New Companies: Special Archaeological Service and Forschungsgruppe

[oabee]

Special Archaeological Service of the Society for the Investigation of Mystic Phenomenon

This is a group of young international archaeologists, ferried about by an eccentric Scotsman and his aeronef, seeking out Mystic artifacts before the "bad guys" get their hands on them.

The original intent was to create a Company of Airship Pirates, using miniatures from the ill-fated Kickstarter campaign of the same name. In searching for appropriate miniatures, however, I came across some wonderful minis in the archaeological vein and came up with something quite different. The main two characters are based on famous archaeologists of the period--biographical material is all true--accompanied by a band of fictional characters inspired by the two Bombshell miniatures and the Lead Adventure Engineer. Indiana Jones was also an inspiration: see how many movie quotes are in the background material. The name of the outfit--the S.A.S.--is also evocative of another famous organization.

http://wrgmr.com/IHMN/pdfs/sas.pdf

Forschungsgruppe, the research arm of the Society of Thule
After creating the S.A.S., when going through the West Wind miniatures range, the IHMN possibilities of the Mummy series of minis reached out and grabbed me, and Forschungsteam leaped into my mind almost full blown. The link with the Society of Thule was an obvious direction to take. At first I gave them a Mummy, then remembered Crocodile Games Aegyptus figures, and came up with the Archer of Aten instead, which ties in directly with Akhenaton and his Servants of Ra. The lead two characters are, again, based on actual German archaeologists, as is all the background information. The others are fictional, and were inspired by German characters in the Indiana Jones series.

http://wrgmr.com/IHMN/pdfs/forschungsgruppe.pdf

These two organizations tie in with an earlier creation, The Temple of Isis, found here:

http://inhermajestysname.wordpress.com/player-authored-material/

So now I have four Companies (my three plus the Servants of Ra) searching the world for Mystic Artifacts of Great Power. They could be buried in a tomb deep in the Egyptian desert, or are being studied at a great University; they could be stored in the vaults of a major museum, or on display at the palatial estate of a rich collector. Maybe a Company of thieves has spirited one away. Or possibly they are being transported, escorted by a Company from the Pinkertons or Scotland Yard. The possibilities are, as they say, endless.

[oabee]

For those who don't want to bother with downloading the pdfs, here are the basics of the Companies:





The pdfs contain background material on the Companies as well as recommended miniatures to represent the various characters.

[Irishrover13]

I must say your leagues are great fun to read and I will have to try reach the bar you have set in league building.

Cheers,


Irish

[Craig]

Most excellent companies and well-laid out 

[oabee]

I am wondering if those of you with knowledge of the German language might comment or offer suggestions about my choice of "Das Forschungsteam" as the name of the Company of German archaelogists. I got the name by entering "the research team" into an English-to-German online translator. The intent here is to come up with an innocent-sounding name that generally describes the group's function but conceals its more, well, sinister objectives. And sounds cool.

[oabee]

Irishrover and Craig:

Thank you for your kind comments.

Irish: I hope you have half the fun and fascination I have had in creating these companies. The research alone is astonishingly interesting, and coming up with themes and connections for and between the companies is demanding and quite satisfying.

Craig: Many thanks to you and Charles for IHMN. I knew little of this period, and delving into it as I have has been a most exhilarating--and addicting!--experience that, without your creation, I otherwise would not have known. Not to mention the thrill of seeing after-action reports with Companies I have authored. Wow.

Mike O

[Craig]

Craig: Many thanks to you and Charles for IHMN. I knew little of this period, and delving into it as I have has been a most exhilarating--and addicting!--experience that, without your creation, I otherwise would not have known. Not to mention the thrill of seeing after-action reports with Companies I have authored. Wow.

You're welcome Mike 

We are on the same journey. I thought I knew a lot about the period until I started putting in the background research for the game, but what I discovered has made me reappraise it considerably. And then you chaps come along with all this extra stuff that I could never have known about.

[oabee]

Well, nobody responded to my German language question  , so I kinda worked it out on my own. I originally put "The Research Team" into the English-to-German online translator, which came out Das Forschungsteam (Forschungs=Research; team=team). I infer from this that in German, there is no special word for "team," so the English word is used. I doubt that Germans used the word "team" in 1895. Not even sure they do now.

I therefore thought that using "The Research Group" would work better, as the German translator listed "group" as "gruppe," thus giving us Die Forschungsgruppe. I'm still not sure it's appropriate usage in this instance, but it feels better to me. Again, the name is supposed to be outwardly innocent to disguise Dr. Kosse's diabolical intentions.

Comments are welcome.

Danke schön!

Mike O

PS:
The main characters of the two groups are indeed based on historical figures.
Günther Kosse is based on Gustaf Kossinna; Lothar Burkhard is based on Ludwig Borchardt. Frank and Nancy Bressler are based on James and Frances (Hart) Breasted; Harold Carver is based on Howard Carter. Check 'em out: fascinating stuff.

[Cherno]

I just saw this thread so I will comment on it

Forschungsgruppe is a decent name for your team (research team).
However, the article has to be "die", as in "Die Forschungsgruppe". Now, This article wouldn't be an actual part of this organization's name, only if you were to refer to one specific of various research teams would you write "die Forschungsgruppe" (as in "this research team, not that other one"). Actually, it's kinda hard to explain. Since you'll probably write everything but the names in English, just stay with plan "Forschungsgruppe" and handle it like the corresponding English term.

You could also consider adding the name of the team's leader  or another unique identifier to it, so it becomes something like "Forschungsgruppe Valhalla" or "Forschungsgruppe Schmidt". This would be something like "Kampfgruppe Peiper" from the Battle of the Bulge.

[oabee]

Cherno:

Thanks for your help! I am going to drop the article and just rename it Forschunsgruppe. Yeah, I did know about the correct article being "die" and did edit it on the actual PDF for the Company, but forgot to edit it for the text of the IHMN blog here! Guess I'll have to edit my blog entries too. Too many things to keep track of in my old age....

Again, appreciate your expertise.

Mike O