by Lev Lafayette
In 1992 with a draft print-out of a Rolemaster Companion VI I ran a 78-hour, single-session game at Valhalla Games and Hobbies in Perth, Western Australia (ten minutes per hour was allowed for breaks, cumulative, not added to running total). This epic session serves as the retrospective for this issue of RPG Review; a combination of horror, science fiction, a version of cyberpunk and fantasy all mixed into one with Rolemaster and Spacemaster rules and the Dark Space supplement.
The Dark Space setting consists of a group of twenty planets scattered among several star systems. Unusual for a science fiction setting, a religious purge generations past wiped out nearly all 'hard-tech', such as computers, robots, nearly all machinery, weapons and the like. With the development of biotechnologies and the blessing of the State-religious order (“the Citadel”) a version of an interstellar society developed with plastic ships that travel between the stars with a massive biological brain, and grafted creatures acting as cybernetics; the latter providing a particularly disconcerting feel for players – how would you feel about letting a jellyfish-like creature attach itself to your eyes to provide low-light vision, or having a snake grafted onto your shoulder?
Other power groups in the Twenty Worlds include The Cartel, an all-encompassing megacorporation, the Interworld Defense Force, the armed forces of the Interworld Senate, the Lorist academic association (what would Rolemaster be without Loremasters?), the Gemini Society, a dualist religious-philosophical group, the Scarlet Underground, a network of bounty hunters, assassins and the like and, finally, far less well known, the Vlathachna, an elder alien species with a expansionist desires. Ironically, it was ancient Vlathachna manuscripts that led to the development of soft-tech. But that's another story...
This four-part story assumes the use of Rolemaster (1st, 2nd or Classic), Spacemaster (2nd edition), Creatures & Treasures I & II. Cyberspace would also be very useful.
Crotliv
The game begins in Crotliv, third of the twelve planet Riptass system, on the very edge of the twenty worlds. The four-moon planet has 20.1 hours per day and 555.7 local days per year. A small planet (about 8,000 miles in diameter), the planet has some four billion people and is governed by the democratic Council of Three Hundred, based in Quirminius. Of particular note however, is the almost lawless city of Ryssar, nestled between mountains on the Thistledown River. It is here that our story begins.
The Citadel, tired of excuses from the Ryssar government, is organising it's own strike force in the independent city-state seeking out a Preservationist cell, which has so far fought engage in a series of successful destructive raids against Citadel temples. The Preservationists are a small group of reactionary “old-tech” members, who oppose the introduction of the new “soft-tech”. Entirely independently, the central administration of Quirminus is about to establish an economic embargo on Ryssar due long-overdue non-payment of central taxes – this action is implicitly supported by the Cartel who receives significant “business welfare” from the central administration, and has hitherto been unable to break into the independent traders in Ryssar.
Player Characters
In the original story, the four player characters included (a) A Philatheon Assassin, a Human Lorist (Seer), a Metamorph Politician (Magician) and a Human Cyborg, around levels 15. The alien Philatheon, like other members of this ancient species took very little interest in the politics of human affairs. Instead they were concerned with the honour of the contract, and the art and science of their profession, and is quite specialised in their skill-set. The Politician was a member of the Crotliv Council, but was also a metamorph escapee from Cartel experiments. The Lorist is a personal assistant to the Politician and a member of the Gemini Society and is seeking a potential alliance between that group and the Preservationists (a group within the Gemini Society seek a “balance” between hard-tech and soft-tech). The Cyborg, is a technician of both the soft- and old hard-tech variety, represents the Preservationists and carries quite a collection of disguised old hard-tech upon their person, which can be taken from Cyberspace if available.
Part I: Everything that Rises Must Converge
In the first scenario a meeting is arranged between the PCs, each of whom has particulars to deal with each other. The Politician wants to arrange for the assassination of the Bishop of Mi, a Citadel fundamentalist who is the main driving force behind the pressure that has been placed on Ryssar, who will present at an upcoming meeting of the Council of Three Hundred. The city is prepared to give tacit approval to this plan through laundered money, meeting 75% of the costs of hiring the Philatheon Assassin, who should argue for a fee of around 250,000 credits for the job, which will be difficult, public and will attract attention. The Preservationists must come up with the other 25%; a sum that could be raised through the trade of old-tech goods for credits between Preservationists and the Gemini Society. The meeting is held in a suitably isolated location; a minor government works building, and protected by several Ryssar militia. After the various deals are hammered out – and this could take some time – the next recommended step is making contact with an underground character named Byrne, who specialises in getting people from point A to point B without attracting attention – in this particular case from Ryssar to Quirminus.
Alas, Byrne is not to be found, having been captured by Cartel agents and is held at the Ryssar Iron Forge, which is leased to the Cartel by the city. Byrne was taken away by Cartel agents as bait for the Politician-Metamorph. The Cartel has discovered that the Politician uses Byrne to travel from Ryssar to Quirminus for quarterly Council meetings and would like their property back. Asking locals whether they saw anything will come result in a few blanks, until a derelict old man (who received a nominal payment from the Cartel), says that Byrne was taken away from dawn raid by a number of armed soldiers; he mentions that one had a logo of a “C”, surrounded by a chain. The Lorist will recognise this as the symbol of the Cartel, and will also know that their major base of operations in Ryssar is the Iron Forge.
The Iron Forge is on the outskirts of Ryssar, nestled by a mountain range. It is a fenced off area, more to stop animals escaping than to stop people from getting in. There are about a score of worker's cottages within the complex, housing approximately eighty people in total. In addition there are various mules and wagons for transporting ore, and a smelter and forge for creating iron. The perimeter has been protected by a number of movement-sensitive alarm fungi (p106 Dark Space), which are placed and activated in the evening.
There is a dozen IDF Deathtroopers in the complex, as always with a collection of the most advanced and dangerous soft-tech to augment their already significant combat abilities. They have a collection of four Spiderdrones for travel, which clever PCs may use for their escape.
The Cartel have a Dark Matter Bodysuit to capture the Metamorph (Cloak, Full Body, Straitjacket, Darkmatter, value 10,000 credits), under control of the second support Deathtroopers who has the spell list Dark Energy Law, who leads the group.
Part II: The Killing Fields
Assuming the PCs are successful in Part I, and have not been captured and killed, they would have rescued Byrne, a level 10 Ranger and made their escape. Byrne is not in a good way, having received quite a “roughing up” from his captors. Worse still, he's going through withdrawal symptoms from his addiction to a pleasure drug; unless he receives some of this drug he will become more of a burden over the following two weeks, eventually recovering over the same period of time. During this however, he is sufficiently together to recommend a very unlikely and dangerous path, which involves a “short cut” through a zone irradiated by the Wars of Devastation. This is considered a dangerous path, not only because of the presence of radioactive zones, but also because of perpetual rumours of “other things” that inhabit the zone.
The cross-country journey will take a total of ninety days. The hardest parts are crossing the mountains that surround Ryssar, and making it across the radioactive swampland. The Spidrones, assuming the PCs have these, can travel at a leisurely pace of 8 miles per 4 hours over mountain and 6 miles per 4 hours through the swamp. Beyond the swamp the the terrain will gradually turn into plains (12 miles per 4 hours) and then road (16 miles per 4 hours).
The Cartel will send another dozen Deathtroopers to try to find the PCs. One of their scouts (with Wing Grafts) will be spotted as the PCs make their way through the mountain pass, however they will not follow the PCs into the irradiated swamplands. If the PCs somehow manage to convince Byrne (or ignore his advice) not to take the mountain/swampland route, they will encounter the dozen Deathtroopers. In addition to one scout with Wing Grafts, another has an Invisible Sight Eyepatch. One of the Engagers has a Rnk 5 Blade Graft. Two of the Support Deathtroopers have far-ranged eyepatches.
The journey through the mountain range will have the sort of natural challenges that one would expect in such environs. A savage storm challenges the ability of the PCs to find secure shelter; a particularly steep climb challenges their climbing ability, and so forth. Giant eagle-like birds called Thyph are known to inhabit the region and these too may cause a problem (use Giant Eagle Creatures & Treasures, p44). The swamplands will be fog-covered, infested with mutant bugs, and various forms of undead. Initially this will include more modest forms such as Corpse Candles and Corpse Lanterns (c.f., p43 Creatures & Treasures), Swamp Stars (p43 Creatures & Treasures), a copse of Deathwoode (Creatures & Treasures II, p37) but ultimately a horde of Zombies (p43 C&T), led by an Undead Mass Necromancer (p42 C&T II).
The horde of zombies should be, for story purposes, infinite in number and ultimately cause the party to seek refuge in an abandoned concrete bunker. After some hair-raising moments, they should be able to secure the building against the hordes of zombies who will bash helplessly against the structure. Inside however, the PCs will discover a cache of old-tech weaponry, include all the sorts that you would expect from a Spacemaster catalogue; machine pistols, assault rifles, grenade launchers, struptorguns. Alas, there are no plasmatic repeater rifles, lasers, or blasters, but the collection should be quite satisfying in terms of removing the zombie horde.
Traveling through the swamplands should take four days at normal speed with the spiderones. During this time, the PCs will be affected by a mild does of radiation poisoning (treat as a conversion poison). In game terms this is a lvl 20 attack, failure causing the PCs in question to be at -10 stat bonus loss to Constitution for a week. For each day after the four the PCs will be subject to a moderate dose of radiation sickness – the above, plus an additional lvl 15 attack causing an additional -20 Constitution stat bonus if succeeded, or a -20 stat bonus loss to Strength, Quickness, Agility, and a -10 stat bonus loss to Memory, Reasoning and Intuition, plus nausea and vomiting. If the PCs truly dally about, after a week they will suffer extreme radiation poisoning. Hopefully they will get the hint before then.
Part III: The Sanity Assassin
Arrival at Quirminus will be a gradual affair, with numerous hamlets, villages and finally towns as one leaves the swamplands and heads towards the capital. The capital itself is home to some ten million individuals, a massive, crowded, sprawling city of old-tech skyscrapers buttressed by more contemporary technologies. The massive sea and star port and markets is a sight to behold in its own right, with massive (but rare) biocrystal ships coming to dock alongside the mundane sailing vessels that travel the world of Crotliv. Despite these appearances the city enforces the Pirathon Doctrine as strictly here as anywhere else. Flagrant use or possession of old-tech is not just frowned upon, it will lead to immediate incarceration and investigation by the Citadel. PCs who try to bring in the old-tech weapons that they found in The Killing Fields will find themselves subject to investigation.
Nevertheless there is plenty the PCs should be doing in the city. The Assassin should make contact with the Scarlet Underground, and take notes on the movements of the Bishop of Mi; said Bishop will spend most of their time in the Council chambers or at the Citadel's Cathedral complex, both of which are well protected, the former by local armed forces, the latter by Sanhardrin warrior-monks, although the Cathedral is certainly less public and populated. The Cyborg should surely make contact with the local Preservationist cell and report the existence of the cache of old tech weapons in the Killing Fields, as well as discussing how negotiations with the Gemini Society representative are progressing (and likewise, the Lorist to their side of the equation). The Politician will have various functions to attend and fellow Councillors to lobby; after all these is a motion to establish an economic blockade of the city until it has paid its federal taxes. Of the three hundred Councillors, approximately 220 votes are already tied with 110 each way. A whole range of horse-trading is available to secure the forty-one additional votes required to block the motion.
What the PCs don't realise is that the Bishop of Mi – the target of their assassination – is actually a Zainmoth Vlathachna (page 143, Dark Space) with a morph skin. The real Bishop of Mi has been disposed – driven insane and now wandering the wilds near Mi babbling to himself about seeing all the dimensions of the universe. Sharing the Cathedral quarters with this Zainmoth is another number of other Elder Brood, a Gallogthraas (page 142, Dark Space) who delightfully lives in the high rafters of said building. Nothing like a giant spider dropping from on high in a PC's head in the middle of an ancient gothic church! Not surprisingly, the Citadel authorities are utterly unaware of the status of their “Bishop”.
Part IV: Cold Days
There is plenty that could go wrong with Part IV, leaving the introduction to the fourth part of the story quite open. If the assassination of the Bishop of Mi fails, the attempt will be subject to investigation by the local forces (who are quite competent at drawing motive to connections etc). In such cases, the motion to blockade Ryssar will, of course, succeed and an entirely different plotline follows. If however the assassination succeeds, with the Gallogthraas liquidated as well, then the PCs have proof of a Vlathachna conspiracy. With investigation of the “Bishop”'s quarters, evidence will be found of an orbiting Zhainmoth Death Ship, so positioned to pick up the Bishop once the conflict between Ryssar and the rest of Crotliv is confirmed.
With the success being assumed, the PCs will go through a briefing from the IDF which, it is presumed, they do not give to much away – although there is difficulty is explaining why they were investigating the Bishop's quarters. If this goes well however, then then the PCs will part of a Crystal Cutter Ship attack force (page 121 Dark Space) against the large Zhainmoth Death Ship (page 123 Dark Space). This will be a mighty battle – and dangerous as well, as it is fought in the emptiness vacuum of space.
If the PCs are successful in invading the Death Ship, and they have the capacity to do so, they will discover some personal correspondence from Shallamoth Kindred (p141 Dark Space) with the Archbishop of Kish, chief contemporary advocate of the Pirathon Doctrine and the use of soft-tech. But that's the beginning of another story.