5 things

[Johan Larson]

Here are five things pulled from page 37 of five books from my library:

- an Austria SHK sailplane
- Persepolis
- Salomon Brothers
- the Kalashnikov assault rifle
- distillation


Your challenge: devise an adventure that features all of them in a significant way.

The books, by the way:

1. "Winning on the Wind", George Moffat
2. "Thermopylae", Paul Cartledge
3. "Liar's Poker", Michael Lewis
4. "Small Arms of the World", Edward Clinton Ezell
5. "Chemistry", Gillespie/Umphreys/Baird/Robinson

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by Johan Larson

Here are five things pulled from page 37 of five books from my library:

- an Austria SHK sailplane
- Persepolis
- Salomon Brothers
- the Kalashnikov assault rifle
- distillation


Your challenge: devise an adventure that features all of them in a significant way.

Tricky - Salomon Brothers isn't in business any more.

Your Patron needs to speak with somebody who used to be in upper management in Salomon Brothers, regarding one of that bank's transactions. Unfortunately, that executive was shot down while flying his sailplane near Persepolis by a terrorist group using Kalashnikovs. If, or rather when, your group rescues the executive from the terrorist camp near the ruins, he won't leave without some briefing documents that describe a new fast-process distillation method that were in the sailplane (which is currently being looted by the terrorists). Good thing the documents exist, too, because the fuel supply for your extraction vehicle was contaminated during the firefight when you liberated the executive...

[Johan Larson]

Originally Posted by robkelk

Tricky - Salomon Brothers isn't in business any more.

Your Patron needs to speak with somebody who used to be in upper management in Salomon Brothers, regarding one of that bank's transactions. Unfortunately, that executive was shot down while flying his sailplane near Persepolis by a terrorist group using Kalashnikovs.

Nice. But Persepolis is in Iran, and I think someone with ties to a major American investment bank might have just a bit of trouble getting permission to fly around there right now, even in an obviously harmless aircraft. Perhaps it would work better to set the adventure a few decades back in history, during the Shah's reign, before the Islamic revolution.

That would also make the glider more contemporary.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by robkelk

Tricky - Salomon Brothers isn't in business any more.

Neither is Persepolis.

[SuedodeuS]

In 1920, the Salomon Brothers were approached for about a particularly lucrative business opportunity - an alchemically prepared gem that was capable of combining freshly-made vitriol with a small quantity of gold to produce a "philosopher's stone" liquid - itself capable of converting more base metals into gold. They secretly funded a business venture to journey to the Middle-East, where the gem was hidden, and confirm its validity. The enterprising fellow they sent created a still for preparation of vitriol (via dry distillation), and set up the gem to run the reaction on the distillate as it came out. Upon seeing the success, he decided to make a run with the device, intending to get rich.

Of course, the Salomons weren't the only ones aware of the existence of the gem. Reza Shah managed to capture the Salomon's traitorous agent in an attempt to discover the gem's location. Lax guards meant the agent managed to kill himself before he could spill the secret, so Shah used the gold he had found in the agent's house (gold the agent had, of course, used the device to produce) to fund a coup d'etat. He accepted a lesser appointment than Prime Minister to give himself more freedom to search for where the agent may have hidden the gem. After searching for a couple years, he decided he needed more power to find it, and thus ousted the Qajar dynasty to get more access to the country. He funded many modernization projects, such as the building of roads and railways, to disguise his searches. He was never successful.

In reality, the agent had hidden the device in the ruins of Persepolis. It was not until 1970 that someone came across it. It was used in secret for the distillation of alcohol (the gem's properties meant the still was in perfect working order, even after all these years), until King Faisal of Saudi Arabia tracked it down in 1974. He arranged for it to be smuggled to Saudi Arabia via an SHK sailplane in 1975. However, the plane crashed in the Persian Gulf. No attempts were made to recover it, as only King Faisal knew of the mission - and he was assassinated only a day before the device was to arrive. The still washed ashore in Kuwait, and the gem was discovered and taken out as a precious gem. It was stolen during the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.

Finally, just a week ago, a group of marines (the PCs) came across a weapon cache hidden in a remote village in Iraq. Buried beneath a pile of Kalashnikovs was a curious, incandescent gem. Thinking it might be worth something, the group left it off the report and intend to sell it. Unfortunately, one of them couldn't keep his mouth shut, and the rumor quickly spread. Most people didn't care about the red gem, but the rumor has now reached all the wrong places.

Hell breaks loose as corrupt government officials, money-hungry bureaucrats, and an alchemy cult (believing the gem to be capable of producing the Elixir of Life) all target the PC's, trying to get their hands on the gem.

[reb]

Originally Posted by Johan Larson

Here are five things pulled from page 37 of five books from my library:

- an Austria SHK sailplane
- Persepolis
- Salomon Brothers
- the Kalashnikov assault rifle
- distillation


Your challenge: devise an adventure that features all of them in a significant way.

The books, by the way:

1. "Winning on the Wind", George Moffat
2. "Thermopylae", Paul Cartledge
3. "Liar's Poker", Michael Lewis
4. "Small Arms of the World", Edward Clinton Ezell
5. "Chemistry", Gillespie/Umphreys/Baird/Robinson

okay i'll give this a shot:
time:modern day
-the players are working for the n.s.a and the op is black.(though they don't know this yet)
-first the players are contacted by different means and are merceneries and all professionals.
-after getting contacted they are then flown to israel where they are then taken to a place in the desert that is out of the way and descreet.
-there they meet a capt hatchens who will be their contact officer.
-the players have to wait for the other members to arrive,untill then they are told to hang out and they can go to the nearby town of kerendiz(fictional) to grab a beer or whatever.they are told to use the cover as oil feild security personell for the orion corperation and have been given i.d's and papers to that effect.
-after several days the team is assembled,several of the members are known of by reputation(mercs are a tight nit group)
-there are some thirty members that are going on the op and they are drawn form all over.one thing they have in common,they have all experiance in desert operations and speak arabic and several are arabic from jordan,saudi arabia and the u.a.e.
-during this time the players have seen a mock up set up that covers an acre or so and they have been wondering what it is.now they find out.
-a older gentleman shows up going by the name of charles carson,he proceeds to have the p.c's sign non-disclosure documents and other papers and are told what they'll be paid to do the operation which will be called operation mesadah.
the mission is thus:
destination:iran persepolis specifically,a old archminiad capital.yes thats right,the mission is going to be deep inside iran.with dire consequences if they're captured.any such capture will be death as no one will claim to know you,period!
-mission goals:
priority one:eliminate one telmar feri alwur,a turkish national known as the ''death merchant""
-when:in three weeks time telmar alwur will be arriving via a glider,specifically a austrailian model which is made of graphite to avoid a radar signature.this man is extremely dangerous.
it has recently come to light through various intelligence sources that his group of which he is head known as the ''crimson jihad'' has arrangements for the delivery of 5,000 kalashnikovs and rpg's and other soviet arms to be smuggled into the u.s.we don't know if this delivery as it were has taken place already.we as you can imagine need to know.
-we have intell from a inside source that this information may be contained in a safe located in this area in a underground chamber(points at a mapp projection).
-item two/priority two on the agenda:we also have intell that the crimson jihad has set up some kind of drug lab there where they are distilling a drug that is derived from cocane and a unknown substance.while on this substance which is like herion in it's effects or what you would know as lsd you can shoot a man center mass and he will keep coming.sevral of crimson jihads members where engaged by a seal tm in the med and by all reports they were hell to take down.by all means and for gods sake don't take chances with any one on this substance which we need intell on.if this crap hits the streets we are in deep kimshi.
blow the lab to where it's unrecoverable and secure a sample for us to analyze.
-you will be infilled by halo and then be extracted by spyrigg.here are the mission folders with pictures and mapps as well other vital mission intell,i expect you all to familiarize yourself.
-this is a hard mission,which is why as you have seen aquired the best.

from this point i would run the game and give the players a chance to rehearse their timetable and gear loadout and gather further intell and access what they already know.
thats just off my head.rough,but with a week of research i could run a good game scenrio with this plan.
well there you go,i think i covered all your perameters.was a fun challange,i enjoy this kind of mind work.

[reb]

the glider could also be set up on a launch platform that was rocket assissted so the bad guy could make a getaaway so it would be a priority target as well.

[Phaelen Bleux]

Boohaha, the mad vehicle-builder strikes again:

Schempp-Hirth SHK-1 Sailplane (TL7)
The last of the wooden sailplanes.

Subassemblies: Body +1, STOL Wings +1, 2 retractable wheels +0.
Occupancy: 1 CCS
Cargo: 0 cf.

Armor
All: 1/1W

Equipment:
Body: Medium range radio (30 mile), navigation instruments, drag chute (1,000-lb.), towing pin.

Statistics:
Size: 20'x56'x?' Payload: 243 lbs. Lwt.: 816 lbs.
Volume: 27 cf. Maint.: 97 hours Price: $42,717

HT: 10. HPs: 20 Body, 30 each Wing, 3 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 124 aAccel: n/a aDecel: 61 aMR: 15 aSR: 2
Stall Speed: 26. Glide Ratio: 38:1 (for every 20 yards traveled, lose 1 yard altitude).

Design Notes:
Body is 27 cf; wings are 47 cf; wheels are 1.25 cf. Structure is Extra-Light, Standard. Armor is Standard Wood. Mechanical controls. Empty weight is 573 lbs.
The volume of the wings was reverse-engineered from the surface area. Design aSpeed is 117 mph. Design glide ratio was 20:1. Design loaded weight was 802 lbs.; this was increased 2% to the historical value.