Unknown Armies Location: Mummy Roads

Beginning with Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798, and heightening throughout the 19th century as European powers displaced the Ottomans as Egypt’s colonial overlords, European (and American) interest in Egyptian mummies created a vibrant tomb plundering industry among the fellahin, who were more than happy to sell the stupid things to gullible foreigners as quickly as they could exhume them.

While some of the preserved corpses were purchased for legitimate scientific and archaeological purposes, large numbers were acquired by private parties as trophies and decoration, and more still were ground up and recycled into fertilizer for their high nitrogen and potassium content. Still more were consumed in a more obscure and vaguely occult capacity as paint pigments or medicine.

And a few were used to pave roads.

Dune 2d20 Masterpost

I've been running Modiphius' Dune 2d20 system on and off for the last few months. The adventures of House Viracocha and the War of Assassins with House Orlok.

By Stepan Alekseev

My feedback on the game system is that if you want to run a Dune RPG, it's worth using Dune 2d20 rather than hacking another system. Any further praise would have to be counterbalanced with a listing of the game's flaws, both in the rules themselves and the explanation given in the corebook. I might do a full F&F writeup of the game, or a shorter review on this blog if I don't feel like putting myself through the full meatgrinder.

Dune 2D20 - Peripheral Houses

HOUSE AT TAM

House Major

Homeworld: Niushe

NPCs Known: Beg MacAdder at Tam (hit on Tost Viracocha once)

House at Tam hails from the "purple world" of Niushe, whose retinal based ecosystem gives the planet's plant life its distinctive coloration. They have a reputation as honest brutes, fond of violence and self indulgence, yet utterly pious in their devotion to the Horned Mother. They keep trade and communication with the rest of the universe to a bare minimum, out of fear that other Houses and various secret organizations will subvert their culture through the media and send spies into their homes undetected. They keep large parts of their world at a medieval level of technological sophistication. They hate House Orlok for stealing away their beloved priests of House Nuntius after defeating House at Tam in a War of Assassins.

Dune 2d20: Music Post

Music from the Dune 2d20 game. Some tracks were originally slated for one location and used for another. Not all tracks were used.

By Guchi

 

Dune 2d20: Session 7 - THIS IS KANLY

Klamm Orlok, bastard son of Marquis James Orlok, and Kleft, defacto commander of the Sulfur Dragoons,  held Lydia Amaru, Agent of House Viracocha, at gunpoint in Klamm's apartment on the Acid Spit, the Sulfur Dragoons' spar of the aerostat Dhal on House Orlok's home planet Rulag.

 

Lydia convinced them that she was actually Cappy Viracocha, daughter of Earl Alejandro Viracocha and valuable hostage. She didn't have a signet ring to back up any of her outlandish offers in exchange for freedom, so the pair had her confined to the state room next to Klamm's apartment while they decided what to do with her. They hadn't alerted the rest of House Orlok yet, which was good.

Mockingbird the Face Dancer disguised themself as Klamm and told the guards to bring Lydia out. They almost made it off the Spit, but were interrupted by the return of Kleft. Mockingbird changed faces into a random trooper before Kleft spotted them. Disguised Mockingbird told Kleft that Klamm had ordered the prisoner removed. Kleft assumed it was a coup, and ordered the other Sulfur Dragoons to kill disguised Mockingbird. Mockingbird ran out through the pentashield Lydia tried to follow, but didn't have a keycard, and bounced right off the prudence door.

With Lydia in captivity, the rest of the Agents considered their options. They had a squad of Watchers and another of Free Shooters ready to deploy to the aerostat, a Face Dancer who could change their appearance at will, and a dissembler keycard that would let them into the prudence door protecting the base. A military operation would rescue their operative and give them a chance to capture the Sulfur Dragoons' leaders and destroy their base of operations, all while looking stylish.

Unknown Armies Cabal: All the World is Green

Artemisia Culpeper (formerly Gordagina Smollet) has a vision. A world swept clean of humans, the works of civilization covered with green, growing things. A world of exquisite beauty and perfect solitude, where she could wander forever. Walk city streets under a canopy of trees. Climb overgrown viaducts and watch chunks of skyscrapers calve off and tumble into urban canyons below, slowly collapsing under the weight of the ivy.

Why does she want this? She has no strong environmental sentiments. She doesn’t hate other people, at least not enough to want them exterminated. She wants this because she has a vague memory of the place, the world without people with the ruins still standing but overgrown and wild. She doesn’t know if this is a memory or something she saw in a dream, or in a picture that convinced her it was real. It’s beautiful and she would sacrifice anything to go back there. Including every other person in existence.

Unknown Armies Sandbox: Poolside, FL

No art, print friendly version here.

Poolside, Florida. Founded by Dan Poolside in 1925 during the boom. While everyone else was busy inflating real estate bubbles, Poolside bought water rights and built infrastructure, obsessed with his dream of a Mediterranean resort town in the Everglades. It sounded insane, but it’s not that different from how Naples turned out. Today, this city of 3,991 people boasts a “thriving” upstairs/downstairs economy of wealthy retirees and a rotating cast of service workers scraping by at subsistence levels.

Poolside is built on an island of rock and concrete fill, piled up around a truly massive boulder. The top of the rock outcropping is the highest point in South Florida outside Miami. The stone mound is crusted with buildings, hanging gardens, and decorative water features. Down to the waterfront, a facsimile of a Neapolitan tourist village.

Surrounding the town are the florida Everglades, a flooded morass of freshwater forests and “wet prairies”. The Everglades were acquired as a National Park in 1934, Poolside was spared eminent domain by smart legal maneuvering on the part of the founder. The entire Poolside incorporated area encompasses a couple square miles of swamp outside the town, which is not fenced but clearly demarcated as the “City Limits” by buoys and signs.

All public lighting in poolside has red lenses, to protect the elderly residents’ night vision and avoid generating light pollution. The town has blackout laws restricting open windows at night.

Dune 2d20: Session 6 - THIS IS KANLY

The House Viracocha counselors sent three agents to House Orlok's home planet Rulag:

• Lydia Amaru the Disguise Specialist
• Marcus the Mentat Spy
• Zak Vezas the Hypnotist

Their mission: to collect information about House Orlok and its servitors, infiltrate The Sulfur Dragoons mercenary army, and find secret information that could be used to embarrass or destroy them.

The trio of Agents arrived at the spaceport on the Aerostat Dhal. A helpful Guild agent listed them as pilgrims and got them tourist visas in exchange for some information about House Runasimi's plans for the war.

by KhairulHisham

The aerostat was a floating city filled with breathable air. This allowed it to float in the heavier-than-air atmosphere of the planet's upper cloud layer. Marcus suspected the city also had suspensors carrying some of the weight. The shuttle bay was on the top spindle of the hab, with an elevator that went down to the main habitat "bowl" inside. This enclosed space was filled with bridges, mezzanines and concentric rings of terraces, going from the rim of the bowl down to the lower levels. Everything was decorated in colorful banners. Everyone carried weapons. Massive screens advertised House Orlok's military might and their impending victory over House Runasimi. And a strange abstract warning, where a dancing figure with a sword was "stomped out" by a giant boot.

 

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.