Quote:
Originally Posted by ChalkLine
'Gateway to the Spanish Main' was, in my view, one of those books that needed too many changes to make right.
- Using the USS Constitution with M2HBs instead of cannon? Nah. Too silly
- A colony of US war veterans on Grenada? Someone doesn't understand how poor most war vets are.
- The Reagan-Era 'Grenada Story'? Long ago debunked.
Still, the idea of an island hopping campaign isn't a bad one.
A better ship is needed. The 'ships thread' here has plenty to choose from (I recommend the NOAA 'Rude'). Give it some 20mm autocannon and 12.7mm M2HB in gun tubs. Perhaps a 2B9 vasilek for fire support. (I'd allow the 82mm vasilek to fire NATO 81mm mortar bombs with shims. THey'd have odd fire characteristics compared to the normal 82mm) The boat has a Rigid Inflatable Boat for inshore missions and plenty of bunks for PCs. It also has a medical bay to allow for rapid healing of wounded PCs.
The people's of the area are widely varied and now with the internet data on them is easy to find. Sit back a bit and reimagine the place without hegemony from various powers.
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I like the USS
Constitution. It's an interesting ship with an interesting history, and provides a fun way for the party to travel across the Atlantic. If you have a group that has some tall ship afficionadoes then it will bring joy to them.
Of course one does not have to. A submarine adventure could be done with the trilogy in game or it could be shifted to another location.
Your NOAA reference is funny to me, though, because I used that very NOAA ship in an adventure.
I suspect part of why the retired vets were used in the module was because it was an easy way to offer allies to PCs. On the other hand, simply having to retrieve NPCs does make sense. I have a cousin in law who studied in Grenada only 4 years ago. I would simply make it more like "Fist Full of Dollars" and have it mostly be islanders vs. islanders with perhaps a few foreigners acting as mercs thrown in. The party have two factions at war, and have to retrieve a small group of VIPs and avoid being shot at. They may be tempted by either side or they may simply dodge both sides or play them off against one another.