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Adventures from historical incidents

Dragoner

Dragoner

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Admin Award 2022
As the title says, I thought of this from the starship names thread, I'll start with a few:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Sherman_incident - Armed merchant trying to open trade battling it out with locals.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_expedition_to_Korea_(1871) - Gunboat diplomacy/mercantilism at it's finest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ganghwa - For the marine/naval infantry lovers, bonus: map included.



Let's see what everyone else can find for adventures/historical incidents.

Keep the discussion civil, please! :)
 
Dragoner said:
As the title says, I thought of this from the starship names thread, I'll start with a few:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Sherman_incident - Armed merchant trying to open trade battling it out with locals.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_expedition_to_Korea_(1871) - Gunboat diplomacy/mercantilism at it's finest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ganghwa - For the marine/naval infantry lovers, bonus: map included.



Let's see what everyone else can find for adventures/historical incidents.

Keep the discussion civil, please! :)
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Following up on your Korean post, see the following:
Marine Amphibious Landing in Korea, 1871 It is under the histories written in 1966. That gives the US side, based on letters from the Marine Captain involved. And is the source of the map.

Then there is the Marines in the Diplomatic Mission to Abyssinia in 1903, written in 1958. Then there is One Hundred Eighty Landings of the United States Marines, 1800-1934, written in 1934. All can be downloaded at the following website.

https://www.mcu.usmc.mil/historydivision/Pages/Staff/Publications.aspx

If those do not give you some adventure ideas, I am not sure what will.

Then, it depends on how much reading or research people are willing to do. You have all of what are called Queen Victoria's Little Wars to take a look at for possible use. The British Expedition to Abyssinia in 1866 would be an interesting one, even if you used high-level technology, as you have to rescue the diplomats and other hostages from the mountain fortress of a leader of highly questionable sanity.

For the World War 2 fans, you have all of the diplomatic maneuvering and secret meetings prior to the North African invasion to play with, including the mission to get Gen. Giraud out of France. For that matter, the entire US Army history of World War 2 is available for download from the Center for Military History website. For the British, the first two volumes of the Mediterranean and the Middle East are available online at the hyperwar website. The revolt in Iraq in the spring of 1941 as some interesting possibilities.

William Slim's An Unofficial History has some interesting possibilities, especially based on his service in India between the wars.

The US Army Combat Studies Institute has a lot of publications online to look over, some in PDF format and some as HTML. All are public domain material, although some of the photos might not be.

John Hemmings The Search for El Dorado, aside from giving some adventure ideas, it terrific for covering what is it like to operate in jungle terrain. Percy Fawcett's Explorations Fawcett has a lot of possibilities from operating in jungle, hostile natives, dishonest government officials, living in essentially a lawless area, and of course, pursuing a fabled lost city. You could also have your characters be given the job of capturing one of the 60+ foot anacondas that he reports. Given that he was a surveyor, and used to working with distances, I tend to give his reports some credence.

You also have T. E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom to work from for desert adventures.
 
Darn no talking of civil wars then :) I liked these stories and its the way I see a lot of action along the Imperium fringe. I am trying to develop my ideal navy size for my Five Sister's campaign. These events show that a small force can play a major rule in politics. They fit my idea of less emphasis on large fleets of the line and more of smaller gunboat gunboat fleets. When you look at historical fleets the larger ships of the line were few and far between and anchored in safe harbors.
 
timerover51 said:
That gives the US side, based on letters from the Marine Captain involved.
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not so trusting of marine officers after smedly? Just kidding. ;)


For that matter, the entire US Army history of World War 2 is available for download from the Center for Military History website.
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Interesting, US users only or worldwide?

I had a history professor 25 years ago in college who loved the big multi-volume history. I remember desperately cribbing from it in the stacks for a paper, trying not to be overcome by the fumes from the mimeograph in the same room. I used it to prove battle is physics (of which chemistry is important), my prof hated the topic but I still received an A; the nightmare of typing up charts on a typewriter.
 
Gray Pennell said:
Darn no talking of civil wars then :) I liked these stories and its the way I see a lot of action along the Imperium fringe. I am trying to develop my ideal navy size for my Five Sister's campaign. These events show that a small force can play a major rule in politics. They fit my idea of less emphasis on large fleets of the line and more of smaller gunboat gunboat fleets. When you look at historical fleets the larger ships of the line were few and far between and anchored in safe harbors.
Click to expand...

I would agree that a small force can have a large effect. I have developed a modified version of the Axis and Allies 1st Edition Pacific game, which includes the Netherlands East Indies as a player. After a lot of game, the effects of that small naval force is all out of proportion to its size, and students want to have the NEI to play. A small, well-trained force at the start of a war can have a major impact.

Dragoner said:
Interesting, US users only or worldwide?

I had a history professor 25 years ago in college who loved the big multi-volume history. I remember desperately cribbing from it in the stacks for a paper, trying not to be overcome by the fumes from the mimeograph in the same room. I used it to prove battle is physics (of which chemistry is important), my prof hated the topic but I still received an A; the nightmare of typing up charts on a typewriter.
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It is available for download to anyone who can access the site. There is also a lot more material that can be downloaded, including the histories of the Korean War.
 
Gray Pennell said:
Darn no talking of civil wars then :) I liked these stories and its the way I see a lot of action along the Imperium fringe. I am trying to develop my ideal navy size for my Five Sister's campaign. These events show that a small force can play a major rule in politics. They fit my idea of less emphasis on large fleets of the line and more of smaller gunboat gunboat fleets. When you look at historical fleets the larger ships of the line were few and far between and anchored in safe harbors.
Click to expand...

I like wiki for the in line text links that can lead you on a whole journey through different pages, like these.

Here are a couple of more links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Brunet - Adventurer par excellence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezo_Republic - Hopeless political dreaming, though not unlike a certain polity from Leviathan.



One great thing about history is that it isn't hobbled like fiction with having to be believable.
 
Dragoner said:
I like wiki for the in line text links that can lead you on a whole journey through different pages, like these.

Here are a couple of more links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Brunet - Adventurer par excellence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezo_Republic - Hopeless political dreaming, though not unlike a certain polity from Leviathan.
Click to expand...

These two articles cries out for being transposed, practically word for word (with a search-and-replace of 19th Century Earth people, places, and terms for Classic Era Traveller people, places, and terms), into the Traveller wiki.

Only trouble is deciding which Imperial system would correspond to Japan. I'm tempted to use Regina, but I can't quite fit the action into the history I've already worked out for that world.

'Japan' might be several moons orbiting the same gas giant. 'Hokkaido' could be another moon or planet, orbiting in a different orbit. The French could be Imperial officers.

Hmmm... needs further thought.


Hans
 
I am reading Castles of Steel now, and Admiral von Spee's journey seems like a great ship battle overstory to thread in PCs on a mission.

Instead of needing coal we can make his squadron need something like that, maybe going backwater to backwater capturing large cargo ships to convert to tankers to allow J-6 total out of a cluster.

The PCs are scouting, or getting there first to spread the word, or trying to sabotage or lock the cargo ships, or are the Scooby and Shaggy to lead the squadron into an ambush.
 
Both the 1879-1883 War of the Pacific between Chile at war with Peru and Bolivia and the Chilean Civil War would have a lot of potential as well. During the Chilean Civil War the Navy sided with the Congressionalists, but the government was able to get two torpedo gunboats from Great Britain and used them to sink one of the two ironclads of the Congressionalists. Then you also had the earlier war in the 1860s with Paraguay taking on Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. That one was one of the nastiest in history.

It all depends on what you are looking to use in your universe. There are plenty of instances in warfare that could be used, but also looking at some of the experiences of the major and minor explorers would be useful. Also, it would depend on the extent to which you let the players use high-tech items verses low-tech opponents, or if you adapt the incident or campaign to a modern period.

Having your adventurers hired to deliver and show the locals how to use flamethrowers and white phosphorus shells on a planet where you have the equivalent of the Battle of Lepanto shaping up would be very interesting, especially if they decided after their arrival that the patron was backing the wrong side, in their view.
 
kWhen I read about Roarke's Drift, I found myself thinking, "Typical party of PC's! Always getting in over their heads..."

Or maybe that's a new line for the "You Might Be A Traveller Player If..."
 
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Then there is the USN's very first misadventure in Vietnam... USS Constitution, under Captain John "Mad Jack" Percival, in May 1845!

The account can be found here (pages 279-284):
http://books.google.com/books?id=iq8VGJ2_LrQC&pg=PA283&lpg=PA283&dq=A+Sad+Want+of+Sound+Discretion&source=bl&ots=DQ6SVb9avU&sig=fL59I29o_ib2M2sdQMj_zwJit6s&hl=en&sa=X&ei=l8BgUIf_EJK-9QTqoYGAAw&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=A%20Sad%20Want%20of%20Sound%20Discretion&f=false

It can all be best summed up by
Fifth Lieutenant John B. Dale very cogently summed up this first Navy-Marine Corps experience in Vietnam by writing in his journal that evening: "...it seems, I must say, to have shown a sad want of 'sound discretion,' in commencing an affair of this kind, without carrying it through to a successful conclusion."
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Gray Pennell said:
one of my all time favorite ships were the PT boat. Though no single story on this page I think its good info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PT_boat

The boat is perfect for a players group. Imagine evacuating a high ranking officer from Jewell. Or playing a part in sieges of the 5th FW or even not in open conflict.
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If you like PT boats, the official history of US PT boat operations is available online at the following link. Unfortunately, I have not found it as yet in a PDF download format.

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/CloseQuarters/index.html

Also, if you like PT boats, you might like this short video. It covers the finding of John F. Kennedy's PT-109. I am somewhat partial to it as I am the one that identifies the wreck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElI451TxsTg

The US Navy's submarine supply operations to the guerillas in the Philippines would also be good as a basis for adventures, with your players, preferably one with a Free Trader running weapons or technology to one of a Balkanized planets factions.
 
BlackBat242 said:
It can all be best summed up by
Quote:
Fifth Lieutenant John B. Dale very cogently summed up this first Navy-Marine Corps experience in Vietnam by writing in his journal that evening: "...it seems, I must say, to have shown a sad want of 'sound discretion,' in commencing an affair of this kind, without carrying it through to a successful conclusion."
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

In other words, "Oops!" :oo:
 
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