Highlights from Last Session
Ep 02 "Cold Reception" Summary
Mission 02 is in the books folks, after a great live stream yesterday.
The summary of the mission is below:
A North Korean electronic warfare / surveillance aircraft is reported to have gone down somewhere in the Sea of Okhotsk.
The aircraft is believed to have crashed at Kimura Shima Island (Katyeva Island – marked on map below).
This island lies between the Kuril Islands and the Sakhalin Islands, disputed between Japan and Soviet Union since 1945. Thus, the territorial status of Kimura Shima Island remains unclear. Officially, “Katyeva” Island is part of the Russian Federation, although again, status is debated. The primary reason this matter has never been cleared up is frankly, the islands are tiny (10 square miles / 6000 acres at most ) and desolate. Honestly, no one cares.
The Japanese Self-Defense Force has contacted Phalanx International regarding a mission to recover the North Korean aircraft (codename Cheonji, Korean God of the Sky). Objectives are to recover the plane’s black box, comnav recordings (so intelligence can surmise where this place was flying and who/what it was spying on).
Most importantly, recover any uplink between Cheonji’s doppler look-down shoot-down radar and whatever satellite (if any). This is because North Korea has no satellites of their own, so if they’re using a satellite uplink for electronic warfare, navigation, or aerial surveillance, another nation is helping them expand maritime surveillance and control through North Pacific.
JSDF has provided a staging point and a small boat. But they cannot be connected further with this mission. If they are connected with a paramilitary mission onto Katyeva Island, that could constitute and act of war with the Russian Federation.
Here is the general position of Kimura Shima Island and the site of our mission
An overview of the Kimura Shima Islands. X-Team 619 approached in a heavy storm with high seas, suffering damage to their boat that stranded them on this island until they could effect repair and find more fuel. None of these labels were in pace, the group had to search the island and investigate what was actually happening here. 
We get to where the North Korean EW craft crashed. We see where Sirius, Templar, and Ajax (characters run by Rasmus, Templar007, and Brun) are approaching from the south, while we have Taaki (Jenn) on the crippled, low-fuel boat approaching along the east edge. A North Korean Navy patrol boat (twin 20mm cannon) lies at anchor to the north. The North Koreans have found this crash site, and have established a perimeter around it.
Sirius (Rasmus) and his K9 "Bubblegum" take out the first North Korean soldier at this hunting lodge in the extreme southwest corner of the map. The roof of this building, positioned on high ground, will give Rasmus the best available sniping position.
In the center, Templar and Ajax move against another pair of North Koreans. Ajjax and his new "friend" Piotr (one of three Russian Federation special forces encountered on this island, also with orders to recover the Cheonji's electronics and eject any North Koreans from this Russian Island) go for stealth kills with fighting knives. Templar covers while Ajjax and Piotr make their approach. Russian Federation specops: Captain Nikolai Koslovski -- Senior Sergeant Tanja Lavachenko -- Corproral Piotr Shazhnikov.
In a dry suit (this is the North Pacific in February 2020), Taaki (Jenn) scuba-stealth swims her way up to the side of the North Korean boat while Captain Koslovski and SSgt Lavachenko put grenade launchers and AK-92 fire into the boat's forward sections.
The firefight really heats up in the center. Ajax and Piotr have a great deal of trouble with that North Korean to the left. In fact, Piotr is badly hit. It's up to Templar to finish him off, along with another trooper to the north. Sniper cover from Sirius comes in from the southwest.
Taaki (Jenn) is now aboard the boat. Three crew are down, one remains badly hit. Taaki is hit, but chooses to continue bleeding (delaying first aid on herself) until she finally puts down the last crewman. She's having a tough time of it (wound penalties) until Sirius, from all the way across the table, put s a silenced .308 sniper found OVER her shoulder, through the door, and into the last target on the boat. Ab absurdly difficult shot, which Sirius made just barely with the expenditure of one of his "Grit" (optional willpower) points.
HK OPS was a blast yesterday. I’m hoping we continue with the good mix of story based character development along with the streamlined game mechanics of the gun play. I’m new to the tactical military game, but I’m a seasoned veteran of other RPG’s. This game has so much potential and I’m looking forward to more play testing and more fun with the group.
Holy Hell! Welcome to OnTabelTop @brunhudson ! I am so very glad everyone had a great time yesterday. We definitely tried something new, which I suppose is important in any RPG, but especially “realistic” RPGs because there isn’t usually a next “level-up” of supernatural or sci-fi elements the players can look forward to all the time. The progress is much more subdued … so to maintain player interest, variety is probably key.
Definitely great job yesterday to you, @gladesrunner , @templar007 , and @rasmus !
@oriskany Here’s any idea, I think this group with its skill set could do well with an anti-terrorism game. Similar to something out of the TV series 24. We seem to do well with search and destroy, search and recover, and reconnaissance type missions. This would put us in an urban setting, but on the clock. Make time the true enemy, with enemy NPC as roadblocks. With your storyteller experience I think it would be a great game, and for those out there on the web watching it would an exciting episode to watch and listen to, also it would… Read more »
The game had some great sniper moments – and going to upgrade to a .50 Cal … @oriskany a little bookkeeping. Frederik will spend his after action in the trailer he did buy after the first outing of 619. Beside that he is going for a GED or something like that for the added point in education, that I am slowly adding – And any free time is spend in Harpers Ferry at the Phoenix Gun range trying out the 50 cal rifle (and testing anything else the quartermaster (spending 2 XP on contacts) will let him) or at the… Read more »
Epic, @rasmus . I’m glad to see players start to notice / spend XP into “Personal Files” traits and backgrounds. 😀 Also working up a plan on when the group actually “levels up” to Tier 2. I have a few ideas.
I found this mission challenging and a bit of a nail-biter! We were still thinking on the fly with the ‘cold start’ but had a little time to add to the narrative ourselves. It was key being able to have some of the team move silently and preform the ‘Silent Removal’ action to eliminate some of the opposition from the equation. I really think that the team members are finding their place within the unit. But also, not afraid to explore actions outside of their established identity in the group. We all have our specialties but can branch out or… Read more »
Epic, thanks very much @templar007! I was starting to worry you might get restless since the rest of the group was trying to approach that crash site with stealth … and it’s hard for Donovan to be stealthy with an M249 SAW. 😀
I agree, I think the team is developing well, not only as characters but an interconnected group.
To add to what Templar007 said, I couldn’t agree more. The team is still rough around the edges, but we are starting to gel nicely. Everyone has their niche, but as we continue to develop together as a unit and character side stories become more fleshed out the games are really going to take a life of their own. Ideally in a storyteller system the player’s should take a more active role in the story by helping the Storyteller out with side stories that expand on the characters and improve the overall main plot of the story. Heroes are only… Read more »
Agree with @brunhudson and @templar007 – assuming we can get our internet steady enough for delivery to Sitrep. The issue there is that from my perspective, it’s not JUST an fun RPG with friends … it’s also a content producer deliverable with Sitrep Podcast. We have the cable company out to our house later today, I’ll keep everyone posted.