0800 21 AUG 2000, Near Lubliniec, Poland
===================================
"There are a lot of dangers
in the world we live in. Some are obvious and usually make themselves known
when the first tracer whizzes by your head. Others like disease and just
givens; something that is always there like the air you breathe and that is
sometimes part of the problems. Animals are different. They are just doing what
nature hard-programmed into them. They used to be house pets, now they are the
looking for you to feed them but not by opening a can but by simply being too
slow."
The sun goes up like
it does every morning in post-Apocalyptic Poland. The team will stay put for
the day, as we still have two critically wounded team members (Robison and
Harris). In addition, it will give Wally a chance to see if he can get the BTR
up and running.
Note: in Chapter 05 WEAPONS, VEHICLES & GEAR, the
BTR-60 and BTR-70 as well as the BRDM-2 are missing the entries for the coaxial
PK Machinegun in both the descriptions table and the summary table at the end
of the Soviet Vehicle section.
On another note, the rules do not actually state
this, but it would seem that damage and critical hits are cumulative. Based on
the examples of Pages 74 and 75, this would seem to be the case. This makes
combat even more a serious affair. I will use this interpretation in the
future. Also, based on the example, Ronson needs to find a new job. He is doing
well as a pop-up target but I think that line of work may be a bit dangerous
for him.
Morning Shift
Weather:
The clouds dissipate
and the weather becomes fair again. Nice day to be in camp.
Light
Conditions:
The sun is up and
the light conditions are Light.
Activities:
The group does not
need to make a camp, so that is something the can take off their list.
- Logan will look in on his
patients.
- Robinson and Harris will rest
and concentrate on healing their critical hits
- Marshall and Potato will go
foraging for water
- Griff and Macron will start a
short hunting trip
- Klasha will watch over the
camp and the wounded
- Wally and Iov will work on
getting the BTR up and running.
Navigation:
n/a
Hazards:
n/a
Encounters:
We have three
distinct groups at the moment. There is the group centered around the camp
(Logan, Robinson, Harris, Klasha, Wally and Iov), the hunting party (Griff and
Macron) as well as the foragers (Marshall and Potato). All of the groups could
possibly have encounters as their go about their business. Of the three, only
the group in camp is stationary and this will be the encounter for the day. We
can assume the others are moving about the landscape and may run into another
group.
The terrain is Clear
and the territory type is Organized.
- Camp Group: Encounter with
Group (Merchant Convoy)
- Hunting Party: No Encounter
- Foraging Party: Animal (Dogs)
The
Merchant Convoy
Encounter Range: 68
hexes (680).
The convoy will most
likely be travelling on the road and the characters have established a camp
near but not on the road. As I didn't make the roll for a hidden camp (and I
hope that does not come back to bite me later), we can make the assumption that
the convoy may be able to observe the camp. This means both sides will make
Recon rolls to detect the other.
Klasha is standing
watch, so it is her responsibility to make the roll:
|
Task:
|
Detect the approaching convoy
|
|
|
Ability Die:
|
Intelligence
B (D10)
|
|
|
Skill Die:
|
Recon
C (D8)
|
|
|
Modifiers:
|
--
|
|
|
Mod. Ability Die:
|
Intelligence
B (D10)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Mod. Skill Die:
|
Recon
C (D8)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Ammo Die:
|
--
|
|
|
Roll:
|
1,7,--
|
|
|
Result:
|
Success
|
|
One success is
enough to detect the convoy, but it really should not be that hard. I was a bit
worried at first when I rolled the 1 though, I have to admit. Now the convoy
gets their chance. We will used the highest Recon stat here, being that of the
Convoy Leader (INT B, Recon C).
|
Task:
|
Detect the PCs camp
|
|
|
Ability Die:
|
Intelligence
B (D10)
|
|
|
Skill Die:
|
Recon
C (D8)
|
|
|
Modifiers:
|
--
|
|
|
Mod. Ability Die:
|
Intelligence
B (D10)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Mod. Skill Die:
|
Recon
C (D8)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Ammo Die:
|
--
|
|
|
Roll:
|
1,8,--
|
|
|
Result:
|
Success
|
|
So, both parties
know the other is there. A lot will depend on the attitude of the convoy in
general. It is probably safe to say that convoys generally will not go out
looking for trouble but are willing to use violence to defend themselves. They
have places to go and a shoot-out would just slow them down.
To determine their
general attitude, I use the Settlement Attitude table on page 106 of the
Referee's Manual and I draw the Two of Clubs (Friendly). FL Team, thanks again
for the solo rules. There are some useful things there.
A friendly group of
merchants will probably greet the characters with a few waves and maybe even
send small party to have chat. We can ask the GME to be sure. The current Chaos
Rank is still 5.
[GME: Will the friendly convoy send out a small group
to talk to the characters? - Chaos Rank 5 - Likely (Good to know what an armed
group on your flanks is up to - 75%) - 56% - Yes]
We can assume a
small group of guards will break off and approach the camp without showing
obvious hostile intent. Carrying a weapon that you could easily bring to bear
if you had to has become common in this post-apocalyptic world. Kind of like a
wave in 5.56mm. Not pointing one at you is being friendly. The groups reaction
will depend a lot on the motivation of the convoy leader.
NPC Motivations are
detailed on page 106 and 106 and are the same as previous versions, which means
you draw two cards for the primary and secondary motivation. This is then used
to help you understand how the leader runs his crew. In our case, the draws
are:
- Ace of
Diamonds - Wealth (Generous) - this translates to the v2 motivation
"Generous", meaning the NPC "s generous to a fault and will
gladly give away anything he has to someone in need, even if this leaves
him with nothing. In less extreme cases, he will be inclined to make very
generous trades and will always refuse payment for help with a task other
than one directly related to his normal livelihood.
- Two of Clubs
- Violence (Weak)
- this translates to the v2 motivation "somewhat violent",
meaning the "NPC is not frightened or intimidated by threats of
violence and will not hesitate to use violence if the situation seems to
warrant it"
We know that he is
not just going to start giving things away; he is a business man, after all.
The group might be willing to trade, however, and that is something the
characters would probably be up for. What do they have to trade though? To find
that out, we need to flesh out the convoy a bit. What follows is from my
home-brew system and it will be just bare-bones:
- 4 Merchant Convoy Units:
- Unit 1 - 4 Members, Truck,
Heavy Weapon: Towed Gun with a horse-drawn limber, Cargo: Bicycles
- Unit 2 - 3 Members, Truck,
Heavy Weapon: Heavy Grenade Launcher, Cargo: Small Arms ammunition
- Unit 3 - 3 Members,
horse-drawn wagon & 1 riding horse, Heavy Weapon: Disposable ARTL,
Cargo: Man-Portable HW ammo
- Unit 4 - 5 Members, Truck,
Heavy Weapon: Disposable ARTL, Cargo: Basic Tools
We
do not need to detail the NPCs further at this point. It does not look like gun
play will be involved but if it does devolve into fireworks, we can simply fill
in the holes later. I have converted the ZU-23-2 for use as a towed gun. The
stats can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hUzkg5SF8fBbD2CJ380XHL_Kz-P5QqJT/view?usp=sharing.
An important note
regarding cargo: this is not the only thing they are carrying aboard their
vehicles obviously. Journeying across war-torn Poland with a deuce-and-a-half
carrying only cases of small arms ammunition is just unbelievable and it is
doubtful that it would be worth the risk. Instead, I see this as things they
are willing to sell or, in the case of violence, things that catch the
plundering character's eyes. The good stuff, as it were.
Generating the Convoy Leader
For the convoy, I am
using the following stats for the convoy leader:
|
Type
|
Attributes
|
Hit
Cap.
|
CUF
|
Skills
|
|
Convoy Leader
|
STR C, AGL B, INT B, EMP B
|
5
|
C
|
Ranged Combat C, Recon C, Persuasion D, Command C
|
The
stats are OK but rather flat. We can use a tool to put some life into the
character and the tool of choice this time is the Universal
NPC Emulator by Zach Best (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/134163/UNE-The-Universal-NPC-Emulator-rev). We
will use this to generate information about the NPC and their attitude going
into the conversation. Simply put, we generate a few random verbs and such and
combine them into a description. For example:
- NPC Modifier: Conservative
- NPC Noun: Patriarch
- NPC Motivation #1: Verb:
Guard Noun: Military
- NPC Motivation #2: Verb:
Shepard Noun: Criminals
- NPC Motivation #2 Verb:
Explain Noun: Wealth
Let's
top it off with a randomly-generated name: Jarosław
Brzyski
So, two card draws,
a few rolls and an internet search later we have a lot of information about out
leader. Now time to put it together into a short description:
Jarosław Brzyski likes to have his family around. Even when he travels, the convoy staff are
members of his close family with a few friends sprinkled in. All of them
understand that it is his convoy and his word is law, in return he gives them
shelter and does not ask about their past. That is probably the thing that most
binds the group members to him personally. You may have killed in your past,
but it is in the past and he leaves it there.
In many of his views, he is very conservative but he
understands that the world has changed a lot in the last few years and is bound
to change more. He wants the world to return to some semblance of the way it
was and he hopes that the military can restore order locally and then over the
entire country. He and his family work hard to supply the military with what
they need to protect the people and he mostly no longer cares about the uniform
they soldiers are wearing. His deals are as fair as he can make them and still
provide for his family.
He will often go to great lengths to describe this
trips and business dealings, where he has travelled to and how he got to the
place he is in his live. Fortune has been kind to him and he hopes to inspire
others with his story.
Now some people may
wonder if it is worth the trouble. It depends on what you want. If you want a
living world filled with people and not just cardboard cutouts, then yes it is.
It provides you with a ready-made NPC you can drop back in later, as another
encounter or maybe a patron. I subscribe to this idea.
We can throw in some
descriptive fluff and have Marshall give her first impressions of Jaro and his
family:
"He road over like an old-fashioned wagon train
master. He had a .45 in a leather holster on his hip and, I swear, a cowboy hat
that he cocked back on his head when he got to within shouting distance. He was
followed by two hard-looking fellas with worn AKs. They seemed to know their
stuff, keeping out on the flanks and walking a wandering path the trained eye
would see always kept them close to some kind of cover.
The rest of the convoy remained on the road,
staggered, before deploying their security. They did not unlimber that ZSU-23
but they had a Mk-19 that swiveled to cover an area that seemed to be very
close to the camp. They were not taking chances."
Another
interesting aspect that UNE provides is the NPC
Interaction Emulator. This can be used to determine the
general mood of the NPC but also the focus of what they want to talk about,
assuming you have no idea yourself.
The first element is
to decide the relationship that the NPC has to the PCs. In our case, they are
just meeting so it would be safe to assume that the NPC has a neutral
relationship to the PCs. The world is not safe enough to just jump over to
handing out handshakes. After we determine the relationship, we roll a D100
(85) and determine that his mood is sociable.
That is a good sign that the group will not have to make acquaintance
with the 23mm.
An important note,
the mood should be rolled each time the NPCs meets the PCs. The reaction of the
NPC could give the characters the impression, for example, that something is
off if the mood is radically different than usual and provide you with a hook to
build on.
Two
groups meet on a road on T2K and they will probably be guarded in their choice
of words. We know, as a merchant, Jaro will probably want to do business with
the group but maybe he also has something else he wants to talk about. Here
again, we can use the UNE. Important here are three elements, the NPCs
demeanor, bearing and focus of the conversation. We know from what we
determined so far that he would probably be friendly (1-3) or inquisitive (4-6)
and we settle on inquisitive. A D100 roll then gives us his bearing (41): suspicion. The bearings needs a
focus to help it make sense. In our case it is (30) campaign.
Let's string this
together into a sentence: the [Demeanor] NPC speaks of [Bearing] regarding the
PCs [Focus] or without the place holders, the inquisitive NPC speaks of
suspicion regarding the PCs campaign. Now we can turn this into text as part of
the dialog.
"The trader took of his hat, revealing a mop of
white that could have used a trim. His blue eyes look over the camp before he
spoke, his words slow and heavily accented, 'My friends, you seem to be going
somewhere. Seldom in our travels do we find someone just living here in the
wilderness. I assume you are travelling East, as there is a large group of
Americans down the road and you would probably joined them if you were
travelling West. Maybe I have something that my help you on your journey'."
Now we can get down
to Bartering.
Bartering
The team, at the
moment, has a lot of small arms ammunition at the moment. What they do not have
is a lot of ammunition for the RPG. The team only has one rocket at the moment.
Maybe the convoy has some in their stock. Antitank rockets are rated as Scarce
and we need to roll 5 or 6 on a D6 for them to be available. The roll is a 5
and an additional D6 roll reveals there are a total of 5 rockets available.
Now it is time to
Barter. Bartering is an opposed Persuasion roll, with each success reducing the
"price" by 10%. From the team side, Klasha will take over the
negotiation. She has EMP B and Persuasion B. In addition, she has the Pys Ops
specialty. As this is just a friendly bartering session, we will not add any
additional modifiers.
|
Task:
|
Convince the Convoy Leader to lower the price
|
|
|
Ability Die:
|
Empathy
B (D10)
|
|
|
Skill Die:
|
Persuasion
B (D10)
|
|
|
Modifiers:
|
+1 Psy Ops
specialty
|
= +1
|
|
Mod. Ability Die:
|
Empathy
A (D12)
|
[+1
Step, total = +1]
|
|
Mod. Skill Die:
|
Persuasion
B (D10)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Ammo Die:
|
--
|
|
|
Roll:
|
10,1,--
|
|
|
Result:
|
2 Successes
|
|
Now for the roll of
the opposition:
|
Task:
|
Barter for the rockets
|
|
|
Ability Die:
|
Empathy
B (D10)
|
|
|
Skill Die:
|
Persuasion
D (D6)
|
|
|
Modifiers:
|
--
|
|
|
Mod. Ability Die:
|
Empathy
B (D10)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Mod. Skill Die:
|
Persuasion
D (D6)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Ammo Die:
|
--
|
|
|
Roll:
|
3,2,--
|
|
|
Result:
|
Failure
|
|
Two successes to
none means that Klasha succeeds and reduces the price by 20% or 120 per rocket
(for a total of 600).
The
team has a lot of weapons that they can trade for the rockets. These were to be
sold in Krakow but they have enough onboard to make the trade. We have two
Vz-24s in stock, with two magazines. This should cover the price. (Vz-24 Stats:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13QzYy7C6pljLjzvxE0p4Vs15BWWiaRjJ/view?usp=sharing).
|
Task:
|
Convince the Convoy Leader to raise his offer
|
|
|
Ability Die:
|
Empathy
B (D10)
|
|
|
Skill Die:
|
Persuasion
B (D10)
|
|
|
Modifiers:
|
+1 Psy Ops
specialty
|
= +1
|
|
Mod. Ability Die:
|
Empathy
A (D12)
|
[+1
Step, total = +1]
|
|
Mod. Skill Die:
|
Persuasion
B (D10)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Ammo Die:
|
--
|
|
|
Roll:
|
5,6,--
|
|
|
Result:
|
1 Success
|
|
Of course, he can
try to resist her attempt at persuasion:
|
Task:
|
Resist the attempt to raise the price
|
|
|
Ability Die:
|
Empathy
B (D10)
|
|
|
Skill Die:
|
Persuasion
D (D6)
|
|
|
Modifiers:
|
--
|
|
|
Mod. Ability Die:
|
Empathy
B (D10)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Mod. Skill Die:
|
Persuasion
D (D6)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Ammo Die:
|
--
|
|
|
Roll:
|
5,2,--
|
|
|
Result:
|
Failure
|
|
We can raise the
price by 10% (for one success), which should be enough to get him to accept our
offer.
The group hands over
the Vz-24s and the group receives 5 new rockets for the RPG-7. Robinson is a
happy guy. A few handshakes and both groups go on about their business.
The
Wild Dogs
A group of will dogs
begins tracking our heroes (Marshall and Potato). There are 1D6+3 (4) dogs. The
initial encounter range will be 12 and the terrain is open. First, let's see if
the groups notice each other. Unfortunately neither of the characters is a
recon expert but Marshall has the highest Intelligence
|
Task:
|
Detect the dogs
|
|
|
Ability Die:
|
Intelligence
C (D8)
|
|
|
Skill Die:
|
--
|
|
|
Modifiers:
|
--
|
|
|
Mod. Ability Die:
|
Intelligence
C (D8)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Mod. Skill Die:
|
--
|
|
|
Ammo Die:
|
--
|
|
|
Roll:
|
4,--,--
|
|
|
Result:
|
Failure
|
|
Do the dogs notice
the group?
|
Task:
|
Detect the characters
|
|
|
Ability Die:
|
Intelligence
D (D6)
|
|
|
Skill Die:
|
Recon
A (D12)
|
|
|
Modifiers:
|
--
|
|
|
Mod. Ability Die:
|
Intelligence
C (D8)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Mod. Skill Die:
|
Recon
A (D12)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Ammo Die:
|
--
|
|
|
Roll:
|
2,7,--
|
|
|
Result:
|
Success
|
|
The dogs detect the
characters approaching. The dogs will probably be experienced with humans and
firearms so it can be assumed that they will wait for their prey to get closer.
This can be considered an ambush. How close will the dogs let the character get?
Probably no more than two moves so we could say Same Hex (1), 1 Hex (2), 2-5
Hexes (3) or 6 hexes (4) and then roll a D4, which results in a 4 (or 6 hexes).
The ambush will be
an opposed roll, with the dogs being the active party. Ambushing at a 6 hex
range gives the dogs a +1 Modifier.
|
Task:
|
Ambush the characters
|
|
|
Ability Die:
|
Intelligence
D (D6)
|
|
|
Skill Die:
|
Recon
A (D12)
|
|
|
Modifiers:
|
+1 ambushing at 6
hex range
|
= +1
|
|
Mod. Ability Die:
|
Intelligence
B (D10)
|
[+1
Step, total = +1]
|
|
Mod. Skill Die:
|
Recon
A (D12)
|
[Unmodified]
|
|
Ammo Die:
|
--
|
|
|
Roll:
|
5,4,--
|
|
|
Result:
|
Failure
|
|
The dogs cannot
control their appetite or their vocal cords and bark loudly before attacking.
Since the ambush failed, we will draw the initiative cards normally.
Now we need a map.
Here again, the tool randomly spits out the map boards from ASL:
|
Horizontal Map #1
|
bd18.gif
|
|
Horizontal Map #2
|
bd24.gif
|
|
Vertical Map
|
bd2a.gif
|
We place the
characters on the map and the dogs and the fight can begin. The dogs will fight
until they sustain (1D6+1) * 10% or 60% casualties.
