Monday, November 2, 2015

'Strange Aeons' Halloween Game - 'The Spanish Caverns'


As it was Halloween this past weekend I decided to put on a 'Strange Aeons' game for the boys. Here's the scenario I cooked up for them:
Spring 1937, Spain. 
Your teams have been dispatched to war-torn Spain to investigate reports of a strange atmospheric phenomenon witnessed along the coast of Asturias. This disturbing anomaly, which seems to manifest itself as a type of fog, is causing perfectly good aircraft to crash with no pilots in cockpits and ships found adrift without crew. If this is not perplexing enough, the only ones affected are those sympathetic to Republican Spain...

!No Pasaran! 
!Fhtagn!
The four Agency teams first flew into Portugal where they met a sympathetic priest who served as their guide into Asturias. He ultimately led them to a series of caverns set within a cliff-faced shore. Caverns where the strange fog has been seen to emanate these past few months... 


One member of the team taking a smoke break at the entrance to the caverns.

From all this we spent the evening drinking Spanish wine, having a few laughs, while dispatching rogue Guardia Civil troopers, Cultist Nazis, extra-dimensional tentacles and a wide assortment of creepy-crawly baddies. True to form, the heroes ultimately emerged triumphant, but it must be said that the sanity of a few their number have been severely frayed by the experience. 

The cavern terrain tiles are from a Kickstarter from Dwarven Forge. Both Stacy and I harvested non-essential body parts from local teenagers to get a bunch of the pre-painted sets. They are made of a very high quality plastic/resin material and are ingeniously designed so as to fit together in a bewildering variety of designs. 

Lady Sarah seemed a bit skeptical when I was unpacking the boxes ('You paid HOW MUCH for this?'), but it only took a few minutes of her fiddling around with the pieces and she was hooked, madly putting together her first dungeon. In fact, the cavern layout for this scenario was designed by her the night before. Yes, m'dear, it's a slippery slope. Mwhaahaa!

'...and, see, in here we'll install a jacuzzi and solarium to help hydrate the resident undead. You know, some creature comforts...'
The tabletop with the entrance layer lifts up and fits over the other surface, hiding the final showdown from the players.

Below are a few pics of the caverns along with some artistic re-creations of the evening's action. 


The lower level cavern.
The final showdown in the upper cavern which, in the scenario, overlooks the Atlantic.

'Gee whiz Willickers, what could possibly be down this passage?'
The final battle. A poor team-member (Sylvain) getting drained like a malted milkshake by the Daemonic Mist.
'Schluuurp! Burp! Oh my, pardon me...'
Recognize the villain Nick?
For those who are curious: The nasty pumpkins seen above generated an eldritch shield around the main villains that the heroes had to deal with first. Trick or Treat!!

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!