Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 darklyte Apr 06, 2010 9:34:16	Okay, well, not at the Disco, but at the Discount Inn!  And by Discount Inn I mean the ambassador suites. I have a plan to burn down a 3-story ambassador suite.  I want to get my players involved, so I intend to start by having them wake up in the night to the blaze.  They're not in the building but they are nearby and they will go through a skill challenge to help keep the fire under control and get people out of harms way.  All good. Afterwards, I want them to have to go inside the building to rescue someone important that is trapped inside.  While inside they'll fight a bunch of fire based mobs such as fire bats, hellhounds, and an azer beastmaster as the boss (this is actually around level 5 so instead of hellhounds they are hellcats and instead of a beastmaster he's just a trainee.).  Before they get to the epic final battle against this guy, in which they must defeat him and get out before the building collapses, I want to make the journey to the third floor an interesting one.  More than just "rar fight these mobs before you can move on!"  I want them to have to figure out how to get to the top, doing some thinking to figure out ways around collapsed walls and such.  I'm pretty much looking for suggestions on making this event more interesting.  Anyone have any?
#2 pronata Apr 06, 2010 9:45:53	Make it a skill challenge, my players always love them. Just some ideas that spring to mind: Make the floor collapse in front of them (or under them).  Make the stairs collapse and have them find another way up.   I'd love to see a PC get trapped and need to be freed before moving on. Give them an ethical dilema, make them choose between saving a small child, some lovely treasure or rescuing the person of importance. Play on your characters strengths and especially there weaknesses. I have a character terrified of fire, he would sit this one out, but another is a pyro, he would have a hard time leaving. find out what moves your characters and use it top terrify them in there, always keeps the game interesting.
#3 madclergy Apr 06, 2010 15:08:16	Navigating the smoke filled building could be part of the challenge. As well opening a door without testing to see if fire has filled the room on the other side, thusly removing the oxygen, could prove to be a dangerous trap (back draft I believe it's called). I like the idea of an ethical (moral?) dilemna dealing with saving one person or another, that was a good one. A skill challenge within the skill challenge could lead to being able to skip a floor. Like scaling a downed part of the building that could lead to an upper floor where failure would lead to attracting the attention and giving up surprise.
#4 darklyte Apr 06, 2010 15:50:03	These are great ideas.  Thanks for them.  I like the idea of playing up the smoke a bit, too, especially the oxygen consumption.  I hadn't thought about having them make endurance checks against it but it makes sense. I was thinking, perhaps, I would have the person their specifically trying to rescue be held on the second floor but blocked off.  The only way to get to it would be to go to the third floor and find a collapsed area to get to that side.  They could either try to get to the other stairs, which would probably be a combat encounter, or go out a window and try to scale that way. Knowing my group, they might just end up being really clever and trying to enter the building via the roof.  I wonder if there is a way I can prevent that, or at least make it difficult.
#5 pronata Apr 09, 2010 21:25:59	Don't stop them, if they decide that then move the gut to the basement...
#6 darklyte Apr 09, 2010 23:39:27	Ah excellent idea!  Reactive world!  Should be just as hard to get downstairs as it is to get upstairs.  I can leave a trail of blood to clue them to the fact that she isn't up there anymore, too