(WARNING:THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS)
"Instrument of Precision" is a scenario written by John Tynes, co-creator of "Unknown Armies", it was orignally created for the "TRAUMA" roleplaying system but is currently available in a rules-free version from www.johntynes.com/rl_precision.html.
The "Gamesmasters Introduction" and "Background" sections outline the scenario's nature and give advice on how the GM is to use it. Essentially the scenario is a surreal sub-plot to be integrated into another modern day adventure or campaign. In its original "TRAUMA" form, it was for use in campaigns where the player characters were based on the players and the GM had background information on the players. The GM is given no explanation for the events of the scenario, but is encouraged to anticipate player questions and come up with his/her own answers.
"INSTRUMENT OF PRECISION", THE PLOT.
The sub-plot is divided into six episodes and an aftermath, two of these episodes, three and four may be used as presented or in reverse order if the GM deems it appropriate.
In the first episode, a PC returns home and finds a woman sleeping in his bed, she has no clothes, no tounge and no knowledge of the situation she finds herself in. Attempts to identify her will fail and if the PC hands her over to the authorities she will disappear without a trace and the sub plot will end, this will also occur if she is handed over in the second and fourth episodes. If given paper, a pencil and a ruler she will make a pattern of dots on the page, a pattern which may be identified as "...portion of the heavens from an area of the surface of Neptune." (NOTE: In his introduction John Tynes states that this is in fact a mistake on his part, the stars look the same from any point in the solar system.) If the PC or someone else attempts to teach her english she will prove a ready learner.
In the second episode, the woman hides herself from a knock at the door, the figure at the door will identify himself as an FBI agent, Daleson (GM's can substitute the appropriate agency if the adventure is not set in the US.). He will ask the PC questions that seem to be vaguely related to the main plot of the adventure, then he will produce a picture of the woman, a picture in which the PC can identify their childhood home, and ask if the PC has seen the woman. If the PC says yes and hands the woman over to Daleson, she will not be seen again and the sub-plot ends. If the PC says no, Daleson thanks the player and leaves.
In the third episode which can either be the trigger for or in response to the events of the fourth episode, the PC must survive an attempt by Daleson and an unknown compainion to kill them by dropping a car off a car transporter on the freeway.
The fourth episode occurs if the PC(s) attempt to contact Daleson at the FBI, either they will get the runaround or if they attempt to contact his superior, they will be told that the real Daleson is dead and that the man they know is an impostor. If at this point the woman is given to the authorities she vanishes and the sub-plot ends.
The fifth episode begins when the PC who found the woman, receives a mysterious letter sent to his childhood address, the letter contains a page from a novel and if the dot pattern made by the woman is punched out and fitted over the page a message telling the PC to take the woman to his childhood address. This leads to episode six.
In the sixth episode the PC and any companions (other PC's and/or the mystery woman) visit the PC's former childhood home, the house is empty apart from a working phone on the ground floor and a locked, free-standing door in the attic. If the woman is not present, 'Daleson' arrives, finds the PC, demands to know where the woman is and commits bloody suicide in front of the PC. If the woman is present, she will describe her childhood in the house, in fact it is the PC's childhood, until they reach the door in the attic, then the phone downstairs rings and as the PC goes to answer it any other PC's vanish to reappear in the same place about a day later. When the PC reaches the phone they will be thanked and as the phone is hung up will hear the door upstairs opening, but by the time they arrive they will see the door close. It now opens freely onto nothing...
The aftermath simply deals with what happens to any PC's who accompany the individual who discovered the woman and gives some general advice on dealing with any PC questions. It also states that if the GM so desires both 'Daleson' and the mystery woman may return.
"INSTRUMENT OF PRECISION", THE VERDICT.
This scenario is a hard one to rate, as the reality is that how this sub-plot comes across to the players, will depend on the skill/inventiveness of the GM. That said each episode is presented with information/advice on how to run it, the only real lapse is that no provision is made for the possibility of the PC's capturing 'Daleson', either after the murder attempt in Episode Three or after preventing him from commiting suicide in Episode Six. However if run properly the GM will succeed in driving the players out of their collective minds.
As for how a GM could make use of the scenario, probably the best use would be in an "Unknown Armies" or "Cthulhu Now" campaign which begins with the PC's having no knowledge of the occult world that surrounds them and uses this sub-plot to draw them into it.
I give this adventure four out of five for value and three out of five for presentation.
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