LAW:http://www.darkcitygames.com/docs/Legends.pdf
ICE FLOE OF THE UNHOLY SEAL GOD
The cold gray winds blow unceasingly from the north, driving sleet and frozen spray over the longship Gale as she plows up and down the great ocean swells. You flex your fingers to keep blood circulating as you attend the icy rigging, which creaks over the howl of the gale. You rub rime out of your eyes as you scan the reefed sails, which are still holding strong. Your ship is able to cleave close to the wind, and though it is a rough ride, it is where your captain desires to go.
You look back at the great figure by the helm. Even in the gray driving haze, his blue eyes blaze ever forward. Olaf the Bold is one of the greatest living pirates, and he treats his crew with uncommon respect; if he ordered you to sail to Hell itself, you would do it. But this time he has kept his destination to himself, not even sharing it with Glutz, the goblin wizard who has advised him for the better part of two decades. You have sailed for two weeks, as northward as the wind would allow, and you are far away from all known shipping lanes, and surely further north than any known islands. And still Olaf plows on, eyes ever forward.
You scan the horizon of great, gray waves and white foam and bobbing ice, until it dissolves in snow and sleet. You see more ice bergs, and call their location back to the helm. The bergs have become more common, and some of the men have softly wondered to one another what will happen when you are surrounded by them.
You rub your eyes and look again. Off the starboard bow you see a white sheet blanketing part of the horizon. "Ice floe!" you yell hoarsely over the screaming wind. You point so the helmsman may see.
"All hands alert!" Olaf yells, and his command is repeated. He gives directions to the helmsman, and the course is alarmingly altered for the giant floe of ice. There is some animated conversation in the stern between Olaf and Glutz, who eventually pipes down, and then your captain again wildly eyes the sheet of ice. Everyone on the ship is focused on the white expanse as you get ever closer.
When less than a bowshot away, Olaf alters course slightly to aim for an icy shelf. "Prepare for landing!" The men spring into action, lining the forward part of the hull and working the slippery rigging. Moments before impact, the last sails are dropped and the bow grinds against the ice and is forced up. Men jump over the side with lines, and the ship is hauled out of the water to lay at a slight slant on the solid ice. Olaf and Glutz jump over the side and join the crew, boots crunching. There is a hint in your captain's eyes of something more than boldness.
"Listen, lads! I have been led here by visions sent by Zom, the gods-father. I have seen this bleak shore in dreams. And somewhere on this sheet of ancient ice is a treasure greater than any pirate has ever seen, in the hold of a lost ship. A ship from the dawn of our world, before the vile snacas ever wriggled across its surface.
"You will fan out in several search parties. If you do not find the ship after two days, return here and others will search. When you find the ship, send one man back to let us know, while the rest board and search."
"What are we looking for?" Glutz asks, on behalf of the ignorant crew.
Even the wind falls silent as your captain looks among you. "I have seen a great crystal sphere, as if of ice. And when I look in its depths, I see…Truth. All of history. The Cosmos. Yapping beings on the outside of reality. Everything."
Those assembled stare in mute incomprehension at their great captain.
"You will know it when you see it, lads. Now the first search parties will be…"
And so it is the morning of the next day, after much fruitless searching in this time-lost, frozen hell, that an ominous gray shape bulks out of the white fog. A strange hull, seemingly of metal, caked in layers of rime, with no mast, if there ever was one. She seems to be sitting level, though the bottom of the hull is lost in ice beyond your vision. The long, straight gunwhales are a bowshot in length and some ten feet above you, so it is scalable with your ropes despite its smooth, slippery sides.
One of your party leaves to let Olaf know of your discovery, and the rest prepare to board in search of the unknown…
ICE FLOE OF THE UNHOLY SEAL GOD is a one-off adventure. We will be using the Legends of the Ancient World system, available for free at darkcitygames.com. There will be a few house rules added. The adventure takes place ostensibly far off of the Stormspeake Peninsula, but that is tangential to the adventure. We will be playing fast and loose. Most encounters will be handled abstractly, though a few key fights may require a map.
Each player will create a 34 point character (or two if we get less than five players involved) with five skill levels, no more than three in any one skill. You may have two weapons and a shield, and armor up to chainmail. It is a big world, make up a place of origin and/or background for your character, if you want; or he can just be a mutt from the sea.
Example character:
Josk of Highgate
ST 12
DX 13 (10)
IQ 9
MA 5
Sword+2, Seaman+1, Medic+1, Climbing+1
Broadsword 2d6, Knife d6, Leather Armor 2/2, Large shield 2/1
In addition each character will have two Karma points to spend, as defined in LAW. Essentially this allows you to re-roll a poor result if you choose, spending a Karma point to do it. We will be using Invisible Castle for the dice rolls.
If you create a mage, take Sorcerer's Tongue for free, and select five skill levels and/or spells.
When we have the search party filled out, we will begin by climbing the side of the ancient ship. For most of the adventure, including most (if not all) of the fights, we will be running it narrative style. This is to make sure things move along. Every player will have a chance to perform any action desired as you explore. If you want to do something out of sight of your comrades, pm me and we'll discuss it. If you will be gone for a few days after the game is rolling, no problem let me know and we'll decide what to do. I intend to post "officially" at least once a day as things are rolling, maybe more, depending on everyone's availability.
There may be a few points of contention when the rules are applied. The rules are light so there are a few holes. I will be flexible and fair and mostly consistent. Prolonged arguing about the rules (ie, two posts) will be punished by Mystical Ice Damage. We are going to have a good time and keep the adventure moving. This will require a bit of imagination to visualize combat as it unfolds. I think we can handle it!
FYI, there are about a dozen locations in the adventure, so you have an idea of its length.
I intend to describe distance in the narrative combat as long (several turns of movement away), medium (two turns of movement away), short (one turn) and adjacent. This should make it fairly easy to describe your actions in a fight.
For those familiar with Melee, the spiritual dad of LAW, combat works a bit quicker. Turns are composed of each player moving and immediately executing their action - there are no phases. Once each player has taken their turn, the enemies all move and execute actions. This continues until the combat is over. A very few things affect this order, such as Counterattacking, so be familiar with that. I'll post a sample combat separately.
For searching, we will use a combination of the player describing what he is doing and rolling 3d6 against IQ. We'll play this a bit by ear, sometimes it will be one or the other or both. I'm not a huge fan of simply rolling, but neither do I like the metagaming aspects of a 130 IQ dude describing the meticulous actions of his 90 IQ warrior. I have always balanced the two, and we will do that here.
The game will begin after the Stanley Cup Playoffs are over. That should allow any interested parties to digest the massive 7-page rules tome. Let's Go Pens!
If no one signs up, ya'll can mock me as I play it solitaire!
Any questions, please ask here or by pm!
('cuz Yuku's lame)
('cuz Yuku's lame)
