Road Hogs: Chronicles of Redemption
Chapter 10: The High-Speed Hostage
Adventure 10: The Train Robbery
Nine victories were secured, leaving just three good deeds between the Road Hogs and total restoration. Descending from the high peaks of Apex City, they reached a sweeping desert transit corridor where massive mag-trains sliced through the sand. The adventure generator tables clicked into place for a true highway crisis:
| Element |
Result |
Description |
| Town Type |
Industrial or polluted |
Dust Junction, a gritty refueling station choking on soot and sand. |
| Noteworthy Feature |
Lots of non-humans |
Goblin scrap-merchants and orc laborers operate the transit rail lines. |
| The Scenario |
Stop a heist or robbery |
Intercepting a ruthless gang looting a moving overland cargo transport. |
| The Location |
A moving freight train |
The Iron Leviathan, an armored locomotive speeding across the flatlands. |
| The Objective |
Proud But Penniless |
The train cargo belongs to an orphanage charity, but the public thinks it is corporate gold. |
| The Complication |
A rival biker gang |
The Steel Phantoms are pacing the train on heavily armed sand-skiffs. |
The desert heat mirage twisted the horizon as the Hogs idled near the main platform of Dust Junction. A panicked goblin rail-conductor named Barnaby sprinted down the track toward them, his long ears trembling.
Barnaby: Travelers! You have to move! The Iron Leviathan just blew past the station checkpoint—it has been boarded by the Steel Phantoms biker gang! They think they are stealing a cache of luxury bullion from a corrupt megacorp, but that cargo is actually a massive shipment of winter clothing, medical supplies, and food funding for the regional non-human orphanages! If they dump the crates in the deep desert, hundreds of kids will suffer!
Perry: A bunch of modern-day desperados stealing from kids because they cannot read a cargo manifest. Classic.
Barnaby: The train's manual brake controls are locked in the rear caboose, but the Phantoms are pacing the locomotive on rocket-powered sand-skiffs, shooting out the external couplers! You have to match the train's speed and leap aboard!
Mac: Moving at ninety miles an hour over unstable sand dunes? That is a textbook high-speed interception. Buster, Perry, throttle up!
The three custom choppers roared onto the desert flats, kicking up massive plumes of yellow dust as they drew parallel to the roaring iron undercarriage of the speeding train. A sleek sand-skiff driven by two armed Steel Phantoms veered toward Mac, attempting to wedge him under the heavy steel wheels of the locomotive.
🎲 Challenge: Executing a precision motorcycle jump onto the train's side maintenance ladder
GM Designations: Agile Challenge | Difficulty: 5
Player Dice Pool: Mac takes the lead on the dangerous stunt. He rolls 3 dice (Matches Agile Trait). Giving in to his Impulsive quirk, he hits a shifting sand dune to catch maximum air without calculating the train's lateral sway, boosting the difficulty to 6!
Dice Result: [4, 2, 6]
Outcome: Success! The 6 matches the high difficulty exactly. Mac abandons his bike perfectly, grabbing the rusted ladder handle while his chopper slides safely into a soft sand dune below. Mac recovers 1 Resolve Token!
Mac: Woohoo! My chopper's going to need a serious carwash after this, but I am on board! Dropping the exterior cargo ramp for you guys now!
Mac kicked the manual emergency release button on the side of the flatbed car. A heavy steel loading ramp dropped with a metallic crunch, scraping the desert sand and allowing Perry and Buster to ride their choppers straight up into the moving train car.
They parked their bikes next to the targeted charity crates just as four heavily armed Steel Phantoms scrambled down from the roof of the next car, guns drawn and masks locked.
Phantom Boss: Get away from the corp gold, you pig-nosed freaks! This haul belongs to the Phantoms!
Buster: Gold? Check the label on the boxes, genius. That is baby formula and blankets. And you are going to leave it right where it is.
Showdown on the Fast Track
Wind howled through the open flatbed as the train rocked violently across the desert canyon bridge. The Phantoms opened fire, their rounds pinging off the heavy iron cargo bracing.
⚔️ Combat Challenge: Overpower the train robbers and secure the emergency brake
GM Designations: Brawny/Agile Battle | Effort Tokens Required: 6
Round 1: Buster uses a heavy cargo chain to swing the thieves into the side walls!
Dice Pool: 3 dice (Brawny). Difficulty: 5.
Dice Result: [5, 5, 3] — Exceptional Success!
Outcome: 2 successes remove 2 Effort Tokens. Buster whips the high-tensile chain, wrapping up two shooters simultaneously! (Remaining Effort: 4).
Round 1: Perry exploits the train's swaying momentum to unbalance the boss!
Dice Pool: 3 dice (Crafty). Difficulty: 5.
Dice Result: [1, 2, 4] — Failure.
Action: Perry uses his Gift of Gab to call out a fake structural failure on the bridge ahead, spending 1 Karma Token to drop the difficulty to 4. The 4 now counts as a success!
Outcome: 1 success removes 1 Effort Token. The boss hesitates and looks out the window! (Remaining Effort: 3).
Round 1: Mac maneuvers along the top roof line to flank the caboose!
Dice Pool: 3 dice (Agile). Difficulty: 5.
Dice Result: [5, 5, 2] — Exceptional Success!
Outcome: 2 successes remove 2 Effort Tokens. (Remaining Effort: 1).
Buster grabbed a loose structural cargo chain, spun it over his helmet like a lasso, and let it fly. The heavy iron loops caught two Steel Phantoms right around their leather vests, pinning them together before Buster yanked them hard into an empty steel container bin. Sit tight, boys, your stop is coming up! Buster bellowed over the roar of the wind.
The Phantom boss scrambled toward the coupling lock, trying to decouple the flatbed to steal at least one crate. Perry pointed dramatically through the open side door toward the iron bridge supports.
Perry: Hey, boss! You might want to hold onto something! This old bridge hasn't been serviced since the goblin wars, and we just hit the structural resonance point! Look at those rivets pop!
The boss gasped and leaped away from the coupling to grip a structural safety rail in absolute terror. His hesitation allowed Mac to drop down from the roof directly behind him, executing a swift sweep of his legs to send the leader sliding across the slick metal floor, straight toward the caboose interior.
⚔️ Combat Challenge: Bringing the Leviathan to a Halt (1 Effort Remaining)
Round 2: Mac yanks the primary emergency brake handle!
Dice Pool: 3 dice (Agile). Difficulty: 5.
Dice Result: [6, 3, 4] — Success!
Outcome: The final Effort Token is removed. The brakes engagement sequence is successful!
Mac lunged into the control cabin, grabbed the massive, bright red emergency brake lever, and pulled it down with all his body weight. The undercarriage of the Iron Leviathan erupted in a massive blinding cloud of white sparks and screeching metal friction as the massive mag-train ground to a shuddering, definitive halt right on the edge of the Dust Junction boundary line.
Buster marched up behind the groaning Phantom boss, lifting him by his collar and tying him to a brake valve handle with a heavy bungee cord.
Buster: This train does not make stops for thieves. Hope you like walking in the sand.
Ten Down, Two to Go
By the time the regional marshals arrived to transport the captured Steel Phantoms, Barnaby and a team of grateful orphanage volunteers were already cataloging the untouched charity crates, cheering for the three road heroes.
Barnaby: You three are magnificent! You saved the supplies for hundreds of kids across the basin. The town council is commissioning a bronze statue of your club to stand in the main junction square!
Perry: Skip the statue, Barnaby. Just make sure those kids get their winter coats before the cold desert nights hit.
As they stepped off the train platform to retrieve Mac's buried chopper, a sudden, blinding flash of pure crimson and violet magic exploded directly across their faces. Perry gasped, dropping to his knees as his nose began to tingle and shift. When the light cleared, Buster looked at him in total shock. The long, prominent pig snouts were gone. Their noses were completely, normally human. Only their sharp, protruding tusks remained from Morwen's original curse.
Buster: Well, look at that! Ten good deeds down! I can actually smell the desert sage without a snout in the way, boys!
Mac: We are practically human again! Ten down means we only need two more selfless acts before this spell breaks entirely and we can show our real faces to the world.
Perry: Two more, fellas. Let us get these bikes cleaned up and hit the road. The final stretch of asphalt is calling our names.
The three choppers roared back to life, their exhaust echoing across the desert flats as the Road Hogs tore off into the expanding afternoon sky, hunting for their eleventh path to ultimate redemption...
The end of the road is in sight! Road Hogs mixes cinematic, fast-paced storytelling with the elegant, narrative-focused rules of the Tricube Tales system.
Buckle your helmet and build your own crew of legendary highway riders in this wonderful universe designed by Richard Woolcock.
👉 You can find it here: DriveThruRPG - Road Hogs
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