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omnipus
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Adventure hooks

Wed 02 Jun 2021, 04:58

Let's hear some cool angles/stories/sites/background you're using for adventures.

I've got a good one to start: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/cult ... ers-poland
https://nationalpost.com/news/world/two ... -in-poland

Complete with photos and aerial intelligence! The bit about the trees standing out is just screaming to be a roleplay clue. These sites were all pretty far in the west, it seems, but for the sake of a great story I'm planning to locate a few in more central Poland.

(For a better feel for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9chvZXOU-_o)
Last edited by omnipus on Wed 02 Jun 2021, 05:26, edited 1 time in total.
Author, Central Poland Sourcebook -- now available on DriveThruRPG
 
Jeremysbrain
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Re: Adventure hooks

Wed 02 Jun 2021, 05:25

Here is a couple of ideas I thought up for my future game

The Ultimatum
A couple of days after the Battle of Kalisz, the commander of the 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade broadcasts on all radio channels unencrypted.

He gives all US Forces in the area 48 to turn themselves in to Soviet Forces and their lives will be spared. They will be sent to a POW Camp where they will be taken care of according to the Geneva Convention, until a time that it can be arranged for them to be returned to their country of origin. After the 48 hours is up, any American left in the area will be considered a brigand and pirate and executed on sight.

Later the players learn the POW Camp is actually a forced labor camp. The Soviets are using the US POW to mine coal in dangerous old coal mines.

The Grapevine
The DIA has set up a relay network of Polish and German civilian radio operators that can relay messages over encrypted radio frequencies between assets in Poland and US Command in Germany. A DIA agent tells them its not safe to go west because of Soviet activity at the border. They need to lay low in Poland for now. The agent sets the players up with the necessary info to access this network and pass on intelligence they gather. The DIA then begins relaying mission objectives they would like the players to pursue if possible. They provide support with the occasional supply drop and even an A-10 strike. But this support is unreliable and eventually is completely unavailable when the Players need it the most. Eventually the players discover the DIA agent had lied to them and they could have gone West into Germany all along.
 
baldrick0712
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Re: Adventure hooks

Wed 02 Jun 2021, 06:18

There was a TV show in the UK in the 1970s called "Survivors" about people trying to survive after the accidental release of a biological agent that killed most of the population. The episode titles and plot summaries are worth a read for ideas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors ... TV_series)
 
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omnipus
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Re: Adventure hooks

Wed 02 Jun 2021, 20:11

Here's another one. Not really an "adventure hook" but a very minor scene setting... there are still tons and tons of old WW2 bunkers scattered throughout Poland. Some of them built by the Poles in the 1930s, and then many others built by the Germans, after. Some of them are just sitting the in middle of an open field, with a modern town built up next to them! Probably these would see a lot of renewed usage by local groups.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080613190 ... /g32-1.htm

(here's one example... squint real hard and you'll spot it. Put a .50 in there and an ATGM nearby and you're gonna make it a pretty bad day for anyone who comes close.)
https://www.bing.com/maps?osid=f3cae1e3 ... orm=S00027

51.711133, 18.075787
Author, Central Poland Sourcebook -- now available on DriveThruRPG
 
baldrick0712
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Re: Adventure hooks

Thu 03 Jun 2021, 09:36

A plot hook from me...

The PCs receive a radio signal from someone purporting to be the CO of 11th Infantry Regiment, "The Wandering 11th" (10th Infantry Brigade, 5th Infantry Division). He is requesting all friendly forces in the area that receive his signal to make their way to a grid reference 10 clicks southeast of Milicz (to the west of Kalisz), where he promises he will regroup for a concerted drive westward to the German border. If the PCs take the CO up on this offer they will have to fight through several dozen clicks of terrain patrolled by remnants of the 3rd Guards Spetsnaz Brigade (now about company strength, mostly on foot), some of OPFOR's best troops. When they finally link up with this CO however they soon learn that he is a low ranking Corporal who has promoted himself to nominal CO of the 11th under some delusion that he can win the war, and he is in fact going to counter-attack towards Kalisz rather than head for the German border. If the PCs refuse to go along with his hairbrained scheme, he will turn on them as deserters and attempt to capture or kill them to steal their gear.
 
baldrick0712
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Re: Adventure hooks

Thu 03 Jun 2021, 09:49

The plot of this German movie (which is excellent by the way) could easily be adapted as a T2K plot...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Captain_(2017_film)
 
Jeremysbrain
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Joined: Fri 21 Sep 2018, 05:15

Re: Adventure hooks

Thu 03 Jun 2021, 18:06

A plot hook from me...

The PCs receive a radio signal from someone purporting to be the CO of 11th Infantry Regiment, "The Wandering 11th" (10th Infantry Brigade, 5th Infantry Division). He is requesting all friendly forces in the area that receive his signal to make their way to a grid reference 10 clicks southeast of Milicz (to the west of Kalisz), where he promises he will regroup for a concerted drive westward to the German border. If the PCs take the CO up on this offer they will have to fight through several dozen clicks of terrain patrolled by remnants of the 3rd Guards Spetsnaz Brigade (now about company strength, mostly on foot), some of OPFOR's best troops. When they finally link up with this CO however they soon learn that he is a low ranking Corporal who has promoted himself to nominal CO of the 11th under some delusion that he can win the war, and he is in fact going to counter-attack towards Kalisz rather than head for the German border. If the PCs refuse to go along with his hairbrained scheme, he will turn on them as deserters and attempt to capture or kill them to steal their gear.
Now make the Corporal a Jaded Professional trope, who was a young corporate upper management whose sky rocketing career was interrupted when he was drafted, but was denied a commission because of some psych eval. "I should have been a colonel. They just don't understand me!"
 
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omnipus
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Re: Adventure hooks

Thu 03 Jun 2021, 22:04

The plot of this German movie (which is excellent by the way) could easily be adapted as a T2K plot...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Captain_(2017_film)
That is a good one. Sort of Apocalypse Now, but tilted on its side. Wonder if that story was any inspiration.
Author, Central Poland Sourcebook -- now available on DriveThruRPG
 
baldrick0712
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Re: Adventure hooks

Fri 04 Jun 2021, 00:23

Wonder if that story was any inspiration.
For sure, the idea of people assuming ranks higher than they actually are, such as by finding a uniform or just adding some stripes/pips to their shoulder patch, would definitely be something to play with in a broken-back war setting with massive confusion and disorganisation.

Re. inspiration for the movie - it's based on a true story.
 
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omnipus
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Re: Adventure hooks

Fri 04 Jun 2021, 03:11

I meant whether that particular true story was any inspiration for Apocalypse Now.
Author, Central Poland Sourcebook -- now available on DriveThruRPG

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