The Khonshu Alpha had several sources of food for its voyage. One of them was the Osiris Fungarium, a large dome (700 sq km) designed for the growing of fungi. It provided vast amounts of protein. It also served as a repository of various fungal species that would help colonize the worlds Khonshu Alpha was headed to.

After the Malfunction, the mycologists kept the fungarium growing as well as they could, but over the centuries the fungi have run riot, forming a strange ecosystem sometimes called The Dim Forest.

The science of Mycology has advanced tremendously over years, and they've been able to develop fungal tech to create weapons, medicines, and the ability to implant skills directly into the human brain.

The dome itself is lit from infrared lights on the dome ceiling. It is in perpetual twilight.

There is one functional maglev station making this level accessible. A small town called Substrate, or Spore City has formed within the station. Traders from across the ship come here to obtain fungal-derived food and medicines. Collectors and explorers use Substrate as a base to mount expeditions into the Dim Forest.

Things to do

• Make a pilgrimage to ask the Plasmodium Oracle a question.
• Brave the Puffball Plantation to collect valuable spores.
• Hunt bandits in the Hyphal Forest
• Collect wild slime molds to race in Substrate.
• Visit the House of Mind to implant new skills or sell skills you already possess.

#Dungeon23 #KhonshuAlpha

by Norton Glover – [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] RPG Blog: Polyhedral Nonsense #Dungeon23

I've been continuing my #Dungeon23 Khonshu Alpha project in my notebook, but haven't had the opportunity to write any of it up in digital form. I'm starting to remedy that now.

Here's a quick preview of the next level, which is entirely based on fungi and mushrooms.

The whole level will be a fungal-based garden, that the pre-Malfunction crew used as a food source.

It'll have factions, trade, and weird fungal-based technologies.

Some of the level will most likely be a hexcrawl. Here's the first map, the entrance to Spore City.

by Norton Glover – [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] RPG Blog: Polyhedral Nonsense #Dungeon23

A band of MET agents have taken over this section and are using it as a processing center for the people they capture and behead. They've made occasional raids on the Children of Thoth, and have a few prisoners. They use the Maglev shuttles to send the heads to the City of Skulls.

Response: If the players make any loud noises (explosions or gunplay) in these areas,it will attract attention from the MET agents in #19, #5, and #18.

15. Plaza: A circular room with a stagnant pool of water in the center that was once a fountain. Once-ornamental trees around the pool have grown wild and stretch to the ceiling, wrapping around each other in a complex web.

Flickering UV lights in the ceiling provide energy for the plants.

There are two MET agents in collection bodies lurking the upper branches. They are guarding the doors to 5, waiting for people to snatch up.

16. Maglev Station #2: This maglev station is a fully functional version of the station in #6. There's a control pylon that can be activated with a yellow bracelet to summon a train. It will arrive in 2d6 minutes. A Computer 10+ roll can also be used to call a train.

17. Junction: two corridors meet here. There are blood trails leading from the plastic curtains leading to the Chop Shop (#19), down to the Property Storage room (#20). Sounds of loud machinery are behind the curtains.

18. Maglev Station #1: This maglev station is fully functional. There's a control pylon that can be activated with a yellow bracelet to summon a train. It will arrive in 2d6 minutes. A Computer 10+ roll can also be used to call a train.

The MET agents have using this train to send heads to the City of Skulls, so a Computer 10+ can find the exact coordinates of the MET base.

There's a stack of about 8 MET head cylinders here. There's a 2 in 6 chance a MET agent is here loading the heads onto a train.

19. Chop Shop: The floor and walls of this room are covered in splashes of blood. There are eight operating tables, each with restraints. The tables are each equipped with a vial of cryo-chemicals and complex machines. The machines are beeping and whirring, making it difficult to hear anything.

There are 3 Medical MET agents here, working on 5 captured Children of Thoth, each strapped to a table. The victims are all heavily sedated.

If not stopped, the MET agents will behead their victims, and place their heads in cryo-chambers.

20. Property Storage: Several rows metal shelving, each containing plastic-wrapped packages of personal possessions. When the MET agents behead someone, they temporarily store their possessions here. Everything is neatly wrapped and labeled with the ID number MET has assigned each head. MET has every intention of restoring the possessions whenever the “patients” are revived.

Blood Trails lead though this room to #21

21. Body Dump: The MET agents have modified this room to dispose of the bodies. There is a slick metal chute leading down into darkness. The floors and walls are slick with blood.

The chute leads to the Fertilizer Processor room on the Agricultural Level.

#Dungeon23

by Norton Glover – [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] RPG Blog: Polyhedral Nonsense #Dungeon23

Many locations and facilities aboard the Khonshu Alpha are secured with electronic locks. They were usually opened with combinations of retinal, brainwave, and DNA scans of the original crew. As the crew are all long dead, access is only available with security bracelets.

The bracelets are small ribbons, that wrap around the user's wrist and are secured magnetically. They come in various colors, each indicating what level of access they provide.

Most AIs can determine the location of anyone wearing a bracelet, and receive basic biological information about the wearer (heart rate, blood pressure, etc.) Most people are unaware of this feature.

Bracelets by Color

Yellow: Basic tourist access. Used to access maglevs, cornucopia machines, and recreational facilities.

Yellow Plus: Looks like a yellow bracelet, except with a light blue stripe. They were originally issued to passengers who had small children. Provides the ame access as yellow bracelets, but adds access to certain nurseries and playgrounds.

Orange: Assigned to lower level maintenance personnel. Can be used to command cleaning and repair robots, and enter most service areas.

Red: Generally assigned to security staff and emergency personnel. Allows the wearer to command all robots (except military), and enter weapons lockers, detention centers, and other high security areas.

Blue: Allows access to anything involving air locks or spacecraft. Usually assigned with another bracelet.

Indigo: Assigned to Engineering personnel. Allows access to ship's drives, life support, and virtually all systems.

Violet: Quite rare, only available to ship's command staff. Can be used to command any robot, enter any area, control any system. Supposedly the only way to enter Khonshu Alpha's bridge.

#Dungeon23

by Norton Glover – [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] RPG Blog: Polyhedral Nonsense #Dungeon23

This area is immediately below the Central Plaza of the Maglev Station (#2). It usually accessed by someone falling or climbing down from #2

This area is almost entirely automated. Various robots examine anything falling down the luggage chute, process it, and store it.

The principal danger is from the various robots. There are “treasures” to be found in the Unlaimed Luggage (#10) and High Security(#11) areas.

There are hidden luggage corridors between the Luggage Return room (#13) and other areas of this level.

8. Entrance Shaft: A circular chamber with a rotating platform in the middle, and a conveyor belt leads south to #9. Anything falling from above will take 2D damage when it hits the platform. Anyone on the platform can make a DEX 8+ roll to jump off before the conveyor belt takes them to #9.

9. Luggage Handling: The luggage conveyor belt continues down this corridor. Anything on the belt will be prodded and probed by three robot arms. Treat this as an attack, if there's a person on the belt. There are four arms, so there will be four attacks.

Anyone on the belt can make a DEX 8+ roll to jump off before the arms attack.

There is a Mark I security bot on guard here. It will ignore anyone in this room, unless they try to interfere with the belt, or the robot arms.

If the security bot goes below 5 lifeblood, it will summon reinforcements from #13

After the robot arms, the belt splits into two tracks. Anything that is actual luggage will be sent to #14, everything else will be sent to Unclaimed Luggage (#10)

10. Unclaimed Luggage: Anything that cannot be identified by the robot luggage handlers in #9 will be sent here. Robot luggage spiders have sorted centuries of junk and detritus into several neat piles. The robot spiders (12 in all) cling to the walls until needed.

2 Mark I Security bots guard the doors to the High-Security area (#11).

If a player searches through the piles of junk for a half-hour, they can roll on the Junk Table to find a useful item. For every half hour, there's a 1 in 6 chance one of the security bot tries to question and detain them.

11. High-Security Area: If the robot spiders in #10 find anything dangerous or valuable, they store it here. The security bots that guard this room can only be bypassed with a blue or better bracelet, and the door can only be opened with a red bracelet or with a STR 10+ roll.

The following items can be found inside.

3 Stun-gas grenades 5 Auto Pistols 10 20-round magazine for Auto Pistol 1 Shotgun with 10 rounds Fusion Torch Cutter Tactical Armor Stun Baton (5) 10 knives 4 red bracelets 1 orange bracelet

12. Luggage Return: The conveyor belt brings any authorized luggage to this area. There hasn't been any authorized luggage in centuries.

A long defunct luggage robot stands here motionless. There are 4 small hatches, numbered 1 to 4. Each opens to a small shaft leading to one of the maglev stations above. They were intended to transport luggage, but a human-sized creature could crawl through them.

1 – goes to #18 2 – goes to #16 3 – goes to #6 4 – goes to ?

13 Robot Depot: There are rows of security, luggage spider, and repair and maintenance bots parked in neat rows. Other robots on this level can call upon them for reinforcements, if needed.

14 Robot Repair: A mechanical workshop, filled with gadgets and tools. There are two repair robots here designed to repair any robots that enter. Unfortunately their programming has corrupted over the years, and they will attempt to “repair” anything that enters. Treat as an attack

There's a tools locker with various tools: 2 Power drill 4 Flashlight 4 Fusion Torch Cutters 10 fuel cells

#Dungeon23 #KhonshuAlpha

Junk Table

roll d66

11 Maintenance Jumpsuit 12 Sunglasses 13 Leash 14 Night Vision monocle 15 Magnetic Boots 16 Helmet 21 Rope (3m) 22 Puzzle Box 23 Map of Recreation Level 24 Flashlight 25 Multitool 26 Medi-pak 31 Neuro-Pak 32 CBW suit 33 Fire Extinguisher 34 Yellow Access Bracelet 35 Motion Detector 36 Holographic Travel Guide (in a ring) 41 Bioscanner 42 Geiger Counter 43 Freeze Dried Rations 44 Chameleon Cloak 45 Shovel 46 Crowbar 51 Musical Instrument 52 Backpack 53 Autograpnel 54 Skateboard 55 Microtent (Sleeps 4) 56 Binoculars 61 Communicator 62 Electronics Kit 63 Fuel Cells (pack of 6) 64 Gas Mask 65 UV Sterilizer 66 Duct Tape

by Norton Glover – [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] RPG Blog: Polyhedral Nonsense #Dungeon23

I've gone back and forth about what system I want to use for my Khonshu Alpha #Dungeon23 project. I discussed my options in a previous post.

After giving it some thought, I've decided to go with the Traveller option. Specifically the open version – the Cepheus Engine. I've been a big fan of this system for a while, and I've been promoting it as an option for OSR designers.

I decided that the simple 2d6, skill-based system is a much better fit for my sci-fi setting. The usual OSR mechanics like classes & levels seem like they'd just get in the way.

Since Cepheus is under a OGL license, I can include the basic rules in the final product (if there is one).

Rules Modifications

I'll probably make a few changes to the rules for this setting.

I'm not sure I'll need the somewhat complex career system for characters. I'm assuming the players will be starting out as Greenskeepers, so they'll have some base skills, and I'll give them a few points to buy some.

I'll also have custom list of Traits to match the setting.

As the players explore the ship, they'll probably get a chance to modify themselves (possibly unwillingly) with cybernetic and biological enhancements. I'll have to make my own list of these as well.

by Norton Glover – [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] RPG Blog: Polyhedral Nonsense #Dungeon23

In Sean McCoy's initial #Dungeon23 post (https://seanmccoy.substack.com/p/dungeon23), he provided a list of 52 prompts. The idea is that each week, you'd select one at random and use it as a theme for the week.

It's a good list, but a little fantasy oriented. So I've made my own list of prompts specifically for the Khonshu Alpha setting. If I don't have a better idea, I'll use this for inspiration.

1. Electricity
2. Void
3. Paranoia
4. Automation
5. Corrosion
6. Fanaticism
7. Mutation
8. Cold
9. Plants
10. Meat
11. Crystals
12. Vehicles
13. Information
14. Metal
15. Genetics
16. Dreams
17. Collision
18. Anomaly
19. Chaos
20. Industry
21. Blood
22. Light
23. Illusion
24. Plumbing
25. Water
26. Recreational
27. Flux
28. Plague
29. Flight
30. Evolution
31. Flight
32. Reptiles
33. Cyborg
34. Fungi
35. Gadgets
36. Magnetism
37. Gravity
38. Radiation
39. Hybrid
40. Brains
41. Madness
42. Robot
43. Membrane
44. Senses
45. Invisible
46. Poison
47. Nanotech
48. Quantum
49. Weapons
50. Insects
51. Savagery
52. Mental

by Norton Glover – [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] RPG Blog: Polyhedral Nonsense #Dungeon23

Most of the #Dungeon23 projects I've heard about seem to be fairly standard fantasy settings, even if they're not strictly set in dungeons. Most of them will probably use general OSR stats for mechanical things like monsters and NPCs.

Khonshu Alpha, being a post-apocalypse science fantasy sort of setting, doesn't really have an obvious go-to system to use.

I'm considering a few options:

Make it System Agnostic: Don't use any stats. Obviously this is a lot easier to write, but I feel like this is putting a lot of work on the shoulders of the GM that actually runs this setting. Even if I'm the only one who ever runs anything in it, I'd essentially just be putting off work to the future.

Make it OSR: OSR isn't necessarily fantasy. There are lot of OSR-style science fantasy games. If I just use fairly basic OSR stats, it should be accessible to the largest number of users. On the other hand, OSR rules may not be the best fit for this setting.

Use a Specific System: There are a number of science fantasy systems to choose from: Mutant Future, Mutant Year Zero, Cepheus Atom. I could even go old-school and run Metamorphosis Alpha or Gamma World. The problem here is that none of these games are particularly popular. Picking any one limits the reach and usefulness of the final product.

Traveller: Traveller and its open-source version Cepheus Engine, while not as large as the OSR, has a big following. There's already a lot of sci-fi material for this system available to use a reference. But obviously, still a smaller audience than OSR. I've written elsewhere about my enthusiasm for writing stuff in Cepheus Engine. https://polyhedralnonsense.com/2022/07/02/the-new-osr-the-case-for-the-cepheus-engine/

Currently, I'm leaning toward either OSR or Traveller. I don't think I have to decide right away, since I don't think it's necessary to provide any actual stats for everything on the very first day. I think I can probably go for a month before I have to make a decision. I don't want to go much further than that, or I'll just be making more work for myself.

by Norton Glover – [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] RPG Blog: Polyhedral Nonsense #Dungeon23

Over on Mastodon – Sean McCoy introduced the idea of #Dungeon23

The basic idea is that each day of 2023, you would create a new room in a megadungeon, either writing it in a journal, or posting it on a blog.

Here's his initial post – https://seanmccoy.substack.com/p/dungeon23

At the end of the year, you'd have a full dungeon you could run, or even publish if you were so inclined.

There's been a lot of discussion over on Mastodon about this, and thought I'd give it a try myself.

I don't have a lot of interest in a traditional fantasy megadungeon, so I thought I'd set mine aboard a gigantic post-apocalyptic derelict spacecraft.

I'll be posting on my progress here.