v1.1
W2
BY
DOMINIC COVEY
AND
CHRIS COVEY
COVER:
J. Longenbaugh
art:
J. Longenbaugh
CARTOGRAPHY:
DOMINIC COVEY
EDITING:
ANDY RAU
LAYOUT:
CHRIS DAVIS
PLAYTESTING:
Chris Covey, Mike Guild, Chris Johnson, John Shaw,
Shawn Winters, Chris Derner,, Chris Hoover, Ryan
KellEy, Ethan Ripplinger, Aaron Wiggins.
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NEW WORLD ORDER
Alliance and keep a nuclear weapon out of the raiders’
hands. Though the battle has been bitterly won,
Wastelord reinforcements have just arrived, forcing
the PCs (and the Three Towns) to re-assess their
decision to resist their cruel overlords.
Introduction B
is designed for players and GMs
who are not continuing from
Against the Wastelords
and are instead using
The New World Order
as a
stand-alone story. This alternate beginning introduces
the PCs as mercenaries hired by the Wastelords to help
defend their holdings beyond the mountains against
the mysterious and terrible “Enemy.”
sentience
. The pinnacle of Ancient-era bioengineering
and viral science, the macro-organism was intended
to be a “final word” response, a doomsday weapon
that could be transported via ICBM warhead to target
cities anywhere on the globe. Once released, the
organism would spread its contagion, contaminating
all other life forms with which it came into contact—
infecting over time not only the targeted population
center, but entire nations.
INTRODUCTION
The New World Order
is a complete adventure for
the
Darwin’s World 2
nd
Edition
roleplaying game.
This adventure picks up mid-course in a three-part
campaign in which the PCs, originally hired to defend
the coalition of the Three Towns (
Bazaar, Dry Fort
,
and
Spilunk
), find that a threat even
greater
than the
Wastelords is growing beyond the Trade Lands.
The New World Order
is best suited for a group of
four to six characters of levels 5-8. A typical party of
this size should have accumulated enough experience
from part one of this series,
Against the Wastelords
,
to reach 5
th
level; if you are playing this adventure
as a stand-alone campaign, either have players
create characters of the appropriate level or run them
through another adventure first to bring them to the
recommended power level.
In addition to these requirements, PCs with Gather
Information, Listen, Search, Spot, and Survival skills
will be essential. The Track feat will also come in
quite handy. Bluff, Decipher Script, Demolitions,
Diplomacy, Disable Device, Escape Artist, Gamble,
Intimidate, Investigate, Knowledge (Twisted Earth),
Repair, and Sense Motive will find some use, but are
not necessary to success. Finally, having a balanced
mix of skilled melee and ranged combatants will
be extremely useful, if not essential, to the party’s
success.
ADVENTURE BACKGROUND
Before beginning this adventure it is important for
you, the GM, to understand a little background
about the New World Order and the ambitions of
the mastermind behind it. This introductory section
briefly outlines the basic history of the New World
Order and its plans, and gives a glimpse of the unique
entity that drives it.
THE NEW WORLD ORDER
The so-called “New World Order” is the brainchild of
a unique being—an artificial creation of Ancient man
in his last days. Since the Fall, it has patiently awaited
the dawn of a new era in which to introduce itself.
Yet the being in question is not some insane robotic
artificial intelligence, as one might expect from the
Ancients; it is a creation of an entirely different kind,
one whose abilities in many ways overshadow those
of the dreaded “metal gods.”
This being is a
macro-organism
of unimaginable
complexity and proportions. Originally developed
as a super-biological weapon, this macro-organism
was a complex amalgam of biomaterial literally
grown
from a microscopic biomass into a colossal
entity with substance, form, and (most remarkably)
GETTING INVOLVED
The New World Order
presents two optional
introductions to the adventure; the first (
Introduction
A
) picks up where the first part of the series,
Against
the Wastelords
, left off. In this introduction, the
PCs have just fought a desperate battle against the
Wastelords to save the last armies of the Three Towns
2
The project was researched and developed in an
ultra-secret government disease laboratory built under
the small town of Center in southern Colorado. Here,
using cutting-edge techniques, an army of human
scientists, and the most sophisticated thinker androids
of the time, the Ancients were able to create no less
than five of these “city-eating” macro-organisms.
Each was contained in a magnetically sealed warhead
and shipped off to be used in the coming war.
A sixth macro-organism was still being raised to
maturity in the facility’s deep laboratories when the
Fall came… and with the Fall came the unthinkable:
in the chaos of the collapse, a considerable energy
fluctuation at the research laboratory permitted
the macro-organism to free itself. It spread rapidly
through the laboratory, claiming the lives of over a
hundred scientists, technicians, and security personnel
in a matter of hours. Though a facility-wide alarm
was raised and the androids and surviving humans
on site were able to contain most of the macro-
organism’s mass within the underground facility, they
were too late to stop the contagion’s spread. Some of
the survivors of the initial encounter with the macro-
organism fled from the bowels of the base to the
surface world, only to infect the emergency workers
that came to assist them.
As on-site response teams struggled to contain the
outbreak, their own numbers were slowly becoming
infected. The macro-organism had been designed to
take over the minds and bodies of creatures it infected,
turning them into seemingly unaffected thralls through
which it could spread its contagion undetected. By
the time it became clear that all survivors who had
escaped the underground facility to the surface would
have to be contained or killed to control the infection,
it was too late.
The contagion spread faster than first imagined,
and the infection of base personnel reached well over
50%. During a brief but savage exchange of gunfire
between uninfected security and a mass of infected
thralls, one of the disease containment buildings was
damaged to such an extent that a large portion of viral
bacteria samples were released into the air. A flood of
plagues—anthrax, brucella, tularemia, and others—
infected defenders and attackers alike.
When this biohazard release was detected, the
surface facility’s computers put into effect a last-ditch
emergency measure to prevent the spread of disease at
all costs: the release of VX gas throughout the town to
kill off anyone left alive.
While their human comrades died off in the gas
release, the facility’s remaining androids were able
to halt the macro-organism’s spread through sheer
tenacity. Unaffected by the biological plagues or the
VX sterilization measures, the androids held strong.
The macro-organism was sealed underground, cutting
it off from its thralls except for a weak telepathic link.
As the world was engulfed in war, the thinker
androids of the facility struggled to keep the creature
in place. In the last days, an emergency CDC team
(bolstered by a special unit of soldier androids, the
303
rd
Military Police) was sent to help the containment
efforts, but the humans involved began to desert when
the full implications of the worldwide Fall became
clear. Most fled into the desert to take their chances
there, not caring what happened at the secret facility.
When word of this predicament reached the A.I. war
planners deep inside the mountain bunker at Cheyenne
Mountain, a single B-52 bomber was dispatched to
destroy the facility from the air with a nuclear strike.
Unfortunately, fate had another trick in store for the
Ancients: the EM pulse of detonations in Denver
and Pueblo caused the bomber to crash, ditching its
undetonated cruise missile in the mountains more than
fifty miles from its target.
The thinker and soldier androids, however, stayed
at their posts. Operating independently of the remote
networks that linked most robotic formations to
the cyborg command (see
Metal Gods
for more
information), they were all but forgotten. They did
not turn on their human masters, nor did they abandon
their last directive—
to maintain the quarantine at all
costs
.
For over two hundred years, a sizeable contingent
of androids has remained at the facility, desperately
maintaining the quarantine and thwarting the macro-
organism’s every attempt to break out. But battle
damage and age are steadily thinning their numbers,
and it is inevitable that some day soon their ability to
contain the being will degenerate.
THE LAST GOD
The macro-organism, technically designated “XBM-
06,” was developed not only to be cognizant of its
surroundings, but to think. Created to be
intelligent
,
the macro-organism would awaken upon arrival at a
target site, adapt to its surroundings, and manipulate
its environment in an ongoing mission of destruction.
Its ability to think, reason, and plan made it far
more potent than any traditional biological weapon.
Secondly, the macro-organism possessed telepathic
abilities with which it could unite infected subjects
(“thralls”) into one enormous “over-mind” that could
spread its influence efficiently over a larger area.
Unable to fulfill its mission due to its imprisonment
in a steel and concrete tomb beneath the Colorado
desert, XBM-06 went somewhat
insane
. Combining
the worst elements of its original mission—to spread
out over a large area and infect everything it can—and
its own slowly developing megalomania, it has come
to believe it is, in fact, a
god
.
XBM-06 wishes to be free of its tomb to spread
across the world as originally intended. However, it
no longer simply seeks to
destroy
; it genuinely wants
to nurture, protect, and “care” for those it infects. It
is aware of the Fall of mankind (it has no reason to
doubt the success of its “brother” organisms, the other
3
five XBMs that presumably were used during the
apocalyptic exchange), and realizes that humanity is
in a shambles, in need of direction, purpose, and a
guiding hand. XBM-06 wants to be that guiding hand.
To this end, it envisions a “new world order,” one in
which it shepherds lost remnants of humanity and is
worshiped as a god by legions of loving followers.
Whatever noble intentions it may have, the “Last
God” is undeniably monstrous and mad; it aims to
control all living creatures within its domain, either
by infecting them directly or by dominating them
through fear. While it might, if given the chance,
attempt to peacefully convince others of the rightness
of its vision, it will tolerate no dissent and would meet
refusals with cold arrogance and tremendous wrath.
Despite its powers and abilities, XBM-06’s mindset
is decidedly childlike: it desperately wants to do good
and to be loved, but its inexperience and its inability
to look past its own paranoia and self-importance
means that it will only harm those it claims to love.
For the past two centuries, the Last God has
remained sealed within the underground depths of the
facility, forgotten to the world of men. Deprived of
living organic matter (except for the hosts it claimed
during its original accidental release) through which
to replicate or expand, it has only grown through a
slow
mitosis
. Even at a reduced rate of growth and
expansion, in the two hundred years since its “birth”
it has increased in size and volume to such an extent
that it occupies several levels of the facility, entire
laboratory blocks, and even whole buildings.
But the Last God is not merely content with
growth—it desires freedom. Its telepathic awareness
has increased along with its physical size, and so
XBM-06 has gradually been able to extend its mental
reach beyond the confines of its prison. It has probed
and prodded the android quarantine, searching for
weaknesses to be exploited. It has investigated and
explored its “cage,” scouring its confines for a way
IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION
An important thing to keep in mind throughout this adventure is that while the PCs will encounter a variety
of infected foes, they are essentially fighting the
same creature
in different forms. The New World Order’s
agents, soldiers, and node mothers aren’t so much individual elements in an army or faction as they are
collective cells of one enormous organism. As further detailing of the Last God will show, everything
infected by the super-weapon becomes a very real part of it. Though infected creatures may have bodies of
their own, and can wander far and wide, they all become part of the greater organism when they succumb
to the contagion. They are of one mind and one will.
As a result, it is important to consider how the Last God views the PCs. Because each and every thrall
in the New World Order is linked to one enormous over-mind, everything its thralls see, hear, and do is
witnessed by every other infected member of the macro-organism’s brood—including the main mass of the
Last God trapped beneath Center.
By the time the PCs arrive at Center in the third part of this adventure series (
The Last God
), the macro-
organism will already know much about them, their tactics, and their capabilities…
out.
Several years ago, an opportunity for escape
presented itself when the Last God expanded into a
section of the subterranean base that contained still-
functioning computers. Calling upon skills bred
into it by its creators, the Last God worked through
these computers to access the intranet still operating
in parts of the facility. Clever manipulation of the
base’s computer systems triggered a power failure that
allowed it to free a part of itself once again, this time
using an old, forgotten ventilation chute leading to the
surface. Sending forth a host of its “seedlings” (the
animated remains of Ancient scientists and soldiers
long ago infected by its biomass) and dispatching a
pair of “node mothers” (special servitors that would
act to extend its consciousness to the surface) to
make sure the way was clear, its vast bulk began to
move—just as its android keepers realized what was
happening.
A handful of androids managed to reactivate an
old blast door that dropped and severed one of the
Last God’s “appendages.” As the androids moved
in to eradicate this “extension” with lasers and
flamethrowers, the Last God realized its attempt to
escape had been foiled. Unwilling to accept failure so
easily, it quickly ordered those thralls that had escaped
to make a mad dash for the desert. Most were killed
as the androids closed in, but a few escaped detection
and fled into the heart of the wasteland.
The Last God was again contained, but even with
only a handful of seedlings and node mothers it had at
last managed to gain a foothold
outside
of the facility.
The escaped thralls fled in all directions away from
the base, driven by a single-minded purpose: to spread
the infection to every living creature they found… and
to build an
army
for their imprisoned god.
A handful of these thralls shambled out of the desert
and were taken in by the tribals living at Saguache.
In only a matter of hours, the seedlings infected the
entire population, transforming every man, woman,
and child into seedlings or zombie-like
shamblers
,
all devoted to their inhuman master’s will. Other
seedlings spread out across the desert in search of
prey, and over time the infection spread to the isolated
4
villages, settlements, and even animal life of the San
Luis Valley.
The Last God seeks to build an army from the
people and animals of the San Luis Valley for a
reason: they will provide not only the biomass it needs
to continue to grow and spread over the earth, but
also the material it needs to build weapons capable
of overcoming the robots of the quarantine. It also
hopes to build, from scratch, the components needed
to create a fully-operational computer system that,
when brought back to Center by this army, will allow
it to “hack” directly into the androids that keep it
imprisoned.
To this end, the Last God directs its seedlings
to spread the infection wherever possible, in time
building an army—and a war machine—powerful
enough to return to its prison under the town of
Center, overcome the defending androids,
and set it
free!
by one, outlying Wastelord communities began to fall.
Those civilians who survived were quickly infected
and inducted into the ranks of the Last God’s New
World Order.
Just when things started to appear hopeless, a
seedling
was captured alive at the frontier town of
Hooper attempting to infiltrate the settlement’s water
supply. When it was brought back to Shelter City,
Kyren, the Wastelord’s leader, ordered it examined by
his top doctors and thinkers. Though at first they were
at a total loss to explain what it was (short of saying it
“looked human”), after a few experiments in the city’s
underground hospital they deduced that the “human”
was merely the host receptacle for a unique form of
virus
. When the specimen almost escaped (claiming
the lives of two Wastelord guards), the scientists were
able to observe how the creature infected the guards
and turned them into duplicates of itself, eager to
spread the contagion.
Aware that, unlike most of his foes, this new Enemy
would not be easily terrorized into submission or
defeated in open battle, Kyren seriously considered
abandoning his empire and fleeing to more secure
lands. By a stroke of luck, however, a heavily
damaged android appeared outside of Hooper a few
days later. The android, one of several soldier models
sent to pursue the node mothers
and seedlings
that
had escaped into the desert during the power failure,
was fired upon and almost completely destroyed by
the Wastelord warriors who first saw it. When Kyren
heard of the android’s ill-fated arrival, he knew that
its appearance in the wake of the infected attacks had
to be more than just a coincidence; he had the remains
brought immediately to Shelter City for examination.
Although most of the android’s systems were
beyond repair, the Wastelords were able to pry enough
information from the android’s memory banks to
confirm that it had been pursuing the seedlings, and
even to pinpoint the source of the trouble—the old
town of Center, on the far side of the valley.
Kyren immediately organized an expedition, led
by one of his most loyal followers, to lead an attack
Center—but neither his trusted general nor the entire
army of more than 100 warriors returned. Fearing
such a bizarre and seemingly invincible foe, Kyren
withdrew the remainder of his troops to towns under
his control and pondered how to act against an enemy
he could neither anticipate nor understand.
Eventually Kyren realized that a purely defensive
response—waiting and fending off the tireless
onslaught of the Enemy—was a hopeless strategy.
For all he knew, there might be hundreds if not
thousands of the Enemy lurking out in the wastes. His
own manpower reserves were dwindling; though he
had drafted almost every able-bodied man in his own
lands to fight, his army was suffering irreplaceable
casualties.
Kyren then decided on a plan of action: to send
raider parties into the lands across the mountains,
there to acquire materiel for his war—not only
supplies such as food and water, but also captives to
fight as “slave soldiers” and janissaries against the
Enemy. If he could build a sufficiently large army, he
might be able to counter-attack and retake the lands he
had lost.
Once again, luck played a part in Kyren’s plans.
When his Wastelord scouts found an old intact
cruise
missile
on the other side of the mountains in the Trade
Lands (ironically, the same Ancient nuclear warhead
meant to destroy the Last God centuries ago), it was
as if his prayers had been answered. Kyren knew this
weapon could very well put an end to the Enemy once
and for all; he knew the exact location from which
the Enemy originated, and with a nuclear weapon, he
could destroy it utterly.
However, Kyren was not aware that the people
of the Trade Lands, tired of being victimized, had
formed an alliance
to finally resist him. In their time
RECENTLY
The first infected seedlings
and shamblers
began
attacking the periphery of the Wastelord empire a few
years ago. At first they came in small groups, but over
time the small groups became mobs, which became
massive waves. Some of the attackers resembled
tribals (infected members of the community at
Saguache), and so for a time the Wastelords remained
ignorant of the true threat against them. But when
infected animals and zombie-like shamblers
began
to approach Wastelord towns and villages, it became
clear to the Wastelords that they were fighting an
enemy of alien purpose and capabilities. Although
they had dealt with tough mutants and defiant subjects
before, the Wastelords had never seen anything quite
so disturbing as a
zombie
.
For the first few months, the Wastelords fought
several decisive battles defending their territory, but
the onslaught of creatures never seemed to abate. One
5
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