Punk Mantis
Inactive Member
The Elevator Pitch
The players will find themselves taking the roles of the men and women of MARDET BAR-13. Every fully crewed Bastard-class light cruiser carries 40 such Marines, colloquially known as the "Commander's Shotgun" in Navy parlance. They act as security, brig watch, boarding parties, and the general hands on call when the ship's captain has need for rough action and violence.
And BAT-13 is no exception to this.
Piracy, Red conspiracies, and other troubles are rife throughout the Nepleslian Colonial Expanse. The Marines of BAT-13 and the supporting personnel are given the unenviable task of picking up the slack where private companies, mercenary outfits, and privateers have all failed in the last decade: stamping down on piracy and insurrection, and bringing the Colonial Expanse into something resembling order for the citizens of the Democratic Imperium.
All while making sure that it doesn't blow up in the media, or leave too big a mark on the checkbook.
And BAT-13 is no exception to this.
Piracy, Red conspiracies, and other troubles are rife throughout the Nepleslian Colonial Expanse. The Marines of BAT-13 and the supporting personnel are given the unenviable task of picking up the slack where private companies, mercenary outfits, and privateers have all failed in the last decade: stamping down on piracy and insurrection, and bringing the Colonial Expanse into something resembling order for the citizens of the Democratic Imperium.
All while making sure that it doesn't blow up in the media, or leave too big a mark on the checkbook.
What They Do?
The idea behind the adventures of BAT-13 would be some mixture of small-scale operations, or troubles that are revealed to be bigger than they seem when its almost too late and the nearest appropriately-sized help is literally lightyears away and they probably aren't gonna pick up the phone in time. The Marines of BAT-13 can likely expect to face all sorts of challenges and struggles as they try to do their jobs.
Planetary governors who don't like having off-world detachments mucking about in their business? Mercenary companies who are bitter that the government is cutting into their profits? Pirates who lurk around, waiting to jump on unsuspecting merchant shipping out in the asteroid belt of some dustball system? You name it, and BAT-13 is likely going to have to tackle it at some point.
The idea is that these are situations that can't be solved by just sending in some massive war fleet to squash the problem. Sometimes the problem is too small to be noticed by the bigger Democratic Imperium just yet, but it's too big or too important to leave to the locals on their own. Maybe the antagonists are too subversive, and they've been evading all the right sensors until the right Marine steps aboard one of their ships for a random inspection at a trade-way.
The goal is to focus on a small batch of personnel, going what they can to survive in the moment, rather than in the face of a grand-scale conflict.
Planetary governors who don't like having off-world detachments mucking about in their business? Mercenary companies who are bitter that the government is cutting into their profits? Pirates who lurk around, waiting to jump on unsuspecting merchant shipping out in the asteroid belt of some dustball system? You name it, and BAT-13 is likely going to have to tackle it at some point.
The idea is that these are situations that can't be solved by just sending in some massive war fleet to squash the problem. Sometimes the problem is too small to be noticed by the bigger Democratic Imperium just yet, but it's too big or too important to leave to the locals on their own. Maybe the antagonists are too subversive, and they've been evading all the right sensors until the right Marine steps aboard one of their ships for a random inspection at a trade-way.
The goal is to focus on a small batch of personnel, going what they can to survive in the moment, rather than in the face of a grand-scale conflict.
Where They Do It?
The Nepleslian Colonial Expanse is a fairly new region of space as far as colonization efforts are concerned. It doesn't have the same level of infrastructure, support, resources, or sheere military force projection that the rest of the Democratic Imperium is used to. As a result, they largely turned to private interests to secure and make up for short-comings. This took the form of private companies, mercenary outfits, and even privateers who were willing to take Nepleslian money and turn on their peers, in exchange for the government forgetting past deeds.
And that worked well enough, for a time.
But then the Reds launched guerilla campaigns against the formative colonial governments and very nearly took at least one planet for their own. While they ultimately failed, their work brought to light just how desperate the Expanse needed a more immediate hand. A catch-22. A delicate one, at that.
Send in the 3rd Fleet, and their neighbors will see them as bloodthirsty warhawks.
Do nothing, and they're laissez-faire do-nothings who don't care for their people.
And that is where the sailors and marines of the 1st Reconnaissance Fleet come in.
And that worked well enough, for a time.
But then the Reds launched guerilla campaigns against the formative colonial governments and very nearly took at least one planet for their own. While they ultimately failed, their work brought to light just how desperate the Expanse needed a more immediate hand. A catch-22. A delicate one, at that.
Send in the 3rd Fleet, and their neighbors will see them as bloodthirsty warhawks.
Do nothing, and they're laissez-faire do-nothings who don't care for their people.
And that is where the sailors and marines of the 1st Reconnaissance Fleet come in.
Interested?
Let me know! I'd happily run this if it sounds interesting to you, or to help a site veteran get the whole show rolling.