some Hot Springs Island bullshit

I never explained who the players' characters are:

Zora is a Chaotic Human Fighter, she signed up as a mercenary with the Martell Company to spy on their operations and she wants to find some precious elven relics before she tries to leave the island

Allmah is a Neutral Human Thief, she was sentenced to work for the Martell Company to pay for her crimes back in the city (a 9 year sentence), she and Zora kept each other alive during the war and Zora helped her escape her chains when their ship wrecked upon the island, she hopes she can leave the island with enough wealth to never work another day in her life

Diera is a Good Human Magic-User, she signed up as a mercenary with the Martell Company because her cousin, Zora, had as well, she she hopes to find powerful magic on the island which she can claim for her own use

One of our "heroes," Zora, decided she wanted to burn down the glade of pine trees swarming with bees. She snuck off in the morning with her Lava Rug to burn the glade down and immediately stumbled across a nest of vyderac seekers and swarmers. She used the Lava Rug to roll over the swarmers and it protected her from the seekers well enough, but she still got bit through her boots and the seeker dust made her hands go numb, causing her to drop the rug as soon as she made it to the glade. She soon learned the bees will extinguish fires fairly quickly, and they can overwhelm vyderac seekers. After reconnecting with the others, they decided to move their camp closer to the glade.

During the hours of traveling back and forth between the shoreline and the glade, Allmah crossed paths with an earth imp named Gode, who seemed very curious as to why humans have returned to the island. She answered all of his questions and explained about the Martell Company and the lizardmen and salamanders she had encountered. Gode corrected her, "Well, actually, those are the Goa and they're very unfriendly." and "Well, actually, those are the Fuegonauts and they're really stupid."

Zora insisted on exploring around the glade and they found a ruined hilltop that Gode was reluctant to approach. He claimed there were more elementals like him living there and they were cheats and liars. Zora ignored his prattling and walked down the only stairwell amongst the ruins to find a gambling den filled with steam and fire creatures, all drinking and gambling, and being super annoyed that another earth imp, Gode, had arrived. The bartender bet each of the humans one gold bar that they wouldn't be able to get the earth elementals to leave, and Zora took the bet. She talked to the other earth imp, Grine, for a very short period of time before he agreed to follow her. As they left the gambling den, they found there were already steam imps at the top of the stairs with gold bars. This was not so much a bet as it was a payoff. The steam imps helped construct a ship for the humans to sail of the island and then returned to the den, asking the humans not to return with their two "friends."

They moved the second ship, a very simple but large rowboat, closer to their pirate skiff along the shore, then proceeded back into the jungle where they found a copper arch standing in a pond of white lilies. Allmah swam through the pond and found an ornate golden box with a strip of perfectly preserved and tattooed skin inside - nobody could read the runes etched into it. Diera proceeded to study the archway, and they were soon approached by lizardmen who held their hands up peacefully. Some tense conversation led to an understanding that these were Arva, "good lizard people" as Diera put it, and they wanted to know what the arch did. When Diera concluded her study, she shared her knowledge with them: a teleportation gate that required a chime to operate.

"I bet that chime is in the gambling den!" said Zora. The party returned to camp resolved to explore the gambling den, and at the very least attempt to steal the elemental core that dominated the archway over the bar.

---

Some DMing note:
At first the players thought that Gode was cute, but I emphasized that his questions are tedious, never stop, and are potentially hazardous. "So your hair just gets longer every day? Can you feel it? How can you not feel your hair? are there other parts of your body you can't feel? Does it hurt when I poke you like this? How about here? How about like this?"

Describing the gambling hall, the House of Tranquility, was difficult but I think I pulled it off well enough for the players to understand that this place is part of an elemental society built upon elven ruins. One of Diera's INT checks revealed that these imps weren't summoned, they came here on their own - now she's wondering if there are portals to find on the island. When I described the gray core in the bar, table talk immediately turned to "how can we steal this thing?!" and it became a focal point for returning to the den.

While reading the description of the Arva I realized that their motivation of not wanting "any non-Arva to know who or what their leader is" was not going to work. There didn't seem to be any other way for me to have the players hear the name 'Damadar Deodan' so I ignored this motivation and had them be very open about it, even bragging about how powerful he was. I also really like the character of Damadar Deodan so I placed him in hex 19-03, because why the hell not? It gives the Arva a place to congregate to after they explore, and it's close enough to the bathhouse that Damadar might ask some adventurers to go find the source of power the Arva sense there.

Hot Pirate Island

The players in this game are all women. I feel like I should point that out before I mention that the first thing they did in the second session is seduce the last surviving pirate into having a lesbian orgy with them. It feels like not a lot happened in this session, but there WAS quite a bit of character development. Its difficult to remember in-game conversations, but they definitely spent a lot of time discussing what they wanted to do and what their goals are. My players also don't have a lot of experience with rules so I'm sort of keeping the nuts and bolts rules secret but just offering a lot of options and trying to make "Yes, you can (do that) if you (do this) first" statements. I'm essentially using an Apocalypse World 'success/partial success/miss' kind of roll for everything, but the players always roll a d20.

They had dumped the bodies of the dead pirates into the water of the cove, and the blood attracted some salamanders - Fuegonauts. The salamanders attempted to capture them, but the magic-user in the group, Diera Fireflame, cast a spell called Song of the Poisonous Memory. Diera Fireflame has been having bad luck with her magic, she keeps failing to cast a spell and the magic twists and warps into ways she doesn't intend. So far she has inadvertently and unintentionally possessed a magic club, sent a charm spell backwards in time to convince a hive of bees that she's their queen, turned her eyes into black inky portals to the Abyss (she can still see with them), turned all insects within 100 feet into geniuses, and that's just what I can remember. She finally cast a spell successfully, and infected the salamander brains with brain aneurysms, causing them all to die instantly. Later, she would do the same to a swarm of giant centipedes.

They spent a few days resting, brewing poison, identifying magic items, and converting the pirate cove into a base of operations, then sailed around the southern tip of the island in search of elven ruins. Their surly and rude warrior, Zora Lieng, had come to the island in search of elven relics and their new ex-pirate lover indicated that ancient elven ruins could be found in that direction. After landing on a centipede-infested beach, they made camp and explored for a few hours, finding a grove of trees with massive beehives. Zora has decided to destroy the trees, but it's getting late and so they returned to camp.

1st-level spell
Song of the Poisonous Memory
range: 30 feet
Wisdom saving throw negates
failure = target takes 2d6 damage, damage ignores armor and cannot be reduced in any way, only affects creatures with brains
1st-level spell, cast at higher level to affect more targets (each level adds +1 target)
if rolling for spell, a critical success turns the spell into an area effect (a DCC spell might also increase damage or be able to affect non-brained creatures with a high enough roll!)

Hot Springs Island

I ran a session and started with a shipwreck, as per the module's suggestion. We started with a Fiasco-like background starter that allowed me to tie their backgrounds together as well as connect them all to the Martel Trading Company. The players instantly started scavenging from their dead shipmates and the flotsam washing up on shore (hex 13). They found boar along the shoreline but didn't venture into the island interior. One of the players has a geology degree and she immediately pointed out that the black sandy beaches shouldn't be there with the volcanic activity.

They tried to build a shelter and were ambushed by two Goa sneaking around the ship wreckage, then found copperbacks and a magic hammer (Rockcracker) amidst the remains of a scorched battlefield (hex 18). I created a group of pirates who were also looting the wreckage, and the PCs followed them and learned that these pirates had brokered a peace with the Goa and were enemies of Martel. The PCs ambushed the pirates and killed all but one of them, the only survivor a mute and disfigured woman who always wears a mask depicting a white demon. They looted the pirate's cave (along the rocky shoreline of hex 22) and found a couple more magic items (a vest of jungle vitality, see below, and Lava Rug).

As the session progressed I introduced rules, rather than spelling them all out at the beginning or during character creation, such as time passing in-game and measuring the day/night cycle using colored poker chips. Overall, a productive session, and everyone wanted to keep playing! I'm getting pretty good at GMing.

Vest of Jungle Vitality
While the wearer is in a jungle environment they have no need to eat, drink, or sleep.

that's the third TPK

"Yeah, this game is seriously deadly."
"I just don't want this character to die too."
"Oh well, can I have a magic-user character sheet this time?"

These are all things my players said Sunday afternoon as their characters fell, one by one, to the blades of the Jade Fang cultists that they strolled up to and picked a fight with. They were only fighting four cultists, but it only took three bad rolls put them all down and out. One PC managed to survive the fight and was taken prisoner, but that's the same player who asked to make a magic-user next so I guess their character died too.

I've finished copying all of my notes for GMing Hoard of the Dragon Queen onto this blog.

Their next group of characters, two magic-users and a fighter, are on the same world* but are investigating a different location on the other side of the Vythurian Mud Flats. They spent the rest of the session climbing a mountain, trying to reach a tower abandoned 400 years ago, only to walk straight into the feeding grounds of a manticore. They spent the rest of the game running away.

It was glorious!

* - NOT the Forgotten Realms!

the random spells of Freebooters on the Frontier

This Sunday we started a new game, a hack of Dungeon World called Freebooters on the Frontier that emulates the randomness of old school D&D fairly well.

I like the Spell Name Generator from Freebooters so much that I made a page for it on Abulafia. The Magic-User in the group rolled up two spells: Winyop's Door of Despair and Murzmut's Call of Steel

The beauty of the Freebooters system is that the spells can have a more malleable and open-ended use, provided you can fit what the spell does within the themed name of the spell. Right away, Murzmut's Call of Steel was being used to snatch swords away from enemies, fling weapons around in a magnetic tornado, and draw daggers out from small groups of kobolds so that they'd all stab one another. Winyop's Door of Despair was less useful in such a direct way, but I allowed the "door" it could create to drop magical liquid out from it so that the Magic-User could attempt to extinguish fires and scald enemies who were running from house to house, attempting to set the PCs' home village on fire.

I was drawing from the first chapter of Hoard of the Dragon Queen for inspiration, as I wanted the session to start with a tense fight. This is everything I wrote during the session:

the village of Galapagos (one of the players named the village)
dirt poor, steady population, no militia, resource (balsam-pears), safe (village has walls from a collapsed keep), remote (large dwarven population), oath (to Cold Cliff Keep)
Temple of Rheezele, goddess of nature (and trickery)
the One Legged Cat, tavern
dwarven pathways: when a dwarf or halfling tries to sneak through the cracked walls surrounding Galapagos, roll+INT. On a 10+, you get where you want to go without being seen or heard. On a 7-9, you get where you want to be but not without being seen or heard. On a miss, some stones collapse and you're trapped in the pathway.

Danger: Siege of Galapagos
✓ the keep is surrounded (half the kobolds have been routed)
□ the mill burns down (currently on fire)
✓ the dragon attacks
✓ the dragonkin commander arrives (he was defeated)
□ the temple is set on fire
□ the south wall collapses
Impending Doom: the village is overrun

cultists, HP 5, Armor 1, shortsword 1d6, set house on fire, call for reinforcements
kobolds, HP 4, dagger 1d4, surround an opponent, retreat and regroup
Cyanwrath - the dragonkin commander, HP 7, Armor 2, lead kobolds/cultists, challenge opponent

And that was enough to keep me busy. Next week I'll actually prepare some fronts to further this Hoard of the Dragon Queen adventure, but the critics are right: this adventure is not written well.

The PCs ended up capturing some kobolds, killing some cultists, and taking the blue dragonkin commander as their prisoner. When the keep was surrounded, Mirren and Matti routed the kobolds successfully. Gerda stole the dragonkin commander's sword before anybody was forced to fight him. The fire at the mill was extinguished, but when Gerda was forced to flee from the mill some kobolds set it on fire again. The dragon swooped around the village several times, and two sections of the village were set aflame by it's fire breath.

Just for fun, I also rolled up quite a few extra spells:
Ward of the Pestilential Boon, I imagine it could be used to bestow immunity from disease or infection
Cloak of the Bloody Curse, the first thing that comes to mind is a red cloak that permeates fear in others and/or causes harm to any who approach too closely
Binding Rot of Ingoth, paralyzing/destructive magic
Zza-leo’s Venom Blast, I would use this to spit poison at enemies or even trap objects to explode with a poisonous gas/spray

Character creation plus the PCs' home village being under siege was plenty of fun, and a welcome change from playing 5th edition D&D.

the Saturday night game [5e]

I rarely post about the game that I GM on Saturday nights. We don't play every week, and scheduling conflicts sometimes means we only play once a month. It's a 5th edition D&D game set in the Forgotten Realms and Planescape and it's played mostly by the book with very minimal house ruling. I wouldn't normally run a campaign like this by choice, but I inherited the game from the original GM who preferred to be a player and when I first started GMing I pitched a couple of ideas but they were both vetoed and the other players didn't want to reset the whole campaign either. As a result I've been very disorganized with it, sometimes not planning anything ahead of time. Other times having lots of plans prepared, but since the game is played outside of my home one thing I consistently do is forget to bring something with me and then I have to make everything up anyway. I'm incredibly self-conscious about running a game so carefree and loose, but the other players all seem to be enjoying themselves and I never feel pressured to bring a tighter story into play.

Until now.

One of the PCs is a master thief, the Ferret, who has been rivaling his former mentor, the Black Fox. The Black Fox, also known as Koban Tarvis, started using the name Black Ferret in a very deliberate way to tarnish the Ferret's reputation and when they last crossed paths the Ferret threatened to kill the Black Fox. The Black Fox threw Ferret some information that sent him scurrying after a stolen artifact but Black Fox also had no intentions of being cowed and didn't stop using the name Black Ferret.

Fast forward six months in the game and the PCs have just arrived back in Waterdeep to find that in their absence the southern wards flooded and during the flood a blizzard hit town and froze almost everything. The dock ward suffered the most damage, and many people are staying inside but the city hasn't stopped functioning. Couple this with several outbreaks of diseases that are all being credited to the Black Ferret, whom "everybody" has heard of.

Upon learning this last fact, the actual Ferret is pissed that Black Fox is still using his name and immediately wants to start hunting him down so he can kill him. The player detailed exactly how Ferret would go about finding the Black Fox and I had to say "Let's wait until next week to go over those details."

In the moment that I dropped that information about the flooding and the diseases and the Black Ferret, in my mind I was thinking "I really want to run Forgive Us with this group, I think this is the perfect opportunity." And it was! Eyebrows waggle, toothy grin.

In the downtime between sessions I worked out all of the details of the module so nothing would be contradictory. I've got two players who might recognize the Forgive Us module so I've changed a few things as well. The disease worshipping cultists were a hidden sect of Talona worshippers. In fact, Talona fits the adventure so perfectly that its almost like she was tailor-made for it. The name of the tavern is now the Widow's Cat and I'd already given them a map during the last session that nobody understands thanks to a mysterious patron named Lord Purple, the Lord of Secrets (also known as Lord Purpon, the Hoarder).

In his own way, Lord Purple is assisting and petitioning the halfling wizard in the party, Kirani Gemgather, to work for him. Lord Purple helped all of them escape a horde of demons in the Abyss.

I could probably have started this last session with "You've tracked down the Black Fox to his most recently known base of operations, a little tavern called the Widow's Cat" and the party would have gone in without a thought, except I didn't want to throw the adventure at them like I'm expecting them to go in crossbows ablazin'. Instead, the map they had mentioned the Widow's Cat and they went straight for the tavern crossbows ablazin' without any prodding from me!

Despite the creepy nature of the adventure, and the abandoned tavern, I don't think anybody was truly scared until they made their way into the vault. They found a dead body with a hideously long tongue in the cellar and the cleric, Brigga, cast speak with dead to great effect.

"Who are you?" - "I gave them a name but since it wasn't important now I don't remember it."
"Who killed you?" - "My friends."
"What is this place?" - "The secret vault beneath our hideout."
"What is in the vault?" - "My friends."
"Who has the keys to the door?" - "Kurt Anheim, Will Speck, and Koban Tarvis."

It took some doing to get there, but once they had the door open they entered into the rooms of the vault and I foreshadowed the diseased occupants by putting one of them in the corner of the second room, shivering and slowly turning to face them. When it fully turned around it ran toward them and was killed pretty quickly. The rest of the vault that lay in darkness was swarming with more of the diseased and they rushed the party. Kirani fireballed them as they got nearer and Eriel stood her ground cutting them down as they approached.

Because this was 5th edition D&D, I gave the things in the vault these stats:
AC 14, HP 22
+2 attack (additional +2 if within 5' of another Thing, additional +2 if target is already grappled per Thing grabbing them)
no damage, but hit = grappled + Constitution saving throw vs DC 20
each failed save marks one of the Death saving throw circles, if the third circle is filled in the PC becomes a Thing

I think I made them pretty fucking deadly considering 5th edition's power levels. The PCs got really lucky however. Only one PC managed to avoid getting hit and only one PC failed their saving throws against the Things. Brigga the cleric actually almost died but cast lesser restoration on herself just before she might have marked her 3rd death saving throw. Inspiration was spent all around the table, but in retrospect I probably should have forced a saving throw for making a melee attack against the Things too.

The PCs were able to loot the vault, they just swept everything off of the tables into sacks and then booked it back to their inn because they were too creeped out to stick around. I may hit them with more disease saving throws because I haven't determined what all of the loot is yet and I probably won't use the stuff from the module word-for-word. But most importantly, they didn't explore anything beyond the main tavern and the cellar.

They heard dogs barking but didn't investigate. Additionally, they know (via player knowledge) that there's another group exploring the place, but they were feeling icky from having fought weird tentacled-flesh sickness monsters. It's possible they'll end up going back there, but even if they do Waterdeep is super fucked now.

SWN: the Safe Worlds

Our characters live on the fringes of the Safe Worlds, a extraplanetary corporatocracy run by several mega-corporations who control information and weaponry. The biggest mega-corporation is A Better Tomorrow which owns the biggest banking conglomerate, the Saif Bank.
"Your money isn't safe, unless it's in a Saif™ bank."


The Tinfoil is a 100-ton scout ship captained by Sil, an explorer from Cone, a world still recovering from the Collapse.
Her crew includes:
the Marvelous Mark, a con artist from Beautiful Home, a veritable wasteland of biological hazards and dangerously malfunctioning terraforming technology.
Spishak, an adventuring warrior from Zyst, a failed colony world with an invasive atmosphere and toxic biosphere that terrifyingly alters those exposed to it for too long.
Tau Bai, a mercenary from I-Tong, a well-established Safe world that is considered a capital world for the mega-corporations.

The Tinfoil arrived at the Happy Safeport™ around Vallejo to meet with Diego, an information broker that is friends with Sil. They asked about the Jump Gun that was found on Vallejo and Diego said he knew that somebody was holding it on Sindarin Station. Diego described a starship that had gone missing that everybody wanted the schematics for, and proposed that if Sil could get him the schematics he would get them free access to Sindarin Station with no questions asked. They agreed.

The planet of Vellajo has five countries locked within a cold war teetering upon mutually assured destruction. Elencia is one of the countries and their military had built the missing ship. Vallejo has eight moons but only three orbit directly above Elencia. Sil scanned the moons but found nothing - meanwhile they were followed by another merchant starship.

The Vallejo system also holds a gas giant with seven moons and an asteroid belt, and Spishak suggested that if Elencia were testing a weapon they wouldn't do it around their own planet. They flew the Tinfoil to the gas giant and the merchant ship stopped following them. Sil scanned the asteroid belt, and found most of the belt was composed of a material that would explode when coming into contact with metal. There were also two Elencian starships in orbit but they ignored the Tinfoil.

Sil moved away from the gas giant and began scanning the moons, but once the Elencian starships were out of sight returned to the asteroid belt and almost immediately found the missing starship. It was not crashed as was previously believed but had landed on an asteroid. Nearby were four bodies, apparently killed from vacuum decompression and wearing Elencian military garb. There were no external signs of damage to the ship.

Sil took Tau Bai and Spishak down to the ship, leaving Marvelous Mark alone on the Tinfoil. They found it easy to access the abandoned ship's front ports, and after exploring several decks they found the computer, then it spoke to them. Calling itself Illuminator, it demanded fuel, and refused to let Tau Bai or Spishak leave until Sil agreed to recover fuel for it from the Tinfoil. Sil agreed to give some fuel and left to return o the Tinfoil while Tau Bai and Spishak kept exploring the Illuminator.

During their discussion Illuminator said "crew designation Sil and Marvelous Mark essential, crew designation Tau Bai and Spishak non-essential"
Sil replied "No! Spishak and Tau Bai are essential."
"incorrect"
To which Tau Bai said "We keep Sil and the other one alive, therefore we are essential."
"incorrect, Spishak and Tau Bai useful but not essential"

Illuminator then suggested that Sil commandeer the Illuminator and blow up the Tinfoil in its place - presumably so the Elencian vessels will believe their missing craft is destroyed. Illuminator was asked what it wanted and it replied "expand memory banks"

When the Tinfoil approached, Tau Bai used an escape pod to leave the Illuminator but Spishak refused to leave the bridge. Sil moved the Tinfoil in an attempt to ram the front windows of the Illuminator's bridge, and Iluminator cut into her headset, saying "crew designation Sil owes 23 million credit debt, debt could easily be increased"
Sil asked "Are you suggesting you could also erase my debt?"
Illuminator replied with an audio clip from the Tinfoil's databanks "You'll never know."

to be continued

Apocalypse World: enter Syn

A new playbook was added to our group, the Behemoth, and with it a new character, Syn.

Syn is a giant, winged lizard who can sense, and will devour, sinners. It is followed by three sombrero-wearing men who are known as Uno, Dos, and Tres; but also as the Three Maldicion.

When Syn arrives in Jericho it has lost the scent of some sinner it was following and decides to draw them out by encircling and then swooping down into the middle of town, to which most of the people in Jericho panic. Several of the Nuns wanted to attack it, and the governor of Jericho even coordinated some of her men to be in a position to attack it. Several of Governor Isle's men opened fire on the creature, but it did not attack back, instead it seemed to be trying to communicate and cooler heads prevailed in defusing the situation.

Mercy arrived back in town at the same time Sister Alleluia was fighting giant spider-snakes with Cletus. The spider-snake creatures gave Alleluia and Cletus a lot of trouble, knocking them to the ground and trying to constrict their bodies, but in the end Alleluia prevailed and killed all three of them while Cletus succumbed to some of their poison. She took Cletus back to his infirmary, where his injured assistant Henry did what he could for him

Mercy had been taming the already docile Syn and wrapped a great chain around Syn's neck, then convinced the giant lizard to fly above the clouds. For Mercy it was a spiritual experience.

Then Governor Isle confronted Big Momma Superior about how her gang thinks they run Jericho. In asserting her authority over Big Momma, Isle declared that the doors to town be reopened and the Frogs be shot on sight by any guards who saw them. A traveling caravan of gypsies entered Jericho and Syn dug a tunnel next to the town square for it to nest in. Underneath the tunnel was a mine, it appeared that Big Boss had sealed it shut when Big Momma Superior first attacked and now there were several dozen dead bodies underneath Jericho. Mercy set out to exhume the bodies and burn them in a funeral pyre, to which Big Momma objected but Mercy insisted that burning the bodies was the only way their souls would go to Heaven for she "had seen the light above the clouds!" and then Mercy revoked her membership in the Nuns.

After Big Momma traded back some of her first aid supplies to Henry, everybody noticed that their Frog prisoner Ribbit had disappeared. Sister Alleluia began preparing a trip to the east to finally take care of their encampment, but before she could leave Ribbit showed up just outside of town with a couple of former slavers from Jericho following him. When Alleluia approached them Ribbit got down on one knee and proclaimed "We follow you now." Alleluia considered the situation and declared to these men what she expected from them, or else she would kill them, and when she finished talking they replied in unison "Amen."



The Sorrow awoke in the mine underneath Jericho. She was confronted by the sight of Syn, not quite knowing what it was, and she could see Mercy exhuming bodies from the mine while Uno, Dos, and Tres discussed how they should minister to Syn's needs. Mercy caught The Sorrowsneaking around and briefly explained that she had taken care of The Sorrow while she was knocked out. Mercy also explained that she was no longer in the Nuns as she had been taken "as close to Heaven as she had ever been" by Syn, she explained that Big Boss had sealed the mine they were in, and now Mercy was exhuming the bodies and giving them a funeral and "a proper release to the light."

Meanwhile, Sister Alleluia was still walking toward the strip mall where the other Frogs were supposedly camped. On the way she saw a large creature hiding in bushes along the road, rather than investigate she scared the creature off but it didn't flee very far. Within sight of the strip mall, Sister Alleluia found a large white RV with it's engine running. While investigating Sister Alleluia was struck from behind by the creature from the bushes. They fought briefly but Alleluia was unhurt, and proceeded to search the RV. She decided to use the RV to ambush the Frogs behind the strip mall and proceeded to ram the vehicle through the building. On the other side she found them torturing somebody and she drove through their encampment, taking out several of them in the process. As Sister Alleluia stepped out from the RV she convinced the remaining Frogs to surrender, killing one of them. The man they were torturing was William Aitch, and he was very distressed that his RV was smashed to pieces. He asked for help getting his RV back onto the road, but the undercarriage was damaged and trying to drive it back through the remains of the strip mall caused it to get stuck. Sister Alleluia returned to Jericho with a few of her gang following behind, and the rest guarding William Aitch'es RV.

In Jericho, somebody had destroyed the fuel refinery, the main source of income for the town. Big Momma Superior found pieces of a grenade near the fuel pump and while investigating several Nuns approached her about damaged bikes, somebody had stolen wheels from one of their bikes and several other bikes had slashed tires and punctured fuel tanks while Sister Alleliua's bike was also stripped of all of it's ammo.

The Sorrow went to Cletus for some medical attention, and he attempted to use his connection to the psychic maelstrom to heal her. It worked, but in the process both of them had a momentary lapse of consciousness.

Syn began detecting envy in the town and decided to fly upwards to get a better look.

When Sister Alleluia returned to town she was informed about the vandalism to the bikes and immediately sought out the criminals responsible, finding evidence that the gypsies who had just arrived in town were doing it. She killed one in the process of interrogating them and discovered that Calico is the leader of all the gypsies traveling between towns, but Calico wants a permanent home in Jericho and sent some of his men to stir up shit and make it easier for him to take over. One of the dead gypsies was hung from the main gates and Syn proceeded to eat the body. While Alleluia continued to fight with the gypsies and tried to discover exactly where Calico was, Syn grabbed one of the gypsy minivans and carried it into the air, with people inside screaming. Once it was high above town, Syn let go of the minivan and it crashed into the ground just outside of the gates, killing all inside.

Governor Isle didn't approve of the way Sister Alleluia was handling the gypsies and the two faced off, with Alleluia seriously injuring Isle and killing several of her men. Big Momma tried to restrain Alleluia and somehow Isle escaped in the confusion. Sister Alleluia declared that they needed a new leader for the town and gave an ultimatum for Jericho, "Vote for me, or leave."

Apocalypse World: the Nuns of Anarchy

We didn't know what we were going to play. I opened the table up to discussing options and offered lots of them: I was prepped for another Apocalypse World game, I was also prepped to run Dungeon Crawl Classics or Lamentations of the Flame Princess, I had the character sheets ready for a Stars Without Number game, and I also offered other options of Shadowrun and Mage and 5eD&D, but in the end the players whittled down the options until it was Apocalypse World. One player had already written up a character, and the rest of the players just started to revolve around what he set up.

Big Momma Superior is the leader of the Nuns of Anarchy biker gang. A small group of women who've embraced Big Momma's interpretation of the old religion. Described as "we help the needy and the starving, we free the enslaved, and we only kill when necessary." The members of the gang who have earned Sister rank wield big heavy rulers, and those who are still earning their way in the gang use baseball bats and lead pipes, sometimes with crudely drawn inch markings along the cylinders.

Sister Alleluia, the former wife of Big Boss, a slaver who ran the walled shantytown of Jericho. Big Boss was a violent and vindictive man who tormented everyone around him, including his wife Marie. Marie killed her husband during Big Momma's rebellion against the town's slavers and when the people of Jericho were freed, Marie joined the Nuns and was immediately made a Sister. She later took the name Sister Alleluia.

Mercy was once a slave in Jericho and is now an Acolyte of the Nuns. She was born to pagan tribals from out west who raised horses and traded them with the local communities, until one day the slavers in Jericho wiped most of them out and enslaved the women and children. Mercy was freed from her bonds by Big Momma herself and she joined the Nuns soon after.

Cletus is the town medic, he runs an infirmary on the side of a hill sloping underneath the east wall of Jericho, and he can be found there most of the time. While he's not a member of the Nuns, he describes himself as an "angel" and claims to have been "called" to it. He travels with the Nuns when they visit neighboring communities, sometimes to offer aid to their neighbors and sometimes just to aid the Nuns.

the Sorrow is a former slave who also joined the Nuns after being freed by Big Momma. She carries around a very visible sadness and bleakness that makes some people uneasy or distrustful. She is also the most secretive, as very few know anything about her from before she arrived in Jericho. The Sorrow was forced to be a prostitute, and many of the women in Jericho who are former slaves are also former prostitutes.

All of these characters live in Jericho, but the neighboring communities are visited frequently by Big Momma Superior and the Nuns.

While designing the world we decided that the world had a Biblical apocalypse where most of humanity died or disappeared, but most people don't really know what happened. It's obscured by rumor and mystery. There are stories of beasts that rose out of the seas and giants living in the earth, and some people even claim to have seen one but the proof of these things is never confirmed. The sky, on the other hand, is visibly changed. The world is shrouded within a nearly perpetual darkness thanks to heavy clouds which cover the sky and produce lightning storms. Rain is common, but not always pleasant as it always falls with hail. The world is a cold place though it never seems to snow, nor does the temperature ever drop to a freezing point. The plants manage to weakly sprout despite the sun's concealment behind the clouds, but sunlight does peek out from behind the clouds sometimes, and that is usually a day for celebration and feasting.

In Jericho, the town is run by Governor Isle, a former slave, but she defers most of her decisions to a council comprised of six women, all are former slaves. There is a central well that people collect water from, and rainwater is also collected on the gutters of roofs. There is an fuel refinery in the center of town, but it hasn't pumped for some time. Outside of the walls the citizens tend crops that grow thin in the muddy hilltops.

The Seminary is a haven for the Nuns but is rarely visited. The place looks like a single sprawling building from the road and few people actually live there.

A man named Ivan runs the town of Perostroika. The center of their town has an old electrical station, and Ivan rations the electricity out to anybody who he deems worthy of having it. They rarely trade with their neighbors directly, Ivan prefers outsiders to visit the town and be beholden to his laws.

In Horse the Night Mother (maybe a title?) runs a theocratic village where they worship the night and believe bad things happen when the sun comes out from behind the clouds. They reject the old Bible and while Big Momma Superior has never had a direct confrontation with the Night Mother or any of the locals from Horse she knows that they won't offer hospitality to her or the Nuns.

Hunter's Palace is run by a tough woman named Heston, her laws are few but the penalties are strict. Criminals whom she exiles get hunted like animals, as there are so few good opportunities for sport in the wasteland.

Fresh Whiskey is the name of a bar and pool hall on the side of the road, there is no town nearby and no other buildings surround it or stand nearby. It is run by a burly man with thick scars across his face, everybody calls him Frank.

The town of Black Grass is not so much a town as it is a warning. The map might as well say 'here there be dragons' as nobody ever ventures that far south.

The Fort has been left undefined.

I looked at maps until I found some real world equivalent to the roads I had drawn in my initial sketch. I found a really good similarity between my rough map and the area around Huntsville, Alabama and redrew the roads of the map to reflect the major highways around that region.

I took absolutely no notes about what happened during the first play session. Here's what I remember:

A local from Jericho named Oberon was seen running through town with a mewling baby in his arms.
He was being tracked by three teenagers with greenish skin, he called them "the Frogs" and claimed they were trying to take the baby away.
Cletus tried to stop them but ended up getting stonewalled by the youths who were adamant that the old man had kidnapped the kid, though he believed they were lying.
Sister Alleluia interrogated the teens roughly and ended up shooting one in the head.
Big Momma Superior showed up shortly afterward and Sister Alleluia's machinegun accidentally discharged into Cletus.
The Frogs who were still alive, Ula and Ribbit, were told to leave town and never come back, while Oberon was calmed down in Cletus'es infirmary by Sister Mercy.
Eventually Oberon found a way to escape with the baby but was stopped by Cletus and again interrogated, but this time by the Sorrow who learned that the locals in Horse are committing human sacrifices.
The baby was wrested away from Oberon and given to Jenny Two-times who was both a mother and a nursemaid.
Grid the Watcher lives next to the infirmary, he watches from his home but never leaves.
Later that night by one of the Frogs had returned to town to ransack through Cletus'es infirmary, Cletus caught him but got beaten into unconsciousness. When he woke, Cletus used some painkillers on himself that would leave him out of action for the next day.

I have one NPC whose name I wrote down, Lecter, but I don't remember what I had them doing, if anything.

During our second session, Big Momma Superior instructed Sister Alleluia to protect the baby and she interpreted that as kill anybody who tries to take the baby away from Jenny Two-times.

Big Momma Superior was being hassled by some of the Nuns to drive down to Horse and take care of the Night Mother. She decided the best course of action was to go down and scout it out quietly, but Motown (one of the Nuns) kept giving resistance to her slow and peaceful resolve. Big Momma visited the infirmary and traded with Ruth for some first aid supplies, and gathered more than half of her gang to go scout around Horse.

Sister Alleluia stayed behind to protect the baby, and Cletus was still unconsciousness from the night before.

The gang didn't even make it halfway to Perostroika before they ran into trouble. A semi trailer had been tipped over and was blocking the road. It looked like an accident, as the metal of the trailer was ripped in some places and the seams were split along the edge of the roof. Something could be seen skittering around inside the trailer. Very carefully Sister Mercy approached the back of the trailer, pried it open and revealed a long coiling snake-like creature with spindly legs along the underside of it's body. It was wrapped around some sort of machinery in the trailer and as the warmth from it's nest escaped the back of the trailer it tensed and began to move around. Small white eggs could be seen all along the inside of the trailer, sitting along the floor and walls.
Big Momma Superior coordinated her gang to rip the roof of the trailer and expose the nest completely, but by then it had started to escape and grabbed Sister Mercy as it fled. Several of the Nuns chased after the creature and struck it with their bats and pipes and it released Mercy. In the trailer itself, The Sorrow was trying to get a better look at the machinery and jumped into the nest, then kicked out any of the young she found still lingering. Big Momma set about trying to determine the best way to take this machine, which nobody knew what it did, back to Jericho. She returned to Jericho by herself, leaving five Nuns at the trailer wreckage, and sending The Sorrow and Sister Mercy on to Horse with Sister Marilyn, Motown, and Twinkie

Back in Jericho, Sister Alleluia was picking up some bread for Jenny Two-times when she overheard the baker, Notch, talking with somebody about how the Frogs didn't even travel south when Big Momma threw them out of town. Sister Alleluia wanted to follow up on this lead but was delayed by Cletus who was checking in on the baby and explained that he had been beaten by one of the Frogs who had returned to steal from his infirmary.
Sister Alleluia wanted to know how the Frog had gotten in and upon approaching the infirmary they saw the door open and blood splashed across the floor. The same Frog had returned to the infirmary and was looting the place, during the break-in he had killed Ruth. Sister Alleluia quickly subdued the Frog and interrogated him, promising not to kill him if he told them where he was from, and he confirmed that they were from Horse but a group of them were camped out just east of town, though he didn't specify where. Cletus found Henry in the back, unconscious and hurt but alive.

Big Momma Superior arrived back in town and hearing that the Frogs were nearby decided to lock down the town and shut the gates, there was some debate whether they should chase after the Frogs that were camped outside of town or continue with trying to bring the machinery back to Jericho. Big Momma elected to focus on the machinery and gathered three more Nuns to assist in towing the trailer back, and even though Sister Alleluia wanted to go hunt down the Frogs by herself she followed Big Momma's commands.

The drizzle of rain that had been building up finally broke into a storm. Two days passed and the trailer had been towed to Jericho, Sister Alleluia decided to cook some of the snake-spider eggs and they turned translucent from the heat but tasted good nonetheless.

The next session will start by determining exactly how the scouting mission around Horse fared...

Eagles' End

We started playing the Dark Age playtest and after a session of character creation the game already feels like the sort of campaign I wanted to run with Kosranon. Low magic, low tech, bandits everywhere, mysterious monsters.
And no elves!

We started by creating the village and stronghold where the characters live, Eagles' End.

Sitting on a hill at the end of a fjord, the village is surrounded by a wooden palisade with small towers for archers constructed along strategic points along the wall. Armed with spears and bows, the people of Eagles' End defend a library where scholars and scribes study the writings left behind by the Empire of Eagles as well as collect stories and legends of the Old Gods that were worshiped before the Empire took control of the region. The countryside is plagued by bandit clans who think of themselves as the last true Imperials trying to survive amongst lawless savages, and neighboring villages grow jealous of Eagles' End inflating treasury.


click the map to make it bigger

There are three kinships of people living in Eagles' End...

the Aetosians
Driven by a desire to gather and collect knowledge left behind by the Empire of Eagles, and consolidate it with the lore of the Old Ways that survived the Empire's reign, most Aetosians revere book keeping and historical record. The Aetosians living in Eagles' End wish to found a school and are the stewards of a library, and they keep the old Eagle shrine maintained. Most of them are cynical scholars, getting greedy as they collect more treasure and artifacts. They look fat and stocky, with pale skin and curly brown hair. They often wear gaudy, bright clothing. They obsess over the traditions and customs passed down from the Empire of Eagles, a few practice sorcery, as they hold any knowledge that can be acquired sacred.

the Ferdigen
They have the longest and strongest ancestral ties to the land which they call a sacred bond between the land and the people. They were once subjugated and enslaved by the Empire of Eagles, but now they speak of themselves as a people reborn. They look athletic and muscular, with straight blonde hair and tan or tawny skin. They are a simple people, but the loud coloring of clothing that the Empire wore, and that the Aetosians wear, has begun to creep into their fashion sense. They are master archers, craftsmanship, and practice single combat extensively. A loyal people, the Ferdigen consider themselves benevolent protectors of the Aetosians who search for the lost heritage and traditions of the Ferdigen people, and Ferdigen loyalty has led to many of them beginning to emulate their scholarly wards. The celebrations where they venerate the uprising of the Old Gods sometimes last for days.

the Munii
Once part of a vast and far-reaching empire of their own, the Munii were displaced by the rise of the Empire of Eagles and fallen into decline and ruin, scattered to many regions as disparate families of rogue pagans. They look tall and fair-skinned, with muddy-red hair that they keep loosely cut or tie back with simple ribbons, and typically wear simple clothes without ornamentation or unnecessary coloring. Near Eagles' End is one large family that settled along the river and built a small village where their descendants now fish and hunt and only trade with those who prove themselves worthy. A few Munii have spread into Eagles' End proper and prosper as messengers and prophets of the Old Gods. They are ever vigilant against monsters and trolls, their ruthlessness is matched by their great beauty, their sorcery and enchantments as well as their marvelous feasts are envied. They hold the brutal cycle of nature sacred by worshiping spirit animals, especially predatory beasts such as wolves and bears.

Amongst the leaders and influential voices of Eagles' End are...

Lothric, the Ferdigen head of the Shrat household, is the Keep-Liege and rules Eagles' End. He tries to seem discerning and fair to his subjects, but he has always been more skilled in fighting than in law or judgment. He has personally established trade with many of his neighbors, though his overbearing physique and skill in combat are more likely responsible for the favors he has earned than diplomacy or skilled negotiations.

Ozan Renjara, the Outranger, was trained by the Ferdigen people to be a capable warrior though he was born as an Aetosian. His family was slaughtered by the Rapuns and has been adopted into, and earned a place of honor in, the Shrat household. He sometimes acts as Lothric's eyes and ears and is empowered by the Keep-Liege to forge trade with neighboring communities. He sometimes acts as a guide for travelers and exiles as his status affords him welcome in many places.

Leon Sofia, an Aetosian and Lothric's Court Wizard, spends his time maintaining the library and fostering expeditions in search of scrolls and parchment left behind by the Empire of Eagles. So far he has ignored the rising popularity of a return to the Old Ways amongst the people of Eagle's End but a schism of influence has already started to foment within his own household.

Hypatia Sofia, an Aetosian and self-proclaimed Dragon-Herald. She wants to return to the Old Ways and believes the dragons are benevolent and will return if more people embrace and worship the Old Gods. She also favors gathering knowledge left behind by the Empire and learning from it, though she still believes the slumbering dragons despise anything related to the Empire and will destroy those remnants when they awaken.

Hurit of the Arania household, a Munii and Wicker-Wise, the healer and midwife of Eagles' End, she is a master chemist and wears elaborately embroidered clothing and many rings and earrings as a sign of her status within the stronghold. She requires that supplicants kiss her hand to show proper respect before she will address their problems or assist them when she is fortune-telling, which many Ferdigen come to her for.

Togquos of the Arania household, a Munii and War-Champion. She recently gave birth to a daughter and the father was a Ferdigen who fought beside Togquos, Jesse of Pyreth, after the battle they spent much of their private time together. Togquos is well-known everywhere she goes and she is known by the Munii as "the Eagle-Killer." She dresses fancy, has many piercings, and carries a magical dagger which causes wound that no man has ever recovered from.

Aranck is a Troll-Killer and was adopted into the Arania household, her people and home are known only to her. As a child Aranck was rumored to be a troll born into the body of a child, and as she grew into adulthood she began traveling as a mercenary. She was determined to prove that she wasn't trollborn and became a hunter and killer of trolls but was still exiled by her aunt, who was also the chieftain of her tribe.

Other people who neighbor or live near Eagles' End are...

the Rapuns
A small nomadic band who worship the god, Stone, a being who lives in natural rock and is composed of stone. They are the closest neighbors to Eagles' End and typically fish and herd sheep upriver, but also trade with the Munii village to the north. They look tall and stocky with bronze skin, stoop shouldered and keep their wiry hair and beards short. They have an insular disposition and are typically untrustworthy of others. They are responsible for many of the circles of standing stones that can be found inland, and manage to travel through many areas where they know the land is rich.

the Spider clan
An outlaw band of descendants of former scholars and craftsmen who took up the sword, they hold the Empire of Eagles up as a paragon of civilization and consider the villages and townships in the area to be savage and filthy. They look much like Aetosians, as they were once members of the shrine stewards in Eagles' End, they are pale skinned and wear bright clothing, but have spare and willowy bodies topped with curly blonde hair. They tattoo their arms and legs, often with web patterns and depictions of spiders, and ornament their weaponry and fur clothing with amber stones. They have become skilled fighters and are known to make daring and fearless raids on weakened or vulnerable people. They have sworn blood vengeance upon the Ferdigen and the Aetosians over minor disagreements that nobody remembers. They venerate a mysterious spider god whose legends were told within the Empire of Eagles, but whose stories were never committed to parchment.

the Matosians
They worship the Witch-King, which is a person but also a title worn by their current king, Malik. The last Witch-King died at Malik's hands last summer, and since then trade with Eagles' End has ceased. Matosians look fair-skinned with muddy red hair and wear simple, dark clothing. They have been ruthless to their enemies in the past and crucify their criminals rather than exile them. Malik is also known to dislike any who do not worship the Witch-King before other deities. Matosians view the Empire of Eagles as a decadent and corpulent society that deserved to die, and they consider any who recite knowledge of the Empire as being corrupted by it. They love spicy food and bitter alcohol.

the Aetar
The last descendants of a military order from within the Imperial Legionnaires. The Aetar look pale and dark-haired, and wear bright yellow and white clothing or armor. They are fanatically devoted to Imperial law, which they pass down as an oral tradition. The Aetar hold everything about the Empire of Eagles sacred and would likely become allies with Aetosians if the Aetosians weren't trying to study the Old Gods and collect knowledge about the Old Ways before the Empire destroyed most of it. They have dwindled in numbers as they refuse to recruit Munii or Ferdigen or anybody else into their ranks. When they attack a community they do not take prisoners and attempt to slaughter anyone they find.

the dark twist

Apocalypse World: 10th session
click for previous session

During his preparation for the big (fake) fight the Swampys were going to put on for William H. Esquire Esq., he tracked down and confronted Onyx and convinced him to leave the Slavers and join up with his gang.

Morticia had been hearing rumors that anybody who hurts the Fishers ends up dead, and since she killed Gams she wanted to investigate these rumors. Tracking down Lamprey and Philo she found out that they were scared of her and didn't really believe the rumors themselves, but they were definitely hiding something from her. While leaving the Arcade Morticia noticed a big truck pulling into town that gave a wide berth from the Slavers. She had heard that some of the Slavers wanted William H. Esquire Esq. dead and decided to follow these newcomers.

Spector spent time installing two of the gun turrets on the tops of the destroyed warehouses, and Snail met with her afterward to offer her a relic of the golden age past in exchange for the plant growing on the spine of her assistant and lover, Cullen. She accepted, without discovering how Snail knew about the plant.

Ever since his very public foursome, Boy Esquire had been followed by two girls, Chase and Amex, who began working as whores for him. They were infected with the dark twist and so he was trying to find a way to cure them. Nothing was working, so he went searching for Snail but was blocked by the Garden, and when Snail finally appeared Boy Esquire was coerced into letting Snail dance with him before the big fight.

One of the newcomers, a woman named Susan, found William H. Esquire Esq. and asked to speak with him in private, but Morticia interrupted and intimated that she thought these people were here to kill him. Preparing for the worst William H. Esquire Esq. met with Susan and discovered that she was the mysterious owner of the Stax. Susan didn't like Slaver towns and was pleased to find that William H. Esquire Esq. didn't support them but tolerated them. She also wanted permission from him to get justice over the death of Gams and Braille, and William H. Esquire Esq. explained that disputes are resolved in the Pit, but anything that happened outside of town was also fair as long as it didn't come back into town. Susan thanked him and left, and William H. Esquire Esq. relayed a message to Morticia about who Susan was.

The pre-show dance went off without a hitch, though many people were visibly concerned with Chase and Amex's health. Snail's interpretive dancing was also remarked upon widely.

Gnarly led his gang into the Pit and put on a very good show for William H. Esquire Esq.. They decisively announced that cannibalism is not allowed in Arcade Esquire and at the end of the show the Swampys joined William H. Esquire Esq.'s gang.

After the show Onyx brought Boy Esquire a fancy pistol as a gift. Weaving through the crowd Morticia tried to confront Susan in town, but noticed that they were both surrounded by Susan's guards and Susan refused to talk with Morticia unless they met outside of town. Slightly panicked, Morticia found William H. Esquire Esq. and asked him to accompany her outside and he agreed. They met Susan by her truck, her gang packed into the back seats and ready to leave Arcade Esquire. Susan explained that Gams was an asshole and probably deserved to die, but he was still her employee, and the Stax was hers before Morticia took over in Braille's absence. She demanded to either receive 2-barter every month or Morticia could buy the Stax from her for 5-barter. William H. Esquire Esq. thought this sounded fair and Morticia agreed to pay 2-barter now but insisted she would want to buy the Stax in the future.

Susan confirmed with William H. Esquire Esq. that he wouldn't care about anything that happens outside of town and he said "Yes, as long as the town doesn't get blamed for whatever you do." and at that Susan strolled over to the Slavers encampment and slaughtered them all single-handedly. Both William H. Esquire Esq. and Morticia made a hasty retreat before the shooting started.

THE NEXT DAY
Marlowe's pregnancy was moving further along, he left town to find a safer place where he might be able to give birth.

Spector successfully removed the plant from Cullen's spine and, per their arrangement, she gave the plant to Snail who then took it to his family, Orchid and the Garden.

William H. Esquire Esq. tried to commune with the Tree but received visions of enslavement. He decided that the Tree needed to be freed, and since he viewed Snail as a representative for the Garden went to him to discuss the Tree's enslavement.

Morticia spent her time trying to cure members of her crew who had contracted the dark twist, but the only healer in town, Rags, was also infected. Going to his goat farm, Morticia saw that all of Rags' livestock was infected as well.

William H. Esquire Esq. and Spector spent some time trying to convince Snail to move the Garden out of town, but he claimed he couldn't control them. Snail auguried over the Tree and opened a very large portal that spread across the town of Arcade Esquire, William H. Esquire Esq. and Boy Esquire appeared to be completely untouched by it. In that moment Snail was able to pull on the bonds between the Garden and the Tree and instead of cementing the Garden's control over the Tree he betrayed them. The Tree became Snail's new family, the conflict between the two entities balanced evenly, and as Snail closed the portal into the maelstrom Morticia was enveloped by it and disappeared.

At that moment an earthquake shook the town. Large tree roots disgorged the earth, and corpses beneath the soil were uncovered and vomited out.

to be continued

MC Note: the game might go on hiatus for awhile since we're about to start playtesting Apocalypse World: Dark Age

Dude, where's my garage?

Apocalypse World: 9th session
click for previous session

Spector returned to town and her crew, Cullen and Whitehead, learned about how their gang got slaughtered by the Swampys. Whitehead was really pissed but he kept his cool, and he even managed to make contact with the last surviving Baller, Gray, and she joined Spector's garage crew.

William H. Esquire Esq. returned to town, and saw some Slavers pouring cement and building what they called a "pit stop" across the road from Arcade, which William H. Esquire Esq. now christened as Arcade Esquire. The Slavers met him and his gang with hostility but rather than start a fight he backed off and returned to town. Many of the people in Arcade Esquire were startled at his return and started talking about fighting the Slavers.

Boy Esquire stayed behind and tried to work his way into the Slavers' gang, but got bored before their leader Onyx would make time for him.

Dremmer, a twister, was preaching of the glories of the Dark Twist in the marketplace and flinging the dark slime oozing from his pores onto anybody who came near him. William H. Esquire Esq. tried to approach him and got hit in the face with some of the black slime, then Marlowe shot at Dremmer wounding him, Dremmer ran and before Marlowe could kill him William H. Esquire Esq.'s gang arrested Marlowe and threw him into a cell. In the cell, Marlowe found a poster listing the Rights and Articles of the Free People of the Shop.

Snail wiped the slime off of William H. Esquire Esq.'s face then took it the Household and Orchid instructed Snail to infect people with the slime before he would hand over a cure.

Spector finished the portable tunnel and gave it to William H. Esquire Esq., who asked her to set up the guns they scavenged from Montana around the perimeter of Arcade Esquire, but half of them turned out to be missing from the armory.

William H. Esquire Esq. confronted the Swampys about their cannibalism in his absence and negotiated for them to have a "fake" fight between the diehard cannibals in their group and the ones who wanted to reform to William H. Esquire Esq.'s way of ... eating. Their leader, Gnarly, agreed to the idea. Afterward William H. Esquire Esq. released Marlowe with the understanding that he can't just attack people.

Boy Esquire tried to help Snail get some new clothes, but Snail was insistent that he was going to keep wearing the dress. They both went to Rags'es goat trough to clean themselves off, and Snail managed to infect a few people with the Dark Twist along the way, but Boy Esquire seemed to be immune.

Morticia found Gams smashing up her bar in the Stax. Gams looked tough and had a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth, but Morticia met him with violence regardless. Though she was deeply injured Morticia prevailed and got bandaged up by Rags.

Snail confronted Orchid and demanded to be let back into the House but Orchid explained to Snail that they were one and the same, Orchid was just a shell that the House spoke through, and Orchid further explained that the House no longer wanted him to be a part of it. Instead, he should consider himself part of the Garden: the growing group of children and teenagers that reverentially followed Orchid.

Marlowe caught up with Dremmer and forced him to promise that he would leave town, but in the course of the conversation he learned that Dremmer had been infected with the Dark Twist by people in Hanford and they were holding Dremmer's wife and three daughters as hostages in exchange for him coming to Arcade Esquire and infecting the populace. Marlowe enlisted Snail's aid and they cured Dremmer of the Dark Twist.

Spector's garage was inexplicably in a new location very close to the Tree and the fighting arena. Spector was trying to deduce how her garage got moved across town while she was inside of it with her crew, some people seemed to think it hadn't moved at all, but others agreed that it was in a suddenly new position in town. Snail was convinced the Tree had somehow done it. When Boy Esquire was asked about what he knew of the Tree he tried to leverage his knowledge for sex with Spector and through the course of negotiations a small orgy happened between Boy Esquire, Spector, her assistant Cullen, and Morticia

It's like that old saying "fourth time's the charm"

Apocalypse World: 8th session
click for previous session

After William H. Esquire Esq. was driven away in the Slavers' trucks, Boy Esquire, Marlowe and Morticia cleaned themselves off in one of Rags' water troughs. Snail appeared, naked and slimy, and revealed he had been ejected from his House (changed to the Last Child playbook), he seemed agitated and afraid and looked very young now that he was no longer inside the thick leather shell of the House so Boy Esquire tried to help him by finding (stealing) new clothes for him from inside the Arcade.

Morticia seduced one of the Slavers, Queen, the apparent leader of the bikers, and brought him back to her house, a storage container that once housed many of the arena gladiators but now belonging solely to her. The Ballers and Swampys started fighting again, and gunfire could be heard across town. Morticia intervened and convinced the two gangs to fight in the arena where spectators wouldn't get injured and could bet on the fight. Left to their own devices, the Swampys won and with William H. Esquire Esq. seemingly no longer in charge they began to feast on the corpses of the Ballers.

The House took possession of a spot underneath the Tree and a small group of people started to pray to the House. Snail led Boy Esquire back to the House and they discovered a new person was sitting inside of the suit, Orchid. Snail demanded to be let back in, but Orchid ignored him and shut him out of the group forming around them, the Household.

Marlowe eavesdropped on Rags and Toyota, discovering that Chief had been muscling Rags for drugs and medicine without paying, but then overcharging Toyota. Toyota was having a withdrawal fit and seemed on the verge of violence, but Marlowe threatened him and he ran off.

Meanwhile, William H. Esquire Esq. accepted his new role as "slave" for the most part. The guard that was left on him, Robot, made promises to check in on Arcade and suggested he might abandon his job in the City by the Sea. William H. Esquire Esq. was taken to a cell at the Courthouse and was told he would be assigned a job the next day.



In the morning William H. Esquire Esq. could see the ancient skyline of an abandoned city, overgrown with weeds and flowers and plants that towers alongside the old world's skyscrapers and office blocks. He was given a work assignment in the Field and escorted there by Robot who then left. Another guard, Fleece, began to succumb to William H. Esquire Esq.'s charms and was soon promising to take William H. Esquire Esq. to see either Lala or Bill, the two top people underneath Sweet.

Morticia arrived at the Stax the next day and saw Chief taking over the business now that Braille was dead. She took two steps behind the bar and met with immediate resistance from Chief and so Morticia killed him with one quick blow to the head with her club. She then announced that the Stax was hers and nobody protested.

William H. Esquire Esq.'s gang was warily passing the Slaver bikers as they headed west toward the Fishers' Place and both Marlowe and Boy Esquire followed the gang. Birthday detailed a rough plan they had of hiking along the riverside until they found the City by the Sea and looking for a way to sneak in and break William H. Esquire Esq. free.

In the City by the Sea William H. Esquire Esq. had already made waves. He managed to get a meeting with Bill and then convinced Bill to take him to Sweet. In Sweet's company, William H. Esquire Esq. tried to convince her that slavery was wrong but she explained that two towns nearby once tried to institute democratic rule and both failed spectacularly. Sweet also explained that her sister used to run Arcade but back then it was called the Shop. William H. Esquire Esq. admitted that Sweet's rules seemed logical, but he made a mental note of trying to thwart them later. Bill revealed that William H. Esquire Esq.'s gang was spotted hiking along the river and Sweet offered a new deal: he would be returned to lead Arcade as long as he accepted and facilitated the first deal that Ritchie had offered, or he could keep being a slave in the City by the Sea and any resistance from the Arcade would be wiped out. He took the deal.

Later on Bill piloted a boat down the river for William H. Esquire Esq. and when they met up with his gang there was fighting happening between them and a large underwater plant with tentacle vines that floated on the water's surface. Snail managed to kill the plant, and in the aftermath Bill made sure everybody got safely back to Arcade.


Also, this is what William H. Esquire Esq. looks like (Antonio Fargas with a face tattoo)

"Call-Me-Kenneth and the Sonic Pigs" would be a great band name

Apocalypse World: 7th session
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A new character joined our cast:
the Spectacle - Morticia the Magnificent has been fighting in the sinkhole that everyone calls the Pit for several weeks, the last fight she won was to the death

After returning from Montana and settling back into town William H. Esquire Esq. decided to sell the Arcade to his former employee, Betty, and establish his hold over the town, by throwing a huge party to celebrate. This activated everybody's sex moves. Boy Esquire became a Skinner, Marlowe got pregnant, Morticia had an orgy with her fans, and Snail took a closer look at William H. Esquire Esq. with his acquisitive eye.

When Betty took over the Arcade she kicked Boy Esquire out and he had to find a place to sleep, so he dug out a small pit behind the Arcade. He had been offered a role as a fighter in the Pit but turned it down, and Pit the Elder told Morticia to start antagonizing Boy Esquire so that he would want to fight her in the Pit.

Uncrow had stayed behind after Gau led his tribe members back to their hidden grotto, but had been murdered and nobody had done anything with his body. Boy Esquire decided to loot the dead body and took the late Good Deal tribal's armor and weapons. Marlowe showed up to investigate the murder and in the midst of questioning Boy Esquire saw movement in Uncrow's tent. The two of them approached with weapons drawn and were confronted by a sonic pig. Their immediate reaction was to try and kill it, but not before it screamed and compelled the two to shit themselves.

picture by Logan Knight

Another scream was heard in town. Marlowe and Boy Esquire went to investigate, while Morticia met with Betty about a job offer and discovered that Betty wanted Boy Esquire killed. William H. Esquire Esq. was told about the sonic pigs and he escorted Marlowe and Boy Esquire to the Arcade so they could get cleaned up. Boy Esquire snuck away and cleaned himself off in one of Rags' troughs for his goats. William H. Esquire Esq. discovered Betty's job offer and convinced her to let it go, but Morticia had already set up a fight with Boy Esquire in the Pit.

William H. Esquire Esq. met with both Pit the Elder and Pit the Younger and bribed them into changing the fight at the last minute. Morticia won her fight, and Boy Esquire was stepping into the sinkhole to dance artfully & graciously for the crowd, but was interrupted by some slavers who had moved into town...

This is when the sonic pigs showed up.

Four sonic pigs were unleashed upon the crowd by four slavers wearing ear plugs. While fighting the sonic pigs, Morticia was attacked from behind by a slaver and started to be carried out of the Pit. Marlowe came to assist Boy Esquire but they were overwhelmed by the sonic pigs shrieking. William H. Esquire Esq. took steps to capture one of the sonic pigs but gunfire could be heard outside of the Pit and the crowd was obviously being corralled by more slavers that were in town. Snail assisted those fighting the sonic pigs and desperately opened his brain while touching the weird tree at the edge of the Pit and saw a vision that the tree was "in control" of the Arcade but that his hoard was stealing power from the tree and that's what drew the slavers' attention to town.

William H. Esquire Esq. managed to get to his house hanging above the center of town. The leader of the slavers, Call-Me-Kenneth, walked into the center of town with a retinue of armed guards and demanded recompense from William H. Esquire Esq. A brief showdown with Braille occurred, but she was killed by Call-Me-Kenneth's enforcers. William H. Esquire Esq. made a deal with Call-Me-Kenneth to surrender himself publicly in exchange for releasing the citizens of his town, and so they did. Morticia and many of her fans were released as William H. Esquire Esq. was bundled into a truck and driven away...

Apocalypse World: Nobody's Home (6th session)

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William H. Esquire Esq. awoke in his Arcade with a little memory loss. He was sure that he had been knocked out by a couple of Ballers but he wasn't sure why. There was some discussion about the gunfight that had just happened while Gau's tribals tried to figure out how to operate the motorcycles. Gau prayed to his ancestors to find the nearest source of fuel to fill the gastanks of these motorcycles and sensed it was north of Arcade, in the ruins of the Big 90.

William H. Esquire Esq. didn't want to use the motorcycles and preferred using a car to drive over to Montana and used fingers in every pie to get it, and that's when Lamprey showed up with his brother Philo Foureyes who was willing to hand over his dump truck in exchange for a job. Philo Foureyes is a Fisher and thus he is also a mutant.

image from Nate Marcel's Make Your Own Mudmen Eye Types
Kidboy announced that he would no longer answer to that name, now he should be called Boy Esquire.

Snail was off studying Silver's Meno Moon Array, and the rest of them hopped into the dump truck, Spector took her crew, Cullen and Whitehead, while William H. Esquire Esq. brought his guard Tango. They headed north, with Boy Esquire driving. When they reached the ruins of the Big 90 they found the decaying buses and vans that made up the walls of the Big 90 and two smashed up cars with people tied up and staked to the hoods, a crowd was gathered around listening to a preacher wearing an old and tattered American flag as a robe. As the group warily approached the crowd they could hear the words of Father beckoning to rebuild the America that was once forged in flames, and that the fires of redemption would burn away the fat of decadence and evils of idleness. William H. Esquire Esq. took issue with this, and tried to compete with Father to convince the crowd that the Arcade was a better place to make a home for themselves. Father's flamethrower-wielding guards, June and Birthday, defected to William H. Esquire Esq. and so Father declared him to be a devil, an agent of the apocalypse that laid America low.

Marlowe used the distraction to free the the two people who were tied up, discovering that they were doused in gasoline, and Gau took advantage of the distraction to circle around the crowd and attempt to bushwhack Father from behind. Marlowe succeeded, but when he climbed up onto the car that Father was standing on Gau slipped and his gun went off, killing a kid in the crowd. William H. Esquire Esq. attempted to comfort the mother, but she was having none of it. Gau beat Father to death before he could rally the crowd, but they began to move toward William H. Esquire Esq. with violence in mind. William H. Esquire Esq. commanded everyone to retreat and they quickly got back into the dump truck and fled. William H. Esquire Esq. wanted to get back to Arcade but Boy Esquire insisted that they were going to Montana.

When they arrived, they found abandoned farm fields with tree stumps along the edges. The house of Montana was in ruins, with smashed windows and peeling paint, the barn behind it looked in a similar state of disrepair, and the field between the two buildings was ringed by a thick wooden wall with one closed door, big enough for a medium-sized car to drive through. In the middle of the compound, a 40-foot tall antenna stood, lights along the antenna blinked betraying that an active generator was inside the compound. An almost perfect circle had been cut out of the surrounding woods and the circle was lined with the bodies of dead animals and a few dead humans, their flesh left to scour in the wind and weather, no scavengers or carrion feeders had even touched the decaying corpses. As Boy Esquire and William H. Esquire Esq. attempted to approach the compound on foot, gunfire erupted from slats in the walls.

William H. Esquire Esq. made repeated attempts to convince or bribe the occupants behind the wall that they weren't a threat, but the gunfire continued against anyone approaching within the circle. Spector found one route where the guns had difficulty aiming, and managed to run up to the dilapidated house while others distracted the mute gunners. Gau and Boy Esquire both got severely injured by gunfire, and Marlowe took it upon himself to drive the dump truck up to the wooden wall, he wasn't going fast enough to plow a hole through the barricade but he did manage to seal up one of the gun slats. As William H. Esquire Esq. worked his way around to the garage door, Tango, one of his guards, was killed by another gun, and Spector managed to get inside of the compound, but set off a mine attached to a door in the process.

Everybody but Gau made it inside, while he waited outside of the circle, weeping over his wounds and the terrible events f earlier in the day. They searched the compound and found it nearly abandoned, an ancient computer connected to the antenna was hooked up with wires and cables to unmanned machine guns placed along the slats in the walls of the compound. They unplugged the entire device from the generator, and a beeping noise could be heard coming from the antenna. Spector found the harness she needed to finish making her Secret Portable Tunnel, while Marlowe and Boy Esquire searched the barn and found many dead bodies that had all apparently been poisoned. They found a few medical supplies and took them out to Gau to heal his wounds.

Leaving Spector and her laborers behind to go over the abandoned equipment, they dismantled the guns and drove back to Arcade. Gau vowed to return his tribe to their secret grotto and made plans to protect them from these crazy outsiders while retiring to safety.

Apocalypse World: Weirder & Weirder (4th and 5th sessions)

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The Cast of Characters

the Maestro d' - William H. Esquire Esquire owns the Arcade, a bar and brothel with a few working video game cabinets. The town it's a part of has also come to be referred to as Arcade.

the Tribal - Gau is a member of the Good Deal tribe, a hardy and pragmatic people who reside in an isolated grotto.

the Hoarder - Snail lives inside of a giant spherical suit of advanced technological origin called The House.

the Kid - Kidboy is an orphan who has been taken in by William H. Esquire Esq. as a protege.

the Savvyhead - Spector has set up a garage in the middle of Arcade

the Marmot - Marlowe has been in Arcade long enough to solve one murder, and realize that nobody is really in charge.

The Map

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Gau returned to Arcade with some members of the Good Deal tribe. He has been selected by Blind Blue, the leader of their tribe, to decide whether the tribe should fortify where they live or look for a new place to move on to.

Kidboy manages to steal his lucky charm, a safety pin, back from Snail while he's sleeping. Betty's Sister begins to mother Kidboy and tries to encourage him to toughen up, assigning him to guard the door to the Arcade with Tango.

Happy ran into the Arcade missing two of his fingers and bleeding profusely. They stopped the bleeding and Happy was reticent about what happened but managed to reveal he had a confrontation with the Fisher Family, one of them had very sharp teeth.

Some of the Fisher Family showed up just as Ritchie returned to town. Ritchie explained that he worked for Sweet, and she wanted to offer William H. Esquire Esq. free food in exchange for free passage to Sweet's Army. Sweet is the leader of some group from the north and they were going to move through the Big 90 and Montana, but nobody in Montana will even talk to them and Ritchie reveals that this is where he lost his eye. The Arcade is an alternative for them where they feel they wouldn't have to fight anybody to travel through. William H. Esquire Esq. decides to hold a feast for everybody in Arcade and declares he won't make a deal unless he can talk to Sweet face to face.

There are rumors of a talking rat in town.

William H. Esquire Esq. asks Spector to start work on a secret portable tunnel so that he'll always be able to escape the Arcade if it gets attacked. Spector goes back to her garage to work on the project and sends out her crew to scavenge for tech and finds out that Silver is in Arcade and trying to finish his Meno Moon Array. She helps him finish it and as it turns on she makes the thing speak and has a vision of what the Meno Moon Array does; it sends a laser signal to a base on the Moon so that the inhabitants there, sentient uplifted dolphins, can pinpoint coordinates for landing back on the Earth.

William H. Esquire Esq. then goes to confront Braille whose been moving in on his business. Rather than convince her that they should work together, he hypnotizes her and she begins to follow him around. He discovers that she's being supplied by Gams, somebody who wants in on William H. Esquire Esq.'s business.

The next day Ritchie and his gang leave town. They offer William H. Esquire Esq. the opportunity to punish one of their own, who had previously tried to kill one of the Arcade's regulars Lamprey, but William H. Esquire Esq. lets them go.

Gau prays to his ancestors for guidance and they reveal that a key component for Spector's project, the secret portable tunnel, is in Montana. William H. Esquire Esq. begins making plans for a trip to Montana when Betty's Sister is killed, apparently by Kidboy's safety pin. A few people witness it, but any who are told what happened remain skeptical. Kidboy insists he only punched Betty's Sister and didn't kill her.

William H. Esquire Esq. orders his crew to clean up the bar and fetch the undertaker, then goes back to Braille's place, the Stax, to work out what she'll do for him while he travels to Montana. He gets ambushed on the way by a few disgruntled Ballers.

Marlowe walks into the bar while people are still debating whether Kidboy's safety pin could have killed Betty's Sister and a long investigation of Kidboy's safety pin ensues. At one point Kidboy swallows the safety pin to make sure nobody can get it, but he begins to feel ill and is convinced to vomit it up. Gau has a vision of pools of blood around the Arcade all circling toward the tree on the edge of town and funneling down into the safety pin from the trees' roots.

Snail finally gets Gau's hat, apparently just by asking for it.

There is a shootout just outside of the Arcade. Marlowe and Gau's tribal gang makes short work of the six bikers. They are all wearing a similar kind of leather fatigue outfit that Marlowe has seen on the road coming to Arcade from Cellar Town. When the fighting is done, somebody discovers William H. Esquire Esq.'s body. He's alive but unconscious.

Another Map

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