Mission: Operator - Game type feedback wanted

TPO and I over at SEA have been working on a game type theory for quite some time and I finally put it on paper this past weekend. We are looking for some feedback (all feedback is appreciated, good, bad, ugly) from all of the players that would be interested in this. It is still pretty rough around the edges but we want to polish it up and we think it would be an awesome game type to run.

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I think this is a pretty cool idea, kind of like Discovries S-OP's Mission. I saw an episode just the other day and thought how awsome it would be to airsoft as such. To, in a way, reach mission objectives using just your own judgment, knowleg, and interpreting intel.. I think this is a great idea, and if I wasn't such a poor white boy, (still trying to get where I feel comffy comeing off the loot to get kitted out. Sigh), i'd go head first.

I would like to try and come up with a few mission for ya, see what ya thought about them..? Where would be the best place for me to post them for you?

I also think ya might want to save the Rescue Missions, if you have any, for the end of the event. As I'm suer we can all agree, these missions are some of the hardest, and the points should be higher or weighted by how suceesful the mission is.

Exsited
TANK

To be honest the Discovery channel show is what started us thinking about this. You are welcome to post any mission ideas in the SEA thread just so we have them kind of in the same place for everyone to see. If it came down to it we could actually kit out the Operators with preset kits (CIRAS, GBBR M4, 5 Mags, GBB 1911 PTP, radio, NVG, Garmin Foretrex, etc) but most people would be much more at ease running their own rigs. We also are trying to hunt down different venues to have this type of game at so that it is affordable. If at all possible we would host it multiple times just so that we can collect pieces for the kits and be able to have better 'issued' gear for the Operators. This includes helmet and gun cams on the Operator gear so they can keep a memento of the game while they were 'The Man'.

Oh WOW, you guys are talking about going allout! I think that is a great idea, you could use footage for recrutment typ stuff, or maybe U-Tube it to promot the styl of game! You could really pimp this into a major reacuring event in the South East! A true Army of One, LOL.

I think kitting out an op'er would take to much money, and maybe put a player at a disatvantage. I'm just trying to crawl out of debt is all homes. But the fact that your willing to go that far to see this happen is a mark of a man with a plane yo. Maybe you could come off the cash for a few of the Flips, not sure how good they are. Set Admins with them to pick up some on the run, planing, and objective footage? From what I understand they are pretty cheap, and could help flesh out the footage? Just thinking is all.. Cores they would be crap for night time op's.. Humm

At any rate, I'm not hip to the world wide political stuff, but I'm kicking around the idea of a mission involving the contested islands in the South Pacifice maybe.. -my spelling sucks!- But how cool would it be to island hop like back in the day!? Have it start at a lake like setting, as instrackt /exstrackt point.. Maybe recon for Marine Exp Force, pegging com's and the like.. Only I get to play Chesty damn it! LOL
I'll work it out and shot at least two mission ideas on SEA .

This has to be the second best Airsoft idea I've heard so far. First being the RPG I have, but I'm bies.

TANK

We actually tested some IR sensitive CMOS cameras at the OP FEAR last weekend. They worked good as long as the IR illumination was on, thus the reason the OPFOR would not get any NV capable equipment since it would be a beacon for finding the Operator. The cameras were easily able to run several hours on a charge and were picking up a lot of detail that we missed at the game initially. The only downside with them is that the sound recording was horrible so we will try a different type of camera and hopefully get better results.

We would prefer the Operator at least have a basic kit but once we get the ball rolling it would be nice for someone that wanted to run a real Eagle CIRAS with real BALCS armor and real Level IV plates to get to do so. Essentially letting someone seriously 'play soldier' so to speak.

We have several venues that we are looking at, a couple of them with lakes and rivers that would be awesome for water insertions (and would require all issued gear be waterproof). Any venues that could be suggested would be greatly appreciated. Right now we are looking for some really varied terrain to work with (Urban, Industrial, Woodland, Desert, Swamp, etc).

I also have the idea of just running a game with a local team playing OPFOR on their home turf and bringing in people to be the Operators. For example if your team wanted to come visit PC you could be the Operators while DUCK played the OPFOR for the night at the 77 field or vice versa where DUCK plays the Operators and Foundation plays OPFOR at Wilcox. That would keep it down to 1 mission being run at a time instead of multiples and ease the admin and OC jobs of managing NPC players and the plot of each mission.

I think that the invite games would be a great way to beta, and help mix things up for the opeartor, and the OPFOR. You know, you could find a few spots across the panhandel and such, maybe set up your own site to promote the games.. Take the show on the road a bit, with in reason I should say first?

"Think you got what it takes? Can you stand the persure, can you preform, can you be a true Operator?"

Use your idea about locals to play OPFOR, or maybe get a OPFOR team together that's willing to travel a bit? Do the Demo Dick Red Cell typ thing, that could be fun?

Got my first mission done, look for it sometime soon. Yep yep!

TANK

You put some hard work in to this great ideas. I would love to be a part of this the game type is amazing.

looks like you found a way to keep everyone happy, at allot of milsim events the runners are confused why the opfor of russians or taliban or germans is always outnumbered. the simple answer is everyone wants to be a good guy, if i dropped 300 on my RAV then i'm sure as heck not going to swap it at a national for a chicom.
so what i'm saying is you've done a good job making sure everyone gets to play both roles.
If i had a hand in this game (funds and work pending) i would love to play as an NPC opfor, I've spent all my nationals running an AK, chicom, and shalwar kameez. also I appologise if this was mentioned but have you ever considered depending on the location adding hazards like IED's so that ontop as added danger it requires a specialist to disarm?
any further questions i'd be happy to help.

Longbow wrote:have you ever considered depending on the location adding hazards like IED's so that ontop as added danger it requires a specialist to disarm?

We started building the website dedicated to the Operator idea at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] and always love getting ideas. We have toyed with the idea of defusing bombs/IED's/traps and the only thing we see an issue with is the training that would be needed would have to be 'dumbed down' and the prop would have to be simple enough that we could add a few easy instructions to the Operators notebook/laptop to cover the situation. Mostly it would be that the Op would get a book of munitions and get a sample design of a bomb that they can use to defuse the prop. Simply put we would make it into something of a puzzle that they have to figure out using what they are given depending on their ability to correctly identify the make/model of the munition. I see that scenario being a bit more complex than the normal runner is going to be able to keep their attention span on which is why we are wanting to keep this game type as an 'experienced player' only type of game.

We are planning our first event and for now we will have Team DUCK acting as a static OPFOR instead of finding all 12 people to host the event. Mostly a shakedown version of the game to see if we can find any major faults in it before we start to offer this to more teams out there. Plus we need to get some feedback from some experienced players and tweak the game to meet what limitations we will run into with a real world enacting of the game. Check out the site and see what other information we could benefit from posting. The site is not yet released or promoted yet and we really like getting as much feedback as possible. We could always use more players to be NPC's or OPFOR to free up some of our guys on DUCK to be the OC's or Overlord. More than likely the NPC's in the start will be essentially free attendance and a bit of trigger time but later on we would like to move toward a paid 'actor' that will play the parts they are given to a 'T'. We want this to be a memorable event for players and really stick in their mind as the best game they have ever played.

Right now I have a retired US Army Major as an advisor to the game. He worked as base security and intel for 25 years and acted as the OPFOR for a ton of wargames (especially Rangers) in his time and is a very valuable asset for our mission planning phase. I wish I had the time to go into all of the details he has given us as far as planning goes but for now it is all in a small notebook that I have been using to quiz him and get some ideas. Needless to say he knows more about running this type of event than probably all of us combined. He may even offer his services as the 'Overlord' if his schedule allows for it.

The first game may be a bit cost prohibitive since we are trying to defray the cost of a set of nice Gen2 NV and a decent kit for the Operator to have. We may end up having loaned pieces that we will be able to run the test game with provided we don't break them (i.e. each operator will be financially responsible for whatever gear they 'check out' of the armory). So if you want to use the PVS-7's you may want to be sure you have the responsibility to not drop them in the water or break them (that or have a spare $1200 to replace them). Otherwise we are trying to get a decent set of Gen1 that can be used and not nearly as expensive.

It is a slow process of getting everything together but look for a test game to be scheduled for around Nov-Dec and the real series to start in Jan-Feb. So far I have 4 venues that are able to be rented and are not going to cost too much for the players to defray the cost of. Any suggestions are appreciated though we need to be sure that the location has insurance that will cover it since the event series will have sponsors that require it be insured.