Wednesday, May 9, 2018

GRAMMA WORLD, introductory adventure: Terror by Night! or Rabid Racoons!?!

This past Friday I ran a session of the David Okum created Swords & Wizardry compatible and Gamma World hack RPG called "GRAMMA WORLD" the Post-Retirement Adventure Game
.

I was supposed to have 4 players, however my wife got stuck pulling a double so she came in at the vary last scene of our initial game.

Our gang of Gramma's consisted of the following:

Zachary: Betty Black, former Army Nurse who served in a M.A.S.H. unit during the Vietnam War.
James: Ethel-may, the sexiest Gramma to ever reside at Poseidon's Place.
My Daughter: Minerva O'Shea - former Business owner, can't hear well and is sure she has some kind of terrible sickness.
My Wife: Rhona Katz - Narcoleptic with a grip like steel and knows Cane-Fu!

I used the sample Layout from the rule book as our Retirement Home and called it "Poseidon's Place". It is located somewhere along the South-east coast of Florida overlooking the inter-coastal waterway. There is public trolley service that runs daily to ferry the Gramma's to and from the home to various local shopping/dining/entertainment destinations within a few miles.
Our gang all live on the 12th floor of the West tower, where Ethel-may & Minerva share a double suite, Betty lives alone in a Single suite, and Rhona shares a double suite overlooking the pool with an unnamed NPC.

Intro Adventure: Terror by Night! or Rabid Raccoon Rampage!

Scene 1: Friday Bingo Night!
The adventure began with Betty, Ethel-may and Minerva heading down to the Mermaid cafe for an early-bird dinner before the big Friday night BINGO Game. As they eat, each of them makes a Saving throw to see if they can stomach the items served that evening and Betty decides that the sanwich she has in her purse will be more edible than what has been served up while Minerva is sure the food just gave her stomach cancer. Ethel-may finds the dinner to be a savory delight! Since it is the last Bingo game of the month and the grand-prize was $60 cash. Betty had her hopes set to win this one!

The girls run into Henrietta from the 8th floor who was looking once again for her missing cat Mr. Puddinkins.

Betty remarked that he keeps running away because of that name, and Minerva was sure that rash she had a week ago was from all the damn cats in the building. Though the Bingo hall is packed, the girls were saved a table by Earl Slackmyer a beau of Ethel-may. Throughout the course of the evenings Bingo play Henrietta is seen constantly poking around and asking about her cat. Just before the final round, Betty tells Henrietta she thought she saw Mr. Puddinkins out in the gardens just to get rid of her. The distraught resident shuffles off to look for her cat, as our girls make Opposed Task rolls to see if they can bring home the Grand-prize at BINGO! Which they do just barely.

As the gang divvy up the spoils; $20 bucks apiece, an ear-piercing scream (that even Minerva hears) shatters the revelry. Henrietta looking shaken to the bone and terrified enters the lobby from poolside claiming that Mr. Puddinkins has been horribly mutilated out on the grounds!!

Betty having served time in Vietnam, decides she needs to see just "how bad" this supposed mutilation could be, and leads both Ethel-may and Minerva (who is griping about her stomach cancer from dinner.) out beyond the pool to the overgrown nature paths of Poseidon's Place. As they pass the Pool Minerva also remarks about the "Fruity Garlic" scent coming from the swimming pool, and how she never goes in there!
Ethel-may starts to reminisce about the time she and Earl skinny-dipped in the...
"Ethel, none of us need to hear that story again!" says Betty. "What?" says Minerva.

The girls finally find Eddie the "security" guard shining a flashlight on a furry lump just off the nature path. He is on a walkie-talkie relaying the sight to "Bob" back in the office at the building. Though Eddie tries to shield the body from the girls they see that it is indeed Mr. Puddinkins who looks to have been in quite the scrap before giving in to the severe lacerations all about his little feline body.

Betty notes the strange lack of ANY trace of blood. When they push Eddie on details about what happened, the twenty-something stoner tells them that the cat got in a fight with a big raccoon and that the ladies should go back inside as it is probably still on the grounds and could be rabid! After a few minutes the ladies relent and allow Eddie to place the dead cat in a garbage bag, stow it on his golf cart and drive back to the building. The girls decide to go back to the building kibitz a bit then Betty and Minerva go back out to the gardens to "investigate" further while Ethel-may hangs out poolside as a lookout.

While Betty and Minerva snoop around, Ethel-may sees Earl sneaking into the gardens. As she calls out to him a weird screech pierces the night air. Ethel remembers that Earl doesn't hear so good and she follows him into the gardens.

"Did you hear that?" inquires Betty to Minerva.
"Fruit Bats?, you can catch diseases from those.." replies Minerva.
"No, that screech?" Betty looks about.

Suddenly a cry for help sounds out in the humid night air! "Oh, damn! What the hell!?!"
The ladies hear the distinct sounds of a man in trouble and a terrible screeching wail, followed by the sounds of brush and shrubbery being thrashed about.

"Earl, is that you??" inquires Betty as she and Minerva make towards the commotion.
"I'm coming Earl!!" cries Ethel-may.
"Help, Bravo-Charlie, it's an ambush! I'm pinned down!!" Earl cries into the night!!

As the ladies converge on Earl's position they see he is being harried by screeching furry-thing about the size of a large raccoon. It is on the old guys back and tearing shreds into his tweed blazer!

Betty gets locked up by her Slow Processing condition for 4 rounds, Ethel-may passes a Bad-Back saving throw and moves to engage the threat with her umbrella, while Minerva produces a stun-gun from her pocket and moves into melee as well.

A brief struggle with a lot of flailing about ensues before the odd-creature leaps off of Earl's back and up into the treetops. Ethel-may realizes she has a pretty bad scratch on her right shoulder, while Minerva complains about how she knew coming out here was going to be a bad idea. Betty suggests they return to the building and go see the Nurse about Ethel-may's shoulder.

Scene 2: Saturday Night's All Right!
The girls get up early to take the first trolley to the shopping plaza and bring Earl along for extra money. The plan is to visit Harbor Freight and get some big traps to lay out for the "raccoon":
After some failed attempts to find what they need, the teenage store clerk advises them to maybe try a sporting goods store or something...

The eventually wind up at Gander Mountain, and a helpful older store clerk leads them to exactly what they want. A pair of large rodent traps with bait and night-vision goggles!!! Both Ethel-may & Betty also
Gramma night-vision
purchase "child-size" hunting bows with 10 arrows each ( for the grandchildren of course!) and have them gift wrapped so they can sneak them into the Home. Minerva purchases a .357 magnum, but is saddened when she discovers she has to wait 3 days before she can pick it up.

Upon returning to Poseidon's Place a little after noon, they see the Lawn maintenance crew gathered in the parking lot while the Lawn Foreman tells them there is no "monster" in the gardens and they need to get the grass cut!

Ethel-may is able to speak with one of the Lawn-men and he relates a tale from his homeland about the dreaded goatsucker. This information in turn is relayed to the other Gramma's.

The ladies spend the next few hours before sunset preparing their plan and making Technology Task rolls to figure out the night-vision goggles.

At last the time arrives (9:30pm) for the gang to set their plan in motion to confront what they now surmise is a Chupacabra! The traps are set and baited deep in the gardens and the trio lie in wait for their quarry.

After what seems an eternity of waiting in the bushes, the screech of the beast pierces the night. Minerva is sure this a bad idea, as Betty and Ethel-may prepare arrows. The ladies turn on their goggles and spot something moving in the underbrush near them! Ethel-may is surprised that everything looks green, even her boobs!?!

(The players roll Saves against their Pre-existing conditions) Betty slips into Slow-Processing and cannot act for 2 rounds, Ethel-may throws out her "Bad Back" leaving only Minerva who uses her "Stealth" to sneak up on the "beast" with her Stun gun in hand.

Minerva discovers that the thing they saw in the brush is actually Earl dressed in his army camo's and almost
stuns him. The elderly man is surprised and accidentally fires off his Flare- gun into the trees!

Ethel-may thinks it's sweet that Earl was trying to hunt down the beastie that hurt Ethel. Minerva knew this wasn't going to work! Betty realizes the fire may be the least of their problems as she hears sirens in the distance....

A crowd has gathered poolside watching the Fire Department douse the gardens. Betty was able to get Earl to hide the ladies weaponry while she and the girls tried to blend in with the gathering crowd. Unfortunately our intrepid trio are confronted by Janice the Poseidon's Place Administrator and Police Officer Roy, and asked if they have any "Idea" what happened?
Ethel-may starts blustering about unscheduled fireworks shows, Minerva cracks on about the lackluster safety conditions, and Betty pretty much says it is probably to do with Janice's poor admin skills.

Janice then shows the ladies footage from the poolside security cameras of the three of them sneaking off into the gardens just before the blaze broke out! Caught red-handed, the ladies are handed over to Officer Roy.

Scene 3: Downtown at the Big-House
Officer Roy paces back and forth shaking his head as the fluorescent bulb flickers overhead. Betty speaks up saying that they may have been out in the garden but they weren't up to anything. Roy turns to face the
Officer Roy
trio, and slowly points his fingers to his face. "Ladies, you forgot something."
All together the Gramma's realize they are still wearing the night-vision goggles!!!!

"Ladies, I understand you want to help get the raccoon that killed Mr. Puddinkins. But you really need to leave this kind of thing to Animal Control."

"Raccoon my ass." mumbles Betty.
"I think I'm suffering from smoke inhalation." says Minerva.
"It's the Chupacabra Roy, we saw it!" states Ethel-may flatly.

"Allright, allright calm down ladies. I don't want to keep you here overnight, though God knows Janice would love that. Luckily for you a friend is here that can take you back home. So just promise me no more Raccoon hunting okay?"

The ladies reluctantly agree with Officer Roy, and he turns them over to Earl who is waiting for Ethel-may outside.
"Oh Earl my Hero!" cries Ethel upon seeing him.
Once in Earl's car on the way back to the rest home, Betty inquires if their gear is safe. Earl confirms that everything is ready to go but Janice left Big Dave in charge and he has the place locked down.
"I can handle Big Dave." says Betty.

Scene 4: Showdown
Upon returning to the home just after midnight, the ladies send Earl back to his room with big thanks and tell him he has done enough. The girls confront Big Dave in the Admin Office and work out a deal. He will turn off the camera's for an hour and Betty won't turn over evidence of Dave & Eddie smoking pot to Janice.

With the camera's off the girls move quickly and check the traps in the garden only to find them torn apart and the bait eaten. Betty realizes a more dangerous tactic must be used.

Ethel-may & Minerva knock on the door of Rhona Katz and get her to let them out on her balcony that overlooks the pool below. Betty meanwhile spreads the last of the bait around the pool and adds drops of her own blood to it. She then settles down on a lounge chair and nocks an arrow in her bow.

The girls don't have to wait long before the high pitched screech splits the night air! Ethel & Minerva spot the beast flying down from a perch in the tall garden trees.

The Chupacabra lands poolside and devours the bait laid out by Betty. By lacing the bait with her own blood though the Gramma has put herself in a dire situation! The beastie scents her nearby and begins to creep toward the blood filled prize... Betty succumbs to Slow Processing and cannot act for 6 rounds, she hopes her friends can do something.

On the 12th floor balcony Ethel-may fires her bow at the creature about to attack Betty! TWANG! WHOOSH!! THUNK!!! The arrow sinks into Betty's shoulder from above, almost taking out the tough-talking Gramma!

This unfortunate turn throws Ethel-may into an anxiety spiral from which she can now do nothing! Minerva activates her stun-gun and hurls it downward at the monster..... BAM! Direct hit stuns the creature and breaks the weapon!! Betty stares at the Chupacabra lying just inches away from her...stunned..who will be able to act first??  Betty or the Chupacabra???

On the Balcony Rhona awakens from her narcoleptic fit just in time to see Minerva hurl a potted plant over the railing!
Ethel -may in a tizzy berates herself for shooting Betty!
Rhona decides to go downstairs and lend a hand to the wounded Betty while Minerva continues to provide cover with aerial bombardment from the balcony!

Poolside, Betty flinches everytime a potted plant explodes on impact within feet of her location! At least, she thinks it isn't more arrows!!
The Chupacabra begins to stir, but Betty feels her toes wiggle! She leaps from the lounge chair and uses an arrow to spike the beast to the ground! It lets out an awful squeal and spins on the shaft lashing about.
Rhona approaches and remarks on the hideousness of the raccoon.
Betty puts two more shafts into the creature at point blank range, ending the bloodsuckers life!

The poolside lights come on and Big Dave emerges from the building. "Okay ladies, fun time is over. You need to get back upstairs."

Betty brandishes the creature in front of Dave as she holds the aluminum arrow shaft. "Look at this Dave! This is what killed Mr. Puddinkins and caused all the trouble!"

"Yes Betty, I see the raccoon. You did it okay, now let me clean this up."

"Raccoon! Does this look like a Raccoon Dave??" Betty swings the creature back and forth trailing bllod and gore all over the Patio and Dave.

"Jesus, Betty you're getting it all over the place and I gotta clean this up!" the exasperated nightwatchmen wipes blood from his shirt.

"Well then Dave, you can clean this up!" Betty hurls the creatures corpse into the pool!

In the aftermath, Betty uses her wartime skills to remove the arrow and stitch up her own shoulder. Ethel-may used that cell phone camera to take pictures of the creature and then (attempted) to upload them on the Interwebs!! But not before the gang fished the corpse of the beast from the dumpster where Dave put it and they sat it in the Adminstrators Office in her chair.

THE END 

All in all we had a great time with GRAMMA WORLD! My players have already asked for more adventures for the Gramma's!

If you found this write-up to your liking I suggest you get over to RPG NOW and get yourself a copy of this awesome little game!

We also hope there is a set of GRAMMA WORLD paper minis on the horizon from OKUMARTS!

No comments:

Post a Comment