Sky-Tyrant of Mars Deluxed Act Two — Scene One — Devils in the sand

In this scene, the heroes have to survive flying through a sandstorm infused with hallucinogenic dust. They have to perform three tasks before they can safely land their airship, the Valiant, on a sand dune and take refuge below deck for the night until the storm passes.

These tasks screams Dramatic Tasks to me. While the complications randomly determined by drawing clubs are perfectly viable, I thought it would add a further interesting option to change up the Trait once in a while. I believe this is definitely in line with Umberto Pignatelli's style as well.

For example, during the Master and Commander part, the pilot had to succeed on a Strength check for one round because the steering had stiffened up. Notice was also used to spot and navigate around a huge and solid obstacle.

For Sand in the gravitic apparatus I went with the flow. The player playing Okus the White Ape nimbly climbed his way down the side of the hull to reach the apparatus. Once there, he decided to use his shield to keep sand from entering the device so I called for Strength checks.

Sailors madness is a bit different because it can be tackled in different ways. The heroes, with the help of the other marines, can decide to grapple the mad sailors and hold them down until the Valiant has landed. If this is the way your group wants to deal with the situation, the combat rules will handle this just fine. When I ran this scene, the player playing Gala Omen handled this situation by calling out to the mad sailors and tried to convince them the demons in the sand were hallucinations. She then went on to use her healing kit to lessen the effect the hallucinogenic agents in the sand had on them. Therefor, I called for a combo of Persuasion and Healing check. It became a Dramatic Task.