Where did the concept of “Session Zero” come from?

New Supplements and New Transmissions Coming Soon!

The high-tech, hard-boiled roleplaying of Technoir has been acquired by Dream Machine Productions, the design studio owned and operated by Justin Alexander, and will be receiving active support — including new supplements, new transmissions, and new expansions — starting in January 2019.

Technoir, an exciting cyber-noir roleplaying game featuring a radical new mechanical approach and a revolutionary plot-mapping approach to improvised scenario design, was originally launched via a trend-setting and highly successful Kickstarter campaign in 2011. Designed by Jeremy Keller, the core rulebook was released in Fall 2011, with Mechnoir — an expansion player’s guide which took the game to Mars and introduced mechanics for running mecha-based scenarios — following in the spring of 2012. The game won a Judges’ Spotlight Ennie in 2012.

At that point, unfortunately, development stalled with several of the Kickstarter stretch goals still unfulfilled, and Technoir has lain fallow for the past six years. Having secured rights to the game, however, DMP has been quietly getting the core rulebook back into distribution channels via Indie Press Revolution, revamped the Technoir website, and begun development on a suite of new supplements for the game.

The first and most important goal for Justin Alexander and DMP has been to, at long last, fulfill the missing stretch goals which the original 600+ Kickstarter backers have been waiting for. We know that many of them have given up hope of ever seeing these stretch goals delivered, but we recognize that without them the game would not exist and we want to do right by them. Original backers of Technoir should return to the Kickstarter campaign page, where they will find an update explaining the steps they need to follow in order to claim their stretch goals.

All of this work culminates on January 1^st, with a major relaunch of Technoir featuring:

Morenoir. The original 12-page PDF stretch goal has been super-sized into a 38-page supplement featuring run-time operations, advanced options for the game, a transmission creation guide, and Jeremy’s Guide to Writing Player’s Guides for Technoir.

Indianapolis Conplex. A brand new transmission for Technoir, featuring the 6×6 Master Table of connections, events, factions, locations, objects, and threats that lie at the heart of every Technoir scenario.

Kepler Station. A twist on the typical Technoir transmission, set in the space station atop the Kilimanjaro orbital elevator. Kepler Station is more than just a highway to the solar system. It’s a city in space, with a population of 20,000 lurking within its spheres of plascrete, rock, and steel.

In addition to immediately receiving their long-awaited copies of Morenoir on January 1st, the original Kickstarter backers will also receive access to playtest copies of Hexnoir, the Technoir magic supplement. These playtest materials will include the full text of the Hexnoir supplement plus three bonus transmissions, with final PDF versions to be released within a few months after the radical new mechanics have endured a proper trial by fire.

Although this will, at long last, bring the Technoir Kickstarter to conclusion, it’s just the beginning for Technoir. Dream Machine Productions and Justin Alexander are proud to have received this baton, and they have plans to carry the torch into the neon-drenched future.

About Dream Machine Productions: DMP is the design studio and publishing house owned and operated by Justin Alexander, who is also known for his work as Lead Developer for Modiphius’ Infinity RPG, the Alexandrian (home to the Three Clue Rule, Xandering the Dungeon, Node-Based Scenario Design, and other GMing classics), and a long list of freelance work for Atlas Games, Dream Pod 9, Steve Jackson Games, Fantasy Flight Games, and others. More information can be found at http://www.dreammachineproductions.net.

About Technoir: More information on Technoir can be found at http://www.technoirrpg.com, including a free Player’s Guide, the free Twin Cities Metroplex transmission, and other resources.

BUY TECHNOIR NOW!

Go to Part 1

Let’s briefly discuss Chapter 2: Trollskull Alley. This remix is largely not going to be discussing this chapter of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist because it is mostly unimpeachable and almost certainly the best part of the published campaign. To briefly review:

• The PCs are awarded with Trollskull Manor, which they can “refurnish, rebuild, rename, and otherwise personalize.”
• The expectation is that they will reopen the tavern on the first floor, and a number of encounters and mechanics are given for doing so.
• During this time, their recent notoriety also results in them being approached by one or more factions who would be interested in having them join up.
• The factions ask the PCs to perform a series of missions for them, spanning from the time the PCs are 2^nd level until they are 5^th level.

The faction missions, it should be noted, are clearly intended to be interwoven with the ongoing events of what we’re referring to as the Grand Game, but this is one place where the campaign kind of glitches because the heavily compressed timeframe of the primary plot doesn’t really leave a lot of breathing room for integrating these missions (or running their new tavern for that matter).

This remix should help address this problem simply by virtue of decompressing the events of the Grand Game: Investigating the Faction Outposts (Part 3) and performing the Eye Heists (Part 4) will expand the timeline and give a little more room for integrating the faction missions.

Beyond that, there are only two tweaks I would suggest for Chapter 2: Trollskull Alley:

• Add 1-3 additional urban adventures that overlap with setting up the tavern and running the early faction missions.
• Review the Running the Game: Tavern Time essay here at the Alexandrian and use it to bring Trollskull Tavern to life. (UPDATE: I ended up doing a customized version of this for Dragon Heist. You can find it here.)

You might also consider fleshing out the faction missions and putting a little more meat on their bones, but I think you’ll largely find that unnecessary: As designed the faction missions will take up perhaps one-quarter or one-third of a session. As such, they’ll integrate with everything else that’s going on to create a dynamic, multi-faceted session that draws the players ever deeper into the rich life of Waterdeep. If the faction missions expand to take up a full session on their own, some of that effect will be lost.

On the other hand, giving each faction one meaty mission as a diversion or counterpoint to the Grand Game might make for a good change of pace. (That’s going to be beyond the scope of this remix, however.)

ALLIES IN THE GRAND GAME

Once the PCs have joined a faction, however, the PCs themselves become a vector by which those factions can become involved with the Grand Game.

The PCs can ask for help. Factions can provide assistance, particularly when it comes to intelligence gathering. If the PCs need help locating a faction outpost or lair, for example, their faction can probably help them with that. Of course, they might ask the PCs to do them a favor (in the form of a faction mission) first.

Have the factions push them for information. “How have you been spending your time?” “We heard you were involved in that fracas at the Gralhund Villa. What was up with that?” “We’ve noticed you haven’t been around a lot lately. We’ve got a vested interest in you now, and we need to know how to find you.”

Intermingle the factions. You can also have a PC’s faction become engaged with a faction of the Grand Game from a completely different direction. For example, maybe the Harpers are interested in exotic poisons which were shipped into Waterdeep (and are destined for the Cassalanters’ ritual). Or the Order of the Gauntlet might be interested in targeting Xanatharian slavers.

If these factions discover the Grand Game and/or the PCs’ role in it, they are likely to bring their own agenda to bear.

Bregan D’Aerthe is, of course, Jarlaxle’s faction and their agenda should be obvious. Look at areas of the campaign where Jarlaxle’s agents are present and consider simply making the PCs those agents (perhaps even giving them a small force of drow to command).

The Emerald Enclave actually has no interest in the Grand Game or Neverember’s ill-gotten dragons. They’ll assist PCs who have proven loyal to the faction, but, perhaps refreshingly, will make no demands upon them for the Vault or its contents.

Force Grey is allied to the Open Lord. If members of the Grey Hands or Force Grey bring the Grand Game to their attention, the Open Lord will quickly figure out what actually happened to the missing 500,000 gold dragons and she’s going to want the money back.

The Harpers know that the Cassalanters are actually demon-worshippers and, if they realize the PCs have gotten tangled up with them, will quickly warn them of the fact. The Harpers are more than happy to let the PCs keep the gold (although they will encourage them to “do the right thing” and return the money to the citizens of Waterdeep), but they want the Stone of Golorr, which they believe contains vital intelligence that can help them in their struggle with the Abolethic Sovereignty. It should be noted that the Harpers of Waterdeep are riddled with Zhentarim double-agents, and anything the Harpers learn about the PCs and their activities can very easily fall into Manshoon’s hands.

The Lords’ Alliance actually works directly for the Open Lord. If Jalester Silvermane becomes aware of what the PCs have gotten themselves tangled up in, he’ll arrange a discreet meeting with Laeral Silverhand as quickly as possible.

The Order of the Gauntlet will expect the PCs to tithe at least 25% of the horde.

The non-Manshoonian Zhentarim will see an enormous opportunity in the gold: Efforts are under way to reclaim and repair Zhentil Keep, and that money could be used to buy them a seat on the Zhentarim Council that’s forming to do so. This could really raise the profile of the local Zhentarim network, and the PCs would basically be buying their way into the local leadership of the Black Network. (Or they could pursue this thread all the way to the ruins of Zhentil Keep if that’s their predilection.)

DESIGN NOTE

These interactions serve to tie the material in Chapter 2 more tightly to the wider events of the campaign spine. Using the PCs’ factions to demonstrate the wider scope of how the factions involved with the Grand Game are integrated into the life of the city will deepen the scenario, while also providing the opportunity for creative players to find unique vectors for targeting their enemies. Finally, forcing the PCs to make some tough choices between the advantages and obligations of their faction allegiance will make those relationships more meaningful.

Go to Part 2: Gralhund Villa

Go to Dream Pacts (Part 1)

FACE OF STARS, GREATER

Those who peer deep into the sky of the Dreaming can discover higher orders of understanding and hidden constellations hidden amongst its stars.

Spirit Circle: 7^th

Pact Check DC: 30

Physical Sign: In darkness you glow as if illuminated with faint starlight (providing dim illumination within 5 feet).

Influence:

• Dislike going indoors.
• Linger in old and historic locales.

Granted Powers:

• Detect Scrying: At all times while bound to the Greater Face of Stars, you immediately become aware of any attempt to observe you by means of a divination (scrying) spell or effect, as per a detect scrying spell.
• Lore of the Stars: At will you can attempt to consult the Greater Face of the Stars through its cryptic whispers (see below) to discern legends about an important person, place, or thing. This ability works as per a legend lore spell. If it would normally take more than 1 day to complete the casting of legend lore, you must form a pact with the Greater Facer of the Stars each day in order to continue your consultation of the lore of the stars.
• Reflected Starsight: As a standard action, if you become aware that you are being scried you can immediately begin scrying the scrier as if you had successfully used your starsight ability. You can do so even if you know nothing about the scrier, and you can continue to scry him even if he ends his own scry. This reversal does not end the original scry.
• Resist Scrying: Your connection with the Faces of Stars places part of you above the normal constraints of reality. At all times while bound to the Face of Stars, you gain a +5 bonus on saving throws to resist scrying attempts.
• Starsight: At will you can see and hear a creature at any distance, as per a scrying spell.
• Starsight Blast: As a standard action you can channel a blast of destructive energy through your starsight at its subject. The energy inflicts 1d4 points of damage per two effective binding levels (maximum 10d4). If the target succeeds on a Reflex save, however, the blast reflects back through the scry link and strikes you (you may attempt a Reflex save to negate the damage). In either case, the starsight blast ends the starsight.
• Whisper of the Stars: While bound to it, the Greater Face of Stars murmurs constantly into your ears, allowing you at will as a free action to make a bardic knowledge check with a bonus equal to your effective binding level + Intelligence modifier.
• Window to Elsewhere: Using your connection to the Face of Stars you can spend one hour creating a window-like aperture through which you can view another location, as per the window to elsewhere spell.

WINDOW TO ELSEWHERE
Divination
Level: Sor/Wiz 7
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: One hour
Range: See text
Effect: A one-way windowlike aperture
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell creates a windowlike aperture through which you view another location. Unlike scrying, the window allows you to view a specific location, not a specific person. Thus, it uses a different means to determine success, more like teleporting than scrying.

The window is a vertical oval 4 feet tall. This one-way magical hole allows you to look into the desired location and observe all that transpires there, but not interact with or affect it normally. You cannot choose or change the position, orientation, or angle of the window, but if you successfully create the window to view the desired locale, it always provides a good view of the place (unless new obstructions arise in the locale).

You can use any spell that affects scrying through a window to elsewhere just as if it were a scrying spell. Any creature in the viewed location with an Intelligence of 12 or higher can notice the window by making an Intelligence check (DC 20). Even if the creature notices the window, however, it remains a one-way view, so the creature cannot look back in—he merely knows someone might be viewing him.

When creating the window, choose a place known to you for the window to look into — somewhere you have been or had described to you. To determine whether the window looks out upon the place you want it to, roll on the table on the next page.

Familiarity: “Very familiar” refers to a place where you have been very often and where you feel at home. “Studied carefully” is a place you know well, either because you’ve been there often or because you have used other means (such as scrying) to study the place. “Seen casually” is a place you have seen more than once but with which you are not very familiar. “Viewed once” is a place you have seen once, possibly using magic. “Description” is a place whose location and appearance you know through someone else’s description, perhaps even from a precise map.

“False destination” is a place that doesn’t exist, such as if you have mistranslated an ancient tome and tried to look into a nonexistent treasure vault that you believe you read about, or if a traitorous guide has carefully described an enemy’s sanctum to you wholly inaccurately. When looking into a false destination, roll 1d20+80 to obtain results on the table, rather than rolling percentile dice, since there is no real location for you to hope to see or even be off target from.

On Target: The window looks into the place you want.

Off Target: The window looks into a location a random distance away from the desired location in a random direction. Distance off target measures 1d10 × 1d10 percent of the distance between you and the original location. If the door goes to another plane, the off-target location is another plane.

Similar Area: The window looks into a location that’s visually or thematically similar to the target area. Generally, you look into the closest similar place, but since the spell has no range limit, you could conceivably look into somewhere else across the globe.

Mishap: The window’s energy explodes around you, inflicting 3d6 points of damage to you and all within 10 feet of you.

Material Component: An oval pane of quality glass with a silver frame, worth at least 500 gp

JELADORA, THE PRISMED WITCH

Jeladora dances through the Dreaming, wearing a flowing gown of jagged, ever-shifting light. She rules over the dappled forest light; the icy glare of the frozen snow; the umber beams of sunset; the soft glow of the campfire. She is quick and subtle; rarely seen save for a glimpse at a time.

Spirit Circle: 8^th

Pact Check DC: 35

Physical Sign:A prismatic vortex which swirls around the body.

Influence

• Laugh at inappropriate times.
• Cannot willingly enter areas of darkness or shadow.

Granted Powers:

• Blindsight: At all times while bound to Jeladora, out to 30 feet.
• Displacement: At will, you can bend the light around you, creating an effect identical to a displacement spell.
• Prismatic Spray: As a standard action, emitted from the eyes as per the spell.
• Prismatic Sending: As a standard action, you can send either a single image, a message of no more than twenty-five words, or a single burst of colored light which appears in the air at a spot you designate within 1 mile per effective binding level. The message is refracted into many different beams of light until it is refocused at its destination, and cannot be perceived in its passage. You can cause the message to move as slowly as 1 mile per hour or as quickly as 1 mile per round.

MURMAUTH, THE MAELSTROM

A primordial storm cloud of roiling elemental forces. Murmauth is a rageful, destructive force within the Dreaming. A destroyer of imagined worlds, endlessly seeking to unmake a realm without substance.

Spirit Circle: 7^th

Pact Check DC: 30

Physical Sign: Veins glow brightly through the skin in a cascade of colors according to the most recent element invoked (green for acid; blue for cold; purple for electricity; red for fire). If elemental strikes are rapidly invoked in succession, a roiling storm cloud will begin to gather around the binder’s head.

Influence:

• Quick to anger. Tempestuous.
• Must seek revenge for any perceived slight or insult.

Granted Powers:

• Elemental Cascade: If you use your elemental strike to charge two separate weapons with different energy types and strike a single opponent with both attacks in the same round, the target must succeed at a Fortitude save or become shaken by the elemental cascade for 1 round for every two effective binding levels.
• Elemental Strike: As a free action, you can infuse a melee weapon (or melee touch attack) with acid, cold, electricity, or fire. Your next melee attack deals an extra 1d6 points of the chosen energy type.
• Maelstrom’s Might: At all times while bound to Murmauth, you gain a +4 bonus to Strength.
• Shield of Earth: At all times while bound to Murmauth, you gain a +3 enhancement bonus to natural armor. This bonus improves to +4 at 16th level and +5 at 20^th level.

URAGOG, THE KNIGHT OF SCYTHES

The skeletal, undead Knight of the Dreaming is marked by the midnight-black armor he wears and the grim, cackling laugh which echoes through the night behind him. He is the personification of broken honor.

Spirit Circle: 7^th

Pact Check DC: 30

Physical Sign: Those who look closely at your eyes seem to see empty, skeletal eyesockets.

Influence:

• Cannot make any promise or oath.
• Must kill those who beg for mercy.

Granted Powers:

• Aura of Fear: At all times while bound to Uragog, living creatures within 5 feet must succeed at a Will save or become frightened. Creatures that make their saving throw are shaken for 1d6 rounds.
• Death Attack: At all times while bound to Uragog, you can perform a death attack by studying a target for 3 rounds and then making a sneak attack with a melee weapon. (Once you have completed the 3 rounds of study, you must make the death attack within the next 3 rounds. If you do not possess the ability to make sneak attacks, you can still make a death attack as long as you meet the normal criteria for sneak attacks.) If the attack deals damage, the victim must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or suffer the additional effect of either paralysis or death (your choice). The victim of a paralysis effect is paralyzed for 1d6 rounds plus 1 round per effective binding level. The victim of a death effect dies.
• Death Knight’s Grace: At all times while bound to Uragog, you gain a +16 competence bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks.
• Smoke Form: As a standard action, per the gaseous form spell. (You do not lose your ability to assume smoke form even though you lose all other supernatural abilities while in gaseous form.)
• Summon Nightmare: As a standard action, you can a summon a nightmare as per a summon monster spell to serve as your mount.
• Warrior’s Proficiencies: At all times while bound to Terrior, you are considered proficient with all simple and martial weapons, all armor (heavy, medium, and light), and all shields (including tower shields).

Open Query from Twitter: What social system makes sense in a magical world where monsters are very real? Because feudalism doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Nor do castles.

If monsters that cannot be defeated by non-magical means are so prevalent, feudalism arguably makes more sense, but it will be based on the strength of magic, not the ability to afford armor / horses.

If wizards are rare, expect lots of Wizard Kings. If they’re common, perhaps magical oligarchies or you end up with Merlin’s Pentagrammic Table instead of Arthur’s Round as foundational myth.

If magical puissance is not inherited, expect lines of succession through Apprentices to become common and then heavily formalized to prevent constant succession crises. If the gift of magic is randomly bestowed, this will also create more social mobility than was true in historical feudalism, but it will be largely driven by chance.

Castles can also make sense in this setting of constant dragon-scale threats. But expect the walls to be magically warded and the construction of vast underground vaults to which people can flee from aerial assaults.

Oh! Hey! We just got dungeons under the castle!

As population centers grow beyond the point where everyone can run into the castle protection, expect the city walls to be larger and more elaborate. The distinction between “inside the walls” and “outside the walls” will be more sharply defined.

Cities will be protected by powerful artifacts or ancient protective rites like the Dragonstaff of Ahghairon, which keeps dragons out of Waterdeep, will also be common if they are possible in this cosmology. Warfare may almost require sending in small strike teams (i.e. PCs) to sabotage these wards.

In the absence of such wards — or perhaps to accent them — expect the construction of “fallout shelters” in various places around the city. One can easily imagine these excavations breaking through into natural caverns, abandoned mineworks, or even ancient tunnels of similar purpose left by some elder civilization, and thus ultimately ending up tangled together into a maze which most likely also connects to the dungeons beneath the castle. (More disturbing would be the possibility of running into something digging up from the other direction.)

Despite all these preparations, expect that humans will fail to maintain sovereignty in many places. Dragon Kings and Abolethic Collectives and Demonic Hegemonies provide alternatives, not all of them necessarily dark lords.

City-states ruled over by demigods may also be common, or were common before the gods withdrew from this world in accordance with the terms of the Godspeace.

Speaking of which, expect the balance of power between Church and State to look very different, with divine magic the only counterbalancing power to the Wizard Kings. The result, though, would be heavily dependent on the nature of the contract between spellcasting clerics and their gods.