The Journey of the Grand Myconautical Society

I made a traincar for Skerples' indefinite train project. After all that brainstorming, I didn't use any of it directly, but I got to use this illustration from Rattlemayne, which was the reward for entering the ItO pocketmod contest. Traincar linked from the image below.

Quick "Trainstorm"

Skerples proposes a collaborative dimension-hopping train. This is a quick brainstorm about trains, to help myself and others get started.

Image Source

Plan

1. Listen to Steve Reich.
2. Read Wikipedia.
3. Discuss on Chris McDowall's OSR Discord server.

Types of Railcar

and maybe some thoughts about how they exist in an interdimensional infinite train that never stops (unless it does sometimes).

• Refrigerator cars. Unirionically called "reefers".
• Various maintenance cars. The clean the ballast, rearrange the ballast, clear the snow, distribute lubricant and herbicide, and measure the track geometry. Consider how these tasks change when the ground underneath the ballast is unknown and can change suddenly.
• Rail ambulances. Provide services to remote areas, but on an endless non-stop train, they more likely act as hospitals.
• Specialized cargo cars. Coil cars are designed specifically to carry rolled-up sheet metal. Slate waggons are designed specifically to carry slate. On a train that could be carrying any kind of exotic material, what considerations would the car carrying it need?
• Stock cars. Carrying a bunch of exotic animals across dimensions doesn't really need much explanation I think. It raises the same questions as all cargo does, but is more immediately gameable. Possibly it would act more like a zoo or a farm though, given the circumstances.
• Schnabel cars. The cargo forms an integral part of these cars, without it they're just "ends". Use this as an excuse to make the middle of a car be anything you want.
• There are all kinds of tanks and hoppers and boxcars for general cargo. Other than the futility of regularly transporting cargo on the Indefinite Express, I'm not sure what to do with these. I guess instead of regular shipping from one location to another, you might have powerful dimensional merchants who trade their wares as they can, possibly lording over several cars just for cargo. This all presupposes that the train will make stops though.
• Railroad cranes. Ostensibly used for maintenance, these ones could easily be used to snatch interesting things while thundering past them.
• Mail cars. I did not realize that the mail is actively sorted while in transit, so that it's ready to ship out when it arrives. I don't know what to do with this though.
• Dining cars. Probably more like farms or shopping malls here.
• Sleeping cars. Where people live? Possibly unremarkable.

See Also

• The Great Train Robbery
• Other Train Robberies
• The Pullman Strike
• Other Train Strikes
• Hobos

I would like to be sure that nobody thinks this is final in any way. I'm just trying to pretend that my Wikipedia binge was useful. I would hate for my interpretation of something to step on the toes of anyone else's great idea.

Here Are Some Characters

Here are some backgrounds for characters. It's mostly specialists, because that's where I started.

Your specialist . . .

• is a jeweler, seeking gems of great value.
• is an explorer, seeking or returned from exotic lands.
• is an archaeologist, searching for the secrets of lost civilizations.
• is a political exile, waiting to return home.
• is a black priest, charged with keeping the church's secrets secret.
• is a barbarian, skilled in ways that civilization has forgotten.
• is a migrant worker, willing to help out locals for a bed or a meal.
• is a tinker, but will take on other odd jobs.
• is a busker, but with a lost instrument.
• is a common beggar.
• is an organ grinder, whose monkey ran away.
• comes from a nomadic culture.
• is a traveling merchant, freshly cleaned out from a deal gone awry.
• is a fence, but is branching out into "acquisitions".
• is a jester who spoke too much truth to power.
• is an actor, separated from their troupe.
• is an acrobat.
• ran away from a terrible apprenticeship.
• is a sailor on shore leave.
• trained as a domestic servant.
• is a smuggler, on the lookout for new routes.
• is a quack doctor, peddling alcoholic tonics.
• is a professional burglar.
• is a pickpocket street urchin. Singing optional.
• is a con artist, in search of a mark.
• is a con artist, whose parter was recently taken in.
• is a gangster, whose connections have soured recently.
• is a rake, seeking to take his mind off of a doubtless life-threatening liver disorder.
• is a spy, awaiting orders from a foreign nation.
• is a bandit/pirate (depending on feasibility).
• is a poacher.
• is a halfling in search of adventure.
• is a trained assassin.
• was a military scout.
• escaped slavery.

Your fighter . . .

• was a bouncer.
• is a bodyguard.
• is a noble knight on an inscrutable quest.
• is a digraced knight, exiled from the court.
• was an infantryman.
• is a mercenary, between jobs.
• is a bounty hunter.
• is a barbarian, unmatched in the art of combat.
• escaped from a laboratory.
• was a prizefighter, but is getting old.
• apprenticed as a blacksmith.
• was a collier or miner.
• escaped from prison.
• is a lawman.
• is a bandit/pirate (depending on feasibility).
• is a dwarf.
• is from a long line of warriors.
• is a deserter.
• is a berserker.
• is a local hero in their remote hometown.
• was an Olympian athlete.

Your magic user . . .

• is a wild talent with psionic powers.
• made a pact with the devil.
• speaks with elementals.
• is an elf.
• is proud to be self-taught.
• learned Atlantean secrets.
• was abducted by aliens.
• apprenticed with an insane wizard.
• graduated valedictorian at Wizard Academy.
• dropped out of Wizard Academy.
• was taught magic by nature spirits.
• has dragon blood running through their veins.
• has no memory of his life before now.
• happens to have not died in the last century (but is still mortal).
• was an advisor to kings and generals.
• died once. Might even still be dead. Isn't sure.
• is a bard.
• can't return to it's home dimension.

Your cleric . . .

• is an orphan, raised by the church.
• once was blind, but now can see.
• once could see, but now is blind.
• is a pacifist.
• is a reformed death cultist.
• once received a vision.
• is personally an atheist.
• is a millenarian, convinced that the end is nigh.
• is an inquisitor, charged with rooting out heresy.
• acts obsessive about rituals. Practices them like clockwork.
• is a shaman, who calls upon ancestral spirits.
• is a druid, who remembers the old ways.
• is not the child of prophecy, but sees how you could make that mistake.
• was an ascetic monk, living on the fringes of society.
• was recently accused of heretical beliefs.
• is a street preacher, spreading the gospel to all who will listen.
• is a pamphleteer, too shy to preach on the streets.
• almost died once, but was saved by grace alone.

Inactivity, Hobos, & Celts

It's been a while since I've done anything with this space. I missed BFRPG day (but I did find that BFRPG exists, and is cool), I submitted an entry to the Great Khan's contest (that will get its own post later), I found the Planescape appendix to the Monstrous Manual (which is pretty much everything I wanted from a monster book), and I've had classes (blah).

Hobo Treasures

Gus at Dungeon of Signs has made a table of hobo treasures. A while ago, I was part of an effort to clean up the shores of the Merrimack river, and here is a list of less exciting treasures inspired by that expedition (roll 1d20).

1. Flat piece of slate. 1 in 6: cannot be erased by standard means.
2. Evacuated turtle shell—some hobo's dinner.
3. Explicit letter in a bottle. The contents are nonsensical and offensive, and the next 1d6 found will all be exactly the same.
4. Strange seed pods. Roll 1d200: number of seeds found.
5. Melted children's toy. Ours was a headless plastic dinosaur.
6. Monkey wrench, rusted solid.
7. Small cache of lighters. Roll 2d12: the higher is the number of lighters, the lower is the number that still have a bit left.
8. Large stack of moldy pornographic magazines.
9. Newspapers. Roll 2d20: the higher is the age of the oldest paper found.
10. Blankets, cardboard boxes. 1 in 20: has a hobo in it (daytime), does not (nighttime).
11. Beer cans and wine bottles. There is never any left.
12. Tiny circular filters, ~0.5" diameter. Roll 1d200: number of filters washed up on shore.
13. Planks or other lumber. Roll 1d6 for number.
14. The remains of a fire (daytime). A hobo campfire with 1d4 hobos (nighttime).
15. Metal cable strung between two trees, 1d6*10' in length.
16. A refrigerator (if this doesn't work for the setting, substitute an icebox).
17. A Little Tykes Cozy Coupe (if this doesn't work for the setting, substitute a little red wagon).
18. An old streetcar rail (if this doesn't work for the setting, substitute a low stone wall).
19. Miscellaneous drug paraphernalia (spoons, needles, etc.).
20. Skewered rodent skeletons.

The seed pods, it turns out, were Eurasian water chestnuts, which not only look sinister, but are an invasive species.

Eurasian water chestnut seed pods (image source: here).

Celts

The Great Khan is having another contest in March (skipping this month), and the theme will be the celts. Everything I know about the celts I learned from "Horrible Histories: The Cut-Throat Celts", so I'm looking forward to this. The contest itself has not actually started yet, but here are some thoughts I've had:

• There is already an implicit Celtic influence in most versions of D&D: the druid and bard classes are historically found only in Celtic cultures.
• The Celts made brain-balls by mixing the brains of their fallen enemies with lime. These were carried around as trophies but it was believed that they could still take vengeance on their owner.
• Celts were big into curses. I like Zak's rules for curses (item 73).
• Celtic saints were not necessarily nice people, which is convenient for the D&D cleric archetype. They also tended to do things after their death.