Dangerous Encounter: G_me Of H_ngm_n

When you're ready for your PCs to have a "big city" adventure, have them stumble across the boomtown of "Jym's Town." Jym's Town is named after the town founder and mayor, Big Jym. The town (population of 100+ citizens) is set into the side of a hard-to-access mountainside, which both isolates and protects the town. (Although there is one main road in and out of the city, which allows a constant stream of visitors from surrounding villages and communities.)

The town is made up of six large buildings which act as an inn or two, several competing bars and taverns, and other shops and specialty stores (butcher, smithery, stables, etc.). Many smaller homes and residences are tucked into every nook and cranny of the city. The largest building is found in the center of town, and its sign reads "Jymboree." (It appears that someone repainted  the sign's "G" with a "J.") This building is several stories tall and is always the center of activity of the town. This building acts as the Town Hall, governmental offices, and Big Jym's place of residence. But primarily, it's a casino, which is the town's primary source of income. Everything revolves around Jymboree for, without it, the town would wither and die. Keeping security throughout the town are the "Pleecemen" -- men hand-picked by Big Jym to keep everyone in line. They can be identified by the black leather jackets and helmets they wear. Each is armed with a small club; some also have a Bygone pistol.

Pleecemen (45) (AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 7, HD as CON, #AT 1, DG 1d6 or weapon type, SV L1, ML NA, Mutations: none)

As the PCs explore Jym's Town, they should be made to feel welcome by the townspeople. (Almost overly so.) Storeowners offer them deep discounts on merchandise; inns offer free meals; drinks are often on the house at the taverns. Everyone has direct orders from Big Jym to make all visitors to the town feel welcome. He doesn't want strangers to leave before they've parted with every coin they might have. To anger a visitor to Jym's Town is a crime punishable by...well, we'll get to that.

At some point, the PCs will be invited to meet with Big Jym himself. Big Jym is a huge mountain of a man, who should be played up as a benevolent leader who found himself thrust into the role.  Big Jym acts as a friendly mayor doing what he can "for the good of the community." He may offer the PCs a few "errands" to tackle for him, in fact. (Use one or two of the other Dangerous Encounters from this blog.) The truth is that Big Jym runs the town with an iron fist. (The townspeople are afraid to cross Jym as those who do end up missing. Leaving is out of the question due to the distance to any place else as well as the constant patrols by the Pleece.)

The big secret is that Big Jym runs a very secretive -- and dangerous -- game in the upper floors of the casino. Known only to the highest of big-time gamblers (and fearfully whispered about amongst the town's citizens) is the Game of Hangman. Once a month, Big Jym holds this special event with six unwilling participants. (Jym's favorite "players" are visitors to the casino who overextended their credit, townsfolk who angered him, and snoops who discover The Game and threaten it.) These six players are strung up in a makeshift gallows. Those invited to gamble make bets on who the survivor will be. A six-sided dice is tossed, and the chair is kicked out from under the corresponding player. New bets are taken, and a new number is rolled. This gruesome game continues until only one player is the "winner." (Although the winner is taken into the other room where he is caged to wait for next month's game.) The Game is Big Jym's biggest money-making venture and he has no intention of ending it. And -- even if they realized the true nature of The Game -- the townsfolk fear him and his Pleecemen too much to do anything about it.

The Game of Hangman may come into play several ways:

• A PC who wins well in Big Jym's casino may be invited to bet on The Game being held that night.
• A PC who loses badly in the casino may be captured and taken away to become one of the "players."
• An NPC the PCs have befriended may disappear, leading them to discover their upcoming participation in The Game.
• An NPC could ask for the PCs' help in finding their spouse/father/son who went missing in Jymboree.

Once The Game is discovered, Big Jym will stop at nothing to silence the troublemakers. Although he relies on his Pleecemen to do his dirty work, Big Jym is a formidable fighter as well. He also has the mutation of  energy-retaining cell structure, which he uses to deliver 3d6 of hit points in hand-to-hand combat.

Big Jym (Mutant Human) (AL C, MV 120' (40'), AC 5, HD 16, #AT 1, DG 1d6 or weapon type, SV L6, ML NA, Mutations: energy-retaining cell structure)

The PCs may never discover the Game, although they may get a feeling of unease from Big Jym's jovial (but threatening) ways, the ever-watching Pleecemen, and the way-too-helpful nature of the townsfolk. If Big Jym and his small army is ever disposed of or run out of the city, Jym's Town will be in need of a new leader. It would then be up to the PCs to fill that void or put a new leader in place -- which could lead to a new adventure!

Mutants & Machine-Guns: A Pocket-Sized, Post-Apocalyptic RPG

Taking advantage of my offer for free RPG editing services, Rob Sondoh, Jr., of Experimental Playground asked me to give his new RPG a quick once-over. The post-apocalyptic RPG, Mutants & Machine-Guns, is the first role-playing game created and released by Experimental Playground. The game is a micro-RPG, as the entire game fits in 8 pages. A pocketmod is available, making this the most portable End of the World game I've seen. Very simple, stream-lined mechanics, and just enough details to get you going. Did I mention it's a free download? And it's available in Spanish, French, and English. Sniderman says, "Check it out!"

I've Never Doubted My Race, Class, And Alignment

When I play D&D, I'm always (ALWAYS) the true neutral human cleric. It's my preferred class. It's my preferred alignment. It's my preferred race. So I took the What D&D Character Am I? quiz. And after 129 personality questions, guess what fantasy RPG role I'd be saddled with given my general attitudes and morals?

I Am A: True Neutral Human Bard/Cleric (3rd/3rd Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-11
Dexterity-14
Constitution-13
Intelligence-15
Wisdom-13
Charisma-15

Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment when it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Primary Class:
Bards often serve as negotiators, messengers, scouts, and spies. They love to accompany heroes (and villains) to witness heroic (or villainous) deeds firsthand, since a bard who can tell a story from personal experience earns renown among his fellows. A bard casts arcane spells without any advance preparation, much like a sorcerer. Bards also share some specialized skills with rogues, and their knowledge of item lore is nearly unmatched. A high Charisma score allows a bard to cast high-level spells.

Secondary Class:
Clerics act as intermediaries between the earthly and the divine (or infernal) worlds. A good cleric helps those in need, while an evil cleric seeks to spread his patron's vision of evil across the world. All clerics can heal wounds and bring people back from the brink of death, and powerful clerics can even raise the dead. Likewise, all clerics have authority over undead creatures, and they can turn away or even destroy these creatures. Clerics are trained in the use of simple weapons, and can use all forms of armor and shields without penalty, since armor does not interfere with the casting of divine spells. In addition to his normal complement of spells, every cleric chooses to focus on two of his deity's domains. These domains grants the cleric special powers, and give him access to spells that he might otherwise never learn. A cleric's Wisdom score should be high, since this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

(and now, back to the post-apocalyptic stuff...)

A Post-Apocalyptic Plethora Of Products And Playthings!

Although I listed some of these in the recently compiled Master List of Mutant Future Products,  I'd neglected to post a true "announcement" of sorts about the availability of several post-apocalyptic RPG supplements, as well as an interesting comic you may be interested in. 

The Meat Lover's Guide To The Post Apocalypse:  Released by Fishwife Games, this supplement answers the questions, "So just how much meat can you harvest from a slain spider-goat anyway? What's the nutritional value?" The Meat Lover's Guide gives the players and the GM of a post-apocalyptic RPG setting a general set of rules for harvesting meat from slain animals and monstrous creatures. This book takes real world information, concepts, and methods of hunting and meat preparation and places it squarely in the Blasted Lands. Now, when your PCs announce they'll harvest the meat from that atomicow, you'll know how much they can get, and whether it will even sustain them while they travel. The Meat Lover's Guide is $3.00. Fishwife Games also has a host of other post-apocalyptic RPG materials for sale at RPG Now.

Ware of the Brain Lashers: Thaumiel Nerub at Cradle of Rabies has created a sequel of sorts to "Mine of the Brain Lashers", the introductory adventure found in the Mutant Future rulebook! When the PCs step through the open dimensional portal in the Mine, where do they wind up? The answers are found in the Ware of the Brain Lashers! The adventure is a free download available at Thaumiel's blog.


Falloutifying Mutant Future: Thaumiel has also been working on converting the gameplay, tropes, and system from the game "Fallout" over to the Mutant Future universe. If you'd like to try your hand at something a bit more gritty, then try surviving in the ruins of Washington DC in the world of Fallout 3. He has two posts at Cradle of Rabies discussing the conversions here and here.

American Barbarian: Holy hell, how have I not encountered this before? Thanks to a blog post over at Vargold: The Wolf-Time, I have now discovered Tom Scioli's online comic book American Barbarian. Take one part Kamandi, one part Mighty Samson, one part Thundarr the Barbarian, and an art style reminiscent of Jack Kirby and you have this amazing comic. American Barbarian pits its Kirbyeseque hero, the red-white-and-blue-haired warrior Rick Yoosamon, against the villainous giant Two-Tank Omen in a post-apocalyptic U.S. All seven volumes of the comic are posted on Scioli's website, and you can even purchase a hardbound dead tree version. I'll be grabbing this as soon as I have the funds to do so. Great read!