Avenyx Bevan
act as if you will
"Act as if you do when you don't
Act as if you will when you won't
We'll win, sure enough
With the old double bluff
Just act as if you do when you don't!"
- Operation Mincemeat
OOC NOTES
Welcome to Operation: Papercut! This campaign will be a layered, mission-based heist campaign to steal a mobile headquarters for Section C's stealth incursions, which (in addition to hopefully being jolly good fun) will steal an Arquitens-class Light Cruiser from a neutral but Imperial-aligned staryard to expand the operational range of Section C's stealth incursions. The campaign will be divided into discrete mission threads (Codenamed PROJECTS: LEDGERBOOK, CITRINE, ORCHID, BREEZEWAY, TINSPUR) culminating in a finale thread, which will incorporate consequences from the entirety of the campaign.
Each of these missions will be its own thread where players are invited to participate in IC strategizing, planning, and executing on the mission. These threads are sequential but may branch: for instance, actions taken in PROJECT LEDGERBOOK will impact the context of PROJECT TINSPUR, including available options, narrative clues, etc. Read on for more information on how the campaign will work. Please note that this is still an experimental framework, so constructive feedback is welcome during and after the campaign to see what worked for you, what didn't, what can be improved, and what should be excised.
PLAYER CHOICES MATTER
- Pick an approach for each mission (for instance: social stealth, hacking, salvage, sabotage, assassination, etc.).
- Approaches and actions within missions will produce narrative consequences that shape later missions (for instance: access windows, new intel, new obstacles, etc.).
- Players may decide to take one (1) Opportunity Roll in each mission which could result in a boon, or a challenge. These rolls are optional and may increase HEAT.
- HEAT (short for Heightened Enemy Attention Trends) is a running measure of how much attention our threads are generating among the enemy. Simply put, it's a narrative and mechanical shorthand for how lightly (or not) we are treading.
- HEAT will be tracked in this thread, and I will update it between missions after assessing the previous mission thread.
- HEAT influences the quality and difficulty of future missions. A higher HEAT may mean more patrols and stricter scrutiny, tougher encryption, etc.). You will not be given a list of exact consequences tied to a specific number, but you can assume that the higher the HEAT, the more challenging the missions will become.
- In each mission thread, the players may perform one (1) opportunity roll (1d6) using the forum's roll function.
- For each opportunity roll, the team will specify: what they are trying to do/find/see/learn and how, then roll 1d6. Upon the roll,
Avenyx Bevan
will inform you of the result. - If rolls are 'good,' they may result in finding valuable schematics, either for equipment like weapons and gadgets, or opportunities for upgraded components for the Arquitens-class Light Cruiser Section C is trying to heist.
- If rolls are 'bad,' they may result in an ambush, a hack being traced, or some other challenge.
- Both 'good' and 'bad' rolls may result in an increase, decrease, or no change to HEAT.
- The results of these rolls are individualized for each mission and approach, but will fall into one of the following categories: Failure, Partial Success, Clean Success, and Ghost Touch.
- These rolls are completely optional. Restraint is a valid tactic!
- This campaign will not be directly DM'd / GM'd. Players are invited to write their own opposition, with a focus on realism, challenge, and fairness, as well as incorporating HEAT and other mechanics and context.
- We anticipate players are expected to write plausible NPC behaviors, guard patrols, security responses, and opposition characters during their missions.
- Players may elect to create NPC accounts/characters to act as opposition.
- At the end of each mission, players are invited to submit a debriefing report highlighting the results.
- Upon completion of the thread, I will review the posts and decisions made, take note of any rolls, determine the HEAT change (if any) based on actions and results, and then update HEAT.
- There may be a slight delay in the start of the next thread in order to update parameters based on player actions. Dynamic!
IN CHARACTER NOTES
CURRENT HEAT
Heightened Enemy Attention Trends (HEAT) Tracker
| Current HEAT: | 0 |
| Operational Status: | COLD |
| Narrative Indicators: | Guards complacent. Logs unchecked. Nobody's listening... yet. |
"Remember, agents: slow is quiet, and quiet is fast. Keep up the good work." - A. Bevan.
UPCOMING MISSION
PROJECT LEDGERBOOK
The Kuat system is crowded with shipyards, from the legendary Kuat Drive Yards to smaller, independent drydocks. At one of the more remote facilities, the Quayside Orbital Staryard (QOS), a new ship has been put in for refurbishment and repair in Berth 6-19, an isolated subdock that didn't appear on the publicly-available registry until three weeks ago. According to confidential sources, the ship docked here is the Exactitude, an older Arquitens-class Light Cruiser. These sources suggest that the CEO of QOS is intending to refurbish the ship and make it an offering to the Galactic Empire in hopes of getting more business -- the sprat to catch the mackerel, if you will.
UPCOMING MISSION
PROJECT LEDGERBOOK
Obviously, one less ship in Imperial hands is a worthy goal, but this ship is special, and I want it. But before we rush in, Cresh wants more clarity on the reliability of this intelligence. Therefore, your mission is threefold: confirm this ship is what we've been told it is, obtain a technical readout of the ship in question, and verify -- to the extent it is possible -- that this is not just the bait for a trap to expose resistance cells to the Empire.
As I see it, there are three potential means of achieving these goals, in order of least potential exposure risk (HEAT) to most:
- Using fabricated documents and backgrounds, physically infiltrate the Quayside Orbital Staryard as an employee and obtain the information we need.
- Remotely hack the Quayside Orbital Staryard's data servers by routing through in-system satellites.
- Perform a fast drive-by scan of the Quayside Orbital Staryard.
Note that operatives may divide your resources -- multiple efforts can take place concurrently -- but understand that every action has the potential to raise or lower our profile. The fewer eyes we attract, the longer we'll stay invisible.
THE STORY SO FAR...
PROJECT LEDGERBOOK is underway!
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