Okay, so one of my group wants to capture a group of Mynocks, then rig them with explosives, and finally they want to let them go in battle and vent helium from their ship(s) so that the Mynocks fly towards the enemy and then blow up the Mynocks and damage the enemy ships.

I have two questions about this how would the capture the Mynocks and is this feasible or even possible?

Your table your game, but I gotta know, what's wrong with a concussion missile?

You would have to fashion a Mynock Capturing Device (patent pending) with which to capture the mynocks. I would recommend a large net of some sort.

Feasible? Sure. Impossible? That what 5 Difficulty Dice and a Destiny Point are for!

2P51, I want to see if anyone here thinks that it can be done.Also I have two SW Nerds in the party combine that with a creative group(all but one of us has done live theater) and I get to put up with all sorts of crazy.

A quick wookieepedia check tells me Mynocks are allergic to helium. It causes them to puff up like balloons nearly to the point of blowing up. Helium-based grenades are used to remove Mynocks, the technique is called 'Mynock Puffing'.

Armed with this knowledge, I encourage you to let them go ahead with the plan. Just make sure it's got a roll of some sort, and significant threat or a despair causes too much hellium to be released resulting in a premature detonation of the Mynocks - and their payload. Possibly damaging the PCs ship, or making a concealing cloud of... Mynock bits, between the ships.

As to what to roll... Xenology for judging how the Mynocks will react to the helium, and judging how much/little to release to get them to go towards the desired ship. It's a science, that Mynock bombing is, requiring a deft hand and a keen sense of humor.

I think it can be done.

But it won't be easy.

First you have to catch them. Rather easy.

Then you have to weld the cages holding them onto your ship. These cages need a helium grenade installed.

When combat start you need to remotely open the cages and set of the helium grenades to make them run away.

And then hope that they get close enough to your enemies through the laser/blaser fire to somewhat make the explosives count.

...

Seems easier to get a CML or PTL installed.

_{This discussion reminds me of the tale of Josh Acid, the least-known peace-keeper of the Old West. See, Henry Derringer used a Derringer, Jim Bowie carried a Bowie Knife, so instead of carrying a pair of six-shooters on his hip, Josh carried a couple bottles of sulfuric acid. Instead of gunning a man down, Josh would fling the contents at lawbreakers so's they'd get all foamy and gross.}

Yes and yes. Stun setting or nets. Need a container for them. Not sure if the whole plan would work. Survival is used for animal handling. I imagine rigging them up and executing might be tricky.

Does you player really want to do this, or is he just saying so to see if you'll fall for it?

It doesn't sound like he could possibly be serious.

 

Does you player really want to do this, or is he just saying so to see if you'll fall for it?

 

It doesn't sound like he could possibly be serious.

Never ever think that your players (and therefore PCs) think rationaly.

Always think: They'll do it because they (think they) can do it.

2P51, I want to see if anyone here thinks that it can be done.Also I have two SW Nerds in the party combine that with a creative group(all but one of us has done live theater) and I get to put up with all sorts of crazy.

I can see concealing a bomb in an animal to get it close to an enemy, but in the case of Mynocks I don't know how that would be accomplished practically in combat. In addition they are viewed as pests to begin with, chewing through power cables and such, so I would assume just as there are pest control systems for vermin in our homes concerned ship captains would have some sort of safeguards in place for them. So in combat I would say this is very non viable. Through some act of subterfuge, perhaps using an animal that has a reason to be going to an enemy ship, I would think game on.

Never ever think that your players (and therefore PCs) think rationaly.

Always think: They'll do it because they (think they) can do it.

Oh, I'm well acquainted with players doing "zany" things. In a D&D game I once had a player who, when tasked with defending a town from an approaching hobgoblin hoard, suggested building an entire second decoy town to distract the maurauders.

The worst part was that he was entirely serious and saw nothing absurd about his suggestion. I had to have the NPCs play along by acting as if the lack of time (they had only about three days to prepare - not enough time to build a fake town) was the only problem with his idea in order to avoid hurting his feelings.

But in this mynock example I honestly can't see why any player would even ask, other than "4 teh lulz". As 2P51 said, there's nothing this would give you that wouldn't be accomplished much better by a simple missile launcher. There's, like, no benefit at all .

It would be like trying to clean your floor by soaping up a bunch of shaggy dogs and letting them chase a soapy cat around the kitchen. Why not just use a mop?

But who knows... maybe this player is just as obtuse as the decoy town guy.

But in this mynock example I honestly can't see why any player would even ask, other than "4 teh lulz". As 2P51 said, there's nothing this would give you that wouldn't be accomplished much better by a simple missile launcher. There's, like, no benefit at all .

I dunno, why did the US put time and effort into developing the Bat Bomb or the Soviet (and various other countries) with the Anti-Tank Dog ?

I can relate to crazy ideas from the PC's. The group I use to GM made an elborate plan to break into a high security art show that exibited several highly sought after works of art and attended by several highly influental people. The parties purpose? Steal all the expensive booze. Sad thing is, they handley succeeded in the task.

Never ever think that your players (and therefore PCs) think rationaly.

Always think: They'll do it because they (think they) can do it.

Oh, I'm well acquainted with players doing "zany" things. In a D&D game I once had a player who, when tasked with defending a town from an approaching hobgoblin hoard, suggested building an entire second decoy town to distract the maurauders.

Like Blazing Saddles!

Honestly I'd be inclined to allow the PCs to make this weird mynock bomb just because it IS so zany!

Yes, I can only assume he got the idea from Blazing Saddles .

However, he apparently missed the whole (painfully obvious) point of the film: that this was a preposterously absurd plan that would never actually work in a million years , and that therein lay the humour when the characters put such a moronic idea into practice.

Instead, he seemed to have viewed the scheme as brilliant and taken it as sound tactical advice to be copied.

To his defense, mock-ups of buildings and vehicles have been used in warfare. Not to the extent of a whole town but still ...

And maybe he thought the goblins were not too bright and fall for it. Depending on the theme or your group that plan might have even worked. Add a few illusions and the gobbies would be smashing a few blocks of wood or even stormed right into a trap in those mock-ups.

I mean we are talking about D&D where teleporting around the world, hiding in extraplanar places, summoning angels and demons, ... is about as sane and normals as ording take-out.

But in this mynock example I honestly can't see why any player would even ask, other than "4 teh lulz". As 2P51 said, there's nothing this would give you that wouldn't be accomplished much better by a simple missile launcher. There's, like, no benefit at all .

I dunno, why did the US put time and effort into developing the Bat Bomb or the Soviet (and various other countries) with the Anti-Tank Dog ?

I can relate to crazy ideas from the PC's. The group I use to GM made an elborate plan to break into a high security art show that exibited several highly sought after works of art and attended by several highly influental people. The parties purpose? Steal all the expensive booze. Sad thing is, they handley succeeded in the task.

They got the idea from the Bat Bomb.

I disagree a bit on the utility. While a concussion missile is better for ship to ship battle I could see the utility as a weapon of sabotage. A very complex and unpredictable weapon of sabotage, but still there...

As a GM I wouldn't let this be used in combat like a formal weapon. But if the Players had to dock with an opponents ship, or space station, I could see them rigging the mynoks with explosives and quietly releasing them in an attempt to get them to latch onto the other craft...

Of course they might just fly away in fear.... or latch onto the PCs ship... but hey that's the risk...

Sure! As others have said, this probably won't be much good in a straight-up battle, but in a close-quarters chase or sabotage attempt it would at least startle, distract, and confound their opponents.

You could probably even do without the bombs if it was only for sabotage, the mynocks would happily feast on any ship they were exposed to,so you could quietly introduce them into your target's hangar or somesuch.

An adventure like this would also give the Explorer in particular a chance to shine, as opportunities to interact with wild animals in a less-than-lethal manner are often rare.

Just a thought I had, what precisely stops the mad bomber Mynock from turning around and chomping on the ship they kick him/her/it, out of? Might be a fun question to pose to your players after they boot it out...............

Nothing at all unless they have huge tanks of Helium that are releasing gas all the time.

This is what happened to one of the "Bomb bat" training centers

Let the players do what they want.*

*Corollary: Always have a full list of unintended (but fair) consequences. You know, just in case.

I love the crazy ideas as the GM. I usually go along with it unless I feel that a normal Star Wars character (which my players aren't all Star Wars knowledgeable) would know.

But for something like this, I'd let them. Though... I'm pretty sure one of those Mynocks would slip out/resist and find a nice power coupling on the player's ship... "and that's why you need skill points in Knowledge Xenology because that was a Nebula Mynock which can resist helium." (insert evil laugh).