Stargate Refuge

[Eldos]

Stargate Refuge

 

Two things prompted me to start running this Stargate Hero campaign. One is that I have been watching a fair amount of Stargate Atlantis recently and was somewhat inspired. The second is that one of our games recently ended so my gaming group had a night free.

 

Now I’m not a terribly experienced Hero System GM. I try but I was raised with other gaming systems (I’m sure you know the ones) so Hero doesn’t come naturally to me as I’d like – especially considering that my players are all past masters of the game. Still, one has to start somewhere.

 

My other caveat is that I didn’t have a great deal of time to prep for this campaign; less than a week in fact, but we’ve got through character creation and the first part of the first mission okay and it should only get better from here.

 

I’ve set the first game during season 4 (October, 2000), shortly after Samantha Carter was possessed by energy beings that had hidden within a MALP (episode – Entity).

 

The characters – SG 11

 

Lt. Frederick Taima – Frederick is the leader of the team. A Navajo Indian and enthusiastic outdoorsman he unfortunately is terrible with anything involving technology and has a low tolerance for any of the ‘eggheads’ that do. He was accepted into the SGC solely because of his leadership qualities, combat abilities and his ability to survive with minimal means.

 

M’Ishka of Cimmeria - M’Ishka, a large man comes from a Cimmerian village some distance from the Stargate. While young, he was raised on tales of the brave warriors of old – Vikings. More than anything else, M’Ishka wanted to be a Viking, but as the gods, in particular Thor, protected the people, Viking was not a profession that was needed. When Thor’s Hammer was destroyed though, M’Ishka spoke with those that came through the Rainbow Bridge (Stargate) and was eventually sent as an envoy to these people. Speaking with their War Leader, a man known as Hammond, M’Ishka was overjoyed when he completed enough training to be accepted into SG 11, what he considers to be true Viking work.

 

Lt. John Smith – Smith joined the CIA out of college and was inbedded with the Green Berets during the first Desert Storm campaign. In Iraq, he came into possession of some information and artefacts of unusual origin. Due to this he was contacted by the NID and eventually received briefing materials on the Stargate Program by Colonel Maybourne. Given the rank of Lieutenant from his military experience, Smith was inserted, against Hammond’s wishes into the SGC. Forced to include him, Hammond chose to place him in the reformation of SG 11.

 

Specialist Yakov Debrovski – Debrovski is a Russian from Nayanova University in city of Samara on the Volga River. For many years he as been an ardent supporter for Dr Daniel Jackson’s work, something which has led several scientific rivals to ridicule him and gain advantage. From a long line of Russian scientists, Yakov mourns the old days of communism where scientists were given great resources and access, a pittance compared to modern times. The SGC was forced to reveal some of its activities to Russia when replicators took over a Russian submarine. Yakov was summoned to the Politburo and it was insisted that he be sent to Cheyenne Mountain to study under Dr Jackson. Realising that he could serve a greater role, he was included in the reformation of SG 11.

 

 

Briefing – General Hammond summons the team to the briefing room and explains that they are to reform SG-11 which has been somewhat ill fated. They are to be a reconnaissance team and their first mission is on PX9757. This is the world where the Goa’uld were building a new ship before enhanced members of SG-1 destroyed it.

 

Hammond explains that SG-3, on a recent mission returned via PX9757 in order to not reveal Earth’s address. They noticed signs that someone might be nearby but didn’t investigate further.

 

Unfortunately, SGC cannot send a MALP due to so many of them recently being destroyed and potentially compromised.

 

Mission - The group kits up (P 90s are standard gear) and heads through the gate. Taima actually runs through and immediately past the gate comes immediately under fire from two Jaffa. Both attacks hit but just graze him in the leg and arm respectively (very low damage roll). The rest immediately start shooting back, some moving to cover while others move forward.

 

M’Ishka gets a critical with a 5 round burst and kills one of the Jaffa outright. The other, taking several wounds from the concentrated fire from the others, attempts to flee but is eventually downed and forced to surrender. During this time though, Taima’s P 90 suffers a catastrophic failure and his pistol jams twice (he really doesn’t do well with anything technical).

 

Taima scouts the local area while the others begin interrogating the Jaffa. While this isn’t completely effective, Debrovski and M’Ishka speak Goa’uld but Smith is the one who knows how to interrogate; they do learn that the Jaffa are in the service of Heru’ur but that he is not present on the planet. They are mining Naquadah and the two were watching the stargate in case anyone came through.

 

After proclaiming the area clear, Taima ordered that they knock the remaining Jaffa unconscious and drag them away. They will then go and look at the mining operation.

 

That was the end of the session.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

Good luck. Sounds like youi may have pretty much dropped them in it, which is as it should be.

[jye42]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

Hey there i play the part of Yakov Dubrovski taught you folks may be interested to see my character... here is a rundown.

 

BTW we are using a hybrid of the yet to be released 6th ed rules and 5th revised for character creation.. we had to make some guesses for points and such but we think its pretty close.

 

Char

STR 10

DEX 10

CON 10

INT 18

EGO 10

PRE 13

PD 3

ED 3

SPD 3

REC 4

END 30

STUN 30

BODY 10

OCV 4

DCV 4

EOCV 3

EDCV 3

Run 12m

Swim 4m

Jump 4m

 

Skills

Linguist (all languages fluent with literacy)

Languages; Russian (native), English, Ancient Egyptian, Goa'uld, Azguard, Norce, Ancient Greek

Universal Translator, requires 6 hours of observation or study

+2 to all INT skills

Paramedics

Cryptography

Deduction

Systems Operation

Charm (8-)

Oratoty (8-)

Weapon Familularity: Small Arms & Grenades

Science Skills; Anthropology, Linguistics, Archeology, Egyptology

Knowledge Skills; Earth History, Goa'uld, Work of Daniel Jackson, Work of Karl Marx

 

Disadvantages:

Secret ID: Communist

Watched by Stargate Command and Russian Military Personal

Subject to Orders

Obeys Orders

[Eldos]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

The second session of this game was held the other night. Things didn’t look good for a little while, two players didn’t show for the session on the Friday and it is only the second session of the game! However, we did get together and decide that Tuesday night is better. Hopefully we should be getting regular sessions going now.

 

The other change was that John Smith’s player didn’t show but we got a replacement in Bruce Scott – yes, I agree it still doesn’t look good, but what can you do?

 

So, with a wave of my mighty GM hand, I ruled that Smith only quasi exists (when his player returns I’ll bring him back) and that Scott was there the whole time.

 

Lt Bruce Scott – Scott comes from a long line of Australian Soldiers. His grandfather was one of the ‘Rats of Tobruk’ in World War II, his father fought in both Korea and Veitnam. Bruce, joined the Australian Army on the day he turned 18 and trained as a heavy weapon specialist – seeing man-portable heavy weapons as the new revolution in war. As he rose in the ranks, he joined a commando unit and was sent on various small field operations, many of which are still classified. It was on the Iran/Iraq border that his unit encountered a US force on a similar mission. This force was led by a Major Kawalski who, not trusting that the Australian’s were who they said they were, took them prisoner. However, the Australian’s greatly assisted the US commandos with Scott’s assistance being exemplary. After the action, Scott and Kawalski became great friends and it was this friendship that caused Kawalski to recommend that Scott be included in the Stargate Program. It took some time to clear Scott, an Australian soldier, for the program – some time after Kawalski’s death in fact, but he has finally been cleared, briefed and was added at the last minute to the SG-11 team.

 

Session 2

The team hid the dead and unconscious Jaffa in some bushes and continued along the path toward where they had heard that the mining was taking place. As they drew closer, Lt Taima decided to scout up front and told the others to remain behind.

 

This order was ignored by Mishka who felt that it insulted his Viking beliefs. Tramping bravely through the almost park-like forest, he immediately came to the attention of two Jaffa who came up over a rise a little to his left. The immediately opened fire, one bolt from a staff weapon hitting him on the chest – his flack jacket took most of it but it still hurt.

 

Both Debrovski and Scott heard the staff weapon and began moving up. Taima had seen what happened and was amazed that Mishka was still standing. He tried to get to the large warrior but, perhaps predictably, the Viking charged the two Jaffa howling a Norse oath as he did.

 

The next plasma bolts missed, as the Jaffa hadn’t expected anyone to run toward them! As the Viking closed wielding his axe, one of the Jaffa caught Lt. Taima’s movement out of the corner of his eye. As his companion caught Mishka in a leg sweep, he moved to investigate.

 

The Jaffa held his staff weapon in an aggressive posture and demanded Mishka’s surrender with the single, all purpose word of “Kree!” But Mishka’s pride would never let him surrender and as he reached for his P-90, the Jaffa brought the butt of his staff weapon down in a vicious strike into his forehead, fracturing his skull and rendering him unconscious.

 

The second Jaffa had moved toward Taima but, uncertain that anyone had even been there and distracted by some more movement further down slope (Debrovski and Scott), he didn’t see Taima until it was too late. Taima’s combat knife flashed as the Jaffa reflexively blocked with his arm taking only a small wound.

 

The other Jaffa, having dealt with Miska moved to assist his companion. Even worse, a third Jaffa, attracted by the noise of combat came to investigate.

 

For several seconds, Taima managed to hold off both opponents although he nearly fell to a leg sweep similar to the one that hit Mishka. The two Jaffa flanked Taima, forcing him to divide his attention, then one felled him with a mighty blow across his back.

 

The Jaffa was about to finish him off when sudden gunfire struck him from behind! A burst from Debrovski’s P-90 caught him in the back, penetrating his armour and dropping him right next to Taima.

 

The second Jaffa fighting Taima saw this and after a hurried return shot, took cover behind a tree.

 

Scott engaged the latest Jaffa to enter the battlefield. While Scott didn’t know much about the Jaffa, he had met a great deal of the briefing material with a fair amount of scepticism, he did know that they were the enemy though. That was enough for him. His weapon for this type of encounter was a Daewoo USAS-12 Auto Shotgun and he fired shot after shot keeping this new opponent behind cover and out of the fight.

 

Lt. Scott then saw an opening, the Jaffa behind the tree fired a blast at Debrovski while maintaining a minimum profile for the Russian to shoot back at. However, the Australian had a clear shot. He didn’t hesitate and fired two shots in rapid succession with dozens of high velocity pellets striking the Jaffa in the leg, throwing him back and taking his leg out from under him so that he nearly landed on his head. Scott’s own opponent though used the opportunity to rush closer.

 

His direct opponent down, Debrovski rushed forward to check on the downed Lt. Taima – only to see the Lieutenant jump to his feet. Unable to assist in the fire fight without his P-90, Taima had lay there waiting for something to develop. He now rushed off to help Scott who’s Jaffa was using some of the underbrush to move closer to the Australian officer.

 

Debrovski was about to join the other two when he saw the Jaffa that had been hit by the shotgun blasts, suddenly rise. Bringing up his P-90 he fired a burst but the Jaffa kept coming, he fired again as the Jaffa charged, soon the Jaffa was right at him and raising his staff weapon. Debrovski kept firing but the Jaffa seemed to somehow be ignoring the high velocity rounds ripping into him, he was about to strike which finally the accumulation of fire from the weapon overwhelmed even the Goa’uld inspired fortitude and he fell back to the ground.

 

Meanwhile, Taima had jumped the Jaffa sneaking forward toward Scott, at first stabbing the enemy and when that didn’t work, he pulled out his Colt pistol and fired. The Jaffa would have fought back but was being harassed by Lt. Scott who pumped shot after shot into him from his shotgun as he advanced on the enemy.

 

The last Jaffa fell just as Taima’s pistol jammed. “Damn!” the Navajo cried, “why do I always get this junk?” He threw the pistol away and picked up one of the staff weapons while ordering Scott to check Mishka.

 

“He’s still breathin’ sir.” The Australian said and began picking up the large Viking.

 

“Okay,” Taima said assisting him with the large man,” let’s head back to the gate, there’s little more we can do here.”

 

His decision proved to be a good one as before they had gone 200 meters more Jaffa appeared and began quickly checking their comrades before starting a pursuit.

 

SG-11 arrived at the gate with the Jaffa closing behind them. “Dial home,” Taima said to Debrovski as he struggled with Scott carrying the heavy Cimmerian. But before he could touch the DHD it suddenly glowed to life, every panel lighting up and the symbols began to spin. It was strange, the spin was faster and the chevrons seemed to flash in and out several times on the wheel without stopping.

 

While the team didn’t have a gate specialist, it was clear that something was wrong. “I didn’t touch it!” Taima complained as a wormhole formed.

 

“Is it safe?” Debrovski asked, “I don’t know if we can go through, it may be incoming or outgoing, I just don’t know?”

 

“Well, we can . . .” Whatever Taima was going to say was cut off as the blast of a staff weapon impacted on the ground about 3 meters from them. “Okay, we go.” He said shouldering the still unconscious Mishka and rushing through.

 

The other two SG members rapidly followed.

 

Again their limited knowledge of the gate couldn’t tell them what to expect but something was clearly wrong. The disorienting experience was far worse and seemed to go on much longer than it should. While he couldn’t swear to it afterwards, through the screeching sound the reverberated around them, Scott thought that he heard a voice speaking. He couldn’t make out much other than the words “save them.”

 

Eventually, after what seemed an uncomfortably long time, the SG team emerged. Was in fact, thrown out of the gate to tumble to the ground. Through their dizziness, they looked around to see where they were.

 

It was clearly a high technology structure of some kind, well lit and seemingly clean. The floor was covered with a thick layer of some fine, white, powder. The gate they had come through was at once familiar and very different. It was smaller than the gates they had seen without symbols or chevrons but instead with six, lit panels. The event horizon was the same shimmering blue that dissipated in the same way they had seen with other gates.

 

A nearby ramp led to a gantry where a dark skinned apparently Human man had the panel of a small, square device; somewhat reminiscent of a DHD; open and had been working on it before the team tumbled through. He now stared at them somewhat slack jawed.

 

At the far end of the room was another person, this one wearing a similar uniform to the first, though this one was clearly armoured. Along his right arm, he wore an unusual tube device that could be a weapon and his face was hidden behind an opaque visor of a large helmet. This obvious guard recovered first and, pointing the tube like device at the group began yelling in a language that no one from Earth had ever heard.

[Yansuf]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

 

The characters – SG 11

 

Lt. Frederick Taima – Frederick is the leader of the team. A Navajo Indian and enthusiastic outdoorsman he unfortunately is terrible with anything involving technology and has a low tolerance for any of the ‘eggheads’ that do. He was accepted into the SGC solely because of his leadership qualities, combat abilities and his ability to survive with minimal means.

 

M’Ishka of Cimmeria - M’Ishka, a large man comes from a Cimmerian village some distance from the Stargate. While young, he was raised on tales of the brave warriors of old – Vikings. More than anything else, M’Ishka wanted to be a Viking, but as the gods, in particular Thor, protected the people, Viking was not a profession that was needed. When Thor’s Hammer was destroyed though, M’Ishka spoke with those that came through the Rainbow Bridge (Stargate) and was eventually sent as an envoy to these people. Speaking with their War Leader, a man known as Hammond, M’Ishka was overjoyed when he completed enough training to be accepted into SG 11, what he considers to be true Viking work.

 

Lt. John Smith – Smith joined the CIA out of college and was inbedded with the Green Berets during the first Desert Storm campaign. In Iraq, he came into possession of some information and artefacts of unusual origin. Due to this he was contacted by the NID and eventually received briefing materials on the Stargate Program by Colonel Maybourne. Given the rank of Lieutenant from his military experience, Smith was inserted, against Hammond’s wishes into the SGC. Forced to include him, Hammond chose to place him in the reformation of SG 11.

 

Specialist Yakov Debrovski – Debrovski is a Russian from Nayanova University in city of Samara on the Volga River. For many years he as been an ardent supporter for Dr Daniel Jackson’s work, something which has led several scientific rivals to ridicule him and gain advantage. From a long line of Russian scientists, Yakov mourns the old days of communism where scientists were given great resources and access, a pittance compared to modern times. The SGC was forced to reveal some of its activities to Russia when replicators took over a Russian submarine. Yakov was summoned to the Politburo and it was insisted that he be sent to Cheyenne Mountain to study under Dr Jackson. Realising that he could serve a greater role, he was included in the reformation of SG 11.

 

A few comments:

 

To the best of my knowledge, no SG team has ever had a commander of lower rank than Major (O-4). Assuming Taima is a 1LT(O-2) he is seriously under grade. I suggest he should be at least an O-3, which means Captain unless he is navy (perhaps a SEAL?).

 

Specialist is a US Army rank, equal to corporal (E-4). Assuming Debrovski is a civilian (like Dr. Jackson) the tittle Specialist would not be used; perhaps "Scientist" would work. Of course if he has a PhD he would be called Doctor, like Jackson.

 

Just my $0.02 worth.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

Lt Bruce Scott – Scott comes from a long line of Australian Soldiers. His grandfather was one of the ‘Rats of Tobruk’ in World War II' date=' his father fought in both Korea and Veitnam. Bruce, joined the Australian Army on the day he turned 18 and trained as a heavy weapon specialist – seeing man-portable heavy weapons as the new revolution in war. As he rose in the ranks, he joined a commando unit and was sent on various small field operations, many of which are still classified. It was on the Iran/Iraq border that his unit encountered a US force on a similar mission. This force was led by a Major Kawalski who, not trusting that the Australian’s were who they said they were, took them prisoner. However, the Australian’s greatly assisted the US commandos with Scott’s assistance being exemplary. After the action, Scott and Kawalski became great friends and it was this friendship that caused Kawalski to recommend that Scott be included in the Stargate Program. It took some time to clear Scott, an Australian soldier, for the program – some time after Kawalski’s death in fact, but he has finally been cleared, briefed and was added at the last minute to the SG-11 team.[/quote']

 

Very minor quibbles, possibly verging on nit-picking. Not being mean, honestly.

 

These days, many pf Australia's "Commandos" are basically reservists (yeah, these guys do Special Forces stuff part-time, because they WANT to!!!).

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_commandos

 

The Character MIGHT be part of this, but if he was in or near the Gulf War it is far more likely that it was as part of Australia's SAS (which did deploy some people there).

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Special_Air_Service_Regiment

 

Also note that to join the SAS requires that the person be a serving member of the Australian military. They take people who have accumulated some service experience, NOT fresh out of Basic Training

 

Apart from that, Kawalski "...not trusting who the Australians said they were..." seems rather far-fetched to me. Our guys exercise with the US military all the time and, if they were in a US-run operation, would be fully up on all procedures and protocols. Plus, there is simply no way in the Universe that one could mistake these guys for Iranians or Iraqis - OK, some might look a bit like the locals but their command of language, their equipment and skill sets would all be totally different.

 

Always nice to see Aussies doing their part in the SG universe.

[Eldos]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

A few comments:

 

To the best of my knowledge, no SG team has ever had a commander of lower rank than Major (O-4). Assuming Taima is a 1LT(O-2) he is seriously under grade. I suggest he should be at least an O-3, which means Captain unless he is navy (perhaps a SEAL?).

 

Specialist is a US Army rank, equal to corporal (E-4). Assuming Debrovski is a civilian (like Dr. Jackson) the tittle Specialist would not be used; perhaps "Scientist" would work. Of course if he has a PhD he would be called Doctor, like Jackson.

 

Just my $0.02 worth.

 

The reason for this is that no one chose the perk of higher rank. I gave all of the military personelle the range between Sergeant (in case they didn't want to be an officer) to 1st Lieutenant. I would have liked someone to buy extra rank since there are some 'always follows orders' disadvantages in there which could have made things interesting; but you can only go with what the players give you to work with.

 

Very minor quibbles, possibly verging on nit-picking. Not being mean, honestly.

 

These days, many pf Australia's "Commandos" are basically reservists (yeah, these guys do Special Forces stuff part-time, because they WANT to!!!).

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_commandos

 

The Character MIGHT be part of this, but if he was in or near the Gulf War it is far more likely that it was as part of Australia's SAS (which did deploy some people there).

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Special_Air_Service_Regiment

 

Also note that to join the SAS requires that the person be a serving member of the Australian military. They take people who have accumulated some service experience, NOT fresh out of Basic Training

 

Apart from that, Kawalski "...not trusting who the Australians said they were..." seems rather far-fetched to me. Our guys exercise with the US military all the time and, if they were in a US-run operation, would be fully up on all procedures and protocols. Plus, there is simply no way in the Universe that one could mistake these guys for Iranians or Iraqis - OK, some might look a bit like the locals but their command of language, their equipment and skill sets would all be totally different.

 

Always nice to see Aussies doing their part in the SG universe.

 

Similar answer to the above - the player didn't give me too much to go on other than he wanted to be an Australian soldier and bought up a bunch of military skills.

 

As for not knowing who they were - I was more trying to suggest that Kawalski didn't know what their goal was. I have heard that Australia and the US are very independent of each other and I'm guessing that one clandestine operation could easily get in the way of another with two different administations running them.

 

Thanks for the input though and I'll probably edit to amend some of this.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

I have heard that Australia and the US are very independent of each other and I'm guessing that one clandestine operation could easily get in the way of another with two different administations running them.

 

NOT under the circumstances outlined, I guarantee it. Far too much potential for things to go horribly wrong otherwise ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Savo_Island ).

 

"Cooperation" / "Interoperability" of Australian forces with those of the US has been a matter of great importance since ww2, and "our" units in the Gulf and Iraq were (and are) there as part of the overall US command.

 

In terms of culture, rank structure and organizational details, there are major differances since the Australian Defence Forces follow the British model. But a lot of ADF equipment are modified US designs (and note that some US hardware is based on Australian designs).

[Yansuf]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

The reason for this is that no one chose the perk of higher rank. I gave all of the military personelle the range between Sergeant (in case they didn't want to be an officer) to 1st Lieutenant. I would have liked someone to buy extra rank since there are some 'always follows orders' disadvantages in there which could have made things interesting; but you can only go with what the players give you to work with.

 

Simple solution: add a NPC who is a Maj or LtCol as commander, and have them incapacitated! Gen. Hammond expects them to be back on duty soon, so lets the senior LT be the interim CO.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

The reason for this is that no one chose the perk of higher rank. I gave all of the military personelle the range between Sergeant (in case they didn't want to be an officer) to 1st Lieutenant. I would have liked someone to buy extra rank since there are some 'always follows orders' disadvantages in there which could have made things interesting; but you can only go with what the players give you to work with.

 

Personally, I see no reason at all why a SG team couldn't be led by a Lieutenant.

 

SG-1 was originally led by a Lt Colonel and, for a time, by a Brigadier General, before another Lt-Col took over, but it is THE team, the SGC's flagship team (described as such more than once on the show). If starting (or, in this case, reconstituting) another team from scratch with relatively junior personnel, then a lower commissioned rank for its leader should be quite OK.

 

The only drawback, from an entirely PC-oriented standpoint, is that such a team would probably have less leeway in what they do and how they do it (not necessarily a bad thing ). Plus there is the greater chance of being outranked / overruled in the field by higher ranking officers (ditto). Face it, SG-1 gets away with an awful lot because of who they are, and your guys are NOT in that league. Not yet, anyhow.

 

Besides, if Players join any military campiagn without taking the oppurtunity to improve their characters' ranks, then they should be permitted to learn the error of their ways. The GM should have a few scenarios where an added complication might be the PCs' comparitive lack of "clout". A higher-ranking officer is not necessarily going to be Frank Burns or Philip Queeg, but they will have their own priorities and ways of looking at a problem.

 

An alternative to the lack of rank might be to award a 'Brevet' rank to the Lieutenant, especially if he is considered to be promising or outstanding by his superiors. Militaries are known to do this if they have a gap in their organization that a specific person "might" be able to fill (even if just temporarily) but lack the proper rank. That person gets to wear the rank insignia, and enjoy the privileges and responsibilities thereof, but it is on the clear understanding that this is temporary and he may be reverted to his "real" rank whenever the powers that be see fit.

 

A classic (and rather extreme) example of Brevet rank is ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Freyberg,_1st_Baron_Freyberg

). He was an especially able and well-regarded officer in the British Army during ww1. In 1917, he was a Captain but (due to his ability and the needs of the time) was Breveted as a Brigadier (making him, at 28, the youngest General officer in the history of the British Army). Incidentally, just before ww2 he was made C-In-C of New Zealand's armed forces, and was one of the British Commonwealth's ablest Divisional commanders in that conflict.

[Yansuf]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

Personally, I see no reason at all why a SG team couldn't be led by a Lieutenant.

 

SG-1 was originally led by a Lt Colonel and, for a time, by a Brigadier General, before another Lt-Col took over, but it is THE team, the SGC's flagship team (described as such more than once on the show). If starting (or, in this case, reconstituting) another team from scratch with relatively junior personnel, then a lower commissioned rank for its leader should be quite OK.

 

The only drawback, from an entirely PC-oriented standpoint, is that such a team would probably have less leeway in what they do and how they do it (not necessarily a bad thing ). Plus there is the greater chance of being outranked / overruled in the field by higher ranking officers (ditto). Face it, SG-1 gets away with an awful lot because of who they are, and your guys are NOT in that league. Not yet, anyhow.

 

Besides, if Players join any military campiagn without taking the oppurtunity to improve their characters' ranks, then they should be permitted to learn the error of their ways. The GM should have a few scenarios where an added complication might be the PCs' comparitive lack of "clout". A higher-ranking officer is not necessarily going to be Frank Burns or Philip Queeg, but they will have their own priorities and ways of looking at a problem.

 

An alternative to the lack of rank might be to award a 'Brevet' rank to the Lieutenant, especially if he is considered to be promising or outstanding by his superiors. Militaries are known to do this if they have a gap in their organization that a specific person "might" be able to fill (even if just temporarily) but lack the proper rank. That person gets to wear the rank insignia, and enjoy the privileges and responsibilities thereof, but it is on the clear understanding that this is temporary and he may be reverted to his "real" rank whenever the powers that be see fit.

 

A classic (and rather extreme) example of Brevet rank is ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Freyberg,_1st_Baron_Freyberg

). He was an especially able and well-regarded officer in the British Army during ww1. In 1917, he was a Captain but (due to his ability and the needs of the time) was Breveted as a Brigadier (making him, at 28, the youngest General officer in the history of the British Army). Incidentally, just before ww2 he was made C-In-C of New Zealand's armed forces, and was one of the British Commonwealth's ablest Divisional commanders in that conflict.

 

As I recall, Col O'Neil was the first commander of SG-1; but it is true its later COs have been LtCols.

 

My comment that no SG team had been led by less than a Maj was based on the ranks of the leaders of the other SG teams shown in the series. However, now that I think about it, I seem to recall one team from season 1 that had a Cpt in command. Still, no teams with any lower ranked CO.

 

Using a Brevet rank for the PC in command is a good suggestion. But I would make him (or her) pay for it with XP as soon as practical.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

Using a Brevet rank for the PC in command is a good suggestion. But I would make him (or her) pay for it with XP as soon as practical.

 

Oh, unquestionably. Make him pay for it - but not necessarily just with XP.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

My comment that no SG team had been led by less than a Maj was based on the ranks of the leaders of the other SG teams shown in the series.

 

As far as I am aware (and I've been wrong before), there never has been an official listing of all SG team leaders and ranks thereof.

 

That those few actually mentioned in the show are Majors or above does not necessarily prove that they all are. It only infers that this rank MIGHT be the norm. Maybe.

[Yansuf]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

As far as I am aware (and I've been wrong before), there never has been an official listing of all SG team leaders and ranks thereof.

 

That those few actually mentioned in the show are Majors or above does not necessarily prove that they all are. It only infers that this rank MIGHT be the norm. Maybe.

 

I believe that your first above is correct.

However, a fair number have been mentioned over the years, I would guess about 8 or 10. Only one had a Cpt in command, all the rest had field grade leaders. So what are the odds?

[IKerensky]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

I need to check a bit more about SG but he seems that when Cameron (or was it Shepperd ? ) was given command of a SG team they promote him ?

 

After all that is army and the scientist, if not a civilian, will probably by at least Capitain (even Lt.Col or Major ), so the team leader must out-rank him/her.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Stargate Refuge

 

I need to check a bit more about SG but he seems that when Cameron (or was it Shepperd ? ) was given command of a SG team they promote him ?

 

After all that is army and the scientist, if not a civilian, will probably by at least Capitain (even Lt.Col or Major ), so the team leader must out-rank him/her.

 

Not necessarily. Specially-qualified civilians might be given some kind of honorary rank, which means they get the basic courtesy due that rank, and have authority within their fields of expertise. Doctors and chaplains come to mind as the prime example.

 

It does NOT mean that such individuals have the authority to command a unit in the field. Far from it - they are basically staff officers, who can advise command officers, but that is about it.