The Periphery: Planet Descriptions and Plots

The following represents my efforts to complete steps 3-10 in Rob Conley's system.  There may be some inconsistencies in the text, but I've tried to correct them. 

The Periphery

The Periphery lies on the edge of a great rift.  Many of the worlds were only settled relatively recently due to the fact that the Terrans’ needed to use resources in the wars against the Derngin.  This subsector contains most of the former Iconian Refuge, and thus there exists a large number of Iconians.  The Korx are also interested in the system because Terran rule is rather limited.  Still,  humans make up the majority population in the region.

Planets

Ceres: 0102

This colony is ruled directly by the Imperium and provides much of the food for the subsector.  It’s primarily agricultural in bent, and the technology available to non-officials is fairly low.  The farmers resent the situation and will barter for illegal weapons and vehicles if available.

Pepin: 0104

This low population planet primarily serves as a naval base.  The force stationed here is a token one, and only exists because of rumors of hostile aliens beyond the rift.  The imperium does not take the threat seriously despite warnings from the Iconians.  There is also a research station which sends ships out to study anomalies in the rift.  The few inhabitants which do not belong to one of the above organizations possess representatives to petition them for supplies.  These petitions are being increasingly ignored.

Enaar: 0202

This planet possesses a Methane ocean similar to Iconia, and is inhabited by a mixture of Iconians and humans who live in a great underwater city.  The atmosphere within this city is retched due to the massive amount of industrial activity which is conducted within it.  There are more Iconians here than in New Iconia itself because many of them were displaced by the Imperium to serve in the factories.  An appointed governor reports directly to the Emperor.

Guthrum: 0204

Guthrum is a garden planet that serves as the base for a group of pirates who operate within these parsecs and the ones surrounding.  The Earth like nature of the planet is created by strikingly similar plants rather than terraforming.  The pirates have a democracy where the captains of each vessel meet in congress to decide on the admiral of the combined fleets.  They have an agreement with the Korx to provide them with human blood, and thus it is not a pleasant experience to be their prisoner.

Nibelung: 0206

Despite its low technology level, Nibelung provides much of the equipment used by the Imperium’s military.  While not the largest manufacturer in the Imperium, it is certainly one of the largest in the region.  The low tech level represents the fact that private individuals cannot legally manufacture or own items above TL 8.  The dictator who runs the planet is propped up by the Imperial government in order to maintain stable shipments of goods.

New Iconia: 0304

The homeworld of the Iconians is a “waterworld” covered in liquid methane.  The current dictator has risen to power due to his own personal charisma and his promises to improve the lot of Iconians within the Imperium.  The imperial bases lie on the surface of the planet on great manmade islands.  The Iconians lived in domed cities beneath the ocean itself.  Non-Iconians are not permitted to enter their domed cities, and all dealings with them are dealt with on the surface barges.

Antioch: 0305

Antioch is ruled by a feudal structure in which the nobles and knights have access to technology while the farmers do not.  As one might expect, the farmers are not happy with the situation.  The Korx maintain a strong presence in the star port, where they trade technological items with the feudal society for slaves and for human blood, or “Juice.”  This activity is frowned on the by the Imperium, but they have not yet acted in any way.  The Korx are also willing to trade weapons with the farmers, but they farmers have very little other than their neighbors to trade.

Diteen: 0306

This is another fluid ocean planet.  Unlike New Iconia and Enaar, it has a very small amount of natural land.  The Scouts maintain a bass on these islands.  Also unlike those planets, the oceans are comprised of hot acid rather than methane.  The Iconians still have a settlement below the ocean, but these refuse to submit to imperial rule.   A pirate base is located in the upper atmosphere of one of the system’s gas giants.  These pirates are more directly supplied by the Korx than the ones on Guthrum, and a large number of Korx may be found among their numbers.

Prometheus: 0307

Prometheus is an uninhabited planet that once served as a scout base and research station.  Despite its thin atmosphere, it possesses a number of strange ruins, left by the Ancients before they ascended.  Researchers were chronicling what little they could gather from the ruins before disaster struck the colony.  Fearing that they might activate one of the artifacts, an Iconian sabotaged the terraformed bubble, killing all inside.  If one of the beacons is activated it will summon the Yor from across the rift to devour all organic life in the subsector.

Ondizak: 0405

Ondizak acts as a Korx outpost, from which they supply the pirates in the nearby parsecs.  They maintain that they are not participating in the blood or slave trades, but this is of course false.  The Imperium has mandated that none of its citizens may do business in this system.  This is not a ban on any dealings with the Krox, simply those who inhabit Ondizak.

New England: 0503

New England is the private playground of a deranged noble.  He has set up a feudal system similar to the one on Antioch, but has more severely limited the technology in order to achieve a strange, pseudo-medieval fantasy land.  He has built castles and manors for his lords, and given them strange and ostentatious titles in order to maintain the illusion.  He’s got many of the facts wrong of course, and the nobles only go along with it as long as he can keep the peasants in line.

Martell: 0508

Martell is a garden planet that provides most of the food and agricultural supplies used by the Scouts.  The Scouts rule the planet directly, but unlike many of the other Imperial governors in the region they are not particularly cruel.  Most inhabitants are researchers and colonists who work directly for the Scouts.  The low tech level represents the fact that the colony is still being established.

Clovis: 0509

Clovis acts as the headquarters for the Scouts in this subsector.  It is a small planetoid bereft of atmosphere or water of any kind.  The headquarters itself is contained within a large, terraformed bubble with artificial gravity roughly similar to that of Earth.  The colony originally belonged to a group of miners, but a consulate and scout base was built soon after the First Derngin war.  The descendants of the miner’s still maintain their democracy, but it has little power in the face of Imperial forces.

Minerva: 0703

Minerva is a rich and prosperous garden planet, but it was not always so.  It was one of the first planets in the region to be colonized, and it acted as an experiment in terraforming that proved wildly successful.  The entire planet is a veritable paradise.  The planet has a relatively large population, many of which are researchers studying the long term effects of terraforming.  Others are nobles who maintain villas on the pristine planet.

Aor: 0806

Aor is home to a race of strange, fat aliens who have just barely made it out of the industrial revolution.  They’re capable of making bolt action rifles and steam powered locomotion.  The imperium has forbidden all contact with these aliens and Scouts patrol the sector in order to prevent ships from entering.

Plots

The Revolution:  The Periphery is on the verge of a general revolution against the Terran Imperium.  If such a revolution happens and the PCs do not interfere it will eventually be quashed.  The Iconians will refuse to work with the humans, and there will be intense infighting.  Since the Imperium needs this region to produce weapons and ships to fight the Derngin, they are willing to commit great atrocities to make sure business goes smoothly.

The Yor:  This plot only occurs if the PCs activate the beacon on Prometheus.  The beacon will summon the Yor 1d6 months after it is activated.  If the PCs do not further intervene the Yor will devour world after world until almost reaching Terra.  The Terrans will eventually be able to stop them with the help of the Korx, Iconians, and even the Derngin who recognize the threat.

The Periphery: Planet Profiles

The Periphery is the name given to the subsector that was the homebase for the characters.  Here are the profiles for the planets in the subsector.  I'm sorry if they're a bit hard to read.  Blogger doesn't really like the format I used.


Ceres   0102   B557565-8   T C    Ag Ga NI  GG

Pepin   0104   A547477-11  N R T  Ga NI     GG

Laconia 0107   C958963-6   S R    Ga Hi     GG

Hohenstaufen 0108  B794422-8 T    Ga NI     GG

Enaar   0202   DABA988-7   S    Fl Hi In Wa GG

Guthrum 0204   E646440-5   P    Ga Lt NI    AG

Nibelung 0206  B1219B9-10  S R T C  Hi In Na Po G

New Iconia 0304 A5A95A9-11 N T C    Fl NI   GG

Antioch 0305   B547551-11 T         Ag NI   GG

Diteen  0306   C9A9878-9  S P       Fl      GG  

Prometheus 0307 C615000-5     Ba IC Lt NI   RG

Shalom  0309    C888566-5     Ag Ga Lt NI   GG

0ndizak 0405    E326500-9 S   NI            A

Hattin  0408    D330766-3 S   De Lt Na Po   G

New England 0503   B551754-7 T Po           G

Crecy   0504    C657A99-10 S C Ga Hi        GG

Kasander 0505   C250689-7     De NI         G

Martell 0508`   B575763-5 S R Ag Ga NI      GG

Clovis  0509    A100524-15 S T C Ht Va      GG

We Made It 0701 D310879-6    Na             GG

Minerva 0703    A6578C9-12 R T Ga Ht Ri     G

Caesarius 0803  C2018B9-10 T C IC Va        GG

Thule   0804    C7CA552-11 S R P  Wa        GG

Alexios 0805    D3226B6-8  S      Na Po     GG

Aor     0806    X767310-4         Ga Lo     RG

Terran Space

A couple of months ago I started an online campaign (pre G+) for a group of old friends.  Due to their mutual love of sci fi and the series Firefly we decided to use Mongoose's version of the Traveller System for a sandbox sci fi game.  The campaign is currently on hold due to the fact that it's difficult enough to run one game while in grad school, let alone two.

I thought I'd use my blog to dump some of the as yet unused material.  Much of the following posts was generated using Rob Conley's excellent system for making a Traveller sandbox.

For some reason I decided to use the aliens from Galactic Civilizations rather than the standard Imperium setting.  The technology is the same as the regular Traveller setting, I just wanted some different aliens.  At the time of the campaign, the Terran Imperium has absorbed the Iconian Refuge and the Arcean Empire.  The first was an act of colonialism, the second occured in order to protect the Arceans from extinction at the hands of the Drengin.  The only other alien species the Imperium is aware of is the Korx, who they maintain stable trading relations with.  The Imperium and the Drengin are currently in the midst of a cold war that will likely soon turn hot.

That's the background for the subsector I had planed for the action to take place in.  If you're one of the players in that campaign, I advise you to not read the next several posts in order to avoid spoilers.

Greyhawk Campaign and the Folio Project

I thought I'd do a post on the relationship between my upcoming co-DMed Greyhawk Campaign and the Folio Project.  The short answer is that the campaign will take place in a Greyhawk that is more familiar to my co-DM.  There will be some changes to the standard canon (notably in the deities and at least one of the cultures) but for the most part it's the Greyhawk one imagines when one hears the word Greyhawk.

I should note that I don't know how true that last statement is.  As I mentioned when I first started that project, prior to purchasing the original Folio I had no experience with Greyhawk.  I've come to enjoy the setting and to view it as a land of "shining kingdoms."

My version of Castle Greyhawk is definitely going to be my version of Castle Greyhawk.  Notably, I'm changing the creator of the dungeon from Zagig to Vennax Nalk's Kin (or Vennax the Mad).  I had originally developed this toad god worshipping madman for my entry on the Great Kingdom.  He'll obviously be changed quite a bit.

I'm not sure whether or not I'll continue the Folio project.  I'll obviously be more immersed in Greyhawk in the coming months, but it is definitely not the Greyhawk I envisioned when I started the feature.  Only time will tell.

Upcoming Greyhawk Campaign

click to embiggen

It looks like the Nightwick campaign is slowly drawing to a close.  One of my players who used to DM for the group I'm currently in has expressed interest in co-DMing a Greyhawk campaign, and I'm happy to oblige.  The above map is a microscale (six miles to a small hex) version of the area around Greyhawk city itself.  It's likely that for the foreseeable future the campaign won't leave those environs.

We've decided to split up campaign responsibilities.  I'll be making a a version of Castle Greyhawk using a combination of new things and unused Nightwick Abbey stuff.  My fellow DM will more or less be running adventures in the wilderness around the city.  We're free to switch that if need be, but I think the division will help us to better organize things.

At the end of each session I hope to be able to ascertain what the group plans on doing for the next session.  That way we can decide who needs to get ready for next time.

Nightwick Abbey isn't permanently shelved, but I do look forward to this project as both a needed change of pace and a chance to be a player (sometimes).

How is the Advanced Adventures line?

I'm still looking for some dungeon modules to slap down on my Dark Country map.  I was wondering how Expeditious Retreat's Advanced Adventures line for Osric measured up to other modules.  Are they any good?  Are any of them particularly interesting or awesome?

Nightwick Abbey Session 24

We had the full retinue of players so the party consisted of...

Yim "Falcon the Killer" Yimsley -- Neutral Mysterious ranger who may or may not have come to the Dark Country to claim a long-lost birthright
Agnes the Average -- an unassuming female fighter who wants to make something of herself
Scrottie McBallsworthy -- scion of a tanning family who managed to put him in the apprenticeship of a wizard
Rory LeDouche -- brother of the now deceased Roger LeDouche of the LeDouche family of Averoigne
Beauregard E. Beauregard (Beb) -- Reckless paladin of the Order of the Hart who disapproves of the tyrannical rule of the Bishop

The town was very busy when play began.  It was a rather pleasant day at the beginning of the Festival of the Holy Fool (April 1st), and Agnes and Falcon took the opportunity to gather rumors from the Medusa's Head and the Woodsmen's Lodge respectively.  They heard a few rather sinister things about Halfdan the Black and the Old Graveyard, as well as a few rumors about the Abbey itself.  Falcon seemed intrigued by the graveyard because Agnes reported she heard treasure lay in vaults and tunnels beneath it and he heard that vampires filled the graves.  They decided this was a good time to go grave robbing.

While out preparing for this, Falcon found that a small number of villagers were throwing rocks at his mite hireling.  Scrottie, who ostensibly was the mite's master due to the fact that he was able to communicate with the creature, joined in with them.  Falcon, offended, threatened the villagers with bodily harm and scattered them to the winds.  This is when Beb met up with them.

Beb had attempted to go check in with Roderick, the curate of the local chapel, but had been stopped by a number of Badder's Boys.  Badder's Boys are a mercenary company in the service of the Bishop of Lichegate that had been sent with Lord Eckhard to help quell the people of Nightwick.  Since Beb had stopped a few of them in their attempt to molest a pagan couple in the last session, they were out for blood.  Luckily Beb was able to slay one early on and chase the rest off, but not before maiming one he recognized from the misadventure with the aforementioned pagans.  He was then free to enter the chapel, which he found in a considerably nicer state than it was before he donated much of his gold to them.  Roderick informed him that he was no longer being pelted with rocks by the peasants -- though one of the players asserted they were simply too busy with the mite.  Taking this as a good sign, Beb left to join his fellows.

During the two violent segments, Agnes was busy watching a Frogling dancer with a janglely hat prance around at the festival.  Eventually she wandered out to meet Falcon and the others with equipment she had purchased for grave robbing.  They left the village walls and wandered through the overgrown mess that was once the graveyard that serviced the then larger town of Nightwick.  Digging up one of the graves, they found the corpse of a young woman who was fairly well preserved but not supernaturally so.  Realizing their error, Falcon staked her heart, cut off her head, and otherwise performed the rituals necessary to destroy a "vampire."  A group of villagers had gathered to watch them in their strange task, and when it was completed Falcon informed them that they had slain a "vampire" and they could all sleep safely.  Rejoicing, the peasants returned to village proper.

The party then set out marching order and set out down the old path to the demon weed choked ruins of Nightwick Abbey.  On the way, Falcon collected a bit since he heard from one of the woodsmen that smoking it would cause one to have strange visions (read: get high).  They made there way to the section of the dungeon where they had previously encountered the group of mites that had given them their current non-human member.  Once there, a large number of mites appeared in the passages behind them.  They sent their mite to negotiate.  He made various gestures at them that seemed to indicate to the two members of the party who understand the mite's strange language that the mite was very unhappy with their treatment of him.

The mites then fled, taking the party's mite retainer with them.  Angered, Falcon shot two arrows into their numbers, killing two.  One of these was the former retainer.  They then continued to explore the nearby chambers.  They were particularly interested in the hall  that the mite who gave them their treasure last session had gone down to find the small purse.  At the end of the hall, which was a dead-end passage, they found a small room containing a strange, gooey substance.  Agnes threw a bit of one of her rations into the goup, at which point a small half-formed head emerged to attempt to bite at it.  This head vaguely resembled the combination of old man and rat that one finds in the faces of the mites.

Their first instinct was to throw flaming oil at it.  This tends to be their solution to most problems.  However, they found that whatever the goop ways, it wasn't flammable.  They then experimented with putting various items in the goop.  Most  were simply rejected by the occasionally undulating mass, but when the placed a small pebble in, it became a mite's finger before being absorbed by the rest of the goop.

At that point they had been dilly dallying long enough for me to roll for a random monster encounter.  Shortly thereafter they heard a sound reminiscent of a cartoon ghost. "OOoooOOoooOOOOOOOOooo."  A sheet phantom dropped from the ceiling on top of Falcon, and then chaos ensued.  By the end of the fight, Falcon (who had at various times freed himself from the creature with the aid of his friends) had its burning carcass on top of his head.

This was their cue to leave, but before going they snagged the two mite corpses from earlier.  Falcon intended to render their fat into candle wax; however, once back in the village he found that mites are primarily filled with a goop similar to that they saw in the chamber and bits of rock and sand.  They expressed some dismay that they had not purchased fireworks from the Froglings, but I'm not really sure where they got the idea that Froglings would have fireworks to begin with.

Overall it was a fun session.  Village stuff takes up an increasingly larger portion of the session each time, which I think might be bothering at least one player, but he seemed to enjoy himself despite that.

Next week, I hope to have one of my players (my wife) write up a session report in order to mix the format up a bit.