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