The Cult of Ragzath
The players are:
Evil cultists
Who aim to:
Free the elder god Ragzath from his abyssal prison
Plot hook:
The players receive a vision from Ragzath about where to find the final relic needed to free him
Setup time:
none
Intro:
The story begins...It has been almost 8 thousand years since the elder-god Ragzath was banished by the new pantheon, helmed by the King-God Udall. However, Ragzath was wiley, shrewd, and constantly challenging the bonds that held him in his abyssal prison. Thus began the longest cat-and-mouse game in all of history.
It follows this pattern: Ragzath somehow reaches out to a small group of individuals, who inevitably form a cult worshiping him. Then this cult would be given directions on how to free Ragzath. Then the disciples of the King-God Udall must track down and prevent whatever plots Ragzath has masterminded. Rinse and repeat, for almost 8 thousand years.
Which brings us to you. You, my friends, are one such group. A cult, if you will. Committed? Certainly. Brave? Absolutely. Evil? Mmmmmm maybeee…
But regardless of morals, let’s see who we have today.
(Character creation, and get players to introduce their characters)
One night, in your dreams, you all receive a vision. Fantastic relics flash before you - The Eye of Zorb. The Tooth of Bogdra. The sword of Damselflies. The skull of Godot. These are four of the five artifacts that your team has collected to break Ragzath out of his prison
This time you see the fifth relic - the wings of Zarael. You see them in the high-cathedral of the King-God Udall in the Capital city of Huno. You see your team bringing all five relics to the volcano of Bogdra before you wake up in a cold sweat.
What would you like to do?
Plan:
Get your players to figure out a way to infiltrate the High Cathedral of Udall, and avoid or kill anyone that gets in their way. Key people or locations might include:
- Zedya the High-Priestess of Udall
- The Volcano of Bogdra
- The safe house in the city of Huno
- Improvise depending on what your party attempts.
The priests of Udall will try to protect the wings of Zarael, and once they are stolen they will certainly hunt down the party. They will be able to scry on the wings, and unless the party is very clever will almost certainly find them and try to kill them.
If your party are successful in releasing Ragzath, reward them by transforming them into horrible monsters, and name them “Ragzath's Chosen”.
Hellracers
The players are:
Daredevils
Who aim to:
Win the 22nd annual hellrace, a no-holds-barred truck race
Plot hook:
A rival crew's captain offers a truce
Setup time:
1 hour
Intro:
Welcome to the 22nd annual hellrace. This lethal race pits the crews of the cobbled - together race trucks against each other in a brutal, no-holds-barred dash to the finish. It attracts only the most reckless, the most delinquent, and least risk averse lunatics alive.
Speaking of, let’s see who we have on this crew shall we?
(Character creation, and get players to introduce their characters)
(Get them to design their car, and name that too)
As you step away from making the final tweaks on (car name), you hear a knock on your garage door - and you recognise Drew, the captain of the Red Revenge. Last year this team won with their previous car, the Red Devil, but it was destroyed in the race.
Plan:
Get the players to design their car. I used paper and colour coded parts of it with pens - for example, blue was for the engine, and pink was for rockets. You’ll have to decide how much the players can add before needing a bigger engine.
Drew wants to form an alliance with the players. He will also them that Soulcrusher >:(, Grond and Rumblesaurus have also formed an alliance.
Tell the players that cross-teaming is 100% allowed in this race, but that after the halfway mark, there is no such thing as betrayal, and all alliances are considered void.
There should be lots of other cars to compete with, so you can destroy them to create a spectacle. Each should also have their own strategy to gain an advantage. These are the cars that I came up with for my game:
- Red’s Revenge (strat: boarding and taking over other cars)
- Jumper (strat: grappling onto other cars to save fuel, and jump out of harm's way if needed)
- Grond (strat: ramming other cars off the track)
- Plink (strat: being really flat to the ground and buzz-sawing people’s tyres)
- Soulcrusher >:( (strat: dropping bombs and smoke on cars behind)
- Rumblesaurus (strat: be a tank, and at the very end grapple-hook onto all the other cars and drop all it’s armour to weigh them down)
- Rushbumkin (strat: to bump other cars off the track)
- Mayflower II (strat: GUNS)
Each turn, the part of the track that the action is on changes, with new obstacles. These are the obstacles that I used:
- The Mud
- The Tunnel (try to destroy at least two cars at this point)
- “The Easy Jump” (make sure to destroy a few cars here so that they are scared of the coming hard jump)
- The Gap
- The River Ford (halfway point, all teaming is optional)
- The Tightrope (maybe at this point have a car that you presumed destroyed catch back up)
- The Hard Jump (make sure to only leave three or four opponents alive for the final show down)
- The Boulder Field (final obstacle)
As a final point, I advise removing the card “fortress” from the player deck for this game, because I think it will probably make the game less fun.
The Vasta Crime Family
The players are:
Members of the Vasta Crime Family
Who aim to:
Protect their secret tunnel network
Plot hook:
They find a tunnel that shouldn’t be there
Setup time:
none
Intro:
Although the city of Kaiato is known mostly for being a tourist destination, the locals know that behind the historic monuments and bisou cafes there is a seedy underbelly of crime.
The Vasta crime family are a newer addition to the gangs that plague Kaiato, and have made a name for themselves for their cunning, intelligence, and creativity.
Speaking of which, let’s see who the is Vasta crime family includes, shall we?
(Character creation, and get players to introduce their characters)
One of the biggest secrets that has made your crime family so successful is your secret tunnel network. This has allowed you to escape many crimes, and to smuggle many treasures. However, one day as you travel through one of your main thoroughfares, you notice something odd - it looks like a secret door - one that someone has forgotten to close. What would you like to do?
Plan:
Have this tunnel go to the safe house of another faction in the city, like the Cryos Mafia or the guild of the golden dragon. Have them overhear them plan an attack on the main Vasta head-quarters or something. You could also have them discover something wild in the new tunnels. Go nuts!
Ugly Stomp
The players are:
Dinosaur hunters
Who aim to:
Kill or relocate a dangerous T-rex to protect the residents of Ugly Stomp
Plot hook:
Arrival at Ugly Stomp
Setup time:
none
Intro:
Welcome everyone, to the diverse world of Gloorf. This is a world filled with thick jungles, windswept planes, and rugged mountains.
Oh, and dinosaurs of course.
Humans and dinosaurs mostly get on alright, provided the humans don’t bug the big guys too much. However, occasionally one can go rogue, and become an actual threat for certain regions. Which is where you guys come in.
You are part of a larger organisation that either relocates or kills problematic giants - a dangerous but necessary job. Your organisation received a number of worrying reports about a massive, albino T-rex that had been increasingly aggressive towards the residents of the small town of Ugly Stomp. You are the team that has been sent to resolve this issue.
So let's see who we have with us today
(Character creation, and get players to introduce their characters)
So, you have all arrived after a full day of travel at the gates of Ugly Stomp. Massive meter-long dragonflies fly around you, you hear the bugs chirping and the odd booming call of the occasional Hadrosaur. You know there is maybe an hour of sunlight left. What would you like to do?
Plan:
The residents seem really reluctant to say anything about the T-rex, because (the players have to find out) there is a crime boss who is mind controlling the T-rex. This can be resolved by the players either by finding the crime boss, or by having the town attacked by the T-rex, or any other way that you think might work.
If it gets too quiet, just have a T-rex and/or a bunch of other mind-controlled dinosaurs attack the party.