This is another of the 'not really a dio' dios, but instead a fun afternoon with my oldest son. This "mission" involves my (now 6 year old) son's Custom S.A.F.E. Squad team. S.A.F.E. Squad. FWIW, because of the run of Adventure Team stuff of late, he wanted his Squad to become AT members.

When I previewed his customs before, I mentioned how I used to give small missions like find this guy or that guy. I'd hide the guy in the basement, take photo clues on my cell phone, then "brief" his team commander in advance. Well, taking a cue from that, as well as from Raptor's awesomely run RPG here on the site, I made it more in depth this time. And we played out each action and combat round as well.

First, I told him where to find the secret lair of the terrorist unit known as the War Pigs. The location was Serpent Island, part jungle and part mountain. This was to be a night time mission (the basement allowed for this, even mid-day) to infiltrate the mountain side of the island, which was fortified, with two objectives. 1) Capture the War Pig's leader, and 2) determine whether they've been experimenting on any of the animals from the jungle, and help them if possible.

I told him his team would need a scientist for the last part of it, and that he'd need to bring something to climb with as well. I then let him put his team together and equip them.

the squad approaches by boat


kills the motor and lights and coasts in. he came from the blind side for most of the guards, and rolled safely for the unseen approach


view from the boat


he had picked a ladder (from a firetruck) for the infiltration. He wisely sent his spy, Scarlett, up first.



he rolled safely for Scarlett to sneak in, and safely in her attempt to quietly take out the guard in the back.


That made it easier for his other teammates to inflitrate safely...yet, he wasn't so sure he liked that idea. So his Techno Ninja (wearing a new outfit from last time) made a move on another guard


That attack failed, and once he lost the Ninja, he went at it more carefully (Professor Hankman in the boat rolled to save the Techno Ninja, though he was done for the day).

Not pictured was a surprisingly well coordinated attack on the front guards, being careful to limit the attack to quiet weapons (so that the levels above wouldn't be on alarm). After clearing out the first level guards, there was a good look at the building where I told him the War Pig Leader was likely hiding.



This part started out strong, then veered comically, and put the mission in jeopardy. My son decided that rather than use the upper hand he had gained in firepower, he would pull out his Spongebob Guide to strategy.


He rolled to safely make the next level up, and with just a little bit of a scuffle took out the guard at the door.

He made the mistake of using his gun in a bad spot though, and the machine gunner (not pictured, but it was Angus Hendrix for anyone who remembers that far back into my EXCAL verse) locked in on him. The SAFE Squad Commander nearly took a shot but Angus got rushed by Scarlett and was taken out while he was shooting.





Here's where the slapstick began. Though by all accounts the first objective was unguarded inside of the building they had surrounded, plan number one involved the Team's Diver rushing into the building and using one of his flippers to slap the objective in the face. Having a flashback to one of the old Joe comics, I refused to let the Diver climb the mountain wearing flippers. Plan two involved him taking his underwater camera and rushing in, using the flash to stun the objective then subdue him.

I let this attack move forward, but put a harsh penalty on the roll, given the difficulty of the plan. It failed and the diver got whipped by the man inside.

Plan two involved the team's pilot rushing in with the Diver's scuba tanks in hand, and spraying air in the face of the enemy. This too failed.

Scarlett then stormed the building, but lost in hand to hand combat. The pile of unconscious squad members outside the building was looking like a problem. Finally The Commando Ratinio went in, rolled for a successful kneecap shot and captured the leader.

Moving to the next level, there was a daunting unmarked building above.


The whole compound looked like this


The rush on the guard on the new tower was a tough battle. The Squad Commander did get shot this time. Eventually, Scarlett was revived by the Professor, and took out the guard, then the Prof. and the Pilot secured the building. Inside was a (not pictured here) elephant they had been experimaenting on. It crushed the Pilot (who barely was saved after I let him roll an extra time to avoid tears), but the professor used a "potion" to calm the elephant.

Then a cargo ship was brought in to bring the elephant back to base, and the mission was complete...





Sorry for the long winded account. But it was great fun, and was especially fun to watch the kid process through his decisions. He got pretty sharp about it by the end.

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That's cool, playing with your son.

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I wanna come over and play next weekend.

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he'd love that.

But better bring your DC customs just to be safe

Seriously, some of the make up stuff play time can be a struggle. But now that he's willing to play along with some game rules, these are getting to be pretty fun. Can't explain how much fun today's was.

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Completely fantastic read.

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when I came down to the basement later in the evening, I noticed he had continued on with the adventure, finding a secure place for both of the mission's objectives, back at base:

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Let's see...
Fort Wayne is about 5-6 hours from here.
Give me an extra hour or two to pack some stuff up, and I'll be right over.

Seriously cool, and looks like tons of fun!

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I like the steps as a tiered base. I'm going to have to remember that one.

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That was awesome.
Looks like a great time indeed. I really like the stair base. Reminds me of the good old playing days.
Funny how some little RPG rules can change the whole direction of the mission instead of the heroes knocking every enemy down.

I did the same with my nephew a few weeks ago with his racing cars.
He would move a car the number of floor tiles indicated by the dice, then would move the next car and so on. It kept the race exciting instead of the same car winning all the time,

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yeah, if had been up to him (at first) he would have ran through the whole base knocking bad guys over and been done in 5 minutes. This way, we got some legit play time out of the mission for almost 2 hours while his little brother napped.

We've played head to head battles before, where the high roll or high card wins. But this is the first time I added movement and other decision making, and you rolled to hit rather than an automatic win. Also adjusted rolls based on what equipment he used under the circumstances, etc... All in a VERY basic way where he knew what his chances were for each choice. I also tried to add in some puzzle solving as I told him the story so he'd have to figure it out, based on what toys he had available to him.

Having played this one, I know he's already expecting me to top it next weekend. I'll do my best and report back here.

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