My Cha'alt/Hubris/DCC Game: Explained

I've had a campaign going on for a few months now.  The simplest way to explain it is to just say "I'm using these books."

Let's break this down.

The World

The world is, in its simplest form, Cha'alt.  Straight out of the book, though I've added races from Hubris for some extra flavor.  I'll extol the virtues of ALL of these products at the end of my diatribe, but let's just focus on what Cha'alt has to offer.  Cha'alt is a gonzo desert setting that is post-apocalyptic.  Imagine if you took Mad Max, but the entire reason the world ended was actually because the Elder Gods at the edge of the galaxy were pissed off that humans were enjoying themselves with YouTube instead of going to Cthulhu Sunday School.  A war between civilization and the Elder Gods commenced, leaving the entire world a smoldering waste in the wake.  However, remnants of the high technology world still survive.  Environments with these pleasantries are as sacred as they are scarce, often worshiped, closely controlled, and protected.  A combination of radiation and the blood of the Elder Gods has molded the life forms on the planet into these bizarre monstrosities.  Madness (in the chaotic sense) is a pervasive theme of the setting, often leading to hilarious or dreadful outcomes.

Most of the planet is a radioactive desert filled with horrible monsters and pirates sailing the sands with hovering ships.  Cultists run amok serving gods new and dead.  There are some immensely different cities that can be explored, but the true highlights of the book are the absurd dungeons.  There are three dungeon crawls offered in the book (along with locations for implied dungeon crawls that can be fleshed out).  The dungeon crawls are gonzo at its best.  The introductory dungeon allows players to dip their toes into the madness, where they deal with drugged out pervy cultists who serve the Great Demon Worm that enslaves the populace of a city with its psychic powers.  The players have the opportunity to encounter a machine that lets them peer into other dimensions, a black hole that simply interacting with can cause 33% of the population in the game to vanish from existence, an enormous half-cat half-snake demon that just wants to be worshiped, a Wizard whose loneliness drove him to create a spell to cast an illusory head to sit by and nod along at his suggestions, and a couple of scientists implanting a giant robot with some poor fellow's already removed brain.  This is the BLAND dungeon crawl in the book.  The book's crown jewel is The Black Pyramid, a 100+ room mega-dungeon where the taint of madness is so severe that every room is completely different from the last.  Absolutely nothing needs to make sense in this place, and that's the draw.  The place is filled to the brim with riches as well as answers to some big questions.  Notably: Just what the fuck is up with this place?

The System

I'm using Dungeon Crawl Classics as the main engine for this game.  There are a ton of inherent benefits to using DCC as opposed to more conventional D&D systems.  Chiefly among them, DCC makes PCs powerful while also making them relatively fragile.  Aside from PC abilities, players have resources they can use which allow them to take calculated risks in the game.  Between spending Luck and Spellburn, DCC creates a ton of moments where players can lay everything on the line in the name of glory.  (If you're unfamiliar, I plan on writing about this mechanic more thoroughly in the future.  Stay posted!)

DCC, unfortunately, doesn't do much in the name of filling out deities.  Fortunately, Donn Stroud's Lesser Keys to the Celestial Legion fills in those gaps incredibly.  I used it to create a Herald for our Cleric's Goddess as well as some relics.  The mechanics for converting people and gaining disciples are also a pleasant way of doing things.  I much more appreciate that than the AD&D 2e "Whelp, you're level X, so you gained X disciples!"  It's far more fluid and rewards the player for taking the time to bring people into the fold.

Hubris has also allowed me to add more depth to the Occupations table, add some classes, spells, and patrons.  Hubris is FAR darker than Cha'alt in tone, but the classes are full of flavor and fit nicely in this chaotic world.

What Has Happened So Far?

The Temple of Kra'adumek

The players began with 4 level 0 PCs under their control each.  All of the starting PCs were slaves to the Great Demon Worm Kra'adumek, who enslaved the entire city of the same name with his psychic powers.  At the start of the adventure, the PCs snap to their consciousness and find themselves in rags, doing slave labor under the command of the cultists who enforce Kra'adumek's rule.  

The players learn that there are treasures inside the temple be claimed as well as sweet, sweet revenge.  To provide further incentive to the players to handle things inside of the temple rather than fleeing in the desert or just scavenging nearby, I added a little bit of an extra kick in the arse.  The city is swarming with sentry drones that are controlled by the Cult's supercomputer, which is housed in.. you guessed it, the Temple!  The opening moments were a hurried scramble toward the Temple doors, which they pushed open with all their might while dodging laser fire.

Another element that I added was something that I enjoyed from one of Michael Curtis' The Chained Coffin adventures.  For a Character Funnel (level 0 adventures designed to kill off tons of weak characters and give the future level 1 PCs a common backstory), I added an item that granted a level 0 character the abilities of a level 1 PC, fundamentally giving them a taste of what's to come.  Part of this was to introduce them to the glorious things that would be awaiting once they finished their first adventure.  In his adventure, the PCs have the opportunity to pick up a holy relic that grants temporary Cleric powers.  The item was a necessary piece of completing the adventure.  Basically, the players needed to return the relic to the Cleric's corpse.  While holding the relic, the PC was able to use Protection and Healing spells.

The players found a mumbling severed Wizard's head sitting on the stone floor of the temple, in the midst of an enormous pile of decomposing body parts and gore.  His face was pressed into the muck, but he screamed "DON'T COME CLOSER, YOU FILTH!" The PCs picked him up and were immediately warned (once he realized they weren't a threat) of the evil Wizard who has been torturing him seemingly for decades, prolonging his life through a spell just to torture him.  The PC who held his head had the ability to serve as a conduit for his magical prowess, allowing them to cast spells as a Wizard for as long as they held him (and he was still conscious).  

It wasn't long before the evil Wizard Maaduk made his appearance.  "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING HERE?" he bellowed, his invisibility spell rendering him little more than an intimidating voice from the players' perspectives.  The PCs seemed unimpressed and responded assertively, so as the book suggested, Maaduk began with a Fireball incantation.

Enter DCC, the system where everything CAN go wrong.

I rolled a natural 1 on Maaduk's spell check.  It blew up in his face.  One of the PCs blew potpourri all over him so that the others could catch his figure in spite of the invisibility, and the rest of the group surrounded him and stabbed him to death like he was Julius Caesar.

The PCs started investigating the chamber near them, finding a map and a ruby inside the boot of a dead adventurer (the fungus monster that emerged from its bloated stomach was deftly handled, nobody was infected).  They found a Demon Summoning Scroll that they were smart enough not to use.  

Their dallying meant that enough time had passed that a Sky Elf Thief who was in the midst of trying to steal a large purple crystal from the next room had enough time to finish doing so, but hot at his heels were half a dozen Crawlers (think those creatures from the movie The Descent).  The party took cover by the wall when the Elf was running by, yelling "SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT."  They decided to hold their position and ambush whatever it was that was chasing him.  Rolls happened, the party had an entire round of surprise on the Crawlers.  Another NPC massacre.

At this point, there were a few PCs that were standing at a higher level of importance than the rest.  The players seemed to be finding favorites that would become their first level 1 PCs.  Once they got the requisite 10 XP, I told them they could go ahead and level up one PC each.

Joe's Tarot Reader became "The Fool," a Neutral Warrior with a Battleaxe he named "Headsplitter."

Matt's Ekrask Slave became "Rahuul," a seven foot tall Lizard Warrior. (the Ekrask is a class offered by Hubris)

Thoth's Braingrub Breeder became "Breeder-san," a Wizard.  She's also the one who was wielding the head of Tibbald the Timid.

Ark's Ex-Cultist became "Zeveran," the Cleric of Pelagia, Goddess of the Sea.

I took the opportunity to throw in Stroud's Lesser Keys to the Celestial Legion at full tilt.  Since Ark's former Cultist was becoming a Cleric, I decided to have the Herald of his deity pay him a visit.  Here's a clip to demonstrate how that went.  

It may be a bit cheap to use that much fiat, I'll admit, but I found it to be an effective tool to explain such a radical change in persona in the middle of an expedition.  It took quite well, as you'll see later on.

As the players encountered the Cultists, they found them primarily to be pervy stoners who were completely inept.  The PCs dealt with them through a mixture of slaughter, capture, deceit, and conversion to the worship of Pelagia.  One of the diciest moments they had was due to the fact that a great deal of time had passed while they were in the temple, the scientists finished implanting the brain into the giant robot, which meant that after the PCs made a ton of noise, the robot came barreling toward them in the room with the giant pit.

Lives were lost.  One of the PCs (though not one of the important ones) was sawed in half by the Robot's chainsaw arm, Tibbald the Timid's head was blown to pieces by a laser blast, and Rahuul nearly suffered the same fate of being sawed in half, surviving with a mere 3 HP after the attack.  With some well placed ranged attacks (Nat 20s, for crying out loud), the party managed to break open the barrier protecting the robot's brain, giving The Fool the opportunity to lodge the blade of his Axe into squishy grey matter.  They stripped the Laser Rifle and Chainsaw arms off the Robot for some unwieldy but powerful weapons to be used, and broke off some pieces of its plate to use as a reflective surface for another plan.

Probably the kookiest plan they've had yet arose when they learned about the Felinus Serpentus, a  massive half-cat half-snake demon sitting on top of a pile of riches and magic items.  The PCs decided to use QR-3 (the Protocol droid they acquired) to weaken the intensity on the laser gun to effectively be little more than a Laser Pointer.  They decided to carry up the mirror-like plate from the Robot and reflect the laser pointer onto the wall behind the demon.  While it was distracted, they worked their way toward it to get a decent ambush on it.

It turned out to be a bit of a non-issue, however.  Initiative was rolled, and some ranged surprise attacks put a tiny dent before Breeder-san unleashed a massive Magic Missile.  Between Luck burn, Spell burn, and using some slimy zoth they found as a magic enhancer, Breeder-san rolled well over a 30, causing an enormous barrage of Magic Missiles that completely obliterated the Felinus Serpentus. Seriously, they did more than 60 HP of damage in that spell. Fur, guts, and scales blew all over the place.

A damn shame.  Foiled again!  Massive wealth and a few magic items were wrought.

The group cleaned house, smashing the Demon Worm's eggs (losing a couple mooks in the process).  They planted some crystals (that inhibit the use of psychic powers) inside the head of the frozen Kra'adumek.  They met and slaughtered a group of skeevers inside the mouth of Kra'adumek, sparing one and forcing him to spill the proverbial beans.  They found out that he and his mateys had a skiff nearby that could be used to escape the city and travel safely across the S'kbah.

With the players mulling over their prospects, they had two choices.

One: Continue exploring inside Kra'adumek, finding more cool shit but potentially dying in the process.

Two: Saying "Fuck that!" and stealing the skiff so that they can get the hell out of dodge.

They went with the latter.

The Trek Across the S'kbah

Though Kra'adumek was not obliterated, the fact that the cult was dismantled meant and the supercomputer was down meant that the rest of the slaves were free.  With the desert being such a damn dangerous place, leaving would be almost certain death.  Staying would meant that they would likely fall right back into the clutches of Kra'adumek once he's unfrozen, unless the crystals do their work.

The group decided not to risk it.  They gathered all the resources they could, rallied up the beasts of burden (Riding Lizards) that still survived, and started a caravan consisting of all of the freed slaves.  They had the Skeever lead the caravan to the Skiff, which was hidden in a crevasse about a quarter of a mile away from the city (awaiting to hear of the other skeevers' success).

A tense moment followed, upon which a dozen Skeevers stood on top their skiff with rifles pointed downward at the group of people.  Their captain, Bezelbork, an enormous halberd-wielding Toad Warrior leapt down in front of the group and challenged the best warrior among the group.

Rahuul had none of it. She got in his face told him she didn't have time for his moronic bravado, said that she's getting all of these people safely to Aagry'bah whether he's dead or alive and explained all the things they killed on the way to getting here, including several of his men. 

Reaction roll along with the futility of Bezelbork's situation (outnumbered 10 to 1 thanks to all of the villagers), and what do you know.  He backed the fuck down.

I rolled some random encounter checks for their journey.  It was mostly uneventful, but one moment was close to being absolutely devastating.

I rolled up a Hunter Killer Droid encounter.  The thing about Hunter Killer Droids is that they have proton torpedoes that are often used to blow up vehicles and pick off the survivors.  Basically, they're demented robots that have nothing but extermination in mind.

I used some mechanics that I pulled from Machinations of the Space Princess to handle piloting the vehicle, doing maneuvers, things like that.  The party maneuvered the skiff toward the side of a dune that offered a short window in which they were safe from a direct line of sight.  By the time the HK Droid was within range to launch the torpedo, it had already taken several potshots by laser fire from the crew, and Bezelbork and The Fool leapt off of the skiff to assault the Droid directly with arms in hand.

By the time the HK Droid was within range (they saw the torpedo port opening and preparing to fire), The Fool attempted a Mighty Deed.  He leapt on top of Bezelbork, who hastily hopped them both within a few feet of the Droid.  The Fool jumped off of his shoulders and carved into the Droid's processing unit, disabling the thing.

Welcome to Aagry'bah!

Aagrybah was a sight for sore eyes.  After a draining journey and enduring the hot suns of the S'kbah, encountering a massive city full of food, spices, and drink was a godsend.  The villagers from Kra'adumek delivered their heartfelt thank yous to the party, but not before Zeveran gave them some coin to help them find some food and shelter for a few days.  With all that they have done for these people, their reputations were already destined to start flowering within this city.

The group decided to engage in some city shenanigans once they settled in.  I gave the players some time to enact their downtime wishes.  The Fool decided to visit a local tarot reader (an eccentric overweight Southern gal named Ma' Cleo who had a collection of Western VHS tapes, a player, and a TV) and received a divination.  Zeveran visited the local temples and tried to find the best avenue to dispose of the Scroll of Demon Summoning.  He realized that the people he encountered seemed to want to use it for their own purposes, so he held onto it.  Rahuul took the scrap from the Hunter Killer Droid and had some armor welded onto QR-3.  This ends up being a pattern.  Breeder-san (yes, the Braingrub Breeder still doesn't actually have a name) ended up buying a Braingrub and hunting down some poor sap to feed to the Braingrub.

The Fool, Zeveran, and Rahuul hit up one of the local taverns, Mossberg's, where they found a strangely somber crowd in the midst of a Karaoke contest.  Rahuul and The Fool decided to enter.  Both did phenomenally well, but Rahuul stole the show, winning free drinks for a week.  The Fool won a few groupies with his rendition of a KISS song (I can't remember which, but he's basically Gene Simmons now).  Zeveran, The Fool, and Rahuul ended up speaking with an old man who was distraught.  They found out that his daughter was scheduled for execution in the gladiatorial arena the morning after next.  He said that she was investigating the crooked merchant who they believe to be responsible for the death of his son, who had served as his bodyguard until recently... and naturally, she was captured.

In any case, you have a sprightly young gal up against a 3 ton robot with a pincer, a spiked arm, and a woodchipper stuck on its back.  The group decided they'd take the case!  Ol' Jeraiah (the dad) said he couldn't help much in the way of monetary assistance, but he knows his way around the city and might be able to give them intel if they want it.

The next morning, the group visited the arena.  After signing up to be Yeshra's help (that's the daughter, by the way), they placed a hefty bet on themselves and decided to scope out the competition.  The OBLITERO was stored beneath the arena.  The Fool went up to the man guarding the entrance to the underground section of the arena.  With a reaction roll and some manipulation, the Fool convinced the guard that since he's starving, it'd be totally fine to leave his post for a bit and go get a hot dog.  The Fool said he'd watch the door for him.  With the way my reaction roll went, this guy must have been halfway to diabetic shock.  He accepted the money and ran to the concession stand.

Underground, they found it not too difficult to blend in with other arena participants.  They went over to Yeshra's cell and introduced themselves.  I can't remember what exactly happened, but I know that Rahuul hit on her a bit and we found out that Yeshra digs the ladies.

They scoped out the power unit and fucked it up. The lights went off.  They knocked out the guards in front of the main storage unit, went up to the Oblitero, and busted some shit on it so that it wouldn't be too obvious but it clearly wouldn't be operating at maximum power.

I rolled to see what they actually messed up on the thing.  They fucked up its targeting systems and its shielding. Hoo, boy.  They actually stood a chance now.  

Next day, the fight began!  And ended.  Like holy hell.  Between a lucky Magic Missile roll, some careful shots, and Rahuul charging in like a maniac, they took the Oblitero out in a single round.

McManus, the merchant who owns Oblitero and was trying to have Yeshra executed for trespassing on his property, was all like "NAAA THOSE MUFUCKAS CHEATED!" and sent his goons down after them.  The goons weren't all too sure.  After all, they just blew up a giant robot like it was nothing.

The Fool's turn was next.  He said "I'm gonna shoot McManus."

Our table: 

Wouldn't you fucking know it.  He unleashed his big ass laser shot on McManus, and that damage roll was more than enough to kill that plump little softy.

The Mercs decided that zero gold was clearly not getting paid enough for this shit and left. Yay, Yeshra's saved!  They also won a hefty sum on their bet.  They decided with their victory speech to challenge the one thing that the King is ultra serious about.. demonic sacrifices.  So yeah.  They're probably going to get killed by the King's loyalists.  Maybe?  It was pretty entertaining though.

The Aftermath

The players handled some more downtime stuff.  By now, they've purchased a warehouse (with their treasure from Kra'adumek), started renovating a temple for Pelagia, added more mods on QR-3 (and removed his personality inhibitor), and they did a lot of digging on things.  They learned that King Drutaal is a sadistic fuck, his wife is a slamming hottie but she's crazy in love with this guy for some reason, the populace love the Queen but they tolerate the King because he's brought a lot of prosperity by keeping the demons at bay, etc. etc.

More directly important, they learned that McManus has a son who wants to cut their cojones off and that McManus Jr., Rethakis (the Head Guardsman), and Nara (the advisor to the king) are pretty much the most influential people in the city.

Rethakis actually decided to pay them a visit, letting them know as a professional courtesy that The Fool had an enormous bounty on him, that there are half a dozen bounty hunters outside, and that he'd guarantee The Fool safe passage to the jail.  Rethakis indicated that for his own reasons, he needs McManus Jr. dead and he thought they'd be happy to help.

Fool said "Na, fuck it."  So we had a Western style shootout in the town square.  Eleven bounty hunters died.  A few wounds were suffered in the party, but nobody died.  Anyhow, that's where we left it.

Next time, I assume they're going to kill the kid.