Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Gamma World War campaign idea

So I've been hammering on how to organize a Gamma World War campaign in a string of adventure's (okay, an "adventure path"). Basically this would take you step-by-step through the storyline. You'd get to play different characters representing different sides of the conflict, but it could also be written to include a storypath for single group (but where's the fun in that?).

In my mind's eye, I envision this to be sort of tournament-style play where multiple groups play each round and outcomes get reported back to a "master judge" who can then give results, story cues, and other details to the GMs to run the next round. So each round should build on the previous.

Players would likely generate a few different characters at the outset, namely a few pure-strain humans, several mutants, and a few alien characters. At least three of these adventures (currently, anyway) have alternate takes where players could play for the other side (I've marked them as ALT).


ROUND 1: MUTANT SNIPE HUNT


You're a member of an elite team of pure strain humans called "Valids" that is out to clear the surface world of mutant scum and make the Earth safe or habitation again. Your team is one of several culling squads sent to hunt, capture, and eradicate the mutated hordes.

The hunting parties are given profiles of which mutants are valued for scientific study (capture) and which are too dangerous to roam (kill). Take your crackerjack team of specialists to the surface in a mechanized drill tank along with your Mother May-bot (artificially intelligent chaperone/drill sergeant) to keep you in contact with other squads and central command.

Good luck and Mother's Blessings be upon you!

ALT: Mutant players must rescue their comrades from a the brig inside the giant drill tank before it dives back beneath the surface.

ROUND 2: ARENA ROCKED


You're a mutated survivor of the Great Calamity who's recently been captured by those pompous human under-dwellers. They tossed you into a holding area with a great many other mutants where you were shipped to a walled-in city. There's little food, but LOTS of weapon caches in this abandoned urban wasteland. It's been turned into some sort of gladiatorial arena and you'll have to fight your fellow mutants to survive. But wait--there's an active resistance growing! It's time to set aside petty differences and form a fighting force to overcome your oppressors and escape!

 

ROUND 3: WALKING DREAD


You're an outlander--a human or mutant wanderer of the Gammascape's furthest reaches. As you enter a small city strange happenings give you an uneasy feeling that things are about to change in a big way. You stumble upon a skirmish between pure strains and mutants. Before you know it, a horde of zombies arrive to feast on the survivors. Outnumbered and overwhelmed, now seems like a realy good time to stick together--humans and mutants alike!


ROUND 4: INCOMING TRANSGRESSION


You're part of a new breed of Gamma Terran--an allied band of humans and mutants, trying to restore order to the ruined chaos. Reports keep streaming in about weird weather and the reanimated dead. You've got to fight off the necrotic hordes--and make allies of former foes--before something even more terrifying from beyond arrives to take control!

ALT: Undead players must divide and conquer the humans and mutants. Feast alone won't do it--they've got to turn some of them in to increase their own numbers in order to overwhelm and claim victory.

ROUND 5: BATTLE GLOBALE


The invasion has begun! Alien aggressors want this planet--ruined or not--for themselves. Only you and your coalition of humans and mutants stands in the way. Make your way to the World Security Council's HQ and activate the World Alert Beacon--the last remaining scrap of global civilization that could be humanity's only chance to call all Earthlings to arms. It's an all-out, gamma-lit, firefight. Who will claim victory in the Gamma World War?!

ALT: Alien characters are trying to put down the Earth's remaining humans and mutants and stake their claim in taking the planet!


Five adventures (modules?) seems like a good number, being not too long but still hitting all the key plot points. Plus, there's still room for a robot uprising, weaponized kaiju, and cyborg raiding party or five that I'd like to sprinkle in. :)

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

GODZILLA is the ultimate weapon!


HOLY F@#$! The new trailer for Godzilla reveals a previously unreleased plot detail. A BIG ONE. Monster movie fans will immediately get what's going--and it changes the big G's role in the film.

This feels like a spoiler to me, so fair warning to you--though, this just makes me want to see it even MORE!



If you watch it and comment below, spoilers be damned!

Has anyone statted-up Godzilla for use in a Gamma World or Mutant Future campaign? I recall once someone doing the Krakken from Clash of the Titans, but it was basically a force of nature. Impossible to destroy, but still had some stats to make it playable.


Some content reposted from Exonauts

Friday, March 28, 2014

Akira by....Kirby and Lee?

This recent entry by to The Line Is Drawn (a weekly online happening celebrating mashed-up comic book themes) imagines Akira being created Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. It's got all the hallmarks of a Bronze Age Kirby. This week's theme was Japanese anime and manga cast in a style of more American/western artists. The Akira/Kirby piece is by the fantastically talented Marco D'Alfonso.

Throw in a little of Kirby's own Kamandi and you've got the makings of a really interesting Gamma-style campaign!

Via io9.com

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

TRAILER: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes!



The trailer for the second part of the rebooted Planet of the Apes series is here! Here's the official description:
A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth's dominant species.

Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, and Judy Greer join the cast this time around. Look for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes sometime in July of 2014.


Chimp leader Caesar adorns the official poster for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Thoughts on the trailer?

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Monster: Cyclosaur

Image: Jud Turner's Mortalcycle

Background

These wheeled, undead terrors can be found roaming city streets and open highways around major cities, preying on the living. They are nocturnal by nature and are more often seen during full moons, which has given the impression that they are the result of some form of lycanthropy. Living flesh seems to act as their fuel source.

Appearance/Physicality

Cyclosaurs are undead cyborgs made up of skeletal remains of carnivorous animals and wheeled vehicular components. They bark, snarl, and snap as wolves, roar as Harely Davidson motorcycles when agitated, and yet emit no visible combusion. Their eyes flicker red, shining out onto the their prey.

Methods of Attack

Cyclosaurs are wild and hunt in packs of 30 to 40, in search of the living to feast upon.  They employ typical biker gang behavior when pursuing prey--namely chasing or running down targets that they vastly outnumber, surrounding them, and then closing in for the kill, sometimes with a pouncing manuver.

Rumors

It's thought that cyclosaurs are some form of supercharged fossilgeist or the result of some dark necromancer's experiments with extinct animals gone awry. They've been around for centuries now, so it's unknown if their creator is still alive.

Since they seem to prefer open roads, they can't go off-road over uneven terrain...right?

The alpha leader is said to have horns like a ram, whose rings smoulder with a dim maroon glow.


STATS

FREQUENCY: Uncommon
NO. APPEARING: Packs of  30-40
ARMOR CLASS: 9
MOVE: 25
HIT DICE: 4d8
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: Afterburner - increases speed by 5 per round and blasts a fireball of 3d6 damage, Road Rash - attack with front wheel to flay victim at 2d8 damage, Roadbeast Roar - causes targets in a 10 meter radius to save vs. fear/paralysis, Bite - 2d4+2 damage
SPECIAL ABILITIES/SKILLS: Pop a wheelie using Afterburner as a leaping or pouncing manuver, instead of 5 move spaces add +5 to any attack damage should they land on target
SPECIAL DEFENSES: If cornered, Afterburner can be used as a special escape in the same manner that a pounce would manuver would be used to close in for kill.
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Cyclosaurs are resistant to any kind of binding magic and will break most energy barriers. They may, however, be turned as undead if eye contact can be made and they don't run you over first.
INTELLIGENCE: Average
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil
SIZE: M
PSIONIC ABILITY: None known.