Sawtooth Settlement (Or My Best Post To Date)

Sawtooth Settlement 

High in the mountains, but not so high the trees grow small is a place where sawblades sing and transformers hum. Hidden between the tall trees and rushing ice melt forming the headwaters of the Gunnison River are the buildings and people of Sawtooth Settlement. 

Rough homesteaders send fresh cut old growth logs down river. Among them are the engineers of the Hailstone Dam Corporation who operate the hydroelectric dam that powers much of the region. Many homes maintain a Currant mound to store the extra electricity generated by the dam.

Gym Leader- Marlon Jackson and his partner Fityson take all challengers at the Felling Field. He emphasizes combinations and using the environment to win.

Hailstone Dam

Massive hydroelectric dam that powers the entire region. Recently purchased by the Iron Rail Co.

• Bridge - the top of the dam is a quartermile long and 200 ft above the Gunnison River used to power the dam. Massive sluice gates control flow through the penstock and control power generation. Lovers come here to watch the sunset over the plains while Nutwig and Daggird swoop and dive for food.
• Turbine Chamber - Below the powerhouse a massive turbine hums in a circular concrete chamber as water falls through it from hundreds of feet above down into the Gunnison River. Accessible through a pressure sealed hatch. Highly dangerous to access if the sluice gates aren’t closed. 
• Generator - The central feature of the powerhouse. Wrist thick cables, stray sparks, and operation terminals. It’s all too complicated. 50% chance Jasper is here double checking a reading.
• Transmission - Miles of cables and steel frames. Electrical hum and red signs warn of the danger. Fences keep the stray monster from wandering through and getting fried. Ele Wattson is in the tower overlooking the transformers. 50% chance Jasper is here installing a new line.

Jasper Fields - Head engineer of Hailstone Power Corp. Designed the dam himself and feels personally responsible for providing power to the Ichi Plains. Hopeful Ele Watson will get relocated back to Cingo if he can show she’s incompetent or worse, but he’s too distracted spending time with Mia Rivers and her Milkitty.
What Can You Do For Him?

• Check the penstock is clear, for some reason the turbine isn’t generating as much power as records indicate.
• Find out who is cooking the books and diverting power from the lines.
• Take his report to Iron Rail Headquarters

Ele Watson - The Iron Rail Co installed new CEO of Hailstone Power Corp. Shipped here from her home in Cingo to ensure power is diverted to secret Team Hadron facilities throughout the region without notice or interruption. She’s having trouble fudging the power charts without Jasper noticing.
What Can You Do For Her?

• Get blackmail on Jasper. Reward: Casino Pass In Wyico
• Divert a line from Snowmass Village distribution to Facility Gamma
• Something has escaped from Facility Gamma, Get it back!

Marlon’s Logging Co

Marlon inherited his Father’s company when he passed in a logging accident. His attention is spread thin, but he spends several nights a week here managing things. The camp is a half days journey down range nestled against the Gunnison River.

• Lumber Mill - Large buzzing saw blades turn with water wheel set into the flowing Gunnison. Piles of unprocessed logs are hauled in for processing by loggers and their muscular monsters before being loaded onto barges.
• Aurox Barn - Rows of stalls with metal gates filled with the hulking metal monsters called Aurox. A drum of oil with a hand pump and spray nozzle sits at one end for keeping the beasts lubricated and happy.
• Smithy - Hot coal fire ringed with bellows. Saw blades, angle grinders, hammers, and other varieties of tools line the walls and workbenches. A grease covered Currant sits in the corner to power tools that require it.
• Logging Camp - A dozen tents and half a dozen log buildings along a slow stretch of the river including: root house, saw shed, cook house, and sleeping quarters.
• Felling Field - The active edge of the camp. Aurox haul logs back to the mill while loggers work in pairs to fell massive trees. An easy place for accidents to happen.

Marlon Jackson - A burly man with a beard as thick as the forest, and few words. His partner Fityson shares his strength. Gym Leader and owner of the fumbling Marlon’s Logging Co. He struggles to balance logging productivity and home life. His wife Mia suffers for it. Wants to sell the company to Iron Rail Co. by getting on Ele Watson’s good side so he can spend more time in town.
What can you do for him?

• Bring these flowers to Mia at sunset.
• Get the Iron Rail Co. to send more barges up river so my father’s business doesn’t go under..
• Watch things here while I deal with Jasper…

Bill Trencher - Senior Log Hand at Marlon’s. He is a devout follower of the Way. Wants to buy out Marlon, but things have been rocky since Marlon’s dad died in a logging accident that cost Bill his hand. Despite his gruff exterior, his nurturing side is a predominant aspect and he often appears nursing injured legamon to health.
What can you do for him?

• Clear the Grumaul jam down river.
• The men woke up to a dense covering of webs over the felling field and their equipment. Clear out the webs and chase off those spiders.
• Talk some sense into Marlon, I’m the best man to run this company.

The Settlement

A smoky village in the wooded mountains of the Crown Range. Log cabins are common. The town is built around a central square with three carved totems that you can see from the porch of Momma Mia’s Cafe.

• Momma’s - Famous for baked good and creams, Mia runs this shop with her partner Milkitty. Cozy, fire-warmed, popular. Hot milk drinks and pastries are for purchase.
• Post Office - Doubles as an internet cafe with a single wire passed among the trees down toward Utico. Has a stable for traveller’s monsters and a utilitarian bunk house.
• Square - Three totems stand together in the center of the town. They are older than the settlement around them. Some hold they are old markers carved by followers of The Way.

Mia Rivers (Momma) - Flour covered apron and gentle smile. She is the best baker in the region in part because there is nothing else to do in the lonely hours when Marlon is away at the log camp. A friendship with Jasper is growing warmer by the day which has only complicated her life.
What can you do for her?

• Take these deliveries for me, I’m meeting a friend.
• Oh no! Milkitty is sick, send for the Dr. in Snowmass Village!
• Take these cakes to Marlon to remind him I exist.

Local Events

1. Grey Out! Lillipod have blocked the dam’s intake again. Gotta clear them out.
2. Spider and Seek! Three trainers in town have had their partner Legamon go missing at night and found sticky webs when they went to find them. (The webs lead to a tower infested with Arachnice and their mysterious leader)
3. The Case of the Stolen Stromboli! An important guest is arriving to the Hailstone Hearth, Maggie’s Grandma! Find her stolen recipe book in time for her to make her favorite recipe. (Maggie explains that a Mtake with a scarf around its neck grabbed the book and jumped out the window when her back was turned)..
4. Shifting Shiftiki! Marlon needs to map a deeper part of the forest. There are rumors of an old Way shrine and he wants to avoid logging too near to them. (The shrine is guarded by a single injured Sharpain, but the shrine’s Shiftiki is nowhere to be found.)
5. Tricky Twigrouse! A local trainer has gone missing after what was supposed to be a short trip into the forest. (A tricky Twigrouse has led him astray by mimicking the voice of his sister. The monster will try the same tricks with the trainers).
6. Lilipod Washout! A group of lilipod are being sucked out of the reservoire’s overflow due to high water levels. If they can’t form a critical mass of pods, the Festival on the Water and their mating season will be ruined.

Starting Out

Electric element enthusiast Jasper Fields is the town’s leading expert on Currant mounts. In between installations and inspections he also is happy to provide new trainers with their very first monster.

• Daggird, the stealthy bird legamon.(Flying) Daggird are nearly impossible to see at night. They use this to their advantage and are nocturnal hunters., Preferring to stab their target unawares.
• Milkitty, the cream legamon. (Normal) Fur as soft as cream, Milkitty help feed the family and keep the barn free from vermin.
• Zebrex, the electric hoof legamon. (Electric) Zebrex are often found hiding in tall grass. During droughts their hooves spark and set off grass fires.

Scaffold of Disaster

I used a technique to design this village that I am referring to as the scaffold of disaster that I picked up from a careful look at the excellent Owe My Soul To The Company Store where it is used to set up a social sandbox teetering on the brink of calamity. I deeply want all of my towns and dungeons and settings to teeter in this way so I mimicked what I saw and the result is what you just read. It is my best and most gameable content to date in my opinion.

Here is a useful schematic to track the drama and trace back the fall out should the PCs resolve any of these ties.

T O W E R D U N G E O N

Click Here For Hack

I read a manga. I'm not a manga head, but this one was linked in the OSR server and I took a peak. After reading, I briefly tried to find other enjoyable manga to read online and took immeasurable psychic damage. I'm not sure if I'll recover.

But before my brain melts into a puddle of ooze, I have used this inspiration induced fugue to create a hack. It is about climbing the T O W E R D U N G E O N and contains little to no unique or interesting ideas created by me. 

I rip, borrow, and steal from several sources and mash them together without hardly editing them. This is what I do when my goal is to make a fun game to play with friends and not to write a cool blog post. So consider this me sharing some prep. 

Sources include the manga called something like Dungeon Tower or visa versa, Wolves on the Coast, White Hand wizards from Skerples who took it almost whole cloth from Arnold K, and town rules taken directly with minimal editing from Mad Queen's Court who developed the idea from Arrogant Wizard.

The result is a game about dying in a dangerous tower while trying to rescue the princess. Each subsequent party will have more knowledge than those who died before and a more robust town to support them. This includes more/better hirelings, unlocked classes, better smiths and markets, etc.

I have the first floor of the dungeon completed and the next ten mapped out. So, let's see what happens.

Summon ye, the Wise-ard!

Early “lunch hour” class today. What if wizards could be boiled down in the same way the fighter was? 

Courts are filled with magicians, masses gather in temples for the wisdom of god. These prophets and priests follow the well trod paths to wisdom and power. Study, practice, listen carefully to master, learn well before you act. They forget this ancient lesson. Fortune favors the bold.

When the hills grow dark with the shadow of evil,

When those who know better turn their back on the great flaming eye,

When whispers of an evil once banished find their way your ears,

When the prophecy long lost and largely forgotten holds the crucial kernel of truth,

Summon ye, the wise-ard.

The Wise-ard

Mastery of the self is the first and least of the lessons you have learned. It is but a step on the road to true power. And power is what is needed. Forces not understood and armies unseen threaten the realm and there is no time for earned wisdom. It must be taken.

The Wise-ard cannot have a position of status in your setting. They are necessarily an outsider and disruptor. Their goals are inscrutable and aim singular. They are not easily diverted or distracted into the comfortable categories those in power would thrust upon them and they will bear warnings of cataclysm. Their mission will certainly be opposed.

Skills: 1. Drinking, 2. Doom saying, 3. Manipulation, 4. Flirting, 5. Courtesy, 6. Oratory

Starting Equipment: Robes that are comfortable and easy to wear, a tall and striking hat that makes you immune to being ignored, an acquaintance in every town, a small and easily overlooked golden ring, a satchel of fireworks. 

A Self Possession, Purveyor of Cheap Tricks

B Older Paths

C Master of One

D Reflection

Self Possession - You cannot be compelled to do something you do not want to do. This does not account for physical force, or death, or mightier wizards, but does count for charms, ruses, diseases, blackmail and the like. Save to act for the benefit of others if there is no clear and immediate benefit to you. You are always as beefy or athletic or scrawny as you prefer with stats to reflect this.

Purveyor of cheap tricks - You may manifest minor magical effects. These include classical spells such as mage hand, prestidigitation, minor illusion.

Older Paths - When you ruminate and smoke select herbs from your pipe, you are able to determine the steps to accomplishing a goal. You must be personally committed to the goal. This includes routes across the earth, pieces of magical rituals, necessary implements such as keys, and who knows what it is that you don’t know. This does not include the steps to accomplish the goals of others. You are not a soothsayer, oracle, or prophet. You are a wise-ard.

Master of One - Select a single mighty working of legend. Lightning Ray, Dimensional Portal, Killing Finger, Commune of Angels, Walking Dead, Explosion, Become Animal, Hastega, or any other. Choose wisely, ye of unearned wisdom. This spell is now your constant companion, but will be your doom. 

Roll a d6 each time you cast it, plus 1 for each recent use of the spell. On a 5+ you take d6 damage as the spell fries the breaches you, its conduit.

If you are playing GLOG (good for you, good for you) then this spell is always cast with 4 dice. Mishaps and dooms are irrelevant as this so-called wise-ard will soon kill themself with this power. If you are using another system and have somehow found this post, my god, what have you done?

Reflection - Your mastery grows and with it your appearance is altered. Other spells that share a common thread with your constant companion are now under your command. Casting these spells does not require a hazard roll as before, but does increase your bonus to that hazard roll.

Companion, accompanying spells, accompanying spells, accompanying spells

Lightning Ray, shocking touch, animate metal, static trap, static cling

Dimensional Portal, blink, knock, hold portal, lock, locate key, talking stones

Killing Finger, accurate missiles, agony, poison cloud, bifurcate

Commune of Angels, command, consecrate, light, banish

Walking Dead, empower dead, corpse jar, soul walk, seem lifeless

Explosion, smokescreen, meteor shower, burning fan, wall of fire

Become Animal, summon squirrels, call bear, fairy moot, speak with birds

Hastega, mend, flight, shield, invisible barrier, invisible servant