Gaming in the Universe of: G. I. Joe

Recently I asked for some help from fellow RPG Bloggers writing these articles.  The response was larger than I anticipated.  Quite a few folks volunteered to write some GitUo articles.  Michael Morrison of the Rhetorical Gamer was the first turn in this little gem.  He’s mining G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra for your D&D campaign

G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra as reviewed by the family.

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra is one of those over-the-top, wild action blockbusters that resonates with fans and non-fans alike, for the explosions, the new takes on old characters and the obvious invincibility of its main characters.  No matter your opinion of this current movie incarnation of the 80s military cartoon, the movie offers up some interesting inspirations for a DM. 

Feeling lazy?  You could just “steal” a huge chunk of the plot and have a mini-campaign for your players.  Imagine if you will, the characters are travelling the countryside, looking for adventure, and they enter a Barony where the old Baron died a while back and his Baroness (yes, that’s right…) is now ruling the area with an iron fist.  She has taken a new lover, a knight who goes into battle wearing a shining silver helm, and they have begun building up their power.  They are taxing the locals into the dirt, building up their military and performing terror raids against their neighbors.  And then, just when the PCs get really into the fight, when they really think this Baroness is the worst of the worst…  You spring the surprise.

She’s being dominated/blackmailed/cursed by a powerful cult of serpent worshippers.  What fantasy world doesn’t have an evil snake cult or two?  And you’ve layered on the next set of challenges for the PCs to face.

This idea works well in the new D&D 4e “Points of Light” type settings, because without a central authority it is a lot easier for small nobles to fight one another in this way.  And with the Yuan-ti, and now psionics have joined in with the release of Player’s Handbook 3, you have a custom built mindbending snake cult.  Also, the transition between fighting the Baroness and fighting the snake cult is a good transition from heroic to paragon tier.  A solid turning point for a game.

Without being so blatant, the movie has much more to offer.  Imagine a kingdom, recovering from a devastating war, a young king in need of champions.  He goes to the veterans of this war and forms a team of the finest warriors, heroes, mages, and everything else to protect the kingdom.  You would be spies, diplomats, undercover operatives, warriors, and whatever else the kingdom needs.  Sounds very much like a group of adventurers.  Now imagine what happens when you are captured, in an allied city, after failing to protect that city from the destruction wrought by the people you were sent to stop?  Who bails you out?  And of course, who doesn’t want to be a ninja?

GI Joe has far more to offer than I can reasonably go into here…  Watch it again, think about your game, or your next game, and see what might fit.  You might be surprised.

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Needing an RPG blogger to help with GitUo articles (Gaming in the Universe of…)

Good Day.

Due in no small part to my current day job taking more time than the last one did, my posting schedule has gone from daily to erratic.  I find myself back-logged on articles that need to be written for reviews that have already been finished.  Looking at my schedule, I ask myself do I want to cut writing, playing, or family time?

As playing time and family time are usually the same (RPG is a family experience in the V.S. household).  Writing time is the one that gets cut first.  Since I am cutting into writing time, I had to take stock of what is it that I really want to write.  I didn’t want to give up my RPG/fan fic www.ksfcommand.com  and I didn’t want to give up the family movie reviews.  What has fallen by the wayside has been the GitUo articles.

What I’m looking for is an RPG blogger who’d like to take on the GitUo articles for the movies has reviewed by the V.S. household.  I’ll write the review and you would write the GitUo article.  If you have your own blog we would post reciprocal links in the articles.  If you do not currently have your own blog I will happily post the articles here.

Contact me through replies, e-mail or Facebook if interested.

Gaming in the Universe of… Night at the Museum

Night at the Museum 2: Battle for the Smithsonian as reviewed by the family:

The Night at the Museum movies are set in our modern world.  There aren’t any superpowered beings.  Larry, the night watchman, is a normal guy who happens, according to his son, have the coolest job in the world.  The whole kernel of inspiration in both movies is an extended dungeon crawl.  The one unique thing from this film series is the tablet of Ahkmenrah.

 The tablet of Ahkmenrah, however, is a pretty powerful artifact.  Based on the events of the movies, the table brings to life mummified remains, skeletal remains, stuffed remains, sculpted representations of living organisms, paintings and sculptures.  The tablet also turns photographs into portals to the period being photographed.  Properly used it can open other portals as well.

Having statues come to life is nothing new to D&D.  This concept has been used by more than one DM, I’m sure.  However you could send your PCs out on a quest to recover the tablet.  Some evil wizard may want it for his own nefarious purposes.  Or a Lawful/Good wizard may want to safeguard this powerful artifact.  Whatever you as a DM decide, make SURE that the PCs enter the dungeon housing the artifact after the sun goes down.

Tablet of Ahkmenrah: A Magical Artifact
After sundown the Tablet of Ahkmenrah is capable of bring to life the remains of any living creature.  Skeletons will become animated.  Stuffed and mummified remains will regain their full undecomposed bodies.  Manufactured, carved, or constructed representations of life, will be given a sentient personality.

All creatures/humanoids revert to their “unliving” state when the sun rises.  The life cycle is similar to our wake/sleep cycle, for all intents and purposes, daylight is when they sleep.  Constructed representations of specific entities retain the knowledge of the entity they represent as well as the knowledge of what they actually are.  It is unknown whether a representation of a superhero or a monster would have the abilities as the original.

Artistic representations become animated and interactive.

Photographs (if they exist in your setting) become portals to the era/place/time being photographed.  Residents of the photographed period are not aware of the portal but can and will interact with the PCs once they have entered.  It is unknown what happens to the PCs if they do not return through the portal before sun-up.

RPG Blog Carnival: Gaming in the Universe of…. Steampunk

This month’s topic of Steampunk & Klockwerks is being hosted by Mad Brew Labs.  I’m currently running Reality Blur’s Rune Punk as a Stargate Scenario for my Friday night game group.  This is a quintessential Steampunk setting that goes into quite a bit of detail.   We’re enjoying it, but I will admit that Steampunk is not my first choice when it comes to gaming scenarios.  I prefer High Fantasy (D&D) or SF (Star Trek, Stargate).  However this month’s topic got me thinking what it is about Steampunk that appeals to so many folks.

Before I started writing this post I didn’t think I was very familiar with the genre.  So, I started with a search of Steampunk on Google and came across this list of American films that utilize Steampunk:
(1958) The Fabulous World of Jules Verne
(1979) Time After Time
(1999) Wild Wild West
(2001) Atlantis: The Lost Empire
(2003) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
(2004) Van Helsing
(2007) The Golden Compass
I’ve actually seen and enjoyed a few of these films.  Maybe I’m not as much of Steampunk noob as I thought.  As I pondered this list I though of something I like to add to this list, the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  Although Chitty is not strictly speaking a steampunk setting, Caractacus Potts is clearly a steampunk inventor.

I have seen four of those films Wild Wild West, League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Atlantis, and Van Helsing (five including Chitty) and have enjoyed each of them.  Wild Wild West could easily be played using the Savage Worlds Deadlands.  Van Helsing can be dropped into a D&D campaign with no difficulty.  The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is begging to be run as a Mutants and Masterminds game.  Carracticus Potts can be dropped as is into your steampunk setting.  Admittedly, the search for Atlantis is something I’d probably run as a campaign instead of a setting.

What it is it about steampunk that appeals to some folks but not to others?  Few of the films on that list (except Chitty) was ever considered a hit.  In fact Wild Wild West, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Van Helsing were all planned as  a series of movies but the poor box office showing of the originals scuttled planned sequels.  I have discovered that as a general rule my fellow bloggers really enjoy these films in this genre (Wild Wild West being an exception). 

Why as a general rule are RPGers able to suspend their disbelief more for this Victorian Sci-Fi as opposed to the mainstream audience that cannot?  It cannot be the sci-fi angle as there have been many true science fiction hits.  My belief is that we as RPGers are able to disassociate alternate realities.  We are constantly playing in altered or alternate universes.   We as a group aren’t “tied” to history, the general audience cannot let go their perceptions from “what happened” to enjoy what is being depicted on screen or in your game.

Because RPGers are constantly placing themselves (and characters) in alternate realities,  we have no problem imagining a world where Jules Verne actually invented the things he wrote about.  We can wax eloquent on how current technology could have been built using clockwork gears and steam power.  This, I believe is why Steampunk is more of hit amongst RPGers than it is amongst the general public.  As such I present the following Savage Worlds Wild Card NPC.

Van Helsing, a Steam Punk Fighter/Cleric
Name: Van Helsing
Race: Human
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength d8, Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d6, Driving d8, Fighting d8, Guts d8, Knowledge (Arcane) d8, Knowledge (languages) d6, Notice d6, Shooting d8, Stealth d8, Survival d6, Throwing d8
Charisma: 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5;
Hindrances:  Heroic, Code of Honor
Edges: Combat Reflexes, Arcane Background, Arcane Resistance
Gear: Large variety of items used in fighting the supernatural

Gaming in the Universe of… Star Trek

Star Trek as reviewed by the family

Gaming in the Universe of Star Trek guest post by Uncle Bear: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Uncle Bear offered some very nice world-building tips and thoughts on how he’d run a game set in Roddenberry’s universe.  These were helpful and I appreciate his efforts on my behalf.  However it would be illogical for me to not offer my own thoughts on gaming in my favorite universe.

Star Trek has had a long history of association with RPGs.  FASA published quite a number of books in the 1980s.  From 2002 – 2007 Decipher picked up the license to produce the RPG.  This was produced after their successful run of the Star Trek CCG.  I found more Pbem Trek RPGS than I’d care to list.  I also found Groknard’s Blog, which is very useful compilation of Star Trek blogs and associated RPG materials.  My own personal favorite Trek related RPG is the Starships of the Third Fleet creative writing club.

I have been playing Lt. Stev off and on for the better part of two decades.  Through Stev’s eyes, I’ve infiltrated the Romulan Empire to rescue Federation operatives.  I’ve traveled through time to Earth’s past.  I have encountered evil doppelgangers of Stev and his fellow crew mates.  Stev and I have had a lot of adventures and that is one of the nice things about the Star Trek universe.  It is fully realized and ready for you to play in.  With over 40 years of world building development it is one of the better sandbox settings that has ever been developed.

Star Trek has a long history using other genres in the stories told; westerns (Fistful of Datas), gothic horror (Catspaw), war (Most of the later season of DS9), time travel (at least one from each series), gangsters (A Piece of the Action) and many more genres that have been adapted.  If I factor in the stories (games) I’ve participated in Third Fleet, you can add High Fantasy, Murder Mystery, and Prison Break to that list.  Star Trek is rife for just about any kind of game that you want to run.

How would I run a Star Trek game?  One shot scenarios would be run off a starship.  I’d plan a nice dungeon crawl, using the meta-dungeon of the entire planet’s surface.  I’d run it with the Captain of the ship being played by the DM.  The first officer would be the party leader and the players would be members of the away team.  Something would interfere with the ability to just beam the PCs off the surface until they finished the dungeon crawl/mission.

For an ongoing campaign, I’d run either a Voyager based game or DS9 styled game.  Just about any adventure module published for any other game could be adapted.  TOS: Orcs=Klingons, Demons=Romulans, TNG: Orcs=Cardassians, Demons=Borg  just for thumbnail conversions. 

The ONLY problem I’ve ever had in wanting to run a Star trek game was in convincing players that they’d want to play in Star Trek game.  PIT #1 has been the only one of my players that ever wanted to play Star Trek.  That said should I ever get the chance to run a Star Trek game, I’d take my friend Nuke Havoc’s suggestion and use the Savage World’s Pirates of the Spanish Main setting for the rule set.  Intrigued? he’s writing a guest post about how to do just that.  I’m getting ready to use his idea.  Stats for Kirk, Spock and certain Vulcan Lieutenant. 

Name: James T. Kirk 
Race: Human
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d8, Driving d4, Fighting d8, Guts d8, Notice d6,  Shooting d8, Survival d6, Throwing d10
Charisma: 5; Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5;
Hindrances:  Quirk (cannot find a beautiful woman without attempting to bed her), Heroic, Loyal
Edges: Combat Reflexes, Block, Command, Strong Willed, Attractive

Name: Spock
Race: Vulcan
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d6, Strength d8,
Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d6, Driving d8, Fighting d8, Guts d8, Knowledge (computers) d8, Knowledge (Logic) d12, Knowledge (science) d8, Notice d6,  Shooting d8, Survival d6
Charisma: 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5;
Hindrances:  Quirk (strives to block his emotions), Quirk (seeks logic above all else)
Edges: Combat Reflexes, Block, Command, Vulcan Nerve Pinch

Name: Stev
Race: Vulcan
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d6, Strength d8,
Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d6, Driving d8, Fighting d8, Guts d8, Knowledge (espionage) d8, Knowledge (Terran Rock and Roll) d10, Knowledge (computers) d8, Knowledge (languages) d10, Notice d6,  Piloting d8, Shooting d8, Stealth d8, Survival d6, Throwing d10
Charisma: 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5;
Hindrances:  Outsider amongst Vulcans, Curious, Quirk (translates ancient Terran poetry {Rock and Roll})
Edges: Combat Reflexes, Investigator, Scholar

Gaming in the Universe of… Tron

Tron as reviewed by the family:

I’ve done some searching across the web for Tron RPGs.  I’ve found one abandoned forum and an abandoned PBP RPG site.  Given that it is a Disney movie and an old one at that I wasn’t expecting much.  I do remember playing the coin-op video game back in the early 80’s and have watched my children avidly play the Kingdom Hearts 2 for the PS2.  Although geared very well towards video games, Tron is not a universe that immediately conjures RPG scenarios.  That said I”ve come up with some themes and inspirations for your game.

Tron is at its heart a Messiah story, the story of a god coming down amongst its creation.  Unlike the accounts recorded in the Gospels, Tron is the story of a reluctant god who does not understand the rules governing the rules of its creation.  This could be gamed from either side of the coin.  You as the GM could introduce a new NPC to the party.  This NPC demonstrates some unusual powers while at the same time displaying an unusual amount of lack of common knowledge.  This NPC is there to help the party for some unknown reason but does not know why.  It’s up to the party to figure things out.

The flip-side of that coin is to have the PCs transported to a realm where they understand very little of the social mores and customs.  They quickly discover they have abilities far beyond those of everyone else.  They’re there to help their new friends but have to discover the reasons for themselves.  Why have they been transported?  Who transported them?  All things to play out in this type of campaign.

Another plot hook that can be drawn from Tron, the party is participating in an increasingly difficult series of challenges or games.  These games eventually end with party finally facing the local champion.

Name: Tron Race: Program treated as Human for most games
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6,
Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d6, Driving d8, Fighting d8, Guts d8, Notice d6,  Survival d6, Throwing d10
Charisma: 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5;
Hindrances:  Wanted, Vow to free the System from control of the MPC (Local Overlord), Servitor of his User (Land owner)
Edges: Combat Reflexes, Block, Command

Name: Flynn Race: Human treated as godlike for most games
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d6, Driving d8, Fighting d6, Guts d6, Intimidation d6, Knowledge (Programming) d8, Notice d6, Piloting d6,  Survival d6, Throwing d6
Charisma: 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5;
Hindrances:  Clueless to his new environment, Overconfident
Edges: Archane Background (matter control), Charismatic

Name: Sark Race: Program treated as human for most games
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d4, Driving d8, Fighting d6, Guts d6, Intimidation d8, Notice d8, Piloting d6,  Survival d6, Throwing d8
Charisma: 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5;
Hindrances:  Servitor of the MPC, Heartless
Edges: Combat Reflexes, Block

Gaming in the Universe of… Star Trek pt. 3

Family review of the most recent Star Trek

This is a guest column written by Uncle Bear.
Part 1 Part 2

Star Trek Worldbuilding 101
Most of the worlds in the Star Trek universe are monocultures — one race, one religion and one government per planet. That’s good for episodic storytelling, but that’s a whole lot of planets to keep track of.  The good news is that almost all planets in Star Trek are M-class worlds with Earth-normal gravity and an atmosphere nearly all races can breathe comfortably. The bad news is that these worlds seem to have monoclimates as well — the whole planet is a desert, or a frozen waste, or a jungle. If you want to stay true to Trek, you can follow this formula.

Race
What is different, in terms of physical appearance, about the race? Pointy ears? Green skin? Antennae? Bumps on the face? Try to keep it down to 2-3 things. Does this race have any special powers, or excel in any particular skill?

Religion
What do they worship, or what philosophy do they adhere to, if any? this will shape their values and ethics and serve as shorthand for what they value most. Combat prowess? Logic? Profit?

Government
Are they governed by a democracy? A council of elders? The fiercest warlord? This will shape their relationship with the Federation.

Climate
This will have an effect on everything from the race’s clothing to their customs to the food they eat. Think about hostile flora and fauna when considering the climate. Monsters make for fun adventures.

Technology Level
Any given society will have a level of technology, from primitive stone knives and bear skins to phasers and starships.

Federation Membership
Any planet may or may not be a member of the Federation. They may or may not be aware of the Federation, if they’re primitive. This leads to Prime directive issues. They may be trading with the Federation (imagine
a primitive world full of dilithium and no idea what to use it for… how would you trade for it without breaking the rules?) or petitioning for membership. there are plot hooks to be had regarding their relationship with Starfleet.

Alien Involvement
The planet may be allied with or occupied by another power, such as the Klingons or Romulans. This will obviously lead to conflicts. Maybe the other empires just want the planet’s resources or technology. Look for story hooks in those relationships.

Balkanized Planets
If you want to use the “patrol route” format that I suggested in a previous post, you can keep the number of planets limited but add one culture per continent. Maybe it’s the same race, maybe it’s a different race, but one continent can be icy and cold with Islam-like worshippers and a monarchy, while another continent can be a vast forest with a culture similar to ancient Japan rules by a council of the current bestselling authors. When you put multiple cultures on a planet, you end up with conflicts, and reasons for the Federation to step in. But don’t forget the Prime Directive!

Gaming in the Universe of… Star Trek pt. 2

Family review of the most recent Star Trek

This is a guest column written by Uncle Bear.
Part 1

Starship Combat Made Easy:
A major part of Star Trek is ship-to-ship combat. For undertaking a peaceful mission the Enterprise (any incarnation) got into an awful lot of fights. In a roleplaying game, grinding the action to a halt for ship-to-ship combat can be a drag.  Here’s how I’d do it, to keep things moving.

Treat each ship like a character. You need movement rate, the amount of damage the weapons do, and the amount of damage it can take. Give it a Piloting skill (computer navigation. auto pilot), a Ranged combat skill (target phasers and photon torpedos), a Perception skill (sensors) and some sort of Repair skill (to represent the engineering team). Divide “armor” into 4 sections: fore shields, aft shields, port side shields, starboard side shields.

Each player takes a role during combat. If you use any kind of miniatures to track ship positions, the Captain moves the mini. One player rolls Piloting, theirs or the ships whichever is higher, to execute the Captain’s maneuvers. One player rolls for attack using either their ranged combat skill or the ship’s, whichever is better. One
player tracks damage (“Forward shields are down!”) and rolls repairs, again using the better of their skill or the ship’s. Someone rolls Perception, theirs or the ship’s, to tell the Captain sensor readings.  If there are additional players, they can track things for the enemy ship, with the gamemaster acting as the enemy Captain.

On a successful hit, roll 1d10 for location: 1 for the bridge, 2-5 hull (“deck 7 has been breached!”), 6-7 left nacelle, 8-9 right nacelle, 10 engineering. If the position of the ship logically precludes a hit location from being struck, damage goes to the hull. As a general rule, two hits to the bridge, a nacelle, or engineering will disable it
(“Captain, she canna take another hit like that!”).

Obviously, this would have to be adapted to the system you’re using. But it gives everyone something to do, and should play fairly quickly. So long as one nacelle is still functioning, the ship can warp away. If hit points reach zero, the ship is destroyed and explodes with a massive special effects budget.

Gaming in the Universe of…. Star Trek pt. 1

Family review of the most recent Star Trek

This is a guest column written by Uncle Bear.

There have been a couple of official Star Trek roleplaying games over the years. I’m only familiar with the one from FASA, which I played quite a bit, but haven’t seen enough of the Decipher game to comment.  Regardless of the system used, if I ran a Star Trek campaign there’s a structure that I would use to insure a variety of adventures with a logical basis for the characters to be there.

The Ship
It never made sense to me that both the original series and the next generation had such large ships and crews when we only ever had a handful of characters. I’d go with a very small ship, with a small crew.  Then you have fewer NPCs to deal with, and a reason for player characters to do more things because they have to fill multiple roles.

The Crew
To my thinking, there are only three roles that need to be filled:  Pilot, Engineer, Doctor. Someone to fly the ship, someone to fix the ship, someone to heal the people. Any of these could be filled by NPCs, of course, but it’s more interesting for player characters to have these roles. Characters can really have any other skills the players want, as long as these three roles exist. I’d let players use existing races, or make up their own (most races in Trek are just humans with body paint and/or latex thingies on their heads anyway). As the gamemaster, I’d assign rank based on player experience, both in roleplaying and with Star Trek. The veteran gets to be Captain, the newbie gets to be an Ensign and work his way up. I’d let the Captain make field promotions, with approval from Starfleet Command (i.e. me, the GM).

The Base
I’d have the ship based at a starbase or a planet. Then they’d have access to interesting NPCs, different types of adventures, a place to repair an resupply, and an NPC officer to get orders from.

The Patrol and The Missions
It never made sense to me that the Enterprise (any incarnation) would go out of its way to travel hundreds of light years to transport one scientist or one diplomat, no matter how important they were.  By giving
the ship a regular patrol route, it makes sense (logic!) for them to be deliverying supplies or ferrying passengers from point A to point B.  They could also be dispatched on short notice to investigate anomalies
or to intercept unidentified alien spacecraft entering the sector. Of course, a regular patrol also allows their enemies to set up an ambush.  The real value of having a patrol route is that the gamemaster only has
to create a finite number of planets and NPCs, which he or she can reuse, and it allows for plotlines that are non-episodic and can unfold over time.

The Roleplaying
Adventures should be designed around the player characters’ abilities.  If someone plays an alien, that race and/or their enemies should play an important part in the campaign. When an alien race is needed, fall back
on the player characters’ race. If someone wants to be a xenobotanist, make sure to create adventures where that’s important. If someone plays a diplomat, make sure there are diplomatic missions. The characters the players create reflect the sorts of adventures they want to play, so use that as your springboard.

The Era
The great part is that the above formula will work in any era. Just change the uniforms, ship designs, and aliens!

Dungeon Dramas: A Random Plot Hook from PITs 2 & 3

Welcome back to Dungeon Dramas, my ongoing series of plot hooks as developed by the random roll of my Story Cubes.  

 Today’s plot hooks are being developed by PITs #2 & #3.  They have both expressed an interest in being more active participants in this blog.   As Rory has advertised that these cubes can be used by all ages, I’m adding Dungeon Dramas to their review duties.

We rolled a tree, a magnifying glass, a question mark, an alien, a magnet, a compass rose, an arrow, a skyscraper, and a moon.

PIT #2 – What if aliens were suddenly sucked from the moon to the city.  The resulting change in the atmosphere causes the forest to grow in strange directions.  The PCs have been called to investigate.

PIT #3 – A tree portal in the forest leads directly to the moon.  You discover a complete civilization there.  However, magnetized traps hold you in place until the aliens come and challenge you to a magic archery contest.  After besting the aliens the PCs need to determine why the portal in the forest leads to the moon.  Clues are found in various places on the moon.

VS – Investigating strange magnetic readings in the city, the PCs determine that beings not from this dimension are stealing the treasures of the moon goddess that have been on display in the city’s museum.  Their quest is to track the beings and return the treasures to the goddess’ temple hidden in the forest.