Pirate Borg - The Quest to activate The Heart of the Sea

 

Over the October long weekend, I managed to get to play a lot of games. The rest of the family were away and that left me free to game. With MOAB over that weekend, much rest and gaming was had.

Added to this the fact that the lads were finally able to come over that Sunday afternoon and we played a marathon 7.5hr roleplaying session. Fortunately, none of us had to work on Monday. Below are some highlights from the session.

The other wonderful thing was that I got to play my character and one of the other lads was the GM this game. My class was The Zealot. And I chose to be a Priest of the One True God. Seemed funny to me to be a Haunted Soul Skeleton Pirate and yet also a Priest. Hey everyone, including pirates, needs salvation, right?

I put my predicament down to having drunk too much alter wine in life (and occasionally helping myself to the church coffers) as being why I find myself needing redemption. Anyway, I digress.

The first combat saw us make landfall on a beach full of bones. As we headed up the sand, we were quickly surrounded by the fast-forming accursed things.

This should have been an easy fight. But we kept rolling very badly and the Skeletons incredibly well. I think I must have missed eight rolls to hit in a row. I put that down to my lack of martial training and these "misses" really being me parrying my foes attacks. A few of the guys suffered Fumbles and ended up in a very bad way. And we quickly burnt through all our Luck Dice.

(NOTE: If you don't know what Luck Dice are, they aren't a Pirate Borg mechanic. Look up DM Scotty's Luck Dice. I highly recommend using this, or a modified version of this system like we do.)

After finally vanquishing the foe, we strode on to an abandoned Fort at the base of a ravine. There we were confronted by a series of riddles. This was the first of three key challenges we had to overcome this adventure. 

Once the riddles were solved, we passed on through the ravine behind the fort and were promptly assaulted by drowned zombies. Great! That was another fun fight where a few of us were grabbed and dragged towards an ice-cold stream that ran along the ravine. Icy death awaited there. However, fending off the zombies, we finally liberated our captured comrades and escaped to complete the second challenge of three that we had to accomplish.

The ravine however led to a Labyrinth which we negotiated without too many setbacks. From there we arrived at a castle that rested in a giant cavern and set about our final challenge.

This final challenge saw us face off against four very nasty crabs and The Guardian. This was supposed to be the fight of all fights for the evening. However, after all the adversity from the previous fights, we slaughtered to crabs in short order, much to the surprise of the GM.

But the real part of this last challenge was to take down The Guardian. This dude was a total pain. Lots of hit points and a real pain dealer. We eventually settled on a strategy where I fell back and prayed for healing for the other lads while they remained up close and personal with The Guardian. This worked well and after much near death we finally brought down the hated foe.

With that, this first adventure came to an end, and we had successfully recovered the McGuffins we needed for the next quest. But that is for a future post.

Pirate Borg Adventure - The Jolly Roger and Friends (part 2)

 The Jolly Roger and Friends - part 2

The scenario breakdown for last weekend's Pirate Borg game can be found here. But I kicked the lads off by having them on their longboat hunting down their long-lost ship, the SS Stinky. Now resplendent in their Blessed Coats (a score from their last gaming session), as they sailed to the main island, they noticed that they were ringed by a series of tentacles that were fast closing in on them.

One tentacle was shot and blown away before reaching their boat, but the other seven soon closed in. With one tentacle on each lad (excluding Cythis) three were able to grab onto the boat and attempt each round to pull the thing under.

To the lad's credit, they were able to make fast work of the tentacles grabbing at them despite one of the lads almost being dragged into the sea. That would have been interesting as, being Skeletons, they wouldn't drown but they couldn't swim either.

Once the individual threats were dealt with, they focused on the tentacles pulling the boat down. With little time left before water poured over the side, they dispatched the remaining tentacles and luckily escaped.

From there they were able to close on the island and finally, with Cythis preternatural guidance, find their lost ship at anchor in a lagoon.

Incredibly they were able to sneak up on the ship and the smaller Jolly Roger next to it without anyone noticing. An amazing feat given that it was broad daylight. Dropping off their Buccaneer sniper on the sand bank, the rest of the team made for the stern of the Stinky where they found boarding ropes already in place.

Another set of excellent rolls saw them board their ship whilst the Buccaneer scurried up a tree to take aim at the unwanted boarders. After a short parley, Captain Hook decided he had had enough and called on Mr Smeg to drop the sack he was carrying. This was a Bag of Bones that contained ten or so Skeleton Pirates. With Hook's vampiric powers in play, the Skeletons quickly took shape and rushed our intrepid lads. Angelica, seeing this, dived for the Captain's Cabin and quickly locked herself safely away. The actual crew of the Stinky (i.e. its alcoholic Skeleton Crew) quickly dived overboard and onto the longboat where Cythis was waiting. This took them all out of the fight and left the lads to face the music.

With a crack, one of the Skeleton Pirates was felled by a shot from the Buccaneer over in the trees. The rat crew (The Bilge Rats), Hook and Smeg realised they were in a difficult position and did their best to hide behind the enormous rotting fish head that was the Stinky's figurehead. As the rats fired off their pistols, shot peppered the trunk of the tree where the Buccaneer was staged but it didn't break the tree trunk. Meanwhile, the Skeleton Pirates attacked the other lads on the aft deck of the ship.

The lads expected to make short work of the Skeleton Pirates, but no sooner was one felled, then after a round it returned, thanks to the vampiric abilities of Hook.

As the pressure was on, the Buccaneer decided to dive down into the sea, get back onto the beach and quickly make for the cliffs where he would have a much better sight of the deck. Thus, he would be able to ply his trade with impunity. But when he dived into the water he came almost face to snout with an enormous crocodilian creature. Fortunately, the Buccaneer was the less shocked of the two and hightailed it out of the water.

As the battle raged on the ship, suddenly the voice of Hook could be heard bellowing out to everyone to stop fighting. Everyone froze. Hook called out, "Do you hear that?" Bewildered everyone just stood there. One of the lads however passed a Wisdom roll and spoke. "Is that a ticking clock I hear?"

Sudden panic ensued as Hook went into meltdown and begged Mr Smeg to save him. The Bilge Rats scrambled overboard for The Jolly Roger. Mr Smeg picked up Hook and dumped him over the side onto the Jolly Roger before jumping down there himself. The Buccaneer bolted for the cliffs and the Skeleton Pirates re-engaged the lads on the aft deck.

With Hook, Smeg and The Bilge Rats hightailing it out of there on The Jolly Roger, the Crocodilian Monster lost interest in the SS Stinky and headed after the submersible. Without Hooks powers reforming the Skeleton Pirates, eventually the lads were able to overcome their foe and regain control of their ship.

With the SS Stinky back under their control, the lads then addressed Miss Fairweather, who refused to come out of the cabin. Eventually, they had to concede taking her on as a temporary passenger and dropping her off where she wished. But she did tell them of some nice treasure that was supposed to be in the caves behind them. Setting a guard, the lads set off to find the treasure and, after some ghostly shenanigans, did manage to score some nice loot.

Now they have their ship, they can go anywhere. I'll be handing the reigns over to one of the other lads to Game Master the next adventure. So, I need to get my own Player Miniature painted up for the next game.

Pirate Borg Adventure - The Jolly Roger and Friends (part 1)

 The Jolly Roger and Friends - part 1

This post is going to take a slight deviation from my 15mm Space Orc Surfer Dudes to showcase our recent Pirate Borg adventure over the weekend. For today's post I'll show off the scenario. In the next post I'll cover what happened.

The lads will start off in their longboat heading for a large island with Cythis (pronounced Sy'thiss), their strange fishermen compatriot who rescued them from the Abyss. Cythis is convinced he has found his lost love, his "Angel". And where she is, the lads ship must surely be as she found their ship abandoned and commandeered it in order to escape the Abyss.

The lad's ship, the SS Stinky (named due to the overly large rotting fish-head used as the ships figurehead) is located in a small tidal lagoon on the main island in this adventure area. Behind the ship are sea caves and cliffs rising to above deck height.

In that lagoon, next to the SS Stinky, is an oddly half submerged vessel called The Jolly Roger.

As the players approach, they will be able to discern that their ship has a rather large contingent of very little people on board facing down Angelica Fairweather, the lady who "stole" their ship (she insists that she "found it").

The crew of the Jolly Roger comprise the Bilge Rats (actual large rats!) led by non-other than the notorious Vampire, Captain James T Hook. Hook's side-kick thrall is none other than the infamous Mr Smeg. The lads know Hook as he serves the same Pirate King that they do and is a competitor who wishes to grab the gem the lads found in the Abyss for himself. That gem is The Heart of the Sea.

Angelica faces off against this group with no help from the Stinky's crew as they are all drunkards (impressive for Skeletons!). As the lad's approach, they will overhear a parlay occurring where Hook is pressuring Angelica to hand over the Heart of the Sea. She counters that she doesn't have it. Hook doesn't believe here and is getting more and more impatient.

If the lads are sneaky enough, they may be able to come around to the aft of the Stinky and use the ropes hanging from there to climb aboard unhindered.

There are also ropes from the Stinky down to the Jolly Roger, but climbing those will put them right in the thick of things immediately.

Alternatively, they can make use of the sandspit to reach the cliffs and climb to where they can gain a good sniping position or even jump down onto the Stinky's deck.

How they resolve this is up to them. If a fight breaks out, the Stinky's crew will vacate overboard and Angelica will make for the Captain's cabin, locking herself inside.

Sooo how did they do? Stay tuned!

Skeleton Crew for Pirate Borg

 

Q: What's a pirate ship without a crew? Adrift.

OK, dad jokes aside. I needed a crew for my Pirate Borg rpg group. And these guys fit the bill. Most are from Reaper Miniatures, but the two zombie style crewmembers are from the Rum & Bones boardgame. Here they are as they come off the production line. All that's needed now is to finish basing them.

Captain Hooq and Mr Smeg - Pirate Borg villains

 

No relation to Captain Hook and Mr Smee

What's a game without villains for the protagonists to protag against? Meet Captain Hooq and Mr Smeg. Not to be confused with their more famous cousins, Captain Hook and Mr Smee.

These gents will be the next villains for The Lads to encounter. Ostensibly, both Hooq and The Lads work for the same Pirate Boss, but there is no honour among thieves, right? So Hooq will make a good foil for my rpg players.

You may notice that both Capt. Hooq and Mr Smeg don't exactly look like they are in the best of health. That's because Hooq is a vampire and Mr Smeg is Hooq's loyal underling. Something halfway between a Thrall and a junior vampire. I'm not quite sure which yet. Hooq is the quintessential English gentlemen and Mr Smeg is Hook's valet and boson for The Jolly Roger. The Jolly Roger itself is crewed by the Bilge Rats, a small group of actual rat men who are small Skaven.

The figures come from Sally 4th's range of miniatures. I'm thinking of getting a Peter Pan and cutting the miniature's head off and attaching it to Hooq's belt. That would add to the villainous and cruel nature of Hooq contrasting against his outward gentlemanly demeanour. Have to think more about that idea. But it seems suitably bloody for a Pirate Borg game.

The Lads - A Pirate Borg miniature upgrade

 

The lads have been having fun with the excellent Pirate Borg (using our d20 lite version of Pirate Borg) and they are now Level 3. So, it seemed fitting to upgrade their miniature avatars to reflect their newfound confidence and their growing abilities.

Searching around the web, I found Black Scorpion Miniatures and their excellent line of Cutlass pirate miniatures. I purchased them for such a time as this, and it was now time to break them out and paint them up. I asked each of the lads what their favourite colour was, and this became the colour of the coats that each miniature has been painted with. I also wrote their names under the base of each model. Just in case we get confused.

So, for our next rpg session, the lads will have a new set of miniatures to wonder the lands and seas of Pirate Borg.

Scumbag College - A HeroQuest Skirmish game

 Welcome to Scumbag College.

Scumbag College, seat of indoctrination since 1982.

The lads came over last night for our much-delayed monthly roleplaying session. I wasn't ready to run the next Pirate Borg rpg scenario and still had stuff to paint for the next adventure. So, I hit on a very cunning plan. Why not subject them to being unwilling test subjects in playing my HeroQuest Skirmish game. So, I did.

Aerial view of the Scumbag Collage main campus.

A group of students from National Action for Socialism International (NASI) protesting for the 'I Support the Latest Thing!' day of action is making a ruckus at the College fountain. Sergent Kneecapper, Constable Piggins and Probationary Constable Shirty have arrived to encourage the students to go and actually do something productive for once, like attend their class lectures. Suddenly, behind the protestors, a dishevelled and sickly-looking professor shuffles out of the main building. Blood dripping from his face.

Over at the College Bus, three more rather poorly looking students emerge onto the main quadrangle.

Over near where Neil had set up his Lentil's Against Hunger stand, two more pale strangers arrive. One dressed in a hospital gown.

Rick, having called the Fuzz "fascist" once too many times has been arrested and escorted to the main gate by Constable Piggins, there to await the arrival of a paddy wagon to transport him to the local constabulary lockup. But a sudden loud scream catches Constable Piggins attention. Abandoning his charge, he leaves Rick to hasten away to the sound for distress.

Meanwhile Neil has returned to Vyvyan's Ford Anglia to collect something for his Lentil stall. There he finds the car locked and a note on the window. The note is from the Scumbag College groundsman and  caretaker and states that Vyvyan's car keys were found in the quadrangle by a student and handed to him. Vyv can come get them from his caretaker cottage when he gets back to his car. But Vyv arrives just then and has some shocking news to tell Neil and the others after he and SPG got away from Pitzer Medical Research Labs.

Vyv: "Neil, where are the others?"

Neil: "Uh, well Mike is over there by the car chatting up some chick and Rick has just been arrested for calling some pig a fascist."

Vyv: "We gotta get out of here Neil. There are zombies coming."

Neil: "Zombies, Vyv? You mean actual zombies?"

Vyv: "Yes Neil, actual zombies. We gotta hurry."

Neil: "Oh no Vyv!"

Neil starts acting in a panic.

Vyv: "Stop it, Neil. We gotta hurry and get out'a here."

Neil: "Oh, nooo. Heavy. That's heavy man. You know I'm a vegetarian and they're carnivores. What are we gonna do man? Heavy!"

Vyv: "Look Neil, you go get Mike, and I'll get girly pants Rick. We'll meet back here and get away in my car before they arrive."

Neil: "Oh, wait just a second Vyv. There was a note on the windshield of your car."

Vyvyan takes the note from Neil and reads it.

Vyv: "Oh, that's just great Neil. I gave you the keys so you could get the lentils out of the boot. Not lose them."

Neil: "Sorry Vyv. I must have dropped them when I burnt my hand on the pot of lentils I was cooking up."

Vyv: "That's no excuse Neil. When this is over, I'm just going to have to kill you."

Neil: "Uh, Ok Vyv. But shouldn't we get the guys and leave first." (Neil points to the entrance to the College).

Vyv: "Look, you get Mike, and I'll get my keys. I find Rick on the way."

Neil: "Right on, Vyv."

They turn to leave when Vyvyan stops Neil one more time.

Vyv: "And Neil."

Neil: "Yes Vyv?"

Vyvyan suddenly head butts Neil.

Vyv: "Don't lose my keys again!"

Neil: (staggering and concussed) "Uh, OK Vyv."

They both leave to find the others.

THE MISSION: The lads had to simply get Vyvyan's keys from the caretaker, get back to their car and get out of there. They all had to be present at the car in order to leave. None of them could be left behind. Well, at least the surviving guys had to be all at the car before they could leave. SPG was an NPC for Vyvyan, but otherwise each of the guys played one of the main characters. Picking up their items was not essential but highly advised. They could rescue people by escorting them to the main gate, where they would run off and escape the zombie attack (for now!). The police however would engage the zombies on sight and so were (kind of) a supporting cast that could help the lads. ANY NPC (other than SPG) and was contacted by a zombie would be killed and turned into a zombie the subsequent turn. The Police had their own stats and would fight. But if they were killed, they too would become zombies.

THE INFESTATION: There were six spawn points on the table. The first half-dozen zombies were placed randomly at one of the spawn points. These were all Zombie Shufflers. Each turn additional zombies would arrive. If loud noises were made (e.g. protesting, screaming, shooting, etc) an additional spawn marker would be placed at the nearest spawn point. For multiple spawn markers at a spawn point, a zombie would be placed on each marker at the end of the Monster Phase. Those zombies would become active on the next Monster Phase. Once all the zombies were on the table, the spawn points would become non-functioning. So, there would be a maximum of 37 zombies on the table before all spawn points became inactive.

There were 30x Zombie Shufflers, 2x Zombie Runners, 2x Zombie Brutes, 2x Toxic Zombie Brutes (who explode on death doing 3x Attack Dice and using the Small Blast Template centred on the Toxic Brute), and 1x Toxic Spitter Zombie (spit attack of 8" and 2x Attack Dice).

Rick, finding himself suddenly free, stops weeping and starts acting like a tough guy

Rick: "Yeah, fascist bully boy. That's right. Nobody messes with The Peoples Poet."

Mike, having both grossed out and offended a female student, is nearly run over by the girl as she drives off whilst yelling at him to drop dead.

Mike: "I think she likes me." Mike muses to himself as she leaves.

Rick's Poetry Book was confiscated by Constable Piggins when he was arrested and placed in the police car's glove box. There also happens to be a revolver and ammo in there. Meanwhile, in the back of the open boot of the car, a sawn-off shotgun is clearly visible.

The Caretaker watches on, shaking his head. He didn't fight for the British Army so that these entitled brats could spit on the country he fought for and loves. One of these days, he ponders, they will get their comeuppance. That day may just have arrived.

Here is the crew, the Zombies, and the equipment cards. All starting equipment must be picked up first. They don't begin the game with them; the lads must pick them up using an Action if they can get to where the items are located. For Rick to use his Poems, he has to pick up his poetry book. Likewise, the others don't get the benefits of their items until they pick them up.

Not surprisingly, the lads scattered in four different directions, heading for their gear.

Probationary Constable Shirty was the first to fall. The protesting students panicked and fled towards the College entrance. Constable Shirty engaged the oncoming Zombies from the school bus spawn point and was quickly munched on. Num, num, num. He became a Zombie Shuffler next turn.

The protesting students could all move 5" per turn, but the wheelchair protesting students could only move 3". They could, at a push, move 6" but there was a chance their electric wheelchairs would short out and catch fire if they did so (roll of a Black Shield on the dice).

Over by Neil's lentils, Constable Piggins also went down. More munching saw the officer become another Zombie Shuffler next turn. This was interesting as the Zombies were very close to the entrance and the escape route of the fleeing students.

Vyv went to pick up his Cricket Bat but was interrupted by a Shuffler.

Sergent Kneecapper put up outstanding resistance throughout the night. He took down several zombies and at one time ended up surrounded by five of them. Sadly though, he fell in the end and also became a Zombie Shuffler later in the game. Above you can see that he has suffered one hit to his Body stat of 2. Tough. But not tough enough.

Rick managed to collect his gear and decided to use his pistol several times. But this only added noise to that location, causing additional spawn markers to be added to the nearest spawn point. What could go wrong?

The students fleeing too the College entrance.

Mike had his shotgun by then. Neil still hadn't made it to his lentils. Mike's use of his shotgun would prove invaluable throughout the night.

The first group of students are taken down by the zombies. They would spawn as zombies at the end of the Monster phase and chase after the rest of the students next turn.

Mike's shotgun was very useful. Here he unloaded with both barrels for 8 Attack Dice. You roll per zombie under the Flame Template. So, Mike rolled the 8 Attack Dice four times here for this one attack.

Neil finally made it to his lentil stew but was interrupted in picking it up by a nasty surprise.

More of them!

Sergent Kneecapper slowly getting overwhelmed but held firm.

The caretaker watches on. Interestingly none of the zombies paid him any attention. Meanwhile Rick kept shooting at zombies and more of them started appearing near him. I wonder why?

Only two of the students managed to escape. The rest were all taken down and chomped on. The two wheelchair zombies respawned as Zombie Runners, so perhaps there was a benefit to become a zombie for them?

Vyv finally took out his interfering zombie and picked up his Cricket Bat. The players eyes lit up as I gave him the Cricket Bat card and he read it. I didn't give the players any of their equipment cards until they actually picked up their gear. I then made them read the card aloud to the other players. There was much mirth here at this.

To my incredulity however, none of the lads had ever watched The Young Ones and so none of them got the nods to the episodes on the cards. To say I was disgusted was an understatement.

The student hoard now a hoard of zombies. And they were right at the College escape point.

Rick became more and more swamped. Partly because he was the closest visible non-zombie. But mustly because his shooting caused noise that added to the numbers of zombies spawned close to him.

I forgot to mention that the Dean of Scumbag College was located in a building near Neil's Lentil stall. I place here there so she was visible to the lads, but she was actually hiding inside the building.

With all other zombies now on the board, the Toxic Spitter Zombie was the last to spawn. It just happened to appear at the spawn point closest to Neil and his Lentils stall.

Mike, mostly hidden by the tree in the centre of the photo here, opens up against a bunch of zombies. But the Toxic Zombie Brute was just outside of the template and so missed being shot at. Mike eventually got it and it exploded. But Mike was outside of the Small Blast Template for the zombie and so was safe. The lads realised at that moment how they may use this type of zombie to their advantage and later they were able to take out the other Toxic Brute and a zombie next to it when it exploded.

This photo was the point at which Rick went down. He rolled three Black Shields in an attack with his pistol and ran out of ammunition. His action done, he was attacked by five zombies in the subsequent Monster Phase. He kept putting off using his Poems which was a mistake. By sticking to his pistol, he caused more zombies to appear near him each turn. He also stayed where he was and so brought them all to him. Not a wise move.

Eventually, the lads whittled down the zombies, as no new ones were spawning, and revived a chomped-on Rick with some health food from their lunch box that was nearby. But I have some fun ideas on what will happen to Rick if we get around to playing this again. He is carrying the zombie virus now, after all.

It was a great game and had some intense moments for the lads. It took very little effort to run it and devise the scenario, thank goodness. A great night for everyone except Rick. Who whined about it for the rest of the night.