[3:16] Semi-Captain, Lt.-Captain, almost-Captain on deck, sir!
Gregor Hutton:
Thanks, Lance. I'll point people to that post, that's really informative to me.
One of the playtesters for the game was a former USMC and I know that their group had a very realistic take on fire squads and the military structure/combat in their games.
I'm more ignorant of military reality (other than what I've seen in films and TV shows, and in books like My War by Colby Buzzell) but I wanted the game to allow whatever a group thought was right for them. I usually have large squads of 30 Troopers with Sergeants when we're at the grunt level (I guess this is in the Example of Play in the book, and I cut that numbers down as the aliens cause kills). Higher up I have indeterminate numbers of other officers commanding other units, and I often have them in conflict or at least in the way of what the PCs are trying to do. I don't even spell out how many ships are in the Brigade's fleet. At some point, much further on, I'd point out that the Brigade is down to a couple of ships and only hundreds of troops when someone reaches the level that they could ascertain that kind of information.
I should point out that the new Collective Endeavour Journal, which is available for free, has a list of Missions/Sub-missions for 3:16. You can get it on RPGnow: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=59188
Lance D. Allen:
No problem Gregor.
I saw that the flexibility was built into the system/setting. This is the 3:16, an army built well after inter-cultural warfare on Earth has ceased to be necessary. The people who decided to built it probably looked at history, but there weren't any living military men to tell them how it was going to be. So it makes more sense that you made this game (assuming this setting) than I did.
But really, I figure the vagueness of the unit structure is a feature, rather than a bug. Military structure may not be what many players care about, but if you'd have included it in the game, it's a statement that it's important. Which it really isn't, to the game. If it's important to the players, don't worry.. We'll add it in there.
My "treatise" above is mostly to describe how I'd do it/have been doing it, and to help Ron and others have a bit of an idea of how the military structure might look.
Tim C Koppang:
I found it interesting that even Gunther had an emotional connection with the robots. When he called in the orbital bombardment, he did it specifically because he did not want to feel any sort of sympathy for the robots -- because he knew that the 3:16 was absolutely going to kill every last robot on the planet. Gunther could see his men feeling sorry for the robots, and, probably more importantly for Gunther, could feel himself developing a connection with the robots. So he chose to end everything in the quickest way possible. Of course his men hate him for it, but I'm sure Gunther felt as if he was doing the "right thing" in the long run. I think this makes Gunther a worse person, but strangely more human.
As Ron said, a little bit of detail and interaction goes a long way.
Ron Edwards:
Hello,
First, thanks Lance! That is tremendously helpful.
This time, we only played one mission, but with taking our time, with me hitting my GM-tactics stride, and with some serious character-centric decisions, it was a full gaming evening. Similarly to our second mission, the dice handed me a beauty combination: Bosch, forested, shadow beasts with Induce Weakness ... and AA = 10. Oh boy, I said. There won't be any heartbreaking morality on this planet - it's called "Bosch" for Pete's sake. I pulled out all my hallucinatory hellish GM skills and got ready.
We also reviewed a bunch of rules. One thing we found was that demotion isn't automatic, so we did the necessary rolls in a continuation of the last session. As it turned out, apparently no one was demoted last time after all. It added some fun, though, because apparently demotion becomes a possibility specifically when another player-character finks on the guy.
Pre-mission play was fairly straightforward although as it turned out, a little bit went a long way.
- I did something a bit unusual and narrated a scene with no player-characters present. All the high-rank guys from the previous session are reviewing the missions played so far, and they debated on whether to groom Gunther and the squad as a whole for bigger and better things. Some said yes, some said no. Finally, one said one word: "Bosch."
- Without explanation, the squad began intense training under the tutelate of the tightly-wrapped Sgt. Schoenberg, who at one point made Deet get down on his knees and thank his mother for being alive.
- I built up the reputation of planet Bosch with rumors, and that led to characters doing some investigating of their own, which led to meeting traumatized veterans who whispered to "stay in the light," and "they kept me awake for days to get it out of me," and "the daaaaark."
- Meanwhile, Gunther enjoyed himself in the lower-ranking officers rec room, ignoring the mission (which for once included a detailed explanation of the planet and its dangers) and the briefing (the sergeant made the men sit through the whole allotted briefing period, too). He also showed up to the take-off blind drunk.
- Kowalski, scared by what he's learning, did some tinkering to install flip-up arc-lights all over his armor. Amusingly, Deet asked him to fix up his armor too, and Tim A failed the roll - allowing all of us to anticipate exactly how I, the GM, would screw over Deet with the lights during the mission.
- Frinks slips Kowalski a civilian gun (i.e. to assassinate Gunther); this didn't become apparent until the mission was under way.
The mission was a lot of fun for me this time. I defined the "forested" as vast tracts of closely and regularly spaced birch-like trees, and the shadow-beast became eight-foot-long moray eel things that swam among the trunks, popping in and out of shadows. (Lots of trees = lots of shade) I also decided that they could get into your shadow and possess you, and since it wasn't an ability, the only effect was to give me a handle on defining their attacks and having fun with NPC troopers. The effect on the players, though, was pure enjoyable horror and panic. That leads to an important point about the game: you can make the aliens be or do anything as long as it's color. It was quite liberating to realize that.
I should clarify that when it comes to most skilled activities, I learn best though doing, and one of the frustrations for me in 3:16 is that there's no repetition for Alien Abilities, meaning that I don't really hit a learning curve. However, in this case, Induce Weakness was a little bit like previous ones, so I had a better intuitive feel for how to use it relative to Tokens-per-Encounter and movement tactics. For one thing, I finally realized the logical tactic in response to the drop pod: - throw away one Token on the first encounter, or in this case, two so I could spend one to Induce a Weakness. So they ambush the aliens, sure, but just as combat starts, they're gone, leaving behind a terrifying effect (perfect in this case because the Induce Weakness is permanently consequential). I also split them up more successfully, either ending encounters or messing with weapon effectiveness by shoving characters around the ranges. Although Induce Weakness pretty much obviated Tim A's Force Weakness, it was great fun for me to see all those damned Get Out of Jail Free slots disappear from the sheets.
Despite the danger and the brutal fragging drama that ensued, some black comedy showed up too. Chris W uncharacteristically rolled incredibly badly, something like four 10's in a row, at one point. Hence Deet had a pretty bad time in the initial encounters, including going fetal due to a Forced Weakness. And I had way too much fun with his suit lights, which yielded tons of contrasting shadows and attracted the aliens. Gunther sliced down a shadow-beast-possessed soldier at one point, only to discover that he'd killed Sparks, the only unequivocally-liked NPC in the whole game. Bitten by who knows what bug of inspiration, I had
Sergeant Schoenberg unaccountably fall deeply in love with Kowalski (who moments before he'd threatened with explosive decapitation simply to raise everyone's morale) and pretty much act like a lunatic to save and help him all the time - until, when he attacked Gunther for shooting at Kowalski, Gunther sliced his throat out. There was some comedic business as well regarding frantically reading the mission briefing documents in the middle of a fire-fight. The mission itself wanted a live alien captured, but not in a host. I admit it wasn't very original for our game, but I decided it might as well be a general concern for the brass, and I was tired of the whole "find the thing in the middle (node, core, command center, leader, et cetera) and blow it up."
Hey, we have a rules question: what happens when the group gets genuinely split? I don't mean merely shoved around or off the map during an Encounter, I mean established through more substantial, SIS-based means as being separated and potentially out of contact. At one point, Kowalski was separated from the others via his Weakness narration, and none of us were especially happy with being forced to say, "OK, you're all back together again," in order to proceed. Would I run separate Encounters, one for Kowalski and one for everyone else? How would that fit with the sequence of assigned Tokens? I understand that I could, for instance, require NFA rolls in order for everyone to join up again, if they wanted, but (a) what if they didn't want to, and (b) what if they failed? And never mind the Weakness basis, what if a couple of characters just trek off down the river while everyone else heads up-river, and no one minds?
Again, the point is not "how to get them back together" but how to run Encounters for separated player-characters.
Anyway, on to the fragging. The first interesting thing is that we found ourselves resolving a player-character vs. player-character combat during an actual Encounter. It required a little rules-interpreting. For one thing, I decreed that a successful roll was a straightforward Kill for the target character which did not remove a Threat Token from the aliens. For another, we realized that range was irrelevant, and that as long as the characters were in the same area (in the fight) that combat was possible regardless of weapon. Now, one thing about those player-on-player rules though, is that they say something like "Use Flashbacks, of course." Gregor, that's not enough. For instance, when fighting in this context, does using a Strength end the encounter with the aliens? I ruled that it didn't. It ended the fight with the other character (justified by narration, in this case, the tangle of aliens and soldiers getting in the way), and that's all. But that required serious interpretation on our parts.
The final bits of the Encounter were pure evil. Gunther had one available Strength, was a Mess, and had no armor left; the aliens had seven Threat Tokens (I'd scheduled 6 for the end and had retained one from a previous encounter), and don't forget that AA 10. It was quite creepy to have the characters trading looks of cold hatred and directing fire at one another, risking taking Kills, as the NPC troopers are screaming and fighting and thrashing all 'round. The aliens lost very few Tokens mainly because the characters were frantically rolling various NFAs and firing at one another instead of the creatures. Accusing Gunther of being shadow-possessed was only part of it. As it proceeded, Gunther used his last Strength to make it through Deet's attempt on his life, and to end the Encounter, which was the last one.
Just because the mission was over and the aliens were all gone didn't mean a damned thing to them now! Kowalski and Deet shot at Gunther, and Gunther called in an Orbital Strike (his second, so it was guaranteed to kill him; also quite funny because the aliens were all dead already). And then, the beauty of the rolls: three 5's - all successful and all simultaneous. The narrations were also great, drawing in stuff from all 'round, e.g. Frinks' look of glee as he authorized the strike he knew would kill Gunther. Tim K was happy because he managed to do himself in anyway with the Strike, and also because Gunther (a) got to enjoy the bubble-bath and the Hooters women for a brief while and (b) was actually quite a bad-ass on the mission itself. Tim A and Chris were happy because their combined damage was good enough to kill Gunther without the Strike, plus they could legitimately say they both killed him.
At the end, Gunther's profile was:
- Strengths: Berserker, Full of rage, Voice, Commando
- Weaknesses: Can't handle responsibility, Resigned
And now for the cherry on top, especially since Deet had been so hosed in the mission. Deet not only gets the field promotion to Lt. (successful mission, right? Shadow-beasts had possessed the Loot, right? And hey, it was the Strike that really killed him anyway, right?), he also qualified for and rolled successfully for another promotion - so bam, instant bona fide Captain! Tactless Deet, of all people! Plus, he finally got the clandestine Crimson Sword for knocking off Gunther, as promised by the military intelligence guys way back when.
Want to see a walking time bomb? Deet's current profile is:
- Strengths: pragmatically callous, tactician, I love my gun
- Weaknesses: must be the center of attention, can't kill kids, backstabber, nothing without a gun
Upon his next level, Hatred for Home will almost automatically become available, too ... and notice that he's the target for the low-ranking man's Force Weakness now.
Characteristically, although Trooper Kowalski personally assured that the alien was captured alive, thus completing the actual mission, Tim A failed the Development roll, thus failing yet again to gain rank. At least the poor guy did level up finally (I think that's the second time, out of six planets!). His shorter profile offers its own nest of snakes as well:
Strengths: tinkerer, linguist
Weaknesses: passive-aggressive, can't trust friendships
Tim K was a bit sad about Gunther until he made up his new character: the grizzled Trooper Viper, with FA 10 and NFA 6. Ooooohhhh, said everyone, and Tim K smiled with anticipation. Final minor question: we assumed that replacement characters roll for starting Kills as if they were new/initial characters. Is that right?
Best, Ron
Eero Tuovinen:
Hey, what do you know, I've actually played through a similar situation where characters get separated. In our case it had something to do with choosing between saving a comrade and stopping a nucular torpedo that threatened to actually blow up the 3:16 mothership. I was GMing and didn't find it problematic to run separate encounters for the separate groups. Lets the players who are not in it take a bit of a break, too.
Anyway, good accounts of your campaign. Helps me realize how to approach the game's text, which is helpful when I might have to run this again soon. Some bastards in a convention at Oulu corrupted one of my teenagers and now he's clamoring for more 3:16 instead of the solid and virtuous fantasy adventure of D&D.
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