G.I. Joe RPG

[Kannik]

I do like the narrative style of the game though, and the Joe vs. Cobra angle is very straight forward which makes writing adventures pretty easy. Hopefully we'll stick with this for a while.

Hope you get to play for a long time too! I'd be keen on reading what further shenanigans your players get up to, and your further impressions of the game, especially what bits of it push its narrative focus.

 

[R_J_K75]

Hope you get to play for a long time too! I'd be keen on reading what further shenanigans your players get up to, and your further impressions of the game, especially what bits of it push its narrative focus.

I'll keep posting. Usually, we play Monday nights so check on Tuesdays.

 

[aramis erak]

I've run Transformers...
The things we didn't like:

• both edge/snag and difficulty shifts of skill die
• rigid advancement system
• Specialization rolling d2...dX while normal rolls use just dX, where X= skill die
• Crits on skill die max (making crits less common with increasing skill)

 

[R_J_K75]

@payn I bought this for this coming Monday, Im sure Springfield Anytown USA is going to go up in smoke. I've been told this is real and was sold. Before the pandemic a friend of mine said she thought so, IDK I misremember a lot

 

[R_J_K75]

• both edge/snag and difficulty shifts of skill die

Yes. Im still trying to wrap my head around it. As much as the game is d20, it sure does go out of its way to not be at times

• Specialization rolling d2...dX while normal rolls use just dX, where X= skill die

At low levels of advancement, it does seem to get in its own way to negate itself. I had a player ask me what "specialization" does and I how the BLEEP should I know? I looked it up and I told them at your level it does nothing...at least I think

 

[R_J_K75]

No one dies in GI Joe, they are just "DEFEATED"

So big caveat, these are only suggestions, I'm not starting a poll because I'm not that smart, but as a narrative tool for my game and this thread, let us play Maker with what happens to the intrepid Joes. I usually leave things off on a cliffhanger every week, well I'll be honest we usually just drink and smoke too much, so the cliffhanger makes itself, "Who shot PBR?",

Being defeated means you don't die, but there's a setback or a negative repercussion, as I understand it in this system. I'm trying to find a way that Postal should be defeated while living up to the spirit of the game. As @Kannik said in so many words, it really is about the narrative and not the rules.

So the doctor was cornered by Cobras, Postal tried getting into the office he was hiding in, Postal got the door open, but then got a syringe in the neck from the doctor who used the only weapon he knew. Propofol. Speaking from being surgically induced, that takes effect quick. The Cobra Officer then blew the doors off its hinges with a frag grenade, and the Joes took cover in a stairwell, the game is afoot...

When we begin next session, I will give Postal one turn to act, but hes going nighty-night after that. The other Joes can act as normal, but Im sure that means Weed Whacker will just drive his Jon Deere off the roof. We need to talk in possibilities and vote for which one you like. It's just a way to include people and influence my and now, our game. I think making this partially interactive could be fun. We'll see. PM me if it's something really heinous

1) COBRA has a vessel outside the Drs office, blows up the wall and makes good their escape with the Dr and Postal?
2) A few hungover college interns wander onto the scene and throw a "Monkey Wrench" into the situation?
3) An immense police force infiltrates the hospital and the environs causing discord and riots upending any Joe/Cobra plans?
4) Another significant event spontaneously occurs that makes this Joe/Cobra mission insignificant? I.E. Who Shot George Utley's Daryl's?
5) Send me your own, I'm open to suggestions. Personally, I like 2 as its extremely random and I think randomness is what this encounter needs

 

[Kannik]

When we begin next session, I will give Postal one turn to act, but hes going nighty-night after that. The other Joes can act as normal, but Im sure that means Weed Whacker will just drive his Jon Deere off the roof. We need to talk in possibilities and vote for which one you like. It's just a way to include people and influence my and now, our game. I think making this partially interactive could be fun. We'll see. PM me if it's something really heinous

1) COBRA has a vessel outside the Drs office, blows up the wall and makes good their escape with the Dr and Postal?
2) A few hungover college interns wander onto the scene and throw a "Monkey Wrench" into the situation?
3) An immense police force infiltrates the hospital and the environs causing discord and riots upending any Joe/Cobra plans?
4) Another significant event spontaneously occurs that makes this Joe/Cobra mission insignificant? I.E. Who Shot George Utley's Daryl's?
5) Send me your own, I'm open to suggestions. Personally, I like 2 as its extremely random and I think randomness is what this encounter needs

1) Would be a classic. A pair of bog-standard blue cobras blow a hole in the wall, and there's Dr Mindbender, cape flapping on the wind as he stands at the front of the Moray hydrofoil, and they bring everyone onboard and motor away. Cue chase scene. (If it's not next to the water, maybe... I mean, trouble bubbles is kind of iconic as well, but harder to take passengers away on it. A gaggle of Stuns backed up with trouble bubbles could work for a high speed land chase (on a riding mower!))

2) Would give a chance for some quick action, and force a choice by the Joes, to help the medical students (who could just be panicking at all the gunfire and grenades!) to safety, giving Cobra a chance to escape and the Joes need to go rescue their buddy. (If this is the route, Postal's player might want to have another character to play as they go rescue himself!)

Alternately, this could give a chance for Cobra to forget Postal and just leave with the professor. The team has to follow Cobra to their hidden base to retrieve them, but at least Doc can help Postal wake up and be part of the mission.

Of course, the team may overcome and win against Cobra, and the rescue isn't necessary.

3) I think isn't a very Joe-like narrative, I'm not sure I remember the police having a presence (and certainly a powerful presence) in the cartoons. (But I never read too much of the comics, so maybe they have more of a presence there.)

4) You would know best if there's something from the PC's backgrounds that would suddenly supersede the importance of the current firefight and mission.

5) Other ideas off the top of my head:

The head of the Cobra operation (this sounds like a Baroness move to me) grabs Postal and threatens to off him unless the Joes back down. Similar to 2), above, in that it lets Cobra escape, and the Joes' mission has been complicated with needing to rescue the professor from a base. Even better, as Cobra is backing off in their vehicles, the Baroness dramatically tosses him aside, needing the Joes to react to catch him before he falls to the ground/drowns/something.

The doctor Cobra is trying to kidnap was injured in the grenade blast -- now Cobra and the Joes need to work together to stabilize him. Once he's stabilized.... then it's a close quarters fight in an ER with a patient you really don't want to take any colateral damage!

The sprinklers cinematically all go off (NB: that's not how they work in real life ), shifting the equasion and causing Cobra to slip a few times, providing an opportunity for the team to exploit.

Lady Jaye was there, in disguise as a nurse, who pulls of her mask to aid the team. But this could also feel like robbing the players of their agency and being saved by an NPC. So... it's Zarana or Zartan, hiding behind the players as a frightened doctor, and now it's a fight on two fronts! (Which will likely lead to Cobra escaping thus leading to something like 2, above.)

I'll post more as it comes to mind.

 

[R_J_K75]

1) Would be a classic. A pair of bog-standard blue cobras blow a hole in the wall, and there's Dr Mindbender, cape flapping on the wind as he stands at the front of the Moray hydrofoil, and they bring everyone onboard and motor away. Cue chase scene. (If it's not next to the water, maybe... I mean, trouble bubbles is kind of iconic as well, but harder to take passengers away on it. A gaggle of Stuns backed up with trouble bubbles could work for a high speed land chase (on a riding mower!))

I chose option 1 as it seemed to make the most sense. As we left off on a somewhat of a cliffhanger, I didn't want to do anymore prep and thought it best to see how things played out; either the Joes would win the fight "for freedom" or the Cobras would make off with the Doctor and possibly some Joes.

The session started off with the Cobra Officer outside the Doctors office where him and Postal were, Dick Cheney and Weed Whacker were in the stairwell, after retreating from the frag grenade blast. I gave Postal 5 rounds before he'd succumb to the effects of the drug the Doctor injected him with. The Cobra Officer entered the office and kept his rifle trained on the Doctor and Postal and made his way to the back outside wall. He retrieved an explosive device from his person but had to put his gun down to do so. Postal who was prone on the ground took the opportunity pull down the Doctor and hand him his gun. As the Officer was occupied with arming the device on the window, the Doctor took a shot at him but missed and the window broke dropping the device which was actually very caustic acid to the street below.

In the meantime, the two remaining Cobra Troopers made their way to the stairwell where the other 2 Joes were taking cover and were pinned down. As ridiculous as it was Weed Whacker donned his ghillie suit and attempted to hide in plain sight. It made for a funny situation but was ineffective. The Cobra Troopers exchanged a few rounds of fire with Dick Cheney, but Dick took them both down with shotgun blasts. By this time the last B.A.T. was slowly walking down the corridor from the opposite end towards the Doctors office, and Weed Whacker and Dick entered the corridor as well. The Doctor escaped his office and Weed Whacker attacked him with his electrified whip, leaving him stunned and incapacitated. Dick Cheney destroyed the B.A.T. with his shotgun.

Inside the office a melee of fisticuffs broke out between the Cobra Officer and Postal. As they decided they wanted to take him alive Weed Whacker stabbed him with his combat knife, Postal retrieved his gun and both him and Dick had him in their sights, so he had no choice but to surrender or die. Just then Postal succumbed to the injection. Ironically that whole scene played out in exactly 5 rounds, and before we started, I rolled a d6 to see how long Postal would last.

The Joes took their prisoner and the doctor to the decoy ambulance that Cobras used to infiltrate the hospital and drove it to an isolated clearing outside of town to meet their superiors. They boarded a C-130 cargo plane that can take off and land vertically and headed back to GI Joe headquarters, where I'm sure they'll catch hell for the destroyed government issued John Deere riding lawn mower.

 

[Kannik]

I chose option 1 as it seemed to make the most sense. As we left off on a somewhat of a cliffhanger, I didn't want to do anymore prep and thought it best to see how things played out; either the Joes would win the fight "for freedom" or the Cobras would make off with the Doctor and possibly some Joes.

The session started off with the Cobra Officer outside the Doctors office where him and Postal were, Dick Cheney and Weed Whacker were in the stairwell, after retreating from the frag grenade blast. I gave Postal 5 rounds before he'd succumb to the effects of the drug the Doctor injected him with. The Cobra Officer entered the office and kept his rifle trained on the Doctor and Postal and made his way to the back outside wall. He retrieved an explosive device from his person but had to put his gun down to do so. Postal who was prone on the ground took the opportunity pull down the Doctor and hand him his gun. As the Officer was occupied with arming the device on the window, the Doctor took a shot at him but missed and the window broke dropping the device which was actually very caustic acid to the street below.

In the meantime, the two remaining Cobra Troopers made their way to the stairwell where the other 2 Joes were taking cover and were pinned down. As ridiculous as it was Weed Whacker donned his ghillie suit and attempted to hide in plain sight. It made for a funny situation but was ineffective. The Cobra Troopers exchanged a few rounds of fire with Dick Cheney, but Dick took them both down with shotgun blasts. By this time the last B.A.T. was slowly walking down the corridor from the opposite end towards the Doctors office, and Weed Whacker and Dick entered the corridor as well. The Doctor escaped his office and Weed Whacker attacked him with his electrified whip, leaving him stunned and incapacitated. Dick Cheney destroyed the B.A.T. with his shotgun.

Inside the office a melee of fisticuffs broke out between the Cobra Officer and Postal. As they decided they wanted to take him alive Weed Whacker stabbed him with his combat knife, Postal retrieved his gun and both him and Dick had him in their sights, so he had no choice but to surrender or die. Just then Postal succumbed to the injection. Ironically that whole scene played out in exactly 5 rounds, and before we started, I rolled a d6 to see how long Postal would last.

The Joes took their prisoner and the doctor to the decoy ambulance that Cobras used to infiltrate the hospital and drove it to an isolated clearing outside of town to meet their superiors. They boarded a C-130 cargo plane that can take off and land vertically and headed back to GI Joe headquarters, where I'm sure they'll catch hell for the destroyed government issued John Deere riding lawn mower.

Nice! I can totally see, in that typical "humour moment at the end of the episode" way, Postal turning to DC and WW to say, "Well done Joes, we do OK," and then, with no warning or change of expression, falling over and snoring.

"It made for a funny situation but was ineffective," is a delightfully dry description for the absurdity, and oh to be a fly on the wall to watch WW try and explain away the loss of their riding mower.

Good call on Option 1, seems like it was a great time for everyone and that they came together as a team in the end!

 

[R_J_K75]

Nice! I can totally see, in that typical "humour moment at the end of the episode" way, Postal turning to DC and WW to say, "Well done Joes, we do OK," and then, with no warning or change of expression, falling over and snoring.

"It made for a funny situation but was ineffective," is a delightfully dry description for the absurdity, and oh to be a fly on the wall to watch WW try and explain away the loss of their riding mower.

Good call on Option 1, seems like it was a great time for everyone and that they came together as a team in the end!

They definitely left a lot of destruction in their wake, but in the end, they were "successful", and I use the term loosely. Now I got until next Monday to come up with another mission. Think I have another low-level adventure I can pilfer for ideas.

This looked really cool but the higher tier pledges were pretty expensive and seems like something I'd rather pass on if I wasn't all in. So, I opted for the first 50 issues TPB coming out in October. I'm assuming there will be more, at least for complete set of the GI Joe ARH comics.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/skyboundent/gi-joe-a-real-american-hero-compendium-set

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1534371508/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1