Continuing with my horror-themed games, I recently watched The Ghost and the Darkness about two lions who terrorized an expedition in Africa to build a long-distance railway. The film is loosely based on real-life events that were written in the novel, The Man-Eaters of Tsavo, by John Patterson. In the novel, the two (yes, only two) lions mangled and devoured nearly 100 men. Whether this number is 100% accurate is up to speculation, but the events did occur, along with Patterson eventually killing the lions.
In my game, in which I'm again using Fortunes Won and Lost rules, a railway in Lemuria is now the location terrorized.
So let's get started.
August 13, 1903.
The expedition to build the first cross-continental railway across Lemuria has thus been a success. With workers starting on opposite coasts and working inward, the rail is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Investors see no problems in the foreseeable future as all work continues on schedule.
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He stepped off the train and into the compound. Throwing his sack over his shoulder, Wayne stepped inside the building.
"Col. Sharpe!" A shorter, barrel-chested man covered in sweat rushed forward. "I'm Miguel Owen. I sent you the letter. Thank goodness you've arrived."
"You said your people were attacked by lions?" Sharpe said, skipping any small talk.
Owen nodded. "Two of them slaughtered over a dozen workers in just under a week. My men fear leaving the camp now."
Sharpe's eyes grew wide. "Only two?"
"We named them Winter and Chill, for they attack like a blizzard, without warning and without remorse." Owen shuddered. "They evaded all our traps and even pulled men right out of their tents."
Owen led him out of the compound and pointed. "You see there, we set up barbed bamboo walls to protect us. And there, we added bear traps."
They walked up to the bear traps, and Sharpe noted that none of them were set off. "So this worked recently."
Leading the hunter to a tent, Owen pulled back the the tent's edge but refused to look in. "We found this in the morning."
Sharpe stepped forward and saw a trail of blood leading from the bedrolls to outside. Under one bedroll, he could still see the shape of a lower body and legs.
Returning outside, the hunter's expression never changed. "We better get to work."
This will be a Defend encounter from Fortunes, but with a few changes. First, I'm using the board shown below to represent the came.
Sharpe and anyone he is able to recruit start in Sections 7-9. Each turn, I can choose which section to place them.
The two lions will appear each turn as a PEF randomly placed in Sections 1-6.
Each turn that they resolve, the lions attack if they are in a section adjacent to Sharpe or his group.
Otherwise, I'll make a Challenge roll (Easy if 1 lion, Normal if 2) to see if the lions attack any workers, for each lion.
Following each attack, I'll roll 3d6 and look for Successes.
1 success = injury to worker, 2 successes = death, 3 successes = a rather gory death.
After attacking workers, the lions might (1-3) flee.
If shot at and a Duck Back is scored, the lion flees automatically.
Sharpe gets 3 Increasing d6 for each lion killed by himself or his group.
However, he gains 1 Decreasing d6 each time both lions score kills.
Sharpe is a Rep 5 European Soldier with a Rifle.
Owen is a Rep 4 European Civilian with a Pistol (I misread the table and didn't realize until after the adventure was over. Oh well, leave the dice where they lie.)
Gordon Trent is a Rep 3 European Civilian with a Rifle.
The lions are Rep 5 and count as using Melee weapons. I also gave them 1 Star Power each and treat them as always having the Advantage to represent their guile.
Finally, anything outside a character's section counts as in Cover.
Let's get started.
Sharpe is a Rep 5 European Soldier with a Rifle.
Owen is a Rep 4 European Civilian with a Pistol (I misread the table and didn't realize until after the adventure was over. Oh well, leave the dice where they lie.)
Gordon Trent is a Rep 3 European Civilian with a Rifle.
The lions are Rep 5 and count as using Melee weapons. I also gave them 1 Star Power each and treat them as always having the Advantage to represent their guile.
Finally, anything outside a character's section counts as in Cover.
Let's get started.
For the opening turn, I placed each character in Section 8. The first PEF starts in Section 4. Only Owen can see it if it gets close enough.
1 lion appears. Winning on the Action table, it moves to Section 9 and performs a challenge to snatch a worker. Passing, it drags the terrified worker. Owen opens fire and scores a Duck back.
The lion flees.
Time to check the damage. 3 successes.
The lion flees.
Time to check the damage. 3 successes.
It's not a pretty sight!
For the next turn, I placed a character in each section. The PEF appears in 1 but with a Pass 1d6.
Hearing a rustling in the brush, Sharpe aimed his rifle and waited, but nothing appeared. Still, no need to drop his guard yet, he kept his weapon pointed forward.
On the next turn, both lions appeared in Section 5, dangerously close to Owen.
Chill, passing on a sneak challenge, lunged forward and attacked Owen. Passing 3d6 more than the man, the lion tore the poor guy to pieces before anyone could react.
Winter tried to sneak but failed. Spinning around, Sharpe and Trent both opened fire.
Direct hit! The bullet struck Winter right between the eyes, and the beast fell.
Next, Trent fired, but Chill's Star Power saved it. At the end of the turn, both sides passed Will to fight, though Chill vanished into the brush for the turn.
For the next turn, I tried to position the two men so they covered each other's backs. Chill appeared in Section 2 and Passed on the Action table.
Succeeding with a Sneak challenge, the beast leaped out of the brush and tackled Trent, biting right into the man's leg and thrashing about, tossing the man like a rag doll. And like a rag doll, he came apart, spreading 'stuffing' everywhere.
This left Sharpe by himself, so, positioning himself in a tree, he waited.
Hearing a growl behind him, Sharpe turned but saw nothing.
That's when Chill attacked! As the man turned, the lion slipped out of the brush and leaped up, slicing Sharpe's leg, and causing him to tumble out of the tree.
The two engaged in melee, with Chill passing 1 more, dropping Sharpe's Rep to 4. The two continued to brawl, and I kept passing the same for them. Eventually, both Reps dropped to 0, so I just continued until one scored a kill.
I also made an impromptu roll (resolving a new PEF) to see if any workers came to the rescue. I passed 0d6 the first round and 1d6 the second. Despite screams being heard, no one came to Sharpe's rescue.
Tough luck, and OOF! Sharpe even failed with his Star Power.
Rolling to one knee, Sharpe stabbed with his bayonet at the creature and caught it in the shoulder. Rearing back for a moment, it glanced at the wound on its shoulder and then licked it before turning its glare back to the hunter. It lunged again, but Sharpe dodged out of the way.
Rolling on the ground, he tried to aim his rifle but his hands were shaking too much. Stumbling to the tree, he attempted to steady himself when the monster leaped again. Colliding with him, it knocked Sharpe's head against the tree.
Dropping his rifle, he fell to the ground. The last thing he heard was a sickening crunch. The last thing he felt was horrific pain as Chill sunk its teeth into his abdomen. The next thing Wayne Sharpe knew, was nothing.
The next morning, railway workers found the remains of the three men and sent them on the next train back to the nearest city. Workers then fled the compound, and all work halted for the time being. Business backers rushed to send an army to the compound, but they found no trace of the beast. Until they could locate the lion, no one would agree to return to work.
And worse yet, upon studying the blood on the ground, workers learned Chill was a female, which means it could bear young just a sadistic in the future.
A complete failure in terms of game events but a fun experiment to try anyway. Oh well, I don't mind when horror-themed games end like this. It just adds to the story!
For the next turn, I placed a character in each section. The PEF appears in 1 but with a Pass 1d6.
Hearing a rustling in the brush, Sharpe aimed his rifle and waited, but nothing appeared. Still, no need to drop his guard yet, he kept his weapon pointed forward.
On the next turn, both lions appeared in Section 5, dangerously close to Owen.
Chill, passing on a sneak challenge, lunged forward and attacked Owen. Passing 3d6 more than the man, the lion tore the poor guy to pieces before anyone could react.
Winter tried to sneak but failed. Spinning around, Sharpe and Trent both opened fire.
Direct hit! The bullet struck Winter right between the eyes, and the beast fell.
Next, Trent fired, but Chill's Star Power saved it. At the end of the turn, both sides passed Will to fight, though Chill vanished into the brush for the turn.
For the next turn, I tried to position the two men so they covered each other's backs. Chill appeared in Section 2 and Passed on the Action table.
Succeeding with a Sneak challenge, the beast leaped out of the brush and tackled Trent, biting right into the man's leg and thrashing about, tossing the man like a rag doll. And like a rag doll, he came apart, spreading 'stuffing' everywhere.
This left Sharpe by himself, so, positioning himself in a tree, he waited.
Hearing a growl behind him, Sharpe turned but saw nothing.
That's when Chill attacked! As the man turned, the lion slipped out of the brush and leaped up, slicing Sharpe's leg, and causing him to tumble out of the tree.
The two engaged in melee, with Chill passing 1 more, dropping Sharpe's Rep to 4. The two continued to brawl, and I kept passing the same for them. Eventually, both Reps dropped to 0, so I just continued until one scored a kill.
I also made an impromptu roll (resolving a new PEF) to see if any workers came to the rescue. I passed 0d6 the first round and 1d6 the second. Despite screams being heard, no one came to Sharpe's rescue.
Tough luck, and OOF! Sharpe even failed with his Star Power.
Rolling to one knee, Sharpe stabbed with his bayonet at the creature and caught it in the shoulder. Rearing back for a moment, it glanced at the wound on its shoulder and then licked it before turning its glare back to the hunter. It lunged again, but Sharpe dodged out of the way.
Rolling on the ground, he tried to aim his rifle but his hands were shaking too much. Stumbling to the tree, he attempted to steady himself when the monster leaped again. Colliding with him, it knocked Sharpe's head against the tree.
Dropping his rifle, he fell to the ground. The last thing he heard was a sickening crunch. The last thing he felt was horrific pain as Chill sunk its teeth into his abdomen. The next thing Wayne Sharpe knew, was nothing.
The next morning, railway workers found the remains of the three men and sent them on the next train back to the nearest city. Workers then fled the compound, and all work halted for the time being. Business backers rushed to send an army to the compound, but they found no trace of the beast. Until they could locate the lion, no one would agree to return to work.
And worse yet, upon studying the blood on the ground, workers learned Chill was a female, which means it could bear young just a sadistic in the future.
A complete failure in terms of game events but a fun experiment to try anyway. Oh well, I don't mind when horror-themed games end like this. It just adds to the story!
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