campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

[Mark Rand]

You know that I like the circus and admire the Secret Service. Well, what if the PCs were Secret Service agents protecting a female circus staffer. Said staffer isn't a showgirl. Instead, she's the circus's veterinarian.

 

Somehow, her family came under Secret Service protection two days before the show was due to go on the road and her agent(s) arrived the afternoon before the season starts.

[Maelstrom]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

Brother elevated to Senator or President would do it.

 

Ah. Sister-in-law replaces dying Vice President. That way she's a target, but not a prime target for terrorism.

[Mark Rand]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

Brother elevated to Senator or President would do it.

 

Ah. Sister-in-law replaces dying Vice President. That way she's a target, but not a prime target for terrorism.

 

Cool ideas. To me, the second one's the best. Here's more. The vet's Dr. Rumiko Nishigawa, a respected wild animal veterinarian. Before coming to the circus, she worked at a zoo that, due to gross financial mismanagement, went bust.

 

While at the zoo, she raised Kimba, a black leopard, and Maya, a cougar, from birth. They are now in the circus menagerie and still think Rumiko's their mother.

 

Rumiko drives a heavy duty pickup, with a camper shell on the back, that tows her clinic, a revamped travel trailer. Her quarters are in the camper.

[bubba smith]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

so far so good

[Mark Rand]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

Rumiko is considered a low-power metahuman because she can mentally communicate with animals that possess at least animal intelligence, as long as she's in the same hex they are.

 

I may change her vehicles because right now she can easily stumble on the trailer hitch.

 

Once or twice a year, Rumiko gets woken up at night to tend to a sick animal.

 

Here are some animal people: Richard Wildman (elephant boss), Maria Wildman (menagerie boss), Sara Michaels (performing cat boss), David Gray (horse boss), James Johnson (cat caretaker), Susanna Johnson (menagerie caretaker), and Ruth Gray (horse caretaker). (For several years at the Carson & Barnes Circus, horse boss Wayne Utegg was assisted by, among others, his wife, Donna.)

 

Both Rumiko and her agent(s) carry show radios and weather radio(s) are in her vehicle(s).

[Maelstrom]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

Getting better and better.

[Mark Rand]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

I'm going back to the original configuration for Rumiko's vehicle, an 18-wheeler, with the trailer's sleeper over the fifth wheel.

 

For now, Rumiko's detail consists of two agents. Special Agent Molly O'Connor, the advance agent, works with Mary "Cowgirl" West, the show's 24-hour advance agent, while Special Agent Randy Weathers stays with Rumiko.

 

There are plenty of weapons at the circus. Almost everyone carries a knife. Additionally, there are wooden and metal stakes, sledge hammers, chains, shovels, and elephant hooks. Additionally, Rumiko carries a compressed air pistol.

 

Due to the necessity of having Rumiko on the lot early, she's part of the "flying squad". Other vehicles in that group are the spool truck (which carries the rolled-up big top), the office, the generator truck, the seat wagon that carries the tent poles, the water truck/stake drivers (they tow the portable toilets), an elephant truck, the pie car, and the big top crew bus. Unless there's an emergency, the medical bus is also part of the flying squad.

 

An incomplete listing of circus personal is attached. It'll be updated as I update the original.

 

Edit: a completely rewritten staff listing will be attached in a future post.

[Mark Rand]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

Here are minor corrections to the above. The big top crew bus isn't part of the flying squad. It's the lead vehicle in the group that comes after it. A motorhome, which tows the bandstand, is part of the flying squad. If there's an animal emergency, Rumiko waits until it's over before heading out.

 

The early part of the night before the circus leaves winter quarters is filled with meetings. First, there's the general meeting, conducted by Barbara Bergman, in the cookhouse. Usually, it lasts about five minutes. Then, for Rumiko, two smaller meetings follow. First, it's flying squad meets by the medical semi. Then, the animal group meets by the elephant barn. Evening rounds, then evening office hours follow.

[Mark Rand]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

We could go with, as suggested by Maelstrom, her brother, or father, Hikaru, elevated to the Presidency on the day the show left their Durant, Oklahoma winter quarters for Sherman, Texas.

 

This will let me make Rumiko's vehicle a modified 30-foot class C motorhome. (That's the one with the bunk above the driver's area.) The medical vehicle is one, too.

[Mark Rand]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

It's going to be her brother, Hikaru, who becomes President.

 

Since he and his wife, Midori, an eye surgeon with her own practice, were going to the circus to be with his sister for the show's first weekend on the road, the newly-elected President made him the designated successor while he gave a major address to a joint session of Congress.

 

Secret Service agents Molly O'Connor and Randy Weathers came early. Molly traveled with 24-hour advance agent Mary "Cowgirl" West, while Randy stayed with Rumiko and Mary Lynn, her New Zealand white rabbit.

 

I've decided that big rigs would make the best veterinary and medical offices.

 

On a gaming note, while both Randy and her partner Molly are NPCs up for replacement, players can decide to play them.

[A_Pail_Rider]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

Say, is this part of a campaign you're doing, or one you're think 'bout?

[sinanju]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

I've been seeing these threads pop up for what seems like forever.

 

Are you actually running this game? If not, are you ever going to run it? It seems like you spend all your time working and re-working and re-reworking this same basic idea endlessly, elaborating on an increasingly intricate backstory that seems to consist mostly of details that are unlikely ever to come up in-game.

 

I could be wrong, of course. So I'm curious.

[Maelstrom]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

Dang, Sinanju! Harsh!

[sinanju]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

Dang' date=' Sinanju! Harsh![/quote']

 

Is it? I don't mean it to be. But I'm honestly puzzled.

 

It seems that I've seen variations of this thread a number of times. Usually with, as time goes by, additional posts from the OP adding more background details pulled from various media/fandoms (West Wing seems to be big favorite). A lot of details that don't seem (to me) to be likely to be of much use in an actual campaign.

 

I can hardly fault anyone for that. I've done my share of working up campaign backgrounds that never got used, sometimes toying with them for years. But when the same background elements keep coming up in one thread after another (or variations of same), it makes me curious.

[Mark Rand]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

Originally, this was going to be a tiny segment of a four-color campaign universe. Later, I realized that this could easily be the basis for a Dark Champions campaign.

 

I made the person being protected a vet instead of a showgirl/aerialist because I thought it might be more interesting.

[Mark Rand]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

The updated list has been attached.

 

The reason the medical staffers are part of the cookhouse/pie car is simple. Circuses are not required to employ doctors or nurses. Instead, they're simply required to employ someone skilled in first aid. At the Ross Brothers Circus, this person has always been part of the cookhouse/pie car crew.

 

After their last person quit, they sent want ads to various nursing magazines for someone knowledgeable in first aid. They expected a nurse's aid or medical assistant. Instead, they got a nurse practitioner, who was also the only person interested in the job. The rest of her family joined the show the next year.

 

Oh, motorhomes might be more practical for the medical and veterinary offices than semis.

[Mark Rand]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

Here are a number of circus facts that may or may not come up. They are here more for color than anything else.

 

All vehicles that get electric power have to be grounded.

 

Stakedrivers are actually frames for carrying and driving stakes that are attached to the rear of the two water trucks. The trucks may or may not be rigged for towing.

 

The official wakeup call is usually at five in the morning and consists of someone driving around the lot blowing a truck horn.

 

Since the first trucks in the flying squad have to leave by 5:10, and all semis have to be started by 4:40 (to insure a 30-minute warmup), coffee, and a pastry, are available in the cookhouse by 4:30.

[Mark Rand]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

Circuses generally don't have veterinarians. Instead, while at winter quarters, they work with a local vet, who comes out halfway through the season to draw blood for required tests. Also, generally, they don't have medical people. Instead, as required by law, they employ someone who knows first aid.

 

Things changed when various touring shows complained to Congress about the arbitrary and capricious laws that cities and states had. They demanded relief. If they didn't get it, they threatened to close down, putting their people out of work. Since this included ice and musical shows as well as circuses and carnivals, Congress decided to do something.

 

Federal standards were laid down The local inspectors had to enforce these standards. They could, however, ask questions of the manager or raise concerns. Of course, there was something else, too. The shows had to hire nurses. Those with wild animals had to hire veterinarians. Those who didn't always play big cities had to hire physicians, dentists, and dental assistants.

 

Under the law, nurse meant practical nurse, registered nurse, nurse practitioner, or physician's assistant. Dental assistant meant either a dental assistant or a dental hygienist. They had to be licensed only in the state the show has its home base in. If the position wasn't filled, the show had to show proof that it had made a good faith attempt to fill it.

[Mark Rand]

Re: campaign idea: Secret Service at a circus

 

The first staffer there under the new law was Catherine "Cat" Campbell, R.N.P., who was already there.

 

Next to arrive were the Knotts, a 60-something couple. Although Henry, a rural general practitioner, and his wife, and office nurse, Estelle, were planning to travel after retiring, they joined the circus instead. They were surprised both by Cat and her rig, a converted 40-foot type-C school bus that had been painted light blue.

 

Rumiko was the next to join.

 

Sara Thomas Reese, the euphonium player in the band is legally blind. (While her acuity is 20/40 corrected to 20/20, her visual field is only 12 degrees in diameter.) Her constant companion is her guide dog, Sugar, a well-mannered, honey-blonde golden retriever.