SHELTER:Main Page

Cast

/nil, as Damian Wechsler, FBI social engineer

Jason Panella, as Carter Postma, NSA cryptographer

TheLazyBlank, as Hailee Wyatt, DEA agent

Phantom Stranger, as Simon Jordan, NSA/MI6 analyst

Psyke, as John Vaught, FBI agent

Retired

Deacon Blues, as Bill Kaczmarek, CIA handler

Illegible Smudge, as Charlotte Devereux, CIA field op

The Story So Far

The mission team operating under the codename SHELTER met at the NSA headquarters building in Fort Meade, Maryland. They were introduced to one of their three administrators, codenamed Y, a highly ranked NSA official. Y told them of the theft of a secret encryption system known as WAVER, taken from a NSA front company in Baltimore. He identified the thief as a professional corporate spy named Rebecca Van Lewton, and the team was given the task of locating Van Lewton and recovering WAVER. Upon their arrival in Baltimore, however, they found that Van Lewton had been shot and killed during a Project Pitfall raid on her apartment.

Pitfall claimed to have targeted Van Lewton as an agent of the terrorist group Banshee Net, but the team found no proof to back this up. Investigating Van Lewton's associates, they learned that she had been hired to steal WAVER through a criminal contact named Sonny Charlton. Negotiating with Charlton, they discovered that he had in turn been hired by Avery Mitchell, husband of Senator Gwen Lockheart and a highly ranked agent of Project Pitfall. Tailing Mitchell and doing surveillance on his home, the team was able to learn that he was selling classified intelligence secrets to a group known as the Peace Cartel. The team gathered evidence of Mitchell's treason and encountered operatives of the Peace Cartel, including a former associate of Simon's named Johnathan Roberts. Carter came into contact with an encryption expert on the internet, learning what he could about WAVER. He discovered, among other things, that the code related to one he'd personally come across from a suspicious website. Grabbing WAVER before Mitchell could exchange it with the criminal organization's representatives, they foiled the Cartel's plans. Y then used the evidence of Mitchell's secret activities to blackmail him into providing SHELTER with information on Pitfall activities as well as reducing Pitfall interference in future SHELTER operations.

The team's next mission, given by a CIA supervisor codenamed 'X', involved a branch of the Franchise known as The Apothecary, a drug organization that was trading in biochemical agents on the black market. The team was to meet Apothecary operative Nelson Grakos, an amoral and hedonistic drug designer, and try to learn the location of an illegal hot lab used in creating lethal toxins. Arriving in New York City, they adopted the guises of an Albanian smuggler and his entourage, and managed to get an invitation to one of Grakos' infamous parties in his downtown penthouse. As part of the arrangement, however, they were tasked with killing a former associate of Grakos named Tommy Laredo. Laredo was an accountant for his operation who had become a security risk through heroin addiction. Locating Laredo in the vicinity of Coney Island, they captured him. Planning to escort Laredo to an agency safehouse, they were interrupted by the arrival of crooked NYPD Narcotics Detective Larry Bloch. Bloch tried to negotiate for a piece of the action, but he eventually gave up, warning the team to watch their backs.

After some surveillance of the heavily secured penthouse, the team attended the weekend party Grakos was throwing. During the party they saw Grakos meet with representatives of an Indonesian terrorist group known as True Faith. Damian recognized Grakos' live-in girlfriend, Katja, as being connected with a Russian organized crime figure he had investigated while with the FBI. Katja in turn revealed to Bill that she recognized him as a friend of a friend, a KGB operative Bill had encountered during his time in Serbia. Katja stated that she and this mutual acquaintance were actually with the Krypt, and that she was under orders to make sure nothing untoward happened to Grakos or his organization. She also hinted that Bill's agency was not all that it seemed. Meanwhile, Charlotte and Damian accessed Grakos' office and his personal computer. After downloading encrypted files on the hot lab and the deal The Apothecary was making with the Indonesian terrorists, the team quietly left the party.

Finding that the hot lab was hidden within an apparently abandoned hospital in the Bronx, the team identified the security and power set up for the facility. After Simon had a close call with a guard, Damian sabotaged the power to the hot lab and the team surrounded its exits, threatening to set it on fire if the Apothecary guards inside did not surrender. After the team lit one door, the Apothecary operatives attempted to flee, and the SHELTER team was able to subdue three of them and kill a fourth. A fifth one was wounded but escaped from the scene. The team quickly sabotaged the equipment in the laboratory, destroyed the more dangerous samples inside, and set the entire facility on fire. The team reported their mission success to X and were told to await further orders. Charlotte was redeployed to a different cell.

In the period between missions, Carter received an email from the username "BigNothing", a contact he made during his investigation into WAVER. The email was asking Carter and his teammates for a favor on behalf of BigNothing's unnamed backers. An agent of theirs was injured, hiding from Project Pitfall, and needed to be escorted safely to a container vessel in the Atlantic Ocean. In exchange for this favor, BigNothing offered to provide intel related to the team's personal mysteries. Carter approached the others about this offer, and they agreed to take part in the rescue operation. Finding the safehouse, they met Yvette Brown (probably an alias), a young woman who had been shot in the leg and who was somewhat delirious. After tending to her injury, they got her into a car and talked their way past a police checkpoint, escaping the area before a Pitfall strike team arrived at the safehouse. The team drove to a dock where a boat was prepared to take them out to the container ship. On their way to the boat, however, they were attacked by a hit squad composed of a sniper and several assaulters using a speedboat. Carter was injured in the ensuing shootout, and a security guard and several assaulters were killed. Searching the bodies, the team found an old photograph of Simon Jordan in one assassin's possession.

The team left the dock and found a rental boat at another location, taking it out to meet the container ship before it left the coast. Aboard the Pearl of Tangiers, Carter, Damian, and Simon handed Yvette over to a man who called himself "Marin". Marin didn't offer many explanations, but did give the team an envelope filled with intelligence data. The data included, among other things, surveillance on Jonathan Roberts, pictures of ex-CIA station chief Francis Prosper, and an assessment of SHELTER. The latter was a fully decrypted version of the same file Carter had intercepted and tried to decrypt earlier, and it implied that SHELTER was in fact a cover operation for the organization known as the Shadow Patriots. The team decided to hand over all of the other intel, keeping the assessment secret from their control for the time being.

The team's next mission was to locate and capture their old foe Jonathan Roberts. They began their search by checking a private airfield in Kansas, one which was suspected of being a front for the Peace Cartel. Roberts was expected to arrive at the airfield on business for the Cartel. The team attacked several vehicles headed to the airfield in the middle of the night, subduing several Cartel mercenaries. Roberts arrived via helicopter, however, and was able to escape aboard a cargo plane before the agents could pin him down. Evidence at the airfield pointed to the cargo plane's destination being Sudan. The team met with translator and guide David Dak, a Nuer tribesman who had emigrated to the United States more than a decade previous. They arrived in Sudan and began following clues to Roberts' location. They also visited a local gun runner to buy weapons and other gear. After negotiating their way past a local militia checkpoint, they ended up in the village where they suspected Roberts was hiding. As they set up surveillance on a warehouse, they were ambushed by a squad of rebels. It was revealed that the rebels were allies of the Cartel, and had some kind of business agreement. The agents were taken to a rebel camp where they were imprisoned and interrogated by Cartel agents. The team was able to get on the good side of the rebel camp commander, however, and convinced him to aid in their escape. After getting out of the camp, the team set up an ambush for the Cartel operatives who pursued them. They killed two of the enemy agents and captured five others, including Jonathan Roberts. The team handed Roberts into SHELTER custody and returned home after their ordeal.

Campaign Qualities

I've decided to apply the following Campaign Qualities to the first Season of this game:

Clandestine (+0 XP) Each time a player character gains any non-Covert feat choice, he may choose a Covert feat instead.

Robert Hanssen: Tell me five things about yourself, four of them true.

Eric O'Neill: I'm sorry?

Robert Hanssen: It's a game we used to play, at the subanalytical unit. Keep ourselves sharp. It's lie detection.

Eric O'Neill: Oh. I don't think I'd be much good at bluffing.

Robert Hanssen: That would've counted as your lie, right there.

- Breach (2007)

Faction (+0 XP) All player characters are subject to the Faction gear rules. Further, Faction characters may only gain Reputation, not Net Worth. Finally, the Freelance campaign quality may not also be in effect.

Joseph Palmi: You're the guys that scare me. You're the people that make big wars.

Edward Wilson: No, we make sure the wars are small ones.

- The Good Shepard (2006)

Gritty (+100 XP) The cost to activate a critical injury inflicted on a player or special character decreases by 1 action die (minimum 0). Further, the range of damage at which a Fortitude save must be made to avoid a critical injury becomes 16-25, and the threshold at which a Fortitude save must be made to avoid dropping to -9 wound points become 26+. Finally, the DCs of all Medicine checks increase by 5, and the error ranges of all such checks increase by 2.

Tom Bishop: Ah, Jesus Christ, you just... You don't just trade these people like they're baseball cards! It's not a fucking game!

Nathan Muir: Oh, yes it is. It's exactly what it is. And it's no kid's game either. This is a whole other game. And it's serious and it's dangerous. And it's not one you want to lose.

- Spy Game (2001)

Paranoid (+0 XP) All special and player characters gain a +4 morale bonus with Blend/Stealth and Sneak/Hide checks made to determine who benefits from a surprise round (see page 323). Further, all characters of any type suffer a –4 morale penalty with skill checks made to shift a target’s disposition or convince a target to take or participate in any action.

Jason Bourne: I can tell you the license plate numbers of all six cars outside. I can tell you that our waitress is left-handed and the guy sitting up at the counter weighs two hundred fifteen pounds and knows how to handle himself. I know the best place to look for a gun is the cab of the gray truck outside, and at this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking. Now why would I know that? How can I know that and not know who I am?

- The Bourne Identity (2002)

Gear System

We're using the Stockpile System from The Big Score supplement.

The Agency

The group known as SHELTER was formed in the Winter of 2006 by elements of the American intelligence community, primarily as a response to the operational and bureaucratic morass caused by Project Pitfall and the ever-expanding War On Terror. Seeking to reclaim territory and assets lost in the shadow of the massive international counter-terrorism force, several administrators of the CIA, FBI, and NSA agreed to pool their remaining resources and form a distinct, unique unit of their own creation. This unit would operate in advance of and separate from the joint task forces of the National Security Council and their Pitfall affiliates. Its primary task would be to conduct counter-terrorist and intelligence operations both within the United States and abroad, protecting American interests and offering its creators an alternative perspective on the current global crisis. A trio of trusted executives from the three originating agencies were tasked with overseeing the formation of SHELTER, operating under the cover of an NSA task force. Seeking prospective agents from government intelligence agencies, law enforcement departments, and the military, the "Big Three" selected personnel based on their proficiency, discretion, and ideals.

In the period since its inception, SHELTER has seen only modest growth, seeking to operate below the radar of parent and sister agencies. This is in keeping with the original vision of the organization; a fallback unit which its creators could rely upon for discreet information and operation cycles. Thus far, very few people in the NSA or the American intelligence community are aware of the group's existence. There have been several close calls, primarily due to SHELTER teams crossing paths with Pitfall personnel while pursuing data or sabotaging terrorist cells. These encounters have always resulted in the SHELTER ops covering their tracks and backing down from direct confrontation. It is feared that some form of collision with Pitfall is inevitable, but the agency has managed to stave it off for the time being.

The primary focus of SHELTER is dealing with the terrorist organization known as the Franchise. A vast, sprawling collection of criminal and extremist cells with limited but resilient networking support, the Franchise is a daunting and deadly antagonist. Every SHELTER operative lost in the field thus far met their end at the hands of this conspiracy in one form or another, and this has only intensified the focus of the surviving ops. The struggle is difficult for numerous reasons, not the least of which is the Franchise's ability to replace lost cells within weeks or even days. SHELTER holds out hope that it will somehow find a way to break this cycle and finally land a crippling blow. Only time will tell.

Goals: 3 (Meddling, Protection, Secrecy)

History: 3 (Allies, Enemies, Rivals)

Image: 5 (Secretive goals, Mysterious methods, Secretive leaders, Secretive members, On record sites)

Sites: 5 (Classroom, COMSEC Center, Hospital, Records Office, Satellite Network)

Tools: 6 (E-IV, G-II, R-IV, S-IV, T-V, V-III, W-IV)

Mission

Code of Silence

There's a code of silence that we don't dare speak

There's a wall between and the river's deep

We keep pretending that there's nothing wrong

But there's a code of silence and it can't go on

- Code of Silence, Bruce Springsteen

Campaign Qualities: None

Caliber: II

Known Objectives:

Do research on Jaromir Navratil

Arrange meeting with Navratil to acquire his information

Follow up on Navratil's information

Reputation Award: 5

Known Exposure Penalties:

Failure to acquire Navratil's information -2

Being identified by other agencies -2

Recommended Gear Picks:

Surveillance Gear

Mission Bundle:

4x Audio Bugs II, Commercial Bug Sweeper II, Commercial Still Camera III, Commercial Tape Recorder III, 2x Mid-Size Sedans I, Lodging 3-Star Hotel III

Gear Restrictions: None

Action Dice

Carter: 4

Damian: 4

Hailee: 3

John: 4

Simon: 1

GC: 6

Mission Gear

Spending Cash Pool: $3200

Fragile Playlist

The following is an iTunes playlist I concocted for listening to while working on the game:

1. Dangerous World, Mychael Danna, Breach

2. Gimme Shelter, The Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed

3. The Drive to Paris, John Powell, The Bourne Identity

4. Everybody's Been Burned, The Byrds, Younger Than Yesterday

5. New Memories, John Powell, The Bourne Supremacy

6. Signal to Noise, Peter Gabriel, Up

7. License: 2 Kills, David Arnold, Casino Royale

8. Life During Wartime, Talking Heads, Fear of Music

9. Assets and Targets, John Powell, The Bourne Ultimatum

10. Happiness is a Warm Gun, The Beatles, The White Album

11. The Lighthouse, Amon Tobin, Chaos Theory: Splinter Cell 3

12. Thinking of Marie, John Powell, The Bourne Ultimatum

13. Code of Silence, Bruce Springsteen, The Essential Bruce Springsteen

14. Man Versus Man, John Powell, The Bourne Ultimatum

15. The Man Who Sold the World, David Bowie, The Man Who Sold The World

16. Paint It Black, The Rolling Stones, Aftermath

17. Faces Without Names, John Powell, The Bourne Ultimatum

18. Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here

Sources of Inspiration

The Bourne Identity (film)

The Bourne Supremacy (film)

The Bourne Ultimatum (film)

The Ipcress File (film)

Queen and Country (comic book)

The Sandbaggers (TV series)

Spy Game (film)