DYI Gring House Torg Setting - Across The 6th Dimensional Alternative - Actual Play- Second Game

Sunday evening had me jumping through hoops to go over to Larry's house to get the next part of the game revised. The public domain cult movie that I was going to use was no long public domain and I'm not about to rip anyone off. I had this whole alternative Earth  bit worked out and I was really excited about using it but couldn't ?! 

Fortunately my own blog came to my aid.  

I wrote about the "Yesterday Machine"  back in July of last year. You can find that HERE. The characters got the nomads back to the underground base of a group of renegade Glanauaethanians somewhere in the South western United States. The NPCs were taken in by the vault and given shelter. The skills of the nomads were needed for the vault. 

Meanwhile the PC's were hired to conduct a daring dungeon raid on a Nazi underground abandon base in the middle of Paris. Now a hell hole infested with zombie troopers. The PC's were to recover two "Great Race Time Engines".

This is how the game worlds stand at the moment. 

Much of the realms are now my own creation drawn through the filter of public domain grind house movies

1. Europe - Wasteland ruins ruled over by Nazi warlords and wizards. Some pockets of weird technology created by said wizards. OD&D monsters and mutants roam through through this landscape. 
2. Greenland and Iceland  - Realm of Dark Elven warriors/wizards among the volcanoes and green rolling hills. Drawn from Scandinavian mythology and cheesy fantasy movies. 
3. The UK - The Machine Realms - Weird Lovecraftian cybernetic technology 
4. USSR - The Shattered  Realms - Barbarian warlords,wizards, green skin humanoid tribes all drawn from Grind House Fantasy 80's movies. 
5. Canada - "The Inner Earth Invades" Realm - Paleo terror tears through the ruins of Canadian cities while Sasquatch mutants roam the wilderness. Some pockets of high inner Earth tech! 
6. United States -  A. East Coast - This Is Lovecraft country  - This is the pulp realm of New England. B. The West Coast -  A "Road Nomads style world" think 80's television like Airwolf, The Highway man, etc. with lots of Post Apocalyptic goodness! 
7. Mexico and South America - Lovecraftian Technological Nightmare realms - Forbidden gods, weird cults, and mythological nightmares 
8. China and India - Zombie Realms - Filled with Dark Magic, forbidden rites, and ancient wizards! This realm of zombie horror is one of the most dangerous. 
9. Australia - Dinoverse - A world where the dinosaurs evolved into humanoid forms. 80's and 90's technology with humanoid dinosaurs and awesomeness 
10. Japan and Indonesia - The Ancient Space Gods Return Realm - Where the ancient gods of space and time have returned to terrorize mankind! The rule of the saucer has begun 
11. Africa- The Realms of Interzone - The Realms of Naked Lunch and Pulp Africa 
12. Antarctica  - The "At The Mountains of Madness" Realms - Lovecraftian masters return to claim what is rightfully theirs. 
13. Glanauaethan - The Fallen Utopia - A realm of shattered high technology and decadence, this reality of survivors, mutant tribes, androids, and former space travelers  are strangers in a strange land. Drawn from countless PD science fictional movies . This group of rag tag survivors has come from an alternative Earth where a cosmic plague has ravaged most of humanity. This group of time traveling refugees uses its know of a possible future to recruit adventurers from across the realms to advance its own mysterious and some would say twisted agenda. 

Into the Ruins Of Paris 
The PC's were teleported into the ruins of Paris and immediately went to  work.They were able to get into the facility rather easily. They recovered several weapons, a bit of gold, and then got dumped into a pit trap full of rot grubs. Four PC's bit the dust. Terry's 6th level wizard and zombie bodyguard, Jason's 5th level cleric, and Ronny's 6th level Artificer/ Fighter. 

The PC's were able to recover the two Great Race Time Engines from the Nazi R&D lab. They defeated the Nazi necromancer/zombie master. Their own had been killed though and their way back to the USA and their employers was gone!
 Then in the same lab one of the Great Race time gate engines activates. The PC's are armed with machine guns and are ready for anything when a small non nondescript man enters.  A stranger in a monk's garb greets the PC's by name. He  was a "White Wanderer" a member of a class of psionic/wizards who wandered the wastes of infra-dimensional space.
 He explained that he was sent to pick the PC's for the recovery of the "Great Race Time Engines". The PC's were to accompany him back to  vault 42. He had a Plane Segrator near by in infra dimensional space. He had to take the PC's back to the vault and had another mission for them. He also had replacements waiting for the PC's fallen brethren and there would be compensation. 

Once back in the vault the White Wanderer went into details about his quest. 

The White Wanderer explained to the PC's "In 1944 Dr. Von Hauser got his hands on a Yithian time engine. These experimental devices allowed one to jump through the time lines & their alternatives. The technology had wide reaching implications & the good doctor had little restraint in the matter. 

Each of the yesterday machines not only created doorways into time but also into alternative time branches. The Dr.Von Hauser who was killed at the end of the Yesterday Machine might be only one version of the madman! There might be multiple versions of this dangerous psychopath rampaging through the time streams. There was reason to believe that a Dr.Von Hauser was hooking up with Nazi's within the Nazi After Waste prime line(a post apocalyptic nightmare created by the Nazi's that had spread to the party's world).  While another version of the madman had made contact with sympathetic Greys within the Bremuda Triangle's multi dimensional island. The Plane Segrator didn't have the power to reach the island. But with a batch of fuel and the installation of the extra Great Race Time Engine it shouldn't be a problem. The Player Characters Party 

1. Jason's 5th level Cleric - Pun'ra African Witch Doctor And History Professor  From Africa 
2. Terry's 6th level Wizard - Tarsha Zombie Master From The Far East And Yor Zombie Bodyguard 
3. Tom's 7th level Fighter - Jason Harrison And Pete - Telepathic Fighter and Intelligent Dire Wolf Companion From The Ruined South Western United States 
4. Betty's  Silva Nolton 6th level Cyborg/Fighter From London,U.K.  
5. Larry's 6th Level Hippie Druid Henry Sprocket From New Hampshire 
6. Gloria's 7th level Mutant Wizard Re're Shaw From Mexico Mistress Of The Void 
7. Mick's 6th/5th level Wizard/Thief -The Kathmandu Kid 
8. Ronny's 6th level Fighter/Artificer From Glanauaethan - Gygach The Wanderer 
9. A late addition - Jole running 5th level Fighter named Jason "The Warrior" Gazzani AutoFreak/Driver From Kansas.

Back at Vault Forty Two 

Back to the to the Vault

The PC's dropped the "Time Engine" off and then four new recruits were thawed from the suspended animation vaults of the Glanauaethan
. 

New PC's included : 

1. Jason's Deodanth 6th level Fighter/Artificer Shatack The Mighty 
2. Terry's 7th level wizard  Zombie Master From The Far East Greari The Dreaded And Tor zombie bodyguard. 
3. Ronny's 6th level barbarian/lycanthrope Tella The Mighty from a post apocalyptic world 
4. Betty's  Silva Nolton 6th level Cyborg/Fighter From London,U.K.  although her biological body was killed she had bought a golden download from her experience points. Enabling a cloned body with cybernetics to be thawed. 

The PC's watched as the "Great Race Time Engine"   was installed on the plane segrator and within moments they were floating between the infra dimensional spaces. The segrator didn't have the juice to reach the triangle's island nexus. So a short side quest was needed.

The Derelict 

 Sailing the seas of forever is a craft that is part planar ship and part sailing vessel of alternate worlds. This vessel sails between the planes forever more. The craft has on board a cargo hold full of treasures from a million worlds left behind by castaways and those lost to the dimensional tides. She is crewed by no man or alien life form but millions have set foot upon her decks.
Among her cargoes was a load of plutonium that the PCs needed.
The plane segrator set down on the Seas of Forever and the PC's made their way on board. They were attacked by a dimensional shambler! The PC's all of them attacked the thing and drove it off after a heated battle.
Within the cargo hold a several of the PC's almost got nailed by infra dimensional parasites! They recovered the cargo and left the ship!
More Next Week! 

Source Material And Links 

Much of the material on this was made up and some of the source material came from the best damn book about multiversal locations that never gets mentioned!
Maps Places of Legend has been my go to source from Flying Buffalo for years! 

 Steve Crompton's illustrations and the text are spot on! 

MAPS 2: Places of Legend. Provides maps, details, and adventure ideas for such legendary places as Camelot, Atlantis, King Soloman’s Mine, Capt. Nemo’s submarine base, Lemuria, the 13th Floor, Bermuda Triangle, OZ, and others. More art, adventure ideas for every place & crossover scenarios included. 96 pages. $11.95
 Another source for stuff was the LEJENTIA CAMPAIGNS BOOKs 
 Especially this one which will be used for some of the action coming up. 

You can find all of the catalyst books over at Flying Buffalo right over HERE

The Deodanth came from the mind of Dave Hargrave and Bloody Arduin's influence once again found its way to my table tonight. Big thanks to Emperor's Choice games for this book again which saved my rear.

 You can find their fine products right over HERE

Finally to run this whole game tonight came the back system which has gone from straight swords and wizardry to the more bold old Lovecraftian Marvelous Barbarian feel of Crypts and Things! 

This wonderful backbone of my gaming table can be found right over HERE .

The grind house source of the "Yesterday Machine" can be seen right over

DIY Grind House Torg Setting Take Five - Actual Play - The First Game

This campaign idea went from being a thought exercise into a full blown game tonight after three of my friend Larry's players came down with colds. Their regular Grey Hawk campaign which has been running for twenty seven years is at a critical juncture. So without these players something else was needed to take their place.
 The DIY Grind House Torg Setting became that adventure tonight. I changed the material extensively because apparently there are a number of players who read this blog. For the former Grind House Torg stuff go Here
We used Swords And Wizardry for the back system for this game. 
Here are the changes to the realms. Much of the realms are now my own creation drawn through the filter of public domain grind house movies

1. Europe - Wasteland ruins ruled over by Nazi warlords and wizards. Some pockets of weird technology created by said wizards. OD&D monsters and mutants roam through through this landscape. 
2. Greenland and Iceland  - Realm of Dark Elven warriors/wizards among the volcanoes and green rolling hills. Drawn from Scandinavian mythology and cheesy fantasy movies. 
3. The UK - The Machine Realms - Weird Lovecraftian cybernetic technology 
4. USSR - The Yonya Realms - Barbarian warlords,wizards, green skin humanoid tribes all drawn from "The Prisoners of The Lost Universe" 
5. Canada - The Inner Earth Invades Realm - Paleo terror tears through the ruins of Canadian cities while Sasquatch mutants roam the wilderness. Some pockets of high inner Earth tech! 
6. United States -  A. East Coast - This Is Lovecraft country  - This is the pulp realm of New England. B. The West Coast -  A "Road Nomads style world" think 80's television like Airwolf, The Highway man, etc. with lots of Post Apocalyptic goodness! 
7. Mexico and South America - Lovecraftian Technological Nightmare realms - Forbidden gods, weird cults, and mythological nightmares 
8. China and India - Zombie Realms - Filled with Dark Magic, forbidden rites, and ancient wizards! This realm of zombie horror is one of the most dangerous. 
9. Australia - Dinoverse - A world where the dinosaurs evolved into humanoid forms. 80's and 90's technology with humanoid dinosaurs and awesomeness 
10. Japan and Indonesia - The Ancient Space Gods Return Realm - Where the ancient gods of space and time have returned to terrorize mankind! The rule of the saucer has begun 
11. Africa- The Realms of Interzone - The Realms of Naked Lunch and Pulp Africa 
12. Antarctica  - The "At The Mountains of Madness" Realms - Lovecraftian masters return to claim what is rightfully theirs. 
13. Glanauaethan - The Fallen Utopia - A realm of shattered high technology and decadence, this reality of survivors, mutant tribes, androids, and former space travelers  are strangers in a strange land. Drawn from countless PD science fictional movies . This group of rag tag survivors has come from an alternative Earth where a cosmic plague has ravaged most of humanity. This group of time traveling refugees uses its know of a possible future to recruit adventurers from across the realms to advance its own mysterious and some would say twisted agenda. 

The ruins of Europe 

The Player Characters Party 

1. Jason's 5th level Cleric - Pun'ra African Witch Doctor And History Professor  From Africa 
2. Terry's 6th level Wizard - Tarsha Zombie Master From The Far East And Yor Zombie Bodyguard 
3. Tom's 7th level Fighter - Jason Harrison And Pete - Telepathic Fighter and Intelligent Dire Wolf Companion From The Ruined South Western United States 
4. Betty's  Silva Nolton 6th level Cyborg/Fighter From London,U.K.  
5. Larry's 6th Level Hippie Druid Henry Sprocket From New Hampshire 
6. Gloria's 7th level Mutant Wizard Re're Shaw From Mexico Mistress Of The Void 
7. Mick's 6th/5th level Wizard/Thief -The Kathmandu Kid 
8. Ronny's 6th level Fighter/Artificer From Glanauaethan - Gygach The Wanderer 
9. A late addition - Jole running 5th level Fighter named Jason "The Warrior" Gazzani AutoFreak/Driver From Kansas.  

The PC's were brought together to retrieve a group of survivors who had run afoul of a group of Templars out in the South Western United States by the Glanauaethan. I pulled the survivors from the Desert Nomads Set One from Fish Wife games. The Nomads were carrying a valuable cargo for the Glanauaethan. 

The templars and their tricked out vehicles were closing in the Desert Nomads. Jason "The Warrior" Gazzani was driving a "Battle Truck" loaned to him by the Glanauaethan. Everything was going quite well for the party until the Templars opened up with a solid wall of machine gun fire and then the party discovered that they had a wizard working for them. 

That's when the shaggoth showed up and almost ate the entire party. The machine gun fire managed to keep it at bay as the PC's risked life and limb to save those survivors.  The PC's managed to drive the templars off for a bit and were able to retrieve some awesome loot from the templars car along with some ammo. The templars made good their get away while the party had to contend with a shaggoth the size of a bus. 

After an extensive fire fight the party was able to track down the templars to their headquarters and the raid went off with two PC's grievously injured. The party did manage to get the nomads despite the close calls. 

More next week! 

 

 If your curious about Waste Land Nomads check out the information below. 

A Motley Group Of Post Apocalyptic Travelers..

The highways and byways of the post apocalyptic wastes are full of different bands of ragtag travelers. Some of these nomads are merely groups of survivors trying to seek out a better life while others are gangs of thuggish brutes with no qualms about terrorizing others for kicks and personal gain. In between are even more groups that contain a combination of good and evil personalities.

 In the interest of providing a Game Master (GM) with a variety of interesting characters for their post apocalyptic settings, the Wasteland Nomads series of products provides a fleshed out, detailed group of nomads with each set. Some of these nomadic groups may find their selves forming an alliance with the player characters while others might become formidable enemies. The information provided in each set contains an overview of the group as whole, with basic shared goals and a brief history. Some groups will have an identified name while others will not. Named groups are especially common amongst roaming gangs of thugs. The group members are then presented with a descriptive block of text. Within this text you will find the character's name, identified role, personality notes, weapons, worn attire (and armor), and notable gear. Information regarding vehicles (if one is used/possessed) as well as pets (if the character has one). In the interest of making this product more game system generic, attribute and character statistics are not included. In addition, the characters provided are more or less "normal human" in nature. If the GM wishes to do so they may want to further apply mutations or cybernetic components to the characters provided. Furthermore, the GM should feel free to modify the characters' storylines, descriptions, and gear if the GM so chooses.

Set 1: An Unnamed Group Of Survivors

The first set of nomads in this series is an unnamed group of 15 different post apocalyptic survivors. Originally compromised of a handful of folks merely seeking out a peaceful, resource rich location to settle down in and call home, the group has grown to include a number of unsavory characters with greedy, lustful, and/or bloodthirsty intentions. Led by a man named Jonas, the nomadic pack wanders the major highways as they seek out resources and hopefully a permanent location to settle down into.

Pages: 8

You can get Desert Nomads Set 1 for 1.00 right over at DriveThruRpg right over HERE

DIY Grind House Torg Setting Take Four - Empire of The Petal Throne Cosmology -

You can read about my previous thoughts putting this setting together right over  The first part is right HERE  and the last part  HERE
Nothing in this post is original at all. This is my fourth thought experiment involving this Grind House Torg style world. I began a few weeks ago to think about a post from the Hill Canton Blog. Way back on Monday, March 7, 2011 there was a blog entry concerning a seldom talked about corner of the Empire of the Petal Throne rpg. 
"ca. 111, 912 AD Tékumel thrown into pocket dimension, the Time of Darkness. The same fate befalls 722 other worlds in Humanspace."
Hill Cantons threw in this little qoute - 
"It must be assumed that Tekumel and its solar system fell--or were thrust--through a warp in the fabric of space-time itself, a "hole in the sky," into a pocket dimension in which no other matter existed. The reasons for this terrible calamity can only be guessed: natural forces, stresses created by the incessant use of the Three Light Drive, the actions of a hostile race, interference from mighty inter-dimensional beings far beyond man and his allies on the evolutionary scale, the vengeance of God upon His arrogant and overweening Creation? No one knows. It may only be noted in passing that this same fate befell 772 other worlds of Humanspace within a century after the disappearance of Tekumel and its system."
 You can read the whole thing right Here  Then there was the whole taking the Empire of the Petal Throne rules minus the setting that Mike D over at the +1 Sword blog had done a Tekumel-less system. You can read about that right HERE
The idea here might be that these aren't quite the huge dimensional raiders but more of a mid level and above game. The idea that each of the pocket universes are collections of realms. 

 The world is invaded by various realms each controlled by a Highlord Dimensional Warlord.  First this is going to be a grind house version of Torg. In other words "B" movie versions of the standard rpg trope worlds. The worlds have changed slightly. 

1. Europe -Stormbringer The Young Kingdoms with touches of Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. Nasty weird faced orcs, goblins, giants,trolls,etc. stalking among the ruins of France. 
2. Greenland and Iceland  - The Melnibone realms - Decadent pleasure palaces of the fallen Elven warriors/wizards among the volcanoes and green rolling hills.
3. The UK - The Great Britain of the future of Dorian Hawkmoon with an overlap of the Amerika of Jerry Cornelius. 
4. USSR - Crypts And Things With touches of Fire and Ice Ralph Bakshi Realm 
5. Canada - The Super soldier reality of Underground 
6. United States -  A. East Coast - Realms of Crawling Chaos - This is the pulp realm of New England. B. The West Coast - post apocalyptic world of Mutant Future/Metamorphosis Alpha. A "Road Warrior style world" think 80's television like Airwolf, The Highway man, etc. 
7. Mexico and South America - The Empires of the Petal Throne 
8. China and India - Carcosa reality 
9. Australia - The Talaslinta realms 
10. Japan and Indonesia - Cyberpunk 2020 
11. Africa- The Naked Lunch Realms - Over The Edge -  
12. Antarctica  - The "At The Mountains of Madness" Realms 

 Cross dimensional adventurers going at it balls to the walls against inter dimensional invader warlords and their minions. Yeah that sounds great but by this time the characters are going to be looking for a challenge and adding in some of the elements of Empire of the Petal Throne might help. See there's the game within the game. Here are some of the elements I'm talking about.

1. The planar artifacts and micro powered universe artifacts, eyes, globes,etc. 
2. Many of the alien races can be found elsewhere and the system allows them to cross dimensional hop with little problem. 
3. The multiverse of Empire is unique in its own right and doesn't have some of the  Gygaxian baggage associated with it. Magic and psychic abilities are iffy at best giving a more balanced approach to the Jack Vance like system. 
4. The cosmology is very versatile and interesting allowing for more challenging play. Also plenty of planar demons and seldom seen gods means more adventuring opportunities. 
5. Then there's the opportunity to bring in Human Space Empires as a "wild card" if needed. 

This brings me to Warriors of The Wastelands.Back in the ancient days of the 90's when I was working in the video store. Post apocalyptic movies were always on rotation especially really bad Italian films. 

Rugged individualist in a post-apocalypse world comes into conflict with bad guys when he sides with their victims. Easily recognized Road Warrior rip-off, but almost forgivable due to the Italian movie traditions of sword-and-sandal stories and westerns.

The Plot according to Wiki : In the year 2019, after a nuclear war, humanity is reduced to a few starving groups. A ruthless gang called "The Templars" constantly raid settlers in an attempt to exterminate everyone in order to purge the Earth. A former Templar, Scorpion, along with his allies, prevents a small band of religious colonists from being massacred by the Templars

 The idea here being that this is a blank slate of a post apocalyptic world. You can easily add your favorite science fiction or science fantasy elements with little problem. Because of the pocket universe element from Empire there is quite a bit of room to incorporate this as a mid level game. This allows anything from the creations of Hargrave to the Shen to show up.
The "Templars" might well be another faction of a minor alien sorcerer or demonic entity. Add in your favorite post apocalyptic menace and this could become a domain game as the characters begin to raise in levels.  This style of game is going to take place out on the  West Coast - post apocalyptic world of Mutant Future/Metamorphosis Alpha. A "Road Warrior style world" think 80's television like Airwolf, The Highway man, etc.  where the United States Police Force barely maintains control.  I'm placing most of this in or near Vegas. 

The Templars have appeared in a number of my games as good guys, bad guys, and folks caught smack in the middle of demonic activity  that cause loss of life and limb.

Full Movie Right Here 

This brings us to Carburetor City by FishWife games and this is the perfect little post acapyptic "High Way Of Hell" Style world for this world. Every party needs a place to operate from and this is a great place to do so. Weighing in at only five pages this little product allows a DM to customize a Post Apocalyptic Town of their own. 

 Here's the description according to Drivethrurpg 

Located within the ruined wastes of a metro area once known for its casinos and nightlife, Carburetor City is a twisted, post apocalyptic reminder of the local area's past history of good times and seedy decadence. The city is run by a council of four residents that consists of Mayor Jack Kilgore, Sheriff Taylor Mason, Pastor Miles Gordon, casino owner and local celebrity Dee-Jay Splendor. The sheriff and the good pastor tend to represent the community's struggling virtues of morality and order while the local dee-jay and casino owner promote the city's prosperous delivery of entertainment and decadence. Although the mayor's position is technically seen as being a neutral tie-breaker between the city's two struggling sides, it is well known that the community's mayor usually panders to the interests of the community's seedier prospects.

In many ways, Carburetor City is like a dream come true for most post apocalyptic survivors. With the majority of its territory nestled within the safety of bricked walls and razor wired metal fences, those living within the confines are at least safe from the ravages of the wasted ruins. The city has an operating radio station that broadcasts its transmissions across a number of frequencies, thus attracting the business of civil traders and wandering nomads for many miles around. Solar panels, automotive batteries, and experimental mini-power generators provide electricity for the population. Water is collected regularly in the two metal water towers in the community's confines. The tanker trucks used by the scavengers often return with a decent enough supply of recovered fuel, allowing the community's vehicles the chance to keep running. Although food remains a constant concern, gambling at the casino and a brisk trade in the recovered goods from the surrounding metropolitan ruins provides a chance to gain such needed resources from traveling peddlers. For those needing wheels, recovered automobiles, salvaged parts, tires, and mechanic work is also available for a price.

Page Count: 5 Pages (Includes cover, information, and blown up map pages)

Designed By: Dave Woodrum

You can get it right HERE  for one dollar .Carburetor City is perfect for just this sort of game. A way station, pawn spot, and oasis for a price in the middle of a desert that sees more then simply artifacts and the like.
 If this place is near Vegas then it might also be doing a brisk trade in Mexican/South American "Empire of The Petal Throne" technology and relics.
 I've been toying with the idea of casino owner and local celebrity Dee-Jay Splendor being a resource for some of the information for things happening down in Mexico and South America. 
 Happy Gaming 
Next Up 
Adventurers Of The Time Streams 

DIY Grind House Torg Setting Take Three - The Dungeon Master

Mestema: "In a future reality I shall destroy you!" 

Paul: "I reject your reality and I substitute my own.

There are bad and then there's Richard Band bad of movies. Back in the 90's I got into a number of his movies. The name is known among trashtastic,cult movie goers,video store owners and like. You can read more about Band right over Here

After reading the Torg rule book one night on break at the video shop I thought of this old movie. Flipped it into the VCR and hit play. 

The Plot according to Wiki : 

Paul Bradford is a skilled computer programmer who lives with his girlfriend, Gwen, and "X-CaliBR8," a quasi-sentient personal computer that Paul programmed and which he interacts with via a neural interface. Gwen is jealous of Paul's unusually close relationship with X-CaliBR8, to whom Paul has given a female voice, and fears that their relationship will be destroyed by Paul's reliance on X-CaliBR8 for his various day-to-day activities.

One night, Paul and Gwen are both transported to a Hellish realm presided over by Mestema, an ancient, demonic sorcerer who has spent millennia seeking a worthy opponent with whom to do battle. Having long defeated his enemies with magic, Mestema has become intrigued with technology, and wishes to pit his skills against Paul's, with the winner claiming Gwen. Arming Paul with a portable version of X-CaliBR8 (which takes the form of a computerized wrist band), Mestema begins transporting Paul into a variety of scenarios in which he must defeat various opponents. Most of the challenges involve Paul using his X-CaliBR8 wristband to shoot people, monsters, and objects with laser beams.

After Paul completes Mestema's various challenges, the two engage in a final battle, which takes the form of a fist fight in which Paul kills Mestema by throwing him into a pit of lava. After Mestema dies, Paul and Gwen are transported back to their house, where Gwen expresses her acceptance of X-CaliBR8 and suggests that she and Paul get married.

Using The Dungeon Master 
The idea of a party being challenged by a minor demon lord/alien sorcerer appealed to me. Cross dimensional adventurers going at it balls to the walls against inter dimensional invader warlords and their minions. This was the chance for the PC's to get back some of their own against a minor inter dimensional warlord.
 The basic plot was "The Dungeon Master Part II". Mestema, an ancient, demonic sorcerer who has spent millennia seeking a worthy opponents with whom to do battle. After letting Paul get on with his life Mestema plots and begins going through his collection of pocket universes. 

Basically my version of Mestema is a demonic conman passing himself as "Satan" and selling tickets to his "games". Each of which takes place in a different pocket dimension.
He's got a few minor demon overlords at his command and a few "Empire of The Petal Throne"pocket universes to play with. 
 Rat Spit minor acolyte of Orcus and major pain in the rear. Commands 1d20 zombies at a time. 
 The situation lends itself to using any number of players getting zapped around these "dead planes" and getting themselves in huge amounts of trouble.
As a dimensional warlord  Mestema is a bit of a mid level threat.
 
He's conquered a few universes but he's small time. He's the perfect foil for a party as an introduction or as a huge threat. He's going to use demonic legions at his command. Use something rolled up from the Appendix D  "Random Generation of Creatures From The Lower Planes" page 194 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. A bit of irony there.
Let me restate here the idea .

The idea here is that the world is invaded by various realms each controlled by a Highlord.  First this is going to be a grind house version of Torg. In other words "B" movie versions of the standard rpg trope worlds. The worlds have changed slightly. 

1. Europe -Stormbringer The Young Kingdoms with touches of Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. Nasty weird faced orcs, goblins, giants,trolls,etc. stalking among the ruins of France. 
2. Greenland and Iceland  - The Melnibone realms - Decadent pleasure palaces of the fallen Elven warriors/wizards among the volcanoes and green rolling hills.
3. The UK - The Great Britain of the future of Dorian Hawkmoon with an overlap of the Amerika of Jerry Cornelius. 
4. USSR - Crypts And Things With touches of Fire and Ice Ralph Bakshi Realm 
5. Canada - The Super soldier reality of Underground 
6. United States -  A. East Coast - Realms of Crawling Chaos - This is the pulp realm of New England. B. The West Coast - post apocalyptic world of Mutant Future/Metamorphosis Alpha. A "Road Warrior style world" think 80's television like Airwolf, The Highway man, etc. 
7. Mexico and South America - The Empires of the Petal Throne 
8. China and India - Carcosa reality 
9. Austrilia - The Talaslinta realms 
10. Japan and Indonesia - Cyberpunk 2020 
11. Africa- The Naked Lunch Realms - Over The Edge -  
12. Anarticia - The "At The Mountains of Madness" Realms 
    
    So if this was going to be a mid level game and we were using one of the various retroclones to deal with this type of campaign. I'd go with Mutant Future And Labyrinth Lord. Add pocket universe setting of your choose. 

I first watched it as a kid, and was blown away by the utter cheesiness of this fiasco. The highlight was seeing WASP in one of the "vignettes" complete with the requisite rocker dudes and aqua net babes...what can I say, I found this movie again at a store for $5.00 last week, and could not resist.
 I've always thought of Mestema  as an evil version of the same race as the Dungeon Master from the AD&D cartoon. Each week causing the PC's more demonic grief and problems. 
The group of players I had at the time last two months through this fiasco of a campaign and its only now a thought exercise. If you really want to piss a group of Kult or Call of Cthlhu players put them through this one. 

DIY Grind House Torg Setting Take Two - City Of The Walking Dead aka Nightmare City

Friday night mean gaming and I'm thinking back to the 90's when I lived in Boston and worked during the week and had a part time job on the weekend working in a video store. The store was in some back alley. It was a place with neon signage in the front and porn in the back with lots of seedy customers. It also had the very best horror/sci fi section in the entire city. My girlfriend hated it and so I was in heaven.
I saw a metric ton of movies from best to the crap. I worked from Saturday evening to the wee hours of Sunday.
 It was a crap job but I didn't care and besides I got to read White Dwarf,Dragon, Challenge, or whatever magazine was handy. It was Torg that really was my drug of choose back then. But Torg never lived up to its promise. Cross dimensional adventurers going at it balls to the walls against inter dimensional invader warlords and their minions. 
I'm thinking about this post on Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque about DIY Torg again. You can read this marvelous post right over Here 
 Again for those of you not familiar with Torg; here's a brief overview of Torg according to wiki:"Torg is set in a near future setting, known officially as "the near now." At the games's starting point this world has been subjected for several months to a year, to a pan dimensional invasion by a series of "High Lords" who have changed the natural laws of large swaths of Earth to reflect those of their home dimensions. The players assume the role of "Storm Knights", people from Earth and the various invading realms, who possess limited reality altering abilities, and who oppose the plans of the High Lords."

The idea here is that the world is invaded by various realms each controlled by a Highlord.  First this is going to be a grind house version of Torg. In other words "B" movie versions of the standard rpg trope worlds. The worlds have changed slightly. 

1. Europe -Stormbringer The Young Kingdoms with touches of Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. Nasty weird faced orcs, goblins, giants,trolls,etc. stalking among the ruins of France. 
2. Greenland and Iceland  - The Melnibone realms - Decadent pleasure palaces of the fallen Elven warriors/wizards among the volcanoes and green rolling hills.
3. The UK - The Great Britain of the future of Dorian Hawkmoon with an overlap of the Amerika of Jerry Cornelius. 
4. USSR - Crypts And Things With touches of Fire and Ice Ralph Bakshi Realm 
5. Canada - The Super soldier reality of Underground 
6. United States -  A. East Coast - Realms of Crawling Chaos - This is the pulp realm of New England. B. The West Coast - post apocalyptic world of Mutant Future/Metamorphosis Alpha. A "Road Warrior style world" think 80's television like Airwolf, The Highway man, etc. 
7. Mexico and South America - The Empires of the Petal Throne 
8. China and India - Carcosa reality 
9. Austrilia - The Talaslinta realms 
10. Japan and Indonesia - Cyberpunk 2020 
11. Africa- The Naked Lunch Realms - Over The Edge -  
12. Anarticia - The "At The Mountains of Madness" Realms 

 Since this is a thought exercise the PC's have advance a couple of levels. They're ready for a bigger challenge. A city that has been over run by hordes of radioactive undead from beyond the grave. 

I'm not going to pretend that this is a great movie. Its a crap fest but it makes a great location to loot and lots of undead slaughter. 

So this is your standard zombie flick with nothing new. Not quite.

        Warning! Trailer contains gore and boobies. Not Safe For Work.

The plot according to Wiki: 

The American television news reporter Dean Miller (Hugo Stiglitz) waits at an unnamed European airport for the arrival of a scientist that he is about to interview regarding a recent nuclear accident. An unmarked military plane makes an emergency landing. The plane doors open and dozens of zombies burst out and begin stabbing and shooting the military personnel outside. Miller tries to let the people know of this event, but General Murchison of Civil Defense (Mel Ferrer) will not allow it. Miller tries to find his wife Anna who works at a hospital as the zombies begin to overrun the city.

Miller and his wife escape to an abandoned amusement park that is also overrun with zombies. The two climb to the top of a roller coaster and are about to be rescued by a military helicopter. Miller then wakes up revealing the whole situation to be a dream. Miller also learns that today he is about to meet a scientist at the airport. When he arrives a military plane makes an emergency landing.

Using  City Of The Walking Dead aka Nightmare City

The movie is a real downer as the break down of civilization is shown in all its low budget zombie glory. Alright so its a real downer unless your sending in a competent team of PCs. One of the things I used to love was how Torg had adventurers going after relics, antiques  artifacts.  

There's almost no reason that this same formula couldn't be used again. There are museums  antique shops,stories, banks, etc. All waiting for group of players to teleport in and begin raiding and kicking butt. 

There are some exceptions to the usual zombie rules with this one as well. The zombies are fast moving, semi intelligent, they use weapons mostly blades. Knives, tools, etc. for the most blood and gore. They have the regeneration abilities of trolls in OD&D.
They are fast,deadly, hungry, and mutated. 
Each time they see blood there is a 60% chance of the monster dropping everything and chowing down on the nearest corpse. 

Here are some reasons to use "City of the Undead"

1. The zombies are fast, moving and players aren't going to be expecting these bastards to use weapons. 
2. The film isn't well known at all. The city provides endless megadungeon zombie action. 
3. The city's location is flexible. It might be Milan, Rome, or some city between Spain and some other 80's European hot spot. 
4. What about that military presence in the movie? The bunker where the generals are holed up in might contain any number of secrets. 
5. The zombies seem to have the standard tropes of OD&D zombies except they regenerate as trolls and their flesh looks like burnt and melted wax. 
6. There will be a random 1d20 zombie horde each time the PC's stay in one location for more then 1d4 rounds. 
7. The location boasts low scale early 80's technology with decent weapons. 
8. The "Rot world" vibe 70's/80's style runs throughout the film. There's also the possibility of radiation contamination when visiting. For every 1d3 days there is a 40% chance of picking up stray rads depending on your table top rpg system of choose. 
9. There's some weird metaphysical stuff happening in the background of the movie and its perfect for adding a bit of low level magic to the setting. 
10. To run the game I'd be using Mutant Future with a strong Labyrinth Lord overtone to the system. 
11. Remember the zombies use weapons and seem to have a knack for really planning the maximum pain to deal  a party of adventurers. 
12. Fast zombies that can use weapons, even guns, and are capable of intelligent thought. They plot a strategic offensive to take over the city, hitting the airport, then the TV stations and the power plant. This is going to throw players and you bet that these guys are going to plan traps for the player. 
13. The usual head shots for taking out one of these monsters continues to work. Body shots are almost useless. 
14. There's a weird metaphysical aspect to the movie. This world might be a low level magical plane or could a world moving into an era when the Old Ones or the Chaos gods return. 
15. With the undead mutating further who knows what the characters might run into. Think the Resident Evil games here or something similar. 

Apparently there's been a "take down" order of this movie. You can find it in the bargain basement dollar sections of drug stores, pawn shops, etc.  
CITY OF THE WALKING DEAD is a stone cold hoot that every zombie-film enthusiast needs to see at least once and makes an excellent mid level adventure location for a Grind House Torg game.

DIY Grind House Torg And Oasis Of The Zombies For Your Old School Horror Campaign

 Back in high school I worked at a Friendlies resturant as a waiter right down the street from a mall. This game was making its way through the pages of Dragon magazine. My group played the hell out of this game. I came across this post on Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque about DIY Torg. You can read this marvelous post right over Here
So nothing about this post is going to be original at all. But the idea was so good that all weekend its been running through my mind.
For those of you not familiar with this classic here's a brief overview of Torg according to wiki:"Torg is set in a near future setting, known officially as "the near now." At the games's starting point this world has been subjected for several months to a year, to a pan dimensional invasion by a series of "High Lords" who have changed the natural laws of large swaths of Earth to reflect those of their home dimensions. The players assume the role of "Storm Knights", people from Earth and the various invading realms, who possess limited reality altering abilities, and who oppose the plans of the High Lords."

The idea here is that the world is invaded by various realms each controlled by a Highlord. Here's what I came up with over this weekend for this thought exercise. First this is going to be a grind house version of Torg. In other words "B" movie versions of the standard rpg trope worlds.
Here's the list: 

1. Europe - Conan Labryth Lord pulp setting with touches of Arduin 
2. Greenland and Iceland  - The Melnibone realms and the Young Kingdoms 
3. The UK - The Great Britain of the future of Dorian Hawkmoon
4. USSR - Runequest with touches of Crypts and Things 
5. Canada - The Super soldier reality of Underground 
6. United States -  A. East Coast - Realms of Crawling Chaos - This is the pulp realm of New England. B. The West Coast - post apocalyptic world of Mutant Future/Metamorphisis Alpha/Gamma World 1st and 2nd edition  With touches of The Kult rpg 
7. Mexico and South America - The Empires of the Petal Throne 
8. China and India - Carcosa reality 
9. Austrilia - The Talaslinta realms 
10. Japan and Indonesia - Cyberpunk 2020 
11. Africa- The Naked Lunch Realms - Over The Edge  
12. Anarticia - The "At The Mountains of Madness" Realms 

This is only a thought exercise but I even came up with a first adventure with a horror slant. There's a craptastic horror film known as Oasis of Zombies. When I used to run Nexus The Infinite City. This was one of my convention main stays. 
Take a look at the trailer but there is plenty of T&A in this flick 

This grind house flick involves the treasure hunt for 9 million dollars in gold. The zombies are the remains of  Nazi commandos who were massacred. They are still guarding the gold. Take any group of adventurers and away you go.
The place is under a curse. Everything is still as fresh as it was when the soldiers were killed. They are decaying ever so slowly.

There are a few exceptions to the usual zombie rules: They only animate at sunset. The zombies have been feeding for centuries and they hide the bodies that they "consume". Tales of the gold continue to draw adventurers. Those who are bitten and die will turn into zombies and must be burned.
Here are some of the reasons to use this movie for such an adventure. 

1. The movie's gold may have strange properties associated with the tragedy that surrounds it. Who knows what types of black mages and necromancers could be drawn to it. 
2. The movie's plot is perfect for "cross parties" of adventurers 
3. Movie backstory and characters might make excellent NPCs for other adventures 
4. There are enough zombies to take on any size party 
5. For a game such as Kult the oasis might be a place folded into the illusion and may only appear at certain times. The gold might easily draw any number of wannabe black magicians. 
6. Could there even be gold? Its never shown in the movie at all. Is the place really cursed or is there another nazis recovered artifact animating the dead?
   Oasis of the Zombies makes an excellent low level adventure to get this sort of a Torg style campaign world off  the ground and a great jump off point for the horrors yet to come. I may actually run this sort of world in the near future. Other movies and animes that come to mind for this  include Demon City,Vampire Hunter D, and many of the house of Hammer science fiction films