Zero Dark: Smog Experimental Rules

Operation KURGAN will take players into the refugee-choked and flooded streets of NuSingapore, the last Pacific city more or less intact after the terrible impact of the Ammit impact.

I've recently been pondering the rules for darkness in the original Zero Dark rulebook and feeling like they, whilst straightforward, failed to really capture the sense of dread and uncertainty associated with close quarters engagements in low-visibility environments. And I happened upon a discussion about the rules in Frostgrave for magical fog and that just got me thinking.

These rules are for operating in streets choked with smog: a noxious blend of natural sea fog and the microscopic ash particles hurled into the atmosphere by the asteroid impact. It obscures vision, makes breathing difficult and creates many opportunities for improvised ambushes.

At the start of the mission, divide nine smog markers between the players and take turns placing them on the tabletop. Each marker is a 40mm circle and they must be placed at least 9" from another marker. They may be placed on top of buildings but not inside them. If you are using a smaller tabletop and cannot legally place another marker, stop placing markers and put the remainder to one side for now.

After each activation and before the Red Force activation, the player whose character just activated may pick two smog markers and roll a d12. They must move one marker a number of inches equal to the result towards the other smog marker. Markers that are touching may be picked to move but must be moved towards a different marker from the one that they are touching.

(Optional: if you have surplus smog markers and two touch, the play must place a third marker touching both markers.)

Effects of Smog

1. No line of sight may be drawn through a smog marker, even by characters equipped with a starlight or heatlight visor. A smog marker is assumed to have infinite height for these purposes.

2. In addition to the effects of visibility, the range to any target is increased by +1 per smog marker within 6" of the line of sight between the active character or bogey and its target.

3. Because of the disorienting effect of being in dense smog, all stress tests are taken at -1 D.

4. A hero (not ally) that is engaged with a smog marker may, as an automatic action, immediately move to being engaged with the nearest other smog marker. If several smog markers are equally close, the player may pick any one.

5. A bogey that is engaged with a smog marker will immediately move to be engaged with the nearest other smog marker, with the player whose character most recently activated deciding how to place the bogey so that it is engaged with the marker.

6. Smog markers do not block movement, but neither characters nor bogeys may end movement on top of a smog marker. If this happens, move them back along their movement path until they are engaged with but not on top of the smog markers. This applies only to the physical marker, not to the space above it (if the marker is, for example, under a bridge).

If you are using rules for smoke grenades, you will need to make sure to carefully distinguish between a smoke marker and a smog marker.

For those thinking of making their own smog markers, teddy bear fluff is an excellent material for these purposes.