Mission: Adventure! ... sort of

Saturday, the Evil DM posted the following about new virtual tabletop campaign he'll be running with several players from the Midnights Lair Message board via Skype and Screen Monkey.

His summary:

The characters are part of a global organization known as the World Science Agency, a private organization that recruits Scientists from all countries and conducts research and investigates all manner of scientific phenomena. The bulk of the organization is research oriented and they have facilities throughout the world. The elite of the organization belong to The Special Missions Bureau.

Each member is a expert in at least one scientific field. the scientists are divided into teams that of 4-6 members and are sent to investigate any scientific issues that may have global impact. Each team is given the code name of a famous scientist (i.e. Team Galileo, Team Edison, Team Del Rio, Team Jung, etc.)

Because of the active and often dangerous circumstances the teams find themselves in, members are required to be physically as well as mentally fit. Many have military training or extensive field work experience. The Special missions "Boot camp" is in Guyana and has former members of the American Rangers, British SAS, and Russian Spetsnatz amongst its cadre.

The system that he will be using is Cartoon Action Hour RPG. For a demo, check out http://www.scribd.com/full/6075830?access_key=key-7ijzthamq4fxgvqkxp4. For a full chapter, go to http://www.scribd.com/full/6075905?access_key=key-12rzcba8j0crxt03m0z8.

From one of the players during brainstorming sessions at Midnight's Lair:

I'm thinking I'd like to play the older scientist guy with the deep voice. "Watch out for that Cynthiallosauras, Timmy. She may look soft and cuddly, but her fur emits a dander that can cause a severe allergic reaction in humans. If you look here, under the fur, you'll see where the dander—well, bless my microscope, in explaining to you this phenomenon, I appear to have touched the fur myself and—AH CHOO! AH CHOO!"

Doc Sinclair collapses into a sneezing fit while the rest of the crew stands around laughing. [Arms akimbo, chests moving up and down simultaneously, cut to commercial.]

The full character info on this character (Dr. Alan Sinclair) can be found at http://www.midnightslair.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4173&page=4.

Other characters are:

Dr. Khoraj Singh is a native of the Punjabi region of India. He was educated in England and is considered a leading specialist in tropical diseases, as well as a practicing general surgeon He served in the British army medical corps.

Nate Bowie is originally from Arizona, he is the great grandson of the famous adventurer Jim Bowie. Nate is an exceptional pilot, qualified in virtually every type of aircraft known. Nate was a Marine Corps Aviator Korea. In addition to his piloting skills he is an accomplished mechanic, and an extraordinary marksman. He is well known in Hollywood circles as the best stunt pilot in the business.

While reading all of this, I also ran across American Science & Surplus, an on-line surplus store that's more Dr. Quest than Sgt. Rock. It's the kind of place a mad scientist would shop to get all of his global domination needs. They have "Robot partz," German Navy scuba gear, old Warsaw Pact mine detectors, and more lab coats and beakers than you can shake a Bunsen Burner at.

The Swiss Army surplus carrier pigeon backpack ($14.95 each) made me wonder what an evil genius could do with a squadron of winged warriors using American Science & Surplus as their quartermaster. In short, it's a great place to brainstorm for wannabe Cartoon Action Hour GMs.