Rethinking Operation Reset

[oldschoolgm]

I know that I haven't been active on the forum for a while but several threads have piqued my interest lately. Either directly or indirectly they have mentioned or discussed Operation Reset. A lot of people, myself included, have difficulties with Operation Reset or the ideas around it. So for what it's worth, here's what has been swirling around my brain on it lately.

I personally believe that Operation Reset presents a contradiction to the games main goal and genre. The operation reads like it is suppose to be some form of an espionage thriller in a game that is about combat. As I've gone back and reread Krakow and every other source that I can find regarding this operation in the 1st edition materials, what I read into this over and over is a really good way to get the players killed rather quickly. When I first played through Krakow in my early teens, I remember the frustration of trying to complete this operation. I've always felt this operation was designed more to ensure player failure rather than giving them the ability to get a leg up in the early to mid point of a campaign.

The second part of Operation Reset that I've always had difficulty with was the actual center point. The blue prints for a device that can bring non-functioning computers back to life. While this is intriguing to an extent, it really isn't something that I believe that soldiers who recently learned they are on their own to survive in a extremely hostile environment will be interested in dealing with. Given the fact that the possibility of having any kind of viable computer system or network is slim to none, this device really doesn't not stack up as having the value that the modules and designers gave it. Nor does it provide a significant military value in my mind.

As I have mulled this over in the last week several things come to mind regarding this operation some ideas have formed that might help to make this operation viable. In other thread here on the forums people have suggested or pointed at some of what is to follow, but I hope I can take this a step further.

1. Keeping to the original intent of the device and operation, we have to ask why does this blueprint need to reach the right people’s hands and for what purpose. What computers need to be resurrected?
A. Just getting a computer functioning for the purpose of using its processing power can and would have an effect on how quickly a leader can make important decisions, but what decisions does this affect?
B. Does the computer have the information to help the players or interested parties to develop chemical or biological as has been suggested before and this could also be extended to plans for nuclear weapons.
C. Finally it could be something that is on a computer that all the military factions think is important.

2. Option C is where I think this operation steps out of a failed James Bond idea and takes on significant military value and makes it more than worth the player’s time and energy. I think the device opens a series of adventures that can be tied to the original adventures or taken on its own course.
A. I feel that the designers set the factions up against each other in such a aggressive is that both factions must know of a computer system that had military viable information that could change the course of the war, or give on side the ability to have complete dominance of the battle field. So the need for such a device begins to take on a military significance and also takes gives credence to how the designers were trying to set the tension in Krakow.
B. With the game events taking place in Poland, what is the likelihood of a cache of tactical nukes with delivery vehicles existing? Supporting such a hypothesis is the fact that XI Corps sacrificed an entire Special Forces A-team to recover the blue prints and deliver them back to someone at HQ. As well as the missing DIA agent in Lodz. Both of these canonical facts lend to a different picture than what is outlined in black and white. I really believe that one of the intelligence agencies knows where the computer is that has such valuable information and that the other agencies either know of the existence of such information or know of the system that has the information.
C. Given the aggressive nature of the KGB in Krakow as outlined, I feel that they either have the computer or know where it is and also know that the computer has the location of such a cache or the next link to finding the cache. I also have the impression that the DIA chief in Krakow also knows about the computer but does not know how to get to it or doesn't have the resources to get the computer. Here again, the need for the player characters partaking in Operation Reset.
D. The other intelligence agencies also know some or all of this information, in particular the CIA. I feel they know a lot but do not have all the facts nor an idea on how to obtain the information. If they get a hold of the plans they will begin to fill in the empty puzzle pieces and that would give them an invaluable weapon/resources/tool.
E. Going at Operation Reset in this manner removes the cloak and dagger element (unless the players really want that in the game) and adds back in the military/combative element. It also sets the stage for taking this operation through the other modules.
F. Given the direction of the modules it would be easy to state that such a cache existed in or around Warsaw. This gives the players that would prefer to follow this operation a goal as well as something to recon for. Either someone or something will give them the link to the final clue to the location of the cache and they players will have to act with some speed and diligence to get to the cache before the other agencies and it will also give them a good reason to tie in to the forces in Warsaw and utilize them as a screen of sorts in their search efforts.

3. These ideas can be tied to nukes or some other militarily significant resource. Once found the next question is; what to do with the stuff? Do the players make sure the US command get the materials and thus take them to Bremerhaven? Or do they destroy the resources?

I'm hoping that this idea provides a logical course that ties in to published materials and gives GM's another option regarding Operation Reset. If the nuclear weapon idea is followed the weapon would be most likely of Soviet build and that would tie in with the KGB's actions in Krakow according to what's published there. I really wished the original writers had thought through this operation more thoroughly and provided a significant reason for the players to follow through with it. Getting to Krakow either from Kalisz or from the Black Madonna is an easy segues for players to follow without having to seed the story to ensure their arrival there.

I would like to see what everyone thinks of this potential plot and expansion of Operation Reset. I would also like to hear what else could be tied in here or expanded.

Thanks