1D50 table - What do I Find?

Having recently started running a campaign, I have discovered that good players have a tendency to search and fumble through unexpected thing.  It gets boring to say "You find nothing" and saps the vitality from my setting - thus the following table.  Useless trash - 50 entries, some have a few GP in value, but it's all simply setting dressing.

The Abandoned Power Station - HMS Apollyon - Play Report II

A party of adventures follows the sound of a strange voice and finds themselves in a struggle to bring light to the darkness of an old power station against the efforts of chthonic crayfish hounds.

The Desperate and Foolhardy Adventurers

Abandoned Control Room

Sir Fist of Uther - Elven traveler from a distant world, priest of the god of magic and heavily armored.

Quartle - Frogling water elementalist and former junkyard owner, with his familiar the Steam Beaver.

Vorning Vess - Former member of the passenger class, exiled for suspected necromancy.

 The Cleric From Beyond - A heavily muscled priest of an unknown god.

Quigg-Spleak - Frogling Harpooner.

Wampus Country - Hey I won something!

So Eric of Wampus Country had a contest last month, and my submission involving how to die while flying in hot-air balloons battling terrordactyls and escaping angry clergymen happens to be the winner.

Seriously though! The reason I was able to write anything worthwhile is because Eric's setting is pretty amazing.  It's one of those concepts that sound simple, even silly occasionally, but he handles it with a combination of seriousness and frivolity that makes adventuring there an absolute delight.  I think this is because Wampus sticks to the farce of tall-tale rather than the bathos of "Weird West" that it feels fresh and appropriate for a RPG setting.   For example - witches abound, and they're eminently helpful, but also unpredictably terrible; they remove curses with rusting pinking shears (ominously keeping what they cut off) and accept sculpted cakes in the form of babies as payment.  This tone may sound silly, but in the moment that one's character is staring a dapper ghost in the invisible face with only a six shooter full of bullets carved from prehistoric monkey bones, 1/2 blessed by a snake oil salesman of a preacher, it's actually tantalizingly horrifying.

Anyways thank to Eric's groundwork I was able to write something he found interesting.  Check out the blog - it's worthwhile and interesting, a subversion of fantasy gaming tropes that somehow remains true to the spirit of the thing.

When the PDF comes out shortly you can all tell me how I inaccurately model falling damage and balloon movement.  Heck complain about the statistics of the Ugly Bird and I'll even try to defend them -"Silver John is 6th Level!(at best)"- as long as you check out Eric's Blog.

Pavelorn - Across the Boulevard

After a successful haul last time the party was looking for ways to spend its money.  (To convert it into XP) Lune the Fighter decided he'd like to throw an archery contest to determine who in town was the best shot with a crossbow.  This would both encourage local goodwill and potentially draw the best henchman candidates.  The event was a success, and one winner was hired, a calm seeming farm boy.  Additionally, thanks to a lucky last minute whim Saren the holy-warrior decides to purchase a fair amount of anti-venom, specifically giant centipede and giant spider.

The adventurers then returned to the Pit and decided to leave a mercenary guarding a room near the entrance so that there would be a place to keep bulky treasures without them being lost.  The mercenary assigned to stand guard is a bit concerned about being left alone in the small room, but the adventurers spike the doors leading from the South so that he's only in danger through a concealed door overlooking the the first, now looted villa.

Important figures of Rustgate

The following individuals are the persons most likely to have useful information an contacts within Rustgate, together they control the area and their goals - extracting as much wealth from beyond the rust gates as possible, without weakening thier defenses are more or less aligned. All of them may find the party useful, and a few may even take a liking to or see the benefit in aiding brave souls that can actually accomplish something amongst the Apollyon's general air of desperation and hoplessness.

Mechamn - Scavenger General

Mechamn is an old scavenger who has spent most of his life adventuring in the hull, he's still a strong fighter, though well past his prime.  Now retired from active plundering he attempts to organize and encourage scavenging and reclaiming the hull.  No living individual has seen more about the unexplored reaches of the hull then Mechamnm, and for respect and small change he will share this knowledge.

The old scavenger is actually fairly messanistic about reclaiming the hull and quite helpful to those that do.  He is rumored to have the finest set of maps, including blueprints recovered from the unexplored regions.

Mechamn is almost always accompanied by Mr. Twinkles, an equally aged one winged flying monkey who is known to be a deadly shot with bolt action carbine he carries at all times.

Passenger Class Characters

The Passenger Class

Aboard the HMS Apollyon, the hereditary ruling class is known as the 1st Class Passengers, Uptowners (though not all Uptowners are strictly 1st class), or simply the Passenger Class. They are a decadent and cruel race, having tyrannized the Apollyon's human population for hundreds of generations and watched it decline, struggle, and fail. The Passengers still affect the veneer of the civilization that their distant ancestors left behind, a mannered society of politeness, protocol and duty, but one where even the most mundane domestic rituals have mutated into stylized performances. The passenger class is stereotypically made up of sorcerers who deal with sinister otherworldly forces and to a large extent this is true as even the most mundane Passengers have some magical ability due to a history interbreeding with otherworldy “outsider” entities.

The Price of Total War

This is a Weird Adventures post about Hobgoblins and Hobogoblins, and the effect of PTSD on fey creatures.

Hobogoblins are a feature of the New World, toughed, rough-living descendents of the various quaint fey of Ealderde.  Everyone knows them to be basically harmless nuisances, so even the ocassional hobogoblin abduction story or murder spree is laughed off by a populace that knows hobogoblins only as dump-dwelling, train-hopping, petty thieves and drunkards.  Yet, like everything else, the great war has cast a terrible shadow over hobogoblins.  Ealderdian hobogoblins' and similar ancestral feys' lives were uprooted and shattered by the war just like the human populations they lived beside.  Hobogoblins were not destroyed by the war, they are survivors and gleaners before anything else, and the gobs of Ealderde soon adapted to harsh war-time conditions.  Skulking amongst ruins, trenches and no-man's lands hobogoblins scavenged from the detritus of war, just as in the New World they collect the cast away product of consumer society.  In the harsh enviornment of the battlefield disorganized, weak and careless hobogoblins were quickly caught in the crossfire, leaving only the cunning, the strong and the cruel.  These remaining creatures mimiced the militarized world around them, adopting many of its ways and fixating on weaponry, military rituals and uniform.  Nor are the powers of Ealderde wholly innocent in the creation of this menace, seeing how the war effected fey, both sides attempted to enlist, enslave and use transformed hobogoblins  for their own ends, enlisting or enslaving whole battalions of the creatures as terror troops and raiders.

Doodles

Here's a drawing of some monsters...This is what I do while playing flailsnails sometimes.

Walk Without Rhythm ... HMS Apollyon Session 1

Now imagine it with a mole man whaling on it with an ax

Aboard the HMS Apollyon a motley gang of travelers plucked from the sea were sent into the depth of monster cursed HMS Apollyon and all returned to tell the tale.

Released form the relative comfort of the infirmary and subjected to a series of irksome and insulting personality testing, the castaways were herded to the rust gates, a fortress barricade bristling with cannon that leads from the civilized Sterntown into the lost regions of the hull.

Of the 30 odd lost souls, our six adventurers appeared to be the most well equipped and skilled.

Rustgate (starting) Equipment List - HMS Apollyon

This sort of thing is not available in Rustgate

Below is an equipment list of what supplies can be bought around the rust gate - a minimum of trust will be required to get out and go to the Scavenger's Souk where better equipment can be found.  Expensive, magical and better mechanical equipment can be found on the Promenade, but unless one has a special pass (such as for religious observance) that area is out of bounds to flotsam and exiles like the characters.

ARMOR

Anyone can wear armor of any kind that they have the Strength for.  Armor Skill gets rid of Penalties as detailed in the appropriate skills post. Wizards should consider the Weapons Training skill-set if they would like to wear armor.

AC	Description	Price	Min STR	Penalty
8	Piecemail armor, woven fiber armor, Padded Armor,Soft Leather (Light)	15 GP	5	None
7	Hard Leather Armor, Studded Armor, Ring-mail (Light)	30 GP	6	-1 hit / AC 8
6	Shell/Chitin Armor, Scale (leather/light), Half Cuirass( Light)	40 GP	9	-1 hit / AC 7
5	Chainmail, Heavy Scale, Plate Cuirass, Brigandine (Heavy)	80 GP	11	-1 hit /AC 6
4	Splint, Banded, Heavy/Reinforced Chain or Mirror Armor (Heavy)	150 GP	13	-2 hit /AC 5
3	½ Plate, Plate and Heavy Scale, Plate-Mail (Heavy)	1200 GP	13	-3 hit/ AC 4
-1	Shield – Light metal, Leather, Chitin, Wood or Woven shield	10GP	5	N/A
-1*	Heavy Shield – Metal, Hardwood	30 GP	11	N/A
N/A	Helmet – Various metal or leather helmets**	15 GP	N/A	N/A

* -2 vs. Missles

** Grants an additional saving throw when something smacks you in the head or you fall.

Min STR – If you lack the Strength to use the armor all rolls are at -4 and AC is two levels lower. For flailsnails PC's these rules and the Penalties will apply if you're buying armor aboard the Apollyon or it seems appropriate (i.e. you've played several sessions, have leveled up etc).

Penalty – (See this post for detailson Fighter Skills) For native PC's without the appropriate armor skill there are penalties associated with wearing armor one lacks training in. Generally this means wearing armor you can use is more effective than wearing armor you can't but which is heavier.

Note on Weapons and armor: Bronze weapons are favored and cost 1.5 times as much as they do not corrode or rust in the awful damp environment of the Apollyon. Silver Weapons cost 10 x normal and take a session to forge. Magic armor is assumed to have no strength requirements or use penalties.

MELEE WEAPONS

Description	Price	Min STR	1 or 2 HD?	DMG
Sword, Scimitar, Morningstar, Large Axe	25 GP	11	1 HD	1D8
Mace, Hammer, War-Crowbar, Short Sword, Short Spear, Bayonet	15 GP	7	1 HD	1D6
Dagger, Brass Knuckles, club, blackjack	5GP	5	1 HD	1D4
Rapier, Small Sword, Katana (fine sword)	100GP	7	1 HD	1D8
Battle Axe, Two Handed Sword, Maul*	55 GP	13	2 HD	1D10
Polearm, Pike * +	25 GP	9	2 HD	1D10

* Always attack last regardless of inititative.

+ May attack from 2nd Rank.

MISSILE WEAPONS

Description	Price	Min STR	Range S/M/L	DMG
Throwing Knife, Throwing Steel	5 GP	N/A	10'/20'/30'	1D4
Light Crossbow/Spear Gun (pneumatic)*	35 GP	11	30'/50'/80'	1D6
Heavy Crossbow/Spear Gun (torsion)*	80 GP	16	45'/60'/100'	1D8
Shortbow	50 GP	8	30'/50'/80'	1D6
Longbow/Compound Bow	100 GP	14	45'/80'/150'	1D8
Javelin, Throwing Axe, Harpoon, Spear	10 GP	8	15'/25'/35'	1D6
Arrows or Bolts x 30	10 GP	N/A		N/A
Quiver **	5 GP	N/A		N/A

* May be used is below minimum strength but will require a Goatsfoot or Cranequin to reload, and this takes a round.

** Without a quiver reloading takes an extra round unless the player spends a round sticking arrows into the ground and doesn't move from their firing position.

Guns

Guns are in loud, smells and tend to do no more damage than other missile weapons, except they are very handy in close quarters, have almost no strength requirements and hit for exploding damage. That is if a gun rolls maximum damage an additional damage dice may be rolled. This is why certain highly penetrating weapons such as bolt action rifles do multiples of D4 damage rather than a single die, the wound is almost guaranteed to be nasty.

Firearms come in three varieties Low Technology, Medium Technology and High Technology. Low technology weapons are the most easily available and are almost universally muzzle loading requiring extra time to load. Medium Technology Weapons are harder to find and are cartridge firing. High Technology Weapons cannot be made by the current engineers of Sterntown and begin at clip fed automatic weapons.

Description	Price	Min STR	Range S/M/L	DMG
Wheelock or Flintlock Pistol +	50 GP	N/A	15'/30'/50'	1D8
Matchlock or Musket * +	150 GP	N/A	45'/100'/150'	1D10
Blunderbuss/Shotgun(muzzle loading) +	150 GP	N/A	10'/20'/30'	1D10
Shot and powder for 10 shots	15 GP	N/A		1D6
Powder Horn, Cartridge case, bullet kit **	100 GP	N/A		1D8

* This is a long gun and may have a bayonet attached. Seating a bayonet takes 1 round, but firing while it is attached gives a -1 to hit. Bayonets effectively turn the rifle into a short spear.

+ Muzzle Loading Weapons are slow to fire and lower velocity, they take 2 rounds to reload (can be reduced by gun skill).

Description	Cost
Light Sources
Torch – Burns for an hour x4, 40' Light	1GP
Lamp – Burns of 4 Hours, directional, 60' Light with Shutters	15 GP
Glow Kelp – Glows when crushed for 2 Days, 20' Light (Green)	6 GP
Flask of Lamp Oil – fills lamps - Range 20'/30'/50' (M), burns 1D6/1d6	1 GP
Oil Bomb, fused, highly combustible – Range 30'	5 GP
Tools
Pick, Shovel or Crowbar (-1 Hit Damage 1D6)	2 GP
10' Pole	1 GP
10' Rope	5 GP
Grappling Hook	15 GP
Pitons, climbing gear, and harness (1 person)	25 GP
Iron Spikes x 5	1 GP
Mallet and Stake	1 GP
Camouflage or Bug Netting (10' x 10')	10 GP
Thieves Tools (Picks, glass cutter, blackening, 10' wire)	30 GP
Fishing Kit (line, hooks, pole, hand net, lures, flies)	5 GP
Containers
Canvas Backpack	5 GP
Leather Backpack	15 GP
Small Sack	1 GP
Large Sack	1 GP
Waterproof Backpack	30 GP
Waterproof Small Sack	5 GP
Steel or Glass jar (Waterproof – 1 Gallon)	3 GP
“Potion” bottle/test tube	1 GP
Bug Spray
Moon Bane herbs (rumored to help with lycanthropes)	15 GP
Infernal Shells (rumored to delay outsiders – mildly magic)	60 GP
Holy Water (Holy to Ship Spirits - effects crawling death)	25 GP
Holy Water (Holy to the Queen – effects undead)	30 GP
Holy Symbol (appropriate material)	30 GP
Mirror, Glass	5 GP
Mirror, Metal (Silver)	30 GP
Sick Lichen (Mild Ingested Poison – 1D6 damage or save)	15 GP
Garlic	10 GP
Food and Drink
Wineskin+	2 GP
Hard Liqour – Bottle+	5 GP
Beer – Growler (bring own bottle)+	1 GP
Iron Rations (Dog Jerky, Kelp Loaf, Sea Nuts) 1 week supplies	15 GP
Rations (Sea Frond, Fungus Flour, Rat) 1 week supplies (need fire to prepare).	5 GP
Fine Rations (Mushrooms steaks, Giant Pigeon, Meat/seaweed Tarts, Chocolate) 1 week supplies (Need fire to prepare)	40 GP
Mad Kelp (Mild Smoked Drug/anesthetic/stimulant - addictive) 3 doses*	15 GP
Laudanum (Intense Ingested drug/anesthetic - highly addictive) 3 doses**	100 GP

+ A belt of alcohol will rejuvenate some HP (mostly the insubstantial kind) at a rate of 1D4 per drink (1 times max a session and can be had during battle – takes 1 round). Bandaging also has this effect after battle or when someone spends time working on a fallen ally.

*Mad Kelp will stop shock and stabilize a dying person 25% of the time for 1D10 turns per dose.

**Laudanum is an effective painkiller for surgery and to prevent shock 75% of the time. It is effective for 4D6 turns per dose, but more than 3 doses in a 24hr period are likely to be leathal.

Note: Upkeep in Rustgate is cheap – A space in a shack rents at 1 GP a week and food tends to run about a GP 1 Day – figure 10 GP a week total for food, shelter and sundries.

There is once nice inn in the Rustgates – The Gilded Exile (Sign appears to be a mummy previously dipped in brass) where a night of food, drink and a private room run 80 GP, the owners can also arrange contact with dealers in unwholesome pleasures.