Randomly Generated Downtime

So the order had just finished a major job, leaving crushed enemies and smoking wreckage across 3 or so countries in their wake. Magnus is fully engaged with research with House Cannith working to examine the two ancient schema pieces they've examined so far. This will take quite a while and it'll lead to the longest downtime for the Order so far (and with Magnus occupied possibly the quietest).

So other than a few minor personal projects (Nolan hunting through Sharn for great restaurants and exotic recipes and Jack trying to convince Magnus to help construct an Alchemy golem using a Manual they found in the Whitehearth facility) the Order had little plans for the glut of time they were left with and considering the last time they had time to kill they ended up causing labor riots...I needed to find something for them!

So after flipping through the eberron Player's guide I found an option which allows characters to purchase "shares" in an expedition to Xendrik and other exotic locales. In exchange for an initial investment they may roll on a table for a random reward (potentially ending up losing cash on the deal). So with a few modifications I create an alternative system. Instead of purchasing shares in an expedition these would be "mini-adventures" which each character can engage in initially (with the "purchase cost" representing the price of supplies, transportation and information). In addition to the standard table (which is for the most part identical to the one in the player's guide) I included a "risky venture" option requiring a greater investment but with the possibility of greater rewards. I'll include both tables at the end of the post. Each "roll" on the table took about a month of time.

So pretty much everyone in the Order (except Magnus who is otherwise busy) decides to invest in their individual sidequests:

Jack Struck gold, going for the "risky" adventure every time and always managing to make a profit in the form of cash, valuable spell components and ancient artifacts. In fact, after 4 or so months Jack has made enough profit to completely fund the creation of "Nurse" his alchemical golem (modified to medium size rather than large and disguised with a heavy robe to resemble a silent warforged).

Glorin had a tendency to collect cursed antiquities or trudging through diseased swamps. Fortunately his excellent saving throws hold him in good stead and he manages to avoid any serious issues. However he makes little profit until he finally gets a big break. A ship he is sailing on is commandeered by several Brelish soldiers and non-other than King Boranel's brother. They're pursuing a rogue sorcerer and when they finally catch up the sorcerer manages to disable the his pursuers but Glorin manages to overcome his spells and slay him. For saving the king's brother he's rewarded with a hefty cash reward and an honorary membership to the Redcloaks (including his own fancy cloak).

Nolan has mixed luck. He unfortunately has several "bad maps" and at one incident where a noble he was working for was killed by a bullette. Overall he broke even.

Everyone else had almost universally terrible luck. In fact all together the team had so many "bad map" results that we had to make it a plot point...a scummy goblin merchant who set up shop in the Adventurer's district and starting selling faked (or "used") treasure maps. The Order decides that they should pay him a visit and ensure that they get a refund...and that he takes up a new occupation. They show up to find him packing his bags in the company of two heavily armed bugbear bodyguards. After attempting to squirm his way out of a refund he sics the bugbears on the team but an intimidate roll from Glorin and Nolan makes them hesitate...then Nolan asks just how much they're being paid. After offering them twice as much to take a break they're left alone with the merchant...when the true terror strikes.

A high-pitched, reedy voice from outside announces the arrival of Jin Tamlin, bandit extraordinare! and his faithful sidekick, Gimble! Both the Order and the goblin merchant begin panicking.

You see they've run into Jin before and while he was deadly the true danger lies in just how freaking annoying the little bastard was. Jin is a halfling fighter/Master Thrower with a speciality in darts. In fact due to an obscene amount of weapon focus, feats and throwing tricks the little monster was practically a machine-gun...able to toss over a dozen total darts in a single round and accurate enough to penetrate even Glorin and Nolan's defenses. This is combined with the support of Gimble...his gnomish sidekick and "announcer"...a Bard with the perform (bragging) skill to help enhance Jin (usually while hiding behind illusions and invisibility himself). Together they create a perfect storm of deadliness and annoyance.

This time Jin shows up on a flying carpet outside the window while Gimble shouts from the bridge outside, egging him on. The room is soon full of broken glass and flying darts. The Order takes some minor wounds as they dive for cover near the doorway. After a bit of discussion they decide to charge outside. Unfortunately they find Jin hovering overhead and Gimble has multiplied himself with a mirror image. The following battle can be expressed best through Gimble's annoying, high-pitched and repetitive dialogue:

"Come on then you fools! You stand under the eye of Jin Tamlin...master extraordinare!"

"Ho-ho! Tremble with fear and wet your knickers! Look upon the darts of Jin ye fatty and despair!"

*brandishing an apparently empty hand* "Foolish...idiots! Now you shall feel the sting of my invisible blade!"

Unfortunately for Jin, Tayin had a clever idea and whipped out a wand of dispel magic (formerly belonging to peski) and managed with a lucky roll to dispel his flying carpet. The carpet plummets somewhere into the depths of Lower Sharn (probably making an excellent piece find for some poor schlub). Jin is saved by his ring of feather falling and a grappling hook.

Now, before I relate this next part I should mention that as the night goes on it becomes easier and easier to persuade me to do very, very silly things. You see one of Gimble's pieces of equipment is a Bag of Tricks and he got lucky one turn and rolled "rhino". Unfortunately his rhino was no match for Glorin and was in the process of being quickly dispatched. Now...Peski's player had just finished his newest character a (a Shifter barbarian named Pax) and was itching to be introduced into play. His impatience was quickly overcoming any desire for a "reasonable" introduction. So things got...weird.

The rhino began to bulge oddly in the middle and then, in a shower of gore that nearly made the druid faint it burst apart revealing a huge barbarian wielding a greatsword. Pax screams "GIMBLE!" and charges at the gnomish bard.

What follows is blood and screaming and more furry animals being thrown about (this time without barbarians inside). The fight ends with Jin Tamlin dead (eliciting a spontaneous cheer from all nearby buildings...Jin had a reputation) but Gimble escaped, swearing revenge. The goblin merchant gladly hands over a refund, and then some, to the brave men and women who had slain Jin.

Pax introduces himself to the Order and (lacking any knowledge of how he got to Sharn and anywhere to stay) he hangs out with them for a little while...eventually proving his worth and becoming a full team member. We never clearly decided on just how he got inside a magically summoned rhino but I think it involved an accident with a wand of wonder, some sovereign glue and a plate of spaghetti.

That just about covers the Order's downtime. When we return the plot will get back on track. Like I promised here's a copy of the tables I used for random solo-sidequests:

Each venture takes a month’s time and requires an investment of 1000 gp (simple) or 2,000 gp (risky). Each venture earns the player a roll.

1d100 (simple)

1-15: 1,200 gp and a dakhanni antiquity (worth 500 gp) but the idol is cursed and spending it requires a DC 17 will save (bestow curse CL 7) or begin transforming into a goblin until the idol is returned.

16-30: Bad weather and hostile valenar elves force you to return early. 400 gp and one dakhanni antiquity

31-36: You uncover a lost goblin temple but most of your spoils end up stolen. 600 gp, contracts a disease or a spellblight

37: Your lightning rail collides with something on the track, you survive and are given 2 complementary round trip tickets to any destination of your choice.

38-39: Hired to protect a noble on safari, who gets eaten by a bullette. 400 gp but can bring it to 1000 if they sell the story to the Korranberg chronicle.

40-55: 1,100 gp plus 2d10 dragoneye acorns.

56-78: 1,400 gp plus 2d6 pearls (12d12 gp value).

79-80: No clue. You have no memory of the expedition and are found wandering dazedly from the wilderness but your pockets are full of gold. 1,800 gp and a giant antiquity.

81-90: 2,200 gp.

91-95: 2,300 gp and an orcish friendship necklace (+2 to cha rolls with gatekeeper orcs).

96-98: 2,700 gp and you may call in a favor from the Kech Volar for a week’s service from an honor guard (3 4^th level hobgoblin fighters, 2 2^nd level bugbear barbarians).

99-100: 1,500 gp and a minor wondrous item.

1d100 (risky)

1-15: 2,500 gp and a ceremonial moderate magical weapon. The ghosts of it’s past wielders will seek and attempt to slay you (spawns 1d4 wraiths which try and kill you).

16-30: Bad treasure map. Nothing of worth.

31-36: The ancient ruin has already been looted. One goblin artifact.

37: Lost in the swamp, you contract 1d3 diseases.

38-39: No treasure but you become romantically involved with a noblewoman after foiling assassins sent after her. She breaks your heart after a few weeks and leaves you with 1,500 gp. You’re hounded by journalists (can earn 3,000 gold through interviews) but giving in will cause 4 assassins to be sent after you (5^th level gnome rogues).

40-55: 2,500 gp plus 2d8 Irian crystals

56-78: 3,000 gp plus 2d6 syberis dragonshards but there is a curse or spellblight that attaches.

79-80: 4,000 gp plus Potion of non-detection and an oil of greater magic weapon (+5).

81-90: 3,500 gp and you can memorize an artifact spell or gets a giant artifact.

91-95: 5,000 gp and a favor from a dragonmarked house (a one-shot use of the favored in house feat)

96-98: 6,000 gp and a title/knighthood/etc.

99-100: 3,000 gp and a moderate wondrous item.

My group, drawn.

NJ has always planned on doing some drawings of our RPG group. Unfortunately she never got around to doing the party for our deadlands game and for the longest time it seemed like the same would happen with the Order of Magnitude. However, she's recently found some time to produce drawings of a few of the players so far. You can click for a full size version. 

Nolan

Glorin

Magnus and his homunculus "little M"

The  rest of the Order is still a work-in-progress (some recent character deaths and switch-outs have led to some changes in the party line-up). The Deadlands characters probably won't be seen at this point but she did do a quick drawing of her own character, Max:

Podcast of Magnitude: part 1

So here's part of the recording from the game last Sunday. I'm splitting the audio into chunks to help speed things up. This is the first part of the game where we wait for everyone to show up and then battle a giant rust monster in the jungles of Xendrik. By the way if you want to skip straight to the gameplay that starts about 20 minutes in. 

I've made some effort to bleep the dialogue but it's always possible some profanity slipped through so be warned if that's something you find offensive. I also apologize for the fan noise in the background. In future I'll try and make sure we don't have that in the same room as we are. 

Here we go!

Preview pictures

Here's some very quick illustrations I drew of highlights from the Order's last game. The recording of that game came out very well and I'm in the process of editing the tape now. It'll shine more light on the pictures but for now you can consider them previews of what is to come. 

The first is their fight with the world's largest rust monster, the second is magnus riding a hill giant. You can click both for the full sized version.

Doodles

Some quick, simple doodles of the Order. Should I ever feel the urge to illustrate any of their adventures I'll probably use this style of art.

Order of Magnitude Sound!

In preparation for plans to record playtesting for PDQ-Fu I've done some experimental recording with the Order. Although the cheap microphone I purchased for this turned out to be amazingly bad at picking up anything I did find that the tiny, built-in microphone for my mp3 player is actually fairly impressive. 

So, just to share here's a snippet (ran out of memory storage on the player) of our last game session. You'll get to see what I have to put up with. Just a word of warning there's some swearing. This is my first attempt at any audio editing so hopefully I'll learn bit by bit how to make higher quality recordings for the future.

Click here for the madness

Order of Magnitude V: The final chapter

So this should be the final entry. The entire campaign lasted a bit over a year and a half but unfortunately a lot of the exact details were lost due to my faulty memory. However this part is still fairly fresh.

After fleeing the ruins of Shan Fan (and cursing the fact that their plans to steal the Denarians airship came to nothing) the posse heads south along the edge of the Maze, tracking a rumor that one of the coins was lost somewhere in this area. Unfortunately at this point Nicodemus and co. are in hot pursuit. Normally the posse would probably have stood their ground and fought. However, they've found through several tussles with Nicodemus that he's fairly unkillable, seemingly completely invulnerable to even the most lethal headshots or Max's hexes (those who have read the dresden files know why). With this in mind they decide to high tail it away from the Denarians ASAP.

However, the airship is closing in fast and they're running out of supplies in the california deserts. It's at about this time that they run into a band of native americans. They manage to make peaceful contact and with some decent Persuasion rolls from Jethro they are invited back to the tribe's village. It's about this time that the Denarians appear on the horizon. It looks like a horrific battle in the making but then the Indian shaman who leads the village stops it cold. He calls lightning to turn the airship into torch and when Nicodemus and crew arrive on foot he banishes them from the tribe's lands. It's clear to everyone at this point that they have stumbled upon Plot.

So, spending some time to talk to the indians they learn some important things. First that this tribe does possess the coin they're looking for. It's kept at the bottom of a deep well in the center of the village along with several other nasty artifacts of evil. The shaman is bound by a duty to the spirits to guard any sources of wickedness and evil here, never permitting them to leave. In exchange the spirits grant him gobs of power while he remains in the tribe's territory and the rest of the tribe defends him from physical dangers. What's more he's able to fill them in on some information such as the source of Nicodemus's invulnerability (an artifact called the noose of judas he wears around his neck) and where he's headed next (Death Valley). Since he wasn't able to collect the coin here he'll likely just kill one of his own denarian crew and take their coin to complete the set he needs to forge the Crown of Tears (Plot Device...of EVIL!) and gain the combined powers of the 18 denarians he'd forge into the crown. That's not the only bad news though, which brings us to Max...

order of magnitude IV: Big Trouble In Shan Fan

So after quite a few sessions of the players running around gunning down my carefully constructed villains I start playing hardball by letting the Denarians off the reigns. They use the standard Deadlands demons as a base and adding on a few extra powers each plus many additional minions. Unfortunately things are a bit fuzzy in this area so I can't provide exact details but essentially the players make their way into the main plot. At this point several of the silver coins are in safe-keeping in the hands of the church, several are in the hands of the campaign's Big Bad and his minions. However, several are unaccounted for and the players learn the Big Bad is working to get his hands on as many as possible with the intent to forge it into a Mcguffin of Doom, essentially merging the spirits of the fallen angels in the coins into a single, uber-powered critter o' darkness.

Lasciel, Max's personal succubus, doesn't want any part of this merging so she's tentatively helping the crew (even as she works to claim max's soul for herself) and with some info from the church the posse learns that at least two of the currently unclaimed coins are far to the west, at least one is in Shan Fan. So, heading to the coast the crew have a few run ins with Guardian Angels and a few restless ghosts but not much of note.

Upon arrival in Shan Fan the PCs learn of intense in-fighting and intrigue among the gangs that rule the city, all partially under the control of a single deadly individual: The Dragon Emperor. The PCs spend some time planning, scheming and keeping an eye out for clues. However all this careful planning goes completely out the window when the Tumbler gets stolen. This leads to a wild vengeance-fueled shooting spree across Shan Fan in a quest for their steam wagon. This is cut short when they stop for drinks and they scarf down some poisoned dumplings from a double agent. They wake up, strapped to wooden wheelchairs inside a huge metal room. It's at this point it becomes clear that I'm now stealing from Big Trouble In Little China.

Shortly after they wake up an incredibly pumped-up martial artist shows up to dump them in an open pit in the center of the chamber, a huge well of twisted, tortured ghosts. After an intense fight (considering they're all completely disarmed) they toss the martial artist down the well and head off (neglecting to seal the chamber behind them. something that will become a significant issue later). They charge around through the underground facility they find themselves in, beating up martial artists and the occasional mutant and finding their equipment again. That's when they stumble their way to the silver coin and it's current host. A horribly tortured and blind man impaled on several shoots of bamboo and tied hand and foot with the coin resting against his forehead. The Dragon Emperor (wise enough not to allow the fallen angel to use him as a host) had been using the coin as a source of advice and information. The players pop a bullet in the host and take the coin but it's at this point that all the ghosts finally make their way out of the well the player's left open: pouring up through the ground and walls in vast numbers. Having no chance against this many enemies the players run for it, finally making it to the surface (they're on the island of Ghost Tears) and rushing to grab a rickety boat tied up at a makeshift harbor.

Trying to sail the boat proves hopeless as absolutely none of the PCs invested in either Boating or Swimming. They quickly are dashed against the rocks of the maze and all seems lost but they're caught in the net of a friendly Chinese fisherman who speaks not a word of english. Exhausted they fall asleep belowdecks. They wake up shortly afterwards and find the boat is moored and seems to not only be empty but much, much older and more withered than it was before (ooooooh....spooooky) and a cryptic fortune cookie left behind. They don't have time to consider this since there's the sound of explosions outside. They find themselves back in Shan Fan which is currently being shelled by the Big Bad's blimp while the Dragon Emperor's forces fight back with rockets and battle kites (think the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic).

The players are desperate to get out of town but they're still equally desperate to find the Tumbler. They rush back into town and search desperately for their wagon. Fortunately they manage to find it among the armory of the Dragon Emperor. They make some effort to rescue people as demons begin to fly down from the Big Bad's airship and slaughter the people of Shan Fan. Unfortunately this turns sour when one of their rescued refugees turns out to a Denarian in disguise who attempts to carve up the players and take their coins. They manage to drive it off and escape from the burning city, heading towards where they believe the next coin to be and approaching the campaign's climax.

Fun With Science!! (a list of Miss Hart's inventions through Mad Science and her Mcgyver Edge)

*Galvanic Umbrella (bolt)

*The Gunny-Gun (Blast)

*Reanimator Serum (Zombie)

*Healing Elixir (Heal...looks almost identical to the reanimator serum)

*Explosive Squirrel (blast with trappings to make it function as a mobile, remote detonating mine)

*Anti-Gravity Hoop Skirt (flight)

*Turbo Chargers (Speed, modified to work for the Tumbler)

*The Iron Maiden (a custom-designed Legendary Power, essentially a power suit combining several powers (armor, boost trait, Bolt) into one device, at the cost of being difficult to maintain and activate)

Order of Magnitude III: The Birth of the Tumbler

click to enlarge

This is the papercraft miniature I use for the party's vehicle, the Tumbler. Yes that is the skull of a T-rex mounted on the front. How did they get that you might ask? Well, by blowing up an undead fossil of course!

Rewinding things a bit to tell you about how the party got a hold of the Tumbler. 

Essentially the players come across a decent sized town out west being plagued by a crew of ghosts: sheet-white phantasms atop pale horses in tattered confederate uniforms. They seem to completely ignore bullets but their guns will kill a man as dead as anything. Two of the town's three banks had already been completely cleared out by these bizarre ghostly robbers. The truth was that these men were simply minions of a mad scientist who had set up shop in a nearby abandoned fort. The scientist cooks up a special brew that makes his minions nearly bulletproof but has the side-effect of chalky white skin. Taking advantage of it the "ghosts" frighten the townspeople and make off with their gold.

Well, my PCs aren't about to let an obvious plot-hook like "Undead Bank Robbers" pass them by so they wait around the bank on the night they're expecting more larcenous spirits and when they show up they open fire with everything they've got. The average cowpoke's six-shooter or shotgun doesn't have much chance of penetrating the super-science protection these ghosts have but the mixture was not nearly up to the player's enhanced firepower, Max's Hexes and Miss Hart's Galvanic Umbrella. So, in a few short round a few of the "ghosts" are dead for real and the rest are running off. Following their trail the PCs find the fort but decide to wait a bit to ensure they're in tip-top condition.

*Biscuit Interlude*

This event is a little fuzzy in my memory, so it may or may not have happened during this adventure but Killian's player would kill me if I didn't share what he considers to be a crowning moment of his character. Killian's the closest character to the classic gunslinger (profession as a lawyer aside) in the party and so I took an opportunity to try out the "High Noon" dueling rules in Deadlands. A cocky young gunslinger challenges Killian to a duel (I believe he was a trifle upset over some relative getting a well-deserved lead injection) while he's at breakfast. Killian's player makes sure to let me know that he pockets a couple of biscuits before heading out to center of town.

One thing to keep in mind is that part of the idea behind the Deadlands dueling rules is that players first make a taunt/intimidate roll in order to try and force his opponent to draw first, which actually gives them a bonus. The idea being that not only do you shake their morale but you also make sure that it's clear that you weren't the one to draw your weapon first, making it self-defense. So, when it comes time to "taunt" his opponent Killian says nothing but whips his hand towards his gun belt...and draws a biscuit. A few rolls, and some card draws back up his strategy. So, Killian whips out a biscuit, causing his opponent to draw his gun and hesitate, then killian pulls out his and shoots the fella between the eyes...then finishes his biscuit.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled story. So, since the posse is hanging around town the fleeing "ghosts" get back to their boss and tell him all about what happened. Deciding that he really wants that cash in the last bank the mad scientist gears himself and his remaining men up, loads them into their steam powered wagon and heads to town. Armed with gatling weapons and ghost-rock-super-science this crew charges into the bank while the posse is in the hotel across the street. The posse head out and reach the bank just as the bad guys bust in and yell "We are robbing this bank!" They charge in right behind and respond "And we are UNrobbing this bank!"

A firefight ensues that leaves all the bad guys on the floor. The rest of the session mostly consists of Miss Hart gluing herself to the steam-wagon, tinkering madly.

News!

Today I completed the very rough draft of an rpg rule-book I've been working on for quite a while now. It's a martial arts sourcebook for the PDQ system, currently only titled PDQ-Fu. Essentially it'll provide a set of rules for games focused on the martial arts genre for "power levels" ranging from essentially realistic all the way up to ridiculous cosmic-scale face-punching. While I work on editing the text and working on the final layout I'll be playtesting the game over the course of a few months with my local group. I'm hoping to record these sessions and make them available online to give folks a good idea of how the system looks in actual play. 

Nearly wiped out that same group by accident today, sprung a random encounter on them that went south fast (an attack by a cluster of Lightning Elementals). A series of bad rolls left one party member hanging upside down over the side of the airship, held up only be a rope that was looped around their foot with a measly five hit points left. This was the merciful option. Fortunately the encounter was cut short before a Total Party Kill occurred without relying too heavily on DM fiat.

The Order of Magnitude II: Things start to get silly

So, on the last Order of Magnitude post I introduced you to my motley crew. You may have noticed that it's a pretty big group by most RPG standards. This is mostly because it's almost impossible for me to turn anyone away from a game. However, the sheer number of players combined with several very effective combat builds means that I have a heck of a time challenging these people without simply wiping them out. Eventually I hit on the proper balance of brutality and restraint to keep things interesting but for a while I settled mostly for hurting the player's hearts and minds directly by engaging in very silly plots. 

The first was started around Halloween and although it was technically tied into the main plot it certainly wandered pretty far afield. At this time the players had managed to learn a bit about the Denarians, evil fallen angels possessing humans, and their seemingly invincible leader, Nicodemus. They're heading west to try and learn more about the master plan that seems to be set in motion. However, middle of the road they are swept up by a tornado, carried for miles and deposited in Kansas (I know, not one of my greatest story hooks). The process leaves them unharmed but smashes the Tumbler (their steam wagon) which forces them to stick around while Miss Hart makes repairs. 

Shortly after their landing the players run across a blocky, bald man named Charles in a cornfield and his dog being attacked by a large group of animated evil scarecrows. Easily dispatching them the posse learns that there's evil afoot in town (predictably) and after a bit of digging they even find evidence that Nicodemus visited this place a few years back in disguise as a priest and spent several years at the local church before faking his death. They decide to visit the place, poke around and make a few disturbing discoveries behind a secret doorway. 

Heading back to their hotel they tuck in for the night and Max hares while everyone else is sleeping in another ill-advised attempt to complete the ritual with Lasciel for more evil power. However, he's interrupted when he sees a man, carrying something in a small blue blanket. Max recognizes him as Linus, a mentally handicapped man who they learned had been cared for by Nicodemus while he was in town. Linus heads up to a large tree by the hotel and buries several objects from his blanket in the ground and then hurries off. Max decides to check this out and digs up the shallow hole. 

In the hole he discovers several large black seeds with sharp-edged shells. After cutting himself accidentally the seeds burrow into the ground and the tree suddenly animates into a nightmarish horror that proceeds to try and eat the boy. Fortunately his allies respond quickly and after a furious battle they manage to put it down. 

(Do you get it yet?)

So, clearly this Linus fellow is up to something so the players track him down to his farm. They fight a few more animated scarecrows and evil, crawling squash. They discover some very bizarre botany experiments being done at Linus's farm involving huge vegetables and satanism. In addition there's a diagram of a giant pumpkin patch a few miles away grown in the shape of a pentagram. The posse heads on over, guns at the ready, and spend some time dealing with more evil vegetables and a barricade of scarecrows created by tying human corpses to posts. These aren't animated but do produce an aura of terror that makes it difficult to pass. Fortunately the posse has serious guts and manage to make it through. 

(How about now?)

So, they finally make it to the pumpkin patch as night falls where they see Linus performing a ritual with a pumpkin the size of a house. They try and snipe him before he can finish but he leaps forward and merges with the shell of the pumpkin. The pumpkin rips free of the ground and attacks with several huge vines and spawns several lesser-pumpkin beasts. The battle is suitably epic and ends with the extremely unwise use of several pounds of high explosives carried by Jethro. 

By the way, if you haven't figured it out by now then you might want to stop reading before you lose all respect for me. For some reason I was inspired to write a Peanuts-based horror adventure. So yes, I did in fact send my Deadlands players to fight both the Kite-Eating Tree and the Great Pumpkin. No, I don't really know why.

*Orphaned Scene*

 This is a scene that the players never actually stumbled upon themselves. That sort of thing happens sometimes but I'm including it here on the off chance someone might find it interesting. This was one of the deeper chambers hidden in the church that the players (wisely) decided to leave alone.

Behind a large iron door there is the sound of quiet movement and possibly a voice. The door is locked and quite tough but if it is broken or picked the players can find a large chamber that appears half science lab and half torture chamber.  The room is quite large and the player's lights only illuminate about half of the chamber. A set of heavy iron bars divide the room and the portion behind the bars is in darkness. From this area the sounds of quiet sobbing can be heard. If the PCs approach or call out then they'll hear a whispering female voice asking them to leave, begging them not to wake the others. Should the PCs approach closer their lights will reveal a huge form consisting of several human bodies apparently sewn together to form a single, horrible undead monster. The light will wake it and without it's master to restrain it the monster is more than powerful enough to rip the iron bars from the ground and attack the players. 

In the original Deadlands this was a creature called a 'Glom (a big one, 10 corpses) but in other games it could be some completely original horror.