Introducing a New Contest - "Rad Zone"

[Jason Weiser]

This concept should be familiar to Traveller players and is borrowed shamelessly from the "Amber Zone" concept.

Ok, the way this is going to work is this. Please submit a maximum of 1500 words to this thread of a developed adventure seed (doesn't need to be a full adventure). The scenario seed must be at least 500 words in length, and it must have a developed plot line, potential ideas for complications, as well as suggestions to the Referee on how to use something in their campaign. The entry may be rules agnostic, or for a specific version of Twilight: 2000, be it 1st Edition, 2nd Edition, Edition 2.2, or Twilight: 2013.

All submissions must be original, and not published elsewhere, either physically, or electronically on the web in any form.

Extra points to someone using the "Amber Zone" concept of something ambiguous turning into something rather unpleasant indeed, or at least potentially so...

All submissions must be submitted by 0000 EST, Saturday, August 15. A poll of the board membership will then decide the winner. In case of a tie, the mod staff will cast the deciding vote. Voting will be held until 0000 EST, Sunday, August, 31. All submissions should be in the form of a reply to this thread. You can either post it in the body of a reply, or as an attachment in .txt, .doc, .docx, or .pdf format.

Oh, almost forgot, I am putting up a comp copy of my recent miniatures scenario book "Red Star, White Lights" as a prize!

So, flex those creative muscles! I'd love to see what you all come up with!

Please refer any questions to myself or Rae.

[Lurken]

This adventure is something I wanted to add as a plot hook in my book, but found that it would be too much focus on Sweden compared to the rest of the countries and regions.

Please enjoy!

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Lurken

Please enjoy!

Yep, that'll get people moving!

[mpipes]

THE TREASURE MINE

The Hook
We got back to Krakow ok, and I went into our hooch to hit the facilities while the rest of the guys secured the LAV and M-113 and stowed the gear. The Kraut, as we good naturedly called him, was in the main room, with a batch of aerial reconnaissance photos we had recently scored spread out over the floor and a large bottle of the Captain’s Scotch with a glass on the coffee table looking over some of our maps. He had made friends with us soon after our arrival, and he was a good source of gossip and really knew the best places to eat and drink in the city. He also had a way of making nice with the local girls. He had bugged us to let him hang out at our place and had a current habit of making himself at home, sometimes discussing our movements in Poland and frequently looking over our quadrangle maps, and even going out with us a time or two.
“What you doing Kraut?” I asked.
“Finally unraveling a mystery from my Wehrmacht service in the last war.” He replied. Chuckling softly, he leaned back against the couch and turned to thoughtfully gaze at me, “I think I finally know where the depot is buried. Know anyone who would like a few thousand liters of petrol, arms, and a few Panther tanks not to mention 50 trucks with “special cargo?”

The Kraut
Jan Husster (The Kraut) Age: 74 5’8” 155lbs
Good physical shape. Looks 20 years younger than he is. Veteran Wehrmacht sniper who joined the German militia with a K98 sniper rifle and MP-38 he hid at the end of WWII. Accompanied German 22nd Panzer-Grenadier Division as a militia augumentee, but became separated from the unit in 1999. Ended up in Krakow and currently serves in the ORMO as a sniper instructor. Speaks fluent Polish and was born in East Prussia.
Was part of the 3rd PD rearguard during its retreat in early 1945 through Poland. Saw the convoy arrive and several SS officers and Gestapo agents moving about that night. Has no idea what the convoy was carrying, but suspects it was looted art work and will honestly and frankly say that. However, he saw first-hand the military supplies in the depot. Has 29 sniper kills in the current war.
Though Husster has told stories of his World War II service, no one else currently alive in Poland knows about the convoy.
K98K w/6x optic, MP-38 9mm SMG, Radom P-64


BACKSTORY

The Depot
Zory has a number of coal mining operations in the surrounding area. The mine operated between 1910 and 1943 located near Suszec. Designed with an entrance on a descending slope into a large hill. The entrance itself was 20 meters wide and 4 meters high and dressed with a concrete collar along the sloping entranceway till solid rock was encountered extending downward at a shallow slope to 15 meters below ground where it opened into a main working gallery. The working gallery was oblong; about 100 meters by 80 meters, with supporting pillars every 10 to 20 meters. Five mine galleries extended out into the coal deposit; a 1.6 meter thick seam of average quality coal, with the entrance to each gallery measuring about 6 meters by 2.5 meters. By 1943, it was felt the skilled miners could be better used to mine higher quality coal from other mines in the area. The Nazi state ordered the mine to cease operations in mid-1943.
The German 3rd Panzer Division moved into the area of the mine in early December 1944, taking up quarters east of Zory. The abandoned mine seemed ideal to set up a supply and maintenance depot, and by 27 December 1944, the mine was harboring machine shops, fuel and ammo stores, and weapons.
The Soviet Winter offensive did not catch the Germans entirely by surprise, and plans were made to evacuate the depot contents. A Soviet breakthrough 26 January 1945 spoiled the evacuation plan. Although most of the machine shops’ tools and equipment had been evacuated, fuel, weapons, munitions, and several armored vehicles undergoing repairs remained. As the Red Army advanced, the decision was made to seal the mine rather than try to evacuate.

The Convoy
On 16 January 1945, SS Colonel Karl Salz, in Königsberg, received orders to organize the evacuation of looted art objects and other valuables from a bunker near the city to the Austrian Alps and the planned Nazi Alpine Redoubt. A 55-truck convoy departed Königsberg on the night of 25 January 1945 with a SS escort together with five high ranking Gestapo and SS officials. The convoy made somewhat slow progress as it advanced south and had to detour fairly far west of the most direct route due to the threat of a Soviet offensive.
The convoy reached Zory about 18:30 the evening of 28 January and learned about a Russian break-through. Red Army units were rapidly advancing and were expected to reach Zory in hours, and the route south was already in danger of being severed. As Colonel Salz pondered his next move, one of the local Gestapo agents told him about the mine a few kilometers east of Zory, and Salz hit on the idea to hide the convoy in the mine.
The convoy reached the mine shortly before 22:00 that night navigating through a maze of refugees. The logistics troops that normally manned the depot had already retreated. Upon the convoy’s arrival, German engineers were already busy planting explosives to collapse the entrance ramp and seal the mine entrance. Salz marshalled the trucks of the convoy, driving them down into the mine galleries and simply parking them along with their precious cargo.
The SS guards took up positions around the perimeter, but paid scant attention to the Wehrmacht security detail accompanying the engineers. Finally, at about 01:30, the trucks were deemed secured in two of the mining galleries. The Germans then detonated the explosives. The SS contingent along with the engineer contingent joined the retreating throng of troops, leaving the mine sealed and abandoned. When the Russians arrived, there was no sign of the depot other than the collapsed entrance and abandoned mine buildings on the surface.
Most of the SS platoon was killed in subsequent fighting. Salz was captured and later executed as a war criminal. A couple of the Gestapo agents escaped to Bolivia later that year, but most of the others were killed in later fighting or executed after the war.

The Treasure
Fuel:
380,175 liters diesel
185,800 liters gasoline
895 liters motor oil
788 cans of grease

Ammo:
810 92mm mortar shells
2,500 80mm mortar shells
2,000 75mm tank gun shells (700 AP, 800 HEAT, 500 HE)
54 100mm (20 AP, 23 HEAT, 11 HE)
200,000 8mm (40,000 belted for MG34/42)
50,000 9mm
150,000 8mmKurtz
2,780 Model 43 Grenades (treat as generic stick grenades)
2,000 Model 39 Grenades (treat as German DM-51 frag grenade)

Weapons:
11 GrW34 80mm mortar
8 MG-34s
12 MG-42s
400 K98s
100 G43s/500 mags
40 MP-40s/280 mags
12 MP-3008/120 mags
50 MP-44s/400 mags

Vehicles:
5 Pz.Kpfw V Ausf. G – Panther
4 Pz.Kpfw IV Ausf. J
3 Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer
1 Sd.Kfz. 173 - Jagdpanther
4 StuG III Ausf G
50 3-ton trucks (various makes of trucks)

Treasure:
1,175 12.4kg Gold bars
848 14.8kg Platinum bars
636 31kg Silver bars
2,680 US Gold $20 Double Eagles
983 US Gold $10 Eagles
1,086 US Gold $5 Half Eagles
25,893 Various Silver coins (9,809 US Liberty Silver dollars).
1,762 Polish Gold Ducats
1,498 British Gold Sovereigns
78,582 Carats – diamonds, emeralds, and rubies
1,238 Pieces gold and platinum jewelry
248,300 US Dollars
198,800 UK Pounds
32,800 Soviet Rubles
828 Paintings
156 Sculptures (including ancient Roman bronze statues)
The Amber Room
1178 Papyrus scrolls/books – Roman and Greek – including a lost Greek history of the Scythians and Amazons and another on the Minoans.
688 Rare books
REAL Treasure: A multi-volume set of signed Shakespeare plays, including all published plays, twenty-five original handwritten published and thirty-six handwritten “lost” unpublished plays – a “master” set of plays maintained by Shakespeare. Also four bound books/volumes of notes and various original drafts of plays or alternate parts of plays, several play outlines and fully drafted acts of unfinished plays, and 188 handwritten sonnets.

The players should run into a few difficulties. Getting the mine excavated will require considerable aid from allies.

Complications
1. Rumors of the “Treasure Convoy” have been circulating around Zory for years. Excavations will trigger rumors that the convoy has been discovered.
2. The Soviets KNOW the Amber Room was evacuated by Salz, and the convoy disappeared in Zory. A KGB team will be dispatched to investigate (treat as Spetsnaz).
3. The GRU does not want the KGB to recover the convoy, and a competing Spetsnaz team will be dispatched to monitor the KGB team.
4. The British have an agent in Zory. Expect the SAS and/or Delta.

[mpipes]

Try again.

[Severian]

This is actually the hook for the campaign I am starting as soon as 4th Edition rolls out (yes, I expect to plan out the whole campaign by the time it gets released!). Since I served in 1/10th SFG(A) in the 90's and speak Russian (and have visited the country many times, working for a Belarusian company for almost 10 years!), I hope I can make it feel authentic.

Red Light, Green Light

Spring, 2000

Situation: What’s left of Operational Detachment Alpha 024; 1st BN, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) is hunkered down in the basement of the ruined ancestral home of Thaddeus Kosciusko, Kosava Palace, in what was once Greater Poland but is now deep inside Belarus. The ODA was dropped behind enemy lines a little over three years ago; of the original twelve members, only four remain. The tactical nuclear exchange began almost two years ago, and the Team has operated independently for more than a year with little to no contact with an operational command, only sporadic communication with other ODAs deployed throughout the region.

Mission: The Team’s current, if outdated, mission is to maintain eyes-on reconnaissance of routes P85 to the north and the railroad and E30 highway to the south. The E30 was the main highway from Moscow through Minsk and Brest to Warsaw. Troop movements are to be reported as noted. Additional duties include supporting the local resistance (such as it is) and direct action when possible, particularly against rail logistics. Even more important lately are finding food, ammunition, and medical supplies, and not getting caught.

Characters: The remains of ODA 024 – Team Leader (Warrant Officer), Team Sergeant, Communications Sergeant, and Weapons Sergeant, plus a couple of local Belarusian resistance fighters.

Introduction: The team is finishing up a late dinner of rabbit stew and potatoes and planning the next day’s activities. Since Moscow and Warsaw ate nukes for breakfast a couple of years ago, the logistics chain between them has been pretty ineffective. Although supplies occasionally come down from Vilnius or up from Kyiv through Minsk and move down past Brest toward the nearly-nonexistent “front,” tomorrow will be focused on gathering food – raiding the freshwater fish farm to the southwest near Syalets. The conversation is broken by a call from the guard up top in the hide site, concealed in the ruins of the nearly 200 year old building.

The Team grabs their weapons and runs out the escape holes into the ruins, which have been reinforced in places to provide solid cover as well as good concealment. They see an old Moskvich pulled up onto the grass in front, pointing north, by the boulder that commemorates the birthplace of Kosciusko, still running and with its headlights on. “Help!” someone calls from the car in American English, “It’s zero nine six! Help!”

ODA 096 – that would be the sixth ODA in Charlie company from 3rd BN, 10th SFG(A). The Team Sergeant looked at the Chief for confirmation, then nodded to the Weapons Sergeant to give him cover. He ran out the south side of the ruins to avoid the light and crouched low in the brush as he moved up toward the back of the car. It looked like there was only one person inside, with his forehead pressed against the steering wheel. Switching from his AK-74 to his pistol, he crept up and reached in through the car window, putting the Makarov against the head of the driver.

“Who are you? Kto vuy?” he asked, in nearly fluent Russian.

“It’s Davis, Sergeant Davis, help me.” The Team Sergeant shined his flashlight quickly into the driver’s face. He recognized him from 3rd battalion! He gave a low whistle and could hear the rest of the team scrambling to get out of their positions and over to the car. He opened the door, reached inside, and took the keys out of the ignition, shutting off the lights and the engine. Davis collapsed against him as the Commo Sergeant got to the car and they both lifted him out. His midsection was covered in blood, so they laid him across the hood of the car. The Chief, who doubled as their medic, turned on his light and started looking at Davis’ wounds. The Team Sergeant flashed his light quickly around the inside of the car to see if there was anything else in there. There were two dead bodies – both looked American – and a couple of AKs.

“Stop, stop… there’s no time!” Davis groaned, trying weakly to push the Chief away. “They’re not far behind us, maybe five or ten minutes. It’s the MVD. You have to get out of here.”

“What the hell, man?!” asked the Chief. “Why did you lead them right to us?”

Davis tried to sit up, his hand slipping off the hood in his own blood. “We’re the last team – 096. We have the Green Light. It’s in the trunk.”

The Team Sergeant and the Team Chief looked at each other. They knew what he meant. The last numbered ODA in each Special Forces battalion was the highly-classified Green Light team. They had the backpack nukes that had been turned in back in the 80’s but reinstated a couple of months before the Cold War went hot. The Team Sergeant still had the car keys, so he went back and opened the trunk. “Chief, you’re not going to believe this…” He trailed off as he looked at the heavy, drum-shaped pack.

“Please,” Davis went on, “you have to complete our mission. I wont make it. We just got word that there’s a fresh motor rifle division in Minsk moving this way by train tomorrow. They’re not weak like everything else around here, they’re at full strength with a mix of veteran reserves and decimated Guard and VDV units. They’re going through Brest to Wroclaw, to push into Germany at Dresden.”

The Team knew that with the rest of the Soviet and NATO divisions barely able to scrape together a battalion’s worth of armor and maybe a regiment of straight-leg infantry, a full-strength veteran Soviet motor rifle division would slice through the NATO units like a hot tuna noodle MRE through a grunt’s stomach. And who knew whether any of the allied units were even still there. There had been rumors of a major US pullout circulating for more than six months.

Davis coughed. Blood came out his nose and mouth and sprayed the dressings the Chief was still applying to his abdominal wounds. He spoke to the Team Sergeant.

“That’s a Bravo Fifty Four nuke. It’s 'just' a kiloton. There’s a rail bridge across the Bug River in Brest and you have to blow it up. Or get it within a couple of hundred meters anyway. It’s a nuke, after all.” He laughed at his own joke, then coughed again, spewing more blood. “The troop train should cross around noon. If you can catch them on the bridge, that would be best.” He looked at the Team Sergeant steadily then closed his eyes and passed out.

That meant that they would have to leave someone behind to set it off manually. Someone close enough to crisp in the blast. A suicide mission for at least one of them.

The Weapons Sergeant, who had stayed on security with his sniper rifle and starlight scope, called out in a low voice. “We have vehicles approaching from the village. Sounds like trucks. Maybe an armored car in there too. Two or three minutes.” The Chief felt for a pulse on Davis, then shook his head.

“Alright,” said the Chief, “go get our truck and transfer the Green Light to it. We need to be out of here in two minutes. Grab your rucks and get on it. We’ll trash this car on the way out. Now move!”

Less than two minutes later, the Weapons Sergeant tossed their last thermite grenade into the decrepit Moskvich and jumped onto the back of the truck where the rest of the team was already sitting on their rucks. The Team Sergeant knocked on the cab window, and the Chief nodded back. The old ZIL-130 truck took off with its lights out, the driver using precious batteries to power his PVS-7 night vision goggles so he could see where he was going. Lights were coming up the road to the south and they couldn't afford to be spotted. They would head north for now, but they would have to turn southwest to get to Brest by morning. Whatever was going to happen, they knew they would complete the mission, or die trying.

Referee Notes: The Green Light is the McGuffin for the mission. The MVD is hot on the Team's trail and led by a heroic adversary. They'll have to work with partisans and infiltrate the famous fortress in Brest (now a monument to Soviet heroism in World War II) to get to the rail bridge. Once there, they will have to either leave someone with the detonator or set a timer or figure out another way to prevent one of their own from dying in the blast. After that, they'll have to move through Poland toward Germany and friendly lines or to a functioning port or airfield where they can get back to Western Europe and maybe even the United States, since the MVD will be after them even more ruthlessly once they set off a nuke on Soviet soil.

[Gunner]

“A kiss on the hand
May be quite continental
But diamonds are a girl's best friend.”
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
Written by: L. Robin / J. Styne, Performed by Marylin Monroe, Official Sound Track, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes


Once we kicked the so-called “Warlord of Memphis” and his followers out of Memphis (mostly by killing them), things settled into something of a routine. If you didn’t have particularly good skills, like me, you got put in a service unit that rotated duties. A week of lookout duty or patrol support, a week of salvage support, a week of farming, then a week of general support, which meant fun things like helping with cooking, collecting garbage, etc.

At morning formation, before she started parceling out assignments, the Duty Sergeant asked if anyone had grown up or lived in southwestern Arkansas, especially around the town of Murfreesboro, Arkansas. I don’t like to volunteer anything, but it so happened that my mom had been the principal at Murfreesboro High School my entire life, prewar, so after a few moments, my hand went up. I got told to fall out and stand by.

After formation, the Duty Sergeant quizzed me about where I grew up. Then she wrote me a pass and a travel voucher and told me to catch the next bus to HQ. When the morning bus pulled up, I got on, showed the driver my paperwork, and took a seat. The orderly at HQ sent me to a briefing room and gave me a lunch chit. There were a couple of other soldiers there, but no one I knew right off. As the morning dragged on, a few more people showed up. Finally, just before lunch, a group of officers came in, led by an honest-to-god General. As we jumped to attention, she just waved us back down.
“At ease, we might as well get to know each other. LT, put the big map up.”

A VERY young Lieutenant pulled a map out of a case, and quickly hung it up. It showed the southern half of Arkansas. “We have control over I-40, through Little Rock, all the way to Texas and beyond. Anti-government forces, aligned with a racist group, have control of most of the Northern third of Arkansas.”

We have intelligence that this group is now pushing south, especially in the western parts of Arkansas. We have also learned that the hydroelectric dam at Narrows Dam is still working. The kicker is, the old tourist attraction at the Crater of Diamonds has some all-electric earth-moving equipment, and they just unearthed a seam of industrial diamonds – all above one-caret.”

“We can’t let these racist assholes have control of this resource.”

[Jason Weiser]

Just for FYI, we have one week left for submissions! So, if you want to submit, get it in before 0000 Eastern Time, 15 August! We look forward to the voting, good luck to all involved!

[Jason Weiser]

Ladies and gents, I apologize for being late. Had to help the wife with cookies for a cousin's baby shower. In any event, the contest is closed to further entries. Voting will begin momentarily.