The Project, Prime Base, The Game

[Matt W]

Originally Posted by Sprocketteer

If you haven't seen it already, check out "Operation Morpheus", for the old "Aftermath!" rpg by FGU, it brings a Morrow style project to "Aftermath!".
It features a prime base style complex beneath a major university, complete with frozen players etc. It is about US$4/£3 on drivethrurpg.

I'm a fan of Jeremiah's Thunder Mountain
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...-Mountain?it=1

It includes a very large underground base

[ArmySGT.]

Originally Posted by Matt W

I'm a fan of Jeremiah's Thunder Mountain
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/...-Mountain?it=1

It includes a very large underground base

Jeremiah wasn't an all together bad post apocalyptic show. I have only seen season one and half of two.

[Sprocketteer]

I enjoyed the tv show myself. Only discovered the rpg last year on ebay, got it and Thunder mountain.

[Project_Sardonicus]

If the MP had a small force of super elite commandos, would they just freeze them in case everything went wrong?

Would they even be the most useful people to have restarting Prime Base?

I suspect Phoenix Team would be more like the kind of people you'd want to get the planning, admin side of the Project working again.

So more like engineers and administrators.

And once they got Prime base warmed up it'll be years before it's even close to be operating again, never mind the project. They'll probably need to gather frozen project staff from across the nation.

The other problem being once the Projects started, it becomes not so much the start of the renaissance of the world. But rather a big hard to defend hole in the ground packed full of treasure.

However far away the KFS are they'll soon be setting up an expeditionary force to lay siege and plunder if they hear about PB.

As such fairly quickly the team will have to leave PB and never ever mention it, never mind expect much support from it.

[cosmicfish]

Phoenix was never meant to restart the Project, they are just the best ones immediately available. My assumption was always that Phoenix would take control of the Project only until they could wake the regional commands and/or "Second Base" and turn control over to the administrators suited for the job.

And Prime Base does not exist in isolation. Yes, the location needs to remain secret (Why I have always advocated for limiting its scope to those activities requiring a minimum of traffic), but the only reason to abandon it is if the rest of the Project is so deteriorated that it cannot be revived. Otherwise, keep it secret, revive the rest of the Project, and get to work!

[Project_Sardonicus]

My point was more that if you're going to freeze a bunch of people in Prime Base to be woken up in an emergency. Would it not make more sense to freeze people who could potentially be more useful in taking over restarting the project?

That and if the project had a whole force of super capable warriors wouldn't they have more use for them?

Besides pointing out that this represented one of the more niggling cliches of 1980s RPG writing.

[cosmicfish]

You are talking about two different needs, both of which are valid, neither of which are mutually exclusive. Yes, the Project should have a failsafe to keep/restart the Project if Prime Base gets taken out, but they should also have a team like Phoenix to handle high-intensity/small-scale military problems. Phoenix could be in Prime Base or somewhere else, the failsafe team should NOT be in Prime Base (at least not entirely). Having one does not preclude the other, any more than having firefighters precludes also having police.

As to other uses for Phoenix, I am sure they would have many uses for them, but having them frozen until actually needed makes sense. Remember that military skills and conditioning are perishable, especially at high levels. Freezing Phoenix until they are actually needed is far more efficient than the alternatives of either going with a degraded unit after 5 years in a bunker or else expanding said bunker into a full-fledged special operations training facility.

As for it being a cliché, I am not sure what to say. I don't care if it is a cliché, having special operations capability (and in tiers) makes sense, that's why governments do it. And if it became popularized in the 80's, well, that's when both Delta Force and SEAL Team Six started to creep into the public eye, so I suppose that makes sense.