Episode 16: Dinosaurs of the Haunted Swamp

[Mushgnome]

Episode 16: Dinosaurs of the Haunted Swamp
AKA My Little Dino: Carcosa is Magic!!!

Now recruiting!!! Ever want to play Carcosa, but can't commit to a campaign? How about a one-shot with dinosaurs, explosions, and lots and lots of dice! If you'd like to participate in a fun one-shot adventure in the Carcosa universe using Chainmail rules, post here to sign up (or PM me for more info).

To my long-term players: Please post here once to indicate your participation. Keep all your "equipping my henchmen" chit-chat in the other thread, thanks.

The Scene
A dinosaur paddock in Fall River. A group of adventurers has gathered to mount up and ride into the Haunted Swamp!

The Hook
Our heroes have been hired by Miskatonic University to protect a group of three non-combatant stonemasons: Buck, Lance and Rod Quarry, green men of Arkham. In a remote area of the swamp, there is a huge stone head of great archaeological significance. The players are to escort the Quarry Brothers to the dig site and successfully extract the head back to the ship for transport to Arkham.

The Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs are a brand new technology in the Lovecraft Country region of Carcosa. A private company breeds them on a mysterious island. The breeding program is hampered by genetic mutations that become more pronounced with each generation; 2nd-generation offspring are horribly mutated, and 3rd-generation offspring have all been stillborn. The 1st generation is still growing, so the maximum size of these creatures is not yet known.

I have created 7 dinosaurs using a set of random tables published by Gary Gygax in The Dragon: odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=7241&page=1

When you adopt a dinosaur, you may continue to customize/detail it by giving it a nickname, roll on the color-pattern/hands&feet/fingers&toes/arms/legs tables, or giving it other distinguishing features as you wish.

They are all brontosauruses unless otherwise indicated:

A. Big Mama 9HD, 3 medium horse, crew of 12. Carries a war howdah that acts as mobile command HQ and a force field generator (5" radius). She has green, bald skin; a very thick neck; long, pointed head with a huge mouth; a long whip-like tail; and a normal body.
B. Big Daddy 9HD, 3 medium horse, crew of 6. Carries a radio beam turret (as tank, range 10 miles, 4 dice damage, 15 charges). He is tan and warty with a bullet-shaped head, short neck, normal body, and huge mouth.
C. Little Brother 8HD, 2+2 heavy horse, crew of 3. A melee brute, fully clad in steel barding. He is green and warty with a long pointed head, wattled neck, hunched body, and no nose.
D. Junior 7HD, 2+1 heavy horse, crew of 3. The mutant child of Mama and Daddy. Beneath his barding, his transparent flesh bears the Bone-Curse. He is covered with invisible cilia (like a koosh ball), has a normal head, short neck, no nose, and is barrel-chested.
E. Princess 4HD, 1+1 medium horse, crew of 2. Armed with a glitter bazooka (save vs. wands or 1d hours insanity). The mutant child of Mama and Daddy. Her body is covered in fungoid growths that, 1d times per day, can emit a cloud of healing spores restoring 1HD to adjacent allies. She is pink, semi-gelatinous, has a normal head, short neck, and is a slow healer.
F. Spuds A pug-bull velociraptor. 2HD, 1 light horse, crew of 1. Moves 15" and has poisonous claws (for best results he makes a leaping attack and injects the venom into the neck/throat region). He is white and wrinkled with a bullet head, normal neck, round body, and huge mouth.
G. Croc A rainbow-feathered crocodilian pteranodon. 1HD, 1 light horse, can carry 1 unarmored rider under 6" tall. He has a flattened oval head, long neck, small body, large mouth. He can shed 1d tail feathers per day; their eye pattern functions as a "spy camera" transmitting images to the rider. Croc can fly stealth using the rider's stealth skill. He spends his spare time hopping between the brontosauruses' mouthes, cleaning them of seeds, stones, and pips.

All of the dinosaurs are equipped with 1 howdah gun per crew member. This is a double-barreled, large-caliber pistol originally designed (in real life) to protect elephant riders against lions and tigers: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howdah_pistol

[kipper]

Breath of New Moon, the BoneWoman Sorceress, is a member of the expedition.

[ehiker133]

The Shade of the Evermore is in.

[Mushgnome]

Welcome to the dinosaur paddock Breath of New Moon and Shade of Evermore! PCs will have first selection of dinosaur mounts. Then we will divide the remaining positions among the NPCs. The Brontosauruses typically have a crew of at least 3: a head pilot or "mahout," a rear pilot to guide the tail-sweep attack, and a gunnery to protect the flanks with the howdah pistols. The larger dinos have larger howdahs that can accommodate gunners and non-combatants (the Quarry Bros). The weak and wounded will probably stay close to the Mama because of her force-field generator, which can power-up for the duration of 1 combat per day.

Here is a rough map of the area generated using axiscity.hexamon.net/users/isomage/wildgen/
The cartography will be very familiar to anyone who ever played B/X D&D, with one very important substitution (for the purposes of this adventure): the "grassland" hexes are actually marsh/swamp (i.e. prime brontosaurus territory), and the "swamp" hexes are "haunted swamp." We will fill in the details as we go along.



Armored brontosauri can move 6 hexes per day; half-speed through water and rocky terrain.
Unarmored brontosauri can move 9 hexes per day; half-speed through water and rocky terrain.
The velociraptor can move 15 hexes per day; half-speed through swamp and water.
The flier can move 15 hexes per day over any terrain.

[ehiker133]

I hate to admit it, but... the Princess seems to be the most appropriate choice for Shade and his minion (crew of 2).

Plus, the insanity bazooka sounds really cool.

[Mushgnome]

I was asked about the armored dinosaurs crossing the water. The usual procedure is to build temporary outrigger pontoons from the local vegetation, remove the metal barding, and the dino-convoy floats the gear & passengers across on wood/bamboo rafts. Brontosaurs have a powerful doggie-paddle. They enjoy swimming because it takes the wear and tear of carrying such bulk off their joints; in fact some of their ancestors took to the water full-time and evolved into the Carcosan whales of today.

ehiker: the Princess is fragile (least HD of the brontosaurs) but her group healing ability can turn the tide of battle. Think of her as filling the role of the party cleric. Stay close to the safety of the protective force field! The glitter bazooka is a game-changing area-effect weapon, but only vs. sentient targets. (Robots, undead, Old Ones, etc. are immune.)

Don't worry, there will be plenty of opportunities to dismount and explore quarries/caves/ruins/dungeons on foot, too.

[crusssdaddy]

Fated is in. I'll take Spuds if no one else has.

[Mushgnome]

I may have gone overboard my enthusiasm for sauropods, and so:

Each player may, if they wish, swap one of the pregen dinos for:
A) a 2HD velociraptor or other dinosaur of your choice (fights as 1 light horse) with a random weapon, defense, mutation, or psionic power
B) a random mutant dino (your choice dinosaur type, 1 crazy die's Hit Dice, roll on the random appearance tables)
or
C) A weird steed such as an Mastodon, racing snail, taun-taun, giant scorpion, giant dragonfly (on generous loan to the Dinosaur Paddock by the Providence Zoological Society)

Your only restriction is that the party needs minimum total [6d] 18 hit dice of surviving dinosaurs to complete the mission of quarrying and transporting the big stone head. This is easily accomplished with the current configuration, more difficult if you substitute for the brontosaurs.

While you are finalizing that, you might want to start discussing the first day's hike and where to camp the first night. The area you'll be hiking through on your first day is well-traveled and known to be relatively safe in the daytime. After the first sunset, all bets are off. Looking at the map I see several terrain types within a day's march to choose for potential campsites: marsh, forest, sand, or dunes... Then there is the decision whether to split the party and send a scouting party ahead...

[ehiker133]

I'll go with #2.

How do you roll for the random dino type?

[Mushgnome]

May 30, 2012 21:22:35 GMT -6 ehiker133 said:

I'll go with #2.

How do you roll for the random dino type?

FIRST you tell me which of the party dinos you're swapping and removing from play (please not dinos claimed by other players and "NOT THE MAMA!")

I roll 1 crazy die... a d10! 9hd dinosaur!

You choose: dinosaur type (brontosaurus, t-rex, stegosaurus, etc.)

I roll a few dice to make things fun: (1d4: weapon, defense, mutation, psionic... 3... mutations!)
Your 9hd dino is nocturnal (-1 to saves and fights as 1 class lower in daylight) but can see in the dark (you choose mechanism such as: echo-location, infrared, sixth-sense, etc.) and 1/day can exude poison mist toxic to lung-breathers (Shade and the Deep One are conveniently immune).

I roll a few crazy traits to get you started:

its body is NORMAL, it has a sum grand total of 20 FINGERS AND TOES, and it has ROUND CAVEDWELLER EYES

and you fill in the blanks from this table or your own imagination:

odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=7241&page=1

Other details (such as crew and armament) to be discussed pending your dinosaur selection.

[ehiker133]

It looks like Kipper is claiming Spuds.

Cruss posted something about wanting Spuds, but it was several hours after Kipper, so Kipper should get it.

But I think it's only fair to hold off on listing any NPC placements until all of the PCs have chimed in. I'm sure Migellito is in, as well. I'll try to e-mail him and see where he is.

That said, I'm going to pull Croc and replace him with a 9HD Gigantosaurus.

I'll come up with names and such tomorrow... going to bed now.

[crusssdaddy]

Fated will take a v'raptor instead.

[Mushgnome]

May 31, 2012 0:34:13 GMT -6 ehiker133 said:

That said, I'm going to pull Croc and replace him with a 9HD Gigantosaurus.

That's like a big T-Rex, right? Awesome!

Is the rest of the party OK with leaving the only flyer behind? (If so, you can use your pick to roll a random flyosaurus; maybe you will get lucky and roll a 12hd pteranodon!

May 31, 2012 1:17:04 GMT -6 crusssdaddy said:

Fated will take a v'raptor instead.

Good choice! Which of the pre-gen dinos will you leave behind? Fated's raptor is psionic and its powers-of-the-day are: 3dd mental blast 1/day; telepathy 1/day and at-will with rider. The rest is up to you...

ps will Fated's men be traveling on foot or riding one of the brontosaurs?

[Mushgnome]

I should mention that the expedition society has provided standard equipment:

per crew member: howdah pistol, ammo belt, satchel with electric torch, mini camp gear kit, insect repellent, and MRE (meal ready to eat)
per brontosaurus: misc. tools and quarrying supplies, 1 cask whale oil, various other useful items to be determined in the course of play (one per episode, each player can ask me "is there rope?" and I will say "of course there's rope, silly!" or ask me "are there walkie-talkies?" and I'll roll a chance-in-6 equal to your level, using up your "handy piece of gear" check for that episode.)

The dinos carry an emergency supply of concentrated trail feed, consumption of which makes them gassy and irritable. Creating opportunities for herbivores to graze and carnivores to taste blood will be good for the health and morale of your dinosaur steeds.

[ehiker133]

May 31, 2012 7:54:00 GMT -6 Mushgnome said:

May 31, 2012 0:34:13 GMT -6 ehiker133 said:

That said, I'm going to pull Croc and replace him with a 9HD Gigantosaurus.

That's like a big T-Rex, right? Awesome!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giganotosaurus

Yep. Just slightly bigger, though. Mostly, I wanted to avoid the T-Rex for obvious reasons (as in, it is the obvious choice).

If others would rather keep the Croc, then that's fine with me; I just grabbed one of the few dinos that hadn't been claimed for a PC or NPC. I think a velociraptor scout (with the same speed) is almost just as viable (except for the obvious safety factors of flying high above everything... giant dragonflies aside) as a flier.

[Mushgnome]

As DM, I don't mind if the party forgoes aerial travel (it can be tricky to DM sometimes).

One possible suggestion to consider: maybe ditch the barded brontos (6" move) and opt for a more mobile lineup of dinosaurs?

[ehiker133]

Yeah, losing that 3 hex/day of travel time will drastically change our ETA, given the distance.

[Mushgnome]

On the other hand, if you forgo the barded dinosaurs, you will never get a chance to hear the satisfying *crunch* of a steel-clad brontosaurus head-butting Cthulhu in the shin...

Your call, I'm just the referee.

[kipper]

Colour me very confused at this point, I think we need an updated dino list?

Big Mama (9HD): Not subject to replacement, but not claimed by a PC yet
Big Daddy (9HD): Gunnery
Spuds (2HD): Breath (although I'm not against switching, perhaps to Big Mama or Princess, depending on other PC choices)
Psionic Velociraptor (2HD): Fated
Giganotosaurus (9HD): Shade
? ? ?: Minion (we have not heard from Minion for a few days)

So after Minion chooses, that leaves one more dino to add, either an existing dino or a newly generated one, for a total of 7 dinos.

**We need a min 18HD to transport the head. We have 3x 9HD so far (Big Mama, Big Daddy, and Giganotosaurus) so we should be OK on that count.

Other dinos (not yet chosen)
Little Brother (barded)
Junior (barded)
Princess **I think we definitely need Princess along with us**
Croc

Is this correct?

[kipper]

May 30, 2012 20:56:48 GMT -6 Mushgnome said:

You might want to start discussing the first day's hike and where to camp the first night. The area you'll be hiking through on your first day is well-traveled and known to be relatively safe in the daytime. After the first sunset, all bets are off. Looking at the map I see several terrain types within a day's march to choose for potential campsites: marsh, forest, sand, or dunes... Then there is the decision whether to split the party and send a scouting party ahead...

Where are we landing on the map? Or that partially what we need to decide?

[Mushgnome]

kipper your list appears to be correct. On the one hand, it would be nice to swap a couple of the redundant brontos for scout/skirmish raptors. On the other hand, the awesomeness of barding in Chainmail cannot be overstated; heavy horse are pure engines of melee destruction, approximately twice as deadly as medium horse.

If we don't hear from migellito soon, I think it's safe to assume he will be on board the mothership with his sub-minions gathered secretively around him, deep in study of the [red]Accursed Tome[/red].

[Mushgnome]

May 31, 2012 12:09:34 GMT -6 kipper said:

Where are we landing on the map? Or that partially what we need to decide?

Your journey begins with a refreshing swim from Fall River Dinosaur Paddock to the mainland.

[kipper]

May 31, 2012 12:22:37 GMT -6 Mushgnome said:

May 31, 2012 12:09:34 GMT -6 kipper said:

Where are we landing on the map? Or that partially what we need to decide?

Your journey begins with a refreshing swim from Fall River Dinosaur Paddock to the mainland.

Thanks, got it now ! I think we'll need to finalise our dino selection first, it may vary a lot depending on our movement rate (6" if we take any barded dinos vs 9" if we have none)

[Mushgnome]

You may also keep the dino but leave the barding at home.

For some reason, whenever I think of dinosaurs, I think of the scene in Jurassic Park where the T-Rex is chasing the jeep and the rear-view mirror says "objects in the mirror are closer than they appear."

[kipper]

OK then, assuming Minion takes Big Mama, we have the following lineup confirmed

Big Mama (9HD): Minion
Big Daddy (9HD): Gunnery
Giganotosaurus, unnnamed (9HD): Shade
Spuds (2HD): Breath
Psionic veliciraptor, unnamed (2HD): Fated

So we have two large brontos, two scouts, and one large melee beast (Gigantosaurus).

As I stated above, so long as at least two of the brontos and giganoto survive, we will be able to quarry/transport the head.

Any suggestions as to what we should bring for the final two dinos? Barded melee dinos? More scouts (maybe a flying scout)? Princess with her healing ability? (I could switch Breath to Princess if we think one scout is good enough, ie Fated). Something else? I think the reduced speed from Barded dinos will only be an impediment for the trip over, on the way back we'll be slowed down by the head in any case???... Plus they would be big enough to pull the head if we loose more of our big dinos than anticipated... If we have many barded dinos anyway, we could bard up the giganotosaurus as well??

[kipper]

I think at the moment I'm leaning towards switching Breath to Princess (then we'd only have one scout), and adding two barded melee beasts (little brother and junior). But I'm not set on it or anything.

[ehiker133]

Definitely bring the princess.

Would be fine with the heavy barded dinos or something a little lighter and more mobile.

[Mushgnome]

Gigantosaurus looks like a two-seater for Shade and the Deep One:



(why is the dude in that photo smiling and waving hello? he should be screaming and running like hell...)

9hd, fights as 3 medium horse, 9" movement, 1 devastating bite attack per round for 3dd slicing damage.

[Mushgnome]

May 31, 2012 12:46:33 GMT -6 kipper said:

I think at the moment I'm leaning towards switching Breath to Princess (then we'd only have one scout), and adding two barded melee beasts (little brother and junior). But I'm not set on it or anything.

Breath of New Moon rides into battle on her pink fungoid brontosaurus steed--I like the mental image. Are you prepared to play the role of party "cleric" and dispense healing as needed?

[Mushgnome]

Please complete your shopping and load-out over the weekend and prepare for Monday departure. WotE has requested that I NPC Gunnery while he's finishing Delving Deeper, and I'm confident Migellito will return soon and be OK with whatever final dinosaur line-up we all select.