Morrow Project - Operational Question

[kalos72]

I have some of the books but thought some of you more avid players/GM's might know this.

Did the books, any of the books, explain the process Morrow wanted to use to help these people come back after the end of the world?

Did they suggest/document a strategy or series of things the teams should when they start to rebuild their zone?

I play T2K predominantly but I am trying to determine a strategy for this same thing in that setting. I have always thought about this process as a county by county thing but that seems to be very inefficient when I think of all the counties that really dont do anything for my larger government process, resource wise.

Then I was thinking of running along the major highways or railroads and rebuilding the counties along those patterns.

In my game, the New America faction is more like a Morrow Project group that helps our PC's...

[Matt W]

Short answer: NO. There's no specific "Guide to rebuilding post-apocalypse civilization". I suspect that this is because such a guide would be very complex and probably not very enjoyable in a table-top RPG .

Something along the lines of "Arrange matters such that everyone has enough food, then set up schools and ensure that most people are literate and don't want to kill their neighbors". That would take years and be achieved by teaching the children of local farmers. Vital and rewarding work, but not something that would engage the interest of most gamers

It's up to the PD to introduce something more exciting.

[kalos72]

Yeah I assumed as much, I spent a few hours last night perusing the 4th edition. Good stuff, especially the economics piece even if its incomplete.

I am struggling with this now, 1) what level of detail do i work out for the story, 2) What type of gear/skills/supplies would be the most helpful in a T2K word for the new "Morrow Project" to store/deliver?

Is less, the CEO time travels and know the world is coming to an end but how can a multional, billionaire sponsored company do in a few years to help rebuild the US , at home and abroad.

[Matt W]

I would suggest that the "PRT Playbook" would be a good start. Google that and it'll provide some ideas for you

As for miltary skills, or MOS specialties, I would suggest looking at both "civil affairs" and PSYOPS. Your billionaire would be interested in people who can find out what 's happening and persuade others to help fix the problem

[RandyT0001]

Beginner's Guide to Nation Building by the Rand Corporation is informative

[Matt W]

Regarding "equipment"

The most useful gear might be mobile and high-powered radio transmitters and (of course) lots of receivers to give away to Survivors

[kalos72]

Nice reference materials guys, thanks.

I was thinking alternate energy, solar / wind turbines, digital libraries of science books, school/teaching books, personal and larger radios (AN/PRC 70's), water purification systems, workshop trailers/tools, maybe some of the more unique harder to reproduce weapons/ammo.

I can't really get the fusion trailer thing but I think there was something about it before in T2k. Maybe computers?

[kalos72]

Was there a strategy to the number of boltholes/regional bases and the like?

Did they say one bolthole for every 3 counties or something? One regional for 3 states?

Did they go by area or population?

Any of your personal thoughts on this thread are always welcome please!!!

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by kalos72

Was there a strategy to the number of boltholes/regional bases and the like?

Did they say one bolthole for every 3 counties or something? One regional for 3 states?

Did they go by area or population?

Any of your personal thoughts on this thread are always welcome please!!!

3rd edition never gave any guidelines, just talked about a couple of bases and you were on your own.

Most of the work in this field has been fan based and the results can be interesting...

IMHO the best route to go is to divide the U.S. into regions of 4-5 state's, place a regional command team, next look over the local universities, research labs and place science teams to cover. I generally assign a Recon Team a area of roughly 200 miles, then modify based on my estimated survival population, on average this will place between 3-8 recon teams per state, then I add another 3-4 teams working directly for the command team to cover areas of special interest. MARS teams are assigned at one per state, sometimes being raised to as many as three depending on estimated populations, presence of military bases, terrain features that would be vital for communications.

What you then wind up with is a command team, 4-6 science teams, roughly 18-24 recon teams, and 4-9 MARS teams for a region. I typically add a Delta Base type supply center with its support group, perhaps 2-3 medical teams, depending on my estimated survivor population, another 1-3 engineering teams. All told, roughly 400-600 Project personnel in a region.

I then get into a discussion with my wife and wind up adding a team here, taking one from there, killing off a couple depending on were a nuke hit, perhaps flooding, etc.

Hope this helps!

[kalos72]

Nice!

Wasn't the US already broken into military districts or something in WW!! or am I just confusing the Coast Guard districts?

I seem to recall something about certain units defending the coast as it was split into districts but I could be off...

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by kalos72

Nice!

Wasn't the US already broken into military districts or something in WW!! or am I just confusing the Coast Guard districts?

I seem to recall something about certain units defending the coast as it was split into districts but I could be off...

In my games, the Project covers the U.S. and Canada so....I divided both countries into ten regions.

Region I covers New Foundland (island only) Nova Scotia, Quebec (S of St Lawrence R only), Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut.

Region II covers New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia.

Region III covers North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana (E of Mississippi R).

Region IV covers California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.

Region V covers Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Region VI covers Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Louisiana (W of the Mississippi R).

Region VII covers Quebec (N of the St Lawrence R), Ontario, and Labrador.

Region VIII covers Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota.

Region IX covers Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Wyoming.

Region X covers Alaska, Yuan, British Columbia, Alberta and Hawaii.

Most of the region's are based on FEMA regions, with some modifiers based on major terrain features.

[Matt W]

I always assumed that the Morrow Project would use the same Regions as FEMA - if only to make it easier to coordinate

[dragoon500ly]

You can make the region's work anyway you want to, I've even seen one game where the PD used three state regions. Whatever you feel comfortable with goes.

[dragoon500ly]

For even more fun, just how many caches do you assign a Recon Team. The modules go with six, I go with six to eight, add one or two emergency caches and even the Camp In A Box depending on my estimated survivor population. Why so many? I give the RT more access to supplies to add survivors.

MARS Teams get eight to ten caches (fewer teams, larger areas to cover).

[kalos72]

Remember, my idea is to use the New America concept and combine with with a limited MP drive.

The New America organization has a secret agenda, help the players group, which in my campaign leads divisions and the return of the 7th Army to Texas to rebuild.

I am trying to morph the two games/concepts together...strange I know.

The FEMA Regions makes sense, now I am trying to figure out in the T2K time frame, and given we didnt have dozens of years to plan for it the same way MP did, where to place what assets.

Always like to hear other players games details...thanks!

[Matt W]

Possible locations for Regional Bases: NASCAR stadiums.

This is a semi-serious suggestion. Most are close enough to population centres that they would be useful for rebuilding, yet far enough to be safe from Nukes. A little creative book-keeping would allow you to hide a lot of fuel, spare parts and food. Entire Boltholes might be in the foundations...

The NASCAR stadium could justifiably have a lot of gear that would be useful in the Reconstruction Effort

Communications Equipment

A control tower (with a "low-power" radio - but that could be upgraded). It wouldn't be implausible to have a mobile TV station, a radio station, a few "Cellphone Towers in a box", lots of handheld transceivers.

Tools

HUGE amounts of tools. Even small machine shops

Heavy equipment

Fire Trucks, Ambulances, Wreckers

Medical Personnel

A good track will have some highly qualified paramedics and trauma medics

Helipads

Many stadiums have small heliports, with rudimentary Air Traffic Control

[dragoon500ly]

Good call Matt!

[mmartin798]

Another plus for NASCAR is the almost continuous amount of construction vehicles there. Moving in hundreds of yards of dirt for a Supercross event one week, removing the dirt for a sprint car event a few weeks later. You would have to pay pretty close watch to see if more material leaves the site than was brought in.

[cosmicfish]

A few comments:

Teams should address needs by urgency. Security first, then water then food etc etc. Hit more than one at time if you have the manpower. The Project had to expect that relocating entire communities would sometimes be necessary as well.

Remember that planning should be for war + 3-5 years, don't give them 150 year supplies if they don't make sense a few years post-war. For radios, for example, the Project may well have assumed that communities would be able to salvage CB's, they probably would not assume that short to medium range comms would be a problem.

NASCAR tracks have three problems: first they tend to be near targets, second they see a lot of traffic, third you can't establish a pattern and maintain security. Personally, I think they fall into the category of "wouldn't it be nice if we could do that!"