The Morrow Project Operation Deep Freeze, Podreczniki RPG, The Morrow Project
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THE
MORROW
PROJEXZ
You knew it WQS dangerous when you first joined the
Project, but you had hoped that the worse
.was
behind
you now. ‘Ihe shock
of
awakening in the 22nd century
seemed to bring you closer with the other members of
your team. They’ve become your lost link to life
before
the holocaust. As you move through the trees you begin
looking for clues that might explain what happened to
your missing companions. A glint of steel catches your
eye-a
tranq-rtilizer
dart. Whoever it is, has captured your
friends
alive
and possesses some technology. From over
your radio 0. team member announces they’ve found tire
tracks leading south.
You regroup at
Bamocles, your
muin base. Fearing for your friends’
safety
you act
quickly. Leaving a skeleton crew behind, the rest of you
set
out in
the
fusion-powered
V-350 in search of your
missing comrades.
By
Robert
RoHHJnthal
lliutiratad by Waker Moore
AS a member of the Morrow Project, an organization dedicated to
preserving mankind, yw had agreed to be CrWgdcaltY froten. You
expect to awake shortly after the next nuclear war, sometime More
the year ZOOO. Taams such as yours wara planted a31 across the
U.S.
CAMPAIGN
BACKGROUND
‘-
with the most SsphisMrted equipment, but as atways, “The beat laid
plans of mice and man. . e .”
Your team awakes in tha cruel environmant of the 22nd century
wham ganatic mutations and vicious clans thrMan your survival.
Upon awakening you were to be conuscred by prime bass and given
orders basad on the situation at hand, It has baen over a year and
that contact has naver baan made. So you follow your prime dirac-
tive, to aid the surrounding populace howevar you can. You sat up
your own prime baoe at an ex-army complex you’ve found in the
upper peninsula of
MEchigrm. Tiw
base is run by an artifiiiatty intrtlli-
gfmt computer known as Damock?s. with its help you hav8 managd
to raise other teams ratlying them Bt Damoclas, Life is not aasy but a
new 8ra begins to bloom.
News
of your gallantry and knowledge bagan to spread. These
tales arousad the curious who were looking for a place to sattle. it
aI%3 aroused the greedy who w8re looking for profit,
This scenario is designed for an ongoing Morrow Prclject campaign,
Members from an existing team are abducted by Slavers and sold to a
group of renegade geneticists known
as
the Breeders. During playtesp
ing, two members from Damocles were kidnaped while out on a
hunt. The remaining team was then fed ad tk crms+country odyssey to
find them, Exactly where this takes place wil be largely dictated by
the campaign in progress. On the search the team ran inro a small
military force and the swarm enemies of the Marrow Project, the
Warriors of Krell. The Morrow team at Damocies had their own prob-
lems, as they had to fight off an attack from an advance group of
KreHs. The scenario ended with the team finally rescuing their cap-
tured companions only to find themselves cutoff from Damocles by
an army of &ells. All or none of these events may apply to your
campaign,
but fleshing out the adventure should give the imaginative
Project Director something ro think about.
PROJECT
D~CTOR’S
BmFrNG
tracking roll tire tracks will be found indicating which
way ttre
Slawers went, If this fails, an escaped slave will tsti
THE ABDUCTION
The method of the abduction witi vary somewhat with
the players which way the Slavers were heeded with his
dying
breath.
terrain. The Slavers wilt attack a group of three or fewer
members with full surprise on their side. Assuming a for-
Once capturad, the players wiil be handcuffed to a
to
arrest
the paralysis.
asted terrain two Slavers will ba in trees with nets, while
siawr
and then given the
antitoxin
There are 10 slatiers
and &ppru%imately
10 to 20 slaves.
two others wiil ba well camouflaged in the bushes with
The other salves ara mostly towns people and some suffer
#art pistols. The dart ia a nerve agent that will cause
almost immediate paralysis. aeath will occur in seven min-
from genetic defects,and radiation poisoning. The Slawers
are equipped with two P’/a:ton trucks and at least one fire-
utes after the paralysis takes effect unless an antitoxin is
given. Use Table D of the poison chart on p. 42 of the
arm per person, @us the equipment from the captured
gamebook
each round to see if the pareiyds takes effect.
Morrow Project members. The Slavers are taking the
Any communications the players get off to home brrse
majority of tl?eir slaves to the Rich Five. The Morrow per-
shouid be the only clues the other pfeyers
have as to what
sonnet end another slave of uncontaminated stock will be
happened to their friends. itf
the
players captured are to
picked up along the way by a small group of the Breeders
play another character until they are rescued then ail they
in a jeep and an XR311 captured intact. The Morrow
should know is they were shot, and possibly dead.) An-
team shouid have a chance equai to their tracking ability
other method of capture would use one of the female
to detect the tracks of the other two vehicias. Use any
slaves with her foot caught in a steel trap, When the team
subtractions deemed appropriate due to weather condi-
comes to het aid two Siavers
with gas masks hidden near-
tions, The Slavers will continue on into tha Kentucky
by will throw two Bt grenades. All the captured piayers
highlands selling the rest of their slews to the Rich Five,
should be told is that they were hit by two grenades.
before turning about. If they meet up with the team on
When the area is searched either the darts or the BZ canis-
the return then they will turn tail back to the Rich Five
ters will reveal that they were not killed. On a successful
rather than fight.
DtFFERENT WORLDS
he2
/
asked
any question they’ll refer the team to otd man
“THE RICH FiVE
Merlin. He knows all there is to know around these parts.
The Rich Five is a group descended from five wealthy
industrialists who were frozen along with a portion of
OLD MAN MERLJN
01d man &Win is
actually
a young boy who appears
to be.
their empire befora the war. Awaking from their cryo-
no more than ten years old. He does not know how he’
genie chamkrs a hundred years before the first Morrow
came by the name, only that he’s been eatled
old man
t@%m, th%y began rebuifding their world. They are equip
Merlin for as long as he can remamber.
He lives with his
pad with aH the luxuries that a third world country might
mute mother in a shanty hidden in the woods, Old man
offer and the b%st weaponry avaitabfe
to any military
force in the
warld.
731%~ have rabuilt much of th%ir sur-
Mertin has the power of divination among others and the
people provide him with food and services for answers to
rourvding
ar%4I through slaver labor until it is now progress-
ed te a mixture
of the late 1800’s with 20th century tech-
their
problems.
nology. The members of the Rich Five do not ask wherer
th% Slavers g@t their staves, so they do not feet that thay
He
seems to already know an inordinate amount of
information about the Morrow Project itaalf
and wit!
W% doing any wrong. They’re doing a service by providing
a
suitabie
gladly aid the team in exchange for
gift. The gift
b%tter food and housing that W of the slaves are W
can be a service if desired or any of the equipmbnt that
the team has with them. Old man Merlin is att~%ingrmd
to. Their own comfort and that of r%buitding
their parent
empire is their prime a)n&rn. As long as the t%%m does
not int%rf%m or insult
will know all the ttquipment that the t%am potssss%s. Ha
a msmbar of the Rich Five, they
wilt request
only something that he might find us% for. A
will be wary helpfu!.
gyrwr for example.
tf the Morrow team approaches them about their miss-
Once the service or gift is delivercad,
old man Merlin
ing campsnions, they will be apologetic; but they will not
will call the team member who has shown the most
turn over the Slavers
as they provide a much needed s%r-
wisdom and compassion into his home. Merlin will iead
vice. They wilt offer to show ther team the slaves just sold
that person into a candlefit
room of the hous% they hav%
to see if any of them are their abducted companions. If
not seen before. He witI ask that the team member
sh
any of the slaves are questioned, they will tell the team
quietly while he prepares. Merlin wilf light a sweqt
smell-
that some of the healthier stavtts were taken from the
ing incense and start to chant. After ten minutes he witi
truok a couple of days back. Tha Rich Five hearing this
stare directly into the eyes of the chosen t%am menbar
wilt be notably furious that healthy slaves were sold to
and while his lips do not move, he will appear to speak.
another group. They wilf ask the Morrow team to be their
“fhe answer to the lo&ion of your missing companions
guest and allow them to stay at one of their homes while
will come to you from the skies above in two days time.”
they get to the bottom of this. If the team refuses the
The t%am should be given this time to g%t their bear-
Rich Fiw,
will be insultied
and will ask the team to wait
ings, rest up, and to make any necessary repairs they ne%d
outside of town. They enjoy showing off their resources
to their vehicles. At the end of the s%cond day, a great
aimost as much as they do using them. tf the team stays
thhsy will each have their own room and all the luxury of
mass in tha sky wilt be seen coming from the west. At firrt
it wit1 appear to be a large spaceship, but with the aid of
what was onca conaid%r%d modarn day living.
their binoculars the taam will be able to d%t%rmine
that it
The Rich Five will torture ona of the Slavers
to reveal
is a group of 11 hot air balloons joinad
together in
who the other Morrow Prow m%mbers
were sold to.
common ftight. They wilt pass over the town as they
descend, landing in a clearing 16 km outside of Avalon.
They will USB this information to barter with the team for
a fusion pack or something of equal value, If the team is
forced to flee, then they should encounter the Slavers
The townspeople will look on in aw%, but wNl fael
unthreatened as M%rlin has foretold of the grsat air
wagons’
ltaeving the next day. It shoukt be made very cfear to the
arrival.
team that they cannot win any sort of a fight with the
Rich Fiva without heavy losses and a prolonged war. The
The Ballooners are mad% up of 15 families, They hawe
landed
to get fuel and to do some trading if ths town
only information the Slavers wlfl have is that they sold the
looks prosperous enough. It will tak% them an hour or
others to the Breaders who live somewhera in the moun-
tains to the wwt. The Rich Five will know that the
more to tie down their bafioonr securely
and it is during
this time they are the most teery of strangers. They
possess a large number of telescopes
Breeders are a group of renegade geneticists who operate
and binoculars and
out of what
used to be the central
part of Colorado. The
will be surveying the ar%%. Any large or weM-armed
chicle
problem now is in Locating the Bteed%rs’
prime base,
approaching witl be warned to stop short by a shot from
on% of the cannons on the t&loons. If the team does not
stop then the Ballooners will shoot
OR
% more warning shot
WESTWARD HO!
The Morrow team wiit have to travers%
over 1800 km to
before firing on the vehicle. The cannon fire is fromtwo
Rh202 mounted on each side of the ship. They have a full
reach
the Breeders’ main base. The amount of encounters
load of API shells, a handful of gr%nad%s, and oth%r
that occur should be up to the discretion of the Project
armaments.
Director. At least on% major encounter should occur on
stops, then Big Jak%,
along
with cm% of
If the vehiule
the
way to
Colorado as thery will cross a vast expanse of
the other men, witt approach the team with Ml rifles in
land. R%mamb%r
the prime directive of the Morrow
hand. 6ig Jake will explain that they are simple wayfarers
Project Is to aid others in whatever capacity they c%n; and
looking for trade in these tough times. “We ain’t looking
undoubtably the team should meet some people in need
for no trouble, but we’re prepared to handle it if’n it
of aid along the way.
comeS etong. So
de&we
yourself now; be you friend or
Along on% of the trails, 160 km from the Breeders!
foe?” Assuming they declare themseW
friend, Big Jak%
base, is a small town by th% name of Avalon. The people
will introduce himsrtlf
and
invite the team m%mb%rs ovat
are mostly farmers and afthough they are friendly, when
lrdio
JAN/FEB 1986
to their camp for drink and talk. The vehicles will have to
stay put though, the Ballooners having had trouble with
similar vehicles before.
The Ballooners will be very chatty and are interested in
finding out all they can about the areas the team has
traveled through. If asked, they have never heard of a
group called the Breeders, but the place that they ran into
the trouble with some similar vehicles is about a 160 km
from here. The Ballooners saw some
of
the horseless
wagons similar to the team’s, only smaller, going into a
cave in the mountains. “Hoping to find some good trading
we began to descend before being chased off by some
shots from below.” The Balloners have maps and will
gladly show the team where the area they were shot at is
located. If the team seems overly anxious then the
Baltooners will ask for some trade in return for the infor-
mation. The more persistent the team seems, the higher
the price. This might be anything from a case of whiskey
to a look at the autonav if made known to them. The
maps will show the team is located 160 km from the cave
the Baltooners spotted, This is the Breeders’ main base
and is located on the continental divide in Geneva basin
near what used to be Grant, Colorado.
THE BREEDERS
The Breeders were so named because of the bizarre breed-
ing experiments they carry out on themselves and their
captives. A religious belief has developed among them that
from the Chaos, as they call the war, a race of supermen
will emerge. They are descendants of a group of scientists
that were caught in a secret U.S. military installation
when the war broke out. They were working on the
effects of prolonged cryogenic sleep on the human body
at the time. Realizing they were trapped, they began
working on a means to leave without harm from the radio-
active fallout outside. They developed a serum that would
allow their cell tissue to reflect the radiation thus allowing
themselves free movement outside, Unfortunately some-
thing went wrong.
A small group of volunteers injected with the serum
went outside for the final test. The radiation, along with a
bacterial agent in the area, caused a gradual change in the
serum injected into their bloodstream. At first they found
themselves becoming overly sensitive to the sunlight and
unable to digest their food. A strange awareness began to
develop with the other members of their group, a form of
telepathy. When they were brought back into the base, it
seemed they were doomed to die. All of the volunteers
were given an immediate transfusion. The fresh blood
coursing through the veins of the volunteers seemed to
awaken an age old instinct. They started to attack all of
the uncontaminated people in the base. No record of the
btoodbath that followed is known. The remaining scientists
managed to force the demons they once called their
friends out into the wilderness, They now work feverishly
on one thing only, finding a cure for those original volun-
teers who risked all and lost. As time passed, the work of
the group became more diverse, they began looking for
ways to improve the human condition. Fearing the brave
new world their children would have to face outside, they
started to experiment with ways of making them stronger
and more intelligent. From this hope developed the idea
of perfecting a race of supermen from a pure stock that
could rebuild the world.
As time progressed the Breeders developed a symbiotic
relationship with the demons they had forced out. These
demons became known as the Children of the Night to the
surrounding populace. After repeated attacks, the people
of the area moved away. The Children of the Night
became the guardians outside of the Breeders’ installation
in return for human victims from failed experiments. If
the team should defeat the Breeders, the Children of the
Night will begin roaming the countryside looking for
food.
The area surrounding the Breeders’ prime base contains
a much greater number of mutations due to the Breeders’
inhuman experiments on all forms of life. The day belongs
to many of these creatures, but come dusk the Children of
the Night rule. There are several caves and a well hidden
passage into the installation’s lower level where the
Children reside during the day. The Children number
about 150 and cover a SO-mile radius from the Breeders’
base. They communicate telepathically and can call up to
fifty members to come within a fifteen-minute period.
They will stay away from any large vehicle preferring to
attack only when they have overwhelming odds in their
favor. They will come no closer than a hundred meters to
the entrance of the Breeders’ base unless forced to for
defensive
purposes.
THE BREEDERS’ BASE
A successful tracking roll is necessary to detect tire tracks
leading into the rock face of the mountain where the
Ballooners reportedly saw the horseless vehicles enter a
cave. The area is above the tree line and there is no cover
M4
DIFFERENT WORLDS
within 200 meters of the rock face. Two half-meter thick
steel double doors disguised as part of the rock formation
lead into the Breeders’ base. Roll ID20 against intelli-
gence to find the double doors if the tire tracks are not
detected. A 3D10 roil versus intelligence is required to see
the cameras hidden in the rock face walls. The cameras
cover a 12.meter radius in front of the doors. Anyone in
view has a 20% cumulative chance per minute to he
noticed by the person on guard unless they are already on
an alert.
How the team gets into the base
will
depend much on
what they find and on how creative they wish to be. Any-
one with mathematics or physics skill will be able to
determine that the cameras have a 1.5.meter
near the center of the doors. It would require two success-
ful climb rolls to make one’s way along the rock face to
where they could drop down into the blind spot next to
the door without being seen. The doors are 4.meters high
and are operated electronically from area 7C and from
garage door openers under the seats of the Breeder?
vehicles. There is a 15% cumulative chance per day that
the Breeders’ truck will go out for a food-gathering expe-
dition for 2010 hours. One of the best ways to get in is as
a stowaway on the truck. Allow the team to find their
own way in, given time they’ll think of something. If they
decide fo try and blast their way in, the Sreeders should
have enough armament to hold them off until night fall.
The Children of the Night will do the rest.
blind spot
MS
JAN/FEE3 1986
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