T2K Adventure Module: Rook's Gambit

[Raellus]

This adventure module grew out of a rough mental outline of plans I had for my own long-running T2K PbP (we started with Pirates of the Vistula back in 2007 and it's still- kind of- going). Once I started putting ideas down on paper, this thing took on a life of its own. The attached 15-page module was produced over the last three days.

The adventure is set in northern Poland in the late autumn of 2000, and it roughly coincides with the strategic situation and unit locations described in the official GDW Going Home adventure module. In Rook's Gambit, the PCs are tasked with stopping a rogue Soviet general from nuking the American evacuation fleet anchorage at Bremerhaven, Germany. That's the hook, anyways. There's lots of different options for completing the mission so it's not as linear as it might appear to be at first glance. I'm really quite proud of it.

If any of you use Rook's Gambit with your own gaming group, I'd love to hear how it goes. As always, I'm open to constructive criticism (but I prefer kudos).

SPOILER: If you are a player in my Twilight Cruise PbP campaign, this module is serious metagaming bait. Unless you want to ruin the surprise for yourself, I advise you to wait until the current episode has unfolded to its conclusion before perusing this adventure module.

[LT. Ox]

Woot! I would play this in a heartbeat.
The only thing that might make it a bit more attractive (and that is a stretch) would be a group of pregenerated PC and NPC sheets.
Laugh, no I am not lazy ( wife peeks over his shoulder and snickers), this could be a great secondary start point for a small group of gamers. Having the escape behind them and making their way this far, now with a much paired down equipment list and perhaps a much more multinational group ( or not).
I love it and thanks for posting it

[Raellus]

No problem, Lt. Ox. I'm glad that you liked it.

[rcaf_777]

Why not add Major J.M. Sikorski and the Leader of the A-Team, if they are assets in the area the PC might sent to contact them?

[Raellus]

Why not add Major J.M. Sikorski and the Leader of the A-Team, if they are assets in the area the PC might sent to contact them?

I considered it. It's not a bad suggestion and I may end up following it. There's a bit of an issue regarding coherence with canon, though. Going Home has 1st Polish Free Legion in two spots. The entry on 2nd PFL says Sikorski went south to find the 1st PFL near Poznan. There's a separate entry on the 1st PFL that puts it north of 2nd PFL in Lezno. It's probably a clerical error because the 1st PFL entry mentions Poznan as well.

EDIT: Well, rcaf 777, it looks like I made a mistake with my map, and you helped me spot it. I mistook Lezno (near Gdansk) for Leszno, which is about 200m SSW of the former.

That places the 1st PFL quite a ways outside the region in which my module takes place. That said, there's no reason that the PCs couldn't run into Sikorski and his American SF advisor making their way towards Leszno. I'll see what I can put together.

EDIT: Here's the entry on Sikorski's partisans.

Major M. K. Sikorski, former Commander 2nd Polish Free Legion (50 irregular guerillas)

NPC Motivation:

Sikorski is the former commander of the 2nd Polish PFL and an ardent supporter of the pro-western Polish Free Congress government currently based out of Pila, Poland. About a year prior to the events of Rook's Gambit, Sikorski was ousted by his second in command, Major W. Anders (formerly, Captain Anders), barely escaping the palace coup usurping his command with his hide intact. He and about 50 loyal partisans are living off the land as they slowly make their way south to join up with 1st Polish Free Legion in Leszno, Poland. Sikorski is accompanied by the last surviving member of an American Special Forces A-Team sent to advise and support the 2nd PFL, Communications Sergeant Donald Farmer. Due to technical difficulties, Sikorski and his men are no longer in regular communications with NATO or the PFL. Sikorski's partisans are lightly equipped with small arms (assault rifles, light machineguns, and RPGs). Their heaviest support weapon is a 60mm mortar.

Referee's Notes: Major Sikorski isn't particularly interested in helping the PCs take the MADM from Chilikov. He is, however, very interested in taking back command of the 2nd PFL, and will assist the PCs in any attempt to remove Major Anders from power. If Anders has somehow obtained the MADM, Sikorski can be a valuable ally. He will not attempt to seize control of the MADM for himself, but will insist that it be turned over to the Polish Free Congress in Pila. If the PCs refuse to do so, Sikorski will deny them his support.

[Ancestor]

I love this! However, my only thought (and actually I've been thinking alot about this in case my sons/PCs go NE from Kalisz) is where are the 2nd MarDiv ships? I'm almost of the point in my campaign that the 2nd MarDiv controls the Baltic coast, 8ID has ensured the security of the Baltic States from the Red Menace, and, there may in fact be an LPD in the Baltic that will take all those who want to go home back to the US. For those who want to stay ( and their vehicles, weapons, and equipment) there will be a new Hanseatic League to oppose the Red Menace. Given an SU24 and "the bomb", they are a new superpower.

[Silent Hunter UK]

From a quick glance, this looks very interesting. Shame the game fell apart before then. :(

[swaghauler]

You did a really nice job on this Raellus.

[Raellus]

Thanks a lot, guys. I'm really pleased that you like it.

[Dogger]

Awesome little module Raellus!

My game has long since moved out of Europe, but I can see this easily adaptable to a campaign anywhere actually.

Some rouge Texian Legion 'general' want's to take out Victoria the capitol of the South Texas Grange (where my guys have been playing out of since 'Going Home') and gets ahold of the nuke and an aircraft...

it would work fine.

[Matt Wiser]

Well done! You did a great job on this. Plenty of options in this mini-module.

[Raellus]

Tidied up a bit and with an added NPC entry for potential ally Major Sikorski.

[Tombot]

Great work! Thank you for posting. I always enjoy reading new adventures from the T2k-world (and these get rare in the recent years...).

[LVI]

Wow this looks great. My group is starting up again on May 22nd with escape and i plan on using this st some point.

[Raellus]

Wow this looks great. My group is starting up again on May 22nd with escape and i plan on using this st some point.

Thanks. Let me know how it goes if/when you use it.

[Marc]

Everything ready to run this adventure tonight! From 21:00 until the morning!

[Raellus]

Everything ready to run this adventure tonight! From 21:00 until the morning!

Awesome! Let me know how it goes. The version I shared here comes in at around 6,000 words. I've recently expanded it to over 13,000 words with some new NPCs, more details on the layout of Marienburg castle, and a description of Malbork town. I'm hoping to get it published; I'll keep y'all posted.

[Raellus]

From time to time, I'll be sharing some free bonus material for Rook's Gambit (now on sale at DrivethruRPG) here.

http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/217765/T2000-v2--Rooks-Gambit?term=rook%27s+&test_epoch=0

Attached is an NPC and a location in Malbork that barely missed the final cut.

What else would you like to see for RG?

[Targan]

Purchased. Nice work Rae.

[Raellus]

Inspired by the map of European separatist movements Kato recently posted, I created the Armii Wyzwolenia Kaszubskiego (Kashubian Liberation Army) faction.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Raellus, I know this is probably too late but... I take it you did your descriptions of Malbork from the normal sources e.g. library/internet resources? I ask because after I did a quick read of the module, there didn't appear to be any reference to the castle cellars. The cellars don't seem to rate much of a mention in many of the online sources I've seen for the fortress.

There's a few deep cellars that are part of the High Castle and accessed only from the courtyard. Although the entryways were down short flights of steps, the doors were large enough to move barrels through. They were spacious but not "large" (about 5x5 metres I think) and quite cold (almost chilly) despite the summer temperature of about 25C/77F degrees at the time. From what I remember there were four of these cellars (maybe more, I don't recall) located at the corners of the courtyard on the east side and I think none of them connected to any other rooms or doorways - as in one entryway per cellar.

The largest cellars were under some of the buildings in the Middle Castle, one being large enough for kitchens as well as storage, located in the Grand Master's Palace. From what I recall, the kitchen/cellar is directly below the Knight's Hall and heat from the kitchen was channeled up to the Hall and other rooms to keep them at a reasonable temperature in winter. I think in either 1st or 2nd Ed. Twilight timelines this could be re-established to make the palace more pleasant to be in during winter :D

Despite one of the more "colourful" descriptions I've seen of the cellars as damp and gloomy, I found them to be quite dry and easily illuminated if the lamps are in the right place. I don't think they would get damp even in winter time unless snow/slush/water was channeled into them.

I mention the cellars because, If I remember correctly, outside access to the cellar under the Knight's Hall was via two points for the main (kitchen) cellar but I think it also had direct access to another cellar with its own outside entry point in another part of the building. I think there was at least two inside entries for the kitchen cellar but I just don't remember where they were and I have a vague memory that it also connected to another (i.e. third) cellar. The point to all that rambling is that I think it's a potential infil/exfil route under the Grand Master's Palace. And there were tunnels under other parts of the complex but not open to the public so I don't have any info on them.

Apologies for it being so vague, it going on eight years ago when I was there. I'm trying to find some of the photos I took that might be useful to you, if I can find them I'll make mention of it in this thread.

As an additional note, I believe the following image is available for "fair use" and it might be useful to you even if you can't add it to the module directly.
It's a German plan of the castle complex from 1930. There's only a few differences from the later day layout, for example, one of the bridges over the moat & through the lower castle is not in place anymore (I think this was for a narrow gauge railway).
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_pElqUAbuVDs/TKhGGIduraI/AAAAAAAABVM/NRyC8mtFBIE/s1600/1930zamek_plan_300dpi.jpg

It comes from this site: http://starymalbork.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Zamek%20w%20Malborku

[Raellus]

Thanks for the info, SSC. I've never visited Malbork castle (although I hope to remedy that someday) and sources on the internet are both sparse on detail and/or vague. I didn't find the blog you linked to (although I wish I had) when I was researching the castle. I also encountered translation issues, as different websites often used different nomenclature when identifying certain parts of the castle complex. This made cross-checking sources a pain in the rear. Consequently, my earlier draft of Rook's Gambit included some inaccurate descriptions of castle features.

A friend visited the castle and sent me a cutaway diagram which helped me add some detail and correct my mistakes for the current edition.

IIRC, my drafts did include some mention of the cellars (in particular, the kitchens beneath the Knight's Hall) but, for some reason that I can't recall, they were omitted from later versions. I think it's because any mention I saw of the cellars said that the majority were originally used for storage and were now unused. I wasn't aware that some/most of the cellars had multiple entrances/exits.

I will do some more research and see about adding mention of the cellars back in, being that, as you mentioned, they could be used to sneak about the castle grounds a bit. The nice thing about DTRPG is that products can be updated and customers receive the option to download the updated version at no additional charge. Thanks again for the info. If you find your pics and learn any more about the cellars, please let me know.

P.S. I don't know if the blog images you linked are fair use but I suspect not. I poured over everything Google labels for reuse and didn't see any of those.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

You're welcome, happy to add more to the info pool. I just wish I could better remember what I saw. I was staying with a friend who had a great interest in cathedrals and castles so I saw a number of them when I was there - unfortunately my memory starts to blur things together sometimes and I can't be 100% sure if I'm remembering the correct place or not.

Apparently one of the cellars has been converted into a restaurant now so I suppose if nothing else, that gives an idea of the size. The following link shows some of the cellars in the Middle Castle during their refurbishment so could be useful to get an idea of size, construction etc. etc.
http://www.restauro.pl/en/portfolio-view/malbork-piwnice-zamku-sredniego/
Unfortunately all those images do is confuse me as to the layout! But at least they show some of the entryways.

I was hoping that because that image I linked to was over 80 years old and because it was of historic interest (and being used on a blog page), that it may be free of copyright etc. etc. but I really don't know for certain.
It's a real pity if it's not available for the wider audience. That particular site has many other maps that I wold again, have thought would be in the realm of public use due to their age and historic worth. Regardless of that, they may still prove useful to you and other gamers.
Map tag: - http://starymalbork.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Mapy

Note: I have found something that "may" be useful. The following site allows images under Polish copyright laws, meaning as far as I can understand it, that images on the site are free of copyright problems and are considered available for fair use (I think). The site appears to allow use of its images with the consent of the site owners.
There appears to be a section of the map I originally linked to, in use at this site.
http://malbork.fotopolska.eu/Malbork_Map?f=851913-foto
Terms of service page: http://fotopolska.eu/2,artykul.html


And in my search to try and find more info about that map image, I found this site that might be useful to anyone running Rook's Gambit
http://www.panodesign.co.uk/Malbork2008/
Also, Alamy has a map of the High & Middle castles for those who want to pay for it http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-zamek-w-malborku-ordensburg-marienburg-malbork-castle-plan-poland-122959589.html

My apologies for the info-dump. I do tend to get carried away sometimes when my interest gets piqued :D

[Raellus]

No problem, SSC- I appreciate the help. I was cross-checking info on the cellars beneath the west wing and found this:

http://www.zamek.malbork.pl/wystawy-i-wnetrza/cellars-under-the-grand-masters-palace-51

It's one of the sources that I used when originally composing descriptions of the castle. It refers to two entrances to the afore-mentioned cellars but identifies one of them as being "new"- suggesting it wouldn't have existed in the v1.0 timeline that I follow. That means, there's likely only one entrance to this cellars beneath the west wing, unless it's also connected to the kitchens as well; I can't confirm this, as of yet. I need to keep looking but if you know/recall/find anything about that, please let me know. With only one way in or out, the cellars are probably not going to be particularly useful for the PCs, but it still might be worth updating the module with a mention.

[Raellus]

Here is a group of Sweden-sponsored mercenaries that the player party might encounter during it's adventures in Northern Poland.