WW2 Superheroes Brainstorming

[ArghMark]

Hello everyone!

I'm going to run a game set in WW2, with realistic supers (GODLIKE setting).

The PC's are Australian 7th division in Africa to begin. I've got a basic outline of what their games will include - basically the major battles and a few situations where they will find themselves in problems. I'm just wondering; what cool stuff could happen to a team of (realistic) heroes. Just some ideas for adventures, roleplaying, or combat that could be added to the game.

Also, I'd like situations where roleplaying and making moral choices will come in to play, if you can think of any.

And especially.. How do I make them scared? I can make them motivated easily enough (Artillery does amazing things) but hows about scared?

Thanks!

 

[Jack7]

It is an interesting set of questions AM.

As for making them scared, not knowing the system, what I would suggest is either endangering those around them who are not Heroes (as opposed to military heroes), and/or endangering their powers and capabilities so that they become far more "mortal," and are therefore able to be harmed. It that way you can also directly endanger them.

Also endanger their entire unit through over-runs, ambush, German assaults that are unstoppable because of hopeless numbers and technology (superior tank and armored units, maneuvers, formations, etc), and by extension endanger their cause.

Your heroes should not necessarily be winning every battle and neither should their unit and Army. If they feel that the forces they fight for can really be defeated, regardless of what happens to them then they can have some incentive to fight harder as well as real fear of the loss of the war (or at least their part in it).

Depending on where exactly in Africa they will be serving and engaging the enemy you could have them split away form their main force and engage against human traffickers, bandits, small specialized units of German Forces (perhaps the Germans have a similar operational Team, a Nazi version of your team, or several smaller teams), against SS Squads (maybe sent to hunt for or protect special weapons, or deployed against civilians) and so forth. They don't necessarily have to just engage the Wehrmacht or the Tank Corps. They could fight Special Forces units who might have the ability to seriously harm or kill them or even to wipe out allies and compatriots.

They could also become engaged in POW or hostage rescue (maybe from a torture camp of a makeshift concentration camp), rescue operations from medical experimentation, and so forth and so on.

Certain Nazi units also had a proclivity for interest in the occult. Therefore occultic matters could engage your players either in a practical sense (German interest), or in a supernatural sense (a supernatural or demonic force).

Then the war, and specific battles, depending upon the area in which they were fought, might "uncover things." Things that would be of a definite threat to your players.

You also have issues like Intel and espionage operations, sabotage operations, and a whole host of unconventional operations that would prove threatening, dangerous, and potentially lethal if handled correctly.

How about exposure to toxic chemicals and experimental radioactive substances? Biological warfare?

How about special weapon projects that are not what they first appear to be?

And then you have the danger inherent in infiltration of your team or their superiors through a mole of double agent. A clever mole in a leadership position might endanger the team countless times over before it is understood (given the complexities of wartime operations) that the team is being intentionally sabotaged and exposed to needless danger.

Also imagine that one of the party members himself is the mole. I was DM in a campaign one time in which I took one of the players aside and asked if he wanted to play as an enemy agent. He did. So we worked together in secrete and seriously endangered and threatened the entire party on numerous occasions before some of the players figured out they were being betrayed from within. That was a great and very interesting campaign.

Anyway, my point is that if you really want to endanger, frighten, confuse, and even betray your players, it can be done with the right approach.

As for the moral choices, the way I do it in my game is usually in one of two ways. Create a situation in which the players must make a moral choice between the lesser of two evils, or create a situation in which the players must choose the greater of two goods, but they can never be really certain if they are making the correct choice.

But given that your setting is World War Two it shouldn't be too hard to interject plenty of interesting moral ambiguities and moral dilemmas into the campaign.

Good luck to ya.

 

[ArghMark]

Thats a lot of really good stuff. Thanks, Jack7!

 

[Jack7]

Glad I could help.

Let us know what kinds of adventures you come up with.

 

[ArghMark]

I had an interesting idea. What about a super who, with the stress of war, went insane? This is vaguely related to a sample talent I saw on the Godlike talent dossiers.

In Godlike, insane talents believe in their own delusions, and hence have a lot more power than what they did before.

My idea is this - A young soldier who in later years might be diagnosed with a minor mental disability. Someone like Forrest Gump in terms of intelligence who also happens to be extremely powerful.

Anyway, our talent loves comic books. He really thinks the ideals promoted in comic books are the way the real world should be. He smiles and nods when people try to explain differently, but he just can't understand - and won't. In fact, his belief in how real these worlds are prompted his talent.

His power is he can actually summon those superheroes. Superman himself pops in and saves the young talent. He's an NPC, but the problems of comic-book heroes don't quite match up with war, even one like Africa where no-one really had a personal stake in the matter except for the poor people who happened to live there.

How does our talent react when Superman is busy ripping apart a tank and punching soldiers into unconsciousness and he sees his friends shot to death? Or he sees surrendering Italians shot by nervous troops?

Maybe he gets revenge on people. A couple of soldiers are bullying him, so The Spectre pays them a visit and they die.

I'm not sure how I want this to end; maybe he dies to PCs after attacking his own side, or maybe he goes ballistic on the enemy troops. Regardless, he's a wild card.

Any ideas about how this could be resolved? I'm thinking this as a running sub-plot.

 

[ArghMark]

Well, I've got a basic idea of what's going to happen. PC's are (originally at least) going to be with the Australian 6th division.

Prior to the adventure: We'll briefly go over the leaving home and training parts, and how and where their first 'talent' was aquired.

Adventure 1 is the Battle of Bardia. PC's will penetrate the stronghold of Bardia. They are the talents and they also have a Bren Gun Carrier (Universal Carrier).

Now, I'm not sure how to do this exactly. The wikipedia article is good but it doesn't give me much of a clue what the actual soldiers faced.

I'm thinking that the PC's will accompany the initial engineers who cut the wire and break down the anti-tank ditch, then rush forward to take some of the posts. Apparently there was a double row of concrete strong points.. but it doesn't mention a wall, so I'm not sure if they are running over flat terrain or up and down hills with cover. They can hide behind their bren gun carrier. I assume there's troops in fox holes and a mortar team or two behind the post, maybe a large artillery piece but I'm not sure if that would be on the front lines or far behind.

After they take that post (I'm assuming concrete bunkers w'machine guns) they come under fire from some L3 tankettes and some m11/39 tanks who come to the rescue of some of the captured soldiers.

Possibly due to PC action, the tanks are destroyed or driven off, or they rescue the prisoners. If the PCs can't stop the tanks, the PCs have an opportunity to massacre the prisoners. However, there are some 2pd guns on universal carriers around, if they can get them. They can see their own tanks sitting pretty, doing nothing, some distance away, with a clear line of access - supervision guys could even see the tank guys having a beer!

There's a break in the action then, and the LT and sergeant move up and we do a bit of roleplaying - especially so if there was some spectacular super stuff going on. There is then a 45 min artillery barrage from some allied ships.

The PC's are then called on to take 'The triangle', a series of defensive posts with artillery weapons. Their bren gun carrier is deployed to keep Italian heads down as the troops advance.

At this point, a latent talent manifests in the Italian troops. Closing his eyes, he screams, causing a shockwave to be launched. We then have a bit of talent vs. talent combat, as the new talent emerges he seems to have a sonic field which disintegrates bullets, so the PC's are drawn in.

After the italian talent is killed, the italian post surrenders. However, as the LT comes closer, one of the italian troops shoots and kills him; the PC's decide what to do, but the rest of the troops are about to bayonet the prisoners.

The nearest post also surrenders, but an italian counterrattack comes their way with tankettes and machine guns as well as infantry. The Matilda tanks roll forward (finally) and as the Triangle is bombarded, they go into bardia behind the tanks. Some snipers are there, with some mortars and machine guns in windows, but nothing too hard. Their sargeant eventually orders then to sit pretty in Bardia.

After that, we have a quick debriefing by their new LT, and they find a nice bar or hospital if they need either.

In the bar are the tank crew that with a bit of talking they find out had been told of their strife and had ignored it, thinking they were doing fine by themselves, and that they were only fighting cars and motorcycles, ignoring reports by messengers.

Over the next couple of days they get interviewed by doctors, officers, and the men; and each treats them strangely. The men seem to be in two camps about their powers; love or hate, and a few diehard religious types mutter about them. They tend to get isolated by the other men a lot.

They meet their new LT; very young, at only 23, he insists on rigid discipline and correct manners, unlike their older, now dead LT. They find out he wasn't involved in the battle other than sitting at an already taken post.

I think they'll also meet 'Funnybook' Flynn, the soldier I mentioned before. He's probably being bullied, but his powers haven't come about yet.

And thats it for my ideas for the first mission. I'm not sure what else I'll do yet, but there's some nice ideas.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Late to the thread, but I thought I'd chime in...

1) What a hero fears depends upon the hero himself. Some fear the same stuff we do- death, sickness, and so forth, just at different levels than we do- either more or less.

Some fear certain materials or situations that may cause them to lose their powers, or certain things unique to their nature- like how Thor might fear the signs of Ragnarok before anyone else might be aware there is a problem.

Some fear losing control of their powers- like Cyclops- or just losing control, like the Hulk or Wolverine.

Some fear that secrets about them will be revealed- their ID, the source of their power, whatever.

Some fear for the safety of their loved ones.

Some fear that they will always be what they are- like the Thing.

2) On insane supers- there is a classic one from Dark Horse comics named Titan. Titan was one of the many Superman "homages" that popped up after Supes was killed by Doomsday. I won't go through the entire plotline, but eventually, Titan went nuts and started fighting his way through the setting's heroes...and gaining power as he did so. Eventually, he was killed twice- once by King Tiger, once by Vortex.

There are others, of course- mostly villains.

Another classic- and one that may inspire you- is the X-Men villain Proteus (son of X-Men associate, Moira MacTaggert), who warped reality at will...

3) Given the reality warping wish fulfillment of the character you mentioned, you might want to watch the classic sci-fi movie, Forbidden Planet. A sci-fi rewrite of Shakespeare's The Tempest, it features a scientist who uncovers the artifacts of a powerful but long dead alien race, the Krell. One of their machines lets those who know how to use it create objects with only the power of their minds, instantly.

But the technology is flawed, and the scientist is too close to the problem to see it...

 

[ArghMark]

Thanks, Dannyalcatraz!

Hmm.. I wonder how I'll find out the fears of the characters? Maybe I'll ask the players to write in what they might be afraid of.

I'll wiki up those supers you mentioned, see what I can see, thanks!

I remember Forbidden Planet well, actually. Seeing the horror of the scientist as he realises that it is him that is doing the things - and he can't consciously control it - is quite cool. I might have to think of how to work that in.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I remember Forbidden Planet well, actually. Seeing the horror of the scientist as he realises that it is him that is doing the things - and he can't consciously control it - is quite cool. I might have to think of how to work that in.

The easiest way is to have 'Funnybook' Flynn, fail in exactly the same way as Morbius did- when he sleeps, he accidentally calls supervillains into being. In your campaign, that could work by having the party gets called in to fight a team of villains that pop up mysteriously, cause havoc, and then disappear, night after night.

As for the fears of others, as DM, its perfectly fair to ask players what their PCs fear, though in some cases, their fears will be obvious when you look at the PC design. A PC who, like Aquaman or Namor, requires periodic immersion in water to be at full strength or to live, could be terrified at the prospect of going into the Sahara. A PC who overcame a crippling injury may fear being injured the same way.

 

[ArghMark]

Also.. wondering, how could their LT make their life miserable?