What do you think of this scenario?

[PPA]

I've been DM'ing an ongoing weekly 2e AD&D game (with some 3.X stuff retro-fitted) for a group of friends for about a year and a half now.

They've watched their characters grow from lowly level 1 wanna-be adventurers to real powerhouses within our game world to the point when they're currently getting ready to take on the BBEG for the final showdown but the thing is that a key player won't be able to attend for the next two sessions and the plot can't move forward without him.

So, I proposed a one-shot while he manages to come back.

This is what I have in mind and I would like your opinion about whether you'd like this or not as a player.

A few months ago, the whole party was plane-shifted into a Star-Wars-like space-ship where they fought some futuristic soldiers and a monster similar to John Carpenter's the Thing. They stole a bunch of future tech that they managed to take back home when they plane-shifted back but as the weeks have gone by they seldom have used it. I thought it'd be okay for them to have it since once the ammo or "battery" ran out that'd be it, but now they have a bunch of powerful stuff they don't use and I don't want them to break it out while facing the BBEG.

For the one-shot, I'm giving them pre-generated characters that will in essence be futuristic analogues of their characters. They´ll be mercs sent to retrieve misplaced tech currently in a primitive world (a "Prime Directive" style thing) but, unbeknownst to them, their "hyperspace jump" won't take them to a different part of their universe, but to a different place completely, where they'll manage to interact with their usual game world and NPC's but as complete outsiders.

I'll try to let my descriptions and their preconceived notions distract them from what's really going on, so that when it turns out they're actually there to take the stolen tech form their regular PC's hands, it'll be a surprise and mess with their heads. I know they're very attached to their PC's and will hesitate to fire a blaster into their faces, while their usual PC's (NPC's for this session) will cheerfully act like the blood-thirsty gang they usually are (so that they get to experience their PC's from the other end of the sword, so to speak).

During this specific encounter, if things get out of hand, they will negotiate and avoid the death of any PC (regular or futuristic), or even flee, but otherwise anything goes and I think they'll get a kick out of basically being Aliens' Colonial Marines stranded in Tolkien's Middle Earth and let things pick up from there.

Thoughts?

[Rodimal]

Interesting. I see a few outcomes though: The primary one being pissed players because you gave them toys then took them away because they haven't used them like you thought they would. If you didn't want them to use the future tech tactically, you should have not let it planeshift in the first place, not punished them now for being smart. If they wanna save it and use it on the BBEG, let them. Hell make the BBEG invincible to everything but the future tech cause he/she has no clue it exsist much less that the players have it.

The PC throw everything they have for 'normal' abilities at the BBEG and it takes all their best shots without being phased

BBEG: Ha ha ha ha. That is the best you can do? None of your puny powers can harm me.....bla bla bla

PC's whip out future tech and kick ass.

out

[Shurz]

So it will all be about stealth and subterfuge, as they would try to avoid alerting the blood-thirsty gang to their mission. If they are detected as a threat by the original characters it will get interesting. If you want to mess with them, make it double trouble, have them try to attempt this then encounter a similar future force from the BBEG which is trying to steal the tech. Suddenly new mission parameters may be forced upon them - as the BBEG future forces will also be adequately equipped and which will do anything to prevent the random group from "protecting the tech". It would be up to your story if the BBEG future forces should be of a type and kind known to the mercs.
Should the original characters get alerted to these activities . . . all hell breaks lose.

If successful in protecting the tech and keeping the original characters unaware then "nothing ever happened". Should they find out that something strange has happened in the neighborhood, random bodies found in weird outfits, etc, only inform them that there was a burglary attempt which was foiled by concerned citizens.

[Egiam]

THAT IS SUCH A COOL IDEA. (IMHO, of course)

[Totally Guy]

It sounds bad.

It's a classic bait and switch. You promise a one shot that is unrelated to the current game then you deliver one that screws over themselves in the current campaign.

This is lying to your friends. It undermines trust.

If the players were to get into this session and really care about what motivates their characters, succeed and then realise that the ultimate result is bad then the notion of success is forever questionable. It results in the players thinking that fighting for what they want is futile as they can never truly know if what they want is what they want.

[HerrTenko]

You promise a one shot that is unrelated to the current game

He never did. He proposed a one shot. That's all we know.

I like this idea. Actually, I like it double.

First, because it's an interesting turn of event and, if done correctly, will probably be a great way to show them just how coherent your campaign universe is when it comes to consequences.

Second, because you actually take the opportunity of a one-shot make them PART of those consequences. A classic DM would have his players play a "normal" game or something totally unrelated, and when resuming the campaign, would have found an excuse for not using those weapons during BBEG fight. The way you do it is probably a lot better.

Of course, some would say it's your fault for letting them keep them weapons in the first place, but we all make mistakes, and this, good sir, is one of the coolest ways to fix such a mistake.

[W3bDragon]

If you want to counter the issue of the future tech causing problems, you could use the boring but safe method. Say that the equipment runs out of power over time even if unused, similar to how a mobile phone runs out of power even if left off for a long time. Throw in one long trek before the meet the BBEG, and by the time they arrive, the tech is empty of power, or if you're nice, has one or two shots left.

However, if you want to do something interesting with the idea, which you seem to, then go ahead with the idea of a merc team sent back to get the items. Let the PCs play the mercs and have fun with a lot of futuristic equipment (cloaking devices, long-range listening devices, etc) while the merc team gets reconn and sets themselves up to steal back the items. Once the confrontation with the PCs is about to happen, give them the choice to continue playing the mercs, or switch to their surprised PCs.

If playing the mercs, they could succeed and escape. If playing the PCs, they could find themselves in a tough spot as the mercs' defenses shrug off almost everything the PCs can throw at them, except their futuristic weapons. They can use those to defeat the mercs. The mercs die/escape, and the PCs use up most of their future tech in the fight. The mercs' equipment was thoughtfully designed to self-destruct if handled by anyone other than the mercs. Standard procedure for retrieval missions like these.

[PPA]

Thanks for your thoughts, everybody! Sorry it took me a while to write back but, you know, holidays and all.

Well, thing is it wasn't so much a "dang-I-messed-up-letting-them-have-the-tech" scenario. When I gave them the tech I thought, as is their usual way, they would use it up at the slightest opportunity but it turned out they only hoarded it and didn't use it at all to the point where they never even learned how it worked.

I really didn't want them to break it out during the final battle with the BBEG and just flat out tell them it doesn't work and make all those cool toys suck. And I definitely would have to tell them it wouldn't work because it simply wouldn't against the BBEG in order to be consistent with everything they know about the BBEG and everything that's happened up to now in two years of real time campaigning.

I think having the futuristic items useless would cheapen the tech they were "saving" for later and, by comparison, it would also cheapen the story if the BBEG turned out to be vulnerable to it when they know for a fact he's a rather powerful being that's really tough to hurt and is immune to a buch of stuff that's arguably more powerful than a few blaster guns and such.

Also, it's not like I was trying to cheat or manipulate mu buddies, I simply wanted to suprise them with a cool gaming session that came at them a little from the left field. I can't help but feel that going as far as equating it to lying to my friends and undermining trust is kind of a bit much, but, well, okay. I guess it seemed that way without proper context.We know each other from childhood and they know I wasn't being a jerk. So I lied by omission by not saying that the session would be connected to the campaign, but also not saying it wouldn't.

Anyway, I'm happy to report the one-shot was a success on all fronts. My players got a huge kick of playing sci-fi mercs and when they realized they were visiting their regular game world they really got into things, interacting with the local flora and fauna, as well as the sentient species, all the while trying to avoid attracting too much attention and messing with things. They also learned to use the space tech and loved it.

The final battle against their usual PC's (NPC's for this session) was awesome, although I wish I was able to see your suggestion of letting them choose between their usual PCs and the space mercs by this point in the session in time to implement it! That would've been awesome!

Anyway, during this encounter they managed to do sizeble damage to the regular party's keep, while I was able to have them be on the other end of their accustomed slaughter-fest feeling the hurt their usual characters normally deal out to monsters and NPCs. They loved having their butts kicked by their normal PCs while getting a chance to hit them back. Go figure!

Of course, it didn't go as far as anyone dying. Once they found out how much damage a high level D&D party can inflict before being shot to pieces by blasters and machine guns, diplomacy was quick to emerge.

They ended up allying with their usual PCs and fighting a common threat, related to the usual campaign plot, and finally negotiating to get all the stolen tech back except a token piece of equipment for each or their regular PC's, which, having used them extensively in this adventure, they now knew how to operate properly. This tech, of course, has a limited amount of charges and no way to recharge. They can use it to annoy the BBEG and minions but not to tip the scales in the final battle. They'll have to win some other way.

So, all in all, it was a little risky to play a different genre and do a cross-over of this sort but the risk ultimately payed off and it turned out great. Everyone was pleasantly surprised, to the point that they actually want to revisit their "space" characters for future one-shots every now and then. How about that?