Hello team,

This thread is for game rules, house rules, character sheets and so on.

Following is a pre-release of The Morrow Project rules, 4th edition. Character generation was essentially unchanged to the finished edition. No file sharing, please!

https://drive.google.com/file/...NzA/view?usp=sharing]

Tony
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:34, Fri 01 Dec 2017.

Hello team,

Regarding the freeze/deployment date, this game assumes a classic timeline warday of 1989. However, you were told that the balloon wouldn't go up until after 1990, likely in the mid-90's.

Personnel would undergo selection, training and team placement, then initial freezing at a certain date. Teams wouldn't be actually be deployed in their field assignments (placed in their boltholes) until much closer to warday. Instead, they were frozen in mass Project-controlled storage facilities. This would reduce security risks and allow for periodic unfreezing to retrain and familiarise personnel on new equipment. While most weapon systems would remain significantly unchanged from the 60's onwards, critical technologies would be introduced in the 80's such as computers, fusion power, nanotechnology and lasers which would take more than just reading a manual to master.

If your initial freeze date was before 1986, assume you were thawed and given a few weeks (or more) crash course in 1986-87 of updated technical retraining, then re-frozen. As you would be held completely incommunicado or even learn more than the basics of the world situation during your crash course, it's largely a non-factor in your background.

Recruitment and training of the first teams started in 1972 with the tempo being increased in the early-mid 80's. A full 50% of Project teams being deployed between 1987-1989, after the last Project-wide update. The last teams were frozen just before the war in 1989. It's possible some teams didn't even make it to their field assignments/boltholes due to WWIII breaking out unexpectedly ahead of schedule.

Families: where possible, close family (spouse/SO, children) were inducted into the Project. Those without qualification or skills were still frozen but not deployed in the field. Instead, they were stored in secret mass facilities. As married personnel were seen as desirable recruits, this was seen as the only ethical route and further helped ensure Project loyalty and an investment in the Project's mission and goals. (While can't be denied this perhaps also provided the Project with hostages of a sort the only other option would be to let loved ones face likely death on their own during and after the war, which was seen as a serious threat to morale.)

Please use the following table to choose or randomly generate a team initial freeze date:

Roll 1D10:

1    1972-1979
2-4  1980-1986
5-9  1987-1988
10   1989 (pre-November)

Tony
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:00, Sat 03 June 2017.

4th Edition Character sheet in .pdf form:

https://drive.google.com/file/...Y2M/view?usp=sharing

4th Edition excel spreadsheet:

https://drive.google.com/open?...I0pi9T1MzYXQ1RXN6OGs

Tony
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:19, Tue 10 May 2016.

Basic/Advanced/Complex skills available for local recruits

The following skills are available for each cultural group based on history and the retention of some advanced knowledges. Other knowledges (especially technical ones) will not be available at all or capped at 5 TPs. All Basic Skills may be learned without restriction, these are just the ones these cultures are known for. Complex Skills may not be learned unless on the following list. There are usually exceptions and rare trained people in each group; the Viets have trained boat mechanics, some Rebels might know Communications, Soviets have preserved some advanced medical skills used by their few doctors.

Viets

Basic Skills

Observe
Navigate
Stealth

Advanced Skills

Firearms (Rifle)
Hunt
Maintenance
Pilot Watercraft
Swim
Tactics

Complex Skills

Culture (American)
Language (English)

Soviets

Basic Skills

Brawl
Scrounge
Stealth

Advanced Skills

Agriculture
Archery
Firearms (Rifle)
Special Weapons
Survival
Tactics
Thrown Weapon (throwing sharpened e-tool/axe)

Complex Skills

Explosives
Martial Arts (Systema)

Bikers

Basic Skills

Brawl
Bargain
Navigate
Scrounge

Advanced Skills

Commerce
Firearms (Shotgun)
Maintenance (Auto)
Melee Weapon
Ride (Motorcycle)
Thrown Weapon

Complex Skills

Chemistry
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:12, Mon 23 May 2016.

---

Name:
Branch:
Team / Role:
Assignment:
Team Freeze Date (if applicable):

---

Age / Gender:
Blood Type:

---

Hair Color:
Ethnicity:
Eye Color:
Handed: L / R
Mass:
Weight kg
Height         cm

---

Wounds/Flaws:
Description/Distinguishing Marks:

---

Core Abilities


Total Points:
Training Points:
Experience:

---

Traits
Volatility:
Extroversion:
Compassion:
Discipline:
Curiosity:

---

Pace:
Endurance Points:
Base Actions:

---

---

---

---

Basic Skills         Task Base  Skill  Specialty      Total
Acrobatics           DEX
Athletics            DEX
Bargain              EXP
Brawl                STR
Climb                STR
Culture (own)!       REA
Language (own)!      EXP
Navigate             AWA
Observe              AWA
Persuade             EXP
Scrounge             FOC
Stealth              DEX


Advanced Skills      Task Base  Skill  Specialty
Agriculture          REA
Animal Handling      FOC
Archery              AWA
Artisan!             FOC
Communications       EXP
Commerce             REA
Computer Technology  AWA
Construction         STR
Create!              EXP
Divination           FOC
Drive                DEX
Firearms             AWA
Emergency Procedures FOC
First Aid            REA
Gunnery              AWA
Hunt                 AWA
Instruct             EXP
Leadership           EXP
Legal Procedures     REA
Maintenance          FOC
Meditation           FOC
Melee Weapon         STR
Operate Equipment    DEX
Parachuting          DEX
Performance!         EXP
Pilot Watercraft     DEX
Research             FOC
Ride                 DEX
Sensor Operations    AWA
Sport                STR
Special Weapon       AWA
Survival             AWA
Swim                 DEX
Tactics              REA
Thrown Weapon        STR


Complex Skills       Task Base  Skill  Specialty      Total
Archeology           REA
Artillery            AWA
Astronomy            REA
Biology              REA
Chemistry            REA
Culture (other)!     REA
Dentistry            REA
Electronics          FOC
Engineering          REA
Explosives           DEX
Forensics            REA
Geography            REA
Geology              REA
History              REA
Journalism           EXP
Language (other)!    EXP
Law                  REA
Literature           REA
Martial Arts!        DEX
Mathematics          REA
Medicine             REA
Nursing              EXP
Philosophy           REA
Physics              REA
Pilot Aircraft       AWA
Programming          REA
Psychology           REA
Surgery              DEX
Theology             REA
Veterinary Medicine  REA

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:00, Sun 31 Oct 2021.

Note: You can preserve the "table" effect by quoting this, then remove the quote tags.

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SPs/BPs:

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This message was last edited by the GM at 21:01, Thu 19 May 2016.

Skill Difficulties


TMP4 (4th. ed. The Morrow Project) uses a "Degree of Success/Degree of Failure" (DOS/DOF) system. The goal is to roll as high as you can under or equal to your skill/modified TN without going over. Every 10% you roll is a DOS. For example, you have Demo at 90% skill and setting a charge in a given circumstance may a Difficult task (-20%) for a modified skill/TN of 70%. If you roll 62% that's a very good roll, yielding 6 DOS. Counter-intuitively, rolling a 01% is still a success but marginal at best, with no degrees of success. If in this case you roll 72%, you failed by 0 Degrees of Failure, 82% by 1 DoF.

Rolling doubles results in a critical success or failure: 2x DoF/DoS. (For demo any failure under, say, 3 DoF would simply be a dud or delayed/early explosion. 4 DoF or over and it might go off in your hands!)

In the rules as written in TMP4, DoF affects firearms. The more DoS you roll the more damage you do ad/or you can shift hit location. (This goes against the ethos of the original versions of TMP whereby bullet damage was non-random.)

There is no damage roll and damage was only variated by hit location. Tissue damage via kinetic energy or the "E-Factor" of a 9x19mm bullet did not randomly vary from one round to the next. I mean, you either aim for a body part or the centre of mass and the bullet's path does not bend depending on your skill, likewise a bullet doesn't impart more (or less) kinetic energy depending on how well you roll.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:00, Fri 25 Mar 2022.

TIME & TRAVEL MOVEMENT

TIME
When playing, real time is condensed or expanded to fit the needs
of the moment. To condense the time during the course of travelling
or any long period of relative inactivity for the PCs, the Game Turn
(GT) is used. It represents 10 minutes of real time.

TRAVEL MOVEMENT
The amount of distance covered is dependent on the moving
object's speed and length of time it travels. The rate of travel
varies depending on the terrain being covered. In the case of
vehicular travel, tracked vehicles must cruise at a slower rate than
wheeled vehicles, to prevent excessive wear on the tracks.

The following tables are used in determining the distance a PC
can travel in a given situation. These tables are broken into the
following categories;

Normal: This is a walk with only normal alertness and care in
travelling.

Double Time: A quick march, almost a jog but not quite.

Searching: Taking time to look carefully through the surrounding
area.

Movement Under Cover: Taking advantage of all possible cover while
moving and trying not to be seen.

There is no maximum rated listed for vehicular travel as these are
determined by the specific vehicle type. The listings run much the
same as for foot travel with the following different movements rates;
Blackout: Driving at night using vision devices and having all
visible light turned off.

Cover and Movement: This is moving from one covered position to
another keeping a close watch on all activity in an area.

The tables list two numbers for most categories. These refer to
movement by Day/ Night.

FOOT MOVEMENT RATES IN METERS PER GAME TURN (10 Minutes)

 
Roads
Cross Country
Swamps or Mountains
Water
Normal
800/534
400/267
200/134
270
Double Time
1600/1068
800/534
400/267
405
Searching Movement
400/267
200/134
100/67
n/a
Under Cover
200/134
100/67
50/34
n/a
Running
2400/1602
1600/1068
n/a
n/a

VEHICULAR MOVEMENT RATES IN METERS PER GAME TURN (10 Minutes)

Wheeled
                                 Cross     Swamps or
            Roads      Trails    Country   Mountains  Water
Normal      4000/4000 3000/3000  1200/800  600/400    500
Blackout         1600      1200       800      400    n/a
Searching   2000/2000 1500/750   1000/1000 500/500    n/a
Cover and
Movement    1000/1000 750/750    500/500   250/250    n/a

Tracked

Normal      2400/2400  1800/1800 1600/800  800/400    500
Blackout        1600       1200      800      400     n/a
Searching   1600/1600  1200/1200 800/800   400/400    n/a
Cover and
Movement    1000/1000  750/750   500/500   250/250     n/a

This message was last edited by the GM at 01:31, Thu 28 Feb 2019.

EXAMPLE: Susan has a DEX of 21, and gets a full 3 Actions if her carried weight is less than STR x 1.75 in kg.


This message was last edited by the GM at 05:34, Mon 03 Oct 2022.

SAMPLE AUTO-FIRE RATES

Short Burst: 2-3 rounds
Medium Burst: 4-10 rounds
Long burst: 11+ rounds

WEAPON                     MAGAZINE        CYCLIC RATE         MAX FIRE RATE/CT

SMG/ASSAULT  RIFLE
Ingram M10                   32 box           1100               32
Uzi                          32 box            600               32
Stoner M23 carbine           30 box        750-800               30
Stoner M22 rifle             30 box        750-900               30
M16A1                        30 box        650-750               30

MACHINE GUNS
Stoner MG Mk23/M207       150 belt        700-1000               60
M60                   100/200 belt             550               33
M240/FN MAG           100/200 belt    650-750, 950-1000      45, 60
M2HB .50 cal.             105 belt         450-600               36

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:26, Sun 19 June 2016.

Encumbrance Rules

Good news! There's a House rule: we are using a form of the 3rd ed. Encumbrance rules to avoid the BS/overly simplified encumbrance rules of 4th edition.

Multiply STR by 3.5kg, then divide by 2 (or else multiply STR by 1.75kg).

STR  Base Carry Weight in Kg. (No penalty)


15   26.25
16   28.00
17   29.75
18   31.50
19   33.25
20   35.00
21   36.75
22   39.50
23   41.25
24   43.00
25   44.75

This is the Maximum Basic Load weight which may be carried without penalty. E.g. The average team member's STR is 20. They may carry 35kg without an encumbrance penalty.

The more encumbered you are, the fewer Actions you may take. Every additional full 3.5kg is -2 to current DEX (not Action). I.e. If your STR and DEX are both 20, you are at 18 DEX at 38.5kg, all the way down to 0 DEX at a maximum carry capacity of 75kg.

If DEX reaches 0 you may take only 1 Action per turn (DEX cannot go negative). E.g. the average team member's carried weight before being encumbered is 35kg. Average Project personnel DEX is 20. Therefore they can carry a maximum of 35 additional kilos before they are reduced to 0 DEX and 1 Action.

Tony
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:50, Mon 03 Oct 2022.