Customizing the Reaping
by Rich Redman
Editing: Marc Schmalz
Layout and Typesetting: Marc Schmalz
Customizing the Reaping is a free publication offered in promotion of Come for the Reaping, an adventure for the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game and the Urban Arcana Campaign Setting from The Game Mechanics, Inc.
Writers rarely create adventures in a vacuum--most write
with a specific campaign setting in mind. Come for the Reaping is no
different. If you'd like to play the adventure using the same campaign setting
material I used when writing and playtesting it, read on! Players should
read no further.
Building a Campaign
When I started work on Come for the Reaping, my
intent was to create an environment in which our designers and our local
freelancers could play the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game, become familiar
with the rules, and generally experiment. Looking through the campaign models
in the core rulebook, I decided that the Urban Arcana campaign setting
was the best fit. It had monsters, so I could mine the usual fantasy monster
books for opponents (opponents that, because of my Dungeons & Dragons
writing and gaming experience, were already familiar to me). It had lots of
opportunities for heroes to learn or acquire magic. That seemed perfect. Plus,
it had the yuan-ti and the Infinite Serpents, which really appealed to me as
campaign masterminds.
Then I had to write the first adventure. Everyone who has
ever written or played a first adventure knows that the first obstacle you have
to overcome is how to get the heroes together. We've all played in the "so
you're all drinking in the same tavern when..." adventure. I wanted something
different. I also wanted something that would allow me to bring in new players,
or new heroes, over the course of the campaign. The second adventure-writing
obstacle is answering the question, "How do the heroes find out about the
adventure?" I realized I could kill two birds with one stone, thanks to an
unhealthy childhood obsession with television.
The Setting
This adventure is set in a campaign that would be
similar to Charlie's Angels, if the Angels fought undead and fiends from
other dimensions. Since I already had "angel" on the brain, I decided to draw
from the TV show, Angel, and set my campaign in southern California. The
location is rife with stories, and most people are familiar with the look of
L.A. from TV and movies. From Raymond Chandler to Chinatown, from
Hollywood cemeteries to Hollywood back lots, from the Charles Manson killings
to Beverly Hills, the location drips atmosphere, weirdness, and history.
Plus, my gamers and I all live in Seattle and in the
middle of a Seattle winter, L.A. weather is irresistible.
This solved the problem of how the heroes met. I told
them that they had all had a strange experience, something supernatural, and
that it had cost them friends and jobs because of their insistence that the
experience was real. I left the details up to them. I then told them that they
had all received a letter, and I emphasized that it was a real letter, on
heavy, embossed stationery, and written with a fountain pen. The letter said
that the writer knew of their experience, believed them, and wished to discuss
it further. He (more on him, below) invited each hero to his office to discuss
the matter.
The Boss
The letter was signed "Stennes Drygedenov." I let heroes
research Stennes's background before the meeting if they wanted. The information
they gathered said that Stennes Drygedenov escaped from Romania with his
parents in the 1930s. Stennes was born with xeroderma pigmentosa ("XP") and is
acutely vulnerable to cancers of the skin and eyes. He cannot afford exposure
to UV radiation, and since all exposures are cumulative, it is remarkable he
has lived so long. In fact, he seems to be the oldest survivor of the
condition. No one has seen him in person in decades. They learned he was
married and that his wife died of lung cancer twenty years ago. They also saw
news stories about his son, a medical missionary in central Africa. Stennes is
well known in Los Angeles for the Drygedenov Academic Trust that provides
scholarships for gifted students and for his charitable contributions to medical
research.
The heroes never see Stennes because he "meets" with them
in his penthouse office in downtown Los Angeles and communicates with them
through an intercom on a desk. The office has all the amenities, including
coffee maker and espresso machine, and is very comfortable. It is furnished
entirely in white. There are obvious video cameras hanging from the ceiling.
His foundation owns the entire building.
Stennes hired the heroes to investigate strange
occurrences. He told them straight out that there was more going on in the
world than people were ready to understand, and that traditional protective
agencies such as the police treated monster reports as coming from crackpots.
Someone had to protect people, and he wanted the heroes to join the ranks of
those who protected humanity from real monsters.
While Stennes is happy to provide legal and medical
assistance to the heroes, he prefers them to rely on their own resources during
missions. I use the standard requisition rules in Chapter Four: Equipment of
the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game if heroes ask him for additional
equipment, but Stennes will not supply them with military hardware.
This solved both my "how do the heroes meet" issue and my
"how do the heroes find out about the adventure" issue. The format allowed
Stennes to introduce new heroes if new players joined. I envisioned Stennes as
someone who had helped a lot of people, had many contacts throughout Los
Angeles who knew of his interest in strange occurrences, was often asked to
help, and who would always know of something that heroes could investigate. All
I had to do was resolve who, or what, Stennes was. I had time, and I still do
have time, since heroes won't find out Stennes's true nature (whatever it is)
until late in the campaign.
Who Is This Guy?
Originally, I thought Stennes was a vampire who used the
heroes to thwart the plots of other monstrous masterminds while he was
advancing his own plots. An evil person advancing evil goals by doing good was
certainly intriguing. I saw two flaws in the idea before my first playtest
session. The first is that it creates a lot more issues for the GM than it
solves, issues like how Stennes finds out about the plots of other monsters and
what his master plan actually is. The second is that of trust. The heroes had
to trust Stennes enough to work for him. That was a big stretch considering his
unusual history, his unconventional ways of meeting with the heroes, and the
bizarre nature of his requests. If I could gain that trust, I didn't want to
betray it later by revealing him as a villain. If you're willing to deal with
those issues, it helps a great deal adapting the adventure, and the campaign,
to the Shadow Chasers campaign model. I would advise emphasizing levels of
Charismatic, with smatterings of Fast. Depending on what level you need him to
be, he might also have levels of Negotiator.
I settled on the idea that Stennes is really a gold
dragon who has lived on this world a very, very long time. He can masquerade as
a human when he wishes, but he prefers his natural shape. He doesn't think the
world is ready to accept dragons, just as he thinks the world is unready for
the horrors that lurk in its alleys, abandoned mines, and darkest jungles. He
prefers to work through others, and the heroes are his latest set of employees.
An ancient gold dragon is tough, smart, and talented enough that it probably
doesn't need any class levels.
Alternatives
Despite my warning in the introduction, many players
will read this far. A GM, therefore, needs alternate choices to keep his
players guessing. Some alternatives are more appropriate for different campaign
models (see Chapter Nine: Campaign Models in the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game).Alternate choices for Stennes's background include:
Fiend: Many modern interpretations of Hell portray
it as a rule-bound place filled with scheming fiends vying for political power
and the favor of the Prince of Darkness. If Stennes is a fiend, perhaps he
underwent a miraculous conversion while tormenting mortals on Earth. If his allegiance
changed, his underlying nature might not have, giving you someone trying to do
good through violence, intimidation, seduction, and betrayal. Then again,
perhaps all his good works are simply a masquerade for a plot born in Hell, a
plot that must succeed or he will face the torments usually reserved for the
damned. Or you could play on a war between those fiends allied with chaos and
those allied with law, making Stennes a force working for one side or the
other. As a fiend, he should have a high Intelligence and a high Charisma, with
levels of Charismatic and Negotiator on top of any supernatural or spell-like
abilities. A fiendish Stennes works very well in either and Urban Arcana or
a Shadow Chasers setting. Watch out for betraying your heroes' trust late in
the campaign, however. It can be very upsetting to players.
Illithid: Insidious, diabolical, and powerful,
illithids possess the mental powers and arcane knowledge to pass themselves off
as human. Stennes could easily be an illithid, but you face the same challenges
as with a vampiric or fiendish Stennes: What is his plot, how does he know what
other monsters are up to, and the ultimate betrayal of the heroes. Generally
speaking, illithids consider humans inferior, best suited as cattle they slaughter
for brains. If Stennes is working against other illithids for good purposes,
emphasize levels of Mage, taking base class levels as necessary to qualify for
Mage. This alternative works best in an Urban Arcana setting, but can
work well in Shadow Chasers as well.
Puppeteer: Invaders seeking to enslave entire
worlds, puppeteers provide an interesting alternative in that Stennes could be
almost anyone at any time. He could even be one of the heroes! Stennes could be
a rogue puppeteer trying to defend the Earth and humanity, or he could be
subverting it through clever and subtle deployment of the heroes, preparing the
way for an invasion of puppeteers riding alien soldiers. A typical host for
Stennes would be a character with levels in either Negotiator or Mage (or
Telepath if using Agents of PSI), and whatever base class levels are necessary
to qualify for those advanced classes.
Replacement: Imagine if Stennes were once a
powerfully psionic human suffering from XP who was approached by the
Enlightenment (see the Agents of PSI campaign model in Chapter Nine: Campaign
Models of the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game)and offered a
replacement body. If they understood how to duplicate a body, but not how to
engineer out existing conditions, then every replacement body would suffer XP
and Stennes would constantly require a new one. Heroes could never be entirely
sure exactly how old he was. Obviously the Enlightenment and Stennes's psionic
power are parts of the Agents of PSI campaign model from the core rule book, but
replacements could appear in any campaign model, especially if you give them a
supernatural origin rather than a scientific one. As a replacement, Stennes is
concerned about laws governing cloning and protecting his sources of
replacement bodies. This could put heroes in conflict with rival scientific or
supernatural organizations, or even government agencies. Stennes could be using
his influence to advance cloning and replacement technology for almost any
reason.
Mindwreckers: If using the Agents of PSI campaign
setting, Mindwreckers make good villains. They're chaotic, destructive, and
have no compassion for non-psionic people. Stennes could be a Mindwrecker using
the heroes to eliminate his enemies and thus gain power within the group.
Clearly this is best suited for the Agents of PSI campaign model. Stennes could
also oppose the Mindwreckers, possibly with ties to the Silent Walkers. In any
case, Stennes should be a Telepath with at least enough base class levels to
qualify for that advanced class.
Adventure Changes
If you'd like to use Stennes instead of Department-7,
you can introduce these simple modifications to Come for the Reaping.
Introduction
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Some friends of
mine have asked me for help. Their daughter works for a company called Ogdoad
Research. O.R. is a think-tank of sorts, investigating alternative
technologies. They have a reputation for extracting practical information from
folklore. The young lady, Amy Heseltine, usually calls her parents after work
on Thursday evening. They called me this afternoon after discovering that the
O.R. facility where Amy works, a restored mansion in the Santa Monica
Mountains, has been incommunicado since some time Wednesday night.
It is possible that O.R. is using its treasury to keep
the LAPD at bay while conducting its own investigations. My concern is Amy
Heseltine. Find and protect her if at all possible."
Background
Stennes Drygedenov recently hired the heroes. He meets
with them in his penthouse office, communicating through an intercom. The
heroes never see him. It is Thursday evening, approximately 6:00 PM, on
December 5, 2002, when Stennes gives them the speech in the Introduction.
Stennes is lying about two things. He has never met the
Heseltines. He knows who they are because his academic trust gave Amy a
scholarship, one of many scholarships for gifted students. He often maintains
contact with his scholars, building relationships that can last for years and
acting as a mentor. He knows about what happened at the facility because Amy
called him.
Campaign Model
Your choice of campaign setting should dictate other
changes in the adventure.
Urban Arcana: Any changes you make should be to
fit the adventure with how you define Stennes. However, any of the alternatives
suggested above could oppose the Infinite Serpents for their own reasons.
Shadow Chasers: Come for the Reaping fits
easily into the Shadow Chasers campaign model. In fact, Resident Evil is
cited in the core rulebook as an inspiration for the model! Start by defining
Stennes, and then tweak the adventure so the people behind Ogdoad Research are
opponents.
Agents of PSI: The easiest way to make Come for
the Reaping fit this campaign model is to make the reaper a monster of the
id. If one of the deceased staff members created it, the reaper will grow
weaker and eventually fade away. If Clint Castle or Amy Heseltine created it,
the heroes may have some tough decisions to make. Once you define Stennes, you
know who his opponents are and can put them behind the O.R. research facility.
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15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
- Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
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- Modern System Reference Document Copyright 2002, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Charles Ryan, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, Peter Adkison, Bruce R. Cordell, John Tynes, Andy Collins, and JD Wiker.
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- Come for the Reaping, Copyright 2003, The Game Mechanics, Inc.; Author: Rich Redman
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- Customizing the Reaping, Copyright 2003, The Game Mechanics, Inc.; Author: Rich Redman
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