PDF Challenge Mix and Match (66 Combos)

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Anders

Combination 58: Starship Crew and Deep Night Star

A stalwart starship crew has to face eldritch horrors in order to save a planet from destruction.

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Hollywood beat you to it.

(I was going to type "a few years back", but the Wiki link informs me that film was from 1997. I will now go face the eldritch horror of the inevitability of inexorable time and mortality, or perhaps just avoid the question by trying to think of some interesting combos of PDF Challenge titles.)

I mean, it has and it hasn't. The basic theme of eldritch horrors floating in space is a classic. However, I don't think the answer of infiltrating a giant space amoeba to perform a surgical strike has come up much, and bringing in DF elements actually rounds out the creature a lot. Add in a way for the thing to threaten a ship, and its one of the best versions of a space-amoeba I've seen.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by ericthered

With how quickly the object is speeding through the solar system, the time to carefully build custom equipment is not an option. An off-road vehicle will be hastily sealed and loaded with oxygen tanks, and landed on the object with its crew.

That's just . . . it could be the premise of a whole TV series from the 80s! I can see the title sequence, with a monster truck bristling with guns and antennas defying gravity as it races across a pockmarked landscape with monsters in pursuit, to the tune of wailing guitars.

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Combination 2a) Offroad on Atoep
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 3: Deep Night and the Star and GURPS Action 6: Tricked-Out Rides

An extra-solar object has been spotted, this time on the most improbable of trajectories, passing astonishingly close to earth. This path, along with some very usual readings, have convinced many that this object is artificial. Its traveling quite quickly, but plans have been rushed to place a manned lander on this object, named "Atoep".

Where my mind immediately went:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Say, it isn't that bad!

Combination 66a) The Greater Matrioshka Horror
Template Toolkit 3: Starship Crew and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 21: Megadungeons

Once, an immense, physics-and-sanity defying creation of some elder race for whom tech level 13 was full of amusing trinkets. Wrapped around a single lone star in a near-empty region of space; the matter of dozens of stars, over a thousand attendant planets, tens of thousands of Oort Cloud objects, and countless interstellar miscellany went into constructing this monument to a species whose past existence is now the merest trace of a whisper of a rumour.

All except for the physics-and-sanity defying wreckage and shattered ruins of a structure light-hours across.

Now it is the haunt of mercenaries, pirates, scholars, small civilizations, madmen, refugees, ancient mechanisms still struggling to fulfill some arcane purpose, rogue defence mechanisms, and worse. And it is to this nigh-endless ruin that your crew of mercenaries, pirates, scholars, madmen, refugees, and/or other have come.

With good luck, you'll be able to pay off your starship, and retire young. With bad luck... well, you won't have to worry about all that debt.

Well done, its very vivid. It makes we wonder what exactly is in megadungeons. I haven't read that yet, because DF isn't really my thing, and the dungeons are the part of it I'm the least into... but that description makes me want to read it.

[ericthered]

Combination 3a: Deep Night above Mar'ib
3) GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 3: Deep Night and the Star and GURPS Hot Spots: The Incense Trail

The Stories and Rumors have come pouring in. A Caravan encountering bandits so black they were indistinguishable from the night. Civilians found dead in the morning in the streets of walled cities, drained of all life. The attacks have been sudden, and they've been everywhere. It is unknown what sort of foe is faced, nor why the gods have not stopped such obviously demonic attacks.

A sage steps forth, and offers a plan to stop the attacks. The gods have not stopped the attacks because they are not aware from where the attacks are coming. He has studied this foe, and those like it. He has a method for finding a portal. A few brave souls much travel to the lair of the enemy, and burn sweet incense to inform the gods of where to strike.

*******************************************

This is a fairly simple combination: its common to make the "Town" of dungeon fantasy into a more fleshed out setting. I love the Incense Trail as a DF setting: it has evocative geography, costumes, and customs. Changing up the Tech Level is optional, but interesting.

Combination 3b: The Portal to the Desert
3) GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 3: Deep Night and the Star and GURPS Hot Spots: The Incense Trail

Deep Night has the potential to strand the characters anywhere in the world. Why not on the Incense Trail? You'll probably have to punch up the setting, and you'll probably use an analog area instead of 500 BC on earth, but if you were wondering where to send your players if they play portal lottery: send them to the incense trail!

[ericthered]

Combination 4a: Monsters, Magicians, and Mechanics
4) How to Be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic and GURPS Action 6: Tricked-Out Rides

Some people say humanity has no predators. You know better. Supernatural foes intent on consuming mankind lurk in the shadows of this world. But you know how to fight back. You have the tools and the toys to turn the tables on these monsters and defeat them.

This is mostly just a monster hunters game with an emphasis with Witches and Techies. Vehicle chases sometimes show up in monster hunters anyways, and a lot of the tricks in Tricked-Out Rides is just convenient for secretive monster hunters as it is for secret agents or clever thieves.

Combination 4b: Urban Shaman
4) How to Be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic and GURPS Action 6: Tricked-Out Rides
Its a Concrete Jungle out there: The City is as an exotic and vibrant an ecosystem as any. Many visit this land to work and drain it of resources, but this is your home. You understand the spirits of buildings, of sewer systems, and of machines. You and your buddies do pretty well for yourselves, working odd jobs of questionable legality.

[johndallman]

Combination 32a: Too Good to be True
32) GURPS Boardroom and Curia: Tomorrow Rides and How to Be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic

"The Agency has a pretty good relationship with Tomorrow Rides. They just want to know how their vehicles behave in use, not what we use them for. We get to do the James Bond bit, without spending lots of budget. It's fine -- or it was, until someone got curious about how some of their parts and materials were so good. The labs found it was pretty normal stuff, not cheap but not top-end either. Except it performs way beyond manufacturer's specs. Until you tear it down and put it back together, then it's normal. That needs explaining, and Tomorrow Rides don't want to oblige. Guess what your new mission is?"

[ericthered]

Combination 5a: Incense, Sand, and Sorcery
5) How to Be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic and GURPS Hot Spots: The Incense Trail

Across the world, sorcerers ply their trade, weaving magical rituals for their profit and pleasure. The key to this magic is the Incenses of Dhofar. Without the smoke of incense, the mages have limited power. In its presence, the powers of the universe become putty in their hands. The center of all this is Iram, the city of sorcerers, where the great library contains the best research on magic in the known world. The great dynasties may rule outside the desert, but they do so by paying Iram handsomely for their power.

What do the players do? well, this is a setting, so they can do anything, but here are some ideas:

• An extremely well-funded and secretive individual seeks to make a pilgrimage to Iram to cure some affliction. Who is this individual? will you help him? will you uncover his secrets? And what will you do when you find out who he is, and who cursed him?
• A nation cuts off a rival from their access to frankincense. They need to find an alternate route through the desert to the main Incense routes.
• Someone has stolen a powerful ritual of the great library of Iram. The PC's are tasked with retrieving it.
• The PC's are powerful sorcerer-princes of Iram or neighboring kingdoms, guiding their cities and fortunes.

Yes, I know Sorcery is the name of a magic system. We're using RPM here. Sorcerer just sounds more thematic here and Magi hail from farther north.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Combination 32a: Too Good to be True
32) GURPS Boardroom and Curia: Tomorrow Rides and How to Be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic

"The Agency has a pretty good relationship with Tomorrow Rides. They just want to know how their vehicles behave in use, not what we use them for. We get to do the James Bond bit, without spending lots of budget. It's fine -- or it was, until someone got curious about how some of their parts and materials were so good. The labs found it was pretty normal stuff, not cheap but not top-end either. Except it performs way beyond manufacturer's specs. Until you tear it down and put it back together, then it's normal. That needs explaining, and Tomorrow Rides don't want to oblige. Guess what your new mission is?"

They're cheating. Its not technology: its magic!

I've struggled a bit with tomorrow's rides, and RPM can be weird to combine with other PDF's because it doesn't really have a strong setting element. So good work!

[ericthered]

Combination 6a: RPM in Deep Night
6) How to Be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 3: Deep Night and the Star

Just run it. One or more of the PC's gets Ritual Path Magic, and that's that, right?

A few considerations...
RPM is a flexible magic system, so a lot of spells that would otherwise be niche can be cast to protect from dangers. For example, the extreme cold can be overcome with a spell. Many environmental dangers can be protected against-- once the players know they are there. The first time, even a time adept may be too slow to react.
The path of body is likely to be unexpectedly useful here, given that Atoep is alive. At least, as soon as the players figure out that Atoep is alive. The path of Matter will probably be unexpectedly not as useful.
Spells targeting the whole of Atoep should probably fail...is that GM fiat or is that some power of the thing?
If the caster is a non-adept (not unlikely at the 250 point range), everything depends on how much information and preparation the mage gets.
RPM has much better tools for manipulating gates than DF does, which makes the journey home easier.
One important decision for the GM is if the Demons are effected by the path of body or spirit... or even something like mind, undead, or gates.

As a final note, DF has incanters, which have many similarities to the RPM system... but overlap with the How to GM Book in remarkably few areas. Much of the advice in the How to GM book was baked into the incantation system, and its a little more limited overall.

Combination 6b: Monsters in the Dark
6) How to Be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 3: Deep Night and the Star

You've face demons before, but these things appear to be something else. Many vampires drain their victims, but not these. A band of monster hunters goes hunting for where the Demons from between the Stars come from, what they are up to, and why the attacks are increasing so dramatically. A Mage will be vital for this hunt, but you'll need other hunters as well.

Monster Hunters have a lot more points than delvers, but they are built for investigation as well as combat. The GM may still want to increase the threat level of some monsters, or replace DF-ish ones.