Basic Set - Adventure Book.pdf - Torg - pillowbookworm

Introduction

Important: This book is for game-

masters only. Players should not read

it — or at least they should delay read-

ing it until after their gamemaster has

run the adventure and hooks within.

he group waited in dark

silence, feeling the walls of

the small cabin pressing in.

Outside, they could hear the

frightening howl of a tresir

on the prowl. They hoped the savage beast

wouldn't find their hiding place as it

trekked through the new-grown jungle.

"If he doesn't show up soon, I say we

give him up for lost," the Yellow Crab

muttered, his muffled voice loud in the

silence. "Let's face it, the scales probably

got him and are enjoying a good meal

while we sit here ..."

"That's enough," commanded Crow-

fire. All humor fled from the Crab's man-

ner. "We'll give Quin another hour and

then ..."

"And then what?" The cabin door

swung open, stirring the stale air.

Crowfire, the Yellow Crab and Sabrina

looked up to see Quin Sebastian standing

in the open doorway. He was dirty and

ragged, but he was alive — and there was

fire in his eyes. The Crab shifted nerv-

ously. He'd seen that fire before.

"I've got the information we needed,"

Quin stated as he shut the door. "And it's

all bad. The Edeinos are going to storm

Philly. They're just waiting for the newest

crop of gospog to bloom - - a couple of

hundred third-generation gospogs, due in

two days, max. There's no way the Army

will be able to stop them. They need time to

regroup and resupply."

The Yellow Crab turned pale beneath

his mask. "You're not suggesting —

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting,"

Quin said flatly. "We have to destroy the

gospog fields before the harvest. Other-

wise the city will be overrun."

Quin looked at each of them in turn;

Crowfire, the Yellow Crab, Sabrina,

Vancen. Each one, reluctantly perhaps,

nodded in assent.

The soldier of fortune smiled grimly.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's

move out!"

The Adventure Book contains in-

formation on how to run Torg adven-

tures and how to design adventures of

your own. It also contains a complete

adventure to introduce gamemasters

and players to the world of Torg, as

well as adventure hooks to give you

ideas of the types of adventures that

can take place in the Near Now.

The Adventure Book builds on in-

formation provided in the Rule Book

and World Book. The gamemaster

should read the Rule Book first, then

at least skim the World Book before

reading this one.

What's in this Book

The first chapter of this book intro-

duces you to the gamemaster and

explains just what this important per-

son does. The second chapter talks

about "Running Adventures." It ex-

amines the methods and techniques of

gamemastering a role playing game

session — especially a session of Torg.

The third takes an in-depth look at

card play, a critical part of the Torg

game. The fourth takes you through

the steps of creating adventures, from

story concept to the ready-to-play,

fully-realized version. Next is the first

adventure for Torg, called "Before the

Dawn." Finally, we present a series of

adventure hooks. These are brief plot

synopses that serve as starting points

for building your own adventures.

In addition, on the center eight

pages we have gathered together the

most important charts and tables

needed to run the game as well as

handouts for the adventure. These can

be removed for easy reference; we sug-

gest that you photocopy them and

keep a backup set well away from the

gaming table (which is usually cov-

ered with glasses of soda just waiting

to be knocked over in the heat of battle).

TORG: Adventure Book scan & ocr: dafek

Chapter One

Introduction to

Gamemastering

he essential difference

between roleplaying

games and other adven-

ture games is the referee,

or gamemaster. While

other games are designed so that play-

ers interact with situations defined by

the game rules, roleplayers interact

with situations created by a gamemas-

ter, who uses the rules as a guide. The

rules are not meant to limit or con-

strain a gamemaster: they are meant to

give him direction.

A good gamemaster is more than a

rules lawyer. Gamemastering requires

quick wit, dramatic flair, a sense of

timing, and a level of fairness and

impartiality not found in other types

of games. Remember, the gamemaster

is not playing against the players -

there are no winners as the term is

defined in traditional games. Every-

one, players and gamemaster alike,

wins if a roleplaying session is fun,

exciting, and extends a sense of ac-

complishment (or acceptable loss) to

all involved.

The gamemaster, then, is a judge, a

referee, and a storyteller all in one.

There are plenty of tricks and simple

principles that can improve your

gamemastering style, and we'll go over

a few of them here. But the best way to

become better, more dramatic, and

more creative as a gamemaster is to

gamemaster.

nary abilities and destined (or cursed)

to play a central role in the Possibility

Wars.

The players cannot be heroes with-

out you. You devise the fiendish plots

of the villains. You play the roles of the

bad guys, their henchmen and min-

ions, the threatened innocents, and

the cast of thousands. Yours are the

huge fortresses filled with evil mist,

the mighty war machines of the new

Empire of the Nile, and the creatures

that rule the night. You combine these

elements into a story, a story with a

goal, obstacles, opposing characters,

interesting encounters, and a satisfy-

ing climax.

Gamemastering is more difficult

than playing. A player controls his

character — one piece of the story. If

he plays his role well, he's doing all

he's supposed to. The player does not

even have to know the rules very well

— the gamemaster can be counted on

to correct any missteps. The game-

master is responsible for the rest of the

world.

Isn't This a Lot to Do?

In a word, yes. But it's well worth

the effort. Every bit of energy you put

into the game will result in a better

session. A session in which the players

are enjoying themselves is quite a

payoff — when they become excited

by the story, their enthusiasm is infec-

tious. They win, you win, and every-

body has a good time. Despite the

appearance of the gamemaster as the

one running all the bad guys and doing

his best to thwart the heroes, one of the

most enjoyable aspects of roleplaying

games is when you and your players

really work together to create an excit-

ing story.

The Role of the

Gamemaster

The gamemaster's primary task is

to create and present adventure sto-

ries for his players to participate in.

The players' characters are the heroes

of the stories, blessed with extraordi-

Chapter One

There is another benefit for all the

work you do — you are the only one

who really knows where the story is

going. We find that gamemastering is

the most exciting form of authoring a

story, with your ideas played out right

in front of you.

The gamemaster's job can be bro-

ken down into six tasks: refereeing,

roleplaying gamemaster characters,

describing the scene, setting the tone,

sustaining suspension of disbelief, and

responding to players' wishes.

to guard the "purity" of the rules by

adhering to every line of every para-

graph, but to make sure that what is

being done in the story makes sense in

the language of the rules.

from? Does he have any unusual

mannerisms or speech patterns? The

more detail you put into characteriz-

ing important characters, the better.

And if the player characters are likely

to interact with the character through

the game system — that is, they are

likely to fight, bargain with, spy on,

ensorcel, or be ensorcelled by him —

you had better give some thought to

his attributes, skills, spells, equipment,

and so forth.

But some characters are just spear

carriers, minor functionaries who help

the story along and then disappear.

Don't bother working up much detail

on them—doing so is actually counter-

productive. If every character is de-

scribed in a wealth of detail, they will

all blur together after a while. A single

detail will often suffice to distinguish

a character who plays a supporting

role: a policeman may have a very

rotund face, a clerk at the night desk

may have a squeaky voice. Only the

very important gamemaster charac-

ters need complete backgrounds, turns

of phrase, and game values.

Roleplaying

Gamemaster

Characters

The players are the heroes of the

stories you create together. But adven-

ture stories also need dozens of char-

acters besides the heroes, including

villains, allies, and bit players. You are

expected to bring these gamemaster

characters to life when they appear in

the story, giving them unique person-

alities, perhaps with individual quirks

and beliefs.

If a particular gamemaster charac-

ter is going to be prominent in a story,

it is worth lavishing some time and

effort to flesh out his personality. What

does he look like? Where does he come

Refereeing

Refereeing means interpreting the

rules, making sure that the players

abide by them, and resolving disputes

in an impartial and reasonable way.

To do this, you of course need to have

a good understanding of the rules (and

it is important to know them at least as

well as your most knowledgeable

player does). When the rules do not

cover a situation, you have to impro-

vise a solution. If a dispute arises, your

decision is final.

As the players describe the actions

of their characters, you decide whether

or not they can do what they describe,

or how difficult the action is. You inter-

pret the card play and dice rolls ac-

cording to the rules, and then tell the

players what happens. You also de-

cide what the gamemaster characters

are doing, roll the dice, and determine

the results of their actions as well.

We find it useful to think of role-

playing games as a language for telling

interactive stories. The roleplaying

language has many rules, akin to gram-

mar, which control what sort of things

you may and may not do in the context

of the game. If a friend said to you,

"Roses quickly very bullfrog alien

gazebo," she has spoken a sentence

which makes no sense. To communi-

cate her idea, she would have to re-

phrase it according to the rules of

English.

The same holds true for the lan-

guage of the game. If your friend tries

to have a character do something which

makes no sense according to the rules,

you have to tell her that the character's

action cannot be done. Your job is not

TORG: Adventure Book

Describing the

Scene

You are the senses of your player

characters. You describe what they

see, what they hear, touch, taste and

smell. Descriptions with sensory depth

help suspend disbelief, and make

players believe their characters really

are in the scene. Props can help, but

props cannot integrate a character into

a scene as well as a good description.

Remember that most of the time

your descriptions to the players will

be from their characters' point of view.

For the most part you should limit the

information they receive to what their

characters can sense. Sometimes, for

story purposes, the point of view can

change, as it does in movies; this tech-

nique is described in the next chapter.

Barb : Fortunately he gave Sabrina

the key (rotates wrist to mimic open-

ing the door). I open the door.

Paul : Hold on here. What if he's just

in the kitchen making some warm milk,

and we sneak in ...

Doug : Who said anything about

sneaking? (cups his hands) "Doctor

Leyden, it's us!"

Paul : ... Of course, if it is a trap, we

just let everybody know we're here.

Barb : Fine time to bring that up.

What do I see?

Gamemaster : The foyer is a mess,

with lots of dust and papers piled on

the endtables. The coat closet is open,

the hat rack is piled with weathered

pith helmets. Smells as though dinner

tonight was roast beef.

Doug : I'm checking the kitchen.

Gamemaster : Dishes are piled in

the sink. The kitchen is filled with the

smell of cooked beef. Vancen (Doug's

character) notices heat from the oven

and a note on the kitchen table.

Paul : Quin is going upstairs.

Doug : What does the note say?

Gamemaster : It says "Dear Fellows.

I have been called away on a bit of

urgent business. Back by Friday. All

my best, Andy Leyden."

Barb : Andy? I thought he hated

that name. Didn't he tell us never to

call him "Andy?"

Doug : I'm checking out the kitchen.

Anything unusual?

Gamemaster (while scribbling a

note for Paul): The oven was left on,

and the roasting pan inside has not

been cleaned.

Barb : But the pan hasn't burned?

Gamemaster : Nope. (Hands note

to Paul which reads): "A shocktrooper

motions for silence while pointing an

automatic pistol at you."

Doug : Uh-oh. "Quin, you found

anything up there?"

instance. Not wishing to make it too

obvious, the gamemaster also threw

in a few other details to muddy the

water; the players could have chosen

to ignore the smell of dinner, instead

deciding to, say, search the closet or

examine the dusty correspondence in

the hallway. But basically, the game-

master limited his description to in-

formation important to the story.

Setting the Tone

The gamemaster sets the tone of

each play session by the way he de-

scribes the scene, the characters, and

the available information. Each of the

realms has a different feel to it, and a

similar encounter taking place in two

different realms might have two very

different tones. When playing a game-

master character, remember that they

are living examples of their home

realm.

Example : In the Nile Empire ...

Example : The player characters visit

Dr. Leyden, an acquaintance in Cairo.

The gamemaster knows that two Nile

shocktroopers are holding the doctor

in an upstairs bedroom, having forced

Leyden to write a hurried note excus-

ing his absence when the shocktroop-

ers spotted the heroes' car approach-

ing. The game goes something like

this ...

Player (as character): Excuse me,

do you know where the offices of Men-

hotep Excavations are?

Gamemaster (as gamemaster char-

acter, rustling a newspaper): Say,

would you take a gander at this! Soon

they'll be sending rocket ships to the

moon! All the science wizzes need is a

mineral some big ape lord is trying to

keep for himself — the silly sap! Ain't

he learned yet that what the Pharaoh

wants, the Pharaoh gets?

Player : Fascinating. But about

Menhotep Excavations?

Gamemaster : It's two blocks, over

on El Asimat, past the new pyramid;

can't miss it. You know, pal, going to

the moon might be easier than getting

in there — it's tighter than a gambler's

smile. See? This rag's got pictures:

shocktroops, burp-guns, half-tracks.

Say. Why do you want to get in there,

anyway?

Example : In Orrorsh ...

Gamemaster : The door to Dr.

Leyden's townhouse is locked. You

knock, and there is no answer. A sec-

ond, louder knock brings no better

response.

The gamemaster in the example was

giving out very limited information.

The players had to act to get the full

story, and were drawing their own

conclusions. By handing Paul the note,

the gamemaster has restricted the in-

formation even further; though, with-

out telling Doug and Barb what was

happening upstairs, he clued them in

to the fact that something was up.

While limited, most of the descrip-

tion provided was pertinent -- the

smell of dinner led to the kitchen, for

Player (as character): Excuse me,

but do you know how to get to the

governor general's office?

Gamemaster (as gamemaster char-

acter, rustling a newspaper): Who

knows anything these days? Look at

the nonsense they print in this ... this

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