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Operation Koschei (Spy Fiction RPG)

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Wysp The Man in Black Since: Jan, 2001
The Man in Black
#1: Jul 11th 2011 at 3:07:28 PM

Sign Up topic here.

RP topic here.

After playing a spook in a few games focused more on the action-y side of things, I decided to try and start a game focused on espionage more than shooting things and blowing stuff up. I prefer a very Stale Beer flavor of spy fiction, and this game would be for those people who share my preferences.

The scenario is thus: The nation of Belarus is called the "last European dictatorship", and is ruled by Alexander Lukashenko, a man nostalgic for the old days of the Soviet Union. Publicly, he is a pawn of the Russian Federation, joined at the hip to the once-great country. However, in private, he seethes with resentment at the depravity he sees in the free market which has taken over Russia. He gives an order to the Belarusian KGB: find a way to bring down the Russian Federation and return the country to its socialist roots. This plan is codenamed Operation Koschei, for the deathless sorcerer of Slavic myth.

However, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Russian SVR spies in the Belarusian government catch wind of Operation Koschei and alert their case officers at Station Minsk to the danger. The SVR takes note of the threat from the upstart nation and sends more agents to the small country to deal with the problem.

Inevitably, however, any happenings on the international stage must come to the attention of the United States, and Operation Koschei is no exception. Moles placed within the SVR report the movement of agents to Belarus, drawing the CIA's notice. They alert their Station Chief in Minsk to the occurrence, and send (more subtly than the SVR had) agents to support the minimal group already in place, and begin planning to put moles into place to find out what Operation Koschei is.

Thus the stage is set, with the three player factions running around Belarus and Minsk in particular, two trying to find out what Operation Koschei is, and one trying to protect that secret at all costs. There are, of course, several other factions, mostly major political parties of Belarus and support agencies for the SVR Operations Directorate and CIA National Clandestine Service. Feel free to make use of them as you wish.

I mentioned that there would be little shooting and things blowing up. This is true: if you find a need to bring brute force into the equation (in which case something has gone seriously wrong), and you can talk your Station Chief into believing the same, you can call in your faction's strike unit on a specific target. For the CIA, this is the Clandestine Service's Special Activities Division, specifically the Special Operations Group. For the SVR, it is the Zaslon Spetznaz group. For the Belarusian KGB, it is the OMON Special Riot Police, as they can act much more overtly than the other two factions, since they have the home turf advantage.

Good luck, and don't cause an international incident.

edited 20th Aug '11 7:36:16 PM by Wysp

"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
hotelkilo Board Certified Sorcerer from In the Hole Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: I like big bots and I can not lie
Board Certified Sorcerer
#2: Jul 15th 2011 at 1:54:57 AM

Awww, no chance to be a GRU or DIA agent?

Let God do His work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles.
Wysp The Man in Black Since: Jan, 2001
The Man in Black
#3: Jul 15th 2011 at 9:00:58 AM

The American armed forces aren't going into Belarus so they have no reason to put agents in there, and as far as the SVR knows, there's not an invasion happening, so the GRU doesn't need to be involved.

Why?

"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
hotelkilo Board Certified Sorcerer from In the Hole Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: I like big bots and I can not lie
Board Certified Sorcerer
#4: Jul 15th 2011 at 11:21:56 AM

GRU has quite possibly six/seven times the agents SVR does; they are everywhere whether an invasion is expected or not. DIA is far more unlikely but of all the Russian foreign services I'd expect to see military intel at least as much.

Let God do His work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles.
Wysp The Man in Black Since: Jan, 2001
The Man in Black
#5: Jul 15th 2011 at 11:58:47 AM

This is true, however I didn't want to dilute the players between any more than three factions and those three seemed the most likely to be involved, since it's Belarus internal security, Russian external intelligence, and American external intelligence.

"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
DoctorHabberdashMD -Angry face- from In session! Since: Jun, 2011
-Angry face-
#6: Jul 15th 2011 at 12:20:27 PM

Do you have a thread for this in the RP Sign Ups?

Wysp The Man in Black Since: Jan, 2001
The Man in Black
#7: Jul 15th 2011 at 12:26:22 PM

No, not yet. Should I? (This is pretty much my first time running an RPG here, so advice would be welcome.)

"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
DoctorHabberdashMD -Angry face- from In session! Since: Jun, 2011
-Angry face-
#8: Jul 15th 2011 at 12:29:13 PM

Yeah.

If you want to generate interest for your RP, that's pretty much the place you have to put it.

Otherwise, people are just going to assume there was a sign up thread they've been missing.

Wysp The Man in Black Since: Jan, 2001
The Man in Black
#9: Jul 15th 2011 at 12:35:57 PM

Ah, thanks for the correction. I'll go put that up now.

"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
DoctorHabberdashMD -Angry face- from In session! Since: Jun, 2011
-Angry face-
#10: Jul 15th 2011 at 12:38:13 PM

No worries at all!

Wysp The Man in Black Since: Jan, 2001
The Man in Black
#11: Jul 15th 2011 at 12:56:54 PM

Here's the sign up topic. If I'm missing anything, please let me know.

"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
hotelkilo Board Certified Sorcerer from In the Hole Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: I like big bots and I can not lie
Board Certified Sorcerer
#12: Jul 15th 2011 at 3:28:08 PM

Yeah, but there are so many different Russian apparatus all competing against one another/working together that it might just be better to lump them together as simply the Russians working together (to include the GRU, SVR, hell if it involves any Soviet surplus the FSB would probably embroil itself under the export control mandate.

Let God do His work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles.
Wysp The Man in Black Since: Jan, 2001
The Man in Black
#13: Jul 15th 2011 at 3:38:52 PM

True. Hence why there are support agencies for the SVR. I suppose I could add the GRU and FSB to that list.

I don't wanna sound too uptight and controlling, and I suppose that you could probably make someone who usually works for the GRU or whomever, but for this game, since the mission was handed to the SVR, that's who you'll be answering to. Hopefully that and being able to talk to your agency (since they'd be on the list of supporting agencies) makes a good compromise.

"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
hotelkilo Board Certified Sorcerer from In the Hole Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: I like big bots and I can not lie
Board Certified Sorcerer
#14: Jul 15th 2011 at 3:54:04 PM

Yeah, that's what I was sorta angling for; it may be an SVR mission but I guarantee the GRU would involve themselves in an.... advisory role.

Let God do His work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles.
Wysp The Man in Black Since: Jan, 2001
The Man in Black
#15: Jul 15th 2011 at 4:03:15 PM

Aaaaand...done. Thanks for the advice, and now you may expect to see GRU agents running around Minsk as well. Whether they're as competent as the SVR is something of a toss-up. :P

"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
Kino Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Californicating
#16: Aug 2nd 2011 at 12:55:06 PM

@OP: Darn, I was just about to propose playing as the SAD.

Wysp The Man in Black Since: Jan, 2001
The Man in Black
#17: Aug 2nd 2011 at 1:07:29 PM

Guten tag, Kino. Got a character idea yet?

Also, any idea how we can attract more players?

"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
hotelkilo Board Certified Sorcerer from In the Hole Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: I like big bots and I can not lie
Board Certified Sorcerer
#18: Aug 2nd 2011 at 5:11:43 PM

Impressment! Or give me a drummer and a few kegs of rum; then we'll have all the recruits we need.

Let God do His work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles.
SavageHeathen Pro-Freedom Fanatic from Somewhere Since: Feb, 2011
Pro-Freedom Fanatic
#19: Aug 3rd 2011 at 2:34:45 PM

Hmm... SVR vs GRU, huh? Looks like a bad case of Hanging Separately.

It's gonna be fun.

You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
Wysp The Man in Black Since: Jan, 2001
The Man in Black
#20: Aug 3rd 2011 at 2:48:02 PM

You two, feel free to start planning how you wanna go about getting that information. I'll answer any questions I can.

"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
SavageHeathen Pro-Freedom Fanatic from Somewhere Since: Feb, 2011
Pro-Freedom Fanatic
#21: Aug 3rd 2011 at 2:59:55 PM

If it's up to Olga, she'd determine who has the sensitive information, then have'em kidnapped and shipped to a soundproofed cellar somewhere in Siberia.

edited 3rd Aug '11 3:00:36 PM by SavageHeathen

You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
Wysp The Man in Black Since: Jan, 2001
The Man in Black
#22: Aug 3rd 2011 at 3:06:34 PM

It would be possible, if you could figure out how to avoid getting noticed and you could talk your station chief into it.

"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
SavageHeathen Pro-Freedom Fanatic from Somewhere Since: Feb, 2011
Pro-Freedom Fanatic
#23: Aug 3rd 2011 at 3:52:58 PM

Who's our station chief, BTW?

(I'm relieved to see it's not Olga: Odds are, a station chief should rank above O-3.)

You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
Wysp The Man in Black Since: Jan, 2001
The Man in Black
#24: Aug 3rd 2011 at 5:00:59 PM

A man named Andrei Ushakov. I suppose I should put his and the KGB's chief up in the sign up topic OP.

"Your mission is not to nuke the squid god." —Faramir
HawksRequiem Rusher of Carriers Since: Aug, 2011
Rusher of Carriers
#25: Aug 17th 2011 at 2:59:47 PM

Ahk, Would ye look at that.

A man who i havn't RP'd with in ages starts his own.

Now the next step is simply creating a profile...

It is my firm belief the world will end in fire. It's why i have a moat around my house.

Total posts: 89
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