“Few events affected North America as profoundly as the Coalition’s siege on Tolkeen. For many years, Tolkeen was considered a potential threat due to the nation’s proximity to the Coalition’s borders. The freethinking people of Tolkeen embraced magic and welcomed D-Bees, two things directly opposed the Coalition’s ideals.” — Savage Rifts® GM Handbook, 21
Last night we kicked off Dawn of Tomorrow, a Savage Rifts mini-series that takes place during the Tolkeen War approximately 107-109 PA. In this game the heroes join Tolkeen in the fight against the Coalition. The heroes start at Novice, advance through the various stages of the war, and have to decide what to do after the events of the Sorcerer’s Revenge.
Our series will unfold in three phases of approximately one year each:
- 107 PA, The Cyberknight schism. The players join the fight.
- 108 PA, Sorcerer’s Revenge. Tolkeen wins a great victory, but at what cost?
- 109 PA, Dawn of Tomorrow. What future will the heroes choose for themselves and for North America?
There was a lot of interest in the game so we ended up with seven players:
- Lady Redmane, Altaran Cyberknight
- Sir Aaron, Elven Mystic Knight
- Chalkaza, Sasquatch Psi-Warrior
- Squire Gideon, TX1000 Ulti-Max Pilot
- Victor, Lord Magus
- Shayuri, Royal Frilled Dragon Hatchling
- Gort, Holy Terror (built using intelligent construct rules)
During session zero we did some work to loosely affiliate them as irregulars. Volunteers, connected to various Cyber Knights, who have come to the side of Tolkeen. Session one opens with the group assigned to the defense of Cochrane, Wisconsin – a border town that lies directly in the path of the CS War Machine.
To quickly create a town I used people and places from Garnett Town, from The Garnett Town Gambit, and changed the name of the town to Cochrane. Cochrane is mentioned in the OG Rifts lore as part of the early phase of the Tolkeen War.
Behind the GM Screen
Welcome to Cochrane
After a brief interlude on “the reason we fight” the heroes set about town to gather information on the situation. It quickly became apparent that things are tense and disorganized.
Chalkaza scouted out the town’s readiness for evacuation in the face of invasion and found it to be a difficult proposition. To retreat back into Tolkeen would require moving thousands of people across the Mississippi River with not nearly enough boats.
Sir Aaron checked out the ley line near the city and devised a plan to teleport people away, but would need a massive amount of magic help. He eventually made contact with Symon, a local D’Norr wizard charged with organizing the town’s magic users.
Victor and Gort made a good impression on Captain Bircheley and he filled them in on the military situation. The town is defended by Mercs under the command of Major Jara Kado and her techno-wizard 2IC Captain Talon Bircheley. However, there are also town militia, volunteers (the heroes and Cyber Knights), and Tolkeen army personnel. Communications between groups are poor and it is not clear who is in charge. The Captain also reported that the town has lost contact with an outlying lumber camp and is trying to organize volunteers to patrol out there and check it out. Victor offered up himself and the group for the task. Gort agreed.
Gideon started looking into the preparations for defense and quickly found himself in front of Lithari the mayor of Cochrane. She is struggling with the tension of inevitable evacuation and the desire to protect their long time home. Gideon suggests they could hide their goods nearby so they could return and rebuild after the war. She agrees and gives him a map of local mines and forestry operations to see if there is a suitable site.
Meanwhile, Shayuri the dragon Hatchling was left unattended and started to explore “the biggest city she has ever seen”. Before too long she noticed a young boy following her. After a playful race/game of tag the two got sweets from the market while Von, who is apparently the mayor’s son, tried to convince Shayuri to let him ride her into battle against the black skulls and save the town.
The group reconvened, with Von in tow, at the barn they use as a barracks. Von wanted to join them on their mission but eventually agreed to be their special spy, like Julian Amici from the vids, and bring them info. He set off in a hurry to do that while the group traded info and resolved to go check out the situation at the lumber camp.
On Patrol
The lumber camp was about a day’s journey by foot/horseback/robot/dragon speed. We used the Journey Rules from The Tomorrow Legion Field Manual to represent the travel time. The group rolled incredibly well and flipped a Diamond – Treasure.
This was a completely unscripted encounter driven by the card draws. The group recovered a valuable truck (Treasure) and I added in the dead drivers and CS Squad to link it to the story.
Behind the GM Screen
They discovered an abandoned truck on the side of the road. It was in good working order but the occupants were nowhere to be found. Some investigating revealed that someone was dragged into woods. Following the tracks the group found two bodies – one human one orc – who had been executed with laser blasts to the head. They were wearing the work coveralls of workers from the lumber camp. Even worse, their investigation determined they had been killed by CS soldiers accompanied by a squad of Skelebots – and the killer squad is heading for the lumber camp!
On the Road Again
Motivated by the CS presence the group hastened toward camp. About five miles out they saw some smoke on the horizon. Charging in they discovered a group of lumberjacks, their trucks smoking and destroyed, being held by two CS grunts and a squad of Skelebots. A group of lumberjacks was tied to a tree being interrogated and threatened. More were being held at gunpoint by Skelebots.
This adventure is loosely based on No Convert Like a Zealot in the Game Master’s Handbook. The location and disposition of the forces is changed to fit our setting and timeline but the bones are there. A good example of how you can make a few tweaks and drop something into a game.
Behind the GM Screen
We drew cards!
The team was destructive but not without a few close calls. The stakes were raised when one of the grunts tried to flee and ordered the Skelebots to “Kill the d-bees”. This meant on the next Skelebot’s action an innocent was going to die. Players who acted before the bots spent bennies and power points like crazy to try and kill the pesky bots. However, it took until the very last person to take out the last one. Otherwise the consequences would have been horrid.
In the end it took two rounds to eliminate the ten Skelebots and incapacitate the two grunts. However, it was still a dramatic conclusion to session one. Next week, two prisoners and a bunch of rescued lumberjacks to talk to. Meanwhile, Gideon teaches Shayuri to play football with a Skelebot’s head.