PROBLEM SLEUTH GAME

In what is assuredly one of the most ill-advised decisions of my life, I semi-recently read through all of homestuck in a week, then the rest of the ms-paint adventures in a day. In an even more ill-advised decision, I checked the GLOG server and learned from it that I was not the only wasian homestuck in the server, which drove me into a fit of such intense crisis that I had no choice but write my own tabletop adaptation of Problem Sleuth, lest the loss of face drive me to immediate suicide. I now present it to you, below.

Get to Probleming, Sleuths

Hilariously Overwrought Violence Procedure (HWVP)

 There is no thing as "initiative". All characters act simultaneously, in order of the type of action they take. That order is -

1) Ranged or Missile attacks

2) Melee attacks, in descending order of weapon reach or size

3) Grappling, both attempts to start and resolving of existing

4) Spellcasting, potion use, item activation, etc

Missile or ranged attacks are simple attacks made against AC. Cover applies I guess, I'll write rules for that eventually.

Melee attacks are more complicated. If both combatants are using weapons of the same size, then attacks are made as normal, like ranged attacks. If there is a mismatch, though, then the party with the larger or longer-reach weapon goes first, choosing whether to attack (as normal) or to guard. If they attack, the other party may attack as normal, assuming of course they survive.

 If they choose instead to guard, though, the shorter-reach combatant must choose either to attack despite the guard - thereby guaranteeing that the guarding party lands a hit on them in the process, and taking damage as normal - or attempt to parry, wherein both attacking and defending party make contested attack rolls, and the winner chooses then either to strike the defeated one or attempt to disarm them, in either case making another attack roll, though this time not a contested one. 

Of course, on a tie, neither party does anything. Shields grant boosts to parry attempts, parrying unarmed is impossible unless you know kung-fu or something, and guarding only works against attacks from in front of you so being flanked bypasses. Oh also if an attack against you lands you have to move back at least a few feet or the damage roll gets +2 so don't get backed into a corner ig.  

Grappling is obviously even more complicated, though not much more. Technically speaking treat the actual grappling attempt like a melee attack except one where even unarmed melee outranges (you can "guard" against someone trying to grab you by punching them) and instead of dealing damage if you hit you grapple them. 

Also, if you hit a grapple you immediately do a maneuver, applying an armlock, strike, choke, or attempting to flip, throw, or pin them (all of which take another, opposed grappling roll). An armlock holds one of their arms, and prevents them from attacking with it or any weapon in it - if you already have someone in an armlock, you can progress it to a full disarming with an opposed grappling roll, ending the armlock and taking the weapon away, then do another maneuver that turn (if you fail the disarm that's all you do though). A strike is a normal melee attack, except it always hits since you're in a grapple. A choke is what it sounds like, just choking them out for d8 damage a turn.

 Flipping someone means you're attacking them from behind (they are automatically flipped if you grapple someone while flanking them), which means they can't strike you, though they can still try to throw you or seize control of the grapple (though they make all such attempts at -2). Pinning means you knock someone to the ground, getting +3 to all grappling rolls as long as you remain on-top. If you already have someone pinned, you can progress it to a hold, which totally disables them, with another opposed grappling check. Throwing someone throws them a few feet away, landing prone and taking d4 damage, and ends the grapple. 

If you're being grappled, you can attempt to seize control of the grapple with an opposed grappling roll at the beginning of your next turn, and in addition while in it can strike your grappler (still auto-hit). 

I'm not writing spell procedures, literally just cast the spell and it does what it says in the description, same with potions and scrolls and amulets and wands and whatever else you're using. 

...I should make a flow-chart.

Murder is bad btw like. if you didn't;t know that already

ULTRAVIOLENT LIGHT (GLOG SETTING AND CLASSES)

The year - 2016. The world - already dead. The glaciers of the Arctic are now little more than gas station slushee, with exactly as many artificial chemicals as that implies; the rainforests are naught but carbonized stumps and grey ash, the steppe and savannah only cracked dirt and dust-clouds. Blighted as it may be, the greatest mark of human error lies not in the salted skin of the Earth, but the nacre of its shell. The heavens have been disrobed by a chlorofluorocarbon hand, and in revenge for their humiliation they have struck the earth bare. It is now no longer possible to go outside in the day without a full-body cloak - skin melts like hot wax under the angry sky. Agriculture is impossible - the rays of the sun now kill rather than nourish, so the only plants that still grow are a few trichome-swathed cacti and particularly hardy lichens. Humanity, what few remain, has retreated into the depths of their own construction - the poor scrabble near the surface, protected only by the crumbling ceiling and the boards over the windows, the rich live further beneath, in air-conditioned bunkers of astroturf and painted sky. 

    Oh, we continue our petty labors, orphans scrubbing the air vents, widows tending the sewage-shrooms and widowers shoring up the walls - but all know in their hearts that all our struggles are simply delaying the inevitable - we are as doomed as the planet we've slain. Even so, the human heart still beats, and til the last dying spasm, the war of all against all will continue. Mankind will go down fighting - though not against extinction, but against itself.

Shademan

As long as there are people on this earth, there will be people who need killing. Armageddon or not, the only difference is that now there's little need to slash brakes or swap polonium in for sugarcanes - if you want someone dead, all you need is a gun and a good angle. 

Starting Items: Rifle (d8), shade-suit, goggles (see below)

+1 Damage per template

A) Take Aim, Lenscap

B) Perch-flight, Twig-Nest

C) Ji Endo

D) Iron Sight

Take Aim - If you spend one round taking no action but aiming, your next shot is made at a +1 bonus. If you spend 30 seconds, it's at a +2. If you spend 1 minute, it's at a +3. 10 minutes +4, 1 hour +5, 12 hours +6, 1 day +7. You can stay still, focused, and alert for up to a full day.

Lenscap - You start out with a special pair of goggles that let you aim in adverse conditions. Roll and take one from the list below - others can be acquired during play. If situations change while Taking Aim such that a different lens cap would be required, you can swap lenses but you go back down a step in the process. 

Lenses (d4):

1. Polarized, can aim towards the light.

2. Anti-mist, can aim through fog and rain.

3. Night-vision, can aim in the dark.

4. Long-range, can aim 1.5x longer distance than gun would normally allow.

Perch-flight - You can automatically sense good sniping positions, and get +3 to any roll involving climbing or ascending to higher ground.

Twig-Nest - With an hour of work, you can modify your shade-suit into a ghillie perfectly suited for the position you're in. 

Ji Endo - While aiming, your body temperature lowers, your breathing slows, even your heartbeat quiets to the to the point of appearing medically dead.

Iron Sight - Aim scales 1 step faster - +2 at one round, +3 at 30 seconds, etc etc. Swapping lenses no longer takes you down a step. 

Freon Breather

Just because something brought about the apocalypse doesn’t meant it’s not still useful. Just the opposite, in fact, if something is capable of causing armageddon that simply stands as testament to its power. (This class nearly 1-1- plagiarized from Arnold's goblin kludger). 

Starting Items: Toolbox (d4 Wrench), Tank of Halocarbons

+1 Save per-template

A) Salvage Op, Running on Fumes

B) Shatterpoint

C) Overclock

D) Duct-Tape

Salvage Op - With a round of work, you can get nearly anything mechanical operating again. At the end of each round of activation, it has a 2-in-6 chance of breaking irrevocably.  

Running on Fumes - You can snort chemical fumes, taking d6-1 damage. For the next 10 minutes, you have +1 to all rolls. At the end of the 10 minutes, Save or take 2d6 damage. 

Shatterpoint - With a round of observation, you can tell how to irrevocably destroy any machine you examine. With a round of tinkering, you can rig it to break under (feasible, physical, simple) conditions you specify.

Overclock - With a round of work, you can rig any machine to operate at 2x capacity. At the end of each round of activation, it has a 4-in-6 chance of breaking irrevocably. 

Duct-Tape - Anything you fix with Salvage Op that survives 3 turns of activation is fixed permanently, with no further chance of breakage from use. Overclock now only breaks its target on a 3-in-6. 

Sunburnt

You have a really, really bad sunburn. Actually, that doesn't even really begin to cover it. Your condition is such that people looking at you don't so much gawk at especially red skin as gasp when they realize you're somehow still alive.

Starting Items: Full-body polyester robes, Rusty dagger (d4), Jar of Aloe Vera

+1 MD per-template

A) Aberrant Biology, +2 Mutations

B) Horizontal Gene Transfer

C) Teratomic Flesh, +1 Mutation 

D)  Recombinant

Aberrant Biology - You're physically hideous and nobody civilized will want to deal with you. On the bright side, some (not all) of your deformities are actually Mutations, which work exactly as spells, investing MD into them which return on a 1-3 and expend on a 4-6. You regain all spent MD every evening. Unlike normal MD, yours can be spent to regenerate, healing [sum]+[templates] at the cost of being automatically expended. Like normal MD, doubles and triples incur Mishaps and Dooms, respectively. 

Horizontal Gene Transfer - If you ingest the blood of another creature with Mutations , you have a [templates]-in-6 chance of gaining their Mutation for yourself. You can't repeat this roll by ingesting blood from the same source multiple times, you either gain them the first try or not at all.

Teratomic Flesh - If you infuse your blood into someone who doesn't already have Mutations, they must save vs death. On a success, they go into a coma for 1d6 hours and are reborn as an A-Template Sunburnt. On a failure, they die horribly. MD can now return as normal when used to heal. 

Recombinant - If you consume at least a gallon of fresh human blood (taken straight from living body), you return to normal human form for an hour for every gallon you consumed. The average adult human has ~1 gallon of blood in their body. MD now only expend on a 5 or 6. 

Lady of the Parasol

From the tunnel network beneath DC, President Larouche (blessed be his name) still claims the country. Sure, a great deal of people might be dead, but that's no reason to act like it's the end of the world! Somebody needs to maintain class in this decayed age - and if you have to be the one rising to conduct the (Verdi-tuned) Orchestra, so be it. 

Starting Items: Shade Umbrella,  Several sets of fine clothes, Concealed gun (d4)

+1 CHA per-template

A) Comportment, Introductions

B) Apologies, Commanding Voice

C) Silver Tongue

D) Blue-Blood

Comportment - It's immediately apparent from the way you move, speak, and dress, that you're of pedigree and status. Those who consider themselves on your level will be inclined to at least consider treating with you, and intelligent foes will try to take you alive for ransom.

Introductions - Add [templates] to any reaction roll made while you're leading the party. 

Apologies - You may Save vs social offense, on a success appeasing the other party and salvaging the situation.

Commanding Voice - You may command a hireling to take an action they never normally would, including those that risk their own life. They have a [templates]-in-6 chance of obeying. All future attempts to command the same servant in this way are made at a -1 penalty, which stacks with every future use.

Silver Tongue - Any information you tell someone that doesn't completely contradict whatever they already know or believe has a [templates]-in-6 chance of being taken as unquestioned fact.  

Blue Blood - Even unintelligent foes can sense your noble presence, and will target you last of all or even give you time to flee. 

Skinboy

In the days when ozone still hung overhead, it was easy to brush aside sunscreen as nothing more than hypochondriac obsession rather than medical necessity. Times are different now. 

Starting Items: Huge bottle of lotion (regular), Jar of Special lotion, Machete (d6)

+2 HP Per-Template

A) Birthday Suit, Creamery, +1 HP

B) Slippery, +1 To-Hit

C) +1 Damage, Extra Attack

D) Greased Lightning

Birthday Suit - When unclothed (unarmored, >90% skin exposed) and covered head-to-toe in lotion, you have armor as leather and get +[Templates] to AC and Saves. You can sunder your lotion and associated benefits to survive one full turn of uninterrupted sunlight, though you are still blinded.

Creamery - You have access to one of several recipes for medicinal lotions that grant special effects. Roll 1d6 on the list. Additional recipes may be acquired through play.

Slippery - If, while in Birthday Suit, someone in range of you makes an attack against you which misses, you may immediately make an extra melee attack against them (up to once a turn). 

Greased Lightning - While in Birthday Suit, you always win initiative. 

Appendix: Spells, Mishaps/Dooms, Lotions

Mutation (d10)

1. Gasbags. Appears on user as an enormous set of blisters across the shoulders and back. Inflate with buoyant gas, slowing up to [sum]x100 lbs mass (including the user) enough to drift softly to the ground and negate all fall damage. 
2. Pus cones. Appears on user as a large, protruding acne nodule on the side of the face. Expel a mass of slick grease, [dice]x10ft in area, up to [sum]x10ft away, forcing anyone who moves through or past it to Save or be knocked prone. 
3. Adhesive saliva. Manifests as a perpetual state of drool running down the face. Spit a jet of salivary glue which solidifies on impact, [sum]x15ft in length, and which binds and immobilizes anyone it hits. At 1MD, has the strength and consistency of superglue. At 2MD, it has the consistency of wet paper. At >4MD, it's as strong as steel cable. 
4. Pheromone Tag. Appears as coat of small tendrils ringing the nostrils. Can secrete a chemical scent mark onto anything you touch, which is simultaneously extremely volatile (in the aromatic sense) and nearly impossible to wash off. Until the compounds denature in [dice] weeks, you can smell their location with pinpoint accuracy for [sum]x10 miles. 
5. Sporeburst - Appears as a series of cyan-ringed cavities across the skin. Release a cloud of black spores in a [sum]*30ft sphere centered around the body, obstructing vision for [dice] rounds with good ventilation and [dice] minutes with bad. At 3 or more dice, everyone save the user must save or take d4 damage every round they start or end inside the spore-cloud. 
6. Pulse Glands - Appears as a set of red, ridged bumps at the base of the head and across the spinal column. Release a weak electric pulse that detects metallic objects and living things within [sum]x2 inches on land or [sum]x2 feet in water. If discharged point-blank, deal [sum]/2 damage, rounding down. 
7. Corrosive Discharge - Manifests as a perpetual coldness and clamminess of the skin. Over the course of 10 minutes, the users secretions eat through [sum]x2 lbs of flesh, wood, or fiber, [sum] lbs of rock, bone, or plastic, or [sum]/2 lbs of metal. 
8. Adhesive Pads - Appears as pronounced discs, wrinkled in trilateral spiral, on fingertips, toes, palms, and flats of feet. Moistens, allowing adhesion to and effortless climbing of surfaces for [sum]x2 minutes. At 2 or more dice, adhesion is powerful enough to flay most things if pulling away from attached skin without releasing the pads. 
9. Extraneous Eyes. Appears as several additional wandering, unfocused eyes spread across the head. Can be made to focus, granting [dice] of: 360-degree vision, near-microscopic short-range visual clarity, nigh-instant scanning of large fields of view, +1 to-hit with ranged weapons for [sum] minutes. 
10. Fetal Mind. Appears as a full-sized, sleeping baby head somewhere on the body. Can be made to listen into speech in an unknown language, with a [dice]-in-6 chance of being able to learn the basics and thereafter transmit a (warped, inexact) translation to you. Does not work on recordings, as it depends on tactile and pheromonal cues for the operation of its learning instinct, and if used on a new language immediately forgets the old one. 

Legendary Mutation - Clonecyst. No external manifestation. Allows the creation of a desiccated, embryonic clone somewhere in the body, which, an hour after the death of the exterior body, has a [dice]-in-6 chance of germinating as a viable clone of the original, retaining memories, personality, and level. Dice used to cast Clonecyst are "bound" in it and cannot be returned until it the mutation is dispelled or activated. 

Mutant Mishaps (d6):

1. Take d6 damage
2. Deplete 1 MD
3. Take d6 damage and deplete 1 MD
4. Take 2d6 damage, recover 1 MD 
5. Take 2d6 damage, gain a new mutation
6. Doom

Mutant Dooms:

1. You lose control of your character for 10 minutes, during which time you are animalistic, violent, and hostile to everything and everyone around you. When you regain control, you have a new mutation.

2. You lose control of your character for 1 hour, during which time you are again animalistic, violent, and universally hostile to everything and everyone around you. When you regain control, you have a new mutation. 

3. All your MD are restored and you become a feral monster under the control of the GM, again violent, unintelligent, and hostile to all. 

Lotions (d10): 

1. Black Earth - +2 AC, -1 to-hit 
2. Red Clay - +2 to-Hit, -1 AC
3. Ash Mud, +10 ft of speed
4. Tiger Balm, +1 Save 
5. Wrinkle Cream, +1 Cha 
6. Green Earth, +1 Int
7. Elephant Mud, +1 Wis
8. Train Oil, +2 temporary HP
9. Diving Cream, Waterproof
10. Sunscreen, Survive instant death from energy at 1 HP, sunders lotion

War in the Land of Poppies (Campaign Pitch - Afghan Dungeon Crawl)

It is October 7th, 1984, and you are a young man in a rural village in soviet-occupied afghanistan.

As a man, you have two first names. The first (d6) is a common islamic name, your subordinate name, the second (d20) is the less common name by which you are actually known.  

Subordinate name (d6)

1. Mohammed

2. Abdul

3. Gholam

4. Ali

5. Khan

6. Jah

7. Shah

8. Din

Personal name (d20)

1. Nabi

2. Ghafoor

3. Jangi

4. Madad

5. Ahmad

6. Nasim

7. Akhtar

8. Sharif

9. Sakhi

10. Zaman

11. Qadir

12. Waleed

13. Ghulam

14. Fahim

15. Akram

16. Latif

18. Zubair

19. Sayd

20. Agha 

Roll stats 3d6-down-the line. If you have STR 14+, you are taller than 5'6, and if you have STR 16+, you're a giant (taller than 5'11). If you have CON 14+, you aren't addicted to opium.  If you have Int 14+, you know a language other than Pashto (choose: Dari, Uzbek, Turkmen, Urdu, Pashayi, Nuristani, Balochi, Arabic, Russian, or English), and if you have INT 16+ you can read and write. If you have WIS 14+, you have a half-decent grasp of islamic orthopraxy, and if you have WIS 16+, you have enough quran memorized to pretend you're a proper hafiz. 

One of your cousins, a goatherd of unfortunately low intelligence, came stumbling into the village a few days ago absolutely terrified, claiming to have discovered a fortress of jinn hidden in the mountains. A crevice had opened up in a cliff he grazes his herd around occasionally... he wandered in, finding a huge complex of ornately sculpted stone, but barely fled with his life after he saw one of the jinn approaching down the hall, saved by the glint of light reflecting off its silver skin. You'd discount him, but he brought with him a bronze kaffir statuette he claims he took from the site - jinn or no jinn, it's clearly of high-quality craftsmanship. You've heard rumors that the farang buy these sorts of thing, and if there's more of these artifacts in whatever ruin he happened across their sale could bring your clan some much-needed cash. 

It's taken some time to calm him down now, but at last you've been able to convince him to lead you to the "jinn fortress". You're with a party of twelve of your kinsmen, all young men like yourself. Combined, you carry with you fifty-million afghanis worth of equipment split between tools, food, fuel, and weapons (~$1,000 USD, which is ~$3,000 USD 2026). Your goal is to enter the ruin, pry out anything of value, and take as much back as you can carry. 

You don't quite realize yet exactly what it is you're entering, but both the promise and danger of the enterprise you've now embarked on is far beyond your current comprehension. If you survive the hazards of the ruin, and that is certainly an open question, you will quickly become very wealthy men, though your party is sure to be reduced in the process. In a time and a place like this, wealth is itself a dangerous thing to have, and its accumulation sure to draw the attention of the powers that be. KHAD and Mujhadeen will both be showing up on your doorstep, seeking to seize your discovery for themselves, but lucky you, the horrors below will have hardened you for those above, and the one nice thing about living through a war with so many fronts is that guns and bodies aren't hard to buy.

Get in loser, we're going to jihad

INSERT TEXT HERE (GLOG Class: Template)

CLASS: TEMPLATE

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Starting Skill: 1. Lorem ipsum, 2. Lorem ipsum, 3. Lorem Ipsum 

Starting Items: Lorem ipsum, Lorem ipsum, Lorem Ipsum, Lorem Ipsum

A: A1, A2,

B: B1

C: C1

D: D1

A1

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A2

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B1

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B2

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C1

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D1

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Δ- Lorem Ipsum

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Δ- Lorem Ipsum

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, connectetur adipiscing elit, sed do euismod tempor incident ut labore et dolore magna aligua. 

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, connectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incident ut labore et dolore magna aligua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irere dolor in reprehendit in voluptae velit sse cillum dolore eu fuggita nulla pariatur

Δ- Lorem Ipsum

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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, connectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incident ut labore et dolore magna aligua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irere dolor in reprehendit in voluptae velit sse cillum dolore eu fuggita nulla pariatur.

Spells (d12)

1. Lorem Ipsum Dolor

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2. Lorem Ipsum Dolor

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3. Lorem Ipsum Dolor

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4. Lorem Ipsum Dolor

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5. Lorem Ipsum Dolor

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6. Lorem Ipsum Dolor

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7. Lorem Ipsum Dolor

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8. Lorem Ipsum Dolor

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9. Lorem Ipsum Dolor

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10. Lorem Ipsum Dolor

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11. Lorem Ipsum Dolor

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12. Lorem Ipsum Dolor

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Bauble (d20)

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3. Lorem Ipsum. Dolor sit amet, connector advising lit, sed do euismod temper incident ut labore et dolore magna alligna. 

4. Lorem Ipsum. Dolor sit amet, connector advising lit, sed do euismod temper incident ut labore et dolore magna alligna. 

5. Lorem Ipsum. Dolor sit amet, connector advising lit, sed do euismod temper incident ut labore et dolore magna alligna. 

6. Lorem Ipsum. Dolor sit amet, connector advising lit, sed do euismod temper incident ut labore et dolore magna alligna. 

7. Lorem Ipsum. Dolor sit amet, connector advising lit, sed do euismod temper incident ut labore et dolore magna alligna. 

8. Lorem Ipsum. Dolor sit amet, connector advising lit, sed do euismod temper incident ut labore et dolore magna alligna. 

9. Lorem Ipsum. Dolor sit amet, connector advising lit, sed do euismod temper incident ut labore et dolore magna alligna. 

10. Lorem Ipsum. Dolor sit amet, connector advising lit, sed do euismod temper incident ut labore et dolore magna alligna. 

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20. Curio (d6)

1. Lorem ipsum 
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3. Lorem ipsum
4. Lorem ipsum
5. Lorem ipsum
6. Lorem ipsum

DISCUSSION

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MEN WHO WALK AS BEASTS, AND BEASTS WHO WALK AS MEN

The men of the east fear death. Episcopal priests, sermonizing on gilt steps in the great cathedra of the old world, apostolic monks, meditating in silence as the faithful gather on the sand below to see the withered bodies of the holy man of the pillar, restorationist pastors, delivering fiery sermons beneath moldy canvas to the humble farmers of the new colonies; their practice is dissimilar, but their object identical. The ascension holy men seek is ascension to the life immortal, ascension beyond of the ultimate fate of all men. This is the root of the law of the umbrella, the reason mankind depends on the Tathagata. Without His intercession, uncleansed by His purifying waters and unenlightened by His illuminating flame, man is doomed to moulder in the grave, to wander the land as ghosts and ghouls as their flesh rots and their memories fade til at last the world is extinguished and they with it, gone forever into the black sea of nothingness.

 The five cantons of the Dileigh Confederacy have been less than receptive to this soteriology, for they do not believe in the finality of death. 

When a man of the Dileigh dies, he does not rise as a ghost or ascend to the pure land of paradise. Instead, he is reborn in animal form, in the land of the dead far across the sea. When he dies in the land of the dead, he will be born again to the Dileigh as a human babe. In this way, the Dileigh already know immortality, for their souls never leave the tribe, only briefly vacation away from it. They need no external savior, for as long as their dead are buried with the mask of the animal they will become, the proper rites administered, and their soul carried off by the crows, their future eternal is secure.  

The Dileigh have cousins in the land of the dead, for the reincarnation is circular and flows both ways. The animals of the present world are men in the hereafter. Each of the cantons is born as a different sort of beast when they die, and so they recognize that animal as their own kin, just out of step. They are Cougar, Bear, Wolf, Bobcat, Eagle, and Whale. They are sacred - which doesn't mean they can't be hunted, just that they need to be treated with respect. To kill an animal means to send them back to their people, after all, and it is important to ensure that their departure is properly celebrated to avoid causing offense. 

All other peoples also reincarnate as animals in the land of the dead, and all the animals of the world of the living are people in the land of the dead. They don't know it, though, they have no control over the process, and so they reincarnate as prey, as deer and rabbit and salmon and turkey and all the other meat-animals placed on earth for eating. Only the Dileigh reincarnate as predators, only they the secret arts that give them mastery over the cycle and mark them as rulers of the world. 

It is the natural right of the predator to take his prey, and so of course there is nothing wrong at all the slaughter either of wild game or the barbarians with the souls of such. Even for game, though, a certain level of ritual must be observed - nothing so elaborate as the ceremonies for the carnivore kin, but some basic respect is necessary, and taking in excess ought to be avoided, for when many prey die angry, the ranks of the barbarians and their hostility swells in the next world. When the barbarians swell in number, and begin to make war on the Dileigh, it is because their cousins across the sea have taken too much game, and sent their souls over without observing the proper rites. When the hunting is especially good, and game is abundant and easy to reach, it is because the same cousins have achieved great glory in war, and slain many barbarians. Thus, the cousins must be placated, for it is on their observance of the proper rites that the Dileigh of the living-world depend, and vice versa.

The breach of the special relation can be incurred not only through communal neglect, but by individual corruption, and so to there are individual methods of subverting the cycle and reaching to the other world before one's natural time. There are three ways in which the cycle is subverted.

When one of the kin-beasts is killed with profound disrespect, to the point of active disrespect, they are carried off to the next world carrying a grudge they cannot enact. Sometimes, this grudge is of such strength that they cannot bear to pass on, and so when crow comes to carry them away, they play a trick. As soul-form, they walk away from their body, and then lie in the dirt and cry out in distress - when crow comes to collect them, they look to them and beg them for help. "Oh cousin Crow", they say, "While you carried me across the sea the spray slicked your talons, and so I slid through and fell onto the earth. While you carried me across the sea, the crack of the thunder loosened your grip, and so I slid through and fell onto the earth. While you carried me across the sea, the winds shook me out of your grasp, and so I slid through and fell onto the earth. Oh cousin Crow, pick me up once more and finish your journey, bring me to the people of this land". 

And so they do, and the kin-beast is reincarnated in human form in the world of the living, not the land across the sea. The result is birth in right form but wrong world, the right sequence but the wrong step, and the person so born is a "Chugal". A liminal entity, they are born already half-dead, a ghost drawn by the order of the world to the land across the sea - their skin pale and cold to the touch, their movements slow, their speech strange, their minds overfilled, the animal memories that drove them to hang on crowding out their instincts and customs as a man or woman. This is the world they come to in the cloak of the beast, and so in donning it they can become briefly as they are meant to, a human cloak of an animal-cloaked soul inside the cloak of an animal, stalking unseen with silent pulse, slipping out alone to avenge themselves on their enemies from a past life. 

When one of the Dileigh dies bearing a strong grudge, they play a different trick. They do not journey to the next world at all - instead, when Cousin crow comes for them, they rise wrapped in the skin of the beast and thank Crow for their safe delivery, laying a kiss on crow's black-feathered cheek and showering them in such adulation that Crow forgets the funeral dirge and the deceased waves them goodbye without ever being carried off across the sea. Left behind by the psychopomp, they reincarnate themselves, again in wrong world but right step. Even more fearsome than half-dead with the grudge of beast and body of man is the beast-form with human grudge, and so far worse than the Chugal is the "Tungak".

Worse is when a Dileigh dies, grudge or not, and is left unburied, never wrapped in the skin, the rites never administered, no song to call the crows, and so they cannot go to the land across the sea. They walk the land as ghosts, looking for a skin with which to cloak themselves so that they may pass on - howling in grief, flaying whatsoever they touch with teeth and nail and wrapping themselves in cooling skins - without the administration of the living, though, all of it fails. Thus even more greatly feared is the third subversion, the "Usehoh" ghosts.

Chugal, Eagle-Canton

No. Appearing: 1, Treasure type: U

2 HD, AC: as Leather (7↧/13↥), Morale: 8

A man or woman of the Dileigh in traditional robes of barkcloth and buckskin, but with pale, clammy skin, a sharp beaked nose, and a utterly bizarre gait, legs moved as if directed by one who forgets that human legs do not bend forwards. Otherwise unremarkable, til he or she hikes up a hood of feathers and flies off in the form of a bird as large as a man.

Move: 90' (30'), Fly: 120' (40'), Intelligence: Very (12)

Attacks: 1 warclub (d6) or 2 claws (d4-d4) 

Special: Can don or doff the form of a giant eagle as a full-round action, swapping legs, club, and speech for flight and claws. 

Tungak, Whale-Skin

No. Appearing: 1, Treasure type: Nil

A great toothed whale, with all the fierce majesty implied, smooth, grey skin glimpsed briefly before the stroke of a fluked tail protects the awful thing beneath the waves. Not only skin, but black eyes, white flippers, and a small fin - utterly usual, save for one thing - the great teeth lining its mouth are ever so subtly heterodoxy. 

13 HD, AC as Chain (5↧/15↥), Morale: 10

Move: 15' (5'), Swim: 120' (40'), Intelligence: Average (10)

Attacks: Ram (4d6, doubled against structures) and Bite (6d6, grapples)  

Special: Nonmagical ranged weapon attacks against the Tungak are absorbed into the blubber on hit, dealing halved-damage. After accumulating 25 damage worth of such projectiles (before halving) the Tungak can, in addition to their normal attacks, release all absorbed projectiles from it's backside, forcing everyone within a 80' by 30' cone to save or take 2d6 damage.

Usehoh

No. Appearing: 1-3, Treasure type: U

An invisible something, visible only through the contours in the rotting, bloody hides that drape its form. It is raised upright, and seems something like a man, save the terrifying speed at which it shambles and the utter silence of its movement. 

2 HD, AC as Leather (7↧/13↥), Morale: 12

Move: 150 (50'), Intelligence: Average (8)

Attack: 2 Claws (d6)

Special: At half total hp, the Usehoh sheds its skin-cloak and becomes invisible. 

Santo Círian (GLOGMAS 25 Charity - for ROBOT FACE)

    In the late 1400’s, an irishman raised the banner of Portugal on a small island in the indian ocean. That irishman was Kieran O’Seachnasaigh, who in honor of St. Kieran the Younger, his own namesake, christened the new land Santo Círian, and whatever name had been used by the ones who were there already disappeared as they did - into the ground, beneath the fields of sugarcane which soon blanketed whatever arable land could be found. As the centuries passed, the name stuck, but the ownership of the island itself did not. 

    It changed hands between portuguese and spaniard, frenchmen and dutch, and eventually, finally, the english; gaining formal independence in the 1960's, as a constitutional monarchy with the queen as head of state, and then full independence when a socialist revolution seized power and declared a republic. Soviet advisors sent to aid with the modernization of the economy discovered the presence of an oil field just offshore, just in time for the oil-price spikes of the 70's. 

    The resulting economic boom brought prosperity to the island, prosperity that vanished when prices dropped, and the resulting discontent gave fertile soil for the (american-supported) democratic movement that toppled the socialist government and returned the island to a liberal democracy which never quite managed to return to the old living standards, but did manage to send the young back into the cane-fields. It did not, that is, until recently, when the depopulation of the persian gulf in the first wave of the invasion sent energy prices skyrocketing again. Of course, the renewal of drilling on the island meant the attention of the invaders that had cut off mainland supply in the first place... 

C-IDF (Círian Insular Defense Forces):

The military of Santo Círian, and, following the execution of the civilian government on charges of communist sympathies and collaboration with the alien enemy, the acting government of the island state. Lead by general Paul Campstock (Soldier B), the military has control of the capital and port, and has outsourced protection of the water system to Ogun's Hammer, but despite its best efforts its attempts to re-nationalize Círian Petroleum have been stymied by the refusal of the company to recognize the legitimacy of the military government, and attempts at the platform's recapture by force have so far failed, with the already small air and water forces completely wiped out in the first failed assault. At present, their forces consist of one mech (Campstock's), 3 tanks, and 3 infantry companies, spread out across the island.

In reality, Paul Campstock was replaced by a shapeshifting alien on the first day of the attacks, and the rest of the military leaders willingly sold out to the invaders due to promises  the true aim of the military is to destroy the oil rig as soon as possible, in order to further the energy crisis suffered by the human forces. They're aware that Ogun's Hammer would depose them should the truth come out, so they've been sent off to protect the water infrastructure and distracted with occasional half-hearted alien raids while the military prepares for their second assault, where the mercenaries will be distracted by the army while the growing alien threat attacks the rig from the seabed - an internet shutdown and radio jamming being deployed to prevent SCP from telling Ogun's Hammer about their true intentions.  

Ogun's Hammer PMC:

A mercenary company helmed and founded by the mech-pilot Oyin Afonja (Superhero C), hired by the civilian government of Santo Círian as security shortly before the attacks as insurance. They fended off the initial alien assault, stood by and did nothing when the coup was launched, and tolerated the orders of the new government to avoid pursuing the invaders and hold the line at the sewage treatment plant. But professionalism only goes so far - they might be happy as long as the junta keeps paying their retainer, but the lack of any action to root out the threat, and the total shutdown of the airwaves and closing of all outside communication is beginning to make them grow suspicious. Their force consist of Afonja himself, his business partner Abdiweli Mohammad (Superhero A), and one infantry company. 

SCP (Santo Círian Petroleum):

SCP was established with soviet aid as Santo Círian's state-run oil company, the chief source of national revenue for most of its existence. After the fall of the socialist regime, the company was privatized, but drilling ceased entirely as the countries ultra-heavy reserves proved uneconomic to extract at the lower oil prices that followed and the company went bankrupt. It was only far more recently that the new energy boom lead to the re-establishment of the corporation as a private entity, which was promptly acquired as a subsidiary by Marduk International. As the director of SCP, Leo Singh, was on the oil rig when the coup occurred, the junta was unable to seize control of the corporation, and its continued refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the island government is backed up by the force of the two biomecha (Lab Rat B x2) guarding the platform. The two mecha, Castor and Pollux, are the only guards of the platform, but they're more than sufficient - they quite easily eliminated the initial invasion force and continue standing guard against both human and alien assault. 

Marduk International is, in reality, not merely a normal human multinational corporation, but a shell for the Lyran security apparatus. The felinoids who first seeded humanity - not only on Earth but also on Mars and Venus - do not much appreciate the meddling of other aliens with their experiment before it's had the opportunity to run it's course, and so have spread biomechanical technology to the humans in order to fight back the invaders. Leo Singh is, of course, a Lyran himself, and as an alien in human guise himself suspects the C-IDF of alien infiltration, though as of yet has no actual evidence..  still, their reluctance to accept nationalization is not just corporate interest by any means, rooted insteadd in deeper plans to maintain the energy supply of the human forces to prevent their extinction.

I- Forest

An area of forest and mountain left undeveloped, though more as a source of lumber than as nature preserve. Hiding beneath the tree-cover, and venturing forth periodically to assail the mercenaries in IV are two Invaders, two Lernaeans and one Fortean. Though ordinarily their raids end in tactical retreats, if pursued here the aliens will not hesitate to fight to the brink of death  - only as their companions actually start falling while they flee, and when they do it will be running not towards the camp in tile IV (obviously) or their mother in tile II but the city in tile III, that the fight might cause more collateral damage.   

II- Crash Site

A small area of undeveloped forest, held close to the rim of the small mountain range of the northern half of the isle. Below the slopes lies an impact crater, 50' across and about as deep, the center of which is occupied by a 30' by 15' cylindrical capsule made of some strange alien metal. The outer walls of the alien pill are impenetrable against anything short of a nuclear shaped charge, but the queen-factory inside is totally blind and deaf as a consequence. It opens at a pre-set schedule every night at 12:30 AM, unsealing from the inside, pushing out the domed cap of it's front section on blood-slicked pistons, and waiting for exactly that time is the Pythian ravaging VII, dragging with it load of stolen agricultural machinery to feed to its mother. At the moment, one final batch of Invaders is being gestation-printed for the shortly upcoming assault on the rig, three amphibious Charbydians - at the landing of the players, two days remaining before they're ready for release and the invasion commences. Should the vulnerable queen be destroyed inside her shell, of course, no such release will ever be forthcoming, but if an attack commences every Invader on the island will rush to protect their mother (including Campstock).

III- City

The center of the island, Santo Círian city, the capital of and only settlement on the entire island nation. The C-IDF have imposed martial law - checkpoints around the city, 5pm curfew, total internet and radio blackout, ban on all communication - and brutally enforce their rigid measures. Stationed in the city are 1/3 of the C-IDF's infantry companies, 2/3 of it's tanks, and General Campstock himself, and his mech - angular, rugged, and currently equipped with Ablative Plate. 

IV- Infrastructure and Camp

Both the sewage treatment camp, water tank, and power plant are all located just outside the city here. Ogun's Hammer is here guarding all that critical infrastructure, and suffers periodic lightning raids from the Invaders hiding in tile I, though all such raids have easily been rebuffed. Their camp contains Afonja and his clean, caped mech wielding a Sagittarius bow, Abdiweli and his clean, symmetrical mech wielding a Master Sword, and the one Infantry Company of Ogun's Hammer. 

V- Oil Rig

The oil rig, just offshore and still pumping just past the reach of the junta. Castor and Pollux (both identically gaunt and smooth, Castor with a Flamethrower and Pollux with an Autocannon) stand over the platform like gargoyles, as Leo Singh continues to direct the company from the bowels of the machine below. 

VI- Port

This is the port of the island, the only way anything can get to or off the island with the airways shut down. The C-IDF control it, and stationed there are 2/3 of its Companies and 1/3 of its Tanks, ready to move immediately against any assault. They still permit the landing of private vessels so that the island has some measure of supply, but nobody is allowed to step on or off the island without special permission from General Campstock himself. 

VII- Cane fields

The sugarcane fields, lying fallow since the invasion as the farmers are to afraid to harvest- rightly so, as a Pythian Invader stalks the fields at day, attacking anyone it sees and dragging off whatever abandoned machinery, first into underground piles and then to the maw of it's mother in tile II. 

BESTIARY: (all entries using mech damage + health0

Tank

An ordinary military tank, if considerably outdated, not only in the sense that mechs have made tanks obsolete but that this one doesn't even have reactive armor plating or anything. 

HP d2+1, AC 10, Cannon +1 to-hit, d6 damage (long)

Special: Can't be knocked Prone

Infantry Company

About a hundred guys with guns - an unstoppable threat dismounted, a complete joke inside a mech. 

HP d4+2, AC 8, Gun barrage +5-to-hit, d2 damage (long)

Special: Can't miss at close or melee range

Invader, Charbydian 

An amphibious invader that looks like someone crossed a lobster with a tarantula, then fused the resulting monstrosity with a, tunnel-boring machine, then spray-painted the entire thing vantablack.  

HD 4, AC 12, Masticator claw +3-to hit, d8 damage (melee)

Special: AC 18 in water, can tolerate seabed conditions without damage

Invader, Fortean

A tall bipod invader - like a disembodied pair of limbs, which instead of growing up to a torso terminates in a crown of iridescent fronds, at all times crackling with energy and whirling around, periodically flashing with light as the Invader tears through spacetime to appear somewhere it could simply have walked to. 

HD 2, AC 14, Meltblaster +3-to hit, d6 damage (close)

Special: Can, instead of attacking, teleport it and one other mech it's touching into Long range

Invader, Lernaean

A regenerating invader notable for it's unique composition - not hard organometallic alloys in an actuated exoskeleton, but a plastic soft-robot with a hydraulic endoskeleton, its internal fluids infused with nanotech machinery that heals damage to the invader in real time. 

HD 2, AC 10, Wormdrills +2-to hit, d6 damage (close)

Special: Regenerate d4 hp/turn, only dies if ends turn at negative hp after regenerating. 

Invader, Pythian

An invader evoking something like a metallic, terrestrial polychaete, a segmented worm with thousands of bristly claws for pushing itself through the ground - the chief difference being its organometallic composition, its vastly increased size, and the horrible grinding machine it has for a mouth. 

HD 3, AC 14, Drillmaw +3-to hit, d8 damage (melee)

Special: Can, instead of attacking in a turn, burrow, gaining AC 18 while underground and retaining full-speed. Can attack from below, but doing so automatically causes surfacing and necceditates another round of not attacking to slip back underground.