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Post by ericfromnj on Nov 8, 2016 19:09:01 GMT -8
My players are playing the Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane and currently exploring Africa. They took shelter in a series of old structures from some flying jackal like creatures and found a secret trapdoor leading to some caverns where they made contact with some snake men.
There were acts of betrayal and poisoning and the PCs fought off the snake men who retreated. I figured they want to go back upstairs at this point to see if their horses survived the flying jackal things.
No.
They want to further explore down here and see if they can find more snake men.
I have this half formed idea of them finding an underground city with a freshwater river and some unique underground animals being penned up. Maybe the snake men are preparing to summon something foul from the depths of insanity and the PCs have to stop it.
I can't imagine them taking on the whole city, but I could see them sneaking around in it. THe only problem with that is that they are a bunch of white guys then trying to infiltrate a settlement of african snake men.
I am not above throwing out this plan in exchange for another. Anyone have any suggestions?
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Post by ilina on Nov 8, 2016 19:20:49 GMT -8
you don't need to make all the Snake-men hostile towards them. maybe the snake men are divided into factions, and the PCs have a bit of politics with the Snake men. the Asp Clan wants to hold true to their Secular and Xenophobic Roots while the Mamba Clam are reciting heretical prophecies about pale skinned "Ghostwalkers" whom are destined to bring bounty to their people. and well, they are met first by the Mamba clan, who mistakes them for "Ghostwalkers" or Envoys of the Gods sent to bring order and bounty to the Naga Race. and maybe they prefer being called Nagas instead of Snake Men.
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maxinstuff
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Preferred Game Systems: DCC RPG, Shadowrun 5e, Savage Worlds, GURPS 4e, HERO 6e, Mongoose Traveller
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Post by maxinstuff on Nov 8, 2016 19:46:04 GMT -8
Was just going to ask - if there is an underground CITY - and it is accessible via said trap door - think about what actually is their relationship with the surface world.
Maybe they already trade with some of the local tribes?
Maybe the Portugese are paying a kings ransom for these goods to the tribes, and are looking to cut out the middleman and figure out where this weird stuff comes from?
Sorry if I am making some setting flubs here - I know next to nothing about Solomon Kane but it appears to be 1600's which in Africa would be when Portugal were ripping around the African coast establishing trading posts and capturing slaves.
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Post by ericfromnj on Dec 2, 2016 7:24:51 GMT -8
I don't know why I didn't think of factions. Just getting old I guess.
Thank you both for your input. While there was no one locally to trade with anymore, the snake people got divided into the mamba, viper, and cobra clans, aka the workers, the warriors, and the priests. There was a god made flesh avatar for them to fight as a big boss too.
As it turns out the two playing hardcore 17th Century Catholics (a Spaniard and an Irishman) didn't care and even though the first snake woman they met dropped to her knees when she saw the Ghostwalkers. Their previous encounter with the Viper Clan had resulted in betrayal by the snake men and a combat. The African PC tried to communicate there was something odd going on but the Spaniard and the Irishman were having none if it calling the snake people demons in the flesh.
While the African tried to block the woman the Spaniard shot her child, and then in the chaos the Irishman shot the female snake person.
The shooting alerted everyone in the city of their presence. It went from an investigation mission to what could only be called Black Hawk Down - 1610. The PCs fought for their lives escaping from the snake people and escaping the city.
During the course of the running combat the African shape changed and spied on the snake people rather than fight them. He discovered information about a god made flesh of the Cobra clan and thought this was something interesting.
After they escaped this information was lost in a PvP debate between the African and the Irishman. Some of their party was lost and the Irishman blamed the African for not attacking the snake people when they set up a quick ambush. The African stated their losses were because the Irishman wanted to kill everything in sight.
In the end they decided to leave the area near the city in part because they wanted to be out of patrol range of the snake people but also because if the party could not agree on why they were there, then they shouldn't bother with it.
Afterwards the players talked about how they enjoyed the fighting for their lives and the PvP tension,so I guess it was a win?
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Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Dec 2, 2016 8:03:44 GMT -8
What about doing the old "elder who learned the tongue of the over worlders" bit that old claymation monster movies used to do? Sure, they find the snake men city and after fighting and killing a few snake men the rest of the snake people become afraid of them. An elder or snake person of authority who knows at least some broken English comes to them to begging for peace.
You could tie it together with the Jackal thingy too. The only reason they've lived underground is because of the flying jackal thingy. Now the players have a reason to go back up and kick the jackal thing in the teeth, this time with snake men allies!
I realize this is after the fact, but I had some ideas and wanted to put them down somewhere.
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Post by jonas on Dec 10, 2016 4:13:26 GMT -8
Do the snake men have any stormtrooper uniforms? Let your players steal some and then they can blend in without problems, so long no one is too short of course. ;-)
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