Plague of Darkness (Recess one shot)

[urbwar]

So I ran BASH once more for Recess. Due to it being a 2 day event, I had only 2 players this time (which sucked, cause both of my V&V games were full), but each player took 2 characters, so it went well

The cast played were:

Star Blade, a Triad leader in the Cosmic Legion, and wielder of the weapon she is named for. A member of the ruling Rho'van race

Centurion D'anar, a mutant from Denovia IV. Blessed with various physical and sensory powers

Pulsar #17, part of a race of genetically engineered warriors that serve the Confederation. Able to project intense blasts of energy

Major Meteor, a hero from Earth with vast mental abilities.

S'Lar of the ION Guard was not played, but appears as an NPC during the scenario

The adventure takes place in The Rho'van Confederation, an alliance of races. The alliance is fairly peaceful, and while maintaining it's own fleet of ships, each race has their own internal fleets. The Cosmic Legion is a special unit, consisting of beings with powers not normal to their parent races.

The scenario starts with the players summoned before the Matriarch of the Confederation. She informs the players that some unknown enemy has been attacking frontier worlds. Entire colonies are wiped out, but the buildings are left intact. Other worlds have been attacked, and some of the attackers are the reanimated corpses from the earlier attacked worlds.

The players are then told that a new attack is taking place on the frontier, and that they need to find out who is attacking, so they can try and stop them from causing more destruction. Taking the Triad's personal ship, they leave Rho'van, and warp to the system in danger. When they arrive, they find a debris field. D'anar exits the ship, and starts to batter the debris away from the ship, while Meteor tries to find anyone telepathically (he doesn't). D'anar spots a ship heading towards them. It is reddish in color, with tentacle like protrusions coming out of it. The ship opens fire on D'anar, but misses. He flies at the ship, smashing through it's hull into it's command center. He discovers the ship is organic in nature, and is crewed by an unknown alien species. He flies deeper into the ship, causing massive damage to it.

The rest of the characters learn there are 2 more ships in system. Pulsar exits to intercept one, while Meteor heads to one of the colony worlds. Star Blade goes to assist D'anar. She damages the ships main weapon, while D'anar bursts through the hull. Leaving the ship to Star Blade, he heads to the remaining colony world, which is out of communication with his ship.

[urbwar]

Star Blade finishes off the first alien ship, and it floats dead in space. Meteor informs the others that the ship was alive, as he felt it's death cries telepathically. The world he goes to is safe for now, but the planet's defenses and off world communication capabilities were destroyed by another alien ship. Pulsar arrives at the main colony in the system, and finds an alien ship is leaving. He prepares to attack, but is contacted from the surface, asking for help. The ship has unloaded a horde of undead, and they are attacking!. He flies down, and see the horde coming from the spaceport. Using his powers, he digs a massive trench around the horde, so they cannot enter the colony itself. leaving the rest to the colonies militia, he goes after the enemy ship.

D'anar arrives at the other colony, and finds everyone dead. Going to the command center of planetary defense, he checks the vid logs, and learns that some massive beam of red energy covered the planet, killing all sentient life. His ship warns of an energy surge in space, and a second beam, this time green, covers the world. Soon after, the dead rise up and attack him. He leaves the planet, and tries to locate the source of the bream, but is intercepted by another alien ship.

Meteor leaves the world he is on, and attempts to make contact with one of the ships. he finds it non-sentient, so he goes to assist Pulsar. Pulsar engages the ship that unloaded the horde. It fights back, but he defeats it in short order.

D'anar again smashes into an alien ship, and causes as much damage as he can, while Pulsar and Meteor attack it from outside. They destroy it when D'anar grabs it by it's tentacles, and flings it onto an uninhabited island on the planet with the main colony, then attempt to find where the green beam came from. The area is deserted, but Meteor detects left over psychic residue of....something malevolent.

With the threat to this system mostly contained, they contact a squadron of ships in a nearby system to come finish securing things, and to deal with the undead on the one colony world. Meteor interrogates some of the crew of the crashed ship, but only learns they serve a being known as "The Elder Thing", and that this being commands T'al Z'agoth, who blesses all with the "Kiss of Eternal Sleep", before giving them the "Kiss of Second Life". They head back to Rho'van, to report their findings (little as it is) to the Matriarch

(Edited to include some things I forgot when I first typed this in)

[urbwar]

After reporting to the Matriarch, they learn that as they were engaging the unknown enemy, 3 more attacks were launched. As soon as they defeated the 3 ships, those attacks stopped, and the aliens fled.

The Matriarch is worried, and has the fleet and the Legion spread across the Confederation in preparation of another attack. She wants the players to remain on Rho'van, to send wherever another incursion might take place.

For 2 days, all is quiet. Then suddenly, the players are ordered into action again. The enemy is attacking once more, but in large numbers. A force of 90 vessels has entered the Denovian system, home of D'anar, and are attacking Denovia VI!

This is the first such attack on a major system, and the players know that billions of lives are at stake. Rushing to their ship, they prepare to join the battle. D'anar is visibly upset, as his entire race is now in peril!

[urbwar]

Our heroes take their ship, and jump into the Denovian system, close to Denovia V. A massive space battles takes place between Denovia V & VI, as the Denovia system fleet, a squadron of Confederation warships members of The Home Guard (Denovian supers who protect their system), and S'Lar, the sector's ION Guardsman, and 90 alien warships. The battle is going badly for the Denovians, and our heroes make a flanking maneuver, and hit the enemy. They take out a half dozen enemy ships before the enemy realize they're there. When the enemy moves to deal with the heroes, it opens a gap in their formation, which the Denovians take advantage of to turn the tide of battle. Soon, the enemy is on the defensive.

In short order, the enemy loses over 1/3 of their ships, and start to retreat out of system. The heroes hang onto the side of one ship. As the remaining enemy ships flee the system, a massive wormhole opens, and they flee through it. The ships exit the wormhole into a system with no native life. The aliens have terraformed one planet as a base of operations, but it is still a harsh world. D'anar uses his enhanced sight to scout the world, and sees that the aliens are growing more warships in a kind of farm. With the amount of ships being grown, the enemy will have more than enough to overwhelm both the Confederation and system fleets!

He also spots a temple like structure, where many aliens are worshipping. Meteor reads their minds, and they are praying to "Those who wait beyond The Veil". He brushes against a mind he cannot read. This being then probes the heroes, and enters into telepathic contact with Star Blade. The being identifies itself as "The Elder Thing", and tells Star Blade that it is a herald for "Those who wait beyond The Veil", who are God-like beings of immense power. When she questions him further, it tells her that they cannot be stopped, and that soon, T'al Z'agoth shall bless the Rho'van with the Kiss of Eternal Sleep. When she presses him on it, he puts images in her head of a massive fleet warping into the Homeworld system, and targeting Rho'van itself! Fearing now for her homeworld, she and the others wonder how they can head back to try and save the Homeworld. The Elder Thing taunts Star Blade telepathically, telling her that she cannot save her world.

Suddenly, the heroes get a message from the captain of their transport. After they left the Denovian system, their ship tried to follow, and after six blind jumps (a dangerous thing to do), they were able to locate their tracking signals. The heroes, seeing a chance, head to their ship, chased by alien warships. They enter their ship, and it jumps, one of many they will need to make before they make it to the Rho'van system. In her mind, Star Blade hears the Elder Thing tell her "You cannot save your world fleshbag. T'al Z'agoth shall bless it with the Kiss of Eternal Sleep, then bless it with the Kiss of Second Life. You will watch your race be exterminated". Feeling helpless, she almost breaks into tears, but D'anar puts a hand on her shoulder. "We will save Rho'van Star Blade". As they exit the first wormhole, she wonders if they have a chance....

[urbwar]

After multiple jumps, the heroes finally arrive in the Rho'van system. An even larger battle is taking place, as the enemy have sent at least 300 ships. The system fleet, and what ever forces of the Confederation and Cosmic Legion available are fighting a desperate battle. Even S'Lar has arrived, adding the might of his ION Fist to the battle.

The heroes join in on the battle, doing all they can to turn the tide. The fighting is fierce, with many casualties on both sides. The heroes see many fellow legionaries perish in defense of the Confederation. The heroes can see they are on the losing end of this fight, and all hope reinforcements will get to the system in time.

Suddenly, the enemy starts to pull back. As they do, a massive wormhole opens, and a giant, planet-sized being with a massive red eye in the middle of it, and tentacles coming out the sides and bottom of its spherical body. T'al Z'agoth has come to claim Rho'van!

[urbwar]

Star Blade again hears the thoughts of the Elder Thing. "T'al Z'agoth has come to claim your world fleshbag. You cannot stop it. T'al Z'agoth is the spawn of those who wait beyond The Veil! It is invincible!"

As the massive creature enters the system, the heroes try to come up with a plan to deal with this being. Meteor tries to contact it telepathically, but learns it is non-sentient. Roaring in anger, D'anar flies towards the massive being, and tries to crash through it. He impacts the surface, but it's rocky exterior resists even his raw might. Pulsar unleashes a blast of energy, but again is unable to do more than chip away at it.

A group of ships try and attack it, but it fires a beam of red energy from it's eye, and all aboard those ships drop dead. Star Blade is paralyzed, unsure what to do. T'al Z'agoth start to move towards Rho'van IV, one of the colony worlds. As it prepare to annihilate all the inhabitants, Meteor tries to shove the being so it will miss. He fails, but D'anar, in an act of desperation, pushes Rho'van IV out of it's orbit with his massive strength! T'al Z'agoth prepares to fire again, D'anar flies towards it, and using his massive strength, shuts it's eye!

As D'anar struggles to keep the massive eye closed, the other heroes attack the being. The rest of the confederation forces try to assist, but the alien fleet engages them again, and the battle begins anew.

The heroes are unable to hurt T'al Z'agoth, but Meteor detects the presence of the Elder Thing after it attacks D'anar psychically. After it attacks D'anar a second time, the remaining heroes attack it. Weakened, D'anar loses his grip on the eye lid, and it almost killed by the Kiss of Eternal Sleep. Meteor saves him by moving him out of the way with his Telekinesis. After a pitched battle with the Elder Thing. it uses the staff it carries to open a smaller wormhole, and tries to escape. Meteor uses his telekinesis to * the Elder Thing back onto T'al Z'agoth's surface, and it goes berserk, attacking all of them with it's mind. Star Blade and Pulsar double team it, and finally knock it out. As Pulsar kills the Elder Thing with one more blast, Star Blade picks up the staff, and is almost overwhelmed. She drops to her knees, her mind flooded by images. She sees images of Those who wait Beyond the Veil. Struggling to maintain her sanity, she resists the staff's malevolent influence. Regaining her feet, she realizes that she now commands T'al Z'agoth!

Commanding T'al Z'agoth to turn on the enemy, the enemy fleet falls apart, fleeing in all directions. She then opens a massive wormhole, and as the heroes stand on it's surface, T'al Z'agoth enters the wormhole, exiting into the system where the enemy base was. She commands it to wipe out the base, and the red beam washes over the world, killing all the aliens, as well as the ships they were growing. Other ships in the system flee, fearing the might of T'al Z'agoth.

Having broken the forces of the enemy, she orders T'al Zagoth to flying into the sun of this system. Opening another wormhole, the heroes jump back to Rho'van as T'al Z'agoth flies into the sun, causing it to go supernova, obliterating the dead system entirely.

[urbwar]

Epilogue

The heroes return to Rho'van, and report to the Matriarch. Star Blade tells her that the enemy forces are shattered, that T'al Z'agoth is destroyed, and D'anar shows all the corpse of The Elder Thing. She gives The Matriarch the Staff of the Outer Void. She too feels it's malevolence, and asks S'Lar to take it to ION Prime, and to lock it away so "that it shall never again feel the light from any sun". Grasping it in a beam from his ION Fist, S'lar takes the staff, and heads to ION Prime.

In gratitude for all they did to save The Confederation, the Matriarch rewards our heroes. Major Meteor is given full citizenship in the Confederation, and an honorary command rank in the Cosmic Legion. Star Blade is elevated to second in command of the Legion, as it's commander died fighting to protect Rho'van. D'anar and Pulsar 17 are both promoted to Triad leaders. A great celebration is held in their honor. At this celebration, the Matriarch points out how close to annihilation the Confederation came, and how the unity the races of this grand alliance enabled it to survive. She promises they shall rebuild, and be stronger than before.

An autopsy on The Elder Thing is performed, and it is learned that it was well over 100,000 years old! It had a complex brain, giving it access to many psychic powers.

A month later, Star Blade wakes up in a cold sweat. She goes to the place where the Elder Thing's remains were kept, and finds them gone, and the attendants dead. The voice of The Elder Thing enters her mind. "You won this time fleshbag, but know this: We are legion, and even if it takes millenia, Those who wait Beyond the Veil shall be brought back. Be ready, for one day, we shall return"

In space, The Elder Thing engages the jump drive, leaving the Rho'van system and jumping to a system where it will rejoin remnants of the fleet it once commanded. It took over 2,000 years even with the Staff of the Outer Void to reach this part of the Galaxy. It may take ten times as long to return home. When it does, it will plan vengeance. One day, it promises it's imprisoned masters, all of the Confederation will be ground to dust....

The End

[urbwar]

End notes:

This game was * awesome. Even though I had 2 players, they played 2 characters each, and did well keeping their personalities separate.

Because of the immensity of the opposition, I gave each character 10 Hero Dice. That's right 10. They blew through 6-8 of them in the session. Most were used to roll another die to get doubles, which failed most times, but that's how desperate the battle was.

After the session, I realized some things I'd change on a few of the characters. That's why I haven't posted all of them yet, as I want to take time and revise them.

The guy who played Major Meteor played him as someone tired of the continual war and violence he'd seen. At the start of the scenario, the character proclaimed that this would be his last mission, and that afterward, he'd retire to some backwater planet to live out his life in peace. After helping to save billions of lives, D'anar asked him if he still planned on retiring, to which Meteor said "Maybe not. There's still things left for this old dog. I might even return to Earth for a visit". I loved it!

Both players came away from their first experience with BASH very satisfied. I had a blast, and felt this one went much, much better than the Golden Age one shot. And I had a * up week before Recess, and was really tired come the weekend. Still, I pulled off a great game (my 2 V&V games went really well too).

I might run this again, cause it went so well. I'm also considering doing a game set in the 1950's, featuring a younger (and lesser powered) Major Meteor, along with some of the Guardians of Liberty. That was sparked by the conversation between Meteor and D'anar about going home. *, how little things inspire new ideas! I have too many as is!

Anyway, thanks for reading!

[Lindharin]

Congratulations, that sounds like an awesome session, and a great experience for the new players.

[Protheuz]

Very cool!!! It looked like a truly epic game!

[urbwar]

Congratulations, that sounds like an awesome session, and a great experience for the new players.

It definitely was awesome. I think one player enjoyed it more than the other one (as the other one was having low multiples for most of the session), but both told me afterwards they had a good time.

[urbwar]

Very cool!!! It looked like a truly epic game!

It was! It started off small, with just colony worlds with low population rates (maybe a few million tops) in the first part, but in the second and third parts, the bad guys were attacking into the heart of the Confederation. Systems with multiple colonized worlds, each holding billions of inhabitants, and more importantly, worlds where 2 of the characters hailed from. I felt that gave them more inspiration, because they were not just fighting for the Confederation they served, but to save their races from extinction. There were moments when both Star Blade and D'anar actually contemplated sacrificing their lives, if it meant saving their species. I found that really awesome. They guy who played both of them really got it.

[kevperrine]

This is great urbwar!
Congrats on a great Narrating and from the sounds of it a great story!

So.... (naturally for me) as I'm reading, I'm constantly trying to figure out HOW you did "that". Or how the rules were used. Or what was player done and what was Narrator done. What bits were rules used for, and what were just story-told bits.
How you handled all things.

If you have time, I'd love for you to go back through the story and make almost "director commentary" on each major point and note how you handled each. If you used rules or not. Any big notes on how the rules helped a scene or any problems you ran into.

Ultimately (I did this once for a game) I'd love to see this story breakdown side-by-side with a sort of behind the scenes rules breakdown action-by-action. I've seen this in a few RPGs in the past. And when I'm watching a cartoon like "The Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes" I'm constantly thinking - "wouldn't this be awesome to give a "director's commentary" on how what I'm seeing is taking place via the RULES?!!"



In fact.
Taking a great memorable cartoon episode or a classic comic and "translating" it into rule-by-rule commentary would be an AWESOME article for BAM!
Anyone interested in helping with this?? hehehe

anyway. great stuff as usual
-kev-

[urbwar]

This is great urbwar!
Congrats on a great Narrating and from the sounds of it a great story!

Thanks Kev! I think this is one of the best game sessions I've ever had. I've never run something of this power level before, so it was a challenge for me as a GM. Thankfully, I was able to pull it off

So.... (naturally for me) as I'm reading, I'm constantly trying to figure out HOW you did "that". Or how the rules were used. Or what was player done and what was Narrator done. What bits were rules used for, and what were just story-told bits.
How you handled all things.

If you have time, I'd love for you to go back through the story and make almost "director commentary" on each major point and note how you handled each. If you used rules or not. Any big notes on how the rules helped a scene or any problems you ran into.

I don't know if I remember enough to do that for the whole Actual Play. If there's specific parts of the scenario you could point out, I can see if I remember what we did by the rules. I do know I didn't run any extended checks during the session, and I kind of played by ear how the annihilation enhancement worked for doing damage to ships in combat. But if there was something specific you were curious about, let me know

anyway. great stuff as usual
-kev-

Again, thanks. I was pleased with how well it went