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6106

RPG Ghetto / Re: Serenity

« on: January 31, 2011, 05:13:21 pm »

Haven't seen Deep Rising.

Alien ruins?  Urm...  Your game, o'course, but one of the things I LIKED about Firefly/Serenity was that there WERE no aliens. 

6107

RPG Ghetto / Re: Serenity

« on: January 31, 2011, 04:51:57 pm »

Wasn't sure of the system you're using, so, winging it.  Also, not sure just how much you were intending on torturing the players. 

Here's a thought...  Late in the game, after they're good and paranoid...  Toss in a couple normal humans.  Lab techs, whatever.

No trick... except one of 'em has information that might make life a little easier...

And, of course, the party can't be sure if they're sane... and they sure don't know if the party's sane.

6108

RPG Ghetto / Re: Roger, you know what's wrong with the party in Ptolus?

« on: January 31, 2011, 04:48:36 pm »

Sneaky bastardism.  Use terrain, use hazards, and start thinking of frontal assaults as a pathology, not a tactic.

Not sure if  you've seen this article, but its something I've used as a blueprint the few times I've dmed.

http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/

Heh.  I did things the players still speak about in whispers to a party with nothing but kobolds.

Bloody idiots didn't set a night watch...  After all, level 20's don't NEED any stinkin' night guards, right?

Well, when they woke up with their packs rifled and a lot of nice crap I'd been meaning to remove from their inventories missing, they were, shall we say, disturbed.

Ranger tracked down little kobold footy-prints to a hole, and in they went.

Remember what Roger said earlier about not going where you can't stand up straight?  HOW tall are kobolds?  I assure you, they ain't digging their tunnels bigger so YOU can walk comfortably in to slaughter them.  The big, burly paladin had to leave his plate back with the horses to fit in the tunnels.  (Said horses did appear later, roasting over a spit...) 

Tons of traps.  Deadfalls.  And, over it all, the sound of kobolds giggling...

I let one of 'em escape alive, to carry back the tale.

Was the closest I ever came to a TPK, I do believe that I shouldn't go out of my way to slaughter characters in which players have put time and effort...  And, had they turned around and left at any point, I'd've taken a few more nonlethal shots at 'em for punctuation and let them go, without their stuff.  But, "they're only KOBOLDS..."

6109

RPG Ghetto / Re: Serenity

« on: January 31, 2011, 04:33:59 pm »

I was mainly thinking if a Reaver had psychic powers, would it accidentally transmit images and thoughts into the minds of the party and any other people in the surrounding area?  So in addition to the physical threat represented by creatures having been driven insane by psychic ability research, there would also be a mental/sanity threat - I'm not sure exactly how that could be made to work in the game, but perhaps some variety on will saves or sanity levels would be the way to go?  Anyway, that would mean in addition to having to worry about genetic monstrosities running amok, they'd have to worry about their own mental integrity, as well as that of anyone else they met.  And in that there is plenty of scope for Lovecraftian style tropes about madness, as well as perhaps adding a race-against time element and adding something of a more horror feel to the entire scenario.

Nice...  I'd go with a wisdom save rather than charisma, but, DM's call on that one.  Toss in a "fail save by 10 or more and roll a D6 before each attack... and if you roll a 1-3 on that D6, you attack your intended target.  A 4-5 is a random target within range... and a 6 is you took a swipe at the target of the DM's choice.  

That keeps the party from going bugcrap for keeps... but certainly adds an element of "whoa, fuck."

6110

RPG Ghetto / Re: Serenity

« on: January 31, 2011, 03:40:05 pm »

Cat doesn't have to be telepathic...  I was thinking vocal, or at least Lassie-helpful.  You know, to keep the party from ganking the little fluffball on sight.  Heck, stick the party down a hole with a desperate need to get out NOW... and have the thing drop 'em a rope.  Convey that it understands... and is helpful... right up 'til the fangs come out and it tries to eat somebody.  (Cat's just an example, useful if you have party members whose players are particularly attached to their pets.  Dog's a little obvious.  Nobody who's ever seen Monty Python will fall for a bunny rabbit...  Though an homage to the Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh might make for an interesting tension breaker...)

6111

RPG Ghetto / Re: Serenity

« on: January 31, 2011, 03:09:07 pm »

Gotta de-lurk, here, because this sounds like such an awesome idea.

Have a peek at the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG stuff from Palladium for interesting ideas on ways to mutate critters.  (I'm a fan of homebrewing that sort of thing, anyway.) 

Depending on how trusting the party is, tossing in the mutated kitty with the big "trust-me" eyes to offer helpful advice, fight at their side... and eat somebody in their sleep is always fun.  (Or, hey, bring in the whole pack of his buddies when the party is damnfool enough to actually leave kitty on guard alone.  "Oh, I can watch!  I can see in the dark, after all!")

You can always toss a few Reavers in.  (Captured experimental subjects, of course.)  They're loose... and one or two of 'em actually managed to have a few brains jump-started so they're more dangerous than just "pack of ravening, fearless psychos."  Give one of 'em an actual grasp of tactics, and the telepathic ability to enforce orders on other Reavers...

You've also got the families/heirs of the other backers to play with.  If your first batch of rival adventurers fails, you can always toss a second or third batch into the mix.