Something new and refreshing!

[Woas]

Hi everyone. This summer while I'm home from school I have planned a game for my friends and me. We have been playing Sword and Sorcery/Medieval Fantasy types games exclusivley. But now, things are a little different. This summer I have decided to run a World War II game! It will be Ahistorical, in the sense that there will not be Zombie Nazis or gatling-gun armed Hitlers. But the characters will be soldiers in a fictional paratrooper division and fight in some non-historical battles.
Whats more, is that my buddies an I, along with playing exclusive Sword and Sorcery, have also been playing almost exclusive d20 (D&D). So not only is the setting something really new, but also the system we're using is too! We're going to be using the GODLIKE system (dice pool) minus the Super Human Talents. The game is going to be more like a RP/Pen & Paper version of "Band of Brothers", in where the characters will be part of a close-knit squad and be sent on squad sized missions. I think it will be fun.

Anyway, the real purpose of this post wasn't to advertise my plans for the next 10 to 12 weeks, but really to get some advice/tips/comments from people who have maybe played or GMed a WWII game. Some missions that were fun; certain aspects to play up or play down; important information I should know or keep readly available as the GM; etc. I'd really like to hear from you guys so... type away!

- Woas

 

[Woas]

Wow, every single person on these boards plays D&D or some other Medieval fantasy setting?

 

[Desdichado]

Of course not. It's a little harder to give advice on such a tightly constrained question, though.

My advice is not to get too bogged down on "missions." In my experience, most players want to have a bit more freedom of choice than that. Start them off with missions, but make sure they're in situations where they have to interpret what their task is, and how to accomplish it. It's too easy to turn a game like that into "go here, and do this, and come back for your next assignment" type of thing, which isn't nearly as fun.