It would be all too easy for Project Sunburn to be a 3-dungeon crawl. The players arm up by killing patrols, and looting their stuff. Then, when they have enough bullets and medkits, rush one of the EMPIRE facilities. Maybe bump into the mythos of the Hellhammer by accident. It would be so easy to run this game like regular D&D.
But it's not D&D- it's supposed to be harsh and "survival oriented," and "difficult." The patrols have at most 20 bullets per person, and less than two canteens of water. Everyone is supposed to feel the pinch.
PS is very highly modeled after Hunter Prey. The idea of being stranded on a desert planet- I mean, come on guys... OHS-817. Read it in 1337- is a horrible thing to fathom, especially if there is a literal EMPIRE who destroys gods for weapons research.
So what is the gameplay?
There must be wandering. Fallout-style random encounters with Drahn, EMPIRE, twisters, and other random crap would bring more life to an otherwise gameplay-dry desert. Maybe they find a missing piece of Hellhammer out there.
I want 3 EMPIRE bases in the desert- Hellhammer site, and 2 outposts. The map is going to have geography in such a way as to isolate the final encounter, perhaps in a mountain range defended by twisters. Now, just the light-weight twisties. I'm not evil enough to put down the full-bore pick-you-up-and-maim-you ones.
I'll be thinking about it for the rest of the day. I'd like to cite Chrono Trigger's gameplay as inspiration- find local legends, then find them out there. With an emphasis on exploration and water scavenging.
For an example, I've been considering a tornado pit. A track shaped like a ring, with a big twister in it. And at the very center is something magical. Most likely the Burning Wheel itself, because that's just epic. More thoughts on this later.
October 11, 2012
October 10, 2012
Burning Wheel
I think I've got it all figured out. I was listening to this song-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRtNN6VvncA&feature=related
- when I got a really good idea.
The Drahn have a god-figure of sorts. It's the concept of an all-powerful object or being which when prayed to, gives them water. Well, the EMPIRE are complete dicks, so they took the stone idol and left the rest of the shrine to crack in the sun.
It's a circle with a wedge-shaped piece inserted in the side. Looks like this, but made out of stone:
That bit in the bottom is Hellhammer. The EMPIRE thinks they can weaponize it as a dehydrator weapon- something incredibly useful on desert planets.
This barely changes the plot- the players can find the shrine to the ring, and notice the bit at the bottom is missing. It also talks to them. "Machine, god, machine god... Does it matter? I restore water to the faithful insects, as I need a piece of myself restored to me."
The endings are as follows:
-Reconnecting the wheel will bring water back to the water table beneath the Drahn colonies, but strand the players on OHS-817 (still hilarious) forever.
-If the players hold Hellhammer hostage, the EMPIRE will finally get them a shuttle off the planet.
-If the players shoot Hellhammer out of the artillery piece, it will punch a hole in the debris cloud big enough and long enough for the Brahma to pick them up.
-If the players destroy Hellhammer... Well, they can't. It's made out of the invincible alien stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRtNN6VvncA&feature=related
- when I got a really good idea.
The Drahn have a god-figure of sorts. It's the concept of an all-powerful object or being which when prayed to, gives them water. Well, the EMPIRE are complete dicks, so they took the stone idol and left the rest of the shrine to crack in the sun.
It's a circle with a wedge-shaped piece inserted in the side. Looks like this, but made out of stone:
This barely changes the plot- the players can find the shrine to the ring, and notice the bit at the bottom is missing. It also talks to them. "Machine, god, machine god... Does it matter? I restore water to the faithful insects, as I need a piece of myself restored to me."
The endings are as follows:
-Reconnecting the wheel will bring water back to the water table beneath the Drahn colonies, but strand the players on OHS-817 (still hilarious) forever.
-If the players hold Hellhammer hostage, the EMPIRE will finally get them a shuttle off the planet.
-If the players shoot Hellhammer out of the artillery piece, it will punch a hole in the debris cloud big enough and long enough for the Brahma to pick them up.
-If the players destroy Hellhammer... Well, they can't. It's made out of the invincible alien stuff.
October 4, 2012
EE test run
I've been getting ahead of myself recently.
Project Sunburn is cool and all, but I need a proof-of-concept test first. Something simple, that only uses the core skills.
Hmm...
I thought about zombies for a while. Just a quick romp around a sunny, ideal American town filled with the undead. But zombies are way overdone. Like seriously overdone. Just ask anyone who remembers ~2008.
I'm thinking of something funnier, a lot more sardonic (?). Like a counter-culture romp. An entire town filled with idiots, worshiping some stupid, banal thing because it's on every screen. I'd have trouble pulling this one off as a GM (personal bias and all that), but it's a cool concept. I think I'll brainstorm for a little bit longer.
Update: Screw it. Sunburn is really short. Maybe a few sessions long. I'm using my official "fuck it" stamp, and forging ahead. This is going to be fun.
Onward, to glory!
Project Sunburn is cool and all, but I need a proof-of-concept test first. Something simple, that only uses the core skills.
Hmm...
I thought about zombies for a while. Just a quick romp around a sunny, ideal American town filled with the undead. But zombies are way overdone. Like seriously overdone. Just ask anyone who remembers ~2008.
I'm thinking of something funnier, a lot more sardonic (?). Like a counter-culture romp. An entire town filled with idiots, worshiping some stupid, banal thing because it's on every screen. I'd have trouble pulling this one off as a GM (personal bias and all that), but it's a cool concept. I think I'll brainstorm for a little bit longer.
Update: Screw it. Sunburn is really short. Maybe a few sessions long. I'm using my official "fuck it" stamp, and forging ahead. This is going to be fun.
Onward, to glory!
EMPIRE
Their motivation is simple: Find the artifact the Drahn keep talking about, extract it, then establish a more permanent foothold "for mining operations."
They've established ~four outposts, in addition to the Hellhammer site. Not sure how far the players can attack into these, but any caravan or patrol is fair game.
To be a dick to the players, the EMPIRE troopers drink salt water. Yuck! The players will need a De-salinator to make it drinkable. But at least they carry water.
They also carry guns. Nasty guns. I'm thinking:
Um... Blogger doesn't do tables.
The weapons will be in better or worse condition. Worse ones are more common than better ones, as dictated by a D20 roll.
EMPIRE armor is meant to work against their own weapons- it has a chemical protection as well as kinetic and concussive.
As for vehicles, I was thinking hovercraft or something similar. Those are pretty cool.
Though, realistically, a hovercraft would be really crappy in a desert, filled with lots of dunes. It'll most likely be a tank-treaded thing. Like a large sledge. I'll figure it out.
They've established ~four outposts, in addition to the Hellhammer site. Not sure how far the players can attack into these, but any caravan or patrol is fair game.
To be a dick to the players, the EMPIRE troopers drink salt water. Yuck! The players will need a De-salinator to make it drinkable. But at least they carry water.
They also carry guns. Nasty guns. I'm thinking:
- Assault rifle (ammunition is acidic- feel the burn!)
- Marksman rifle (Larger rounds with more penetrating power- fewer in magazine)
- Pistol (because everybody needs a pistol. Something stealthy. Like a poison gun? That's cool.)
- Grenade Launcher (either incendiary, chemical, or fragmentation)
- Heavy machine gun (fires assault rifle ammunition at crazy high-speeds)
- Cool combat knife (heavier and more armor piercing than Drahn weapons)
Um... Blogger doesn't do tables.
The weapons will be in better or worse condition. Worse ones are more common than better ones, as dictated by a D20 roll.
- Uniquely Terrible (1-2)
- Cursed (2-4)
- Unlucky (5-6)
- Average (7-17)
- Improved (18)
- Optimized (19)
- Blessed (20)
EMPIRE armor is meant to work against their own weapons- it has a chemical protection as well as kinetic and concussive.
As for vehicles, I was thinking hovercraft or something similar. Those are pretty cool.
Though, realistically, a hovercraft would be really crappy in a desert, filled with lots of dunes. It'll most likely be a tank-treaded thing. Like a large sledge. I'll figure it out.
October 1, 2012
Project Sunburn- natives
The Nali from Unreal are the base inspiration- timid, strong, and pacifistic. Except fsck being pacifistic. These people live on hell's front doorstep.
Most likely hunters, with lots of experience using spears, atlatls, and other weapons made from bone. Because wood? What's that?
Drahn. It sounds elegant, and like something you might find living in a desert.
They live in small villages wherever they can find shelter. About 200 people per village, but most are the usual hunter/gatherer fare. Somehow they can find water in most places.
They refuse to fight the EMPIRE in anything other than self-defense. They know what kind of things fall from the sky when they disobey.
They buy pelts, guns, and ammo. The EMPIRE armor is all but useless to them- most of their prey doesn't shoot back.
They sell water, tribal fighting equipment, and survival gear- including camouflage cloaks. It's a little odd the cloaks fit perfectly over the EMPIRE armor. Almost as if they've been planning something. They also sell poisons and antidotes. Mostly antidotes, though.
They don't need to sleep- being highly adapted to the environment, they never sleep. If they get tired, they just lie down for a few hours to let their muscles relax.
Oh! And they also sell amazing jerky. Like really tasty. It's a method of endearing them to the players.
More later. Running out of inspiration.
Most likely hunters, with lots of experience using spears, atlatls, and other weapons made from bone. Because wood? What's that?
Drahn. It sounds elegant, and like something you might find living in a desert.
They live in small villages wherever they can find shelter. About 200 people per village, but most are the usual hunter/gatherer fare. Somehow they can find water in most places.
They refuse to fight the EMPIRE in anything other than self-defense. They know what kind of things fall from the sky when they disobey.
They buy pelts, guns, and ammo. The EMPIRE armor is all but useless to them- most of their prey doesn't shoot back.
They sell water, tribal fighting equipment, and survival gear- including camouflage cloaks. It's a little odd the cloaks fit perfectly over the EMPIRE armor. Almost as if they've been planning something. They also sell poisons and antidotes. Mostly antidotes, though.
They don't need to sleep- being highly adapted to the environment, they never sleep. If they get tired, they just lie down for a few hours to let their muscles relax.
Oh! And they also sell amazing jerky. Like really tasty. It's a method of endearing them to the players.
More later. Running out of inspiration.
The Hellhammer
Still waffling on names.
I thought a cool motivation for the EMPIRE (catchy) troopers was something called "Hellhammer." Currently I'm thinking an alien artifact, crashed to the surface... 100 years ago? Some time about there.
The location of the dig site is a glass crater. It sounded pretty nifty, given the desert environment. Something like this-
- crashes, and a lot of sand is going to turn to glass. The shockwave would make a large bowl, with the edges well above the dunes. Otherwise, it would be pretty risky to build below the sand level. Here's a bad picture in MS paint.
A- Sand, sand, more sand!
B- Crater. Yellow color because of infused sulfur during impact.
C- EMPIRE facility. Combination digsite/armory (think Mariposa)
D- Trolley station/sniper outpost
E- Trolley cable
F- Mineshaft to Hellhammer
G- Big huge poisonous gas cloud (AKA why we can't have aircraft)
Not shown:
-Twisters which throw stuff up into the clouds. 90% of twisters can't pick up anything heavier than 10 pounds, limiting them to sand, and the sharp rocks below. The rocks start roughly at the bottom of C, like 30 meters below the average sand level.
-Ramp to D from outside. No way in hell anyone can survive just walking up it (snipers). Players will have to climb up a different side, use an armored vehicle, or get creative. Maybe a combination.
-Artillery gun in crater. The winds at cloud-level screw up any kind of accuracy, but it's still really effective with cluster munitions.
If the glass crater is broken open, the sand is going straight into the crater via osmosis. I'm thinking this will be an ethical decision on the part of the players- they can take Hellhammer with them and GTFO, or they can choose to bury it beneath the sand, along with everything else.
The nature of Hellhammer is difficult for me to imagine. I've sworn off of nukes for this scenario, though the thought of a 3-kiloton re-usable munition did occur to me.
The obvious literary device is that it jump-starts the local ecosystem, complete with rain and plants.
!!!
The players' ship is in orbit, trying to assist them. But, given how much the cloud fscks stuff up, it's really hard for them to assist. Perhaps they send occasional drops from orbit, along with messages... Because their radio is broken. OMG amazing.
Plot so far:
The players are the assistants to a geologist heading to planet OHS-817 on the TLA Brahma. They may be there for security, company, survival, etc. Irregardless, the module gets battered by the rocks caught in the clouds, and is forced to separate via explosive bolts. The navigational computer can increase the survival of one pod exponentially, but the trajectory sends the other one straight into a twister.
If the players choose to save the professor, the twister shifts and dashes his module into the rocks, and buries him in the sky. The players crash, but survive.
If the players choose to save themselves, the professor's module is sucked into a twister and dashed on the rocks, buried in the sky. The players crash, and survive.
The players get a short conversation with the Brahma's captain. He notifies them there is an odd electric disturbance over the crater zone (but can't see the crater), as well as sentient life on the planet. Whenever possible, he will drop supplies down to them from orbit, but doesn't see many openings. Good luck!
[The players do the entire mission, risking life and limb for... life and limb]
The crater base has been flooded with sand by setting the artillery gun to open fire on the glass wall.
If they take Hellhammer and activate it:
The clouds part, and it starts to rain. The Brahma sends down a shuttle immediately, and they get picked up. Cue a Fallout-style ending, highlighting the results of all of their actions.
If they leave Hellhammer:
With no opening large enough for an extraction shuttle, the Brahma is forced to wait until supplies dwindle, then carry on its mission. They dump any useful thing they can, before returning to Earth.
The EMPIRE forces have been purged from the planet, and any future incursions are swiftly dealt with, earning the players the name "Sand Demons." The planet is designated too dangerous for occupation, and the EMPIRE moves on to more submissive targets. The heroes live out the rest of their lives under the Cloud, and die with honor among the people they worked to save.
Cue a fallout-style ending. Ultimately, the Hellhammer itself needs to be a pivotal character, capable of making them work through this decision. So far, I'm thinking the choice of "opening the sky" brings rain- something completely unfamiliar to the natives. Many of them will die, but the planet will finally be truly open to space.
I thought a cool motivation for the EMPIRE (catchy) troopers was something called "Hellhammer." Currently I'm thinking an alien artifact, crashed to the surface... 100 years ago? Some time about there.
The location of the dig site is a glass crater. It sounded pretty nifty, given the desert environment. Something like this-
- crashes, and a lot of sand is going to turn to glass. The shockwave would make a large bowl, with the edges well above the dunes. Otherwise, it would be pretty risky to build below the sand level. Here's a bad picture in MS paint.
A- Sand, sand, more sand!
B- Crater. Yellow color because of infused sulfur during impact.
C- EMPIRE facility. Combination digsite/armory (think Mariposa)
D- Trolley station/sniper outpost
E- Trolley cable
F- Mineshaft to Hellhammer
G- Big huge poisonous gas cloud (AKA why we can't have aircraft)
Not shown:
-Twisters which throw stuff up into the clouds. 90% of twisters can't pick up anything heavier than 10 pounds, limiting them to sand, and the sharp rocks below. The rocks start roughly at the bottom of C, like 30 meters below the average sand level.
-Ramp to D from outside. No way in hell anyone can survive just walking up it (snipers). Players will have to climb up a different side, use an armored vehicle, or get creative. Maybe a combination.
-Artillery gun in crater. The winds at cloud-level screw up any kind of accuracy, but it's still really effective with cluster munitions.
If the glass crater is broken open, the sand is going straight into the crater via osmosis. I'm thinking this will be an ethical decision on the part of the players- they can take Hellhammer with them and GTFO, or they can choose to bury it beneath the sand, along with everything else.
The nature of Hellhammer is difficult for me to imagine. I've sworn off of nukes for this scenario, though the thought of a 3-kiloton re-usable munition did occur to me.
The obvious literary device is that it jump-starts the local ecosystem, complete with rain and plants.
!!!
The players' ship is in orbit, trying to assist them. But, given how much the cloud fscks stuff up, it's really hard for them to assist. Perhaps they send occasional drops from orbit, along with messages... Because their radio is broken. OMG amazing.
Plot so far:
The players are the assistants to a geologist heading to planet OHS-817 on the TLA Brahma. They may be there for security, company, survival, etc. Irregardless, the module gets battered by the rocks caught in the clouds, and is forced to separate via explosive bolts. The navigational computer can increase the survival of one pod exponentially, but the trajectory sends the other one straight into a twister.
If the players choose to save the professor, the twister shifts and dashes his module into the rocks, and buries him in the sky. The players crash, but survive.
If the players choose to save themselves, the professor's module is sucked into a twister and dashed on the rocks, buried in the sky. The players crash, and survive.
The players get a short conversation with the Brahma's captain. He notifies them there is an odd electric disturbance over the crater zone (but can't see the crater), as well as sentient life on the planet. Whenever possible, he will drop supplies down to them from orbit, but doesn't see many openings. Good luck!
[The players do the entire mission, risking life and limb for... life and limb]
The crater base has been flooded with sand by setting the artillery gun to open fire on the glass wall.
If they take Hellhammer and activate it:
The clouds part, and it starts to rain. The Brahma sends down a shuttle immediately, and they get picked up. Cue a Fallout-style ending, highlighting the results of all of their actions.
If they leave Hellhammer:
With no opening large enough for an extraction shuttle, the Brahma is forced to wait until supplies dwindle, then carry on its mission. They dump any useful thing they can, before returning to Earth.
The EMPIRE forces have been purged from the planet, and any future incursions are swiftly dealt with, earning the players the name "Sand Demons." The planet is designated too dangerous for occupation, and the EMPIRE moves on to more submissive targets. The heroes live out the rest of their lives under the Cloud, and die with honor among the people they worked to save.
Cue a fallout-style ending. Ultimately, the Hellhammer itself needs to be a pivotal character, capable of making them work through this decision. So far, I'm thinking the choice of "opening the sky" brings rain- something completely unfamiliar to the natives. Many of them will die, but the planet will finally be truly open to space.
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