escort missions

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

That's how it started out, and then the train got robbed and all but two of the escort samurai killed (Peacemakers vs. katanas).

The samurai in charge of the mission had to return to California and report events to the consulate. He ordered the other samurai (Mifune's character) to recover the sword.

Bronson's character just walked into the middle of the mess.

Rather, he was one of the robbers, who was left for dead after the others betrayed him.

[tanksoldier]

I remember a similar story from a supply sergeant at a US Army depot back during Desert Shield / Storm.

I worked in an Armor Bn’s S4 shop during DS/DS.

The HHC supply truck blew its engine just before the kickoff, was abandoned and never recovered.

Later, when we were doing all the paperwork and getting ready to redeploy back to Germany, I mentioned to the S4 that with everything listed as being on that truck... no wonder the engine blew up.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

Rather, he was one of the robbers, who was left for dead after the others betrayed him.

Okay, now I remember that. Its been a long time since I saw it. :)

I first saw it as a "movie of the week," on television, as a kid, and I loved it. I saw it, again, as an adult, and realized the excellent idea had flaws in the execution. Basically, they had to contrive some scenes so Mifune's character could be effective and, as an adult viewer, those seemed a bit ham-fisted.

Still a good film, though, and the problems could have been easily avoided if the writer or director had thought things through, a tiny bit better. Give Mifune's character a bow and some Zen archery skills, and have the denouement require some stealth against an even more numerous enemy.

Mifune's character leads the way in, and Bronson's shoots the way out.

[Dalillama]

Archery is really underplayed in samurai media.

[David Johnston2]

The most common escort mission in a RPGs is the caravan escort gig. Another one I've seen is the "noble bride delivery job".

Then there's "deliver the cure for the plague" mission, which may actually be about delivering the sample of the plague so it can be studied. Sometimes in a plague victim/carrier.

In Season of the Witch the characters were delivering a supposed witch who was actually a victim of demonic possession. Prisoner delivery missions in general.

Then there's "capture a wild animal and return with it intact"...often to a well-paying idiot.

Games often skip over the problems involved in returning a rescued hostage to her home because that can be anticlimactic, but rescuing the hostage from her captors might be the easy part. Consider Shrek.

Smuggling contraband missions in general. A delivery of guns to rebels, or a shipment of entertainment into territory controlled by a puritanical regimes. Even food past blockades to starve the populace into submission.

Return a valuable religious icon to the believers. That includes religious leaders. You could also be smuggling a missionary into or out of a religiously hostile place.