This is a scenario for 4 - 6 first-level (cadet) judge characters. Although primarily a combat-intensive adventure designed to introduce the players to the mechanics of the Judge Dredd melee and weapons rules, it also features decision-making, Justice Department politics, character interaction, vehicle handling, survival skills, exploration and logistical puzzle-solving. There is one large pitched battle, a detailed town setting and plenty of potential for campaign-building. It is perhaps best if no more than half of the characters are Psi cadets.
Read the following text aloud as an introduction for your players;
As any cadet knows, you do not become a full-eagle Judge until you have survived (and passed) a Hotdog Run. This demanding trek through the irradiated wasteland of the Cursed Earth, led by a senior judge, is a test of character, grit and stamina. Many otherwise fine cadets fall at this hurdle - either by dying or by failing to meet the stringent standards of the senior judge in command.
Throughout this scenario, you should impress upon your players how close they are to both of the above eventualities. With this in mind, do not be afraid to let player characters die if the dice fall that way. This scenario is balanced to suit new, 1st level characters, so your players will hardly be traumatised by their deaths and it will emphasise the danger and uncertainty of a judge's existence.
Adventure
Background
Five days prior to the events of this scenario, an escape pod
from an interstellar starship crashed a few hundred clicks west of Mega-City One,
attracting Justice Department attention. The nearest senior officer happened to
be a certain Judge DeLillo, who was returning from a disastrous Hotdog Run where
all his cadet charges were wiped out by sand sharks. He arrived at the scene of
the crash and found two mutie brothers already present trying to open the crashed
pod. Not one for niceties, he scared one away and killed the other - or so he
thought - and returned to the city with the injured but living alien, a silicon-based
lifeform from the Crab Nebula who called himself Proszer.
Proszer recovered yesterday, and gave the judges a complete rundown on all of the equipment on board his pod. The Judges are not normally in the salvage business but some of this gear is just too powerful to be left lying around and, diplomatic relations with alien races being what they are, have agreed to send a party back as soon as convenient.
Adventure Synopsis
The
players' cadets are sent out to the Cursed Earth under the command of Judge DeLillo,
who is eager to see for himself what alien technologies might be available and
canvassed very aggressively to be sent back out. What he does not know is that
Smungan, the mutie he left for dead, survived and is even now waiting in ambush
for DeLillo back at the crashed pod, convinced of the Judge's return through his
limited mutant psi-talent, focused to razor-sharp intensity by imminent death.
He's got his hands on one of the alien weapons from the escape pod, and his ambush
will succeed: DeLillo will die, and the players will have to come back alone.
Any cadets who survive the return journey will be deemed to have passed by their
Academy tutors, despite DeLillo's spiteful last words.
Along the way, the cadets will also encounter the five hundred members of the Brighter Tomorrow Foundation, a 21st-century secret society, who have been roused from their subterranean cryogenic slumbers (where they were awaiting the eponymous Brighter Tomorrow) by the evil machinations of the Hunters Club, who simply want to blast them back to yesterday. They will also visit the small mutant township of Serendipity and experience numerous chance encounters.
Preparation
Read carefully through Baptism of Fire before you start play. Preparation is very important and you should know the general layout of the scenario before play begins.
Make sure you have scratch paper and a couple of pens, plenty of dice and snacks at hand. If you are planning to use models or maps you will need a large kitchen table or vacant area of floor space. Some music can also help set the mood for the game. The soundtracks to the Judge Dredd movie or other science fiction films can help players get a feel for the game ahead.
As you read, imagine how your players will react to the scenarios you are about to present and plan accordingly. Players will usually manage to do something completely unexpected, but sometimes their ideas can take the adventure off in new and interesting directions. If you feel that you can improvise and travel with your players beyond the confines of Baptism of Fire, feel free to enjoy yourself - that is what role-playing is all about! Once finished it is suggested by the editor that you try your hand at Full Eagle Day, by John Caliber and expand on the storyline.
Other than this very little preparation is needed for this scenario, as it is intended to be an introduction to the game for novice players. All you need to do is create a 1st level cadet judge character with each player, as described on p12. For the purposes of speedy combat resolution, you should generate up to ten Helltrek parties as described creatuing gangs section on p150 of the rulebook.
For
The Players: Briefing
Read the following text aloud to your players;
The mission begins when you are summoned to a classroom in the Academy at six in the morning. Tutor-Judge Weis informs you gravely that the day has come for the first real-life application of your skills and abilities, far removed from the simulations and controlled assessments of the Academy. 'Today,' he says, 'you leave on your Hotdog Run. In two hours, you will be in the Cursed Earth, under the leadership of Judge DeLillo.'
Give the players a few minutes to collect themselves. As these will be brand new characters, they might use the time to get acquainted, discuss abilities and feats, or even just swap Academy gossip. Any outstanding questions regarding the nature of the training process, the Hotdog Run itself or the graduation criteria can be addressed at this time. Ideally, you should let the players answer one another's questions, allowing them to get into character, as the cadet judges nervously compare notes and theories on the difficulties ahead. Additionally, you should allow each player to make a Streetwise check (DC 12) to see what information, if any, they have gathered about Judge DeLillo. He is reputed to be a tough, uncompromising Judge of the old school, with a very high fail rate on Hotdog Runs, which he undertakes regularly and with apparent enthusiasm. This sketchy detail should be enough to make the players nervous - if it is not, emphasise again that they have to survive the physical dangers ahead and perform at all times in a manner befitting a guardian of the law.
An H-Wagon transports the cadets to Sector 255, very near the western wall of the city, where their mission is to commence. Reporting to the duty Judge on the main desk, they are directed immediately to a small briefing room in the basement of the Sector House. DeLillo arrives just after they do and immediately starts barking orders.
'Shut up! Sit up straight! Eyes forward! You are not at ease, cadets, this is a briefing!' He pauses as he eyes each of you in turn. 'Okay. I'm Judge DeLillo and I'm taking you on your Hotdog Run. We expect to be out for at least four days and have been assigned a specific goal on this mission - retrieve certain items from a known location. I'll tell you more about this as and when necessary. We leave in one hour. Report immediately to Judge Nealon for equipment and munitions. I'll collect you there at 0730 hours, and we'll be radside by 0800. Move it!'
DeLillo, the cadets may surmise, is not in the mood for questions. If anyone is naive enough to ask any, they will simply be ignored.
| Judge
DeLillo, street judge 12: Size M; hp 119; Init +2 (+2 Dex); Spd 30 ft.; Defence
Value 22 (+12 Reflex); Attack +13/+8/+3 melee, or +14/+9/+4 ranged; SV Fort +11,
Ref +12, Will +11; Str 13, Dex 15, Con 17, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 13. Skills: Computer Use +8, Hide +4, Intimidate +2, Jump +15, Listen +3, Medical +4, Ride +17, Search +8, Sense Motive+12, Spot +10, Tumble +6. Feats: Bike Leap, Bike Wheelie, Improved Unarmed Strike, Intuit Perp, Iron Will, Leadership, Lightning Reflexes, Menacing Presence, Nark, Precise Shot, Spot Concealed Weapon, Weapon Focus (lawgiver). Possessions: Standard issue judge equipment. |
Judge Nealon's is the first friendly face you see. 'Welcome!' he calls as you enter the equipment bay. 'Off on your hotdog run, eh? Grud, I remember mine like it was yesterday. Anyway, I suppose if DeLillo's taking you then you don't have time to waste. Let's get you kitted out.'
Each cadet is given the complete Justice Department Issue as described on p55, although they still wear their cadet's uniforms and helmets (the differences are cosmetic and will not affect game play). They are also given a small survival tent each and a Cursed Earth survival pack containing 20 rad pills, various disease and poison antidotes, a small geiger counter, and 12 extra street rations. Nealon will point out the importance of the rad cloak on this mission.
Finally, the cadets are given Lawmasters. Although they were issued with their own Lawgiver firearms several years ago, they have not yet been assigned their own Lawmaster bikes, using instead training bikes from a pool of reconditioned ex-street vehicles. They are not getting new bikes today, either. These Lawmasters are genuine Mk IIIs, with all the trimmings and weapons, but they are 'Dog Hogs,' as Nealon calls them - Cursed Earth-only vehicles, used exclusively for Hotdog Runs, due to the unusual stresses and depreciation occasioned by travels in the radioactive terrain. Nealon uses the rest of the time available configuring the bikes to accept the ident chips within each cadet's utility belt and boots up the Synitron GK-13 computers to run a few diagnostics. Any cadets with appropriate tech skills may be able to assist him and thereby free up some time before DeLillo arrives. If they choose to do so and then actively seek more information about the mission ahead, they can again make a Streetwise check (DC12) to learn from an assistant that the target of this Hotdog Run, the 'certain items' that DeLillo mentioned, are alien in origin.
Departing The City
DeLillo shows up
at 0730 as promised and hustles the cadets onto their bikes, ready or not. The
ride to the city gates is a blur, racing through the sky on skedways arcing and
looping through an architecture that seems not only to defy gravity, but to insult
it. Even at this early hour, the city is chaotic, and each cadet observes 1d3
minor infractions of traffic law during the journey, even at high speed. There
is no time to stop and make arrests however.
DeLillo does not let up until you arrive at the enormous reinforced plastisteel city gates, festooned with warning signs and radiation symbols. He waves at the control station and a judge comes out, accompanied by two citi-def personnel. 'Morning, DeLillo,' grunts the judge, whose badge reads Cunningham. 'Another Hotdog Run already, huh? Wasn't it just last week you were out there with -'
'Just open the gate, Drokk it!' snaps DeLillo. The citi-def guys snigger.
'Okay, okay, you got it,' smiles Cunningham. He returns to his post and activates a console control, whereupon a subsection of the massive gate, just wide enough for a Lawmaster, slides open. DeLillo guns his bike through, and you have only seconds to follow. The last thing you hear as you depart is Cunningham shouting something after them - 'And try to bring some cadets back with you this time, DeLillo!'
DeLillo halts just outside the gate and sneers at a crowd of about twenty mutants who are clustered around the gate. This is not unusual for muties often congregate here in hope of snapping up some leftovers. Justice Department has even been known to feed them on special occasions, such as Christmas or the day of the Justice Parade. This is not happening today, however, and instead a blood-curdling scream rings out from the capacitous lungs of a mutie with a grossly enlarged upper body, topped by a basketball-sized head. 'YOU!' he yells accusingly, staring at DeLillo. 'BASTARD!' And with that, he sprints towards the Judge, waving what looks like a rotten branch from a diseased, Cursed Earth tree, with a rusty spike driven through the end.
It's a modest confrontation but it's the cadets' first real combat. This mutie's name is Smengan, and his fury with DeLillo is inspired by the Judge's cold-blooded murder of his brother, Smungan, just the previous week. The two scavengers had come across the wreck of Proszer's escape pod, a day's travel west of the township of Serendipity, and were ecstatically looting it when Judge DeLillo zoomed over the crest of a hill, gave them five seconds to clear off and casually shot Smungan in the back when he did not move fast enough. Smengan escaped on that occasion but is unfortunately about to meet the same fate here.
You really don't need any characteristics for Smengan, as he will not be doing any fighting and has a meagre 4 Hit Points.
Combat commences when Smengan starts running. It will take two rounds for him to reach DeLillo, who has already produced his Lawgiver and intends to spend those two rounds aiming. That gives the cadets two rounds to stop the mutie's headlong charge. Let them aim, call shots, shoot, or use psi attacks as they wish. Perhaps they will kill him but if they merely stop or disable Smengan, DeLillo will finish the job with an execution-style shot to the head. This may seem excessive to the cadets - it is excessive - but DeLillo recognises Smengan and is in a foul mood, as usual. Either way, Smengan ends up dead.
After cowing the remaining muties with some warning shots, the party moves off at speed. Once they have covered a few miles, tell the players they notice some commotion back at the city gates they just left. Let them remember their binoculars - they should still be familiarising themselves with their Judge's equipment - and tell them that it looks like a Helltrekker group leaving the city. Two large, heavily-armed vehicles emerge and head due south, along the city wall. The cadets will be seeing a lot more of these before they return.
The sequence of events for the rest of the scenario is as follows;
Day
One - Chance encounters (2).
Day Two - Helltrekkers/BTF
and Serendipity.
Day Three - Escape Pod, death of DeLillo, and
back to Serendipity.
Day Four - Chance encounters (4) and return
to Mega-City One.
You may amend the suggested amounts of chance encounters, or insert them elsewhere, as you see fit. If the players are having an easy time, provide them with a few new encounters. If, however, they seem to be struggling and are heavily wounded, you may wish to skip an encounter or two. Note that the cadets will probably have Proszer's super-powerful gun with them on the way back, so the heaviest encounters might be best suited for the return journey.
Chance Encounters
There
will be two Chance Encounters on Day One, and a further four on Day Four, as the
players return to Mega-City One. All Chance Encounters should be rolled for randomly
on the table below so that even if the players have indeed read the scenario,
they may not know exactly what they will face.
| 1D10 | Encounter | ||
1 | Helltrekkers with Problems: The Cursed Earth is full of Helltrekkers. The richer classes of Mega-City One like nothing better than to throw their creds at overpriced and highly-dangerous forms of entertainment, particularly those which allow them to get out in the wild and blow away any muties who look cross-eyed at them (which many muties unfortunately do, though not necessarily by choice). Anyway, this particular party is the Marlowe family from Sector 312 - Red, June, her brother Joe, and their grown-up kids Ernie, Gar, and May. Roll 1d6 to determine exactly what kind of bother they are in;
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2 | Judge Brown from Texas City: This affable character is on his Long Walk and has obviously walked a very long way. 'Well, howdy, y'all!' he sings out as he limps over the rise ahead, proceeding to engage the party in enthusiastic and down-home conversation without explaining what the hell he is doing out here. His uniform is tattered and barely recognisable - cadets must make Spot checks (DC 15) to realise it belongs to a Texas City judge. DeLillo will explain eventually if necessary but let any cadets who cannot guess stew in confusion for a while. Brown is surprised to hear how close he is to Mega City One. He would appreciate some Scattergun cartridges, Lawgiver magazines, rations, med supplies or anything else the cadets can give him. DeLillo has no objection but will not give anything himself. Make sure the cadets mark off anything they donate from their character sheets. Judge Brown is a formidable character and can be used as a Deus Ex Machina if necessary at some later point, to help extricate the cadets from a losing battle they may find themselves in.
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3 | Delamere the Power Surfer: This well-known underground hero is first spotted miles above on a number of occasions by the sharpest-eyed cadets (make secret Spot checks at DC 15). He gets progressively lower, unless shot at of course, but otherwise does not interact with the party of judges - until they find him in a crevasse sitting despondent beside his now-useless board. The energy cell has given up and unless they spend half a day charging it from a Lawmaster he is stuck there. He will not accept a lift without taking his board along and he is quite arrogant, so it will not be hard for the judges to leave him behind. On the other hand, some enterprising cadet might look on it as an opportunity to acquire a board whilst a smarter cadet might look up Delamere's rap sheet on his bike computer (he will not volunteer his name but will give it if asked - it is also emblazoned across his board) and discover that he is wanted on multiple counts of public order offences, breaking safety regulations, grievous indecent exposure and suspected burglary. Not a bad catch but how to bring him back? You can leave the logistics up to your players but do not make it too difficult for them. | ||
4-8 | Combat: The party runs into a serious fight. Roll 1d4 to choose one of the options below;
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9 | Adverse Weather Conditions: 'Adverse' is often quite an understatement for Cursed Earth weather. Roll 1d4 to determine the exact conditions;
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10 | Treacherous Terrain: This can be one of two encounters (roll 1d4);
|
The
Brighter Tomorrow Foundation
As the cadets approach this location, they
encounter numerous Helltrekker parties. All are travelling in the same direction,
some on the same track, others glimpsed on distant ridges and across valleys.
Some are convoys of heavy-duty tank-type vehicles, blistering with armaments and
defences, while others are lone bikers. They will greet the Judges cordially,
if hailed, return all questions with the expected answers - Helltrekking is perfectly
legal, of course - and produce all the requisite paperwork and certificates for
themselves, their transport and weapons (of which there are many).
However, things are not as straightforward as they seem. Most of these trekkers are Hunters Club members, engaged on a very special hunt, organised by fiendish zillionaire genius and club president, Morgan Maim. A year ago, Maim discovered records of the Brighter Tomorrow Foundation's buried cryo-dome in an ancient city computer network he was hacking. He probed further and discovered how the sleepers might be awakened by faking the arrival of their dreamed-of Eden through the application of certain climatic and atmospheric conditions above their underground cocoon. He then conceived of the greatest killing bonanza in Hunter's Club history; to awaken the BTF and massacre all 500 of them in an epic Cursed Earth trawl-and-destroy spree, which he calls 'Operation Early Bird.' Using an old secondary weather control station, ex-City stock which he purchased on the black market, Maim has successfully engineered the conditions for the opening of the dome. DeLillo and the cadets have stumbled right into the middle of this gruesome plan.
The cadets will encounter 1d4+2 of these Helltrekker groups and may choose to interact with them. Each group will, if questioned and searched, reveal progressively more about Operation Early Bird, although only Maim knows the full story - the others are merely showing up for what is promised to be an epic Hunt. After a few encounters, it is likely the Judges will become suspicious enough to start poking around. Here are the clues they will find:
· A youthful member of the first group questioned will let slip that they are 'meeting some friends' somewhere up ahead.
· A thorough search of the second group will produce exotic Sov-produced handweapons (Search check DC 15), which are illegal on this side of the Black Atlantic.
· A taciturn, mean-looking member of the third group wears a baseball cap bearing the 'HC' logo. Judges can make Spot checks (DC 15) to notice and interpret this; if they all fail, DeLillo will notice. It is a Hunters Club cap, of course, but he will claim he just picked it up at a Block Admin apartment jumble sale when his next-door-neighbour was murdered. A Birdie will likely prove he is lying and if they really go to town on him, the cadets will get him to admit club membership, but beyond that he does not know any more than anyone else.
· The fourth party has a clear map showing the route to their destination, drawn on Hunters Club notepaper, which has a legend beside it exhorting them to 'Gather here!'
· Orbi Benton, leader of the fifth party, is a known Hunters Club member with outstanding warrants (the cadets should by this stage be demanding IDs and running the names through their bike computers). He will surrender rather than endanger Operation Early Bird, however.
· The sixth party are not Hunters. They are entirely innocent, like the Marlowe family, full of enthusiasm for their adventure and happy to greet the Judges (a familiar sight in a frightening environment). Their vehicle is clean and none of them have records.
Bear
in mind that the question of jurisprudence is a thorny one in the Cursed Earth.
Technically, the judges have no authority over these 'trekkers. However, a judge
should really be able to exert authority over anyone, so a little aggression might
well be in order. By the same token, certain 'trekkers may decide to respond with
force - play such encounters through if you wish. In addition, the Judges will
certainly interrogate or probe any 'trekkers who have already given something
away, as detailed in the list above. Unfortunately, they do not really know anything
about what exactly is going on up ahead.
Eventually the Judges reach the rendezvous point, where Maim awaits his Club acolytes, although if they have not recovered the map from the fourth group above they will not realise it, thinking instead it is just another Helltrekker encounter. If they are on their bikes, undisguised, Maim will spot them immediately and start the engines on his TerraTerror Helltrek IX, trying to get away. They will surely halt him but he has been careful to keep his vehicle and person clean, sticking to his story ('Just out Helltrekkin', Judge!'). Again, Birdies will likely indicate he is lying but what are the cadets to do? Maim will argue jurisdiction if necessary ('You got no right!'). DeLillo might just plug him if he gets angry enough - he certainly will not bat an eye if any of the cadets do. While this questioning is going on, the ground will start to shake and the Brighter Tomorrow Foundation will emerge wide-eyed and thoroughly freaked out at what does not look at all like the Eden they expected. See below for what happens next.
If on the other hand the cadets know that this is the rendezvous spot and approach stealthily (e.g. on foot, over a ridge) or in disguise (e.g. in a commandeered Helltrekker truck), they'll see the whole show. When ten Helltrek parties have arrived, Maim climbs atop his own vehicle with a megaphone and addresses the cheering rabble. Read the following text aloud
'Ladies and Gentlemen,' he commences. 'I've brought you here today for an epoch-defining event, the greatest Hunt ever in our illustrious Hunters Club history! As you know, I call it Operation Early Bird.' He gestures at the ground before him. 'Look at that wasted earth there. You may find this difficult to countenance' - murmuring breaks out among the listening mob - 'umm, hard to believe' - the murmuring stops - 'but three kilometres underneath that earth, five hundred mid-21st century intellectuals and eggheads are in cryogenic stasis! Sleeping the centuries away as they wait for a better world that they're never gonna see!' He pauses for effect. 'That is, they were in cryogenic stasis until one hour ago, when I woke them up with the secondary localised weather control station I've attached to the back of my Terra T IX, by simulating the atmospheric conditions programmed to awaken them!" Much scratching of heads among his congregation. "And any minute now, they're gonna come crawling out like worms, blinking in the light, expecting to find themselves in heaven. And where do you think they're gonna be instead?' The ever-swelling crowd yells back 'HELL!'
If the cadets take out Maim at this point, they might be able to disperse the rest of the Helltrekkers with a show of force and a lot of shouting. It's a tough shot though: depending on their hiding place, he's up to five hundred metres away - and if they miss, he'll duck inside his ride and return fire with his massive Laser Lance. If they waste another round in inactivity however, they'll be too late: the BTF members start popping out of their five exit chutes in their white uniforms, exactly as Maim predicted, and the Hunters commence whooping and shooting.
From here on in, it's slaughter. This is a complex, full-scale battle, and you should choreograph it carefully, using the plan provided, any models you can muster, and as much sadistic ingenuity as you've got. The cadets find themselves scrabbling for cover in the middle of a massacre, as more and more BTFers come scurrying out of the one-way chutes to meet their doom. Their killers will barely notice anything else once the blood lust is upon them, so the cadets should be able to take a few of them out straight away. As soon as three Hunters have been shot, or one vehicle destroyed, Maim will realise there are Judges present, and make a cowardly run for it: on a three-wheel All-Terrain Spike Bike which comes blasting out of the side of his Terra T IX (treat as an Otomo K-9000 Bike, but with 10 Structure Points).
At least one lucky cadet should give chase and try to bring him down (see the vehicle rules on page 81 for details on how to make this as thrilling as possible). Here are some obstacles you might like to throw in the path (note that Maim has a +9 Ride skill):
·
A couple of fleeing BTFers who run left, right, left again, and so on, but end
up (naturally) right in the cadet's way (Ride check at DC 15, or hit them)
·
A ravine which must be jumped (Ride check at DC 10: if failed, lose five rounds
for each retake). Do this for Maim as well, of course.
· A dirty little
river which must be forded (as ravine, above)
· A landslide of rocks
and rubble caused by Maim's passage (Ride check 10)
· And naturally,
weapons fire from Maim's handgun: each time he makes his Ride check, there's a
50% chance that he'll shoot. However, the chances of hitting are very low, as
he has at least a -5 modifier, which you may amend depending on his speed.
| Morgan
Maim: Lv:4. Size M (5 ft., 11 in. tall); hp 27; Init
+3 (+3 Dex); Spd 30 ft.; DV 14 (+4 Ref); Attack +7 melee, or +7 ranged; SV Fort
+4, Ref +4, Will +2; Str 16, Dex 17, Con 10, Int 11, Wis 14, Cha 15. Skills:
Climb +4, Hide +6, Jump +3, Listen +2, Move silently +7, Ride +9, Spot +2, Streetwise
+5; |
The others might have the smart idea of entering Maim's vehicle and taking over the operation of its Laser Lance, which will enable them to take out a few of the other big Helltrek vehicles in short order.
Meanwhile, BTFers are getting wasted left right and centre, like lemmings all over the battlefield. There's plenty of cover around - boulders, rubble, smashed-up Helltrek vehicles - but if the cadets don't use it, or keep constantly moving, they'll get their Lawmasters blown from underneath them. As a rule of thumb, figure that one of the guns from each Helltrekker vehicle present will take a shot at a cadet each round - so if you've got eight vehicles there, that's eight shots per round. But be kind to your players. Give each Hunters' shot a meagre 1d4 base attack bonus. If they use a heavy weapon and miss the judges, maybe they'll hit another Helltrekker truck. Or a driver might panic and run his twenty-tonne rig into one of his buddies, or maybe down one of the BTF exit chutes. If the cadets are still losing, you could have Judge Brown swing by ('Howdy! Heard all the commotion. Throw me over that thar Scattergun, boy...'). On the other hand, if things go too easy for the cadets, Helltrekker reinforcements can continue showing up, at your discretion.
When the fighting's over, the cadets are left with hundreds of terrified BTFers on their hands. As an egalitarian micro-society, they have no leaders, making the task of organising them quite a headache. What's to be done with them, anyway? Send them back to the city? Do they want to go? Not all of them, no. After an impromptu quorum meeting, many will elect to return to their underground chamber - an enormous folly, given that it's now exposed, and one they should really be talked out of. Bring them back forcibly? A tough job, and one requiring a lot of vehicles - any Helltrek wheels still intact? Try to find somewhere in the Cursed Earth for them? Well, they'd probably fit in fine in Serendipity... the options and opportunities are many. Let the players plan as they wish, but ultimately, distribute the BTFers according to your own requirements. Have fun!
Serendipity
Serendipity
is a township of approximately 250 muties, really just a few buildings where two
trails meet, and conforms to all appropriate guidelines in Chapter 4 of the Dungeon
Master's Guide for such settlements. When they arrive, DeLillo leads the cadets
directly to the Happy Accident Hotel, screeches to a halt outside its front door,
and announces 'This is Serendipity. They know me here. I'm sick of camping out,
and tonight I'm sleeping here.' He vanishes inside and books himself a room, where
he intends to clean up and get a good night's sleep: unless they disturb him (in
which case he'll be extremely annoyed), they won't see him again. Click HERE
to see a map of the town of Serendipity
So the cadets are left alone with a few hours to kill. At this stage, they've spent two days or more camping out in a particularly nasty part of the Cursed Earth. Accustomed to the clinical effectiveness of the sleep machine, the raw cadets may find themselves affected by the prevailing radioactive conditions, rad-pills and tents notwithstanding. Make Fortitude checks (DC 20) for each character: those who fail will temporarily lose d2 points from EACH of their attributes until they get a good night's sleep.
If they're smart, they'll try to find somewhere to sleep: unfortunately, enquiries at the hotel reception aren't initially fruitful, as the semi-reptilian proprietor Pinback explains regretfully that DeLillo took the last room. If they throw more than 100 creds at him, he'll change his tune and arrange one room, for one cadet - but unless they sold some supplies to the Marlowe family, the cadets are unlikely to have that much cash. They can't threaten or bully Pinback, as he'll simply get the furious DeLillo involved, who'll go berserk, even to the point of smacking errant cadets on the jaw, if necessary.
While in Serendipity, the cadets may well find themselves caught up in the events detailed below. Bear in mind however that they'll pass through here twice, once on the way out, and once on the way back, so you should divide the action accordingly.
| 1D10 | Encounter | |
1 | Lawmaster theft Emerging from the hotel or one of the other buildings in Serendipity, one of the cadets finds a nine-foot tall goat-headed mutant, built like the proverbial plastisteel convenience, sitting astride his or her Lawmaster and bellowing at the computer, which is insisting he dismount. This is Billy the Kid, headbutt hoedown champion of this region, and an impulsive and dangerous maniac to boot. If the cadets don't get him off the bike immediately, he'll put his fist through the computer monitor (another black mark against the cadet responsible when they return to the city - you should be keeping track of all items lost or broken). 'Tell me how to start up this here darn bike,' snarls Billy, 'or I'll butt you back to wherever in tarnation you come from.' There's no reasoning with Billy, he's far too stupid. After a lot of aggressive shouting and pushing, the only solution he'll accept is a mano-a-mano combat for ownership of the bike. Although this is clearly ridiculous, the cadets can't simply shoot him, because that will provoke a riot. A crowd of 3d6+4 interested muties have already gathered to watch the outcome of this confrontation. They may be able to bribe him if they have Delamere's powerboard or any helltrekker vehicles, or they could gang up to subdue and cuff him, but they'll need to placate the crowds using any appropriate skills or Charm checks (DC 15, Charisma modifier applicable, repeatable four times but +2 each time, with d2 cadets taking d3 points of subdual damage each round as the mob throw rocks at them)..
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2 | Kangaroo Court People with disputes are always harassing Judges - even cadets - for impromptu judgements when they see them on the street. You could space the following encounters out throughout the party's stay in Serendipity.· Brothers A and B want the cadets to adjudicate a trench-digging contest. Yes, those are their real names - their mother was a hardcore maths problem enthusiast. If A digs twice as fast as B, but B starts two hours before A…· Married couple Ed and Doris want a divorce. Questioning reveals that BOTH have been unfaithful, though neither will admit as much to the other (Birdies will come in useful here). Further questioning will reveal that the marriage ceremony was conducted by Ed's cousin Deke, who lives in a wrecked barge in a dried-up canal and calls himself Captain, and was thereby deemed capable of formalising the vows. You might like to have them approach the cadets again on the way back, this time asking to be remarried...· Farmers Jojo and Spiral want to have a headbutting contest to settle a land dispute. It's unclear why they need the cadets to get involved in this. They're both filthy drunk.· Sister's Tinkerbell and Figleaf Johnson have a wormboy mutant baby - a genuine polychaete with two cute little faces, one at each end - which they both claim maternal rights to. The obvious solution is the one famously used by King Solomon: propose cutting the baby in two. Unlike Solomon's plaintiffs, however, neither Tinkerbell nor Figleaf will relinquish their claim upon hearing this suggestions. However, since the baby has all the physiological characteristics of the Phylum Annelida, bisecting him will indeed result in two perfectly healthy wormboy specimens. It's a sick cadet who'll do this without consulting Doctor Polonius first, however: in fact, the Doc knows the father, and has performed such procedures before, and will even provide a handy las-saw. | |
3 | Town council meeting In the early evening, Mayor Verapaz takes a walk around the town exhorting anyone he can find to join him in the Town Hall (in reality a decrepit prefabricated unit) for a Town Council meeting. He'll attract a good crowd, including all the notables listed below. If the cadets attend, they'll witness a lively gathering with much heckling and factional infighting, with the agenda highlights including the following items:· ·
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4 | Stampede This event occurs while the cadets are standing in the street. Read the following aloud:A tremendous, insistent rumble fills the air, rapidly growing in volume as the ground begins to shake. Any players who say IMMEDIATELY that they're taking cover are in the clear: the others will have to make Reflex saves (DC12) in the next round to avoid being thrown aside by the leading beasts in a massive stampede of seven-legged Badland Bulls which suddenly thunders around the corner. If they make it, they receive 1 point of damage, but if not, it's potentially a lot more serious. Give them another chance to describe their actions: producing an electro-prod will safely split the stream of animals around them, as the tiny bovine brains recognise the glowing device, but that's a long shot. The only other painless way out is to shoot down one of the animals in one round - not so easy, given that they've got 20 HP - and take cover behind the carcass as the remainder of the herd stampedes by.Any cadets who don't escape by one of the techniques described above (or others that receive your approval) will receive d4+2 points of damage, and they're getting off lightly at that. | |
5 | Zombie Attack!Best used when the cadets are indoors somewhere, this encounter involves ten Zombies left over from Judgement Day, surviving as part of a larger group in a forgotten old Business Park mostly buried under radioactive rubble, where they prey on rad-rats and other indigenous Cursed Earth vermin. Occasionally they stumble into town, but the Serendipitians don't know exactly where they come from (cleaning out this nest of undead might provide an interesting side-scenario, or indeed later expedition).Read the following aloud to your players: You suddenly become aware of two things simultaneously: sounds of panic both outside and within, and the most horrific stench ever to assault your nostrils. Spinning around to face the door, you see Zombies! They're almost upon you! Treat this combat almost like an ambush: the Zombies are easily killed (blown to bits or by called shots to the head), but they're very close, and very hungry. Any cadets who are bitten won't actually contract the condition, merely picking up an infection which will cause the loss of 1d3 points of Constitution each day - but there's no need to tell them that. If they want to perform field amputations on each other, so be it...
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6 | Sale of Pa Angel Mark IV Super-Scream Torture Machine The cadets are approached by an ancient, skeletal mutie whose jaw hangs permanently open, making him look like they're constantly grinning. He's pushing a cart which is covered by a piece of sackcloth. 'Hey, baby judge!' he gibbers. 'Wanna see something interesting? A genuine piece of justikal - jushistic - judgementish - uh, judge history! Check it out!' He looks about furtively then pulls back the sackcloth. A primitive metal mess of spikes, blades, stamps and vises lies underneath. 'Don'tcha know what this is? Don'tcha know the Pa Angel Mark IV Super-Scream Torture Machine?' He pauses to let that sink in. 'See that rusty stain there? That there's Angel blood!' This machine was built by Pa Angel to use on Dredd, but Dredd escaped and overcame his captor, and it was Angel himself who perished on it. This shady character currently in possession of the machine is Gimp Angel, a great-uncle of the famous family. Justice Department would in fact be very pleased to have this device, but they won't be too pleased if the cadets pay Gimp's asking price for it: 1000 creds, or a selection of Judge's equipment (he'll start the bargaining at Gloves and Utility Belt, with all associated kit). The cadets can take it by force, of course, but again, that will make them very unpopular in Serendipity, as Gimp's actually a harmless fellow and reasonably well-liked.The machine will be difficult to transport, too, as it's too large for a Lawmaster, unless they've acquired additional vehicles along the way, which is quite possible. Another option is to stow it in Serendipity and come back for it on another occasion. |
NOTABLE
CHARACTERS:
Notable characters in Serendipity include
Maggie - Maggie runs Maggie's Farm, Serendipity's only drinking spot since Billy smashed up Pinback's barroom a few years ago. She's ultra-tough on the exterior, with a brace of shotguns behind the bar, but compassionate underneath. Well-used to Hotdog Runs passing through, and particularly sympathetic since she saw DeLillo's last troupe of cadets wiped out just last week, she'll let the cadets sleep on the floor of the bar if they help her roll the drunks out of there at 2am (NB: this WILL count as a good night's sleep, despite the rats, the stink, and the broken glass).
Doctor Polonius - Although
shrouded in heavy sackcloth to hide his disfiguring skin deformations, Polonius
is a capable but pragmatic physician who will charge as much as he can for his
services, taking munitions or supplies instead of creds if necessary. It's quite
possible the cadets will require his services at some point. His surgery can be
found right beside the bar, and he possesses the Medical skill at +6 and Heal
at +7. He has antidotes for most major poisons in his well-stocked apothecary.
Billy
the Kid - Gets free treatment from the Doc, due to the amount of business
he sends his way. Detailed elsewhere.
Mayor Verapaz - A genuinely progressive and thoughtful civic leader, Verapaz's latest dream is to somehow acquire a fixed, localised weather control station for Serendipity and its environs, thereby merging the disparate farmsteads ranged around the region into a true agricultural community. He has everybody's best interests at heart, and will do anything in his power to make his ambition come true.
Madame
Aux - The mysterious and beautiful Madame Aux has been renting a room from
Pinback for as long as anyone can remember. She's rumoured to possess psychic
powers, and there is in fact some truth in the rumours (50% chance of Inkling
and Object Reading working, as long as she's adequately paid). One skill she has
full control of is Telempathic Projection, and she will use this to attempt to
persuade the cadets to smuggle her back to the city. Although this is patently
absurd, any male cadets will have to make Will saves (DC 10) to avoid being temporarily
convinced. You could have her pull this trick just as the cadets are leaving town
on their way back, so that a couple of minutes into the return journey, one of
the party suddenly realises (after a successful re-roll) that his pillion passenger
simply can't come back with them…
Others
- Any Chance Encounter characters whom the cadets haven't bumped into yet
could show up here: for example, Delamere might come cruising into town and wipe
out on the roof of the Town Hall, or Judge Brown could crawl out from underneath
a table in Maggie's Farm, pie-eyed and babbling...
The
Escape Pod
After spending the night in Serendipity, the cadets are awoken
by DeLillo nudging them with his boot.
'Get up, you useless greenies! Time to go! We're almost there!'
No time for breakfast, they mount their bikes and head west. It's a trouble-free seven hours ride across uneven terrain, but DeLillo is in a filthy mood, and questions the cadets at length about the events of the previous evening. If there was any trouble at all in Serendipity, he'll criticise the cadets furiously about it, and any excuses or denials will only infuriate him further.
Read the following aloud to the players:
Finally, as you reach the top of a ridge, DeLillo halts his bike and gestures at a large gunmetal grey object part-buried in the dirt below. 'See that?' he says. 'That's the object of our mission. It's an escape pod from an alien ship. It crashed here last week: this is my second trip out here. On the first one I recovered the occupant, who's now in intensive care back in the City. This trip, they sent us out to recover some weapons technology which is apparently stowed inside. We've now accomplished that mission. And you know what? I've been thinking about your performance - this is a Hotdog Run, after all. And I'm thinking that the bunch of cadets I brought out last time, who all died through their own stupidity, were a lot smarter, fitter, and better-qualified to be judges than you lot. So I'm failing you all. I'm going to radio back to the Sector House now for H-Wagon pickup for us and the equipment in that pod down there - and when we get back, you guys are all looking at dishonourable discharge. First, though, I've gotta get those weapons. Wait here.
It's the longest speech the cadets have heard him make, and it's likely they'll be a bit taken aback by its content.
DeLillo guns his motor and speeds down the hill. He parks his Lawmaster beside the escape pod, dismounts, activates some kind of hatch on the near side, and steps inside.
Suddenly you detect a disturbance in the sand at the base of the hill, and hear a voice bellow 'REVENGE!' A balloon-headed mutie, very like the one killed at the city gates, struggles out of the dirt and points something spiky at the pod.
At
this point, the cadets can start blasting away, but even if they hit Smungan it's
too late. He has already fired Proszer's gun, ironically one of the items which
DeLillo was anxious to prevent falling into mutie hands.
The capsule disintegrates in a brilliant shower of violently coruscating silver dust, with DeLillo still inside.
It's a staggeringly powerful weapon, and absolutely nothing remains. The cadets are dazed but uninjured, but the electro-magnetic pulse of the nucleic explosion immediately knocks out their bike computers and with them, their radios. Likewise the secure ident-based ignition on their bikes: cadets will have to make a Difficult (DC 15) Technical Check to bypass it and get the engines running again.
Smungan himself, when they examine him, has simply given up living: having kept himself alive for a week through a slowed-down metabolism and a burning desire for revenge, he's now drained and spent. The bullethole in his back can't be missed; any cadets with ballistics or forensic skills will realise it was created by a Lawgiver SE round.
Proszer's gun is almost organic in design, and cadets will have to make a Spot Check at DC15 in order to notice how Smungan held and operated it. If they fail, there's a 50% chance that they'll hold it backwards if they attempt to use it! They can take this check every four hours however. Someone will get it eventually. See the appendix for details of this weapon. It may well come in handy on the way back, but remember, it can only be used four more times before recharging (which isn't possible on this planet) and causes an EMP each time it's fired.
DeLillo's Lawmaster survived the explosion, but is of course electronically crippled in the same way as the others. DeLillo himself is vapourised, and Smungan beyond punishment: there's nothing left to recover, so the cadets may as well begin their journey home.
Return
To MC-1
When they finally make it back to the City,
via Serendipity and up to four Chance Encounters, read the following text aloud
to your players:
'It's over. You've made it. You've reached the City gates. What looks like the same surly crowd of muties is milling pointlessly about as you approach, but they watch in silence as the same gate slides open for you to pass through. Someone must have spotted you coming. They must also have noticed that DeLillo's not with you: there's a grim-looking delegation waiting to meet you. Wait a minute - is that Dredd?'
It IS Dredd, and he'll be very interested in the Pa Angel Mark IV Super-Scream Torture Machine if they have it, but after a few contemptuous glances at the party and some muttered remarks to Sector Chief Jude and Judge Tutor Weis, he'll speed away. No point spoiling the players with celebrity just yet! Also in the party are two black-uniformed SJS Judges and an accountant. None of them look happy...
Any
injured or seriously ill cadets are put on hov-stretchers, and the entire party
returns to the Sector House by H-Wagon. Once medically stabilised (i.e. not losing
any more attribute points from disease or wounds), but before any rest or sustenance
is offered, the cadets are brought to an underground interrogation room, where
they're addressed by a sombre Judge Jude.
'Cadets,' he says, 'as a preface to what is to follow, I should tell you that Justice Department regards your Hotdog Run as an unmitigated disaster. The loss of your Judge leader, the destruction and damage to your equipment, and an apparent disregard for Department procedure, not to mention an unprecedented degree of fraternisation with muties: this is a grave catalogue of misadventure.' He pauses, then lightens his tone slightly. 'However, it remains to be seen how much of this is your responsibility, and how much is the responsibility of the late Judge DeLillo. Be mindful of this as you give your complete co-operation and attention to the procedures which follow. I remind you that this suite of rooms is under polygraphic surveillance.'
They've got a Psi in the next room, too, but he doesn't tell them that.
Firstly, the cadets are required to fill out forms detailing all the equipment lost or squandered on the run, and exactly what happened to it. For gameplay purposes, a simply verbal list will suffice, but check it against your own inventory, which you should maintain throughout the game as completely as possible. Selling, losing, or giving away any part of Justice Department issue is a serious breach of regulations, and let the cadets worry that they're going to be expelled, imprisoned, maybe even sent to Titan when their wastrel ways are revealed. No specific penalties are mentioned at this point, howevhowever.
The cadets
are then individually debriefed by the SJS judges. You should do this on a one-to-one
basis with your players, looking for discrepancies in their stories. Remember,
the SJS are nasty, mean and sarcastic, so play them that way. Most importantly,
let each player tell the whole story in their own words, then start picking holes
in it. It's a good idea to tape the story so that you can replay it as you point
out the internal inconsistencies, or that the other cadets said something different.
Here are some example questions to get you started:
· Please give us your opinion of Judge DeLillo. Also Cadets X, Y and Z (names as per player characters).
· Tell us about these rumours before you left. What did they consist of, exactly? Who did you hear them from? Did you solicit them or were they offered?
· Were you adequately prepared for this mission? What about Judge Nealon? Was your equipment sufficient, in your expert opinion?
· Tell us about the journey to the city gates. You say you saw some crimes being committed. Why didn't you stop and tackle these perps?
· You shot a mutie ten seconds after leaving the city gates? Was that really necessary?
Continue
according to incident, and remembering that you can base the questions on each
cadet's own telling of the story. Replay the tape recording as you go along. Merely
listening to their own recorded voice is enough to make most people uncomfortable!
Concluding
The Adventure
When all the interviews are finished, the cadets are dismissed
and allowed to try to catch some sleep. That sleep is rudely interrupted however
by a summons back to the small briefing room where they first met DeLillo. Waiting
there to meet them is Tutor Judge Weis. He will invite and answer questions about
the background to the mission: the alien ship, DeLillo's involvement with it,
their ostensible mission, why Dredd was at the gate when they returned (he knew
DeLillo personally, and knew his judgement to be flawed) and so on. This is where
they get the satisfaction of piecing together the bits of the puzzle that they
still may not possess. When they're satisfied, read the following aloud:
'Cadets,' Weis says, 'you've been apprised of all the things that went wrong on this mission. However, following careful examination of your testimony, the recoverable records on your Lawmaster computers - those that returned - and other pertinent intelligence, Judge Jude and your tutors, including myself, feel that many of the problems that beset this expedition were caused by Judge DeLillo's poor judgement and questionable attitude. We have also identified extraordinary resourcefulness in your actions, and we are particularly impressed by the fact that you were able to return to the City without a leader and without radios. Taking all of this into careful consideration, we hereby decree that you have all passed your Hotdog Run and may now proceed onto the last step in your training, the Final Stage Evaluation, or street patrol with a senior judge.
That's it! Congratulate your players and start making plans for their FSE street patrol scenario. Remind them that when they pass that test, they're full-eagle judges and ready to kick perp ass on a daily basis. Congratulate yourself, too, for a job well done. Looks like you've got the beginnings of a campaign on your hands..
Helltrekker
Generator
Each Helltrek party consists of one to three vehicles. Roll a d10 to determine how many:
1-7 | One vehicle |
8-9 | Two vehciles |
10 | Three vehicles |
Each vehicle is either Medium, Large or Huge in size. Again, roll a d10:
1-6 | Medium (treat as a Great Turismo Ground Car, but with Structure Points 8 and AC 20) |
7-9 | Large (AC 14, Structure Points 12, Top Speed 200, Crew 1, Passengers 3) |
10 | Huge (treat as a grounded Hoverbus) |
Each
vehicle is armed according to its size:
| Medium | 1 weapon |
Large | 1 + d2 weapons |
Huge
| 2 + d2 weapons |
(While the vehicles may actually have more weapons mounted, these figures represent armaments for which personnel are available. Other weapons are unmanned and therefore dormant.)
The first weapon on every vehicle will be a twin-linked rapid-fire cannon (2d6/1d4, rapid fire 3, otherwise as Lawmaster bike cannon); additional weapons should be selected according to a d6 roll as follows:
1-3 | Double-barrelled Stump gun (see p58 in Equipment chapter) |
4-5 | Rocket Launcher (as Lawgiver Hi-Ex but with 200ft range increment) |
6 | Laser Blaster (as Cyclops Laser) |
All Helltrekker vehicles have flare guns.
| Weapon | Cost | Black Market Cost | Damage | Armour Piercing | Area of Effect | Critical | Rapid Fire | Ammunition | Range Increment | Size | Weight | Type |
| Proszer's Nucleic Atomiser | N/A | N/A | * | - | 20ft | - | 1 | 5 | 20ft | Small | 2lb | Engery |
Editors notes
Baptism of Fire written by Hugh Tynan was originally intened to be in the Judge Dredd core rules from Mongoose Publishing, but for reasons unknown it was omitted. It is suggested that if Games Masters wish to contiune this adventure further that they start with Full Eagle Day by John Caliber and available from good games stores everywhere or directly from Mongoose Publishing. d20 is copyright Wizards of the Coast Inc, and Judge Dredd is copyright Rebellion. The Judge Dredd Roleplaying Game is copyright Mongoose Publishing LTD. All rights reserved and no infringment on copyright is intended.