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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2012 16:52:26 GMT -8
I've been wanting to do a game that takes place on a WWII bomber.
While trying to figure out any sort of logical foundation to the whole thing it started to boil down to "what genre to run the game in"... There isn't much role playng to be done between the crew of an aircraft during a bomb run (at least not with my group), all of the action would be better done with miniatures and that becomes "why not just stay home and play 'Wings of War'?"
I have a couple of different ideas to kick around... - I've read some fiction that describes ether creatures like whales and jellyfish in the upper atmosphere - What could happen ON a plane that would force dramatic intereaction between the players? Not aircraft-to-aircraft combat, hand-to-hand combat? How do I get that? Some sort of boarding party...? Humans? Creatures? Undead?
I've also been wanting a decent one-shot to introduce the group to Savage Worlds...
That puts me ay Wierd War II. - I'm thinking the plane should be a Halifax, Lancaster, Stirling, Mitchell or Marauder. I have 6 to 7 players depending on whether my girlfriend wants to play; she's in the D&D game, but is sitting out our CoC game. - I'm thinking that the Nazis have perfected rocket packs (I don't have the Wierd War II book yet, it's in the mail, but I'm thinking Rockteer), but this will be the first use of them during the war and possibly the first sight of undead... - I'm leaning toward a vampire (meaning a night mission) who boards the plane and the crew has to fight him off to complete the bomb mission; multiple vampires might work better, or vampires might be too powerful all together... - Maybe gremlins, like the classic Twilight Zone episode with William Shatner - "There's someone on the WING!" - Another idea is the classic "moving a mysterious crate and a monster gets loose", but that seems tired... - Mystery crate or vampire might work better on a B-17 or B-24. The 10 man crew gives me a few NPCs to kill off to build tension.
I'm not only open to advice and ideas, I'd really like to hear what people think!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2012 19:39:45 GMT -8
Totally lateral idea: go for a bit of sci fi. Alien abduction! The crew is battling waves of German fighters, tensions are high, then things start to get weird. The sky above goes black, winds change, and then their whole plane gets beamed up into an alien ship. And so do German fighters! The bomber crew and these Germans find themselves staring at each other across the alien hangar.
The aliens could be the hostile kind who dissect humans or it could be a Twilight Zone style story where the aliens are testing the belligerent humans. Can these two fighting sides work together in a crisis?
I don't really know if that's what you're looking for. I'll sure as hell try to use that premise one day in Weird War.
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Post by Houndin on Mar 19, 2012 5:52:48 GMT -8
Two things that immediately come to mind: Gremlins, and I don't mean the movie kind. The original Twilight Zone did an episode about a gremlin on a commercial airliner. i think William Shatner was the protaganist in it. Look up the original Gremlin myth from WWII germany. It's definitely a cool idea for tension on an airplane in that era. There's a series of books by Scott Westerfield that starts with Leviathan en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_(Westerfeld_novel) about an alternative history for WWI where the Brits have gone all 'hybrid animals' instead of technological. the Leviathan is a 'sky whale' sort of aircraft carrier. And it has smaller craft on it called 'huxleys' (I think) that are man-o-war jellyfish/gas bags. It's young adult literature, but a quick read that might give you some ideas.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2012 16:10:11 GMT -8
I like the gremlin idea, but I think that would just turn into a straight up fight and I'm not sure how much fun that would be... I mean, I'd have a BLAST!!! Well, depending on the rules... anything where I can use critical failures to make players injure other players, especially with my group, I'm IN!!!
I like the idea of a vampire, but I see that as taking WAY too long or no where near any time at all...
The rulebooks I ordered are coming in this week, maybe I'll be able to tinker with the idea this weekend.
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Post by stork on Mar 19, 2012 16:18:59 GMT -8
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Post by Houndin on Mar 19, 2012 18:31:04 GMT -8
That's the episode I was thinking of!
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Mar 20, 2012 4:22:29 GMT -8
I completely forgot that Shatner did that. I was thinking: "Wait... I thought it was Jon Lithgow." My lack of culture in black & white TV is showing again.
Anyway, I think you're on the right track with the gremlin thoughts. Easy to add more and have them sprout up on various places on the plane. Rocket Nazis are going to give an entirely different feel that I don't think you're going for.
Stray thoughts: Start with another bomber or two in the wing having problems first. Strange radio messages and then silence. The other planes could crash, or as an added twist, one could turn and head it's way back to back to base to bomb it. Also, it might feel a bit railroady, but you might want the radio to be the first casualty on your bird.
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Post by jazzisblues on Mar 20, 2012 6:22:20 GMT -8
I completely forgot that Shatner did that. I was thinking: "Wait... I thought it was Jon Lithgow." My lack of culture in black & white TV is showing again. Anyway, I think you're on the right track with the gremlin thoughts. Easy to add more and have them sprout up on various places on the plane. Rocket Nazis are going to give an entirely different feel that I don't think you're going for. Stray thoughts: Start with another bomber or two in the wing having problems first. Strange radio messages and then silence. The other planes could crash, or as an added twist, one could turn and head it's way back to back to base to bomb it. Also, it might feel a bit railroady, but you might want the radio to be the first casualty on your bird. A way to not have it be railroady would be for the radio to just go wonky ... If they're in a storm and the radio is suddenly not being able to get clear reception. We're talking WWII technology here. Not the very best in radio ever. Don't even need to explain it, it's just being weird. Let them draw their own conclusions as to why. JiB
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jpk
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Post by jpk on Mar 20, 2012 12:32:08 GMT -8
To use what all we've got so far, how about...
So, your bomber is flying in formation. For some reason, whatever it is, the radio goes out. This could be that pesky gremlin that I'll assume only one member of your crew will see. Poor, crazy, deluded man.
The anti-aircraft rockets shoot by you, thankfully scoring no hits. Then, one of your gunners realizes they weren't so much rockets as rocket packs as he sees a few of their pilots drop onto other planes, at altitudes that a mere mortal man could not survive.
As these creatures fired upon you by the Reich begin their dirty work of destroying your fellow bombers, do you fire on them and risk having your whole formation turn on you as a madman, or do you watch your fellow airmen fall out of the sky one by one while you do nothing?
Either way, there's an excellent chance you'll be going down. That means a cold, dark night in the German forest. With whatever falls from the sky after tearing up the other planes.
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Post by greatwyrm on Mar 20, 2012 16:54:20 GMT -8
You could try making one of them a cylon... er... a doppelganger. We're talking about Germans, after all.
The crew is transporting an important McGuffin. Things start going wrong on the plane. Eventually the radio officer discovers a coded message being sent out. The gunners start spotting Jetpack-Waffen troops. When the first Nazi gets in, select a player at random and hand them a new doppelganger character sheet.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2012 17:46:20 GMT -8
The wheels are turning and the hampsters are undead!!!
I'm really warming up to the gremlins idea... I have 5 to 7 players depending on vacation, illness and irritation levels. That leaves me open to any of the major bombers: Halifax = crew of 6 Lancaster = crew of 7 Stirling = crew of 7 B-17 = crew of 10 B-24 = crew of 8 to 10 B-25 = crew of 5 B-26 = crew of 7
If I go with a B-17 or B-24 I would have a few extra crew to use as disposable NPC spotters; probably the waist gunners... The B-17 also had dorsal and belly turrets...
As was piointed out, radio outage is easily explained with weather, blown tubes, generic shoddy manufacturing, etc...
If gunner NPCs are the initial spotters, they can be taken out by enemy fire (flak or fighters) before they can explain/describe what they've seen, not that anyone would believe them.
Nazi rocket vampires initially sounded good to me, but theres just too many difficulties... I think unaligned amish gremlins might work better. They just hate technology or the engine noise scares away thier natural prey or they are attacking the intruders, ok, not very amish...
Mennonite Gremlins!!! The OTHER Pennsylvania Duthc!!!!
I wonder if I can learn the SW rules and write up an adventure and be ready to play Thursday night when I'll be down two players...
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Post by jazzisblues on Mar 20, 2012 19:26:47 GMT -8
I so totally need a shirt that says,
"Menononite Gremlins! The OTHER Pennsylvania Dutch"
Thank you for that laugh,
JiB
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jpk
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Post by jpk on Mar 20, 2012 22:03:21 GMT -8
Just as a clarification, the actual underpinning to the whole Weird Wars line is that the climate of violence, blood, and death brought about by war allows dark things to form or rise again. While the Nazis might have a bit of questionable technology or occult going for their side, they are just as likely to be eaten by a carniferous forest as the allies, and bloody fields of battle may have only inhuman survivors.
Feel free to camp it up if you want to go with the Amish, though. As long as y'all are enjoying it, that's what matters most.
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