Lovecraft's Revenge - Player's Aid

I recently finished a Player's Aid for Lovecraft's Revenge, which includes several Opening Scenes for stories.  Since I wanted to make it easy for people to roll at random, I numbered them 2-12, which gives us 11 scenes.  However, I wanted one more, so here's # 13, along with my own results, playing through it.

I also found some more Rory Story Cubes to add to my collection, including Clues and Fright.

8 Legged Terror

A giant spider-like creature is reported to have attacked several people.  Reports also say the creature has a head that resembled an unidentified animal and people were identified to have been killed as if by a blunt object, rather than fangs as spiders usually bite.

Objective:  Research a Legend

Starting Location: University

Time of Day:  Day

Number of Clues: 8

Starting DL: 4

Special Rules:  None. 

My character, Theo, is a Rep 5 Academic, and has the Genius, Clumsy, and Strong Willed attributes.  Knowing he's in over his head, he picks up a shotgun before starting his investigation.

Theo starts off at the University, where he receives the information.  Exploring the college, he suddenly feels a rush of heat, like being surrounded by numerous people, yet the quad is empty this time of night.  Reaching the library, he asks the clerk for information, and the librarian directs him to the 4th floor, where the Exotic Studies sections are.

As he reaches the top, Theo meets a researcher, who sends him to an older bookstore across town.

So far so good.

Walking down the busy sidewalk, Theo thought he heard someone call his name, but when he turned, he didn't see anyone.  Strange.  Reaching the book store, he looked over the shelves and found a book detailing various folklore of the town.  One passage even mentions 'Spiders from the Sky.'  He also notices some symbols that resemble those carved into the rocks at the beach.

Arriving at the beach, Theo notices some soldiers watching a dancer as she entertains the public.  However, no one really pays Theo much attention.  Reaching the rocks, he realizes the markings were also seen in a cave in the older part of the city.

Entering the cave, Theo notices the ground feels crunchy, like walking on bones, not that he knows what walking on bones feels like.  He does find a dog, who follows him through the cave, and he names the animal Bones.  The cave leads him to an old mansion, and the two explore it before running into some cultists.

The cultists attack, but Bones attacks one, causing the others to take off.  With them gone, Theo finds papers left behind with the weird symbols, along with sketches of a spider with a weird-shaped head.

At this point, Theo and Bones reach the graveyard, only to find a bunch of ghouls participating in a weird dance.  The ghouls approach hungrily at first, but at Bones' barking, they turn and leave.  On a nearby gravestone, Theo sees more of the same designs as before, along with some trees.  He sets out for the woods to find out what's going on.

The two reach the woods and learn that the truth as they see piles of dead bodies.  Suddenly a mountain of dust rolls around the corner.

Theo fires his gun, but it does nothing, and he is crushed under the rolling pile of dirt and stones.  At least Bones escapes become another victim of the Crawling Chaos.

An unfortunate defeat for poor Theo, but at least he went believing the spider-like creature was probably just the Crawling Chaos . . . unless the spider creature is still out there!

The Player's Aid, which includes the other Opening Scenes, can be found here:

http://site.twohourwargames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3045


Have fun with your horrific games!

Rory Story Cubes and THW Games

I've had Rory Story Cubes for a while, but I've never been able to figure out how to work them into my games.  I recently, though, came up with an idea, combined with the Adventure Generator from my Two Hour Fantasy game.  But first . . .


WHAT ARE RORY STORY CUBES?

Rory Story Cubes resemble d6.  However, instead of numbers, they have pictures on each side.  They can be used for creating storie, story-like games, etc.  The rules, those that exist, are rather open-ended, and the creator encourages people to use them in any creative fashion that they see fit.


After playing games like Mythic and Fate, I was trying to come up with ways to bring the story-like random events to my THW games.  This is my attempt with the Rory Story Cubes.


HERE'S HOW IT WORKS:

I tried to keep the rules simple so gameplay wouldn't slow down.


STEP 1:

When you roll doubles during Activation, look at each individual number.  We'll call this the Activation Number, or A# for now.  Now, roll that many Rory Story Cubes (I'll call them RSC from here on since it's easier, and because I'm lazy).  Going by the first cubes you look at, put together the event.

For example . . . 

Muzzl the troll and Cameron the elf are wandering through a town when they encounter three members of the Mages of the Blue Stars.  To keep things simple, I'm going to pretend no one passed the In Sight test.  Now on to Activation . . . 

Both scored a 3, resulting in a random event.  This also tells me that I'll be rolling 3RSC.  


Now, if you wish to keep things simple, you can simply roll the story cubes and go with the event.

Here, I rolled a clock, a door lock and a pad lock.  I'm interpreting this as sundown and Muzzl and Cameron busted the mages trying to break into the building.  This doesn't give either the advantage, but it does paint a picture of events.  Considering no one won In Sight, it makes one wonder why they didn't designate a look-out.  Then again, in a twist of irony, the Mages of the Blue Stars may not be very bright!


ADVANCED RULES:

These rules add a few more details to your random events.

• First, roll a second d6.  If it is Even, the event is positive.  If it is odd, it is negative.
• Now roll 1d6 for each character in the section.  Whoever rolls highest is affected by the event.  
• If more than one character rolls highest, those who tied scored highest.
• However, if no one rolled higher than the Second d6, the event affects someone or something else.

After rerolling the story cubes and getting a magic wand, set of scales, and boogyman, I roll a second d6 and get a 6; a positive event.  Rolling 1d6 for each character, it turns out Muzzl, Cameron, and Mage #1 scored highest.  They are affected by the event.  Interpreting the story cubes, I'm guessing it's a battle of wills.  Are our heroes intimidated by the magical beings or are the magical beings intimidated by our heroes?  Who gets the mental edge in the fantastic face-off?


EVENTS THAT AFFECT GAMEPLAY:

These events usually only give you more details about the current situation.  However, they can also influence gameplay, if you wish for them to.  Here's how it works:

• If only one side is affected, those on that side make an unopposed Skill Check.
• If characters on both sides are affected, make opposed checks against opponents closest to their Reps.
• If one side outnumbers the other, the character with the highest Rep makes a second check.
• For unopposed checks, the difficulty is equal to the Activation #.  If it's less than a character's Rep, it's considered Easy.  If it's higher, it's considered Hard.

In this case, the characters make opposed checks, with Muzzl (Rep 5) making two checks against the Rep 3 mages, while Cameron (Rep 4) makes only one.  Muzzl and Cameron both pass.  Narrowing his eyes, Cameron aims his bow while Muzzle simply growls, dark eyes boring into his opponents.  And if the mages weren't wearing brown pants before, they are now!  Dropping their staves, they turn tail and bolt down the street.

And that's an example of how to use Rory Story Cubes in your THW games.  You can find the story cubes at Amazon.com and Walmart.  

Swordplay, along with Chain Reaction, Larger than Life, Two Hour Dungeon Crawl are available at:

www.twohourwargames.com