The Void - Stygian Cycle II
The Void - Stygian Cycle II
The Void - Stygian Cycle II
Venusian Sunset
Seriously? Free-to-Play?
Imagination is powerful. To quote Albert Einstein, Imagination is more important
than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while
imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. Well said.
We believe in the power of imagination and how it creates wonder and inspiration.
Roleplaying games are one of the few things that can do what they do. Some might
say they are the last frontier for wild imagination and creativity. We certainly believe
so. Thats why we make roleplaying games to help make that possible.
Making roleplaying games the way we have hasnt helped us spark imagination the
way wed hoped. We want to try something different.
First, were adopting the Creative Commons license, so that you can contribute to
the game in a meaningful way. That way, we can support you in your awesome ideas
and help you get them out to your fellow players.
Then, were going to give away electronic copies of the core book for free. Weve
all bought games that didnt end up working out for us. Thats why were giving this
to you for free so that you can figure out if you like the game before you decide to
spend money on it.
If you like The Void and you play it, were going to put out a bunch of cool material
at very reasonable prices. Were going to do it buffet-style, so you can pick and choose
what works best for you and your group. Buying these supplements supports us making more cool material, along with the rest of your fellow players.
After all, lifes too short to waste time and money on games you dont like.
The Staff of WildFire
Credits
Created By
christopher Dorn
robert Glass
matthew Grau
fraser McKay
mike Vaillancourt
Written By
christopher Dorn
IP/Line Developer
matthew Grau
Editing
matthew Grau
Art Direction &
Graphic Design
mike Vaillancourt
Layout &
Typesetting
matthew Grau
Cover Art
trevor CLAXTON
Interior Illustration
mike VAILLANCOURT
WildFire
Management
matthew BURKE
matthew Grau
Thanks To
The Gen Con Referee Coordinator: Bob
Arens
The Gen Con Referee Team: Steve Pitcher,
Travis Wickline
http://infrno.net the place to play (and
playtest) roleplaying games on the internet.
http://fearthevoid.com
Forums, Information, Downloads
WildFire LLC
23321 SE 291st St.
Black Diamond, WA 98010
www.wildfirellc.com
Black Sky
www.blackskystudios.com
First Printing. 2013 WildFire LLC. Creative Commons License; Some Rights Reserved. The Void and
the Cthulhu Saga are trademarks of WildFire LLC. All
Rights Reserved. All characters, names, places, and text
herein are copyrighted by WildFire LLC. References to
the works of H. P. Lovecraft are from and remain in the
public domain.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
License.
To view a copy of this license, visit:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
or send a letter to: Creative Commons, 171 Second
Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA.
[What this means is that you are free to copy, share, and
remix the text and artwork within this book under the
following conditions: 1) you do so only for non-commercial purposes; 2) you attribute WildFire LLC; 3) you
license any derivatives under the same license. For specific details, appropriate credits, and updates/changes
to this license, please see: http://wildfirellc.com]
Table of Contents
(1) Overview
(2) Background
10
18
21
24
Overview
Welcome to Venusian Sunset, the
second adventure in the epic story of
The Stygian Cycle. This is a ready-to-run
adventure that can be part of Organized Play.
This adventure is for Level 1 Characters, which are those that have received 10 Advances or less. If your
Characters are more advanced than
that, you will need to adjust things to
be appropriately challenging.
This adventure is self-contained,
though it is designed to set Characters
up for the next adventure in The Stygian Cycle. It involves the Characters
being sent to the Diamond Head colony on Venus to investigate a string of
mystifying killings and disappearances. What they discover could threaten
all life within the colony.
Naturally, these adventures are intended for Gamemasters. However,
as a player, you may find the way the
setting of The Void is brought to life in
these adventures useful for your visualization of your Character and game.
You probably dont want to memorize the adventures if you plan to play
them itll only ruin your enjoyment.
This adventure assumes that your
group is composed of Wardens. If it is
not, the adventure can still work, but
requires some adjustments before you
run it.
Soundtrack
Venus
Plot Points
Got Feedback?
Were all roleplayers here.
When youre playing The Void,
youre going to have feedback
whether it be questions, comments, or the awesome stuff you
came up with while youre playing. We want to hear it. Youve
got two options. You can just
fire off an e-mail to feedback@
fearthevoid.com. Alternatively,
you can jump into the pool on
our forums and engage in conversation with both us and other players. Find them at http://
www.reddit.com/r/TheVoidRPG/.
Chapter 1: Overview
Rules for
Organized Play
Since mobile devices are commonplace, an even more formal way to verify advancement is to post the above
details to the players Facebook Wall.
This creates a digital record that is less
easily disputed, if it ever comes to that.
Character Death
If a Character dies, the player
shouldnt be handicapped in terms of
playing in The Stygian Cycle. As per the
rules found on p. 225 of The Void Core,
have the player create a new Character
with the same number of Advances as
the Character who has passed on.
However, have that player keep the
deceased Character with the new one,
so that all Advances have been tracked
and verified for purposed of Organized Play.
Suspected Cheating
Cheating is poor sportsmanship,
most especially in roleplaying games.
Most people simply dont, since roleplaying games are about the story.
However, if a Character has extremely unusual advancements most especially in terms of gear or cannot satisfactorily recount where they received
them, then you have several choices.
You can let them play as is, and adapt
the challenges for that Character to
make them more difficult. You can also
ask them if they will play without the
Chapter 1: Overview
Venusian Sunset
Diamond Head is the corporate colony of Geo Excavations on Venus. Like
most colonies on that caustic planet,
the domed city is built into the ground
to protect from the elements. While
home to its own tensions, Diamond
Head has attracted the attention of
the diabolical cult known as the Scions
of Blight. Worshipping the Unnamed,
they perpetuate suffering wherever
they go, feeling that this is the highest
form of worship to which they can aspire. Wherever the Scions go, disaster
and suffering follows in their wake.
The Scions have been in place for
many years in Diamond Head, recruiting its members from the disenfranchised workers of the mining industry
that support the decadent corporate
bigwigs. Following long lost texts that
detail the horrific suffering of victims
at the hands of the Unnamed, they began by kidnapping and torturing visitors, all to appease their master.
The cult only recently started to
show up on the radars of Warden Command when something occurred to
drive the cult to even more depraved
and violent acts of terror. A Harbinger,
a servant of the Chthonian Star, has
found them and possessed the body
of the chief lieutenant of the cult. The
Harbinger has manipulated the cult to
increase the number of kidnapped victims to dozens at a time. These victims
are subjected to rites deciphered by
the Harbinger, which increase the exposure to even the smallest amounts
of radiation to lethal levels. The victims
literally cook before the cults eyes,
screaming as their flesh withers and
their insides are cooked like a microwave. It is the discovery of the first of
the body dumps, located in the center
of one of the largest entertainment
complexes, that has brought the Wardens to Diamond Head.
Many, if not most, of the lower-level
employees live on one of the lower
levels known by most as the Hole. Its
official designation is the Tier-1 Residence Level. It is serviced by a set of
elevators dedicated to transporting
those who live in Tier-1, allowing them
to reach their worksites rapidly. While
the Hole is not a slum by any means,
the difference in lifestyle from those
above to those below is so dramatic
that it has caused tensions in the past.
The management of Diamond Head is
aware of the growing dissent and has
taken steps to improve working and
living conditions. In fact, the living
conditions in the Hole are better than
most other cities middle-class areas.
There are, however, very run-down areas of the Hole, especially in the more
isolated areas.
The cult has set up shop in the Hole,
as it is much easier to hide itself in the
machinery of Diamond Head than up
above. It is also from the Hole that it recruits its members. The first sacrifices
that the cult kidnapped, tortured, and
laid out for display were made in the
Hole. This was done in part to start the
terror machine rolling, but also to stir
up the locals. These acts did not immediately register on anyones radar
and were handled by local authorities that had no idea who committed
the crime. It was not until the bodies
started showing up top-side that officials began taking notice. This has
brought the Hole to a boiling point, as
it appears that the lives of tourists are
worth more than their own.
End Game
The Harbingers end game is nothing short of killing all inhabitants of
Diamond Head. It will do this by directing the cult, via manipulation of
the cult leader, to expand the scope
of the ritual and cause a failure in the
radiation shielding of the city. In order
to accomplish this, the cult must set
demolitions at key structural points
within the facility, kidnap enough important sacrifices to power the ritual,
and summon more Harbingers to infect and possess the survivors who do
manage to get away.
Adventure Synopsis
Act I:
Scene 2: Venus
Upon arriving on Venus, the Characters will awake from A/D Stasis, ready,
and head down to the colony.
Read the following to your players:
As the large sun rises on the far
side of Venus, the surface structures
Investigation: General
General
Investigation:
Scene 3: Warden HQ
11
Scene 4:
Running Down The Trail
Investigation:
the Medical
Investigation: Visiting
Medical Examiner
Examiner
The bodies of the original six victims
have already been cremated. The most
recent bodies are all still available for
viewing. They are being held in quarantine until the source and possible
exposure risk is assessed. All of the
bodies show that same withered, desiccated exterior and an interior that
looks to have been exposed to the raw
solar radiation levels of Mercurys surface. All their faces are frozen in agonizing screams, which indicate they
were alive while this occurred.
There are three families for the Wardens to investigate, in order to attempt
to find common elements. Following
is a trail of information the players can
glean.
13
15
they do, they find the Box. If not, continue in the investigation.
If the Characters do not find the Box
by the investigation of last death, they
will find it there.
The Henderson Family
4 Plot Points The hotel room is
still being held for the investigation. There are no signs of forced
entry.
4 Plot Points Investigation of the
surveillance cameras in the hallways show that they have been
tampered with, and are running
on a loop.
4 Plot Points There is surveillance
that shows the people in the room
in a panic attempting, to help the
mother who was reported to be ill.
5 Plot Points The door to the
closet is open and looking in, it
appears that someone was sitting
in the closet.
6 Plot Points The Characters will
notice a smell of almonds coming
from the closet. This can create a
connection, if the Characters went
to the morgue to view the bodies
and noticed the same smell on
the daughters body.
Special If found, the Box was
dropped by one of the cultists
when they went in the closet, in
order to get the daughter who
was hiding there.
The Wynn Family
4 Plot Points The hotel room is
being held.
4 Plot Points The cab is also being held.
6 Plot Points The GPS on the cab
was shorted out in some way.
Gary Gannon
Investigating this option will require that the Characters convince
one of the other vagrants in the
area to talk to them (Demeanor
+ Persuade). An Average Success
will convince a woman to tell the
Characters that death itself came
to claim Gary. The descriptions
of the person that took him is a
gaunt, frail man whose eyes were
dead.
Special If found, the woman
picked up the Box, which was
dropped by the attackers.
Ed Park
4 Plot Points The home/office of
Ed has been taken over by a competing loan shark. The players will
need to intimidate or strongarm
the new owner, John Jeon, to gain
access to his place.
Special Jeon is no real help to the
Characters, stating that he took
over Eds turf when he showed up
dead. He has an alibi for the time
of death, which is why he wasnt
arrested.
Special If found, the Box was
dropped by one of the cultists and
is lying hidden under the bookcase. Jeon will attempt to claim
the artifact.
Larry Everett
6 Plot Points Talking to anyone
at the Mission will reveal that
there have been people sneaking
through the Mission and talking
to residents. Then, some of those
residents disappeared.
8 Plot Points The Mission was the
original location where the cult
attempted to get its victims. Larry
found out what was going on and
Josh Allen
4 Plot Points Joshs habitat is still
accessible, as is his office. There is
nothing important in the home of
Josh.
6 Plot Points Searching the office, there are signs of a possible
struggle and definite signs it has
been searched.
Special With Success at an Average Cleverness + Computers Test,
the Characters will be able to find
that the last information accessed
on the computer were the plans
for the entire city of Diamond
Head. The plans were copied to an
external drive.
Special If found, the Box was
dropped by one of the cultists and
is lying under the desk.
Elisabeth Shaw
4 Plot Points Her habitat is still
available. However, there is no information there pertinent to the
investigation.
4 Plot Points Interviewing the
Gala event staff will be the direction that the Characters want to
go.
6 Plot Points Elisabeth was leaving with a list of all the dignitaries
and their itineraries.
Special There is no opportunity
to obtain the Box from this option.
17
Wrapping Up Act 1
Act II:
Scene 5:
The Repair Shop
Jim Fezzels Small Mechanical Repair has been in business for the
past eight years in the Hole. Tax
records show an early profitable
business however no tax returns
have been filed in the past 3 years.
No reports of problems at the site
have been made to local authori-
19
to make it into the building, and a second successful Grace + Stealth Test will
allow for the Characters to make it to
the rooms the where cultists are sleeping. While there may be a struggle with
one of the cultists when the Characters grab them, it will be minimal since
theyre asleep. The downside to this
option is the time it takes to wait for
the cultists to go to sleep. If the players choose this option, then the events
of Act III will occur much more quickly
and they will have less time to prepare.
Average Blight Cultist
Attributes:
Awareness 2 Grace 2
Cleverness 2 Perseverance 2
Demeanor 2 Physique 2
Statistics: Health 6, Speed 8 mph
Skills: Deception 2, Defense 1, Guns:
Handguns 2, Insight 2, Notice 1, Reaction 1, Survival 1, Unarmed Combat 1
Equipment: ACC-62 Bandit Semi-Auto
Pistol, 2 clips of ammunition
Scene 6:
Wrap Up of Act II
Scene 7: Cultist HQ
Act III:
Burn, Baby, Burn!
21
Epilogue:
Pass the Aloe Vera
23
Harbinger
Harbinger
It has been weeks since you last saw
John; he just disappeared from the station in the middle of his shift. Now you
finally have information about a person
who matches his description. After a
chase, you have John in your sites. But
something is wrong.
John turns around and steps
into the light but what stands
before you is not him. His body
is withered and blackened,
almost as though it has been
through a fire. His hands end
in claw-like fingers. His face
is ashen, the skin pulled
tight over his forehead and
cheeks. However, his eyes,
although sunken within
the skull, are Johns and
they appear to plead
for some kind of release.
Yes, he is here,
said the thing
with Johns voice.
He said you
would come. How
loyal a friend you are. I
wish I could see that loyalty repaid, but that will not
occur today.
The Harbingers are a race
of energy creatures that
sweep before the Chthonian
Star searching for planets with
sentient life. Soon after their
arrival violence and destruction follows.
Health
Speed
12
12 mph
(12/24/36/48)
As normal pistols
Claws (1d6 + 2d6 for Physique)
Armor:
As normal armor
Horror Factor:
Average
Harbinger
Special Abilities:
Possession a Harbinger can attempt to possess any sentient being. It
must first leave its current host. Doing so will render the prior victim unconscious from the trauma of the departure. The Harbinger then enters
the new victim. Each hour thereafter, the victim must make an Average
Perseverance Test. If he manages to succeed four times in a row, he has
fought off the possession and ejected the Harbinger. The victim will know
that something happened, but not what unless he succeeds at a Hard Occult Test. During possession, the victim will be in a helpless, but conscious
state. As soon as the victim fails one of these Tests, he will be fully possessed.
25
Upcoming Supplements
There are many exciting supplemental books coming up for The Void!
The Horrors of the Void series introduces you to more of the fascinating and terrifying creatures that are awakening in the solar system. Already available!
The Horrors of the Void series introduces you to more of the fascinating and terrifying creatures that are awakening in the solar system. Already available!
The Ecological Footprint series provides in-depth looks into the different planets of
our solar system, with more setting, adventure seeds, and character options. This first
installment explores Jupiter most especially the Gallilean Moons of Callisto, Europa,
Ganymede, and Io.
The Tools of the Trade series explores new kinds of technology and provides new
gear, weapons, vehicles, and more to add to your game.
This volume greatly expands the roster of spaceships for The Void, including expanded stats, customization, and rules for spaceship combat.
The Characters Unbound series introduces new options for Characters of all kinds,
with this volume focusing on a much expanded list of awesome Talents.
http://fearthevoid.com
http://www.reddit.com/r/TheVoidRPG/
WDF 33401