In modern media and RPGs, airplane flight is typically the fastest way to travel a long distance, allowing characters to span the globe to reach the next adventure in a matter of hours. Their airport and airplane themselves are often blips in the narrative, though they have potential to be multiple adventures even before the departure.
Cities in Miniature
Airports, especially any size of international airport are like cities in miniature. They have restaurants, public facilities, medical care, and scores of people going unnoticed to make sure things work as smoothly as possible. However, while most major cities have their share of tourists, airports are populated by them. These people are often confused, lost, agitated, or bored. Walking against the flow of a busy New York City sidewalk can be a challenge, but there rarely is a flow in an airport and foot traffic fights against itself interrupted only by small passenger vehicles.
Introductions
Airports can serve as neutral ground to introduce new characters—player and non-player alike. Allowing characters to meet in places other than a bar or for a “job,” provides players with opportunities to role-play while waiting for the flight to land or while traveling to or from the airport itself. Introducing a character outside of a “home turf” or on the job itself is less intrusive to the established characters and often allows bonding and trust to more easily establish itself.
Security
Depending on the decade of the modern era, security may be in a heightened state. Depending on the characters and circumstances, this offers options for needing to bypass security while still getting on the flight. If the characters are transporting weapons and security is alerted should any form of gunfight occurs, both public and private flights will be cancelled or drastically delayed. Security may also be used by the players to slow their quarry down, planting evidence or even rumors about their target. Security is also an important opposition to consider when planning a heist.
Baggage Handling
Like dealing with security, it’s possible that the characters will need to deal with the massive amount of suitcases and luggage that flows through a major airport on an hourly basis. Baggage handling in adventures could be the characters taking stock of their inventory and packing; attempting to travel light and/or avert security. It may be the characters are looking for a suitcase in a sea of suitcases. Scenarios may be put in jeopardy because of lost luggage that carried a key piece of equipment. Or that last scenario could be turned on its head, where the MacGuffin lands in the character’s city due to mishandling.
The Outbreak
Because people are coming and going from around the world in any major airport, it’s a great place to start an outbreak—be it natural/engineered disease, supernatural zombie, or computer virus. Fighting a potential outbreak in an airport raises stakes to a global level and, should the protagonists fail, may offer a hook to reshape the theme of the game, if the GM and players are looking for a change of pace without a change of characters.
Trapped in the Air
On an airplane itself, characters don’t have a sprawling mini-city. Instead they’re in a smaller tube that may guarantee loss of lives if improper actions are taken. A commercial airplane flight at high altitude can be a setting for high tension; where there are risks of civilian lives or observation. Airplanes can be great for “stealth in the view of others” types of scenarios like assassinations, burglary, and espionage.
Emergency Landings And Crashes
Be it mechanical failure, the actions of the player characters, the actions of others a flight may need to make an unexpected stop on the ground. The violence of the stop is dependent on the action. Describing the scene as a plane descends should be one of high-tension; even if the landing is relatively smooth and the player characters are calm, there should be worry in the air from other passengers. An unexpected landing (or crash) also places characters in a new environment, where new goals or adventures may be introduced as they attempt to re-reach their desired destination.
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