Conversion Machine: D20 SRD spells to Talislanta 4th/5th ed Part II

In my last Conversion Machine, we looked at the differences between Talislantan magic and D20 SRD (DnD) magic as it relates to the most widely used spell, Magic Missile.  We looked at converting the basics of the spell into the Talislanta framework and also a direct conversion that had to use Sorcery elements, making this magical staple into a very hard to cast bee sting.  This time, we continue with Magic Missile and way to get not only the same sort of effect, but make it even more powerful for our beginning Cymrillian Magician.

To recap, this is the spell we want to convert:

Magic Missile

Evocation [Force]

Level: Sor/Wiz 1

Components: V, S

Casting Time: 1 standard action

Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)

Targets: Up to five creatures, no two of which can be more than 15 ft. apart

Duration: Instantaneous

Saving Throw: None

Spell Resistance: Yes

A missile of magical energy darts forth from your fingertip and strikes its target, dealing 1d4+1 points of force damage.

The missile strikes unerringly, even if the target is in melee combat or has less than total cover or total concealment. Specific parts of a creature can’t be singled out. Inanimate objects are not damaged by the spell.

For every two caster levels beyond 1st, you gain an additional missile—two at 3rd level, three at 5th, four at 7th, and the maximum of five missiles at 9th level or higher. If you shoot multiple missiles, you can have them strike a single creature or several creatures. A single missile can strike only one creature. You must designate targets before you check for spell resistance or roll damage.

What we are working with here is obviously an offensive, or Attack, spell.  When we look at the Attack mode in Talislanta we actually have a couple of options:

ATTACK

Damage: 1 Hit Point of damage per Spell Level

Range: 50 feet (-1 to casting roll per 10 extra feet of range)

Duration: Instant / 1 round per level (no range)

Area: -1 to casting roll per foot of radius

In accordance with the rules in the book, we can make this a standard, single target spell, or an area effect spell.  Something more along the lines of the following:

Bolt

Base Spell Level: 1 (Dynamic)

Range: 50 feet

Area: 0

Duration: Instant

Base Difficulty: -1 per additional HP damage

Notes:

Example Spells: Arcane Bolt, Necromantic Assault

Or, for the AoE version:

Blast

Base Spell Level: 1 (Dynamic)

Range: 50 feet

Area: 5 feet radius (10 ft diameter)

Duration: Instant

Base Difficulty: -6 (-1 per additional HP damage)

Notes:

Example Spells: Geomantic Blast, Fireball

Depending on description, and house rules, your Bolt spell you use for the single target effect, and your Blast spell you use for multiple opponents, I would definitely allow my players to state that the spell will only effect a maximum of 5 targets, no problem.  Also, this removes the bee-sting effect and can make this simple spell a feared part of any magicians arsenal.  That 3pt damage just became 9 for our Cymrillian friend with a straight d20 roll.

"Wait...he mentioned the rules in the book, what about the house rules he was talking about!"

Never fear!

There are various house rules that I have heard of regarding spells and their usage.  The rules that I personally use have the Spell Level as the only thing that can be changed after learning the spell (as shown above, the Area and Range are static.)  Although I prefer a more static spell, my players do not always like that idea.

For the conversions, I will be using Dynamic and Static spell levels depending on the mode and the spell itself and I will do my best to keep the feel of the spell as written.  This means, of course, that there will likely be 3 or more versions of some of the spells, Magic Missile, for example.

To keep the overall feel of the spell, and not make it horribly difficult to cause minimal damage, let us attack this a different way.

We look at the qualities of the original spell:

1. It is simple
2. At base it is single target
3. It never misses
4. Just about everyone who casts spells knows it

Okay.

So, we can use the following for the base:

Magic Missle
Attack Mode
Base Spell Level:  1 (dynamic - meaning we can pump it for more damage)
Range: 50 feet (it halves the range, but we want to keep it as simple as possible)
Duration:  Instant
Special:  Qualitas, unerring, -15
Base Difficulty:  -16 (-1 per additional HP damage)

Hmm...still seems pretty difficulty, but with our +9 to cast it only comes out to a d20-7, still pretty hard for 1 HP damage.  Let us bend the rules a little.  So far I have been using the 'unerring' aspect of the spell as a 'Major Change' to the mode's capabilities, let me drop that to 'Moderate' which will save us -5 and make the Base Difficulty -11 instead.

That still puts our Magician at d20+9-11, or d20-2, but it also gives him the opportunity to boost the damage a little.  To do 5 damage it will put him at that d20-7, and as long as he does not mishap he will hit.

But there is another way...

You can dodge an Arcane Bolt, you cannot dodge a magic missile, so we meet in the middle a little.

Magic Missle
Attack Mode
Base Spell Level: 1 (dynamic)
Range: 50ft
Duration: Instant
Special:  Qualitas, Minor Change, hard to dodge, target dodges at -1/3 spell level, -5
Base Difficulty:  -6

Now we have it set up a bit differently, still having to use Sorcery, but at a much lower difficulty.  While still not the unfailing hit that the d20 version has, this does make it a bit harder to dodge and helps to keep the feel of the spell.  But what about the additional missiles and targets?

Well, a 3rd level Wizard in DnD is actually pretty accomplished when you think about it.  I believe in 3rd edition it breaks down to about 13 encounters per level, lets figure 6-7 encounters per session, so about 4 sessions.

I usually run a 'Heroic' campaign in Talislanta, so the PCs will be getting approximately 20 xp per session.  A decent amount of 80 experience can be given to our young hero and we can get him casting the unerring version without too much difficulty, or we can use Qualitas again...

Magic Missile
Attack Mode
Base Spell Level: 1 (dynamic)
Range: 50ft
Duration: Instant
Special:  Qualitas, Minor Change, hard to dodge -1/3 spell level, -5; Qualitas, additional target -1 per additional target, Minor Change, -5
Base Difficulty:  -11

Still not too shabby, keeps the basic feel of the spell.  Main caveat here though, is the damage would have to be split between the two targets, unless you up the additional target to a Major Change for an additional -5 difficulty.

Granted, that is starting to get very unwieldy, even for our experienced Magician.  Personally, I think the best bet is to leave it single target and use a blast style spell for multiple targets just to keep it simple.

Well, I hope this little venture gave you something to think about, even though it was aimed specifically at d20 and the Talislanta system the thought objects are going to be pretty close with any kind of conversion.

How much CAN we keep from the original?
Can we make it feel the same?
What are the different ways to accomplish the same goal, and which one works best for what we want to do?

Conversion Machine: D20 SRD spells to Talislanta 4th/5th ed Part I

So, for 'funsies' I decided to start converting the D20 SRD spells to the Talislanta 4th/5th edition mix that I use.  'Mix' because I prefer the modes from 4th edition but some of the changes that appeared in 5th edition.

Using the magic system from 4th edition has always been fun for me, I absolutely loved the players that would come to the table wanting to play a caster, but not wanting to take the time and energy to create their beginning spells.

This would allow me to not only have fun creating the spells, but also kind of show them what the magic in Talislanta was like.  From the minor skin and hair enhancements to pillars of flame that destroyed just about anything it touched, magic in Talislanta runs the full spectrum.

At times, using the Omni/Talislanta system for more 'standard' fantasy games, the thrill of watching a player look through their brand new, custom spellbook, carefully reading what I have handed them, to hear them say, "You, sir, are a sick and twisted man."  (This was stated by a player who had taken BattleMagic while looking through his healing spells.  New meaning to "A pox on you and your people!")

This always did seem to put the game on hold, for at least one session, while I crept back into my hole to do my dirty work, and some players just like to have a list of spells to choose from.

This brought me back to memories of searching through the AD&D 1st and 2nd edition spell lists, and, always being a sucker for punishment, I decided to grab the D20 SRD and do some converting.  Most of my players are familiar with DnD in some manner, so they would get a kick out of it.

So, a quick google search and download later, I had the spell descriptions from A-B and my Talislanta modes custom cheat sheet opened in my trusty word processor.

There are some caveats that you have to acknowledge when doing any conversions, especially when you want to stay true to the feel of one game, while using the system from another.

For example, modern magic in the Talislanta RPG system has the following rules:

1. Cannot return the dead to life
2. Cannot create life
3. Cannot affect time or causality
4. Cannot control two Powers at once (Fire and Earth, for example)
5. Cannot cast more than one spell at a time or blend two spells together (ie, use two modes at once)

Note that these rules do not apply to ancient magic.

Okay, so I already know there are going to be some issues with spells from DnD, no problem, all of the above can be accomplished using Sorcery from the Codex Magicus.

But then we get into the choices that MUST be made.  While Talislantan magic is very personal and a creative endeavor, magic from DnD is not.  This is because of the history from the two games, not the world history, exactly, the real world history of the games.

DnD sprung from miniature battles, massive scale battlefields and siege rules where wizards stood atop battlements and hammered the opposing army with magical artillery.

Talislanta came from table-top RPGs, where character development and a search for the unknown and history were active at the same time as a heavy interest in the post-apocalyptic genre.  Games such as Shadowrun, Cyberpunk, Earthdawn and Gamma World were all popular.  In a way, Talislanta helped to usher in 'Fantasy-Punk' if you wish to use that term.

One of the big differences that these two paths differ on, is range.

Standard range for an Attack mode spell in Talislanta is 50ft+10ft per additional boost, in DnD the range is much further.  The quintessential 'Magic Missle' spell, for example, is 100ft+10ft per level.

Additionally, targeting is different.  In Talislanta, that magic bolt effects only a single target while in DnD you gain an additional missile every two levels (max of 5) that can be split between up to 5 targets.  Also, the Talislanta bolt requires a roll to hit, the magic missile is unerring and always strikes its target.

As I said before, a lot of these differences can be ignored, or you can use the Sorcery rules from the Codex Magicus to get a more exact conversion.  But how does that effect the usefulness of the spells themselves?

Let us look at Magic Missile.

First, from the D20 SRD:

Magic Missile

Evocation [Force]

Level: Sor/Wiz 1

Components: V, S

Casting Time: 1 standard action

Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)

Targets: Up to five creatures, no two of which can be more than 15 ft. apart

Duration: Instantaneous

Saving Throw: None

Spell Resistance: Yes

A missile of magical energy darts forth from your fingertip and strikes its target, dealing 1d4+1 points of force damage.

The missile strikes unerringly, even if the target is in melee combat or has less than total cover or total concealment. Specific parts of a creature can’t be singled out. Inanimate objects are not damaged by the spell.

For every two caster levels beyond 1st, you gain an additional missile—two at 3rd level, three at 5th, four at 7th, and the maximum of five missiles at 9th level or higher. If you shoot multiple missiles, you can have them strike a single creature or several creatures. A single missile can strike only one creature. You must designate targets before you check for spell resistance or roll damage.

This is a 'Level 1' spell for Sorcerers and Wizards, an 'easy' incantation that almost every single player I have met has in their wizards repertoire.

Now let us look at the Talislanta version using the basic rules for magic:

Magic Missile

Attack Mode

Level: 1+

Components: V, S

Casting Time: 1 standard action

Range: Medium (50 ft. + 10 ft./additional -1 to casting roll)

Targets: 1

Duration: Instantaneous

Saving Throw: Evade (yes, in Talislanta, you can dodge offensive magic)

Spell Resistance: Yes (lets face it, resistance to magic is pretty universal)

Base Difficulty:  -1 per Spell Level

A missile of magical energy darts forth from your fingertip and strikes its target, dealing 1 point of force damage per Spell Level.

As you can see, the range is much lower, and you have a chance to miss.  Also missing is the ability to target multiple creatures.  Another realization is that while the DnD Magic Missile tops out at 5d4+5, there is no upper limit to Spell Levels in Talislanta, although I would not suggest casting a spell more than 1.5x your total bonus, that can get nasty.

Now let us look at the Talislanta version using a direct conversion:

Magic Missile

Attack Mode

Level:  3+

Components: V, S

Casting Time: 1 standard action

Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)

Targets: Up to five creatures, no two of which can be more than 15 ft. apart

Duration: Instantaneous

Saving Throw: None

Spell Resistance: Yes

Base Difficulty:  -33 (Qualitas, unerring -15; Qualitas, additional missile per additional 2 levels max 5, -10; minimum range -5, Spell Level 3 base)

A missile of magical energy darts forth from your fingertip and strikes its target, dealing 3 (avg 1d4+1) points of force damage.

The missile strikes unerringly, even if the target is in melee combat or has less than total cover or total concealment. Specific parts of a creature can’t be singled out. Inanimate objects are not damaged by the spell.

For every three spell levels beyond 3rd, you gain an additional missile—two at 6rd level, three at 9th, four at 12th, and the maximum of five missiles at 15th level or higher. If you shoot multiple missiles, you can have them strike a single creature or several creatures. A single missile can strike only one creature. You must designate targets before you check for spell resistance or roll damage.

YIKES!  This simple, basic spell just became a Master-Level...bee sting.

Now, to put this in perspective we will look at what a beginning Talislantan Wizard has for his skill.  I am choosing the Cymrillian Magician from the 4th Edition Talislanta book to use as an example.  The reason for this choice is simple, they are supposed to be the absolute best at spellslinging.

With Magic Rating of +6, and beginning mode at +3 for a total of +9, that shows great potential.  So, to cast even the most basic of the direct conversion, our awesome Magician, best you can get for a starting character, will roll d20-24 (d20+MR+Mode-Difficulty).  Ouch!  He just got fried, for a whopping 3-6 points of damage depending on house rules for Magical Mishaps (or, he just had the party teleported to some random dimension...).

Now, this does not mean that our Magic Missle cannot be done, it just shows how different the two schools of thought are, and pretty major genre differences.

Okay, so this leaves us with some serious thinking to do.  Not to worry, I will show another way to work this next time, and it will actually make the spell more powerful, and easier for our Cymrillian friend.

Until next time, enjoy your game.

GM Notes: Talislantan/Omni Magic

House Rules are always a GMs favorite tool.  Today I am going to talk about the house rules for the Talislanta setting and Omni system that are going through my head.

 Magic is such a large part of any fantasy genre game that special attention must be paid.
First, I use a combination of 4th and 5th edition Talislanta.  I use the modes from 4th edition, with the changes from 5th edition for the calculation of spell levels, range, etc.

Per my standard house rules, characters receive a number of spells in each mode equal to their Mode Rating, or Skill Level in that mode, plus an additional number of spells equal to their Magic Rating.  The bonus spells from Magic Rating do not have to be in any particular mode.

For example, Azadim, a Cymrillian Magician has the following modes: Attack +3, Influence +2, Defend +3, Alter +4, Heal +3 and a Magic Rating of +5.  This gives him a starting spell list consisting of 3 Attack, 2 Influence, 3 Defend, 4 Alter and 3 Heal spells.  The bonus starting spells he receives from his +5 Magic Rating he decides to put 2 into Alter (total 6 Alter), 2 into Attack (total 5 Attack), 1 into Heal (total 4) and the last into Influence (total 3).  Altogether, this gives our intrepid adventurer 18 spells in his repertoire.  Not too bad, really.

Now, I have to make a choice.  Flavor text describes Talislantans as always being on the lookout for new spells, especially Archean (ancient) spells that do not fit into the modern magic system.  Another section talks about how Talislantans have hundreds of spells.  Even another section describes players coming up with spells on the fly.

Yeah...not so much my cuppatea.

I have already limited the number of spells each character has, now its time to put them to work.  If we look at magicians in our standard way, and realize that this is a post-apocalyptic setting, then it would not be too far of a stretch to say that magicians do not spill all their secrets.

So...the choice is Dynamic vs Static spells, or Dynamic vs Semi-Static spells.

Common practice dictates that anything that is bound to Spell Level is scalable.  So for the Heal mode, you would only need 4 spells:  Heal, Harm, Cause Disease and Cure Disease.

And to make matters worse, with scaling involved, you would only need a few of each mode.

Attack: 3 spells; Bolt, Blast and Melee
Alter: 4 spells; Increase Attribute, Decrease Attribute, Increase Skill, Decrease Skill
Conjure: 2 spells; Conjure by Mass, Conjure by Area
Defend: 4 spells; Aura, Flat Barrier, Cone/Cylinder Barrier, Dome/Sphere Barrier
Heal: 4 spells; Heal, Harm, Cause Disease, Cure Disease
Illusion: 1 spell
Influence: 1 spell
Move: 1 spell
Reveal: 3 spells; Reveal, Scrying, Conceal
Summon: 2 spells; Summon, Banish
Transform: 5 spells; Trivial Change, Minor Change, Major Change, Radical Change, Complete Change
Ward: 2 spells; Ward, Hex

But, if all the spells are the same, and there are only 32 distinct spells...what about all that searching and secrecy that wizards are known for?

How about if only the Spell Level effects are scalable and everything else is static, like range or number of targets?  Okay, that helps a little, but still leaves us with basically 3 attack spells and 4 heal spells.  Still seems rather weenie in the grand scheme of things.

So let us take a look at the flip side, NOTHING is dynamic and the spell creation system is just that, a way to create static effect spells.  Now we have something to go on: a bunch of not-too-happy players.

Well, we never want unhappy players.

There is a middle ground.  Scalable effects, those that effect Spell Level only, can only be scaled up or down a number of levels equal to the Magic Rating of the caster from the base spell.

Hey!  Now that sounds like a good plan!  The GM is happy because he sees the wizard PCs scrambling for new spells and the PCs are happy because they get to do some cool scaling effects.

I have not playtested this yet, or mentioned it to my players, but you can expect me to test it before too long.

Enjoy the game!

SLA Industries: Out with a Bang meet Jack and Jill

With the squad being down to Grundy, Hunter, Cappin and Doc due to the missing Shaktar and Brain Waster the financier group 'Flaming Turkeys,' where they have been getting a few BPNs from, sends in a Sniper to help them out a bit.

After quickly burning through the newbies Blue BPN they decided to get back to business and call up Jonesy at Flaming Turkeys.

Offered a Grey BPN the squad happily accepts.  Simple work.  There is a Channel Resistance uplink cell in Industrial Sector 86 that has holed up in an abandoned building.

Arriving in the area, the squad parks the APC a couple blocks away and heads in on foot.  Upon getting to the building, Grundy attempts to weld the doors of the main entrance, briefly harassed by what appears to be a security guard who is waved off by Hunters SLA badge, and moves to the back door, leaving Hunter to watch the main entrance.

The Sniper, Terry, is placed on an adjacent rooftop to assist and Cappin heads around to the loading dock to find an entrance.

Doc and Grundy enter the building and as Grundy is welding the door shut they are interrupted by a man claiming to be a delivery boy for an Orientan restaurant.  Grundy slaps him out of the way, inadvertently killing him.

Doc decides to start working his way up the stairs to the second floor.  Terry radios the squad to let them know that all the lights above the 2nd floor just went out, as Cappin busts open the loading bay door.

Doc arrives at the 2nd floor door and opens it, he is met with gunfire.  As the bullets pelt him and the door, he manages to drop back and close it, and doses kickstart and UV.

Cappin, hearing his brother hit makes his way quickly to the stairwell, proceeded by Grundy.  With the Morgan brothers forming a plan for the 2nd floor assault, Grundy heads up to the 3rd floor.

Terry leaves his perch to get a better position with Hunter who is now working his way through the front of the building and checking the first floor.

Grundy makes it to the 3rd floor and opens the door, and quickly closes it as bullets ricochet off his helmet, almost killing him.  Good thing he is a Stormer.

Hearing their friend eat lead upstairs, Cappin decides to change up their plan, opens the door just a crack and tosses in a fragmentation grenade.

The dilapidated building shakes a little with the explosion, and all goes quiet inside.

Outside, Terry is making his way around the building and sees two figures zip line through some buildings.  He immediately radios the members of the squad inside and Hunter comes back out to help.

Looking over the damage inside, the grenade has blasted a hole in the 3rd and 2nd floors, the blast probably enhanced a little by the Vito and Buzzard model Tek Trex drones...that now lay scattered in pieces.

Grundy heads for the roof to try and assist with the 2 fleeing figures while Cappin and Doc head for the 4th and 5th floors.

Hunter takes off on his powerboard to follow a van that he spots leaving at a high rate of speed, Terry moves to another building to take up position in case someone else decides to run for it.

Grundy opens the door to the roof expecting to run to the edge and zipline down with his rifle, but the bullets pounding into him force him back through the door.  On the roof are 4 DN operatives packing SMGs and automatic rifles!

Doc leaves Cappin to clear the 4th floor and heads up to the roof to assist Grundy.

Cappin, after doing some quick drug-addled thinking, decides the best idea is to blow a hole in the 5th floor and runs upstairs while Grundy and Doc form a plan of attack.

Cappin tosses his last grenade through the door to the 5th floor at the same time Grundy and Doc open the door to the roof, Grundy going high and full auto, Doc kneeling and going low with two 603s with a single hotline round in each.

Grundy and Doc manage to take out all four of the DN operatives on the roof, while Cappin looks at the hole in the floor and wonders why the ceiling is still mostly intact.

Hunter is still following the van, calls Shiver scaf support to try and get a tracker in the sky, but there are none available at the moment while Terry is moving up the side of an adjacent building.

Doc and Grundy use the two DN operatives in body armor to slide down the zipline, to a now empty corner, as Cappin starts to sweep the 5th floor and catches movement at a door towards the end of the hallway.

Cappin, realizing he has no more grenades, kicks open the door and trigger locks his 706 Power Reaper, the four DN operatives inside open up with their DN74 SMGs and DN80 rifles...and everything goes silent.

With Cappin not answering his headset, Terry checks the room through his scope as Grundy grabs Doc and starts to climb back up the zipline.  Fifteen blocks away, Hunter is still following the escaping van on his hoverboard.

Terry sees no movement in the room.

As Grundy and Doc make it into the room they find Cappin with his chest torn apart and his left leg completely missing.  Doc immediately calls for medical help and him and Grundy attempt to revive him.

About 20 blocks away, the backdoor of the van opens up and a hail of bullets from the DN operative impact into Hunters chest knocking him off his hoverboard at around 50mph.  If the bullets had not killed him, the impact and asphalt would have.

Unable to revive Cappin, Grundy heads out to recover Hunters body.

The Channel Resistance cell was broken and the BPN successful overall, but it was a hard-won battle.  Doc and Grundy headed home with lowered heads and sunken hearts to drink a few sorrows and watch TV.

During the episode of GoreZone, Jack makes an appearance, showing film of Cappin and Hunter dying...

Til next time...enjoy your game!

SLA Industries: Strawberry Princess Retrieval

Tonight, the squad had their first meeting with a Contract Killer: Strawberry Princess, via a Grey retrieval BPN.

It was a simple premise, locate and return Strawberry Princess, rep 6 CK who disappeared after ambushing Sour Blood after he made his way from destroying Deity in their latest match.  She was able to take him out because she uses a homemade non-lethal poison.

From Strawberry's agent they are informed of her last known address, and given a picture.  They are also informed that she is quite off in the head, and very deadly when she wants to be.

The squad comes up with a plan, they will dress up in costume as The Berry Knight (Grundy), Watermelon Soldier (Ian), Black Cherry (Hunter) and The Pie Pimp (Feelgood) and then deliver cupcakes laced with a sleeping agent to her apartment under the guise of Cupcake Scouts.

When they arrive at her apartment they find the place ransacked.  They check the surveillance video and see her leaving out the front door with her gear a few hours before.  Not knowing where she might run to they contact Dr McNamara, her psychologist.

After speaking with her psychologist, the squad learns that she is a paranoid schizophrenic fantasist who lives in a place called "Strawberry Land" and only feels safe in the "Berry Patch."

A wild goose chase is born!

The Medic and Death Squad Frothers head to her Clansmen to see if she went to them for help while the 313 Sector Ranger and the Wraithen KMS go downtown to check out a strip club called "Strawberry Land."

With no information in either place, the Frothers meet the rest of the squad at the club and start thinking about what to do next.

After looking into her past, the squad decides to contact a few of her ex-squadmates from "5-Star Carnage," the last squad she was in as an operative.

Doc Stevenson (Human Medic), Grease Monkey (Human Pilot/Navigation), Bullethead (313 Death Squad), Marco (Ebon I/I) and Norwood (Human Strike Squad) agree to show up to the club after finishing up their most recent BPN.  Stevenson, Grease Monkey and Bullethead are the only three that actually knew her.

They talk to the squad about Grainne, as they knew her before she joined the Circuit, and how she was such a nice girl that joined up with them after being in a few squads that bullied her.  Stroke, their deceased Brain Waster I/I treated her like a long lost little sister and after his death, she left the squad to join the Contract Circuit.

When the squad informs them that she is missing, Doc tells them of the time she was lost in Cannibal Sector 4.  Grundy (aka The Berry Knight), remembers the name "Berry Patch" from the back of his memory but cannot place the reference, being a Sector Ranger all he can remember is that it has something to do with Cannibal Sector 4.

The squad decides to go into CS4 to try and find this "Berry Patch."  Strawberry's old squadmates volunteer to help because she was "like a sister" to them.

Into the Cannibal Sector they go, and come across a downed Stingray, the jeep and SCAF bikes missing, communications, navigation and fire controls are all missing, along with basic equipment.  Investigation of the vehicle also shows them that it was taken down with precision weapons fire.

Leaving Norwood and Marco in the APC, the rest of the group go to scout around a bit, finding some children playing with a severed head.  As they watch and think about what to do, Grundy stands up and offers them cupcakes, the children scatter into the ruins.

Marco screams and runs towards the group, yelling about a man in Crackshot armor getting the drop on Norwood and dragging him off.

Everyone retreats into the APC and starts to move on.  Marco is given a cupcake to calm him down and quickly loses consciousness.  Worried that he may have picked up some sort of virus or infection in the area Stevenson and Feelgood start to examine Marco.

As the Wraith Raider starts to feel a bit uncomfortable, due to being the only other person there without a sealed suit, the two Medics find blood and what appears to be human tissue in the Ebons mouth.  Further examination uncovers blood on his fingers also.

Not sure of what to do, the group heads back to where Norwood was killed.

Norwoods body is found, not far from where the APC had been parked, his helmet gone, his face mauled by...something.  It turns out the squad was lucky to find anything, as there are a few cannibal children hiding in the rubble nearby.

Grundy asks the children if they would answer a few questions.  The children state that they want the body in return for information.  Stevenson agrees, he has only known Norwood for a couple weeks and is more interested in getting the reclamation bonus for the gear.

Grundy then asks if they have seen the Strawberry Princess, describing how she looks, the children mutter under their breath, "We have not seen the mother, can we have the body now?"  The body is left to the children.


Stevenson agrees to tie up Marco until he wakes up due to the wounds on Norwood not matching his story, then Feelgood can dose him with honesty to find out what happened.  Grundy loses his patience and uses a bit of Wall Wash as smelling salts to wake up the Ebon.

The Ebon states that he is working undercover on a BPN to ferret out Norwood who was suspected of being a DarkNight agent.  Marco states that Norwood asked him for his help so he popped Ebb Beast and took him out now that the truth was out.

Stevenson knocks him unconscious again, and ties up Marco, stating the truth will be found out when they return to Mort.

As night falls, Grundy goes hunting for something to eat.  He comes across a few cannibals that have taken down a couple of Ex-War Criminals.  He makes contact peacefully and explains that the squad is just looking for someone.  A couple of the cannibals break off from the group and return shortly with Violet, a 'Mother' in the cannibal clan.

More is found out about Grainne's time spent in CS4 and the group finds out that she is considered a member of the clan.  When asked about the "Berry Patch," Violet draws a map on a piece of skin taken from one of the Ex-War Criminals.

Grease Monkey takes a look at the map and lets everyone know that they will not be able to follow it during the night so the group takes shifts sleeping, Stevenson keeps Marco sedated to keep him from formulating.

Using the map, the Berry Patch is easy to find.  An ruined husk of a grocery store named, Berry Patch Grocery.

The squad, still believing that their costumes may work to get close to Strawberry Princess, enter the building first.  Making their way past the ruins of checkout stations, they are contacted over the loudspeakers by their target, who seems completely confused as to why they are dressed oddly.

Bullets scream through the front windows and the squad takes cover, Grainne's ex-squadmates have turned on the PC's.  Marco folds away as Grease Monkey and Stevenson take up position.

After a brief firefight, Carnage is dead and the squad have gained some trust with Grainne, who is happy to return to her Contract Killer lifestyle now that her old squad is dead.

The rest of the story:
Five-star Carnage was a successful squad, but Stevenson and Grease Monkey started to get into some subversive activities.  Stroke, being an Investigation Operative, was on to them and Stevenson killed him during a BPN.  Grainne, Stroke's confidant, left the squad to join the CK Circuit out of fear, she knew that Stroke was murdered, but had no proof.

Marco was brought into the squad directly by Stevenson, Norwood was brought in by Bullethead, under the guise of a new operative that needed a squad.  Norwood was on a BPN to infiltrate the squad and root out subversive elements.

Marco found out about Norwood and killed him, Stevenson played along with the group in order to throw the squad off because he did not know how much information Grainne had about his activities and wanted to make sure she was found so he could kill her.

Stevenson killed Bullethead after the squad entered the grocery, Marco was killed by Grainne.

The squad walked away with a couple of good contacts, a bit of extra cred and with some red tape acrobatics were able to re-assign Carnage's APC to their own squad.

Had a NPC cameo from my wife's Frother Don McGuiness, who is now convinced that the Cupcake Scouts are real and wants to be a 'Den Mother' for them.

SLA Industries Session Recap 3

Wanting to do a little more than combat BPNs, especially since the I/I was able to make it...failed, due to my botch of writing the White BPN before the game (ie, I did not).

Needless to say, almost everyone showed up, only missing one player out of 6.

So, wanting to continue the BPN route, the PC's get handed a Grey from Health and Safety.  Meeting with the corporate who issued the BPN, the players are instructed to remove a subversive from the Greenville Asylum Downtown.

Dr Griffin has been running unsanctioned experiments on his criminally insane patients and is to be exterminated (warrant provided).

The squad arrives at the Asylum to find a SHIVER APC outside, no SHIVERs to be found.  The SHIVERs were sent here to quell some disturbance inside the building.  A boot print on the door shows the entry was tactical as opposed to friendly.

The doors to the facility have since been chained shut from the inside, the Stormer unlocks the door easily, using the same method the SHIVERs used previously.

Nobody behind the counter but the PCs decide it would be in their best interest to sign-in and get visitor badges to follow protocol.  While obtaining the visitor badges behind they desk, the squad finds the body of a SHIVER, his Blocker Body Armor ripped open at the chest by what appears to be some kind of clawed hands, similar to a Stormer.

Most of the patients on this floor are locked in their rooms, and one of the rooms is filled with cocoon-like bags.  There are a few patients wandering around, but they are subdued by the squad using unorthodox tactics...the squad opened the staff break room and smashed open a vending machine.

Easily making their way to the end of the hall, the PCs come across a human male in a catatonic state wearing SLA Industries boxes instead of the normal blue pajamas of the patients.  Feelgood, the squad Medic, is able to bring him around a bit and the squad is provided the following information:  the men in the boxers are SHIVERs, they were attacked while answering a disturbance call by things that "came out of the walls."  Realizing the SHIVER is going to be useless in his current condition, the squad leaves him there.

The stairwell is empty aside from a large cocoon stuck in the corner.  The squad cuts the cocoon down carefully and opens it up to find a semi-concious human male inside, wearing blue coveralls, an orderly.


They take the orderly into the TV room and get him sitting next to the SHIVER.  And they take the orderlies keys.

Unlocking the stairwell gate blocking their ascent, the squad moves to the second floor.

The second floor hallway is covered in webbing, the lights flickering on and off, and more human-sized cocoons can be seen here and there along the floor.

The Wraith is attacked by 'something' in the webbing, the creature is quickly run off by a couple stabs from the Shaktar and Stormer, but somehow did not leave a path through the webbing.

Not feeling particularly comfortable with what is going on, the Brain Waster grabs a mob and pulls out her Klippo, seeing this happen, the Wraith grabs a fire extinguisher.

The webbing in the hallway goes up in flames, worried about the cocoons holding patients, the Stormer trips the fire suppression system, filling the hallway with foam...quick solidifying foam.

Two members of the squad are able to get out of the zone and avoid being caught in the foam.  They are then able to remove their squadmates.

Continuing very slowly down the hallway, because they are now having to cut their way through the foam, the Operatives make sure to check on the patients, cutting through the foam and checking the rooms.

Inside one room, there is a man in a doctors smock pounding on the door.  The operatives decide to leave him there for his safety...only to see his face hit the window and disappear.

The Stormer and Shaktar bust into the room, unable to see much with the flickering light, but the doctor is nowhere to be found.

Something sharp jabs into the stormers unarmored head and the Shaktar drops a tear gas grenade, but whatever attacked them is gone, the window to the outside broken and the bars bent outward.

The Stormer and Shaktar decide to follow whatever it was out the window and head towards the roof, the remaining three members will continue down the hall to reach the stairwell to the third floor.

Gaining access to the building from the roof and the stairwell, the squad gets back together before heading into the third floor, where the criminally insane, and their target await them...

to be continued...

SLA Industries: Session: le Duece

(yes, I mixed the languages in the title on purpose, to make you cringe...on to the recap)

Second session for the Squad "Out with a Bang."

Only three players were able to make it this time:

• Grundy, played by Bob
• Kr'snch, played by Ryan
• Hunter, played by Brandon

Our story takes place a few days after the last, with the Shaktar and Wraith Raider healed of the wounds they sustained from the DN Snipers.

Grundy invited the squad over for a few drinks, but they had other ideas and convinced him to grab a quick BPN.

They nabbed a Blue from a financier(ish) contact they had met at Slayer's Crib during the last session.  The Financier Group known as "Flaming Turkeys" is an up-and-coming operation, still low on the pole, so their BPNs are never the good ones.

The Blue was a simple seek-and-destroy in the sewers, something was killing civilians near a hatch that had been broken during the previous days GoreZone episode in Downtown.

It was simple enough, the squad went in, had some fun with a 20 foot crocodile and got paid.

The highlights included:

• Kr'snch being grabbed by the crocodile and unable to reach his melee weapons as it was trying to drag him into the sewage
• Grundy jumping on the back of the crocodile to help his squadmate
• Kr'snch was able to dodge a "deathroll" due to the Stormer holding onto the beast
• Once free from the crocodile's mouth, Kr'snch was able to watch the crocodile try and shake the Stormer loose by rolling
• The squad members being told by a Health and Safety agent not to speak of the crocodile

Was great fun!

We did call it a little early due to the rest of the squad not being able to make it, so it was pretty short.

The BPN was written a long time ago and can be found at http://trulyrural.com/sla/bpns.html, in the pdf titled "Several BPN's by Max Hattuer."  The title of the BPN was "The Basic Blue," due to the small squad size I reduced the number of crocodiles, also, having only the single crocodile seemed to fit the backstory better.

In retrospect, maybe I should have added in a second...next time, my pretty...next time...

It is Hard to Read an E-Zine on the Toilet

Getting back into the gaming "zone" after 10 years of "here and there" I am noticing a lot of changes.  One of those being the absence of all those great gaming magazines.

Dragon, Dungeon, White Wolf, White Dwarf, SHADIS (yeah...that died in the 90s but I still miss it).  Where did they all go?  What replaces the void?  Did printing costs really go up that much, or were the smaller print run magazines over-doing themselves with quality paper?

Books seem to be the same way, just about every game has multiple pdf's available, for the same price as the actual book in many cases.  Seems a bit of a ploy to me.

I want a REAL book, a REAL magazine to read.  Something I can take to the kitchen table or work to read when times are slow.  A physical something that I can read while sitting with the family in the living room hanging out.

That being said, I really do love the print quality of the books that are being released, but do they really need to be $30-$40 (US)?  If so, why does the pdf need to be about the same cost, surely those are a lot cheaper to 'print' for the company.

Wishful thinking, I know.  With the prevalence of tablets and smartphones the printed book is on its way out.  Soon, you won't be able to loan out the players guide to that new person in the group unless you hand them the entire tablet.

If you know of any good RPG e-zines out there, link to them in the comments please, I'll be sure to add them to my smartphone browser, its a small screen, but at least its portable.