Mix and Match 2021 (66 Combos)

[ericthered]

Combination 62a: I Didn't Sign Up for This!
62) Encounters: The Mysterious Airfield and Dungeon Fantasy 23: Twists

A crack team of Navy Seals are called upon to take a strange mission for a dark agency connected with the airforce. After encountering the strange things, the agency calls on them again and again, pitting them against zombies, demons, and beasts on the far side of a portal. All the while, the team has to wonder just how much oversight the agency is actually getting. This uses combinations 48a, 48b, and 48c.

Combination 62b: Dungeons of Pindos
62) Encounters: The Mysterious Airfield and Dungeon Fantasy 23: Twists

On the cursed isle of pindos, the inquisitori run a secret dungeon for things too secret, too dangerous, and too scandalous to keep in Venice. Not to mention it would be difficult to move the portal. Here, they are free to test witchcraft to see if actually relies on the devil, to work on things that would surely get out in Venice, and to figure out the mystery of the portal at its center. Above, Pindos appears as a military fort, which disguises its true sinister nature, and provides an extra layer of security.

You work for the tainted souls of Pindos, finding the things they need, and trying your best to balance the need for Venezia to survive with your need to be able to sleep at night. This is an expansion on combination 42, of the same name.

Combination 62c: The Whitecoat Dungeon
62) Encounters: The Mysterious Airfield and Dungeon Fantasy 23: Twists

An enterprising band of adventurers bursts through a portal to a strange place where children are being held prisoner and men wearing white coats inject strange and ineffective potions into them. Their ranged weapons are powerful, but they're weak to melee. And some of this loot is exceptionally unique.

[ericthered]

Combination 63a: A Test of No Effect
63) Encounters: The Mysterious Airfield and Action Adventure 1: Templar's Gold

The Portal at Venus Field appears to travel through time... which makes the agency a bit cautious. Just what are the laws of time travel? A few nerve-wracking tests have shown no hint of the butterfly effect... but testing it on a young Austrian just out of the hospital or in the Russian civil war feels a little dangerous.

Instead the first real interference will be an investigation into the death of one Sam Butler: suspicions are he was poisoned. As a trail to an immense treasure appears, the agents begin to suspect that whoever first suggested the mission might have known more than he was letting on ... is their own agency infiltrated by the Baphomet?

Combination 63b: The Secret Base
63) Encounters: The Mysterious Airfield and Action Adventure 1: Templar's Gold

Sam Butler is a latent psi, but the experiments Venus field performed on the skilled pilot has left him a gibbering wreck. He's been returned to his family for his last few months of life, with them told a plane wreck and resulting head injury are the results of his trauma. However, he has a few days of lucidity, and he tells a different story: one of a hidden government facility where he was experimented on.

The PC's may be in this for different reasons: Some may be friends of Sam seeking revenge, or at least answers. One might be an investigative journalist opposed to secret government programs. Others might be hunters of the paranormal, or loved ones of someone else who died a similar death.

They'll need Sam's ramblings and some of his service records. But word of his ramblings has already gotten out. The Agency is liable to silence him, and anyone to whom he has shared his top secret knowledge...

[ericthered]

Combination 65: Treasure in the Sky
65) Dungeon Fantasy 22: Gates and Action Adventure 1: Templar's Gold

Five years ago, Paree, city of gates, came under attack from the tentacular realm of celphodon. The celphadon's attacked from multiple fronts, and the invaders where stopped only after a long and bloody struggle.

Some of the bloodiest and most difficult fighting was among the cloud islands. It was there that Samul discovered a horde of treasure within a castle that should have been long derelict. Driven off by the spells of the invaders, he swore to return to the castle to take the wealth for himself.

The cloud islands are still a dangerous place, seeded with monsters and traps, but that would not have stopped Samul. What has stopped him is some strange and uncurable illness. As shadowy figures seek his knowledge, Samul tells a band of adventurers of where to find the treasure. Can they brave the wreckage of the sky islands to find the treasure? And will its shadowy hunters be a greater hindrance than they are a help?

[ericthered]

Combination 66: Weapons of the Marya
66) Dungeon Fantasy 23: Twists and Action Adventure 1: Templar's Gold

The shrines of the Marya hold many strange and mysterious artifacts, but they largely did not use them in their wars. They claim that the items were cursed, and the rumor is that human sacrifice is required to use them. Even so, that would not disuade all of the desperate or power-mad if it were not for the fact that most of them barely work at all.

But in the aftermath of the war, one Samril has a working artifact, and he says he knows where a great deal more are, if one can dig into the ruins where he found them. But a mysterious cult is after Samril. Perhaps the cult seeks the powerful artifacts for themselves. Perhaps they view themselves as its gaurdians. Or perhaps they serve the old Gods of the Marya. And Samril does seem to have hit by some sort of curse...

[ericthered]

So I've finished the 2021 pdf project. It took a while, but I'm pretty happy with how things turned out. A few thoughts about the pdfs:


Grissom is generic, so you can slot it in anywhere. This also means it looks lack-luster until you add more color. If I ever run it, it will now be a crazy space-opera version of it with installations hidden in crevices the icy hidden moon protected by bizarre fauna and connected by portals to a maze of other alien installations. Or run it in the Wild Blue. Possibly both. Pirates and an NPC who stumbles onto the secret by accident can also be added in.



You should ask what sort of people steal exotic artifacts in your setting. Regardless of the settings. It might be pirates, it might be art thieves. The answer will usually be awesome.


A few of these combinations made me want to run a dungeon crawling game with modern fire-arms. That just sounds cool now.



And that's it for this challenge. I hope you all enjoyed it!

[Christopher R. Rice]

Nice job, Eric! :-)

[adm]

Wonderfully done.