[2300AD] Kaefers: The Final Solution

[Reynard]

Love to say it folks, you're overcomplicating the situation. Any element created for a role-playing game is ment to provide for the entertainment of the players (and GM). A sun going nova should not be a predicted and inevitable means to kill off players, rather it's an exciting backdrop to an adventure the players must overcome. The Kafers should be that too.

Players shouldn't have to fight an entire war single-handed because they can never win that impossible scenario. Neither Luke Skywalker and his friends nor the Company of the Ring fought vast hordes of Stormtrooper or orcs directly. They had their own missions on much smaller scales important enough that inevitably make the difference in the overall story. Player characters in 2300 should have the same chance. Kafers shouldn't be so powerful they can't be bested. A real GM takes what presented and finds a way to make an interesting story. Kafers should be frightening when encountered. They should be an obstacle and hinderance to a goal or the goal itself. I assume the GDW events will be the basis for the future Mongoose material and the barbarian hordes WILL swep across the french arm. If you read books or watch movies about our own past wars there are lots of great tales about small groups doing there share of dirt to the enemy both as civilians and military.

I keep reading this theme on this thread how, once they're beaten to intelligence, they become super cunning military geniuses. Sorry but the references I read interpret them as competent to the level of humans and possibly other 2300 races out there. Their physical abilities just mean they're a bit tougher. Remember, unlike humans and every other alien race, they are a dual race with a slower, 'incompetent' side. Tell me players and GMs can't deal with that?!

 

[Da Boss]

Maybe you could tie it in with the excellent District 9 film?

 

[Lemnoc]

Any element created for a role-playing game is ment to provide for the entertainment of the players (and GM). A sun going nova should not be a predicted and inevitable means to kill off players, rather it's an exciting backdrop to an adventure the players must overcome. The Kafers should be that too.

Etc.

These all excellent points. Except the Kaefers as written do not really lend themselves to roleplaying. Not enough nuance. The original GDW sourcebook on them is subtitled "Humanity's Implacable Foe," and the number of items GDW published on them, the attention they shower on them, clearly indicates their potential to overrun not only the French Arm but Core as well. As described, the Kaefers are the only (known) alien race that can seriously put backpressure on humanity's survival.

I think Kaefers represent the schism and rupture of the original 2300AD as Traveller and/or wargame.

Players shouldn't have to fight an entire war single-handed because they can never win that impossible scenario. Neither Luke Skywalker and his friends nor the Company of the Ring fought vast hordes of Stormtrooper or orcs directly....

Again, good points. But the effect of running the Kaefers as the existential threat as they were written suggests many of the intriguing 2300 locales are really no longer available for standard types of Traveller adventures. Aurore, Beta Canum—imagine if the bulk of LoTR were played in Mordor and Rivendell was a sacked ruin.

I keep reading this theme on this thread how, once they're beaten to intelligence, they become super cunning military geniuses. Sorry but the references I read interpret them as competent to the level of humans and possibly other 2300 races out there. Their physical abilities just mean they're a bit tougher. Remember, unlike humans and every other alien race, they are a dual race with a slower, 'incompetent' side. Tell me players and GMs can't deal with that?!

Except the sourcebook combat example of them describes just one of them killing an entire armed company. And IIRC every published scenario that attempted to bargain or negotiate with them ends in failure and firefight. Running them as published, you're going to be rolling up a lot of new PCs.

Obviously, it is possible to run campaigns with Kaefers in the background and as ocassional threat. But ran with conviction, I can really see the genie getting out of the bottle and the campaign becoming something that is not quite Traveller. Even as the original 2300AD became something not quite Traveller. I think GMs are well advised to introduce them with caution.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

You have pretty much summed up why the Kaefers are not very interesting in the game. Their introduction, in numbers, tends to railroad everything into a single style of campaign (OK, granted that some people like that particular style).

I hope Mongoose keep them "out there" as a mysterious threat and never introduce an 'Invasion' style supplement. The 'Aurore Sourcebook' was probably about as much as could be introduced without "story swamping".

 

[rust]

But the effect of running the Kaefers as the existential threat as they were written suggests many of the intriguing 2300 locales are really no longer available for standard types of Traveller adventures.

This is one of the reasons why I decided to locate my setting in
the Chinese Arm. I did read the chapter about the Kaefer War in
2320AD, and if Colin repeats the events described there in the
Mongoose version of 2300AD, the French Arm will not be a nice
place to be after 2301AD. It is certainly a matter of taste, but I
do not want a wave of mutual attempts at genocide to dominate
the immediate background of my setting.

 

[Reynard]

"Except the sourcebook combat example of them describes just one of them killing an entire armed company. And IIRC every published scenario that attempted to bargain or negotiate with them ends in failure and firefight. Running them as published, you're going to be rolling up a lot of new PCs."

I read an example in the sourcebook in which one report said two kafers died while, by clever trickery that sounds like it came from some incident in Afganstan, nine human soldiers died and fifteen wounded. Hardly a company. Once the soldiers got their wits they killed the kafers. I also saw the example of a lucky kafer taking out a General of a mercenary contigent which was misunderstood and blown way out of proportion by other soldies. Hardly the super killing machine monsters.

The kafers attack Arcturus savagely and catch the humans off guard by their very alien psychology concerning warfare but are drivien away. Humans don't know what to expect when the bliztkrieg happens and fight an incredibly daunting and gloomy war but I read there is a climatic battle at Queen Ann's star. Sounds like World War Two rather than an anime wetdream.

So, with the idea kafers aren't purpose built to make you throw away your copy of 2300AD, time to create adventures that clever players can prove they are clever barbarians.

MOST importantly, I need to see kafer stats to determine how, when and where I can use them.

 

[GJD]

My interpretation of the Kaefer motivation is that they percieve us as the existential threat. We are the Smart Barbarians of their nightmares, the ones that overwhelm their safe places. Because they know no better. The thread that was started in mission Arcturus was that there could be understanding between humans and Kaefer - Sartre began to realise this, and with increasing human contact and understanding of their psychology we may begin to understand them more too. Of course we, as players and GM's have the advantage that we know why the Kaefers are acting the way they do, but to a grunt or civilian or diplomat in the 2300AD universe, the Kaefers actions do indeed seem like the gates of Isenguard have just opened up.

G.

 

[Epicenter]

I read an example in the sourcebook in which one report said two kafers died while, by clever trickery that sounds like it came from some incident in Afganstan, nine human soldiers died and fifteen wounded. Hardly a company. Once the soldiers got their wits they killed the kafers. I also saw the example of a lucky kafer taking out a General of a mercenary contigent which was misunderstood and blown way out of proportion by other soldies. Hardly the super killing machine monsters.

There's a number of examples throughout 2300's old rules. Note these are actual rules, as opposed to flavor text.

"Kafers should be considered Green NPCs in whatever career field is appropriate (usually Ground Military); when they become intelligent, however, they should be considered Veteran NPCs, and Kafer officers should be considered Elite ..."

(p25 sidebar 2300 2nd edition Referee's Manual. In the rules, on the scale from Green-Experienced-Veteran-Elite, most human troops are going to be Experienced. Elite would be special forces.)

There's a more detailed explanation in the Kafer Sourcebook on running Kafers:

"... This cunning will most often take the form of innovative individual tactics - unusual camouflage or places to hide, breathing through a hollow red or its extended inner mouth, and so forth. They will be adept at identifying and picking off human officers, at finding and exploiting weaknesses in a human position, and at infiltration."

(p7 sidebar Kafer Sourcebook)

"...able to identify human officers with uncanny precision and ease, even when the officers wear no rank and carry line troopers' weapons, and will spare no effort to kill those officers in order to sow confusion within human ranks ... they seem to have an almost superhuman grasp of small unit and individual tactics, which allows them to engage in flanking maneuvers, penetrate tightly knit human lines using camouflage or deception, and set up dead crossfires, often with multiple back-up layers ..."

(p18 "Kafer Intelligence" Kafer Sourcebook)

"Regular military units attempting conventional styles of warfare against Kafers will rarely be
successful in the long run. Any prolonged battle with a Kafer force will inevitably result in a
boost in the intelligence of the Kafers involved, and with it a dramatic increase in their tactical
abilities. The longer a battle goes on, the more certain the Kafer victory will be, for they are
utterly fearless, ruthless, and—at the height of battle—superbly coordinated fighting machines."

(p63 "War to the Knife" Invasion Sourcebook)

"... Kafers will seem to melt into the terrain. Where before there was an undisciplined, mindless rabble there will now be a smooth-functioning, efficient fighting force. They will take full advantage of terrain, lay down effective covering fire, and adopt the best possible small-unit tactics for their current situation and terrain. Small groups will take advantage of the firefight to slip around behind the human unit's flanks and strike from the rear. Small commando groups can penetrate to the very heart of a human position with silent cunning before attacking in precisely the manner guaranteed to do the most possible damage. During this time, Kafer coordination and timing is superb, and they never surrender and rarely retreat ... When running ground battles with Kafers, the referee should stress in his descriptions of the action how cunning the Kafers become under combat conditions. They will exhibit unbelievable skill in infiltrating human lines and in determining the best place and manner to conduct an attack. Cunning tricks, including feigning death to lure humans closer or cause them to overlook danger, will be common. They may hide in unusually dangerous positions, such as in a burning vehicle or building, under water, or on an unstable perch just to get a crack at unsuspecting opponents, and they are quite willing to use humans to screen their approach as needed. They also quickly learn to recognize human officers and eliminate them early in battle."

(p64 "Running Ground Battles" in the Invasion Sourcebook)

As it's your game you obviously don't have to follow these rules, but from the rules in the game "as intended" smart Kafers are supposed to be superior warriors to humans. The use of superlative language ("superhuman", "unbelievable", etc.) in "rule text" shows that. How much superior is more up to debate as humans do win against Kafers, even in ground combat, as shown in the history of 2300.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

Nuke 'em from space... it's the only way to be sure.