I've been doing some work on my system and caught myself thinking, "How will I know if it can handle everything I throw at it?"
So I figured it might be an idea to start putting together a list of some of our favourite encounters, from games or books or movies, so that we can test "Can my system do that?".
Hopefully I'll have some soon.
*edit
A possible resource is The Internet Movie Script Database (http://www.imsdb.com/).
Okay, I'm going to start this off with the Harrier scene at the end of True Lies. If you haven't scene the movie already, I suggest doing so, as it's a lot of fun. There's not a lot of plot or suspense to ruin by reading ahead, but you may want to skip this anyway.
[spoiler=Script] 301 EXT. HIGH RISE - MIAMI - DAY
AN AERIAL SHOT, circling the building. It is an unfinished
building in the high rise district. The Aerospatiale sits on
the roof, its rotor turning slowly. The street below is jammed
with cars. Honking horns echo up the glass canyons.
302 EXT. STREET - DAY
ANGLE AT STREETLEVEL as cops use bullhorns and bad attitudes to
clear the street around the building, setting up a perimeter
two blocks away.
303 INT. HIGH RISE - DAY
INSIDE THE HIGH RISE the terrorists have barricaded themselves
on the twentieth floor. There are 12 TERRORISTS, all with
automatic weapons. Occasionally one of them will fire a burst
down a stairwell with an AK-47. Miami-Dade SWAT team members
are deployed in the stairwell but are keeping their distance.
304 INT. HIGH RISE - ON THE 21ST FLOOR - DAY
Malik is sequestered with the bomb. It sits on the floor,
still in its shipping case. Dana stands nearby, looking
scares. She is not ties up. Where can she go?
She watches Malik go to the warhead and insert his arming key.
He has a TV set up on some crates, and we see that his video-
tapes demands are running on CNN. Harry's face fills the
screen, verifying the the nuclear weapons as a real threat. He
is identified at the bottom of the screen as HARRY TASKER,
ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION. Dana stares at her father's face on
the national news. It's like a bad dream. She has been crying
but she is fairly composed now.
DANA
I have to go to the bathroom.
The terrorists ignore her. A terrified ACTION NEWS REPORTER
and his CAMERAMAN, under guard by TWO TERRORISTS, are hastily
setting up to shoot Malik.
CAMERAMAN
Tape is rolling.
MALIK
This is a communique from Crimson
Jihad. You have heard from your
own expert. You have seen the
Holy fire with your own eyes. Do
not force us to destroy this
city. And do not try to use
force against us. I can trigger
this bomb instantly. All I have
to do is turn that key...
(he points fiercely at
the bomb)
... and five million of your
people will die.
The reporter glances down, nervously.
REPORTER
What key?
MALIK
(pointing like the
guy's blind)
That key right there!
Malik looks down. The key is gone.
MALIK
(to his men)
Someone has stolen the key!
He turns, looking around wildly. Malik then sees Dana running
for the stairwell to the roof. He pulls a pistol and shoots at
her, but hits the wall as she bangs through the door. He runs
after her.
305 EXT. BUILDING / ROOF - DAY
ON THE ROOF, Malik bursts through the stairwell door. His TWO
MEN have followed him. Malik stops suddenly when he sees--
Dana standing at the edge of the roof. She is holding the
ARMING KEY by its chain. Dangling it over the edge. He
signals to his men not to fire.
DANA
(terrified, but
thinking)
You shoot me, this'll fall.
Malik advances slowly, his eyes glistening ferally. She backs
up a step with each of his, moving along the edge of the roof.
Malik keeps his pistol aimed at her chest.
DANA
Don't come any closer. I'll drop
it! I swear to God.
MALIK
If you drop it, I will have no
reason not to kill you.
He advances, calling her bluff. She backs away from him along
the edge.
MALIK
Come on, child. Give me the key.
(smiling)
Don't you want to live? I give
you my word.
DANA
No way you whacko.
She reaches the corner of the building. Her back touches
something. it is the boom of a small crane, used for lifting
building supplies. Careful to keep the key dangling over open
space, Dana climbs up on the lattice-work boom and moves out
beyond the edge of the building, never taking her eyes off
Malik. She is hyperventilating, terrified, but thinking
clearly.
Malik steps up on the crane, crawling out after her. He knows
she will not drop the key as long as he has the gun. It is a
game which will end when she reaches the end of the boom. Dana
puts the key between her teeth so she can hang on better. It
is windy and the boom is swinging.
306 INT. 20TH FLOOR - DAY
The Crimson Jihad warriors hear a thunderous, shrieking roar
and look toward the window.
307 EXT. HIGH RISE - DAY
RISING INTO VIEW, LIKE A GARGOYLE FROM HELL, IS THE HARRIER.
It fills the windows completely, hovering only a few feet
outside. The terrorists raise their AK-47s to fire just as
Harry hits the 20mm nose-cannon.
308 INT. / EXT. HIGH RISE - 20TH FLOOR - DAY
Glass explodes into glittering mist, and terrorists explodes
into bloody spray as Harry pivots the plane and the cannon
sweeps the floor clear from side to side. The Crimson Jihad is
vaporized.
309 EXT. ROOF - CRANE BOOM - DAY
Malik hears the thunder of the jet and the firing, but from
where he is he can't see what's going on. He focuses on the
key. He must have that key.
310 EXT. ROOF - NEAR HELICOPTER - DAY
Malik's TWO REMAINING MEN run to the helicopter, gesticulating
to the pilot to get ready to take off. The pilot revs the
turbine and the rotor whirls faster. The two men jump in,
picking up M-60 machine guns.
311 EXT. ROOF - CRANE BOOM - DAY
MALIK IS STILL ADVANCING out the crane boom. Dana slips as she
backs up, toppling off the boom. She is hanging now by her
hands over a 20 story drop.
Malik is almost to her. He needs a hand free to grab her. He
sets his gun down on the girder. He grabs for her wrist.
312 EXT. ROOF - OVERLOOKING EDGE - DAY
ANGLE LOOKING DOWN. Malik, Dana, the street far below. With
an unbelievable roar the Harrier sweeps in beneath Dana,
FILLING FRAME.
313 EXT. CRANE BOOM / OVER EDGE - DAY
Harry has the canopy up. Malik sees Harry, ten feet below.
His eyes narrow with an all-consuming rage. He glances at the
pistol on the beam. Back at the girl, the key in her teeth--
So close.
Harry maneuvers the cockpit directly under Dana.
HARRY
(shouting)
Let go baby! I've got you!
Daddy's got you!
314 EXT. ROOF / HARRIER - DAY
Malik lunges for her wrist. She screams and lets go-- Dana
drops and hits the windshield of the hovering jet-- Harry grabs
her with his left hand, right hand still on the stick-- He
holds her until she can get a grip. She is lying across the
nose of the plane. Harry starts to bank away and--
315 EXT. CRANE BOOM - DAY
Malik shrieks in rage. He grabs his 9mm pistol and leaps off
the crane--
316 EXT. HARRIER - DAY
Onto the back of the plane. He starts crawling toward the
cockpit. Dana screams and Harry looks back, but just then--
317 EXT. BUILDING - DAY
The Aerospatiale swings around the building right in front of
them-- The door-gunner OPENS FIRE.
318 EXT. HARRIER - DAY
Harry banks hard, taking the hits under the wing. He pivots
and slides sideways around the building, playing tag with the
copter.
He can't do anything radical enough to dislodge Malik without
tossing off his own daughter.
319 EXT. BUILDING - DAY
The helicopter appears around the corner, guns blazing in the
doors. Harry pivots the plane and FIRES THE NOSE CANNON. The
helicopter is riddled. It tilts and plummets, auto-rotating
out of control.
320 EXT. BUILDING - ANGLE AT STREETLEVEL - DAY
As the copter hits the ground and explodes. Fortunately the
police had created a cleared perimeter.
321 EXT. HARRIER - DAY
THE HARRIER dips and slews, half out of control. Malik is
taking aim with the pistol, right at Harry's head. Harry grabs
his daughter with his left hand, holding her with all his
strength and he-- Jinks the stick hard, just as-- Malik opens
fire, but-- The plane tilts wildly and Malik topples, screaming--
He slides along the wing, and falls over the leading edge--
Only to catch himself on the only available hand-hold-- The
last Sidewinder missile.
322 EXT. HARRIER / SIDEWINDER - DAY
Harry and Malik lock eyes for one long second. Then Harry hits
the FIRING STUD. The Sidewinder drops away and ignites.
Carrying Malik out over Miami Beach. It explodes a mile out to
sea.
323 INT. HARRIER - COCKPIT - DAY
HARRY PULLS DANA into the cockpit, settling her on his lap.
HARRY
Don't touch the stick, baby.
She stares at her father in amazement. He banks away from the
building, accelerating the jet. He grins at her. Raises one
eyebrow. Woggles the plane's wings.
HARRY
Hi, pumpkin.[/spoiler]
In this encounter we've got two PCs, Harry and Dana, and 12 NPCs, 11 of which are Mooks and one BBEG, Malik.
Dana is being held hostage, though she isn't tied up or anything (nowhere to go).
Harry has a Harrier and is flying in to save the day.
Key actions throughout the encounter:
- Dana convinces the guard that she needs to go to the bathroom, and is able to steal the key without them looking.
- Malik notices Dana running and fires at her, missing.
- Malik calls Dana's bluff on the roof.
- Dana and Malik climbing out onto the boom of the crane in the wind.
- Harry guns down most of the terrorists.
- Dana drops from the beam onto the harrier, being grabbed by Harry until she can hang on.
- Malik jumps onto the harrier.
- Helicopter gunner fires at the Harrier.
- Harry manoeuvres the harrier around so that the helicopter can't fire. He's trying to keep Dana hanging on and dislodge Malik.
- Harry shoots down the helicopter.
- Malik manoeuvres himself to have a clean shot at Harry.
- Harry grabs hold of Dana as he jerks the plane to dislodge Malik.
- Malik falls but grabs onto the missile, and is fired off.
This encounter could easily be converted into a fantasy one by replacing guns with crossbows, skyscraper with any other high place, and the Harrier with a Dragon or other mystical flying mount.
This is an interesting scenario to envision, although it has the characteristic of being very cinematic, so possibly not applicable to all settings or systems.
You have the cameramen (civilians, harmless and incapable), terrorists (mooks, just badass enough to intimidate the civilians), SWAT team (mooks also, held at bay by the terrorist mooks), Malik (primary antagonist, with some evil heroic qualities), Dana (thought to be a civilian, but shows nascent heroic potential), and Harry (hero, of course).
In such a cinematic setting, lots of unrealistically heroic things happen. Not just the jump jet, but also Dana being capable of stealing the key and escaping to the roof. How should a system model her actions?
In a less cinematic setting or system, she just won't have the sleight of hand, silent move, or defense to get away and not get shot. Such a scene just won't happen - she'll either get caught before she even starts, or get shot. In a more cinematic setting, you might let players use plot points, or give her some unearned Hero Points, or whatever.
Anyway, not all scenarios are necessarily applicable to every system, but it is good to have a good set of test scenarios to consider. Even just deciding that your system isn't meant to handle a situation like that tells you something.