Last weekend, I was at the Owlbear and the Wizard’s Staff, an improbably-named convention in Leamington Spa – and this was the scenario I ran for it. I’d previously playtested it online with my pick-up Supers Gaming group, and made quite significant changes to some of the encounters based on how that went. I thought I’d share it here as a verbatim example of my notes for a one-shot game, along with a few explanatory things.
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I designed this scenario for the pregen group Daybreak in the Sentinel Comics rulebook – they are teen superheroes, and I played up their lesser status in Freedom City by having lots of spectators and NPCs wearing Legacy merch (the other, more established, superheroes). Sentinel has a really structured encounter/scene structure, which I stuck to for the set pieces, but I freeformed a lot of the investigation scene by just asking for 6 successes and giving them some plot hooks when they made their Overcome rolls.
I knew I had 3 players, but added an extra into each scene to allow for an extra player to arrive. I’ll be following this up with a Sentinels review, and probably something on playtesting con scenarios, so watch this space!
Intro / Con Pitch
In this terrifying issue, Ray Manta (p400) has hatched a devious plan to hold Freedom City to ransom, by kidnapping the hapless Mayor Thomas at the opening of Freedom City Aqualand. After dealing with the aftermath of his kidnapping, the heroes have to track down Ray Manta to his secret underwater base, find him, and battle him and his aquatic friends to save the mayor.
SCENE ONE -THE GRAND OPENING
Easy/Medium Action Scene
The heroes are guests of honour, or just there for a day out, at the opening of Aqualand, the Freedom City aquarium. It’s been rebuilt after a terrible incident of collateral damage that the heroes were somehow involved in. Standing in front of the prize pool is Mayor Thomas, his too-tight suit and the blazing sun making his hair dye drip onto his collar. As he readies to cut the ribbon, Orca and Morca, the aquarium’s prized killer whales, jump a pirouette behind him.
A great day for the fishes! A great day for the city! As I always say, with cod on our side, we’re always sure to have a whale of a time! I’ve always been a fin of the aquarium, and I’ve often said this day was manta be!
As Mayor Thomas giggles at his terrible puns, the fireworks go off – and smoke fills the area. Slightly confused, there are soon some secondary explosions – and screams!
Ray Manta has set off his trap – his squid-bots have been waiting in the wings, and his shark-bots have already replaced the beloved Orca and Morca.
As the smoke clears, Mayor Thomas is nowhere to be seen, and man-sized squidbots terrorize the assembled crowds. An explosion under a stand has left the assembled people tumbling into the pool, where a now-enraged Morca has been dropped from the sky.
Scene Tracker – Standard
3 Players:
ELECTRIC EEL – D8 Lieutenant
Herman Gyros got caught in an oil rig accident and given the ability to turn into living electricity – now he works for Ray Manta after a hastily-arranged re-image to fit his fish theme
Ability: Can ATTACK and HINDER a target with the same die roll if making a ranged attack with his ELECTRO-SHOCK
Tactics: Flies around from zone to zone targeting the most dangerous-looking opponent. Flees if the fight turns.
HAMMERHEAD – D8 Lieutenant
One of King Shark’s followers, Hammerhead has been loaned out to Ray Manta for this mission. He is utterly clueless and doesn’t understand much of what is going on
Ability: At home in the water – +2 to close-combat attack or defend actions when in the water
Tactics: Keeps fighting until the bitter end – like we said, clueless.
ROBOCTOPI
These look like unconvincing plexiglass octopi
Ability: 16 arms are better than 8! They get a +2 to Boost fellow octopods
(H) D6 Minions
ENVIRONMENT – The Bombing Campaign
Frequent random explosions D8
Escaping wild aquatic animals D6
Hacked water cannons and fire trucks D8
Green – a few explosions happen towards the edges of the scene – the whole place has been booby-trapped!
Minor: Explosions fire at one hero on the ground of the scene, making an Attack using the Mid die
Minor: Another roboctopi activates!
Major: Two heroes are buried under a pile of rubble – Hinder at Mid, Attack at Min
Yellow – spectators are dropped into the orca tank, as fish swarm from all directions
Minor: A wave of water targets everyone on the ground who isn’t aquatic – Attack with Min vs. everyone
Minor: One hero is covered with mating octopi – a persistent and exclusive Boost action
Major: Advance the scene tracker by one space as the ground begins to creak under the water
Red – the stand collapses into the city’s water system – there are sharks all over the city now!
Minor: Water sprays up, a Hinder (Mid) on everyone – including the flyers
Minor: An arc of electricity flies up to Electric Eel and restores him to full strength!
Major: Waves of water stand between the heroes and their opponents – a Max Defend action
4 players:
ADD
SAVE THE SPECTATORS
OO Right the stand
O Calm the enraged killer whale
SCENE TWO – AFTERMATH
Montage Scene
As the scene clears, a message has been scorced into the grass in front of the aquarium – unless THREE MILLION DOLLARS is delivered to an unmarked post office box downtown, they will never see the mayor – or Orca – again. Commissioner Brown is beside himself
But the people of Freedom City – they love that goddam dolphin! And Mayor Thomas, of course. Him as well. But, how will poor Morca cope without her mate?
Players can narrate their scene to heal/help/boost as usual.
SCENE THREE – INVESTIGATIONS
Easy Action Scene
As they race to find the location the mayor (and the beloved killer whale) is hiding, they need a total of 6 successes on Overcome actions to do so.
Possible approaches –
Hack the robots to find their ‘homing location’ somewhere in Freedom Bay
Investigate the PO box – where they find a terrified employee who says a ‘fat man who smelled of fish’ asked him to set it up, then crawled back into the river
Look into the aquarium contractors – where there are a lot of contracts given to on Mandy Tallahasie Raynham – with the location of the warehouse that he used
Go bust some heads at the warehouse – where they can reveal Ray Manta’s underwater base
SCENE FOUR – PREPARATIONS
Montage Scene
They know where Ray Manta’s base is, and they know how to get there -and that it’s underwater. How do they prepare to get there?
Players can narrate their scene to heal/help/boost as usual.
SCENE FIVE – SHOWDOWN
Moderate Action Scene
As they burst into Ray Manta’s base, they find the mayor and the Orca already tied to a laser cutter, and the swarms of bots all around them
Scene Tracker – Standard
3 Heroes:
SAVE THE WHALE! (AND THE MAYOR)
OOOO Defuse the laser
RAY MANTA (see full profile, with upgrade suit, in the Sentinel Comics core book)
ELECTRIC EEL (AGAIN!)
D10 LIEUTENANT
Can Attack and Hinder the with one action
KING ORCA
A man in a shark suit just as unconvincing as Ray Manta’s costume, King Orca is nevertheless a dangerous villain
D10 LIEUTENANT
+2 to Boost actions
4 heroes – ADD
HORDES OF FLYING FISHBOTS
(H) D8 MINIONS
Annoying blighters: +1 to Hinder Actions
Once the scene is finished, the heroes are victorious! They have saved the mayor, and the beloved Killer Whale, Orca! Narrate a closing scene where they celebrate their victory.
Burn After Running: RPG One-Shots 