Old School Role-Playing Games

2022-05-17T11:17:00.003+09:00

Day 10: Attack

Previously on TW2K solo play, the PCs met up with a Soviet unit that is considering desertion.

PCs:

Sarah Dempsey: 1st LT
Carlos Aguilera: Mechanic/driver
Jack Dempsey: Sniper
Harry Styles: Grenadier
Jeffrey McDonald: Machinegunner
Stephanie Mayner: Comms tech
Dylan Revie: Grunt
Marianna Gajos: Polish intelligence
Israel Broadbent: Ranger
Nathaniel Tates: Grunt

The Soviet supply convoy is due today. Svetlana (the Russian garrison officer) gets a call that the convoy should arrive early afternoon. She tells the PCs to stay in the church and the garrison will take care of unloading the trucks.

Sarah is concerned because, just overnight, the two groups have become surprisingly chummy. She knows that, while they may be able to travel together for a while, they will eventually have to split up as the PCs head west and the Russian head east.

In the afternoon, the convoy arrives. Comprised of a single BMP-1 and a GAZ-66 truck, they make their way to the church. The GAZ pulls into the parking lot behind the church and starts unloading; the BMP stays at the entrance to the parking lot, providing overwatch.

Unknown to everyone, a band of marauders had been following the convoy from a distance, waiting to see where the vehicles would go. As the Soviets start unloading the truck, the marauders split up and attempt to surround the area to get the supplies.

The marauders have a Polish BRDM-2 as their prime vehicle, with a Honker 4012 as their people mover. A group of five marauders are approaching the church through the alleys to the NW and another four are on foot moving through the fields to the NE. The two vehicles are traveling down the road from the north.

The BMP spots the BRDM and moves north to intercept, firing a short MG burst as a warning. The BRDM fires back, the bullets bouncing off the armour. The shooting distracts the Russians, causing them to not notice the marauder infantry.

Having not dissuaded the BRDM, the BMP fires it's autocannon, narrowly missing the armoured car. The car quickly drives past the BMP to get behind it, continuously firing it's heavy MG. Maneuvering to avoid the autocannon, the gunner shoots wide and takes out the wall of a house.

One of the bandits coming through the alley gets within 20m of a Russian guard at the parking lot entrance. He fires at the guard but misses. His friend, right behind him, also fires. The friend is a better shot, hitting the Russian in the chest.

The PCs, hearing all the action, grab their weapons and start looking out the doors and windows to see what's going on. Svetlana runs back into the church from the back parking lot and gets on the radio, intending to call in artillery support. The rest of the garrison falls back to the church.

The BMP attempts to turn around at the BRDM, causing the gunner to miss with the autocannon again. The BRDM, not to be outdone, turns around as well and drives back up the road from where it came.

The Russian guards at the parking lot entrance fire back at the bandits in the alley, scaring them but not hitting. Two more marauders come up the alley behind their friends and fire back, killing one of the guards. The first two fire again, hitting the remaining guard in the arms, nearly killing him.

Carlos, Harry, and Israel run outside to the technical, intending to drive really fast down the roads and scaring the hell out of the bandits. Unfortunately, a marauder has moved to the alley across from the church and is able to shoot Harry in the arm.

Svetlana reaches the artillery unit and calls in a strike. She doesn't know exactly where the marauders are and where to best shoot at, so she hopes a couple of rounds in the treeline north of the church will be sufficient to scare the attackers away.

The BMP and BRDM continue exchanging shots. A round from the cannon hits short, knocking down a marauder but not wounding him. The BRDM is able to get a solid hit on the BMP, the 14.5mm rounds tearing into the autocannon and disabling it.

Coming out of the church entrance, Stephanie sees the bandit who shot Harry. She quick fires, hitting the marauder in the legs. Harry is hit again as another marauder appears across the street. The round hits his chest as he climbs into the truck bed. He recovers and turns the DshK MG onto the alley. Marianna, having left the church as well, fires across the street but hits nothing.

Nate leaves the church and, reaching the sidewalk, lobs a frag at the marauders across the street. The explosion wounds three bandits.

Dylan comes out and turns north, intending to help the two guards at the parking lot entrance. He sees a marauder 30m away at the edge of the lot. Firing a single shot, as he is low on ammo, he makes a spectacular hit, blowing the bandit's skull apart. Jack comes up behind Dylan and shoots at a bandit behind the one Dylan just hit. Jack hits his target w/ a half dozen rounds to the chest.

Inside the church, Sarah runs to the opening at the back wall to provide whatever assistance may be required. Jeff busts out a window on the north side, sticking his SAW through. Unfortunately, his position prevents him from seeing any of the marauders.

The first artillery round lands, hitting 60m south of the church. While it wasn't near the marauders, one of the Russians at the edge of the parking lot is hit w/ shrapnel. The remaining Soviets at the back of the church blaze away at the marauders north of the parking lot. One is wounded while another is killed.

With the autocannon disabled, the BMP commander orders the driver to ram the BRDM. Gunning the engine, the tiny tank lurches forward just as the armoured car jumps forward. Missing the car, the BMP stops just where the BRDM was sitting. The sudden movement prevents the BRDM gunner from hitting the BMP.

Showing previously unknown shooting skills, Stephanie fires at the bandits across the street, killing one of them. The one who wasn't wounded by the grenade shoots at Jack and Dylan, missing them both.

Harry is finally able to get the DshK MG set up and fires a short burst at the alley across the street, chewing up dirt. Carlos hops into the driver's seat and honks the horn to alert everyone nearby that he is moving out. Israel climbs into the passenger seat.

Nate throws a smoke grenade at the intersection of the entrance of the parking lot and the road. It's not much, but hopefully it will minimize attacks from the marauders who shot the guards.

Dylan and Jack leave their position at the NW corner of the church to reach the south side of the building, planning their next move. Jeff realizes he can't see anything so he moves his LMG to the hole in the back wall, getting there just in time to hit one of the marauders in the treeline.

The BMP attempts to ram the BRDM again, and again misses. However, they end up stopped right next to each other so they can't aim their weapons low enough to shoot. The BRDM then moves, attempting to block the BMP's path. One of the bandits moves close enough to the BMP to open a rear door and climb inside. Due to the fight w/ the BRDM, no one inside notices.

Carlos pulls the truck onto the street and heads northward towards the smoke grenade. Harry is able to shoot from a moving vehicle, taking out one of the marauders. Israel, on the other hand, sucks and only wastes ammo.

Nate sees one of the Russian guards moving around and runs over to help him. As he approaches, he spots some bandits in the alley across the street and fires, hitting one of them. Jack and Dylan run across the street from the church, attempting to flank those marauders.

After correcting the fire, the next artillery round is spot on, landing in the treeline north of the parking lot. Two marauders are wounded and the GAZ truck takes minor shrapnel damage.

The BMP is finally able to scrape past the BRDM and move a little way down the road. The gunner notices that the rear door is open and spots the marauder that climbed inside. Unfortunately, the BMP's interior is too tight for the gunner to draw a weapon. The commander is dealing w/ the fight and doesn't notice. The BRDM realizes that one of their people climbed inside so they stop firing to avoid accidentally hitting him. The marauder inside the BMP has almost perfect line-of-sight at the driver. His shots in the confined space hit some of the surrounding gear, resulting in just grazing the driver's head.

As Carlos drives up the road to the NW and turns around in a driveway, Harry is able to hit another marauder in the chest. Israel still sucks and wastes more ammo. A bandit shoots at the truck, punching through the windscreen and hitting Israel in the chest. Having punch through the glass and hitting his flak vest, the bullet does no damage.

East of the church, a bandit comes around the corner of an annex building and sees a Russian coming towards him. He fires, hitting the Russian in the chest. One marauder tries to run across the parking lot but eats turf after being hit by both Jeff and a Russian.

Svetlana stops the artillery barrage to assess the damage. It appears most of the marauders are dead by now, but it's hard to tell who is left in the treeline. Fortunately, one of the Russian garrison soldiers makes it to the treeline and can see that all the bandits there are dead.

Not able to shoot back at their attacker, the crew of the BMP jump ship. As they pile out, the BRDM cuts loose w/ the HMG, using up the last of its ammo. The driver's legs are blown off and he lands wetly on the ground. The marauder climbs out of the BMP and shoots the gunner in the back. The bandit, in turn, is cut down by a Russian who is moving into the treeline.

The technical starts moving back down the road, allowing Harry to kill another bandit in the alleyway. Dylan and Jack move up the alley across from the first alley, coming upon a bandit trying to reload. Shooting at him, Jack misses while Dylan's shots bounce off the helmet.

Two Russians come around the annex building and light up the marauder hiding there, killing him instantly.

The BMP commander makes a dash for the safety of the nearby houses. As he comes around the corner, he spots one of the alley marauders fumbling with a new magazine. He burns a half dozen rounds, killing the marauder.

Out of ammo and with most of the infantry dead, the BRDM turns around and heads north in an attempt to get out of town.

Carlos drives the technical through the smoke of the smoke grenade, slowing down so he doesn’t accidently hit anything. As he comes out, he stops quickly as he sees the BMP sitting on the other side of the corner. There are no nearby bandits, but they can see the BRDM driving up the road, and the Honker in a parking space with a bandit running to climb in.

Israel hops out of the truck and moves to the BMP, finding the gunner lying on the ground. He doesn’t have an aid pack, so he does the best he can to patch the gunner up.Harry cuts loose with a short burst, hitting the runner in the head and killing him.

Dylan tries to shoot at a bandit, only to hear the click of an empty magazine. He fumbles around only to realize he’s out of ammo and has no secondary weapon. Luckily, Jack is able to take out the bandit.

The remaining bandit bolts from the BMP and sprints towards the Honker, reloading as he goes. Unfortunately for him, one of the Russians is a badass shot and blows his legs out from under him.

With no one to wait for, the Honker driver pulls out of the parking space and starts heading north with the BRDM.

Aftermath

The two marauder vehicles drive out of town, leaving behind their 15 dead. The Russians police up their gear and bury the bodies in a mass grave in the cemetery.

The Soviets got off relatively easy: only two dead and four wounded, with five soldiers unharmed plus Svetlana. The only PC to get hit was Harry and he should recover quickly.

TW2K 4e solo play, session 7

2022-05-02T04:12:00.003+09:00

Day 9: Recovery and Assessment

Previously on TW2K solo play, the PCs survived a fight between a rogue American tank crew and a Soviet recon force.

PCs:

Sarah Dempsey: 1st LT
Carlos Aguilera: Mechanic/driver
Jack Dempsey: Sniper
Harry Styles: Grenadier
Jeffrey McDonald: Machinegunner
Stephanie Mayner: Comms tech
Dylan Revie: Grunt
Marianna Gajos: Polish intelligence
Israel Broadbent: Ranger
Nathaniel Tates: Grunt

After the PCs settle down from the fight, they assess the situation.

The wounded American is Nathaniel Tates. He is a hardcore grunt, infantry all the way. He is grateful to Carlos for not killing him and patching him up, kind of like a life debt.

After the PCs move back to their vehicles, the decide to move their crew to the school gym nearby. It’s on a side road so it shouldn’t be immediately noticeable that the group is there.

There is a hole in the wall large enough to drive the trucks into the basketball court, and the locker rooms are surprisingly still okay. They set up camp at the entrance to the locker rooms, which allows them to use the rooms for sleeping and storage w/o fear of being ambushed. A guard is positioned near the hole in the wall, on the assumption that company would come from that location.

Stephanie and Marianna take possession of two of the AK-74s that were dropped by the dead Soviet soldiers and the rest are put in the cargo bed of the pickup truck for later use. The team is running low on 5.56mm ammo so they may have to resort to the Russian weapons soon.

Sarah and Marianna try to talk to the Russian soldier using faux sign language and pantomime but it is no use; he doesn’t understand what they are saying. Sarah decides to have Carlos and Jeff scout the town and find out where the Russian unit is located. Perhaps they can make a trade: return the soldier for some food.

The rest of the day is spent recovering and repairing from the battle as well as scouting for food and supplies. Only two rations are found, which are given to Harry and Israel as they are the most wounded. The Soviet camp isn't found, but Carlos befriends a stray dog, names it Mustang, and brings it back to camp.

The next day, everyone is starving. They make a concerted effort to find the Russian outpost this morning. Everyone splits up into pairs (minus Carlos and Mustang to guard the camp) and fan out into the town. The outpost if finally spotted at the old church.

When the PCs meet back up, they decide to be ambitious. They will drive the pickup truck towards the church. The truck will have four people: Sarah, Marianna, Jeff, and the captive Russian soldier.

Jack, Carlos, and Mustang will sneak through the houses on the north side of the church and set up a hide to cover the pickup. The rest will take the technical to the closest corner north of the church. If any shooting starts, they will drive down the N-S road and hit the Russians from the flank.

Overnight, the Russians have tended to the wounded and discussed the fight. They lost half the men that went into combat, and they have no ammo for the BTR-70. They are down to ten men, two of which are wounded.

The Russian commander is now ready to admit that their orders are stupid and will eventually kill them all. With the breakout at Kalisz, there are potentially more American units coming through town. Taking on a main battle tank was stupid; once it was spotted, the Russian infantry should have simply hid and watched the action. However, the fact that most of the Soviet troops were killed by infantry tells the commander that her soldiers are losing their skills; there was no reason why any of them should have died against other infantry. Or at least, that is what the ones who remained behind at the outpost say.

Regardless, the Russian commander plans to take the supplies tomorrow and skip town. They will head south towards Krakow and look at taking the Vistula river east; maybe they can hook up with other Soviet units or, even better, they can try to make it back home.

The PCs split up. They give Jack and Carlos a few minutes lead time to move through the houses, but plan on using the drive to the church as a diversion so they aren’t seen getting into position.

The pickup slowly moves down the road towards the church. So as to not surprise the Russians, they honk the horn a few times as they come near so the Russians know they are coming and don’t think it’s a surprise attack. The thought is that the Russians probably assumed that their attackers left along with the tank so any group in town is going to be suspicious at best, a followup attack at worst.

For their part, the Russians batten down the hatches, taking defensive positions and looking for threats. As the pickup comes into view of the church, it stops. Everyone gets out, hands in the air and no firearms visible. Marianna helps the wounded Russian get out of the truck, making a big show of it to make it obvious that they are helping and not hurting him.

Seeing what is going on, the Russian commander steps out from cover, directing another soldier to come along; their weapons are slung, but it’s obvious that the rest of the outpost is ready to shoot. The commander and comrade come closer, finally stopping about 10m away. The two groups look at each other for a second, then Sarah starts talking, explaining that they would like to return the wounded Russian to the outpost in return for food.

Surprising everyone, the Russian commander responds in English. Though it is obvious that she isn’t fluent, she has enough knowledge to converse fairly well. She respects the PCs having the dignity to not kill her comrade, asking permission to send her companion over to assist the wounded man.

Sarah gives permission, knowing that Jack and the others are nearby in case something happens. Marianna helps the wounded man walk to the other, then hands him off. The two soldiers walk back to the outpost, speaking Russian as they go.

Sarah puts her hand out to the Russian commander. The commander steps forward to shake it, introducing herself as Svetlana Romanov (Светлана Романов), saying that she will gladly share what meager rations they have, as she knows that a resupply is coming. She coyly gathers intel by asking how many people are in Sarah’s group so they can determine how much food will be needed.

Sarah says that they currently have ten, shocking the commander as it isn’t obvious where they are. She asks Sarah if they are somewhere else, in case they need to take the food to them, but Sarah responds that they can come to the church.

She signals to Jack and Carlos to come out of hiding. Jack comes out of the house he was hiding in and walks over, while Carlos moves through the alleys to tell the guys in the technical to come in. While that is happening, Sarah informs Svetlana that another truck is coming so the Russian soldiers don’t freak out and start shooting.

Svetlana is surprised at how many Americans were in town. And considering how equipped they are and the condition of her own people, plus the fact that the BTR has no ammo, it is unlikely that the garrison could have survived an attack.

Parking the trucks out front and leaving Jeff and Carlos to stay with them to provide security, the rest of the PCs head inside the church. The church is mostly intact; it wasn’t directly targeted for attack, but at least one mortar round hit the back of it. The wall where the altar was sitting is blown out, as is the altar itself. The rooms to the sides of the altar are caved in and the area from the wall to the second row of pews is covered in rubble.

The Soviets moved some of the pews into the opening in the wall to provide a bit of cover and hinder access from that side. Other than an OP (observation post) at the opening, the rest of the garrison set up at the front of the church. Svetlana made her bunk upstairs where the pipe organ is located, but a ladder was set up in case the staircase was unusable. The rest of the soldiers set up in main area, moving the pews around to clear out space while also setting up potential cover. A latrine was made outside while the kitchen was placed closer to the hole in the back wall for better ventilation.

Some of the Russians speak a smattering of English, while none of the PCs speak Russian. A couple Russians speak Polish, having family in Poland. Between everyone, they are able to communicate well enough to come to terms with each other. Humanizing each group helps to overcome their differences.

The PCs explain what has happened and the fact that they are now cut off from support and have been left to their own devices. The Russians explain that they are almost in the same situation. While there is some structure of Soviet military, the continuous fighting has made a lot of the hierarchy insolvent. Supply deliveries have become more sporadic to the point where the garrison believes that they have been forgotten.

Svetlana mentions that a supply convoy is supposed to arrive tomorrow but there has been no communications about what happens after that. Their current orders are to stay in this town and trap NATO forces moving through the area. For large forces, they have access to an artillery outpost nearby but it hasn’t been necessary in a while. Usually they spot stragglers moving across the fields and call the contact in for larger Soviet units to hit.

Marauders are another story. They have seen more of them moving through town lately. The artillery unit was been useful dealing with them. After one or two rounds come in, the bandits realize they are in a losing way and leave town, literally.

With ten men left, and three of them wounded, Svetlana knows that they can’t man this outpost any longer. She is angry that they have effectively been left out to dry with little support; if it wasn’t for the artillery support, they probably would have been taken out by marauders or NATO troops by now, as they have nothing in the way of heavy weapons.

Everyone beds down in the church. There is still wariness between the two factions, so it is decided that two PCs and two Russians will take watch, paired up with an opposite nationality.

TW2K 4E solo play, session 6

2022-03-21T06:18:00.002+09:00

Day 9: On the Move

Previously on TW2K solo play, the PCs left Dębicze and headed west after fording a river. They drove cross-country until they reached Doruchów, where they saw a Soviet patrol is in town.

PCs:

Sarah Dempsey: 1st LT
Carlos Aguilera: Mechanic/driver
Jack Dempsey: Sniper
Harry Styles: Grenadier
Jeffrey McDonald: Machinegunner
Stephanie Mayner: Comms tech
Dylan Revie: Grunt
Marianna Gajos: Polish intelligence
Israel Broadbent: Ranger

After a restless night, worrying whether they will be found by the Russians, the PCs wake up and plan to scrounge for more food; the Twinkies and last of the food from the villagers of Dębicze is gone so they have nothing else to eat.

With Jeff and Stephanie left behind to guard the pickups, the rest head out. As they skulk around the town, rying to avoid the Soviet unit, they spot an M1A1 Abrams tank rolling down highway 450 from the north about 100m away. Sitting on the turret are about a half dozen soldiers, apparently American.

Tank commander: 7♦, 6♣. He knows that the tank is valuable and powerful and has no problem using it to his advantage. He will threaten anyone who stands in his way if he perceives something of value can be gained, whether it’s food, fuel, or other.

Unknown to the PCs, the tank unit ran out of food two days ago and the soldiers are ravenous. They plan on taking over the town and looting everything before they move on, if they move on. They will have no problem killing the PCs and taking their gear, if possible. Several of the soldiers have acquired typhus and are infectious.

Not knowing whether the soldiers are actually Americans or not, the PCs assume cover positions and send Dylan out to attempt to talk to them; he stands in the middle of the road w/ his hands raised.

The tank commander sees Dylan in the road and immediately starts scanning for others in a possible ambush; even though Dylan is in American fatigues, it could be a trap. He spots movement in some nearby buildings and assumes they are going to be ambushed. He yells for the guys riding on the turret to get off, then grabs onto the commander’s MG, preparing to fire. In addition, he tells the gunner to man the coaxial MG and the gunner to climb up to the loader’s MG.

Combat

The six infantry men hop off the tank and fan out: two each to the right and left and the other two remain behind the tank in case an ambusher tries to attack the weaker areas.

The tank gunner fires the coax at Dylan, hitting him square in the chest. Dylan doesn't have a flak vest but somehow isn't immediately killed. He staggers backward and takes a knee, but isn't knocked down. He stumbles to the building north of him, ducking around the corner. Marianna comes out of the ruined building, pushing Dylan to the ground and applying first aid.

The tank commander spots Harry in the window of a building and cuts loose w/ the .50 cal. The shots go wide, taking huge chunks out of the window frame and punching through, but Harry is able to duck down and not get hit.

The loader fires at Jack and Sarah, who are on the SW side of the plaza in a copse of trees. The bullets tear off some branches and shatter wood but otherwise doesn't damage the two. Sarah tells Jack to concentrate on taking out the tank commander, then keeps an eye out for the dismounted infantry. Jack fires at the tank commander and hits him in the chest. It doesn't kill him but takes the fight out of him.

Carlos runs to Israel's position on the north side of the main street while Israel runs to the NE into a ruined building, attempting to get behind the tank.

Harry shoots his M203, trying to hit the top of the turret and splatter the commander and loader. He fails miserably, with the shot landing 25m to the north.

The driver turns the tank into the crater in the middle of the plaza while the gunner switches to the main gun and fires a HEAT round at the window where Harry is located. Since he didn't take the time to sight his target, and the tank is bumping over the edge of the crater, the shot goes wide and lands down the street about 20m away from Marianna and Dylan. They are okay, other than being covered in dust from the blown out wall nearby. Marianna helps Dylan up and they move further into the building.

Sarah spots the two infantrymen on the east side trying to flank her and Jack. She notifies Jack, who repositions to take them out. He is able to hit one of the soldiers in the chest, knocking him into the rubble. The other continues running down the street to the south, trying to get to the buildings down there.

As Carlos is moving through one of the ruined buildings, he spots two infantry running through the northern parking lot. He fires but misses. Israel, who is in a better position at the other building, is able to kill one of them. The other infantryman shoots back, hitting Israel in the chest. His flak vest takes the brunt of the impact, so he lives to tell about it.

Harry, scared about being targeted anymore, moves away from the window and goes to help Marianna and Dylan.

The tank loader, dropping down, loads another HEAT round for the gunner. The commander, recovering from being shot, thinks about a tank under infantry attack in an built-up environment and orders the crew to button up and lock the hatches.

Dylan, recovered slightly from being shot, wants to get out of the targeted building. He staggers out a door and moves into the street, using a burnt out car for cover. Marianna and Harry move upstairs to get a better look at the situation.

Jack fires a half dozen rounds at the man running to the south, hitting the guy in the legs. One femur is shattered by a bullet and the man bleeds out from a severed femoral artery.

Carlos improves his aim and is able to hit the remaining north-side soldier. Israel has to quick reload his rifle and fires a snap-shot but misses.

The previously-shot-by-Jack soldier recovers, rolls over in the rubble, and fires in Jack's direction. Though he burns through is magazine, no shots land.

The two soldier who were following the tank make it into the crater. One moves to the west side of the crater, peeking over the rim. The other climbs up onto the turret to use the loader's MG. The loader was in the process of closing his hatch when he sees the guy moving to his gun, so he drops down into his seat to let the infantryman sit on the edge of the hatch.

The commander slews his thermal sight around, looking for targets. Spotting Jack's position, he tells the gunner to use the coax. The gunner fires, hitting Jack in the chest, suppressing Jack and Sarah.

Dylan finally makes it to Carlos' position. Seeing the guy Carlos and Israel are shooting at, Dylan fires as well. He hits the man in the groin, severing an artery.

With no one else in sight, Carlos turns his attention to the tank. He heads south to the street, shooting at the guy on top but misses.

At this point, the Russians have heard the firefight and roll out with the BTR-70, loaded with a full hull of soldiers. The commander and five soldiers remain behind at the church. They reach the SW end of the main street and pile out of the APC.

Israel moves to the second floor of the building he is in and aims at the guy on the tank's turret, hitting his legs as he is getting into position behind the MG.

Harry, also on the second floor of his building, is able to hit the infantryman at the crater's rim in the chest, causing him to roll back into the crater.

The soldier shooting at Jack does a quick reload and fires again at Jack, again missing.

The dismounted Russians split up, with four to the north and three to the south, intent on making it into the buildings.

The tank commander spots the BTR down the street and orders the gunner to take it out. The turret swings right and a shot is fired but misses, hitting the building right next to the BTR. The loads preps an APFSDS round next.

Curious what the tank is shooting at, Sarah moves west through the bushes and spots the BTR down the street. The BTR moves east and gets behind the trees where Sarah and Jack are hiding, who both hope that they aren't spotted. With their focus on the tank, it is highly unlikely that the APC crew will spot the two in the trees.

Seeing the tank shoot at something behind her, Marianna moves over to the ruined back wall and sees the four Russians rushing through the rubble. She yells out to Harry, alerting him to the new threat.

Carlos makes it to the crater's edge, deciding on the biggest threat. He decides the wounded man on top of the turret is a good target, forgetting that he needs to reload first. Israel, on the other hand, has no problem popping some caps and again hits the turret guy in the legs.

Harry rushes over to where Marianna is, reloading his M203 as he goes. He sights the Russians down below and fires a grenade. Having bad luck, he misses and the grenade explodes harmlessly down the street.

The Russians see Harry on the second floor and shoot, hitting him the chest. His flak vest takes most of the damage, so he doesn't immediately die. While that is happening, Marianna moves downstairs and waits to ambush any Soviets who plan to move upstairs.

The wounded soldier in the crater recovers and spots Carlos on the edge. He fires, chewing up the dirt in front of Carlos.

The BTR, catching a lucky break while the tank is reloading, cuts right and parks behind a house on the south side. The Russian infantry run to where it is hiding and regroup.

Seeing no Russians immediately in view, Jack runs over to Sarah in the trees and suggests that they move into one of the houses nearby.

Carlos and Dylan both target the wounded soldier in the crater but both miss. Israel runs out of the building and into the crater, hiding behind the rear of the tank. Being wounded and outgunned, the soldier throws down his weapon and raises his hands, hoping for mercy.

Harry takes the opportunity of the Russians having to reload to crawl away from the back wall and into better cover. Since no one is running into the stairwell, Marianna moves back upstairs to check on him.

The wounded man on the turret deck yells into the hatch that they need to get out of here. The commander, not being able to see the BTR anymore and not knowing how many infantry are out there, decides that they better get out of town before someone throws a Molotov onto the tank. He directs the driver to move forward and then turn east once they are out of the crater.

As the tank moves, the gunner is finally able to spot the BTR at the corner of a building and fires. The APFSDS round plows through the turret, destroying all the ammo for the MG, though no one is injured directly. The effect of being fired upon spooks the crew, who all bail out.

One of the last soldiers, who was hiding behind a wall after shooting at Jack, sees the tank moving and gets up to run after it. He is shot from across the plaza by a beautiful shot from one of the Russian infantry, plowing into the rubble as he dies.

Sarah and Jack make a mad dash for the nearest house, crashing through the front door.

Carlos, Dylan, and Israel are left w/ the last, wounded soldier in the crater. After securing him, Carlos applies first aid.

The Russians at the building where Marianna and Harry are located. Two decide to move inside while the other two move around the south side and scope out the situation (it was one of these latter two who made the shot across the plaza and killed the infantryman.)

The tank successfully gets out of the kill zone to safety, leaving behind one wounded man and five KIA.

Sarah and Jack are holed up in the house. Jack keeps an eye out front while Sarah watches the Soviets out the back window.

Peeking over the rim, Dylan spots the two Russians next to the building. He shots a dozen rounds, killing one of them. The other Russian shoots back, missing Dylan but hitting Israel in the chest. Again, Israel's vest holds but he is left with a couple broken ribs.

Marianna gets to Harry and applies a field dressing. She is able to stop the bleeding but not much else.

From the south, the Russian infantry moves around the buildings to get towards the crater. One of them spots Dylan, shoots but misses. At the same time, the Russian who shot Israel turns his attention to Dylan, also missing.

Taking fire from two directions, Dylan crawls back into the crater and heads towards Israel.

Having patched Harry as best as she can, Marianna grabs his rifle and positions him and herself in a corner where she can see both entrances into the room. One of the Russians creeps upstairs and peeks around the door frame. Marianna sees him and fires through the drywall, hitting his chest and knocking him backwards. Hearing this, the other Russian moves cautiously up the other set of stairs.

Carlos talks to the wounded prisoner, shocked to learn that, yes, indeed, the tank crew was American. They thought the PCs were going to ambush the tank, using someone dressed as an American as a decoy.

The Russian who was shooting at Dylan and Israel takes the opportunity to run across the street into the trees recently vacated by Jack and Sarah. The other Russian infantry continue moving between the houses towards the crater. With the tank gone, the BTR crew mounts up and prepares to move up the street to the crater.

The Russian hit by Marianna moves to the stairs and heads back down. The Russian coming up the stairs behind Marianna swings around the door frame, firing at Marianna but missing, then ducks back. Marianna turns, firing at the opposite door, guessing where the shooter is but misses. The Russian blind-fires around the corner, missing both Harry and Marianna but running out of ammo.

After talking to the wounded American, Carlos returns his rifle and they both crawl to the crater's edge and look over. They are engaged by the Russian infantry and duck back down. The American pokes his rifle over the rim and somehow is able to knock down one of the Soviet soldiers.

Laying against the crater wall, Israel spots a Russian climb up the south edge of the crater. He fires, taking out the Russian's legs and causing him to fall into the crater. Dylan turns around, sees the rolling body, and fires as well, killing the Russian.

Hearing the shooting upstairs between Marianna and his comrade, the Russian who was moving out of the building turns around and heads back up.

The BTR moves up the street, positioning itself to provide cover for the infantry. The gunner presses the firing trigger, only to realize that the MG ammo was destroyed and they have nothing.

Hearing the AK running out, Marianna rushes to the doorway, shooting the Russian at point-blank range. She hits true, but hits the helmet. It stuns the Russian, causing him to roll down the stairs to the next landing and losing his rifle. Marianna's M4 is now empty. Dropping the rifle, she draws her pistol and fires at the downed Russian. Finding out she is an awesome shot, she again hits him in the head. But, being pistol rounds, the helmet absorbs the impact. She unloads the rest of her magazine into the guy's chest.

Seeing the infantry moving north to get behind the BTR, Jack takes a shot and kills one with a head shot. One of the infantry moves to see if his comrade is still alive, leaving his back open for Jack to punch holes through.

Carlos and the American peek over the rim, spot the BTRs MG pointed at them, and immediately duck down.

The Russian who was moving upstairs gets back to the doorway, again peeking around the corner. He doesn't see Marianna, who is in the other stairwell, but he sees Harry, barely conscious, sitting in corner. Considering Harry as a non-threat, he moves across the room to the other entrance. Looking around the corner, he doesn't immediately spot Marianna, as she is on the lower landing. She had picked up the M4 to reload it, then walked down to pick up the dropped AK-74.

One of the two remaining Soviet infantry stumbles to the side of the BTR, hoping to get inside before the sniper strikes again. The other one, closer to the APC, gets to the door first and opens it. The two soldiers hop in and the driver guns the engine, turning onto the N-S road with the intention of heading south.

The American in the crater moves to the other side. The plan is for him and Carlos to rush the APC. Even if it does have ammo, it won't be possible for the gunner to target both of them at once. Dylan will be providing a distraction/cover fire.

Harry takes the opportunity to yell to Marianna, warning her of the threat. He then throws a chunk of concrete at the Russian, distracting him long enough for Marianna to fire a burst at the doorway.

With the BTR moving out, Jack, Carlos, and everyone who is not Marianna and Harry, look around for any further threats. Hearing the shots from Marianna, everyone breaks cover to move toward the building.

Harry somehow finds strength to get up and charge the Russian. Unaware of the attack from behind, the Russian is knocked off balance. His rifle gets caught beneath him as the two men fall, breaking his arm. The compound fracture severs his brachial artery and he bleeds to death.

Aftermath

The PCs win but several are wounded.

• Dylan (3 hits)

• Harry (4 hits)

• Israel (3 hits)

Harry nearly died but barely held on. Israel has broken ribs. Dylan just has body bruising and minor damage from being hit in the chest.

The badly wounded Russian is bandaged as best as possible. He doesn’t speak English or Polish so the PCs can’t talk to him. The wounded American really has no choice but to join the PCs.

Twilight 2000 4E solo play, session 5

2022-03-20T10:49:00.011+09:00

Day 8: Base Camp

Previously on TW2K solo play, the PCs and villagers set up a camp (soon to be fort) in the Polish town of Dębicze, tying a church and old workshop together across the road. The ambushed a prisoner convoy, defeating the Polish guards and releasing all the prisoners, who became members of the village.

Meet the PCs (again):

Sarah Dempsey: 1st LT
Carlos Aguilera: Mechanic/driver
Jack Dempsey: Sniper
Harry Styles: Grenadier
Jeffrey McDonald: Machinegunner
Stephanie Mayner: Comms tech
Dylan Revie: Grunt
Marianna Gajos: Polish intelligence
Israel Broadbent: Ranger

The PCs get up just after dawn and have a discussion. With approx. 50 villagers now, assuming the former prisoners stay, the PCs feel it is time to move on. Food is going to be hard enough to find as is; trying to get double rations for the PCs to take with them is only going to make things worse.

Plus, they have been in the village for five days already. They have enough fuel for a couple of days drive, and with villages relatively common, they should be able to scrounge up more as necessary.

Sarah talks to the village leader, telling him of their plan. He is irritated but realizes that he will have enough on his plate with the new villagers. While he would love to have the PCs stick around to provide support, having even just a few less mouths to feed might make a difference.

Thus, the PCs spend the morning getting everything packed up to head south. As a courtesy, knowing that the PCs eventually want to head west, the villager leader tells them about a ford across the Prosna River only a klick and a half away.

However, there is no road directly there, as it is Obszar Chronionego Krajobrazu Dolina Prosny; in English, the Protected Landscape Area Prosny Valley. They can take the road south for a bit, but then they will have to turn off and go overland through the farms. Once they get across, they will still be traveling overland for a while before they will hit some backroads at small farms. There are few wooded areas on that side of the river, so they will have to be careful about being spotted.

Other than the small villages, the biggest city they should run into will be Doruchów, about 8km due SW of Dębicze. After that is the Kepno metro area to the south or Ostrzeszow to the east. The village leader provides a hand-drawn map describing the area, as there are no maps in the village that he knows of.

The PCs thank him and head out after lunch. Just before they go, they write down instructions for basic construction projects, such as continuing the fortifications and jury-rigged construction equipment.

(It is assumed that alcohol has been found within the past five days, most likely liquor from some ove the houses.)

The PCs through the afternoon, cutting across fields and traversing irrigation ditches when necessary. The do reach the backroads in the small villages and roll through, not wanting to get stuck dealing w/ more civilians or, especially, refugees.

The roads aren’t the best. Damage from errant bombs and artillery, plus lack of maintenance for months or years means the PCs have to drive moderately slow so they don’t run into potholes, craters, and debris.

Luckily they do okay and don’t encounter anything notable until they reach Doruchów. While considered a small city in the ‘90s, with a population of just over 2,000, it’s a metropolis compared to what the PCs have seen so far.

As the PCs reach the outskirts of town, they slow down, keeping an eye on everything. Their primary goal is to find a grocery store, restaurant, or similar food location to scrounge for food before night.

As they near the city center, Marianna sees a sign for a bakery. While it is unlikely to have anything fresh, it’s possible that some canned products, such as milk, might still be present.

At the same time, the back end of a BTR-70 is seen trundling down the road in front of them. They haven’t been spotted yet, so they quickly turn off the road into a parking lot.

The parking lot is part of a “strip mall”, but the business are separated from each other. This provides the PCs an opportunity to hide their pickups behind one of the buildings and hide them from the street.

The PCs have a conundrum: do they scavenge in the ruins and risk encountering the Russian patrol, and potentially a larger force, or do they exit town and hope they can find supplies somewhere else?

Fuel-wise, the pickups have only used 1/3 of their tanks, plus they have some jerry cans, so they don’t need to worry about fuel for a while. However, they really have no food, as what they brought from the village is only good for the night. They will need more food if they don’t want to have problems.

The PCs decide that they will spend some time scrounging and, depending on what the enemy forces look like, ambush them for more supplies, or try to sneak in and steal food.

Total Russian forces in town

15 soldiers, one BTR70, one GAZ-66 truck, 23 MREs, R-392A radio, and fire support from a 122mm howiter (5 HE rounds) artillery unit 2km away at Tuz Grażyna. Hodowla drobiu (livestock breeding farm).

The Russian outpost is located in the Roman Catholic church on the SE part of town, which housed a museum of the last witch trial in Poland. The church is mostly ruined now, having sustained bombardment during city fighting. A burned-out tank sits on the road outside.

The Soviet unit is charged with catching NATO force stragglers that might come into the city ruins, but there is internal conflict. Some of the group wants to leave and head back to either Kalisz or Olesnica, where the HQ of several Russian units are. Some of the group want to continue their set mission. A minority simply want to give up on the war and become landlords of the town, doing their own thing and not caring about military structure. Right now, the military structure and duties group has control, but every day more are considering alternatives. Supply is getting more sporadic as time goes by and they haven’t seen any NATO forces in nearly a week. They haven’t started looting the city yet, other than hitting up some of the nearby liquor and convenience stores, but it’s only a matter of time.

Unknown to the PCs, a resupply convoy is due to arrive in town in only three days, which should have enough food and supplies for days. However, the mission of this Russian outpost is no longer a priority so this will be the last supply run. The outpost will be informed that they are to move to Kalisz and join with the forces there for new orders. The supplies should be enough for the outpost personnel to make it back to HQ.

Outpost officer: 4♥ (weak fellowship), 7♣ (moderate violence). An attractive woman who is hopeful for the future and a survivor. She is willing to to what is necessary to keep herself and her people alive, even if it means abandoning the Soviet army and going “independent”. She is starting to see the futility of the war and how much misery it is putting on people, both civilians and military. At this point, the Soviet army is just making things worse for everyone, rather than accomplishing a specific goal. Once nukes got involved, she realized that sanity had left the building and is thinking that it might be better to just melt into the population rather than continue fighting for a lost cause.

When the supply convoy arrives, she will have to make a decision whether to follow orders and join the meat grinder or take her team’s chances on the open road.

The PCs find debris and broken tree branches to camouflage the trucks and leave Stephanie and Jeff to guard the hide. The PCs go scrounging andare able to find a box of Twinkies, a fishing pole, and an electric mixer than can be scrapped for electronic parts. (Assume everyone is able to have a single meal before all food is gone).

Everyone beds down for the night, split between two of the derelict shops. They did find a large school nearby that was partially destroyed but didn’t want to try moving the vehicles during the night.

TW2K 4E solo play, session 4

2022-03-07T10:04:00.008+09:00

Day 6: Base Camp

Previously on TW2K solo play, the PCs and villagers set up a camp (soon to be fort) in the Polish town of Dębicze, tying a church and old workshop together across the road. They learned of a possible target of opportunity: a supposed US soldier has knowledge of a stash of silver which could help the PCs get back to Germany.

Meet the PCs (again):

Sarah Dempsey: 1st LT
Carlos Aguilera: Mechanic/driver
Jack Dempsey: Sniper
Harry Styles: Grenadier
Jeffrey McDonald: Machinegunner
Stephanie Mayner: Comms tech
Dylan Revie: Grunt

After learning about the alleged silver stash, the PCs discuss their options. Staying in Dębicze isn't really an option if they want to meet friendly forces. They might pick up the occasional straggler or deserter, but nothing like actual military commands. And even if they plant crops, those won't be ready for harvest for several months. Right now, with the villagers' help, they are just barely able to forage, hunt, and fish enough food each day to sustain everyone, but not really enough to improve life.

Fuel is pretty good. Their current quantity could get the pickup truck to Praska or the Kepno area before they would have to find/distill more. Food is going to be the main thing. They can work hard with the villagers to gather enough to head out with a week's load, or they can just head out and make do as they go.

The PCs decide to stick around for a week to help the village get established. There are currently about 20 villagers with the new refugees arrival, so there are plenty of warm bodies to do a lot of work improving the fort and getting food.

The improvised fort should be ready to go in a week. Wooden walls reinforced w/ sandbags have been erected at either end of the road where the fort is being built. By the end of the week, more wall can be built around the exposed portions of the workshop and church.

Day 7

Stragglers

In the morning, two individuals, possibly US soldiers, are spotted wandering around the village by one of the roving village patrols. While one guard follows discretely, the other runs back to fort to alert everyone.

The PCs and some villagers take positions in the path of two Americans. Calling out from inside one of the houses, Sarah tells the two to freeze. Naturally, they don't do that and jump into cover. Grumbling about stupidity, Sarah calls out again, telling them that they won't be hurt and the PCs just want to talk. After getting no response, she tries one more time, "We are friendly. If you want to join our group, let's talk. If you don't want to join, then you better haul ass out of town right now."

The two Americans yell out that they are willing to talk and lower their weapons. Dylan steps out of the front door of a house, rifle hanging from its sling and hands raised. Naturally, the rest of the group is covering him from cover.

Dylan approaches while the two soldiers step cautiously out of cover. Dylan explains the situation and tells the two that they are free to join the PCs at the fort if they are willing to work. Otherwise they need to leave town ASAP. The two agree and everyone heads back to the fort.

The two Americans are watched by the villagers and a couple of PCs while they are provided with a little food and water. They are even allowed to use some hot water to take a sponge bath.

The PCs discover that one of the soldiers is not American. The woman is Marianna Gajos, a Polish intelligence agent who was in the field when Kalisz fell. A Polish national who had moved to the US prior to the war, she joined the war effort as part of the DIA. She was embedded with higher echelons of the 5th Mechanized Division during their push into Poland. When the artillery started, she hooked up with a Ranger unit that was working for the 5th.

That’s where the other soldier comes in. Israel Broadbent is a US Ranger, part of a detachment assigned to the 5th Mech. Division to help with recon and flank screening as the unit maneuvered around Poland. Israel knew Marianna due to her briefings, and his unit happened to be having breakfast with Marianna when the 5th got overran.

Marianna joined the Rangers as they beat feet out of town. The Rangers commandeered an M113 that hadn’t been claimed yet and they headed south. Traveling by road, and overland when necessary, they made it to Zawady before running out of fuel. The two volunteered to look for fuel.

While they were scouting the town, marauders found the APC and ambushed the Rangers guarding it. Marianna and Israel moved as quickly as possible to the APC but could see there was nothing they could do to help. So they took what they could and headed south through the fields, near enough to the road to see if other American forces were using it but far enough that they wouldn’t be easily seen.

They had entered Dębicze from the eastern side, following one of the roads through the forest, and that’s when they were spotted by the village patrol.

For the PCs, they realize this means they have more mouths to feed on the journey but, beneficially, they can take both the pickup and the technical on the trip.

Prisoners

The guard on duty spots a convoy coming up the road from the south. They are spotted only when they are halfway through town, less than 150m away. Sarah climbs onto a high portion in the wall and looks through her binoculars, seeing something odd.

It looks like nearly two dozen Polish guards are herding a group of prisoners to the north; the prisoners are tied to one another. The guards are mounted on horses, forcing the prisoners to march on foot. Judging by their stumbling, the prisoners have been marching for most of the day, if not longer. The PCs only have a couple of minutes, at most, before the group reaches the barricades they have set up.

As the prisoner column is coming straight up the road toward the walled fort. They can't see the fort yet so Sarah directs villagers to leave the fort and try to achieve flanking positions. The other PCs do the same.

On the northern side (right side of column) Carlos and Israel try go to through a yard to get a look at the Y-intersection. As soon as he gets in sight of the intersection, Israel sees a guard on a horse. Israel burns through half his magazine, hitting nothing. Moving slower, Carlos isn't in sight yet.

Harry, in the church sniper position w/ Jack, takes aim at one of the guards at the head of the column. Somehow, he is able to hit the guard in the head from 140m away with one shot, killing the guard instantly. Jack, unfortunately, isn't able to do the same.

Half a dozen villagers stay in the fort, keeping an eye on the northern approach and the western flank. The rest of the armed villagers hop the fence and start moving through the north and south houses to flank the Poles.

Carlos, Israel, and a couple villages end up in a small firefight w/ three Polish guards. They ultimately prevail but Israel is hit in the chest. his flak vest absorbing some of the damage.

Harry should have been a sniper, as he knocks another guard from his horse from long range.

Jack and Jeff are able to take out some more of the front guards, then Jeff starts moving through the yard on the north edge of the road to help support Carlos and Israel.

Two of the Polish guards take roads on the south side of the town, trying to get to the fort from the west.

Harry spots them from the church, climbs down, and yells to Sarah that they have a problem. Sarah and Marianne start running down a side road in an attempt to catch the two riders. Stephanie runs to the western side of the workshop to alert the guards over there.

With the main guards at the Y-intersection eliminated and not knowing the status of the two who went west, the Polish officer in charge of the prisoner movement realizes that the situation is not sustainable and heads back south, gathering the rest of the guards along the way, They continue south, leaving the prisoners behind.

Harry is able to sprint hard and get into a field just in time to see two villagers shoot it out with the two Polish riders. The villagers are ultimately gunned down, but Harry is able to avenge them by taking out the two Poles single-handedly, though he does take a couple hits himself.

With the shooting stopped, Marianne gets close to the prisoners and calls out in Polish, asking if there are any more guards. Some of the prisoners respond that they don't think so. Cautiously, some of the villagers and PCs move forward to cut the ropes off the prisoners and bring them into the fort.

With dusk arriving, everyone realizes that there is no way another 30 people can stay within the confines of the fort's walls. Thus, the villager leader coordinates to put the former prisoners in the nearby houses for the night. Some gruel is provided; it's not much but that, plus a roof over their heads, is good enough for the hard-worn ex-prisoners. And just in case, the security patrols are doubled during the night.

Addendum

Thoughts about this session: Using the solo rules to speed up combat really speeds it up. If an NPC is hit, they are immediately suppressed. That means they can't do anything next round, so the PCs have free reign for that next round. This leads to a lot of NPCs dying quickly.

The rule that, if one NPC has to reload, they all have to reload is...interesting. It does mean you don't have to bother w/ ammo management but does mean that, similar to above, they all don't do much the next round.

Using Foundry VTT, or any other virtual table top, really makes it easier to keep track of things, especially if you want to use Google Maps images as the battle map. Just overlay a hex grid on the image and you're GTG. It does take a bit of work getting the whole thing aligned, so I'd only recommend it for instances where the Google map deviates significantly from any existing battle maps.

Twilight 2000 4E solo play, session 3

2022-02-27T10:08:00.003+09:00

Day 4: Base Camp

Previously on TW2K solo play, our characters had a shootout with the marauders that were chasing the villagers. As they were cleaning up, a scout group of Russian military happened upon the farm the PCs were using as a base. Though the PCs weren't caught, they and the villagers thought it wise to move further down the road.

Meet the PCs (again):

Sarah Dempsey: 1st LT
Carlos Aguilera: Mechanic/driver
Jack Dempsey: Sniper
Harry Styles: Grenadier
Jeffrey McDonald: Machinegunner
Stephanie Mayner: Comms tech
Dylan Revie: Grunt

The group moves about a kilometer down the road to the village of Dębicze. They end up setting up their new home between a church and the wood workshop across the road.

Once they determine which buildings are going to be incorporated into the primary base, the PCs get started with fortifying it and making it useful. Stephanie tries to set up an antennae to boost the capabilities of the radios they have. Jack sets up a sniper hide in the attic of the church. Jeff and Harry teach the villagers about fortification building.

Sarah calculates the supplies they will need to continue on their journey and a rough timeline of when that might be. Assuming they can travel 40km every six hours (using back roads and trails), and they will drive 12 hours per day, they will need 16L of alcohol per day of travel or 80L for five days. In addition, they will need 35 meals for the seven PCs for the five day journey.

With nearly two dozen villagers, if the villagers and PCs are able to find two rations for each person per day, the PCs could have that food ready within two days. However, it's mid-summer so there are no crops to harvest. The war has probably scared off most big game in the area, leaving small animals like birds, rabbits, etc. But with the river nearby, fishing is an option.

Sarah determines that a week in the village might be sufficient to get enough food for the journey while also giving the villagers a little bit extra. However, they need to remember that unpreserved food is only good for a week, as they have no refrigeration to prolong its shelf life, so they need to act fast if they want to get ahead of the food lost or eaten.

While the PCs and villagers are busy with that, a small force of Soviet troops shows up at the farm the group just left. Comprised of 14 soldiers in a BMD-2 and UAZ truck, the soldiers perform a closer inspection of the farm. Between the bullet casings, trash, and sudden disappearance of the villagers and marauder pickup truck, it is obvious that Americans were here and the villagers were hiding them. Since the villagers wouldn't move very far, the Russians need to figure out where they most likely moved to. Where the villagers go, the PCs most likely followed as the villagers have already shown their support of the Americans.

With night coming, the Russians don't want to move at night due to the possibility of ambush; even with the night vision system on the BMD-2, it only works in a limited range. The likelihood of an ambush by the Americans is too likely to decimate the Russians.

The Russians hole up at the farm, parking the BMD and UAZ near the farm house. One soldier is placed in the barn's hayloft and another in the old bunker in the roof of the farm house. The BMD is constantly manned, using its night vision equipment to continually survey the surrounding farm yard.

In the morning, the Russian make a decision about where the villagers moved to. Guessing incorrectly, they head back north to Skrzynki. Because there are more villages in that area, including Zawady just up the road, the Russians figured that it would be a good place to set up, as there are more places to scrounge.

Mid-morning, the PCs hear an explosion in the distance. Unknown to them, the Russian unit ran into an ambush set by marauders. An AT missile took out the BMD-2 while the UAZ was shot up by the other marauders.

The PCs question whether they should go investigate but decide discretion is the better action. They are in no position to take on a superior unit, especially one that is packing explosives.

In early evening, five American soldiers come into Dębicze from the countryside to the northwest of town. Stephanie is on watch but can't see them from her position, as she is more concerned with monitoring the north-south road through town.

Since most everyone is occupied in working on the church and workshop defenses, the Americans have free reign, more or less, of the town. It's not until one of the villagers on guard duty on a nearby street spots the soldiers that an alarm is raised.

The US soldiers, tired, hungry, and lacking ammunition, realize that an active fortification means more people and that means they are in no condition to get into a fight. The soldiers rapidly make their way back through town and out into the fields again.

With the fright of the soldiers on their mind, Jack goes on watch with Sarah's night vision goggles and spends most of the night on the roof of the church, imitating a revolving lighthouse.

In the morning, seven refugees are spotted coming up the road from the south. They are traveling with a horse-drawn cart. The village takes cover behind the slowly evolving walls, while two of them come down to talk to the refugees.

After some discussion, the refugees are allowed into the compound, though the PCs suggest to the new village leader that the refugees should be watched for a few days to 1) ensure they aren't dangerous and 2) see if they might have infectious diseases.

After the refugees are settled in and given some of the small amount of food available, they tell a tale.

A group of US soldiers uncovered a stash of silver objects in a turn-of-the-century mansion. As the soldiers were loading their vehicles, a group of Polish Guard attacked. One man survived, barely, and has been quietly telling people about it. He says he wants to hire someone to help recover it as long as they take him west.

When pressed, the refugees don’t know where the man can be found. They suggest that Krakow may be the most likely place, as it is the largest city to the south. The PCs scoff, realizing that there is no way a story like that would make it this far north.

After looking at a map, Sarah points out that Krakow is more or less in the direction they are going. Assuming they can’t find a bridge to cross safely, or run into enemy forces in the forests south of Praszka, they may have to go to Krakow before they can head west.

Twilight 2000 4E solo play, session 2

2022-02-23T10:51:00.003+09:00

Day 2: Defense Preparations

Previously on TW2K solo play, our characters had made it out of the immediate fighting of Kalisz to the small village of Kopeć. They took shelter in an abandoned farmhouse and took a break to figure out what to do next. A US soldier stumbled upon the group and ended up joining the team. Also, and more importantly for the story, some of the villagers showed up after being chased by marauders.

Meet the PCs (again):

Sarah Dempsey: 1st LT
Carlos Aguilera: Mechanic/driver
Jack Dempsey: Sniper
Harry Styles: Grenadier
Jeffrey McDonald: Machinegunner
Stephanie Mayner: Comms tech
Dylan Revie: Grunt

The morning after the villagers/refugees show up, Sarah spends time talking to the villagers to formulate a defensive plan for the farm. Carlos works on the pickup truck, in case they need to leave quickly, then performs basic maintenance on the villagers' weapons.

In the afternoon, nearly a dozen more villagers suddenly show up. Amidst the hugging and crying with the original group that arrived, an interesting turn of events has occurred.

It seems the raiders have set up a base only a kilometer down the road in Dębicze.

In addition, a fight occurred between the marauders, leading to actual gunfire. Six were killed, and this group of villagers were able to escape in the chaos. However, another dozen or so villagers remain as captives.

The village leader would, naturally, like to go rescue them but Sarah reminds him that the raiders were also looking for his group. There is a good possibility that the marauders will come to the farm on their own, which will make it easier to fight them defensively rather than attacking a fortified compound.

With that in mind, the PCs and villagers spend the rest of the day preparing the farm for an attack.

Day 3: Attack

The raiders attack in the morning. Fourteen men, plus their leader (red icon), come to the farm. They have one technical (pickup w/ DshK on pintle mount) while everyone is armed w/ an AKM.

On the home team, we have the PCs and their various weapons, plus 17 villagers, all armed with double-barrel shotguns. Unfortunately, they each only have four shells, so they need to make them count. (Want to guess how well that goes?)

The firefight is finished in just over a minute. Tactics are minimal on both sides.

The PCs split their forces between the farm house, the barn, and the woods. The villagers scattered around the farm yard, mostly just staying out of sight. The raiders were overconfident, not knowing that the villagers had actual military people on their side.

Jeff had taken the M240 from the pickup and climbed into the hayloft of the barn, aiming out the loft door and the ruined wall next to it. Stephanie, being just a contractor and not having military training, acted as his A-gunner, as well as pointing out targets.

Sarah, Carlos, and Jack were in the house. Jack was in his normal hide on the second floor while Sarah and Carlos were on the ground floor, looking out the windows.

Harry and Dylan were at the front of the yard, in the trees next to the road. Their role was to ambush the attackers coming from the right side of the road. To help, three villagers, including the village leader (green icon), joined them in the woods.

The marauders charged into the farm while the leader and his crew drove the technical into the yard. One of the men hopped up to man the DshK while the others (minus the driver) hopped out.

Long story short, between Jack and Jeff, only one marauder on the left flank survived and one from the technical. The leader was taken out early by Jack, who also took out most of the other truck members.

Jeff had a hard time actually killing people, but did well wounding them. He did have some success covering Harry and Dylan, taking out at least one attacker.

Sarah and Carlos had fun shooting up the attacker's truck but doing little more than minor suspension damage and punching holes in the metal.

Harry and Dylan covered each other well, though Harry had a bad habit of catching bullets; two bounced off his helmet and he took one in the chest. Luckily, his kevlar did the job and he only took minor wounds; the same couldn't be said for those not wearing armour.

The only villager to die was the leader. After running out of shotgun shells, he pretty much had a club. Luckily, the guy he was fighting ran out of ammo too. Unluckily, the guy was a really good knife fighter and ended up stabbing the village leader to death. Even when a couple of other villagers came to the rescue, the marauder was able to avoid their attacks and slash at them.

On the opposite of the farm yard, one marauder was doing the work of four (there were three others in the same area but they were continually pinned down by Jeff's machine gun fire). The badass marauder had cojones of steel, firing away with his AKM while being charged by half a dozen villagers. He probably felt invincible because not of the shotgun volleys hit him.

By the time the shooting petered out, only three marauders were left standing, though two of them were wounded. Four villagers were wounded while the leader was the only one to die. And Harry was the only PC to be hit.

Day 3: Aftermath

The villagers started clearing out the bodies and picking up the weapons and other items that could be salvaged. Carlos started working on the marauders truck, fixing the damaged suspension and patching the fuel tank.

Jack performed first aid on Harry, but Harry would have to fully recover normally.

Sarah talked to the villagers about what they wanted to do next. Some wanted to stay in the village and rebuild their homes, while others thought it would be better to move to Dębicze; it was larger, so there were more empty and less-damaged buildings, as well as better opportunities to scrounge for supplies.

After the discussion, Dylan and Stephanie went with a majority of villagers to Dębicze to release the rest of the villagers who were still locked up. It was relatively easy, since the villagers had been locked in a barn when the marauders left for the attack, and the couple of guards ran off when they saw the victorious villagers coming their way.

While the villagers were doing that, Jeff spots an incoming UAZ heading south. He barely has enough time to yell out, "Take cover" when the vehicle pulls into the yard. The PCs were able to hide, but there was still evidence of a battle.

From the UAZ emerged half a dozen Soviet soldiers. They were actually scouts from the 35th Guards Air Assault Brigade from Kalisz. The brigade was sending out scouts to see how many US units they could find. They weren't supposed to get into a fight, but simply identify locations of moderately sized units (greater than a dozen people), especially if they had vehicles. When found, the scouts would report back to HQ so larger Soviet forces could deal with them.

Two of the scouts talk to the villagers, very interested in the fight that just transpired. The others spread out, though keeping close to the UAZ so they couldn't be picked off.

While the villagers explained that they fought off the raiders, one of the soldiers realizes that there was no way the villagers could have survived the fight. Not only were double barrel shotguns no serious match for AKM-armed bandits, but the bullet holes in the technical truck indicated that heavier weapons had been used (of course, those holes could have been old).

However, since there were no obvious signs of US forces, weapons, or even bullet casings (the US weapons had been used either in the woods or inside buildings), the scouts decided not to investigate further. But the scout leader did radio to HQ that the farm was a good candidate for a more thorough investigation.

After the UAZ departs, everyone decides that moving down the road is a wise thing to do. The PCs don't want to be there if a larger enemy force shows up, and the villagers don't want to be accused of aiding and abetting US soldiers.

As everyone packs up to move to Dębicze, the villagers really want the PCs to stay with them and protect them, offering the PCs a "place of honor" in the village. But the PCs still want to head west and link up with NATO forces so they can ultimately get back to the US.

A compromise is reached: the PCs will stay in the village long enough to distill a good quantity of fuel and stock up on food. In return, they will provide rudimentary training to the village so they can better defend themselves.

Game Notes

Playing solo is somewhat taxing. Not only are there solo game guides, but you have to know where all the normal game play information is located. Using a VTT is much easier than trying to do it all by hand, but you still have many windows open at once: PCs, travel rules, encounter tables, different sections for combat, etc.

It is nice that the TW2K module information for Foundry is available; the hyperlinks between different rules sections makes i a bit easier to deal with. Having a "pretty dice" roller is also nice, as you can quickly see hits and misses; of course, you can also see the results in the chat log.

If you have the GM screen, find some of the cheat sheets online, or just make some yourself, it will greatly speed up game play. You'll still need to use the game books, but you won't have to do it as often.

Combat

Combat is a bit more abstracted compared to 1E or 2E rules. The rules for NPCs is really nice; I failed to note that I could ignore bullet usage and a couple other things that would have reduced record keeping.

Initiative for groups is a good thing. Partly it helps speed things up and partly it helps because you only have a limited number of initiative cards. Having individual init for the PCs is a good thing, but if you have a large number (>6), you might want to consider the PCs a a group, especially if you have multiple factions fighting.

In my case, I had three groups: marauders, villagers, and PCs. I drew cards for each PC and considered the villagers and marauders as single groups. However, I didn't realize that the init cards were "draw once and do not replace", meaning I had to contend with people all having the same init value. Then you have to decide how to deal with it: simultaneous actions, or one is slightly faster than the other.

I ended up saying the PCs went first, which generally wasn't an issue as the attackers never hit them. But it could be an issue in other situations. While the default setting for initiative in Foundry is to not replace the cards, I disabled that and paid for it. Then I read the rules again and realized that I was wrong.

Solo Play

I've solo played different game systems since I was a kid (you never seem to have friends who can play when you can), but having a game that specifically sets things up to help solo play is nice. If you plan to do it, keep notes (duh).

What I mean is, write down the narrative as you go. I was so detailed that I had individual actions for PCs and NPCs during the fight. It wasn't shown in the write up above, but it does help you keep track of what's happening, especially if you step away from the game for a day or more. It also helps the mind's eye see how the situation is going.

Also, think logically: put yourself in each character's shoes. Just like GMing a real game, your NPCs shouldn't be stupid.You can "Hollywood" it up a bit, like someone burning off a magazine while charging but not hitting a thing, but most fighters will be a bit more tactical. on the other hand, untrained NPCs won't have tactics unless someone teaches them or is there to direct them.

Also consider stupid acts of valor. In the fight above, several of the villagers ran to the aid of the village leader even though they had ran out of ammunition and only had their shotgun as a club.

Final Thoughs

TW2K is relatively easy to run as a solo game. If possible, I recommend play a couple of sessions before playing w/ others, just so you know how the rule set works. It's very different from previous editions, not as crunchy but definitely different. Especially learn how combat works; focus on how NPC rules can save time.

If you keep notes like you're writing a blog, it makes it funner than just rolling dice and playing cards.

TW2K Solo Play, Session 1

2022-02-22T10:16:00.002+09:00

Day 1, Breakout

Early on a cloudy morning, Soviet forces attack the rear of the US forces based in Kalisz. As the command post and other rear-units are overran, everyone is told they are on their own.

Not ones to dilly-dally, the PCs converge on the motor pool to find transport out of the immediate fighting. Piling into a recently repaired pickup truck, the PCs blast past other people trying to leave and plow through the perimeter fencing.

Since the eastern and southern areas around Kalisz have been recently cleared by US forces, and was also the planned route of said forces to escape the Soviets coming from the west, the route is clear sailing for now. The team is able to use the two-lane highway to move south, not running into any problems along the way.

They drive until midday, when they reach the apparently abandoned village of Kopeć.

Deciding to take a breather, they find an abandoned farm house and set up camp.

They park the truck in the nearby barn and set up inside the farmhouse. The barn has a hayloft, with part of the wall missing. The farm house isn't much better: the windows are mostly broken and there is a large hole in the roof. However, it seems most of the war has left this farm mostly well off and the group is able to relax and even light a fire in the fireplace. They do their best to camouflage their hidy hole but forget about the smoke from the fireplace.

As they discuss what to do, Jack recommends that they establish a buddy system, ensuring that no one wanders off by themselves; they all know the horror movie trope of doing things on your own. Jack also decides to take first watch, since he has the sniper rifle and can better assess any potential contacts before they reach the farm.

Harry and Jeff decide to scout out the village, just to see if they have any neighbors they don't know about. Sarah breaks out her map and figures out the best way south. Stephanie monitors the radio but only finds a numbers station and a reference to Operation Reset. And Carlos decides to take a nap after doing some heavy, early morning driving.

In late afternoon, Harry and Jeff report that they didn't find anyone or anything of interest, then Jeff takes over the watch from Jack. Harry and Stephanie rest up, playing poker.

Sarah and Carlos decide to walk around the farm's surround area, paying special attention to the roads through the village. Luckily they do, as they spot a person on a bike pedaling down from the north. Sarah can see he is wearing a US uniform but, wary of a hostile, tells Carlos to hide in the treeline next to the road.

Sarah stands near Carlos but next to the road, hailing the cyclist. The cyclist stops a good distance away and raises his rifle. Sarah shows her hands, hoping that Carlos has a bead on the cyclist. After shouting at each other, the cyclist hops off his bike and walks towards Sarah, his rifle in low ready.

When he gets close enough to talk in a normal voice, Sarah and the cyclist introduce themselves. The cyclist is Dylan Revie. His unit was part of the breakout but, unfortunately, they weren't fast enough. Their APC was ambushed, and Dylan believes he was the only one to safely make it away; he found a nearby culvert and managed to crawl away from the ambush w/o being seen.

He made his way to a farm and commandeered the bike, then pedaled overland for about an hour until he came across the road. Realizing he could make better time on the hardtop, he pedaled as fast as he could, hoping that he could stop in time before he was ambushed. He had been riding all day, with very few stops, when he reached Kopeć.

Realizing there was safety in numbers, and only have an M16, a couple magazines, helmet, and the clothes on his back, Dylan begged Sarah to allow him to join their group. Being kind, Sarah said yes; being pragmatic, she also realized that, worst case, he could be a meat shield.

As evening turned to night, Sarah, Carlos, and Dylan return to the farm and introductions are made. MREs are broken out and shared; water was conveniently provided by an old-fashioned hand pump.

After dinner, Jack takes the watch and everyone else prepares for bed. Suddenly, Jack yells out that he sees a small group of people walking up the road from the south. Everyone is suddenly not tired anymore and prepares for combat.

The group of people comes directly to the farm, calling out in Polish. Looking out, the team can see what appears to be a half dozen refugees, dirty and poorly armed. Telling Jack to keep a lookout from his upstairs hide and Jeff to be ready w/ his SAW, Sarah and Carlos step outside and attempt to communicate.

It turns out, the leader of the group speaks a little big of English so they are able to have a rough conversation. The leader of the refugees indicates that the group is actually residents of the village. Raiders had come through the village a few days ago, plundered what they could, destroyed what they couldn't take, killing those who resisted, and taking the rest of the villagers as slaves. This small group was able to escape during the rampage.

Unfortunately, the bandits know the group escaped and have been chasing them through the countryside, slowing picking them off. This is what's left of those escapees. While they are only a few, the villagers know that the marauders are still coming for them and the villagers plan to put up a fight.

The group came to this farm house because they saw the smoke rising from the chimney (Jack secretly smacks his head, forgetting that it was a telltale sign of occupancy). Now realizing that Americans are here, the village leader asks for their help to defeat the marauders when they come.

Sarah says she will consider it, considering their group is just as small. But in the meantime, the villagers are welcome to share the farm house with them. The villagers are more than happy, glad to be out of the elements for the first time in days.

The PCs share the remains of their MREs with the villagers, helping improve morale and endearing the villagers even more. As everyone gets comfortable, one of the villagers volunteers to share the night watch with Jack, helping share the load, keep Jack awake, and help the villager practice English.

Twilight 2000 4th Edition Solo Play, Session 0

2022-02-22T09:04:00.002+09:00

Twilight: 2000 4th Edition

In the vein of other gamer's, I'm going to post the adventures of a Twilight 2000 solo game. This will not only help me to keep track of what is happening in my campaign, but also help showcase the game for others.

For those who aren't familiar with it, Twilight: 2000 (TW2K) is an alternative timeline where the Cold War still exists and a limited nuclear war occurred in the year 2000 between NATO and Soviet forces. The players are members of a NATO unit that was attacked, and the PCs have become separated from their larger group. Since the larger group was overran, the PCs are on their own. That means they have to find their way in the world, whether trying to get back home, finding a home in the foreign land, or even becoming warlords.

The Campaign

For my solo play, I set up a group of Americans who are part of the 5th Mechanized Division in Poland. I won't go into details of the game setup, as the previous paragraph provides the basics. The player characters (PCs) are part of the group trying to escape the city of Kalisz in western Poland.

The Initial Characters

Carlos Aguilera

A mechanic (rank Spec-4) in the motor pool, he was finishing repairs on a military pickup truck when the Soviet attack occurred. Comes complete with a basic M4 rifle, knife, kevlar helmet and body armour, plus a couple of tool kits.

Moral code: keep the vehicles running

Big Dream: start his own garage

Harry Styles

A big boy, Harry is just a grunt (rank Sgt.) but volunteers to carry the heavier gear when necessary. He was on guard duty near the mechanic's shed when the world went to hell. Equipment includes an M4 w/ M203 grenade launcher, two frag grenades, and kevlar vest and helmet.

Moral code: Leave things better than you found them

Big dream: Get back to the US

Jack Dempsey

Sgt. 1st Class Dempsey is a sniper. He happened to be with most of the others as they had been assigned as his security detail. (Yes, snipers normally operate w/ just a spotter, but with the troubles going on, leadership didn't want to lose a valuable person like a sniper.) Armed with a M21 sniper rifle, M9 pistol, and knife, plus the usual kevlar helmet and vest.

Moral code: Keep the team alive

Big dream: Get back to NATO territory

Jeffrey McDonald

Mr. Heavy Weapons, PFC McDonald was the LMG carrier for the team and the only black guy, which sometimes caused problems with others when arguments got heated. However, he is always a team player and willing to fight when his teammates are in danger. Armed with an M249 SAW, knife, and 3 frag grenades, plus body armour and helmet.

Moral code: Team player to the end

Big Dream: Just get out of the war zone

Sarah Dempsey

Wife of Jack, 1st LT Dempsey is actually a tag-along. She was providing a briefing when the main unit came under fire. She managed to make it to her husband's location before Jack fled, so at least they are together. As an officer, she only has her M9 pistol, knife, helmet, and body armour. She is also the only team member with night vision goggles.

Moral code: Keep the team alive until they find higher authority

Big Dream: Find a quiet place for her and Jack to start a family

Stephanie Mayner

A government contractor, Stephanie is a comms technician. She wasn't supposed to be in harm's way and was part of a DIA unit that was stationed in Kalisz when the Army rolled in. She was lucky enough to be in the comms shack next to the motor pool when it hit the fan, so she joined up w/ the group as they packed up. As a civilian, she only has a Glock 17, knife, and basic toolkit.

Moral code: Get what you can because everyone is out for themselves in this brave, new world

Big dream: Get back to the US

The Vehicle

A general purpose, government issue 4-door pickup truck with camouflage paint. The engine has been converted to run on alcohol. It can hold six people, which is good because it means the entire team can ride in government issued comfort.

Cargo: M240B GPMG, 1 belt of 7.62mmN ammo, 5 personal medkits, 8L of water, and 66L of alcohol in jerry cans.

The Game

I'm using Foundry VTT to handle the gaming. Yes, it's designed for multi-play, but I'm finding it works well to keep track of everything even in solo play. You can install the core TW2K ruleset for free, but you have to pay for the TW2K module to actually use the ruleset in a campaign, unless you want to create everything by hand.

Campaign Map

On the campaign map, Kalisz is left of center, with a red diamond showing the Soviet occupational unit. Just south of that, next to the river, is the location (truck icon) where the PCs stopped for the first night.

The immediate goal for the PCs is, obviously, to get away from the Soviets. The medium-term goal is to head south to the S8 freeway between Kepno and Złoczew and see if the bridge across the river is intact and not guarded. If not accessible, they will continue south past Praszka until they reach the headwaters. Long term, the PCs want to reach NATO forces in the west.

Google Maps is playing a large part in the game. While the rules allow for random villages, using the map helps figure out where actual villages are located. The distance measuring tool also provides a valuable addition to figure out how far the PCs can travel in a period.

TOEE video game review

2017-01-08T02:10:00.002+09:00

Been a long time since I last posted, but I recently retired from the Navy and got a new job, so things have been busy last year.

I want to talk about 3 and 3.5 Editions of D&D and, by extension, Pathfinder. I've already written an article about Pathfinder and what a pain in the butt I think it is. This post is similar, but related to video games.

I'm currently playing the Temple of Elemental Evil video game, after having bought it on sale from GOG. This game uses 3E rules, I believe, but they are similar to 3.5 and changed somewhat to fit a video game, so it doesn't really matter. The game play is very different from Baldur's Gate, which uses 2E rules.

Honestly, you can ignore the in-town quests and get right to the fighting because, apart from a little bit of XP, the side quests are pretty boring. Baldur's Gate, however, pretty much required you to do side quests, as they provided valuable XP and loot as you progressed through the game, since the world is a little bit more open than TOEE.

One thing I don't like about TOEE is the inability to quick travel between locations on a local map. In other words, to travel from one point to another in a local area, you have to keep clicking to move your party where you want them to go. You can't just open up the map, click on a spot, and have the party move there (at least, none that I have found). Supposedly, you can click on a place name and your party will move there, but when I have tried it, it just centered the map without making the party move. Maybe it's just me.

The graphics are great, except you can't zoom in (which you could in Baldur's Gate). This makes it difficult at times to see what is going on during combat, especially when you're trying to click on characters who are close together. It's even worse when you're looting bodies; bodies to be looted are highlighted in a blue aura, but if they are piled on top of each other, there are times when you just can't get to the one you want. Plus, the graphics have been improved and it would be nice to be able to zoom in and see the details.

You also can't rotate the map; you get one isometric view and that's it. If something is hidden by a shadow or another object, good luck being able to find it. It does a reasonable job of showing your characters if they move behind a wall or something, but if an enemy is there, you won't know it, even if you're party could reasonably see it.

When you travel between locations on the world map, you will occasionally have random encounters. However, the map used is always the same: a small field next to a body of water, even if you are traveling on the road. You have the option of avoiding the encounter or having combat; avoiding is supposed to be based on your evasion skill, but I've never had a problem avoiding combat.

If you choose to have combat, chances are you will end up having to fight in the river, even if that seems really stupid, e.g. giant lizards. This actually makes it difficult to fight some monsters, such as the lizards, because they are "hiding" under the water, making it hard to target them. On the plus side, falling in the water due to being knocked unconscious doesn't cause you to drown, for some reason.

One gripe about these encounters, though, is that it is always close combat. When the encounter map appears, your party is shown in a ragged circle, with the enemy right there, within your circle. No chance at ranged encounters, area-effect spells, etc. You are already at melee range, so if you forget to change everyone to melee weapons before you travel, you either have to waste time changing in combat, attempt to move out of melee range, or use your ranged weapons at a disadvantage.

So, let's talk combat. Having played this game, I absolutely hate 3E rules. Not all of them, but some of the piss me off to no end. Let's start with Attacks of Opportunity, the biggest BS rule of them all (in the game).

AoO means that, if someone moves through your 5-10 foot radius, they are subject to a free attack. Normally, I wouldn't care if the attacker is not already in combat. However, the game (and this is probably in the written rules as well), allows the attacker to attack anyone moving through that radius, even if the attacker is already in combat and if the person moving is behind the attacker.

So, if in real life, person A was in a fight with person B, and person C decided to move behind person A, person A most likely wouldn't know because he is fighting for his life against person B, especially if person C was just walking past and not attempting to attack person A.

In the game, however, any sort of movement through the radius leaves you open to an AoO. Even if the enemy is fighting three people in front of him, attempting to move someone past the combat area means the enemy suddenly turns around and attacks.

This is the biggest BS move in the game and I get pissed off every single time. The only way to avoid it is to spend skill points in Tumble, which gives you a chance to avoid being hit. If there was some way to turn off AoO, I would enjoy the game so much more.

Third edition is rules-heavy in real life, so the game recreates that as much as possible. You can make tactical choices, such as wait to do something until someone approaches you. Sure, makes sense, but the game is stupid about it.

Waiting vs. an approach is just that: the enemy has to be coming at you, or at least coming within your 5' radius. WTF? If I'm waiting to attack, and you're coming within a reasonable distance (10-15 feet), I'm going to move to melee range and take a swipe, not just stab at things that only come within arm's length.

There are a lot of times I will have my characters waiting and the enemy just strolls right past them to attack someone else down the line. Kind of defeats the point of waiting.

Another problem: the enemy loves to attack spell casters. Sure, this is great tactics, but at least wait until they could realistically be seen as spell casters. Many times I'll walk into a room and get into a fight, and every single monster will swarm the mage immediately, even if the mage is at the back of the group (see waiting vs. approach above).

Some of the spells are frustrating, too. Sometimes, you can cast a spell at a distance but other times the game makes your spell caster walk. For example, there are times when I will cast Bull's Strength on a fellow character. Sometimes the mage will be able to stay in one spot and cast it without a problem. Other times, the mage will walk past opponents (opening himself up to AoO's) to reach the fellow character and cast the spell.

There is no indication in the game manual that these are "on contact" spells, so you just have to save your game before combat and, if your spell caster suddenly becomes stupid, you have to reload and cast the spell earlier.

NPC's are frustrating. While you can only have five PC's, you have an an additional three NPC's. This is normally fine, except that the NPC's will gather loot automatically. Okay, it's probably the easiest way to deal with them having their own interests in a video game. That's fine.

The problem comes from them filling up their inventory slots and not being able to dump anything. The NPC's are the biggest kleptomaniac horders on the planet. Anything they take cannot be remove from their inventory. It can't be sold, nor can it be dropped.

Sure, they'll take magic items, as expected (the only way to recover these is to get your NPC's killed). But even mundane items, like leather boots or gloves, are taken and can't be removed. This obviously increases the encumbrance of the NPC but there's nothing you can do about it.

I don't know if any of the DLC for the game fixes these issues, but I doubt it, as they are intrinsic to the table-top rules. Overall, the game is an enjoyable diversion but frustrating. Once you realize how to "game" the system, e.g. take 5-foot steps as you move out of AoO range to avoid being attacked, it gets a little better. But, really, you shouldn't have to "cheat" to make the game more fun. (If I was playing a 3E game, I would simply not allow AoO's unless the attacker was not already in combat.)

Character Death

2015-09-08T03:43:00.003+09:00

Character death in games is a volatile subject. Naturally, players don't like it when their characters die, and will often do whatever they can to prevent it, including cheating. However, without character death, a big part of the fun of role playing games goes away.

Death makes players think about situations in a more analytical way, rather than just kicking in doors and killing whatever's on the other side. Should the PC's continue their fight against a dozen orcs or run away while they still have a chance? Is it better to go into a building from the rear or the front? Maybe throwing a grenade into the room before rushing in is better than shooting through the walls.

Without PC death being a factor, there is little point to play. If you have a super-hero PC that can never die, you might as well play a video game. When character death is possible, you start to put yourself into the situation; the immersion factor goes up, because you think about what you would do in that situation so you don't die.

Death is handled different ways in different games. Some games have the character die once all the hit points are gone; others allow a certain amount of time before the PC dies, i.e. the character is unconscious and bleeding out. If you can get to the character in time, maybe you can patch her up enough that she doesn't immediately die.

Death in D&D depends on the edition you're playing. Early editions killed the PC if hit points got to zero. AD&D allows the game master to, optionally, allow the character to linger for up to ten minutes; once a character reached zero hit points, the PC would lose one hit point per minute until -10 hit points were reached, at which point the character would die. This gave other PCs time to get to the dying character and apply first aid; the character may not be fully healed, but at least he wasn't bleeding out anymore. Even if a character was fully healed somehow, he would still be unconscious for 10-60 minutes, so he couldn't just bounce back up and get back into the fight.

Optional rules allowed characters to receive scars and other, visible aspects of severe damage. If the game master so desired, certain character abilities would be adversely affected due to damage. I don't do this, as the D&D world is deadly enough without penalizing PC's more.

Shadowrun also allows some time to bleed out. While I haven't played it in a while (so my memory may be off), I recall two health bars: one physical and one mental. Filling up the mental bar with damage would spill over into physical damage, as well as put the character unconscious. Filling up the physical bar also put the character unconscious with the possibility of death. First aid and specialized medical treatment could prevent death, but death is a distinct possibility and often occurs in the most bizarre manner.

I remember one game where the players were at a heliport, attempting to stop a man from getting into a helicopter. The man's security team was in the heliport terminal, and the parking lot was positioned in a way that the players had to cross in front of the terminal to reach the landing pad.

One of the PC's made a dash for the helicopter while the rest of the team fired at the guards in the terminal, attempting to keep their heads down. Unfortunately, one of the guards fired back at the running character. One or two rounds hit the PC and killed her. Pure luck on the part of the guard, as the character was heavily cybered and armoured, but the dice just weren't with her.

Twilight 2000 is slightly different. Characters have hit points for seven body areas: legs, arms, head, chest, and abdomen. Damage can be applied to any of them, depending on a dice roll, and cover provides protection against damaging non-visible body parts. Light damage is anything from max hit points to zero hit points. Severe damage is zero to negative (max) hit points, and critical damage is beyond max negative. Death could occur with a severe hit to the head, while critical damage to the chest or abdomen could kill. The extremities could "withstand" up to critical damage, at which point the extremity was lost.

The good news is, limb damage is more common than torso and head hits and even if you get hit in one of those areas, your PC probably has body armour and a helmet that can help. The bad news is that recovery takes a long time, during which time your PC isn't going to be doing very much. If you have a leg with severe damage, you are essentially on bed rest until it reaches light damage, when you can start to limp around.

If your game master is cruel, or just rolls bad dice, you can have frequent combat encounters, meaning your character won't be able to be an effective member in the counter attack. It's pretty rare (at least in my games) to only have light wounds. Generally, if you're PC is hit, you'll end up with a severe or critical hit on at least one body part. Death is pretty rare, but being on crutches or using a sling is very common.

In summary, playing games where death isn't a significant factor tends to make for boring games, which is why I'm not interested in some of the later D&D editions where healing magic is readily available. Being concerned that your character might die in an encounter makes you think about avoiding combat or setting up encounters to your advantage, and are ultimately more fun.

Help with Medieval Settings

2015-08-03T07:24:00.000+09:00

If you have a game set in medieval times, or based on medieval concepts, I highly recommend getting a copy of The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England. It will help immensely in creating an immersive environment for your players and can make your life easier at the same time.

The author, a professor of history, takes the path of describing medieval England as though you were a visitor there, describing how things would look, smell, and sound, as well as the political, social, and theological landscape. Often, you could use paragraphs straight from the book as descriptive text for encounters.

I won't describe every chapter in detail, but I will list them:

The Landscape
The People
The Medieval Character
Basic Essentials
What to Wear
Traveling
Where to Stay
What to Eat and Drink
Health and Hygiene
The Law
What to Do

From this, you could design an entire campaign world with as much detail as you desire, or just add some extra flavor to encounters. For example, when describing clothing, the author covers everyone from peasants to royalty, discussing how styles and materials change between them, as well as how they change from the early 14th century to the start of the 15th century. You could use this to identify NPCs in your game, describing the differences between serfs and freemen, and using the PCs clothing styles to encourage role playing opportunities.

It's also useful when designing cities, as several English cities are described in sufficient detail to help you when creating your own, from small villages to a bustling metropolis. Each town has its own identity, with some having a village market center that people from the surrounding area attending while others are simply pit stops on the pilgrimage road.

If religion is a big part of your game, sufficient information is provided to help you flesh out the impact religion has on the people and places. From the number of churches in a town to how the religious hierarchy dresses, as well as how much control religious leaders have, there is enough material for ideas to make your game world come alive.

There is too much information for me to include here, but I can't recommend this book enough for anyone interested in medieval history or running a medieval campaign. It could also be useful for sci-fi campaigns that have the PCs visiting a less sophisticated planet, or time traveling.

Adventures Dark and Deep

2015-03-03T08:35:00.003+09:00

Adventures Dark and Deep (ADD) is an imagining of what AD&D 2nd Edition might have been had Gary Gygax been allowed to complete it. You can use it as a stand-alone game or incorporate it into another edition. I've been using aspects of it for the last few months with my current 1st Edition AD&D game and it's a mixed bag.This won't be an in-depth review but just a highlight of what I like and don't like.

I like the new character classes, though I've only used the savant as an NPC so far. The bard is much better than the 1st Edition one, and is easier to work with. I like what I've read about the jester and mountebank classes and will find a way to work them into the game when an opportunity presents.

While I like weapon proficiencies (it makes sense that you have to acquire a skill in using a particular weapon well, but I don't like specialization as it can be too overpowering), I don't like non-weapon proficiencies. I understand the motivation behind them, but players too often end up relying on them, i.e. if they don't have the skill, then they can't do the task.

ADD uses proficiencies in a way that I can tolerate. First, they are optional, just like they are in 2nd Edition. However, if characters want to get a skill, they have to "burn" experience points to do it. The proficiencies aren't necessary to do something; they just mean that the character is better at it than an unskilled person. By using XP to gain the skill, the player now has to decide whether to use XP to level up or gain better skills.

I like this method because there's a little something for everyone. Players that don't care about skills don't have to worry about them; they just don't get a bonus when attempting something. On the other hand, players who really like proficiencies have to make a sacrifice for their character to get them, in that their character won't advance as quickly as everyone else.

ADD has a larger selection of equipment to buy than 1st Edition (of course, you can always use other supplements if you want). On the flip side, the treasure tables are awesome. Rather than just doling out cash and gems, a number of tables are dedicated to not-so-easily carried items. You can get bales of cotton, jugs of wine, casks of ale, pouches of spices, etc.; they are all worth money and make each encounter unique. The treasure assignment table lists the various percentages of each type of treasure; some encounters may have more cash than sundries while others are the opposite. It makes it more realistic as well as forcing the players to decide what to take back and sell.

Magic items are mostly a collection of things from 1st and 2nd Edition. There are tables for determining whether weapons are special or not; this applies to weapons other than swords, too, so you could have a halberd +2, flame tongue if you wanted. Artifacts and relics are nowhere near as cool as 1st Edition; it would have been nice to have tables similar to 1st Edition to create these special items.

Spells are listed alphabetically, which actually makes it easier to find them, rather than having to flip to the appropriate class' spells, then hunt for the correct one. However, a number of spells seem to be missing information compared to 1st and 2nd Edition; if you have those books available, you might need to reference them to ensure you have everything you need to know.

Another aspect that can have missing information is the ADD Bestiary. The creatures can have missing vital information, such as immunities, weaknesses, etc. If you need to know a monster is immune to fire, you'll either have to make it up yourself or use another book.

Finally, one of the biggest problems I have with all the ADD books is the lack of an index. While they have a Table of Contents, the printed version isn't as useful as the PDF. I understand that the PDF was the original version and the printed versions came after, but it would have been nice if an index or expanded TOC was included in the printed books.

Overall, ADD is a nice system. Some things are missing but can be easily supplemented by other game books. The PDFs are free but it is a system worth paying for. Other ADD information is available as well, beyond the core books, and I hope more will be coming in the future.

Old-School D&D and Racial Level Limits

2015-01-20T00:41:00.002+09:00

In Classic D&D and the two editions of AD&D, limits are placed on how high certain races can become in the various classes. For example, a dwarf can only reach 9th level as a fighter, unless he has superior attributes, when may grant a limit of up to 11th level.

Much has been written about why these level limits came about; in a nutshell, Gary Gygax et al. felt that, without a penalty to selecting a non-human race, players would choose these demi-humans for characters over humans. The developers envisioned the world of D&D to be human-centric, since people literally don't know how a non-human thinks and operates in the world. Thus, the intention was for human characters to be the default and the other races would simply add some spice to the mix, as well as enhancing the capabilities of a party. This also meant that humans would be the only characters to benefit from unlimited level advancement. (One caveat: any race has unlimited leveling as a Thief, at least in 1st Edition AD&D).

Over the years, many players and GMs have made house rules to eliminate or modify these level limits; later editions got rid of them entirely. Fifth Edition D&D has a neat feature to encourage humans, though; a human character gets an automatic +1 increase to all attributes.

Personally, level limits haven't played a big factor in my games. Characters advance fairly slowly since I find multiple ways of taking away money, meaning the players have to work harder to get enough treasure to level up (yes, I force PCs to spend time and money to increase in levels, rather than just giving it to them). My current campaign has a half-elf ranger that is nearing her level limit of 6; we've been playing for more than two years.

One argument against level limits for demi-humans is that they have a much longer life span than humans, so they should be able to level up as much as they want. While this makes sense, I tell players that, because of this longevity, non-humans get bored with adventuring after a while, as it isn't normal for these races to leave home and adventure. Eventually, the PC gets tired of constantly wandering and wants to settle down and do something else, which is why they don't advance any further.

Another alternative that I'm considering using is that certain races can have unlimited levels in a class that is aligned with their racial characteristics. For example, elves could become unlimited level druids, as they are in-tune with nature; gnomes have the illusionist class, halflings have the thief class, etc. This doesn't prevent multi-classing, allows the player to keep the character going for a long campaign, and doesn't require the GM to come up with a reason as to why certain races can't advance.

Many people I've heard from say that players often start new characters when they reach the higher levels, i.e. 9th level and above, so level limits aren't a hindrance as the PCs will be retiring anyways.

Ultimately, it's up to the GM and players to determine how to run the game. YMMV.

Not a lot of posts recently

2015-01-10T10:15:00.000+09:00

As you can see from the last time I posted an article (July 2014), I haven't been maintaining this blog like I used to. I've been studying for a number of certifications in anticipation of retiring from the military, so I'm trying to maximize the military benefits while I can. I do expect to post more OSR-related content soon; if there's anything you'd like me to cover, just post in the comments.

Character creation

2014-06-28T10:28:00.000+09:00

Having let players make characters in several different ways (with and without a GM present), I highly recommend having character creation be conducted with the GM present. Too many problems can develop if you let characters do it themselves, even if there is an experienced player with them.

Players have a tendency to do things that can ruin a game, or at least seriously mess with the GM's intentions. While the obvious things are min/maxing character attributes, if you play the game well attributes shouldn't be a factor that often (depending on the game system). However, there are other things that can be subtly messed with that will affect the game.

One example is languages. If your game uses different languages, make sure you know what the rules are for the game before letting characters pick. For example, 1st Edition AD&D gives elves and half-elves a large number of starting languages; with a high intelligence, characters can gain another half dozen or more. By the rules, these additional languages should only be acquired through months of learning by an instructor. If the players are allowed to pick languages during creation, they'll probably pick ones that, while useful to the characters, can make life difficult for the GM if he doesn't intend for the characters to communicate with NPCs.

Additionally, think of how likely the characters are to learn a particular language. If they are in a land-locked location, the odds of them learning a sea-going language, even just standard nautical terms, is highly unlikely. However, it would be a good opportunity to create a local dialect that makes it more difficult for the characters to communicate with people outside the area, especially if their location is somewhat isolated, such as an isolated valley.

Equipment can be a sore spot as well. Not only do players love to buy everything that is on an equipment list, they have a tendency to "just happen to have" the right item whenever asked by the GM: "Did you guys buy a tent or sleeping bags before you left?" "Of course we did."

If you have a problem with this, you should really start to take weight and size into account. If a PC buys 100 torches, there is no way they can carry all of them at once; of course, as a GM you could say, "Sure, you have 100 torches on you. They just happen to be cotton swabs." If you do something like that often enough, eventually the players will figure out that they have to weed out their items and actually account for what they're carrying.

Animals are also a pain in the butt. If animal assistants are allowed in the game, e.g. guard dogs, people have a tendency to buy them. While it is technically allowed, it can severely cripple the game, especially when the characters are low-level. Many encounters are structured to give low-level characters a challenge; with animals, these encounters are usually a push-over for the party. This creates a problem when the characters gain XP and loot "unfairly", i.e. they didn't have to actually do much to earn it as their animal companions did most of the work. In this case, feel free to let the animals do the work; just adjust the rewards downwards by reducing the amount of XP received and the loot found, if any.

If you can have the initial game session include character creation, not only can the GM monitor how the characters are being made, it also provides a chance to set ground rules for the game and answer any questions before the game actually starts. This will make it more pleasurable for everyone, especially for GMs who have planned elaborate scenarios, only to see them fall apart when a PC pulls out something unexpected.

Using movies for examples

2014-06-22T22:13:00.002+09:00

I finally saw WWZ yesterday (I heard it wasn't very good so I put it off watching it; the book is way, way better, IMHO). It got me thinking about gaming and how it teaches lessons for GMs and players. I thought of a whole bunch of things last night before going to sleep but, naturally, I can't remember much of them, so I'll write what I do remember.

**SPOILER ALERT**

Be consistent. At the beginning of the movie, when the zombies are running through Pittsburgh, several of them are seen crashing through vehicle windscreens and punching through windows to get at the passengers. Either they can see the people inside and that somehow triggers them to attack or they can smell them.

Later in the movie, the main character (Gerry) becomes trapped in a biohazard room, surrounded by glass. A zombie traps him in the room by hanging out by the only door. However, the zombie just stands there, intimidating Gerry but not crashing through the window to attack. (This was before Gerry injected himself).

When you're designing your game or actually playing it, remember to be consistent in what happens. Unless there is a good reason that things would change (and using some deus ex machina or magic to justify it is lame), make sure the same action/reactions and consequences occur. And make sure it applies equally well for both monsters/NPCs and the PCs.
Even in a fantasy world, some real-world physics should apply. If a person dives head-first into a windscreen, the force required to break through is between 20 and 120 pounds of force. However, a human skull will fracture with only 16 to 196 pounds of force. So, if someone actually took a header through a windscreen, not only would their face be torn and possibly de-gloved, their skull would most likely be crushed. In the case of a zombie that can only be killed by destroying the head, these zombies would be incapacitated and not able to terrorize the passengers.

When fighting or creating scenarios, consider the real-world aspects of the situation. Unless there is a valid reason why something shouldn't happen as it normally would, e.g. the zombies have reinforced skulls due to experimentation, keep it real.

Also, the movie depicted satellite phones working while inside a ship, buildings, airplanes, etc. It's a satellite signal; nearly everyone knows that it requires line-of-sight to work, especially if they've set up their own satellite dish. Again, don't forget the physics. If the PC's are inside a building, consider how likely radio signals are to not penetrate if they are trying to communicate outside the building.
The characters don't exist in a vacuum. Remember that the game world still operates even when the characters aren't there so certain events should be occurring even without the characters being around.

In the movie, Gerry visits Israel after a wall was built around the country to keep out the zombies. People are bussed in, helicopters are buzzing around, etc. It was established earlier that zombies are attracted to noise but it's only when Gerry arrives and some of the refugees start singing over a loudspeaker that the zombies are attracted to the walls and climb over, invading Israel.

There were two big problems with this, that I saw. Why weren't the zombies attracted prior to Gerry's arrival (helicopters are loud) and why did they climb up in only one place?

As I said, in your game you should consider what happens when the characters aren't around. If you're playing a game that has bandits, marauders, etc, consider what marauders will do to a town when the characters aren't there; if the PCs aren't around to constantly defend the place, consider the chances that the marauders will attack when the PC's aren't there.

Also, think about the big picture. Even mindless creatures (maybe even especially for them) won't concentrate their forces on one location until a weakpoint is discovered. In the movie, there was no reason for the zombies to make a "human tower" to climb over the wall; more realistically, they would have been attacking the entire wall over several miles.

Finally, don't forget the guards. Even with a wall, the inhabitants of a place will want to know what's going on outside the walls. Having a couple of people on lookout, whether or not they are armed, can make the difference.
When Gerry arrives in Korea, he learns that the zombies are attracted to noise. Naturally, when he's trying to sneak back on the plane his satellite phone goes off, attracting the zombies.

If you have a group of people that needs to be super-sneaky, make sure they take appropriate steps to prevent noise. The ringing cell phone is a cliche in movies but that doesn't mean you need to allow it in your game.

Those are just some of the things I had a problem with in this movie. I'm sure you can think of other movies where you called BS on something. When you're playing your games, take these "movie mishaps" into consideration and it should make your gaming more fun. At least, it should reduce the number of arguments at the table because most people like common sense.

Gaming with children (of all ages)

2014-05-24T09:40:00.004+09:00

I've been spending the last few weekends playing AD&D with my nieces and nephews. The experiences I've had prompted me to write this post.

One thing I've found is that there is a definite maturity level required for a lot of games, especially some of the old-school games that weren't designed to be "character-safe", i.e. encounters aren't necessarily structured to be at the same level the characters are. In other words, it's entirely possible for a group of third level adventurers to encounter an opposing group that will easily defeat the PCs. From what I've heard about later editions, especially 4th edition D&D, encounters are designed to give the PCs a workout but rarely will they die.

Something that old-school games teach you is that you have to assess the situation before you charge in; if you don't think you can handle a straight attack, find another way to deal with your opponents or consider just avoiding them. You don't have to fight everyone you encounter.

Back to the maturity factor. I have gamed with people pushing 30 years old who get pissed off when the dice don't go their way. They'll have hissy fits, throwing dice around the table or, when we play online, yanking their headphones off and throwing them onto the desk.

Remember, it's just a game. Also, don't forget the times when the dice are always in your favor and you single-handedly trounce your opponents. Just like playing craps, sometimes the dice are hot and sometimes not. If things aren't going your way during a fight, think about running away and coming back when you've recovered. Consider buying some items that will help you next time. Maybe do some more scouting and see if there's an alternative path. You don't have to stay in a losing battle.

In addition to all that, remember who your character is and what your role is. One of my nephews was playing an assassin and decided to investigate a ladder to a sub-level. I had tipped him off that the lower level was occupied, as light could be seen and voices heard. While he was climbing down the ladder, he failed his stealth check (I let him act like a thief because there was no other thief in the party) and his sword clanked against the ladder, alerting the people below to his presence. Rather than climbing back up the ladder to wait for a safer time, he decided to jump upon the person who came to investigate the noise.

The fall broke the neck of the investigator and landed the assassin in the middle of a group of hostile adventurers. Again, rather than running away, the assassin held his ground and decided to fight a stand-up battle against several fighters, thieves, a cleric, a magic-user, and some men-at-arms. While the rest of the PCs came down the ladder to help, the assassin was eventually killed and my nephew was devastated. He supposedly had trouble sleeping and talked about making a new character to kill the other characters while they slept.

While I won't comment on his upbringing, at his age he should have been able to deal with the loss of a brand-new character in a better manner. It was only the second time he had played with this character so it wasn't like he was that attached to it.

Disregarding that, he forgot what his character does. An assassin is not only a killer but also a scout. They aren't supposed to be in-your-face fighters; they hang out in shadows and are opportunity killers.
Even if he didn't think the fight would be too tough, as soon as he saw it was one against eight, he should have ran back up the ladder and picked them off as they came up. That is what an assassin does and, with a base chance to kill in one hit of 50%, much better odds than a regular fight.

In summary, player maturity is a big factor to consider when you're gaming. Whether you're playing with children or child-like adults, remind them that it's just a game and don't take it too seriously. Also, question them to ensure they recognize the consequences of their actions. Once they get in the habit of thinking everything is a trap, they are better prepared to stay alive.

Fantasy novel finally available

2014-04-25T09:08:00.004+09:00

For those interested, I finally published my first fantasy novel. It's taken two and half years but I finally got it out there. It's based on some play-testing I did while working on my Ph.D. research, so it may sound somewhat familiar to anyone who has played 1st Edition AD&D. If the response is good, I will make it into a series.

If you would like to check it out, the links are below:
Paperback
Kindle
Other formats

Changing things up in fantasy games

2014-03-07T18:41:00.000+09:00

Many fantasy games, particularly the D&D series, is based on a gold-standard. Prices for things and most of the treasure found is given in equivalent gold pieces. For many games, gold is used to calculate a character's experience points.

If a GM wants to make a game more difficult without messing with the game mechanics too much, changing to a silver-standard is an option. All you have to do is keep all the numbers the same for treasure or equipment costs but say they are in silver, not gold. For example, if a treasure chest would normally have 1000gp in it, make it hold 1000sp.

Having a silver-standard makes the game more "realistic" for a medieval setting, if you care about that. It also makes legitimate gold acquisition a bigger deal for the players; after finding numerous caches of silver, finding a horde of gold pieces is something special.

If you keep equipment purchases at their original amounts, i.e. in gold pieces, it means that characters will start out more destitute, thus more willing to go adventuring to find the big treasure hordes. It also makes better weapons and armour much more desirable because they cost so much. If the characters find a selection of high-quality gear they need to sell, you can set up another adventure where they have to travel to a large enough city to find someone able to pay a fair price; most medieval towns simply couldn't pay what the equipment is truly worth.

Finally, converting treasure to a silver-standard makes it tougher for characters to level up. If a GM is having a problem with characters leveling too quickly (often through being too lenient with treasure hauls), by keeping the normal XP required (assuming one gold piece equals one experience point), it may take ten to twenty times longer for a character to level, depending on the monetary exchange rate in your game. Hence, leveling up means a lot more to the players because the odds of a character dying before they level is significantly greater.

Moving onto a different topic, some people think magic-users are too powerful, even if they start out relatively weak at lower levels. One thing I've thought of doing (but haven't tried yet) is creating some sort of "drain mechanic" for MUs; when a spell is cast, there is a chance that the MU becomes fatigued and weakened from the casting. The higher the spell level, the more likely the MU is fatigued. If an MU is drained too much, he falls unconscious.

I got this idea from Shadowrun, so you can look there for more ideas. In general, however, what I was thinking is that the MU makes a Constitution check, or maybe a System Shock roll, with a negative modifier based on the level of the spell.

For example, using a System Shock percentile roll to resist drain and a -5% per level (after 1st level) modifier, an MU casts a first level spell. As a first level spell, there is no modifier and the roll is against the base System Shock number. However, if an MU wants to cast a 7th level spell, the MU must make the System Shock roll with a -30% modifier. Failure means the MU falls unconscious (or maybe take a temporary -1 to Constitution, which then affects the System Shock number).

By incorporating this drain mechanic, it makes the MU reconsider using a powerful spell. Is it worth casting a spell if the MU may blackout? It also makes MUs less of an asset for a party; while still able to provide beneficial spell casting, there's the chance that they can fall unconscious and the party either waits for recovery or has to drag a limp body with them. On the other hand, it also means that enemy spell casters aren't as scary as they might normally be.

Another option for MUs is to make a table of fumbles, much like what is available for fighters in Dragon magazine or online. If an MU fails at spell casting (however the GM determines that), rolling on the fumble table provides the results for the failed spell. Perhaps the spell simply fails or the opposite result occurs, or a catastrophic failure happens and a hole is ripped in the time-space continuum. This just gives the game more variety and it somewhat puts MUs and fighting characters on a more even playing field.

Gaming is a two-way street

2014-01-06T19:40:00.000+09:00

One of the things that frustrates me as a GM is when players don't put a lot of effort into the game. I may spend an entire weekend designing an adventure, with maps, encounters, plot hooks, etc. I'll even send out teasers to the players, giving them links or files to review prior to the game. Come game time, no one has read anything so I spend an hour spoon-feeding the party all the background information should have already known. Not only does this cut into the actual game time, but it's boring.

While the GM has a lot of responsibilities for making the game, the players have some responsibilities too, in my opinion. When one of my game groups first started, I gave everyone copies of the OSR rules we were going to use. The rules are free and downloadable, so you would think it would be easy enough for someone to review the information and at least know how to make a character.

Nope. The first game session was spent teaching everyone how to roll up a character and do all that crap that could have been done on their own. We could have started on the first adventure that day but, instead, we wasted it doing grunt work. While I don't mind answering questions, I do hate answering questions that could have been answered by simply opening a book or doing a web search.

I don't know how many files I've made available to players to peruse on their own so they have a better understanding of the game world, their characters' capabilities, how to use equipment, and all sorts of interesting (to me) items. Unfortunately, no one wants to do their homework.

It's probably because we gamers are older now and have other things to eat into our time. When I was a kid, my friends and I could nearly quote the rule books to each other. Now, I seem to be the only one who knows what's going on. My current group is better than they were, but that's mostly because the remember what I have told them rather than having learned on their own.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that players need to put some effort into the game as well. Relying on the GM to do everything is not only disrespectful, it makes the game less fun because less time is spent gaming. The GM already has a lot of work to do. I don't think it's too much to ask for the players to simply read the Player's Handbook, especially the most important sections, double especially if the GM has told the players exactly what they should look up.

Gaming Online with Roll20.net

2013-12-17T23:05:00.000+09:00

(Note: I am not affiliated with the Roll20.net site nor am I receiving any money for this. I am writing this as a user review.)

While playing pen & paper games is traditionally conducted face-to-face, the Internet allows a lot of interaction online nowadays. With people frequently moving or otherwise not being able to meet in person as often as they would like, gaming online is a viable alternative nowadays.

Many options abound, primarily through services such as Skype or other video chat programs. However, there is a website that has been designed to recreate tabletop gaming for online gamers: Roll20.net.

Roll20 provides a virtual game board, complete with both hex and square grids, for maps. In addition, the site provides for tokens that include character avatars, "room candy" (items like barrels, beds, etc.) to spice up the map, and various other items that can be placed on the map. The map itself can be built using pre-generated ones, such as from a module, or you can create your own using map parts from the Roll20 library.

The library function searches for requested items both in the Roll20 market (where you can purchase map pieces and assorted tokens) while also looking on the web for free items. Once you've found what you like, you can drag it to the "table" and then move, scale, and rotate it as needed.

Character tokens can be assigned to their respective players, allowing the players to control their character tokens. Various features can be set up for the tokens, such as hit points, armour class, etc. As these values change, the indicators on the token will be adjusted.

If you're into music or sound effects, Roll20 has a jukebox feature that, again, scours the web for mp3 files that match your search criteria. While I don't necessarily care for "adventuring music" (the games I've played in where it was featured, it got annoying and sometimes made it difficult to hear the other players), having sound effects is a nice touch. The last game we played, I set up the sound of the beach as the characters arrived to a jungle island, then added the stereotypical "restless natives" drum beats. It was fun and the players enjoyed it.

You can add character sheets to the game, but since the sheets aren't designed like paper sheets, it can be a little daunting as you have to create a lot of the information yourself. However, macros are available which means a lot of cool things can occur with the click of a button. For example, you can make a macro that will automatically roll the to-hit dice and display the result. Assuming the attack hit, the macro can also display how much damage was done. You can set up macros for nearly anything, such as skill checks, saving throws, etc. The GM can also make macros that affect individual characters, if needed. If you take the time before hand to set up the character sheets sufficiently, you can make macros that take the info on the character sheet and automate many of the things you would do by hand, speeding up the game, reducing the paperwork involved, and minimizing errors.

The big thing about the site that I've found with my players is that, if the players don't bother spending any "outside" time learning the rules and capabilities of the Roll20 site, then a lot of the power of the site is wasted. There's only so much the GM can do before the players have to take the ball and run with it. My players can't be bothered to read the rules of the game, much less how to access the features of Roll20, so I don't bother using a lot of the cooler features available, as it requires some effort on the players.

One of the nice features of Roll20 is that nearly any game can be played using the site. It has built-in rules for Shadowrun, 4th Edition D&D, game systems that have "exploding" dice, and a number of other configurations. If you purchase a subscription, you can also gain access to the scripting library, allow you to create your own features (if you want to learn to code), effectively allowing you to do anything you want.

Another neat feature that I haven't tried yet is dynamic lighting. While the standard Roll20 set allows you to use "fog of war" to black-out sections of your map and reveal them as needed, dynamic lighting allows you to set up torches, fires, flashlights, whatever and set the visibility radius. As the characters move around, the map will be automatically revealed based on any available light sources.

The best part about it is that Roll20.net is free to use. You only have to pay a subscription fee if the updated features are useful to you, e.g. dynamic lighting. If the basic level is good enough, then you can continue to use that forever. Also, you don't have to purchase anything from the Roll20 marketplace; if the stock icons and freely available tokens are sufficient, then go for it. However, purchasing map tiles and the like are normally $5 or less, so it won't break the bank if you find something you like. If necessary, take up a collection from your players to help offset the costs; they will be gaining just as much from the purchase as you will.

Shadowrun Returns

2013-09-16T16:00:00.001+09:00

I've been playing the new video game Shadowrun Returns and wanted to give a brief review of it. While the game itself isn't "old school", the Shadowrun world is more than 20 years old so I still consider it an old school game.

For those who don't know, Shadowrun is an alternate reality of Earth. In 2011, magic came back to the world, as predicted by the Mayan Long Count calendar. Some people can wield magic while dragons and other creatures came into being. Some people changed into elves, dwarves, orcs, and trolls, though humans are still the most common phenotype. The Internet became the Matrix, an artificial reality that creates visual representations of computer code. Cyberware is common, allowing people to replace body parts with electromechanical devices. Corporations have extraterritorial status, in many ways having as much power as governments. Shadowrunners are people who work for any number of employers, conducting rescue operations, assassinations, intel gathering, or whatever the employer needs.

The developers did an excellent job with writing and art, making a great facsimile of the world of Shadowrun. The video game obviously can't include all the aspects of a table-top RPG (TTRPG), but it does quite well. The story isn't too long, maybe less than 10 hours to complete, but it is interesting and there are several side missions that allow you to get a better idea of what the world is like.

The main story involves a note from a dead friend, asking you to investigate his death. Naturally, the investigation leads to intrigue and, ultimately, to an evil bent on taking over the world. If you know anything about Shadowrun, you'll know what to expect when you see the Universal Brotherhood is involved. If not, then you might be in for a nice surprise. In the original game, when the UB was introduced, it created quite a stir in the gaming community and became a major plot in modules and other books.

As you gain karma (XP), you can increase your skills. Unlike the TTRPG, you can increase any skill you want, i.e. if you start out as a street samurai, you can learn to cast spells by buying the skills. This was apparently a compromise to make a flexible game and for players new to the SR world.

You have a number of weapons you can purchase as you proceed, including grenades. Deckers (hackers) can purchase software utilities while riggers can buy and upgrade drones. Magic-users can buy new spells, spirits, or elementals.

Combat is pretty straightforward. The game determines who is in your line of sight and displays the percentage chance of hitting the target. Different weapons have different chances and various factors can improve that chance, such as cyberware or spells.

One complaint I have is the Matrix. Combat in the Matrix uses the same animation as spell casting and the visuals in the Matrix are sorely lacking compared to what the TTRPG describes the appearance of the Matrix. Though I completely understand why the developers did this (reuse the tools you have), it really doesn't do the Matrix justice. Hopefully improvements to this will occur in the future.

Finally, the developers included the development kit they used to make the game as part of the game, allowing anyone to make their own content. This is nice, as it means home-brew items have the same quality as the official work and people can learn how to make a game very easily.

Overall, I like the game and enjoy it greatly. I'm glad Shadowrun is getting the love it deserves and hope to see similar games for other properties, such as Battletech. The developers aren't resting on their laurels either; a new scenario is due out in January, featuring the city of Berlin. In my opinion, this game is 4.5 out of 5.

Running a campaign and using modules

2013-07-28T20:59:00.000+09:00

Each GM is different when deciding how to run a campaign. Some like to use pre-generated modules, whether purchased or downloaded from fan sites. Others prefer to make their own, "homebrew" campaigns.

My gaming group just "completed" my homebrew campaign so I thought I'd make a few observations about it. (They decided to continue the campaign, but the main plot point for the last three months has been completed).

Using pre-gen modules is very easy; you don't really have to think about anything special (generally) and the players are usually smart enough to realize where they need to go and what they can and can't do. Of course, any "good" group of players will figure out ways to break the module, e.g. doing something the author hadn't considered, but well-written modules either provide obvious solutions to problems or the GM can hopefully figure out a way to get the players back on track. It really is in the best interest of the players to not mess with the module too much, or the fun of the game suffers.

Pre-made modules often vary depending on the author and often the game system. Modules for AD&D were frequently originally made for tournaments and expanded somewhat for use in regular play. As such, they were sometimes more difficult than one would expect; tournaments had a set number of hours and points were given to players based on how much of the "dungeon" they got through, how much loot was found, etc.

AD&D modules were also pretty detailed. While most authors tried to make them generic enough for GMs to use in any campaign world, they also took the time to make good back-stories and provide leads for future games.

However, if you look at modules for Twilight: 2000, for example, they were a lot more open-ended, to the best of my memory. While the module The Free City of Krakow provided a plot hook to get the characters to Krakow, once they got there, there were a number of options they could pursue. The main premise was to find someone to give some papers to, but the potential contacts ranged from Mossad and CIA to KGB and warlords. While several plot devices were suggested, it was ultimately up to the GM and the players on how to proceed. The module spent most of its pages describing the city and surrounding area as well as potential contacts. It was definitely more free-form than AD&D modules.

On the other hand, a homebrew campaign can be just as good as pre-gen modules. The GM can be as elaborate as s/he wants to be and use as much or as little detail as possible. Sandbox campaigns allow the players to decide where they want to go and what they want to do (much like TW2K modules), or the GM could make a very detailed adventure akin to AD&D modules.

For my latest campaign, I used a combination of methods. The overall plot hook (a prince has to travel to a relative to pick up an item that will "prove" he is worthy to be king) provided the overall reason for the characters to be adventuring. Along the way, I created a few dungeons before hand, allowing the players to wander around and "get their feet wet", so to speak. However, as much of the adventure took place outdoors, I mostly left their travels to random dice rolls.

While randomness can provide weird results, it can also provide some great fun. As long as the GM is able to think quickly and is creative, this may be the best way to play. Plot hooks are presented as they occur, providing the GM new ideas that may not have been envisioned before. It also means there is nothing for the players to learn before hand, so no cheating.

It also means that players never know what to expect; they may get into an encounter that is beyond their capabilities. This is good, as it teaches the players to analyze situations, develop new tactics and enhance teamwork, and also to realize when they should simply run away. Avarice is good, but the greedy will soon get their just desserts.

I threw a couple of pre-gen modules in the mix, but the difficulty factor was often more than the players could handle. The dungeons that I made prior to game day seemed to be more appropriate, while also providing a good challenge (several character deaths and disappearances occurred).

Actually, occasional character death is a good indicator of a well-managed campaign, in my opinion. It means that, on average, the encounters are well-matched for the characters but it also means that there are sufficient challenges for them. If the players are smart, they will have a number of NPCs with them who can act as cannon fodder. Having NPCs die (based on a dice roll) shows the players that their character's world is deadly but also saves them the pain of losing a long-played and valued character. Of course, if a player does something stupid, let the dice lay where they are and kill that bugger off. :)

This is the first campaign I've played that was essentially all homebrew. In the past I only used pre-gen modules as I didn't have the confidence to do my own thing. However, I actually found it easier to not put too much effort into making the campaign and just let the players "write the book" as they went. They "broke" enough of the pre-planned encounters I made to make me realize that minimal pre-planning was better.

In the end, it really depends on what the GM and the players want. Modules are great for getting ideas from, if you want to make a homebrew, or you can use them as-is. However, I now prefer the way TW2K and other games' modules are, where they give you a large amount of background material and let the GM go from there, rather than railroading the players to a pre-determined outcome. Randomness and spontaneity is frequently more fun, from what I've seen, though your mileage may vary.

Don't be cruel

2013-06-08T21:52:00.001+09:00

A GM can have a lot of fun messing with the players and their characters. But if the GM is intentionally making it so the characters frequently die or are placed in unwinnable situations, the GM is the only one having fun.

The game is about everyone having fun, both GM and players. So be fair. This applies to both GM and players. While the GM should generally let the dice dictate what happens, he should also be willing to fudge the results when it is best for the story.

However, the players should recognize that they can't get their way all the time. The term "Monty Haul campaign" came about from the old gaming days ('70s and '80s) when new gamers would naturally want the characters to be superheros and the GM would oblige them. Thus, the characters were soon at the highest levels and had all the gear. It was essentially cheat codes for RPGs.

While it may be fun for the short-term, especially if you're young, it eventually gets old and you want more of a challenge. Struggle is what defines the human psyche: You're jealous of what others have and covet it yourself. You're proud of your accomplishments, especially when you overcome adversity. Earning something makes it more meaningful. You get the idea.

Basically, don't be greedy. For players, let the game progress as it will. Recognize that, to get the good stuff, you'll have to work for it. For the GM, don't set up unwinnable situations just because it's fun to kill off the whole party. You don't have to make it easy for them, but don't make it impossible.

However, the GM is not obligated to fully inform the players of stupid actions. The players are responsible for making sane decisions. Personally, I may ask the players several times what their actions are, just to make sure they are fully cognizant of what they are asking for, but I try to keep my voice neutral so I don't give an indication that the choice is good or bad.

If the players are going the "wrong way", the GM can try to steer them back with subtle hints. Worst case scenario, ask the players what they would do in that situation; often they will get the hint.