DarkMatter D20: Drunk Southern Girls with Guns ... UPDATED - 8/18/05!

[jonrog1]

Yes, sorry about the delay. I just moved and lost the DSL connection, plus an old project that SHOULD be off my desk dropped back on (Flynn, you'll be getting an annoyed phone call tomorrow). I'll endeavour to stay on track now.

As a quick reminder, the next one ought to wrap up RAW RECRUITS. We then dive into three homebrews: NIGHT OF THE CATTLE MUTILATORS, GONE MISSING, and DARK CANADA.

Bought CoC d20. I love it, although the single Investigator class doesn't quite fit the pulpy feel we kind of evolved into over these few sessions. And I'm not sure about the Sanity rules -- they work great, but I would have very dead PC's on a regular basis if they kept fainting ...

It has reminded me of one thing -- my PC's have faced surmountable odds lately. They were practically old hands in DARK CANADA, I think I only really creeped them out three times during that one. Time to throw them some stuff that there's no damn way they can survive. (I rather thought the unpleasant ending of NIGHT OF THE CATTLE MUTILATORS was going to be it, but they are a resourceful lot.)

Oh, and might I say -- Ross is DM'ing our Scarred Lands campaign and is running a scaled-up version of OF SOUND MIND. Very, VERY Dark*Matter in tone, one of the few creepy, true mystery-feel published modules I've played. Big kudos to the author, whoever he may be ...

 

[Piratecat]

Oh, and might I say -- Ross is DM'ing our Scarred Lands campaign and is running a scaled-up version of OF SOUND MIND. Very, VERY Dark*Matter in tone, one of the few creepy, true mystery-feel published modules I've played. Big kudos to the author, whoever he may be ...

Flatterer. That's high praise indeed, coming from you; these game logs are consistently amongst my favorites to read. You'd think you were a professional writer, or something. If Ross wants any scaling ideas for OSM, have him drop me an email.

 

[evileeyore]

I vote both more anal probing and more Cthulu. Hmmm, perhaps a combination of both... Evard's Black Tenticles maybe?

 

[jonrog1]

I vote both more anal probing and more Cthulu. Hmmm, perhaps a combination of both... Evard's Black Tenticles maybe?

Banned. You sir, are banned. Eeeuuuughhh.

Oh, and we're using the Star Wars firearms rules for now -- although Dragonstar is, well, frikkin' fantastic, and will probably take over the adaptation. Everything in SPYCRAFT is great except the somewhat overly complicated firearms rules, and the excess of skills. Why do you need Surveillance skill? Why not just outline how Hide, Spot, and Search apply to modern surveillance techniques? Too many skills means too thin a spread of skill points and too much difficulty building an effective character in my book. That chase system is grand, and wotrth the price of admission, and the logical assembly of feat chains is nice.

Oh, and anyone thinking of using the Monte Cook GHAST template, it is seriously overpowered. Ross just spanked us hard in A SOUND MIND with an allegedly ECL 9 encounter of six ogre ghasts.

Now, back to work. And somebody give Wulf a shout, I want to see what he thinks. It was his story that got me writing this one.

Take care all,

jonrog1

 

[evileeyore]

Damn...

Does that mean I can't read anymore of your story hour, 'cause this is the only one I enjoy.

Nothing against the rest of you, but I just like jonrog's style. Pesky 1st person journals annoy the snot out of me. And if it isn't a journal its a dry 3rd person disertation on how to complete a quest.

Jonrog I really like the fact that you include (what sounds to me) actual dialog from the game, and the asides just rip me up. If I wrote that well I'd put up my own story hour... but I hate my writting (its only good for character backgrounds).

Anyway, I think I've said enuff for a banned man...

TTFN

Editted to add: You forgot Gather Information. It would do wonders for Intelligence Analysis, after all the skill also allows for the weeding out of all the useless rumors picked up with the good... Oh, and Sense Motive...

 

[jonrog1]

Bum-bum-bum-bum-bumdadum ...
Bum-bum-bum-bum-bumdadum ...

"I think it's time we get everybody together and blow this place -- Three, two, one -- let's jam

"One eye sees the present, and one eye sees the past ..."

Ahem. Sorry.

 

[jonrog1]

RAW RECRUITS PT. 6

The teenagers were sprawled out like sacks of meat. Their limbs were twisted under them, some of their arms broken from being in the wrong position as the kids fell. They'd dropped in mid-stride, mid-breath. Some still clutched plastic beer cups.

"Is Jerry here?" asked Jo. "Did Rammock beat us here?"

The Agents moved forward slowly. Their breath fogged in the cool air. The only sound was the low rumble of their idling van. Stephen reached down to check one of the kids. "What did this?"

"Nerve gas?" guessed Ross. "And you said she had psychic powers --"

"I've got a pulse!" Johanna yelled. She gripped the throat of one of the cheerleaders. "Low and slow, like she's --"

"Sleeping. They all are." Stephen moved from victim to victim. "Something knocked them all out simultaneously."

"That's actually weirder than if they were dead." Andy and Ross circled the vacation house. The back lot stretched down to a small dock. A fishing boat thumped quietly against the pilings. The lake spread out beyond them, pitch black. It was strange -- they were maybe half an hour from the highway, but forests have a way of quickly swallowing you.

A RUSTLE came from the road. Andy and Ross ran back just in time to see another car pull up. The Agents palmed their guns. Jerry's friend, Nick, stepped out from his car shouldering a case of beer. He stared at the Agents ... at his friends ... at the Agents. Nick wasn't exactly a rocket scientist at the best of times.

"What happened?" He jerked as some of the teens stirred. One cried out in pain, discovering her broken ankle. "Man, first Jerry wrecks his car, now this --"

"What did you say?" yelled Jo.

Nick jerked his head toward the dark road. "Yeah, Jerry's car is smashed against the fencepost a couple houses down. Figured he walked over ..."

Andy and Ross took off at a run for the woods. "Each of these houses has a backlot onto the lake, we'll cut across!"

"We'll drive, cover the front!" Jo and Stephen raced away in the van, spraying Nick with gravel.

Ross and Andy dodged through the trees, branches slamming at them. Ross looked up, did a double-take. "You see the --"

"Yeah, keep running!" Andy hissed back.

Jo and Stephen spotted Jerry's wrecked car against the stone fence of another vacaton house. They killed the lights and costed to a silent stop. Pulling their weapons they raced for the open front door.

Leading with their guns, Jo and Stephen performed a perfect split-wedge entry. The house was empty for the season. A white light FLASHED from somewhere beyond the back door. As they sprinted through the dining room, Stephen spotted an odd device on the table. It was some sort of digital readout with symbols intead of numbers. It had an antenna. And the lights on it were flashing green-white-green-white ...

... GREEN-WHITE-GREEN-WHITE ... Andy and Ross shielded their eyes as they broke from the treeline. The lights were strobing, blinding.

It was to be expected.

After all, it was a pretty big UFO.

 

[fenzer]

It's all a ruse

Jonrog1 is a writer and we all know what that means. I think that somewhere in his dark mind he thinks he is doing us a favor by posting so infrequently.

We know he has these storys already written out; I have read them! By delaying his posts he is creating interest in his strory and you know what, I am on to you jonrog1! You can't fool this old fool. I am keeping an eye on you. And if you insist on delaying posts like this, well, I'll just have to...get...do...sit here and wait.

 

[jonrog1]

Actually, finding the teens on the lawn was the last of the already-written installments from the old board. It's just that there's a finite number of these adventures completed, so I wanted to pace myself.

We'll wrap up RAW RECRUITS this weekend.

 

[Zarthon]

Great story jonrog1, keep it up.