White stopped cold. The first couple photos had two people, first, a woman that looked somewhat familiar. Not a person he had ever met, but one he had seen on the evening news, something about a kidnapping case out of New York State somewhere. The other thing couldn’t even be called a person, it looked more like a monster. A creature with skin the color and texture of eroded concrete drank greedily from the girl’s neck, with yellow, crooked fangs next to a mess of jagged teeth. White closed the picture and briefly glanced around to make sure that no one was standing behind him before he looked at the emails associated with the pictures.

“thanks for the doll, honey, im making sure to put her to good use.”

“Why did you send these to me, this is a masquerade breach waiting to happen! What if other Nos decide to read our emails for once? What if ANYTHING happens that someone sees them? If these get out, you’re going to get blood hunted to oblivion and I want nothing to do with this.”

“babe, the only Nos in my system is me, and you’re the only one whos seen em. delete it if you’re so paranoid, i like keeping mementos once in a decade. besides, the v2 system should be locked from kine completely, there’s no masquerade breach if nobody sees.

“Still, stop sending me your fucking trophies, Gene, I just sell the dolls, I don’t need to see what happens after. ”

With a sense of quickly mounting horror, White kept paging down through the email logs.

“mr. rafin, we have a problem. talked with randal. news from his new bonded in the NSA’s crypto department. our encryption is backdoored. that AES competition by the feds a couple of years ago? prudency, not paranoia. the old standards are cracked, they’ve got this program called LEAPFROG that breezes through our algorithm, even the 5x variant we’re using. had him steal a copy, it’s some real dangerous stuff. our entire network is vulnerable, we need to speed up the lockout of v2.”

“What’s our risk assessment, Eugene? Is this a masquerade breach? The earliest we can move lockout to is March”

“we’re walking a tightrope like we never have before. it’s probably only the NSA now but if they get any sniff of our data, encrypted or not, the masquerade’s been breached like it's never been. it’s a new tool, so proliferation seems low, but if it’s been shared it just makes our situation orders of magnitude worse. that being said, the chance they’ve caught onto us is very low, and if we only have to wait until march, the situation is definitely salvageable. can we restrict traffic to reduce our footprint?

“Not how it works, Eugene, and even if we could, the Camarilla would have my ass. The ones who actually use SchreckNet, that is. It wouldn’t be a good move.”

“alright, well, that’s your call. you know what I know, i’ll get Randall to send you detailed findings but I figured this was an emergency. i’ve gotta go delete some things now, you should probably think about it too.”

“Take care, Eugene. Thanks for the advice.”

Human traffickers and vampire fetishists are one thing. But this wasn’t just that, these traffickers actually had a mole in the NSA who were giving them entire classified hacking programs. White started shivering as that image of the creature drinking that woman’s blood came back to mind. There was a voice in his head telling him that it had to be special effects, it had to be some kind of weird porn thing, anything but actual vampires. He could tell the FBI that the drives were junk, that they had been formatted. He could save himself the embarrassment of writing a report for this. He could take the box right now to the degausser and prevent himself from being dragged down into whatever hell the drive had come from.

The other voice in his head was telling him to look at the rest of the emails he had, the pictures he had, the rest of the box of drives. It was telling him to look at the poster on the wall detailing agency oaths and the Espionage Act of 1917. It was telling him to look at his collective mountain of evidence, and into the eyes of the girl in the photo staring vacantly while having the life sucked out of her.

White picked up the phone on his desk.

The year is 2004. In a stroke of unimaginable luck, the collective intelligence agencies of the United States have had proof of the supernatural dumped before them. Further analysis of the Nosferatu lieutenant’s hard drives produced several names and locations of vampires, as well as a wealth of information and root access level to SchreckNet. There were a series of covert raids by agents acting on the information from those drives. Several vampires were successfully captured for analysis of their abilities.
However, as many times as a team of agents came back from a successful raid with a captive, an equal number of teams disappeared. Or worse, went back to work with new masters. Realizing that much of their own agencies were starting to be corrupted, the FBI, CIA, and NSA decided to play ignorant. Investigations on the supernatural stopped, and the chief concern became excising the rot that had started to infest their departments. However, they would not just give up.

With bloated budgets, low accountability, and a blank check to surveil anyone after the towers fell, these three agencies decided on a plan. They would create a secret, autonomous organization to investigate and police the supernatural while keeping themselves clean. Each would dip their fingers into the intelligence agency black budget, and funnel it to this new organization. They would retain some control by holding the budget, and would hopefully remain protected from supernatural influence. The alarmingly technological nature of this vampire threat led them to pick you, a contractor working for the NSA with relevant experience in computer engineering and personnel management.

Who are you?

>A young person. You’re in the prime of your life. You will be able to deploy with two teams per turn for a small bonus to performance. You can participate in covert actions at risk to your life. Due to the nature of the position and your youth, there is a close eye on you, until you prove yourself to your benefactors.

>A middle aged person. You aren’t as young as you used to be. You will be able to deploy yourself with one team for a medium boost to performance. You can participate in covert actions if you so choose, but not as well as if you were younger. Your benefactors generally trust you, but are keeping an eye on your activities.

>An old person. You’re getting on in years, but your mind is as sharp as a tack. You will be able to leverage your extensive experience to deploy yourself with one team per turn for a large bonus to performance. You are unable to participate in covert actions, unless you’re feeling suicidal. Due to your extensive experience in your field and trustworthiness, your benefactors keep less of an eye on you than they would otherwise.

This will be a hunter quest set in the World of Darkness, in the style of LBQ. Posting schedule is up in the air since this is the first time I've ran a quest.

>>5567774
Nice a new WOD quest. Very exciting. I wish you the best and hope this thread does not die on the first thread. My advice is don't burnout, get upset by trolls, and do what you're passionate about and at your pace. Slow and consistent is way better than quick and sudden stopping.

>A young person. You’re in the prime of your life. You will be able to deploy with two teams per turn for a small bonus to performance. You can participate in covert actions at risk to your life. Due to the nature of the position and your youth, there is a close eye on you, until you prove yourself to your benefactors.

>>5567777
Gotcha. I dont know what LBQ is. Also, don't get upset if people want to turn this into a vampire quest since we are just waiting for one QM not to succumb like all the others and vampire is just the most popular. Just please be open to organic developments. Goodluck!

>>5567774
>A young person. You’re in the prime of your life. You will be able to deploy with two teams per turn for a small bonus to performance. You can participate in covert actions at risk to your life. Due to the nature of the position and your youth, there is a close eye on you, until you prove yourself to your benefactors.

Got the first day jitters

>>5567774
>A young person. You’re in the prime of your life. You will be able to deploy with two teams per turn for a small bonus to performance. You can participate in covert actions at risk to your life. Due to the nature of the position and your youth, there is a close eye on you, until you prove yourself to your benefactors.

>>5567774
>A young person. You’re in the prime of your life. You will be able to deploy with two teams per turn for a small bonus to performance. You can participate in covert actions at risk to your life. Due to the nature of the position and your youth, there is a close eye on you, until you prove yourself to your benefactors.

>>5567774
>>A young person. You’re in the prime of your life. You will be able to deploy with two teams per turn for a small bonus to performance. You can participate in covert actions at risk to your life. Due to the nature of the position and your youth, there is a close eye on you, until you prove yourself to your benefactors.

>>5567774
>>A young person. You’re in the prime of your life. You will be able to deploy with two teams per turn for a small bonus to performance. You can participate in covert actions at risk to your life. Due to the nature of the position and your youth, there is a close eye on you, until you prove yourself to your benefactors.

I'm calling for Total Vampire Death

>>5567774
>>A young person. You’re in the prime of your life. You will be able to deploy with two teams per turn for a small bonus to performance. You can participate in covert actions at risk to your life. Due to the nature of the position and your youth, there is a close eye on you, until you prove yourself to your benefactors.

Vote closed, unanimous for young person. Writing.

You walk into an unremarkable conference room with three people already seated. One of them, a fat, flushed man fiddling with his tie, smiles and waves as you walk in. You recognize him as Burris, your old boss at the NSA.

The other two people in the room stop talking to each other as soon as you walk in, and immediately begin to size you up. The first is a hard, wiry, wrinkled man with crewcut gray hair. He squints at you through a pair of aviator style eyeglasses as you sit down. The second is a middle aged, tanned, arabic woman, who leans down to pull a pencil and a notebook from a briefcase. The man speaks up.

“I’m still not convinced that we shouldn’t have the FBI leading this, Burris. A group hunting down the paranormal drawing its founding members from an actual investigative agency just makes sound sense, not from a bunch of glorified tech support people.

Burris leans back and scoffs. “Buzz off, Ryland. Ninety nine percent of the data we have on these things is digital, your agents wouldn’t know where to start.”

“Yeah? They knew enough to get you those disks in the first place.”

“And your agents knew enough to get themselves disappeared in that Brooklyn raid.”

Ryland raises his voice a notch. “With your bad intel!”

“Brooklyn was both of your fuckups, I saw the report. Stop arguing and let’s brief the man already.” snaps the woman, who is by now tapping her pencil against the table.

Ryland takes off his glasses and rubs his forehead. “Right. Introductions.”

These are your supervisors, the people you’ll be reporting to during your time as Director.

>You have three supervisors. Each is a senior member in the FBI, CIA, or NSA. They have been tasked with overseeing and supporting your operations. You are required to give a report to them three times a year, or every four turns.

>Reputation
>5 Your supervisor trusts you completely, and does their best to support your operations. Gain increased funding and access to greater favors.
>4 You’ve been doing a pretty good job. Your supervisor trusts you. Gain slightly increased funding.
>3 You have been doing an alright job. Your supervisor trusts you… mostly. No effects.
>2 Your recent failures have led you to be on thin ice with your supervisor. Gain decreased funding until you prove yourself to them.
>1 Your supervisor is very displeased with your performance, considering you either a liability, incompetent, or a traitor. They have cut support to you, and will not restore it without a good reason. If two out of three supervisors are on this reputation level, you will be removed from your position. Because of what you know, you will not simply be fired, but instead targeted for assassination.

File: BaseSelect.png (190 KB, 750x504)

190 KB PNG

>>5569032
>More sources of funding can be obtained from people, corporations, or other government agencies as you encounter them.

“You already know me, Director, but I’m Stephen Burris, NSA. If you need cryptanalysis, hacking, monitoring, signals intelligence, communications, pretty much anything to do with computers, you talk to me.”
>Stephen Burris, NSA. REP: ***

I’m Allan Ryland, FBI. If you need investigators, surveillance equipment, cover stories, credentials, you talk to me. We’ve got a judge read into the program so warrants are also available, but on a case by case basis.
>Allan Ryland, FBI. REP: **

I’m Leyli Beheshti, CIA. We can provide military contacts, military equipment, operators, intelligence analysis, sat photos, advice regarding operating outside of the United States, and training in various… esoteric skills for your personnel.
>Leyli Beheshti, CIA. REP: **

Beheshti pages through her notebook as she speaks. “First thing we need to do is identify your headquarters. We have this list of available candidates.

>Silicon Valley, California. One of the best locations for research and development in the world.
Effects: Free reroll on research attempts. Wealth of company contacts. Being in California, military grade weapons will be harder to come by without leveraging contacts.

>Houston, Texas. Located near Johnson Space Center. Big energy industry.
Effects: Free satellite tech level. Oil and gas industry supports a large fabrication industry, so rapid prototyping will be easier. Some unrest after an Endron facility was bombed by terrorists.

>Cheyenne Mountain Complex. It’s a bunker. Shared with NORAD as they move out.
Effects: Free tech level in computing. Short of a prolonged ground assault and siege, or direct nuclear strike, your headquarters is invincible. Construction is made more difficult, having to hollow out the mountain. Shared space.

>Washington, DC. The center of influence in the country
Effects: Increased budget and rep with supervisors. Easier access to lobbyists and politicians, which can be a double edged sword. Closer to headquarters of other agencies, increases opportunity for teamwork. Assassination attempt by benefactors is made easier.

>Abandoned air force base near Fairbanks, Alaska. Do It Yourself Blacksite (Ages 10+)
Effects: Gain a free air asset. Variable amount of sunlight received. Weather complicates logistics. Remote locale increases construction opportunities.

>>5569049
>Cheyenne Mountain Complex. It’s a bunker. Shared with NORAD as they move out.
Fuck it. Mountain Bunker sounds cool. Although NORAD could be a security risk since we can't screen their members.

>>5569049
>Washington, DC. The center of influence in the country
If we are gonna work with feds lets do it in the feddest place of all

>>5569049
>Abandoned air force base near Fairbanks, Alaska. Do It Yourself Blacksite (Ages 10+)

OWOD xcom is go.
QM is this purely a VTM setting or is this going to get gonzo with the kitchen sink of game lines?
I personally like the idea of a tier 4 vigil conspiracy desperately trying to fend off the clusterfuck that is the cwod with the crossover dial set to 11 but I know that would be a hell of a lot of work on you so don't take the suggestion as pressure.

>>5569049
>Abandoned air force base near Fairbanks, Alaska. Do It Yourself Blacksite (Ages 10+)

>>5569049
>Cheyenne Mountain Complex. It’s a bunker. Shared with NORAD as they move out.
They'll move out eventually, the defensible position will help out immensely.

>>5569075
It's probably only going to be VtM and WtA. Might modify this depending on certain specific research projects you guys take. but they won't be the focus.

>>5569117
Good to know.

For the people voting for NORAD, the defense bonus isn't much of a plus. OWOD is a urban fantasy conspiracy setting and direct combat is rare and when serious fights break out they either brutally cheat by using things like parallel dimensions or mind control or you are dealing with a super combatant that can eat a army of mortals by itself.
The flip side of having to share half the bunker with the army when even the glow in the dark spook agencies were getting seriously subverted by vampires is really really going to hurt us.
We can't trust anyone but ourselves here so having a remote base with everything we need fully under our control will minimize the risk of subversion or infiltration.

>>5569049
>Abandoned air force base near Fairbanks, Alaska. Do It Yourself Blacksite (Ages 10+)

Half the year its gonna be damn hard for leeches to get to us, the other half just gonna have to cover the place in UV lights. Plus we can build 'creative' shit without people easily finding out.

>>5569169
I see your point, but the AF base has too many downsides IMO to warrant it. Sure it's got sunlight for half the year and is remote, but it's indefensible from Werewolves and half the year is pitch black.

The bunker is much more secure, possible Vampireshittery can be combatted by screening, and on the off chance a Werewolf is able to step sideways inside, we can set up multiple killzones (we are so fucked without that advantage in actual combat)

>>5569228

But why go to war with the Garou anyways? They hate leeches just like us and might leave us alone as long as we don't go after them.

Plus, we don't even know that the Garou exist in-character, shouldn't factor in at this point.

File: alaskasun.jpg (75 KB, 474x886)

75 KB JPG

>>5569228
Pic related for reference.
>>5569169
I'll do my best to make options Fair and Balanced (tm) One of the plusses of Cheyenne Mountain is that many people think it's the most secure place in the US which may or may not have effects

fuck, now I'm metagaming.

Closed for Fairbanks, Alaska.

>>5569271
>But why go to war with the Garou anyways
Because I'm 99% sure they were the terrorists in Texas, and many probably don't pay taxes. Despicable!

File: HoskinsAFB.png (761 KB, 1500x1063)

761 KB PNG

Hoskins Air Force Base was built quickly in the early fifties to house bombers for Strategic Air Command, then just as quickly abandoned after someone realized that the base was redundant with the other air bases around Fairbanks, and the new B52 bomber wouldn’t fit in the weatherproofed hangars. Whoever built this must have had a hell of a time, you count six huge buried hangars, and records indicate that there’s some kind of underground living space for pilots, with tunnels connecting the hangars. The rest of the base isn’t pretty, with collapsed buildings and debris strewn about. You make a note to send a small team to go check out the damage and figure out what needs to be brought in.

You are also provided with a cover to explain to the very, very few members of the public who might stumble across your headquarters exactly what you are doing there. The airbase is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, doing research on arctic conditions and weather. You are also provided with an aircraft, registered under the NOAA.
Pick one
>Gain a cargo plane. Long range, big payload. Can be used for airdrops and paratroopers. Requires runway. Makes logistics easier
>Gain a helicopter. Short range, small payload. Variety of uses. Does not require a runway. Does not meaningfully affect logistics.

“Worst assignment I ever had was a case up in New Hampshire, in the winter. Coldest I’ve ever been. You’re crazy, boy, crazy. Alaska of all places.” Ryland shakes his head.

Burris shrugs. “It was a SAC base, they’ll probably have good communications at least. Old, but hey, that’s why we give you a budget. Speaking of budgets, we should talk about that:”

>You receive 20 BP
>A BP, or Budget Point, is your unit of money. You will spend BP to build infrastructure, recruit, buy equipment, and deploy teams. Your budget is based on agency reputation. This budget cycle, you got 10 BP from the NSA, 5 BP from the FBI, and 5 BP from the CIA.

>You can save your budget, but if you have a large surplus, your new budget will be decreased. A budget cycle is every 3 months, or 4 times a year, and takes place at the same time as your meeting with your supervisors.

File: MapTurn0.png (154 KB, 1500x941)

154 KB PNG

“Finally, your directives.” says Beheshti. “Each of us has specific goals that we’d like to see completed”
>Directives are goals set by your supervisors. You will be rewarded when you complete them.
>The NSA wants to do more intelligence gathering with this vampire internet. Set up monitoring stations across the US to have a better look at their network traffic in order to track them down and take control of their networks.
>The FBI wants you to surveil vampires, and find out where hotspots of vampire activity are. They are very interested in finding out the extent that vampires have infiltrated society and government.
>The CIA wants to know the capabilities of vampires, specifically how they’ve managed to subvert what were previously loyal agents. Discover the capabilities and strange powers of vampires by capturing them and running tests.

“I believe that’s it, Director. We’ll leave you to your work. See you in a few months for your first report, after you’ve settled in a bit,” finishes Beheshti.

Weeks later, you’re sitting strapped into the back of a military cargo plane as it plows its way through the snow toward your new home’s runway. Inches from you sits a massive satellite dish, broken apart into pieces for transport. The loadmaster assured you that everything was strapped down securely, but his words aren’t very convincing as you see the straps creak and groan with every movement the plane makes.

This is the last of the equipment to be shipped to your headquarters, everything else was either trucked from Fairbanks, or since delivered by air. Burris was right, the SAC base did have good communications, circa 1950. This sat dish, and lines to be laid from Fairbanks in the coming weeks is the final touch to update the base to a modern standard.

The forward team reported back with good news. The generators function, and diesel can be brought in with effort from Fairbanks. Most of the buildings above ground are a write off, but some materials can be salvaged for further construction. You’d love to shake the hand of whoever preserved the base machine and electronics shop, they were found in mint condition, sealed in one of the hangars. The underground portions of the base are also pristine, and where your salvage crew has been living for the past few weeks. You’ll have to wait until spring for real construction projects above ground, but for now the hangars will do until you get real facilities built.

More update and a vote to come. I have plans friday so update might not come until weekend.

>>5570802
>Gain a cargo plane. Long range, big payload. Can be used for airdrops and paratroopers. Requires runway. Makes logistics easier

I probably should have waited to see if there was going to be another post before voting

>>5570802
>Gain a cargo plane. Long range, big payload. Can be used for airdrops and paratroopers. Requires runway. Makes logistics easier

It'd be a tad embarrassing if we had to go hunting for food. Plus we can move stuff around the country far more easily and covertly.

>>5570802
>>Gain a cargo plane. Long range, big payload. Can be used for airdrops and paratroopers. Requires runway. Makes logistics easier

>>5570802
>>Gain a cargo plane. Long range, big payload. Can be used for airdrops and paratroopers. Requires runway. Makes logistics easier
we have a runway, lets use it

Also OWOD quest is fucking HYPE dude. Remember the rules of questing, address issues in a timely manner so that a) the thread doesn't derail and b) you don't start getting upset. Take care of yourself Mr QM, this quest is too good an opportunity to crash and burn : D

>>5570802
>Gain a cargo plane. Long range, big payload. Can be used for airdrops and paratroopers. Requires runway. Makes logistics easier

>>5567782
LBQ can be found at https://f3.to/omega

>>5570802
Cargo plane; we can get a helicopter later.

>>5570805
NSA. Capturing vampires is going to be necessary soon, but it looks like they weren't expecting a net infiltration. I vote for getting on that early, before they wise up and implement security.

>>5571481
>NSA. Capturing vampires is going to be necessary soon, but it looks like they weren't expecting a net infiltration. I vote for getting on that early, before they wise up and implement security.

If the Nosferatu find out that they've been tapped by Mortals, they won't up security they'll nuke it all. This is their nightmare scenario, the kine tapping into their net and learning everything they can. Its a breach of the Masquerade that can best be described as cataclysmic.

>>5569075
Anon could you please explain this to me without acronym?? I really want to understand what you said

Yeah we better go for the net as much as we can. J you guys shouldn't have voted for ALASKA to do hacking tho. The ping

>>5571724
I'm not that anon but I can help
OWOD stands for Old World of Darkness in contrast to the reboot Chronicles of Darkness. It changed the lore, and there used to be a meta narrative where you could mix every splatbook that White Wolf publish to have a setting full of monsters, secret societies and at least six different apocalypses right around the corner.
VTM is Vampire the Mascarade, the OWOD version of the vampire RPG. Also WTA is Werewolf the Apocalypse.
The whole tiers is the level and size of the organization. Being that we are working for the USA government, and the opening image is from men in black, we are probably the equivalent of Task Force: VALKYRIE, which is a tier 3 group, being know as a conspiracy.

>>5571746
Oooooh

>>5571820
https://vtm.paradoxwikis.com/VTM_Wiki They reprinted it recently. (I'm guessing a big wiki dive would be metagaming here...)

>>5571746
we xcom boys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbftQpzIyUk&list=PLydXsA6zXiitzsl9JBCFsHGYPLeu_Bz8g&index=7

>>5571831
Yeah, we are part of the Second Inquistion

>>5571831
>(I'm guessing a big wiki dive would be metagaming here...)
https://vtm.paradoxwikis.com/Considerate_play
eehhehehe

File: NOAA_C-130.jpg (112 KB, 800x523)

112 KB JPG

There is a sudden moment of calm. The engines, which you’ve gotten used to roaring in your ears since you first took off, have throttled back slightly. This moment passes as quickly as it comes, as the floor lurches beneath you. Everything around you begins shaking violently as the plane’s wheels hit the 50 year old unmaintained tarmac. That’s something you’re going to have to fix eventually. Eventually, the shaking stops, and the plane starts taxiing towards the hangar bunkers which contain most of your base. The engines shut off, you grab your bags and walk out of the plane into the night, feeling the cold hit you like a hammer, even through your layers.

Greeting you is a squad of men in orange parkas and earmuffs who immediately begin lowering the rear cargo door and attaching hoses to the plane. Your first good look at your new cargo plane is obscured by the falling snow and perpetual twilight of January. The NOAA markings on the C-130 are barely visible, illuminated by the ground lights. One of the crewmen sees you and walks over, yelling through the snow,

“You the base Director?”

>”Yeah, that’s me!”

“We got a truck that’ll run you over to the Hab!” He gestures behind him at a white pickup truck and starts walking towards it. “Welcome to Hoskins! Good flight?”

>“Bit of a bumpy landing, but yeah, otherwise fine.”

“Runway’s pretty beat up, but we cleared most of the large debris. Good thing you snagged us a military bird, it'll land anywhere flat, ‘s long as you don’t shred the tires too bad. Here’s the truck.”

The crewman looks sideways at you for a second as he drives. “Ever since we’ve got here there’s been talk that this isn’t really a NOAA airbase. One of the eggheads got into a stash of liquor someone uncovered and wouldn’t stop talking about vampires, of all things. None of this makes sense, that the government would just decide to drop a whole bunch of time and effort to reactivate an airbase in the middle of nowhere, during an Alaskan winter. What’re we doing here, sir?”
>How do you respond?
>This decision will affect how much your general personnel know about the organization.

After a short ride, you’re escorted down a tunnel and to your quarters where you dump your bags and your coat, then to the base’s conference room. There are a variety of people in it that seem to be waiting for you. You recognize some of them as your research director, your HR director, the base quartermaster, and your IT director.

What do you do?
>Talk to your research director, for a briefing on what we know of vampires and their biology.
>Talk to your HR director, who probably wants to discuss hiring people for your organization.
>Talk to the base quartermaster, who has a stack of building damage estimates and supply requests in front of him
>Talk to your IT director, who’s in the middle of setting up the base’s internal network.
>Take charge, and start planning your operations for next month. This will end the prologue, and begin the turn based strategy game.

Also, choose a name for your organization.
>Stay with FIRSTLIGHT
>Project Valkyrie
>XCOM
>Write in

>>5571831
that music fuckin slaps, man, saved that. I should really play XCOM

>>5572027
>We are here to protect America from a new type of internal, and even external, threat.
>>5572030
>Talk to your research director, for a briefing on what we know of vampires and their biology.
>Stay with FIRSTLIGHT

>>5572030
I like FIRSTLIGHT personally. I thought it was a reference to this https://lparchive.org/X-COM-UFO-Defense/Update%203/ (worth a read - the XCOM devs thought so, as they put it in the remake as an easter egg)

>>5572027
"I think it's some sort of contingency plan for Iraqi bioweapons. If something stupid happens we're too far north for it to touch us. You think Homeland Security tells me everything? Hey, If it's actual vampires, get anyone who has an Italian last name lined up and tell their grannies to share some garlic recipes."

>>5572030

Can't make decisions without a clue - so better get what little research we have before we make hiring decisions. I vote for the research director first.

>>5572027
>>How do you respond?
>>We are here to protect America from a new type of internal, and even external, threat.
It works.
>>5572030
>>Talk to your research director, for a briefing on what we know of vampires and their biology.
Best hop right to it.
>Stay with FIRSTLIGHT
Xcom would be fun but FIRSTLIGHT is still a banger name.

Also NOAA, pronounced Noah, funny biblical reference right there : D

>>5572027
>We are here to protect America from a new type of internal, and even external, threat.
>>5572030
>Talk to your research director, for a briefing on what we know of vampires and their biology.
>Stay with FIRSTLIGHT

>>5572027
>How do you respond?
>We are here to protect America from a new type of internal, and even external, threat.
>>5572030
>Talk to your IT director, who’s in the middle of setting up the base’s internal network.

>Stay with FIRSTLIGHT

>>5572030
>Firstlight
is pretty nice
>Talk to the base quartermaster, who has a stack of building damage estimates and supply requests in front of him
I have a strong feeling we gotta make this place LIVABLE first. Maybe we will lose a turn doing this but I hope it will be for the best
>>5572027
>It's on a need to know basis

>>5572361
>+1

>>5572483
+1

>>5572361
+1

>>5572027
>We have some obligations to NOAA and also a serious national security objective in tandem with that, I will be deciding who on site has a need to know and how much they should know.
>>5572030
>Talk to the base quartermaster, who has a stack of building damage estimates and supply requests in front of him
>SCOM

Can't call it xcom since they are arent aliens.
When it comes to our cover we need to in fact do stuff for noaa so we are not a blatant shell operation and that is actually a goal of spooks IRL that the cover does substantial stuff related to its cover to throw people off and since vampires are savvy it is going to be needed I feel.
Part of having a remote base everyone lives on is to minimize information leaks and being too much of a paranoid will cripple our operations but I really want to look at the details of who is on site and what they do before we start clarifying what the actual job is.
I really dislike 90%+ redactions stereotypical spy behavior as well so I suppose I would prefer more know at least roughly the task then not.

QM what lore are we using? I would prefer we be metaplot agnostic like the 20th anniversary editions or rewind back to 2e but updated for modern times because good god the latest iteration of the setting and metaplot in V5 and friends is terrible.

>>5572040
>>5572179
>>5572282
>>5572361
>>5572578
>>5572633
>We are here to protect America from a new type of internal, and even external, threat.
>>5572816, >>5572483 also fits above category
4 for RD, 3 for IT, 3 for QM, so RD first, then the others.
FIRSTLIGHT it is.
>>5572816
Lore is OWOD (I think) with a bunch of stuff thrown in and taken out. I pretty much just read a bunch of v20 and 5e sourcebooks and grabbed what I liked.

>”We have some obligations to the NOAA, there’s a chance they’re going to send a research team up here for ecological reasons. Soil samples, weather stations, animal tagging, fuck if I know, I’m not a biologist. They’re probably only going to arrive when spring comes, for obvious reasons. To your question though, there’s a reason that you had to get clearance to work here. This base is partially funded by Homeland Security. New kind of threat they wanted to do research on farther away from populated areas. Most of it is need to know, and what you need to know is this. Stay away from Hangar 4. There's a reason that the construction crew was told to weld up the exterior door, they're putting a biolab in there. Moon suits, decon rooms, armed guards, whole nine yards. I’d stay far, far away. And keep your mouth shut about it. Am I clear?"

"Yessir, crystal," responds the crewman. He is silent for the rest of the drive.


The people who staff your base fall into two categories. They have separate living quarters and do not mingle much.

The first are senior managers, scientists, engineers, and analysts enticed from research programs in the continental US, or who have previously conducted research on vampires and been thoroughly vetted. They are fully read into FIRSTLIGHT and are aware of the true nature of the research conducted. They aren’t happy about moving to Alaska given the current living situation, but understand that sacrifices must be made. They are equal parts terrified and ecstatic about the research they are to be conducting.

The second category is made up of construction workers, aircraft ground crew, and logistics personnel who were both crazy enough to sign on for the massive hazard pay bonus you were offering, and qualified for security clearances. From your conversation with the ground crew, they currently believe that the base is some sort of bioweapons research facility. The only copy of John Carpenter’s The Thing that exists on base is in high demand, and the current scuttlebutt is that’s what’s in Hangar 4. Or little green men.

Your Research Director hands you a folder when you walk in.

“Here’s that biology report you requested. Unfortunately, we don’t have any actual specimens to continue research on since the reorganization. They were either killed during testing, or have escaped. This folder is the summary of what we’ve learned so far.

>Folder begin
Direct sunlight is universally fatal to all specimens, resulting in disintegration. Time to kill varies across analyzed specimens. Second degree sunlight (mirrors, filtered through opaque media, etc) causes wounds similar to third degree burns, and is not immediately fatal. Prolonged exposure to UV radiation (>5 hours) causes mild skin irritation. Testing with specific wavelengths is on hold due to lack of specimens. Staking is effective with all encountered specimens, and causes total loss of motor functions. Body does not decompose as with sunlight, further testing warranted.

Autopsy has revealed specimens have no internal organs sans brain, heart, musculature, nervous system, and stomach. Heart is nonfunctional and appears vestigial. Most other internal organs such as the intestines, lungs, liver, are absent. Internal and external sex organs are present but appear nonfunctional. All bodily fluids were found to be replaced with blood, including sweat, saliva, semen, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial joint fluid, etc.

Notable exception is aqueous/vitreous humor in eyes, however vitreous humor seems to be composed of blood plasma with similar refractive properties. Note, possible optical method of identification? Saliva appears to be composed of blood, with the addition of what appears to be a potent topical anesthetic and coagulant.

Chemical analysis of “blood” is ongoing at this time. Substance appears to be normal blood of various antigen type, yet fulfills various completely different metabolic processes. Unknown how vampires are created, specimen bites did not cause vampirism, contrary to popular lore. Interrogated specimens claim to have died and risen from the dead as part of the conversion process, referred to as “Embrace.” Surviving test subjects who were fed upon were isolated in excess of a week with no ill effects aside from symptoms of blood loss. Specimens describe pleasure when feeding that defies comparison, quote “Absolute ecstasy. Nothing is the same, nothing even comes close to the feeling of the Kiss.” “Kiss” added to list of specimen associated words. Additionally, victims of vampire “Kiss” also experienced extreme pleasure and retrograde amnesia. Further saliva analysis is needed. Specimens subsist entirely on blood, animal or human, though prefer drinking directly from humans. Specimens complain about drinking from animal or blood bags, quote, “It’s not as good as the real thing, fresh from the source. Fills you up but tastes… wrong. Like the taste of grape cough syrup compared to actual grapes. You can live off it, but nothing compares to the real deal.”

Capture teams report encountering various, quote, “fucky” phenomena. Visions, sights, sounds that don’t exist, unexplained loss of contact with pursued target, shadows exhibiting odd behavior, the list goes on. Targets also have performed unusual feats of strength and agility. The most notable encountered phenomena exhibited by targets by far are their resilience. Bullets have been found to be ineffective, unless shot in the head or shot enough times to severely damage musculature. All targets encountered by capture teams exhibit extreme healing factor and pain tolerance. As established by autopsy, bullets lack internal organs to damage, and targets do not bleed as much as humans do, despite being composed of blood. Shots in the head cause temporary loss of motor functions before the healing factor asserts itself. The healing factor has established limitations, targets can be “drained.” In one encounter, a capture team repeatedly shot a target in the head in excess of 8 times until it stopped getting up or exhibiting signs of life. Said target apparently regenerated during transport, albeit slowly, and came alive during autopsy.
>Folder end

>Any questions for your RD?
IT and QM convo to come. Mondays and Tuesdays are hell for me, expect update tues, maybe.

>>5574668

Any research in psychological drives or motivations as compared to humans?

What are their motivations, goals?

How is their society organized and structured? What are some obvious gaps in our knowledge?

>>5574668
>Any testing on reactions to heat, cold, electricity, liquid submersion, or various chemicals?
>How do they appear on IR, x-ray, or other sensor equipment?
>Do we have details on what provokes the staking reaction and what doesn't? Do staked specimens seem capable of provoking strange phenomena despite loss of motor functions?
>Was the anomalous blood used in animal or plant testing? Was there any observed effects?
>Do they give off any scents or other sensory information animals can pick up that humans can't? Do we know how animals generally react to them?
>Considering they drink human and animal blood have we picked up any diseases in the specimens that were captured? If so was the illness behaving strangely or reacting with the blood?

QM can we get a chat with HR before the game starts proper? Thought we were voting for the conversation order.

>>5574668
If we lose govt funding maybe we can become drug lords... but let's not write that down anywhere :)

>>5574870

>implying we won’t start sell “V” on the streets for some extra R+D funding

You’re thinking too small, anon. It’s already within our mandate!

>>5574733
Yeah, I'll throw that in next update/add it to the pile

Wow, we're starting with more knowledge than I thought. I am real worried about the mention of escaped specimens. The 'Nos' probably have their own group brewing to counter ours.

>Do we have a codename for these things we should be using or is it Vampires explicitly?
>Any way we can distinguish these things from humans non-invasively? XRays, maybe? If they drink blood they will need to stay near populated areas.
>I'm getting worried about the Kiss stuff. Seems like one of the Nos with a tiny bit of ambition could use it to trade services from regular humans, like being a drug dealer. Is that really enough to compromise government agencies?
>I'm even more worried about talk of raising the dead. If thats in their capacity it causes major social implications besides the biological ones.

>>5574668
What does sunlight and staking do to vampires AFTER they're already dead dead?

Reactions to sense-based weapons, flashbangs, strong smells, tear gas? Fire?

What do their thermal and ultrasonic signatures look like? X rays sound too obvious.

>>5574733
>>5575294
>>5576661

Does garlick have an effect on them like in the stories

>Any research in psychological drives or motivations as compared to humans?
Consumption of blood seems to be their main psychological drive, acting as a sort of combination of sex and hunger. Some specimens have termed their drive to consume blood as the “Beast,” as when they are starved, they lose control of themselves in pursuit of more blood.

>What are their motivations, goals?
One of their primary goals seems to be the concealment of vampirism from the wider human society, termed the “Masquerade” from analyzed portions of SchreckNet.

>How is their society organized and structured? What are some obvious gaps in our knowledge?
From analysis of SchreckNet, there are two major factions. The Camarilla, and the Sabbat, which are at war with each other. The Camarilla, literally translated to cabal, seems to be a democratic vampire governing body of sorts, which enforces a series of rules on vampire populations, ruled by a council. The Sabbat appears to be organized like the Catholic Church, with a Regent, equivalent to the Pope.

>Any testing on reactions to heat, cold, electricity, liquid submersion, or various chemicals?
We have no data on chemical application or liquid submersion. It has been established that they do not need to breathe due to lack of lungs, so it is hypothesized that they can be submerged indefinitely. One specimen was stuck in a freezer for storage and suffered no ill effects. Heat data is lacking.

>How do they appear on IR, x-ray, or other sensor equipment?
>Any way we can distinguish these things from humans non-invasively? XRays, maybe? If they drink blood they will need to stay near populated areas.
They turn up room temperature on IR. X-rays have been used to analyze their skeletal structure. It is identical to humans, save for anomalies in the skull which are assumed to be retracted fangs. .

>Do we have details on what provokes the staking reaction and what doesn't? Do staked specimens seem capable of provoking strange phenomena despite loss of motor functions?
Testing was performed using several types of wood. All functioned the same, with some performing better due to material hardness aiding penetration of the sternum. Paralytic reaction was not present with composite wood. (plywood, particle board, fiberboard) Staked specimens were generally unable to move and therefore utilize their enhanced strength or speed.

>Was the anomalous blood used in animal or plant testing? Was there any observed effects?
No data.

>Do they give off any scents or other sensory information animals can pick up that humans can't? Do we know how animals generally react to them?
They have no discernible scent. We have no animal testing data.

>Considering they drink human and animal blood have we picked up any diseases in the specimens that were captured? If so was the illness behaving strangely or reacting with the blood?
Blood was drawn from specimens regularly during containment. In one specimen, in one sample, low quantities of influenza was detected. In a subsequent sample, no influenza was detected. Testing was ongoing regarding this before specimen loss.

>Do we have a codename for these things we should be using or is it Vampires explicitly?
Code name has not been officially established. Capture teams were mostly calling them Zeds, zombies, etc. Researchers have taken to calling them Blankbodies due to the lack of an IR emission.

>Does garlic have an effect on them like in the stories
In approximately 75% of subjects exposed to garlic, they were frightened of it. No physiological response to it was detected, either by contact or as an injected solution.

not dead just slow. workin on updates.

>>5577901
>>How do they appear on IR, x-ray, or other sensor equipment?
>They turn up room temperature on IR.
>>5577902
>>Do we have a codename for these things we should be using or is it Vampires explicitly?
Researchers have taken to calling them Blankbodies due to the lack of an IR emission.

I'm confused, so do they emit heat or not?

>>5577970

I think QM is saying that they show up as room temperature and do emit heat on IR, but wouldn’t stand out in a room or trip any automated IR sensors.

>>5577970
>>5577901
Room temperature means that they can be detected with a combination of IR and regular cameras.

If a humanoid is detected but they aren't warm, then that's an immediate flag. If it isn't a vampire it's a fully armored humanoid anyway.

But this only works in places where they have to blend in a crowd. For actual stealth they'll definitely fool optics.

>>5577998
>>5578145
I see, now it makes sense. Thanks.

>>5577970
>>5578145
Should have worded that as ambient temperature. Lack of an IR emission compared to humans.

You turn to your quartermaster next, who looks up from his pile of papers.

“Hi. State of the base: Runway at the moment is shit, as you felt when you flew in. It’d be nice to repair that but not needed until we want to land stuff here that isn’t the plane we already got. Repaving or repairing some of the more local roads would be good as well, the years haven’t been kind to the concrete. I’ve got some bids out to do both.

Power is currently supplied by a couple of diesel generators, with fuel trucked in. Sat comms should be up in a few days, but we’d be running off a shitty mil datalink that’s nowhere near enough for the rest of the base, no matter what IT tells you. Good for redundancy and range though, which is why we got it. . IT’s been nagging me to get a fiber cable dug from Fairbanks, might as well put in a power hookup as well while we’re at it. Food’s also from Fairbanks. We’re getting a lot of things from town right now. Water isn’t, we’ve got a well with groundwater. Tests are coming back clean, so we shouldn’t have to touch that for a while. Aircraft parts and equipment are mostly flown in, or trucked from one of the nearer AFBs.

We’re pretty much covered on all fronts except for defenses.. The fence is holed everywhere, we’ve had issues with wildlife wandering onto the runway, to say nothing of anyone who actually wants to mess with us. I know a guy who got us a couple of rifles and ammo, enough to arm a sort of militia. Should be enough if a bear tries to eat our trash and isn’t scared off, but, knowing the nature of this place, that probably won’t be enough. Fence should be fixed on the same timeline as we get internet, but I’ve got a couple of options for you regarding base security, as well as other items“

>You have 20 BP. This is your budget for the next 3 months.
>Opportunity for purchasing upgrades and equipment will come in the month planning phase.
>Basics (internet fiber hookup, fence repair, power, food, fire code, runway repair) will not be charged, and I count them to have come with the base. You will have further construction options in a few months when it warms up a little bit and above ground construction is more available, and when I make up stuff to build.
>Your QM has military contacts he can leverage to acquire various items. Certain items will raise suspicion. Transferring a couple of rifles for the wildlife, or a truck to a nearby government agency? Fine. A crate of machine guns? Less fine, and will raise questions.

Defenses
>Walls - 1 BP - Probably misappropriated military Hesco barriers forming choke points and fortifying key areas. (Meter thick big sandbags filled with a frontloader)
>Security overhaul - 3 BP - Your base becomes a controlled access zone. Video cameras, RFID card readers, and lights everywhere. Door/window reinforcement and lock replacement.
>Thermal Cameras - 3 BP - Thermal cameras scattered around base exterior.
>Weapon emplacements - 6 BP - Medium and heavy machine gun emplacements scattered throughout your base, reinforcing key areas. Will be hard to explain to potential visitors.

Vehicles
>Your base already comes with a small motor pool, and part of the deployment cost for people factors in car renting, etc. These are just fancy options.
>Armored Cars - 5 BP - SUVs with run-flat tires and reinforcements. Resistant to small arms fire.
>Helicopter - 8 BP - Medium lift utility helicopter. Variety of uses.
>”Credible Sport” Test Data - 4 BP - “You’re gonna love this, sir. You heard of those rocket bottles they were putting behind C-130s for real short takeoffs? Someone decided to put ‘em on the front and bottom too in the eighties for rocket assisted landings. I have a friend that can send us some of the research program results if we feel like fabbing some parts to do that to our own bird.

>Any questions for your QM?

After taking a copy of the requisitions list, you finish your conversation with your quartermaster. You turn to your IT director, who looks up from his laptop.

“Good to meet you sir, I’m your IT director. My first responsibility is upkeep and installation of this base’s network. That part is pretty much done, all we really need now is that fiber cable. We actually have two internal networks right now, a public access one that’s to be connected to the outside, and another air gapped one for internal research data, personnel records, intelligence reports, et cetera. Stuff that we don’t want to be accessible from the outside. No network is completely secure, of course, but ours should be pretty good, as long as no one mixes the two networks. Active monitoring would be best, but that’s expensive.

My other responsibility is intelligence, essentially collecting digital data and analyzing it to get us names, locations, and capabilities. To do this, we need to build facilities near these hubs to access their network data and sort out the Blankbody traffic from the human traffic. Building these monitoring facilities is very expensive, but at this time, it’s our best lead to figure out who these creatures are, and where they’re hiding. Putting passive monitoring aside, we can also attempt hacking of Blankbody networks, but this risks exposing the team performing the attack.
>Network monitoring facilities cost 5 BP to construct in a territory and are permanent. They must be staffed, and passively produce intelligence by sifting through the internet and SchreckNet for actionable intelligence.
>You can assign people to attempt to hack Blankbody networks. High risk, (revealing intel about yourself) high reward. (learning more about Blankbodies)
>Any questions for your IT director?

Finally you listen to your HR director give their report on your current base personnel.

“You’ve already heard about what our people do and don’t know. For a recap, everyone in research, engineering, and admin is read in to the program. Ground crew, maintenance, and construction aren’t. We don’t actually have any tactical teams yet, so I don’t really know how to classify them. Hiring is what I want to talk to you mainly about.

We hire two groups of people. Tactical units are the first group, they’re your people with guns who go and get things for Research and Development. These people could be ex-military, ex-police, maybe even from the original capture teams that got us the first few captives. Good candidates for membership in a tactical unit are pretty hard to recruit for. Those that do tend to be somewhat expensive, unless you want me to try and train people ourselves.
>Finding members for a tactical team is more difficult than finding members for a work team. Tactical teams are generally smaller in size than a work team.

The second group of people is everyone else. Office workers, engineers, scientists, technicians, it’s an eclectic bunch. These people work in teams from home or out abroad to further FIRSTLIGHT’s goals. We usually form teams on a case by case basis, so they’re capable of performing a wide variety of tasks. Are you trying to design… I don’t know what they get up to in Hangar 4, a vampire seeking missile? The team is probably going to consist of folks working in RND from the base. Are you trying to conduct hiring interviews? We might form a group of headhunters who go and scout around for talent. Are you trying to build one of IT’s wiretap buildings? Probably going to be his staff plus a bunch of the construction crew, working wherever you put the building. You understand the idea. We try to keep a good balance of all people, and do a little cross training, so our teams are highly adaptable, and we don’t have to go out and hire people if we want to do something unusual.

At the moment, we have two work teams, and no tactical teams. It might be a good idea to hire a tactical team, but we don’t really have anything for them to do at the moment. More work teams would probably be a good idea, but that can wait until ops planning in a second.
>Any questions for your HR director?
>Proceed to monthly planning phase, and begin the game? [Y/N]

>>5579816
What options do we have for covert vehicles? A civilian or luxury looking van that sacrifices space for thick inner plating.

For weapons, can we get hunting crossbows we can modify with stakes and higher poundage?

>>5579817
Passively kidnapping blankbodies would be good, but we may want to start in further territories so it isn't traced back.

>>5579818
The tactical units will need to know at least some of this. Physics-defying abilities and mind control countermeasures at least, so they don't just straight panic in a fight.

I'd push for a small skirmisher team first, less for defense and more for capturing lone targets. We may not even require the capturing part, focusing on kills for experience and proving viability to the bigwigs.

>>5579816
>Defenses
>Security overhaul - 3 BP - Your base becomes a controlled access zone. Video cameras, RFID card readers, and lights everywhere. Door/window reinforcement and lock replacement.
>Thermal Cameras - 3 BP - Thermal cameras scattered around base exterior.

>>5579817
In case you want us to decide this now
> Set up a Network monitoring facility in Washington

>>5579818
>>5579837 +1

>>5579843
Ope, yeah forgot to put in the bit about constructing being done at the beginning of the month. I just wanted to get everything out, sorry if that was confusing

>>5579837
I'll just count it as a flavored SUV. Armored car option in general while still being somewhat covert.

>>5579816
>Defenses
>>Security overhaul - 3 BP - Your base becomes a controlled access zone. Video cameras, RFID card readers, and lights everywhere. Door/window reinforcement and lock replacement.
>>Thermal Cameras - 3 BP - Thermal cameras scattered around base exterior.
>>5579837
+1

Both normal and Thermal cameras are great, and should be overlapping. From our current intel, it should provide easy detection from infiltrating blankbodies...but the addictive properties of the blood does raise the possibility of "addicts" existing. Humans addicted to vampire blood. Could be a thing, could not be.

Not sure if the infiltration of the different agencies revealed that ghouls are a thing or not.

Throw in walls, gotta spend that budget!
I'll support setting up a monitoring station in Washington, a good startpoint. Should help satisfy both NSA and FBI, maybe even net some juicy tidbits for the FBI if someone lets a weakness or ability slip on Schreknet, be it via messages or video.

>>5579816
>Defenses
>Security overhaul - 3 BP - Your base becomes a controlled access zone. Video cameras, RFID card readers, and lights everywhere. Door/window reinforcement and lock replacement.
>Thermal Cameras - 3 BP - Thermal cameras scattered around base exterior.

>LP/OP sites around the building for early warning, passed off as wildlife observation sites- staff them with tactical team rejects

>IT
>Network monitoring facility in Washington - 5BP
>Telephone and internet surveillance in the local area (BP cost??)

We can totally pull anomalous cell info from the town- abnormal amount of new phone IDs and the like would provide us with some early warning on potential attack.

>Vehicles
>Helicopter - 8 BP

I think the heli's worth it because we can use it as a weapons platform and a way to insert/extract tac teams, but if it's a cost overrun on what I've got here, slash it.

>>5579816
>Security overhaul - 3 BP - Your base becomes a controlled access zone. Video cameras, RFID card readers, and lights everywhere. Door/window reinforcement and lock replacement.
>Thermal Cameras - 3 BP - Thermal cameras scattered around base exterior.

>Armored Cars - 5 BP - SUVs with run-flat tires and reinforcements. Resistant to small arms fire.
>>5579817
>You can assign people to attempt to hack Blankbody networks. High risk, (revealing intel about yourself) high reward. (learning more about Blankbodies)

>>5580027
In character, humans compromised by Blankbodies seems likely, especially with the feeling of being fed directly compared to powerful drugs.

>>5579818
>Fix the fence and get small arms.. We're already in a remote location so i wouldnt worry about counter attack yet.
>Build a passive monitoring station. We currently have no leads on Blankbodies and thats the number one thing we need to show to our bosses.

>>5579818
>Defenses
>Security overhaul - 3 BP - Your base becomes a controlled access zone. Video cameras, RFID card readers, and lights everywhere. Door/window reinforcement and lock replacement.
>Thermal Cameras - 3 BP - Thermal cameras scattered around base exterior.

>LP/OP sites around the building for early warning, passed off as wildlife observation sites- staff them with tactical team rejects

>IT
>Network monitoring facility in Washington - 5BP


>Vehicles
>Helicopter - 8 BP

>>5579817
If garlic effects them even at 75% rate it might be a good idea looking into how supposed other tall tales might have some place in reality… may I throw in hemogoblin

>>5580578
As slang

Is anyone cool if I do fanart? Like department logos, characters stuff like that

File: MapTurn1.png (170 KB, 1500x941)

170 KB PNG

Good afternoon, Director. It’s time to plan FIRSTLIGHT’s operations for the month.

Chance of success on an action depends on an action’s complexity. For example, on a complexity 2 action, you could assign 2 work teams for a 100% chance of success. You could also underman it with 1 team for a 50% chance of success, or underman it and help out personally for a better, but not guaranteed chance of success. Dice rolls are 1d100 roll over and made by me.

You have 2 work teams, and 0 tactical teams. Due to your youth, you can deploy yourself twice per turn to give a small boost to a team’s performance. Every deployment of a team requires expenditure of 1 BP, unless it takes place in your home region.

C1:
Conduct construction on your base
Purchase legal items from contacts
Survey a location for opportunity with a work team

C2:
Conduct Research (Levels 1-3)
Survey a foreign location for opportunity with a work team

C3:
Conduct Research (Levels 4-6)
Recruit a Work Team
Construct a Network Monitoring Facility in a territory. Costs 4 BP for equipment and staff.

C4:
Recruit a Tactical Team
Conduct Research (Levels 7-9)
Survey a remote location with a work team

C5:
Conduct Research: (Levels 10)

Base Construction
>Walls - 1 BP - Probably misappropriated military Hesco barriers forming choke points and fortifying key areas. (Meter thick big sandbags filled with a frontloader)
>Security overhaul - 2 BP - Your base becomes a controlled access zone. Video cameras, RFID card readers, and lights everywhere. Door/window reinforcement and lock replacement.
>Thermal Cameras - 2 BP - Thermal cameras scattered around base exterior.
>Weapon emplacements - 3 BP - Medium and heavy machine gun emplacements scattered throughout your base, reinforcing key areas. Will be hard to explain to potential visitors.


>Armored Cars - 4 BP - SUVs with run-flat tires and reinforcements. Resistant to small arms fire.
>Helicopter - 6 BP - Medium lift utility helicopter. Variety of uses.
>”Credible Sport” Test Data - 4 BP - “You’re gonna love this, sir. You heard of those rocket bottles they were putting behind C-130s for real short takeoffs? Someone decided to put ‘em on the front and bottom too in the eighties for rocket assisted landings. I have a friend that can send us some of the research program results if we feel like fabbing some parts to do that to our own bird.

>>5580588
Totally, dude, that'd be sick. No one on this board will EVER tell you "No I don't want fanart of my quest"
>>5579816
I've rebalanced the prices a little bit to fit with the system that I had in mind for conducting actions and stuff. Everything's subject to change, I'm probably going to need to tweak purchasing a little bit, especially when we get into tac team gear because that WILL make the difference on whether or not your troops die. Sorry for putting options up early, should have waited for the actual month vote thing.

>>5580752
>Security overhaul - 2 BP - Your base becomes a controlled access zone. Video cameras, RFID card readers, and lights everywhere. Door/window reinforcement and lock replacement.
>Thermal Cameras - 2 BP - Thermal cameras scattered around base exterior.

>Armored Cars - 4 BP - SUVs with run-flat tires and reinforcements. Resistant to small arms fire.

>>5580752
Walls would've been good if they didn't cost a construction turn to set up.

Getting new teams is quite hard, damn. Can we not just have the MC do some of the simpler stuff by himself?

Work Teams:
>Security Overhaul
>Thermal Cameras

Potential Small Purchases:
>Crossbows and parts for modification
>A few crates of garlic for long term storage/consumption
Since crop shortages are actually a thing and garlic keeps well even raw, I think this is easy.
>Wood Processing machines for Stakes
We don't actually have much classified, so ordering some regular manufacturing things in a place littered with trees is still on the table.

>>5580773
I'll say like as long as the total construction bill is under 5 BP, it only takes a single work team. Same goes for purchasing, I think. I intended for you guys to be able to build more than one thing at once, you've got a month to build all that in.

>>5580752
OOOOOOOOOOH this is Last Light's game mechanics!!!!!!

>>5567777
Of course you get god quads in this poost

>>5580789
>>5580773
That changes things substantially.

Work Team 1:
>Walls
>Security Overhaul
>Thermal Cameras

Work Team 2:
>Crossbows and parts for modification
>A few crates of garlic for long term storage/consumption
Since crop shortages are actually a thing and garlic keeps well even raw, I think this is easy.
>Wood Processing machines for Stakes
We don't actually have much classified, so ordering some regular manufacturing things in a place littered with trees is still on the table.

If there's still leftover money, we could shoot for some commercial flying drones with thermal cameras. Depending on the law of the area, you could collect a wide swath of data in one go without anyone complaining.

QM can we have MC do C1 actions by himself for a serious but not guaranteed chance of success without using a work team? We are going to be wasting protag actions unless we just rush more work teams for a turn or two and do nothing else.

Another option is to let us stack MC actions on a single action or give us a meaningful bonus of some sort for putting the protag on C1 actions.

Also if a action fails will repeating the action next turn have a higher chance of success?

>>5580752
>work team 1 + protag action 1 = base construction
>>walls + security overhaul + thermal cameras = 5 bp
>work team 2 + protag action 2 = recruit a work team

This is a preliminary plan and I will change it depending on how the QM answers my questions.

>>5580853
With the min. 5BP budget, that's enough that I don't think the MC needs personal actions.

>>5580853
I'd say your MC can't do C1 actions by themselves because that'd turn em into just another work team, and they're just one dude. I think I'll knock the purchasing one and the surveying one down to a free action for the MC so you aren't just wasting one. Construction yeah, you gotta have a work team to do that because you're modifying the entire base, but buying and surveying could feasibly be done with just the MC.

>>5580853
>>5580927
Alright I am editing the plan.

What does surveying for opportunity mean? Will it put the MC at risk if he does it by himself?

Can the armored car option be altered to include covert vehicles in addition to the blatant standard military ones?

>work team 1 = base construction
>>walls 1BP + security overhaul 2 BP + thermal cameras 2BP
>work team 2 + MC action 1 = Recruit a Work Team
>MC action 2 = purchase legal items
>>armored cars of various types for various operations 4 BP + 1BP worth of practical anti vampire equipment such as modern repeating crossbows and IR goggles.

So my plan is more solidified but I likely will alter it again, don't like gambling on the work team but we are in desperate need of actions and we absolutely must build up hq for the first few turns at least and we can't really do anything else practical until we get at least one more work team.

Our game plan should be to scout out and operate in the flyover states or other "worthless" american territory where the vampires are going to be the least invested and least caring about losses or suspicious activity.
We should assume we are a small fish in a big ocean and we need to first identify what we are dealing with then prepare for the enemy then start striking them while our operations scale significantly faster then the heat and hostile response we generate. Starting in DC or other high profile regions is going to be suicide because they are likely swarming over it and placing their best assets there.

>>5581019
Surveying for opportunity can result in possibly gaining corporate contacts, agency contacts, or even jobs that you can assign teams to for a possible reward. You travel with a security team, so you're not at risk unless you're especially stupid or someone's specifically gunning for you.

Sure, you can uparmor cars. I'll say the package is a couple of lightweight ballistic panels and reinforced glass replacements that fit a variety of common models of cars, plus a couple of Humvees.

So I have you down to spend 12 BP, I think. Two for the team deployments, and 5 for the combos of the two purchases. Barring any other votes I think I'll lock this in.

>>5581051
I'm still angling for wood processing. Doing this in-house and sourcing from local trees will make it easier to field stake weapons without a paper trail.

Rolled 7 (1d100)

Much of those first few weeks for you are spent on the phone with Herculean Arms, a company that sells, among other things, car uparmor kits to the military and PMCs. You manage to snag a decent deal, and get enough sheets of bullet resistant panels and glass to armor a dozen or so of your vehicles. This includes kevlar and steel inserts in the doors, body and engine compartment, anti-mine plating on the bottom, and bullet resistant glass reinforcements. It’s going to be hard to get fast food in them because the windows don’t actually roll down anymore, but it should be enough to take small arms fire. The SUV packages even come with a retractable turret ring, if you ever get anything to actually mount on them.

Base construction is going well. Your workers have erected several towers around the property, and have fit them with various camera systems and lights. A frontloader is barely visible in the distance filling in the last of the perimeter walls. The fence repair has finished, and the runway is in as good shape as it’s going to get until the paving crew comes. The power and fiber line to Fairbanks has been installed, and everyone is glad at being able to connect to the outside world for the first time in a good month since they’ve gotten there. All the doors around the base have been reinforced, had their locks replaced, and had electronic card readers attached. Special care is taken to reinforce a few of the research wing cells with thicker steel and bar locks, in case you get any unusual captives. You can finally say that the base is somewhat secure and operational. Anything or anyone that comes near is immediately visible in both visual and IR from the security center in the downstairs level of the living quarters. If they want to get into your base proper, they have to get past the razor wire fence, and then past the interior wall.

A couple of bored engineers have decided to try their hands at making their own wooden stakes and crossbows. They’ve cut down a tree past the perimeter fence, and are turning the wood on a lathe in the metal shop to create various stake shapes, which are being tested on ballistic gel dummies. You buy them a BP worth of woodworking equipment, an actual wood lathe, a couple fiberglass hunting crossbows from a sporting goods shop in town, and leave them to experiment. A couple spare thermal cameras from the security systems upgrade are also available, and you instruct them to see if they can adapt them to fit on a helmet.

Rolling for work team recruitment.

>>5581788
Your attempts at hiring new crew end in failure. Your applicant pool, already narrowed by the policy of requiring security clearances to work on base, is narrowed even further when you inform them where exactly their workplace is located. People really don't seem to want to move out to the boonies to work, especially when you aren't telling them exactly what they're going to be working on. You have a couple of options.

>Eat the loss, and try again next month.

>Decrease your standards for hiring. Gain a crew that's not been vetted for security.

>Pony up a 2 BP bonus to "convince" a few of your qualified applicants to reconsider their choice to not move to Alaska.

>>5581796
>Pony up a 2 BP bonus to "convince" a few of your qualified applicants to reconsider their choice to not move to Alaska.
ehhh speed is the priority rather than efficient budget use.

>>5581796
>>Pony up a 2 BP bonus to "convince" a few of your qualified applicants to reconsider their choice to not move to Alaska.
The sooner we get a work team the sooner we can do MORE!

>>5581796
>Pony up a 2 BP bonus to "convince" a few of your qualified applicants to reconsider their choice to not move to Alaska.

>>5581796
>Pony up a 2 BP bonus to "convince" a few of your qualified applicants to reconsider their choice to not move to Alaska.
You may have to share a girlfriend but the extra money will keep you warm at night

You write back to your applicants, and offer a much higher recruitment bonus than you originally offered. You pull in enough applicants to form a work team.
> +1 work team, up to 3
> -2 BP, down to 6

File: MapTurn2.png (171 KB, 1500x941)

171 KB PNG

Good afternoon, Director. It’s time to plan FIRSTLIGHT’s operations for the month.

Chance of success on an action depends on an action’s complexity. For example, on a complexity 2 action, you could assign 2 work teams for a 100% chance of success. You could also underman it with 1 team for a 50% chance of success, or underman it and help out personally for a better, but not guaranteed chance of success. Dice rolls are 1d100 roll over and made by me.

You have 3 work teams, and 0 tactical teams. Due to your youth, you can deploy yourself twice per turn to give a small boost to a team’s performance. Every deployment of a team requires expenditure of 1 BP, unless it takes place in your home region.

C0: These actions can be done by the MC, using one of their actions.
Purchase legal items from contacts, up to 5 BP
Survey a location for opportunity with the MC

C1:
Conduct construction on your base, up to 5 BP
Survey a location for opportunity with a work team
Purchase illegal items from contacts

C2:
Conduct Research (Levels 1-3)
Survey a foreign location for opportunity with a work team

C3:
Conduct Research (Levels 4-6)
Recruit a Work Team
Construct a Network Monitoring Facility in a territory. Costs 4 BP for equipment and staff.

C4:
Recruit a Tactical Team
Conduct Research (Levels 7-9)
Survey a remote location with a work team

C5:
Conduct Research: (Levels 10)

Reminder: It costs 1 BP per work team you deploy for airfare, transportation, etc.

>>5581876
>Survey a location for opportunity with the MC
>Survey a location for opportunity with a work team
Somewhere on the west coast

>Recruit a Tactical Team

>>5581876
>Team 1 Research Computing [Personal Assist]

>Team 2 Research Weaponry (Anti-Vamp specialty)

>Team 3 recruit Tactical Team [Personal Assist]

3BP cost. The rationale here being that we need to make progress on our primary goals with regards to penning Schrecknet, but we gotta have the means to kidnap some more bloodsuckers and defend ourselves.

>>5581886
Or, Research doesn't have a cost, so 1BP.

>>5581876
Ah fuck, I thought budget was per turn rather then every 3 months.
We need to get through 2 turns with 6 budget and our work teams currently eat 3 a turn.
Fuck sorry guys I wanted us to get something to show before the first review but it looks like we just have to hope they aren't hard asses.

>3 work teams + MC action 1 = recruit tactical team
>MC action 2 = Survey Alaska for opportunity

Really hoping we get lucky and can make some money this turn so we can at least show a monitoring station and have a tactical team ready to go for the review.

>>5581876
Personal Actions
>Survey places to improve holding facilities

Team 1
>Research Computing

Team 2
>Research Anti-Vamp weapons

Team 3 [Personal Assist]
>Recruit Tactical Team

>>5581876
>Survey a location for opportunity with the MC
>Conduct Research (Level 3) with MC helping

>>5581993
+1 support bad look 2 go broke

File: Spoiler Image (251 KB, 676x380)

251 KB PNG

>>5581876
>Work team 1 & 2 Research Computing
>Work team 3 Explore oportunities in Alaska (we gotta know the locals), plus it's free.
>MC go and explore Massachusetts. Now I wonder if PIC RELATED could be of any use... he stole the company in 2004 so we are right on schedule. If we can give him a Boy Point or two from our budget I am confident we can turn this new facebook thing into a passive scouting mechanism...

Guys we gotta spend our bucks!!! The trimester is gonna be over!!!
>>5581993 >>5582255 Are you sure that work teams passively consume money, hmm?
Going broke is the opposite of what we want. We gotta spend our budget because failing to do so... now THAT will look bad

>>5582443
Yeah

>>5582489
>>5582443
+1 i mean

>>5582443
>support
Agreed we need to seriously worm our way into their network to the point that those chuds can’t pull us out
Btw since the server rack was found in a sewer I feel chud as a nickname would also be applicable cannibalistic underground dweller

>>5582849
Forgot the humanoid part that’s important

>>5582849
Speaking of I need descriptions of people such as the main character notable staff members etc, for art, and I’m thinking a lit candle as a logo would be appropriate for this quest, opinions?

>>5582864
lit candle is good

>>5581883
>>5582443

There is absolutely no reason to waste a work team searching for opportunity in the United states, the MC alone can do it free and it costs us 1 BP outside of Alaska.

>>5581883
>>5582040

every dice on tactical team gives us a 25% chance of success, we don't have the money to gamble on terrible odds, no idea what the MC adds to the percent chance but we absolutely need to put 3 work teams if nothing else when getting a tactical team.

>>5581886
>>5582040

One work team on a research project gets us a 50% chance of success so it is far better just to put 2 teams on a single project to guarantee it goes through regardless if it costs BP or not to research and it would be strange if cutting edge research doesn't eat into our budget. If we do a research only turn we should at least put MC on the 1 dice project.

Rolled 2, 96 = 98 (2d100)

Alrighty! I hate mondays.

>>5582194
You don't have any T3 research unlocked. Gotta get those prerequisites.

Pretty even split between computing and tac team recruitment, with a minority wanting to do antivamp research, and a lot of everyone wanting to survey Alaska/Massachusetts. Can I get a tiebreaker? (Tac team or computing+antivamp for team assignment, and Alaska or Massachusetts for MC survey) I'll coinflip in a few hours when I start actually writing if no votes.

>>5584803
Ignore those dice. I started writing a post and then realized I fucked up counting and forgot to clear the options field.

>>5584803
>tactical team
>alaska

Rolled 52 (1d100)

>>5584885
Thanks. So we're goin with all three work teams plus MC action recruiting a tac team, and the other MC action surveying alaska. Rolling.

>>5584803
sus dice

Your tactical team recruitment goes about as well as you hoped it would. For the foreseeable future, it’s hard, if not impossible without military contacts to get actual soldiers, especially with the invasion of Iraq underway. Your teams go for the next best thing, and either recruit or poach SWAT officers from various police agencies across the US. They are told that they are being hired by the Department of Homeland Security in order to secure a research facility, and act as a tactical team for investigative operations regarding a new, unspecified terrorist threat. It’s up to you to determine how much more you tell them about FIRSTLIGHT.

In the end, you have managed to find enough people with the right skills. The main core of your team’s made up of what would be riflemen, but you also have a sniper or two, an explosives technician, and a couple of people with lockpicking hobbies moonlighting as covert entry specialists. Equipment for them was found fairly easily, and they all have been supplied with commercially available vests and modern rifles.

While your teams are wrapping up the final paperwork for hiring, you have some time to burn. What are you going to do in Alaska?

>Accept the request of some oil company representative to meet with the new NOAA base’s director. Reading between the lines of the message, you think that this is either an attempt at fuel sales, or bribery.

>Poke around the University of Alaska, Fairbanks campus. You’ve read that it’s primarily a research university, and can almost certainly get a tour. They might be working on some interesting projects that could be of use.

>Try and forge tighter connections with some of the local military bases. You’ve always got your first cover that this is a bioterror research facility, and it wouldn’t hurt to have backup in case something really goes pear shaped on base. They might even loan you equipment.

not really, with three teams used you had a 75% chance, or had to beat a 25. that's not even counting the MC's bonus.

>>5585359
>Try and forge tighter connections with some of the local military bases. You’ve always got your first cover that this is a bioterror research facility, and it wouldn’t hurt to have backup in case something really goes pear shaped on base. They might even loan you equipment.
Not so much for raw firepower right now, but support and advice for security measures. Decoy bases, recruitment, special passwords, etc.

For the tactical team, I'm going with:
>Minimum tracability and collateral to explain the crossbows.
>Enemy experimental AI. High stealth, superhuman physical ability. Do not assume they are constrained by conventional human movements and flexibility. Thermals are only our first attempt at detecting them, don't rely too heavily on them.
>They have some kind of regenerative ability, so the stopping power of bolts has greater effect than organ damage.
>They employ some mind-altering techniques. Do not engage alone, and assume that people can be heavily suggested into harmful action.
>If, after the first engagement, morale is compromised, open this sealed message. Yes, they're vampires. The stakes work better than bullets. Garlic isn't too useful, but sunlight is.

>>5585359
>>5585383 +1

Why are we spending so much time arming when we havent even found any vampires yet?

>>5585359
>Accept the request of some oil company representative to meet with the new NOAA base’s director. Reading between the lines of the message, you think that this is either an attempt at fuel sales, or bribery.
As an american, oil is my number one priority
God bless america

>>5585383
+1 support for both ideas.

>>5585456
Because we don't want to risk a vampire attack before we have any weapons, and if we get our hands on any we risk them finding out about us

>>5585359
>Try and forge tighter connections with some of the local military bases. You’ve always got your first cover that this is a bioterror research facility, and it wouldn’t hurt to have backup in case something really goes pear shaped on base. They might even loan you equipment.

The tactical team are going to be fighting vampires face to face so just fucking tell them it is vampires.
Bullshit will just get them killed and if they are captured vampire mind screw powers will squeeze more then enough information out of them regardless of what we tell them to screw us over.
Half the base who does important stuff knows we are dealing with vampires, so it is perfectly in line with our standard to tell our dedicated squads the truth.

>>5585641
The issue isn't really honesty, it's about getting them to take the enemy seriously.

And uhh, I don't think they would if you just flat out say vampires are real. I'd rather split it up into various mechanical features that they have and can deal with, and when they fight and see it in full force, it doesn't sound like a joke anymore.

But I haven't played any of the ttrpgs so I don't know how it's abstracted there.

>>5585650
I would say we DESCRIBE them as vampires and we put a NO, THEY ARE NOT VAMPIRES at the back of the envelope

>>5585359
>>>Try and forge tighter connections with some of the local military bases. You’ve always got your first cover that this is a bioterror research facility, and it wouldn’t hurt to have backup in case something really goes pear shaped on base. They might even loan you equipment.
We need connections with army guys. Good doctrine stuff will do wonders to us

Hey guys. This is the flake announcement. Got my midterm grades back and I'm failing compsci. This isn't really a surprise but seeing it on my grade report is leading me to reprioritize somewhat and this quest gets the axe. I haven't really gotten this quest out of my head yet, but I feel like I can't work on it now and also want to prep a little more for it in the future instead of making up stuff on the fly. If all goes well I'll probably continue it over the summer. Thanks for participating so far.

fuck...

>>5586894
Thanks for letting us know G. Good luck on your academics! I look forward to seeing this back in the Summer, if you do choose to continue.

>>5586894
we'll be here when you get back :D

>>5592624
DOPPLE GANGER!