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Old 02-07-2020, 05:27 PM   #31
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Default Re: Cross-time Adventure Seeds

In most histories, Lewis and Clark were largely forgotten for a century. Even less remembered are the two expeditions a furious Spanish crown sent to capture or assassinate the exploration team.

In one worldline, (pick an early-19th-century hidden-magic parallel,) this makes for an excellent cover to attempt to collect something from the explorers -- or prevent them from achieving something.

In A), your players are dropped into New Orleans and instructed to keep the Corps of Discovery Expedition on its historic course, use the Spanish interference to get close, and then meet Lewis and/or Clark in order to get a mystical object they are carrying from them, or perhaps to assassinate a Centrum agent who's attempting to sabotage their work subtly (in order to eventually bring about a strong Russian Empire by giving them the west coast of North America. It's a long game.)

In B), your players travel with L&C and attempt to protect them from the Spanish interference and from the centrum team that's there to give the Spaniards a push in the right direction.
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Old 02-07-2020, 05:59 PM   #32
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In most histories, Lewis and Clark were largely forgotten for a century. Even less remembered are the two expeditions a furious Spanish crown sent to capture or assassinate the exploration team.
This had me do some googling. Which points up another AH possibility. Brig. General James Wilkinson was involved with Spain

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Spain knew about the planning for the expedition, however, in part because Brig. General James Wilkinson, the senior officer of the United States Army, had informed the Spanish about it in detail. He had, in fact, secretly renounced his loyalty to the United States as far back as 1787, and, in a “memorial” he had signed in order to be awarded a trading monopoly by the Spanish along the Mississippi River, had declared that he would dedicate his life to the “good of [Spain] and aggrandizement of the Spanish Monarchy.” In truth, Wilkinson spent his entire career dedicated to his own aggrandizement, plotting conspiracies and counter-conspiracies, playing off one side against another.
and

Quote:
Wilkinson was, however, also plotting with Jefferson’s ex-Vice President Aaron Burr to raise a filibustering expedition that would shear off parts of the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina, and join them with the Louisiana Territory in a new country independent of Spain or the United States. Wilkinson found out that the plot was near to being discovered and covered his tracks, partly by pointing the finger at his erstwhile co-conspirator, as the chief witness for the prosecution against Burr during his 1807 treason trial.
either of those would make interesting AH seeds. And did make several Wild Wild West episodes with the names filed off I think.

Wilkinson was not uncovered until thirty years after his death.
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Old 02-10-2020, 03:52 PM   #33
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Default Re: Cross-time Adventure Seeds

Try this one...

You have a contact in the Cabal, he's really a minor Swagman, but he has Magery and a knowledge of obscure planar portal and how to find them. He basically makes his living by visiting various places in the past and buying collectors items and antiques before they become collectors items and antiques.

He has a pair of portals he's promised to show the PCs and a couple of Scientists that lead to London. Each of these portals is only open during a Pea Soup Fog. Thus he can get into the city of Greater London to pick up items otherwise totally unavailable. The London he goes to is Outside of the known Quantums! Thus getting a good set of readings would be a major advance for Homeline's panchronomic science.

You get to the London he's taking you to. You arrive in a late October of 1956. Your contact is hear to get recordings of some obscure Skiffle groups with performers that later became major rock stars. The Scientists get a room in an hotel and start getting their readings and the PCs and their contact go out to a large verity of bars with bands to get recordings.

During the night, someone slips your contact a Mickey Finn. He's out and you've lgot several problems.

A) Who poisoned him and why?

B) It's late October, which is late for a Peasouper. Once the fog lifts you could be stuck for months in fifties London broke with no money and a mysterious enemy.

C) Most of your group can't pass for normal or even Americans in 1950's London. And misinterpretations can be serious. The two of the scientists are a same sex couple and don't have any experience in undercover work.

D) As always, don't let the secret get out.
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Old 02-14-2020, 09:47 AM   #34
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Default Re: Cross-time Adventure Seeds

In the eastern edges of the Arabian Peninsula there were cities dedicated to scholarship and learning. Not exactly like Western Universities, but more than close enough for comparison. When Wahabism formed in the early 18th century the founder decided these scholars were "innovators" and anti-Islamic. So his followers attacked and burned these cities.

Many of Homeline's scholars see that as a vast tragedy. The libraries of these cities were supposed to have vast numbers of ancient books from as far afield as Spain, Greece, Iran, India, China and even Japan. The burning of these cities was probably a loss at least equal to the burning of the Library of Alexandria or worse.

Basically, the PCs are to go to exotic desert cities in a troubled land and get copies of books that violent fanatics think are the tools of Satan.
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Old 02-16-2020, 09:28 AM   #35
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If hunting Eastern Arabia for books doesn't appeal, try later Ming China. The Manchu conquest of China probably lead to a greater loss proportionately of Chinese Literature in a few months than we lost of Greek Literature between the Roman Conquest and the invention of the printing press. Late Ming China is a great adventure setting, and tricky for those that don't fit in.
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Old 02-17-2020, 03:48 PM   #36
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Try this one...

Send some PCs to a Victorian London to escort an audio-engineer assigned to record Thepis, the famous lost Gilbert and Sullivan opera. Before or after the show, anything Victorian London can throw at the PCs in the year 1871 could get tossed at the PCs.
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Old 02-23-2020, 11:57 AM   #37
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Try this one...

The druids were notorious for not writing knowledge down. This meant that once you killed the druids or broke up their educational systems most of their knowledge and tradions were lost. Which is why the PCs are being sent to several different echoes during historical periods when the druids were active and plant listening devices in places where the druids lecture their students.

Given that the druids were noted for being uncannily swift on the uptake and very vengeful, this will be neither easy nor safe.
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Old 02-24-2020, 09:43 AM   #38
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A group of conspiracy buffs have hired the PCs to go to several different worlds to investigate the events at Roswell in June of 1947. They're well aware that all the worlds are different or are potentially different. So a few damp squibs won't be held against anyone.

Problem, Roswell was conducting real research involving military secrets. Just because their aren't any UFOs doesn't mean the PCs can't get arrested or shot.

Further problem, in some worlds their could be aliens. Then what?
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Old 02-24-2020, 10:21 AM   #39
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Default Re: Cross-time Adventure Seeds

Astromancer several of your recent ideas could go together with the PCs being librarians for the Universal Library. Cpuld add in competing with the museum men of WW II fame, or at least wanting to get highres scans before the museum men got there.
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Old 02-24-2020, 01:01 PM   #40
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Default Re: Cross-time Adventure Seeds

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A group of conspiracy buffs have hired the PCs to go to several different worlds to investigate the events at Roswell in June of 1947. They're well aware that all the worlds are different or are potentially different.

By sheer coincidence, I have written a Roswell-adventure that I plan to put up on a web-page in the next months.
The difference is that the PC are agents of Infinity who have the mission to hunt the conspiracy buffs down.
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