Critical Miss: Issue 6 (You Are In Control

You Are In Control - Act Like It

Things That Go Bang In The Night

Bombs. They are outstanding. Nothing can kill like them. In the modern day they are deadly. In the future they continue to get smaller... and more deadly. And - regardless of era - they couldn't really care less about your super-soldier's armour rating.

But a bomb is only as effective as its hiding spot. So let's talk about clever places to put them, to ensure that your players have only a limited, though reasonable, chance to find a bomb before it does its trick (after all, what kind of assassin, other than the ones in the movies, leaves a bomb in places that are easily found?)

1) DOORS

On the other side of the door at their home. Most players (especially Cyberpunk PCs) start checking for bombs when they get in their house, which is why I blow them up at the front door.

Place the explosive, and lots of it, squarely on the door (on the inside, moron) and tamp it out ("tamping" is the act of placing an explosive such that the bulk of the explosion is designed to go in a specific direction instead of all around). The trigger mechanism is hard-wired from inside to the key/card-lock/palm/etc. scanner on the outside (after all, most players invest in something past a key lock).

This works because of a simple, common sense house rule in my games that I encourage all GMs to adopt to stop arguments. Unless the PC states they do something in an irregular way, it is assumed that they are operating as a normal human (you sit down in the driver's seat to start the car, you sit down to take a crap, you open doors when standing in front of them, etc.) And what the heck: if some pesky player decides he always opens the door from the side, line the whole wall with C6. Enough explosives will get anyone.

2) TOILETS

Wired to the toilet just like in Lethal Weapon number whatever. A paper thin pressure contact exists between the seat wired down the back of the toilet or through a micro drilled hole in the porcelain. Only don't give them the luxury of having to get up to detonate it. No player thinks about their character's crap habits, so it's fair to assume that they'll take a crap at their house eventually. Boom.

3) UNDER TABLES

This is generally only effective if the tables have some kind of hang down that covers up the immediate view underneath. A perfect scenario is given below to illustrate how this works (and how the group dynamic breaks down when death is apparent in any good RPG group.)

The players decided early on in a game to screw with someone far more powerful than their five person group (namely, the Triad conglomerates in SE Asia.) So, I decided they were due a lesson in why people in power have the capability to stay in power.

They were to meet a contact in a private room under a bar they had frequented to get some information vital to their survival and, more importantly, to leaving Hong Kong. (They had previously visited the room under the bar that the meeting was in, so the table had been described to them before - I used a physical illustration as the players apartment that we used had a table very much like it - so there was no question, they couldn't see underneath it.)

They were carrying a nice sum of stolen money in a suitcase to trade for the info. The team consisted of a fixer, with the cash handcuffed to his wrist, a techie, two solos and a medtech.

When they arrived they found the contact pinned to the table via a large knife through his head. Stapled to his back (literally - with a heavy duty metal staple through his jacket) was a folded piece of paper. The teams' fixer was naturally curious (general GM tip: know personality traits of players and plan on exploiting them because their characters will naturally exhibit them at some point).

Fixer: Stapled to his back? Must be for us... I move over behind him and pull it off. What's it say?

GM: It says, 10... 9... 8... (the Triad boss had played games with them before - he was old and had nothing better to do... either that or I had decided to be totally unoriginal).

Bomb note: The trigger was a contact that would be met when the paper was pulled free. The wire ran under his jacket and shirt, along the table top (under his body) and connected to the knife, which acted as a conductor into the mechanism. The entire table bottom was loaded with C6 (it's not my fault they didn't check - and yes, pulling the knife free meant immediate detonation as the circuit would be cut).

The PCs look at each other for a second or two.

(Another house rule here is that in high stress times like this, my games go into real time. So, that's two more seconds wasted.)

Techie (with that deer in headlights look of amazement): Crap... bomb! I run.

Solo #1: I'm gone, too.

Fixer: No, it can't be a bomb. He's trying to scare us.

Hang (Solo #2): Am I close to Jessie (the Fixer)?

GM: No more than a yard or two away... the room isn't that big.

Hang (looks over at Jessie and grins): Good, I grab the money case and run.

GM: OK... your body is a 12 right? And Jessie, yours is a 5 right? Could you both roll and tell me what you got?

Both (rolling): Yup. 7 for me (Hang). And a 2 (Jessie). Why?

GM: OK, Reflex check Jessie (I decided to be generous). Mmm... you failed pretty hard. OK. Hang, in this moment of tension you apparently forgot that the suitcase was handcuffed to Jessie's wrist with those titanium cuffs you guys invested in to - and you also forgot how effective that new muscle & bone lace is. You get the case and yank it, but you take Jessie with you. He loses his balance and falls to the floor. And I need the Movement Allowance and an Athletics test for the rest of you. (They report them).

Jessie: You idiot! What are you doing this for? Help me up.

Hang: I'm doing it because we need the money. I'm pulling out my gun and shooting the hand cuff chain.

GM: Alright, you manage to shoot it free and take the first two steps to the door. But you didn't realise how much time goes by in a little fiasco like that. You take no more than a few steps towards the door before it goes off (I consulted a few charts) for 14000 points of collective explosive damage. (Yes, you really can fit that much C6 under a 6' x 4' table).

You two are vaporised along with the money. Sai (the Med) you take some concussive damage from the blast, moving you into the serious wound state. You two take some scrape damage but were far enough away that it isn't worth bickering over.

Jessie: I hope it was worth it, Hang.

Hang: Least I didn't die alone. I always said I was taking someone with me.

4) LIGHTS AND ELEVATORS

Put a decent powered bomb inside a ceiling light with a motion sensor scanning a cone under the light. Just tell the players the room looks a little dark when they walk in. Chances are one will say "OK, I'll go check the light". (Chances are, the damage is largely to their head with this one as well).

Or, wire the elevator buttons inside their apartment complex. This is only somewhat believable if the players live in an isolated building or they come home at a regular time. Put the bomb on top of the roof, tamped down. Or, if it has a camera, just load the top of the elevator with explosives and put a bad guy in the security office. When they get high enough, blow it. If the explosion doesn't kill them the fall will.

5) THE IRRESISTABLE PRIZE

Give the characters the opportunity to go investigate and recover something they need or want, then make them pay.

I once did this by momentarily having a sniper pin another one of my PC groups down in an alley from a building across the way. The sniper managed to kill an informant of theirs (this was who the sniper was after). Then I had him (the sniper) leave, but not before leaving a surprise. (The names here have been changed to protect the guilty).

Joe Solo (clad in SP 20+ anything): So, I guess I'll peak out with my night sight and telescopic vision on. Anything? (Awareness roll).

GM: Not a thing. If he is there, he's inside the room now or somewhere else, not at the window.

Joe: that's all I need to know. I'm going to take a low profile and go check it out. See what I can find... someone follow up in about a half a minute to give me cover in case it's a trap.

Group (with obviously no intention of backing him up): OK.

GM: Alright, it takes you a minute or two but you make it to the building. (Awareness rolls and searching) you're taking the fire escape to his floor then?

(Joe relates how, tactically, he plans on moving up to the room.)

This is what I said: Nothing there. It's just a standard room, maybe an old office, but it looks like it's been packed up for awhile. There are a few smaller cardboard boxes near the door and some larger ones on the window side facing the alley. (Awareness). It looks like he was using one of the bigger boxes and some cloth as a rifle brace to shoot out the window. And, speaking of the rifle, its sitting on that same box. It's a semi-automatic and it has a low magnification scope on it. Whatever it is it's nice, too. Military grade for sure. (I knew this guy would ask about the type of gun and his character was qualified to make that assessment from a distance).

Joe (on radio): Guys, I got something here... got the rifle. I'm gonna grab it. Boss is gonna wanna know that this rifle killed our man, so we need it for ballistics I guess, right?

Group member #1: Yeah, I guess so.

Group member #2: It's not gonna bring him back, though. Can we just get out of here?

Joe: We need to be thorough. I move up to the box. I'm making an Awareness roll though, you're not suckering anyone. Checking for any traps on or around the rifle or the box. And, you said it's dark in here so I'm keeping my Low-lite on (rolls).

GM: The rifle and box appear clean.

Joe: Oh, well, then. I grab it and head back out to check the fire escape - don't want to get trapped there.. I'm keeping my gun out, too, and holding the rifle in my other hand. I don't like how easy this was.

GM (to the group, who are now looking hesitantly up at the room Joe is in and scanning the streets): You guys see a fairly brilliant flash come from the room, followed by the windows shattering and a loud boom. (Consults the book again to make sure). Joe, you're dead.

The trick was that the sniper changed clips in the gun. He had brought along a very short range (about a meter) proximity detonator and put it in an empty clip. Before he left, he armed it and changed clips, placing the detonator clip in. The explosives were in a pair of those small cardboard boxes by the door. It was a sufficient stack of C6 to basically kill who set it off and seriously mess up those in reasonable proximity.

The main thing to note here is that I gave a PC a prize they wanted (he likes guns, I gave him a good one.) But, then countered the suspicions I knew he would have (he thought I would trap the gun or box), thus getting him off his guard.

6) CARS

They can be handled a few ways. Put bombs under them in trash bags, etc. (Who notices trash on busy streets in the future or the present - although if the bag is large enough an Awareness check might be in order). Or, just wire the car. But always remember, a truly great assassin doesn't use just the perfect amount of explosives to blow up the car (unless collateral damage must be held down). A great assassin uses enough explosives to blow up a car twice.

Putting it all together...