It's a pretty reasonable assumption, if not a concrete guarantee, that something or someone will blow up in my RECESS Muppet Show game on June 18th.
Among the things the Muppets and I have in common is our mutual love of explosions. Not Michael Bay explosions mind you. Explosions that matter. Explosions with purpose. Explosions of just the right size, with the right amount of flash and smoke, set off at just the right time.
In short, explosions with heart.
Now normally (well, in relation to a Muppets RPG I guess) an explosion is an attack made by a Muppet's Shtick toward another Muppet. If the exploder is successful in blowing up the explodee, the unlucky recipent of the pyrotechnic barrage in question would likely lose some Shtick dice. Conflict of this type is noted in the entry 'Why Don't We Get Things Started - Part 1' during March's Muppet Madness Month.
Now, what if things exploded for some other reason than one caused by a Conflict. What if it were conditional or environmental? What if Beau puts Bunsen's all-new 'Super-Heating Ultra-Flamable Wonder Wood' in the Muppet Theater's furnace. It's a cold night so he puts in two logs. A tropical bird or lizard character complains it's still too cold so Beau put more...oh heck he puts all of it in.
When the theater blows up like an angry supernova, how do you determine damage?
I've considering the following rule...Figure out whose fault it is or which Muppet is most directly related to the incident. Roll their appropriate Shtick dice or their highest if nothing they have is appropriate to the cause of the accident or condition. Everyone (all the Muppets in use in that session as long as they were in the vicinity of the big boom) takes that many dice of damage (reducing Shtick dice) minus their current Star Power. For each Star they have, subtract one dice of damage.
All participants will still end up dazed and covered with dust, soot and debris but the bigger stars may still be able to act.
Just some thoughts. Tell me yours.
AD
Barking Alien
I don't know - if someone manages to blow up the entire show that sounds like a win to me. What can top it? Call it a cliffhanger ending, everyone goes and gets some more snacks and reconvenes in a half-hour to find out what happens next.
ReplyDeleteThe old show "Sledge Hammer" ended its first season with a failed attempt to defuse a nuclear bomb. When they were -surprisingly- renewed for a second season they opened with "Last time on Sledge Hammer" ... mushroom cloud ... roll opening credits relabeled "Sledge Hammer: the Early Years"
I remember that show. Funny stuff.
ReplyDeleteTherein lies my problem...in many games, if the starship you are on blows up, all the PCs are dead. If the SwineTrek explodes on 'Pigs in Space', the PCs probably walk backstage dazed and a bit burnt but otherwise OK.