OOC- Zombie Apocalypse Chapter 2- General Discussion

[Mr. Handy]

Good first post, Tony! Don't forget to write for Max the dog as well (he's currently in Captain Duffy's office with Jim Kerr and Randall). Let me answer your questions first:

Captain Miranda Reynolds was one of the people Lt. Blanco spoke to at NATO HQ in Brussels over the comm system. Captain Reynolds mentioned a British officer named Walters was in the area. This discussion was on page 8 of Chapter 2's IC thread, near the bottom, but it was short and easy to miss.

It was Stephanie's idea that the zombies are animated bioelectrically. Both she and Dr. Hausmann have decent scores in Chemistry, though Stephanie does not have Medicine. Successful Medicine and Chemistry rolls could give you an idea of whether or not neurotoxins ought to work, but the only way to know for sure if they do is to test them. Of course, they would also harm humans - assuming you could get your hands on them, that is. Both rolls don't have to made by the same person. Dr. Hausmann could help, but she's currently sedated. It will take Lt. Blanco one more minute before she finishes the splint on her broken arm, after which time she could revive her with the syringe she has prepared. Sally has Chemistry skill, but it's fairly low. Lt. Blanco could also talk to Stephanie, who can converse and work on the computer at the same time.

Also, Luke is actually on the east side of the diner's roof, while Erica has landed a little to the west of the T-Bone, so he's completely on the opposite side (over 50 yards away). He saw the chopper come in so I'd say he can hear that she's shouting, but in order to make out exactly what she's saying he'd need to make a Listen roll. The west side of the diner took the brunt of the explosion, and only the east end of that roof is stable enough to stay on. The garage is sturdier, so its roof is stable too. Samantha just climbed up there using the ladder she borrowed. Luke would have to climb down his rope (or jump) in order to get to ground level.

There are two barrels of fuel. One has been moved to just inside the garage door already, and the second is in the rear of the garage. It will take three people, all with STR of 12+, to move the closer barrel to the chopper in one turn. Fortunately, Willie has offered to help and Erica herself is strong enough. You just need one more person.

A few other things I wanted to reply to:

Saying "over and out" is improper radio protocol. "Over" means your finished transmitting and are waiting for a reply, "Out" means you're signing off. I'm not sure if anyone's said this, but "repeat" is also verboten; use "say again" or "I say again" instead. ("Repeat" over a military channel is always a priority request to repeat an artillery fire mission and many police are ex-military.) 10-4 ("Roger") and 10-20 (location, often abbreviated as "Twenty") are the only common 10-codes still in use that I know of.

10-4. I'll keep that in mind in the future. I guess I'm not the only one who didn't know that about "repeat," as I just saw an early episode of Stargate SG-1 today where someone at the SGC said it twice, and these were Air Force personnel.

Which notes?

I only ask because I think those are more viable transports than the chopper, which has a limited range. Take those, add some "hillbilly hadji" armour (improvised steel plating like US Humvees in Iraq) to them and the tow-truck (to remove wrecks/blockages), and you're good to go. Once van trailer for people/supplies, plus a tanker for fuel. Or a flatbed for the chopper. You never know....

The notes were the ones Welsh made about the story (he sent me a copy when I started as Keeper), but they actually contradicted what we've established in the story.

The trucks can go further than the chopper, but the chopper can go faster. Right now time is critical, and they need to get to Omaha as quickly as possible. If they went by truck there might not be anyone left alive by the time they got there - not to mention the danger of getting stuck on the ground if the roads are blocked and the difficulty in getting past the zombie hordes to the human-controlled area instead of flying over them.

It is the moral and legal duty of all military personnel to refuse to obey illegal orders. As a friend in the Air Force said, "it's always best to find the moral high ground and place your artillery there, whatever the situation."

Yes, this would be in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which they all should have learned. Of course, the current situation is rather overwhelming and a lot of the other Air Force characters are either too busy to know what Captain Lereux is doing or too reluctant to be the first to stand up to him. Most of the NPCs aren't going to take action without a PC taking the lead. In this game, the players should take the initiative to change things and solve problems, as their characters are the heroes. The NPCs are there for support, but you can't rely on them for everything.

2. Attaching the 12 ga. Remington pump-action to an M16A2 or M4 is possible if it has the GL attachment points. It requires removing the shotgun's stock. This arrangement is called the "Masterkey". However, this is used only with a special frangible round for opening doors (you can't use the sights to aim).

McCain might have some frangible rounds for his shotgun if that's the case, but so far he's had no need to go blasting open doors. If he fires the shotgun at an enemy in the current configuration there'd be a penalty to hit, which I'll have to decide on later.

5. If Baldwin or the others are long-haul truckers, then one or more of the trucks likely have "sleeper" cabs. That is, a compartment behind the driver with a bed for sleeping(!). So you could fit 3 in the front of the cab and cram another 3 in the sleeper. Semi trucks would not be bothered by running people over, if it were done at speed. There's just too much mass!

The trucks do have sleeper cabs, then. I'll have David remember this and point it out next round; he's been a bit distracted by Alice and the repairs. In a pinch, 18 people could ride in the trucks, 7 in the Outback, and the rest in the Blazer (if they can get it started). In a real pinch, people could ride in the trailer of David's truck.

I had also been thinking that Baldwin's truck is refrigerated. This can be very useful, because there is perishable food at the T-Bone that could be transported if there's room. There wasn't time to detach the trailer earlier, as the chopper had been coming in hot, and Erica was in a hurry to get her chopper fueled and back up. Even now, detaching and then reattaching the trailer would cost precious time.

In addition, there is a plow in the junkyard that could be attached to one of the trucks. It's V-shaped, so it'll be very effective at pushing zombies out of the way.

6. Who exactly heard from Hawai'i that an electrical fence kills them dead? Seems like something others should know about...

The people who heard this are Lieutenant Elizabeth Malone, Igor Malanowski, Nathaniel Lewis, and Alexandria Mikhalin. All of them are currently moving the comm equipment. Malone is skeptical about what Goldberg has to say in general, but the others are free to pass on this info. The suggestion to set up the electric fence was Stephanie's, and she doesn't yet know that it worked (though she'd sure like to).

8. The .45 ACP M3A1 Grease Gun is one of the most reliable SMGs ever made. In a a dirty state if it jams it's probably a misfire, and the most that should need to happen to clear it is pull the bolt back. It's so simple a weapon that the only safety is a cover over the ejection port that needs to be flipped up. To cock it, instead of a handle or cocking knob a finger is inserted into a hole in the bolt and that's how you pull it back. Pretty stone age!

I had been looking at the M3A1's malfunction numbers in the DG weapons list, and they were 98-90-55. According to the DG gun rules it would misfire on an 89. Other SMGs on the list have much better numbers (such as the M1 Thompson at 99-98-90, which perhaps the M3A1 ought to have as well).

Whenever she tries to connect with the chopper's GPS she gets a "cannot connect" error.

Then the GPS receivers can't use the stale data they received prior to the satellites going down? Okay.

It's not a big thing either way (1967 would have been really unusual to have an MP-5: only a couple years after they were introduced and it would have the straight magazine; if he was CIA then he would likely have a Madsen M3 SMG, but that's of no real consequence.) I was just amused to find out that owning an automatic weapon in Nebraska is not illegal, and indeed does not require special permission.

It's unusual, but Mr. Foo is a very unusual guy. He was one of the first field agents to adopt the MP-5, which he prefers for its longer range. I'm not familiar with the Madsen M3, but if it's like the Grease gun then it wouldn't have a single shot mode, which is something Mr. Foo would want. Mr. Foo was in the field well before 1967, and during that time he would have used a different SMG.

Looking at the posted picture, it's loaded individually through the side ammo gate that's clearly visible below the ejection port and above the trigger guard. The magazine is the tube under the barrel.

In that case, I may need to modify that, but Gary doesn't need to reload any time soon.

The junkyard is a real security hassle. It provides an attacker, and not just the undead kind, an almost completely covered route of advance. Because of the multiple winding corridors it's hard to cover them all. Fortunately, this can be dealt with by blocking off all routes except one (preferably one main one that allows a long "fire lane") and then covering that one lane. If we had more Claymore mines, then that would be a good place to put another. The other corridors can be blocked off by using the tow truck to drag wrecks across them (lying on their side wrecked autos would be hard for anyone to climb over, living or dead).

Yes, you'll have to watch out for danger coming through the junkyard. Alice nearly met an untimely demise from a stray zombie that had been crawling around in there. So far nothing else has reached it, but that could change.

There are five more Claymores in reserve that could still be deployed to cover other avenues of approach.

If the AF is planning on being around for a while then the long grass has to go to clear a free fire zone. As controlled a burn as possible would be best and quickest, but attract attention. There may not be a lot that can be done about that!

Good thinking again. That grass provides the zombies (or other unfriendlies) plenty of cover to reach the motel.

Speaking of mines, most of the Claymores should be set to command detonation by "clacker" from the OP on the Motel roof. Automatic is too wasteful when one target stumbling along alone can set them off. The only ones on tripwire would be the ones (if any) set to deny an attacker terrain for concealment or a covered approach (like a ditch, stand of trees, etc.).

The three mines planted in the field of grass are on tripwire. There is also one mine planted to the south to cover the highway, and another to the north, on the dirt road. Both of those would probably be detonated by clacker from the roof.

Aside from mines, usually a defensive perimeter has fencing and barbed or razor concertina surrounding it. These measures will never stop a determined attacker, it's to slow them down in the kill zone somewhere between 200-300m. If we don't have fences or wire we have something that will do in a pinch: old tires. A belt 10-20 feet wide will slow down attackers where they can be mowed down, especially if there are more than one. Of course living targets won't have too much of a problem with tires but the unliving kind, fast or slow, will likely have real difficulties keeping on their feet instead of stumbling.

Yes, there are lots of tires in the junkyard. Something like that will take time to set up, of course.

A typical fire team has 2 "riflemen", 1 "grenadier" with rifle/GL (usually the element leader with one of the riflemen as RATELO/radioman or with AT rockets), and a SAW gunner with a SAW (the other rifleman is the ammo bearer). Of course, in the current situation a rifleman from each fire team would be detached to handle the big radio set.

This mission was organized on short notice, and there wasn't enough time to get enough troops for full fire teams - both were short one rifleman to start. Cole is a grenadier and element leader, but Ortega is the other fire team's grenadier. Alanen, the element leader, was also the SAW gunner. His SAW was retrieved and cleaned, but he and Hockey are the only ones with Machine Gun skill above base level - and now Alanen is no more. The four comm people (including Malanowski) are enough to move the big radio; the combatants are likely to be too busy to help, and delays in setting up the gear upstairs cannot be afforded.

 

[Helbent4]

Good first post, Tony! Don't forget to write for Max the dog as well (he's currently in Captain Duffy's office with Jim Kerr and Randall).

Ah, okay. Thanks! Will do. I was wondering if this was an office in the T-Bone or not, but it's in the "Deep Mole" bunker. I am unsure of the layout. There are 3 upper "store-house" levels? Then a locked gate, and an elevator down to a lower complex where there are barracks, a kitchen and offices? Presumably also detention blocks. This does not sound like a bunker hardened against nuclear strikes (which makes sense), although Max doesn't know this! The AF personnel might.

Captain Miranda Reynolds was one of the people Lt. Blanco spoke to at NATO HQ in Brussels over the comm system. Captain Reynolds mentioned a British officer named Walters was in the area. This discussion was on page 8 of Chapter 2's IC thread, near the bottom, but it was short and easy to miss.

Thanks for this information. I did read this, but indeed it was lost in so much detail. I hope you put up with similar errors. At a certain point I had to skim a little to get through it all in a timely fashion. I
take it there is nothing significant other than a shared personal connection?

It was Stephanie's idea that the zombies are animated bioelectrically.

She will bring it up in-character with Stephanie while she continues setting the broken arm. I'll roll her Medicine and see if she can add something useful.

Also, Luke is actually on the east side of the diner's roof, while Erica has landed a little to the west of the T-Bone, so he's completely on the opposite side (over 50 yards away). He saw the chopper come in so I'd say he can hear that she's shouting, but in order to make out exactly what she's saying he'd need to make a Listen roll.

Okay, I had it turned around. If the skinheads stopped in between the buildings, this would make sense. (Most of them escaped? I was skimming a little at that part too.) Luke probably only has to hear his name being called. If I recall, he and Erica kind of bonded in the short time she was there before. Would Erica know about the crates of ammo and the Grease Gun that are on the surface?

There are two barrels of fuel. One has been moved to just inside the garage door already, and the second is in the rear of the garage. It will take three people, all with STR of 12+, to move the closer barrel to the chopper in one turn. Fortunately, Willie has offered to help and Erica herself is strong enough. You just need one more person.

A dolly will help a lot. There are also 2 strapping commandos coming to help out! Hopefully we can get a few more characters involved to make it go a little quicker, too. Who all is going? Erica, Stephanie, Dr. Haussmann and Bob? It will be handy to have a left-seater (co-pilot), under the circumstances. Even injured he'll be a help.

 

[Mr. Handy]

Ah, okay. Thanks! Will do. I was wondering if this was an office in the T-Bone or not, but it's in the "Deep Mole" bunker. I am unsure of the layout. There are 3 upper "store-house" levels? Then a locked gate, and an elevator down to a lower complex where there are barracks, a kitchen and offices? Presumably also detention blocks. This does not sound like a bunker hardened against nuclear strikes (which makes sense), although Max doesn't know this! The AF personnel might.

The Deep Mole facility is down two long flights of stairs from the trapdoor in the liquor closet. A direct hit from a nuke would probably destroy it, but it would serve adequately as a fallout shelter.

The first level of the facility is the warehouse, and there's a flight of stairs leading to the reception area. Behind that is a hallway with four doors. The near left door is the barracks (with a bathroom area), the near right door is the kitchen (with pantry), the far left door is the CO's office, and the far right door is the armory. After the hall is the guard room, with the interrogation room off to one side. Past that is the cell block with twelve prison cells. Kerry describes passing through a similar facility beneath the PMS compound in recent posts.

Thanks for this information. I did read this, but indeed it was lost in so much detail. I hope you put up with similar errors. At a certain point I had to skim a little to get through it all in a timely fashion. I
take it there is nothing significant other than a shared personal connection?

Quite all right. Lt. Blanco only spoke to Miranda Reynolds for a couple of minutes and doesn't know her personally. The important thing for her to know is that Walters is an RAF officer who knows Captain Reynolds.

She will bring it up in-character with Stephanie while she continues setting the broken arm. I'll roll her Medicine and see if she can add something useful.

Stephanie is in the reception area, not the kitchen. Lt. Blanco would have to go out there to ask her, but for this turn she needs to finish setting Dr. Hausmann's arm.

Lt. Blanco could always roll against her base Chemistry of 1%. You never know. Sally has a small chance too.

Okay, I had it turned around. If the skinheads stopped in between the buildings, this would make sense. (Most of them escaped? I was skimming a little at that part too.) Luke probably only has to hear his name being called. If I recall, he and Erica kind of bonded in the short time she was there before. Would Erica know about the crates of ammo and the Grease Gun that are on the surface?

Half of the skinheads escaped in Chapter 1. Buzz, Guzmann, and one of the shotgun-wielding skinheads died. Erica does know about the weapon crates outside, as she saw them when she was there before.

A dolly will help a lot. There are also 2 strapping commandos coming to help out! Hopefully we can get a few more characters involved to make it go a little quicker, too. Who all is going? Erica, Stephanie, Dr. Haussmann and Bob? It will be handy to have a left-seater (co-pilot), under the circumstances. Even injured he'll be a help.

The dolly will help a lot. The real problem is the stairs, and realistically only four people can carry it up (two above and two below). Erica, Stephanie, and Dr. Hausmann are definitely going. Bringing Bob along as a co-pilot would be a good idea. Bo or Jim Kerr would be a likely choice for the fifth seat.

 

[Helbent4]

The trucks can go further than the chopper, but the chopper can go faster. Right now time is critical, and they need to get to Omaha as quickly as possible. If they went by truck there might not be anyone left alive by the time they got there - not to mention the danger of getting stuck on the ground if the roads are blocked and the difficulty in getting past the zombie hordes to the human-controlled area instead of flying over them.

I was thinking of the future, after the mad dash to Omaha and (hopefully) a return. In that case we can take our time and scout a route a little better to wherever we're going. One great thing about the USA is a the well-developed road net.

Yes, this would be in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which they all should have learned. Of course, the current situation is rather overwhelming and a lot of the other Air Force characters are either too busy to know what Captain Lereux is doing or too reluctant to be the first to stand up to him. Most of the NPCs aren't going to take action without a PC taking the lead. In this game, the players should take the initiative to change things and solve problems, as their characters are the heroes. The NPCs are there for support, but you can't rely on them for everything.

I don't know if I mentioned this specifically, but a friend ran a game where we examined a lot of these issues in detail (we were playing US military personnel in a "Day of the Dead" scenario). Stuff like what is the chain-of-command, legal and illegal orders, insubordination (this does not mean what people usually think it means; it really means skipping up the chain of command. What is usually called insubordinantion is actually other offenses like disobeying orders, insolence, conduct unbecoming an officer, etc.) Also, "is it legal to break into people's houses and take their stuff?" (Answer: yes, but only if they're already dead. If they're alive, it's looting and a capital offense, regardless if it's a soldier or not.)

I take it you're familiar with the "Nuremburg Defense" then? Let's hope it doesn't come to this in-game...

The trucks do have sleeper cabs, then. I'll have David remember this and point it out next round; he's been a bit distracted by Alice and the repairs. In a pinch, 18 people could ride in the trucks, 7 in the Outback, and the rest in the Blazer (if they can get it started). In a real pinch, people could ride in the trailer of David's truck.

Personally, I'd rather ride in the van trailer of a semi. No air conditioning, but no breakable windows either. I think that if David is hauling construction supplies, that's probably a local load and his is a "day" cab (no sleeper). A tanker and reefer trailer are more typical long-haul loads.

There wasn't time to detach the trailer earlier, as the chopper had been coming in hot, and Erica was in a hurry to get her chopper fueled and back up. Even now, detaching and then reattaching the trailer would cost precious time.

This takes seconds to accomplish. The driver gets out and deploys the jacks at the front of the trailer, disconnects the hydraulic line (for the brakes) and the power cables (for the lights), hits the release handle on the "horseshoe" (hitch), then simply drives off. Most of the time at a loading dock is carefully maneuvering the loaded trailer in on a straight line so the truck doesn't jackknife or the trailer hit anything. Hooking up is a little longer because you have to back in with a certain amount of care and then make sure the tongue is securely engaged to the horseshoe, but once the jacks are retracted and the lines hooked back up you're out of there.

In addition, there is a plow in the junkyard that could be attached to one of the trucks. It's V-shaped, so it'll be very effective at pushing zombies out of the way.

This would make sense for the tow truck, which I see as the "point" vehicle.

I had been looking at the M3A1's malfunction numbers in the DG weapons list, and they were 98-90-55. According to the DG gun rules it would misfire on an 89. Other SMGs on the list have much better numbers (such as the M1 Thompson at 99-98-90, which perhaps the M3A1 ought to have as well).

Ah, the beauty of firearms in RPGs. Everyone's got an opinion and a favourite weapon and a not-so-favourite weapon! I like the Grease Gun, but not to the exclusion of all else. It's still in use today (as a tankers' weapon for US NG and Reservists), so that says something about the reliability.

"The .45 caliber M3/M3A1 are far easier to manufacture than the Thompson, and have a number of excellent design features in addition. The low cyclical rate of fire makes the gun easier to control than most submachine guns, not only the Thompson. The weapon's straight line of recoil thrust also adds substantially in controlling the gun in automatic fire. The gun's loose tolerances allow for reliable operation even if very dirty and, with its bolt and guide rod design make it more reliable than the Thompson under adverse conditions.

The M3/M3A1 is only capable of fully automatic operation; however, with its slow rate of fire, an experienced shooter can squeeze off single rounds."

"I carried a grease gun in Vietnam while I served with the First Marine Division (66-68). There are a several of neat things about the gun that don't appear in the description and I'd like to tell you about them. The gun had a built-in oiler in the base of the grip. After turning the gun over, the knob seen in the illustration is unscrewed revealing an oil reservoir and an oil applicator. The wire stock was a masterpiece of American ingenuity. It was a wrench for removing the barrel, the barrel had two grooves machined into it into which the wire stock was placed and then turned to loosen the barrel. One of the stock rods was threaded at the forward end to take a bore brush and drilled out to take a cleaning patch, and finally, there was a small "L" shaped piece of steel welded to the butt of the stock, as seen in the illustration, that functioned as a magazine loader. Trying to thumb load 30 rounds into the mag was a chore. This twenty-eight dollar, or so, piece of stamped, welded and machined metal was a beauty, on the several occasions when I needed it, it never failed me. "

http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/grease.htm

Her dad carried one in Vietnam. If he's alive, maybe he'd like another.

Whenever she tries to connect with the chopper's GPS she gets a "cannot connect" error.

Then the GPS receivers can't use the stale data they received prior to the satellites going down? Okay.

If it has road maps stored in memory, which it likely does, then she can access those. She'll have to bypass the "handshake" step.

It's unusual, but Mr. Foo is a very unusual guy. He was one of the first field agents to adopt the MP-5, which he prefers for its longer range. I'm not familiar with the Madsen M3, but if it's like the Grease gun then it wouldn't have a single shot mode, which is something Mr. Foo would want. Mr. Foo was in the field well before 1967, and during that time he would have used a different SMG.

In the 60's, I think only the German Bundeswehr had them, but this just means he has something "interesting" in his backstory that explains it (a contact in H&K, GSG-9, the BND, etc.)

The M3 Carl Gustav (sorry, wrong name) was a 9mm Swedish SMG unrelated to the Grease Gun. That was the point; the CIA copied and distributed it all over the world (SE Asia, Africa, S and Central America) to guerillas and regimes throughout the 50's and 60's. Because it was European in origin, it was not obviously an American-supplied arm (which could be politically inconvenient). After the 1968 ban on importing automatic weapons, S&W copied it as the "Model 76".

Looking at the posted picture, it's loaded individually through the side ammo gate that's clearly visible below the ejection port and above the trigger guard. The magazine is the tube under the barrel.

In that case, I may need to modify that, but Gary doesn't need to reload any time soon.

It's a minor nitpick, not important.

There are five more Claymores in reserve that could still be deployed to cover other avenues of approach.

If the AF is planning on being around for a while then the long grass has to go to clear a free fire zone. As controlled a burn as possible would be best and quickest, but attract attention. There may not be a lot that can be done about that!

Good thinking again. That grass provides the zombies (or other unfriendlies) plenty of cover to reach the motel.

Yes, there are lots of tires in the junkyard. Something like that will take time to set up, of course.

These are just suggestions based on "the book". By the book is not always the best way, either! Defenses can be improved incrementally. I heard of a saying that kind of goes like, "dig a hole and you have a foxhole. The next day dig it deeper and make it 2-man and now you have a fighting position. After that, shore it up with some timber and dig a sump and grenade trap, then you have an improved position. Widen it, put on a roof, cover the roof with branches and now you have a bunker. Etc.

More "military" terminology the AF can use: "Danger Close" means the enemy is right on your doorstep, and "Gooks in the wire!" (a holdover from Vietnam) means they have penetrated your POD (Perimeter of Defense). If they can call in an air strike, then someone acts as a FO (pronounced as "foe") to direct it.

 

[Helbent4]

Quite all right. Lt. Blanco only spoke to Miranda Reynolds for a couple of minutes and doesn't know her personally. The important thing for her to know is that Walters is an RAF officer who knows Captain Reynolds.

Okay, so she can confirm that Reynolds is RAF. Of course, the reciprocal is that Micheal can personally vouch for her. As far as it goes for someone you just met!

Half of the skinheads escaped in Chapter 1. Buzz, Guzmann, and one of the shotgun-wielding skinheads died. Erica does know about the weapon crates outside, as she saw them when she was there before.

Pops would like one like the one he carried in Nam. If he's a geek, he can be buried with it. She'll look into it before she leaves, if she can.

A dolly will help a lot. There are also 2 strapping commandos coming to help out! Hopefully we can get a few more characters involved to make it go a little quicker, too. Who all is going? Erica, Stephanie, Dr. Haussmann and Bob? It will be handy to have a left-seater (co-pilot), under the circumstances. Even injured he'll be a help.

The dolly will help a lot. The real problem is the stairs, and realistically only four people can carry it up (two above and two below). Erica, Stephanie, and Dr. Hausmann are definitely going. Bringing Bob along as a co-pilot would be a good idea. Bo or Jim Kerr would be a likely choice for the fifth seat.

Erica will see who else wants to come. She'll look into getting some more stuff when she's satisfied in her unsettled state of mind nothing hinky is going on. This will all of course be RP'd in future turns, if possible.

The dolly is downstairs? Or the JP-8? There should be a "stand-up" dolly in the garage for moving barrels. Shoulda, woulda, coulda...

 

[Mr. Handy]

Lt. Blanco didn't actually need to roll Medicine again to treat the arm, as she already succeeded at a roll at the start of the operation. I will count that successful roll for considering the possible effects of neurotoxins on zombies (I think Biology could have been used too in this case). Next turn she can compare notes with Stephanie and the others in the reception area, and they can roll Chemistry. She won't need to use Persuade on Michael, as he does believe her. There actually has been enough time to use Persuade, since in this game we've been allowing it as long as you spend at least a minute or two, which she has. Of course, it'll be some time before they can talk to NATO HQ again, as the comm system is being moved upstairs. NATO HQ had just had a perimeter breach before their first conversation, and there's no way to know what the situation will be there if and when they can reconnect.

I don't know if I mentioned this specifically, but a friend ran a game where we examined a lot of these issues in detail (we were playing US military personnel in a "Day of the Dead" scenario). Stuff like what is the chain-of-command, legal and illegal orders, insubordination (this does not mean what people usually think it means; it really means skipping up the chain of command. What is usually called insubordinantion is actually other offenses like disobeying orders, insolence, conduct unbecoming an officer, etc.) Also, "is it legal to break into people's houses and take their stuff?" (Answer: yes, but only if they're already dead. If they're alive, it's looting and a capital offense, regardless if it's a soldier or not.)

I take it you're familiar with the "Nuremburg Defense" then? Let's hope it doesn't come to this in-game...

That's good information. I listed the chain of command early in the OOC thread for Chapter 2 (bottom of page 2). Now that Alanen is dead, Thayer and Ortega answer directly to Sergeant McCain (he has taken personal command of Fire Team 2 at Captain Lereux's order). Lt. Blanco's immediate superior is Lereux. Though she and Lt. Malone have the same rank, Malone is senior and is the XO for this mission. Zorie Spooner, while a civilian, answers to Lt. Blanco (who sent her to the motel to examine Phillips a few scenes ago).

It's also unconstitutional for the military to seize the motel from Mr. Foo and stay there without his permission. The rarely used Third Amendment applies here: it prohibits soldiers from forcing homeowners to house them. While these are airmen rather than soldiers, the Air Force of course did not exist at the time the Bill of Rights was written and initially grew out of the Army as the Army Air Corps before becoming a separate branch of the armed forces.

I am familiar with the "Nuremburg Defense" and know that being ordered to do something is no excuse. Luckily (if you can call it that) for several of the military characters, the situation is so dire and live bodies in such short supply that military justice will move very slowly, if at all.

Personally, I'd rather ride in the van trailer of a semi. No air conditioning, but no breakable windows either. I think that if David is hauling construction supplies, that's probably a local load and his is a "day" cab (no sleeper). A tanker and reefer trailer are more typical long-haul loads.

David's carrying lumber as well as construction supplies. The notes Welsh sent me don't say where they were from or where they were headed. Baldwin's groceries were actually bound for Cheyenne, but they started in Omaha.

Ah, the beauty of firearms in RPGs. Everyone's got an opinion and a favourite weapon and a not-so-favourite weapon! I like the Grease Gun, but not to the exclusion of all else. It's still in use today (as a tankers' weapon for US NG and Reservists), so that says something about the reliability.

Yes, the Grease gun does look very compact, reliable, and efficient. While an experienced submachinegunner (say, 50%+ skill) could fire a "burst" of one bullet using SMG skill, Lynne, being untrained, had very little control over the weapon. The second Grease gun has so far been unclaimed, so it's still there. Erica doesn't have SMG skill, but one of her passengers might and could actually use it. It only takes a minute or so to clean it off anyway.

If it has road maps stored in memory, which it likely does, then she can access those. She'll have to bypass the "handshake" step.

It sounds like that's what she'd do, then. For the near future that should be good enough, but as time goes on the maps will become increasingly inaccurate.

In the 60's, I think only the German Bundeswehr had them, but this just means he has something "interesting" in his backstory that explains it (a contact in H&K, GSG-9, the BND, etc.)

The M3 Carl Gustav (sorry, wrong name) was a 9mm Swedish SMG unrelated to the Grease Gun. That was the point; the CIA copied and distributed it all over the world (SE Asia, Africa, S and Central America) to guerillas and regimes throughout the 50's and 60's. Because it was European in origin, it was not obviously an American-supplied arm (which could be politically inconvenient). After the 1968 ban on importing automatic weapons, S&W copied it as the "Model 76".

Mr. Foo does have contacts all around the world since he's been in the business for decades, though his primary focus has been eastern Asia. The Carl Gustav is in the Delta Green weapons list, and it does only have a base range of 20 yards as most SMGs do. The MP-5 has a base range of 45 yards. The Carl Gustav also doesn't have selective fire, though Mr. Foo is skilled enough that he could have squeezed off a single round. The MP-5 is also a European weapon, and so it too would not be directly traceable to America.

These are just suggestions based on "the book". By the book is not always the best way, either! Defenses can be improved incrementally. I heard of a saying that kind of goes like, "dig a hole and you have a foxhole. The next day dig it deeper and make it 2-man and now you have a fighting position. After that, shore it up with some timber and dig a sump and grenade trap, then you have an improved position. Widen it, put on a roof, cover the roof with branches and now you have a bunker. Etc.

Time management is very important. Take too much time preparing defenses and you won't have enough for other vital tasks. Take too little and you leave yourself vulnerable. There are many things that need doing, and not enough time to do all of them. Prioritization is the key. So far the Air Force has only been there half an hour, so they're still settling in.

More "military" terminology the AF can use: "Danger Close" means the enemy is right on your doorstep, and "Gooks in the wire!" (a holdover from Vietnam) means they have penetrated your POD (Perimeter of Defense). If they can call in an air strike, then someone acts as a FO (pronounced as "foe") to direct it.

Good stuff there. You'll need to reestablish contact with Warren AFB in order to call in any air strikes, but it may not turn out like you expect. When Stephanie sort of called one in in Chapter 1, they ended up turning Brownson into a parking lot.

Erica will see who else wants to come. She'll look into getting some more stuff when she's satisfied in her unsettled state of mind nothing hinky is going on. This will all of course be RP'd in future turns, if possible.

Bo will be eager to come, and Stephanie would like to have him along. Steve is playing Jim, so I can't speak for him, but Jim has really ticked off Dr. Hausmann and she too would rather bring Bo.

The dolly is downstairs? Or the JP-8? There should be a "stand-up" dolly in the garage for moving barrels. Shoulda, woulda, coulda...

I got confused and thought you were talking about the radio equipment. The dolly is at the motel, and I was referring to the stairs to the balcony. There are no stairs between the garage and the chopper. There could be a dolly in the garage, but it will only take a minute to get that first barrel out to the chopper. The second one is further in, but the fuel pump is automatic. Once it's hooked up it will continue to refuel the chopper while you do other things.

 

[welsh]

For some reason I am having trouble with long posts.

A couple of quick points-

- I agree with what Tony says about the vulnerability of the T-Bone from the junkyard, the use of tires for defense and a number of other recommendations. Thanks for the thoughts. THe proble is time, management and organization.

- Don't read too far into the game- Foo's MP-5 could come from a variety of sources. Perhaps he used different SMGs in his career and then went with the MP-5 because he favors it.

-Deep Mole- to the best of my knowledge, is still undiscovered. THe group has discovered the Geronimo Detention facility. Yes, the detention facility probably could not survive an accurate nuclear warhead fired from the late 1960s. But perhaps it wasn't built with that in mind.

- Trucks were left rather unclear to allow some flexibility for the keeper. David's relationship with Hammond might suggest that he worked locally. But then maybe David just passes through on a regular basis. I'll leave this at the keeper's discretion.

- Cars- There were quite a few fars in the T-Bone diner, but not all of them were destroyed. Certainly those closes to the front were blown up- including Luke's truck. But others might have fared better. I am also not sure if there are trucks/cars left at the Motel. Alex's car, for instance, was not moved to the best of my memory.

 

[Steve-the-Zombie-Killer]

Mr. Handy,
Hi, Listen I am currently in DC and I am preparing for a job fair this weekend. Because of this I cannot post up for my characters. Now if you wait to update until like Saturday I should have time. But if not then McCain will go to secure the copter along with Ortega, Lewis will continue to move the comm gear, Alice will continue to fix her gun, and Jim Kerr will pet Max and then go look at knife. Okay? So when I have time I will update it better but if you want to go on ahead then do so and I will catch up. Thanks!
-steve

 

[Mr. Handy]

Thanks, Steve. I hope you find a good job! If I update before Saturday, I'll have your characters do that. If SuAside and Stompie post sooner, I may be able to update earlier. I've been off sick from work the last two days, but today I'm doing a lot better and can actually do things.

 

[Helbent4]

Lt. Blanco didn't actually need to roll Medicine again to treat the arm, as she already succeeded at a roll at the start of the operation. I will count that successful roll for considering the possible effects of neurotoxins on zombies (I think Biology could have been used too in this case).

Sounds good. I will write this in when I can. Of course it would be nice to pass on the information to NATO, but this may not be possible. Stephanie has passed on her theory re: bioelectricity to LT Blanco.

That's good information. I listed the chain of command early in the OOC thread for Chapter 2 (bottom of page 2). Now that Alanen is dead, Thayer and Ortega answer directly to Sergeant McCain (he has taken personal command of Fire Team 2 at Captain Lereux's order). Lt. Blanco's immediate superior is Lereux. Though she and Lt. Malone have the same rank, Malone is senior and is the XO for this mission. Zorie Spooner, while a civilian, answers to Lt. Blanco (who sent her to the motel to examine Phillips a few scenes ago).

I recall something to this effect. LT Blanco is hesitant to push her luck; being merely attached to the unit at her own request, her status vis-a-vis the chain-of-command is a little tenuous. Is she a 1st LT or 2nd LT? (Ranks are typically abbreviated as 2LT, 1LT, CPT, MAJ, LTC, COL, BG, etc.)

It's also unconstitutional for the military to seize the motel from Mr. Foo and stay there without his permission. The rarely used Third Amendment applies here: it prohibits soldiers from forcing homeowners to house them. While these are airmen rather than soldiers, the Air Force of course did not exist at the time the Bill of Rights was written and initially grew out of the Army as the Army Air Corps before becoming a separate branch of the armed forces.

I'm not that familiar with the US Constitution, but I'm not surprised there is something to this effect. Under Martial Law some civil rights are abrogated, but not everything. Usually, things like the right to gather, habeas corpus, search and seizure, that kind of thing.

I am familiar with the "Nuremburg Defense" and know that being ordered to do something is no excuse. Luckily (if you can call it that) for several of the military characters, the situation is so dire and live bodies in such short supply that military justice will move very slowly, if at all.

This also came up when I played "Zombie Run" at a con. (I was looking up reviews on the adventure after we played it and that forum is where I came across your posts.) Should you act in a moral manner if there are no laws to compel you to do so? It's easy to answer this question for civilians. But police and military derive their authority from society and acknowledged institutions.

It's rare for an RPG to examine these issues. Usually, PCs behave as if they're above the law if it's expedient. I'm also keeping in mind that all characters have their secret motivations, goals and personal priorities, even the military ones.

Yes, the Grease gun does look very compact, reliable, and efficient. While an experienced submachinegunner (say, 50%+ skill) could fire a "burst" of one bullet using SMG skill, Lynne, being untrained, had very little control over the weapon. The second Grease gun has so far been unclaimed, so it's still there. Erica doesn't have SMG skill, but one of her passengers might and could actually use it. It only takes a minute or so to clean it off anyway.

Sounds good, and this would be for her dad anyways, assuming he's alive. Aside from the 6 spare magazines, is there any .45 ACP loose or in a can? There is a couple hundred in M1911 magazines, but it would be a pain to collect them and those who took the pistols may not appreciate that.

Does her parent's farm have livestock?

If it has road maps stored in memory, which it likely does, then she can access those. She'll have to bypass the "handshake" step.

It sounds like that's what she'd do, then. For the near future that should be good enough, but as time goes on the maps will become increasingly inaccurate.[/quote]


You can always look at roadmaps and topgraphical maps that are stored in memory. Those will not become any more inaccurate than paper maps. If you allow this Luck roll, the helo's GPS system does have topographical maps as well as road maps. Not having the GPS means the position on the screen will just not be tracked automatically. The helo's position will have to be updated manually. Route-planning and following and other real-time functions would be disabled.

Time management is very important. Take too much time preparing defenses and you won't have enough for other vital tasks. Take too little and you leave yourself vulnerable. There are many things that need doing, and not enough time to do all of them. Prioritization is the key. So far the Air Force has only been there half an hour, so they're still settling in.

Agreed. This is just an FYI. If they had the time and it becomes important, there are also things they can do to fortify the building they're in. In a conventional sense it's not a great defensive structure, because there are not interior connecting doors or corridors, or stairs.

Erica will see who else wants to come. She'll look into getting some more stuff when she's satisfied in her unsettled state of mind nothing hinky is going on. This will all of course be RP'd in future turns, if possible.

Bo will be eager to come, and Stephanie would like to have him along. Steve is playing Jim, so I can't speak for him, but Jim has really ticked off Dr. Hausmann and she too would rather bring Bo.

Who's physically present around the helo? Erica would like to call for assistance from all able-bodied individuals in the area. Would this need to wait for the next turn? She'd actually like Luke to come along, but would certainly settle for Bo or Joe, her fellow troopers.

I got confused and thought you were talking about the radio equipment. The dolly is at the motel, and I was referring to the stairs to the balcony. There are no stairs between the garage and the chopper. There could be a dolly in the garage, but it will only take a minute to get that first barrel out to the chopper. The second one is further in, but the fuel pump is automatic. Once it's hooked up it will continue to refuel the chopper while you do other things.

Every little bit helps.

 

[Helbent4]

Mr. Handy,
Hi, Listen I am currently in DC and I am preparing for a job fair this weekend.

Steve,

Good luck, man!

 

[Helbent4]

- Don't read too far into the game- Foo's MP-5 could come from a variety of sources. Perhaps he used different SMGs in his career and then went with the MP-5 because he favors it.

I'm not too worried. This was an FYI.

-Deep Mole- to the best of my knowledge, is still undiscovered. THe group has discovered the Geronimo Detention facility. Yes, the detention facility probably could not survive an accurate nuclear warhead fired from the late 1960s. But perhaps it wasn't built with that in mind.

So Deep Mole could be the satellite facility under the PMS compound to the North, as far as the PCs know. Or someplace else entirely. Does LT Blanco know about Geronimo?

- Trucks were left rather unclear to allow some flexibility for the keeper. David's relationship with Hammond might suggest that he worked locally. But then maybe David just passes through on a regular basis. I'll leave this at the keeper's discretion.

- Cars- There were quite a few fars in the T-Bone diner, but not all of them were destroyed. Certainly those closes to the front were blown up- including Luke's truck. But others might have fared better. I am also not sure if there are trucks/cars left at the Motel. Alex's car, for instance, was not moved to the best of my memory.

Sounds good. Whatever Handy decides is best. If and when the time comes to get the heck out of dodge.

 

[Mr. Handy]

This thread is a good general reference of everyone's current locations, as well as the guns, ammo, armor, and checked skills of all characters still alive: http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34173

I update it frequently, and it has the answers to a number of your questions.

I recall something to this effect. LT Blanco is hesitant to push her luck; being merely attached to the unit at her own request, her status vis-a-vis the chain-of-command is a little tenuous. Is she a 1st LT or 2nd LT? (Ranks are typically abbreviated as 2LT, 1LT, CPT, MAJ, LTC, COL, BG, etc.)

Technically, military doctors ought to have a rank of at least Captain, but as a military researcher that might not apply to her. I'd say she's a 1LT, as is Lt. Malone.

I'm not that familiar with the US Constitution, but I'm not surprised there is something to this effect. Under Martial Law some civil rights are abrogated, but not everything. Usually, things like the right to gather, habeas corpus, search and seizure, that kind of thing.

The U.S. Constitution cannot be overridden legally no matter what the circumstances, except by Constitutional Amendment or a complete rewrite at a Constitutional Convention (neither of which could happen in this kind of crisis). Habeas corpus may be suspended for up to one year in an emergency, but only because that provision is explicitly stated in the Constitution itself. The Third Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights as a result of British soldiers forcing people to house them during colonial times and the Revolutionary War.

This also came up when I played "Zombie Run" at a con. (I was looking up reviews on the adventure after we played it and that forum is where I came across your posts.) Should you act in a moral manner if there are no laws to compel you to do so? It's easy to answer this question for civilians. But police and military derive their authority from society and acknowledged institutions.

It's rare for an RPG to examine these issues. Usually, PCs behave as if they're above the law if it's expedient. I'm also keeping in mind that all characters have their secret motivations, goals and personal priorities, even the military ones.

That's one of the great things about games of this genre. I've enjoyed the challenge of playing Bo and having him try to uphold the law to the best of his ability under the circumstances and obey the proper rules of engagement (stepping in and trying to prevent a fight between Horst and Baldwin without using force, arresting Baldwin, using his club rather than his gun on Horst the zombie when it wasn't clear to Bo that he was already dead, etc.).

Sounds good, and this would be for her dad anyways, assuming he's alive. Aside from the 6 spare magazines, is there any .45 ACP loose or in a can? There is a couple hundred in M1911 magazines, but it would be a pain to collect them and those who took the pistols may not appreciate that.

Does her parent's farm have livestock?

There are actually eight spare magazines for the Grease gun, in addition to the one it's already loaded with. There are also 77 7-round mags for the .45 pistols remaining in the crate. I haven't given any thought as to whether Erica's parents' farm has livestock or not. I'll have to get back to you on that, but it'll be a long time before it comes up.

You can always look at roadmaps and topgraphical maps that are stored in memory. Those will not become any more inaccurate than paper maps. If you allow this Luck roll, the helo's GPS system does have topographical maps as well as road maps. Not having the GPS means the position on the screen will just not be tracked automatically. The helo's position will have to be updated manually. Route-planning and following and other real-time functions would be disabled.

I'll allow the Luck roll, so it has topographical maps too.

Agreed. This is just an FYI. If they had the time and it becomes important, there are also things they can do to fortify the building they're in. In a conventional sense it's not a great defensive structure, because there are not interior connecting doors or corridors, or stairs.

True, it's not built like most motels with interior halls and stairs. Stairs on the inside could also be a liability, though, since it's another way for zombies to get up there if they manage to get inside.

Who's physically present around the helo? Erica would like to call for assistance from all able-bodied individuals in the area. Would this need to wait for the next turn? She'd actually like Luke to come along, but would certainly settle for Bo or Joe, her fellow troopers.

The people in and around the garage are your best bet. Willie is on his way to help right now. Wallace is standing just outside the garage and is strong enough. Alice is inside the garage, but isn't strong enough and is busy fixing her rifle. David, Mitchell, and Jimmy are in the garage, but they're busy repairing the truck. Bob is also on his way to the garage. Baldwin and Joe are on their way back in the truck and should arrive in a minute or two. McCain and Ortega are going to go to the chopper, but it'll take them a couple minutes to get there.

So Deep Mole could be the satellite facility under the PMS compound to the North, as far as the PCs know. Or someplace else entirely. Does LT Blanco know about Geronimo?

The name Deep Mole has only been seen by those who read the crumpled memo in the office. Lt. Blanco did see the sign in the reception area that mentioned Geronimo, so she knows it was once a prison.

- Trucks were left rather unclear to allow some flexibility for the keeper. David's relationship with Hammond might suggest that he worked locally. But then maybe David just passes through on a regular basis. I'll leave this at the keeper's discretion.

- Cars- There were quite a few fars in the T-Bone diner, but not all of them were destroyed. Certainly those closes to the front were blown up- including Luke's truck. But others might have fared better. I am also not sure if there are trucks/cars left at the Motel. Alex's car, for instance, was not moved to the best of my memory.

Okay, David's truck does not have a sleeper cab, but the other two trucks do have them. That means 15 can ride in the cabs of the trucks, plus possibly more in David's trailer. The Lathans', Felice's, and Michael's cars are no longer at the motel, but Alex's car is still there (but he might have taken the keys with him). The Foos' Outback is parked at the garage, so it wasn't damaged except for broken windows. I'm not sure which other cars were at the motel. Luke's truck, Kimberly's car, and Bo's cruiser have all been wrecked.

 

[Helbent4]

I'm not that familiar with the US Constitution, but I'm not surprised there is something to this effect. Under Martial Law some civil rights are abrogated, but not everything. Usually, things like the right to gather, habeas corpus, search and seizure, that kind of thing.

The U.S. Constitution cannot be overridden legally no matter what the circumstances, except by Constitutional Amendment or a complete rewrite at a Constitutional Convention (neither of which could happen in this kind of crisis). Habeas corpus may be suspended for up to one year in an emergency, but only because that provision is explicitly stated in the Constitution itself. The Third Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights as a result of British soldiers forcing people to house them during colonial times and the Revolutionary War.

That's the kind of thing the players should know. If they do anything with this, then that's up to them.

It's also kind of a mishmash since the FEMA Act and other laws have blurred the "firewall" between federal and state authority in a crisis. An oft-mentioned part of the problem after Katrina.

The FLQ Crisis or "Black October" (a series of separatist terrorist incidents) in 1970 pointed out some serious flaws in Canada's legal framework and channels of authority in emergencies. Also, some obvious abuses were committed by the government. Although it was purely a local situation confined to Quebec, the invocation of the War Measures Act was the only legal way to deal with it, but it applied across the country. Civil liberties were revoked, and while many FLQ members and sympathisers were rounded up, the dragnet also picked up Quebec labour organisers with no connection, socialists in Toronto, even leftist pot-smoking hippies in Vancouver. Some kind of reform was necessary, especially since that there is no equivalent to Posse Comitatus in Canada and no real check on government action in emergencies (all military forces are almost always under complete federal control).

This led to the Emergency Measures Act of 1989, which specifies 4 levels of response, and the powers and limits accorded each level. For reference, in ZA we'd likely be at the 3rd level, "International Emergency" (a grave threat to national integrity), one step above "National Emergency" and the last step before "War".

"Domestic Operations: the Canadian Approach" (US Army War College Journal article).

That's one of the great things about games of this genre. I've enjoyed the challenge of playing Bo and having him try to uphold the law to the best of his ability under the circumstances and obey the proper rules of engagement (stepping in and trying to prevent a fight between Horst and Baldwin without using force, arresting Baldwin, using his club rather than his gun on Horst the zombie when it wasn't clear to Bo that he was already dead, etc.).

I remember that incident. It must have been pretty tough not to just pull out the ol' heater and start blasting away. There are players that would have done that too, and not thought twice about it.

Does her parent's farm have livestock?

There are actually eight spare magazines for the Grease gun, in addition to the one it's already loaded with. There are also 77 7-round mags for the .45 pistols remaining in the crate. I haven't given any thought as to whether Erica's parents' farm has livestock or not. I'll have to get back to you on that, but it'll be a long time before it comes up.

Erica is also thinking of giving her dad a call. It's long-distance, so the lines should be free, and even if the power is down the phone lines have a limited amount of battery power to last a day or so (this is why phones still work in a blackout). Livestock = electric fences, even a cattle prod or two. Capisce?

True, it's not built like most motels with interior halls and stairs. Stairs on the inside could also be a liability, though, since it's another way for zombies to get up there if they manage to get inside.

I've stayed in many places like this. For a conventional enemy it's probably not the best, and who can say the only threat is going to be the undead, eh? At any rate, in city fighting it's not unusual to blow holes in walls and floors to provide more convenient and safer access through the inside a struxture.

Who's physically present around the helo? Erica would like to call for assistance from all able-bodied individuals in the area. Would this need to wait for the next turn? She'd actually like Luke to come along, but would certainly settle for Bo or Joe, her fellow troopers.

The people in and around the garage are your best bet. Willie is on his way to help right now. Wallace is standing just outside the garage and is strong enough. Alice is inside the garage, but isn't strong enough and is busy fixing her rifle. David, Mitchell, and Jimmy are in the garage, but they're busy repairing the truck. Bob is also on his way to the garage. Baldwin and Joe are on their way back in the truck and should arrive in a minute or two. McCain and Ortega are going to go to the chopper, but it'll take them a couple minutes to get there.

Thanks for clarifying this.

So Deep Mole could be the satellite facility under the PMS compound to the North, as far as the PCs know. Or someplace else entirely. Does LT Blanco know about Geronimo?

The name Deep Mole has only been seen by those who read the crumpled memo in the office. Lt. Blanco did see the sign in the reception area that mentioned Geronimo, so she knows it was once a prison.

Okay, I'll make sure she doesn't "know" about the other facility. If she knows about Geronimo, then she will mention in passing these underground installations always had another entrance in case the elevators and main stairs were impassable due to smoke, fire, damage, etc. It would be a ladder in a shaft, coming out somewhere a little ways away. Probably padlocked on the outside.

- Trucks were left rather unclear to allow some flexibility for the keeper. David's relationship with Hammond might suggest that he worked locally. But then maybe David just passes through on a regular basis. I'll leave this at the keeper's discretion.

- Cars- There were quite a few fars in the T-Bone diner, but not all of them were destroyed. Certainly those closes to the front were blown up- including Luke's truck. But others might have fared better. I am also not sure if there are trucks/cars left at the Motel. Alex's car, for instance, was not moved to the best of my memory.

Okay, David's truck does not have a sleeper cab, but the other two trucks do have them. That means 15 can ride in the cabs of the trucks, plus possibly more in David's trailer. The Lathans', Felice's, and Michael's cars are no longer at the motel, but Alex's car is still there (but he might have taken the keys with him). The Foos' Outback is parked at the garage, so it wasn't damaged except for broken windows. I'm not sure which other cars were at the motel. Luke's truck, Kimberly's car, and Bo's cruiser have all been wrecked.

I asked a trucker today how long it would take to disconnect a trailer from the tractor. It was about like I figured: unhook the 2 hydraulic lines, the power line, and pull the pin on the hitch and as long as the jacks are deployed you're in business. It's important to make sure you're on level ground and somewhere where the jacks won't sink in. He said it would take 30-60 seconds to disconnect, a minute to connect up, if you were rushed.

Joe's NSP cruiser (likely a Ford Crown Victoria with cop motor, suspension, computers, etc.) is also abandoned in Brownson.

 

[SuAside]

Interesting note about the AK-47: while it has an outstanding reputation for reliability albeit a poor one for accuracy, not all Kalashnikovs are made the same. That is, a genuine Russian-made AK with a heavy milled-block receiver is both reliable and surprisingly accurate (given the limited sight radius). But a cheap Izhmash copy and Chinese or Romanian knock-offs made from light stamped metal is neither and may fall apart after as little as 200 shots (100 if converted to full-auto).

euhm, Izhmash "copy"? Izhmash is the home base of Kalashnikov himself...

but yeah, if you mean the Saiga sporting rifles, those are indeed modded copies. however, they aren't bad.

2. Attaching the 12 ga. Remington pump-action to an M16A2 or M4 is possible if it has the GL attachment points. It requires removing the shotgun's stock. This arrangement is called the "Masterkey". However, this is used only with a special frangible round for opening doors (you can't use the sights to aim).

it is used for more than door breaching, Helbent. the short barreled remi is an effective backup in room clearing.

due to the spread of the pellets due to the short barrel, you can simply use the rifle sights if you like, but it doesn't matter. a short barreled shotgun is the most simple point & click interface ever created...

hell, a guy could have a shitload of fun if he remembered to bring some dragon's breath shells ^^


PS: you have way too much time on your hands.

 

[welsh]

Regarding the GPS system- I am actually thinking that the GPS system should be off-line. It its based on satellite navigation, than it almost certainly did not come through the meteor storm of the evening.

As for cars- you can guess that virtually every character at the T-Bone or at the motel had a car. Some are, of course, lost. But a few of the people at the T-Bone might have walked over from the Motel, so their cars are probably still there.

This is what I recall from cars. Note that makes and models have generally been left to character choice-

Staff at the Truck Stop-

Boss Hammond- Owner Café Tyrant - Parked at T-Bone

Boss Earl- Owner the Garage Tyrant- Parked at T-Bone.
Note also drives the Tow Truck which is functional and has a plow.

Rita the Cashier- Parked at T-bone

Dave – guitarist and mechanic- Van parked at T-bone- in uncertain repair.

Rosie the Waitress- Car parked at T-Bone

Mitchell the Young Artist/ current mechanic - parked at T-Bone

Charlie Moon- Indian line cook- hates white people- Truck parked at T-Bone

Ashley the College Co-ed/ Waitress, rebellious daughter- Parked at T-bone. Car in uncertain repair.

Lynne – Dumb but hot Waitress with criminal ambition - parked at T-Bone

Thomas - teenager- High School Dropout and Kitchen help - parked at T-Bone

Max the Mastiff - generally sleeps, no need for car.

Buddy the German Shepherd Deceased- used to enjoy riding in cars and playing in traffic

At Motel 8
Ms. Foo- wife of Mr. Foo and co-owner of Motel 8 age 71 - Drive Subaru trooper, parked outside T-Bone- undamaged.

Mr. Foo- Motel 8 owner with unusual past. Age 72 - Subaru trooper currently at T-Bone- undamaged.

Ellen Cody- House keeper- at Motel 8 - car parked at Motel

Visitors-

Sally the Traveling Nurse- Car at T-Bone.

Tony Lathan- Insurance Broker Husband- - Dead. Car left abandoned near PMS compound. Windows smashed.

Cathy Lathan- Chemically dependent housewife. Torn apart outside car

Bobby Lathan Video Junkie child of - Dead in parents car.
Scotty Lathan- Little brother- Dead in parents car.

Alex - Marine Reservists/ College student- Truck at Motel

Jim- the runaway- No car

Wallace Red Crow- Former cop turned truck driver- Truck in garage.

Bo- Bored State Trooper- State Trooper Cruiser still at T-Bone. Probably damaged as it was parked near the front.

Father Roger McCormick- Middle aged Priest - Car at Motel

Baldwin- the conspiracy theorist /Truck driver- Truck at T-Bone
Randall the Law student/ Ex med student - Car at T-Bone.

David the horny Truck Driver- No cab truck at T-bone.

Horst Jaegermeister- Aging Skinhead leader- Car last seen in T-Bone.

Flip- Skinhead scumbag associate of Horst- Travels with Horst

Tisha the Reporter- Came in news van.

Willie the Aging Camera man- News van - last seen in parking lot of T-Bone with headless corpse in passenger seat.

Alice- the Wandering History Professor - Car could be in either the T-Bone or Motel.

Old Bud the Private Investigator- Car is either at the T-Bone or the Motel.
Samantha the Zoologist- Car is unknown- Could be in parking lot of T-Bone or Motel.

Luke the Hunter- Pickup truck blown to hell.

Jenny Cooper- Lab assistant- Car at Motel

Gary the Maintenance man- Car at T-Bone, unknown condition

Kimberly the Pharmacist looking for a job.- Car was in T-Bone- I believed it was damaged in the blast. Repairable?

Michael Walters British Psychologist on vacation- Vehicle abandoned in Brownson

Felice Piccone- her Porsche 911 classic is in a ditch near the PMS compound.

Azadeh Samimi- Engineer on the Road- Came by car parked at Motel

Duke- Friend of Robert - Came by van- late arrival. His vehicle might have survived?

Erica Spears - flies into our game on her own chopper.

Helicopter group -
Arrived by helicopter that has been damaged and is not presently repairable.
Dr. Brigetta Hausman MD- Lost member of Center for Disease Control and Stephanie Bridges- Environmental Protection Agency- no car
ean Blank- National Parks Service- no car
Jim Kerr- US Fish and Wildlife Service- no car
Bob Larkin- flies helicopter

Beth- Survivor - has car- damaged?

Robert- Survivor - Traveled with Duke

State Trooper- Joe Barring- battered police cruiser abandoned at Brownson

Kerry- Car is lost somewhere off a highway where she was kidnapped

 

[Helbent4]

euhm, Izhmash "copy"? Izhmash is the home base of Kalashnikov himself...

Suaside,

All production units are by definition "copies". Although all rip-offs are copies, not all copies are rip-offs! The current Izhmash-made Kalashnikovs have reputedly had QC problems, not helped by the stamped-steel manufacturing process adopted to make the AKM less expensive and lighter but less durable than the AK-47. Like any product, the quality of something like a rifle can vary over time. In the late 90's, even Colt had QC problems with their AR-15 and M16A2 receivers (which have mostly been worked out).

but yeah, if you mean the Saiga sporting rifles, those are indeed modded copies. however, they aren't bad.

I can believe that.

it is used for more than door breaching, Helbent. the short barreled remi is an effective backup in room clearing.

due to the spread of the pellets due to the short barrel, you can simply use the rifle sights if you like, but it doesn't matter. a short barreled shotgun is the most simple point & click interface ever created...

Very true, a shotgun is always going to be an effective weapon at short range, albeit a little unwieldy if attached to a rifle. However, tactically speaking in the US military the Maskerkey is primarily assigned the "breacher" role, much like the shotgunner on police tactical teams (and would therefore be the rearguard of the stack). You can certainly use the shotgun to shoot someone, although If I needed a backup due to a weapons malfunction or out of ammo, I'd personally go for my sidearm. As a friend who was in the 'Forces put it, the thing about a pump-action shotgun in close combat is you have to take the target out in the first shot, because you won't have time for another...

hell, a guy could have a shitload of fun if he remembered to bring some dragon's breath shells ^^

PS: you have way too much time on your hands.

No doubt, on both counts! Don't worry, I'm just "clearing the decks". Once I'm more comfortable with the game, I'll post a lot less.

 

[Helbent4]

Regarding the GPS system- I am actually thinking that the GPS system should be off-line. It its based on satellite navigation, than it almost certainly did not come through the meteor storm of the evening.

Welsh,

I'm assuming this is the case. I know from my own (near-bottom-line) Magellan unit, some functions will still work, like the stored mapping functions. The satellite-aided functions, like the part where the GPS tracks your location in real-time and back-traces your route, and can give your co-ordinates to the metre, will not. Most functions that are normally automatic would need to be done manually, but could still be done.

 

[Mr. Handy]

I'm going to update Saturday, so anyone who hasn't yet done so and wants to should go ahead and post for their characters. I have standing orders for Stompie's and Steve's characters, but I haven't heard from Fearlessfred yet. Stompie, if you do post, you can assume that McCain orders Ortega to go to the helicopter before he would have started to climb the ladder.

That's the kind of thing the players should know. If they do anything with this, then that's up to them.

Well, the players know this now. Whether or not their characters know depends on their backgrounds and Law skills. Of course, the government often disregards the Constitution anyway on a regular basis and generally gets away with it. For instance, only Congress has the authority to declare war, yet the last time it has done so was 1941. In spite of this, we've been in several "wars' since then, even though they may have been called something else. This power cannot be delegated, as the Constitution does not permit it. It describes what the government (or its individual branches) is permitted to do; if it's not explicitly in there, it is not allowed. For people, the opposite applies - we still have rights even if they are not enumerated in the Constitution. The Ninth Amendment spells this out. For more information about the U.S. Constitution, you can visit http://www.constitution.org/

The FLQ Crisis or "Black October" (a series of separatist terrorist incidents) in 1970 pointed out some serious flaws in Canada's legal framework and channels of authority in emergencies. Also, some obvious abuses were committed by the government. Although it was purely a local situation confined to Quebec, the invocation of the War Measures Act was the only legal way to deal with it, but it applied across the country. Civil liberties were revoked, and while many FLQ members and sympathisers were rounded up, the dragnet also picked up Quebec labour organisers with no connection, socialists in Toronto, even leftist pot-smoking hippies in Vancouver. Some kind of reform was necessary, especially since that there is no equivalent to Posse Comitatus in Canada and no real check on government action in emergencies (all military forces are almost always under complete federal control).

Thanks, I hadn't known about that. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 was actually passed as a response to Reconstruction following the U.S. Civil War. It prohibits U.S. Army troops from acting as police within states, which would have made the occupation of the former Confederate States during Reconstruction illegal had it been in effect at the time. The National Guard is exempt from this since it is supposed to be under the command of the states rather than the federal government. Interestingly enough, the Marine Corps is also not covered by Posse Comitatus, as it falls under the Navy.

I remember that incident. It must have been pretty tough not to just pull out the ol' heater and start blasting away. There are players that would have done that too, and not thought twice about it.

Yes, it was. Another consideration was that Bo's Handgun skill wasn't that great, and if he missed he might have hit Dr. Hausmann. Since she had only 3 HP left at the time, that could have killed her. SuAside did have Luke shoot the zombie, but it was perfectly in character for him to do so. Fortunately, his shot was quite accurate.

Erica is also thinking of giving her dad a call. It's long-distance, so the lines should be free, and even if the power is down the phone lines have a limited amount of battery power to last a day or so (this is why phones still work in a blackout). Livestock = electric fences, even a cattle prod or two. Capisce?

Ah, I get it. I had thought about cattle prods as possible weapons against zombies earlier, but not recently. One problem with making this call is that any landline phones in the T-Bone have been destroyed in the explosion. The motel still has power and working phones, but civilians are not being allowed in (or near). Cell phones are iffy. The helicopter's radio does work and can access CB channels, but the people you're calling might not be capable of receiving. You might have better luck at an airfield or in Omaha.

Unfortunately, Erica's family farm only grows crops, primarily corn. No livestock, cattle prods, or electric fences there. Other nearby farms might have them, though.

I've stayed in many places like this. For a conventional enemy it's probably not the best, and who can say the only threat is going to be the undead, eh? At any rate, in city fighting it's not unusual to blow holes in walls and floors to provide more convenient and safer access through the inside a struxture.

That's true, zombies aren't the only danger. It's possible for the Air Force to blow holes in the walls and floors, as they have the hardware to do it. Of course, if the motel is breached it's probably already too late...

Thanks for clarifying this.

You're welcome.

Okay, I'll make sure she doesn't "know" about the other facility. If she knows about Geronimo, then she will mention in passing these underground installations always had another entrance in case the elevators and main stairs were impassable due to smoke, fire, damage, etc. It would be a ladder in a shaft, coming out somewhere a little ways away. Probably padlocked on the outside.

Keep in mind that the facility was closed down over 40 years ago. There's no way to be sure that any auxiliary exits were not permanently blocked off.

This is what I recall from cars. Note that makes and models have generally been left to character choice-

A few more remarks on the cars:
Earl's tow truck would probably be parked near the garage, so it escaped the blast. There is a plow somewhere in the junkyard. If this is the tow truck's plow, it will need to be attached.

The Foos have a Subaru Outback, not a Trooper. It is parked near the garage. Each of them has a set of keys for it.

Wallace's tanker is currently being repaired. It will take over two hours to finish repairs, though another mechanic working on it would speed things up a little.

Bo's cruiser was parked right near the now hopelessly damaged chopper. Badly damaged (10d6, though I never actually rolled this damage yet).

The news van has been badly battered by the zombie horde on I-80 in Chapter 1, but it can still drive unless the bomb caused further damage.

Either Alice's or Samantha's car (I can't remember which) has broken down and would need to be repaired. This was mentioned early in Chapter 1.

Due to a critically failed Luck roll, Kimberly's car was parked right next to Luke's truck. It will probably never drive again, and her laptop is now in silicon heaven.

Very true, a shotgun is always going to be an effective weapon at short range, albeit a little unwieldy if attached to a rifle. However, tactically speaking in the US military the Maskerkey is primarily assigned the "breacher" role, much like the shotgunner on police tactical teams (and would therefore be the rearguard of the stack). You can certainly use the shotgun to shoot someone, although If I needed a backup due to a weapons malfunction or out of ammo, I'd personally go for my sidearm. As a friend who was in the 'Forces put it, the thing about a pump-action shotgun in close combat is you have to take the target out in the first shot, because you won't have time for another...

I'm going to rule that the short-barrel Remington in the Masterkey configuration is treated like a sawed-off shotgun for range purposes. There is no penalty to hit, but the 4d6 damage range is 5 yards. Beyond that it does 1d6 damage out to a maximum of 10 yards.

I'm assuming this is the case. I know from my own (near-bottom-line) Magellan unit, some functions will still work, like the stored mapping functions. The satellite-aided functions, like the part where the GPS tracks your location in real-time and back-traces your route, and can give your co-ordinates to the metre, will not. Most functions that are normally automatic would need to be done manually, but could still be done.

That sounds reasonable. The maps are still stored in memory, but the chopper's position is not tracked on them. When following a major highway like I-80, it should be easy enough to navigate that no roll is needed. Going off the beaten path would require Navigate(Air) rolls.

 

[Helbent4]

That's the kind of thing the players should know. If they do anything with this, then that's up to them.

Well, the players know this now. Whether or not their characters know depends on their backgrounds and Law skills.

This would be the case for civilian characters. Military personnel, if properly indoctrinated, might get a Know roll because it's something related to their job (under the circumstances).

Thanks, I hadn't known about that. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 was passed as a response to Reconstruction following the U.S. Civil War. It prohibits U.S. Army troops from acting as police within states, which would have made the occupation of the former Confederate States during Reconstruction illegal had it been in effect at the time.

To my recollection, Posse Comitaus was in partial reaction to Federal troops madking sure that the anti-slavery laws and other reforms were passed during Reconstruction.

Erica is also thinking of giving her dad a call. It's long-distance, so the lines should be free, and even if the power is down the phone lines have a limited amount of battery power to last a day or so (this is why phones still work in a blackout). Livestock = electric fences, even a cattle prod or two. Capisce?

Ah, I get it. I had thought about cattle prods as possible weapons against zombies earlier, but not recently. One problem with making this call is that any landline phones in the T-Bone have been destroyed in the explosion. The motel still has power and working phones, but civilians are not being allowed in (or near). Cell phones are iffy. The helicopter's radio does work and can access CB channels, but the people you're calling might not be capable of receiving. You might have better luck at an airfield or in Omaha.

Unfortunately, Erica's family farm only grows crops, primarily corn. No livestock, cattle prods, or electric fences there. Other nearby farms might have them, though.

Ah, bummer about the farm. As for the phone, we'll take that one step at a time. There could be other buildings along the way, too.

That's true, zombies aren't the only danger. It's possible for the Air Force to blow holes in the walls and floors, as they have the hardware to do it. Of course, if the motel is breached it's probably already too late...

If there was time, these holes would be made ahead of time. Along with interior strongpoints, loopholes, etc.

Keep in mind that the facility was closed down over 40 years ago. There's no way to be sure that any auxiliary exits were not permanently blocked off.

Maybe it's there, maybe they're not. We'll try and figure it out if we can. If it is there, it's something that can be seen by air. Maybe a concrete plug or something in the grass. Either way, the satellite facility may also have something similar, and if functional would be a back door into the other base. Someone will have to alert Erica to this for her to look...

Wallace's tanker is currently being repaired. It will take over two hours to finish repairs, though another mechanic working on it would speed things up a little.

Doing a little more research on semis, the trailer brakes are compressed air, not hydraulic (less chance of failure if there's a leak). Once the air lines are disconnected, the air "dynamites" or is purged from the trailer brake lines. This automatically sets the trailer's brakes as the spring-loaded calipers in the brake drums are no longer held open by the constant air pressure. To unhook the trailer itself, there is a large D-ring on the driver's side of the horseshe (hitch) that the driver yanks on to pull the jaws apart. And that's it; once the power lines are disconnected the truck can drive away.

Hooking up is the opposite. The driver lines up the hitch with the tongue. The jaws clamp when the tongue is pushed into the horseshoe. Once the air lines are hooked up again the compressor has to bring the brake lines back up to pressure, which takes about 15 seconds. I timed a driver, and he unhooked a trailer in 1:45 flat and he was in no particular hurry.

That sounds reasonable. The maps are still stored in memory, but the chopper's position is not tracked on them. When following a major highway like I-80, it should be easy enough to navigate that no roll is needed. Going off the beaten path would require Navigate(Air) rolls.

Basically, going cross-country, especially at night.