A P Division Shotgun Scenario for Exactly 3 Players
Oklahoma, 1936. Three Innsmouth Deep Ones kill a concentration camp guard and escape into the dustbowl ravaged countryside. Their mission: to reach the place that the Lord told them they must find.
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Table of Contents
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THE ESCAPE
Billowing dust reduced line of sight to the length of your arm. The guard was looking the other way. You slashed his throat, took his gun and went under the fence. You ran into the wasteland, as fast and as far as possible before the storm lifted. Next stop: Big Fern Swamp.
The players are Deep One Escapees found in APPENDIX 1. Play begins with them in rural Oklahoma.
THE POISONED EARTH
Oklahoma is a land of plains, broken occasionally by large rock formations eroded into exotic shapes over vast stretches of geologic time. Trees are rare and clustered around water sources, both of which have dried up after years of brutal drought.
It’s 1936, the middle of the Great Depression and the Dustbowl. Nothing grows, black blizzards smother the earth. Thousands migrate West in search of work. Some turn to banditry, stealing from their fellows to survive.
The Escapees’ objective is Big Fern Swamp, about 100 miles away. Don’t track miles per hour on a map. This adventure is a sequence of encounters, roll a d6 or choose. Where and when they happen is subject to narrative convenience. Stealing a car makes escaping bad situations easier.
The players might be interrupted by the P Division agent and his entourage, detailed in APPENDIX 2: THE PURSUERS.
Pace the encounters so that you’ve got an hour of table time left for THE END.
1: COLUMN
Okies walking along the road. Families with kids and babies, suitcases and bindles. A good mechanic could get one of the disabled vehicles on the roadside working.
Good place for THE PURSUERS to attack.
2: TOWN
Hobo signs on trees at the outskirts of town, Del Mar can interpret: NOT SAFE.
The town is doing well. Electricity and running water, fresh and canned food. A gas station and cars. Stealthy Escapees can steal vehicles, but if caught receive beatings or execution. A “militia” keeps out migrants and hobos. First with threats, then violence. Half are armed with firearms, half improvised weapons.
3: TENT REVIVAL
A big tent with lots of parked cars. Inside a preacher tells a crowd about the end times and return of Christ. He identifies the Escapees as holy beings, harbingers of the rapture. Desperate for salvation, the crowd attempts to tear the Escapees to shreds.
4: CYCLOPS
A seven foot fat man with an eyepatch accosts the Escapees. If they’re driving he casually walks in front of the car and it crashes, he suffers no harm. He makes friendly conversation, then turns violent. He is a sadist, he’ll beat up the Escapees and make them hurt each other with telepathy. He won’t kill them, except in self defense. If they get the better of him he disappears into the earth.
He wears an octopus bearded amulet as a bolo tie. Del Mar can recognize it as Tulu. A prayer to the Lord will stop the fight, the Cyclops won’t harm a coreligionist.
5: KLAN
A group of hooded, robed, armed men steal up on the Escapees as they sleep. The Klan doesn’t know anything about Deep Ones, they concoct some outrage (rape, child snatching, etc) to justify hanging three random hobos.
If they capture the Escapees they Klan takes their sweet time hanging them. Lots of marching around the burning cross, chanting, etc. Giving the Escapees ample opportunity to escape.
If the Escapees fight back the Klansmen go for their weapons - half guns and half improvised weapons.
6: DUST STORM
A wall of black earth reaches to the clouds. It reduces visibility to a meter and makes breathing a chore. Driving is a great way to crash a car, or overheat the engine when the filter gets clogged. The best solution is to find shelter and wait for it to pass.
Excellent place for THE PURSUERS to attack.
THE END
Manny’s Deep One wife Efigenia was held in the women’s camp. She physically transformed into a man via sequential hermaphroditism. He goes by Eugene now and has no interest in Manny. He was happy being the only man for a hundred women, then a guard caught him in the shower. Eugene killed him and escaped with his three new “wives”: Andromache, Helen and Cassandra.
They are living in a fishing shack in the mostly dry Big Fern Swamp, using magic to summon crustaceans to eat. They’ve got the guard’s shotgun but only one shell.
Cass likes Eugene for his roguish charm. Helen tolerates him because she’s desperate to get pregnant. Andy was ambivalent, but was seduced by Eugene’s delicious crawfish recipe. Eugene loses interest in all three when he sees Piet, who he finds more attractive.
If THE PURSUERS are still alive, they attack. Otherwise it’s an argument between the Escapees, Eugene and his wives.
Then the Bureau of Reclamation brings its newly constructed flood control dam online. A 20 foot wall of water washes over the swamp, sweeping everyone and everything away.
APPENDIX 1: THE ESCAPEES (PREGENS)
Deep Ones from Innsmouth, imprisoned in a concentration camp in Oklahoma after the 1928 raid. They escaped the camp during a dust storm. They don’t know the information in each other’s backstories.
As Deep Ones who have yet to undergo their full transformation, the Escapees don’t get adapted to violence or helplessness. They suffer full SAN loss until they hit 0, at which point they become a full fish person and stop caring. Becoming a full Deep One is fatal in dustbowl ravaged Oklahoma, because newly transformed fish require immersion in water to stop their gills from malfunctioning and killing them. So don’t hit 0 SAN until you reach a body of water.
AGAMEMNON “MANNY” MARSH - The Leader
STR 12, CON 12, DEX 12, INT 12, POW 12, CHA 13
HP 12, WP 12, SAN 25, Megalomania
SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Athletics 50%, Craft: Locksmith 60%, Criminology 60%, Disguise 50%, Dodge 40%, Drive 50%, Law 40%, HUMINT 60%, Melee Weapons 60%, Occult 30%, Persuade 60%, Stealth 50%, Swim 60%, Unarmed Combat 50%, Unnatural 10%
ARMOR: 1 point of skin
ATTACKS: Claws (50%, 1d6)
STORM KING’S BELOVED SON: You can restore willpower by killing people with your claws. The WP restored is equal to the WP of the victim. This can take your WP over the maximum, but the excess decays when you sleep.
RITUALS: Infallible Suggestion
Infallible Suggestion
The caster spends 8 WP, 1D4 SAN, and two consecutive actions of chanting to engage the target in an opposed POW test. If that succeeds, the victim willingly obeys any command given by the Operator for one turn. Commanding a victim to commit murder, suicide, or some other awful act costs the operator the same SAN as it costs the victim.
You told the others you got a premonition of a way to escape back to the ocean. A dream from the deep. You organized an escape attempt during a dust storm. In reality you had a premonition that your wife, currently held in the women’s camp 100 miles away, was getting remarried in Big Fern Swamp. Not if you have anything to say about it. You’re the pater familias, God dammit.
PIET - The Craftsman
STR 12, CON 12, DEX 13, INT 12, POW 12, CHA 12
HP 12, WP 12, SAN 29
SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Athletics 50%, Bureaucracy 30%, Craft (Electrician 60%, Mechanic 60%), Drive 60%, Firearms 40%, First Aid 40%, Heavy Machinery 50%, Navigate 40%, Persuade 30%, SIGINT 60%, Unarmed Combat 50%, Survival 50%, Swim 60%, Unnatural 10%
ARMOR: 1 point of skin
ATTACKS: 1917 Enfield (40%, 1d12+2, 5 AP) and 5 rounds 30.06
Claws (50%, d6)
STORM KING’S FAVORITE DAUGHTER: You can restore willpower by killing people with your claws. The WP restored is equal to the WP of the victim. This can take your WP over the maximum, but the excess decays when you sleep.
RITUALS: Finding, Healing Balm
Finding
This ritual requires a minute-long Polynesian chant to the Storm King, 4 WP and 1 SAN. For 3D6 minutes, it adds a +40% bonus to rolls to find something that the operator is looking for.
Healing Balm
This one turn invocation of Father Tulu costs 6 WP and 1 SAN. It causes injuries to swiftly heal. The subject recovers 1D4 HP every turn for 1D4 turns.
Manny had a plan to escape. He said God told him how. You agreed because you want to get out. Because it’s awful, and because you woke up one day and your sex had changed. It’s a thing that sometimes happens to fish, sequential hermaphroditism. You hid it from everyone else but it’s only going to get more obvious. You’re not interested in being the only woman in a men’s camp.
DEL MAR O’DOUL - The Acolyte
STR 12, CON 12, DEX 12, INT 12, POW 13, CHA 12
HP 12, WP 12, SAN 28
SKILLS: Anthropology 50%, Athletics 50%, Bureaucracy 40%, Foreign Languages (Deep Speech 50%, Greek 40%), History 60%, Navigate 50%, Occult 60%, Persuade 40%, Science: Meteorology 60%, Search 60%, Swim 50%, Unarmed Combat 60%, Unnatural 25%
ARMOR: 1 point of skin
ATTACKS: Claws (60%, d6)
STORM KING’S BELOVED SON: You can restore willpower by killing people with your claws. The WP restored is equal to the WP of the victim. This can take your WP over the maximum, but the excess decays when you sleep.
RITUALS: Dread Curse of Azathoth, Mind Blast, Storm and Stillness
Dread Curse of Azathoth
At cost of D6 SAN and 4 WP, the caster intones one of the lesser names of Azathoth, the Daemon Sultan. If they succeed on an opposed POW test against a target (who must be within earshot), the target is cursed for (18 minus CHA) minutes. While cursed, failures rolled by the victim may be treated as critical failures at the discretion of the Handler.
Mind Blast
The caster spends 5 WP and D6 SAN to implant a sanity rending vision in the mind of a target within line of sight. The victim must make a SAN test versus Unnatural. On a success, they lose the same amount of SAN as the caster. On a failure, they lose twice that. If the target takes a temp, the caster can choose whether they fight, flee or freeze.
Storm and Stillness
This invocation to the Storm King changes the weather around the operator. It costs 10 WP and 1D6 SAN for a minor, likely change (such as rain from a cloudy sky); 20 WP and 1D10 SAN for a significant, unlikely change (rain from a clear sky in a rainy season); 30 WP and 1D12 SAN for a major, surprising change (a thunderstorm in the dry season); or 40 WP and 1D20 SAN for an inexplicable change (a hurricane forms or dies for no reason). The WP cost may be paid by assistants, by human sacrifices, or by spending 1 permanent POW for each 10 WP.
You are strongly religious. You were raised in an observant household and were about to take the Third Oath of Dagon when the drylanders destroyed Innsmouth. When Manny told you he received a dream from the Lord at Relly Awe, you knew you had to help him. Wherever Father told him to go, that is where you will go.
APPENDIX 2: THE PURSUERS
The Escapees are pursued by P Division Agent Ralph Godson, Treasury Department. He lost agents at Innsmouth and despises Deep Ones. He’s as ruthless as any player character, torturing and murdering NPCs who withhold information or stand in his way.
SPECIAL AGENT RALPH GODSON - Obsessed Hunter of Deep Ones
STR 12, CON 12, DEX 12, INT 12, POW 12, CHA 9
HP 12, WP 12, SAN 50, Adapted to Violence
SKILLS: Accounting 50%, Alertness 50%, Art: Forgery 60%, Athletics 50%, Bureaucracy 40%, Criminology 50%, Drive 50%, Firearms 50%, Forensics 30%, HUMINT 60%, Law 30%, Navigate 50%, Occult 50%, Persuade 50%, Search 50%, Unarmed Combat 60%, Unnatural 2%
ATTACKS: Colt Monitor (50%, 1d12+2 or 10% Lethality, 5 AP)
1911 (50%, 1d10)
Detective Special (50%, 1d8)
PROFESSIONAL SADIST: Godson will take the Escapees alive if he can, so that he can hurt them further. If there’s an opportunity to inflict pain on Deep Ones, he has to make a SAN test to resist doing it, even if it puts him at a tactical disadvantage.
Godson recruited a pair of sheriff’s deputies.
AJAX AND AJAX - Pair of Local Cops
STR 10, CON 10, DEX 10, INT 10, POW 10, CHA 10
HP 10, WP 10, SAN 50
SKILLS: Alertness 60%, Bureaucracy 40%, Criminology 40%, Drive 50%, Firearms 40%, First Aid 30%, HUMINT 50%, Law 30%, Melee Weapons 50%, Navigate 40%, Persuade 40%, Search 40%, Unarmed Combat 60%
ATTACKS: Winchester Model 1912 (60%, 2D8, double target armor)
Colt Double Action Army (40%, 1d10)
SHELL SHOCK: Neither Ajax is a veteran of the Great War. If they face danger and Godson isn’t there to lead them, they must pass a SAN test to hold their ground.
APPENDIX 3: EVERYONE ELSE
CITIZEN - Pissed Off Townsfolk, Angry Racists, or Religious Lunatics
STR 10, CON 10, DEX 10, INT 10, POW 10, CHA 10
HP 10, WP 10, SAN 45
SKILLS: Alertness 20%, Athletics 30%, Firearms 20%, Melee Weapons 30%, Unarmed Combat 40%
ATTACKS: Improvised Weapon (30%, 1d8)
Handgun (20%, 1d10)
Shotgun (40%, 2d8, double target armor)
Rifle (20%, 1d12+2, 5 AP)
MOB MENTALITY: Citizens are brave in a group, but have second thoughts when they take casualties or get separated. When in doubt, give them a SAN test to see if they advance, hesitate or flee.
CYCLOPS - K’n-Yan Playing Hooky in the Surface World
STR 22, CON 29, DEX 11, INT 19, POW 19
HP 25, WP 19
ARMOR: See OUT OF PHASE and SCALE CONTROL.
SKILLS: Alertness 60%, Anthropology (Human) 35%, Athletics 30%, Swim 45%, Unarmed Combat 45%, Unnatural 50%
ATTACKS: Projection 55%, damage 1D6 (see PROJECTION).
Unarmed 45%, damage 1D10.
OUT OF PHASE: A K’n-Yani can use its action to go immaterial, becoming immune to harm. Or half-immaterial, still able to grasp physical things but immune to any attack that rolls an odd number of damage.
MOTHER EARTH: K’n-Yani touching earth with bare skin can instantly vanish, returning to deep K’n-Yan.
TRANSAPPORTATION: K’n-Yani can step through physical obstructions as if they were not there; a single step transports the subject to the other side no matter the distance. Anyone they are holding is transported as well.
PROJECTION, POSSESSION, OR ERASURE: K’n-Yani can move objects, possess humans, or remove themselves from an individual’s perception. Each use of these powers costs 3 WP.
Projection allows the K’n-Yani to push objects with blunt force at a distance of about 10 m. This inflicts 1D6 damage.
Possession is targets one person in sight. The target gets a SAN roll in defense. On a success, they lose 1 SAN and feel an alien presence. On a failure, the target loses 1/1D6 SAN and the K’n-Yani is in the target’s mind. For one turn, the possessing K’n-Yani can see, hear and feel what the target does, and can sense and understand the target’s thoughts and recent memories. The target can sense, feel, and do nothing.
Once inside, the K’n-Yani can cause the target to take any single action of the possessor’s choice, including suicide or murder. Then the possession ends. Normal SAN losses apply as the target realizes what he or she has done.
Erasure causes one target at a time to fail to see the K’n Y’ani or the effects of their presence.The target gets a SAN roll. On a failure, the K’n-Yani vanishes completely and remains unobservable by the target. The K’n-Yani can stand right in front of the target, root through the target’s belongings, or even attack the target and not be seen.
EUGENE, ANDROMACHE, CASSANDRA, AND HELEN - Deep Ones “Living in Sin”
STR 17 CON 15 DEX 12 INT 13 POW 12
HP 16 WP 12, SAN 20
ARMOR: 1 point of integument
SKILLS: Alertness 30%, Athletics 40%, Persuade 30%, Swim 75%,, Unnatural 10%.
ATTACKS: Knife-like talons 55%, damage 1D8, Armor Piercing 3.
Grapple 55%, pins the target
One shotgun (60%, 2D8)
Credits
Keep on the Sunny Side was written by mellonbread for the 2022 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KJrcQLDiBJaUBQ95Q4034JmX4bYkK8CRGJy5uBaxNeY/edit