Favorite T2k MacGuffin

[Lurken]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

The train?

Not always. The group I played with accidentally missed the train totally so we went to Bremerhaven in our merry convoy of assorted vehicles. I didn't even know about the train until I read the Going Home module after the campaign!

[Olefin]

Africa has a lot of possible MacGuffins that work both for MERC and for V2.2.

Players in Kenya could be part of Operation Harvester gathering material for the war effort as part of the US military.

Or they could be mercs and dealing with guys like Rick Blaine in Mombasa who pays for "items" that he can sell for a very high price to the right buyer. Or being paid by the LRA for things like black market fuel or spare parts for their vehicles or gold or gems that can be traded for what they need.

Or be both and have their eyes out for "items" while they are part of an Operation Harvester mission- i.e. a la Kings Ransom.

[Raellus]

Technically, I probably didn't use the term MacGuffin correctly in the OP/Poll, but there's definitely a difference between "an object or device in a movie or a book that serves merely as a trigger for the plot" and a mission like "gather stuff", or a patron that sends the character on missions, like "the collector". A MacGuffin is almost always one really important thing. How and/or why it's important usually doesn't matter to the character charged with finding/retrieving/destroying the thing, but it still manages to drive the main plot line.

[swaghauler]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Technically, I probably didn't use the term MacGuffin correctly in the OP/Poll, but there's definitely a difference between "an object or device in a movie or a book that serves merely as a trigger for the plot" and a mission like "gather stuff", or a patron that sends the character on missions, like "the collector". A MacGuffin is almost always one really important thing. How and/or why it's important usually doesn't matter to the character charged with finding/retrieving/destroying the thing, but it still manages to drive the main plot line.

That's why I posted my two examples. In the first one, the PC's needed to retrieve the Blood Diamonds to develop an "in" with a local warlord to insure their client's safe passage through his area.

In the second one, they needed equipment to take a job and the only way to get that equipment with a STRONG UN arm's ban was to do a job for the UN Commander to get the equipment.

[Legbreaker]

Three definitions from different sources, all basically the same.
Make of it what you will.

Definition of MacGuffin:
an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion despite usually lacking intrinsic importance

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/MacGuffin

MacGuffin
Also: McGuffin
an object, event, or character in a story that lacks intrinsic importance but serves to set and keep the plot in motion

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/MacGuffin

MacGuffin
something in a film that moves the plot (= story) forward but is not important itself

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dic...lish/macguffin

[pmulcahy11b]

The Tac Nuke in the Challenge Magazine's "Shell Game" mini-module.

[Mahatatain]

The Last Submarine to set up a different kind of campaign to nromal where the PCs are still members of a functioning military and act as the ops team aboard, going ashore on missions. Handled right it can work well, providing a command structure to guide the PCs without restricting their ability to make their own decisions on how they resolve the missions they are asked to undertake, potentially even refusing them.

[ToughOmbres]

The SRS/Strategic Reserve Stockpile in Allegheny Uprising just barely edges out Pirates of the Vistula, Going Home and Airlords of the Ozarks.
It was too hard to beat a cache of documents, fuel and five (5) Bradley fighting vehicles plus other essentials needed to get some semblance of civilization back.
The Last Submarine definitely deserves honorable mention and is a good plot hook/twist IMHO.