Operation Jedburgh is a stand alone adventure set during World War II. It's default system is D20 Modern.

Part One - History And Mission. The introduction to the adventure really goes into the history of Operation Jedburgh. They are specially trained commandos who were parachuted behind enemy lines with the intent to cause disruption. And the outline of this particular adventures mission in achieving the stated goals. The characters are to meet with the French Resistance in a small town that helps supply the front - which is the beaches that will be D-Day in this case.

Part Two - Bierville en Bessin. Here we are introduced to the town and its major buildings and gathering spots. It never tells you just how big the town is, but you get the impression it's a few thousand people at most, perhaps a bit less. Large enough to be on the map, in the right place to be a supply line, not big enough to be heavily fortified by the invading German Army.

Part Three - Day One. This contains four major encounters, and a number of smaller events that take place between or because of the results of the encounters, or as important plot points. They range, in D20 terms, from EL3 to EL5. They include an encounter with a lost German Patrol just after the PCs arrival; Finding a wounded G.I. from another commando group and getting a doctor to help him; intercepting a truck with trained attack dogs; and taking out anti-aircraft artillery.

Part Four - Day Two. Day two starts off with a retaliation by the German Army on the populace for the previous days activities. Then the actual encounters start. First up is the revelation that there is a traitor amongst the ranks of the French Resistance the PCs are working with. Next is a fairly tough encounter with a German Patrol moving in on the PCs location to kill them. After they relocate the PCs have to find a way to stop a Panzer Division from joining the forces at Normandy where D-Day has started. The next encounter involves a bit of infiltration to a party the German's are throwing that evening. It's at the party that the identity of the traitor is revealed, and then of course there's the escape attempt and regrouping at their new hiding hole.

Part Five - Day Three. This is divided into three distinct encounters. First is stopping the train transporting tanks and troops to the front. Second is the climactic battle with the leader of the local occupation group. And finally is the guerilla war that involves the liberation of the town from the Germans. This last encounter is really many smaller encounters that could be skipped over as wrap up for the mission.

Part Six - Random Encounters. If the adventure above wasn't fast paced enough, or full of enough encounters this section provides a number of random encounters you can throw at the PCs at any point. Some of the encounters are also simply flavor text the GM could insert at any point to create the atmosphere that the PCs are in fact at war, such as dead patrols, fire fights in the distance and supplies that missed their mark.

Appendix. This contains much of the game information. It has character write-ups for important townsfolk, German troops and Gestapo, Resistance members, and SAS troops that come in at the end of the adventure.

Appendix II. This appendix contains D20 Modern write-ups for WWII era weapons and vehicles. Maps of the area and various battlegrounds for the encounters. The Players Handout and the Character Sheets for the PCs. Ten PCs are included, some are soldiers for the Allies that are parachuted in, some Resistance members and there are a few others such as a RAF Pilot that was shot down before the adventure begins and a Czech soldier who has defected from the German army.

The Downside:

The biggest downfall this adventure has is the need for random die rolls in almost every aspect. Having to roll randomly for patrol sizes and number of men at a post throughout everything breaks continuity. The information provides the total number of Germans on site, a little research and some planning could have broken that down into patrol groups, number of officers on site, and other factors to keep things more believable. I'm extremely opposed to the idea of Roll XD to determine the number of opponents in an encounter - either tailor it to the party or in the case of a pre-written adventure tailor it to the desired level of play.

The adventure could have been more universal were the System removed from the adventure descriptions, and time lines. Creating a universal adventure with D20 Modern stats at the end would make this more accessible to a wider audience.

The Otherside:

The adventure itself could be fairly easily adapted to any system, all you need are some write-ups for generic soldiers and WWII era weapons and you're good to go.

The adventure is probably a little long for a single session as a convention game, but many encounters can be removed or shortened to have it fit the typical four hour time frame. As is the adventure could be stretched to at least three sessions, one for each day. Four or more if you play out the liberation of the town. It can be played as a one-off or as part of an ongoing campaign, quite easily the start of a WWII campaign focusing on the liberation of France.

As a whole the adventure is well done, but it could focus a little more on presenting choices to the PCs, it feels a bit railroaded at times. The encounters could be done as a list of missions the Resistance feels are important but leave the order up to the PCs. Or perhaps they have a list of targets provided by Ally Intelligence and the Resistance has a list they feel best represents their interests and let the PCs decide what takes precedence. For a quick adventure, it's good and it's very easy to set up and get going. One of the better aspects of this product is two versions are in the package, a standard PDF and one intended for print which removes the artwork to save your printer some ink.