d20 Second World Simulations Small Worlds and Exiles.pdf

S MALL W ORLDS AND E XILES

BY S TEVEN P ALMER P ETERSON

www.Second-World-Simulations.com

C ONTENTS

I NTRODUCTION

S11) H AUSMANN M EETS THE M OB

S12) K NOWING THE N AMES

A DVENTURE B ACKGROUND

S13) K ILL THE NPC S

S14) C ORDOVA LOOKS FOR SOME A NSWERS

I MPORTANT NPC S

S15) D ESTROY I T ’ S A S MALL W ORLD

H ARRISON J ING -S HU

S16) C ORDOVA I NTERVIEWS

R APHAEL H AUSMANN

S17) T RACK THE P LAYERS (EL .5)

E DWARD K REBS

S18) H AUSMANN KILLS G LOPOV ’ S D AUGHTER

G ARY “M OJO ” T EAD

S19) C ORDOVA HUNTS K REBS

M IKHAIL C ORDOVA

S20) P LAYERS KNOCKED OFF A T HUG

P AUL T ORZANO

S21) P OOL H ALL (EL 1)

I NCOGNITO C ELEBRITY

S22) H AUSMANN HUNTS K REBS

H ISTORY AND T IMELINE

S23) T ALKING TO H AUSMANN (CR 2)

S24) C ORDOVA HUNTS H AUSMANN

A GENDAS

S25) P OLICE GET A CELL PHONE (CR 2)

T HE N IKDAW H AUSMANN

S26) H AUSMANN ESCAPES

M IKHAIL C ORDOVA

S27) H AUSMANN WITH L ORQUA

G OVERNMENT

S28) T ALKING TO T ORZANO (CR 1 OR 2)

H ARRISON J ING - SHU

S29) Q UIET S HUNT

K REBS

S30) F INAL F IGHT AND THE S HUNT (EL 3)

M EDIA

P LAYER D RIVEN E VENTS

F IRE D EPARTMENT

B UYING SOME F IREPOWER

P OLICE D EPARTMENT

D INNER WITH THE C ELEBRITY (CR 1)

A DVENTURE S YNOPSIS

G O TO G ROUND

G OING S HOPPING

C AUSE AND E FFECT

I NTERVIEW S ECOND W ORLD N ATIVES

I NVESTIGATE S CARS (CR 2)

E NCOUNTERS

L EAVING T OWN

T HE C OFFEE S HOP

L OOK AT H AUSMANN ’ S C ORONER ’ S R EPORT (CR 1)

T HE S ITUATION

L OOK AT H AUSMANN ’ S P OLICE R EPORT (CR 1)

H AUSMANN AND THE T EAD GANG ARRIVES

P OLICE P ROTECTION

T HE B RIEFCASE

Q UIET T IME

B LACK S TONES

A FTERMATH

T EAD ’ S B RILLIANT P LAN

F IRST W ORLD E FFECTS ON F IGHTING

A DAPTING THE A DVENTURE

T ENSE M OMENTS

T HE H OLE

A PPENDIX

T HE F IGHT

H ARRISON ’ S C REW

P LAYER S IDE OF THE F IGHT (EL 2)

T HE T EAD G ANG

A FTERMATH

C ORDOVA ’ S T EAM

F ROM H ERE

B UENOS A RIES N OBILITY

S TANDARD AND O FF -S CREEN E VENTS

O THERS

S1) M EDIA C OVERAGE (T RAP CR 2)

NPC S TAT B LOCKS

S2) P OLICE I NTERVIEW

M ONSTER S TAT B LOCKS

S3) H OSPITAL

C AUSE AND E FFECT M AP

S4) I NTERVIEW WITH A GENT S TILES

S5) N EWS AT T EN

C OFFEE S HOP

S6) C ORDOVA TALKS TO THE C HENS

P OOL H ALL

S7) K REBS INVESTIGATES THE CASE

NPC S TAT S HEET

S8) H AUSMANN WAKES UP

S9) M ORNING P APERS

S10) D EVELOPING S TORY

page 1

S MALL W ORLDS AND E XILES

I NTRODUCTION

This adventure is intended as an introductory scenario for a Second

World campaign. It’s best suited for new characters and may even

be suitable for players new to gaming, though you should provide

new players with some guidance. The sequence of events in this

scenario should be logical so one of the best forms of guidance is

to simply ask players what they would do were they to be found in

the situation their characters have gotten into.

A DVENTURE B ACKGROUND

The adventure truly started a couple days ago when a minor thug

named Raphael Hausmann stole a case illed with magical black

stones from his employers. He then contacted some potential buyers

in New York (the Chen family) and traveled there to arrange the

sale. He plans to leave town for an island somewhere after all this

is over. Of course it doesn’t work out that way. A brief description

of the players in this story follows, then some history with a slight

view into the future, and, inally, a listing of various agendas at

work in the adventure.

If you plan on playing in this adventure now would probably

be a good time to give this to your gamemaster.

The adventure is designed with four irst level characters in mind;

note that a few scenes can be dangerous and that adventuring in

the First World is inherently dificult so you should point out to

the players that they must exercise caution. For the most part the

players don’t have to ight much; in fact they’ll probably only face

three ights in the entire scenario. Instead they have numerous op-

portunities to talk with people and investigate leads. This requires a

bit more thinking but some of that thinking involves how best to get

weapons, big vicious weapons; that should mollify those offended

by too much talking.

I MPORTANT NPC S

H ARRISON J ING -S HU

The Chens are going legit and during the transition they end up in

conlict with both corporate and underworld interests. In particular,

the Blue Conglomerate sees them as a threat. They get Hausmann’s

call and see an opportunity for some discounted material compo-

nents. It’s a lot of money so they dispatch Harrison and two support

people to go to the meet; Harrison has the negotiating skills to make

this sort of thing go smoothly.

This is an event based scenario. These can be dificult to pull off

right. The Cause and Effect section describes the method used to

“map” out this scenario. This technique should provide a strong plot

for the scenario, but not a plot for the players. Instead the antagonists

have their own plots, follow their own agendas, and oftentimes those

agendas place the players at risk. The players have only the plot

they create themselves. They’re the monkey wrench trying to break

up the machinations of the bad guys; they’re the targets trying to

survive an array of forces bent on their destruction. How each group

does that will be radically different from each other group. The fact

that people hunt them makes it easier to have the adventure ind the

players, so there’s less necessity to keep the scenario on track.

R APHAEL H AUSMANN

Hausmann started in Montreal (First World) three days ago with

Mikhail Cordova of the Cordova family (Buenos Aries). They ar-

ranged a meeting with Thomas Fauchard who sold them a case

of black stones; Cordova was purchasing something else though,

the stones plus a wire gate secreted within the case, everything

one needs to launch a few explorations of the interstices. Cordova

purchased the case without a hitch but shunted a bit early leaving

Hausmann with the loot.

Hausmann doesn’t know about the wire gate but sees an excellent

opportunity in the stones and makes a phone call to a broker in

New York; the broker contacts the Chens and they decide to deal.

Hausmann travels to New York and inds some thugs to use as back-

up at the meet, which will occur in a public place (a coffee shop).

Hausmann links up with the thugs and goes to the meet; that’s the

last thing he’ll ever do.

Despite the volume of material in this adventure it may play

quickly. Much of what is written occurs off-screen and the players

can turtle if they want, making events proceed quickly. You might

want to push them a little to get out and do things, if nothing else

just so that they can purchase some equipment (which they ought

to do). However, it’s ultimately up to the players how they want to

proceed; turtling has its downsides too and they have to live with

the consequences.

E DWARD K REBS

Krebs spends as much time as possible in the First World; the

Blue Conglomerate issued him a ring of quiet which suppresses

his exile and allows him to stay in the First World for an extended

time; these only work on lower challenge rating or level creatures,

or those with few magical abilities. His job is to spy on random

stuff going down around the city; one of the people he spies on is

the broker, Harry Davitz, and this got him wind of the deal. Krebs

feels some loyalty to the Blue Conglomerate but information is his

business and he keeps it pretty tight. He told BlueCon First World

that he had a Chen meet to check out but downplayed the thing.

Not that it matters much; BlueCon doesn’t want to make the Chens

confrontational yet.

On the other hand, chatty players and those used to games with

lots of investigation could easily drag this scenario out for quite

a while; there’s a staggering number of leads to pursue and if you

had another scenario you wanted to throw in to side track them that

could make the whole thing quite exciting. Unfortunately there’s

not too much in the way of d20 Modern scenarios yet but you could

adapt scenarios from a number of other games and the prospect for

modern day d20 adventures grows constantly. If you do combine

this scenario with another adventure try to make it one that inishes

within a few days of in-game time (it can take weeks of real-time

though). As usual, try to keep the pacing right; go slow if the players

like that, include the occasional danger to keep them from getting

complacent, and have fun.

Krebs goes to the meet just to keep an eye out. He’s an opportunist;

he takes something if it’s available.

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S MALL W ORLDS AND E XILES

R ING OF Q UIET

The ring of quiet doesn’t suppress the sound you make; instead

it suppresses whatever qualities you project that cause an exile to

shunt. No one really knows what properties of a person make them

shunt, or fully comprehends how to suppress those properties. One

thing does seem clear, the ability to use magic or warden bindings

causes one to shunt; and the more of that you have the quicker you

go. Quite likely, even the potential for those abilities causes you to

shunt. Regardless, arcane spellcasters have studied this since the

Sundering and have developed a few tricks to help extend one’s stay

in the First World for a longer period. The ring of quiet represents

one of the more successful inventions in this area. If you wear

this ring you can remain in the First World for three weeks prior

to rolling the dice for when you shunt. After that time you need to

return to the Second World and remain there for one week; if you

don’t do this and return to the First World right away you’ll shunt

normally. With the ring of quiet you essentially get the ability to

spend three fourths of your time safely in the First World.

S USTAIN T RAVEL

Transmutation, Gate Warden

Level: Brd 4, Clr 6, Drd 5, Sor/Wiz 5

Components: V, S, M

Casting Time: 1 Action

Range: Touch

Target: You and one other touched creature/3 levels

Duration: 1 week

Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)

Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)

With this spell you suppress the synchronic signature of yourself

and other touched creatures so that you may remain in the First

World for a longer time. Normally, after traveling to the First World

you shunt after 4d12 hours. By casting this spell you pause the

countdown for one week. Multiple castings within a single trip

do not work and, after shunting to the Second World you should

remain there for close to the time you spent in the First World. If

you spend too much time in the First World, i.e. keep popping back

in as often as possible, the First World will start resorting to more

extreme measures to expunge you. For instance, brakes might fail

on busses as you’re walking across a street; it might shunt you to

someplace other than the Second World; synchronicity might place

you in the middle of a revolution; all the doors you open might lead

to alien places, and so on. Generally, you’re safe if you spend less

then one week out of every four in the First World; you may also

spend two weeks in the First World close to each other so long as

you then spend about 8 weeks back in the Second World. If you try

to stretch it though you give the gamemaster a license to do really

freaky stuff to your characters.

While this item is one of the most effective means of staying in

the First World it cannot suppress the signature of truly powerful

wardens and characters. For simplicity you can handle this by

simply saying the ring does not work on anything with a challenge

rating or effective character level greater than 9. It may work for

characters of higher level, but only if they lack a capacity for magic

or wardenhood and aren’t too wrapped in synchronicity. Merely

lacking magic wielding classes doesn’t mean much here though;

it’s the potential that matters and, for now at least, is best handled

by a judgment call from the gamemaster.

Caster Level : 9th; Prerequisites : Forge Ring, sustain travel ; Market

Price : 20,000 gp; Weight : -.

Material Components : a small, intricate brass clock costing no less

than $5,000 (or 500 gp) that disappears when you inally shunt.

Many scholars suspect that the clock simply shunts to someplace

else.

people for a status update; Hausmann had disappeared. The Cordo-

vas are on the trail now and have the clout to be dangerous.

G ARY “M OJO ” T EAD

Gary’s a minor tough with big ideas; he does some work with the

mob and has a strong enough personality that a small cell of crooks

has locked to him. He treats his boys quite well so long as they

bootlick properly. Hausmann just scoured the pool halls the previ-

ous night until he found this guy and his mini-gang. Tead has four

guys and that’s what Hausmann wanted. Unfortunately for Tead

one of his boys got thrown in jail for a DUI about 3:00 AM and

Tead needs to bring in an outsider; he calls Paul Torzano, who’s

always down on his luck, looking for work, fairly tractable, and

moderately familiar.

What they know and how they know it : They traced Hausmann

from the Montreal hotel to a local phone kiosk using mundane

methods like asking around; pulling some strings with the local

government got them a list of telephone numbers called from the

kiosk, one of the numbers was in New York.

P AUL T ORZANO

Torzano is a bit player at irst but his importance increases over the

course of the story; he becomes most important way down the line,

after this scenario is well over, so he might go somewhat unnoticed

here. Paul’s a down on his luck former boxer and current tough

guy. He’s canny but doesn’t know it and certainly doesn’t believe

it; this lack of conidence in his intelligence holds him back more

than anything else. He’s also a bit too honorable for his line of

work; Tead’s double cross surprises Paul as much as anyone. Tead

recognizes this streak in Torzano and makes sure to keep him in

check during the shakedown.

Tead plans to double-cross Hausmann and take everything he can

get. He’ll simply put Torzano on a leash and tell him to blow (or

give him a minor pay-off). If Tead had an inkling of what Steele

was like he’d smack Hausmann early. As it is, Tead won’t survive

the day either.

Before the meet Hausmann says “no guns” and makes Tead’s boys

put them away; Tead carries a hidden one though.

After the coffee shop scene Hausmann tracks Torzano down and

pulls him in. When Hausmann shows up Torzano feels nervous but

he doesn’t know how bad the injury really was and feels guilty about

not suficiently protecting his employer, even if the double-cross

M IKHAIL C ORDOVA

Cordova cut a deal for the wire gate then shunted early. But the wire

gate and the case were with Hausmann. Cordova then contacted his

page 3

S MALL W ORLDS AND E XILES

wasn’t his fault. This amuses Hausmann. New Hausmann employs

Torzano to show him around town and introduce him to the people

he needs to employ.

Developing Story (pg. 13)

After this the media continues to report anything it discovers (and

given the kind of carnage going on there’s a lot to report). Most

events following the coffee shop occur as the result of other events

and you should use the “waterfall” page to track them (see page

33).

I NCOGNITO C ELEBRITY

Including a celebrity in a Second World campaign can be fun;

use some movie star, musician, or other type of celebrity popular

amongst your players. They can be sitting in the back wearing a

baseball cap, sunglasses, and baggy sweatshirt. During the action

perhaps the players protect the movie star from getting hurt which

could lead to an invitation to a party or dinner later. Alternately,

perhaps the celebrity is an athlete or a star in action movies and

they can ight alongside the players; teaming up with an Austrian

body-builder to beat an interstitial demon unconscious with coffee

shop chairs can be a memorable experience for a player.

A GENDAS

Everyone’s got an agenda; here’s a list of them. Before reading these

it might help to read through the irst encounter, the Coffee Shop

ight on page 6, in order to have a better feeling for the background

to the NPC motivations.

T HE N IKDAW H AUSMANN

Ice everyone that was in the coffee shop : Torzano gets let off the

hook because he’s cooperative but somewhere down the line he’ll

probably feel the ice too. Hausmann does this because he’s also got

a scar, only his scar is black (with a little gray). In fact, the other

scars are simply negative images of his scar (see page 21 for the

player scars). Having one of these scars means that you bypass the

rather tough resistances Hausmann possesses. He gets a +10 to spell

resistance and damage reduction 20/- against anyone who lacks one

of these scars. Even if you have a scar Hausmann’s a tough bastard

but he’s loathe to engage people with scars directly since that places

him in unnecessary danger.

H ISTORY AND T IMELINE

Monday : Cordova and Hausmann : meet Thomas Fauchard in

Montreal and deal for the case. Ready to leave the fol-

lowing day.

Tuesday : Cordova : Shunts early in the morning. Now he’s stuck

in Second World Montreal. Searches around for a bit to

get in contact with a wizard or other sort using some of

his pull then arranges a sending spell with the people back

home; he has to wait until the following morning before

they can prepare the spell though. He spends the rest of

the day looking for other means of communication and

trying to make sure that Hausmann hasn’t crossed for

some reason too.

Hausmann : Contemplates how he wants to handle all this

then decides to gamble. He calls Davitz from Montreal then

rents a car and drives to New York; he sweats like crazy

at the border crossing but chooses a busy one to make it

easier. Gets to New York late and inds a hotel room.

Wednesday : Cordova : Gets the sending spell off and his people

follow up using various methods. They’re going nuts be-

cause no-one was on the plane and they couldn’t contact

anybody. They’ve already sent some First World agents

to Montreal to check things out. Cordova tells them to

send a gate warden and feral warden to Montreal to help

out. They arrive later that night and arrange to meet and

bring Cordova across to the First World. They spend all

night tracking Hausmann’s motions and inally determine

that he went to New York. They arrange a light but won’t

arrive until Thursday morning; no sleep allowed for the

time being.

Hausmann : Scouts for a meeting place in the morning;

meets Davitz; sets up Chen meet for the next day; spends

the rest of the day scouting for thugs.

Thursday : Coffee Shop Incident (pg. 6)

Cordova : Arrives in New York in the morning and heads

for Davitz. Scare tactics work here and he gives them the

site of the meeting. His people are exhausted but they’ll

have to drink a lot of coffee for a while. They head for

the coffee shop but get there after it’s been surrounded by

police, ambulances, and television crews.

News at Ten (pg. 12)

Friday : Morning Papers (pg. 13)

Find and recover the case : the case won’t have any crystal left given

the intensity of the rift but Hausmann realizes that there’s a wire

gate somewhere in it and those provide all kinds of power.

Destroy Emblazoned Material from Coffee Shop : the emblazoned

material can be fashioned into weapons or built into a structure.

These would bypass Hausmann’s resistances in the same way people

with the scars do. This makes all that stuff a threat and something

Hausmann wants eliminated.

M IKHAIL C ORDOVA

Find Hausmann : This rat took the loot and the gate and he’ll prob-

ably hock it for a pittance to someone important. He has to die.

Recover the Case/Wire Gate : The black stones are nice but they’re

not the main goal. The real trick is getting the case back without

revealing that the case is something special.

G OVERNMENT

Track people from shop : It’s been a good idea in the past to keep

tabs on those who’ve experienced the truly strange.

Find out what happened there : This might occur naturally during

the interview process. Once the data is in, Stiles tries to construct

some possible explanatory scenarios.

Identify the players : Many of the people involved were merely

bystanders. The Chens, thugs, and Hausmann were the instigators

and Stiles wants to know what they were up to.

page 4

S MALL W ORLDS AND E XILES

[After Murders]

H ARRISON J ING - SHU

Get out with the cash : While a failed buy is unsatisfying, losing

the cash would be awful. Harrison’s irst goal is to get out with the

same stuff he had when entering.

Protect other potential victims : They call those they can ind and

put out a public announcement for the others that they’d like to take

them into protective custody until they ind the murderer. Players

have the right to decline this but the police strongly recommend it.

Agent Stiles might actually agree with the players if they resist the

offer since she understands that whoever is doing this has some

pretty special abilities.

Find out what happened : As much curiosity as anything else, Har-

rison wants to know what went wrong. Some bits are obvious (such

as Hausmann’s lack of skill in choosing backup) but why did the

rift open, and what does the scar mean? Randolph Chen has a pretty

good idea of what the scar means given his skills.

Track culprit : They look for the killers and quickly realize that a

group must be behind them. When Glopov’s daughter dies (pg. 16)

they follow that lead and discover that he’s gone missing. This puts

them close on the trail of Hausmann’s gang but probably too late

given that the gang moves around so frequently.

K REBS

Investigate the case : If Krebs gets away with the case he drools over

the prospect of all that black; after his spirits have been crushed and

he drowns his sorrows in some cheap wine he notices the scorch line

on the outside of the case. He then cuts the case open and removes

the wire gate.

A DVENTURE S YNOPSIS

The adventure starts with the players caught up in a transaction gone

bad at a coffee shop in First World New York. A gate opens and

strange creatures pour through, leading to a multi-sided ight.

Evade Hausmann : During the ight Krebs accidentally made eye

contact with Hausmann’s corpse. Hausmann’s eyes popped open as

the Nikdaw Oar moved in and the two looked at each other for what

felt like an eternity to Krebs; eventually Hausmann’s eyes closed

and Krebs took the case and left. That eye contact was enough to

create a permanent connection between them.

After this the players go on about their lives and investigate the

changes they’ve undergone. They likely talk to the media, hospital

staff, and police.

M EDIA

Find out about drug connection : The media thinks drugs are behind

the entire thing and will do whatever it takes to prove that.

Other parties have dire goals. A powerful creature, Hausmann,

possessed the body of one of the people at the shop and now hunts

the players and other patrons present during the battle; he wants to

kill them all. He gathers some troops and hunts those at the coffee

shop.

[After murders] Investigate murders : Not only did drug lords burn

down a popular coffee shop but now they’re also killing off all the

witnesses.

Another group, the Cordovas, hunts the creature (or actually the

person they knew before the possession). He had an item called a

wire gate ; they want it back and they want to punish him.

[After disappearances] Investigate disappearances : Not only did the

drug lords burn down a popular coffee shop and murder a bunch of

the witnesses but now they’re also kidnapping the witnesses. This

likely occurs in earnest only after the players have left the dimen-

sion so isn’t terribly important.

Over the next few days a corpse will walk, witnesses of the ight

will be murdered, and the players will have to struggle for their lives

while being hunted by powerful opponents.

F IRE D EPARTMENT

Find out what caused the ire : The NYFD ropes off the coffee shop

and scans through the ruins to ind out what caused the ire. They

notice all the strange runes and symbols emblazoned over the walls

and furniture.

The Cause and Effect map on page 33 can be useful as a reminder

of what has happened, is happening, and where events are proceed-

ing.

C AUSE AND E FFECT

The entire premise behind the system of this module is that the

scenario should obey some simple rules of cause and effect. Players

can do pretty much anything but their actions have consequences.

Non-player characters do things as well, and the consequences of

those actions may be felt or seen by the players. To make it easier

to igure out what’s going on there is a “waterfall” page at the back

of the module (pg. 33); events earlier in time are at the top of the

page and their effects cascade downwards towards the bottom of the

page. It might have a lowchart like feel but it behaves a bit more like

a pachinko machine since one really has no idea where the players

end up at the end of this thing (other than in the Second World).

Find out why pieces of the building are going missing : They are

perplexed at why someone would steal parts of the place and then

set it on ire. This is easy to track so they pass off the stolen goods

investigation to the police and complete the arson investigation

themselves. With the ire destroying so much of the coffee shop

much of the supernatural evidence disappeared. This allows the ire

department to treat the incident as arson; it’s the only reasonable

explanation.

P OLICE D EPARTMENT

Interview Witnesses : Most of this should be inished within the

irst day.

Find missing people : They continue to look for those described by

the witnesses. Since many of them are Exiles this fervor fades with

time and they’re not likely to meet with much success.

The cause and effect chart serves as the primary “map” for this

scenario.

page 5

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