GOA Jonathan L. Cummings, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff

[stilleto69]

Great work nate,

But IIRC General Cummings was described/hinted in "Gateway to the Spainish Main" as being African-American. I like how you use actors as a basis for your characters. I also personally liked using James Earl Jones from "By Dawn's Early Light" as my example of General Cummings.

[natehale1971]

Originally Posted by stilleto69

Great work nate,

But IIRC General Cummings was described/hinted in "Gateway to the Spainish Main" as being African-American. I like how you use actors as a basis for your characters. I also personally liked using James Earl Jones from "By Dawn's Early Light" as my example of General Cummings.

I hadn't gotten to get my hands on 'gateway to the spainish main' until just recently, and still hadn't gotten to read it yet... i'll fix that then! James Earl Jones works GREAT for Cummings. Billie Dee Williams could also work as well. they both have the age to pull off the role, and the charisma to be good enough to inspire so much loyality.

[stilleto69]

Hi Nate,

Here are some notes I have regarding "GTSM"

Gateway to the Spanish Main Notes

Adventure Plot
The principal plot of this adventure revolves around the person of a 12-year-old black girl who’s grandfather happens to be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Commander in Chief of the military government of the United States of America. Loretta Ann Cummings has been sent to Grenada by her paternal grandfather, General Jonathan Cummings, to protect her and her mother from exactly the type of political dirty dealings this module deals with.
As to those involved in the plot to kidnap the girl and use her as a lever to control MilGov, they are a shadowy group so secretive that their own agent on the scene knows little or nothing about them. They call themselves the New Americans and are prepared to issue gold, false identifications, and even Letters of Marque and Reprisal to their agent, Kevin Jerdan Jones, as reward for his part in this dubious mission. A Letter of Marque and Reprisal (Letter of Marque for short) is simply a license issued by a government to a private citizen to become a privateer. A privateer is a pirate who steals only for a government.


PLOT
If the players question the girls for information about themselves, they will learn that Loretta’s father was a soldier who went to fight in Iran and became missing in action. (Any players having served in the 82nd Airborne Division in Iran will have a 1% chance of having heard of a Captain Mark Cummings. Players making this connection have a 10% chance of knowing his father was General Jonathan Cummings, current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and de-facto Commander of the Military Government of the United States.) If the players leap to this conclusion on their own and ask Loretta about her grandfather, all she knows is that she does have a grandfather in the army and she thinks he is a Sergeant Major like her other grandfather, whom she calls Uncle Dan. Everyone else calls him Sergeant Major Rojos. Uncle Dan used to be in the army a long time ago. Any Ranger or Special Forces character with an MEB of 9 or greater will have a 5% chance of having heard of a Sergeant Major “Dangerous Dan” Rojos. If the players do not qualify, do not tell them. They will have other chances to find out once they get ashore.


PERSONALITIES
SERGEANT MAJOR “DANGEROUS DAN” ROJOS
Dan Rojos is just another black American career combat-arms NCO who came to Grenada to retire in 1987. He is a leather tough 64-year-old who still has the voice (and vocabulary) of a drill sergeant, and the belt line of a 21-year old. The red clay of rural Georgia still clings to his accent and the tropical heat of Grenada cannot take the temper out of a backbone forged in the blast furnaces of combat in places with names like the I Drang Valley, Dak Tu, Son Tay and Point Salines Airport.
Dan had been a Spec-4 in Vietnam when he pulled a wounded young lieutenant named Johnny Cummings out of the line of fire in the I Drang. He had been staff sergeant when he led the survivors of his battalion off a hill near old Dak Tu, the place where he won his Congressional Medal of Honor. He had been a Ranger Battalion Sergeant Major when Colonel Jonathan Cummings pulled him off the bloody tarmac under Cuban machinegun fire at Point Salines Airport one bloody October morning in 1983.
Dan is interested in ham radio operations and astronomy, being able to speak at length and entertainingly on these and other subjects. His house is hung with memorabilia of a 30-year-long military career. His walls are decorated with his Medal of Honor, an M16 hanging over the fireplace, and a large family portrait hanging in the dining room. The painting shows Captain Mark Cummings and his wife, Maryjo, with Loretta Ann between them and both sets of grandparents behind them. Besides Dan and April, General Jonathan Cummings and his late wife Glenda are plainly visible.
Military player characters will instantly recognize General J. Cummings, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and de facto Commander-in-Chief of the Military Government of the United States, from photos posted in every orderly room and barracks in every branch of the armed forces for the past eight years. If they have not figured out just who Loretta Ann Cummings is by this point, the painting should make the connection painfully clear.

[natehale1971]

Thank you so much stilleto69...

This helps alot. I'll be going with Morgan Freeman for what General-of-the-Army Jonathan Cummings looks like then. heck, i could have gone with the possibilty of the General being of mixed heritage since i found out that there are a lot of African-American general officers who got their start out as enlisted and worked their way up to the officer ranks. One such was a young mullatto who started as an enlisted man during Korea and retired as a Two Star General, and has numerous doctorates and masters degrees...

[Targan]

Did iPods exist in 1996? If not how could Cummings own one?

[natehale1971]

Originally Posted by Targan

Did iPods exist in 1996? If not how could Cummings own one?

In my alternate timelinle, the Sino-Soviet War didn't start until 2000, and the war doesn't really get nuclear until much later. This allows for the war to get even more nasty than in the main timeline. Basicly there is combat going on in every Unified Combatant Command... By pushing back the start of the Sino-Soviet war it allowed the Eastern Bloc to ecconomically start to catch-up to the west. Also allowed the developement of new weapons systems and the like on both sides... And allow players to be able to play a campaign in what ever kind of combat they wanted (be it Jungles in South America, Africa or Asia... Or deserts in the Middle East and North Africa...)

If you will have noted in the notes, GEN Cummings was one of the leading US Army General and Flag Officers who had pushed for the creation of the United States Africa Command during the 1990s.

[Fusilier]

Originally Posted by natehale1971

Also allowed the developement of new weapons systems and the like on both sides...

But... Isn't it the old weapons that are cool?