Trancers RPG Adventure Module A-1: A Game of Deth

By Wind Lothamer ~ Trancers RPG By Oreon Lothamer and Ahi Kerp ~

Trancers RPG Adventure Module A-1: A Game of Deth

You know, this could be the beginning of a beautiful... forget it!

Chapter 1: Set up
In the year 2360, a mysterious Trancer Boss has figured out a new way to trance squids: through a game called Hero Dungeon. The Trancer Boss has his Trancer gang bring in squids from all over Angel City to play in Hero Dungeon tournaments, with a promise of big cash payouts to the winner. However, there are no winners because everyone who plays either gets tranced or singed! The Council has found out about this new threat and has decided to send in some undercover Trancer Hunters to infiltrate the tournament. Can they stop the Trancer Boss in time, or will they get tranced along with all the others in this game of death? For the Game Master Only: Little does anyone know that the Hero Dungeon game has been specially created by Dr. Jones to trance anyone who plays it. After a game session, all players must make a successful check to resist getting trancedanyone who fails is immediately tranced and joins Dr. Joness gang. If a player loses the game, he will be -4 to his trancing check. If he wins the game, he will be +2 to the check. Every person who wants to enter the tournament has to start in the intro game, which is run by Gavin Jones. If they get past Gavin, they will be passed on to Richie Riches game. If they are still alive and untranced after Richies game, they will finally be brought to see Dr. Jonesthe Trancer Boss who is behind this nefarious plot. Can they stop Dr. Jones in time? only you can say!

Chapter 2: Actors
Sam Sneed, 19 year old Male Pizza Delivery Man Appearance: Blends in and is nondescript Attributes: Str. 3, Agi. 2, End. 4, L.C. 5, Det. 4, S.C. 2, Att. 5, Luck 5 Life Points: 7, Luck Points: 5 Skills: Drive (4), Brag (1), Gaming (6), Fast Talk (1), Find (1), Deliver Pizza (4) Weapons: Brass Knuckles (1d4) Sam is a pizza delivery boy who has just heard about the Hero Dungeon tournament. He will enter the tournament and will try to convince anyone that he meets that they should do the same. Sam is pretty good at gaming, but cannot compete on the level of Gavin Jones and Richie Riche. He will probably get tranced in the first meet, regardless of whether he wins or loses.

Gavin Jones, 27 year old Male Trancer Appearance: Multiple scars on the face, blonde hair, inverted nipples, and hazel eyes. Attributes: Str. 6, Agi. 7, End. 10, L.C. 5, Det. 7, S.C. 6, Att. 4, Luck 3 Life Points: 16, Luck Points: 3 Skills: Mock (4), Impromptu (2), Gaming (8) Weapons: Baseball bat (1d6) Gavin runs an entry level game of Hero Dungeon. He is always Zorgon and he usually has at least five other Trancers hanging around at his apartment. His job is to bring in fresh meat and see if they are ideal candidates for Trancing. If the new players win his game, Gavin will pass them on up the line to Ricky Riche. If they do not, he will either have his gang kill them, or he will trance them.

Ricky Riche, 32 year old Male Trancer Appearance: Large sexual organs, color changing eyes, brown hair, and one or more golden teeth. Attributes: Str. 10, Agi. 8, End. 8, L.C. 7, Det. 7, S.C. 6, Att. 9, Luck 8 Life Points: 18, Luck Points: 8 Skills: Guns (4), Dodge (2), Gaming (9), Cheat (2) Weapons: Handgun (1d10) Loaded die (2d10) Ricky Riche runs the mid-level game of Hero Dungeon. He is always Zorgon and he will have 10-12 Trancers hanging with him. If Gavin passes a player on to him Ricky will say that his job is to see if they are good enough to pass on to Dr. Jones, but he will always cheat to defeat them. By the time someone gets to Ricky, they are probably not Trancer material, so he will kill any losers. Dr. Jones, 50 year old Male Trancer Boss Appearance: Partly bald, grey eyes, black hair. Attributes: Str. 5, Agi. 7, End. 7, L.C. 10, Det. 8, S.C. 8, Att. 4, Luck 7 Life Points: 12, Luck Points: 14 Skills: Guns (3), Dodge (3), Gaming (10), Cheat (4), Trancers (9) Weapons: Handgun (1d10) Protector Armor (3d4-3) Lucky Dice Dr. Jones is the mysterious leader of the Hero Dungeon Trancer gang. He has his followers bring in new players by promising them that the winners will move on up the tournament. He has

specially engineered his games so that they will trance anyone who plays, which is why he wants people to play. If anyone gets past Ricky Riche, they will be brought to play in a game session run by Dr. Jones. Regardless of whether they win or lose, Dr. Jones will have his minions kill them. However, if anyone can defeat him at Hero Dungeon, he will be shaken and will suffer -4 to all skill tests thereafter.

Chapter 3: Scenarios
Scenario 1: If the players are Trancer Hunters, the Council will send them in undercover to take down the Hero Dungeon ring. The Council will recommend that the players get trained in playing Hero Dungeon before they begin and will issue Trancer disguises to each member of the team. Scenario 2: If the players are Regular People, they will hear about the Hero Dungeon tournament on the streetmaybe even from a pizza delivery boy. Word will get out that the tournament will pay $100,000 to the winner! Who wouldnt want in on that? Scenario 3: If the players are Trancers, Dr. Jones will hire them to play in the tournament as shills and hit men. Scenario 4: Androids will be able to download the gaming skill automatically and probably will want to enter the tournament and win the $100,000.

Chapter 4: New Stuff New Skills

There are two new skillsboth are from the Social category.

Social
Cheat: BaseDetermination. Your skill in Cheat determines how good you are at cheating at contests like games or sports. On a successful cheat check, a character gains a +1 point/cheat level bonus to his gaming checks. For every two skill levels a character has, he adds plus one to all cheat tests. Gaming: BaseLearning Capacity and Social Compatibility. Your skill in Gaming determines how good you are at playing games. You can do the following at each skill level: 1. You can play games like Candyland. 2. You can play cards. 3. You can play most board games. 4. You can play Risk. 5. You can play collectable card games. 6. You can play a pre-generated character in a role playing game. 7. You can roll up your own character. 8. You can GM a role playing game. 9. You are an advanced player and can

roll up a character in time. 10. You are a master gamer, and can even design your own games. For every two skill levels a character has, he adds plus one to all gaming tests.

New Equipment
Name Loaded Dice Price $200 Description These dice are loadedliterally! They are packed with enough explosive to do 2d10 damage to everyone within 5 feet. Add +4 to cheat tests. Everything you need to play Hero Dungeon. Makeup to make you look like a Trancer. Add +4 to social camouflage checks when trying to pass as a Trancer. Delicious soda. Add +1 to gaming checks. These special dice double your luck points!

Cheater Dice App Hero Dungeon Game* Trancer Disguise

$50 $50 $300

Mountain Dew Lucky Dice

$5 $500,000

* Make a successful check against getting tranced or become a Trancer after playing.

Appendix A: The Hero Dungeon Game

Optional Rules for playing the Hero Dungeon Game in a Trancers Game Note: The Hero Dungeon rules are intended for use in the Trancers RPG, but they can be easily adapted to any game system. Just think about how fun it would be to run a game in Dungeons and Dragons where your Dwarf is playing an Elf, your Wizard is playing a Cimmerian, or your Halfling is playing Zorgon! Or, easily adapt this entire adventure module to a game like Call of Cthulu by simply replacing the Trancers with cultists! The game of Hero Dungeon is really cool and it is no wonder why the Trancers like to play it so much. Basically, it is a fantasy-type game where anyone who plays can pretend to be someone from the old days when there were magicians and hobbits and Chaotic Knights. Hero Dungeon can be played by two to five players, with one player acting as the deranged wizard Zorgon. As Zorgon, this player will control the goblins and Chaotic Knights. Zorgons job is to build the dungeon and hide the treasure, and then to try to kill everyone else before they can find it. Each of the other players picks one of the characters below and then tries to find the treasure. Whoever finds the treasure first is the winner. It really is fun because when else would someone like a Trancer get to pretend that he was a mighty Cimmerian warrior of the past or a lowly despicable Hobbit? How you win the game is that you either kill all the monsters or you find the Chaotic Treasure. You lose if you die and no one brings you back to life. After you make it out of the dungeon, your hero can buy equipment, like better swords or armor.

Cimmerian
Attack 3 Defend 2 Body 8 Mind 2

The Cimmerian is a powerful warrior but, as you can see, his mind is not very sharp. He attacks with a mighty sword or sometimes an axe. Honestly, it is hard to understand why anyone would want to play anything but a Cimmerian. As you may have guessed, Trancers always prefer to play the Cimmerian. Cimmerians have weird names like Kull or Groo. Hobbit
Attack 1 Defend 3 Body 5 Mind 3

The Hobbit is not very strong or smart. But he sure is fast for such a little guy! Most people do not want to play the Hobbit because he is such a wimp, but he can disarm traps, so its a good idea to trick someone else into playing him. Hobbits use wimpy weapons like slingshots and short swords. Most Hobbits have ridiculous names like Took or Sam. Magician
Attack 1 Defend 2 Body 4 Mind 6

The only reason to play the Magician is because he has magic powers. However, he is even more of a wimp than the Hobbit. Also, anyone who plays the Magician has to speak in a hoarse whisper and act really moodykind of like Christian Bale in the Dark Knight movies. Magicians have knives or staves. One of the best reasons to play a Magician is that Magician names are awesome, like Merlin or Dumbledore. Elf
Attack 2 Defend 2 Body 6 Mind 4

The Elf is tougher than he lookswhich is good because he looks like a pretty little girl. Even though he is not good at fighting like the Cimmerian, he is better than the wimpy Hobbit or the Magician. The Elf likes to fight with a bow and arrow, if that tells you anything. The Elf is usually played by the most annoying member of the gaming group. Elf names sound a lot like hippy names, for instance: Legolas or Bushy Evergreen.

Playing Hero Dungeon

The rules of Hero Dungeon are simple, which is probably why Trancers love to play it so much. Basically the heroes try not to die and also to find the treasure in the dungeon. Each turn, a hero can move and act. An action can be an attack against a monster, casting a spell (if playing the Magician), finding traps, disarming a trap (if playing the Hobbit), or searching for treasure. Here is how each action is conducted: *Attacking: A player simply declares his intention to attack. Then he rolls a gaming check. If the check is a success, his attack inflicts the amount of damage listed in the attack column for the character. However, the opponent also has a chance to defend against the attack. If the defending player rolls a successful gaming check, he may subtract the number listed in the defend column from the damage. The remaining amount is subtracted from the characters body.

* Casting spells. If a Magician has a spell, he can cast it. Success is the same as above, except defenders use their mind score instead of defend for defense. * Finding traps. A hero can search a room or a hallway for traps instead of looking for treasure or fighting. If the player makes a successful gaming check, Zorgon has to reveal any hidden traps within the room. * Disarming traps. The Hobbit can disarm a trap if his player makes a successful gaming check. If the Hobbit fumbles, he will probably be killed by the trap because he is such a wimp. * Searching for treasure. If a player makes a successful gaming check, his character will find a treasure. If he rolls an Excellent, he will find the Chaos Treasure! If he rolls a fumble, he will find a wandering monster and have to fight it.

Treasures
Roll on the table below to figure out what treasure your character finds. 1-3 4-5 6-7 8-9 10 Gold Potion Jewels Gem Trap!*

If someone sets off a trap, he will take 1 point of damage. The only person who can disarm the trap is a Hobbit.

Spells
The magician may choose three of the packages below, the Elf may choose one. Fire Spells * Fire ballautomatically inflicts 2 damage. * Fireinflicts 1 damage. * Bravery--+2 to attack checks. Water Spell * Sleep * Healing waterheals 4 body points. * Invisibility Earth Spells * Healing dirtheals 4 body points. * Stone Skincharacter gets +1 defense. * Walk through walls

Air Spells * Genieattacks with 5 attack. * Whirlwindmonster looses turn. * Run awaycharacter can flee a fight.

Zorgons Minions
These are all of the baddies that Zorgon can place into the dungeon to defeat the heroes. A character with a high enough gaming skill (9 or above) playing Zorgon can also invent his own monsters on a successful gaming check. Goblin
Attack 2 Defend 1 Body 1 Mind 1

Chaotic Skeleton
Attack 2 Defend 2 Body 1 Mind 0

Chaotic Knight
Attack 4 Defend 4 Body 3 Mind 3

Baalrog
Attack 4 Defend 5 Body 3 Mind 4

Zorgons Turn
After the heroes have all gone, Zorgon gets a turn. Zorgon gets to move all of the monsters and can either attack or cast a Chaotic Spell with each monster. Here is how each action is conducted: *Attacking: Zorgons attacks are the same as hero attacks (See above). * Casting spells. If a monster has a spell, he can cast it. Success is the same as above, except defenders use their mind score instead of defend for defense.

Zorgons Chaotic Spells

* Fire ballautomatically inflicts 2 damage. * Fireinflicts 3 damage to all heroes in the room. * Mind Control * Sleep * Rusting * Invisibility * Summon skeletonssummons 4 skeletons. * Summon goblinssummons 4 goblins. * Whirlwindhero looses a turn. * Run awaycharacter can flee a fight. * Paralyzeall heroes are paralyzed until their players pass a gaming check.

Example of play: Andys character, Don Valdez, a Trancer Hunter is playing Hero Dungeon with Jamies Android, Bill, and a group of three Trancersone of whom is being played by Christian and the other two are NPC villains being played by the Game Master, Sandy. Dons character is a Cimmerian named Kalidor, Bills character is a Hobbit named Bilbeaux, and Ku Chung, Christians notorious Trancer Leader, is playing as Zorgon. The two Trancer NPCs have already acted and it is now Kalidors turn to act. OK, says Sandy. Ku Chung looks at the game screen and tells Don that Kalidor is standing outside of a room. The Elf and Magician have already moved on down the hall and Bilbeaux is still dead. What do you do? Andy clears his throat and says Don tells Ku Chung that Kalidor will use his move to enter the room. OK, answers Christian. Ku Chung says Kalidor easily kicks in the door and enters the small ten by ten room. He looks around and quickly realizes that there are no monsters in room and then asks him what he wants to do. Don declares that Kalidor is searching for treasure. That will require a gaming check, interjects Sandy, the Game Master. Alright, says Andy. Don rolls a d10 for his gaming skill check and gets a...1. Thats a fumble, Sandy tells Andy. Christian, Ku Chung gets to add a wandering monster. Christian tells the others that Ku Chung places a Chaotic Warrior in the room. Ku Chung says The Chaotic Warrior immediately attacks, says Christian. Then Ku Chung laughs manically. You will have to make a gaming check, too, reminds Sandy. Christian rolls a 6 on his gaming check but, because Ku Chungs gaming skill is at level 7, he gets a +3 to the result: a combined 10. Andy rolls Dons gaming check, this time an 8, but it is not good enough to defend against Ku Chungs 10, which means that Kalidor takes full damage from the Chaotic Knights attack. Remember to keep track of that damage, says Christian. Right, says Andy as h marks down the 4 damage on Dons character record sheet. Thats the end of Dons turn, says Sandy. Jamie, its your turnwhat do you do? Well, says Jamie. Bilbeauxs dead, so I guess that Bill just sits back and watches the action.

Sounds good, says Sandy. Christian: youre up. Christian tells the others that Ku Chung gets to make all of Zorgons moves. He does some stuff with the other monsters and then Christian says that Ku Chung has the Chaotic Warrior attack Kalidor. This time, Christian rolls a combined 6 and Andy gets an 8 again. Because Andys roll is higher but both are successes, Don gets to subtract Kalidors defense from the damage. Andy marks down the 2 damage (4-2) on Dons character record sheet. Alright, says Sandy. Thats the end of Ku Changs turn. The two Trancers playing the Magician and the Elf are up. I guess theyll try to come back and help Kalidor. Can their heroes reach the room? No, says Christian. Ku Chung reminds them that they are still too far to get there in one turn. Fair enough, says Sandy. Andy, youre up. What does Don do now? Don chugs his Mountain Dew, says Andy after a moment. Good idea, replies Sandy, marking it down in her notes. That gives him a +1 to his gaming checks. What does he do next? Don declares that Kalidor is attacking the Chaotic Knight, says Andy as he rolls a 10 (9+1 from the Mountain Dew) on Dons gaming check (+2 to damage!), while Christian fails on Ku Chungs gaming check. The Chaotic Knight therefore takes the full 5 points from Kalidors attack and is defeated. The Chaotic Knight has been defeated, hisses Ku Chung, says Christian, crossing the Knight off of Ku Chungs character record sheet. Huzzah! shouts Andy. Don decides that he will have Kalidor move out of the room to conclude his turn.