[MCC RPG] "Dead In The Water" 0-Level Funnel Adventure Now Available

Over the years, I've led many post-apocalyptic mutants and freaks across The Rainbow Sea to The Island of Fire aboard Capt. Laird's seaweed-encrusted ship. Now, I hope many, many more make the voyage!

Dead In The Water is an adventure I've written and run for several years at many conventions and home-based games. However, it has never been committed to print for any specific RPG system...until now! With the approval of Goodman Games, Dead In The Water has become the newest adventure available for the Mutant Crawl Classics role-playing game of post-apocalyptic adventure and mayhem.

DEAD IN THE WATER

Mindless, water-logged abominations have been coming ashore, attacking fishing villages along the coast of The Rainbow Sea, then dragging their victims off to a watery doom. Your ragtag party of post-apocalyptic Seekers have been tasked with stopping the invasion. Perhaps the answer can be found on the legendary Island of Fire.

Dead In The Water is compatible with the Mutant Crawl Classics Role-Playing Game. Dead In The Water is a 0-level funnel for 12 to 16 starting characters. (Although it can easily be adjusted for 1st or 2nd level PCs.)

Dead In The Water is now available in PDF and print at Drive Through RPG, in print in Lulu, and it will soon be available at the Goodman Games webstore and at their booth at conventions and such.

I'd like to thank all of you who playtested it over the years and I hope you all had fun. And to those of you who have never ventured into the village of Narleen or faced The Drenched? Climb aboard and set sail for gonzo adventure!

Gamehole Con Day 0: Housefly Transport And Cryptworld 1-on-1

Annnnnd...I'm here in glorious Madison, Wisconsin, for my first Gamehole Con! Those who've read previous posts from The Savage AfterWorld know I'm an old hand at game conventions, but this is the first year I'll be attending GHC. (I missed last year's GHC due to a death in the family. The GHC folks were kind enough to credit my account for next year's event -- which is this one!)

With every game convention I've ever attended, I have filed a daily travelogue so folks who couldn't make it would be able to game vicariously through my thoughts, photos, and amusing anecdotes. As usual with these little travelogues, I'll share what I've seen and done to give you a feel for what's going on each day. The con starts tomorrow, but the adventures have already begun! Here we go:

• The drive out to Wisconsin was appropriately spooky for the Halloween season. When I left Ohio, it was mysteriously foggy out. And to put myself in the mood, Radio Classics on Sirius XM was playing nothing but horror radio shows like Lights Out, The Inner Sanctum, The Hermit's Cave, etc. I really wish I had scheduled a game of Cryptworld for Halloween while there.
• While passing through Indiana, I passed a semi-truck from Beech Bend Amusement Park. This little amusement park in Kentucky was a HUGE part of my childhood. We used to go there all the time when I was around 6 or 7 years old. Here it is, 50 years later, and seeing this truck brought back a TON of nostalgia. Need to try to get back there as an adult.
• My wife has had a really bad "cold" for the last 72 hours, and I've been gargling Clorox bleach to try to keep it at bay. Got a text on the road that it was actually a sinus infection, which isn't contagious. So, bad for her, but YAY, I won't come down with something while I'm at GHC!
• There was a fly buzzing around the interior of my car since leaving Ohio. As I passed into Wisconsin, it landed on the window, so I rolled it down and sucked him out. Sorry Wisconsin for introducing an Ohioan insect into your biosphere.
• I learned that a roadsign that says "WARNING: STANDING WATER AHEAD" can be rephrased "YOU'RE ABOUT TO HIT A LAKE DOING 55 MPH". 
• I had no idea I would be passing within spitting distance of Lake Geneva on my way here. The directions to Gamehole Con could be paraphrased as "Go to Gary Con, then hang a right."
• Had my first salt truck sighting of the season. I'm from Ohio, so these are common -- but not for another couple of weeks. 'Tis the season...
• Stopped by the Center and got all of my pre-gen stuff. Seems like folks are milling about and getting prepped for tomorrow. I also dropped off my new MCC RPG adventure "Dead In The Water", which will be on sale in the Goodman Games booth tomorrow...and elsewhere online! (Announcement coming up in just a couple of hours!)
• Argh, I was planning on running a pick-up Cryptworld game here at my hotel for some folks. But the front desk tells me the open gaming room isn't available until Thursday. Instead, I ahd one person show up, so Christian and I headed up to my room where I ran him through a 1-on-1 adventure versus the horrors in Vinton Hills Metropolitan Hospital in "Condition Critical". I also gifted him with a armload of swag. Hope you enjoyed the game, Christian!
• Tomorrow I have nothing scheduled until the afternoon when I'm running folks through several games of Horrified: the Universal Monsters Boardgame by Ravensburger. Thought this would be a fun low-key way to start my convention (and get in some gaming of my own that day!)

And, as always, here are some photos from today's sojourn and adventures:

Beech Bend Park! Good lord, did this bring back memories!

 View from my room at the Sheraton. Gamehole Con is in the building across the street. Hold on, I'll zoom in...

 There you go. That's clearer, isn't it?

 Swung by the Alliance Energy Center and grabbed my badge and swag, so I'm all set for the games to begin!

 Holy crow. Snow. Here we go.

And my badge, shirt, and schedule lie in wait for tomorrow's events to begin in earnest.

Hittin' The Holiday Road To Gamehole Con!

As this post goes live (6:00 a.m. EST), I'm in the Wagon Queen Family Truckster heading to Wisconsin and Gamehole Con. I've never attended this convention before, so I've packed up the computer and camera for plenty of daily updates and pix. Stay tuned to The Savage AfterWorld for live coverage from sunny (and snowy) Madison, WI!

And, as is tradition in the Sniderman household, all road trips begin with this song blaring from the MP3 player. It's a tradition, and one that you'll now share. As you listen to this, I will too as I hit the Holiday Road to Gamehole Con!

[MCC RPG] Mutant Menagerie: Clotted One

Clotted One: Init -4; Atk unarmed +2 melee (1d4) or +4 melee by weapon type; AC 18; HD 2d10; MV 15’; Act 1d20; SV Fort +5, Ref -3, Will +2.

A Clotted One (insultingly referred to as a "Scab") is a mutated human who appears to be covered from head to toe in a leathery, glistening hide. This "hide" is actually made of the Clotted One's own coagulated blood. Due to this "hypercoagulation" mutation, the creature's thick, syrupy blood hardens into a tough, copper-red crust upon contact with the air. This scab-like skin surface (which never sloughs off) gives the Clotted One its natural armor protection.

Because the Clotted One's blood clots so quickly upon being wounded, the creature's healing metabolism is constantly working, allowing an injured "Scab" to heal 1d8 hit points overnight. (A Clotted One cannot regrow limbs in this manner though.) However, due to the thickness of the creature's blood, its metabolic processes are drastically slowed as its heart works to pump the viscous fluid through its veins. Clotted Ones move very slowly, reflected in an initiative penalty and movement rate. The nerves near and on the surface of their skin have  been deadened over the years, so they are also insensitive to pain and often unaware of when they've been hurt or wounded. (Although any injuries are immediately scabbed over as their healing metabolism takes over.)

A "Scab's" blood can also heal 1d8 hit points of damage if gathered quickly from a fallen Clotted One, rubbed on a PC's wound, and allowed to crust over. However, because the mutant's blood dries so quickly upon contact with air, there's no known way to "harvest" and store the creature's blood for future use.

Not much is known about Clotted One society as they avoid contact with outsiders (who view them as monsters anyway). Those who do venture into a Clotted One village will see that many of their traditions involve bloodletting and a "Church of Hematology." For example, upon birth, a Clotted One's parents will begin slowly scraping at the newborn's skin with thorny branches and sandstone in a ritualistic ceremony. Although this appears cruel and sadistic, it is the fastest way to bestow the protective armoring to the child.