How to make an air battle fun for more than just the pilot?

[Dagger75]

Star Wars D20 basically has the same thing with the division of labor.

Pilot- Flies

Com officers\Sensors- (Can be split if you got more people) Jam frequencies, intercept radio calls. I gave small bonuses to hit cause they knew what the bad guys where doing (intercept) or gave the enemies penalties (Jam) cause they lost coordination. And its opposed rolls with the enemies trying to reestablish com so its like a little fight.

Sensor operator was able to block singles which added a few points of defesne to the ship. Still opposing rolls to get through the jamming.

Engineer- Fixes damage on the fly. Also repaired the shield (Star Wars)

Gunners - Usally enough guns for everybody.

Extra people found stuff to do, mostly running around assisting everybody.

As for a Zepplin.
Ever head of Crimson Skies? They use Zepplins as battleships and carriers. If you have an Xbox rent the game. You will see how you land small planes in the zepplin and launch them. There ae turrets around the Zepplin and the planes usally dogfight around them trying to destroy the poor gas bags. The game is also set in alternate 1930's superscience world. Its actually quit cool.

 

[Retro-Rocket]

Have you considered having an enemy spy or traitor aboard the big plane as it's attacked? That would give some of the passengers something to do as the spy attempts to disable the plane! Of coarse the spy would have a parachute handy!

You could also have the passengers try and repair damage to the plane during the dogfight or put out that pesky fire. Nothing gets a person's attention more that a busted fuel line spraying gasoline all over the cargo hold of a plane during a dogfight!

 

[Pbartender]

If you are going to have in-flight repairs...

I want to see that mechanic crawling out on the wing to patch a leak in the fuel tank. I want to see him hanging off the tail of the plane to seal up a burst hydraulic control line. I want to see him perched on the noise of the plane right in front of the pilot's wind screen cranking on the engine while it's still (mostly) running. I want to see him wedged in between the feet of the co-pilot while he rewires the controls board.

Add in a few Balance, Climb, Concentration and Escape Artist checks to get the damage fixed... Not just for the mechanic, also but for the other crew members he has to work around.

Also, for a bit of near-comedic relief...

If you decide to have the enemy board the plane, have an excessive disaster erupt in the middle of the melee... The engines quit, a fire breaks out, whatever... The plane is in dire straights, and unless something is done quickly, it'll crash and everyone aboard dies. For a brief moment, the combat suddenly stops as the common danger rears its head, and even the deadly enemy joins in assisting the repairs.

Once the repairs are complete and the plane is out of danger, the melee simply starts right back up where it left off as if nothing had happened.

 

[Ranger REG]

I'll be running a 1920's Adventure! d20 pulp game soon, but the mechanics are close enough to d20 Modern that it makes no nevermind. I'd like one of my scenes to be an aerial dogfight in a plane big enough to carry six to eight people. The challenge I'm facing is that I'm not sure how best to involve the whole party.

Luckily, the plane can boast whatever superscience advancements I want (think Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.) Anyone have any good ideas on how to involve the group, either through clever mechanics or interesting weapons? Thanks -- I'm currently drawing a blank, and any brainstorming will help.

If the plane have weapon turrets, make them gunners.

Otherwise, sneak some villains aboard the plane and have a fight in the cabin or bay.

 

[Piratecat]

This thread has actually been quite inspirational. I love the idea of gliding-suited bad guys with magnetized shoes/gloves and acetyline torches drifting onto the outside of the plane, even as people man guns and fix problems. Lord help them when the pilot does a loop-the-loop.

How high up does a plane have to be before depressurization begins to be a problem?

 

[Gomez]

How high up does a plane have to be before depressurization begins to be a problem?

The main problem is oxygen. Up to about 10,000 feet a person can breath pretty normally. After that the oxygen level starts to drop do to the lower air pressures. Decompression at about 35,000 feet is a serious problem and pilots will dive down to about 10,000 after a serious loss of cabin pressure. Though most planes in the 1930's would not be pressurized. They would have oxygen masks for the pilots and crew if they do travel higher than 10,000 feet though. Also it gets pretty cold at these higher attitudes. You might want to set you game in the 1930's as aircraft in the 1920's were pretty primative and regular passenger airplanes where very rare.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I keep flashing back to that scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where Sean Connery takes out a Nazi plane with birds.

Also relevant from that movie is where Connery shoots the tail off the biplane as they escape from the huge zeppelin. Forcing the PC's into trying to do things they're not terribly competent at can be great for some laughs and suspense.

 

[Piratecat]

Great. 10,000 feet it is... high enough for someone to get sucked out of the plane, low enough for people to breath.

If someone gets sucked out of the plane, I'm torn between having a parachute save them or letting them bounce off of a blimp.

 

[Peterson]

If someone gets sucked out of the plane, I'm torn between having a parachute save them or letting them bounce off of a blimp.

Why not a little of both - or rather, the possibility of either.

"Suddenly, the plane's outer hull peels away, and the wind begins to whip past you, blowing all manner of objects out of the hole. You catch a brief glimpse of some mook wearing goggles and a gas mask before you are lifted off your feet, to join the various objects now free-falling from 10,000 feet. You thread the needle past the hole, barely missing catching your head on a jagged metal edge, but likewise missing with your desperate attempt to grab hold for saftey. Luckily, you collide briefly with a parachute outside the plane. If you don't grab this item, you may suffer a long fall or perhaps you can maneuver yourself onto the blimp...."

I'd say a Reflex save (DC 18?) to grab the jagged edge of the hole (1D4 points of damage if successful, Strength check - DC 15 - to hold on each round or DC 20 to pull yourself back into the plane). If you miss that, then you get another Reflex save (DC 15) to grab the parachute (1 try only). Failing that, I would say a Dexterity check (DC 10) to "aim" for the Blimp.

There's three chances to save yourself. Don't know how the Adventure! system really works (haven't seen it yet), and not sure if the mechanics are good enough, but there's an idea at least.

Peterson

 

[Pbartender]

Great. 10,000 feet it is... high enough for someone to get sucked out of the plane, low enough for people to breath.

If someone gets sucked out of the plane, I'm torn between having a parachute save them or letting them bounce off of a blimp.

You might consider looking at D20 Future's rules on explosive decompression... It'd suit the same purpose in this instance. I know you can find the rules in the D20 Future SRD on the WotC website.

And don't forget... any commandos that board the plane will have their gliding suits. If they fall off the plane, one of their buddies could dive down and catch them with a little aerobatics. Bring the commando back up and drop him off again to continue the fight.