Re: [HOE] Apocalypse Now! thoughts?

[Darrin Bright <darrin@neobright.net>]

> Bryce wrote:
> 
> Spoilers for Apocalypse Now!
> 
> T
> e
> m
> p
> l
> e
> r
> s
> a
> r
> e
> t
> h
> e
> b
> e
> s
> t
> and you all know it!  Okay, now the topic at hand..
> 
> Also, any suggestions on how to run it probably (maybe I screwed up
> too)? From tips on how to play the bad guys to mood music and all that
> stuff. (Also, how to keep the characters alive a little bit longer)  I
> might be running it again soon, so any help would be appreciated.

It's pretty tough for an introductory adventure. If you're taking
through a group of experienced Deadlands players, I don't think they'd
have too much trouble, but if the group was new to DL/HOE I'd start them
out on something a little easier, maybe the Shape of Things To Come.

There are two major rough spots in Apocalypse Now that I'd make attempts
to smooth over. The first one is trying to rescue the hostages in the
school... the way the defenses are set up, it is pretty much pure
suicide to try any sort of frontal assault, and the Black Hats are too
damned smart to allow the PCs to attack any other way. What I would
suggest is to tip off the PCs to the existence of the storm drains in
the beginning of the adventure, and maybe encourage their use for the
attack on the school. To give the PCs a fighting chance, I'd take out or
tone down the traps the Black Hats have put on the drain
entrances/exits. This doesn't really make a lot of realistic sense, as
any decent Black Hat team would anticipate something like that, but it
makes for a more cinematic encounter, it gives the PCs a MUCH better
chance to catch the Bad Guys off guard, and hey... all Bad Guys should
have a couple blind spots, right?

The second rough spot has to do with the Tac Nuke at the end... I forget
the name of the harrowed general or whatever that has set the timer, but
I don't like how the nuke detonation is basically forced on the players,
and a great deal of text explains how impossible it is to disarm, even
to the point where (I think his name is McMasters?) it states the
manitou in charge will willingly blow his own brains out to prevent the
PCs from reading the disarm codes in his mind. To me at least it seems
the end of the adventure is railroaded way too heavily... there is no
way the PCs can disarm the bomb, but there's no real way for them to
know that unless the GM tells them it's flat-out impossible the way the
adventure was written.

Anyway, there's a lot of different ways to smooth that one out. First
thing, maybe McMasters genuinely doesn't know the codes. He's been wacko
for the last 13 years, right? Disarming nukes isn't exactly something he
does every day... maybe the codes automatically scramble after a certain
time has passed, and he never bothered to look up the new ones. So
reading his mind just won't help, rather than forcing him to blow his
brains out.

Second, if the PCs actually have the resources necessary to disarm the
bomb, let them give it a try, and if they succeed, let them succeed. If
this results in the PCs getting too much salvage or getting their hands
on a way too powerful tac nuke, then tell them the nuke is no longer
functioning anyway and is just a pile of radioactive scrap-heap. Or if
it is still in working order, it disappears mysteriously in the middle
of the night, maybe. Or maybe a Templar demands it be turned over to
Simon in Boise, where it can be properly dismantled.

Another option might be McMasters gains enough control over his Manitou
to tell the PCs that he'll try to disarm it, but they should leave at
once in case he can't do it in time. And, of course, he fails.

Going to such elaborate lengths to prevent the PCs from disarming the
bomb seemed like it was just asking for trouble.