Somewhere under a lost and lonely hill of grim and foreboding aspect lies a labyrinthine crypt filled with terrible traps and rich treasures both precious and magical. Accounts relate that adventurers have an extremely low probability of ever finding the burial chamber, for the passages and rooms of the tomb are fraught with terrible traps, poison gases, and magical protections. So only large and well-prepared parties of the bravest and strongest should even consider the attempt, and if they do locate the tomb, they must be prepared to fail. Any expedition must be composed of characters of high level and varied skills. They should equip themselves with every sort of device possible to ensure their survival. But success would bring great renown and honor...
The players are a team of graduate students and junior faculty at MIT, doing research on a legendary "Acherim" tomb in a disputed portion of the Palestine Mandate in November 1936. What they've found leads them to believe that maybe it's worth the risks to investigate and excavate it themselves...
This will be a pulp/noir flavored adventure for 5 core characters - Dr Jones (no, the
other other one), Dr Dinkley, Rogers (and animal companion), and Blake - using
True20 as the game engine (which is the same as
Blue Rose). There are some significant differences from other
OGL d20 games, but the system is streamlined and easy to pick up. Only a single d20 is needed to play (well, along with paper and pencil). Cheat sheets of the rules that diverge from
WotC d20
SRD will be on hand for any and everyone - even the ones not playing in this game.
Time will be a major constraint: there will be pressure in-game to complete the mission as quickly as possible (those pesky Nazi treasure hunters and anti-British "community organizers" always trying to get in the way of
Science!). As can be seen by the description, this is not very conducive to hacking and slashing (though there is a fair amount of that as well). There will be
some conflicting agendas between the characters - there will be winners and losers... and blood.[
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{This would work well for an AM slot, with a possible "gentleperson's agreement" that the Loser buys the Winner a tasty beverage at lunch. Attached is a quick start that gives a great overview of the system itself. And the all the books referenced are in-stock at Games Plus, last I looked...}
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