Elijah Snow
01-02-2012, 09:07 PM
Recently, my eleven year old son (Malachi) has expressed an interest in gaming, and we allowed him to join our group. My best friend's fifteen year old nephew (Solomon) has also joined, partially in an attempt to keep him out of trouble, but since he and my son are fairly close, it's not a problem. And since our group only had three regular members, including the GM, it was nice to expand our circle.
We started with Basic D&D, and Malachi played an elf, with a bow and spellcasting abilities, while Solomon played a fighter, with a giant jagged sword. They enjoyed fighting ogres and poisonous bat-winged crabs.
Then my friend (Samuel) decided to run a Star Wars saga campaign. Malachi played a jedi with tendencies towards anger and impetuousness, while Solomon is going to play a novice member of a group of force using assassins whose entire order was wiped out.
And then over Christmas Break I dug out the 2nd edition of Gamma World (1983), and we ran a two night one shot (that will probably take three or four more sessions to resolve!). It was a blast, and I had more fun GMing than I've had in a long time.
Malachi rolled up a mutated humanoid. He had bat wings, mental blast, scales, blinding gas generation, heightened precision, infravision, beguiling, life leech, the gamma eye, confusion, and psychometry, and carried a vibro blade, chain mail, a shield, a slug thrower, and some assorted grenades. He named him Shadowclaw.
Solomon embraced the spirit of Gamma World and created the most bizarre, wacky, crazy character ever, though. He rolled up a mutated animal, and decided on a rhinoceros. He had two crab claws on stalks growing out of his shoulders, a poisonous scorpion tail, a huge bristly mane, a fatty layer, telekinetic flight, intuition, chameleon powers, heightened vision, empathy, molecular disruption, and fear generation. Since he didn't have any hands, he had trouble manipulating equipment, but could use his claws to pick things up and cut them open. By the end of the adventure, he had managed to get someone to rig up a football helmet with a shotgun attached to it that he operated via the helmet strap, which ran between his jaws. He named him Pack Mule Chameleon Crab Awesome Tank.
Samuel rolled up a mutated dachsund. He had a hand on his tail, 8 legs (four of them froglike in mechanics and musculature), quills, planar travel, repulsion field, dual brain, telekinesis, telekinetic flight, telepathy, mental control of body, beguiling, mental blast, and mental multiplier. He carried a short sword and typically rode on the rhino's back. He named him Oscar Eightfeets.
The final member of the group, Shadrach, created a mutated humanoid. He had regeneration, radiated hands, gills, mental control, intuition, electrical absorption, temporal fugue, summoning, willforce, and carnivore jaws. He carried a vibro blade, chain mail, a hide shield, a cloaker amulet, and a crossbow with poison tipped bolts. He named him Aquaman.
They started out as children in a small primitive farming village, about to undertake the ritual of adulthood. An irradiated chunk of the moon had crashed into the ground nearby, causing the wildlife and plants to die, so the village was hungry. The characters were told to go to the Forest of Knowledge, eat some special berries, pay attention to the resulting trippy dreams, then continue south to swear allegiance to the local duke, and take up service to him, all while looking for food and possible relocation sites for the village. The berries of the tree gave them extra mutations if they chose the right ones, which is why their characters have so many mutations.
They encountered some horse shaped cacti and captured and tamed them for Aquaman to ride. They came across an old bridge over a river. Everyone but Aquaman flew, while Oscar ferried the cacti horses across via telekinesis. Aquaman swam. Halfway across he realized he was being chased by giant mutated piranha. Shadowclaw dived in, grabbed him, and tried to fly him out of the river, but couldn't get enough clearance from the water for his wings to lift them both. The piranha were almost on top of them when Oscar snatched Aquaman with telekinesis, allowing Shadowclaw to fly out of the water. As they settled on the far bank, Awesome Tank decided to check out the glowing red fungi on the shoreline. He scraped some with his horn to get a sample and it sprayed sleep gas in his face. He collapsed face first in the fungi, out cold. The others investigated and noticed that the fungi was exuding digestive acid on Awesome Tank's head. They tried to move him but he's a rhino, while they're two human sized guys and a little dog.
Shadowclaw decided to use his life leech ability to try to kill off the fungi. It's an area effect attack that steals 6 hp from every creature within a 50 m radius and transfers them all to him. The rest of the party retreated outside his range and he sucked up a total of 205 hp from the fungi and Awesome Tank, killing the fungi and lightly wounding Awesome Tank.
Later they spotted an ambush on the road ahead. Dead bodies, burned and mutilated, lay stacked and piled all over the road. Behind a hill nearby, a group of red clad pure strain humans hid, two of them mounted on giant dogs. The party decided to try to sneak around. Aquaman used temporal fugue to create 6 clones of himself, and sent them down the road to spring the trap while the party hid behind Awesome Tank's chameleonic hide and went around. Except for Shadowclaw, who insisted on flying.
The party avoided the ambush. Four hours later the temporal fugue effect wore off and Aquaman suddenly inherited all the new memories of the clones. The red clad humans were Knights of Genetic Purity, or the KKK with mutants replacing non-white people. They'd killed or captured all the clones, and the captured ones were tortured with fire and subjected to crude and despicable racist taunts and behavior. Aquaman rode with a frown after that.
They took shelter beneath a bridge while radioactive rain poured down, Awesome Tank's butt sticking out the edge, a double layered leather blanket covering it.
The Duke sent them to investigate reports of disappearing farmers and children in a nearby village. Humanoid bugs were burrowing up from the ground and abducting people. The party fought their way into the bug tunnels, fighting various chitinous horrors and rescuing or mercy killing the humans, who had been wrapped up in mucous cocoons, partially eaten, and/or implanted with eggs. Aquaman and Shadowclaw mainly used their vibroblades, while Oscar used his repulsion field to create a battering ram of force around Awesome Tank, who simply charged and trampled most things.
In the lair of the leader, they found a life ray/rejuv chamber, an eight foot portable tube that you could put a wounded or even dead person/animal into and possibly fully heal or resurrect them. They also found a couple of laser pistols, a sonic pistol, and a few projectile pistols. The party used the life ray to heal themselves, and Awesome Tank tried to use the chamber by sticking his head into it. The chamber was in bad shape, and it had a 50% chance of exposing the patient with radiation. I slipped and let them know this after I thought we were done, an Awesome Tank begged to keep using it to try for more mutations. He wasted three charges on this miraculous, science so advanced it's magic device. And when he finally got a mutation, it turned out to be a defect: poison susceptibility. So now this insane combat monster has to run from spiders because if they bite him he will die.
It was a really fun evening, with everyone contributing to the general mood and wackiness. It was a bizarre mix of death and brutality and light hearted fun, and next the party gets to inspect some recently uncovered fallout shelters. But a sinister enclave of androids has also discovered the shelters, and they're already searching them...
We started with Basic D&D, and Malachi played an elf, with a bow and spellcasting abilities, while Solomon played a fighter, with a giant jagged sword. They enjoyed fighting ogres and poisonous bat-winged crabs.
Then my friend (Samuel) decided to run a Star Wars saga campaign. Malachi played a jedi with tendencies towards anger and impetuousness, while Solomon is going to play a novice member of a group of force using assassins whose entire order was wiped out.
And then over Christmas Break I dug out the 2nd edition of Gamma World (1983), and we ran a two night one shot (that will probably take three or four more sessions to resolve!). It was a blast, and I had more fun GMing than I've had in a long time.
Malachi rolled up a mutated humanoid. He had bat wings, mental blast, scales, blinding gas generation, heightened precision, infravision, beguiling, life leech, the gamma eye, confusion, and psychometry, and carried a vibro blade, chain mail, a shield, a slug thrower, and some assorted grenades. He named him Shadowclaw.
Solomon embraced the spirit of Gamma World and created the most bizarre, wacky, crazy character ever, though. He rolled up a mutated animal, and decided on a rhinoceros. He had two crab claws on stalks growing out of his shoulders, a poisonous scorpion tail, a huge bristly mane, a fatty layer, telekinetic flight, intuition, chameleon powers, heightened vision, empathy, molecular disruption, and fear generation. Since he didn't have any hands, he had trouble manipulating equipment, but could use his claws to pick things up and cut them open. By the end of the adventure, he had managed to get someone to rig up a football helmet with a shotgun attached to it that he operated via the helmet strap, which ran between his jaws. He named him Pack Mule Chameleon Crab Awesome Tank.
Samuel rolled up a mutated dachsund. He had a hand on his tail, 8 legs (four of them froglike in mechanics and musculature), quills, planar travel, repulsion field, dual brain, telekinesis, telekinetic flight, telepathy, mental control of body, beguiling, mental blast, and mental multiplier. He carried a short sword and typically rode on the rhino's back. He named him Oscar Eightfeets.
The final member of the group, Shadrach, created a mutated humanoid. He had regeneration, radiated hands, gills, mental control, intuition, electrical absorption, temporal fugue, summoning, willforce, and carnivore jaws. He carried a vibro blade, chain mail, a hide shield, a cloaker amulet, and a crossbow with poison tipped bolts. He named him Aquaman.
They started out as children in a small primitive farming village, about to undertake the ritual of adulthood. An irradiated chunk of the moon had crashed into the ground nearby, causing the wildlife and plants to die, so the village was hungry. The characters were told to go to the Forest of Knowledge, eat some special berries, pay attention to the resulting trippy dreams, then continue south to swear allegiance to the local duke, and take up service to him, all while looking for food and possible relocation sites for the village. The berries of the tree gave them extra mutations if they chose the right ones, which is why their characters have so many mutations.
They encountered some horse shaped cacti and captured and tamed them for Aquaman to ride. They came across an old bridge over a river. Everyone but Aquaman flew, while Oscar ferried the cacti horses across via telekinesis. Aquaman swam. Halfway across he realized he was being chased by giant mutated piranha. Shadowclaw dived in, grabbed him, and tried to fly him out of the river, but couldn't get enough clearance from the water for his wings to lift them both. The piranha were almost on top of them when Oscar snatched Aquaman with telekinesis, allowing Shadowclaw to fly out of the water. As they settled on the far bank, Awesome Tank decided to check out the glowing red fungi on the shoreline. He scraped some with his horn to get a sample and it sprayed sleep gas in his face. He collapsed face first in the fungi, out cold. The others investigated and noticed that the fungi was exuding digestive acid on Awesome Tank's head. They tried to move him but he's a rhino, while they're two human sized guys and a little dog.
Shadowclaw decided to use his life leech ability to try to kill off the fungi. It's an area effect attack that steals 6 hp from every creature within a 50 m radius and transfers them all to him. The rest of the party retreated outside his range and he sucked up a total of 205 hp from the fungi and Awesome Tank, killing the fungi and lightly wounding Awesome Tank.
Later they spotted an ambush on the road ahead. Dead bodies, burned and mutilated, lay stacked and piled all over the road. Behind a hill nearby, a group of red clad pure strain humans hid, two of them mounted on giant dogs. The party decided to try to sneak around. Aquaman used temporal fugue to create 6 clones of himself, and sent them down the road to spring the trap while the party hid behind Awesome Tank's chameleonic hide and went around. Except for Shadowclaw, who insisted on flying.
The party avoided the ambush. Four hours later the temporal fugue effect wore off and Aquaman suddenly inherited all the new memories of the clones. The red clad humans were Knights of Genetic Purity, or the KKK with mutants replacing non-white people. They'd killed or captured all the clones, and the captured ones were tortured with fire and subjected to crude and despicable racist taunts and behavior. Aquaman rode with a frown after that.
They took shelter beneath a bridge while radioactive rain poured down, Awesome Tank's butt sticking out the edge, a double layered leather blanket covering it.
The Duke sent them to investigate reports of disappearing farmers and children in a nearby village. Humanoid bugs were burrowing up from the ground and abducting people. The party fought their way into the bug tunnels, fighting various chitinous horrors and rescuing or mercy killing the humans, who had been wrapped up in mucous cocoons, partially eaten, and/or implanted with eggs. Aquaman and Shadowclaw mainly used their vibroblades, while Oscar used his repulsion field to create a battering ram of force around Awesome Tank, who simply charged and trampled most things.
In the lair of the leader, they found a life ray/rejuv chamber, an eight foot portable tube that you could put a wounded or even dead person/animal into and possibly fully heal or resurrect them. They also found a couple of laser pistols, a sonic pistol, and a few projectile pistols. The party used the life ray to heal themselves, and Awesome Tank tried to use the chamber by sticking his head into it. The chamber was in bad shape, and it had a 50% chance of exposing the patient with radiation. I slipped and let them know this after I thought we were done, an Awesome Tank begged to keep using it to try for more mutations. He wasted three charges on this miraculous, science so advanced it's magic device. And when he finally got a mutation, it turned out to be a defect: poison susceptibility. So now this insane combat monster has to run from spiders because if they bite him he will die.
It was a really fun evening, with everyone contributing to the general mood and wackiness. It was a bizarre mix of death and brutality and light hearted fun, and next the party gets to inspect some recently uncovered fallout shelters. But a sinister enclave of androids has also discovered the shelters, and they're already searching them...