From the Ashes

From the Ashes is a postapocalyptic rpg from James MacGeorge, detailed on his blog here. James kindly approached me to do a number of pieces for him, and I'm very proud of all the work I've done. Here's five of them:

TOTALITARIANTS

THE BLOAT

THE PROPHET

THE HUMAN TOUCH

TECHNOZOMBIE

The Further Adventures of Man Rider

Session Seven: Cobalt Reach: Man Rider spends first weeks as avatar of Akayle Ozph wisely: sleeps in Manning's backpack. Wakes up to find covert mission to rescue a goblin child stolen by gnolls. Man Rider infiltrates gnoll fort. Mission goes horribly wrong. Discovered. Chaos ensues, but Man Rider in his element. Manages to grab child, give it Potion of Cloning, and leave the copy behind before finding tunnel open up beneath him. Slides down escape shaft. Saves the baby. Saves the world. Man Rider considered great hero by local goblin leader. Introduces leader to cult of Akayle. A good day.

Session Eight: Cobalt Reach: Man Rider wakes up mid-trajectory. Has been hurled from Manning's backpack into room full of enemies. Not a great start to the day. Flails about ineffectually, but able to distract the enemy enough that fellow adventurers are able to flee from the demilich that Manning accidentally creates. Man Rider is trapped. Hides in fort. Chums up with goblin slaves. Escapes several days later. Pleased to be alive.

Session Nine: Cobalt Reach: Man Rider running late. Big battle: siege of the gnoll fort. Shield of Missile Attraction proves awkward around ballistas and catapults. Man Rider commands goblin detachment in "flanking manoeuvre" feint. Attempts to lure foes behind walls to far side while main force does what it's meant to do. Man Rider and the Nameless Mount get bored. Order goblin detachment to circumnavigate the fort while the two infiltrate the fort for planned mayhem. Plan fails miserably. Man Rider and Co pinned down, while main force breaks wall on far side. Yay! Bad guys run away to fight real enemies. Man Rider survives. Is rewarded with a scroll of mutation from General Gustav. Tempted to cast on Captain Manning. Casts on self instead. Gains six tentacles. Three heads. Rearranged face. Massive torso. Beak. Terrible smell. Man Rider pleased.

Session Ten: Cobalt Reach: has been several months since hibernation spent in contemplation; emerges to find Man Rider especially useless in exploration of Echo Palace. Not very effective in combat against anything, including the jackal men disguised as dryads. Ignored by god. Causes Mutation on self: gets a turtle head. Jackalmen sorcerers dissolve Shield of Missile Attraction with Acid attack. Best news all week. Survives battle. Makes up for lacklustre fight by defiling some old guy's tomb. Learned that Heward's Mystical Organ is somewhere in tower. Everyone runs away. Man Rider sad. Organs made him the freak he is today. Promises to return.

Session Eleven: (Flailsnails) Joins cadre of powerful warriors summoned across space and time: wakes up in Hexenbracken. Vision from Akayle Ozph: seek out the mutating Insect skull. Heads south in vague direction if skull. Meets a knot of pennangallan heads, innards all tied up; Seyl, Knight of Chaos (and excellent mount) applies the Gordian School of knot appreciation. Rewarded by freed pennangallans with ritual to summon demons. Press on, meet red fire goblins. High fives all round. Press on, meets halfling caravan lost in the wild. Cheeky halfling calls Man Rider retarded. Man Rider mutates halfling, emancipating and emaciating him. Seyl suggests punishment not finished, advises Man Rider of mutagenic potion in backpack. Man Rider fails to resist sweet sweet mutation juice, drinks potion instead. Gets really fucked up: infested with mutation-inducing parasites that cause transformation for every round in combat. No need to seek out Insect skull now. Instead, now has ADD, Sense Good, Touch of Confusion, Enhanced Touch, Medium, and can Transform Shape for a few hours. Also, parasites will probably kill him in two months when they emerge. Good news: Man Rider is going to be a dad! Lastly, Summoned Mount in combat and rode Brad Pitt in Troy getup facewards. Felt great.