starting a new campaign?

[jester]

Horse, the POW one has been done a few times. And even the POWs in the US was done. I was following a game with that very theme for a year about six years ago.

The POW theme, one of my favorite means is by following the Survival, Escape and Evasion/Resistance manual. The escape in transit. A POW Train, ala that one movie with Ol Blue Eyes.....what was it....Von Ryan's Express? Then the POWs are now freshly escaped, in the middle of who knows where with just the clothes on their back. What is strange is, that has happened several times in real life.

[leonpoi]

I would personally do the v1 timeline, or that kind of era anyway. However, since you're using the t2013 rules there will be a lot of equipment (sights etc) that may not be appropriate.

For me, personally, I like the 90s timeline because there still are a basket case of weapons and equipment and armed forces are in transition. If you set it in the 21st century, well equipment can be more advanced, but I think less varied (at least for regulars).

Otherwise I'd do some modern small-scale thing militia vs occupying force in a post apoc takeover of a small town.

[Mahatatain]

Originally Posted by jester

Horse, the POW one has been done a few times. And even the POWs in the US was done. I was following a game with that very theme for a year about six years ago.

Just because its been done before doesn't mean that its not worth doing again! How many campaigns are completely original?

For example I'm setting up a campaign at present, which will start in the Ukraine, where the PCs will be NATO soldiers who were POWs but have been released as long as they join the "Ukraine Independence" forces. The campaign will eventually move into getting out of the Ukraine and getting home. I'm therefore using ideas from at least two published modules without actually running anything as printed!

Originally Posted by leonpoi

I would personally do the v1 timeline, or that kind of era anyway. However, since you're using the t2013 rules there will be a lot of equipment (sights etc) that may not be appropriate.

For me, personally, I like the 90s timeline because there still are a basket case of weapons and equipment and armed forces are in transition. If you set it in the 21st century, well equipment can be more advanced, but I think less varied (at least for regulars).

I considered doing the same thing myself at one point and asked a question specifically about Reflex sights on the T2013 forum, which might be of use to you:

http://www.93gamesstudio.com/forum/v...hp?f=52&t=2509

Originally Posted by cavtroop

Question is, what do I run? My initial reaction is to run the base campaign from v1 - kalisz, krakow, vistula etc. Had LOTS of fun with that in the 80's, and I still have all the source material for it. Plus, it's alot less prep I have to do.

But part of me wants to create something from scratch - though the 'far from home, trying to get back' meme is one that pulls strongly.

Returning to the original question another interesting option would be to set the campaign in Iran and focus on some characters who have become separated from their parent unit and are either trying to get back to it or back to "home", wherever home is.

[atiff]

What about something kind of based on elements of the series "Jericho?" The characters set up shop in a town and try to build it up from effectively nothing to a functioning town? It might be a lot more about survivalism, trading, politics and negotiation than a combat campaign.

[Rainbow Six]

An idea that was suggested on one of the old boards was that of staff from an Embassy overseas trying to get back to their home country. Could include Military personnel (e.g. US Marine Security Guards), Intelligence agents, and civilian workers / dependents (as well as nationals from allied nations).

Perhaps an evacuation was planned, the Embassy staff travelled to the airport in convoy and the PC's vehicles got separated from the convoy and missed the last plane home?

[Mahatatain]

Originally Posted by Rainbow Six

An idea that was suggested on one of the old boards was that of staff from an Embassy overseas trying to get back to their home country. Could include Military personnel (e.g. US Marine Security Guards), Intelligence agents, and civilian workers / dependents (as well as nationals from allied nations).

Perhaps an evacuation was planned, the Embassy staff travelled to the airport in convoy and the PC's vehicles got separated from the convoy and missed the last plane home?

That's a very interesting idea!

[cavtroop]

Originally Posted by Mahatatain

That's a very interesting idea!

Oooh, I like this one. great thing about it, is that you can start it almost anywhere - Africa, South America, etc.

Some great ideas in this thread. I love the embassy one, but the Korean idea, along with prisoners from Siberia and the Mediterranean one have my creative juices starting to flow

[Adm.Lee]

How about the Caribbean? There's plenty of pirates, cities to restart, ships and boats to recover. There are 3 mods to draw names and faces from, with New America in Tampa, the Seminoles in the rest of Florida, Mexicans and Texicans. Plus the Soviets want out, the Cubans might want to try dominating things, and lots of little island countries might just want to be left alone.

- Venzuela has oil to covet, lots of places grow food.
- The drug cartels may still have lots of weapons, gunmen and boats.
- The various Communist guerrilla armies, supported by the remnants of Nicaragua and Cuba could still be factors.
- Plus, you could put your PCs on a sailing ship (not necessarily the Constitution replica), and zoom them all around for a "mission of the week" television-episode-style campaign.

I forget, has SouthCom moved from Panama to Miami in the T2k timeline? Might it be trying to evacuate now, or hold on to the Canal? Is that even worth anything?

[weswood]

Originally Posted by cavtroop

Oooh, I like this one. great thing about it, is that you can start it almost anywhere - Africa, South America, etc.

Some great ideas in this thread. I love the embassy one, but the Korean idea, along with prisoners from Siberia and the Mediterranean one have my creative juices starting to flow

A former member of the board here started a very short lived campaign based on this. The players were Embassy personnel, mostly Marine guards, in Africa. The game started with the players in 2 Landrovers just missing the last U.S. plane out.

[Tegyrius]

Originally Posted by Rainbow Six

An idea that was suggested on one of the old boards was that of staff from an Embassy overseas trying to get back to their home country. Could include Military personnel (e.g. US Marine Security Guards), Intelligence agents, and civilian workers / dependents (as well as nationals from allied nations).

When I was demo'ing 2013, this is the setup I used for my usual scenario. Marine task force sent into Central Africa to evacuate embassies and American citizens and stranded there by the nuclear exchanges and general breakdown, then making their way overland to a port city to try to find a ride home. The action centered on arriving at said city (I used Abidjan) and liberating a freighter from the local warlord. Always thought it'd make a good kernel for a longer campaign.

- C.

[cavtroop]

Great info guys, thanks for all the tips. I think I'm going to go with the 'Embassy Staff trying to get out' theme. I think it give the players flexibility in the characters they want to play - almost anything goes, and can make sense in the theme of the game.

Another question - I debated opening another thread for it, as it's a different subject, but we'll see.

The players I have lined up for this game are all time-constrained by family, jobs, etc. I'd like to have a game where if one of them can't make it, the rest can still play, but keep the reasoning plausible, so the missing PC doesn't have to get played as an NPC. Any thoughts on this? I was thinking of making every game session a mini-adventure, where the team runs out of a central base or something, and if one guy cant make it, he just doesn't go out of the wire with the team. However, that limits the size and complexity the adventures can be.

Anyone deal with this, or have any thoughts?

[pmulcahy11b]

With the Embassy Staff theme, an interesting wrench to throw in might be a dependent. Nothing like a whiney 8-year-old with a teddy bear to throw a wrench into the works...

[TiggerCCW UK]

[QUOTE=cavtroop;24680]
The players I have lined up for this game are all time-constrained by family, jobs, etc. I'd like to have a game where if one of them can't make it, the rest can still play, but keep the reasoning plausible, so the missing PC doesn't have to get played as an NPC. Any thoughts on this? I was thinking of making every game session a mini-adventure, where the team runs out of a central base or something, and if one guy cant make it, he just doesn't go out of the wire with the team. However, that limits the size and complexity the adventures can be.

Anyone deal with this, or have any thoughts?[/QUOTE

I'd go with a number of mini adventures designed towards a major goal. For example they need to get out of the area using a helicopter extraction. First one could be securing fuel, then a seperate adventure each for finding a pilot, spare parts, a helo, a landing site and transport to get them to the site and then of course the journey to the site and the actual extraction.

In my group we have 6 regulars, 5 players and a gm for whatever game we happen to be playing. The rule of thumb we use is that if one person can't make it we play on with one of the players controlling 2 PC's for that night. If 2 people can't make it we still have a session but just play one of a selection of board games instead - Talisman, Battle Cars, Risk, Mall of Horror, that sort of thing.

Hope that helps.