Highlights from Last Session
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About the Project
A new modern warfare RPG is being developed for players in the Sitrep and OTT community. The working title is HK Ops (Hunter Killer Operations), a custom-designed, web-friendly, narrative-focused role playing game set in the present day, very recent past, or near future. Players can take the role of high-end operators with a formal military or government service ... or with a privately-run contractor company ... or even survivors in a post-apocalyptic setting.
The focus is two-fold: storytelling and narrative, balanced against realistic tactical situations and consequences to player and NPC actions. There are no healing scrolls, resurrection spells, or health packs in this game. If you're shot, you're shot.
Playtesting is already underway. We're hoping to get a group together and play a few hours on Sundays, depending on everyone's availability. The system is designed to allow play over web conference, so everyone's looking at the same screen, with custom maps, playing pieces, character sheets, experience, and of course character development.
If you're ever interested in giving this a go, or even just checking out one of our sessions, you can watch us on twitch.tv/sitreppodcast/ - or ping me a PM and we'll see about getting you logged into one of our web meetings.
Related Genre: General
This Project is Active
Some Pics From Our Last Two Sessions
Campaign area with the February 2020 situation in Syria ... with just a few "creative license" updates for the sake of the narrative in our campaign.
The actual operations area. Three PMC teams are sent in on this mission (our RPG group is one of them) - with three basic missions. Attack the red areas, defend the green areas, and the third NPC team supports the first two as needed. Yes, how that "support team" is committed is a source of some "blue-on-blue" drama among the characters. 
The map for our Forward Operation Base
Underneath the base, wouldn't you know it ... there was an enemy tunnel complex expanded from old 2nd Century early Christian ruins and catacombs.
Our three teams and our vehicles - X Team Sigma has the JTLV, the Sultan and the HMMWV are allocated to our player characters in the center (X-Team 619), and X-Team 220 (the junior support team) has the MRAP to the right.
Hell yeah, we had a dungeon crawl, and a some ISIS insurgents in the tunnels beneath the forward operation base.
Air Ops Station WHISKEY is under attack! Claymore mines set up by Templar earlier took out that first SAA Jeep that tried to cross that small bridge over the creek.
The HMMWV overruns a fireteam of Syrian regulars (SAA infantry loyal to the Assad regime), with Templar, Ajax, and Cleric (character call signs) engaged in a point-blank firefight! Ajax on the .50!
Taaki takes the Sultan on a charge down the center, and finds herself confronted with another SAA fireteam!
The enemy technical (truck with a ZU-23-2 23mm twin autocannon) opens a long-range suppression fire on Sirius up on a distant ridge.
Sirius and his loyal "battle dog" Bubblegum takes the brunt of enemy autocannon fire!
The carnage at the end of Site Whiskey's successful ... if hard-fought defense.Okay, So I Lied ...
Well … I was wrong. Last night’s session was NOT the end of the “Desert Eagles” plot line for HK Ops.
This story is turning out to be more complex and intricate than initially planned, the battles are more visceral, and the enemy is putting up a tougher fight in some places. Long story short (take a shot), at the end of last night’s session were weren’t even close to the end of this campaign.
So it looks like we’re up for a THIRD session – the FINAL CONCLUSION (I promise this time) in what’s turned out to be an epic trilogy!
Part III is currently scheduled for Sunday March 22.
Meanwhile, Part II is up on our YouTube channel. 😀 Check out some of it below!
Episode 05 "Desert Eagles" Live Stream!
Place: Northeastern Syria.
Time: Five minutes in the future.
We are confirmed for HK Ops – Episode 05 on Sunday, March 8, starting at 1PM EST / 5PM UK time (part of the Sitrep Podcast Channel).
In our last stream, we saw the operators of “Escalation Team 619” and two other teams are deployed into the heart of one of today’s worst warzones, the ongoing civil war in Syria.
Despite the American withdrawal from the northeastern Syria, “certain parties” within the DoD, State Department, and CIA are looking to maintain surveillance and leverage influence into Syria, specifically the “Syrian Democratic Forces” (predominantly Kurds) in the Rajova region (northeaster Syria).
This will be done with air power and drones, but SAA (Assad Regime) and even ISIS/ISIL elements threaten the ground facilities that enable such aerial programs, such as air defense, air surveillance, and navigation / control points.
Meanwhile, Assad’s helicopters represent a growing threat in the air, and even ISIS / ISIL remnants in the area are also starting up an ad-hoc drone program of their own.
In short, it’s a battle for the skies over northeastern Syria, and ironically part of that battle must be won on the ground.
Our operations have already received their orders, geared up, been inserted to the forward operating base, found and eliminated the first threat literally beneath their feet, and gone out on their first patrols and strike sorties against elements of the SAA and ISIS.
But all this was just the beginning. The real test for the team comes TODAY.
Tune in for the conclusion of HKOps Episode 05, Desert Eagles!
We hope it will be another great episode in our continuing HK Ops modern warfare storyline.
HK Ops - Ep 05 - Part One Recording
So here is the recording of what turned out to be just PART ONE of our latest HK Ops mission.
Long story short (take a shot), we have the US pulling out of northeastern Syria, but bureaus and agencies in the DoD, CIA, and State Department still want to maintain surveillance and project influence “on the quiet.” That means private military contractors, and that means Phalanx Multinational.
Three teams have been inserted, including our heroes of “Escalation Team 619” (X-Team for short, sixth team established FY 2019).
So we have uncertain Turkish “allies” who are friendly enough to the US, but less so with our Kurdish “allies” in northeastern Syria. Syrian Arab Army of the Assad regime also posses a threat, to say nothing of remnants of ISIS / ISIL, still dangerous even in early 2020.
Oh, and then there are threats WITHIN the operation, everything from leadership that is less than “tactically expert,” to rival teams, overly ambitious “comrades,” psychologically unstable team members, thieves, and even love triangles.
Just another “corporate day at the office” for the operators of X-Team 619.
Episode 05 "Desert Eagles" - ORDERS IN HAND!
Here are the orders our operators have received for their upcoming op in Syria.
Tune in to our live stream to see how they do! 1PM EST, 6PM GMT
Episode 05 "Desert Eagles" Live Stream!
We are confirmed for HK Ops – Episode 05 on Sunday, February 23, starting at 1PM EST / 6PM UK time (part of the Sitrep Podcast Channel).
This is going to be a heavy one, folks, where our operators of “Escalation Team 619” and two other teams are deployed into the heart of one of today’s worst warzones, the ongoing civil war in Syria.
The players have already been sent their orders, preliminary maps, and mission briefings … and “gearing up” correspondence is already shuttling back and forth between our players.
We hope it will be another great episode in our continuing HK Ops modern warfare storyline.
Episode 04 "Failed Paradise" - Mission Report
SITUATION: Guillermo Montejez is a top aide to (real life) Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó. Montejez is an important figure to the Guaidó opposition movement, filling such roles as Guaidó’s liaison with International Red Cross, the South American “Lima Group”, and the US State Department. Montejez is currently surrounded by in his villa by paramilitary police loyal to the generals of (real life) Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in the city of Carupano. Phalanx Multinational has been contracted “friends” of the Venezuelan opposition movement (possibly Lima Group, possibly even black ops agencies in the US government) to effect a range of executive solutions throughout the Venezuelan crisis zone. Escalation Team (X-Team) 619 has been assigned one of those mission packages.
MISSION: Case Director Marcus Bryant has assigned X-Team 619 the mission to find Guillermo Montejez, safely extract him, and escort out of Venezuela. Options for safe zones include Bogota Colombia, Miami Florida, Trinidad, or even Curaçao. Guillermo Montejez is currently under house arrest at his suburban villa just outside of Carupano. Get him out of there by whatever means is necessary, and exfiltrate to one of the designated safe zones.
EXECUTION: Methods are at the discretion of X-Team 619. However, Operations advises a low-kinetic approach, as opposition forces are predicted to include formal units of the Venezuelan Army, a state with which the United States is not at war. Also, unnecessary collateral impact in the infiltration phases will only result in higher degrees of difficulty during extraction and exfil phases afterwards. Note that Guillermo Montejez is a civilian, with no military experience whatsoever and little or no security personnel of his own on-site.
ADMIN/LOGISTICS: Case Management Officer Scott Delham has arranged staging point in the island nation of Grenada, where you will have diplomatic immunity under the aegis of the US DoD. From there you will have access to a pre-staged twin-engine turboprop (leaded by PMC Ltd., so return the aircraft in good order) for use in a “dark flight” to an abandoned airfield in the jungles outside of Carupano. The airfield is marked on your maps, and hasn’t been used consistently since the Drug War of the late 1980s.
COMMAND / CONTROL: Frederik Ottesen is in tactical command of this mission. Marcus Bryant is case officer, with Scott Delham as operations, intelligence, and administrative lead (note: he’s doing Gabrielle Knight’s job as well – who remains on “administrative review” after certain issues In Episode 03 “Crossroads”).
The characters find their promised twin turboprop waiting for them in Grenada, Annika "Taaki" Visser piloting the plane to the designated "black ops" landing site. The landing is a rough one, but the group makes it okay and begins down the hidden jungle trail. Here they find a trio of "colectivos" pro-government militia burying the body of a murdered dissident. The three bandits are dispatched and the group takes their jeep, heading to Carupano to find Montejez's villa.
The find the villa more or less intact. But rather than "under siege" - it seems to have already fallen? There is some stealth, recon, and subterfuge as the group tries to make a soft entry. Taaki makes good use of the bottle of tequila and brick of marijuana found under the seat of the jeep to "smooth" their way past the guards at the gate, Frederik "Sirius" Ottosen makes good use of his silenced assault rifle, and Jackson "Ajax" Hyatt makes us of his new silenced autopistol.
Taaki manages to fast-talk her way past the two militiamen in the driveway, but the third man on the porch by the villa's front door actually cares about his job. Looks like she needs to find another way in.
Heading to the east door, Taaki talks her way past another colectivos militia, but another guard at the doorway seems intent on barring her entry. Sirius, who has by now infiltrated the north servant's gate along with Jackson, settles the argument with a silenced round from his rifle. The guard is only wounded, and staggers back inside screaming bloody murder. So much for the soft entry.
Rather than set off a furious firefight, the colectivos militia immediately start running for their lives. There are a few small exchanges of fire, almost accidental, but by and large ... yes, the Montejez Villa has ALREADY fallen, but the colectivos militia run with unnatural fear and speed even for rather undisciplined rabble. What were they so afraid of? 
A search of the house finds it mostly ransacked. Sirius finds a "spiderhole" beneath the master bedroom's walk-in closet packed with encrypted laptops, spare car keys, and perhaps $5 million in cash. Yes, Montejez was filthy rich (just look at the size of his house). Finally Jackson finds a second panic-room under the floorboards of this conference room, this one occupied by Francesca Palez, one of Montejez's lieutenants. Here is where the "curveball" is thrown in the mission. Yes, the team was supposed to come here and get Montejez. But Montejez was never the real priority for escape. Montejez only contracted Phalanx Multinational to send X-Team 619 down here to rescue him as a diversion, as bait, while the REAL objective, his two daughters (Alexandra and Rosa, 9 and 7 years old) were smuggled out of the country. Francesca, Montejez himself, and even our heroes of X-Team 619 were really just "bait." Montejez leaked his location and the fact that he would soon be "rescued" by a powerful force to the colectivos in order to give his daughters the best chance. Well, at least we know why those militia ran away so fast. As for the one militiaman locked up in that bathroom ... yeah, don't ask. :)
Swerve in the plot Number Two ... Even as Montejez remained here with Francesca ... somehow ... the colectivos learned that Montejez's daughters were already smuggled out of the country aboard the container ship MCS Santissima Carreno. The colectivos then took the ship on the high seas, and turned it around back to Venezuela. Clearly they mean to force Montejez to surrender himself and his opposition network by leveraging the two girls. Half-mad with terror and rage, Montejez apparently took off from the villa, chartered a helo to the freighter, and tried to get his daughter back. Not the wisest move, there were at least 20 colectivos on that ship, and now they have Montejez as well as his two daughters. Needless to say, Francesca is not happy with Montejez right now, and honestly neither is X-Team 619. But they're contracted to get him out of the country, and apparently that means his daughters as well. So looks like we're heading for this freighter! Good thing our heroes found all that cash in the villa to hire a "Miami Vice" style go-fast boat to intercept Santissima Carreno before she makes port back in Venezuela. 
Rather than go full "Pirates of the Caribbean" on the freighter, Taaki uses the bulk of the cash found at the villa to make a deal with the colectivos militia. MOST of the colectivos accept the offer, releasing the two daughters and leaving the ship on the two launches stored on D Deck. Some harder-line colectivos remain, and of course the group still hasn't found Montejez himself. But at least those two innocent girls are out of the crossfire.
This freighter is a full "floating dungeon" with all compartments mapped out for the group to explore (seven decks' worth). They fight their way up the superstructure, off of E Deck, then D Deck, C, B, and finally A deck (the highest deck, where the group has been told Montejez is being held). Each compartment potentially houses more colectivos hard-liners, and the players must clear each deck and compartment lest they leave enemies behind them. Engagement ranges are brutally close, and of course all these metal bulkheads and ricochets present dangerous factors to the running firefight.
Finally we get to the bridge, where one colectivo throws a flash bang grenade that Sirius kicks with his boot into the bridge. The last enemies are cleared, but Montejez himself (half-blind and deafened by that grenade) snatches up a pistol and shoots FRANCESCA of all people in the leg. Turns out she was the one who tipped off the colectivos about the daughters being smuggled out on this vessel - angry that she was being hung out to dry as bait. Basically, Montejez and Francesca used each other, and X-Team 619 got caught in the middle. Just goes to show that in shadowy world of the private military contractor, the "good guys" aren't always squeaky clean. But the Montejez is taken to Trinidad, the daughters are safe, and the mission is complete ... and not ALL that money was either paid out to boat owners, colectivos, or Phalanx Multinational on the group's return. A big chunk went to anonymous charity, and still more, well ... who knows? *WINK WINK ... Spoils of war, after all. Suffice it to say that some characters will have a new ranks in "Finance" on their sheet ... Episode 04 confirmed for Sunday Jan 12, 3PM EST / 8PM UK
We are confirmed for HK Ops – Episode 04 on January 12, starting at 3PM EST / 8PM UK time (part of the Sitrep Podcast Channel).
We hope you’ll check out our live stream on our Sitrep Podcast Twitch Channel or on Sitrep Podcast YouTube!
Preparations are nearly complete for this session and we hope it will be another great episode in our continuing HK Ops modern warfare storyline.
