The Beginning

It was supposed to be a simple science experiment. It was supposed to only last 6 months. It's been a lot longer than 6 months and things aren't so simple anymore. You awakened from your cryo sleep to find yourself and your fellow team members in an unfamiliar location. This isn't where you went to sleep. That was down in Florida at NASA. Outside, for as far as your cameras can see, is dense pine forest and rolling mountains. It looks more like Pennsylvania than Florida. And there are things out there that definitely didn't evolve on Earth. You've seen them on camera and sensors, roaming the woods outside this base. Giant dayglow orange and purple wormlike things the size of an SUV with little tiny arms and great big sharp teeth, a rolling carpet-like thing that appears to eat dirt, packs of small, emaciated humanoids hunting even smaller things, You know there are people out there too. You've seen their villages and fortified towns amidst the ruins. But they're barely hanging on. They need help. This base? It's outfitted better than your old base armory. Guns, ammo, vehicles, fuel, supplies, gear. Whoever built it built it to last. And it's not the only one. There are other bases out there, some the same size as this one, some larger, and some that must be truly gigantic. This one, however, is the only one you can raise on the radio. Something must have gone wrong. Maybe you can find these other bases and thaw out more teams? Maybe they're all dead already. You know you have to try. It's part of your new mission after all. Was there a war? An alien invasion? Some kind of interdimensional accident? You don't know. All you know is that it's quiet out there and you have a world to rebuild. Good luck. You're going to need it.

Positions: One command type (CO (Commander), SF One XO type who is also medic/doctor/fighter Two commo/logistics specialists. Heavy weapons - two three person teams. Two squads of seven: Squad leader SAW person Dedicated marksman/sniper/counter sniper/scout/intel weenie Four bad ass fighters all cross trained to other specialties - commo, logistics, medical, weapons If interested send me a message at <a href="mailto:fotsgreg@aol.com" rel="nofollow">fotsgreg@aol.com</a>

I have unfortunately been forced to postpone this week and next week's game until the following Tuesday 10/16/18 at 4pm due to unforeseen circumstances. If you're interested, please drop me a line at <a href="mailto:fotsgreg@aol.com" rel="nofollow">fotsgreg@aol.com</a> and I'll get you in. I have 22 pre-generated characters for people to take over as members of the team. Anyone and everyone is welcome.

After a short recon mission, the team manages to scout its immediate surroundings including a crossing a bridge across a small river and investigating a small deserted town. They discovered 3 survivors who had managed to make it through the plagues and were then murdered by scavengers along with their daughter who had been raped and then murdered. While leaving they stumbled across an apparently diseased and rabid survivor whom they were unfortunately forced to kill, and then made their way home as the woods around them came "alive", attracted by their gunshots.

Today we added 2 new players and 5 new characters to the mix with the rest of the team currently being run as NPCs. One of the players has 11 years of military experience (and so was assigned the XO’s role), but the other has never even seen a gun before so it’s an interesting mix. One lives in Maine, one in Florida, and the third in Scotland, and of course I live in Oklahoma&nbsp; Aside from my own connection difficulties (I use the WiFi at a little bar I go to and the connection is spotty at best and there’s a lot of background noise) I think things went well. Or at least well enough for a group that’s still forming and finding its way. As we opened up today it was September 29, 2070 and the team began going over the CO’s plan and equipping to scout north of their base near Ingleby, PA to the small town of Coburn about 4km away (pre-plague population of 236). The XO decided to take a full squad along with “Face” Patterson, their first contact agent and a former CIA agent. Six men would hold back and perform overwatch while “Face” And 2 others including the XO (Lt “Doc” Nichols) went forward. The team left the base at 5 AM the next morning, September 30, 2070, heading north through the area of Ingleby previously scouted and over a high ridge line to a point they could see Coburn. From their hidden vantage point in the densely forested area they were able to look down on Coburn and 2 old and overgrown roads leading into the town marked as Old Tunnel Rd leading south and the other marked as Ingleby Rd leading east. They were able to spot 2 opposing barricades of old rusted out cars, 1 on the outskirts of Coburn and the other at the junction of Rupp Rd and Ingleby Rd about a mile or so to the east. Both barricades were manned by armed men, the one farther east by men dressed in leather and hides, the other by men wearing homespun and all wearing black hats, white linen shirts, and black trousers. Both groups were armed with an assortment of shotguns, AK-47s, crossbows, and bows. “Face” approached the town along Old Tunnel Rd and made peaceful contact with what appeared to be a group of Amish survivors. He called the rest of his team in for further discussions with Coburn’s leader, Brother Thomas. They explained they were in peaceful contact with a group of similar survivors in the town of Millheim about another 4km north, but were also in contact with a group of local bandits who had been demanding tribute for many months. The next tribute day was scheduled for 2 days from now. Meanwhile the overwatch team observed the alleged bandits bring a young girl out of a house and throw her in the dirt outside. Through field glasses they were able to see she had been badly beaten and abused. At about this point “Doc” ordered the overwatch team to take out the 6 observed bandits before they could do more harm. A short burst of fire from an SAW and 5 M4s put all 6 bandits in the dirt. The girl was rescued and the overwatch team brought her to Coburn where she was welcomed by relatives and other members of the community and then quickly hustled away. Sgt “Apache” Redbear reported there had been no other bandits in the area and only 2 corpses in an upstairs bedroom at the house. Brother Thomas said he would have the bodies buried later. The team then returned to the dugout having successfully completed their mission to report the bandit situation to their CO and make further plans. All in all, a pretty good day though a short 3 hour session. The team recon’d Coburn, made peaceful contact with the survivors there (and through them Millheim) and saw a short bit of action. None of the bandits even know the team is active yet (though they will soon enough), and the team pulled off a picture perfect recon and rescue. Score: 6 bandits dead, no casualties or wounds to the team. I really couldn’t ask for better players or a better job than that. Good show.

An addendum - a report written by one of the new players&lt; Memorandum for Record: After Action Review Area recon of Coburn. Initial inspection of the town yielded some information about local technology and religious practices. The town and surrounding are to include Millheim are Amish. They have a source of fresh clean water from the creek as well as home grown food. Millhiem has fared better due to having an increased population and&nbsp; both communities support one another through barter.&nbsp; There is however a substantial bandit threat in the area. Humint suggests that they number upwards of 30 and operate out of a base in the vicinity of Ingleby.&nbsp; As the likelihood of Millhiem and Coburns success at surviving was probably their lack of reliance on technology, due to religious practices, I think that the best thing that we can do for them is to eliminate the threat that the bandits pose to this area. We already engaged and eliminated 6 of them during the recon of Coburn. They had no body armor to speak of and were armed with a few AK 47's and homemade crossbows (which were handed over to Coburn) and do not appear to be technically or tactically proficient. signed: Benjamin&nbsp; A. Nichols, 1LT 3rd Special Forces Group Executive Officer(edited)

The game has been suspended temporarily until November 20th while I do a little thinking and possible retooling.

Hi, I just joined. Is the game scheduled for the 6th happening or are we still waiting until the 20th?

It's happening on the 6th.

The October 30th game was kind of a disaster. From having 2 new players completely unfamiliar with the rules, situation, and in one case even weapons in general, to a very shaky and unstable connection on my end resulting in frequent dropouts of the RTC Connection it did not end up being a very good day all the way around. I'm being honest here - I came very close to completely shutting down the campaign entirely. Anyway, the game opened up with the CO, Capt Howard, handing a memo to his XO, Lt Nichols, explaining what he wanted to see done over the next few days. One of the points was to recon and look at ways to eliminate the suspected bandit headquarters at the intersection of Ingleby and Rupp Hollow Roads. Satellite surveillance (the GPS and spy satellites are still up and transmitting, apparently coordinating through the Dugout network) showed at least 2-3 dozen bandits coming and going at various times from the farmhouse and outbuildings at this point. The LT put together a team, pulling from both A-Teams ("Alpha" and "Baker") and the M2 Bradley and set out to take down the bandit headquarters at 5am the next morning. Two men (the 2 new characters) were ordered to take out a forward observation post positioned on a hill overlooking the road while the LT and the rest of the team charged forward with the Bradley straight down the road. The LT then stepped away into the darkness and disappeared. The men stood around looking at each other blankly before... I ended the October 30th session at this time as it was obvious the LT's player wasn't coming back and the 2 noobs had no clue what to do next. Our next game was Nov 6th. An hour had passed and the CO began to become concerned. The LT's team wasn't answering their radios. Then satellite surveillance revealed the ugly truth - the bandits had captured the entire team and the Bradley. The CO and WO Patterson knew they had to act fast and threw together a "Hail, Mary" plan. The CO and 5 men would take a Hummvee along some back roads noth from Ingleby and intercept a group of bandits riding horse north toward the town of Coburn. WO Patterson and 5 men would take another Hummvee along other back roads and circle up and around to come up on the bandit camp from the southeast. Leaving their hummer a mile or more away south of the bandit camp WO Patterson split himself and his men into 3 teams of 2 with weapons outfitted with silencers and all in Ghilly suits. Advancing slowly, quietly, and firing with silenced weapons from concealment, the teams eliminated 21 bandits and freed the hostages and Bradley. They returned triumphant to the Dugout and awaited the CO who was also on his way back from a successful mission though there had been no combat for his team.

With a successful action against the bandits under their belts, the team began to branch out a little bit more. They went hunting. With 3 whitetail deer successfully bagged WO Patterson took some of the meat and useful organs (heart, liver) to Coburn as a gift to the people there. As the team proceeded toward Coburn from Ingleby they spotted 2 men on horseback, riding without saddles and wearing deerskins and who were apparently watching the team. They disappeared into the woods as soon as they realized they'd been seen and the team pushed on to Coburn. While in Coburn, Patterson questioned, and was questioned by, Brother Thomas. The Amish community leader showed off Coburn's fields, most of which had been harvested for the winter already, and explained he could not see how Millheim, another Amish community 4 km north of Coburn, could feed 5 times the population of Coburn with only 1-1/2 to 2 times as much farmland. Something just seemed off there to him. Brother Thomas also showed Patterson the community's water wheel and millhouse explaining that the mechanism for grinding grain was broken and asking for the team's help in fixing it. While discussing other matters the two were interrupted by a young boy who alerted Brother Thomas that the remaining fields were under attack by alien lifefrms called "Bloodvines". Patterson promptly dubbed the fungal, carnivorous, mobile plant-like hings "Seymores". After a short engagement 3 of the things were killed with a Corporal being slightly wounded when one of the things overran his position. Patterson and his team returned to the dugout and he began preparing a small expedition to Millheim to make contact with them. Captain Howard also informed him that he had discovered while going through the computer files that there were 6 small supply caches located about 20 km out from the dugout in different directions resembling the faces on a hexagon. Brother Thomas had agreed to lead the way and help them initiate contact so accompanied the team from Coburn when they returned the next morning. . On the road to Millheim the team once again spotted 2 men on horseback, again riding without saddles and wearing deerskins. This time the team was close enough to observe the men had paint of some kind on their faces and were carrying spears. Without a word the 2 riders once again disappeared into the woods to the east side of the road before the team could initiate contact. Proceeding on to Millheim the team was greeted by Brother Matthew who showed them around town. They discovered that Milheim appeared prosperous and growing with a population of just over 250 people. Patterson, who was raised on a farm, noted that there was far too little evidence of cropland to support a community anywhere near this size. He also noted that Brother Matthew was surreptitiously leading the team around and away from a weather-beaten modern style building near the north edge of town. The building was built of concrete and steel and the windows appeared to be blown out. Resembling a hospital or clinic style building Patterson noted something odd about the place he couldn't place his finger on until later aside from its rather out-of-place location in an otherwise Amish-style community. As he continued to casually question Brother Matthew about Millheim he came to the conclusion that the man was lying through his too-perfect teeth. He also realized that the odd thing he'd noticed about the hospital/clinic building was that the windows had not been boarded over, but there had appeared to be plywood barricades set up inside the building blocking off the windows so no one could see inside and the building still appeared to be abandoned upon casual view.

Friday's (01/04/19) game is cancelled due to the team's leader being under the weather. We wish him a quick and expedient recovery.

Do you guys have a sniper stealthy kind of guy?

Yes, but others could be useful.

Due to ill health on the part of one player and another player bowing out today, today's game is postponed until next week. My apologies to everyone.

Today's game (Tuesday 03/26/19) has been postponed until next week.

Today's game (Tuesday 04/02/19) has once again been postponed until next week (Tuesday 04/09/19) on the part of illness within the team.

Okay, after a brief delay to allow players to get their realworld health back, we are going to be up and running again as of tomorrow at 1pm. This game will alternate every week with my Starfinder game, so this week is Hell's Highway, next week is Starfinder, etc., etc.