Riverboat Gambler: Hex Travel and Ship Travel

When Diogo saw the column of ashes upheld the wind he thought the land was being scourged. The land was always being scourged. It was scourged by the undead and it was scourged by the hogs. The barge of giants scourged it when they passed by and the Threshers chased after them with literal scourges in hand. 

The column of ashes came out of a boat that came around the bend. By that point he was already hiding in the reeds. Discharging his musket would sound the alarm, if nobody else had already seen the smoke. It would also let them know where he was hiding. So he waited to see what happened.

The boat was propelled by a pair of huge discs that rotated to churn the water. The discs spun by themselves. Diego imagined that inside the boat was a very strong and very fast monster who ran in a wheel. The boat drifted toward the riverbank and stopped close enough to let down a gangway onto the solid part of the bank. Down the plank came the first member of the shore party. She wore a buffcoat and a belt with a small disc shaped shield and a knife that looked like a short sword on her hip. Over this she wore an apron with an image of a goblet clasped in a merciless fist. She carried a metal urn that steamed. A human followed her. He wore his apron over mail and carried another urn in one hand and a folding table in the other. He deployed the table and on the table the urns. The half-woman returned with cups of lightweight metal.

The Clerics had taught Diogo to read. He could make out THE LAST ROUND on the side of the boat but he was too far to read the embossed characters on the sides of the urns.

 

The smell hit him and he almost fainted. His first instinct was to spring from cover, no longer afraid, and beg for a cup. The Goddess was good and brought fourth things to nourish man. Nothing that smelled so good could be poison. The ones who brought it could not be evil. 

 

  

 

TRAVEL 

This document supersedes encounter rates etc from earlier documents. 

 

PHASES

The day is broken up into 12 phases.
2 Dawn phases, 2 in 6 chance of a Twilight Encounter per phase.
4 Day phases, 1 in 6 chance of a Daylight Encounter per phase, or just roll 1 in 6 for the whole day if the players hide.
2 Dusk phases, 2 in 6 chance of a Twilight Encounter per phase.
4 Night phases, guaranteed encounter each phase,

By the River: 2 in 6 encounters by day, 2 in 6 by twilight, 1 in 6 by night (except on shore without a boat where it's guaranteed as on land).

Use OSE encounter distance rules. If the players aren't moving they might not be spotted even if there's an encounter.

MOVEMENT SPEED

LAND: One hex per phase, two if mounted and galloping.
UPRIVER: One hex per phase upriver, two if bluelining the ship
DOWNRIVER: Two hexes per phase downriver, three if bluelining the ship
OTHER MEANS OF TRAVEL: Case by case basis

Bluelining the reactor has a chance of shutdown, can push through that to chance of meltdown.
If you meltdown the reactor the Cherenkov Slime escapes and you have to fire the engine by burning wood.

LINE OF SIGHT
You can normally see the hexes adjacent to your own
You can see small rock between five and fifteen hexes away

Outdoorsman characters get additional clues about what's around them.

 

Rifle Infantry

 

THE LAST ROUND

HP: 320
Capacity: 72+24 Sacks
Speed: Slow (4 knots), can go Fast (8 knots) by bluelining the reactor.
Dimensions: 150’ long, 20’ abeam.

The Last Round is powered by a Cherenkov Slime captured in the Library of Lanthorn by Roddy Applecreek. Inundating the monster with water produces steam which drives a turbine. The turbine powers two paddlewheels, one on each side of the vessel. The wheels can be rotated independently or in opposite directions, allowing the vessel to turn in place.

The Last Round is armed with a single cannon (5D6) on a rotating platform (powered by the reactor) and two swivel guns (3D6) each with an 180 degree arc.

In addition to the cabin, head, cabbage deck, steam winch and speaking tubes, the Last Round also boasts an Iron Cup outlet store. The store sells coffee, tea, chocolate, tobacco and other luxuries. It's unlikely to break even but serves as an ambassador for the brand in a market the company has struggled to break into.

CREW

The Last Round is crewed by nineteen Halfling guerillas from the border region on the edge of the old Giant Kingdoms, along with a single human adopted into their enterprise. They have elected the sharp eyed Encanta Leadcutter as their Captain. The chief Gods worshiped by the Halflings are Moonshades (father of their race), Natural Justice (Halfing version of Fever River) and Old Man River (personification of all rivers). 

 

FINANCING

1/3 of all earned treasure will be paid as shares to the crew, who in exchange will man the vessel through fire and riot, raid and war, as well as preventing it from being stolen while the adventurers go ashore. This subtraction occurs before XP is calculated. 

 

The adventurers aboard the Iron Cup owe 100,000 silver pieces in combined principal and debt service payments. Such payments can be made after XP is calculated and do not subtract from experience earned.