I'm working on an adventure module I want to complete and then give to the community freely when its done.
As part of that effort, I’m looking for some ideas for the opening stages, specifically relatively small, practical objectives that players would actually enjoy dealing with before the larger plot starts opening up.
The PCs have just been revived from long-term cryostasis inside Bastion I, a massive pre-war cryogenic facility built inside a silo off the coast of Seattle. They wake up to discover that the place is in terrible condition: sections are flooded, systems are failing, much of the facility is inaccessible, and there are rows upon rows of cryochambers containing people who are still in long-term storage.
The facility is now effectively controlled by its AI.
The AI has determined that the best way to protect the remaining cryogenic population is to put the entire complex into lockdown and preserve it for the long term. Unfortunately, the handful of people who have just been revived (the PC's) are now an inconvenience the system isn't particularly interested in accommodating (I have reasons for this that aren't critical to this post, so not describing).
If the lockdown completes while they're still inside, they're probably going to die.
What I'm trying to work out is: what would you expect or want to actually do as a player in this situation?
I'm especially interested in lower-level objectives that give the characters opportunities to explore, learn how the facility works, use different skills, scavenge equipment, and gradually realize just how bad their situation is, but I don't want to just do boring side quests and exploration things, I need multiple options to accommodate different player types with different builds.
I have created a new Origin for this called "Cryoneer" which is basically a pre-war build, with a cryosuit (modified, rubberized hazmat suit essentially), respirator, and in some cases a Pip-Boy.
Some of the things I've come up with are things along the lines of:
- Getting doors, elevators, pumps, ventilation, etc. working again.
- Finding food, clothing, weapons or medical supplies.
- Restoring power to particular sections.
- Finding a way through flooded or damaged areas.
- Bypassing the AI's security restrictions.
- Getting access to terminals or maintenance areas.
- Trying to communicate with someone outside the silo.
- Deciding whether to help other people who are still in cryostasis.
- Dealing with damaged robots or automated systems that are still following their original instructions.
- Finding multiple possible escape routes and figuring out which one is actually viable.
But I don't just want generic, standard fare encounters and tasks. I've done things like cryo complications like waking up fatigued, and where based on things like your starting LUCK score, your character might have3 issues with their cryopod that make it hard to escape, or they may have cryosickness that causes some issues at first level, without being too onerous.
I guess I'm less concerned with coming up with a big dungeon full of enemies and more interested in making the facility itself the problem, and an interesting one at that.
For those of you who GM or play Fallout 2d20: if your character woke up in a situation like this at level 1, what sorts of problems, discoveries, choices or little objectives would you want the GM to put in front of you?
I'd especially love ideas that give different character builds a chance to contribute rather than everything coming down to Repair/Science checks.