Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Bad-People Sep 12, 2013 19:31:50	I’m doing a D20 Modern short Campaign (two, maybe three adventures) and I’d like some input on part 1. Here’s the Hook. A wealthy industrialist named Leland Kirkwood suffers an untimely and suspicious death. Among his possessions is a set of diamonds that are not mentioned in his will. They go to the state and are meant to be auctioned off. Before the auction a local thug is killed trying to rob the storehouse where they are kept; he‘s found to have $7500 on his person. The heroes are at the auction house the day of the auction. (Police, federal, or journalist investigating the diamonds and/or the related deaths: a vengeful friend of Kirkwood’s who doesn’t believe his death was natural: A wealthy patron originally only here for the auction: etc) This is where the game starts. Fortress City(Major Metropolis, eastern seaboard, USA) Auction House 11:00 AM. The players can ask the auction master questions and if so find out that the Kirkwood diamonds are a collection of 11 identical gem cut diamonds estimated at a value of ¾ of a million dollars. Among the patrons is a small man in a white suit(Described as looking like Droopy Dog would if he were human) flanked by a pair of large men in grey trench coats and dark glasses. This man isn’t interested in any of the items until the Kirkwood diamonds come up at which point the bids and bids high. He ends up buying the diamonds for far more than their suggested worth. Security is high so they can’t confront him directly but they can use a spot check to read his license plate as he leaves. (If they’re law enforcement they can have the plates run to find out his identity, if not they’ll have to convince someone to do it for them.) Or with a diplomacy check they can get some information from the auction master.  In either case he is identified as Francis Kelso, a well off art dealer who lives as in a glass penthouse apartment uptown. They can then if they want go to Kirkwood’s office or the morgue to investigate there or follow up on Kelso to try to find out why he was so interested in those diamonds. At Kirkwood’s office they can search his actual office or his lab. Which by themselves don’t tell them much if they ask an employee about the lab or make a successful technology check while in the lab they find out that most of the lab equipment is high end but not unusual for personal use except for an expensive industrial laser engraver that he had moved up from the factory floor. (They can also find reference to this if they hack Kirkwood’s computer in his office.) At the morgue they can ask about the bodies of Kirkwood and/or the dead thief. They find out that Kirkwood was young and in good health but somehow had a fatal heart-attack. The coroner figures it was due to stress from running his company but still finds it unusual. The thief was a local smalltime crook who had never before attempted anything above robbing a convenience store and spent most of his time in the slums or in jail. He was shot by security while trying to steal the diamonds. He had over $7000 dollars on him at the time of his death. At Kelso’s building they find security less than accommodating. They can use the standard methods for getting past the security guards and into Kelso’s private elevator if that’s the path they choose. (Alternatively there’s an observation deck on a tall building down the block from which they can spy on Kelso(Not sure how to lead them to that yet). If they use this method they are set upon by 2-3 assailants with military grade equipment as soon as they are done watching.) Inside Kelso’s apartment he is making an exchange with three similarly dressed men. Two are wearing dark blue trench coats with black facemasks. Over the masks they are wearing black helmets in the shape of a human skull. They are also wearing combat boots and carrying assault rifles. The third man(The one in charge) is dressed similarly except his helmet is missing the lower jaw and appears to be made out of solid gold. He is also wearing leather dress shoes and carrying a long walking cane(cane sword). (The two security men in dark glasses are also here) Kelso and the man in charge exchange briefcases. If the heroes enter the apartment Kelso is irate but the men in the masks remain calm. The men in black masks will try to remain between the heroes and the man in charge but will not attack unless the heroes try to get past them or attack. The man in charge is not above talking from a distance but will only explain that Kelso was only a proxy bidder and the diamonds are now his. In any case the man in charge will begin to move toward a helicopter just outside the apartment on the building roof. If the hero’s choose to attack he will keep moving toward the copter and the four security men(2 black helmets/ 2 dark glasses) will engage and keep between the heroes and man in charge. This will be a very hard encounter should they fight. If the heroes move too close to the helicopter it too will open fire on them. (Kelso will flee to a nearby room and will not fight.) In all likelihood the man in charge will escape at this point but if not the heroes can try to take him in for questioning. (I’ll end the encounter before he is killed.) (They also gain control of the diamonds) If the hero’s decide to try to take the man in charge away somewhere they will be ambushed on the road by more assailants, if they try to interrogate him here he will stall until the hero’s are engaged by a helicopter(1 chopper + the one on the roof if it wasn’t disabled or the pilot killed) as well as a number of snipers from nearby rooftops. Even though I know where the story is going this is as far as I’ve gotten so far.  What would you change? What are some player options I didn’t think of?
#2 AnimeSniper Sep 13, 2013 22:48:23	Looks good so far.... and few things based on the number of players you have in the party. Also the party could split with group A checking the morgue/apartment of the deceased while group B tails/cases out Kelso's place.  If you allow magic via Urban Arcana you could have the diamonds be part of some artifact that controls the will of weak individuals or opens a portal to some hell dimension and the guys in masks are part of the group who want to bring it about or stop it... Dark Inheritance, http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Inheritance-Fantasy-Roleplaying-Modern/dp/0972681825/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379137131&sr=1-1&keywords=d20+inheritance , is a decent book for the whole portal to another world... maybe the players have certain abilities. Legendary a Game, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendary_(video_game) , is about how the whole artifact Pandora's Box really exist and the player must stop it from unleashing Mythological creatures into the world which I used as a basis for one campaign I ran for my group which had them retrieving artifacts from history like the two swords of King Arthur and Scabbard. Maybe choose a number at character creation  and who rolls or is close to that number has kleptomania and suggest he or she puts points into sleight of hand/pickpocket.The one character could be a kleptomaniac,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptomania , or someone who steals for no gain whatsoever and steals/lifts the wallet of the deceased. The wallet could contain a security keycard for his apartment along with two or three bankcards and a small written note with the access codes for each card...  the cards link to the offshore bank accounts, x-million/billion in each that the players may access as the money is unknown and clean.    Your group could try the whole sneak into the building as the cleaning crew, naturally the real crew is knocked out and tied up, to gain access to the building... Most of their gear is hiding amongst the cleaning carts.  Other options would be pose as members of the security firm, police, firefighters, ambulance technicians, or other group to gain access. Could place a NPC Sniper, maybe two on another building who each takes a shot one at Kelso killing him and another shot at the man in the gold mask causing any chance of a peaceful solution going to hell in a hand basket... these snipers could be another group who want the diamonds or to stop the aforementioned magic apocalypse
#3 Bad-People Sep 14, 2013 18:56:48	Here's what I have for later in the adventure. This is secret stuff that the players are supposed to discover slowly. The Masked Guys are a terrorist group call The Draconian Revolution for Enforced Advancement of Despotism. Or DREAD. They are a large, well connected group with resources in excess of what one might find in a small industrial country. They contracted Kirkwood(Who is a brilliant young engineer) to design a destabilizing new global weapons system. Kirkwood has a change of heart and tries to keep the plans secure by micro-etching the schematics into the crystal lattices of the diamonds.(hence the laser-engraver in his lab) DREAD murders Kirkwood and only then learns about the diamonds. They try to have them stolen but the thug they hire is killed so they have Kelso act as a proxy bidder and buy them.  Here are a few concerns I have though. Dread Leader is a recurring villain in this campaign setting who’s mysterious nature is a very important part of his character. I need a way to keep him in play and keep his identity a secret.  Secondly I need a way for the heroes to learn what the diamonds really are but still have DREAD end up with them so that the heroes can contend with the weapon itself in part two.  No magic or really any supernatural stuff in these adventures(Though not ruling it out for the campaign setting), its supposed to be an espionage thriller.
#4 AnimeSniper Sep 15, 2013 2:14:42	Well for the DREAD leader he could have a completely unknown personal energy shield ala HALO games or like in Stargate SG-1 the Goa'uld shield that slow moving objects i.e. tranq darts or thrown knives can pierce. The weapon could be a black hole laser generator that one shot creates the black hole a second shot closes it although instead of a black hole it opens to another dimension as to finding out about the weapon the players upon leaving the apartment of Kelso, retreating firefight optional, get picked up by some super secret ancient order that has long combated the forces of DREAD... heck since the recurring BBEG leads simply refer to him as Lord DREAD
#5 Bad-People Sep 15, 2013 14:35:38	I like the name Lord Dread, I might just use that but I already know what the weapon is going to be(It’s a satellite based weapon that fires a particle beam that does no physical damage but disrupts the instruments of aircraft and missiles. It gives DREAD total control of the air. In part two the heroes(Maybe not the same heroes) will have to take out DREAD’s central control in order to disable the satellites.). And I want to keep the sci-fi a little more low key. Between PL5 and PL6; closer to 5.