The Morrow Project

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The Morrow Project
Designer(s) Kevin Dockery, Robert Sadler, Richard Tucholka
Publisher(s) TimeLine Ltd
Publication date 1983 (3rd edition)
Genre(s) Post-apocalyptic fiction
System TimeLine System

The Morrow Project is a tabletop science fiction role-playing game created by Kevin Dockery, Robert Sadler and Richard Tucholka and published by TimeLine Ltd. It is set after a devastating nuclear war. It was first released in the 1980s, and it still has a loyal following.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.


The game is based around the idea that there was a group of industrialists who predicted the coming of an apocalyptic nuclear war, and began to create a plan for an emergency operations and reconstruction infrastructure that would survive that war. This plan is the eponymous "Morrow Project". A number of volunteers were cryogenically frozen in hidden bunkers ("boltholes"). There were provided with redundant caches of supplies and equipment, intended to help the teams rebuild civilization -- once the war had ended and the resulting nuclear fallout had diminished enough.

The plan was for the Morrow Project to be coordinated by a central command post and record-keeping facility called "Prime Base." This was a huge self-contained bunker hidden underground in Nevada. The advanced environmental recycling systems there were intended to allow Project oversight personnel not to sleep through the war -- so as to chronicle its every moment, and be in the best position to figure out what should be done next.

Prime Base was built and placed in isolation according to schedule. Just before it could assume its role, it was sabotaged and bombed by a shadowy madman called Krell, sustaining serious damage. The sudden attack wiped out the Morrow Project leaders, but 150 years after the war, the damaged central computer at Prime Base finally issued the wakeup signal. This revived at least one of the Morrow Project assets -- the Team that the player characters are on. The status of other Teams is purposefully kept unclear, so that details can be worked out by the leader of the players, who is called the Project Director.

Is the Project fatally compromised, or can the scattered outposts reconnect and replace the missing headquarters? Must they try to confront huge reconstruction tasks alone, when it was expected that thousands of Project members would help them? Do they have the courage to try?

Contents

[edit] Genesis of the Morrow Project

In 1974, Robert Sadler wrote an outline for a post-apocalyptic adventure. Richard Tucholka added a second chapter, but then the project was buried for a year or more. In 1975, they were introduced to role playing, and Tucholka suddenly realized that the Morrow Project could be an adventure background for a roleplaying game. He used Sadler's story as a guide to write that game background. Then the two joined forces with Kevin Dockery to flesh out the military portion of the game.

After months of playtesting, it was run at an early Michicon and became a real hit. From there, Timeline Games was born and shortly thereafter, due to internal conflicts, both Richard Tucholka and Robert Sadler left Timline Games and created Tacky-Tac Games that later became Tri Tac Games.

[edit] Initial Scenario

The initial scenario may be played with nothing other than the game book, dice, paper and pencil, Expansion sets are available introducing further scenarios, weapons and equipment.

One hundred and fifty years after the Third World War, the members of the Morrow Project wake to a strange world. Instead of being part of an organized plan to rebuild their civilization, they find themselves isolated in a world where the War is only a distant legend, the people are ignorant of anything but the struggle to survive and strange mutated animals haunt their footsteps.

Players of the Morrow Project must not only survive but must carry out their original mission: to rebuild the world. To do this they have their equipment and training, their team and their own guts and imagination. Together with their teammates they must try to do alone a job that thousands were trained to do.

Included in the game book is targeting information for the missiles that fell, full details on Morrow Project teams, vehicles and equipment, modern weapons, complete medical details, and information about the people and creatures who live in the post-holocaust world.

[edit] MARS, Recon, Scientific and Specialty

While each team is equipped to survive on its own, it proved impossible to equip all the teams for every postwar contingency. For example, some Recon Teams are almost as heavily armed as MARS Teams while others are not.

Below is a general summary of the Project groups:

  • Recon: The general purpose teams of the Project and the most numerous, Recon teams are equipped with varying types of weapons and equipment ranging from Cadillac Gage Commando armored cars to the SK-5 hovercraft. Their orders are to reconnoiter the countryside, report on local conditions, and provide advice to Prime Base concerning which teams should be awakened next.
  • MARS: These teams are military arm of the Project. They are equipped with heavy weapons like man-portable laser rifles, and heavy vehicles such as the Mars One. The Mars One is a large custom-built truck with very heavy armor and powerful weapons, able to carry troops and serve as a command post. The MARS Teams also have a type of Powered armor. Their orders are to support and defend civilians and other Teams. A large portion of MARS teams are ex-military. MARS stands for Mobile Assault, Rescue and Strike.
  • Scientific: The Scientific teams are non-specialized groups of trained scientists and technicians, intended to be able to cope with just about any situation -- from complex medical care and epidemiology, to understanding unusual hazards and dangerous creatures. The groups have knowledge ranging from Biology to Nuclear Physics. They are equipped with another versatile, custom-built vehicle called the Science One. Their armament is second only to that of the MARS teams.
  • Specialty: This is a broad term applied to Project groups that have a specific function in regard to their equipment and personnel. Specialty groups generally consist of teams frozen and ordered to meet at a predesignated point. Most Specialty teams are not as heavily armed as the Recon or MARS teams, as it was felt that they could not operate to their full extent if survivors felt threatened by them. Specialty groups assigned to the Project include:
Engineering: Building, construction, repair and maintenance of Project equipment.
Agricultural: Farming and livestock. Equipped to assist farming communities.
Psychological: Formed to handle extremist groups, riots, negotiation challenges, and other serious problems caused by stress.
Aviation: Airbone survey, reconnaissance, fire support, and mobility assistance for other teams -- by modular, portable autogyros.

[edit] External links

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