An action adventure begins with the GM simply giving the heroes a motivation to undertake a mission, such as:

• Orders. Police or security officers are charged with an investigation or protection duty. Soldiers or spies get a target to strike. Organized criminals are assigned a “job” by their boss. Freelancers are hired.
• Serendipity. Lawmen witness a crime. Thieves get wind of something valuable to steal. Anyone might witness a random “interesting” event that draws them in.
• Wrongs. Enemies attack or cheat the heroes or their loved ones, making vengeance their primary motive.

This need not have anything to do with the GM's plot! It might be an excuse to put the PCs in a situation where they can be pulled into the story's real events. Once that happens, though, it's time to give the players the opportunity to make plans and acquire needed gear for their characters.

The GM should always have at least one adventure ready. He doesn't have to expose it immediately, though! The heroes might have to work for it – although a squad with an employer can skip the first two options below and move right to a briefing.

Finding a Client: A freelance crew can advertise for work. Each week, one PC can use Propaganda to shill the team's services. The GM rolls in secret. Success brings one of the adventures the GM has prepared. For each week without a bite, the GM should withhold $500 of the usual $2,000 in pocket money and make BAD a step worse on the eventual adventure. Clients who approach desperate men have unpleasant jobs in mind! Critical failure also finds a client, but one who doesn't intend to or can't afford to pay; the heroes will receive no replacement budget at the start of their next adventure.

Opportunity Knocks: Once a week, each PC can try one of Current Affairs (for want ads and other overtly legitimate opportunities), Savoir-Faire (any specialty, for general social contacts of the appropriate variety), or Streetwise (for decidedly unsavory offers). The GM rolls in secret. This works much like finding a client, but with an upside and a downside: Failure doesn't signal desperation, so it doesn't affect BAD, but critical failure finds a dangerous job or client that – in addition to not paying – will lead the heroes into an ambush or a double-cross.

Briefing: Once a full-time squad has its orders, or freelancers find or are approached by a client, it's time for a briefing. This might be a formal lecture at HQ, dinner with Don Formaggio, or three sentences gasped by a mysterious man dying in the heroes' arms. This gives the crew their initial target – or at least a trail to follow. If the speaker is holding back information, a successful Detect Lies roll will reveal this. See Social Engineering for ways to learn what isn't being said and Gathering Intelligence for all kinds of ways to spy on the boss.

Digging: If the crew settles on a freelance job that wouldn't logically come with a briefing (no client involved, client vanished or died, etc.), they'll have to use Gathering Intelligence and/or Social Engineering to get a clear picture of the job.

Once the team has its initial goal, it's time to acquire any gear they think they'll need to achieve it. They might have to repeat this phase several times, whether to get the tools necessary to defeat new challenges or to replace lost items.

Acquiring gear is generally a matter of the team spending its starting or replacement budget as desired, perhaps reserving some for future expenses. However, there are a few special cases. Below, “item” means a single reusable article (rifle, vehicle, etc.) or a set of expendable ones (e.g., bullets or a box of grenades).

Black Market: Action plots often turn on the heroes – even legitimate cops and troops – requiring an item so “black” that they must go outside usual channels. The GM should always treat military gear this way for criminal or freelance PCs! Roll against the group's best Streetwise skill, or that of an underworld Contact.The GM may apply BAD to this roll, or “appropriateness” penalties like those for Assistance Rolls. Any success finds the item, which comes out of the budget at its usual price. Failure is just that, and repeated attempts are impossible; the local market doesn't have the goods. Critical failure means criminal PCs are ambushed by other crooks or the police, while legitimate operators face Rank loss or even dismissal.

Gadgeteering: A wire rat with Quick Gadgeteer can improvise one electronic gadget worth up to $200 by making a successful roll against the relevant Electronics Repair specialty. He can assemble more gear during the adventure, given time and parts, but this initial roll is a freebie. Any failure simply means he gets nothing.

Requisitions: Teams that work for agencies can try Assistance Rolls for gear, files, or even cash before the adventure starts in earnest. This is most likely to succeed with high Rank, Smooth Operator, and/or a complementary Administration roll. Remember that each attempt gives a cumulative -1 AR penalty on the adventure!

Scrounging: Each PC may try one Scrounging roll per adventure. Success means he finds one item of standard gear worth up to $200 without depleting the budget. Critical success (ordinary success, with Serendipity) yields a more valuable item of the GM's choice – possibly even a cheap vehicle! Simply ignore failures, even critical ones.

The GM decides whether action heroes must worry about ammo, batteries, and so forth. Movies use these things as dramatic devices. They never run out until the plot calls for it… and then even the best-prepared commando can do nothing to prevent it. As a compromise, tally the cost of five full reloads – including speed-loader or magazine cost, where applicable – for all of the team's guns. Subtract this from the squad's budget at the start of the adventure. Likewise, add the weight of five reloads to each hero's encumbrance. Then ignore detailed ammo tracking until one of the following happens:

• The squad is cut off, whether by cops surrounding the bank they're robbing or enemy soldiers surrounding them in the jungle. At that point, everybody has five reloads left, and has to count bullets.
• A PC objects to the encumbrance and decides to ditch some ammo. From that point on, he has just the 0-4 reloads that he didn't drop.
• A PC is captured. He then has no ammo or weapons!

This never applies to explosives – rockets, grenades, sticks of dynamite, etc. – which should always be tracked.

For batteries, power lasts for a day. After that, every $3 and 1 lb. of spare cells carried per team member gives one extra day of power. After that, nothing that requires power will work, except for basics such as digital watches.

Once the group has a job and is outfitted for it – and again whenever they deal with an intermediate phase of the adventure and discover that there's more to it than they thought – they'll need to decide who, what, and/or where their objective is.

If the squad received a detailed briefing, or was hired by someone with a specific plan in mind, that decision is already made. All they have to do is board the helicopter, start casing the bank, visit the location marked on the map, shoot the first victim on their list, or whatever.

However, a crew that received only a vague briefing or no briefing at all will need to take a stab at where to start. In movies, this often involves a montage during which the heroes pore over maps, make phone calls, and so on, followed by a brainstorming session to share ideas. Take note: If the adventure has a time limit, this is when the clock starts ticking!

Each day, the squad makes a single roll at 8 or less to represent the day's efforts. If the enemy is working against them even at this stage, apply BAD. However, each hero can attempt a complementary skill roll against one of the following for that day:

• Area Knowledge, if knowing where to look matters and the team has reason to suspect a general target area.
• Computer Operation to find something online. Especially in recent movies, it's almost as if any target of interest will have a website!
• Current Affairs to check the news.
• Research to dig in records or books.
• Savoir-Faire or Streetwise to “make a few phone calls.” Cinematic heroes always seem to have a few friends who can help.

Where a skill might be applicable, the decision is the GM's. The GM may also permit other skills – the goal is to involve the whole crew! Apply complementary skill modifiers for everybody's contribution and then make the daily roll. Success suggests a valid starting location. Critical success turns up something a little closer to the adventure's final goal than the GM originally planned; if he had a series of challenges prepared, perhaps the heroes get to skip the first one.

Ordinary failure has no special downside other than advancing the calendar by a day – although if the group's goal is something like stopping terrorist bombers, rescuing a kidnapped child, or stealing a painting before the Renoir exhibit leaves town, even that could be costly! Critical failure means that trouble finds the heroes; e.g., police discover that they're planning a heist, or rival agents locate them. If the GM feels generous, dealing with this trouble might point the squad to their starting target, or at least leave behind someone to interrogate.

If the initial clues – or the briefing – point the team to a location that isn't where they are, and the squad's employer or client doesn't simply drop them off there, then getting to the first interesting location can be part of the heroes' adventures.

At the Wheel: If the PCs control their own vehicle, the GM should assess whatever travel time he deems fair – and note that it's unfair not to leave the heroes sufficient time to complete their adventure, unless “showing up too late” is part of the story. The driver must roll against Driving, Boating, Piloting, Submarine, etc., as applicable. Optionally, one squad member can try to assist by making a complementary skill roll against a suitable Area Knowledge skill (for shortcuts), and he or someone else can also try a complementary roll against the relevant Navigation specialty (to plot an efficient route). Then the driver rolls. Every point of success on his roll knocks 5% off travel time, to a minimum of 50%; every point of failure adds 5%, with no upper limit.

Back-Seat Drivers: Travel aboard a vehicle controlled by an NPC works as above, except that a random NPC typically has skill 1d+9 (10-15). The PCs may be able to make complementary Area Knowledge and/or Navigation rolls to help. Aboard a large ship or sub, the team can opt to try a complementary Seamanship or Submariner roll instead – but this is subject to Got You Covered, so it's wise only if everybody knows the ropes!

Commercial Travel: The heroes can do little to influence commercial air, bus, rail, or ship travel. The cost must come out of their budget if their boss or client isn't paying and the crew can't make the necessary Assistance Roll. The GM should spice up long trips with events aboard the vehicle (e.g., snakes on a plane).

Hoofing It: Military action movies make a big deal out of hiking, so when the squad actually has to walk where it's going, it's worth the trouble to set a distance in miles and work out travel time from the heroes' speed. Assume that speed in miles per hour is the group's lowest Move/2, adjusted as usual for terrain, weather, and roads. However, an inspiring leader can set the pace, carry his pals' gear, and harangue them about their socks. Make just one Hiking roll for the team, modified according to Got You Covered. Success adds a flat 20% to hiking speed.

Fragile: Whenever the group travels with or ships delicate gear – notably electronics – roll against the team's best Freight Handling skill for the packing job. Failure means a broken item; critical failure means disaster befalls all the gear of one teammate. Roll randomly for both. Those who don't trust their partners can roll separately for their kit.

Anything to Declare, Sir?: When the group travels with or ships illegal gear – mainly weapons – and there's a chance of inspection, roll as for fragile gear, but against Smuggling. Here, any failure means an encounter with unfriendly authorities. The PCs can make an Assistance Roll for bailout, attempt bribery, or even fight or sneak away. However, in any situation but a critical success on an AR or a bribery roll, the gear is confiscated even if its owner walks. Spies can often requisition gear on arrival, but not all action heroes are spies.