BY
DOMINIC COVEY
CARTOGRAPHY:
DOMINIC COVEY
EDITING:
Chris Van Deelen
LAYOUT:
CHRIS DAVIS
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Another Man’s Treasure
is an adventure for the
post-apocalyptic role-playing game,
Darwin’s World
2nd Edition
.
Another Man’s Treasure
is the second
in a two-part adventure series in which the player
characters are drawn into the desperate hunt for the
legendary “Mount of Thorns” at the heart of the wild
and inhospitable Deadlands of the Twisted Earth.
Another Man’s Treasure
should take a party of four
characters from 6th to 8th level.
ADVENTURE BACKGROUND
This information was included in part one of this
series, “One Man’s Garbage”, and is reprinted here
for the GM’s convenience.
Long believed to be mere myth, among the people
of the wasteland stories still circulate about the
Mount of Thorns, a fantastic place said to lie at the
heart of the dry and lifeless region known as the
“Deadlands”. Whether carried on the lips of the
nocturnal scavenging folk around their seedy desert
campfires, or recorded in the twisted and imaginative
chronicles of the wasteland’s zealous pseudo-cults,
these stories invariably regard the Mount as a site of
great importance to even the Ancients - a fact that has
left men to wonder at what lies beneath its slopes for
countless generations since the Fall.
But the vast Deadlands has long been a great void,
a seemingly endless dustbowl that is home only
to outcasts from the fledgling tribes that ring the
region; terminal mutants, cannibals, and criminals
whose crimes were too vile for even the cruel people
of the wasteland to stomach. According to legend
the Mount lies somewhere near the heart of this
treacherous expanse, its secrets unattainable thanks to
the gauntlet of savages who call the desert home, and
the unforgiving elements themselves.
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Recently, however, word has spread like wildfire
through the tiny desert communities, through the
camps of the most primitive tribes, and even reached
the degenerate townships bordering the region that
someone, somewhere, has uncovered the key to
finding the fabled Mount of Thorns...
mutant race” to lead their faction to victory over the
Brotherhood of Radiation.
FINAL CLIMACTIC BATTLE?
The final chapter of this adventure presents a large-
scale battle in which the PCs play only a small
part. This battle assumes the coming together of
the Brotherhood of Radiation, the armies of Copper
Pit, and the Radite cult in one grand finale at the
foot of the mountain. While this battle portrays the
desperation of each side in its bid for the mountain,
you can skip this scene entirely if a shorter adventure
is desired.
Notes on ending the adventure in this manner are
given at the end of this module.
WHERE THE CHARACTERS LEFT OFF
One Man’s Garbage
left off after the PCs performed
a clandestine raid against the Radite shrine beneath
the city of Copper Pit, stealing the original copy
of the “Great Arcanum” for the Brotherhood of
Radiation. This harrowing mission was detailed
in part one of this series, and part two begins soon
after their successful acquisition of the mysterious
document.
Upon returning to the safe house of their contact,
Gepardo, the PCs soon learn that the old man has
successfully deciphered the Arcanum, learning the
location of the Mount of Thorns. Just as importantly,
he has also learned the reason why the Radite shrine
in
One Man’s Garbage
was so lightly defended:
the majority of the cult has already left Copper Pit,
striking out into the desert to find the Mount of
Thorns. With no time to waste, the Brotherhood of
Radiation offers to hire the PCs once more, this time
to get to the Mount of Thorns before the Radites!
Once the PCs accept the Brotherhood’s offer they
must strike out on their own, over the barren terrain
known as the Deadlands, in a race against time to
get to the Mount of Thorns before any of their rivals.
Despite the inherent dangers of the Deadlands,
including raiders, outcasts, and roving cannibal
mutants, and having to avoid the gauntlet of Baron
Wasteland’s army patrols (which are out in force
looking for them), with a little luck the party may
manage to get to the fabled mountain in time.
Once there, the PCs face off with an old enemy
- Pastor Disaster and his band of mangy scavs, the
“Junkyard Dogs” - in a final showdown with the
treasure of the Mount of Thorns at stake.
BACKSTORY
There is an old saying:
One man’s garbage is
another man’s treasure.
Nowhere is this truer than
the Twisted Earth, a world where the survivors of the
human race continue to pick over the trash and rubble
of a former civilization in the endless struggle of day-
to-day survival.
While on the Twisted Earth mere survival occupies
many men from cradle to the grave, some have
even grander goals. Some want to be emperors,
some want to be “gods”, while others simply want
to be rich. Often, it is the remnants of the Ancients’
civilization that are seen as the tools to acquire these
new world dreams and aspirations. This adventure
is a tale about one such remnant, a place once called
“Yucca Mountain”.
Some time ago a small group of heretical zealots,
the “Radites”, came upon a piece of ancient arcanum
referring to Yucca Mountain, a place now known
to the survivors of the apocalypse as the legendary
“Mount of Thorns”. As a splinter of the Brotherhood
of Radiation (a group described in
Darwin’s World
2nd Edition
), the Radites realized the significance
of the document and immediately purchased it from
the witless desert scav who first brought it to their
attention. Once the document (dubbed the “Great
Arcanum”) was in their hands they immediately
set out to find the mountain. Their aim: to open
the mountain and recover the “magic” beneath its
rocky crest, in hopes of creating their own “super-
INTRODUCTION
Another Man’s Treasure
picks up right after the
conclusion of
One Man’s Garbage
, with the PCs
emerging from beneath the streets of Copper Pit with
the Great Arcanum in hand. Details of the city of
Copper Pit are to be found in part one of this series,
and while the PCs will soon be trading in the streets
of this squalid town for the wasteland outside, you
may find the text in that module useful in portraying
the party’s experiences while in town.
Eventually, however, the party will again make
contact with Gepardo, their Brotherhood contact in
Copper Pit. This event is described below.
DECRYPTION
When the characters return to the safe house of
Gepardo, the old man takes the Great Arcanum from
them with an awed hush. He tells them that for the
next day or so the safe house is theirs - he’ll be in a
secret room deciphering what he can from the old
documents. In the meantime he will leave food and
medical supplies (if any meds remain) for them,
and asks them to keep up his laundry work - if his
customers don’t get their clothes cleaned, they’ll be
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suspicious of his absence.
Resting for the next two days allows the party
to heal up, as well as train (if they earned enough
experience points from part one of this series).
On the evening of the second day, read the
following:
Handout #1
The past day or so has been spent in tedium;
either resting and nursing wounds, or cleaning
the filthy laundry stacked up by patrons outside
Gepardo’s business. It is early evening when the
monotony is broken by a sudden sound.
Upstairs there is a sharp thud, soon followed
by the opening of a door. Gepardo rushes down
the stairs with a hobble, his eyes wide with
excitement. A huge smile spreads over his face.
“Those fools! They’ve given us the chance we
need!”
If the PCs ask, the old man is eager to explain. He
takes them to his study where the Arcanum is laid
out, and begins flipping through pages while he
speaks. He eventually shows them a map - give the
players
Handout #1
.
“I found this map among the papers; it shows
the location of the Mount of Thorns. Here it is
known by its Ancient name, ‘Yucca Mountain’.
Apparently the Radite leaders who deciphered
the Arcanum made notes right on the very page.
I cannot tell exactly what these warnings mean,
but as you can see it appears they’ve decided
not to take the direct route to the mountain, but
instead plan to go around, to the west. This
means there is a possibility that we can get to the
mountain before they do!”
“I made contact with the Great Angel last
night. I have been authorized by our mutual
benefactor back in the City of Lights to offer you
an additional 2,000 in corium or trade goods, as
you wish, for getting to the mountain before the
Radites do. And, for that matter, before all the
treasure-hunters drawn to the region, should one
of them somehow get lucky.”
How did you make contact?
At this Gepardo merely taps his temple with a
mischievous smile.
Are you saying you want us to do it?
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Once we get there, what do we do?
THE DEADLANDS
hex on this map is meant to represent 12 hours of
travel by foot (assuming a standard movement rate;
PCs with faster or slower rates should have this rate
modified as appropriate). Certain set encounter areas
are noted on this map, and are detailed later in this
section.
Spotting:
To encourage the PCs to explore,
assume the party can “spot” set encounter sites on
the adventure map if they are in its hex or in any hex
adjacent to it.
“Defend it against the infidels. I don’t know
how you can hold out, but Fate will provide a
way. Already a Brotherhood army is marching
northwest to distract the Copper Pit regiments
under Baron Wasteland (their leader) and lure
them away from the vicinity of the Mountain,
leaving the way open for you. At the same time
the Brotherhood is re-directing another of its
armies to head towards the mountain. They will
arrive some time after you’ve reached it, and
once there will secure it for the order.”
“Will you accept this great task? The future is
in your hands...”
After having located (and extracted) the Great
Arcanum in the recesses of the Radite shrine beneath
Copper Pit, the PCs have given the Brotherhood
of Radiation the information they need to send an
expedition to the Mount of Thorns. Gepardo has sent
the PCs to get to the mountain before the Radites,
promising to reward them well if they succeed.
As the adventure begins the PCs are faced with
a challenge: journeying across one of the Twisted
Earth’s most desolate and inhospitable regions, the
Deadlands. Rumors abound about the Deadlands’
reputation as a refuge and hideout for criminals and
exiles thrown out of nearby villages and settlements,
as well as the ghastly mutant monsters that wander
out from the heart of the desert, a place where the PC
must go if they hope to find the Mount of Thorns.
A map of the Deadlands is provided in this
adventure, to allow the GM to track the progress of
the party as they journey through the desert. Each
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
The Deadlands, while harsh and inhospitable to life,
do provide ample opportunity for encounters. The
GM should roll for a random encounter every 24
hours; on a roll of 1 on 1D6, the PCs encounter one
of the events below.
Alternatively you can simply
plan encounters that you like from the list below,
having them occur whenever an increase in action is
called for.
Assuming the PCs agree, Gepardo uses up all of his
remaining healing meds (if any) on the characters,
and supplies the PCs with enough food and water for
a week’s travel (that is, 1 3/4 lbs. of food and seven
gallons of water each). He has also been authorized
to give the PCs a device, which they may (or may
not) have seen before: a
Geiger counter
, attached
to a
power beltpack
. He immediately explains to
the PCs that this is a “magic wand” that will begin
to “hum and click” the deeper they go into the
Deadlands. He tells the PCs that if the noise gets
louder to turn around and head in the other direction.
Finally, before the PCs are ready to set out, he
gives them a roughly-drawn map (
Handout #2
),
correlating information from the map taken from the
Arcanum as well as with information he has gleaned
from living in Copper Pit. With this map in their
hands, he sends the PCs out to face the Deadlands
alone...
OUTDOOR SURVIVAL
An important consideration in this part of the adventure will be the food and moisture needs of the player
characters. Since they are striking out across a large part of the central Deadlands, food - and especially
water - will be vital to their survival. As stated in the
Darwin’s World 2nd Edition
rules, characters need
1/4 lb. of food and 1 gallon of water
each day
due to the prevailing hot climate.
A character can go without
water
for one play plus a number of hours equal to her Constitution score;
after this, the character must make a Con check each hour (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d6
points of damage. A character can go without
food
for three days, in growing discomfort; after this she
must make a Con check each day (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or sustain 1d6 points of damage.
Damage from thirst or starvation cannot be recovered until the hero gets water or food, as needed.
While characters can simply use Survival rolls to meet their food and water needs (see page 74 of d20
Modern), other sources of food and water are available for characters who lack this skill. In addition
to stocking up with Gepardo’s help in Copper Pit, the PCs will be able to find food and water at various
encounter locations along their journey.
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