Out of Character Thread

Ditto

Sorry for the gap. One of those occasions where I keep telling myself "I'm going to post tonight, no need for a heads up.", then I realized it'd been three weeks.

Got waylaid by RL, the SO's got health problems, and their brother (my best friend) is caught up in a court battle. I figured that since I wasn't directly involved it'd be fine, but those've been cutting into my freetime.

Student move-in begins next week, so I'm about to get about two solid weeks of overtime thrown at me, but I'll try to get my act together.

Hey, life is crazy. You don't need to "get your act together", now might just be a bad time. If you want to focus on real life for a while, I'm okay with putting the game on suspended animation

Yep. Take care of yourself and yours first, Cel.

Totally, this is a hobby, not a responsibility. :) When you have time, we'll be here.

Alright, thank everyone for their patience. I just need to clear up a little old news before we can get moving forward again. Fortunately, that involves answering a few questions:

So Mission Plan is addressed in the CASE & SOUL book on page 24. Generally you want to establish it before you're at the battlefield, but I decided to blur a few lines so that Seth could get eyes on the situation (given that the enemy is dug in, it seemed safe). The Mission Plan helps establish the facts for the Engagement Roll, which determines how well things are going when the rubber hits the road.

I had suggested Assault to cover just going in guns blazing, and Stealth to try and bypass surveillance and try for more of an assassination strategy. That said, for the Mission Plan, everyone should agree on a Plan -- if two out of three of the crew want to Assault it's probably best to call the plan an Assault rather than a Stealth Op where half the crew's gone rogue.

Do CASE's have Designations/Handles/Codenames: Generally in CASPR, CASE's are referred to by their model designation, or a mission-specific tag (probably Alpha-1, 2, or 3 for this squad). The pilot's Callsign is also valid. "Unknown" units are usually provided a code name (generally taken from the radio chatter of the first group to engage that unit, or applied by the assigned intelligence officer based on their debrief). ARES is more likely to name a CASE and refer to pilot and machine by that name.

Designing & Coordinating Complex Battle Tactics: I don't mind taking the die roll, but it's a bit premature (haven't had the Engagement Roll yet). A Fox's Battleplans are a great way to improving the Position of those who are following them. That said, I will generally ask for a Goal for the plan "Flush the enemy out of hiding and kill it in the open" "Approach unseen and kill it in it's den", "Cover each other and fall back", "Suppress the creature and evacuate the workers", that kind of thing.

Did I miss any other questions?

I may need to reread some stuff, but my understanding is the following. There is an alien monster in a dam that seems to evolve after a fight so tactics rarely work twice. We have an eye on something in the distance. We need to go in and kill the alien after we know what tactics will work, which will require either engaging with it or testing tactics from a distance (like luring some of it out and trying something). At the moment, we are ready to go in, but the system says "don't plan too much just go in and use stress to say 'oh I prepared for this and get ready to adapt"

That is largely accurate. I'll add a few more points:

The regeneration effect is common among the invaders, to the point of being the default expectation.

There is a great deal of interference as one approaches the dam. So far, it's only gone so far as interfering with comms (Seth has adjusted his sensors accordingly).

There are a number of thin, whispy tendrils growing out of the ground. Their purpose is not yet known.

Maybe this will help a bit:


The players are approaching from the South.

The "X" marks visible damage in the dam that the target has used to enter the superstructure.

The greenery to the West is a young forest that's taken advantage of the fertile soil left when the basin was drained. It provides visual cover for most of the run-up, but is seeded with the odd tendrils.

On the East there's a switchback road that comes goes from the riverbed up to to the top of the Dam wall. It has been damaged, preventing tracked or wheeled vehicles from making the approach, though a CASE could still make it. It is more exposed, of course.

Seth can factor in as part of the Assault, working as a flanking element. Currently he's managed to adjust his radio to work through the interference. With him out of sight in the trees, it does limit the ways that you can Assist or Defend him, but one could argue that it puts him in a better position to Assist you with the element of surprise.

That said, since he Resisted the consequence that would've imperiled his Position, he can regroup with your team without cost or concern, if he should so choose.

Cel's Soundtrack, for those who're curious: While Bullets Keep Missing - Aleon Raven

Engagement Roll tends to be its own things determined by circumstances rather than skill. That said, I'll weigh Isaac being there as a positive factor.

So, with a Mission Plan, you generally provide the Detail, the element that the plan hinges on. In the case of an Assault, you sort out the Vulnerability, the soft-point that you intend to leverage for success. On this particular occasion, I'm going to suggest "It's Just One Target", since the general tract of things seems to be splitting up to hit him from multiple angles.

So, the Die Pool:
+1d6 for Luck
-1d6 the target is dug into a defensive position with valuable infrastructure
+1d6 you outnumber him 3 to 1
-1d6 he's a higher Tier than you
+1d6 Isaac's solid tactical planning

So, for the Engagement Roll, I need one of you to roll 1d6. I'm pretty flexible on who, it can be Isaac since he put the plan together, or it can be whoever is taking the lead on the assault. We basically skip over the planning, positioning, and coordinating to get straight to when things pop off.