Cimenatic plot help

[heirodule]

I'm planning on starting off an Xendrik Expeditions (philly players stop reading) game in a few weeks with a "cinematic" opening.




The group is flying in on a small airship into mysterious territory in Xen'drik.

A green beam shoots out of the jungle, hits the elemental and kills/incapacitates/etc it. They're going down in a controlled dive: the NPC pilot is doing his best.

They crash, survey the site, grab leftover equipment.

Now they notice that xen'drik bulettes' are heading their way.

They need to RUN!

But as they run, they emerge from the jungle on the edge of a deep cliff face: trapped between the bulettes and the sheer drop!

if they're patient, and climb tree, the bulettes will dig right out of the cliff face in their pursuit and fall to their deaths.

problems:
1. telegraph the bulettes are coming:
2. make sure the PCs RUN from the bulettes, not fight
3. make sure they aren't perturbed by the appearance of the cliff, and decide to stand their ground

the NPC might be of some help "the vibrations were feeling! Bulettes! RUN!"

Any other thougts?

 

[helium3]

Issues:

(1) Bulette's aren't THAT stupid, they have tremorsense and presumeably can detect the cliff face.
(2) How is it a controlled descent if the elemental is killed? Wouldn't it just fall out of the sky?
(3) How do the player's detect the bullette's advance? Can they be heard? If so, does anyone have enough ranks in listen?
(4) Can everyone climb the trees? A character in full plate is going to have problems with that.
(5) Why would player's run? D&D sort of conditions them not to since everyone assumes that most encounters are of an appropriate EL.

If you want a cinematic opening, just write it up and email or hand it out to everyone at the start of the game. Assuming of course that you have a group of players that don't get seriously cheesed off by DM's that do this.

 

[Quartz]

You've just watched Tremors, haven't you? That should supply you with all you need.

 

[LostSoul]

1. telegraph the bulettes are coming:
2. make sure the PCs RUN from the bulettes, not fight
3. make sure they aren't perturbed by the appearance of the cliff, and decide to stand their ground

1. The guy in the airship says something about the majestic burrows appearing on the ground. "Look, a bulette stampede. I wonder what they are running from?"

2. Tell the players directly that staying in the stampede will mean that they die.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

1. telegraph the bulettes are coming:
2. make sure the PCs RUN from the bulettes, not fight
3. make sure they aren't perturbed by the appearance of the cliff, and decide to stand their ground

the NPC might be of some help "the vibrations were feeling! Bulettes! RUN!"

I try to avoid the NPC exposition. Better to let the PC's see it in some way.

Have the ship crash down on a flat area that has some reasonably tall cliffs on one side. One Bullette pops up immediately, allowing the PCs to get in some butt-kicking. As the fight wraps up give them listen checks to hear something rumbling in the directions of the cliffs.

As they finish off the first bulette, 4 (or however many more is required to make the PC's scared) more come bursting out of the side of the cliff (foreshadowing the fact that they can be lured to do so again when blood-lusting and hunting), landing the 30-40 ft below safely and then immediately burrowing again. The PC's should turn tail and run at that point. Give them something they think they can run TO - a ruin in the distance perhaps. Of course, as it turns out the ruin is on the far side of the deep ravine the bulettes will eventually burst out of...

 

[Merkuri]

I like the idea of an NPC commenting on the bulette stampede just before they crash down in front of it. The PCs can look over the side and see them easily from flight, then when they feel the earth shake when they're on the ground they should easily figure out what it is (assuming you made a big enough deal of it when they're in the air).

If you give them one to fight that's reasonably difficult, then throw five or six more at them it should make smart PCs run. If they don't run at first, keep throwing waves of bulettes at them, each group with one or two more than the last. They'll figure out soon enough that it's not gonna stop and should run.

The last game our group played involved a fight with some fairly minor creatures that made us run. The scary part was not the creatures, but the fact that the supply of them seemed never-ending. The session before we had faced down and killed a creature the DM had put there just to scare us into running, but these little guys that he thought we'd have no trouble with made us book it. Enemies that keep on coming are scary enough to run from.

Killing an NPC in front of the group in a severely gruesome fashion can do it sometimes, but only if the players are good roleplayers. If they're all tacticians or wargamers it can just think you're challenging them or setting up the mood.

 

[heirodule]

thanks folks. good help!

 

[Middle Snu]

If the PC's are at a level where they think they can take a Bullette, then any sensible group will be flying very fast. I think your problem will probably take care of itself.