I thought a cool motivation for the EMPIRE (catchy) troopers was something called "Hellhammer." Currently I'm thinking an alien artifact, crashed to the surface... 100 years ago? Some time about there.
The location of the dig site is a glass crater. It sounded pretty nifty, given the desert environment. Something like this-
- crashes, and a lot of sand is going to turn to glass. The shockwave would make a large bowl, with the edges well above the dunes. Otherwise, it would be pretty risky to build below the sand level. Here's a bad picture in MS paint.
A- Sand, sand, more sand!
B- Crater. Yellow color because of infused sulfur during impact.
C- EMPIRE facility. Combination digsite/armory (think Mariposa)
D- Trolley station/sniper outpost
E- Trolley cable
F- Mineshaft to Hellhammer
G- Big huge poisonous gas cloud (AKA why we can't have aircraft)
Not shown:
-Twisters which throw stuff up into the clouds. 90% of twisters can't pick up anything heavier than 10 pounds, limiting them to sand, and the sharp rocks below. The rocks start roughly at the bottom of C, like 30 meters below the average sand level.
-Ramp to D from outside. No way in hell anyone can survive just walking up it (snipers). Players will have to climb up a different side, use an armored vehicle, or get creative. Maybe a combination.
-Artillery gun in crater. The winds at cloud-level screw up any kind of accuracy, but it's still really effective with cluster munitions.
If the glass crater is broken open, the sand is going straight into the crater via osmosis. I'm thinking this will be an ethical decision on the part of the players- they can take Hellhammer with them and GTFO, or they can choose to bury it beneath the sand, along with everything else.
The nature of Hellhammer is difficult for me to imagine. I've sworn off of nukes for this scenario, though the thought of a 3-kiloton re-usable munition did occur to me.
The obvious literary device is that it jump-starts the local ecosystem, complete with rain and plants.
!!!
The players' ship is in orbit, trying to assist them. But, given how much the cloud fscks stuff up, it's really hard for them to assist. Perhaps they send occasional drops from orbit, along with messages... Because their radio is broken. OMG amazing.
Plot so far:
The players are the assistants to a geologist heading to planet OHS-817 on the TLA Brahma. They may be there for security, company, survival, etc. Irregardless, the module gets battered by the rocks caught in the clouds, and is forced to separate via explosive bolts. The navigational computer can increase the survival of one pod exponentially, but the trajectory sends the other one straight into a twister.
If the players choose to save the professor, the twister shifts and dashes his module into the rocks, and buries him in the sky. The players crash, but survive.
If the players choose to save themselves, the professor's module is sucked into a twister and dashed on the rocks, buried in the sky. The players crash, and survive.
The players get a short conversation with the Brahma's captain. He notifies them there is an odd electric disturbance over the crater zone (but can't see the crater), as well as sentient life on the planet. Whenever possible, he will drop supplies down to them from orbit, but doesn't see many openings. Good luck!
[The players do the entire mission, risking life and limb for... life and limb]
The crater base has been flooded with sand by setting the artillery gun to open fire on the glass wall.
If they take Hellhammer and activate it:
The clouds part, and it starts to rain. The Brahma sends down a shuttle immediately, and they get picked up. Cue a Fallout-style ending, highlighting the results of all of their actions.
If they leave Hellhammer:
With no opening large enough for an extraction shuttle, the Brahma is forced to wait until supplies dwindle, then carry on its mission. They dump any useful thing they can, before returning to Earth.
The EMPIRE forces have been purged from the planet, and any future incursions are swiftly dealt with, earning the players the name "Sand Demons." The planet is designated too dangerous for occupation, and the EMPIRE moves on to more submissive targets. The heroes live out the rest of their lives under the Cloud, and die with honor among the people they worked to save.
Cue a fallout-style ending. Ultimately, the Hellhammer itself needs to be a pivotal character, capable of making them work through this decision. So far, I'm thinking the choice of "opening the sky" brings rain- something completely unfamiliar to the natives. Many of them will die, but the planet will finally be truly open to space.
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