Merc 2000 and Other Alternate Settings

[Adm.Lee]

We had fun with Merc in the mid-90s, after it was apparent there wasn't going to be a USSR again. I ran for a group of 6 or 7 (usually 4 at a time). I think we did more of the "episodic" style missions than a war/campaign, and slowly moved into some of the Special Operations missions from that book.
- Their preferred hiring hall and resupply source was "Big Bob's House of Boom" with branches in Miami and Las Vegas.

- I remember using my Squad Leader maps sometimes, as well as handmade counters for PCs and NPCs.

- I remember one guy had been reading Peter Capstick's books, so he played a S.African big-game hunter turned merc. He rarely ever wore a helmet, because, "Cape Buffalo don't shoot back!" Guess who got hit most often?

- About half of the group had SCUBA skills, so I tailored a few aquatic missions for them.

- I think they bought themselves a seaplane after several big scores, I remember looking for stats on small Grumman flying boats.

- I remember assigning them a recon mission in Biafra, which they "solved" by building recon drones <= model airplanes with TV cameras!

Sorry, I never bought the 2.2 book, so I didn't see the survey.

[Raellus]

I've toyed with the idea of running a Merc-style game using the standard T2K rules. I don't think I would need/use any supplemental, Merc 2000 rules or resources. I think a copy of Pelton's World's Most Dangerous Places would cover the setting and background fairly well.

As for the survey, I vote for "Stay the Course" and "The Iron Dream".

The Far East theater of operations was unfortunately neglected before GDW went belly up. A lot of us would have liked a Korea sourcebook or Korea-based modules. Post-apoc Japan also presents a lot of intriguing gaming possibilities.

As for WWII, there are a lot of cut-off-behind enemy lines scenarios one could run using T2K rules. I almost ran a campaign based on a group of misfit Red Army soldiers tasked with infiltrating Berlin to secure Nazi nuclear program secrets ahead of the other allies. We've discussed several other historical applications of the T2K principles in a couple of threads here.

[Frank Frey]

Raellus,

I've been using Savage Worlds for years now. I just got the Weird War II setting book which is pretty good. I also have their Tour of Darkness Vietnam setting which I really like. I've found the system to be easy and fast moving. BTW, I'm also finishing up an adventure campaign module for Weird Wars II featuring the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion.

Frank Frey

[Jason Weiser]

Actually Rae,
The truth can be just as much fun as fiction....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Alsos

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Jason Weiser

Actually Rae,
The truth can be just as much fun as fiction....

Dang it! I knew I couldn't have thought of it first. In preparation for my game I did a bunch of research on the German nuke program, the NKVD, Smiert, and the Red Army scouts- much of it on Wikepedia- and never come across any references to Alsos, per se.

My idea was slightly different, though. My team was going to be expendable, made up of recently liberated Red Army troops (rarely trusted by the NKVD, many of them were sent straight to the Gulags), Red Germans, and such, dressed as German soldiers, and slipped in ahead of the Red Army, just as the Battle of Berlin was getting underway.

Oh well, I still think it would make for a cool T2K-like campaign.

There's also a really cool suggestion for an Escape from Kalisz-type game in the back of Osprey's campaign series title (#205), Bagration 1944. It describes a running fight of about a squad of German infantry (and maybe a vehicle or two) against randomly rolled Red Army units.

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Frank Frey

I've been using Savage Worlds for years now. I just got the Weird War II setting book which is pretty good. I also have their Tour of Darkness Vietnam setting which I really like. I've found the system to be easy and fast moving. BTW, I'm also finishing up an adventure campaign module for Weird Wars II featuring the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion.

I'm not familiar with those systems, Frank, but they sound interesting. I'd love to see your 509th module. The parachute drops preceding D-Day are one of the WWII ops that made our list for good T2K/WWII crossover campaigns.

[Marc]

My vote is for Iron Dream, too. WWII always exercise its own special ad strong magnetism.

In my opinion the other options in the Twilight GPS Survey seemed a little too repetitive. Biohazard, Mean Streets or Contingency Forces can be run by any imaginative referee using Merc:2000 or Twilight:2000 with only a new timeline and some adjustments. And Traveller:TNE (a true jewel ,for me) allows a range of options wide enough to recreate any futuristic background, included an alien invasion.

[Double Deuce]

Originally Posted by Frank Frey

I've been using Savage Worlds for years now. I just got the Weird War II setting book which is pretty good. I also have their Tour of Darkness Vietnam setting which I really like. I've found the system to be easy and fast moving. BTW, I'm also finishing up an adventure campaign module for Weird Wars II featuring the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion.

Funny you should mention SW. I have recently purchased the Fantasy Grounds II VTT and the Savage Worlds core rulebook (since there is no T2K ruleset for FGII) and have started work on a project using that system. This thread has actually started me thinking about a Savage Merc style campaign as well.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by Frank Frey

Greetings,

I was wondering what everyone here thought of the Merc 2000 setting? Also, for those of you who remember the T2K GPS Survey at the back of the 2.2 rulebook, what proposal intrigued you the most?
I personally liked the Alien Invasion background. BTW, the Kafers from 2300 would make excellent invaders.

A friend ran a number of Merc:2000 games including a campaign set in Australia dealing with Indonesian inflitration forces and brigands running amok in Western Australia. He voted for "Armor 21" rather than any of the other offerings, I remember he was quite keyed up for it's potential release when he saw it advertised in a Challenge magazine just before TSR pulled their stunt.

Originally Posted by Raellus

I've toyed with the idea of running a Merc-style game using the standard T2K rules. I don't think I would need/use any supplemental, Merc 2000 rules or resources. I think a copy of Pelton's World's Most Dangerous Places would cover the setting and background fairly well.

The Merc: 2000 book had a few supplemental rules that are still very useful though, such as the noise level and patron sections plus some new maps

[kota1342000]

I actually started running Merc 2000 just a couple of years ago. My last game group was enjoying it, and I ran some game blocks at the conventions in Denver that everyone had a blast with too. Havent had a recent chance to run but the Merc stuff is pretty relevant and a good side road for the game that just wont die! heehee