Waterfront Rogues

Ocean-going pirates and landlubber thieves are common rpg archetypes, but there's another group, less dear to the pop culture imagination, that sort of bridges the gap between the two. The river pirate lurks in that gap, connecting the urban, wilderness, and sea-going adventures into one larcenous tapestry.

This sort of thing has gone on as long as there have been boats and things to steal, of course, but there are some great examples of this from American history. The Cave-In-Rock game operated out of this place on the Ohio River:

The 1790s were the high point of the piracy there. Samuel Mason and his gang robbed flatboats carrying farm goods to markets in New Orleans.

Still, the Cave-In-Rock gang aren't near as colorful as their urban counterparts. Consider Sadie Farrell (also known as "Sadie the Goat" for her modus operandi of headbutting male victims so her accomplice could mug them), a leader of the Charlton Street Gang. In 1869, the gang stole a sloop on from the waterfront on Manhattan's West Side. They embarked on a piratical spree, reading up and down the Hudson and Harlem Rivers, even going as far as Albany, supposedly. They robbed small merchant vessels, and raided farm houses and Hudson Valley mansions, occasionally kidnapping people for ransom. Sadie was said to have made male captives "walk the plank" on occasion. Eventually, the villagers organized and began to fight back. The gang was forced to abandon the sloop and return to street crime. One assumes it was fun while it lasted.

The Swamp Angels had an even more innovative approach. Based in a Cherry Street tenement named Gotham Court (also called "Sweeny's Shambles"), the Swamp Angels had a secret entrance to the sewers. There they made their lair and launched their nocturnal raids on the East River docks. Here's what the chief of police said about them in 1850:

"[they] pursue their nefarious operations with the most systematic perseverance, and manifest a shrewdness and adroitness which can only be attained by long practice. Nothing comes amiss to them. In their  boats, under cover of night, they prowl around the wharves and vessels in a stream, and dexterously snatch up every piece of loose property left for a moment unguarded."

The police tried waterfront snipers then sewer raids to fight the bandits on their own turf. Only regular sewer patrols drove the gang from its subterranean lair. Even those didn't end their piratical ways.

More interesting and game-inspiring tales of riverside criminality can be found at your local library. Or the internet.

All That Glitters

Orichalcos is one of the richest worlds in the Strange Stars and certainly the preeminent economic power in the Coreward Reach. Thanks to a well-branched and "high bandwidth" hyperspace node, Orichalcos's spaceport sees visitors from across the known galaxy.

The Orichalcosans are a human subspecies, differing from baseline only in their metallic skin tones, ranging from a dusky brass color to a bright gold. There are two distinct populations of Orichalcosans: the aristocracy (called--ironically--the "Most High") who are dwarfs, and the commoners who have typical human height. The aristocrats and their retinues live in a series of domed habitats on the planet's surface. The environment of Orichalcos is inhospitable to human life, so the rest of the population lives in hundreds of orbital habitats encircling the world.

Other than official ceremonies, the aristocrats spend their time in leisure pursuits. Most play virtually no roll in administering whatever industrial or trade monopoly their title has granted them. Discussions of the business of making money is considered beneath their class, and leaving the Glitter Domes for any extended period risks seeing their social standing suffer. Maintaining a social media presence (often followed obsessively by the lower classes) both brings prestige and keeps interest in their businesses high.

The actually day to day operation of the businesses of Orichalcos is done by a class of capitalists known as the Optimates. Traditionally, this title was bestowed only on the CEOs of the various monopolies, but now is applied to the wealthiest business people, whatever their exact roll. The Optimates collect the profits from  the various monopolies and support the aristocrats (technically their owners) with generous allowances. The rest of the money is theoretically to be held in a trust for the aristocrat, but clever accounting ensures most is reinvested or paid out in bonuses.

How much the classes beneath Optimate reap the rewards of Orichalcosan prosperity depends to a degree on the habitat they live in. However, as whole, Orichalcosans don't enjoy the degree of social support that similarly wealthy and advanced societies provide. Relative austerity and wealth inequality are seen as powerful motivating tools necessary to create future generations of successful Optimates.

Orichalcosan Characters: Have the same stats as regular humans.

Space Fiends: Monks from Beyond

I did a post about using AD&D Fiend Folio monsters in a science fiction context. This post is another follow-up.

No. Appearing:1-4
AC: 4
Hit Dice: 1 (or better)
Saving Throw: as per class and level
Attack Bonus: +2
Damage: stun baton 1d8, 1d8+1 monoblade
Movement: 30'
Skill Bonus: +1
Morale: 9

Gathziri are a humanoid species of monastic warriors who line within an ancient megastructure known as the Octachoron, hidden in an artificially created "pocket" of spacetime. They are related to the Gathyengi, though they have more human faces and eyes.

The gathziri and gathyengi have been at war as long as they have existed as separate species, with neither being able to gain a decisive victory. Unlike the gathyengi who aggressively pursue the old Masters that enslaved their ancestral species, the gathziri prefer to hide and have on occasion even had dealings with the Masters. The mystical (yet oddly utilitarian) philosophy of the gathziri emphasizes the impermanence of all the things and the importance of seeking present advantage over holding on to ancient grudges.

Gathziri seldom fly their own ships, but may be encountered on the ships of other races, or on populous but out of the way worlds. The goals they pursue outside their great monastery are inscrutable, but they are willing to utilize violence to achieve them. A group will be led by a brother or sister of 4-7th level. This leader is likely to be a psychic or one might port over the Swords & Wizardry monk class. If so, they will be armed with kinesis wraps (SWN p. 35)

All gathziri appear to be "tethered" to their home in some way, and can escape back through a subspatial portal to it at will. Whether this is an innate ability or technological is unclear. Dead gathziri are siphoned out of normal space by the retraction or collapse of these portals, but where they end up only the gathziri know.

The Witches

A Sister blocks the curious from following a group of novices

In the Strange Stars, The Circean Witches (officially the Sisterhood of Circe) are an order of female-only psychics that rule two worlds in a system in the neutral territory between the Instrumentality of Aom and the Alliance. The larger and more populous world is named Perseis, and it's people largely live in primitive, early industrial conditions (something akin to the 19th Century of Old Earth in the ancient reckoning). The Sisterhood, headquartered on the smaller world of Circe, limits the technology of Perseis through it's "advisory" roll to the world's various governments. The people of both worlds call themselves "Circeans," as they believe their culture originated on the smaller world.

Appearance and Biology: Circeans are basline human in appearance, other than their skin tone, which ranges from a dull, pale gray to a lead color. The brains of Circeans show mildly enhanced prefrontal-parietal interconnectivity. The result is somewhat enhanced intuitive and lateral thought processes. In females (where the connectivity is most pronounced), it can lead to the ability to utilize controlled dreamlike states of consciousness and high psi potential. Females on Perseis are tested in adolescence, and those with the talent are taken away to Circe and becomes novices in the Sisterhood. It's been hypothesized that the Magi split from the witches in the distant past; when queried on this, the Magi deal with the issue with bemused silence and the witches with irritation.

Sisters in ritual vestments

Psychology: Circeans of Perseis are a superstitious and hidebound folk, with a prickly sense of honor. The Circean Sisterhood are less insular, but still mistrustful of outsiders, mysterious, and often haughty. The witches have particular antipathy for missionaries of the Instrumentality of Aom. They're aware that the Church doctrine on other worlds has under-minded the power of witches and sorcerers, and they take every measure possible to ensure that doesn't happen to them. Though they more governed by divination and intuition, the Sisterhood is as concerned with planning for the future as the Instrumentality.

Flavor: Perseis makes a good locale for Gothic, Hammer, or Universal horror sorts of stories, with psionic beings or creatures substituted for the supernatural. The witches can be played as anything from misunderstood and persecuted to mysterious manipulators (like the Bene Gesserit in Dune or the Shabda-Oud from Metabarons) to horror movie witches depending on the context of the encounter.

Stats: Stars Without Number: Circeans must have at least a 9 in Wisdom. Only female Circeans can be psychics. Traveller: As normal humans. All members of the Sisterhood have psionics.

Warlord Wednesday: Next...

Here's the first installment of 2014 of my 3 year-old examination of  the adventures DC Comics' Travis Morgan--The Warlord.  The earlier installments can be found here...

"Next..."

Warlord (vol. 4) #10 (March 2010) Story by Mike Grell; Art by Chad Hardin (1-7, 10-22) and Grell (8-9)

Synopsis: Deimos has been resurrected, but all he knows about who he is is what Kate has told him. Unluckily for Skartaris, Kate has realized the Mask of Life isn't a magical artifact, but a scientific one. It was made by the Atlanteans to transfer memories between clone bodies. Deimos doesn't understand any of this, but Kate isn't deterred. She plans to restore him so she can rule by his side.

Meanwhile, Ewan McBane is recording a primer on Skartaris for posterity. It focuses a lot on Travis Morgan. It also neatly recapitulates Morgan's origin and relates his first meetings with Mariah and Machiste (and how Machiste lost his hand). Every interview ends with a question about Morgan to which the interviewee responds:

Tinder and Alysha are working with representatives of the gathered tribes, trying to set up some form of democracy--but they need a leader to unite them. Morgan is skeptical it will work, but tells Tinder to go ahead and try if he wants. He frames real freedom is being able to do what you want. Responsibility ruins that. Tinder counters that all freedom comes at a price. Morgan angrily replies that he knows the cost better than anyone.

Back on the Terminator, Deimos is not taking to his lessons in being an evil wizard as fast as Kate would like. She slashes him across the face with a sword to encourage him. It works:

"That's better," Kate says.

Things to Notice:

• Hardin draws early Machiste to look a bit like Jim Brown, too.

Where it comes from: 
Deimos's revival seems to take place in Castle Deimos, but Jennifer took it over in issue #54. Evidently, she must have abandoned it at some point to stay in Shamballah.

The Mask of Life first appeared in issue #10 where Ashiya used it to resurrect Deimos (the first time).

Humanity in the Strange Stars

Human soldiers in a still from a military recruitment animation

Evan of In Places (Spaces?) Deep asked on Google+ the other day if there were still humans in the Strange Stars. The short answer is "yes," though the details require a bit of explanation.

The over a trillion sophonts of known space can be placed in a few broad phyles or phenotypes: infosophonts, moravecs, and biologics. Biologics include the descendants of organisms that evolved naturally (either on Old Earth or some other world), created organisms, and bioroids (biologic androids). Members of subtribe Hominina comprise most of the naturally evolved biologics, though their are also uplifts and splices that contain genetic material from other (mostly Terran species). There are sophonts that may be exobiologics, but given what information has been lost in various dark ages, system crashes, and data corruptions since the human expansion, it is difficult to know for certain.

Two thrill-seeking humans find danger in a condemned amusement station

The human-descended biologics at a glance mostly resemble 21st century humanity, aside from a few cosmetic differences, like skin color. Centuries ago, they looked more like 21st century movie stars, but standards of beauty have expanded since. Beneath the surface, there are numerous small genetic tweaks and ubiqitous minor cybernetic enhancements. These vary from culture to cultural, and with tech level.

Baseline or near baseline delegates from a distant habitat

The terms baseline human (indicating beings who vary little from the basic type) and near baseline (beings unable to pass for baseline, but with few signifcant biological variations) are sometimes used, but these are obviously imprecise. The Phantasists, Zyann, Uldras of Boreas, and Ogüptans of Deshret would probably qualify as "baselines," as would most of the inhabitants of the Instrumentality of Aom. The Smaragdines, Algosians, and Vokun would be termed by most as "near baseline."

Another Weird Yule

Yesterday, the several members of my G+ Weird Adventures group reunited for a holiday-themed adventure. It was Yule-time in the City, and the "Team Victory" Detective Agency was holding an office party with Cornelius Doyle, Erskine Loone, and Boris Borofsky in attendance. Their secretary Lola DeWytt was also there, and she'd brought a new friend the "lovely and mysterious" Sara Snow.

The festivities were interrupted in short order by the kid gang known as the Hardluck Hooligans. It seems the Grumpf had not appeared to bedevil them, and the Hooligans suspected foul play. Why the concern? Well Da Brain (brainy kid with glasses) surmised that a Grumpf-less Yule would also mean a Father Yule-less season: something that just can't happen!

At Lola's urging, the gang takes the case with Sara tagging along. They start with investigating the place where Da Brain calculated the Grumpf should have appeared--and where the kids saw a out-of-place truck bearing the logo of Ardmann Commercial Displays. There is no sign of the Grumpf or the van, but they do find a amateurishly made flyer for Ardmann's.

Going the address listed, they find an old warehouse on Wharf Street along the Wyrd. The buildings got a freshly painted sign indicating it's Ardmann's. Sara and Loone go in to pose and potential customers, while Boris circles around back and Cornelius climbs a drain-pipe to the roof.

The interior has the necessary accoutrements of a commercial display business in the season: plyboard standups of reindeer, sleighs, and father Yule, and also some ceramic statues of what they take to be Father Yule's elf assistants. The two guys working there seem more like goons than salesmen, though, and Loone's power reveals they really just want the two customers to go as soon as possible.

There are other suspicious things. Boris finds the truck--and chains welded to the floor in the back of it. Cornelius peers through the skylight and sees something unusual (hidden from the view of Sara and Loone by stacks of crates): a big hole in the floor.

After comparing notes, the group enters the front door again, after Cornelius sees the two guys climb down a ladder into the hole. The investigation soon turns into a brawl, as the "elves" come to life and attack. The stone creatures are slow moving, but tough to harm, and our heroes are soon fighting a battle on two fronts as the goons start to climb back out of the hole.

Cornelius and Loone manage to force them back down while Boris methodically shotgun blasts the gnomes (as they now reveal themselves) to pieces. Unfortunately, Loone is pushed into the hole by one of the gnomes before they're all done in.

In the cave beneath, Loone discovers the missing (and irate) Grumpf, inside some sort of glass dome that looks like a giant snowglobe with metal antennae pointed at it. And seated on a throne, there's also the apparent mastermind of this plot: the maniacal Gnome King!

An attempt to move the antenna gives Loone a powerful arcane jolt of holiday spirit energy, so the team concentrates on trying to break the glass dome. Weaving through would be assailants in cat form, Sara is able to cut off a switch, which seems to make the energy inside the globe to begin to build up.

As he and his minions attack, the Gnome King explains his plan in true villain fashion: He planned to capture the Grumpf and Father Yule (two sides of the same coin, really) and siphon their holiday energy to imbue himself with. With the cosmic reset coming at the end of the year, the power would be granted to him forever.

He hadn't reckoned on Team Victory and Sara Snow. The rock-hewn Gnome King is too tough for bullets (as Cornelius finds out), but thrown rocks and a couple of gunshots, combined with the energy overload since the siphon was turned off, leads to the Grumpf breaking free, stomping the Gnome King into the dirt, then giving Cornelius a sloppy kiss before bounding out into the night.

The Gnome King's crying and Yule is saved, thanks to our heroes...and the Hardluck Hooligans are the first on the Grumpf's list for whupping!