Neon Lords of the Toxic Wastelands Actual Play Session one! Carcosa Landfall!

 So we've been quietly playing through a bit of Carcosa using Neon Lords of the Toxic Wastelands rpg. Its been interesting to say the least or at least it has been from my perspective. We've got Arnold Kazram Holy Smiter of Judus Death. He's a war orphan who survived the Holy Wars and went on to become a holy smiter of Judas Death. Sorta of a combination of Megadeath & Judas Priest if these bands were actually a heavy metal god. 

The player wants to swap out his clerical spells for some from Neoplastic Press's Metallic Tome and the metal clerical spells within. Because, Jason's character isn't a healer but an ass kicking paladin of  Eighties metal we can let this pass! Arnold is a third level holy smiter usually dresss in a combination of denim and chainmail. And one of his favorite spells is Abyssal Winter; "Abyssal Winter Duration: 5 rounds plus 1 round per caster level Range: 100’ plus 20’ per caster level Ice forms on the floor and grips the victim’s feet. The cold saps strength and speed, freezing the enemy in place. The victim’s move rate drops to 20’ [2] for the duration of the spell. The victim’s attacks with melee weapons receive a -2 to damage, and missile weapon attacks are -2 to hit. This spell can affect 1 target per caster level, but all targets must be within 50’ of each other" 

Arnold is on a mission to avenge his family taken out by the 'Lost Boys' vampire biker gang and he's on a mission to send the vampires to Hell! Even if he's got to Hell and   follow them himself! And this is how are gang goes from Neon Traxx to Carcosa. A miscast by the biker gang's necromancer puts the group in serious danger when they were teleported right in front of a spawn of Shub Niggurath. And the party runs like Hell while fires blinding running like a pack of wild dogs! 

daviblight dark-young-of-shub-niggurath artwork used without permission 

The party is on an alien world and with few options! They made camp on high ground & began to take in their situation. 

The Continuing Outer Realm War Round Two - Godbound/Cha'alt Play Session Report Nine - Night of the Dark Creepers

 
Russ Nicholson Dark Creeper from The Fiend Folio First Edition.

The party in tonight's  Godbound/Cha'alt/Stars Without Number game almost bought it at three A.M. the hour of the soul. They faced down asssasin's blades from a group of Dark Creepers working for their Elven masters. This picks up right from the last game session, one of the player's cleric of Ishtar whose been created using the Demonic Tome's PC generating rules. The PC's made it too the hangers as another part of the party went for city hall. They were on the prowl to sneak in & spring a demi god from one of the local holding cells. This session Sunday picked right up from last week's available right over here. 

During tonight's game we used the Castles & Crusades version of the Dark Creepers from this blog. 

This version of the Dark Creepers were waiting for the party of the adventurers & used all of their abilities to great effect. They cut off to members of the party & pinned down their heavy fire power in the form of the party's godbound, their  wizard, cleric, & secondary demigod back up PC. 
As soon as the party was broken a apart the demonic entity incharge of Holdersfield appeared in the midst of the PC's. He or rather it started to pick off PC's wreathed in darkness. 

This demonic entity had several words from the Godbound rpg available to it just to even the odds. The demonic entity pounded on the party's demigod & with a quick roll of a twenty cut off the PC's head! This really sent the players into a tail spin & they ran! 
  The second half of the party managed to get into town hall & killed several Elven guards with little incident. They dispatched a couple of humans & then ran into a problem when they ran into the twin guardians of the cell a pair of  caterwauls. 

It took them most of the night to deal with these things, & finally they freed RJ the demigod of Hermes from his cell. The party was also able to get his enchanted sword Exceuls from city hall's vault & other  caterwaul guardian. They also found the planar doorway into Cha'alt inside the vault. 

Now that part of the party is knee deep in the city of A'agrybah & the rest of the party is on the rush to get to the gateway in order to not split the party! The undead wizard/revenant is still decaying & stinks to high Heaven. RJ the scion of Hermes & the prisoner that they freed is now the replacement PC. 

So did I miss anything?! Yeah there's a death knight mercenary with six polymorphed  demon  bodyguards/ bounty hunters. The death knight is  the lead singer of a death metal band whose the owner of a deadly demon guitar whose actually the brains behind the operation. The 'band' has been hired by the Elves to take out the party. 

The Continuing Outer Realm War Round Two - Godbound/Cha'alt Play Session Eight - Holdersfield or Bust

 

So we're  prepping out for tonight's game when DM Steve decided to bail on me with half of our players for tonight game & not bother calling back!? Well given my scheduling this might prove to be a bit of a problem but then the phone rang & now things are on. This means that our Godbound/Cha'alt/Stars Without Number game is on!  This is going to link up right with the last session!  Holdersfield has been welcoming to the party but is it too good to be true?! 

The party right now is camped right outside of Holdersfield in the desert. The town itself has some really serious issues with demonic taint. The whole area reeks of it from the men with the auto load shot guns to the occassional black robed wizard. 

The party is on its way to  a nearby  colony town belonging to  the  alien Mega-corporation, Elysium.. The town is protected by mecenaries who have Elysium mecha at their disposal. But Rubic the town in question is rife with Cha'alt Elves who run the place with an iron fist. These are the happy hopping Elves who will sacrifice your mother at the drop of a dime. 

These cults are modeled on my campaign's  version of Simon Forester's AX4: Ruined City of Cyfandir. This dungeon plugs nicely into   Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise 's tattered & corrupt Elven empire. 
So now its a question of freeing the demi god that the Elves have locked up in the local jail cell & his axe (guitar) which is on display at the local city hall. Have I mentioned the Elven bounty dogs that know something is up with the party's antics around Holdersfield?! Right now their camped out in another part of the canyon & their paladin lead part of the survivors of the town through a gateway to safety in the Grand Canyon. 
The party knows that there's there's something really weird about the town & tension between the Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise 's tattered & corrupt Elven empire & the  Elysium mercs.. 

The Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise 's tattered & corrupt Elven empire is using 'obsidian giants' made from their own as part of the town's defense & for intimitadation. These things are incredibly dangerous. They come straight outta of the Teratic Tome.  

The party of adventurers knows something is up. Their scout has reported two aircraft sized hanger like buildings at the edge of town. These are where the obsidian giants are located & where the mecha are kept. They think that the chalice might be in there. Its not! The chalice is in the temple/town hall. Will they survive?! Their wizard is quietly sliding down the path of the revenant ala AD&D first edition's Fiend Folio. 

And why was last game session he feeling the pull of the parasite god that lurks below this town?! And what does it have to do with the old Mayfair game Demon box set?! 

A few points from the last session: 

1. The demi gods operating in the area don't seem to come from this world. They appear to be working together to try & find some one or something? 
2. The Demigods I keep talking about are not god bound but James Mishler's Demi God race available here adapted to Adventurer,Conqueror,King rpg. 
3. Crossover with Judge's Guilds's The Wilderlands of High Fantasy means that this world is rife with portals to other realms. 
4. There are other demonic entities,gods, and horrors that have crossed over. 
5. The party of adventurers seems to have more metal heads within it as adventurers but the D&D aspect is just as high. 
6. The gonzo is very strong in this campaign verging on DCC levels 80's awesomeness. One of the players is thinking of adding in a wrestler or two. 

The Continuing Outer Realm War Round Two - Godbound/Cha'alt Play Session Seven - Gregory's Hunting, Ammo Supply, Marriages, Car Dealership & Garage

Once again our party of adventurers is stuck out in the middle of the wastelands & things are looking up when they stumbled upon 'Gregory's Car Dealership &  Garage'. This looks like it was a too good to be true 70's car dealership in the middle of no place squared wasteland. Last night's Godbound/Cha'alt/Stars Without Number game too a simple upgrade trip & turned it into a full on mini adventure. This picks up right off where we left the other session. 

Classic muscle cars, vans, motor cycles, etc all lined the lot. Something smelled to the party but they decided to stop besides the wizard was starting to smell a bit. So out on the lot they went & noticed the men in black with auto load shot guns & the occasional black robed wizard. The party was trying to deduce who or what owned the dealership?! 

The party was greeted by a car salesman who was accompanied by a rather thuggish looking bodyguard who was carrying a really nasty looking blunderbuss. The party's leader explained who they were & what they wanted with NPC's Lisa's van including add on weaponry & optional extras. The 'salesman' explained that it could be done but it was going to cost. The cost in this case was a mission to a nearby town to recover a mystical chalice at a local church. The town in question was now a colony town belonging to  the  alien Mega-corporation, Elysium.. The party wasn't expecting this at all?! They expected to pay treasure & get the work done?! But this situation might work in their favor. They packed the van up & off they went to work on the issue to scope out Holdersfield. They still don't know who actually owns Gregory's Hunting, Ammo Supply, Marriages, Car Dealership & Garage. Holdersfield seemed like its own run down little town except that the whole thing was covered in H.G. Giger style bio mechanical works. There were Elysium mecha all over the place. Holdersfield is the site of a Cha'alt parasite god. The town has access to this entity via the rules article for divine intervention in 'The Dragon magazine issue#29 from 1979 by Craig Bakey. 

The party began to scout around the town sniffing out the fact that the whole place was the lair for a group of degenerate Cha'alt Elves with access to Cha'alt occult tech & mecha. These cults are modeled on my campaign's  version of Simon Forester's AX4: Ruined City of Cyfandir. This dungeon plugs nicely into Cha'alt's  Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise 's tattered & corrupt Elven empire. 

The party left at break neck speed after almost coming face to face with a mech & the Elven bounty dogs who were to report to their Lovecraftian master. They don't have the numbers yet to take on one of those things. They did find out that the Elves have a demigod locked up in the local jail & sealed up nice & pretty with Elven runes. They have his sentient mystic axe (guitar) locked up tighter then a drum in the local city hall. The rules for these dangerous objects are from  The Metallic Tome
So the party is now camped in a canyon right outside of town and trying to come up with a plan?! I went old school & used my old Mayfair Demons box set to create the parasite god of the Elves. 

Half of the party decided to look around the canyon & did a bit of exploring. They came across a tower of  skulls created by the Elves from the undead skulls of the former town's folks & residents. The tower wold not answer any questions  the adventurers asked. The wizard cast a silence spell on the tower backed up by one of the godbound characters. 
The party scouted further & came across a few survivors from the town's Elven invasion. The adventurers shared food with the former towns's folk. The party's demigod paladin healed a major portion of the survivors while the cleric & two of the fighters moved out of the home they had come across. They came across a demonic scorpion's nest & quickly retreated back to the home & camp. They've got their work cut out for them. 

A few points about last session: 

1. The Demigods I keep talking about are not god bound but James Mishler's Demi God race available here adapted to Adventurer,Conqueror,King rpg. 
2. We're now in the middle of this part of the campaign & I've got to rope in the NPC metal rock band/adventurers. 
3. There's crossover with Judge's Guilds's The Wilderlands of High Fantasy. 
4. The players hate guns & fire arms because their so deadly in  The Metallic Tome.
5. There are Cha'alt Elven heavy metal bands/ adventurers possibly in the employ of the Elysium maga corporation. 
6. Angels will be playing a huge roll coming up.  

The Continuing Outer Realm War Round Two - Godbound/Cha'alt Play Session Six - Narcosa,The Fungal, & the Cartels!

After camping, refreshing their spells, & re equipping themselves our 'heroes' set off insearch of large prey to gather up some new 'treasure' after losing their literal shirts in last game session. The party had been crammed into NPC Lisa's van & used it camp out under the wasteland sky. Everything went off without a hitch for sleeping. Morning brought encounter with a giant Cha'alt alien scorpion but the party rode off in search of easy pickings. They didn't find it.. 

So last night's Godbound/Cha'alt/Stars Without Number Session  things went from weird to worse for the players. They spotted a group of non discript black military unmarked trucks traveling through the Nevada/California/Arizonia  wastelands. And they discided to mess with this convoy! They straight up attacked it & bare in mind that this was after the last session with the angel hit! There was nothing written up for this convoy or caravan at all?! So I needed something fast?! There's been rumors flying around the campaign of an on going war between the  alien Mega-corporation, Elysium, & the cartel lords of Narcosa! The players saw my copy of Narcosa laying out & assumed that this is who these NPC's were & so that fast they came into reality using the  Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise  coupled with Adventurer,Conqueror, King rpg. 




And that's when the ray guns came out of the trucks.But it was the regular guns that took out the wizard!  The player's wizard leaned out of the van & let loose with a fire ball! Things got really ugly from there as the cartel enforcers killed the wizard with an expensive spray of machine gun fire! But he wasn't completely dead just mostly as Lisa the metal head NPC lead singer of 'the Craigs' brought him back with the four level spell 'Kill or Become'. This spell calls the soul back for a bit of unfished business for 1 month from the pits of Hell  & they become a revenant ala the Fiend Folio. The souls they kill become food & fuel for the god or goddess of the cleric casting the spell. If the revenant doesn't commit violence or kill at the start of the spells effects then their soul goes straight into the lowest levels of the Pit. The cleric class is  straight out of  The Metallic Tome. 



The party just managed to get away before they had Narcosa demons on their tails in hot pursuit! Now the adventurers wanted one of those trucks badly. This time they managed with a roll of twenty to take down on of the drivers & caused it to roll over! They were sorta of sorry they did the trucked rolled out dropping its cargo of Narcosa Violet Fungus! The fungus was pissed about having been rolled out! The fungus acts like normal Violet Fungus but causes hallucinations that will cause the victime to fade over to the Narcosa plane. There to be devoured by the Fungus Mother for eternity all the while hallucinating about the most pleasurable moments of their existence. Only to be thrown into the pure agony of their undeadlike state as they decay in divine torpor. 



 That's when the demons closed in! These damned  things are nasty serving the cartels as extended operations over their turfs. The party's wizard destroyed the remaining fungus with two more fireballs exhausting him by using the word of fire from Godbound. The party managed to take out two other demons with improvized tactics. 
And that's when they heard mecha coming their way  the  alien Mega-corporation, Elysium's mechs wanted a piece of those demons. The party of adventurers found itself between two different factions & decided to retreat! 
They grabbed boxes, ammo, supplies, etc. anything they could get their hands on! Now with explosions in their review mirror they peeled rubber!



The party wants to get this van customized with weapons, armor, & their on their way to meet the NPC's band  before tackling  Simon Forester's AX4: Ruined City of Cyfandir.  The party is stuck out in the middule of nowhere near the California,Nevada, Utah, & Arizona deserts odd Cha'alt ruins, dungeons, & cityscapes have appeared. One of these has been my campaign's  version of Simon Forester's AX4: Ruined City of Cyfandir. This dungeon plugs nicely into Cha'alt's  Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise 's tattered & corrupt Elven empire. 

1. The party is now on the hit list of several factions. They need to resupply for they don't have enough sundries to survive in the wastelands. 
2. They have Hell to deal with because of their dealings last sessions. 
3. Cha'alt continues to degenerate around them as the planes seemlingly are merging. 
4. There are two major original Dungeons & Dragons artifacts in play. And should they cause more destruction its gonna be on the party's heads. 
5. Even though I went all in on the Castles & Crusades  kickstarter I'm keeping these campaign separate. The backbone system is still highly modified  ACK's ! 
6. Did I forget to mention the dragon king would like a word with the party!? 

The Continuing Outer Realm War Round Two - Godbound/Cha'alt Play Session Six - Manticores & Tactical Demons

 

So last night it was the middle of the Godbound/Cha'alt/Stars Without Number Session & here's where the party had to deal with a Cha'alt manticore. It took them quite a bit of time to deal with the horror of it through melee. 


If you'll remember last session we ended on a cliff hanger & the party had picked up a hitchhiker.  Steve's character had died & things have been going down hill for the party when they encountered a manticore with full on Cha'alt mutations. 
Their hitchhiker revealed herself to be Demonic a cleric of Ishtr created whenthat crazy metal headed bastard of the OSR Rafael Chandler released 'The Demonic Tome' onto an unsuspecting OSR as a pay what you want title.

The party's ride & horses were slaughtered during the melee & because of the violence of it my NPC was forced to reveal her true colours. I had this whole cloth build up for it! Lisa Watts is the lead singer in the 'Crags' a hard core metal band & adventurer. The party hiked back to where they had picked her up & her band whom it turns out had been slaughtered by the pig faced orc forces of chaos  from  AX1: The Sinister Stone of Sakkara. 


One of the US military's mecha had crashed on her band's van. The party's wizard Jaro' The Impossible  & their mechanic/ranger Crazy Charlie went to work on the van. A tactical demon appeared on their doorstep whist they were work on their van demanding to know why they had killed her pet manticore. Tacticl demons are straight out of  The Metallic Tome. Once again they tried to use their summoned lawyer demon & that didn't go well for the party. 

Boy the players had to talk their way outta of that little exchange as the lawyer demon & the tactical demon turned on the party. They had to think very fast & sacrificed ammuniaton,junk food, and a very special tv remote control to the demons for their skins! But now they've taken on a bargain for a hit on an angel! 
So the party is stuck out in the middule of nowhere near the California,Nevada, Utah, & Arizona deserts odd Cha'alt ruins, dungeons, & cityscapes have appeared. One of these has been my campaign's  version of Simon Forester's AX4: Ruined City of Cyfandir. This dungeon plugs nicely into Cha'alt's  Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise 's tattered & corrupt Elven empire. 

Steve hasn't come back into the game because of two our player's passings.. yet. There's a lot to unpack her yet stay tuned! 

There are several things going on here at once  during this campaign: 

1. There's a ton of pressure to consolodate two of my campaigns especially my Castles & Crusades campaign because of the kickstarter. 
2. Lots of loose ends that DM Steve has left me on purpose. 
3. There's two huge classic D&D  artifacts lumbing through this campaign & causing destruction on a massive scale. 
4. We've lost two of our strongest players! Their passing has caused a huge hole in my games. 
5. The round robin of DMing is creating a lot pressure with fall out. So its now a matter of picking up the pieces. 

Gods, Orcus, & Metal - Heavy Metal Ambush Session Report

 Things have really been moving in the  Godbound /Cha'alt game  out in the middle of the California desert.  Several of the cults of elemental evil, yes that Elemental Evil have cropped up. And they've been put down as soon as the PC's learned of their true nature. 

The party is now bound & determined to get a hold of the Rod of Orcus that's been moving from one owner to another in the Nevada desert. The artifact has been animating hordes of undead & zombies into a massive army. This thing has been like magnet of negative planar energy! 

The rod itself was guarded by a champion of Orcus within an otherworldly temple that had appeared on one of the night roads. 
About ninety percent of the party is convinced that the rod was the real deal. They've already dealt with & have almost had the floor whipped out from under them by the  champion of orcus himself! It took the combined might of seven player's PC to put him down! 

The party of foo erm adventurers is going back to the Incel cantina on Cha'alt to bargain for more high technology or occult weaponry. Because of the Cha'alt wave no real world technologies work any more. They were intercepted by the undead  heavy metal band 'Dripping Force' lead by a skeletal demonic necromancer of Orcus himself! A godbound named Hans Bonehands was the lead, he packed the word of death, several spells backed up, & he eventually called in two undead horrors from  Neoplastic Press's Teratic Tome. Because the undead & horrors in that book are really the 'big guns'! 


The band's skeltal manager demon took down the party's paladin/godbound with a craft dagger between the shoulder blades! The lead gutarist came through with a sonic guitar solo that shattered two of the party's ear drums after two failed saving throws. Don't worry they were healed later on. 

It took a combined push from all of the players to destroy these bastard rockers! And yes this was a full on push to get the rod back by the band! Then the party went on a rampage destroying the band's van, undead ghoul fan groupies, and any trace that they existed! 

Then the player's PC's  went back to make sure that there wasn't a single spec of the undead around there! The party checked for about five miles in every direction of the California desert. So all together I'd say that it had been a successful run of the Metallic Tome! 

Review & Commentary On 'The Metallic Tome' For Your Old School Heavy Metal & Doom Core Campaigns erm Old School Campaigns

 "Pollution chokes our seas, nuclear war has destroyed our cities, and worst of all, guitars are illegal. Surveillance satellites monitor our every move. Conformity is the law! There is only one thing that can save us: METAL."

Last call in Connecticut is 2:00 A.M. right now its around one or so give or take five minutes. Tonight its me sitting with my back to a very empty bar with DM Steve & me speakng about Rafeal Chandler's Metallic Tome. 



'The Metallic Tome' is done in the same style as 'the Demonic Tome'. The heavy metal  Apocalpyse has happened or is happening. The Earth's internet is down & the world is ripe for the taking! This is every heavy metal or death metal album cover ever done brought to life. The book follows the standard OSR PC status of character types. But the difference here is the fact of how this book plays the elements out. Sure this is Gonzo heavy & death metal campaign & system book  but there's far more here going on then simply meets the eye. 
'The Metallic Tome' is a whole cloth campaign setting unto itself & its not necessarily a 'modern' setting per say. The reason why I say that is because as an OSR setting it can easily be translated over into a pre or post apocalpyse heavy metal setting where magic is returning hard core. The forces of Heaven & Hell are waging a war for the soul of the world this is the implied setting of the Demonic Tome.

I go into far greater detail about 'Demonic Tome' here.  The implication is a modern or alternative Eighties heavy metal world sliding into the frying pan of the lake of fire back lit with a heavy metal sound track. But seriously this isn't the only use of either the 'the Demonic Tome' or 'The Metallic Tome'. 

'The Metallic Tome' has some serious implications for Dungeons & Dragons with its PC's heavy metal options & implications. Try & imagine your standard Greyhawk campaign setting characters being sucked straight into this heavy metal Earth. 

Greyhawk's factors for being interested in this metal Earth is the 'cosmic balance'. The party of adventurers have their work cut out for them. There's a ton of infernal monsters that are going to have interest in the party as 'fresh meat' on the block from Greyhawk. With 'The Metallic Tome' I started to heavily think about the movie Heavy Metal. 

With  'The Metallic Tome' the Earth might be ripe for  interstellar affairs with the arrival of the metal apocalpyse. Believe it or not this is a perfect set up for a White Star: Galaxy Edition campaign which makes an excellent compliment for 'The Metallic Tome' 

Why? Well because the rocker class is included in the 'galaxy edition' so there's the heroic in for the PC's to help counter Chandler created  darkness of 'The Metallic Tome'. The campaign would be one part 'Star Wars' three parts Greyhawk, & the rest someplace West of Iron Maiden's 'Somewhere in Time''s album. 

This is the campaign world that I'm planning on refining, designing, & taking out with Venger Satanis's Cha'alt especially Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise. The heavy metal trappings of 'The Metallic Tome' hit hard core withe rebellious nature of some of the factions of Cha'alt who need their teeth kicked in. 

This brings up the fact. Is  'The Metallic Tome' worth the price of admission?! In a word yes! There's plenty of death metal weirdness & OSR doom that this book brings to the table. I've got a playable copy for the table top bring printed as we speak folks.