From: | Tzeentch tzeentch666@*********.net |
---|---|
Subject: | Military Sourcebook: Please give feedback! |
Date: | Mon, 21 Feb 2000 22:12:41 -0800 |
too much farther I'd like to gouge what you all think of some of the
assumptions and decisions I'm making:
SKILLS
There are two ways to handle this, which one do you think best fits a
"player-centric" military background?
A: Templates
This seems to be popular nowadays and would be the most compatible with
base Shadowrun. In essence it's simply a set of skills that the player MUST
buy in order to qualify for the military service and branch of his choice.
Base attribute requirements also come into play of course. But generally you
just pick what you want, pay the points and that's it - you can be an
officer or an enlisted if you pay the points.
B. Lifepath
This is what I would like to do, but it has the least base compatibility
with the rest of the system. In short it would work like Twilight: 2000 and
Traveller. You enlist in the military branch (also having to pass an
Attribute Test or two) and then follow your character through his career,
gaining skills and the like at each step. The difference of course is that
the skills are much more regimented and subject to GM fiat. After all, that
Army officer would have very little time to somehow pick up any surgery
skills if he's serving overseas in an fifth-world hellhole.
I'm thinking the template system would be the most popular, and I can't
really argue much with it since it works just fine if the players don't want
to REALLY get into their military background.
MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS
I think I can competently get a handle on the UCAS military at least, but
there is frankly so little information on other Shadowrun militaries any
detail is speculative at the very best. Should I just give general
organization, tactics, and structure to the various armies? Should I just
worry about the NorthAm continent?
At the moment I'm thinking of about two pages or so (with sidebars) for
each military:
1) UCAS
2) CAS
3) Tir Tairgire
4) Various NAN Nations
5) Atzlan
6) California Free State
Obvously I won't be getting into obscene detail here, just touching on the
outlines.
GRAPHICS
Would a map showing locations of military bases and facilities be useful?
After all, how many people REALLY know where Quantico is hmm? It's not
rocket science to provide fairly decent graphics of this sort, as well as
speculative locations of troop concentrations and naval forces (I'm going to
go completely with John and Pauls suggestions for naval stuff).
EQUIPMENT
WITHOUT going into things like armored vehicles and carriers, would anyone
care about standard military equipment, at least general stuff like MREs and
the kind of stuff the average grunt uses? By this I nmean things like combat
boots, smocks, cammies (BDUs for you "Other" branches) and other stuff you
get as your 782 issue (dunno what the other branches call it).
VIGNETTES
I'm an ok writer, but would little vignettes at the beginning of each
section be interesting or worthless trash you would not print so your
ugliest dog could sit on it? For examples of my writing I'm afraid you'll
have to download some e-zines for the NetEpic e-zine "Incoming!"
(http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/1353/epicentre.html)
MASS COMBAT/TACTICAL SYSTEM
I have something of a "mass combat" or so-called" quick and dirty"
system
for SR combat. Work has also begun on updating DMZ for SR3 (which will
essentially make it a totally new game). Would that sort of material be
interesting to see?
I'm also interested in if people would like to see this as a miniatures
system. I have plenty of experience with miniature games...
HISTORY
Would capsule breakdowns of the EuroWars and the Ghost Dance War be
interesting? In particular if they were slanted towards alternate settings
for games? Would background on other regional conflicts be worth
reprinting/modifying for inclusion? In particular the Tir/Cali war and the
CAS/Atzlan conflict?
FINIS?
I don't want a dry technical manual, and I really could care less about
describing every little aspect of military culture. That being said what do
YOU think a gamemaster would like to see in integrating military characters
or for players wanting more detail for their own characters backgrounds?
Listings of wars? Gear? Slang? How to make realistic looking INTSUMS and
reports? REALISTIC looks at security levels? What?
Thanks in advance for your time!
Ken
---------------------------
There's a war out there, old friend, a world war. And it's not about who's
got the most bullets, it's about who controls the information. What we see
and hear, how we work, what we think, it's all about the information!
Cosmo, 'Sneakers'