Gate! Thus, the USMC fought there! (interest checking for Fantasy/Modern clash)

[Monfang]

This will be a bit of a change from the usual Modern/Fantasy clash. This time, magic isn't so powerful against the sudden arrival of weapons that can shoot metal faster than the speed of sound and against rolling metal machines that fires exploding rounds.

This is my first attempt at GMing a game, so it will be fully freeform with only rules of common sense to keep things in order. I would love for any guidance if you wish to offer it. Here is what I have thus far thanks to people who assisted.

Concept

Concept:

If you read manga, you may recognize the title, that is because it is the exact same name as the series that I am basing this on. However, as I know more about America's military and culture than I do Japan's, I traded the JSDF for the US Marine Corp. After some research, I chose the Marines over say the Special Forces due to them having to serve as first contact which I don't believe fit the roles of the Special Forces.

This is open to all players. There are a wide range of roles that can be fulfilled such as the squad that the story would focus on and the fantasy beings they might encounter whether they be hostile or otherwise. I would also like players who would like to take up roles as members of the undercurrent like politicians, members of foreign nations, terrorist groups, people in power on the other side of the Gate, ect.

Story

Story:

It all starts when a massive gate (think about as tall as several story buildings) opens up in the middle of the US (because I'm tired of things happening in New York or LA) and out comes a flood of medieval inspired solders, monsters and beasts straight from fantasy writers like J.R.R Tolken. They set about killing and raiding all they see. Their only resistance was from local armed citizens until the National Guard and US military mobilizes and drives the invaders back though the gate. Although the magic of the enemy force was powerful and new for the soldiers, it was quickly countered by the superior technology of the US defense forces. Though many civilians were lost in the conflict that drove up a new call for the Gate to be sealed up or destroyed at any cost.

However, during the battle many of their soldiers are captured and after a means of translation of their language is discovered, intelligence is quickly gathered. One of the key pieces of intelligence being that a counter-attack would follow the initial force and even if the gate was destroyed, they would just open another. Thus, a fort was built around the Gate, the first of it's kind designed to defend against attacks strictly coming from the inside rather than the out. Several months after the initial attack, the enemy struck again. They didn't get a foot beyond the event horizon. The USMC charged in after them when they began their retreat, their magic failing to destroy their armored weapons as the treads and tires rolled over the barrier and into the new world.

With the enemy forces scattered. The United States claimed the land around the other side of the Gate and named it the Special Zone. And it is in this Zone that a solution will be found to prevent future conflict. Whether it be though peace.. or war.

With this goal in mind, the Special Corps was instated. A coalition of the Army, Marines and Airforce with that goal in mind. The Corps is split into two Divisions. The 1st Special Zone Defense Division (Shield) lead by Major general Michael Orwell and the 1st Special Zone Combat Division (Sword) lead by Major general Gregory Zignif. These two men have the duty to prevent any future loss of civilian life at any cost. Even if it means death.

Plot

Plot:

The main part of the story will take place several months after the defeat of the enemy's counter-attack. A fort with the latest defensive and offensive technologies to serve as a stronghold is built in the Special Zone around the Gate as the US Government tries to figure out to stop future counterattacks. Whether that be by making peace with those on the other side or completely rendering them unable to launch future attacks. To that end, squads from the Sword Divison is going to be sent in with the intention of interacting with the locals and finding out a peaceful way to end things or if need be, to cripple them completely. The Characters will be a member of one of those squads.

The story is focused on the interaction between people from the Modern Earth and those in the Medieval/Fantasy Special Zone. How the normal Humans will try to cope with beasts and monsters and creatures from their dreams and nightmares and how the residents of the Special Zone will cope with these dramatically different people with weapons and tools beyond comprehension. And should something erotic raises from it, then let it play out.

Characters

Characters:

The core Characters are split into two main character groups.

The United States Military with a main focus on one of the units sent out to interact with the people of the Special Zone. Although there is a full army within the Special Zone, for the sake of simplicity we will be focus on a small part of them. The absolute least amount of people I can take would be enough to fill out a single unit (4) to make a fireteam. This is because this is the smallest sensable force that would be sent out in the scenario. As more players join, the group will be expanded as need be.

Then there are the People of the Special Zone, both hostile and friendly. These characters may appear at any time and in any place they wish. Perhaps they are in one of the cities or villages the squad interacts with or they are a POW captured during the battle. Whatever works for the character. There is no required roles to be fulfilled by these characters so let your imagination run wild.

Finally, the Minor Characters.  I want to keep this open to characters which would drop to play a role perhaps not directly connected with the Major Characters. To give a sense of a sub-current moving though the story. Perhaps the President or another politician in America, or someone from the outside such as the UN, China, Britain or Russia. Or get something a bit deeper with perhaps a terrorist or activist organization. Anything to add a fun twist to things. And on the other side, playing as a Monster perhaps, or a King or other royalty.

If you wish to play one of the two main roles, just post. Otherwise send me a PM and we can work something out.

The Fireteam:

If we only get 4 people for the side of the US I will be using the Marine framework for the Fireteam. It is structured as such:

Rifleman: acts as a scout for the fireteam; "Ready".
Team Leader (M203): also works as the designated grenadier; "Team".
Designated Automatic Rifleman (M249 SAW/M27 IAR): also serves as second in command for the fireteam; "Fire".
Assistant Automatic Rifleman: carries extra ammunition; "Assist".

The Team Leader has to be Ranked at least a Lance Corporal but can be as high as a Sergeant.

Additionally, I will be giving the Fireteam a vehicle and as apposed to the common HUMVEE, I will be giving you a new toy. The MRAP.

MRAP

The Army has been wanting to upgrade to this for a while sense the war in Iraq and we as roleplayers shouldn't turn away a chance to test drive one. And it should give the military players an edge against surprise attacks from beasties and magic. Unless the roles are filled, the Driver and Co-Driver will be NPCs.

It also comes equipped with a remote controlled medium machine gun for use against swarming attackers and medium sized beasts, a short range drone which players can use for surveillance, firing slots for firing from within and plenty of extra ammo and first aid. It also has a long range radio for contact with Headquarters.

This will change as the group is filled out.

Why such small groups?

The RP reasoning why there would be such small groups is as follows: This is brand new territory with no systems of communication or surveillance like there would be on Earth.  Putting a large force without knowledge of the land or enemy locations. Even drones will only be able to see so much and even if they have no anti-air or anti-surveillance  technology, the ones that were captured after the initial attack and counterattack were able to tell that magic could have the capability to destroy the drones should they go out too far.

Not only that, but a large force could be seen as an act of aggression. The US government has no desire to extend the war beyond what it needs to be, especially with the vast differences in firepower going in the US favor.

Finally, it is taking time to train soldiers in learning the basics of the language on the other side. So much so that each squad being sent out has only one soldier with enough training who get a basic conversation going, while the rest can only give simple commands and identification.

Character Sheets

The Character Sheets:

USMC soldier:

Name:
Rank:
Squad role:
Skills (Limit two extraordinary skills to go along with standard Marine Skills):
Bio:


Special Zone Resident:

Name:
Race:
Supernatural Abilities (if any):
Skills:
Bio:

Minor Character:

Please IM GM.

Resources required: Knowledge of the role you wish to play. Understanding of how the Marines work for example is the basic for Soldier Characters.

List of USMC acronyms and expressions Lots of abbreviations and slang terms to add a little bit of local colour to your character's speech.

U.S. Marine's Rifleman's Creed. The Marines take the slogan 'Every Marine a rifleman' seriously. Every Marine learns this in basic training and they are expected to memorise it.

List of USMC MOS (Military Occupational Specialties) . Basically a list of jobs for enlisted-rank US Marines, along with a list of requirements and duties foreach job.

Links provided by Chaeronea. Many thanks to him.

Game Pace: I will be able to post 24/7 and will do so if the players request the story advance, interact with NPCs or if they approach a story trigger.

I ask that players be able to post at least once a week. If you are unable to post for any reason, please drop me a message and I will guide your character as best I can. Should you wish to leave the game for any reason, you may choose to be killed off or be written out as transferred to a different squad. Should you not post or inform me of your absence after a month I will write you out. You will have to make a new character to rejoin. NO EXCEPTIONS!

Sexual Activity: I expect it to occur. I have no restrictions on what you may do. I don't care if you solve it though PMs or though public posts. I do expect that it happens during times it would make sense. No orgies in the back of the MRAP while between locations but you may while at locations where you are expected to rest.

Posting Tags:

Name: (Your character name that you are currently filling. This will allow people to fill two roles if they wish.)
Location: (Put the general location first and then the specific area second. ex: "Fort Gate: Marine Barrics". If you are moving while posting, add it as such: "-> Commons Area"
Time: (Add 5 minutes after each post to allow for the passage of time when out of combat. During combat, make it one minute. When story posts are put with a different time, use it.)
Tagged: (Player Name first, Character Name second.)

Approved Sheets:
USMC:

Rifleman:  Neysha
Team Leader (M203): LordMing
Designated Automatic Rifleman (M249 SAW/M27 IAR): Chaeronea
Assistant Automatic Rifleman: carries extra ammunition; "Assist".

Gate:

Healergirl: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=169867.msg8001808#msg8001808

This RP is Open to all! If you want to join, just post! If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know.

[1SAZ]

Color me interested for joining the fireteam.

[Ray Banner]

Very interesting! I'd like to officially express my interest for depicting said monstrosity off the 'other side', given the scope of the game I'm sure you'll find plenty to make up the fire team. :-)

[Monfang]

I expanded the original post which is making me think I need to add a lot more spoiler tags to keep it from being as big as the phone book.

I expanded the story, gave the fireteam some new toys and explained why small squads are going out into unexplored territory.

[Ray Banner]

Will you be accepting characters for the other side at any juncture, Monfang? :-)

[Monfang]

Will you be accepting characters for the other side at any juncture, Monfang? :-)

Right now actually. Though it depends if you will be playing the side that joins the USMC to help bring an end to the war or the side that tries to keep it going. Just no one has offered to take ether up.

[Ray Banner]

Right now actually. Though it depends if you will be playing the side that joins the USMC to help bring an end to the war or the side that tries to keep it going. Just no one has offered to take ether up.

Maybe a double agent of sorts? Someone who joins the USMC for reasons unknown (not unknown to you as a GM however) and you have a nice, little plot twist on your hands. Of course this will not be counter to the plot you may have, instead it can provide that change you're looking for. I'll be more than happy to hatch out details with you over the PMs if you're okay with this, and once we have this running.

[Monfang]

Maybe a double agent of sorts? Someone who joins the USMC for reasons unknown (not unknown to you as a GM however) and you have a nice, little plot twist on your hands. Of course this will not be counter to the plot you may have, instead it can provide that change you're looking for. I'll be more than happy to hatch out details with you over the PMs if you're okay with this, and once we have this running.

That is actually waht I'm looking for, though I wish you PM'd me with it first so that others couldn't read this and know before hand.... Heh. But yes, I always want players to try and bring in their own twists as long as I get a heads up first.

[Ray Banner]

Whoops. :-)

I'll post the character profile soon. You mentioned Tolkien-esque characters for the other side. Are there any races you wish to leave out/do not prefer for this roleplay?

[Monfang]

Whoops. :-)

I'll post the character profile soon. You mentioned Tolkien-esque characters for the other side. Are there any races you wish to leave out/do not prefer for this roleplay?

I don't' want people to play massive, powerful and/or what we would expect to be non-sentient creatures such as Ogres, Dragons and the like as preeminent characters because it would just be too much. This also goes the same for people who want to play those with a lot of political, martial or magical power such as Kings, Arch-Mages, and such. I would prefer of they stuck with more of the common folk as their permanent character and play those on the side.

If that makes sense.

[Monfang]

Hey I'm going to create a character sheet for a fire-team member if that's alright with you?

Also would you like a picture in the character sheet ? I find it normally helps lol

Sure, though don't expect many pictures for NPCs. I am not very good at finding them myself.

[Hercinia]

Sure, though don't expect many pictures for NPCs. I am not very good at finding them myself.

No worries, I know how difficult it can be to find those kind of pics :)

[Chaeronea]

I'm expressing interest in being a member of the Marine recon team, Monfang. Also, would there be a problem with any of the Marine characters having fought at the opening of the first Gate?

By the way, can the MRAP mount a top-mounted machine gun? Considering some of the beasties the JSDF team runs into in the manga I think we'll need more firepower than standrd M-16s can provide.

And a link to the manga in question for those unfamiliar with it -

http://www.mangachapter.net/13898/gate-thus-the-jsdf-fought-there.html

Hercinia, one minor note for your character - high school graduation or GED in the minimum requirement to get into the Marine Corps since the 1990s, and the minimum enlistment age is 17. You might want to adjust the age at which your character enlisted accordingly.

[Hercinia]

Thanks, I don't know much about the US military... obviously

[Monfang]

I'm expressing interest in being a member of the Marine recon team, Monfang. Also, would there be a problem with any of the Marine characters having fought at the opening of the first Gate?

By the way, can the MRAP mount a top-mounted machine gun? Considering some of the beasties the JSDF team runs into in the manga I think we'll need more firepower than standrd M-16s can provide.

Well our Team Leader and Designated Automatic Rifleman wouldn't be using just the M16. The team leader has the M203 Grenade Launcher and the DAR has his choice of the M249 SAW or the M27 IAR. But yes, the MRAP is going to have a larger machine gun mounted on top to provide fire against swarms of attackers and medium sized monsters while giving an official name to it as soon as I can find one. It is going to be remote controlled by the co-driver while the squad has fire-ports on the side of the vehicle to allow them to attack without risk of harm.

The team will have no major explosives with them and their standing orders are to avoid Large class beasts such as dragons if at all possible.

And I have no problem with you being there during the early battles.

[Monfang]

Did a major overhall of the Original Post. It should be a lot cleaner and easier to read as well as it giving a lot more info on how this will work.

[rikka]

Then allow me to post as a minor character or two, or three even  :-)

I've always wanted to play out roles from behind the scenes, if that is ok.

[Monfang]

Then allow me to post as a minor character or two, or three even  :-)

I've always wanted to play out roles from behind the scenes, if that is ok.

That will be just fine, send me a PM with a relevant subject line and we can discuss things.

[LordMing]

I hope this is acceptable.  I jumped at the team lead if thats okay.

Name: Grayson Stone   
Rank: Sergeant
Squad role: Team Leader
Skills: FORECON
Bio:
Gray Stone is a third generation marine.  He grew up learning wht it was to live by the motto of Semper Fidelis and he never forgot the stories of his father and grandfather.  When he turned sixteen he joined his high school JROTC, and he signed up for the Corps. when he graduated.  He served in the Infantry for three years before he saw action in the Middle East, where he served with distinction as a support gunner.  He immediately pushed for Force Recon upon his return, and he was accepted on his second try and threw himself into training.  He made Lance Corporal before he shipped off to the Middle East again, and served as a fireteam lead during his tour.  Most of his unit got shot up during an Op that went sour against a concentrated force of Terrorist Insurgents.  He saved two of his fireteam and was given the Navy Cross for his actions in holding back the hostiles.  When the opportunity to head up a team at the Gate opened up, he was quick to sign up for the chance.

[Ray Banner]

Which character sheet will you suggest Monfang, since my prospective monster is both an orc and part of your USMC team?

[Monfang]

Looks good Ming. Glad we got a squad leader.

Ray, how would the Orc be a member of the USMC?

[Ray Banner]

Maybe a double agent of sorts? Someone who joins the USMC for reasons unknown (not unknown to you as a GM however) and you have a nice, little plot twist on your hands. Of course this will not be counter to the plot you may have, instead it can provide that change you're looking for. I'll be more than happy to hatch out details with you over the PMs if you're okay with this, and once we have this running.

That is actually waht I'm looking for, though I wish you PM'd me with it first so that others couldn't read this and know before hand.... Heh. But yes, I always want players to try and bring in their own twists as long as I get a heads up first.

:-)

[Chaeronea]

Still working on my character bio. Just noticed that Ming got the squad leader role, so I'm going to have to do some revision...

[Monfang]

Still working on my character bio. Just noticed that Ming got the squad leader role, so I'm going to have to do some revision...

It's a first come first serve thing. Sorry. But if we get more people taking up the USMC Squad role, I can rank up old members and fill in roles with the new ones.

[Chaeronea]

It's a first come first serve thing. Sorry. But if we get more people taking up the USMC Squad role, I can rank up old members and fill in roles with the new ones.

It's okay. I'm adjusting my character;s bio a bit to put him in as one of the grunts on the team.