It Was A Set-Up!

[CrosshairCollie]

Have any of you GMs out there ever intentionally set up a player (or character), putting him in a situation where, if he reacts like you know he will, all $*@( will break loose?

 

My example: I have a player whose only solution to any problem is to blast it. Admittedly, until recently, he's only had two powers, variations of EB, and when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail, but this was the character he wanted.

 

(For those of you with long memories, this was the same guy who insisted on blasting a 'getaway' car in a game, despite the fact that it was already disabled, because he wanted to see it explode ... and it probably would have killed the six normal thugs standing nearby.)

 

I'm considering dropping him in a set-up ... either the 'you shot the normal' scenario, or having someone trying to steal something and seeing if he'll blast it (and it's a bomb or nerve gas or something). It's awfully heavy-handed, though, and part of me would feel bad ... but ending a campaign with a 'Well, you're all dead, and it's his fault' might drive the point home.

 

Any experiences with this out there?

[lemming]

Re: It Was A Set-Up!

 

Originally posted by CrosshairCollie

Any experiences with this out there?

Hmm, I've had a couple experiences that went badly.

Though if you do go through with it, make sure he's got a choice. Make it obvious, be heavy handed that the wrong choice would be to blast.

At least I'd try that first.

[Ghost who Walks]

Yes...its a common player type.

 

Possible solutions:

1) Have some criminals steal a tanker truck filled with rocket fuel, destined to be resold to Dr. Destroyer for use on his Space shuttle. If he blasts the truck, it blows up, killing the thieves and destroying a good section of the interstate. Hundreds of thousands of commuters blame him.

 

2) Give him an enemy whose main power is to reflect back energy blasts, at any target. Watch as he keeps blasting the villain, only to have the energy blasts strike his teammates.

 

3) Similar to #1. Assuming his power produces some kind of heat, put him at the site of a natural gas leak.

 

Don't get too carried away though. See if there is another way to resolve it first, before you start getting rid of characters.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Re: It Was A Set-Up!

 

Originally posted by lemming

Make it obvious, be heavy handed that the wrong choice would be to blast.

 

Is blasting random objects you can't identify *ever* the right choice?

[Dog Soldier]

My favorite was the raid on the meth lab by the team. One player is screaming, "What's in the barrels, DON'T BLAST HIM..." BOOM! Everyone at the table could see it coming and did everything short of sedating the guys character to keep him away.

[lemming]

Re: Re: Re: It Was A Set-Up!

 

Originally posted by CrosshairCollie

Is blasting random objects you can't identify *ever* the right choice?

Some people need further instruction.

 

My games were known to have lots of explosives involved. Characters would still throw the missile at the villian. (Hey it only killed two villians outright, seriously wounded everyone, and came within one body of killing a hero.)

 

Actually I like the idea that GWW came up with the tanker truck. Make the theives robots so "no one" gets hurt. But the property damage will take some time to repair. And of course, some homes would need to be evacuated while the clean up happens. You can have newsteams point at the character (and team) for some time on this.

[Fireg0lem]

I'd recommend you at least include it in the game-world rather than the metagame. He probably has a reputation as "quick on the trigger" by now, so have someone intelligent manipulate him into said situation, rather than just having it "happen."

[Brandi]

A villain with Absorption might be fun, especially if he can't be overloaded (ie, the guy can't keep blasting him in the hopes of making him explode).

[Graviton]

I set up one PC who always likes to shoot first and ask questions maybe, someday, if he gets around to it. He also likes to Reflect attacks back at the attacker. So I allowed a bunch of hi-tech rifles loose on the streets of Indianapolis. The PC came upon an armored car robbery. One of the thugs fired the rifle at him, so he reflected it right back. Poor normal thug took a 12d6 EB right in the head, and of course rolled massive BODY. So I ruled he died.

 

The PC was then subject to a criminal investigation of his alleged use of excessive force, a civil suit by the family of the thug, and tons of bad press from the local and national media. Needless to say, he's much more careful now to find out what he's dealing with before diving in at full power.

 

It's fun to be a GM...

[Speedball]

I have two possible solutions, neither of which is very heavy-handed and both of which might fail to make an impression on a thick-skulled hero intent on using his EB for fireworks displays.

 

1) get hold of a copy of Kingdom Come and point to the section where Magog's team attacks the Parasite, setting off a massive nuclear blast, irradiating all of Kansas and throwing the world into economic chaos. Make subtle inferences that perhaps overwhelming force has negative outcomes in certain cases.

 

2) Introduce the team (or just the character) to a super-heroic version of "Hogan's Alley," the practice course used by police. In the exercise cops are frequently judged on how much they hold back because there are specific tricks like "hey, that guy you just shot was carrying a bomb and the damn thing went off when he dropped it--good going, jerk." You could make this part of some meta-plot stuff if you're game world has anything like the Paranormal Registration Act.

 

Of course, if the guy refuses to see the light after such subtle pointers, drop the hammer on him. In the real world people who shoot bazookas at jaywalkers usually get in trouble--one way or another.

[Kristopher]

IIRC, the nuclear blast was a special bomb dropped by the US government.

[Speedball]

No--that was at the end, during the battle between all the supers. The parasite vs. Magog's super-thugs was earlier in the story.

 

(I still think that's the best story ever written into comics, by the way--not to hijak the the thread)

[BobGreenwade]

I'd take a series of steps...

 

First, the villain with Missile Reflection sending the PC's blasts back at his teammates, per Ghost who Walks second suggestions.

 

Second, a plot-driven "you shouldn't oughtta do that" story, where if he restrains himself the story ends now but if he behaves as predicted it goes on for a while. An example: GRAB is hired by some big villain to steal some biosamples, stored in a set of test tubes kept in a strongbox. If the PC blasts the box, the tubes' contents intermingle and a virulent strain of airborne bacteria is released to create a pandemic. The PC team then has to deal with finding a cure. (And maybe the "big villain" in question was Doctor Destroyer, who predicted this very outcome.)

 

Beyond that, pepper the campaign (not too liberally) with villains who know of the PC's predictable tactic and set him up to take advantage of it. Gradually ramp up how insulting and embarrassing this becomes.

 

If all else fails, have some nutcase take over a daycare center with a dead-man's-trigger bomb strapped to his chest. The PC blasts him, the bomb goes off, all the kids are killed, and PRIMUS arrests the PC for mass murder.

[Battlestaff]

I agree with what's been said before.

 

Always give the character an opportunity to mend his ways. That doesn't mean that you have to make it obvious. Rather, leave clues around of the dangerous nature of whatever he's shooting at, how many people are around, etc.

 

I also like Firegolem's suggestion that some villains may know of his reputation, and use it to manipulate him. If VIPER is trying to discredit supers, getting him to kill non-agents is a great way to destroy his reputation. He can go on a search for redemption to prove he was set up, and the public could change its perception, but hopefully it would make him think about the consequences of his actions (though from what you say, it probably won't).

 

My other recommendation would be to make some comment to the other team members about his choice of tactics, and have some bad press come their way, so they have a reason to try and get blaster-boy to change his ways.

[Koshka]

Re: Re: Re: Re: It Was A Set-Up!

 

Originally posted by lemming

Actually I like the idea that GWW came up with the tanker truck. Make the theives robots so "no one" gets hurt. But the property damage will take some time to repair. And of course, some homes would need to be evacuated while the clean up happens. You can have newsteams point at the character (and team) for some time on this.

 

Make it a major interstate, and you can have even more fallout. When a flash flood washed out part of I-80 in western Nebraska, every trucking company that used that road had to reroute their trucks to, I believe, I-70 in Kansas. That barge that broke loose and took out a bridge (in Oklahoma?) caused even worse problems with rerouting. And, if the damage was caused by a person, there's someone the companies can sue .

 

(If anyone on the team is a wealthy industrialist, tell him his company lost a major contract because the prototype whatchamacallit wasn't delivered on time, but the legal department is taking care of it. "What do you mean, I'm suing my teammate?" )

[Syberdwarf2]

In a recent adventure, our new gaming group had to go up against Mechanon. He had stolen sonic-based weapons prototypes designed to knock an enemy unconcious without killing him. Now, pretty much anyone would assume that the big M would pervert it into a lethal device somehow.

 

Anyway, Mechanon was expected to attack a local NFL game to test the weaponry in some fashion. Sure enough, he arrives with his summoned robots, who are carrying "strange looking weapons".

 

One of the PCs saw the weapons, not realizing what they were, and used his cyberkinesis to turn the robots around (after a series of VERY lucky rolls), and made them shoot at Mechanon. Little did he realize that Mechanon was sheilded from those particular weapons.

 

So the robots turn, fire,..... and use the wepons on the same crowd the PCs were trying to protect.

 

God, I'm evil...

[Count Zero]

Just last week I ran a game that was a set up.

 

The players are part of UNTIL. They were called in to assist the normal UNTIL agents with the apprehension of some supers working with 14k Triad in the smuggling of slaves. Basically I was using this as an opportunity to introduce one of my player's hunted. Basically they got the info on where the supers were hiding. When they got there it was a trap. The character's hunted demanded that he give up his focus (a suit of power armor) or the villian will blow up a cargo ship full of slaves. He thought the villan wouldn't do it, so he decided to try and get away. The villian detonated the cargo ship and still managed to capture his armor. At this point I am still trying to figure out the exact plan. He dies without his armor in six hours, and if they don't figure out the one clue I gave them at the end of the adventure a character effectively dies. Compunded with the fact that about 250 people are dead.. I am trying to figure out how UNTIL will respond exactly... for me... all hell has broken loose.

[CrosshairCollie]

Wow. Wasn't expecting this kind of turnout.

 

Good advice about having it be an intentional, IC villain action ... the only problem is, technically, then it could be considered the villain's 'fault' that the damage was done. "I didn't shoot the baby, he intentionally bounced my beam at it! HE did it!" I'm trying to come up with something that's 100 percent his-bad-judgement-only.

 

How's this ... modifying Graviton's idea, have some high-powered energy weapons loose on the streets, wielded by raw normals, like high-school kids. Now, high-school kids being high-school kids (at least as I remember them) tend to do weird stuff. So, they strap on combat boots, camouflage hunting stuff, and go on a little fun-spree. However ... they have the guns set to Stun (Stun Only), intentionally. They're not trying to kill people, just put a good scare into 'em.

 

So, they're shooting people, and people are falling down. I'll make perception rolls (secretly) to see if anybody notices the lack of blaster holes or wounds (bonuses if someone actually checks a body or a wall, of course). So, if Captain Jean-Luc Retard blasts first, he'll probably kill them, and he can't claim self-defense because nobody was really getting hurt.

 

I could then run a follow-up where they try to track the weapons back to their source ... they *can* be set to kill, so they *can* be dangerous. So it might feel a little less like a setup.

[Argus]

I've set them up and watched them fall.

 

I had a player whose character had one skill, Stealth, and he hit everything that moved with his most powerful attack right off the bat.

 

I talked with him, tired to get him to redo his character. Tried to get him to pull his punches.

 

Then I had someone capture his girlfriend’s five-year-old boy. (Who was the son of a local mobster) and place him in a death trap. Strapped him to a chair on a scale with an electronic switch to 100lbs of explosives. If so much as an ounce was removed the whole thing went up.

 

He made the right choice and spent a good hour role playing disarming it and saving the kids life.

 

Another time they decided to run the program called ElderGod.Exe

 

But that’s a different story.

 

A

[Farkling]

The guns are nice idea. If you want to confuse the PER rolls further, have a few of the less attentive kids firing guns that have Stun Only with 1 or 2 levels of Reduced Penetration, so they don't hurt alot, but they do actually do BODY damage.

And/or have Stun/KB but no BODY damage.

 

No high school kids havin' fun with those guns wouldn't be using them on a setting that didn't break things.

 

Or even a limited EB..."Stun Only when used on organic targets"

 

Happy hunting

[Vigil]

One time at band camp...

 

...we had a PC like this. What I would do is play to thei PC's obsessive need to ejaculate force all over whatever he sees...and make him the villainous mole in the team. You see, a lot of the threads suggest that a villain would use this PC's known penchant to set him up and discredit him or the team. What if, that villain, is the PC himself? It requires taking the PC aside and asking him if he'd like to alter his character in a way that will forever alter the campaign and create some heat with his team mates until the storyline is resolved, at which point his character goes to jail or Hell or wherever and he creates a new PC to take his former PC's place on the team. I've found that you can't ever really change PCs and they'll play whatever they want regardless of what it says on the sheet or regardless of the coaxing. So, an accident om the interstate would have zero impact on the player (and by extension the PC) because the player likes to indiscrimately blast stuff. So, you appeal to that and give him the opportunity to blast even more stuff...including, eventually, his team mates and any anyone else in the way. In the end he's subdued by his former pals, a cautionary tale is told in which he is the central figure (which will undoubtedly appeal to his ego) and he gets to create a new, hopefully not blast happy PC. Everyone wins, everyones' happy. Like Krusty the Clown said, "badabing badadboom, learn from a pro, kid."

 

Vigil

[BobGreenwade]

The key I was actually going for in my suggestion was to make at least the first set-up incident not so much lethal (in terms of the character's continued usability) as embarrassing. Then if things don't sink in you can gradually ramp up the situation....

[Farkling]

The key I was actually going for in my suggestion was to make at least the first set-up incident not so much lethal (in terms of the character's continued usability) as embarrassing.

 

Normals or rogue Spielberg/Lucas special effects guys wielding experimental special effects devices. Have Skywalker Ranch's RnD Division get robbed.

 

People running the streets with cream pie throwers, stink bombs, strobe guns, and clothes transformers/removers could provide an amusing entertainment for the players, and much oppurtunity for some innocent people to be blastes into ashes.

 

Make the thieves from a quasi-reality entertainment show like Queer Eye or Whose Line Is It, mix in some minor celebs in tinseltown and they may manage to shoot one of their favored media stars...

[Vigil]

The problem with the gag weapons thing is that it seems that these PCs , ar at least one in particular, don't seem to give a damn about whether thay blast innocents or not. So, IMHO, the ga thing and trying to "warn" the PCs seems to be an exercise in futility or vanity. It seems fairly apparent to me, having dealt with similar PCs in the past, that if a player really seems to get off on blasting anything that moves then all the cautionary lessons in the world will fall on deaf ears because that's what he really wants to do. It's simple, he wants to portray a villain, regardless of what the character sheet says so, let him play a villain. He'll get off on it and the others might enjoy stopping their villainous comrade. I've learned from experience that PCs very rarely change and that you have to adapt what you're doing as GM to what they're doing as players...and, occassionally, that means removing one of them to preserve the storyline for the others. Just the way I see it.

 

Vigil

[Shikarr]

I agree with most of what has been said before. I have had to do a set up a time or two in the past but always made sure that there was a warm up about using too much force. The misc newspaper article on the hero indicted for manslaughter or use of lethal force on some villan. Then there is always the tried and true minor mutants team. Someone with running but human normal defenses, with a brick type with high defenses but not resistant, and a martial artist period. A team of them against a normal pc team is relatively sure to get one of them at a minimum hurt very badly and show that restraint is sometimes neccessary