inside the body defenses?

[kevperrine]

okay, next challenge...
I'm toying with an adventure involving the heroes needing to go INTO a human body and do some stuff.

Here's what I'd love suggestions for:




SHRINK RAY
I want to have an item that "shrinks" the PCs, with a time-limit (ie. when drama needs to happen). I figure once shrunk, I won't need to change stats of anything they face, since it will all be "their character level" so their powers equal out. However, if they face a "normal" person (or villain with "normal" sized powers!) they'd be at a BIG (er.. small) disadvantage! How would I best represent this item that shrinks them? The way I figure it, I can "reverse" the size alteration and "give" that power to any "normal" sized enemy they face as tiny heroes. So, to show the item at "shrinking" size, then (out-of-game) as Narrator I can apply the modifiers to the normal sized enemy if needed RATHER than force the players to have to figure out how to change their stats....


WHITE BLOOD CELLS
These basically come and attack by sticking on the hero when hit, then do a life drain like ability, maybe a power drain, or Hero Point/Dice drain? And they can team up really really well! If 2 to 4+ attach to a hero it gets hard to breath and drains multiply... etc... Obviously THESE look to do Deadly Force. Oh... and they can learn and relay info on the heroes powers to inform/create specific Antibodies!

ANTIBODIES
These can nullify heroes and abilities by specializing in combat verse a single target - they come following heroes fighting off the White Blood Cells - think of them as the X-men's Sentinels that are targeted on a single heroes' powers... They've adapted to be able to fight the hero with the opposite ability, a counter power. If the hero is a fire blaster, it's ice-based.... etc.... They would also be very limited against a DIFFERENT hero (so if the heroes think to switch targets they might get a bonus? )

AUGMENTED T-CELLS
Normally t-cells might do a strength drain or something... How would this work? But moreso - THESE augmented t-cells have the ability to EXPLODE the "invading bodies"!! They're essentially ninjas that kamakazi grab and explode on a hero!

And...
what about what other "body defenses" might be in there for the heroes to deal with?
- anything active (like the above) I'm forgetting?
- what about the force of the "current" of the blood flow? How do I represent that?
- what about the force of the tornado-like wind from the lungs?
- what about stomach acids?
- what about the "strengths" of cell walls, etc...? compared to the itty-bitty heroes?


PS...
I do have ideas for all these, I just really like sharing and I love seeing my ideas either confirmed or finding BETTER ways to represent!

thanks!
-kev-

[BASHMAN]

Don't adjust the stats of the shrunk characters. Instead, give ordinary sized people and animals "Growing". If the PCs are shrunk down inside a body, that is Shrinking of 4, possibly 5. Which means you'd need to add Growing 4 to everything. Even a housecat could be a nasty fight at that size!

[kevperrine]

Don't adjust the stats of the shrunk characters. Instead, give ordinary sized people and animals "Growing". If the PCs are shrunk down inside a body, that is Shrinking of 4, possibly 5. Which means you'd need to add Growing 4 to everything. Even a housecat could be a nasty fight at that size!

heheh... TOTALLY! That's what I was meaning to try and say (words got in the way of quick typing when trying to go to the grocery store earlier).

and
RAWK! That's exactly what I was thinking and looking for as to give "enemies" growing. Thanks for the thought, that backs up what I thought I should do - YAY!



Oh...
and a sidebar on the "adventure".
I do plan to start "en media res" and in this action have a villain hit ONE of the heroes with a [insert maguffin] weapon that forces some sort of very dangerous thing happening INSIDE his body. That will force the PCs to have to "go inside" to deal with it.

Here's the tweak. My plan is to have this be inside a PLAYER-CHARACTER (and not an NPC) as I've seen in many "Inner Space" style stories (a recent one is "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" Journey to the Center of the Bat!").
This is a different approach to this classic shrinking-PCs story in that it involves the fate of one of the PCs (so he and the others will be much more likely to care - in and out of game, heheh).

What I'm considering though is that I STILL want that player to be able to BE involved.

So...
I'm considering something like this: (I need aid in how to represent it in rules)

The player who's body the heroes are going in WILL be able to "go inside" with the others. Through a robot/hologram or some other sort of "control" thing that allows the PC to actually BE their inside his own body. Perhaps some sort of duplication method or mind transfer into a tiny "body". This body should use ALL his normal PC stats but also give him a bonus (since he's the one in jeopardy!) Those being:

- immortality (if the "drone" is destroyed it just turns off his interface. Perhaps having some sort of mind back-lash? For when they send in a new drone (to get him back in the adventure!)
- some sort of mental protection, since it's not really his mind in the drone, he's only connected remotely. Or maybe some EXTRA feedback instead?
- maybe some difficulty "controlling" the drone?
- and to balance the negative, his powers will WORK to "control" his insides (if he figures this out!) Meaning some sort of X-control?

Also...
It could be fun to allow the "environment" to change and force "disasters" if/when the outer body is attacked or something. Or maybe (for fun) if the PC thinks of it, he could try to have his body "do" something that radically changes the INSIDE environment. Like trying to hold his breath to slow down "lung tornado-like winds" or drink lots of medicine to enhance his body defenses, or even to jump up and down to "make" an "earthquake" inside!!


How might I do all this with rules?
any thoughts?

[BASHMAN]

Honestly, I'd have this happen with a "PC" who didn't show up that session being the one who got something inside him that needs removed, or have it be a major NPC of the campaign - someone super important. The robot thing is a neat idea, but seems odd.

Honestly, if you want to do the robot, I'd just use the same stats as the PC, and not even worry about the differences- it doesn't get any mental immunities because the PC who's mind is being affected is right there. Also, immortality is pointless since this isn't a recurring character, it is just a robot used for a one-shot.

[kevperrine]

Honestly, I'd have this happen with a "PC" who didn't show up that session being the one who got something inside him that needs removed, or have it be a major NPC of the campaign - someone super important. The robot thing is a neat idea, but seems odd..

Yes. Agreed. And really my thought is just to turn the cliche story on its head a little.

My thought here is that this type story is ALWAYS with what would be considered an "NPC" to the main characters of the story.

And that's what I'd planned too (for the first few days considering this idea). I'd thought:
- it could be a very important NPC, like the president or a beautiful gal, or Neil Diamond or someone good.
- or... it could be a combo of all of the above. several NPCs of these levels and allow the players to determine WHICH NPC they go into (which one they endanger and/or help save first) this one would give them a neat story/role-play choice.

But then I got to thinking... This is sorta like the "mission" adventure. I hate mission adventures. I prefer when the players ACTUALLY care about participating in the adventure.
Many times (most times) no matter HOW well the "mission" is presented, it STILL puts the PCs on a railroad they feel like they HAVE to stay on because that's all the GM's got.

To me... having this be an NPC (or an absent PC) would make it feel that way to me. They can be apathetic about it and question why they need to go inside (ie. the adventure idea!) not having the story affect THEM just letting them watch and be forced to play along.

So...
I thought - why not open "en media res" that's so excellent in a supers/one-shot game. Have them be facing off with a crime-gang and when the heroes begin to WIN have the villains go for the GETAWAY. But this time the villain's "getaway" is a surprise and is unknown ... the villains "teleport" somewhere.

Hours later, at the club house the PC that got "hit" with something [insert thing one of the villains did] starts feeling icky.
His White Blood Cells are spiking, doubling, tripling in count in hours. WHAT is going on?!?!?? And where'd those villains go??

Off to face some disaster downtown with a trouble alert - everything's fine until WHAMO! the above PC is his with a massive migraine?!?!!
THEN.... a message! The villains have found their way and are trying to take over the HERO!! The trick... they've "booby-trapped" his heart with a special sonic-crystalizer thingy and have villains "stationed" across the body to futz with stuff while the "mastermind" villain (outside) has been contacted by his villain team (inside) and are planning to take control of the HERO (and later heroes! afterall, what BETTER hideout than inside a hero!?!!)


and.... onto the adventure inside! I mean, how else could they "fight" itty-bitty villains inside their buddy??


Hence.... the "need" to allow the PC that's "infected" to have a way to "go inside" and interact as well. I'm thinking of ... instead of a tiny robot, giving the other PCs a "brain waive receptor" of some sort (something an NPC can help with).... Instead of an itty-bitty robot, have the other PCs have to "capture" one of the various body bits (a White, Red blood cell, a t-cell, an antibody, etc...) and put this mini-control thingy on it - a device allowing the infected PC to "reform" his cell in the shape of a tiny-HIM inside his body!
How comic booky is that?!?!

another idea I had was to have them do the SAME with a virus (outside in a lab) that they actually take with them into the PC's body. Which would actually attract White Blood Cells too!


hehehe... now I just gotta think of all the weird, funny, interesting details of the "encounters" of the media res, the encounters where and when inside the body, what the villains inside are doing (and how quickly they're gaining control of the hero from the inside), and actually WHO my villains are. Not to mention all the Trek-babble for the do-hickies that allow this to happen.
the fun (easy) parts


No?

-kev-

[BASHMAN]

Here's another easy alternative to the Robot thing: the PC with the nano-bot-bombs/whatever inside him is actually doing something at full size. So he may be fighting some sort of super villain (the one who injected him with the bots) while the other PCs have shrunk themselves and gone inside to save him.

You could even have certain things happen at crucial junctions in the story- like if the PC inside don't beat a certain "disease" by a certain time, then the PC starts taking a -2 Dice Penalty on all his rolls, as the condition worsens. .

[kevperrine]

Here's another easy alternative to the Robot thing: the PC with the nano-bot-bombs/whatever inside him is actually doing something at full size. So he may be fighting some sort of super villain (the one who injected him with the bots) while the other PCs have shrunk themselves and gone inside to save him.

You could even have certain things happen at crucial junctions in the story- like if the PC inside don't beat a certain "disease" by a certain time, then the PC starts taking a -2 Dice Penalty on all his rolls, as the condition worsens. .

hehehe.... great idea. I'll put that in my notes. Actually, come to think of it THIS would be what happens in the most recent super hero version of this story (I know of) from Batman: Brave and the Bold cartoon. "Journey to the Center of the Bat!".

Assuming the PCs are:
- Atom
- Aquaman
- & Batman (doing stuff on the outside)

and YES, he seems to be taking those penalties on the outside. LOL

great minds...
-kev-

[Lindharin]

And if you do it that way, then you could have some intriguing interactions too. The full sized PC gets knocked back, and that causes the earthquake effect on the inside PCs; he gets cut and starts bleeding, and any tiny PCs near it are in danger of being swept outside the body again; etc. Similarly, when the inside PCs are fighting inside him and his body takes "collateral damage" the full-size PC gets a dice penalty with appropriate descriptive flavor.

To keep them all engaged, give them a radio (or a telepath or some other method of communicating) so the inside PCs can complain to the full size PC and vice versa. And then they can also use it to coordinate Teamwork actions or whatever, like if the tiny ones are prepared and holding on to something (ewww!) and ask the full-size PC to jump around to make an earthquake, but can he do it right then or is he being grappled by the villain he's fighting?

One danger to this would be if the full-size PC won his fight too quickly and is left with nothing to do. You'd need additional plans for that.

Alternatively, you could combine the two ideas. Leave the full-size PC active in the real world until his foe is defeated, and then have him somehow join his teammates inside, so you get a bit of both ideas.