D20 Vietnam

[scout penguin]

For awhile now I've wanted to run a D20 Modern campaign set during the Vietnam War, with the players serving as LRRPs in the 58th Infantry (Long Range Patrol). I have a firm understanding of tactics and such, of both sides, (I Reenact) but I need some help with the crunch.
Please keep in mind I want to run as realistic a game as I can without compromising the fun. As such I will be using the Wound/Vitality rules, and am considering upping the standard gun damage to 3DX, but then again, if the players are doing their job right, their main weapons will be Arty, gunships, and airstrikes…
Right now I need help with…
-Feats for Hand-to-Hand combat, and making the base Hand-to-Hand system more deadly
-Rules for calling in support, and other radio procedure, maybe as a skill?
-Damage dealt and other stats for such support.
-Making cameo more meaningful than it is now, e.g. better then the standard OD uniform.
-Rules for M18A1 Claymore landmines.
Right now for the Claymores I’m thinking (Keep in mind that the M18A1 is considered a Weapon under the TOE) …

Claymore Anti-Personal Mine
Dmg: 4D6 20/X2 (front)/ 4D6 20X2 (back)
Range increment: 5 Foot cone (out to 100ft max) (Front)/ 60 foot sphere (back)
Dmg Type: Slashing
Size: small
Weight: 3.5 pounds
Purchase DC: 14
Restriction: Mil (+3)
The M18A1 is a command detonated, anti personal mine. It is used in defense and ambush missions. It takes 2 rounds and a DC 15 demolitions check (on a failed check it goes off.) to set up a claymore, as well as a detonator and Det cord to set it off. If set up with a trip wire, the setter makes the attack roll when placing the mine. A DC 30 disable device check is needed to disarm a claymore without simply removing the detonator from the Det cord. the back blast from a claymoe can be deadly, so be careful.

I'd also like to have the DC scale, while still allowing low level charecters to use them. thoughts? Should I just pick a sutable DC each time one is set up?

[Hawriel]

Palladium published a Veitnam game called Recon.


D20 modern could work. However after 6th level the mechanics get to superhero for any thing as grim and real as the Veitnam war.

[jiriku]

The key to an effective "realistic" d20 game is play level. As Hawriel has hinted at, if a 1st level character is a recruit fresh out of basic training, then a 6th level character is an epic war hero with a chestful of medals whose name is a household word back at home. Past about 4th level, the characters will probably feel more like the soldiers in Hollywood movies than the real soldiers of the Vietnam war.

A camo uniform is a masterwork Hide tool. It offers a +2 circumstance bonus on Hide checks in a jungle environment, because it is the perfect tool for the job.

If you want the Disable Device DC on a claymore to scale, make it a contested roll against the Demolitions check result of the person who set it. Mines set by more skillful opponents are therefore more difficult to defeat.