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cjcafiero
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Location: Las Vegas, NV

Re: T2K4 "Red Shirts"

Tue 26 Oct 2021, 22:26

Respectfully, I don’t like this idea. A shattered military unit trying to get away in small groups is one thing, but at the scale of the current armies (600 man “Divisions”, etc.) roving around with a platoon or small company represents not a shattered unit, but a sizable amount of divisional assets. Also, units of this size would face daunting logistics in terms of food and fuel, and the logistical train would be daunting and unsustainable…the old saw is amateurs discuss strategy, professional discuss logistics right? If foraging, a group this size would quickly denude the surrounding area of all food and supplies, no doubt to the alienation of the countryside. Lastly, given the size of the units described, and their potential fighting strength, there is little need to retreat, they can simply fight their way out.

In the end, of course, its your sandbox and you should do what you and your players enjoy, but I thought I’d share a contrary thought…
"The sweetest sound in the world is a bullet that misses"
 
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ottarrus
Posts: 192
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Location: Tacoma WA

Re: T2K4 "Red Shirts"

Wed 27 Oct 2021, 03:00

Definitely talk to your party. If someone wants to be the mechanic, hunter, cook, etc and would enjoy that, don't let an NPC step on their toes by being better at it. If your players want to go with a more base building campaign than a roaming around game then having more NPCs will be right up their alley. Or maybe the players would rather focus on their own characters than random soldier A.
Couldn't agree more.
NPC's should never take the place of PC skill sets except in very specific and narrow circumstances. The PCs are the stars of the show and ought to be take the lead in most things, with NPC's in the party filling roles the PCs are unable to. For example, the father-son railroad engineers in 'Going Home' or the tug captain in 'Pirates of the Vistula'.
 
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ottarrus
Posts: 192
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Location: Tacoma WA

Re: T2K4 "Red Shirts"

Wed 27 Oct 2021, 03:08

Respectfully, I don’t like this idea. A shattered military unit trying to get away in small groups is one thing, but at the scale of the current armies (600 man “Divisions”, etc.) roving around with a platoon or small company represents not a shattered unit, but a sizable amount of divisional assets. Also, units of this size would face daunting logistics in terms of food and fuel, and the logistical train would be daunting and unsustainable…the old saw is amateurs discuss strategy, professional discuss logistics right? If foraging, a group this size would quickly denude the surrounding area of all food and supplies, no doubt to the alienation of the countryside. Lastly, given the size of the units described, and their potential fighting strength, there is little need to retreat, they can simply fight their way out.

In the end, of course, its your sandbox and you should do what you and your players enjoy, but I thought I’d share a contrary thought…
I can definitely see your point on this.
Everybody's T2K is gonna be different from the next guy's of course, but some common conditions are necessary to establish the setting.
Denuding the countryside of usable resources is what bandits do, not soldiers. But desperate people do desperate things. If the players don't want to be KOS at every village, town, or wide spot in the road between Warsaw and Berlin, they're gonna have to work WITH the local survivors, not loot them like a Napoleonic army on the march. ESPECIALLY when you consider how the rate of encounters increases every day a group stays in one spot.. that three days you need to brew up fuel might just cost you your life if you're not REAL careful.
 
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aramis
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Re: T2K4 "Red Shirts"

Wed 27 Oct 2021, 13:45

My party currently is 4 PCs, and 8 NPCs, soon to be more.

I have Players roll for the party NPCs, but I reserve the right to override player decisions with them.
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Smith & Wesson: the original point and click interface...
 
Solitare99
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu 18 Jun 2020, 14:08

Re: T2K4 "Red Shirts"

Wed 27 Oct 2021, 14:36

My party currently is 4 PCs, and 8 NPCs, soon to be more.

I have Players roll for the party NPCs, but I reserve the right to override player decisions with them.
Very similar to myself and my son's solo rule play through. We have 2 primary characters (British attached to the Dutch Unit to the north - One medical officer and one Royal Marine). We have decided that two players roaming the Polish wilds might be a bit difficult so we have generated a total of 3 other NPC all from the overrun Medical unit. Polish Local civilian Engineer - Badly Wounded, Dutch Military Police officer (Drafted from normal police) Security for the Medical centre - bruises and battered and a Local Terp / Nurse who helped with the wounded - Sleep Deprived.

My son's medical officer is a fish out of water in combat and my Royal Marine was the last of his unit on a recon to the North after the SOV pushed happened

Plan is for all to get the hell south or west ASAP
 
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omnipus
Posts: 742
Joined: Mon 22 Jun 2020, 20:58

Re: T2K4 "Red Shirts"

Wed 27 Oct 2021, 19:41

Respectfully, I don’t like this idea. A shattered military unit trying to get away in small groups is one thing, but at the scale of the current armies (600 man “Divisions”, etc.) roving around with a platoon or small company represents not a shattered unit, but a sizable amount of divisional assets. Also, units of this size would face daunting logistics in terms of food and fuel, and the logistical train would be daunting and unsustainable…the old saw is amateurs discuss strategy, professional discuss logistics right? If foraging, a group this size would quickly denude the surrounding area of all food and supplies, no doubt to the alienation of the countryside. Lastly, given the size of the units described, and their potential fighting strength, there is little need to retreat, they can simply fight their way out.

In the end, of course, its your sandbox and you should do what you and your players enjoy, but I thought I’d share a contrary thought…
All of that, to me, absolutely sells the idea. What you said is all true but it's also amazing adventure hooks! Okay, so you've got these 10 NPCs rolling along with you... what do you do when one of them loots a local farmstead without your permission? If you can't manage to keep the whole group fed and they start questioning whether you know what you're doing, how do you reassure them/distract them/stave off a mutiny?

Nothing should be free in T2K and your NPC helpers could cause as much trouble as they solve!

All of this stuff is codified into Blades In The Dark and dealing with the mishaps and complications created by your eager underlings is often the most fun part!
Author, Central Poland Sourcebook -- now available on DriveThruRPG
 
AEB
Posts: 171
Joined: Sat 19 Sep 2020, 06:01

Re: T2K4 "Red Shirts"

Thu 28 Oct 2021, 05:10

That is where the GM steps in.

I could see certain NPCs as being useful at different points in a campaign.

1. A translator who can speak languages the player characters cannot
2. A local guide or fixer who has local knowledge and can aid the player characters in navigating the local area
3. A NPC with a specialist trade (these should be rare and come with a high cost) like a NPC able to rebuild a transmition or fix a radio set
4. NPCs who perform tasks like set up camp, cook, run the still or perform other mundane tasks freeing up the player characters to do other things
5. Redshirt soldiers to make up the numbers or fill vehicle crew positions

At a minimum such NPCs will need to be fed and clothed, and/or paid with supplies. Some NPCs may temporarily join with the player characters to achieve a mutual goal or task like rescue hostages or clear out bandits, escort a merchant caravan or simliar task and the NPCs in this case will feed and supply themselves.

Morale can be taken into account with theft and/or desertion occurring if the party cannot support its NPCs adequately.
 
Balou1917
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun 07 Jun 2020, 22:45

Re: T2K4 "Red Shirts"

Thu 28 Oct 2021, 16:03

I'm thinking it might be fun to increase the size of the player party considerably with the inclusion of friendly NPCs controlled by the players - a bit like Star Trek "Red Shirts". Depending on a character's rank, the player who owns that character can create a number of NPCs that his character directly controls. For example, a lowly Private would have one NPC he controls (soldiers normally operate in pairs as the lowest sized unit), a PFC or Corporal might have a small fireteam or section, a Sergeant might have a whole squad of NPCs, etc. The player party might then conceivably represent a reduced strength platoon. If the player controls one or two NPCS they would be created in a similar manner to the Archetype creation method but maybe with some penalties to make them not as good as a proper PC. Each player would have a maximum of two fleshed out NPCs and if he has control of more people they would be very basic mooks assigned to one of the NPCs to help their rolls. When rolling for the group's vehicle, you would roll more than once. NPCs and mooks would count towards the PC modifier to the vehicle roll but the modifier cannot be greater than +4. If it is, you split it and roll twice, e.g. roll once with +3 and again with +2. If you had some mad number of PCs, NPCs and mooks like 14 you would keep splitting it down so no roll had a modifier greater than +4, e.g. two rolls with a +4 and two with a +3. You could end up with a tank and several other vehicles like APCs, trucks and Humvees. This could result in some proper skirmish type gameplay.
I like to make a generic squad when playing a game solo. Character 1's last name starts with an "A", 2 with a "B" etc. After a little adventuring they usually thin out a bit and you can get a feel for the characters. So I think the "Redshirt" idea is legit. As you lose members, then local NPCs may replace your loses, depending on how your game goes.
 
Solitare99
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu 18 Jun 2020, 14:08

Re: T2K4 "Red Shirts"

Thu 28 Oct 2021, 18:01

That is where the GM steps in.

I could see certain NPCs as being useful at different points in a campaign.

1. A translator who can speak languages the player characters cannot
2. A local guide or fixer who has local knowledge and can aid the player characters in navigating the local area
3. A NPC with a specialist trade (these should be rare and come with a high cost) like a NPC able to rebuild a transmition or fix a radio set
4. NPCs who perform tasks like set up camp, cook, run the still or perform other mundane tasks freeing up the player characters to do other things
5. Redshirt soldiers to make up the numbers or fill vehicle crew positions

At a minimum such NPCs will need to be fed and clothed, and/or paid with supplies. Some NPCs may temporarily join with the player characters to achieve a mutual goal or task like rescue hostages or clear out bandits, escort a merchant caravan or simliar task and the NPCs in this case will feed and supply themselves.

This- This is how I'm looking to add NPC to my Solo campaign


Morale can be taken into account with theft and/or desertion occurring if the party cannot support its NPCs adequately.
 
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omnipus
Posts: 742
Joined: Mon 22 Jun 2020, 20:58

Re: T2K4 "Red Shirts"

Fri 29 Oct 2021, 03:04

I'm thinking it might be fun to increase the size of the player party considerably with the inclusion of friendly NPCs controlled by the players - a bit like Star Trek "Red Shirts". Depending on a character's rank, the player who owns that character can create a number of NPCs that his character directly controls. For example, a lowly Private would have one NPC he controls (soldiers normally operate in pairs as the lowest sized unit), a PFC or Corporal might have a small fireteam or section, a Sergeant might have a whole squad of NPCs, etc. The player party might then conceivably represent a reduced strength platoon. If the player controls one or two NPCS they would be created in a similar manner to the Archetype creation method but maybe with some penalties to make them not as good as a proper PC. Each player would have a maximum of two fleshed out NPCs and if he has control of more people they would be very basic mooks assigned to one of the NPCs to help their rolls. When rolling for the group's vehicle, you would roll more than once. NPCs and mooks would count towards the PC modifier to the vehicle roll but the modifier cannot be greater than +4. If it is, you split it and roll twice, e.g. roll once with +3 and again with +2. If you had some mad number of PCs, NPCs and mooks like 14 you would keep splitting it down so no roll had a modifier greater than +4, e.g. two rolls with a +4 and two with a +3. You could end up with a tank and several other vehicles like APCs, trucks and Humvees. This could result in some proper skirmish type gameplay.
I like to make a generic squad when playing a game solo. Character 1's last name starts with an "A", 2 with a "B" etc. After a little adventuring they usually thin out a bit and you can get a feel for the characters. So I think the "Redshirt" idea is legit. As you lose members, then local NPCs may replace your loses, depending on how your game goes.
You're basically describing a funnel game, kinda. T2K is not a bad game for it!
Author, Central Poland Sourcebook -- now available on DriveThruRPG

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