After having the books for quite awhile, I finally got to run my first session of Exile Games, Hollow Earth Expedition last night.  I had 4 players.  2 of them had a fair amount of experience with rpgs (1 mostly D20), 1 had only played 1session of Labyrinth Lord last month, and 1 had never played anything (but had a vague memory of rolling up a guy for Warhammer many years ago).  

I ran a con module put together by several people over on the Exile Games forums-John Aynge chief among them.  You can get the adventure here:

http://johnaynge.googlepages.com/EMBRACEFINALJULY12th7PM.pdf  (First part)

http://cthulhudreaming.com/lairofthegoldendeath.pdf (second part)

and the pre-gen Characters here:

http://johnaynge.googlepages.com/CharactersheetsandTabletents.pdf

Here's the pregame razzle dazzle I put together and sent my players a few weeks before the game to get them pumped up:

http://johnaynge.googlepages.com/Embrace1.ppt

The players opted to play:

Dirk Savage-ACTION STAR!
Kincaid Larean-The Director
Darby O'Hara-The Prop Guy
Rolly Timbers- The Agent

Part 1:

Kincaid did a great job getting us started- really getting into the "lights, camera, action!" The earthquake hits, knocks everyone but Kincaid and Darby off their feet, and the Zombies burst out of the coffins. While the pc's are trying to figure out what is going on (are these some kind of special effect Darby didn't tell us about?) I have one of the zombies shamble over and bite Trevor (npc) on the arm. At which point the gal playing Rolly says "Hey, how can they bite him? I thought you said their mouths were sewn shut." Good point. Make that a scratch across the arm and a style point for Rolly.

The zombie fight was bit tougher than I expected (good rolls for the zombies, bad rolls for the pc's, and they were sick from the zombie gas for quite awhile). Kincaid kept firing with his derringer and missing badly. Darby wrestled around with a zombie while Rolly hacked at it with his cane sword- a few close calls where Darby almost gets stabbed himself, and Dirk dispatched the 3rd zombie with his .45 automatic. The several near misses of friendly fire (and swords) added to the tension, humor and general Indiana Jones feel of it all. Other than the initial bite turned scratch, I kind of forgot all about Trevor, Lillian, and the extra in the room, which turned out to be quite fortunate. I had planned to kill them off this scene, but we all were glad I didn't when we realized Trevor and Lillian were the only ones with first aid!

After the fight, Kincaid wants to reshoot the scene using the dead zombies as props (he cut right after the earthquake). The others refuse to work under such conditions and start trying to figure a way out. They open the altar and find the dead lizardman and the water is coming up through the floor. Nobody wants to reach in and mess with the Lizardman, and the players all arrive at the same conclusion simulateously- HAVE THE EXTRA DO IT!! "Sure thing Mr. Larean, right away Mr. Larean" The extra reaches in, unwraps the lizard, and pulls out the amulet and rings which Kincaid promptly pockets. They find the "keyhole" for the amulet in the back of one of the open coffins, open the secret passage, and are on their way into the tunnel.

Part 2

The group hikes through the underground tunnel, Darby with headlamp mounte in the lead and Rolly with cane sword in the rear to protect against any zombies that come up behind them. Kincaid was insistent that he, and his stars, stay in the middle for protection. When they hear roaring water ahead, they use Darby's rope to tie everbody together. Dirk tells everyone he knows how to do this "I did a mountain climbing movie with Spencer Tracy". They get to the underground river, Darby inspects the rickety bridge and decides it can hold one person at a time, maybe 2. Using the rope as a safety line, Darby, Dirk, and Kincaid cross. Lillian falls in the water but gets pulled to safet.. Kincaid is pleased "audiences will eat up that wet dress". The extra falls in too and the rope snaps. Bye bye. Trevor makes a try at it with no rope and falls to his doom as well. Rolly, using incredible common sense, asks if he can crawl instead of walking like a balance beam. I say sure and give 4 bonus dice. Rolly makes it over. The players who until now and seemed completely unconcerned about the wailing lizardman in the cage, decide to save it. Dirk blasts the lock off with his .45 and the lizard spends quite awhile hugging Dirk's leg. "I get that a lot" says Dirk. They feed the starving lizard some beef jerky and scotch and Rolly is able to communicate it using hand signals, gestures, and grunts. The players get the message that bad men with guns are up ahead. Assuming it must be some local gang of bandits, they creep up the tunnel towards the rays of daylight.

Part 3:

The party emerges in an alcove of the castle courtyard and takes in the sight- massive arch with final stone being put into place, lizardmen chain gangs, nazi guards. Dirk wants to just walk out and talk to them "I'm really big in Germany", but the others urge greater caution. After the Nazi's put the last colored stone into the arch, a strange blue electrical field spans it, and the Nazis send a crew of men marching towards the arch. The pc's decide these guys are definitely up to no good, and that they need to figure out a way to destroy the arch! (PLAYERS! They always do the darndest thing  ). Dirk, Rolly, and Darby try sneaking over to the 2 krauts busy smoking over by the experimental looking machine gun. Kincaid hangs back with Lillian and the freedlizardman. Dirk is almost on the guards, when Rolly stumbles on a rock. The guards whirl around, and Dirk decides to blast them in the face with the .45 instead of punching since the element of suprise is lost anyway.

The players overpower the 2 guards and Dirk mans the machinegun, quickly mowing down some more Krauts. Darby makes a dash towards a truck near the portal for cover, and plans on chucking the dynamite from there. Rolly and Kincaid pick up Lugers from fallen Germans and blast away. Then the T-Rex comes through the portal.

Complete Pandemonium.

Nazis shooting at the T-Rex. T-Rex Eating Nazis. Dirk blasting the dinosaur with the machinegun, and Rolly and Kincaid in a running gun fight with more Nazis....and then the guy playing Darby did one of the coolest things of the night.

Darby sees that the T-Rex might be a higher priority than the portal (it had already taken several machine gun blasts and was still quite alive and kicking). Darby says "Can I light the dynamite with one of my flares, throw it in the truck, jam the accelerator down with my crowbar and send the truck crashing into the T-Rex?" What is a GM to say other than "sure!". I throw him a style chip and tell him it's going to be a pretty tough trick to pull off. He shoves ALL of his style chips to the center of the table and rolls. Success! The truck crashes into the T-Rex and bursts into flames. The dinosaur is on fire and burned all over one side-looking like Two-Face from batman. The beast turns and charges at Darby....

The earthquake is getting more intense and the players are trying to figure a way out of the castle. The main entrance is still guarded by several nazis. The whole southeast corner of the castle collapses and falls off the face of the mountain. Giant stone blocks all falling and crushing nazis right and left. The lizardman starts pulling on Kincaid's leg and pointing towards the portal.

The T-Rex chomps down on Darby-almost tears his right arm off and leaves him bloodied and staggering with 0 Health. Dirk fires off a final blast with the machinegun and the monster finally falls. Kincaid and Lillian stop to give Darby a hand as they make a run for the portal with the Lizardman. Stepping into the blue electrical field they have a tingling feeling and vanish. Dirk adds "I have a bad feeling about this" runs to follow, and makes a James T. Kirk style roll to avoid a hail of SMG fire as he dives into the portal.

After brief moment of nothing but blue energy around them, they appear on hillside and start tumbling down it. They land in some sort of pit and look up to see Germans standing at the top with guns leveled at them.

We take a 5 minute intermission.

Part 4:

The players (somewhat to my suprise) decide wisely that discretion is the better part of valor and wait to see what happens next. There are 6 German soldiers (wearing some strange swastika with sword emblem they are unfamiliar with) and a woman in similar uniform. She reaches down into the pit and with the GM's best bad German accent carresses Dirk's face and tells him what a big fan she was growing up. Just as Dirk is thinking "this place isn't too bad" she slaps him and tells him "this is not the movies Herr Savage! You have disrupted mein Fuhrer's plans. Such actions will not be tolerated! Eliminate them." Just as the fraulein gives her henchmen the order to open up, the players here a strange screeching sound and a large shadow covers the nest. Roll initiative....

A Pteranadon swoops down, grabs one the Germans and flies off. Larean picks up one of the giant eggs in the nest and tosses it at a German-doing no damage but covering him in dino-yoke. 2 Germans start firing at the pteranadon. Natassja sceams "To the trucks! Wir must gehen auf das Geld Machine!" She and the remaining German make a run for the nearby truck. Dirk scoots of the nest and runs for the truck as well. Darby is in bad shape and lies low "I assume the fetal position" in the nest, and Rolly stands guard over him.

The Germans make it to truck first and drive off. The Kraut with egg on his face, wipes out of his eyes, draws his dagger, and jumps down into the nest intent on slitting Kincaid's throat. Rolly saves Kincaid's bacon and skeweres the Kraut with his cane sword. Darby picks up the fallen SMG and fires wildy at the Germans shooting the pteranadons. Another creature swoops down towards Dirk. Dirk hits the deck emerging unscathed but with a torn shirt. Dirk is not happy.

Lillian grabs the SMG out of Darby's hands and blasts a German dead (a'la Spaceballs), and after a few more rounds the players kill all but one German, take the other prisoner, scrounge up guns and ammo and seek cover in the nearby jungle to figure their next move.

Part 5:

The captured German is tied up, and Rolly starts interogating him. Kincaid tells Rolly to find out about the "geld machine" and then rips a piece of fabric off Lillians dress. Lillian slaps Kincaid for 1 non-lethal damage. Kincaid "It's for Darby! He's in bad shape" Lillian: "Did you ever think of asking!" Lillian tends to Darby's wounds. Dirk reloads his .45 and smokes a cigar. They get the following from the German:

-The woman's name is Natassja and she's in charge
-They're based at gold factory
-The Germans plan on getting the gold back to Germany through the "Blitzkrieg tunnels"
-He doesn't know where they are, is sick of all these dinosaurs and just wants to go home.

Just then Rolly notices the Kraut reaching for a dagger in his boot to cut his ropes. Dirk kicks him in the crotch and the players decide that searching their captive might not be a bad idea- turning up the dagger, a luger, a grenade, and a canteen full of water. Dirk knocks the German out with his left hook and they leave him tied up in the dinosuar nest.

Rolly observes what looks to be some vine covered buildings sticking out of the jungle off to the left of the road, and the party decides to investigate. While making their way through the brush they notice the noon sun is high in the sky, but it was late in the afternoon when they went through the portal back in the castle.

Part 6:

Arriving at the ruins they find several buildings and a large obelisk in the center with the top broken off. Darby's knowledge of art tells him that the buildings are strange mishmash of a vareity of styles- Mayan, Egyptian, and Greek. Rolly examines the runes carved into the obelisk and thinks they might be some sort of ancient root language because they share many characteristics with a variety of modern tounges. Dirk notices a strange bush with vines sticking out, pulling itself along the ground as it moves between two buildings. Wary of the moving plantlife (the Labyrinth Lords session we ran last month features some pretty nasty man eating plants), the party heads back to the road and follows the tracks of the truck. Rolly notices that the sun is still high in the noon sky and checks his pocket watch. The watch says it's 3 a.m.

A ways down the road, there's another ruined building on the side covered in squirming vines. When the group is done looking at the vines and turns up the road again, 3 Germans in gili suits step out of the undergrowth, weapons ready to fire. "HALT! Put your weapons down"

The players drop their weapons (except for Rolly's cane sword and a grenade Darby keeps in his pocket). The PC's notice some rustling in the bushes behind the Germans. Darby yells "Look out, there's a dinosaur behind you!" "Hah, you stupid Amerikaners. We are not fooled so..AAAAA!" replies a German as a spear flies from the bushes and drives through his torso. The PC's dive for their guns and make short work of the other 2 germans.

"Holster your weapons" calls a voice from the jungle with what sounds like a Texas accent.

Part 7:

A cowboy steps from the jungle wearing a revolver on his hip. He's accompanied by 2 other men-both in ragged clothes- one carrying a spear and another a German SMG. He introduces himself as Geoffrey McNally and says he got here while looking for the Lost Dutchman mine in the Supestition Mountains. Rolly asks what year Geoffrey is and he say the same year it was yesterday- 1891. The players tell him they are from 1936 (except for Darby who was a bit confused and thought it was 1939). Geoffrey informs them that his people are about to launch a raid on the "grey coat" base to liberate their comrades who have been captured and forced into slave labor. The movie crew is welcome to come along and if they do help, Geoffrey will tell them what he knows about getting home tomorrow. The group agrees and travels with Geoffrey and his men to their camp.

The camp is set up in a jungle clearing and consists of several dinosaur hide tepees. Geoffrey draws a rough map in the dirt and outlines the plan for the assault- get on rafts the "tribe" has built, take a river to the canal system that flows through the ancient city, get off the canal at the passage up into the German compound.

Darby inspects the rafts and believes them to be of sound construction. Dirk smokes another cigar. Rolly notices it still seems to be noon and asks Geoffrey if they'll attack in daylight or wait for nightfall. Geoffrey says they'll attack now, as the Gray Coats won't be expecting an assault in broad daylight. Rolly is very suspicious Geoffrey knows more than he is letting on and asks how they'll get home if Geoffrey is killed in the battle and can't tell them what he knows tomorrow. The Texan says he and "Mr. Colt" can take care of themselves as he pats his sidearm.

The "tribesmen" and the movie crew get off the raft and follow a passage the Germans come down to collect water from the canal into their base. A few Germans stand guard over a large number of slaves who are working away shoveling coal into some sort of furnaces. The Nazis are dispatched, and Dirk climbs a ladder to check out what is through the hatch above.

Part 8:

Dirk quietly peeks through the hatch at the top of the ladder and sees some kind of control room. There are several German soldiers, a few technicians in lab coats working the controls, and Natassja looking over the shoulders of one of the techs. Dirk climbs back down, gets a grenade from Darby, and then pops the hatch again and chucks a grenade into the room. The blast takes its toll on the Germans and alerts them to the intruders presence. Dirk opens the hatch one more time, and is greated by a spray of bullets. Nicked in the arm, he climbs out into the control room and takes on the surving Germans. He sees Natassja running down a passage into another room and yelling "Intruders! Schmidt, eliminate the Americans!" Darby, Rolly, Kincaid, and Lillian quickly follow Dirk up the ladder. Geoffrey and his gang stay below busy freeing the slaves.

After subduing the remaing Germans in the control room, Darby tosses all the grenades they've recovered into the large room where Natassja fled. Several germans can be seen running to grab weapons and taking cover behind large pieces of machinery down there. All out of grenades, the party charges into the room and then quickly takes cover behind the equipment. Going out in the open appears to be suicide and both sides appear to be pinned down.

Part 9:

The player's hear Natassja's voice: "Herr Savage, I have a proposition. Let's see if you are as tough as your movies make you out to be. It appears we are at a standoff. You come out and fight one of my men- no weapons- and the loser's comrades will lay down their arms, unless of course you aren't man enough."

Dirk drops his .45 and steps out from behind his cover. The GM gives Dirk 3 style points. "SCHMIDT!" yells Nattassja, and a truly giangantic german- near 7 feet tall steps out, raises his fists and strides towards Dirk saying "Du bist tot".

Dirk wins intiative and puts all his style points on the line. Kincaid inspires him with "KNOCK THE *#*#*! OUT DIRK!" earning Dirk 2 more dice. The action star's right hook smashes the Nazi's nose stunning him, but the brute recovers fast enough to block Dirk's next swing.

Rolly spies Natassja getting into one of two drilling machines pointed towards the floor.

The hulking Nazi rings Dirk's bell with a quick right jab and mocking laugh. Dirk answers with a mighty cross. A crack is heard as the giant's head spins and he falls to the ground. Dirk takes off for Natassja. The rest of the party make a break from their cover and run for the 2nd drilling machine, dodging gunfire along the way.

Natassja's drilling machine whirs to life and diappears into the earth. The player characters all hop in the 2nd one and swing the door shut, hearing bullets ricchocet off it's armored hull behind them. Rolly takes a second to figure out the controls and fires the machine up.

After what seems like a very long time, the group is all getting very hot in the machine, when suddenly it rocks violently and comes to a stop. Cracking open a viewing slot they look outside and see the sun setting over snow capped mountains. They climb out of the machine and find themselves on a mountian side. Natassja's drilling machine is burning on a nearby hillside. Between the two machines is a winding road, and the players spie what looks like a road sign.

The group walks over to get a closer look at the sign and it reads:

Zurich 20km

THE END