I did not include NPC writeups to make it easier to integrate into your own Modern game. I recommend using badguys two levels lower or more than your heroes with the leader equal to the group.
It is best for a group of characters of at least 5th level and who belong to some organization that they would be called in to assist in Counter-Terrorist operations. Both combat and technical aptitudes are necessary, but tech support could be outsourced to government agencies.
There are four scenarios that will lead to the final confrontation as I ran it, but you can add more missions in if you feel like drawing it out or expanding on the premise.
The set up:
News reports come in that gun shots have been fired and several people are belived to be dead at St. Mary's Children's Hospital. This may come in from a news broadcast or be relayed directly to the characters by the agency they work for. If the information comes from an agency they will also be told that gunmen invaded and may have taken hostages at the hospital. When they arrive on scene they will be informed that at least 6 men are in the west wing of the hospital and hostages have been taken in the children's cancer wing. Power cannot be cut to the hospital because it has not been totally evacuated and several patients can only be moved at risk to their own lives.
The Layout:
The cancer wing of St. Mary's is the top floor of an rectangular eight story building that was built in the late '50s. It has a central elevator with staircases at both ends and a hallway running down the middle connecting them all. The rooms are mostly for the residents, but there is a radiology lab at the east end. There is also a nurses station in the middle across from the elevator. Terrorists have sequestered seventeen children (all patients) and three nurses in three rooms at the east end next to radiology.
The structure is steel and cinderblock. The stairwells at the ends are concrete and pretty solid. They would contain a grenade blast but not a real bomb. The floor below has been evacuated but the floor below that (6th floor) contains the ICU and cannot be evacuated unless there is an imminent threat to life. The building has power but all the phones have been rerouted with the expectation that a negotiator will soon be on site. The radiology lab currently houses a portable X-ray machine, medical supplies and a locked drug cabinet. At one time it was the main X-ray room for the hospital so it is lead lined and shielded. The east staircase also has roof access through a drop ladder. The building next door (also part of the hospital complex) faces the south wall and is two stories higher. Most of the rooms on the south side have had their beds blocking the windows by hour two of the situation.
Other features that can be found with a copy of the building plans are a cramped wetwall connecting the floors and leading behind the nurses station. It is covered with lathe and plaster. There are oxygen lines running along the ceiling that serve each room.
The Timeline:
Show
The clock can start at any time or day at the discretion of the DM. The time it starts really only dictates the visibility on the outside.
Hour -2: Five men show up for work. These men have gotten jobs as orderlies at the hospital for the express purpose of the operation. They check to ensure the stash of weapons and gear hidden in the suspended ceilings is still intact before they go about their duties.
Hour -1: A delivery van is loaded with seven people dressed as police officers. They have light duty vests, and a standard assortment of police issue weapons including a 9mm sidearm and a shotgun. They also have additional equipment with them.
Hour -20 minutes: The five man crew retrieve weapons from the cache and make ready, two on the top floor, one on the 7th and two on the ground floor.
Hour 0: The five man crew burst onto their floors killing doctors, staff and targeting security guards who pose a threat. Their goal is to create chaos. After ensuring the ground floor guards are dead the men on the ground floor each take a stair well and clear their way to the top, taking time to plant laser trip mines in both stairwells at going from the 7th floor to the 8th.
Hour +10 minutes: The van bearing the false police officers pulls up the rear entrance and five of them enter the hospital inquiring about the gunfire. They are directed upwards and follow, while one of them confers with the administrative staff to gain passwords to the security system “just in case”. These are used to shut the system down and to erase existing security footage. The two remaining terrorists slings the gear and proceeds up the nearest staircase. They ensure that the tripmines hastily installed by the first two terrorists are properly functioning and hidden.
Hour +20 minutes: Police arrive on the scene along with the first news crews. They primarliy focus on evacuating bystanders. More police arrive incrementally.
Hour +30 minutes: The top floor staff and patients are sorted out. 17 children are herded towards rooms near radiology along with a nurse for each room to quiet and care for the children. All remaining survivors are sent down the elevator.
Hour +1: The terrorists have settled in by now and are preparing for the authorities. They have set up a command post in the radiology room. One man sits in each stairwell guarding, two walk the hallways at each time while three others work on finishing the setup. They work blocking all the south windows with mattresses. The group has prepaid cellphones that they use to communicate and they have donned armor and now carry more formidable weapons. Should a negotiator contact them through the hospital's phone system at this point, the leader will give his list of demands.
Hour +2: If they have not been contacted yet by a negotiator, the leader will call the local news with a disposable phone. He will give the list of demands, boast of the current death count and send a still image of some of the hostages from the phones camera. Also at this time the police have cordoned off the area and set up a tactical van. The city's SWAT unit will not be coming, however due to a prearranged accident that crippled the response van. They may show up by Hour +3 at the discretion of the DM.
From this point on the scenario proceeds according to the actions of the PC's and the response of the terrorists.
Hour -2: Five men show up for work. These men have gotten jobs as orderlies at the hospital for the express purpose of the operation. They check to ensure the stash of weapons and gear hidden in the suspended ceilings is still intact before they go about their duties.
Hour -1: A delivery van is loaded with seven people dressed as police officers. They have light duty vests, and a standard assortment of police issue weapons including a 9mm sidearm and a shotgun. They also have additional equipment with them.
Hour -20 minutes: The five man crew retrieve weapons from the cache and make ready, two on the top floor, one on the 7th and two on the ground floor.
Hour 0: The five man crew burst onto their floors killing doctors, staff and targeting security guards who pose a threat. Their goal is to create chaos. After ensuring the ground floor guards are dead the men on the ground floor each take a stair well and clear their way to the top, taking time to plant laser trip mines in both stairwells at going from the 7th floor to the 8th.
Hour +10 minutes: The van bearing the false police officers pulls up the rear entrance and five of them enter the hospital inquiring about the gunfire. They are directed upwards and follow, while one of them confers with the administrative staff to gain passwords to the security system “just in case”. These are used to shut the system down and to erase existing security footage. The two remaining terrorists slings the gear and proceeds up the nearest staircase. They ensure that the tripmines hastily installed by the first two terrorists are properly functioning and hidden.
Hour +20 minutes: Police arrive on the scene along with the first news crews. They primarliy focus on evacuating bystanders. More police arrive incrementally.
Hour +30 minutes: The top floor staff and patients are sorted out. 17 children are herded towards rooms near radiology along with a nurse for each room to quiet and care for the children. All remaining survivors are sent down the elevator.
Hour +1: The terrorists have settled in by now and are preparing for the authorities. They have set up a command post in the radiology room. One man sits in each stairwell guarding, two walk the hallways at each time while three others work on finishing the setup. They work blocking all the south windows with mattresses. The group has prepaid cellphones that they use to communicate and they have donned armor and now carry more formidable weapons. Should a negotiator contact them through the hospital's phone system at this point, the leader will give his list of demands.
Hour +2: If they have not been contacted yet by a negotiator, the leader will call the local news with a disposable phone. He will give the list of demands, boast of the current death count and send a still image of some of the hostages from the phones camera. Also at this time the police have cordoned off the area and set up a tactical van. The city's SWAT unit will not be coming, however due to a prearranged accident that crippled the response van. They may show up by Hour +3 at the discretion of the DM.
From this point on the scenario proceeds according to the actions of the PC's and the response of the terrorists.
The Setup:
If the PC's are not already part of a government law enforcement agency (or private contractor thereof), they have since been put on retainer in light of their previous success at the hospital. They are granted a low level security clearance, license to carry a sidearm (concealed carry only) and a contact at a federal agency. This should also include a small wealth bonus as part of the retainer fee, about +2 per PC.
The laptop recovered from the terrorist leader in the previous mission had a large amount of encrypted data on it. It can take a while to decrypt so one or more adventures can take place between Scenarios 1 and 2. This is a gatekeeper device I frequently use to control the flow of my games. Once decrypted the following information is found:
The data is in a mix of Ukrainian and Russian. It contains a number of manifests from six different companies in eastern Europe that specialize in hazardous materials disposal. From the specializations of each company it can be deduced that together they dispose of old soviet nuclear technology. With research, the shipping manifests show that a variety of materials to be disposed have been diverted from their proper locations to an address in Minsk, Belarus.
The data itself seems to be almost a year old. Curiously, the staff decrypting the files do not believe that they have been opened or modified since they were put on the hard drive of the laptop. They, like the other data found, can't seem to be traced from any real source. The implications that possible nuclear materials have been in the hands of unknown entities for a year has the intelligence community in a panic.
If the terrorist leader was taken alive in the previous scenario, he will prove uncooperative with authorities. If advanced interrogation techniques are successfully used, he will tell the interrogator that he has been receiving assistance and monetary support from Cobra Commander for the past three years. He also receives a lot of unrelated data and intel that does not seem to be related to his cause and the leader assumes that this is garbage data to mask the real intel which he has learned to filter from the files and emails. He has never met or had contact from Cobra Commander and does not know his motives, but he believes that the use of the Hasbro brand is an ironic stab into the heart of the decadent American culture. Cobra Commander is “truly a brother in the fight against evil America”.
Belarus is not a friendly member of NATO and the CIA's assets in the region has degraded significantly since the cold war. They cannot investigate within the country without rerouting assets from other vital operations in the region. The PC's will be called upon, as private citizens, to take a spontaneous “sight seeing tour” of eastern Europe.
The Layout:
The PC's will get into the country on civilian visas. They will not be able to bring any weapons, equipment other than what is reasonable for a citizen to have. It is possible to smuggle such things in, but it requires skill and special gear. Since this is a recon mission, the CIA will be unwilling to provide any of their gear, but the party can construct whatever their skills and resources allow, though only in a day or two; this is an emergency, after all. They will fly in through Warsaw, Poland and be provided with a vehicle, local currency (the Belarusian Ruble, about $1000 worth) and a map of the area with the address highlighted. The car (which is diesel and seems to be made of sheet metal and cardboard) has a hidden compartment behind the gas tank (accessible from below the car) that contains several silenced pistols, a lockpick set and 6 small charges suitable for blowing locks or door hinges (1 charge per hinge with most doors requiring 2 charges to blow) and space to hide 1 cu ft of additional contraband.
The drive into Minsk will go relatively uneventfully. The address that material has been shipped to is an old distillery that once manufactured tremendous amounts of Vodka. It has rail access, several large buildings for the distilling equipment and a warehouse. Depending on the makeup of the PC's the location might be nearly vacant or well defended. The PC's are lightly armed, after all. This is an opportunity to play to all the best skills of the party, especially those that get neglected in gunfights.
The Payoff:
There is a workshop set up in the warehouse. This is where the stolen materials are kept. It can be deduced from the work done, the open crates and the equipment used that a nuclear device has been recreated from the refuse and that said device is not here. The evidence indicates that it was likely heavily shielded and loaded into a shipping container. Though it might have been sent out by rail it is also possible to have been taken by truck. The type of shipping container is of the variety that can be used for overseas shipping.
The people guarding the site are soviet old guard. They are officers that were left out of work, ex-KGB operatives, and Communist politicos that were jilted by the Yeltsin administration. They wear armbands that bear the red Cobra sigil with the Hammer and Sickle above it. A number of old computers lie around the facility, with one main one located in the workshop. Though the PC's can spend time to access it, simply taking the hard drive is enough to complete the mission. Either it, or the information it contains must be smuggled out of the country.
The sounds of a firefight will bring authorities within fifteen minutes so intelligence must be gathered quickly if the party is to escape without notice. Should they be spotted, a car chase would likely ensue, though the police do not have advanced equipment like helicopters. Simple drive skill can lose the police. So long as they do not make too much of a disturbance, a border crossing would be easy. Should things go awry, so long as they can make it to Poland, Latvia or Lituania the party will be safe, even if arrested by their authorities (Intelligence can spring them from EU countries). It should be possible to stealth the whole mission and avoid all entanglements. As a DM, I would give bonus XP to a party that took this route.
The Aftermath:
Show
A nuclear weapon has been constructed from old soviet parts and is on its way to a shipping port in Eastern Europe. It is shielded by too much lead for it to be spotted by satellites or radiation detectors. Only a small percentage of shipping containers are actually opened and inspected so the likeihood of it getting through are high.
The hard drive that was recovered from the site (you did get the hard drive, didn't you?) indicates that Cobra Commander is indeed in contact with these Communists. He has directed the bomb to be placed on a container ship bound for the United States. Should the bomb blow while in port the damage to the country would be staggering, both in the loss of human life, the long term loss (what's the half-life of nuclear fallout?) of a major shipping port and the economic blow that would be dealt to the whole country. The port, the ship and the container the bomb is located in can be on the Hard Drive or won though skill use.
The hard drive that was recovered from the site (you did get the hard drive, didn't you?) indicates that Cobra Commander is indeed in contact with these Communists. He has directed the bomb to be placed on a container ship bound for the United States. Should the bomb blow while in port the damage to the country would be staggering, both in the loss of human life, the long term loss (what's the half-life of nuclear fallout?) of a major shipping port and the economic blow that would be dealt to the whole country. The port, the ship and the container the bomb is located in can be on the Hard Drive or won though skill use.
If the PC's are government types, they can now be made a part of an international anti-terror taskforce. If not, then they can be hired on as civilian consultants. Either way they need to be cleared for a higher security clearance, which is of itself a reward and resource. They have law enforcement status in all NATO countries as well as those that grant reciprocity to US law. They also now have access to the Military licensure and no longer incur the +3 cost for buying such arms on the black market. Carrying them openly is still frowned upon and using them will involve much paperwork.
Now that international agencies are sharing intelligence on the past and current activites of Cobra, several things come to light:
-Cobra is sending massive amounts of intelligence around the internet, only about 50% of which reaches active accounts, and even less is relevant to those who seek to use it.
-Cobra provides funding in copious amounts to any terrorist organization willing to mount an assault on the United States. The problem is that the money itself is wholly electronic and does not originate from real accounts. In other words, it is ghost money. That does not deter the black market from trading it as if its real.
-Hundreds of groups have used the resources of Cobra, but only a small portion have done so with the intent of harming the US. Most of them simply pursue their own goals and hit targets around the world. These groups seem to have a higher success rate than those following the Cobra plan simply because NSA analysts can track the battle plans and determine their likelihood of being used.
The Setup:
A major arms buy is getting ready to go down. Five terrorist groups have learned of each other's existence and have decided to band together in a bold strike against the United States. They have pooled Cobra money together and have transferred it to North Korea. This money is in exchange for a supply of conventional weapons, two MiG-19 jet fighters and a nuclear warhead. The equipment is due to ship out on a Korean freighter, but it is unknown which freighter or its destination.
MiG-19's are archaic single seat fighter craft first developed by the Soviet Union in the 1950's, but are still supersonic aircraft capable of carrying a serious payload. Although they cannot compare with modern aircraft, they should still be of concern. Of special concern are their noted agility at low altitudes.
The recipients of the shipment will rendezvous with the tanker at sea. Their coalition includes Al-qaeda affiliated Saudis, a group of militant Green-Peace extremists, Scientologists and a group of Soviet ex-patriots. They have shared the plans and information that they each have received from Cobra and compiled a much better plan than any one of them alone. If successful, this plan could bring down the stability of the world and bring about WW3.
The Plan:
The terrorists have a two part plan:
First they will arm the first jet with conventional bombs and extra fuel tanks and fly it from the pacific island air strip where they have built their base towards Mexico. They will stay as low as possible to evade radar and hug the coast line of Mexico hoping to get into California prior to detection. When they are picked up by radar they will climb quickly and deploy all their weapons on the nearest populated city. At this point it is expected that they would be destroyed by missile from a greater range than the fighter can engage.
Part two of the plan involves equipping the warhead on the second fighter and flying back towards Korean airspace and over into Russian airspace. They will activate the warhead in a suicide attack over the skies of Khabarovsk in the Russian Federation. Of course, this will appear to be a direct attack from North Korea, and the Russians will mobilize their military in retaliation. They will invade North Korea and in the Zeal of War won't stop until South Korea is under Russian control as well. Since South Korea is an ally of the US, this makes it a US obligation to liberate them. The two old enemies once again look across the waters with itchy trigger fingers.
How to play this:
There are a variety of ways to run this scenario, and I can't really tell you how since I don't know your group. You will just have to fly by the seat of your pants. The freighter is an obvious point to intercept the plan, or you can let your group assault the island filled with terrorists. Throughout the adventure the imminent danger to the world should be ever present. Should the PC's drop the ball, don't be afraid to allow the plan to succeed.
The Freighter:
This is an older cargo ship that carries most of its cargo in the hold. The crew are Koreans, but are simply civilian contractors. Should they be boarded, they will surrender and allow a superior force to take whatever they want. They are unarmed aside from a few pistols and melee weapons. The two aircraft are semi-disassembled and packed in crates. The conventional weapons (crates of PPS-42 machine guns, hand grenades, RPG's and assorted ammunition) are packed in grease and only the grenades are usable out of the boxes.
Once the terrorists have rendezvoued with the freighter they will bring a more heavily armed element to the equation. Fifteen terrorists each armed with sidearms, SMG's and the ubiquitous 2 hand grenades will board the ship and direct the crew where to deliver the cargo (the aforementioned island base). They will spread out with some in the hold, some on deck, some in the crew quarters and two guarding the wheelhouse. This is a good situation to have a stealth infiltration mission.
The Island:
A relic of the Second World War, this island is only truly an island at low tide. The peak of the island is a concrete bunker that rises out of even high tides like a pillbox. The concrete airstrip runs from the watertight door of the bunker along the sandbar. It was really designed to launch propeller driven fighters and reconnaissance aircraft so it has been hastily extended and cable assist launcher has been jury rigged to get the fighters off the ground. The bunker is concrete and steel and relatively difficult to assault. The times when the terrorists would be most vulnerable is when they are preparing to launch a fighter, which requires opening the large door at the base. The planned launches will occur during daylight to avoid accidents and ensure success. A stealth mission would also be possible here, but there are almost 30 soldiers here so sabotage of the equipment is a better plan that trying to take them all out.
The Jets:
Should one or both of the jets make it into the air it would be difficult to include the PC's in the mission, unless they are pilots themselves (and have some reason to be sent instead), but the outcome should be uncertain. You could create a skill challenge, but frankly I never got that far.
The Aftermath:
With success, the group is one step closer to ending the terror of Cobra. With failure, the world is one step closer to Armageddon. Found at either the freighter or the island base is a laptop belonging to the leader of the coalition. Along with the usual tools that allowed them to bring together the mission, is the personal journal of the leader. He speculates greatly on the identity of the Cobra Commander and has done his own research on the mysterious benefactor. He has excluded association with any of the groups he is allied with (Al-qaeda, KGB and Greenpeace. Scientology, he is more uncertain of). He suspects that Cobra Commander may be American. The Commander is certainly familiar both with the inner workings of the internet and the international monetary systems. The journal also reveals that the leader was aware that the money would prove to evaporate should he try to spend it in any real civilization, which is why he directed the group to deal with North Korea which has a rather primitive intranet and is isolated from the world.
The Bomb:
Should the party fail and the nuke go out as scheduled, you can add one failsafe as a DM. The nuke itself contains fissionable material but is itself a dud. A dummy warhead constructed as a paper tiger by Kim Jong Ill to raise funds.
I've been at a bit of a loss as to how to write up this scenario, as it can really go a variety of ways, so I've decided to simply provide the background on the main NPC and his goals/ resources and you would have to cater it to your group and their decisions.
The Setup:
The team is contacted by a source willing to provide intelligence leading to the infamous Cobra Commander. This source is not altruistic and wants something in exchange. He will attempt to set up a meeting with the PC's through intermediaries to try to work out a deal.
The Source:
The man with the information is Carlos “El Sangria” Rodrigo, a South American drug lord who is currently #14 on the CIA's chit list. He runs a small cocaine empire in Equador and has money, men and resources. He has a reputation for ruthlessness like all in his profession, but he is no jungle guerilla. He lives in a spanish style villa atop the small mountain overlooking the fields responsible for his fortune.
Carlos Rodrigo became involved with the situation because he sold arms to groups that have been funded by Cobra Commander. Rogrigo has since discovered that the funds transferred into his accounts in Jamaica produced an error that nullified the transaction and was in essence “ghost money.”
He has since put a great deal of his resources to tracking down his money and come to the same dead end that the PC's have in trying to find out who Cobra Commander is. However Rodrigo has talents that the PC's do not.
Show
Carlos Rodrigo is actually Ernesto Jimenez, an ex-CIA agent. Jimenez was a deep cover operative charged with infiltrating the infrastructure of the real Carlos Rodrigo. He worked for five years dealing with the worst of humanity and when he finally made it to his objective of becoming close and trusted by Rodrigo he found that his own soul had become as black and tainted as his target. Instead of bringing the drug empire down, Jimenez staged a coup and murdered Rodrigo and his lieutenants. He then took Rodrigo's identity as his own and sent the corpse out with his own credentials as just another lost agent. He is 60 years old now and quite comfortable with himself.
Ok, this is the big climax. In truth, it is a bit anti climactic since I wrote this as the stirrings of larger things to come. Half my group was really impressed with the backstory and the social commentary on technology and our ties with it, the other half was really sad that you couldn't just shoot the bastard.
Show
I suppose that you could be justified in changing the ending to make the BBEG some CIA tyrant looking to restart the cold war or justify their budgets (like in The Long Kiss Goodnight) or keep it a machine but lead in to a Terminator plotline with the system launching nukes around the world (NOT a bad idea having the party become the ones trying to unplug Skynet when it went apechit), This is just what I ran.
The main aspect of this scenario is getting into CIA Headquarters. They already have plenty of clearance and just need to make the right calls. They will track the information down to a sub basement of the old building. Inside are rows of old IBM mainframes. Many of them are dirty and seem in disrepair. Only about half of the fluorescent lighting seems to be functioning with the majority of the bulbs scavenged to light the other end of the low ceilinged computer room. As the party enters the room, sounds of movement and angry shouting waft across the beige cabinets.
They approach and find two aging techs sitting before a large array of monitors, displaying the status of a Tauren Shaman and an Orc Warrior as they participate in something called a “raid.” The two techs seem to be in direct control of these entities and take no notice of the party as their headsets mask what sound the air ducting does not.
The Mainframes in this section seem to be mostly running, possibly on parts scavenged from the systems near the entrance. It also seems to be tied in to the main data trunk that runs through the wall of the mainframe room. Clearly emblazoned in fading decals are the Cobra heraldray and a spray painted label on Mainframe 1 “Cobra Commander.”
The main aspect of this scenario is getting into CIA Headquarters. They already have plenty of clearance and just need to make the right calls. They will track the information down to a sub basement of the old building. Inside are rows of old IBM mainframes. Many of them are dirty and seem in disrepair. Only about half of the fluorescent lighting seems to be functioning with the majority of the bulbs scavenged to light the other end of the low ceilinged computer room. As the party enters the room, sounds of movement and angry shouting waft across the beige cabinets.
They approach and find two aging techs sitting before a large array of monitors, displaying the status of a Tauren Shaman and an Orc Warrior as they participate in something called a “raid.” The two techs seem to be in direct control of these entities and take no notice of the party as their headsets mask what sound the air ducting does not.
The Mainframes in this section seem to be mostly running, possibly on parts scavenged from the systems near the entrance. It also seems to be tied in to the main data trunk that runs through the wall of the mainframe room. Clearly emblazoned in fading decals are the Cobra heraldray and a spray painted label on Mainframe 1 “Cobra Commander.”
Here is a module that can be run with most Modern day settings. I am writing it from notes from a game that I have actually run and concluded. If you like it and think its useful tell me so I know I'm not wasting my breath.
You're not wasting your breath. I think this is really cool, and am looking forward to seeing the rest, if you post it.
For the purpose of creating conversation, I'm thinking of adapting this to a Mutants and Masterminds game wherein the terrorists are actually members of a supers-hating group that are trying to execute a hero with cancer (the hero has cancer, they're not trying to kill him with cancer, just to be clear :P)
Here is a module that can be run with most Modern day settings. I am writing it from notes from a game that I have actually run and concluded. If you like it and think its useful tell me so I know I'm not wasting my breath.
I'm certainly interested. How did it turn out, by the way?
Thank you
Because it's that awesome.
And NCLanceman, the game ended well with half the group pleased and the other half just wanting to shoot Cobra Commander. You can't please everyone. Maybe someday I'll run the Return of Cobra Commander.
Thanks for your support Jenrock
At least people seem to be reading this.:D
Its all done. I hope somebody actually runs this for their group. If so, let me know how it turns out, what you did to make it better and how this could be improved.
And NCLanceman, the game ended well with half the group pleased and the other half just wanting to shoot Cobra Commander. You can't please everyone. Maybe someday I'll run the Return of Cobra Commander.
Thanks for your support Jenrock
bump because I like this, and will use it in my group, as well as I will plug it on the d20 modern podcast... I think I will email you on this topic.
Oh wow! This is amazing. Really detailed and believable. I'll have to adapt it a bit to fit into my game (going to be running a d20 Future game so the political organisations and timelines will need to be changed) but it shouldn't be too hard. I'm not sure about the ending though, only because it won't fit in with my setting - AI to that degree hasn't been possible. Have you got any more brilliant ideas on how it could be adapted to a BBEG? Just wanting to justify spending or re-start a war seem like rather shallow motives to go to all that trouble for.
Well, as written, it doesn't involve a true sentient AI so much as an application of the law of unintended consequences. If you don't have AI's being a common feature of your game you could still have it as a singular, unreplicable instance. Sort of like the MCP in Tron or No. 5 in Short Circuit.
If you want a human BBEG, then you could have the programmers be Russian sleepers that refitted the system and intentionally began the campaign against America. The strike against Russia would then be ironic since it is an unintended consequence of their meddling. This would also give the PC's someone to shoot at the end.
