http://img385.imageshack.us/img385/6716/harlequin1og.jpg
7306: Harlequin (przygoda)
Released: 1990
Authors: Ken St. Andre, John Faughnan, W.G. Armintrout, Jerry Epperson, Paul R. Hume, Lester W. Smith, James D. Long & Tom Dowd
ISBN: 1-55560-125-1
Pages: 152
Edition: First
Status/Availability: out of print/very rare
Plot: Harlequin is a mini-campaign with eight separate, but linked, adventures. Each of them is described separately below. The main storyline is the resolution of a feud between two immortal elves, Harlequin and Ehran the Scribe, which has lasted for over 5,000 years; the whole Harlequin campaign is actually a ritualized form of revenge on Harlequin's part.
Physical: The PCs are hired to steal the paper manuscript to a new novel by Ehran the Scribe from the publisher. This is a simple breaking & entering job with no strings attached.
Hates: Someone hires the PCs to kill the main members of the Association Para-Nobilis (APN), an elf poser group, and cut off their (fake) left ear tips. They are also to leave an envelope (with the first page of the manuscript from Physical) on the leader's body. Again, a simple adventure that will most likely be not much more than a big firefight.
Past: Another B&E job, but with a twist: this one takes place in Germany, in a castle to be precise, and the object to be retrieved is an ancient book. The PCs are also to leave a little valise containing the ear tips from Hates in the castle.
Loves: This run strikes at Ehran's favorite policlub, the Young Even Technologists (YET). The PCs are to break into the YET's building so they can access their computer system, and from there deck into another company so the YET will be implicated. By the time they're almost done, the APN attacks the YET building, and the PCs have to pull out through the ensuing firefight.
Counterstroke: Here, Ehran tries to stop Harlequin by having the runners kidnapped for interrogation. They're taken to a house overlooking the sea. A chance to escape presents itself, and there's also the chance of striking a deal with Ehran's ally spirit, Ariel, to help her go against her master.
Spiritual: Another run to a foreign country, this time Amazonia. The runners get to travel through the jungle for several days before they reach one of Ehran's houses; once there they are to cut a flower from the greenhouse and leave a datachip in its place. Another a simple adventure, but because it places the runners in an area totally out of their normal field of operations, it can be quite challenging.
Future: Ehran has a daughter called Jane Foster, who lives in the city of Columbia, Missouri, UCAS. She doesn't know who her father is, but the runners are hired to bring her to Harlequin, and leave the flower from Spiritual in her apartment. There are some complications, such as Jane's friends and a shadowrun team hired by Ehran, though.
Present: The runners bring Jane Foster to Harlequin himself. He uses her to locate Ehran, then sends the runners to Ehran's "vacation resort" where they find a dead Ehran lookalike, meet an envoy from Tir Tairngire, and finally the whole campaign comes to an end with a big sword duel between Harlequin and Ehran...
Thoughts: The individual adventures are not all that complicated or difficult to complete, nor do they take very that long to play (two game sessions seems to be about average). The thread running through all of them makes them enjoyable, though, especially once the players start seeing it too.
Similar Products: Harlequin's Back
Survey Rating: 8.0 (27 votes)
Notes: As the intro to the book recommends, it's best to place Harlequin-adventures between other ones so players won't see the whole plot unfolding right away.
Nagrody
http://aagad.originsgames.com/awards/1990
Best Roleplaying Adventure of 1990
Harlequin (for Shadowrun)
FASA
Tom Dowd, Sam Lewis, Ken St Andre, John Faughnan, W G Armintrout, Jerry Epperson, Paul R Hume, Lester Smith, James D Long