Martian Footfalls

The mainstay of the Martian excursion is the Triskelion.  A mobile artillery piece on 3 telescoping legs strides through the ocean and across all terrain, held off by the great walls and guns of Fortress Europa. Its versaitility allows it to take on a range of missions - search & destroy, harvesting, field testing, take & hold, etc.

The Grand Alliance holds onto the hope that there's a finite number of the machines.  A hope that may be in vain as Martian offensives slowly ramp up, with varying numbers and load outs.  No two Triskelions are equipped the same, some carry chemical  payloads, some fly, and others seek out Earthling experts to harvest their psyches.

Martian Triskelion
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Fighting d6, Notice d8, Shooting d10
Pace: 11 Parry 6 Toughness 12 (Armor 6)
Special Abilities:
Armor - Armor 6
Susceptible to Magic - Suffers -2 to Armor and rolls opposing Magic.
HUGE -Size + some number. It has telescoping
Fearless - Immune to Intimidation, and being Shaken twice does not cause a wound.

Heat Ray - 2d6,AP 2, Heavy, deals +1d6 vs organic targets.
Claws - Strength +d8, AP 3

Modules -each Triskelion is equipped with 1-3 modules, outfitting them with special abilities.

Advanced Sensor Suite - no penalties for darkness, can detect footfalls.
Ego Extractor - This is used to harvest the brightest minds on Earth and force them to do Martian work.  The Triskelion must grapple its foe.  The victim must make an opposed Spirit roll or become brain dead as their psyche is stored in a special container.
Fertilizer - As a free action the Triskelion can unleash a cloud of nano machines that breaks down organic matter and spreads the Red.  This fills a large template.  Any Shaken Marstouched within the template automatically recover and act on their Action Card.  Anyone else must make a Vigor roll at -2 or suffer a wound.  A Red patch is left behind.
Heavy Armour - Armor 10, Heavy. Pace becomes 8 and Pace die becomes d4.
Jet Engines - Requires Levitator.  Flight becomes 13 and gains Pilot d8.
Levitator - The Triskelion gains Flight 5
Mutation Agent - A pressurized hose sprays a bright blue fluid that fills a flamethrower template.  Anyone hit by it needs to make a Vigor roll or gain the Marstouched quality.
Psychic Scream- Gain Intimidate at d10 and able to affect anyone within 6".
Self Repairing - Make a natural healing roll at the end of every round.
Slag Cannon - A vertically fed cannon that fires super-heated scrap metal.  Damage 2d10 , AP 4, Heavy,  has to reload after 2 shots.
Terrible Claws- Claw damage is Strength +d10, AP 5, and Heavy.

Red London Bestiary: The 3 Sovereigns

While the Martian menace poses the greatest external threat, the internal threat posed by the Crimson Court may be far more dangerous. Ensconced in different geographies, the constriction of travel has allowed an uneasy truce to form between them. Once at each others' throats, the alien invasion has opened doors within European society and made strange bedfellows out of the three Sovereigns. They each work to solidify their individual hold and topple the Grand Alliance, hoping to make a truce with the Martians, and pursue their individual goals.

La Reyna - Spain - In her mountain fastness high in the Spanish peaks, la Reyna cultivates gardens of the Red testing and nurturing mutations.  The discovery that the Red is fertilized by human blood spurred her further discovery that vampires can feed on the Red itself. Already immune to its gaseous pollution, spreading new, virulent strains is in their best intrest.  It doesn't hurt that she's formed a fairly extensive cadre of followers, mortal and immortal.

Attributes- Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d10, Strength d12+2, Vigor d10
Skills-  Shooting d8, Fighting d10, Persuasion d12, Notice d10, Stealth d8, Taunt d10
Pace 6, Parry 7, Toughness 8, Charisma +4
Special Abilities
Undead - +2 Toughness; +2 to recover from being Shaken; Immune to poison and disease; no wound penalties 
Bite - Strength 
Claw - Strength +d4
Dream Killer - Once per night, La Reyna can attack any character she can see in their dreams for 2 turns.  Soak derives from Spirit.
Fanatics - When la Reyna is hit by an attack, any of her goons jumps in front of the attack and suffers damage instead.
Levelheaded - La Reyna acts on the best of two cards.
Mist  - She can become mist if she passes a Smarts roll at -2.
Seduction - Male characters wishing to attack her do so at a -2.
Sire - Anyone slain (by bite) or bitten by la Reyna has a 50% chance of becoming a vampire in 1d4 nights.  Weakness (Sunlight) - She catches fire if she's in the sun.  After that she takes 2d10 damage per round
Weakness (Holy Symbols) - A character can repel La Reyna with a brandished holy symbol.  If she wants to attack them directly she has to beat them in an opposed Spirit roll.
Weakness (Stake Through the Heart) - If la Reyna is hit with a called shot to the heart (-6), she takes damage normally.  If she fails the Vigor test then she disintegrates.

The Dragon - Eastern Europe - With Britain lost and the Great Walls going up to create Fortress Europe, mass deforestation has increased the incidence of wild animal attackson civilized fringes.  No one's really sure when the creature known as the Dragon first emerged, but even its most human form sports a mane of lupine jaws.  The dimmest of the three Sovereigns, its hivemind cunning makes up for a lack of study.

Attributes- Agility d10, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d12+4, Vigor d12
Skills-  Climbing d8, Fighting d12, Intimidation d12, Notice d12+2, Stealth d8, Tracking d10, Swimming d8
Pace 10, Parry 8, Toughness 8
Special Abilities
Undead - +2 Toughness; +2 to recover from being Shaken; Immune to poison and disease; no wound penalties 
Arcane Resistance - +2 Armor vs magic; +2 to resist magic
Change Form (Wolfking) - The Dragon can take an action and break into a pack of Dire Wolves joined at the tail.  The pack is 4 + Wounds remaining.
Claws - Strength+d6
Fast - The Dragon discards any card lower than 4, drawing a new one.
Fear -2 - When confronted by the Dragon, characters need to make a Spirit roll at -2 or deal with Fright
Improved Frenzy - The Dragon makes two attacks each turn without penalty.
Pounce - The Dragon can leap its Pace to gain +4 to hit and damage.
Weakness (Bells) - The ringing of churchbells is painful to the Dragon, he must make a Spirit roll each turn or suffer a -2 penalty.
Invulnerability - The Dragon can only be wounded by silver weapons. Anything else just Shakes the beast.
Silver Vulnerability - Silver weapons cause normal damage

The Serpent - Egypt - A cobra close to the heart of the British Caliphate, the blasphemous pharoah awoke from the dead when an unscrupulous archaeologist broke into his tomb.  Since then he has taken to building a network of assets reaching to the highest echelons of British government.  Through alchemical drugs, forbidden knowledge, wiles of the flesh, grave goods, and unyielding labor; the Serpent has found a way to woo every pawn into his pocket.  Where la Reyna has sycophants and the Dragon simple beasts, the Serpent cultivates elite talent and turns them against one another for his own amusement.

Attributes- Agility d4, Smarts d10, Spirit d10, Strength d12, Vigor d12
Skills-  Persuasion d10, Fighting d10, Intimidation d10, Notice d10, Spellcasting d12
Pace 6, Parry 8, Toughness 10, Charisma +2 
Special Abilities
Undead - +2 Toughness; +2 to recover from being Shaken; Immune to poison and disease; no wound penalties
Death Touch - Every raise on an unarmed Fighting roll automatically inflicts one wound.
Arcane Background (Magic) - Slumber (mesmerizing tone), Barrier (wall of darkness), Summon Ally (Sentinel of stone), Bolt (torrent of asps), Obscure (swallowing light), Defelction (armor forms from scarabs), and Zombie (ritually prepared corpses).  The Serpent has 40 Power Points.
Invulnerable - Can only be truly killed by the blades of his Royal Guard, Otherwise he reforms in his sarcophagus hidden in the Valley of Kings.

Weakness (Fire) The Serpent's body is full of chemicals to maintain its semblance of life.  Some are incredibly flammable, causing him to suffer +4 damage from fire.

Red London Bestiary: The Red, Rough Beasts

The Red spreads aggressively wherever there's sufficient water, this includes mammalian bodies.  It functions like the cordyceps fungus and hijacks the central nervous system, seeking out secondary hosts as the primary host body disintegrates into a conventional Red patch.  The worst part is that living monsters can become carriers.

When a Werewolf becomes infested it becomes a Howler, the worst of both worlds. No longer dependent on the moon's fickle phase and sprouting surplus claws. Red fronds burst from the capillaries and thin skin of the beast's head, a mane from its ruptured eyes to the upper back offset the lost senses.  It now hunts through echolocation and chemical sniffing and transmits the hybrid affliction to its victims.

Attributes- Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength d12+4, Vigor d12
Skills-  Climbing d8, Fighting d12, Intimidation d12, Notice d12+2, Stealth d8, Tracking d10
Pace 8, Parry 8, Toughness 8
Special Abilities
Claws - Str + d8
Sweep - The Howler's attack roll is made as a -2 but hits all adjacent targets.
Fear
Infestation - Living or dead, victims of a Howler's attacks have a 50% chance of becoming a Howler themselves.
Invulnerability - The Howler can only be wounded by silver weapons. Anything else just Shakes the beast.
Silver Vulnerability - Silver weapons cause normal damage.

The Red's bloom has hurt rural populations disproportionately as waterways were choked with the stuff.  Early on farmers attempted to make the best of a bad situation.  Aside from toxic emissions, the Red tasted too metallic for human consumption but apparently their pigs loved the stuff.  Then they twisted into Teufelsschwein, vicious throwbacks of tremendous girth.

Attributes- Agility d4, Smarts d4, Spirit d8, Strength d12, Vigor d12+2
Skills-  Climbing d8, Fighting d10, Notice d8
Pace, Parry, Toughness 12(4)
Special Abilities
Tusks - Str+d8
Thick Fat - Armor +4
Hardy - The Teufelsschwein does not take an additional wound from being Shaken twice
Gore - If the Teufelsschwein moves 6" before it makes an attack, add +4 to the damage.

To be continued

Escape From Red London

1897

Then.

Martians pulverized London, the greatest city in the world, with meteors.  Blotting out the sun and providing a staging ground for sustained invasion.  

A series of fifty foot walls were erected and Continental armies encamped facing Britain. The containment enjoys middling success, repelling smaller Triskelions but eroding under the constant siege of the Red.  A noxious weed that feasts on human flesh and exhales poison.

The Rippers and Cabal came together to form the Lodge and emerged from the shadows to aid the Grand Alliance.  Their advanced scientific and mystical knowledge a glimmer of hope.  They are mainly tasked with combatting the Crimson Court, monsters flush with the alien parasite and their own aims worming their way through the Continent.

1899

Now.

Since the sky darkened, everything touching the the northern Atlantic is lost under a Red carpet.  Paris is besieged and King Edward of Britain now rules from Egypt. The fortifications have magnified but hope is now a luxury as Martian Triskelions test Europan defenses more brazenly each day.

With the Crimson Court broken, the British government has unleashed the Lodge to wage total war against the Invaders.  Many advances in Rippertech and Black Science show promise when applied on a large scale.  Pursuing one such path of inquiry Dr., Jekyll, the Lodge’s lead scientist, was field testing a weapon in the Red Zone before contact with his aerodreadnought, the HMSS Revenant, was lost.

We have reason to believe that he survived the crash.  You’ve been tasked with recovering the good doctor and his notes, destroy the prototype if it isn’t already ruined. You will be inserted via capsule launched by the Cairo Gun Club, this is a one way trip.  Your extraction will be from the last standing tower of St. Paul’s Cathedral in 12 hours after you are fired from the Great Cairo Gun.

Be aware that there are those still trapped in Britain and none can vouch for their civility.  They have forged their own societies, surviving anyway they can from the wreckage that was.  The rules are simple: once you go in, you may not come out.

The System: Savage Worlds - Rippers Resurrected

Looks Like:  This with way more gas masks

Tastes Like: Blood Pudding and baked beans with Newcastle Brown

Sounds Like: Carpenter Brut’s Trilogy