Publisher: Sine Nomine Publishing
Introduction
Other Dust is a game of post-apocalyptic survival and adventure, where you play as the survivors of a cataclysmic event that shattered the world and unleashed strange and deadly forces. It is a game that uses a retro-inspired system based on D20 and 2d6 rolls, and offers a sandbox-style of play, where you can explore the ruins of the Old Earth and create your own stories. Other Dust is fully compatible with the award-winning and free Stars Without Number sci-fi game, which shares the same core mechanics and sandbox tools.
Grandfather’s Rain is a free introductory adventure for Other Dust that you can download from DriveThruRPG. It is a stand-alone adventure that can be easily inserted into any post-apocalyptic campaign, or used as a starting point for a new one. It is set in a region of the New Earth where a mysterious silver poison has contaminated the water supply, threatening the survival of two rival enclaves: Broketree and Digger Springs. The adventure begins when the filters break down and the villagers of Broketree must find new ones in the ruins of an Old Terran laboratory, while dealing with family feuds, cultists, and mutants. Meanwhile, the miners of Digger Springs are also affected by the poison, and may resort to desperate measures to secure their own salvation.
The Enclaves
Broketree and Digger Springs are two enclaves that have survived the apocalypse in different ways. Broketree is a farming village that relies on ancient purification filters to survive, while Digger Springs is a mining settlement that excavates the ruins of an Old Terran suburb. The two enclaves have a long history of rivalry and conflict, fueled by scarce resources, different beliefs, and personal grudges.
The adventure provides detailed descriptions of the two enclaves, their history, culture, and conflicts. You can use this information to flesh out the NPCs, the locations, and the events that take place in the adventure. You can also use the plot hooks and adventure seeds that are provided for each enclave to create your own scenarios and subplots. For example, you can have the players deal with a family feud that threatens to tear Broketree apart, or a cult that worships the silver poison and tries to sabotage Digger Springs.
The Ashbrook Research Center
The Ashbrook Research Center is the Old Terran laboratory where the new purification filters can be found. It is a “diagram map” ruin, which means that it is not a fixed map, but a set of guidelines and tables that allow you to generate the ruin’s layout and features on the fly. The diagram map is divided into four zones: the entrance, the offices, the labs, and the basement. Each zone has its own table of possible rooms, contents, and encounters. You can roll on these tables or choose the options that suit your needs.
The adventure provides some examples of encounters, hazards, and secrets that can be found in the ruin. You can use these examples as inspiration or modify them as you wish. For example, you can have the players face a mutant spider that guards the entrance, a malfunctioning security system that traps them in the offices, a rogue AI that controls the labs, or a hidden vault that contains a dark secret in the basement.
Running the Adventure
The adventure gives you some tips on how to run the adventure and adapt it to different situations. You can adjust the difficulty, the length, and the tone of the adventure according to your preferences and your group’s style. You can also change the details of the adventure to fit your own campaign setting or to create a different twist. For example, you can change the nature of the silver poison, the origin of the Ashbrook Research Center, or the fate of the two enclaves.
The adventure also includes random tables for quick loot and reward generation. You can use these tables to create interesting and useful items that the players can find in the ruin or receive from the enclaves. You can also use these tables to create complications and consequences for the players’ actions. For example, you can have the players find a valuable artifact that attracts the attention of a rival faction, or a cursed item that unleashes a new threat.
Conclusion
Grandfather’s Rain is a well-written and well-presented adventure that offers a lot of potential for fun and challenge. It has a compelling premise, interesting characters, and a rich setting that can be expanded and customized. It also demonstrates how to use the sandbox tools of Other Dust and Stars Without Number to create a dynamic and immersive post-apocalyptic world. If you are a fan of old-school roleplaying games and post-apocalyptic fiction, you should definitely give Grandfather’s Rain a try. You can download it for free from here.
For more information and resources about Other Dust and Stars Without Number, you can visit the Sine Nomine Publishing website or the Stars Without Number subreddit. You can also download the free versions of both games from DriveThruRPG or the revised edition of Stars Without Number.
Stars Without Number: Other Dust – Grandfather’s Rain on DrivethruRpg
