Describe your last RPG session in more than 5 words.

[Golden Bee]

High, Wide, Handsome, and Burnt
“Come with me,” Ivo said, extending a hand. “Or that Filipino will kill you.”

October, 1935. Two Billings law enforcement officers have been found murdered in as many days. The ZSS have been hired by Zachary Left Hand, a policeman with the Office of Indian Affairs who lives on and patrols the nearby Crow Reservation. Having testified against both of the deceased officers earlier this year, the BPD has named him a person of interest, and Zachary believes it’s only a matter of time before they coordinate with the OIA and FBI to arrest him. Meanwhile, he has a job to do as one of only three officers patrolling a 3,500+ sq mile range that serves some 1,700 residents on tribal land. He needs the ZSS to help him prove his innocence and avoid the hangman’s noose for crimes he says he didn’t commit.
***
It’s all JP Diamond can do to hold the group together. Calvin Davino is looking for a fight, Ivan “Ivo” Kochev is looking for a payday, and JP’s boss Devika is a temperamental, yet super-friendly egomaniac.

The group arrives in town as police investigate a third officer’s murder. Ivo sneaks in, and finds out that the cops are rounding up a posse for mob justice (against Zachary Left Hand). Instead of a car chase though, Devi ‘lets the telephone do the running’, finding out their contact is out of office on local business.

The group speeds through big sky country, marveling at the beauty while driving as fast as possible. When they arrive, a Crow addict, William, has his mother at knifepoint. Zachary tries to talk him down. Not one for subtlety, the former goddess of the Red Jasmine cult employs her mesmerism. As strung-out Billy crumbles to the ground, the group introduces themselves… and note the giant dust cloud on the horizon.

Our heroes flee vigilante justice and stash Zachary until he can be exonerated. From there, it’s a journey through high society and tribal bureaucracy. It’s not just white versus native: even Canadian Cree are involved, hoping to get laws changed so they can drill for oil on the Crow rez.

The foursome has to split up repeatedly, which goes well and not so well. JP is up to the task of interviewing a local rummy; Calvin and Ivo, tasked with ‘talking to the son of a prominent witness’, engineer an unnecessary kidnapping. Lies stack upon lies, until JP intervenes. The detective gets the suspect alone, a few minutes after the suspect starts a morphine drip. From there, New Orlean’s toughest PI scares a confession from the addled user. Devi helpfully types up the confession and has the guy sign it.

Then, they bring the other two along, using the confession to trade up the chain. The next crook reads it… And rips it into pieces. While Devi argues that what he just did was a felony too, Calvin jumpkicks the guy in the head.

“The perfect jumpkick,” explained the mercenary. Ivo began falsifying the room for a self-defense verdict.

The ZSS tracked the killer to the Billings police station. (Not before Calvin beat up someone else unreasonably, he's "made for action".) It turned out the police killings were the work of a mystic revenant, looking for justice the oldest-fashioned way.

The building was filled with smoke, and the trio of adults was happy to fight through the panicking officers. Devi’s eyes emerged from the smoke, glowing purple.

One of the officers holstered his pistol, nodding his head in apology. “Sorry, Miss Velyapur, may I go?”

The teen boss interposed herself between the killer and their intended victim, the jerk police chief. Reluctantly, Devi made the argument that revenge killing was one of those things that you start and you never stop. The argument was only partially convincing, until JP shared his experience as someone who had traveled to the land of the dead, and back, then there and back again. The killer relented when she found out that her quest would lead to the hanging of Zachary Left Hand, the territory’s best lawman.
Because the entire police force was involved in the conspiracy, the group had to bring in federal authorities and start a media circus.

Ivo scoffed. “Murder, revenge, cold blooded score settling. And all for what?”
“Tremendous publicity,” replied Calvin.

[Just look how many aspects ended up on the table. Busy session!]

 

[The Soloist]

[solo AD&D 1e • 06] The Dead Plains
The party explores the secret section of the dungeon. They fight rats, hobgoblins and a ghoul. They find an evil cleric level 3 and his two hobgoblin henchman. When the two hobgoblins are put to Sleep by Morandiel, the cleric flees. A chase ensues. Vorandiel finds a secret door. Mornandiel uses his last clue (secret password). The cleric is waiting for them in a circular room with 6 skeletons. He Curses the party. The fight lasted four rounds. Everyone is wounded but the evil cleric, targeted by two Magic Missiles and sharp blades is no more.

Treasure: Longsword +1 (for Breogan), Ring protection +1 (for Morandiel), Potion (unidentified, for Vorandiel), 250 gps worth of gems and 50 gold pieces. A journal, ink bottle and pen.

Morandiel the magic-user reaches level 2. Vorandiel the thief reaches level 3.

The party did not find The Warrior Heart artifact. After an hour of study Morandiel deciphers the cleric’s journal. He finds (2) clues. One of them indicates there is a lower level to this dungeon. The companions decide to rest in the secret room. The evening and the night are uneventful.

TBC

 

[Golden Bee]

The Ellis Affair by Lisa Steele

Yokohama is a charnel house: the streets, canals and waterfront are filled with the dead and the stench from decomposing bodies is unbearable. It is estimated that more than 200 foreigners lost their lives there. Most of the dead and injured among the Yokohama foreigners were those who were caught by the earthquake and fire while shopping in the downtown district. Thousands of the terror-stricken natives drowned in the canals when seeking safety from the raging inferno which followed the temblor. The earthquake left great gaps in the pavements and wrecked most of the buildings. Fire, which started in numerous places at once completed the destruction. — Meriden Morning Record

[I’ve run this one a few times, kind of surprised I never wrote it up for the campaign! Fate: Worlds in Shadow came out in 2013, so it’s possible all the times I ran it were before 2023.]

The adventure starts with one of the worst earthquakes in world history. Trying to escape the city we have a new “hero”, Sicilian mafia princess Viola Violeta. She joins all-American hick Clara Tate, mafia-affiliated magician Gia CM, and Wuxia healer Siao Yun.

The group gets lured into a gunfight outside one of the few remaining buildings, The Specie Bank, and from there are drawn into a web of intrigue. Somehow, Chinese crime lord The Octopus, a wealthy German pacifist, and a Japanese secret agent are all collaborating on some kind of earthquake device.
The group follows the trail to Shanghai on Viola’s yacht, where they play nice with the Green gang, then split up to follow two pairs of leads. The Americans head to a Japanese nightclub, Sakura, while the Mafiosa and the street fighter talk to weapons manufacturer William Sykes. He's eager to chat up the beautiful ladies, and he has something they're really gonna want to see… photos of The Octopus's ship! He's so nervous his hand is shaking… Actually, the building is shaking!

Sakura is filled with gorgeous men and women, and has a glass-bottom dance floor over a giant fish tank. Gia is used to playing footsie with gangsters, and realizes The Octopus is actually one of the geishas. The Octopus has so much fun, in fact, she tells the New Jerseyite that she's >not< going to drop out the floor and subject her and her companion to the deadly octopus below.

“Wait, are you saying don't touch this lever, or don't not touch this lever?” Said Clara, her Chinese clearly lacking.

She pulled the lever, retracting the dance floor. This caused the gang leader to flee and everyone else to swim for their lives!
***
Syke’s fishtank wobbled on his desk, moving entire feet at a time. Viola looked out the window, and found someone aiming a strange, futuristic machine at the building. Was that an earthquake gun? Without hesitation, Xiao leapt from the balcony, ran down the collapsing fire escape, and landed on telephone wires. She almost got up to the figure… When he leapt onto another pair of wires, running the opposite direction!
***
Clara and Gia were able to evade the cephalopod, barely. The illusionist evacuated the club, while Clara used a little bit of street smarts: most guns will fire at least once underwater, and octopi hate being shot! The creature thrashed, destroying the wooden furniture that had fallen into its tank!
***
The earthquake began warping the walls of Sykes's building. Violeta, always observant, told him to bring out some prototype guns, and begin shooting her way through the drywall. Nearby, Xiao had a choice to make, as the perpetrator through the device down a chimney. Should she go after the suspect or the evidence?
***
Gia flung deck of cards into the creature’s eye. Clara, driven by a fierce survival instinct, swam through the debris and pulled the lever to close the tank and restore the floor!
***
It was sheer willpower that got Viola through the crumbling building. Choking back clouds of plaster, ignoring electrical burns, she got to the front door… And yelled at the assembled bystanders that if they knew it was good for them, they’d get out of her way! Some threats transcend language.

Xiao pursued her perp, getting close enough to recognize him from her old dojo. They traded information, and he warned her to avoid interfering with the destruction of the vile world’s navies. She returned to where the device was pitched, but Viola had to pay off the man. Anything strangers would dump into his house and then come back for it was worth money!
***
The group put their heads together, and discovered the villains’ plan. Using a powerful earthquake device, the pacifist was going to create waves big enough to destroy everyone but Japan's Navy, using the Octopus pirates’ boat! The group pursued the pirates and the best vehicle they had available: Viola's smuggling yacht.

Once they got there, things went weird. Clara and Viola headed below deck to rescue prisoners. Xiao brawled her way across the top deck, battling dozens of roughnecks with the sheer power of her cultivation. Gia sidled up to the best-dressed person on the boat, presuming him to be the representative of Japanese intelligence. She utterly flummoxed him with lies. By the time she was through prevaricating, she was able to get her hands on the earthquake machine… And make it disappear! Hey, it had worked on that weather control device in Chicago!

His mission failed, the agent fled. (Interestingly, this is the canonical origin of Ito Takagi, a.k.a. the Sinister Skull!)

The pacifist surrendered as his plans evaporated around him. Xiao came in for a supportive hug… Before hitting him with an ancient Chinese Vulcan nerve pinch.

Gia got in the last word.

“See you in jail, unwitting dupe!”

The module has great art btw:

 

[John Dallman]

AD&D 1,2e, Avalon Campaign:

Planning new strand of campaign.

The PCs we've been playing since spring 2020 are now between 19th and 14th level, and the GM is finding it hard to challenge them. Yesterday was devoted to establishing the framework for a new campaign in Avalon, in a different part of the continent. We plan to keep on playing the current characters for a few sessions while the GM fills in details of the new area, and then switch to playing new characters at about 2nd level.

 

[Golden Bee]

The Phoenician Connection
Zelda was only inches away from General Saeki’s bodyguard. The smell of Yoji’s sweat filled the pantry. But who held his loyalty: her or her father?

A peace conference in Marseille. Viola Vitale, JP Diamond, Xiao Yun, and Zelda Saeki are on the way there, accompanying diplomatic daughter Alice Cavendish. The teen enters the woods to discreetly make water. Xiao delivers another perfect monologue about Chinese papercraft, when a hunter’s rifle goes off. It wasn't aimed at the team… But does Alice know that? And did anyone notice the sign in French that said minefield?!

Zelda swings into action, chasing down the girl.

Alice is very still, because "she put down her foot and heard a click.”

Zelda keeps her calm, gets a running start, and leaps them both out of blast radius! The high strung pair agreed to keep this experience between them.

In town, mobster Viola tries to work her way into the nascent French heroin scene. (The “peace conference” is a smokescreen to get a lot of international figures to an otherwise quiet seaside town.) Xiao helps Viola a little, only to benefit the Middle Kingdom; detectives JP and Zelda have bigger issues. His nemesis, the Sinister Skull, and her father, the ruthless General Saeki, are both in the city, and peace isn't on their minds.

Viola and local honcho Claude Descombes rent out the Three Feathers Bistro for their meeting. Things are going well, until America's premier mobster Joey “Five Angels" Pentangelo makes an appearance. He's all smiles as he intimidates Claude. Only some cutting words and big promises keep the Sicilian/French alliance together. Joey storms off.
***
It's hard to keep a secret when Zelda or Josiah Patrick Diamond are in town. They play it too cautiously though; by the time they figure out their enemies' plans, said enemies are long gone.

Turns out the Skull and the General were in town for recruitment. The General wanted to hire disaffected soldiers and legionnaires; the Skull was happy with smugglers and ne’er-do-wells. Their goal was the Sword of True Honesty. Battling-bookworm Xiao knew about the weapon: a relic of the Shona, it could command loyalty and cause traitors to drop dead. Useful for a military commander or a former spy! The detectives hit the stacks, and found out where the sword had last been seen: in the year 1600, in the city of Great Zimbabwe!

Normally, the group would take Devi’s private jet, but she was occupied with company business in Australia. Instead, the group sailed, bribed, cajoled, and when all else failed, hard-marched to the heart of Rhodesia. There, they would meet their guerilla contact: Mambo Thokozani, and his army of irregulars, who would be happy to fight off imperialists for the rights to the city.

Xiao noticed something strange: she put on her Robe of Endless Night to stave off the wind, and looked through it accidentally. When she looked through the fabric, she could see the abandoned city as it existed 400 years prior!

Even stranger, Mambo Thokozani could act as if the city still existed. He could climb wood structures, draw blood from its cattle… and raid the ancient treasury! As he climbed empty air to the parapets, gunfire erupted. General Saeki’s force had arrived!

“Nuh uh.” said Xiao Yun.
As Thoko tried to lead his troops from the castle wall, she jumped 15 feet into the air and kicked him in the face!

JP was unable to do so, and went to guard a gate. Zelda let her signature Nambu pistol do the talking. But the range advantage was ephemeral. The guerrilla pointed the blade at her and yelled that if she was a betrayer, may her heart stop!
***
Nearby, Detective Diamond dodged gunfire and wished he was back at the peace conference. He shoved over a massive statue, giving his allies some cover, and delivered a flying tackle to one of the general’s goons. But something curious happened.

General Saeki, who had bonded with Diamond over some booze back in Marseille, told his men to hold their fire. He told JP he would happily let the group live in exchange for the sword. Unfortunately, JP didn't have it…

***
Zelda willed herself through cardiac arrhythmia. She might've died in the dirt of Rhodesia, except for Xiao’s unrelenting offense. While she had faced swordsmen, the Mambo had never battled a practitioner of the three section staff. He retreated, trying to rally with his honor guard, but Zelda took half a breath and emptied her clip. He stumbled backward over pieces of broken statue, and then split in half, materializing in the middle of a building that hadn't existed for 400 years. It was a gory sight, and unfortunately the half with the sword was the one that vanished.
***
JP called on all his Southern charm, telling the General he wasn't hired, and therefore couldn't deliver the artifact. When pressed, he also admitted that he didn't have the artifact to give. The elder Saeki sighed, but smiled when he saw Xiao lead the confused local soldiers in retreat.

The General's bodyguard ruined the moment.

“He who betrays the General will surely die.”

Diamond waited until the ride home to deliver his rejoinder. "Did that already, didn't take.”

 

[jian]

Nimrod infodump as Tara burns.

(Informative summary: the PCs are in an X-Men 1995 game where all the main characters never existed. Madison Jeffries (a woman in this timeline) had been helping Trask to build Sentinels, and had her mind psychically destroyed by Selene for bad guys. Naturally the PCs went into her dying mind to save her, where she desperately infodumped everything she knew before she died. The big bad was Nimrod, who had been sent back in time from 2050 to prevent the rise of Krakoa in 2018, which had led to the first aliens making contact with humanity to decide that mutants were clearly the planet’s dominant species. Nimrod had gone back to 1900 and systematically murdered over a hundred mutants who had been prominent in the rise of Krakoa, leaving the PCs and their allies as the only powerful mutants around. Madison did all this while surrounded by a burning mansion which was identical to Tara from Gone with the Wind, which represented her dying mind.)

 

[Nebulous]

Adapting the Sunless Citadel 3e using the 5e maps but switching the game system to Nimble 2.0. Anyone played Nimble? I don't think it gets talked about much on this site. It started as a 5e add-on but morphed into its own game. In a nutshell, I would say combat is more strategic than 5e without adding complexity. It needs more products to support it, but the developer seems dedicated to make that happen.

 

[Golden Bee]

When I say “jump,” you say “I'll die”!
“...and if you’ll see by the next slide, we have the testimony of both the head of the Kentucky Derby boosters’ association and Ricky ‘The Shotgun’ Travino…”

Sweltering summer in the Big Apple. Rafael Lancaster has a problem: two of his employees decided to kill themselves last night, jumping out the window. And by the time he gets to the Ziegler Security Services office, there's been a report of a third.

The group has two detectives, so they split up. (Hemett Hazoul is hired to take care of the third crime scene.) One group is Senegal's greatest detective Inspector Omar M’Tombe and mystic millionaire Devika; the other is Thaza O’Rourke, Ivo Kochev, and non-criminal Zelda Saeki.

Devi and the grandfather/detective take the Duesenberg uptown. The crime scene is at a residential hotel, which means the dumb maid cleaned the place after the police came by. The inspector is smart enough to check the trash though, where they find a minty-smelling health elixir. The only other clue is a radio, turned to WOR.
As they get to the curb though, there’s a ticking from the Duesenberg… Then an explosion! Devi’s expensive custom automobile is now burnt slag!
***
Across town, the trio are met by a victim’s widow. Despite the heat though, she doesn't sweat… She only poisons the coffee. This causes Ivo to be ill, so Thaza grabs the woman… Only to be wrenched backwards in her mechanical grip! Turns out the woman, Gilda, is a one-of-a-kind automaton. Unfortunately, she's not a bulletproof one, and Saeki puts a hole in her from close range. Ivo grabs a red tablecloth and plays 'toro', distracting her enough for Thaza to toss the bot out the window! Gilda, uncatlike, lands on her skull, her bloody-oily robot parts scattering across the Bowery.

A quick review of the crime scene reveals the real widow, tied up in the kitchen. Her husband was drinking a new tonic that he won in a contest, listening to the radio, and heard a spooky theremin… then dove to his death!
***
The group reconvened at the Century Club, New York’s number one spot for plutocrats and explorers. Hazoul was late, and arrived with his arm in a cast; his location was patrolled by a sniper. While he and Ivo availed themselves of The Club’s concierge doctor, Devi combined the clues. It was obviously her rival, Aloria Midas. But instead of storming into Midas headquarters (like they had done to her father), India's richest girl had a better idea. Rafe Lancaster was a Century Club member; he could petition to remove Aloria’s membership. The Inspector went through the club's bylaws, while Zelda schmoozed and got quorum.

With the event set for that evening, the group went to the radio station for more clues. They got them by the barrel: not only did last night's broadcast feature a theremin, it slandered Devika in particular. The new writer admitted with minimal prompting that she had been bribed to put code words into the story, and to modify the musical instrument with a deadly cord.

But that wasn’t all! Lovable crooks Thaza and Ivo got the drop on a trio of legbreakers who had prepared to ambush the group. Through flimflam and chicanery, they got the hired muscle to flip, proving a direct link to the evil heiress. The goons returned to Aloria with fake information, making her believe that there was a spy in her organization, one that would warn her enemies if she tried to dodge the Century censure!

Soon the sweaty day turned to night. Everyone organized evidence, put on their best, and prepared for social combat.

Aloria arrived dressed to the tens. Devi greeted her, playing dimwitted and annoying. Midas fell for it. The group presented their case calmly, but slowly built in more and more slights. Rafe’s girlfriend, Broadway starlet Lillian Lamb, described Aloria’s plot against her in The Greatest Two Minutes in Kidnapping, and ended her speech

“...and who could forget the impact that this has had on poor, innocent Devika?”

Aloria stormed the podium, raving conspiratorially about everyone's bestie. Devi, in her brand-new chiffon cupcake dress, looked confused and troubled. Once Aloria was shaking with rage, her microphone cut out, and Devi stood on a phone book for her reply.

“I think Miss Midas is under a lot of stress. After it turned out her father's miracle industrial process caused cancer, and the revelation that he had been working with Nazi Germany, she simply—”

At that point, the heiress lunged for Devi’s throat. Devi struggled until the flashbulbs stopped going off (who let in the press?!), easily freed herself, and gestured for her lawyer. Not only was Aloria going up the river, her assets would be easy prey for Devi’s libel lawsuit.

Lancaster was beside himself with pride. Not only had his mentee solved the suicides, caught the perpetrator, and gotten herself good publicity; she had made a lot of money doing it.

Gregory Goyle, head of the Century Club:

 

[John Dallman]

GURPS 4e, occult WWII campaign, India strand:

Japanese Naval Intelligence: Operational Security?

The occult branch of the Imperial Japanese Navy had a great idea. They realised that Mikkyō, Japanese esoteric Buddhism, includes twelve Hindu gods, not much changed from their Indian forms. They reckoned there had to be a way to use the cult of Varuna, god of the sea and Protector of the West, to disrupt sea traffic between Britain and India. The most straightforward way seemed to be turning the sailors and dockworkers in Karachi and/or Mumbai against the British. Mumbai gets more attention from the Government of India, so they picked Karachi, which has a relevant Varuna festival every year in the spring.

They found a Japanese occultist who spoke Sindhi, the local language in Karachi (and the larger area around it). They ran him through an accelerated naval officer training course, and sent him in to find contacts and set up the operation. He didn't get much secret agent training, and didn't understand that. The PCs solved the case through persistent and careful police work.

 

[Golden Bee]

Going Pennsylvania Dutch or: The Curse of the Wereweasels
“Stop hugging and stop crying! You don’t have to be so sensitive about me buying you a car I had to outbid Babe Ruth for!”

October 30th, and the Devil's Night party at the Century Club is roaring. Unfortunately, the guest of honor, paranormal detective Archibald Cairn, is missing. His brother wants him found... And so does Mexican demon Mercurio, the Devil's Advocate and Tacito’s rival.

Also attending the party: Louisiana sleuth JP Diamond, Senegalese PI Inspector M’tombe, India’s richest girl Devika Velyapur, and her movie star mother Lala Santinella. Hearing that Archie's last known location was southeast Pennsylvania, Devi gives her madre an early birthday present: a Bentley 8 Litre. Expensive, yes, but how many other cars could seat six and break 100 mph?

Somehow, the elderly inspector was able to sleep as the stunt-starlet roared down back roads, the needle buried in the red.
***
Once in town, the group found signs of Archibald and his companions, including their former lodgings, and a mysterious carnival with a corn maze. The group stayed at a local boarding house, with Tacito taking first watch… but jacked up on adrenaline, he saw creatures stirring in the maze and jumped out the window to chase them! He caught his leg on a rain spout, which woke up JP… Who, wanting to protect his friend, jumped out his window… Which woke up everyone else. Despite JP catching his pants on the fence, there were no more clues to be gathered.

The next day, the group split up. The inspector, frustrated that almost everything was cooked in Haram lard, grabbed an apple and went to the local library. There, he charmed a librarian who was even older than he was. It turns out that the area was known for pagan magic called hexenwerk. People had been disappearing in the corn maze, and even odder, it resisted mapping. (At one point, JP went up on the Ferris wheel, and tried to draw the thing… And it changed every time he got to the top!)

All the signs pointed to the creepy carnival. When it opened, the ZSS was the first in line, although only the youngest was in costume, dressed as her favorite radio character, SPY SMASHER! Devi, a.k.a. The Smasher, was a consummate con artist, and won over the townsfolk by winning all the rigged games, then giving away the prizes. The inspector and the lawyer worked the crowd, finding out more about the missing people. They’d gone into the maze, and even folks who had escaped seemed to have lost hours of time. With no sign of the owner, the group had to solve the labyrinth.

As resident mystic, Devi closed her eyes and followed the tides of arcane energy. Soon, they found one of Archibald's companions, and a group of wereweasels, easily distracted by tallow candles.

Archie himself was at the center of the maze, kidnapped by the carnival’s owner. Tacito went in first.

“Where are your friends?” Asked the man.
Tacito responded with a left jab and a right hook!

The pent-up boxer/lawyer broke the man's stave and nearly cracked his jaw. But before the rest of the group could cut in, Mercurio the demon arrived in a puff of smoke! The warlock begged for clemency, but spectral hands dragged him to the underworld.
The wereweasels turned back into the townsfolk, and after a bit of gratitude, the gang drove as fast as they could back to New York City… Hoping to catch the Century Club Halloween party!