Mental Block:Scientist Plot

[bigsteveuk]

Hi,

 

I am looking for some help and need a bit of a brainstorm to develop a good plot. I am soon going to be running a series of serials based in the early 1800, first year of the campaign is 1812. I have the campaign set out and it starts with them trying to protect and American diplomat. My stumbling block is the 2nd scenario. It has to involve a scientist, professor or Dr who is working on a new design of balloon, but this design will fall into French hands. I need some ideas on how they find out, what is happening and how they resolve it.

 

Ideas so far..

 

Series of scientist working on same thing are being kidnapped, so players watch the next likely victim,

 

French agent is found with said professor designs, but why has he turned traitor, under hypnosis, family member kidnapped, threatened revenge on British Government.

 

Said professor is kidnapped and the pc’s must follow a series of clues to the kidnapper’s layer.

 

Professor is killed in an explosion and pc’s must find killer, but turns out this was just to conceal the kidnap.

 

Any ideas of help would be great.

 

Cheers,

 

Bigsteve

[austenandrews]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

In such a scenario, I find it handy to think of two sub-goals for the PCs to reach before the climax. Reaching one goal helps to reach the other. Both goals must be reached to "solve" the scenario.

 

For instance, the PCs must answer two questions:

(1) What part of the scientist's research do the French need right now?

(2) What objective do the French want to achieve by capturing this scientist's research?

 

Possible answers might be:

(1) Moving large numbers of men over difficult terrain (which means the French need the designs at a large construction facility; clues to question (2) can be found there)

(2) Invading Russia in the winter (which gives a timeline; an officer planning said invasion may have information to answer question (1))

 

(1) Flying at a very high altitude (which means they're probably testing the designs at a high altitude, probably a mountaintop; said facility contains plans to modify the balloon into a bomber, which is halfway to answering (2))

(2) To bomb London during the King's upcoming troop review (which gives a timeline & means the balloons must rendezvous with a large amount of munitions at some point; said plans beg the question of how the bombs will be delivered, suggesting the answer to (1))

 

Then you give the PCs hooks to one or both goals and let them follow the trail.

[Cancer]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

The first balloon flight was a tethered, hot-air balloon by the Montgolfier brothers in France in 1783. Maybe some kind of non-tethered, steerable design? With a working altitude control?

 

A steerable aircraft can, of course, cross the Channel ... and more to the point, see over it and telegraph information back across it. They can't carry enough people to make a reasonable invasion force, but they could carry info about British Navy deployment, allowing the French to get local navy superiority. And that's a serious threat to Britain, in that era.

[bigsteveuk]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

Brilliant ideas, I do like the bombing one, I may have 2 main plots.

 

This is my season as it stands, the premise is that when the French invaded Eygpt they stole a mystical device that can either control weather or generate massive amounts of heat and they intend on using it to invade Russia. The main enemy will be Jean-François Champollion the well known Eygptian Cultist and mystic (I love real historic figures). They intent to mount the Solar Disc on a balloon to allow them to better target the device, will probably be ray based.

 

Season One Layout:-

 

Season Start

 

Scenario 1.The Diplomat

 

Scenario 2.

British scientist is being blackmailed, hypnotised, kidnapped, turned traitor???? working on designs for a new balloon. PC’s save daughter free scientist etc. Plans have already fallen into French hands.

 

Scenario 3.Stoned in Love

 

Scenario 4.

Theft of the Keystone of RA (instruction manual for the stone) from the British Museum or private collector, or maybe even a treasure hunt to find it’s location. PC’s recover original/copy but Jean escapes with original/copy.

 

Scenario 5.

 

Scenario 6.

 

Scenario 7.

British Spy returning from France is killed and his dispatch bag taken may coincide with the kidnap/murder of leading Egyptologist, pc’s end up finding plans for this fiendish device.

 

Scenario 8. Season Finale.

Got to France/ Russian Advance and destroy fiendish device.

 

 

Bigsteve

[JakSpade]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

 

This is my season as it stands, the premise is that when the French invaded Eygpt they stole a mystical device that can either control weather or generate massive amounts of heat and they intend on using it to invade Russia. The main enemy will be Jean-François Champollion the well known Eygptian Cultist and mystic (I love real historic figures). They intent to mount the Solar Disc on a balloon to allow them to better target the device, will probably be ray based.

Powered by ... the sun?

 

It can have many uses. It can be used to blind a large group of soldiers on the battle field. It could be used to generate a heat signature on a target to help guide special heat guided bombs from other balloons. It could be an actual heat ray, much like Archimedes' Death Ray.

 

 

Jak

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

Well, there were fanciful plans at the time theorizing a 3-pronged French invasion of England via sea, balloons, and an under-the-Channel tunnel.

 

http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/background/tunnel.htm

[USAFguy]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

1812? The French? They are our allies!!! How could they possibly be wanting to hurt us?

 

Unless the setting is in the UK!

 

 

Well, hopefully the campaign will end in New Orleans after the Brit/US War of 1812 is finished...but before the word gets to the combatants.

 

Best regards,

 

Kofi

[The Monster]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

Rather than a balloon, you could make the scientist's project a steam engine light and powerful enough to be carried on a balloon - the implications of a powered, steerable balloon is pretty potent for that time. Scouting, messages, signaling, exploration, etc., in addition to bombing. An engine that small could easily be adapted to wagons, so you could even have steam-driven fighting vehicles (wooden tanks and iron men?). The scientist's project, of course, would be intended for air travel and exploration, but unscrupulous world-conquerers would immediately pounce on it for less enlightened applications.

 

This also allows a multi-phase prject, because such an engine could require special fuel to run it: yes, you can theoretically run a steam engine on anything, but for balloon travel, you want something with a lot of energy in a small weight: Kerosene X or something. So if you want to travel to petrol fields (arabia or russia, this is before oil was a desired commodity for the most part) or chemical laboratories, there's your chance. (Hmmm ... this could also be one of the uses for the Sun Disk: a portable solar heat generator means the balloon would never need to refuel...)

 

As for the Sun Disk, having even a mild large-area heat generator would make a huge difference in the Russian campaign - it might explain why the French army didn't bother getting winter kit for their troops. It wouldn't have to be a heat ray to be strategically important. Though you could make it so that its powers are relative to the amount of sunlight hitting it: under bright sun, it could generate a nice killing ray, under light clouds it might be limited to warming up the area or focusing to slowly roast a city block or two, under rain or heavy clouds (or at night) it would be useless. (So when it's found, buried in a chamber, it's nothing but an odd but precious huge hunk of gold - without the right incantations or whatever, and without some strong sunlight, it's never anything but a cool gold mirror.)

 

Random plot ideas:

--Russian agents could get involved, in whatever way you want Russians involved

--Yanks and Brits didn't like each other at this time (many Yanks even rooted for Napoleon), so you could play on that for tensions and loyalty games

--vengeful ancient egyptian cult who is out to return the sun disk to its rightful place (like that group in The Mummy film)

[bigsteveuk]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

Hi,

 

Some brilliant responses and ideas, thank you for a great response.

 

The problem is all I can think of now is a French attack on England buy mole machines and balloons, ‘the British may control the seas, but we have the air and land’.

 

I like the idea that different levels of sunshine effect its powers, which is a good reason to have it air based. It will always give out and ambient amount of temperature, which is why the French launched the attack and didn’t have any winter kit. Also when the disk is fully charged it can be used as a weapon.

 

Thanks again for the input,

 

BigSteve

[austenandrews]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

(Hmmm ... this could also be one of the uses for the Sun Disk: a portable solar heat generator means the balloon would never need to refuel...)

That's my thought - use solar power for regular operations, with a store of fuel for use in darkness or rain, and a steam engine for propulsion. Of course a big problem with steam engines is the weight of the water. That's usually handwaved off, but alternately steam could be replaced with man/horsepower (necessitating a larger balloon, of course) or some other power source. (I quite like the clockwork idea of using extremely powerful coiled springs in big cartridges. You pre-wind them before takeoff and hook one up to your propellor. When one is spent, detach it and bolt in the next one. Just don't compromise the integrity of a loaded cartridge or it could get very messy.)

[Basil]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

Short historical note: in 1812, helium was unknown. Thus, the lift is from hydrogen or hot air (or, theoretically, methane or ammonia: both are flammible and ammonia is corrosive and poisonous to boot).

 

Or course, you could have the scientist have discovered helium (if you don't mind the non-historicality). That by itself would be a major step forward, and a good plot hook.

[bigsteveuk]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

Yeah I was intending for the balloon to use Hydrogen, finale will be on the airship, which will obviously catch fire and a there will be a race to the gliders to escape. This will take part in Moscow and the whole reason Moscow caught fire was because the Disc was fully charged and they were using the Ray part!!!!

 

FYI

 

Balloons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_%28aircraft%29

 

Hydrogen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Cavendish#Discovery_of_hydrogen

 

You got to love wikipedia.

 

Cheers,

 

BigSteve

[austenandrews]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

Ah, so you don't need fuel for lift, just for thrust. In theory you could put sails on the thing and make it a near-silent airship.

[bigsteveuk]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

I really like your spring powered cartridges to power propellors. In the first scenario they will have stopped the French from getting the plans..so they think. Then about 4/5 scenarios later they will find one of the cartridges and wonder what the hell it's for. Then about scenario 7/8 they will find the plans combing them with the balloon.

[The Monster]

Re: Mental Block:Scientist Plot

 

just a side note - a delightful weapon against a balloon in that era might be Congreve rockets; spectacular, flammable and inaccurate...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congreve_rocket

imagine those puppies being fired against a steampunk airship, before the crews realize they need to pay attention to where the ones that miss are going to land.