We were like gods once... BIG UPDATE Friday Nov 5!
- Thread starter ledded
- Start date
ledded
Herder of monkies
Well, I didnt have a chance to finish the update I had promised, so I had to do something. Hope to have an update coming sometime this week, though I'm pretty busy now studying up for our Blood and Fists 2 playtest session tomorrow night (mmmm martial arts whackity smackity goodness).
Stay tuned, because the updates will get into the actual use of powers and cool fun stuff that the team really has, and should be full of BAM KAPOW KABLOOEY kind of action.
Stay tuned, because the updates will get into the actual use of powers and cool fun stuff that the team really has, and should be full of BAM KAPOW KABLOOEY kind of action.
ledded
Herder of monkies
We were like gods once... [Out of the frying pan...]
“Alrighty then, gather ‘round blokes, we have a rather interesting development that is… suited to your particular talents”, Captain Smyth rattles off rather sprightly as he walks briskly into the room.
Moose looks up, slurping, from a bowl of potatoes and bangers large enough to feed a kennel of wolfhounds. “So, you got us a mission dere?” he questions through a half-chewed mouthful.
At Moose’s inquiry Hank and John Brighton cease their laughing over a game of poker and look up expectantly.
Smitty simply continues to clean and polish his new Springfield rifle with slow, deliberate strokes, carefully working a piece of grit from under the scope mount that even an ordinarily assiduous soldier would have overlooked.
Smythe sets a folder down on the table, and unrolls a large map, pinning it to the corkboard in the room. As he does so, two MP’s who came in right behind him circle the room, pulling the windows closed and drawing the heavy curtains, then take up positions near windows. Another MP glances into the room from the doorway, then quietly closes the door.
“Yes, very well then. It seems we have news from one of our field agents several weeks back that there is a certain asset being removed from Nazi Germany. As you can see here and here”, pausing, Smythe points to several locations on the map indicating current Allied and suspected Axis positions, “we have the Jerry’s pinned into several locations but haven’t been able to push into eastern France or Germany proper as of yet.”
“Our agent has been able to move this property all the way from Berlin, through German lines, but is held up quite a ways from the coastline. See, this ‘property’ is apparently quite important to the Jerry’s and they’ve mounted all sorts of search operations and crackdowns trying to uncover the bloke. He’s managed to move into Holland a little while back, and was lying low until we could move him through the underground or get in there to pick him up.”
“Then we lost contact. Reports from the underground are a mite bit sketchy, but we are fairly certain that he was either captured or killed. He did, however, manage to hide the ‘asset’ in an old used book store in Holland, and we are fairly certain it’s still there. However, due to the increased Gestapo activity, we cant get an agent near it without tipping our hand.”
Hank raises his hand, interrupting. “Um, hey thar Cap’n, well, dingdang aint that a funny place t’ hide sumthin’ important, ya know, like a dingdang ol’ bookstore aint exactly secure”.
Smythe smiles that clever smile that he does so well and answers.
“Well, that’s the rub, old bean. You see, this asset is actually a book. One that’ll blend in quite nicely with a bunch of old musty grimoires and tomes, and because of the nature of this book it’s quite likely that the Gestapo and SS combing the city have no idea what it is that they are trying to find.”
“A *book*? You want to send us all the way to Holland to pick up a *book*?” John asks, incredulous.
Smythe pauses, takes a deep breath, and sighs.
“Now here is the word. I’m not so sure I believe in all this, but 5 years ago I would have told you that a man couldn’t have his arm replaced with one made of metal, or Nazis bloody well couldn’t fly or blast fire from their hands, so I’m willing to let higher-ups have a bit of leeway. Apparently this book has some… arcane… value, some kind of willy-nilly spooky secrets of some sort from ages gone by and what-not. See, the Nazi’s are quite enamored of the whole occult thing, and spent years digging around all over the globe for anything that they thought might hold some secret or power. Bloody foolishness if you ask me, but the higher-ups didn’t, so we just nod our bloody heads and carry on, keep a stiff upper lip, and all that rot. What I do know is that they spent years looking for this, and have guarded it like the Queen’s knickers trying to get it into Berlin. So even if it’s all rubbish, grabbing it would shove their nose in it pretty hard and give us some clue as to what the bloody hell they think they can accomplish with all this hocus-pocus.”
“You see, this book is *very* important to certain people on our side, and they are quite willing to risk whatever it takes to get it back. It’s an old thing, about this big”, Smythe estimates with his hands, “bound in strange and worn black leather, and the name of the book is “Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten, carved into the cover”.
“Well… alrighty there Smythey, whatcha got dingdangit in mind thar?” Hanks asks, looking at the maps and taking notes.
Smythe’s smile comes back, this time in spades.
“Heh. Well now, I got to thinking with a couple of the boys, hey wouldn’t it be great to surprise Jerry with something so audacious that it just might actually work, and maybe end the war before Christmas? So we kicked it about a bit, and decided a lightning strike using airborne units could cut off the city long enough to neutralize the Gestapo agents, retrieve the book, and then possibly even hold up a counterattack and roll in a division or two of armor making a dagger thrust into the third Reich and setting us up for the old one-two punch to take out the Nazis?”
Smythe describes the plans showing the drops for paratroopers, showing them maps and the road in which armored units will be taking. The men, except for Smitty, who is still quietly cleaning that rifle, stand around silently awed by the audacity of the thing. Hank, having some knowledge of tactics, would probably have used the word ‘insane’ in lieu of audacious, but he kept that to himself.
“While quite a risk, we need that bloody book, and an operation of this sort would be, at worst, a damned good diversion. So I had a ‘talk’ with a couple of old Monty’s staff officers”, at this point Smythe winks, and they guys almost swear they can see a small glint of light in his smile when he does so, “and of course they thought it was a right good idea”.
“So Monty took up on it, called it his own, and presented it to Allied command. A little push here and there, and off we go.”
“The Red Devils and the American paratroops left yesterday and should be on the ground now. Time is now of the essence. A contingent of Polish paratroopers will be leaving soon, and you will be one plane among many heading into Holland, except that you will peel off and make your own drop. Between now and then, study up on these maps, and be sure to get in there as soon as you hit the ground; Colonel Frost is leading the Devils, and he’s a personal friend of mine, so the sooner you can get there the better. He’ll hold the Jerry’s off as long as it takes.”
Hank, Moose, and John look over the maps showing the city, their expected drop zone, and the location of the book store that they need to reach.
“So what is this city here we are landing in, where the book is?” John asks.
“Oh. That would be Arnhem. The whole thing is being quaintly called Operation Market Garden.”
“You have your training, you have your orders; be quick, gather your gear, and show ‘em just what Allied ESSes can do. God speed”.
There is a ka-shink of a well-oiled bolt ramming home on a rifle as Smitty finally stands.
“Just show us to the plane. We’ll do the rest.”
……
Captains Smythe and Smith stood on a runway watching the C-47’s taxi away. Weather had held up their deployment a bit, but now it was too late to turn back.
Smythe takes a drag from his cigarette, blowing out a ring of smoke before speaking.
“So, Smith old bean, do you think it was wise to send in that android ahead of them?”
Smith lights his own lucky strike and replies through the smoke.
“Yeah, it ought to be. That thing was a plant, or it was some kind of machine from the future. It’s out of our hair and on the ground where it will do some good. Either it’ll get killed, or it’ll give the Nazis a bunch of trouble.”
There was a short pause before Smythe pushed further.
“And if it gets ‘killed’, or captured? You realize none of them have any idea about the strength of the German counterattack we just sent them into?”
Smith took a few more drags, then ground out the cigarette butt with a boot heel before turning to go.
“Then it’s just like the other four, it’s just dead. There’s no room in this army for the weak. If they can’t handle themselves, then we’ve just cut that much more dead weight.”
Smith glances towards the last plane leaving, as if he could see the four newly indoctrinated ESS agents in the rear.
“Good luck boys. You’re damn well gonna need it”.
…
“Alrighty then, gather ‘round blokes, we have a rather interesting development that is… suited to your particular talents”, Captain Smyth rattles off rather sprightly as he walks briskly into the room.
Moose looks up, slurping, from a bowl of potatoes and bangers large enough to feed a kennel of wolfhounds. “So, you got us a mission dere?” he questions through a half-chewed mouthful.
At Moose’s inquiry Hank and John Brighton cease their laughing over a game of poker and look up expectantly.
Smitty simply continues to clean and polish his new Springfield rifle with slow, deliberate strokes, carefully working a piece of grit from under the scope mount that even an ordinarily assiduous soldier would have overlooked.
Smythe sets a folder down on the table, and unrolls a large map, pinning it to the corkboard in the room. As he does so, two MP’s who came in right behind him circle the room, pulling the windows closed and drawing the heavy curtains, then take up positions near windows. Another MP glances into the room from the doorway, then quietly closes the door.
“Yes, very well then. It seems we have news from one of our field agents several weeks back that there is a certain asset being removed from Nazi Germany. As you can see here and here”, pausing, Smythe points to several locations on the map indicating current Allied and suspected Axis positions, “we have the Jerry’s pinned into several locations but haven’t been able to push into eastern France or Germany proper as of yet.”
“Our agent has been able to move this property all the way from Berlin, through German lines, but is held up quite a ways from the coastline. See, this ‘property’ is apparently quite important to the Jerry’s and they’ve mounted all sorts of search operations and crackdowns trying to uncover the bloke. He’s managed to move into Holland a little while back, and was lying low until we could move him through the underground or get in there to pick him up.”
“Then we lost contact. Reports from the underground are a mite bit sketchy, but we are fairly certain that he was either captured or killed. He did, however, manage to hide the ‘asset’ in an old used book store in Holland, and we are fairly certain it’s still there. However, due to the increased Gestapo activity, we cant get an agent near it without tipping our hand.”
Hank raises his hand, interrupting. “Um, hey thar Cap’n, well, dingdang aint that a funny place t’ hide sumthin’ important, ya know, like a dingdang ol’ bookstore aint exactly secure”.
Smythe smiles that clever smile that he does so well and answers.
“Well, that’s the rub, old bean. You see, this asset is actually a book. One that’ll blend in quite nicely with a bunch of old musty grimoires and tomes, and because of the nature of this book it’s quite likely that the Gestapo and SS combing the city have no idea what it is that they are trying to find.”
“A *book*? You want to send us all the way to Holland to pick up a *book*?” John asks, incredulous.
Smythe pauses, takes a deep breath, and sighs.
“Now here is the word. I’m not so sure I believe in all this, but 5 years ago I would have told you that a man couldn’t have his arm replaced with one made of metal, or Nazis bloody well couldn’t fly or blast fire from their hands, so I’m willing to let higher-ups have a bit of leeway. Apparently this book has some… arcane… value, some kind of willy-nilly spooky secrets of some sort from ages gone by and what-not. See, the Nazi’s are quite enamored of the whole occult thing, and spent years digging around all over the globe for anything that they thought might hold some secret or power. Bloody foolishness if you ask me, but the higher-ups didn’t, so we just nod our bloody heads and carry on, keep a stiff upper lip, and all that rot. What I do know is that they spent years looking for this, and have guarded it like the Queen’s knickers trying to get it into Berlin. So even if it’s all rubbish, grabbing it would shove their nose in it pretty hard and give us some clue as to what the bloody hell they think they can accomplish with all this hocus-pocus.”
“You see, this book is *very* important to certain people on our side, and they are quite willing to risk whatever it takes to get it back. It’s an old thing, about this big”, Smythe estimates with his hands, “bound in strange and worn black leather, and the name of the book is “Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten, carved into the cover”.
“Well… alrighty there Smythey, whatcha got dingdangit in mind thar?” Hanks asks, looking at the maps and taking notes.
Smythe’s smile comes back, this time in spades.
“Heh. Well now, I got to thinking with a couple of the boys, hey wouldn’t it be great to surprise Jerry with something so audacious that it just might actually work, and maybe end the war before Christmas? So we kicked it about a bit, and decided a lightning strike using airborne units could cut off the city long enough to neutralize the Gestapo agents, retrieve the book, and then possibly even hold up a counterattack and roll in a division or two of armor making a dagger thrust into the third Reich and setting us up for the old one-two punch to take out the Nazis?”
Smythe describes the plans showing the drops for paratroopers, showing them maps and the road in which armored units will be taking. The men, except for Smitty, who is still quietly cleaning that rifle, stand around silently awed by the audacity of the thing. Hank, having some knowledge of tactics, would probably have used the word ‘insane’ in lieu of audacious, but he kept that to himself.
“While quite a risk, we need that bloody book, and an operation of this sort would be, at worst, a damned good diversion. So I had a ‘talk’ with a couple of old Monty’s staff officers”, at this point Smythe winks, and they guys almost swear they can see a small glint of light in his smile when he does so, “and of course they thought it was a right good idea”.
“So Monty took up on it, called it his own, and presented it to Allied command. A little push here and there, and off we go.”
“The Red Devils and the American paratroops left yesterday and should be on the ground now. Time is now of the essence. A contingent of Polish paratroopers will be leaving soon, and you will be one plane among many heading into Holland, except that you will peel off and make your own drop. Between now and then, study up on these maps, and be sure to get in there as soon as you hit the ground; Colonel Frost is leading the Devils, and he’s a personal friend of mine, so the sooner you can get there the better. He’ll hold the Jerry’s off as long as it takes.”
Hank, Moose, and John look over the maps showing the city, their expected drop zone, and the location of the book store that they need to reach.
“So what is this city here we are landing in, where the book is?” John asks.
“Oh. That would be Arnhem. The whole thing is being quaintly called Operation Market Garden.”
“You have your training, you have your orders; be quick, gather your gear, and show ‘em just what Allied ESSes can do. God speed”.
There is a ka-shink of a well-oiled bolt ramming home on a rifle as Smitty finally stands.
“Just show us to the plane. We’ll do the rest.”
……
Captains Smythe and Smith stood on a runway watching the C-47’s taxi away. Weather had held up their deployment a bit, but now it was too late to turn back.
Smythe takes a drag from his cigarette, blowing out a ring of smoke before speaking.
“So, Smith old bean, do you think it was wise to send in that android ahead of them?”
Smith lights his own lucky strike and replies through the smoke.
“Yeah, it ought to be. That thing was a plant, or it was some kind of machine from the future. It’s out of our hair and on the ground where it will do some good. Either it’ll get killed, or it’ll give the Nazis a bunch of trouble.”
There was a short pause before Smythe pushed further.
“And if it gets ‘killed’, or captured? You realize none of them have any idea about the strength of the German counterattack we just sent them into?”
Smith took a few more drags, then ground out the cigarette butt with a boot heel before turning to go.
“Then it’s just like the other four, it’s just dead. There’s no room in this army for the weak. If they can’t handle themselves, then we’ve just cut that much more dead weight.”
Smith glances towards the last plane leaving, as if he could see the four newly indoctrinated ESS agents in the rear.
“Good luck boys. You’re damn well gonna need it”.
…
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*glee*![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
Broccli_Head
Explorer
You suck! You suck! Do you know that 8000 English Paratroopers died at Arnhem? 
Look who I'm asking... 
Yup, I've see A Bridge Too Far and right now I'm watching Band of Brothers. I just saw episode #4 "Replacements". I don't think I like Smythe much.
Looking forward to the next installments with a heavy heart, but I know that they'll be good. Our heroes are in for a meatgrinder.
**
On a more positive note, one of my players is jonesin' to play a WWII game. I got him hooked on Squad Leader and this story hour.
Look who I'm asking... Yup, I've see A Bridge Too Far and right now I'm watching Band of Brothers. I just saw episode #4 "Replacements". I don't think I like Smythe much.
Looking forward to the next installments with a heavy heart, but I know that they'll be good. Our heroes are in for a meatgrinder.
**
On a more positive note, one of my players is jonesin' to play a WWII game. I got him hooked on Squad Leader and this story hour.
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Broccli_Head
Explorer
But don't you know that its setting this story in real world drama that makes it compelling. That's why I keep coming back.
If you read Ledded's description of D-day, you'll know what I mean.
If you read Ledded's description of D-day, you'll know what I mean.
Rel
Liquid Awesome
Broccli_Head said:
I've been watching it off and on as it has been run on The History Channel (I'm guessing this is where you are seeing it too, Broc). Great stuff. I'm thinking of asking for the whole box-set for Christmas this year.
Picture if you will, Smythe as played by David Schwimmer. Yes, I know he isn't remotely British, but he's easy to despise if you've seen the first episode of Band of Brothers.
And, as a side note, I cannot recommend Stephen Ambrose's book, upon which the television series was based, highly enough. I also strongly recommend his book about D-Day as well, and of course his bestselling Undaunted Courage (about the Louis and Clark expedition). We lost a great author and historian when he died.
Keep up the good work, Ledded. Can't wait for the next installment.
ledded
Herder of monkies
I got it for Christmas last year, and watched it 7,482 times before starting this short campaign, along with Battle of Britain, the Bridge and Remagen, the Big Red One, When Trumpets Fade, the Longest Day (you *gotta* watch that one if you havent), Saving Pvt Ryan, A Bridge too Far, and many others that I don't own. Reading books about it gave me more inspiration for how it plays, but the movies help inspire my writing, particularly the better ones. (Yeah, I've always loved movies like the Big Red One, but watching it now totally ruins it for me when they roll *Sherman* tanks at the boys with Nazi markings on them instead of making them some German ones. Sheesh, talk about no budgetRel said:
).I dunno, Smythe is *much* too british, flippant, and charismatic for Schwimmer. I actually based how he looks in my mind on the British character in Band of Brothers who appears in 'Replacements' (I think), the officer of the Red Devils that swam out of Holland to help organize the 101's rescue of several hundred british paratroopers hiding with the dutch underground. I am glad that he's making a few folks grind their teeth though.
Yes, I recommend all of those books quite highly, though I havent read Undaunted Courage yet. I don't think quite as highly of Ambrose as some, but I do believe he did great work (for the most part, there were a few exceptions) though most of his appeal comes from being able to write for the masses and get published. There are a lot of better historians out there, but he was a better storyteller, and I love a good story along with my first hand accounts.And, as a side note, I cannot recommend Stephen Ambrose's book, upon which the television series was based, highly enough. I also strongly recommend his book about D-Day as well, and of course his bestselling Undaunted Courage (about the Louis and Clark expedition). We lost a great author and historian when he died.
One book I can't recommend highly enough in this genre is On to Berlin : Battles of an Airborn Commander 1943-1946 by General James Gavin.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553341324/qid=1082135347/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-6242921-9428760?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
It is an amazingly candid and sobering look at the field commander of the 82nd airborne, and being an airborne general not only participated in high level planning but also hit the ground and fought with his troops. He was actually the american officer who, during Operation Market Garden, fractured 2 vertebrae in his back but managed to run back-and-forth, organizing his troops, and participating in the River Waal Crossing. In the movie "A Bridge too Far", this fact is attributed to Julian Cook, who was a great field leader in his own right, but it was Gavin who actually broke his back in the jump and refused medical attention for almost a week, pushing himself to lead his men in total disregard for the incredible amount of pain he was in. A very, very good book, with a very candid discussion on the occupation of Berlin post-war that led to the cold war. I can't recommend it enough.
Thanks much guys, and speaking of, here comes the next one...
Oh, and Broccli_Head, don't worry; your reaction is exactly what I was going for when I planned this. Nothing I write or do is meant to diminish anything that truly happened in any way (and it doesnt, IMO), but to evoke strong feelings of loss and frustration at the futility of it all from my players and readers alike. The PC's reaction was similar to yours. War is hell, boys, and with supers, it gets even worse, but sometimes the stuff I come up with isnt even as bad as things that actually happened. Don't *even* get me started on Hurtgen Forest...
