Paranoid Dwarves from Philipp Grawe on 2003-07-14 (HeroQuest RPG)

From: Philipp Grawe <philipp_at_...>
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 01:33:55 -0000

While thinking about dwarves and their ways, it occurred to me that it's not a great step between a society where every Unit works for the good of the community and to rebuild the World Machine, trusting the word of Mostal all the way and a society where every Troubleshooter works for the good of the Complex and to stamp out Commies, trusting the word of the Computer all the way.

I sat down to do some notes and found that the intro and background pretty much wrote itsself. A module is forthcoming, but not ready yet...

Basic Premise

A one-off module where Glorantha Dwarves are played in a Paranoia-like environment.

The PCs play low-level cogs in the machine who are summoned by their local Diamond Dwarf on a top secret mission.

It appears that chaos is once again threatening the World Machine. Only our intrepid PCs have the unique combination of talents required to root out this grave danger to the world as we know it.

Of course, they're not really just loyal cogs in the machine, in actual fact each of them is a member of a highly illegal secret society, dedicated to turning the world machine back to the way it was meant to be. Needless to say, this secret mission is of huge importance to their secret society leader.

First, however, it's off to the R&D department for some new test equipment that will prove invaluable for this mission...

Background

A dwarven colony in Glorantha has lost contact with the outside world since the Dawn and isn't aware that the sun has in fact risen again. All real contact with Mostal and the World Machine has been lost. The lone surviving Mostali and the various Diamond Dwarves have worked as best they can to recreate Mostal's Legacy, but it all got a bit confused after the Spike exploded and much information was lost.

In fact, it was deemed far too dangerous to tell the ordinary dwarves that contact to Mostal has been lost, so the Mostali has been taking on that role temporarily...only until contact is re-established, you understand.

Instead of:
- High programmers you have Diamond Dwarves.

The Computer you have "The World Machine" aka the lone surviving Mostali.
Security Clearences you have the different dwarven types (Clay, Lead, Copper, Tin, etc)
Commies you have Chaos.
Mutations you have Chaos Features.
Bots you have Nilmergs (and Gremlins) and Jolanti.
Secret Societies you have Secret Societies.
High Programmers you have Diamond Dwarves.

Sure, you have to butcher and twist dwarven society to make it work, but if you check out MOBs MGF rules (http://members.ozemail.com. au/~mrmob/mgf.htm) it all falls into place.

I reckon it could make an excellent nights gaming, definately a good one-off diversion from the very serious Hero Wars campaigns...

Harry.