Tune In Tonight...

[CRMcNeill]

So, a while back, I came across this reference in the Han Solo & The Corporate Sector Sourcebook. The idea of the Execution Channel was surprising, but not overly so once I thought about it (it's the Empire, after all).

Tonight, while working on something else, I had an idea for how to use it. Here's the premise:

The characters have been captured by the Empire. Their ship has been destroyed, and they have lost all of their possessions. Tried and sentenced to execution or life in the spice mines of Kessel (GM's choice), fate suddenly intervenes, but not necessarily on their behalf...

The producer and host of Freedom Run, the most popular Holo-Show on the Execution Channel, has tapped the characters to be contestants on his show.

The premise of Freedom Run is that convicted criminals are set loose on the surface of derelict and devastated planet, where they are hunted by an elite team of executioners, all under the eye of a network of holo-cams, where their fight for survival is broadcast to the galaxy at large.

If they can survive for a week, or can make it to one of the "exits" (safe zones carefully hidden away within the labyrinth on the surface), the characters will be spared, and rather than being executed or enslaved, will be sentenced to a life of leisure on a minimum security island planet. The show even features footage of previous winners who survived.

The catch? There is no exit. The "previous winners" are all long dead, killed off-screen, with faked-up footage used to create the illusion of survival.

Somehow, the PCs, working with nothing but the clothes on their backs (or perhaps with minimal equipment, if the GM is feeling generous, perhaps by hiding weapons caches on the map as part of "boosting the excitement") must find a way to survive and turn the tables on the show's production staff and their enforcers. If they're lucky, they may even find a way to destroy the show's credibility (possibly with proof of the true fate of the former winners) and escape with their lives.

Yes, it's a Star Wars / Running Man crossover. Have fun.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[garhkal]

I've done similar, but without the 'its televized' angle. Big issue is if you do go that route, are you willing to 'let them die'?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

[Raven Redstar]

I might need this for an upcoming game.
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RR
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[garhkal]

[Dredwulf60]

And when the players prove too tough to take down, the host transmits a personal message to them, offering them an employment contract as an execution team.

And the wookiee grabs the holovid droid with the holo comlink and says:

GRRRRAWWWWHHHHHHGHHH! GRUUuuuHHH! WRRROOooowW! RuhhHH! GRAUUUUUAWWWWHHH! *

[CRMcNeill]

I guess because of the steroids?
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Dredwulf60]

[Telsij]

Belated thanks for this inspired plot conversion, Mr. McNeill -- as well as for the idea to gear a campaign around a series of adaptations of Arnold's classic movies.

Heck, apart from the obvious Sci-Fi or fantasy actioneers you could even use his comedies as one shots, eg: adapt Twins to bring a lost-lost connection into the party to launch an adventure, as a bit of a break between heavier adventures.

[garhkal]

[CRMcNeill]

[Zarn]

Junior is a classic plot line - even Star Trek (Enterprise) had a plot line which might as well have been inspired by Junior, or even the other way around.

In this case, if I were adapting Junior, I'd introduce an alien species that needs transporting one of their young from one place to another INSIDE one of the player characters. There's a time limit, of course, on this, and "it's not a toomah" should be said at least once.

Kindergarten Cop's plot sounds to me like a Lorrdian or Bothan daycare, with the kids of top spies there. Introduce a McGuffin through one of the kids in the daycare, and a team of operatives that need to establish a cover identity as teachers and other staff at the daycare, and you should be set.

[garhkal]

What sort of skill(s) would those characters have to demonstrate to pass as teachers?
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!