0.0 Introduction
1.0 The Blood-Dimmed Tide
The worldbook for this collection, Goodbye Piccadilly..., introduced various types of catastrophe and ways of using them in role playing games. These adventures and outlines are set against very different disasters.
They are not connected, but can be set in the same world, or in different worlds if the Psychic Idealiser (see Worldbook section 4) is available. All work best if the adventurers are British and live in London.
Each can be played in a few hours, or extended indefinitely. All are set in the period between 1900 and the First World War; with the exception of the first the exact dates are unimportant. They can be run in any order, but it is possible to combine the plots of adventures 1 and 2 as described in 2.0-2.3 below. The outlines can also be slotted into such a campaign if desired; the mystery of adventure 2 takes several months to unfold, and they can be run at any time.
Because of the size and scope of these adventures minor NPCs are not described in great detail; they have average characteristics of 3 or 4, and skills appropriate to their jobs or ranks. All characters and organisations mentioned are imaginary, unless stated otherwise. Maps and charts are only provided for key locations; many details are entirely imaginary or are based on limited (and possibly inaccurate) information. Referees are strongly advised to obtain suitable maps and photographs to supplement the illustrations provided, and modify details where I have made mistakes. Wherever possible sources are mentioned, but it should be remembered that they often contradict each other; for example, the sketch maps in various newspapers and books used for the first adventure differed in many details from the official Ordnance Survey maps of the area. A map showing the general layout of London is very useful; see the maps in Cthulhu By Gaslight (Chaosium Inc) and GURPS Horror (Steve Jackson Games). Specific maps in the large scale Ordnance Survey series published by Alan Godfrey may be useful, but are not essential:
All the adventures are written for groups of 3-6 characters; more are usually more trouble than they are worth, smaller groups may lack some of the skills needed for success. It is assumed that the characters are British, and preferably live in or near London; if not, some modifications may be needed.
Many thanks to all the playtesters (especially the Intuition games room crowd), to Megan C. Robertson for data on the Siege of Sidney Street and ergotism, to many other users of the Cix rpg_uk conference for general advice and support, and to all the others who helped to make these adventures immense fun to write and run. The titles of Adventure 2 and scenario 2.C were suggested by Alan Varney; variations on the title of section 2.7 were suggested by several people.
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned...
Yeats - The Second Coming
This adventure is set in 1911. Anarchists have shot the Home Secretary and now roam the streets, killing, looting, and proclaiming bloody revolution. The adventurers are about to be trapped in the heart of darkness; Stepney, the most wretched corner of the East End of London. They need not know each other before the adventure begins; all that is necessary is that they are passengers on the same train, bound from the East Coast for London's Fenchurch Street station. It is convenient if they are in the same compartment of the train, but it is not essential.
Adventure 2 begins with a reason for adventurers to visit the coast; if you want to run both of them with the same characters, use its introduction first, and the trip to the coast described there, then run this adventure before running adventure 2. They may eventually be surprised to learn that the trip wasn't just a red herring to get them onto the train!
FF5-AD01.GIF FF5-AD02.GIF FF5-AD03.GIF and FF5-AD04.GIF are maps and plans; if possible the first of these should be supplemented by a much more detailed map, since it only shows a few of the several hundred roads in the area, and simplifies many details. FF5-AD05.GIF illustrates some of the government forces in this confrontation.
Wargamers may be interested in the game "Riot - Revolting People from Watt Tyler to Watts" (Irregular Miniatures) which can be used to simulate the tactics of the rioters, army, and police on a large scale which is outside the scope of this scenario. Appendix 1.D is a short scenario by the author of Riot which makes use of this background and the Riot rules. GURPS Scarlet Pimpernel (Steve Jackson Games) may give some useful ideas for adventures against a revolutionary background.
It's early evening on Wednesday, January 3rd 1911. Your train from the East coast to London seems to be running a little late, possibly because it's snowing, but it's picking up speed as it passes through the suburbs, so with luck you'll get home in good time.
As the train passes into a more built-up area you notice the light of a large fire, off to the right of the train; a fire, and what might almost be the flash of gunfire. Could a fireworks factory be alight?
Somewhere ahead you hear a crash, and the brakes of the train start to squeal. There's a violent lurch, and another, and another crash. A feeling of falling. Then everything goes black...
This adventure assumes a different outcome to the Siege of Sidney Street, a fight between the police, army, and anarchists that in our world ended with the death of the anarchists. See section 1.C for details of the real incident.
In this world a stray ricochet hit Churchill while he was visiting the scene. The anarchists have more popular support than in our world. Sympathisers in the crowd surrounding the besieging soldiers and police were led by Peter Piatkow, the notorious "Peter The Painter"; emboldened by Churchill's apparent death they attacked the rear ranks, seized more weapons, and began a gun battle that ended with the soldiers and police retreating. The anarchists now control parts of Whitechapel and Stepney (FF5-AD01.GIF ); the region is initially bounded to the North by Whitechapel Road and the Mile End Road, to the South by the Thames, to the East by the Grand Union Canal and to the West by Tower Bridge and Mansell Street. It includes docks and warehouses, two breweries and several pubs, shops, offices, schools, churches, synagogues, factories, two railway goods depots, and thousands of homes. Shops and bonded stores at some of the warehouses contain firearms and explosives, which are captured by the anarchists on the first day. By the end of the first day there are barricades across all roads leading into the area, and a railway bridge has been dynamited (with catastrophic results for the adventurers) but the sheer number of routes means that most are held by token forces; the anarchists can bring up reinforcements in response to attacks, but a small party can probably get through, if only by climbing over walls and going through buildings. The police and army have the area surrounded, but a hail of stones and occasional bullets has made them reluctant to move in; they are awaiting orders. They are also unable to watch all approaches at all times.
Churchill has been captured by the anarchists; he is injured and unconscious, but isn't dead. Nobody outside the area knows this; the anarchists plan to use him as their trump card if they have to negotiate. The Prime Minister and Cabinet believe that Churchill is dead.
The anarchists retain control of a gradually-contracting area for several days; there are numerous running battles with the police and army, and the anarchists are eventually wiped out by the forces of authority. Churchill dies in the final hours of the uprising; the anarchist leaders go down in a last act of destruction. Whole streets are gutted by fire and artillery shot. Subsequently there is a backlash against anarchy, and the British government becomes intolerant of all political troublemakers; the Irish rebellion is brutally suppressed, thousands of political refugees are deported to Russia where they are imprisoned by the Tsar, and Britain allies with the Italian fascists and Germany during the Second World War, eventually falling into the American zone of control after the war. By 1998 Britain is once again a prosperous nation, but nobody ever mentions the war. The adventurers may be able to affect these later events if they intervene, but nothing will stop the bloodshed completely.
The train has been derailed, stranding the adventurers near the heart of an armed insurrection. The remainder of this adventure consists of a timetable for the uprising, descriptions of some key locations, encounters, and details of the likely consequences of actions the adventurers might take. They may choose to do nothing, apart from survive the experience; don't try to push them into activities they'd prefer to avoid. Throughout the adventure try to emphasise the poverty of the area and everyone the adventurers meet there, the cold miserable conditions, and the danger. Keep things fast, tense, and confusing, a nightmare trip through the darkening heart of the metropolis.
Note: Although this scenario is loosely based on a real event, it should be emphasised that this is a work of fiction, and that many details have been invented for it. Real names are used, but descriptions and motives are greatly simplified. Some were inspired by a genuine desire for freedom in their native lands, others based their actions on political, religious or ethnic theories, or on greed. It is likely that some were in the pay of Germany or Russia, as informants and agents provocateurs. Some may have been on the British payroll! Nobody mentioned at any point in the adventure was ever found guilty of any crime in a British court. There is even some reason to doubt that Peter Piatkow was 'Peter the Painter'; this identification has never been entirely confirmed and is disputed by some authorities.
Special thanks to Megan C. Robertson for the photograph of the Scots Guards at Sidney Street (part of FF5-AD05.GIF), to all those who have put up with various unworkable versions of this adventure at conventions over several years, and to users of the Usenet alternative history newsgroups and Cix what-if conference for their ideas.
January 1911 Sun
31
7
14
21
28Mon
1
8
15
22
29Tues
2
9
16
23
30Wed
3
10
17
24
31Thur
4
11
18
25
1Fri
5
12
19
26
2Sat
6
13
20
27
3
Throughout the period of this adventure the sun rises at about 7.30 AM and sets at about 4.00 PM, the Moon is in its first quarter. The weather is cold with occasional sleet and snow showers, the nights are overcast.
The timetable shows events as they will occur without intervention by adventurers. Some possibilities for actions that will change events are discussed in later sections. The referee should feel to modify this timetable in any way desired; nothing shown after noon on Wednesday January 3rd is real history.
Tuesday January 2nd
Wednesday January 3rd
Thursday January 4th
Friday January 5th
Saturday January 6th
Sunday January 7th
The anarchists piled rubble and railway sleepers on the track to block it, but failed to give any warning to the approaching train; the engine and first four carriages (including the carriage(s) occupied by the adventurers) have been derailed and crashed off the viaduct and into Brook Street, killing most of their occupants. The other carriages and the guard's van are derailed but are still on the viaduct. The carriage the adventurers occupy is on its side; the only way to get out is to climb up the seats or luggage racks and out of the door. It's dark, and the adventurers are trapped under corpses and the bodies of the badly injured as they come round.
Fortunately none of the adventurers are badly injured, although they are all bruised and shaken - if they are unusually well equipped or competent the referee may wish to add extra handicaps such as broken ribs, reducing effective BODY, but this is NOT recommended. Everyone else in their compartment is dead or unconscious. Any hand luggage they had with them is buried under the passengers; any bulky luggage, such as trunks, is in the guard's van, which is still on the viaduct. Gun cases etc. will fall into one or another of these categories.
The adventurers might think it a good idea to stay in the train, but it seems to be shifting slightly, as though likely to fall further. There are also ominous creaking noises, the intermittent noise of distant shots (from further East, and not aimed at the train), and a smell of smoke, as well as a faint whiff of gas. After ten minutes the carriages will catch fire from the burning coals spilled by the engine. The fire can be beaten out easily if the adventurers get to it quickly. Once it gets to the carriages extinguishing it will be difficult and dangerous, because gas is leaking from a street lamp that has been shattered by the train; it can't be turned off, short of digging under the wreck to find the main valve, and a few minutes after the fire reaches the carriages it will ignite and explode:
Explosion, radius 20ft, Effect 15, A:I, B:C, C:K
The carriage occupied by the adventurers is on top of most of the debris and is relatively intact. The others are upside down and crushed; there don't seem to be any survivors. The mangled wreckage is lying in a dark cobbled street below a high viaduct, and has smashed into the front of two shops. Miraculously none of the other buildings are damaged, but the buildings will catch fire if the train burns. Any attempt to climb back up to the tracks at this point will achieve nothing except to bring down falling wreckage:
Falling wreckage, Effect 1D6, Damage A:B B:F C:I/C
As the dust settles a few of the braver locals come out to take a look and help rescue passengers; some also loot valuables from the bodies under the concealment of the night. The adventurers should find out what has happened; basically, that there was a gun battle "In Sidney Street, up towards Whitechapel", and that anarchists overran the police and troops and now control the area. More questioning will reveal that some important police official was shot, and that sparked the riot; nobody is entirely sure what is going on. Repeat variations on this story, some accurate and others completely wrong, whenever the adventurers question NPCs.
The locals can tell the adventurers that they are in Stepney, but don't explain exactly where they are; maps should only be shown to them if they find one in a looted shop, or know the area. This isn't an area "gentlefolk" are likely to know, but detectives, criminals, and others with an interest in the seamier side of London may legitimately claim familiarity.
Don't give the adventurers time to get too comfortable; if they seem to be determined to stay near the wreck once the immediate emergency seems to be over, a "careless" match or spark will set off the gas, and the fireball that follows will engulf some of the survivors and bystanders, preferably not the adventurers, and demolish nearby buildings. The flames lick up to the remainder of the train, poised precariously on the edge of the viaduct above the street, and burning debris starts to rain down on the street below. If the adventurers want to fight the renewed blaze they should be rewarded at the end of the adventure.
Wherever the adventurers go they should see evidence of the continuing fight between the anarchists and the authorities; currently the anarchists have complete control of the area, and are defending it vigorously against attack. Anarchist patrols roam the street, and dead policemen can be found at various locations; usually they have been shot, but some have been hung from lamp-posts. Everywhere there is the distant rattle of shots, with flashes of gunfire as the perimeter is approached. Near the perimeter stray shots occasionally whistle by; they are spent rounds, striking randomly as though at skill 3:
Stray bullets, Effect 3, A:F, B:F, C:I/C.
By now the adventurers should be very tired, reflected as reduced BODY etc.; you don't survive a train crash and its aftermath without considerable wear and tear.
The anarchists see the advantages of retaining a large civilian population in the area; if everyone else leaves, the government forces can move in and needn't worry about killing innocent bystanders. Accordingly the adventurers and local residents won't be allowed to leave; if they approach any roadblock they will be turned back at gunpoint, if they try to force a way through they will be shot as capitalist saboteurs. Meanwhile the roadblocks are under intermittent fire from the authorities.
If the adventurers head East they'll find the bridge where Commercial Road East crosses the Grand Union Canal, where the road is blocked by a tram and mounds of furniture. The roadblock is under heavy fire from further down the road.
As they draw near there is a fusillade of shots (attacking anyone stupid enough to stay in the line of fire with skill 3), and violent fighting starts at the barricade. Horses leap through a gap, their riders police armed with batons and soldiers with swords, and try to clear out the anarchists behind the barrier. Anyone else in the way will also be attacked (truncheon or sword, skill 6). As the horses charge windows shatter on both sides of the street, and they and their riders go down under a withering barrage of fire. There should be no opportunity for the adventurers to get out while the barrier is down; as the last horses retreat the anarchists rush to shoot the downed horses and their riders and close the gaps, and anyone else who tries to get near will probably be shot in the confusion. Anyone trying to get past this barricade will be shot as described above.
Despite the anarchist road blocks, it is possible to get out this way if the adventurers move quickly; break into a house or shop further west, go through to the back, and climb out over alley walls until the canal is reached. The bridges are currently held by the anarchists, but there are numerous points where it is possible to cross by walking across moored barges or lock gates, at a slight risk (12 on 2D6) of coming under fire from anarchists or the army. Don't suggest this unless the adventurers try it; the anarchists will close this route next day, by opening locks and cutting barges free. Another escape route in this direction is the railway; the embankment and viaducts that carry it are climbable at many points, although anyone on the tracks is potentially visible from surrounding buildings and may come under fire. Note that routes up to the track are next to invisible, given the lack of street lights; the adventurers will only find one if they look for it.
It's likely that they will try to find somewhere to wait out the night, and attempt to leave the area in the morning. If they persist in trying to leave, let them find an unguarded route after two or three dangerous encounters; once out they will probably be picked up by the army or police for questioning, but unless they have been looting or appear to be anarchists they have nothing to worry about. After an hour or so of questions they will be allowed - in fact encouraged - to leave the area.
If the adventurers decide to hole up for the night they may choose to sleep in one of the looted shops, or try to find someone that will take them in for the night. Sleeping in a shop is dangerous; there is broken glass everywhere, the owner may return ready to deal with intruders, or more looters may arrive. Anyone on the streets this night is likely to be armed and dangerous.
If the adventurers start knocking on doors they should eventually encounter Mrs. Levy, who lets rooms.
After the adventurers have been turned away from shelter several times, they notice a discreet card in the front window of a house saying "rooms to let"; if someone knocks an old lady eventually arrives, and grudgingly admits that she can let two rooms for the night, but wants no "goings on" in her household - keep up a long complaining monologue while explaining this, and whatever else she says as you play her.
Mrs. Levy is a generic Little Old Lady; her rooms are scrubbed scrupulously clean; anyone entering the house has to leave coats, boots, etc. in the hall, stand on newspaper if dirty or bleeding, and will be generally bullied, intimidated, and whined at ("I'm not one to complain, but I normally rent my rooms to a better class of clientele...") until they are in their rooms. She speaks accented English, Yiddish, and Russian.
Mrs. Levy charges 2/- a night for each of the two rooms she has to let, and won't haggle. Each has a single bed, an armchair, a table, and two chairs, and is lit by an oil lamp. Baths are 2d extra, and are taken in a hip bath in the kitchen; anyone wanting one will have to bring in coal from the back yard and wait half an hour for the water to heat because her son is away and her back won't let her lift things. She wasn't expecting company and has little food in the house; some black rye bread, cheese, pickled herrings, chicken soup, a little gefilte fish, and noodles. Meals are 3d extra.
Mrs. Levy knows exactly what's happening (or so she thinks); there's a pogrom going on, just like the old days in Russia, and the "students" are fighting the police, who want to burn the synagogues. She knows that her son is involved with the "students" but obviously won't discuss that aspect of the affair with strangers.
Mrs. Levy's son Reuben is a shop assistant turned anarchist; he will return to the house with four comrades (all generic anarchists) at three the following morning, expecting to give them rooms for the night; he has a key, and they will come in to the adventurers' rooms unannounced. Mrs. Levy does not approve of her son's politics, and will be awakened by the noise and descend from her bedroom to harangue everyone, especially her son, until the anarchists leave quietly, or until the adventurers and anarchists come to an amicable arrangement. For example, the adventurers might move into one room and let the anarchists use the other.
With Mrs. Levy's "help" it should be possible to resolve the situation peacefully; it might even be possible to convince the inexperienced anarchists that the adventurers are sympathetic to their cause. If so, the adventurers will learn more about the causes of the conflict, but from an anarchist viewpoint; the police and army moved into Stepney to suppress a legitimate political demonstration, and opened fire on revolutionary brothers without provocation. One of the capitalist oppressors, the Home Secretary, was shot by his own men, and the forces of oppression then fired on an innocent crowd without provocation. Naturally the forces of the people are fighting this tyranny, and eventually justice should prevail and the outmoded state will be swept away.
If asked, the anarchists can name the Home Secretary and their glorious leader Peter Piatkow (Peter the Painter). If any adventurers have anarchist sympathies they will be enthralled by news of the rebellion; others will probably be less enthusiastic.
If the adventurers want a fight the anarchists will be happy to oblige. Mrs. Levy won't retreat, but will do her best to out-shout everyone else present and make them stop. Miraculously no shots, blows, etc. will hit her unless they are deliberately aimed at her. If her son is hurt she will grab the nearest weapon (a gun, poker, etc.) and turn on whoever hurt him. Fortunately her skills are Brawling and Melee Weapon 3, Marksman 2, and she is unlikely to succeed in hurting anyone, although in the close confines of this house a miss might have unforseen consequences.
Assuming that this ends peacefully, the adventurers will need to make plans for the morning; if it ends in a fight, they will either have to retreat or end up surrounded by corpses and the wounded.
In the morning Mrs. Levy will insist that the adventurers leave; she doesn't want more trouble, and the anarchists will probably know that suspicious strangers have stayed at her house. She doesn't have any suggestions as to where they might go, apart from directing them towards the closest route out of the area.
If the adventurers want to stay in the area they'll have to find different lodgings; there are enough greedy landlords and landladies to ensure that they will eventually succeed, but there should always be a hint of danger, a possibility that the adventurers will encounter more trouble.
Unless the adventurers escaped immediately after the crash, they are probably still in the area the following morning, in Mrs. Levy's house or some other refuge. Whatever they decide to do, the timetable in section 1.3 describes events that might affect their plans. Feel free to change the timetable for extra drama; for example, if the adventurers go to see what's happening on the waterfront, this is probably a good moment for the anarchists to start firing their field gun across the Thames, and for HMS Pathfinder to retaliate. If they try to join the evacuation, the boat before them is the one that's attacked by anarchists. As always, keep things moving, and keep the adventurers under continual pressure.
By dawn there are dozens of posters and proclamations on the streets, pasted to advertising boards and nailed to telegraph posts and trees. They announce the formation of a "People's Provisional Revolutionary Council" under the leadership of Peter Piatkow; the adventurers know the name, since he has been wanted by the police for several weeks. The "Council" has declared martial law and urges all citizens to "resist the oppressive forces of Capitalism". Reading between the lines it's obvious that anyone caugh failing to cooperate or aiding the government forces will be treated as an enemy of the revolution. The penalties are not spelt out, but an occasional corpse hung from a lamppost, labelled "Enemy of the People - Looter" or "Enemy of the People - Reactionary Spy" should give adventurers the idea.
This section summarises some activities that the adventurers might like to try, and some situations that the referee might want to use against them. If the referee wants to involve the adventurers more closely in the main events of the insurrection, several activities include opportunities to steer them towards Sidney Street and a confrontation with the anarchists. It should be obvious that adventurers may choose to do something else; if so, use the information below and the timetable above to determine its likely consequences and complications.
The adventurers come across a group of armed anarchists who are in the process of beating a policeman or soldier to death. The anarchists have guns but are currently using them as clubs, and outnumber the adventurers. What are they going to do? If they take a hand they will earn the enmity of the anarchists, and may end up in serious trouble; see "Enemies of the people", below. If they do nothing can they live with their consciences?
There are numerous targets for looting in the area controlled by the anarchists; the biggest, and the most heavily defended, is the Royal Mint, illustrated by FF5-AD03.GIF, right at the West edge of the area. See section 1.3 above for events involving the Mint; the wall damage described is on the Cartwright Street side of the complex, which is guarded by police and troops and surrounded by high spiked metal railings. Looters have to get past the fence and at least 20-30 well-armed men, with more reinforcements rapidly arriving from the Tower of London; they will also have to get past the anarchists, or join their attack, in order to get inside. The main targets are the refinery and the mint itself. The refinery currently contains three tons of gold (approximately £380,000), six tons of silver (£53,000), and twenty tons of coinage bronze (£8,800 but probably impossible to sell). Most of this metal is locked in strongrooms; the remainder is in the refinery in slowly cooling furnaces. All the metal is alloyed to some degree to improve its hardness, and can easily be identified as coinage metal if analysed.
The main mint building was in use for a production run of sovereigns when the riots started, and these coins are now packed in small crates awaiting shipment when the emergency ends. There are eighty small crates, each containing £1000 in sovereigns and weighing approximately 25lb, locked in a strongroom in the mint building. These are the only 1911 sovereigns minted so far; if they are stolen the mint will make a tiny change to the dies used to stamp these coins, and circulate comparison photographs to every bank in Britain. Another strongroom contains 20,000 sovereign blanks, plain gold disks that haven't yet been through the presses. A large combination-locked safe in the office of the Superintendent of the Mint contains dies for the sovereign, half sovereign, silver, and copper coins. They would be moderately valuable to a coiner (coin forger) but most forged coins are let down by the quality of the metal, not the stamping process. Adventurers who are familiar with the mechanics of forging paper currency, where the quality of the plate is all-important, may have other expectations.
If the adventurers somehow take advantage of this opportunity, they then have the problem of keeping their ill-gotten gains and getting them out of the area. This should not be easy, since they will have to get past the anarchists and the army and police. Hiding the loot and hoping to recover it afterwards may seem a better idea, but there will be a house-to-house search for hidden anarchists and looted goods as the area is recaptured. If the adventurers come up with a particularly clever scheme they should be allowed to get away with it, but they will then have the problem of recovering and disposing of their windfall.
Overall, this should be extremely difficult and dangerous, with a very good chance that characters will be killed getting in or escaping. If the Mint is looted there will be a determined hunt for the thieves; by now the police are using fingerprints and a wide range of forensic evidence, so even if the adventurers initially succeed, there may be problems weeks or years later. Any NPCs involved in the caper should prove untrustworthy; think "Reservoir Dogs" and "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and you shouldn't go far wrong.
Lesser targets include banks, pawnbrokers, jeweller's shops, post offices, gunsmiths, and the like. Unfortunately most of the richer pickings are on the main roads, and are the most likely to be looted before the adventurers get to them.
Don't bother to describe these premises unless the adventurers go looking for them; if they start looking, they should find them easily. The table following should be used to generate details; roll 2D6 to determine if the building is looted or not; if it has not been looted, roll again to see if it is guarded; guards are typically 1-3 watchmen with cudgels, 1-3 large dogs, or both. Finally, roll for the contents if it has not been looted. Add 1 to all dice rolls if the premises are on a major road.
Site
6 Jewellers
4 Banks *
9 Pawnbrokers
4 Gunsmiths *
4 Post OfficesLooted
5+
4+
5+
4+
SeeGuarded
5+
3+
7+
5+
BelowContents
2D6 x £100 as jewels etc.
2D6 x £500 in currency
1D6 x £50 as silver etc.
20 + 1D6 x 5 weapons
2D6 x £50 as stamps etc.
* If looted, these premises are now in use by the anarchists; the banks are needed for their telephones, the gunsmiths for their weapons and workshops. All four post offices have been commandeered by the anarchists, since they contain the local telephone switchboards, but their safes (containing a little money, stamps and postal orders) haven't yet been opened. Each building contains 10+2D6 anarchists.
Even though these targets are less risky than the Mint, any loot taken from them may be identifiable; simply carrying a handful of necklaces or half-a-dozen revolvers may make characters targets. The anarchists won't be sympathetic to any looters they catch; see "Enemies of the People", below, for their response.
One last target should be mentioned; the Tower of London is just West of the area occupied by the anarchists, and the adventurers may feel that it might be possible to get at its treasures in the confusion of the uprising. Unfortunately it is in use as a military headquarters, and although the influx of personnel has caused some disruption, the vaults are guarded by the Yeomen of the Guard (the Beefeaters) who will shoot anyone who tries to break in. They are all skilled soldiers, and should be more than a match for any force the adventurers can reasonably assemble.
If the adventurers have escaped from the area they may think that the events in Stepney are likely to distract the authorities, and give them a chance to commit crimes elesewhere. They are wrong. Police in all parts of London, and in all major cities, are on the alert for further anarchist activities; all police leave has been cancelled, and troops are ready to move if needed. If anything, the police response to crimes is faster than usual.
Some or all of the adventurers are arrested by a large group of armed anarchists, searched (but not very well; only the most obvious weapons will be confiscated) and marched to the local police station and law court, which happens to be a few hundred yards south-east of Sidney Street; if you are using FF5-AD01.GIF it's at the top of the "P" of "STEPNEY" on the main map, roughly 150 yards SE of the lower end of Sidney Street on the smaller area map. The court is now under anarchist control, and the adventurers are to be "tried" for crimes against the revolution. This may be a simple case of mistaken identity, or may arise from their activities prior to arrest; for example, if they have attempted to escape from the area, have been looting, rescued a policeman, etc. It may happen even if the adventurers have been actively helping the revolutionary cause. The anarchists want to do things "fairly", so there will be a judge - a minor anarchist leader, not one of those named below - and a jury of twelve anarchists. There will even be a defence counsel, but since he's also an anarchist he won't be much help.
Begin with the end of the previous trial - the prisoner is taken out of the court and a minute or two later a shot is heard - then put the adventurers in the dock. Unless they have a cunning plan, or want to fight their way out, this should be handled purely by role-playing. Possible escape routes include bribery (of a guard or the "judge"), brilliant revolutionary rhetoric which convinces the anarchists that the adventurers are innocent, counter-charges against one of the anarchist guards or the "judge" himself, etc.
If the adventurers are found guilty they are to be taken out and shot. But try to give them a few chances to escape; for example, one of the guards might be standing too close with a loaded gun in his hands, one of the guards might be someone they have aided earlier, and so on. If some of the adventurers weren't caught, those who remain free might pull off a daring rescue. But if all else fails, and the adventurers don't seem to be able to come up with anything, shoot them. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.
If the adventurers escape it's easy enough to chase them towards Sidney Street and the headquarters of the anarchists, where Churchill is being held. If the adventurers are using a detailed map you may need to add some extra groups of anarchists to chase them in the right direction; if not, just chase them West and North, dodging into side streets, until they shake off pursuit in a quiet side road. There is a detailed description of the scene at Sidney Street in section 1.7
The London Hospital (which is held by the army) is inaccessible from inside the area; the anarchists and the army will both fire on anyone trying to cross the lines. The only other hospital in the area is the East London Hospital (for children), off Brook Street to the North of Shadwell Basin. In this crisis it is taking in patients of all ages from all over the area, and is frantically busy and understaffed. Victims of the train crash will be taken there, but only the seriously wounded will be allowed to stay. Anaesthetics and dressings are in short supply, and neighbouring houses are in use as extra wards. Any doctor, nurse, or first-aider offering medical services can expect to spend the next few days with little or no sleep, treating hundreds of gunshot wounds, cuts, and burns. Periodically the wards are visited by gangs of anarchists, searching for wounded policemen and soldiers; any found are taken away for "trial" (as described above) and executed.
There are also several doctor's surgeries in the area, all equally busy, and emergency clinics in schools and workhouses around the area. All are periodically raided by the anarchists.
If adventurers are helping at any of these points, there is an excellent opportunity to involve them in the main events of this scenario. Churchill is seriously wounded and possibly dying, and the anarchists realise his potential value as a hostage. They don't have a doctor of their own - the doctor normally based at the surgery they are using as an HQ fled with the retreating troops - and have decided to find one elsewhere. Don't tell the adventurers concerned why they are wanted; just take them at gunpoint. See section 1.7 below for details of their base.
Some adventurers may want to help in other ways; for example, there is no fire station in the besieged area, and many buildings will burn before the anarchists are dislodged. Organising bucket brigades and substitutes for the other emergency services might be the perfect job for a man of action. Unfortunately it may also bring adventurers to the notice of the anarchists, who are drafting men to help fortify their defences. Anyone they conscript is given a shovel or pickaxe and told to start demolishing a house or shop; the rubble and timbers are used to reinforce their barricades. Anyone trying to get away will be shot. Much of this work is along the Northern perimeter of the area, and should also take the adventurers near to Sidney Street.
Adventurers may wish to go hunting for the anarchists and their leaders, stealthily or by the simple expedient of shooting every anarchist they encounter.
Going in fighting is a remarkably stupid idea. There are hundreds of anarchists (for the purposes of this adventure there are always more somewhere nearby), and all of them are armed. They have popular support, and are aided by a vast network of sympathisers, some of them little more than children, who will report any suspicious activities. Near their headquarters there are snipers in prepared positions on roofs and at upper-storey windows, waiting to attack anyone who seems hostile. If the adventurers insist on trying this, give them one or two warnings, in the form of near misses, then kill them.
A better move might be to set up a trap somewhere, and lure the anarchist leaders into it. For instance, the adventurers might pose as members of another revolutionary organisation, such as the Fenians, and arrange a meeting on "neutral" territory mined with explosives or covered by snipers. But the anarchists will check any meeting place thoroughly before the arrival of Piatkow or any of his lieutenants, and will spot any obvious trap. If they detect anything they will gun down the adventurers and (if necessary) fight their way out.
Another approach is to infiltrate the anarchist organisation, pretending to be loyal to the cause, then assassinate the leaders. Unfortunately this is an expected tactic in revolutionary politics, and won't be easy in the time scale of this scenario. See 1.6.6 below for ways of joining the revolution. If adventurers are pretending to fight for the anarchist cause they will need to learn a little about its politics; a couple of hours talking to any of the anarchists will give them enough of the background and rhetoric to pass as new converts, but there is a danger that adventurers (and especially any NPCs accompanying them) really will be convinced. Anarchy and Bolshevik politics address genuine problems, especially amongst the poor.
For NPCs a roll of MIND versus MIND will suffice; if an NPC fails the roll, they have been converted by the rhetoric of the person talking to them. On a 12 they are now totally committed to the cause and will unhesitatingly betray the adventurers; on a lower result they will be obstructive or argumentative, or simply desert the adventurers. The referee shouldn't tell adventurers that their associates have had a change of heart; let it become obvious by their actions.
For adventurers exposure to anarchist rhetoric may lead to an almost subliminal change in attitude, which the referee should simulate as a change in the way things are described. For example, adventurers who don't think this way might notice a little girl in passing; those who have been exposed to this point of view will also notice that she seems to be thin and pale, probably a result of poverty. Don't make this too overt, or compel adventurers to do or think anything; they are simply noticing things a little differently, and may wish to act accordingly.
One way to get to the anarchist headquarters is to be taken prisoner; ordinary prisoners face trial (as in 1.6.3 above) but anyone who claims to have information about government plans or appears to be a senior police or army officer will be taken for interrogation. See 1.7 below for details of their treatment.
One last possibility is that the adventurers will escape to join the government forces; acting as scouts or spies for the army and police, signing on as special constables, etc. Reserves and those on leave in the London area were called up soon after the incident began; adventurers on leave from the army, or with reserve commissions, will be ordered to rejoin their regiments (which just happen to be amongst those besieging Stepney), those with Naval experience will be recalled to duty and assigned to HMS Pathfinder. Aeronauts might be asked to use their balloons or airships to replace the City of Cardiff after it is destroyed.
So far this section has assumed that the adventurers are neutral or hostile to the goals of the anarchists, but it's possible that some or all of them share their revolutionary aims. One way to help is to join the people's defences against the capitalist oppressors, by volunteering to man the barricades; another is to seek a more important role on the staff of the leaders of the revolution. Both have some drawbacks...
If adventurers choose to man the barricades they face hours of boredom, mixed with occasional moments of stark terror. The perimeter of the area is too large for any one barricade to face a constant onslaught; instead the army makes probing attacks on randomly-selected barriers, looking for those that are poorly defended, following up with cavalry or armoured cars as weak points are spotted. A typical barricade is described in section 1.4 above; a wall of furniture, carts, timber, and rubble, guarded from behind and from the buildings to either side. For a frontal attack the soldiers must cross wide streets to get to the barricades, but they will soon think of attacking from one side, and of attacking the firing points in the buildings that flank the barricades. They may also try using grenades or fire to destroy the barricades.
Once a barricade has been forced the soldiers will generally chase the defenders; a well-set trap may make this an expensive mistake, but they will soon learn to consolidate their gains before pursuing the anarchists. Nevertheless, anyone who looks even remotely like an anarchist is fair game for them, and any soldiers or police in range will strike first and ask questions afterwards.
Section 1.3 describes some of the attacks the army and marines will attempt; at least one should come straight at the adventurers, even if this is not specifically described. As the defensive perimeter contracts some of the anarchists will be pulled off the barricades and assigned to protect their headquarters in Sidney Street, described below. Those who do well should be assigned to work with Piatkow or his lieutenants.
If the adventurers don't do a good job of defending their positions they should be arrested by their leaders and sent for trial as saboteurs. See 1.6.3 above.
Active attempts to join the leadership of the revolution will be treated with great suspicion, even if characters have a previous history of revolutionary activities which might be known to the anarchists. Simply walking to their headquarters and saying "Hello old boy, I'm an anarchist and I'd like to join in" may not be a wise move - anyone trying it is likely to be assigned to the barricades under armed guard. Even adventurers with previous revolutionary experience are unlikely to be known personally to the anarchists, who will assume that strangers may be impostors - possibly disguised police - or lunatics. If adventurers do have reason to know the anarchists, such as a background in Latvian Bolshevik revolutionary politics, it is safe to assume that there are numerous splinter factions, each distrusting the next to some extent. The leaders of the uprising are also jealous of their positions, and won't readily give an outsider much authority. Attaining a position of trust should be difficult but not impossible; retaining that trust will require constant revolutionary fervour in the struggle against the Capitalist Oppressors. This might mean that adventurers are ordered to command a barricade or a firing squad, hang some policemen, or organise a raid on a capitalist stronghold, such as one of the banks that hasn't yet been looted. Adventurers who have joined the revolution intending to betray it must get their hands very dirty before they have a crack at the leaders.
Once the adventurers reach this exalted status, they should gradually discover that their leaders are not entirely sure what to do; they never expected to get this far this soon, and they have no idea how to consolidate their gains into permanent control of even this small part of London. And in fact there is no way to do it; sooner or later the government will use enough force to crush the revolution. Piatkow and his henchmen intend to fight on as long as they can, then die as martyrs to the cause; their followers are generally unaware that they expect defeat, and wouldn't necessarily believe adventurers who claimed that they were heading for disaster. They won't follow adventurers who try to take over from the existing leadership; Piatkow leads mainly by charisma and reputation, and no outsider can possibly take his place. Unfortunately Piatkow lacks vision in some respects, and won't approve plans that could end the revolt peacefully. He wants the confrontation to be as bloody as possible, in the hope that it will destabilise the state.
If adventurers take this path, they should be moving towards a confrontation with the anarchist leadership as their defences finally crack, and the "Capitalist Oppressors" move in on Sidney Street. Try to ensure that they are swept up in the evacuation described in 1.8 below, with no real chance to escape before the gasworks is reached.
If adventurers have joined the revolution in order to betray it, their first chance to do so should coincide with the collapse of the defences, and they will be caught up in the evacuation before they have a chance to take any action.
The anarchists have set up their headquarters in the doctor's house at 102 Sidney Street, with more men in 98 and 100 Sidney Street and in houses along Hawkins Street. The North end of Sidney Street is thoroughly blocked, as described above. See FF5-AD02.GIF for a map of the immediate area and plans of these buildings.
The doctor's house consists of a surgery, dispensary, and waiting room with living quarters above. Piatkow's office is on the first (US 2nd) floor, the doctor's former living room; he sleeps on the floor above, and his rooms are always guarded by at least three men. The top floor is used by the guards, with rifles covering Sidney Street, Hawkins Street, and the houses and alleys behind. Even if Piatkow goes out his rooms will be guarded; there should always be at least twice as many anarchists as there are adventurers in this house, additional to Piatkow and two or three personal bodyguards.
Churchill is on the couch in the dispensary; he has a skull fracture and is in a coma (critical wound) but has been given first aid and is stable. He is in no immediate danger, although attempts to move him carelessly may cause further injury; if so, another First Aid or Doctor roll (Difficulty 6) should be made to stabilise him again, or he will eventually die. He is guarded at all times by two anarchists, and has been handcuffed to the couch. Since Piatkow wants to keep him in reserve for negotiations, his men have been instructed to keep everyone out of the surgery. Adventurers who are working with Piatkow will soon find out that he is a prisoner, of course, other visitors to the building should simply see that the surgery blinds are closed and the doors are guarded.
There are twenty more anarchists in 98 and 100 Sidney Street, and another twenty in the first two houses of Hawkins Street, with guards at the front and back windows and at the ends of the block. These are Piatkow's "headquarters company", used as a mobile strike force as needed. They even have motor transport; a battered delivery van, seating two in the cab and up to ten (uncomfortably) in the back, and two stolen taxis, each seating six (eight or ten if people ride on the running board). They are parked in the alley behind the surgery; the keys are held by anarchists who know how to drive. There are also several bicycles in the yard behind the surgery. Boys too young to fight use them to relay messages to and from the barricades. A printer's office on Jubilee Street produces Piatkow's leaflets and posters.
The remaining captured field gun is in the yard of the brewery off Raven Row, West of Sidney Street, and its horses are stabled there. The gun and ammunition limber have been covered with tarpaulins to keep off the rain; this incidentally camouflages them from the air, although that is not the intention. There are only two anarchists on guard here most of the time; Piatkow doesn't initially think that it will be useful, and doesn't want to waste men looking after it. The guards are older men with military experience and know how to fire the gun.
Piatkow's office has two large tables supporting a telephone, maps of the area, a typewriter, a samovar stewing strong Russian tea, and piles of papers. The maps have been flagged to show the points where barricades and ambushes have been prepared, and resources such as food stores, gunsmiths, and telephone exchanges. The details marked include the positions chosen for defences if the initial barriers fall; if adventurers don't visit Piatkow until after this has happened, they show his next lines of defence. The maps would be extremely useful to the government or anyone planning a raid into the area; naturally they are covered if any outsider is allowed into the office. The papers are orders to Piatkow's men, proclamations from the "People's Revolutionary Council", and a draft manifesto cribbed heavily from Marx. None of them will tell adventurers anything they didn't already know.
Earlier sections have suggested some reasons for adventurers to visit the headquarters. It is also possible that they might go there in other roles; for example, as negotiators, as reporters, or even as prisoners. Naturally all of the above will be searched before they are allowed anywhere near Piatkow; any weapons will be confiscated, and if they have approached under a flag of truce they will be regarded as assassins and sent for "trial" (see 1.6.3 above) without a chance to see him. Visitors who avoid this fate will be taken to Sidney Street blindfold, so that they won't know where he is based, but interior details (such as medical prints on the walls and a waiting room downstairs) make it obvious that his HQ is above a doctor's surgery.
Piatkow has some slight interest in negotiating with the government, and adventurers with a suitable background might be asked to take on this role if they can contact the authorities. Unfortunately the government has no intention of letting the anarchists get away with anything; while a temporary ceasefire might be useful, anything more is out of the question, and negotiators won't be allowed to give even the appearance of agreeing to any other demands.
Naturally Piatkow has a list of demands for the release of prisoners, various laws he wishes to see removed from the statute book, and so forth. He doesn't for a moment expect that the government will agree to them, but it suits him to be seen as the victim of an oppressive state that won't listen to his "legitimate" demands. If adventurers visit under a flag of truce, he treats them with exaggerated courtesy, and may even concede a few small points (such as allowing some of the wounded to leave the area) if he is promised supplies or an extended ceasefire. He won't under any circumstances agree to surrender, and won't admit that Churchill is still alive, or that he knows anything about his fate, unless it becomes absolutely essential, as described in 1.3 above.
Piatkow craves publicity for his cause, and will naturally find a little time to talk to any reporters who approach his headquarters. He has several typed manifestos ready; they call for the abolition of Capital, the arrest of various government and police officials, and war against the Tsar. They describe the Sidney Street incident as a police assault on innocent refugees who "naturally protected themselves against these government assassins"; this naturally glosses over the question of why "innocent refugees" would be equipped with guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Reporters should gradually realise that Piatkow is sincere, ruthless, and determined to make no concessions to the authorities. They may even guess that he plans to use his own death as propaganda, but naturally he will never say so. At most any interview should last just a few minutes; Piatkow is a busy man with a revolution to run, and doesn't have the time or inclination to answer a lot of awkward questions.
Prisoners might be bought here for questioning under exceptional circumstances, but they are more likely to be taken to the court (see 1.6.3) the anarchists are running. Prisoners who say that they have important information, or who appear to be important in other ways, will be bought here for interrogation; Piatkow doesn't use "sophisticated" forms of torture, but isn't above having someone beaten to a pulp to extract information. Anyone beaten this way will automatically take one Injury. Since prisoners aren't expected to survive, the anarchists won't bother to conceal the fact that Churchill is alive.
Anyone the anarchists question will be locked in the dispensary (which has barred windows and a stout door) between interrogation sessions. The anarchists won't think of removing the room's contents first, although prisoners will be left handcuffed. The dispensary contains a wide range of chemicals and first aid materials, including acids and a bottle of ether that could be used to knock out guards. With Science skill mixing an incendiary compound is Difficulty 5, a simple (but dangerously unstable) explosive is Difficulty 6. Making either takes a minimum of 20-30 minutes. Add 2 to the Difficulty if the mixer is handcuffed. Use any relevant skill such as Thief, Actor (escapologist / magician / strong man), or Mechanic to get free at Difficulty 7.
Phosphorus incendiary paste, ignites spontaneously 2+1D6 minutes after mixed:
Effect 6+1 per round, A:F, B:I, C:I
Effect 8, Radius 1ft, A:I, B:I, C:C/K
If prisoners don't escape a second interrogation will add another Injury, a third makes the wounds Critical. Any stories used to stop the interrogation must satisfy Piatkow and his colleagues; unconvincing lies won't be believed.
If the adventurers have done nothing to change events, Piatkow decides to move his field gun south of the London Hospital on Sunday morning, to defend Sidney Street from a feared attack from the South, and sends an ultimatum to the government, revealing that Churchill is still alive. Unfortunately the gun is spotted, and reported as threatening the hospital. At 1.15 PM on Sunday January 7th armoured cars race past the headquarters, and attack the gun in Philpott Street. As they return anarchists in the upper part of the house fire on the cars; they return fire, and more anarchists are killed. Even if the adventurers are in positions of authority and order the men not to fire, someone will disobey. Churchill survives. Anyone standing in the surgery, waiting room, or dispensary will be hit by 1-3 machine gun bullets if the shutters are open, or by bullet splinters and fragments of wood and glass if the shutters have been closed.
Machine gun - Effect 11 - A:F, B:I, C:C/K
Splinters etc. - Effect 1D6 - A:F, B:F, C:I
Piatkow survives this attack unscathed (even if he was downstairs at the time) but decides to move his headquarters. If the adventurers don't intervene Churchill is hit; optionally, Piatkow has one of his followers shoot Churchill before they leave. Since troops are closing in from the West and South he orders an evacuation to the East, with a convoy of vehicles (the taxis and van, and a few bicycles) moving out at 5.30 PM. Any prisoners will be taken with them as hostages; if Churchill is still alive but still a prisoner he will also be taken. If adventurers have been trying to get close to Piatkow in order to kill him this sudden evacuation should spoil their plans; he is always surrounded by armed men, and there is never a clear line of fire.
As troops close in from the North and South, Piatkow's tiny force is squeezed out to the East, forced to change course again and again as more troops close in; some of the rear guard are killed as they cover the rest. The anarchists abandon the taxis, setting them on fire as another road block, and continue on foot and bicycle with any wounded (including Churchill if he has survived) in the van. Nearing the Grand Union Canal, which some of the anarchists hope to use as an escape route, more soldiers appear ahead; there should be enough to make it impossible to continue, with more troops and police visible behind, and approaching from other directions. The running fight moves into a side street, (the West side of the gasworks in FF5-AD04.GIF), but more troops and police are approaching from the North, so Piatkow orders the surviving anarchists into the gasworks. As the last anarchists enter they close the gates, and retreat into the grounds.
The gasworks is a huge chemical plant which converts coal into heating and lighting gas, coke (a fuel used in furnaces), and various chemical by-products. Huge steel gasometers (storage tanks) tower a hundred feet or more into the sky; they are surrounded by frameworks of girders, with steel stairways to the top. There are NO SMOKING signs everywhere. It's filthy, with coal dust, tar, grit and other noxious substances coating every surface.
Here the anarchists fight their final battle with the forces of the establishment. Even if the adventurers have been helping, there is no hope of escape; there are troops and police all around the walls, and waiting on the far side of the canal. Only the danger of an explosion stops them firing; the factory is surrounded by hundreds of houses and two schools, one of them in use as a hospital. The anarchists position themselves behind walls and coal piles as the soldiers batter at the gates then use one of the armoured cars to pull them down, entering with drawn swords and bayonets.
Meanwhile, unless the adventurers have done something to stop him, Piatkow and his lieutenants start to climb the largest gasometer; if Churchill is still alive one of them carries him as a shield. Any prisoners will also be forced to climb ahead of the anarchists, then made to kneel on top of the gasometer. Loyal followers of Piatkow may accompany him if they wish.
There's vicious fighting on the ground; any adventurers staying down there will have to think very fast to stay alive long enough to surrender. There is no obvious escape route, although really generous referees may wish to allow adventurers to escape by going down manholes into the drains; these lead to the canal, but the opening can be seen by soldiers on the bank. If the adventurers hide for several hours they will be able to escape, although they will have to swim through polluted water and will have problems getting away without being spotted afterwards. None of the NPC anarchists want to escape this way.
Once Piatkow reaches the top of the gasometer he uses a rifle and bayonet to hack a hole in the sheet metal, shouting "I'm going to make sure we're never forgotten, comrades", then pulls matches from his pocket and prepares to light the escaping gas.
If adventurers are with Piatkow this is their last chance to escape; if they do nothing he shouts something in Russian, and lights the gas. An appropriate phrase is "Smat'ryoo men'ya, 'mama, na ver'zhiny mir" (literally "look at me, Mama, at the summit of the Earth"). A huge jet of flame rushes upwards from the hole, but doesn't set off the main tank. Piatkow's lieutenants start to fire into the metal, making more holes. The gasometer explodes four minutes later. This is not survivable. A gigantic fireball roars hundreds of feet into the sky, and everyone in the neighbourhood is cut, bruised, and deafened.
Once the gas is lit the anarchists have no further interest in any prisoners. If adventurers start to flee at the moment Piatkow lights the flame they will just have time to reach ground level. There is even just enough time to carry Churchill if he is alive at this point. If the adventurers stay in the open they will die, but there is a deep moat of water around the base of the gasometer, used to keep it gas tight (anyone trying to save time by diving from the summit will die; there are too many girders in the way). There are also several deep open-topped water tanks for fire-fighting, one of them near the gasometer. If the adventurers are underwater or hide behind one of these tanks during the explosion they will survive it, although huge pieces of steel sheet and other wreckage will shower down; each adventurer will be "attacked" by 1-3 pieces of wreckage attacking with "Skill" 3:
Falling wreckage, Effect 6, A:F, B:I, C:C/K
These pools and tanks don't connect to the drainage system, and the water is foul and stagnant, and very strongly acidic; if adventurers try to stay under cover they will soon have serious eye irritation and will require medical treatment. The sheds and other buildings on the site don't give adequate blast protection, anyone using them as cover will take 1-6 attacks as above. Anyone outside the site but within a couple of blocks is deafened and takes 0-1 attacks as above.
The lull following the explosion gives any survivors a brief chance to flee or get their stories straight before the authorities finally close in. Clearing up all the complications that follow will take weeks, or forever if the adventurers were aiding the anarchists; the authorities have long memories.
As well as the usual Bonus points for good role playing, amusing the referee, etc., the following specific points may be rewarded. Be reasonably generous, this is a very dangerous scenario!
The adventurers:
Helped to rescue survivors of the train crash
Stopped the train catching fire
Helped fight fires later
Rescued Churchill
Recovered Churchill's corpse
Prevent an oppressive government over-reaction
Negotiate a truce
Capture Piatkow
Capture one or more of his lieutenants
Kill Piatkow
Kill one of his lieutenantsPoints
2 each
1 each
1 each
3 each
1 each
2 each
2 each
4 each
2 each
3 (individual)
2 (individual)
Remember that players may select other goals; for example, they may want to loot or aid the Anarchist cause. If so, ignore the above and award points according to their success or failure in these goals.
There are rewards of several hundred pounds for the arrest of Piatkow and his associates, which will also be given if it can be proved that he is killed. Anyone rescuing Churchill is probably going to get other rewards according to their status; a gentleman might be knighted, a working class hero would get a few hundred pounds from a newspaper's patriotic fund.
The political climate after the insurrection is strongly polarised, with the working classes (especially immigrants, refugees, and left-wing politics) feared and distrusted by the establishment. Both sides could find work for adventurers, from discreet investigation of a trade union official or right-wing politician to blackmail and black operations.
Alternatively, there's a real need for peacemakers who might be able to restore some confidence in the fabric of society and prevent the eventual rise of fascism in Britain. If Churchill died this should be very difficult; if Churchill was saved by the adventurers, and can be persuaded to speak in favour of moderation, his voice may just be enough to save the day. But after this incident Churchill will have no great love for anarchists, and ingenious arguments will be needed to enlist his help. The idea that the government should be charitable in its victory may help; there's a lot of propaganda mileage to be gained from such gestures.
If the adventurers betrayed the anarchists, or did anything to thwart their plans, the survivors will remember them. Eventually some form of retribution will be arranged. If the adventurers helped the anarchists they will inevitably be hunted by the police, probably for the rest of their lives.
On a lighter note, souvenirs of the "London Commune" will eventually be worth a fortune; Piatkow's posters and handbills, revolutionary arm-bands, and authenticated weapons used by Piatkow and his lieutenants will be worth hundreds to thousands of pounds by the 1990s. Anyone spotting their potential early enough can put aside a small fortune for their old age. Some of the most interesting souvenirs will naturally be in the hands of Piatkow's surviving sympathisers and relatives of those killed in the fighting; getting them won't be easy.
If you are using the Psychic Idealiser, all of the adventurers "arrive" in this new world on day 2 of the insurrection, with no memories carried over from the brains they are invading. All of them are in difficult or dangerous situations at different locations around the area, with nothing to tell them how they got here, what their goals initially were, where the other adventurers are, and so forth. All have deep bruises and other partially-cured wounds. They have no memories of the train crash, or of the rights and wrongs of the insurrection; optionally very vague memories do gradually return. At least one should be wearing a red armband, but are they supporting the revolution, or preparing to betray it?
Their problems don't end when the anarchists are crushed; the reason why the adventurers were travelling together should turn out to be unusually difficult or dangerous. For example, they might be travelling back to London after visiting the coast (see Adventure 2 below), and now have no memory of their interest in missing ships...
Peter Piatkow (alias 'Peter the Painter', anarchist)
BODY [5], MIND [4], SOUL [3], Actor (disguise) [5], Brawling [8], Business [6], Linguist (English, German, Russian) [6], Marksman [6], Melee weapon (knife) [7], Military arms (explosives) [5], Psychology [6], Stealth [6], Thief [5]
Equipment: two Mauser automatic pistols (big handgun), 4 hand grenades, 6 sticks of dynamite, red armband.
Quote: "You are obviously a class enemy. There can be only one punishment..."
Notes: Piatkow is probably the most notorious of the London anarchists of this period, but it has never been conclusively proved that he was connected with the events that led up to the Siege of Sidney Street (or even that Piatkow and 'Peter the Painter' were the same man). For the purposes of this adventure, however, he is engaged in every form of skulduggery in furtherance of the Anarchist cause. He is the spider at the centre of the anarchist web, always accompanied by several bodyguards; getting anywhere near to him should be very difficult. A good role model is Che Guevara. He is in his thirties.
Fritz Svaars (Anarchist, henchman of Piatkow)
William Sokoloff alias 'Joseph' (anarchist, henchman of Piatkow)
Jacob Peters (anarchist, henchman of Piatkow)
BODY [3], MIND [3], SOUL [4], Brawling [4], Linguist (English, German) [4], Marksman [5], Melee weapon (knife) [6], Thief [4]
Equipment: Mauser automatic pistol, 2 sticks dynamite, knife, red armband.
Quote: "Shoot them!"
Notes: All three are busy leading their comrades in the cause of anarchy, and have no time for sophisticated dialectic or philosophical debate in an increasingly desperate situation. They have a long history of violent crime. They are all in their mid-twenties or early thirties. Svaars and Sokolov both have numerous half-healed cuts and splinters, injuries from fragments of glass and wood during the initial siege. Sokolov has lost a finger from his left hand, and keeps that arm in a sling; he also has a 4-shot .38 pistol (as Derringer) concealed in the sling.
Generic Anarchists
BODY [3], MIND [3], SOUL [3], Brawling [4], Marksman [4], Melee weapon (knives) [4]
Equipment: shotgun (medium), knives, 20 rounds ammunition, red armband.
Quote: "Capitalist swine!"
Notes: These are cannon-fodder, mostly aged 16-30, who should be (ab)used as circumstances dictate. They will usually be encountered in groups, not on their own. A few have extra skills such as Military Arms, Thief, etc. Questioning them about the anarchist plans will achieve nothing; they trust their leaders (any of the four above) and won't betray the cause. In any case they know nothing useful, they just assume that everything is proceeding according to plan.
Typical Soldier / Marine
BODY [4], MIND [3], SOUL [2], Brawling [5], Marksman [5], Melee weapon (bayonet) [5], Military Weapons [5] Riding [6] (Cavalry only)
Equipment: Rifle (large), bayonet. Officers carry revolvers, not rifles. Marines add cutlasses. Gunners etc. will accompany appropriate weapons. Cavalry carry sabres and revolvers.
Quote: (officer/sergeant) "Fix bayonets and at them!"; (enlisted man) "Here we go again."
Notes: Despite the fact that most of the soldiers and marines come from working class backgrounds, their sympathies are with the government and especially the King. Attempts to subvert them or incite a mutiny will get nowhere, and anyone making such an attempt will faces assault or worst.
Cavalry Horse / Police horse
BODY [7], MIND [1], SOUL [1]
Brawling [6]; Kick, Effect 8, Damage A:B, B:F, C:I/C
Wounds: B[ ] F[ ] I[ ] I[ ] C[ ]
Note: These are horses trained for combat and riot situations, and have better Brawling skill than a normal riding horse.
Police (equipped for riot work)
BODY [4], MIND [3], SOUL [4], Brawling [5], Melee weapons [5], Riding [6] (mounted police only)
Equipment: Shotgun or revolver, truncheon, handcuffs; mounted police carry long lead-loaded riot sticks, not truncheons.
Quote: "Get them!"
Winston Spencer Churchill (born 1874)
BODY [5], MIND [5], SOUL [5], Actor (oratory) [6], Artist (painter, writer) [7], Brawling [6], Business [7], Marksman [8], Melee Weapon [7], Military Arms [6], Riding [6], Scholar (history, military history, politics) [6]
Equipment: None
Quote: "Let the place burn..."
Notes: Probably the greatest British politician of the twentieth century, at this point the 37-year-old Churchill has been through several wars as a soldier, covered the Boer war as a journalist, and is already Home Secretary, the government minister responsible for law and order. The statistics above reflect this stage of his career. Churchill isn't a particularly nice person; his ruthlessness and ambition are already strongly developed. Later, if he survives, he will be exactly the right person for the job of bringing Britain through the Second World War.
See FF5-AD05.GIF for illustrations of the troops, vehicles and vessels described in this adventure.
Charron Armoured Car BODY
Tonnage
Engines
Speed (road)
Speed (off road)14
3
30 HP
28 MPH (45 KPH)
19 MPH (30 KPH)
Manufactured by Charron-Girardot et Voigts of France, this car was considerably ahead of its time. It was fully armoured (6 mm nickel/steel plates resistant to large-calibre bullets), and armed with a Hotchkiss machine gun (as Gatling) mounted on a 360 degree traverse turret. Wooden wheels were protected by steel plates; the tyres were stuffed with solid material and continued to work if punctured. It carried portable U-shaped tracks for crossing trenches and two headlights for night operations.
In our world the Royal Navy did run the first British armoured cars, but not until the Great War, when semi-armoured Rolls Royce Silver Shadows were used with desert forces. The Charron and earlier prototypes appear to have been in production well before the war; for the purposes of this adventure three were on trial in Britain when the insurrection began. The illustration may show a later model.
HMS Pathfinder (Light "scout" cruiser) BODY
Tonnage
Length
Beam
Armament
"
"
Speed
Crew
Craft
"
"75
2940 tons
370 ft
27 ft
10 x 12 lb guns (damage as howitzer shell)
8 x 3 lb cannon (damage as mortar shell)
Various machine guns (as Gatling), rifles, etc.
30 knots
Approx. 350
5 lifeboats (BODY 10)
2 motor launches (BODY 12)
Captain's gig (BODY 10)
Notes: HMS Pathfinder was built in 1904 by the Cammel Laird yards. All areas controlled by the anarchists are in range of her guns, and ammunition is effectively unlimited, but only the waterfront can be observed for accurate fire.
The statistics given are based on her capabilities at the start of the First World War, after a major refit, and may differ in detail from her true capabilities in 1911. In the real world she was the first British warship to be sunk by a German U-boat, on September 5th 1914, with the loss of most of her officers and crew. The illustration shows her at the start of the war.
City of Cardiff (Airship) BODY
Type
Gas volume
Length
Width
Length/Width Ratio
Engines
Load
Speed
Endurance
Gas10
Semi-rigid (blimp)
20,000 cubic ft / 566 cubic metres
96 ft / 29.3 metres
19.3 ft / 5.9 metres
4.9
20 HP
0.23 tons
19.6 MPH
10.5 hours (longest recorded flight)
Hydrogen
Notes: The Willows II, aka City of Cardiff, was the first of three very similar semi-rigid airships built by E.T. Willows of Cardiff, a balloon manufacturer, between 1910 and 1912 (the Willows I, built in 1905, was a much smaller craft). She was the first British airship to cross the Channel, and could carry a crew of 2 or 3 in an open framework under the main hull.
She was primarily an experimental craft and an advertisement for her makers, but could have been used for observation as described.
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries several million political and religious refugees fled Russia for Europe. Many settled in Britain, often living in conditions of appalling crowding and poverty, which fanned the flames of left-wing and anarchist politics. Most of their labour was sweated, with minimal wages paid for many hours of work. A loosely-organised International Anarchist movement was one result, and it came to be centred on London. This led to the accumulation of huge quantities of illegally-imported weapons in Britain, some of which were used in a series of violent crimes.
23rd January 1909: The Tottenham Outrage
Paul Hefeld and Jacob Lepidus (or Lapidus), Latvian Bolshevik refugees, attempted to steal the payroll of a rubber factory in Tottenham, London. They killed two, including a child, and injured 21 others including seven policemen, in a six-mile chase which involved the hijacking of a tram. When they were cornered Lepidus committed suicide, Hefeld was shot by the police, dying of meningitis two weeks later. This incident led to a general climate of fear of all left-wing political organisations and anarchists.
16th December 1910: The Houndsditch Murders
Anarchists belonging to a group allegedly led by Peter Piatkow (alias Peter the Painter) attempted to burgle a jeweller's shop in Houndsditch, in the City of London. They were discovered by the police and a furious gun battle began, in which three policemen were killed. One of the gang, George Gardstein, was critically wounded and died the next day. Papers found on and around his body confirmed that he was an anarchist, also active in the Latvian Bolshevik movement. Several suspects were named or described by the police.
January 2nd-3rd 1911: The Siege of Sidney Street
On Monday January 2nd an informant told the police that some of the gang were staying at 100 Sidney Street in Stepney, a four-storey boarding house built in 1900 which was part of a row of terraced houses (to protect the informant, the discovery was later reported by The Times as the result of careful detective work, involving many plain-clothes officers disguised as boot-blacks, beggars, etc.). FF5-AD01.GIF is a map of the general area with nearby streets inset to a larger scale. The house was a strong brick building with limited access from the front and rear. FF5-AD02.GIF shows the layout of the ground floor; the upper floors would have been similar (Details of the adjoining doctor's surgery have been invented for the purposes of this adventure). Just after midnight on January 3rd twelve detectives led by Detective Inspector Frederick Wensley took up positions around the house, with 200 men forming a perimeter around the block. So began one of the strangest incidents in the history of British law enforcement.
By 3 a.m. the house was completely surrounded. FF5-AD02.GIF shows the eventual positions taken up by the police and army. Most of the police were armed, but their weapons were poor-quality small-calibre rifles and revolvers. Wensley and other officers persuaded the tenants of the lower rooms to evacuate quietly, and tricked one of the suspects, Betsy Gershon, into coming downstairs; she was arrested. Two men remained in her second floor (U.S. 3rd floor) room; Fritz Svaars and William Sokoloff (alias 'Joseph'). The police decided that there was no way to take them unawares via the stairs; anyone trying would undoubtedly be killed.
At 7 a.m. a brass band hired to publicise the opening of a new bakery started playing in nearby Jubilee Street; the police ask them to stop, but music continued for the next hour. It also started to snow. Meanwhile, at about 7.30 the police attempted to begin a dialogue with the anarchists, and tried to attract their attention by throwing stones at their window. They replied by firing half a dozen shots at the police, injuring one man, Detective Sergeant Leeson. It soon became obvious that they were armed with Mauser automatic pistols, greatly superior to the weapons available to the police. While evacuating D.S. Leeson, D.I. Wensley came under fire and was pinned down on a roof for nearly half an hour; a local doctor was grazed by a bullet, but wasn't seriously hurt.
At about 8.30 the police requested reinforcements, troops from the Tower of London. The Home Secretary, Winston Churchill, was telephoned at home and asked to approve the order; he immediately authorised the police to use whatever force was necessary, then proceeded to the Home Office, later deciding to go to Stepney and see the siege for himself.
At 10.00 twenty members of the Scots Guard, led by Lt. Ross, arrived. FF5-AD05.GIF shows some of the guards in the street. Three took up positions in a brewery on Richardson Street, overlooking the house, and began rapid rifle fire into the flat. The anarchists moved downstairs, where they come under fire from more soldiers who were now in the houses across the road. Between 11.00 and noon sixty police armed with revolvers arrived, and a local gunsmith provided shotguns and ammunition. Large crowds of spectators were repeatedly moved back out of range of stray bullets, but at least two people were grazed and more had narrow escapes. At one point a postman insisted on delivering mail to most of the houses in the street, omitting only no. 100 and the doctor's surgery next door.
At noon Churchill arrived, and started to watch from the doorway of a nearby warehouse on the corner of Lindley Street and Sidney Street. He was jeered at by some members of the crowd, who blamed these events on the Liberal government's unrestricted immigration policy. Various plans for breaking in were discussed; at his suggestion the police tried to locate sheets of steel plate, to be used as mobile shields for assaults via the stairs or roof, and telephoned to the Army barracks at St. John's Wood, requesting artillery support.
At about 1 p.m. a fire started on the second floor; firing continued from both sides. By 1.30 the roof was also ablaze, and neighbouring houses are evacuated. Churchill ordered the Fire Brigade to stay out and let the building burn. Eventually the upper floors collapsed; the police and soldiers continued to fire until it was clear that there were no survivors. The artillery unit arrived on the scene shortly after the fire brigade moved in. Firemen set to work to extinguish the blaze and recover the bodies of the anarchists. A little later five firemen were caught by the collapse of a falling wall; one was killed. Fortunately there were fireproof partition walls between the houses on this block, and the blaze did not spread further. At about 8 p.m. the second body was found.
In the aftermath of the siege several more members of the gang were arrested and brought to trial; eventually two, Yourka Duboff and Jacob Peters, were charged with the Houndsditch murders, but acquitted on the Judge's instructions since there was insufficient evidence. Ultimately nobody was convicted of any offence related to the incident. Piatkow was never located or arrested; later evidence suggested that he had little to do with these crimes. Jacob Peters subsequently returned to Russia; in the wake of the Revolution he became an important Communist Party official, and was responsible for thousands of deaths in the Stalinist purges of the 1920s and 30s, but was himself eventually arrested and sent to Siberia, where he died.
Some unanswered questions remain; for example, it is unclear why it was possible to trick Betsy Gershon into leaving the room, but impossible to use this opportunity to get into the flat and capture the anarchists before they were ready to fight back. It has been suggested that the police were either over-cautious or deliberately let the situation escalate to ensure that the anarchists would be killed, as revenge for the deaths of the police they had murdered.
Although there is little evidence of strong popular support for the anarchists in Britain, if Churchill had been hit by a stray bullet things might have gone very differently...
Sources:
The Houndsditch Murders and the Siege of Sidney Street by Donald Rumbelow (1973, revised 1978)
The Times (January 4th 1911)
Everyman's Encyclopaedia (1948)
The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace (1901) is a crime novel whose background was based on the refugee problem that eventually led to the siege of Sidney Street.
This section provides a brief scenario and unit details for the game "Riot", written by Matthew Hartley and published by Irregular Miniatures, 69a Acomb Road, Holgate, York, YO2 4EP. It is published with the permission of the author.
The Outbreak scenario described here covers the events in the immediate vicinity of Sidney Street from 12.35 on Wednesday 3rd until about 16.00 the same day. It is a solo play scenario with the player controlling the police and the soldiers, and the game mechanics controlling the Anarchists.
The Area
The game area is a square 60cm by 60cm (assuming 1/300 scale figures). The road layout should be set out as shown in FF5-AD01.GIF of Sidney Street and surrounding area. All roads shown should be 25mm wide except Mile End which is 50mm wide.
The Security Forces
The Security forces have the following resources:
At least two bases of Police and one of Guards must begin the game in Sidney street with one base in contact with the Lyncher mob. The other bases may be placed anywhere else in the game area but not next to a mob. The Artillery arrive travelling west along the Mile End road after four turns.
The Security forces have 10 turns to defeat the mob of Lynchers.
Police Brutality may not be used.
The Anarchists
The Anarchists have the following resources:
The Mob of Lynchers are the Anarchists proper. They must begin play in Sidney Street with at least one base in contact with a security force base. The mob's target is the security forces.
The Mobs of Looters are small groups of opportunists making the best out of the situation. These four mobs should be placed randomly around the area.
Riot Unit Classifications For Further Games
Reproducing the entire Siege of Sidney Street scenario using Riot is rather beyond the scope of the game. However players may wish to experiment reproducing various scenes from the scenario. The Outbreak scenario described above covers the events in the immediate vicinity of Sidney Street from 12.35 on Wednesday 3rd until about 16.00 the same day. However, the various attempts to force barricades, the Marine actions and the final fighting are all suitable for wargaming.
In Riot terms, the forces are categorised as follows:
| Unit | Classification in Riot terms |
| Police on Wed. 3rd. | Non Missile-armed infantry (although the police had firearms, they were of poor quality and the police seemed unwilling to make full use of them). |
| Soldiers / Marines | Missile-armed Infantry |
| Police after Wed. 3rd. | Missile-armed Infantry |
| Field Guns (army) | Artillery |
| Mounted Police | Horse |
| Armoured Cars | Tank |
| HMS Pathfinder | Moves (on water only!) as a Transport unit. Fires as an Artillery unit. |
| Airship "City of Cardiff" | No effect. Since it was used for spotting duties only it is not counted as a viable base for the game. The crew of a crashed airship count as Non Missile-armed Infantry. |
| Anarchists | Lynchers |
| Field Gun (Anarchist) | Lyncher base with a barricade and a target of the barricade. This reflects the inability of the gun crews to inflict any serious damage on their targets. |
Police Brutality may be used only on days after the 3rd Jan.
New Rule - Barricades
Barricades can only be manned by Lyncher bases. Each barricade covers the entire width of a street. Lynchers manning a barricade must have the barricade as their target (thus preventing them leaving it except as the result of combat). Lynchers defending a barricade gain a +2 modifier in combat.
Security forces (or newsteams) may not move through a barricade, unless as a combat result. This movement will not remove the barricade. Security forces may remove barricades at a cost of 1 Action Point for each 25mm section removed (at 1/300 scale)
A series of mysterious incidents and a crackpot theory attract the attention of the adventurers, and lead to a desperate struggle to save London and all that the Nation holds dear. Again...
A setting in 1910-11 is assumed, so that this adventure can be run after The Blood-Dimmed Tide. Any year is suitable provided that you can obtain an astronomical calendar, as in 2.3 below.
If you are running adventures 1 and 2 with the same characters, use the introduction and opening scenes that follow to get the characters to visit the coast, then run adventure 1 before running the remainder of this adventure. Careful pacing is needed to ensure that characters return to London as planned.
Since by its nature this adventure is somewhat episodic, it is possible to run other adventures between episodes, with the events described here going on as unfinished business, more or less in the background until they become urgent.
04_THMS.GIF, 05_THMS.GIF, FF5-AD06.GIF, FF5-AD07.GIF and FF5-AD09.GIF are maps and plans that may be useful; FF5-AD08.GIF shows the nature of the catastrophe. The maps and plans from Adventure 1 may also be useful.
Choose an adventurer with an upper middle-class or lower upper-class British background and read the following:
"It isn't often that you think about your relatives; somehow they only seem to come to your attention when they're in trouble, dead, or both. But it's the festive season, your uncle Geoffrey's sixtieth birthday is on January 2nd, and he's invited you for a long weekend. You've heard a fairly reliable rumour that he's to be knighted in the New Years Honours list. Better toddle along to Margate; you like him and your aunt anyway, the mansion is comfortable, and he has an excellent cook and a marvellous wine cellar. You might even be able to wangle invitations for a few friends..."
No one would have believed, in the last years of the reign of King Edward VII, that England was being watched from afar by eyes alien and inimical, but lacking any normal intelligence...London is about to be attacked by an extremely unlikely monster; a giant lobster which is invulnerable to most normal weapons. The adventurers must piece together the clues to work out what it is, and how to destroy it before it is too late.
[H.G.Wells - The Ruins of London - 1912]
The chain of events which leads to the attack is somewhat bizarre; referees are advised to read this section carefully before running the adventure.
In August 1908 the Channel ferry Empire Star, en route from Boulogne to Dover, was delayed several hours by a breakdown. One of the passengers, later identified by passport as a Herr Johann Schmitz of Bavaria, became increasingly disturbed as night fell, and ran amok on the passenger deck shortly after moonrise. Although he was unarmed he somehow injured several seamen, and bit the throat out of a luckless passenger.
Fortunately one of the first class passengers was a diplomatic courier armed with a revolver, and used his gun and a knife from the buffet to drive the maniac back to the rail, where he jumped into the sea to avoid capture. Schmitz was never seen again, and it is assumed that he drowned. His passport was later found to be a forgery. Gradually the mystery was forgotten.
Schmitz was a werewolf, and vulnerable to silver. The passengers were lucky; the knife had a silver handle, and Schmitz was unable to approach it. If the courier relied on the gun alone, Schmitz would have torn his throat out.
Schmitz sank quickly, weighted down by gold coins in his money belt, and lacked the human wit to remove it. He drowned when the moon set, and his body eventually rested on the sea floor, where it was consumed by dogfish, crabs, and other scavengers. All of them were exposed to lycanthropy. While most were unaffected, one lobster somehow contracted the disease and is now a devastatingly powerful monster at the full moon; for the rest of the month it is an apparently normal lobster.
Lycanthropy is a disease of the body and mind; the mind influences the body, and turns it into whatever the victim fears most. For human victims this is usually some form of ravening beast, a wolf-man, bear-man, or something of the sort. Lobsters have no imagination, and are generally the most powerful creatures in their ecological niche; they fear larger lobsters more than any other foe. At the full moon the creature simply became a larger lobster, at first only a little bigger than the norm, but as the months passed it grew to gigantic proportions.
If a rationale is needed for this, readers are referred to the "scientific" background for Forgotten Futures IV. Lycanthropes gain their powers and draw their extra body mass from the strange phenomenon Carnacki and other scholars describe as "the Aeiirii form of semi-materialisation". This is best described as an energy field which mimics solid matter, powered by the rotation of the Earth in the magnetosphere. In cases of lycanthropy the motion of the moon through the magnetosphere also lends power.
Lycanthropes are vulnerable to silver, but are otherwise almost immune from harm at the full moon, since their extraordinary metabolism rapidly repairs injuries. If you are using the FF4 background they are also blocked by pentacles (especially the Carnacki electrical model) and powerful electrical interference.
At other times of the month the lobster is unusually tough, and can survive conditions (such as fresh water) that would kill a normal lobster, but is not invulnerable. In its giant form its supercharged metabolism sustains it, and stops its exoskeleton from collapsing under the weight of hundreds of tons of flesh. It repairs damage almost instantly. Unfortunately it needs vast quantities of food to sustain this peak, which is why it will attack ships, whales, and (eventually) London. Once the moon sets the lobster rapidly shrinks to its normal size.
As the adventure begins it is large enough to destroy small ships or devastate part of a city, transforms to its gigantic form for a few hours on two or three nights a month around the full moon, and is moving up the Thames estuary towards London. The timetable below shows incidents which the adventurers can learn about or see for themselves; events in 1911 are described in detail in later sections, and in the timetable below are continued for some time after it is hoped that adventurers will deal with the matter.
You are strongly advised to watch a few monster movies (especially Them, The Quatermass Experiment, and The Beast from 2000 Fathoms) and the earlier parts of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea to get the correct mood; begin with an atmosphere of mystery, gradually turning to fear, and avoid any temptation to play the adventure for laughs. A giant monster with claws longer than an omnibus should be frightening, regardless of its nature, and will be if presented seriously. If adventurers make guesses which come close to the truth do nothing to confirm them; in play-testing players jokingly suggested that they were dealing with a were-lobster early in the scenario, and were greatly surprised when they eventually learned that it was true. Above all else, referees should NEVER refer to this creature by any silly name; for example, Lobzilla is RIGHT OUT!
Some details of various locations have been invented for this adventure, if I wasn't able to obtain real details; for example, Southend Pier is real but didn't necessarily have precisely the shops etc. shown in this adventure in 1911.
All dates are on the night of the full moon unless marked [*] to show the night before or [**] for the night after. The British sinkings to December 1910 are shown on FF5-AD06.GIF; the full story is shown on FF5-AD07.GIF.
DATE
1908
Tue Aug 11
1910
Mon May 23
Tue Jun 21
Thu Jly 21
Fri Aug 19
Sun Sep 18
Mon Sep 19
Tue Oct 18
Wed Nov 15
Thu Nov 16
Fri Dec 16
Sat Dec 17
1911
Thu Jan 13
Sat Jan 15
Sat Feb 12
Sun Feb 13
Mon Feb 14
Mon Mar 14
Tue Apr 12
Wed Apr 13
Thu Apr 14
Sat May 11
Sun May 12
Mon May 13
Fri Jun 10
Sat Jun 11
Sun Jun 12
Sat Jly 9
Sun Jly 10
Mon Jly 11
etc.EVENT
.
Maniac runs amok aboard ferry "Empire Star"
.
Yawl "Juvenal" (French) sunk
Fishing smack "Jolie Annette" (French) sunk
Fishing smack "Anne-Marie" (French) sunk
Yacht "Rene Descartes" (French) sunk
Brig "Matilda" (British) sunk
Brig "Katharine III" (British) sunk **
Steam trawler "Eleanor Rose" (British) sunk
Coaster "Camelot" (British) sunk *
Collier "Eliza Martin" (British) sunk
Tanker "Oriental Star" (British) sunk *
Whale attacked (corpse drifts ashore Dec 30) **
.
Tug "Sea Challenger" (British) sunk in estuary *
Yacht "Beatrice" (British) sunk in estuary. **
Steamer "Brentford" (British) sunk off Southend *
Southend Pier destroyed - "submarine" glimpsed
Cottages on Canvey Island destroyed **
Barges in Northfleet harbour destroyed
Attack on Millwall Docks - monster seen *
Attack on Royal Naval Academy at Greenwich
Attack on Stepney, Royal Mint & Tower of London **
House of Lords destroyed *
Westminster Abbey destroyed
St. Thomas' hospital destroyed **
Hammersmith Bridge damaged *
Battersea Power Station attacked
Barges and steamers destroyed **
London Bridge destroyed *
Waterloo Station destroyed
Scotland Yard destroyed **
etc.
Uncle Geoffrey's birthday is on Tuesday January 2nd; those attending the party are invited to stay from Friday to Wednesday morning. This ties in well with the adventurers' other commitments.
Geoffrey (his surname is the same as the adventurer initially invited) is a well-preserved sixty, and is moderately rich; his company publishes magazines, books, and local newspapers for several towns along the South-East coast, with printing works in Margate, Hastings, and Ipswich. He is about to be knighted for services to the Liberal party and charity. His house is a large rambling Georgian mansion, with plenty of room for his family and friends, their servants, etc. Despite poor weather the weekend is pleasant, and as expected the food and drink are excellent.
Adventurers who feel compelled to start some sort of intrigue here should be discouraged; for example, the adventurer initially invited isn't in line to inherit much, since Geoffrey has a wife, children, and grandchildren and is on good terms with all of them. Plans to murder everyone else in line to inherit will founder on the fact that the residue of Geoffrey's will leaves small amounts to his nieces and nephews and the rest to charity. In any case he's an affable and harmless old gentleman, liked by everyone who knows him, including the character initially invited. If more details are needed, the others at the house include:
As already mentioned, this should be a quiet weekend without any problems, but if someone insists on starting trouble don't be afraid to follow through with whatever reaction seems appropriate. Margate has a small police force, but Scotland Yard can be called on for help if needed; a country house murder will not go undetected or unpunished. Anyone looking for trouble that isn't there should find some, though probably not what they expect; for example, all of the housemaids are engaged or married, their menfolk will not take kindly to sexual harassment. Geoffrey wants a happy birthday celebration, and anyone who causes problems will be asked to leave; if necessary Russell and Atkins (a former boxer) will help with the eviction.
Nothing significant happens until Sunday, December 31st, when the weather improves. The children come back from a walk saying that there's a dead whale on the beach. After lunch most of the adults go to see for themselves.
Currently Margate beach is in poor shape; the sand is mottled with oily muck. Don't comment on this directly, someone should slip on the oil.
The corpse is a beaked whale, about 25 ft long. It has obviously been decomposing for some time; it is bloated and smells foul, and hundreds of seagulls vie for a chance to snatch a tasty morsel. The cause of death seems obvious; there are deep gashes in its flesh, and broken ribs protrude from the blubber. Uncle Geoffrey guesses that it was run over by a ship and gashed by the propellers. He is mistaken; it was attacked by the lobster during its last metamorphosis in December. There is no way to determine this from the wounds.
If psychic characters are allowed, a Difficulty 6 roll will result in a feeling that the whale was attacked from below, not run over by a ship. There is an impression of intense pain then dark oblivion. Any attempt to summon the whale's soul at a seance should fail. Spirit guides etc. should have no idea what happened to the whale or the vessels mentioned below; their attention was elsewhere, and if the adventurers try to extract more information some ineffable but apparently VERY powerful spiritual presence will strongly "suggest" that they must _earn_ supernatural help by their deeds; the current situation is a test, to be solved unaided by the Other Side. See earlier collections, especially FF3, for other suggestions on making supernatural help less useful than might be expected.
A photographer from the Margate, Ramsgate and Whitstable Courier (owned by Geoffrey) is on the scene, and the corpse is being measured by council officials who are trying to work out how to dispose of it. Things are complicated by the fact that beached whales (including dead ones) are Crown property, which mean that the local Coroner or the Lord Lieutenant, both of whom are away on holiday, should deal with the matter. None of those present are familiar with the law, or entirely sure what to do. A small crowd of onlookers make (un)helpful suggestions. Amongst them is an elderly bearded man who is passing out printed handbills. They read:
