Player's Introduction to upcoming GenCon Adventure

Work has begun on RPGobjects' yearly adventure for GenCon. It's a Blood and Relics adventure set during WWII. I thought I'd give you guys a taste:

You sit in a briefing room with a group of strangers. Why you have been summoned to this quiet British theater while war rages across Europe you do not know. An American in a military uniform steps to the front of the room, the grim expression on his face reinforcing the apparent seriousness of the occasion, “Good evening and thank you all for arriving so quickly. I know this isn’t where any of us wanted to be so let’s make the best of it. My name is Captain Peterson. Please remember that this meeting is a state secret. Sharing anything you learned here today could result in serious consequences, not just for you but for the entire war effort”.

The lights dim and a projector flickers to life, showing a scene that unfortunately has become all too familiar to you: a Nazi party rally, the crowd being whipped into a frenzy by the increasingly manic rhythm of the speaker, Adolf Hitler. Behind you, Captain Peterson speaks, “This is Berlin, four days ago. Uncle Adolf working the masses into a frenzy, despite the fact that we’re pushing him back from Italy and France, with the Russians closing in East. Urging his workers to greater production, his soldiers to fight to the end to protect the Fatherland.”

Suddenly, an enormous explosion breaks up the maddening pace of the speech. After a moment the smoke clears and the crowd is once again visible, staring in stunned silence at the ruined, smoldering wreck that was the stage. “We’re fairly certain that the bomb was planted by someone within the military or bureaucracy, one of the forces that believe if Hitler is removed from the equation the Nazis can negotiate a separate peace with America and Britain and concentrate all their efforts on the hated Russians. Of course… wait, here it is. Watch closely.”

Suddenly the rubble moves, shifting. Hitler emerges from the heap, one arm missing, the entire left side of his face devoid of flesh, bare bone visible. How anyone could have survived such trauma is a mystery, much less how he could move. Then the man sinks to one knee, the crowd drawing back, perhaps in revulsion, perhaps out of respect as they watch their leader gasp out his final breaths. Time seems to stand still as the bleeding stops from Hitler’s shoulder, surely a sign that the heart has stopped and the madman lives no more. Except he does live. Straightening up to stand, he looks out at the crowd, his face completely healed. The shoulder healed over as well. The crowd explodes, some cheering, some crying, a few retching.

“It continues for about twenty minutes after this. By the end the arm has completely regrown. Hitler goes back and freshens up, then delivers a different speech than the one that was interrupted by the assassins’ bomb. He says bombs have been planted in his bunkers, that his aircraft have been blown out of the sky and that he has been shot by lone assassins attempting to trade their lives for his. He says he has survived all these because he cannot die. That he has been chosen to lead the Reich for a thousand years.

Now I don’t know if this is the greatest propaganda film of all time. We told the newsmen who got hold of it that it was a fake but our boys at the lab say they think it’s legit. Intelligence can also confirm many of the assassination attempts he mentions. We thought he was just lucky to escape again and again. But if this gets out, if it’s true, it would be a crushing blow to our morale. Not to mention, we don’t know how he’s doing it or if anyone else in the regime is unkillable. We have to find out. You folks have been chosen for just that purpose. You’re going to go into Nazi Germany, find out if this is true and if so, you’re going to find a way to kill him.

Make no mistake, there’s very little chance of coming back from this mission. But as long as Hitler lives this war will not be over. We need to find out the source of this… this power, this invincibility and eliminate it. And when I say we, I mean you.”