The Derelict – Concerns from a newbie Keeper

[Merudo]

SPOILERS AHEAD!

I’m going to run the Derelict scenario soon and I would appreciate some advice on how to run it. My prime concern is that the yacht owner may request shotguns and satellite phones. Both are also hard to disallow - the Yacht owner has expertise in shotguns and has "You have to know how to protect yourself" as a belief, and satellite phones are quite common for Yachts.

Shotguns can do outrageous amount of damage, especially on an extreme success. Two of the premade investigators have 45% shotgun skill, which can be increase to 75% through the 30% skill bonus. If these investigators can see the monster, they can attack it with a bonus die because of its size. If one of them achieves an extreme success, the shotgun blast will do about 33 damage on average (24+4d6-5) – which almost kills the monster!

Satellite phones completely remove the isolation of the scenario – they effectively break the game. But, it’s even harder to justify disallowing them in the game – they provide convenience, safety, and are quite cheap compared to the price of the Yacht itself.

Hence my first question: how can I deal with shotguns and satellite phones in my game?

Secondly, it is my understanding that the exploration of the reefer is intended to proceed in the order Superstructure -> Cargo Hold -> Monster attack. However, it’s possible the players go straight to the Cargo Hold (to inspect either the cargo, the engine, or the iceberg breach) in which case they’ll find the pile of 13 human bodies immediately, putting them into panic mode. They will thus completely skip the building of tension that should have happened during the exploration of the superstructure, and the pacing will be ruined.

How can I prevent my players from going directly into the cargo hold?

Edited August 2, 2018 by Merudo

[KeeperXav]

If they want to bring a satphone, let them. Who are they going to call? The coast guard?

If they want to bring shotguns on a pleasure yacht voyage, ask them to justify it. If I was invited to go yachting  across the. Atlantic, shotguns would not be high on my list of things to pack. 

As for going straight to the cargo hold, read the bit about the Geneva convention of the sea. Their focus should be on looking for survivors. Not looking for stuff to steal. Use one of the npcs, to remind them of this.

[soltakss]

4 hours ago, Merudo said:

Hence my first question: how can I deal with shotguns and satellite phones in my game?

If the PCs have a good reason to have a shotgun with them then they should have one. However, would you board someone else's yacht carrying a shotgun? Probably not, as that is a good reason to get shot at yourself. Point that out to your players.

As for satellite phones, there are enough sea-based, and land-based for that matter, horror tales where phones just don't work. Either there is static that cuts them off, or they just hear a creepy voice repeating a message over and over again, or all channels are dead. Just because a PC has one, doesn't necessarily mean it works.

How can I prevent my players from going directly into the cargo hold?

Nothing. 

I'd put a padlock on the hatch, nothing wrong with that, It gives them a chance to find the key. Again, point out to them that smashing the padlock is fine, unless they meet the ship's master or crew, in which case how are they going to explain a broken padlock? Have them find the key at the right time and they will probably follow the flow.

Having said that, I am never keen on making PCs follow a certain flow. If they do go into the cargo hold first then let them. Either fudge it so the encounter is somewhere else, or have them encounter the monster and deal with the consequences.

 

[CastingsofCthulhu]

One or two shotguns on a yacht may be for clay shooting off the aft deck out at sea rather than for defense, but i'd suggest that they're kept locked in a secure gun cabinet that the skipper has the key for. He's probably going to frown upon taking them on the cargo ship without a good reason so they can be locked away up to the point the skipper is killed off and the key gets lost in the carnage or with the body. At that point they need to either give up on them or figure out how to get into it to get them.

[klecser]

Get to know Seth's Channel: 

 

[Merudo]

8 hours ago, klecser said:

Get to know Seth's Channel: 

 

I've seen that video, but it doesn't address any of the concerns I currently have.

[soltakss]

4 hours ago, Merudo said:

I've seen that video, but it doesn't address any of the concerns I currently have.

Normally, what I find is that concerns about a scenario on first reading are normally solved when players start playing the scenario, as I can guide them as a Keeper. Even if they shortcut the normal flow, a Keeper can amend the scenario slightly to resolve any concerns.

[Merudo]

About shotguns: I found out recently that they do not, in fact, cause Impale damage on an extreme success. This reduces the damage from an extreme success from an average of 33 to 19 (24-5), which is more reasonable.

[Merudo]

On 8/2/2018 at 12:51 PM, soltakss said:

Nothing. 

I'd put a padlock on the hatch, nothing wrong with that, It gives them a chance to find the key. Again, point out to them that smashing the padlock is fine, unless they meet the ship's master or crew, in which case how are they going to explain a broken padlock? Have them find the key at the right time and they will probably follow the flow..

Thanks for the tip!

Your comment made me think, how is the monster supposed to come and go from the Cargo Hold? Is it jumping or climbing through the big Cargo Hatches, or is it small enough to climb the three ladders?

[soltakss]

10 hours ago, Merudo said:

Your comment made me think, how is the monster supposed to come and go from the Cargo Hold? Is it jumping or climbing through the big Cargo Hatches, or is it small enough to climb the three ladders?

Give the monster a key and allow the cargo hatch to open enough to unlock the padlock. Have other ways in that are not obvious, or have been covered by tarpaulins. 

Please bear in mind that I haven't read the Derelict so am just making things up.

[theWoozle]

I've run Derelict at least a half-dozen times at cons and never had anybody ask for extra, though I imagine it's different if in an evolved campaign. 

I would make the Captain and first mate real nervous about firearms on board, to the point of possibly refusing to take the commission.  The yacht is supposed to go to England where shotguns are rather discouraged and if the yacht is being sold, how do the PCs plan to get their firearms back home, by plane? 

Lastly, the difficulty of the monster is in seeing it, not shooting it, so it might be fun to have some random shotgun blasts.. until running out of ammo. 

 

[Merudo]

3 hours ago, theWoozle said:

I've run Derelict at least a half-dozen times at cons and never had anybody ask for extra, though I imagine it's different if in an evolved campaign. 

I would make the Captain and first mate real nervous about firearms on board, to the point of possibly refusing to take the commission.  The yacht is supposed to go to England where shotguns are rather discouraged and if the yacht is being sold, how do the PCs plan to get their firearms back home, by plane? 

Lastly, the difficulty of the monster is in seeing it, not shooting it, so it might be fun to have some random shotgun blasts.. until running out of ammo. 

Thank you so much for the suggestion!

I think my issue is that both Siren and Ellen Gray come with a handgun (.22 auto and .32 auto respectively). So, it's not clear to me how they would have access to such weapons, but not the yacht owner...

It's even worse when you consider that shotguns are legal in the UK, but not handguns...

A solution would be to remove the handguns from Siren & Ellen but that doesn't seem fair to these two characters either.

P.S. It's so cool that you run Derelict so many times! 

Edited August 5, 2018 by Merudo