The most terrifying place to have a battle

[SonOfLilith]

I am running a shadowrun campain, and I can't think of a terrifying place to have one of my major battles. Without saying too much (my players might be reading) the battle is between them and a single bad guy. The bad guy is not human, very fast, and very powerful. I don't want it to just be a battle either, I want it to be a one-night survival thing, with the beast hunting them the entire time.

Anyway, please post suggestions on places to have this showdown, and also post suggestions on how to use that location to scare them.

 

[adndgamer]

Huge labrynths are cool Let's say it's the guy's lair. Oh, and you could have some shaky wooden/rope bridges over spikes of magma or boiling oil or wax. Maybe a little encounter when the chars are trying to cross one of these. And hell, just for fun, let's have magical intersections in the labrynth, that will open and close off different passageways every so often, confusing the PCs.

I also find that fighting on top of towers (and nearly falling to my death below) can be frightening. Fighting suspended over any dangerous object is... Have them roll dexterity checks whenever they're hit to make sure they don't fall over the edge or whatnot.

Just throwing out some ideas...

 

[Torillan]

Yikes

A rope bridge over a chasm.....

 

[eXodus]

how about in a packed church, elementary school, or shopping mall?

that would be terrifying.

i say go with one of those. the superfast villian is dashing to and fro through the pews firing shots at the heroes. he is using his speed to use women, children, and the elderly as shields.

on one level it could provide some really good tactical options, and on another option it calls up so many great moral woes to the heroes.

what if they miss? what if they shoot a little girl?

hmmm.

sounds like a fun idea to me.

 

[The_Dood]

Seeing as it not human, the original and always the best would be to set the run in the sewers, or my personal favorite a research facility in the middle of the jungle with blast doors that can only be cut through with a thermal lance or equivalent and the final encounter in a room full of caustic chemicals and radiation.

Anyway I hope thats what you wanted

 

[Stormprince]

How about on something like a large battleship...a tourist attraction kept in docks (assuming you're near a large body of water o.o, at night, with a big thunderstorm, so they have to deal with the darkness, the rain and weather, mysterious shadows, some teen-agers necking when they snuck away from the last tour group, security guards, rusty/leaky hull, spooky sounds, rats and other vermin... worrying about drowning if something too big happens to the ship

Final battle, in the boiler room - lots of places to hide, tense, vaguely reminscent of Aliens with the rusty metal, and if you add in the random strobbing lighting effect

Christopher

 

[Maerdwyn]

An amusement park ? (Battles on the ferris wheel or in the Tunnel of Love

A steel foundry, a la the end of Terminator II

a cruise liner (don't know much about Shadowrun and whether that would be apporpriate or not)

 

[Polydamas]

Have to go with the classics:
Factory (operational or not), warehouse district, junkyard, docks, airport, train station, subway tunnels, library, and museum.

It is also effective to string locations or sublocations together. Having the airport fight start out near the baggage claim and end up on the runways, for example. Or starting ona particular docked boat, wandering out onto the docks and then searching the warehouses near the docks. Be prepared to have your players (and your villian) scurry in directions you don't expect...

 

[Victim]

I like the shopping mall idea. I've always wanted to have a fight scene in one. Crowds provide interesting dilemmas, especially if the creature or actions of the heroes are supposed to be kept secret. Also, creatures that can in some way affet others would rule. Imagine a Slaadi, spawning creating undead or Chrysalid from X-COM running around. Utter havoc. Malls also have multiple levels, so especially mobile creatures could take advantage of that feature.

How about a cave system being excavated from oil drilling? Dark areas, confined spaces, secret tunnels, and possibly explosive results?

A space based research installation experiences some unusual activity and the protagonists are sent to investigate. Zero G, power failures, sheer "Alien" or System Shock goodness. EVAs optional.

Their own home or base of operations.

A nuclear missile installation and silo.

 

[RangerWickett]

If you want them to be on the run, trying to avoid being killed, it needs to be some place remote. An island works, or a forest, but overall, you need things to hide in. Abandoned amusement park on an island (and the ferry/bridge is out) would work great.