Sample Adventure: The Beloved Company, Continued

I will be sending out the continuation of this adventure via email. Let me know if you'd like a copy!

Sample Adventure: The Beloved Company, Part 1

Man, didn't those old D&D modules have great covers? Image from Wikipedia

Will you brave the dangers to explore the Beloved Company, rumored to hold technological treasures? The Beloved Company building is located above a nest of Yoga Zombies, so looters stay away from it, but perhaps it contains dangers more diabolical within its wall. This adventure is intended for 3-5 player characters.

Notorious Villains of Berk: The Steve, Queen Raider MacRaider

The Steve appears to a faithful believer. Image from examiner.com

If you thought Kittenbot 3000 was scary, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Well, okay, Kittenbot 3000 is pretty scary. You might want to take off that yarn sweater before heading out into the Deep City. Kittenbot 3000 may attack you anyway, but at least it'll be a little less ironic. Because, y'know, kittens and balls of yarn.

Notorious Villains of Berk: Xander Bonaparte, Berkeley, Kittenbot 3000

I wasn't sure what picture would work for this post, so I found this cool picture on Wikimedia Commons

As if the good citizens of Berk didn't have enough to worry about, what with gangs of raiders, mutant animals, and feral mutants living all around them, there are a few especially nasty characters around who would like nothing better than to see Berk destroyed forever.

Berk Sample Character: Professor Clanky, Robot

Robot design by Onorio D'Epiro; image is from onoriodepiro.blogspot.com

Name: Professor Clanky
Species: Robot
Faction: None (joint Librarians/Brofessors affiliation)

Berk Sample Character: Felix "Noobsniper666" Mansetti, Former Gibson

Felix only wishes his bike was in this good condition. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Name: Felix Mansetti
Species: Human
Faction: Freelance (formerly Gibsons)

Who's Who in Berk - Faction Leaders (Brofessors and Redwood Deputies)

If you showed this picture to a Brofessor, he or she would have trouble recognizing the ruined and half-rebuilt campus of the post-post-apocalypse. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Nobody really runs Berk, of course. The city is in constant danger of being wiped out by raiders, mutant creatures, and worse, so there is not much time to create much of a ruling body. Recently, the city has had a bit more breathing room, thanks to improved coordination between the various factions and a united effort to send adventurers after the raider bases and mutant lairs. This has given the faction leaders a chance to meet on occasion to coordinate how best to defend the city. Whether this is the start of a new Berk or just an opportunity for the factions to annoy each other in new ways remains to be seen...

Who's Who in Berk: Faction Leaders (Librarians and Russian Werewolves)

This town ain't gonna run itself. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

If you were to ask the average passerby on the street in downtown Berk who runs the town, most people would point to the Library and tell you that the Chief Librarian is in charge. Any nearby Russian Werewolves would hotly contest this, as Berk is a conquered territory run by the General of the First Vladivostok Werewolf Aiborne. If a passing Brofessor were to hear the exchange, he or she would quickly point out that the the Professor of the University is in charge. To make everyone happy, these posts will try to describe the various faction leaders.

Berk Sample Character: Annie "Oakleaf" Dell

There's more where these came from. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Name: Annie Dell
Species: Ent
Faction: Redwood Deputies

Berk Locations: Cyberdome

Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Gibson gangs may be semi-nomadic, erecting temporary camps and moving on when they have picked an area clean. Other Gibson gangs are completely nomadic, living out of RVs and trailers that follow the main pack. Yet others have permanent residences of sorts in the Unsettlement and strike from there. No matter where a Gibson lives, though, he or she has a second home at Cyberdome.

Sample Berk Character: Horatio Wilberplorp, Cuttlefolk of the Sepia Society

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Name: Horatio Wilberplorp
Species: Cuttlefolk
Faction: Sepia Society

Sample Berk Character: Aleksander Kolyarov, Russian Werewolf

Image a composite of images from Wikimedia Commons

Name: Aleksander Kolyarov
Species: Russian Werewolf
Faction: First Vladivostok Werewolf Airborne

Sample Berk Character: Sericea Nix, Librarian Researcher

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Name: Sericea Nix
Species: Human
Faction: Librarian

Berk Species Profile: Ents

Ancient Tree and Jackdaws by Zhou Wenging. Image from Wikimedia Commons

Residents of Berk have a reputation for being easy-going and carefree, and a large part of that is because of the Ents. Ents are philosophical plant people who have practical views on life. They enjoy collecting things, learning, and sharing their wisdom. Ents love their town, and their tough bodies make them excellent defenders of their friends and homes.

Berk Faction Brofile: Brofessors

Panoramic View of Berkeley in 1910, from alamedainfo.com

Before the First Event, the city that would become Berk was well known as a college town. Learned professors taught their young pupils the sciences and the humanities, while the young people did their best to fit as many poor decisions into four years as they could. In today's Berk, the Brofessors have accepted the challenge to keep university culture alive by embodying both of these ideals in a single group of individuals.

Guide to Berk: Vehicles

Miles per gallon? What's that? Image from Wikimedia Commons.

If you're going somewhere in Berk, there's a good chance you'll walk. Gasoline is rare, and anyone who has it is going to spend a lot of time (and probably most of the gasoline) just trying to keep it. Keeping animals is expensive, too, and there are few places to get a decent horse in Berk. Still, people have to get around, and goods need to be shipped from place to place, so there are all sorts of vehicles in Berk. Some are old-fashioned, while others are a new take on an old idea.

Berk Locations - The Sunken City

Image from snowdomes.com

The city of Berk slopes down toward the ocean so that the western part of the city is actually underwater. If you keep going west over a section of empty water (which some Librarians refer to as the Former Bay), you will find the Sunken City. Very little of the city still remains above ground. Only the slimy tops of some ancient skyscrapers show that there is more going on under the waves.

Berk Species Profile: Cuttlefolk

Image from victoriapeckham's Flickr

Visitors from the Sunken City, the Cuttlefolk are some of the quieter denizens of Berk. Good-natured and industrious, Cuttlefolk are welcome to sell the goods they salvage from their underwater home.

There is also a small but thriving population of Cuttlefolk who live in the partially submerged section of Berk to the west of Downtown. These Cuttlefolk interact daily with their "dry" neighbors to the east. Most Cuttlefolk work as craftspeople and merchants, but there are also Cuttlefolk entertainers, Librarians, explorers, and even guards.

Berk Locations - Redwood

The carpenter just ordered a shipment of pine, but all the houses and furniture are built of oak.
Yet another image from Wikimedia Commons.

Ents have a reputation for being mellow and friendly, so when people hear that there is a city of Ents in the wasteland east of Berk, they assume that the city is an easy target for Gibsons, wasteland monsters, Vegan Cannibals, and the other dangers of the wasteland. When people learn that the town has a quaint Wild West vibe to it, they further assume that the town is delightfully old-fashioned. This is true, if you consider a Winchester delightful.

Guide to Berk: Weapons

If you see this sign in Berk, don't stop. Run, because you're about to be beaten with it. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

While in Berk, it is a good idea to be armed at all times. You never know when you might run into a pack of Gipsters after your unfiltered cigarettes, some Vegan Cannibals who hate you for being made of meat, or a grumpy Bearcoon who thinks it's dinnertime. Often just the act of carrying a blade or sidearm and looking like you can use it is enough to convince most prowling gangs to go after easier prey, at least in the more habitable parts of Berk. In the Deep City or the Unsettlement, if a gang looks at you funny it's best to kill a few to show them you mean business, and then kill the rest just to be sure.

Guide to Berk - Monsters

Okay, imagine these guys, but the size of bears coming in through your basement window because they have collapsible skeletons... (image from Wikimedia Commons)

Some people believe that, since the First and Second Events, there are no cute animals left in Berk. This is not the case. Some of the remaining animals can still be considered cute; it's just that they'll tear your head off if you give them half a chance.

Most of the animals have been mutated by the radiation left over from the First Event. All of them have developed a bad attitude as a result of having lived in Berk for generations. They are bigger and tougher than their pre-Event counterparts, and they have no fear of humans. In fact, for some, the sound of an approaching human is the sound of a dinner that delivers itself.

Berk Species Profile: Robots

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Robots are a common sight in Berk. They can be everything from automated street sweepers with the intelligence of house kittens chasing balls of fluff to dedicated soldiers and guards with advanced squad tactics. Some are among the wisest of the Librarians, while others enjoy nothing more than drinking used motor oil with some Gibson gangs or gaming with Russian Werewolves in a game that involves at least a deck and a half's worth of cards.

Berk Species Profile: Russian Werewolves

Russian Airborne patch from Russian Patches.com

The nations of the world all fell around the time of the First Event, so the city of Berk does not fall under the jurisdiction of any country. Don't tell that to the Russian Werewolves, though; they're nice guys, so let them hold onto their delusion.

According to the Russian Werewolves, Russia sent a battalion of werewolf paratroopers to invade America around the time of the First Event. These paratroopers landed near Berk and proceeded to capture the city in the name of Mother Russia. The rest of the invasion and the capture of America had to be called off, though, because there was no America left to capture.

Berk Faction Profile: Gibsons

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The wastelands surrounding Berk are home to gangs of raiders, and none are more widespread than the Gibsons. For the Gibsons, it's all about the mirrorshades and the motorcycles. These nomads horde technology, raiding settlements for whatever electronics they may have, along with food and other supplies. Gibsons prize video games above all other technology. To them, the world is one big first-person shooter, and everyone else is a valid target.

Berk Species Profile: Tofu People

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Visitors to Berk soon notice that many of the city's residents are unusually pale. On closer inspection, these residents have curiously flat faces and soft flesh. These are the tofu people, a species of people who mainly live in Berk and the surrounding area. Though they are not as numerous as the human residents of the city, tofu people come from all walk of life and are a common sight in all parts of Berk.

Berk Faction Profile: Librarians

The patron saint of Librarians. Picture by anry

There is no doubt who are the biggest badasses of Berk. In a city surrounded by raider gangs and mutant monsters and crawling with killer gangs, the absolute top of the badass foodchain is a small group of librarians.

Welcome to Berk

A friend of mine is running a "Write 15 Minutes a Day" challenge this month, so I will be participating by fleshing out a fictional city I have been working on. This may be the setting of some stories and/or an RPG campaign, so please comment on what you think works, what doesn't, and what else you'd like to know about the city of Berk.

Welcome to Berk, a post-post-apocalytic city. There's something for everyone: great street food (if it's fried and on a stick, it has to be food, right?), a world-class library (it even has books!), people of all shapes and sizes, forgotten technology (if the beeps start to get faster and faster, put it down and walk away quickly), and weapons from poisoned knitting needles to miniguns that speak the Queen's English. You'll want to keep those weapons handy at all times, because the city is home to yoga zombies, cyberpunk biker gangs, cannibals made of tofu, and more.

We hope you'll enjoy your stay.