Tobruk, 1941 - Help!

[Arrgh! Mark!]

Hey guys! I'm running a WW2 campaign set in Tobruk, as you might have guessed. The characters are all aussies, and so far the game has been an absolute blast - in a fairly 'high realism' for superheroes, at anyrate. It's gritty and nasty.

I've run a number of successful missions - the players first captured at Mechilli during Rommels turnaround, with them meeting a mysterious character (One Hans Fogel, a talent, but one who thinks it all comes from mysticism and occultism), uncovering some old ruins and so on. Later, they broke through german lines to get to Tobruk, and made it in one piece with a lot of luck. After this they made a recon mission to scout a hill that may house artillery, and took out a machine gun post.

The second days running had them defend in the easter battle, gunning down nazi's, capturing them, and after that being sent out to find a traitor. Eventually they find out it's a german talent - a changeling - and in a rather tense get about quickly try to find a number of explosives he's set, stop him from getting away, and try not to die.

Successful.

Now, I need some help. I seem to be rather lost for inspiration. My next mission has them sneaking past the german lines (and minefields) to blow up a fuel dump and rescue a prisoner, if at all possible. They come up against a flying talent who drops grenades on them. After a lot of sneaking around, and realising their point of escape was blown to buggery, they eventually make it back into tobruk.

After this, there's a flyer who will come in at night and kill a bunch of guards, allowing a number of other superhumans to have their way with the camp.

They will kill them.



Now this is all well and good you say. But I'm out of ideas! Where can this lead to? I'm lost for inspiration, to be honest. Being my first time DMing in months, I seem to have lost the creative spark.

What could a group of army blokes get up to, not as yet being in the commando's? Whats some interesting encounters?

Some help, please

 

[Edward Kann@StoryART]

Hey there

I ran into this exact problem in trying to run my own WWII based adventures both as combat missions and as an ongoing "intelligence / spy" thriller.

When I was running adventures set around combat zones in the WWII era the first few games were LOTS of fun but after a while it began to turn into more of the same.

Try to find a way to mix in some classic pulp action adventure. Build a story around the murder of an intelligence officer and maybe some Nazi secret project. You can keep it all very "high realism" and historically based or you can come up with secret operations that never remotely happened for your heroes to foil. If you want to really push the envelope you can introduce evil plans by the villains to steal the Manhattan project, or to assasinate Winston Churchill. Maybe the bad guys have discovered a way to create evil zombie undead soldiers and the heroes need to stop them in some out of the way Egyptian ruin and tomb?

Check out what we've done with WWII era by pushing the entire WWII period into space with colony worlds, The British Star Empire, Reich Space and so forth.

In this type of setting you can still do all of your classic WWII missions PLUS you can introduce exploration on alien worlds, dangerous alien races, strange ruins on jungle planets to explore. You can bounce from one or two games that are very pulp, Indiana Jones to something more espionage related to something very much in line with a standard WWII combat mission.

www.storyartgames.com - check out the Rocketship Empires download if you are curious about what we did with incorporating WWII material into a space based science fiction setting.

Sounds like a great game!

Edward Kann
StoryART Games

 

[Aaron2]

I'm assuming from the awkward misuse of the word "talent" that you are playing Godlike.

It's too bad you chose the 9th Aus division. The 6th and 7th did alot more different things (africa, crete, greece, syria, pacific, etc). Here are a few things I could come up with ...

The company master sergeant doesn't like the party. Either because they are "freaks" (possibly too angsty) or because they are attracting too much attention and getting his mates killed. He sends the party on a suicide patrol for prisoners.

The master sergeant manages to get the party transferred to the home front to help the recruitment efforts. On a boat sailing towards Alexandria, they are shot up by a german fighter our of Gambut and wash ashore. A local offers them camels and a guide if they help remove a family curse. It seems that his family has been sickly for generation. The party goes to an old burial cave (that the locals dare not enter) and it turns out that the local dude's great, great, great, great grandfather is still alive in his tomb. He's using a page from the some ancient evil book to suck the life force from his descendents and remain "alive". A few zombie guards and a duel with an ancient wizard later, they party is back in Egypt.

The party is on a convoy headed back to the Australia when an urgent message goes out. It seem that there is a German sub steaming towards Japan. The sub contains an ancient artifact that is so evil even the Nazis won't use it. The destroyer the party is riding on (part of the small escort) heads off to intercept the sub. Turns out that the sub is also carrying a Nazi wizard who summons a Kraken to sink the destroyer and escape!

The device can be used to create super soldiers; stronger, faster and virtually indestructible but it also kills the soldier within a day. The Japanese can use it to make Super Kamikazi Samurai warriors! The party can either stay in Australia and join in the fight against Japan (better brush up on their sword fighting) or they can return to the 9th in time for the fight in Italy.

That's all I have for now.


Aaron

 

[ragboy]

Now this is all well and good you say. But I'm out of ideas! Where can this lead to? I'm lost for inspiration, to be honest. Being my first time DMing in months, I seem to have lost the creative spark.

What could a group of army blokes get up to, not as yet being in the commando's? Whats some interesting encounters?

Some help, please

First: Tell me where you live so I can fly out and play in your game.

Second: It sounds like your characters need some rest. As in R&R. As in, an adventure in an R&R locale. There're rich fields of story and fun either getting to an R&R site or hitting them when they're drunk, half-naked and in Shore Patrol's custody...

 

[CarlZog]

The adventures that could face a squad in WWII are endless, particularly in North Africa. To help light your mental fires, I'd suggest heading to the movies...
A great many WWII movies (and war movies in general) are about the mischief that a squad can get into on the edges of the combat zone -- or even in the middle of it.

Guys in war are often still working for themselves, when the opportunity is right. And there are endless opportunities in a war zone. They may stumble upon the ruins of some Egyptian tomb, uncovered by war and -- no doubt! -- filled with golden treasures. Of course the Nazis will want it too.

Don't forget the Rat Patrol TV series: They filled several seasons with desert adventures, almost always simple encounters involving some renegade unit or person. You could probably find them on dvd at this point.

Also consider heading for the used bookstore. As I recall, there were several series of pulp novels in the early 70s that featured WWII heroes in never-ending battles with secret agents in the war zone.

 

[Piratecat]

First: Tell me where you live so I can fly out and play in your game.

Race ya.

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

I'm assuming from the awkward misuse of the word "talent" that you are playing Godlike.

It's too bad you chose the 9th Aus division. The 6th and 7th did alot more different things (africa, crete, greece, syria, pacific, etc). Here are a few things I could come up with ...

The company master sergeant doesn't like the party. Either because they are "freaks" (possibly too angsty) or because they are attracting too much attention and getting his mates killed. He sends the party on a suicide patrol for prisoners.
(snip)

Aaron

Answer 1: Yep, godlike it is. Awkward due to the fact I was trying to avoid saying it, but still.

Answer 2: I realised this only afterwards. As it is, they get to have the wonders of 50 degrees celcius, concrete bunkers, fleas, crabs, boredom and chlorinated tea described to them. War is hell.

But, they do get a fair bit of action in PNG later on, which is where I was planning the rest of the campaign.

Part 3: *Steal* Yonder idiotic prisoner rescue it is. And I expect running through barb-wire from machine-guns into minefields isn't pleasant.


The idea of finding an artifact would be good (*steals, can't believe he hadn't thought of that*), or finding loot of some sort - and hiding it from their superiors - though I'm disinclined to make it magical in nature. I'm well into Nazi's thinking various things are magical or what not, but as it is its just talent reliant stuff.

*Steals boat being shot up, lost somewhere*

If I want'ses magic I plays the Cthulu in WW2. But superheroes it is


Oh, I live in Brissie, Aussieland, so the ticket may be a little expensive .


Also: R + R is good, but hard to find in Tobruk. They get their time off - but it's worse than the front lines. A good idea, but hard to do in Tobruk, I think.

Thanks for the ideas! *gets writing*

 

[Aaron2]

Part 3: *Steal* Yonder idiotic prisoner rescue it is. And I expect running through barb-wire from machine-guns into minefields isn't pleasant.

The 9th captured over 2,000 prisoners while in Torbruk. Not bad for being besieged. A prisoner snatch mission would probably be at night. Similar to that one in a later Band of Brothers.

I'm well into Nazi's thinking various things are magical or what not, but as it is its just talent reliant stuff.

A super-soldier serum would work as well. As would some "atomic" device.

If I want'ses magic I plays the Cthulu in WW2.

Two great tastes that taste great together!

I'm unfamiliar with Godlike's rational for the existance of superheroes.


Aaron

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

Aaron2: Its interesting, but (I think) mostly due to the hard/soft defensive tactic used. Lightening attacks left a lot of soldiers behind, vunerable to machine gun fire from the Red line. They surrendered, logically. Not to say their weren't raids or anything, which doubtless netted quite a few.

(And were treated exceptionally well, unlike general allied treatment. Often, Rommels prison camps were nicer than whatever English generals prisons were at the time.)




Powers? Basically they just happen.

People have different views, I.e. Nazi preoccupation with Occultism, Britain with its history with scientists attempting to prove telepathy through genes or whatever. To be honest, they happen when a significantly stressful circumstance is realised - being bombed, shot at, whatever. Something like the idea of a combat high as well, though vastly more varied.

My characters (1st mission) manifested only when they had dug up an ancient burial mound and were about to be shot.

Onto Super Soldier Serum: Russians try this sort of stuff. It universally fails, tends to sicken it's patients and so on. Only people who would manifest naturally are revealed - and thats more through inhuman treatment, disease, and so on than any serums.

It also helps that none of the characters are allowed to have 'loud' powers. Only subtle things - being able to pick up radio transmissions, or having a sixth sense for danger, or hide well. It also fits the gritty feel well.

 

[Aaron2]

Oh, I live in Brissie, Aussieland, so the ticket may be a little expensive.

I forgot... Go Lions!


Aaron