This will be run mostly in the same way as ATZ, with some key differences. Since you're in the army, you can't just go wherever you want and do whatever you want. You will play as members of a US Army infantry platoon in III Corps, the fertile, populous region of South Vietnam south of the highlands and north of Saigon.
An infantry platoon consists of a four-man HQ unit and three ten-man infantry squads. Yes, actual platoons have a weapons squad. I may put that in later but for now this is what you have. That leaves four player slots, the Platoon Commander and the three Squad Leaders. If there's a huge demand from players I can start opening up other slots, probably starting with the squad Jr. NCOs. Keep in mind though if you take a slot like that you'll be subject to the orders of your squad leader.
HQ:
Platoon Commander - Lt. <Player controlled>
NCO - Sgt. Lyle Collins, R4, Born Leader, SF Rifle 2
RTO - Cpl. Zack Riley, R3, Fluent, SF Rifle 0
Medic - Cpl. Abraham Williams, R3, Wuss, SF Rifle 0
1st Squad(9):
NCO - Sgt. <player controlled>
Jr NCO - Cpl. Cary Head, R4, Born Leader, SF Rifle 2
LMG - Cpl. Murray Copeland, R4, Fast, M-60 3
Grenadier - PFC Frank Campbell, R3, Runt, M-79 0
Riflemen-
Pvt. Corey Odom, R4, Agile 1
Pvt. Daren Henderson, R3, Runt 0
Pvt. Elroy Jackson, R4, Slow 1
Pvt. Gaylord Thornton, R4, Fluent 1
Pvt. Hal Kirkland, R3, Crackshot 0
2nd Squad(7):
NCO - Sgt. <Player controlled>
Jr NCO - Cpl. Caleb Burch, R3, Fast, SF Rifle 0
LMG - Cpl. Devin Roberson, R3, Jodie, M-60 0
Grenadier - PFC Dino Morales, R3, Looter, M-79 0
Riflemen-
Pvt Graham Landry, R4, Knifeman 3
Pvt Howard Jordan, R3, Nerves of Steel 0
Pvt Ollie Taylor, R3, Pointman 0
3rd Squad(10):
NCO - Sgt. <Player Controlled>
Jr NCO - Cpl. Alex Middleton, R4, Unlucky, SF Rifle 2
LMG - Cpl. Jake Hyde, R4, Tough, M-60 1
Grenadier - PFC Josh Dickson, R3, Quick Reflexes 0
Riflemen-
Pvt Kerry Cole, R3, Fast 0
Pvt Ken Kirk R4 Scout 3
Pvt Marcel Christian R4 Ambidextrous 1
Pvt Merl Steele R4 Clumsy 2
Pvt Nicholas England R3 Brawler 3
Pvt Reggie Dillard R3 Slow 2
Note that the squads aren't all at full strength. At the end of each month (The campaign begins in January) your numbers will be replenished but resources aren't unlimited and you're not guaranteed to completely refresh a squad so don't just get people killed willy nilly. 2nd Squad can probably be considered hard mode until you get more guys. I'll explain what all that gibberish after the names means in a second.
This is how the game will work. The Squad Commander will receive information about what missions his platoon has been assigned. It's his job to allocate forces to the missions in order to get them done. That may end up being a pretty boring job so I may let him take control of available soldiers in the actual missions if the HQ squad isn't entering battle itself. We'll see how things go. Each "turn" lasts one month, and the missions assigned aren't the only ones, just the most significant. The others are abstracted out. At the end of the month you get some reinforcements, soldiers have a chance to increase their reputation, and everyone gets one month closer to going home. As a US Army soldier, you're deployed for a twelve month tour of duty. If you survive the whole year, you "win."
Remember that this isn't supposed to be a soulless tactical exercise. The soldiers under your command are trying to last twelve months and go home to their families, just like you are. Don't throw their lives away.
What all that gibberish means:
FNG runs the exact same ruleset as ATZ, so if you played that it should sound familiar. R stands for Reputation, which is a catch-all statistic for a soldier's experience, training, bravery, whatever. 1 is a civilian. 2 is an unwilling conscript. 3 is an average recruit. 4 is an experienced veteran. 5 is an elite soldier. 6 means you pass every roll, and while it's listed I'm not going to use it because it's stupid. Player characters get to choose their rep and there's absolutely no reason not to choose 5. Not choosing 5 makes it harder for you to control your squad and will also make it harder to call off-map support. Non-player characters roll for their rep.
The words after rep are traits. Every character has one trait. Again, players pick their traits, NPCs get their traits by drawing a poker card. The following is a list of traits for when you make your character. Since I'm going to be giving you guys a rules-light
Agile: Can fire without penalty when running
Ambidextrous: No penalty for firing two weaons
Athlete: Can throw grenades farther, and can throw grenades back
Born Leader: Rolls better on certain tests, and nearby allies automatically react as he does
Brawler: Better in melee
Clumsy: A chance to fall down when running
Coward: Reacts worse to being fired on
Crack Shot: Rolls extra dice if firing single shots
Dumbass: Chance to do nothing
Fast: Moves two extra inches in a turn
Fluent: Speaks Vietnamese fluently
Grenadier: Rolls better to fire grenade launchers
Hard as Nails: Automatically shrugs off first fatal blow (ever, not per mission)
Jodie: Reacts poorly to enemy fire
Knifeman: Better with a knife, can throw knives
Language: Can speak Vietnamese proficiently
Looter: Has to roll to resist the urge to search for loot
Marksman: Rolls better when firing small arms
Medic: Can bring badly wounded soldiers back into the fight
Nerves of Steel: Does not duck back when fired on
Pigman: Better rolls with an LMG
Pointman: Better rolls for spotting stuff like traps, counts as in a group up to 8 inches away as long as he's in front
Quick Reflexes: Can spot enemies even when running
RTO wizard: Better results when calling for off-map support
Runt: Poor melee fighter
Scout: Fast and Tough
Shirker: Reacts poorly to received fire
Shortsighted: Has trouble spotting the enemy
Sickly: Slow and less likely to recover from injuries
Slow: Moves two inches less per move
Sniper: Crack Shot, Tough, Stealthy
Stealthy: Enemies have trouble spotting you and you automatically re-hide after being spotted as long as you don't move
Street Punk: 50/50 chance of either Tough, Brawler, and Looter; or Shirker and Looter
Tank Killer: Better rolls when attempting to disable a vehicle
Tough: Reacts well under fire
Unlucky: May automatically take shots meant for other people
Wuss: Reacts poorly to melee combat and probably won't rally if fleeing
The next item is the character's weapon. SF (Select fire) Rifle refers to the M-16. All riflemen use the M-16. If you're interested in this game chances are you know what an M-60 is and the M-79 is a grenade launcher.
The number after that is how many months of duty the character has completed. 0 means this is his first month. Player characters are automatically on their first month of this tour of duty (It's possible they've completed previous tours and re-enlisted though, that's up to you).
Now then, character creation. All player-characters are Stars, and all NPCs are Grunts. Stars have three special rules, two optional and one mandatory, that set them apart. The first is Free Will. This isn't optional. Stars do what the player decides, and for the most part do not take tests to determine their actions. If a Grunt gets shot at, he rolls 2d6 and depending on how many of the dice are below his Rep, he may stand his ground, take cover, or flee. A Star doesn't roll, he just decides how he wants to react. The optional rules are Larger than Life and Cheat Death. Larger than Life means the character can't be killed by anything with a lower rep than him. If a rep 5 gets shot and killed by a rep 2, he is only badly wounded, and will be back in action at the end of the month. Cheat Death allows a Star who is legitimately killed (By an enemy with equal or superior Rep) to survive. Like with LTL, he is taken out of the fight and returns after the mission. However, his rep goes down by 1. I'm going to let the players decide if they want Larger than Life and Cheat Death. I'm guessing they won't. Keep in mind that without those rules the game is extremely lethal.
Aside from that creation is simple. Give me a name (Something realistic, please, nothing dumb), the trait you want, and the gun you want. I'll handle the rest. When it comes to guns keep in mind that you're in the US Army. I'll give you a somewhat unrealistic amount of freedom when it comes to guns and let you pick anything that would make sense. M-16, Thompson, and Grease Gun are probably the most realistic choices.
Here's how actual gameplay will work. I'll be running things in Maptool and posting screenshots of the map. You'll tell me what your character wants to do and what orders he gives to your squad, and I'll take care of the rest. Remember that Grunts do not have Free Will. They'll follow the leader's orders to the best of their ability, but once the shooting starts their actions become heavily influenced by the dice. Your presence as a Leader gives them a better chance to do what you tell them to do but if they fail their rolls you can't make them do anything. They're under my control.
So that's the gist of it. Four people to begin with. If there's a huge demand I'll probably add the Weapons squad, but that's a pretty unconventional unit and you probably won't be fighting with your entire squad in any but the largest battles. If there's still a huge demand I'll start opening up other slots. Right now though, all there is is the HQ and the three squad leaders. Keep in mind if you want to be the HQ that the entire platoon depends on you. If you poorly allocate your forces you could get a bunch of people killed. Don't do anything dumb.
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Topic: FNG - Forum-based Vietnam Wargame (Read 5420 times)