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Learn more about Etherscope at www.EtherscopeRPG.comLearn more about Goodman Games at www.goodman-games.com

This printing of Etherscope is published in accordance with the Open Game License. See the Open Game License Appendix of this book for more information. All rights reserved.

© 2005 Goodman Games. Etherscope is a trademark of Goodman Games in the U.S. and/or other countries, used with permission. All rights reserved. The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned.

Core rulebook revised seCond Printing

For our families and the memory of John Henry Greenwood, loving grandfather of Nigel McClelland, whose support and belief have made this book possible.

CreditsEtherscope created by Nigel McClelland and Ben Redmond

Designers: Nigel McClelland and Ben Redmond

Additional Designers: Chris Durham and David Schwartz

Writers: Ben Redmond, Nigel McClelland, Christopher F. Allen, Chris Durham, Mark Charke, and David Schwartz

Developer: Luke Johnson

Editor: Ken Hart

Art Direction and Graphic Design: Shane Hartley

Cover Art Direction: Sean Glenn

Cover Art: Jonathan Hill

Interior Art: Alex Kosakowski, Alex Shiekman, Chris Watkins, Eduardo Herrera, Ethan Pasternack, Ilya Astrakhan, James Cosper, Jeremy Mohler

Editor-in-Chief: Joseph Goodman

Playtesters: Mike Beddes (Rahlyns Falconer-Beddes, Xcylur Beddes, Jason Taylor, Corey Starr, Billy Ujhely), Benjie C/S, Jim Crapia, Chris Durham, Mark Gedak, Sean Holland, Jamallo Kreen, Stefan

Lundsby, Michael McConnell, Scott Moore, Jer Petter ( Jason Bazylak, John Gillespie, Linda Gillespie, Brett Watters), Ben Redmond (Melanie Duffy, Mark Fair, Matt Finn, Paul Johnson, Gérard Kraus,

Beatty Osborne, Matt Sims, James Todd), David Schwartz (Catherine Pegg, Michael Woodhams, Sam Noel, Carlene Quedley, Nathan Smith, Carol Phillips), Beckett Warren

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C H A P T E R № 9Adventures

ChAPter iX: Adventures

introduCtion

This chapter provides two adventures for the Etherscope game: one is an introductory adventure, the other geared toward higher-level characters. Between the two, they provide opportunities for GMs wanting to

explore some of the game’s main themes: espionage, horror, industrial oppression, and punk rebellion. Players should not read any of the material in this chapter as it will spoil their enjoyment of the adventures contained within.

splits directions and can lead the PCs to either destroy the device in Prime Reality or disable its counterpart in Etherspace.

background

Dr. Sullivan Bennett is an ethertech scientist who has been working on a new form of advanced ether-technology

known as the Ether-Prime Analogue, which is capable of mani-festing Scope programs in Prime Reality. Under contract with a mysterious benefactor, he and his partner Simon Garner have developed the technology through its infancy to the point of transferring simple objects from the Etherscope into the physi-cal world.

Scientists in the New Reich have been working to develop similar technology, but with their sights set on military appli-cations. Of course, no imperial force would funnel money into development when the end product can just as easily be stolen. Having learned of Dr. Bennett’s success, the New Reich set covert operatives after him and his equipment.

Being Etherscope specialists, however, the operatives needed some muscle. They hired a pair of nefarious characters from the dregs of the Great Metropolis, John Skelter and Luxem-bourg Sweeney, to abduct Dr. Bennett and coerce the location of his hidden laboratory in Prime Reality whilst they seek out its counterpart in Etherspace.

involving the Characters

Part One of this adventure involves the PCs in the plot by happenstance; however, as GM, you may wish to tailor

their involvement to suit your players’ preference or your own style of play. In particular, if you feel that the immediacy of the first encounter railroads the PCs into action, you may establish deeper motivations. Characters with Academic or Industrial influences might already be acquainted with Dr. Bennett, or know him by reputation. Likewise, PCs with Street or Crime influences might know of the reputations and exploits of the villains, Skelter and Sweeney. Such characters fully com-prehend the depth of the scientist’s troubles simply by their involvement.

If you do not wish to hook the PCs in by luck, ignore the parts of the “Dr. Bennett Escapes” section below that involve the zep-car crash and determine a reason that he would come to them for help. Perhaps, as stated above, he is already familiar with one

The first adventure, “Analogue,” is based in the Great Metropolis and involves a race to find some revolution-

ary ethertech. The characters can either search the city or the Scope, depending upon how you, the GM, wish the adventure to develop.

The second adventure, “Cinnamon Rose,” exposes more expe-rienced heroes to culture clashes, demonic possession, secret societies, and the mysterious motives of the System agents. The characters are asked to resolve a kidnapping, but they’re soon involved in a race against an evil demon and the System to find a powerful artefact. In the course of their quest, the characters will come into contact with a secret society and the Scope rider city of Haven.

The first adventure, “Analogue,” is designed to be used by fairly new GMs, or those who feel they need something well laid out to help them get a handle on the Etherscope setting, and Scope use rules in particular.

The second adventure, “Cinnamon Rose,” is designed for experienced GMs who want to give 6th-level characters an exciting challenge. Following the trail of the kidnapping could lead the characters down one of several paths, so the GM should be ready for each contingency. This adventure could be run as either a stand-alone story or the start of a thrilling campaign, likely involving occult entities and organisations.

AnAlogue

An Etherscope Adventure for 1st-Level Characters

“Analogue” is designed as an introduction to the world of Etherscope for four characters of 1st level. Playing with

more or fewer characters, or with characters of higher levels, requires some adjustment. Though “Analogue” starts off in a city setting, it can either continue in that way or lead

characters into the scope depending on the PCs’ capabilities.

In this adventure, an ethertech scientist entreats the PCs to protect him from a pair of kidnappers whose custody he has recently escaped. When his abductors inadvertently kill him, the characters are catapulted into a race against operatives of the New Reich to find and disable a mysterious device. This race

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or more of them. Maybe a mutual acquaintance — a broker, for instance — has pointed him in their direction, certain that they are the right group of people to help him with his dilemma.

PArt one: sullivAn bennett

The adventure begins shortly after Skelter and Sweeney have kidnapped the good doctor on behalf of the New

Reich. Unfortunately for them, he managed to escape and has now landed on the PCs’ doorstep, seeking assistance.

dr. bennett escapes

Speeding through the backstreets of the Great Metropolis, Skelter and Sweeney believed they had properly intimi-

dated and subdued Dr. Bennett. The doctor understood, though, that his captors were after his research in some way, and probably for unscrupulous purposes. Somehow he found a way to fight them from the back of the zepcar. John Skelter lost control and the vehicle ploughed to a halt on the pave-ment. Dr. Bennett was surprisingly unharmed, but his cap-tors were momentarily knocked out.

If you decide to introduce Dr. Bennett to the PCs in this way, they are startled by the unexpected crash. Emerging from the wreckage and noticing them, Dr. Bennett immedi-ately rushes to them for aid.

Whether you use this mechanism to involve the PCs or some other method, when they are first introduced to the doc-tor, read the following description.

A middle-aged man with striking red hair addresses you. His clothing is dishevelled and his grooming unkempt, but he other-wise has a stately and authoritative air. His suit has several rips in it and he himself has a nervous look about him. He speaks with a squeaky voice, “Please, I’ve been abducted by a pair of ruffians. I’m certain that they are after my research. If I can be returned safely to my laboratory, I can make sure that it, and I, are protected.”

Dr. Bennett appeals to the PCs’ sense of decency above all, imploring them for their help, perhaps even suggesting

that it’s a matter of national security. He’s willing to pay them, if necessary, but he is a humble research scientist with little to offer. Most money that he sees goes directly into his work.

Once the characters have decided to help, there are several ways to get him back to his lab, but his kidnappers’ pursuit makes each of these a complicated affair. Luxembourg Swee-ney is an excellent pursuer, and John Skelter is incredibly resourceful. These men are beyond the capability of 1st-level PCs to defeat in a direct confrontation, and this fact becomes obvious during their first meeting.

Should you choose to introduce Dr. Bennett by way of the zepcar crash, heroic PCs may decide to take care of Skelter and Sweeney immediately by approaching the wrecked vehi-cle. If this occurs, the two villains awaken and try to reclaim

The Ether-Prime AnalogueThis device is a work of great care for Dr. Bennett. Although he constructed it in hopes that the technology will one day aid manufacturing processes or even be used to fabricate pharmaceuticals and food, he has understood all along that there could be ignoble uses for it. He has therefore taken care to safeguard its secrets. Imagine assassins striking from Etherspace, or governments deploying powerful weapons without the need for physical delivery!

Physical security has been his greatest need for the Analogue, fearing that it could be reverse-engineered. The hidden location of its components is not the only measure, though. The very nature of the device is beneficial. True analysis of the device would require deep examination of both components — the Ether-Analogue Receptor and the Ether-Prime Manifestor — one being useless without the other. The components are symbiotic, elements of one existing in the other so that the Manifestor contains a port to Etherspace and the Receptor has material parts. Whilst it may be easy to think of them as being in two separate places (and Dr. Bennett certainly took advantage of this notion), they are, in truth, parallel. Therefore, destroying one makes the other useless as its key components are destroyed as well. This fact, indeed, is why the New Reich has sent two teams to recover the device — it is an all-or-nothing venture.

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their quarry. After a few rounds of combat, the PCs find themselves outmatched and need to flee.

If the characters do not meet at the site of the escape, or if they do so but do not confront the kidnappers immediately, the most likely method of returning the doctor to his lab is by private or public transportation. Characters with the appro-priate contacts or background may take to transportation through the gamma sewer kingdoms. Whatever method they choose, it is not beyond Skelter and Sweeney’s ability to track them. They steal a zepcar and run the PCs off their path. On foot, they give chase. John Skelter has innumerable under-world contacts, including friends in the sewers.

Any course of action leads the PCs to the next encounter. If travelling aboveground, their pursuers may come from two directions and corner them in the alley. If they travel below ground, their enemies will try to corner them in a dead-end tunnel. A ladder may provide access to street level and the men can chase them up. Though the top of a manhole seems like a defensible position, John Skelter knows a parallel passage up which comes in just two rounds while Sweeney covers them from below boxing them into an alley. With Skelter covering them now aboveground, Sweeney moves to his friend’s side to work from a unified position.

the Alleyway (el 3)

When the PCs are corralled in the alleyway, read the following:

Your assailants have cornered you in a dead-end alleyway between a pair of tenement buildings. The brick and granite of the structures have been stained black with age and their founda-tions have fallen into a state of disrepair, making them seem to lean in towards one another above you. One has a railed plat-form with a door and a loading dock, but both entrances are sealed with heavy padlocks and likely rusted shut. Rusted and rickety fire escapes dangle precariously overhead, their ladders too high to be reached. A pair of large refuse bins flanks the buildings, but trash is scattered across the asphalt.

Enemies

John Skelter and Luxembourg Sweeney have chased the PCs into the alleyway, and the characters have to deal with the

threat directly at this time (see sidebar). Although they cannot hope to defeat the two men, they need only hold them off until unexpected help arrives (see below).

tactics

Whether from below or behind, Skelter and Sweeney carry with them enough muscle and firepower to utter-

ly destroy the PCs. They take caution, however, not to overdo their assault as their employer has paid them handsomely for the capture of Dr. Bennett. Instead, they fire a number of warn-ing shots into the alley and attempt to discuss trading the PCs’ lives for that of the scientist (Sweeney doesn’t actually own a gun; he uses John Skelter’s v-prop, without proficiency, dur-ing this fire fight). Make a Diplomacy check for John Skelter (opposed by each character’s Resolve). Characters are assumed to have an unfriendly response to Skelter and Sweeney at the start of this encounter; if Skelter can sway any characters round to a friendly position, they might consider letting Dr. Bennett go. The two men carry on such diplomatic tactics for seven rounds and then begin a more blunt approach. Starting in the eighth round, they begin shooting with the intention of maiming or killing the PCs.

You can feel justified in not actually following the die rolls here. The purpose of this encounter is not to endanger the PCs, but to lead them deeper into the adventure. Skelter and Sweeney can easily kill them, but as long as the PCs maintain their cover, they should not be harmed.

Development

On the tenth round, the PCs can make DC 20 Listen checks to hear the sirens of the approaching constables’

zepcars. Decrease the DC by 3 each round. On the twelfth round, read the following aloud:

alleyway

fire

esc

ape

refuse bin

refu

se b

in

manhole

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