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View Full Version : Writing a crash writers block need help n ideas



Foxolicious
2017-08-27, 01:08 PM
I'm running my rediculous 11 person campaign and they've just killed a God in his flying throne room and the flying throne room is beginning to crash I've never written something like this any input would b awesome

Aidan305
2017-08-28, 01:12 PM
Which particular details do you need assistance with?

Is it where the party can go from here? (Killing a God is a pretty major thing)

Is it what will be happening during the crash? (I assume that what was keeping the Throne Room aloft was the god's power)

Provide more information about what the situation was, and what you wish for assistance with and we will provide you with suggestions.

Lvl 2 Expert
2017-08-28, 01:22 PM
Agreed with Aidan, we need waaaay more information here.

One option I would like to already put on the table though: maybe the story is at or near the end. If the party is killing gods they're probably pretty high level, and have probably been playing for quite a while. Their abilities trivialize most problems you could thrown at them, and it becomes just so much harder to write for them. That doesn't mean you have to end having sessions, but you could promote the current characters to NPCs or legendary historical heroes and start over with a new batch of adventurers, or even mix up the universe a bit.

Vogie
2017-08-28, 01:41 PM
You can have a small number of parachutes/wing suits available, but not enough to cover the whole party (not counting those that can fly/feather fall)

You can introduce a set of controls for the flying throne room that they have to puzzle out before impact

You can ex machina them out of there with a teleport or flying eagles

Perhaps they have the ability to save themselves, but then the throne room will crush a city, or create a tsunami wave/avalanche that would do so. That forces them to choose between saving themselves or saving the city

Perhaps the deity has a certain Someone Has To Do It (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SomeoneHasToDoIt) rider (a la "the Dutchmen must have a captain" or "There must always be a Lich King"), they have a small period of time to decide who will take the god's place - either one player loses that character in the line of ascension, or the party (or the WORLD, depending on which god it was) will all die.

Tinkerer
2017-08-28, 01:45 PM
Honestly that sounds like a case where you kinda have to roll with whatever they try. If there's a spot where the divine power was flowing through then my players would probably try dumping divine blood onto that point trying to squeeze a little bit of divine power out and I'd probably let them. They just killed a freaking god, trying to get out of a flying castle should practically be a gimme.

JenBurdoo
2017-08-28, 01:48 PM
While it may not be what you're looking for (we need more info!), I'd suggest you determine what crashing the throne room will do to the campaign world (leave a crater? Destroy a major country or environmental feature) and same for the god (What will him being missing do?) Will your players have to prevent the damage? Mitigate it somehow (bring the God back/replace him, put the throne room back in the sky)? Or survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland? (That would make for an interesting future campaign - have a time-skip and the new PCs now live in a world without God X. What implications do the current PCs' actions have for the future?)

A very intriguing lead-in, but for more specific advice we need more specific questions. I look forward to it!

Mutazoia
2017-08-29, 01:38 AM
With out more info, the best I can do is suggest something like the first few minutes of Revenge of the Sith (the crashing starship). If they can't get off in a hurry, they have to try to ride/guide it down.

Foxolicious
2017-08-29, 11:21 AM
They killed a God which kept the throne room floating they don't have any flying spells. One has a broom of flying so he's an easy out. But the rest are kinda screwed I was trying to figure out what rolls to use such as running, jumping, falling and where an int check would be involved etc also your opinions on how you guys would attempt to get out of such a situation the party is
2 fighters
2 paladins
1 cleric
1 druid
2 rogues
2 rangers
1 barbarian

The throne room was floating because of the gods will

Lvl 2 Expert
2017-08-29, 11:40 AM
And what kind of level are we talking?

Things I could think off:

The rangers and the druid could either lure in or plain up summon flying animals to use as a parachute of sorts. They won't be flying, but they might slow down enough for their adventurer hit points to do the rest of the work, or they might be able to steer towards water. They could potentially try to get enough flying friends together to carry all of the party, but there is a risk that a handler without enough ranks in animal handling will just have the bird concentrating on escaping its grasp rather than trying to lessen the impact.

The rangers and rogues could try some use rope shenanigans, either rappel down from the flying castle really fast before it starts properly falling or fashioning some sort of parachute/aerobrake to get them down to the ground.

The paladins and cleric might be able to call upon their own gods for protection. It's a bit of a cop out, but if those gods had a big stake in getting this one killed you could get away with one time assistance.

The cleric, druid, paladins and maybe the rangers or the rogues (use magic device) could apply every single anti-damage buff they have on themselves and just ride out the fall. If any of them already have a means of escape they could spread the buffs out across the fighters and the barbarian, who'll probably live with a bit of extra protection.

The cleric, druid, rangers and paladins could try to summon or lure enough flying creatures, either natural or extraplanar, to change the course of the entire castle into a lake or something.

The barbarian could don as much armor as available, maybe from the loot pile as well, and just jump.

The rogue and possibly the rangers and the fighters could try to tumble down. Aim for a tree, don't take a single tumble check to stop the drop, but one at each branch they encounter to slow down a bit.

The cleric and the druid probably have a spell somewhere in their list that will solve the situation for at least them. If the party has some scrolls there might be a few solutions extra. Teleportation, metamorphosis (even just a baleful polymorph will let you land like a mouse, which is to say without taking damage, if they can argue you into that kind of realism), flight, damage reduction, real time healing, one time favors from flying nymphs, something.

Everyone could argue really hard that they get a bonus to landing if they let their gear drop separately.

Of course, these are all things they have to come up with. All you have to do is give them enough time to come up with things, but enough sense of urgency to make them try the least bad things they can think of. Keep stressing the ship is almost going down, never actually describe it falling in such a way that you have to make it crash within a really short amount of time.

Foxolicious
2017-08-29, 07:42 PM
And what kind of level are we talking?

Things I could think off:

The rangers and the druid could either lure in or plain up summon flying animals to use as a parachute of sorts. They won't be flying, but they might slow down enough for their adventurer hit points to do the rest of the work, or they might be able to steer towards water. They could potentially try to get enough flying friends together to carry all of the party, but there is a risk that a handler without enough ranks in animal handling will just have the bird concentrating on escaping its grasp rather than trying to lessen the impact.

The rangers and rogues could try some use rope shenanigans, either rappel down from the flying castle really fast before it starts properly falling or fashioning some sort of parachute/aerobrake to get them down to the ground.

The paladins and cleric might be able to call upon their own gods for protection. It's a bit of a cop out, but if those gods had a big stake in getting this one killed you could get away with one time assistance.

The cleric, druid, paladins and maybe the rangers or the rogues (use magic device) could apply every single anti-damage buff they have on themselves and just ride out the fall. If any of them already have a means of escape they could spread the buffs out across the fighters and the barbarian, who'll probably live with a bit of extra protection.

The cleric, druid, rangers and paladins could try to summon or lure enough flying creatures, either natural or extraplanar, to change the course of the entire castle into a lake or something.

The barbarian could don as much armor as available, maybe from the loot pile as well, and just jump.

The rogue and possibly the rangers and the fighters could try to tumble down. Aim for a tree, don't take a single tumble check to stop the drop, but one at each branch they encounter to slow down a bit.

The cleric and the druid probably have a spell somewhere in their list that will solve the situation for at least them. If the party has some scrolls there might be a few solutions extra. Teleportation, metamorphosis (even just a baleful polymorph will let you land like a mouse, which is to say without taking damage, if they can argue you into that kind of realism), flight, damage reduction, real time healing, one time favors from flying nymphs, something.

Everyone could argue really hard that they get a bonus to landing if they let their gear drop separately.

Of course, these are all things they have to come up with. All you have to do is give them enough time to come up with things, but enough sense of urgency to make them try the least bad things they can think of. Keep stressing the ship is almost going down, never actually describe it falling in such a way that you have to make it crash within a really short amount of time.

I left them on a cliff hanger where the throne room was beginning to crash n there is 2 weeks between the sessions so hopefully they've come up with something lol