Apex Session 4: To the Tower

Session 3 started a bit early as I was not in a meeting or anything, so when the siren call of Skype gaming came, I managed to answer.

We last left our group camping at the edge of the river, sleeping in the boat. The first shift noticed nothing other than the normal jungle sounds. The second shift had a trio of brontosaurus come to the river to get water. Dr. Tong, with his camera, managed to get a good picture of the great beasts. However, the flash terrified them into spitting a mouth of water on Dr. Tong, ruining the flash bulb and almost ruining the camera. They then made breakfast, collected more wood for the boiler (and there was plenty of wood from the stampeding brontos!). The wood collectors all failed perception checks, so were unaware of being watched. One of the things in the background that may or may not come to fruition. 

Puttering up the river was mostly uneventful until they got to the 3 falls below Fort Shone.

I added the boat and the fort outlines to my map, and generated some rules based on the Apex mechanics. See my previous post for those rules. Running the river, they made the first falls just fine in terms of making their rolls. Except for Dr. Tong, who managed to slip and then fail his saving roll. And fail again using his grit point to re-roll. Dunked in the river, Ace hands the tiller to Ilsa, grabs a rope, and jumps in after our floundering academic. He manages to rescue him, and they both return to the boat, wet but otherwise unharmed. Tong basically ties himself down and is not watching the next falls, and it takes two attempts to get past. With very successful rolls, the Apex Queen takes no damage as Archie keeps the boiler in good shape and Ace pilots the boat upriver. Seeing that they are being watched, Ilsa stands and gives the German salute to two soldiers watching the Queen putter up river. The final rapid also goes well, but the Germans at Fort Shone are gesturing for the crew to pull over. Ignoring this, they pour on the steam. Fortunately, I rolled quite horribly for the two rounds they were in range, and no bullets came near the boat. In hindsight, I forgot that the generic Nazi soldiers get a +5 with rifles. Still, only 2 of the 6 shots even with that bonus would have hit, and they would have hit the boat. I need to remember the bonuses for hitting things!

Not too far up the river on Tong's map is the whirlpool and the "giant creatures". As they get closer, they can see the water moving in strange directions on the port, and what looks like giant webs hanging over the river off the starboard bow. 

Choosing wild water over possibly giant spiders, they veer closer to the left and manage to get caught up in the whirlpool through a series of not particularly good rolls. Which worked out to my plot advantage for a few reasons - one does not simply sail to the tower. Though they were coming close!

I found a quick whirlpool map, and through 4 turns they managed to take some damage to the prop. Archie finally got to use his powered boots: he made a heroic leap 30 feet with an anchor to get the boat stabilized against the current, then leapt back in. Unfortunately, using the usage die, he rolled a 1 moving him to a d6 I think. The usage mechanic is interesting and I believe I mentioned it before: an abstract way of tracking ammo or usage. His boots started with a d8, and every time he jumps, roll that. If he gets a one, and he did, go to the next die down. So he is getting some wear and tear on his jumping boots. I again used a variation on the chase mechanics, boat versus whirlpool.

Getting the boat to shore, then managing to use ropes and a counter pulley, they see that the prop is missing a blade, one is horribly mangled, and the other somehow pristine. Getting late, they set up camp again for the evening. Our first watch again hears nothing other than the sounds of the water and jungle. Archie wakes up to find a feral child, or rather a young woman, hanging upside down from a tree & watching him. I found this picture and just wanted to bring this character in...I still need to generate her characteristics as she will possibly be seen again. After all, they do have to get back! And she may be following that ornithopter she led the group to, which proved useful to getting to the tower. Dr. Tong tried to learn her language, comprised of ungawa alone (hey, I did say I wanted some Tarzan vocabulary in the game!). Despite rolling really well, and having an advantage due to his academic status, the short amount of time spent with Jungle Girl proved to test his mettle in learning a new language. Part of this is the background: she is a true feral child and has no real concept of language. Her vocalizations may not be a language at all. If she spends more time with the group, Tong will surely be able to teach her a bit. She also has a pair of dinos, and Tong almost lost a hand in trying to feed them. If she shows up again, Tong can keep trying to learn her language or teach her one of his. 

The ornithopter had a Mercedes engine in it: Archie's background included some notes about how those engines started him on his journey. He managed to get it running, and as Ace gave Jungle Girl a knife and Tong some food, they managed to fly as far as the tower before the limited fuel ran out. Ace made a perfect landing, rolling a 6 on the action roll on a d6. 

They backtracked a bit to the tower they had just passed, and could see a couple miles off what looked to be a walled village. And the scent of apple pie. And that's where we left the game.

I need to figure out what is in the tower, and plan on having something for Ilsa and Tong, and perhaps Ace & Archie. Some hints of things around where they are, so probably yet another ancient map, and perhaps some tome of obscure and occult design. And oddly, the coin has been entirely forgotten...perhaps I'll leave them out to be found. Hmm, in fact, I could link specific coins to specific places on the map. Yeah, I do love maps! Sadly the group can only see the digital version. I'd rather give them the physical handout so they can look. Well, I'll send them the image when they get it in the Skype chat. 

There are things they have not managed to notice, so still out there to be used or not in the current game. I am hoping that we will return to this game, either with me still running or someone else running the game. I figure we're about halfway through my original over-arching plot, but the map to be found in the tower should open up several possibilities. And I've yet to get the Nazi's to catch up. Their steam ship was a day behind but faster, so they are now at Fort Shone, and will be taking a faster transport to the temple from that fort. Not sure just how or what yet, we'll see what random WW1 and WW2 German planes and things show up. I may even try & put in the saucer from the oddball Nazis on the moon movie Iron Sky...

Finally, I need to do more NPC interaction with the group. While not particularly good at it, the only way to get better is to practice. Next session there may be some NPCs involved. I'll have encounters set up for either direction they pick: back to the settlement or forward to the temple. I've some ideas for the badlands they have to traverse, both in terms of terrain and potential encounters. And I still need to work on the actual temple, and what I hope to be the confrontation with the Nazis and the mythical power crystal. 

I've asked over on COTI and read far too many blogs and sites and still can't get myself to play NPCs well. Going to try to add some notes about behaviors and perhaps a movie role that I can use as reference.