Alternative scenario ideas for Free City of Krakow

[Mahatatain]

In a couple of months’ time I’m going to take over the GMing slot for my weekly face to face gaming group and I’ve persuaded them to give T2k a go. My plan is to start with my own tweaked version of Escape from Kalisz and to then (hopefully) lead the players to Krakow.

I’ve never felt comfortable with Operation Reset though so I was wondering what other scenario ideas players had for either getting PCs to Krakow or to involve the PCs in once they’re in the city. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have several ideas of my own but it’s always good to borrow ideas from other GMs/players.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

[kato13]

You are not alone in your discomfort with reset. I think the a very similar question has been asked twice before.

http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.php?t=1144

http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.php?t=351

[Mahatatain]

Thanks - I'd seen the second thread already but I'll go and read through the first.

Thanks.

[Adm.Lee]

One thing that I have thought of came from one of the small towns outside Krakow. There's a USAF Major being held there after he ejected from his F-16. I think the original module said he'd been there for years, the local government was waiting to hand him over to the Soviets at Lublin.

I felt like altering that-- what if he was shot down early in 2000? Perhaps the last air sortie of USAFE-- what could be so important? I'm thinking he was on an armed recon mission, taking pictures of the Soviet reaction to the summer offensive, and maybe bombing a bridge on the way. Is there some vital information on the photo-pod that might still be on his wrecked jet? (Perhaps that the Red Bear's army is NOT coming west?)

Anyway, going out to get him, and maybe going out to get other stragglers, might be a good op for the local DIA or CIA to send the players on.

I always felt sorry for the pilot-- I think I've run FCoK at least 3 times, and no one's gone to rescue him. So I'm running a game at Origins this year to go get him out.

[Olefin]

it also depends on how you escape - when my characters did the original module we ran into both Zulu and the Cav as well as springing a bunch of POW's - so when we got to Krakow (which I havent gotten to yet in my retelling of my original campaign as we did Black Madonna first, not Krakow) we had basically an infantry company with some armor with us.

With the size of our group, in addition to Reset, Krakow hired us to go after several marauder groups in the area, which they then paid us with in food and supplies.

You also could play it without Reset by instead meeting up with the DIA guys and have them hire you out basically as his personal hit squad - for instance going after the KGB.

[Matt Wiser]

We didn't do the Reset angle in our CSU Fresno group, but did rescue the pilot (trojan horse trick with our Soviet armor and defectors). And we were confused with the people who were in on Reset: a couple of ambushes out of side streets, having a member kidnapped by some KGB muscle-and rescuing that person, all looking for the documents. And during that time, the folks who had the documents got their material delivered quietly and then left. After the adventures were over, we all thought that the GM had set us up: we were the bait to draw attention (and fire) away from those who actually had the papers.

[Mahatatain]

Thanks for all the suggestions – very interesting.

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

One thing that I have thought of came from one of the small towns outside Krakow. There's a USAF Major being held there after he ejected from his F-16. I think the original module said he'd been there for years, the local government was waiting to hand him over to the Soviets at Lublin.

I felt like altering that-- what if he was shot down early in 2000? Perhaps the last air sortie of USAFE-- what could be so important? I'm thinking he was on an armed recon mission, taking pictures of the Soviet reaction to the summer offensive, and maybe bombing a bridge on the way. Is there some vital information on the photo-pod that might still be on his wrecked jet? (Perhaps that the Red Bear's army is NOT coming west?)

Anyway, going out to get him, and maybe going out to get other stragglers, might be a good op for the local DIA or CIA to send the players on.

I always felt sorry for the pilot-- I think I've run FCoK at least 3 times, and no one's gone to rescue him. So I'm running a game at Origins this year to go get him out.

I had forgotten about Major Andrew Filmore, who's being held prisoner in Myslenice, and so I went back and re-read the brief details in the book. Your memory is slightly incorrect however as there is no mention of how long he has been there - all it says is that his F-16 was critically damaged over Romania and that the leaders of the town want to hand him over to Soviet forces. That implies that he was captured after the Polish 8th MRD declared itself independent along with Krakow in Oct-99.

Your tweaked background to Filmore therefore works well and is certainly something that I will consider, particularly if my PCs end up working for the DIA or CIA. Thanks.

[Chris]

Whatever you do, put Skeletor into it somehow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szkieletor

That was a real WTF moment when the team was asking locals about it.

Also the Forum Hotel, sadly, they never visited it.
http://architecturerevived.blogspot....ow-poland.html