Re: [DL] Canyon O' Doom (long post)

[TobyAkers@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/2/02 8:46:22 AM US Mountain Standard Time, jyates@primaryfunction.com writes:


> This here's the spoiler space...
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> Go away if you don't want to know 'bout the Canyon!



I've run this adventure for two different groups.  The first group ended up getting split up in the maze of caverns due to a collapse.  (they lost the amulet in the ambush.)  When the first half of them consisting of 2 PC's and the chineese npc got to the ghouls they were captured.  One PC blew all his chips, the other realized it was hopeless and let himself get captured.  When the second group arrived consisting of 3 PC's, Haskins, and Sophie they managed to sneak through the first two rooms, then made a run for it.  This group also avoided the rift, instead wisely continued to follow the trail to see where that went first.

The second group were all captured by the ghouls, though they killed quite a few of them (around 30), however when they met up with the mummy they were slaughtered.  They even had a flamethrower...  This was my first and only TPK, though I came really close with a hangin' judge adventure...

> Good enough?  Good.  OK, I'm running my posse thru the Canyon O' Doom, and
> have hit upon a few things the list might have comments on.
>
> First -- I had one player who only had 1d8 in vigor.  Managed to go bust
> twice in the heat on the Canyon floor, and wound up with a 1d4!  I decided
> that the heat wasn't fun anymore, and stopped having them check after the
> 4th or 5th day.  Or declared that they stopped for a lunch time swim break
> or something.
>
> We then get into the caverns.  The same player (Who spent bounty to up that
> Vigor to 2d4) then fails two Guts checks and rolls 30+ on the Scart Table.
> That 2d4 vigor resulted in bad things (heart attacks and all).  I believe we
> have had 4 heart attacks across the party from failed Guts checks...  (They
> don't spend chips on Guts rolls usually, since there's SEVEN of them plus
> two NPCs, so somebody can cover them while they get un-scart.  But who'd
> have guessed they'd ace the d6s soooo well?).
>
> OK, we finally get to the City o' Ghouls.  There's 150 to 200 of them.  And
> I can't take down a single character.  They chip the damage, they resist the
> poison, they kill ghouls left and right.  I start feeling bad that they're
> going thru all their chips, and have the ghouls retreat.  'Course the ghouls
> are down about 50 members too.  So how do you marshals handle situations
> where the PCs would be captured and eventually released, but they refuse to
> go down?  We didn't play any of the Ghoul King encounter.  Any other groups
> go thru this part of the Canyon?  How'd it work for you?
>
> The posse moves on -- and we get a new guy added to the group, who is found
> amongst the corpses of the Ghoul larder, ick!
>
> Wait, wait wait.  I almost forgot to mention the wendigo-wannabe.  We
> recently played thru "Guess who's Coming to Donner?" and only one PC
> succomed to the urge to eat people.  His name is Josey Whales (no relation).
> A previous post about that yarn gave me a wonderful idea to play out the
> slow conversion into a wendigo.  The player is role-playing the whole thing
> well.  So  here we are, surrounded by dead humans, some freshly killed by
> the ghouls.  So Josey slices off a bit of thigh meat for a snack.  Chalk up
> a second corruption point.  I ask what Josey's spirit is, and it's a d4!!
> Well, half way there already!  (Some Josey info:  He's the only starting PC
> left; he's earned 11 grit; he's got 8 dice in shootin' with just about all
> the concentrations linked up.  I was wondering how the heck I was gonna
> frighten him with a herd of bulls...)
>
> Moving on, the posse makes it into the fungus forest.  They kill the smaller
> bugs, and the slightly larger bugs, and intelligently sneak around the
> humongous bug.  THey treat nicely with the Morlocks.  They reach the opening
> tear into the Hunting Grounds.  And go fishing.  They take a fungal-tree
> branch, tie a piece of rope to it, and throw in into the breach.  The
> Shaman, the Tracker, and the NPC Professor and Sophie decide that the tear
> is just too much, and skirt around it.  The rest all grab the rope.
> Something pulls.  They pull back.  There's a couple of contested strength
> rolls.  Someone asks if it would help if he spent a fate chip -- I ask
> "define help?".  I mean, what do you hope to pull thru the opening that can
> exert enough pull to require four or five of you to force it thru?  They
> pull out a demon -- a real live manitou.  I gave it Brother Cain's demon
> stats.  Chips flew and Josey's Colt Patterson saved the day, eventually.
>
> The others return long enough to see the aftermath, and to see Josey stick
> his head into the tear.  SLLUURRCH!  Josey dissappears with an electric pop!
> So, I don't have to do anything with Josey anymore, he took care of himself!
> The rest of the posse grabs rope, ties it around the waist of one volunteer
> (yes, someone _volunteered_!!) and Kenny leaps into the rift.  I tell Kenny
> nothing.  THe posse tries to pull him free after a minute or so.  The shaman
> uses a quick scar to get some Strength boost, and generates something like a
> 45 or 50 STR total (lots of raises!!).  The rest of the group contributes 10
> or 11 more.  Everyone stops and asks "How strong is the rope anyway?"  We
> all look at Kenny's player, and he rolls reliability for the rope.  He rolls
> a 3 and the rope holds -- Kenny is saved!  He's covered in pink slime, and
> is telling everyone "I love you man!"  Yes, it's very Ghostbusters II.
> Josey wasn't there.  I decided before hand that this rift is a uncontrolled
> tear.  It's not an establised gate to a particular place in or thru the
> Hunting Grounds, it's a desparation-move by Jordava to get to the real
> world.  So going into the Hunting Grounds is either going to drop you
> somewhere based on character personality, or lacking a strong personality
> trait you get dumped into some random thing.  Kenny wound up in a section of
> the Happy Hunting Ground filled with joyful pink goo.  Josey has 11 Grit and
> a very well defined personality from long years of role-playing.  He's
> gotten himself to somewhere else.  But I haven't said where yet.
>
> Did anyone else go thru the rift?
>
> And that's where we are.  How'd your trip thru the Grand Canyon go?
>
> Jeff Y.
> Marshal for the Dynamite Gang
> (Josey's other plan was to put use dynamite to try to close the rift.  But
> he picked "stick my head in"...)