Unicorn Meat - First Impressions

I took Throne of Salt off my "blogs I read" tab a while back because I found I was no longer reading most of the posts. I noticed the other day though that the guy finally wrapped Unicorn Meat, a scenario that he's been posting about for a while now. This isn't a full review because I haven't actually played the module. But he specifically says in the release post that people should post what they think of it after reading.

The art in this post is from the book, drawn by Rowan A

 

PREMISE

Unicorn Meat is a module about a factory farm that butchers unicorns for meat and magical spare parts. Since unicorns are driven into a berserk rage by the energy emanating from sexually mature humans, but docile and friendly toward children, the company running the farm enslaved a large population of orphaned, kidnapped and purchased girls, who did the grunt work of hunting down and killing the beasts. 

Fast forward to the present day, and the adults who ran the place have all wandered into the haunted forest surrounding the property and been eaten by mysterious chthonic entities capable of projecting themselves into the dreams of mature humans. The surviving semiferal slave children are trapped on the farm by magical implants that prevent them from escaping, left with nothing but the dwindling supplies left behind by the company and a haunted swamp filled with unicorns for sustenance. You play as these kids.

Dune 2d20: Session 5 - THIS IS KANLY

A few days had elapsed since House Viracocha's operatives returned from their Trip to Gamont. House Runasimi decided that, rather than pretend expertise in matters they had no knowledge of, they themselves would pursue a defensive strategy, and outsource offensive operations against House Orlok to House Viracocha. While the bulk of the mercenary forces would be stationed in the University City of Huanchaco with House Runasimi's leadership, House Viracocha would be given forces and assets sufficient for the prosecution of the war off-planet.

The Agents of House Viracocha were promoted in accordance with their skillsets

• Huascar was promoted to Warmaster
• Dr Ichuri was promoted to House Physician
• Sister Victoria was promoted to Spymaster
• Tost was promoted to Envoy

The newly promoted House Viracocha Councilors stepped into the Chamber of Understanding in Crannog Viracocha, the House's lakeside estate. Mentat Joe, Figaro and Rug were doing sapho shots and arguing viciously about something irrelevant to the Councillors. They paused their discussion to explain the situation.

Dune 2d20 - Watcher and Free Shooter Chargen Options

The two armies procured by the agents of House Viracocha have a handful of unique talents that supporting characters can take in place of (or in addition to) traits from the trait list in the corebook.

Players may purchase these traits for their main characters using advancement points, receiving training from teachers in the corresponding military force.

WATCHERS

The Watchers are a mercenary company specialized in observation. If they have a chance to watch their target and assess their weakness, they can methodically dismantle them in battle. If caught off guard, they struggle in direct combat.

The typical Watcher trait is either Watcher or mercenary.

The new talents available to Watchers are:

• Amtal Rule: You are an adroit assessor of weakness. Any time you attempt to force a trait onto a target, you may reroll a single die.
• Limited Prediction: In conflict, as a free action, you may spend two momentum to learn what an NPC (or group of NPCs in cases such as warfare where multiple people are treated as a single asset or entity) will do next. The NPC(s) must attempt the predicted action when their turn comes up, unless changing circumstances  render it physically impossible.

FREE SHOOTERS

The Free Shooters are former slaves from Gamont, granted their freedom by House Viracocha and enlisted by their parent House Runasimi as spies and assassins. Their lack of skill in personal combat is counterbalanced by their superb tradecraft and their unshakeable faith in the existence of another universe in which they will be reborn after their inevitable gory death.

Free Shooter traits are either the generic "freed slave" or a specific former job function like gladiator, prostitute, tour guide, chef, etc.

Les Francs-tireurs by Auguste Louis Lepère

New Talents available to Free Shooters are:

• Berserker: In conflict, you can add one additional die to your pool on a roll, in exchange for reducing the difficulty of attacking you by two until your next action. This bonus die does not increase the cost of dice purchased with momentum.
• Deep Cover: You can play any role, no matter how unpleasant. When disguised or undercover, and your cover is blown, you may choose to take a complication to maintain your cover. You cannot do this again until you remove the complication or change disguises.

Dune 2D20: Session 4 - Trip to Gamont

Huascar Quilago hung from the remains of the recently nuked suspensor platform by his krimskel fiber rope. Dr Ichuri hung from Huascar's legs. Alan Nomad dangled from Dr Ichuri. Below them: 100 feet, then the ocean. The Doctor grabbed the rope and climbed up over Huascar onto the suspensor. He used the rope's self tightening action to gradually haul Huascar and Nomad up onto the floating ball.

 

100 feet below, Sister Victoria woke up on a beach. A small child covered in the same identifying tattoos and scars as the other slaves was prying the rings off her fingers. She chased the kid away and stood up. There were a few dead bodies washed up on the beach. She did a quick inventory of her cells and found no evidence of radiation sickness from the blast, indicating a "clean" fusion reaction. The child had retreated inland, into a wild forest.

 

Victoria went into the woods, hoping to find someone who could help her. She found crashed pieces of the suspensor platform, and drag marks where bodies had been removed from the scene, leading deeper into the forest. By climbing a tree and suspending her breathing, she avoided a skirmish line of armed slaves, moving through the forest looking for survivors. They didn't look friendly.

Tost Viracocha sat in a clearing in the forest, along with Ser Rhineland Rashomon and a handful of mercenaries from the convention. They had been captured by the rebels, who were standing around with various weapons, out of reach of Tost. It was clearly a hostage situation, the surviving nobility who had washed ashore after the blast were acting as human shields for the surviving maula. It would only be a matter of time before forces from House Thoss (or their parent House) showed up to reassert control of the situation, and things got bloody.

 

Dune 2D20: Session 3 - Trip to Gamont

When we last left off, the Agents of House Viracocha had arrived on Gamont, and attended the first day of the mercenary trade show. They had identified a free company, the Watchers, as a likely candidate for the procurement they'd been assigned to oversee: recruiting a mercenary army to help their parent house, House Runasimi, defend itself from House Orlok in a War of Assassins.

The second day of the Trip to Gamont dawned, and the Agents of House Viracocha found that nobody had attacked them in their sleep. Lydia stayed behind to make sure Mentat Joe didn't choke on his own vomit from his drug bender, while the rest of the group caught a shuttle back up to the trade show. They recalled Mentat Joe's incomplete warning that, while their deal with the Watchers would be successful, something else bad was going to happen.

They shared the shuttle up to the flying convention platform with some familiar faces and some new ones. They recognized the delegation from House Rashomon, the leader wearing a pair of heavy sunglasses to combat photosensitivity from his hangover. There was also a new guy, which they recognized by the flashes on the collar of his Hawaiian shirt as the colors of House Rust, a House Minor from Giedi Prime with a controlling interest in the Eyeflash Miracles, one of the mercenary outfits at the expo.