Hello folks,

I'm currently working on an adventure for a fresh new group of players (with a fresh new GM!)

I am really wanting to make a positive impression on the players as they are very much new to roleplaying games.

As such I've started working on a nice little physical centrepiece for a game in the form of an arduino powered bomb diffuse minigame. The idea being that the players discover a device that they need to disarm.

I am looking for some ideas for mechanically from an EOTE perspective how the diffuse process might take place?

from the electronics perspective I'm pretty flexible and I have and LCD display which can display alpha-numerical characters or even custom "sprites" in the example photo I created these two characters which when put together are supposed to represent a horse for a little horse racing game I messed about with.

secondly I have a stack of little wires which I would plan to have coming out of the device, allowing players easy access to cut them. In the picture I have two sets, the male and the female wires. they are really pretty cheap to buy and I can use the female wires as the "cuttable" wires to make the whole set-up reusable

I also have a project box to house everything inside

Finally I have the necessary but purely thematic and cool looking power switch With the caveat in the rules that they wouldn't be able to simply switch the device off else it will detonate.

Do you want to use multiple skill checks or just select one skill?

Do you want to use multiple skill checks or just select one skill?

I think multiple makes sense, really I'd rather it takes a reasonable length of time if possible... the last thing I want to happen is to have the players diffuse the bomb instantly and have the entire build be a waste of time.

In terms of the device, initially I thought a countdown timer might be a good idea but that might make things difficult to manage.. so prehaps its more of a "3 strikes and you are out" kind of system when it comes to cutting wires

So I assume then make a roll and be successful and you tell then the correct wire to cut, fail the roll and you tell them the wrong one?

I think you could say maybe a series of Mechanics checks to open it and determine which wires to cut.

First off, this is very cool and I applaud your extra work.

Props like this have the difficulty of mixing what the player can do versus what the character can do. You don't want a situation where the player is lucky and picks every wire/switch correctly and breezes right through it...and his character has no aptitude at all with Computer and Mechanics.

You also don't want to waste your work by having the task over in seconds.

Computer: Inspection of the wires/device. Success means you can give an educated opinion to the next task in the form of a bonus die or an upgrade.

Mechanics: Physically choosing the correct wire. You get a bonus (or penalty!) if the Computer guy above gave good/bad advice.

(edit: combine above into one roll using either Computer or Mechancs?)

Cool or Coordination: Actually cutting the wire. The other characters might clear the room when this volunteer does this.

This allows for at least 3 skill rolls per wire. Use around 3 wires? I would run through it once before the game session to ensure it is not too easy or way too difficult.

For suspense I would consider on each 3 roll step concealing your difficulty and bonus/setback rolls (GM rolls them seperately behind a screen). This way the Computer guy won't know for sure (but will have a good idea) if he gave good advice or not. He will see his yellow/green results and have a good idea, but won't be sure. The Mechanic won't know if the Computer guy gave good advice or not. He could choose to ignore the advice of the Computer check if he thinks his friend mucked it up (he won't receive either the setback OR bonus of the Computer roll). The Mechanic when he makes his roll won't know for sure if he picked the correct wire or not. Or more importantly, the poor sap cutting the wire won't know if the two before him did a good job or not. Finally, the Cool or Coordination player cuts the wire - poor roll means he jostled the device or something giving a Strain to everyone involved? Good roll means he smoothly cut the wire. Finally, you get to reveal whether it was the right one or not.

Repeat for each wire. The big switch is flipped at the end.

What happens if the wrong wire is cut? You could say boom, but this wouldn't be a good ending or very fun at all. I would say if the wrong wire is cut, you say something like, "the beeping of the device suddenly starts speeding up! You have to hurry!" More Strain? Upgrade the next 3-part series as the players have to quickly choose and clip the next wire. If you discard the Computer inspection step to save time, reduce the penalty to 2 Setback? If you ignore both the Computer and Mechanic check and just quickly pick and clip a wire, apply only a single Setback. If the next 3-part series is a success, the beeping slows to normal and there are no penalties for the next series if any wire are left.

Hmm, I think something like this might work AND involve fun teamplay: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-01-28-oculus-game-lets-you-diffuse-a-bomb-nobody-else-can-see

I like the idea of everyone in the party being involved somehow

Ahh nice, I like that setup... I could even have the device speed up with the beeping automatically when they pick a wrong wire.

My party is still forming their characters so I'll try to make sure that we have a few of these kind of skills represented

Any ideas for how I might deal with threat/advantage in the above setup? perhaps on a simple level I just use those to regulate strain?

If you have a timer you can speed it up for tension. Mechanically you can add Setbacks to successive checks as they go if you like.

Strain should be handed out freely in this encounter. I can't imagine something being more strenuous.

Sounds like a cool idea and the props will definitely help with the immersion. Some good suggestions from others as well.

I'll just add one more thing: Be prepared for the consequences if they fail. As careful as they might be and as much in their favor the dice pools may appear, something can surely go wrong along the way. Are you prepared to have the thing explode in their faces? Maybe at least give them a final warning to scatter and take cover before it blows. Rolls to avoid the blast and take cover can help decide just who escapes the blast and what kind of damage they take.

GM "You approach the device and your curiosity is quickly replaced with dread.

Its a bomb.

Not just any bomb either, it's shoddy construction would lead others to believe it to be a simple device to defuse, your years of experience as a demolitionist tell you otherwise. The more amateur looking a bomb, the more complicated and un-orthodox it's trigger mechanism.

Upon closer inspection you see that the device is housed in a black box, wires protrude from the sides and a bright blue screen seems to indicate that it is armed. The toggle switch on the top is set to the "on" position".

GM "In fact, it looks pretty much exactly like this"

Bomb "beep, beep, beep, beep"

Awesome!

Are you prepared to have the thing explode in their faces?

I was thinking that if the players are super beat up that narratively the explosion could be relatively small, in a similar way to how demolition charges placed at strategic positions, maybe on a power coupling or something *yadda yadda*

But I kinda would like it to get them to roll on the critical injury sheet if they haven't already experienced the "joy" of that

The first thing the players should do is clear the room. in many cases especially with small explosives their may be secondary devices in the same room. or traps to prevent the device from being messed with. *Perception*

Simply opening the device would not be a smart thing to do appropriate precautions should be taken and shielding should be built up around the device in case it does explode limiting the blast radius of the device. this does not really need a check but you could come up with one if you want.

The device should then be examined to see if it is booby trapped or determine its nature. is it an Explosive bomb? a radioactive dispersion device (spreading radioactive material), or maybe a chemical or biological device? A hand scanner may help here if not an appropriate mechanics check.

Is there anyone near by? or maybe it is in a building that needs to be evacuated. Negotiation or similar skill can be used to convince people to leave the area.

that is a just a few more ideas.

Also I have trained with some explosive ordinance disposal guys and they usually rig their devices with lights or alarms in case they are set off. this could be a nice touch if you know how to do the wiring of your device.

Thanks for the tips folks, @swrider I certainly will be adding those kinds of things, in fact I wanted to find out if anyone had any suggestions for what is displayed on my LCD under various situations.

Based on your input I am planning on have 5 wires that the players can cut. Two of which are "dummy" wires and won't have any effect. one that will trigger the device, one that will increase the tension a little and one that disarms the device and makes it safe.

I plan to do (contested?) skill checks, one or two for each wire meaning I will be able to "suggest" to players which wire to cut.

I'll try to engineer the situation so that the difficulty increases over time and most of the time players will be left with two wires, the one that detonates the device and the one that disarms it.

When it comes to the different "states" that the device is in, I was thinking along these lines

State 1: Armed

This is the default "on" state, there is a relatively slow and regular beep and the LCD flashes the message

****DEVICE*****

****ARMED*****

State 2: Tension increased

This is the state when players snip the "tension increase" wire

Here I can increase the rate of the beeping and up the pitch, I'm not yet sure what I should display on the LCD under this state but it should increase the tension and not make the players think that the device has blown up.

Prehaps something like "READY FOR REMOTE DETONATION" or something similar (FYI I HAVE 16 characters to play with on two lines)

State 3: Device Deactivated

Players have cut the correct wire and the device has been safely disarmed

beeping stops, "Device Disarmed" displayed

State 4:They cut the wrong wire

Beeping goes all crazy and the display does too, I tell them the device blew up and we figure out who got hit etc.

Not sure if someone already mentioned this, but having some of the party have to fight off some goons and protect the disposal PC(s) could be a lot of fun. If not actual NPCs, having some other environmental factor that PCs not working directly on the bomb need to take care of, which adds Setbacks until it's dealt with.

Also, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Skulduggery checks for this. It could be for finding any bo0by-traps on or around the bomb, or for how to open the device without it going off, or to grab and cut the wire you've decided on from the tangled mess.

I like your use of the Cool skill to keep calm under pressure. You could call for this as a check for the whole party, with a set amount of strain taken minus successes (similar to how some of the FFG adventures use Resilience checks), with every two advantages/threats adding Boost/Setback die on the next roll.

Not sure if someone already mentioned this, but having some of the party have to fight off some goons and protect the disposal PC(s) could be a lot of fun. If not actual NPCs, having some other environmental factor that PCs not working directly on the bomb need to take care of, which adds Setbacks until it's dealt with.

Bingo.

All the comments I’ve seen so far mostly relate to things that the Mechanic or other high-skill/non-combat type characters would be doing in the situation, but I hadn’t seen anyone mention things that the more combat-oriented characters could do — other than sitting on their thumbs and looking stupid.

Thinking about the way a normal bomb squad might approach a situation with a booby trap, one of the things they do is to clear out all the bystanders and set up a big clear perimeter, just in case it does go boom. But what if the people who would be bystanders are intentionally incorporated into the trap? Like putting mortars or rockets near a hospital or school, so as to intentionally increase the terror and damage to civilians if there is a mistake. Suddenly, it’s no longer just the neck on the line of the guy who is defusing the bomb, but also all the innocent little children.

And what if the party has to fight off bad guys in the meanwhile?

What if there was a second part to the trap, where someone else in the party had to hold a deadman switch that prevented them from doing what they would normally be doing during the combat, just to keep their foot on that landmine sensor? What if that was the pilot, so they had to take one hand and hold the switch while trying to pilot the craft to safety while it can’t be allowed to slow down below 0.5 lightspeed — in an asteroid field?

Lots of additional complications that you can add in there, and tailor them for the party so that everyone has at least one or two critical parts to play, and how they play those parts can have an effect on everyone else?

All the comments I’ve seen so far mostly relate to things that the Mechanic or other high-skill/non-combat type characters would be doing in the situation, but I hadn’t seen anyone mention things that the more combat-oriented characters could do — other than sitting on their thumbs and looking stupid.

Some good suggestions there, Brad. The only thing I wanted to add was regarding the quoted paragraph:

This could also be a good time to emphasize the need to create well-rounded characters and not just min/maxers. That is, if you have a few players who made their characters solely for combat, and you want to have them be more well-rounded, a situation like this where there is no combat can help them have that "eureka" moment wherein they see the benefit of diversifying their xp spending.

Not that you have to play rounded characters; if you enjoy that kind of game, go for it - the point is to have fun. But if you want more, then this could be a good learning opportunity for them.

And here it is up and running:

This could also be a good time to emphasize the need to create well-rounded characters and not just min/maxers.

We actually had a little get together this weekend to build characters etc and because we are a relatively small group I advised that each of the 3 PC's should be able to hold their own in combat but also have one none-combat focus (that is distinct from the other team members)

As a result we have a Mechanic a Big Game Hunter and a Scoundrel

P.S. I posted a video of the device working, its at the end of page 1 of this thread