Thoughts on Running UVG after 10 Sessions

The Set-up

Every month I post 3 - 4 sessions on the Gauntlet calendar. From month to month new players can sign up. In theory everybody can sign up for games with the Gauntlet although patreons get a head start of one week which makes it difficult for non-members to get into games. Players are encourage to commit to all games of one season but they can also decide to sign up for single sessions.

Open Table

A potential downside of open table play is the possible lack of coherence if the composition of the caravan changes completely from season to season. It turned out to be a mitigating factor that I reserved one spot for the same player, Puckett, who only missed one session. Fortunately I also had at least one other player who remained in the party from one season to the next. Even players who knew that they wouldn’t return made long term decisions like researching the market, buying goods and picking routes as if their characters remained in the party.

To support coherence I set up this blog and a dedicated channel on the Gauntlet Slack where I post the session reports, actual play videos and where the players can chat about the game. Furthermore the online character sheet not only keeps track of the caravan, it also functions as a game artifact that new players can peruse.

 

NPCs and Places of the UVG

The Cogflower Caravan

The first group decided on the type of caravan based on the background of one of the characters, Nat Mordecai, who is a Cogflower Necromancer Lawyer. The caravan is sponsored by the church to make as much money as possible by trading on the way to the Black City, where the money is supposed to be offered at the altar of a probably sinister entity. Nat and all the other characters who had been part of the caravan at some point can rejoin in later sessions and are treated as if they had never left. They are still considered part of the caravan for all intent and purposes although they won't act and don't count against mouths to feed. Equally, new characters are regarded as having been part of the caravan all along if they want to.

 

A small segment of the growing map

The Sandbox

In most sandbox settings players are free to pick whatever destination they want to travel to and pursue whatever goals they might have. In UVG however the general direction is given: Westwards and onwards to the Black City.

With a permanent group it wouldn’t be a problem to have free movement in all directions, with characters travelling back and forth between destinations - for example in order to exploit milk runs, establishing a base for operations etc. But with an open table I think it is more sensible to stick to the basic premise of a caravan travelling to the Black City.

Another difference to a more classic sandbox is the degree of narrative control players have. Because information about the game world is not extensively detailed in the book the GM can either spend considerable time prepping a session or prompt the players to add elements to the description. The latter seems to be the way the author intended the game to be run: https://www.wizardthieffighter.com/2020/no-masters-only-dungeons/

The demise of Don Strakha, leader of the Redlander Bandits

Stories

My hope was that stories would emerge from the interaction between player decisions and results on random tables. As a GM my role is to be a neutral referee who just adjudicates the rules and tries to represent an objective world: It’s up to the players to make the best out of a given situation. Encounters, discoveries and even misfortunes can provide opportunities for the players to create their story of the UVG. From that perspective “story” is what players remember their characters doing in the fiction. 

I only deviated from the ideal of a neutral arbiter on a few occasions:    

• When Naida contacted her organization (a group of vigilantes who patrol the UVG) about potential targets I wanted the information to be useful so I pointed her towards the psychic war at the Mountain City.
• Inspired by Into the Odd I created a rival caravan of Redlander Bandits that the PCs encountered at the Low Road and the High for the first time.
• When Hamish, a Redlander Folk Hero, arrived at the Porcelain Citadel it seemed appropriate that Syruss Sensible and the Revolutionaries would see in him a tool to use against the princes, so I provided the heist as a possible adventure seed.

 

A Porcelain Walker was added to the caravan after the heist

Emergent Story and storytelling

Of course players from the Gauntlet bring their story telling sensibilities and talents to the table. Dan, playing Satrap 88, decided to bring their story to a conclusion after the first season by elaborating on the theme of Satraps having no soul, Chris, playing the machine human Saffron, looked for a way to conclude the story of the artificial intelligence Johnny -7 in a satisfying way. From my perspective these storytelling approaches to the sandbox might be unusual but well within the range of stories one could tell with the UVG.

Satrap 88 re-uploaded in the Violet City

Statistics

12 weeks of in-game time from Redmonth to Yellowmonth.

12 weeks of real world time from March 14 to May 23

9 characters, 8 players

30+ hours of actual play: 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5BBgImD4UPRGy4yIEaL0HwYohPc-X8af

Behemoth Shell

New Character: Ver Wilks, Strong Rancher Noble Runaway, a handsome Quarter-ling with cogwheel monocle and big muttonchops, bearing a priceless pearl for a princess.

Ver Wilks (artist impression)

On their way to the Behemoth Shell a pack of uplifted prairie dogs in stylish hats steal the sack of saffron but end up on a skewer over the campfire. The heroes keep the hats.

Bone farmer autowagon for sale (brakes not included)

On the road they encounter Great Folk bone farmers in a bone autowagon with faulty brakes and exchange the synthetic alcohol for sacks of Marrow Beets.

Upon arriving at the calcite mountain of the Behemoth Shell the party spots the autowagons of the Redlander bandits they encountered at the Low Road and the High. Ver Wilks decides to cover the identity of the Cogflower caravan, Naida climbs to the top of the mountain hoping to contact the Legion, Brother Methuselah finds a merchant to inquire about the profitability of the local bone works in other settlements and Azure quizzes the bone farmers about interesting places that may hold Vile organs. 

The great Behemoth Shell

The farmers allude to a former magical testing site nearby they call the Lurid Pines and a floating island further away. Eager to find out more she performs a ritual of scrying and discovers in her vision crates of biomantic gear hidden under motile ferns and guarded by vome infected prairie dogs. When she turns her attention to the island, a floating eye above a colorful pyramid intervenes and ends the vision.

An ideal island

On top of the mountain Naida finds a Legion dead drop that is well maintained: A “scope” - a member of the Legion - must be living here. Later she finds that her acquaintance Beauregarthe is the ally she was looking for against the Redlanders. They decide to take the bandits out for good.

With the help of a local shaman, a yogurt vendor and dreamwalker called Urburt, they manage to scare half of the bandits away with horrible nightmares. When the rest of the Redlanders decide to leave the heroes set an ambush. Early in the morning they strike: Naida disintegrates Don Strakha with a plasma bullet, Ver kills another with a headshot and Brother Methuselah’s ghosts possess three bandits. The last two - one of them mortally wounded by Azure's cross bow bolt - hastily climb into the wagon and set off with screeching tires ...but a shot rings from afar and the windshield shatters in an explosion of brain matter and plasma goo.

Might join the caravan (after a thorough car wash)

Actual Play: https://youtu.be/A5FiDr7twpk

The Umberlands

Upon returning to the Sourcefac they enter the cards into a sorting machine that translates the data onto the last two working magnetic tapes. The machines vibrate and hum in delight. For the first time in ages Johnny-7 again produces untainted objects. 

But his demise seems inevitable: Mushrooms grow on his underbelly where the tube and threads had been on which he moved. His interior becomes increasingly organic, tunnels turn to intestines, cables to veins. Should the heroes end his existence? Should they venture forth and search for punch cards? Should they try to save him? A plan is hatched: Satrap 88’s crystal snail could function as a hard drive to store Johnny-7’s personality until they find another Sourcefac that he can embody.

The disintegration of Johnny-7

While Naida travels to the Halls of the Umber King to document the ruins for Mercia’s magazine, the rest of the group prepares the miracle: Brother Methuselah calculates the odds of transferring Johnny-7, Azure connects Cataract, the bio-mechanical salamander, to the main frame and Saffron opens their brain to Johnny-7’s positronic core. While his self passes through Saffron their identities mingle in a dance of whirling positrons. The crystal snail pulses in an azure light.

Positronic Computation

The machine corpse convulses in agony. The heroes flee. Saffron disconnects themselves from the core and makes their way through the contracting tunnels hunted by a swarm of black metal spiders. Upon realizing the danger Saffron is in Naida turns around and unloads her shotgun into the mass of spiders but has to witness in horror how the spiders bury their mandibles in synthetic flesh, dragging Saffron away. At the last moment the furry chitin kite unfurls from Saffron’s body and flies through the closing sphincter of the exit tunnel.

During the funeral rites the kite seems to twitch and jerk towards the snail. A message from beyond the grave? Azure Dee holding the kite almost remembers her favorite pet. But the memory is gone forever.

The auto-immune system kicks in

The caravan moves on. On their way to the Behemoth Shell a pack of uplifted prairie dogs steal the sack of saffron. Brother Methuselah is having none of it and sends vengeful ghosts after them. The sack is gone but the prairie dogs pay a hefty price. At breakfast Brother Methuselah turns dubious meat on a skewer over the campfire.

Uplifted prairie dog trying to look innocent

Actual Play: https://youtu.be/htthwbY1dkc

The South Facing Passage and the Umberlands

New character: Brother Methuselah, Deft Metropolitan accountant monk, exploring clues to the great forgetting. He is an Ultra currently inhabiting the body of a Greenlander. He has a Thinking Machine and can summon his ghostly brothers.  

An ancient thinking machine

On the mountain road to the South Facing Passage Vigo suddenly cries out: “They are coming!”. A group of ultra-possessed skinchangers charges down the hills.

Brother Methuselah recognizes his kind and persuades them to spare the mules that the skinchangers eye hungrily. He will leave food behind if they don’t reveal his true nature to the others. The Ultra agrees.

High in the mountains they rest in a flowery glen. Brother Methuselah discovers “The Puce House” a queer distillery run by two unlikely friends: Satrap 202 Delta – or Fredi in short - and Pineas 3 – drum, a porcelain prince, wearing goat hides and no shoes. After a tasting of Soma and Black Lotus Schnapps they get down to business: For a fortune they sell the Black Lotus they harvested in the oasis of peace and beauty.

A Soma tasting

Fearing further deterioration of Johnny-7 they set out. After a couple of days they leave the high steppe and enter the Umberlands: a quiet, desolate plain cut by dried up canals. A resting place is found in an abandoned plantation. The emptiness of the landscape wears on Azure Dee and Brother Methuselah who both lose a cherished memory of their childhood.

The tunnels of the positronic library

They locate the Halls of the Umber King where Johnny-7 hopes to find production blueprints stored on punch cards. Between crumbling arches and colossi overgrown by chitinous fungi they find a stairway leading underground ignoring the warning signs which advice against it. Through neon tunnels filled with fungal spores and smell ghosts they enter a control room with several exits, one of which is barred with a laser grid, another leads to a golem workshop and an exhibition room of religious artifacts. Azure Dee spots a Vile liver stored in a glass jar. Among the rusted filing cabinet drawers of the positronic library they finally find still readable punch cards.

Technology indistinguishable from magic

Upon returning to the sourcefac they enter the cards into a sorting machine that translates the data onto the last two working magnetic tapes. The machines vibrate and hum in delight. For the first time in ages Johnny-7 again produces pristine untainted objects.  

A perfect chair!

Actual Play: https://youtu.be/FDfT960ilOc

Grass Colossus

The control room of consoles and monitors is interwoven with filaments of brain tissue. Saffron lays their hands on it: ”Can you understand us?” A voice from tinny loudspeakers introduces himself as Sourcefac Johnny-7. While a metal penguin serves slug eggs on a tray he confesses to be tired of being, tired of creating tainted things. Before the fires destroyed the cities of the plain he would make perfect objects from punch cards but the code has been corrupted and he is winding down. 

The heroes decide to ride Johnny-7 to the Fallen Umber where they might find such cards in the ruins. The Sourcefac slowly drags itself south on twitching tubes and pipes while the heroes visit the vale of the Grass Colossus to buy rations and sell their goods. Naida practices a healing meditation with the shamans to rid herself of the Ultra Jay addiction, Hamish buys an animated wicker and bone fetish as porter and guard and more spare parts. The viddy crystals are sold with a huge profit. Azure and Saffron follow Johnny-7 and keep him company. While Azure sings a song from the long ago the machine hums along.  

The festival of the grass circle ends with a meteor shower and Hamish and Naida follow their companions. Back on the road they find a oasis of peace and beauty with black lotus and shimmering fish. Saffron connects their positronic brain to Johnny-7 while Azure’s Salamander acts as administrator and fuse. They manage to reverse the decaying process. Back on the road Vigo suddenly cries out: “They are coming!”. A group of ultra-possessed skinchangers charges down the hills.

Actual Play: https://youtu.be/O2vcKQTWvh8

Trail of Vomish Dreams

New Character: Azure Dee, Deft Secret Azure Cult Witch, looking for Vile organs for an apocalyptic sacrifice. She is attuned to her biomechanical Salamander and a scrying ritual.

Azure Dee

While the Broken Line explodes, the Walker crashes through the iron gate of the Citadel. On their way to the Trail of Vomish Dreams they weather a sandstorm that leaves Saffron with an infected eye that Dee's salamander licks affectionately. They encounter warpainted nomads from the Copperwire Clan, celebrating a great Batlion hunt. Food is shared, drugs are injected: They agree to travel together. When the Nomads disappear after a week, Naida feels the first signs of Ultra Jay withdrawal symptoms.

Saffron

Azure Dee has visions of a gigantic beast crossing their path but what they encounter instead is a mutating machine leaving behind a trail of corrupted source code that creates a mad jungle of cancerous plants that grow and quickly wither. They pursue the machine for three days, dodge spontaneously growing traps and finally catch up with it. Saffron sends her furry chitinous kite to reconnoiter the valuables inside the Autofac and Azure Dee sends her salamander to get a read of the machine. She climbs up to a hatch that opens into a maintenance tunnel. They enter. Copernicus finds capsules of gas made by the Haze among the trash that is fed to the machine by chutes. 

Production Floor

One of the capsules bear the sign of his father’s house. A Paternoster of hands carries them up to the mainframe control room. On her way up Azure Dee spots a leaden sarcophagus inscribed with the strange runes of the Black City alphabet and jumps off the elevator. Inside the sarcophagus is a crucial ingredient for her ritual: The brain of a Vile.

Source Fac Johnny-7

The control room of consoles and monitors is interwoven with filaments of brain tissue. Saffron lays their hand on it: ”Can you understand what I'm saying?”

Actual Play: https://youtu.be/Z8POpwZ0uIg

Porcelain Citadel

New characters join the cogflower caravan: 

Hamish, a Strong Redland District Folk Hero with a black metal Greatsword, worn out motorbike and rainbow-colored beard.
Saffron, a Wise Black Gold Industrialist Machine Human with furry animate kite.

Hamish, Fok Hero of the Redlands

Hamish is recognized by a Redlander and taken to a radical place full of loud music and louder politics, where he is greeted by the owner Syruss Sensible. Flamboyant and stylish Sensible proposes direct action against the porcelain establishment.

A flamboyant Revolutionary

Saffron pays a visit to the houses of many colors half dugout from the rock, first to a small crowded Cogflower chapel and later to the workshop of alchemist and tinker Lazaro Romero. They are offered an apprenticeship if they allow him to study them. Saffron agrees.

Lazaro Romero

Naida signs up for working in the Broken Line, a terrible place of mind burned Rainbowlanders who gave their bodies to the princes. Naida feeds the living from the nutrient teat and throws the dead into the pit. When she is reunited with her comrades she is ready for direct action.

Injustice sometimes requires direct action

Hamish convinces Syruss and two purple eyed anarchists to cause a distraction by blowing up the Broken Line much to the delight of both Naida and the anarchists. The heroes enter the palace via an ancient forgotten service elevator and trigger the alarm. They smash and grab and are surprised by three avatars of the Clayfire 100 company. Saffron gets injured by a neural whip, but the princes are killed by sword and mace. Under the broken mask the smashed face of a fellow Yellowlander is revealed.

The Clayfire 100 Company assembles

They make their way to the vault where Saffron uses her superhuman hearing to crack the code of the vault door behind which they find a pristine Porcelain Walker. While the Broken Line explodes, the Walker crashes through the iron gate of the Citadel.

Actual Play: https://youtu.be/i2V671213oI