How would you design this encounter?

[Ratinyourwalls]

The PC's are racing another adventuring group to find the attack plans of an evil warlord. The warlord is a giant. And he is big enough to make the airships that both parties are using look like a dragonfly in comparison. The key to get into the container containing the invasion plans was pocketed by one of the warlord's underlings. The PC's don't know which giant did so. What they do know is that he/she is one of the giant's partaking in a ballroom dance on the lower floor of the Warlords estate. Oh and a group of Drow from outside the compound have comandeered a third airship and are seeking to enslave both parties. The PC's will either have to figure out which one is the culprit...or get lucky rifling through the belt pouches of about 20 individual giants.


How would YOU do this? Any suggestions?

 

[Quickleaf]

Let me get this straight...

There are a bunch of really big giants having a shindig that the PCs want to reach.

However to get there, they've first got to deal with enemy/rival adventurers.

One way they might do that is via airship.

End first encounter.

A new encounter begins which deals with them seeking out the plans in the giants ballroom.

Did I get that right?

 

[Randomthoughts]

Pretty interesting scenario you have there. My initial reaction is that you can handle this in two ways:

(1) Two - three separate scenes, each consisting of 1 or more encounters (which may include SCs).

(2) One large, complex SC that is progressive and maybe branching.

I tend to go with #2 here, so I could fit this in 1/2 session or so, the other half being a nice combat or such. If you have more time, #1 is good, which boils to several (possibly smaller) SCs and combat encounters.

Before delving into this further, I've rearranged your description to highlight three main parts of the scenario:

Part 1: The ultimate goal - finding the attack plans of an evil giant warlord.

The PC's are racing another adventuring group to find the attack plans of an evil warlord. The warlord is a giant. And he is big enough to make the airships that both parties are using look like a dragonfly in comparison.

Part 2: A pre-requisite to achieving Part 1.

The key to get into the container containing the invasion plans was pocketed by one of the warlord's underlings. The PC's don't know which giant did so. What they do know is that he/she is one of the giant's partaking in a ballroom dance on the lower floor of the Warlords estate....The PC's will either have to figure out which one is the culprit...or get lucky rifling through the belt pouches of about 20 individual giants.

Part 3: A complication...or is this something you want to highlight?

Oh and a group of Drow from outside the compound have comandeered a third airship and are seeking to enslave both parties.

Can you describe the drow a bit more? Would you want to highlight this aspect of the scenario?

 

[Keenberg]

Here's how I see it. Refer to the ugly-yet-incredibly-useful MSPaint flowchart.

 

[Spatula]

It seems to me that the drow will have to be very strong, or perhaps have a way to cripple one of the ships, because smart PCs will temporarily join forces with the other adventuring party to defeat their common foe. But it all depends on how you want it to play out.

Do the drow attack the PCs, slowing them down and giving the other group the advantage?

Do the drow attack the other group, effectively getting rid of 2 enemies at once?

Do the drow attack both simultaneously?

I'm not sure what the capabilities of the airships are, but I might structure events like so:

1. PCs are flying, spot their rivals ahead of them. A short "chase" skill challenge allows the PCs to close the gap. PCs are probably making plans on how to take out the rival group as the ships close.

2. Drow surprise attack! The drow ram their ship into the PCs' if the PCs lost the skill challenge. Otherwise the rivals get rammed, or the target is random.

2a. The PCs' ship is locked with the drow's. They have to fight off their attackers (maybe convincing the rivals to help out), and then pilot the drow ship to the party.

2b. The rivals are fighting off the drow. The PCs might help them out, or might zip on ahead, laughing at their good fortune.

3. The party. It's hard to say how to handle this without knowing what the PCs are equipped for. Can they find the key without being detected?

3a. If they fought off the drow, the rivals are here and have a head start on locating the key. The PCs might be able to use this to their advantage, letting the rivals do all the work and swooping in at the last moment to nab the key.

3b. If not, the drow or the rivals show up at an inopportune moment, revealing the PCs to the giants.

Either way, it sounds like a good opportunity for a stealth and/or social skill challenge.

4. Having located the key and maybe dealt with the other groups, the PCs have to figure out how to extract it and themselves from the situation. Bonus points for leaving the other team stranded.

 

[Unwise]

Sorry I just need clarification, are you being literal about the sizes here?How big is their boat? Even if it is just a 40' craft, would that make the giants around 1400 feet tall wouldn't it? These guys sound like elder primordials as they are the height of a 100 story sky-scraper.

The only appropriate course of action is to flee, flee and never look back.

I once ran a game where the PCs were shrunken down, it was very hard to keep scale consistent and the game tended to be bogged down as you have to quickly run the maths to work out whether a PC can hid inside a beer stien or not. Or roughly how long it would take them to climb a table leg.

If you being literal about the sizes, then I think the giants become an environmental hazard. Stealth should be very easy. It sounds like a mountain climbing and perception skill challenge really.

I would suggest that if the PCs beat the other team, they should later find the their rivals being tormented by Drow. The PCs can then opt to delay their escape to save their rivals from a fate worse that death.

Anyway, I don't really know where to go with this without knowing the rough size and level (if combat is not just auto-death) of the giants and the PCs.