Y e- Cesspool of the Orient I &

For years, I’d heard about the white elephants of Thailand. You know the ones, right? They’re considered so sacred that only the king can own them, and even he can’t put them to work like normal elephants. They can ’t be killed.. . the only thing you can do with the suckers is feed ’em and I breed ’em. I got to see a bunch finally They aren’t white, they’re kind of a fadedpinkish-brown Some local told us that the word white doesn’trefer to the coloranyway, itjust means the elephant is considered‘2uspiciously significant. ” I was disappointed.

What a place! In the dry season you can go fishing with a shovel, I haven’t seen a single Siamese cat since we got here, and the second most popular spectator sport is fish fighting! Nothing in this place is what you expect i t to be. “ :

Bangkok is the first adventurekampaign sourcebook written especially for the revised Twilight: 2000 game system. It presents players and referees with a totally new and different background against which to adventure: Thailand. Bangkok describes the geography, climate, peoples, and culture of Thailand, giving maps of the major cities, a rundown on the three main political factions, and complete organizational details of the various armies. From the opium warlords of the Golden Triangle to the “sea gypsies”of the Gulf of Thailand, from the primitive hill tribes of the northeast to the sophisticated mercantile/criminal syndicates of Bangkok itself, each region of the country is fully described. Each section also includes a short folio-type adventure set in that part of the country.

Further chapters provide adaptations to the slightly different milieu of Merc: 2000, enabling Bangkok to be used with campaigns for that system as well. In all, Bangkok will serve as a stepping stone to a whole new world of exotic adventures in the Twilight: 2000/Merc: 2000 roleplaying universe.

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2006 12.00

CopyrightOl991 GDW, Inc. All rights reserved.

Twilight: 2000TM IS a trademark of GDW, Inc

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Design and Development: Loren K. Wiseman Art Direction: Amy Doubet Cover Photography: Peter and Georgina Bowater Cover Photograph Supplied By: The Image Bank, Chicago Interior Art: G rant G o I eas h Geographical Maps: Kirk Wescom Graphic Design and Production: LaMont Fullerton, Jeff Kohl and Steve Bryant Text Manager: Michelle Sturgeon Text Processing: Julia Martin and Stephen Olle

Bangkok Copyright01 991 GDW, Inc. Made in USA. Printed in USA. All rights reserved.

Twilight: 2000 is GDW’s trademark for its roleplaying game of World War 111. Merc: 2000 is GDW’s trademark for its roleplaying game of modern soldiers of fortune.

ISBN 1-55878-074-2.

S I N C E 7 9 7 3

P.O. Box 1646 Bloomington, IL 61 702-1 646

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~ ............. ........ _ ..... .. ..................... -.-___.

Banakok

Introduction ................................ 4 Getting There ..................................... 5 Being There ....................................... 5 Maps and Further Information ............ 5 Using Bangkok With Merc: 2000 ....... 5 Conclusion ......................................... 5 Land of the Free ......................... 6 Rivers ................................................. 6 Climate ............................................... 6

Ethnolinguistic Divisions Map ......... 7 Ethnolinguistic Breakdown ............. 7 Thailand Map .............................. 8-9 Thailand Encounter Terrain Types ...... 10

Encounters ....................................... 11 Group Encounter Descriptions ......... 11 Animal Encounters ........................... 11

Encounter Equipment Chart ......... 11 Animal Encounters-

Southeast Asia .......................... 11 Animal Data Chart-

Southeast Asia .......................... 11 History ....................................... 12 Prehistory ......................................... 12 Khmer (Lobpuri) Period .................... 12 Nan Chao ......................................... 12 Srivijaya Empire ............................... 12 Sukhothai Period .............................. 12 Ayuthaya Period ............................... 12 European Contact ............................ 12 18th Century and the Chakri Dynasty .... 12 19th Century .................................... 12 Early 20th Century ........................... 13 WWll ................................................ 13 Post-WWII and Vietnam ................... 13 Post-Vietnam .................................... 13 The War ........................................... 13 City of Angels ........................... 14 The Layout of the City ...................... 14

Bangkok and Environs Map .... 16-17 Money .............................................. 18 Politics and Government .................. 18

The Triads .................................... 18 Life in Bangkok ................................ 18

Accommodation Rates Table ........ 18 Political Organizations ..................... 19

The Yakuza ................................... 19 Bonded Labor .................................. 19 Street of the Seven Brothers ............ 20

Warehouse Grounds Map ............ 20 Abandoned Warehouse/Office ..... 21

Srnash-n-Grab ................................. 22 Townhouse Grounds Map ............ 22 Townhouse ................................... 23

Culture ....................................... 24

Buddhism ......................................... 24 Superstitions .................................... 24 Languages ....................................... 25

Language List (Expanded) ........... 25 Generating Characters ............. 26 Hill Tribe ........................................... 26

Hunter ........................................... 27 Warrior .......................................... 27 Nationality/Language Chart .......... 27 Starting Vehicles Chart ................. 27 Hill Tribe Secondary Activities ...... 27 Personal Weapons Chart ............. 27

Central Thailand ....................... 28 Central Thailand Map ................... 28

Communities .................................... 29 Ayuthaya Map ............................... 29 Lopburi Map ................................. 30

Other Points of Interest .................... 30 Economy .......................................... 31 Encounter Specifics ......................... 3 1 Viper's Nest ...................................... 32

The Pirates' Islet ................................. 33 Ransom ............................................ 34

Deserted Mountain Village ........... 35 Northeastern Plain ................... 36

Northeastern Plain Map ................ 36 Communities .................................... 37

Khon Kaen Map ............................ 37 Economy .......................................... 39 Encounter Specifics ......................... 39 The Golden Triangle ................. 40

Northern Thailand Map ................. 40 Drug Warlords .................................. 41 The Drug Trade ................................ 41 Hill Tribes ......................................... 41

Kamphaeng Phet Map .................. 42 communities .................................... 42 Encounter Specifics ......................... 43 Science Project ................................ 44

Laboratory Map ............................ 44 Lab, Village,

and Surrounding Terrain ........... 45 Southern Thailand .................... 46

Southern Thailand Map ................ 46 Communities .................................... 47

Phuket Map .................................. 47 Pattani Map .................................. 48

Other Areas of Interest ..................... 48 Economy .......................................... 48 Pattani United Liberation Organization ... 49 Encounter Specifics ......................... 49 Cookin' With Gas ............................. 50

Platform Maps ......................... 51-53 Miner Problems ................................ 54

Mine Maps ............................... 55-57 Equipment ................................. 58 M18A1 57mm Recoilless Rifle ......... 58 75mm Pack Howitzer ....................... 58 M20 75mm Recoilless Rifle ............. 59 M27A1 105mm Recoilless Rifle ....... 59 Commando V-150 ............................ 60 EE-9 Cascavel ................................. 61 FV101 Scorpion ............................... 62 AAVP7A1 ......................................... 63 M24 Chaffee ..................................... 64 M41 .................................................. 65 Saracen ............................................ 66 Shorland Mk 3 .................................. 67 Type 531 .......................................... 68 Type 62 ............................................ 69 Type 82 MRL .................................... 70 Sampan/Motorpan ........................... 71 Fishing Boat ..................................... 72 Long-Tailed Boat .............................. 73 Thailand as a Campaign Setting ... 74 Summary .......................................... 74

Campaign Flow Chart ................... 75 Pan Yu Sung ................................ 75

Glossary .................................... 76 Thai Alphabet ............................... 77

NPCs .......................................... 78 Developed NPCs ............................. 78

General Phra Duriyanga ............... 78 General Pai Luang ........................ 78 General Nong Khai ....................... 78 Hua Derong .................................. 78 Zheng Desheng ............................ 79 Li Dezhi ......................................... 79 Yu Qiuli ......................................... 79 Yosuke Asukata ............................ 79 Hideki Sasaki ................................ 80 Tadashi Kono ................................ 80

Stock NPCs ...................................... 80 Chinese Merchant ........................ 80 Japanese Enforcer ....................... 80 Thai Soldier .................................. 81 Thai Military Officer ....................... 81 Thai Fishing Captain .................... 81 Hill Tribe Headman ....................... 81

Thailand in Merc: 2000 ............. 82 A Merc's Thailand ......................... 82

Thai Settings ............................. 84 Villages ....................................... 84-85 Buildings ..................................... 86-89 Hotels .......................................... 90-95 Wat .............................................. 96-97

Military Organizations ............. 100-1 03 LST ............................................. 98-99

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Bangkok GDW

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GDW Bangkok

For years, I’d heard about the white elephants of Thailand. You know the ones, right? They’re considered so sacred that only the king can own them, and even he can’tput them to work like normalelephants. They can’t be killed-the only thing you can do with the suckers is feed ’em and breed ’em.

I got to see a bunch finally. They aren‘t even white; they’re kind of a fadedpinkish- brown. Some of them have mottled grey patches. Some local told us that the word white doesn’t refer to the color anyway, it just means the elephant is considered “auspiciously significant. ” I was disap- pointed.

What a place! In the dry season you can go fishing with a shovel, I haven’t seen a single Siamese cat since we got here, the major spectator sport is called ‘‘boxing”but nobody in their right mind throws a punch during a match, and the second most popular spectatorsport is watching two fish fight in a bucket! Nothing in this place is what you expect it to be.

Bangkok is the first adventurekampaign sourcebook written especially for the re- vised Twilight: 2000 game system, and presents players and referees with a totally new and different background against which to adventure: Thailand. Bangkokdescribes the geography, climate, peoples, and CUI- ture of Thailand, giving maps of the major cities, a rundown on the three main political factions, and complete organizational de- tails of the various armies. From the opium warlords of the Golden Triangle to the “sea gypsies” of the Gulf of Thailand, from the primitive hill tribes of the northeast to the sophisticated me rcan t ilekri mi nal sy nd i- cates of Bangkok itself, each section of the country is fully described. Each section also includes a short folio-type adventure set in that part of the country.

The modern Thai name for their home- land is rendered in roman letters as Prathet Thai, which means “Land of the Thai,” but also means “Land of the Free” (a pun of a sort). Until well into the 20th century, Thailand was known as the Kingdom of

Siam (best known to English-speaking audiences as the location of the musical The Kingandl’which haslong been banned in Thailand due to its historical liberties).

Thailand is the world’s premier rice ex- porter, and until recently was a leading exporter of tin, teak, and rubber, but as the forests recede and the mines begin to run out, thecountry has turned to othersources of hard currency. Tourism and textiles are replacing teak and rubber as the main sources of national income, and a massive economic transformation is under way.

We chose Bangkok as thesetting forthis book for several reasons. It is an exotic, foreign locale to most of our customers, and will give them a background for ad- venturing radically different from the pre- vious European and American back- grounds. We wanted the opportunity to show players and referees a different sort of city from Krakow, a city that was just as organized, but wherecorruption and villainy were rampant. Also, we wanted to show how radically acountry can be changed by the events in the Twilight: 2000 chronol- ogy, even if not directly involved in the war. (There seems to be a feeling among Twi- light: 2000 players that “if it wasn’t nuked it’s completely intact,” a notion we are attempting to dispel here.)

GETTING THERE The setting of Bangkok is so far from

the previous series of Twilight: 2000 modules that it is almost notworth the effort to try to explain in any depth how the characters got there. Players who wish strict continuity to be maintained may work outwith their referee some means bywhich they have arrived in Bangkok: perhaps they arrived as a result of the Last Sub- marine trilogy of adventures, perhaps by thesailing shipdescribed in Spanish Main, perhaps as a result of some mission gone awry.

Players might wish to generate charac- ters from the US 2nd Infantry Division, stationed in Cam Ranh Bay at the start of the war and now seeking their fortunes in Bangkok.

BEING THERE Several of the adventure situations de-

scribed in Bangkok lend themselves to development as continuing campaigns. The chapter beginning on page 74 contains a discussion of how referees can set cam- paigns in Bangkok or Thailand.

MAPS AND FURTHER INFORMATION

Thosewanting moredetailedstreet maps of Bangkok should write to the Thai em- bassy in Washington. Tourist guidebooks to Thailand can be had for less than $1 0 at most large bookstores (smaller ones may have to orderthem) or from the local library. JNC maps JNC-XX37 and JNC-XX54, and ONC maps ONC-XXJ10, ONC-XXJ11, ONC-XXKS, ONC-XXK1 0, and ONC- XXLlO coverThailand and Indochina.They are available from the Defense Mapping Agency CSC, Washington DC, 20315- 001 0. Ask for their latest price list.

The chapter on the various cultures of Thailand is necessarily brief, and referees will probably want to conduct further inves- tigations in the local library if an extensive campaign is planned. The chapter touches on mostofthecuIturespresentinThailand, and that should be enough to get you started.

USING BANGKOK WITH MERC: 2000

It is possible to use Bangkokwith Merc: 2000 because it was designed with that in mind. The appendix at the end of the book describes the differences between the Twilight: 2000 Bangkok and the Merc: 2000 Bangkok. The situation we have outlined is such that much of the political intrigue and infighting described as a part of the Twilight: 2000 universe can be ap- plied virtually unchanged to the Merc: 2000 universe .

CONCLUSION Bangkok is an experiment in a new type

of sourcebook for Twilight: 2000. It has been a challenge to prepare, and I think you’ll enjoy it.

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