Set during the Vietnam War's Operation Pershing
=======================================================
Authored by TomeBinder
=======================================================
Operation Pershing was launched in 1967 by the American 1st Cavalry Division as a long-range offensive against elements of the NVA 610th Div and VC units in Vietnam's Binh Dinh Province.TL;DR Summary:
- Set in a fictional sector of the Binh Dinh Province.
- After successfully striking an NVA command post, a squadron of American UH-1 helicopters are returning to base.
- Following the Song Ba Lien river in the north east of the province, they are ambushed by Viet Cong and NVA ground troops.
- Three of the choppers are hit, and they crash land into the surrounding jungle.
- The characters are the survivors of the crashes.
- Unsure if help is on the way, the characters must make the perilous journey through the Vietnamese jungle.
- Viet Cong, unfavourable peasants and forward NVA elements try to stop them.
- The GM controls the world at large, and makes IC events and challenges for the characters to overcome.
It's a Jungle Out There!
The attack on the village had gone well, perhaps too well.
We struck Charlie at dawn, flying over the thick jungle canopies with fifteen UH-1's and an escort of five AH-1s. Hah, he never saw us coming! Still, you would have thought Charlie mighta heard the roar of our engines from miles away. Maybe sound doesn't travel the way you think it would? Or maybe he knew all about us from the start, and let us reach that command post on purpose.
The village put up some sporadic resistance, but they were mostly VCs with sticks and stones. We landed with zero casualties, combed the AO and inflicted a 100% casualty rate on the enemy. No civvies were in the village, which was a blessing - because you can never quite tell which one of them is going to pull a gun out of their stupid pajamas. Still, those VC dogs fought to the last man. We couldn't have taken any prisoners, even if we had wanted to.
We torched the place, as per our orders, found some maps of the NVA's local force deployments to take with us, and bugged out there as quickly as we had come.
Nah, yeah, Charlie let us in there.
We hadn't gotten six kilometres south of the village when the jungle below lit up like a God damned fire-cracker market. RPGs and large calibre AA guns - courtesy of the Russians, I guess - opened up on us by the dozen. Tracers flew every which way, and our pilots did a good job of climbing out of range. But not all of us made it.
I saw the first UH-1 take what I'd guess to be a 57mm round to the face. Spun out of control and plummeted to the jungle. The second, I didn't see, but I heard the explosion. God rest their souls. The third got perforated like a Las Vegas whore; she went down in a twirl of smoke.
Our escorts raked the jungle with their cannons and missiles, whilst our gunners added to their fire-power. It was just too hot though; every patch of that damned jungle we ignited made little difference to the rate of incoming fire, so we bugged out of there, and we bugged out of there good.
If those boys aren't dead now, they'll soon wish they were. We wanted to go back for them, but those useless pricks back at HQ wouldn't allow it. The area isn't a strategically important location, they told us, and that a rescue op would be mounted within the hour. Bull shit, I've heard that before.
Just another day in the jungle, I guess.
The Setting:
This RP is set on the fictional Lima Sector, an area designated a hotbed of Viet Cong activity by the local U.S military commands. It is a hilly region, where the Song Ba Lien River splits into two. Jungles, villages and paddy fields dot the landscape, creating a variety of terrain. The roads and foot paths are all mud-based, and can be treacherous to both a vehicle and a boot... so you know, don't go twisting your ankle.
There are no U.S or ARVN units in the area, and at the moment, waiting for a rescue is suicide. The rising smoke from the crash site will draw every Viet Cong and NVA regular in the entire sector.
Lima Sector's Topography
Lima Sector From Above
The Characters
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MOORRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNG VIETNAM!
The initial characters who play from the RP's start, will form the survivors of one of the crashed UH-1's. More specifically, the one that took a flak round to the cockpit. The helicopters themselves carried 13 soldiers, and so the players will take on the role of the fortunate few - unless mass interest is shown, of course.
Characters who join after the RP's start, will come from the other 2 downed UH-1's. However, their character's entry into the RP will start with them pretty much stumbling out of the jungle and meeting up with the existing group, as opposed to going off doing their own thang.
A side note on ranks: the character with the highest rank will be expected to give the others orders, as one would expect.
The Game Master's Role
As GM, I will fullfill the following duties to the RP:
- Police players like any GM would.
- Guide the characters to the story's conclusion.
- Create situations for the characters to deal with.
- Kill characters who make grave errors. Walking through the jungle without checking the floor, is an example of a grave error.
- Control NPCs.
- Fast forward the story in the event of a lull.
- Kill characters who go AFK for 72 hours.
- Kill or maim characters who appear to be bull sh*tting their way to safety.
- Control characters who are holding things up. An example of this would be a character whose player has stated he'll/she'll be absent for longer than the 72 hours.
Player Rules
The usual do's and don'ts of any RP.- Be nice to each other.
- Be nice to me.
- Don't be a kid. Even if you are one. I expect maturity and politeness at all times.
- GM's posts are final in most circumstances, and events that are said to have happened within them, are written in stone.
- Whiners will meet a terrible end.
- Post rate - 1 per 72 hours (3 days) minimum.
- Respect the subject matter. It was a horrible war with terrible consequences for countless thousands
... So, any takers?
