Sand-Road? Rail-Box? Trying to find a happy medium

That didn't work so well...

Looking at the story outline from the beginning, I can see the railroad tracks. The players are given a specific reason for entering the mountain lair of the cultists, and then proceed to work their way through the toxic environment for reason x.

Of course I do want the players to get into the mountain, and I am not exactly dropping them in by way of giant eagle, but I need to flesh out some alternatives.

Creating the Setting

This is where the setting comes in. I don’t want to go full sandbox here either, because that is beyond the scope of what I want to accomplish (which is finishing this thing in my lifetime).  I need to find a happy medium that has a “sandboxy” feel but also directs the players towards the mountain.

I originally never gave the setting a lot of thought aside from a church presence in the area a city or town that could have been populated by cultists.

The effects of a crashed star ship on the environment would be catastrophic I would have to assume. If a mechanic shop can turn a city block into a superfund site, then leaking alien radiation and chemicals should definitely play hell on the region.

The mountain continuously spews toxic smoke which has blanketed much of the region in a caustic haze. Ground water is poisonous and crops won’t grow. Animals have fled and livestock cannot be supported. Many of the town’s most prominent figures all disappeared after the spaceship crashed into the mountain because they were all secret cultists who were pulverized.

Inhabitants of the Hellish Waste

So the area has become a barren wasteland. How will the players resupply themselves?  Who will they sell alien beads and credit cards to?

I need a reason for people to stay in an environment that is slowly killing them, and forcing them to import all of the goods they need for basic survival.

My first idea was (and is) that the church in the region that takes such pride in their Deity destroying the cultist cell deep within the mountain has maintained a presence. They feel that it is the duty to endure the punishment dealt by their god as a living reminder to stray from a wicked path. This would account for at least a small settlement and group of NPCs the characters could interact with, but it is much further away from the sandbox-ish style I want.

Instead of a religious outpost that is a constant financial drain on the larger church, I decided I should flip it.  The outpost should be a source of revenue so fantastic that any expenses in keeping it operational would be warranted. This can be paired with the above notion of the church outpost, and humbly enduring the hardships of the wasteland in the service of their god can still be the “mission statement” of the clergy in the region.

Creating an Economy

So where does the revenue come from?

When the spaceship crashed into the mountain, it was a cataclysmic affair. Fissure, cracks, rifts, and small canyons were opened up in the rocky hills at the base of the mountain. The church has developed a particular fondness to one small canyon, and converted it into a pit mine of sorts.  Exposed ore and veins have made mining as simple as collecting the exposed metals.

The prisoners are revolting, and they are pretty
disgusting too.

The church has begun operating a prison, which is the open pit mine. The prisoners live, sleep, eat, and die in the small canyon. The prison produces a steady stream of ore and minerals for export and there is no shortage of prisoners being sent to the pit.

There are several pit mines in operation aside from the prison mine, operated by rival mining companies.  A large “boom town” has emerged, reoccupying and expanding upon the settlements that were abandoned after the crash.

This gives the characters a much larger variety of NPCs to interact with, and lends a lawless frontier feel to the region. It also lends itself very nicely to a varied set of adventure hooks.

-Aaron