Wednesday 28 September 2016

Alyeskan Tales: Fool's Errand Part 2

Part Two of the Alyeskan Tales: Fool's Errand series.

In the first instalment the players were commissioned by the crime boss Ferret to retrieve an item from a ghost town out in the Wulflands. Though despite finding the item in question the players will return empty handed, leaving their employer less than impressed.

Act Two: Cold Betrayal

The second act opens presuming that the players have lost the item, though how isn't important just yet, and return to Ferret to explain what happens. As expected the crime boss is less than happy with the turn of events, though he'll be even more displeased if the players wait for more than a day and will track the players to let his displeasure made clear. Though angry he will hear the players out if they come see him sooner rather than later, the end result will be the players being sent out to get the item back from whoever took it with a deadline to do so...though if the players handed the item over the rival crew Ferret will reduce the payment he'd offered for the job.

If The Rival Crew Took The Item:- The players will have to do some legwork visiting taverns or tracking down connections in Alyeska's criminal underworld. This will entail three successful Connection (Criminal) or Streetwise based rolls at a -2 penalty to both, though it can be a mixture if the GM so wishes. Though a failure will draw unwanted attention from d4 thugs (use Rival Thug stats from Act One) per player. Once the players manage three successful rolls they will discover that the Rival Crew flew out to the Bastion Peaks, if Karla is still with the party she will take this opportunity to leave and make her own way to Broken Spires to tip off her employer.

If Karla Took The Item:- Ferret suggests that the players check out Karla's lodgings, these are a bit easier to find but by the time the players get there they have been recently cleared out of what meagre processions that Karla owned. There isn't much of interest aside from a discard note found if one of the players does a Notice roll at a -4. The note finalizes an agreement that Karla had with another party, basically asking her to bring the item to the sky pirate haven of Broken Spires. A Streetwise roll at the local airfield will confirm that a woman matching Karla's description recently boarded a flight to a town near the Bastion Peaks.

The players' next step is to make their own way to the Bastion Peaks, presumably with their own aircraft. When they do decide to head to the Peaks they'll be met by a bunch of thugs (like the ones from earlier but d6 per player) who'll try to warn them to drop their pursuit, if the players have skipped meeting Ferret then these thugs will be his henchman instead. If the latter then the players will have alot of explaining to do for Ferret will think the players have double crossed him, long as the players can talk their out of it then hopefully it won't end up as a gunfight.

Cast of Characters

Ferret - Wild Card

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d6, Intimidation d4, Notice d6, Persuasion d6, Shooting d6, Streetwise d6, Taunt d6
Charisma: 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Edges: Connections, Quick
Hindrances: Cautious, Greedy (Major or Minor)
Gear: Machine pistol (12/24/48, 2d6-1, RoF 3, 30 shots, AP 1, Auto)

Wednesday 21 September 2016

September 2016 Update

Update time!

Basically a quick roundup of whats happening with Utherwald Press at the moment, whats in the works and final conventions of the year.

Frozen Skies

The big one at the moment, currently trying to get a Print-On-Demand version of the setting primer done. It'll feature some extra content thats not in the PDF and those who have already 'brought' the PDF will be sent a discount link to get it at base printing cost (plus postage). Expect to see it in the next few weeks.

Artwork has been stalled for a little while, mainly due to the artist being away on holiday but hope to be able to showcase more pieces soon.

Also working on getting a series of adventures post up on the blog, these may be polished up later and compiled in some format at a later date.

Conventions

Couple of conventions left this year that Utherwald will be attending;

NOR-CON

Located at the Royal Norfolk Showground near Norwich and taking place on Saturday 8th October, Utherwald will be trading here and can be found on Stand A12.

EXILICON

On Saturday 22nd October will be Utherwald's second visit to this Cambridge based convention of creative geekery. As well as a trade stand, there will be a short Frozen Skies Q&A session.

Wednesday 14 September 2016

Alyeskan Tales: Fool's Errand Part 1

This is a multi-part Alyeskan Tales with a new part going up each week until the campaign is finished.

Its envisioned for there to be three parts covering an adventure where the players are first hired to track down an item out in the Wulflands, only for them to get double crossed. The second act will see the players trying to get even and track down their rivals who stole the item in question, eventually ending up in the sky pirate haven of Broken Spires. Final act will hopefully see the players recover the item and attempt to flee the Spires as other parties move in to gain the item for their own ends.

Act One: Wulf Town Heist

The players are approached by the crime boss Ferret with an offer that they can't refuse.

Ferret has recently learnt the location of a valuable item that is worth a king's fortune to certain interested parties and wants to get his hands on it yesterday. The snag is that there MAY be others looking for the same item...oh and tis in the middle of the Wulflands. Ferret will state that it is believed that the item is contained within an old bank vault but won't reveal any information on potential buyers or who else is looking for the item.

Flying out to the location is fairly straight forwards, though things could be spiced up a little by either a military patrol or a sky pirate attack. The location itself is a ghost town, abandoned when the Wulflands were overrun by the Wulvers and home to the occasional scavenger. Thankfully Ferret's information is correct about the item being in the vault of the town's bank, also there doesn't seem to be any Wulvers in the local area. Ferret has sent along his own safecracker with the group to open the vault for them.

After the vault is opened and the item found the players' plans will feature a...slight hiccup, namely a rival crew laying in wait outside of the bank (Rival Boss and d4 Thugs per character). The rival crew will demand that the item is handed over, the players can hand the item over or try and fight their way out. Though regardless of whether or no they hand the item over the boss of the other crew will order his thugs to kill the players. If the players manage to keep hold of the item, then the safecracker will steal it either during the fight or at the first opportunity and disappear. After 2d6 rounds a pack of Wulvers will be drawn to the fighting prompting all parties to make a hasty exit.

Cast of Characters

Rival Thug

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d6
Skills: Driving d4, Fighting d8, Gambling d4, Intimidation d6, Shooting d4, Streetwise d4, Taunt d6
Charisma: -2; Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Mean, Wanted (Major or Minor)
Gear: Rifle (24/48/96, 2d8, RoF 1, 10 shots, AP 1, Snapfire), knife (Str+d4)
Notes: One Thug will be armed with a Machine Gun instead (40/80/160, 2d8, RoF 3, 47 shots, AP 2, Auto, Snapfire)

Rival Boss - Wild Card

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d6, Intimidation d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d4, Shooting d6, Streetwise d6, Taunt d6
Charisma: 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Edges: Connections, Strong Willed
Hindrances: Arrogant, Wanted (Major or Minor)
Gear: Machine pistol (12/24/48, 2d6-1, RoF 3, 30 shots, AP 1, Auto)

Karla, Safecracker - Wild Card

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d6, Fighting d6, Lockpicking d6, Notice d6, Stealth d8, Shooting d6, Streetwise d6, Charisma: 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 4
Edges: Assassin, Thief
Hindrances: Cautious, Small, Stubborn
Gear: Pistol (12/24/48, 2d6, RoF 1, 6 shots, Revolver)

Wulvers - Wild Card

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d12+2, Vigor d10
Skills: Climbing d8, Fighting d12+2, Intimidation d10, Notice d12, Swimming d10, Stealth d10, Tracking d10
Pace: 8; Parry: 9, Toughness: 7
Special Abilities
* Bite: Str+d6
* Claws: Str+d8
* Infravision: Wulvers can see heat and halve penatlies for bad lighting when attacking living targets.

Wednesday 7 September 2016

Crime Is Our Business

Where there is law there will most certainly be crime despite the best efforts of the authorities. Crime also has a habit of thriving where the law is weak, particularly frontier areas like Alyeska for example. Pickpockets and house burglars tend to be expected in civilised areas, but these are often low key and could sometimes be a lone operators. Criminal groups tend to be responsible for a wider range and higher level of crime, one such organisation is infamous amongst Darmonica's criminal underworld.

The Blackforge Consortium

The organisation known as the Blackforge Consortium started with honest intentions by a group of merchants seeking to increase their fortunes, though these days it lacking in the morals department. The Consortium has its hands in alot of pies, often taking a fair cut from various criminal activities such as extortion rackets, pit fights and smuggling rings. It is only indirectly involved with such activities, preferring to use its resources to make life..'uncomfortable' for those unwilling to cough up when asked by the Consortium.

Occasionally it will be directly involved in high profile activities, usually those where alot of money is involved like smuggling priceless artefacts. For the most the Consortium usually sends its enforcers round to its various 'interests' to ensure that its cut is paid on time. Its enforcers will also send time guarding Consortium shipments and warehouses, they can usually be identified by a symbol of a black anvil. This symbol is bad news for anyone who ends up with items marked with it as the Consortium does not take kindly to those who handle its goods without its permission.

The black anvil also shows up on Consortium owned airships and aircraft which are used to move important and highly valuable shipments. Typically these aircraft operate out of sight of the authorities, though at the same time the black anvil is meant to act as a warning to sky pirates to leave these aircraft alone. On a number of occasions the Consortium has gone after sky pirates who'd attacked one of its shipments, even went far as attacking Broken Spires with a large air fleet. It has been known to hire sky pirates as proxies to steal cargoes, normally to keep its hands 'clean' to a degree.