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Review / Remix: Everyday Heroes' "To Dethrone A Dictator"
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<blockquote data-quote="Sparky McDibben" data-source="post: 9136439" data-attributes="member: 7041430"><p>Once the PCs have made a choice about which lead they want to pursue (or are pursuing them both), we hit an inflection point.</p><p></p><p>Infiltrating the Bumicorp HQ is difficult. The HQ itself is a prefab structure where engineering staff are being housed, along with a small detachment of mercenary guards. The guards have uniforms, assault rifles, and badges that govern access to various places in the HQ. I'd probably borrow from <em>Expedition to the Barrier Peaks</em> and color-code the various access points, making security higher as they get closer to the command center at the heart of the HQ, so they can't steal one badge and hope to get in that way. I'd also borrow from Goblin Punch's excellent Underclock mechanic and let the PCs know that they're on a time crunch before complications ensue. Once they make their way inside, they can determine that Bumicorp is financing Idowu's coup. If the PCs are willing to risk it, they can also uncover that Bumicorp has already placed contracts to sell their mineral exploits here to a shady arms dealer, and that the oil drilling is actually a side concern - what Bumicorp's really after is uranium. </p><p></p><p>The likelihood that the PCs get out clean is very low, and I'd lean into that. After all, guards are going to be slower to respond to a threat within than without, and there's going to be a bunch of ways to sabotage Bumicorp's operations (blow up a generator, toss a frag grenade into the ammunition dump, steal a technical, etc.), so let the PCs run wild as they leave. </p><p></p><p>The local TV station is a hard target as well. The PCs not only have to get in, they have to trigger an island-wide broadcast and hold the station long enough for it to finish. It's guarded by a five-man detachment of Idowu's regular army troops (not Palace Guards), who are mostly bored and playing cards to pass the time, gambling on bottlecaps. However, the central police station is run by three additional squads, one of whom are Palace Guards, and who have a response time of:</p><p></p><p>1st Squad: 1 minute (10 guys in two trucks)</p><p>2nd Squad: 5 minutes (12 guys in three trucks - one of these is a technical; Second Squad is on next shift and will take a little longer to get ready)</p><p>3rd Squad: 10 minutes (10 guys in two technicals; Third Squad had night shift last night, and are sleeping; they are the Palace Guard squad)</p><p></p><p>The TV station has three points of ingress: the front door, a back door, and a roof-hatch for use when the A/C is frozen. The guard squad on duty checks the back door every thirty minutes, and will investigate if it's open (the door locks when shut). The guards are in the lobby and keep an eye on anyone coming in and out through the front door. Anyone they don't know will be stopped and questioned. </p><p></p><p>The PCs have to get in, and either convince the local tech to help them broadcast (which will almost certainly get the tech shot - high DC) or jury rig the broadcast themselves. The tape that the Princess gave them is 15 minutes long; the lobby guards realize something is wrong one minute into the broadcast. They immediately call for backup and try to stop the broadcast. If the lobby guards don't get the backup call off, the police station starts scrambling five minutes into the broadcast (so 1st Squad would arrive six minutes in). Players will need to use equipment and clever tactics to deal with waves of enemies, most of whom are not going to be eager to rush the building, but will siege it (including the back door) and try to wait the PCs out.</p><p></p><p>On that note, make it very clear to the PCs that no help is coming from either Whyllis or the rebels. This job is intended to show what the PCs can do; if they have to pull their asses out of the fire, the PCs weren't worth a damn to begin with. </p><p></p><p>Once the PCs have pulled off either job and successfully escaped, advance them to level four. </p><p></p><p>Whyllis can identify Bedlam (the chief mercenary) as a soldier of fortune, one he's crossed paths with before. Last Whyllis heard, Bedlam was working for an Iranian outfit. If your PCs uncovered the information about uranium from the Bumicorp HQ, they may start to realize that this is a ploy to get a rogue state radiological materials. </p><p></p><p>Whyllis can radio for extraction, but before they can go, he needs three things taken care of:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Blow up the S-300 air defense systems so the CIA extraction team can pull them out</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Destroy a radio jammer preventing him from broadcasting</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Create a diversion near Bumicorp's HQ to pull Idowu's goons out of position</li> </ul><p>Each of these should be a significant operation, on par with the Bumicorp infiltration, that take about a full session or two to run. The PCs should be advancing a level per objective met, roughly, so they should be at level seven by the end of this section. Once these are done, Whyllis will ask the PCs to meet him on the opposite side of the island from Bumicorp's HQ (creating a tense chase scene), so they can be extracted. Unfortunately, it turns out Bedlam realized the radio jammer's destruction meant that someone was trying to signal them, so he set up direction-finding antennae, and triangulated Whyllis' position.</p><p></p><p>The PCs can rescue Whyllis, but he's had to wave off the extraction team. No help is coming. If the PCs don't rescue Whyllis, he is shot as a spy. At this point, the only way off the island is the helicopter that is stationed at the Royal Palace overlooking Kingstown. From there, we transition to Act III.</p><p></p><p>If the PCs are helping the Princess, she thanks them for getting her message out, and asks for help on a couple of minor issues before the rebels start making more moves. She needs more of everything (fuel, ammunition, medical supplies, food, batteries, etc), and thinks a nearby patrol base would have plenty. As the players gather stuff from Idowu's forces, you can start to introduce them to the rebels who are helping the PCs out on these runs. I wouldn't send along any real fighters, but a driver, a ranger/pathfinder, and a sailor might be some good companions to rotate in and out of play. </p><p></p><p>Mix these "requisition missions" into play over the next several levels to let the PCs meet the rebels and give the campaign some room to breathe. You should also let the PCs spend more time with the Princess and get to know her a little better. She's a hard woman, but ultimately a fair one. She blames herself for not "dealing with Idowu" before his coup, and has vowed to get her country back, no matter what. </p><p></p><p>The Princess will also ask the PCs for several dangerous missions:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Rescue political prisoners being held for ransom at Camp Idowu (temporary military installation in a large cove on the north end of the island)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Plant doctored evidence that Bumicorp is only using Idowu and will soon get rid of him (stealth mission; getting caught means there's only a one-in-three chance Idowu believes the fake data)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Steal the cash payroll for Idowu's Palace Guards from Kingstown (the capital), and deliver it to the rebels</li> </ul><p>Each of these should be about a session or two, and the PCs should be able to level up after about each one. Once they hit level seven, the Princess gambles that she can move into the open. Regular army units either desert or refuse to fight, and Idowu is left with only his Palace Guards and Bumicorp's mercenaries. Desperate and running out of options, Idowu threatens to unleash a chemical weapon on Kingstown if the Princess doesn't surrender. </p><p></p><p>Horrified, the Princess has a choice to make, and the PCs' advice will be the deciding factor. Sacrifice 10,000 souls for the good of the nation, or give herself up? From here, we transition to Act III.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sparky McDibben, post: 9136439, member: 7041430"] Once the PCs have made a choice about which lead they want to pursue (or are pursuing them both), we hit an inflection point. Infiltrating the Bumicorp HQ is difficult. The HQ itself is a prefab structure where engineering staff are being housed, along with a small detachment of mercenary guards. The guards have uniforms, assault rifles, and badges that govern access to various places in the HQ. I'd probably borrow from [I]Expedition to the Barrier Peaks[/I] and color-code the various access points, making security higher as they get closer to the command center at the heart of the HQ, so they can't steal one badge and hope to get in that way. I'd also borrow from Goblin Punch's excellent Underclock mechanic and let the PCs know that they're on a time crunch before complications ensue. Once they make their way inside, they can determine that Bumicorp is financing Idowu's coup. If the PCs are willing to risk it, they can also uncover that Bumicorp has already placed contracts to sell their mineral exploits here to a shady arms dealer, and that the oil drilling is actually a side concern - what Bumicorp's really after is uranium. The likelihood that the PCs get out clean is very low, and I'd lean into that. After all, guards are going to be slower to respond to a threat within than without, and there's going to be a bunch of ways to sabotage Bumicorp's operations (blow up a generator, toss a frag grenade into the ammunition dump, steal a technical, etc.), so let the PCs run wild as they leave. The local TV station is a hard target as well. The PCs not only have to get in, they have to trigger an island-wide broadcast and hold the station long enough for it to finish. It's guarded by a five-man detachment of Idowu's regular army troops (not Palace Guards), who are mostly bored and playing cards to pass the time, gambling on bottlecaps. However, the central police station is run by three additional squads, one of whom are Palace Guards, and who have a response time of: 1st Squad: 1 minute (10 guys in two trucks) 2nd Squad: 5 minutes (12 guys in three trucks - one of these is a technical; Second Squad is on next shift and will take a little longer to get ready) 3rd Squad: 10 minutes (10 guys in two technicals; Third Squad had night shift last night, and are sleeping; they are the Palace Guard squad) The TV station has three points of ingress: the front door, a back door, and a roof-hatch for use when the A/C is frozen. The guard squad on duty checks the back door every thirty minutes, and will investigate if it's open (the door locks when shut). The guards are in the lobby and keep an eye on anyone coming in and out through the front door. Anyone they don't know will be stopped and questioned. The PCs have to get in, and either convince the local tech to help them broadcast (which will almost certainly get the tech shot - high DC) or jury rig the broadcast themselves. The tape that the Princess gave them is 15 minutes long; the lobby guards realize something is wrong one minute into the broadcast. They immediately call for backup and try to stop the broadcast. If the lobby guards don't get the backup call off, the police station starts scrambling five minutes into the broadcast (so 1st Squad would arrive six minutes in). Players will need to use equipment and clever tactics to deal with waves of enemies, most of whom are not going to be eager to rush the building, but will siege it (including the back door) and try to wait the PCs out. On that note, make it very clear to the PCs that no help is coming from either Whyllis or the rebels. This job is intended to show what the PCs can do; if they have to pull their asses out of the fire, the PCs weren't worth a damn to begin with. Once the PCs have pulled off either job and successfully escaped, advance them to level four. Whyllis can identify Bedlam (the chief mercenary) as a soldier of fortune, one he's crossed paths with before. Last Whyllis heard, Bedlam was working for an Iranian outfit. If your PCs uncovered the information about uranium from the Bumicorp HQ, they may start to realize that this is a ploy to get a rogue state radiological materials. Whyllis can radio for extraction, but before they can go, he needs three things taken care of: [LIST] [*]Blow up the S-300 air defense systems so the CIA extraction team can pull them out [*]Destroy a radio jammer preventing him from broadcasting [*]Create a diversion near Bumicorp's HQ to pull Idowu's goons out of position [/LIST] Each of these should be a significant operation, on par with the Bumicorp infiltration, that take about a full session or two to run. The PCs should be advancing a level per objective met, roughly, so they should be at level seven by the end of this section. Once these are done, Whyllis will ask the PCs to meet him on the opposite side of the island from Bumicorp's HQ (creating a tense chase scene), so they can be extracted. Unfortunately, it turns out Bedlam realized the radio jammer's destruction meant that someone was trying to signal them, so he set up direction-finding antennae, and triangulated Whyllis' position. The PCs can rescue Whyllis, but he's had to wave off the extraction team. No help is coming. If the PCs don't rescue Whyllis, he is shot as a spy. At this point, the only way off the island is the helicopter that is stationed at the Royal Palace overlooking Kingstown. From there, we transition to Act III. If the PCs are helping the Princess, she thanks them for getting her message out, and asks for help on a couple of minor issues before the rebels start making more moves. She needs more of everything (fuel, ammunition, medical supplies, food, batteries, etc), and thinks a nearby patrol base would have plenty. As the players gather stuff from Idowu's forces, you can start to introduce them to the rebels who are helping the PCs out on these runs. I wouldn't send along any real fighters, but a driver, a ranger/pathfinder, and a sailor might be some good companions to rotate in and out of play. Mix these "requisition missions" into play over the next several levels to let the PCs meet the rebels and give the campaign some room to breathe. You should also let the PCs spend more time with the Princess and get to know her a little better. She's a hard woman, but ultimately a fair one. She blames herself for not "dealing with Idowu" before his coup, and has vowed to get her country back, no matter what. The Princess will also ask the PCs for several dangerous missions: [LIST] [*]Rescue political prisoners being held for ransom at Camp Idowu (temporary military installation in a large cove on the north end of the island) [*]Plant doctored evidence that Bumicorp is only using Idowu and will soon get rid of him (stealth mission; getting caught means there's only a one-in-three chance Idowu believes the fake data) [*]Steal the cash payroll for Idowu's Palace Guards from Kingstown (the capital), and deliver it to the rebels [/LIST] Each of these should be about a session or two, and the PCs should be able to level up after about each one. Once they hit level seven, the Princess gambles that she can move into the open. Regular army units either desert or refuse to fight, and Idowu is left with only his Palace Guards and Bumicorp's mercenaries. Desperate and running out of options, Idowu threatens to unleash a chemical weapon on Kingstown if the Princess doesn't surrender. Horrified, the Princess has a choice to make, and the PCs' advice will be the deciding factor. Sacrifice 10,000 souls for the good of the nation, or give herself up? From here, we transition to Act III. [/QUOTE]
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