug the deepest tunnels on Deep Gee forced the Ghost Wolves into a stasis box; they had a good reason for doing this. When the humans arrived, a star-charioteer named Pandora found one of the hidden stasis boxes. Curiosity got the better of her, and she opened the stasis box on the spot. This released many packs of Ghost Wolves. They have plagued human settlers on Deep Gee ever since.

OGL MECHANICS

Ghost Wolves
Immaterial Predators (inimical)

ASPECTS:

• High Concept: We hunt those who are alone
• Trouble: Two observers can dispel us
• Aspect: Always in a pack
• Aspect: Our minds are claws and teeth
• Aspect: More ancient than space and time itself

APPROACHES:

• Careful: +1
• Clever: +2
• Flashy: 0
• Forceful: +2
• Quick: +1
• Sneaky: +3

STUNTS:

• Find the Loner - Take +2 to Careful Approach Create an Advantage by locating a suitable prey; the prey takes on the Temporary Aspect Alone. 
• Rend and Tear - Ghost Wolves may Forcefully Attack a prey who is Alone in the same or an adjacent Zone. They will attempt to rend, tear, and spagettify their prey using deadly psychokinetic powers. 
• Slip Between the Cracks - The pack moves together. They use their Sneaky approach to exit or enter any Scene at will, skulking silently into or out of the planar adjacencies.  

REFRESH: 3

Note: The Ghost Wolf above is the alpha. It will be accompanied by 2-4 other Ghost Wolves, that are +2 Sneaking and Biting and -2 Affecting multiple watchers or things. Each Ghost Wolf has one Stress Box; they aren't affected by physical weapons.

Summon Planar Ally

Summon Planar Ally (Planar, Cost, Scene): This planar spell summons one creature from another world or plane to do the bidding of the caster for one Scene, or until Taken Out. The summoner may use the basic summoning rules in the Fate Freeport Companion to build the creature, but many examples of summonable creatures can be found in the FATE Bestiary. Use creature stats with a FAE or Freeport label, excluding any that are Very Large Monsters. Note when using these creatures that they will start at a base Fair (+2) quality but can be enhanced to Good (+3) using the rules for summoned creatures on pages 31-32 of the Fate Freeport Companion.

Possible new Disadvantages that the summoner may select in addition to those listed in the Fate Freeport Companion include:

• Absocial: The creature's words, actions, or psychic vibrations are deeply alien and offensive. As soon as the creature manifests, roll its CHA +2 vs. WIS for each non-summoned PC/NPC/creature in the scene (including the summoner). Resulting Stress is recorded on the Mental Stress Track.
• Inimical: The creature is of a species or type that is hostile to humanity. It will obey the summoner but is unconcerned with the welfare of others. The creature may be Compelled to act hostilely towards other allies and friends of the summoner.
• Out-of-Phase: The creature is immune to physical Attacks, but can only Attack others using magic/psionics.
• Salvatore's Syndrome: The planar summoning addled the creature's wits; it now communicates using an almost indecipherable patois of several human and alien languages. The summoner must Succeed with Style on an INT-based Overcome Obstacle roll for the creature to understand and obey a command; summoner gets one of these rolls as a free action each round.    
• Toxic: The creature is damaged in some way and contaminates the Scene with harmful radiation or chemicals. As soon as the creature manifests, roll its CHA +2 vs. CON for each non-summoned PC/NPC/creature present in the scene (including the summoner). Resulting Stress is recorded on the Physical Stress Track.

*FATE Bestiary creatures are classified as friendly, neutral, or inimical in the OGL MECHANICS section of the individual post for the creature. (There are a few we haven't gotten to yet, so let common sense be your guide here.)

Weird Adventures: The Board Room

We're getting ready to run Trey Causey's Weird Adventures setting using Fate at Con of the North in a couple of weeks. Today's post is about getting into the mood of the City. 

Places of light, places of shadow: it's in a dozen of the City's well-appointed board rooms that decisions are made affecting millions. The Bottom Line is attended to here, affecting hiring and firing at hundreds of firms, the trimming or expansion of industries, decisions to deepen or pull investments in Fate Exchange, allocations for charities to pacify and in some cases improve the conditions of the working masses of the Baronies, and much, much more.

Entire branches of wizardry are dedicated to influencing, amplifying, or mitigating what happens in these well-guarded rooms. Special care is taken with how board rooms are arranged, equipped, and decorated. Firms select only the most propitious table woods to fashion their board room's Great Table. At least one Captain of Industry in the City meets with his board of directors around a table fashioned from snapwood prised from Yggdrasil itself in far away Ealderde. It's said he paid a dear price for that table.

All of the major firms also keep defensive practitioners on retainer to ensure their board rooms are well-warded. The sanctum sanctorum of a magical corporate security specialist is never more than a room or two away from the board room. Its occupant will always be monitoring the board room and its immediate surrounds when an important meeting is underway. Such specialists often keep their own, esoteric ciphered Minutes of board meetings.

Such Books of Minutes fetch high prices for those who are able to filch them. These ledger books record much, much more than what people are saying. They often reveal the subtle influences on board members, the occulted Conflicts of Interest that each brings to the table.

Dollar Store Dungeons: False Beholder

Today's post is another contribution to the Dollar Store Dungeons community project, in which we are sharing ideas for what GMs can do with a $1.00 item from a dollar store.


False Beholders, also called Oculoids, are cyclopean blemmyoids. A gregarious other-planar species with excellent military skills, Oculoids are often hired as mercenaries in the incessant internecine conflicts on many backwater worlds. They enjoy the company of almost any humanoid race, and will be social with whomever's company they keep: eating, drinking, and carousing with their comrades-at-arms regardless of species.

Oculoids usually fill out the roles of musketeers, artillerists, and sharpshooters. Condottiere who can put up with their incessant babble and constant snacking will find the Oculoids make loyal and courageous troops. However, it is best to be forewarned: Oculoids will cheerfully natter-on about anything and everything, even in the midst a heated battle. This can be distracting, especially to combat casters.

False Beholders base their name on a two word combination. The first word incorporates part of the name, title, or attribute of a specific deity. The second word incorporates part or all of the name of a favored weapon. Oculoid name choices become particularly bizarre on worlds that have an extensive commercial armaments industry and a rich-brand culture. Naming examples include: Thora Godhammer, Horus Vickers, Hekate Broomhandle, and Sovereign MP43.  

The grognards say they can tell when an Oculoid is about to fire a weapon: the huge-eyed creatures instinctively blink just before they pull the trigger. But most importantly, they rarely miss. The Oculoids' single great eye gives them telescopic long-distance vision, and they are natural experts with all ranged weapons. Like their namesakes, the eye of each False Beholder is also capable of emitting a ray of some kind: laser beam, frost or fire, petrification, charm, etc. Because of this power, it is folly to close with them in melee combat (as with the swordsman in the photo above).

Hiring Oculoids comes with two hidden costs. The first hidden cost is due to the fact that the Oculoids' fat, stubby fingers are too clumsy for them to readily use most conventional firearms. False Beholders need firearms that are heavier, bulkier, and more robust than those used by most humanoid races. Sometimes, an Oculoid brings suitable weapons with them to their new employer. But other times, a condottiere will need to front the costs of custom manufacturing suitable weapons at the time of hire.

The Oculoids' other hidden cost is their insatiable appetite. While False Beholders never need to eat (they can sustain themselves indefinitely by feeding on other-planar energies), Oculoids want to eat. Constantly. The condottiere has a couple of different options here. One is to equip them with a feed bag, so that they may shovel food into their wide toothy maw at will. The other option is to assign them a feeder who can toss battlefield chum into their mouths during combat. A note for those with delicate sensibilities: the Oculoids talk while they eat, and chew with their mouth open.

A few final notes on Oculoid anatomy and physiology:

• Oculoids have two small antennae; these are telepathic organs which allow them to communicate with their own kind and with other telepathic creatures;
• They seem to understand humanoid concepts of gender well enough, but it is unclear whether the Oculoids have genders;
• Their mode of reproduction (?) or manufacture (?) is entirely unknown;
• They have no skeleton or organ systems; beneath their smooth green elastic hide there is nothing but a light green organic gelatin;
• The antennae have commerical value and are sometimes harvested for wands or fetishes; and 
• Their hide has commercial value, as a variety of unbreakable and elastic bladders can be made from it.

OGL MECHANICS

False Beholders
Oculoid Blemmyae (friendly)

ASPECTS:

• High Concept: Gregarious other-planar mercenaries 
• Trouble: Their constant babble can be distracting
• Aspect: That's one huge eye!
• Aspect: They're called "False Beholders" for a reason!
• Aspect: An army marches on its stomach

SKILLS:

• STR: +2
• DEX: 0
• CON: +1
• INT: +2
• WIS: +3
• CHA: +1

STUNTS:

• Sureshot: The Oculoids are masters of all ranged weapons and take +2 to their DEX when attacking with them.  
• Eye Ray: Every Oculoid's eye has a ray-like ability which can be used to Attack, Defend, Create an Advantage, or Overcome an Obstacle. The ability will be keyed to a specific Skill; the roll used is the designated Skill +2. 
• Scout from the Rear: Take +2 to WIS skill to Create an Advantage by observing the close-in details of a location or individual, even from several zones away. 

REFRESH: 3

STRESS: 

• Physical: 3
• Mental: 4