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Direct Intent

I am almost finished with Direct Action—the newest version of the kind of game I have worked on and played since Covert Forces in 2005—and hope to have it available early in May 2022. As much as I enjoy writing about elite military units, I am not blind to the real-world problems and issues with these units.

Cover of Direct Action

As military units and tools of national policy for rich nations, elite military units and the operators that staff them have been used in unjust ways, undermining the rule of law and the right to self-determination for many people. They have not and generally are not particularly well-integrated. Their reputation draws to them individuals keen to showcase their physical capabilities and those whose patriotism may lean more to jingoism. Though their initial imagining was as a precise kinetic tool comprised of philosopher-warriors, many have become blunt hammers comprised of shooters. Further, their representation in modern media generally reinforces negative stereotypes of the ethnic and cultural makeup of terrorists and criminals. No matter the truth about the current profile of those who threaten democracy and rule of law, it is always easier to point to the brown and black ‘other.’

To top this all off, during the period that I was working on this, questions regarding adherence to the laws of armed combat surfaced for elite units in Australia, Canada, and the United States. It delayed completion multiple times as I set the game aside.

There are definite problems with these units.

But it is also true that many are drawn to these units because they believe in the rule of law, the right to self-determination, and the requirement for the strong to protect and nurture the weak. Historically, Western society has always lionized bands of elite warriors, no matter the actual truth behind them.

Developing a role-playing game for elite military operators carries many of the same risks as developing games based on the Vikings or Roman legionaries—like Kiss My Axe and Centurion: Legionaries of Rome. Those historical groups did not, in actual history, display the heroism their legends might suggest, and were brutal, violent groups that oppressed those they could safely dominate. However, I would argue that it is possible to play games based on heroism using the tropes of those historical legends, which is why I designed those games.

Understanding that special operations forces can be problematic—as can any military force—this game is intended to allow participants to play heroic characters that have reached the pinnacle of their chosen profession and use their abilities and resources in an attempt to improve the world. That they fail or that they are disillusioned can be included in their stories. The shortcomings of the units need not be ignored, but there is an attraction to ambitious, competent, and driven figures, and that is a good description of most of special warfare operators.

On a personal note, I enjoy playing video games like Ghost Recon and Call of Duty. I have every issue of the comic the Activity. I watched the Unit during its broadcast and have watched both the Six and SEAL Team. I have seen both Acts of Valour and 13 Hours more than once. I am also a middle-aged white guy who has never served but whose career has brought him into contact with various special operations and special operations capable forces. I’ve written a lot of RPG content focused on elite military units. I also believe that black lives matter, that trans rights are human rights, that racism is hard-coded into the structures of most institutions, and that indigenous peoples’ rights and claims must be respected. I am a socialist who believes in strong national security policies and a robust, effective military under complete civilian control.

I want to believe that one can portray heroic characters who have undergone the most rigorous training available in the modern military and now seek to pursue just causes and fight the good fight. That is why I wrote Direct Action and why I think there are those out there interested in playing it.

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Direct Action: Covert Forces and Special Operators

Undertaking the most difficult missions in the most dangerous locales, special operations forces are the tip of the spear. Secretive, highly-trained, and hauling the best kit, these shadow warriors represent a tactical response to strategic threats.

Direct Action is a game based on d20 and Fifth Edition, and draws on previous SEP products like Covert Forces: Redux, Blood and Guts 2: In Her Majesty’s Service, and Canada’s Combined Security Reconnaissance Section. Characters are special operators from national covert forces in adventures that can either jump from the headlines or explode out of fiction. Hunt down terrorists, shut down drug syndicates, protect diplomats in ungoverned spaces—the missions are as varied as the operators’ talents and training.

Kit up and head out for some high-speed, low-drag action.

Direct Action is will be the June 2020 release on my Patreon.

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HardCASE: a Sword’s Edge Adventure

The newest release from SEP is now available.

On a mission to hunt down an arms dealer connected to several high profile assassinations, operatives in the Contact Team, the kinetic, direct action arm of the secretive CASE – the Clandestine Activities Special Executive – uncover a link between a secretive Russian cutting edge science program, in existence since Soviet Union, and North Korean arms smugglers. The Contact Team is sent to hunt down a Russian scientist linked to this project who is seeking to meet with the North Koreans. What are they planning and how can CASE stop them?

“HardCASE” is a near-future action-thriller adventure for Sword’s Edge. It’s available now at Drive Thru RPG. It includes a new addition to the rules for Challenges in Sword’s Edge and presents six pre-generated operatives from CASE.

This adventure was developed as part of a Patreon campaign. If you would like to see more adventures like this, please support the author at Patreon.

 

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Modern Sword’s Edge

This is the final in a selection of examples from different genres I’ve run using Sword’s Edge, which is presently in the middle of Kickstarting. Which you have, of course, backed. I mean, you’re reading this, which is about this game, and this game is awesome, so you’ve backed it. It’s only logical . . .

This time, let’s look at the present day.

The second game I am running right now with Sword’s Edge is a modern actioner in which the PCs are member of Canadian Special Operations Force Command who have been called into a central African nation due to the disappearance of a CANPER (Canadian Person) of political value. So far, it’s been mostly investigative, but fireworks have been promised and they will happen.

Hear that guys? Lock and load.

The rebel fighters, the official militia and the government paramilitary are all basically the same, and these are the minions our boys will be crossing as some or all of them attempt to impede the rescue of that CANPER.

Rapid Support Forces
(Basic minion) 8
Concept: Fake Tough, +2

They turned to a local fixer who had connections with most of the dominant cultures of the region, and she’s got them audiences with some bad people who nevertheless might be helpful. You’ll notice she’s not a standard Regular, and I find that sometimes one needs a Regular+ when the character isn’t necessarily expected to be boss (or Hero) level.

Amira Ishag
(Good regular) 17
Concept: Face, +2
Physique -2; Charisma +2; Cunning +2

Finally, the team has not yet started along the trail that will lead them to the CANPER, but one of the obstacles they will have to overcome is a notorious mercenary, someone who could challenge them when the bullets start to fly but isn’t too dangerous.

AKA Notorious Mercenary
(Average hero) 12
Concept: Merc, +4
Physique +4; Charisma +2; Cunning +0
Gunman (Phy) +4, Intimidation (Cha) +2

So those are a few modern NCs one might find in many of the world’s hotspots. There’s plenty more where that comes from as I have a few adventures I can publish once Sword’s Edge comes out.

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HardCASE

I have kind of penchant for super-powered black ops and spies. Now, I think the absolute best was the short-run by Warren Ellis (big surprise) on Secret Avengers, but I was also a huge fan of John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad comics and The Boys by Garth Ennis. I’ve written some short fiction, but nothing that has seen the light of day other than a very perfunctory homage to The Boys.

From Secret Avengers 18, Written by Warren Ellis, Pencils and Inks by David Aja, Colours by Raul Allen, and Letters by Dave Lanphear

It looks like a system that I created to mimic Borderlands – which I had titled F#ck You Up – will be the basis for a new campaign/playtest in the super-black ops genre. I’m calling it HardCASE.

The PCs each have one particular superpower in that they are the absolute human pinnacle of that skill or ability. So, for example, a character like Deadshot would have Firearms or Aim, whereas Hawkeye would have Archery. Shang-chi could have Martial Arts, as could Iron Fist.

There will be much more to the characters, including Drivers and Training – so while Hawkeye’s power would be Archery, a Driver would likely be “Prove Myself” and Training in “Hand-to-Hand Combat.”

I already have a few ideas for adventures, using the basic backbone I had planned for Mission Creep, Mission Crawl and jazzing it as befits a comic adventure. I’m not going to lighten it or turn it into NextWAVE: Agents of Hate, but this has changed from the Activity to DC’s Checkmate, which means that the badguys will also have powers.

I might recycle some of the stuff from Mundus Novit – which has pretty much disappeared into the dustbin of RPG history – but this is going to be a very different take. In Mundus Novit, part of the direction was that the general public basically knew about superpowers. In HardCASE, it still isn’t general knowledge.

So now I need to adapt F#ck You Up to meet my intentions for HardCASE and to get my ideas on paper – virtual paper that is.

I have chosen to accept my mission.

You can find out more about Secret Avengers, Suicide Squad, and The Boys.

You can find out more about Mundus Novit here and read the fiction tie-in Dark Horizons starting here.

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Designing the Design

Some discussions have erupted in places I frequent regarding adventure design. I find the discussion fascinating, especially since I have recently struggled through preparing two adventures for publication – one in the Nefertiti Overdrive Quickstart and the second for the successfully Kickstarted Nefertiti Overdrive.

My biggest problem with adventure design is that my natural tendency as a GM is to use minimal prep with a page or two of ideas/resources and let the game go where it will. This does not a good published adventure make. My GMing has diverged dramatically from a course that allows it to work as a foundation for designing adventures for publication, and so such design takes a lot more time, effort, and thought that it used to.

I’ve folded much of what I use to direct games in an improvisational nature into my game design. Nefertiti Overdrive has both Drivers and Pivots, two signposts that tell me what my players want to include in a game. If someone’s Pivot is to find a brother’s murderer, that subplot needs to make an appearance every now and then – which is frankly awesome, because it allows me to weave a character into the metaplot in an unexpected way. “Your brother was working for who?!!?” If a character’s Driver refers to protecting the innocent, you know there are going to be some doe-eyed children threatened somewhere along the way.

It makes it easy to just throw out an opening scene and go.

Advancing through the foliage
In The Foliage by Dean Martin

I don’t think anyone is going to pay any kind of money for a published adventure that does this.

I will be publishing some adventures – along with some new systems – in the near future, so I need to put together the notes and resources I used and try to come up with an elegant and simple way to present the adventure to an audience.

This could be interesting.

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A History of (Fraser’s) Designs

The Warden is one smart dude, and since he has decided to discuss his process creating the uber-secret Project Pheonix, I thought I’d do something similar.

Covert Hero by Dean MartinImitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Anyone following this blog has already had access to the Untitled Game System v1 document. UGS is the backbone and basis for the games that I’m going to be developing for my gaming group – Starship Commandos and A Team of Losers. Starship Commandos v1 Playtest document is done. I’m turning to A Team of Losers now, but as both games focus on military characters (present-day and future) much of what I have done for Starship Commandos will work well with A Team of Losers, as will a lot of the modern military stuff I did for the Spec Ops line of SEP.

But what am I trying to do? Having that target, that idea for what the rules are supposed to do, really helps in the design process. I will be frank with you – the very first games I designed, way back in university during the days of D&D 2E, had no real design philosophies but were built to work in a genre other than fantasy, so I had an SF game and a modern magic game. Following that, I had a long fallow period until coming home from Korea.

At the outset of SEP, I was publishing support material for d20, though I was still privately toying with design. These were mostly “fixes” of d20. It wasn’t until the desire to run games similar to the stories that I was writing led to Sword Noir: A Role-Playing Game of Hardboiled Sword & Sorcery.

Let’s be honest, Sword Noir was a hack on PDQ, more specifically, on Jaws of the Six Serpents. I really like Jaws, but it needed to be tweaked to do what I wanted to do. That tweaking led to wholesale revisions that led to Sword Noir.

Centurion: Legionaries of Rome was really the first game I designed from the ground up, purpose built for specific goals. Nefertiti Overdrive is a synthesis of the design goal approach of Centurion and the genre emulation of my earlier games.

UGS is closer to Centurion in its birth than Nefertiti Overdrive.

But that’s another story.

You can find the Warden talking about Project Phoenix here.

You find PDQ here and Jaws of the Six Serpents here.

You can find print versions of Sword Noir here and Centurion here. SEP’s PDFs are all available here.

You can find the UGS here and talk of Starship Commandos and A Team of Losers here.

 

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Direct Action: OP NIFLEHEIM – Challenges

"Tactical Air Control" by IMK
“Tactical Air Control” by IMK

The below challenges aren’t really linked to any given area, although the first and last (approach and tossing the camp) are events. The rest refer to NPCs one might meet within the camp.

Before the game, it is important that the GM know for what the various buildings and areas are used, and where Al-Masri might be located. When I ran it, Al-Masri was in a building in the centre of the camp, which was made obvious due to the collapsible satellite dish on its roof. Also, the PCs were very conscientious and surveilled the camp for quite some time, figuring out the movement of the guards, and also deciding, based on activity, what the various buildings were. It would be good to have a schedule and some events prepared.

I used the evacuation of the camp (once they found out their contacts in Conakry were killed) as a kind of countdown, a ticking bomb as it were, forcing the PCs to act within a set time period. The activities in the camp clued the PCs in to the upcoming move, and actually got them to act before they intended.

I also threw in the arrival of a couple of technicals and a transport of weapons that were manned by East Africans – the PCs deduced, using Tests, that these were Somalis. This gave another thread to include in the planned campaign, just in case the PCs were a little too efficient in dealing with the opposition. Always nice to have another door for the PCs to open.

THE CHALLENGES

Approach Unseen
Difficulty: d8, there’s not a lot of cover in the desert
Threat: d4, could get seen, but no threat to life or limb . . . yet
Environment: depends on time of approach, night works in PCs favour d4, pre-dawn or post-dusk, d6, twilight or dawn d8, day d10 – approach too close with aircraft or helo, increase die type by 1 step
Complexity: d8, approaching a guarded camp
Damage Track: d8

The Guards
D: d8, Good training and experience
T: d8, use of AKs and use will alert the camp
E: d12 exceptionally hostile
C: d8, the better, smarter tangos of the group
Damage Track: d10

Lone Tango
D: d4 Basic, not well-trained
T: d6, spraying and praying with a lone AK
E: d6, knows the camp
C: d4, a single dude
Damage Track: d4

Small knot of Tangos (3 – 6)
D: d8, strength in numbers
T: d10, bunch of AKs
E: d6, know the camp
Complexity: d6, a few dudes
Damage Track: d8

Pack of Tangos (6-10)
D: d12, overwhelming numbers
T: d12, whole lotta lead
E: d6, know the camp
C: d8, surrounded, or near enough
Damage Track: d12

Al-Masri
D: d6, trained but cowardly
T: d6, not good with the AK
E: d8, wily commuter who knows the camp
Complexity: d6, he’s tough, but not that tough
Damage Track: d8

Abu Dujana, Al-Masri’s bodyguard
D: d10, highly trained, motivated and brave
T: d10, precise work with an AK
E: d10, knows the terrain and how to use it
C: d10, bad-ass mo-fo
Damage Track: d10

Tossing the Camp
D: d8 finding that needle
T: d4 (unless there are still tangos about, then it’s d8, could alert the Tangos)
E: d10 large area, unknown to team
C: d8, lots of ground to cover
Damage Track: d6 find computers, d8 cellphones, d12 cache of portable drives sealed in a container

You can find the camp image here.

You can find more Spec Ops posts here.

You can find OP NIFLEHEIM posts here.

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Direct Action: OP NIFLEHEIM – Handout Prep

Last post regarding OP NIFLEHEIM gave the general situation and how the PCs would be introduced to the adventure.

As a side note, I’m using Canadian military operations titling system, in which the first letter of the name is the first letter of the country in which the op is occurring and the word should be bilingual (or, in many cases, not English or French, such as OP SATURN – in Darfur, which is in Sudan).

“Pararescue Airmen mission ready for search, rescue” a U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Cecilio M. Ricardo Jr. from U.S. Air Force Photos

I mentioned in that last post Echo bringing imagery. Generally, that’s not the role of CSEC (Communications Security Establishment Canada, our version of the NSA and usually referred to as See-Sek), but in a situation such as in the adventure, it might be the only way to transfer highly classified documentation. Of course, for the purposes of the adventure, Echo is bringing along a secure system. That might raise questions if you are trying to run a relatively realistic scenario, in that higher classifications can require a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility). For classified imagery, a secure system outside a SCIF is probably fine.

What kind of information might this imagery relate? It’s probably got some indication of what the various buildings are used for, and there’s probably an estimate of the opposition and weaponry on site. For my map, I had nothing labelled – the imagery technicians didn’t have the kind of information or time they would need to make that kind of analysis. What I did indicate was:

Garambak Camp, Niger, 122123 May 13
Expected enemy complement 100 to 200
Expected equipment level AK-47s, AKMs, RPGs, technicals, APCs, IFVs

The imagery was taken on the 12th of May, 2014 at 2123 Zulu (Coordinated Universal Time, generally synonymous to Greenwich Mean Time), and the techs have estimated the camp complement as well as identified material.

For the wanted poster, I took an image from the FBI’s most wanted terrorists list and tagged it with the following information:

Abdul Al-Masri (as a title, over the image of the target)

(the rest of the information in presented under the image)
Aliases: Abu Mariam, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah Ali, Abu Mohammed

DESCRIPTION
Date(s) of Birth Used: Approximately 1973
Place of Birth: Egypt
Height: Approximately 5’8″
Weight: Unknown
Build: Medium
Hair: Dark
Eyes: Dark
Complexion: Olive
Sex: Male
Citizenship: Egypt
Language: Arabic
Scars and Marks: Al-Masri has a scar on the right side of his lower lip.
Remarks: Al-Masri cellphone geo-located to Garambak Camp, Niger on May 6, 2013.

So that’s the prep I did for handouts. Next, I’ll share the Challenges the PCs faced.

You can find more information on OP SATURN here and other Canadian operations here.

You can find more information on CSEC here and here.

You can find more about SCIFs here.

You can find the camp image here.

You can find the FBI most wanted terrorists here, and the dude I used here.

You can find more Spec Ops posts here.

You can find OP NIFLEHEIM posts here.

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Direct Action: OP NIFLEHEIM – Sitrep

SniperA while back I was posting parts of the adventures I was running while playtesting a modern military special operations campaign which I called Direct Action. The last adventure was OP GRANGE. OP NIFLEHEIM follows on from OP GRANGE and has the team entering a terrorist camp in Niger.

Col. Terry Warner and MWO Chester “Watts” Watkins meet team at airport. They have arrived aboard the Challenger with a close personal protection detail from JTF2. A C-130 with a platoon from CSOR (Canadian Special Operations Regiment, usually referred to as See-Sore) is due in the next few hours. Col Warner will be departing with the ambassador but the warrant will remain with the team to brief.

The colonel congratulates the men on a job well done, and getting a goddamn police escort to the airport. That’s how he likes to see things done.

The ambassador is effusive in his praise.

When they have departed, Watts takes the team to a quiet office inside the airport. He drops Al-Masri sheet on the desk there.

The points Watts will pass along

  1. This fucker wanted to buy the ambassador from the assholes who kidnapped him. He was the one talking to the gunrunner in Guinea-Bissau.
  2. He called from a location in Niger using an Algerian cell number.
  3. CSEC (Communications Security Establishment Canada, usually referred to as See-Sek) has tracked him to a camp just outside Garambak in Niger. That’s in the west of the country, near the borders with Algeria and Mali, crawling with Tuareg and AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb)
  4. While the local Nigerien forces won’t do anything about it, France wants to nuke the camp from orbit, but are being restrained because of the possibility of hostages being held in the camp – possibly French hostages. There is a Canadian Defence Attaché team in Niamey trying to get cooperation from the brass.
  5. The Agency doesn’t believe this joker is a top tier bad-guy, so someone’s pulling his chain.

Watts will provide imagery of the camp location.

  1. This camp has no road access to it, though there are paths vehicles can use.
  2. Only get a flyover once a day, and have noted only minimal activity
  3. CSEC rep with secure comms (communications) will be arriving with CSOR, and will have an imagery analysis report

When the C-130 touches down, the CSOR platoon includes CSEC liaison, Clara Lithwick, known at the Hill as Echo Charlie or just Echo. She’s ex-military, tall, swimmer’s build, and the target of just about every hetero male on the Hill. She’s got secure comms gear and indicates:

  1. Al-Masri has been calling someone named Abbas in the northern part of Pakistan’s tribal region
  2. The French are concerned French hostages still at large may be in the camp. They want to babysit us, and that’s the only way we’ll get access. We’re going in with their Marine Parachute Regiment. They have agreed we can turn over (search) the camp as long as we share anything we grab. The Nigeriens are following the French on this, so Niamey won’t say boo.
  3. No one else wants in on this one. Everyone’s still smarting from the In Amenas debacle.

She has imagery of the camp itself.

For imagery of the area surrounding the camp, I just took a Google Maps shot from Niger near the tri-border area. For the camp, I used an image available at Global Security and cropped out some of the captions.

You can find the camp image here.

You can find more Spec Ops posts here.

You can find OP GRANGE posts here.