Krakow undercover

[Adm.Lee]

I think I've spoken of this before, but it's burbled up to the front of my thinking this week. Let me know what you think.

Ever since Top Secret was the first RPG that I owned (not first played), I've had a yen for that kind of game. Watching 007 movies on TV was one of the places I bonded with my father-- he let me read his paperbacks in 8th grade. I've long thought that a small party (1-3 players) should be ideal for an espionage game.

The "Casablanca" atmosphere of the Free City module was present, but I don't think I ever did much with it. I've run through Poland I think 3 times, all with large group (5+ players), all more interested in the shoot-'em-up style of play. Operation Reset and the atmosphere went by the board, I moved them on to the River Wisla after they'd done some shopping and recruiting.

This is the idea I'm currently having. The player character(s) are agents of one (or more) NATO powers, here undercover. Ideally, they could be couriers, come to town to collect the Reset items and/or guide Team Zulu back out of the city. But Zulu hasn't arrived, instead there are American stragglers floating into the city with wild tales of petroleum-powered Soviet armies. What's going on?

Potentially, this could spin into a larger game, with the machinations of the new and old powers into the politics of Krakow and neighboring Silesia. The Markgraf should be trying to get agents into the city, and so should the Czechs, the French, and the Germans.

As a nod to old Top Secret, I'm very tempted to insert the black market and underground casino from the original 001 module under Krakow somewhere.

Thoughts?

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

As a nod to old Top Secret, I'm very tempted to insert the black market and underground casino from the original 001 module under Krakow somewhere.

Thoughts?

Absolutely!
A black market and a casino operating under the noses of the local rulers is a great addition.
The black market could be involved in all manner of things, smuggling bandits into and out of the city for medical treatment, running gambling dens (e.g. the casino), running illegal fighting dens (anything from bare knuckle boxing to more gladiatorial styles), distilling & brewing alcohol without paying local taxes, hiding deserters, running midnight shifts at the Wojo plant to make "extra" weapons & ammo for sale to outside interests, cutting sawdust into 1kg of flour so they can make it into 2kg and selling it to the needy, smuggling contraband, etc. etc.

I think it greatly increases your options for scenarios and adds another level to the element of intrigue. Now you have the city existing in two layers, the everyday and the hidden and the PCs being new and essentially "nobodies", could be called upon by either side (and maybe both) or outside groups (MI5, BND, CIA, DIA, KGB, outsider merchants, even maybe bandit groups) to infiltrate the other. Even if they aren't, they might find themselves in the tricky position of having to navigate both layers of the city just because they bought some "cheap" ammo from someone who just happens to be black market and not an authorized trader.

There's a lot of cellars and who knows how many service tunnels under the city, a lot of churches with crypts and the local area also has some natural caves and tunnels plus there's the Liban quarry that had a few tunnels dig into its sides as shelters, never mind whatever else the Germans and Soviets might have dug during and after WW2.

[Olefin]

Actually considering how much Krakow is supposed to be like Casablanca I was surprised there wasnt a casino mentioned (and of course the local official skimming the take or "shocked that there is gambling going on" as he pockets his winnings)

and considering the town's description a thriving black market is almost a matter of course for the town - as long as someone is getting their take from it who can protect it

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Not having had much to do with Top Secret when it was around, after I posted my first response I decided to do a little poking around to find out more about the module you mentioned. There's an interesting page on RPG.net that might be of use to you
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?...telle-Analyzed

However after reading that page and a few other reviews about Top Secret module 001, I even more strongly agree with you about adding those elements to the Free City of Krakow module

[Adm.Lee]

That's a great thread, I printed off all those notes when they came out. (I've become a great fan of analyzing some old modules to see what can be teased out; there's some great stuff on old Keep on the Borderlands and Bone Hill out there, too.) Things were harder to suss out when I was young, it took me several readings to piece together the actual plot of that module.

In old 001, there was also a trio of networks for smuggling defectors, one going to the East, one to the West, and the locals skimming a few off for ransom later. That, too, could fit into Krakow-- the KGB is running one smuggling network, DIA another, and the third is Guz, of course. He also has the casino and the black market ("Amontillado Alley").