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Supplements/Modules for original Recon

Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:04 pm
by Dominique
Its been well over 2o years, actually closer to 25 years, but I distinctly remember seeing several supplements for the original Recon game, in my local hobby shop. After doing a little digging (Google-Fu), here's the list of items I came up with.


San Succi
"A 16 city block map of the business area of a small city, with 40 floorplans of buildings in a variety of shapes and sizes. The floorplans can be cut out and arranged in different combinations for scenarios using any modern roleplaying system; they are in 1/72 nd scale for use with 20 or 25mm metal miniatures or l/72nd and HO scale military miniatures. The set includes descriptions of businesses, a system for generating NPCs, and ROADKILL - a vehicle combat system.

The Haiphong HALO
Published in a curious newsprint-type format.

"Under OPS 31 (Maritime) and OPS 35 (North Viet Nam) SOG RTs penetrated deep into the heart of North Viet Nam. The Haiphong HALO allows you to recreate some of the most dramatic missions of that war. This module is designed to allow you to run overland or amphibious operations with new insertion and contact systems and tables.
Special terrain generation tables for the Central Highlands and the Coastal Plain allow you to lead your RT overland to the very gates of Hanoi
New insertion and extraction systems allow you to take SEALs or Marine Force Recon swimmers (SCUBA divers) into Haiphong harbor for recon, sabotage, snatches, assassinations, and rescues."
1983 ... RPG 6652

Hearts & Minds: Module 2
"Recon module two. Your Special Forces A Team must organize and train a Montagnard village in the Central Highlands of the Republic of Viet Nam, Includes a 2d100 daily events table within the village, and a 2d100 table of VC/NVA contacts along the Ho Chi Minh Trail."
1983 ... 43 pages ... RPG 6653

Sayaret/Track Commander: Supplement One
"Recon supplement one. Covers running an Israeli reconnaissance/ special operations character against terrorists and conventional troops. Track Commander introduces a roleplaying system for being the crew of an Israeli tank or armored personnel carrier."
1983 ... 50 pages ... RPG 6654

The original recon, San Succi, and Sayaret are all available for around $20 each from Amazon. Another good book, and one that I picked up all those years ago, is called Here There be Tigers. It's for use with Danger International/Hero, but the ideas can easily be adapted to Recon. Especially some of the skills like Tandem Jumping, HALO SCUBA, and Instructor.

Sounds right

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:19 pm
by tgunner91
I was just bragging on another thread that I purchased Heards and Minds and Sayaret today for $4 at a local games store that was selling used game books.

Hearts and Minds has a listing of all of Recon's supplements and you just named them all. They also mention that there was a line of Platoon 20 miniatures for the game. I personally would use SHQ or Liberation myself, however I do have a collection of Platoon 20 First Indochina War minis that I will use at some point.

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:16 am
by Dominique
Apparently there were at least two additional supplements planned, but they were never released. Here's what was printed on SAYERET - "Israeli reconnaissance/special operations units, and a unique role-playing system for an Israeli tank crew. The first in a set of supplements that will cover the major hot areas since WWII: SWEEP will cover conventional search-and-destroy operations in Vietnam; RECCE will cover Rhodesian and South African reconnaissance special operation units; and others. SAYARET covers only armored combat during the Arab-Israeli Wars 1967-1983."

While I'm thinking about it, some other old school goodies you may wantto pick up include "Delta Force: America Strikes Back" from Task Force games, and it's supplements (listed below).

Delta Force RPG [BOX SET]
Subtitled "America Strikes Back!" Delta Force clearly plays off the preoccupation of the 80's: Terrorism and the Middle East. [Some things never change, eh?] The 3 books in the box, Rules of Play, Warbook, and Scenarios tell you exactly what you're getting. The rules are career and skill-based, and strike me as influenced by Classic Traveller and Twilight: 2000. Also contained in the boxed set is well-designed referee's screen.

1985 ... Task Force Games (TFG) 4501

Terror at Sea

Terror at Sea is an Achille Lauro redux: A shipboard insertion and elimination of terrorists controlling a cruise ship.

"Terror at Sea can be played strictly as a tactical operation, beginning with the assault of the Neptuno, or as a combined strategic and tactical operation with all the elements of the crisis. A rescue attempt at sea leaves no room for error and must be perfectly timed. Any mistake or miscalculation could spell disaster for both the hostages and your rescue team.
Terror at Sea includes deck plans for the S.S. Neptuno, HALO assault rules, descriptions of additional equipment and more. Terror at Sea requires a referee and one or more players."

1985 ... 48 pages ... TFG 4502

Desert Sun
"Deep in the Sahara Desert, Moammar Gadhafi — 'Mad-dog of the Middle East' — has established a top secret base, and there his terrorist minions are putting the finishing touches on 'Operation Akhil Jihad' ('the Ultimate Holy War'). Israeli intelligence reports that the base is building atomic bombs small enough to be infiltrated into Western cities. The project is nearly complete, and when it is, Gadhafi will be able to export terror and blackmail to the West on a scale never before seen.
Your mission is desperate: penetrate the defenses of Libya, cross hundreds of miles of the most hostile desert environment on Earth, and arrange an 'accident' which will end Libya's dreams of nuclear terror once and for all. If you fail, the results will be catastrophic.
This is one mission in which your team must succeed. This time, the security of the entire Free World rests on you...
...and on Delta Force!

Desert Sun includes all the information and maps for a clandestine raid on a secret Libyan military base in the Sahara Desert. Also included are supplementary rules on Large-Scale Assaults, a new skill (Nuclear Weapons Skill), a Warbook supplement (special weapons, aircraft and more), new dossiers (including Gadhafi) and an alternative scenario: 'Operation Desert Sand.'"

1987 ... 56 pages ... TFG 4503

Delta Force Companion
"You are the final option!

When every attempt to bring the crisis situation to an end in a civilized manner has failed, your Delta Force team will be called in to settle the problem, one way or another. This is what you have continually trained and improved your skills for. But, negotiation always comes first. Negotiations can be a legitimate attempt to diffuse the situation or merely serve as a diversion while final assault plans are readied.

In any event, once negotiations have failed and you get the order to "GO", the problem will be taken care of by Delta Force!

The Delta Force companion contains rules for negotiations with terrorists and for diplomacy, including dossiers on several countries in and around the Middle East most likely to be involved in the terrorist wars. New character rules include tertiary stats, improvement of skills through training, recovery from wounds, character backgrounds, and new skills. Rules for simplified combat and support weapons in combat are included as well as new equipment, new counter terrorist unit templates, and extensive list of known terrorist organisations, and a series of scenarios which can be played independently or as a mini-campaign."

1987 ... 96 pages ... TFG 4504

Most of the stuff in them can easily be converted over to any modern RPG (Recon, D20 modern, etc. )

On the D20 Modern front you may want to check out "Blood & Guts 2" Special Operations Command, by RPG Objects, In Her Majesties Service, and Covert Forces by Swords Edge Publishing/SEP (and yes I did have little to do with the material in the the latest version of Covert Forces). Plenty of unit profiles, equipment descriptions, and scenario ideas that could easily be used for a Modern Recon game. (One quick note, the info in B&G2 SOCOM is a little out of date now).

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:40 am
by Dominique
It looks like at least two other items were published for the original game.

The Recon Mission Directors Screen (1983) and Recon: Headhunters, Ltd. (1984) (Digest sized sourcebook for the original Recon RPG).

And that in addition to the stuff I listed above, there were more things planned.

Up from the ashes, Recon module: Phoenix/Phung Hoang operations against Viet Cong infrastructure.

LZ Loon, Recon module: Humorous mercenary module.

Death from Above, Recon supplement: Rules for playing helicopter crews.

Weapons & Booby traps, Recon supplement: Modern weapons and booby traps from around the world.