Old school: A Villain named Kordog

 

Someone to beat the crap out of your PCs.

Star Trek: Prelude to Discovery

Star Trek - Prelude to Discovery

"Transport is," Phaser in her left hand and tricorder in her right, D.W. looked about at the landscape of the barely class M planet. "Good."

The Human race had one ship in this time period capable of Warp travel. One ship. And you could guarantee it would be guarded. D.W. examined her Tricorder and recognized the distant target. It was one point one two three kilometres beyond the perimeter fence. Seismic sensors in the dirt seemed to pick up her footfalls and relay them back to a central computer. A simple adjustment to the tricorder and a virus passed from the seismic sensor back along its cable and disabled the computers, wiping them.

The phaser burned a hole in the perimeter fence and D.W. stepped through.

Hallowed ground. D.W. walked toward the distant target monitoring the tricorder. Even the grass was suffering from radiation exposure. Its genes had mutated to include an odd splitting of the grass leaf into two crinkled blades. The current source was definately the ship. The rest was Environmental Radiation. How did the human race even survive this era?

Grass seeds caught on her boots and she carried them forward.

D.W. recognized the location. There would be a statue of Zefram Cochrane just over there. One day.

The Phoenix had landed, its reactor hot, though the Naecelles had retracted. And it sat on the landing field with primitive landing gear consisting of hydraulic rams in down position. If it were not for that and the Titanium capsule, the entire thing might be mistaken for a nuclear missile.

D.W. looked about. There was no one around. The Tricorder informed her that the closest possible threat was the Vulcan ship landed at the edge of the camp.

D.W. examined the warp engine with the tricorder. She could make minimal adjustments to the reactor itself but they would yield meaningless results. Likewise the warp drive on the other hand was at its limit. That left the Warp Field itself. Adjustments in flight would allow her to shape the field symmetry to its absolute potential.

Ignoring the innebriated passenger D.W. climbed into the Titanium cockpit. A feat that seemed easier than had it been in a vertical launch position. A last look in the direction of the Vulcan vessel. She would steal the Phoenix. Zephram Cochrane's Phoenix.

It launched, the warp field adjusted by a tricorder, and the imbalance in the warp field vanishing as new and unexperienced harmonics smoothed out the high-vee vibration that would have otherwise spread the ship thinly across a Parsec.

At warp ten the Phoenix closed the distance to Alpha Centauri B.

There would be no Parisian evolutionary event on this flight transforming D.W. into an Amphibian-lizard thanks to a distortion of the Warp field. Nor, fortunately, was her Captain around to abduct as a mate.

D.W. lowered the Warp frequency and throttled back to Warp one.

Lilly awoke from a dream in which she beheld the entire Universe. For a moment she saw and understood everything. And then it was gone.

"Zee?" The Phoenix canopy revealed a sky filled with stars. Night again? "How did it go with the...?"

Lilly had been drunk under the Table.

"Vulcans?" D.W. looked back at her crewman. "From what I've read, it goes quite well."

"Read?" Lilly's mind tumbled through the possibilities as she focused on the Stars moving by the canopy. "We are moving?"

"Warp one." D.W. remembered her first time at Warp. "Welcome to Alpha Centauri B."

 "Zee said it was terrifying." It was beautiful. "Its incredible."

"I know right." D.W. "It must be a Guy thing."

"Alpha Centauri B?" Lilly focused on her abductor. "That should have taken four years at warp."

"I made some special modifications myself." D.W. held up the tricorder. "It took us five minutes."

"Had somewhere to be did you?" The Tricorder was near identical to the one Jean-luc had used. "Captain Picard leave you behind?"

"Sorry," D.W. examined the Tricorder and adjusted the Warp field. "Thats a different ship."

"In that case who are you?" Lilly's hand found her machine gun. "And why are we here?"

"Dixie Winifred Polaski." D.W. loathed the prospect of a projectile weapon wound. "And you have been recruited by Section thirty one for a Mission."

"Alright." Lilly let go of the gun. "What's the Mission?"

"At this point in time there is a Sphere orbiting Alpha Centauri B at one percent light speed." D.W. examined the Tricorder again. "Its not there in the future."

"Is it the Borg?" It had barely been a day. "I can't take on the Borg."

"Dont know." This would be an exploration of the unknown. "This will be an exploration mission."

"Like a landing party?" Lilly laughed at the ridiculous suggestion. "You know that suggestion is...?"

"Insane?" D.W. laughed with Lilly. "Insanity is a relative concept Lilly Sloane."

"Star." Alpha Centauri B loomed large in the cockpit transparent Aluminium windows and Lilly didnt like the Idea of flying into a Star. "Star's getting close."

"And its going to get a lot closer." D.W. focused her attention on the Tricorder. "Our destination is orbiting the Star every five minutes."

"Now I know you are insane." Lilly realized she was going to die. "Nothing orbits a Star that close."

"This does." D.W. throttled back from Warp as the Phoenix dropped into the Shadow of a planet half the size of Jupiter. "Welcome to the Roscum-Keary Postulate."

What is this?" There was a glow that reminded Lilly of the Warp Crystal Zephram Cochrane had shown her. "Wow."

"Its a planet." D.W. looked at the diamond dyson sphere. "And no we wont be landing on the outer shell."

"I dont see an atmosphere." Lilly considered her options. "So good choice."

"I guess option B then." D.W. smiled and adjusted the warp field. "Phased cloak it is."

"Wait," That didnt sound like a return home. "What did you say option B was?"

"We will pass right through it." D.W. calculated the warp field symmetry changes and attacked the tricorder interface. "Its quite simple."

"No." Lilly took a deep breath as the Phoenix dived at the planet suddenly liquid looking planet. "No!"

"Field is good." The thick ocean of the diamond dyson shell gave way to an alien landscape wracked by lightning. "Wow!"

The random light illuminated a hidden world.

" Gravity is kind of earth-like and Radiation is survivable." D.W. smiled at Lilly. "Care to take a look?"

"Are you crazy?" Lilly regretted not shooting this crazy bitch. "Thats an alien atmosphere out there."

"There is the EVA suits Cochrane has in the locker back there." D.W. became serious. "I suggest trying one on for size."

"Bullshit sister!" Lilly pointed at the Window canopy and the static potentials shifted causing her companion's hair to stand on end. "If we go out there we will die."

"This isn't a yes or no moment." D.W. examined her Tricorder readings. "There is something I need your help with."

"What part of No..." Lilly lifted the machinegun and was confronted by a Ray-gun on stun setting. "dont!"


"Shit!" The Abducted Lilly Sloane awoke and discovered she was confined to an EV suit. "You bitch."

"You going to lay there all day?" D.W. tapped a gloved hand against Lilly's helmet. "Bring your gun."

"Hopefully we wont need it," D.W. moved away from the Phoenix across the inverted reality as lightning chained off the lanscape. "Unfortunately we loose a lot of personnel just visiting unexplored worlds like this."

"Let me guess." Lilly Sloane retrieved her weapon. "Sucked out through a hole in their helmet?"

"No." D.W. "Pulled into subspace as the alien climbed out over them."

"Subspace?" Lilly was fairly sure this was bull shit. "What's Subspace?"

"We use it for long range communications." D.W. stared at the Tricorder. "Turns out Subspace was teeming with life."

"That doesnt look good." D.W. Looked up at the horizon curving upwards into the perpetual electrical storm emulated in the display. "There is a Fungi infestation ahead."

"Fungi?" Lilly couldnt see anything other than her companion's poorly illuminated exosuit and the glow of the tricorder. "What do you mean fungi?"

"Just dont make eye contact with it," D.W. smiled at a forgotten memory. "And we will be fine."

"Eye contact?" Lilly thought about shooting her companion in the back and going back to the ship. "So why are we realy here?"

"To do something important." D.W. avoided the fungi stepping aside allowing Lilly an unobscured view of the fungi. "Dont make contact with it whatever you do."

"Thats different." Lilly stared at the blue glow. It was like a fountain of light. "It reminds me of the blue glow off the Reactor."

"Cherenkov radiation." D.W. nodded. "Thats because it is Cherenkov radiation."

"So its undergoing a nuclear reaction?" Lilly checked the radiation guage on the wrist of her suit. "How the hell is it generating that much Radiation?"

"Its not." D.W. poked a fungi with her glove dislodging spores. "Its merely particles travelling faster than lightspeed as they emerge from subspace."

"You said you communicate over great distances using subspace." Lilly pulled her hand away from the blue glow of the fungi. "If that's the case what is it communicating with?"

"Itself." D.W. "It spread across the galaxy via subspace."

"How complex?" Lilly looked at the Fungi  Had been something her mother had told her? What was it? "How complex is the Network?"

"Unknown," D.W. adjusted the settings on the tricorder. "It might extend beyond the Galaxy."

"Intergalactic?" Fairies. A story.  "Fairy Ring."

"This fungi," Lilly Sloane pointed at the Fungi. "On Earth long ago they said Fairy Rings were portals to a realm where the Fairies dwell."

"What an interesting idea you have there." D.W. smiled. "It had taken years for Federation researchers to make that connection."

"If that's the case," Lilly focused her attention on the Tricorder as it detected a radiation spike. "Who were the fairies?"

"We are about to find out." D.W. grabbed Lilly's gloved hand with her spare hand and plunged her remaining hand with the tricorder into the event horizon. "Hang on."

Old School: Castle Morbundus is unpleasant

There is in the Old Schoolness of Rythlondar play-by-mail and in Castle Morbundus a Tidal wave approach to encounters. The volume is excessive for little reward. The very first time Adventurers explore Castle Morbundus they get to investigate level one where they encounter in non specific numbers:

Hobgoblins

Orcs

Ghouls

Rats

They are awarded 2464gp and a total of 29,993xp. That experience award is colossal in itself. There is only one thing that fits that shape without a discernable treasure: Rats. Epic numbers of Rats. (50) Normal Rats is 250xp, Treasure Type L. To equal 25,000xp alone there must be encountered (5,000) Normal Rats. Thats Maximum Normal Rats x 100. Thats also Treasure Type L x 100. Compared to this the (6) Ghouls, (24) Hobgoblins, and (60) Orcs are nothing. Now Imagine your PCs have headed out through the Wilderness and found this castle. There is a bridge out frm the high ground to a gate keep, and another gate keep beyond that, and then the actual castle in the distance. Ground level looks about fourty feet above the swamp. The bridge has a distinct odor. You cross but you cant go in the gate keep, not because its locked up but because the doors are off their hinges and you see lots of rats. There are five thousand rats here and you must slaughter your way through them to clear out the first gate-keep. The floor is a foul bed of disease. By the time you kill the rats and shovel out the remains and rat poop it is now evening. You didnt notice the gemstones in the rat poop you shoveled into sacks (50% of 0-400 gemstones worth 0-400,000gp). They were just gravel covered in disease.

Thats when six ghouls clamber up out of the swamp from under the bridge to dine on rats and find your Player Characters trying to fit the doors back on their hinges. Any treasure these ghouls have is off in their nest and there is no way in hell you would go visit a nest with another ten ghouls somewhere in the swamp around the castle.

You and your companions begin to wage war with the occupants of the second Gate keep: (60) Orcs and (24) hobgoblins. They got to their gate keep by boat coming across the swamp. Treasure-wise they are poor. They have treasure that amounts to 6,000cp, 4,000sp, 4,000ep and the Orc Commander had 4gp (2,464gp worth).

Throw in a staircase trap that drops you twenty feet taking 2d6 damage as you land on the slide and then you drop another twenty feet down into a room filled with swamp water (a ghoul feeding area on a lower dungeon level) all because a PC pulled the chimney flu lever in the fireplace on the second floor barracks setting the trap.

Note: factoring in experience point adjustments for PCs prime requisite adjustments you should encounter:
6 ghouls, 24 hobgoblins (1x 5HD hobgoblin King, 2x 4HD bodyguards), 60 Orcs (14x 1HD adult males, 15x 1HD adult Females, 30x Orc children, 1x 4HD Orc Chieftan), 5,000 Normal Rats. The three groups should occupy their own gate keep with Ghouls in the swamp below preying on the Rats as easy food. Morbundus level One is basically the bridge out to the Castle.

And that is Level One of Castle Morbundus by the Numbers...potentially wealthy, but given most early players wouldnt violate that human taboo of searching through a river of diseased rat shit for gravel, its unlikely they even know there are gems by the shovel load.

Addendum: The amount of time in the game it takes to swing a sword (one round) means that there are five thousand rounds (minimum) required to kill every rat. Thats sixty rounds per ten minute turn, six turns per hour, or just short of fourteen hours of 'splat the rat'. Sure you can share the load between your sword capable PCs and get that down to five hours between three fighter types, but you can clear that gate keep in a few minutes with a bunch of fireball spells. One Magic-user with a wand of fireballs can make a hell of a difference.

Ecosystems: Given Rats must exist here-their nest needs a food source and that would be garbage dumped by the orcs and hobgoblins in the second gate keep. There is also the likelyhood that rats feed on a food source like shreikers (the screaming mushrooms) and each other. The shriekers in turn feed on rat poop. And the Ghouls feed on the Rats. So throw in a forest of perpetually screaming shriekers - allowing rats to climb shriekers on the walls and ceilings - to fill out the gygaxian ecosystem and few thousand missing experience points from this level.

Chance Encounter: there is an orc sitting on a log by a fire...

You spot an orc sitting on a log by the fire...

A wisdom check:
DC14: You notice a sword next to him.
DC16: You spot blood on the handle.

Even with his injured hand he fights to defend himself but if the PCs ask to share his fire, he grunts. He understands a few human words. If they heal his injuries, he will not attack them.

Stellar Cartography: a first contact moment

NASA image of interstellar object

Zoomed in

Object visible

Assessment: "They're dead, Jim."

Old School: Star Probe?

I can say I had never heard of Star Probe. While I assume it evolved into Star Frontiers, its never a good idea to assume anything of the sort.

A square grid 'mapboard with over two thousand stars'. Vaguely like Traveller.

Rythlondar Campaign: The Caves

One hundred and fifty miles up river from the Town of Rythlondar are 'the Caves'. As you venture into these caves you discover two great stone coffers (8' wide x 14' long x 4' high). It takes a combined strength of 30+ to remove the stone lids). Disturbing the stone lids causes the two Wraith guardians to attack with surprise.

Treasures in the Coffers amount to 2,385 gp (12,000sp, 2,000ep, 10,000cp, 2 gems (50gp, 25gp), Flying Carpet.

Addendum: Missing from the adventure description for Treasure Type E are two more magic items and a scroll. Also missing is another 15,000xp worth of experience points which was apparently allocated to the adventuring party though its origins not identified though it may have been from the flying carpet. Feel free to add appropriate magic items and further encounters (and that much surplus experience points is equal to 54.5 giant leeches in encounter areas 1-3).

The Party of 10 player characters that explored the caves included: Felsord (5th level dwarf), Pontifus (5th level cleric), a 4th level magicuser, a 3rd level fighter, a 4th level elf, a 2nd level elf, Nordak (1st level magicuser), Waka (1st level fighter), and two as yet unidentified characters.

Players: J. Ansley, G. Decesare, B. Haas, J. Haas, C. Hostetler, T. Kniaz, P. Michaud, J. Van De Graaf, L. Van De Graaf, P. Wood.