"The Ruin of A'agrybah" - CHA'ALT Campaign 4.8

 

4 players - the party's sorcerer couldn't make it, so "Communist Revolution Tinker" from a dimension where he became a sorcerer instead of a thief entered the chat.  The rest were Bishop Elijah Crane the priest, Ug the warrior, and Naza'akhul the thief.

After his morning self-flagellation and healing, Elijah Crane opened with a monologue he prepared for one of the tower-watchers recently employed by the PCs.  He wanted the demon maid sent away in order to evade temptation that she should fall under the demon-slaying blade known as Kaltha'alax. This tied-in to his newly found purpose - the destruction of demons and the infernal influence on Cha'alt.  

The priest also prepared the tower-watchers to allow the poor and needy to find shelter and sustenance in the tower, so this place could be a beacon for truth, justice, goodness, etc.

As Somax, the head tower-watcher, left to implement Crane's wishes, he noticed a small infernal glyph seemingly tattooed upon the priest's arm.  Kaltha'alax manifested a glyph upon his wielder's flesh so they could communicate, even when he and the sword were separated.  

Heading out to Ja'alette on their small sail barge, the desert was quiet for the first hour or two, until they noticed three destroyer-class sail barges belonging to the Federation.  A smaller skiff tried to make a break for it, coming from Kra'adumek (which they'd have to go around to reach Ja'alette) across the Federation blockade.  The destroyers fired and soon blew the skiff to Kingdom Come.

The destroyers asked the PCs' sail barge to approach.  They boarded a destroyer and met with Colonel Zerg who had a mission for them, once he realized they weren't officially affiliated with any major faction and were basically mercenary-adventurers.  

The purple priests of Kra'adumek took 6 Federation soldiers hostage and were going to sacrifice them in order to restore their purple alien demon-worm back to his original size.  If you remember, a couple sessions ago, the PCs encountered 111 cultists, each with a page of some demon resurrection book who were heading to Kra'adumek in order to revive their god.  The PCs altered one of the pages in order to make Kra'adumek (that's the name of the city-state and entity) teeny-tiny.

Well, it worked.  And now the PCs were being hired by Colonel Zerg to rescue the hostages... dangling gold-star citizen status (unlimited trips to the buffet and other benefits), along with 10,000 credits in front of them as reward.  The adventurers took the job and headed to where the prisoners were being held - the priest temple beneath the city.

Picking up a fate-elf hitch-hiker with a third eye in the middle of his forehead, this temporary guest sensed a disquieting destiny for the PCs, telling them it was likely that one or more of them might die if holding to their present course.  Then, just as they reached the temple entrance, the hitch-hiker jumped off to walk the rest of the way barefoot.

Sure enough, there was something foreboding at the stone double-door entrance of the temple - a metal titan, one of the few remaining from before the apocalypse.  This was a flying death-machine that spits cosmic rays of deadly fire (borrowed from the 1983 Hercules movie starring Lou Ferrigno) - Bishop Crane had studied such metal titans before coming to Cha'alt, and knew of its power.  The PCs wisely workshopped alternative methods of gaining entry.

In the end, they decided to fly their sail barge to the city-state's main entrance, looking for a marketplace of some kind to ask around.  Sure enough, they found a purveyor of worm-wine straight from Kra'adumek himself (the vintage was older, before the demon-worm was slain and resurrected as a little guy).  Ug tried a free sample; the sour green apple taste was crisp and delicate (rolling the d8 vibe check from THRUM) - it was the best god damn worm-wine he'd ever tasted, and bought an entire gallon.

Also, the PCs learned that the main temple, open to the public, had a stairway that descended into the priests' private sanctuary.  But first, Tinker wanted to fight a half-orc in the arena.  Ug bet money on him.  Not realizing his magic wouldn't work, the two combatants used melee weapons.  I forgot that Tinker switching from a thief to a sorcerer (and being a pixie-fairy on top of that) would have reduced his damage to the point where the half-orc would have undoubtedly won (although, this Tinker was interested in multi-classing as a sorcerer and thief; I just hadn't given it proper thought... perhaps some sort of worm-trial, quest, or chance of level failure?), but we'll just say the Gods favored him that day.

Back at the temple, Bishop Crane was called-out with the word "puchatta" by a demon in a loincloth - bumblebee tuna! - sitting on the temple steps.  That's a racial slur for non-demons that basically means the opposite of unclean.  The Bishop was going to let that go, more or less, but the demon continued to be surly with the rest of the party, so Crane used his ivory scepter to teleport the demon inside the temple, in a more secluded area.  Tinker cast mesmerizing magenta mist to obscure what was going on.  Crane attacked and missed, the demon wrestled the sword away from the priest but it was so cold that it burned the demon's hand and he dropped the blade.  Then, Crane picked it back up and beheaded the demon right then and there... earning a 4th notch to his magic demon-slaying sword.

Ug and Tinker by this time convinced themselves that they were "certified cave inspectors" as Neza'akhul snuck into a storage closet and got himself purple robes.  After bullshitting the guards and taking the priesthood's "purple acid" (just Ug and Tinker), they all descended a spiral staircase into the subterranean temple beneath Kra'adumek.

I used the Cha'alt scenario, Beneath Kra'adumek, as the basis for that layout, but with several notable changes.  Immediately, they overheard factions of the purple priests talking about a contingency plan if sacrificing the 6 hostages didn't work.  One group wanted to transfer the soul-essence of a recently captured Great Old One spawn, known as Ya'ash-Venktul, into Kra'adumek to restore his size.  The opposing faction wanted to feed the tiny purple worm to Ya'ash-Venktul in hopes of either making Kra'adumek whole or at least transferring the memories and willpower of Kra'adumek to this Old One spawn.

A lot transpired, so I'll just go with the highlights...

The PCs found the area where Ya'ash-Venktul was being restrained by priests using psionics (focused by a massive lavender crystal).  The PCs did their thing and destabilized the place so that Ya'ash-Venktul went on a murderous rampage after taking the crystal for itself... as well as, signing the cave inspection certification document.

5 of the 7 purple alien demon-worm eggs were destroyed.  Tinker kept 2 to keep as pets - using his magic to shrink them down so he could easily carry them.

They found a small "library" of sorts that contained several issues of a children's magazine with fun activities called Purple Highlights... crossword puzzle, word search, identify the differences between two nearly identical images, Cha'altian ha'aiku, etc.

A strange metal bowl of greenish-blue mutated zoth was poured into the nearly empty gallon jug of worm-wine for later use, and Ug took the bowl of alien metal for himself.

They talked to a bunch of priests (some had "I voted today" stickers on their purple priest robes) as Tinker and Ug began to trip-out, believing that they were actually certified cave inspectors for reality itself... if that reality was nothing but purpleness.  

Eventually, the PCs went to the gallery where argumentation over the two factions' plans were being discussed and voted on.  Kra'adumek was also there, in a small glass terrarium.  With the chaos caused by the Old One spawn being loosed, Tinker scored a critical-success in grabbing Kra'adumek from his glass enclosure and Ug popped him into the mutant zoth jug.

I rolled on the d30 mutation table in the Cha'alt book twice and got extremely interesting and prophetic results.  First, I rolled that Kra'adumek was actually returned to his original size - plus, half again as much.  And also, that his bones were now glass.  Being trapped in an underground dungeon, how would this all look as he expanded into a gargantuan size?  Well, the adventurers didn't stick around to find out.  They went to the other side of the underground temple where there was a well going 50-feet down into a system of tunnels and caves.  This area also contained the 6 prisoners.  

Freeing them, the PCs were so wrapped-up in exploring that well and what it could lead to that they didn't realize the Federation soldiers had used a mechanical platform to raise themselves up to the city's surface.  On the way up they waved goodbye and thanked the PCs again.  The platform didn't go back down, and they checked the corridors outside that area.  Sure enough, several cave-ins had them blocked-in.  

So, they looked for the best way down the well and into the unknown.  I had completely forgotten about the Black Skull of Secrets, and promptly chose randomly to discover that this well was home to a purple flying squirrel.  Anyone who cradled his large, purple, fuzzy testicles was granted a ride on his back as he floated safely down the well.  I believe only the priest availed himself of that opportunity, which was fitting since it was his player who provided the suggestion for our table's Black Skull. 

That's where we ended it.  We handed out XP - basically, every player got 4 (Crane had 3 due to a lack of treasure, but made up for it with the 5th quadrant due to above and beyond roleplaying).  Overall, it was a good session and Saturday, May 30th will be our next.

This is the 999th blog post here at Venger's old-school gaming blog.  Hmm... I wonder what the next one will be?  Anyway, thanks for reading - and hopefully I'll see some of you at VENGER CON V: The Will To Power!!!!!

Enjoy,

VS

p.s.  Yes, weekend badges are now available for July 2026's VENGER CON V: The Will To Power.  Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy?  Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!  

"The Ruin of A'agrybah" - CHA'ALT Campaign 4.7

 

FYI, this is the 998th blog post.  

It's May, hoss.  That means summer is just about here... and VENGER CON V: The Will To Power won't be far behind!  

I've already submitted the 7 sessions I'm Game Mastering between Friday, July 17th and Sunday, July 19th.  If you plan on GMing, as well, get your session into us by filling out the form on the convention landing page here.

Ok, we were short-tentacled with this session, the 7th in the 4th year of our face-to-face Cha'alt campaign. There was Strum the human sorcerer, Deacon Elijah Crane the human priest, and Tinker McStabby (the communist version) joined us, as well.

A portal opened, Ug and Neza'akul went in, and Tinker came out - determined not to be sent back to Hell.

Unlike most session reports, this one is going to be in broad-strokes.  The Crimson Bastards (my default name for the PCs) were looking around the central room of the sorcerer's tower when a hologram of Vromka'ad explained that just on the off-chance that foul play was involved in his death, the murderer should be brought to the periwinkle room for destruction.  In return, the sorcerer would bequeath them his 2nd most prized possession from beyond the grave - an ivory scepter.  

Now, the PCs had options in front of them.  They could have ignored the hologram and either leave the tower (since they already had Kaltha'alax the demon-slaying sword) or continue exploring without worrying about the periwinkle room - especially since there was no periwinkle orb present allowing them access.  They also could have snatched some random humanoid, framing him for Vromka'ad's murder.  It's possible that going to the periwinkle room (once they found the orb, that is) and explaining that La'ala, the confessed murderess, was already dead might have done the trick.

Being practical and hopeful and not in any kind of hurry, the adventurers decided to schlep back to the fuchsia flesh-pit for her body.  Now, I've relayed what happened there in a brand-new, albeit extremely short, PDF, Ya'ada Ya'ada Ya'ada, that will come out soon.  It's a game mechanic that I'd been thinking about for several days prior to this session, and retrieving La'ala's corpse (who revealed herself to be Taylor Swift just before her untimely demise) was the perfect opportunity.  So, I won't go into detail here.

Back at the tower, the PCs laid her body down near the black gateway as they realized now was the time to explore 15+ rooms in this weird wizard's tower.  And explore they did.  They found useful rooms (such as the library), strange rooms (such as the yellow-ochre one that deactivated machines and contained a mysterious gateway to a dimension from whence no magic can escape), and mundane rooms - like ones containing NPCs who used to serve or amuse the sorcerer when he was alive. 

It took a lot of looking, but eventually they managed to locate the periwinkle orb - and kill a guy who had the wand of disintegration.  Just as exciting, the party's priest was able to convince a trio of homicidal maniacs recently back from a crusade to kill in the name of The Righteous Redeemer of the Lords of Light.  Not only that, but he talked several people into both following his new religion and serving the PCs as the new Lords of the Tower. 

[Regrettably forgot these important details] Strum's fireball almost killed Tinker, and in another room, Tinker acquired a magical gold trident.  Since magic items in Cha'alt conform to their owner, once attuned, I gave Tinker a 2-in-6 chance of being able to turn his gold trident into a flying surfboard.  Sure enough, he managed to do it.

Here's a list of NPCs who decided to stay-on after they went through all the rooms - including the chocolate-brown room with the Oompa-Loompas and Tinker's voluptuous blonde who has a taste for chocolate and depravity.  BTW, the new treat the little orange-dwarves were working on is a chewable chocolate bubble-gum.

Soomdok, Vusela'age, Hasa'ana (demon whore maid), Vrooz (sky-elf sorcerer who agreed to mentor Strum), Somax, Issa, and Lyssa (both blonde women who are always DTF).

Oh, and with Ug missing, and Strum taking the disintegration wand, Crane took both Kaltha'alax and the ivory scepter.  Oh yeah, the murderess corpse of La'ala was blasted to bits in the periwinkle room - Strum's player stimulated the gonzo Cha'alt X-Card to make it rain a ridiculous amount of Taylor Swift's flesh.

Crane continued to spare the hot demon maid, Ha'asana, but slew a couple of other demons, which thrilled Kaltha'alax to bits.  Just finishing up at the tower, Crane heard a knock at the door - it was a probe droid with a message for him.  

A holographic image of Prelate Task of the core worlds who confessed to Deacon Elijah Crane that a mysterious and powerful green orb was stolen from Cha'alt long ago, back during the great war against the planet.  The stolen alien artifact was none other than the Loc-Na'ar... kept in the Federation Vatican for 80-some years, and about to be sold off by bureaucrats now that the Federation officially disbanded the one true church.

Prelate Task stole the Loc-Na'ar back from the Federation and sent it on an escape pod for Cha'alt, along with the droid currently talking to the priest.  Task also warned of impending assassin droids coming their way. 

The bus was no longer there, so they walked until... I pulled out a couple player suggestions from the Black Skull of Secrets.  Hank Solo was driving cab, and already had a couple of old curmudgeon ride-shares in the back - the two Muppet guys who mock everyone.  

Speeding to the escape pod, the PCs saw a small sand barge and a dozen skeevers surrounding the pod, looking at the black box which contained the Loc-Na'ar (worth $437 million credits today, and the combination to the black box was 437).

Strum, who also had a nifty magic staff looted from an NPC who looted it from the tower, could cast spells without it draining his lifeforce.  So, he whipped-up a fireball that ended their existence.  Only the black box remained.  Tinker, who had unplugged a component underneath the sand barge and took out one of the remaining skeever guards, replugged it in once they were ready to head back to the tower, thanking Hank Solo for his cab.

Taking the sand barge back to their new tower (before I forget, Tinker mentioned something about mixing colored orbs to get new rooms, which is an idea I like), Bishop Crane (promoted via hologram transmission) decided to take another demon life.  Now, Kaltha'alax was a +3 weapon... gaining +1 for every demon slain by the sword.

"See that dead demon lying on the sand?"  Tinker asked Strum.  "That could be us one day."

Before ending the session, Tinker pulled Strum aside, asking how much longer Crane would be able to resist succumbing to the dark side we all know is in there somewhere.  Strum brushed it off, but you never know what's going to happen.

Next session is planned for 2 weeks from now.  Thanks for reading (and commenting), hoss!  

VS

p.s.  Yes, weekend badges are now available for July 2026's VENGER CON V: The Will To Power.  Want a great new TTRPG community where you can hang out with other gamers, get ideas, advice, and training in order to improve?  Look no further than the fastest-growing group on X - it's the Kult of Kort'thalis.  Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy?  Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!  

"The Ruin of A'agrybah" - CHA'ALT Campaign 4.6

 

We had a full table for this, our 5th session in the 4th year of our Cha'alt campaign.  Hey, it's 4/20!!!  Praise be to H.P. Lovecraft!

It had been a long, long time since I'd run any published Cha'alt adventures at the table, so I prepared a little something from Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise.

Before actually banging the gong and starting the session, everyone wrote a little suggestion for the Black Skull of Secrets, and a couple characters leveled.  So, we had Strum the human sorcerer at 2nd level, Deacon Elijah Crane at 3rd level, Ug the lizardtaur warrior at 2nd, Spoons (a new character that player decided to go with - I'm letting his XP stack because otherwise every fresh PC would always be at 1st level) a demon survivalist who lives in a school bus at the trailer park just outside A'agrybah (2nd level, also), and the nefa'arius Naza'akul human thief (1st level, but will reach 2nd by the session's end).

Deciding to play-out the introduction of Spoons with the rest of the party, the PCs walked towards Ja'alette, as the sorcerer's tower was on the way.  Passing the trailer park full of junk, such as plastic flamingos, broken down lawn mowers, and duct-taped kiddie pools, they noticed a demon working on his school bus.  Next to him was a toilet full of beers.  

Spoons asked Strum to hold a flashlight so he could see the inner workings of the engine.  Strum held it in place for about 2 seconds before tossing it aside and casting a spell, creating illumination spheres to light what the demon was doing.

Unfortunately, casting that spell triggered the zoth hangover / withdrawal Strum was now going through.  He felt lightheaded and dizzy + nauseous.  The sorcerer's player was smart and it probably helped that he knows me.  If he had approached this news with an attitude like "How dare the GM describe something that negatively impacts my character!?!" like another friend of mine (West) might have, I'd keep giving him both barrels because that's just human nature + universal law.  But no, Strum's player roleplayed it to the hilt.  Vomiting into the toilet where all could see the zoth that had absorbed into his system.  

Strum went into the school bus to take a nap while the rest of the party made Spoons' acquaintance.  Naza'akul helped Spoons take some parts out as they were looking for Federation tracking devices.  Spoons used to drive the school bus for A'agrybah children before they fired him.  The demon believed the Federation were still trying to take his bus away.

They didn't find any tracker, and put back all the parts the best they were able.  Deciding to ride rather than walk, even though the speed was comparable, they all hopped in and drove 5 mph towards that sorcerer's tower.

An hour or two into the journey, they came across 111 priests wearing fuchsia and chartreuse robes, each carrying a page from some book of demon resurrection passages (probably a knock-off Necronomicon).  They were headed towards Kra'adumek to revive the purple alien demon-worm that had recently been slain.  

Elijah Crane had an idea to derail their agenda.  The PCs offered the priests alcohol and some of them a ride on the school bus.  During the next couple hours journey, the adventurers borrowed a page from one of the distracted priests.  By this time, Strum was feeling better and was able to alter a passage of the page in order to miniaturize the demon-worm as they resurrected him.

Now, going their own way, as the paths to Ja'alette and Kra'adumek diverged, it was night when the PCs arrived at the tower.  While it was still a couple miles away, they saw a single guard just standing in the sand as if he was waiting for something. 

They got out to talk to him and discovered that a woman was sent down into the fuchsia flesh-pit next to the guard.  She had likely murdered the sorcerer Vromka'ad, and her being down there was a sacrifice, as the flesh-pit contained weird creatures that Vromka'ad had manifested via genetic experimentation.

Deciding to see for themselves, while hearing a female yell for assistance, the PCs jumped down after throwing the guard down first to cushion their fall.  In quick succession the following transpired...

• The PCs made their way around a flesh corridor of tendrils dripping a violet goo that almost burned through their flesh.
• They saw some skeletons being devoured by an aqua slime - Strum blasted it into salt with his wand, and they looted a silver scroll tube containing a letter warning Vromka'ad of doom awaiting him from a loved one.
• They talked to the woman, La'ala, who admitted to murdering Vromka'ad on their wedding night as she was jealous of the attention her sorcerer fiance and then husband showed some of the serving girls.
• They investigated a cube that had run out of energy.
• They talked to some priests of Xa'atan who apparently was a Demon-God slumbering below the flesh-pit.  The priests were gathering crustaceans for some ritual.  The PCs attacked and killed them, but not before taking heavy damage from the head priest's ruby-red eye-beams.
• Strum's player stimulated the GONZO Cha'alt X-Card to make the blood spray in a ridiculous, over-the-top manner.  This, after Naza'akul burned-up one of his seven lavender demon-moon dice representing the seven souls that humanoids are believed to have on Cha'alt.  And he did it to finish off a wounded guard, but that +1 to XP helped him level at the session's end.  I did caution him to maybe save it for later, but he said that's what his character would do.  Fair enough.  
• They found a dead warrior wearing strange plastic armor (which Spoons decided to wear) and a high-tech device attached to his head.  The device was an intellect enhancer, and the party decided to see what would happen if they attached it to Ug's head.  Hilariously, he became an articulate British gentleman complete with top hat, monocle, and cane.  That lasted for the next hour before someone removed it, preferring the old Ug (but it's still with them, in case they want the lizardtaur to be brain boosted again)
• Oh yeah, all the way through the flesh-pit, the PCs were subjected to dark, loathsome whispering that made them feel like a foulness was polluting their soul.
• They made their way past a flesh-tunnel of giant clams (possibly bearded).
• Eventually, they came to the big bad of the flesh-pit.  Unfortunately, the evil susurrations affected the PCs to the point of self-harm.  Only a few eluded the creature's defense mechanism.  But before those who failed their save were able to suicide themselves, one of the adventurers convinced the rest that the best and quickest way to die would be to try and kill that tentacled thing growing out of the back wall of the flesh-pit.

Pulling out a suggestion from the Black Skull of Secrets, I had La'ala show her true face, ripping off a mask in true Scooby Doo style to reveal that she had been Taylor Swift all along... just in time for the beast to blast her with its eye-beam that shot a 9-inch hole right through her.  I did manage to roleplay TS a bit before her demise.  She started singing a sad song about breaking up with her mean boyfriend.

The rest of the team hacked away.  Elijah used his lavender beam, Strum his wand of lightning, Ug his magical sword, and the thief and survivalist did their best with simple melee weapons.  It almost killed the party, but they eventually slayed it - finding a sphere and black crystal segment to something with glowing topaz veins behind the creature's eye.

That brought the cricket-ball sized spheres they found up to 3 (azure, gold, and chocolate-brown).  They also had both magical gloves - the crimson could create a bubble around something or someone.  The purple glove allowed the wearer to manipulate whatever was inside the bubble.

Coming back out of the flesh-pit, they made their way to the tower.  The door was open, and they saw a black gateway surrounded by a dozen or so spheres hanging in mid-air.  Eventually, they figured out that if a sphere was touched, the black gate would take them to whatever dimensional-room corresponded to that orb.

But before getting to involved with that, Ug touched a glowing white cube in the corner of the room and released a psychotic manticore that almost killed the party (again).  Luckily, Spoons used the unconscious Strum's lightning wand to deal the killing blow after most of the part had been rendered unconscious.

They found a bedroom along with a sexy female demon with yellow and magenta fur and horns.  She wore a maid outfit and was down for whatever, but Naza'akul decided to rest, instead.  Asking her which rooms she wasn't allowed to enter and clean (after finding out she didn't know where the demon-slaying sword was) provided them with enough info to locate the magical blade.  It was in the fire room.  Elijah tried to grasp it, but the flames rose up, preventing him.  Since Spoons was a demon with partial resistance to fire, he tried, only taking a couple points of damage doing so.

Before the fires sphere, one of the PCs touched the gold sphere and found Vromka'ad's treasure room (Strum's player gave me an idea about a gold Trump-glyph).  Luckily, the maid told them a safe-word to use so they wouldn't get zapped by security protocols.  

The sword Kaltha'alax came alive and spoke to the wielder, telling him to prove himself worthy, he should strike down the first demon he sees.  The PCs decided to keep the sword sheathed until needed, as they didn't want to kill the female demon maid or Spoons.

We learned that syvra'atch means mercy in the ancient tongue, that demons like to talk during movies (but it's usually helpful commentary and fun-facts), and Ug prefers women that are salamander-esque.

Playing right up until the end of our time, I just gave everyone max XP and the nefa'arius Naza'akul was awarded the 5th quadrant which allowed him to reach level 2.

If anyone's curious, I've been making video responses to what the RPG Pundit vlogged about immersion and emulation here.  My videos in response are here and there.  Just a couple of hardcore gamers ranting, raving, and sometimes talking past each other about Game Master theory and practice.

Comment if you've got something to say, hoss! 

VS

p.s.  Yes, weekend badges are now available for July 2026's VENGER CON V: The Will To Power.  Want a great new TTRPG community where you can hang out with other gamers, get ideas, advice, and training in order to improve?  Look no further than the fastest-growing group on X - it's the Kult of Kort'thalis.  Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy?  Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!  

PSYCHOCOSM, Visceral Non-Mechanics, & Running Non-D&D

 

It's been awhile since I blogged about something other than session reports or the announcement of a new PDF, book, convention, or whatever.

As the title of this post would suggest, I'll be diving deeply into advanced immersion, opting-out of standard RPG mechanics, and what you need to start GMing stuff that's not D&D (aka stuff I wish I knew back in the day).

There's gonna be some theory, but not a ton of jargon, and all my theorizing should have a practical application.  I don't just theorize to hear myself type. 

Faith Alone

First off, I want to talk about PSYCHOCOSM, recently mentioned here.  This is the blending of reality and fantasy in the minds of Game Master and players alike.  As I've been describing and discussing, PSYCHOCOSM is one step beyond immersion.  Immersion being the passive feeling like you're surrounded or ensconced in the world, your character, the genre, and current situation (this will come up later).

PSYCHOCOSM, on the other tentacle, is an active move towards blurring those fantasy and reality lines.  You're supposed to use your imagination to go further into the fantasy, making it seem real by taking the game seriously (though, you don't have to be serious), visualizing what's happening with focus and concentration, and believing that in the imagination (both individual and collective), what's happening is real, having its own reality.

What exactly do I mean by each of these?

   *  Taking it seriously: Attend sessions when possible, show up ready to play, leave outside BS outside, pay attention during the game, etc.

   *  Visualization: Don't just let the details fall from the sky onto your head and lay on the ground next to your feet like so many dead pigeons.  Catch them as they fall or at the very least pick them up when they land... examine them, interact with them, breathe life into them (just as the GM does for his campaign setting), fold them into an origami unicorn - use what's provided to create future details that enrich the ongoing narrative.  If you don't use 'em, you lose 'em.  "All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in the rain."

   *  Make-believe: Same thing as willful suspension of disbelief.  You must decide that it's true, in the context of our imagination, and act accordingly.  Only you can make that leap of faith.

When you intentionally do all 3 of these things, you enter what I call a magical state.  If that's too "out there," then let's just say it's an optimized flow-state where all things are possible.  

The only barrier?  You've got to realize the potential is there, you've got to want it, and you have to go after it.  If you can do that, your active immersion has been self-actualized to the level of PSYCHOCOSM, which is the true and final goal of roleplaying games.

Visceral Style of Play

This came from messaging back and forth from a friend and supporter of Kort'thalis Publishing, particularly The Outer Presence.  My stuff is minimalist, and my approach to game design is rules-light or don't even bother with a system at all, I'll just wing it (describing stuff, asking what the PCs are doing, and then describe what happens next).

He mentioned that approach or play-style favors a visceral experience rooted in immediate and cinematic results with zero book-keeping.  Don't look at your character sheet or consult the rulebook.  Describe the situation with "making a strong impression" on your mind.  If the success or failure of the attempted action is up in the air, roll a die, but then give a fast, decisive, and impactful resolution that has significant consequences.  You know, something visceral.  

If someone has a gun pointed at your head, I don't want the player, his character, or me (the GM) calculating the hit-point to damage ratio.  I want them worried they're going to have their head blown-off.  This situation doesn't call for mechanics, it calls for removing mechanics so you only have the situation.  

When discussing this on X, I said it reminded me of Obi-Wan telling Luke to turn off his targeting computer and just feel the force.  We don't want more automation, we want less.  Manually handle the situation as you might describe the sequence of events happening in a movie, taking the game aspects out of it.  That's right, no mechanics (or at least minimal mechanics).  Trust your instincts and just figure out what happens viscerally.

In fact, if you saved the energy by ignoring mechanics and instead spent that on coming up with something awesome, you'll almost always be farther ahead. 

Rather than "if this doesn't go your way, you die," what I'm looking for in my own gaming is "if you don't do something proactive right now, you will die."  That puts the ball in their court (the player) while giving you a clear conscience to put the dice and rules and system away.  The mechanics are there to help the GM adjudicate outcomes so adventurers aren't dying left and right simply because the monsters got lucky.  As long as the PCs aren't choosing to jump into a swarm of swirling blades, they aren't going to die when I go visceral (unless it's a fairly dark one-shot).  Jumping into swirling blades is example I've used so many times it should become a meme at this point.

Running Non-D&D

I was reading a post in the Dead Games group on FB, and someone was asking about the FASA Doctor Who RPG from the 80s with Tom Baker as The Doctor and Leela on the cover (one of my favorite pairings in the entire series).  

From the day I bought it, I loved that boxed-set.  I read through it constantly over the years, only managing to create a slew of weird alien species via all the random tables included.  Even with its introductory scenes (I won't call it an actual adventure), I never really understood how to use it.  And this was after I'd discovered D&D and learned to play.

How do you Game Master an idea, a genre, or bunch of tropes and aesthetics?  I ran into similar roadblocks with other RPGs during my formative years, like CYBERSPACE.  I loved cyberpunk and knew what it was about, same with Doctor Who (I can still remember our 5th grade teacher asking all of us individually, going around the room, what our favorite TV show was and I said Doctor Who, but she misheard me and incredulously asked if I really that into "Doctor Ruth" and everyone laughed). Yes, Doctor Who was, indeed, my favorite show.  

What introductory scenarios did was become a helpful crutch to start walking (or playing in this analogy), giving you an idea of what roleplaying this particular thing should be like.  What non-D&D roleplaying games needed to do was clue us in to what RPG sessions were really about - laying down the foundation for a story that involved aspects related to the type of RPG we were supposed to run.  

If I had known that I needed to craft the beginning of a narrative that started out with a location, characters, vibe, and situation that would soon become a full-blown scenario when the PCs intersected with it, I could have started coming up with my own adventures.  But since I didn't know about that stuff when I was young, my mind defaulted to the adventuring loop of D&D (have a reason to explore, go explore, encounter people and monsters, talk to the people, defeat the monsters, loot the treasure, and repeat) or it just went blank - leaving me with no idea how to start playing Doctor Who, CYBERSPACE, and all the many RPGs I bought over the years but never played.  

Dear Skyrealms of Jorune, "work at becoming a citizen" might be the initial reason for adventuring, but it is not, in fact, a viable scenario!!! 

Now that I know this stuff, it's still tricky to come up with an appropriate adventure for something like Rocky & Bullwinkle, but at least I have the framework - location, characters, vibe, and situation - the very same thing a Doctor Who story needs to engage viewers.  

Thanks for reading, comments encouraged!

VS

p.s.  Yes, weekend badges are now available for July 2026's VENGER CON V: The Will To Power.  Want a great new TTRPG community where you can hang out with other gamers, get ideas, advice, and training in order to improve?  Look no further than the fastest-growing group on X - it's the Kult of Kort'thalis.  Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy?  Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!  

"The Ruin of A'agrybah" - CHA'ALT Campaign 4.5

 

After a long break, due to the festivities at GaryCon, we resumed our face-to-face Cha'alt campaign.  This is the 5th session of year 4.

We had 4 players... Strum the human sorcerer, Deacon Elijah Crane (priest), Ug the lizardtaur warrior, and Eldrad the blind v'symm warrior searching for his 7 eyes (I have a feeling that the player will be keeping that character, but that's for him to decide).

Oh yeah, if you want to attend VENGER CON V: The Will To Power this July in Madison, WI... now's the time to grab your weekend badge!!!  You won't want to miss the most hardcore RPG con of the year - all we do the entire weekend is just roleplaying! 

The adventurers were trying to make their way out of the tunnels and caves so they can arrive in A'agrybah in time for the Night of Too Many Tentacles party and the saba'ath the following evening.  

Right out of the gate, something was whispering to Eldrad.  Though everyone in the party could hear it.  Eldrad went to investigate only to find an Easter egg.  Full of something, he took it with him.

The following cave contained 9 insect demons worshiping a golden pylon where the door was fluctuating between open and closed on account of the tetrahedral green crystal above the door being off-kilter.  Using a zoth-fueled fireball, Strum roasted them alive.

Ug used Orin his naturally curious sword possessed by the essence of Venger Satanis to hold the door open until they could gain entry, fiddle with the matrix table full of multi-colored crystals (to no avail), and Ug reached his arm out to rotate the crystal - which he did successfully. 

More crystal fiddling transported them to a purple jungle.  They got out to explore.  Ug climbed a tree and saw the top of a giant head while Eldrad reached out with his sonar-senses, locating a survey team nearby.  The PCs sought them out and discovered this team was looking for a fuel source in order to get their starship flying again.  

The two groups decided to join forces before encountering a purple crystalline baby doll head hovering in the air named Perplexo, believing something interesting and/or useful would be in or around the top of that giant head.

After some back-and-forth discussion between the PCs, the scifi survey team, and Perplexo, the adventurers reasoned that purple baby doll head was some kind of artificial intelligence, even though he proclaimed that his intelligence was organic and not artificial.  Perplexo wanted to find a hatch leading to the subterranean depths of this island, where he could reprogram the underground computers to prevent some sort of disaster involving candy eating the planet.

Did the PCs try to kill Perplexo?  Yes, they tried.  Unfortunately for them, he had a purple force-shield that prevented any of their blows from landing.

Regardless, all three groups made their way through the purple jungle to what turned out to be a gigantic, metallic, deep-purple sphinx.  Eventually, the PCs found their way inside by putting a couple of swords into the same hole, thus leveraging the main blast-door at the front.

At this time, the Easter egg was hatching and an Easter-worm wriggled out and slithered into the jungle.  Eldrad fared him well, believing the worm would find a new home on this purple island.

Inside was just a bunch of techno mumbo-jumbo clutter and junk.  Everyone searched for awhile, but the only thing of interest was a hatch in the floor.  By this time, Ug and Perplexo had series beef.  Each one accused the other of insult and passive-aggressive hostility.  Ug sat on the hatch until the others bade him walk it off.

There was a metal ladder going down, so down they went (one of the surveyers, Daniel-Day Lewis, stayed topside to guard the hatch, just in case).  they walked down a long hallway that turned once or twice before leading to a massive cavern (with several smaller tunnels going elsewhere).  This big cave was inhabited with at least 35 purple-skinned primitive humanoids.  These purple-folk allowed Perplexo to waltz right in and access a computer terminal on a cave wall.

This cave also had purple crystals embedded into them, big ones that could easily fuel the survey team's starship.  But the natives didn't like that idea, not that anyone could understand their "ooga booga" language.  Eldrad used his empathy ability to make friends with the biggest and baddest of the purple warriors in their tribe.  That allowed him and the others to walk freely, looking over Perplexo's shoulder to see what he was doing.  The screen flashed all sorts of numbers, phrases, and symbols.  

In the end, the friendship between Eldrad and Ock! could not prevent violence from breaking out.  Strum used the zoth to fuel a wish spell to blast all of them to handfuls of purple sand.  He did. In the wake of this devastation, several weird magical side-effects transpired (including Strum being transported to a black realm where an albino bard ridiculed his musical ability, but then also taught him a few chord progressions), eventually leading to an ice wizard forcing the PCs to either fight each other or his ice golem in MORTAL COMBAT (eventually, they killed it).  That was a black skull suggestion that I pulled out, which got me to thinking, our last session of the campaign (year 4, anyway, should be influenced by just continually pulling unused suggestions out of the black skull). 

Checking on Perplexo, he was successful.  The way he protected planet 109 from being eaten by candy was to blow up the island.  Everyone had approximately one-thousand seconds to leave.

Believing he was on a roll, Strum once again oiled the strings of his ukulele with zoth and teleported everyone back.   The survey team was back on their ship, with the purple crystal, and the PCs arrived back at that cave on Cha'alt, but without their pylon.  Elijah cursed his luck to be once again stuck on Cha'alt.  Just as the portal was closing, Eldrad heard an empathy-laden cry from Daniel-Day Lewis as he screamed "God no, the candy!"

Before leaving the cave system altogether, the adventurers overheard a conversation between a human and elf.  They talked about how beautiful and alluring Cha'alt women were - especially King Agamen's former wife (he's a widow, now).  Even he couldn't keep it in his pants and thus a bastard princess was born about 19 years ago.  They surmised she must be hiding (rumored to have found sanctuary in Ja'alette, the city-state matriarchy), and it was wise to do so as the demoness Channa, who currently had the King's wandering tentacle, would surely have her killed in order to prevent anything from coming between herself and the royal power of A'agrybah... as several prophecies have stated, A'agrybah will soon fall.

The PCs introduced themselves, asked if they could share the Cha'altian weed the pair had, and in exchange, Strum gave them each a magical leprechaun skittle from a session or two back.

Soon enough, the adventurers found themselves back in A'agrybah.  After a good night's rest and hearty meal, they walked the streets in the direction of the palace as this evening was the Night of Too Many Tentacles.

They ran into their old cantina boss who was catering the event in the palace garden.  He pointed out 3 faces that the PCs should probably acquaint themselves with - the Federation Archbishop who was Elijah's superior, Zarsden an affable noble, and the royal vizier.  

Long story short on the last two... Zarsden asked the PCs to retrieve a demon killing blade called Kaltha'alax located in a tower between here and Ja'alette.  The vizier took the PCs to the Yog-Soggoth temple and in the basement was a library full of sacred tomes.  All of them paled by comparison to the one and only Necronomicon.  The vizier showed them proof that demons were alien to Cha'alt, invited by the snake-men to the planet from the lavender moons, infested by them thousands of years ago.  

One day, it is written, demons will again take hold of Cha'alt's surface and make humans and elves slaves.  To prevent Channa from seducing the King and destroying A'agrybah, the vizier promised them each a templar-knighthood and as much gold as they can carry if they journey to Ja'alette, meet with his contact (Ta'ala), escort Princess Lissa to the Crimson Rock of Sacrifice, and make sure she bears her mark of Yog-Soggoth to claim her royal birthright.  Easy-peasy!

The big shock, however, was Elijah Crane's one-on-one with the Archbishop.  It turns out that the Federation recently had an election, and a new administration just came in.  All connection between the Federation and the one true church of the Lords of Light was now terminated.  The Archbishop told Deacon Crane he has two choices.  Give up the priesthood and sit behind a desk in some bureaucratic office somewhere in space, or preach on his own, independent of the Federation, continue to live on Cha'alt and "go native" for lack of a better phrase.

Elijah picked the latter, and his companions welcomed him to a life of crazy adventures on Cha'alt.  Oh yeah, and Eldrad acquired a monstrous eye, one of seven empty sockets, knowing full well that something wild would come out of this gambit. 

The session ended with the PCs tagging along to the noble Zarsden's afterparty where there were many, many naked women in a pleasure-giving mood.

Session 5 is a good place to introduce a world-altering event into your campaign setting.  With the Federation chucking religion, there's bound to be a lot of fallout and unintended consequences.  Speaking of which, using all that zoth to fuel a sorcerer's spells will not go unnoticed by the Dark Gods.  Let's see what zoth-mania and zoth-withrawl looks like in session 6.  ;)

Thanks for reading, hoss!

VS

p.s.  Yes, weekend badges are now available for July 2026's VENGER CON V: The Will To Power.  Want a great new TTRPG community where you can hang out with other gamers, get ideas, advice, and training in order to improve?  Look no further than the fastest-growing group on X - it's the Kult of Kort'thalis.  Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy?  Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!  

GaryCon 2026 Convention Report

 

I made it back yesterday afternoon.  TL;DR is I had a great time... but if you want details, keep reading, hoss!

Staying on-property forced my tentacle into staying 4 nights (anything less wouldn't allow me to book a room there), so I came up Wednesday afternoon.  I ran 6 games, which seems like a lot... probably because it is, but I wish I had booked 7.  Also, I wish I had written in the event submission notes that I'd like my games to be held at the Timber Ridge because that's where I was staying.

Two of my games were tabled at the waterpark.  I mean inside the waterpark.  They literally turned the water off and got the kids out so a dozen or more tables could be set up on the edges of the pools and waterslide areas.  That was weird, but it worked out because I just told my players to come up to my room where I arranged the couch, coffee table, and chairs to run the game in the peace and quiet of my hotel room.  Worked great!

The rest of my games were in Loramore B, and they were all loud and distracting.  

I had a lot of players from previous years, which was awesome, because the games I run (especially, Cha'alt) are unique in play-style, atmosphere, genre, and attitude or approach... I prioritize narrative over numbers, for instance.  I heard from other familiar faces that they tried to get into one or more of my games but were all booked-up, though two games in particular were short-handed.  The first because a couple women bailed without us knowing the reason.  I can understand not signing-up for a Venger Satanis game, but when you already have the tickets, why flake?  The second was because a player had, in my own words based on what I'd heard, taken too much of something, went crazy, and never came back to the Air BnB they rented with friends.

For the first time, I brought boxes of Cha'alt books for a booth to generously stock and sell for me... but they didn't sell a one.  I have a feeling that if that's the direction I want to go in at a place like GaryCon, I'd need to get my own booth and do the selling myself.  I saw very few system-neutral books of adventures, guides, and GM advice, so who knows... maybe I'll look into that. 

Spent some quality time with my friend and VENGER CON alum Bill Allan and his friends, which was cool.  We talked about games, future projects, and conventions over dinner and chilling in the lounge listening to Black Sabbath.

I'll just list the highlights because to go through each session would absolutely fucking break me.  I'm already playing catch-up and don't have the time.  But will elaborate on key points as I go, and if you have a specific question, please ask.

Very few people carried cash around.  Out of 10 people asked, only 2 or 3 of them had a $20 bill on their person.  I thought that was strange, but with technology I guess we're moving to a cashless society.  Kicking myself in the tentacle for not remembering that my paypal "name" is Kort'thalis Publishing, and not based on either of my names, which I use to log-in.  

I had 8 pre-generated characters and every adventuring party included Becka'ala, the pineapple-folk sorceress.  I almost didn't include her in the lineup because she was such a ridiculous gonzo PC, but when in Cha'alt...

One of the most badasss moments was when the PCs commandeered a starship, blasted a massive Lovecraftian entity that had been released from The Necronomicon, may their slumber be short and resplendent with psychedelic dreams, and the party's warrior jumped out with his newly acquired ultra-telluric, vorpal sword, got a crit (possibly via fuchsia burn), and decapitated it... and then (as per the sword's magical ability), the giant Lovecraftian creature head sprouted alien spider legs and served the sword-wielder as a mouth while keeping that eldritch book in its mouth until they reached Wa'avenjour.  That deserved Divine Favor, but I was probably too wrapped-up in the moment to process game mechanics.

At one point, while traveling on the back of a reptilian riding-spider, I had Ta'al (the former slave NPC) ask the adventurers what got them into this kind of life.  It's one of those quiet, introspective moments coming from social interaction that is probably rare in gaming - especially at conventions, I don't play enough to know for sure.  Everyone had something to say, those who took their character's provided backstory synopsis and made it their own, synthesizing how the PC was presented with how players decide to roleplay them, were able to improvise something deep that felt like PSYCHOCOSM to me.

I got a tremendous compliment from a player who had been in one of my games years ago at either GaryCon or Game Hole, vaguely remembered that it was "crazy, wild Lovecraft gonzo" but didn't remember Cha'alt or myself, and rediscovered it when he signed-up for one of my sessions.  His name is Jay, and he said "Yours is the strangest game I've ever played."  Which simply gives credence to my claim that "the Cha'alt experience" is rather unique in the anals (yeah, I know) of our gaming culture. 

A friend of mine who always tries to play in at least one of my games made me a really cool violet-hued set of dice which I rolled several times throughout the con.  Thanks again, David - awesome dice!

The "Black Skull Suggestions" happened.  I mentioned that house-rule, along with Cha'alt X-Cards [FREE PDF here!!!] during all the Cha'alt games.  I wish I had done a similar thing with my Alpha Blue session, ask the players to write down a familiar scifi or X-rated trope, character, concept, or what-have-you.  It forced me to improv in spots where I wouldn't have necessarily gone for it.  Without that concept, we wouldn't have "The salacious cat-warrior gave me herpes" or something about Bruce Campbell's chin, tentacles, and being an Elvis impersonator. 

I finally did the Lovecraftian investigative horror genre justice (last year wasn't bad, but that session was, again, in a noisy crowded room).  Not only did it last the full 3-hours (the allotted time-slot), but it was solid, unexpected, and all the players loved it.  It helps when their expectations are low, a couple of them (maybe more) had recently come away from lackluster games of that ilk, so by comparison, mine seemed graded on a curve.  ;)

I came up with the horror blurb for my adventure six months in advance, like all my games, and my mindset 3 weeks prior to the con is invariably worlds away (quite literally, sometimes).  But I did my best to take what I had outlined months before and use it for inspiration on whatever I come up with in the actual adventure writing process.  

Not every time I GM Cha'alt, but maybe every other session, something happens that becomes established lore in how I run it.  Before GaryCon, I didn't have strip club customers taking their pants down before the lap dance commences, thus being able to enjoy it more... known as a "full-release lap dance."  

Similarly, giving a reptilian riding spider a zoth enema boosts their speed three-fold.  A player asked if there was a demon bounty, probably since I mentioned the brief history of talons.  And that makes so much sense (in certain places) I can't believe it never crossed my mind.  Various sorcerers, priests, and prophets through the ages removing and attaching their foreskin to The Necronomicon in order to become part of it... visceral attunement.  Such a cool idea, and that came from a player who was just winging it; though, I wouldn't be surprised if he had in-game experience of dealing with stuff like trying to use dangerous artifacts of the Lovecraftian variety.

And when it came to Alpha Blue, I came up with klitorian crystals aka sex crystals for female humanoids.  Extremely rare and valuable crystals that made female fantasies more immersive, virtually coming to life while they're being railed.  It was a player who asked how it works, do you grind it up and snort it?  To which I replied "Uh... yeah, you can grind it up into powder and then sprinkle it over the clitoris.  

What else?  I had a player who took the degenerate gambler aspect of his character's personality and made that the focus of his adventure while the "A-plot" felt more like a side-quest.  While that can be tricky for a GM to manage, I think that kind of commitment really enhances a session.  

I remember a theoretical discussion on whether drinking the water of a man who transformed into liquid could be drunk and then pissed-out later... and cleansed of impurities.  The almost immediate gonzo card stimulation (within the first 10 minutes of the game, highly unusual, but also welcome) forced me to come up with an idea - the soap opera characters briefly mentioned in a throw away detail about the cantina they started out in - became real patrons in the cantina that the PCs could interact with, and ended up asking them to come along.  This helped both fill-out the roster (that was a session with only two players), and also gave us some awesome social interaction throughout the adventure.

And of course the jokes!  So many hilarious things said at the table, I only managed to jot a few of them down as things were being said... "If your sleaze factor-5 lasts longer than 5 hours, consult a doctor."  Lol, that still cracks me up.  "Did the stripper dream of The Necronomicon?"  Due to the green-skinned privatives sacrificing the most beautiful of their women, "Eugenics based on ugliness becoming the desired trait in girls."  A sorcerer communicating with a slime entity by jiggling his belly (like a bowlful of jelly) cracked-up the entire table - hey, he rolled a 19.  If I do come up with future Alpha Blue scenarios, "Strange New Holes" has to be a title.

The Cha'alt scenario was very exposition-heavy at the beginning, so let's talk about that.  For a convention game, I think that's fine... maybe not ideal.  You want (mostly, because of player expectations, based on the format) a lot of structure for the session.  Those guardrails get narrower and narrower until it almost kind of feels like a railroad, but there still has to be some free range possibility with plenty of off-ramps.  You also need players to feel like they have plenty of narrative choices at the beginning, middle, and end.  I tried to provide that as each of the four times I ran that exact adventure with the same list of pre-gens, and the middle sections were wildly different.

I also think, for a setting as... unexpected as Cha'alt, introductory exposition gives players a sense of place and a window into what the world is like.  However, next time, I want to go in the opposite direction and just have the PCs wake-up in a strange cave, unsure exactly how they got there or what's going on.  That will also require some sophisticated maneuvering of the adventure writing variety, but I'm always up for the challenge.

Speaking of adventure writing, I spoke with my friend and fellow GM Bill Allan, Merchant of Mela'anj over at VENGER CON, about opening-up a limited license later this year for those who want to write Cha'alt content.  I'll have a formal announcement about that this summer... just wanted to tease the idea ahead of time.

Before I forget, the only time anyone the entire weekend said anything complimentary (or anything at all) about my hand-made maps (I only brought 3, but they were some of my very best ones) was this random guy who said "Cool looking map" while I was standing there holding all my stuff, waiting for a shuttle or trolley that would take me back to my hotel room.  But that happens in my home game, too.  It doesn't bother me so much as it just seems weird that more people don't comment on the one visual element that's presented at the table.  Also, I showed players images on my phone of various NPCs (mostly strippers, prostitutes, and nubile potential sacrifices) and creatures.

As for the dealer's room, it was... fine.  I bought a handful of old Dragon magazines that were reasonably priced from Noble Knight Games.  That's about it.  I've exited my dice acquiring phase, and will wait until a set of seven really knocks my tentacled socks off before purchasing.  And I really don't need any more RPGs at this point in my life.  If I want to explore vintage games from the 80s and 90s (and I do), trying them out at a convention like GaryCon or VENGER CON (attend the con happening this July in Madison, WI right now! Link below) is the way to go.

Thanks for reading, here's a video about GaryCon that I made while there.  As it goes, there's actually no part 2... Lol.  But this blog post definitely serves as a exhaustive follow-up.

VS

p.s.  Yes, weekend badges are now available for July 2026's VENGER CON V: The Will To Power.  Want a great new TTRPG community where you can hang out with other gamers, get ideas, advice, and training in order to improve?  Look no further than the fastest-growing group on X - it's the Kult of Kort'thalis.  Want the hardcover Cha'alt trilogy?  Here's how (and they're currently on sale!)!!  

"The Ruin of A'agrybah" - CHA'ALT Campaign 4.4

 

As I said on X later that evening, after our session had concluded, "This afternoon's face-to-face Cha'alt session was so fucking Cha'alt... it was almost too Cha'alt for comfort."

So many little details are about to hit the cutting room floor.  All I can do is try to snatch them up and paste them on the wall before they're gone forever, save our struggling recollection.  Here goes nothing!

We had 4 players: Strum the terrible, sorcerer human; Deacon Elijah Crane, human priest; Ug Esquire, lizardtaur warrior; and The Nefarious Naza'akhul, human thief (a fresh PC, though same player who played Lanar the pixie-fairy thief the last time he joined us - Naza'akhul is an arch-enemy of the Federation who enjoys pranking and harassing them.

As has become a tradition at our table, I cut small pieces of paper and handed one to each player so he could make a "black skull suggestion" that I would randomly pull, improvise, and award a point of divine favor to the player who wrote it.

I also told my players that if they came up with 2 new personal goals, they'd get a point of divine favor for their effort...

Strum's was improve playing the ukeleli, finding sheet music or instruction videos, etc.  And his second was to find a mentor for either magical or musical improvement.  

Deacon's was to enlighten the natives and escape Cha'alt.  Both motivations already baked-into his character concept from the get-go, but this time formalized (written down and spoken) which, I feel, solidifies them into the game and makes going after and achieving those goals increasingly possible.

Ug's was to learn a new word (perhaps swear or rude words) and obtain new books.  Also, he wanted to avoid killing an antagonist.  This is a softer side of Ug, which we all thought was an interesting development.  Incidentally, the word that Ug learned this session was "tumescent."  And that eventually became the word of the day, a la PeeWee's Playhouse.

Naza'akhul chose arching more, as his character concept is to be an over-the-top nemesis to lots of folks he meets.  Also, invoking fear.

Just to make things easier, the players bedded-down in a nearby cave, getting some rest while also switching out PCs in the adventuring party.  I had Strum and Ug roll dice to discover what was up with the appreciative sex slaves they rescued last session.  Not having a thorough random table on-hand, I made one up on the spot.  Ug was fine on both counts, but Strum's current main squeeze was mildly upset with him, and also gave him an STD.  He discovered this when it burned when he peed.

That led to confession time with Deacon Elijah Crane who is, after all, a priest of the Lords of Light.  In return for asking forgiveness, as much as a Cha'alt native is able, Strum was healed of the burning sensation.

As the PCs were getting ready to leave, they noticed a glimpse of green dart in and back out of the cave.  Ug went after it down the tunnel, and eventually came face-to-face with the leprechaun Saint Sa'al (I asked the players to help name him... and I did not expect someone to come up with "Saul," but that reminded us of Better Call Saul, and with Ug's penchant for lawyering (even though he barely knows what that means) and some help from another player, I decided to blend the accent to come up with "Oi vey, I know ye be after me lucky charms!"

Towards the end of this lengthy interaction, Ug was pleased with himself for not simply skewering this little green fellow when he had the chance (personal growth! But his sword, Orin, was irritated that he paused an X-rated version of Bewitched with two Samanthas going at it when there was no violence to be had - "Now, I've gotta start all over!").  Strum was mildly disappointed (but also probably a bit relieved) when St. Sa'al replied that he could not mentor the sorcerer in the ways of magic.  Nevertheless, the leprechaun gave away a handful of something called rainbow, apparently a drug that looked suspiciously like skittles.  

Not sure if they should try it, their dark-elf slave Grenthal volunteered.  Periodically, as time passed, he would talk about how green everything looked, almost as if the color was alive.  There was a euphoric feeling, as well.  Later, he was asked if the lime-flavored candy drug affected how he tasted other things, and he replied that everything had a lime sort of green taste.  The PCs were taken aback when Grenthal put his fingers in his mouth and withdrew them, showing that the tips of his fingers had become green merely from his saliva.

Soon after, the PCs went into a cave filled with coral growths.  One particularly large and monstrous area of coral was being worshiped by a middle-aged man who soon introduced himself as Bendu A'alabin.  But that was after Naza'akhul attempted to throw his voice and impersonate the Great Old One that Bendu thought he was speaking to.  "Ona'ak-Maya'az, is that you?"

There was some theological discussion between the Deacon and this self-styled priest who desired to become the Qua'ah-Xa'an of the Dark God.  That title is more of a private secretary than public-facing High Priest, but an important position nonetheless.  

Before leaving the coral cave, one of them noticed a metal grate on the ceiling, about 8-feet high.  Ug climbed up there to see what was going on, removed the grate and put his head into a 1-foot around tunnel that was obviously too small for any of the PCs.  It felt humid and there were little puddles of water in the tunnel, as well.  In the end, Bendu decided to accompany the adventurers because it is dangerous to go alone. 

The big combat of the afternoon came soon after (Orin was pleased), as they discovered mushrooms lining the tunnel that led to a small cave filled with even bigger mushrooms, and eventually a massive cavern containing a gigantic mushroom monster.  But before the PCs encountered that guy, the medium-sized fungi spored them purple stuff.  It got on their clothes, eating almost all of Deacon's robes so he looked like he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.  Ug's human-skin vest also disintegrated, and his skin soon took on a purplish tone.

The battle lasted about 4 rounds with a couple of crits on both sides.  Ug's magic sword, Orin, was still enhanced by the zoth from the previous session, and did his best to cut the giant mushroom down as Deacon blasted it, Strum hit it with magic missiles, and Naza'akhul poked it from down below in the creature's taint area - thus was he nicknamed "taint poker."  Strum went down halfway through the battle, and Ug was hit hard... so was Grenthal.  But they all healed up eventually and realized how hungry they were.  Oh yeah, also halfway through the battle, the PCs noticed some guy dressed like a librarian walking by the entrance to the mushroom cave carrying cheese slices.  The PCs cut up the dead giant mushroom, found some cheese slices just laying on a flat-topped stalagmite and cooked them up.  Cheese found in caves becomes saturated with the natural juices of Cha'alt, also known as 2nd hand cheese or cheese-of-the-cave.

Before leaving, the PCs also looted the mushroom cave.  This is what they found... Spank Magazine (issue #53), Last Days of Freedom (issue #1 of that zine by Black Pyramid Publishing), a dagger +1, a canteen full of zoth, a hologram instruction for the mandolin (which Strum would try to repurpose for his ukulele), 67 gold pieces, and a wand of lightning (12 charges).

I had the PCs roll a d8 to determine how this dish agreed with them.  Results varied between the best meal they've ever had all the way down it barely agreed with them.

A little while later, the PCs remembered that St. Sa'al told them that if they ever wanted to get ahold of him, to simply call out his name.  Strum did just that, and the leprechaun came.  Strum told him that he wanted to buy more rainbow, but his gold was up in that tunnel, and if he could just scurry through the tunnel and find it, the party's sorcerer could pay him.

Believing this, Saint Sa'al made his way up into the grate and crawled into the tunnel.  In the meantime, while the PCs were waiting, I decided to feel around the inside of my black skull and pulled out a suggestion.  It was from Deacon's player again, Lol.  This time, the suggestion was for them to happen upon the Golden Girls all hopped-up on spanish fly.  A lot of inappropriate solicitation by Blanche followed, but none of the PCs were interested in 70-year-old pussy.

Eventually, St. Sa'al came back with a shining tetrahedron.  Strum, continuing the ruse, tried to open it in order to pay the leprechaun for his drugs, but the only thing he managed to find was a button that dispensed Cha'altian butter - so creamy, so salty!  Instead, Strum offered him that orange crystal he'd been carrying around - to which Sa'al said yes, and then gave him another 7 pieces of rainbow.

A new cave, a new mystery... this area contained a wardrobe that backed-up to a rough-hewn wall.  Ug and then Deacon (he needed new clothes after the purple spore disintegration, and even Ug found some yellow slacks to go with the purple corduroy bedazzled assless chaps which he acquired from the giant mushroom's loot) opened up the wardrobe and went inside.  Realizing that it just kept going, they went in farther and farther until coming out the other side into a well-appointed, and sweetly perfumed room that looked like inside the lamp from the vintage TV show "I Dream of Jeanie."  The only thing of obvious value was a sculpture of an intertwined couple making love, the man was fashioned out of chartreuse and the woman fuchsia.  Deacon slipped that into his satchel (dead man's clothes are the ultimate separation buffer between an adventurer's valuables).  

At this point, the PCs could hear people talking in the next room.  I played a handful of seconds from this old-school porno called Babyface (1977) starting at the 2:30 mark.  Basically, the madam of this stud-brothel was giving a new guy the low-down about what's expected at Karininina's pleasure spa where women can go and experience the sensual pleasures of a man who still has his junk intact.  Ug did what he does best and just lumbered into the room, causing confusion but eventually being taken into the back by Sally for brothel-stud grooming himself.

Then, some of the women and men went into the room where the PCs were and attempted to talk their way out of being there.  They soon realized this place was in the matriarchal city-state of Ja'alette where the vast majority of males were eunuchs.  Besides that fuchsia and chartreuse sculpture, the only loot they got was the curtains and a hot-pink throw-pillow.

Back in the cave again, they saw a humanoid who stood right outside the wardrobe.  This was Resha'ad, and he was interested in finding a position within the Great Old One priesthood hierarchy, even if it meant becoming an apprentice.  Bendu took to Resha'ad, agreeing to take him on as an apprentice.  It was then, seeing them together, where the PCs made the connection.  These were the exact same two ja'abronis who were in that cave a couple sessions ago, the one isolated in time and space where that guy was selling tickets to see that event, Resha'ad's betrayal, over and over again.

Deacon tried to warn Bendu, but the Qua'ah-Xa'an hopeful wasn't sure if he should believe him, knowing how the Federation priest regarded the "worship of monsters and moral abomination" that was the Cha'alt religious experience.  Confronting his new apprentice did not alleviate concern.  Someone suggested that Resha'ad should take a piece of rainbow and then everyone could see if the truth would come out during his altered state.  Resha'ad agreed and took the yellow one.

Soon enough, he was going on about the yellowness of this new euphoric universe in which he was trapped.  The PCs asked questions and Resha'ad mentioned how he was biding his time, waiting for the right time to strike against the Old Ones.  At this point, Bendu had heard enough and stabbed Resha'ad over and over again with his dagger.  His former apprentice's blood was yellow (crazy!), and soon died.  Bendu wasn't giving up his worship of Ona'ak-Maya'az, but showed a newfound respect for the Lords of Light, and told Deacon that, and that he owed him one.

Before the next thing, Deacon's wrist communicator beeped an alert.  Messages popped onto the screen telling him about tomorrow night's festival and the royal garden party called a Night of Too Many Tentacles that Deacon was invited to, and the Federation warning him that he was summoned to the following night's saba'ath, where it's possible he'd be sacrificed, but not likely... however, skipping the saba'ath was not an option.

Heading back, the PCs had to circumvent that giant, monstrous crab again in order to find the entrance / exit (at which point, Strum was surprised and annoyed that the way out of here was known all along - he assumed there were wandering around out of necessity).  Hungry again, and realizing that Resha'ad's yellow blood both smelled and tasted like lemon, and that the shining tetrahedron provided butter... all Strum had to do was fireball the thing and they could feast.  After some rolling and burning a couple points of Divine Favor, the sorcerer roasted that crab and they ate well.

Meanwhile, Orin was grateful to not have to stop watching Lesbian Orgy #17 as the wizard did all the work.

Before leaving the system of tunnels and caves far below the Crimson Rock of Sacrifice, they decided to check on that cave showing the moment when Resha'ad stabbed Bendu A'alabin in the kidney just as he was opening the gate, about to be named Qua'ah-Xa'an.  Nothing was there.  Instead, a sign that read "Closed for business."

And that was it.  Finally, we resolved XP and the players recounted their (mis)deeds, as well as, the significant events according to profession, treasure, impact, and goals.  Deacon got the 5th quadrant point.

In two weeks, I'll be at GaryCon running games and shaking tentacles.  I'm hoping the next time we play will be Saturday, March 28th.  Thanks for reading; leave a comment if you'd be so kind.  ;)

VS

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