PaxVenire
Wasteland Peacemaker
Stop This Crazy Thing! is Part I of an adventure anthology for Atomic Postman's Vault Archives PnP system set in the formerly beautiful Sunshine State of Florida. The adventure is made for up to four players. Players should start at Level 1. Players may create their own characters, but if not, it is recommended that the Overseer (GM) creates four different character sheets, each with different unique roles and some starting equipment. (e.g., Speech, Science, Guns, and Sneak).
The year is 2137. After an unexpected hostile takeover by a mysterious and heavily armed group, refugees from the settlement of Kennedy have flocked to O-Town. The Governor of O-Town, Reggie Shannon, has hired the party to investigate the attack, pointing them to the refugee camp located on the outskirts of town to start, and paying them the sum of 10 Cards ($250) and 5 Tickets ($250) each with the promise of more to come as they help out. The refugees have set up within in the sprawling parking lots directly outside of O-Town. The party can question the refugees to learn that the hostile group was wearing odd, colored uniforms and came from the east where Cape Canaveral is located, though no settlement was ever set up on the cape, and the Air Force Station was picked clean by them years ago with no trace of occupation. With the I-4 to the north destroyed, the party will have to take the roads up and around the former city of Orlando to the Kennedy Space Center. Alternatively, the party can choose to brave the ruins of Oldlando, home to many dangerous mutants and proto-tribal raider gangs, until they reach a highway that can take them all the way to the bottom of Merritt Island or Cape Canaveral.
O-Town is a booming hunter/farmer settlement, known for Iguana, Frog, and Cayman meat as well as a thriving Orange grove for which the town is named after. Oranges are extremely popular as they quench thirst and make for a tasty treat in the hot Florida sun. O-Town is one of the few "civilized" towns within the center of the Sunshine Waste, with proto-tribes scattered all around.
O-Town Locations:
Peoples of Interest
Peoples of Interest:
The Croakers are a proto-tribe descended from trailer park residents, a lot of whom were drug addicts and hippies. They live next to Lake Apopka, a pre-war test site for negating the radiation levels of water after a nuclear war. A prototype water purifier, still active and maintained by the people of O-Town and Croakers, sits near a dock where it scrubs the irradiated water, which they then further purify it via steam distillation. The Croakers, while small, are armed and protect their territory fiercely against hostile encroachers. In the early years, they clashed with O-Town over the purifier until a peace agreement was made between the first Croaker leader and the first Governor of O-Town after they inadvertently damaged it in the fighting. The Croakers hunt for Cane Toads, which secretes a hallucinogen that can get a user extremely high at the small chance of seizures or even death. The Croakers eat the Cane Toad meat while saving their toxins for what they believe is a groovy look into the future where abstract patterns shape into future prophecy (e.g., they get high and see the a cloud turn into the shape of what they perceive as children meaning they will have a fruitful legacy). They are called Croakers for multiple reasons, because of their addiction and reliance to Toads, the hiccups they get after an extended period of Tab use, and more derogatorily by O-Town citizens for their tendency to drop dead from usage, which the Croakers see as a good thing, passing into a euphoric afterlife, one of the best ways to die in an unforgiving wasteland. It's ritual for adult Croakers to take Tabs and have orgies to populate their community, much to the disgust of O-Towners who don't exactly care for their odd neighbors.
Croaker Locations:
Vault 53 Locations:
Kennedy Space Center Locations:
Air Force Station Locations:
The year is 2137. After an unexpected hostile takeover by a mysterious and heavily armed group, refugees from the settlement of Kennedy have flocked to O-Town. The Governor of O-Town, Reggie Shannon, has hired the party to investigate the attack, pointing them to the refugee camp located on the outskirts of town to start, and paying them the sum of 10 Cards ($250) and 5 Tickets ($250) each with the promise of more to come as they help out. The refugees have set up within in the sprawling parking lots directly outside of O-Town. The party can question the refugees to learn that the hostile group was wearing odd, colored uniforms and came from the east where Cape Canaveral is located, though no settlement was ever set up on the cape, and the Air Force Station was picked clean by them years ago with no trace of occupation. With the I-4 to the north destroyed, the party will have to take the roads up and around the former city of Orlando to the Kennedy Space Center. Alternatively, the party can choose to brave the ruins of Oldlando, home to many dangerous mutants and proto-tribal raider gangs, until they reach a highway that can take them all the way to the bottom of Merritt Island or Cape Canaveral.
O-Town is a booming hunter/farmer settlement, known for Iguana, Frog, and Cayman meat as well as a thriving Orange grove for which the town is named after. Oranges are extremely popular as they quench thirst and make for a tasty treat in the hot Florida sun. O-Town is one of the few "civilized" towns within the center of the Sunshine Waste, with proto-tribes scattered all around.
O-Town Locations:
- The Fari - Where O-Town's farms are cultivated by merchants and salvaged/reprogrammed Mr. Handy tourist guides within the former Safari Adventure theme park.
- The Resort - Where the main settlement homes and facilities are located.
- The Zone - Where the markets are located within the former Galactic Zone theme park.
Peoples of Interest
- Reggie Shannon - Governor of O-Town. He's a no-nonsense kind of man, and cares for his fellow O-Towners. He once led the OPD. In light of recent events, he's paranoid that whatever took out Kennedy will come for O-Town eventually, but can't spare the OPD personnel as they are stretched thin with the sudden influx of refugees.
- Earl Needy - Head Captain of the OPD. He's on constant alert for outsider threats, though none really plague O-Town as of yet aside from petty crime and a recent surge in illegal chems being distributed. He takes his job way too seriously and is a kiss-ass to Reggie.
- Bana - Member of the Croakers, a proto-tribe near Lake Apopka that supplies O-Town with water. He sells Tabs illegally to residents of O-Town via runners in exchange for tickets.
- Town Hall - A former museum converted into the head office of the Governor. An adjacent amphitheater is where assemblies are called and voting takes place.
- Jailhouse - The town jail, located in the Resort district.
- Swap n' Shop - A bazaar located in the Zone district. Rick's Shanks sells dried meats, The Fountain of Dreams sells purified water harvested from Lake Apopka, Ernesto and Co. sells armor, and Garand Thumb sells weapons.
- Elysium - A collection of farms located in the Fari district. They grow many things, but the Orange grove stands out as the most popular.
- Easy Money: One of Bana's runners were caught in the act and are being held in the town jailhouse. The party can silence them, making it look like an accident or suicide if they're good at Sneak. Afterwards, the party can optionally run for Bana.
- Wasteland Justice: Captain Needy knows Bana is the head of the drug running operation here in O-Town, however Governor Shannon forbids him from arresting Bana without clear-cut evidence as to not sour relations with the Croakers tribe who provides O-Town with their water. However, a breakthrough was recently made when a runner was caught in the act. The party can make him confess with Unarmed or Deception. Otherwise, they will have to find another damning piece of evidence to charge Bana.
- Get Off My Lawn: The recent influx of refugees has given the Buena Vista raider gang easy targets. Get rid of them by any means necessary.
- It Came From The Glades: Rumors of a monster in Oldlando has been circulating O-Town. They say it's tall as a tree, fast as a bullet, and deadlier than a Cayman. It only comes out at night.
- Stop This Crazy Thing, Part I: Investigate the attack of Kennedy. The party will learn of another refugee camp in the Croakers tribe that might know more.
Peoples of Interest:
- OBT - Named after the long and popular stretch of road that bisected Orlando down the middle, the OBT (Orange Blossom Trailers) are a large raider gang led by the Corporal, a ghoulified National Guardsman who oversaw the NCRA (National Catastrophe and Relief Auxiliary) camp at the epicenter of Orlando along the Orange Blossom Trail weeks after the Great War. They claim the road of their namesake, but can be found all over the region pillaging wanderers and traders.
- The Parrotheads - A proto-tribe of hippies living out of the Ritaville Resort. They aren't pacifists and will defend themselves, but will attempt to extend an olive branch (usually in the form of a blunt) before resorting to violence. They believe Heaven is a tropical paradise as foretold by their god Bubba.
- The Practicers - A proto-tribe with a background of survivors who took shelter in the ORMC (Orlando Regional Medical Center). They view their home as a temple of healing, and scour the wasteland for chems and medicinal properties as well as medical books and magazines. Their names comes from their veneration of medical knowledge which they attribute to their survival. They're led by their MD, Julio Veras. Short, hairy, wears a makeshift cassock made from doctor scrubs. They have a symbiotic relationship of sorts with the OBT where they exchange food and water for medical supplies.
- Buena Vista raiders - A raider gang from the city of Lake Buena Vista just outside Orlando. They are descended from survivors who took shelter in the COTT (City of Tomorrow, Today!) theme park. Their leader is unknown. They are infamous for their ruthlessness and cannibalism. The robots of the COTT have since kicked them out, forcing them to survive by any means necessary.
- The Executive - A former airport next to Orlando. It is now a swampy den overrun by Snappers, but might hold some valuable technology and components.
- Central Florida Zoo - A former exotic animal exhibit. While most animals held here perished in the Great War, one miraculously survived, the Spider Monkey.
- Vault 53 - A standard Vault-Tec vault. As of 2137, the has since been long abandoned, with the insides picked clean by the proto-tribes of Oldlando. No one knows what happened to the inhabitants. As the story goes, when the Vault door opened, the residents were nowhere to be found. It is now a nest of Iguanas.
- Florida Shopping Center - A former mall. The Florida Shopping Center is a large mall, half-submerged and filled with Cayman.
- The COTT (City of Tomorrow, Today!) - A former theme park and World's Fair Expo where prototype scientific advances were proudly displayed.
- Snappers - Large mutated snapping turtles. They swim fast but walk slow, avoiding land when they can. They can crush bones with a well placed bite, crippling anyone unlucky enough to be caught in their beak.
- Spider Monkey - Mutant Black-Handed Spider Monkeys. They now have the amount of eyes to match their namesake as well as two tails. They eat fruit and insects such and are a nuisance for the farmers of Elysium who have to constantly watch out for them in the Orange grove.
- Cayman - Mutated alligator. They're a sneaky predator that roams the Sunshine Waste. They've gained the ability to run on their hind legs, but by default walk on all fours. They can camouflage themselves, allowing them to expertly stalk their prey.
- Muscovy Raptor - Mutant ducks. They have grown talons where there used to be webbed feet, allowing them to scratch predators and grab prey as well as a piercing beak allowing them to reach for nuts and insects in smaller holes.
- Abomination - A giant Cayman with man-like arms who walks on two legs.
The Croakers are a proto-tribe descended from trailer park residents, a lot of whom were drug addicts and hippies. They live next to Lake Apopka, a pre-war test site for negating the radiation levels of water after a nuclear war. A prototype water purifier, still active and maintained by the people of O-Town and Croakers, sits near a dock where it scrubs the irradiated water, which they then further purify it via steam distillation. The Croakers, while small, are armed and protect their territory fiercely against hostile encroachers. In the early years, they clashed with O-Town over the purifier until a peace agreement was made between the first Croaker leader and the first Governor of O-Town after they inadvertently damaged it in the fighting. The Croakers hunt for Cane Toads, which secretes a hallucinogen that can get a user extremely high at the small chance of seizures or even death. The Croakers eat the Cane Toad meat while saving their toxins for what they believe is a groovy look into the future where abstract patterns shape into future prophecy (e.g., they get high and see the a cloud turn into the shape of what they perceive as children meaning they will have a fruitful legacy). They are called Croakers for multiple reasons, because of their addiction and reliance to Toads, the hiccups they get after an extended period of Tab use, and more derogatorily by O-Town citizens for their tendency to drop dead from usage, which the Croakers see as a good thing, passing into a euphoric afterlife, one of the best ways to die in an unforgiving wasteland. It's ritual for adult Croakers to take Tabs and have orgies to populate their community, much to the disgust of O-Towners who don't exactly care for their odd neighbors.
Croaker Locations:
- Magnolia Park - Where the O-Towners and Croakers work to purify the lake water to sell at The Fountain of Dreams in the O-Town Zone district.
- Paradise Heights - Where the Croakers main encampment and town is located, a trailer park and shantytown.
- Red Rocket - Where the Croakers prepare their Cane Toad meat as well as their Tabs.
- Grant - Leader of the Croakers. Slim, bushy long white hair and beard, and old. He is blind, but claims to see when he takes Tabs. He might be right.
- Suena - Daughter and caretaker of Grant. Slim, short brown hair. She is next in line for leader and has already taken on the responsibilities while she cares for her father.
- Rodolfo - O-Towner Chief Engineer and Tab addict who helps maintain the water purifier. Broad, red hair. His addiction to Tabs is making his work sloppy.
- Joaquin - Tab manufacturer. Roundish, medium brown hair. He is slipping some of his work into the wagons of O-Towners that work for Bana.
- Annie - Member of a small sect of refugees in the Croakers tribe. Average height, brown hair, lost her husband in the massacre.
- Its Good, But It Can Be Better: If the party is good at Lab Science, they can perfect Joaquin's Tab recipe so that it negates the harmful effects of Tabs and provide and even greater high, but to do so, it needs chlorine and naloxone. Perhaps a hospital in Oldlando carries these.
- Is There Anybody In There?: Rodolfo's extracurricular antics has been ruining the quality of the water, leading to trace amounts of rads found in the supply. He needs Addictol or Fixer which might be bought in O-Town or found in an Oldlando hospital.
- Wasteland Justice: Joaquin can be outed to Suena, which will result in her telling Governor Shannon, allowing Captain Needy to formally charge Bana.
- Go Crazy, Go Stupid: After helping the Croakers enough to gain their respect, the party can be invited to a celebratory drug orgy. Fun!
- Stop This Crazy Thing, Part II: Annie swore she saw Vault suits on some of the attackers in Kennedy. The only Vault around would be Vault 53 in Oldlando, perhaps that's where you need to go to find out what is going on.
Vault 53 Locations:
- Entrance - Where the Welcoming Center, Atrium, and first Maintenance level are located.
- Residential - A Vault residential level with bunks and recreation. Also has a Maintenance room.
- Cafeteria and Gymnasium - Where vault dwellers ate their meals and worked them off. Also has a Maintenance room.
- Classrooms and Library - Where vault dwellers went to school and studied. Also has a Maintenance room.
- Water Purifier and Generator - Where the source of power and water for the Vault are located. Also has a maintenance room.
- Maintenance and Cleaning - A sprawling work center where vault dwellers upkept their vault, washed their clothes and sheets, and stored all their equipment.
- House Cleaning: Iguanas have nested all over Vault 53 as the front door was half-way open. The party will have to deal with the Iguanas in order to continue by either outright killing them or manipulating the Vault's temperature to below 45 degrees to freeze them into hibernation.
- Something Ain't Right: The Vault Generator appears to be in a state of disrepair. Find a Vault-Tec Repair Guide and a Super Tool Kit and repair the facility to working condition, but beware, as the Vault's automated defenses will not like the intruders.
- Stop This Crazy Thing!, Part III: The Vault appears to be missing a crucial piece of technology: it's G.E.C.K. The Oldlando gangs didn't get ahold of it, so where could it have gone? If the party managed to succeed in the difficult repair of the Generator, the wall in the Generator room will slide open to reveal an entirely new part of the Vault. A pristine elevator will take them to an underwater bullet train that leads directly to the Kennedy Space Center.
- Your Answer Is In Another Castle: If the party failed to repair the Generator, they will have to search elsewhere, pushing onto Kennedy from the surface.
Kennedy Space Center Locations:
- Shuttle Landing Strip - A stretch of road next to the Kennedy Space Center proper that used to be an open-air farm growing all kinds of fruit and vegetables.
- Titusville - A small fishing town where citizens of Kennedy caught Big Bass, Silver King, Snapperjaw, Redfish, and the most prized and and rare Manatee.
- Launch Complex - Where a massive and mysterious rocketship now stands.
- Visitor's Center - A post-war hospital set up in Kennedy.
- Fire Station - The headquarters for the Kennedy Mayor and Guardsmen, the police of the settlement.
- Merrittville - Where the main homes and facilities were located
- Port Canaveral - Where the settlers of Kennedy drew their water.
- Major K. - Leader of the sect of Starhopper personnel. Tall, strong build, mean-faced, short white hair and stubble. Wears aviators no matter the time of day or weather. He is disciplined and to the point, doesn't like stupid questions or general tomfoolery.
- Chief Franco - Chief Engineer for the Ark. Average height, average build, brown hair. He is trying to get the rocket mission-ready.
- Sergeant Burma - Head of Security for the Starhoppers. Buzz cut, Napoleon complex, Tightass about regulations.
- Private Wernher - A Vault 53 descendant who's eager to leave the planet. Slim, short, black hair.
- The Starhoppers - Remnants of the USSA, USAF, and Vault 53 who are trying to leave the planet aboard the Ark. They wear a Space Age militaristic uniform resembling a mixture of a Vault suit and an Astronaut Pressure suit. It is colored by role -- Red for Soldiers and Security, Blue for Science and Engineering, Yellow for Pilots and Helmsmen.
- Who Goes There?: If the party failed to repair the Vault 53 Generator, they will have to push onward to the Kennedy Space Center from the surface. They will be stopped at the gates by Starhopper Guards and warned to turn around. If the party ignores the warning, they will be fired upon. If the party leaves, they will have to find a sneakier alternative way to enter, perhaps through Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
- There Are Many Like It, But This One Is Mine: Private Wernher forgot his Laser Carbine in the Fire Station and inspection is almost here. Unfortunately the Fire Station is where Sergeant Burma is headquartered.
- Impressive, Most Impressive: If the party repaired the Vault 53 Generator and entered the base via the underwater bullet train, they will arrive under the Launch Complex where Major K. will be impressed with the party's gumption. He will answer the party's questions so long as they aren't stupid in which after too many, he will kick the party out of the base and open fire on them should they return. He will reveal that the Ark they're building is headed for the Moon. When they land, they intend to colonize the Moon and start anew using Vault 53's G.E.C.K. Their plan has been in the works for generations, overseen by the ZAX supercomputer AI John F. Kennedy under the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, who has led them true the entire way through.
- Stop This Crazy Thing!, Part IV: If the party plays their cards right, Major K. will offer the party a space on the Ark should they accomplish an extreme task. They are to head to the COTT in Oldlando and return with a FlashTek Storage Device, a cutting edge piece of technology stored under the theme park that will allow them to download the John F. Kennedy AI from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station mainframe and upload it onto the Ark, guaranteeing they reach to the Moon safely.
Air Force Station Locations:
- Level 1: Flight Simulation - Where a generations of helmsmen trained rigorously for sixty years for their mission.
- Level 2: War Room - Where head personnel gathered to discuss progress, track the Vault 53 residents, and the Cuban missile site.
- Level 3: Mainframe - Where the ZAX 1.3c, John F. Kennedy resides.
- John F. Kennedy - A ZAX 1.3c supercomputer hooked up to a large monitor that resembles the long-dead 35th President of the United States. The ZAX 1.3c AI ultimately chose this persona for his inspirational role in the Space Race of the 1960s that ultimately got America to the Moon, long after his death. He is in control of the entirety of the facility's automated defenses.
- Sneaky Sneaky: Those who failed to repair the Vault 53 Generator can gain access into the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base by way of the sewer system in Port Canaveral. In order to do that, the party will need a Wetsuit and Rebreather which can be found in Oldlando via the OBT.
- Fly Me To The Moon: Download the John F. Kennedy AI onto the FlashTek Storage Device and hand it to Chief Franco. This ends the one-shot with the party launching aboard the Ark and taking to the stars, damning the Sunshine Waste to a hard reset once again.
- Stop This Crazy Thing, Part V: Confront JFK.
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