How do you roleplay enlisted?

I've always wanted to run a Colonial Marines game.

Thinking about it this week I hit a snag - how do you build a campaign around a party that doesn't decide where they go or what they do?

How do you create agency for your players when HQ picks the missions and ferries the outfit around?

How do you make them feel like part of a much larger force? How do you manage stuff like artillery and reinforcements? How do you stop the players calling those in for every issue?

How do encourage players to respect HQ and their strict mission orders? (avoiding murderhoboism). Conversely, how do you also avoid brainless following of orders?

How do you form an interesting and diverse party when a fire team is basically three dudes with a rifle and one guy with an LMG?

How does a party work when there's a strict internal chain of command? (ie: one player is the sarge)

I know all of these questions can be handwaved with "they're a special task force" but I'm deliberately trying to avoid that. Eventually the PCs will probably become one or go rogue but I'd like a good few missions working as absolute grunts with dubious orders

I'm not military and I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of the Aliens universe so if there's anything sticky I missed or could use I'd like to hear that too

For example: is there anything about supply/logistics I know about/emulate?

And what are some classic scenarios that put some bunch of troops in trouble or with tough decisions to make?

Any chatter's appreciated

Part of why this is difficult is the setting. You'd have the exact same problem in a fantasy campaign if your party were all foot soldiers. I think the solution to this is to make them low ranking members of a mercenary auxiliary working for the army. That way they still have to work up the ranks and have broad, general orders, but as long as they get the job done it's still good. And they get a bit more free time to rp between battles.

>How do you create agency for your players
They should know this is what soldiers do, no real way to give them agency and make them work like actual soldiers so just talk it over with your guys
>larger force?
Good description and worldbuilding
>artillery?
They can call it in, in all the same situations normal soldiers would be able to
>reinforcements?
You can decide if its possible for them to get reinforcements, if you don't want them to have help just go "the radio said fuck off nobody is gonna help you"
>arty spam
Again, the radio can say fuck off, but also xenomorphs are almost always too close for arty
>orders
Again, you just have to have mature players who will actually obey the orders of HQ because they're RPing as soldiers, and you avoid brainless lackey PC's by making sure the missions they go on are broad enough that they'll always have some freedom to not be brainless
>interesting party?
Ignore the fact that you're all mechanically similar, a lot of your questions can be answered by "you know you're gonna play a game as soldiers, the most conformist and on-rails people on the planet"
>chain of command?
Hope your sarge isn't a fuckwit, maybe you pick whos the sarge based on previous experience if your players are cool with that (the powers that be would pick their real sarge too)

Also, most of the time in aliens media the military gets cut off pretty quickly by the xenomorphs, so if you're sticking true to the general flavor of the universe you're only going to have about 18 guys in the beginning, 3-10 are going to die on first contact with the aliens and whos left is the main cast

Just make it
>Here's a job. Here are the things you aren't allowed to do. Here's a guy to watch you for us. You fuck it up and you're getting court martialed.
And then shit goes south, communication is lost, HQ is far away, the mission is a hell of a lot more complicated than it first appeared, and the players have to get creative to solve the problem.

I guess this would basically be the All-Guardsmen Party really

Most if not all of your answers are in the movie already user.

>agency for your players
HQ gives the mission but it doesn't micro how it's done, an army is lead by sergeants on the field. Plus the operational LT may very well be knocked out or dead.

>larger force
Have them interact with other grunts and arms either in person or through radio chatter.

>artillery and reinforcements
If you want to keep it simple, they're a limited number call in, then the assets available to support the squad are over

>stopping spam
Discounting hard cap, battlefield conditions dictate asset availability. Yes, we told you you could have air support, but another squad already called it and it's busy now. Bonus points if said squad needed some help that the PCs didn't give

>respect HQ
Have good players that are willing to do it, talk to them before hand.

>brainless following
Make it clear that battlefield conditions make those orders obsolete/not the best course of action. Happens all the time and NCOs have the last word.

>interesting party
LMG specialist as said, then you have flamethrower guy, scanner guy or hacker, all in the movie already

>chain of command
Modern militaries often enough stress the importance of everyone being able to provide input. Sarge has the last word but a plan can be arranged together, even more so if there are specialists involved.

>supply/logistics
Depends on the kind of game you want to have, you can keep count of every bullet, just count specialist stuff or assume that there's enough to go on with until the mission is finished.

Give your soldiers a bit more variety to choose from, a medic, a designated marksman, sapper, heavy weapons, sniper, infiltrator, tech guy

Make them a smallish task force and make it sorta like xcom. You can pick and choose missions and each mission has pros and cons, if you do this mission your organization gets more resources but some civilians will die somewhere else.

First you use pic related. You do know PBTAs enough, right?

Then, in order.

1) "guys, this is a military campaign. You follow your damn orders. Everybody on the same page? If not, no problem, gonna play something else"

2) You get their ass blasted by whatever is out there. Like real soliders do.

3) Interregimental (or whatever) drama. Also, officials are a big pain in the ass, especially considering the innter workings of the bigger unit.
For artillery, see pdf (tl;dr the official might call on it, but it has constraints and can fail).

4) See 1. Give a modicum of freedom, encourage low-level unit decisions, if they make sense to their bosses (debrief the shit out of them).

5) Need some class/build differences. Don't give a fuck if it's "unrealistic", everybody will pull the trigger but everybody needs some real time to shine. That being said even in actual squads there is supposed to be some level of different specializations, but it's just more hours on werapon A or weapon B, pretty boring.

6) This is actually a decent point, one a player made on me after trying the game. Generally I don't think it is much of a problem, but if doing aliens I think you just need to have decent enough players to play that nice. Consider that we're talking about relatively small rank differences and guys that are pretty close to each other.
That being said there are other battle rpgs that don't have this.

7) The (interesting) solution in pic related is having more than one unit on the field (aside from PCs and the guys directly under them), but the rest of the regiment is not there.
Granted, if you go on with the game you would tweak it, but seems a good idea to me: you have a degree of freedom, and the other squads are doing shit that might or might no go that well...

>Again, the radio can say fuck off, but also xenomorphs are almost always too close for arty
This. Anything closer than 600 meters is danger close. At the ranges you generally fight xenomorphs you would pretty much be calling artillery down directly on top of you.

NJP's. NJP's for everyone.

Referencing the experience of someone with an enlisted background:

>build a campaign . . . doesn't decide where they go or what they do?
GM is Higher Command. There is an assumption that lawful orders will be followed. You build a campaign around that inherent railroading.

>create agency . . . HQ picks the missions and ferries the outfit around?
Most command actions are a case of identifying resources (i.e., the party, any additional gear or support they may require) and specifying a desired end result. Between the start and finish (receipt of mission to mission completion) the exact details of how these actions are taken are usually pretty fluid and at the discretion of your local command. For a party you are looking at a Fireteam (4-5) or Squad (8-10) and they may or may not have a Platoon element involved, leading to a Platoon Leader and Platoon Sergeant. However, any leadership worth their snuff will take input of action from their subbordinate elements. 5 minds are better than 1. There is always the old standby of losing radio contact and existing leadership getting brained first thing. This fits with an Aliens theme, too.

>feel like part of a much larger force? . . . artillery and reinforcements? . . . stop the players calling those in for every issue?
Easiest way, in my view, is that they are providing a supporting action, such as taking a strategic location in support of a larger force making an action. They're protecting a flank or an avenue of retreat/egress. Artillery and reinforcements are both distributed among the primary force as well. You can call in a request but it may be denied. Also, back to radio contact being broken. Alternately, your party is reinforcements. Artillery could be Danger Close and higher refuses, all assets are already occupied with more important actions, or the Op is on the down low and no arty support is authorized. Just make it clear that is it either not viable or not available as a fix all. Needing to secure assets that would be destroyed is an easy excuse.

>respect HQ and their strict mission orders?
Indoctrination is pretty useful for military actions. Soldiers are trained to respond to lawful instructions and understand that is what they are into. Your players need to understand that. Unless HQ is being actual dicks anything a player might due to be disrespectful would either be meta-gaming or prone to get their tongue shoved back in their mouth by their leadership. Especially if that disrespect is prone to get other folks killed. The players in many ways should be interacting as a single entity made up of different people. They should already be on the same page.

>avoid brainless following of orders?
Brainless following of orders only occurs when someone doesn't use common sense and the orders are unlawful. Make sure that your missions briefing includes detailing Rules of Engagement. Those are a major aspect of military actions. What you are allowed to do, to who, and when and why you are allowed to do it. Frequently most standing Armies are only allowed to engage when actively threatened. Someone shooting a gun is not actively threatened unless it is specifically at you, for example.

>interesting and diverse party when a fire team is basically three dudes with a rifle and one guy with an LMG?
When I have done such campaigns I just include rolling for demographic. Consider that most folks join the military for some benefit (schooling, don't have a better job prospect) and so usually you'll have a wide variety of folk joining up anyway. But if you give them 6-8 different ethnic backgrounds to roll for, and you roll once for each parents. I also tend to include mixing age ranges (not every firetime is 18 year olds) and genders (it is the future) for additional variance. You can't force a bunch of players to play other ethnic backgrounds or genders, but hopefully your group is interested in it. Additionally, make sure that they have sufficient backgrounds to play off of. If you are running a 4 man team, most of the time that is gonna be Pointman, Automatic Gunner, Grenadier, and Rifleman. This team will not be 4 folks fresh out of Basic. The Rifleman probably is. Possibly the Grenadier. The Automatic Gunner has probably been in the unit for awhile. And the Pointman may be the Team Leader or some other more experienced member. Drama can be created by having one be a transfer in to replace a prior member who was a casualty (doesn't have to be fatal) or they can have an attache (an intel Spook, some private contractor, w/e) or some other situation that forces someone who is already othered.

>there's a strict internal chain of command?
As stated before, leadership will listen to and seak input of those subordinate. If you have one player functioning as a leader the important thing is they have the final say of actions, and in combat they will give directives other players should be rewarded for following and punished for disregarding (not necessarily by the Sergeant) but regardless they are all part of a single entity, the Fireteam. If the player in that leadership role can't hack it, they will likely be called out for it. Also, the threat of Butter Bar Syndrome is always there. Where a new leader goes out on a combat mission and makes a call that could get other people killed and the rest of the squad makes sure they don't come back from that patrol.

>handwaved with "they're a special task force"
Never let them start that way. Don't give them special gear or anything. Make it a point that when it really comes down to it they aren't special. Give them missions supporting some more important force, and when it comes time that they seem to be ready to go rogue let it be shown that Higher Command considers them expendable and it's now up for them to even attempt survival.

>And what are some classic scenarios that put some bunch of troops in trouble or with tough decisions to make?
Take any major war movie, or book, and you can probably find dozens. I'm particularly partial to the tropes where a rescue team needs to be rescued, or they find themselves isolated and in over their heads. Chop up parts of different things (Take the framing device of an extraction that goes bad and turns into a prolonged conflict in enemy territory [Black Hawk Down] and intermix having that initial attempt at retrieval actually being a trap [Starship Troopers] and provide them an APC or Tank or something that should help them defeat whatever odds are stacked against them but have it be both underequipped and break down before the end [Kelly's Heroes] and now they have to figure out their own fix) and stitch together something that is familiar but has its own identity. And don't be afraid to pull from things they would know. Most military actions look like most other military actions.

Slight hijack. What trope of war movies would you say should be dissed, if anything?

What in general civilians don't get about the life in the military?

How much it sucks. Generally 75% of your time is spent waiting or cleaning something. Anything that you actually need to know or that needs done you will know beyond late, mostly because they've been planned late, and poorly.

Well, the second part is amusingly apt to RPGs...

>Thinking about it this week I hit a snag - how do you build a campaign around a party that doesn't decide where they go or what they do?

There's down time even in the feild - so you need to basically have two "plots", the "mission" plot that players have little control over beyond tactical combat actions, and a secondary plot (or 2) for down time that they drive forward.

Take colonial marines for instance: Missions would be search & rescue, search & destroy, whatever, down time plot is that while on missions they're told to do things, odd things, by a Weyland-Yutani "advisor", and thus they'd have a choice to investigate during downtime to find out what his motives and goals are, and hopefully avoid him getting them killed while on a mission.

Players have to accept that they have little input and are somewhat being railroaded for the main missions as a prerequisite, which isn't for all players, but the B plot should give them enough freedom to fuck around with PC antics.

Night Witches does this explicitly, with night/day play.

All classes you mentioned except hacker, that's just asking for a full blown EDGY PC

That second part is the most Veeky Forums thing I've ever read

mission type orders:

>your overarching objective is _____
>here are your resources to do it
>do whatever you feel is necessary to achieve ____

If it is the future, it isnt unreasonable to think a few troops (PCs) plus drones or air support would be sent to do things, making use of future innovations in intel gathering and distribution.