sub-strata

NOTES:

White Plains - Chaos Enclave Of Arioch Worshippers

Land Khamar - Enclave Of Nehwon God Followers

Amityville = Hotbed Of Cthulian Activity

Lapskaun Ave. - Norse enclave

Little Egypt - Nile Enclave

China Town - Asian Anclave

Astorhia - Japanese Enclave

Elmhust, Queens = Mayan/Aztec/Latino

Knights Worship Aslan

Oneida Village - Outpost For Amerindians

Dwarves Mainly Live In Lower Manhatten (Amsterdam Younger)

Elves Mainly Live On Long Isle.

Non Humans Mainly Live In Jersey

Babylon - Middle Eastern Enclave

Ashur Hts - Sumerian Enclave

Port Hoaglund = Finn Town

White-Stone = Greek Enclave

Currie Row - Hindu Neighborhood

Crown Heights: Jewish Version of Aslan worship.

Deffenbaugh: Palestinian/Canaanite enclave

Ny Jets - Mil. Rides Black Pegasai (Aerie Of The Guard)

Ny Rangers - Patrol Outer Perimeter (East Of The Rivers)

Ny Knickerbockers - Constablulary Of Manhattan

Ny Nets - Harbor Patrol

Ny Islanders - Constables Of Lengthy Isle

Ny Yankees - Constbulary West of the Rivers.

Ny Metropolitains - Constabulary of the Queens District

Strykers Island - Prison Smithy (Jail time must be worked off.; non-workers are killed)

Jersey Devils - Exactly What It Sounds Like.

Ny Giants - Loggers And Laborers From Jersey

MAP HERE

What is the history of the problem?

• Up & Out, Brain Drain (demiplanes, portals)
• Bleed Over from all the Rad & Genetics
• Permeation and Leeching from all the buried superpowers.
• IRON WIND
• TECH LEAGUE

~~~

FORBIDDEN ZONE: Planet of the Apes

~~~

YOU ARE SCREWED

1. Although Benjy the grey cat likes everyone else in the tavern, it hisses whenever a certain PC passes by.
2. The children start to sing a song about beheading whenever a certain PC enters the vicinity.
3. A strange smell follows one PC throughout the month, a pervasive graveyard stink that is commented upon behind his or her back by others.
4. Throughout the week, the same scarecrow seems to turn up in fields the PCs walk past.
5. How come the children's nursery rhyme keeps referring to one of the PCs by name? And worse, why is the rhyme about eating slugs, bugs, and thugs?
6. The same face keeps appearing in crowds everywhere -- a rotund, somewhat ruddy complexioned fellow with a huge, flat, red nose. Chug Hoppwell is actually the PC's biggest fan, and takes great joy in following their exploits -- he's merely admiring them and has given up his job and home to see them in action as much as possible.
7. In the graveyard, the PCs each find a grave with their name upon it, most dating from the same year a century ago.
8. A seventh daughter of a seventh daughter claims she has seen one of the PCs in two distinct dreams she's had. In the first dream, three things happen: he meets her, avoids her, and is then eaten by a huge six-headed crocodile at midnight. In the second dream, he meets her, marries her, and they live happily ever after. After telling her tale, she smiles toothlessly up at him.
9. The wicker men, whose numbers match those of the heroes, are "merely ornamentation" the locals claim...
10. The man in the ancient portrait in the Lord's House does indeed look exactly like the character. His name? Deathly Lord Rache the Slayer of Innocents, the devil who swore to return...

Opposite number. Use this for a Gandalf-type in a game. He could pretty much do anything, but every time he exerted power the bad guys could do three things of a similar power level. So if he used his power to just wipe out a village of goblins, then the bad guys could just wipe out a three human villages or equivalent. He had the power to level mountains, but was hesitant to use it (much as Gandalf was). This encourages players to consider consequences and to use the power subtly.

the idea of using Heavy Metal references in a fantasy setting - these genres simply mix too easily. Having that in mind, I prepared some scrolls as a handout. On each scroll I printed part of the lyrics of a song, mostly classic metal, but something from The Sisters Of Mercy, Fields Of The Nephilim and Bob Marley as well.

The characters discovered those scrolls early in the adventure, and I informed the magic users that they obviously contained powerful spells, but would be usable only once and their effect would be unknown - the only indication of the effect is in fact what was written on the scrolls. (IE AC-DC Hells Bells = massive sonic "fireball")

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Make a list, right now, of male and female names, maybe 10 of each, that you think are appropriate to your setting. Clip it to your GM screen or whatever. Any time you need a name for an NPC, just grab the next one on the list. The goal here is to be able to make up an NPC and instantly know their name. The players will go places and meet people you haven't thought of and if you can say, at the drop of a hat, "The guard's name is Fandrick," it will seem to your players that these NPCs are real people who really exist and you're not just making it all up.
• Listen to your players. They will come up with shit you never though of but they don't know you didn't think of it. "I bet there's a secret way in." Hey that's a good idea! "You know, I think this guy works for the bad guys." Hey that's a good idea!
• Don't say "no," just make them roll. If they roll so high you think "wow!" then the answer is now "yes." Even if it wasn't before.
  • "Is there a secret way in?" "I don't know, gimme a perception check." 30 "Wow! Yeah there is a secret way in!"

The point is never "yes" or "no," it's about letting the players think the answer was up to them, their ingenuity, their good die rolls.

• If the players get bogged down, lose the thread, nothing happens for 10 minutes while they bitch at each other or check their iPhones, say "Ok, roll initiative," and throw a random encounter at them. Sometimes you gotta light a fire under their ass. Even if it doesn't move the plot forward, a cool fight is better than sitting around doing nothing.
• Resist the urge to tell the players what's going on behind the screen. When the magic is working, the players believe in your world as a real place. If you pull the curtain back and show off how clever you were ("Well, there wasn't a secret door there until you rolled a 28!") then you gain a brief rush but lose suspension of disbelief. Your players should never be thinking "I wonder what MattColville wants us to say?" They should think "I wonder what this NPC expects us to say?"
• If they're arguing about what to do they are playing the game, let them argue. If they're arguing about a rule, they're not playing the game, they're pissing each other off. Make a ruling, and let them know you'll figure out the real answer after the game. It's fair and it keeps things moving.
• Figure out what the bad guys want and then figure out what WOULD happen if the heroes never showed up. This can be some work on your part but the results are AMAZING. If you know what the bad guys want, and what their plan was before the heroes show up, you'll be able to improvise their actions easily once the heroes interfere.
• Remember: the bad guys want to win. They don't know they're fighting the Heroes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Any bad guys smart enough to use weapons are smart enough to realize thathostages have value. An unconscious PC means $$$ to the bad guys. If the heroes are losing, a couple of PCs are unconscious, have the bad guys make an offer.

"We'll let you leave, but we're keeping your unconscious friends here. We'll give them back if you come back with 5,000gp." Or whatever. Whatever it costs for the heroes to sell a precious magic item.

Players go INSANE when the bad guys act like intelligent, thinking beings. They love it. Plus, hostage-taking leads to great adventures. Also, it means players who might otherwise die, will live. This is important.

• Use a GM screen. It's ok if the evening ends in a Total Party Kill because the heroes were relentlessly stupid, but it's not ok if it ends that way because you didn't realize how tough these monsters were. Fudge the die rolls to correct your mistakes, not theirs.

Lastly...

• Err on the side of the players. You have unlimited power, they don't. If they think their PC should be able to sneak attack a zombie but that doesn't make sense to you and you can't find the rule in a timely manner, say "Ok, sure. I may look that up later and see if it's strictly according to the rules, but for now lets say you can do it."