Perhaps you have completed the Con Air one-shot. Perhaps you haven't; in that case, you can still make a memorable gaming event of the wild 1997 movie by playing the linked adventure. But here you are, at the outset of a new adventure, one that begins in the stars. Last time, the players escaped from the dangerous flight of the Con Air at the site of Area 51, asked by a host of aliens to help free their people from the mysterious military base. Read on for the full instructions of the Con Space one-shot.
If you're interested in creating your own one-shots from a movie, read this guide for how to create an adventure like this yourself.
If you have played before, feel free to use your characters from the Con Air one-shot. If you are beginning here in space or your players want to make new characters, here's the guide from last time for creating characters:Introduction
Character Creation: Players must design their characters with 5 details in mind. (1) They'll need a character name. (2) They must have committed a crime to be included on the flight; even if they are innocent of the charge, they must have been found guilty. (3) They must select two traits from the below list of character bonuses. (4) Players can get access to an extra trait if they have a sufficiently tragic backstory. (5) Players can get access to another extra trait if they commit to using a bad character accent for the duration of the one-shot.
The bonus traits:
- Firearm Proficiency - Without this trait, a character has a 25% chance of hitting an enemy with a firearm. With this trait, a character has a 50% chance of hitting an enemy. (Roll a d100--50 or below means a success)
- Melee Proficiency - Without this trait, a melee weapon deals 25% damage to its victim. With this trait, a melee weapon deals 50% damage to its victim.
- Military Training - Without this trait, a character can deal 10% damage per turn without a weapon. With this trait, a character can deal 50% damage per turn without a weapon.
- Explosives Expert - Without this trait, explosives cannot be interacted with. With this trait, a character has a 75% chance of safely arming or disarming explosives.
- Criminal Reputation - Without this trait, a character can intimidate someone with a 25% success rate. With this trait, a character can intimidate someone with a 50% success rate.
- Dramatic Dashing - Without this trait, a character can leave the range of an attacker in two turns. With this trait, a character can leave the range of an attacker in one turn.
- Too Much Time in Isolation - With this trait, a character becomes volatile and can make two attacks in one turn once per combat.
- Death Wish - With this trait, a character may absorb an otherwise lethal blow as though they were never struck at all. Works once per one-shot.
- Astronaut Training - With this trait, a character knows how to survive in space and can even set traps for aliens. The traps are small explosives that deal half lethal damage to anyone nearby. They have three traps.
- Inside Job - With this trait, a character can convince an alien to turn on their allies and fight until the end of combat, when they will try to run away.
Now that you have characters to play with, continue for the adventure.
"You are not Cyrus, but you are of Cyrus," one of the figures says. It has large black eyes and pale grey skin with a tall, oblong head. "Cyrus made a deal with us that we intend to honor if you wish. He said that the ones in the orange suits would help us free our brethren from the prison that is Area 51 if we would make a new home for the orange suits in our galaxy. But first, we must free our kind from the first 50 Areas. Will you join us in this quest and be our crew aboard the Con Space?"
Allow the players time to mull over the offer. If they ask for details, the aliens are happy to provide answers. They have launched assaults on all 51 areas of alien captivity; only a few details remain to be attended to. They need help freeing an alien leader, uniting the freed aliens, recapturing an alien weapon, and defeating the final guardians of Area 51. They describe for the players a new life in the stars, assuring them that they will be important people in the formation of a new galactic federation. The aliens have closely studied Earth's society and understand the players well, but they seem to struggle with the concept of promises--they do not understand the concept of lying, so promises seem redundant. When the players are on-board with the goal, it's time to outfit the players in space gear.
Aliens of different shapes approach you. A round alien which rolls around with its head floating above its spherical body moves to lead you to the armory down the hall. A large alien with a sharply angled head atop a humanoid body follows you silently, a sizable rifle-shaped tool in its hands. Down the hall you go, passing barracks filled with newly-freed aliens of all shapes and sizes. After nearly a minute of walking, the round alien rolls into a room off to the left. Inside the room are metal plates with attached gears and dozens of tools like the one the alien following you has. Mechanical arms extend from the round alien and select metal plates of dazzling-sheened hues. It presses the plate onto [one player]'s chest and presses a small black button, causing other plates of metal to extend across your entire torso. In moments, you are covered in a thin exoskeleton. Moments later, all of you are locked in similar suits, and the armed alien hands out a rifle to each of you.
These pieces of armor allow the players to take 3 otherwise lethal strikes and survive. Have them count carefully each strike they survive. Armor can be replaced when they return to the ship later.
"These will serve you as well as any tools of your planet," the armed alien says in a mechanical tone. It shows you the three buttons on the side: charge, reload, and burst/single fire mode. "Press the charge button for a triply effective shot. Reload will recharge your weapon over a few seconds. Fire mode allows you to fire either one or three shots at a time." It walks over to a wall outfitted with smaller tools. "Do you require a blade or an explosive, orange suit?"
Allow your players to stock up on weapons. They should be allowed to outfit themselves based on their skills, allowing for unarmed, firearm, melee, and explosive approaches. Once everyone is ready:
The armed alien leads you back down the hallway. You can feel the spaceship rising gently through the air and humming in a direction it is hard to recognize. The intercom above crackles, "T-minus two minutes to landing at Area 14. Repeat, two minutes to Area 14." The spaceship thrums with energy and you can almost as quickly feel yourself lowering to the ground. The original alien who spoke to you returns with a determined look on its face.
"Located in Area 14 is a revered leader of our people. We sharbligians have a long history of diplomatic solutions, and your government has taken them hostage. Please invade Area 14, release El-Kal*, and return here."
[*Since Nic Cage named his son Kal-El, it only made sense to devote this alien to him in honor of Con Air.]
The players may ask any questions they want about the operation; the only answers this alien, Onet-Plon, has are that Area 14 is laid out as a single long hallway and that El-Kal is located in the final room of that hallway. Armed resistance is expected. The aliens intend the players to rescue El-Kal on their own while the other aliens wage war against the government supersoldiers; Onet-Plon believes a small, targeted attack is the best bet. Onet-Plon is unwilling to discuss the option that El-Kal may die and tells the players that he must survive or the future will be bleak.
The ship hovers in place and you are sheparded to the tractor beam's origin. The ship's hatch opens and you remain floating in place where the floor used to be. Slowly and gently, you are lowered to the dusty New Mexico ground. Nearly a hundred feet away is a steel door leading to a long, thin bunker. There are no supersoldiers nearby; the party can make it to the door without issue. The door is ajar and swings heavily open. Inside, dim lights flicker, and the sounds of conflict echo down the hallway.
Down the hallway, most of the rooms have open doors, revealing that nothing is within them. Halfway down the hallway, a lone supersoldier steps quickly out of a room and is surprised by the party. He puts up a fight but will flee down the hallway if the party overpowers him quickly. If he dies, he howls in pain and attracts two more supersoldiers which the party must also defeat.
There are only three rooms left in the hallway. To your left is what appears to be a communications room with an array of large screens and microphones. To the right is a bloody scene with perhaps a dozen aliens and supersoldiers, all dead, littered around the room. One alien, a dark red hound-like animal stirs in a pool of blood, looking up at you. "Did you get them?" the alien asks with their final breaths. "Did you save El-Kal?" The alien's eyes glaze over and it passes away. Only the final door remains.
Inside is a small observation room surrounding an even smaller cell. Bright blue light beams envelop the sharbligian inside, who seems to not have noticed you. A small panel of flashing lights and buttons next to the cell catches your eye. On the panel are four buttons: an empty circle, a full circle, an arrow downward, and an arrow upward.
If the players press the empty circle, El-Kal will be released from the energy beams restraining them. Pressing the full circle will turn the beams on again; if they're already on, nothing happens. Pressing the arrow downward will lower the barrier keeping El-Kal inside. Pressing the upward arrow will raise the barrier; if it's already un, nothing happens. Once the beams are off and the barrier is down, El-Kal will emerge.
The towering sharbligian steps over the low wall keeping them in the cell. "Are you the fabled orange suits?" they ask. "Tell me, how is the fleet?"
El-Kal listens to the party's answers and nods.
"We must return to the ship. Soon we will free our brethren of the sky and create a better world for all." El-Kal gestures down the hallway. "Please protect me. I am weakened and require your help." They rub their oversized eyes in a tired motion and step behind you.
As you head back down the hallway, you hear the clanking of boots on the metal floor. Before you suddenly are three supersoldiers. They take defensive formation and begin to fire at you.
The party must now defeat the supersoldiers and protect El-Kal. If any player character is shot twice by the supersoldiers, the remaining supersoldiers focus on taking down that character. If any character's armor is shot three times, it breaks and falls off the character's body. El-Kal does an excellent job of staying behind the player characters and will always shift to be behind the character with the strongest armor. Only if one player is defeated in this encounter should El-Kal suffer any consequences, and then only to be wounded and still make it to the ship. Once the players have defeated the supersoldiers and returned to the ship:
The tractor beam again pulls you and El-Kal into the ship. Onet-Plon is waiting for you. "El-Kal!" they scream. "You are back and in mostly one piece! We can hope for our future once again." El-Kal smiles slightly and is ushered by a small troop of aliens down a hall and into the command room; you are directed to follow by Onet-Plon.
Inside the command room, with its commotion of alien languages and pounding of fist-like appendages, all suddenly goes silent when El-Kal arrives. They enjoy this silence and let it sit for a moment before speaking. "We are building a future," El-Kal says. "A future without hostages and experiments on our peoples and lies from the human government." El-Kal makes a sweeping gesture to the room. "Our future begins now."
El-Kal turns to you. "You must enter Area 29 and unite the divided aliens. The human scientists at Area 29 have indoctrinated the aliens to believe that they are enemies, but you must show them that we have a common cause. Go now, and may the luck of the heavens be upon you." The ship is descending again over the New Mexico desert. A pair of aliens, one shaped like a small bird and the other like a robot with a fishbowl for a head, guide you back to the supply room and reoutfit you before taking you back to the tractor beam. You are lowered gently to the ground, and before you is a building not unlike a small diner.
Through the door of the small building are a number of tubes, each filled with a thick fluid and with an alien in each, species from across the universe represented. Two human scientists take notes on one alien and seem to not have noticed you.
The players may now deal with the scientists. If threatened, they will hesitantly open the tubes and free the aliens. If killed, the tubes may be opened by pressing the buttons on a console in the corner of the room. The scientists will also believe that the party has been sent to help if they use this tactic. Once the aliens are free, the players must deliver a speech that convinces them their differences can be ignored in favor of a better future. Once the aliens are convinced by a reasonable speech, they will kill the scientists if they're not already dead and lobby to return to the ship.
The aliens shift nervously in the tractor beam and rise with you into the ship. Reunions take place across the ship's bay, aliens greeting each other in strange languages and with bizarre gestures. El-Kal stands at the perimeter, speaking up only once the reunions have ceased. "Welcome, my intergalactic brethren. You have been freed by the orange suits so that we can together make a new life. Now we must free our ultimate weapon from human hands to ensure our survival. The orange suits will recapture the weapon while we begin the assault on Area 51." They turn toward you. "We will drop you at Area 43 where the weapon is. Then we will head to Area 51 to begin the assault. We will return to you and the weapon before heading to Area 51 for the final breach. It will be deadly, and your success is not guaranteed. Are you ready?"
The players may speak with El-Kal about the weapon; they say it is so large it must be carried by two people and that it can wipe out any organic life it encounters. Any further details are obscure; El-Kal says the weapon was ancient and forgotten until recently captured by the human scientists, and little else is known about it. They say it looks like a conch shell, but glittering red and orange. El-Kal cuts off questions after answering a few and says,
"The time is now. Go, retrieve the weapon, and be ready for our return." The tractor beam lowers you slowly to the earth outside Area 43. At first, it looks like nothing, but then you notice a trapdoor not unlike a storm cellar in the ground a ways from where you land. One door is flapped open, and a blinking red light from within illuminates the stairs leading down. Down the stairs, you can see a supersoldier kicking at the corpses of a few aliens. He doesn't seem to notice you.
The players may deal with the supersoldier as they choose. If they kill the supersoldier, they can pass through the bunker to the next juncture; if they force the supersoldier to help or face the consequences, the supersoldier will guide them to the weapon room but try to launch a surprise attack there.
You head down the hall. Room after room is either locked electronically or has an open door with chaos and upturned furniture inside. You reach an intersection; you can go left, right, or straight.
If the players go left, they find two more supersoldiers. Defeating them reveals a massive alien, which the players can free and enlist the help of. This muscular alien, looking like a fantasy monster, is called Uruk-hansa, and she can kill a supersoldier in a single blow. If the players go straight, they find a human weapons room and can resupply from assault rifles, grenades, and stun batons. If the players go right, they find one supersoldier guarding a room with an electronic keypad. Over the keypad is a scrap of paper with "Original founding year" written on it. If the players enter "1955," the door slides open to reveal an alien weapons room. Players can discover a binder with the history of Area 51 written inside not far from the keypad, and 1955 is indicated as the year of its founding.
You enter the room. There are dozens of weapons of different designs placed on the walls. Small, spiky truncheons hang next to smoothly-shaped blasters. There are simple metallic handles with pulsing plasma forcefields around them, and a glimmering blade that seems to float in the air. But unmistakably, in the center of the room, is the superweapon. It looks like a massive black beetle, with divots in the sides for two people to carry it. It is chained to the ground, but the locks on the chains have clearly been shot with human firearms.
With effort, the players are able to lift the superweapon and carry it out, but allow them to investigate any of the other weapons if they wish.
You carry the hulking weapon down the hallway. It barely fits through the tight corridors, but you manage it with some extra care at corners. You have nearly made it to the entrance once more, and you can hear that pulsating sound of the ship returning and broadcasting its tractor beam to the ground once more. But as you clear the main door, you can see three supersoldiers running to intersect you on your way to the beam.
The players must now defeat the three supersoldiers. The superweapon can dispatch one and deal half damage to the supersoldier on either side of the target. The supersoldiers fight bravely and only run from the superweapon when two supersoldiers have been defeated. Once the supersoldiers are defeated, the beam pulses and fades for a moment before returning to full strength.
The beam pulls you up. Maybe it's your imagination, but you seem to rise slower under the weight of the superweapon. You finally make it to the bay once more to discover cheers in a slew of alien languages. The superweapon is tended to by alien scientists, who seem to be calibrating it. El-Kal steps forward. "You have done marvelously. All that remains is defeating the forces at Area 51 once and for all. You can do this, orange suits. And then we will decide the fate of the universe for ourselves."
The ship is pitching in the air, and the superweapon slides a few inches under the Earth's gravity. The scientists tending to it nervously step back, but return to their work once the ship is levelled out. El-Kal gazes off into the distance. "There are soldiers at Area 51 like you have seen. But there is a force much greater. They have developed a technology which combines the powers of their soldiers, and you will need the superweapon to defeat them. Once you have done so, return to the ship, and we will discuss your role in the new world at hand."
Have the alien attendants reoutfit the party again if needed. The alien attendants insist that the party be ready for anything, and they are willing to delay the attack if it means a surer chance of success. Once the party is outfitted, they are hustled back to the bay and lowered in the tractor beam.
The beam sends you down into chaos. Alien forces and human supersoldiers stream across the ground, firing weapons and regrouping with desperate efforts. In the midst of the battle is a bunker with smoothed steel hallways winding this way and that as the bunker stretches away from you. There are three supersoldiers between you and the bunker, and they aim down their sights at you.
Allow the players to dispatch the supersoldiers in whatever fashion they wish. When they finish the battle:
You drop the last of the supersoldiers who were focused on you. Nearby supersoldiers have grim looks on their faces; they do not relish fighting the aliens, but they are grateful to not be locked in combat with a superweapon. The battle seems to be pushing in the direction of the aliens when suddenly, the sound of twisting, screaming steel erupts from the bunker. The hallways are wrapped and pressed in conflicting directions, and finally they burst to reveal a one hundred foot-tall mechanical figure. Its head is a cannon controlled by a supersoldier. Its chest is manned by two supersoldiers firing machine guns. Each segment of arm and leg is another supersoldier, handling controls that guide the enormous figure as it moves.
"They brought out the mech!" cries a desperate sharbligian with a pulsar rifle. "Get down!" The aliens take cover, and a cheer goes up from the supersoldiers. The mech sweeps its head across the battlefield and levels its view at you. A red light begins to grow brighter at the figure's head.
The party can now attack. If they focus their first strike on the head of the mech, it stops the charging attack the head is generating. If they focus their attack elsewhere, the laser strike will hit the superweapon, causing it to take twice as long to charge an attack (two turns instead of one). A blow to the legs will cause the mech to lose balance and fall; it will have to spend a turn regaining its footing and will move at a penalty due to the missing leg. A blow to the arms will prevent the mech from firing its secondary weapons, which fire together. A blow to the chest will cause the mech to stumble backwards and spend a turn turning back around to face the party. The first two strikes from the mech should target alien groups, killing all within range. Its third strike should target the party, and only with a high result on a Dramatic Dashing roll will avoid damage; otherwise, the party should take half damage from the attack. When the party hits the mech for the third time, it is damaged beyond repair and blows up.
The battle is over. Alien bodies lay strewn across the sand, and what supersoldiers remain have retreated into the desert. The alien ship hovers in again, and the remaining alien forces gather with you under the tractor beam. It takes you up and up and up, and you are soon face to face with a very serious El-Kal. They look at you with pain in their eyes. "It was costly, but you did it. Our people across all 51 Areas have been freed, and the human government no longer can use our captured allies as bargaining chips. It is time to cleanse the earth of the wrongdoers who tortured our peoples. We trust you, orange suits, to know what is best for Earth. Here is our situation: we have enough energy on this ship to make it safely back to our galaxy, where we are rebuilding Utopia. But we have just enough energy to use our precision laser strike a few times. In fact, we have enough energy to use it [the number of players in the game] times; once for each of you. I will give you a moment to think: who shall we laser strike to make Earth a better place? We grant you this boon as well as this offer: stay on Earth, or come with us to build a better life for all in the stars." El-Kal bows deeply and shuffled from the room.
Allow your players to now discuss the offer. When they have decided who to kill and whether they will join the aliens, have El-Kal return. If the players take El-Kal up on the laser strikes, describe the result like this: You watch on a screen as the person you indicated walks from inside their home to their backyard. A yellow dot sweeps across the yard and steadies on that person. A moment's thrumming energy, and they are gone, a pile of ashes on grass. Add some variation for each person, and feel free to spice up the description with details about these targets if the players pick someone real. Finally, the choice to stay or go:
If the players decide to go with El-Kal: El-Kal smiles, or at least you assume that face shape is a smile. "You will find that life across the galaxy is easier than it was on Earth. When we arrive, I will show you to your estates, prizes our people offered to the human saviors who are the orange suits. If you choose, you may become involved in keeping our world a good place, but you may also simply enjoy paradise. Welcome home, orange suits." If your players are interested, you can turn this into the beginning of a campaign about helping alien civilizations become better places.
If the players decide to stay on Earth: El-Kal looks sadly at you, or at least you assume that face shape is a frown. "You will make Earth a wondrous place someday. I only hope that we aliens can wish to repay you some day. Won't you accept our gift as a thank you for saving us from the fate of Area 51?" El-Kal reaches into the folds of their robe and pulls out a small tablet with blinking lights on it. "This is the control panel for a ship much like this one, but smaller and faster. Use it as you wish, and always remember the grateful aliens who gave it to you." You might also be able to turn this into a campaign or at least another one-shot, focusing on the exploits of the party as they adjust to life on the Earth they changed.
That's the Con Air sequel--hopefully it suits your players well. I'll post some details on how this one-shot went once I've playtested it, but until then, happy gaming!
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