Help with GMing urban adventure

[kcdusk]

Word document attached with urban ideas etc. As stated, not all my own work, but i'm not able to credit the people I've stolen ideas from - theres been too many.

Some of my favourite ideas are around bulk and carrying loads in a city, how hot it can be and how constitution takes a battering.

[Geowar]

Originally Posted by kcdusk

Word document attached with urban ideas etc. As stated, not all my own work, but i'm not able to credit the people I've stolen ideas from - theres been too many.

Some of my favourite ideas are around bulk and carrying loads in a city, how hot it can be and how constitution takes a battering.

Thank you for the rules. I am oblidged.

In my specific plot, my party members have to carry a wounded friendly NPC behind firendly lines (not knowing that there are no holding friendly lines in the near vicinity). Any ideas how to engage carrying heavy load in the rules?

Furthermore, I do agree that constitution and holding up together should play a major factor in MOUT.

Thank you again, the house rules that you provided are not only helpful but also inspiring to be more creative when we plot an adventure in T2K

[Geowar]

Has anybody organized or played a T2K adventure like Mogadishu/Blackhawk down or Battle Los Angeles ?

I would very much appreciate his/her experience...

Thank you in advance

[Jason]

Funny that I thought Blackhawk Down as I read through this. The movie really shows how tough it is to make head way against determined opposition.

There is a very under-rated movie titled Stalingrad that anyone contemplating the rigors of urban combat in a blasted ruined city should see. Do yourself a favor.

I ran Armies of the Night four times. Not one party even got close to the gold. Just traveling a one kilometer could take days of scouting the route, dodging enemies, getting ambushed, doing first aid, finding clean water, losing and finding gear, getting lost, going underground, going rooftop to rooftop, rafting through the subway **shudders**, helping innocents, etc. Mix and match for best effect, like getting ambushed while being lost, it really puts the PC's in a pickle.

I highlighted first aid and helping innocents because those are huge time killers that could turn a two hour walk into a 2-3 day nightmare. It does not just have to be innocents as well, it could be an injured officer, that offers the party a semi-current map of the area if they help get him somewhere safe.

[Legbreaker]

There doesn't really need to be a separate and specific set of rules for urban gaming - the basic rules do fine if properly applied.
Carrying a person can be done in several ways - firemans carry over the shoulders, or on a stretcher being two examples. In the former option, the encumbrance rules are sufficient - the carrier can handle up to their Load stat without penalty, up to twice Load and only move at a jog (at most), and up to three times their Load for short distances (a hundred metres or so at a time). Both of the latter two load levels count as hard work and fatigue sets in very quickly reducing the characters physical ability to do, well, anything really.

Moving through bombed out areas could involve an Agility, Climbing or Acrobatics skill check (may vary depending on rule version in use). Visibility is a GM judgement call, but you could use the encounter ranges for forests quite effectively.

Much of what you need to do is common sense really - buildings and rubble will impede vehicle travel almost completely while slowing pedestrians to about half normal move (as they weave in and out of doors and windows) if they're not out in and using the streets. Cover and concealment will be everywhere which can be used by both sides in an engagement to very good effect.

As for large scale movement, a foot patrol speed in light forest is about 5kph (the 20km per period of the rules). Marching speed on road with full gear is rarely as fast as 10kph (and you don't want to be doing that for more than a couple of hours). In jungle/close terrain, speed drops through the floor and can be as little as a few hundred metres in an hour. Unstable rubble is likely to have a similar restriction on movement AND as is mentioned in Ruins of Warsaw, possibly result in a very nasty accident.

As for your intention for the party to stay in Kalisz for several days, I just can't see that happening if they really want to get out. We're not talking a major metropolis here and unless they're hiding from roaming Soviet and Polish patrols, they'll be able to pick a direction and get out fairly quickly. Getting lost would be nearly impossible unless forced to move under cover of a moonless and cloud covered night sky (even then it would be a bit of an effort if even one character has any navigation skill to speak of). There's any number of ways to slow a group down (a wounded member who needs to be carried for example), getting lost isn't one of them, although encountering rubble/enemy/gas attack/fire/artillery bombardment could force a rethink of their intended path.

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

There doesn't really need to be a separate and specific set of rules for urban gaming - the basic rules do fine if properly applied.
...
As for your intention for the party to stay in Kalisz for several days, I just can't see that happening if they really want to get out. We're not talking a major metropolis here and unless they're hiding from roaming Soviet and Polish patrols, they'll be able to pick a direction and get out fairly quickly. ... There's any number of ways to slow a group down (a wounded member who needs to be carried for example), getting lost isn't one of them, although encountering rubble/enemy/gas attack/fire/artillery bombardment could force a rethink of their intended path.

I'll just repeat this, it's kind of up to you to "confine" them to the city.

[Sanjuro]

If you want to keep the party trapped for a longish period, consider what happened to Urquhart at Arnhem (Sean Connery in A Bridge Too Far); an enemy patrol camps right beside them, without even knowing thay are there. That keeps them in one spot, but if you want to just slow them down badly, put lots of small units camped nearby- every km of travel will have to be scouted first, the group will have to stop and listen a lot, and someone is going to have to be rearguard, and make sure there is no trace of their passing- everything from shell casings to footprints can betray them.
Under those circumstances, anything more than about 500m per hour is very good progress...

[ArmySGT.]

There is a river flowing through Kalisz. This makes bridge both tactical and strategic objectives for all sides. The bridges are either destroyed, held by a force, or under attack.

Rubble and civilian choked streets slow movement.

Sniper engagements pin them down.

Artillery / Counter Artillery duels make being in the open suicidal.

The surface streets are choked with panicked civilians, and Support Troop units.

Civilian putting up road blocks to keep Soldiers out of their neighbor hood.

Air Strikes by surviving Fighter Bombers.

Medical units (any side) and Chaplains units ministering to Civilians causing a massive uncontrolled group.

Non Governmentals being their usual goat fuck like Red Cross, Docteurs san Frontiers, Red Crescent, Feed the Children, various Ministries.