"Ahh, the old "Medicine Wanted', that's #10".
T2K is an older game, having been around for decades. As such the players start to know what the tables are by heart and the rapidly get accustomed to the "Settlement Crisis" table.
This means they get complacent, and complacency is fun.
#1 "Food Shortage"
All lies, lies I tell you. The settlement is loaded with food, they're just uncomfortable with telling the players how they got it. Maybe it's because they raided a NATO rear area unit, killed everyone and took the food. Maybe they did something similar to a neighbour, or maybe they've taken up a nasty habit of cannibalism. In any case the settlement tries to fob the players off onto getting more food for them. They're adroit liars and skinny kids will be artly displayed all the while the leaders wring their hands about how they won't make it through the winter. If the players do fall for these con men make sure later they meet an aggrieved party who lost their food who can tell them the truth.
#2 "Engineer Needed"
Well, yes they are telling the truth here. Well, most of it.
That's not actually a fertilizer/pesticide factory they're building but a chemical weapons outfit, something the players might have strong views on - especially when the settlement uses it on some rather inoffensive neighbours. It's very easy to convert between the two.
#3 "Ammunition Shortage".
Alas, they're telling the whole truth here, these guys really need ammo and lots of it. However later on an OPFOR unit tells the players they've just armed a bandit group preying on the local people they protect and if they don't remedy their blunder they'll stomp them hard with their T-80s.
#4 "Impending Attack".
Once again, the literal truth except it's either a retaliation raid from people they've been persecuting or a police raid by a NATO unit for the crimes of banditry. It'd be embarrassing to lay mines and wire, set up fire lanes and organise training to then later get a call from a desperate group of friendlies who are getting cut up in the defences.
#5 "Internal Unrest"
Do the players unknowingly root out NATO sympathisers?
#5 "Rampant Corruption"
This actually happens in real life unfortunately. Friendly outside groups try and root out corruption only to realise they've blundered into a situation where groups of oligarchs are brutally vying for power, all the while hiding inside the government. However it can turn into a fun "Fistful of Dollars" scenario.
#7 "Citizens Kidnapped"
Dodgy elements have abducted poor starving civilians, punish them! Except they can range from star-crossed lovers absconding to desperate fugitives trying to tell local forces about the vicious repression in the settlement based on arbitrary grounds. Maybe it's simply someone skilled who's left a small town for a bigger one with more scope for their services and if they're returned the settlement hamstrings them right in front of the players to stop the absconder running off again.
#8 "Mechanic Needed"
What seems like a desperate call for help on closer inspection turns out to be the local petrol-heads want to soup up their Polski 125p Fiats so they can race laps around the settlement. Of course "we need to get as much speed as possible to evade the patrols" is the excuse given, but the players later on see them running a post apocalyptic derby without a care in the world.
#9 "Epidemic, Doctor Needed" and #10 "Medicine Wanted"
Really, it's because these people simply refuse to use good sanitation and when an outbreak occurs they send well-meaning players off to capture/liberate/steal a stronger medication than is needed. Later on the players find evidence they sold the stuff to the enemy for a nice profit. If the players then return and demand explanations these glib bastards state the enemy requisitioned it and could the players please go get some more?
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