Tactical terror operations

[Max Caysey]

So I'm going to be running a campaign where the players, whether the like it or not, are part of a terror organization. They will be places in middle management, thus having both bosses above them and henchmen below them. They will be cell leaders but again be part of a larger organization.

It not going to be a particular religious cult, but will be more of a mercantile/ power hungry organization. This organizations uses murder, extortion and terror to remove competition and to force the governmental hand, by forcing the population to change the politics... pretty simple really. They had operated well within the administration and was the de-facto rulers of the city state, thus enabling wide spread enforcements of their arbitrary rules, crime, smuggling and abuse of the population to achieve and finance their ever wider goal for domination.

The modus oporandi of acquiring new territory is by using hybrid warfare/guerilla tactics, to destabilize the authority first, and used widespread information operations after, to deepen the mistrust of the administration.

Now the setup is, that a foreign power, has overthrown the terror organization and placed a substantial amount of troops in and around the city state and installed a governor as ruler of the city state, effectively making it a colony of the foreign power. However cells remain and the "ideology" persists. The ruling council of the terror organization has gone into exile/ hiding in a near by land and thus far controls operations through a local leader, who operates 4 cells (the 4 players) within the city state itself .

Now that is the strategic and operational level of conduct.... I need help with the tactical aspect. I need help/ inspiration for a number of things:

1) Should I build the characters for them, and if so, what builds do you suggest?

I can see this either way. One the one hand I want them to have the "correct" abilities to be a cell leader... but on the other hand I want them to have influence on their character.

2) What level do you suggest?

The invading forces invaded with an army of level 4 warriors, but officers and spec. ops are substantially higher level and have character classes. Furthermore the invading force had been redeployed and exchanged with a smaller elite force of level 12 fighters... Again spec.ops and officers are higher level.

3) How much "hands on" do you suggest?

The players will be cell leaders, thus be planning more than executing the operations. How much on hands do you suggest they are? If they get caught their cell might break up, but on the other hand it might get boring just to plan? What is your suggestions here?

4) What sort of operations do you suggest they conduct thus planting seeds of the invading force's ability to provide adequate protection for the civilian population?

I can see the burning and bombing of churches, attack on patrols etc... but that might get boring very quickly... A little more sophisticated operations suggestions would be very welcome!


I think that's it for mow...

I hope you guys want to help out!

Thanks in advance!

[JustIgnoreMe]

So I'm going to be running a campaign where the players, whether the like it or not,
Stop. Stop right there. That thing you're planning on doing? Don't.

Don't run a game your players don't want to play. "Whether they like it or not" is a huge red-flag.

[Max Caysey]

Stop. Stop right there. That thing you're planning on doing? Don't.

Don't run a game your players don't want to play. "Whether they like it or not" is a huge red-flag.

Of course not. That was a wrong formulation. I see your point, but the thought I was trying to convey was that they cant renounce their roles as cell leaders and turn paladin.

Of course I'm not going to actually force it on the players. But I will ask them whether or not they trust me (They have been playing 2 years now in their current campaign and they are noobs still), so I want to introduce them to different aspects, deferent roles and concepts that might help them evolve as players and their imagination.

So its my play to run a shorter campaign doing this, if they trust me enough to give me that amount of control. If we try, and they don't like it we change it or do another set up. I usually let my player have 99% say in what and how they play, but that has create some challenges because of they inexperience as players and mine as a DM. So me having more control would be good I believe! (Hope)

[Maximum Carnage]

I think this sounds like an interesting idea for a game.

Personally, I would not TOUCH the Players' characters. Let them make the PCs, but be sure to hint that this will be a different kind of game, so some skills that can go overlooked, might be worthwhile in your setting. IE: Forgery

I wouldn't get too hung up on what encounters to build in the way of destabilizing governments and such. The players will give you input within the first couple sessions that may cause things to just fall into place. That being said, you're walking a bit of a tight rope here. I assume, since your group is comprised of "noobs" as you called them, that they still enjoy the kick-in-the-door playstyle over the RP-rich facet of game play. So you'll have to be careful not to make this a totally socio-political campaign.

To answer your question: I can see some interesting opportunities in the form of undercover work. Maybe they need to infiltrate the church of Pelor to bend the ear of a high cleric. Or maybe a rich baron is looking for hired help, but your organization, just wants his lands. In the end, though, you'll have to figure out what works best for the party, as I'm sure they'll take it in their own direction, somewhat.

Sounds like you have most of it figured out, so best of luck, and happy DMing!

MC

[Max Caysey]

I think this sounds like an interesting idea for a game.

Personally, I would not TOUCH the Players' characters. Let them make the PCs, but be sure to hint that this will be a different kind of game, so some skills that can go overlooked, might be worthwhile in your setting. IE: Forgery

I wouldn't get too hung up on what encounters to build in the way of destabilizing governments and such. The players will give you input within the first couple sessions that may cause things to just fall into place. That being said, you're walking a bit of a tight rope here. I assume, since your group is comprised of "noobs" as you called them, that they still enjoy the kick-in-the-door playstyle over the RP-rich facet of game play. So you'll have to be careful not to make this a totally socio-political campaign.

To answer your question: I can see some interesting opportunities in the form of undercover work. Maybe they need to infiltrate the church of Pelor to bend the ear of a high cleric. Or maybe a rich baron is looking for hired help, but your organization, just wants his lands. In the end, though, you'll have to figure out what works best for the party, as I'm sure they'll take it in their own direction, somewhat.

Sounds like you have most of it figured out, so best of luck, and happy DMing!

MC

Thanks

Yeah I feel I have got a decent grasp on things, but suggestions and ideas are just alwas great to get.

I call them noobs, because they are currently level 8, but I have to severely underplay my CR 8 NPCs or monsters for them to not fail hard every time. I want them to learn and dying hard is not fun for anyone so I botch quite a few dice. That's why I want to change things up a bit... One of them still has trouble grasping attack roll vs damage roll... so...

They do like to "kick in the door" thing, but since that is not working out for them so much, I wanted to show them another side of the game or simply that the game can be played with blunt combat taking a second place over role-playing. It should be mentioned, that I have so far only allowed core. I did that for them not to be overloaded with options...

I have other theme ideas for when we are done with the terrorist theme. As I've mentioned; if they don't like it, we change it up. I want as many people as possible to have fun so I do what I can!

I think I will try to let them build their own characters, but maybe, just give them a thorough backstory, so they have a good idea of what classes, feats and skills to choose for this kind of endeavor.


Thanks again for the comments and suggestions and by all means keep them coming!

[nintendoh]

Insurgents will never win a stand up fight against a professional military. Never. Not one. Ricky with his .22 rifle from down the street will annoy the Abrams tank. The best ricky will be able to to is shoot one of the soldiers someplace where the body armor doesnt cover then run like h@$!. If he lives he tries the same thing in a different location. Eventually Ricky is going to get killed. This is when Jim bob, ricky's bff, gets super triggered and grabs his .22 rifle and starts taking pot shots. Jim bob does not know it yet but jim bob is toast. Jim bob' however' has friend from school, 3 brothers and an uncle who is moderately fond of him. These people are also toast, but in the mean time cost tax dollars and send home several wounded soldiers. The bigger, stronger country feels the economic pressure and the media plays up the worst portions of every event. The whoever replaces joe bob have nothing to do with this. Eventually the bigger stronger country pulls out and goes home to play call of duty. Thus the insurgency wins.

[Calthropstu]

I can give you some amazing scenarios for such a game.

1: Espionage. The PC's need to find information on a regular basis without alerting the enemy they have the information. Sleeping with enemy soldiers/wives, getting info on the streets, building contacts, bribery, forgery, stealth... you name it. Build scenarios where they are rewarded for such with juicy info on great targets.
2: Counter-espionage. Their enemy won't be stupid. Some of their recruits will be enemy agents... make them work HARD to uncover them. Also, make someone close to them turn halfway through the campaign... make it a big deal.
3:Allies... make it a real thing. Make ally missions that their ally wants done... make it distasteful, but necessary.
4: Make the final battle to push out these infidel invaders. Start it as an absolute tpk. As the party achieves missions, alter the final fight appropriately (add allies, remove enemies, add turncoats etc).
5: Throw in a few absolute combat encounters. They are used to kick in the door style encounters... let's see how they like the door kicked in on THEM.
6: Mobility is their ally. Stress the fact that permanent labs (alchemical, magical etc) will be easy raid targets.
7: Time is not on their side. The longer a foreign engity controls an area, the more people begin to realize "hey, these guys aren't really that bad." It will become harder and harder to disldge them as time goes on as they gain local allies and begin imposing and entrenching their culture.

... I want to play this now.

[DMVerdandi]

1. Let them build their own characters from a list of classes and races you approve based on setting.
I mean you don't HAVE to ban true naming per say, but what you could do is before the game starts, come up with a list of classes that fit a certain role and be like, these are the "most common in the organization", and maybe emphasize a certain leaning towards one way or another.

You said it wasn't a religious organization, so maybe a large amount of the veterans in the organization are arcane casters. Maybe they specialize and work on team outcome, so there are more warmages, beguilers, dread necromancers than there are sorcerers.
Maybe all of the members that are in power positions are wizards, and they just specialize in school instead. Maybe they all prefer psionics, and find using arcane/divine power to be too external to suit their needs, Or perhaps it is an all divine class selection (Cleric,spirit shaman, archivist) but they all worship the organization itself rather than any other outside sources, and faith in the organization actually gives them strength.

You could possibly even give that as a choice to the players (Which power source do you want the syndicate to revolve around), and then have everyone else NOT have that, or contradict it.

2. I suggest starting out at level 6 or 8, depending on the length of the game. Don't paint level 20 to be gods amongst men. It isn't. 60ish is. Level 20 is simple mastery of one craft. Some might take 5 years, others 20. But it is like the end of the beginning. Like a first level black belt. 6-8 is journeyman level.


3. Craft a main story, make a limited amount of towns in the region, make infinity dungeon landmarks, and have 3 or 4 city-states that the towns are ruled under. In fact, to keep it simple, only start with one, and if they want to expand, go further.


4. Espionage, transport, kidnapping/extortion, assassinations, sabotage, and infiltration are your bread and butter, but at the same time, doing things like gathering money and resources, making contacts, gathering intel, recruiting, and propoganda warfare are all SUPER important. You literally can do one session exploring each of these.


5.If you want to really formulate a difference in game style, restrict some whole types of spells for really interesting effects.

A. Teleportation. Ban everything that isn't short range teleportation, and suddenly travel and transportation become EXTREMELY important again. Raiding caravans causes huge rifts in trade, and things like ship and ground travel become new targets. And no calling spells.

B. Divination. Ban all scrying spells. Now sneaking and spying just got more important for gathering intel.

[Max Caysey]

I can give you some amazing scenarios for such a game.

1: Espionage. The PC's need to find information on a regular basis without alerting the enemy they have the information. Sleeping with enemy soldiers/wives, getting info on the streets, building contacts, bribery, forgery, stealth... you name it. Build scenarios where they are rewarded for such with juicy info on great targets.
2: Counter-espionage. Their enemy won't be stupid. Some of their recruits will be enemy agents... make them work HARD to uncover them. Also, make someone close to them turn halfway through the campaign... make it a big deal.
3:Allies... make it a real thing. Make ally missions that their ally wants done... make it distasteful, but necessary.
4: Make the final battle to push out these infidel invaders. Start it as an absolute tpk. As the party achieves missions, alter the final fight appropriately (add allies, remove enemies, add turncoats etc).
5: Throw in a few absolute combat encounters. They are used to kick in the door style encounters... let's see how they like the door kicked in on THEM.
6: Mobility is their ally. Stress the fact that permanent labs (alchemical, magical etc) will be easy raid targets.
7: Time is not on their side. The longer a foreign engity controls an area, the more people begin to realize "hey, these guys aren't really that bad." It will become harder and harder to disldge them as time goes on as they gain local allies and begin imposing and entrenching their culture.

... I want to play this now.


1. Let them build their own characters from a list of classes and races you approve based on setting.
I mean you don't HAVE to ban true naming per say, but what you could do is before the game starts, come up with a list of classes that fit a certain role and be like, these are the "most common in the organization", and maybe emphasize a certain leaning towards one way or another.

You said it wasn't a religious organization, so maybe a large amount of the veterans in the organization are arcane casters. Maybe they specialize and work on team outcome, so there are more warmages, beguilers, dread necromancers than there are sorcerers.
Maybe all of the members that are in power positions are wizards, and they just specialize in school instead. Maybe they all prefer psionics, and find using arcane/divine power to be too external to suit their needs, Or perhaps it is an all divine class selection (Cleric,spirit shaman, archivist) but they all worship the organization itself rather than any other outside sources, and faith in the organization actually gives them strength.

You could possibly even give that as a choice to the players (Which power source do you want the syndicate to revolve around), and then have everyone else NOT have that, or contradict it.

2. I suggest starting out at level 6 or 8, depending on the length of the game. Don't paint level 20 to be gods amongst men. It isn't. 60ish is. Level 20 is simple mastery of one craft. Some might take 5 years, others 20. But it is like the end of the beginning. Like a first level black belt. 6-8 is journeyman level.


3. Craft a main story, make a limited amount of towns in the region, make infinity dungeon landmarks, and have 3 or 4 city-states that the towns are ruled under. In fact, to keep it simple, only start with one, and if they want to expand, go further.


4. Espionage, transport, kidnapping/extortion, assassinations, sabotage, and infiltration are your bread and butter, but at the same time, doing things like gathering money and resources, making contacts, gathering intel, recruiting, and propoganda warfare are all SUPER important. You literally can do one session exploring each of these.


5.If you want to really formulate a difference in game style, restrict some whole types of spells for really interesting effects.

A. Teleportation. Ban everything that isn't short range teleportation, and suddenly travel and transportation become EXTREMELY important again. Raiding caravans causes huge rifts in trade, and things like ship and ground travel become new targets. And no calling spells.

B. Divination. Ban all scrying spells. Now sneaking and spying just got more important for gathering intel.

These are all great suggestions, so thanks for that. I'm really looking forward to suggesting this campaign for them when our current one is over.


Now I said that my preliminary thought were to make them leaders of the cells but I'm thinking about maybe just have them be privates in the organization to begin with... That way I have more say over what they do, and I can task them with all they above mentioned suggestions. I can do that too from an higher leadership within the organization, but since they enjoy kicking in the door, that might be easier to fulfill. Being cell leaders might make them more important and thus remove them from then actual action too much... staring out as privates could also make them advance... however, the thought was to run a shorter campaign...

I'm second guessing the leadership part, I guess. Any comments or suggestions for how to best run this?

[Maximum Carnage]

Speaking of which, let us know how the first few sessions go. I'm interested in how it'll work out.

MC

[Max Caysey]

Speaking of which, let us know how the first few sessions go. I'm interested in how it'll work out.

MC

A small update...

They have embraced the idea, so that's a great. Next time we meet, they will be creating there characters. After some careful consideration, I have decided to start as just privateers in the organization and then possible advance in ranks if they play their cards well.

I'll keep you posted on the progress after a few session! :)

[TheYell]

Black market. Your organization likes to
1) get a firm place in the market for drugs, stolen goods, weapons, etc.
2) involve locals in the trade, guardsmen, local merchants
3) promote the local contact to be a boss with a crew under him and a cut of their proceeds
4) proceed to use him for political missions - bribing others, having them recruit spies

for this modus to work your guys are the muscle of the organization
1) smuggling - contraband has to go in and out
2) protection - competitors to Your Guys (legit and black market) have to be harassed
3) enforcement - Your Guys are the boss whether any bright boy gets ideas or not
4) assassin - if the enemy gets too smart you do what has to be done

doing it this way, you can have a hierarchy above and below your party. The local machine is definitely below them -- the party enforces the rules on the machine - but they can have a definite hierarchy above them that hands out missions "Joe Blow is bringing in smurfs by the wharf in a silent ship-- hijack it and take it to our dock" "Billy Badass thinks he can sell chickens cheaper. Persuade him to stop. No killing."

They can have opponents on all sides of the aisle -- good and bad, and they can decide to be rougher on crooks than on nice people if they're inclined. Or until the Organization takes objection.

[Sam K]

I would have them start as specialists or lower officers in a cell: not the leaders, but the guys the leader may go to in order to get something done. They still get pretty strict goals ("Desecrate the temple of St Snuggles using the blood of his own priests!") but they get some freedom to plan out the details and can request some support from their cell leader ("Have some of the boys set a fire at the temple of St Spanky, to draw attention there.")

If they do well, and seem to like it, they can raise in rank and command their own cell. If they prefer to be hands on, let them stay that way and take on bigger operations.

I would let them make their own chars, or (if they are as green as you say) make their characters for them according to their specifications. Probably level 4-6 would be right if they are supposed to be specialists. You might consider giving them some freebies so they have the skills needed to carry out the operations. For example, Bob the Wizard might have been trained as a sapper, so he gets knowledge: architecture and profession: demolitions engineer skill ranks for free. These specialty skills can be hard for players to justify ahead of time (especially when they're competing with things like concentration and spellcraft) but can be crucial in getting them to complete missions that involve more than kicking in doors.

A final thought: consider how dark you want this to get. Some people may not be ok with full-blown terrorism. Other people think that the only problem with stuffing a gnome orphan full of explosives and then sending him back to the orphanage is that a gnome orphan can't contain enough explosives to make a proper demolition.