GateCrasher Hero

[Wildcat]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

OK it's next time

 

We played again last night, and things went well. The PC decided that Nukor (the Uti's Tribal warlord) had to go... They figured that he'd make a play for the Chieftency once the PCs left. So at another feat to celebrate a successful hunt, they planed for David (Vanguard on these boards) who had been matted to Shara to call Nukor out, but the Tribal Warrior played right into their hands, and challenged David for Shara. The two men stepped to the center of the platform, knives drawn...

 

The fight was close, as both combatants were evenly matched... Nukor had a point of Spd advantage, but David had the training and with his LR he had the Dex advantage. With about 5 turns of deft strikes, blocks & counterstrikes the two of them were beginning to wear each other down. Then as David scored a lucky blow, slashing across Nukor's throat, the Drums sounded... The Slatha were coming!! (The Slatha are 7' tall man-eating Lizard/Dino Men, that dominate the Human Tribes and annually take 'Tribute' in the form of people to use as food)

 

The PCs quickly abandoned the 1-on-1 fight (as did the Tribe) to find out what was going on, and surmised that Nukor & his father (the Tribal Shaman Hukor) must have been behind the Slatha's early arrival. But since the Chief feels it's his duty to go to 'Speak' with the Slatha... Coop (the PC team leader) Said "No they will just kill you!" and lept over the Rail, and charged the Slatha...

 

Next time... the Slatha Battle!!

 

WC

(Is anyone reading this... Does anyone care?)

[aylwin13]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

(Is anyone reading this... Does anyone care?)

 

I've been checking it out. Sounds like a very cool game, so far.

 

 

 

I wanna play.....

[Wildcat]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

I've been checking it out. Sounds like a very cool game, so far.

 

 

 

I wanna play.....

 

Well Thanx Aylwin for keeping up with it ... I think the game is going well also... and I have been told by a few of the players that they are really enjoying it. If you happen to move down to AZ I'll have a spot saved for you in whatever game I'm running @ the time. (Although a spot on the couch is not a certanty ;-) )

 

Anyone else out there?? I'm still working on ideas for the next world the GateCrashers will travel to next. The Players have asked for a worlds based on Res Evil, Mad Max, & Underworld. Does anyone have any other sugestions. Once I have a few really good ideas, I'll do a rough outline of them and maybe we can have a vote as to where they go next.

 

WC

[Vanguard]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

I don't know if we where "evenly matched" as WC says but I will have to admit that it was an interesting battle. It played just like a hand to hand fight on the tv's or in a tournament. Spend most of your time blocking as you wait for an opening or the other fighter to make a mistake.

 

I, personaly, think if I hadn't gotten the lucky blow in that Nukor would've eventually out speeded me into submission (but isn't that what luck is all about?).

 

In any case, we get to tangle with the Slatha next go around and well, I don't think it's going to be pretty. We've got the advantage of having guns and are VERY good with them. They have the advantage of numbers and while I think they might be slower then we are -- I think we're going to get over run in the end. Still, it should be interesting and time will tell. Us PC's have a tendancy of pulling something unique out of our Arses and turning the storyline on it's tail.

[Wildcat]

The Slatha Battle

 

OK Well last night was game night again. As promised the PCs were set to face off with a small army (aprox 40) of Slathas. Having the firepower advantage over the primitive Slatha proved to be vital… but the battle wasn’t won there. As the Team’s leader Coop had leapt off the Uti tree platform to face the Slatha himself, saving the Utor (Uti –Chief) from certain death. This ploy worked exceptionally well, as Coop was able to call out the front battle leader (there were 3 of them) This Slatha even bigger than his 7’ tall comrades eagerly raced forward to ‘Squash’ this bug of a human daring to call him out.

 

Coop “A man of little significance†as he likes to bill himself is far from that, and with his sword (yeah he carries a sword, and chose it over his guns) he easily defeated the Slatha War Leader in single combat. Meanwhile the rest of the team were raining lead & HE rounds down/into the Slatha force as they made they way through the trees & underbrush of the jungle. A few fell to the gunfire, other were merely wounded. But with the defeat of their War Leader, and in the fashion & ease at which he was dispatched when Coop Shouted to the heavens that he was Balkadaror (a word the Slatha understood) sent the Slatha running in fear… Not an easy feat!!

 

After the Route of the Slatha, Nukor & his father, Hukor along with a handful of warriors still loyal to them, tried to flee. Hukor & a few warriors were caught, but even wounded, (from the knife fight w/David) Nukor was able to escape. Left in their cages were nearly 20 other native slaves of the Slatha, collected in their normal ‘Tribute’ caravan through the Human lands. Coop seeing that this was a wonderful oportunity, released them all to return home (once they were properly recovered) thinking that if word of the Balkadari defeat of the Slatha spread, that the human natives might rise up and help defeat the Slatha.

 

The team also learned form a few of the former slaves that the Slatha lived in a huge cave complex (a City under the earth) and had in their possession a large crystal (the same one the team was looking for to operate the Gate). Apparently the Slatha are a matriarchal culture and the Queen used the crystal as some type of focus to pry into the minds of her captives.

 

So the Team realizing that the Doreal team, having most likely fallen into the hands of the Slatha, might have given up the fact that they were not from this world, and might try to take the Gate. So they are rushing back to the city & the Gate to make sure they are safe. Then they know they will have to travel to the Slatha City to retrieved the Crystal so they can go home.

 

Whew that was a bunch of stuff… We’ll see what happens Sat

 

WC

[Vanguard]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

See --- Just goes to show you that there's a difference between someone that has a gune and someone that has a gun and knows how to use it.

 

The Slatha first encounter the Doreal team and while they had guns, the only one that really know how to use them was Billinger. Whom they took out rather quickly even from the might pile of spent shell casings around the body.

 

So, when they heard from Nukor (little back stabbing coward that he his) that there were more people in the village with "the mighty fire magics". They really didn't take that threat seriously but DID take to the idea of getting a bunch of "tribute" from the Uti early. So, like WC said, they marched on the villiage. (Hukor is about as under handed as his son and was TRYING to get the old chief killed because it was his job to go down and try to negotiate. At which point, the Slatha would've ate him).

 

The Slatha started having second thoughts when 4 fragmentation grenades blew several of them off their feet and shredded their armor. The third thoughts started when their war leader got his throat slasehed open by said Balkadoror and another one of thier buddies had his head popped like an over-ripe melon (courtsey of Weasel and .50 sniper rifle). The REALLY final thought (and the last straw) was when said war leader had not only his hand removed but his head as well, one guys chest just 30 feet behind them exploded in a red mist and the one guy that managed to escape one of the explosions landed at Ghost's feet and was on the recieving end of a 3 round burst that tore him up good.

 

About that time they wet themselves and ran screaming for their mommy.

 

All in all it was a damn fine battle.

 

 

Saturday should be interesting to say the least.

[TimOfDomibia]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

Acctualy this was a PBEM game I ran back in 1998, and I'm just now bringing it to a face to face setting. http://www.energy-blast.com

I followed that Link and it looks like their game was originaly published back in 1992, but I had never heard of it until just now . In any case I'm sticking with the name.

 

Hi.

 

First off, sorry for the thread necromancy, but I came across this thread while checking web positioning for my Gatecrasher Science Fantasy Adventure game.

 

I need to correct one thing in the above quote - while the original game was published in 1992, Gatecrasher was originally copywritten in 1985 by Micheal W. Lucas, the original creator of Gatecrasher. I have purchased all the rights to Gatecrasher from both Mr. Lucas and Grey Ghost Games who re-published the game in 1996.

 

I now must humbly ask that you do not "stick with the name", unless you are interested in licensing the property from me. If you are interested, please contact me directly - tim at domibia dot com.

 

Thank you,

 

Tim Huntley

Domibia Games

[Steve]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

I now must humbly ask that you do not "stick with the name"' date=' unless you are interested in licensing the property from me. If you are interested, please contact me directly - tim at domibia dot com.[/quote']

 

That's got to be one of the odder requests I've seen on the boards. From what I've seen in this thread this is the original poster's home campaign, something he is running for no money and that no one outside his group would even be aware of outside this post. If he wants to name his home campaign Gatecrasher Hero, I find it a bit peevish of Tim that he is asking for a licensing fee.

 

Anyway, another resource that I would recommend for this type of campaigning is Tangents, an Alternity sourcebook. It covers pretty much the whole range of interdimensional campaigning, including a listing of about every possible type of divergence you can name. I found it quite good. It's out of print, so check ebay for a copy.

[Wildcat]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

That's got to be one of the odder requests I've seen on the boards. From what I've seen in this thread this is the original poster's home campaign' date=' something he is running for no money and that no one outside his group would even be aware of outside this post. If he wants to name his home campaign Gatecrasher Hero, I find it a bit peevish of Tim that he is asking for a licensing fee.[/quote']

 

That's what Me & my Gaming Group thought - I was totaly flabergasted that he'd even suggest such a thing. I did a websearch on GateCrashers too, and founf So many other things Way B4 I found any reference to his game (including another Home Campaign using d20) called GateCrashers, There was even a short lived Comic put out by Wizard IIRC, that I chose to simply ignore Tim's dubious request for a fee. I am by no means trying to make any profit from this nor have I ever even implied that I was. And as you say it's simply what I choose to call my own Campaign run in the privacy of my own Home the fact that I posted here in no way infringes upon his RPG in any way that I can tell - so as I said B4 I'm sticking with the Name. We've been playing it continuously since 9/1, I stopped posting here solely because I didn't think anone other than my own players were reading this, but I'll gladly post a FU is anyone is interested, because alot of fun stuff (IMO) had happend to the PCs.

 

Anyway' date=' another resource that I would recommend for this type of campaigning is [i']Tangents[/i], an Alternity sourcebook. It covers pretty much the whole range of interdimensional campaigning, including a listing of about every possible type of divergence you can name. I found it quite good. It's out of print, so check ebay for a copy.

 

I'll look for that... the Used book store has a few Alternaty titles that I've seen, but passed over... I'll check them out next time I'm there - Thanx fot the Idea... and the Support.

 

WC

[Steve]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

I'd love to hear more follow-up on how the campaign is going.

 

One thing that might be interesting for a long-term issue for the campaign is Istvatha V'Han, the Empress of a Billion Dimensions from the Champions sourcebook Conquerors, Killers and Crooks. She seems to have her intertemporal empire arranged in a feudal setup, so perhaps the PCs could run across some of the very lowest rungs of her sprawling empire. Admittedly, the concept borrows a bit from the tv series Stargate SG-1 in a few ways, but it could make for an interesting long-term enemy organization. Alternately, perhaps you could combine the idea of the System Lords from the SG-1 series and lower powered versions of Istvatha, to form this competing hierarchy of interdimensional conquerors. It could be interesting.

[aylwin13]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

I was still awaiting the next installment.

[Vanguard]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

Well, I'm just a Humble Player but here goes --

 

After the run in with the Slatha at the Uti village (and the much arse kicking that happened there). The Balkadori (as we are called by The Natives ) managed to rescue several slave wagons too and released the slaves back to their proper villages. During this, we managed to find one of the captures people that had an idea of what we were looking for (that would be the central crystal to the DHD for all you Stargate fans out there. Hey, when we plagarize, we don't discriminate. ) happened to be, yup, you guessed it, in the underground Slatha city.

 

We also were guessing and under the assumption that the Queen of the Slatha used mental powers of some sort because the women described being taking in there and then it feeling like her brains had been scrambled (Good description of a mentalist if you ask me). Now, we weren't sure if this was true or what, after all, we're dealing with a "primitive intellect" but we decided that we couldn't take the chance. We had to head back to home base in case they had uncovered from the Doreal team where they had come from at the were abouts of the Gate Room. So we packed up our wayward little band (with the addition of about 12 Uti Warriors, oh and Ghost's new bride makes an even Baker's Dozen) and headed back.

 

During the trek back we talked with the Uti warriors and several of the other tribes that were journing with us till they needed to split off and got the general gist of the layout of the Slatha city. As to be expected we were pretty much going to have to go in blind without any type of solid recon but such is life.

 

Anyway, we arrived back at Base Camp to find everything serene and business as usually, not counting the Velociraptors being cooked on the open grill (Whadda ya know, they DO taste like chicken). Nothing had happened there at all. Not a peep. So, thinking that expedience would be the best and hitting them again relatively quickly after we had thoroughly trounced them would be wise, we set out again. Reshuffling the expiditionary force we set out with: Coop (PC), Ghost (PC), Weasel (PC), Dr. Chris Mallory (PC), Takeshi (PC), Bunny (PC), A-tar (NPC, Uti Warrior), Shara (NPC, Uti Warrioress and Ghost's blushing bride), Uti Warrior A (NPC) and Uti Warrior B (NPC), Charlie (NPC Comm Officer), JoAnne (NPC, Demo) (I think that's it).

 

After about a day or two in the jungle, dodging patrols, and with that many people, it wasn't easy lemme tell ya, we came to a bridge. Of course, this bridge was guarded by two Slatha war parties (Quick Recap, a Slatha War Party consists of 15 Slatha, 14 warriros and one War Leader). We had to get across the bridge so the Slatha had to go, and before they could blow their little horn and summon some of the other war parties to their aid.

 

Coop gave the orders and the group spread out. JoAnne, Chris, Charles and Coop stayed near the back. Weasel climbed a tree and covered the bridge with the orders to "make anything that tried to cross it, REALLY DAMN unhappy". Ghost split with Uti Warrior's A and B, Bunny, Shara and Atar. Takeshi swung around and crept close to where the vegetation was starting to thin so he could lay down cover fire on the other side of the gorge with his grenade launcher.

 

You know how Muphy says no plan ever survives the first engagement? Well, we TRIED to take out a group of them quickly so that we only had a single group of about 8 to deal with on our side and a hand full on the other. Well, that didn't happen. the two grenades Ghost tossed might as well have been party poopers for all the good they did. And that embroiled his group in a melee dust-up. Oh, wait, before that happened Charles, who was told to sneak up to the edge of the gorge and drop some grenades on the other side, stepped on a twig. That cause the group of 6 slatha in the middle to go "Aroo?" and look his direction and then spot JoAnne. Now see Ghost's Party Poppers.

 

Anyway, it as a hard fought battle all around.

 

Ghost's Group:

 

Since the grenades did jack nothing, the Slatha turned around and proceeded to bury and spear in Ghost's chest. Shara, taking exception to this brutal treatment of her man, charged. If I recall correctly, she damn near killed him in the first engagement. A-tar took a hesitant couple steps forward along with Uti's A and B. bunny, opened up on 2 of them with an M60. They hated life after that. Takeshi, dropped two grenades on the other side of the gorge which DID get their attention and knocked on of them over the side (Is now a good time to mention they can't fly?). The Slatha managed to get a couple of good hits in on Uti A and B but missed A-tar. They weren't so lucky. A-tar put his spear through the shoulder of the one his was fighting and A/B respectively speared theirs through the shoulders. Ghost staggered backward streaming blood just as the war leader missed Shara with a spear strike. Bleeding like a stuck pig and pissed to high heaven, he cut loose with a full burst from XM8. It just wasn't his night though, minor hits all across the board to all the Slatha he hit. Shara, finished her wounded warrior off and then started to distracted the War Leader from Ghost. Bunny, used her 60 (this is a standard theme with Bunny, just FYI). She didn't do near as much damage this time around but finished the one that A and B were on. Takeshi, dropped to more grenades on the Slatha on the other side. I can't really say more then the fact that they were REALLY hating life over there.

The majority of the Slatha on Ghost's party are down, the War Leader takes another swipe at Shara and Ghost and Bunny both light him up with full bursts from their respective weapons. Needless to say, they shred him.

 

Weasel, up in his perch, is making sure that any Slatha that steps on the bridge, doesn't step off. He's greased about 5 so far. They step on the bridge, and he gives them a halo, harp and set of wings. It's rather beautiful.

 

Charles has made it to the edge and has started lobbing grenades at the Slatha while the Slatha lob arrrows at him. Neither are doing much.

 

Now to Chris, JoAnne and Coop. They have Slatha charging them. JoAnne takes a pot shot and the lead Slathe, nails it in the foot and then for the next several phases decides that the foliage is threatening and begins shooting it up. Chris, is doing her darndest to take the Slatha down but she's a flipping doctor. Still, she's doing remarkably well.

 

Oh, I guess I should mention that by this time the Horn has been sounded. Sucks to be us huh?

 

Coop, not wanting to the doctor or the demolitions expert to get cremed, steps up to take one for the team, literally. He steps forward, dusts the one JoAnne and Chris were fighting, just to get stabbed in the chest (make that THROUGH) the chest by one of the closing slatha. Staggering back, he switches to defense and begins to deflect the incomming spears. Then, the second Slatha War Leader steps forward.

 

Back to Charles, and yes, he and the Slatha are still ineffectually flailing at each other. Would now be the time to say that he was the one that was suppose to have taken out the horn and horn blow? Thanks Charlie.

 

Once the War Leader steps up, Coop gets serious. He spends a little more time deflecting and then goes for broke. Ignoring the peons, he attacks the War Leader, and Rocks her World!! One hit and he nails the throat, takes her head off. That seems to bring JoAnne back to the idea that it's the Slatha that are the danger, not the palm fronds. She hits one of the slatha, wounding it severely, Chris aims and fires and mortal wounds another. Coop, in a sweeping strike with his sword, is able to finish of the two wonded one and the still fresh one.

 

Weasel, is now taking out the slatha that are running BACK across the bridge.

 

Takeshi has moved a bit closer and has switched to, I believe it was his SOCOM pistols. Ghost and Shara have moved up with Ghost taking pot shots as he's able with his XM8. Charles has decided to move up and actually start shooting things. Oh and hitting them. He was able to down the two Slatha in one or two bursts.

 

The firepower that closed in on the bridge was more then enough to mop up the remained Slatha. As we all gained the bridge, Weasel ran up and said that we needed to vacate and do it NOW. There were three more war parties converging on our location.

 

Needless to say, we bailed and got lost in the forest/Jungle.

 

I'm drawing from a sleep memory here so I might have missed some things or have things a tiny bit out of order. But that's the gist.

 

There's another session (two if I'm thinking right) that happened after this one but I have to get some sleep before I go to work so I'll let WC post that (in addition to whatever he wants to ammend to mine).

 

If he doesn't I'll try and post tomorrow morning

[TimOfDomibia]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

If he wants to name his home campaign Gatecrasher Hero' date=' I find it a bit peevish of Tim that he is asking for a licensing fee.[/quote']

 

Once again, sorry the thread necromancy, but I don't get over to the HERO boards very often.

 

A bit presumptuous to assume that I'd want a fee, isn't it? I didn't say anything about a fee.

 

The problem with Gatecrasher Hero is that we're going to have Gatecrasher dX (for Tri-Stat dX), Gatecrasher d20, and other names like that. Gatecrasher Hero may cause brand confusion.

 

All that I was going to ask for was a simple declaration that his Gatecrasher Hero has nothing to do with our Gatecrasher, and a link back to our site.

 

'Course... no one bothered to find that out.

 

Thanks,

Tim.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

'Course... no one bothered to find that out.

'Course, you didn't "bother" to say anything like that in your first post on the subject, either. The tone of all your posts so far has been...well, I'm afraid that "high-handed" is about the most polite term with which I could come up.

[TimOfDomibia]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

'Course' date=' [b']you[/b] didn't "bother" to say anything like that in your first post on the subject, either. The tone of all your posts so far has been...well, I'm afraid that "high-handed" is about the most polite term with which I could come up.

 

Well, that's because I believe it's really only between me and the owner of that site. Unfortunately, he didn't reply via e-mail, so I had to come back here.

 

Further, if you know about copyright/trademark law, you know that if I don't defend my copyrights/trademarks, it can hurt future, possibly very serious, copyright/trademark issues I might encounter.

 

Tim.

[Steve]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

A bit presumptuous to assume that I'd want a fee, isn't it? I didn't say anything about a fee.

 

The problem with Gatecrasher Hero is that we're going to have Gatecrasher dX (for Tri-Stat dX), Gatecrasher d20, and other names like that. Gatecrasher Hero may cause brand confusion.

 

All that I was going to ask for was a simple declaration that his Gatecrasher Hero has nothing to do with our Gatecrasher, and a link back to our site.

 

'Course... no one bothered to find that out.

 

Thanks,

Tim.

 

Well, not that I am an expert in IP law, but you made a request that you be contacted to obtain a license (like you did in the message I commented on), and it seems reasonable that would imply a fee of some sort in the transaction. I have no connection at all with either the game or the site in question, so I was simply commenting on the words you used in your message and the general tone of it. I had no idea what you were asking for beyond that, since I could only go by what you actually said. If you consider that presumptuous, then so be it.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

Well, that's because I believe it's really only between me and the owner of that site. Unfortunately, he didn't reply via e-mail, so I had to come back here.

 

Further, if you know about copyright/trademark law, you know that if I don't defend my copyrights/trademarks, it can hurt future, possibly very serious, copyright/trademark issues I might encounter.

 

Tim.

Tim, what makes you think you have a copyright or trademark on the term "Gatecrashers"? After all:

I did a websearch on GateCrashers too' date=' and founf So many other things Way B4 I found any reference to his game (including another Home Campaign using d20) called GateCrashers, There was even a short lived Comic put out by Wizard IIRC, that I chose to simply ignore Tim's dubious request for a fee. [/quote']

[Wildcat]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

Hey Everyone it's Wildcat GM of the GateCrashers game.

 

I haven’t been responding to all this, especially Tim's Post mostly because I really don't see any legitimacy in his claim. As for his personal E-mail to me at home it was little more than a re-posting of what he posted here, and in NO WAY suggested anything other than what we all gleaned from his postings here. That he was expecting a fee for my using the name GateCrashers. So here is my "Official Response" to Tim:

 

Tim,

GateCrashers is what I call my homegrown game, using the Hero System. The one I play in my home 3x every 2 weeks. I also ran a PBEM back in 99 of the same name. I have never, nor do I ever intend to make any money, or any type of gains on this endeavor. The game is in no way based on your product, universe, material, etc... In fact its more based off of SG-1 on Sci-Fi channel, as well as so many other Shows, Movies, Personalities, other RPG and so on (as I assume many of gamers do when creating their worlds) I am going to continue playing this game with my friends, and in fact will continue to post updates on the events in the game (if anyone is interested) on this message board, and I will continue to call if GateCrashers. I have seen MANY post on this board referring to people’s game with more established, and well know names attached, Star Trek Hero, Firefly Hero, Stargate Hero, Farscape Hero Etc… Not one of them were told to make any arrangements for ‘Licensing’ with the owners of these highly profitable franchises. You are welcome to continue visiting this site, and posting on these boards, but please let this go – I am no threat to you in any way.[I]

 

WC

[Markdoc]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

Just a quick comment from someone who deals with licencing and IPR issues as part of my job.

 

A copyright covers the rights to use material generated by the copyright holder or his assignees.

"Gatecrasher" cannot copyrighted - as pointed out, if a copyright holder exists for the phrase, he or she has long since forfeited it to the public domain. So while the content of the game can be (and presumably is) copyrighted, the name cannot.

 

"Gatecrasher" could however be trademarked. In fact, it already has been - Gatecrasher is a music, video and games promoter, and the trademark is "live" (meaning actively defended) in both the US and UK.

 

In theory, "Gatecrasher" could be trademarked by two companies if there was no possibility of confusion. However since in their USPTO filing Gatecrasher includes games and entertainment including"the field of comic book characters" (also sunglasses and optical equipment: WTF?), there's no chance of that here.

 

People often confuse copyright (which is implicit in an original work: meaning if you made it, you automatically have a copyright) and a trademark, which needs to be filed and accepted, *doesn't* need to be invented, and renewed every 7 years and defended during it's life.

 

I've been through this process - my homebrew game and website for a medieval Japanese game using Hero system was called Sengoku. When Mark from GRG chose Sengoku as the name for their line of books, he contacted me about changing the name. He was, I should point out, very polite about it. I (hopefully also politely) declined since I had been using the name for a while - but offered to put up a disclaimer.

 

So the lesson of the piece is: Play nice!

 

Both Wildcat and Tim can use the Gatecrasher name, neither of you can copyright or trademark it. Gatecrasher is unlikely to take either of you to court for diluting their trademark, given the way things are. Tim would be safest finding another wordmark to sell the line under. You (or someone) could presumably trademark "Gatecrasher the multidimensional RPG" , "Domibia Games' GateCrasher" or something similar.

 

Cheers, Mark

[Wildcat]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

I'm Baaaack....

 

Hello all sorry for seemingly abandoning this thread, but all that other crap left a bad taste in my mouth. For those of you interested; GateCrashers hasn't ended in fact may things have been happening since my good friend Vanguard posted last on the comings and goings of our favorite band of world hoppers. We have continued our play of 3x every 2 weeks, and made great strides forward. I'll post them here in summaries I'll break down in to sections.

 

Enjoy

 

WC

[Wildcat]

GateCrasher Hero - The Slatha City

 

After the battle at the bridge, our heroes took some time to rest and bandage their wounds, in a nearby cave behind a small waterfall. Dr Mallory found herself quite busy looking after everyone’s wounds, making it easy for Coop to slip buy, and out into the pool to clean himself of all the blood (Slatha & his own) he was covered in. This led to an interesting exchange when Mallory ended up finding him there, and in perfect health, not a scratch on him. - You see our good friend Commander Cooper is in fact an Immortal (Yeah the Highlander type) Something he was hiding from the rest of the team as those fellows are want to do. - As any good fan of the Highlander series knows, when an attractive woman learns of an Immortal’s… er… immortality, it should be treated as an automatic seduction roll success. So much fun is had by both characters, but it’s not a story for such a public forum.

 

Back to the adventure: After taking a day to rest the team headed back into the jungle, and towards the Slatha City. A Few more days travel, interspersed with dodging of Slatha patrols, and skirmishes with wandering dinos, the team arrived at the Slatha city. Sit inside a mountain all they could view was the entrance… heavily guarded by 2 Slatha war bands, not an insurmountable obstacle, as they all knew they could effectively take on at least that many. No it was the fact that the number of reinforcements that would be readily available would be too much for them to handle. Needing another way in the team set out to fully recon the situation. After 2 days they learned that their best way in would be through a fairly complex set of swears the Slatha used. The entrance (exit??) to this sewer system was set about 100’ up the face of the river gorge. At the bottom of the gorge were a group of slaves that emptied the enormous barrels of Slatha waste into the rushing river… no but a few hundred meters away from a waterfall that was nearly 300’ in height. The slaves were guarded by a trio of unenthusiastic guards who obviously would have rather been someplace else. After dispatching the guards, and leaving a majority of the team below, Coop lead a smaller team (Ghost, Takeshi, Shara, & A’Tar) into the sewers, a series of roughly cut tunnels cut into the mountain, always with a slight upward slant. There was a intricate set of tracks ser in the ceiling so that the barrels could be suspended from them, and pushed along by someone (obviously a human slave as the sewer tunnels were not tall enough to accommodate a full grown Slatha) on a small ledge. The party figured that the barrels were probably used to carry out the more solid forms of waste that being such large carnivores the Slatha would produce (Yuk!!)

 

Once inside the mountain they found a side tunnel that was no the same as the others… this one was perfectly cut into the stone, and was covered with tiles. The Slatha must have made an incredible jump in their ability to construct things when they made this portion of the sewers. Figuring that since they wanted the Slatha Palace, and the best workmanship would probably be reserved for Royalty they followed that passage. This passage indeed did lead them into the bowls of the Palace, and also to an odd finding… about 20 meters further along the tunnel they found a huge stone seal set into the wall, as the end of the passage. It was held in with many strong supports, and had water seeping around the edges. Guessing (Correctly) that this was probably the intended water source for this branch of the sewers, they set charges with a remote detonator incase they needed to cover their rear as they fled. Backtracking they made their way up into the Slatha Place’s lower levels, and past the kitchen. Finding the unguarded slave quarters, there were able to quietly wake a slave who told them the lay of the Palace. The queen’s chambers were at the topmost level, nearly 8 levels above their own, and there was a slave’s stairway leading all the way there, but it did pass by the royal guards chambers. Once they learned of their route, Coop told the slave girl to quietly wake the others, and to lead them out of the sewers to the rest of his team who would help them make their escape.

 

Quietly making their way up the long stone stairs the team made it to the guard’s level. Not liking the fact that this would leave their back vulnerable to attack Ghost use another portion of their quickly dwindling supply of C4, and set a tripwire across the entrance… it might not stop them all, but it would give the Slatha guards pause, and serve as a warning to the team that their escape tunnel was blocked. After that it was only 2 levels up to the Royal chambers. Here the team’s luck ended, as there were 4 alert guards protecting their sovereign. Emerging from the slaves entrance the team charged the guards, to engage them in hand to hand combat, not using their firearms so as to not alert the rest of the palace. As always Coop lead the charge. These guards were not like the Slatha they had met before, no they were far more intelligent, and reacted at the sight of the intruders, calling out to summon aid, then setting their spears against a charging foe. The skirmish was quick, and ended with all 4 of the Slatha dead, but the damage was done, they had alerted their brethren.

 

Smashing through the entrance to the Queen’s chambers Coop & Co were met with more royal guards, and the Queen’s personal war leader, the biggest an baddest of the Slathas they had yet to face. While Coop squared off with the war leader, Ghost, Shara & A’Tar dealt with the guards. Takeshi was sent to get the Crystal, before the Queen could get to it and escape. Unfortunately for Takeshi she got to it first, and as he opened the door to her study she was already there, with the Crystal in-hand. Using the Crystal’s ability to heighten her psychic abilities she lashed out at Takeshi with the power of her mind, rendering him unconscious on the stone floor. But Takeshi’s on a team, and coming to the aid of their friend, both Shara & Ghost were right there. Shara lacking any ranged weapons raced into the room, while Ghost not concerned with stealth, anymore let loose with a burst from his M8 felling the Queen in a single barrage. Shara thinking fast was able to catch the Crystal as it fell from the Queen’s dead fingers, preventing it from shattering on the hard floor. (Ghost and Shara were only able to back up Takeshi because Coop, the master Swordsman that his is handily defeated the Slatha war leader with a single blow, severing her head from her neck as quickly as a hot knife though butter.)

 

Now they had the Crystal, but the explosion sounding from the slave’s stairwell signaled that that way of egress was now denied to them. Quickly looking around they remembered that the slave girl had told them that the Queen had a secret entrance that lead from her chambers down to the throne room. Rushing down those narrow stairs they emerged just behind the throne, and could see a rush of guards as they raced past the throne and up the main stairs to aid their already dead monarch. Spying another side entrance (perhaps another slave passage) Coop lead them toward it, but they were spotted, and the chase was on… A running battle ensued with the Team racing through narrow passages take one blind turn after another all the while shooting at any pursuing Slatha that got too close. Eventually the carved corridors ended and the team found themselves in naturally formed caverns, and they were becoming more narrow, and harder to move through until they eventually came to an end… Water had pooled here in this chamber, and was nearly waist deep in some areas… and was running from fissures in the wall… Takeshi had them all become quiet, as he listens to the walls… “This passage had led us to the Waterfall, it’s just beyond this wall.†None of the other could hear a thing, but he assured them, that he had excellent hearing and that the waterfall was only meters away. Using the last of their C4 Ghost set a charge that he hoped would create an exit, and not a tomb. But his training as a Navy SEAL paid off and he was able to set the explosives just right and clear away the rock separating them from the outside, nearly 250’ up above the river right next to the waterfall Takeshi had heard. Doing their best imitation of cliff divers the team leapt to safety just as the rest of the chamber’s walls (weakened by the blast) gave way and flooded the cave, and tunnels beyond with water from the underground lake that was just beyond, washing the Slatha all the way back to their city.

 

Coop & Co were fished from the river by the rest of the Team, and as luck would have it Weasel had crafted a raft from the slave pen, and Slatha guard shack, it wasn’t very big, but enough for them to put the weaker of the escaped slaves upon, as the rest of them held onto the edges. After a brief ride down the river to gain some distance from the Slatha who would eventually be pursuing them, Coop had the raft beached, as he took a count of the slaves he just so recently liberated. In all there were nearly 70 human slaves, all from numerous tribes all across this part of Zorandar. There were members of the Zodari (Mountainfolk), Jari (Riverfolk), Kori (Plainsfolk) Maroi (People of the East) Elari (Tallfolk), Wotomi (Jungle People) and a few other tribes as well, including some Uti. With this large of a group keep predators away was no longer a problem. In fact the natives were so happy at regaining their freedom they put together a impromptu feast to thank the Balkadari for saving them and defeating the Slatha. A week more in the jungle, and as tribal member made their own ways home, Coop and his team returned to Koram.

 

Next - The Journey Home

[Wildcat]

GateCrasher Hero - The Journey Home

 

They found that in their absence Cindy had take a few liberties with the Uti’s fondness for the Balkadari, and enlisted them to work at getting the Temple cleaned out, and fortified against a possible Slatha retaliation. The temple now was quite livable, with each team member having quarters, and even a few makeshift beds, even the city had begun to be explored. Pete even found the power source for the city, providing the Gates with enough power to work now that they had the control Crystal.

 

Coop Gave the Crystal to Pete & the Professor and told them to get to work getting them back home. Pulling Cindy aside he told her she had done an outstanding job, and the shrew was tamed… and once again the seductive power of the Immortals was felt on Zorandar. Within a few days the Gate was functioning and the Professor was almost sure he had the right code for earth, they Dialed up home, and sent a radio signal through.

 

Surprisingly they were almost instantly responded to by someone calling himself Denis Thorogood of the GLOC (Global League Of Corporations). After a brief ‘WTF’ session by the party, it was learned that the Gate was recovered from the site of the oilrig wreckage. And was now in the hands of GLOC due to a state of Corp war between GloboCon (Cindy’s Boss) & CrossFire (Coop’s Boss). Both teams were believed dead, and upon news of their survival were ordered to immediately return home to Earth for debriefing. Coop had them shut down the Gate can called a meeting. After much debate they all agreed to go back through the Gate, and face what ever might be going on… They felt that they might even be able to put a stop to the war, with the information they had concerning Antonio and his attack on the rig, that surely resulted in the wreckage Thorogood mentioned.

 

Coop set the team to securing the temple and cleaning up their gear. He didn’t know when if ever they would return to Zorandar and he was weary of leaving too much behind. Gathering all but one of the robes they learned had been able to open the secure rooms of the temple, and leaving just one in the ‘library’ as they had come to call the room full of scrolls. It ended up that saying goodbye to their Uti companions was harder than they thought. Quite a few of the team had become romantically evolved with members of the Uti tribe, including Missy, the Professor, and even the normally taciturn Ghost, who had originally married Shara out of a sense of duty to the team was now thoroughly in love with his exotic Jungle Princess. It was decided that both Shara & Orane would be brought home to Earth to establish the validity of the people of Zorandar’s intelligence, and give the team a good reason to press for a return trip. The rest of the Uti were to return home, and not come back to the city, Coop feared that eventually the Slatha would come to Koram to seek vengeance for the death of their Queen. Once all that was done Coop had his Techno-geeks reestablish the wormhole, and opening the Gate a second time, this time to finally go home.

 

The welcome they received was far from what they expected. Instead of open arms, smiles and fresh hot coffee they were greeted with full MOPP gear and weapons pointed at them. Being ordered to disarm, and surrender wasn’t exactly to their liking, and Coop had to physically take Cindy’s dual Skorpions from her himself, before she got them all killed. They were all ushered into quarantine, and treated to all the usual decontamination procedures, and then eventually separated into their respective Corporate affiliations. Not until days latter once they were out of quarantine did Coop learn what had become of Cindy and her team. The GloboCon team were under arrest, they had been accused of being Corp Spies working for CrossFire, and starting this war in their attempt to sabotage the mission, and claim the Gate for CrossFire. Coops report of a 3rd team, a GloboCon team was unable to be substantiated, as there was no physical evidence of them ever having existed. Coop demanded that they search the remains of the rig… that they would find all the evidence they’d need… “That’s just it.†Thorogood replied. “There is no wreckage… there is nothing but the bases of the support legs left… no platform, not a single thing, Nothing!â€

 

Next - What Happend back on Earth

[Rapier]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

Good for you!!

 

I'm glad to see you are still playing it. Ignore that Spank, he's a putz.

[zornwil]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

Yeah, this is cool, thanks for contributing, ignore the naysayers. They usually go away when ignored, too!

[Wildcat]

Re: GateCrasher Hero

 

I didn't stop... just been busy @ home... slow @ work though, so I wrote up the next installment, but didn't get a chance to post it from work... and the E-mail system was down when I headed home... Hopefully tomorrow

 

WC