In our Saturday group, one of the players ran an Action game that he entitled “Consular Operations” … which he stole from me as I ran a GURPS 3E game titled that … although to be fair, I originally stole it from a Robert Ludlum book (the name of which I can’t quite recall.) Anyway, the GM has basically put that game on hold – he’s running the Banestorm game at the moment – and a couple of recent events – first playthrough of the “Phantom Doctrine” video game, my viewing of “Mission Impossible: Fallout” and my binge-watch of Amazon’s “Jack Ryan” – have caused me to really start wanting to run some modern day Action.
So with the originating GM’s permission, I’ve started brainstorming how to basically rip-off the “Phantom Doctrine” storyline in the Action game. I’m debating whether to start my run with my Siege adventure, then flow into the mini-campaign that I have in mind. My character in the game – a blatant ripoff of Coulson from MCU & Agents of SHIELD using the Investigator template from Action 1) – will be kicked upstairs so he’s the nominal handler of the Team.
Right now, the characters we have in play are:
- Adam Vega – Australian Wheelman
- Ilan Baum – Israeli Assassin
- Stephen McKay – American Hacker
- Raymond Hurt – American Shooter (Delta Forces – he didn’t use the Shooter template, though)
We had another Shooter whose player is no longer with the group, so I’m just going to write him out. As it stands, that PC had Bad Temper and Impulsive, so it’s easy enough to believe that he was determined to be not a good fit with the Team. There are two other players potentially joining that I know of: the former GM is likely planning on doing a Faceman (which is good because the Team doesn’t have one) and his daughter-in-law (the wife of McKay’s player) will play … I dunno, yet. I’m likely going to suggest an Infiltrator or maybe even a straight-up Medic? Not quite sure just yet. I do kind of like the idea of her being my Coulson ripoff’s daughter – played by Chloe Bennet, of course – who joined against his wishes…
So, as stated, I’ve thought about starting with the Siege adventure – which is three sessions at the very least, before flowing into the campaign proper which plays out roughly like this:
- PCs go to Iran (or Syria, not sure which) to infiltrate alleged nuclear program to status it. Things go south & they must exfiltrate, then learn that Quinn (my Coulson’s ripoff) didn’t bother clearing this with his bosses who are upset at this.
- Quinn then sends them on another info-gathering mission that takes them around the world, then arranges to meet them back at headquarters (New York?) … but the location is bombed with Quinn likely KIA.
- And the PCs are framed for the bombing. Now they have to go rogue.
- Then the PCs have to figure out who is actually behind this while their organization is crippled by various other alphabet agencies.
- And the ultimate bad guy? Heh. It’s the United Nations. Or rather, certain members within it who are behind a grand conspiracy intended on toppling various governments so the UN can move in to establish a one-world system.
So … the creative juices are flowing again…