From: | Snake Eyes snake.eyes@********.att.net |
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Subject: | [RA:S Project] Thread Ideas |
Date: | Wed, 02 Jun 1999 04:15:09 -0700 |
Sorry for changing the subject line -- hope I didn't break any protocol.
I just want to throw in my two cents regarding the core threads, and the
discussion concerning two vs. three threads. Please keep in mind that I
have not read RA:S, so my opinions are based solely on what I've read on
this list the last few days, which has been great by the way.
I think a good solution might go something like this:
Players:
* Team A: UCAS Spec Ops
* Team B: Renraku Red Sams/Black Ops
* Team C: Shadowrunners
Plotlines:
Teams A & B are both after Cliber. Team C is after whatever gets decided
upon, most likely the rescue of their own friend, or a relative of their
client.
Resolution:
* Team A is well equipped, but will be ill-trained for what they are about
to face. Consider the team of Navy SEALs that got wiped out in Panama
because they were tasked by the "Powers that Be" to take an airfield by
force, a job better suited for Army Rangers. SEALs are the best in the
world at what they do. They got eviscerated not due to their own
incompetence, but because the warplanners failed to consider the narrow
scope of the SEALs' prowess. You don't send Green Berets to rescue a
downed pilot -- that's a job for USAF Pararescue. But if Green Berets is
all you've got in the area ..., you get the picture. Consequently, Team A
will be highly skilled warriors in their field of specialty, but they will
not be expertly trained "extractors." They will also be operating under
several faulty assumptions put forward to them by Military Intelligence
(the ultimate oxymoron). This will prove to be their undoing. Team A will
penetrate, evade Deus, and make contact with Cliber as planned. On the way
out, they encounter the gross intel error, which eventually puts them in
confrontation with Team B.
* Team B is also well trained and will be better equipped (SOTA). They
will have a perceived homefield advantage, but will be hamstrung by their
strictly regimented mindset. Due to a serendipitously favorable tactical
situation, Team B makes easy work of handing Team A their own asses. As
Team A retreats, Team B takes Cliber and goes the other way. Deus becomes
aware of their presence, if he was not already. He throws them curveball
after curveball, using their own tactics against them. It will be
reminiscent of "Die Hard" in that Deus will have predicted their every move
and will have planned accordingly. Team B will put up a hell of a fight,
but they can't think outside the box. Their total inability to improvise
and think laterally gets them wasted in the end. Survivors from both teams
are freed up for side stories as everyone sees fit. Cliber stays put.
* Team C will be less well equipped but better prepared. As seasoned
veterans of the shadows, they will have stealth, discretion, and tactical
flexibility on their side. Team C will have also done 100% of their own
legwork so they will have a much better picture of the situation inside
than Team A. They will also be better equipped (mentally) than Team B to
handle the fluid situation and
counter Deus' adaptive tactics. I like the idea of Team C being
self-motivated (as in Let's Get Harry), but it's more of a true "shadowrun"
if they are contracted by a third party to go in for some other task. Team
C will take losses, but their mission will be a success. They escape with
the skin of their teeth.
I like this approach because, although it involves three teams, it's really
only two threads: the botched Cliber extraction, and the successful
shadowrun. And there are no FASA-shattering events, other than added
political fallout between the UCAS military & Renraku.
Call it a 2.5 thread solution.
I have not yet considered if/when/how to factor in the Resistance. I'll
leave that to folks who've actually read the RA:S book.
I'd love to get in on the writing part of this, but it's been 10 years
since I've had to produce any fiction for public scrutiny -- and I don't
yet have a firm grasp on what my career has in store for the duration of
the summer.
Maybe I'll give it a shot. What's the worst that can happen?
Humbly submitted,
~ Snake Eyes