Need ideas for a particular crew knock-out scenario

[Nerhesi]

It can't be heavy handed. I know - Ive just said I want to knock them out, but I can't just say "blah blah happens, you've all been knocked out" - I need them to have an opportunity to avoid it, but can you share with me some things that have worked for you?

Some constraints:

a) This group is a long-time gaming group and the current campaign is in it's third major session. By major, I literally mean the characters have around 50 in skills (as in, almost 3 years of playing Mongoose Traveller on a weekly basis for hours per week. You end up with a lot of jumps and with a lot of library time). I'm keeping the challenges going (due to tech level and law level limitations on worlds, interesting mercenary work, random cool events) buy mostly it is story that keeps us going

b) Point (b) means that the amount of money generated and spent (and lost) means the crew is entirely psionic, augmented, and decked out. So fist-a-cuffs generally wont cut it. Half also have augmented lungs/hearts so stun-gas is not a viable option.

Literally, anything goes. We're just post Fifth Frontier War (1116) - we have someone experimenting with Cyborg creation (TL15 robots) on the ship, a computer that is partially self-aware (TL16 as per Deneb book).. so zombies, bad AI virus, etc etc are all viable. Ultimately, I'm looking to somehow end up with the ship drifting and the crew unconscious, resulting in them waking up naked and having lost everything (except augments) - a start for the next major plot which would take a little long to explain...

Thoughts?

 

[Anonymous]

It was in the salmon mousse. (Sorry, couldn't resist).

Zhodani infiltrator fleeing the system the players are just about to leave, made a psionic attack on the crew to allow him/her to secret themselves on board.

The partially self aware ship is experimenting with psionics and caused a psionic wave to flood the ship knocking the characters unconscious.

Kinda hard to come up with stuff as the characters are all uber, means you have to resort to superhero stuff to knock them down...

KRYPTONITE!!!

 

[wbnc]

Good luck with that one...Last time i tried that trick the crew ended up owning a saucer shaped statrship belonging to a Short gray skinned big eyed species.

I they all have extensive Cybernetics a powerful EMP pulse could hit them like a ton of bricks.

Sonic weapons, or even better a gravity based weapon...one that causes rapid shifts in gavity at several pulses per second..the net effect being complete vertigo and disorientation followed by unconsciousness,


I remember one trick in an old movie.."Looker" the bad guy had came up with a strobing light that caused the equivalent of a petite mal seizure. all the target saw was a brief flash of light then .well the badguy did mean things to his targets while they stood motionless staring into space.

Honestly if you really want them stripped down to their generic skivvies and in a strange place...just have them wake up like that. at some point they discover that someone got their , "hands on an ancient weapon.... on that can target a ship and any organic aboard unconscious,and transports them to a specific location for"research". use an identity lock on the control device that only allows one user to operate it..and make sure that the designated user has a fatal "accident" or decides to disable the device...

 

[Anonymous]

The group's last patron was so pleased and impressed by the Herculean efforts that resulted in an outstandingly successful last mission that he sent a case of pan galactic gargle blasters and 20 clones of the triple breasted whore of Eroticon 6 as a gift to his new Best Friends (tm).

After many days of partying the group awakes, their ship adrift in the abyss of space, the hookers long since gone (presumably on the ship's small craft, it's missing) along with their worldly possessions and of course, all of their clothes...

 

[dragoner]

It was in the salmon mousse. (Sorry, couldn't resist).

Not so super, this is a good idea, something in their food or drink is the most "realistic".

 

[Askold]

Does the group split up and can you have the attackers take them few at a time? Perhaps with tactics planned in advance to counter their abilities and equipment?

Or could you lure them somewhere out of their ship and put them in a position where they must surrender? (and then have them knocked out for the duration of their transportation to whatever prison or interrogation awaits.) If knocking them out in combat WITHOUT killing them is too hard you really should put them in a situation where they cannot fight back.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I'm looking to somehow end up with the ship drifting and the crew unconscious, resulting in them waking up naked and having lost everything (except augments) - a start for the next major plot which would take a little long to explain...

Why are they naked? Maybe they don't have to be knocked out for that. If your players don't play in-character, why should you bother with logistics?

 

[Reynard]

No one ever said a tranq gas HAS to be cinematic semi-translucent (so the audience knows what's going on). Plot can allow the opposition to have the right equipment at the right moment especially those ever useful ventilation systems where the characters happen to be. Tell me when James Bond drops because of this scenario, you're howling that's not fair or real!

 

[CosmicGamer]

With the ship drifting and the crew unconscious, resulting in them waking up naked and having lost everything (except augments).

Unconscious. Not a problem.
Naked? A bit more imagination to give a logical reason, but doable.
Drifting ship. Also doable.

The combination of things. Very problematic to me. Why leave a very valuable ship but take everything else of value, and also things of little value like their clothes? I can come up with things but then we get to "a start for the next major plot which would take a little long to explain".

Yes, you said you don't want it to be "heavy handed", but creating some elaborate reason for the situation would then be it's own adventure to be played out and becomes it's own start for the next major plot, the characters trying to figure out what happened and by whom, and likely be a waste of time as it would not work with whatever plans you already have.

 

[Nerhesi]

Thanks folks

Some of you are focusing too much on the end-goal. The intermediate goal (unconscious) is the challenge, the end is simple.

Ship gone only makes sense as it is an expensive ship that would be stolen and chopped up (stealth jump drive, a couple of barbettes, it is also a modular ship, etc).
Naked is just a synonym for being stripped of everything of value on their person.
The only reason really for their survival is to do with the followup experimentation-wake-up-in-a-lab that is abandoned plot. Otherwise, whomever knocked them unconscious would take everything of value (ship and gear), carve out whatever cyber they can, and just space them.

But that would defeat the purpose of actually... well.. playing. Or having friends.

 

[Reynard]

I know I'm curious to the premise. Maybe when the scenario is over we can get the story.

 

[Rick]

Hmm. How 'self-aware' is that computer? Could it have become fully aware without the PC's discovering the fact? Taken control of the robots and then the ship? I admit, it's more of a TNG 'Virus' style idea, but it could work! :twisted:

 

[alex_greene]

Just declare that they are knocked out. Agent unknown. Could it be nanotech, some chemical unknown to the characters, or those "vitamin shots" the medic gave them before they took off? None of them will ever know - only that they remember the Captain giving the order to Jump, they Jump ... and their next memory is waking up, cold berth burns on their behinds and it's been six months, and their ship is nowhere to be seen.

The method is, and will always be, unknown to them. They can try to piece it together, but truth to tell, even if they get their old ship back, they will always be wondering how.

And they'll always be scared spineless that somebody will do it again.

 

[dragoner]

The twist: they agreed to a memory wipe, such as in Memory Alpha.

 

[Hopeless]

They wake up naked with no idea what's happened everything else as mentioned however what happened to them remains a mystery.

The truth is they're actually clones of the originals which explains how they don't have their gear, ship and whatever else that's unnecessary barring psionics that you could rule they need to relearn their lost gifts.

As they play on they eventually discover the truth as their original selves discover about their existence and become their new nemesis's, ever ran a game where their original characters become the big bad?

Here's your chance!

 

[CosmicGamer]

The intermediate goal (unconscious) is the challenge, the end is simple.

Numerous ways to cause unconsciousness. Chemical "poisoning" is one of the more obvious.

Poisoning via airborne - anything from a sleeping gas grenade, innocent looking/spy like hand held spray, tampering with the environmental system...

If someone is hosting the crew and putting them up for the night they could just put a sleeping/knockout agent in the air supply while they are sleeping or maybe it is in the airlock when the crew comes aboard their ship.

Poison can be via ingestion -the host has poisoned their meal.

Poison can be via contact - the host shakes everyone's hand, the bedding has a contact poison.

A combination? The champagne for a toast has been poisoned with a sleep/knockout drug. Perhaps someone doesn't drink it or is unaffected for some reason but there is also a contact poison that causes paralysis on the champagne glass which is not instantaneous, takes a few minutes to be absorbed and take effect, enough time to have a toast. Anyone left not effected by those is attacked with sleep gas grenades and stun weapons.

Any reason the entire group needs to be all in one place and taken out simultaneously? I'm thinking of the firefly episode where Saffron dealt with the crew individually or in small groups.

 

[phavoc]

If your crews are cybered and psionic then I would use some sort of electrical dampening field that affects all forms of electrical activity. Sort of like the EMP, but EMP doesn't affect people, just electronics. Using a device of that type would allow you to short out implants and provide for memory lapses (that you may or may not allow them to regain).

If you want them to find the device they could, but to keep the mystery going it would be best to have it slag itself when activated. Perhaps they could get a clue or three from the wreckage, but not much more until they have processed the entire adventure (assuming you want them to get that much info).

 

[Hopeless]

Maybe some background history might help for example the PCs enemies are there any groups capable of such a feat as the one you want help with?

 

[whatzupdoc42]

What about during a jump, there is a cascade failure of systems? The players get a chance to bring them selves out of jump, but early because of the Mis-Jump!!! When they come out, they enter normal space in a system above a planet and hit something. Give them a chance to glancing blow off of the space-station above planet and then have them crash on the planet. The ship is greatly damaged lands in a marsh/bog and sinks into the sludge. Have that crap seep into the damaged ship maybe flooding the bottom floors and engineering spaces. Causing all sorts of damage and destruction. Maybe the ship is also on fire (fuel) or Cargo explodes and burns the upper floors making the crew abandon ship quickly with almost nothing. Have them trek through the marsh/bog and make rolls and start loosing things (toys)You would be surprised how bad muck and dirt can be on technology!

In the end let them make rolls to finally find a island to climb out and then have them get to a up rise and watch their ship burn in the distance and then have it start to rain for a couple of hours. That will put a damper on their spirit and do a number on their technology. In the end in the morning when they see the sun come up and check, a lot of their toys will no longer work. The ship would have sank mostly into the muck/mud and leaving them with just the clothes on their backs.

Then proceed with your adventure from there...

Penn

 

[Epicenter]

Given there's a lack of information...there's one glaring problem:

It can't be heavy handed.

and

Ultimately, I'm looking to somehow end up with the ship drifting and the crew unconscious, resulting in them waking up naked and having lost everything (except augments)

I think is inherently heavy handed. Players, especially Traveller players, in my experience absolutely hate two things: They hate to lose control and they hate to lose their stuff.

I mean there are ways you can kinda of palatable but I doubt you'll ever be able to make it completely palatable. The easiest is to get a buy-in from your characters: A megacorporate patron approaches your characters:

"I've heard about your group from (someone in the past whom the players have good relations with), I'm told your abilities are top-notch and your ability to improvise is very good. I need a favor. My corporation handles small lot cargo from X system in Y subsector to Z system in the next subsector over. The problem is that recently, my ships have begun to disappear. We run a relatively large fleet of ships, but three ships vanishing is a huge loss in capital. I've called in various experts in the field and presented them with what little I have in the way of facts and some are saying it's some weird jumpspace phonomenon. Others are saying it's pirates. Still others are saying sabotage by rivals. Or even disgruntled employees in my own company. The only thing is they can't agree on what the problem is. The thing is, if I hire mercenaries to escort the ships, there's no problems. So that's what I've been doing and while the loss of the ships and cargoes is a bitter pill to swallow, it's something I can overcome. What I cannot forget are the lives of those crew who vanished. I simply cannot just abandon them without knowing what happened to them and if possible if they cannot be rescued and returned to their loved ones. What I'm asking you all to do is to pose as crew on one of my ships that will be unescorted. Obviously, you'll have to travel as crew, showing no outward sign you're any different than a normal crew. You won't be able to bring any of your heavy equipment or your own ship as an escort for obvious reasons - if there's an insider doing this, that'll tip off the insider. Don't fret - I have sufficient offices that I can always say you're new-hires being transferred in to replace the vanished crews and simply modify your records enough to show you're newbies...."

(Of course, to reduce costs, he actually has his crews in special improved low berths during the week in Jump Space to eliminate life-support costs, this would also be something the players would know and would have to accept to do the job. They would effectively be "naked and have lost everything" because they'd need to leave it all behind to do the job.)

But this kind of stuff is pretty transparent to your players. Which leads me to my next questions: As one GM speaking to another GM, I have to ask you why the players have to wake up "naked and having lost everything."

I suspect I know the answer, but I could be wrong. But here's my guess: Your characters have become sufficiently powerful via equipment, skills, and inherent augmentation that it is becoming difficult to challenge them as a GM and you want something of a fresh start.

If this is the case, it's a situation that's as old as RPGs. We older gamers even have a term for it: Your party is Monty Haul. That you've been playing the campaign for years means that you didn't just give out too much stuff too quickly, but eventually you've reached that point -- your Traveller characters are the equivalent of 18th or 20th level characters in Dungeons and Dragons.

You and your players may be attached to your characters that you've carefully nurtured over the years, but it may be time to start fresh with a new set of characters. Don't kill off the old ones, bring them out every so often for adventures or whatever, but try a new game with new characters. It'll allow you to rein in some things that may have caused undesirable power creep (say psionics or cybernetics) in your new campaign, but realize that if you play a game long enough, players will accumulate enough items and skill that challenging them becomes increasingly difficult.

If this is the case, just be transparent and honest with your players and tell them what's going on and how you'd like to start with a new set of characters. You'd be surprised how willing most players groups will be.