The Living Marshes

Yesterday I finished revising and shortening CHEMWASTE to 6,100 words. It’s a one-shot, or rather, an Urban Legend, included in the core book. There’s only one more to go: the HOLLOW HITCHHIKER, which needs to be adapted to the new Highways district.

Chemwaste is set in the Sinking Marshes, allegedly the oldest district of the Bay, described in the book as:

SQUISHY. ROTTING. HAZY.

Lowlands, mud, dark waters, and chemical waste. Plants and factories. Countless ruins of towers and temples. Where magnificent and repulsive ancient creatures dwell.

The Marshers are as rough as the wetlands they grow in, and tend to consider themselves the true Bayers, often referring to the rest of the Bay as “the city”, not without contempt. Touching their heart is as difficult as surviving the bite of a Quickmud, but once you earn their trust they’ll do anything for you, including teaching their ancient ways and giving their life for your own.

At the beginning of the Chemwaste module, the players are confronted with a major problem. Depending on how they react, two different timelines of Beats can unfold (kind of like a clock of events that happen independently of the players’ actions).

One of those timelines involves a pushback reaction from the setting the adventure is located in.

The whole setting reacts as if it were a sentient being more than a location, and with each new Beat, the reaction becomes more radical.

It goes like this (excerpts from the book):

At first, the marshes remain silent, stunned, unwilling to believe the outrage that was just inflicted on them. Then, slowly, they awaken: just a feeble hum at first, quickly dialing up to a cacophony of hisses, rattles, shrieks, snarls, and buzzes. Wounded wildlife screams its pain, fear, hatred, and hunger for retaliation.

How do the marshes react?

Roll 1d6

Wind, light objects tumble
Ashes, cover everything
Bugs, too many of them
Fog, visibility is limited in the distance
Heat, constant sweating
Acid rain, causes skin irritation

Then, the next Beat:

How do the marshes’ reactions worsen?

Wind, walking in a straight line becomes a challenge.
Ashes, cover everything like snow, it becomes harder to breathe.
Bugs, are everywhere: under clothes, in hair, behind your hands, they bite and sting.
Fog, visibility is limited to a few meters; perception of distance and voices is distorted.
Heat, dehydration becomes an issue; stones and metallic objects are so hot they hurt.
Acid rain, drops burn through clothes and dig holes in the skin.

And finally, the last Beat:

How do the marshes’ reactions worsen?

Wind, shakes humans like ragdolls; occasional gusts raise lighter people and small animals from the ground and throw them a few meters away. Lose something or someone of value to you.
Ashes, the atmosphere is suffocating; in wet areas, ashes have turned into a fine mud-glue, swallowing anyone and anything that moves. If going off-road or into the Lost Wetland, succeed at an Action Roll or get trapped in mud.
Bugs, start burrowing into the flesh, eyes, and ears like a merciless tide.
Fog, you can’t even see your feet and have no clear perception of your surroundings or body. Succeed at an Action Roll or end up separated from the party. Roam in the marshes for days until the fog subsides.
Heat, flammable objects ignite spontaneously, including the myriad of chemical waste ponds scattered across roads and wetlands. You’re likely surrounded by flames.
Acid rain, intensifies in rhythm and acidity, carving flesh and bone. The players encounter one of the NPCs they previously met (Garbo, Panda, Crab Joe, etc.), dead and melted by acid.

Writing the Sinking Marshes’ reaction fits the underlying ecological theme of the adventure.

But other locations in the game setting assume an entity-like contour.

Although the Lost Bay has no precise location or shape, we know it’s flanked on the western side by the ocean. It’s called BIG BLUE (yes, that’s an homage to the Mediterranean Sea).

Big Blue is a Miracle, a major, non-anthropomorphized NPC, both a biome and the creatures that live within it. It comes with its own stat block.

Big Blue

The vast, untamable body of water that borders the Bay to the west. The ocean, one of the oldest living creatures, aches from the wounds inflicted by human activity and dreams of reclaiming the land it lost to them. At times, it tolerates humans who appease it by dropping offerings into its cold waters.

Weakness: Lullabies.

Want: To submerge the Bay or, if it can’t, to submerge you.

Quote: “Shrrrrrsh… Shrrrrrsh…”

Quirk: Rust and salt crust. Burned skin and rotten wood.

Gear: Wandering buoy. Sunken motorcycle. Small rock island.

Moves:

Drag into dark waters
Corrode metals and souls
Mesmerize with its beauty and might
Inspire drunken songs and poetry
Throw Monster Waves ashore

In retrospect, I think this design choice comes from the fact I grew up in a cultural environment where people used to give emotions, will, and personalities to the natural entities that surrounded the community, the entities we lived close to, or within. Not gods, but beings you had to fear and respect.

The Lost Bay seems like the perfect setting to give life to those kinds of creatures: buildings, cars, malls, creeks, roads, wells, woods, and caves surely have their own goals, feelings, and personalities.