Carcosa Inspired Campaign World

[planetalgol]

planetalgol.blogspot.com

This campaign's roots lie partially in Geoffrey's old posts on the Necromancer Games Forum, and was highly influenced by what he's said and I've read about Carcosa, although I haven't read it until last night. And I loved it.

[greyharp]

And I'm loving the blog, thanks. ;D

[planetalgol]

Thank you!

Carcosa related material coming soon, with Geoffrey's blessing!

[crusssdaddy]

For my money (figuratively), you've got the best campaign blog on the interwebs! Every party needs a couple stim-addicts. Keep it coming.

[planetalgol]

Thanks crussdaddy! Unfortunately Maggot Mort's DNA was damaged by his repeated intoxicant abuse, and when an attempt was made to revive his corpse with "life rays" it instead decayed into primal black filth (failed system shock roll).

The current speculation in the party is that Dickie Dee will clean up his act now that he lost his "drug buddy," although one player has a character concept involving a sixties "LSD Professor" so things may get interesting if Timothy-Leary-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off join's party...

[crusssdaddy]

If Dickie Dee has an ounce of respect for the dearly departed, he would redouble his drug-taking to honor the memory of Maggie Mort.

What are your drug rules?

[planetalgol]

Well, he is putting himself in danger with his bad habits. The unsavory characters he deals with, the perils of being vulnerable while intoxicated, the health risks (especially when abusing highly reactive radioactive intoxicants).

Howver, one of the players has an Earth Man character concept involving a "groovy LSD professer," so things may get interesting ...

I use the AD&D 1st ed. DMG intoxication rules (stimulants have a 5% chance of inducing a fatal heart attack!), common sense and the works of William S. Burroughs for drug rules.

By the way, I recently posted a guide to the iridium plateau hexmap with 141 detailed hexes, Wilderlands & Carcosa style, pleae check it out here: docs.google.com/View?id=df6nwzfx_11cbdh2sf9 and let me know what you think.

[EdOWar]

I've also enjoyed reading the Planet Algol campaign journal. It's really put me in the mood for a sword and planet science fantasy style game. Great stuff.

Just curious, and sorry if I missed this in your campaign notes, but how do you handle advanced firearms and ray guns versus primitive forms of armor? Do they just ignore primitive AC, or do you give a to-hit bonus to advanced weapons, thus effectively negating primitive armor?

Another question, on the hexmap guide (which is very cool, imo), if the party enters such a hex do they automatically encounter whatever is there, or only if they roll an encounter? Or do you just play it by ear?

Sorry for all the questions. I look forward to reading more in the future.

[crusssdaddy]

By the way, I recently posted a guide to the iridium plateau hexmap with 141 detailed hexes, Wilderlands & Carcosa style, pleae check it out here: docs.google.com/View?id=df6nwzfx_11cbdh2sf9 and let me know what you think.

Love it, but you need to change the post rules so us non-blogger folk can comment. Regarding your 'Earthman' characters, what about Abraham Lincoln? Not killed by John Wilkes Booth, simply had his consciousness detached and transported through time & space to Planet Algol. You need some stovepipe hats in your campaign.

[planetalgol]

EdOWar: I use a system, derived by the armor class modifiers for lasers in Gamma World and Sixguns & Sorcery in the DMG, basically the effect of armor is "halved" by an armor type modifier,
which roughly works out to the below:
AC 10
AC 9 +1
AC 8 +1
AC 7 +2
AC 6 +2
AC 5 +3
AC 4 +3
AC 3 +4
AC 2 +4

Crussdaddy: The blog comment rules are changed, hopefully someone will let me know about new options for enlarging my pen...whoops! Abraham Lincoln would be awesome, one time he was challenged to a duel and the weapons he chose were....Sledgehammers! The challenger failed to show up for the duel...

[crusssdaddy]

Crussdaddy: The blog comment rules are changed, hopefully someone will let me know about new options for enlarging my pen...whoops! Abraham Lincoln would be awesome, one time he was challenged to a duel and the weapons he chose were....Sledgehammers! The challenger failed to show up for the duel...

That's funny, because I picture Honest Abe paired up with Slash from Guns n' Roses - they're dressed up like Thulsa Doom's two badass henchmen, exept they both have their stovepipe hats on. Abe could be the one with the big hammer!

[EdOWar]

Oct 22, 2009 17:21:20 GMT -6 planetalgol said:

EdOWar: I use a system, derived by the armor class modifiers for lasers in Gamma World and Sixguns & Sorcery in the DMG, basically the effect of armor is "halved" by an armor type modifier,
which roughly works out to the below:
AC 10
AC 9 +1
AC 8 +1
AC 7 +2
AC 6 +2
AC 5 +3
AC 4 +3
AC 3 +4
AC 2 +4

Thank you. I'll dig out my old DMG and take a look. Almost forgot there were rules in there about converting the other TSR game systems.

[tavis]

We need more fighting Abe Lincoln. There was a pinball game/video game hybrid called Invaders from Mars into which I put many a quarter as a grad student, and one of the most awesome things that would happen is that the Lincoln Memorial would stand up, reveal itself to be a giant Abe robot, and start punching out an equally giant alien.

Adding Slash to the mix is pure genius - we need more giant robot Guns n' Roses.

[planetalgol]

Oct 21, 2009 20:53:02 GMT -6 EdOWar said:

Another question, on the hexmap guide (which is very cool, imo), if the party enters such a hex do they automatically encounter whatever is there, or only if they roll an encounter? Or do you just play it by ear?

Sorry for all the questions. I look forward to reading more in the future.

No worries about the questions, bring them on as they help me further think about an develop the setting.

Hexmap encounters are situational, depending on the hex description and the conditions, the referee should play it by ear using common sense. A giant monster in a open hex would be pretty much an automatic encounter, a hidden tomb would have to be searched for or a random encounter (say 5%-25% of all random encounter in that hex would be the hidden tomb)

[EdOWar]

I just read your blog about how you handle firearms. That's a nice, elegant way to handle them. I especially like the idea of just having a saving throw against certain types of weapons, like death rays and lightning guns...even more elegant.

[Deleted]

Hi there!

I too, am a reader and follower of your blog. It is very inspiring and has a lot of interesting material. Keep up the good work.

spielmeister