Gamelog: Longstairs and Psychon new campaigns

Back in Sydney and have had a few games - being asked to run another...

Which means im running:

DnD Longstairs (Stargate vs 70s dungeon dimension) Friday
DnD Planet Psychon a new party vs a evil underground lake on Sunday
DnD My exile island game on some weekday

Devoting wed night to business/dinner night with friend
I can play Dragonlance on occasional sat as a player

Goals include have more story in games and have good continuity for regulars (more imbedded in world and events and history) and allow for drop in characters to join play at club (pregens and open story)

Longstairs
Longstairs I made players create four zero lv men-at-arms (infantry mostly) or experts (officers, scientists, etc).

All recruited in secret into training squads. Briefed and trained in the marralinga airbase or the first landing which controls the gate to the dungeon dimension. Sent to second landing on the other side and moved into barracks. Had settle into base and get a feel they are not getting out of this gently. Old vets disdain the zero level newbs, they are "zeroes" probably just gonna die or disapear. Second landing has 5000 personel most who never see anything strange but are heavily vetted by security.

Sent to third landing by light rail and saw mining operations on the way. Taken to fortified base, explained the no-mans land where troops have killed over 100 000 orcs in two years of this base being re-opened. Got to do some local training, most new recruits earnestly trying to learn from different personnel they meet. Greens not welcome in bars.

Finally sent to field base to reinforce it so can send off more patrols on the front. Arrived and saw bobcat mini bulldozer burying another pit of orcs. Dozens of mounds of dead. Troops here more haggard and dismissive of new blood. Some wearing souvenir orc finger and ears for decor as trophy jewelery. Troops also smoking and drinking when not permitted. Party all quiet and dig themselves a trench on by the machine gun nests facing the frontline. Rested overnight and were briefed that they were to stay put with older squad and MG crews and injured personnel.

One team went to scout door into the redbrick dungeon zone for xeno dungeon artifacts. Other team patrolling looking for orc camps or eliminating orc scouts. While party eating lunch an alarm went off. jumped into trenches while vets shouted abuse at them. Quiet and tense all waited guns ready. Then through three tunnels orcs poured out. Crews all poured bursts into horde mowing down dozens of the evil brutes. A few got in close range right up to trenches and some "experts" with pistols just finished them off.  This repeated several times till 90 orcs dead in three rounds.
Newbs cheery at this but told what happens when a single orc grunt gets into a trench full of greens by a grumpy vet. Helped collect dead and dig new burial pits in the firing zone (a necromancers will love this one day). Saw looting of dead, some items collected and filed in bags, other being pocketed and a few vets taking souvenir fingers and ears for making trench jewelery. Turns out orcs had been sneaking up and cut razor wire and defused claymores without detection.

Next day survivors of squad that went though the door into the redbrick zone staggered out wounded. One with three darts from a trap in his chest, another poisoned and another stabbed by a kobold. Captain gathered the party to volunteer them on a rescue mission. Were to go in, ignore treasure and avoid combat or capturing xeno species. Just rescue missing men. Door surrounded by guards and metal siege door put over entrance for base to control this passage.

Crept into a entrance hall with lights mounted on guns, helmets and hand held for pistol wielding experts. Survivalist found tracks and sighns of a dragged bleading soldier. One passage saw a nonhuman greenskin corpse in a puddle of slime which party afraid to go near. Left four men to watch hall and followed. Found trail ended and saw door and open area ahead in tunnel and end of blood trail. Drone scout copter went ahead and looked down well only to have something destroy it from behind. While inspecting door secret panel opened and one trooper saw lizardmen about to acctack. He fired and rest of team strugglrd to get a safe shot off. Two grabbed knives and fended off lizards from door while closest trooper hosed them down. Left enough space to see a serpent man so they shot him.  Looted corpses and checked data to find this species never seen here before. Searched around through door and secret panel and saw robed men with a kobold and a soldiers corpse chanting. Mowed them down before they could get off a spell and the kobold too who exploded from a single shot. Recovered corpse and a searched.

Sarge and one of better player troopers guarded a door. None of them heard a distant bugbear seal away his sack of crying children. They were all disusing why wizards had Russian gangster tatoos when the player trooper was run through with a spear. Every one backed off. Everyone drew guns to see a bugbear lift the trooper and use him as a living shield. Explained that hitting the trooper odds were high and he still lived. Sarge got skewered and backed off while troops followed bugbear who was backing off with his prize. One man eventually fired a burst of suppressive fire but the bugbear was gone. 

Party fled back to camp and another fire team went in. Was all a mess and sarge said men did well to retreat and not risk splitting party. Wizard and lizard corpses were shipped back to the secondlanding with the party.

All went to drown sorrows in bar and found they were not bullied for once by vets, just given surly looks. One party member did get in a fight when someone spoke ill of dead and got knocked out for his trouble. A fellow trooper downed the victor. 

Replaced by a new mook the team was next sent off to scout area named the time wastes where relics of prehistory and alternate history could be found. Were sent to scout and loot and avoid engagements. Team heard a Nazi found in a wrecked saucer were found with dinosaurs and cave men and stuff. Warned away from Alcheringa Zone. Avoided a few encounters skirmishing across a river and fround a ruined robot rust heap under some vines. One person found a half buried jade idol, which they couldn't be parted from once touched. They knocked him out and tried to move it unsuccessfuly so they let him keep it. Wiped out innocent sleestack hunters they surprised and carried bodies home.

A bit of relaxation and training and a few were sent to nearby test lab station outside first landing to kill something loose which they managed. Darned mimic chest again. They dont like having guys drill them open. One lucky player got to test magic items as previous tester in hospital. Another player got to help some monster dissections.

Over next few nights each player got to select a favorite character to become first level. Elf and a Catholic cleric were the best. Cleric met the base 5th lv Catholic Chaplain and explained they had to convert more than the Islamic priest at the base. Other becoming fighters didn't really stand out but finally getting respect as no longer green. Eventually convinced green idol was safe in locker and was able to be parted enough for a mission till a treatmen found.

for me to do:
Lists of officers and personalities at three bases (about a third to half play time was in base).
rough maps of base and local zones
Print out equipment lists and info for players
Need to get my modern era skills sorted...
d100 Base missions - protect miners, bug hunt, whodunnit?
more stuff to do in base

Planet Psychon
A new party aided by virgil to escape own threats and find together in a new land. A horned Ice man with a tail (product of relabeling beastmen into abhumans) with a half human half iceman heritage (shiela the half ice shiela). Was human from a bunker and has been an ice pirate on the para-elemental plane of frost last few years. Doc Greed an twenty first century rogue time traveller now with green fur over red skin. A scallywag theif who claims he has been everywhere before. Has a assistant who is an archer. An Eldren snake woman who can parthenogenicly lay eggs and has mind powers.  Has a pet snake, a tin pyramid mini-modron with one eye and wings and a bodyguard warrior.

The three met on yellow snowy slopes over black mud trail, overlooking a tangerine and ivory forest with a citadel beyond. Iceman complained about evil yellow snow and warned everyone. Chatted about how Virgil had saved them. Eldren was being chased by bugbears, Dr Greed by a burning slumb district of a citadel and Frosty from his homeplane when is ice pirate schooner was sucked down a wormhole. Wandered towards where they saw smoke and saw some some short ugly women in pointy hats ahead who moved around a corner and went out ofsight. Doc went to spy on them and reported they had taken cover. Eldren sent his familiar modron who channeled his masters sleep spell. All faund naked sleeping morlock women with stone knives.

Went on and found trader and swapped some stuff for warm cloaks and change.Told players about Virgils shrine in town and the with hunters school. Also town multi racial with no dominant species and free elections but only for landowning men. At shine saw some offerings and found old holy man who read them the Anead and Dante's Inferno. Most gotbored and went to pub but Eldren whos guard chopped firewood while he listened to old man. Was very hostile at idea of witch hunters. Frosty and Doc went to pub and tried to talk to with hunter students. Seemed two were looking for adventurers to escort them to Forbidden valley. Went to see senior witch hunter who told them of 1gp lecture fee or a 30gp course which qualified you as a apprentice witch hunter and a free white puritan hat. Explained witch hunters use torture to exorcise evil or expensive holy water from church or trickery. Frosty cried poor and hunter told him could earn as laborer for one year to him or help students to quest to earn money. Returned to students chatted and went to sleep.

In morning party ready and eldren and his flunky freak show turned up. Marched into yellow snow wastes to forbidden valley debating the witch crisis. Saw a trader coming from valley and witch hunters suspiciously questioned him. Party watched while man sweated fearfully before diving off cliff without his pack to escape. Frosty pushed a student down after him "to help". And nimble Doc bounded down as easy as a hopscotch pitch. Other student climbed down to friend cautiously and chased off after limping trader who was injured.

Doc wias surprised that witch hunter skewered the trader killing him. Then grey vomit came from mans mouth and melted into the snow. Doc was a bit surprised and told others who dismissed it, convinced witch hunters all wrong. Found the ruins of ancient rock men, builders of the citadel long ago but now extinct. Went past the witch caves and up to mesa with a deco tech bunker of the rock men. Unlocked doors and went inside to foyer. Gramophone music started and lights came on but half room blacked out from ceiling collapse. A dark balcony level was around the room. Most of party inspected a row of vending machines and bought some deco cola with ancient coins from town. While some watched Doc steal vending machine coin boxes of shiny ancient coinage Frosty and his girl Shiels inspected the rubble and a bloated once human horror rose up wearing nothing but a donut service hat and a apron. Entrails dragged behind it - a savage grey skinned ghoul. Frosty whacked it with a spear and others came to help. Eldren went to go upstairs to balcony but his modron stopped him. Party killed foul ghoul but most scratched. It vomited up slime. Elden crept up enough to peek upstairs to see three robed cultists preparing spells with a hideous mutant and a short beastman familiar. Seeing the were preparing spells he started his own spell.

(Both sides got same initiative)

Both sides fell into stupors from sleep spells, eldren was struck buy a magic missile and Shiela the half ice resisted a charm spell. But all fell asleep on both sides.

(I made all try and roll under CON bonus on d20 to see if anyone woke up slightly faster)

Shiela won and party got into action first and killed most of the other party who vomited grey goop on death. Held rest captive and tried holy water on slime burning it. Tried potions on two witch women in robes and released them from control. Eldren was now thinking witch hunters had a point but sexist land grabbing and money grabbing seemed a tad the wrong way to go about it.

Explored an office with mechanical typewriters and stole a portable one. Found two windows upstairs to tanks full of grey protoplasm. Found office with a pistol and cigars. Had a safe and escape tunnel down to flooded level. Other side had a classroom with rolls of propaganda films party watched doomed rock men's decopunk civilization in it's last days. Also some films on sexual hygiene which revealed that Eldren's parthenogenesis egg laying and Doc's hermaphroditic tendencies. Iceman felt abnormal by comparison and wished he had reproductive mutations too.

Found media room with radio, dj desk and gestatner machine press used for printing newletter of bunker's last days. Read how plague turned people into hostile creatures. All started when miners tapped a layer of evil protoplasm layer deep beneath the surface. Found geological maps and charts. Also old maps had land being flat but now hills and plateaus were forming  rapidly from pressure from beneath the earth. The eldren programed the cognitive engine to flush all the tanks and system clear having found evidence a citizen under the influence was responsible for dooming the bunker. Party all exited over discoveries and the amazed witch hunters dont know what to think.

Incidentally player who spat dummy over thief last session was over his grumps and we all agreed we could dobetter so all good again. Three players named Andrew odd.

for me to do:
Lists of Warlords and heroes and villains of Psychon
A few example citadels

Exile Island
My straight DnD game was 13th lv and kind of getting tedious with record keeping and mowing through small armies so Im hoping to start afresh. A few 1st-3rd lv characters about will try to get more into epic mythic quest mode than straight sandbox mode. A bit more horror and less medieval in tone. More guns,

Possibly will let characters hop between settings