The Unseen Servant forums

I am interested in continuing to play as Billy if others want to continue as well.

I'm in as Jenny. Looking forward to the progression of the character.

Coolness, I have met my threshold (3 players) for the game to continue as Scott, Rose and Dram (via PM) have all expressed an interest in continuing...whoo-hoo!

I'll probably get the next adventure up and running this weekend/early next week.

Nuke, Dogma: You guys want to keep going? Had enough? Want to still play but as new characters? Let me know, please, thanks!

I'm in

I'm good. Just busy with work and life and kid's sports etc. Should be getting a little soon whent eh fall stuff wraps up.

Hey peoples;

Sorry for the delay…..I'll get a new adventure up and running in the next couple of days; I've got another prospective player I'm PMing to see if they want to join the game….once I get that hammered out, we can keep this going….sorry again for the wait!

no problem, treat it as a marathon not a sprint

That's fine with me. I'm at Gamehole Con this weekend so I probably wouldn't be online again anyway.

Was there any of the RPG's left?

I'm ready to go once I'm written in.
[I'm assuming that we don't have Star Trek teleporters...]

Welcome!

Monsieur Rose wrote:Welcome!

Thanks! Looking forward to putting my '80s Army experience to good use

OK, so I've been a military historian since I was a kid and I thought I might offer a couple of quick resource ideas for the group if anyone is interested. Now, Max has said that he's concerned with the game bogging down in gun trivia, veteran reminiscinces and other non-productive sidetracks. My short list here is not designed to do any of that. It's just a list of very light reading that might give folks a very brief idea of the US's '80's Army, which was very very different from the one we have now.
I am a veteran of the 80's Army, serving a cavalry regiment on the Inter-German border in 1983-84, and in Central America from 85-87. I've tried to pick references that depict as much as possible the Army I served in. Nevertheless, just so I didn't accidentily segue the game into useless side-trivia, I've given Yo Akiyama very different experiences from my own based on people I knew when I was in.
Please feel free to accept or disregard any part of this. I intend it only as 'color'... background material. At the end of the day, it's Max's game and what he says goes.

RESOURCES:

1] Soldier's Manual of Common Tasks
--US Army Manual STP 21-1-SMCT, 1987 edition
A basic manual of what the Army tried to train soldiers of whatever MOS to do as a common level of skill. The only MOS's that were exempt from the contents of this book were Medical Corpsmen and Chaplains Assistants. HOWEVER, there are 500+ pages in this book, and I don't think I ever met anyone who mastered every task in it without having to look something up.

2] Osprey Men-at-Arms #159: Grenada 1983
--Osprey Publishing, 1985

3] Osprey Men-at-Arms #178: Russia's War In Afghanistan
--Osprey Publishing 1986

4] Osprey Elite #12: Inside the Soviet Army Today
--Osprey Publishing 1987

5] Osprey Elite #20: Inside the US Army Today
--Osprey Publishing 1988

Okay, all us old warheads just love Ospreys. They publish a huge series of books on troops and warfare from the first civilizations to up-to-the-minute current conflicts [For example, MAA 178 was published while Russia was still fighting the mujahedeen in Afghanistan]. The photos, maps, and illustrations focus on accuracy [and we all love the color artwork in the middle] but the real value is the bibliographies in the back... some real gems of research material there.

The last two books are fictional works that veterans of the 80's military consider THE books about the last decade of the Cold War... They are speculative 'what if's' that were written with an eye for accuracy and human drama.

6] Red Storm Rising
--Tom Clancy
--Putnam House, 1986
A large book that details what a Soviet invasion of Western Europe might look like from the casus belli to the cease-fire, from the halls of the Kremlin to a small band of military refugees in a nation overrun by Soviet Paras.

7] Team Yankee
--Harold Coyle
--Ballentine Books 1987
Confession time: not only was I a tank crewman in Germany at the time this book depicts, the author was in my regiment when he wrote it. I make absolutely NO attempt at non-biased recommendations on this one. Nevertheless, it holds up very well as a book about mixed company of tanks and infantry trying to hold back the Soviet tide in Germany. It begins by a *wonderful* description of what it's like to [try to] sleep and wake up inside an Army APC...

Welcome Otterus.

Dram wrote:Welcome Otterus.

Thanks!

That's a great list Carl; thanks!

I too am a sucker for Osprey books and I very much enjoy both Red Storm Rising and Team Yankee. I think Red Storm Rising is my favorite Clancy book (probably because it's half him and half Larry Bond!).....and these definitely help to capture a lot of the 'feel' I'm going for.

Everybody; I forgot to mention (I will put this in the game posts too) that the main reason everyone is where they are (i.e. the North East corner of California) is that Billy's older sister Kate lives in Idaho and while stopping at Barstowe's Dad's cabin, he asked Billy to go check on her status and that of his grand kids (She is a divorced school teacher and has a couple of teenage sons). In addition, thanks to the new 'Radio Free America' call ins and organization going on; there is a resistance group calling itself the 'First Free Idaho Brigade' in the region and the neo-phyte resistance leaders would like the PCs group to make contact with them and bring them into contact with the Rebel Leadership as a whole.

Sorry about that!

Anyway, post away and let me know if anybody has any concerns/questions, thanks!

Welcome to the resistance, Ottarrus!

Thanks!

Sorry for the delay peoples; a new post is coming tomorrow to wrap up the 'meet-and-greet' between Yo and everybody else…..and then I'll get the second adventure proper going. Thanks for your patience!

Adv. 2, Your Own Private Idaho

Got a question as we approach the town of Milner, ID.
I am about to show my age terribly, but...
Do any of us have CB radios in our trucks? They were a huge thing in the 70's and early 80's, to the point of even having Top 40 singles on the radio... CBs had their own lingo and I'm pretty sure that 124th MRD won't have anyone who not only speaks American English, but also speaks 'trucker'. That might be an avenue for us to make contact.