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<blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 6723839" data-attributes="member: 57112"><p><strong>The Fittest</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Background</strong></p><p>Nuclear war has made the world an irradiated disaster, with only a handful of humans surviving in vast underground bunkers. Resources have dwindled, and the time has come to reclaim the surface for humanity.</p><p></p><p>The surface is a harsh place, but with hard work and great determination our clan have dug out a small bit of that world for ourselves. We’ve repurposed shelters, built water purification systems, and our crowning achievement: clean soil to grow healthy crops. With the background radiation fading little by little each year, it appears humanity might just survive after all.</p><p></p><p>But do we deserve to?</p><p></p><p><strong>Intro</strong></p><p>It started last week. A fast-spreading infection has ruined the most recent crop. The fungus, fatal to ingest, harmful to touch, eats away at anything organic, leaving nothing edible. Our botanists have synthesized a compound to kill it, but it grows back at an alarming rate. The village’s botanists have loaded a small cart with all the compound they’ve created. A group of volunteers must brave the unexplored wasteland, fighting back the creeping rot all the way back to its source, so it will trouble our community no longer. </p><p></p><p><strong>Attack</strong></p><p>Within the first few miles the rot is easy to track and kill. As long as the party is diligent about where they are spraying they can easily fight back the rot. There is, however, a foreboding feeling of being watched.</p><p></p><p>They come in the night, while the party rests. Horrifying mutants of the wastes; their emaciated humanoid bodies covered in dry, cracked skin and irradiated tumors, with sharp claws and teeth. Their target is the cart; they make off with as many canisters of the compound as possible before fleeing. Despite the party’s best efforts there are simply too many of the creatures to prevent them from stealing most, if not all, of the party’s remaining canisters. They fight hard but not to the death, aiming to wound and distract rather than kill, and while tougher than an average human will flee if heavily wounded.</p><p></p><p><strong>Tracking</strong></p><p>The creatures are easy to follow and make no efforts to hide their tracks. If injured and bleeding they leave a trail of black ichor that irritates human skin on contact but is otherwise harmless. The trail leads through old, dead woods, now sparsely populated. Dead stumps appear rotted away and covered in claw marks. The trees themselves have been eaten away by the same creeping rot, though little evidence of the fungus itself remains.</p><p></p><p>At one point the party might find a small, makeshift mound of rocks and dead branches. They cover the corpse of one of the mutants, killed from injuries received while attacking the party earlier. The creature is humanoid, a bit shorter than an average human. They may have even been human, once. Radiation damage has long since mutated it into something else; something grotesque, almost bestial. </p><p></p><p>Later they come across a small area fenced-off area, with what appears to have once been a garden. It has long overgrown the confines of its small, damaged picket fence, filled with wild squash and pumpkins of massive size. The fruit have been partially eaten by the creeping rot, but like before the fungus itself seems to be almost entirely gone. There is plenty enough salvageable portions of the squash to save. It’s not much, but any bit helps. It is slightly radioactive, but barely registers a fraction of a Gray on any of the party’s scanning devices, and should be safe enough for human consumption.</p><p></p><p><strong>Carnival</strong></p><p>The tracks end at the broken down carnival. A dilapidated sign reads “Jackson County Fair.” If approached during the day the grounds will appear abandoned, though recent signs of life are apparent throughout. At night, however, the place is full of mutants wandering about, picking through the ruins. They will appear to socialize with each other in small groups before disbanding. If approached they will scream. Most will flee deeper into the park, though a few will stay behind to cover their retreat, again aiming to wound and frighten off and fleeing when severely injured. The carnival itself represents a pretty significant jump in the background radiation, leaping up to just over a full Gy, not enough to be fatal but definitely dangerous to be exposed to for longer than a few hours.</p><p></p><p><strong>Tunnel of Love</strong></p><p>All signs indicate that the creatures had fled (either the sun or the party) into the Tunnel of Love. Unblinking eyes stare at the party in the darkness as they enter the foyer. A light reveals these belonging to countless rows of half-rotten stuffed animals. An injured mutant cowers in the remnants of the ticket booth. It will try to remain undetected, but if approached it will lash out, fighting to the death.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ultimate Test</strong></p><p>Continuing along the party comes to a pair of ominous looking signs. The first reads “Can your romance survive…” and the second: “The Ultimate Test of Love?” The second sign is written in red paint, as it were blood dripping. A rotten door hangs at the end of the pathway.</p><p></p><p>The Ultimate Test is a dark, narrow hallway of mostly black walls. It is a maze of corridors, twists and turns. The floor is littered in shards of glass, thick enough to pierce most footwear. A keen eye will note that there is a very narrow path that appears deliberately free of the glass; otherwise the maze is hazardous to any but those wearing thick protective boots. A few walls still contain mirrors on them, but the image on each is distorted in some way, making one appear taller and skinnier, or shorter and fatter. To make matters worse, a few mutants will remain ahead of the party; hard to follow but ready to throw rocks and bits of plaster at them. These do little damage but harass and frustrate the party’s progress.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>The Tracks</strong></p><p>After the Test the party comes along a long, underground tunnel filled with ancient tracks. A pair of heart-shaped carts sit at the near end of the tracks. One of them appears to growing small amounts of fungus from the creeping rot on them. The wooden tracks themselves appear to be afflicted from the rot, and are worn down with many, many claw marks. Water drips from overheard; the air heavy, wet and filled with the odor of decay. At the narrowest points of the path mutants will throw themselves at the party, attacking from behind hastily constructed barricades of broken architecture. The roof is partially collapsed in areas, making the going slow and creating numerous choke points for the mutants to wait in defense of their lair. They attack more viciously here than at any time before; there should be no doubt that at this point they are going for the kill, and will no longer flee.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Lair</strong></p><p>At some point down the tunnel the creatures focus their defense in front of a broken door to an old maintenance room. This is their absolute last stand and will not allow any of the party to enter the room while they still draw breath. There is an air of desperation about them. You can see it in their faces. Once slain there is nothing stopping the party from entering the creatures’ lair.</p><p></p><p>Immediately to the right of the entrance is a stockpile of the party’s compound canisters. While a few have broken most remain intact, and there should be plenty left to effectively wipe out any of </p><p>the rot they’ve encountered up to this point. They also hear a whimper in the far back corner. An old dusty curtain appears to be moving slightly.</p><p></p><p>A small group of mutants are huddled under the old curtain. They are much smaller than the others. Children. Some are crying. Some of the older ones are cradling the smallest. One of the larger children bolts to the other side of the room, protecting a table with a few small scraps of rot fungus. There is a discarded pumpkin nearby, swarming with roaches, untouched by the creatures for many days. The children are helpless and will not fight back if attacked.</p><p></p><p>These children are unlikely to survive on their own without aid. By neglecting them and destroying the creeping rot, the party condemns them to a horrible death by starvation. But if the rot is allowed to grow unchecked, the party’s village will be overtaken, and what is left of humanity may too die a slow death. The fate of two species may very well be determined by the choices the party makes in this moment.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gray Area-</strong> The irradiated wasteland</p><p><strong>Blighted Crop-</strong> The creeping rot, the only source of sustenance for the mutants.</p><p><strong>Un-funhouse-</strong> The Ultimate Test</p><p><strong>Narrow Path-</strong> The safest way through the maze.</p><p><strong>Defensive Position-</strong> The mutants are just protecting their home.</p><p><strong>Regret-</strong> Will the party regret their actions? </p><p><strong>Redeemable Evil-</strong> They’ve committed near-genocide. Can they possibly be redeemed?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gradine, post: 6723839, member: 57112"] [b]The Fittest[/b] [B]Background[/B] Nuclear war has made the world an irradiated disaster, with only a handful of humans surviving in vast underground bunkers. Resources have dwindled, and the time has come to reclaim the surface for humanity. The surface is a harsh place, but with hard work and great determination our clan have dug out a small bit of that world for ourselves. We’ve repurposed shelters, built water purification systems, and our crowning achievement: clean soil to grow healthy crops. With the background radiation fading little by little each year, it appears humanity might just survive after all. But do we deserve to? [B]Intro[/B] It started last week. A fast-spreading infection has ruined the most recent crop. The fungus, fatal to ingest, harmful to touch, eats away at anything organic, leaving nothing edible. Our botanists have synthesized a compound to kill it, but it grows back at an alarming rate. The village’s botanists have loaded a small cart with all the compound they’ve created. A group of volunteers must brave the unexplored wasteland, fighting back the creeping rot all the way back to its source, so it will trouble our community no longer. [B]Attack[/B] Within the first few miles the rot is easy to track and kill. As long as the party is diligent about where they are spraying they can easily fight back the rot. There is, however, a foreboding feeling of being watched. They come in the night, while the party rests. Horrifying mutants of the wastes; their emaciated humanoid bodies covered in dry, cracked skin and irradiated tumors, with sharp claws and teeth. Their target is the cart; they make off with as many canisters of the compound as possible before fleeing. Despite the party’s best efforts there are simply too many of the creatures to prevent them from stealing most, if not all, of the party’s remaining canisters. They fight hard but not to the death, aiming to wound and distract rather than kill, and while tougher than an average human will flee if heavily wounded. [B]Tracking[/B] The creatures are easy to follow and make no efforts to hide their tracks. If injured and bleeding they leave a trail of black ichor that irritates human skin on contact but is otherwise harmless. The trail leads through old, dead woods, now sparsely populated. Dead stumps appear rotted away and covered in claw marks. The trees themselves have been eaten away by the same creeping rot, though little evidence of the fungus itself remains. At one point the party might find a small, makeshift mound of rocks and dead branches. They cover the corpse of one of the mutants, killed from injuries received while attacking the party earlier. The creature is humanoid, a bit shorter than an average human. They may have even been human, once. Radiation damage has long since mutated it into something else; something grotesque, almost bestial. Later they come across a small area fenced-off area, with what appears to have once been a garden. It has long overgrown the confines of its small, damaged picket fence, filled with wild squash and pumpkins of massive size. The fruit have been partially eaten by the creeping rot, but like before the fungus itself seems to be almost entirely gone. There is plenty enough salvageable portions of the squash to save. It’s not much, but any bit helps. It is slightly radioactive, but barely registers a fraction of a Gray on any of the party’s scanning devices, and should be safe enough for human consumption. [B]Carnival[/B] The tracks end at the broken down carnival. A dilapidated sign reads “Jackson County Fair.” If approached during the day the grounds will appear abandoned, though recent signs of life are apparent throughout. At night, however, the place is full of mutants wandering about, picking through the ruins. They will appear to socialize with each other in small groups before disbanding. If approached they will scream. Most will flee deeper into the park, though a few will stay behind to cover their retreat, again aiming to wound and frighten off and fleeing when severely injured. The carnival itself represents a pretty significant jump in the background radiation, leaping up to just over a full Gy, not enough to be fatal but definitely dangerous to be exposed to for longer than a few hours. [B]Tunnel of Love[/B] All signs indicate that the creatures had fled (either the sun or the party) into the Tunnel of Love. Unblinking eyes stare at the party in the darkness as they enter the foyer. A light reveals these belonging to countless rows of half-rotten stuffed animals. An injured mutant cowers in the remnants of the ticket booth. It will try to remain undetected, but if approached it will lash out, fighting to the death. [B]Ultimate Test[/B] Continuing along the party comes to a pair of ominous looking signs. The first reads “Can your romance survive…” and the second: “The Ultimate Test of Love?” The second sign is written in red paint, as it were blood dripping. A rotten door hangs at the end of the pathway. The Ultimate Test is a dark, narrow hallway of mostly black walls. It is a maze of corridors, twists and turns. The floor is littered in shards of glass, thick enough to pierce most footwear. A keen eye will note that there is a very narrow path that appears deliberately free of the glass; otherwise the maze is hazardous to any but those wearing thick protective boots. A few walls still contain mirrors on them, but the image on each is distorted in some way, making one appear taller and skinnier, or shorter and fatter. To make matters worse, a few mutants will remain ahead of the party; hard to follow but ready to throw rocks and bits of plaster at them. These do little damage but harass and frustrate the party’s progress. [B]The Tracks[/B] After the Test the party comes along a long, underground tunnel filled with ancient tracks. A pair of heart-shaped carts sit at the near end of the tracks. One of them appears to growing small amounts of fungus from the creeping rot on them. The wooden tracks themselves appear to be afflicted from the rot, and are worn down with many, many claw marks. Water drips from overheard; the air heavy, wet and filled with the odor of decay. At the narrowest points of the path mutants will throw themselves at the party, attacking from behind hastily constructed barricades of broken architecture. The roof is partially collapsed in areas, making the going slow and creating numerous choke points for the mutants to wait in defense of their lair. They attack more viciously here than at any time before; there should be no doubt that at this point they are going for the kill, and will no longer flee. [B]The Lair[/B] At some point down the tunnel the creatures focus their defense in front of a broken door to an old maintenance room. This is their absolute last stand and will not allow any of the party to enter the room while they still draw breath. There is an air of desperation about them. You can see it in their faces. Once slain there is nothing stopping the party from entering the creatures’ lair. Immediately to the right of the entrance is a stockpile of the party’s compound canisters. While a few have broken most remain intact, and there should be plenty left to effectively wipe out any of the rot they’ve encountered up to this point. They also hear a whimper in the far back corner. An old dusty curtain appears to be moving slightly. A small group of mutants are huddled under the old curtain. They are much smaller than the others. Children. Some are crying. Some of the older ones are cradling the smallest. One of the larger children bolts to the other side of the room, protecting a table with a few small scraps of rot fungus. There is a discarded pumpkin nearby, swarming with roaches, untouched by the creatures for many days. The children are helpless and will not fight back if attacked. These children are unlikely to survive on their own without aid. By neglecting them and destroying the creeping rot, the party condemns them to a horrible death by starvation. But if the rot is allowed to grow unchecked, the party’s village will be overtaken, and what is left of humanity may too die a slow death. The fate of two species may very well be determined by the choices the party makes in this moment. [B]Gray Area-[/B] The irradiated wasteland [B]Blighted Crop-[/B] The creeping rot, the only source of sustenance for the mutants. [B]Un-funhouse-[/B] The Ultimate Test [B]Narrow Path-[/B] The safest way through the maze. [B]Defensive Position-[/B] The mutants are just protecting their home. [B]Regret-[/B] Will the party regret their actions? [B]Redeemable Evil-[/B] They’ve committed near-genocide. Can they possibly be redeemed? [/QUOTE]
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