House rules:

[Spearmint]

I will add rules to character creation, gaining skills and additional information here.

Welcome to the campaign. We have an ID number of 756. Please use the Unseen Servant dice roller to attribute your ability scores and for all macros regarding attacks, damage and skill checks. To start with we shall create our characters with a house rule.

As 'Average Joe' sits in Civvy Street with his 30/30/30 strength, alertness and agility, you raw recruits are being whoop assed trained into the fittest, finest SOB's the army is ever likely to draft. Hence your 13 week basic is intensive and testing, turning boys into men and men into lean, mean fighting machines. Or so the recruiting Sgt says! So you get the benefit of starting with [1d60+30] for each stat. No ability stat may be raised above 95% and your starting attributes will leave a little room for improvements.

Therefore you may roll in one of two ways. A simple repeated macro [1d60+30] [1d60+30] [1d60+30] and apportion the results as you like or nominate each roll as Strength [1d60+30] Alertness [1d60+30] Agility [1d60+30]. Your character and his choice of specialised military training will develop from these. Each of these stats may improve permanently through the course of the game, either by rewards at the end of each mission or by spending the experience points gained. These stats may also decrease temporarily in game due to damage, mishap or circumstances such as concussion, combat fatigue, effects of drugs or alcohol.

Give your character an age between 18 -24 and you can assess height and weight.

We are using the Unseen servant D&D character sheet as a template and I have created a couple of squaddies to demonstrate how to fill the sheet in. I will go through that here to assist.

Name and potential nickname. in this case, Marco 'Cherry' Cherrulo, a new recruit.
Class: are your MOS schools so primary and secondary. For Cherry it is Point /RTO.
Alignment: described in the book. Generally folk are 'opportunistic' in life view.
Race: US army (though later in the game we may develop characters of indigenous heritage)
Age and weight are self explanatory.
Encumbrance is the maximum he may carry and relates to double the rolled strength score.
Languages: Cherry is of Italian heritage so speaks both languages.
XP level: as no experience has been gained this value is 0
Current and Max hp will be varied. Both start as your strength score. You can never get more hp than that generated by your strength roll.
Level: records your military rank. At start of play, everyone is a private.
Height: self explanatory.
Gender: male though I am not opposed to female soldiers or airmen/women and certainly a lot of the indigenous scouts and spys came from female backgrounds.
Movement: this is related to how far in feet you can move in a 5-second combat round. I am making it the higher score or either strength or agility.

record your starting attributes under Strength, Alertness (intelligence) and Agility (dexterity).

Weapons section: this records the weapons you are trained in and any specific specialities. At start of play you all know how to use the M-16 assault rifle and gain a +5 bonus to fire it.
THAC0 is To Hit At Charlie. How much do you need to roll equal or under to gain a successful hit. You can see a note section which details how the THAC0 is formed for that particular weapon and any skill bonuses applied. So for example, Cherry may fire his M-16 with a 70% Thac0 but using another type of assault rifle, he has no specialised skill so that THAC0 drops to 65%.

Inventory: keeping it simple what you take. I am not going to record every tin of ham or toothbrush. Magic items list weapons. Gems and Jewels record the number of grenades, bombs, Molotov's, flares, that you carry. Money you may record your wages if you wish and any credits earned at the poker table.

Spells: here I am recording what level Cherry's skills are at. So at level 0, he received Basic training, an ability to climb natural obstacles and how to throw a grenade. Cherry has chosen from his MOS allocation to take his four non-combat skills in the areas listed to level one. These may be upgraded to level two and beyond with experience.

Notes section: details skills gained from his primary and secondary military occupations. Other notes and sections may be added.

Hope that is clear about character creation. Any questions or queries then just ask please.


I am using the MOS skills selection. So you pick a primary skill to learn and are allocated a certain number of skills you may take in Small Arms, Heavy Weapons, Hand to Hand and Non-combat skills. You must take one skill also pertaining to your secondary back-up MOS.

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Damage, health and healing:

Your hit points are equal to your initial Strength score. You can never gain more than this score. Damage is recorded on your sheet. I have house ruled that wearing flak jackets deflect up to 12hp of damage (not including poisons or gas damage). The use of a jacket diminishes 1hp of damage per HD of damage rolled. Where a weapon such as a grenade or mortar shell does 1d100 damage the vest will deflect upto 10hp. The vest is rendered useless after receiving 12hp deflected damage.

1st Aid Skill: may be learned as a non-combat skill by any MOS class. When using a first aid kit, the person may bind wounds up to 1d4hp. Any medic gets this skill automatically and providing 1st Aid kits are at hand may add this additional bonus to their healing score from skill levels.

Recuperation of wounds can only be done when the place you are in is secure and safe. In other words, not in the jungle under normal circumstances. Also if the base is under attack your healing is at a lesser rate of a minimal 1hp per day. Otherwise it is 2hp per day. If the injured person is attended to in a hospital setting, you may receive an additional d4 healing per day.

Once a character's health is reduced to single digit figures of 9-1hp, then you are deemed 'sick, unfit for duty' unless in a dire situation. You will be seconded to base activities instead of patrol until healed more.

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Military Occupational Specialities:

Every player has graduated from basic training. Each has learned Basic infantry skills (from drill formation, parades, toothbrushing the recess and guard duty to basic ropework, teamwork, fitness), Climbing skills such as you find on the typical assault course, how to throw grenades and understanding their usage, assault rifle and bayonet practice. Completion of basic training then puts a character through MOS. Each character selects a primary field of study and a secondary back-up skill.

Skills by MOS: Allocation of
Initial Skills Table:

MOS: Small Arms: Heavy Arms: Hand-to-Hand: Non-Combat:

Grenadier: 2 4 1 3
Intelligence: 2 1 2 5
Medic: 2 1 1 6
Pigman: 2 3 3 2
Point: 2 2 2 4
RTO: 3 1 1 5
Sniper: 4 2 1 3

Demolitions (Not a primary MOS)
Heavy Weapons (Not a primary MOS)

Each character has 10 points or levels of skill. You must choose at least one skill which pertains to your secondary MOS.

How this works. In boot camp you have learned to use, strip and clean an M-16 Assault Rifle. The very minimum Base Effectiveness (page 15 of rulebook), to use an assault rifle is 30%. However you have been trained so roll a [1d100] and use this number as your assault rifle BE. If you roll under 30 then bump your score to the minimum BE. Each weapon type has a minimum BE (use of pistols, machine guns, mortars). You have a special skill with the M-16 and thus have 1 skill grade which means you add +5 to your BE when you fire it. You may add further skill levels to gain additional +5 to hit bonuses.

You may add a weapon type such as LMG machine gun as one of the heavy weapon skills and thus roll for an improved base effectiveness with those weapons. BE for light machine guns is 25. Roll [1d100] for your personal BE with that weapon type. You can then choose the M-60 GPMG specifically to gain a +5 'to hit' 1st level skill with that particular weapon.

So go through each category and with the number of allocated points to learn or upgrade skills. No skill will go above 95% unless you roll for it with the initial [1d100].

Hope that all makes sense. 1st Aid Skill may be added to the non-combat skills list and I will create more as the campaign grows.

[Spearmint]

A reminder of the link to the free pdf version you can download for the Recon: revised edition.

https://kupdf.net/download/deluxe-revis ... 686f1f_pdf

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Weapons and Combat

I am going to introduce a critical hit feature. THAC0 successfully you need to roll equal or less than your personal Base Effectiveness with the weapon used. Score a [1d100] =1, and that will count as a critical hit. That means you deal maximum damage for the shot concerned. This applies to guns and hand-to-hand combat, so you can crit also with a knife or bayonet.

Roll a [1d100] =100 and you score a 'fumble'. Which means you receive a penalty. These could be things like you drop the knife or the next shot fired automatically misses, the weapon jams and you spend a round restoring it to action.

For the enemy forces, it makes sense to me to set some basic frameworks. Enemy civilians using a weapon do so at the weapons Base Effectiveness minus 10%. They are untrained civvies after all. Conscripted soldiers with minimal training use weapons at Base level. Regular army forces use weapons at Base Effectiveness plus 5%. Officers, according to rank or service may have expertise in certain weapons and receive +10% or more bonus.

You cannot score critical damage when firing 'blind' as you can only hit on a score of 1 anyway.

Area of effect weapons:

The damage listed for the weapon types is caused on people being caught out in the open. For characters bunkered in foxholes or sheltering behind solid rocks the damage will be mitigated in proportion to the distance from point of blast impact and type of cover used.

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Flak Jackets

Each marine is equipped with a minimal form of personal protection with the use of the ablative plated flak jackets.

Record in your character sheet using the Armour Class tab. You start with 12 points of armour which is reduced by the jacket soaking up the impact of 1hp of damage received per HD until the jacket becomes worthless when shredded to 0hp. This is recorded then as 0 in the no shield tab.

For example get hit by a burst of fire and take three bullet wounds of 3d10 each. Your jacket would reflect 9hp of the damage total. Leaving you, if still standing with a thin 3hp shield on your torso.

The damage of a single rifle bullet wound of 4d10+5 would be reduced by 4 points as only full HD are considered.

[Spearmint]

Encumbrance and Equipment

To be edited as items get added:

Remember that the normal maximum amount of encumbrance (total weight of pack, weapons, ammo, equipment) is equal to you initial Strength score. As you take damage and lose hit points, you also lose some weight allowance. Please keep a track of this upon your character sheet as it may fluctuate in game.

I am not taking into account the following things which you may carry regardless of current strength score.

Uniform, boots, helmet, flak jacket, personal items and utensils (toothbrush, spoon, photos, spare wooly socks).

M16- Assault rifle (x1 mag equipped) and bayonet. (Or MOS issued equivalent rifle or pistol).

However we will take into account the weight of the following as you tally up encumbrance limits.

M16- rifle magazine 0.8lb (x 20 round magazine). the 1lb 30 round magazine was discontinued as the extra length made it difficult for shooting when prone

Machine Guns: (M60 -GPMG is 23lbs)
Bandoliers of additional ammo: 10lbs (x 200 round belts).

Grenades: weight as stated in book by type.

M18-Claymore mines: (M7 bandolier with spool of wire, charging device and blasting cap) 3.5lbs

M19-Mortar. 45lbs, may be separated into three parts: barrel, base plate and bipod, each 15lbs.
Bandolier of six mortar rounds: 36lbs.

PRC-25 'prick 25' Backpack radio. 25lbs

Unit Medical Bag: 8lbs
1st Aid Kit 0.5lb