Wraith Recon - anyone have it?

[Rechan]

I've been mulling over [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Wraith-Recon-Bryan-Steele/dp/1906103925/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231159917&sr=8-1"]Wraith Recon[/ame] for about a week now. One of my players is big on tactical stuff, and he actually intended to have his warlord (and the warlord's ranger brother) as a tactical assault team, so this seems right up his ally.

The setting is very viable and neat, and I do have a lot of ideas for it.

Although I'm a little wary. Mainly because I am afraid that WR might take the fantasy aspects out of the game. There's spells and magical items, sure, but as I read it, it comes across as just 'Humans/demi-humans against human(oids)'. No plots/encounters with monstrous monsters (Illithids, oozes, undead or whathaveyou). No planar excursions. Just "Green Berets with Fireballs". Taking that beyond certain point would just be better to run it in the Modern world, and I'm worried that WR takes it past that point.

I also wonder about things like travel/pickup. Unless there are airships, or teleportation, then the Wraith Recon units are going to have trouble getting back to their check-point once they've achieved their mission. Real Life equivalency have helecopters/planes to fall back and get out of dodge ASAP, but if those options aren't present for the WR, then the enemy could really start combing the battlefield.

(One plot I do want to run is the WR doing a kidnapping, so a rendezvous point with extraction would be kinda necessary; dragging the kidnapped victim across the country isn't very likely.)

Then there's Spellcom. I wonder how much communication that feels more like Magic=Tech, rather than Magic feeling like Magic (telepathy instead of say, a magical walkie talkie).

 

[Deverash]

Well, i haven't picked this up, so I can't answer most of your questions(and I'm looking forward to what other poeple have to say).

However, for fast escapes, you could give the team a scroll of linked portal. Find a safe place for 5 minutes, then *bam* your home free.

That might be an interesting idea for you as well, if the country their working for gets a hold of the sigil-sequence for the opposing sides special ops retreat point, you could have them break in there, and capture/eliminate the other sides recon force when they try to retreat.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I have it, and I love it.

The story is alot of fun, and has a lot of fantasy elements to it, and depending on what type of games you like this could be alot of fun...

My only complaint is a feel it is a little to black and white...the first mission in the book is to go into enemy terretory where there are refuges from a major incedent, find 1 guy and get him out.
I think they could really play up the OMG black ops there...when I ran it I described in detail the children, and injured. I had the whole area full of despret people...good people...who needed help. Make the PCs think about the fact that they can't save everyone...

 

[Engilbrand]

I've played it and have a few friends with the book.
It's decent. The best part to me was that it finally presented the Special Forcs idea in a new way. I never thought to do that.
The campaign world looks decent.
They give you way too much crap, but that's easy enough to fix.
The Spellcom can have a lot of interesting uses. Keep the ideas of the game open.

One of my players has started DMing now. Sarge's 9 and 11 year old daughters created a 64 page campaign guide for him based on what they read of Wraith Recon and the 6th season of Charmed. They even called Sarge's brother to see if they could get any more information for the game. He refused to give them any.
When I first told him about Wraith Recon, I told him that I wouldn't want to be a player in it with him, and I wouldn't run it for him, but I would love to play a game of it run by him. I look forward to how it goes.

In a game of it run by someone else, we were sent to assassinate a guy and make it look like it was someone else. We flew in on a dragon. We used parachutes. The amount of magitech is up to you.

 

[Rechan]

My only complaint is a feel it is a little to black and white...the first mission in the book is to go into enemy terretory where there are refuges from a major incedent, find 1 guy and get him out.
I think they could really play up the OMG black ops there...when I ran it I described in detail the children, and injured. I had the whole area full of despret people...good people...who needed help. Make the PCs think about the fact that they can't save everyone...

While I'm not going to make it "The home country is evil evil evil" or black'n'white Good, some moral conflict is good.

For instance, kidnapping an enemy country's princess.

Another is to take out a member of a different Wraith Recon unit. Either he's been captured (and therefore is a liability, kill him and bring his equipment back), or kill him because he's went AWOL (due to what he's saw, and wants out).

 

[Jack99]

I've been mulling over Wraith Recon for about a week now. One of my players is big on tactical stuff, and he actually intended to have his warlord (and the warlord's ranger brother) as a tactical assault team, so this seems right up his ally.

The setting is very viable and neat, and I do have a lot of ideas for it.

Although I'm a little wary. Mainly because I am afraid that WR might take the fantasy aspects out of the game. There's spells and magical items, sure, but as I read it, it comes across as just 'Humans/demi-humans against human(oids)'. No plots/encounters with monstrous monsters (Illithids, oozes, undead or whathaveyou). No planar excursions. Just "Green Berets with Fireballs". Taking that beyond certain point would just be better to run it in the Modern world, and I'm worried that WR takes it past that point.

I also wonder about things like travel/pickup. Unless there are airships, or teleportation, then the Wraith Recon units are going to have trouble getting back to their check-point once they've achieved their mission. Real Life equivalency have helecopters/planes to fall back and get out of dodge ASAP, but if those options aren't present for the WR, then the enemy could really start combing the battlefield.

(One plot I do want to run is the WR doing a kidnapping, so a rendezvous point with extraction would be kinda necessary; dragging the kidnapped victim across the country isn't very likely.)

Then there's Spellcom. I wonder how much communication that feels more like Magic=Tech, rather than Magic feeling like Magic (telepathy instead of say, a magical walkie talkie).

I have it. And while I liked reading it, I will say that your fears are well founded. I think it's very easy to slip into a non-fantasy mode very easily. I also happen to think that an amazing DM could use it as a great basis for a "different" campaign.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

While I'm not going to make it "The home country is evil evil evil" or black'n'white Good, some moral conflict is good.

For instance, kidnapping an enemy country's princess.

Another is to take out a member of a different Wraith Recon unit. Either he's been captured (and therefore is a liability, kill him and bring his equipment back), or kill him because he's went AWOL (due to what he's saw, and wants out).

that is more the ay I see it running...

there is a great story in the book...the king didn't approve anything like wraith recon...then the big event happened, he was agai breifed on the idea, he begrugingly agrred asking how long it would take to orgnize...the responce "Team 1 can be a go in 72 hours"