Encounter-a-Day

It’s New Year’s Eve in New York City (and elsewhere too, I suppose). As usual, a massive throng of people, the PCs included, is partying in Times Square. The nearly one million people all crowded around One Times Square are so thick that for hundreds of feet it’s almost impossible to move.

Unbeknownst to anyone, a terrible beast lurks beneath the streets. Just before the countdown begins, it bursts up from a manhole, sending several people flying, and begins a wanton slaughter.

Transfixed by the ball and deafened by the jubilant throng, even those alarmingly close to the creature are completely oblivious to what’s going on. Several dozen try to run away, but are trapped, and it takes a minute or more before the people in the general area start to panic.

When they do, though, a stampede occurs. People trample each other to get away from the deadly beast.

The PCs might be in the vicinity of the beast’s emergence, pressed into fighting it in the cramped quarters until the crowds start to realize what’s happening and run away. Alternatively, they might be farther away, forced to fight against the tide to reach the beast.

In the latter case, it’s important that they actually have a reason to fight instead of just running away. They may be police officers, government agents, or even scientists from a facility secretly breeding horrors like this. Maybe they even tracked it here and knew it was going to happen.