A Nick In Time While returning from their latest mission, the Time Lord and his human companions receive an urgent message from the Celestial Intervention Agency. Gallifrey's sensors have detected ominous ripples in the timestream, and the CIA wants them to investigate. The message contains a set of time/space coordinates identifying their target point as July 12, 1928, Dresden, Weimar Germany. The Hut That Never Was Time: 9:05 a.m., July 12, 1928 The TARDIS materializes on the outskirts of Dresden, just at the edge of a small, sunlit forest glade. The center of the clearing is blocked by a milling crowd of German civilians and a line of helmeted, grim- faced policemen. Instruments aboard the TARDIS indicate that the temporal disturbances monitored on Gallifrey originated in the area being guarded by the police. When the characters try to get past the police line to investigate more closely, they'll be stopped and directed to Sergeant Manfred Streicher. Streicher, a red-faced, bull-necked man, is surrounded by a jabbering mob of trenchcoated reporters. As they approach, the characters will hear Streicher roar, "No! I can't give you any more details! My orders are to seal this area off for the homicide squad. So clear out!" Gamemaster (GM) information: if the characters want to talk their way past Streicher, one ofthe character's will have to use his verbal interaction skill in Bluffing. This task is DIfficulty Level V with a + 3 die modifier. If the characters are wearing strange clothing, add 2 more to the die roll. Finally, subtract up to 5 from the roll for good role-playing. Streicher's patience is frazzled. The homicide squad is an hour late, and the reporters have been persistent. If the roll succeeds, Streicher will give them the following information, and he'll allow them to inspect the cordoned-off area. For several weeks the Dresden police have been keeping tabs on a notorious monarchist, Count Erich von flauksherg. Early this morning, Hauksberg suddenly checked out of his hotel and set off out of the city on foot and carrying a hulky suitcase. When two Policemen tried to arrest him in this clearing, he resisted and, according to eyewitnesses, "fried one of them to death with some sort of miniature flamethrower." The second policeman vanished without a trace, and the homicidal count ran inside a small wooden hut in the center of the clearing. The hut promptly disappeared! Streicher will be happy to provide the characters with a complete description of Erich Non Hauksberg. A tattered blanket covers the charred corpse of the first policeman, and a patch of trampled grass shows where the fatal struggle took place. Several objects litter the ground, including 3 mint-condition copies of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroads Book of Train Timetables for January-March 1861. There's also a sheet of crumpled paper, and a battered copy of History of the American Civil War (published Berlin, 1906). If the charcters search very carefully, the characters will also find the doll-like corpse of the second policeman. If the characters can't bluff their way past Streicher, they'll have to create some sort of diversion to get the police away from the area. Allow them to succeed, but they'll only be able to find the physical evidence, and they won't get a description of Hauksberg. The real homicide squad will arrive after the charcters leave. The Missing Detective Time: 5:02 p.m. February 21, 1861 The TARDIS materializes in an alley next to the Palm Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. The hotel's white, clapboard walls are plastered with placards urging support for the Confederacy and its President, Jefferson Davis. Inside the Palm's luxurious lobby, a pompous desk clerk will direct anyone asking for Alen Pinkerton to Room 211. Unfortunately, Pinkerton's clerk, a pale, sullen man named Phineas Mountjoy, is the only person still there. He'll tell the characters that his employer received "another gentleman caller about three hours ago, and rushed off to Philadelphia in great excitement." If pressed, Mountjoy will admit that Pinkerton's visitor was a D Litchman and that lie told some "wild- eyed story about a plot to assassinate the President-elect on his way through Baltimore." Philadelphia Stories Time: The players can choose their own arrival time, but if they show up in Philadelphia before 11:00 p.m., Pinkerton will still be enroute from Baltimore by train. The TARDIS materializes in Philadelphia, near Independence Hall. A quick check of the local newspapers or any passersby will reveal that Mr. Lincoln is staying at The Clarendon Court, just a few blocks away. A vast crowd surrounds the hotel, standing under torchlight, reading the latest papers, drinking heavily, and raising periodic cheers for the Union. If they can fight their way through the boisterous crowd and into the hotel, the characters won't he able to talk their way into to see the President-elect. Lincoln's suite is guarded by Colonel Sumner, a gruff, white- haired Regular Army officer. Sumner's bad temper will flare, and he'll threaten to arrest the characters if they persist in their pernicious efforts to bother Mr. Lincoln. Instead, he'll let them wait in the hotel corridor, along with a horde of news-hungry journalists and ambitious, amateur politicians. At 11:36 p.m., pudgy Allen Pinkerton will race up the hotel stairs and down the hall to Lincoln's suite. After a brief, whispered conversation, Sumner will let him inside. When he emerges an hour later, the famous detective will appear depressed and deeply worried. If the characters approach, they shouldn't have any trouble winning his confidence, and Pinkerton won't hesitate to tell them about the sinister plot that he's uncovered. According to the detective, a confidential source told him a group of Southern bandits plans to assassinate the President-elect on the afternoon of Saturday, February 23, when he changes trains in Baltimore. Even though he has overwhelming evidence of this plot, Lincoln won't alter his travel plans. GM information: If the characters in' to convince him that Hauksbergs information is false, Pinkerton won't admit that he's ever met Hauksberg-- he's protecting a confidential source--and he can't be convinced that the assassination plot isn't real. However, the detective will gladly let them tag along with him as he follows Lincoln from speech to speech in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, the state capital. Throughout the next day, the characters will see several people resembling either Hauksberg, or if they found the second policeman's compressed corpse, The Master. All of these sightings are false alarms. They'll keep the characters busy, and if Pinkerton is watching, their mistakes will reinforce his already enormous confidence in his own powers of detection. Late in the afternoon of February 22, Pinkerton will be called into a meeting with Lincoln and his advisers. He'll be very excited when he comes out an hour later, and he'll tell the characters that Frederick Seward, Senator Seward's son, has just told LinColn that both the Senator and General Winfield Scott have confirmed his warning about a secessionist assassination plot. As a result, Lincoln has changed his mind and now plans to take the night train from Harrishurg to Washington. He'll be accompanied only by his friend Ward Lamon and by Pinkerton. Pinkerton will let the characters come along if they wish, but he won't listen to any idle chitchat about Hauksberg. The Night Train Time: 11:03 p.m., February 22, 1861 Harrisburg is enveloped in a cold, damp fog when the group slips out their hotel's side door and onto the city's darkened streets, Lincoln's tall, spindly figure is cloaked and he's wearing a soft felt hat instead of his distinctive "stovepipe," His friend Ward Lamon, a burly frontiersman, carries a pair of pistols and a Bowie knife under his overcoat. At this hour, the train station is almost completely deserted -- abandoned to late travellers and slumbering derelicts. The night train to Washington has a caboose, a baggage car, a sleeper coach, a saloon car, and one steam locomotive. Lincoln and Ward Lamon have booked a compartment at the front of the sleeper, while Pinkerton and the characters have tickets for seats in the smoke-filled saloon car. The saloon car is filled with poker-playing, hard-drinking businessmen and travelling salesmen, and the characters won't be able to sleep even if they want to. GM information: The trip to Philadelphia is uneventfiul. A search of the saloon car and baggage car won't turn up any sign of Hauksberg. All of the sleeper's compartments are locked and searching them would prove embarrassing, Pinkerton certainly won't allow the characters to endanger the secrecy of their mission in conducting such a search. Shortly after leaving Philadelphia, however, the train conductor, a paunchy little man, will work his way forward from the caboose collecting tickets and exchanging gossip and insults with his passengers. If they ask him, he'll tell the characters that a Dutchman did book a compartment at the end of the sleeper car. As far as the conductor knows, he's been there ever since. If they rush back to the sleeper car, they will be just in time to see Hauksberg coming out of his cornpartment. He's wearing a gray wool business suit and has an overcoat draped over his right hand. He's also carrying a black cane in his left hand. Any character making an ITN Saving Roll at Difficult Level IV will see a snub-nosed blaster poking out from underneath Hauksberg's overcoat. If Pinkerton is with them, Hauksberg will walk forward to greet him trying to bluff his way in to see the President-elect. "I half some new information about the affair we discussed I think that it iss urgent." Make a roll using Hauksberg's Bluffing skill at Difficulty Level III with modifiers created by the characters' words and actions. If his bluff succeeds, Pinkerton will escort Hauksberg forward toward Lincoln's compartment If, on the other hand, Hauksberg doesn't manage to fool Pinkerton, the characters should he able to persuade him that something is very wrong and that the G rinall nobleman should be stopped and questioned If he's outnumbered by more than 3:1, Hauksberg will throw his coat and jump off the train. If he makes it, the Master s TARDIS will suddenly appear and rescue him. While the characters have foiled a deadly plot against Abraham Lincoln, Hauksberg will escape to serve The Master's ambitions in some other time and sorne other foul plan. If he isn't faced by more than three opponents, Hauksberg will try to fight his way forward to get a blaster shot at Lincoln. If Pinkerton isn't with them, Hauksberg will walk forward as if he's on his way to the saloon car--he won't immediately recognize the characters as opposition. If the characters try to stop him, he'll fight back using the blaster and his sword cane. Again, if he's badly outnumbered, he'll try to escape. Remember that any loud fight or argument in the train corridor wll alert Lincon's bodyguard, Ward Lamon. He won't come out into the corridor, but he also won't hesitate to fire his revolver through the door if he thinks the Presiden t-elect is in danger. This could save the day if the characters fail to stop Hauksberg. The Dresden Evidence Do not give the players the information contain the following sections unless their characters can inspect each piece of evidence they've gathered. The B & 0 Timetables Book: This book appears new with uncreased pages and ink that's hardly dry. Two trains are underlined in red. The first is Feb. 22 train from Harrisburg to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. The second is for for Feb. 23 noon train from Phiadelphia to Baltirnore and Washington. The Crumpled Piece of Paper: This sheet is covered with hastily scribbled notes. The early morning dew smeared the ink and only a few of the notes are still legible. Among them are "21.2.1861, 1700 hrs., meet Allen Pinkerton, American detective, staying at Palm Hotel, Baltimore. The History Book: This book has obviouslv been read a number of times. A tattered bookmark has been inserted at page 281, and the following passage is underlined in red: Without Lincoln, it seems unlikely that the North could long have sustained the straing odf defeats suffered during the early years ofthe Civil War. A weaker, less determined President might have accepted Southern proposals for an armistice recognizing the Confeeracy. If this had happened, America would be plit into two two warring camps forever at each other's throats. A series of handwritten notes have been scrawled in the margins of the page. 'No doughboy hordes! No meddling Wilson! Victory for Germany and the Kaiser restored!" Non-Player Character Name: Count Erich von Hauksberg Attributes: STR-Level V CHA-Level IV END-Level VI INT-Level IV DEX-Level VI ITN-Level IV Combat Statistics: Armed Combat, Foil, Sword Cane-Level VI Armed Combat, Blaster-Level IV Significant Skills: Bluffing-Level V Appearance: Height-Tall Build-Slender Looks-Attractive Apparent Age-Mature Adult Actual Age-33 Recognition Handle-Aristocratic Bearing, duelling scar on left check, monocle in right eye, short blond hail. and blue eyes Hauksberg was born in 1898--33 years after the end of the American Civil War. During World War I, he served on the General Staff and rose to the rank of Colonel, Hauksberg is both arrogant and clever. He speaks English with only a faint German accent and can lie fluently in both languages. He has been able to convince Pinkerton that be is a long-standing admirer of the United States and its democratic form of government. In reality, he detests democracy and loathes the Weimar Republic imposed on Germany after the Great War. His goal is to restore the glory of Imperial Germany. He believes that The Master has offered him a chance to fulfill that ambition. Patrick Larkin has authored several Star Trek pieces for FASA Corp. and other FASA Corp. products, including Battledroids. Dr. Who is a copyright 1985 of BBC Enterprises. Dr. Who is used with permission of FASA Corporation. The Dr. Who Role-playing Game and modules are copyrights 1985 of FASA orporation and are used under exclusive world-wide license. Back to Table of Contents -- Game News #6 To Game News List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1985 by Dana Lombardy. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com