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kuhaica
2020-05-10, 05:22 PM
Started running a bit of a niche system recently. After the success of the first few sessions figured I may as well share it.

The System
Cold and Dark is a D8 7-8 success based system set in the “Cold outer reaches of Space” basically its a tabletop game for those who want to set down and play Aliens or Deadspace or even Space Cult of Cthulhu. The fluff of the game is pretty good in all regards and if you like this stuff, I recommend giving it a try. Just be warned it was “Heavily Inspired” by popular game DS.

The mechanics, basically have two sets of scores, “Aptitudes” which represents physical and mental stats, and then “Abilities” which represents the skills of the character. When making rolls you combine the two sets of scores and roll the number of dice (some rolls you double your aptitude dice pool) and then you count up your successes based on how many 7 and 8’s you get. If you have a speciality in a particular field, you get to reroll 8’s.

The system also has a few interesting ways to deal with narrative-based gameplay (I mostly use them for chases) called “Sequence Zones” where you can speed up gameplay while giving the players more narrative control. You describe an area in question, what’s happening then have the player make one roll, you tell them if they succeed or fail and by how many degrees then the player using that and the previous information explains how they get to the next zone. Alternatively, you as the GM can also do this.

It’s a way to quicken the pace of the game and raises the tension of the gameplay. Especially if someone in the group fails to clear a zone.

Finally, we reach the namesake of this game. Cold and Dark. Cold represents stress, whenever a character experiences something stressful or does something that could reasonably upset them they must make a Cold check. If they fail, their Cold meter rises. The higher it gets the more penalties they take as panic, stress, ect takes hold. And like a domino effect, once you start failing, you REALLY start failing. However, given some positive reinforcement or some time you can recover Cold.

Then their’s Dark. Which is basically the insanity meter. Like Cold the more you fail the easier it is to fail. Now, in the setting Dark is basically the “Vastness” of space getting to you, the aloneness of deep space travel, the possibilities of “something” being out their messes with you. But it is also affected by more mundane things, such as intense fear or simply the isolation of space.

Now, Cold is a minor annoyance which can be easily combated but can really hinder you intense situations. Dark, however, is sinister, it slowly builds up and the only way to deal with it. Is going to a planet or a resort station of a few months. And when you reach high enough on the Dark scale, you become a hindrance to the team and eventually outright hostile.
The Setting
I’m never one to use the baseline of any system for myself. I always like doing my own thing and this situation is no different. The setting here is based on an online book series I’ve followed for some time, so if you notice similarities that is why.

The year is 526 PT, only a tiny fraction of galaxy has been explored and so far in this exploration no other intelligent life has been found, meanwhile, almost all “alien” life has been simplistic in nature or early in its evolutionary path. Humanity as a whole has long since fragmented, most having formed nations based exclusively upon the linages of their seed ships from centuries ago. Some newer nations have emerged after the fall of the Terran Emperium, attempting their own means of unification. Just with more peaceful means.

Corporations, Merceniers and Pirates rule the vastness of space, while the many nations and System States war with each other in the background. Scavengers following close to freight hauliers and battle fleets, reading to pick up whatever bounty they can. It is a brutal and savage time, where kindness can mean death and ignoring a distress call is better than to risk oneself, you can never know what sort of people are drawn to such beacons.

Credits are the one and the only thing which matters in this new age of space travel and with the Terrans locked up in their fortress worlds, their technology still sought after and inaccessible. Brave and foolish archaeologists and junkrats are always searching for the next Terran cache, as corporations and nations are always willing to pay for Terran tech. The most sought after prize being a Deep-Range Research and Observation Platform, otherwise known as a DROP.
The players meanwhile find themselves on the APSS Janissary a deep space reconnaissance cruiser of the Athena Security company. They are either members of the company, being engineers or security personal or are one of the freelance archaeologists or researchers also sent on this mission. The objective of the mission straight forward, travel through the single most dangerous place in the known galaxy to reach the greatest find of the century. The third intact DROP.

The problem arises that the Janissary must first travel through a massive nebula known as “The Mists” the Bermuda triangle of space. It’s not some unknown phenomena that makes the Mists dangerous, but the thick gasses which block ship sensors, rogue planets trapped in the swirling gasses, wreckages of ships and asteroids. The most effective method to traverse the mists is to rely on one’s own intuition and sight.

Which means not much, thankfully for the Janissary and her crew, their contractor has equipped them with a nifty device that’ll lead them to their prize. So it’s simple, navigate the hellscape of the Mists, enter the DROP, establish a basecamp and wait three months to be relieved by the Janissary’s sister ship the Cossack. And that is where the campaign begins, the Janissary arriving at the DROP after travelling through the nebula for three months.

The Players
https://i.imgur.com/RvWHqXU.png
An image one of my players had commissioned of the characters. From Left to Right

Monet, Researcher Monet is a cold and calculating woman who gets straight to business. Being a Siren many expect her to be charming and stunning, yet are surprised by her cold and uncaring demeanour.

Xing Hai, A Halo Archaeologist, Xing is a bundle of joy and giddiness. Being a Halo they have experienced a life many can only dream of, they never truly had to face any hardships in life.

Nova, The Medical Technician hired on to help with the influx of personal. She’s quite and reserved normally but does pull her weight despite her skittish nature.

Sparks, A pilot and security officer aboard the Janissary, he’s been a long-standing member of the crew. But has become a shut-in after an accident involving his fighter.

Ribbs, An Engineer and convict who got drunk at the wrong time. After good behaviour and his skill set, he was given a chance to reduce his sentence by working on the Janissary. A shame the crew found out.

Day One: Intro

The DROP is before the Janissary, even in the swirling clouds of the Mists it stands out, a massive shadow that fills every screen aboard the vessel as all want to see it’s grandeur. No one has seen a DROP in the last two hundred years and everyone knows the cautionary tales of DROP 27. It is both the greatest treasure trove of technology and place filled with unknown dangers.

As the ship pulls closer to the great station, the bridge’s comms are being aired to the whole of the ship, the captain in her calm voice demanding the lights to be turned on and to keep weapon systems active. The feed following one of the beams of high powered light as it reveals broad letters in standard.

Deep-Range Research and Observation Platform 13

The ship approaching the colossal structure, the mists curling back as if welcoming the newcomers to this lost place, gasps being heard from the bridge as new vessels emerge scattered around the DROP. Coalition battleships marred by damage, Imperial Dragon Dreadnaughts in pristine condition are the most notable vessels. Their signatures dead.
Yet they are not alone, dozens of other vessels appear on the screens, ships from the war all the way up to the present. The newest model is only fifty years old, a science ship from the looks of it. It’s obvious the Janissary isn’t the first to find this bounty, talks break out on the bridge of concern. Officers demanding sensor sweeps for traps. The captain remaining calm asks for silence, before telling an operator to establish communication with the station.

The station’s response is instant, a broken and corrupted synthetic voice is heard over the speakers, introducing itself as HammerHead and demanding clearance codes. The codes entered the corrupted AI attempts to welcome the crew only for the captain to have it cut off. Meanwhile, the viewers watch as a section of the massive station opens an opening more than large enough for the Janissary to enter.

Several tense minutes go by as the helmsman slowly pulls the cruiser into the colossal hanger, moving past the many already docked ships to a section large enough to park themselves. Finally, the mission can begin.

Day Two: Into the Unknown
Session One

Guardian Sparks, Researcher Monet, Technician Nova, Engineer Ribbs and Researcher Xing are all called to the command deck. They meet up in the elevator, having spent some time with one another before each of them are already acquainted.

Coming onto the command deck, Captain Godfrey welcomes them with her standard cold demure and for once not violating regulations by smoking onboard the ship. A stark difference compared to her normal attitude.

The group is informed that they are being sent on a scouting mission to not only map out routes into the DROP from the hanger but also to find a substation and get power back on in this section so they can get basic systems activated and have an easier time exploring in the future.

The group of course agrees and Guardian Sparks is tasked with leading them and protecting the other from any harm, not that the Captain expects trouble. Precautions.

Stepping out into the gargantuan hanger, the group notices that their platform isn’t entirely abandoned, two drop ships are parked, both in good condition. They learn from some of the personal nearby that the ships work, it’s odd that they are even here.

Monet remarks it could have been a research party, Sparks and the Security member nearby disagree, citing raiders or pirates made their home here it seems. Before judging to some of the nearby crates.

Xing being interested in all things “Old” inspects every crate he can finds, while Ribbs and Sparks remark how it looks like someone tried to block off the walkways to the secondary hanger.

While inspects the crates Xing finds that they are from multiple different timeframes, they find some during the “Resurgence” event where the EA nations managed to establish themselves after being devastated by a supernova disrupting trade for years. And an event that took place three hundred years ago.

Not only that he also found crates that whereas new as twenty years ago. Finding one whos original purpose was to haul highly explosive material from his homeworld of Halo. More concerning he found multiple markings and warnings.

The phrases “The eyes are watching”, “Keep it dark” and “They know” being the most common out of the other phrases and mad ravings. The rest of the group seems unsure if they should continue but push through.

Walking past some more makeshift barricades where clear signs of fighting took place, empty ballistic magazines, singing and energy cells scattered about. Yet oddly the ‘cover’ didn’t look to have been fired upon. Ribbs noting that one of the crates looked like it was torn open.

Monet suggesting that is just his nerves, they continue down the walkways to the secondary hanger. Where Sparks and Xing both lose their composure seeing the almost untouched imperial fighters and vehicles just left inside the hanger.

Ribbs is quick to find that the ships looked like to have had work done to them, people trying to take the more expensive bits like weapon systems and electronics. Xing, however, notices that painted at the back of the hanger, nearly at the ceiling is a simple message.

“Welcome to Styx, enjoy your stay”

Under it more mad ravings, names, pleas for help and other cryptic messages covering the walls. Xing even able to translate some of the words that have been covered up finding more references to “Eyes”, something about “R Types” and more importantly “Do not turn on the lights” hidden under layers of madness. He suggests that the group shouldn’t proceed with the plans.

After a deliberation, Sparks contacts Captain Godfrey, informing her of the situation and even sending images of the wall. Shl tells them “Keep an eye out then if you are so afraid of some buggy ravings. We need that power on, that’s the mission. Keep us updated”

Unable to convincer her, the group carries on into the dark halls of the DROP, having to make many twists and turns as some sections are completely sealed off, others have so much damage from an explosion or something else that proceeding would be too dangerous. Thankfully, Xing’s intensive mapping equipment is useful during their exploration.

But what should have been a half an hour journey turned into a few hours to reach the substation. Out in these halls, the messages of lunatics have grown less common, but one can be seen every so often. Filling the group with dread.

Reaching the substation room, Ribbs continues his practice of opening sealed doors and before long they find themselves standing in the subsection room properly. However, all of those with bio scanners detect some form of lifeform within the room, yet find no movement on their trackers.

Sparks slowly takes the lead as Monet comments that they could be common vermin, it’s not unheard of. Sparks and the others are not as optimistic as they all ready weapons and step around the corner finding at first nothing.

But on closer inspection, they found what looked to be bundles of wormlike creatures huddled near openings in the ground. Each one barely moving and covered in a viscous slime. Monet and Nova both begin to take samples of the strange creatures while the others try to avoid them, they finding that the small things becoming active with their presence.

Moving into the next section, they find a massive power generator, more worm-like creatures scattered around its base and the vents. Nova informing the group they are attracted to heat and movement. Monet also informing them that they are an unknown species and are producing some sort of toxin as a defence mechanism.

Sparks kicking one of the worms away and tells Ribbs to get the generator running while Xing looks around the room for anything else. It takes a bit of work, but the three have to help open some valves that have long since corroded shut.

Then, like the night giving way too day. The generator hums awake, doors all around the area opening as lights turn on. A loud thud heard from where they came. But, with the lights on. The group can now make out what they thought where pipes and wires on the ceiling were actually an entire nest of worms. And with the lights now back on, they began to awaken, falling onto those under them.

They make a hasty retreat as the worms fall, everyone glad for their COGs to be sealed as they then close the bulkhead door to the generator room. The group taking a moment to breathe before Nova lets out a cry of fear.

A fresh body is slumped on the ground next to them, having fallen face first, the door that had once been closed now open. Sparks and Ribbs having calmed Nova and Xing down while Monet inspected the body. Noting it to be no more then a few hours old. And killed by multiple lacerations to the back.

The group (minus Monet) shares a look, knowing that this place is supposed to be abandoned. Monet, however, comments “Would you look at that, he’s wearing leather. I wonder where he got it? I hear it’s quite a commodity these days”

Sparks instantly goes to report back, finding no response, worried he changes his frequence to the security frequency and is barraged by multiple voices calling out for assistance. Something about hostiles and casualties. With Xings help they are able to quickly find out that it the section of the station they are in is in some sort of comms trap. They can communicate with people in the trap but not outside it.

Finding the highest rank they around the security teams not actively fighting to agree to meet up and then as a big group proceed to the hanger.

The group moves out, back the way they came but as they enter the main hall, a bulkhead opens down a section they hadn’t explored and six individuals wearing crude clothes and armour step out. The two groups stare off before one of the individuals calls out “GET THEM!!!”

The group runs as the other chases, Sparks laying down covering fire while everyone gets to a choke point. Ribbs had sprinted ahead while Xing picked up Nova who tripped. As soon as sparks passed under the caution lines, Ribbs activated an emergency lockdown, shutting the bulkhead and then disabled it. Buying them time.

Sparks asks Xing to plot out the fastest route to the meetup point and they do so with a bit of help from Ribbs. A torch begins to cut through the bulkhead and the group rushes to the meetup point. In the process hearing gunfire in the distance.

By the time they reached the meetup point, it seems they came a little too late. Bodies of ‘locals’ scattered around, some having heavy armour riddled with bullet and laser holes, a few security officers and researchers dead in pools of blood. Butchered by crude weapons. Inspecting the bodies Monet and Nova find some to be alive, but injured, the two patching them up as Xing stays by to help with any heavy lifting. Sparks and Ribbs meanwhile catch someone speaking in a room up ahead.

They slowly creep in, noting more bodies and security personal who got overran. But as they turn a corner they find no more security officer corpses, instead a dozen of the ‘locals’ ripped apart. Ribbs mentions how it looks like the crate from before, Sparks agreeing. They tell the others to come and join them.

As the other three make their way to Sparks and Ribbs, they enter a storage room of sorts where the voice is coming from. Someone speaking in Terran, sounds to be a woman is whispering a lullaby and as the two catch sight of the faint glow of a nexus flashing in the red.

Sparks rushes in and spots a security officer up against a woman who’s cradling him as he bleeds. His helmet is off as he looks to sparks, eyes pleading for help. It’s then that sparks notice that the hand cradling the man’s jaw is more of a claw with sharp talons. The unknown woman also noticing his sudden entrance stops her lullaby and rapidly retreats, leaving the man with shallow cuts across his cheek.

Sparks and Ribbs go to give chase but lose sight of her in the halls. Coming back to the others, the security officer explains how they where waiting then got attacked from all sides, they tried to protect the civilians but it was no use. The people just charged over their dead without a care, and it only got worst when the fallen officers had their weapons taken.

He then goes into detail of how that mysterious woman arrived and ripped the locals apart, he crying partway through his retelling of the events. Nova offering to patch him up and letting him know he doesn’t need to talk about it. The man is happy to listen.

As he’s being patched up. Ribbs inspected the area and found a worm, much like the ones from before crawling out of a vent and landing on the bloody floor. He quickly “Noped” the worm away and started sealing up vents.

The others asked why he was doing this the man responded “Worms” to which the party all stood far away from any vent. Finally patching the heavily wounded man up, the group with the injured started out, finding more worms in the hallways, gravitating to the bodies. Before Monet can collect any samples Sparks and Ribbs usher everyone away.

In the process of walk away, Sparks asks Ribbs if he can find what’s blocking the signal. The man of few words nods and works on it. Before long they find themselves deviating from their path and in an unassuming room that according to Xing is a “Janitors Closest” despite being a full room. They found the scrambler made of scrap.

After some deliberation, they opt to turn it off, rather than destroy it.

The scramble deactivated they were suddenly able to reconnect with the ship, but before they can get a word out Sparks supervisor Sentinel Fraz cuts them off demanding to know where he was and what happened. The group filling the man in they then learn that the ship was just attacked, but dealt with thanks to the overwhelming firepower they had.

Quickly moving back to the ship, the group is greeted by security and medics who help them with the wounded as they rush back the ship proper. But as they are taking the pathways to the platform a bolt of energy eviscerates the head of a nearby officer, covering Nova in gore.
The group picks up the speed as shouts of sniper are heard. People looking for where the shots came from, two more security officers are killed, before Monet raises a hand pointing out a figure in the distance, hiding on top of a ship far into the hanger.

Too which she is greeted by a beam of energy striking her in the chest and ripping through her armour, nearly killing her with one blow. The rest of the group rushes ahead as security personal fire at the general direction of the sniper, who returns fire uncaring. At last they hear over the coms to get down. Everyone dropping as one of the cruisers’ missiles is fired at the sniper.

The missile striking true but to the dismay of the crew, the armoured figured is spotted falling down into the hanger below. Sparks noting that the missile fired is meant for space combat. Not armed combatants.

A silence hangs over the entire hanger as the combat ends, the realization that someone has armour that can withstand a ship’s weapons hitting hard. The group is escorted back along with the wounded. As they make it into the ship they can see blood trails leading deeper as the wounded and dead had been taken aboard.

The Ghost team being deployed to recover the body of whoever just attacked the ship. Ending the day.

Casualties: MIA 21, KIA 17

kuhaica
2020-05-10, 05:23 PM
Feel free to comment/ask questions as I make posts of the other sessions and update with new posts.

kuhaica
2020-05-16, 04:06 PM
Day Four: Tensions Rise
Session Two

Its the evening of the fourth day since the discovery of DROP 13 and the state of the crew has not been going well. Seven more have died from their wounds and eleven are still recovering in the infirmary, not only that but more altercations have occurred since arriving at the DROP violent incidents have rapidly increased.

This has resulted in the security officers to spend more time breaking up arguments and fights, thankfully no one has yet to go “Buggy” as the phenomenon of losing one’s mind is referred to. Meanwhile, the players have been hard at work in their own fields, Nova and Monet working in the medical wing (Monet also running experiments on her samples). Sparks having to work longer shifts due to the increase in crime and Ribbs spending more time with the other engineers in their ‘safe’ hangouts away from the problems.

Xing has been working on translating logs and salvaging whatever information they could from the DROP itself, it was proving to be tiring work. But in the process, they have found information regarding the DROPs original crew, more importantly, that they were experiencing “Higher than anticipated mortality rates” and “A massive turn over rate”. They where not the only one finding the secrets of the DROP, Monet had been hard at work analyzing her samples and in the process found that the ‘Worms’ they had encountered where an undocumented species and their excretion were not just a toxin but also containing an incredibly invasive virus which went nearly undetected.

It was during one of these shifts where Sparks and his partner Armin responded to an assault taking place in the brig. They quickly arrived at the scene with three other security officers from nearby and move into the area, finding a badly injured medical staff with a crazed man holding a bloody combat knife, demanding to be let out of the area, while also pleading for them to help.

Unsure how to proceed, Sparks tried to get closer the armed individual stepping away letting him take the wounded woman away, she in the process coughing something out to Sparks as the deranged man continued to shout at the officers. Seemingly triggered by the woman’s voice he attempted to charge Sparks, only for the other officers to gun down him.

Despite their best attempts and despite him being unarmed it took nearly an entire magazine to kill the man. Nova arrived on the scene to help treat the woman at the sight before with the help of an officer taking her to the medical wing. Meanwhile, the other members of the crew carried on with their work.

Sparks and his partner Armin slowly cleared the leftmost side of the brig and now ‘converted’ morgues. Finding a security officer in critical condition, his shoulder plates ripped right off and multiple stab wounds. Choosing not to dwell on it the two continued before they received a report from Nova that the attacker was listed as dead previously.

Knowing this was outside his area, he contacted Monet and asked her to check out the bodies, meanwhile, he and Armin checked out the morgue, inside they found two empty body bags and an open vent with a blood trail leading into it. Sparks having a decent relationship with Ribbs contacted him and asked where this vent lead.

While waiting for an answer Armin lifted himself up into the Vent with the help of Sparks noting the direction the blood trail went and how this felt like some sort of sick joke.

Back in the medical wing, Nova was responding to a call as one of her patient’s pulses had abruptly stopped. Just as she enters the room, she found her patient being torn apart by a man whom she had personally overseen the autopsy of. Letting out a shout of surprise before sealing the door, a nearby security officer rushing over.

Just as this was going on, Ribbs informed Sparks that the vent, in particular, leads to a maintenance shaft that connects the brig to the medical wing as theirs a few backup generators in that area of the ship. Sparking thanking Ribbs for the information he and Armin started towards the medical wing.

Monet meanwhile calmly left the Medical wing as a second security officer rushed to help Nova and the first officer to keep the door sealed as the man on the other side was starting to tear it open. Monet however only cared about understanding what was going on, she receives a message from Xing during her calm walk just as Armin and Sparks rushed past her.

Xing during this time had finished decoding a log of particular interest, one from a ‘Doctor Henry Villia’ which seemed to be a “Mental” evaluation of the Doctor while also being a status update from his perspective. The log was short but it discussed an alien pathogen they had dubbed “R1” and the struggles they where having in working with it.

Xing knowing Monet is a xenobiologist and currently, the most knowledgeable person of the ship regarding these sorts of things transferred the log and associated data to her. To which the Doctor gave thanks before arriving at the brig/morgue. Preforming a quick autopsy of the ‘crazed’ man. She learning that the same pathogen that was found in/from the worm-like creatures to be inside the man. Not only that, but the pathogen was copying and replacing tissue with itself. Slowly corrupting the whole of the body.

Nova and the two security officers with her during this time failed to keep the door shut, one of the officers pulling Nova back as the other grappled the ‘dead man’ only for the man to rip open the officers’ helmet and bite at his face. Nova ran from the gruesome scene as the other officer attempted to gun down the hostile to no effect. They two sharing a similar fate as their armour was torn open.

However before the dead man could finish the officer off, Armin and Sparks arrived on the scene, unloading their weapons into the attacker. Finishing them off.

The fight now over, Sparks made sure Nova was alright as more security arrived on scene to check the rest of the wing. It was during this time that Monet informed her superior that both of these attackers where likely to have been infected by a virus while onboard the DROP and that she will check to see if anyone else is infected.

Monet checked the many bodies in the morgue, finding five more to be harbouring the pathogen, she not wanting to destroy such a find, had the bodies put into cold storage, then went to the medical bay, where she ‘recruited’ Nova who was still recovering from the whole ordeal to test the other patients.

They found that six other patients were infected and all of the victims of the ‘dead men’ were also infected. Monet then convinced her superiors to allow her to run “ethical” experiments on the security officer in hopes of understanding the pathogen and if possible make a vaccine or treatment. Her superior reluctantly agreed as the other bodies were taken to the cold storage.

Monet with Nova’s help then performed a full autopsy of the ‘dead man’ who was in the medical bay. In the process finding that nearly all of his organs were gone. Finding this odd, the Doctor checked to see if any of the ‘splatter’ from the gunfire could account for the missing organic matter. But in her search she found nothing.

The Captain swiftly declared a lockdown of the ship, until the “missing organs” can be found. Something many onboard are not pleased with.

Casualties: MIA 21, KIA 20, Infected 8