"It would be a terrible tragedy for the universe if it suddenly turned out that I was colorblind" - CHA'ALT Campaign 3.13

 

Coming off the heels of VENGER CON IV: Post-Modern Apocalypse (if you haven't seen the blog post), I was on the road to recovery... having gotten sick the last day of the convention and making steady progress every day since.

I found out the morning of our Cha'alt campaign that we'd be down another player (the one who played in that half-session with my son a couple weeks back) due to food poisoning.  With only 3 players showing up - none of whom had every played it - I decided to run Hunted In Tenzarith - modified here and there.  I felt like an isolated "bottle episode" of a session would be ideal, given the circumstances.

The biggest modification was the PCs being chosen for a mission by The Guardian.  An extra-dimensional being, he set the adventurers in a drow prison near the Caves of Carnage as they were to find a crystal that was part of a gleaming, transparent cube hidden somewhere in that cave-system.

Each player got to determine what color / dimension in the skinematic Vengerverse their character du jour originated from.  So, we had purple-Bandersnatch, purple-Tinker, and I suppose purple-Black Francis (since this was only his second session and his first appearance was in purple-Cha'alt).

Soon enough, the PCs broke out, released an infernal beholder (who kindly disintegrated their slave collars in exchange for his freedom), and found their stuff - plus, a bit more.  The Zeeku narrative game mechanics were in full effect as purple-Bandersnatch rolled a 1 on his d20 and a 1 on his accompanied d6.  The first thing he found was a black skull that radiated magic.  The skull, Wilzon, talked to him psychically, telling the blue-suede elf sorcerer that he didn't need any of that other junk (stuff like his blaster, magical weapons, etc.)  "Just take the origami unicorn... that's enough.  I'm all you'll ever need."

Following a failed saving throw, the black skull had successfully possessed Bandersnatch.  Luckily, the sorcerer summoned his faithful familiar, Tiny Danzig.  After talking with Wilzon, Tiny Danzig realized the black skull would be detrimental to his master, and threw the skull on the ground, smashing it into several pieces.  

The spell broken, the sorcerer gathered up all his belongings, and they hauled ass out of there - oh but not before searching the descending stone staircase to find a half-woman (with rockin' tits) and half-spider statue holding aloft a glowing purple orb.  There were a bunch of giant spiders down there, too, so once they got the orb, they finally left the dungeon.

The streets of Tenzarith were filled with backstabbing and betrayal, as you'd imagine.  I used the priestess of Lolth massage parlor encounter which I've employed a half-dozen times, now.  Usually, with slight variations.  This time, no one was murdered, only a precious necklace was stolen as Black Francis was invisible and snuck in to steal it.

Meanwhile, the priestess used a form of sexual healing to bring the magic-spent sorcerer back up to full (or near enough) HP.  Once the thievery was over and Black Francis was paid with a storm opal, the dark elf female fled into the night.  There was an amusing discussion started by Black Francis, dismayed that a "7" was running away.  I assured everyone that this being my world, on Cha'alt, 7s, 8s, and 9s, were rather commonplace.  "You'd be hard-pressed to find a 4 in this campaign, hoss."

Continuing on, the PCs not wasting time assisting their fellow prisoners escape re-capture at the hands of drow guards, they passed the food truck "Chicken of the Poisoned Blade."  The in-joke started with another group last weekend continued - "Wait?  Is the chicken poisoned?  How many customers are fine with eating at a place with poison right there in the name?"  A lot, apparently, as there was a line 6 or 7 deep.

Tinker got a dish of mango-pineapple BBQ "chicken," and it was as sweet, spicy, and tasty as you could get.  Incidentally, I did a write-up of the games I'll be running at Gary Con next year (in March), and it includes a session where the food truck has expanded into a mid-tier, chain-style restaurant and the PCs work there.  Kind of Office Space meets Waiting... in Cha'alt.  

Ok, the PCs made it into the Caves of Carnage.  After sifting through trash and chatting with a vagrant searching the mounds of garbage, the adventurers were waylaid by bandits.  Black Francis' player was rolling poorly, which I attributed to the drow poison coursing through his veins.  To aid him, I reminded the table about the Cha'alt X-Cards.  Stimulate one of those and you get a point of Divine Favor.  

The Pop-Culture card was stimulated, and Hulk Hogan came out from the back of the cave to put one of the dark elf bandits in a choke-hold, giving the PCs the upper hand.

They tried to make a deal with some fellow prisoners in a cave attempting to loot a few crystals, asking them if they'd seen a cube-shaped crystal or something that would be part of that.  No luck, so they continued on.  

Although, now that I recall those events, the PCs threatened the escaped prisoners to walk ahead of them (like sheep through a minefield) or die.  So, I suppose they now have an entourage of three to take the front position. 

Sexy dark elf women tried to lure the PCs into their cave of slut cannibalism, but the PCs resisted.  Bandersnatch didn't have to roll since he'd received a BJ from the priestess of Lolth but an hour ago.

And that's where we ended things.  Since it had been so long since we'd gotten together (chatting at the beginning), and stopped a bit early, that's as far as we got.  

I've got more Guardian intrigue in store for everyone when we reconvene.  Not sure if we're playing next week or the week after.  The wife is away visiting her parents in Florida, so maybe it's best to game right away this Saturday?  Hmm...

Before I go, I painted something in the days between VENGER CON and running our Saturday Cha'alt campaign - it's the glyph of Kort'thalis, titled "Infernal Tentacles of Kort'thalis Drip Tribal Blood in many Hues... Orange in Particular."  

I was inspired by some nice comments (including Sandy Petersen and his wife) about the paintings I brought in for VENGER CON.  This painting now sits behind me in the computer room.  It turned out just as I had hoped.  

BTW, I do have something special coming Friday, August 1st...  (silly teaser video).  I don't know what kind of impact it'll have on the TTRPG world, but it's called Kult of Kort'thalis!

Thanks for reading.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Feel free to ask a question or post a comment below.

VS

p.s. p.s. Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy?  Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!  

Convention Report - VENGER CON IV

 

You know it's going to be a good time when God strikes your house's water well transducer with a lightning bolt, frying it two days before your convention. 

Call me a crazed cultist, but experience has taught me that when something awesomely momentous happens, it's usually preceded and / or followed by potential misfortune (in other words, you never roll all 20s).  As it happens, this fits with my latest DriveThruRPG release Zeeku.

Luckily, the day before the con, that got sorted out.  Had to spend a Divine Favor to take care of the issue, but that particular juice was well worth the squeeze.  A $700 bill is much preferable to $10k (if the entire system had been destroyed, requiring replacement).

Yes, VENGER CON IV: Post-Modern Apocalypse happened this past weekend.  So many, many things!  I felt like I was all places all at once, much like Yog-Sothoth.  I didn't take many photos, but the ones I did take were primo!  And I didn't even record any video.  Although, Lord Matteus recorded his podcast at the end of the first night, and I made a cameo.

Ultimately, it was successful.  Not perfect, but then what is?

Sandy Petersen was this year's Guest of Honor and he did not disappoint.  I started off (after the ceremonial gong, of course) by asking his origin story.  Between all three days, Sandy must have fielded hours of questions, but he was happy to chat with us about roleplaying games, ye olde times of publishing, the Cthulhu Mythos, and what he's been up to lately.  

All the Call of Cthulhu RPG books (with his name on it somewhere) acquired in the 1990s (and a few I lucked into acquiring through garage sales and such) were signed, along with my "demon skin" Cha'alt campaign bible notebook.

Attendance didn't hit above what we did last year, about 35.  I've got some new ideas for next year... yes, I'm already planning on VENGER CON V.  But an official announcement will have to wait a month or so.

I ran two sessions on both Friday and Saturday, but nothing on Sunday as I came down with some sort of cold and was barely hanging on by the convention's end.  So, I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to run Alpha Blue for that final slot as I planned, but shit happens.  I'm still recovering, will probably be back to my old self by tomorrow.

Every session I ran was Cha'alt via the Advanced Crimson Dragon Slayer ruleset.  Sometimes, the Cha'alt X-Cards played heavily (occasionally, a bit too heavily) in the proceedings.  Other times, they were barely touched.  

I got to debut my take on the complication / opportunity + enhancement game mechanic that I released on DriveThru over a week ago.  Zeeku is something that happened intentionally and by accident, consciously and via my subconscious.  While not every single instance was a knockout success, those little prompts proved to be, overall, fun and useful for my sessions.  

Get Zeeku, now!

The most notable examples were someone's face hitting the floor of a worm-flesh cavity and being covered in pink goo - and then covered in demon flesh and bone when one exploded a round or two later.  A couple PCs avoiding that invisible sorcerer's fireball when they were in a different area of the temple dungeon beneath Kra'adumek.  And a squeamish rogue not having to murder a dark-elf woman getting a massage because, as luck would have it, the masseur planned to assassinate her himself and plunged a dagger in her heart before the PC could raise his dagger. 

I was able to playtest what became Zeeku in a couple game sessions prior to VENGER CON IV.  It held up then and it holds up now.  

While I had originally wanted to find a superior alternative to whatever DaggerHeart thought it was doing, the cherry on top (my own unique twist on something that's been done before) is the idea that the universe is curved or cyclical.  If something bad happens, something good can come out of it - especially if that suffered is consciously experienced.  

While not for the faint of heart, Zeeku will give Game Masters that sharpness which could mean the difference between a memorable game and sessions you never think about twice.

It's hard to write enough text to cover all these great pictures!  Oh yeah, I could talk a little about the central adventure I devised.  Instead of multiple adventures, I decided to write one big, multi-part scenario with the possibility of mixing in older stuff.  

So, Escape From Tenzarith was modified into Hunted In Tenzarith with a lot more encounters written down + micro-scenario side-trips to places like Qada'ath and Chud-Letha'az.  However, we never got around to exploring those areas.  Next time!

Going back to the narrative game mechanics, those Zeeku moments and many, many more would not have happened if not for the 1s and 6s on those narrative d6s.  So, that was an absolute win and something that I'll continue to use in my Cha'alt home game.  

Oh yeah, I decided to use pre-gens in my VENGER CON sessions.  In years past, I've saved pre-gens for other conventions where disruption (noise and other distractions) might have made character generation difficult.  But I've come to realize that that little bit of extra thought I put into pre-made characters elevates them to a higher level.  

Let's face it, you sit down to play an unfamiliar game (or maybe one that you've only played once or twice) with a GM and fellow players that you don't know too well.  Perhaps the rule-set is also strange.  You're probably not at your most agile and inspirational, creativity-wise.  Take my advice, GMs.  Come up with pre-gens for your con games!

The amount of players also varied from session to session.  One table had 8 (it's a good thing I came up with 8 pre-gens), another 3, and the other two were somewhere in the middle.  I had one player from my home game (another planned on coming but he couldn't make it, sadly), a couple from the previous Gary Con, a lovely couple who looked like they wandered into VENGER CON by mistake.  An OSR gamer who I've known for years who brought his two buddies, a bunch of awesome VENGER CON regulars (irregulars?), and a few folks who I'd never met but were willing to give the Cha'alt experience a try.

• There were weird connections between stuff I created just for this convention and stuff that transpired randomly in The Black Pyramid, like Milton's stapler from Office Space.  
• Combining locations in unusual ways - gargantuan worms below subterranean dungeons and holes in cave walls that led to different cave systems of adventure.  
• I spontaneously asked for a random d8 vibe-check.  
• One Dead Game Society player and VengerCon alum, who played the 40-year-old virgin PC, clung to those dirty panties like his life depended on it - hilarious and Cha'alt-appropriate (which basically translates into wildly inappropriate for every other sort of game, aside from those based upon lounge lizards).
• Great throw-away lines were said, such as "The map is not the worm's anus."  A riff on the adage "The map is not the territory."
• I read the room and subverted expectations (in an actual good way - take note Disney Star Wars) that led to a fish-folk massacre when the PCs learned that these were reformed cultists who didn't believe in ritual sacrifice.  
• I heard and/or read post-game commentary such as "That is the most crazy weird fucked-up adventure I've ever experienced." And... "Venger's DM style is outrageously fun."
• Described a new (to me) weapon type, the "2 finger" lady knife - inspired by Deadpool's blind roommate's pearl grip handgun.
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• The players got a nice running gag going with a pre-gen PC's name.  "Don't queef this one up."
• The Cha'alt-X Cards brought forth both White Goodman's Globo-Gym and the Kool-Aid Man (thank the Dark Gods not in the same session - that would have been too much, even for me).
• A player came up with an amusing porn / Lovecraft title for a book, movie, or whatever - "The Jerker at the Threshold."
• Players made me realize that all rooms in The Black Pyramid either look like Arizona or New Hampshire.
• A player chose his character's animal companion to be a night-clown pygmy that I think was also described as a juggalo goblin. 
• And who could forget (well, I almost did) the adventurers finally encountering Spongeba'ab Trapezoidal Pants and his entourage under the sea?  They went to Hell where they belonged, after Vandrake, son of Uthrak the Unconquered bested the little yellow freak.
• "What happens when a frog and a bat have a baby?  Evil mogwai or the Great Old One T'sathagg-Kha?

A few months ago, I bought a soft plushy fish.  I didn't know why, exactly, except that I would at some point slap a player in the face... for reasons.  I let the unknown sit in my unconscious like a naughty idea on a time-out.  

But then, when a player rolled an 11 on his d20 and a 1 on his d6, I realized that "111" meant something important.  I remarked upon it at the time, but it wasn't until the next day when it hit me.  I excused myself from the game I was playing in and walked over to the room across the hall with my fish to slap the player from last night who was, as of now, DMing his own game.  I asked the table to pardon my intrusion for 5 seconds as I needed to slap their DM in the face with my soft fish.  Thankfully, he was all about it, and demanded pictures be taken to memorialize the occasion.  

Henceforth, when someone rolls an 11 on their d20 roll and a 1 on their d6, it shall be known as "one-eleven."  That player shall be slapped in the face with a fish because the fish-slapping is also happening in the game to that player's character.  A portal opens (or maybe there's an NPC nearby), the PC is slapped with the fish, and then it's over. 

Well, not completely over.  I'd feel bad if there was no compensation for such a gratuitous display, so that player gets a polished fuchsia stone - Divine Favor!

Random stuff... 

• I'm so glad that Sandy brought his Hyperspace boardgame to the con.  He got a chance to demo that with an assortment of folks several times.  And since a handful of GMs scheduled to run games had to back out or left the con early due to unforeseen events, it was a nice activity to make up for the shortfall. 
• I never showed-off my tattoo!  One of the reasons I got it when I did was to have the thing for VENGER CON.  Well, I did have it, since it was tattooed to my forearm.  And it did come in handy, in a metaphysical way, being the Kort'thalis meta-sigil that leads to Cha'alt and has come to symbolize the skinematic Vengerverse.  But I never called it out or drew attention to it.  It just was.  That's fine, I suppose.
• I played in three sessions this convention.  Two were under GM Judd as he ran the Red Room's Wretched New Flesh and an indie RPG called Tripod, d6 dice pool where insects have colonized humanity in the far future.  The other session where I played was under GM Bill Allan.  He ran a tactical paramilitary RPG using d4 dice pools called Ruins and Remnants in the world of Cha'alt.  This is the promo video he made.  Fun games!
• Sandy Petersen's seminars on creating a horror scenario and campaign were great.  Just hearing the information from another perspective gives it that little bit of extra life. 
• I had purchased a bunch of unusual but cool looking dice from an online retailer prior to the convention.  Since I already have a million of them, I decided to sell each new dice set for $10 a pop.  There's no way I didn't lose money on that deal, but I always think it's fun to get new dice at conventions.  There was nearly a dozen, I think.  And only a couple sets remaining by the convention's end.
• I sold a bunch of softcovers and gave away lots of Cha'alt hardcovers.  Next year, I'll have a bit more stuff to offer attendees, in terms of homemade Cha'alt X-Cards and those dice display stands like the one I use for my set-of-seven. 

Several people at the con and afterwards told me they had an awesome time.  That's the main reason I do it.  

Next VENGER CON will be marketed in a completely different way, so expect to see some wild stuff in the months to come.

If you have any questions, please ask!  I'd be more than happy to provide whatever insight I can...

Enjoy,

VS

p.s. Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy?  Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!  Want to join the Kort'thalis mailing list to stay up-to-date on what's going on in the skinematic Vengerverse?  This is it!! 

p.p.s.  RIP, Ozzy!  You were the Prince of Fucking Darkness!!! 

"Escape From Tenzarith" - CHA'ALT One-Shot

 

'Tis that time of year, hoss...

All of my players had to cancel before yesterday's game, except for one.  I asked that remaining player if he'd mind gaming alongside one of the twins who keeps asking when we can play Dungeons & Dragons again.

The plan was a 90-minute one-shot and then watch a movie, which we did.  My boy had fun, the two of us from our home group got to roleplay a little, and I was able to test the new Zeeku game mechanic in full (there's a whole second layer which I got to try for the first time yesterday).

Explaining that this adventure would take place in the puchsia (combination of puce and fuchsia) dimension or parallel universe, it could feature familiar characters who were also distinct from themselves due to existing elsewhere in the multiverse, metaverse, or skinematic Vengerverse (though, the adventure itself was PG-13).  

My son continued with his original character (by now, 3rd level) named Chicken Wizard or Chicken-Wing for short, a quick-silver elf and thief.  The player from our home-game I gave the choice of playing his usual character in the current Cha'alt campaign, a puchsia-hued Thurberus or completely new character (he opted for a demon sorcerer named Hasslebub), and I, as GM, roleplayed a dark-elf warrior named Zax.  Hasslebub and Zax were also 3rd level.

The scenario itself felt familiar yet fresh simultaneously.  In the underdark, the drow city of Tenzarith released their prisoners once a year to be hunted by the dark-elf elite into the Caves of Carnage.  The PCs were prisoners only a day away from The Hunt.  

The players got into it and adventure was had, even if only an hour and a half worth.  In the end, the party found its way to freedom, reaching the desert surface and fuchsia skies... or would those be puchsia skies, above?

The original part of Zeeku went swimmingly.  1s and 6s were flying every which way and I interpreted them to the best of my ability - the players threw-out a few helpful suggestions, as well.  

During our playtest, it became obvious that the secondary layer of game mechanic needed an overhaul.  So, that's what I intend to do over the next couple of days, tweak it here and there until it's in better shape for VENGER CON IV: Post-Modern Apocalypse.  That's when the real playtesting takes place.  After an entire weekend of running Cha'alt and Cha'alt-based sessions, I'll know if Zeeku is ready for prime-time.

There's a good chance it'll continue to evolve as it gets used and abused.  By the end of the convention, I expect to self-publish a little PDF booklet of Zeeku for gamers looking for alternate ways to improve their gaming experiences, potentially.  ;)

UPDATE: I thought I'd include a link to my latest vlog with tips on designing game mechanics here.

And since yesterday's truncated one-shot was my last GMing responsibility until the convention, I have the next two weeks to forge scenarios, random tables, and crazy encounters of weird-shit tinged with hitherto unimagined colorations.  Can't wait to get started!

Enjoy,

VS

p.s. Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy?  Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!  Want to join the Kort'thalis mailing list to stay up-to-date on what's going on in the skinematic Vengerverse?  This is it!!  Last but not least, I'm organizing a based-as-fuck RPG convention in Madison, WI this July (Sandy Petersen will be joining us as VENGER CON's Guest of Honor).  Grab your weekend badge for VENGER CON IV: Post-Modern Apocalypse!!!