HELP WANTED - my game tonight

[alsih2o]

Yes, the bath-house worked so well partly because it was such an interesting fight locale. I need to think of some kind of interesting, maybe open-air locale for tonight, when they end up coming face to face with the full horror of the corruption in Bartomeu's Bluff. But I'm coming up blank there, too.

A mining town sounds fraught with possibilities to me.

Have the fight where the little railcars that are used to move things in and out are stored. Jumping car to car getting cover and being roled a round.

Or in an evil temple carved into the (product of mine).

Saloon?

How does the ore get out of town? Docks? Wagons? Train?

 

[Desdichado]

A mining town sounds fraught with possibilities to me.

Have the fight where the little railcars that are used to move things in and out are stored. Jumping car to car getting cover and being roled a round.

Or in an evil temple carved into the (product of mine).

Saloon?

How does the ore get out of town? Docks? Wagons? Train?

Wagons. That's a good idea, though - Bartomeu's Bluff implies that the town is built next to a big cliff or something, and if the mine's literally right there, then I can have all kinds of weirdo climbing scenes and whatnot. I don't know if the PCs will have any real reason to go inside the mine itself, but I can have tracks and railcars going through town, maybe drawn by draft animals of some kind.

 

[deltadave]

Its ok if the game isn't constant high tension, the best way to get a great high is to go there from a tremendous low. The emotional rollercoaster makes the highs and lows feel all the more extreme. If you feel that there isn't enough edge of the seat tension, drain all the tension and put in dread or hopelessness or some other type of feeling that isn't excitement. Then you will be poised to crank up the tension again.

Its normal human nature to not be able to maintain a high state of excitement for too long of a time... after a while the edge comes off.

 

[Desdichado]

Well, we only play once every two weeks. We don't have to keep constant tension between sessions.

Besides, we've had several sessions of lower tension now; it's time to start bringing it back.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

It being a mining town, it could built right into the bluff itself - the mines go directly into the cliff face, and the town only extends a block or so out. Buildings are tall, and carved right out of the stone. The town extends up and down the cliff, with steep stairs interconnecting levels the closer you get to the cliff face, and scaffolding-like wooden and metal connecting them on the outside edge of the cliff (for vertigo-inspiring dizziness). Buildings seem to swallow up the narrow alleys between them, and between the shadows from the buildings and that from the cliff, its almost always swathed in dim light (make the town face west, and you can have the fading sunset illuminate the entire town at once).

Interesting battles can take place in the narrow alleys and steep stairs, and especially on the scaffolding stairs on the outside edge, where wind, creaking wooden planks, and slightly swaying metal scaffolds will scare the bejeesus out of everyone. The 200 ft. drop won't hurt, either. So to speak.

Give the townies max ranks in Climb - they're used to swinging all over the scaffolds like jungle gyms, so they seem to always be able to get ahead of the PC's who have to be more careful...

 

[Desdichado]

Brilliant! Thanks! Any more?

 

[LostSoul]

What have you got for non-combat scenes?

A scene where the PCs see something of the depravity that lurks in the town... they get a whiff of it, or whatever. Maybe it's as easy as seeing a brutalized corpse, naked from the waist down, and it's impossible to tell what gender this person was.

 

[dreaded_beast]

Well, if your PCs are going to be fighting by a cliff: falling objects.

All sorts of things could be popping and tumbling out of the mines that are tunneled into the cliffside, above their heads: rocks, boulders, wagons, ore, etc.

Every round or so, roll randomly to determine what pops out.

Then roll randomly to determine what area of the falling objects land.

Hopefully, your PCs aren't standing in the vicinity.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Yes, the bath-house worked so well partly because it was such an interesting fight locale. I need to think of some kind of interesting, maybe open-air locale for tonight, when they end up coming face to face with the full horror of the corruption in Bartomeu's Bluff. But I'm coming up blank there, too.

Cactus farm!

It's a mining town, right? Mining is horrible, dangerous, low-paying work. I can't imagine that anyone in town is ever in a good mood. And since you're playing a borderline horror game, it gives new meaning to the line from the song Sixteen Tons: "I owe my soul to the company store."

You load sixteen tons; what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
St. Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

Think of all the cool mining implements you could throw during a fight in a mining supply depot (especially if the PCs don't have their weapons with them for some reason, or get disarmed a lot).

Local brothel--just what would be in an Innsmouth-type town brothel anyway?

Of course, something could "herd" them into the mine. That's a great place for a fight--all the shafts and tunnels could really make for some interesting tactics (from both sides); not to mention all of the interesting implements they could use during the fight. And if the mine they enter isn't too extensively developed (or has had part of the mine blocked off due to a cave-in), you can keep the "battlefield" relatively small. Imagine their horror when, in the middle of the fight, the canaries in the cages start dieing--that should put some time pressure on them....

And, if you've even see "The Wicker Man" (which has nothing to do with mining), you have a great example of a red herring thrown at an investigator.

 

[Desdichado]

Great ideas, guys. Thanks! Everyone will show up in about half an hour, or I'd comment more, but I've got to do some last minute prep here.

Thanks again for the great ideas! That's why I keep posting these threads every two weeks!