Eastern Bloc 2K5 - What Is It Like?

[ThothAmon]

I've been designing a campaign that features East-West political shenanigans as the motivating force behind the campaign scenarios (think old school Mission Impossible or Alias meets the novels of Stuart Kaminsky, Robert Ludlum et al). All supers activity will be kept as clandestine as possible with much emphasis on skills and roleplaying rather than overt shows of power on TV

 

The PCs will be Western supernormals brought together on a per-mission basis to tackle thorny problems before the U.N. or other concerned groups can (mis)react. The agency responsible for PC missions will not be 'official'. The players are all adults (chronologically at least) and used to being handed topics of a mature nature so there will be scope for more extreme situations

 

I'm running low on back history ideas involving USSR-era supers (e.g. the Supreme Soviet) and the current state of the Eastern Bloc. I know there's mileage in looking at prostitution rings, orphan children for sale, heroin distribution, diamond smuggling, ethnic cleansing et al. Chernobyl features in the background of some of the NPC supers; so too does the KGB parapsych experiments of the 1960's and 1970's

 

As there are some very well-read people on the forums I'd like to solicit ideas. Any sensible suggestions as to post-Gorbachev Eastern Bloc history intermingled with powerful non-funded supers would be looked upon with much kindness. I may not use any of them but I'm curious about other GM's ideas.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Eastern Bloc 2K5 - What Is It Like?

 

Assuming you're setting it in 2005. Earlier and things of course would be different.

 

As for the former USSR, there are tensions about the extent of Russian involvement and influence in the various other former Republics. Russia generally wants more, US generally wants them to have less, except when we want the Russians to leverage them for us.

 

The spectre of former Sov nukes/material going to other countries/terrorists is there.

 

Russia sells stuff&expertise to countries the US doesn't like/doesn't think should have those sorts of things (Iranian reactors).

 

The Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and most of Eastern Europe are now part of NATO. Belarus is pretty closely tied to Russia. Others are somewhere in the middle as regards ties to Russia.

 

Check out things like the CIA World Factbook, State Department Travel advisories/background info/consular info, and various travel guides for ideas.

 

CIA World Factbook

 

State Dept Stuff

 

Lonely Planet