Introduction

About this adventure: it is meant to be played as a one-shot session on one evening with three to five players. It is system-agnostic and brings its own simple rules for encounters. No character sheets or rules required, all you need is a d6 (except you roll online) and a pen to write down the current hit points (and maybe some more dice to display the state of certain things like stuns). Every player character is a gnome with 10 hitpoints and no special skills. The fun part are the fights while using weird items (see sidebar) with their possible malfunction effects and the gadgets present on the battle maps (and maybe the mini games, but they are not part of this one-shot, there are many to find elsewhere, go get them and add them in).  

Background

To save money on wages, Whacker Tomsen started an automation project at Gnomerado: replacing staff with constructs. To keep maintenance low, he built them in a way that allows them to improve and repair each other. This worked out well... until gnomes started dying, removed and replaced by constructs.  

Summary

Whacker's project was a failure. The constructs improved themselves quickly into a direction he had not planned. To do their job best, they made themselves look and behave like the gnomes they should replace. Soon constructs and gnomes were indistinguishable. Then also Ford Prescript (secretly) reappeared, a former partner of Whacker and chief technician at Gnomerado, who had been ousted because he did his own little side projects using Gnomerado funds and resources. He gave the constructs what they needed to complete their evolution: a power core based on Aeum. He secretly built those with a control unit and a kill switch, giving him full control over the constructs.  

Timeline: "Once upon a Time in the Wild West"

 

Time	Description	Comment
10 am	Group arrives and explore Gnomerado	This should be just fun exploring and doing some mini-games. The players can find out that something is wrong in the entertainment park by watching gnomes do weird things or finding Whacker or by trying to visit the closed down rollercoaster. This should take about a third of the time.
6 pm	Airship leaves, park closes, constructs start attacking.	Fights versus some of the smaller and medium-sized constructs that are attacking wherever the group goes.
9 pm	Fight versus the wrong BBEG.	A rather short fight versus Whacker in his spider bot.
11 pm	Fight versus the right BBEG.	The Man in Black should be a real threat. Maybe add a few hitpoints to make him survive a little bit longer or add additional sentient constructs helping him. The PCs should run out of options and have used up all their special attack items before/when the boss falls.

 

Factions: "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"

  There are four independently acting groups in the park:    

Act I: "Testworld"

 

No matter where you go: there you are.

  For helping her in the past, Margo Weedlebeam offers tickets to the PCs that allow them to visit the entertainment park Gnomerado and try out the latest and greatest additions that are not available to the public yet. Each PC who is not a gnome also gets a 24 hours lasting transmutate-to-gnome flask, as only gnomes are allowed to enter the park. The PCs arrive by using the newly established airship line that connects Bridgeport and Gnomerado, they have to come here in leisure time clothes, which means: no weapons, magical things, companions, pets ...      

Attractions: "Prospect"

 

Never drink unless you are alone or with somebody.

  The first part of the adventure should be the PC exploring the Gnomerado entertainment park and them trying out things. The GM can add any mini-games they like and which somehow fit into the carnival and wild west theme. The Gnomerado map contains many labelled points of interest that can get explored: there are a side-car racing track and mud catching ponds, the Spin-da-wheel house with all kind of card games and a gnomish version of roulette, in the Gnowling Hall they can throw giant bowling balls into a group of gnomes, or a female gnome in the Fortune Teller hut may do wild prophecies.   Some of the new attractions are:    

Connecting the bits

 

It don’t take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.

 

• The employees are all pretty nervous, making silly mistakes, dropping things, or just standing there, staring at nothing. At first, they don't tell what's happening, but if the group doesn't give up on them they will tell that their boss Whacker is missing and that constructs are attacking and gnomes have been dying. There can be a little bit of confusion about who is attacking whom, as there are gnomes, constructs, and constructs looking like gnomes.
• If the group finds the gnomes defending the Museum of Famous Failed Gnome Inventions, the employees immediately talk about the attacks. They can actually recognize if someone entering the museum is a gnome or a construct via a big metal frame around the door that blares if the entering person is a construct.
• If the group visits the "Manor of Impossible Architecture", there is a chance they find Whacker hiding there. He first assumes that they are sentient constructs that finally have found a way to navigate the building, but if there is any reason for him to believe the PCs are no constructs (due to actions/roleplay), he will tell them what's happening in Gnomerado and team up with them. As this eliminates one big fight from the timeline, there should be some additional waves of attacking regular or mini-boss sized constructs instead.
• If the sentient constructs notice the group sneaking into the Poopy Pants Underground Rollercoaster, they immediately attack. The constructs will not follow anyone fleeing into the open. Whacker (notified by a spy) will now know of the presence of the PCs and try to contact them as soon as they are outside the rollercoaster area.

 

Act II: "The Quick and the Dead"

 

That'll be the day.

  As the PCs prepare to leave the park at the end of the day, the airship is already gone and there is no other way to leave. Depending on what the group has found out so far, different opponents start to attack.  

1. If they are still unaware of what is going on and Whacker didn't recognize them as gnomes yet, they get attacked by Whacker's simple constructs.
2. If they already tried to enter the Rollercoaster or somehow revealed themselves to Whacker or the sentient constructs, they will most likely have teamed up with Whacker and get attacked by those gnome-like constructs instead. This should become a scary moment: it just got dark and a gnome with red glowing eyes attacks. When the PCs defeated the construct or flee, they will suddenly see those red glowing eyes everywhere in Gnomerado. Every time they come close to a pair of those eyes, one or more constructs attack.

 

Combat: "Gunsmoke"

  The PCs (remember, they start with 10 hitpoints each) have a movement rate of 3 squares per round (movement is possible in all six directions). Everyone rolls 3d6 initiative at the beginning of the combat (the boss has his own roll, all other constructs act on the same rolled number). Then each round, the GM counts down from the highest value to the lowest and each participant attacks on their number (except when the initiative has been altered by an item's effect). When a PC drops to zero or fewer HP by a hit, they are unconscious. Do they take damage again, they are dead. A construct with zero hitpoints is broken and out of combat.  

Inventions: "The Salvation"

 

It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

  The group is probably unarmed but can use the items found in the Museum of Famous Failed Gnome Inventions, see the item list in the right sidebar. As they are museum exhibitions, all items come with a small descriptive card. Either Whacker (it befriended already) or a gnomish employee will give a hint to the museum or pull them there and help them get the things to work. There are other possibilities to damage the opponents:  

• Fall damage: Two PCs teaming up can easily push a construct to the ground, a single PC needs to roll a 6 on 1d6 to do that. A fallen construct has no further attacks in this round and needs to stand up again first. Damage done: 2 HP.
• Fire damage: There is always a chance (5-6 on 1d6 ) to find a bucket with inflammable liquid. A PC can ignite the bucket's content and throw it in one round if there is an open fire at hand. Roll 1d6 . On 4-6, the target is soaked in burning liquid and taking 2 HP damage for three rounds, on 1-3, the liquid covers 3 squares for one round, causing 1 HP damage to everyone crossing them.

 

Opponents: "The Wild Bunch"

  If they believe the regular maintenance constructs are going wild, they will probably attack anything that looks like a construct. At this point, Whacker does not know that the PCs are no constructs and will send his simple construct army to attack them.     If the group has found out that all gnomes are in fact constructs, or if they have talked to Whacker and he explained everything, then the enemies are: