[Blood and Guts] Has anyone played Raid On Ashkashem?

[oeverloos]

Hi,
We've been playing Blood and Guts for a year now, and I would like to play Raid On Ashkashem, which I recently picked up. I would have to adapt the game to our party (US army), and to their levels (level 7). I don't want to wait much longer to introduce this game because they're really drooling to become SF operators.

Does anyone who already played this module have any feedback on how it went, did it play well? Any suggestions on how to adapt it to the criteria I cited higher?

Is anyone aware of any other modules for a D20 Modern Military campaign? And while being in the question zone, has anyone an opinion on the encyclopedia vanguard, expect that a sarcastic boardmember was excluded from their beta-testers?

Thx.

 

[FraserRonald]

Hi there oeverloos

I'm the writer of Raid on Ashkashem so I don't know how much weight my opinion on these matters will hold. I, of course, thought the module worked out fine and is well balanced or I wouldn't have published it--or so one would hope.

Since you are planning on a group of 7th level characters, depending on the party size and style of play, you may want to use the "Scaled Down" web enhancement available on our Downloads page. If the style of the group is go in shooting, the "Scaled Down" NPCs (set for 5th level party) should work out as that style of play could lead to the PCs being swamped. If they are stealthy and sneaky, killing quickly and silently, the NPCs as presented should be fine. Just remember Massive Damage and the game should go along fine. How many members of the party?

Also, the second part of the Albenistan series will be out this week. It's called the Qalashar Device and a preview is available on our Downloads page.

Please let me know if you have any questions at all. Happy to help if I can.

Take care!

 

[oeverloos]

Thank you for the reply.
When I started reading the module, my first impression was that a very stealthy party, including a good marksman, could do a great job in this campaign. But then I remembered that my party isn't very stealthy, they try, but one way or another they always fail...
I was checking out the SEP website recently, but I looked over that scaled down version. So this really helps me alot!
The party counts five people, and sometimes a NPC officer is thrown in to help them out (my former character).

I'm really looking forward to the second part, and already saw the preview in another PDF.
As the adventure will be played in mid-februari (I have exams and two weeks of desert training in Maroco) I have some time left to prepare the adventure. And if any question would rise, i'll post them here.

After we complete the adventure I'll post an AAR, we always do that on our own forum, but I'll do it in english now.

 

[FraserRonald]

I'll keep my eyes out for questions. You know, even a marginally stealthy group of 5 or 6 7th level characters should be able to make it through the module without a problem. I think you are right to start them off with the "Scaled Down" NPCs, but if it becomes a cake walk, I would suggest being ready to switch over to the regular NPCs.

Hope you have fun! Thanks for your support.

 

[lmpjr007]

Will you be coming out with more adventures?

 

[Vigilance]

I believe they just announced the 2nd adventure in this series in the publisher forum.

Chuck

 

[C. Baize]

Saw it on RPGNow... Device of Qalashar, or something.

 

[oeverloos]

Bought the new adventure this morning, and my first impressions are very positive.
The GM will have to put some logistical work in the timetables, but I think my players will like it very much.
Just one fault even i couldn't oversee in the printer friendly version. On page 11, on top, Cam's message to red team around 0130, day 3 makes reference to building C (several times) where it should read building X. After reading more of the adventure you know it should be "X", but in the beginning I was searching that mysterious building C.

For the rest, I can only praise the Qalashar Device, the series are the best in their genre (although I'm not aware of any other adventures... what a pity, if everyone should write down their military adventures and sent them in...)

Keep up the good work! I'm looking forward to part 3, and I can't wait to start with my players.

 

[Christopher Lambert]

I know of only a few other such adventures.

Weekend Warriors - it has some FX, however. It's designed for 5th-level adventurers.

Operation Dead Drop and Winterkill. I have the former. It's a pretty interesting adventure, but since it takes place in Antarctica I have a hard time using it in a campaign that has gone through Adelie 14 (a paramilitary free adventure on WotC's D20 Modern site). The statblocks in it were ... bad. Good adventure, bad NPCs. I saw Operation Dead Drop at a store, but didn't buy it. The stat blocks looked a lot more useable. Operation Winterkill and Adelie 14 are both designed as 7th-level adventures.

 

[FraserRonald]

Bought the new adventure this morning, and my first impressions are very positive.

*Cheers and back-slaps all around* Glad to hear it. Thanks for your support!

The GM will have to put some logistical work in the timetables, but I think my players will like it very much.

Yes, the encounter timetables do necessitate a fair amount of work, or at least preparation and consideration on the GM's side. We just didn't want the encounters to be static. Were I a player, I'd think it would be really strange to have--for example--a bunch of mechanics working on the BRDM-2 in the Pit & Hoist area at 2 in the morning. Also, we wanted to make sure that we got the logisitcs right--had enough beds for everyone, had enough space in the mess to fit all the people eating, etc.

Just one fault even i couldn't oversee in the printer friendly version. On page 11, on top, Cam's message to red team around 0130, day 3 makes reference to building C (several times) where it should read building X. After reading more of the adventure you know it should be "X", but in the beginning I was searching that mysterious building C.

What? Impossible. SEP would never make such a mistake. It just wouldn't . . . Oh, I see what you mean.

After investigating the matter, it appears an element from the HMA gained access to our offices (okay, the spare room in my apartment . . . sheesh) and in order to create confusion, changed the information in our files. Beware the HMA, they can strike anywhere!

Upon further consideration, we've decided to have all the editors commit hari-kari, as a form of ritual atonement for . . . oh, wait a second, that would include me. Ahem. It seems our editors aren't being paid enough and thus the shoddy workmanship. They will all receive a raise immediately.

Seriously, though, thanks for the catch! Our first errata for tQD.

For the rest, I can only praise the Qalashar Device, the series are the best in their genre (although I'm not aware of any other adventures... what a pity, if everyone should write down their military adventures and sent them in...)

Thanks for the vote of confidence! Everyone who worked on the project will be happy to hear this.

As for other adventures, there are a few out there, as well as sourcebooks on specific real-life areas. Still, compared to the d20 Fantasy adventures available, it does seem pretty sparse.

Keep up the good work! I'm looking forward to part 3, and I can't wait to start with my players.

Again, thanks for the high praise. I really appreciate your kind words. If you have any questions, you know where to find me! Also, we have plans to have web enhancements for tQD just like we did for Raid on Ashkashem. Keep your eyes open for a "Scaled Down" and a "Powered Up" enhancement.

Take care!