Let me ask you this...

[pblackcrow]

I have a question, but first let me explain the situation. You're playing a game...A group of Zombies/mummies/animated dead, lead by a necromancer (who was working as a mortician) have taken over the island of Haiti and the Dominican Repub.. And you are sent in with a team of 4 people officially to do recon, and UNOFFICIALLY to rescue hostages, do damage to the army of the undead and the animated dead. You have been given a certain amount of weapons and ammo to use...Besides what you want to take with you. 1 bazooka with 10 missiles, 20 grenades each, 5 flamethrower with 5 gallons each, 5 shot guns with 150 shells of silver E.P’ed buckshot each, and 10 swords with silver E.P'ing (5 katanas and 5 wakashis), 5 survival knives also E.P’ed with the typical survival stuff in the handle. I take my razor chain whip and have it EP’ed myself. The others have their own weapons. Each of have a weapon or two we like to use. Like Hank took a compressed air gun.

And by the way, these are the standard Palladium zombies that a necromancer or mage can make from dead people...so if one bites you than it’s no big thing. But there is just a LOT of them, because of everything that has happened there.

Now than, 9 zombie or maybe animated dead (don't know which, can't exactly be sure). Are attacking the teams hummer and managed to tare a sizeable hole in your left front tire with a knife. And now, here is my question...Which weapon do you pick? Think about it until you have an answer, than read on.



I got first intuitive...so I grab my swords, katana and wakashi. I got out via the sun roof, and did a nice acrobatic spin jump to the ground, and was trying to lure them away from the vehicle so they could all get out and attack, my logic was sound.

Jayce got 2nd, more or less did the same thing as me only he brought a metal base ball bat with little spikes on it. Than again he had a lot to vent out.

The other 3 who went at the same time. They chose to throw grenades out the windows and sunroof at the zombies, and killed not only mine and Jayce’s characters, but themselves and the hummer as well. Jayce and I had to sit quietly by. Rule #1 at JC’s games is: You DO NOT talk over people when it’s their turn to speak, no matter what. They were having a really duh moment. It happens to the best of us. JC is going to let us keep our characters and let us restart it next time.

[Jasper]

I'd use a shotgun. Throwing grenades out the window is going to damage your Hummer even if your friends aren't outside.
Good luck next time .

[Sir Neil]

I think it depends on what kind of HMMWV you have. But grenades won't do your ears any favors.

[jaymz]

Shotguns are your friend.

[Lord Z]

Actually, I like the metal baseball bat, but I would have preferred it smooth without spikes. I would have gone a swinging door (trying to hit a zombie with the door if possible) and tried to cover the sword guy's rear from blindspot attacks.

It seems to me that your fellow players were making bad decisions from being too tired -- or too drunk.

[pblackcrow]

Not hardly drunk. Or tired. Ah, duh moments happens TO EVERYONE. We voted to switch to PFRPG afterwords.

[Lord Z]

I suggest roleplaying a Mind Mage. They begin at Level 1 with one more Super Psionic power than a Mind Melter. That means if you do have a D'oh! Moment, you can change memories to make everyone forget it was you.

[pblackcrow]

No, I meant, that we decided to play PFRPG right after that game that lasted all of 90 minutes. And everything went well.

[Lord Z]

Oh, I get it now.

[Lord Z]

Hmm, I have not contemplated that. I don't think I would like it. Although the rules are compatible and perhaps even somewhat balanced, the tones and themes of these three games are too different. The spies in N&SS don't blend well into superhero games for the same reason that Black Widow never became a central character in the Avengers, she is a spy who is most effective in the shadows while the other Avengers fight in broad daylight and bright costumes. Similarly, the skeptics in BtS wouldn't have any power in a world where martial artists can perform superhuman feats at will and magic-empowered celebrities are flying overhead -- like the character Mister E, a professional debunker in the DC Universe who has basically been ignored for decades.

[mrloucifer]

Tis true... for the BTS perspective, its not a question of "Do supernatural events happen?" in such a world, but a question of "How often do supernatural events happen?"

[Lord Z]

I've been thinking... Even with the skeptic-theorist conflict cut out (Nega-Psychics simply don't exist and there are no professional debunkers), it still would not mix well. The BtS characters would be overly specialized psychics (expecially using the BtS2 rules) who hunt monsters. The HU characters have powers that work in any situation, and the N&SS characters are more well rounded due to large numbers of skills. Even the HU-N&SS combo doesn't really work as we can easily get first level martial artists who are as powerful as Mega-Heroes with better combat stats simply by practicing a martial art for seven years. I remember how my 8th level HU Ancient Master got his clocked cleaned by a 1st level N&SS student of White Crane Kung Fu working as a florist.

Now, picking specific parts of each game and blending them together could work quite well.

[Hendrik]

I have a question, but first let me explain the situation. You're playing a game...A group of Zombies/mummies/animated dead, lead by a necromancer (who was working as a mortician) have taken over the island of Haiti and the Dominican Repub.. And you are sent in with a team of 4 people officially to do recon, and UNOFFICIALLY to rescue hostages, do damage to the army of the undead and the animated dead. You have been given a certain amount of weapons and ammo to use...Besides what you want to take with you. 1 bazooka with 10 missiles, 20 grenades each, 5 flamethrower with 5 gallons each, 5 shot guns with 150 shells of silver E.P’ed buckshot each, and 10 swords with silver E.P'ing (5 katanas and 5 wakashis), 5 survival knives also E.P’ed with the typical survival stuff in the handle. I take my razor chain whip and have it EP’ed myself. The others have their own weapons. Each of have a weapon or two we like to use. Like Hank took a compressed air gun.

And by the way, these are the standard Palladium zombies that a necromancer or mage can make from dead people...so if one bites you than it’s no big thing. But there is just a LOT of them, because of everything that has happened there.

Now than, 9 zombie or maybe animated dead (don't know which, can't exactly be sure). Are attacking the teams hummer and managed to tare a sizeable hole in your left front tire with a knife. And now, here is my question...Which weapon do you pick? Think about it until you have an answer, than read on.

I got first intuitive...so I grab my swords, katana and wakashi. I got out via the sun roof, and did a nice acrobatic spin jump to the ground, and was trying to lure them away from the vehicle so they could all get out and attack, my logic was sound.

Jayce got 2nd, more or less did the same thing as me only he brought a metal base ball bat with little spikes on it. Than again he had a lot to vent out.

The other 3 who went at the same time. They chose to throw grenades out the windows and sunroof at the zombies, and killed not only mine and Jayce’s characters, but themselves and the hummer as well. Jayce and I had to sit quietly by. Rule #1 at JC’s games is: You DO NOT talk over people when it’s their turn to speak, no matter what. They were having a really duh moment. It happens to the best of us. JC is going to let us keep our characters and let us restart it next time.

Hi there, dear pblackcrow,

here’s my two cents: Allow me to analyse this without mincing my words.

As you mentioned RECON, for the following I shall assume you are in some form of military unit with a respective chain of command and training in place.

You are on a RECON mission in enemy territory. Still, you are equipped to wage a minor war. While that is not entirely in keeping with the more clandestine than overt nature of a RECON, let’s just call it a Force Recon to ease my mind. Be that as it may, as it is not really that important, it shows me two things. One, and I may of course be wrong but it would be my guess, it sheds some doubt as to the planning capacity of your command authority (What do they want, recon or seek & destroy? Both at the same time is a difficult proposition.). Second, you are not badly equipped to defend yourself which is good considering you meet the living dead.

Next, you are going to some serious undead turf. Zombies tell you must expect to be swarmed. That happened. It will happen again.

Also, I am not aware of any further detail of your orders and how much leeway the give you. Still, I think it is good counsel to revisit those orders amongst yourself before you are dropped the next time. If you were given no priorities, give them to yourself and tailor the execution of the mission to achieve that. I would read your orders (a) get information (lay of the land, enemy force count, etc.) [BE SILENT], (b) free the hostages [BE SILENT] and (c) get out with many loud bangs [NO SILENCE; EXPLOSIVES!!!]. The rest is - as always - improvise, adapt and overcome!

For that I would sort the following out:

1. Who has rank? Encourage your officer or NCO to give you better orders to avoid the chaos of the last mission. If he is not up to it, maybe he “wants” to step down.
2. The men died the last time around because you acted without coordination. See 1 above – a good officer may help. In lieu of someone in command, now that you know what may happen, talk tactics in advance. Keep it simple. Decide on basic uses of force, sequence of arms employment.
3. Avoid heroic stunts. Always act as a team. Jumping out of the sun roof is cool, but it killed last time. Might have worked better if cf. 2.
4. Do not throw grenades where buddies are (unless the mission cannot be accomplished otherwise).
5. Use territory (no information thereto in your email), but you are RECON for chr….sake.
6. A vehicle is a weapon. A HMMWV has roughly 150 HP/PS and weighs c. 5500 lbs/ 2.5 tons. The civilian variant is also rather strong. That should break through some Zombies (human weight, right?). Nine Zombies will not hold 150 HP. One flat tire will neither stop a vehicle like that. Kick the accelerator, smash Zombies, laugh out loud. Lob grenades in the meantime. If you make noise, make a lot of noise, use your ammo.

Well, that is what I would like to suggest.

Good luck next time, son!



Kind regards
Hendrik

[pblackcrow]

It wasn't a really a "swarm"...9 vs 5 isn't exactly a swarm. 20+ vs 5, that's more of a swarm.

When we replayed it the next time, we played with some sense. We had fun. Put it like this: There WAS a necromancer, and his 10 apprentices. There is now 1 and only 1 apprentice left.

[Lord Z]

Niiiice.

[Hendrik]

It wasn't a really a "swarm"...9 vs 5 isn't exactly a swarm. 20+ vs 5, that's more of a swarm.

When we replayed it the next time, we played with some sense. We had fun. Put it like this: There WAS a necromancer, and his 10 apprentices. There is now 1 and only 1 apprentice left.

Congrats!!

"swarm": agreed. Yet, they were all over your car it sounded like and that for me would constitute "swarming you".

Did you use the car as a weapon?

Kind regards
Hendrik