Great Beyond Posted July 24, 2006 Report Share Posted July 24, 2006 So I've got an idea to start a game off with a bang - dropping a plane on downtown Seattle. It serves two purposes - gives the players that "I'm a real hero" glow as they save folks on live TV, and moves the plot along by distracting the heroes so that the Evil Mastermind can pull off a crime at the same time and set the game in motion. While I have some ideas on events and takes on the scenario, I thought I'd pick your guy's brain and see if we can brainstorm some more good ideas. Here's what I have so far: The mastermind has arranged it so that a 747-ish sized plane taking off from the nearby airport will lose control on take off (small bomb in the engine, Snakes on a Plane - whatever). So suddenly the plane takes a dive, clips one of the taller buildings on the way down - and is heading right towards the center of downtown. That’s when the heroes appear on the scene. * One of the strong fliers could can catch up to and divert the crippled plane away from downtown out over Puget Sound. That not only stops more property damage on land, but it has the happy bonus of saving the lives of everyone on board the plane. * On the way down, the wing of plane clipped a radio tower on top of one of the tall buildings. It fell, but got wedged against the building across the street - threatening to fall at any moment. They'll need to secure the antenna or evacuate underneath it as it falls (complete with mother clutching her baby carriage screaming "my baby!") * People dangling from high places - window washers outside the building that got hit are now literally hanging from a thread and will need saving. So there's the starter - and really, with the right setup and execution, that may be enough - but I'm open to more suggestions on how to torment the players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marketeer Posted July 24, 2006 Report Share Posted July 24, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! *Secondary fires: you have the plane impacting something on the way down; between the collision and loose debris, you have the potential for sparks and flames *Glass, glass everywhere: if the plane is flying by downtown, there is definitely a possibility of shards threatening bystanders. *Opportunistic crimes: fairly self-explanatory, but maybe the plane was just a distraction for the perpetrator's real plan *Evacuating the wounded: "...this person needs to get to a hospital right now, but the roads are blocked!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karmakaze Posted July 24, 2006 Report Share Posted July 24, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! The antenna could also have has power lines attached, or knocked some over on the way down. Loose, live, power lines make a pretty solid threat. You could also be looking at some car accidents, either caused by debris or drivers distracted by seeing a plane clip a building in front of them. You could do anything up to an overturned trailer full of, say, toxic chemicals, or flammable ones... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted July 24, 2006 Report Share Posted July 24, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! Side notes: Downtown Seattle and the commercial port and the ferry terminal are cheek-by-jowl. So, you can include container ship traffic and a ferry full of rush hour commuters in the plane's crash path, too. Oh, and there's cruise ships in the port at some times of the year. Those are big honkin' ships.... And if you want really colorful background stuff, the first weekend of August every year is Seafair, and the Blue Angels are around, too. Now, other air traffic supposed to be grounded for the hour a day they do their practice & shows, but.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzMike Posted July 25, 2006 Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! And there's some sort of street parade or protest march... so plenty of hippies could get hurt How about power loss? Gas mains? Maybe there was a race up the stairwell and now all those people are trapped inside. And maybe there is a sailing regatta on Puget Sound too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted July 25, 2006 Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! And there's some sort of street parade or protest march... so plenty of hippies could get hurt But I thought the idea was to motivate the players to save people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted July 25, 2006 Report Share Posted July 25, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! Gang Members choose this time to start looting, and are quickly joined by ordinary citizens. The building that was clipped starts to collapse. A truck carrying toxic waste swerves to avoid rubble, hitting a young blind boy who mutates into a rampaging monster. Use Grond's write up from the Ultimate Brick. Everyone the Toxic Grond kills comes back within 4 hours as a Zombie, and everyone they bite turns into a toxic zombie within 4 hours. If any escape, Seattle will be overrun by Zombies within 72 hours. Believing this to be a sign that the revolution has come, Seattle’s hidden Vampire and Werewolf clans begin open warfare against one another and humanity. They're not just Vampires and Werewolves; those bitten by the Zombies become Toxic Vamp Wolves. And, for no reason, they have zap guns. Aliens Xylar and Vargos, observing Earth from space, see the chaos as a sign that the time has come to invade, starting in Seattle, and steal our Zombie Women. They are backed by a 10,000 ship fleet. Seeing the invading Aliens, the Atlanteans release Godzilla, Mothra, and all the residents of Monster Island to fight back. All of them are teleported to Seattle. Then, things get weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakboy6117 Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! jail break debris hits a holding cell, transport van etc and lets lose and dangerous criminal or criminals maybe they get started on a killing spree right away or can show up later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! One engine of the plane disconnects and falls into the street. While the anti-fire systems work as advertised, the impact of several tonnes of engine smashes through into a section of the Seattle Underground. You have a bunch of pedestrians and people in cars fallen into the hole, holding onto rubble, balanced precariously on the edge, etc. Plus, the edges of the hole are not structurally sound, so if you're not careful you're going to be part of the problem instead of the solution... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBikle Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! The master-villain and one of his henchmen jump in the Station-Wagon and drive around the neighborhood while smashing mailboxes with a baseball bat. Sorry. I got nothin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APE Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! The feul tanks are in the wings, so if you clip a wing jet fuel all over the place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzMike Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! But I thought the idea was to motivate the players to save people. Hippies are people? What about all those innocent bystanders that need saving from the hippies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! Hippies are people? What about all those innocent bystanders that need saving from the hippies? Maybe huge, unwashed hippies are floating gently through the sky, tens of thousands of them, playing sittar music, refusing to fight in Viet Nam, using weak but relatively cheap illegal mind altering substances and having unprotected public sex. WWYCD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzMike Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! Maybe huge' date=' unwashed hippies are floating gently through the sky, tens of thousands of them, playing sittar music, refusing to fight in Viet Nam, using weak but relatively cheap illegal mind altering substances and having unprotected public sex. WWYCD?[/quote'] Maybe they are great big hippie balloons ala Macy's or that scene in Batman. Hey, to get surreal... Maybe a movie is actually being filmed in downtown Seattle about a mastermind who has arranged it so that a 747-ish sized plane taking off from the nearby airport will lose control on take off, take a dive, clip one of the taller buildings on the way down - and is heading right towards the center of downtown AND either a fictional superteam or actual top end superteam has to save the day. The trouble is - the heroes are either merely actors (some may even be method actors and feel that they ARE the heroes and act accordingly with disasterous results) or even the mastermind's hired goons who have replaced the actors or a combination of both. Hows THEM apples? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted July 26, 2006 Report Share Posted July 26, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! Very few hippies in downtown Seattle. The police riot associated with the WTO mess a few years back took care of them. OTOH, there's a couple thousand homeless down along Yesler Way at any given moment.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Major Tom Posted July 27, 2006 Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! The "Snakes on a Plane" is also a good idea to inflict upon the PCs, especially since it presents them with a dual dilemma: not only do they have to get the plane down safely, they also have to figure out a way to stop the snakes (or whatever venomous creatures that travel in swarms) without endangering the passengers or crew. A different approach using this theme would involve hav- ing just one snake on board -- a really, really big snake, a la movies like King Cobra or Python. Just check out the Sci-Fi Chan- nel when they run one of their "Serpentine Scinema" weekends (my term, not theirs). Of course, if you really want to be evil to your players, you could swipe part of the plot of a Jack Wagner movie that runs on cable from time to time: a wacko with a grudge against one of the passengers manages to sneak a rigged canister of nerve gas onto the plane to kill that person (never mind the fact that everybody else on the plane will be killed as well). Alternatively, you could go the Executive Decision route, and have the threat be a biowar agent. Of course, these scenarios might be a bit difficult to pull off in this, the post-9/11 game universe. Major Tom Giving my diabolical muse free rein... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blade Posted July 27, 2006 Report Share Posted July 27, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! If you place a bomb in the engine of a jet airliner, several things will happen: 1. As mentioned above: jet fuel spraying all over the place, probably burning jet fuel--Lots'o'fire. 2. Shrapnel from the engine, as the compressor tears itself apart at 50,000 rpm will fly away from the engine (I would treat this as some kind of area effect RKA ~3d6 with a random chance of being hit). This effect will increase the amount of fuel (1) because the shrapnel will be punching more holes in the wing. 3. If it is a 747, there are four engines, and probably the other one on the same wing will bite the dust also, with similar results. 4. Multi-ton engines (about the size of a VW) falling from the sky! 5. I saw a B-52 that injested a seagull into one of the port engines, the shrapnel ripped most of the tail off--more stuff falling from the sky. 6. Don't forget the need to get everyone off the plane before it blows! (comic book, probably not in the real world) Alternatively, the flying brick who carries the plane down may have to set it in the water, so everyone off before it sinks! (Of course the villian would have tampered with the raft/slides. 7. Many of those on the plane will need medical attention: Any MD/Mystics on the team? Just a few suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Certified Posted July 28, 2006 Report Share Posted July 28, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! Of course, these scenarios might be a bit difficult to pull off in this, the post-9/11 game universe. Sadly not really, someone did a security test sneaking banned items on a plan, 10 attempts with 10 successes, I forget who ran the test, but here’s a link to the FBI’s Fake license test . We do have to wait longer if that makes you feel safer though. Although, there might be an Air Marshal on board who could maybe help the players with some of the suggestions I’ve read so far they’ll need all the help they can get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Major Tom Posted August 15, 2006 Report Share Posted August 15, 2006 Re: Help me brainstorm a disaster! Speaking of Snakes on a Plane, I only have one question: What poison- nous snake isn't in this movie?? So far in the ads I've seen, there's a Gaboon viper, a rattlesnake, and (in one of the ads that's been on today) a King Cobra. And that's not counting the picture I saw on the Wikipedia website's entry for the movie: what looks like 3 or 4 Green Mambas on some poor SOB's lap, with yet another one hanging from the cabin ceiling next to him. Major Tom Sssssss.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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