First Contact
Tuesday, January Third, 1984.
"Ladies and Gentlemen,
At 0134 Zulu, our satellites detected an object moving at incredible speeds over northern Russia.
It was traveling at Mach 10, heading west towards Europe, at an altitude of fifty thousand feet.
"The Russians fired upon it, and landed a number of lucky hits with Surface to Air missiles.
It adjusted it's course northwards, before crashing into Sweden.
It's now sitting in neutral territory, to the south west of Stockholm.
"We have permission from the Swedish Government to investigate the area,
the Russians have disavowed all knowledge of this object and are requesting to send in forces of their own.
We believe they are going to send in their special forces regardless of the outcome of their request.
"So we are sending you in to secure the area, and keep the Russians from capturing this object.
Good Luck."
General David Hall, US Army.
You each play as a Special Forces soldier of any NATO, or Warsaw Pact nation.
There are seven statistics that you get to select for your character.
Reactions: Think you can throw their grenade back at them before it explodes? Or shoot a hostile when he runs past you?
Bravery: Do you need brown pants? Or can you wear white pants without fear of stains?
Throwing: See that target, can you hit it with a grenade, or are you more likely to explode your teammates?
Shooting: Likely to hit the bullseye on a target? Or just the instructor behind you?
Agility: Can you dodge this? Or do you move like a sloth?
Strength: Heavy guns, and teammates. They weigh lots, can you lift them?
Health: Can you take a punch, or are you a glass cannon?
Each stat starts at 1. You get 18 extra points to spend on any statistics you want. Up to the maximum of six on any one. ( Your stats should add to 25 when you are done. )
As you gain ranks, you will be able to buy more points, and get better. And to gain ranks, you have to survive AND kill enemies.
Think you can manage to do both?
Spoiler: SHOW
This is the calm before a storm, you can feel it.
This mission doesn't sit well with you. Both sides going after the same objective, thats nothing new.
But an unknown object, moving faster than any Fighter craft, that doesn't seem right.
Even the legendary SR-71 only gets to Mach 3.
No, this is something else entirely. And it's giving you the creeps.
The helicopter shudders as it lands in a small field 5 Klicks away from the target's location.
You grab your equipment and exit the vehicle, only to be greeted with floodlights and guns.
It seems every man and his dog is here, looks like this secret that won't stay that way for long.
The Armory:
You can take as much equipment as you want, but be frugal, you can only carry twice your strength in equipment weight.
Your guns come with the first clip in them, but other clips require space too, listed under each weapon is the weight of extra clips for the guns. It might pay to take a few.
Sidearms: 1 Equipment weight, can be switched to without spending actions.
Primary Weapons: 2 Equipment weight, take an action to ready.
Heavy Weapons: 3 Equipment weight, take two actions to fire.
Thrown Weapons: 1 Equipment weight.
Close Range: Close enough to melee an enemy, encompassing distance up to 10m away.
Medium Range: This range encompass 10m - 100m. Most outdoors encounters will be at this distance. It's also the vision limit for night missions.
Long Range: This is for when enemies are just too damn far away. Extending up to a kilometer away.
Close Range weapons get a -4 to hit at Medium Range, and cannot hit at Long Range.
Medium Range weapons get a -2 to hit at Close Range, and a -4 to Hit at Long Range.
Long Range weapons get a -2 to hit at Medium Range, and a -4 to Hit at Close Range.
Single Shot: Shooting this gun ends your turn, slow rate of fire, typical of Sniper Rifles.
Semi-Automatic: Shooting this gun won't end your turn, but it take an action to fire a single bullet.
Burst: You fire multiple bullets at a target, the first gets your full bonus, each round thereafter gets an additional -1 to hit.
Full Auto: Essentially just a long burst, in addition to the penalty above, you also have to take two actions to fire in Full-Auto.
Any shot that misses from a full auto attack, can re-roll against a random unit in close range to the target. It takes an additional -1 to hit when it does so, but can be used to shoot at an entire cluster of enemies.
Splash Damage: Any target within Close Range of where the weapon explodes is hit by this much splash damage.
The target it was thrown at (if it hits) is hit for the full damage of the weapon.
Spoiler: SHOW
Everybody is welcome to create a character to join in.It seems that things have changed between your initial briefing and your arrival at the Forward Operating Base.
There are Russians, and American soldiers in the same camp, looking suspiciously at each other, grasping their weapons tight.
It seems the Brass has decided to work together for this one. This must be big.
It won't be long now until they announce the mission. You collect your gear and introduce yourself to the nearest officer,
who points you at a large tent. Inside a projector is lighting up a screen, and a few dozen men and women are seated talking softly between themselves.
Looks like it won't be long now.
We will get started in a day or so. Feel free to suggest standard equipment if you need anything more than what's in the armory.
And as always I reserve the right to Rule 0 anything I deem unfit for the game.