Cthulhu d20: Stealing a nuke

Valk · Post by **Valk** » 2008-01-07 11:38am

I'm running a cthulhu d20 game and the players got the following somewhat ambitious plan. The game takes place in the US 1957. They are faced with some Horrors from the Beyond that are taking over a region and they're all ghosty.

They want to steal a nuke, enchant it with the Ghost Touch property, and detonate it in a small city. According to the rules a ghost touch weapon does not damage corporeals when in incorporeal mode.
I also welcome discussion from rules lawyers and the like about the effect the nuke would have on the corporeal world.

So they want to steal a nuke and I must prepare the game for when they attempt the theft. They are only some lower-middleclass somewhat unlucky guys, but they have access to teleportation and mind control. Even if they don't stand a chance, I want to play it out instead of just saying 'you all die' or something like that.
Does someone know something about the nukes of those days, how they were protected, how they were hidden. Any clue to procedures to be followed after the nuke was stolen by people who came and went without a trace?

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2008-01-07 01:48pm

Well, they've got the scale right. When you're fighting Gribblies From Beyond The Sky, you need to use some crazy juju to drop the hammer on them. In fact, that's possibly the coolest anti-Great Old One defense concept I've ever heard, right up there with Stross's surveillance-camera-basilisk-emulation idea.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2008-01-07 07:24pm

Paging MKSheppard to the thread...

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2008-01-07 07:38pm

They weren't really hidden, IIRC, but they were heavily protected, especially the strategic weapons. Just moving them is going to be a pain (they are heavy!) and you're going to have to figure out how to even get the device to arm, much less initiate.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2008-01-07 07:46pm

You will need to first locate the nuke bunkers; and you'll need to "mind control" a munitions officer, or someone who knows how the fuzing system works.

That said; you'll need to do the rest of your plan (from stealing it to enchanting to nuking cthulthu) very very fast; because a nuke being stolen by people who disappear into nothing, along with the nuke will make Saint Curtis very very angry; and a massive effort will be launched to find you.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2008-01-07 07:49pm

Actually, why not use some mind control lightly, to convince the commander of a SAC airbase that there really is an undead cthulthu monster out there, and that only SAC can destroy it?

Then cue enchanted B-52 dropping a nuke

Darth Smiley · Post by **Darth Smiley** » 2008-01-07 07:52pm

The W25sounds ideal for your situation - it is historically accurate, and small enough that it could be plausibly stolen.

THe W25 was an air-to-air weapon, so you would need to find a list of airbases where the type of aircraft (F-89 Scorpion, F-101B Voodoo, F-106 Delta Dart, and F-104 Starfighter) that carried it would be. Throw in some willing suspension of disbelief, and you're good.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-01-07 08:18pm

If 'making a nuke magic' is what you consider an original idea, I weep for the universe.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2008-01-07 08:58pm

Stark wrote:If 'making a nuke magic' is what you consider an original idea, I weep for the universe.

I think the World of Darkness did it before I was even alive, and I doubt it's theo nly example ever.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2008-01-07 08:59pm

Better than convincing a SAC base commander to nuke the location: convince the US President of such. Then you probably also have to convince the commander of SAC the same. Then the base commander. Upside: no one actually cares what happens to the bomb at that point. The bomb just disappears.

Valk · Post by **Valk** » 2008-01-07 11:19pm

MKSheppard wrote:That said; you'll need to do the rest of your plan (from stealing it to enchanting to nuking cthulthu) very very fast; because a nuke being stolen by people who disappear into nothing, along with the nuke will make Saint Curtis very very angry; and a massive effort will be launched to find you.

Heh, that is going to be a problem. Enchanting the nuke is going to take 144 man-hours.

However, how concerned should the players be about the massive search when they teleport away? Would they start searching every truck in the US for it?

To teleport to the bomb the players must have a very clear idea of where it is, a photograph and a map would work. Then, am I right to assume the bomb is in a heavy sealed vault with nobody guarding it inside the vault?

On the detonation, they seemed to have in mind they'd play with the controls until it goes off (they will be playing with the controls with the skill and expertise of someone capable of designing a television). Any idea how that would work, or if a 1957 nuke even has controls?
If it doesn't, they'll probably go for the munitions officer - though the ways of players can be strange.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2008-01-08 01:13am

Sounds like a fun idea.

Ok nukes in question. Yes there will be nukes in "storage", but those are going to be checked every shift by the folks guarding it. Stealing one from an airbase your much more likley for it to simply be locked in a armed and locked secure room, but not one where you have people looking at it every fifteen minutes.

Might I suggest, hinting to them that stealing it during a readiness drill might be possible? Doubly so if the PC's are "inspectors for the drill"(Good old mind-control)

Keep in mind in 1957 we still have B-52's with nukes ready to take off. If they can steal an entire B-52 they could get access to said nuke or better yet nukes.

But the shit will truly hit the fan if a B-52 shows up missing, and they still need the control codes to arm it(VERY IMPORTANT)

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2008-01-08 02:09am

Does it absolutely have to be 1957? Right around then the US started basing nuclear weapons in Europe for use by NATO tactical air forces. Within a few years this had gone to the point of German F-104 starfighters sitting on the runway loaded with live nukes, pilot in the cockpit waiting to scramble on one minutes notice, guarded by just one US solider each. This lapse of security was eventually dealt with in the early 1960s, questionably, by Permissive Action Links.

Now of course you have to get onto the base before you can steal the plane, and it would be hard to pull of before the base is up in arms, but if you could manage it then you’ve got an awesome setup. Once airborne the Starfighter could fly a good 400 miles at high speed and low altitude before landing for transfer to another aircraft which can get your nuke off the continent.

Valk · Post by **Valk** » 2008-01-08 02:18am

thanks for the info

The mind control is singletarget with an estimated 75% success rate, retries are possible, and if something is forced they would never do (kill a friend) there is a 50% chance the mind control breaks. Mind control works only on a target you see within 150 ft.
However, you need only mind control the few people that question you, and since the casting time is 4 seconds that's ok.

1957 was the game year we started, cannot change that anymore. Mind you, I didn't foresee the players going out to get a nuke to destroy all monsters instead of searching for the cause of the infestation and researching methods of banishing them. - offcourse, vaporising them is far more effective, original, and safer than banishing them.

Oh, and nobody in the group is a pilot unfortunately. The plane will also be too large to teleport.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2008-01-08 03:44am

nobody in the group is a pilot, but you could always mind control the pilot, have the guys teleport into the back of the plane if possible, and get ready to drop the bomb.

Perhaps they pick one particular bomb and have someone infiltrate the base and enchant it covertly somehow. I'm not sure how the game mechanics work for that but if they prepare the bomb in advance, see that its loaded on the right plane at the right time, and then go drop the bomb, then the mission is achieved I take it right?

Teleporting and mind controlling could clean up the aftermath if there was more to the game afterwards. Probably just by teleporting away and using mind control to make the pilot unsure of what the hell happened. Yeah it's screwing over some poor sod, but there's ghostbusting to be done.

Ritterin Sophia · Post by **Ritterin Sophia** » 2008-01-08 09:36am

I don't think stealing a B-52 from SAC would be a good idea, IIRC didn't they operate Delta Daggers as well? You take off with a Buff and those are going to be trailing you.

Oskuro · Post by **Oskuro** » 2008-01-08 11:31am

I'd like to point out that clearly betraying your country (specially where Nukes are concerned) probably falls into the "wouldn't willingly do it" category, so better have your investigators phrase their requests VERY carefully.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2008-01-08 11:48am

General Schatten wrote:I don't think stealing a B-52 from SAC would be a good idea, IIRC didn't they operate Delta Daggers as well? You take off with a Buff and those are going to be trailing you.

No, the Delta Daggers were operated by Air Defense Command.

MJ12 Commando · Post by **MJ12 Commando** » 2008-01-09 06:47am

Ford Prefect wrote: I think the World of Darkness did it before I was even alive, and I doubt it's theo nly example ever.

Well, unless you were born before 1993 (when M:tAs came out first) no, and I don't know if the anti-supernatural nuclear weapons that the Technos used were really talked about until they hit Ravnos with them or in the Void Engineer book, which came out later.

But I'm almost dead sure there were earlier examples than the Technocracy. (on the other hand neither were their nukes magic. Just very advanced technology. Really. I'm not kidding. Completely plausible if hyper-advanced technology.)

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2008-01-09 01:37pm

Valk wrote:Heh, that is going to be a problem. Enchanting the nuke is going to take 144 man-hours.

Are you just having one person do it? Get six warlocks, and you're done in less than a day.

On the detonation, they seemed to have in mind they'd play with the controls until it goes off (they will be playing with the controls with the skill and expertise of someone capable of designing a television). Any idea how that would work, or if a 1957 nuke even has controls?
If it doesn't, they'll probably go for the munitions officer - though the ways of players can be strange.

You could accidentally dismantle a nuke, and it won't go off without its key and arming protocols, which they won't happen upon by flipping switches. They'll need someone who knows how to do it, however they get that person.

Edit: For something more portable and user-friendly, have you considered the Davy Crockett?