Okay here is my soup, needs some more spices?

[VR Dragon]

Okay I wanted some input and ideas from others on my very first true champions game.

 

Setting: Millennium City

 

Story Plot: While the PCs are Shopping at the Local Ultra-Mall A Terrorist Group (Viper) Broadcasts a Message to the Public on all local TV and Radio Stations. Even the TVs in mall at Kiosk and in Stores show the message.

 

" A guy in some kind of green and gold uniform Addresses those watching and listening, " Attention Citizens of Millennium City. Hours ago; before the mall was open, members of my group secretly entered the New Millennium Mall and planted many high yield explosive devices throughout it's various floors and shops. All Exits and Entrances are trapped as of the beginning of the broadcast, anyone trying to exit or enter the mall will set off a chain reaction of explosions. So I advice those shoppers to remain calm or die..."

 

He continues, " I will detinate the bombs in 3 hours unless my demands are met. My demands are simple enough to follow, I want 1 billion dollars transfered to an offshore account which I will provide the police and city leaders with shortly. To the police and anyone stupid enough to try to interfear I warn you this one time only. If anyone tries to enter, exit or anything else and the lives and deaths of everyone in the mall is on your heads." And to show you that I mean what I say I give you this demonstration......."

 

 

An Explosion rocks the outside north parking entrance. An Areal shot of the mall shows are huge portion of the parking lot in ruins and flames as vehicles are tossed about like bits of paper in a hard wind. The last thing shown is a huge Hummer launched towards the mall entrance and crashes through the doors.

 

 

Idea: Viper is pulling a typical hostage situation for cash. My subplot is this is all a detraction for what they are really after. A secret shipment of nuke grade enriched plutonium<?> is passing through the city that day and Viper found out about it. they Do all the hostage stuff so the shipment will divert to a easier to grab travel plan around the city. The mess at the mall will (they hope) kill all the costume crews busy.

 

 

Any ideas, input, or other stuff that might make this more fun?

[clsage]

Re: Okay here is my soup, needs some more spices?

 

Okay I wanted some input and ideas from others on my very first true champions game.

 

Setting: Millennium City

Idea: Viper is pulling a typical hostage situation for cash. My subplot is this is all a detraction for what they are really after. A secret shipment of nuke grade enriched plutonium<?> is passing through the city that day and Viper found out about it. they Do all the hostage stuff so the shipment will divert to a easier to grab travel plan around the city. The mess at the mall will (they hope) kill all the costume crews busy.

Any ideas, input, or other stuff that might make this more fun?

 

I used a slightly similar plot line in a starter episode of a campaign many years

back. The villains of the piece sent some robots into downtown Chicago to

wreck havoc on some of the buildings there while a different robbery was

occurring.

 

The main thing I noticed was that the players in my adventure felt a bit.....

used. The majority of the group, no matter how cynical they liked to act,

were really 'Silver Age" fans at heart. And pulling the 'off camera' robbery

with no way for them to stop it struck them as me 'cheating'. So you might

want to be sure your heroes have at least a chance of catching wind of the

heist....Then, if they fail to react to the clues they can't complain too much.

 

Additionally, you might add a second sub-plot of having some villain agents

in disguise, scanning the heroes as they go about any attempt to rescue the

mall patrons. Such observers would then be able to build a database about

the hero team for future use by the baddies....

 

Those are just my first blush thoughts. Good luck with the scenario.

 

-Carl-

[GoldenAge]

Re: Okay here is my soup, needs some more spices?

 

This scenario works best if one of the characters is actually involved in the plutonium transfer, thus giving the players a chance to intercept the real crime as well as help the mall hostages.

 

Are there any other heroes in town? I would imagine such a general broadcast would bring just about every one of them running. If so, they (the other heroes) could provide the mall with help while the PCs head off to intercede Viper's ultimate machinations.

 

The real problem here (assuming that the PCs discover Viper's real intent) is the predicament of two simultaneous crimes. Unfortunately, a true hero (in my book) wouldn't abandon one emergency for the other. This would inevitably cause the group to split as they allocated members to each crisis. Split games are possible, but hardly as fun (or manageable) as encounters where the team gets to fight together.

[VR Dragon]

Re: Okay here is my soup, needs some more spices?

 

Well somethings I forgot to add to my orginial post.

 

This is my first adventure for a group who has never played hero before. The nuke subplot is something I was kinda having as something for the next/following game if they don't solve it during the first game.

 

Please keep the ideas and comments coming. I can use the help looking at this from different angles.

[Cygnia]

Re: Okay here is my soup, needs some more spices?

 

What "age" are you setting this in, so to speak? Silver/Bronze/Iron? That is to say, if the heroes do something really stupid despite all non-subtle hints otherwise, are you going to pull your punches when it comes to the hostages?

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Okay here is my soup, needs some more spices?

 

Echoing clsage's advice, don't make the players feel they were used.

 

You want them to deal with the stuff at the mall, and for the plutonium theft to go through so they can follow up on that in the next adventure, right? So the mall thing has to be a for-real operation too. I like it being a two-pronged thing. Yeah, the mall thing may be mostly a distraction, but VIPER would still like the cold, hard cash.

 

First, I'd drop the amount from a billion to an amount that the city could reasonably get together in a short amount of time. If I was the player, "one billion in three hours" would instantly tip me off that this is just a distraction. Twenty or thirty million I could see, and that's still a healthy profit for the goons in green.

 

They'd have a team of agents nearby, monitoring cameras and some hidden microphones, ready to trigger explosives or broadcast threats to show they mean business. This also gives the heroes there someone to fight (very important IMO for a group new to HERO), and a possible way to "defuse" the whole situation. And if the broadcasts tip off the heroes in the mall that they're being watched, all the better.

 

They'll need a clue on where to find those agents. Say the agents are in a room in a ten-story hotel overlooking the mall, and that the agent making the broadcasts is stupidly standing in such a way that the window (and mall) are visible in the background or in a mirror's reflection. So the heroes just need to figure out a way to get out of the mall unseen, over to the hotel, then figure out which room the agents are in and take 'em out.

 

Once they've dealt with the agents, maybe the team commander knows about the other plans and lets slip that the heroes may have saved the hostages, but they can't stop the "other operation" going on at the same time. By the time they sweat the information out of him or otherwise figure it out, they arrive just after the theft has taken place.

 

At least, that's my take on it.

[pinecone]

Re: Okay here is my soup, needs some more spices?

 

Okay I wanted some input and ideas from others on my very first true champions game.

 

Setting: Millennium City

 

Story Plot: While the PCs are Shopping at the Local Ultra-Mall A Terrorist Group (Viper) Broadcasts a Message to the Public on all local TV and Radio Stations. Even the TVs in mall at Kiosk and in Stores show the message.

 

" A guy in some kind of green and gold uniform Addresses those watching and listening, " Attention Citizens of Millennium City. Hours ago; before the mall was open, members of my group secretly entered the New Millennium Mall and planted many high yield explosive devices throughout it's various floors and shops. All Exits and Entrances are trapped as of the beginning of the broadcast, anyone trying to exit or enter the mall will set off a chain reaction of explosions. So I advice those shoppers to remain calm or die..."

 

He continues, " I will detinate the bombs in 3 hours unless my demands are met. My demands are simple enough to follow, I want 1 billion dollars transfered to an offshore account which I will provide the police and city leaders with shortly. To the police and anyone stupid enough to try to interfear I warn you this one time only. If anyone tries to enter, exit or anything else and the lives and deaths of everyone in the mall is on your heads." And to show you that I mean what I say I give you this demonstration......."

 

 

An Explosion rocks the outside north parking entrance. An Areal shot of the mall shows are huge portion of the parking lot in ruins and flames as vehicles are tossed about like bits of paper in a hard wind. The last thing shown is a huge Hummer launched towards the mall entrance and crashes through the doors.

 

 

Idea: Viper is pulling a typical hostage situation for cash. My subplot is this is all a detraction for what they are really after. A secret shipment of nuke grade enriched plutonium<?> is passing through the city that day and Viper found out about it. they Do all the hostage stuff so the shipment will divert to a easier to grab travel plan around the city. The mess at the mall will (they hope) kill all the costume crews busy.

 

 

Any ideas, input, or other stuff that might make this more fun?

 

Looks ptretty cool, I'd recomend a few red herrings, and a clue or two ..."Can you masks handle this? My best men are guarding a critical shipment through town right now..."

[The Weapon]

Re: Okay here is my soup, needs some more spices?

 

I used a slightly similar plot line in a starter episode of a campaign many years

back. The villains of the piece sent some robots into downtown Chicago to

wreck havoc on some of the buildings there while a different robbery was

occurring.

 

The main thing I noticed was that the players in my adventure felt a bit.....

used. The majority of the group, no matter how cynical they liked to act,

were really 'Silver Age" fans at heart. And pulling the 'off camera' robbery

with no way for them to stop it struck them as me 'cheating'. So you might

want to be sure your heroes have at least a chance of catching wind of the

heist....Then, if they fail to react to the clues they can't complain too much.

 

Additionally, you might add a second sub-plot of having some villain agents

in disguise, scanning the heroes as they go about any attempt to rescue the

mall patrons. Such observers would then be able to build a database about

the hero team for future use by the baddies....

 

Those are just my first blush thoughts. Good luck with the scenario.

 

-Carl-

 

Well if the players actually save the mall-goers then they might not feel as used. After all they still have the opportunity to get the plutonium back. Well the GM should give them such an opportunity. There might be someone in the mall (maybe one of the PCs maybe a bystander) who enough knows about the plutonium to speculate about how it could be stolen and therefore where it probably is. Since there is no time to inform/convince the authorities (who are in classic "Die Hard" tradition completely wrong about everything) they'll have to race to retrieve the lethal stuff.

If you really want them to feel cheated have them find the Plutonium only to find out it's not weapons grade or even commercial grade. Someone was ripping off the government and using VIPER to cover it up!

[ParagonAlpha]

Re: Okay here is my soup, needs some more spices?

 

If I might make a suggestion or two.

 

I would give the players a bunch of news "facts" that they could oversee on the television before the "interruption". Sports highlights, weather, a story about traffic being rerouted through downtown Millennium City due to transportation of some form of top secret substance, a look into the financial success of a the MakePeace Corporation.

 

One thing that would be kind of neat would be if Viper was bluffing about the bombs. Instead of planting dozens of bombs they only planted one and used it to show their intent. The rest of the bombs are just dummies designed to keep everyone busy for a few hours. If they get the ransom money, bonus, but their main goal is to get the shipment.

 

If the PC's get caught up in the distraction then there are several ways they could find out about the shipment. They could be asked to look into by SAT or Primus. They could track the off shore account and find that it is owned by a dummy corporation that owns a shell corporation that is part of a conglomerate that owns a subsidiary that is a major stockholder in the MakePeace Corporation. And it just so happens that MakePeace happens to own the shipping company used to transport the shipment.

 

If you're going to "use" you players, make sure you leave them a way to redeem themselves. The best way to get players to hate the bad guy is make the bad guy humiliate them once.

[BoloOfEarth]

Re: Okay here is my soup, needs some more spices?

 

The best way to get players to hate the bad guy is make the bad guy humiliate them once.

 

I agree in general, but don't think that's the route to go in this specific case. The problem I have here is that this is the first time these players are playing Hero / Champions, and I wouldn't want to sour their first experience with it by having them feel humiliated and used. IMO, it's better to have them feel like they kicked butt and saved lives, but VIPER still managed to slip something under their radar, so now they need to fix that problem too.

 

As to the other stuff, I absolutely agree on the news facts as clues (great call on that, PA).

[McCoy]

Re: Okay here is my soup, needs some more spices?

 

All Exits and Entrances are trapped as of the beginning of the broadcast, anyone trying to exit or enter the mall will set off a chain reaction of explosions.

 

[snip]

 

The last thing shown is a huge Hummer launched towards the mall entrance and crashes through the doors.

Setting off the aforementioned chain reaction, scenario over.

 

Dramatic detail, but logically inconsistant.

 

Let me get this straight, the heroes are inside the booby trapped mall? Someone is going to panic and run for the doors. Crowd control is going to be first priority, is also the weak point in the diversion plan. How does VIPER keep someone from setting off the bombs/calling their bluff too early. Maybe mall security has been replaced with VIPER agents?

[sbarron]

Re: Okay here is my soup, needs some more spices?

 

I agree with the group that scenarios where "winning" means that the group actually lost aren't a lot of fun. Especially right out of the gate.

 

The basic elements of your plot are great. I'd just tweak them a bit, so as to allow the Heroes to win twice.

 

First, I wouldn't put any actual Viper personnel at the Mall. Hostage scenarios never work. Not even in the comics. Give Viper enough credit to know that any agents that take hostages and then blow up the mall are going to be sent to prison. There is no reason to risk people that way. A better approach would be for the Viper to plan to...

 

1) pre-record the public video announcement,

2) set exposives in mall garage and mall before it opens, as planned,

3) set up video cameras so hostage negotiations can be conducted remotely,

4) take hostages once mall opens, stashing them in a central room...a Spencers could be fun, though any store will work.

5) set mall security system to lock all doors, and assign robot guards to prevent hostages from escaping or being rescued,

6) leave the mall through secret sewer access to go steal the plutonium,

7) remotely run the video announcement,

8) remotely detonate the explosives in the mall garage.

9) eventual plan would be to remotely detonate the explosives to destroy the mall.

 

The scenario should be run the same, but rather than fighting actual Viper agents, the PCs will only be fighting robots and disarming bombs. Once they get to the hostage area and execute the rescue, the PCs should learn of the secret sewer access. The early exit by Viper and any other clues you want to leave should tip the PCs off that the plan was never to collect any ransom, and that the true target is the plutonium.

 

Personally, I'd put the plutonium shipment on a ship in the bay. The PCs would get there just after Viper had seized control of the vessel. More fighting ensures, with small Viper water-craft buzzing around the water level, guys with jetpacks controlling the air, and plenty of agents on the decks of the tanker ship. Fighting ensues. PCs save the day.