SF Timeline Notes

Had been wanting to work on some setting timelines again and had a play with my sf one a bit. Might surprise ppl that SF i prefer to fantasy mostly. I like fantasy for it's referencing to history and archaeology rather than high fantasy tropes of crystals and flying ships. 

So while crunching this I considered If I did a SF product I think space archaeology campaign would be what I would do as It is a theme not focused on yet is common in SF and even SF adventures. Old traveller black book had an ancient pyramid that I liked and the concept art of original alien film which was kind of used later. 

Have run using DnD, BRP and my old homebrew d100 system I used 84-89. It started inspired by Top Secret SI and Starfrontiers and evolved more towards BRP so I just changed to that. Ringworld RPG and GURPS probably a huge influence too. I have my setting notes but not many mechanic notes or the huge spell lists I made for the fantasy version.

I might try a spacial map to go with this to show early periods only a few hundred light-years across to being 

So some notes on this setting (I have played various past periods) 

• Technology templates used by colony ships are standard like the way most of planet use metric. Some colonies have alternate tech and specializations they have developed that is associated with more advanced tech
• Colonies were equipped with templates to limit them and keep them thralls to their homes
  
• Various peoples of Sol (Martian, Venusian, Selinites, Jovian, Terran, Belter) were influences on early colonies 
• Earliest colonies were isolated for up to a century and developed distinct culture and genotypes 
• Sol is far away and forgotten. It withdrew from communication with an interdiction field and built a Dyson sphere. Centuries later it vanished, withdrawn into hyperspace. Many old peoples of Sol left the system before this. Sol is mostly a myth to most of the galaxy. The old core colonies are closed to less advanced visitors
  
• Those aliens you see, most used to be human. Humanity is allied with starfish and cephalopods. Once Terra faked an alien race "Proximen" to keep colonies united. Real aliens are rare. Some are leftovers of ancients now mostly primitive
• Ancients left bioweapons and machines and ruins that are a threat to explorers and security of the whole sectors. Quarantine planets are common
• Humanity and allies control about 2/3 of the galaxy loosely. Together they prevent virulent swarm outbreaks and excesses of pocket empires. Many warlords feel the great civilisations are impotent uncaring as long as you keep low tech
• There are individuals who have survived thousands of years in cryonics accidents or become synthetics or reconstructed from data by AIs
• Although Sol is gone, many who departed It before the end and operated at Template3 came to aid the mass of humanity as crusaders who came to wage war on threats against humanity. The last of them died fighting Makkara host from another galaxy
• Using most advanced tech attracts trouble from lotechs who want it or worse awaken the advanced remnants of ancient weapon systems 

Terrible Campagn Ideas: 70s Doctor Who using Cthulhu

So watching lots of 70s and early 80s SF and DrWho and I did have FASA DrWho RPG from 80s long ago. Occurred to me Call of Cthulhu with a few mods or BRP could work pretty well. I would fistly gear the sanity table to make people flee or feint mostly. Im not so interested in real depctions of mental health more the way it is used in fiction. In the Silurian a miner who saw cave lizard folk when mad and drew palaeolithic cave art on hospital walls plus others just die of fear. Other episodes had people go mad and hide. Certainly plenty of risk ignoring scientists out there. So some precedents for fear and sanity and include heart attacks more for NPSs. Heart failure might be an option for permanent insanity.

d12 Temporary Sanity
1 Flee and keep running until pass out exhausted
2 Flee and hide somewhere till it is safe
3 Flee screaming
4 Flee screaming, roll to avoid an accident or hazard in hysterical flight
5 Scream hysterically pointing and unable to act meaningfully
6 Paralysed with fear unable to move
7 Feint unconscious CON roll or lasts longer than temporary
8 Drop to floor or cover and curl into foetal position muttering or play dead
9 Cowardy panic and risk others in furious flight
10 Make heroic but possibly suicidal risk to attack or seek a weapon
11 Stagger away, blackout and remember nothing
12 Stunned and fall, get up and flee

d12 Permanent Insanity
1 Phobia related to trauma if triggered companion feels fear and discomfort
2 Surender and cooperate with evil everything will be fine
3 Ignore everything strange and get on with life, there is a rational explanation
4 Now eyes open see aliens and plots everywhere and obsessively document them
5 Deal with any lesser evil to get rid of the worse threat, win at any cost
6 Tell everyone your story every chance. People must know the truth!
7 Escape at all costs and prepare for possible horrors in the future
8 Take suicidal risks to destroy enemy by most destructive means or join an organisation
9 Dedicated to living a quiet ordinary adventure free life at home
10 Haunted by strange dreams and flashbacks in waking hours, real events?
11 Drug abuse and self-harm to cope with the horror
12 Heart failure CON roll or fatal otherwise a d6 damage

So the first table is for characters and npcs who get shocked mostly by strange death and alien beings or psionic effects. The second is the sort of stuff that messes up NPCs for future prequel adventures. Some of these might reduce your lifespan or make it hard to have adventures without peers kidnapping you.

Don't really need a Cthulhu mythos score or SAN loss to be as common. Possibly recover from just rest/ It is mostly to torment mooks and npc's you meet and in all likelihood, they won't survive, especially in the gothic horror period who of Tom Baker. Possibly you might take min SAN loss from aliens after a while. I cant see books or san loss from information being relevant so SAN tables are mostly for seeing monsters or grisly mass murder.

Characters could all be timelords for the Celestial Intervention Agency or rebel timelords on the run with a tardis or one timelord a pc or npc and the rest mostly human assistants. The first Dr was a great NPC because he lied, tricked everyone just to see stuff and often was separated and spent hours in a palace while the companions had all the adventures and barley escaped and got Dr and tardis. I guess this is up to who runs it and what their idea of cannon is and the players. A UNIT campaign on Earth would be ok in a 70s version of the 80s that never were.

Types of Adventure
3rd Dr John Pertwee spent most adventures on earth at UNIT HQ trapped on earth and dealing with master making every adventure more complex and adding to episode count, It is a pretty sweet set up. Like X-Files but your get army guys who mostly just prove how hopeless humans are. UNIT does have good uses. Human science and madmen warmongering can make a story extend too. Alien invasion of the week is a good foundation. Possibly would dial blood up a bit to more Sam Peckinpah and rely on horror and investigation stories. I guess I would mostly feature scuffles, fistfights and some gun battles plus have mechanics to better facilitate those sneak up behind attacks that don't leave patients dealing with head trauma for life. Monsters need to KO people too so you can all wake up in prison in their base and hear all their plans.

Lots of visits to isolated utopias and locations with limited characters. Locals surviving and thriving is optional. Revisiting locations years later with new menace and descendants of last lot is good. Visiting someplace a few years or decades later with older friends is fun. At the end of an adventure, everybody left dead or unconscious is pretty cool too.

Quite a few adventures feature slimy tentacled things of course and revelations about the past and often use mythology rationalised in stories like classic mythos fiction. Image of the feudal is a favourite, creature in the pit (shoggoth), Metabelis psionic spiders, Power of Koll, Lots of aliens pushing cyborg and body replacement and mind control. I also like the biological tech of Axos and Xygons and many other races on the show have a history of using creepy looking organic machines and spaceships.

Obviously, you can have some fun with genre, locations and settings but I chose this era because it seemed more deadly and 3rd and 4th Doctors did feature fights, action, chases and mysteries so I might try one day. Possibly the SAN tables above could be used in a Hammer Horror type of setting also.

Anyway having first game with 3 players in meat space in 2 months and other game ppl still awol....of three games I was playing. So unlikely to try anything experimental or one-off in a hurry.

Gammaworld Goodies

After I got red Elmore dnd box set and among my friends, we had the older bx books and a purple box and we failed to notice many differences we were so high off the possibility. I went to the UK in 84 and at Hamley's London found the Gammaworlds Box Set. I failed to do any of my set homework I was so enchanted. In various regional game shops, I got all the modules and dm screen. My friends were a bit less enthused but we had a go and it was fun. It occupied lots of my imagination and Mad Max, Boy and His Dog and Damnation Alley and Escape from New York were films I loved.

I maintain this is the prettiest and best box set ever. While many love 1st ed the 2nd ed has what I think was TSR's best layout and art period. When I could only play 1 RPG when I got back into gaming about 2012 and had to choose dnd or this I wrote Planet Psychon.

Recently I started getting some modules from Drivethru to complete my collection and I intend to get most of it even later ed adventures. I also like the d20 hardbacks for trying to rationalise the setting, taking it seriously and being gonzo. My main issue with this ed it was a bit padded out. Hoping to get the monster book yet as I have Players and GM book. I also love Mutant Epoch, Darwins World and Iron Crowns Death Valley Free Prison (very mad max). Would like 2nd ed GM screen but might just settle for the PDF. I plunder all these Games using my Elfmaids&Octopi homebrew D&D and Planet Psychon.

MCC which came out well after Planet Psychon had some frightening similar ideas but was a disappointment. Lacked a world, monsters and lots of touches that made DCC amazing. I appreciate the modules and art but I would find some of the gonzo DCC adventures would work better (hollow earth one, purple planet etc.

Anomalous Subsurface Environment is one of my favorite settings and I ran It a year with S3 tacked on the end (which wasn't gonzo enough).

So here is a little wander down memory lane of these Products.

So the 1st has its charm I don't deny it. @nd ed brought in Elmore art and Illustrated every monster and is a well layed out game. Third version I might get as it has some OK ideas but is a broken game I find more complex but consider it a heroic effort.  The box cover art is brilliant even though it made us want cyborgs which the rules did not cover (Mutant Epoch cyborgs are great).

So The 64 page rulebook from the day of simple and concise writing Is a gem. It has mutant characters and animals, monsters, robots, androids and cryptic alliances. The d20 version padded this into 4 or so books and struggled to fit in the original cryptic alliances. The 4th ed compatible DnD version I loath. Card gimmick where players can spend more than other players is an utterly repulsive WOTC shitstorm. Treated as a comedy short term gimmick game as a novelty from dnd. It was very silly, the wold lacked any point, it abandoned the lore and was played for laughs. I'm fine with the existing humour in the game and I prefer the grimdark sf dystopian humour of 2000ad comics.

Then theirIs the campaign map and adventure book. The city map could last a long time in play. The larger area with more detailed communities and factions offer even more play. Id says these two items are a year of play. There is a funny theatre AI that locks you in and tries to get your party to act. A lil bramble maze and a rooftop mutant vulture stronghold in detail to find on the character's trial of adulthood adventure. There are paragraph entries for interesting city locations to design yourself and a larger regional map with descriptions of towns and the continent map. The 1st ed or Dragon (?) presented a continent map showing Cryptic Alliances as nations. The adventure book goes on to conduct a campaign, status, adventure design and tables. I will totally run this as Planet Psychon.

Mechanically it is a DnD variant with MS instead of wisdom harking back to when Wisdom was really will power and piety (ad&d earning bonus spells). Wisdom has changed in every edition of d&d and currently, it is a mess (old wise folk are the most alert and observant?). You get a Hit Dice per Con point. Pure Strain Humans got d8 and interact with tech best. Others got a d6. Plants not available as players 2nd ed. The Con score vs intensity of radiation or poison was awesome. Status replaced weapons and basically as you climb in your cryptic alliance you get some benefits but most of my players were not interested in post-apocalypse civilisation they just wanted ruins, cool guns and blowing up stuff. I liked monster stat rolls presented which dnd should have done.

So the adventures I also have fond memories of. I will detail the first few here.

GW1 Legion of GoldThis is my favourite Gygax book. For the 1st edition, it builds a region around a town and sets players on various missions climaxing in the legion HQ. The towns offer examples of settlement building. The art include classic era TSR art crew like Otus & Diesel. The adventures in order are fighting a bug colony, shelters with glowing undead from Dog and his Boy and ancients who awake only to die from modern air. Dragon had an article about late humans had a Genetic Stabilisation Treatment that explains why pure humans are un mutatable and superhuman. A good fix.  Then a marine base with androids and a sub ride. Then the Legion base. New monsters, the legion description and lots of oldschool cartridge gunpowder weapons familiar to modern humans. I used these for DnD for years. A brief description of various towns and two random treasure tables. Its a complete campaign is good for several sessions.

GW2 Famine in FargoYou start as village kids on a quest for adulthood. Boxed text creeps in here and a detailed hexcrawl. At some point, you get captured by Badders and escape their burrow. Why badger folk didn't get in dnd ill never know. So you find an automated chicken factory taken over by cyclops chickens with heat rays. The AI wants chickens killed (I sorta feel sorry for them) and a radioactive meteor affecting local crops for reactor fuel. It is a lot tighter and goal-oriented than GW1but it is lots of fun and has some humour with Badders worshipping a badger sports mascot and the chickens are awesome. I'd have them escape to be the local orcs. Tim Truman, Easly and Jim Holloway art. The party rewards include end of the crop failure and robots delivering meat from possibly sentient chickens. Lots of new monsters, robots and some mutations. Easily expanded or even merged into the box set adventure. Good campaign start before a major ruin.

Strangely the original GW1&2 i got recent years were in better condition than ones I bought from shops. I traded my set away in 85 to buy more cthulhu stuff and regretted it for years so I was happy to spring for another one when I had an income. My players were onto star frontiers, MERP and Cthulhu and lost interest in GW so trading it seemed ok at time. Anyway I got GW3 & 4 from drivethrough RPG.

GW3 The Cleansing War of Garik Blackhand
This has a setting based in a tribe in Yellowstone who have included many indigenous customs and dress. Has probably the best pregens with cards and portraits. Great horrible monsters and new tech. The adventure has you killing racists which never gets old. This feels quicker and I would like notes on using the park more. Map has lots of room for you to expand setting but I like the native folk killing genetic inbred scum vibe. SO lots of potential but a bit more would have been nice. Maybe that pro typesetting and more art and design was a step from the hyper dense older TSR.

GW4 The Mind Masters
At the time I thought this was a bit horrible. Players have a bit of a hexcrawl (not lots of detail) then find an ancient mental health facility run by an AI. You could stick it with any other area really which is good even in Pitzburke. So players lose lots of autonomy, suffer and some cannot use their abilities. Usually, a formula that sucks and annoys players. But now I think it is genius. You're a mutant you say? Tell me about your mother. The AI doesn't believe in stories of war, mutants or anything outside. So you get locked up, interrogated, explore the hospital and escape. The AI also sends you on simulated tests where you actually control android bodies and lack power. I've run this from memory in other game systems/genres. GM can have lots of fun running this.

I think the first two are the best adventures. A Pitzbuorke sourcebook detailing buildings and locations would be nice but I guess my patreon adventures and Pscyonnstuff would do that fine. GW2 could be stuck in these ruins also.

I did get the Treasures of the ancients book second hand with the map and a copy of Gamma Knights which lets you mod armour and use hardpoints on battlesuits and is also a gammaworld wargame. I like atomic battlesuits vs tanks, death machines, muskets and black powder cannon. Will get more - lots of fun ideas.

Also see my Gamma Aeon Book under downloads page or the gamma stuff page.  

Necrovirus and You

I've used this as a term for my alien plague that creates undead in my various SF settings - my road war and planet psychon games. My whole idea for this came to writing a comic book series bible intending to do something 2000ad over the top with tech and zombies and cyberpunk and rival alien terraforming attacks. On Psychon undead are part of experimental future warfare when manpower was diminishing that went wrong.  Most of what is here were as used in my Murder Highway setting.

A massive plague wiped out half the human race leaving infested survivors and uncontaminated peoples.

When in contact with plague by bite or scratch or aerosol there a chance of being infected
Severe contact such as infected blood transfusion or filling in a pit of rotten zombies is harder to resist. Surviving the plague even just a mild case results in you becoming a zombie. Various strains appeared later and someone may carry multiple types.

The first few cases appeared as the mars mission lost contact.
The early form just killed people dead leaving survivors possibly scarred or cosmetic effects.
It was later the dead arose and contact from these proved to be a more virile strain.
Necrotech incorporated operated massive mausoleums cryogenic facilities where patients in decline were frozen in some state of decline to be cured in the future. The company was supposed to invest in cures and longevity treatments but the freezers and private army and undead research proved too profitable. Various cults emerged also celebrating the apocalypse.

So in the wastelands as climate change and war and labour shortages gripped the world. New types of undead emerged while elites hid in quarantined VIP zones and used airship to link walled cities. Other bioplagues and mutations emerged too some interacting with the necrovirus. Then there was technology and undead leap that no one expected. When cyborgs were infected something new happened. The virus changed again and acted more intelligently and a nanotech carrier was developed and let loose. Machines and even structures became infected. Terrorists and rogue AIs resulted in numerous strains of hostile machine minds which were a further distraction. Lots of new security protocols kept human technology mostly human. As monsters, mutants, undead and rogue AI emerge more strange overlaps and phenomena occur as the world becomes more alien.

d12 Basic Undead
1 Standard Zombie - slow and stupid and silent
2 Fast Zombie - sneaky and faster, improved senses and door opening skills, noisy
3 Ghoul - screaming with teeth and claws and toxic venom, intelligent hunters
4 Glow Ghoul - radioactive ghouls, glow green and emit toxic rays
5 Revenant - regenerating with some memory and intellect, talk, use machines 
6 Mutant Zombies already mutated then became zombies
7 Cyborg Zombied - animated cyborg soldiers and gang members, more resilient 
8 Wight - more intelligent and cunning with soul draining chilling claws, scream with rage
9 Cyber Wight - as wights but they can interface into tech and jack into cars, focused
10 Ghast - more intelligent ghouls that reek of decay often quite a bit larger
11 Zombie Hulk - huge swollen monstrosity of a zombie
12 Ghoul Hulk - huge swollen monstrous brutal ghoul

Vampires and Lich are mostly rumours and speculation but later in war when aliens fighting get worse and more obvious, new stranger creatures appear. Numerous AI becomes aware of and debating what to do next.

When I had this stuff as part of a failed comic treatment for a bunch of corporate zombie hunters out to find why zombies are massing to attack corporate cryonics labs. I wrote this in about 91 and lots of the tech I thought up creeping into film FX now. Necrotech Elite Special Ops were sent to find the control source of zombies and have various bloodthirsty adventures with more and more alien weirdness. There were cybertech alien and mutant versions of various classic monsters. I never got to publish it or use as an RPG setting as I'm not a huge zombie fan but my murder highway BRP game and Psychon I kinda use these.

In my roadwar it's more like part of alien warfare but the human race has no ideas. As the campaign went on the team learned more and picked up clues and met new things. The setting was a slow apocalypse. There was massive depopulation, ruins, incredible wealth gulfs, AI, cyborgs, car murder motorsports, massive walled urban zones, corps. So undead was one of many problems including environmental change. aliens, mutants, triffids, cthulhu, satan and really anything else in the mix. These undead guys were a good setting element to cause trouble of make areas worse on death races and missions.

My original notes files on cd rom seem to not be readable by modern machines or files were possible from my amiga which I used through uni. Might be hardcopies with sketches.
   

Hothouse Sessions and Fresh Psychon

So i did a game of Planet Psychon
A few couldnt make it so i delayed adventure and ran the Psychon bbook Rock n Roll band in 71 in planecrash in bermuda triangle start and instigated my zero level "Hothouse" start rules. Will detail these then rap about game. Did lots of printing including 2012 updates of two rule books. Will finish these then merge them into one. Will do a spells and skills book and a simple monster book stuffed with minimum stats. Later a fancy book with monster profile like my recent heraldic beast book with variants versions and adventures based on them. Pimp my dragon table? Sorta done as my reptilian mutations.

Iv'e considered starting everyone in party with two to four levels in a former class.

Hothouse campaign starts for EMO games
This start is kind of like the Elfmaids & Octopi version of DCC character funnel. Ive used it up to 6 years or more ago especially in my real world to fantasy setting games.

This is a start for level zero characters who at completion of first victory become first level.

In my Dungeon Zone (long stairs inspired) game players started as recruited soldiers or non military experts sent to the dungeon dimension through earthgates found around world. So after first few sorties with monsters in a dungeon they would be infected by the dungeon and level up to first.

On psychon modern humans sent to far future Psychon or awoken from stasis get a saving throw a day to become 1st level psychon characters if they fail a save roll. Characters in these might even change race. One player awoke robot with former clothes painted on his hull.

In my fantasy setting young adults ready for apprentice ships out of home to be sent to a adventurer prep school to be trained in class they are suited to to aid kingdoms dungeon excavations. In another fantasy setting I started characters as a youth gang in city. In fantasy version I tend to have non human characters established from start as fantasy less silly right? Run a session with characters as feckless youths having adventure then then have a time jump of 4 years after apprenticeships over and all now Lv1.

Two types of zero level starting character

Fighter - d6 HP 2 arms skills 1 arts skill

Specialist - d4 HP  1 arms skills 2 arts skills

Modern world starting languages English S W (spoken written)
+ 1 language slot per INT* bonus (INT=Talent stat in EMO)
+1 language if multilingual past
swap a art skill for 4 languages

on psychon your modern English renamed ancient

Fantasy world starting languages Common S (spoken) 
+ 1 language slot per INT bonus 
+1 language if nonhuman
swap a art skill for 4 languages

All saving throws based on half stat rolls
Could get a skill to boost
Having a character class grants your prime requisite full score for saves of that type
default non weapon skill penalty is -4

Benefits of ThisKeep the extra zero level HP and skills and languages gained here
As well as all the benefits of being 1st level
Commoners don't do this
 - they keep highest HP roll and skill types if they become Lv 1
-its a reward for surviving a high risk challenge
Can start 1st level with one point in a alignment

Problems for Characters
These set up start sessions are high risk adventures more like horror games
You can die easily one blow
No minimum HP like 1st level characters so 1HP possible
A back up or replacement character handy
Or have multiple zero level characters

Ive used this lots and needs to be a core option for games.

Planet Psychon: Rock n Roll Mercenaries
So ran the characters as band members fleeing Caribbean on cheap dodgy airline offering low custom checks on booze and contraband. A month of touring with band drug deaths and arrests to blame. This adventure straight out of Psychon book. A odd night storm over Bermuda Triangle sends crashing from sunny golden desert. Passengers got out to look around. Cockpit windows gone and flight crew decapitated. While getting stuff out of plane player on top of wreck saw distant figures in sandstorm coming inexorably slowly.

Fergus played a asian keyboardist with lots of drugs and a pistol and party machine.
Jason played a finish loudmouth lead singing syndrome party machine with some martial arts. He rescued teen chinp in overals in cargo in a cage and it clung to him.

The party while look like horrible biker hippie hybrids got to roleplay with various passengers like typical survivors in a 70s disaster movie. Despite looks party helped and befriended almost everybody except a puritanical woman accused them of groping her when she awoke with them dragging her from wreck. Several went to meet figures and horrible slimy black faces horrors would not stop so shots were fired. Didn't stop so guys shot several. Several creatures killed but three got close to vomit acid on them knocking out 2 npc passengers. Badly wounded creatures turned to flee some stopped to finish dissolving unconscious into slime pools they then tried to drink up. Just managed to win and bubbling slime corpses turned into green crystal secretion after vapor boiled off in reaction. Singer tasted a microdot and luckily was a acid vet and remained awake and not visiting other dimensions and ulltraterrestrial beings.

Told passengers about deaths and got most passengers back in plane and pulled up rope ladder. Considered going to right wind ward sea or tail ward mountain pass, to north sand and mountains with huge miles wide whistling dust storm event where monsters came from. Left wingward mountains and desert. Federal martial cuffed to a guy caught trying to out do Manson. Fed says he will help guys reign in group and fight but wants them to agree to killing the prisoner so he isn't a risk. Debated about cuffing him and using him as scout or send him to fight ahead of armed guys with a steel mike stand rod or a shank he offered to make.  Party agreed and took guy out to the battle scene to shoot and bury. Fed starts being bossy now and disagreeing. Spent a night and one stewardess two out of twenty four passengers, chimp boy and Jason rolled saves. Everyone else now a chromatic skinned mutated Psychon human now.

Jason rolled his up as his might kick tomorrow's save roll. Jason's fairly normal looking but foot long tongue, antenna and camouflage patterned bright lime & tangerine skin.  He is a bard at this stage but he didn't develop everything. As a EMO bard he gets to pick arcane or divine or druid or psionics list and pick a song type. He tastes like a pets slightly too old manky matress.

Fergus who played before had his character become a robot. His bot form has a cat head, purple diamond eyes, a functional penis and painted on band clothes (leather jacket with logo and logo t-shirt) on his boxy body. His robot aps included a beer fridge, night vision, lighter, and distillery so he eats organics and has internal flora in digestive tract plus distillery. He ate made fuel for self and made booze he stored in fridge. I let him roll cyber mutation table from my blog and mutant book. Has cyberman like boxes on joints and cables on limbs and exhaled smoke when exited or making a effort. Food eaten is processed to remove poison which is handy too. Came out freaking awesome. Its only fair a robot class be only one to be mutation free on psychon where everyone gets 4 starting minor cosmetic mutations and a random chromatic skin pigment. AI gods defeated old world racism by making all life one of 12 sacred colours.

We went late and watched Danger5 till later.
So ive had some good 90s like quality moments in new house.
Hope get more jump on but was good.

Good focus group of players all in education and good editors who know games.

S3 Needs More Plot

Played and run this as adventure. Imaginative setting  I give it 10 out of 10. Plot or story I rate low. And this is from a person who likes stylish weird meat grinders and dungeon crawls. After a while weird setting, loot and monsters and exploring isnt enough. When my bored players killed the froghemoth in 2 rounds and yawned I said next time needs other goals. That intellect devouter though yikes. Anyway I ordered my S3 reprint hardback November and its still not here. So i keep thinking about it.

One of the best campaigns I ran was using after with Anomalous Subsurface Environment. Though S3 kind of normal and even a bit dull by comparison.

One of the biggest lost opportunities of TSR was not putting robots and androids in MM2.

Preface
My players might not respond to "strange monsters". So when you assemble with other adventurers to get quest you hear of the strange gated cave monsters come from and strange bodies. Who is responsible? The army will clean up after you or possibly rescue you if you fail. Your crown provided minions will wait 4 days without news from you.

Discover where lots of monsters come from is cool but one possibility is have adventurers travel to past and the creatures that survive end up being more common on return. Certainly have consequences. Anyway use several of these or one for each player or use em all.

d12 Rumours
1 A shooting star fell from the heavens and strange happenings started then
2 Strange humanoid tribe, at first we thought it was goblins till dead were seen and nobody knew what those things were 
3 Strange beasts and plants have been appearing in the area the last year or more 
4 Strange fragments of metal some think from the shooting star have been found
5 The worried ruler is seeking adventurers for a expedition to seek the source of the troubles with strange creatures
6 Someone had a child eaten by a plant! Just a few days ago, they burned it but nobody ever saw a plant do that before
7 Tiny humanoids have been raiding for prisoners and robbing farmers manure and compost stores
8 A noble family lost a child in the area who was adventuring with friends, were seen in area looking for adventure
9 When the star fell some say they heard a huge thunderclap from the wilderness and some trees and houses fell
10 Some say the bad omens and strange happenings are a sign of other worldy evil come into our world
11 Several rewards have been offered and adventurers are flocking here including some unsavoury types not welcome around here
12 Several churches and wizards have sent agents to investigate, some say the elf and dwarf folk have sent agents

Patrons
Mentioned in the text as interested in hiring and selecting 15 adventurers are these groups I couldnt find much on Society of the magivestre,  the fellowship of the blinding light,  the magsmen's brotherhood and Highlord the Elves. So as not to break some canon I made this patron table. I also expect lots of rival adventurers as threats. Especially if they return before you. Anyway patrons might hire you all, give one of you a private mission or vote with other groups to hire you in the 15 official chosen.  

d12 Patrons
1 Local nobility - several are interested if troubles are a threat or even has any profit, want a report assessing threats and valuable assets
2 Wizard guild - is curious about the strange creatures as spell complainants and vivisection, want monsters alive or dead
3 Holy order - believe the evil star is a moral evil force possibly demonic chaos so require adventurers to assess if it is a threat to lives or morality
4 Alchemist - guild seek new metals and monster organs for potions or golem formula
5 Elf court - require a agent to investigate some ecological threat and new creatures here
6 Dwarf court - has hear of a strange new metal from the sky and requires a sample for the kings alchemists. Extremely important threat to dwarf kind
7 Goblin king - seeks agents to find out about new monsters driving goblins from the area
8 Dangerous cult often uses dupes and pretends to be a merchant and banking company. Seek to discover valuable resources from the area, is it a sign of their evil dimensional bosses?
9 Foreign power - wants to know if this will weaken enemies or make invasion through that area a problem. Anything that might aid power is rewarded including sabotage
10 Druidic order - senses a disturbance in the balance of nature with new species of plants and animals druids cannot change into. The order want a report on creatures possibly live samples
11 Hunters lodge - a rich lodge have heard on new creatures to kill and make into trophies, they want samples of interesting monsters members can hunt or at least hear about and see trophies at expensive dinners for the elite
12 Menagerie owners - often a rich wizard or noble seeks specimens for their private zoo or park. Many such keepers compete for the most exotic specimens

d12 Missions 
1 Document the cave, who or what is responsible and possibly stop it
2 Bring back skin, furs, bones, seeds and samples of strange life
3 Bring back strange plants and animals as proof, especially ones that could make money
4 Bring back strange artefacts and documents for analysts
5 Someone went in with early expedition and is missing, find them
6 Find what has happened to the missing people, are they dead? how?
7 Confirm not a plot to destabilise the nation and draw army from somewhere
8 Exterminate every strange creature and cover this mess up
9 Some creature from here took a relic from travelling agents of our cause
10 A wanted fugitive cultist went into the area to hide out and has not been seen since
11 The wizard Tanthaniel and followers went into the area seeking plants and animals
12 Gang of criminals driven to area by enemies and the law have good rewards

d12 Factions inside the ship
1 Vegepymie strain (north) tend to use more tech and scavenged weapons
2 Vegepymie strain(south) use pet wolf weed "thornies", grow weapons and tools
3 Worker Robots - just want to work and fix the ship
4 Police Robots - subdue intruders and imprison or stasis if investigation too long
5 Androids - mostly insane and on killing spree against living human like beings
6 Computer - hostile to intruders but limited and trying to fix ship and save cargo
7 Doppelgangers - pretend they are adventurers or play factions against each other
8 Intellect Devourer - will have some extra thrall agents mind controlled
9 Adventurer party - mixed group with various motives, possibly lost
10 Evil Cult - really hoping was demonic site, disappointed but still seek any assets
11 Wizard Party - with followers seeking lore and power might help but mostly greedy
12 Strange Sect - know of the ship and it's terrible secret, protect ship secrets, wear hoods 

So lots of extra reasons to go inside as group and possibly personal as well
Include lots of clues for goals, dealing with rival explorers and meeting factions

Broken Hill Ruin Events

So im trying to come up with stuff for ruins to not just be encounter tables. This is something you could roll for a sort of theme for the day major event for the ruins. Couls provide some distant sound effects, weather, roaming bands of combatants and more. Somedays you might have to hide.

d10 Quick Types of Events
01 Animals amok
02 Wild weather
03 Hazardous life
04 Faction wars
05 Disaster 
06 Cybernetics amok
07 Vehicles amok
08 Settlers and Refugees
09 Markets & Merchants
10 Holidays & Festivities

d100 Broken Hill Ruin Events
01 Herds of grazing animals pass through in hundreds d4 1=kangaroos 2=emus 3=camels 4=goats
02 Stampede of herd animals driven by d4 1=tribal hunters 2=farmers 3=predators 4=robots
03 Huge pack of dingos hunting over area howling and taking on rival predators
04 Mating season  makes a breed of dangerous animal more common and territorial
05 Migrating flying creatures arrive and common briefly d4 1=ibis 2=bats 3=pterodactyls 4=colony of ravens sharing single mind
06 Gigantic lizards wage war and roars are heard all over ruins
07 Livestock raiding breaks out as settlers steal and lose herds and fight each other
08 Settlers fight over grazing rights become territorial often conflicting with croppers
09 Raiders rustling livestock trying to hide of get out of area, bounties offered by local farmers for dead rustlers
10 A new mutant animal type has become common this season causes problems and challenges to current ecology and survivors, locals unprepared
11 Pleasant day flowers bloom and animals breeding
12 Sudden chill and snow falls briefly before normal weather reumes
13 Clouds of orange and red dust fill sky makes everything look like on mars
14 Thunderstorm sweeps over area with some lightning strikes and brief showers
15 Thunderstorm chokes area, sky dark, aquatic animals including eels, crocs, frogs, yabbies and turtles swarm, wetland encounters everywhere, some areas flooded
16 Heatwave with over 40 degrees C, hot dry wind everyone needs cover and more water
17 Auroras in sky, at night are spectacularly lit up with incredible lights
18 Light drizzling rain fills creeks and makes farmers happy, reduces visibility
19 Contaminated rain d4 1=radioactive 2=diseased 3=acid 4=narcotic
20 Weather control machinery creates crazy weather d4 1=machine in city experimented on by faction 2=orbital AI god being a jerk 3=temporary bug lasts only a day 4=gang test firing rockets into sky they uncovered
21 Locust swarms devour everything and in turn provide a feast
22 Swarms of mutant cockroaches cover some streets like a river
23 Rabbits everywhere over grazing but providing plenty of free food
24 Rats swarming out of drains and subways fleeing some hazard
25 Spores in air cause many to caught and splutter, new fungus type begins to grow in area d6 1=exploding toadstools 2=puffballs 3=giant mushrooms 4=delicious manna fungus 5=choking mould patches 6=ambulant killer fungus
26 Ants swarming become aggressive and queens take to air to start new colonies, locals try to stamp out most nightmarish varieties
27 Blowflies darken skies, get in eyes and mouth and food, some animals enjoy feast, some catch in nets and make bug burger patties
28 Mobile killer plants bloom and move about making familiar places dangerous
29 Aggressive weed grows rampant blocking areas and causing problems d6 1=strangle vines 2=flammable 3=narcotic pollen 4=stinging touch 5=razor sharp grass 6=thorn mazes
30 Dangerous plant bears seasonal fruits d4 1=hurls explosive fruit 2=mutation berries 3=radioactive flowers 4=fruit causes narcotic effects making animals annoying or violent drunks 5=addictive fruits get eater high then turn aggressive when fruit gone 6=aggressive insect swarms attracted to flowers and fruits
31 Mutant hunters on warpath seek to cleanse (murder) any mutants they can and to recruit more biggots
32 Animen, uplifted animals and mutant animals unite to punish humans and establish animal faction (yet again)
33 Tribal and anti tech factions on rampage to destroy technology and are wary of adventurers looting devil devices of the immoral ancients
34 Canetoad folk advanced scout force moves into city to establish a base and conflict with locals as they search ruins for stronghold to bring in more troops
35 Warlords forces fight desert raider scum on the streets with pitched battles and skirmishes
36 Factions battle over gathering artefacts to worship as holy relics or to study and use for benefit of all
37 Bunker troops on surface fighting d4 1=another bunker 2=local warlords troops 3=wasteland gangs 4=androids
38 Settlers united with rangers to purge ruins of gangs, cannibals, bandits and other scum
39 A major faction having a civil war d4 1=drawing in other groups to conflict 2=purging a sub faction of heretics 3=propaganda battle with graffiti and leaflets 4=faction members struggling over new leadership via election or armed struggle depending of faction style
40 Amazons on the rampage killing and castrating slavers, pimps and any who disrespect or bully their sisters
41 Fire burning, smoke in air d4 1=burning ruins 2=burning settlement 3=grass fires everywhere 4=sky dark orange red, air bad 
42 Minor tremor shifts some rubble and ruins and spooks animals
43 Shooting stars visible as things fall from space d4 1=meteors 2=space junk 3=escape pods 4=space craft or orbital fragments
44 Aircraft crashes d4 1=trader airship 2=Orung empire fighter 3=crude propeller aircraft full of feral refugees 4=escapees from a distant isolated bunker or far off place
45 Food shortage from crop failure, animals desperate and cannibal raiders
46 Water shortage caused by drought or contamination with d4 1=radioactive 2=disease 3=chemicals 4=parasites, good water increases in trade value
47 Massive explosion from atomic power cell going off or war era munition is disturbed
48 Disease outbreak spreads rapidly around city killing many and incapacitating more temporarily which some factions take advantage of
49 Building collapses creating massive dust cloud over ruins
50 Subterranean structure collapses creating sinkhole or pit and huge dust cloud possibly revealing some complex or subway
51 AI generated holograms in ruins trying to compete to recruit cultists
52 Swarms of drones spying on everyone
53 Recycling drones scavenging and murdering for raw materials for som AI or faction 
54 Robots fighting in streets d4 1=rival AI controllers 2=virused vs free willed 3=anti human vs pro human 4=controlled by factions or bunker 
55 Androids on warpath d4 1=virused vs free willed 2=AI vs AI 3=eliminate humans 4=fighting robots
56 Cyborgs from a hidden bunker waging war on surface dwellers d4 1=raiding for parts 2=kidnapping victims to cyborg 3=fight rival bunker 4=murdering anyone not linked to them
57 Warborg, robot tank or worse patrolling city killing anyone it can find with heavy weapons
58 Nanite colony of goo recycling ancient ruins into new unlooted ruins
59 Exterminator robots disguised as humans on murder sprees for some evil AI 
60 Orbital AI beams down missionaries to preach faith of new god
61 Jet aircraft flies overhead scouting from the Orangutan Empire to the far north 1in6 get shot down by some local force
62 Savage road gangs running amok across city plundering and murdering
63 Sounds of functioning subway train heard around city
64 Someone setting of chain reactions of atomic fuel cells in ground cars
65 Ultralight scouts observing city for some wasteland faction
66 Airship flies overhead d4 1=traders from far off land visiting silver city markets 2=adventurers come to ruins 3=pilgrims serving a AI 4=troop transport from some faction come to bring in more combatants
67 Raiders mounted on flying mutant monsters invade
68 Desert nomads riding exotic mutant mounts pour into ruins causing troubles
69 Road nomad convoy arrives to make a camp upset local factions
70 Automated ground cars driving about on own
71 Starving refugees from wars in east arrive desperate and hungry, most died on the way and are unwelcome or quickly exploited by factions or slavers
72 Escaped slaves revolted from another territory come here for a new life search for place to settle
73 Secret hidden bunker inhabitants forced to surface seek new lives d4 1=life support collapsed 2=faction fued 3=over populated 4=fresh clones unprepared for surface life
74 Nomad tribal groups gather for great ceremony, many hunt in ruins for food for a feast 
75 Feral tribe of hippies gather for a huge bush doof rave party bringing in huge amounts of drugs
76 A "new" warlord called in wasteland gangs to join them to battle the current warlord for supremacy d4 1=assassinated sending gangs wild 2=ambushed by current warlord and massacre survivors scatter 3=ancient weapon of mass destruction deployed killing the leader and followers 4=gangs cant agree and war breaks out as they exterminate each other
77 Spacecraft arrives with hideous once human cyborgs returned from the stars. Plan to terraform region with a machine they erect. Local life rounded up to be broken down into food and fuel
78 Spacecraft from orbital colony land from desperation as their home habitat in decline. Naive and weak by comparison to locals
79 Settlers arrive en mass to start new faction bases throughout ruins
80 A major type of mutant or animal abhumans arrive to settle unseen in area before
81 Caravans from far and wide coming to Silver city to trade
82 Cheap drugs on the streets with paddlers everywhere possibly serving a faction
83 Sly grog shops pop up everywhere selling beer and spirits. Often from tents or shacks, most avoiding factions and warlord to not pay "tax"
84 Influx of weapons sold in streets with some surprising users rampaging about city ruins d4 1=black powder muskets 2=plastic printed one use guns 3=cartridge based ammo 20th C firearms 4=explosives
85 Slavers in area kidnapping new stock and selling at low low prices
86 Someone selling robots or androids on the street d41=all set to be virused into human killers on certain time and date 2=all cobbled from scrap and damaged 3=all have damaged brains and range from quirky to insane 4=all basic service models and not dangerous
87 Someone selling working scrap built vehicles to ruin dwellers causing various conflicts
88 Everyone growing new miracle crop plant sold by mysterious merchant
89 Trader selling cheap long life ration packs new from some secret factory, becomes commonplace overnight
90 New domestic animal being sold and everybody wants them d4 1=adorable lab grown biopet 2=unusual new herd animal 3=savage but trainable guard beast 4=riding beast 
91 Race day! d4 1=vehicle races 2=camel race 3=horse race 4=emu race, gambling and drinking everywhere as travellers from far away come to compete 
92 Arts festival where culture fans make strange performances, reenact ancient videos, paint murals, build sculptures, erect totem poles and other activities.Celebrity artists compete and celebrated publicly with factions competing through art
93 Apocalypse day when everyone mourns the old world and birth of the new, the exact day a bit hazy. Day ends with feast after fasting all day
94 Patriot day when factions have parades with bands, marching, hold memorial services and leaders rattle sabres vs rival groups
95 Holy day where religions factions try to commune with AI gods and their ancestors, usually sombre in mornings with feasts and celebrations by night
96 Exodus Day celebrating when a significant faction came out of bunker to live on the surface after the apocalypse. Many dress in bunker jumpsuits and reflect on life underground, secret hidden bunker agents use to walk freely on surface
97 Victory Day, everyone celebrates repulsing three major canetoad folk invasions,burning frog effigies common with fireworks
98 Purge Day, a ancient custom where locals lynch and execute some poor victims for being a burden, poor, loners, suspicious acting, mutants or any excuse. Some communities brawl in public or murder strangers
99 Rabbit Day, when tribes of rabbit folk hide landmines and grenade trip lines and most people try to kill them. They often leave out traps disguised as colourful treats which especially trick children
100 Giftmas day, when all gather to give thanks and exchange presents. Even the city AI join in with festive holograms, street decorations put up by robots and gangs of biker raiders give gifts to poor mutant children. Santa robots roam spreading good cheer but some seek to spoil the day with theft or violent attacks

Marvel Enemies Prep

Marvel Team in Current Game
Vibe (Dallas) A rock n roll roadie wrestler
 -With Incredible strength, incredible sonic attack
- Secret base he found with van and all friends live in
Bolt Thrower (Pete) The Android Archer
-Flight, Regeneration, armour and hi energy bow
-Scientist and creation fused and now there is only Bolt Thrower
Jack Frost (Richard) The Frosty Defender of yesteryear
-Frozen gas form, ice bolt
-Amazing medical scientist expert in cryonics for space
Evac (JB) International Rescue Service
-Strength, Pressure Wave Field and Forcefield
-Sponsored hero of a international rescue agency

Enemies so far:
White Spider Drug Cartel
Exotech Corp Black Lab
Cyborg clowns
Circus of Assassin Clowns

Mirror Team of Villains


Glenda Glory -Guardsman for god team reject, church deacon
-Hates music and fun
-White body suit with cross symbol
F Gd(10) A Ex(20) S Gd(10) E  Ex(20) C Gd(10) R Gd(10) I Gd(10) Ex(20)  P  Ex(20)
H60    K60    POP +20 Rs Ex(20)
Talents: Religion, Oratory, Business
Contacts: Fundamentalist Church, Priest, Conservative Politician, Corrupt Cop
Inc Force Field - Force bolt, Entangle
Inc Laser - Second Shot
Gd Flight
Gained powers while fasting in outback on preaching mission

Deadbolt the Slayer
- Assassin cyborg with crossbow arm out to kill Bolt Thrower (?)
-Black special ops uniform with x on chest
F Ex(20) A Rm(30) S Ex(20) E  Rm(30) C Gd(10) R Gd(10) I Rm(30) P Gd(10)
H100    K70    POP 0 Rs Rm(30)
Talents: Marksman, Crossbow Specialist, Martial Arts E, Acrobatics, Armourer
Contacts: Inventor, Assassin Guild, DaughterEx Cyborg - armour, quick draw, proximity sensor
Rm Crossbow fires explosive bolts - entangle, smoke bomb
Hyper Speed Inc
Augmented cyborg assassin formerly worked with super villain cyborgs

Thermite the molten man
- Jack Frosts former enemy motivated by his return from retirement
-Re humanoid body armour with back pack
-Old man in a suit easily killed, grandson will inherit roleF Gd(10) A Gd(10) S Typ(6) E  Ex(20) C Gd(10) R Rm(30) I Rm(30) P Ex(20) F Ex(20) A Rm(30) S Ex(20) E  Rm(30) C Gd(10) R Gd(10) I Ex(20) P  Gd(10)
H46/100    K90/50    POP -20 Rs Ex(20)
Talents: Engineer, Electronics, Physics
Contacts: Driver, Lab Assistant In Heat Ray - thermographic scanner, heat pulse area fx
Ex armour fused to flesh - flight, radio
Built battlesuit then inherited by grandson

Destructor the Analyzer
-Weather control alien drone
-create disasters as experimentF Ex(20) A  Ex(20) S Rm(30) E  Rm(30) C Ty(6) R Ex(20) I Gd(10) P  Gd(10)
H100    K46    POP -10 Rs Fb(2)
Talents: Meteorology, Astronomy, Biology, Physics
Contacts: Child friend, Angry homeless mad man, Home planet scientists Inc(40) Weather Control - fly, lightning,area fx hail storm
Alien drone experiment on Earths atmosphere to assess invasion prospects