[Help] Spycraft: My table-top players please stay out!!!

[Tanstaafl]

In a little over a week a group of four level 15 Spycraft agents are entering an epic battle to save the world from alien invaders. It's the grand finale to our game before it get's shelved in favor of a new D&D campaign so I want it to be a lot of fun for everyone.

It'll be almost strait combat, something this campaign has not had much of & I'd like help/ideas on how to make it cool/memorable/challenging/ect. {I'm a little concerned about doing 4 hours of strait combat - don't want it to get boring or be to easy, also don't want to kill any of the PCs... they're all scheduled to retire to a tropical island with some eye-candy NPCs.}

 

[Neowolf]

Alient Mooks. Lots of 'em. Don't know what the alien race you're using is capable of, but if they're into bioengineering, then there might be several variations. Here's a few other ideas:

-Weird weapons
-Crazy computers
-Exotic space ships


Also, don't forget the chase rules! Spycraft has got probably the best vehicle rules of any D20 gamer to date, so you might as well use 'em! Best of luck to ya.

 

[Tanstaafl]

Thanks.
My aliens are home-brewed, mostly based on creatures from the Star Wars Alien Anthology... and since it's the last game I can pretty much do anything without fear of the game becoming 'broken.'

Alien monks are an interesting idea; they could team up with my cloned ninja nuns.

 

[Kenpo Wolf]

In a little over a week a group of four level 15 Spycraft agents are entering an epic battle to save the world from alien invaders. It's the grand finale to our game before it get's shelved in favor of a new D&D campaign so I want it to be a lot of fun for everyone.

It'll be almost strait combat, something this campaign has not had much of & I'd like help/ideas on how to make it cool/memorable/challenging/ect. {I'm a little concerned about doing 4 hours of strait combat - don't want it to get boring or be to easy, also don't want to kill any of the PCs... they're all scheduled to retire to a tropical island with some eye-candy NPCs.}

So are you going to quit Spycraft completely, especially with the new Stargate SG1 book coming out in a few months, or is it just a temporary thing?

 

[Tanstaafl]

I think that it's temporary... the rest of the group has voiced a desire to have me run a new Spycraft game starting sometime in Oct or Nov. Our group always has two games going at once. Right now it's Spycraft for three weeks and then 7th Sea for two. Next month it'll switch to D&D for three weeks and 7th Sea for two. We might throw a new Spycraft game (different setting & characters) into the 'two week' game slot or just run a series of one-shot adventures using the Sypcraft rules.

I'm personally looking forward to the 1960s World Book that's being released in October...

 

[Lugh]

I second the vote for heavy use of the chase rules. Lots of action, but a break from standard combat. And remember, foot chases are chases, too (though the system gets a little wonky, an issue to be addressed in the upcoming African Alliance book).

Also, make heavy use of sneaking. Nothing amps up the tension like trying to take people out without raising an alarm.

Finally, pull a twist on them at the end. They burst into the final room (bridge, control center, etc.) to confront the mastermind. He's sitting there smiling pleasantly at them. They open fire, only to discover that it was just an android. The real mastermind is getting away. If they split up, this is a GREAT time to bring the second group into the action. If not, then break out the chase rules again (and, since this is the grand finale, try to fudge things in the players' favor). A chase between a military helicopter and a damaged alien escape pod out over the open waters of the South Pacific would be damn cool.

 

[Tanstaafl]

The twist at the end is tempting, but I just pulled a huge twist on them the last time we gamed.

The PCs are all set to go into the Mastermind's secret underwater laboratory to rescue an important NPC who had just helped them out (and has been sort-of stalking one of the PCs, so he feels responsible). They gear up and take a boat out to sea. They sneak onto the island, locate the secret entrance, break in... and find nothing but corpses.

The place has been the sight of a huge battle, no one is left alive. Security footage shows a group of non-humans taking the NPC captive and then opening fire... then cuts out, aparently disabled. They search the entire complex, find the top-secret lab, and answer a lot of questions, but the Mastermind is missing and a presumably rival faction has control of an NPC who knows quite a bit...

so I hesitate to pull a similar trick again so soon. The look on their faces was priceless & they recovered wonderfully from the shock - they'd expected a dungeon crawl similar to the conclusion of the previous mission.

 

[Lugh]

Then reverse the twist. Have the "important NPC" turn out to be an alien in disguise (part of a faction fighting the bad guys, or just a general defector). He's still on the players' side, but they might be a little disturbed when they see him without his disguise on.

And, when the players are making their way through the base, have them find the Mastermind. He's captive, and has obviously gone through some brutal torture. He pleads for help, and offers up everything he knows about the aliens. Of course, he also double-crosses the agents at the end, and slips away during the climactic fight. When the aliens are fleeing one way, and the mastermind is fleeing the other, which will the agents chase?

 

[Tanstaafl]

Oh... I like this... and with the caliber of bad guys they're going up against it would be a bad idea to split up the party...

 

[Macbeth]

On the subject of too much combat, I like the suggestion of putting in chases to break up the action, but also have some interesting enivromental hazards and alternatives to combat.
I have a group of PCs who love roleplaying and like combat. I've found that they like combat with a twist, so i've begun adding ways to get an advantage on enemies ( provide a walkway above a main staging ground for the aliens. The PCs can use this to take some sniper shots at the troops, or they can totaly ignore it.) and giving each combat some enviromental factors (maybe the aliens can breath methane or some other gas, so they flood a room with a gas toxic to the PCs, and the PCs must fight while holding their breaths). By throwing in alternatives to straight combat you add avriety while keeping the focus on defeating the aliens. Enviromental factors make straight combat more interesting, and provide some real super spy moments.