War's End Review: Act Three

From the clue provided in Act Two, Our Heroes make their way to New Orleans, which as everyone knows is an Orrorshan mixed zone thanks to an Akashan reality tree (you'd think that the Akashans would try to make amends by removing the tree but noooo, WEG couldn't actually have the Akashans do something, could they?)

Unlike Act Two, the first Scene here is one that the players actually have to do first regardless of how they get to New Orleans or what they plan on doing when they get there. A roadblock stops their car or train (conveniently enough the airport has been closed due to Horror activities) and naturally enough Our Heroes are expected to get out and see what all the policemen are doing here.

They're investigating a large number of corpses, three humans and seven decidedly inhuman creatures. Naturally enough you would think seeing this would call for a Perseverance Check. It does, but only if the characters investigate closely (which requires convincing the police they can help.) Maybe I'm a little harsher than most but I would call for the Perseverance Check immediately, bodies entwined in giant spider webs and a bunch of Horrors (even if they are dead) don't need to be examined close-up to have an effect.

If the PCs manage to convince the authorities that they can help, they're allowed to examine the crime scene. There's a lot you can learn with a few simple scholar (Orrorsh) skill checks, you only need to generate a total of 14 to identify the spider-creatures as elite servants of Basjas and to know that Basjas is a member of the Gaunt Man's Hellion Court. Another roll, this time needing a 15, will reveal that the other creatures, grey blobs covered with dull red eyes, are blood-thirsts, servants of Sabathina, who you also know is a Nightmare of Orrorsh and you even know that Sabathina and Basjas are at war with each other. I wonder how much you would know about Orrorsh if you generated a total that was actually difficult for most experienced PCs.... Then again, maybe scholar (realm lore) isn't as common a skill for most campaigns as it was towards the end of my game, and a DN of 15 might actually be a challenge.

Poking around the human victims will turn up a few clues which the PCs have been told by the police not to disturb or take but of course the module fully expects the PCs to pocket these items because they're mentioned in later Scenes as things the PCs have to show to other NPCs. One of the clues leads to Scene Three. The officer in charge of the investigation will recommend Scene Four to the PCs as a nice place to stay in New Orleans. (Okay, he recommends the inn that is in Scene Four, same thing!)

Scene Two is one of those "insert anywhere" Scenes, though it is so out of place in a CE/Orrorsh mixed zone I don't think I'd use it anywhere in this Act - I can buy that there's a Cyberpapal presence in New Orleans, I don't buy there being highly cybered Catholic schoolgirls (Possibility-Rated of course!) running amok through the city on motorcycles looking for trouble. In addition to being P-Rated these schoolgirls come equipped with GodMeeters, power daggers, slashers, adrenal boosters, HalloMesh school uniforms, and several doses each of totalimine, headbanger and Dazzleomine!

The stated purpose of this Scene is to "provide atmosphere" but I'll be damned if I can figure out what kind of atmosphere it's meant to provide. It doesn't even mention what I thought was the most obvious Subplot potential for this Scene, a Romance card indicating that one of the schoolgirls takes a liking to one of the PCs. That IMO at least has some potential for fun roleplaying, unlike the suggested ones which are just excuses for more combat with Cyberpapal types later in the Act.

Oh, and you'll love this: if the PCs pursue the girls back to their school we're told to use the cathedral from Act Two (you remember, the one with the 45 P-Rated priests and Church Policemen) and double the number of priests as well as add a dozen cybernuns and two dozen Hospitallers! I guess if one of the suggested Subplots does become active the PCs will have to top the slaughter they went through in the previous Act....

A business card found on one of the victims in Scene One will lead the PCs to Scene Three, the meeting place of a secret society called the Southern Gentlemen (made up of New Orleans gentlemen transformed to Orrorshan reality.) It goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that everyone encounted in this Scene is Possibility-Rated, even the butler. And since this module was written by John Terra we have his ubiquitous Gaean Peace Roses being grown on the premises.

Assuming the PCs can be persuasive enough, the leader of the Southern Gentlemen will provide them with some information; the dead men in Scene One were members of the local voodoo society who were worried about some looming occult disaster and had contacted the Gentlemen looking for help. One of the men had been nervous about spiders (I wonder if this guy made his scholar (Orrorsh) skill check....)

If the PCs mention the obscure clue from Act Two concerning a one-eyed monarch they'll be told about a club called the One-Eyed King. So much for having to work out the meaning of that clue!

The Gentlemen are also fully aware and knowledgable of the "turf war" bewteen Basjas and Sabathina (I guess he did make that skill check!) I wonder just how common knowledge this is supposed to be, does everyone in New Orleans know who these two women are?

As if all this wasn't enough, the Gentlemen just happen to have a bunch of Gaean gypsies staying with them and it's suggested that the PCs take part in a seance to gain more information. It's also suggested that the PCs can get their fortune told but the module does not provide any suggestions on what the PCs should be told if they do so ("I see a lot of mindless violence and great pain in your future...no, the great pain belongs to the player, not the character, as he realizes just how bad this module becomes.")

The section on the seance does not really reference the rules for this kind of thing in the Orrorsh SB, it just has a couple of useful clues, one obvious clue, and the opportunity to ask a couple of questions before the injection of some mindless violence - suddenly a Horror materializes in the middle of the room and attacks! It's not even an appropriate Horror, an evil spirit or something like that, it's just a flying thing with big pincers that attacks everyone. The module does not mention having to make a Perseverance Check when the Horror appears, perhaps it assumes that GMs will know to do this on their own.

One of the useful clues is a reference to Baruk Kaah's role in Act Four while the other is a lead to Scene Eight, the location of the reality tree in New Orleans. Scene Eight can be done at any point after this Scene but the module assumes that it won't be done until after every other Scene; not only does it make references to the events of Scene Seven but none of the Scenes between here and Eight say anything about how to handle events if the reality tree has been uprooted and Orrorshan reality is no longer present in New Orleans.

Scene Four is set in the La Bon Vie, an inn done up in early 19th century Colonial fashions. As with any inn you come across in an RPG there is a motley assortment of characters always present in the downstairs bar/restaurant area with a fight just waiting to break out. And naturally enough, the majority of them are Possibility-Rated.

Supposedly the La Bon Vie is meant to be a place of hospitality and jovality, a place for the characters to relax and "get better acquainted with the city by means of its people." Too bad the majority of the characters mentioned are either not from New Orleans or aren't exactly the best representative New Orleans has to offer (a thief who will try to pick the PCs pockets or break into their rooms and pilfer any valuables.) In fact the only New Orleans residents (New Orleanians?) in the Scene other than the thief are the proprietor and a stand-offish Japanese-American woman the PCs are supposed to suspect of being from Nippon Tech. And naturally enough, they are the only two guaranteed Ords in the place.

So who else is here? Primarily a bunch of Victorian soldiers (only a slight chance of being P-Rated except for their commander), a Sacellum priest (P-Rated), a Cyberpapal priest and his Church Police bodyguards (all P-Rated). Boy, I bet you can't guess where this Scene is going, can you?

There's also a reporter (yup, P-Rated) who serves no real purpose - sure, she can provide a lot of rumors and information about event s in the rest of the US but with the war ending one way or another at the end of this module, who cares? It's like the pointless Bank of Japan Scene in the last Act , any possible information will be made worthless by the events of this adventure! She's not even available as fodder for a Romance Subplot, her description specifically mentions she's happily married and will slug anyone who refuses to take a hint and not hit on her. Oh yeah, and the lead police officer from Scene One is also here.

As you might expect, the Sacellum and Cyberpapal priest get into a theological discussion and it leads to the possibility of a conflict. Of course the Victorians don't stand a chance - their weapons won't even harm the Church Policemen without a very good roll, but I guess when you're used to facing Horrors being outnumbered by heavily armed and armored Church Police isn't that big of a deal.

The PCs are expected to step in and calm down the situation, if they don't the police officer from Scene One will try to arrest both the Victorians and Cyberpapists and a firefight will break out.

Now this conflict does make sense; as I said earlier I can accept there being a Cyberpapal presence in New Orleans and this kind of thing probably happens all the time given the intolerant nature (and similarities) of the Papacy and the Sacellum. But it certainly doesn't help promote the supposed purpose of this Scene, getting better acquainted with the people of New Orleans.

But wait, it isn't over yet. Regardless of how the Sacellum/Papal situation is resolved there's even more mindless violence to finish off the Scene! Later that night four vampyres come in looking to cause trouble. Oh, and provide a lead to Scene Seven, yeah, that's really why they're here....

I'm sorry but this is just totally unnecessary, there has to be a better way of leading the characters to Scene Seven than a fight with four full-power vampyres (BTW, though it's a fault from the Orrorsh SB and not unique to this module I find it incredibly stupid that Sabathina's subordinates have a Fear Rating equal to hers and Basjas's Fear Rating combined.)

I cannot decide if Scene Five is an homage or attack on White Wolf's "World of Darkness" games. Maybe it's both. It's definitely a reference to them and not just because of the heavy emphasis on "gothicpunk" in the descriptions of the club that the Scene occurs in, the One-Eyed King; the presence of a Vampire, Werewolf and (techno) Mage is what convinced me of it.

The main problem I have with the Scene is that I'm not sure how it's meant to be handled; on one hand there are sections of it that are obviously meant as attacks on the genre but then the rest of the Scene approaches it straight-faced. Given how bad other parts of the module are I can't even use the really awful cameo by an Avatar of Apeiros as an indication of whether this Scene is supposed to be silly or serious.

The vampire, werewolf and technomage are given full writeups. A group of Cyberpapal street punks are also written up (it's a bar so of course there are punks looking for a fight, but cybered Ords? I don't think Mr. Terra understand the phrase "disconnection is a bitch".) Descriptions are provided for two more NPCs, Ords whose sole purpose in this Scene is to appear pathetic and mock the genre.

The vampyre and werewolf are of course Horrors, but the module says nothing about requiring Perseverance Checks when this becomes apparent. In fact when more Horrors show up and attack the club patrons there's no mention of a Perseverance Check for that either.

The vampyre is interestingly enough of Core Earth reality yet a full Horror. I'm not sure this is how the Infection power is supposed to work but I suppose in the mixed zone it's entirely possible and it's not like disconnecting here is going to affect her any (unless of course the PCs did Scene Eight before coming here....) She has no real function in this Scene other than to be beautiful and presumably to make passes at some of the PCs since it mentions one-night stands in her writeup.

The technomage (from Tharkold naturally) is provided as a link to Act Four. If the PCs make contact with him and don't act like poseurs, he can help make arrangements with people the PCs need to meet up with in the next Act. Of course Act Four makes the assumption that the PCs will make contact with this character, since it takes for granted that this guy will contact his friends in LA to meet the players and help them out. I guess if they don't make contact he does it out of the goodness of his own heart (a guy from Tharkold? Yeah, right!)

Now for the truly painful part, the Avatar of Apeiros and his mighty 2x4 of Plot Exposition (ie, it's about as subtle as getting hit up side the head with a board). This is apparently the only reason for this Scene's existence, so the PCs can be told what the Gaunt Man is up to and what happens in the last couple of Scenes in Act Four. Even more painful, it's related to the PCs in the form of bad beatnik poetry!

Lest you think the Scene ends on that high note, a bunch of Basjas' spider-kin suddenly swarm into the club after the poetry recital and attack everyone in sight. Yay, even more unnecessary violence with Horrors! And to add insult to injury, even though the PCs will no doubt be at the forefront of the fight against the spider-kin if a Mistaken ID Subplot is active the female vampyre in the Scene will believe the PC is a spy for Basjas ("But it's the oldest trick in the book, killing those on your side to convince others that you aren't with them!")

Scene Six is a visit to a voodoo shop on Bourbon Street, the source of the voodoo token found in Scene One. Other than finding out that the proprietor did indeed sell the token to the victim there's only one reason for this Scene and that's to give the PCs a chance to buy some Voodoo tokens of their own - conveniently enough she has available two tokens that offer protection against spider-like creatures and two that offer protection against vampyric creatures. What luck!

Oh yeah, something I forgot to mention earlier; Mr. Koar, the Horror from Act One , the one who just sat there and watched the PCs on the train to Thebes, is supposed to be shadowing the PCs here in New Orleans and sabotaging their investigations. He must not be very good at this sort of thing because this is the only Scene of the entire act where he's actually mentioned as trying to interfere (though he does show up in Scene Eight, so I guess he could have interfered prior to this point if the PCs did Scene Eight out of order.) The problem is that the module says that if he finds out the PCs are headed to this shop he will "try" to get there first and kill the voodoo woman and destroy the shop.

What's with him "trying" to get there first, does he get there first or doesn't he? If he does get there first does he manage to kill her or not before the PCs can get there? Is the GM supposed to run the entire encounter in his head to see what happens before the PCs get there? Oh, I forgot to mention that the shop is protected by four zuvembies, supposedly created by a Haitian voodoo priest but they're Orrorshan zuvembies, complete with Fear Rating and Powers. Mr. Koar would have a difficult time defeating them which is why his getting there first doesn't automatically mean he kills the voodoo woman.

Finally, we're down to the last two Scenes, both of which are Dramatic. The module does mention that this is unusual but it rightly explains that both events (the showdown with Basjas & Sabathina and uprooting the reality tree) demand a Dramatic Scene so having two Dramatic Scenes is justified and I agree. I suppose it's also an attempt to make up for there being only one Dramatic Scene in Act One that wasn't even very dramatic.

Anyway, Scene Seven has the PCs coming here based on a clue provided by the vampyre punks in Scene Four - which I suppose means that the PCs had better keep one of the vampyres alive long enough to interrogate. Then again, maybe the PCs would be better off avoiding this Scene entirely and just going on to Scene Eight, uprooting the reality tree may not kill off Basjas and Sabathina but it will certainly take care of the problem of them being in New Orleans. Plus it has the bonus of being a lot easier and not quite as pointless as Scene Seven.

Getting back to the action, the PCs show up just in time to hear Sabathina and Basjas exchange some insults and prepare for battle, but they are noticed by the two Horrors who then agree to team up and wipe out the PCs as a warmup to the main event. Now I ask you, how likely is it that these two bitter enemies would actually cooperate in a fight against the PCs? These are two highly corrupt and evil creatures, are we to actually expect them to honor their agreement to wait until after the PCs are dead to strike at each other? For that matter, why do they both immediately come to the conclusion that the PCs are interlopers, wouldn't it be conceivable that either one of them might cheat and bring along some stormer assistance? (BTW, the now ubiquitous spider-kin and blood-thirsts are also present in large numbers in this Scene but for most of it they're occupied fighting with each other.)

Just in case the players haven't made really bitchin' research rolls at some point prior to this Scene and have learned Sabathina's and Basjas' Weaknesses and True Deaths, they're handed to the PCs on silver platters here (each brought the Weakness and True Death of the other with her and conveniently abandon them in their haste to attack the PCs.)

Oh, here's a wonderful bit of inconsistency - there's no mention of making a Perseverance Check upon confronting Sabathina and Basjas (even when Basjas transforms into her true form) or of losing any Perseverance Points when this happens but if the PCs pursue a couple of the spider-kin out of the cemetery they lose a Perseverance Point and have to make a check when they reach the kin's lair. Sure, seeing an attractive Victorian woman mutate into a hideous giant spider creature and a matronly Victorian woman become Dracula's meaner sister isn't anywhere as shocking as seeing how a bunch of skull-headed spider creatures live....

As an aside, the spider-kin have their writeup printed twice in this one Scene, once for the fight in the cemetery and again if the PCs pursue them to their lair. What, they think it's too difficult for us to flip one whole page back to the first writeup? Does Terra or WEG think that GMs so lazy they have to have all writeups provided for the same creatures everywhere they show up (because the exact same writeup is also in Scene Five)? Geez.

Finally, the last Scene. The PCs have learned where the reality tree is (in a park) and after a little wandering around locate the tree itself. Gee, if it was that easy I'm surprised that no one found it before this point in time. Especially since the totally worthless map (it has a sidewalk, a couple lampposts, three normal trees, and a twisted, gnarled blackened tree marked 'reality tree') makes it pretty obvious that it isn't like any of the other trees in the park, you'd think some Akashans or other Storm Knights would have gone looking for strange trees before now (okay, there's bound to be a lot of trees in New Orleans so they might have missed it, but it's a major park, you'd think it an obvious place to look for trees.)

Of course the PCs can't have it so easily - Mr. Koar, if he's still alive, will take this opportunity to attack the PCs and wunderkind Randolph Chapman suddenly reappears from Act Two (assuming the PCs didn't kill him there) to also attack the party. Why? Why not, he's insane, remember?

Anyway, any party that's capable of dealing with four vampyres (Scene Four) and/or Sabathina and Basjas at the same time (Scene Seven) is not going to have any problem dealing with Koar and Chapman. But the reality tree has no defenses of its own (other than the intimidation skill) so someone has to show up to try and stop the PCs.

There are two suggested methods for uprooting the reality tree; destroying it (difficult since it has a TOU of 50) or using research to figure out that it's kinda like a Horror and has a Weakness/True Death that can be exploited (of course the tree's actual writeup mentions no such thing.) The tree's weakness is that nailing a ghoul to it with at least four silver nails will kill it (its host was a ghoul, hence the connection.) Conveniently enough the ghoul and some of his friends (also ghouls) have taken up residence in the park and after all the previous battles in this Act will be a nice change of pace (ie, easy to kill.)

Once the tree is destroyed we're told that all the Victorian influences on New Orleans immediately vanish along with the Orrorshan reality; people's clothes transform, gas lamps become electric lamps, horse-drawn carriages become automobiles, and so on. Now to me this suggests that the mixed zone had created some physical transformations and the CE axiom wash is dramatically (and a bit against the odds) instantly reversing those transformations.

But it goes on to say that there was no need to plant a story seed here, which means that no one was transformed to a different reality by being here. Doesn't it seem a little strange that things would transform but people wouldn't? What about the Southern Gentlemen, all of them were described as being transformed to Orrorshan reality, don't tell me that only P-Rateds were transformed the entire time the mixed zone existed here?

Sigh. Definitely the worst and most inconsistent Act so far. But I must admit to being a bit prejudiced, in my own game I put a lot of effort into the New Orleans mixed zone and my players spent several months adventuring there and believe me, it was nothing like the crap in this Act. Locating and destroying the reality tree was not a one Scene pushover, it was the focus of several adventures and not as easy as making one research roll. It took hard work and a lot of risks just to figure out approximately where it was much less actually locating it and then destroying it. And you can be certain that there weren't heavily cybered schoolgirls roaming the streets on motorcycles either....

Well, that just leaves the requisite "travel by Apeiros" jumpscenes that reveal to the players other events occuring around the world. The first shows what happens to 3327 and given the ludicrous situation WEG handed him (I'm speaking of Jezrael's replacing 3327's clones with exact duplicates loyal to her instead of the Nippon High Lord, WEG obviously forgot that the clones weren't loyal to 3327, they were part of him) Terra did a pretty good job of it. Basically all that happens is the clones wait for Daikoku to vanish then go in to kill 3327. A defense system in 3327's office manages to temporarily incapacitate all but one of the clones who proceeds to kill 3327 as well as the other clones (you just can't trust anyone in Nippon!) so that he can rule Marketplace by himself. But the real 3327 managed to activate a self-destruct mechanism in his office before dying and the resulting explosion kills off the last clone.

Once again the PCs are teleported into the middle of this scene but don't get to do anything important - before they can even react to the sight of six 3327's they're attacked by a bunch of MarSec goons who keep them busy long enough for the one clone to kill the real 3327 and the other clones. Then the Pcs are either teleported away before the bomb goes off or are expected to somehow know there's a bomb and get out of the building (they're on the top floor of a skyscraper of course) before it goes off four rounds later.

The second cutaway is another one that the players are just aware of, they don't actually appear on the scene or get to do anything. All that happens here is Parok, chief warlord of the Ravagons, finally wises up and realizes the Gaunt Man is not their beloved Sixth Prophet and orders all ravagons to return to Tz'Ravok, and they do. Whee, about as exciting as the Akashans shrugging their shoulders and going home in Act One.

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