MP Gear

[mikeo80]

That is a lot of great info, Dragoon500.

Something I would like to add to the mix. Something I have seen in games I have played or ran.

The shoebox.

In a lot of games, the GM allowed each player to bring something from "the past" into the game. It MUST fit into a shoebox.

I have seen all KINDS of strange memorabilia, odd knick-knacks, or thought out survival items. Some examples I have seen.

One guy's family actual owned a World Series championship ring from the 1969 Mets. It was in his shoebox.

Small fishing gear. Line, hooks, weights, bobbers, etc.
.22 revolver with 150 rounds of .22LR
Pipe, tobacco, lighter, pipe cleaners, etc. (one of my characters)
1 Pint of single malt scotch (now 150 years older)
OLD Family Bible (Names back to 1620's)
String of pearls from Great Grand Mother
St. Jude Medals
High School Class Ring
Football
Frisbee
Boy Scout compass
Car keys from first car

one guy went so far as to have some strands of hair from different family members.

It does pose an interesting question. What would YOU bring if you were part of TMP?

My $0.02

Mike

[dragoon500ly]

I've actualy used something like this in many of my games. The Personal Effects Satchel is a small gym bag capable of holding roughly 4kg of "stuff", although I tend to restrict what can go in (sorry that Thompson SMG and twelve 100 round drums that your great-grandfather left you, just won't fit), and I'm amused at what some people will try to bring along, like the family's uncut gem collection, or the gold coins that have hidden in the ole flour bin for "genertions".

I tend to place things like photos, favorite books on cd-rom.

[Gelrir]

Both my original campaign (run in the mid-Eighties) and my current campaign have a "personal effects box". In both cases we use a .50 cal can as the container:

1. it's sturdy and watertight
2. the dimensions are known, and can't be fudged
3. they're easy to get if you want a prop

Our current campaign has a page on these:

http://asmrb.pbworks.com/w/page/5014...onal%20Effects

EDIT: note that the current campaign is "classic setting", so nothing from after the Eighties is present.

--
Michael B.

[kato13]

Given the team members are giving up their lives to the project and that the project is stashing away millions of cubic feet of material, I allow my players to stash quite a bit of stuff.

However I put it in three increasing containers

One small shoe box size container in the bolthole.

One footlocker in their local nesting cache.

The equivalent of 6 duffel bags in the regional headquarters.

So if everything goes as plan they get the first one out of the box, the second one when they make a local base or that cache's material is recovered as a regional asset, and the last bunch when they complete a rotation and return to the regional base for R^4 (Rest and relaxation and refit and retraining).

[stormlion1]

We used a seventh 'extra' cache for personnel items that was buried near the Bolt Hole that allotted 4 feet by 4 feet per person for personnel items to be recovered later and from the start of the campaign we allowed individual's to bring a standard 2 foot toolbox sized box worth of personnel items along. This would be tied down on the back of vehicles while traveling but did allow for plenty of personnel items to be brought along. Spare magazines for my fathers Colt 1911 were in mine, but the rest was filled with books and a Walkman with plenty of tapes.
We start a new campaign in February using the new rules so I think the books and Walkman with tapes are out as I can find 'other' ways to fill the space that don't take up as much room but still allow me to have music and reading material.

[Gelrir]

Having the total of "Personal Equipment" take up more volume than the issued team equipment seems a bit odd.

Plus, if you have lots of personal stuff, I worry that even character generation will turn into a tech/equipment festival ... an issue the MP game is already prone to.

--
Michael B.

[stormlion1]

The oddity is that there was a need to store personnel effects when you were going to originally going to wake up in something like five years after the apocalypse! Of course the team that was put to sleep in the 70's will be in for a rude shock to discover 8-tracks and bell bottoms are long out of date even if they are personal effects. I understand needing something to latch onto though. What I never understood was the Morrow Project supposed to set up bases after the nukes fell and do good from there? travel about? If the plan was to set up a permanent base camp and operate from there personal effects make sense but I a team like a recon team was main job to travel about the amount of effects would be severely restricted.

[mikeo80]

Originally Posted by Gelrir

Having the total of "Personal Equipment" take up more volume than the issued team equipment seems a bit odd.

Plus, if you have lots of personal stuff, I worry that even character generation will turn into a tech/equipment festival ... an issue the MP game is already prone to.

--
Michael B.

That is why in the games I have been in, the limit was ONE shoe box. There is only so much crap you can stuff into that box. When it is full, that is it.

My $0.02

Mike

[mikeo80]

Originally Posted by stormlion1

The oddity is that there was a need to store personnel effects when you were going to originally going to wake up in something like five years after the apocalypse! Of course the team that was put to sleep in the 70's will be in for a rude shock to discover 8-tracks and bell bottoms are long out of date even if they are personal effects. I understand needing something to latch onto though. What I never understood was the Morrow Project supposed to set up bases after the nukes fell and do good from there? travel about? If the plan was to set up a permanent base camp and operate from there personal effects make sense but I a team like a recon team was main job to travel about the amount of effects would be severely restricted.

I agree that personal effect should be limited. One Shoebox was it in my games.

Now as to bases, I think that you are correct that the Recon teams are the "travelling salesmen" of Morrow. They also look to see who needs what the most. Then Science teams and/or MARS could be dispatched to deal with larger problems.

Most of my games, the Recon Team is ALONE!!! What I noticed was the characters finding the first place that needed them, fixing what ever problem existed, then use that area as a base of operations. It seemed to make sense. You are 150+ YEARS out of sync with the plan.

My $0.02

Mike

[kato13]

I try to design the project teams so they will survive from a logistical perspective, even if a team wakes up 10 days after impacts. That is where the nesting cache concept comes from. Since there is going to be more room there than in the bolthole, I figured a footlocker sized cache seemed reasonable.

The larger cache at the regional base would probably never be accessible to players in a standard game (150+ years wakeup), but from a logistical perspective it works. Since most of my regional bases are based on mines, moving such material into the base would only require one half of one day's volume of the mine's average train traffic.

I can use the caches as a way to move players around. I also look at it as a bit of payback to honorable men and women who chose sacrifice literally everything. These sacrifices were made and in return the teams only got vague promises of support (which in the end were broken). So if the project has the space, I at least have them try to make a bit of recompense for what was given up.

[Gelrir]

Look, a glorious badge on a beret.

--
Michael B.

[stormlion1]

I always wondered who's bright idea it was to issue berets of all things? Its not exactly the best head gear in the field after all and its not like the Morrow Teams were trying to be mistaken for Green Berets with Morrow Project badges on their shoulders.
And on that note, where did the badge come from?

[Gelrir]

For our campaign, the berets are black, not green, so none of the (somewhat foolish) freaking-out featured in the Ruins of Chicago.

Team members have helmets to wear when operating vehicles; and for the most recent five-player team, every character stashed some alternate hat in their personal effects box. The amused comment was, "You each received your beret at the end of training, and wore it once, for the group photo."

The badges were done in black-enameled, gold-plated brass, and look fairly good if we do say. I'm gonna send some to Chris Garland, so if you're nice to him ...

--
Michael B.

[stormlion1]

Got my own Beret and hated wearing the thing. I noticed everyone above the rank of Tech Sergeant was going bald and the only reason I could think of why was those berets. Preferred my watch cap honestly. Its warmer to wear!

[Gelrir]

The choice was probably between beret or something like the Vietnam-era fatigue cap.

http://david.brubakers.us/Vietnam/#SOFTHEADGEAR

Third place: a boonie hat. Besides the beret and the CVC helmet, each team member gets their "individual cold weather kit" in our current campaign, which includes a black knit watch cap.

--
Michael B.

[stormlion1]

Would have figured a baseball cap would have been the way to go or possibly the boonie cap.

[Gelrir]

Ah, well, berets are shown in several of the original MP publications. If the US Army can choose berets, so can the (military-industrial) Morrow Project, I suppose.

Especially in the early-to-mid Eighties, when "military beret" has an association with tough guys (Airborne, Special Forces, paratroopers in other countries).

It's certainly a decision that can be changed by any referee/PD for their own campaign of course. If you feel the Project should issue Montana hats, or toques, or leather Snoopy helmets ... go for it.



--
Michael

[stormlion1]

Oh, I am not faulting the berets themselves. It just seems like an odd piece of equipment to issue to Morrow Teams, especially ones that are expected to awaken only three years after a nuclear war. Morrow Teams equipment runs the gamut of timeframes, M-14 rifles, M-16's, Uzi's. The old Vietnam era OD Green camo, probably the newer for the 80's BDU's, etc, etc. It all came down to when the team was frozen and if they were updated before the bombs fell.

[Project_Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by stormlion1

I always wondered who's bright idea it was to issue berets of all things? Its not exactly the best head gear in the field after all and its not like the Morrow Teams were trying to be mistaken for Green Berets with Morrow Project badges on their shoulders.
And on that note, where did the badge come from?

Berets are awesome and were rather popular with some quite elite Allied units in ww2. As they helped soften the shape of the head thus making for a less clear target for a sniper or anyone with a rifle. Steel helmets of the time barely being able to keep out the rain.

Now the met police in the UK are considering issuing Sikh officers in firearms and riot units with turbans made from bullet resistant cloth.

So I can't see why a resist weave beret would be out of question. Perhaps with a protective inner liner as well.

In game terms perhaps enough to give a foolish team member shot in the head, a painful if not fatal lesson in being more common.

Indeed there's also a Russian company that makes self defence hats from tough material, with a solid rim. Kind of like an Oddjob baseball cap, so why not weaponise a beret. I believe when brawling in the days before DDay some soldier would use their berets as a sort of cosh. Holding one end and striking their fellow brawler with the heavy badge end.

[Traccept]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

50 Gold Double Eagle Coins; 50 Silver Dollars; 1 roll each of quarters, nickels and dimes; 12 Toilet Kits; 12 Comb & Brush Sets;36 asstd. mini-bottles of alcohol;12 Nylon Rain Ponchos; 24 Space Blankets; 12 Fishing Kits; 24 Swiss Army knives; 12 Hunting Knives; 6 100-rd boxes of .22LR ammo; 6 “Leatherman” multitool; 48 250gm Packs of Candy; 6 Pocket Tool Sets; 24 12-packs chewing gum; 36 assorted Calumet chemlight sticks; 6 cartons of Cigarettes; 1 box of Cigars; 24 AAA Ni-Cad Batteries; 24 AA Ni-Cad Batteries; 12 C Ni-Cad Batteries; 12 D Ni-Cad Batteries; 6 Solar-powered Battery rechargers; 12 Small Game Traps; 6 Throw Nets; 6 Stainless Steel Mirrors; 64 Disposable Bic Lighters; 64 Perfume Packages (single use); 96 Instant Coffee packets; 24 Tea packets; 24 Kool-Aid drink packets; 12 pieces of assorted Jewelry; 4 rolls of 60x10ft of 5ml Clear Plastic; 12 boxes of assorted nuts and bolts; 12 boxes of assorted sized nails

This is a acknowledgement paper of a company. This is really a huge list. I have a dream which is same about it. I am very near about this. So please pray for me to have a great journey with my business.

[Gelrir]

Or of course a helmet.



That's a 1986 PASGT helmet, with a black fabric cover. Notice it has a webbing suspension; more recent helmets have foam pads replacing much of the webbing. Weight in medium size about 1.6 kg.

--
Michael B.

[Gelrir]

Oh, and it's size Large. It fits my 7-3/4 hat-size head nicely ... the extra-large size must be for about a hat size 8 or so.

--
Michael B.