Going Down?
Overview:
In this encounter your party takes the fast way down. They are riding some sort of gondola or elevator and the line snaps. They get to free fall for a time or they hit the ground.
Initial Description:
The machine lurches slowly downward towards it destination, which looks to be forever away. The sound of the rope grinding against the pulleys. It stops for second, then you hear it, “Snap.” The elevator begans to move much more quickly as you realize the cable has been cut. What do you do?
Enemies:
Gravity and Time
Objectives:
Main:
1. Don’t die
Map:
Overview:
The map is mostly a visual representation to help the players navigate, this encounter could easily (and probably more effectively be done) in theater of the mind.
Key:
The pulley systems are there just as a guide for something that the players could use to grab onto. A not smooth wall may also be another route for stopping their imminent fall. If you want a copy of the map to edit check it out here at inkarnate.
Special Mechanics:
Running Out of Time - The group has 5 turns (30 seconds) until the elevator reaches it’s target. If the PC’s haven’t found a way out they are dead.
The Three Check Rule - Part of the fun of this encounter is it is very free-form and narrative. As long as players come up with some way of getting out of this situation that seems reasonable they could could attempt it. We would generally use a rule of three here, being that it would take 3 successes to completely stop. When a check is made for something that seems reasonable we would set the DC at 15, award one success for the a roll of 15, two for 20, and 3 for 25. If the plan seemed particularly clever or easy to accomplish we would lower the DC as low as 10, if it seemed far fetched we could push it as high as 20.
Extras:
Easy Re-skins - Could be in a modern or Futuristic RPG no problem.
Inspirations, Shoutouts, and Thanks - This was first seen by me in the provokers campaign. Check out that actual play if you haven’t yet and watch them deal with this encounter and an enemy at the same time.
Share - if you have encounters you want to share on this site go to our share page for guide lines and email you encounters to tabletoprpgencounters@gmail.com. If you liked this encounter feel free to share it with your friends using one of the share buttons above!
