Face/Off One-Shot

One of the most iconic films of the 1990s action boom is Face/Off, a movie which switches the protagonist’s and villain’s faces to have each go undercover as the other. In the film, actors Nicolas Cage and John Travolta had to portray each other’s portrayals of their characters, which is my favorite element of the movie. I wanted to keep that spirit alive in a one-shot I’ve created based on the movie: players will have to switch midway through the game and play each other’s characters.

Below is a simple rules system and a guide to a custom one-shot based on the movie Face/Off. Read on for instructions and the script for my adaptation of this strange film.

To create a character for this one-shot, players must:

·         Choose a name

·         Be FBI agents working in a covert counter-terrorism unit

·         Have a perfect precious child with a name

·         Choose how to apply their skills

o   Players have 5 total skills

§  Fistfighting

·         When players combat NPCs hand-to-hand, they roll for Fistfighting.

·         If they roll below a 4, they do half that NPCs health in damage.

·         If they roll a 4 or above, they knock out the NPC.

§  Shooting

·         When players shoot guns, they roll for Shooting.

·         If they roll below a 4, they miss their target.

·         If they roll a 4 or above, they hit their target. Any NPC struck by a bullet dies.

§  Driving

·         When players operate cars, they can roll so without a roll.

·         When players operate other vehicles, they require a Driving roll.

·         When players attempt a special driving maneuver, they require a Driving roll.

·         If they roll below a 4, their attempt at driving is generally safe but doesn’t accomplish anything special. If they roll a 4 or above, they manage to perfectly execute their intention.

§  Acting

·         When a player needs to convince an NPC that they are who they say they are, they roll for Acting.

·         A player can use acting to embrace the spirit of their portrayed character to grant a bonus to another roll.

o   A player may roll Acting and add half their result (rounded up) to the roll they are attempting to empower.

·         If they roll below a 4, their attempt to convince the NPC is unsuccessful.

·         If they roll a 4 or above, their attempt to convince the NPC is successful.

§  Slow Motion

·         Players may enter Slow Motion once per scene.

o   Being in Slow Motion means that a player is granted two actions per turn instead of one for one turn.

·         If they roll below a 4, both of the actions the player takes suffer a -1 penalty.

·         If they roll between a 4 and an 7, the player is able to perform both actions without penalty.

·         If they roll an 8 or above, the player is granted a third action to perform in one turn.

o   Players can choose one skill to roll with a d4, three skills with a d8, and one skill with a d12

o   A Sample Character:

§  Dixon Flitterby

§  FBI Agent for 3 years

§  Father to little Gleason, age 5

§  Skills

·         Fistfighting = d8

·         Shooting = d12

·         Driving = d4

·         Acting = d8

·         Slow Motion = d8

o   When players are in combat, they can take damage 4 times before they are rendered unconscious until the end of the combat. This allowance resets every time combat is ended. If all players go unconscious, narrate that Castor Troy gets away with everything.

And that’s all we need to get started. Now, let’s jump into the one-shot.

[Narration in italics]

It’s an idyllic day at the park. You’ve had cotton candy, been to the petting zoo, and spent plenty of time on the swings. Your kids are so happy, and their faces are marked by laughter. You take them to the carousel, the perfect end to a perfect day. You spin and spin, and your kids are laughing so hard that they’re crying.

Pip! Pip pip pip! [Do a “pip” for each player you have at the table.]

Bullets tear through you. You fall to the ground, your perfect children slumped over as the carousel spins. As you fade into unconsciousness, you can see in the distance that a man with a terrible mustache is escaping with a sniper rifle. You know that mustache: Castor Troy. Your last thought before you go under is that you will have you revenge.

[Allow the players a moment to discuss their feelings about this.]

 It’s 6 years later now. You’ve been called into FBI Director Hollis Miller’s office, all of you. Word around the office is that there’s a special secret task force that no one’s supposed to know about. Everyone quiets down as Miller enters the room and closes the door behind her.

“I’ve chosen you all for this team—yes, the secret team you’ve been hearing about,” says Director Miller. “I’ve chosen you because you have a personal stake in this case. We’ve found Castor Troy, and I need you to take him down once and for all. Now head down to the garage and load up. You’ll be briefed on the way.”

You are shepherded down to the garage and into black SUVs. [Have the players decide who’s driving.] You leave the garage and are told to head for the airport. With your sirens and flashing lights, you make it there in no time. On the way, Miller explains that Castor has been spotted back in the country after a long time overseas. He’s supposedly got some terrorist plot brewing.

You arrive at the airport. “There he is!” cried Director Miller, pointing to a taxiing airplane. “Don’t let him take off!”

[Have the driver roll to see whether they can force the airplane off the runway. If they succeed, have them ram the airplane into a nearby hangar. If they fail:]

Director Miller shouts, “Shoot out the engines!”

[Give the other players a chance to shoot out the engines. If they manage to score two hits against the engine, have it blow up, and the airplane runs off the runway and into a hangar.}

A fiery explosion goes up from the plan as it strikes the hangar. You can see the criminals on the plane jumping off and taking up defensive positions in the hangar behind cargo and repair machines. “Get in there and get him!” yells Director Miller.

You enter the hangar and see clusters of armed goons with their guns pointed right at you.

[The players must now defeat the goons. I recommend giving the same number of enemies as you have players, but you can add more to extend this moment. I would recommend no more than twice as many enemies as there are players.]

The goons defeated, you can see that Castor’s brother Pollux has been arrested. You close in on Castor. He shoots at you, but his gun is empty. He sinks to the ground. “Don’t kill me!” he says. “I have something you’re gonna want to hear about.”

[Allow the players to interrogate Castor. The only things he is willing to say is that he wants to see his brother Pollux and that there’s a very delicious surprise coming up in a few days.]

The brothers are carted off. “They won’t face trial before going to prison,” says Director Miller. “I’ve seen to that. But it does create a complication. In order to interrogate his brother and figure out what Castor is talking about, we’re going to need to infiltrate the prison. And the only way to do that is to . . . switch faces with Castor.”

[Allow chatter and questions, then proceed:]

 “I am going to put Castor’s face on mine. That should get his brother to trust me. And I’ll need backup. You’re all coming along too, and you’ll be doing face switches of your own—with each other. And you’ll have to be convincing, so be ready to play the part.”

[If anyone points out that this doesn’t make sense:]

“Of course it doesn’t!” says Director Miller. “But with science like this, we have to use to it to its fullest extent, or we’ll never be able to fight the Castor Troys of the world.”

[If that’s not enough, you can remind the player that it’s supposed to be a fun mechanism in the game and ask them to play along.]

[Have your players pick who they are switching with. I recommend two methods. One would be having people choose who they would most like to portray. The second would be to have everyone just swap one to the left or right, which is especially helpful when you have an odd number of players.]

You are led into a room and sedated. You awaken hours later looking exactly like the person with whom you switched.

“Excellent,” said Director Miller. “With that handled, it’s time for you to be dropped into MegaMax Prison.” An FBI agent creeps up behind Director Miller and shoves a black bag over her head. A moment later, the same happens to all of you. You’re hustled out of the room, to the roof of the building, and into a helicopter. The blades spin noisily, and no one talks during the flight. You soon land and are led down a flight of stairs and into a room. Your blindfold is removed.

Before you is a tall bald man with a nametag that reads “Head Guard Walton.” He eyes you individually. “Welcome to MegaMax, folks. You are in a different world now. The Geneva Convention does not apply here. Now get to your cells and don’t make a fuss.”

[Players are free to ask a few questions on the way to their cells. Prison guards will offer factual but brief answers. For reference, the prison is about as restrictive as possible.]

You enter the prison and see hundreds of violent people barely restraining themselves. Many seem to be looking at you. In the corner, you see Pollux Troy. He motions to Director Miller, who leads you to him. “Remember, we’re trying to get him to tell us what the plan is.”

“Hey bro,” says Director Miller.

“You know I hate it when you call me that,” said Pollux.

“Which is why I do it!” replied Director Miller. “So, Pollux, I made some new friends. Hey, new friends, tell Pollux about how much you want to help with the plan.”

[Give the players a chance to talk to Pollux. If anyone is able to succeed on an Acting roll (4 or above,) he is willing to share that there is a bomb planted at the L.A. Convention Center. If all players fail, have Director Miller get it out of him:]

“Come on, bro,” says Director Miller. “Fill them in.”

“Fine,” says Pollux. “We planted a bomb. Might want to stay away from the Convention Center for the next few days.”

[The players may react however they choose to this news. Give them a moment to talk this over.]

“That’s what we needed,” says Director Miller. “Let’s get out of here.” She leads you back to Head Guard Walton’s office.

“What do you want?” he asks.

“There’s a bomb in the L.A. Convention Center,” says Director Miller. “And the Troy brothers put it there.”

“Meaning you?” Head Guard Walton asks.

“No, my face is switched,” says Miller.

“Right,” says Walton. “So then who are you?”

“FBI Director Hollis Miller,” she says.

“Then who am I talking to?” he says, gesturing at FBI Director Miller on the other side of the office.

“I was just telling them about your psychosis,” says Castor-as-Miller. “Your beliefs about switching faces. Anyway, have fun in there!” And Castor-as-Miller leaves.

“You’ve been sentenced,” says Head Guard Walton. “Electric chair, the lot of you. Boys, take ‘em.”

A group of guards come up behind you all and taze you. You are carried to a room with electric chairs and strapped in.

[Let the players know that they can struggle against their bindings with a Fistfighting roll (below a 4 means staying bound; 4 or above means bursting out of the straps). Players can also roll Acting to look like they are still tied up while free (below a 4 means giving away the ruse; 4 or above means being convincing.)]

[Once the guards realize that some of the players are not bound, they attack with clubs. Players can use Fistfighting rolls to attack. I recommend placing twice as many guards in the room as players. Once the players are free and have defeated the guards:]

Director Miller points down a hallway. “Let’s arm up,” she says. “There’s an armory just down this way.” She leads you to a room filled with guns and clubs.

[Allow the party to arm up. There are handguns (normal Shooting rolls) and automatic rifles (normal Shooting rolls plus one extra target per turn), as well as clubs (normal Fistfighting rolls, plus a +1 to Fistfighting rolls using the club).

“We’ve got to start a riot to break out of here,” says Director Miller. “Get out there, and stay safe.” She cocks her handgun and heads for the door. She leads you down a hallway and into the cafeteria, where all the inmates are eating and dozens of guards are waiting. “Riot!” she screams, and people begin to attack each other. She turns to you. “We’ve got to get to that staircase,” she screams over the din. “Fight your way over!”

[Between the players and the staircase are two encounters. In the first, they face off against as many convicts as there are players, plus half as many guards. (Example: with 4 players, there are 4 convicts, plus 2 guards.) In the combat, have a convict get a hold of a guard’s gun—the convict shoots Pollux. After crossing most of the cafeteria, they are stopped by another encounter. In the second encounter, the players face off against 150% as many convicts as players and as many guards. (Example: with 4 players, there are 6 convicts and 4 guards.) Once both encounters have been defeated:]

You arrive at the staircase and begin to climb. The sounds of battle behind you—gunfire and screams—follow you echoing up the staircase. You emerge on a helipad and realize that you are on a tower built in the ocean.

“Over there!” yells Director Miller. “The California Coast. We should be able to swim it.”

A helicopter comes up over the helipad. They train their machine guns on you and spin up the barrels.

“Jump!” cried Director Miller, diving over the edge.

[Give the players a moment to jump over the edge into the water. If anyone tries to shoot the pilot, the pilot dies, and the helicopter comes crashing into the helipad, forcing the players there to jump into the water.]

You swim for miles and make it to shore. Sunrise is about to dawn.

“I know where Castor Troy will be at sunrise,” says Director Miller. “He’s going to be at his brother’s funeral. Let’s get going.” She heads to a parking lot and gestures to the cars in it. “We can’t get Bureau resources for this, so we’re gonna have to steal a car.”

[The players can use a Driving roll to steal and hotwire a car (the roll needs a 6 or higher for success to get a car working). Once they have a car:]

You arrive at a small Spanish church. There are flocks of doves scattered around the property. You enter the church and find no one there. Then, behind you, a laugh. You turn. It’s Castor Troy as Director Miller.

“You know, I find life as the Director of the FBI pretty convenient,” says Castor. “Can you imagine what I can do? That bomb gambit was small potatoes. I defused that thing to keep this gig. But you’re in the way. Let’s dance.” He raises his golden pistols, and several goons step out to join him.

[Use 3 times as many goons as you have players. (Example: for 4 players, you would have 12 goons). Once Castor takes 1 damage for every player you have (not necessarily 1 from each, but that same number as a total), have him run away out the back door. When the goons have all been dispatched, the players can pursue Castor.]

You pursue Castor to a speedboat. He jumps in and takes off. You manage to get behind the wheel of another speedboat.

[Have the players decide who will drive the speedboat. Have them perform a basic Driving roll to get them caught up to Castor. If they fail, grant them additional chances until they succeed.]

You draw even with Castor. He sprays bullets at you.

[Give everyone a chance to shoot at Castor. The boat driver can fire while driving with a successful Driving roll (4 or higher to succeed). Allow additional turns until Castor has taken 1 damage for each player (again as a total and not from each player). Then:]

Castor rams your boat, a mad gleam in his eyes.

[Have the boat driver roll a Driving roll. With below a 4, they will narrowly avoid hitting a much larger boat and catch up with Castor. With a 4 or above, they swerve out of the way and stay even with Castor.]

“Jump onto his boat!” yells Director Miller. “I’ll take the controls—get him!”

[The players can now leap onto Castor’s boat. When they do so, they can use Fistfighting and Shooting rolls to damage him. Once he has taken another 1 damage for each player (again as a total and not from each player):]

You look forward. You are running out of room. You’re going to hit a small boat. You brace for impact.

BOOM!

You are hurtling through the air. You land hand on the sand and look around. Castor is coming towards you.

[The players must fight Castor one final time. He has an assault rifle and can attack twice per turn. Once he has taken 150% of the number of players in damage (Example: for 4 players, 6 damage), he dies.]

Director Miller navigates the speedboat to the shore and hops out. “You did it!” she cries. “You stopped him. I want to thank you for your work, and I have something special in mind.”

Later that day, you return to your respective homes. To each of your families, you say, “Castor Troy had a number of illegitimate children, and I’ve adopted one of them to replace the child of mine who he killed. This is how justice works.” And your families were very appreciative for the replacement child, and every lived happily ever after.

THE END

Well, there you have it: a one-shot custom built for the movie Face/Off. It runs pretty close to the events of the film, and I hope that fans of the movie will enjoy how this adventure unfolds for them.

That’s all for now. Coming soon: factors to consider withcrime and policing in your world, a guide to the tattoo art of the cultures in my homebrew setting, and a guide to the island nation of Dalton in my homebrew setting. Until next time, happy gaming!

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