Hunting Dr. Diablo

[Malebolgia]

"Three weeks ago we received message that Baron Ethan McCormack, better known as Dr. Diablo, has been sighted near the city of Arkham. McCormack is a well known devious mastermind whose work has become legendary in just a few years time. He was one of the top scientists who worked on new technology in the Great War and his talents provided the US with high tech equipment which gave allied forces the edge in pivotal battles. Unfortunately, his work changed near the end of the war as he became more and more obsessed with creating the perfect soldiers. He experimented on the corpses of the poor and the weak to create a soldier which could not be hurt and would never tire. When Uncle Sam found out, they were shocked and ordered for McCormack's capture. This operation was lead by the predecessor of Threshold, but was a massive failure. McCormack escaped and worse, the media got air of McCormack's work and the operation. For weeks, McCormack dominated the news and he was quickly called "Dr. Diablo" for his devious work. But after weeks without breaking news on the matter, interest faded and McCormack became an urban legend.

Now, nine years later, we have found clues on McCormack's current whereabouts. He has been spotted near the town of Arkham. We don't know exactly where McCormack is located, but a week ago we sent a team to investigate. Unfortunately, the team went missing and we think the team members are KIA. That's where you enter the picture. Your mission is to investigate the perimeter of Arkham, locate the missing team and finally, find and kill Dr. Diablo once and for all."

Okay, on May 12 we're doing another Strange Aeons day on the Ducosim event in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. We have done this twice so far and it proved to be loads of fun with some fantastic people. So far we played the game normally, but this time I want to try something new. Therefore, we're trying my new Strange Aeons Storyline System (SASS). This is an adaptation to the Strange Aeons game to get more of a stoyline going with more RPG elements in them. Hopefully this gives more depth to the game, to create a story during the day.
In SASS I made some adjustments to the rules to get a better flow, especially when playing with multiple players. Here are some of the adjustments:

No Nominations. Models don't have to be nominated, each model can activate during a turn. This makes sure each player is involved in the action and makes it easier to work with many models on the table.
Command & Luitenant work differently. Because there are no nominations, the Command and Luitenant skills are rewritten. Instead of giving bonus nominations, they now give Reroll counters, which can be spent during the game.
Ammunition tracking. All Threshold models must keep track of their ammunition, so they can run out of bullets...
New characteristic: Charisma. In order to let models interact with non player characters, like civilians, bad guys, etc. all models get a new Charisma characteristic. Now they can try to gain clues from NPC's, interrogate enemies and interact with others in new ways.
Introduce a new role: the Keeper. The Lurker player is replaced by the Keeper. It's his task to get the story going, provide the players with a challenge and make the story as compelling as it can be. It's not his task to win the game...the game is won if everybody has a good time

Once I'm happy with the rules, I'll send them to Uncle Mike. Maybe he can use them for Strange Aeons

If you're interested in participating in the storyline, and to test the new rules, you are more than welcome!
Location: De Flint, Amersfoort, the Netherlands
Time: 10:00 - 17:00

You can bring along as many miniatures as you want as many scenery as you want. We can use about anything

Starting Groups
Each player can build a starting group of models, of up to 8 Build Points. This allows players to pick one or several models. Each model can be equipped as usual and can take one free skill.
(this is also up for testing...is 8 BP enough to start out with? The idea is that it allows for enough choice, but doesn't swamp the table when playing with 3-4 Threshold players)

See you at Ducosim!

[Meizter]

Sounds really cool, and I think SASS is a great idea. We have been using some "keeper-like" lurker style for some of our games and it adds another layer to the game I think

[Roon]

See you at Ducosim!

You betcha! This sounds awesome!

[necrocannibal]

See you there!
I almost have another zombie ready, so I'll definitely bring that one and after that I'm going to work on two conglomerates and I'll bring those as well.

[Mo!]

Hope i can make it too! Love to see you there...

[Mason]

Sounds great!
Wishing I were closer so I could join you. 

This system sounds very much like how I am going to run it for my group, with myself being the Keeper controlling the Lurkers, whilst running a narrative campaign for the others.
I will get to run a team too, as at least one of the players has agreed to play the Lurkers against me.
I am sure the others will fancy playing the nasties after they have seen what they can do!

[aggro84]

This looks like it will be a lot of fun.
I always enjoy your AAR's and pics from your games. 

There's no way I ever make it to Ducosim though. 

Plaese take lots of pics to share. 

[necrocannibal]

I will definitely take a few pictures between turns...don't know about an AAR though, at the end of the day I never remember everything that happened.

[aggro84]

I will definitely take a few pictures between turns...don't know about an AAR though, at the end of the day I never remember everything that happened.

Thanks Necrocannibal.  Photos to share would be wonderful. 

[Roon]

Well that was a blast yesterday! Malebolgia acted as Keeper as Necrocannibal and me made us 2 lists of Threshold personel. We both ended with a character and an agent, so 4 men all together. The game was more of an RPG because of the storytelling element, and the Threshold had to find out what happened to the missing Threshold team and the wherabouts of the dreaded dr. Diablo. Entering the town we scouted the area, and asked questions to the people around if they did know something about our missing colleagues. This eventually led us to the cemetary, as the night begun to set in. Strange noises were heard, and entering the cemetary we were attacked by 2 ghouls! Expertly getting rid of those 2, we were facing a greater threat, as a mummy was bashing it's way out of the mausoleum nearby. In the thick of all this, agent Roon accidently stepped on an old grave, revealing a dark tunnel that led into darkness. The Threshold team had to work hard and together to defeat the mummy. So they did and came out victorious, but not without taking a severe pummeling.

Entering the tunnel started the second game. It became a dungeoncrawl through underground tunnels, filled with dr. Diablo's horrible constructions. The Threshold team had to work hard to survive, as especially the conglomerates that invested this dark mace, proved to be very lethal. Every member being wounded in some degree, we struggled on as we eventually found a thick and locked door. The only way through was to find the key that opened it. Roon and agent Moustache ( gramps to his colleagues) were to much injured at that time, as Lundgren and father Hackett carried on to search for the key. Father Hackett was the only one fit enough to finish the job and open the door...

This ended our second game, so we descended even deeper into dr. Diablo's underground lair. Major injuries were appointed by Malebolgia to the severly wounded characters. Lundgren got the phobia of being touched, agent Moustache got hemophobia and Roon got balisticphobia. The group carried on, disposing themselves of the zombies and conglomerates that attacked. Lundgren got really good with his tommy-gun, and it proved a wonderful weapon against the conglomerates! Again we entered a thick door, that needed a key. We wandered on, to be stopped by a firepit that seemed impossible to pass... Deciding to search for another way around it, the group entered a big room. Dr. Diablo was waiting there, along with a conglomerate and a blasfemous construct! We were up for a big fight! Agent Moustache hurled an explosive barrel to the hideous monsteres, hoping to get rid of them. The conglomerate was unconsious for a while, but the blasfemous construct was unharmed...and got angry! Dr. Diablo was his chance, and hurled himself to the agents as well. A swirling fight begun, where Lundgren and agent Moustache were mauled or cut by the villains. Eventually Roon managed to deliver the finishing blow to dr. Diablo. His meatpuppets fell lifeless to the ground, as the fight was over. In a corner in that dark room, lay the key that eventually led to a ladder out of that hell-hole, into the world of the living.

And that finished our last game! It was awesome! Sorry for the ramblings that I wrote above, as I got carried away a little writing this. Thinking about it, I may have left out some details and hilarious situations, for instance the numerous times agent Moustache ran when he saw blood because of his hemophobia! .

I want to give a big thanks to Malebolgia and Necrocannibal for again making it a blast to play with them! Thanks guys! Till next time.

[Cherno]

Excellent project, this is exactly the game style I prefer. Far more fun setting it up as a "RPG-lite" with the Keeper trying to tell a good story and the players having to overcome the obstacles.

I'm very interested how this will work out for you and maybe you can put the rule variant up here when it's all done

[necrocannibal]

I wanted to post the pictures last night, but there were too many for LAF to handle, so I'm going to split everything in three posts.
Roon has done the narrative, so I'll do the visuals.

Game 1, The Village:

After arriving at the village, the team questioned the General Store Owner and the Town Drunk (who actually gave some useful information in exchange for some booze):




The Ghouls spot the team and charge:


Ghouls close in for the kill:


First blood is drawn by the Ghouls, but the team is victorious:


Agent Roon investigates the Mausoleum:


A Mummy crashes through the door, the fight is savage and bloody:


In the end the team manages to kill the mummy and enter the trapdoor beneath a grave:

[necrocannibal]

Game 2, Underground Lair Level 1:

It didn't take long before the freaky monsters like Zombies and Conglomerates attacked, the first Zombies went down quite easily:


A vile Conglomerate came out of hiding behind a pillar and attacked Agent Lundgren and Agent Moustache (a.k.a. Snorremans):


More zombies are slain and a light armoured vest is found:


Agent Hacket confronts another Zombie (doing a "Michelangelo's Creation of Adam"), before taking the key and opening the sealed door to the next level:

[necrocannibal]

Game 3, Underground Lair Level 2:

Already weakened by the attacks on Level 1, the team is attacked by even more zombies:


Agent Hackett's luck finally runs out and is defeated by the Zombie, the rest of the team killed the Zombie too late to save him:


Trapped between a Fire Pit and a Zombie, Agent Roon fights for his life:


Finally the secret lair of Dr. Diablo is discovered. Unfortunately it's occupied by a Conglomerate, Blasphemous Construct and the Mad Scientist himself:


The explosive thrown by Agent Moustache failed to kill the Conglomerate, but only wounding and temporarily incapacitating it...the Blasphemous Construct isn't even scratched. All enemies furiously charge the team:


Both Agent Moustache and Lundgren are mauled to death by the Blasphemous Construct and Agent Roon is the only one left:


Dr. Diablo attacks Agent Roon wielding a scalpel:


Agent Roon manages to kill the Mad Scientist...both evil creations are simultaniously destroyed because of Dr. Diablo's demise:


No time to celebrate the victory, Agent Roon finds a key in the room and escapes through a locked door somewhere else on this level:

[Roon]

I love the photos! Great visual telling of our adventures. Thanks necro!