Indiana Jones and Elliott Ness

Last summer I posted a series of nine articles on this blog to mark the fortieth anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark being released in theaters. This year I'll post just one to mark the day, June 12^th.

-Nate

Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues is a feature-length TV movie set in Chicago in 1920—told as a flashback while an older Indy and his friend Greycloud are working to recover a pipe this is sacred to Greycloud's people. That business serves as a frame, then, for Indy's story about how, while attending the University and working as a waiter, helped investigate the murder of his employer, “Big” Jim Colosimo. In this tale Indy reveals that his college roommate was none other than the up-and-coming crimefighter, Elliot Ness. This is nine years before Ness and his associates would manage the arrest of gangster Al Capone, as depicted in the film The Untouchables among other places.

http://d20pirates.blogspot.com/2021/06/rotla-and-tha-combining-archetypes.html

All of this came to mind recently while I was paging through a little book called Lost Treasures of American History, a little hardcover book by W.C. Jameson. The final chapter of the book tells the story of the gangster “Dutch” Schultz, who accumulated millions of dollars' worth of cash, bonds, jewelry, diamonds and gold through his criminal enterprises throughout the 1920s and 1930s. The story goes that—as the authorities and his criminal rivals were closing in on his operations—he and an associate, Lulu Rosencranz, buried an iron chest containing much of this wealth outside the town of Phoenicia, Connecticut. Eventually the rivals caught up to both of those men and gunned them down in cold blood; they took the secret location of the buried loot to their graves.

With all of this in mind, it's fun to imagine how Indy and Ness would go about hunting for that cache of loot—and to wonder which crime bosses would send their minions in pursuit of it, too.

Developments for the National Treasure TV Series

While the development by Disney of a TV series based on the National Treasure movies (2004 and 2007) is not news, I think a couple of recent developments are noteworthy. For one, Disney recently released a first image of the cast members, who seem to have run into some legal trouble.

A second bit of news is that actor Justin Bartha will be reprising his role as Riley Poole from the films.

This certainly helps create continuity between them and the TV series. What is more, the fact that his Poole wrote a book, The Templar Treasure and Other Myths That Are True, begins to open up a whole world of possible adventures. Such a book would definitely be a useful plot device for an RPG campaign. It will be interesting to see how the series develops that world, using the long-form pacing that is possible on TV as opposed to the big screen.

-Nate

The Wreck of the Skylark

The newest full-length scenario for the Savage Worlds RPG and Treasure Hunter Adventures is now available. The Wreck of the Skylark starts with the heroes pursuing a strange cipher, which leads them into the hunt for a sunken vessel from the Napoleonic Wars--and the loot that it contains. 

-Nate

The Wreck of the Skylark

Third Preview for The Wreck of the Skylark: The Napoleonic Wars and a Cipher

Here is the third and final preview for The Wreck of the Skylark, which will be released on Saturday. 

-Nate

First, here's a short video explanation of the Napoleonic Wars. 

Second, here's a curious cipher that was used by the British for sending secret messages to agents on the Continent. 

Second Preview for The Wreck of the Skylark: Maps

As a second preview for The Wreck of the Skylark, here are the four maps involved in the adventure. 

-Nate

Here's the ground floor of the Meybohm Museum in London. 

From there the action could spill out into the streets of London.

Clues might lead from there to the northwestern coast of France.

Here's the deck plan for the titular vessel, based on the diagram below. 

First Preview for The Wreck of the Skylark: Appendix N Update

Here's an update to Appendix N, including four books that provided inspiration while I was writing The Wreck of the Skylark. 

-Nate 

Title: Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes

Author: Edith Hamilton

Publisher and Date: Mentor, 1990

Overview:

When it comes to reading an overview of Greek mythology, this little book is hard to beat. It covers lots and lots of stories, telling them without any unneeded embellishment, and has some genealogical charts along with a comprehensive index. It also fits nicely in a cargo pocket, if you have one.

Title: Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas

Author: H.A. Guerber

Publisher and Date: Dover, 1992

Overview:

This book, too, provides a thorough overview of the stories from Nordic mythology, and it adds black-and-white copies of notable paintings depicting its subjects. The fact that it was first published in 1909 means that it sometimes seems old-fashioned in how it tells tales. One also wonders what discoveries involving these topics have been made in more than a century, and thus what new details might be missing.

Title: The Terror Before Trafalgar: Nelson, Napoleon and the Secret War

Author: Tom Pocock

Publisher and Date: W. W. Norton, 2003

Overview:

This book focuses, as the title implies, on the part of the Napoleonic Wars leading up to the defeat of the French off Cape Trafalgar by British forces including Lord Admiral Horation Nelson. It includes information about Robert Fulton, the American inventor who worked on new technologies such as a submarine and torpedoes, offering to sell them to whichever side would fund his research and development. This was an enjoyable read.

Title: Mirage: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt

Author: Nina Burleigh

Publisher and Date: Harper, 2007

Overview:

Here's another title that's pretty self-explanatory. When Napoleon sent troops to invade Egypt, he also sent along a group of scientists called savants. There task was to investigate the natural and cultural wonders of Egypt, including the many tombs and temples with their enigmatic artwork. They made numerous important discoveries—especially in finding the Rosetta Stone—while at the same time committing many of the misdeeds common among colonizing outsiders. This was another good read.

Spelljammer for D&D 5E

This is interesting. I've played 5E, but not run it. I love the setting, and so this could be enough to make me take the plunge. 

-Nate