Running that SpecFor Group

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SEALs, Spetznaz, Wildcats, Rangers.... all conjure images that have been discussed, talked about etc. Hell we even learned how to make one as well. Well... the reason I write this page is that most people have qualms about running this sort of thing, because well, Shadowrun is not geared for this thing. It's geared for the Good Guy vs. the Megacorps, and well, everyone else, and to make it right. Unfortunately, the Bad Guy is also the SpecFor units we all love and enjoy wanting to be (I'm not there yet, don't have the qualifications yet..) a member of the group. So I decided to bother myself with running that group. While some people are already doing that, there are some people wrestling with that option. Here's why:

Individuality

Believe it or not, it's obviously one of the more important aspects. Most unitiated in the military believe that militaries are just one face, no humor, faceless. Bullshit. The military is one big melting pot, thick and thin. Most people obviously come from different backgrounds, lives, fears, hopes, and other things that make up a unit. Everybody obviously has their quirks that mark them in a unit. This guy over here may be a complete asshole, ready to pester you about the stupidest crap there is to worry about. Course there is there are the persons that just don't care, and then the middle of the road. Just because you have a couple silver bars on your cap doesn't make you well liked, or anything. Sure I would salute and say "morning ma'am/sir" and carry on. But even then, we have to depend on him/her, for guidance, and running the unit. He may be an idiot (as I've seen some idiot Captains) or really cool to chill with. People all of a sudden assume that since you have some important rank on your shoulder, means they just berate soldiers and mess with them. Not true. This is one myth about SpecFor groups, since there is a rigid discipline, but then again, most are given leeway since they're the best, and they know it. There's obviously cockiness, but when you're the best, you're the best. When people run regular shadowrunners in a group, there's that principle, but it's more personal, etc. I can get sometimes personal with my section chief, but you have to draw the line somewhere, and I know when too. But anyways, we have to obviously do the same since we have to depend on each other. When you chill with the same guys everyday, you quickly learn to pick up habits, nuances that this person has, including new people. Matter of fact, when a new person comes in, everyone who has been in long enough immediately starts finding them out, and so forth. So, in finality, about this, the point is that no matter how skilled, a SpecFor unit can be just as individualistic as any shadowrunning group.

Game Balance

SpecFor units enjoy the best gear in the world, since it has to be high quality so they can live to see the next day. This is one matter of contention with GMs (me too) that have munchkins aplenty. Most are munchkins anyways, no matter how "realistic" they claim to be. Yup, bring enough ammo to last three World Wars and that's just for one weapon, and of coruse they can shoot it from their butt with a DU blindfold, with implanted, etc. Uhh, no. The best thing is put restraints on missions. This isn't too hard, since most shadowruns have to exercise this (you know how stupid it is to bring a Panther Cannon to a high class resteraunt. Even while the maitre'd is locking it up, the Star is on it's way, or just outright starts to knock you out so you can be dragged out and locked up, not smart). Even the game Metal Gear Solid has limits, such as you have to use certain equipment to do the job right. Even then, SpecFor units can only bring so much. This is true with quick missions, such as a simple sabotage. Bringing enough demo for the job, yet carry enough firepower not to level the place, but at least reasonably protect you from attack. Even then, if it comes down to it, use the other guy's gear. It's simple sanity level. There's no point in bringing a Panther Cannon unless you absolutely need it. And then, that simple sabotage job should have silenced/suppressed weapons. True, when you're cover is blown, there's noise, but even then, using silenced weapons could still help, as people falling left and right and if it confuses them, use that to leave. One online operation I did, I told the guys non-lethal ammo first, but have the lethal rounds ready in case it's necessary. Thankfully, the people who participated did their job with minimal casualties, and maximum effect (though I must point out, that other elements in the run did not, and had to be used...) and go home.

The Money Issue

Heh, most runners get paid well (all do, even one time Joes do...) for operations, and even the best SpecFor units don't get really much (base pay for more work, I have to deal with it myself) except for the integrity and the latest hardware. Oh well, yes, they don't get much, but include stuff like mission bonus payments, to what a normal shadowrunner might get. This is really what makes the payoff, since you make them feel the same as a shadowrunner. True, most still go on national pride (really nothing IMO wrong with that) or corporate pride for that matter. The best thing to do is research, find some pay scales or something, then adapt it for your campaign. Usually, if you put your heart into it, it will pay off for you and your players, because you're showing interest and they might or might not realize that, I'm really not the one to judge.

Missions

As said in Fields of Fire, shadowruns are limited term commando operations. Too true, but even then, even SpecFor units can do the same jobs as any shadowrunner can. For the most part, the missions will be political (corporate too, doh) oriented. There's no way around it, you have to deal with it. One example is the CP2020 book I just read: Firestorm: The Fourth Corporate War, which details alot about a political situation (granted, they were all corporations..). But even a corporate operation gets into government politics, since quite basically if you do it on government soil, you're messing with the government (how inept or corrupt is up to you of course) and they want to do damage control. Even with the Shiawese Decision, an FBI FRT can still fuck you up, and the corporation can't do squat. Remember, extraterritoriality only goes so far, and you have to know where. But back to the topic. Mostly, their geared to tactical operations (blow up factory, bridge, or outright assault, extractions even). Putting a SpecFor group in a shadowrunner situation is good training and a real exercise in imagination. I'm gonna run another campaign, and I've meticulously planned most events, but the rest is up to Murphy on how it turns out, but you have to think to the end result (of course success, but the trick is how they're gonna succeed or fail, and can you affect success despite Murphy, a constant juggle) even when you're starting. And another thing: RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH. Look, it can't be said anymore. You have to bust your ass for these missions. Think of this, you want to airborne insert troops into a hostile nation (like the SEALs). First off, if the country has a sourcebook, figure out these things: Air defenses. ADA is a bitch to figure out for deployment, since A) You want it lethal, but enough to get them worried, and B) How to make it interesting. Armed forces employ a wide variety of systems for a wide variety of threats. Some systems may seem redundant, but you mix them up, and you got one good lethal system to make life interesting. Even on the ground, you have to figure out stats for vehicles, the troopers, will they land right on top of the target? or will they go here and assemble there? SpecFor missions are planned to the extent that that Murphy is assumed to be dead. Of course he isn't. Even then, get the group in good, nothing happens, then start messing with them. It's easy, you control it, and I enforce "Roll 1D6, and if you roll a 1....." alot, to the point of insanity, I don't GM that much IRL (only once :-), and the same online. Figuring out schedules, who is gonna be there when the group is there, what time of day, weather, etc. Most of this can be done on the fly, and is more recommended, but should fall in the realm of sanity. Throwing a hurricane while humping in the desert, easily away from any sort of hurricane, is totally absurd, but a duststorm is great. Intelligence should be seamless, but then again, there's the unkown as well..... Or, could be totally wrong... If there is no sourcebook for this nation, start really busting ass, using as much as the current information on most things (non Top Secret data will work, and really, that's all you need, all information is here on the web, and you have to know how to find it). This constitutes more work, since you have to put as much facets of life into that campaign. Fun huh?

The Unit Itself

Well, this is easy, since most of the units described on the Shadowrun Military Site are pretty much described, this is a real simple point. Even then, if you have to create new quirks of the unit, go for it, it's for fun right?

Ranks and Medals

A bone of contention for anybody, and will be for forever. Quite simply, I offer no best way to do this one, it's all up to you. What I can say of course is that choosing that rank, you pretty much have to understand it for effectively to work. Pretty much, everyone wants to be the leader and not the follower. In some cases even in the US Army, rank has no definition only when it matters. In planning, the lowliest Private has to know the mission, because he needs to know. While his input to some extent may not be that all that good as a ell-tee (then again, even that's debatable) who's been to college. That's another thing with ranking system. The disparity between the officer and the enlisted. On one hand, officers are needed to lead the troops. They've been to the best colleges, and well, are "smarter" than enlisted. Not so. I know alot of NCOs and lower enlisted that can be just as smart. Just that what's on the collar makes a difference on what happens. The officers do the long boring briefings, while the NCOs and enlisted (not always the case, but more often) get ready. There is still the typical stupid ell-tee (if you haven't notice, I have a bias against Lieutenants.., maybe Hamburger Hill enforced it...) that just got out of West Point that "knows everything" and when dealing with the ell-tees, you have to let them go and still respectfully tell them what's up. Now, not all officers thank god are not just West Pointers and have either been up to E-4, or even E-5, up to E-6, then put on the gold bar. These are more respectable. They may not be all that squared away, but still, they know what it's like vs. what they think it should be. This helps in creating a character that is either an officer or NCO, or even the Private. Thinking that the officer "knows everything" is setting up the mission for failure. One rule of thumb that I apply in daily dealings with officers is that despite thier rank, they are still human beings, just like you and me.

That rant over, it's the medals time. Well, like most things, everybody likes to have back problems because of all the medals on their chest. Not a bad goal. But that's where it gets abusive. Like what was mentioned on Jame's article and what I saw myself on Shadowland, CMOHs will never be that common. Simply put, it's like you have to go to Hell with three broken limbs, and have to rescue three people, and still fight off the Devil. That's how well you have to do to win that bad boy. Best thing to do is bust ass and check military sites on medals. Hopefully they have some text and description to tell you the criteria for awarding the medal. This ensures good player relations, and hooks as well. For example, I'm talking with a person on that issue, and suggested that he didn't get what he thought he deserved and therefore said "screw it" and got out and became a mercenary, or just sets a plotline for the GM to exploit. While this may start to bog down play or whatever, it's not me to decide, it's yours.

The Payoff

Well, I'm running out of steam, so it's time to end a rant. But one thing that berks me to no end is lack of depth some people create with their characters. It's all showing that this guy was the MacDaddy, and he's so cool with that Suppressed SMG and all that shit. Look, I've got a SpecFor character that I try and be just simply be human and have simple desires, wants, shit like that, while being part of the best. I even screwed her history up, so it makes more hooks (why did she leave? did she for that reason alone?) and more interesting. So when I use her, I have some fun and go to town even then sometimes. It's putting some fun in to them. This of course doesn't mean she can't be professional, she is sometimes, but she's a metahuman being, so what? But putting this air of mystique (fake mystique even) gets old quick: "You see a man with large muscles, and cradles his weapon with ease as his dark, penetrating eyes show no soul, and his face shows no compassion wearing a customized vest with various attachments that mark him as a cold killer." Stuff like that is for the movies. Human beings are the most expressive animals on the planet, and even then, it takes style to pull that off anyways, and some people IMO don't have it. Well, I'm done.

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