Freedom for Firenzia

Introduction

On the independent planet of Firenzia, a pro-Imperial coup has ousted the democratic government. The Empire has surreptitiously sent in supplies and reinforcements to the new regime. The Federation is powerless to intervene.

But elements of the population have taken up arms against the oppressors. FREE FIRENZIA is their battle cry!

Background

I've been on vacation this past week. Actually it's a staycation so I had some time for some gaming. I don't have miniatures painted for my next RPG adventure so I decided to run a MicroBattle scenario. Initially I planned a Byzantine battle, but then I read this RPG Pub post. It got me interested in some freedom fighters vs. tyrannical government action. Now this background would work great as a skirmish game, but I don't have skirmish figures. I decided to go 3mm. I also decided to give it a futuristic spin in my sci fi universe.

Set Up

I decided to run a One Hour Wargame scenario. I randomly selected scenario 3 - control the river. 

The government forces (red) consist of 3 infantry companies, backed by 2 tanks and a self-propelled missile launcher.

The freedom fighters (blue) lack armor, but they have more infantry and a couple of artillery pieces (represented by horse & musket cannons; I don't have proper sci-fi artillery).

The Battle

Government forces (top) are advancing down the road to the rebel-held city of Eldridge. The rebels send their rag-tag troops to stop the advance.

Government forces reach the ford (signified by rocks) and bridge. The rebels begin shelling the advancing troops.

On the right, they manage to wipe out a company of government infantry.

Followed by one of the tanks (by the ford). However, another tank assaults rebel troops on the hill.

But it gets destroyed.

The rebels then push the government troops back across the river.

Victory for the forces of freedom!

I had some company while I played.

Family Game Night Fail

Back in July, I mentioned how we resumed family game nights, but moved to the bedroom so that our cat Thomasina could watch.

Well, we haven't been regular with it but still manage a game from time to time. Last Saturday we decided to give Thom a treat with a game.

When I started setting up, she was sleeping in our spare bedroom. By the time I had the game up, she came into the bedroom and took up her usual viewing position on her perch. We weren't feeling up for anything too complicated and Elizabeth was feeling nostalgic so we pulled out the venerable kid's game, Candyland.

Well, Thom watched for a couple of turns and then left the room. I guess it was too simplistic for her. Wow, judged by our cat.

We finished the night by playing Dead by Daylight on the Nintendo Switch.

Tales from the Woods

A Tweedle and Dunh Adventure

One day, Groombal orders our heroes, Tweedle and Dunh, to go into the woods to find briar heart. They'll need to cut down a tree so Dunh brings an axe.

A little ways into the woods, 3 crazed wolves attack.

Before they know it, the wolves are upon them. Tweedle does not have time to cast a spell, so he sets to it with his staff. He manages to KO the attacking him. He turns to help Dunh, who is beset by two. Dunh chops one with his axe and Tweedle takes out the next.

Later, they discover a pool of befouled water. Its contents are seeping through the forest, spreading corruption.

"Something's just not right about these woods." declares Tweedle. Dunh agrees.

Our heroes are attacked by 2 scorpions.

Tweedle casts mirror image to confuse them. One attacks the mirror images, dispelling two before Tweedle offs it. 

Dunh is having problems with the other. It inflicts multiple wounds; fortunately it does not poison Dunh. Finally, Tweedle and Dunh gang up on the last and kill it.

They proceed deeper in the woods. A shambling mound attacks.

Tweedle tries to scare it away with a fire illusion, but the spell fails. Dunh charges, and strikes his axe deep into its side. The axe gets stuck.

The thing grapples Dunh, dragging him into its slimy mass. But Dunh manages to free his arm and grab his sword. He strikes, severing pieces of vegetation from the creature. The thing recoils in pain, allowing Dunh to get free. 

Enraged, Dunh charges, slicing several bits from the creature. Finally, Tweedle smashes it with his staff, and the thing crumples lifeless.

By this time, Dunh is seriously wounded. But they are deep in the forest with no safe place to rest. They press on.

Finally, they come to a hut. They knock and a lovely druidess answers. She invites them into her stone-floored home.

Seeing Dunh's wounds, she offers a healing potion. Dunh reaches for it.

"Wait!" warns Tweedle. "Something is just not right here."

Dunh hesitates. The druidess' appearance changes. She transforms into a hideous hag! With a cry of anger, she fires a magic missile at Tweedle. It just grazes him!

The hag attacks Tweedle, but only manages to dispel his last mirror image. Tweedle casts a protection spell. It fails to stop the hag and she rends him with her claws.

Dunh turns to his friend's defense, chopping into the hag with his axe.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this thing!"

The hag continues to press Tweedle, rending him again. But Tweedle lashes out, smashing in the hag's skull.

🎲🎲🎲

Our heroes spend the night in the hut. They bind their wounds and get some rest. They even find some briar heart.

"I didn't even need this thing," Dunh complains about his axe.

Their return trip home is uneventful. They tell Groombal about their adventures. Surprisingly, he is gravely concerned.

"I don't think the hag was the source of the corruption. There is more evil in that forest than you have seen so far."

GAME NOTES

Lately, I've been watching a YouTube channel called Dungeon Craft. The host talks about a lot of RPG topics, including crafting terrain for use with miniatures. This inspired me to do a little crafting.

I sifted through my 10mm fantasy miniatures for some suitable figures. The best I could find for Dunh was an axe-wielding barbarian. I decided to create an adventure to explain why he switched from sword and shield to axe. Hence the trip to the woods.

I then needed some forest terrain. I had some green felt for the floor. I whipped up some trees using cork, corrugated cardboard, and pot scrubbers. I think they do the job.

I made the stone floor earlier in the week. It is inspired by Dungeon Craft, but much simpler and less realistic. I used corrugated cardboard because I have a lot of it lying around, thanks to ordering pet supplies from Chewy for my 4 cats.

Finally, I started painting some fantasy figures I had lying around.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed some actual pictures of my RPG adventures.

Tweedle's Arachnaphobia

A Tweedle & Dunh Adventure

They Meet Groombal

Once they ensure that the goblins do not return, Tweedle and Dunh resume their journey to town. After an uneventful trip, they arrive. They quickly get lost in the winding streets of the thriving metropolis. At least it seemed thriving to two country bumpkins.

"Now where could Groombal be?" pondered Dunh.

"Groombal?" a passerby replies. "He lives just around the corner, third door down."

I rolled a D6 to see what happened in town. I was just free-forming it, with a 1 being something bad and 6 being good fortune. I rolled a 6.

Soon they are in Groombal's curiosity shop.

"Go away! I don't need help." the elderly, bearded sage complained.

"But my master told me to bring you this book," replied Tweedle as he pulls the golden tome from his backpack.

Groombal stops shooing them from his shop.

"What is this?" he asks, as he takes the book.

Tweedle explains how they found the book, how Doc considered it dangerous, and how he tasked them to bring the book here.

Once Tweedle finished his tale, Groombal replies "Very well. You can stay here with me. But you need to work. I'm sure I can find something appropriate for you.

Into the Sewers

A week later, Tweedle and Dunh find themselves climbing down into the town's sewers.

"This is not what I had in mind when that old bat said we'd have to work!" complained Dunh as the noxious odor of the sewer caused him to wrinkle his nose 

"I know, Dunh. But he needs those spider glands for his research. And, well, that's what research assistants do."

They descend a rusting iron ladder into a room (1). It is swarming with cockroaches the size of a shield. The roaches attack. Both Tweedle and Dunh take wounds, but they fail to hit the roaches.

"Let's get out of here!" yells Tweedle. "Run into the next room!" Dunh nods and they charge through the bugs and into another room (2). Dunh nearly stumbles into a bear trap. They notice other traps in the room, some with a variety of crushed creepy crawlies in their teeth.

The Sewers

Leaving the trap room, they arrive at an intersection (3) and get ambushed by two giant spiders. 

One sinks its fangs into Tweedle, but he pulls away before it injects its poison. Dunh battles the other, slashing upward and slicing open its abdomen. The creature sinks to the ground. By this time, the other spider has Tweedle in his grip, slashing him with dripping fangs. Dunh attacks, practically slashing it into two.

Both are wounded, so they retreat to the previous room to rest and bind their wounds. Refreshed, they continue. They jump across a crevice (4). Dunh stumbles and falls, taking damage. They fight a swarm of smaller spiders (5), pass through an empty room (6) to a large room filled with the bones of past victims. Tweedle shivers in fear.

Note - he fails a Fear test so is -1 for the rest of the adventure.

Backtracking, they fight through some wandering spiders and come to a large room (8), with a nest of eggs. A giant spider attacks them, but they quickly kill it and then destroy the eggs.

Next, they pass through an empty room (9) and a webbed corridor (10). As they struggle through the webs, small spiders bite them, further sapping their strength.

In the next room (11), they come face to face with the queen spider. While Dunh charges, Tweedle casts his mirror image illusion; three more Tweedles appear. The spider flings a web at Dunh. He dodges and set upon the queen. It sinks its fangs into him. He begins to feel woozy from the poison.

At this point, Tweedle considers retreat. He can't see how they can win.

Seriously, at this point, I considers a withdrawal. But I stuck it out.

Then he has an idea. Tweedle rushes up and begins prodding the creature's eyes. It turns on him.

"Tweedle, don't!" cries a shaken Dunh. "It'll get you!"

"I know what I'm doing! Just hit it!"

Tweedle keeps dodging and prodding, provoking the spider. It strikes, but merely dispels an illusory Tweedle. Dunh attacks from behind, but his attack bounces off the spider queen's thick carapace.

"You need to hit it from underneath." calls Tweedle.

"Can you get it to rear up?"

Tweedle smashes the beasts eyes. It rears, hissing in rage. Dunh stabs it. It lashes out, dispelling another fake Tweedle. Again, Tweedle provokes it into rearing. Again, Dunh stabs. This time his blade sinks deep into the spider's soft underbelly. Green ichor flows from it. It convulses and dies.

The retrieve the spider queen's venom sac, and find a few coins. They return victorious to their new master.

GAME NOTES

Once again, I used my MicroQuest rules with a Micro Chapbook adventure.

I experimented today with monster cards. I jotted the monster info on index cards, shuffled them, and then picked the encounter for each room. At one point, I defeated a somewhat difficult foe, and thought to myself, "I won't see that again." That event turned me against the cards; there was less uncertainty about what lay ahead because I could not roll up the same monster again. I think I'll stick with tables for future adventures.

The Adventures of Dirk Daring

Introduction to Dirk Daring

Dirk Daring, a famed stunt pilot, is serving with the Lucranian Air Force in its war against the evil Reich. This day, he is testing some engine modifications recommended by his engineer, the talented and lovely  Sally Sweeting. She accompanies him this day.

They are beset by two Reich fighters - Cobras.

With some deft maneuvering, Dirk gets on their tails. He pulls the trigger and ...

Nothing. "Curses, a jam!" Dirk shouts.

He manages to clear the jam and tracks down one of the Cobras. But the other has crept behind him. Shots ring out.

Dirk barrel rolls, and escapes damage.

Some nifty maneuvering allows Dirk to turn the tables. He fires!

One Cobra goes down in flames.

The remaining Cobra doesn't stand a chance.

At this point, Sally calls out. "There's more of them!"

Dirk looks. It's an entire squadron!

"Sally, my dear. I think it's time to get out of here. Let's see what this new engine can do!"

Dirk guns it, and their craft pulls away from the pursuit.

Dirk is looking behind when a ball of light suddenly materializes in front of their plane.

"Look out!" cries Sally.

But it is too late! Their plane flies right into the ball. There is a crash, then everything turns black.

What happened to Dirk and Sally? Find out next time!

GAME NOTES

WARNING - Spoiler Alert

If you want to be surprised by Dirk's fate, you should skip these notes.

Anyway, my bout of RPGADD continues. I'm back to my homebrew, quick-play MicroQuest rules. Once of my goals with MQ is to have a set of rules that can handle any era. I decided to experiment with this premise. I figure the best way to test it is to run adventures across time and space. Sounds like a time travel RPG to me.

The Premise

For this campaign, I decided to reboot a character from some previous games. He first appeared in a dieselpunk Four Against Darkness variant then was featured in some air combat games. 

Now he's my time-tripping RPG hero. He'll be joined by his trusted engineer, Sally Sweeting.

I plan to take much of the setting from Timemaster, an 80's RPG that has been republished on Drivethrurpg.

The Dogfight

I decided to begin the campaign with a dogfight. Rather than use miniature rules, I decided to experiment with a quick-play RPG-style combat.

I borrowed some elements from Warbirds, a dieselpunk RPG about dueling pilots. Dogfighting is highly stylistic. Pilots make a maneuvering roll, with higher rollers being able to attack those with lower rolls. 

I adjusted the maneuvering rules to provide a degree of advantage. Winning by a small difference gives you a deflection shot but a large difference puts you on your enemy's tail.

Anyway, the rules seemed to work fine for a quick dogfight.

Tweedle vs the Goblins

A Tweedle & Dunh Adventure

The Heroes Depart
Excitedly, Tweedle and Dunh prepared for their journey to town. Doc gave Tweedle some last-minute advice, including a few protection spells. The heroes packed their meager belongings, said goodbye to their loved ones, and headed out.

After a few days journey, they came to a small village. There, they learned that goblins had been raiding the town. When Dunh proclaimed that Tweedle was a powerful wizard, the villagers prevailed upon them to confront the goblins.

Into the Mine

Our heroes proceeded to a formerly abandoned mine, now the lair of the goblins.

When they enter the mine shaft (1), Dunh trips and falls. Tweedle thinks he's been attacked.

"Where are they?!" Tweedle exclaims.

"It's OK, I just tripped over something." Dunh feels around, and pulls out a rusty sword.

"Junk," says Tweedle.

"I don't know. Look at these runes. It may be a valuable antique." Dunh decides to keep the sword.

They enter a small room (2) and see three goblins. 

Tweedle casts a mirror image illusion, but it fails. Instead, an illusion of a target appears on his chest.

Taking an idea from Dungeon Craft, I roll to see if a spell succeeds and I apply a backfire to critical failures.

"That's not a good sign." Tweedle thinks. Fortunately, Dunh wades into battle and wipes out the goblins.

Next (3), they defeat rats, and then run into some more goblins (4). Tweedle uses an illusion of a fireball to scare them off.

Ambush!

One flees straight (5) and the other left (6). Our heroes head straight, running into two more goblins, which they defeat easily. Then they pursue the other goblin. Hiding around a corner (6), it sneak attacks the heroes with a javelin, striking Tweedle.

The ambusher flees again. The heroes pursue into a warren of rooms and shafts (7 - 12), but the goblin escapes.

"Must be a secret exit," Tweedle opines. They look, but cannot find any. They do find some gold rocks (8) and a potion in a storeroom (11).

They backtrack, finding the goblin camp (13). It is empty except for a trio of goblin slingers. Once again, our heroes wipe them out.

The Goblin Chief

Finally, they come to a room with a makeshift bone throne. Upon it sits a huge goblin, with two smaller goblins flanking it.

"Kill the wizard!" the chief shouts in guttural Common speech. The goblins charge.

Tweedle again tries his mirror image spell. This time, another Tweedle appears. One of the guards engages Dunh, while the others charge at Tweedle. They quickly dispatch his avatar.

Dunh easily kills his opponent, then turns on the chief. The two start trading blows. Dunh gets some hits, but the chief has metal armor that deflects the blows. Meanwhile, the chief's cleaver cuts through Dunh's padded armor. Soon Dunh is bleeding from multiple cuts.

By now, Tweedle smashes the last guard. He turns to help Dunh. They hammer away at the chief, knocking off bits of armor. But it refuses to flee, and stands tall against the heroes.

Yet it's time is up, Tweedle and Dunh begin connecting with their strikes. It weakens and then falls dead.

In the room, they find a secret exit. The dirt floor is well-trodden. It appears that most of the goblin clan escaped.

Aftermath

Tweedle and Dunh return to the village's acclamation. The village elders prevail upon our heroes to stick around for several days, just in case the goblins return. They don't. It seems that Tweedle and Dunh frightened them out of the area.

A week later, our heroes resume their trip to town.

What happens in town? Tune in next time to find out!

GAME NOTES

Once again, I used my MicroQuest rules. The adventure came from the second scenario in the Micro Chapbook. I used Dungeon Map Doodler to map out the mine. I figured out how to do rough caverns.

Tweedle Goes to Town

 Introduction to the next Tweedle & Dunh adventure

The morning after Tweedle tried to "borrow" the golden tome he found in the chasm of evil, his master approaches him.

The elderly figure declares "It is clear you cannot stay here any longer."

Tweedle is shocked. "Doc, no! I'm sorry, it won't happen again!"

"Hear me out, boy! It is clear that you have a thirst for knowledge. Knowledge that I cannot give you. Therefore, I'm sending you to town to continue your studies."

Tweedle's expression changed from a hang-dog look of despair to one of elation. He always wanted to go to town!"

"There, search for a sage named Groombal. You will offer your services to him as an apprentice."

"And the book?" queried Tweedle.

"Ah, the book. That must also go to Groombal."

A sly look crept on Tweedle's face. He could sneak a peek during the trip.

It seemed as if Doc read his mind. "But you will not take it. I'm sending Dunh with you. He will have strict orders to look after the book, and you will not be allowed to touch it.

What happens to our heroes on their journey to town? Find out next time.