Xcomish Procedures

Some more bits of skeleton for this weird xcom game.

You are a combat squad, but you are also a self-sufficient outfit, operating without external support. As important (or more important) than your combat capabilities are your capacity to research, plan, and prioritise where you use your very limited resources. Every mission is a risk, and nothing should be attempted without weighing cost/benefit. 

How this works:

You have eight operatives. Give them names!

Four of your operatives have specialisms, chosen from the list below (you can take them in any combination):

• Intelligence Gathering
• Field Work
• Tradecraft

The game runs month by month. At the start of each month, you assign your operatives to intel, field work, or tradecraft. You can assign anyone on anything, you don't need the specialism. 

Every month, your research efforts give you sufficient intelligence to launch d2 missions, which are randomly generated from the list below. Every operative assigned to intelligence gathering that month increases the die size by one - if the operative has the relevant specialism, they instead increase it by two. 

Once you have generated your missions, you can choose which, if any, you would like to run that month. You can assign operatives to preparatory field work in advance of running a mission, which will make it easier for you in some way. You can specify what you want them to focus on: 

• Reduce enemy numbers - your operatives have assessed patrols and other enemy movements.
• Provide you with a better map.
• Provide you with important information - there are non human enemies present, the cops can expect rapid reinforcements, there are dreamers involved, etc.

An operative with the relevant specialism can do two of these things, or do one of them twice as well. 

At the end of the mission, the DM will make a hidden d6 roll for heat. You get:

• -1 if no unsuppressed shots were fired by you or your opponents.
• -1 if no enemies were left alive. 
• -1 for each operative assigned to tradecraft, and -2 if they have the relevant specialism. This is not an in-mission thing, it represents them covering and spoofing your tracks both before and after the fact.
• +1 if LMGs or explosives are used. 
• +1 if you leave the body of one of your operatives in the field. 
• +3 if they get taken alive. 

If you ever get to 10 heat, the bad guys have enough intel of their own to raid you in your current base of operations. They will do so with overwhelming force - those of you who survive will escape and set up a new operation with 0 heat. 

MISSIONS

1. Special Intel. Get a hard drive with critical information about the invasion on it. Crucial to forming a long term plan of action. 
2. Mundane Intel. If you can exfil with it, you add d3+1 missions to next month's roster. 
3. Armoury. Your supplies are extremely limited - this is a stockpile of ammunition, weapons, body armour, etc.
4. Active Abduction. You learn that a local dreamer is being abducted (or assassinated) by the invaders, and have a chance to intervene. 
5. Holding Cell. You learn the holding location of a high value prisoner - they might be another operative, a dreamer, or someone else useful to you. 
6. Heat reduction. You find a way to reduce your heat by d6 - this could be sabotaging hard drives, or assassinating someone specific. 
7. Abduction. You learn the whereabouts of an important enemy collaborator, and have an opportunity to take them alive. The rewards for doing so vary, they could be scientific breakdowns of enemy capabilities, detailed breakdowns of counterintelligence efforts (heat reduction), high ranking police or PMC targets (reduce effectiveness of those forces), things that look like people (who knows?) etc.
8. Zone Work. You have become aware of a zone of localised psychic/dreamlike instability (think the Silent Hill otherworld). You can explore it to learn more about psychic phenomena, the things that live in these places, and their connection with the invasion. 

GAME START

When you start the game with your eight guys, you can assign each of the following once:

• Point Operator. Gives +1 to hit at close range.
• Marksman. Gives +1 to hit at long range.  
• Veteran. Gives +2 to your rolls on the panic table. 
• Medic. Doesn't need to test to stabilise someone.

You have in your stores:

• 10 ARs
• 20 pistols
• 10 more long arms in any configuration that you want - these are shotguns, DMRs, LMGs, and SMGs. 
• You have enough ammunition for 10 reloads for every individual firearm that you have (20 per pistol). How long a reload lasts you in combat is per weapon.
• You have up to 10 long arms and 10 pistols suppressed. This can be in any combination, with the caveat that LMGs cannot be suppressed. 
• You have 2 vests, 4 full sets of body armour, and 2 heavy plate carriers. They give you -1, -2, and -3 on the death and dismemberment table, respectively. The vests can be worn under civilian clothing. 
• You have 4 sets of thermal vision goggles. 
• You have 50 flares.
• You have 20 grenades, in any configuration you like. The available options are: smoke, stun, and fragmentation, demolition packs. Only the last two count as using explosives, demolition packs must set set or thrown, and then detonated at your option. 
• 10 medkits, each with 5 uses. 
• Everyone has, by default, a knife, rations, water, and a torch. You can easily source civilian tools like sledgehammers and crowbars - these will take up inventory. 
• You might find more powerful weapons and gear in armouries as you play - automatic shotguns, dedicated precision or anti-materiel rifles, specialist grenades, scopes, RPGs, metamaterial armours, etc. 

INVENTORY

Your operatives can each carry a knife, torch, headgear, pistol, and two long arms for free. In addition, they get 8 inventory slots (-2 if they are carrying an LMG, -2 if they are wearing heavy plate carriers). Each slot can contain:

• Ammunition. 3 per slot for pistol and SMG ammo, 1 for other long arms, 2 slots for LMG. 
• Grenades. 1 per slot. 
• Tools. Generally 1 per slot, especially heavy or bulky tools may take more. 
• Flares. 3 per slot. 
• Medkit. 1 per slot. 
• If you are overburdened for any reason, you cannot move. 
• Carrying a human (or human sized) body needs four slots open. 

STRESS

When you take stress, you roll a d6 and consult the breakdown table, adding your current stress level when you do so. Your operatives are all trained and blooded, and usually only take stress from horrible alien and psychic shit. If you gain civilian assets, they will take stress damage every time they take fire, which might make them do ill-advised things like try to run out of cover while under suppressive fire. 

Yes, it's true, I love Long War 2, it's easily the best TBT game I've ever played. 

More to come!