James Bond RPG - From Russia With Love

An Adventure
for 1 to 4 Players
PLUS Gamesmaster
For play with the
James Bond 007 Game
For Ages 12 to Adult
Victory Games Inc
VICTORY GAMES, INC., New York, NY 10001
Danjaq S.A. (1961)
Eon Productions Limited / Glidrose Publications Limited (2003)
Important Notice
to Playtest Volunteers
This pre-release layout of the "From Russia
With Love" adventure module is provided
under the condition that you do not distribute
its contents, in part or in full, to anyone other
than approved playtest volunteers.
The layout includes the complete contents
of the Game Book, Screen and Handouts for
the Adventure. Where final artwork is currently
unavailable, photographs from the movie
have been substituted in this version (except
for the box front and back which remain as
art-free mockups).
Remember to provide your playtest feedback
to us before 5PM EST, 19 December 2003. And
remember to keep a lookout for the finished
product in 2004!
Victory Games Inc
An Adventure Module
for the James Bond 007 Game
CREATED AND PUBLISHED BY VICTORY GAMES, INC.
ADVENTURE DESIGN
ADVENTURE EDITOR
ADVENTURE DEVELOPMENT
Danjaq S.A. (1961)
Gamesmaster Guide
2
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE ADVENTURE MODULE
Table of Contents
Part I: Introduction and Briefings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
A. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
B. The Temporal Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
C. Briefing for the Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
D. Q Branch Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
E. Briefing for the Gamesmaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
F. Notes on the Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Part II: Non-Player Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
A. Enemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
B. Allies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Part III: Places, Events and Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
A. Ataturk Airport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
B. Station House T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
C. Investigating Tatiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
D. The Covert War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
E. The Gypsy Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
F. Investigating Grant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
G. Russian Consulate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
H. Stealing the SPECKTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
I. The Orient Express. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
J. At the Italian Border . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
K. Boat Chase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
L. Final Gambit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Part IV: Adventure Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
A. Consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
B. Altering the Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
C. Further Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Part V: Thrilling Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Credits:
3
3
he From Russia With Love Adventure Module
is designed to be played by up to four players
and a Gamesmaster. It presents a challenge to one
00 rank, two Agent rank characters, or a party of
four Rookie rank characters. Guidelines for modify-
ing the adventure to suit parties consisting of char-
acters of different ranks are offered in this booklet.
This adventure involves the characters in a particu-
larly complex and challenging mission and is best
suited to experienced players and gamesmasters.
Note: The information contained in this book is for
you, the Gamesmaster, only. Players should not read
this booklet.
As Gamesmaster, you should be quite familiar
with the adventure as presented in this booklet be-
fore you attempt running it. You should read through
this booklet once to become familiar with the con-
tents of the mission. Then you should go over it care-
fully, highlighting the main points with a marker
and making any notes you feel you will need.
If you are familiar with the movie, you will no-
tice that some backgrounds for the NPCs and the
basic plot have been altered from the film. These
changes have been made to keep your players from
anticipating events and to instil an element of sur-
prise. It is recommended that you inform your play-
ers at the start that they will not simply be replay-
ing the movie. You may, of course, alter the adven-
ture to make it fit your own campaign.
This booklet is organised to present the infor-
mation in a logical, sequential manner while you run
the adventure. The Briefing for the Players in this
section provides the background information given
to the characters at the start of the mission. You can
either read this material verbatim or paraphrase it
in a conversation between M (you) and the charac-
ters. Q Branch Equipment describes the special
equipment available to the characters during the
course of the mission. The Briefing for the
Gamesmaster contains the events that have hap-
pened before the mission starts and the plans of
TAROT strategist Alexei Kronsteen. The Notes on
the Adventure section includes information on how
a typical mission will run, a timetable for the mis-
sion, notes on the props in the Mission Envelope,
and a description of the maps that are used in the
adventure.
The chapter on NPCs includes the allies and
enemies the characters will encounter during the
mission, and gives you information on how to
roleplay these characters effectively. The chapter on
Places, Events, and Encounters describes the loca-
tions the characters will most likely go to, what will
happen when they get there, and special circum-
stances for meeting important NPCs. The chapter
on Adventure Information describes the conse-
quences should the characters succeed or fail the
mission, suggestions for altering the adventure, and
other missions that can be designed using the ele-
ments of this adventure. Finally, the Thrilling Cit-
ies section provides additional information about
Istanbul beyond that found in the James Bond 007
Game.
There are eight Mission Sheets included in the
Mission Envelope that provide maps and clues for
the characters. These sheets should be given to the
players as explained in the text. The Mission Sheets
include: a map of Istanbul; M.I.6 dossiers on Tatiana
Romanova and the SPECKTOR decoder; a photo of
A. Introduction
Part I:
Introduction
and Briefings
T
4
4
Romanova signed From Russia with Love; blue-
prints and sketch maps of the Russian Consulate
in Istanbul; two Russian Consulate identity passes;
a brochure describing the luxurious Orient Express;
a transcript of an encoded message; and a chess col-
umn torn from a newspaper. Some of these props will
have to be cut out and then handed to the players.
The central four pages of this booklet contain
maps of major locations the characters will probably
visit during the mission. The stand-up screen con-
tains floorplans of the Orient Express carriages, and
a map showing the path of the train. These maps
are for the GMs eyes only and should not be shown
to the players.
B. The Temporal Setting
More than many other James Bond story, From
Russia With Love is a tale firmly rooted in the Cold
War. The portrait of Istanbul as a town drowning in
intrigue between Russian and British spies; the sti-
fling atmosphere of intrigue between East and West;
the defection of Communists and their willingness
to sell secrets in exchange for asylum. All these
things are closely tied to the Cold War period in
which the novel and film were set. Clearly radical
political and social changes have swept through
Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union over
the past decades, and many of these Cold War insti-
tutions have been swept away with them.
When running the From Russia With Love ad-
venture, the Gamesmaster should decide for him-
self or herself exactly when the adventure takes
place. The obvious option - setting the adventure
in modern day is problematic. While the twenty-
first century still contains echoes from the Cold War
era, much that is key to the adventure has changed
forever. The Gamesmaster would need to either con-
sciously ignore the anachronisms, or re-tool the plot
to refer to more contemporary political intrigues.
An alternative approach would be to run the
adventure in the time period in which the stories
were originally set the 1950s or 60s. While most
published material for the James Bond 007 Game
refers to play set in the world of today, running in a
pseudo-historical presents an interesting change of
pace. In practice, there is surprisingly little that the
Gamesmaster needs to do to run a game in such a
setting.
Flavour details such as what model car the char-
acters drive, or what type of gun they carry might
need to be reviewed. Gadgets also need to be consid-
ered from the point of view of the technology of the
period there are no portable miniature computer
chips in the 1950s, for example. In practice most of
these issues can be addressed by cosmetic changes
instead of the agents having access to a high-tech
modern device which can perform some amazing
feat, the 1950s spy might have access to a mechani-
cal or electronic gadget that can do the same thing.
Since James Bond gadgets rarely adhere to any re-
alism, both make just as much sense.
A third option for time setting is to place the
adventure in the default now of the Victory Games
James Bond 007 Game, the mid 1980s. While a lot of
the Cold War institutions this adventure refers to
have weakened significantly by this point in time,
the Cold War is still (nominally) going on.
Gamesmasters who are not overly concerned by
anachronistic plot points could easily run the ad-
venture in this setting, using the published game
materials.
Another source of potential anachronism is the
escape from Istanbul on the Orient Express. The
actual Orient Express ceased operation in 1977, to
be resurrected in 1982 in a limited form which did
not bring it anywhere near Turkey or Yugoslavia. If
the adventure is set after 1977, the escape should
more properly occur on a less prestigious and luxu-
rious train, perhaps a none-to-comfortable carriage
of the type found commonly in Eastern Europe. This,
of course, is a much less glamorous location. For this
reason a Gamesmaster may wish to either invent
an alternative escape route, or simply ignore the
whole issue and have the Orient Express run anyway.
C. Briefing for the Characters
It is 10:00 on the morning of Wednesday Sep-
tember 10 and the characters are in their offices in
the London M.I.6 compound, dreaming of the exotic
places and people encountered on their latest mission.
They are also idly hoping for something anything
to come up to take them to other, even more exotic
places. Anything to get them away from the business-
like humdrum routine of a civil service desk job.
As they lazily sort through the small mound of
papers and envelopes that have accumulated on their
in trays while on assignment, one of the charac-
ters encounters something unusual. In amidst all
the official-looking mail nestled between a memo
from Q-branch dryly announcing new standard is-
sue luggage (of all things), and a new price-list for
the ghastly M.I.6 cafeteria sits a small, slightly
5
5
crumpled pink envelope. The unusual envelope bears
an unfamiliar stamp in the top right, and a post-
mark read only after considerable squinting that
suggests it was sent from Istanbul in Turkey. Turn-
ing the letter over, the character momentarily senses
a faint rush of perfume wafting up. They also notice
that the letter has clearly already been opened. As
the character pulls up the flap on the back, they won-
der to themselves what this mysterious piece of mail
contains. Thoughts go through their head about mail-
bombs and biological contaminants. But this is a let-
ter which has already passed through M.I.6s scru-
pulously secure mail room, so it must be safe surely.
Still with some trepidation, the character opens the
envelope, only to find a small slip of paper bear-
ing the words Come to my office immediately M.
Hurrying up to the top floor offices occupied by
the head of M.I.6, the characters soon find them-
selves in the presence of Moneypenny who appears
to be in an atypically sour mood. In place of her tra-
ditional banter with the agents, all she offers is a
withering stare and a vague hand gesture towards
the padded leather door of Ms inner office. Beyond
they find their superior seated behind his large,
sparsely covered desk, wearing a worried expression.
As the characters enter the large office, he is en-
grossed in reading a manilla folder marked SE-
CRET. One hand unconsciously drifts towards a
small tray of confectionary balanced carefully on the
side of the desk. The characters stand nervously for
a moment or two, wondering whether M noticed their
arrival. Just as they are about to clear their throat
to draw his attention, he looks up from the folder
with a curious look which is part accusation and part
I knew you were there all along.
Dispensing with any pleasantries, M launches
into a quick interrogation of the character who re-
ceived the perfumed letter. He addresses that char-
acter directly, asking What do you know of a
Tatiana Romanova? Neither the character under
questioning, nor any other characters, have heard
of this woman, and presumably they say as much to
M. Are you sure?, he rejoinders, Shes not one of
your contacts or informants? Not someone
youve fraternised with in the past? His questions
are laced with heavy sarcasm, clearly accusing the
character with having had some sort of improper li-
aison with this woman, whoever she is. Again the
character presumably protests their innocence in
this matter. M pauses for a moment, looking the char-
acter directly in the eye. After a moment his iron
stare is replaced by a more moderate gaze as he ap-
parently accepts the characters claims. Hmm
very well, let me explain a little, he continues.
Yesterday morning, we received a letter ad-
dressed to you personally care of British Intelligence,
London. The letter was apparently sent from Istan-
bul in Turkey some days ago. It was intercepted, of
course, by our efficient mail staff as being quite unu-
sual on a number of counts. Isolating the letter in a
safe environment, it was opened, and found to con-
tain a short note addressed to you by one Tatiana
Romanova. While we dont know much about
Romanova, we do know that shes a cryptological
clerk working for the Russians in Istanbul. The con-
tents of the letter were quite remarkable, though.
Here take a look. At this M hands the characters
the M.I.6 dossier on Tatiana Romanova which con-
tains the text of the note plus a brief background.
As the characters read through the note, M con-
tinues. In essence what this woman says in her let-
ter is that she wants to defect to the west, and is
willing to secure asylum here by bringing with her
one of the Russians most secretive decoding ma-
chines a SPECKTOR. But the most ridiculous part
of her story is that she will only agree to come to
England, and to bring us this incredibly valuable
prize, if you personally accompany her out of Tur-
key. You see, she claims that she has fallen in love
with you. Apparently from a file photograph in a
dossier the Russians keep on you. It must be quite a
photograph if shes willing to risk her life by steal-
ing the Soviets most advanced cryptographic device
and handing it over to us. Assuming, of course, that
the offer is genuine.
Of course, as you have probably deduced for
yourselves by now, the offer is almost certainly not
genuine, but some kind of trap. And the bait is this
cipher machine, the SPECKTOR a brand new one
no less. Weve been trying to get our hands on one of
these devices for years, as have the CIA, so as a piece
of bait its a masterstroke. While we could just ig-
nore this offer on account of its clear duplicity, it
6
makes more sense to investigate further. After all if
there is any chance whatsoever that we can get our
hands on one of these decoders, we simply must look
into it. Youre booked onto the 8:30 flight to Istanbul
tomorrow morning, your mission to investigate this
woman and her offer with an eye towards guaran-
teeing that the SPECKTOR returns with you to Brit-
ain. Do whatever it takes. Oh, and in case you need
any extra enticement to pursue this mission, the
woman also sent this in the envelope. He hands
the characters a black and white photograph of
Tatiana, who is obviously a very attractive woman.
On the bottom corner of the picture, written appar-
ently in lipstick, is a caption which reads From
Russia, With Love.
As the characters ponder the comely image of
Miss Romanova, M leans over and presses the in-
tercom, speaking into it Miss Moneypenny, would
you please send the other gentleman in now. After
a moment, the padded leather door opens again and
an anonymous-looking man in a black suit enters
the suite.
A short but awkward silence is broken by M, Ive
asked this gentleman to come along and explain a
little about the SPECKTOR and its importance to
the British Intelligence effort. Hes not from M.I.6,
but rather is part of another intelligence arm of
our Military. While these people dont like using
names, I can assure you that the gentleman here
today is a foremost expert in the field of signals in-
telligence. He falls quiet for a moment, apparently
a little unsure about how to continue.
Reluctantly, the man in the black suit begins his
briefing by handing a single-page dossier to the char-
acters. He speaks in a drone-like monotone, simul-
taneously affecting a superior air, I dont know how
much you people are taught about cryptography, but
let me tell you that it is one of the most essential
parts of the British Intelligence effort. Each day doz-
ens and dozens of messages are intercepted from all
around the world. Some of these are mundane com-
munications: nothing more than a situation normal
or nothing to report. Some, however, convey abso-
lutely critical information about the enemy, his as-
sets and his intentions. Most often the messages we
intercept, particularly from our more significant
enemies, come encoded in some way. And it is only
by cracking the codes that are used that we can ex-
tract the information contained therein. Until this
century, the codes or ciphers that were employed
were relatively simple, a few letters substituted here
and there. Modern cryptography is considerably
more complex, with the number of combinations
numbering in the millions or even thousands of mil-
lions. These complex codes are way beyond code-
books and people scribbling on paper; they require
complicated mechanical or electronic devices to cal-
culate the encoded version of a message, and to undo
this encoding at the reception point. With such codes,
the job of cracking them is extremely difficult un-
less some inside information is available, such as
the process by which the encoding or decoding takes
place. Of course its even better to have an actual
decoder machine, since then we can just feed our
intercepted messages through the device and pick
off the plain-text messages that are being sent.
The man pauses a second for dramatic effect,
then continues, Up until about five years ago, we
had the Russians covered as far as codes are con-
cerned. Pretty much all of their codes we had either
cracked or possessed decoder devices for. We could
routinely read virtually every message that they sent
or received. All that changed, however, with the in-
troduction of the SPECKTOR. The amount of secrecy
surrounding this device has been phenomenal. Al-
though it has been in use for some years, we know
nothing of how this piece of equipment works. We
do know that the SPECKTOR is used exclusively
for the transmission of the most sensitive messages.
So you can see that the opportunity to obtain one of
these decoders, or even to know how they work in-
ternally, offers much to Britains national security.
While the man in black has been speaking, M
has been somewhat absent-mindedly picking pieces
of confectionary from his tray and eating them. As
the man falls silent, he looks for a moment confused.
He hesitantly moves to offer the confectionary tray
to the cryptographic expert, but changes his mind.
Instead, he simply says, Erm thank you, that will
be all.
The black suited figure rises and leaves the of-
fice. With a resolute expression, M winds up the brief-
ing, So you can see that theres an awful lot riding
on this mission. Your contact in Turkey is Kerim Bey,
the head of our stationhouse in Istanbul. Hes served
M.I.6 for many years, and knows the city better than
anyone. You must make contact with Miss Romanova
as soon as you can, firstly to discover whether her
offer is genuine, but also to gather from her any-
thing you can about the SPECKTOR and where it is
kept. While I dont normally endorse agents frater-
nising with their opposite numbers, in this case I
instruct you to use whatever methods are at your
disposal to carry out your investigation of this
woman. If you can win her confidence, and even get
her back to England with the decoder, there is much
we could learn from her.
Somewhat abruptly M concludes the meeting,
That will be all. Remember, youre on the 8:30 flight
tomorrow. And watch your back. Just as the char-
acters are standing up from their chairs, M holds up
the confectionary tray for the characters, saying,
Turkish Delight? Theyre my favourites.
7
PART I: INTRODUCTION
D. Q Branch Equipment
When the characters visit Q Branch to requisi-
tion equipment for their mission, they will find the
laboratory uncharacteristically quiet, with many of
the work areas unoccupied and unlit. Q hunches over
an untidy workbench brimming with pieces of
unguessable electronic internals. He wears an even
more tired and world-weary expression than usual,
and reacts somewhat grumpily to the characters
presence, firing off a quick Oh its you!
If the characters enquire as to why Qs precious
laboratory is so deserted, he will reply with a sharp
quip: well if youd have read the inter office memos,
youd know, wouldnt you? The bean-counters at
Whitehall are saying that Q Branch has overspent
on this years budget and wont have any more funds
available until the new year. Madness.
Characters who express concern or scepticism
that an organisation like M.I.6 could be held up by
such bureaucracy elicit a sigh of resignation from Q.
Well, yes, obviously its all utter madness. Ive been
up to M a dozen times since the word came down,
but its no use. He may have the power to send a
man half way round the world to kill another man,
or to save him, but theres one thing he cant do, and
thats to make a Civil Service bureaucrat see sense.
The practical upshot of the situation lamented
by Q is that there is a less than normal amount of
equipment available for the characters to requisi-
tion. In particular, there is no new or special gadget
Q can assign for this mission.
But, Q will point out, I can give (each of) you
one of our latest standard issue attache case. Were
starting to get them out to all our agents in the field.
Already got a few of our agents out of some uncom-
fortable situations. He will then proceed to explain
the various features of the attache case and its con-
cealed weaponry. As they are leaving, he will fire of
the typical parting salvo: And be careful with that
(those). I want it (them) returned in one piece, if its
all the same to you. There are other agents that will
have to use this equipment, thank you all the same.
STANDARD ISSUE AGENTS ATTACHE CASE:
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
This espionage accoutrement is slightly heavier
than other cases of its ilk, for good reason. Within
concealed compartments there are 50 gold Sover-
eigns, 40 rounds of ammunition concealed in two
separate sections, a knife, an infrared telescopic
sight, and an AR-7 folding stock survival rifle (see
below). Lest anyone attempt to borrow any of the
items in the case, there is a cartridge of tear gas
(disguised as a container of talcum powder) which
activates whenever the case is opened inappropri-
ately. To open the case properly, the latches must be
twisted horizontally before they are released.
The tear cannister will attack with a Primary
Chance of 20, almost all attacks occurring at EF 5.
The gas does Damage Class F, but all damage greater
than an LW is removed after 15 minutes clear of the
gas. The LW result is healed 24 hours after the
gassing.
AR-7 SURVIVAL RIFLE
This rugged rifle is meant to be a hunting/sur-
vival arm for pilots who have been shot down and
subsequently forced to parachute into enemy terri-
tory. It was never intended to be a main combat
weapon. Its adoption by M.I.6 (and incorporation into
the standard issue agents attache case) was due to
its portability and concealability the AR-7 weighs
just 2.75 pounds and its magazine, barrel and re-
ceiver can be stored in the butt stock of the rifle. The
AR-7 fires .22 long-rifle ammunition in semi-auto-
matic mode. The comparatively short barrel lessens
the accuracy of the AR-7, but it is accurate enough
for the mission for which it was designed.
The Attributes of the AR-7 are shown below. The
concealment rating of the AR-7 assumes the rifle is
stored in its stock for the first rating; when it is fully
assembled there is no modifier. The AR-7 requires
15 Action Rounds (1 minute) to be either disassem-
bled or reassembled.
PM S/R AMMO DC CLOSE LONG
+1 2 8 E 0-20 50-100
CON JAM DRAW RL
+3 99 -2 2
8
E. Briefing for the Gamesmaster
THE ASSASSINATION GAME
The approach by Miss Romanova and the offer
of the SPECKTOR decoder is, as everyone guesses,
part of a trap. A trap to eliminate the characters,
some of M.I.6s top agents, while simultaneously
netting the SPECKTOR for the world-wide terror-
ist organisation TAROT.
For some time TAROT has held Britains Intel-
ligence services in high contempt: recent years have
seen several of their extensive plans foiled by M.I.6,
in particular by its elite 00 agents. Frustrated with
this constant interference, TAROT has decided to
directly target their opposition. To this end their
master strategist, chess grandmaster Alexei
Kronsteen, has devised a fool-proof plan.
Note: If the characters playing this mission have
defeated TAROTs plots in the past, this plan is par-
ticularly crafted in a way which entices M.I.6 to as-
sign these agents to the case. If the characters have
never dealt with TAROT before, Kronsteen has care-
fully engineered their assignment by virtue of the fact
that they are the most capable M.I.6 agents of which
he is aware.
The basic details of the Kronsteen plot are sim-
ple although the means he has chosen to execute
them are as Byzantine as befits a chess grandmas-
ter. TAROT plans to lure the characters to Istanbul
by the promise of obtaining the much sought-after
SPECKTOR decoder device. Kronsteen realises that
his method of baiting the trap by arranging for a
beautiful young Russian cryptographic clerk to of-
fer the device to M.I.6 will appear suspicious. He
reasons, however, that the British will not be able
to resist the chance to obtain this latest piece of Rus-
sian cryptographic hardware, sending agents de-
spite realising that it is a trap. Once the M.I.6 agents
are in Turkey, the plan is to allow them to under-
take the dangerous job of obtaining the SPECKTOR,
kept in the Russian Consulate under heavy secu-
rity, and then to assassinate the characters once they
have the device. In this way TAROT can achieve
two goals: revenge against M.I.6 (and in particular
agents who have foiled them before), and the own-
ership of the decoder for their own nefarious pur-
poses.
In executing his plan, Kronsteen has adopted a
complex strategy. Rather than having TAROT op-
eratives actively pursue the agents, or assist them
in their theft of the decoder, he has opted to make
use of a number of factions in Istanbul, over which
TAROT have recently gained control. In this way
Kronsteen can orchestrate his scheming as a kind
of puppet-master, wielding influence from behind
the scenes without ever assuming any risk to himself
or to TAROT directly.
The first piece of Kronsteens puppeteering was
the selection of an innocent young cryptographic
clerk inside the Russian Consulate in Istanbul.
Kronsteen wished to bait his trap in a convincing
manner, so it became vital to find someone who had
plausible access to the SPECKTOR and who would
also be willing to approach M.I.6 with a proposal
(the bait). In finding such a person, Kronsteen made
use of one of TAROTs highly ranked new recruits,
Rosa Klebb. Klebb has very recently defected from
Russia where she had occupied the head role in the
counter-intelligence agency SMERSH. For reasons
of prestige the Russians have suppressed news of
her defection (neither M.I.6 nor most of SMERSH
itself knows of her betrayal even now). Thus it was
that Klebb could readily arrange a meeting with a
clerk from the Russian Consulate and, posing in her
former role, task them with a special mission for
the Russian state. The clerk she chose was Tatiana
Romanova, primarily because her beauty would
make her an even more powerful lure for M.I.6s op-
eratives. The mission given to Romanova was sim-
ple: she must contact M.I.6 with an offer of the
SPECKTOR in exchange for asylum; when M.I.6s
agents arrive in Istanbul, she is to allow herself to
be seduced into cooperating with them in obtain-
ing the decoder.
In addition to the subtle manipulation of
Tatiana, Kronsteen has also pulled other strings to
put the assassination plot into action. Kerim Bey,
head of M.I.6s station house in Turkey, is currently
being blackmailed (indirectly) by TAROT. Using this
influence, Kronsteen summoned Bey to Venice where
he was given a simple mission: assist the M.I.6
agents in obtaining the SPECKTOR then kill them,
delivering the device to TAROT. While Bey was very
reluctant to agree, the TAROT threats to his family
frightened him and he ultimately acceded to the plan.
Kronsteen was careful when briefing Bey not to
mention the other strand of his plans, the TAROT
sponsorship of Tatianas defection.
THE SHAME GAME
While discussing the assassination of the M.I.6
agents with Bey, Kronsteen stumbled upon an elabo-
ration which he found amusing. TAROTs hatred of
M.I.6 and its agents is so great that the mere assas-
sination of a few agents is but a token revenge. What
the organisation truly hungers for is for M.I.6 and
the whole of British Intelligence to be brought into
disrepute on an international stage.
9
The current plot, Kronsteen realised, offered a
unique opportunity to strike such a blow. If TAROT
could perform the agents murder in a publicly dis-
reputable fashion, or if the sordid details of M.I.6
agents fraternising with foreigners could be incon-
trovertibly shown, M.I.6s reputation would be soiled.
The cowed Kerim Bey was ordered to carry out his
mission with an eye towards such perfidy. While he
felt personally sick at the thought of such a betrayal,
Bey had no option but to agree.
Back in Istanbul, Kerim Bey drew up his own
plans to fulfil this awful goal. Engaging the Gypsies
on the citys outskirts, who had long served as Beys
allies, he formulated a honey trap. The chief of the
Gypsy group agreed to the installation of a film cam-
era in one of the caravans, and also agreed to stage
an elaborate mock fight between two young girls.
Beys plan, drawing largely upon his own appetites,
involves bringing the agents to the Gypsy camp
where they will be placed in a position whereby they
can readily seduce two of the young Gypsy girls. The
liaison will take place in the caravan rigged with
equipment, and will be secretly filmed. After he has
assassinated the agents themselves, Bey plans to
also kill these two girls and circulate a sordid story
of a jealous love triangle tragically ending with the
M.I.6 agent murdering the girls and committing
suicide. The damage of such a story, backed by proof
in the form of the filmed liaison, will seriously drag
British Intelligences name through the mud.
THE COVERT WAR
Not content to simply plot to kill the offending
M.I.6 agents, nor even to kill them in a shameful
way, TAROT has also planned a nasty surprise for
their stay in Istanbul, in the form of the Covert War
(see Part III: D, The Covert War). The mood between
the East and the West in Istanbul is always strained,
and nowhere is this more obvious than the relation-
ship between the British and Russian intelligence
agencies operating within the city. Each is constantly
watching the other, circling like some kind of killer
fish waiting for the other to show a weakness.
To make the agents life that little more diffi-
cult (and also to add yet more credibility to the of-
fer of a stolen SPECKTOR), TAROT plans to esca-
late this tense situation into an active war between
the agencies. This particular subplot is remarkably
simple: the delicate balance between the Russians
and the British is to be rudely broken by the in-
discriminate murder of a Russian spy. The KGB
agent will be dumped outside the Russian Consu-
late mere hours after the characters have arrived
in Istanbul. TAROT fully expects that this one act
will be sufficient to trigger a sweeping range of
retaliations and counter-retaliations.
In this conflict between the rival agencies,
TAROT believes that both will suffer. Eventually one
side or the other will win, but in doing so will them-
selves be weakened. That victor makes an easy tar-
get for TAROT to overwhelm. In addition to this long-
term objective, the Covert War also serves another
purpose in Kronsteens eyes: while the various agen-
cies are busy chasing after each other, less attention
will be upon the group he has arranged to steal the
SPECKTOR. Thus the theft is more likely to suc-
ceed, and TAROT is more likely to achieve their goal
of obtaining the secret decoder.
THE COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE
MISSION
Completely unrelated to any of the various
thrusts of Kronsteens manipulative plot, another
M.I.6 agent is currently on assignment in Istanbul.
Donovan Red Grant is an operative in the agen-
cys super-secretive counter-intelligence division. His
current long-term assignment involves the investi-
gation of the apparent sale of British classified docu-
ments to the Russians by an individual within M.I.6.
After having followed numerous leads over the past
months, Grant has recently arrived in Istanbul
where he is convinced the original sales of the docu-
ments occurred.
Grant is actually quite correct in his investiga-
tion; the documents in question were actually ob-
tained and sold by Kerim Bey as part of the onerous
duties his blackmailers have requested of him. Un-
fortunately for Grant, the events of the Kronsteen
plot will more than likely overtake his investigation.
Because Grants job involves the investigation
of the activities of other M.I.6 agents he maintains
a high level of secrecy, concealing himself even from
other British agents. In Istanbul he will notice the
arrival of the characters and postulate a link be-
tween them and the information leak he is investi-
gating. To further his investigation he will tail the
characters throughout most of their time in Istan-
bul. At some point he will realise that they are not
the traitors he is pursuing, nor are they involved
with them. This realisation may occur when he
witnesses them under attack by the Russians and
their Bulgarian thugs during the Covert War, or
it may occur when he sees them stalked by Bey
with murderous intent. Once he is sure of their
legitimacy as M.I.6 agents, Grant will attempt to
help them in their mission, but only from the shad-
ows. His role as a counter-intelligence agent re-
quires him to remain concealed. At the very con-
clusion of the adventure, however, when it is ob-
vious that the agents require assistance (e.g., get-
ting off the train) he will reveal his identity.
10
F. Notes on the Adventure
GENERAL COURSE OF THE MISSION
How the adventure proceeds, of course, depends
entirely on what the characters do. This adventure
differs from normal James Bond 007 Game missions
by virtue of the fact that the actions of the charac-
ters are an integral part of the villains careful plot.
Thus there is no set course of events. The following
describes a logical sequence of events that the char-
acters will likely follow. You may use it as a guide-
line, since it highlights the most important clues and
meetings for the characters. If you find your charac-
ters are missing the clues or are wandering around
aimlessly, you may have to force encounters to get
them back on track.
1. After their briefing with M, the characters
will fly to Turkey, arriving at Istanbuls Ataturk In-
ternational airport. On their arrival at the airport,
they will be noticed by Grant who will be watching
from one of the caf areas inside the terminal build-
ing. The characters may notice Grants attentions
at this point and become suspicious.
2. At the airport, the characters will be met by
Kerim Beys eldest son Taksim, who is also one of
his agents in Istanbul. He will offer to drive the char-
acters either to meet Bey or to check into their hotel
(whichever they prefer). On the drive into the city,
the car will be tailed. If the characters notice this,
they will be told by their driver that it is typical for
the Russians and British spies to routinely follow
one another wherever they go.
3. At some point the characters will arrive at
Stationhouse T, Kerim Beys headquarters disguised
as a rug store. They will meet Bey who will be
friendly, but openly sceptical about the mission they
have been assigned.
4. Off-stage, the first shot will be fired in the
Covert War: Kronsteen has arranged for one of his
criminal contacts in Istanbul to murder one of the
Russian agents in the city and have the body ap-
pear outside the gates to the Russian Consulate. This
body is found shortly after the characters have ar-
rived in the city.
5. The characters will most likely express an
interest in Tatiana and the Russian Consulate build-
ing (which houses the SPECKTOR machine they
ultimately need to retrieve). Getting in touch with
Tatiana initially proves impossible, however Bey
reveals he has a secret underground station for moni-
toring what goes on inside the Consulate meeting
room. The characters will probably visit this as they
begin to scout out information about the Consulate.
During such a surveillance, the characters will see
Krilencu present in the Consulate. Bey will relate
the mans evil reputation.
6. Over the next days the retaliation for the
murder of the KGB agent begin; the first Russian
strike is in the form of a limpet mine which demol-
ishes one section of the M.I.6 Stationhouse. British
reprisals follow, and so on. The characters can get
involved with these actions if they wish, although
this is mostly peripheral to their mission.
7. Early on the second day that the characters
are in Istanbul, Bey will try to track them down to
give them a piece of information. His communica-
tions and decoding section has intercepted a mes-
sage which apparently refers to the characters, and
which might have been written by the mysterious
blond man who has been following them.
8. At some point during the covert war, Bey will
put his honey pot plan into action. Using the ex-
cuse that the characters are in danger if they re-
main in Istanbul, he arranges for them to spend the
night instead at a Gypsy camp just outside the city.
During the evening, the characters may notice that
they are being watched by a blond man (Grant). At
dinner, the head of the Gypsys will be called on to
adjudicate in a dispute between two attractive
women. By tradition, the two women resolve their
differences by hand-to-hand combat. One way or
another, Bey will arrange for the fight to be inter-
rupted with the responsibility for deciding the dis-
pute falling to the characters (who will be given pri-
vate accommodation with the women to come to
their decision). Any liaison that occurs will be se-
cretly filmed by Bey for later use in his plan. The
next morning, the Gypsy camp is attacked by a small
group of Bulgarians, employed by the Russians as
troops in the covert war. If necessary, Grant (who is
still watching the characters from a distance) can
help out by sniping a few of the attackers. Eventually,
the Bulgarians will retreat. However, any dead or in-
capacitated agents can be searched, granting the char-
acters an entry pass to the Russian Consulate.
9. Also at some point during the covert war, the
characters will be contacted directly by Tatiana. She
has been instructed to approach the characters and
use her good looks and charm to convince them of
her sincerity and willingness to carry through the
theft of the SPECKTOR. She will introduce herself
by arranging to be in one of the characters hotel
rooms when they return one evening. Tatiana offers
to do anything she can to obtain information about
the Russian Consulate and the security surround-
ing the decoder. She cannot however be seen openly
consorting with the British as she is, like most other
Russians in the city, under the constant surveillance
of Internal Security. Depending on what the charac-
11
ters make of Tatianas offer, they may have to or-
ganise a series of clandestine meetings whereby
papers can be secretly passed to the characters. One
convenient place to arrange such a drop-off is the
Saint Sophia Mosque.
10. During their investigations, the characters
may become suspicious of the activities of Kerim Bey.
If they do a little poking around in his office (during
the cleanup after the bomb blast is a good time) they
find an unusual clipping from a local paper. The clip-
ping contains moves from a recent chess game played
by Kronsteen in Venice. It appears to have been an-
notated with a decoded message instructing the re-
cipient to come to Venice to receive their instruc-
tions. Bey is not identified as the recipient of the
message and he will concoct any story to establish
Grant as the figure ordered to murder the M.I.6 op-
eratives. If the characters dont openly investigate
Bey this clue will come to them by chance, for exam-
ple falling from Beys wallet as he pays the bill at a
restaurant.
11. Eventually the characters will need to col-
lect enough information to plan a raid on the Rus-
sian Consulate to steal the SPECKTOR. Tatiana can
be useful in obtaining a reasonably detailed descrip-
tion of the interior of the Consulate and, in particu-
lar, the secure KGB Basement Offices. She can even
draw a sketch map showing the security devices pro-
tecting this area (provided as one of the props). Bey
can also be useful in obtaining official blueprints for
the building from the government administration
offices (or the characters can chase the bureaucrats
themselves). One difficulty the characters will need
to overcome is that no-one is permitted into most
areas of the Consulate compound without a special
pass. If the characters plan involves sneaking into
the building, they will probably need such passes.
Depending on activities occurring in the covert war,
such passes may be relatively easy to come by: the
Bulgarian heavies undertaking the missions against
the British carry basic entry passes. Their leader,
Krilencu, has a special pass in his apartment which
also permits entry into the KGB Basement Offices.
All passes carry a photograph: characters using them
will need to either doctor the photos or use their dis-
guise talents.
12. Once the characters have succeeded in get-
ting the SPECKTOR, Bey will be very eager that
they should escape the city as soon as possible. Tatiana
will probably want to accompany the characters. The
agents can make their own suggestions as to escape
plans, although the only really viable plan is to leave
the city by train. Bey, Tatiana and the characters will
probably board the Orient Express bound for the Bul-
garian border, where Bey says he has a plane ready to
fly the characters back to London.
13. On the train, the group will encounter a Rus-
sian security man who recognises Tatiana. Bey re-
strains the man in one of the compartments. Later
the conductor alerts the characters to the fact that
the Russian has been shot in the compartment and
Bey is missing, apparently pushed through a win-
dow in the compartment. While investigating this,
the characters will miss their rendezvous with Beys
plane.
14. After passing through Zagreb, Grant, who
has been undercover on the train in another carriage,
will contact the characters, revealing himself to be
a M.I.6 agent. He tells them that they must leave
the train before it reaches the Italian border (as they
dont have the proper papers to cross into Italy, and
the border guards will likely confiscate the
SPECKTOR). He tells them his plan to jump from
the train just before the border, as the train slows
down to pass through mountains. He has a truck
and a boat waiting at this point which the charac-
ters can use to escape to Italy.
15. After Grant explains his plan, he is shot dead
by Bey who has been hiding in the characters com-
partment. Bey explains his role in the grand plan
and tries to claim the SPECKTOR device. He also
tries to kill the characters. A fight most likely en-
sues in the limited confines of the train.
16. Characters surviving the climactic fight with
Bey will most likely want to follow Grants original
plan. They jump from the train and locate the truck
and driver which had been arranged. While driving
to the boat, however, the truck is spotted by a Yugo-
slavian helicopter border patrol which orders it to
stop. A chase ensues.
12
17. Arriving at the boat, the characters will prob-
ably plan to pilot it to Italy (Trieste or Venice are
the closest cities). This escape is complicated by
TAROT: by monitoring the radio transmissions of
the helicopters they have now regained the trail of
the characters, and they have sent several speed-
boats to eliminate the characters. Another chase
sequence takes place with the characters dodg-
ing rocky islands and TAROT speedboats. The
chase may end in a number of ways, including an
enormous petrol explosion.
18. Once the characters arrive in Italy, they
have effectively completed the mission. The
Gamesmaster can run an optional scene (see Part
III: L, Final Gambit) in which they are assaulted
by an enraged Kronsteen, furious that his fool-
proof plan has failed.
MISSION TIMETABLE
The From Russia With Love adventure has no
fixed mission timetable. The Istanbul section of the
adventure comprises a number of individual events
and encounters that can be run more-or-less in any
order, at whatever time suits the gamesmaster and
the rate of progress of the characters. To help keep
track of this part of the adventure, the gamesmaster
may wish to build his or her own mission timeta-
ble by choosing a sequence of Istanbul-based events
or encounters and allocating each to a time slot. The
nearby table provides a template. As the adventure
progresses the gamesmaster should revise the time-
table in accordance with the dramatic requirements
of the game. For example, if the gamesmaster feels
the pace of the adventure needs to be picked up, or
the characters require a nudge, he or she might de-
cide to shunt one or more events forwards. Con-
versely, if the characters have too much to deal with
already, or are floundering, it might be appropriate
to push events backwards. Because the timetable is
subject to such changes, the gamesmaster should use
pencil when drawing up the initial table of events.
Once the characters have retrieved the
SPECKTOR decoder and are escaping Turkey on the
Orient Express, the adventure becomes more linear,
with events and encounters occurring in the strict
order described in Part III: I, The Orient Express.
All action following the departure from Istanbul will
probably be resolved within a single day.
PROPS AND MAPS
Included with this adventure is a Mission En-
velope containing 8 sheets that provide clues to be
handed out to the players during the mission. The
clues are described below, and the locations where
they should be found are indicated, plus back-up lo-
cations if the characters miss them. If the charac-
ters are far off-course, you may have to improvise a
method for them to find a vital clue. Some of the
sheets will have to be cut apart.
M.I.6 Dossier on Tatiana Romanova. The
Romanova dossier is handed to the characters dur-
ing the briefing with M. It outlines the very limited
amount of information knows about the junior
cryptographic clerk. The dossier also includes a fac-
simile of the hand-written note in which Tatiana
outlines her willingness to defect with the
Day Morning Afternoon Evening
Day 1: Characters
Wednesday, Arrive in
September 10 Istanbul
Day 2:
Thursday,
September 11
Day 3:
Friday,
September 12
Day 4:
Saturday,
September 13
Day 5:
Sunday,
September 14
Day 6:
Monday,
September 15
Event Codes:
T1 Tatiana Takes the Initiative
Tr Rendezvous With Tatiana
C1 TAROT Kills Bulgarian Agent
C2 Stationhouse T Blown Up
C3 Incident on the Bosphorous Ferry
C4 Fight at the Turkish Baths
C5 Murder in Saint Sophia
C6 Bey Attempts to Assassinate Krilencu
G Bey Takes Characters to Gypsy Camp
R1 Bey Intercepts Grants Message
R2 Chess Column Revealed by Bey
Rw Grant Observed in the Distance
SB Blueprints for Russian Consulate Ready
SC Russian Consul Holds Cocktail Ball
__ ___________________________________
__ ___________________________________
__ ___________________________________
__ ___________________________________
13
SPECKTOR. This note is addressed to one of the
characters; you should write one of the charac-
ters name (preferably a male agent who has locked
horns with TAROT previously) in the blank space
at the top of the letter.
M.I.6 Dossier on the SPECKTOR Decoder.
The SPECKTOR dossier is handed to the charac-
ters during the briefing with M. It describes all the
intelligence M.I.6 currently has on the Russian
cryptographic device. The dossier also contains a
composite sketch of the SPECKTOR which may
prove useful when the characters are breaking into
the Russian Consulate to steal the device. A charac-
ter who states that he is using his or her recollec-
tion of the dossier sketch to determine which of the
(many) devices in the code room is the SPECKTOR
will get a +3 EF modifier to the PER roll.
Signed Photograph of Tatiana Romanova.
This is the photograph which Tatiana sent to M.I.6
along with her plea for asylum in England. Written
across the photograph in pink (perhaps lipstick) is
From Russia. With Love. Tatiana XXX. This prop
should be given to the characters during their brief-
ing with M.
Map of Istanbul. The map shows the basic lay-
out of the city in which most of the action in this
adventure will take place. It should be given to the
players either when they first meet Kerim Bey at
Stationhouse T, or when they first check into their
hotel. Alternatively, the characters can buy such a
map at any news stand throughout the city.
Russian Consular Passes. Two passes are pro-
vided, each being a set of identification papers which
allow entry into the Russian Consulate building.
Without one of these passes, the characters will not
be allowed in any of the non-public areas of the build-
ing (everywhere except the reception and main ad-
ministrative office). One of the passes, coloured blue,
is for a Bulgarian individual by the name of Kristo
Stojanov. This pass can be obtained by the charac-
ters at any point during the Covert War (see Part
III: D, The Covert War) when the characters or their
allies have killed or otherwise incapacitated one of
the Bulgarian heavies. Alternatively this pass could
be obtained from a Bulgarian agent killed or inca-
pacitated during the raid on the Gypsy Camp (see
Part III: E, The Gypsy Camp). Note that the blue
pass grants access to anywhere within the building
except for the basement (which houses a KGB
stationhouse). The second pass, coloured red, belongs
to Boris Krilencu and can only be obtained by search-
ing Krilencus apartment (see Part III: D, The Covert
War). The red pass is a higher level access, and in ad-
dition to the consulate building it also grants access
to the KGB basement.
Blueprints of Russian Consulate. These are
the architects blueprints for the building currently
occupied by the Russian Consulate. Note that there
are a couple of minor differences between the con-
struction blueprints and the current layout of the
building (see the map in the centre of this booklet
for the latter). These blueprints are on file in one of
Istanbuls government administration offices and are
14
readily available to Bey or to anybody else obtain-
ing a QF 3 or better on an EF 5 Local Customs Roll.
The administrative offices are only open between the
hours of 9 AM 2 PM and 3PM to 7PM weekdays; a
normal request takes 1 full day to be satisfied, al-
though this can be shortened with a QF 2 or better
Persuade roll (bribes grant a +2 modifier). With a QF
2 result, the papers are available in 6 working hours,
a QF 1 result means they are ready in 3 working hours.
Tatianas Sketch Map of Russian Consulate.
If asked, Tatiana can make a hand-sketched map of
the area of the Consulate building in which she
works (the KGB Basement Offices). This map, un-
like the blueprints, shows the security devices which
protect the offices, and as such is of considerably
more use in preparing a raid. The characters will
need to work out with Tatiana a plan for getting this
map to them without raising the suspicions of any
of the SMERSH and KGB agents who are tailing
the agents. Once they have concocted such a scheme,
and it has been successfully executed, give them the
prop.
Transcript of Intercepted Message. On the
second day of the characters stay in Istanbul, Kerim
Bey will inform them that his Stationhouse has in-
tercepted and decoded a communication sent from
Istanbul to an unidentified foreign destination. Al-
though he will not tell the characters, the reason
the message was so easily decoded was that it used
one of M.I.6s own codes indeed it was a communi-
cation sent by M.I.6 agent Donovan Grant back to
London. Once Bey has informed the agents of his
discovery, give them the transcript of the message.
Any character with the Cryptography field of expe-
rience who examines the transcript and who suc-
ceeds in a EF 5 PER roll recognises phrases com-
monly used in M.I.6 coded messages.
Chess Column Torn from Newspaper. The
newspaper column showing the results of the
Kronsteen vs McAdams chess game may be found
in Kerim Beys office. This column is actually a coded
message, and Bey has underlined key sections which
spell out instructions from TAROT. The characters
can find this prop in the safe in Beys office or any-
where else in the Stationhouse that the characters
are searching for information. Alternatively, the col-
umn may be found in Beys wallet.
Orient Express Brochure. This brochure de-
picts the luxurious train on the characters and (most
likely) Tatiana will make their escape from Istan-
bul. The prop should be handed to the players when
they have boarded the train.
Included with this adventure are a number of
maps and floorplans of the various locations the char-
acters will be visiting. A map of Eastern Europe is
on the Gamesmaster screen, showing the route the
Orient Express takes from Istanbul to Trieste in
Italy. The floorplans to the various carriages of this
train are also shown on the Gamesmaster screen.
This screen is folded to allow you to use it as a shield.
The central four pages of this booklet include
floorplans to the other major locations the charac-
ters will visit. These floorplans are for the Russian
consulate in Istanbul, the Gypsy camp, and the Saint
Sophia Mosque.
Note: You will have to make up the floorplans and
details of any other locations the characters may de-
cide to visit. The locations described in this booklet
are the important ones for the characters to complete
their mission.
IMPORTANT NOTES FOR THE GM
1. The free-form nature of the Istanbul section
of the From Russia With Love adventure, coupled with
the complex motivations of the NPCs, place particu-
lar demands on you as a gamesmaster. Before run-
ning the adventure make absolutely sure that you are
familiar with both the real motivations of each of the
15
NPCs and also the faade each presents to the M.I.6
agents. Keep these at the back of your mind when you
are deciding exactly how a given NPC will react to
the situations that arise during the adventure.
2. The From Russia With Love adventure is
unique in that virtually nothing and nobody that
the characters encounter is exactly what it seems.
The key secrets that you should aim to keep unre-
solved for as long as possible are the relative alle-
giances of Red Grant and Kerim Bey.
While various clues and encounters may provide
hints as to Kerims treachery, the adventure works
best if the characters believe him to be basically
trustworthy right up until the moment he attempts
to murder them. The dramatic impact of this revela-
tion is something you should try to maximise, since
it is effectively the climax of the adventure. There
are a couple of mechanisms you can use to keep char-
acters from catching on too early. Bey will be very
careful to subtly paint Grant as the villain when-
ever possible. He knows that Grant is out to get him,
and also knows that the M.I.6 agents need to keep
in the shadows naturally makes him look suspicious.
If the characters seem to be drawing conclusions that
Grant is the villain, Bey will do everything in his
power to strengthen that impression. This includes
concocting plausible stories to shift suspicion from
him to Grant. For example, when agents locate the
coded message revealing the link with TAROT in
Beys office, he will endeavour to come up with a
plausible story describing how he found the paper
somewhere shortly after Grant had been seen there.
On the flipside, the dramatic intensity of the cli-
max is also served by keeping the characters slightly
unsure as to Grants (apparent) role as villain. The
various clues along the way might point at him as a
guilty party, but other events paint him in a more
positive light. If the characters are totally convinced
of his villainy you should invent encounters or hints
to challenge that conclusion. The point at which
Grant reveals himself as an M.I.6 agent on the train
is supposed to be a tense encounter, with the char-
acters unsure as to whether to trust the man. It
doesnt necessarily work as well when the charac-
ters are so convinced of his guilt that they instantly
shoot him when he appears.
3. Once the agents have finally retrieved the
SPECKTOR from the Russian Consulate they may
be at a loss as to what to do next. You should remind
them that, until the device is back safely in Eng-
land, their mission is not over. At this point in pro-
ceedings you should have Bey chime in with the sug-
gestion of escape on the Orient Express. In all like-
lihood this will be the only viable option, with nei-
ther airports nor boating ports offering a quick
enough means of escape. The Russians will notice
their loss quickly and will dispatch every operative
both Russian and Bulgarian to find both Bey and
the agents (the most logical suspects regardless of
what has preceded). If the characters equivocate in
the slightest, you should arrange for small groups of
Soviet agents to begin noting their presence and giv-
ing chase. In this pursuit the Russians will be quite
happy to use whatever overt or covert means are at
their disposal. The whole city will literally be in an
uproar within a few hours of the theft.
4. While there is no true timetable to this mis-
sion the villains are simply waiting for the
SPECKTOR to be delivered into their hands by the
characters slow progress may prove a problem. In
the instance that the characters have become caught
up in an irrelevant side plot (e.g., fighting the Rus-
sians in the Covert War), you may need to give them
a prod to get them back on track. This could come in
the form of a message from Grant (if he has become
convinced that they arent double agents) or even a
hint from TAROTs operatives in Istanbul (Klebb and
Bey). Certainly TAROT is interested in maximising
the characters chances at stealing the SPECKTOR
if that means passing information to point them
in the right direction, this is what they will do. Of
course, they will endeavour to do this in as subtle a
way as possible, so as not to overstate their interest
in the characters mission.
If the characters are clearly not going to find an
important clue (for example, the Russian Consulate
blueprints), you may have to intervene. The intrigue
and atmosphere of the adventure depends on the
characters finding certain clues, and you should do
whatever you can to make sure those clues are found.
If your players refuse to follow your leads, you may
wish to penalise them by giving them fewer Experi-
ence Points at the conclusion of the mission.
5. Since the mission will probably be run over
several play sessions, you may need to remind the
players of important facts, or their ultimate mission
(getting the SPECKTOR and if possible Tatiana back
to England). Remind them also of the urgency of the
mission. You might wish to capsulise Ms briefing to
them at the beginning of each new session.
If is suggested that you make notes as the mis-
sion progresses so as to be able to remind the charac-
ters at the start of each game session of what they
have so far accomplished. These notes will also refresh
your memory as to what has happened. If it impor-
tant to write down such things as NPCs Reactions to
the characters, Seduction stages achieved, and infor-
mation points revealed. You should review your notes
before re-entering the ring with your players.
16
6. Donovan Grant exists as a play equaliser, es-
pecially in conflict situations such as fight or chase
sequences. If the agents are having a particularly
difficult time of an encounter, or are likely to be de-
feated by an opponent, you can always have Grant
present to fire a shot from the shadows with his AR-
7 rifle or push a market cart in front of a pursuing
car. Of course, if your players are going along fine on
their own, you should leave Grant as a purely pas-
sive observer. The staff of M.I.6s Stationhouse T can
be similarly used to bolster the firepower of the agent
team if necessary. Most of these operatives are
Kerims sons (use normal Priveleged Henchman sta-
tistics), however, so their first loyalties will be to him.
Thus agents shouldnt rely on help from Station T if
they set out to expose Kerim as a double agent.
17
17
Part II:
Non-Player
Characters
esides the physical evidence, the other major
method by which the characters gather in-
formation is through their interaction with the
NPCs. The characteristics and statistics given for
each NPC allow you to role-play them more effec-
tively with your players.
The NPCs in the From Russia With Love Adven-
ture Module differ in several ways from those pre-
sented in the James Bond 007 Game. The NPCs in
this adventure are given idiosyncrasies and defined
interaction modifiers to help you individualise them
when playing them. The background given for each
NPC explains who the person is and how he or she
fits into the overall adventure. Additionally, NPCs
are given weapons of preference, which you may
change as you wish.
The idiosyncrasies listed for each NPC are quirks
or habits that will help you personalise the charac-
ter so that the players will be able to recognise the
person easily during any meeting with him or her.
The interaction modifiers are used in conjunction
with the chapter How to Interact with Non-Player
Characters in the James Bond 007 Game. The Re-
action modifier listed in this adventure is the only
one you use when determining the NPCs initial
Reaction to the characters. The other modifiers (Per-
suasion, Seduction, Interrogation, and Torture) are
cumulative with any other modifier that is normally
applied to this form of interaction. Since the inter-
action modifiers exist to show differences among the
NPCs as people, feel free to alter or ignore them as
you wish.
Note: Except for Reaction, these modifiers apply only
when a Player Character is performing interaction
rolls against the NPC, never the other way.
If the players question a very low Ease Factor
because of one of these modifiers, you should explain
the difference by using some aspect of the NPCs
personality (She seems friendly or He acts sullen
and uncooperative or something similar). You should
not announce to them what the specific interaction
modifier is. Note that most of these modifiers are
used in conjunction with other modifiers; you do not
have to tell the players what modifiers you are ap-
plying to a roll.
Most NPC descriptions list several points of in-
formation the NPC knows. Allied NPCs will give the
characters as much information as you wish; it is
suggested that the Player Characters make the first
effort of getting the information rather than you sim-
ply offering the points to them. The enemy NPCs
will not reveal their information except through in-
terpersonal actions.
The enemy NPCs will usually have four or eight
points of information. These points are listed in or-
der of importance. You may, however, give the char-
acters the points of information in any order you
wish or withhold any information points if your ad-
venture demands it. The points of information that
will be revealed depend on the method of interac-
tion used by the characters.
If the initial Reaction roll is Friendly, an NPC
with 8 information points will reveal the first. If the
Reaction is Enamored, an NPC with 8 information
points will reveal the second point as well (an NPC
with 4 information points will reveal the first point
only on an Enamored result). Any other Reaction
will gain the characters no information. If a charac-
ter attempts to use Persuasion to gain information,
he will receive one information point for each Y
result. If any Persuasion attempt results in an N,
the NPC will reveal no further points to the charac-
ter through Persuasion.
B
18
If a character attempts Seduction on an NPC,
the NPC will reveal one point of information should
the Seduction successfully reach the Beginning In-
timacies stage and another point will be revealed
with a successful When and Where stage. Should the
NPC at any stage of the Seduction successfully re-
sist, he or she will reveal no further point through
Seduction.
If the characters use Interrogation on an NPC,
the number of information points they receive de-
pends on the standard rules for Interrogation. Thus,
if the Skill Use Chart indicates the NPC reveals 50%
of the truth, an NPC with four points will reveal the
first two, and one with eight points will reveal the
first four. A result of 75% means the NPC reveals
three or six information points; a result of 90% would
have an NPC with four points hint towards the
fourth, and one with eight points would reveal the
seventh. A result of 100% means the NPC reveals
all information points, and anything else you deter-
mine the person knows.
As a rule of thumb, the more damaging the point
of information is to the NPC, the less willing the
person will be to reveal it. The interaction modifiers
given to an NPC may make that person less suscep-
tible to various forms of interaction.
A. Enemies
KERIM BEY
STR: 13 DEX: 10 WIL: 11 PER: 13 INT: 10
SKILLS (SKILL LEVEL/PRIMARY CHANCE)
Boating (9/20), Charisma (13/24), Cryptography (8/18), Driving
(6/17), Evasion (10/21), Fire Combat (10/21), Hand-to-Hand
Combat (12/25), Interrogation (9/19), Local Customs (13/26),
Seduction (12/23), Sixth Sense (13/24), Stealth (13/24)
ABILITIES: Connoisseur, First Aid, Photography
HEIGHT: 59 SPEED: 2
WEIGHT: 210lbs HAND-TO-HAND DAMAGE CLASS: B
AGE: 43 STAMINA: 30 hours
APPEARANCE: Good Looking RUNNING/SWIMMING: 40 minutes
FAME POINTS: 77 CARRYING: 150-210 pounds
SURVIVAL POINTS: 6 WEAPON: Luger Parabellum
FIELDS OF EXPERIENCE: International Law, Law, Microphotog-
raphy, Photography
WEAKNESSES: Attraction to Members of the Opposite Sex
IDIOSYNCRASIES: Expansive and flamboyant in dress, expres-
sion and speech; flatters and attends to any attractive women.
INTERACTION MODIFIERS: Reaction (+2/-5), Persuasion
(+1/-4), Seduction (+3), Interrogation (-3), Torture (-1)
Note: Two Modifiers are given for Reaction and Per-
suasion Interactions with Bey. The first modifier de-
scribes the faade he presents to the characters (i.e.,
friendly and amenable) while the second describes
his true attitudes. The latter should be used in deter-
mining Beys willingness to reveal information.
BACKGROUND: Kerim Bey has had a long an inter-
esting life. Born the son of a Turkish circus performer
father and a Mexican mother, Bey started his life
and career in flamboyant style. As the young
strongman for the travelling circus troupe, he would
routinely be seen bending steel bars, snapping chains
and the like. Even at this early age, Bey had devel-
oped a strong sense of showmanship and an ability
to weave a larger-than-life image for himself from
nothing. Well liked in the circus troupe, he eventu-
ally became Ringleader for a year or so, before the
circus finally disbanded because of declining attend-
ances and political instability in the rural regions of
Turkey they called home.
Moving further afield, Bey spent a few short
years taking his various performing skills to a vari-
ety of other countries in Europe and the Middle East.
It was during this time that Kerim discovered that
his natural charisma was a powerful tool for creat-
ing opportunities, both within his performing career,
but most particularly with women. His appetites for
the latter grew to become extensive and exotic, en-
compassing liaisons from Paris to Bahrain.
It was in Aden that Kerim Bey first encountered
his future wife, Magda, a fiery Romanian woman of
19
PART II: NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS
noble blood. They were married within the year, with
the first of Beys extensive line of sons arriving
shortly thereafter. Kerim moved back to Turkey soon
afterwards, to begin raising his family in the proper
Turkish way. He lived for several years in the hill
village he grew up in, although economic circum-
stances eventually forced him to take up his uncles
carpet store in Istanbul. He proved very successful
in this business, his natural charisma and charm
bringing in an extraordinary trade, and allowing
expansion into other wares. Kerim, Magda and the
ever-increasing Bey lineage began to live the good life.
Beys remarkable flamboyance and charisma
soon also brought him to the attention of M.I.6 who
were interested in building up a group of Istanbul-
based agents for spying on the activities of the Rus-
sians in the Balkans. Initially, Kerim refused the
advance, his family being more important to him
than the intrigues of espionage. Then, some 15 years
ago, Kerims life was turned upside down: his wife
was drowned in a freak boating accident on the
Bosphorous. The tragedy, it transpired, was actually
no accident but a murderous act by a local crime
ring whose livelihood was threatened by Beys rap-
idly expanding cartel. M.I.6, still eager to recruit Bey
as an operative, offered to help track down the crimi-
nals and their bosses and eliminate them. The offer
was accepted, the operation undertaken, and at the
end of it all Bey was a British agent.
Beys natural talents and local knowledge proved
to be invaluable in espionage work, and he very
quickly became the most talented operative in the
newly formed Station T. Two years later, when the
British spymaster posted to head the station chose
to transfer back to England, Bey was an obvious
choice to take up the position.
For over a decade, Bey offered extremely reli-
able service to the British crown, undertaking a wide
range of missions inside and out of Turkey (one par-
ticularly memorable expedition found him in Tokyo
with M and another agent, exploring the exotic world
of a Geisha house). His loyalties, however, began to
be called into question about a year ago. Again it
was family concerns that threw Kerims world into
turmoil: his eldest son Taksim had fallen in with an
undesirable crowd, and had been seen by some trad-
ing in illegal narcotics. Rather than expose Beys son
to the authorities (which would have lead ultimately
to his execution), the criminal gang used this infor-
mation to blackmail Kerim. At first, their requests
were simple enough they sought minor classified
documents that could be sold to the Russians for
cash. Fearful of the consequences to his son should
he refuse, Kerim acceded with much shame. The re-
quests, however, continued.
What Kerim Bey does not know is that the group
blackmailing him is not merely some thuggish group
of local criminals, but is actually the international
terror organisation TAROT. He is now effectively a
double-agent: openly supporting the M.I.6 cause, but
in reality operating according to TAROTs instruc-
tions. His latest mission is actually part of the grand
TAROT plan described in the Gamesmaster Brief-
ing. He has been instructed to assist the M.I.6 agents
on their mission to steal the SPECKTOR decoder, in
the meantime collecting compromising material
damaging to their reputation. Once the agents have
the SPECKTOR he has been told to kill them, ob-
tain the decoder and surrender it to his blackmail-
ers (TAROT). He has been promised that success in
this dangerous mission will end the ordeal of his
blackmail.
Note: TAROTs plan in the From Russia With Love
adventure relies on several different groups perform-
ing their part without any knowledge of the parts
played by the others. Thus, while Bey is acting as a
TAROT operative to aid the characters and (ulti-
mately) to steal the SPECKTOR from them, he has
no idea that the Russians and their allies are also
working for TAROT. When Krilencu and his Bulgar-
ian thugs begin their assault on Bey and M.I.6, he
will have no knowledge that this is part of the TAROT
plan, and will react by counterattacking the Russians.
While it may seem counterproductive for two groups
of TAROT agents to be fighting one another, this is
actually a deliberate part of the plan. Once both Rus-
sians and British have exhausted one another,
TAROT can snatch the SPECKTOR unopposed.
PERSONALITY DESCRIPTION: Beys light hearted,
devil-may-care, quipster image belies the serious-
ness with which he approaches espionage work. One
drawback is his predilection for beautiful women.
Since the death of his wife, he has had a succession
of female companions, all lovely and all transient.
While this hobby has never interfered with his ef-
ficiency, it does give M cause for worry.
Bey is a firm believer in nepotism and he has
trained his sons in the fine art of espionage. His sons
are now among his top operatives since he trusts
them over everyone else. Bey has established excel-
lent contacts with the gypsies that live near Istan-
bul, and has used them many times as information
sources and on important assignments.
POINTS OF INFORMATION: Bey has the following
points of information available. The first four points
he will offer freely to characters he has a good reac-
tion to. The last four points can only be obtained
through Persuasion, Seduction or Interrogation.
20
1. The Russian and British Intelligence services main-
tain a complex and overt relationship in Istanbul, rou-
tinely tailing each other and openly spying on meetings.
2. Tatiana really does work at the Russian consu-
late as a low-level clerk. She would have access to
the SPECKTOR decoder
3. There is a secret tunnel beneath the Russian con-
sulate which can be used to spy on meetings
4. The characters hotel room is probably bugged
5. Bey has recently returned from a short trip to
Italy, where he was conducting unspecified business
6. Red Grant is an agent for a foreign power, prob-
ably Russia, who has been watching the movements
of M.I.6 in Istanbul for the past several weeks
7. Red Grant is actually an M.I.6 undercover agent
8. Bey is actually working for TAROT not M.I.6
Alexei Kronsteen
Charisma (6/19), Disguise (8/22), Driving (7/18), Electronics (9/
23), Evasion (10/18), Fire Combat (8/19), Hand-to-Hand Com-
bat (6/14), Interrogation (12/26), Science (8/22), Sixth Sense (12/
25), Stealth (12/25)
HEIGHT: 56 SPEED: 2
WEIGHT: 132lbs HAND-TO-HAND DAMAGE CLASS: A
APPEARANCE: Plain RUNNING/SWIMMING: 40 minutes
SURVIVAL POINTS: 3 WEAPON: Dagger-Shoe
FIELDS OF EXPERIENCE: Board Games, Political Science,
Wargames
WEAKNESSES: None
IDIOSYNCRASIES: Precise and calculating; a little neurotic; be-
comes desperate and furious when his careful plans go awry.
INTERACTION MODIFIERS: Reaction (-5), Persuasion (-2), Se-
duction (-1), Interrogation (+2), Torture (+3)
BACKGROUND: Kronsteen is a brilliant chess mas-
ter, and also one of TAROTs top strategists.
Born in Leningrad, he became an international
chess master at the age of 16, taking the junior world
championship at age 18. He was conferred grand-
master status in the same year. He has played in
tournaments around the world. His abilities to out-
wit his opponents and force them into making blun-
dering moves is renown throughout the chess world.
Kronsteen escaped from behind the Iron Cur-
tain in his early-30s, acquiring Austrian citizenship
and passport. He has no family or close friends, nor
did he leave anyone behind in the USSR. Consider-
ing his skill at chess, it is interesting that the Sovi-
ets have not tried to force him back onto their side.
TAROT have used Kronsteens excellent skills
as a strategist in a number of their operations. His
ability to travel openly to chess tournaments any-
where in the world also makes him a useful courier
and general medium for keeping all the geographi-
cally-dispersed cells well informed. In his years with
the organisation, he has risen rapidly through the
ranks. He is now Planning Director of Special Op-
erations, one of the top positions within the terror-
ist group. The current plot against both the Russians
and British (as outlined in the Gamesmaster Brief-
ing) is entirely Kronsteens invention. This plan was
conceived after many months of careful considera-
tion of the political situation in both the East and
West and is, Kronsteen believes, totally fool-proof.
Should cracks start to appear in this complex scheme,
Kronsteen will most likely fall into a self-righteous
rage: he is not used to his strategies failing, and does
not deal well with such failure. Given TAROTs no-
torious intolerance to failure, anything short of to-
tal success in the SPECKTOR plot will probably
leave Kronsteens life in jeopardy.
In the From Russia With Love adventure, char-
acters will probably have little contact with
Kronsteen. He will remain a shadowy influence be-
hind the scene, the author of the complex plans that
the characters will need to unravel. At the very end
of the adventure, when his plans are in tatters, he
may attempt to directly confront the characters in a
murderous rage (see Part III:L The Final Gambit).
Kronsteen always wears one of the deadly Dag-
ger Shoes which TAROT often use in their covert
assassination operations. These are ordinary shoes
21
with a tapered 10cm blade concealed in the front
section of the sole. Tapping a small sensor located
on the side of the heel causes the blade to spring out
and lock. The dagger blade may then be used in kick
attacks to inflict significant damage. It is common
practice for TAROT operatives to coat the blades with
a rapid-acting poison. The Attributes for the Dagger
Shoe are:
0 na na +2 na na
CON JAM DRAW RL
-8 99* 0 na
* The shoe may jam when the spring mechanism is
engaged to expose the blade. Once the blade is ex-
posed, the shoe can never jam.
Any wound inflicted with a Dagger Shoe laced
with TAROTs deadly Sea Wasp Toxin, has a chance
of causing almost instantaneous death. Afflicted
characters must receive a QR 3 or better on an EF 1
STR roll or expire within 30 seconds. Even a suc-
cessful roll leaves the character quite sick, requir-
ing from 3 days (QR 1) to two weeks (QR 3) recovery
time.
POINTS OF INFORMATION: Kronsteen has the fol-
lowing points of information available.
1. Everything that occurs in Istanbul is part of one
of Kronsteens complex and brilliant plans
2. Kronsteen works for TAROT
3. TAROT are also manipulating the Russians as
part of TAROTs plan to obtain the SPECKTOR
4. TAROT leader Karl Ferenc Skorpios is currently
aboard a yacht moored near Venice
Boris Krilencu
Cryptography (5/17), Demolitions (12/24), Disguise (5/17),
Driving (8/18), Evasion (9/20), Fire Combat (12/22), Hand-
to-Hand Combat (8/20), Interrogation (8/20), Stealth (7/16),
Torture (12/22)
ABILITIES: First Aid
HEIGHT: 61 SPEED: 2
SURVIVAL POINTS: 2 WEAPON: Tula Tokarev
FIELDS OF EXPERIENCE: Chemistry, Military Science
WEAKNESSES: Sadism
IDIOSYNCRASIES: Rarely speaks except in monosyllabic grunts;
has absolutely no sense of humour; often accompanied by an
unpleasant odour
duction (0), Interrogation (-1), Torture (-2)
BACKGROUND: Krilencu is a hired killer with a
notorious passion for his work. He often works for
the Russian Intelligence agencies as a freelance as-
sassin, although he has no particular allegiances to
those organisations. He is missing part of the little
finger of his left hand, a punishment meted out by
Bulgarian heavies upset with some criminal trans-
action. While unsightly, this disfigurement has not
hampered his abilities as an assassin.
Krilencu is Romanian by birth, but has worked
extensively throughout the USSR. In the From Rus-
sia With Love adventure he has been brought in by
the KGB and SMERSH agents in Istanbul to wage
their side of the covert war with M.I.6 (see Part III:
D, The Covert War). In this capacity Krilencu will
organise the bombing of the M.I.6 Stationhouse and
an assault on a number of M.I.6 meeting places and
sympathizers (including the Gypsy camp).
22
Krilencu has operated in Istanbul on several
previous missions. Over the years he has assassi-
nated five of Kerim Beys best agents, including one
of his sons. Not surprisingly, Bey hates Krilencu with
a passion, calling him a man who kills for pleas-
ure. Given any opportunity Bey will try to kill
Krilencu to exact his revenge.
Note: TAROTs plan in the From Russia With Love
adventure relies on several different groups perform-
ing their part without any knowledge of the parts
played by the others. Thus, while Krilencu is acting
indirectly as a TAROT operative to wage war against
the characters and their M.I.6 allies, he has no idea
that those allies are also working for TAROT. When
Bey and his Gypsy heavies attack Krilencu and the
Russians, he will have no knowledge that this is part
of the TAROT plan, and will react by counterattack-
ing. While it may seem counterproductive for two groups
of TAROT agents to be fighting one another, this is
actually a deliberate part of the plan. Once both Rus-
sians and British have exhausted one another, TAROT
can snatch the SPECKTOR unopposed.
The characters will most likely encounter
Krilencu in combat. His weapon of choice is the Rus-
sian-made Tula Tokarev. Krilencus Tula Tokarev
cannot be used with a silencer. It has the following
Attributes:
0 2 8 G 0-3 7-20
CON JAM DRAW RL
0 98-99 0 2
POINTS OF INFORMATION: Krilencu has no points
of information since he and his Russian masters are
just as much in the dark as the characters.
Rosa Klebb
Charisma (1/15), Cryptography (13/25), Disguise (11/23), Driv-
ing (10/19), Evasion (12/20), Fire Combat (12/21), Hand-to-Hand
Combat (8/14), Interrogation (11/23), Local Customs (9/17), Sixth
Sense (10/22), Stealth (13/27), Torture (15/28)
HEIGHT: 51 SPEED: 2
SURVIVAL POINTS: 6 WEAPON: Dagger-Shoe
FIELDS OF EXPERIENCE: Microphotography, Military Science,
Political Science, Toxicology
WEAKNESSES: Attraction to Members of the Same Sex, Sadism
IDIOSYNCRASIES: Portrays herself as woman of iron by adopt-
ing an imposing and intimidating sternness and tone of voice
duction (-1), Interrogation (0), Torture (+1)
BACKGROUND: Rosa Klebb is a respected and feared
name in Russian Intelligence circles. Born in Berlin
as the daughter of the Soviet ambassador to East
Germany, Klebb was introduced at an early age to
the complicated world of espionage, double and tri-
ple agents, and intrigue. As a young girl she was
fascinated by the secretive KGB and SMERSH
agents who would pass through the embassy on their
way to or from missions against the decadent West.
She saw how those shadowy figures lived outside of
the laws that everyone else had to adhere to, and as
a consequence how much power they wielded be-
cause of that. The thought of such power and influ-
ence excited the young Klebb.
From an early age, Klebbs father ensured that
she was firmly indoctrinated with the ideals of
23
communism, and a respect for the Soviet state. More
than most others in her indoctrination classes, Rosa
believed these things with a passion.
When she was in her late teens, Klebbs father
unexpectedly requested an end to his German post-
ing. When this was granted, the family moved back
to Moscow. Rosa, like several others, was more than
a little surprised at her fathers sudden request and,
after subsequent investigation in the family home,
she discovered that he was currently working as a
double agent for the American CIA. Furious at this
betrayal of Mother Russia, Rosa immediately re-
ported her father to the Russian counter-intelligence
organisation SMERSH. No-one ever saw or heard of
the former-ambassador again.
While her betrayal of her own father served to
estrange Rosa from her family, it served to bring her
to the attention of the spymasters at SMERSH. The
organisation was always on the lookout for individu-
als of proven loyalty to the state to become agents
or couriers. The head of SMERSH at the time per-
sonally visited Rosa Klebb to make an offer two days
before her eighteenth birthday. She accepted the of-
fer willingly, and became a junior counter-intelli-
gence agent.
In the years that followed, Klebb was placed in
a number of cities within the USSR and beyond, from
Novosibirsk to Tbilisi to St Petersberg to Berlin. In
each of these placements, Klebb proved her abilities
as a ruthless professional, hunting down foreign
spies inside the USSR and flushing out Soviet agents
which were doubling for foreign powers. In these
missions she proved herself to be a vicious and sin-
gle-minded operative, and her steady record of suc-
cesses allowed her to rise quickly through the ranks.
At age 35 she staged a coup inside SMERSH, re-
vealing that the current head of the organisation
was on the British payroll. The end result was that
Rosa emerged as the new head of SMERSH.
Following her appointment to the top job, Klebb
restructured SMERSH and turned it into an organi-
sation even more feared and loathed by spies of all
creeds. She would regularly conduct massive purges
within the ranks of the KGB, flushing out dozens of
alleged foreign sympathisers which were swiftly put
to death. During her 14 year reign as head of
SMERSH she is known to have been personally re-
sponsible for the deaths of at least two M.I.6 agents:
agent 973 in Bulgaria and agent 488 in Berlin. Dur-
ing this period she was also able to exercise fairly
freely some of the darker aspects of her personality,
as embodied by her ever increasing sadism. Indeed,
during the last five years of her time with SMERSH,
it was regularly reported that Klebb would attend
all interrogations and torture sessions her schedule
would permit, personally directing the attendants
as to what techniques to use on the victim.
In more recent times, the political climate in
Russia has changed dramatically away from the
hard-line idealism Klebb still adheres to. The grow-
ing climate of dtente between East and West was
something she advised most strongly against. Yet
the tide of change did not stop, and Klebb became
more and more disillusioned with the state of her
own country.
Rosa Klebbs discontent was seen by the head of
the international terrorist organisation TAROT, who
realised quickly that with the right inducement, she
could become a powerful force against the Russians.
An offer was made for Klebb to defect from Russia,
and to take up a senior rank within TAROT. Simul-
taneously a plan was drawn up to use this new
TAROT asset to maximal advantage before news of
her defection became commonly known. Thus was
born the Kronsteen plan at the centre of the From
Russia With Love adventure.
Klebbs part in the plot is simple but important.
She was required to make use of her renown and
authority in Russian Intelligence circles to select an
agent and task them. The mission was simple: the
agent should adopt the cover of a Russian operative,
eager to defect to the West and willing to bring along
a piece of valuable cryptographic equipment to se-
cure asylum. Klebb selected Tatiana Romanova for
this mission, in part because she had long been at-
tracted to the young woman.
Note: As written, the From Russia With Love ad-
venture does not involve the characters directly con-
fronting Rosa Klebb. In Part IV: B, Altering the Mis-
sion, options are given for including Klebb directly
in the action.
POINTS OF INFORMATION: Klebb has the following
points of information available.
1. Tatiana Romanova was selected by Klebb to be the
bait in a trap intended to lure British agents to Istanbul
2. Klebb has recently defected from SMERSH to TAROT
3. TAROT plans to use Tatiana and the characters
to ultimately obtain the SPECKTOR for themselves
4. TAROT leader Karl Ferenc Skorpios is currently
aboard a yacht moored near Venice
24
B. Allies
Donovan Red Grant
Charisma (6/16), Disguise (9/18), Driving (10/21), Evasion (13/
25), Fire Combat (14/25), Hand-to-Hand Combat (13/26), Inter-
rogation (10/19), Local Customs (9/19), Sixth Sense (11/20),
Stealth (13/20)
HEIGHT: 62 SPEED: 2
APPEARANCE: Good Looking RUNNING/SWIMMING: 25 minutes
HERO POINTS: 4 WEAPON: Walther PPK
FIELDS OF EXPERIENCE: Football, Toxicology
WEAKNESSES: None
IDIOSYNCRASIES: Cool and impassive; presents the
air of an ultimate professional; chooses his words
carefully and speaks them with an unemotional voice
INTERACTION MODIFIERS: Reaction (+1), Persuasion
(+1), Seduction (0), Interrogation (-1), Torture (-2)
Note: Grant has one of the new standard issue atta-
che cases described in Part I:C, Q Branch Equipment
BACKGROUND: Donovan Red Grant is an agent
working under deep cover as part of an extended
M.I.6 counter-intelligence mission. Because his mis-
sion actually involves the investigation of M.I.6
agents (in order to determine who is responsible for
recent leaks of intelligence information), he will not
reveal his identity or mission to the characters un-
less absolutely necessary. In the course of the From
Russia With Love adventure this will most likely
make him appear to be a villain.
Donovan Grant was born in Ireland, in the small
town of Aughmacloy. From an early age he was of-
ten involved in fist fights with other youths. This
delinquency caused problems in the conservative
village, but also served to develop and hone his fight-
ing skills. In these formative years, Grant also de-
veloped a strong moral code: where many of his
friends ended up joining minor criminal gangs or
worse, he stuck to simply defending his own inter-
ests when challenged and striking his own path.
Always a loner, this choice of lifestyle separated him
yet further from his peers.
After an undistinguished schooling in
Aughmacloy and later in Belfast, Grant took up a
range of labouring jobs. He remained a physical in-
dividual and occasionally would still have minor
scraps over drunken arguments. Eventually he de-
cided to sign up for national service, and served for
a few years in a British anti-terrorist unit stationed
in Belfast. Finding this work uninspiring, Grant
sought out new positions within the British Army.
Eventually he succeeded in being transferred to the
Royal Corp of Signal, ending up eventually in the
motorcycle dispatch service. This assignment took
him to a number of locations around Europe, and
exposed him to British Intelligence operations. His
longest posting was to Berlin where, at age 25, he
gained his first taste of the intrigue and excitement
of espionage work. Although not officially assigned
to an Intelligence agency, Grant was occasionally
placed in positions where he assisted M.I.6 agents
in undertaking their missions.
Based on several good impressions during such
collaborations, M.I.6 decided to recruit Grant to be-
come an agent. At the time, M was looking to bolster
the relatively small section that serves to monitor
the activities of the normal M.I.6 agents and to de-
tect any misuse of government information. One of
the criteria for recruitment to this counter-intelli-
gence group was a lack of reputation in the Intelli-
gence field, and Grants practical obscurity fitted
perfectly.
Grants work as a counter-intelligence operative
for M.I.6 has taken him around the world several
times over the past 6 years. Most recently his as-
signment has been to track down the source of an
embarrassing information leak which has lead to
several M.I.6 codewords arriving in the hands of the
Russians in recent months. He began investigations
in Berlin, moved to Moscow, Hong Kong and Nas-
sau, before finally unearthing enough information
to point to Istanbul as the source of the leak. His
attention has naturally fallen on Stationhouse T
operatives and he has maintained a subtle vigil on
their activities for the past month. In that time he
has witnessed a number of unusual activities includ-
25
ing Kerim Beys occasional trips to Venice and the
more regular meetings between Beys eldest son and
a local crime ringleader. He is presently investigat-
ing both these leads.
The characters will likely encounter Grant in a
number of locations throughout the From Russia
With Love adventure. The first such encounter will
be on their arrival at Ataturk airport (see Part III:
A, Ataturk Airport) where he recognizes them as
M.I.6 agents and mistakenly believes that they may
be in Istanbul to participate in the activities he is
investigating. In addition to following his other leads,
Grant will also tail them (and tail their tails)
throughout much of their stay in Istanbul. Eventu-
ally he will witness the characters come under at-
tack from Russians and Bulgarians in the covert war
(see Part III: D, The Covert War) and conclude that
they are probably here on a legitimate M.I.6 busi-
ness. He will continue to tail them, but from that
point will do so as a kind of guardian angel, aiding
the characters whenever possible (e.g., shooting from
his hiding place or leaving anonymous messages).
He will not reveal his identity at this stage, for fear
of compromising his mission. During the characters
escape on the Orient Express (see Part III: I, The
Orient Express) he will, however, lift his cover when
he believes that the characters need his help to es-
cape the train.
POINTS OF INFORMATION: Grant has the follow-
ing points of information available. Although he is
an ally, he will be reluctant to reveal items 3 and 4
to the characters unless he has a good reason to trust
them. Alternatively, the characters may obtain this
information by Persuasion, Seduction or Interroga-
tion.
1. Grant is a M.I.6 agent
2. During the characters mission in Istanbul he has
been tailing them, assisting where he could do so
without blowing his cover
3. Grant is in Istanbul investigating British secrets
that have recently been sold to a foreign power
4. Grant thinks that the leak is most likely Kerim Bey
Tatiana (Tania) Romanova
Charisma (6/11), Cryptography (5/11), Electronics (4/10), Se-
duction (3/8)
HEIGHT: 59 SPEED: 1
APPEARANCE: Attractive RUNNING/SWIMMING: 10 minutes
HERO POINTS: 2 WEAPON: None
FIELDS OF EXPERIENCE: Computers
WEAKNESSES: Attraction to Members of the Oppo-
site Sex
IDIOSYNCRASIES: blushes at the hint of any impro-
priety; quite tactile with those she trusts
INTERACTION MODIFIERS: Reaction (-1), Persuasion
(-2), Seduction (+3), Interrogation (-1), Torture (0)
BACKGROUND: Tatiana Romanova is a somewhat
gullible low-level cryptographic clerk working in the
Russian Consulate in Istanbul. Her job involves tak-
ing messages intended for communication back to
Moscow, encoding them using special cryptographic
devices and transmitting them across regular phone
or telegraph lines. In her work she routinely has ac-
cess to a new SPECKTOR decoder device, recently
installed to replace older devices whose codes were
believed to have been cracked by foreign governments.
Tatiana is, at heart, a simple girl. She was born
in Kiev as the only child of a fisherman. From an
early age she was trained for the ballet, although
she was forced to abandon this dream when, in her
late teens, she grew too tall one inch over regula-
tion height. Instead of schooling in ballet, Tatiana
was then educated to become a clerical functionary,
an attempt by her father to save his beautiful prin-
cess from a life of manual labour. While not par-
ticularly adept in complex professional skills,
Tatiana proved easily able to master common cleri-
cal skills. She soon found herself inducted as a clerk
in an Intelligence bureau in Kiev, and after a few
years of hard work worked her way to being offered
26
a more prestigious position as a cryptographic clerk
performing English decoding. Unfortunately her
promotion came at a price, she would have to move
to Moscow, leaving her mother and father behind.
Naively she attempted to decline the promotion, but
was soon informed that it was not her choice to make:
the state required a cryptographic clerk in Moscow
and she had proven herself capable. With some sad-
ness she moved to Russia and then, after two years
working in the central intelligence bureau was real-
located again, this time to Istanbul. Tatiana has now
lived a little over a year in Turkey; she now corre-
sponds with her family only occasionally.
Moving to Istanbul also brought Tatiana to the
attention of the head of SMERSH Rosa Klebb, who
often visited the Russian Consulate in that city. For
reasons unknown to Tatiana, Klebb seemed to take
particular notice of her, speaking at length to her in
private on a number of occasions. Most recently,
Klebb requested Tatianas attendance at a private
briefing at which she instructed her on an impor-
tant mission SMERSH required her to undertake.
The assignment, vital to Mother Russia, required
her to pose as a besotten clerk willing to defect to
the West with the top-secret SPECKTOR device.
According to Klebb this ruse was part of an impor-
tant trap for Britains corrupt secret service agents.
Tatiana will begin the From Russia With Love
adventure with an Antagonistic reaction towards
both the West and its agents (the characters). She
will be diligent in covering this attitude, however,
as it is important to her mission to appear willing.
As the adventure proceeds her attitudes may change,
depending on her interactions with the characters.
When Tatiana first encounters the characters, roll
for her Reaction as normal (applying the modifier
given above). The result obtained is her apparent
Reaction. Her real Reaction will always begin as
Antagonistic, although this can be changed by a suc-
cessful Seduction attempt (re-roll Reaction with the
above-listed modifier and the normal +5 modifier).
Tatianas Reaction after being Seduced manifests as
both her apparent Reaction, and also as her real re-
action. A result of Friendly or better means that
she would actively assist the characters even when
such action would be outside her personal mission
(e.g., saving their lives when they are being at-
tacked).
Ironically, deep down Tatiana actually does har-
bour secret doubts about all the propaganda she has
heard decrying the decadence of the West. She has a
romantic soul and would dearly like to one day visit
the exotic places she has heard about and find out
for herself. Depending on the course the adventure
takes, Tatianas ruse of being eager to defect may be
replaced by a very real desire to escape Russia. In
this way, even the smallest pawn might twist TAR-
OTs plans to her own advantage.
Note: Beyond the very simple instructions given to
her by Klebb, Tatiana Romanova has absolutely no
knowledge of the complex plot she is a part-player
in. In many ways she is merely an innocent dupe in
the machinations of TAROT.
POINTS OF INFORMATION: Tatiana has the follow-
ing points of information available. The amount of
information which she is willing to reveal depends
completely on her Reaction to the characters plus
any Persuasion, Seduction or Interrogation they may
attempt. Use the rules at the beginning of this sec-
tion.
1. Tatiana is a cryptographic data entry clerk, work-
ing at the Russian Consulate
2. Tatiana has access to a new SPECKTOR decoder
3. Tatiana was asked to play the part of a potential
defector by Rosa Klebb, a well known figure in
SMERSH
4. Despite acting the part, Tatiana really does want
to defect to England
27
27
Part III:
Places, Events,
and Encounters
he flight from London to Istanbul takes a little
under 4 hours, and brings the characters to
Ataturk airport, Istanbuls international air trans-
port hub. As their plane touches down, the charac-
ters are treated to a spectacular view over the
sprawling city, stretched over two continents and
peppered with the sky-reaching minarets of dozens
of mosques. The often chaotic jumble of buildings,
both ancient and modern, is split in half by a wide
stretch of water, the Bosphorous strait. Hundreds of
boats, small and large, can be seen bobbing on its
sun-dappled waves.
The airport itself is located some 20-30 minutes
drive from the centre of Istanbul. It is a modern struc-
ture complete with all the amenities and features
one would expect of a truly international airport.
Its spacious concourses, dominated by large glass
and steel surfaces, are almost perpetually cluttered
with a teeming horde of passengers from all over
the world. Characters interested in obtaining a map
of the city can easily do so, either by picking up the
excellent free maps provided by the tourist office or
by purchasing one from the several news-stand/to-
bacconists within the terminal building (in either
case, the Gamesmaster should provide the handout
map of Istanbul).
Just as the characters are wondering what their
first step should be, having cleared customs and col-
lected any baggage, they hear a mildly-accented voice
speaking their names from behind. Turning around
they see a young Turkish man dressed in a very el-
egant grey chauffers outfit. Kerim Bey sent a car
for you. Greetings, I am Taksim, Kerims eldest son.
Characters will recall from Ms briefing that Kerim
Bey, head of Station House T, is to be their contact in
T
A. Ataturk Airport
Istanbul, although no particular arrangements were
made for an airport pick-up. Any (justified) suspi-
cion of this approach can easily be absolved by us-
ing any of the current M.I.6 code phrases: regard-
less of which the characters choose, Taksim knows
the proper responses. After the formalities of identi-
fication are completed, the chauffer ushers the char-
acters towards the side exit of the terminal building
where he says he has a car waiting.
Before leaving the airport, however, the charac-
ters are observed by a striking figure seated in a
mezzanine-level caf/bar. Success in either an Ease
Factor 5 Perception roll or an Ease Factor 3 Sixth
Sense roll alerts them to the fact that they are be-
ing watched. Looking up at the smoke-shrouded eat-
ing area, the characters can see a bulky blond man
partially concealed behind a Turkish-language news-
paper. His pale complexion and fair hair contrast
dramatically with the assembled crowd of coffee-
skinned Turkish men, mostly in traditional garb, who
drink coffee and smoke in animated fashion around
him. From behind his newspaper, the characters can
see tell-tale glints of light reflected off the expen-
sive ground lenses of a pair of ultra-compact bin-
oculars.
As soon as his surveillance of the characters and
Taksim has been detected, the blond man quickly
packs up his gear into a small travel bag and hast-
ily makes for the rear entrance to the mezzanine
lounge area. Anybody wishing to give chase finds it
to be a futile exercise; by the time the caf/bar area
has been reached via the long and crowd-filled stair-
way, the man is long gone.
This encounter introduces the characters to Do-
novan Red Grant who will continue to monitor their
28
movements for the entirety of their stay in Istanbul.
Grant is a M.I.6 agent currently investigating the
actions of M.I.6s own operation in Turkey, suspect-
ing that there is someone in the ranks selling classi-
fied information to the Soviets. He has been routinely
monitoring the airport for some time on the lookout
for the arrival of new M.I.6 agents. Unknowingly,
the characters have become new suspects in his in-
vestigation. The characters may make a recognition
roll when observing this member of their own or-
ganisation, however his low fame point value (an
absolute necessitity for internal investigations)
makes it unlikely that they will gain anything bet-
ter than a vague sense of having seen the tall, stocky
man somewhere before.
Driving to Istanbul
Following Taksim Bey from the airport build-
ing, the characters soon find themselves in his luxu-
rious if somewhat outdated Rolls Royce Silver Cloud
driving towards the centre of Istanbul. The young
man is courteous and friendly, making small talk on
the 20-30 minute drive. He tells the characters that
they are most fortunate to arrive today, for his fa-
ther has just returned from abroad, and will be able
to personally extend his hospitality. If any surprise
is shown at a member of Beys family running er-
rands for M.I.6, Taksim will smile and subtly pull
aside the lapel of his chauffer jacket to reveal a
Walther PPK in a shoulder holster: All of my fa-
thers many, many sons work for your secret service.
It is a family business.
As the car approaches the city, Taksim says
Kerim Bey suggested that you should first come to
our Stationhouse to meet him before you check into
your hotel. I trust that will suit you. If the charac-
ters would prefer to visit their hotel first, their driver
will be happy to do that instead.
Throughout the last half of their drive, which
takes them past ancient ruins and down narrow cob-
bled streets of the old city, the characters car will be
tailed by a black Citroen Traction Avant. This will
be revealed by an Ease Factor 8 Perception roll. If
the characters alert Taksim to this he will chuckle
to himself, indeed its quite customary in this
city to be followed. Today its Citroen H31854 on duty.
Theyre Bulgarians, working for the Russians. They
follow us, we follow them its a sort of understand-
ing we have. Under no circumstances will Taksim
try to lose this tail, or otherwise instigate a chase
sequence. If for some reason the characters insti-
gate such action, the Gamesmaster can find statis-
tics for the Silver Cloud, Traction Avant, Kerims
Sons and the Bulgarian Thugs in Part III: D, The
Covert War.
B. Station House T
.I.6s Turkey Station House is run by Kerim
Bey and is concealed within the large car-
pet emporium he runs with his small army of sons.
Taksim Bey will park the Silver Cloud at the back
of the huge covered markets of Kapali Carsi and lead
the characters by foot into the chaotic bazaar. The
structure itself dates back to medieval times, and
sprawls over an area the equivalent of several city
blocks. Every square inch beneath the tall ceilings
is crammed with shops and stalls, loosely arranged
into regions along some 65 streets. The characters
will quickly become lost within this maze of jewelry
stores, clothing stores and silverware stalls.
In one of the quieter sections of the market place,
in the area given over to furniture and carpet stores,
the characters are ushered into a large exotic-look-
ing showroom containing all manner of floor carpets,
rugs and tapestries. This is Kerim Beys carpet em-
porium. The place is quite busy, with dozens of cus-
tomers, many of them tourists, carefully looking over
stacks of carpets. In this endeavour they are assisted
by eight young men who bear a strong familial re-
M
semblance to Taksim. Ignoring the hustle and bus-
tle of the store, he gestures towards the very back of
the store. There, away from prying eyes, he throws a
small wall hanging carpet aside to reveal an unas-
suming door. Taksim opens the door and ushers the
characters into the room beyond.
The first thing the characters will notice about
the large room will not be its opulent dcor or beau-
tiful stained-glass windows, but rather the presence
of a beautiful scantily-clad woman. As they enter,
Bey stands at the back of the room beside what ap-
pears to be a low double divan bed. Closer, in the
center of the room, a tall blonde woman is just fin-
ishing getting into a slightly crumpled blue dress.
When she notices the presence of strangers, she picks
up a handbag and prepares to leave. Kerim smiles
broadly and says My darling, dont leave behind the
beautiful vase I bought you. I would hate to have
carried it all the way back from Venice for nothing.
She picks up a large blue-tinted vase from the large
desk by the French Windows and leaves through the
same door the characters just entered.
29
PART III: PLACES, EVENTS AND ENCOUNTERS
Encountering Kerim Bey
Still smiling, Kerim Bey ushers the characters
to a couple of chairs beside his modest desk, taking
up his own, more sumptuous chair on the other side.
If there are any female characters he will first pull
their chairs out before they sit, exuding as much
charm as he can muster. Once everyone is seated he
will begin, Welcome to Istanbul. Immediately he
offers everyone coffee. Success in a Connoisseur roll
suggests that the proper thing is to order it semi-
sweet. As the characters give their orders, another
of Beys sons has appeared behind them; Kerim nods
and the young man departs to fetch the coffee. You
have already met my eldest son, he continues, but
he is also my son. All my key employees are my sons.
Blood is the best security in this business.
The characters can direct the conversation any
way they wish, but as soon as the business of Tatiana
and the SPECKTOR is raised, Bey will smile broadly
to himself and say, You know my friend(s), I think
you are wasting your time here. With a finger he
taps the side of his nose, This is an old friend of
mine and it tells me that something here smells. The
Russians are very careful with their coding devices.
We should know, weve been trying to get our hands
on them for years. What makes you think that this
woman friend of yours can sneak one of these de-
vices out from under their noses? Even assuming
she really wants to defect. No, my friends, something
here is not right.
Bey will talk to the characters as long as they
wish, offering his opinions on any local matter they
are interested in. If they question him further about
the Russian Consulate and their security, he will
reveal that he has a secret surveillance setup he can
use to keep an eye on what goes on inside the consu-
late. He can also provide further specifics, as de-
scribed in Part III: G, Russian Consulate and part
III: H, Stealing the SPECKTOR. If asked about
Tatiana Romanova, Bey will confess that he does
not know of her, although he does recognise her from
her photograph (see Part III:C, Investigating
Tatiana).
Once the conversation seems to be drawing to a
close, Kerim will recap his original statements, You
know, I still think this is a waste of your time. If you
really want my advice, my friend(s), you should spend
a few pleasant days here in Istanbul, then then
go home.
While Kerim Bey strives hard to promote the
impression he is sceptical and disinterested in the
Tatiana affair, this is actually a faade. As described
in his NPC write-up in Part II, Bey is intimately
involved in the TAROT plot to steal the SPECKTOR
and kill the characters. He is even more involved in
the plan to bring them into disrepute. When playing
out the encounter with Bey, Gamesmasters should
keep a close eye on the topics discussed. Whenever
Bey is called upon to out-and-out lie about his in-
tentions or interests, Gamesmasters should roll an
Ease Factor 8 WIL roll to determine whether he was
able to conceal his true motives. If he fails in this
roll, he has either displayed more passion towards a
topic than he intended, or otherwise done something
that hints at his true motives. Even if he makes such
a blunder, characters must still make an Ease Fac-
tor 5 PER roll to notice (rolled by the Gamesmaster).
Success reveals simply that Kerim seems more in-
terested than he is letting on.
Investigating the Station House
Later in the mission, when some suspicion has
fallen on the role of Kerim Bey, the characters may
wish to look around the Station House for them-
selves. This is not easy to achieve: while Bey only
spends 50% of the daylight hours in the office (and
none of the night), there are always at least two or
three of his sons in the carpet emporium. At certain
times of the day and night, Taksim can also be found
in the Station House itself, using the somewhat an-
tiquated radio equipment to send coded messages
to M.I.6 in London, and receive others.
While sneaking into the Station House through
the store is next to impossible due to the vigilance of
Beys sons, the characters may be able to gain entry
through the French Doors leading onto the atrium
garden. These doors are always kept locked when-
ever Kerim is not present and will require a
Lockpicking roll to open. Gaining entry by smash-
ing the French Doors or stained glass windows is
impractical as the noise will immediately bring two
30
of Beys Sons from the store. Before any such strate-
gies can be adopted, however, the characters first
have to get over the 13 foot wall which separates
the garden from the street beyond. A mountaineer-
ing roll and some form of proper equipment are re-
quired.
When running characters through a search of
Station House T, the Gamesmaster should refer to
the layout map in the centre of this booklet.
Apart from revealing the rooms beautiful fur-
niture and half-height skirting, and discovering the
small collection of Venetian vases concealed behind
one of the curtains, a search reveals one item of in-
terest. On the southern wall, hidden behind a small
wall-hanging rug is a small safe with a combination
lock. Any Safecracking roll receives a 1 Ease Fac-
tor modifier; failure causes a loud siren in the outer
shop to sound, bringing Kerims Sons within 2
rounds.
Inside the safe, the characters find a small bun-
dle of Turkish Lira, a gold ingot, a current M.I.6
codebook, two Russian handguns (from KGB agents
Bey has killed), and a small gold locket containing a
photograph of Beys dead wife. If they have yet to
discover the chess column handout (as described in
Part III: F, Investigating Grant), it will also be found
in the safe. Only Kerim and Taksim know the com-
bination to the safe; one of the two will notice any-
thing missing within 3 hours. Note that for each 15
minutes the characters spend sneaking around the
Station House, there is a 30% chance of one of Beys
Sons entering the room for some reason.
Investigating the Station House after the bomb
blast which largely destroys it (see Part III: D, The
Covert War) is a little easier. In the confusion sur-
rounding the clean-up, the characters can easily
check over any parts of the Station House they are
interested in. The blast rips the entire safe from the
wall, further punching a fist-sized hole in the back.
Characters who can find some reason to be alone
with the debris for a few minutes prior to the safe
being discovered by Kerim or his Sons, can easily
check through the contents.
Hotel Intercontinental
Once the characters have met with Bey and dis-
cussed the mission, they will want to check into their
hotel, the Hotel Intercontinental on Taksim Square
(on the other side of the Galata Bridge). The hotel
has a classic air, but with modern conveniences.
When the characters check in they find that they
have (each) been given (one of) the Honeymoon
Suites. Players who are very familiar with the From
Russia With Love movie may be concerned that this
room is video monitored. It is not, and no matter
how much time the characters spend searching for
double mirrors or peep-holes they find none. The
room is, however, audio bugged by both M.I.6 and
the KGB. The Gamesmaster can decide on any im-
pacts that overheard conversations might have on
the ongoing plot, remembering that whatever the
characters say has most likely been heard by both
the Russian Consulate staff and Beys Sons.
C. Investigating Tatiana
ne of the first things the characters will want
to do in Istanbul is to make contact with their
potential defector, Tatiana Romanova, or at least find
out more about her and her offer of the SPECKTOR
decoder. Neither of these, however, proves easy. In
her original letter to the characters, Tatiana is quite
vague about what the agents should do once they
have arrived in the city. While her intent is to make
contact herself at some moment convenient to what
she perceives as Rosa Klebbs SMERSH plan, the
characters will probably want to make some inves-
tigations before this.
Questioning Kerim Bey about Tatiana reveals
few specifics. He does not recognise her name, al-
though it is usual for the Russians to actively con-
ceal the identities of Intelligence operatives operat-
ing within their consulate building. The only names
he learns are those he intercepts on documents, or
extracts during interrogations the name Tatiana
Romanova has never come to him from either source.
Showing Bey the photograph of the attractive Rus-
sian, however, brings an exclamation of recognition:
he says that he distinctly remembers seeing this
beauty on several occasions during his surveillance
of the Russian Consulates Meeting Hall. This, at
least, establishes that the woman in question does
indeed have access inside the consulate building,
where the SPECKTOR is undoubtedly kept.
Characters may wish to discuss with Bey their
options for contacting Tatiana. Kerim will admon-
ish extreme caution if the woman truly is in a po-
sition of responsibility affording her access to the
SPECKTOR, there is little doubt that she will be
under close scrutiny from the ubiquitous Soviet Se-
curity men. This surveillance will be total within the
Consulate building itself, but may also extend to her
home and possibly even to public places. If the Rus-
sian Security agents see Tatiana as much as talking
to a known British agent, she will likely end up un-
der such tight watch that any defection attempt will
O
31
be impossible. Thus, any contact with Romanova, Bey
says, must be clandestine, as secret as the night.
Predictably, any inquiries the characters make
at the Russian Consulate building (see Part III: G,
Russian Consulate) are met with staunch denials.
According to them, there is no such person working
within the city of Istanbul. An indirect effect of ask-
ing such questions, however, is that monitoring of
Tatianas movements will be slightly stepped up (to
determine why unauthorised people are asking af-
ter her). Any rolls the Gamesmaster makes later to
determine the chance Tatiana is presently being
watched by Russian Security have an additional 20
percentiles added to the chance of surveillance.
Tatianas Apartment
One tactic that characters may wish to employ
in tracking down Tatiana is monitoring the front
entrance to the Consulate to witness her arriving
for work, or leaving for the day. Persistence in such
a stake-out brings rewards: in the morning of each
week day, a tall blonde woman clearly Tatiana,
despite the fact she is wearing her hair in a scarfe
and covering her face with dark sunglasses can be
seen entering the compound at 8:45 A.M. Each day
at around 5:30 P.M. she emerges from the front gate,
usually laughing with a group of other women, and
walks off down a cobbled street alone.
Characters may attempt to tailing Romanova
as she makes the 15 minute walk back to her apart-
ment. Standard rules should be applied. If Tatiana
detects the tail she will turn sharply to the pursu-
ing character and glare, dashing into a nearby shop
front to avoid being seen with the character. If her
pursuer follows into the store, he or she will receive
a hoarsely whispered rebuke, not here, too many
people before Tatiana forces herself past them back
into the street. There is a 25% chance that
Romanovas walk home (and any character interac-
tion on that walk) is observed by a Russian security
agent.
If such an agent witnesses anything incriminat-
ing and returns to the Consulate to tell the tale,
Tatiana will have a nasty surprise in store for her
next morning. Citing concerns for her safety in the
presence of known foreign elements in the city, her
supervisors will insist she spend the next week
(starting immediately) living instead in one of the
secure accommodation blocks behind the Consulate
building. She will not be permitted home to collect
any personal belongings, everything will be provided
for her during her stay. The accommodation units in
question, and the options for penetrating the secu-
rity of the Consular compound, are described in Part
III: G, Russian Consulate.
In the instance that the characters successfully
tail Tatiana all the way back to her small third-floor
apartment without being seen, she quietly ushers
them into the single, rather spartan room holding a
finger over her lips to indicate silence. Tatiana sus-
pects, correctly as it turns out, that her apartment is
bugged and will under no circumstances say anything
which betrays her plans. In addition, she will also pull
the blinds all the way down on every window to foil
any attempts to look into the apartment from the
street. Either by using non-verbal communication, or
by employing any of the usual means of defeating
audio monitoring (e.g., running the shower, putting
on a loud record or CD) the characters may meet
Tatiana properly. The encounter will run largely as
per the Tatiana Takes the Initiative section below.
32
Tatiana Takes the Initiative
Eventually, despite any attempts by the charac-
ters to reach her, Tatiana will arrange to make di-
rect contact with them. This happens at a time of
the gamesmasters choosing, and takes the form of
Tatiana sneaking into the hotel room of one of the
characters (the male agent who received her letter)
and hiding herself in his bed as a surprise. When
the character returns to his room, he finds the door
is closed but unlocked. It is dark beyond. Switching
on the light or moving to the sumptuous bed reveals
the naked form under the covers.
Tatiana has been ordered by Klebb to seduce the
British Agent, thus she will initiate a Seduction se-
quence as soon as the character has introduced him-
self. If the character attempts to discuss her letter,
or otherwise talk about the plan, she whispers husk-
ily into his ear, Not now later, someone may be
listening.
Either after the Seduction is complete, or when-
ever the character becomes insistent about discuss-
ing business, Tatiana pulls him by the arm into the
luxurious bathroom. Running a (very loud) shower
she speaks softly about her plan. You received my
letter, yes? You know about what I want, and what I
can help you get? Device is held in Consulate build-
ing. I can tell whatever you need to know about build-
ing, but you will need to devise plan to retrieve de-
vice. Players will probably note that this is a much
more dangerous proposition than originally outlined
Tatianas letter said nothing about M.I.6 having
to conduct a retrieval operation from a high-secu-
rity compound. If the character confronts her, she
says, I help from inside, but I cannot simply walk
out of the building with the most valuable piece of
equipment in entire place. It is clear that to obtain
the SPECKTOR the characters will need to perform
much of the work themselves. Tatiana, however, can
obtain maps and descriptions of the most sensitive
areas inside the Consulate, and can provide some
photographs and technical specifications for the de-
coder if the characters find such information useful.
Tatiana will carefully explain to the character
that she is, like most others in her area, under fre-
quent surveillance from the Internal Security men.
It is critically important that she not be seen with
the character, or any other foreign national. If the
character is interested in meeting with Tatiana
again, either for personal reasons, or to obtain fur-
ther information from her, they will need to arrange
a clandestine meeting. If asked, Tatiana will sug-
gest the Saint Sophia Mosque as a good semi-public
place to exchange information by letter-drop.
Eventually, Tatiana will conclude proceedings,
saying that she must leave before she is discovered.
She departs with a passionate kiss on the lips and
the words, When I am in England, we will be able
to do this all the time!
D. The Covert War
hile the main thrust of Kronsteens master
plan centres upon luring the characters into
obtaining the SPECKTOR decoder for TAROT, his
strategy also includes a second strand which will
ensure that the characters stay in Istanbul is as
dangerous as it is eventful. By escalating the already
tense situation that pervades the citys spy commu-
nity, he hopes to provoke an all-out covert war be-
tween M.I.6 agents and their KGB counterparts
within the city. Kronsteens motivations for engineer-
ing such a violent behind-the-scenes conflict are sub-
tle: by placing the citys KGB and M.I.6 agents at
each others throat, both will have fewer resources
available to defend against TAROTs plans, includ-
ing the theft of the SPECKTOR. Also, provoking
hostility from the KGB is a guaranteed way of rein-
forcing in M.I.6s mind the legitimacy of the offer to
obtain the decoder. Finally, the plan also serves to
place the particular M.I.6 agents most hated by
TAROT into potentially dangerous situations, which
may lead to their injury or disgrace (although for
the primary plan to succeed, the agents must remain
alive until after the SPECKTOR has been stolen).
TAROT will anonymously fire the first shot in
the covert war shortly after the characters arrive in
Istanbul. Quietly and invisibly one of the organisa-
tions local assassins will murder a KGB agent in
his car, leaving both car and body to be discovered
parked outside the Russian Consulate building. In
the tense climate of Istanbuls intelligence commu-
nity such a blatant act of provocation will not be
tolerated retribution against the British, the long-
standing enemy and only plausible culprit, will be
swift and unambiguous. And thats where the Cov-
ert War really begins.
Running the Covert War
The Covert War offers gamesmasters with a sub-
plot which can provide a considerable amount of
action, and can add a considerable amount of local
color to the characters time in Istanbul. It is im-
W
33
Floorplans and Maps
Adventure Module
Eon Productions Limited/Glidrose Publications Limited (2003)
You may remove these maps by bending back the
staples and pulling out the center four pages
Walled
Courtyard
Garden
French Doors
(kept locked)
Kerim's Desk
Raised Level
(5' above floor)
Double Bed
Vase
Chair
Sofa
Sofa
Door to
Bazaar
Lamp
Decoding
Station
Drinks
Trolley
Carpet
Stained Glass
Window
Rug
Safe
Clock
Chair
= 2 feet
N
Lamp
= 3 feet
N
Guest
Bedroom
Master
Bedroom
Study
Bathroom
Kitchen
Dining
Room
Open to Foyer below
Railings
To Ground Floor
Stationhouse T
Russian Consulate, Upper Floor
34
N
= 10 feet
30' Wall (side of Apartment Building)
2
0
'

W
a
l
l

(
s
i
d
e

o
f

M
o
s
q
u
e
)
Consulate Building
Garage
"Accomodation"
Units
Garden
10' Hedges
10' Hedges
Gate
Gate
Sidewalk
S
i
d
e
w
a
l
k
Road
R
o
a
d
Garden
Courtyard
12' Metal Fence with Barbed Wire
S
i
d
e
w
a
l
k
Russian Consulate Grounds
Reception
Kitchen
Dumb Waiter
(to basement)
Female WC Male WC Female WC Male WC
Dining Room
Smoking Room
& Lounge
Outer
Office
Display
Room
Typing
Pool
To Basement
To Upper
Floor
To Upper
Floor
Consul's
Office
PA's
Off.
Garden
Courtyard
Glass Tiles (skylight)
Ball Room 2
Ball Room 1
Bar
Bar
Bandstand
Cloak
Room
Storage
Foyer
= 3 feet
N
Consulate, Ground Floor
35
Consulate Basement / KGB Stationhouse
Wash
Room
C
o
n
f
e
r
e
n
c
e

T
a
b
l
e
W
i
t
h

C
h
a
i
r
s
S
k
y
l
i
g
h
t
Conference Room
Hidden Periscope Access
Fireplace
Movable Map
Board
Book
Cases
Cell
Cell
Wine Cellar
G
G
R
TV
Security
Station
Corridor
I
n
t
e
r
r
o
g
a
t
i
o
n
R
o
o
m
G
u
r
n
e
y
D
e
t
e
n
t
i
o
n
R
o
o
mTo Ground
Floor
Vault
Office Area
Desk
Desk
Desk
Drug
Cabinet
Dining Room
Table and Chairs
Dumb
Waiter
Bench
Desk
Briefing Room
Black
Boards
Chairs
Hat
Racks
M
M
Crypto
Devices
SPECKTOR
Crypto
Devices
Bench
Shredder
Analyst
Cubicles
Safe
Desk
N
= 2 feet
Key to Symbols
M
Motion
Detector
Security
Camera
R
Keycard
Reader
G
Guard
Post
Combination
Lock
Key Lock
Key Lock
left Open
Curtain
Glass
Wall
Bars
36
Saint Sophia Mosque
0 30 feet
N
Dome
A
p
s
e
Public
Entrance
Imperial Door
= 10 feet
N
To Woods
To Highway
Cars
Truck
2 Storey
Building
Dirt
Road
Tents
15' Reinforced
Wooden Gate
Wall-top
Sentry
Wall-top
Sentry
Archways High in Wall (Defensive Positions)
Archways High in Wall (Defensive Positions)
Archway
Partially
Submerged
Water
(10-15' deep)
Wagons
Feast
Table
Horse
Corral
Animal
Pens
Sheds
Gypsy Camp
37
portant to remember, however, that it isnt the main
game effectively everything that happens is in
some ways a distraction from the main plot: steal-
ing the SPECKTOR from the Russian Consulate.
With this in mind, the gamesmaster needs to de-
cide, based on the style of game he or she wishes to
run and the level of experience and expectations of
the players, how much foreground time the covert
war should be given. If the players thrive on action
sequences and wont mind spending a significant
amount of time in a peripheral subplot, the
gamesmaster should offer them as many opportuni-
ties as possible to engage their characters in the
mayhem. Alternatively, if the players are focussed
strongly on the mission goal, and are unlikely to be
interested in unnecessary fire-fights and car chases,
the gamesmaster should keep the Covert war largely
in the background, with reports of the events com-
ing second-hand from someone like Kerim Bey. Most
groups of players will be somewhere between these
extremes, and the gamesmaster should decide for
themselves upon a mixture of foreground and back-
ground presentation of events. In all cases, however,
the first event the murder of the KGB agent in his
car should take place in the background, with the
characters having no chance to directly intervene or
observe the identity of the assassin. Conversely, the
scene in the Gypsy Camp (see Part III:E The Gypsy
Camp) should always be played out in the fore-
ground: Kerim Bey will do everything he can to en-
sure the characters participation as it is a key part
of his plan to bring the characters into disrepute.
Unlike most published adventures for the James
Bond 007 Game, the action in this section is pre-
sented as a set of isolated events which, apart from
the first one (which instigates the war), can be played
out in any order the gamesmaster wishes. As de-
scribed in Part I:F, Notes on the Adventure, the
gamesmaster may wish to incorporate these events
into his or her own flexible mission timetable, which
can be adjusted during play to keep the level of dra-
matic tension at the right tempo.
Game statistics for the participants in the Cov-
ert War, and the vehicles they may employ, are pre-
sented at the end of this section. The Russians are
represented by a relatively small number of KGB
agents and a larger contingent of Bulgarian thugs.
M.I.6s ranks are filled out by Kerim Beys sons and
a contingent of Gypsy men. The exact numbers avail-
able to each side are unlikely to be important the
encounters between the two are more likely to be
running battles rather than long-winded blood baths.
Event One: Death of an Agent
As described above, the Covert War is seeded by
TAROT in the form of a brutal assassination of one
of the several KGB agents stationed in Istanbul. This
event will take place within a matter of hours of the
characters arrival in the city. If possible, the TAROT
assassin will choose a KGB agent who has already
crossed paths with the characters (such as the driver
of car H31854 who tailed the M.I.6 agents from the
airport) as his victim. This choice will, TAROT hopes,
plant an even stronger suspicion of M.I.6 involve-
ment.
The TAROT assassin will tail the chosen KGB
agent for some time prior to the assassination, wait-
ing for an opportunity to sneak into the back seat of
the Citroen unnoticed. Then, while stopped at some
suitably secluded location, he will garrotte the agent
before stabbing him multiple times. Dumping the
body in the back seat, he will drive to the Russian
Consulate, park the Citroen in the street and qui-
etly leave the scene. He will leave behind no obvious
clues to his identity. The body will be discovered sev-
eral hours by a consular official.
The events of the assassination will all take
place in the background of the adventure, with the
characters hearing details of it through contacts in
Istanbul, such as Kerim Bey and his sons, or through
their surveillance of the Russian Consulate itself.
Under no circumstances will they ever unearth the
identity of the assassin, or that he was a TAROT
operative. If asked, Kerim will emphatically deny
that the operation was conducted by M.I.6 or its al-
lies, despite the fact that the Russians will be im-
mediately convinced of this fact.
Event Two: The Limpet Mine
At some stage during the Russians retaliations
(or their retaliation to British retaliations), they will
decide to personally target Kerim Bey and his sta-
38
tion house. To this end they will send two of their
most experienced agents to gain entry into the
atrium garden adjacent to Station House T (see Part
III:B, Station House T) and plant a limpet mine on
the wall immediately behind Beys desk. Unless the
characters intervene in some way, the KGB agents
will be successful in placing this explosive, and in
setting a timer detonator to explode the mine at a
time most likely to find Bey at his desk.
Characters present in the Station House just
prior to the time the mine is set to explode receive
an Ease Factor 2 Sixth Sense roll. Success alerts the
character to the fact that something is about to hap-
pen in the vicinity of the Station House, although
nothing more specific.
When the limpet mine explodes it automatically
inflicts Damage Class J on the Area Weapons Dam-
age Chart, with the explosion being centred on the
wall directly behind Beys desk. The wall itself is
constructed of a fairly light material, and offers no
wound reduction. Individuals who are close to Beys
desk at the time of the explosion will most likely
receive IN damage, while those at the back of the
room, near Beys bed will probably only suffer MW
damage.
In deciding exactly when the mine is scheduled
to explode, the gamesmaster can adopt one of two
strategies. Firstly, he or she could nominate a spe-
cific time and allow the action to proceed normally
up until that time, at which point everything is fro-
zen and the exact position of everyone inside the
room is reckoned and damage calculated. Alterna-
tively, the gamesmaster can simply choose a point
in the adventure which offers the best dramatic op-
portunities, and explode the mine at that time. With
this approach, the gamesmaster can largely decide
who receives what damage.
Depending on the style of game the gamesmaster
is running, the explosion of the limpet mine may
occur entirely off-stage, with only Bey and possibly
some of his sons present in the room. In this case,
the gamesmaster can nominate wound levels for
those present and apply any Wound Points to calcu-
late exactly how the various M.I.6 agents fare.
Regardless of the effects of the explosion on char-
acters and other M.I.6 personnel, the mine will cer-
tainly destroy a significant amount of the Station
House itself. The entire corner of the building adja-
cent to Beys desk area will be completely demol-
ished, with Beys safe blown clear into the rubble.
The M.I.6 Station House will obviously need to be
moved to new premises.
Event Three: Bosphorous Ferry
At some point during the Covert War, news
reaches Kerim Bey (via his surveillance of the Rus-
sian Consulate meeting room) that a senior Russian
expert on electronics, Vladimir Kurchatov, will be
arriving in Istanbul imminently. While Bey inter-
cepts information of this sort all the time, and typi-
cally does nothing more than put it on file, the cli-
mate of the Covert War causes him to take more
precipitate action in this case. He hastily assembles
a plan to kidnap the Russian in order to persuade
him to defect and/or to extract information about
Russian technologies, including the SPECKTOR.
Depending on Beys relationship with the charac-
ters, he may explicitly request their assistance, or
may merely mention the plan in passing. In either
case Bey will tell the characters that he believes that
although there is a chance that Kurchatovs visit is
related to their mission, it is also possible that the
timing of his visit is co-incidental.
Beys scheme is simple. His information is that
the visiting expert will arrive in the city on one of
the many tourist hydrofoils that run along the
Bosphorous Strait. There he will be met by a Rus-
sian Consular official and two KGB operatives. Bey
plans to arrive at the dock at the appointed hour
with a moderate-sized retinue of Gypsy heavies who
will engage with the KGB agents while a couple of
Beys sons whisk Kurchatov into a waiting Rolls
Royce and take him back to the M.I.6 stationhouse.
The arrival takes place during the day, at one of
the busy tourist docks not far from the centre of Is-
tanbul. Bey arrives with his group shortly before the
appointed time, and spots Kurchatov as he descends
the hydrofoils gangplank (after all other passengers
have disembarked). The operation goes awry when
one of Beys sons breaks from the crowd of tourists
too early and runs towards the gangplank. A Rus-
sian minder quickly grabs the Electronics expert
around the waist and hauls him back onto the hy-
drofoil. A moment later the minder and two other
dark-suited figures can be seen in the pilots cabin.
A gun is drawn, and the ferry begins to rapidly pull
away from the dock.
If the characters are not involved in this encoun-
ter (i.e., it happens in the background), the scene
ends here with an embarrassing failure for Kerim
Bey and his men. The actions of the characters may,
however, turn things around.
Characters searching for a means of pursuing
the escaping ferry will quickly discover that a sec-
ond hydrofoil is currently berthed at the next pier.
Unlike the vessel containing the Russian, this ferry
is half-filled with tourists. Indeed, the boat has just
finished boarding and is awaiting its pilot (who is
39
standing a short distance down the pier finishing
his cigarette). Quick-witted characters can race up
the gangplank of this second hydrofoil and spirit it
away to give chase.
RUNNING THE CHASE
Despite the large size of the Bosphorous ferry-
boats, each is capable of reasonable speed. Both ves-
sels have identical statistics (use the statistics pro-
vided for the Boeing Jet-Foil 929-115 in the James
Bond 007 Basic Game book). The gamesmaster
should make a judgement call as to how rapidly the
characters have responded to the opportunity to give
chase, and determine a starting range based on that.
Rapid and decisive intervention may warrant an
initial range of Medium, more pedestrian action
may result in the chase beginning at Distant range.
The gamesmaster should run the chase as nor-
mal. The characters can either pilot their hydrofoil
themselves, or they can get one of Beys sons to do it.
After they become aware of the pursuit, the Russian
security men will position themselves to fire on their
pursuers. Every second or third round of the chase,
the boats will also encounter an obstacle from the
following table. Most may be overcome by a success-
ful Trick maneuver.
1. Sharp narrow bend in the strait (EF 4)
2. Large tanker obstructing most of the strait (EF 2)
3. Shallow section of strait (EF 5 or run aground)
4. Angry American tourist tries to storm pilots
cabin
5. Sand bank (EF 2 or run aground)
6. Small flotilla of traditional Turkish fishing boats
(EF 5)
If the two ferries are at close range and a fur-
ther Pursue maneuver is successful, the characters
craft can pull beside the fleeing vessel. In such a
situation a character can jump from one ferry to the
other by succeeding in an EF 6 Strength roll (to jump
the distance) and an EF 4 Dexterity roll (to find a
handhold on the other ferry). Failing either roll lands
the character in the water, and out of the chase.
The chase will normally end with either the
Russians escaping their pursuers, or the fleeing hy-
drofoil incapacitated in some way. If the
gamesmaster wishes to prolong the chase, it is pos-
sible that the Russians succeed in pulling up to a
small dock, there to hastily transfer Kurchatov to a
Citroen. Naturally, a second Citroen is left behind
for characters to borrow. This extended case can run
all the way back to the Russian Consulate building
if desired.
If the characters succeed in apprehending the
Russian Electronics expert, the gamesmaster will
have to decide whether he actually knows anything
of relevance to the characters mission. Like most of
this section, his presence is not much more than a
red herring, although it presents an excellent op-
portunity for a gamesmaster to give information to
characters who have missed clues elsewhere.
Event Four: Turkish Baths
As the Covert War unfolds, much of Krilencus
attention will be focussed on discrediting or elimi-
nating Kerim Bey (under the assumption that re-
moving him will end M.I.6s participation in the War).
To this end, the Russian plots to assassinate the
charismatic Turk. After observing Beys daily rou-
tine, Krilencu coldly notes that there is exactly one
period each day in which Kerim is without guard,
and therefore vulnerable. That time is during his
daily visit to the steam baths.
Bey likes to visit the majestic Cagaloglu
Hamami baths each morning. His normal routine
involves a quarter-hour in the steam room after
which a (male) attendant gives him a luxurious
wash-down with a coarse cloth mitten (called a kese).
He normally concludes with a massage, which he
receives on a marble table beneath a great and an-
cient domed ceiling. Even by local standards this is
a somewhat indulgent routine, although Bey swears
by it and credits it as the secret of his youthful ap-
pearance.
On the day of the assassination attempt, Kerim
makes his way to the baths at his normal time. If
the gamesmaster wishes to involve the characters
in the action to follow, they may be invited to share
the luxurious appointment. As the baths are strictly
segregated by gender, female characters will likely
be separated from the areas in which the assassina-
tion attempt takes place. The gamesmaster can ei-
ther stipulate that such characters have no way of
helping Bey out of his predicament, or a means can
be invented by which such characters can discover
the plot ahead of time.
There are three different points during Beys
morning ritual that Krilencu may choose to strike.
The gamesmaster should choose which one (or more)
of these options the Russian assassin adopts.
1) Krilencu may strike while Kerim Bey (and
any accompanying characters) are in the steam room.
One of his henchmen will noisily jam a thick piece
of piping between the handles of the steam room
doors, effectively trapping those inside. Krilencu
himself will then adjust the thermostat on the heat-
ing control (on an outside wall) to rapidly raise the
temperature in the steam room to dangerous levels.
40
Each round an individual is trapped in the room, he
or she must make a WIL roll: for the first round af-
ter the doors are jammed, the ease factor is 8, each
round thereafter it decreases by 1 (until it reaches
at which point it stays there). Failing two succes-
sive WIL rolls results in a Light Wound being in-
flicted; any later pair of successive WIL roll failures
adds another Light Wound, accumulated as normal.
Furthermore, any character trapped for longer than
a number of minutes equal to 1/3 his or her stamina
value (i.e., 8 minutes for Stamina = 24hrs) will be-
come unconscious and automatically fail any subse-
quent WIL rolls.
Characters may break free of the steam room
trap by forcing the metal door this involves inflict-
ing a Kill result. Gamesmasters should recall that
Bey and the characters are most likely partially or
fully naked while they are in the steam room and
will probably not have access to firearms or explo-
sives. An alternative method of escape involves
climbing the high (and slick) walls to reach a nar-
row ventilation grille close to the ceiling. The climb
may be achieved by an EF 2 Mountaineering roll,
while the awkward task of breaking the grill while
suspended 20 above the floor is an EF 4 Strength
roll. Note that the closer the characters get to the
ceiling, the hotter it becomes. Close to the grille, ease
factors for WIL rolls to avoid heatstroke are -3.
2) A second opportunity that Krilencu may
choose for his assassination attempt occurs during
Beys vigorous rubdown. By whatever nefarious
means are at his disposal, Krilencu has arranged
for the regular bath attendant to be replaced by a
Turkish thug paid by the Russians. Within the cloth
mitten the attendant uses to rub Bey, a sharp cut-
throat razor has been concealed. With the first of
his long strokes along Kerims body, the thug will
inflict a Medium Wound (unless he is stopped by
character intervention or Beys success at an EF 5
Sixth Sense roll). He will then attempt to use his
concealed razor to strike at Beys throat. The
Gamesmaster should resolve this hand-to-hand com-
bat as normal, remembering again that Bey and the
characters may have left most of their clothes and
equipment in lockers before entering the baths
proper.
3) The final point at which Krilencu could strike
a blow against Bey is during the massage Kerim
receives in the domed marble hall. By incapacitat-
ing or killing the real masseuse and copying his ba-
sic appearance using Disguise, Krilencu hopes to
personally inflict his sadistic pleasure on an unsus-
pecting Bey. The Gamesmaster should roll for
Krilencus successful Disguise attempt prior to the
attempt and use the result to determine whether
Bey sees through the subterfuge to see his mortal
enemy. In the case that Bey suspects nothing,
Krilencu will likely get a free attack with the silenced
Tula Tokarev pistol he has concealed in his loose-
fitting robes. In either case, a combat will ensue. The
gamesmaster should again remember that Bey and
the characters may have left some or all of their
equipment with their clothes prior to entering the
baths.
Event Five: Saint Sophia
The Mosque of Saint Sophia has long been a
neutral territory between the eastern and western
spy agencies operating in Istanbul. KGB and M.I.6
agents both use the ancient and majestic building
as a semi-public location for making clandestine let-
ter-drops and occasionally meeting with contacts.
41
Each side effectively ignores the activities under-
taken by the other beneath Saint Sophias holy eaves.
This unspoken agreement has been in place for sev-
eral years, but with tensions in the city escalating
during the Covert War, it is almost certain to col-
lapse in a bloody and violent fashion.
The Gamesmaster can either run the inevitable
conflict at Saint Sophia as a background event, or
involve the characters in the action. As the Mosque
is a likely location for a rendezvous between the char-
acters and Tatiana, it would be a simple matter to
arrange for the truce to break just as the arranged
meeting were concluding. Alternatively, the M.I.6
agents might be called upon by Bey to take part in a
clandestine raid on a known KGB meeting place.
The conflict within the Mosque takes the form
of a covert firefight between a group of two KGB
agents (with 2-3 Bulgarian thugs) and a pair of Beys
sons, possibly accompanied by the characters. Both
sides will be very eager to not draw the attention of
the dozens of tourists present in the Mosque. To this
end both sides will use silencers, and stick mainly
to the poorly-lit wings of the building. While the
deadly conflict unfolds, the loudest sound to be heard
beneath the tall stone ceilings will be the stilted
English commentary of one of the tour guides.
To play out the shadowy fight, the Gamesmaster
should make use of the map of Saint Sophia in the
middle of this book. If combatants attempt to move
into areas adjacent to the main (central) hall, the
Gamesmaster should call for Stealth rolls, with an
Ease Factor determined by the type of movement.
Slow movement in shadowed region ...... EF 6
Pursuing or fleeing in shadowed region. EF 4
Running in shadowed region .................. EF 4
Slow movement across central hall ........ EF 2
With exposed weapon
Running across central hall .................... EF
With exposed weapon
If one or more KGB agents or Bulgarians are
killed or incapacitated, the characters may choose
to pocket their identity papers (which could prove
useful at gaining access to the Russian Consulate).
If more than three Russians and Bulgarians are
eliminated from the fight, the remainder will retreat.
Similarly, if any loud noise (e.g., an unsilenced fire-
arm or an explosion) or a failed Stealth roll draws
the attention of the tourists milling in the central
part of the Mosque, both sides will immediately flee
the area. Any character that remains too long in-
side the building after such a commotion will ulti-
mately end up arrested by local police.
Event Six: Killing Krilencu
At some point during the Covert War, the char-
acters and Kerim Bey will learn that the Russian
side of the battle is being directed by known Bul-
garian thug Boris Krilencu. Once Bey discovers this
fact, he will become livid with rage: over the years
Krilencu has been responsible for the deaths of five
of Beys best agents, including one son. Bey calls
Krilencu a man who kills for pleasure and vows
that he will kill the man himself to avenge these
past misdeeds.
To this end, Bey will (fairly easily) track down
the location of the apartment Krilencu is currently
staying in, and begin watching his movements. This
is a relatively easy assignment the apartment
building is located in a run-down neighbourhood not
far from the Russian Consulate, and has an entire
wall (painted with a large movie advertisement) fac-
ing onto a busy thoroughfare. After only a short sur-
veillance, Kerim will select a location immediately
opposite Krilencus apartment window (which opens
in the middle of the movie poster). From this point,
late one night, he will attempt to snipe Krilencu
using an AR-7 survival rifle.
Depending on the relationship between the char-
acters and Bey at the point in time this event oc-
curs, and the style of game the gamesmaster is run-
ning, Kerim may ask the characters to accompany
him on this grim mission.
If Bey attempts his assassination and misses,
Krilencu will immediately relocate himself to the
Russian Consulate, where he is much more pro-
tected. Bey will, most likely then abandon his plans
for vengeance (for now).
If the characters at any stage break into
Krilencus apartment, either with or without Kerim
Bey, they find themselves in a cramped and unpleas-
ant space decorated in a very spartan manner. Weap-
ons in various stages of assembly adorn most avail-
able spaces. A thorough search of the filthy place
will unearth Krilencus (red) pass for the Russian
Consulate building and the KGB station house it
is hidden in a gaudy tea tin. This pass will not be
present in the apartment if Krilencu has relocated
to the Russian Consulate.
Stopping the Covert War
It is possible (though unlikely) that the charac-
ters will wish to stop the Covert War by convincing
the Russians and British spies that they are being
played off against each other by some third party.
Without any firm evidence to support such a wild
theory and it is unlikely the characters will have
any such evidence this is a very tough assignment.
The gamesmaster should allow one character (the
spokesman or spokeswoman) to make EF Per-
suade rolls for both Krilencu and Bey. If both suc-
ceed, the two will agree to temporarily cease their
hostilities while the allegations are investigated.
42
KGB AGENTS
Boating (7/17), Driving (7/17), Cryptography (10/20), Fire Com-
bat (6/16), Hand-to-Hand Combat (11/20), Interrogation (10/
20), Sixth Sense (4/14), Stealth (5/14)
ABILITIES: First Aid, Photography
HEIGHT: 57 - 63 SPEED: 2
WEIGHT: 140 - 190lbs HAND-TO-HAND DAMAGE CLASS: B
AGE: 25-32 STAMINA: 28 hours
APPEARANCE: Normal RUNNING/SWIMMING: 25 minutes
BULGARIAN THUGS
Driving (4/13), Fire Combat (6/15), Hand-to-Hand Combat (7/
17), Stealth (6/15)
HEIGHT: 55 60 SPEED: 2
WEIGHT: 185-230 lbs HAND-TO-HAND DAMAGE CLASS: B
BEYS SONS
Charisma (4/13), Cryptography (5/15), Demolitions (5/15), Driv-
ing (5/14), Fire Combat (6/15), Hand-to-Hand Combat (4/13),
Seduction (4/11), Stealth (5/14)
HEIGHT: 59 61 SPEED: 2
APPEARANCE: Normal RUNNING/SWIMMING: 25 minutes
SURVIVAL POINTS: 1 WEAPON: Heckler & Koch VP-70
GYPSY ALLIES
Driving (3/12), Fire Combat (3/12), Hand-to-Hand Combat (10/
21), Riding (3/12)
HEIGHT: 54 - 511 SPEED: 2
SURVIVAL POINTS: 0 WEAPON: Number 4 Rifle
ROLLS ROYCE SILVER CLOUD
PM RED CRUS MAX RGE FCE STR
-1 4 60 105 250 3 8
CITROEN TRACTION AVANT
-1 4 50 75 200 3 6
43
E. The Gypsy Camp
ithin the slowly turning wheels of TAROTs
plans and their engineered Covert War, turns
another wheel: Kerim Beys plan to embarrass M.I.6
by capturing evidence of its agents behaving inap-
propriately on a foreign mission. This plan mani-
fests itself during the Covert War; at some point in
that adventure, Bey tells the characters that the city
has become too dangerous for them to remain in their
hotel. He instead suggests that, at least for one night,
they relocate to a safe haven outside the city the
camp used by his Gypsy friends. Far from being a
generous offer, however, this is actually an invita-
tion to fall into a carefully arranged trap.
Once the characters have agreed to his plan, Bey
arranges two cars: in the first car, a nondescript
brown sedan a few years old, the agents and Bey
drive east. In the second car, Beys Rolls Royce, two
of Beys sons plus dummies dressed as the charac-
ters head in the opposite direction. This simple ploy,
explains Bey, will serve to fool the Russians and
Krilencu: they will be following the wrong car for
hours before they realise.
Bey drives across the Ataturk Bridge, heading
north-east through the Asian half of Istanbul. Slowly
the areas with built up stone buildings fade into a
more rural scene. Fields and rustic farm houses pass
by. About twenty minutes after leaving the city be-
hind, Bey pulls the car off the sealed road, down a
short dirt stretch, and pulls up beside a tall stone
wall. Emerging from the car he approaches a pair of
tall green wooden doors recessed into an archway.
After a moments knocking one of the door opens on
screeching iron hinges and two rustic men emerge.
After a brief conversation with Bey in a language
the characters do not recognise, the men smile
broadly and embrace the M.I.6 station chief. The
second door is noisily opened and Bey ushers the
characters back into his car. He then drives through
the gates and into the walled compound beyond.
The compound occupied by the Gypsies is actu-
ally the ruins of an old fort, outer walls mostly in-
tact but little else. The east and west walls of the
fort are punctuated irregularly by arches high above
ground level. A large archway tops the wall above
the wooden gateway through which Bey and the
characters entered. Two armed sentries patrol here
at all times. The southern end of the fort ruin op-
posite the gateway bears a second arched entry,
although due to some old subsidence, or perhaps just
the accumulation of years this entryway is now
mostly below ground level and flooded with water
(and thus cannot easily be opened).
Most of the grass-covered rectangular region
between the walls is covered in a patchwork of a
dozen tents, several lacquered barrel-shaped wooden
wagons and a few straw-roofed buildings of simple
construction. A little under a hundred gypsies live
here; as the characters arrive many can be seen go-
ing about their everyday lives. Several tend to horses,
while others seem to be preparing a large feast.
Gypsy Feast
As soon as Bey has parked his car within the
compound, the tall gates are pulled to a screeching
close. Several more of the gypsy men, swarthy and
unshaven with kerchiefs around their necks, ap-
proach Bey with a smile. After several more em-
braces and joyous greetings, Bey eventually intro-
duces the characters. One of the gypsies, a large man
in a purple shirt, is introduced to the M.I.6 agents
as the head of the camp. Using Bey as a translator,
he heartily welcomes the characters to the compound
and invites them to join him at tonights feast. After
the introductions, the head gypsy talks directly with
Bey for a moment, and then walks away. Bey ex-
plains, I think perhaps we have picked an inoppor-
tune night to visit my Gypsy friends. At tonights
celebrations two young gypsy girls are to have their
blood feud resolved. They love the same man, you
see. But it must be resolved the Gypsy way. We had
best be careful what we say and do.
Not long after darkness falls, the sumptuous
feast is served. On simple wooden tables, a bewil-
dering array of exotically spiced dishes is served.
Accompanying this country fare, firm-bodied gypsy
women serve a fierce aniseed liquor called raki, pull-
ing the corks from the bottles with their teeth. As
the night wears on, entertainment arrives in the
form of a sensual belly-dancing routine performed
by a dusky skinned woman in diaphanous veils and
jangling golden coins. The heady combination of food,
raki and well-toned skin may have an intoxicating
effect on the characters, particularly those that have
an Attraction to Members of the Opposite Sex.
After the belly-dancing is complete, the open
grass-covered area in front of the head gypsys table
is cleared. An expectant hush falls over the entire
camp. Bey leans over to the agents and explains it is
now time for the two girls to resolve their blood feud.
The doors to two adjacent wooden wagons are thrown
open and from each emerges a supple-bodied young
gypsy girl. Both seem about eighteen years old and
have well-toned and somewhat muscular bodies. As
soon as the two catch sight of each other, their faces
become contorted with hatred and they immediately
run to attack each other. They are held back by other
W
44
gypsies, who drag the struggling girls to the area in
front of the head table. The chief gypsy speaks to
the two girls for a moment and they cease their strug-
gling. The men depart as the two girls move to oppo-
site ends of the grassy circle. Each girl removes her
coloured scarf and ties it about her waist. Then, at a
word from the chief, the two race forwards to en-
gage one another in unarmed hand-to-hand combat.
The Gamesmaster can either relate the desper-
ate struggle between the two girls in a narrative
fashion, or may elect to run a few rounds of combat
between the two. The two girls have identical statis-
tics.
VIDA & ZORA, GYPSY GIRLS
Charisma (8/18), Driving (2/12), Gambling (4/12), Hand-to-
Hand Combat (10/21), Pickpocket (3/14), Riding (3/12), Se-
duction (9/18)
HEIGHT: 54 SPEED: 2
WEIGHT: 105 lbs HAND-TO-HAND DAMAGE CLASS: B
APPEARANCE: Striking RUNNING/SWIMMING: 25 minutes
SURVIVAL POINTS: 0 WEAPON: None
Stopping the Fight
The fight between the gypsy girls forms the crux
of Beys plan to disgrace the agents. Drawing on his
own experience as an agent, he reasons that the vis-
iting British agents will not be able to sit idly by
and watch two women engage in such an unseemly
display. He is counting on the agents to intervene
somehow to stop the fight; if they do so, the remain-
der of his play as outlined below can take place. If
for some reason the M.I.6 agents seem reluctant to
play into his hand, Bey will first try subtle interven-
tion to prompt the expected reaction. He will whis-
per to the agents, such a shame that such fine look-
ing girls should behave in this way. If that does not
prompt a reaction, he will become more blunt, I am
not sure that civilised men like us should be made
to see women behave in such a fashion! If Beys ef-
forts still come to naught, he will eventually stand
up and stop the fight himself by speaking to the head
of the gypsy troupe.
If the characters have intervened somehow in
the fight between the girls, even if only by standing
up and making it clear that they disapprove, the
camp falls silent. The girls stop their wrestling. All
eyes turn to the gypsy chief, who wears a clearly
displeased expression on his unshaven face. Again
using Bey as a translator, the chief talks to the dis-
senting characters. He states that they have insulted
the entire camp by showing their contempt for the
Gypsy way. If they do not wish to allow the gypsies
to settle this dispute according to their tradition,
then the characters themselves must adjudicate!
With a smirk he says, Yes, you must judge these
girls for yourself.
In the case where Bey has stopped the fight him-
self due to inaction on the part of the characters, a
similar scenario unfolds. Bey will furiously talk with
the gypsy chief who will ultimately relent, stating
that the honoured visitors to the camp (the charac-
ters) must judge the dispute.
While the entire conversation between Bey and
the gypsy will appear tense and fiery, it is in fact
anything but. Bey has in fact engineered this entire
scenario: he has paid the gypsy chief a substantial
amount of money to hold the fight between the girls
on this particular night. The chief is actually acting
under Beys instructions to allow the characters to
resolve the girls blood feud.
Once the head of the gypsies has made his pro-
nouncement, the demeanors of the two girls changes
drastically. Immediately, the poisonous expressions
disappear, to be replaced by flirting glances at the
characters. The two hastily converge on their Brit-
ish judges, fawning on them with abandon. The girls
will fetch more food for them, get more drinks, even
offer to clean their shoes and clothes, or sew for them.
Each time one girl makes an offer the other will try
to make an even more elaborate or grand offer. It
will not be long before the two attempt to convince
the characters to return with them to one of the
wooden wagons.
It is Beys intention that the characters should
seduce one or both of the girls in the wagon. Both
45
girls wagons have been fitted with secret cameras
that will record the liaison, for later exposure to the
world.
If, for some reason, none of the characters takes
the initiative in seducing Vida or Zora, the girls
themselves will likely attempt to make the first move
themselves. In this scenario, the Gamesmaster may
wish to use the Seduction rules against the charac-
ters to see if they can reduce the approaches of the
gypsy beauties. Characters who have partaken of
the potent raki at dinner will be easier to seduce (+1
Ease Factor to the girls rolls), as will any who ad-
mired the belly-dancing display (a further +1 Ease
Factor).
The Morning Raid
Unbeknownst to Bey, his little scheme at the
Gypsy Camp is rounded off by an event not at all of
his planning. While Beys plan to trick the Russians
by fitting his Rolls Royce with dummies succeeded
in fooling some of Krilencus men, a few also observed
the second car and ultimately guessed Beys real lo-
cation. Overnight, Krilencu and his men have driven
from Istanbul to the Gypsy compound in a large
truck. Just after dawn, when the camp is only just
beginning to stir, they strike. The peaceful morning
silence is shattered by the splintering sound of the
large truck being driven straight through the two
wooden gateways protecting the camp. So rapid is
this assault that the gypsy sentries have no time to
pre-warn those inside. Immediately after the truck
has broken through the gates, it pulls to a halt, nar-
rowly avoiding crushing Kerim Beys car. Krilencu
and eight of his men emerge, and immediately at-
tack the surprised gypsies.
Krilencus main objective at staging this brazen
daytime raid is simply to kill or maim Bey and the
characters, as perpetrators of the Covert War. Any
of the hated gypsies that are eliminated during the
raid are pure bonuses.
The gypsy men will fight hard to defend their
camp, and the combat will quickly grow to be a large
one. The Gamesmaster can run the whole thing as a
huge combat, with Bey, the characters and a dozen
or so gypsies on one side and Krilencu and his thugs
on the other. This will probably be a time-consum-
ing battle to run. Groups which are less combat-hun-
gry may appreciate a more narrative approach where
the Gamesmaster describes the overall flow of the
battle and runs a few spot combats involving the
principal characters. Statistics for Krilencus men
and the gypsy men can be found in Part III: D, The
Covert War.
At some point during the combat, the
Gamesmaster should call for all characters to make
a PER roll at Ease Factor 5. Any who succeed will
spot a familiar blond figure Donovan Grant nes-
tled in one of the high archways along the Western
wall. In the heat of the battle it will prove impossi-
ble to tell exactly what Grant is doing. In reality, he
will most likely do little more than observe like
Krilencu and his mob, he has tracked Bey and the
characters here despite their ruse. If any of the char-
acters are having a tough time, and appear to be in
serious danger from Krilencus men, Grant may de-
cide to intervene by sniping one or more of the Bul-
garians from his high perch. In any instance, Grant
will ensure that both during and after the combat
he cannot be captured or interrogated by either party.
Eventually the raiders will be overcome by the
superior numbers of the gypsies. As soon as two or
more of Krilencus men fall, either killed or inca-
pacitated, the reminder will flee back to the truck
which will reverse back through the gate and es-
cape. A search of the fallen Bulgarians discovers
nothing more than their identity papers and consu-
lar passes (although the latter may be of interest to
the characters).
Depending on how the combat proceeded, there
may be several injured gypsies and some or all of
the characters may have sustained wounds. Bey also
may have been hurt, although he should not have
been killed during this conflict. The gypsy chief also
survives the raid. If the characters fought against
the Bulgarians, he will be firmly of the belief that it
was the actions of the brave British agents that
turned the tide in the battle. He magnanimously
agrees to forget all about the earlier slight the char-
acters made to his people. If the characters actions
were truly remarkable, the chief will slap each of
them on the back, proclaiming them to be true
gypsy.
46
F. Investigating Grant
hroughout much of their time in Istanbul, the
characters will be under the watchful eye of
the M.I.6 counter-intelligence agent, Donovan Grant.
Initially, this surveillance will be motivated by a
suspicion that the characters may be part of an in-
side operation to sell classified information to the
Russians (actually a crime of Beys). After watching
their movements for a while, Grant will most likely
change his opinion once he witnesses the characters
being threatened or attacked by the Russians or Bul-
garians in the Covert War. Even after he has decided
they are honest agents, Grant will still not reveal
himself for fear of breaking his deep cover. He will
however work to help the characters wherever pos-
sible, for example by sniping Bulgarians who are just
about to injure a character.
The gamesmaster should arrange to have Grant
appear in the background of several scenes the char-
acters encounter in Istanbul. While subtlety should
be exercised in staging such appearances, it is im-
portant that the characters gain the sense on sev-
eral occasions that a mysterious blond man is fol-
lowing them. The situations in which Grant is
sighted should probably be orchestrated such that
the characters have no real opportunity to chase or
attack him. Use the encounter in the airport (Part
III:A, Ataturk Airport) as a template. If Grant is ever
cornered by the characters he will deny any knowl-
edge of them, claiming to be a simple sightseer in
Turkey on vacation. Under no circumstances should
the gamesmaster allow Grant to be killed during this
part of the mission: he is destined to play an impor-
tant role later on.
Asking Bey
Characters who feel uneasy at the frequent and
elusive appearances of the mysterious blond man
may seek to find out more about him by questioning
Kerim Bey. Kerim knows only that the stranger has
only been in Istanbul for a couple of weeks, but has
spent most of that time watching arrivals and de-
partures at the airport and train station. He has also
been seen monitoring comings and goings from Beys
carpet stall. While he has no idea who this man is,
Bey will do his utmost to give the impression that
he is a threat to the characters, and indeed is ac-
tively out to place them in peril. His motivation in
painting such a picture is simply to set this blond
man up as a threat which can be used to draw at-
tention away from any unsavoury actions Bey him-
self deliberately or accidentally undertakes.
Intercepted
On the second day of the characters stay in Is-
tanbul, Kerim Bey will contact them to inform them
that he fears that someone is monitoring their ac-
tivities. Indeed, his regular surveillance of the nor-
mal frequencies used for coded communication has
picked up a transmission, which his eldest son was
able to decode. The message, which is provided as a
player handout, seems to describe the movements
of the characters. Bey has no idea who sent this
message, or to who it was destined, although if the
seeds of doubt about Grant have already been laid,
Kerim will be sure to hypothesize that he may well
have been the culprit.
The message was indeed sent by Donovan Grant.
It was a regular communication sent to M.I.6 in Lon-
don describing his observation of the characters
arrival in Istanbul and noting that they may be in-
volved in the affair he is investigating. The message
was encoded with one of M.I.6s normal codes, which
explains how Taksim Bey was readily able to break
it. Any character with the Cryptography field of ex-
perience who examines the transcript and who suc-
ceeds in a EF 5 PER roll recognises phrases com-
monly used in M.I.6 coded messages.
The Chess Column
At some point during a meeting between the
characters and Kerim Bey, a seemingly inconsequen-
tial event will occur somehow, by accident, a yel-
lowed piece of paper will fall from one of his pockets
to land on the ground or a table. The paper might be
caught in Beys handkerchief when he pulls it out of
his pocket, or it might fall from his wallet when he
pays the bill at a local restaurant. Regardless of the
circumstances, the characters gain a glimpse of a
column torn from a newspaper, apparently report-
ing the result of an important chess match or tour-
nament. This would normally seem to be an utterly
insignificant find, except for the fact that the news-
paper column has been heavily annotated by hand
in black pen, with several moves circled and the
message COME TO VENICE TO RECEIVE YR
MISSION #3 written along the bottom. The unu-
sual chess column is provided as a player handout.
The true significance of the paper is that it is a
decoded message from TAROT to Kerim Bey, calling
him to a meeting on Karl Ferenc Skorpios yacht,
currently moored in Venice. It was at this meeting
that Bey received his final instructions for his part
in the TAROT plan. Kerim should have destroyed
T
47
the paper but, distracted by his anguish at recent
developments, evidently did not.
When the chess column is accidentally revealed
by Bey, his first reaction internally is that this has
marked him as guilty. His swift mind, however,
quickly latches onto a plan. The gamesmaster should
make a EF 5 Charisma roll for Kerim if he suc-
ceeds, his temporary moment of panic is sufficiently
smoothed over by his confidence and silver tongue
so that nobody notices. He immediately works to
improvise a tale which will draw suspicion away from
himself and cast it onto someone the characters al-
ready suspect the blond stranger who has been
following them. The gamesmaster can decide upon
the exact story weaved by Kerim; one possibility is
that he will calmly say that this paper is something
that one of his sons found in a telephone box shortly
after it was vacated by the Blond stranger, who he
was tailing.
By tailoring exactly how credible Beys concocted
story actually is, the gamesmaster can control the
level of suspicion the characters will have of Bey.
While this event should certainly leave some doubt
in the characters minds about Bey, pointing too much
suspicion his way could cause later sections of the
mission (mainly Part III: I, The Orient Express) to
require some significant retooling.
G. Russian Consulate
he Russian Consulate in Istanbul is one of the
key locations in this adventure. Located in the
old city, a few narrow streets away from the majes-
tic dome of the Saint Sophia Mosque, the building is
used for legitimate consular business as well as less-
official business. The basement of the building is
actually a hidden stationhouse for the KGB, from
which they run Soviet espionage operations through-
out Turkey and beyond. As a relatively major re-
gional stationhouse, the hidden KGB basement is
equipped with the latest in Russian communications
and coding equipment, including the SPECKTOR
decoder (used only occasionally, for the most secre-
tive of communications). It is this decoder that the
characters will be trying to obtain as their primary
mission objective. Retrieving the device, however,
will be complicated by the numerous security de-
vices and armed guards which protect the KGB in-
stallation, as well as the fact that access passes are
required for many areas in the building. A clever
plan will be required (see Part III:H, Stealing the
SPECKTOR for some of the possible approaches).
Physical Description
The Russian Consulate building is a large two-
storey mansion built in a Western style which clashes
terribly with the ancient Turkish buildings which
surround it. Sited on the corner of two relatively busy
streets, the building itself is surprisingly difficult to
see, hidden as it is behind lush green gardens that
surround it. This, coupled with the tall metal fences
topped with barbed-wire protecting two sides of the
block and tall concrete walls protecting the other
two, lends the place a distinct aspect of secrecy.
There are two gates in the formidable perim-
eter: a pedestrian gate at the front admits individu-
als who have legitimate business with the Russian
Consul or his staff. Around the corner from this gate,
a second entrance permits vehicular access, usually
just providing a means of the official consular vehi-
cles getting to and from the garage at the rear of the
compound. Both gates bear the distinctive logo of a
sickle circled by laurel wreaths, and are each guarded
24 hours a day by an armed guard.
MAIN CONSULATE BUILDING
The ground floor of the Consulate building
houses the administrative offices of the Consul,
Vladimir Spassky, and his staff, as well as contain-
ing expansive and majestic areas for entertaining
foreign dignitaries and the like. Most areas on this
floor are restricted, meaning that individuals are
only permitted access if they hold a blue or red ac-
cess pass. The exceptions to this are the reception
area and the main administrative office (marked
Outer Office on the map in the centre of this book-
let) which may also be accessed by means of a Visi-
tor pass issued at reception. It is quite common for
ordinary people to come and go from these parts of
the Consulate, either to arrange visas for travel to
Russia (if not Russian) or to get replacement pass-
ports (if Russian), or for a variety of other routine
inquiries. Because of the frequency of such Visitors,
it is quite quick and easy to obtain such a pass the
staff at the Reception desk require only a name and
the nature of the applicants business. Note that
being found in a restricted area of the building with
only a Visitor pass is treated as a serious offence,
and will almost certainly result in the characters
being handed over the KGB.
The second floor of the building is smaller and
less grandiose in dcor. Spassky himself lives on this
T
48
floor. There is also a guest bedroom which can be
used for housing visiting dignitaries from Russia; at
present it is empty.
THE ACCOMMODATION BLOCKS
Behind the main Consulate Building, nestled
between the garage outbuilding and the lush green
sculptured gardens, stand four transportable-style
buildings used for temporary accommodation of ad-
ministrative or security personnel. The buildings are
of plain and functional construction, sparsely fur-
nished with old, faded furniture and cracked fittings.
Each of the four buildings has barred windows and
is secured by two cameras and a motion-detector
(whose signals are sent to the main guard console in
the KGB stationhouse). This security is nominally
to protect those housed in the accommodation blocks
from danger, although it is more often used to turn
the accommodation block into a temporary deten-
tion centre.
In the course of the adventure, Tatianas clan-
destine meetings with the agents may come to the
attention of the KGB or the Consul. In either case,
the cryptographic clerk will be invited to stay for a
few days in one of the accommodation units, to pro-
tect her from undesirable foreigners who seem to
have an unhealthy interest in her. Such an invita-
tion cannot, of course, be refused. Indeed, if such a
situation arises, Tatiana will not even be permitted
to return to her apartment to pick-up clothes and
the like. Instead a Bulgarian agent will be dispatched
to search the place and bring back the requested
items.
If Tatiana becomes detained in an accommoda-
tion block, the characters may wish to break in and
release her prior to their flight from Istanbul. Such
an operation will be risky: see the Getting In sub-
section below to determine the number and location
of guards in the compound. The security systems are
identical to those found in the KGB Stationhouse,
and may be bypassed or deactivated in an identical
fashion (see the section below).
The KGB Station House
The basement of the Russian Consulate houses
an extensive KGB stationhouse, one of the Soviets
larger spying centres for the region. The place dis-
plays an air of functional unsophistication the walls
are painted grey and, like the ceiling, are criss-
crossed with numerous pipes and runs of bare elec-
trical wiring. Access to the basement is quite tightly
controlled: only those with a red access pass will be
allowed past the guard station at the foot of the stair-
well. The guard which mans this station has been
ordered to shoot to kill anybody acting suspiciously
Despite its primitive appearance, the KGB
stationhouse actually houses a large assortment of
state-of-the-art devices, including many security
cameras and sensors. The locations of the various
types of security devices are shown on the map. In-
formation from all security sensors is fed to the main
guard console, located just outside the communica-
tions centre. Characters may, of course, wish to by-
pass or deactivate some or all of these security de-
vices.
1. The security cameras located around the base-
ment (and also outside the accommodation blocks
behind the consulate) can be disconnected from the
power by an EF 5 Electronics roll; alternatively they
can be destroyed with a bullet or any blow which
causes a Light Wound or better. Note that the cam-
eras have an effective range of about 10 metres.
2. The motion-detectors in the skylight (and out-
side the accommodation blocks) are more difficult: a
bullet or blow will certainly stop them from operat-
ing, but will also sound the alarm throughout the
complex. Properly deactivating such a sensor in-
volves approaching the sensor extremely slowly (a
EF 2 Stealth roll is required) then succeeding in an
EF 4 Electronics roll. Note that the motion-detec-
tors have an effective range of 4 metres; this means
that in the skylight region there is a very narrow
section between the sensors that is not monitored.
3. The key-locks throughout the Consulate and
KGB Stationhouse can be readily opened with a nor-
mal EF 5 Lockpicking roll.
4. The combination locks found on several filing
cabinets and the main vault in the KGB Stationhouse
can be opened by a Safecracking roll at EF 4.
49
5. The pass reader protecting the door to the com-
munications room is very secure an EF 4 Elec-
tronics roll can deactivate it, jamming it closed. To
bypass the reader and open the door, a character
must succeed in both an EF 3 Electronics roll and a
EF 3 Lockpicking roll.
Deactivating or destroying one or more of the
security devices in the KGB stationhouse will even-
tually be noticed by the guard manning the main
guard console outside the communications room.
Every two minutes after the first such system has
been eliminated, the gamesmaster should roll a Per-
ception roll for the guard on duty (use the statistics
of an average Bulgarian thug as found in Part III:
D, The Covert War). The Ease Factor is determined
by the number of systems that have been knocked
out: for one system, the roll is EF 4, each additional
system the characters eliminate adds 2 to the EF up
to a maximum of 10.
Note: Depending on the exact time period you have
chosen for running the mission (see Part I: B, The
Temporal Setting) you may wish to change the de-
scription of the various security devices to seem more
or less high-tech. In the 1950s, for example, the cam-
eras should be boxy and issue an irritating hum,
while in the modern day, most of the devices should
be sleek and highly computerised. In any case, the
difficulty of bypassing or deactivating the devices will
remain the same.
THE COMMUNICATIONS STATION
The KGB stationhouse includes an extensive
communications station which serves both as an in-
terceptions station for British and other foreign com-
munications, and also as a secure facility for com-
municating information to Moscow. Access to the
communications station is even more restricted than
entry into the KGB stationhouse only those with a
special red access pass with a golden sickle imprint
will be able to open the door to the station, by run-
ning their pass through the reader next to the door.
The room is dominated by a cluster of perspex-
walled cubicles in which sit Russian and Bulgarian
KGB radio operators and transcribers. Off to the side
is a somewhat larger and more comfortable cubicle
at which sits the watch commander. The commu-
nications room is staffed with a commander and four
radio operators 24 hours a day.
Around the walls of the communications room
stand numerous book shelves and filing cabinets,
holding a range of documents in several languages.
These include foreign dictionaries, code books and
intercepted communications. Off to the side of the
room is a lock-up vault which houses the daily sets
of code-words as well as details of all KGB recent
and current operations throughout the Balkans.
Along the West wall of the communications room
stands a long table which houses several bizarre-
looking electronic devices. These are all Russian
cryptographic hardware: encoders and decoders. The
SPECKTOR sits on this table amid the tangle of
wires and flashing lights. Unless characters have
received a detailed description of the device from
Tatiana, or have Tatiana with them, their chances
of picking the SPECKTOR from amid the sea of high-
tech coding devices will be slim. Characters must
make a PER roll to determine which device is their
target: the Ease Factor will depend on the amount
of information they have about the decoder. Armed
with a basic description of the device, the charac-
ters EF is 3, detailed notes from Tatiana describing
the decoder and its location might make the EF as
high as 7. Players who state that their characters
are recollecting the M.I.6 dossier photograph of the
SPECKTOR gain an additional +3 EF. If the char-
acters have no reliable information the, characters
should still be allowed an EF 1 Sixth Sense roll to
see whether their gut feelings can single out the
all-important device.
Depending on the course the mission has taken
prior to the characters breaking into the KGB
stationhouse, the Russians may have become aware
that M.I.6 agents have been expressing interest in
the SPECKTOR. If such has occurred, the extrac-
tion of the device will be more difficult due to addi-
tional guard patrols. Furthermore, the head of the
Bulgarian thugs, Boris Krilencu, will be present (as-
suming he is still alive) within the communications
room to provide additional security. This gives the
gamesmaster an ideal opportunity to turn the theft
of the SPECKTOR into a final showdown between
the characters and Krilencu. For dramatic effect,
50
Krilencu will most likely wait until the characters
have just located the SPECKTOR then emerge from
a hidden place (maybe the vault). By his nature he
is not the type of villain to give a long-winded mono-
logue; instead he will just attack.
THE MEETING HALL
The other large room within the KGB
Stationhouse houses the sumptious and spacious
meeting hall the Consul uses to convene secret meet-
ings with visiting KGB officials and his own Bulgar-
ian thugs. The hall is dominated by a large polished
wood meeting table, with seating for eight. Four
raised areas in the corners of the room provide ad-
ditional seating for observers. Maps and diagrams
cover the walls.
Despite being some metres underground, the
meeting hall is partially lit by natural light. The
northern wall is a large plate glass window beyond
which is a long narrow area with a glass-tile ceiling.
The glass tiles are part of the large courtyard situ-
ated immediately behind the central wing of the
main Consulate building. With some care, individual
tiles can be lifted allowing entry into the narrow
skylight area, although this space is protected by
two motion detectors. Characters who attempt to use
such means to enter the meeting hall will need to
get past the sensors and also to cut their way through
the 1cm thick plate glass wall (a special cutting de-
vice will be required; the less subtle approach of us-
ing bullets is dangerous five kills will shatter the
glass, but there is a 20% chance that a character is
hit by a ricocheting bullet for a wound equivalent to
a QR 3 hit with the weapon).
Another notable feature of the meeting hall is
the large fireplace in the Eastern end. Located im-
mediately behind and below this fireplace is Kerim
Beys secret observation station. From this sewer
location he can raise a periscope into a hidden chan-
nel in the fireplace itself and observe (but not hear)
the meetings which occur in the hall. Bey can reach
this surveillance point by traversing various under-
ground tunnels and poling a flat bottomed boat
across the Sunken Cistern (Yerebatan Sarnici) built
thousands of years ago by the Emperor Constantine.
If the characters express any interest in goings on
at the Russian Consulate, Bey will suggest they ac-
company him to the observation point to check up
on the KGB. The gamesmaster should determine
what the characters witness based on his or her time-
table of events. The most likely sight they will ob-
serve is a meeting between the Russian Consul
Spassky, his paid thug Krilencu and the head of So-
viet Security in Istanbul, Benz. If it suits the
gamesmasters timetable, the characters may also
see Tatiana briefly enter the room to hand a decoded
message to the Consul or Krilencu before leaving.
THE CELLS AND INTERROGATION ROOM
The KGB Stationhouse has a small interroga-
tion and detention area to the West of the main en-
trance stairs. The detention room has two basic cells
with standard key locks and is monitored by two
security cameras. Characters captured by Bulgar-
ian or Russian agents during their time in Istanbul
will almost certainly end up in these cells.
The interrogation room is adjacent and consists
of little more than a table and two chairs. Captured
characters can expect to spend a considerable time
in this room, being interrogated by Krilencu to re-
veal their mission. Krilencu will make only one In-
terrogation attempt if the character or characters
have not revealed the information he seeks, he will
move on to more direct means, employing his fear-
some Torture skill.
Behind a curtain is a gurney to which Krilencu
and his KGB operatives can strap uncooperative
subjects and inject a Scopolamine/Morphine mixture
before attempting Torture. This is dangerous: on a
roll of 95 or greater, the victim of a Scopolamine in-
jection dies as a result of toxic overdose of the drug.
For each additional Torture attempt beyond the first,
there is an increase of 10 percent in the chance of
the victim dying; for example, on the third attempt
at Torture involving Scopolamine, the victim will die
on a roll of 75 or greater. A character may expend
Hero Points to survive rolls which would otherwise
indicate his or her death. Krilencu will at this stage
conclude (quite correctly) that the drug is no longer
of use in further interrogations. Scopolamine used
in conjunction with Morphine is worth a +3 modi-
fier to a Torture attempt.
OTHER AREAS
The KGB Stationhouse also contains a large of-
fice area where the more routine aspects of running a
secret spying facility are administered. It also houses
a briefing room, used in this adventure primarily to
hold regular mission briefings for the Bulgarians who
are fighting for the KGB in the Covert War (see Part
III:D, The Covert War). There is also a dining room
and cellar area, both of which get used only occasion-
ally when secretive VIPs visit the Consulate.
51
Getting In
Characters arriving at the front gate of the Con-
sulate during normal office hours (9AM to 2PM and
3 PM to 7 PM) will be challenged by the armed guard
who mans the entrance. If they can provide a plau-
sible reason for being admitted applying for a Rus-
sian Visa, or requiring a replacement passport, for
example they will be ushered through the heavy
metal gate and directed to the verandah of the main
building. The guard will return to his post, assum-
ing the characters will follow his directions to the
main entrance.
If the characters enter the main building, they
will immediately find themselves in the spartan re-
ception chamber where they will again be questioned
as to their business. They will be forced to sit for
several minutes on hard wooden benches while their
particulars name and nature of business are re-
corded. They will then be given a green Visitor pass
and directed to the west wing corridor and told to
follow the passage to the second door on the left.
Characters who follow this direction find themselves
in the grandiose outer office where they will be again
told to be seated, and that a consular official will be
with them shortly. It is inevitable that characters
who wait to see one of the minor Russian bureau-
crats will be sitting for well over and hour before
being granted an audience. The official will be stiff,
formal and inflexible in all his dealings and will seek
to get the characters to leave as soon as possible.
Characters who use their access during daylight
hours to snoop around in places they are not sup-
posed to will find it relatively easy to do so. During
the day the grounds are not patrolled by guards.
Inside the building there are many consular staff,
all of who should theoretically challenge anyone who
is not wearing a pass (or who is wearing a green
Visitor pass outside of the designated visitor ar-
eas) although in practice most will not notice, par-
ticularly if the characters appear to know what they
are doing. Characters who are in the building with-
out proper authorisation who are discovered (e.g.,
because they are acting suspiciously) will be chal-
lenged and detained by the civilian staff. Eventu-
ally the guard from the rear gate will come into the
building to take control of the situation. Depending
on their actions, such characters may be ejected from
the Consulate, arrested and handed over to the po-
lice, or quietly passed to the KGB agents resident in
the buildings basement. In any event the guard from
the rear gate will ensure that he returns to his post
within 5 minutes.
At night time (and during the lunch break when
the Consulate is mostly deserted) security around
the grounds is tighter. As well as the guards occupy-
ing the two gates, there are another two guards who
individually patrol the grounds, one making a clock-
wise sweep around the building, the other following
an anti-clockwise path. It takes each guard to ap-
proximately 7 minutes to complete a circuit. The
gates themselves are of a strong metallic construc-
tion and are secured at night by a heavy mechanical
lock (EF 2 Lockpicking roll to open). The fences are
a little over 11 feet tall and topped with barbed wire,
while the stone walls which mark the northern and
eastern perimeters are 15 feet tall (each forming the
rear wall of an ancient block of uneven apartments).
The entire basement area (the KGB
Stationhouse) is guarded 24 hours a day: one guard
is located at the bottom of the stairwell, and will
permit only holders of the special red access passes
to enter. Another guard is stationed in the large cor-
ridor, while a third is located in the security console
room immediately outside the communications room.
All guards in the Consulate compound have iden-
tical statistics to the Bulgarian thugs listed in Part
III:D, The Covert War. Guards manning the entrance
gates and patrolling the grounds all have blue Con-
sular access passes, while those in the secret KBG
basement area all have red passes. Only the guard
monitoring the security console holds a pass grant-
ing access to the communications room (red with a
gold sickle). All Consular and KGB guards operate
on 8 hour shifts; at any time there are usually 4 off-
duty guards resting or sleeping in the rearmost two
accommodation units.
THE CONSULS BALL
Another option for gaining access to the build-
ing after hours is to arrange an invitation to one of
the spectacular balls the Consulate holds every Fri-
day night. These are formal affairs at which stylish
dress is the norm, as are an enticing array of exotic
cocktails and even more exotic women. Spassky, the
Consul, hosts these celebrations primarily as a per-
sonal excess, although they also serve as a useful
cover for clandestine meetings and drop-offs. The
guest list to one of Spasskys balls is drawn from
very influential local figures and any and all Rus-
sian officials stationed in (or just visiting) Istanbul.
Even Krilencu attends such social occasions, al-
though he spends most of the evening standing alone
in a corner looking uncomfortable in his ill-fitting
suit and scrutinising those on the dance floor.
Getting an invitation to the Consulate Ball is
not easy. The characters can attempt to gain inclu-
sion on the exclusive list by impersonating an im-
portant Russian official (success in an EF 2 Disguise
roll will fool a Consular official, tricking the Consul
himself requires an EF 1 roll). Alternatively, brib-
ing or seducing one of the officials responsible for
compiling the list might suffice. If the characters are
52
eager to attend but cannot come up with a plan, a
generous gamesmaster might allow Kerim Bey to
pull some strings (if Bey succeeds in an EF 3 Per-
suade roll the characters are in).
Vladimir Spassky, Russian Consul to
Turkey
Charisma (11/20), Driving (2/12), Gambling (2/12), Hand-to-
Hand Combat (2/9),Local Customs (13/23), Pickpocket (10/19),
Riding (4/14), Seduction (12/22), Sixth Sense (4/15)
ABILITIES: Connoisseur
HEIGHT: 63 SPEED: 2
IDIOSYNCRASIES: Speaks with a silver tongue, but cannot cover
the fact that he is insincere about most things. Scratches back
of neck regularly.
INTERACTION MODIFIERS: Reaction (0), Persuasion (-1), Se-
duction (-1), Interrogation (+3), Torture (+3)
FIELDS OF EXPERIENCE: Economics/Business, Fine Arts, Inter-
national Law, Law, Political Science
WEAKNESSES: Claustrophobia, Gambling
BACKGROUND: Vladimir Spassky has been the ap-
pointed Russian Consul to Turkey for the past five
years. Prior to this appointment he held a number
of minor diplomatic positions in Moscow, most of
which he was forced to resign from following accu-
sations of theft. Spasskys problems in the past have
stemmed from his insatiable appetite for gambling,
something which has kept him constantly in debt.
Part of Spasskys duties in Istanbul include the
running of the KGB Stationhouse situated in the
basement of the Consulate building. In conducting
these responsibilities as spy-master he prefers to
take a hands-off approach, relying heavily on Bul-
garian thugs to conduct most of the operations in
the city. To deal with the special threat posed by the
M.I.6 agents in Istanbul, he has chosen to bring in a
notorious killer, Boris Krilencu, who has performed
several dirty jobs for him in the past.
H. Stealing the SPECKTOR
Unless the characters have gone completely off
track, or have forgotten the aim of their mission, their
adventures in Istanbul will eventually focus in on
the task of liberating the SPECKTOR decoder from
the basement of the Russian Consulate building. As
described in the previous section, this task is some-
what complicated by the relatively tight security
surrounding the Consulate (and in particular the
KGB stationhouse in its basement). Balanced
against this, however, is the fact that the characters
have indirect access to an informed insider Tatiana
who can provide details of the various security
measures, thereby allowing them to plan a break-in
which will go unnoticed.
Plans and Blueprints
Characters who dive in and attempt the break-
in without having any prior information about the
building they have targeted will likely find their
assignment heavy-going. Indeed, such approaches
will more likely than not end in failure. To avoid
such an outcome, the gamesmaster should encour-
age players to put some forethought into planning
the perilous operation the characters will be under-
taking. The first step in such planning will almost
certainly be gathering information about the target
building. This can take the form of a legitimate (or
less-than-legitimate) visit to the Consulate; see Part
III: G, Russian Consulate for means of getting into
and out of various parts of the secured building. Al-
ternatively, the gathering of information about the
building can be undertaken in a more indirect man-
ner by seeking out plans and blueprints for the struc-
ture (in particular the basement area, which the
characters are likely to know holds the SPECKTOR).
Like most buildings in Istanbul, the Russian
Consulate building has original architects blue-
prints lodged with the citys government adminis-
tration offices. If asked, Kerim Bey will know this,
and will also volunteer to undertake the complex
administrative process of requesting a copy of these
original plans. The offices are open only during nor-
mal working hours (9 AM 2 PM and 3PM 7 PM
weekdays) and there is usually a long line snaking
around the smoke-filled windowless office. Any re-
quest for the Consulate blueprints will succeed on a
QF 3 or better result on an EF 5 Local Customs Roll.
The amount of time before the copy is ready can vary:
normally such requests take a full day, although this
can be shortened with a QF 2 or better Persuade
roll (bribes grant a +2 modifier). With a QF 2 result,
the papers are available in 6 working hours, a QF 1
result means they are ready in 3 working hours.
If the characters request blueprints for the up-
per floors of the Consulate building, the
gamesmaster should describe a fairly nondescript
configuration of rooms and corridors. There is noth-
53
ing particularly noteworthy. The gamesmaster
should be prepared to answer any player questions
about the layout based on the maps found in the
centre of this booklet; he or she may even find it
useful to prepare a sketch map version of these maps
for players who have requested such blueprints.
The architects blueprint of the Consulate base-
ment is of much more direct relevance to the mis-
sion at hand. This plan is shown on one of the hand-
out sheets. The layout is quite accurate with the
exception of a couple of minor modifications made
in the past few years (the cells and the skylight),
the floorplan completely matches the current con-
figuration of the basement as used by the KGB. This
map, of course, has no information about security
devices and guard placements.
If the characters ask Tatiana to sketch out a map
of the KGB basement area, she will be able to do so
given at least a few hours. As described in Part III:
C, Investigating Tatiana, the characters will need to
arrange some form of clandestine meeting or drop-
off in order to get this map from the Russian. Any-
thing too overt will almost certainly come to the at-
tention of the Soviet Security men. Tatianas map is
also provided as a player handout: while it is less
complete in that it only covers the basement areas
Tatiana has visited, it is extremely valuable due to
its marking of several of the security measures.
Access Passes
Any plan that involves the characters gaining
legitimate access to restricted sections of the Rus-
sian Consulate building will need to include some
scheme for obtaining the appropriate access passes.
As described in the preceding section, there are only
a few areas on the ground floor which require no
official pass to enter (or a Visitor pass), most re-
quire a blue pass. All areas of the second floor re-
quire a blue pass. Entry into the basement requires
a red pass, while access to the most sensitive area
the communications room requires a special red
pass with a golden sickle (which has a swipe strip
on the back).
During their adventures in Istanbul, it is possi-
ble that characters may obtain some of these passes.
Any occasion during the Covert war (Part III:D, The
Covert War) when the body of a KGB or Bulgarian
thug is recovered, it will be found to be carrying one of
the blue passes. There is a handout of such a pass
made out in the name Kristo Stojanov. Searching the
apartment of the leader of the Bulgarians, Krilencu,
will reveal his red pass hidden in a gaudy tea tin. This
pass is also provided as a player handout.
There is no easy way for characters to obtain
one of the red and gold passes, however. During the
day several people carry these passes while they are
working in the communications room. The guard on
duty just outside that room, at the central console,
also carries such a pass. These special passes are
not permitted to leave the basement area: workers
and guards pick their red and gold passes up when
they arrive from their lockers in the main basement
corridor, and deposit the passes back in the same
lockers when their shift is done. Tatiana is intimately
familiar with this procedure, and can describe it to
characters who ask.
An Explosive Entrance/Exit
In discussions with Kerim Bey, the characters
will probably learn that he has access to the sewer
tunnels immediately adjacent to the basement of the
Russian Consulate. Characters may plot to gain ac-
cess to the KGB stationhouse by using explosives to
blow a hole between the basement (the meeting hall,
in fact) and the sewer. If this plan is presented to
Bey he will initially (pretend to) oppose it: by plac-
ing such an explosive charge, his secret listening post
will be destroyed, and his access to the foundations
of the building will be forever revealed. The future
of M.I.6s ability to monitor the Russians in Istan-
bul could be ruined. Kerim will push this line only
so long as the characters seem to have another means
of gaining entry to the Consulate: at the end of the
day his job is to ensure the theft of the SPECKTOR
is successful. Character attempts to persuade him
from his hardline stance will succeed with surpris-
ing ease.
Staging an explosion in the basement of the
Russian Consulate is a fairly unsubtle exercise, and
will cause general havoc throughout the KGB
stationhouse and the Consulate above. As soon as
the blast occurs frightened staff will begin locking
their safes and running towards the emergency ex-
its. In the basement all staff except for guards will
begin evacuating up the entry stairway. The general
chaos coupled with the dust and smoke caused by
the explosion will make it relatively easy for char-
acters to get past guards without being challenged.
Note, however, that under no circumstances will the
guard at the main console abandon his post. Fur-
thermore, while there may be a rush of people leav-
ing the communications room, the swipe-access en-
try door to that area will remain closed for much of
the time. This will not pose a problem for characters
who have a red and gold pass (or who have Tatiana
along with them), but for others it will mean incapaci-
tating or killing the guard to obtain his access pass.
54
I. The Orient Express
Once the M.I.6 agents have their hands on the
SPECKTOR decoder, their thoughts will likely turn
fairly quickly to leaving Istanbul, preferably with
Tatiana. If consulted, Kerim Bey will be most em-
phatic that the only realistic option for making their
escape is by train. There are few boats direct from
Istanbul to Western countries, and all are too slow
to outrun the expected pursuit. Air travel is also an
unattractive option, largely due to the security and
the lack of anonymity. If characters want to explore
other options, the Gamesmaster should allow them,
but ultimately they should conclude that the Orient
Express is the only true option. The remainder of
this adventure is written under the assumption that
the characters and Tatiana depart on this train;
Gamesmasters whose characters escape the city by
other routes will need to adapt the material.
Arriving at Sirkeci station in the heart of the
central Sultanahmet region of the city (near both
the Russian Consulate and Kerim Beys station
house), characters will find the Orient Express wait-
ing to depart. In fact they will need to hurry just to
make sure that they do not miss the train. Kerim
Bey will insist on accompanying the characters on
their journey: he smiles as he says that he has all
the details of the escape plan, so they might as well
bring him along for the ride.
As the characters climb aboard their carriage,
they are transported into a sumptuous and exotic
world: polished wood and brass fittings are every-
where. In their compartments (Bey has booked one
for each pair of characters, and another for himself),
characters find a glossy colour brochure outlining
the luxuries they can expect to enjoy on this legen-
dary train. This brochure is reproduced as a hand-
out in the mission folder.
Any characters not totally overcome by the lav-
ishness of their new surroundings, and who is watch-
ing the platform just prior to the trains departure
might see Benz, the Russian Internal Security agent,
board the train. Characters need to succeed in a PER
roll at Ease Factor 3 to notice him among the bustle,
and only those who have previously met Benz or seen
him at the Consulate will know who he actually is.
A Relaxing Train Journey
The first part of the train journey is relaxing
and uneventful. Gamesmasters should use this as a
natural lull in the pace of the adventure, following
on from the excitement of the SPECKTOR theft and
preceding the later action on the train. This is a good
period to indulge in a little roleplaying, particularly
between the characters and Tatiana (assuming she
is accompanying them). How has the relationship
between the Russian and her supposed love devel-
oped? How has her reaction to the characters
changed? Has she become genuinely attached to one
or more of the characters? All these questions should
be answered by interactions between Tatiana and
the characters, both in Istanbul and in this brief res-
pite.
Also during this part of the journey, Bey will
outline his plan to the characters. He gives them
each a fake passport and a cover story, Tatiana (if
present) receives similar. Bey explains that he has a
good relationship with the conductors on this train
and they will help with his plan. He will, he says,
bribe one of these conductors to stop the train near
the Bulgarian frontier at 6PM. Bey says he has ar-
ranged for his eldest son to be waiting at the desig-
nated point with a car, ready to drive them to a small
airfield. There he says, the characters and Tatiana
will board a chartered plane to Athens, there to
change for London. Bey explains that the charac-
ters do not have to worry about anything, everything
has been arranged. All they must do is be in their
compartments at 6PM just before then, Bey will
come to the compartments and ready them for the
escape.
Kerim Beys true intentions are, however, very
different. Most of his story is true: he has bribed the
conductor to arrange for an unplanned stop, and his
son will be waiting at the designated location. Un-
der his true plan, Bey will be the only one leaving
the train at this temporary stop with the
SPECKTOR. The characters and Tatiana will be
dead by then, shot by Bey with a silenced handgun.
If he was successful in his plot to film one or more of
the characters in compromising positions at the
gypsy camp, he also plans to use those pictures to
further embarrass the agents. He will leave the roll
of film on the corpse of the Russian beauty and a
blackmail note on the body of one of the M.I.6 agents.
As events transpire, Beys plot does not unfold
as planned.
A Complication
A short while into the journey, as the train is pass-
ing through the pleasant rural Turkish countryside,
either the characters or Bey learn that Benz is aboard
the train. The Gamesmaster can arrange this in a
number of ways; on a meander through the wood-pan-
elled corridor, Bey may catch a glimpse of the man
returning to his compartment. Or Beys conductor
friend may come to him with news of Benzs presence.
55
However the characters learn that the Internal
Security man is aboard the train, the implications
are significant, particularly if Tatiana is also aboard.
If Benz were to even suspect that the stolen decoder
was aboard, or that a Russian Cryptographic Clerk
was riding the train with the intention of defecting
to the West, he would be most interested. His offi-
cial standing would make it easy for him to call the
train to an immediate stop, or to assume authority
of the numerous Russian and Russian-sympathetic
soldiers and officials travelling on the train.
Because of this potential to disrupt their plans,
Bey is certain that Benz must be dealt with swiftly,
before he even learns of the true situation. Do not
worry, says the Turk, I will take care of things.
Come with me. He leads the characters to the door
of Benzs compartment, draws a pistol, then raps
loudly on the door calling (in Turkish) for tickets to
be produced. As Benz opens the door to the compart-
ment, Bey pushes him back into his seat, holding
him all the time at gunpoint. He instructs the char-
acters to tie the Russian up.
After Benz is bound, Bey tells the characters to
return to their compartments. He will guard this one
until the Bulgarian frontier. If the characters suggest
that they stay also, Bey will wave them away with his
hands, what would happen if the real conductor comes
along, hey? I know these officials, they work with me,
but if they saw a foreigner holding a Russian pris-
oner, well who knows how they might react?
A Change of Plan
The characters now have an hour or two to do as
they please before Beys plan kicks into action at 6PM.
The Gamesmaster can use this time as an opportunity
for more roleplaying, or it can be simply skimmed over as
uneventful if there is nothing interesting to play out.
Behind the scenes, this period heralds a remark-
able turn of events for Beys true plan. Not long af-
ter Benz is restrained in his compartment, Kerims
conductor friend comes to the door and drops a bomb-
shell: he has seen the blond-haired man that Bey
warned him about. He has a compartment some-
where on this train! This discovery has serious re-
percussions for Beys plot: if he proceeds to kill
Tatiana and the characters, steal the SPECKTOR
and depart the train, it is quite likely that Grant
will observe this. Thus when the decoder eventually
falls into the hands of his shadowy employers, M.I.6
will have incontrovertible evidence of his associa-
tion with this criminal group, and also of his involve-
ment in the murder of fellow agents. The conse-
quences would be severe: no more could Bey return
to his normal life once the job for the blackmailers
were complete. As all this spins in his mind Bey be-
gins to formulate a new, more subtle plan.
Just before 6PM, as the characters are just pre-
paring for Bey to lead them to his arranged rendez-
vous, there is a sharp knock at their compartment
doors. The face on the other side is not that of the
charismatic Turk, but rather the flushed and flus-
tered face of the conductor. You are friends of Kerim
Bey?, he asks in stilted English. Once they have
answered in the affirmative he continues, saying,
Something terrible has happened. You must come
with me. He leads the characters to the compart-
ment in which they left Bey guarding the Russian
Security agent. The once-tidy room is now a mess,
with luggage and debris scattered everywhere. Wind
whips through the place, coming in from outside
through a large ragged hole in the glass window.
A dead body dominates the chaotic tableau. It is
Benz. He has been shot at close range. The velvet-
covered seats on one side of the compartment are
stained with his blood. Even a passing inspection of
56
the window reveals that the jagged edges of the
roughly circular hole also bear smears of blood. The
conductor withers visibly at returning to the grizzly
scene. With a pale face he stutters This man and
Kerim Bey they must have killed each other, with
poor Mister Bey pushed off the train. Out through
the window!
The truth of the matter is quite different. While
Bey did kill the defenseless Benz with a single bul-
let to the head, he himself did not die. Rather he
smashed the window with a suitcase, smearing the
hole with blood from Benzs corpse. He then disap-
peared into one of the many crawlspaces and hiding
places scattered throughout the train. From here,
he can mastermind his revised plan a scheme in
which the characters and Grant are to be played off
against one another.
Belgrade
The sudden change in Beys plan, coupled with
his apparent death, means that the train does not
make its unscheduled stop. Characters who are
closely watching the passing countryside may spot
a parked car partially concealed beside the tracks,
with two men surveying the thundering train with
confused expressions.
If the characters decide to jump from the train
at the appointed rendezvous, it will prove a danger-
ous and difficult task. The Gamesmaster should
warn them that the Orient Express is racing along
its rails, and that a fall would likely be quite injur-
ing, perhaps life-threatening. Any character that
proceeds will be required to make a Safety Roll at
Ease Factor 3 as if he or she were engaged in a chase
on foot (i.e., using the Evasion skill). The results
should be applied as if this were a Trick maneuver
bid at Ease Factor between 3 and 5, depending on
the amount of preparation the character has put into
the attempt. Even a safe landing, however, does not
deliver the characters from danger. Taksim Bey and
his brother, far from being their rescuers, will con-
front them with weapons drawn.
If they are overcome and captured, the unfortu-
nate M.I.6 agents must endure a short, bumpy ride
to a small airfield, then several hours bundled into
the baggage compartment of a light plane.
Gamesmasters will have to use statistics from the
James Bond 007 Basic Game book or the Q Manual
to describe any action that ensues. Characters who
fail to escape their captors eventually find them-
selves on Skorpios Venice-berthed boat, watching
as the SPECKTOR is handed over to him. This al-
ternative conclusion to the adventure will need to
be improvised by the Gamesmaster.
Characters who choose to remain on the train
may be at a loss as to how they are now to escape
back to the West their only plan is now plainly in
tatters. As the train pulls into Belgrade, after a very
cursory customs stop at the Bulgarian border, help
appears to be at hand. Beys son Taksim, red-faced
and flustered from his swift drive from the rendez-
vous point some miles away, can be seen walking
backwards and forth along the platform. He is clearly
scanning the windows of the train looking for some-
one, presumably the characters. If they alight from
the train it has stopped for several minutes to al-
low passengers and luggage on and off they may
speak with him.
If the characters tell Taksim of the death of his
father, he will be visibly upset. He has no way of
knowing that Kerims plan has changed and that
his death was staged, so the reaction will be genu-
ine. The younger Bey will promise to arrange an-
other escape route he says he will phone ahead to
the M.I.6 station house in Zagreb to arrange for an
agent to board the train at that stop. He promises,
on the memory of his father, that he will help get
them to safety. If the characters suggest leaving the
train, Taksim will be most emphatic: they should stay
on the train, as it is the fastest way away from those
who are undoubtedly in pursuit from Istanbul.
While Taksim will make good on his promise to
make forward arrangements, he will not be in touch
with M.I.6s Station House Y. Instead he will con-
tact his criminal masters, actually subsidiaries of
TAROT, to suggest that they send an assassin to
board the train in Zagreb posing as a fellow agent.
Suspicions Rise
On the leg of the journey from Belgrade to
Zagreb, Kerim Bey will begin to put his subtle new
plan into action. His objective is to feed on the mis-
trust that the agents probably feel towards the blond-
haired man (Grant) who has observed them in Is-
tanbul. He hopes that by fuelling this tension he can
cause one or both of his targets to eliminate the other,
thus making his final confrontation easier.
Bey will arrange for a couple of minor incidents
to occur on the train to feed the agents paranoia. If
the characters ever leave their compartments, even
if only for a moment, he will sneak in and slightly
rearrange their belongings, making it appear as
though the place has been searched. If possible, Bey
will leave behind a few blond hairs in a conspicuous
location (which characters may spot with an Ease
Factor 5 PER roll).
Also, shortly before the train is due to pass
through the border into Yugoslavia, the characters
will receive a knock at the door. The carriage con-
57
ductor is outside with an ice bucket and freshly
opened bottle of Bollinger. As he pours glasses of the
fine champagne, he says, a gift from your friend.
When asked to whom he refers, the conductor re-
plies, why the yellow-haired man. Surely you know
who I mean?
Zagreb
As the Orient Express pulls into Zagrebs cen-
tral station, the characters will probably be eagerly
scanning the platform to catch a glimpse of the con-
tact promised by Taksim to assist in their escape.
With an Ease Factor 5 PER roll, one man can be
seen to stand out as somewhat conspicuous. He is a
tall and dark, vaguely Eastern-European man
dressed in a long woolen coat. With furtive eyes he
looks backward and forth along the train, pacing
impatiently all the while. Could this unlikely figure
be their M.I.6 contact? Characters who succeed in a
Fame Roll against the waiting figures Fame Points
recognise that this man is actually a known crimi-
nal, associated by reputation with TAROT.
At the same time as the characters are sighting
and possibly recognising the dark figure, Red Grant
is doing likewise. From long years of working
throughout Eastern Europe, he quickly realises that
the man is an enemy agent, probably interested in
either him or the characters. Thinking rapidly, Grant
disembarks for the platform, sauntering over to the
man purposefully. If the characters stand by and
watch, they see him put an arm around the dark-
haired man and escort him to the public conven-
iences. A moment later, Grant emerges alone, hav-
ing quickly interrogated the TAROT agent and tem-
porarily incapacitated him.
If the characters weigh into the events on the
platform, things might unfold differently. If they are
very quick off the mark they may make contact with
the TAROT man before Grant has reached him. The
dark stranger will claim to be an M.I.6 agent from
Station House Y; if tested with the normal code
phrases, he seems to know them. If they put their
faith in this man over Grant, who they probably
mistrust, he will happily join them back on the train.
Once Zagreb is behind them, however, the TAROT
agent will waste no time in pulling a gun on them,
proceeding quickly to attempt to kill each character
in turn. The dark mans statistics are given below.
Regardless of how the encounter on the platform
plays out, the characters will probably notice that
Grant makes a quick call at an on-platform phone
booth before quickly re-boarding the train.
TAROT AGENT
Boating (5/16), Disguise (6/15), Driving (4/15), Electronics (4/
13), Evasion (6/18), Fire Combat (10/21), Hand-to-Hand Com-
bat (5/17), Stealth (9/18)
HEIGHT: 62 SPEED: 2
SURVIVAL POINTS: 1 WEAPON: Luger Parabellum, knife
Once the drama surrounding the TAROT assas-
sin has been played out, with the man being either
eliminated by Grant or the characters, the
Gamesmaster should allow a brief moment of res-
pite before revealing the next twist. Donovan Grant,
who has been watching the characters for some time
as possible suspects in his investigation, finally con-
cludes that they are not the double agents he be-
lieved. He realises that they are simply M.I.6 agents
pursued by TAROT, and as such they deserve any
assistance he can render.
Grants Plan
A short time into the journey from Zagreb, Grant
comes to the door of one of the characters, present-
ing himself with a confident knock. Once inside the
compartment, with the door firmly closed, he will
reveal that he is, in fact, an M.I.6 agent and that he
has been observing the movements of the charac-
ters ever since they landed in Istanbul. If he has
saved one or more of the characters during that time,
he will tell them that he has been their guardian
angel. If challenged, Grant knows all the standard
code phrases; he also has one of the new standard
issue briefcases from Q Branch. Any enquiries as to
the nature of Grants mission in Turkey are met with
cagey responses at best.
58
Grant tells the characters that it is vital that
they get off the train before it reaches the Italian
border. He asks to see the fake passports Bey gave
them and, if the characters comply, tells them in no
uncertain terms that these will not get them into
Italy. You have neither the visas or the identity
papers needed to cross at that border, and the Yugo-
slavian border guards will be all over your little piece
of Russian-made electronics. Fortunately, he tells
the characters, he has arranged a way out. He pulls
a map from his jacket pocket and outlines his plan.
Just before the train passes into Italy on the
way to Trieste, it passes through these mountains,
he explains, pointing to the map. Because of the
steep grade, the train slows down, almost to walk-
ing pace, just for a short section. I have arranged for
a local contact of mine to be waiting at a road cross-
ing here. All we have to do is jump from the train.
From there we ride with him to the Adriatic coast
and a quick boat journey to Venice.
The Gamesmaster should allow plenty of time
for this scene to play out. How the characters react
to Grant and the amount of trust they put in his
plan will depend on how much they believe his story.
It is still, however, the only escape plan they have.
Fish, Wine and Sleeping Pills
As there is still some time before the train
reaches the mountainous border, Grant suggests that
the characters join him for a pleasant dinner in the
Restaurant Car. Assuming that they have not al-
ready eaten, the unexpected events of this evenings
journey have left them more than a little hungry.
Tatiana is also invited. If the characters accept
Grants offer, they have a fine dinner in luxurious
surrounds. At dinner Grant will open up a little more
and tell a few tales of his many years spent working
in various countries in Eastern Europe. I dont think
Id even recognise London its so long since Ive been
there, he will quip.
Characters who succeed in a Connoisseur roll
at Ease Factor 6 will notice that Grant makes a glar-
ing mistake when ordering his meal. He chooses to
have a fish main course, the grilled sole, to be ac-
companied by Red Chianti. It is far more typical to
serve white wine with fish. If anyone confronts Grant
with this gaffe he jokes, Ive been living so long with
some of these strange European customs that some-
times I forget the ways of high culture.
After the meal has been served, when everyone
is sharing a final drink before returning to his or
her compartment, Grant will make an effort to catch
Tatianas eye. If successful, he will attempt to dis-
tract her attention away from the table. He could do
this by pointing out to her a particularly attractive
flower arrangement at the bar, or by trying to get
her to watch the pianist. While Tatiana, and per-
haps some or all of the characters, have their atten-
tion elsewhere, Grant will proceed to drop a tiny
white pill into her half-full glass of champagne. The
Gamesmaster should make a DEX roll at Ease Fac-
tor 5 for Grant; each of the characters has the op-
portunity of making a PER roll with Ease Factor
the same as Grants Quality Rating from this roll.
Under no circumstances will Tatiana realise what
is occurring. Any characters that seem to have spot-
ted the sleight of hand receive a knowing wink from
Grant. Failing intervention by the characters,
Tatiana will drink the drugged champagne.
The Final Confrontation
Following dinner, the characters plus Grant and
Tatiana will presumably return to one or more of
the characters compartments. If Tatiana was
drugged by Grant, she will begin to feel lightheaded
on the way back from the Restaurant car, and will
virtually collapse as soon as she is back in the com-
partment. If any character challenges Grant as to
why he drugged the girl, a sharp rebuke follows,
This escape route is for you, me and the decoder.
The girl stays behind, she will be fine. If the char-
acters object to this callousness, the blond-haired
man will challenge them, which are you after, the
decoder or the girl?
Once any confrontations over his actions with
Tatiana are resolved, Grant will become more genial
apparently softening yet further to the characters. He
tries to steer the conversation to their time in Istan-
bul. After a slight lull, he enquires directly about the
impression the characters gained of Kerim Bey. Once
they have had their say, Grant takes a moment to care-
fully absorb what they have related, then says there
is something I must tell you about Kerim Bey. It has
to do with my mission in Istanbul
It is at this point that Bey makes his move. Sud-
denly from above the characters a shot rings out and
Grant falls to the ground, dead. The Turk has been
hiding in a crawlspace above the compartment for
some time, and has heard all that has transpired
between Grant and the characters. Now, he reasons,
is the proper time to eliminate both Grant and the
M.I.6 agents and depart the train.
The Gamesmaster may prefers to resolve the
assassination attempt using the normal Fire Com-
bat rules rather than simply announcing that Grant
is dead. If this option is chosen, Bey should be al-
lowed modifiers for taking a bead (+3) and target
surprised (+4). Bey will make a specific shot to
Grants head (-2 Ease Factor but damage result in-
creased by two levels). Also, in this unusual scenario
59
Bey should be permitted to use any Survival Points
like Hero Points (to improve the quality of his result).
Immediately following the first shot from above
the characters hear a terrible splintering noise from
the ceiling overhead. With a firm kick, Kerim Bey
breaks through the thin lacquered plyboard of the
compartments false ceiling and drops to the ground.
He brandishes a pistol, with which he covers the
characters as best he can.
In true villain style, Bey now makes a speech. My
dear, dear friends, he begins. You do not know how
much it pains me to stand here, pointing this ugly
weapon in your face(s). But my employers want you
dead, my friends, almost as much as they want the
SPECKTOR decoder. I know what you are thinking,
surely I work for M.I.6. And I do. Loyally. But some-
times in life things happen which give other people
power over you, or over your family. For me it was my
eldest son falling in with an unsavory crowd who
threatened him and me with blackmail. As you know,
family is very important to me. For a time a very
short time these people have been my employers.
But you know, my friends, during your stay in
the Balkans you have worked for my employers every
bit as much as I have. Surprised? Of course you are.
But it is true. The goal that my employers set their
sights upon was a difficult one. The Russians very
carefully guard their decoding machines, as I believe
you found out for yourself. Stealing such a thing
would require a true expert, a professional. Say, a
British agent. From the beginning you have been
working for Them, my friends. They set up the trap
by arranging for an innocent Russian girl to receive
instructions. Instruction to offer up the device, and
not to mention herself, if only the British would send
their experts to undertake the theft. Now that you
have the SPECKTOR it is my turn to serve those
same employers, by killing you and delivering the
decoder into their lap. Please do not take it person-
ally I have enjoyed working with you in Istanbul.
But now you must die.
If Bey was successful in his plan to film one or
more of the characters in intimate or embarassing
situations at the gypsy camp, he adds one final jibe.
Oh, one other thing you should know. After I have
delivered the machine to my employers, they have
asked me to deliver this to the worlds media. With
a flourish, he produces a small reel of film. Who
would have ever thought that those gypsy girls would
have been so flexible. He pauses for a dry laugh.
Once the world has seen how true British secret
agents behave on assignment, perhaps they will all
lock up their girls when your compatriots are in town.
I dont know why but this gives my employers great
pleasure; perhaps they have met you before. After
another droll laugh, Bey raises his gun, saying now
it is goodbye.
Once Kerim Bey has finished his monologue, he
will attempt to shoot the characters dead. The
Gamesmaster should resolve any action that tran-
spires as per usual. The two sections which follow
have some specific notes about running combat and
chases (assuming the action spills out into the train
at large) in the confined space of the Orient Express.
Bey cannot be talked out of his murderous inten-
tions; his instinct to protect his family, served by
bowing to his blackmailers, is stronger than any-
thing the characters can offer. He will not stop until
either he or the characters are dead.
It is worth bearing in mind that Bey is not fa-
miliar with the new Q-issue briefcases which the
characters and Grant were both issued. Specifically,
he does not know the special means of opening such
cases without setting of the gas cannister.
Combat on the Orient Express
Fire Combat inside the Orient Express is resolved
normally, although the cramped spaces may make it
difficult for combatants to easily get themselves in a
good position to fire their weapon. Hand-to-Hand Com-
bat inside a compartment presents some difficulties.
Firstly, there is no way simply to retreat out of range.
The only avenues of escape are through the door to
the passageway, into an adjoining compartment, or
through the window. Involuntarily going out the win-
dow requires a DEX roll (- 3 Ease Factor modifier) to
grab onto some projection, and a Mountaineering roll
to get back inside (-3 Ease Factor modifier) or onto
the roof (-2 Ease Factor modifier). To escape voluntar-
ily from a compartment requires the opponent to be
Stunned for a complete round.
A character may box his opponent into a corner
by performing a Restrain action. In this case, the
60
opponent is not being held in a full-nelson or bear hug,
but has been forced into a narrow space where his
opponents blows cannot be as easily dodged. Increase
the Wound Level of the opponents blows by one until
the character makes a successful Release action.
Chases on the Orient Express
Chases aboard the Orient Express will, of course,
be on foot and make use of the Evasion skill. With
the amount of traffic in the average train corridor,
the characters should have to get around fellow pas-
sengers at least once in every three rounds. To get
around a passenger requires a Trick maneuver (-2
Ease Factor modifier, though you may increase this
modifier depending on the girth of the blocking pas-
senger). On a Quality Rating 3 or better, the charac-
ter has managed to get by the passenger with mini-
mum pushing and shoving. On a Quality Rating 4,
the passenger has been roughly shoved aside and
will certainly complain to the conductor about the
characters rudeness. If the maneuver was a failure,
both the character and passenger wind up on the
floor in a heap. Anyone trying to get past this heap
does so at a -4 Ease Factor modifier.
Ducking into a convenient compartment to elude
pursuers is considered a Quick Turn. You can popu-
late the compartment or not, depending on how easy
the chase is going for the character.
Climbing around on the outside of a train requires
a character to use his Mountaineering skill. You can
apply a -2 Ease Factor modifier to account for the
movement of the train and the buffeting of the wind.
All chase maneuvers atop a moving train have a
Safety roll Ease Factor of 3, and any mishap damage
is applied as for Trick maneuvers, since the character
is considered to have fallen off the train. A failed Safety
roll, however, does not mean the character takes dam-
age automatically. He should be allowed a DEX roll (-
2 Ease Factor modifier) to grab on to some outcropping
on the train. If this roll is successful, he is considered
to be dangling off the side of the train until he pulls
himself up (Mountaineering roll).
Combatants who are Stunned or who fail to make
their Pain Resistance rolls must succeed at a DEX
roll (-1 Ease Factor modifier) to keep from being swept
off the train. If this roll fails, they should make a sec-
ond DEX roll to determine how much damage they
have taken as a result of the fall. Use the chart below
to determine the Wound Level from the fall.
DEX ROLL
RESULT DAMAGE TAKEN
Quality Rating 1 No damage
Quality Rating 2 Light Wound
Quality Rating 3 Medium Wound
Quality Rating 4 Heavy Wound
Failure Incapacitation
While the characters are on top of the train, there
are obstacles that will threaten to sweep them off.
You can have an obstacle appear on every sixth Ac-
tion Round. Any character facing the direction in
which the train is moving will automatically notice
the obstacle; all others should get a PER roll to no-
tice it. Following the description of each obstacle is
the Ease Factor modifier applied to the DEX roll that
must be made to avoid being hit by it. Some of the
obstacles that can appear include:
Trestle: All characters must dive for the roof to avoid
being swept off (-2 Ease Factor modifier). All charac-
ters must perform a Rise in the next round to get up.
Signal stanchion: All characters must either dive
for the roof (-2 Ease Factor modifier) or jump over
the stanchion (-3 Ease Factor modifier). Jumping
over the stanchion successfully means the charac-
ter lands on his feet and does not have to Rise.
Low tunnel: All characters must dive to the roof to
avoid being knocked off the train (-2 Ease Factor modi-
fier). All characters must perform a Rise in the next
round to get up. If a tunnel is the obstacle, you may
decide that the roof is high enough for the characters
to remain standing. Roll a D6 to determine how many
rounds it takes the train to get through the tunnel.
61
J. At The Italian Border
As the Orient Express approaches the border with
Italy, it begins to wind its way up into the mountains,
slowing as it progresses up the steady grade. The charac-
ters confrontation with Kerim Bey has most likely been
resolved by this point, and the drop in speed should re-
mind them of Grants escape plan. Retrieving the map
from the blond mans corpse, they can easily see the ex-
act location he planned to jump from the train.
If the agents decide to ignore this opportunity
to leave the train before the frontier, they will find it
impossible to evade the probing attention of the Yu-
goslavian border guards. As Grant intimated, even
as normal travellers the characters would find the
crossing difficult with the papers Bey produced for
them. Compounding these difficulties, TAROT has
planted an agent in the border station and tasked
him with the recovery of the SPECKTOR should
Beys plan fail. The Gamesmaster will need to im-
provise an encounter if the characters choose this
route. It should be next to impossible for the M.I.6
agents to escape alive, let alone with the decoder.
Jumping from the train at the appointed cross-
ing is not difficult, and is actually quite safe. Char-
acters should make an Ease Factor 9 DEX roll with
failure indicating a Light Wound due to an awkward
fall. The task of moving a drugged Tatiana off the
train might prove more challenging the
Gamesmaster should allow the characters to formu-
late a plan and assign rolls accordingly. If a charac-
ter wishes to hold onto the semi-unconscious woman
while jumping, reduce the Ease Factor of their DEX
roll to 4 and also call for an Ease Factor 5 STR roll
to keep a firm hold on Tatiana as they fall. Other
plans will likely be resolved through a combination
of DEX rolls, STR rolls and possibly the Mountain-
eering skill (if equipment is used to assist).
Once the characters are all safely on the verge
of the rail track, they can pick themselves up to sur-
vey the scene. Parked a short distance away along a
narrow mountainous road is a slightly beaten-up
truck, its flat bed filled with flowers cut from the
surrounding fields. The driver, a portly Yugoslav with
the appearance of a farmer, approaches cautiously.
The man is expecting to make contact with Grant,
and his absence may make for a few awkward mo-
ments. Characters who explain what has transpired,
and who can identify themselves as M.I.6 agents by
codephrases, will soon convince him of their story.
The Yugoslav contact explains that Grant had
planned for him to drive the characters to the Adri-
atic coast where a speedboat is waiting. The boat
has been stocked with enough fuel to easily reach
Venice or beyond.
It is approximately twenty miles from the train cross-
ing to the makeshift pier. For much of the journey the
aged truck winds its way through narrow mountain roads,
the gearbox crunching at almost every bend.
About fifteen minutes into the drive, the vehicle
comes to the attention of a helicopter patrolling the
Yugoslav-Italian border. The little-used road trav-
els very close to the boundary between the two coun-
tries, and the presence of a farm truck in this iso-
lated region is unusual. The Bell Texasranger ini-
tially pulls directly above the truck and a border
guard leans out one side, challenging the driver to
stop with a megaphone. If the Yugoslav farmer is
driving, he begins to panic and plants his foot. The
truck veers chaotically around the winding moun-
tain road, skidding precariously around corners. If
a character is driving, a more level-headed reaction
may prevail but whatever maneuvers are attempted
the helicopter has no difficulty in remaining in pur-
suit. After a round or two, the second guard in the
helicopter will begin dropping hand grenades at the
truck.
FLOWER TRUCK
-1 5 40 90 600 6 30
YUGOSLAVIAN BORDER PILOT
Hand-to-Hand Combat (5/15), Piloting (10/22)
HEIGHT: 59 SPEED: 3
SURVIVAL POINTS: 0 WEAPON: Grenade
Run this as a chase sequence, but one in which
the driver of the truck may only make Trick
maneuvers, attempts to veer left or right out of the
way of the helicopter. The helicopter pilot does not
have to make pursue rolls to keep up with truck due
to superior speed and maneuverability. The pilot
must make Trick maneuvers, however, to position
the helicopter in such a way that his fellow guard
can drop a grenade directly onto it. To resolve such
an attack, compare the Quality Ratings of the truck
drivers and the pilots rolls on the table below this
shows the distance in feet that the grenade lands
62
from the truck. The hand grenade delivers Area
Damage Class I; the truck protects its occupants with
its 30 Structure Points.
GRENADE DETONATION DISTANCE TABLE
DRIVERS QR
PILOTS QR F 4 3 2 1
F 40+ 40+ 40+ 40+ 40+
4 10 30 40+ 40+ 40+
3 10 20 30 40+ 40+
2 0 10 20 30 40+
1 0 0 10 20 30
It should be obvious that the only way that the
characters can survive this chase is for the helicop-
ter to be eliminated. The guard has a plentiful sup-
ply of grenades (at least 30) and there are still many
miles to travel before reaching the pier. The helicop-
ter can be eliminated in two ways: either through
mishaps during the Trick maneuvers to position, or
through weapons fire. If a character chooses to fire
at the helicopter from the truck, he or she will have
to lean partially out one of the windows to do so.
Resolve the Fire Combat as normal (remember the
2 EF modifier for target moving and further 2 EF
modifier for firer moving) but exposed characters re-
ceive no structural damage reduction for grenades that
explode while they are partially outside the truck.
To put themselves on a more equal footing with
regards to maneuverability, characters may elect to
stop the truck and continue the chase on foot (using
their Evasion skill). There are several sections where
the mountainous countryside is punctuated by roll-
ing highland hills; such places offer relative free-
dom of movement and a little cover. Once charac-
ters have left the truck behind, the tactics of the
helicopter pilot changes: he now attempts a Force
maneuver each round in an attempt to mow a tar-
get down. Such targets have a Force rating of 0. While
characters on foot still cannot make Flee maneuvers,
the open highlands do permit them Quick Turns and
Double Backs. If a character stops still for a round
or more, for example to take a bead on the helicop-
ter with a hunting rifle, the border guards will at-
tempt to drop a grenade directly on top of them. Such
a maneuver will require a couple of rounds (and a
Trick Maneuver at EF 7) to set up, incidentally giv-
ing a sniper on the ground at least one clear shot at
the helicopter.
As before, the characters can only survive the
foot chase if the helicopter crashes due to a mishap
or as the result of weapons fire.
K. Boat Chase
As the long winding mountain road makes its
final descent to the glittering Cerulean blue of the
Adriatic, the characters will catch first sight of their
destination. Nestled into a little cove protected by a
ring of small rocky outcrops is a small wooden pier.
Tied to a wooden post, a shiny Cobalt CM-9 speed-
boat awaits their arrival. The back of the small boat
holds three large metal barrels, extra fuel to get the
little vessel well out of Yugoslavia and into Italy.
If the characters search through the various lock-
ers next to the wheel they discover detailed nauti-
cal charts and an emergency kit some food, a first
aid kit and a flare gun. Any characters succeeding
at an Ease Factor 5 Boating roll will realise that
there is enough fuel in the tank to get the boat across
the border (just), but with the three extra barrels
the little boat could reach half way down the Italian
peninsula if required.
About five minutes after the characters set off
in the speedboat, they hear the sounds of several
other whining motors coming from somewhere be-
hind them. In an instant three boats appear in their
wake, ducking out from narrows between the coast
and several rocky islets. These boats, also Cobalt CM-
9s, each fly a coloured flag one red, one green and
one black. In the centre of each flag is a sinister logo,
a skull and two sickles. The TAROT logo. Behind
the scenes agents of the sinister organisation were
listening in to the radio reports from the helicopter
border patrol back to the Yugoslavian authorities.
Hastily they were able to dispatch a small team of
boats charged with the mission of eliminating the
M.I.6 agents at all costs.
Each of the TAROT boats has two agents on-
board, both with the same statistics as the TAROT
agent which met the train in Zagreb (see Part III:I,
The Orient Express) but equipped with an Uzi. One
agent pilots each boat, while the second fires his
submachine gun at the characters boat whenever
the opportunity presents itself. The chase begins at
Medium range. There are several jagged outcrops
and reefs in the coastal region which present obsta-
cles, each requiring a Trick maneuver with an Ease
Factor from 2 to 5. The Gamesmaster should throw
such obstacles in the path of the characters boat
every few rounds unless they have some means of
steering a clear course.
If the characters boat takes damage from Fire
Combat, the characters will see bullet holes appear
in all three of the fuel tanks which are balanced on
63
the back of the boat. Fuel will begin to rapidly leak
from these holes and pool on the floor of the speed-
boat. While this does not cause the boat to stop (there
is still the main tank intact), the leaking fuel is ob-
viously highly flammable. If any TAROT agents are
at Medium range (or get to Medium or closer range
on a subsequent round) they may notice the fuel leak
on a successful PER roll. When one or more notice
the leak, they will put down their Uzis and attempt
to fire flares into the back of the boat. To hit the boat
with a live flare, the attacker and target vessels must
be at Close range and the attacker must succeed in
a normal Fire Combat roll. Success indicates that
the contents of all the fuel barrels explode, along
with the main tank apply Area Damage Class K.
Quick-witted characters may use the punctured
fuel barrels to their advantage, however. If the char-
acters cut the barrels loose, they quickly fall into
the water behind the speedboat, spreading an invis-
ible fuel slick behind them. The characters can ig-
nite this fuel a round later by launching a flare (they
need only succeed in an Ease Factor 8 Fire Combat
roll to hit the quickly-spreading slick). A huge cur-
tain of flame springs up from the water, directly ig-
niting any pursuers at Close range, for an instant
Incapacitate result. A Burning boat explodes in three
rounds, causing Area Damage Class J to those on or
around it. Pursuers at Long range can attempt an
Ease Factor 5 Double Back maneuver to avoid the
curtain; those at Extreme need only an Ease Factor
8 Double Back maneuver. Boats that do not succeed
in such maneuvers also catch alight for an instant
Incapacitate result. The fate of boats who avoid the
curtain of fire must be adjudicated by the
Gamesmaster; if there is no way such boats could
get around the spreading fuel slick to rejoin the chase
they are effectively out of the chase.
Once the three TAROT boats are dispatched, the
characters encounter no further obstacles on their
journey to Italy. If they jettisoned most of their fuel
during the chase, they have only enough left to limp
to Trieste, otherwise they have sufficient fuel to head
for the more romantic destination of Venice. Once
the characters have reached either city (hopefully
with the decoder and Tatiana), their mission is ef-
fectively complete.
L. Final Gambit
This section presents an optional finale to the ad-
venture which provides a last sting to the complex
schemes of TAROT and, if she is present, challenges
Tatianas true loyalties. If the characters have struggled
to get to this point, or if they are on their last legs, the
Gamesmaster may choose to omit this sequence.
Alexei Kronsteen, the man who architected the
entire plan for TAROT to snatch the SPECKTOR by
agency of M.I.6s finest, is not a man used to being
beaten at his own game. The actions of the charac-
ters have made him look a fool the foolproof plan
he designed for his shadowy employers is now in
tatters. He faces demotion in the TAROT organisa-
tion at best; his punishment may be actually more
deadly. Motivated by this fury, Kronsteen will at-
tempt one final attempt to retrieve the decoder, this
time conducting his attack personally.
As the characters and, if the characters have
brought her this far, Tatiana are resting in their luxu-
rious five-star hotel in Italy, they receive a knock at
the door. The man on the other side is dressed in the
uniform of the hotels bellboys: a traditional red outfit
with gold trim and a flat pillbox hat. Although the
characters probably have no way of recognising him,
this is actually Kronsteen.
The way in which Kronsteen conducts his at-
tempt on the SPECKTOR depends on whether
Tatiana is present. If she is present in the hotel room,
he will announce that he has a message for her, hand-
ing over a crisp elegant envelope. The note inside,
64
signed by Klebb, congratulates Tatiana on her excellent
work for the state; she has done well in drawing the West-
ern agents to this point. Her mission now is to hand over
the decoder to this man and return with him to Istanbul.
Assuming Tatiana gets to read this note, the
Gamesmaster will have to decide how she acts, based on
her current Reaction to the characters. If she still remains
loyal to the Russians (the wit and charm of the M.I.6
agents has failed to win her over), she will try to quietly
retrieve the SPECKTOR and slip out of the hotel. Alter-
natively, if she now genuinely wishes to defect, she will
frankly tell the characters that this man is an enemy
agent. At this point Kronsteen abandons his subtle machi-
nations and simply attacks the characters, firstly pulling
a Luger from his uniform, although reverting to his poi-
soned dagger-shoe if disarmed or hedged into a corner.
If Tatiana has not accompanied the agents this
far, Kronsteen will adopt a different strategy. Wait-
ing until the characters are checking out of the ho-
tel, he will come to the room under the guise of a
bellboy taking their luggage to the lobby. He will
make straight for the small case, which he recog-
nises as containing the SPECKTOR, and once he has
it will attempt to make for the door and bolt to the
fire stairs. If the characters confront him either dur-
ing his theft or as he escapes, he will drop the
pretense and attack as outlined above.
If captured or questioned at any point, Kronsteen
will tell the characters plainly that they only defeated
his perfect plan through good fortune. I am the mas-
ter strategist., he says with a superior air, you were
merely simple pawns that got lucky. Nothing more.
65
65
Part IV:
Adventure
Information
uccess in the mission requires the characters
to escape from behind the Iron Curtain with
the SPECKTOR decoder and, if possible, Tatiana
Romanova (who can explain details of its operation
to Q branch and other cryptographic experts). Re-
trieving Tatiana without the decoder represents only
a partial success certainly she can explain details
of the device to British Intelligence, but without the
device itself this information is much less useful. In
such a scenario, the characters will likely be sent
back to Istanbul (or wherever the SPECKTOR was
last seen) to try to pick up the trail of the device,
with an eye towards obtaining it.
Unlike other Bond adventures, the consequences
of failure are not world-shattering. Failing to obtain
the SPECTOR decoder will certainly prove to be a
sore disappointment to M.I.6 and to the more shad-
owy arms of British Intelligence. The consequences
of failure for the characters, however, will be fatal.
If the Characters Succeed
The consequences of success in this mission are
fairly clear-cut: British Intelligence gain a significant
capacity, to instantaneously decode the most secre-
tive messages of the Russians. Naturally, since the
Russians are aware of the theft, there is only a cer-
tain time window that this capability is most useful.
However, in that time the use of the stolen SPECKTOR
allows the British to obtain invaluable information
as to the identity of Russian agents, the precise place-
ment of their military assets, and exact details of es-
pionage operations underway. Several double agents
are revealed, publicly tried and imprisoned. The repu-
tation of M.I.6 as a major player in global espionage
S
A. Consequences
is enhanced, with the Americans frequently consult-
ing the British for advice on Russian movements.
On a personal level, success means the characters
have foiled TAROTs fool proof plan to assassinate them.
This will in no way mean that the terrorist group will
give up their pursuit of the agents. If anything, TAROT
(and in particular Kronsteen if he ends the adventure
alive) will be even more interested in arranging an elabo-
rate and messy death for the characters.
If the Characters Fail
Failure in this mission will probably mean death
for the characters, either as a casualty in the deadly
Covert War or, more likely, at the hands of Kerim
Bey on the Orient Express.
If the characters had succeeded in stealing the
SPECKTOR from the Russian Consulate it will, on
their death, fall inevitably into the hands of TAROT.
This is the worst possible outcome: to the shadowy
terrorist organisation this represents a major boost
in power and reputation. TAROTs leader Karl
Ferenc Skorpios will consider the benefits of keep-
ing the decoder for himself, to effortlessly read the
most secret transmissions of the Russians. Ulti-
mately, however, he will decide that it is far more
useful for the organisation to offer the decoder up
for sale to the highest bidder. Such a rare and valu-
able item appearing on the international espionage
black market creates an enormous interest, with
the offered amounts spirally quickly to incredible
figures. Skorpios personal hatred towards Britain
and America causes him to eliminate those coun-
tries from the bidding, however there are still nu-
merous parties who are willing to pay millions for
66
the SPECKTOR. Eventually, the device is sold back
to the Soviets who part with a huge sum just to keep
the decoder from falling into the hands of other na-
tions. TAROTs coffers swell with the income from
this enterprise, not to mention the more secretive
sale of copies made by TAROT scientists to other
bidders. This injection of money allows the insidi-
ous organisation to begin planning some truly au-
dacious enterprises.
The deaths of the characters will be accompanied
by dubious public tales of illicit dealings. As soon as
the M.I.6 agents have been eliminated, Kerim Bey
quickly returns to Istanbul and to the gypsy camp. He
murders the two girls the characters fraternised with
briefly, ideally using the characters own weapons. He
then anonymously begins vigorously circulating a sor-
did story, relating how the British agents became
entangled in a bizarre love triangle with the two girls,
which ultimately lead to the agents murdering the
two girls before committing suicide. He will also en-
sure the film of the characters liaisons with the gypsy
girls becomes commonly circulated, adding significant
weight to the salacious tale. The end result of this ig-
noble enterprise will be permanent damage to the in-
ternational reputation of the British secret service.
Media frenzy ensures that the general population view
the service as a disgraceful and immoral group, using
public money to pursue their own peccadillos. Even-
tually this negative publicity translates into a signifi-
cant reduction in the operating budget of M.I.6 and
considerably more political oversight for the organi-
sation. Neither of these prove to be positive develop-
ments: opportunities for overseas operations become
fewer, and access to quality equipment is diminished.
B. Altering the Adventure
1. In the instance that the majority of charac-
ters are female, you may wish to replace Tatiana
Romanova with the (male) Russian cryptographic
clerk Viktor Romanova, who has the same statistics
and skills. In such a situation you will also need to
change the bait in Beys honey-pot: replace the
two fighting gypsy girls with some other situation
you believe will bring at least one of your characters
into a compromising position in one of the trailers.
2. If you are interested in keeping Bey alive for
future adventures as a M.I.6 turncoat, you may wish
to substitute Klebb and/or Kronsteen as the assassin(s)
who attack the characters on the Orient Express.
3. Instead of Kerim Bey being the master vil-
lain responsible for trapping and ultimately attempt-
ing to kill the characters, you may wish to use Rosa
Klebb in this role. In such an adventure, Bey would
be an innocent and loyal member of M.I.6. Klebb
would be responsible for bribing Beys gypsy friends
to trick the characters into a compromising situa-
tion. She, or another of TAROTs agents, would be
the assassin on the train.
4. To make the adventure shorter and less confus-
ing for the characters, you may elect to keep the covert
war (which is really nothing more than background in-
tended to make life more complex for the agents) short,
or eliminate this aspect of the plot altogether.
C. Further Adventures
1. If Kronsteen or Klebb are alive at the end of
the mission, either will earnestly want his or her
revenge on M.I.6 and in particular the characters.
Their failure in this mission will have reduced the
standing of the two in the TAROT organisation to
such an extent that they may actually be on the run
from assassins themselves. Thus the inevitable traps
they may plan for the characters will be less majes-
tic in scope, although just as deadly.
2. If Kerim Bey is alive at the end of the adventure,
his treachery will have been exposed to M.I.6 and he will
be a fugitive. Even in such a position, however, he will
still have a reasonable body of followers in and around
Istanbul (including the gypsies and his extensive array
of sons). With these contacts he will attempt to sabotage
the British Intelligence effort in Turkey, effectively clos-
ing station T permanently. The characters, as agents who
have some experience with Bey are logical choices for
missions to either undermine his clandestine war, or to
bring him back into the fold.
3. Another option for continuing adventures
with Kerim Bey involves the possibility that, as a
fugitive he elects to become a closer ally of TAROT.
As a direct TAROT operative he could appear any-
where in the Near East or Northern Africa, under-
taking high profile missions in these regions.
Skorpios, recognising Bey as an embarrassment to
Britain would make sure that M.I.6 were the first to
receive leaked information about his activities.
4. If Tatiana was safely brought back to England,
she could easily come under the sway of the Soviets
(who still have her family in Kiev). Under such pres-
sure she might agree to work as an agent inside Brit-
ain, perhaps targetting the British cryptographic serv-
ices to steal their secretive code devices. The charac-
ters might be brought in after one such device and
Tatiana have both gone missing under suspicious cir-
cumstances. Grant might be brought in to assist in an
undercover mission to Moscow to investigate.
67
67
Part V:
Thrilling
Cities
I
Istanbul, Turkey
stanbuls existence, under one name or another,
extends back well over 2,500 years. First known
as Byzantium, it was founded by Megarian colonists.
It then became Constantinople, renamed for the
Emperor Constantine. Finally as Istanbul, the city
has become a crossroads where European manners
meet with Middle East traditions, thus making for
an enticing brew.
Istanbul bridges two continents. On the west side
of the Bosphorus is the European portion of the city.
This was the site of Constantinople, and one can still
see the wall built to protect the city. Though it has
crumbled over the years, it is still an impressive
sight. Most of the historical and architectural sights
in Istanbul are contained on this peninsula, bounded
on three sides by the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus,
and the Halic River (nicknamed the Golden Horn).
The Golden Horn at first viewing may seem a mis-
nomer for this rather ordinary river. However, two
ships filled with gold were sunk here when Mehmet
the Conquerer took over the city. The ships have
never been recovered. This section, called Old Town,
contains most of the 600-700 mosques reputed to be
in Istanbul. Here is the famous church of St. Sofia, a
favorite place of tourists and a great meeting place
for spies. Also here can be found the Mosque of Sul-
tan Ahmet, also known as the Blue Mosque. In addi-
tion to these places of worship, one can visit the
Topkapi Palace with its fabulous treasury collection
of jewels that fill four rooms. Other sights to visit
are the cistern of Yerebatan (the Sunken Palace),
and the Museum of Mosaics. All of these attractions
are within walking distance of one another.
Those visiting a mosque can either remove their
shoes and walk about in their socks or stockings, or
use the huge slippers provided to cover their shoes.
Many visitors believe this is a religious requirement
of the Muslim religion. Actually it is a courtesy of
cleanliness, since the Muslims must touch their fore-
heads to the floor when praying.
On the Asian side of the city are the Iskele
Mosque, the Beylerbey Palace, and Camlica Hill, best
known for its magnificent view.
HOTELS: You should make reservations, especially
during the peak summer months. The smaller ho-
tels, though, have only sporadic water service dur-
ing this time. While the most impressive sights are
in Old Town, the best hotels are across the bridge in
New Town.
Hilton (Cumhuriyet Caddesi)
Features: The usual Hilton small-city concept
with a Turkish flavor, complete with swimming
pool and restaurants.
Inter-Continental (Taksim Square)
Features: Very comfortable and offers a heated
pool. It is the tallest building in the city so it
affords a spectacular view.
Etap (Mesrutiyet Caddesi)
Features: One of the newest hotels in Istanbul,
offering a pool and a discotheque.
RESTAURANTS: For the most part the large hotels
have made the Turkish cuisine blander to suit West-
ern palates. The adventurous should try some local
68
restaurants for a really good kebaoci, broiled on a
spit next to the table.
Roof Grill (Hilton Hotel)
This restaurant is an exception to the rule stated
above. It offers authentic Turkish cuisine for tour-
ists in addition to regular Western dishes for vis-
iting Americans.
Galata Tower (Galata)
The international menu and floor show, combined
with a marvellous after-dark view, make this a
major meeting place for Turkish society.
Liman (Near the Galata Bridge)
Overlooking the Bosphorus, this restaurant of-
fers fresh seafood specialities. Unfortunately, it
is open only for lunch.
MONEY: 27.5 Turkish lira (TL) equal one pound.
COMMUNICATIONS: Phone calls can be made from
tourist offices, hotels, and cafes. Outside of the ma-
jor cities, the calls must be placed with an operator.
A post office showing a yellow PTT sign means that
Post, Telephone, and Telegraph facilities are avail-
able there.
LANGUAGES:Turkish, Kurdish, English, Arabic
GETTING AROUND: Cars can be rented. It is wiser
to stick to the main thoroughfares rather than the
winding, steep side streets until one becomes famil-
iar with the eccentricities of Turkish drivers. They
seem to rank just above Italian drivers in courtesy
and safety. It is not unusual to be passed on both
sides by two cars coming from behind, allowing a
total of one-half inch clearance among all three cars.
Taxi prices should be settled ahead of time since the
meters often do not work and the rider may be roy-
ally overcharged. A dolmus, or shared taxi, follows a
regular route, picking up and discharging passen-
gers along its route. It is much like a bus and about
as personal.
EQUIPMENT: Ease Factor 4
INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES: M.I.6, the C.I.A., and the
KGB all maintain Level 3 Station Houses here.
SUBJECT: SPECKTOR decoder, Russian Cryptological Unit
Specifications: 18"9"4"(estimated)
Background: Ever since the British successes at codebreaking in World War II, there
has been considerable emphasis put on keeping abreast of the enemy's
techniques and technologies for sending coded messages. For most of
the past twenty years we have known the secrets of all the commonly
used Russian codes, with the several generations of FRACKTOR and
ELECKTOR decoders having been successfully reverse engineered in
Britain. About six years ago, however, we started intercepting coded
messages which used a new code. We subsequently discovered that the
Russians had built an entirely new decoder, the SPECKTOR. To date we
have no capacity to decode messages created using this code.
Comments: Some people believe the SPECKTOR to be a myth, but anybody who has
ever been asked (as Q Branch has) to decode the top level Russian
communiques in recent years will tell you it is very real. Veiled in super-
secrecy, our knowledge of this elusive device comes from the few components
that have been retrieved from the field plus a couple of second or third hand
verbal descriptions. Suffice it to say, we need more information on the
SPECKTOR. Until we have that information, the Russians will always
have an edge in sending high-level communications securely.
Q
Q Branch Composite
Sketch
M
E
S
A
J

O
D
A
S
I
K
O
N
F
E
R
A
N
S

O
D
A
S
I
R
U
S
A

K
O
N
S
O
L
O
S
L
U
K

B
I
N
A
S
I
M
A
V
I

K
O
P
Y
A
O
R
I
J
I
N
A
L
SUBJECT: Preliminary dossier on Tatiana Romanova
Age: 28
Height: 5'8" (estimated)
Weight: 130lbs (estimated)
Current Role: Cryptographic clerk for the KGB stationhouse in Istanbul, Turkey
Background: Little is known about the past of Miss Romanova. We believe that she
may have served Soviet Intelligence in Moscow for some years as a
decoder of intercepted English messages. Her past prior to this is
unknown. Our contacts in Turkey suggest that she has been attached
to the Istanbul KGB outpost for two to three years.
Comment: The actions of this woman (writing an unsolicited offer of defection) are
extremely suspect. All caution should be exercised in pursuing her offer.
Attachments: Photograph and letter
Dearest ________,
Ever since the very first time I saw your photograph in the little yellow
folder, I knew that my heart was won over. Now you are all that I think about. Day and
night I dream of meeting you and caressing your beautiful hair. You are all that I have ever
wanted in a man.
I can take this torture no more. I write to you now to tell you that I deeply and sincerely want
to come to your wonderful country, so that we can be together like we should. I know that it
will not be easy to arrange, but I can bring special equipment which your government wants:
a new machine called a SPECKTOR. Perhaps you have heard of it.
Come to Istanbul straight away, my love. I will contact you once you have arrived. Perhaps
we can share a pleasant moment or two here before you escort me back to England.
I hunger for you. Please come soon.
Tatiana xxx
INTELLIGENCE INTERCEPT REPORT
Cipher Text Decoded Text
Intercept Date: Tue Sep 11
Intercept Frequency: Perseus/75.6
Stationhouse ID: T::> ISTANBUL
Intercepting Officer: BEY/TAKSIM
Cryptanalytical Officer: BEY/TAKSIM
Handling Code: DIST LN, LOC F
Blueberry Nuthatch Zebra Zebra
ZKJKLASDF DDFS SDFS DFSDDFLS PWL
LAQQQ GLCW IVAWECWS NU5 LFWBRA
LEEUCW LR UARANVYK LUEOIER LA
OWE TIYE UBAREYXRUIBA GLCW OKLXWS
RGWN YBSWE XKIAE AUECWUKKLBXW
QUKK EWOIER LFLUB LA DYERGWE BWQA
ID RGWUE NOCWNWBRA LCLUKLVKW
Blueberry Nuthatch Alpha Romeo
Field report for operation Thunderbolt. Op-
erative located in Istanbul, Turkey.
Regular surveillance of airport has revealed
arrival of M.I.6 agents yesterday. In keeping
with mission directives, have been keeping new
arrivals under close observation. They have
already made contact with KB (Kerim Bey?)
and thus have come under my jurisdiction.
Operative awaiting further instructions.
Victory Games Inc
Danjaq S.A. (1961)
ISBN 0-912515-XX-X
FROM RUSSIA W/LOVE MODULE
ADVENTURE DESIGN
GAME SYSTEM DESIGN
Gerry Klug
WARNING: Assuming this
adventure is exactly like
the movie can be dangerous
to your character!
The From Russia With Love Adventure Package contains:
A stand-up screen containing maps of the
luxurious Orient Express and its route
through Europe
An Agent's Briefing Dossier from M.I.6 with 8 Mission
Sheets that provide clues and maps for the players.
An illustrated 68-page Gamesmaster Guide with complete
instructions on running an adventure.
Love and Espionage are a deadly combination!
BRIEFING: The offer is simple: Russian beauty Tatiana Romanova has contacted M.I.6 offering a Top Secret decoder a
SPECKTOR in exchange for sanctuary once she defects to the west. The catch? She will only hand the device over to one
man, a British agent she has fallen in love with from a file photo. Your agent. Also, the trade must take place in Istanbul,
the Turkish city where Tatiana works shoulder-to-shoulder with KGB agents. The set-up screams trap but could it be
that the beautiful Russian is sincere in her offer? And even if she is not, might there be a chance to outwit whoever is
behind the trap and come away with one of the most highly sought-after coding devices in the world today?
MISSION: Playing along with the apparent deception, you have been sent to Turkey to make contact with Miss Romanova.
You are instructed to use whatever means possible to unearth the truth about her and her mysterious offer. But the
situation in Istanbul is complicated Russians and the British spies maintain a volatile cat-and-mouse game, watching every
move the other makes. The M.I.6 stationhouse chief seems comfortable with this set-up, but is he too comfortable for your
own good? And who is the mysterious blond man who has been watching you ever since the plane touched down? And
why have the Russians recalled one of their top killers back to Istanbul? There is something going on in this city, something
strange. But can you find out what it is before you end up floating dead in the Bosphorous with a KGB bullet in your back?

James Bond RPG - From Russia With Love

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

James Bond RPG - From Russia With Love

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

James Bond RPG - From Russia With Love

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

An Adventure

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.