Map: Current Day Firestrong

DM's notes - Game 1

Ranger

Movement 7, Initiative +6, HP 20

2 healing surges (regains full HP from a surge)

Defence AC:14 Fortitude:11 Reflex:17 Will:15

Takes on the defence stats of an adjacent ally, if greater.

Standard: Puppy Attack.

+7 vs Reflex. 1d6 damage.

On a critical hit, the target is knocked prone

Minor: Smoulder

+10 vs Will

Effect: Ranger appears too cute and innocent to attack

On a critical hit, Ranger gains an ally

Minor: Bark

Marks a target which Ranger is adjacent to.

A bite is made when Ranger's mark is ignored.

Free Action: Bite

1d6 damage and target is grabbed.

1d6 ongoing damage while in the grab.

Module #7, Save Point 10913

Can store provisions for 5 days for 3 people

Is a fully functioning microwave

Has solar panels, and a turbine

Stores a flamethrower for self defence

Travels on caterpillar wheels, or boosters

Is waterproof

Honestly, when I thought up what the modules were going to look like, I thought of a taller version of R2D2 from Star Wars, and with much less elaborate paneling on the outside.

Items awarded in game 1:

These items were awarded to the party by Module #7 before they left the save point

Devilspun Dagger - given to Enbel

Encounter power, free action

Effect: Use one of your ranged attacks as a melee attack this turn. This does not provoke opportunity attacks.

Fire Shield (Heavy Shield) - given to Echo

Property: Resist 5 fire

Encounter power, standard action (ranged 10):

Shoot a ball of flame.

Attack: 1/2 level + mod + 5

Damage: 1d10 + mod

On a critical hit, enemy catches on fire. 5 ongoing fire damage.

Daily power, immediate interrupt:

Trigger: you are hit by an attack on AC

Effect: your attacker is engulfed in flames

1d10 fire damage + 1d10 ongoing fire damage (save ends)

Amulet of Another Life +1 - given to Altus

Property: You lose 1 healing surge while wearing this amulet.

Property: +1 to Fortitude, Reflex, and Will

Daily Power, immediate reaction

Trigger: You fall to 0HP or below.

Effect: You get to your feet, at bloodied value +1HP, and are dazed (save ends)

Perhaps it is a little ambitious of me, but I've decided that given my game is set in a kind of post-apocalyptic setting, that the standard approach to shopping wouldn't work. Also, I've never been a fan of the idea that you kill creatures to get gold. Why was the giant spider monster hiding 18,000 gold pieces? And how are you meant to reasonably transport that cash? I've decided that I will be enforcing rules as to how much the players can reasonably carry, and also that since coin will be hard to come by, much shopping will be done by bartering items of worth that the party either own, or find on their travels. Also, given the setting, I will be deciding on what items are available. All the items given out in Game 1 are homebrewed. I like the idea of homebrewing and will continue to do it, although not exclusively.

Game 1 - Inside the Save Point

Enbel is in a forest - and can't remember how she got there. All she knows is that this place is familiar. She is attacked by halflings commanding riding horses, and although she puts up a fight, she is eventually beaten unconscious.

Altus has his back against a wall. The raised cliffs around him offer no route of escape. He sees a clutch of kobolds close in, and another on the clifftop screams, and topples a boulder down the cliff-face towards him. He begins to fight, and then to his surprise - Enbel appears to materialize beside him.

Echo is by the lake. This is one of her favourite places to go to be alone with her thoughts. However, this time she isn't alone. The water seems too far down to jump in, especially while strapped into her heavy armour - which for some reason, she is. Which is lucky, because she is surrounded by goblins. Goblins, and an adorable little puppy. Echo bends down, scoops up the puppy in her pack, and draws her hammer.

Enbel is even more confused. She lost consciousness in a wooded area, and regained it here in the quarry. At least she knows where she is now, and sees a familiar face. However, now is not the time for fond reunion, as Enbel leaps to help Altus - getting speared and cut by Kobold blades.

Echo, of shared Human and Dwarven heritage, is no stranger to conflict. She mediated several bar room brawls in her time, and was an involved party in a number more. The goblins pressed forward, but failed to land a hit as she ducked, weaved, and struck, knocking some out, and others straight into the water below. But as she watched - one goblin she knocked towards the water seemed to bounce on it, before landing again and sinking.

Altus and Enbel, fighting on - realised that something here was not right - the whole situation felt unreal. However, the blades and boulders seemed to be real enough, so instead of taking time for reflection, they fought on.

Echo dispatched the last of the goblins. She then noticed that there were subtle "mistakes" in the landscapes construction. Trees appeared to be missing, replaced with what looked like mutant lampposts. She dived into the lake where the goblin had bounced, recognizing it as the exit.

On finishing their battle with the kobolds, a tired and bloody Enbel, and Altus overturned a boulder and found the door out of this pseudo-world.

This was run as 3 seperate encounters, with an ongoing skill challenge to realise it was a virtual reality. On completing the encounter and realising their situation, the game continues.

The group: Altus, Enbel, Echo and Ranger - Echo's Dog companion - come through a door into a hall. There are desks strewn with papers, and numerous potted plants in varying levels of rot and death. Ranger sidles up to a potted plant and cocks his leg. A voice comes through the loudspeaker:

"Stop that, you're wasting valuable resources"

The loudspeaker tries to tempt them down the hall, but they refuse to go. A wall starts to flicker. The loudspeaker says:

"Pay no attention to that wall, it is unskilled in human interaction"

Ranger runs through the wall to the other side.

On the table, the party find a document:

STEPS TO TAKE IN THE EVENT OF AN APOCALYPTIC INCIDENT

1. Preserve the lives of the breathers at all costs

2. Maintain defended perimeter

3. Monitor power and life support systems

A conversation ensues, and the loudspeaker eventually reveals itself to be a droid. It is a machine, not a living construct, but it is capable of artificial intelligence. Through conversation with this droid - Module #7, the group learn a few pieces of important information.

*This is the save point #10913

*Save points exist as a sort of panic room / respawn point for humanity, in the case of an emergency incident

*Other than the party, there were 4 other survivors - they have all left

*Module #7 does not know why the save point was activated. He was not the first droid to be activated, and so is not aware of the events.

* #1, and #4 are destroyed.

*#2, #3, and #5 are disguised spies in surrounding settlements

*#6 maintains the non-breather elements of the save point

*#8 has not yet been activated.

#7 informs the group that they have been woken because the life support systems are on the verge of failure. The group have been in stasis until this point, a period of 300 years. The save point was meant to be for children of dignitaries etc, but none are here. The town is changed utterly from before. It was primarily comprised of a human-dwarven population, and was guarded by a dragon named after the town - Firestrong. Now, the humans and dwarves are all gone. In their place are 4 warring factions: Gnomes, Goblins, Kobolds and Halflings.

The halflings live in the forest. The goblins have taken the dwarf part of town. Gnomes are living in the town, they have converted the previously "upper-class" portion of the town into a fortress. The group agree to take #7 with them, and they gather themselves and leave the facility.

A lot of information was given in this game, sort of a "set-up" game for the campaign. The group decided to stop at this point because of this. It went alright - as my first time DMing, I was very nervous, but I need not have been.

Getting started...

I asked a few friends if they were interested in starting up a new campaign since the others we were involved in were proceeding very slowly. Originally, the group started with the intention of having regular D&D games, that were short and punchy - as in our other groups on numerous occasions games had turned into all night affairs, with the players not feeling very happy at the end of the game with how little sleep they were going to get.

I came up with an idea for starting the campaign, and we got together and got down to it.

The campaign is set after an 'apocalyptic event', where the fabric of society has been changed - perhaps irrevocably.

Dramatis Personae

herein I shall detail the party. Others shall be introduced as they are met in story.

Altus - 314 years old- roleplayed by Steve

Altus is a Shardmind, trained as a bard. If one were to assign gender to Altus, it would be male - he has some distinctly male traits - in physical form, if not much in demeanor. However Shardmind is a race altogether without distinct gender, and they do not/ cannot reproduce. Altus follows the bardic tradition - the job most suited to his wandering nature, travelling the lands and trying to learn human custom. He considers himself more a storyteller than a performer of music or dance. He is curious of the actions, motivations and workings of organic species, and seeks to become more like them through joining in human rituals such as eating and drinking - despite his lack of need.

Echo - late 20's, female- roleplayed by Megan

Echo is a first generation Mul. Her class for the campaign is warden, as it best fits her personality and determination. However, before the world 'ended', Echo lived in Firestrong for 5 years. She worked for the council of Firestrong as part of a work crew, and has particular skills with lightning power, and its production and also the set up and maintenance of the town's power grid. Her earliest brush with death was when her dwarven grandfather pushed her out of a tree at a very young age - trying to make sure she didn't acquire the 'softness' of the human side of her family tree.

Enbel - Late 20's, female- roleplayed by Aoife

Enbel is a Wilden, and a seeker by trade. Before the events which led to this campaign came to pass, she would hunt for game and forage for wild plants with dietary or medicinal uses. She supplied the market, as well as local butchers and apothecaries, in exchange for money. She has a great knowledge of many of the species of Firestrong and its hinterland. One of her formative memories is the death of her parents. They were ill, and the master-healer was away. His apprentice, Baja, took matters into his own hands. While trying to brew a potion, he used hemlock instead of wild carrots in the brew, and this led to the death of Enbel's parents. This mistake shook Baja to his core, and he rededicated himself to become a great healer.

The party met in Firestrong, where Echo had moved, and Altus had been passing through, but decided to stay, at least for a while, for an opportunity to spend time with his new found friends, and tell his stories to the population. They would regularly meet up when Enbel and Echo were not on duty (Altus had no real time constraints, given his lack of need of sleep, or sustenance, he had no need to work, except whenever he got bored) to share drinks, and the occasional pizza. If asked why they were friends, despite the glaring differences in both their backgrounds and races, they would most likely flippantly reply "Pitchers are cheaper!"