The old wooden bridge - rules?

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

Greetings

I would like everybodies thoughts/suggestions on this issue.


The PCs are heading to a key point in a story (a mountain town
location) They come to a wooden bridge crossing a ravine. It looks old
and dangerous. The story requires them to cross, but be made well aware
of its unstable nature - I was thinking some sort of dex check DC to
avoid stepping on the most weak boards etc.

Later, they, along with many rescued people (perhaps 100+) will be
pursued along the road and come to the bridge.

I want this to be the set piece ending for quite a big part of the
campaign - The PCs getting all the rescued people (in small groups?)
across the bridge while holding off the large force of (prob
Orcs/Hobgoblins). Then, retreating over the bridge, before the main
hobgoblin army tries to cross and plunges to its doom.

I have the cinematics of the story worked out, I would just appreciate
some help over rule mechinics to heigten the stress and tension - eg DC
roles etc..

Thanks in advance.

Rob

(Look - no mention of summoned badgers or Stoneroper bards)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

Just use the stats for a gazebo.

--
I'm not an actor, but I play one on TV!

George W. Harris For actual email address, replace each 'u' with an 'i'

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

In article <1115629678.107572.170080@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
Murf <rob_murfin@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Greetings
>
>I would like everybodies thoughts/suggestions on this issue.
>
>
>The PCs are heading to a key point in a story (a mountain town
>location) They come to a wooden bridge crossing a ravine. It looks old
>and dangerous. The story requires them to cross, but be made well aware
>of its unstable nature - I was thinking some sort of dex check DC to
>avoid stepping on the most weak boards etc.
>
>Later, they, along with many rescued people (perhaps 100+) will be
>pursued along the road and come to the bridge.
>
>I want this to be the set piece ending for quite a big part of the
>campaign - The PCs getting all the rescued people (in small groups?)
>across the bridge while holding off the large force of (prob
>Orcs/Hobgoblins). Then, retreating over the bridge, before the main
>hobgoblin army tries to cross and plunges to its doom.

What level are the characters?

If there anything above 5th level. Prepare for 'disappointment'
The party could well circumvent the bridge completely.

On the way out mage casts levitate, uses bridge to pull himself over
pulling ropes party builds rope bridge.

On the way back the party could reinforce the structure of the bridge
with web spells, lay some decking over the sticky patches and walk
everyone straight across.

At higher level they could use a stoneshape or a wall spell to create
their own bridge, Summoned creatures to fly the refugees over,
the pursuing Orcs etc could be delayed/stopped by wall spells
stoneshape triggered avalanches or forest fires.

I tell you this not so you can tighten up your set piece ending and force
the players to jump through carefully staged hoops of fire.

But to prepare you for the eventuality that a players will do something
really cunning, convert the climax to a cake-walk and just say to you
Don't Panic! Don't have the orcs suddenly sprout fire arrows and burn
the webbing! The players have earned their cake-walk, keep it real
perhaps speed up the orcs a little bit to keep the tension up, but
don't add new complications just because there doing well!






--
Michael
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NPC rights activist | Nameless Abominations are people too.

 

[BULL]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

> I would like everybodies thoughts/suggestions on this issue.
>
>
> The PCs are heading to a key point in a story (a mountain town
> location) They come to a wooden bridge crossing a ravine. It looks old
> and dangerous. The story requires them to cross, but be made well aware
> of its unstable nature - I was thinking some sort of dex check DC to
> avoid stepping on the most weak boards etc.
>
> Later, they, along with many rescued people (perhaps 100+) will be
> pursued along the road and come to the bridge.
>
> I want this to be the set piece ending for quite a big part of the
> campaign - The PCs getting all the rescued people (in small groups?)
> across the bridge while holding off the large force of (prob
> Orcs/Hobgoblins). Then, retreating over the bridge, before the main
> hobgoblin army tries to cross and plunges to its doom.
>
> I have the cinematics of the story worked out, I would just appreciate
> some help over rule mechinics to heigten the stress and tension - eg DC
> roles etc..

I would have each character do a roll a d6 at various points along the
bridge. On a 1, a board breaks - Reflex check. If they are fighting, then
increase it to a 2. A fail means that they drop whatever is in their hands
and are hanging on until helped up, or they pass a strength check to pull
themselves up. If they fail a strength check by 5 or more, they fall.

Maybe have one or two of the rescued people fall to their deaths to really
scare the characters. If a character is to skilful or lucky and doesn't
look like snapping a board, have one of the rescued people snap one and be
hanging on by one hand, fingers slowly slipping away... The only person in
a position to save them is the character, of course!

You can make the PC's checks easy, but have a few of the NPCs needing their
help at inopportune moments.

Maybe when the characters are most of the way across, have them notice that
one of the hobgoblins is carving away at one of the rope hand-rails. The
characters can missile attack the hobgoblin, make a run for it, or wrap
their arms around the other hand-rail and pray.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

On Mon, 09 May 2005 10:16:45 GMT, George W Harris <gharrus@mundsprung.com>
scribed into the ether:

> Just use the stats for a gazebo.

That would just wipe out the whole party the first time they saw it!

You can at least be sporting about it. Have it whip out a crossbow and
shoot them!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

Murf wrote:

> I have the cinematics of the story worked out, I would
> just appreciate some help over rule mechinics to heigten
> the stress and tension - eg DC roles etc..

Hmmm. I might treat the bridge (or sections of the bridge)
as individual objects, with hardness and hit points. Every
10 pounds of weight on a section of bridge deals 1d6 damage
per round (or whatever sort of scale you might want.) When
a section of bridge runs out of hit points, start rolling
"Fortitude saves" for it, to determine exactly when it
collapses.

There's a bit of book-keeping in all that, but it might
work for you.



Cheers,
Roger Carbol

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

Murf wrote:
> Greetings
>
> I would like everybodies thoughts/suggestions on this issue.
>
>
> The PCs are heading to a key point in a story (a mountain town
> location) They come to a wooden bridge crossing a ravine. It looks old
> and dangerous. The story requires them to cross, but be made well aware
> of its unstable nature - I was thinking some sort of dex check DC to
> avoid stepping on the most weak boards etc.

Unless you want them to actually fall, just use descriptive texts about its
instability, creakiness, etc.

> Later, they, along with many rescued people (perhaps 100+) will be
> pursued along the road and come to the bridge.
>
> I want this to be the set piece ending for quite a big part of the
> campaign - The PCs getting all the rescued people (in small groups?)
> across the bridge while holding off the large force of (prob
> Orcs/Hobgoblins). Then, retreating over the bridge, before the main
> hobgoblin army tries to cross and plunges to its doom.
>
> I have the cinematics of the story worked out, I would just appreciate
> some help over rule mechinics to heigten the stress and tension - eg DC
> roles etc..
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Rob

Really that depends on the level of the characters. You can figure out
what sorts
of rolls they are going to make on average and set the DCs accordingly.
One idea
would be to use Balance checks where pieces start falling off the
bridge, enough so
that you impose the DCs as IF it were shrinking in width, e.g.DC 10 at
first, as if it
were 12 inches wide, then DC 15 as if it became only 6 inches wide, and
so on.

The first adventure I ever wrote for publication (in a system now
essentially dead)
had an encounter where a cart was stopped by bandits midway across a
bridge and
demanded a toll. The PCs and bandits both had the game's equivalent of
Fly potions,
and they had a bang-up fun time swooping around & under the bridge,
crossing swords
with each other in mid-air, etc. One of the most visual fights scenes I
ever DMed.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

Murf wrote:
>
> The PCs are heading to a key point in a story (a mountain town
> location) They come to a wooden bridge crossing a ravine. It
> looks old and dangerous. The story requires them to cross, but
>
<snip>

You should have a troll hiding under the bridge.

> (Look - no mention of summoned badgers or Stoneroper bards)

Or gas spore paladins.


Arivne

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

"Murf" <rob_murfin@hotmail.com> typed:

>The PCs are heading to a key point in a story (a mountain town
>location) They come to a wooden bridge crossing a ravine. It looks old
>and dangerous. The story requires them to cross, but be made well aware
>of its unstable nature - I was thinking some sort of dex check DC to
>avoid stepping on the most weak boards etc.

Also bear in mind that some PCs will weigh [much] less than others.
The skinny halfling sorcerer won't weigh anything like as much as the
hulking half-orc in plate mail.

Knowledge - Architecture & Engineering will give synergy bonuses to
the Search checks needed to find the weak boards & ropes (or vice
versa), possibly aided by spells such as Find Traps and Detect Snares
& Pits, depending on your interpretation of them.

Know A&E is a requirement for working out an efficient way to destroy
the thing if they want to cut off the pursuing hordes after they get
across, or if they want to repair it in advance. As is Craft -
carpentry.

The DC to spof the boards depends on how rotten they are, and could be
anywhere from 5 to 30, but it'll be somewhat proportional to its
strength. eg a board that can hold a 100 lb character is DC15 to spot,
whereas a DC5 board can barely hold itself up and a DC25 board can
hold 200 lbs.

Having a spare hand to hold the rail and walking slowly will allow one
to test the boards before applying full weight. Running creates
impacts which can double or triple one's effective weight.

The bridge will hold a maximum total weight independent of individual
creaky bits. It'll probably collapse completely in one go when it does
fall, and the weak point may be a rusty nail in a crossbrrace below
one end, rather than an obvious part.

Yes, I'm an engineer.


--
Jim or Sarah Davies, but probably Jim

D&D and Star Fleet Battles stuff on http://www.aaargh.org