The Train

The Train PDF

Presented here is a map for a train, including cars for a variety of purposes, along with descriptions of each location as well as stats for some of the characters who can be found aboard it.

Locomotive

The engine that draws the train relies on a big steam apparatus, fueled with wood, that drives its wheels and thus pulls the rest of the cars. It is operated from a small cabin filled with pressure gauges, levers and suchlike. A narrow platform leads along each side of the boiler, and a broad iron cow catcher extends outward from the front. Behind the locomotive is towed a tender filled with cut and split logs.

Passenger Car

This car is furnished with rows of seats for frugal passengers; it has a water closet at each end, and windows look out at the passing terrain.

Kitchen Car

Wood-fueled stoves, along with narrow counters, provide space for cooking food; there's also a well-stocked larder. All of the expected implements can be found here, too, including dishes, serving utensils and the like.

Baggage Car

Shelves line the walls of this car, with spaces for storing all manner of luggage and cargo. For that reason, this car is generally kept locked, and only a few members have copies of the key.

Sleeping Car

Those passengers who can afford such luxuries are assigned to these cars, having rooms with single or double beds and small water closets of their own. A narrow passage runs alongside, with doors letting into the various compartments.

Dining Car

On longer journeys, those passengers who've secured space in the sleeping cars can take their meals here. The car is furnished with numerous tables, along with chairs, tablecloths, and other such niceties. Stewards serve the meals that are prepared in the kitchen car.

Lounge Car

For shorter trips, those who wish to travel in greater comfort can ride here, where there are comfortable chairs instead of seats, along with side tables for the food and drinks that are served.

Crew, Passengers and Plots

Here are stat blocks and descriptions for the train's crew members and passengers.

Crew Members—Use stats for the Engineer, Roustabouts and Servants, as detailed in the Steamboat supplement, to represent these characters. https://www.dropbox.com/s/uck62dx6bt4b5ya/SW%20Steamboat.pdf?dl=0

Buffalo Hunters

Hezekiah Brown and his sons, Jeremiah and Jebediah, are employed by the railroad to kill buffalo. It's that simple. They enjoy the task, and are even paid for it. This is, of course, because the people who've invested in the railroad believe that, if the buffalo are gone, then the Indians will follow them. While the job is not difficult, these men have started to believe themselves to be great and mighty hunters, veritable trailblazers of the West.

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d4, Strength d6, Vigor d6

Skills: Fighting d4, Notice d6, Shooting d8, Survival d6, Tracking d6

Charisma: --, Pace: 6”, Parry: 4, Toughness: 5

Edges: Marksman, No Mercy

Hindrances: Mean

Gear: Clothing, loaded backpacks, Sharps Big 50 (Range 24/48/96, Damage 2d10, RoF 1).

The Writer

Roy Williams is a writer from back east, a city slicker who's come to love tales of adventure and drama set in the Wild West. For that reason he has set out on a tour, hoping to hear more stories and record them—with suitable embellishments, of course—as part of his own future works. What he may lack in physical constitution, he makes up for with a keen mind and a noble spirit. He can become a fan of the heroes, following them from place to place and asking them to tell of their exploits.

Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength d6, Vigor d4

Skills: Investigation d8, Knowledge d8, Notice d8, Streetwise d8

Charisma: --, Pace: 6”, Parry: 2, Toughness: 4

Edges: Investigator

Hindrances: Curious

Gear: Fancy clothing, books, writing materials

Life aboard the Train

There's all manner of events that can happen aboard the train; detailed here are just a few of the possibilities.

• Building the railroad is a brutal, backbreaking business; those who have that task, and live in the frontier camps, face all manner of conflict.
• It could happen that the PCs are aboard the train when someone is transporting a valuable cargo and thieves come to steal it. Although they might be in the wrong place at the wrong time, they have a chance to do some good.
• The stakes in such a situation become even higher if the cargo in question has supernatural value, such as when one particular train carried the not-quite-dead body of General Oliander Bedford Hume.
• When a notorious criminal is finally captured, the PCs could be tasked with escorting him or her back to “civilization” to stand trial. Of course, the criminal's old associates have plans to thwart those efforts.
• Indian vengeance is always a danger, since the spread of the railroad cuts into the natural grazing ground of the buffalo, which is the lifeblood of the plains Indians. This can lead to acts of sabotage, such as derailing trains and then attacking the survivors.
• Weather could also lead to difficulties, such as if a train was unable to proceed because it was buried under a blizzard of snowfall.
• This is even more complicated if wild beasts—the notorious wendigo, for example—comes to prey on those who are trapped.

Kasatha Monastery

While some kasatha leave their clans to go in search of adventure, others find a sense of purpose in serving their goddess, honing their bodies, minds and spirits in order to be her agents in the world. Those who follow that path often gather in buildings dedicated to that purpose. 

The Monastery

Refer to the map above for the following location descriptions.

1. Entrance

Entry to the monastery comes via a broad chamber that is sealed with iron-bound wooden doors on both sides (hardness 5 and 20 hit points; DC 25 to break), providing a first line of defense should the monastery ever be attacked.

2. Courtyard

This area, open to the sky above, has two notable features. First is the monastery's well, which is almost ten feet in width and a hundred feet deep. That, of course, is the life's blood of the structure; the monks spend considerable time every day dropping buckets on ropes to haul up water. The other feature, the sparring platform, is described below.

3. Shrine

Dedicated to the Mother Goddess of the Kasatha, this room contains a statue of her, along with numerous small cushions for those who wish to meditate here.

The Mother Goddess of the Kasatha Embodying the duality of the universe, the Mother Goddess of the Kasatha incorporates aspects that people from the Sol System would associate with both Gaea and Lamashtu. In this way she represents both the creative possibility of new life, and the eventual death of all things. While some might see these two aspects as contradictory, for the Kasatha they reflect the way of their world.

4. Armory

The walls of this room are lined with shelves containing all manner of weapons. These include many variations of the ones allowed for monks on page 57 of the Core Rulebook. What is more, the monks use the open space in the middle of this room for training on those rare occasions when weather does not allow them to practice on the sparring platform.

5. Washrooms

Both of these areas—one for the males and one for the females—includes privies and washbasins for the monks to take care of their bodily needs and maintain cleanliness.

6. Monks' Cells

Each of these rooms is furnished with a small, functional bed along with a table and chair for reading, writing and other activities. Doorways to the rooms are covered by curtains, and open onto covered walkways that run along the sides of the courtyard.

7. Superior's Quarters

In addition to the furniture provided for other monks, each of these rooms boasts bookshelves filled with scrolls, tablets and codices—the collected writings of previous order members. Those are, of course, passed down from each Superior Master to the next. Note that, while there are male and female Superior Masters at any given time, the female holds authority when necessary.

8. Sparring Platform

This platform, made from a wood frame filled with earth, is where the monks do most of their training. It stands three feet above the surrounding ground, and four short sets of stairs lead up to it.

9. Refectory

Three long tables, flanked by benches, fill this room; it is where the monks take their meals.

10. Kitchen

Cupboards line the walls of this room; it is also furnished with a broad table for food preparation, along with barrels of water and fuel. Most notable, however, is the hearth against the outside wall that is used for cooking along with warming braziers for heating the monks' cells during the cold winter months.

11. Storage

The shelves that line the walls of this room are stocked with all manner of foodstuffs, filling jars, boxes, sacks, baskets and crates, as well as hanging from hooks attached to the ceiling.

The Monks

To find stats for a Novice (1^st-level) monk, refer to page 174 of Bestiary 4. For immaculate (5^th-level) and Superior Master (7^th-level) monks, refer to a previous article.

https://d20pirates.blogspot.com/2017/03/caravanserai-inhabitants.html

That article also details a location that characters would likely visit during a voyage to the kasathas' homeworld.

Using the Monastery in an Aetherial Adventures Campaign

This location can be used in all sorts of adventures, including a few of the following possibilities.

• If any of the PCs are trained in the martial arts, then they might go to the kasatha monastery during a competition in order to prove themselves against these dedicated combatants. This would no doubt attract all manner of beings—some honorable, but others not so much—from the Sol System and beyond.
• The Royal Interplanetary Company, hoping to strike a lucrative trade agreement with the kasatha, could recruit the PCs to act as envoys. Such an undertaking would require impeccable etiquette and protocol, of course.
• When conflict between the kasatha and the shobhad erupts, the PCs are part of a delegation sent to negotiate peace.
• During one type of business or another, a murder occurs, and the PCs become embroiled in efforts to solve it. This might have been committed by one side or the other in a conflict, or by a third party that is trying to sow the seeds of discord.
• A particularly free-spirited kasatha monk, hoping to see more of the galaxy, might ask to ship with the PCs in order to travel and learn.

Ship Captain Prestige Class

I've been tinkering with ideas for this prestige class for a while; here goes.

-Nate

Ship Captain (Prestige Class)

While almost anyone can give orders and thus direct the activity aboard a ship, only a select few develop a closer bond with the vessel and those who serve aboard it. Those are the truly memorable captains—revered by their crews, feared by their enemies, and remembered (for better or for worse) in the annals of history. 

This prestige class attracts those characters who have a true love for sailing vessels, and who wish to make their names by commanding a ship and crew in some type of business—be it combat, exploration, trade, or something else. 

Role: The captain is a leader at all times aboard her chosen vessel. Although other characters play their particular roles, especially when the crew goes ashore, she is the one to whom they all turn when combat or other hazards make sailing difficult.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d10.

Requirements

To qualify to become a ship captain, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.

Skills: Profession (sailor) 5 ranks.

Special: The character must own (by oneself or jointly with willing partners) some manner of sailing ship.

Class Skills

The ship captain's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft: carpentry (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge: local (Int), Knowledge: geography (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession: sailor (Wis), Survival (Wis).

Skill Ranks Per Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the ship captain prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A ship captain is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with siege weapons.

Inspire Courage (Su): A ship's captain can rally her sailors, granting them a +1 bonus to saves against fear and charm effects, along with a +1 bonus to attack rolls and weapon damage rolls. This bonus increases to +2 at 5^th level, and to +3 at 9^th level.

Favored Vessel (Ex): The captain becomes accustomed to, and even comfortable on, the heaving deck of a ship, granting a +2 bonus on initiative checks, along with Craft (carpentry), Diplomacy, Intimidate, Perception and Profession (sailor) checks made while on her chosen vessel.

Evasion (Ex): As the captain's reputation begins to spread, she develops a seemingly preternatural ability to escape from certain types of attacks. Against those that cause only half damage on a successful Reflex save, she instead takes no damage. Should she be helpless, however, she suffers full damage.

Inspire Competence (Su): A ship's captain can grant a +2 competence bonus to skill checks made by crew members under her command. This increases to a +3 bonus at 8^th level.

Favored Enemy (Ex): From her experience working toward some kind of objective, the captain gains a favored enemy in the same manner as a ranger; refer to page 64 of the core rulebook for details.

Captain's Bond (Type): A ship's captain comes to rely on certain crew members—usually, other members of the adventuring party—when difficulties arise. This ability functions in the same manner as a ranger's bond with his companions, as detailed on page 66 of the core rulebook.

Improved Evasion (Ex): Just as with evasion, the captain suffers no damage from attacks that allow a saving throw for half damage; now, however, she only suffers half damage on a failed saving throw.

Inspire Greatness (Su): The captain can grant one ally (and two at 10^th level) temporary hit points and other bonuses, in the same manner as a bard; refer to pages 37-8 in the core rulebook for details.

Aura of Resolve (Su): Such is the nature of the captain's tenacity that she gains immunity to charm spells and spell-like abilities, and she grants a +4 bonus to her crew members' saving throws and other checks against similar effects.

Inspire Heroics (Su): This ability functions in the same manner as the bard ability of the same name; refer to page 38 in the core rulebook for details.

A Gazetteer of the Sol System

This PDF is a collection of material dealing with Homeworld and the Sol System. It includes information about the planets and their inhabitants, along with the religions and organizations that they've created.

-Nate

A Gazetteer of the Sol System

The Aethernaut's Handbook

This PDF combines and clarifies information from previous articles into a single, comprehensive guide for running space fantasy scenarios using the Pathfinder roleplaying game. It includes stats for various types of aetherships and the magic items that make them fly; suggestions for incorporating Player Characters and their crews; and guidelines for GMs to develop adventures and campaigns.

-Nate

The Aethernaut's Handbook PDF

Tale: Desperate Times

Here's the next part in the ongoing story of the 'Larks.

-Nate

Tale: “Desperate Times”

As Uriel, Max and Narraw watched, soldiers and sailors from the Luminous took control of the Skylark, raising the bark's sails and steering it to follow after the departing galley. All they could do was continue staring, stunned by the development. 

“Well,” the half-orc grumbled, “what in the nine layers of Hell do we do now?”

“We have failed!” Narraw groaned.

Max was about to reply when, out of the blue, a bird landed on his head. It was Polly, Lucinda's familiar.

“Rawk,” the bird announced.

“Polly,” the halfling asked, “can you follow that ship, and help us go after them?”

The parrot nodded.

“Even if we know where they're going, how can we follow them without a boat?” Uriel asked.

“Perhaps I can help with that,” said Narraw.

* * *

During the next couple of days, the lizard-woman showed them how to gather armfuls of the reeds that grew in the marshy areas along the shoreline, and, using the plants' roots for cords, tie them into long, buoyant bundles. Those, then, they lashed to a lightweight frame made from small, roughly cut trees, and they had a serviceable raft. Max fetched a couple of hammocks from the pirates' hideout, and from them stitched together a crude but functional sail. 

While the halfling was busy with that last task, the lizard-woman and half-orc hunted for food further inland. They managed to run down a wild boar, which Uriel skinned, gutted, and cut into long, thin strips. Then he lashed a simple frame and, after building a smoky fire beneath it, laid the meat out for curing.

All the while, Max noticed that Uriel and Narraw would sometimes sit off by themselves, telling each other stories, or just sharing amiable silence.

* * *

On the third day following their comrades' capture, the three were ready. After loading up their meager supplies—the cured meat, a few spears that Uriel had cut for himself, a few dried gourds filled with fresh water and a pair of roughly fashioned paddles—they hauled the raft into the sea, raised the step-up mast, and set sail.

Max was perched in what served as the boat's bow, watching for hazards. He'd followed Polly's flight path when the bird departed, using the evening star for his bearings, and thus he plotted their course. 

They'd been sailing two more days, seeing naught but desolate passing shoreline to starboard and open sea to port, when a familiar, colorful figure fluttered down from the sky.

“Polly,” Uriel declared, “you are a sight for sore eyes.”

“What have you found?” Narraw asked.

“Rawk, an island,” Polly answered.

“Can you lead us there?” the lizard-woman added.

The bird nodded in affirmation.

“Wait a minute,” Uriel interrupted. “What dangers are we going to find there?”

Polly looked at the half-orc and, by way of a response, tilted her head sideways.

“Hold on,” Max spoke up. “Remember, Uriel, that she can't communicate with us like she does with Lucinda.” He considered for a moment. “Are there building on this island?”

The parrot nodded.

“Are they made from stone?”

Polly shook her head.

“From wood, then, with a stockade—logs, trees cut down and stuck in the ground, with the pointy ends sticking upward?”

She nodded.

“Ah.” Max thought about the bird's answers. “It could be a trading fort, probably located close to some kind of natural harbor.”

“In that case,” Uriel added, “maybe we can sneak around from another side.”

“Do you think,” Narraw asked, “that's where they have our eggs?”

“Unless they're in that galley,” Max replied, “I'd say they're in that fort.”

* * *

Armed with that information, the trio continued on their course. From time to time Polly would fly up and away from their boat, taking a bearing on the island and looking for any dangers. While Uriel handled their one small sail, Max remained in the bow, watching. On the fourth day he announced, “There it is. Land, ho.”

“The island?” Narraw asked.

“Yes.” The halfling turned to the half-orc. “I think it would be best if we struck our sail and paddled the rest of the way.”

“Aye, aye, captain.” Uriel loosened the lines on the boat's crude sail, then lifted the little mast out of its post. Wrapping the sail around it, he stowed it in the bottom of the boat and then hefted one of the paddles. The half-orc set to paddling with powerful strokes; as he did so, Narraw slipped over the stern and began to push with her powerful tail.

Turning back to Polly, Max asked, “Can you find us a place to go ashore where we won't attract any unwanted attention?”

The bird nodded and then took wing, and they followed.

* * *

Following the parrot, they made their way to the southwest corner of an island that was perhaps a mile wide and who knows how long. At that point a rocky, jutting peninsula gave way to the island's forested interior, and that was where they pulled their boat ashore, carrying it up under the cover of the trees. Then, again following Polly's lead, they hiked up and over the peninsula, to a high point that overlooked a broad natural harbor.

There, riding at anchor, were the galley Luminous and the bark Skylark.

“Look there.” Uriel pointed into the forest on the shore of the bay, where a thin trail of smoke drifted upward.

“A settlement of some kind?” Narraw asked.

“Yes. Shall we go have look?”

The others nodded in agreement, and so they set off in that direction, careful to remain quiet and to stay hidden by the hills or the trees. They'd gone perhaps half a mile when, in the distance, Max spied the hewn log walls of a stockade. “I think we found our trading fort.”

As they watched, they could see soldiers wearing tabards with the Order of the Lion's emblem, stationed atop platforms inside the wall.

Narraw frowned. “If our eggs, and your friends, are in there, then what can we do?”

Max smiled. “You forget, my lizard-lady, that we have a secret weapon.” Placing two fingers to his mouth, he fave a shrill whistle; moments later, Polly fluttered down to land on his outstretched arm. The halfling fed her a bit of ship's biscuit. “Pretty bird, I need you to find Lucinda.”

* * *

Inside the stockade of the trading fort were two buildings—one a compact, two-storied, whitewashed house, and the other a long, low warehouse. It was in the latter structure that the other 'Larks were being held prisoner. The method of their jailing was crude but effective; each was tied at the wrists with stout cord, as well as bound by a rope to metal rings spaced at five-foot intervals along the walls. They were thus allowed movement enough to avoid becoming too uncomfortable, but not so much that they could tamper with their bindings.

In the three days of their confinement they'd been treated well enough—given adequate food and water, and taken one at a time to use the privy—but no amount of questioning their captors had revealed just why they were being imprisoned. They'd settle into a tired routine of trying to entertain each other with old, familiar stories when Lucinda's eyes went wide.

“Something the matter, Luce?” Konrad asked her.

“No,” she answered—but then she winked at him. “I'm polly just tired.”

“Oh.” It took the dwarf a moment to catch her innuendo. “I see.”

Horace noticed their exchange and recognized its implication, too. Not for the first time he tried to twirl the end of his mustache, but his bonds prevented him from doing so. In spite of that, he smiled. 

“So, now what do we do?”

“We wait,” Lucinda replied, “and see.”

* * *

Uriel, Max and Narraw had been hunkered down behind cover for close to an hour when Polly returned.

“Did you find her?” Max asked.

The parrot nodded.

“In the fort?”

Another nod.

The halfling gestured, with each hand indicating first an object more cubical in shape, and then something broader and flatter. “Are they being kept in the taller building, or the shorter one?”

Polly pecked lightly at his right hand.

“Ah, the warehouse. Are they bound with ropes?” He held up a piece to illustrate.

The bird nodded.

“Good—then it shouldn't take much doing to cut them loose. How many guards—people—are watching them?”

Polly scratched the ground three times with her left talon.

“That should be manageable.”

“You have a plan for freeing them?” Uriel asked.

“Yes—but first I want to have a look in the main house, to see what all of this is about.”

* * *

Max waited until dark to pay his visit. Gathering handfuls of dirt, he darkened the skin of his hands and face. Then, creeping through the vegetation that encroached on the stockade, he found a tree with a branch from which he could watch the guards. His hope was to find a gap of time in which he could go over the wall unnoticed; to his surprise, a guard at the front of the stockade called out, “Ship, ho!”

The halfling watched, tensing, as half a dozen guards and then a pair of officers from the house, headed out through the gate and down to the dock.

That was his chance.

Stepping quickly out along the bough, Max used it as a springboard a jumped over the wall. The rogue landed, light on his feet, and rolled in a somersault that was nearly silent. Back on his feet, he ran across the open space between the stockade and the house, and then scampered up one wall, using a pair of knives for climbing tools. Pausing at a window, he listened for a moment, then used one of the blades to open the shutter and clambered inside.

The room was, as he'd suspected, empty at the moment. There were signs of recent occupation, and Max peered into the closet and under the bed, but he found nothing of interest. After pausing again to listen at the door, he moved out into the hallway.

From there he could see a railing to one side, overlooking the house's main entry below it, and doors on this level leading to other rooms. One of them, centered on the back wall of the house, he chose as his next target; it was unlocked.

Inside that room Max found one wall lined with bookshelves; next to them stood a desk and chair, along with a padlocked chest.

Here we go, Max thought. He closed the door to the hallway and latched it, and then unrolled his pouch of tools atop the desk. The padlock on the chest took some effort, but he managed it; the chest proved to contain coins of various values—copper, silver and gold—along with a small bag of pearls. Max tucked that last item into one of his pouches and then turned his attention to the desk.

Its drawer was locked, but it, too, succumbed to his picks. Inside it he found a sheaf of papers bundled with a ribbon, some of which bore the seal of the Imperial Navy. Max scanned them hastily, and one line in particular stood out to him:

Continue with your recovery plan as you've described, but remember—under no circumstances should you let anyone discover and communicate the objective of your efforts.

Max nodded as he read. It was as they'd suspected; the Navy crew was trying to salvage a wreck of some sort, and whatever cargo was aboard it was important. And that meant valuable.

Folding the letters, he tucked them inside his shirt. He was about to head for the hallway when the crack of a pistol shot stopped him in his tracks.

Heading for the window, he opened the shutter and climbed out onto the sill; from there he could reach the roof, and swung himself up onto it. Then he crawled up to the peak and looked over, out toward the harbor.

From there he could see the situation unfolding on the dock. One uniformed officer, brandishing a pistol, stood over the body of the man from the house. The other soldiers were quickly being cut down by the newcomers, leaving bodies strewn about the dock and in the surrounding water.

Max focused on the officer from the arriving vessel and froze.

In spite of the uniform, Max recognized him.

It was the pirate, Arturo Martelli.

Air Pockets and Gravity Planes

Here's an explanation of how air pockets and gravity planes work aboard aetherships.

-Nate

Air Pockets and Gravity Planes

The following diagrams illustrate the area of an aethership's air pocket along with the location and area of its gravity plane. 

As a general rule, the air pocket extends to port and starboard at a distance equal to the ship's beam width, and to fore and aft at a distance equal to the ship's keel length. Similarly, the pocket extends above and below the vessel at a distance equal to the height of the vessel as measured from the bottom of the keel to the top of the mainmast. 

An aethership's gravity plane is a flat surface that extends outward from the ship's keel, with an area equal to that of the air pocket. For this reason, characters are never upside down inside the vessel itself, but can walk along the bottom of the hull.