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View Full Version : [any RPG] Favorite tricks and gadgets for infiltrating an enemy base



Kensen
2010-08-30, 06:51 AM
You are the Hero. In addition to what the real-life you can do, you are also physically very fit, you know martial arts, and you can handle firearms. You also have the necessary contacts to obtain illegal equipment such as hand grenades.

You have to infiltrate a secret base/stronghold/lair, do something there (kill someone, rescue someone, steal something or destroy something) and get out alive.

You have $50,000 to spend on equipment. You know the location of the base, but you have little or no intel on the base layout, guards or security systems. You have only 12 hours to get the equipment and another 12 hours to complete the task. You're not allowed to tell anyone about the job or the base.

What equipment would you buy with your $50,000 and why? What other preparations would you make?

(I'm designing an infiltration game, hence the questions. :smallwink:)

dsmiles
2010-08-30, 07:04 AM
You are the Hero. In addition to what the real-life you can do, you are also physically very fit, you know martial arts, and you can handle firearms. You also have the necessary contacts to obtain illegal equipment such as hand grenades.

You have to infiltrate a secret base/stronghold/lair, do something there (kill someone, rescue someone, steal something or destroy something) and get out alive.

You have $50,000 to spend on equipment, but you have little or no intel on the base and only 12 hours to get the equipment and another 12 hours to complete the task. You're not allowed to tell anyone about the job or the base. You know the location of the base and you can get there easily.

What equipment would you buy with your $50,000 and why? What other preparations would you make?

(I'm designing an infiltration game, hence the questions. :smallwink:)

Climbing gear. Mooks never look up. :smallbiggrin:

Volthawk
2010-08-30, 08:13 AM
If there's nothing we need to get inside, or if the thing we're trying to get is tough enough, explosives. Lots of them.

Kensen
2010-08-30, 08:18 AM
If there's nothing we need to get inside, or if the thing we're trying to get is tough enough, explosives. Lots of them.

It's easy for you to get to the general area where the base is located. I.e. you won't need a helicopter or 6 hours to drive there. Getting inside the base is not necessarily easy.

valadil
2010-08-30, 08:48 AM
I'm assuming it's a semi-modern game based on the mention of grenades and a helicopter. How's the internet in your game? My first response would be to check if hacking was an option. If you can get to their security system, you're usually golden.

About a year ago we were trying to infiltrate a building in a modern game of Mage. The GM was a little sick of my VA hacking everything, so he said that the building we were in only had an internal LAN, with no ISP and no outside connection. I guess he was trying to get us to use another avenue for attack. It didn't work. On the way to the building we hit up Microcenter and picked up a cheap wireless router. The rest of the party went in, plugged the router into the first ethernet port they found, and carried on. I got to hack the place and never even left our van.

Kensen
2010-08-30, 09:17 AM
I got to hack the place and never even left our van.

That's a good idea. :smallsmile: In modern scenarios you would be able to obtain a lot of useful information that way. Though there are a few possible scenarios that I can think of where this sort of approach could fail:

* The "bad guys" are really cheap, they have no central security system you can hack, and thus you can't (de)activate anything remotely. They rely on mechanical locks and old school security cameras, and scary Russian thugs with SMGs. :smallbiggrin:

* Their security specialist knows what he's doing. His relevant skill is as good as your hacking skill (or better). By trying to hack their system you may actually inadvertently warn the bad guys about your attempt to infiltrate their base.

valadil
2010-08-30, 09:21 AM
* The "bad guys" are really cheap, they have no central security system you can hack, and thus you can't (de)activate anything remotely. They rely on mechanical locks and old school security cameras, and scary Russian thugs with SMGs. :smallbiggrin:


We mostly just went for their cameras so we could see where armed guards were and if necessary run the cliched loop to the people watching the cameras.




* Their security specialist knows what he's doing. His relevant skill is as good as your hacking skill (or better). By trying to hack their system you may actually inadvertently warn the bad guys about your attempt to infiltrate their base.

Yeah, that definitely happened later on. When we went up against someone better than us we were given degrees of how far we could go without notifying him. So watching cameras wasn't too hard but reading his email was.

bbugg
2010-08-30, 09:25 AM
I'm interested in this too - but to get ideas, so keep em coming!!

My party is up against an enemy stronghold guarded by old-school means (guards on watchtowers and a big fence) and we can't figure out the best way in. The best idea we have so far is to armour a car and remotely drive it through the front door. Maybe then we can snipe some head honchos as they come out to organise a resistance...

Not the best plan, but we're getting desperate!

dsmiles
2010-08-30, 09:26 AM
We mostly just went for their cameras so we could see where armed guards were and if necessary run the cliched loop to the people watching the cameras.



Yeah, that definitely happened later on. When we went up against someone better than us we were given degrees of how far we could go without notifying him. So watching cameras wasn't too hard but reading his email was.

I'll stick with my "Mooks never look up" shtick. I like the sneakysneaky.

Volthawk
2010-08-30, 09:27 AM
I'll stick with my "Mooks never look up" shtick. I like the sneakysneaky.

Go underground, maybe.

kkortekaas
2010-08-30, 09:29 AM
I'm interested in this too - but to get ideas, so keep em coming!!

My party is up against an enemy stronghold guarded by old-school means (guards on watchtowers and a big fence) and we can't figure out the best way in. The best idea we have so far is to armour a car and remotely drive it through the front door. Maybe then we can snipe some head honchos as they come out to organise a resistance...

Not the best plan, but we're getting desperate!

I'm in bbug's group as well and we're in a tight spot.

This is further complicated in that it's in a sunken underground city with no natural light, we've gotta haul torches or flashlights (so we'll be quite visible on approach) and the city itself is a friggen death trap.

Reynard
2010-08-30, 09:30 AM
Spend a small amount on hiring prostitutes to distract/capture some of the guards, take their keys, guns, and uniforms.

Volthawk
2010-08-30, 09:31 AM
I'm in bbug's group as well and we're in a tight spot.

This is further complicated in that it's in a sunken underground city with no natural light, we've gotta haul torches or flashlights (so we'll be quite visible on approach) and the city itself is a friggen death trap.

So is the base dry somehow? Or is it flooded?

dsmiles
2010-08-30, 09:43 AM
Here it is: Mooks are incompetent. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheGuardsMustBeCrazy)

Ravens_cry
2010-08-30, 10:04 AM
A high Disguise and Bluff modifier.

dsmiles
2010-08-30, 10:10 AM
A high Disguise and Bluff modifier.

Exactly. See my trope for more info on the "Disguised as a Guard" sub-trope. Works every time.

"Aren't you a little short for a Storm Trooper?" (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DressingAsTheEnemy)

kkortekaas
2010-08-30, 10:31 AM
So is the base dry somehow? Or is it flooded?

Sorry, I should clarify, when I say sunken I mean it's in a giant underground cave. not underwater.

Volthawk
2010-08-30, 10:33 AM
Sorry, I should clarify, when I say sunken I mean it's in a giant underground cave. not underwater.

Ah. Do you have explosives? Blow up the ceiling, and flood them.

Ormagoden
2010-08-30, 10:40 AM
Two words... ruthenium polymer.


Classically you find out what cleaning company the base uses. Replace the workers and wear their uniforms. Steal what you need over the 12 hour window and call it a night. Works in shadowrun!

Ravens_cry
2010-08-30, 11:27 AM
Exactly. See my trope for more info on the "Disguised as a Guard" sub-trope. Works every time.

"Aren't you a little short for a Storm Trooper?" (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DressingAsTheEnemy)
I wouldn't dress as the enemy, just the cleaning or maintenance staff. Every base needs people to clean it, and such people are 'beneath notice', yet they go places while carrying rolling along equipment you can hide things in.
Or if your bluff is high enough, three words, one trope: Bavarian Fire Drill.
God, I love Social Engineering.:smallamused:

Kaervaslol
2010-08-30, 11:31 AM
Mmmm a truck and the rest in explosives and some sort of remote control device.


Crash the truck against the north corner of the facility, enter through the south corner while the guards are distracted.

Oracle_Hunter
2010-08-30, 12:07 PM
Two words... ruthenium polymer.


Classically you find out what cleaning company the base uses. Replace the workers and wear their uniforms. Steal what you need over the 12 hour window and call it a night. Works in shadowrun!
Works less well for "secret" bases.
Yes, everyone needs someone to clean up, but that's why you have J.O.'s :smallamused:

Bad comes to worse, you barrack the staff inside the base for months at a time, and keep them in quarantine for a day whenever you're swapping them in or out.

Better to place yourself in their provisioning service and break inside once you get past their perimeter.
Anyhoo, the OP scenario is too vague. For a truly secret place, you have to do a straight infiltration job - 24 hours is too little time to figure out who their suppliers are, when they make deliveries, and fab up sufficient IDs to get through security. Furthermore, it's not at all clear how long it takes for you to get equipment, much less what the Street Index is for illegal gear - how far does $50K really go? And how easy is it to get floor plans and so on?

The Plan
Anyhoo, straight infiltration is relatively straightforward - reconnoiter the perimeter for access points (e.g. gaps in patrol, utilities access), break in (e.g. wire cutters, demolitions gear), disable their security system and avoid/disable guards when possible.

Disabling the security system is problematic, provided the Security Boss is watchful. You'll probably need to locate their Security Center on your own - wiring diagrams can point you to places suited for high power drains - and take it over. Once there you might be able to fiddle with the equipment for loops and so forth (depends on whether they record the footage normally, and how it's indexed) but it's probably safer to kill everyone inside, boobytrap it to slag the room if investigated, and seal up the door to make it hard to get inside.

If they have a double-layered security system (i.e. each camera reports to each area) you're probably screwed. In that case, it might just be easier to disable cameras as you go by.

Mechanical locks are easily taken care of with Lockpick Guns; keypads need to be hotwired. If stealth is no longer important, breaching charges are always fun.

Weaponry-wise, you'll want flash-bangs and tear-gas (and a gas-mask for yourself), a silenced pistol for when things go badly and various assassin gear (e.g strangle wire, knives) for when you have to take someone out. Obviously you want to kill as few people as possible, and carry as little gear as you can get away with - body armor is clearly out.

SilverSheriff
2010-08-30, 02:11 PM
Grappling Hook, scuba-gear, Time Bombs, Timed Smoke Bombs, Guns, knives, X amount of Illegal drug, Cell Phone and house-hold items.:smallcool:

The Plan? get in the base using Grappling hook, scuba gear and items found around the house, set up something shady, set the Bombs and Smoke Bombs to go off, escape, make lots of noise while on phone to the Police after explosion.:smallamused:

drengnikrafe
2010-08-30, 02:20 PM
My immediate thought was the sonic screwdriver.

Ihouji
2010-08-30, 11:52 PM
My party is up against an enemy stronghold guarded by old-school means (guards on watchtowers and a big fence) and we can't figure out the best way in. The best idea we have so far is to armour a car and remotely drive it through the front door. Maybe then we can snipe some head honchos as they come out to organise a resistance...


Have done that exact thing, pro tip fill the armored car with high explosives on a remote detonator. Turns the whole armored car into a giant frag grenade.

We were playing Mutants & Masterminds and had a Gambit rip off in the party he just charged the armored car before we sent it in.

Tyndmyr
2010-08-31, 12:33 AM
Easy. You just buy $40,000 worth of high explosives, parachutes for all but one member of the team, three inflatable pools, one hooker, three bottles of tequila and a rubber duck. The rest is self explanatory.

Volthawk
2010-08-31, 03:28 AM
Easy. You just buy $40,000 worth of high explosives, parachutes for all but one member of the team, three inflatable pools, one hooker, three bottles of tequila and a rubber duck. The rest is self explanatory.


Have done that exact thing, pro tip fill the armored car with high explosives on a remote detonator. Turns the whole armored car into a giant frag grenade.

We were playing Mutants & Masterminds and had a Gambit rip off in the party he just charged the armored car before we sent it in.

See? Explosives always solve the problem.

Kami2awa
2010-08-31, 03:48 AM
Bribe the janitor to leave everything unlocked.

BobVosh
2010-08-31, 03:57 AM
Easy. You just buy $40,000 worth of high explosives, parachutes for all but one member of the team, three inflatable pools, one hooker, three bottles of tequila and a rubber duck. The rest is self explanatory.

I see what you did there (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoodleImplements)

Really with as little info as you have with as small a time window as you got, full stealth mode go. Recon the area, sneak in as best as you can. Invest in all require lock breaking tools(including electronic ones), and buy/make various grade explosives. If you can get one in time, pick up cell phone jammers and other white noise devices.

dsmiles
2010-08-31, 04:15 AM
Easy. You just buy $40,000 worth of high explosives, parachutes for all but one member of the team, three inflatable pools, one hooker, three bottles of tequila and a rubber duck. The rest is self explanatory.

The first time I read this, I didn't read "rubber duck." It's too early for this. :smalltongue:

Subotei
2010-08-31, 04:27 AM
I've done a fair bit of this in a futuristic CoC campaign. My few nuggets:

Do research and find out who built the base if you can - its easier to hack some construction sub-contractor's server than the security system and probably wont give yourselves away if you fail. This should give you the basic layout even if they've modded it since.

Classic infiltration route are sewers, service ducts, air vents etc.

You will need some ID. Every base seems to have sentry weapons systems keyed to fire on people not carrying the correct ID chip. Kidnap or steal or bribe for it.

Key areas such as computer core etc will be protected by non-lethal weapons - gas, tazer systems etc so as not to damage the key equipment, so be prepared for these.

Create distractions off site or away from where you are. If you have the skills hack the security system to cover your entry. Power cuts and fire alarms are good for creating confusion.

If possible have two escape plans. If necessary you can split up to confuse their pursuit.

If you can get one hit/one kill or one hit/incapacitate weapons use them. Silent weapons are best. Demolition charges are necessary - especially if they spot you and close the blast doors etc.

Good luck.

Kensen
2010-08-31, 09:42 AM
To summarize, here's what's been suggested so far:

Preparations (if time allows):
Hacking their computers (or the construction company's)
Get cleaning or maintenance crew uniforms & ID cards
Get wiring diagrams
Get floor plans
Reconnoiter the perimeter
Bribery
Find out if possible to enter through sewers, service ducts or air vents
At least two escape plans

Approaching & entering the base:
Climbing gear + grappling hook
Scuba gear
Parachute
Wire cutters
Demolition gear
Binoculars (with light amplifier?)
Remotely controlled vehicle (to deliver explosives, or as a camera platform perhaps)

Distracting the enemy:
Booze & drugs
Prostitutes
Power cut or fire alarm

Once inside:
More explosives
Flash bangs
Tear gas
Smoke bombs
Gas mask
Lockpick gun / Tools for breaking locks
Tools for opening electronic locks
Hacker's tools: laptop, etc. (to control their cameras)
Disguises
Cell phone jammers & white noise devices

Weaponry:
Strangle wire
Knives
Silenced pistol

I left out the silly items (rubber d.. ducks et cetera) because the game I'm designing is not intended to be a action-adventure parody. But funny responses in this thread are fine by all means. :smallbiggrin:

Btw, I've been scouring TV tropes for ideas, and actually quite many of the tropes mentioned are or will be taken into account in the rules design (either played straight or subverted). :smallwink:

Oracle_Hunter
2010-08-31, 09:50 AM
Cell phone jammers & white noise devices
These aren't particularly useful.

Cell phone jammers are helpful if you need to keep a target from communicating with outside sources. If you're assaulting a secret base, they're unlikely to have cellphones on at all (too easy to triangulate) and more secure forms of communication (like military-grade radios - cheap from Soviet Russia).

White Noise Devices are only helpful to fuzz bugs and other listening devices. Turning on one while infiltrating the base will just cause any listeners to know that there is someone futzing around in a room - not that it is likely that bugs are going to be part of the standar security suite.

Also: how did we forget to include plastic tie restraints? They're good for everything :smallbiggrin:

Kensen
2010-08-31, 09:52 AM
These aren't particularly useful.
Also: how did we forget to include plastic tie restraints? They're good for everything :smallbiggrin:

Hahaha, and duct tape. :smallbiggrin:

dsmiles
2010-08-31, 09:52 AM
Distracting the enemy:
Booze & drugs
Prostitutes
Power cut or fire alarm


Who ever said the booze, drugs and hookers were for the enemy? They're for the AFTERPARTY!!!

Kensen
2010-08-31, 09:53 AM
Who ever said the booze, drugs and hookers were for the enemy? They're for the AFTERPARTY!!!

I'm glad I wasn't drinking or eating anything when I read that. :smallbiggrin:

dsmiles
2010-08-31, 09:55 AM
And this is why I give an XP bonus, as DM, if my drink comes out my nose. :smallbiggrin:

TheCIASentMe
2010-08-31, 10:49 AM
Assuming we are after something inside the base:

Just bribe someone who works there to steal it for you.

dsmiles
2010-08-31, 11:01 AM
Alternatively, walk up the the guards and tell them, "Somebody set us up the bomb."

Psyx
2010-08-31, 12:17 PM
You are the Hero. In addition to what the real-life you can do

I need a clipboard, van, boiler-suit, and maybe a cheaply made fake ID. If we want to make it very authentic, we wait until a hot day and then cut the power to the A/C unit. They'll be very eager to let you in.

Alternatively, I bribe a worker there. Or I get a video camera and a hooker and get the employee drunk and blackmail him as well as bribing him with a pile of cash afterwards: It's hard to go to the cops when you are doing yourself out of a new car. Carrot AND stick is the way to fly.



If we're talking RPGs though, it comes down to three entry strategies:

Sneak in.
Bluff in.
Shoot in.

Shoot-in is messy and results in people dying, and police being called. It's the worst possible plan IRL because you might die, have to kill someone, and will be relentlessly pursued by law enforcement. Murder is a big step up from industrial espionage. Over in game-world though, half the party are itching for a fight, and the GM has combat statted everything, and doesn't want those two hours spent doing so to go to waste.

Sneak-in is the best plan. However, it will go wrong. Probably on the first dice roll. And half the party will have no stealth skill anyway. The 'grunt' characters will probably gleefully announce just how bad their dice roll is and spend no luck points on them, because they are desperate for the alarm to be raised, initiative to be rolled, and it to devolve into combat. The alternative is for the stealthy PC(s) to leave everyone else at home, which never flies as a plan because people have to sit around doing nothing. If -by some miracle- it's all going really well, the GM will make sure that he asks for enough stealth rolls for someone to eventually miss one. Because if you think you can get in and out of the place he's mapped out and lovingly statting NPC security for without a shot being fired, you haven't been gaming long enough.

Bluff-in is a great plan on paper, always assuming that you can drag the party along as well. It will ALWAYS go wrong some time after the front gates have been got through, but before the goal, leaving you in the middle of the security buffer. Except now you are far more boned than during the sneak-in, because pizza boys do not wear body armour, or carry assault weaponry.


I recommend my patent sneaky-shoot-in method. You get tarted up in black Nomex, body armour, NVGs and load up your MP5SDs. You then make a cool attempt at sneaking in action-film style as far as you can, using every gadget you can think of. Then when it inevitably goes wrong, you at least have an automatic weapon to fight your way out with, rather than a cold pizza and a silly hat.

The GM gets to shoot at you. The thugs get to kill stuff. You all get to look cool in head-to-foot black combat gear. Everyone wins.*





*Except the minimum wage security guard, doing night shifts so their wife can work as a waitress during the day in order to feed the two kids they have. Who you shot in the face with a silenced SMG as he wandered around the perimeter.

PretzelKing
2010-08-31, 12:37 PM
bribe a pizza delivery dude for his uniform. 20 bucks, done!

Kensen
2010-08-31, 04:39 PM
I don't know if the pizza guy outfit will get you anywhere beyond the first security checkpoint (the gates, the lobby, or whatever). They'll probably ask you who ordered the pizza and they'll soon find out you're either lying or lost. If someone actually ordered a pizza, they'll probably just ask you to wait where you are, and call the idiot who ordered the pizza to come get it. Or they'll just ask someone to shoot the guy for ordering pizza to a secret base. :smallbiggrin:

I suppose it depends on the scenario how well that would work (the same goes for the hookers).

Well, I have no idea how stupid real-life mooks are, but if I was their boss, I'd surely make it clear that doing something like that attracts unwanted attention.

grimbold
2010-09-01, 06:07 AM
light the place on fire
pack a machine gun to get any escapers.
maybe a taser to get prisoners
or do you need them alive?

One Step Two
2010-09-01, 06:42 AM
My Favourite trick was always to let myself get arrested and stage a breakout. using cunning and whatever tools that the guards leave me with.

But in this setting, not knowing nearly enough about the organisation and their take and hold procedures. Firstly we learn enough about where their compound is. Not the compound itself mind you, just where the nearest telephone control hub is.

If I am flying solo, I'll need concealable, silenced pistols and a few good blades, and razor wire. In addition, I'll need a van with a good engine and a very good tool kit. Explosives are optional depending on what it is I need to do. A gas mask, and a case of tear gas, just incase. And a small diesel generator.

We get to their nearest telephone control hub and using a bolt cutter (in the toolkit) we attach jumper cables to the lines for their building and send a surge down their lines and fry every handset in the building using the generator.

Wait patiently for the emergency call to their telecommunications provider for a repairman, then hijack them, if I have enough money left over, I will hand it to them and tell them to get lost, and if they get asked, they were car-jacked after they finished thier job.

I take their credentials and using this cover I get let into the building to repair their phones. If necessary, dirvert, disable or kill any escort, and do what I need to. Claiming I got lost if discovered, and stage an epic battle if I am caught.

Kensen
2010-09-01, 08:11 AM
light the place on fire
pack a machine gun to get any escapers.
maybe a taser to get prisoners
or do you need them alive?

In the OP I said: "kill someone, rescue someone, steal something or destroy something". Your approach is quite risky if you have to rescue someone or steal something as he/it might get killed/destroyed in the process.

If it's an assassination job, or you have to destroy a specific piece of equipment, it might work. Though there's a chance that there are several ways to get out of the building, so your mark might be able to escape.

One Step Two: I like your plan. :smallsmile: Any base that outsources their telecommunications could be infiltrated that way. If they're really secretive, though, they might refrain from using cell phones (as they can be tracked and stuff) or they'll use a more reliable means of communication, or, if it is a temporary base, they'll just shrug and try to get their business done there.

One Step Two
2010-09-01, 08:44 AM
IOne Step Two: I like your plan. :smallsmile: Any base that outsources their telecommunications could be infiltrated that way. If they're really secretive, though, they might refrain from using cell phones (as they can be tracked and stuff) or they'll use a more reliable means of communication, or, if it is a temporary base, they'll just shrug and try to get their business done there.

Thanks, it's a plan that can be done with any out-sourced work/materials or emergency care, depending on the base (Mass food delivery, laundry services, ambulances etc). Finding out what they normally get delivered on what schedule is simple enough, all you need to do is find the one which would have the most access. I like the telecoms one because phones are usually quite critical.

If it is a temporary base that's in the process of being moved, then you're even luckier, just pull the whole "disguised as a guard bit". All you need to do is insert yourself into the hub-bub of the base being setup/dissasembled, actually doing as you're told, hiding in plain sight, get yourself assigned somewhere, and within that 12 hours you should get a break to complete your mission.
If it's a temporary one in the sense that they've bunkered down already in an abandoned warehouse, for example, then we've got a whole other ballpark of problems to tackle. You'd end up using silent drills and a fibre-optic camera to try and find an abandonded room to sneak/break into, assuming you can bypass the men who are on watch...

Ahh, I just remembered one of my favourite plans, how could I forget!

Equipment: Explosives, smoke bombs, Silenced Pistol, Ceramic blade.

Step 1: Plant explosives to the opposite end of where you need to be, and then circle around.
Step 3: Strip down to your boxers,
Step 2: Run towards the base screaming: "They took my clothes, they're inside the base hurry!", Then detonate the charges via remote.
Step 3: In the ensuing panic slip in.

I pulled this off in an Exalted game, causing an entire camp into uproar after freeing their horses and scattering them, I ran half naked into the camp claiming they stole my armour, and that they made off with the horses. Then used the ensuing panic to steal back an artefact from the Wyld hunt :smallbiggrin: