Help with a d20 modern shadowchasers encounter? My players- OUT!!!!

[Moe Ronalds]

Alright, so my players are going to be going to England some time soon in my shadowchasers game. On the way back home, however, their plane will be attacked by a swarm of Jynxes from The Menace Manual.

Some info first:

Firstly, there will be somewhere between 5 and 7 PCs. The climactic encounter will be on the wing of the plane, trying to stop the "lead" Jynx from ripping it off. There will probably be 2 or 3 PCs in this fight at most. Getting to the wing of the plane will require several climb checks, and standing up and fighting will require a balance check, as will fighting.

On the plane is suitable material to make 2 tethers to keep PCs from flying away. There are also three parachutes, a hatchet, a rifle, and a fire extinguisher. (I highly doubt that planes actually carry these things, but I'm making an action movie not an encyclopedia).

Save one, all the PCs use guns in combat. They will, of course, not have these with them during the battle because, well, they're on a plane.

This is not a private jet. There will be other people on it, but the pilots will be dead.

So here are my questions:

One- Is this a gratuitously unfair battle? Not only will most of the PCs be neutered, but they'll be neutered at different levels (the non gun user will be at full power, and the guys who get the rifle and the hatchet will have an upper hand over those with nothing). Further, who ever gets stuck fighting on the wing is going to have to be very careful, and very lucky to avoid plumetting to their doom.

Two- Unless EVERYONE goes to fight on the wing (which seems like a very bad idea), how can I keep those that stay on the plane busy? I was thinking I would have them round up a few normal Jynxes in the passenger section, but tips to make this battle too more exciting would be welcome.

Three- How informed should the other passengers be? A stewardess will get tackled by a Jynx, so she at least should be weirded out and maybe even "informed" now about what lies "beyond". The other passengers though will be in close proximity with shadow creatures, and a few even maybe getting attacked, so how should they react, should they be able to see the Jynxes for what they really are, etc...

Four- any suggestions that spring to mind on how to make this a memorable and thoroughly exciting encounter?

 

[Cowpie Zombie]

One- Is this a gratuitously unfair battle? Not only will most of the PCs be neutered, but they'll be neutered at different levels (the non gun user will be at full power, and the guys who get the rifle and the hatchet will have an upper hand over those with nothing). Further, who ever gets stuck fighting on the wing is going to have to be very careful, and very lucky to avoid plumetting to their doom.

That was the first thing that entered my mind when I read your idea--one missed Balance check and the PC is plummeting through the stratosphere (or whatever ). Why would the PCs feel the need to climb out onto the wing anyway? Why not just take potshots at the Jynx from the safety of the cabin? And *how* fast is this plane travelling? If they *did* go out onto the wing, wouldn't they just get blown off instantly? For example, a Boeing 727-100 has a maximum cruising speed of 960 kilometers per hour. That's approximately 570 miles per hour for you Americans out there. I mean, I know it's a cinematic game, but it might be hard to suspend belief if you have people standing on the wing of a commercial aircraft travelling at five hundred miles per hour...

Two- Unless EVERYONE goes to fight on the wing (which seems like a very bad idea), how can I keep those that stay on the plane busy? I was thinking I would have them round up a few normal Jynxes in the passenger section, but tips to make this battle too more exciting would be welcome.

Rather than get into the wing thing at all, which seems a tad lethal, why not just have the Jynxs crash into the cabin and start attacking passengers? You could have them jumping over seats, throwing carry-on luggage, using passengers as shields...lots of potential there. Then you could arrange for one of the Jynxs to make a dash for the cockpit and a PC has to catch him before he starts messing with the controls. Or something.

Three- How informed should the other passengers be? A stewardess will get tackled by a Jynx, so she at least should be weirded out and maybe even "informed" now about what lies "beyond". The other passengers though will be in close proximity with shadow creatures, and a few even maybe getting attacked, so how should they react, should they be able to see the Jynxes for what they really are, etc...

Hell yes! The mundanes freaking out at the Jynxes would only strengthen this encounter. "MY GOD WHAT IS THAT? AAAIIIIEEEE!" and so on. Maybe some of the mundanes could simply go mad and start laughing hysterically or even attack the PCs...(Man grabs PC, his eyes bulging with madness, saying, "You're one of THEM! I'll RIP YOUR EYES OUT!" or something).

When the plane lands (IF it lands, that is), have the MiBs waiting to "interview" the passengers. There's another adventure hook right there!

Overall, a great idea for an encounter. But going out on the wing is probably (a) too dangerous and (b) too unrealistic. Just my $0.02.

 

[DanMcS]

Mmm, head hurting. The PCs are expected to walk out onto the wing of a flying plane and fight things? How? I mean, getting outside won't be a problem, because as soon as there is a breach in the hull, the plane will depressurize and suck everyone out, but continuing to fight after that may be a bit of a challenge...

Lots more information needed, because I don't even think this is possible without some very powerful magics being involved. For instance, these critters probably won't even be able to catch the plane.

 

[Moe Ronalds]

That was the first thing that entered my mind when I read your idea--one missed Balance check and the PC is plummeting through the stratosphere (or whatever ). Why would the PCs feel the need to climb out onto the wing anyway? Why not just take potshots at the Jynx from the safety of the cabin? And *how* fast is this plane travelling? If they *did* go out onto the wing, wouldn't they just get blown off instantly? For example, a Boeing 727-100 has a maximum cruising speed of 960 kilometers per hour. That's approximately 570 miles per hour for you Americans out there. I mean, I know it's a cinematic game, but it might be hard to suspend belief if you have people standing on the wing of a commercial aircraft travelling at five hundred miles per hour...

Yeah, that also had me kind of worried. As for the falling and dying, well, I included the parachutes and potential tethers in hopes that my players would think to use those (however, if they didn't, they always seem to have a better plan than I could think up). As for why they can't just take pot shots, they've only got one gun, the Jynx needs to be stopped NOW, and Jynxes can turn invisible.

As far as suspension of disbelief goes, that's definately a tricky subject that I've been mulling over. On the one hand, I think the players would get a kick out of it, on the other hand, it makes no sense (but the Jynx's are capable flyers AND climbers, so it makes a great deal of sense for their leader to climb out and rip out the wing where it'll be safe). I'm thinking of just saying it works, since these things don't typically bug my group (they've tossed 5th story windows by monstrously large demon-machines and survived. they've been hurt as hell, but they've survived). Or I could say the Jynxes have done something to the speed of the plane. They've been planted by a higher power that just wants the PCs delayed, not killed, so it's possible that they may have recieved such instruction. (Now, the Jynxes don't know that they aren't ment to crash the plane, hence the "kill 'em all" plan)

Rather than get into the wing thing at all, which seems a tad lethal, why not just have the Jynxs crash into the cabin and start attacking passengers? You could have them jumping over seats, throwing carry-on luggage, using passengers as shields...lots of potential there. Then you could arrange for one of the Jynxs to make a dash for the cockpit and a PC has to catch him before he starts messing with the controls. Or something.

Once again, due to some of the Jynxes' unique abilities, the ripping off the wing plan is actually safer for them. But these ideas are really really good for spicing up the cabin encounter (if I still have them as seperate encounters, still mulling that over somewhat).

Hell yes! The mundanes freaking out at the Jynxes would only strengthen this encounter. "MY GOD WHAT IS THAT? AAAIIIIEEEE!" and so on. Maybe some of the mundanes could simply go mad and start laughing hysterically or even attack the PCs...(Man grabs PC, his eyes bulging with madness, saying, "You're one of THEM! I'll RIP YOUR EYES OUT!" or something).

When the plane lands (IF it lands, that is), have the MiBs waiting to "interview" the passengers. There's another adventure hook right there!

Overall, a great idea for an encounter. But going out on the wing is probably (a) too dangerous and (b) too unrealistic. Just my $0.02.

Alright. The "mundane" freaking I'll keep then. Actually, having a bunch of relatively uninitiated folk suddenly introduced to the Shadow could be quite useful.

 

[ledded]

Well, instead of echoing other posters comments, I'll just add a couple things.

Work out the speed issue... maybe the plane is an older/smaller model, or maybe the work the Jinxes did forced it to much lower speeds? I dunno, but that is a major stumbling block that you can probably address somehow. Maybe it's a big jet, but instead of being on the wing they are down in the belly of the aircraft tearing apart systems that would make it crash, and the players have to root them out. Maybe a nice hull fracture with luggage spilling into the Atlantic would be fun then.

1) No, you aren't being unfair. You are *challenging* them to play "out of the box", and those nights can be some of the most fun on occasion. It's not a trick you want to do to your PC's often, but every now and then it's a blast if they can run with it and have fun (i.e. gun guy isnt going to cry all night because he doesnt have his gun).

2) Personally, I would try to keep them inside the aircraft if for no better reason than to try not to explain away the incredible speeds you will probably be having to travel. At the same time, if certain PC's cant go below/onto the wing, give them duty trying to save the aircraft from crashing by piloting or fixing damaged systems, build up the drama with their successful/failed pilot/repair/whatever checks affecting the combat (and vice-versa... if the Hatchet PC sinks it into the wrong bank of circuit boards then all kinds of lights can go off in the cockpit with nice warning sirens and whatnot).

3) Maybe another thing for the PC's to do is have one try to explain away what is happening (if you have a charismatic guy) while trying to help the other PC's. Or the plane could be mostly empty, with the Jynxes killing most of the passengers before the PC's can react properly in order to build up the deadliness of the encounter. You could have the monsters appear to them to be terrorists, or at least give that impression also.

EDIT: I personally *love* the madness idea... that would really panic the PC's to have people freaking out and losing their minds while trying to stop the little buggers from tearing the plane apart.

4) I would find a way to tie in the encounter to the campaign. If they have a long standing behind-the-scenes BBEG, they will really hate him if they nearly crash and die into the Atlantic, and he's nowhere around to vent their ire onto.

Just some thoughts...

 

[JimAde]

If you have the main encounter in the plane's cargo area, you can do several things:

1) If the jynx gained access by ripping a hole in the plane, you have a nice piece of "terrain" that is trying to suck the PCs out (not to mention luggage, etc. as mentioned previously). Having the PC resist this wind is more believable than standing on the wing, if not actually more realistic

2) If the PCs are traveling with their weapons checked, the weapons could be in this cargo area. Again, it's pretty unlikely that the weapons would be right there and accessible, but it's not completely impossible (so perfectly fine in an action movie).

3) You can still do the cabin fight with all the great suggestions above.