But I Like Him...

Spineplate. People either seem to hate him or not give a shit about him. Except Jeremy, Jeremy seems intrigued by him. Jeff and Josh hate him and want to lose him the second they can, which will be pretty easy to do. He's a two-weapon technique, lightly armored, fighter. He's not as durable as other defenders (which is why I took the Durable feat, heh), but I think he makes up for it by focusing on speed and number of attacks. Jeff and Josh seem to think he is going to go apeshit and get them all into a mess of trouble because he was standing over a mutilated corpse when they met him. What they don't know is that the hell-kin named Merril that got eviscerated was attracted to the area by the explosion in the ground, he then started taking pot shots at Spineplate with his rifle. Spineplate did not appreciate this because he is not resistant to small arms fire like some of his kind are, although I may have A'lst do some repairs to him (to simulate Spineplate taking the firearm resistant feats that I made which also improve regular AC on soulless) if the guys decide to follow him (Spineplate) back to Kusseth City. Anyway, Spineplate did not enjoy getting shot back when Traith Harris blew his figurative brains out, although he only vaguely remembers that event, really only enough to get "GUNS BAD!" out of it, so yes, Spineplate went apeshit on the guy who was shooting at him. Its funny how Spineplate is fully sentient and possessed of above average intelligence, but no one thought to ask "Hey, why'd you kill that guy?" Poor language skills does not equal murderous retard in my campaign, guys. Spineplate knows two languages, neither of which is Guttertongue or Citytongue, but he's lived in Kusseth long enough to pick a bit of both up, but not enough to clearly communicate stuff like "Gentlemen, I believe we should not travel much at this time. This area is crawling with wardens and soldiers and will likely be filled with even more when word reaches Kusseth that Beltan has been cracked open. We should find one of the nearby towns, find some alternate clothing and try to blend in and perhaps scrape together a few marks so that we can bribe our way out of trouble if necessary. Once a few days or weeks have passed we should likely head towards Kusseth City itself and join the swirling morass of people and creatures dwelling there. If we successfully achieve that, I know a lawman who would likely have work for us. I do not presume that we will become fast friends, but I know two of you from our time in Beltan with Cal and Saith and their countrymen, and there is some strength to be found in numbers." I did not expect to like handling Spineplate, I kind of threw him into the scenario at the last minute to have a variety available for the guys. He's kind of grown on me though and I like the challenge of playing him.

Don't interpret my comments about the guys and their lack of investigation into Spineplate's odd-for-a-soulless voice and his murder of the guy in the clearing as "teh PCs are teh suxor in my campaign" because that is in no way what I am aiming to convey. I love this campaign and the group we've put together and we have a lot of fun when we gather. The interest Josh, Jeremy, and Jeff have taken in my little world is glorious and really inspires me to do more than the standard "I am the quest giver do as I say and go kill monsters in some dank dark hole" plotline. Or at least I'm trying to avoid the cliched stuff. Don't get me wrong, I am up for killing in dark holes, but I think I was doing too much of the killing in dark holes in my previous campaigns.

I've got to say Jeremy has got to be the most inspiring influence on me for this campaign. Normally I'm used to his participation being half-hearted and kind of "Ok ok, elves, dwarves, magic, upside down mountains and black voids at the edge of the world, etc, etc, neat. I'm bored, time to doodle. Oh, my turn? What do I roll?" The fact that the level of depth in my campaign world has allowed the world to sink its hooks into him and get him interested in its inner workings really spurs me on to think outside the box when crafting a scenario, which I've tried to do so far and think I've succeeded alright at.

My first scenario was a prison break. I thought about forcing the guys into a role as penal conscripts in the Kussethian Military and each scenario leave options for them to break out on their own. I opted to not do this because it relies on them being aware of everything that is going on in the scenario and paying attention to everything long enough to make their break for freedom. This group is loud and very tangent oriented, details get missed and I felt it would be a poor choice to rely on them figuring out how to make their own escape. The first scenario allowed for a prison break, but they were in a support role. I was hoping they still felt involved in the plot, but I'm not sure if I succeeded in that. I did enjoy when they all ended up at each other's throats in the bottom of a mine arguing over which gang gets to have the right to knock out Kenton.

The second scenario is a sandbox type scenario. The point of it is to bum around these three quest centers and collect cash and lie low long enough for the hubbub around Beltan to die down. We'll see how it goes and how they like figuring things out for themselves without a Big Deal Quest Giver type giving them missions every scenario. There's plenty to do in this one and hopefully they find it all and are entertained.

The third scenario involves some nifty steampunk shit, like it tickles me pink (or brass-colored I guess) to picture it my head. Plus I try something dungeon oriented that I've never done before and I'm hoping that the guys can get a kick out of it.

What I'd really like them to do is blow off the whole Vampirate idea, which (I'm sorry Josh) is somewhat lame as a long term campaign. What can you do on the high seas? Fire cannons as Technomancy skill checks? Duel (I wonder if I should put in some pistol dueling rules ala Deadlands d20) other pirates in ship rigging as Acrobatics and Athletics skill checks? Eventually board a ship to have a combat encounter? Then board nine others to fill out the roster of eight to ten encounter per level? I think a sea battle would be kind of awesome once or twice (if the second time had a twist), but after that it loses its appeal. It would also be cool if the pirate thing led to a sort of exploration on a different continent type campaign where your subjugating indigenous peoples or aiding them in wars against cyborg alien dinosaur gods that eat stars (and indigenous peoples).

As I was saying ix-nay on the Vampirates. The first of my two favorite ideas involve the guys hooking up with senior warden Traith Harris and clearing out a six district,niche for Traith to run, the guys serving as either hired muscle or Traith's contingent of junior wardens. My plan with that would be to sandbox the entire district and allow the guys to determine the course of the place. They can aid Traith and bring law to the place, or they can aid some bardic representatives and bring disorder to the place. The second idea involves the PCs getting involved with Cenn the Reaver and his mercenary company. While I do have a plot in place for this, it would primarily allow me to go "Look, look, look!!!"

Steampunk Device Of Post: Steam Rifle. Its a large rifle that fires rounds about the size of a can of Red Bull. Usually these rounds are just solid metal and can be reused, others are fancy and filled with volatile chemicals. The rifle is hooked up to a large back pack that is essentially a boiler. As the boiler heats and boils, water pressure builds up which is released by a trigger, the pressure forces the huge round out and at a target. In most instances this knocks the target back a pace (and can scald the rifle's wielder with hot steam), but sometimes it just knocks the target right over on their ass. Tricky weapon to use because you have to spend actions firing the boiler (minor) and reloading (move) it and such and because you need to have fuel on hand for the thing. I think it will be doing damage in the 2d8 - 2d10 range, the prone effect will only occur if the wielder is trained in Technomancy.

Music: Mother - Danzig